Ezra 7:1-10:16
Esdras (Heb. and Aram. ‘E5râ*; believed to be late forms of ‘e5râh or an abbreviation of A5aryâhû ). 1. Descendant of Judah, for whom no other data is given apart from those in 1Ch 4:17 2. Priestly descendant of Zadok, of the house of Phinehas (Ezr 7:1-6), probably the author of the canonical book of Ezra. He was appointed by a decree of the Persian king Artaxerxes, issued in his 7th year, to travel to Jerusalem in order to establish civil and religious administration, and to take necessary measures for the welfare of Jerusalem and its inhabitants (vs. 6 -26). He was a “diligent scribe in the law of Moses” (v 6), and thus a well-educated Jew of the priestly class. Jewish tradition identifies him as the 1st of the order of “scribes” who, in the days of Christ, were the official interpreters of Jewish law. With the royal decree in hand and accompanied by a 2nd group of exiles of more than 1,700 men, Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the 5th month, approximately August 457 BC (v 8; if the 7th year of the reign were counted from according to the Jewish calendar year from autumn to autumn, which starts half a year later than the Persian year, which ran from spring to spring). Upon his arrival they found the Jews very lax in observing the requirements of the law, so he instituted a series of profound reforms. Many of the priests and others who had married pagan women were convinced of the need to divorce them (chs 9 and 10). Under Nehemiah, some 13 years later, Ezra led a public reading and exposition of the law (Neh_8), and had a special role in the dedication of the city’s new wall (Neh 12:36) after its rebuilding under the leadership of Nehemiah. 3. Leading priest who accompanied Zerubbabel on his return from Babylonian captivity (Neh 12:1, 7), probably the founder of the post-exilic house of Ezra (vs 12, 13). Ezra, Book of. Work that records the return of the Jewish exiles from captivity in Babylon and their reestablishment in Jerusalem, together with the corresponding genealogical lists and copies of royal documents that authorized the restoration in its successive stages. Before 1448 AD, Ezra and Nehemiah were counted as one book in all the Hebrew bibles. In the LXX, this original Esdras is divided into 2 parts called 2 and 3 Esdras, and the apocryphal book appears as 1 Esdras. Around 400 AD, Jerome, the translator of the Latin Vulgate, separated Esdras-Nehemiah into 2 books, as they appear in our Spanish Bibles, but he called them 1st and 2nd Esdras. He also transposed the apocryphal work included in the LXX and titled it 3rd Esdras, and to these he added the spurious Apocalypse bearing the name of 398 Esdras and called it 4th Esdras. In the Hebrew Bibles, Ezra-Nehemiah appears near the end of the 3rd and last section of the OT (Hagiographers or Writings); Chronicles follows. This position in the OT canon suggests that Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles were the last books to be written, or the last to be accepted into the canon, or both. The translators of the LXX transposed this group of works to the position they occupy in the Spanish translations -after Kings-, near the end of the historical section of the OT. The LXX also transposed Chronicles, which it divided into 2 books, before Ezra and Nehemiah, probably on the grounds that, when the 4 books were read in that order, they provided a historical-chronological narrative from David to near the end of time. of the OT, with genealogical records from creation to David. Since the Hebrew text of Ezra begins with the word “and”, together with the additional fact that the last 2 verses of 2Ch_36 are transcribed literally in Ezr 1:1-3, it is thought that perhaps Ezra followed Chronicles in the Hebrew canon, or at least in some Hebrew manuscripts. I. Author. Jewish tradition (Talmud, Baba Bathra 15a) identifies Ezra with the main writer of Ezra-Nehemiah. Certain passages are written in the 1st person (Ezr 7:28-9:1-15), but without identifying the writer by name; 7 other narrative sections are in the 3rd person (1-26; 8:35, 36; 10:1-44). Ezra is mentioned by name only 7 times in ch 7 (vs 1, 6, 10-12, 21, 25) and 6 times in ch 10 (vs 1, 2, 5, 6, 10, 16), so that the book leaves the issue of authorship unresolved. However, certain considerations clearly point to a Jew of Ezra’s time, or soon after, as being responsible for the composition of the book. Since Ezra-Nehemiah constituted one work, and since the genealogical lists for Neh_12 end around AD 400, it is reasonable to assume that the combined work was completed at that time. The precise details listed regarding the return from Babylon, along with the Persian royal decrees quoted in extenso, point to the author as someone familiar with these events and as having access to various documents. Two sections (Ezr 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26) are in Aramaic,* and the rest in Hebrew, a bilingual feature that we also find in the book of Daniel. Since Aramaic was the official language of the Persian Empire, and a kind of lingua franca widely understood even where it was not native, the bilingual nature of the book points to an educated Jewish scribe, perhaps in government service (7:6). The strong linguistic similarities between the Aramaic portions of Ezra, on the one hand, and various recently discovered Aramaic Jewish documents (dating from the same period), on the other, provide additional evidence for a 5th century BC date for the book. . Similarly, in language and literary style the Hebrew portions of Ezra are remarkably similar not only to those of Nehemiah, as might be expected, but also to those of Chronicles, and even to some extent to those of Daniel and Haggai. Some have suggested that a single author was responsible for both Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah. Ezra, “a diligent scribe”, fulfills all the conditions as an author, and there are no valid reasons to deny him the authorship of such books. 203. Ezra reading the law, according to a 3rd-century mural found in the Dura Europos synagogue (Map XIII, C-5). ill. Setting. Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther are the only historical books dealing with the 399 post-exilic period, and the most important source for the events of that time (on which the canonical books are silent), except for brief information included in Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Although we rely almost exclusively on Ezra and Nehemiah for post-exilic insight, these books only record the major events of that period and there are many gaps in the information. Ezra records the successive decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes. He reports the construction of the temple and its dedication under Darius I, but glosses over almost 60 years until the decree of 457 BC, when he was sent to Judea by Artaxerxes with authority to reorganize the national administration in harmony with the law of Moses. . He recounts incidents that occurred shortly after his return to Jerusalem, but the next event is Nehemiah’s arrival several years later. The end of the 70 years of captivity, predicted by Jeremiah (Jer 25:11; cÆ’ 29:10), culminated in Cyrus’ decree for the return of the Jews and the rebuilding of Jerusalem with its temple. But apparently only a small fraction of the Jewish exiles returned to their homeland, leaving a large number behind. Attacked by their enemies from without (Ezr_4) and by lethargy from within (Hag. 1:1-5), work on the temple stopped. Some 15 years after the return under Zerubbabel, God called the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to encourage the people to a renewed effort that, strengthened by a new decree from Darius, led to the completion of the temple in 515 BC (Ezr 5:1 -6:15; Hag. 1:12, 13; 2:10-19). Half a century later, however, the moral and religious standard of Jerusalem had fallen, and under these circumstances God inspired Ezra, a scribe-priest, to return from Babylon to Jerusalem, where he instructed the leaders and the people in the law, and led them to a profound reform (Ezr_9; 10). Some years later, temporal affairs were still in dire straits (Neh 1:3), and Nehemiah sought and obtained a royal order to manage the affairs of Jerusalem and Judah (2:1-8). With the united efforts of Ezra and Nehemiah, the help of the Persian government, and the blessing of God, the work of material, civil, economic, moral, and religious restoration was completed. III. Contents. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah constitute our main historical source of information regarding the period of the restoration of Judaism. They also provide a record of the partial fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel regarding the return from captivity. They provide the historical framework for understanding the messages of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. Ezra begins with an account of Cyrus’s decree for the return of the Jews, and of his response to the invitation (Ezr 1:1-11). Ch 2 lists the exiles who, by families, returned (among which the lineage of the Levites and priests was of paramount importance). The restoration of the altar and the resumption of the daily sacrifices and the first stages of the rebuilding occupy ch 3. Ch 4 tells us of the success of the Samaritans in stopping the rebuilding, and chs 5 and 6 tell us of the means by which which God cleared the way for further work, along with the completion of the new temple and its dedication, and the celebration of Passover. In ch 7 Ezra recounts the circumstances of his trip to Jerusalem and cites the decree of Artaxerxes that authorized him to complete the restoration work, while ch 8 recounts the preparations for that journey, which Jews accompanied him and his arrival in Jerusalem . Ch 9 recounts the loose moral condition, particularly among the priests and Levites, and the steps taken to bring about reform (ch 10 records the list of perpetrators, see CBA 3:321-326). See Nehemiah, Book of.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
priest and scribe knowledgeable of the Law of Moses, son of Seraiah, descendant of Aaron, Esd 7, 6. E. was in charge of matters relating to the Jews in the Persian court. He is the fundamental figure of the revival of Judaism in Palestine after the return from exile in Babylon, some have him as the second founder of the Jewish nation, after Moses. The historical data about E.’s arrival in Jerusalem and his activity are a bit confusing, so there are two ways to look at it. In the first place, following the chronology of the texts of E. and…