Ezra: Encyclopedia - Ezra

Ezra

Ezra (עֶזְרָא, Standard Hebrew ʿEzra, Tiberian Hebrew ʿEzrâ: short for עַזְרִיאֵל "My help/court is God", Standard Hebrew ʿAzriʾel, Tiberian Hebrew ʿAzrîʾēl) was the "scribe" who led the second body of exiled Israelites that returned from Babylon to Jerusalem in 459 BCE, and is probably the author of the Book of Ezra and the Book of 1 Chronicles in the Bible.

He was the son, or perhaps grandson, of Seraiah (2 Kings 25:18-21), and a lineal descendant of Phinehas, the son of Aaron (Ezra 7:1-5). All we know of his personal history is contained in the last four chapters of his book, and in Nehemiah 8 and 12:26.

In the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus (see also Darius I of Persia), he obtained leave to go up to Jerusalem and to take with him a company of Israelites (Ezra 8). Artaxerxes manifested great interest in Ezra's undertaking, granting him "all his request," and loading him with gifts for the house of God. Ezra assembled the band of exiles, probably about 5,000 in all, who were prepared to go up with him to Jerusalem, on the banks of the Ahava, where they rested for three days, and were put into order for their march across the desert, which was completed in four months. His activities in Jerusalem following his arrival are recorded in his book.

For about fourteen years, (i.e., until 445 BCE), we have no record of what went on in Jerusalem after Ezra had set in order the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the nation. In that year another distinguished personage, Nehemiah, appears on the scene. After the ruined wall of the city had been built by Nehemiah, there was a great gathering of the people at Jerusalem preparatory to the dedication of the wall. On the appointed day the whole population assembled, and the Torah was read aloud to them by Ezra and his assistants (Neh. 8:3). The remarkable scene is described in detail. There was a great religious awakening. For successive days, beginning on Rosh Hashanah (the first day of the seventh month) they rejoiced in the holy days of the month of Tishri. Ezra read to them the entire scroll of the Torah and he and various scholars and Levites explained and interpreted the deeper meanings and applications of the Torah to the assembled crowd. These festivities culminated in a very enthusiastic and joyous seven day celebration of the Festival of Sukkot, concluding on the eighth day with the holiday of Shemini Atzeret. On the twenty-fourth day, immediately following the holidays they held a solemn assembly, fasting and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. Then, they renewed their national covenant to follow God's Torah, given through the hand of Moses, and to observe and fulfill all of the Lord's commandments, laws and decrees. (Neh. 10:30). Abuses were rectified, and arrangements for the temple service completed, and now nothing remained but the dedication of the walls of the city (Neh. 12).

Ezra - Relation to the Book of Ruth

According to many scholars, the Book of Ruth was originally a part of the Book of Judges, but it was later separated from that book and made into an independent book. Its opening verse explicitly places it during the time period of the Judges, and its language and description seem to make the authorship contemporary with that period. On the other hand, the message of the book, which shows acceptance of marrying converts to Judaism, has been used to suggest that the book was written during the early days of the Persian period. At that time, Ezra condemned intermarriages and, according to his eponymous book, forced the Israelites to abandon their non-Jewish wives who did not convert. According to this theory, the Book of Ruth was written in response to Ezra's reform and in defense of these marriages. More likely, the book was a response to critics of King David, who contested his qualifications as a Jew due to his Moabite ancestry. In that context, the book uses the precedent set by a Jewish court, lead by Boaz, to demonstrate that a Moabitess could convert and be a member of the Children of Israel.

Ezra - Place in editing the Torah and Bible

According to Rabbinic Jewish tradition, Ezra collected and arranged the canon of the Hebrew Bible. Information on his activities in this regard are found in the Talmud and in the midrash literature.

In the view of many modern scholars, these sources provide one set of evidence in favor of the documentary hypothesis. In this view, some midrash compilations retain evidence of the redactional period during which Ezra redacted and canonized the text of the Torah as we know it today. This idea is discussed by Rabbi David Weiss Halivni in his works Revelation Restored: Divine Writ and Critical Responses (Westview Press, 1997), and Peshat and Derash: Plain and Applied Meaning in Rabbinic Exegesis (Oxford University Press, 1998). Richard Elliot Friedman suggests that Ezra was the second editor who combined the priestly source into the Torah and that the J and E sources had been combined by an earlier editor. If so Ezra seems to have been careful to preserve almost all of the original sources in the final composite.[1] Jewish sources do not mention about editing or redacting the Torah. Rather, the aggada suggests that Ezra and the Men of the Great Assembly edited such works as Daniel, Esther and Ezekiel. (Bava Batra 14b).

Ezra - Ezra in the Quran

Ezra is also mentioned in the Muslim Quran as Uzair "9:30: The Jews call 'UZAIR a son of Allah, and the Christians call Jesus the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!"

Category: Tanakh prophets

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Ezra", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki