Abstract:
This article is divided into two major parts; each is published
separately. Part I dealt with the conflict between the golah (exile)
community and the am ha’arets (people of the land) regarding the
exclusive religious, political and social reforms of Ezra and
Nehemiah. The author argued that the conception of ‘Yahweh’s
people’ lay behind the tension between the two above-named
groups. Consequently, two theological perspectives emerged in
Ezra and Nehemiah on the concept of ‘Yahweh’s people’ and other
nations. One is exclusive, the other is inclusive. What follows here
is Part II. This part demonstrates that the Abrahamic and the
Mosaic covenants provide a framework through which every other
person could embrace Yahweh, the God of Israel as his/her God.
Therefore, Yahweh cannot be confined to a single group of people,
race or nation as presupposed by the leaders of the early postexilic
Jewish community in Ezra and Nehemiah.
