If placed in time order, Ruth should be in the period of the judges. It is a short story of God’s care and the family that led to David.
Ezra and Nehemiah pick up the history of the Jews who returned from exile in Babylon. Ezra was the priest who “set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach His statutes and rules in Israel” (Ezra 7:10). He helped to rebuild the temple and to restore his nation to the Law of Moses. Nehemiah, as governor, worked with Ezra’s restoration and led in rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls.
Some Jews returned to their homeland, but many remained scattered throughout the Persian empire. As subjects and slaves, they were very vulnerable. Esther tells how a Jewish girl in Persia’s capital saved her people from total destruction by their enemies.
This history—from creation to Abraham (who lived around 2000 B.C.), then to Moses (about 1500 B.C.), then to David (about 1000 B.C.), then to Nehemiah (about 400 B.C.)—helps us to see the setting for other Old Testament books. They are arranged more by type of literature than by time order or chronology.