2 Esdras

Ezra prays for the people

The apocryphal book of 2 Esdras is included in many English translations of the Bible, although it is not generally recognized as canonical by Jewish, Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant groupings.

The book as it currently stands claims to be written by Ezra, the great Jewish leader and scribe who was instrumental in the establishment the Second Temple tradition after the Babylonian exile of the Jews. However, this Ezra is also called "Salathiel" elsewhere in the book, which could make him the father of the exile leader Zerubbabel, rather than Ezra the Scribe. In any case, although it claims to have been written by Ezra/Salathiel around 400 B.C.E., internal evidence suggests a much later date, probably in the late first century CE, with other sections added even later.

The work is basically a Jewish apocalypse, similar to parts of the Book of Daniel and the Book of Enoch, as well as to Christian works such as the Book of Revelation. It describes seven visions given to Ezra, three of which come in answer to his probing questions about human suffering in relationship to God's justice. Its outlook is profoundly pessimistic, affirming that the vast majority of humanity as well as many Jews will be eternally damned, and that God is avowedly unconcerned about the fate of those who do not obey him. Ezra himself is presented as a paragon of righteousness and asceticism, chosen by God to renew the divine word to the chosen people.

Study of the 2 Esdras is complicated by the probability that its early chapters—found only in Latin manuscripts but in not Greek ones—appear to be later additions written by a Christian author, prophesying the coming of the messianic "son of God" and God's subsequent complete rejection of the Jews. Other later chapters may also suffer from similar additions, although is is more debatable. Despite these and other difficulties with the text, the bulk of the work is considered one of the gems of Jewish apocalypticism.

Naming, numbering, and language

As with 1 Esdras, there is considerable confusion about the numbering of this book. Some early Latin manuscripts call it "3 Esdras," and Jerome denoted it "4 Esdras" in the Vulgate version. In more recent times, the books that Jerome's called 1 and 2 Esdras have been called the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah. The designation 2 Esdras became common in English Bibles, but not universally so. It appears in the Appendix to the Old Testament in the Slavonic Bible, where it is called 3 Esdras, and the Georgian Bible numbers it 3 Ezra, with Ezra being called 1 Esdras the book known in most English editions as 1 Esdras is labeled as 2 Esdras.

The first two chapters of 2 Esdras appear in the Latin version of the book, but not the Greek. They are considered by most scholars to be Christian in origin both for this reason and especially because they asserts God's rejection of the Jews in terms resembling Christian theology of the second and third centuries CE. This section also contains a vision of the the Messiah as the pre-existing son of God, again signaling probable Christian influence. These chapters are therefore generally considered to be late additions (possibly third century) to the work.

Ezra's three questions

Chapters 3-14, the great bulk of 2 Esdras, represent a Jewish apocalypse in the form of seven revelations given the Ezra while he still lived in Babylon. Although Ezra is generally known as "the Scribe," here he is also a great prophet, a virtual new Moses being prepared by God to renew the Law to God's people.

In the first vision Ezra asks God how Israel can be kept in misery if God is just. The archangel Uriel is sent to answer the question, responding that God's ways cannot be understood by the human mind. Soon, however, the end would come, and God's justice would be made manifest. Similarly, in the second vision, Ezra asks why Israel was delivered up to the Babylonians, and is again told that man cannot understand this and that the end is near. In the third vision Ezra asks why Israel does not possess the world. Uriel responds that the current state is a period of transition. Here follows a description of the fate of evil-doers and the righteous. Ezra attempts to intercede for the condemned, but is told that no one can escape his destiny.

Throughout these chapters, Ezra wrestles with thorny problems of fairness, justice, and theodicy—why good people suffer and evil prospers if God is both almighty and just. He is especially troubled by the fact that, because the world is populated primarily by sinners, the vast majority of people will suffer eternal damnation. God's answer is that he simply does not care for sinners, but only for those few good people like Ezra. Moreover, Ezra should not worry about the fate of the damned, but should concentrate on preaching and practicing righteousness.

Four symbolic visions

The remaing visions are more symbolic in nature. The fourth is of a woman mourning for her only son, who is transformed into a city when she hears of the desolation of Jerusalem and its Temple. Uriel explains that the woman is a symbol of of the holy city. The fifth vision concerns an eagle with three heads and twenty wings (twelve large wings and eight smaller wings "over against them"). The eagle is rebuked by a lion and then burned. Uriel interprets this vision as referring to the fourth kingdom of the vision of Daniel, with the wings and heads as rulers. The final scene of the vision reveals the triumph of the Messiah over the empire. The sixth vision is of a man, representing the Messiah, who breathes fire on a crowd that is attacking him. This man then turns to another peaceful multitude, which accepts him.

Finally, there is a vision of the restoration of scripture. God appears to Ezra in a bush and commands him to restore the Law. Ezra gathers five scribes and begins to dictate. After 40 days, he has produced 94 books: the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible and 70 secret works which he is not to reveal to the masses. This vision is omitted in the Latin translation of the text. It states:

"Make public the twenty-four books that you wrote first, and let the worthy and the unworthy read them; but keep the seventy that were written last, in order to give them to the wise among your people." (2 Esdras 14:45–46 RSV; 4 Ezra 12:45–46)

Purpose, date and author

The main body of the book appears to be written for consolation in a period of great distress. Some thus suggest that its most likely date would be shortly after Titus' destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. The author seeks answers, similar to Job's quest for understanding of the meaning of suffering. However, he sets this philosophical question in the context of Israel's collective suffering and the issue of eternal damnation, as opposed to Job's highly personal and earthly tortures. Moreover, while for Job, the question deals with unfair suffering imposed by God on a righteous man (Job), in Ezra, it deals with why God allows so many people to be eternally damned, and why he has allowed his beloved people of Israel to suffer.

Critics question whether even the main body of the book—not counting the chapters that exist only in the Latin version and in Greek fragments—has a single author. Some perceive no less than five hands at work on the text, while others argue that except of the late Christian interpolations, the book is written by a single author. Even possible that the so-called "Christian" chapters are defended by some commentators as representing a Jewish very of the pre-existence of the Messiah, as can be seen in later rabbinical tradition in the Talmud and Midrash.

Critics have widely debated the origin of the book. Hidden as it is under two layers of translation, it is difficult to determine whether the primary Jewish author hailed from Alexandria, Jerusalem, Rome, or some other location.

The scholarly interpretation of the eagle of 2 Esdras 5 being the Roman Empire (whose heads might be Vespasian, Titus and Domitian if such is the case) would indicate that the probable date of composition lies toward the end of the first century, perhaps 90–96, though some suggest a date as late as 218.

Lost verses

Most Latin editions of the text have a large lacuna (a section of missing text) of about 70 verses between 7:36 and 7:37 due to the fact that they trace their common origin to one early manuscript, Codex Sangermanensis, which was missing an entire page. In 1895 Bensly and James published a critical edition restoring the lost verses; it is this edition that is used in the Stuttgart edition of the Vulgate. The restored verses are numbered 7:36 to 7:106, with the former verses 7:37-7:69 renumbered to 7:107-7:137.

The last two chapters of 2 Ezra are found in the Latin version, but not in the Eastern texts. These chapter predict wars led by the Messiah (called again the "son of God") and harshly rebuke sinners. Many assume that they, like the early chapters, date from a much later period (perhaps late third century) and may be Christian in origin. it is possible, though not certain, that they were added at the same time as the first two chapters of the Latin version. It is possible, however, that they are Jewish in origin, as they have been found in Greek manuscripts which most scholars agree was translated from a Hebrew original.

Usage

The book is considered one of the gems of Jewish apocalyptic literature. While it was not received into European Christian canons, the Jewish Apocalypse of Ezra i.e. 2 Esdras 3-14 is regarded as Scripture in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and it was also widely cited by early Fathers of the Church, particularly Ambrose of Milan.

The introitus of the traditional Requiem in the Catholic Church is loosely based on 2:34-35: "Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them." Several other liturgical prayers are taken from the book. In his Vulgate, Clement VIII placed the book in an appendix after the New Testament with the rest of the Apocrypha, "lest they perish entirely".^[1]

Notes

↑ Clementine Vulgate, Note to the Appendix

External links

Holy Bible, Douay-Rheims Version, O.T. Part 2, available for free via Project Gutenberg. (See in the appendix: The Fovrth Booke of Esdras in a 1610 translation. Also included is Robert Lubbock Bensly's 1874 translation of a "rediscovered" 70-verse fragment (7:36-105) on a page that was omitted from the 1610 translation, though present in all earlier versions.)

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

2 Esdras ^history

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

History of "2 Esdras"

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

[1] Clementine Vulgate, Note to the Appendix

[1]