Book of Nehemiah 1-13, Book of Tobit 1-14

Apparently it's in Book of Nehemiah where the term "Jews" first appears in the Bible.  I would assume, and maybe this is obvious and well-known already, that it's derived from "Jerusalem," much like Salem is from the other end.

This is a first-person account, although it's not Nehemiah's account, which would have been the obvious belief until Nehemiah himself is referenced later a couple of times and clearly not the speaking party.  Whoever the speaker is, he was the cupbearer of Artaxerxes.

This is a book that takes another look at the reconstruction efforts in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile.  Like previous examples, it's not exactly the same version we've seen before.

I was struck with the idea that this version makes it sounds a lot like Jesus in the New Testament when he talks about tearing down the temple and rebuilding it in three days.  Christians understand this to reference his later passion, but now I'm thinking it might just as easily have been the idea that a motivated people could make a job like that look easy, which is how the reconstruction efforts look like here, a whole cascade of helpers spontaneously taking up work wherever it's needed.  I'm not saying Jesus was definitely talking like that, but after reading this book, it's not an inconceivable suggestion.  There are doubters who scoff at these efforts, too.

"Should such a man as I...?" is another classic bit of Jewish phrasing, the second such instance I've come across so far.  Since Jews are still talking like this today, clearly it's a long-standing part of the culture, as much as the faith aspects.

Some of the doubters suspect that a revitalized Jerusalem might lead to the same war-like tendencies of Hebrews past.  So all that fighting in previous books, stretching across generations, certainly left an impression on the neighbors.

Tobias is referenced.  It's not clear if it's the same one from the Book of Tobit, but probably it is.  Ezra is referenced, too, and then it becomes almost a complete restating of the Book of Ezra, with more emphasis, ironically, on Ezra himself.  Zechariah, Baruch, Joel, Jeremiah, and Iddo are also referenced.  This is a good time for names to leave an impression in the Jewish tradition!  Most of them (Iddo is the exception) have their own books in the Bible.

It becomes somewhat clear that this book was written outside of direct knowledge of prior books now included in the Bible, especially when it's stated within it that at least one of the books of Moses was read again for the first time.  There's a marked difference, too, in the way it's written, more as a record than history, the difference being how God is active in the history books while he's not in a record of this kind.

The Book of Tobit is a little like the Book of Ruth (without something as obvious as the origins of David hidden within it), not vital in establishing a part of Jewish lore so much as illustrating Jewish life, so it's generally considered apocryphal.  It's also a favorite of mine dating back to college, when I also read Frederick Buechner's On the Road with the Archangel, which is based on it.

Tobit, basically, is the rare faithful Jew.  It's the time of the exile, although Tobit himself is apparently taken captive by the Assyrians in Ninevah.  He's the father of Tobias, who will in short order become the main subject of the book.

Pentecost is referenced.  I always thought of that as a Christian holiday, but apparently it was originally Jewish.

The prophecy of Amos is referenced.  Amos also has a book later in the Bible.

Tobit's main action in the story is his penchant for burying the corpses of fallen comrades who have been martyred by the Assyrians, who don't much want him to be doing that, so he's always close to getting in trouble for it.  He does wind up blind, which is fine because later in the book he's cured of that.

"Command that I now be released from my distress to go to the eternal abode," he says, referencing perhaps the first suggestion that the heavens have given way to Heaven in the Jewish faith by the time this was composed.

Tobias's future bride is Sarah, who has already lost seven husbands thanks to the demon Asmodeus.  This is okay, because someone named Raphael is soon going to help with that, plus Tobit's blindness.  Who's Raphael?  The first named angel of the Bible!  One of seven holy angels.  Another thing referenced for the first time is the concept of saints.  There's also a fish that nearly swallows Tobias, much as Jonah is in his own book.  But don't think about the size of this one, or if it's a whale, because Tobias and Raphael end up eating it.

The phrase, "eat, drink, and be merry" is uttered.  Tobias invokes Adam and Eve when delivering an ode to matrimony.  Tobit an ode, too, and says, "Many nations will come from afar to the name of the Lord," once more giving rise to the belief right there in the Old Testament that one day gentiles would be included in the faith (which is known as Christianity).

"Hallelujah" is uttered.  Jonah is referenced directly.  This one may not be considered essential, but it's certainly a good one to see the workings of everyday Judaism.  It's also a fine break into narrative that doesn't have anything to do with bad kings.  And that's a mighty fine relief at this point!

Second Book of Chronicles 11-36, Book of Ezra 1-10

Second Chronicles features plenty of references to what are apparently lost books Hebrews at the time included in their tradition.  Rehoboam's story is supposed to continue in the chronicles of Shemaiah and Iddo (who appears to be a fairly significant lost figure, considering this is his second mention in the Chronicles; it's just as if only the Kings references to Jonah and Jeremiah, for instance, were all we knew of them, besides their separate books and Jeremiah's expanded role in Chronicles).  Abijah's career is also expanded by the lost Iddo as well as the first mention of the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel, which I needed to confirm was not a reference back to First and Second Kings, much as Kings themselves kept referencing Chronicles.

Arabs are referenced as such.

Micaiah appears, a prophet of the apocalyptic persuasion.

The longer Second Chronicles continues, the clearer its portrait of simply uninspired kings becomes.  These people are simply not relevant to the Jewish tradition, which may be a way of saying that not every generation or significant figure can actually be significant, considering the previous books in the Bible have all featured almost exclusively names that actively contributed to the tradition.

Jehoshaphat's further exploits can be found in the chronicles of Jehu, which is referenced in tandem with the Book of the Kings of Israel, which is probably the same as the above lost book of similar title.

Elijah appears, in a far less significant role, though he sends a letter, which is a form of communication far more prevalent in the New Testament (most of which is composed of such addresses).

Chronicles seems to feature more work done on the temple than in Kings.  There's a restoration effort before Josiah's, for instance.  Perhaps I'm misremembering, but the intended earlier effort in Kings was aborted after the money was collected and everyone decided to just hold onto the funds for a while, like a biblical banking operation.

There's apparently another account of this period in the Commentary on the Book of Kings, which again may be another way of phrasing something referenced above.  Amaziah's story continues in the Book of Kings of Judah and Israel, at any rate.

I thought it was amusing to see the term "muster" used so frequently in Second Chronicles.  To give you another Tolkien reference, the "muster of Rohan" certainly seems like something that could easily have featured in this book of the Bible.

Isaiah wrote the further adventures of Uzziah.  I guess I'll find out if it's in Book of Isaiah, or if we're talking about another lost book.

There's one bad king who seems like he was definitely written that way at the end of his reign just to justify another bad turn on the part of Hebrew history.  It's incredibly tempting to interpret this whole period that way.  It might also explain the disconnect between the reign of Solomon as described in Kings and Chronicles.

Jotham comes off well.  He can be found in the lost Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.  So can Ahaz.

Another indication of how faith can sometimes form is the phrase, "for the commandment was from the Lord through his prophets."  One of the thorny issues of the Bible and faith in general is the belief that if someone says you have to believe someone because God inspired them, you have to assume that's exactly what happened.  This appears to be a far harder thing to verify in the modern world than in biblical times.  Again, I'm not say faith is invalidated if you question things like this, but it's also maybe a good thing if you question whether or not all the specific details that clearly helped build a culture as much as a religious should still be considered unquestionably valid today.

Hezekiah also gets a good write-up.  I realize I may be duplicating observations between Kings and Chronicles on some of these individuals, but there are subtle variations.  Sometimes even someone who was spoken of favorably got one of those famous bad ends, to the effect of "he still wasn't absolutely perfect and so God was displeased with him."  That happens less frequently in Chronicles than in Kings.  The other thing about Hezekiah is that he gets to deliver a speech before some troops that would not at all be out of place in a Hollywood action movie.  Mel Gibson was at one point thinking of making a movie out of the adventures of the Maccabees.  He could easily do that with any number of earlier books.  It would look exactly like Braveheart.

Somehow even though a number of kings have been cycled through (and some eight paragraphs later here), Elijah makes another appearance.  There is apparently a vision of Elijah in the lost Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.  Manasseh, who was a bad king, can be found in the lost Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

We finally reach Josiah again!  As before, he sets about rebuilding the temple.  The book of the law, and Moses, and the ark are all referenced, links not specifically established in Kings.  There is a Huldah the prophetess who appears.  She's the latest obscure female prophet in the Old Testament, but they do in fact exist!  Josiah's arc (as opposed to Moses's ark) is much better in Chronicles.  His dedication to rededicating the Hebrews to the practice of the law distinguishes him from other religious revivals, which makes sense because most of what we know about him is that he's the guy who thought to actually read the old rules found in the ark again.  Of course, this also makes him to blame for any number of things, if you're interested in looking at it that way.  Josiah's subsequent observation of the passover meal is said to be the greatest since the days of Samuel.  Jeremiah offers a lament upon the death of Josiah, whose career can also be found in the lost Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.  Jehoiakim can be found there, too.  Zedekiah "did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet."

Second Chronicles ends confusingly if you expect it to be exact parallel with the end of Second Kings, because when we reach Nebuchadnezzar and the exile, we're soon treated to the Persian Empire.  This is of course the fulfillment of a prophecy from Jeremiah, whose importance is roughly proportionate to Isaiah's in Kings, and vice versa.  Cyrus, meanwhile, king of Persia, is responsible for the end of the exile.  You may be confused about the exile ending so abruptly because it plays such a famous role in Jewish history.  This is because there are a number of separate books that return to this era, even though by the time we reach them it has already, in terms of biblical narrative, ended.  I would probably tend to argue, then, that the time of the bad kings, or perhaps even the time of the judges, should be greater stressed in the history than this exile, which isn't apparently nearly as dramatic, or traumatic, as the similar period of bondage in Egypt .

The Book of Ezra picks up the story right from the end of Second Chronicles.  It explains how Cyrus decides to end the exile so that he can be the latest person to rebuild the temple, although he himself won't be doing it, but rather the previously exiled Hebrews, part of an overall initiative on his part to honor a number of different gods (but it sounds better to just say he did it for the Hebrews, just as it's convenient to say Judaism is a monotheistic religion even though God himself acknowledged the existence of other gods, rather that it is intended as a worship of only him).

Nehemiah, Zechariah (son of Iddo, by the way!), Haggai, and Daniel are all referenced.  Each has their own book in the Bible.  All that and books from Jeremiah and Isaiah!  No wonder the exile period is so famous!

Besides Cyrus, Darius is referenced among the Persians.  This is a different Darius than the one Alexander defeated about a century later.  To put this period in context as far as culture goes, Alexander was very familiar with Greek myth.  He was obsessed with The Iliad.  It's no wonder that so much biblical material is comparable.  Artaxerxes, meanwhile, is the Persian king who temporarily makes it difficult for Cyrus to get his wish, because he remembers the Hebrews as bent on warfare, or as it's termed here rebellion and sedition (interesting way to describe it).  He's the son of the Xerxes who famously battled King Leonidas and the Spartans in the Battle of Thermopylae.  Context sure is fun!

Ezra himself appears very late in the Book of Ezra, funny enough.  He's a descendant of Aaron, by the way, which makes sense for him to be of priestly flavor.  His role in his own book is to revive the study of the law that Josiah has previously rediscovered.  This also makes sense.