Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer Boeken

The book delves into the conflict between prophets and priests in 6th and 5th century BC Judah regarding worship practices. It critiques the priests through prophetic texts, highlighting accusations of misconduct in both cultic and social aspects. The author examines the envisioned ideal of a righteous priesthood, referencing earlier promises in Isaiah. By analyzing post-exilic literature, she challenges the notion of a reformed priesthood, suggesting continuity with pre-exilic practices, and emphasizes thematic consistency in prophetic writings, countering the idea of contradictions.

This guide to Ezra and Nehemiah showcases the latest developments and most up-to-date scholarship on these important texts. Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of the people in Yehud in the 6th and the 5th centuries BCE. This was a time of economic hardship. The people living in and around Jerusalem were scratching out a living in a land that had been devastated by war. It was also a time of soul searching. Having lost their political autonomy and national identity, the people in Yehud had to find new ways of understanding and shaping their identity. Ezra and Nehemiah provide glimpses of these issues by way of an assortment of narratives, lists, letters, and other types of records. The readers encounter different voices and different opinions. Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer provides an overview of the various texts and the topics, concerns, and disputes that they reflect. The guide also zooms in on select key issues pertaining to the development of the text, its historical background(s), the quest for identity, and its afterlife in Jewish and Christian traditions.