Chapter One

Genealogy of Ezra (1–3). Rebuke of the Hebrews for idolatry and forgetfulness of God’s benefactions (4–23). Rejection of the Jews and calling of the Gentiles (24–40).

The text of the first two chapters exists in two recensions, differing significantly from each other in many places: the French and the Spanish. The French forms the basis of the modern printed text. According to the opinion of James (XLIV–LXIII) the Spanish version preserves the text in a more ancient unimpaired form, while the French, along with care for elegance of style, aims to smooth over those passages which could raise questions.

2 Esdras 1:1. The Second Book of the Prophet Ezra, son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Helkiah, son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, 1. At the beginning is placed the title of the book: “Liber Ezrae prophetae secundus.” The naming of Ezra as a prophet is explained by the fact that the author had before him the prophetic book of Ezra (III–XIV) and in his work strove to expand its scope, extending its prophecy to the pagan world, called into the Christian Church in place of rejected Israel. The numerical designation of the book can hardly be considered to have come from the author’s pen. In one of the French manuscripts it is omitted, in one of the Spanish manuscripts the opening words are given in such form: “The Book of Ezra son of Xusia, a prophet, a priest (sacerdos).” The similarity of the latter word in spelling to the word secundus prompts one to recognize in the modern numerical inscription of the book the fruit of a misreading. Ezra is called a priest or minister for the purpose of clarifying the preceding designation of him as a prophet, which nowhere else in the apocrypha is encountered.

2 Esdras 1:2. son of Ahijah, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, son of Amariah, son of Asiel, son of Meraioth, son of Arna, son of Uziah, son of Borith, son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, 2. Ezra’s genealogy in the Spanish version is omitted and he is named only as the son of Xusia. In the French version nineteen members of Ezra’s genealogy are listed, beginning from Aaron. The basis of this genealogy lies in the data from the canonical book of Ezra (VII:1–5) and the non-canonical second book of his name (VIII:1–2). In addition, three new members are introduced: Ahijah, Phinehas, and Eli. In the opinion of Gutschmid (s. 234), Hilgenfeld (205), and James (XLIV), they are taken from 1 Samuel (XIV, cf. XIV:18; I:3), but without sufficient grounds. James expresses himself in favor of the shorter genealogy, since it could hardly occur to anyone to replace a well-known genealogy with a completely new name, Xusia. The name Xusia is mentioned in the Bible three times, in 2 Samuel (XVIII: 21–23, 31–32), in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (XXXVI:14), and in the Prophet Zephaniah (I:1. “The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah, son of Xusia”). Since excerpts from the latter prophet occur in other places of the book as well, one can suppose that the genealogy of Ezra, strange at first glance, is taken from Zephaniah.

2 Esdras 1:3. son of Aaron of the tribe of Levi, who was a captive in the land of Media, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians. 3. The time of Ezra’s activity in the French version is placed in accordance with the canonical book of his name (VII:1) during the reign of Artaxerxes. According to Spanish manuscripts Ezra is a contemporary of Nebuchadnezzar. This latter anachronism also occurs in the older prophetic book of Ezdras (III:1), where he receives a revelation in the 30th year of the Babylonian captivity.

2 Esdras 1:4. And the word of the Lord came to me: 2 Esdras 1:5. Go and tell my people of their evil deeds and their children of the iniquities which they have committed against me, so that they may tell their children’s children; 2 Esdras 1:6. for the sins of their fathers have increased in them; they have forgotten me and offered sacrifices to strange gods. 2 Esdras 1:7. Did I not bring them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery? But they angered me and despised my counsels. 2 Esdras 1:8. Tear out the hair of your head and cast all evils upon them, for they have not obeyed my law—an unrestrained people! 2 Esdras 1:9. How long shall I bear with them, to whom I have shown such benefactions? 2 Esdras 1:10. For their sake I have overthrown many kings; I smote Pharaoh with his servants and all his army; 10. Cf. Exod 14:23-30.

2 Esdras 1:11. All the nations I destroyed before their face, and in the east I scattered the people of the two provinces, Tyre and Sidon, and slew all their enemies. 11. The Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon were the bitterest enemies of the Hebrews after Egypt. Prophets Isaiah (23) and Ezekiel (26–27) foretold their destruction. Indeed, Tyre was conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. Somewhat earlier Sidon was destroyed by the Persian king Artaxerxes III Ochus (351 B.C.).

2 Esdras 1:12. Thus you shall say to them: So says the Lord: 2 Esdras 1:13. I led you through the sea and made for you a protected path in its depths, and gave you Moses as your leader and Aaron as your priest, 2 Esdras 1:14. and gave you a light in a pillar of fire, and worked many wonders among you; yet you forgot me, says the Lord. 2 Esdras 1:15. Thus says the Lord Almighty: The quails were a sign to you. I gave you encampments for your protection, but you murmured there 2 Esdras 1:16. and did not rejoice in my name over the destruction of your enemies, but to this day still grumble. 2 Esdras 1:17. Where are the benefactions which I bestowed upon you? When you were hungry and thirsty in the wilderness, did you not cry out to me, 2 Esdras 1:18. saying, “Why did you bring us into this wilderness? It would be better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in this wilderness”? 2 Esdras 1:19. I took pity on your groaning and gave you manna as food; you ate the bread of angels. 2 Esdras 1:20. When you were thirsty, did I not split the rock, and water flowed in abundance? To protect you from the heat I covered you with leaves of trees. 2 Esdras 1:21. I divided to you fertile lands; I cast out the Canaanites, the Perizzites, and the Philistines before your face. What more shall I do for you? says the Lord. 21. Cf. Josh 12:8. Of the six nations enumerated in the book of Joshua, only the Canaanites and Perizzites are named here, and in the Spanish version, in addition, the Hittites. Without concern for chronological accuracy, the author mentions among the nations expelled by the Hebrews from the promised land the Philistines. The Philistines continued to maintain their independence and wage war with the Hebrews not only during the period of the Judges but also under the kings. Only God’s patronage gave Israel the ability to emerge victorious in their struggle against them.

2 Esdras 1:22. Thus says the Lord Almighty: When you were in the wilderness at the river Merah, and were thirsty and cursed my name, 22. In the Slavonic Bible, in accordance with the printed text of the Vulgate, the reference is to the River of the Amorites (amorreo). The correct reading is given by the Spanish version: “at the bitter river” (amaro), which undoubtedly refers to the stream Merah (Exod 15:23). In connection with the preceding list of Palestinian nations, the word “amaro” was applied to the Amorites.

2 Esdras 1:23. I did not send fire upon you for your blasphemy, but threw wood into the water and made the river sweet. 2 Esdras 1:24. What shall I do for you, Jacob? You did not obey me, Judah. I will go over to other nations and give them my name, that they may keep my laws. 24. The passing over of God to other nations and the giving to them of God’s name refers to the calling of the Gentiles into the church.

2 Esdras 1:25. Because you have abandoned me, I also will abandon you; I will not have mercy on those who ask me for mercy. 2 Esdras 1:26. When you call upon me, I will not hear you; for you have defiled your hands with blood, and your feet are swift to commit murder. 26. Prov 1:28; Isa 1:15. Cf. Prov 1:16; Isa 59:7; Rom 3:15.

2 Esdras 1:27. You, as it were, have not abandoned me, but yourselves, says the Lord. 2 Esdras 1:28. Thus says the Lord Almighty: Did I not beg you as a father begs his sons and as a mother begs her daughters and as a nurse begs her charges, 2 Esdras 1:29. that you should be my people and I should be your God, that you should be my sons and I should be your Father? 2 Esdras 1:30. I gathered you as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. What shall I now do for you? I will cast you out from my face. 30. To depict God’s relationship to his people, the author uses an evangelical comparison, taken from the life of birds. “How many times,” the Savior cries out to Jerusalem, “did I want to gather your children as a bird (όρνις) gathers its chicks under its wings, and you were unwilling” (Matt 23:37). Since such an image does not exist in the Old Testament, it appears certain that the author borrowed it from the Gospel of Matthew. In the Book of Deuteronomy, God’s love for the chosen people is compared with the care of an eagle for its chicks (XXXII:11).

2 Esdras 1:31. When you bring me an offering, I will turn my face from you; for I have rejected your feast days and new moons and circumcisions. 31. Cf. Isa 1:13-15.

2 Esdras 1:32. I sent to you my servants, the prophets; you seized them and killed them and tore their bodies in pieces. Their blood I will demand, says the Lord. 32. In the Latin text the prophets are called not servants but servants (pueri) of God. This entire passage closely approaches the Gospel of Luke (XI:49; cf. Matt 23:34), in which Christ depicts the sad fate of the messengers of God’s will—the prophets and apostles. In the Spanish version the second half of the Gospel words is preserved, where it speaks of the apostles. “And they tore the bodies of the Apostles to pieces, and for their souls and blood I will demand an accounting.” Since the Christian origin of the book is beyond doubt, it is much simpler and more natural to consider this passage to have come from the author’s own pen than to allow for a later interpolation.

2 Esdras 1:33. Thus says the Lord Almighty: Your house is desolate. I will scatter you like chaff before the wind, 33. The expression “Your house is desolate” is taken from the condemnatory speech of the Savior in the Jerusalem temple (Matt 23:36: Luke 13:35). The comparison of the fate of devastated Israel with chaff carried away by the wind from the threshing floor is found in the Prophet Hosea (XIII:3). In one of the Spanish manuscripts the immediate cause of God’s abandonment of the Jews and their scattering is advanced as the fact that they rejected the Lord and handed Him over to death on the wood. “Thus says the Lord Almighty: “You did not receive me as a Father who freed you from slavery, but as a lawless one, and handed me over to death, hanging me on a tree. Behold the deeds which you have done. Therefore says the Lord: “My Father will return and His angels will judge between Me and you. Did I not fulfill my Father’s command, did I not feed you, did I not do what my Father commanded? I will contend with you at judgment,” says the Lord.” The authenticity of the cited passage is beyond question, since it is quoted with indication of source in the Greek “Disputation of Sylvester with the Jews” and in the Latin translation of this monument (James, XXXVIII–XL). It is evident that the book we are examining once existed in the Greek language, from which the Latin translation was made (Lucke, 212, Hilgenfeld XLVI–XLIX, Gutschmid, 233). On this basis the recent hypothesis of Labour must be rejected (Labour. Le cinquierme livre d’Ezdras. Revue Biblique), which argues for the appearance of the book in the Latin language in the V or VI century. The omission of this passage in the French version and in the Vulgate is explained by the fact that it too clearly revealed the Christian origin of the book. Speech about the crucifixion of the Lord on the cross as an accomplished fact appeared unnatural in the mouth of an Old Testament Ezra.

2 Esdras 1:34. and your children shall have no posterity, because they have despised my commandment and done what is evil in my sight. 2 Esdras 1:35. I will give your houses to peoples that will come; they will believe in me without having heard me, will fulfill what I have commanded without seeing my signs, 2 Esdras 1:36. and will remember their iniquities without having seen the prophets. 35–36. In contrast to the stiffnecked Israel, the coming people from the pagan world freely bring to God their faith as a gift, needing for this neither miracles nor even the preaching of prophets. They believe in God not hearing about Him from anyone’s lips, but obeying only the voice of their conscience (cf. Rom 2:15).

2 Esdras 1:37. I am giving grace to the peoples that come; their children, whom they have not seen with their fleshly eyes, but will believe in my words through the spirit, shall rejoice with gladness. 37. The coming of the Messiah in the flesh is represented here as a past event. The pagan world, not having seen the Messiah, believes His words. One cannot help noting here an echo of the Savior’s words to the Apostle Thomas: “Blessed are those who have not seen yet have believed” (John 20:29).

2 Esdras 1:38. Now then, see, brother, the glory—see the people coming from the east, 38. God calls the prophet brother. This form of address, not found in Old Testament writings, is borrowed from the Gospel, where the Savior repeatedly calls His followers brothers (Matt 28:10; John 20:17; cf. Rom 8:29; Heb 2:11-12; Ps 21:23). Under the people coming from the east are meant Christians from among the Gentiles.

2 Esdras 1:39. To whom I will give as leaders Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, and Jonah, 2 Esdras 1:40. and Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, who is also called the Angel of the Lord.