Ezra

To get us underway with our new book I thought it might be interesting to share here part of the introductory remarks given by Eugene Peterson in The Message (the Bible in contemporary language).  He writes:

“History had not treated the People of Israel well and they were in decline. A superpower military machine, Babylon, had battered them and then, leaving their city and temple a mound of rubble hauled them off into exile. Now, 128 years later, a few Jews back in Jerusalem had been trying to put the pieces back together decade after weary decade. But it was not going well at all. They were hanging on by their finger-nails. And then Ezra arrived.”