EZRA. – Priest and scribe (Heb. ‘Ezrā’; Septuagint ‘Esdras’; Vulgate Esdras) who played a leading role in the Jewish restoration in Jerusalem after the exile. His activity, carried out under difficult circumstances, is recounted in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The two books, which continue the history of the Chronicles, are more than two distinct works; they form two parts of the same composition. The ancients regarded them as a single book (Flavius Josephus, Melito of Sardis, Origen, Epiphanius, Jerome); the Septuagint unites them. Their subject is identical: the restoration of the Israelite nation after the Babylonian exile; their purpose is the same: to proclaim God’s fidelity and to urge observance of the Law; the same character is found in the 23 chapters that make up the entire narrative.
I. SUBJECT MATTER
The two books cover the period from 537 to 433 B.C., according to some to 398 B.C., with later additions. The author does not present a continuous history of this period, but relates only certain events: the first return of the exiles led by Zerubbabel and the rebuilding of the Temple (Ezra 1–6); the second return of exiles led by Ezra in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, and religious restoration (Ezra 7–10); the rebuilding of the city walls by Nehemiah amid much opposition (Nehemiah 1–6) and the political and religious organization of the Jewish community (Nehemiah 7–13). Various catalogues (Ezra 2:1–70; 8:1–20; 10:18–44; Nehemiah 3:1–31; 7:6–69; 10:1–27; 11:4–12:25) list the returning families, the builders of the walls, and the signatories of the renewed covenant.II. AUTHORSHIP
Jewish tradition (Babha’ Bathra’ 15; Sanhedrin 93b) attributes the work to Ezra, followed by Lamy, Kaulen, Corneby-Hagen, Hetzenauer, Seisenberger, Vigouroux, Fillion, Pelt, Sales, Hoberg. Many, however, believe that additions were made to Ezra’s work, which Hoberg, for example, assigns to the Hellenistic period. It is more probable (Herbst, Hanenberg, Berthoau, Fischer, Mangenet, Höpfl, Corneby-Merk) that the work was compiled after Ezra’s time using historical documents from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. References are made to the “days of Nehemiah the governor” of Ezra the priest (Nehemiah 12:26) and to the “days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah” (Nehemiah 12:46) as a past time; the Persian Darius (Nehemiah 12:22) is Darius III Codomannus (335–330 B.C.); Ezra is praised as “a scribe skilled in the Law” (Ezra 7:6, 11). Jewish tradition may have drawn on the sources explicitly cited (Ezra 7:1–10:44; Nehemiah 7:73–10:4).III. CHRONOLOGY
Ezra came to Palestine in the seventh year of Artaxerxes; Nehemiah in the twentieth and then the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes. These are Artaxerxes I or II (cf.). In any case, in terms of time, his life is recorded by Lamy (Ezra 4:4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4), and Nehemiah in 445 and 433 (the twenty-sixth and thirty-third years of the same king). A. van Hoonacker (followed by Torrey, Klameth, Touzard, Sales, Ricciotti) in 1890 advanced the hypothesis that Nehemiah came to Jerusalem first in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes I (445 B.C.) as governor of the province; there, with Ezra, he renewed the covenant (Nehemiah 8–10); then Ezra returned to Babylon, from where he led a second group of returning exiles in the seventh year of Artaxerxes II (398 B.C.). The main reasons advanced by van Hoonacker are: 1. when Nehemiah deals with Artaxerxes and speaks of earlier returnees, he makes no mention of Ezra; 2. Nehemiah openly accuses the governors before him of oppression and exploitation; could Ezra have been condemned in this way?; 3. when Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem, the city walls still lie in ruins, whereas in Ezra’s time there is a passage (Ezra 9:9) that presupposes the completion of the wall circuit; 4. at that time Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite, etc., were dominant in Jerusalem; they leave no trace in Ezra’s time; 5. Ezra was a contemporary of Jehohanan son of Eliashib (Ezra 10:6), who is probably the third in the list of high priests in Nehemiah 12:22. But these reasons do not seem sufficient to justify such a major displacement in the sacred text. At the time of Nehemiah, the Jews provided for the sacred worship at their own expense (Nehemiah 10:32ff.); under Ezra, however, the Jewish colony was so poor that it had to provide for worship from the royal treasury (Ezra 7:20), a poverty better explained in a time before Nehemiah. The solution to the problem of mixed marriages presupposes the present order, and if Nehemiah does not mention Ezra’s earlier work, this is due to its unhappy outcome. Nor is it proven that Jehohanan, son of Eliashib (Ezra 10:6), is identical with the high priest Jehohanan son of Eliashib (Nehemiah 12:10ff.): perhaps he is the son of the priest Eliashib entrusted with the treasury (Nehemiah 13:4). Ezra’s authority was rather religious, and thus the enemies of Nehemiah did not obstruct the internal religious reform; therefore Nehemiah’s complaints against his predecessors do not touch Ezra. The *gaddar* (wall) mentioned by Ezra in his humble prayer to God can only have the figurative sense of “protection” (cf. Psalm 79[80]:13), since it is added “in Judah and Jerusalem” (Ezra 9:9). The traditional chronology seems confirmed by the Elephantine papyri (cf.) from 410 B.C., since they mention a letter written to the sons of Nehemiah’s adversary Sanballat, evidently already dead. There seems, therefore, to be no doubt about the timing of Nehemiah’s mission. The traditional order of our books is thus still preferred by the vast majority of Catholic scholars.IV. HISTORICAL AUTHORITY
The historical authority of Ezra–Nehemiah is attested by the documents included and by perfect agreement with Persian history. Differences in the names of the exiles in the lists can be explained by the usual fluctuations in transcription. The religious policy of Cyrus (cf.) and the agreement with protocolary expressions found elsewhere assure us of the historicity of the edict of liberation in which Yahweh is named. The silence of Ecclesiasticus 44–50 should not surprise us any more than the omission of Asa and Jehoshaphat, kings of Judah. Jewish and Christian tradition, which admits the divine authority of Ezra–Nehemiah, rightly admits their historicity as well. The Elephantine papyri, documents so closely related to Ezra–Nehemiah in content and language, confirm their historicity.V. EZRA’S ACTIVITY
Ezra, priest and scribe, carried out his work under difficult circumstances. After the decree of liberation issued by Cyrus (538 B.C.), in 537 B.C.—apparently in the spring—the first group of exiles set out under the leadership of Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua. Work was immediately begun on the new Temple (cf. HAGGAI).From the time of Darius I (521 BC) onward, the Jewish community in Jerusalem continued to be governed by two leaders: the pekah, "prefect," and the high priest. Under these leaders, the community lived in obscurity until the middle of the 5th century. Economic conditions were difficult, and moral conditions were not prosperous. Encouraged by a benevolent decree (Ezra 7:11-26) of Artaxerxes I (458 BC), Ezra came from Babylon at the head of a second group of returning exiles. He revived the Jahwistic spirit; his mission was primarily religious. The caravan, consisting of about 1,800 men, set out on 12 Nisan 458 BC. Ezra eliminated the serious abuse of mixed marriages, which were invalid among adults. At the Temple and before the people, Ezra confessed to Yahweh the grave public sin committed, and the people swore—beginning with the priests and those guilty of the offense—to send away the foreign women and their children immediately. Due to the difficulty of sending away the women and children immediately and during the rainy season (20 Kislev = November–December), a commission presided over by Ezra decided individual cases. However, it seems that, once the initial enthusiasm waned, the success was not great, as suggested by the abrupt conclusion of the Book of Ezra and confirmed by Nehemiah (Neh. 9:2; 10:30; 13:3).
God soon sent Ezra an ally in Nehemiah in the 20th year of Artaxerxes. After the walls, gates, and towers of Jerusalem were rebuilt in 52 days, Ezra (Neh. 8) read the neglected Law to the assembled people during the New Year’s festival. He added exhortations. During the subsequent Feast of Tabernacles (Neh. 9:13ff.), for eight days, there was daily reading of the Law. The people and the Levites were reacquainted with Mosaic prescriptions. Having prepared through fasting, penance, confession, and prayer, Israel renewed the covenant. With this restoration, Ezra’s mission appears to have come to an end.
According to Jewish tradition, Ezra collected the sacred books; he is said to have died in Persia, where his tomb is still shown at el-’Oseir or el-’Esr (v. E) on the Tigris, 40 km from its confluence with the Euphrates. However, Flavius Josephus places his death in Jerusalem. It may be presumed that, together with Nehemiah (1 Macc. 2:13), Ezra was involved in preserving and organizing the deposit of inspired books (v. LIBRO DI).