Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther

by Leslie C. Allen, Timothy S. Laniak

Ezra-Nehemiah is the Old Testament equivalent of the Acts of the Apostles--it is a book of new beginnings. Just as Acts narrates the early history of the church through the work of the apostles, Ezra-Nehemiah narrates the re-establishment of the people of God after the exile through the work of Sheshbazzar, Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Allen explores Ezra-Nehemiah as a single literary text made up of three parts telling the story of three missions and the opposition they meet with. Wise and insightful, Leslie Allen has written a commentary that illuminates these texts and their intended message.

Esther is a story about a young girl who becomes queen. Laniak's thoughtful commentary examines this narrative as a story with many levels of meaning. Esther is about the minority Jewish community in the dependent state of Diaspora, navigating a precarious existence in two worlds, and it is about the triumph of right over wrong, of God's people over their enemies.

Genres: Biblical Studies

365 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Leslie Allen (MA, PhD, DD) is senior professor of Old Testament, School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California).

Reviews

[Jared Saltz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this combo volume to teach adult, auditorium bible classes where I was covering large swathes of material at once and didn't have as much time as I'd like to read as deeply as I'd like--time constraints stink. So, I grabbed this for Ezra-Nehemiah reading because I'd really appreciated the Esther section that I'd read for a different class, a few years ago. However, this just wasn't as good.

This is a mixed bag in a lot of ways. I'd read the Esther commentary awhile ago when I taught Esther and I thought it punched well above its weight for the time allotted and simplicity of the commentary (probably a weighted 4.5 stars). Ezra was perfectly serviceable and clocked a solid 3.5 stars, but Nehemiah was... not good 2 stars.

So, it's tough top rate as a whole. I'd say if you're similarly constrained it would definitely be worth reading Ezra, but I'd find something better for Nehemiah.

[Nithin Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good. A great and classic commentary on these three wonderful books. I probably would have stuck with the New American because the two covered the same ground at points.