The Skeptics Annotated Bible (399 page)

10 And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

11 Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

12 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD.

13 And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel.

14 Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

15 And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:

(36.16-17) God gets angry with his people, so he sends the king of Babylon to kill all the “young men with the sword.” He has compassion for no one, not even old men that are “stooped for age.” In his tender mercy and loving kindness, he has them all killed.
God’s 129th Killing

16 But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until
the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.

(36.16)
“The wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.”

17
Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword
in the house of their sanctuary,
and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.

(36.17)
“Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword … and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.”

18 And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon.

19 And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.

20 And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:

21 To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

23 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people?
The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.

(36.23) “The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.” Now how’s that for a strange ending? Actually, the last two verses from 2 Chronicles are taken from the first few verses of Ezra. It just happens that whoever decided to tack these verses on (for whatever reason) forgot to finish the sentence!

And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonished.
—
Ezra 9.3

There’s not much in this little book to interest skeptics (or anyone else as far as I can tell). But here are a few things worth noting.

• Check out the contradictions between the boring lists given in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7.
  
• The Israelites offend God by “taking” foreign wives and thereby corrupting the “holy seed.”
  9.2
  
• When Ezra hears of the intermarriages he tears his clothes, plucks out his hair and beard, and sits down astonished.
  9.3
  
• Ezra tells the men that they must abandon their “strange” wives and children if they want to avoid God’s wrath.
  10.2-3
  ,
  12
  

1
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.

4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

5 Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.

6 And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.

7 Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;

8 Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.

9 And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,

10 Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.

11 All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.

(1.11)
“All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred.”
In verse 11, the total number of items listed in the previous two verses is said to be 5400. The actual total is 2499.

2
Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city;

2 Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

3 The children of Parosh, two thousand an hundred seventy and two.

4 The children of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two.

(2.5-65) The second chapter of Ezra provides a list of the Jewish people returning to Judah after their captivity in Babylon. It makes for rather dull reading: just a list of men’s names and the number of offspring that accompanied each of them. The same list is given in the seventh chapter of Nehemiah (as though once were not enough), but the two lists contradict each other in 19 places. As an example, consider the very first of these contradictions: Ezra 2.5 says “the children of Arah, seven hundred seventy and five,” but Nehemiah 7.10 contradicts this saying, “the children of Arah, six hundred fifty and two.” There are 18 other similar contradictions between the two accounts.

5 The children of Arah, seven hundred seventy and five.

(2.5)
“The children of Arah, seven hundred seventy and five.”
268 How many children of Arah returned from Babylon?

6 The children of Pahath-moab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve.