Ezra & Nehemiah (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible | BTC)

by Matthew Levering

Publisher:

Brazos

, 2007

Overview

Illuminating the theological character of these prophetic books, Matthew Levering provides a detailed examination within the context of a holy land and people. Highlighting God’s covenantal gifts of purity, he discusses the leaders’ efforts to renew and reform Israel, and how these labors have become part of the church’s own story.

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Key Features

• Contains an in-depth introduction
• Offers theological analysis of Scripture
• Includes bibliographical references and indexes

Contents

Top Highlights

“The book of Ezra is a period of sackcloth and ashes, a necessary purification so that Israel’s idolatrous pride in its gifts might be peeled away in penitence and neediness and the people be thereby prepared to receive their Lord.” (Page 33)

“Neh. 1–6 has to do primarily with holy land while Neh. 7–13 has to do primarily with holy people.” (Page 117)

“God’s creative and redemptive purposes. Put another way, history’s patterns are not merely, or strictly, chronological; patterns of participation in the history of creation and salvation draw past, present, and future into a complex unity, grounded in the unity of all things coming forth and returning to the triune Creator and Redeemer (see Levering forthcoming).” (Page 22)

“If the main theme of the book of Ezra is the struggle to rebuild the temple, how does this theme relate to Ezra’s other themes: the return to the land (Ezra 1–2), the renewal of sacrifice (Ezra 3), the struggle against the ‘peoples of the land’ (Ezra 4–5), the renewal of the festival of passover (Ezra 6), the journey of Ezra the Scribe and his followers from Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezra 7–8), and the purification of the returned exiles who had mingled with the peoples of the land (Ezra 9–10)? Insight into this question is obtained by appreciating the depth of the meaning of the terms ‘land’ and ‘people’ in the Old Testament.” (Page 31)

“Jesus could not have symbolically acted out the fulfillment of Israel had there no longer been the Torah to read or the temple in which to celebrate the festivals.” (Page 20)

Praise for the Print Edition

. . . Levering provides extensive information that throws light on what might otherwise be unfamiliar information.

—Dianne Bergant, CSA, Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P., Distinguished Professor of Old Testament Studies, Catholic Theological Union

This is a good addition to other commentaries helping preachers take the step from close examination of the text to seeing how each portion of this story fits in the whole flow of redemption. . . . [It] points the way to thinking more theologically in these books.

—Ray Van Neste, assistant professor, Nihon University

Product Details

• Title: Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible: Ezra & Nehemiah
• Author: Matthew Levering
• Editor: R. R. Reno
• Publisher: Baker
• Publication Date: 2007
• Pages: 256

About Matthew Levering

Matthew Levering is a Roman Catholic theologian and and Perry Family Foundation Professor of Theology at Mundelein Seminary of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake. Prior to this, Levering was professor of theology at the University of Dayton in Ohio and also taught for nine years at Ave Maria University in Naples, Florida. Levering earned a BA from the University of North Carolina, an MTS from Duke Divinity School, and a PhD from Boston College. He is an expert on the theology of Thomas Aquinas.