V. Canonicity and Importance. — Bj' many of the fa- thers this book was inidoubtedly regai'ded as canoni- cal. The quotation from it in the epistle of Barnabas is described as the saying of n prophet (ch. xii) ; the quotaticm b}' Clemens Alexandrinus is introduced in the same manner ("Ecrrortc o Troo(p)jTi}Q Xtytt, Strom. iii, 10) ; and Amljrose speaks of it as containing divine revelations (Z>e Bono Mortis, x, xi). The famous story about Ezra being inspired to write again the law, which was burned (xiv, 20-48), has been quoted by Irenaeus {adv. Jlceer. iii, 21, 2) ; Tertullian {De Cult, fcam. i, 3) ; Clemens Alexandrinus {Stromat. i, 22) ; Chrysostom {Jlomil. viii in Heh.~), and main' others. The Ethiopian Church regards it as canonical, which may be seen from the manner in which it is alluded to in the I'ook of Devotions called "Tlic Organon of the blessed Virgin Mary" (written in A.D. 1240), " Open my mouth to praise the virginity of the mother of God, as thou didst open the mouth of Ezra, who rested not for forty daj's until he had finished writing the words of the law and the prophets, which Nebuchad- nezzar, king of Babylon, had burnt" {Prayer for Mon- d'ly ; see also Pruytr for Tuesday^. St. .Jerome was the first who denounced it. In re])l}' to Viliilantius, who, regarding this book as inspired, ap))ealed to xii, 36-45, to prove that " none would venture to"intercede for others in the day of judijcment," this, father, l)lay- ing upon the name Vigilantius, remarked, " Tu vigi- lans dormis, et dormiens scribis, et projiinas mihi li-
brura apocryplmm, qui sub nomine Esdra. a te et similihus tui hgitur, ubi scriptuni est, quod post mortem nullus pro aliis gaudeat deprecari, quem ego librum nun- quam legi, quid enim necesse est in manus sumere, quod Ecclesia non recepit. Nisi forte Balsamum et Barbelum, et thesaurum Manich»i, et ridiculum no- men Leusiborse proferas ; et quia ra<lices Pvrenrei ha- bitus, vicinusque es Hiberia?, Basilidis, antiquissimi hferctici, et imperitaj scientia; incrcdibilia portenta proscqueris, et proponis, quoad totius orlis aucioritute damnatur' {Ep. liii ad Vigilant.'). This is a most im- portant passage, inasmuch as it shows that those of the primitive Church who, frt^m their knowledge of Hebrew, had the best means of ascertaining what were the canonical Scriptures of the ancient synagogue, re- pudiated this book as uncanonical. In the Council of Trent, the second Ezra, like the first, was excluded from the canon, and Luther denounced it as worse than yEsop's Fables. See Esdras, First Book of. But this is going too far. Historico-critical expositors of the Bible, and those who are engaged in Christclog- ical works, while regarding 2 Esdras as not belonging to the Canon, yet see in it a most important record of Jewish opinion on some vital points. It shows that the Jews, before the rise of Christianity, most distinct- ly believed in the immortality of the soul, that the Messiah was denominated the Son of God, that he ex- isted in heaven previous to his appearance upon earth (xiv, 7), and that he was to die (vii, 29).
One tradition which the book contains obtained a wide reception in early times, and served as a pendant to the legend of the origin of the Septuagint. Ezra, it is said, in answer to his prayer that he might be inspired to write again all the law which was burnt, received a command to take with him tablets and five men, and retire for forty daj's. In this retirement a cup was given him to drink, and forthwith his understanding was quickened and his memory strentithened ; and for forty daj's and forty nights he dictated to his scribes, who wrote ninety-four books {Latin, 204), of which twenty-fdur were delivered to the people in place of the books which were lo;t (xiv, 20-48). This strange story was repeated in various forms by Irenreus {adv. Har. iii, 21, 2), Tertullian {De cult.fam. i, 3, "Omne in- strumentum Judaica; literatura; per Esdram constat I restauratum"), Clement of Alexandria {Strom, i, '22, p. 410, P. ; compare p. .S92), Jerome {adr. Helv. 7 ; comp. Pseudo-Augustine, De 3/irab. S. Scr. ii, 32), and many others ; and proliably owed its origin to the tradition which regarded Ezra as the representative of the men of "the Great Synagogue" (q. v.), to whom the final revision of the canonical books was universally assign- ed in early times. See Canon.
Although Esdras is included in the 6th article of the Church of England, among the other books read for edification, etc. [see Deuteko-Canonical], it will be observed that no lessons are taken from it in the offi- ces of the Church of England. Keferences are, bow- ever, made from it in the Authorized Version to par- allel passages in the Old and New Testament. Grabe and others have conceived that this was the book cited as the " Wisdom of God''' (Luke xi, 9 ; comp. with 4 Es- dras i, 32).
V I. Literature. — Lee, Dissertation upon the second Book of Esdras (Lond. 1722) ; AVhiston, Authentic Rec- ords (Lond. 1727), i, 44 sq. ; Van der Vlis, Disputatio Critica de Kzrm lAhro Apocrypha (Amst. 1839); Gfro- rer, Das Jahrhundcrt des Ileils (Stuttgart, 1838), i, 09 sq. , and Propheta: reteres Pseiidepigrapli (Stuttgart, 1840), p. 60 sq. ; Liicke, Einldlung in d.Offenbarnng Jo- hannis, 2d cd., p. 138 S(i. ; Davidson, The Old Testament Text Considered (Lond. 1850), j). 900 sq. ; Hilgenfeld, Die ji'idische Apokalyptik (Jena, 1857), p. 187 sq. ; Volk- . mar. Das vierte-Buch Ezra (Zurich, 1858); Ke\\, Ein- leltung in d. A lie Testament (l>'o9, 1803), p. 734 sq. ; Tre- senreuter, De libro quarto Esdrm (Cobl. 1742) ; A'ogel, De quarto libro Esdrw (in his Progr. de Conjecturm usu