Esdras

Esdras (in Hebrew: עזרא - Ezra } is one of the chiefs of the Judaea NS which returned from Babylon with Zorobabel. This scribe poured in the law of Moïse, of which it made a subject of study and teaching, goes down from Tsadoq and Phinéas. He is the main character of the Livre of Esdras and one finds it in the account of Néhémie of the return of exile of Babylon. A patriarchal house of the following generation bears its name.

History

The 7th year of Artaxerxès Ier Long-Hand , king de Perse 465 av . J. - C. with 424 av. J. - C., Esdras was instructed by the king to go to Jerusalem there to make a civil and religious investigation into the conditions of existence of the Jewish community and to exhort it to observe the law of God (v. 14). Esdras held a letter of the king, ordering with the authorities of the province located beyond the river to deliver to the scribe the money and the vivres necessary to the service of the Temple, and to exempt taxes all those which dealt with the house of God (v. 21,24). Esdras accepted the permission to lead in Judaea a new group of exiled Jewish, in addition to those which had accompanied Zorobabel and the Cohen Gadol Josué, 80 years before in 538 av. J. - C..

When it gathered and inspected the Jews eager to turn over to Judaea, Esdras did not find among them any Levite of lower row; it informed it their chief who persuaded some Levites to join Esdras. After having fasted and seekhaving sought the direction of God for the voyage, the group, extremely 1700 men, left the 12th day the 1st month of the 7th year of Artaxerxès 458 av . J. - C./457 av. J. - C (Esd. 8.1-23, 31). Esdras reached Jerusalem later 4 months, the 1st day of the 5th month (7.8). It gave to the persons in charge of the house of God the ustensils which it had received for it; it offered holocausts and transmitted the orders of the king to the governors of the countries beyond the river (8.33-36).

Esdras was deeply afflicted to discover that Jews of Judaea and even of the cohanim exiled had, contrary to the Torah, married pagan women: it succeeds in persuading the majority of them to separate from these foreign (CH. 9 and 10). Thirteen years later, when Néhémie had returned to Jerusalem and had restored its walls, Esdras governed the reading of the law of Brace to the people (8). According to Flavius Josèphe, Esdras died about the time when Eliachib became high priest (Ant. 11.5.5); it was undoubtedly contemporary of Eliachib during some time. (3.1; 13.4,7,28)

According to (Esd 7), Esdras was sent with others exiled in Jerusalem by the Persian king Artaxerxès I in 458 av. J.C. ; it had probably been the equivalent of a Secretary of State to the Jewish businesses. One had authorized it to impose the observation of the Jewish law and to name persons in charge of the Jewish State. One does not hear any more of him until it reads the law as a public (8) in 444 av . J. - C., after undoubtedly being turned over to Persia for a certain time. It was suggested that the author of Esdras and Néhémie confused Artaxerxès I and II and thus placed by Esdras error before Néhémie. But if it had come to Jerusalem into 398, such an error would have been raised by those who had been the witnesses of the events or which had intended some to speak by their parents.

Midrash

The Jewish tradition sees in Esdras a man of the stature of Moïse which would have deserved to receive the Torah. It credits the drafting to him with its book like that of the Chroniques.

Esdras created the large assembly of 120 wise whose aurianet left the prophets Aggée, Malachie and Zacharie like Daniel. This assembly evolved/moved with time to become the Sanhédrin, supreme court and referee of the Jewish law. Under her authority, this assembly would have published the books of Daniel, Esther and Ézéchiel.

Esdras would have also been the diciple of Baruch Ben Neria, the scribe of the prophet Jérémie.

External bonds

the first book of Esdras in the Seventy: university thesis on the book apocryphal book of Esdras in the Greek Bible.
the return of exiled under Ezra
in 2 Esdras

Random links: