A Handbook on Ezra and Nehemiah (UBS Handbook Series)
Overview
The UBS Handbooks are detailed commentaries providing valuable exegetical, historical, cultural, and linguistic information on the books of the Bible. They are prepared primarily to assist Bible translators as they carry out the important task of putting God’s Word into the many languages spoken in the world today. The text is discussed verse by verse, and is accompanied by running text in at least one modern English translation. Over the years, church leaders and Bible readers have found the UBS Handbooks to be useful for their own study of the Scriptures. Many of the issues Bible translators must address when trying to communicate the Bible’s message to modern readers are the ones Bible students must address when approaching the Bible text as part of their own private study and devotions.
Top Highlights
“What are these feeble Jew doing?: First, Sanballat asked what these feeble Jews were doing. The word feeble has pejorative connotations here. It translates a Hebrew word that may be used to describe plants that are drooping or fading. By ridiculing the Jews as being feeble or ‘pathetic’ (njb), Sanballat was saying that they were powerless compared to the size of the task before them.” (Page 324)
“Trouble, which is from the Hebrew word meaning ‘bad, evil,’ refers to external pressures that were bringing disgrace upon the people of Jerusalem. The Jews were not in shame because of immoral or indecent acts that they had committed. Instead, they were in disgrace, that is, they were ‘looked down on’ (gnt) because of the misfortune that had happened to them. njb says that they were ‘in a very bad and demoralised condition.’” (Page 261)
“Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?: Finally, he asked a very practical question to show the impossibility of their task. Where would they find the stones to rebuild the wall? These are not just rocks from a hillside, but specially cut stones for constructing the wall again. Literally, Sanballat asked if they would revive the stones. Would they be able to make the stones from the original wall live again? Would they be able to ‘put new life into stones’ (njb) that had become rubbish heaps? This final question ends dramatically as it draws attention to the previous fate of these stones: burned ones at that. The Jews would need to quarry new stones because the old ones had been burned and weakened by fire.” (Pages 324–325)
- Title: A Handbook on Ezra and Nehemiah
- Authors: Philip A. Noss, Kenneth Thomas
- Series: United Bible Societies’ Handbooks
- Publisher: United Bible Societies
- Print Publication Date: 2005
- Logos Release Date: 2013
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Bible. O.T. Ezra › Translating; Bible. O.T. Nehemiah › Translating; Bible. O.T. Ezra › Commentaries; Bible. O.T. Nehemiah › Commentaries
- Resource ID: LLS:UBSHBK15
- Resource Type: Bible Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T21:04:37Z