Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

Dear Yigal,

If you look at the places where Ezra’s name occurs in the book of Nehemiah 
you see that the only place that is actually Nehemiah’s memoir is 12:33. 
There it’s preceded by the phrase “Hoshaiah and half the rulers of Judah.” 
Then Ezra’s name is included after Azariah and before Meshullam. All the 
other occurrences are by the hand of the redactor. Chapter 12, the 
dedication, is preceded by the section in which Ezra reads the law, and acts 
as a leader. The redactor who inserted the section of Ezra reading the law 
into the middle of Nehemiah’s memoir included Ezra’s name after Nehemiah’s 
statement that “half the leaders of Judah” were involved in the dedication. 

Best,

Liz