Ezra
Ezra is a personal name derived from Hebrew, written variously as עֶזְרָא ( Standard Hebrew ), ʿEzra, ( Tiberian Hebrew ), ʿEzrâ: Arabic: 'Uzair (عزير), Turkish: Esra.
- Ezra or Esdras, Biblical figures
- Islamic view of Ezra
- Book of Ezra, a book of the Bible
- Ezra of Armenia, a Catholicos of Armenia
- Ezra (film), a 2007 Nigerian film
- Ezra (comic), a comic book character by Arcana Studio
- Ezra (youth movement), an Orthodox Zionist youth movement
In people:
- Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University
- Ezra Kire, musician
- Ezra Klein, blogger and journalist for The American Prospect
- Ezra Pound, poet
- Ezra Vogel, East Asian scholar
- David Alan Ezra, U.S. District Judge in Honolulu
- Ezra Jack Keats, children's book author
- Ezra Levant, publisher of the Western Standard newsmagazine
- Abraham ibn Ezra, one of the most distinguished men of letters and writers of the Middle Ages
- Ezra Stiles
- Ezra Taylor,Rugby union player, currently playing for the Highlanders super 14 squad
See also
- Ibn Ezra, prominent Jewish family from Spain spanning many centuries.
- Better than Ezra, an alternative rock band
- ESRA
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Ezra (disambiguation)". Image Credit.
Extended Definition: EZRA
Ezra
Ezra (Hebrew: עֶזְרָא, Standard 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 or 428 BCE or 397 BCE.[1] 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.[2] [3] Ezra is highly respected in the Jewish tradition. His knowledge of the Torah is considered to have been equal with Moses. [4] 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.[5]
Although not explicitly mentioned in the Quran among the prophets, he is considered as one of the prophets by some Muslim scholars, based on Islamic traditions.[6][7] On the other hand, Muslim scholars such as Mutahhar al-Maqdisi and Djuwayni and notably Ibn Hazm and al-Samaw'al accused Ezra (or one of his disciples) of falsification of the Scriptures. [8]
Our knowledge of Ezra comes from the Book of Ezra, Book of Nehemiah and Apocryphal Book of I Esdras.[3]
Etymology and meaning
Sources
Our knowledge of Ezra comes from the Book of Ezra, the Book of Nehemiah, and the apocryphal Book of I Esdras.[3]
Hebrew Bible
According to the genealogy in Ezra 7:1-5, Ezra was the son of Seraiah, the high priest taken captive by Babylonians (see 2 Kings 25:18 and compare 1 Chron. 6:14), a lineal descendant of Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron.[10]
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.[3] There are disagreements among Christians over the authenticity of the book of Esdras. [20]
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.[21]
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.[2] 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."[2] 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 other 70 for the wise alone (70 unnamed revelatory works).[22] At the end, he is taken up to heaven like Enoch and Elijah. [2] Ezra is seen as a new Moses in this book.[2] There is also another work, thought to be influenced by this one, known as the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra.
Role in Judaism
Islam
Although not explicitly mentioned in Quran among the prophets, Ezra is considered as one of the prophets by most Muslim scholars, based on Islamic traditions. Ezra lived between the times of King Solomon and the time of Zechariah, father of John the Baptist. [6][7]. On the other hand, Muslim scholars such as Mutahhar al-Maqdisi and Djuwayni and notably Ibn Hazm and al-Samaw'al accused Ezra (or one of his disciples) of falsification of the Scriptures. [8]
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.[23] 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. [24] 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.[23]
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.[25]
Activities
Modern islamic scholarship considers Ezra "as a lettered man with spiritual tendencies who was a functionary of the Persian state which sent him to Israel around the fourth century BCE in order to promote the political authority of Persian rule."[26]
Time line
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".[27] The text does not specify whether the king in the passage refers to Artaxerxes I (465-424) or to Artaxerxes II (404-359).[28] A group of scholars hold that Ezra lived during the rule of Artaxerxes I, though serious difficulties arises from this assumption:[3] Nehemiah and Ezra "seem to have no knowledge of each other; their mission do not overlap;[29] and no reflection of Ezra's activity appears in Jerusalem of Nehemiah."[30] 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.[3][31]
References
- 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). 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
- a b c d e Liwak, Rüdiger; Schwemer, Anna Maria "Ezra." Brill's New Pauly.
- a b c d e f Ezra." Encyclopædia Britannica.2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
- Edward Kessler, Neil Wenborn,A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge University Press, p.398
- a b Ashraf, Shahid (2005). "Prophets ’Uzair, Zakariya and Yahya (PBUT)", Encyclopaedia of Holy Prophet and Companions (Google Books), Daryaganj, New Delhi: Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd., 199–200. ISBN 8126119403. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
- a b Ibn Kathir; Ali As-Sayed Al- Halawani (trans.). "`Uzair(Ezra)". Stories Of The Quran. Islambasics.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-21.
- Ezra 7:1-7:5
- Ezra 7:7, Ezra 7:11-7:28
- Watson E. Mills, Roger Aubrey Bullard, Mercer Dictionary of the Bible, p.285
- Ezra 8:15-8:28
- Nehemiah 8:1
- Nehemiah 8:2
- Nehemiah 8:7
- Nehemiah 8:18, Nehemiah 9:1-9:3
- Nehemiah 10:1
- "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.)
- "Esdras, First Book of." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online
- Howard H. Cox, The Pentateuch: History Or Story?, p.101
- a b Winn Leith, Mary Joan [1998] (2001). "Israel among the Nations: The Persian Period", in Michael David Coogan (ed.): The Oxford History of the Biblical World (Google Books), Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, pg. 306. LCCN 98-016042. ISBN 0195139372. OCLC 44650958. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
- Gosta W. Ahlstrom, The History of Ancient Palestine, Fortress Press, p.888
- William David Davies, Louis Finkelstein, William Horbury, John Sturdy, The Cambridge History of Judaism, p.144
- Abu-Rabiʿ, Ibrahim M. "Ezra ." Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC. Brill, 2007.
- Ezra 7:7
- Porter, J.R. (2000). The Illustrated Guide to the Bible (in English). New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 115-116. ISBN 0-760-72278-1.
- Nehemiah 8 is transposed for rhetorical reasons; Nehemiah 8:9 is almost unanimously considered to be a scribal harmonization
- Winn Leith, Mary Joan [1998] (2001). "Israel among the Nations: The Persian Period", in Michael David Coogan (ed.): The Oxford History of the Biblical World (Google Books), Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, pg. 281. LCCN 98-016042. ISBN 0195139372. OCLC 44650958. Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
- John Boederman, The Cambridge Ancient History, 2002, p.272
External links
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Ezra". Image Credit.
