Bible In A Year: Post Exilic Prophets

The books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and the post-exilic prophets record Israel’s return from exile and God’s continued faithfulness. After judgment came because of covenant unfaithfulness and idolatry, God allowed His people to return to the land. The temple was rebuilt, Jerusalem’s walls were restored, and God preserved His people during this period. These books show that God remained faithful to His promises while calling His people to repentance, obedience, and renewed covenant faithfulness.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

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SPEAKER_02 0:27

Welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. My name is Alex Wolf, and I'm here with Dr. David Klingler, and we are walking through the story of the Bible in a year. So our big focus is helping the people of God understand the Word of God. And so in that effort, you can download our app from any uh app store. You can also download our Apple TV app or our Roku app. We have all kinds of options for you. Just to let you know, we also have other book studies and Bible studies with those, blog posts, articles, um, all kinds of things in addition to what we're doing in this series to help you to continue to dive deeper into the story and understand God's word. But as

Covenant Blessing Exile And Prophets

SPEAKER_02 1:14

we kind of continue in the story of the Bible, we've looked at how uh Moses said that there would be judges, priests, kings, and prophets who would come forth in Israel, uh, and they were to make sure everything went right according to God's word. Uh but we watched as they failed and prophets came on the scene and said, God's gonna judge you. And so that's exactly what has been happening. And now we're gonna watch as Israel kind of begins uh to sort of come back into the land. Uh and so with that, if you want to take us and and teach us the word.

Dr. David Klingler 1:50

Well, remember so yeah, so so uh let's back up a little bit. And so uh in uh in the law, if if Israel was obedient, if they followed the Lord, uh then they would be blessed in the land. Right. Um but if they rebelled against the Lord, if they went and followed other gods, they would be expelled from the land. Uh and um and and so there was really one sin that got them kicked out of the land, and that was going after other gods. You go after other gods, uh gods in whom there is no salvation, that's it. And so so this is when the the covenant enforcers show up. That this is the pre-exilic prophets, the exilic prophets. So the pre-exilic prophets are coming, and as we've said, uh they they warn Israel, right? You know, if you don't uh repent, return to the Lord. Uh and and that, you know, return to the Lord is literal language. It's it's you have left the Lord, you've gone after foreign gods. Return to the Lord, uh, repent and return to the Lord, and he will restore the blessing of the land to you. Well, if you don't, then he will expel you from the land. And they don't, and so uh Daniel, Ezekiel, they're they're expelled from the land. And so so Daniel and Ezekiel are are the exilic prophets, Israel's expelled from the land. Uh and so uh and so book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is kind of we we we we call it pre-exilic, but you know, it's it's right there leading up to the time when the Babylonians show up, and and actually Jeremiah stays there to see the destruction. Uh, and he pronounces that 70 years, the 70 years have been proclaimed for Israel to be expelled from the land. And so, really, other than uh the writing of Ezekiel and Daniel, I mean, seventy years is pretty

Cyrus And Ezra Begin The Return

Dr. David Klingler 3:34

pretty quiet. The people are are outside of the land. Uh, and the story picks back up uh with the book of Ezra. Uh and uh uh and Ezra is uh is is you know kind of starts the story back uh at the end of the Babylonian Empire. This is the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia. So so the Persians, the Medes and the Persians have come and overthrown Babylon. Right. 70 years is up, and and uh and it's time to return. But Israel hasn't repented. And so there's just going to be a partial return, very, very few, in relative numbers, very few people are going to return. Right. Uh, and so Ezra records this uh, you know, the the the the partial return and the beginning of the building of the temple. Uh and uh uh and actually the the book of Ezra actually is is broken into two parts. You've got you know chapters one through six, uh and uh and then uh there's about a really about a sixty-year delay in between uh chapters one through six and seven through seven through ten. Uh and uh and so you get two returns, the first return under uh Zerubbabel, the second return under Ezra. Uh and uh and so this is uh you know this is the the story. They rebuild the temple um under some encouragement, Haggai. Haggai is there, he's uh one of the prophets, and so you kind of uh when you're thinking uh return, you're you're you ought to be thinking about uh a handful of books,

Fitting Ezra Nehemiah Esther Together

Dr. David Klingler 5:07

really. Uh Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Uh Esther really isn't a book about the return, it's a book about what's going on. You know, meanwhile, back in the episode. You know, it's the old uh uh you know, back when we were uh kids. I don't know. Did you watch the Superfriends? We had we had the wife did. She tells me about them. You the you didn't so it wasn't because of your age, because your wife isn't like 20 years older than you, just because you were deprived as a child. That's right, yeah. Absolutely. But you know, the the the narrator of the Superfriend, you know, Superman's over here, you know, solving the world. Seems to me that the rest of the Superfriend's job was to keep the kryptonite away from Superman, but uh they didn't need the rest of them. But anyway, uh you know, especially the ones with the monkey. I digress. Uh they were called the Wonder Twins. Whatever. Um we we just lost half our people. Who cares? Um that's good. Yeah, um I don't even know why I was going down that uh that trail. But anyway, uh no, uh the the narrator would say, Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice, right? Well, well, so here's the story. You know, Ezra's over here, and they're you know, the the the there's a partial return, there's there's you know, there's not many, and uh and and so so they return and you know they start uh working on the uh the you know the the temple and uh and um you know and and um hagi's you know there is the prophet, he's he's encouraging them to finish uh the building the temple. Uh and uh and the book of Ezra is uh it kind of cuts back to what's going on back over there in the exile uh during this 60-year kind of pause, uh or or in between the book of Ezra. So Esther, the book of Esther kind of fits right in between chapter six and chapter seven of the book of uh book of Ezra. Uh and so you have Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther is right in the middle. So uh uh Ezra is the building of the temple, uh Nehemiah, the building of the city walls, uh, and uh and and and then the prophets that kind of go with those uh are um Haggai and Zechariah Malachi. Uh and and so these are the the the uh the three the three prophets. So really we can talk about those five books kind of all together. Yeah, sure. Uh as the the uh post-exilic prophets. Uh and we say post-exilic, but really most of Israel is still in exile. So so that we call it post-exilic because there's a partial return where uh the the uh the temple is uh is rebuilt uh and then the

Daniel Seventy Sevens And The Clock

Dr. David Klingler 7:46

walls are rebuilt. And that the walls being rebuilt starts the uh the clock. When we were talking about in Daniel, we're talking about uh Daniel seeking the Lord and uh and reading in the place where where Jeremiah the prophet had said that 70 years, the time of exile was 70 years, and 70 years is up, and uh the Lord says, but you haven't repented. Uh and so there's not going to be a total restoration to the kingdom, not gonna be a total uh and so uh and so he says seventy-sevens have been decreed for you and for your people. Um and that that clock, that seventy times seven years clock is going to start at the decree to rebuild the temple and or I'm sorry, the city and the walls, which is 444. Right. Uh and so all these books are kind of pulling together, yeah. And you gotta know the details of all the books. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:37

So in that 70 times seven. Right, was the was the playing out of what had been formerly said in the law in Leviticus, right? Um where uh I'll judge you seven times for your sin if you don't return. Then seventy times seven. And so Daniel's just uh playing out that detail.

Why Return If Hearts Stay Hard

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 8:57

Uh and so so um uh Ezra, Neo, you still have all the same problems. They return, uh they're intermarrying with the peoples, they're you know, they're it's the same character, it's the same people. Right. Well, why the return? Well, uh be because the the king's coming, the the promised king is coming. Best I can tell, they rebuilt the city and the walls just to fulfill the prophecy though so that the the king can enter in and throw some tables around and pitch fit and condemn them, pronounce judgment on them, and and off he goes. That's great. Um and so so after the book of Malachi, um there's really uh, you know, as far as books of the Bible that are familiar to uh to us, and we'll talk about the uh the Apocrypha here in just a minute, um, there's really a you know uh 400 or so year gap uh in between the end of the Old Testament books and the beginning uh of the of the Gospels uh of

Apocrypha Maccabees And The Bible

Dr. David Klingler 9:59

the uh the birth of Christ. So this is where uh you know books like First and Second Maccabees kind of fill in the the story. And uh and so um we probably need to some some of our folks would be familiar with this. Uh you know, why is the Catholic Bible, quote, different than the Protestant Bible? Well, that's really not a Catholic Protestant thing. Um at least not for most of church history. Um those books were always in the Bible, um, but they were never recognized as authoritative. They were there to fill the the gap in between what was what happened at the end of the old, you know, the end of the canon of the old testament, the end of the book of Malachi, and the beginning of uh, you know, where these, you know, these Pharisees, the scribes, the the peoples, what what was going on uh in the land and yeah, and what types of things were happening. And this is the first and second Maccabees, and so uh and so the the church recognized that these books were helpful to understand the story. Uh and it it's interesting that that uh that they focused on the the story of the uh of the Bible and what was going on and how God was working through history. Um the the Catholic Church began to you know build some doctrines on some of these these books, and there was some debate. Uh, but even after um the uh you know the uh the you know the Protestant Reformation, the the the these books were still included in in the Bible, and they were always set apart. Um but what publishers realized was that uh people don't read these books, so let's just drop them and see if anybody complains, you know. And nobody complaining. Well, yeah, it saves us some saves us uh some money. And yeah, and uh, you know, um so uh so uh you know the those those books are helpful uh in that they fill in the gaps uh of history, um, but we wouldn't go there to you know find any doctrine or anything

Haggai Zechariah And Finishing The Temple

Dr. David Klingler 12:11

like that. Uh and so so as you're you know heading through the end of the old testament and heading into the new testament, but you know, when we talk about the uh the exilic prophets, the post-exilic prophets, the the return, you'll hear a lot of this uh uh this language. That's what's uh that's what's going on. Uh Ezra, Nehemiah, um the uh Ezra, the return to rebuild the temple. You just think of that. Uh think of Haggai as the uh as the the the prophet that's that's for that. Encouraging it. Uh he's actually uh mentioned uh in uh in the book of Ezra. Uh and uh and then um uh this is in chapter uh chapter five when the prophets Haggai uh and uh the prophet Zechariah. See, so so this is Haggai and Zah. So this is in chapter five of Ezra. So they're both mentioned. So if you just kind of put those those guys together, uh that uh that will help you. And so uh I I have one of our old friends who's now passed away. We went through school together and and uh he was in his comprehensive exams. And uh uh and uh they were he was in his oral exams and they were asking him about the the the minor prophets, the quote minor prophets, and this would be uh the the post-exilic prophets, and they said, What about Haggai? And he said, the temple. And they said, What about the temple? Uh he was for it. And they they moved on to the next uh to the next prophet. That's a pretty good summary, though. Haggai is for the temple, he's for the building of the temple. Y'all need to shape up and build the temple. So you have Ezra, Haggai, Zachariah, uh, and then the in uh in Ezra, just think of it in two parts, one through six, seven through ten. In the middle is the book of

Esther Without God Named

Dr. David Klingler 14:02

Esther. You know, meanwhile, back over there in uh in uh in Exile Land, uh, they're still intermarrying. Uh this is the only book. Uh Esther is the only book where God's not mentioned. I was gonna say that's an interesting fact. Yeah, best I can uh best I can tell. The reason God's not mentioned is because there's no one in the story on God's side. That if you evaluate each of these characters by the covenant, by the law, they weren't supposed to be intermarrying, they weren't supposed to be doing these things. When you hear, well, uh you know, I'll hear people say, well, um, well, but if if you know Esther didn't marry the king, then the people would have perished. You know, she had to. I mean, you know. Say, really? Uh what about Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego? Um, did they have to bow down or they would perish? Well, yes. Except they didn't, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:52

Uh you could say the same thing about Joseph's brothers, right? Oh, yeah. It's all it's all as if they still did something evil, yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 14:59

But God used it for good, right? So interesting. And so so that's uh so so there's no character in the book of uh of Esther that's that's operating according to the covenant, word of the Lord, covenant faithfulness. They're all you know basically just engaging in pragmatism and you know, let's just save our own skin. Wow. And uh you know, but but this is the playing out of uh of the you know the Satan's desire to destroy Israel. And even when Israel goes over there and joins Satan, Satan still wants to wipe him off the map. Right. And so you see that play out in the book of Esther. Uh the second half of Ezra Um, you know, the is the uh you've got the uh the the completion uh of the temple at uh in chapter six, then uh and then uh you get a second return, um uh and uh it's a you know pretty small occasion. Uh and then the book of uh uh the uh book of Nehemiah,

Malachi Ends With Messiah Hope

Dr. David Klingler 16:05

you know. So you now Nehemiah, um the building of the walls and the the the um the completion of the of the city. So right uh Malachi is the last prophet, and Malachi is you people haven't changed a bit. Uh and that's the close of the Old Testament. Uh so all of the promises that were made in the Old Testament to uh concerning Israel are unfulfilled. Uh the the place is a mess. Uh the temple's rebuilt, it's a shadow of what it was. Uh it's it's a it's a temple, but it's nothing like it was. And they they see this and they say, Well, you know, they're the people who the old man is. Yeah, there's some of the yeah, some of the people who'd seen the the the Solomon's temple, and then they see this and they say, you know, oh they just admit. Uh and so everything is left kind of undone, and and boy, we need the king to come. And and uh and so as we continue in the weeks to come, uh you know, it's the appearance of Christ uh and the appearance of the promised one. But through the through the Old Testament, uh, you know they're gonna reject him. Song of Moses, the prophets, they're gonna reject him, and this one is going to have to die for the sins of the nation, and and that's what's coming. Yeah, uh in the in the weeks ahead. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

They so they hadn't repented in the old testament yet. There there's a partial return, but I I like thinking about it how you said it, that as far as you could tell, it's for the purpose of setting up for this New Testament where the Messiah's gonna walk on the scene and fulfill these prophecies. I think that's I think that's incredibly helpful to think about it in that way.

Dr. David Klingler 17:49

And so and then once he yeah, and so then once he appears and prophecies fulfilled, they can tear the temple down again. Yeah, but they're still not gonna repent. Yeah, waiting on the room. Rome destroys the temple and and we're gonna wait for the for the king to to return to the temple one more time.

SPEAKER_02 18:05

Yeah, that's incredibly helpful in understanding the story and how this history is moving forward. But uh, we're gonna continue pressing on. Thank you for joining us. Uh, come back next week to continue walking through the story of the Bible.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

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