3. Traditionary Acts. — Josephus, who should be our next best authorit}' after Scripture, evidentlv knew nothing about the time or the place of his death. He vaguelj'' says, " He died an old man, and was l)uried in a magnificent manner at Jerusalem" (.4?;/. xi, 5, 5), and places his death in the high-priesthood of Joacim, and before the government of Nehemiah ! According to some Jewish chroniclers, he died in the year in which Alexander came to Jerusalem, on the tenth day of the month Tebeth (that is, the lunation in December), in the same year in which took place the death of the projihets Ilaggai, Zechariah,and Slalachi, and in which prophecy became extinct. According to other tradi- tions, Ezi-a returned to Babylon and died there at the age of 120 years. The Talmudic statement is that he died at Zamzumu, a town on the Tigris, while on his road from Jerusalem to Susa, whither he was going to converse with Artaxerxes about the affairs of the Jews. Thus Benjamin of Tudela says of Nehar-Samorah (ap- parently Zamuza, otherwise Zamzumu): "The sepul- chre of Ezra the priest and scribe is in this ])lace, where he died on his journey from Jerusalem to king Artaxerxes" (Trm'els, i, 116). A tomb said to be his is shown on the Tigris, near its junction with the Eu- phrates (Laya.rd, Kin. and Bab. p. 428, note). An in- teresting description of this tomb is given by Kitto (^Pict: L'ible, note at the end of Ezra).
As regards the traditional history of Ezra, it is ex- tremely diflicult to judge what portion of it has any historical foundation. The principal works ascribed to him by the Jews, and, on the strength of their tes- timony, bj' Christians also, are the following :
(1.) Some traditions assert that Ezra was, about A. M. .3113, the president of the nbll^n rc:=, Stjnaf/oga Magna, and the father of all Mishnic doctors. See
EZRA
437
EZRA, BOOK OF
Reputed Tomb of Ezra.
Syxagogue, Great. In pietj' and meekness he was like Moses (^Yuckusin, p. 13. See Zemach David). When he went from Babylon to Jerusalem, he took with him all persons whose descent was either illegiti- mate or unknown, so that the Jews left in Babj'lon should be nblDD '•'p'^, jiure likejlour (^Kiddushin, c. 4, l,Gem.). Ezra is said to have introduced the present square Hebrew character, and, in conjunction with some otlier elders, to have made the Masora (q. v.), th.2 punctuation, and accentuation of the whole Bible (Abarbanel, Prcufat. ad Nachalath Ahoth; Elias, Prcef. 3 Masor."). Ezra is also said to have vigorously re- sisted the sect of the Saddueees, which sprang up in his days ; and therefore to have put the words "^^ dPlZJ ^;? DPI^n, (} S-cculo in sceculum, at the head of all prayers, as a S3nnbol by which the ortliodox could be distingLushed (Bjib. Berichoth, fol. yi). Since the people, during the Babylonian captivity or exile, had become accustomed to the Aramaic language, and scarcely understood Hebrew, Ezra established the of- fice of turgoman, y2;i'"iin, drar/oman, or interpreter, who stood near the public reader in the synagogue, and translated every verse after it was read (MeffiUah, fol. 74). Hence he is usually regarded as the founder of the synagogue worship. See Synagogue. Ezra ordained that the year of jubilee should be reckoned from the seventh year after the rebuilding of the Tem- ple (INIaimonides, ILd. Jobel. cap. 10).
("2.) Ezra is considered to be the author of the can- on, and worth}- to have been the lawgiver, if Closes had not preceded him (Bab. Sanhed. c. ii, f. 21 ; comp. the art. Canon). He is even said to have rewritten the whole of the Old Testament from memory, the copies of which had perished by neglect. To him is also as- criljed the authorship of the books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and, some add, Esther; and, many of the Jews say, also of the books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve prophets; to which we maj^ with more probability perhaps add the 119th Psalm. (See each book in its place.) Tischendorf has lately published (Apoca'i/psei Apocryphfp, Lips. lS6t;) an editio princeps of the tireek text of an "Apocalypsis Esdite." See Kevel.vtions (Spurious).
But we must abstain from recounting all the tradi- tional amplifications of the doings of Ezra, since, if all were to be received, it would be difficult to sa}' what he did not do, so strong has been the inclination to connect important facts with iiis person (comp. 2 Esdr. xiv ; Irena?us, adr. Htvrrs. iii, 25; Clem. Alexandr. Strom, i, p. 142; Augustin. Z)c Mirnhil. Script, ii, 23; Jerome, ad Ilalrid. p. 212; Buxtorf, 7'ibcrias, p. 88
sq. ; Bertholdt, Einleit. i, 69 sq. ; De AVette, Einleit. p, 17 sq. ; Saner, Dissert, in canonem Vet. Test, etc., Altorf, 1792 ; Sanhedrin, fol. xxi, 1 ; Ran, De Synag. Mofpia, p. 31, 89 ; Hartmann, Verhiiulung des Alten nnd Neuen Testamentes, p. 114 sq.). Of most of the above acts of Ezra a full account is given in Prideaux's Connexion, i, 308-348, and 355-376 ; also in Otho's Lex. Rabb. p. 208 sq. A compendious account of the arguments by which most of these Jewish statements are proved to be fabulous is given in Stehelin's Rahhin. Literat. p. 5-8 ; of which the chief are drawn from the silence of the sacred writers themselves, of the apocryphal books, and of Josephus^and it might be added, of Jerome — and from the fact that they may be traced to the au- thor of the chapter in tlie Mishna called Pirke A both. Arabian fables about Ezra are mentioned in Hettin- ger's TJies. Fhilol. p. 113, and in Herbelot, Bibl. Orien- tale, p. 697, etc. — Kitto, s. v. ; Smith, s. v.