We’re on the front end of a series exploring Ezra and Nehemiah. Here are five resources that will help you dig into each book for yourself. Consider purchasing one of them to help enrich your own study and to help prepare your heart to receive God’s word on Sundays. 

1. Listen to these one-message overviews to help remind you of the overall theme of each book. 

• Ezra: The Faithful God Who Restores His People
• Nehemiah: The God Who Rebuilds and Renews His People

2. Read one of these three books. 

The first two get all the details right, while being full of pastoral comments. 

• Kidner, Derek. Ezra and Nehemiah (Tyndale Old Testament Commentary)
• McConville, J.G. Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther

This last one is best current resource on Ezra. It approaches the book from a literary perspective. Although it is far more technical than the previous two, the reward will be worth the effort. The chapter at the end of the book called “A Readers’ Guide to the Theological Message of Ezra” is alone worth the price of the book. And the good news is that it’s also the easiest part to read.  

• Brown, A Philip. Hope Amidst Ruin

We’re continuing our series of overviews of Old Testament books beginning with I Chronicles. Here are two resources that might be helpful as we go through these Old Testament books:

• The first one is called Old Testament Theology by Paul House. This volume is much more readable that is sounds. Essentially, the author takes one chapter for each book of the OT and “preaches” a message on it. This could easily be used in one’s own quiet time.
• The second one is called An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach by Bruce Waltke. This book is far more academic, but still helpful and devotional enough for anyone trying to discern the overall message of each OT book.