Rebuilding a Post-exilic Community

The Golah Community and the “Other” in the Book of Ezra

Chingboi Guite Phaipi

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781532664809
  9781532664816
• eBook ISBN:
  9781532664823
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

The book of Ezra is generally known for its negative and exclusivist attitude towards the other. Others are the cause of dread in one part of the book, and in another part they are adversarial. Furthermore, Ezra commands that foreign wives and their children be sent away. Yet the book of Ezra also features an exceptional account of welcome. In Rebuilding a Post-exilic Community, Chingboi Guite Phaipi examines what drives negative attitudes toward the other, and argues that beneath the presence of different attitudes toward the other within the book of Ezra lies a coherent foundation. That is, negative attitudes toward others make sense in light of the community's strong self-perception in the book of Ezra.

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Identifications and Relationship of the Golah and the “Other”in the Book of Ezra

This chapter is a survey of the book of Ezra, identifying the terms and descriptions used for the protagonist group, the golah, as well as for the “other.” The protagonist group—the golah—is primarily the group that had been in exile in Babylon and who are then allowed to return to Jerusalem by the Persian king Cyrus. The different terms and descriptions that are employed for the golah group and for the “other” group/s throughout the Ezra narrative will be identified, and the contexts in which they are used will be studied. This survey will help to evaluate whether the attitude of the golah towards “other/s” and the relationship between the golah and “other/s” throughout the book are coherent or varying, as well as what the factors that determine such attitude/s and relationship/s are.

The survey of the narrative will reveal that the narrative is primarily about the golah community and that one of their core self-conceptions is that they are set apart by and for YHWH. As such, they are to keep themselves apart from “other” people, unless the “other” people have also separated themselves from the things unacceptable to YHWH and thus for the golah community. The narrative sets out with the protagonist group, the golah, being granted a return to their land by an “other,” Cyrus, the king of Persia.

Ezra 1–2: Permission and Preparation to Return to Jerusalem

At the outset of the book of Ezra, the golah are granted permission by Cyrus, the king of Persia, to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of YHWH.

Who among you from all his people—may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and let him build the house of YHWH, the God of Israel, he is the God who is in Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:3)11

In this verse the definitive term for the protagonist group is “his people,” that is, “YHWH’s people.” Those YHWH’s people in exile are now granted permission to return to Jerusalem to build the house of God. This raises the question if the imperial command for rebuilding the temple is exclusively for these YHWH’s people who return from Babylonian exile to Jerusalem, and, subsequently, whether or not any Israelite/Jew who had not been exiled and stayed in Judea is considered to be among YHWH’s people. These questions cannot be answered merely from this immediate context and will be engaged as we encounter similar attributions throughout the narrative. Yet, what is observable here is that from the outset of the narrative, important aspects of the golah community are seen—that the golah group is YHWH’s people, exiled and authorized to build the house of God in Jerusalem.

The following verse tells that while not everyone went back, those who remain were also expected to help those who returned with silver and gold and goods and animals, as well as freewill offerings (Ezra 1:4). That is, all who had been in the exile were expected or encouraged to participate in the temple building project. The next verse further describes those who went back.

The heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, arose, as well as all whose spirit God stirred, to go to build the house of YHWH which is in Jerusalem. (Ezra 1:5)

The heads of the families (literally, “heads of the fathers”)12 of Judah and Benjamin, the priests and Levites, and “those whose spirits were stirred by YHWH” prepared to go to Jerusalem in response to the permission from Cyrus. That is, lay leaders, cultic leaders and some lay people described by “all whose spirits God stirred” were preparing to return in response to the decree of king Cyrus. This statement implies that those lay members of the golah who return were not random people but those people who were actually stirred by YHWH to return to Jerusalem and fulfill the task of rebuilding the house of God there. The notion of YHWH stirring up the spirit is already seen in Ezra 1:1, where the spirit of Cyrus is stirred by YHWH, resulting in the proclamation of permission for the exiles to return to Jerusalem to build the temple.13 Thus, YHWH is the real source of inspiration and actions—for Cyrus to allow the return and for those who actually returned. YHWH is central in the life of the golah community.

In Ezra 2, we have a more detailed list of the people who return from the Babylonian exile to Jerusalem.

These are the people of the province who returned from the captivity of the exile whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken (into) exile to Babylon. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his town. (Ezra 2:1)

In this verse, the phrases employed—“people of the province”14 and “those who returned from the captivity of the exile whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile”—imply once again that being in exile, and then returning, is one of the main defining criteria for the golah group. It implies that the list more or less now represents the golah community who are now in the province Judah.15 The list categorizes the golah community into Israel (lay people) (Ezra 2:2b–35), Priests (2:36–39), and Levites (2:40–42).16 The list continues with names of singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants (Ezra 2:43–58), revealing the purpose of the golah community to be rebuilding the temple and making it function again.

If the list is to provide the decisive factors or criteria for the golah community, it is still not without problems. Noteworthy is the difference in the manner of identification where some are identified by father’s names (Ezra 2:2b–19) and others by domicile (Ezra 2:20–35).17 While the reason behind the recording of some people by their towns and others by their father’s names is not stated, all those included in the list could be safely considered to be part of the golah community.

As Williamson argues, those identified by father’s names could be those who had recently returned from the exile, and those identified by their domicile those “who had stayed in the land but who still felt themselves sufficiently related by ties of blood, social orient...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Identifications and Relationship of the Golah and the “Other”in the Book of Ezra
• Chapter 2: The First Encounter of the Golah and Their “Adversaries” (Ezra 4:1–5)
• Chapter 3: “Other” People Join the Passover Celebration (Ezra 6:19–22)
• Chapter 4: Rebuilding of the Golah Community under Ezra (Ezra 9–10)
• Chapter 5: Conclusion
• Appendix 1: People/s of the Land/s
• Appendix 2: The Law of YHWH/God/Moses
• Bibliography