Ezra, Book Of

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EZRA, BOOK OF.—Our present Book of Ezra, which consists of 10 chapters, is really part of a composite work, Ezra-Nehemiah, which, again, is the continuation of Chronicles. The entire work—Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah—is a compilation made by the Chronicler. See, further, Nehemiah [Book of], § 1.
1. Analysis of the book.—The Book of Ezra falls into two main divisions: (a) chs. 1–6; (b) chs. 7–10.
(a) Chs. 1–6 give an account of the Return and the re-building of the Temple. Ch. 1 tells how Cyrus, after the capture of Babylon in b.c. 538, issued an edict permitting the exiles to return; of the latter about 40,000 availed themselves of the opportunity and returned to Judæa under Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel, a member of the royal Davidic family, who was appointed governor (pechah) by Cyrus (b.c. 538–537). Ch. 2 contains a list of those who returned and their offerings for the building of the Temple. Ch. 3 describes how in October 537 the altar of burnt-offering was re-erected on its ancient site, the foundation-stone of the Temple laid (May 536), and the work of re-building begun. Ch. 4 tells that, owing to the unfriendly action of neighbouring populations, the building of the Temple was suspended during the rest of the reigns of Cyrus and Cambyses. It contains the correspondence between Rehum, Shimshai, and their companions, and king Artaxerxes. In Ezr_5:6-12 we are informed that, as a consequence of the earnest exhortations of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the building of the Temple was energetically resumed in the second year of Darius I. (b.c. 520). In Ezr_5:6 to Ezr_6:12 we have the correspondence between the satrap Tattenai and Darius. We read in Ezr_6:13-22 of how the Temple was successfully completed on the 3rd March 515 b.c. [An interval of silence, lasting nearly sixty years, ensues, of which there seems to be little or no record elsewhere.]
(b) Chs. 7–10 deal with Ezra’s personal work. In ch. 7 the silence of nearly sixty years is broken in the year b.c. 458, when Ezra, the teacher of the Law, at the head of a fresh band of exiles, leaves Babylonia bearing a commission from Artaxerxes I. to bring about a settlement in the religious condition of the Judæan community. Ch. 8 gives a list of the heads of families who journeyed with him, and tells of their arrival in Jerusalem. Ch. 9 describes the proceedings against the foreign wives, and contains Ezra’s penitential prayer. In ch. 10 we read that an assembly of the whole people, in December 458, appointed a commission to deal with the mixed marriages. The narrative abruptly breaks off with an enumeration of the men who had married strange women.
2. Sources of the book.—In its present form the Book of Ezra-Nehemiah is, as has been pointed out, the work of the Chronicler. The compilation, however, embraces older material. The most important parts of this latter are undoubtedly the autobiographical sections, which have been taken partly from Ezra’s, partly from Nehemiah’s, personal memoirs.
(a) Extracts from Ezra’s memoirs embodied in the Book of Ezra.—The long passage Ezr_7:27 to Ezr_9:15 (except Ezr_8:35-36) is generally admitted to be an authentic extract from Ezra’s memoirs. The abrupt break which takes place at Ezr_9:15 must be due to a compiler. ‘The events of the next thirteen years were clearly of too dismal a character to make it desirable to perpetuate the memory of them’ (Cornill). [It is probable that an even larger excerpt from these memoirs is to be seen in Neh_9:6 to Neh_10:39.]
It seems probable that these memoirs were not used by the Chronicler in their original form, but in a form adapted and arranged by a later hand, to which Ezr_10:1-44 is due. This latter narrative is of first-rate importance and rests upon extremely good information. It was probably written by the same hand that composed the main part of Neh_8:1-18; Neh_9:1-38; Neh_10:1-39 (see Nehemiah [Book of], § 2).
The Imperial firman—an Aramaic document (Ezr_7:12-26)—the essential authenticity of which has now been made certain—is an extract from the memoirs preserved in the same compiler’s work, from which Ezr_2:1-70 (= Neh_7:6-73) was also derived. The introductory verses (Ezr_7:1-11) are apparently the work of the Chronicler.
(b) Other sources of the book.—The other most important source used by the Chronicler was an Aramaic one, written, perhaps, about b.c. 450, which contained a history of the building of the Temple, the city walls, etc., and cited original documents. From this authority come Ezr_4:8-22; Ezr_5:1 to Ezr_6:16 (cited verbally).
The Chronicler, however, partly misunderstood his Aramaic source. He has misconceived Ezr_4:6, and assigned a false position to the document embodied in Ezr_4:7-23.
(c) Passages written by the Chronicler.—The following passages bear clear marks of being the actual composition of the Chronicler: Ezr_1:1-11; Ezr_3:2 to Ezr_4:7; Ezr_4:24; Ezr_6:16 to Ezr_7:11; Ezr_8:35-36.
3. Separation of Ezra from Chronicles.—It would appear that after the great work of the Chronicler had been completed (1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah), the part which contained narratives of otherwise unrecorded events was first received into the Canon. Hence, in the Jewish Canon, Ezra-Nehemiah precedes the Books of Chronicles. In the process of separation certain verses are repeated (Ezr_1:1-3 a = 2Ch_36:22-23); 2Ch_36:23 seems to have been added in 2Ch_36:1-23 to avoid a dismal ending (2Ch_36:21).
For the historical value of the book cf. what is said under Nehemiah [Book of], § 3.
G. H. Box.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

The book of Ezra contains records of events occurring about the termination of the Babylonian exile. It comprises accounts of the favors bestowed upon the Jews by Persian kings; of the rebuilding of the temple; of the mission of Ezra to Jerusalem, and his regulations and reforms. Such records forming the subject of the book of Ezra, we must not be surprised that its parts are not so intimately connected with each other as we might have expected if the author had set forth his intention to furnish a complete history of his times.
The events narrated in the book of Ezra are spread over a period of about 79 years, under the reigns of Cyrus, Cambyses, Magus, or Pseudo-Smerdis, Darius Hystaspis, Xerxes, Artaxerxes (in the eighth year of whose reign the records of Ezra cease).
The beginning of the book of Ezra agrees verbatim with the conclusion of the second book of Chronicles, and terminates abruptly with the statement of the divorces effected by his authority, by which the marriages of Israelites with foreign women were dissolved.
Since the book of Ezra has no marked conclusion, it was, even in early times, considered to form part of the book of Nehemiah, the contents of which are of a similar description. As, however, the book of Ezra is a collection of detached records of remarkable events occurring at the conclusion of the exile and in the times immediately following it, attempting no display of the art of book-making, the mere want of an artificial conclusion cannot be considered a sufficient reason for regarding it as the first portion of Nehemiah. It is, however, likely that the similarity of the contents of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah was the cause of their being placed together in the Hebrew Bible.
The arrangement of the facts in the book of Ezra is chronological. The book may be divided into two portions. The first consists of Ezra 1-6, and contains the history of the returning exiles and of their rebuilding of the temple, and comprises the period from the first year of Cyrus, B.C. 536, to the sixth year of Darius Hystaspis, B.C. 515.
The second portion contains the personal history of the migration of Ezra to Palestine, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes. This latter portion, embracing Ezra 7-10, is an autobiography of Ezra during about twelve or thirteen months, in the seventh and eighth years of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus.
We have spoken thus far of the canonical book of Ezra; there are, however, four books that have received this name, viz. the book noticed above, the only one which was received into the Hebrew canon under that name, the book of Nehemiah, and the two apocryphal books of Esdras, concerning which see Esdras, books of.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Ezra, Book Of
This is manifestly a continuation of the books of Chronicles, as, indeed, it is called by Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, Sermones dierum Esdrae (ap. Cosin's Canon of Script. page 51), and as was early conceded (Huetius, Dem. Evaen. 4:14, page 341). SEE CHRONICLES (BOOKS OF).
I. Contents. — The book of Ezra contains ἀπομνημονεὑματα, memorabilia, or records of events occurring about the termination of the Babylonian exile. It contains accounts of the favors bestowed upon the Jewms by the Persian kings; of the rebuilding of the Temple; of the mission of Ezra to Jerusalem, and in regulations and reforms. Such records forming the subject of the book of Ezra, we neust not be surprised that its parts are not so intimately connected with each other as we might have expected if the author had set forth his intention to furnish a complete history of his times (see Pebeble, Persian Monarchy, in his storks, Lond. 1635, page 345). The events narraated. in thee book of Ezra are spread over the reigns of
Cyrus....................................
Years.
7
Months.
0
Cambyses ..............................
7
5
Magums, or Pseudo-Sneerdis ...........
0
17
Darius Hystaspis ....................
36
0
Xerxes .............................
190
5
Artaban................................
0
7
Artaxerxes (in the eighth year of whose)
8
reign the records of Ezra tease).
0
Total .............................
79
0
The arrangement of the facts in the book of Ezra is chronological. The book may be divided into twoportions. Thefirst consists of chapters 1-6, and contains the history of the returning exiles and of their rebuilding of the Temple, and comprises the period from the first year of Cyrus, B.C. 536, to the sixth year of Darius Hystaspis, B.C. 515. The second portion contains the personal history of the migration of Ezra to Palestine, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes. This latter portion, embracing chapters 7-10, is an autobiography of Ezra during about twelve or thirteen months, in the seventh and eighth years of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimantis.
II. Plan. — The course of events recorded in these ten chapters appears to be as follows: First, the decree of king Cyrus, putting an end to the Babylonish captivity, and instructing the returning Israelites to rea build the Temple and restore the worship of Jehovah (Ezra 1). Second, the consequent proceedings of the people (Ezra 2, 3). Third, the hinderances to which they were exposed by the jealousy of the Persian government, stimulated as this was by the hatred of the neighbors of the Jews, until Darius discovered the original decree of Cyrus, and confirmed and, extended it, so that the Temple was fully rebuilt, and the worship restored according to the law (Ezra 4 :l-6). Fourth; the mission of Ezra, who was both a priest and a scribe, and was empowered by king Artaxerxes not only to maintain the prescribed worship; but, greatly more than that, to restore the entire theocratic administration only reserving the temporal supremacy of the Persian monarchy (Ezr_7:7). Lastly, the reconstruction of this theocratic state, which Ezra effected so completely that he carried the people with him in remodelling the family relations by the law against intermarriage with certain races (Ezr_9:10).
III.Utility. — This is a complete narrative in itself; and there is no room for the hypothesis that chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, taken together, form one great historical work. The arguments for this hypothesis are of no weight in themselves for establishing the conclusion; but in so far as they are statement of fact, they are willingly put forward by us as circumstances worthy of consideration in themselves, and apart from the illogical purpose to which they have been applied.
1. The three books have a large number of words and phrases in common, which are parts of Scripture. This agrees well with their composition at a new epoch in the history of the Hebrew nation and its literature, by men who had been brought up together at the same Persian court, Ezra and Nehemiah being also most intimate friends and fellow workers. The opinion is also probable that the chronicles were a compied bu Ezra, as well as the book to which his own name has been given.
2. There is a redilection from genealogical details running through all these books. This seems to have been characteristic of the age; and it was probably necessary, considering the efforts to restore the old arrangements as to the holding of property, the administration of governing, all of which objects were likely to force genealogical questions upon the notice of men.
3. There is a similar prominence given to details about the priests and Levites. This is unavailable in any treatment of the people of Israel, unless their character as the church of God is to be overlooked. Especially, in whatever proportion must the greater attentuion have been given to its ecclestiastical arrangements.
IV. Authgorship. — A late ingeniuos writer (Reverend and Lord Hervey, in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, s.v.) thus pronounces on this question: “Like the two books of Chronicles, it consists of the contemporary historical journals kept from time to time by the prophets, or other authorised persons, who were eye witnesses for the most part of what they record, and whose several narratives were afterward strung together, and either abridged or added to as the case required by a later hand. That later hand, in the book of Ezra, was doubtedly Ezra's as put together by him, yet strictly only the last four chapters are his original work. Nor will it be difficult to point out with tolerable certainty several of the writers of whose writings the first six chapters are composed. Accordingly, that writer, in limitation of any relationship proceeds to dissect the book for this purpose. He regards as a parenthetic addition made in the reign of Artaxerxes Ezra's own production. A still later critic (Dr. Davidson in the new edition of Kitto's Cyclopaedia of Bible Lit s.v.) is even bolder in distributing various portions to “the Chronist” as he designates the unkown interpolater after Ezra.
It is a sufficient refutation of all such attempts to note their extremely subjective character, depending chiefly upon the caprice or conjecture of the critic himself; for the peculiarities cited, when closely examined, are found to be too general and accidental to be relied uponas proofs of authorship, especially in view of the foregoing remarksrespecting the scheme of the book. Moreover, if all admit, Ezra did incorporateolder documents into his history (so even Mosesdoes in the Pentateuch), yet, as he moulded them into a homogenous narrative, this does not mitigate against his claim to be regarded as the proper author, and not simply as the editor of the book ythat bears his name. (See the Einleitungen of Havernick and Keil.) V. Personality of the Writer. — In the first six chapters the use of the third person predominates in the narrative, except in passages where, by synecdoche, occurs אמרנא, Hebrews אמרנוwe said, or where the narrative contains abstracts from documents to which Ezra had access. In these abstracts the Aramiac or Chaldee language of the original documents has been preserved from Ezr_4:8 to Ezr_6:8 and Ezr_7:12-26. These portions exist in Kennicott's Cod page 240, in a collateral Hebrew translation, reprinted in Knnicott's edition of the Hebrew Bible, and separately in Chaldaicorum Danielis et Eraroe capitum interpretatio Hebraica (Ludovicus Schulze, Halae, 1782, 8vo). An argument has been raised against the opinion that Ezra wasd the author of the whole book that bears his name from the use of the first person pluralin the 4th verse of the 5th chapter, which would seem to imply that the narrative was present on the occasion described; but, setting aside other replies to this argument, it appears that the word we refers to Tatnai and his companions, and not at all to the Jews.Ezra speaks from Ezr_7:27, to Ezr_9:15, in the first person. “There is an essential difference between public events which a man recollects, though only as in a dream, to have heard of at the time when they occurred, and those which preceeded his birth. The former we think of with reference to ourselves, the latter are foreign to us. The epoch and duration of the former we measure by our own life; the latter belong to a period for which our imagination has no scale. Life and definiteness are imparted to all that we hear or read with respect to the events of our own life.” (Niebuhr, On the distincton between Annals and History). These remarks, which Niebuhr made in reference to Tacitus, are in a great measure applicable also to Ezra. Instances of similar change of person are so frequent in ancient authors that rhewtorians have introduced it among the rhetorical figures under the name of enallages personarum. The prophetical writings of the Old Testament furnish examples of such ἐναλλαγή. For instance, Eze_1:1-3; Zec_1:1; Zec_6:1; Zec_7:1; Zec_4:8; Jer_20:1 sq., comp. with Jer_5:7 sq.; Jer_21:1; Jer_28:1-5; Jer_32:1-8; Hos_1:2-3; Hos_3:1. So also in Habakkuk, Daniel, etc. The frequency of this ἐναλλαγή especially in the prophetical parts of the Old Testament, arises from either the more objective or more subjective tendency of the style, which of course varies with the contents of the chapter. (See Fromman, Disq. Qua Orientis regibus plurium numero de se loque non inusitatum fuisse, probabiliter ostenditur, Cob. 1762). We express our opinion that even Havernick does not rightly set forth the truth of the matter when, in the Einleitung, he says that this ἐναλλαγή arose from Ezra's imitationof the prophetic usage, and when he approvingly quotes Schirmer's Observationes exegeticoe et criticoe in librum Esdroem 2:8 (Vratisl. 1830). There was certainly as little imitation of the prophets if we change from the first to the third person in our own communications. Ε᾿ναλλαγή never arises from imitation but only from imitation, but only from the more subjective or more objective turn of our mind, and from that vivacity of style which renders it incumbent upon the reader rather than upon the writer to supply that וִיּאֹמֶר, which, as in Jon_2:3, forms the transition from the use of the third to the adoption of the first person.
VI. Date. — The reckless assertions of some writers that this composition as a whole must be referred to a period about a century later the Ezra, or more, need not be noticed, because they have not even a pretense of argument in their favor. One writer, Zunz (Die gottesdienstl. Vortrage der Juden, 1832), has indeed alleged that there is some exaggeration about the sacred vessels said to have been restored by Cyrus; but his fellow- unbelievers have refused to agree with him, and have defended the historical credibility of the book throughout. Another critic, Bertheau, sees an evidence of the composition of Ezr_6:22 under the Greek successors of Alexander, because the king of Persia is called the king of Assyria; an argument which might have been left to its own weakness, even though we had been unable to give the parallels 2Ki_23:29; Lam_5:6, as Keil has done.
On the contrary, critics who rely upon their internal arguments might have seen evidence in favor of its early composition in the fact that its chronology is clear and exact; while the accounts of Jewish affairs under the Persian monarchy, a given by Josephus from apocryphal writers and other sources unknown to us, present extreme confusion and some palpable mistakes. The book begins with the decree to rebuild the Temple, B.C. 536. It narrates the difficulties and hinderances before this was accomplished in the sixth year of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, about B.C. 516. It passes in silence over the rest of his reign, 31 years, and the whole of the reign of Xerxes, 21 years, proceeding directly to the work of Ezra, who received his commission in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, B.C.459. If the whole of the events narrated in the closing chapter took place almost immediately, as is understood, we believe, by all commentators, then the extreme length of time embraced in the narrative is not above 80 years; and the order is strictly chronological, though it is not continuous, but leaves a blank of almost sixty years. (See Hilgenfeld, Ezra und Daniel, und ihre neueste Bearbeitungen, Halle, 1863.)
VII. Language. — The book is written partly in Hebrew and partly in Chaldee. The Chaldee begins at Ezr_4:8, and continues to the end of Ezr_6:18. The letter or decree of Artaxerxes, Ezr_7:12-26, is also given in the original Chaldee.
VIII. Canonicity. — There has never been any doubt about Ezra being canonical, although there is no quotation form it in the New Testament. Augustine styles Ezra “rather a writer of transactions than a prophet” (De Cix. Dei, 18:36).
IX. Apocryphal Additions. — We have spoken thus far of the canonical book of Ezra; there are, however, four books that have received this name, viz, the book noticed above, the only one which was received into the Hebrew canon under that name, the book of Nehemiah, and the two apocryphal books of Esdras, concerning which last SEE ESDRAS.
X. Commentaries. — The following are special exegetical works on the entire book, the most important being denoted by an asterisk (*) prefixed: *Aben Ezra, פֵּרוּשׁ(in Buxtorfs Rabbinical Bible, Basle, 1618-19 fol.); Bede, Erposito (in Works, 8:360); *Rashi, פֵּרוּשׁ(Naples, 1487, 4to; Venice, 1517, fol.; in Latin, with other books, Goltha, 1714, 4to); *Kimchi, פֵּרוּשׁ(in Bomberg's Rabbinical Bible, Ven. 1549, fol.); Simeon, פֵּריּשׁ(in the Bible, Venice, 1518, fol.); Jachya, פֵּרוּשׁ(Bologna, 1538, fol.); Jaabez, חֶסֶד תּורָת(Belvedere, n.d. fol.); Trapp, Commentary (London, 1656, fol.); De Oliva, Commentarii (Leyden, 1564, 4to; 1679, 2 volumes, fol.); *Strigel, Commentarius (Tigur. 1570, 1584, fol.); also Scholia (Lips.1571); Wolphius, Commentarii (Tigur. 1584, fol.); Sanctius, Commentarii (Leyd. 1628, fol.); Lombard, Commentarius (Par. 1643, fol.); Jackson, Explanation (London, 1658, 4to); Lee, Discourse (London, 1722, 8vo); *Rambach, Notae (in Grotii et Clerici Adnot. in Hagiogri); *Schirmer, Observationes (Vratislav. 1817, 8vo; 1820, 450); *Keil, Apologet. Vers. etc. (Berl. 1833, 8vo); Kleinert, Enstehung, etc. (in the Dorpt. Beitr. 1:1-304; 2:1-232); Jeitteles, עֶזְרָא, etc. (Vienna, 1835, 8vo); *Bertheau, Erklar. (in the Kurzgef. Exeg. Hdb. Lpz. 1862, 8vo). 4. (Sept. ῎Εζρα v.r. ῎Εσδρας, Vulg. Esdras.) One of the chief Israelites who formed the first division that made the circuit of the walls of Jerusalem when reconstructed (Neh_12:33). B.C. 446.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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