Ez'liite (Heb'. in marg. Etsni' , "i?^?, but in the text i::i", i. e. Etsno') is given in 2 Sam. xxiii, 8, in the Auth.Vers., as an epithet of Adino, prtefect of Da-
EZOB
435
EZRA
vid's bodr-guard ; and if considered as a gentile adj., must mean an inhabitant of Kzen, a place otherwise unknown. But of the words rendered " Adino the Ez- nite"('l3!i>n '13'i''^> Sept. 'AcivCov 6 'AawvaioQ ; Vulg. qtuisi tenerrinius ligni vermiculus, as if understanding the latter term to be a form of Ul^, wood), Gesenius (^Heb. Lex.) regards the former as a peculiar allitera- tion for i3'7?7, in the sense of "he brandished," from the root "pTS", to be pliant; and the latter as a rare word, '^"i a spear (for which sense he finds analog}' in the Arabic) ; and thus the whole phrase will be equiv- alent to that in the parallel passage (1 Chron. xi, 11), which otherwise we must here interpolate (with our translators) in order to make sense. That these words do not contain the name of a person is clear from the fact that Jashobeam is given in the parallel passage, and is capable of identification [see Jashobeam], and also from the enumeration, in which the two merito- rius grades of three each, with the 30 warriors special- ly enumerated, require just this one special officer to make up the number of 37 specified in the text as pe- culiarly distinguished. See Uavid. The passage in 2 Sam. is conceded to be less trustworthy than that in 1 Chron., even hy Davidson, who vainly contends {Sev- ered Herineneutics, p. 515) for Adino as a proper name. (See at length in Kennicott, Dissertation, i, 71-128 ; Ge- senius, Thes. Heb. p. 991-5.) Compare Adino.
Ezob. See Hyssop.
Ez'ra (Heb. [except in No. 1] Ezra', X'nt^, the help, a Chaldee emphatic form of "if ^, Ezer), the name of three or four men.
1. (1 Chron. iv, 17.) See Ezrah.
2. (Sept. "Eroa v. r. "Eo-f^oac, Vulgate Esdras.) A leading priest among the first colonists to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel (Neh. xii, 1). B.C. 536. His son Meshullam was chief of his family in the time of the high-priest Joiakim (Neh. xii, 12). In the somewhat parallel list of Neh. x, 2-8, the name of the same per- son is written fT^'^T::'', Azariah, as it is probably in Ezra vii, 1.
3. (Sept."E(Tconc v. r."E^pa, Josephus."E(T^prtf,Vulg. Esdras.) The celebrated Jewish scrilie ("Sb) and priest ("fl^), who, in the year B.C. 459, led the second expedition of Jews back from the Baliylonian exile into Palestine, and the author of one of the canonical books of Scripture.
1. Parentage. — Ezra was a lineal descendant from Phinehas, the son of Aaron (Ezra vii, 1-5). He is stated to be the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah; ■which Seraiah was slain at Riblah by order of Nebu- chadnezzar, having been brought thither a captive by Nebuzaradan (2 Kings xxv, 18-21). See Ser.aiah. But, as 130 years elapsed between the death of Seraiah and the departure of Ezra from Babylon, and we read that a grandson of Seraiah was the high-priest who ac- companied Zerubbabel on the first return to Jerusa- lem, seventy years before Ezra returned thither, we may suppose that by the term son here, as in some other places, the relationship of great-grandson, or of a still more remote direct descendant, is intended. See Father. All that is really known of Ezra is contain- ed in the last four chapters of the book of Ezra, and in Neh. viii and xii, 26. In addition to the information there given, that he was a "scribe," a "readj' scribe of the law of Moses," "a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord and of his statutes to Is- rael," "a scribe of the law of the God of heaven," and "a priest," we are told Ijy Josephus that he was high- priest of the Jews who were left in Babylon ; that he was particularly conversant with tlie laws of Moses, and was held in universal esteem on account of his righteousness and virtue {Ant. xi, 5, 1).
2. Scriptural Historij. — The rebuilding of the Tem-
ple of Jerusalem, which had been decreed bj' Cyrus in the year B.C. 536, was, after much powerful and vex- atious opposition, completed in the reign and by the permission of Darius Ilystaspis, in the j^ear B.C. 517.
The origin of Ezra's influence with the Persian king Artaxerxes Longimanus does not appear, but in the seventh year of his reign, B.C. 459, in spite of the un- favorable report which had been sent by Rehum and Shimshai, he obtained leave to go to Jerusalem, and to take with him a company of Israelites, together with priests, Levites, singers, porters, and Nethinim. Of these a list, amounting to 1754, is given in Ezra viii ; and these, also, doubtless form a part of the full list of the returned captives contained in Neh. vii, and in du- plicate in Ezra ii. Ezra and his companions were al- lowed to take with them a large free-will offering of gold and silver, and silver vessels, contributed not only by the Babylonian Jews, but by the king himself and his counsellors. These offerings were for the house of God, to beautifj' it, and for the purchase of bullocks, rams, and the other offerings required for the Temple- service. In addition to this, Ezra was empowered to draw upon the king's treasurers beyond the river for any further supplies he might require ; and all priests, Levites, and other ministers of the Temple were ex- empted from taxation. Ezra had also authority given him to appoint magistrates and judges in Juda;a, with power of life and death over all offenders. The rea- son of the interest for the worship of God at this time evinced by Artaxerxes appears to have been a fear of the divine displeasure, for we read in the conclu- sion of the decree to the treasurers beyond the river, "Whatsoever is commanded hj the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heav- en ; for u-hij should there be icrath against the realm of the king and his sons?" We are also told (Ezra vii, 6) that the king granted Ezra all his request ; and Jose- phus informs us that Ezra, being desirous of going to Jerusalem, requested the king to grant him recom- mendatory letters to the governor of S3'ria {Ant. xi, 5, 1). We may therefore suppose that the dread which Artaxerxes entertained of the divine judgments was the consequence of the exposition to him l)y Ezra of the history of the Jewish people. Some writers sup- pose that this favor shown to the Jews was consequent upon the marriage of Esther with Ahasuerus ; but this could not be, even if we should grant, what is unlike- ly, that the Artaxerxes of the book of Ezra and the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther were the same per- son, because Ezra set out for Jerusalem in the Jlrst month in the seventh j'ear of the reign of Artaxerxes, and Esther was not taken into the king's house until the tenth month in the seventh j'car of the reign of Ahasuerus, and did not declare her connection with the Jewish people, and obtain favor for them until af- ter the plot of Haman, in the twelfth year of Ahasue- rus. See Ahasuerus.