Running Head: EZRA AND HEROD THE GREAT

Ezra and Herod the Great

Ezra and Herod the Great, two important figures taking part in the history of the Jews. Who are they? What were their contributions to Jewish life? How did they affect the way of life of the Jews at the beginning of the Common Era? The object of the assignment is to discuss these events. Ezra was a man of great importance to the development of Judaism. He was known as Ezra the Scribe and Ezra the Priest (Hirsch, 2002). According to Niswonger, Ezra was one of the people who led the Jews back to their lands after the exile by the Persians (1988). Ezra stressed that marriages to pagan was deeply offensive. He taught that in order to establish and build the Jewish identity, Jew should only marry within their community (Niswonger, 1988). Niswonger states that Ezra was not only a scribe, but “a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses (1988, p.55). Ezra stresses the importance of the oral traditions of the Synagogues. The lecture teaches us that Ezra was an instrumental in the acceptance of the Torah, the Jewish bible as their cannon (Price, 2008). Because of the teachings of Ezra, the Jews became a people together who followed the book and the oral laws as interpreted by the scribes (Price, 2008). Niswonger teaches that these scribes were often referred to as “The Great Synagogue (1988, p. 73). Ezra was a very important part of the value that the Jews placed on the Law of the Torah and other teaching, but for positive and negative in the lives of the people. The desire to only marry within their community was also an effect from the influence of Ezra. Although not a Jew or a particularly religious man, Herod the Great was an important man. He played a role in the lives of the Jews in Christ’s time and in the religion of the people to whom he was King. In this