Free Republic

Why God Brought Back the Feast of Tabernacles By Philip Cottraux Ezra and Nehemiah are twin books that cover the so-called “Second Exodus.” In 586 BC, Jerusalem was sieged by the Babylonian armies led by Nebuchadnezzar, who burned the city and razed the temple to the ground. Most Jews were taken as slaves into exile. Those that escaped fled into the desert and formed small nomadic communities. The Ark of the Covenant disappeared and was never seen again. But God had not fully abandoned them. Babylon eventually fell to the Medo-Persians, who were much more merciful to the captives. Seventy...