The fourth main argument usually adduced in favour of the unity of Chr. and Ezr.-Neh. is that they reflect the same interests, outlook and theology. So many different topics could be included that we have felt it best to gather them all under the general heading of ideology. The treatment here is not meant to be exhaustive, and where other scholars have dealt satisfactorily with aspects of the issue under review, discussion will be kept to a minimum.

We have already several times admitted that in many respects our books do share certain interests in common. This in itself, however, as has been stressed by Segal, does not prove that they were written by the same man. These interests are often those that would doubtless have been shared by most of the Jews living in Jerusalem at the time.

For our present purposes, therefore, it has seemed likely that if differences of outlook between the books could be detected, these would be of greater significance. Accordingly, it is hoped in this chapter to show that there are such differences, and that if these be added to the evidence of the previous chapters, the conclusion will be that separate authors were responsible for these books.

MIXED MARRIAGES

One of the central features of the reforms of both Ezra and Nehemiah was their insistence on the finishing of marriages between the Jewish population of Judah and others. There are certain well-known differences over the exact identity of these ‘others’ (e.g. contrast Ezr. 9: 1 with Neh. 13: 23) and concerning the courses of action adopted by Ezra and Nehemiah to deal with these marriages.