Chapter Four

The appearing of the Angel Uriel (1). A rebuke of Ezra for the immoderation of his claims (2). The helplessness of man in solving even the simplest mysteries of nature (3–12). The parable of the forest and the sea (13–21). Ezra’s prayer for an answer given the importance of these questions for Israel (22–25). The lawfulness in the development of good and evil on the earth (26–43). The nearness of the end, illustrated by the vision of a furnace and a cloud (44–50). The impossibility of determining the time of the end with precision (51–52).

2 Esdras 4:1. Then answered me the Angel sent to me, whose name was Uriel, 1. The author notes in very brief words the appearing of the Angel Uriel. This brevity is explained by the fact that in our book it is philosophy, not history, that stands foremost. The word uriel means “the light of God.” This name appears twice in the Old Testament: it was borne by one Levite, a contemporary of David (1 Chr 6:24) and the grandfather of the Judean king Abijah on his mother’s side (2 Chr 13:2). The Angel Uriel is also mentioned in an earlier monument of the post-exilic period—the Apocalypse of Enoch. (XX, 2). Here he is called “the Angel appointed over the host of angels and over the pit” (Kautzsch, II, 250). In the prophetic book of Ezra, from the second vision, the Angel Uriel is identified with God Himself. Such examples in the Old Testament books are not rare. In contrast to Ezra, torn by various doubts, the Angel constantly strengthens the vacillating faith of his interlocutor in the justice of God’s judgments. He sometimes tries to curb Ezra by pointing to the insignificance of human nature, sometimes, within the bounds of possibility, slightly lifts the veil of mystery enveloping the most important questions of the human spirit.

2 Esdras 4:2. and said: Your heart has soared too far in this age, that you would comprehend the way of the Most High. 2 Esdras 4:3. And I answered: Yes, my lord. And he said to me: I have been sent to show you three ways, and to set before you three comparisons. 2 Esdras 4:4. If you can explain to me one of them, then I will show you the way that you desire to see, and I will teach you where the evil heart has come from. 2 Esdras 4:5. And I said: Speak, my lord. And he said to me: Go, weigh for me the weight of fire, or measure the force of the wind for me, or bring back to me the day that has passed. 2 Esdras 4:6. And I answered: What man can do what you are asking me? 2 Esdras 4:7. And he said to me: If I asked you: How many dwellings are in the heart of the sea? Or how many springs in the very foundation of the abyss? Or how many streams above the firmament? Or what are the borders of the paradise? 7. The Latin manuscripts give the second half of the verse in a somewhat different form: “How many sources in the very foundation of the abyss? Or how many paths above the firmament? Or what are the gates of Hades? Or what are the paths of paradise?” The speech about streams was possible because it was supposed that above the firmament there existed sources, based on the book of Genesis (I:7). Paths above the firmament designate the directions in which the stars move. In the Vulgate the question about the gates of Hades is omitted: such gaps in the second half of the verse there are not uncommon.

2 Esdras 4:8. you would perhaps say to me: I have not descended into the abyss, nor have I entered Hades, and I have never ascended into heaven. 8. In the majority of Eastern translations (Ar. 2, Eth., Arm.) the answer fully meets all the questions posed above. To the last one, the Angel answers: “and I have not seen paradise.”

2 Esdras 4:9. Now I have asked you only about fire, wind, and the day which you have experienced, and things without which you cannot exist, and to these you have given me no answer. 2 Esdras 4:10. And he said to me: You cannot even understand those things which you possess and which are with you from childhood; 10. Fire and wind grow and develop together with the human organism: they are your age-mates (tecum coadulescentia). Williamowitz (Gunkel, 355) sees here traces of Eastern teaching about the composition of man. The microcosm consists of the same four elements as the macrocosm (cf. VIII:8). Of them water and earth are omitted.

2 Esdras 4:11. how could then your vessel contain in itself the way of the Most High, and how could one corrupted in the corruption of this age understand the incorruptible? 11. In the Latin text there is a rather extensive gap in the middle of the verse, because of which the meaning of this passage is extremely confused. On the basis of the Eastern translations (Eth., Syr., Arm.) it appears in the following form: “How could your vessel contain in itself the way of the Most High, and corrupted by the corruption of this age, understand the uncorrupted. And when I heard this, I fell upon my face.” The Angel clarifies to Ezra the reason why the ways of the Most High are inaccessible to man. The vessel is called the human body by Philo and Barnabas. Man belongs, by his body, to the corruptible age. By virtue of this, everything that pertains to the incorruptible age is a mystery to him. The doctrine of the two ages created by God is revealed more fully below.

2 Esdras 4:12. And I said: It would have been better if we had not been at all, than to live in wickedness and suffer, not knowing why. 12. “It would have been better for us not to appear (adesse) than, having come (advenientes), to live in lawlessness.” The expressions used here about man’s coming into the world are explained by the Jewish teaching about the creation of souls before the establishment of the visible world (cf. Wis 8:20).

2 Esdras 4:13. And he said to me: I went into a forest, and behold, the trees took counsel, 2 Esdras 4:14. and said: “Come, let us make war against the sea, so that it may recede from us, and we may gain more ground to sow our fields and forests. 2 Esdras 4:15. Likewise, the waves of the sea took counsel and said: “Come, let us go up and conquer the forests of the land, so that we may gain more territory for ourselves. 2 Esdras 4:16. But the counsel of the forest came to nothing, for the fire came and consumed it. 2 Esdras 4:17. Likewise, the counsel of the waves of the sea came to nothing, for the sand stood up and prevented them. 2 Esdras 4:18. If you were their judge, whom would you condemn, or whom would you acquit? 2 Esdras 4:19. And I answered and said: Truly, both their counsels were foolish; for the land is given to the forest, and to the sea is given a place to carry its waves. 2 Esdras 4:20. And he answered and said to me: You have judged rightly; why then do you not judge the same way concerning yourself? 2 Esdras 4:21. For just as the land is given to the forest and the sea to its waves, so those who inhabit the earth can understand only what is on the earth; and those who dwell in the heavens can understand what is in the heights of heaven. 13–21. The parable of the forest and sea in form closely resembles the parable from the book of Judges (IX:8–15) about the trees that wanted to set up a king for themselves. The encroachments of the water element upon the land and the helplessness of the sea before sand represent an everyday phenomenon. Furthermore, they are encountered in legends about the creation of the world (cf. Jer 5:22).

2 Esdras 4:22. And I said: I beseech You, O Lord, grant me understanding and knowledge. 22. “I beseech you, O Lord, why (ut quid) was I given the capacity for understanding?” The author agrees that questions which are the concern of heaven are not accessible to man. But he is not asking about heavenly things but about earthly matters, and moreover matters which concern him very closely. If even the fate of his native people must remain a mystery to him, then involuntarily there arises a doubt about the benefit of human reason.

2 Esdras 4:23. For I did not ask to know the things on high, but about what happens daily among us: why is Israel given over to reproach before the nations? Why is the people whom You have loved given over to ungodly nations? Why has the law of our fathers been made of no account, and the written ordinances are no longer observed? 23. By the law of our fathers the author means the law of God, which has so entered into the flesh and blood of Israel that it has completely merged with the national custom inherited from the fathers. In exactly this sense the Apostle Paul uses the expression: “the traditions of the fathers” (Gal 1:14). The legend about the destruction of sacred books in the Babylonian captivity is based on the actual incident of the burning by the king of Judah Jehoiakim of the scroll containing the prophecy of Jeremiah (Jer 36:23) and the remark of the prophet Habakkuk (I:4) about the violation of the law or its destruction.

2 Esdras 4:24. Passing from this age, like locusts, our life passes in fear and terror, and we have become unworthy of mercy. 24. In the Eastern translations human life is compared to vapor. “Our life is like vapor” (ut vapor, Syr., Eth., Ar. 1, 2). The origin of the Latin reading (pavor) is explained by the transposition of letters.

2 Esdras 4:25. But what will He do for His name, which is invoked upon us? For this I have asked. 25. Israel bears the name of God (isra-el). Cf. III:24; X:22; Sir 36:13; Dan 9:18-19.

2 Esdras 4:26. And he answered me and said: The more you seek, the more you will wonder; for the age runs swiftly to its end, 26. In response to the question about the fate of the chosen people, the Angel replies that its resolution is connected with the coming of the future age. It is near, so that if Ezra should live long (Syr.), he himself will witness it. “If you will exist, then you will see, and if you remain alive, then you will continually be amazed at how the age hastens to its own end” (cf. 1 Cor 7:31).

2 Esdras 4:27. and cannot contain what is promised to the righteous in future times, because this age is filled with injustice and infirmities. 2 Esdras 4:28. But about what you asked me, I will tell you: evil has been sown, and the time of its rooting out has not yet come. 2 Esdras 4:29. Therefore, as long as what has been sown is not torn out, and the place where evil has been sown is not abolished, the place where good has been sown will not come. 2 Esdras 4:30. For the grain of evil seed has been sown in the heart of Adam from the beginning, and how much wickedness it has produced up to now and will produce until the threshing comes! 2 Esdras 4:31. Consider with yourself, how much grain of evil seed has produced fruits of wickedness! 2 Esdras 4:32. When his innumerable ears will be reaped, what an enormous granary will be needed for this! 27–32. The present age, in which evil reigns supremely, cannot contain the goods promised to the righteous. This necessitates its destruction. A new age will come in its place, created by God like paradise entirely independent of the present age. Complete despair about the possibility of establishing an ideal order on earth was entirely unknown to the Jewish people before the exile. The future age appeared to their imagination as a direct continuation of the present, limited only to its transformation toward the bright side. The heavy blows that fell upon the Jews in exile broke the earlier optimism. Only faith in the coming of a new age, representing the direct opposite of the present, gave strength to overcome the bleak situation under the oppression of Rome. The afflictions experienced were now regarded as the lot not of Israel alone, but of all humanity. Evil, producing all misfortunes in the world, is compared to seed sown in the heart of Adam from the beginning (ab initio). Comparing this passage with the teaching of our book about the evil heart, of which Adam was the bearer (III:21), one must recognize that the sowing of evil is attributed here to the creation of the first human, not to his fall, which merely revealed the evil propensities innate to human nature from the beginning. The comparison of the final fate of people with a harvest is found in the prophet Jeremiah (LI:33), where it is thus named the punishment threatening Babylon. The Savior also uses it in the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matt 13:30).

2 Esdras 4:33. How and when will this be? I asked him; why are our years few and miserable? 2 Esdras 4:34. Do not hurry to rise, he answered, above the Most High; for you hurry in vain to rise above Him: you go too far. 33–34. The author asks the impatient question: how long must we wait for the revelation of the new age and when must the present age disappear. The Angel’s statement that Ezra himself may perhaps witness it convinces him of the nearness of the end. Human life is so short. Even Jacob spoke bitterly: “few and miserable are the days of my life” (Gen 47:9). The Angel calls Ezra to patient waiting for the end with submission to God’s will. “Do you not show greater haste than the Most High; but you hasten for your own sake (propter semet ipsum, Syr., Aeth, Ar. 1, 2, Arm.), and the Most High for many” (excelsus pro multis)

2 Esdras 4:35. Did not the souls of the righteous in their chambers ask about this, saying: “How long shall we hope thus? And when will the fruit of our recompense come? 35–36. The doctrine of storehouses (prumptuaria) or chambers where the souls of the righteous dwell represents a further development of Talmudic views. The basis for it was provided by the Book of Proverbs of Solomon (VII:27), which mentions the inner dwellings of death, and the book of the prophet Isaiah (LVII:2), where it is foretold that the righteous will rest upon their beds. Before being clothed in a body, or as Pseudo-Ezra expresses it, coming into this world (IV:12), souls dwell under the throne of the Most High in special storehouses (guph), called treasuries. As people are born, the treasuries empty. The Son of David will not come until no soul remains in the storehouses (Corrodi, 195. Fabricius. Codex Pseudepigraphus V. T. II, 211. Volkmar, 19). The Talmudic teaching, shared by the author (IV:41; VI:23), is here extended to the fate awaiting the righteous beyond the grave. The storehouses (Heb. mischcabot, Isa 57:2. Zöckler, 451) of the souls of the dead are placed in the underworld (in infoire IV:41). The future age will come only when the number of dead righteous reaches a certain limit. The Apocalypse of John gives an exact figure of the sealed from all the tribes of Israel, namely 144,000 (VII:4). The Angel Jeremiel gives them (ad eas) this answer. Like Uriel, the name Jeremiel (ierahmeel, “God’s mercy”) is found in canonical books: in the genealogies of the book of Chronicles (1 Chr 2:25-27) and in the prophet Jeremiah (XXXVI:26). According to the testimony of the Apocalypse of Elijah, the Angel Jeremiel guards the souls in the underworld (Gunkel, 357), Lücke (162) and Kabisch (33) assume here an extract from an apocryphal book. Volkmar (XIX, 400) sees here borrowing from the Apocalypse of John (VI:9–11), brought in without particular exactness, from second-hand sources. In the Apocalypse, the souls of those killed for the word of God cry out loudly before the throne of the Most High: “How long, O Holy and True Lord, do you not judge and avenge our blood upon those living on earth?.. And it was said to them that they should rest yet a little while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who will be killed as they were, complete the number.” But the similarity between the two books is purely external. In the Apocalypse, souls of Christian martyrs cry out for vengeance for the blood shed by them. In our book, the souls of deceased righteous await with impatience their own glorification. The mention of seeds in Jeremiel’s answer scarcely fits the course of the discourse. In the Latin text, the word “similium” (Syr. Aeth. Ar. 2) was taken for the word “seminum”. The glorification of the righteous will come when “the number of those like you reaches fullness.”

2 Esdras 4:36. To this the Archangel Jeremiel answered me: “When the number of seeds in you is fulfilled, for the Most High has weighed this age, 2 Esdras 4:37. and has measured the times by measure, and has numbered the hours by number, and will neither move nor hasten until the determined measure is fulfilled. 36–37. The doctrine of Divine predestination is expressed in a threefold formula in the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon (XI:21): “You have arranged all things by measure, number, and weight” (cf. Job 28:25-26). The Magi expressed this thought (Hilgenfeld. Messias Judaeorum, 45). It stood in connection with the astronomical views of the East and was formed under the influence of the observed regularity in the motion of the heavenly bodies. The conviction that God had beforehand distributed the course of world history lies at the basis of its various divisions into periods and calculations of the world’s end. As is customary in all apocalyptic literature, the author speaks in cryptic language. Judaism determined the measure appointed for the world’s existence as 7,000 years.

2 Esdras 4:38. And I answered him, saying: O Lord Sovereign! but we are all full of wickedness. 2 Esdras 4:39. And perhaps because of us the granaries of the righteous are not filled, and because of the sins of those living on earth. 2 Esdras 4:40. To this he answered me: Go, ask a pregnant woman whether, when nine months are fulfilled, her womb can still hold the fruit? 2 Esdras 4:41. I said: It cannot. Then he said to me: The chambers of the souls in the underworld are like the womb. 2 Esdras 4:42. As she who bears hastens to give birth to be freed from the pains of childbirth, so also these hasten to deliver what has been entrusted to them. 2 Esdras 4:43. First, you will be shown what you desire to see. 42–43. Due to incorrect punctuation, the word “in the beginning” (ab initio) was referred in the Vulgate to the forthcoming revelations. According to the Angel, the storehouses strive to deliver to the world the souls entrusted to them at the beginning, before the creation of the world, with the same impatience with which a pregnant woman awaits the birth of a child.

2 Esdras 4:44. If I have found favor in your eyes, I answered, and if this is possible and I am capable, 2 Esdras 4:45. show me: is what is to come greater than what has passed, or is what has happened greater than what will be? 2 Esdras 4:46. What has passed, I know this, but what will come, I do not know. 2 Esdras 4:47. He said to me: Stand on the right side, and I will explain to you the meaning by a parable. 2 Esdras 4:48. And I stood, and I saw: behold, a burning furnace passed before me; and when the flame passed, I saw: smoke remained. 2 Esdras 4:49. After this a cloud full of water passed before me, and heavy rain poured from it; but as soon as the force of the rain stopped, drops remained. 2 Esdras 4:50. Then he said to me: consider for yourself: as the rain is more than the drops, and the fire is greater than the smoke, so the measure of what has passed exceeded, and there remained drops and smoke. 44–50. The author tries to know more exactly the coming of the end by comparing the time elapsed from the creation of the world with the period that remains until the end. The answer is given by means of two symbols. Ezra sees a blazing furnace; the furnace passes before his eyes, and only smoke remains from it. After this, a cloud with heavy rain passes over him; when the rain began to weaken, only separate drops fell from the sky. The vision of the furnace and smoke is taken from the book of Genesis (XV:17), where an account is given of the manifestation of God to Abraham at night. This manifestation was mentioned earlier (III:14). Both visions are intended to show that compared to the past, the time remaining until the end is as brief as smoke is insignificant compared with flame and raindrops compared with a downpour.

2 Esdras 4:51. Then I begged him and said: Do you think I will live to see these days? And what will be in those days? 2 Esdras 4:52. To this he answered and said: About the signs of which you ask me, I can partly tell you, but about your life I was not sent to speak with you, nor do I know. 51–52. The author wishes to know whether he will live to see the end. The Angel replies with not knowing (cf. Mark 13:32). Post-exilic Judaism strived, on the one hand, to determine precisely the time of the end, and on the other, to emphasize the thought that it is a mystery even to the angels and known to God alone. The events destined to happen before the coming of the end are called signs (signa). For a person able to understand the meaning of the phenomena unfolding before his eyes, they will indicate the nearness of the end (IX:1–2).