Abstract
This discourse on one segment of the history of Israel--the
period of the Restoration--serves as a sample for the main problem
confronting the student of biblical history: the differentiation between
historical facts, "things as they really happened", and the forms in which
they were transmitted, mainly historiography. The discussion of the
Restoration period focuses on the questions revolving around Zerubbabel
and Sheshbazzar--their origins, status, time and actions. The main source
of data for the description of this period is still the book of
Ezra-Nehemiah, a source which does not display homogeniety and speaks in
multiple voices, those of its various, unharmonized sources and that of
its author. Our approach to the book of Ezra-Nehemiah is based on the
assumption that it is a composition separate from the book of Chronicles;
that its literary method, historical understanding, world view and
historical reliability should be studied independently of the Chronicler.
Evidence fro
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