RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
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Zealots. Others have seen in the author a Messianic pietist, or a pious and earnest nationalistic Jew, or a quietistic Pharisee — conceptions which are not very far apart, nor far from yet another hypothesis, that he was a Pharisaic quietist and rigorist. He was at any rate a close follower of the author of Daniel; Herod, the follower of the degenerate Hasmoneans, takes the place of Antiochus Epiphanes. He sees help in the immediate future, however; the godless rule is to be succeeded by a period of stress, and then comes the rule of God.
7. II (IV) Ezra: This name comes from the Latin, in which the canonical Ezra (Esdras) and Nehemiah are reckoned as I and II Ezra, and the apocryphal Ezra is III Ezra. The original name seems to have been " Ezra the Prophet " or " Apocalypse of Ezra." It is extant in Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic, Armenian, and two Arabic 1. Texts, renderings. The corrupt Latin text Editions, wag printed by Fabricius 1743, by Van
Character der Blis 1839> b^ Volkmar 1863, by ' Hilgenfeld 1869, and by Fritzsche 1871, and it often appears in the Vulgate printed after the New Testament. A new text which supplies a large gap in the text as hitherto known was prepared by Bensly and published after his death by James, on the basis of Codex Sangermanensis and three other manuscripts (TS, iii. 2, 1895). This supersedes all previous texts. Under the name " Confession of Ezra " the section viii. 20-36 circulates as a separate piece and is found in independent translation and in copies. The Syriac was published in 1868 and 1883 by Ceriani, preceded by a Latin rendering in 1866. Laurence issued the Ethiopic in 1820 with a Latin and an English translation, and Dilhnann published a critical text on the basis of newer material in 1894. A translation in English of one of the Arabic texts was issued by Ockley on the basis of Codex Bodleianus in 1711, an Arabic edition by Ewald appeared in 1863; he also made available the other Arabic text in part, though it was first issued in full by Gildemeister in 1877 after a Vatican manuscript. The Armenian was issued in the Armenian Bible of 1805, and is in the collection of Old-Testament Apocrypha issued by the Mechitarists in 1896. While these texts rest upon the Greek, it is evident from internal testimony that back of this lay a Hebrew original, which has been lost. The exceedingly abundant citations and references in patristic writings testify to the diffusion and popularity of the work in the early Church, a popularity which lasted down into the Middle Ages. The Latin is nearest to the original, after which follow the Syriac and Ethiopic. Renderings into modern languages by Volkmar 1863, Ewald 1862-63, Bissell 1880, Lupton 1888, and Zockler 1891, are superseded by that of Gunkelchen, 1900. The occasion of the book was the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (spoken of as Edom, iii. 15-16, vi. 7-10), and the purpose is to unroll a brighter future for the Jews. So Ezra, thirty years after the destruction of the city by the Chaldeans (the Romans), has seven visions. The first three are speculative, the next three eschatological, and in the seventh are found the close of Ezra's life and the genesis of the apocalypse. IX.— 22
In the first three visions (iii. 1-ix. 25) the present calamity of Israel is a particular example of a more general disaster. Israel's misfortune is severer than its guilt, hence the mystery in the fact that those who are greater sinners oppress Israel (iii. 28, 31-32, v. 23 sqq.). The riddle is difficult, but rea-
2. Contents SOn is man's Sift to emPl°y> hence the and Date. attemPt to solve it. The coming age will show that God loves his people (v. 33), and this age is near (iv. 44, v. 48); God himself is bringing the end when the Roman rule will cease (v. 3, vi. 6, 9) amid signs and wonders in heaven and earth, though but few will share in the results (vii. 45 sqq.). At the judgment sinners will be condemned, the judgment being one of righteousness and not of mercy (vii. 33 sqq.). The punishment of sinners is painted in fearsome colors. In the fourth vision (ix. 26-x. 59) is represented the expectation that Zion's time of sorrow is soon to be over, and then Jerusalem will be rebuilt. In the fifth vision (x. 60-xii. 50) is seen an eagle with twelve wings, three heads, and eight subordinate wings, which rises in the sea and flies over the land. After twelve wings and six subordinate wings have ruled and vanished and only one head and two wings are left, a lion comes out of the wood and pronounces judgment on the eagle. The eagle is the last of the four kingdoms of Dan. vii. In the sixth vision (xiii. 1-58) a man arises from the sea and flies with the clouds, and as men come to fight with him, he destroys them with flames from his mouth. The explanation shows that this man is God's son, the savior of the world, who restores the ten tribes to their home. In the seventh vision Ezra prepares for his end and dictates his visions for forty days in ninety-four books. The book is in dialogue, in which the angel Uriel is one of the speakers. Too little is known of the popular traditions to permit tracing the separate parts to their origins or to decide upon the interrelations. But the author evidently belonged among the patriotic visionaries. He holds that for the Jews was the world created, and that to them, as masters, must it come. The direr their present misfortunes, the greater the reward that shall be theirs. The difference between the author's utterances and those of Jeremiah in a like situation is vast. There are similarities between Ezra and Paul, yet for Ezra the interest is in the national theodicy and in Jewish apologetic, while Paul's desire is release from the power of sin. Paul represents the early prophets as a personal witness; Ezra covers himself under pseudonymity and takes refuge in occultism and esoterism. The date before which the book could not have been written is 70 a.d., since the author has outlived the fall of Jerusalem. A more exact dating is hard to discover. Wellhausen sees in v. 1-12 a suggestion of Neronic times, and in v. 8 a reference to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 a.d. Others discern in this last only general apocalyptic features. But the book does not seem to have been written under the immediate influence of the fall of the capital, and a considerable period of subsequent misfortune seems to have been experienced, perhaps thirty years had elapsed (iii. 1). The eagle is quite certainly Rome. Possibly the first wing represents Caesar, the second
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