I ESDRAS
INTRODUCTION
§ 1. Preliminary Account of the Book.
The first book of the Apocrypha stands in a class by itself in that it is, with the exception of one portion, a somewhat free Greek version of the biblical history from Josiah's Passover (2 Chron. xxxv.) to the Reading of the Law by Ezra (Neh. viii.). It differs, however, in several important particulars both from the corresponding canonical passages and from the more literal Greek translation of them (also preserved in the Septuagint), and an adequate treatment of its text and contents belongs properly to the commentaries and handbooks on Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. Consequently, in order to keep the Introduction and Notes within limits, it has seemed desirable to print the Revised Version of the 'apocryphal' and 'canonical' passages side by side, and to restrict all remarks to those points which appeared to be essential for the study of the relation between the texts and their significance for the period which they cover. Further reference to the commentaries and other works dealing with the period in question is therefore recommended.
The contents of 1 Esdras comprise :—
- E i.[1] = 2 Chron. xxxvi. 1–xxxvi. 21. Josiah's passover and death; the last kings of Judah to the fall of Jerusalem, 586 B.C.
- ii. 1–15. = E i. The decree of Cyrus permitting the rebuilding of the Temple and the return of Sheshbazzar with the temple-vessels and a band of exiles, 538–537.
- ii. 16–30. = E iv. 7–24. The Samaritan opposition to the rebuilding in the reign of Artaxerxes, 465–425.
- iii. i–v. 6. wanting in E. The successful oration of Zerubbabel, one of the bodyguard of Darius, in the second year of his reign (D. I, Hystaspes, 521–486), and the king's decree permitting a return of exiles to rebuild the city and Temple; brief statement of the journey.
- v. 7–73. = E ii. i–iv. 5, 24 (v. 6 is wanting). List of Zerubbabel's band, the rebuilding of the Temple hindered by the Samaritans from the time of Cyrus to the second year of Darius (520).
- vi.–vii. = E v.–vi. The successful rebuilding of the Temple through the intervention of Darius in 520, and its completion in 516.
- viii. i–ix. 36 = E vii.-x. The decree of Artaxerxes in his seventh year (458), the return of Ezra and a body of exiles, the separation of the people from the foreign wives.
- ix. 37–55 = N vii. 73–viii. 13 a. The reading of the law by Ezra, placed in N l. c. after the return of Nehemiah in the king's twentieth year (444).
The outstanding features are:—
(1) The presence of the Artaxerxes record before the reign of Darius, whether after the return of Sheshbazzar (E ii. 16–30) or after the commencement of the rebuilding by Zerubbabel (E iv. 7–24), both of which are placed in the time of Cyrus.
(2) The inclusion of E iii. i–v. 6, the story famous for the Praise of Truth and the well-known dictum 'magna est veritas et praevalet', and the decree of Darius (which excludes any prior return).
(3) The confusion caused by the presence of this section (E iii. i–v. 6) in the history of the exiles who returned in the time of Cyrus (E ii. 1–15 = E 1) and at once commenced the work of rebuilding (E v. 7–73 = E ii.–iv.).
(4) The omission in E of N i.–vii. 72, with the result that the continuation of the story of Ezra (N viii.) is placed in immediate connexion with E vii.–x., whereas the canonical books leave a gap of twelve years between E vii.–x. and N i. seqq.
(5) Numerous readings in E of greater or less value, which are often important for the textual criticism of the MT, and sometimes affect the literary and historical problems of the sources.
E ceases abruptly; cf. the close of 2 Chron., 'and let him go up' (=E i. 3), also Mark xvi. 8. The R.V. rendering of ix. 55 implies that this is intentional (so Ewald, Bissell, Lupton, Bayer, and others). Hence it is often supposed that E is a self-contained work, written and compiled for some
- ↑ For the abbreviations E, E, N, &c., see below, p. 19 seq.
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