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Ezra

Bible Dictionary

Ezra
(help), called [508]Esdras in the Apocrypha, the famous scribeand priest. He was a learned and pious priest residing atBabylon in the time of Artaxerxes Longimanus. The origin of hisinfluence with the king does not appear, but in the seventhyear of his reign he obtained leave to go to Jerusalem, and totake with him a company of Israelites. (b.c. 457.) The journeyfrom Babylon to Jerusalem took just four months; and thecompany brought with them a large freewill offering of gold andsilver, and silver vessels. It appears that Ezra s great designwas to effect a religious reformation among the Palestine Jews.His first step was to enforce separation upon all who hadmarried foreign wives. (ezra 10:1) ... This was effected inlittle more than six months after his arrival at Jerusalem.With the detailed account of this important transaction Ezra sautobiography ends abruptly, and we hear nothing more of himtill, thirteen years afterwards, in the twentieth ofArtaxerxes, we find him again at Jerusalem with Nehemiah. Itseems probable that after effecting the above reformations hereturned to the king of Persia. The functions he executed underNehemiah s government were purely of a priestly andecclesiastical character. The date of his death is uncertain.There was a Jewish tradition that he was buried in Persia. Theprincipal works ascribed to him by the Jews are--

The instruction of the great synagogue;

The settling the canon of Scripture, and restoring,correcting and editing the whole sacred volume;

The introduction of the Chaldee character instead of the oldHebrew or Samaritan;

The authorship of the books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah,and, some add, Esther; and, many of the Jews say, also of thebooks of Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve prophets;

The establishment of synagogues.