Javier Alonso López: Ezra, Exile, and the Formation of the Hebrew Bible

Javier Alonso López, “Who really wrote the Old Testament?” National Geographic History (Mar/Apr 2026).

“In 586 B.C., the Kingdom of Judah, its capital Jerusalem, and its Temple were destroyed by the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II. Part of the population of Judah was deported to Babylon where they remained in exile for decades until the Persian king Cyrus the Great allowed them to return to their land to rebuild their country and their Temple while enjoying relative political autonomy. Sometime after the return from exile, a final intervention was made in the text of the Torah, shaping it into the form we know today. A new author gathered the texts that had previously been dispersed across different works into a single volume, adapting them to give them unity.

Some scholars believe that this final author was Ezra, a Jewish scribe, expert in the Law of Yahweh, and an official of the Persian king Artaxerxes. Ezra was sent to reform the religious practice in Jerusalem, although there’s some uncertainty about when this reform happened. If the king referred to was Artaxerxes I, Ezra’s mission must have taken place shortly after 457 B.C., but if it was Artaxerxes II, it would have been in the fourth century B.C.”