Ezra

Ezra
Ezra
	Ezra Reads the Law to the People by Gustave Doré, 1866
Prophet and Priest
Honored in	Catholic Church; Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	July 13 (Catholic); Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (Eastern Orthodox)

Ezra (fl. fifth or fourth century BCE)^[1]^[a]^[b] is the main character of the Book of Ezra. According to the Hebrew Bible, he was an important Jewish scribe (sofer) and priest (kohen) in the early Second Temple period. In the Greek Septuagint, the name is rendered as Ésdrās (Ἔσδρας), from which the Latin name Esdras comes. His name is probably a shortened Aramaic translation of the Hebrew name עזריהו‎ (Azaryahu), meaning "Yah helps".

In the Hebrew Bible, or the Christian Old Testament, Ezra is an important figure in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which he is traditionally held to have written and edited, respectively. According to tradition, Ezra was also the author of the Books of Chronicles and the Book of Malachi.^[5]^[6] He is depicted as instrumental in restoring the Jewish scriptures and religion to the people after the return from the Babylonian Captivity and is a highly respected figure in Judaism.^[7] He is regarded as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, which sets his feast day as July 13, the same as that of his contemporary, Nehemiah.^[8] He is also venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, which sets his feast day on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers.^[9]

There is no historical consensus on Ezra’s existence or mission due to a lack of extrabiblical evidence and conflicting scholarly interpretations, ranging from viewing him as a historical Aramean official to a literary figure, with debates hinging on the authenticity of the Artaxerxes rescript and its dating.^[10]

^ Frevel, Christian (2023). History of Ancient Israel. SBL Press. ISBN 9781628375145. A textual emendation in Ezra 7:7 shifts the work of Ezra from the seventh to the thirty-seventh year of Artaxerxes and thus by extension, following Neh 13, into the second phase of Nehemiah's activity in the year 428 BCE. Since this is a rather arbitrary solution, the dating under Artaxerxes II Mnemon (405/4-359/58 BCE) is discussed in scholarship as an alternative to the dating of Ezra under Artaxerxes I Longimanus (465-424/23 BCE), so that the appearance of Ezra in Jerusalem after Nehemiah occurs in the year 398 BCE. The difficulty of reading the Torah in the square in front of the Water Gate in the Nehemiah Report can then only be solved in terms of editorial history, which is often underpinned by the Greek 1 Esdras, where Neh 8 follows Ezra 7-10…There are no compelling arguments for dating Ezra. The fact that the question cannot be decided from a historical perspective is due to the lack of any tangible historical details regarding Ezra, for whom no extrabiblical indications exist.
^ "[God] helps" – Emil G. Hirsch, Isaac Broydé, "Ezra the Scribe", The Jewish Encyclopedia (Online)
^ "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Esdras (Ezra)". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
^ Edward Kessler, Neil Wenborn, A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge University Press, p. 398
^ "The Book of Ezra by Greg Herrick - Bible.org".
^ "Ezra the Scribe by Mendel Adelman, Chabad.org".
^ The New Encyclopedia of Judaism, "Ezra"
^ "St. Ezra — Rejoicing in the Lord is Your Strength by Theresa Doyle-Nelson - National Catholic Register". 13 July 2020.
^ "Alphabetical list of Saints and events".
^ Frevel, Christian (2023). History of Ancient Israel. SBL Press. ISBN 9781628375145. There are no compelling arguments for dating Ezra. The fact that the question cannot be decided from a historical perspective is due to the lack of any tangible historical details regarding Ezra, for whom no extrabiblical indications exist. Here, too, scholarship oscillates between the historical figure of a rich Aramean official and the literarily transfigured legend of Moses redivivus. As with Nehemiah, historical evaluation faces the difficulty of a highly artificial integration of notes about Ezra into a network of biblical reference texts, especially from the Torah. At the textual level, this presupposes the validity of the Torah, which is usually linked to Ezra 7. An evaluation depends on the source value of the Artaxerxes rescript in Ezra 7:12-26. In the maximalist view, Ezra's mission is considered historical because of the Aramaic language; in the minimalist view, even Ezra's existence is denied. Sebastian Grätz's analysis, for example, denies the Achaemenid period background of the document and assigns it to the Hellenistic period.

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[Frevel_2023-1] Frevel, Christian (2023). History of Ancient Israel. SBL Press. ISBN 9781628375145. A textual emendation in Ezra 7:7 shifts the work of Ezra from the seventh to the thirty-seventh year of Artaxerxes and thus by extension, following Neh 13, into the second phase of Nehemiah's activity in the year 428 BCE. Since this is a rather arbitrary solution, the dating under Artaxerxes II Mnemon (405/4-359/58 BCE) is discussed in scholarship as an alternative to the dating of Ezra under Artaxerxes I Longimanus (465-424/23 BCE), so that the appearance of Ezra in Jerusalem after Nehemiah occurs in the year 398 BCE. The difficulty of reading the Torah in the square in front of the Water Gate in the Nehemiah Report can then only be solved in terms of editorial history, which is often underpinned by the Greek 1 Esdras, where Neh 8 follows Ezra 7-10…There are no compelling arguments for dating Ezra. The fact that the question cannot be decided from a historical perspective is due to the lack of any tangible historical details regarding Ezra, for whom no extrabiblical indications exist.

[2] "[God] helps" – Emil G. Hirsch, Isaac Broydé, "Ezra the Scribe", The Jewish Encyclopedia (Online)

[4] "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Esdras (Ezra)". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 1 January 2023.

[5] Edward Kessler, Neil Wenborn, A Dictionary of Jewish-Christian Relations, Cambridge University Press, p. 398

[7] "The Book of Ezra by Greg Herrick - Bible.org".

[8] "Ezra the Scribe by Mendel Adelman, Chabad.org".

[9] The New Encyclopedia of Judaism, "Ezra"

[10] "St. Ezra — Rejoicing in the Lord is Your Strength by Theresa Doyle-Nelson - National Catholic Register". 13 July 2020.

[11] "Alphabetical list of Saints and events".

[books.google.com-12] Frevel, Christian (2023). History of Ancient Israel. SBL Press. ISBN 9781628375145. There are no compelling arguments for dating Ezra. The fact that the question cannot be decided from a historical perspective is due to the lack of any tangible historical details regarding Ezra, for whom no extrabiblical indications exist. Here, too, scholarship oscillates between the historical figure of a rich Aramean official and the literarily transfigured legend of Moses redivivus. As with Nehemiah, historical evaluation faces the difficulty of a highly artificial integration of notes about Ezra into a network of biblical reference texts, especially from the Torah. At the textual level, this presupposes the validity of the Torah, which is usually linked to Ezra 7. An evaluation depends on the source value of the Artaxerxes rescript in Ezra 7:12-26. In the maximalist view, Ezra's mission is considered historical because of the Aramaic language; in the minimalist view, even Ezra's existence is denied. Sebastian Grätz's analysis, for example, denies the Achaemenid period background of the document and assigns it to the Hellenistic period.

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Ezra
Ezra Reads the Law to the People by Gustave Doré, 1866
Prophet and Priest
Honored in	Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church
Feast	July 13 (Catholic) Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (Eastern Orthodox)