Exilic and Post-Exilic Books
Posted
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
by
Charlie Trimm
We have come to the end of our journey! For the last set of books I abandon any kind of canonical order and just go with chronological order. I try to show how all the books fit into their time period with extrabiblical history as well as with each other. For example, the fact that Esther occurs after Ezra-Nehemiah is interesting. Why didn't Esther go back to Jerusalem? My take on Esther is that she did not start out the book in a godly fashion, but "got saved" half way through or so. So her activities at the beginning (not eating kosher, sleeping with the king, etc.) were not the activities of a godly Israelite. The book of Esther is not designed to give us a role model in every detail of what she did, but it is designed to show us the providence of God, a theme that fits in with the lack of mention of God in the book. He is working, but it is always behind the scenes. Lots of good themes from these books!
1) Exilic Prophets: Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Post-Exilic Works: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
a) Plot
i) Exile in Babylon (Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel)
ii) First Return (Zerubbabel)
iii) Second Return (Ezra)
iv) Third Return (Nehemiah)
v) Prophecy in the Land (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi)
b) Theological Themes
i) Honest emotions are good (Jeremiah the weeping prophecy)
ii) Individuals are responsible for their behavior (Ezekiel)
iii) God keeps his covenant (Ezekiel)
iv) God is sovereign (Daniel)
v) Prayer (Daniel, Nehemiah)
vi) God fulfills his promises (Ezra, Nehemiah)
vii) God is sovereign (Esther)
viii)Don’t leave God in an unfinished house (Haggai)
ix) Hope for the future (Zechariah)
x) God despises half-worship (Malachi)
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