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Ezra

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Ezra
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(flourished 4th century BC, Babylon and Jerusalem) Jewish religious leader and reformer. He restored the Jewish community after its exile in Babylon, persuading the people of Judah to return to a strict observance of Mosaic law. He served as a commissioner of the Persian government, which was tolerant of other religions but required order and authority. His efforts led to a restoration of traditional worship in the rebuilt Temple of Jerusalem and the dissolution of all mixed marriages. For creating a Jewish community based on the Law, which could exist without political statehood, he is often considered the founder of modern Judaism. His story is told in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

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Biography: Ezra
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Ezra (active 5th century B.C.) was a Hebrew priest, scribe, religious leader, and reformer who vitally influenced Judaism.

The son of Seraiah, Ezra was a descendant of the ancient priestly house of Zadok. In 458 B.C., the seventh year of the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, Ezra obtained the King's permission to visit Judea, bearing with him the latter's gifts for the Holy Temple. The primary purpose of his mission, however, was to inquire into the deteriorating religious conditions of the Jewish community in Judea.

Ezra came at the head of a caravan of about 1,800 men, not including their women and children. They made the 4 month journey from Babylon without the benefit of military escort, thereby demonstrating their trust and reliance upon God.

Soon after his arrival in Jerusalem, Ezra proceeded to reorganize the Temple services. In response to his vigorous program to persuade the people to observe the Mosaic Law, they entered into a covenant to keep the Sabbath and the Sabbatical year, as well as other precepts of the Torah. But the problem that perplexed Ezra most was that many of the Judean settlers had taken heathen wives from among the neighboring peoples. Mixed marriages had become so prevalent as to threaten the very survival of the Jewish community. Ezra induced his people to divorce their pagan wives and to separate from the community those who refused to do so.

Ezra's action was an extreme measure, but he felt that the critical situation warranted it. It aroused the ire of the Samaritans and other peoples, who resented the affront to their women. In retaliation the Samaritans denounced Ezra to the Persian king for attempting to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, which he evidently was not authorized to do. The King stopped the work, and the rebuilt part was razed.

Ezra convened an assembly of the people in Jerusalem (ca. 445) in order to bring about a religious revival. Standing on a wooden pulpit, he read aloud a portion of the Law of Moses, which the Levites expounded. At that time, too, Ezra reinstituted the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. It is probable that he died shortly after this episode. The traditional tomb of Ezra is located in Basra, Iraq, though Josephus stated that he was buried in Jerusalem.

The Talmud ascribes a far more important role to Ezra than that recorded in the scriptural book bearing his name. The Talmud asserts that Ezra would have been worthy of having the Torah given through him to Israel had not Moses preceded him. It also attributes to him many ancient laws, perhaps to give them prestige and authority. It states that he introduced the use of the square Hebrew script. Ezra also is said to have determined the precise text of the Pentateuch. Tradition regards him, moreover, as the founder of the Kenesset Hagdolah, the Great Assembly, which exercised supreme religious authority until the end of the 4th century B.C.

Scholars believe it was Ezra who replaced the altars and shrines in the villages with synagogues. Other prominent Jewish religious customs are associated with Ezra, who is generally credited with having removed the Torah from the monopoly of the priesthood and democratized it by teaching it to the people. Finally, Ezra is regarded as the savior of the national and religious life of Judaism at a most critical period.

Further Reading

R. Travers Herford discusses the period of Ezra in The Pharisees (1924). For background see John Bright, A History of Israel (1959), and G. A. Buttrick and others, eds., Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 2 (1962).

Encyclopedia of Judaism: Ezra
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Priest, scribe and religious reformer who led a group of Babylonian exiles back to Jerusalem in 458 BCE. His known activity began in the seventh year of the reign of the Persian king Artaxerxes I (Ezra 7:7). At first, he seems to have acted unassisted, but after he was joined by Nehemiah, the two worked together.

Ezra was a descendant of the High Priest at the time of the destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE. He is called "a scribe expert in the Teaching of Moses" (Ezra 7:6) and "a priest-scribe, a scholar in matters connected with the commandments of the Lord, and His Laws to Israel" (Ezra 7:11). When Ezra moved to Judah from Babylonia, the king permitted him to accept gifts for the Temple, to appoint judges, and to teach the Torah. On the Feast of Sukkot after his arrival in Jerusalem, he convened a great assembly, which, under his influence, resolved to make a covenant to expel all foreign wives taken by Jewish men who had not gone into Exile, as well as the children of these wives.

His second project was the convening of an assembly of the people on Rosh Ha-Shanah. Ezra read the Torah until midday and prevailed upon the people to observe its commandments. The people confessed their sins and made a covenant to observe the Torah and to divorce their foreign wives.

Rabbinical tradition holds Ezra in great respect. He is considered to have been on a level with Moses in his knowledge of the Torah (San. 21b). The Jews of Judah had forgotten the Torah during the Babylonian Exile, and Ezra taught it to them anew (Suk. 20a). He established the Great Assembly.

Ezra ordained ten decrees, including the Reading of the Law at the Sabbath Afternoon Service and at the Monday and Thursday Morning Services. He also ordained that courts be convened on market days (San. 43b). Ezra, say the rabbis, changed the script from the ancient Hebrew script to the Assyrian (square) script (see Alphabet). Ezra was involved in the codification of the Pentateuch, ruling that that certain words be marked with dots above them in cases where there was doubt concerning how they should be written (ARN 34). According to Josephus, he was buried in Jerusalem; however, another tradition holds that his grave is on the Shatt-el-Arab by the banks of the River Tigris. (See Ezra and Nehemiah, Books of).

Bible Guide: Ezra
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("[God] helps")

1. The leader of a group of Jews returning to Jerusalem from the Babylonian Exile in 458 B.C., during the reign of the Persian King Artaxerxes I, as told in the Book of Ezra (7:7-9). Although of high-priestly stock (Ezra 7:1-5), Ezra did not officiate in the cult, nor did he hold specific political office. His function was that of a "skilled scribe in the law of Moses", officially recognized by the Persian emperor (Ezra 7:6). When Ezra learned that the renewed Jewish community in Judah lacked spiritual direction, he received permission from the king to lead 1,754 exiles to Judah, to give a firm foundation to Mosaic law there. Intent on fortifying the returned exiles' awareness of their Jewish identity, Ezra convened the people for a public reading of the Law (Neh 8:1-12), and a celebration of the Tabernacles festival culminating in a solemn prayer. Subsequently, the leaders of the community approached Ezra on the matter of mixed marriages: by prayer and a public fast, Ezra eventually encouraged the dissolution of alliances contracted between Jewish men and alien wives (Ezra 10:18-44). Ezra's memoirs end early in 457 B.C. after about one year of active leadership. See EZRA AND NEHEMIAH, BOOKS OF.

2. A priest who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel from the Babylonian Exile (Neh 12:1, 13); he is also called Azariah in Nehemiah 10:2.

3. A priest during the time of Nehemiah (Neh 12:33).

Concordance
EZRA 1: Ezra 7:1, 6, 8,10-12, 21, 25; 10:1-2, 5-6,10, 16. Neh 8:1-2, 4-6, 9,13; 12:26, 36
EZRA 2: Neh 12:1, 13
EZRA 3: Neh 12:33

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Ezra
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Ezra, in the Bible.

1 Central figure of the book of Ezra.

2 Priest who returned with Zerubbabel.

Wikipedia: Ezra
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For other uses, see Ezra (disambiguation).
Site traditionally described by Muslims as the tomb of Ezra at Al Uzayr near Basra.

Ezra (Hebrew: עֶזְרָא, Modern ʿEzra Tiberian ʿEzrâ) was a Jewish priestly scribe who led about 5,000 Israelite exiles living in Babylon to their home city of Jerusalem in 459 BCE. Ezra reconstituted the dispersed Jewish community on the basis of the Torah and with an emphasis on the law. According to the Hebrew Bible, Ezra resolved the identity threat which arose by the intermarriage between Jews and foreigners and provided a definite reading of the Torah.[1][2] Ezra is highly respected in the Jewish tradition. His knowledge of the Torah is considered to have been equal with Moses.[3] Like Moses, Enoch, and David, Ezra is given the honorific title of "scribe" and is referred to as עזרא הסופר, or "Ezra the scribe" in the Jewish tradition.[4]

Although not explicitly mentioned in the Qur'an among the prophets, he is considered as one of the prophets by some Muslim scholars, based on Islamic traditions.[5][6]

Contents

Etymology and meaning

The Hebrew term עֶזְרָא (Ezra) is probably an abbreviation of "Azaryahu" meaning "God helps".[7].

Sources

Our knowledge of Ezra comes from the Book of Ezra, the Book of Nehemiah, and the apocryphal Book of I Esdras.[2]

Hebrew Bible

According to the genealogy in Ezra 7:1-5, Ezra was the son of Seraiah, the high priest taken captive by Babylonians, a lineal descendant of Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron.[8]

In the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes I Longimanus, Ezra obtained leave to go to Jerusalem and to take with him a company of Israelites. Artaxerxes showed great interest in Ezra's undertaking, granting him his requests, and giving him gifts for the house of God.[9] Ezra assembled a band of approximately 5,000 exiles to go to Jerusalem.[10] They rested on the banks of the Ahava for three days and organized their four-month march across the desert.[11] After observing a day of public fasting and prayer, they left the banks of the river Ahava for Jerusalem. Having rich gifts and treasures in their keeping and being without military escort, they made the due precaution for the safeguarding of the treasures.[7]

After his arrival in Jerusalem, Ezra notices that contrary to the Jewish law, even the Jews of high standing and priests, had intermarried with pagan non-Hebrew women.[7][12] Ezra took strenuous measures against such marriages and insisted upon the dismissal of such wives.[7][12] No record exists of Ezra until we find him at the reading of the Law which took place after the rebuilding of the wall of the city by Nehemiah.[12] Ezra then brought the "book of the law of Moses" for the assembly.[13] On the first day of the seventh month (Tishri), Ezra and his assistants read the Torah aloud to the whole population from the morning until midday.[14] According to the text, a great religious awakening occurred.[12] Ezra read the entire scroll of the Torah to the people, and he and other scholars and Levites explained the meaning of what is being read so that the people could understand them.[15] These festivities culminated in an enthusiastic and joyous seven-day celebration of the Festival of Sukkot, concluding on the eighth day with the holiday of Shemini Atzeret. On the 24th day, immediately following the holidays, they held a solemn assembly, fasting and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.[16] Afterwards, they renewed their national covenant to follow the Torah and to observe and fulfill all of the Lord's commandments, laws and decrees.[17]

Esdras

Besides the books of Ezra and Nehemiah accepted as a canonical part of the Hebrew Bible by all churches, the book of Esdras also preserves the Greek text of Ezra and a part of Nehemiah.[2] There are disagreements among Christians over the authenticity of the book of Esdras.[18]

The first century Jewish historian, Josephus, preferred I Esdras over the canonical Ezra–Nehemiah and placed Ezra as a contemporary of Xerxes son of Darius, rather than of Artaxerxes.[19]

The apocalyptic fourth book of Ezra (also called the second book of Esdras) is thought by Western scholars to have been written AD 100 probably in Hebrew-Aramaic. It was one of the most important sources for Jewish theology at the end of the first century. In this book, Ezra has a seven part prophetic revelation, converses with an angel or God three times and has four visions. Ezra, while in the Babylonian Exile, prophecies the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.[1] The central theological themes are "the question of theodicy, God's justness in the face of the triumph of the heathens over the pious, the course of world history in terms of the teaching of the four kingdoms (12,11 Daniel), the function of the law, the eschatological judgment, the appearance on Earth of the heavenly Jerusalem, the Messianic Period, at the end of which the Messiah will die (7:29), the end of this world and the coming of the next, and the Last Judgment."[1] Ezra restores the law that was destroyed with the burning of the temple. He dictates 24 books for the public (i.e. the Hebrew Bible) and another 70 for the wise alone (70 unnamed revelatory works).[20] At the end, he is taken up to heaven like Enoch and Elijah.[1] Ezra is seen as a new Moses in this book.[1] There is also another work, thought to be influenced by this one, known as the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra.

Role in Judaism

Traditionally Judaism credits Ezra with establishing the Great Assembly of scholars and prophets, the forerunner of the Sanhedrin, as the authority on matters of religious law. The Great Assembly is credited with establishing numerous features of contemporary traditional Judaism in something like their present form, including Torah reading, the Amidah, and establishing the feast of Purim.[7]

In Rabbinic traditions, Ezra is metaphorically referred to as the "flowers that appear on the earth" signifying the springtime in the national history of Judaism. Even if the law had not been given to Moses before, Ezra was worthy of being its vehicle.[7] A disciple of Baruch ben Neriah, he favored study of the Law over the reconstruction of the Temple and thus because of his studies, he did not join the first party returning to Jerusalem in the reign of Cyrus. According to another opinion, he did not join the first party so as not to compete, even involuntarily, with Jeshua ben Jozadak for the office of chief priest.[7] Ezra was also doubtful of the correctness of some words in Torah and said that "Should Elijah... approve the text, the points will be disregarded; should he disapprove, the doubtful words will be removed from the text".[7][21]

According to the tradition, Ezra was the writer of the Book of Chronicles.[7]

Islam

Main article: Uzair

The Quran says: "the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved of old. Allah (Himself) fighteth against them". Muslim scholars such as Mutahhar al-Maqdisi and Djuwayni and notably Ibn Hazm and al-Samaw'al accused Ezra of falsification of the Scriptures.[22] Ezra lived between the times of King Solomon and the time of Zechariah, father of John the Baptist.[5][6] (a period of about eight centuries).

Ezra is usually identified by Muslim commentators with the name Uzair (Arabic: عزير). Only one Qur'anic verse (Qur'an 9:30) mentions Ezra or Uzair, by the name and accuses Jews therein of hailing him as "the son of God", in a similar fashion as the Christians hail Jesus as the "son of God", citing it to be a blasphemous utterance of which neither Christians nor Jews have any authority and that in saying so they merely imitate what other peoples of more ancient cultures used to attribute to God, i.e., a progeny. There is no support for this claim in either Jewish literature or Jewish history. Judaism holds the idea of any person being God, or a part of God, or a mediator to God, to be heresy, and no branch of Judaism makes Ezra a son of God.[23][24] However the term 'sons of gods' occurs in Genesis.[25]. There are differing interpretations of what this means.[26]

Academic view

Historicity and genealogy

Mary Joan Winn Leith in the The Oxford History of the Biblical World believes that the historical Ezra's life was enhanced in the scripture and was given a theological buildup, but this does not imply that Ezra did not exist.[27] Gosta W. Ahlstrom, argues the inconsistencies of the biblical tradition are insufficient to say that Ezra, with his central position as the 'father of Judaism' in the Jewish tradition, has been a later literary invention.[28] Those who argue against the historicity of Ezra argue that the presentation style of Ezra as a leader and lawgiver resembles that of Moses. There are also similarities between Ezra the priest-scribe (but not high priest) and Nehemiah the secular governor on the one hand and Joshua and Zerubbabel on the other hand. The early second century BCE Jewish author Jesus ben Sirach praises Nehemiah, but makes no mention of Ezra.[27]

According to the biblical genealogy of Ezra in Ezra 7:1-7:5, he is the son of Seraiah, the high priest taken captive by Babylonians.[29]

Timeline

Scholars are divided over the chronological sequence of the activities of Ezra and Nehemiah. Ezra came to Jerusalem "in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the King".[30] The text does not specify whether the king in the passage refers to Artaxerxes I (465-424 BCE) or to Artaxerxes II (404-359 BCE).[31][32] Most scholars hold that Ezra lived during the rule of Artaxerxes I, though some have difficulties with this assumption:[2] Nehemiah and Ezra "seem to have no knowledge of each other; their mission do not overlap;[33] and no reflection of Ezra's activity appears in Jerusalem of Nehemiah."[34] These difficulties has led many scholars to assume that Ezra arrived in the seventh year of the rule of Artaxerxes II , i.e. some 50 years after Nehemiah. This assumption would imply that the biblical account is not chronological. The last group of scholars regard "the seventh year" as a scribal error and hold that the two men were contemporaries.[2][35]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Liwak, Rüdiger; Schwemer, Anna Maria "Ezra." Brill's New Pauly.
  2. ^ a b c d e Ezra." Encyclopædia Britannica.2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
  3. ^ The New Encyclopedia of Judaism, Ezra
  4. ^ Edward Kessler, Neil Wenborn,A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge University Press, p.398
  5. ^ a b But the Qur'an 9:30 quotes Jews as saying that he is the "son of God"Ashraf, Shahid (2005). "Prophets ’Uzair, Zakariya and Yahya (PBUT)" (Google Books). Encyclopaedia of Holy Prophet and Companions. Daryaganj, New Delhi: Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd.. pp. 199–200. ISBN 8126119403. http://books.google.com/books?id=2UqxApJT4JAC&pg=PA199&dq=uzair+was+a+prophet&as_brr=3&ei=RJ4qR8eBN5nKiQGl3py1DA&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=z2JJi_4OVbBJcni08qyCMP5wu2I. Retrieved 2007-11-20. 
  6. ^ a b Ibn Kathir; Ali As-Sayed Al- Halawani (trans.). "`Uzair(Ezra)". Stories Of The Quran. Islambasics.com. http://www.islambasics.com/view.php?bkID=80&chapter=12. Retrieved 2007-11-21. 
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Emil G. Hirsch, Isaac Broydé, "Ezra the Scribe", Jewish Encyclopedia (Online)
  8. ^ Ezra 7:1-7:5
  9. ^ Ezra 7:7, Ezra 7:11-7:28
  10. ^ Watson E. Mills, Roger Aubrey Bullard, Mercer Dictionary of the Bible, p.285
  11. ^ Ezra 8:15-8:28
  12. ^ a b c d Catholic Encyclopedia, Esdras
  13. ^ Nehemiah 8:1
  14. ^ Nehemiah 8:2
  15. ^ Nehemiah 8:7
  16. ^ Nehemiah 8:18, Nehemiah 9:1-9:3
  17. ^ Nehemiah 10:1
  18. ^ "Greek Ezra" or sometimes named I (or II or III) Esdras was considerably popular in the early Church. It was included in the canon of the Septuagint (a translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek). In the reforming Council of Trent (1545–63), the Roman Catholic Church removed the book from the canon and placed it as an appendix to the New Testament. (cf. "biblical literature." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, p.173; "Esdras, First Book of." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online ) The Eastern Orthodox Church however considers I Esdras as canonical, as does the Oriental Orthodox Church (cf. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, p.423; R. W. Cowley, The Biblical Canon Of The Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today, Ostkirchliche Studien, 1974, Volume 23, pp. 318-323.)
  19. ^ "Esdras, First Book of." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online
  20. ^ Howard H. Cox, The Pentateuch: History Or Story?, p.101
  21. ^ Bamidbar Rabbah 3:13, quoted in Rabbi David Weiss Halivni, Revelation Restored, ch.1; also cited in Avot de-Rabbi Natan xxxiv.
  22. ^ Uzayr, Encyclopedia of Islam
  23. ^ Emunoth ve-Deoth, II:5
  24. ^ Exod. Rabba 29
  25. ^ The Bible, Genesis, Ch. 6, v. 2
  26. ^ Son of God, Sons of God
  27. ^ a b Winn Leith, Mary Joan (2001) [1998]. "Israel among the Nations: The Persian Period". in Michael David Coogan (ed.) (Google Books). The Oxford History of the Biblical World. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. pp. pg. 306. LCCN 98-016042. ISBN 0195139372. OCLC 44650958. http://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Oxford+History+of+the+Biblical+World&ei=v-FhR-q_MJKIiQGU-eCIBw&sig=09eixie3bqkoalqx66xDGO9GBqI#PRA2-PA306,M1. Retrieved 2007-12-13. 
  28. ^ Gosta W. Ahlstrom, The History of Ancient Palestine, Fortress Press, p.888
  29. ^ William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, William Horbury, John Sturdy, The Cambridge History of Judaism, p.144
  30. ^ Ezra 7:7
  31. ^ Porter, J.R. (2000). The Illustrated Guide to the Bible. New York: Barnes & Noble Books. pp. 115–116. ISBN 0-760-72278-1. 
  32. ^ The dates of Nehemiah's and Ezra's respective missions, and their chronological relation to each other, are uncertain, because each mission is dated solely by a regnal year of an Achaemenian King Artaxerxes; and in either case we do not know for certain whether the Artaxerxes in question is Artaxerxes I (465-424 B.C.) or Artaxerxes II (404-359 B.C.). So we do not know whether the date of Ezra's mission was 458 B.C. or 397 B.C.' Arnold Toynbee, A Study of History, vol.12 (1961) Oxford University Press, 1964 pp.484-485 n.2
  33. ^ Nehemiah 8 is transposed for rhetorical reasons; Nehemiah 8:9 is almost unanimously considered to be a scribal harmonization
  34. ^ Winn Leith, Mary Joan (2001) [1998]. "Israel among the Nations: The Persian Period". in Michael David Coogan (ed.) (Google Books). The Oxford History of the Biblical World. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. pp. pg. 281. LCCN 98-016042. ISBN 0195139372. OCLC 44650958. http://books.google.com/books?id=zFhvECwNQD0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Oxford+History+of+the+Biblical+World&ei=v-FhR-q_MJKIiQGU-eCIBw&sig=09eixie3bqkoalqx66xDGO9GBqI#PRA2-PA281,M1. Retrieved 2007-12-13. 
  35. ^ John Boederman, The Cambridge Ancient History, 2002, p.272

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