1 Esdras (Greek Έσδράς Αˊ), Greek Ezra, is an ancient Greek version of the biblical Book of Ezra in use among ancient Jewry, the early church, and many modern Christians with varying degrees of canonicity. First Esdras is substantially the same as Masoretic Ezra, with one notable addition corresponding to the middle of Ezra Chapter 4.
As part of the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, it is regarded as canonical in the churches of the East, but Apocryphal in the West.[1] First Esdras is found in Origen's Hexapla. Greek and related versions of the Bible include both Esdras α and Esdras β (Ezra-Nehemiah) in parallel.
Contents |
First Esdras contains the whole of Ezra with the addition of one section; its verses are numbered differently. Just as Ezra begins with the last two verses of 2 Chronicles, 1 Esdras begins with the last two chapters; this suggests that Chronicles and Esdras may have been read as one book at sometime in the past.
Ezra 4:6 includes a reference to a King Ahasuerus. Etymologicaly, Ahasuerus is the same as Xerxes, who reigned between Darius and Artaxerxes. Because this is anachronistic, some scholars identify it with another king. In 1 Esdras, this reference is replaced with the additional section. Thus, in 1 Esdras, Cyrus the Great, Darius the Great, and Artaxerxes I appear in their historical order.
The additional section forms the core of 1 Esdras with Ezra 5, which together are arranged in a literary chiasm around the celebration in Jerusalem at the exiles’ return. This chiastic core forms 1 Esdras into a complete literary unit, allowing it to stand independently from the book of Nehemiah. Indeed some scholars, such as W. F. Albright and Edwin M. Yamauchi, believe that Nehemiah came back to Jerusalem before Ezra.[2][3]
| EZRA AND I ESDRAS COMPARED | ||
|---|---|---|
| Masoretic Text | Septuagint | Summary |
| Continuation of Paralipomenon (i.e., "Things Set Off" from Esdras) |
||
| (II Chr. 35) | (I Esd. 1:1-33) | |
| (II Chr. 36) | (I Esd. 1:34-58) | |
| Begin Ezra | ||
| Ezr. 1 | I Esd. 2:1-14 | Cyrus's edict to rebuild the Temple |
| Ezr. 4:7-14 | I Esd. 2:15-30a | Flash forward to Artaxerxes’ reign (prolepsis) |
| Core: Chiasm of Celebration | ||
| — | I Esd. 2:30b | Inclusio: Work hindered until second year of Darius’s reign |
| — | I Esd. 3 | A Feast in the court of Darius |
| — | I Esd. 4 | B Darius vows to repatriate the exiles |
| — | I Esd. 5:1-6 | X The feast of those who returned to Jerusalem |
| Ezr. 2 | I Esd. 5:7-46 | B' List of former exiles who returned |
| Ezr. 3 | I Esd. 5:47-65 | A' Feast of Tabernacles |
| Ezr. 4:1-5[4] | I Esd. 5:66-73 | Inclusio: Work hindered until second year of Darius’s reign |
| Conclusion | ||
| Ezr. 5 | I Esd. 6:1-22 | In the second year of Darius's reign |
| Ezr. 6 | I Esd. 6:23 — 7 | The temple is finished |
| Ezr. 7 | I Esd. 8:1-27 | In Artaxerxes’ reign |
| Ezr. 8 | I Esd. 8:28-67 | List of latter exiles who returned |
| Ezr. 9 | I Esd. 8:68-90 | Repentance from miscegenation |
| Ezr. 10 | I Esd. 8:91-9:36 | Putting away of foreign wives and children |
| (Neh. 7:73-8:12) | (I Esd. 9:37-55) | |
The purpose of the book seems to be the presentation of the dispute among the courtiers, to which details from the other books are added to complete the story. Since there are various discrepancies in the account, most scholars hold that the work was written by more than one author. However, some scholars believe that this work may have been the original, or at least the more authoritative; the variances that are contained in this work are so striking that more research is being conducted. Furthermore, there is disagreement as to what the original language of the work was, Greek, Aramaic, or Hebrew.[5] Because of similarities to the vocabulary in the Book of Daniel, it is presumed by some that the authors came from Lower Egypt and some or all may have even had a hand in the translation of Daniel. Assuming this theory is correct, many scholars consider the possibility that one "chronicler" wrote this book.
Josephus makes use of the book and some scholars believe that the composition is likely to have taken place in the first century BC or the first century AD. Many Protestant and Catholic scholars assign no historical value to the "original" sections of the book. The citations of the other books of the Bible, however, provide an early alternative to the Septuagint for those texts, which increases its value to scholars.
In the current Greek texts, the book breaks off in the middle of a sentence; that particular verse thus had to be reconstructed from an early Latin translation. However, it is generally presumed that the original work extended to the Feast of Tabernacles, as described in Nehemiah 8:13-18. An additional difficulty with the text is the apparent ignorance of its author regarding the historical sequence of events. Artaxerxes is mentioned before Darius, who is mentioned before Cyrus. (Such jumbling of the order of events, however, is also suspected by some authors to exist in the canonical Ezra and Nehemiah.) This error or double naming is corrected by Josephus in The Antiquities of the Jews Book 11 chapter 2 where we find that the name of the above mentioned Artaxerxes is called Cambyses.
The book was widely quoted by early Christian authors and it found a place in Origen's Hexapla. It was not included in early canons of the Western Church, and Clement VIII relegated it to an appendix following the New Testament in the Vulgate "lest [it] perish entirely".[6] However, the use of the book continued in the Eastern Church, and it remains a part of the Eastern Orthodox canon.
Some scholars, including Joseph Blenkinsopp in his 1988 commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah, holding that the book is a late 2nd/early 1st century BC revision of Esdras and Esdras β,[7] while others such as L.L. Grabbe believe it to be independent of the Hebrew-language Ezra-Nehemiah.[8]
The book normally called 1 Esdras is numbered differently among various versions of the Bible. In most editions of the Septuagint, the book is titled in Greek: Έσδράς Αˊ and is placed before the single book of Ezra-Nehemiah, which is titled in Greek: Έσδράς Βˊ.
| Deuterocanon | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by 1-2 Chronicles |
E. Orthodox Books of the Bible |
Succeeded by Ezra-Nehemiah (2 Esdras) |
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![[1]](http://sacredbible.org/vulgate1861/scans/817-Apocrypha.jpg){kind=link}