The hrst part of these books was undoubtedly the genuine memoirs E and N. To these, other material was added from time to time, to complete as far as possible the history of the restoration. It is highly probable that Neh 8-10, which we have seen reason to believe a revised edition of portions of E, was originally a part of the Bk. of Ezra, and was later transferred from chron. considera- tions. In the apocr. Esdras, which is preferred by some writers to the canonical Ezr,* a brief account of the promulgation of the law follows immediately the story of the great divorce (see 1 Es 9").
There can be little doubt that the final editor of Ezr-Neh was the author of the Bk. of Chronicles.t He gathered material, and prepared a history, written ace. to his own point of view from Adam to Nehemiah. His work was one Ion" piece, Ezr-Neh being a part of Chronicles. But the latter had a considerable struggle to get into the canon. The Chronicler's novel treatment of the history, already covered by other books, did not win favour at once. But Ezr - Neh was the only source of information for the important period of the re- storation. Moreover, the Chronicler's peculiar methods were not conspicuous in the later history. In fact, his Bk. of Chronicles is an attempt to read the conditions of the later times into the earlier. The later portion was therefore separated from the earlier, and found its place in the canon. In the separation, a few verses were retained in each part (Ezr l'->*, 2 Ch 36-'« ).
The hiat. value of these books is very great ; for they stand alone for an important epoch, and they contain documents of great importance. But all parts are not equally reliable. The Chronicler was not a discriminating critic. He uses his sources
• See Sayoe, BCM p. 537.
t Bee the able discussion by Reuss, Dcu AlU Tat, p. 8 ff.
as if all were alike trustworthy. Naturally, E and N are the most reliable. The personal narrative of eye-witnesses and principal participants is of the highest value. Next in importance as hist, sources are the memoirs which have been worked over by the compiler, designated by Kautzsch e and n : e Ezr 10, Neh »-10 ; n Neh 1 1»-=» (ace. to Kautzsch). Of great value also are the Aram, documents in Ezr 4'-6" V"'". The other sources are too far corrupted from their original form to be of primary value.
Notwithstanding the inferior trustworthiness of some portions, and the incompleteness of the whole, it is possible with the aid of the prophetic and poetic literature of the period to form a toler- ably clear and connected idea of the times.* If much is lacking which we should like to know, that is but common to all periods of history, and there is compensation in the preservation of precious original documents. The case would be diH'erent if the Chronicler had worked over the whole of E and N, so that we could only infer their existence, and if he had translated and revised the Aram, docu- ments.
[Since the above was in type, the question of the credence due to the Chronicler's narrative and of the historicity of the Jews' Return under Cjt^s has been discussed afresh by Kosters in the ThT (1897), 518 ff. See also the Expos. Times, viii. (1897), 71, 200, 268, 320, 351 (the last by Van Hoonacker), ix. 66. — Editor.]
Lfteraturb. — (i4) Introduction. — Driver, i/OTB 540 ff.; Sayce, Introd. to Ezr. Neh. and Est.\ Kuenen, Higt.-Krit. Einleit.^ S§ 29, 3»-35; Comill, Einleit.'' 262 ff. ; Wildeboer, AltUtt. Litterattir, 404 ff. ; Konig, Einleit. ; Wellhausen-Bleek, Einleit.*; Ewald, Hist.i. (B) History.— Stade, Get. d. Volk. Isr. ii.' Renan, Risi. 0/ People of Israel, Bk. vii. ; Wellhausen, ler. u. Jud. Ges.\ Ewald, Hint, v.; Meyer, Get. d. Atterth. i. iC] CoMMB.N'TARlES. — Ryle, * Ezr. and Neh.,' in Camb. Bible ; Rawlin- son, in Pulpit Coin., Speaker's Com., and in Ezra arid Seheiniah (Men of the Bible series) ; Keil, Ezr. Neh. and Est. ; F. W. Schultz in Lange's Commentary ; Bertheau-Uyssel in Kg/, exeg. Hdbch. ; Oettli in Strack and Zockler's Kg/. Kom. ; Kamp- hanmn, Hagiog. d. Alt. Bund. (D) Miscbllaseocs.— Smend, List. d. BB. Ezr. u. Neh.; Hunter, After the Exile ; Schrader. COT'^; Sayce, HCM^; Baer, Dan. Ezr. et Neh. (valuable for the t«xt and Aram, paradigms ; cf. Marti, Gramm. Preface, and Kautzsdi, p. 64 n.) ; Kosters, Het Herstel v. Isr. ; Van Hoonacker, Nouv. Etud. $. I. Restaur. Juive (mainly a reply to Kostere) ; Mever, Entstehung des Judentbutns ; cf. Welliiausen's review of this book in GO.il (189TJ, ii. 89 (T., and the reply of Meyer, Julius Wellhausen u. metne Schrr/t, etc. For the Aramaic language see Grammars of Winer p8S2), Kautzsch (1884), Strack (1805), and Marti (1896). For critical translations see Scriptures Heb. and Christian, by J. P. Peters; Kautzsch, Ueii. Schr. d. AT (in which the sources are indicated by letters in the margin) ; Reuss, Alt. Test. iv. L. W. BATTEN.
EZRAH (.TJK, AV Ezra).— A Judahite (1 Ch 4"). See Genealogy.
EZRAHITE Vnytf, LXX 'l<rpaji\(lTTit).—A name given to Heman in the title of Ps 88, and to Ethan in Ps 89. It is used also of Ethan in 1 K 4", where LXX (B) reads Zapehris. It is best under- stood as = Zerachite, cf. 1 Ch 2*, in which Ethan and Heman are termed sons of Zerah. A double tradition concerning Ps 88 appears to be embodied in the title ; it is called a ' Psalm-song of the Korahites,' and 'a meditation by Heman the Ezrahite.' There were also a Heman and an Ethan, Merarites, of the tribe of Levi, according to 1 Ch 15" ; the Ezrahites belonged to the tribe of Judah. w: T. Davison.