E. is called the priest, the priest-scribe, and in 2 Es the prophet. He was of a priestly family, but, as his work was chiefly that of the scribe, that designation gradually supersedes the others. E. represents in a way the transition from the prophet to the scribe, but his prophetic functions are not conspicuous except in the apocr. literature.J
The Exile had been a period of considerable literary activity. One of the greatest prophets heralded the deliverance of Cjtus (Deutero-Isaiah) ; Ezekiel had produced his book in Babylonia, draw- ing up an elaborate scheme for the new state, which he declared would arise upon the ruins of the old ; and many noble psalms come from this time. But the period was characterized not so much by the creation of a new literature as by the study of what already existed. E. the ' ready scribe in the law of Moses ' was not a mere copyist, nor the author of the law, but a diligent student of the law.
E. longed to go to Jems, and put the law into effect there, to establish a real hagiocracy, 'the law' being the supreme authority in civil and religious affairs alike. Artaxerxes was not so tolerant of foreign religions as Cyrus had been, nevertheless E. won his goodwill, and secured a royal edict, clothing him with ample authority to carry out his purpose. This edict has been pre- served in Aramaic (Ezr 7'-'*) ; and while many regard this as a Jewish version, it is in the main tmstworthy.§ All .Jews who felt so inclined were free to depart from Babylon ; E. was authorized to carry the olierings for the temple made by the king and by the Jews ; to purchase sacrificial animals, and to use the rest of the money as he and his brethren saw fit ; to draw upon the royal treasury in the province of Sj'ria for further necessary supplies ; to exempt the temple officers and servants from the Persian tax ; to ai>i)oint officers to execute the law of God, teaching such as were unacquainted with it ; and to enforce the law of God and of the Persian king by penalty even to fines, imprison- ment, banishment, or death.
In the year B.C. 458 E. gathered a caravan of some 1800 males, including 38 Levites who had been persuaded to join the company. E. had said so much to the king about God's ample protection to His servants that he was ashamed to ask for the
• On the Apocr. see Bensly, Fourth Book of Ezra, p. 86. t Kiicnen, lielig. of Israel, ii. ; see discussion in Academy, 1895-90. : On Ezra the scribe see OTJC p. 42 f. ; PRE* iv SSt. $ See under art. EzRA-NKBKHiAn, Books or.
EZEA
EZRA AND NEHEMIAH
821
nsnal escort. After fasting and pra3Tng for a safe journey, the company set out, and in four months reached the holy city.
E. did not find a community ready and eager for the new government which he was authorized to establish. Many of the people were prosperous (Hag 1*), but there was not that spirit of simple devotion to the God of Israel which the zealous E. regarded as essential. E. was informed that many Jews, including even priests and princes, had taken foreign wives. He knew the story of Solomon's decline (1 K U) ; he perceived the danger now of a relapse into idolatry ; above all, he feared the con- sequences of further disobedience of the law of God (Dt 7'). Shecaniah, as the representative of the people who liad been much moved by tlie prayer which E. poured forth in their presence (9*"'*), proposed that the people should put away the foreign wives and their children. E. accepted, the proposition, and exacted an oath on the spot that the offenders would comply with this agreement. A decree was issued by tlie princes and elders that all the people should assemble at Jerus. within three days, under penalty of confiscation of goods and I excommunication. Hut the assembly found the task too great to be accomplished in an open-air meeting during a severe winter storm, and the matter was referred to a divorce court, with E. at its head.* After three months' labour, and not without opposition apparently (Ezr 10" RV),t the work of the court was linislied, and many innocent women and children were cast out, as Uagar and Ishmael had been.
The account of E.'s formal institution of the law is found in Neh 8-10. Neh. had come to Jems. in B.C. 444. His first work was the rebuilding of the walls. According to tlie compiler of Ezr-Neh (see further on the BooK-S OF EzR AND Nf.h), it was after this event that E. read the law to the people assembled at Jerus., and obtained their pledge to observe it. It is singular that E., who had brought the law to Jerus. for the purpose of making it the code of the community, should not have pro- mulgated it sooner. It may be that Stade is right in supposing that E. had arou.sed the hostility of the people by the compulsory divorce, and that the times were not ripe before (Gesch. ii. 173f. ); or it may be that the c^jonology is not exact, as the compilation was mado long after tlie events de- scribed, and the description of the reading of the law interrupts Nehemiah's narrative (cf. 7* , 11'-'). J