Anglo Saxon Colored Pencil Folk Art Bible-Ezra & Nehemiah

 Anglo Saxon Colored Pencil Folk Art Bible Ezra & Nehemiah
24" x 18"

Two parts of the same story.

Ezra: (At the top of this post)
Homecoming of the people and priests
Repairing the place of worship
Reviving the people to worship


Nehemiah: (At the bottom of this post)
Construction of the city
Instruction and purification of the citizens
Restoration of Israel as a nation

In Ezra King Cyrus tells the people to return and in Nehemiah the cup bearer asks King Artaxeres if he may return. You can see both these events in the bottom corners of the pictures. You also see Ezra in both pictures speaking to the people. His book pages read law and prophets. 

At the base of the 2nd Chronicles poster you see the holy vessels that were taken from the temple and in the Ezra poster you can see some of those same vessels being returned.  At first altars are restored and sacrifices begin again. The temple restoration begins but is stopped when a message is sent by jealous enemies to King Artaxeres. You can see the naughty little tattle tail riding out of the Ezra picture. Work is begun and stopped several times before its completion and dedication.

Part of the preparation of returning to the temple was cleansing of the mixed marriages and I have represented them standing without men in the center right of Ezra and center left of Nehemiah. The people stood in the rain and heard what Ezra said to them and repented of their transgressions and separated from their foreign wives, and children. Ezra showed his faith.

Nehemiah gave up a wealthy position in order to take over the job of rebuilding Jerusalem. There were hardships and threat of attacks. People had to work in teams with one guarding while the other worked. You can see towards the top right of the Nehemiah poster where enemies are lurking. If you compare the walls in the two pictures, the walls in Nehemiah are being worked on while the Ezra isn't.

After the completion of the walls there was a registration of the returned people, the readings of the Law by Ezra, the dedications and arrangements for the services, and a pledge by all the people to stick to the rules set out before them. Nehemiah was a great example of prayer and tenacity.