to its canonical authority as late as the 1st cent. A.D. According to one tradition, it narrowly escaped being ' hidden ' {i.e. reduced to the rank of an apocryphal work) for this reason, hut was saved from that fate by one Hananiah ben-Hezekiah, wlio reconciled the discrepancies. Unfortunately, the works of this self-sacriticing scholar have perished as completely as the 300 measures of oil which he is reported to have consumed in their preparation.
LrrgKATCEK.— Ewald, Proph. d. A.B. vol. U. (1841, 1868); HaverDick, Comm. uber den Pr. E. (1843) ; Hitzig, der Pr. E. erklart (1847) ; Fairbairn, Exposition of the Book of E. (1861) ; Henderson, The Book of the Pr. E. transl. etc. (185b) ; Heng- stenberg, Der Pr. E. (1S67) ; Keil, Der Pr. E. (186S) ; Currev, SpeakeTt Comm. vol. vi. (187(3) ; Klostermann in &A' (1877) ; Smend, Der Pr. E. (1880); ComiU, Der Pr. B. (1S82), and Dot Btich de$ Pr. E. (1888) ; v. Orelli, Kurzgrf. Commentar (1888) ; Gautier, La mission du Pr. E. (1891); Davidson, Camb. Bible for Schools (1892) ; Skinner, Expositor's Bible (1895) ; Miiller, Ezechiei.Studien (1895) ; Bertholet, Der Verfassungsentumrf des Hes. (1896) ; and Das Buch Hes. (Kur^er Handkom. 1897). See also Kuenen, Onderzoek, Godsdienst van Isra^'t. and Profeten en Protelie ; Duhm, Theologie der Propheten ; Horst, Levit. 17-26 urtd Hezekiei ; articles by Schrader, Diestel, and Orelli in the Encvclopwlias o( Schenkel, Biehm, and Herzog : and by Black In £ncyc. BrU.' J. SkINNEB,
EZEL (^j^n [!?¥?] ' [stone of] departure '). — The spot where Jonathan arranged to meet David before the latter's final departure from the court of Saul (I S 20'°). The place is not mentioned else- where, and it is now generally admitted that the Heb. te.xt of this pa.ssage is corrupt. The true reading seems to have been preserved by the LXX, which renders v." Kal Ka6-i)<rji irapd t6 "Epiyd^ (A, Ifiyov) iKcivo, and again, at v." end (where the same place is mentioned), renders /coi Aai/ei5 aviaTri i.irh Tou afiyafi (A, toC inrvov). The translators evi- dently had the same word before them in both verses, and did not understand it ; they therefore simply transliterated the Hebrew. If, then, we restore from the LXX in v." (m^n) iVn 3!-;xri = ' yonder cairn,' for ^ik.t pxn ; and in v." ^j-jNn 'jjko = 'from beside the cairn,' for 3]3i Sskd, the un- known 'Ezel' of V." dis,appears, and the in- ilclinite terms of v." are replaced by a suitable reference to v."* (so Thenius, Wellh., Driver, Uudde; cf. W. R. Smith, OTJC'^Oi.).
J. F. Stenninq.
EZEM (a-iii), 1 Ch 4».— See Azmon.
EZER.— 1. (isK) A Horite 'duke' (Gn 36", 1 Ch 1"*). In tlie latter passage AV has Ezar. 2. (ijx) A son of Ephraim who, ace. to 1 Cli 7"', was slain by the men of Gath. 3. A Judaliite (1 Ch 4*). i. A Gadite chief who joined David (1 Ch 12»). 5. A son of Jeshua who helped to repair the wall (Neh 3"). 6. A priest who officiated at the dedication of the walls (Neh 12*»). J. A. Selbie.
EZION-GEBER, ija jVyi;;, is mentioned amongst the stations of the Israelites (Nu 33" and Dt 2"). In the latter passage and elsewhere in the OT it is coupled with Elath in such a way as to imply that the one was in the immediate neighbour- hood of the other. This circumstance enables us to fix the situation of Ezion-geber with tolerable confulence. It lay in the extreme south of the territory of Edom, at the head of the jElanitis Sinus or Gulf of Akabah. Edom having been sub- ju^'ated by David (2 S 8'*), Solomon naturally utilized E. for shipbuilding purposes, and made it the port for his navy, which was engaged in the gold traiie with Ophir (1 K ff*). His success encouraged Jehoshaphat to undertake a similar enterprise, but with disastrous results. ' Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to "o to Ophir for gold ; but they went not, for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber' (1 K 2>« and 2 Ch 20*'-»'). Ezion-geber is men- tioned also by Josephus (Ant. VIII. vi. 4), who tells ns that it was afterAvards known by the name of
Berenice. E. is prob. the modern Ain el-Ghudyan (I'obinson, i. I(i9f.). See further, Driver on Dt 2*.
J. A. Selbie. EZNITE.— See Adino.
EZORA ("Efupa, AV Ozora).— The sons of Ezora, in 1 Es 9**, take the place of the strange name Machnadebai (or Mabnadebai, AVm) in Ezr lU*", where there is no indication of a fresh family. The first part of the phrase in Es ((k tUd vluvj, representing an original 'J3D, seems to show that the name in the canonical book is dae to the running together of two or more words ; it is, in any case, a proof that 1 Es is independent of the Greek Ezra, which has Maxaom^oO.
H. St. J. Thackeray.
EZRA (>f,\K). — 1. The famous leader connected with Israel's Return. Our sources of information concerning him are Ezr 7-10, Neh 8-10, and the apocryphal books.* Some \\Titers have preferred the apocr. 1 Esdras to the canonical Ezra, but on quite insufficient grounds.f The apocr. books are useful in showing the views held about Ezra at a later time, but we must in the main rely upon the canonical books.