I had originally planned on starting the Ezra-Nehemiah series in Advent – since I think that I tended to view Ezra-Nehemiah as a sort of “failed restoration” – and therefore, the obvious point of Ezra-Nehemiah is "we need Jesus!"
Now, the last point – "we need Jesus!" – is certainly true!! But as I started working on the Ezra-Nehemiah series, it became painfully clear to me that the idea of a "failed restoration" was entirely wrong. Ezra-Nehemiah do not tell the story of a failed restoration, but a partial restoration.
The Venerable Bede (in the 7th century) was the first commentator on the text of Ezra-Nehemiah. Bede was an English monk who wrote a history of the English church. Britain had once been a Christian nation. Then came the Angles and the Saxons – barbarian Germans who nearly wiped out the Christian church. But the gospel did its work – and Bede tells the story of the restoration of Christianity in England.
But it was messy. Britons and English didn't like each other very much at first! And while the gospel triumphed, things were still not the way they should be…
So perhaps it is no wonder that no one in the early church, until the 7th century, was drawn to a text like Ezra!
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