Ezra’s Challenging Prayer: The mission assigned to Ezra had two parts. While we have seen the first part carried out in chapter 8, the second part remained to be done. In 9:1–10:44, we shall read how the Judean community, complying with Artaxerxes’ decree in 7:14, 25–26, accepted the Torah. Comparison with the latter passage shows that the editor’s presentation of Ezra’s work was highly selective, and that here the issue of intermarriage with the local population was the focus of his concern. To that end the story of reform jumps from the fifth month, when the exiles with Ezra arrived in Jerusalem according to 7:9, to the ninth month mentioned in 10:9. In the gap, we expect that Ezra would have taught The Torah to the people. This is just what we read in Nehemiah 8, dated in the seventh mo…