Some believe that Ezra and Nehemiah might have been contemporaries. Others are convinced that Nehemiah preceded Ezra by a generation or two. The author might have been Ezra or one of his disciples. This book describes the reconstruction of the city of Jerusalem, and its repopulating with citizens of pure Jewish descent. Celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles is renewed.
Financial relief is given to the poor.
There is a gap of about 400 years between this book and the Christian Scriptures. LT written by Nehemiah at an unknown date. Esther, a Jewess, wins a country-wide beauty contest, becomes queen and saves her people. Many feel that the Festival of Purim was established first and the book of Esther created later to justify it. II Maccabees of the Apocrypha contains a list of Israelite heroes, but omits Esther.