On the contrary, critics who rely upon their inter- nal arguments might have seen evidence in favor of its early composition in the fact that its chronolog)' is clear and exact ; while the accounts of Jewish affairs under the Persian monarchy, as given by Josephus from apocryphal writers and other sources unknown to us, pi'esent extreme confusion and some palpable mistakes. The book begins ■with the decree of Cyrus after he had taken Babylon, by which the Jews were sent home to Jerusalem and directed to rebuild the Temple, B.C. 53G. It narrates the difficulties and hin- derances before this was accomplished in the sixth year of Darius, the son of Hj-staspes, about B.C. 516. It passes in silence over the rest of his reign, 31 years, and tlie whole of the reign of Xerxes, 21 years, pro- ceeding directly to the work of Ezra, Avho received his commission in the seventh year of Artaxerxes Lon- gimanus, B.C. -159. If the whole of the events nar- rated in the closing chapter took place almost imme- diately, as is understood, we believe, b}^ all commenta- tors, then the extreme length of time embraced in the narrative is not above 80 years ; and the order is strict- ly chronological, though it is not continuous, lint leaves a blank of almost sixty years. (See Hilgenfeld, Ezra und Daniel, undihre neueste Bearieitungen, Halle, 18G3.)
YII. Language. — The book is written partly in He- brew and partly in Chaldee. The Chaldee begins at iv, 8, and continues to the end of vi, 18. The letter or decree of Artaxerxes, vii, 12-2G, is also given in the original Chaldee.
VIII. Canonicily. — There has never been any doubt about Ezra being canonical, although there is no quo- tation from it in the N. Test. Augustine styles Ezra "rather a writer of transactions than a prophet" (De Civ. Dti, xviii, 3G).
IX. Apocrijj-hal Additions. — We have spoken thus far of the canonical book of Ezra; there are, however, four books that have received this name, viz. the book noticed above, the onlj'- one which was received into the Hel)re-w canon under that name, the book of Nelie- niiah, and the two apocryphal books of Esdras, con- cerning -wliich last see Esdras. — Kitto, s. v. ; Smith, S. V. ; Fairl)airn, s. v.
X. Commentaries. — The following are special exe- getical works on the entire book, the most important being denoted by an asterisk (*) prefixed: *Aben Ezra, dl'IB (in Buxtorfs Rabbinical Bible, Basle, 1G18-19, fol.) ; Bedo, Ktpodtio (in Worlcs, viii, 300) ; *Rashi, dl^5 (Naples, 1487, 4to; Venice, 1517, fol.; in Latin, -with other books, Gotha, 1714, 4to) ; *Kim- chi, ".J^'^n (in Bomberg's Iial)l)inical Bible, Yen. 1549, fol.) ; -SiiiieoD, d-"!"i3 (in his Bible, Venice, 1518, fol.);
Jachya, ti^lS (Bologna, 1538, fol.); Jaabez, r-'^in ion (Belvedere, n. d. fol.) ; Trapp, Commentary (Lon- don, 1G56, fol.) ; De Oliva, Commentarii (Loyden, 15G4, 4to ; 1G79, 2 vols, fol.) ; *Strigel, Commentunus (Tigur. 1570, 1584, fol.) ; also Scholia (Lips. 1571) ; Wolphius, Cormnentai-ii {TiguT. 1584, fol.) ; Sanctius, Commentarii (Leyd. 1628, fol.) ; Lombard, Commentarius (Par. 1643, fol.); Jackson, Explanation (London, 1G58, 4to) ; Lee, Discourse (London, 1722, 8vo); *Eambach, Kotx (in Grotii et Clerici Adnot. in Ilagiogr. ii) ; *Schirmer, Ob- servationes (Vratislav. 1817, 8vo ; 1820, 4to) ; *Keil, Apologet. Vers. etc. (Berl.1833, 8vo) ; Kleinert, Eiiste- hung, etc. (in the Dorpt. Beitr. i, 1-304 ; ii, 1-232) ; Jeitteles, if^T", etc. (Vienna, 1835, 8vo); *Bertheau, Erkliir. (in the Kurtzgef. Exeg. Hdb. Lpz. 1862, 8vo). See Old Testament.
4. (Sept. "Espa v. r. "E(Tc\oac, Vulg. Esdras.) One of the chief Israelites who formed the first division that made the circuit of the walls of Jerusalem when reconstructed (Neh. xii, 33). B.C. 446.
Ezrach. See Bay-tree.
Ez'rah (Heb. Ezrah', iT^t", help, another form of Ezer or Ezra; Sept. 'E(7p(',Vu]g. Ezra, A. V. " Ezra"), a descendant of Judah (as if in the line of Caleb), and the father of several sons, although his own parentage is not given (1 Chron. iv, 17), unless he be identical witli the Ezer of ver. 4, whose son's name, however, does not correspond. B.C. ante 1G18. See Mered. According to the author of the Qucestiones in Paral. Ezra is the same as Amram, and his sons Jether and Mered are Aaron and Moses ; but this is out of the question. See also Ezrahite.
Ez'rahite (Hebre^w, with the article ha-Ezrachi' , "^niTXri, as if a patron j-mic from Ezrach; Sept. o Za- pir//c V. r. 6 'Etpai}\iTi]c, Vulg. Ezrahita), a title at- tached to two persons — Ethan (1 Kings iv, 31 ; Psa. Ixxxix, title) and Ileman (Psa. Ixxxviii, title). The word is naturally derivable from Ezrah, Jl^TX, or — which is almost the same — Zerah, irnt ; and according- ly in 1 Chron. ii, 6, Etlian and Heman are both given as sons of Zerah, the son of Judah. Another Ethan and another Heman are named as Levites and musicians in the lists of 1 Chron. vi and elsewhere. — Smith, s. v. In the passage first cited, "the Ezrahite," or, rather, Ezrachite, appears as a designation applied to Ethan, a man fixmous for his wisdom (1 Kings v, 11 [A. V. iv, 31]). See Ethan. In the inscription of Psa. Ixxxix, Etl)an the Ezrahite is named as its author; and in the inscription of Psa. Ixxxviii the same is said with re- spect to it of Heman the Ezrahite. This has led some to identify the Ethan and Heman, who were chief among the singers appointed b^- David (1 Chron. xv, lit). But we have no reason to believe that, whatever skill these men had in music, the}' were famed for sur- passing -n'isdom ; and tlie inscription in the Psalms is perhaps due to the mistake of some one in whose mind the passage in Kings had got mixed up with 1 Chron. ii, G, where Ethan and Heman appear among the sons of Zerah of the tribe of Judah. As TI^TX is the same as iniT with the prosthetic X, it is not improbable that in this last passage it is the Ethan of Kings that is referred to ; but we cannot with ccrtaintj' pronounce this, as there is a ■want of accordance between the statement of the chronicler and that in Kings respect- ing the parentage of the other persons mentioned. It is not impossible, however, that the names "Heman, Calcol, and Dara" have been interpolated in the text of Chronicles from the passage in Kings, especially as the writer goes on to state only the descendants of Carmi or Zimri and Ethan (ver. 7, 8). In this case Ethan, the son of Zerah, may be Ethan the Ezrahite; but there is no Heman the Ezrahite. — Kitto, s. v. A readier solution of the whole difficulty would be to