Chapter Five

The signs preceding the end (1–13). The impression from the Angel’s speech (14–15). The exhortation of Phaltiel with a call to return to the people (16–19). The second vision. Ezra’s perplexity about the fact that God punishes his chosen people not directly by His own hand, but with the help of pagans (20–30). The Angel’s answer. The impotence of man to comprehend God’s love for Israel and to penetrate into the plans of Divine providence (31–40). The strict gradualness in the accomplishment of God’s plans, excluding the possibility of injustice to anyone at the judgment (41–49). The world’s approach to old age (50–55). The question of who will conduct the last judgment (56).

2 Esdras 5:1. Concerning the signs: behold, days will come in which many of those living on earth, possessing knowledge, will be taken away, and the way of truth will be hidden, and the universe will fail in faith, 1. The Vulgate, accurately transmitted by the Slavic translation, among the signs points first to the burdening of inhabitants by a great tax (in censu multo). The Russian Bible is guided by Fabricius’s correction, made in application to the Arabic text (in sensu multo). This places here the meaning that in the last days wise people will be taken from the face of the earth (cf. Matt 24:40; Luke 17:34-37). Volkmar (22), Hilgenfeld (Messias Judaeorum, 124; Esra und Daniel, 16), Fritzsche (28), Bissell (647), and Zöckler (45) accept the reading in sensu multo, seeing here an indication of the madness with which people will be possessed before the end of the world. Bensly (15), in accordance with the Syriac translation, proposes the reading in excessu multo. Similar ecstasy or terror will seize people when the Most High comes to free His enslaved people (XIII:30).

2 Esdras 5:2. and wickedness will increase, which you now see and which you have heard of from antiquity. 2. The increase of lawlessness in the last days is spoken of more than once in the New Testament books (Matt 24:12).

2 Esdras 5:3. And it will be that the land which you now see ruling will be laid waste. 3. The text of the Vulgate suffers from obscurity. In the Russian Bible, the incomprehensible expression imposito vestigio is completely omitted; in the Slavic it is rendered by the words “in which having entered,” which in this place turn out to be completely superfluous and unexpected. Ezra had no need to enter the land that ruled over all the world in his time: he lived in it, like the other Jews of the diaspora. Hilgenfeld (Judische Apokaryptik, 193) sees in the indicated words an allusion to extreme despotism in the relations of the Romans to the Jews. The Roman Empire ruled over Israel, trampling it under foot. But for such an understanding there is no basis for the word vestigium. Volkmar, Bissell, and Zöckler propose to read here incompositio e vestigio, understanding the whole verse as follows: “And the devastation will be on the way of that land which you see now ruling, and they will see how it becomes a wilderness.” Bensly, in accordance with the Syriac translation, reproduces the Latin text in the following way: “And the land which you see now ruling will be unordered (incomposita, Syr. instabilis) and without traces of man (sine vestigio, Syr. not trampled).” Not a single person will tread upon it with his feet. However, the Latin manuscript text (incomposita vestigio) can be correctly understood even without Bensly’s supplement. The land which Ezra sees now ruling will be disordered for movement, for walking, through it will not be beaten a path by the steps of men, it will be impassable.

2 Esdras 5:4. But if the Most High grants you to live, you will see that after the third trumpet suddenly the sun will shine at night and the moon three times in a day; 4. The Latin text introduces into the intentionally obscure speech of the author a number of arbitrary interpretations not supported by Eastern translations. The mention of the third trumpet (post tertiam tubam) is inappropriate, since below, in the second vision, there is mention of only one trumpet, announcing the end of the world. Volkmar (23–24) arbitrarily identifies the third trumpet with that final trumpet after which, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, the resurrection of the dead will follow (1 Cor 15:52; cf. Matt 24:31; 1 Thess 4:16; Rev 8:2). Lücke understands the expression “after the third trumpet” as an indication of the time when Ezra will be worthy of a more detailed revelation about the last days of the world. According to the testimony of the Gemara, confirmed by Flavius (On the Jewish War, IV, 9, 12), the trumpet sound among the Jews announced the beginning and end of the Sabbath. The third trumpet denotes here the third Sabbath, to come two weeks after the present vision. The first three visions, representing one whole, occur on Sabbaths. Before each of them the author fasts for a week. Thus, by the beginning of the third vision, three weeks of fasting are fulfilled (VI:31), commanded to Ezra in this passage. The three-week fast represents an imitation of the book of the prophet Daniel (X:2). In the Eastern translations, instead of the sound of the third trumpet, another sign is indicated: earthquake (cf. Matt 24:29; Rev 11:13). Van der Ulis supposes that the Latin text originally had terram turbatam. Hilgenfeld (47) defends the reading post tertiam turbatam and places in this passage such meaning: “You will see how the land having to follow the third will experience upheavals.” He attributes it to the fourth Danielic monarchy (Syrian). Gutschmid (282), sharing Lücke’s view on the meaning of the third trumpet, sees here an allusion to an earthquake that occurred in spring 31 B.C. According to the Hebrew calendar, it falls on the third Sabbath after the beginning of the new year, in the middle of the month Nisan. The most natural explanation of the expression post tertiam is given by Blass and Gunkel (359), understanding it in the sense of indicating the third day (μετώ τηντρίτην), after which the end of the world should come. Three days are used in apocalyptic writing to mean a mysterious number for determining the period remaining until the coming of the new age. The end of the verse, where it speaks of the threefold appearance of the moon during the day (ter in die), is corrupted in the Vulgate. In the manuscripts, there is only talk that the moon will shine during the day (interdie). At the end of the world there will be neither day nor night: the sun will shine at night, and the moon will pour its pale rays during the day (Mark 13:24; Matt 24:29; cf. Isa 13:10; Ezek 32:7-8; Joel 2:30-31). The whole verse can be reproduced in the following way: “But if the Most High grants you to live, you will see how after the third day the earth will come into confusion: the sun will suddenly shine at night, and the moon during the day.”

2 Esdras 5:5. and blood will drop from a tree, a stone will give its voice, and nations will be shaken. 5. Throughout all of nature, a deviation from the usual order will be evident. Drops of blood will appear on a tree; a stone will be heard making sounds. These details are inspired by the book of the prophet Habakkuk, II:11: “The stones of the walls will cry out, and the beams from the wood will answer them” (cf. Luke 19:40). The thought of the flow of blood from trees is connected with the view of the pagan world that sacred trees possess a soul. In the Epistle of Barnabas (ch. XII) there is an excerpt from some prophetic book closely approaching this passage: “In a similar way the cross is also testified to in another prophet, who says: “When will this be fulfilled?” And the Lord says: “When the tree bends and rises, and blood flows from the tree.” A whole series of scholars (Le Moyne. Notae ad varia Sacra, 836. Fabnotus. Codex pseridepigraphus V. T. II, 184–185. Corrodi: 180. Volkmar, 403, 408. Hilgenfeld. Messias Judaeorum, 47. Harnack. Barnabas briee, p 12. Schürer, 329. Gunkel, 359. Shavrov, 165–166. Bukharev, 3–5. Smirnov, 37) assume here a free borrowing from the prophetic book of Ezra (IV:33; V:5). With such a view, the Epistle of Barnabas acquires very great significance for determining the time of the appearance of our book. However, Cotelerius long ago drew attention to the fact that there is nothing in common between the meaning of blood flowing from a tree at Ezra and at Barnabas. The first half of the excerpt in the book of Ezra is not present at all. It is certain that the author himself combined it with Christian meaning, applying it to the wood of the cross of the Lord. Meanwhile, the writer of our book knows nothing of redemption. Therefore, it is much more reasonable to recognize that the author of the Epistle of Barnabas cites some other book (Cotelerius, Lucke, Gfroer, 70, 71, Ewald, 137, Keil, 740, Wieseler, 289–291, James, XXVIII-XXIX). From this there are no grounds whatever to rely on the Epistle of Barnabas to prove that the prophetic book of Ezra originated before the destruction of Jerusalem (Smirnov, 37). At the end of the verse in the Vulgate there is an omission: “and the exits (egressus) will come into disorder.” By exits are meant the heavenly gates through which the stars pass (eph.) and winds blow (Syr., Ar. 2). The order established in heaven was never disturbed throughout the entire history of the world. Its cessation will testify to the nearness of the end. Volkmar sees in this passage an allusion to the confusion in the order of succession that occurred in Rome with the cessation of the Julian dynasty. But there is no sufficient basis for the historical understanding of each of the signs of the end. The author strove to exhaust the eschatological material that folk tradition provided, not even being concerned sometimes about its consistency with itself.

2 Esdras 5:6. Then will reign he whom those living on earth do not expect, and the birds will fly to other places. 6. Among the signs of the end is mentioned the ascent to the throne of one who was not expected. Hilgenfeld (Judische Apokalyptik, 236–237, Messias Judaeorum, 47–43) sees here an indication of the reign of Octavian; Gutschmid (281) applies it to Herod the Great, a nominee of Rome; the appointment of Herod as ruler of Judea was a complete surprise even to himself (Flavius. On the Jewish War XIV, 14, 5). Volkmar (363) applies this passage to Galba, who ascended the throne, although other persons had much greater rights to it (Tacitus, I, 5–10. Suetonius. Galba, 11. Otto, 3). Wellhausen (247) sees here an echo of the legend that Nero lives and will suddenly appear from the East to reclaim his throne. Schneckenburger (Jahrbucher fur deutsche Theologie. 1859. S. 413–414) understands by the ruler who is to reign at the end of the world, Satan; Gunkel (359) – the Antichrist. The very variety of presented opinions testifies to the fact that there is no basis for the historical interpretation of the signs of the end. The thought that in the last time the crown will be worn by he whom no one expected is expressed in the book of Jesus, Son of Sirach (XI:5). The increase of evil on earth before the end of the world prompted folk consciousness to the thought of the sudden reign of the author of evil – Satan. The flight of birds and the movement of animals are everyday phenomena. Birds and animals are distinguished by the gift of presentiment, therefore they abandon in advance the places threatened by earthquakes.

2 Esdras 5:7. The Sea of Sodom will cast forth fish and send forth an unknown voice by night; however all will hear the sound of it. 7. In the Dead Sea there is no fish whatsoever. Wellhausen (246–247) attempts to remove the difficulty by recognizing this passage as an insertion inspired by the books of Hosea (IV:3) and Zephaniah (I:3). There the destruction of sea fish is prophesied during the final visitation of Judea by the Lord. Much more light on the riddle is shed by the book of Ezekiel (XLVII:8–11). Before his eyes the following vision unfolds. A stream issuing from under the threshold of the temple falls into the sea, whose waters become healthy; under the influence of this, life will reign there; fish will be so abundant as in the great sea; its marshes and pools, which will not become healthy, will be left for salt. Doubtless, this vision should be interpreted in application to the Dead Sea. From here is taken the thought that the Sea of Sodom, where in the last time there will be an extraordinary abundance of fish, will cast it forth before the coming of the new age. The roar of sea waves also indicates the nearness of the end. This is an echo of the ancient notion of the perpetual struggle between sea and land. The sound heard from the bottom of the sea at night in complete silence usually portends an earthquake. Wellhausen refers the extraordinary voice which will be heard at night, not to the sea, but to the mysterious man who will suddenly seize power. But this in no way removes the enigmatic nature of the wondrous passage. Evidently, the author took it entirely from folk tradition. There is no basis to conclude from this geographical detail that the author lived in Palestine not far from the Dead Sea (Wieseler, 268–289. Baldensperger, 39. Kabisch, 39).

2 Esdras 5:8. There will be confusion in many places, fire will often be sent from heaven; wild beasts will change their haunts, and unclean women will give birth to monsters. 8. “And in many places an abyss (chaus) will be visible and fire will often be cast forth from there, …and women, capable of bearing children (menstruatae) will give birth to monsters.” In the Russian Bible, in application to the Gospel (Matt 24:29; Mark 13:25), there is mention of fire fallen from heaven. By the course of the thoughts, it is more natural to see here a continuation of the discourse about the abyss. Wellhausen sees here an allusion to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

2 Esdras 5:9. Sweet waters will become salty, and all friends will take up arms against one another; then wisdom will be hidden, and understanding will withdraw to its treasure house. 2 Esdras 5:10. Many will seek it, but will not find it, and wickedness and incontinence will increase on the earth. 2 Esdras 5:11. One region will ask another neighboring region: “Has righteousness which makes righteous passed through you?” And that will say: “No. 9–11. The presence of salt in fresh water is a sign of an approaching earthquake. Mind and understanding before the end of the world withdraw to their treasuries. Post-exilic Judaism presented the principal abilities of the human spirit as special beings living in the same treasuries as human souls. From there, righteousness undertakes its journey across the earth (cf. 1 Esd 4:38-40).

2 Esdras 5:12. People at that time will hope and not achieve what they desire, will labor and not accomplish their ways. 12. Cf. Amos 6:10. Volkmar (364–365) applies the enumerated signs to the history of the Roman Empire after the cessation of the Julian dynasty until the accession of the house of the Flavians. Tacitus (Historial, 2) notes for this time an extraordinary abundance of civil wars and uprisings, unheard of cruelties even in peacetime and monstrous debauchery reigning in Rome. Rome was threatened with danger from uprisings in Gaul, attacks by Sarmatians, Suevi, and Parthians (6). Illyricum and Campania were visited by earthquakes. It destroyed part of Rome and the entrance to the royal palace. Moreover, Rome was devastated by fires (6). All mutual relations between people were inspired either by hatred or by fear (9–10). Gutschmid with equal success selects a whole series of extraordinary phenomena before the Battle of Actium. At the beginning of the chapter (1–3) he sees indications of those violations of religious feeling of the Jews which were perpetrated by Herod to satisfy his sins. The opening of the earth indicates the destruction of Pizzara, a small city on the shore of the Adriatic Sea, due to a chasm formed under it. In Rome itself, a lightning strike burned part of the circus, the sanctuary of Ceres, and the temple of the goddess Hope. A wolf entered Rome and was killed. Hilgenfeld and Kabisch lean toward this understanding. Against the historical interpretation is primarily the circumstance that similar phenomena can easily be selected in the history of each people. All the signs are borrowed by the author from the rich store of eschatological ideas that were the vital nerve of post-exilic Judaism and retained their charm even in the early years of the existence of Christianity. Eschatology is completely foreign to that definiteness which historical interpretation imparts to it.

2 Esdras 5:13. About these signs, I am allowed to tell you, and if you again pray and weep as now, and fast for seven days, then you will hear even more than that. 2 Esdras 5:14. And I came to myself, and my body trembled greatly, and my soul fainted as if it were disappearing. 2 Esdras 5:15. But the Angel who came to me sustained me and strengthened me, and set me on my feet. 14–15. The feeling of terror, reaching the point of loss of consciousness and requiring support from the Angel, finds its place in the book of the prophet Daniel (VII:15; VIII:17–18; X:8–10, 15–18), which our author imitates.

2 Esdras 5:16. And it was, on the second night, that Phaltiel, leader of the people, came to me and asked me: Where have you been, and why is your face so sad? 16. The name of the leader of the people in the Vulgate should be corrected. In Eastern translations and in one of the Latin codices he is called Phaltiel. In canonical books, the name Phalti is found, a contemporary of Saul and David (2 Sam 3:15). The Hebrew word phaltiel means “God’s salvation.”

2 Esdras 5:17. Do you not know that Israel is entrusted to you in the land of its sojourning? 2 Esdras 5:18. Therefore arise and eat bread, and do not abandon us like a shepherd abandoning his flock to the hands of evil wolves. 18. Cf. Matt 10:16.

2 Esdras 5:19. Then I said to him: Go away from me, and do not come near me. And he, hearing this, departed from me. 19. The introductory episode with Phaltiel is fully understandable if the vision took place in Ezra’s house. The absence of Ezra from those places where the public life of scattered Jews took place gave reason to suppose that he had left the city. This explains Phaltiel’s first question. There is no basis for the assumption that the first vision occurred outside the city, as Kabisch without sufficient grounds supposes, because Ezra sees the fire and rain. But from the text of the vision it is clear that he contemplates both pictures in a dream. For this there was no need to leave his dwelling.

2 Esdras 5:20. But I fasted for seven days, groaning and weeping, as the Angel Uriel commanded me. 2 Esdras 5:21. And after seven days, the thoughts of my heart became again very grievous to me; 2 Esdras 5:22. but my soul received the spirit of understanding, and I began again to speak before the Most High 2 Esdras 5:23. and said: O Lord Sovereign! You from all the forests on earth and from all the trees upon it have chosen for yourself only one grapevine; 23. The chosen people is compared to a grapevine by the Psalmist (LXXIX:9–17). The prophet Isaiah (V:7) calls the house of Israel the vineyard of the Lord of hosts. A grapevine is the usual symbol of Judea on coins. The author illuminates the thought of the God-chosen dignity of Israel by means of seven symbols applied in Old Testament literature to Judea and Jerusalem.

2 Esdras 5:24. You from all the lands of the earth have chosen for yourself one cave, and from all the flowers in the universe You have chosen for yourself one lily; 24. In the Russian Bible, the beginning of the verse, where there is mention of a cave, is translated incorrectly. The meaning of the word fovea (pit, hole) is correctly transmitted in the Slavic Bible, understanding it in the sense of a valley or dale. Evidently, the author has in mind a depression in the earth dug out for planting plants, and in particular a grapevine. Vineyards were usually placed in low places, in river valleys. Here the Valley of the Kidron is meant, distinguished by the splendor of plant life. The lily surpasses all other flowers in its abundance. According to the Savior’s words, even Solomon was not clothed as the flowers of the field (Matt 6:28-29; Luke 12:27). Solomon compares his Shulamite to a lily (Song 2:2). The prophet Hosea (XIV:6) depicts the glorious future of Israel under the image of the blossoming of a lily.

2 Esdras 5:25. You from all the depths of the seas have filled for yourself one spring, and from all built cities You have sanctified for yourself one Zion. 25. Volkmar understands by the spring the river Jordan, but by the course of the discourse it is rather here that the Kidron stream is meant, whose waters washed Jerusalem. The comparison with a stream is found in the Song of Songs (IV:15). Solomon calls his beloved a garden spring – a well of living waters and streams from Lebanon. The naming of Zion as a city testifies to the close connection that existed between the religious and political life of Israel. Zion, which was the center of religious life, was identified with Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish state.

2 Esdras 5:26. Of all birds created by You, You have named for yourself one dove, and of all created animals You have chosen for yourself one sheep; 26. The dove and turtledove were ordained by Moses to be brought as sacrifices (Lev 1:14-17; cf. Luke 2:24). In the mouth of the Psalmist (LXXIII:19), the turtledove is a symbol of the chosen people. Solomon calls his beloved by this same unclear name (Song 2:14). Similarly, the sheep was used as a sacrificial animal (Lev 1:10-13). In the Psalter, the people of God are recognized as the sheep of His pasture (LXXVIII:13), led by God as by a Shepherd (LXXIX:2). Since a whole series of images shows similarity with the Song of Songs, Gunkel (361) concludes from this that contemporary Judaism understood it allegorically as a depiction of the covenant between the Lord and His people.

2 Esdras 5:27. of all numerous nations You have acquired for yourself one nation, and loved it, gave it a perfect law. 27. In the Latin text is expressed the thought that the law was approved by all people (ab omnibus probatam). The pagan world even without knowledge of the written law paid tribute to it, since the suggestions of the natural law, expressed in the voice of conscience, coincided with the precepts of Mosaic law (Rom 2:14-15). This reading is defended by Volkmar (28), Hilgenfeld (50), Zöckler (452), and Bissell (648). Gunkel (361) prefers the reading of the Syriac and Ethiopic translations, where there is mention of the fact that God approved one law of all (et ex omnibus probavisti legem). Each nation has its own laws. They are as numerous as the nations in the world. But no nation, according to Moses, will find such just statutes and laws as Israel has (Deut 4:8).

2 Esdras 5:28. But now, Lord, why then have You delivered up the one to the many, and on one root You have planted other branches and scattered Your only nation among many peoples? 28. The thought of planting other branches on one root, expressed in the Vulgate (et praeparasti super unam radicem alias), closely resembles the speech of the Apostle Paul (Rom 11:16-24) about the grafting of pagans into the good olive. It stands in obvious contradiction with the worldview of the author, for whom the native people is the alpha and omega, and in whose eyes the pagan world is nothing (VI:56). The manuscript of the Latin text, despite all its obscurity, leaves no doubt that the author had the opposite thought here about the election of Israel in preference to all other peoples: “you prepared one root greater than others” (et praeparasti unam radicem super alias). In Eastern translations, there is mention of the preferential rejection of one root compared to the others. Israel, rejected by God for sins, suffers much more humiliation than the pagans, who were hostile to God. Volkmar (29), Fritzsche (30), Zöckler (452), and Gunkel (361) recognize the latter reading as original, explaining the origin of the Latin text by an incorrectly read Greek word ητίμασας (from the verb ατιμάζω – I dishonor). It was taken for ήτοίμασας (from the verb ετοιμάζω – I prepare).

2 Esdras 5:29. And his adversaries have trampled him and those who have not believed Your covenants. 29. The pagan world in the author’s eyes is the adversary of God’s promises, disbelieving His covenants. The transgressions of paganism are not the sin of ignorance, since at the Sinai legislation the whole universe heard the voice of the Lord.

2 Esdras 5:30. And if You have already greatly hated Your people, then let it be punished by Your hand. 30. One cannot deny the deservedness of the punishments that befell Israel. It is only incomprehensible why God does not punish it with His own hand by means of hunger, plague, and earthquake, but chooses for this task pagans, deserving even more severe punishment.

2 Esdras 5:31. When I was speaking these words, the Angel was sent to me who had come to me before at night, 2 Esdras 5:32. and said to me: Listen to me, and I will teach you; pay attention to me, and I will tell you even more. 2 Esdras 5:33. Speak, said I, my lord. And he said to me: You have gone too far in your curiosity about Israel; do you love it more than He who created it? 2 Esdras 5:34. No, my lord, I replied, but I spoke from great sorrow. My inner being torments me every hour as I strive to grasp the way of the Most High and to examine even some part of his judgment. 2 Esdras 5:35. He answered: you cannot. Why not, my lord? I asked. It would have been better for me not to have been born, and let my mother’s womb have become a grave for me, than to see the oppression of Jacob and the wasting away of the lineage of Israel. 35. Cf. Jer 20:17-18. This passage was quoted by Clement of Alexandria with a definite reference to the author (Strom. III, 16): “Why should not my mother’s womb have become a grave for me, that I might not see the afflictions of Jacob and the wasting away of the lineage of Israel?” says the prophet Ezra. This excerpt marks the endpoint beyond which the emergence of the prophetic book of Ezra cannot be pushed. Clement’s regard for it, recognizing it as a genuine work of Ezra, testifies that by the end of the second century it had achieved considerable antiquity, so that Clement knew nothing of the circumstances of its origin. In view of this, the theories of Hartwig, Gutschmid, and Le Havre, which push the book back to the beginning of the third century or more specifically to 218 AD, must be rejected.

2 Esdras 5:36. And he said to me: tell me what has not yet come, and gather for me the scattered drops, and bring to life the withered flowers; 36. Cf. Ezek 17:24.

2 Esdras 5:37. open the closed storehouses and bring out to me the winds shut up in them, and show me the form of the voice: and then I will show you what you are striving to see. 37. According to the representation of the ancients, winds were shut up as if in bellows, with a special place appointed for each (Job 37:9). In the Ethiopian and Arabic translations, instead of winds, the discourse concerns storehouses of souls. The difference is explained by the possibility of a twofold translation of the word πνεύμα. The Eastern translations (Syr., Eth., Ar. 1) provide a fuller list of phenomena inaccessible to human understanding: “Show me the form of those faces which you have not yet seen.” According to the belief of postexilic Judaism, voice, like everything that exists, has a sensible form inaccessible to human perception only by reason of the limitation of his mind.

2 Esdras 5:38. Master Lord! I answered, who can know this, save only one who does not live among people? 38. Cf. Dan 2:11.

2 Esdras 5:39. And I am foolish, and how can I speak about that which You asked me? 2 Esdras 5:40. Then He said to me: as you cannot accomplish any of what I said, so you cannot perceive my judgments, nor the extent of my love, which I promised to your people. 40. The angel identifies himself with God. Likewise, Ezra himself calls him Master and Lord (5:38) and Creator of the world (5:45). Similar examples appear repeatedly in the Old Testament.

2 Esdras 5:41. But look, Lord, you are near to those who draw near to the end, and what will those who were before me do, or we, or those who will come after us? 41. The author raises the question of how to reconcile the successive change of one generation to another with the simultaneity of judgment for all people. In the Russian translation, in accordance with the Vulgate, the advantage is noted of those who will be living at the end of the world over the contemporary and all past generations (tu prope es his qui in finem sunt). In the manuscripts, the thought is different: tu praees his qui in fine sunt. Volkmar arbitrarily introduces such a meaning: God rules over everything from the beginning to the end of the world, and therefore can answer the question of the fate of mankind. Gunkel’s supposition is more probable, that the word praees represents a translation of the Greek προφθαίνεις (προφθαίνω means to assert, to anticipate, to meet). In this case, the sense becomes as follows: “You meet (with blessings and blessedness) only those who will be alive at the end.” In Judaism there was originally the conviction that the entire people in the person of its final generations would be a participant in the new age. It reflected itself in this case. Later, with greater development of eschatological conceptions, the Kingdom of the Messiah came to be considered the possession of the righteous alone (VI:25; VII:27; XIII:16–24; cf. Luke 2:29-32). The question posed here long occupied the minds and hearts of Jews and early Christians, who awaited the end with impatience. The Apostle Paul resolves it in his first letter to the Thessalonians (IV:13–17).

2 Esdras 5:42. He said to me: I will liken my judgment to a crown; as there is no delaying of the last, so is there no hastening of the first. 42. The judgment will be performed simultaneously over all humanity, over both those who died earlier and the contemporary and subsequent generations. As in a crown, because of its round shape, one cannot find beginning or end, so at the final judgment, people will not differ at all in their fate depending on the time when they lived. According to Kabish’s view (45), this refers to the distribution of crowns to victors at games (cf. 1 Cor 9:24-27). Just as victory crowns are distributed not immediately after each individual competition, but at the conclusion of all games, so the crowns of blessedness will be granted at once to all the righteous. This passage is cited by Ambrose of Milan (De bono mortis, 10): “Anticipating the complaints of people that righteous ones who died earlier would be unjustly deprived of their deserved rewards until the day of judgment comes, Scripture wonderfully says that the day of judgment will be like a crown, since there will be neither the delay of the recently arrived nor the haste of those who came before.” Moreover, it is used by the author of the 34th homily on the Gospel of Matthew, attributed to Chrysostom (Opus imperfectum in Mattaeum Hom. 34). According to Lieke’s opinion (148), the homily belongs to an Arian who lived under Theodosius the Great. It was preserved only in Latin. Here a detailed interpretation of the symbol of the crown is given: “Wishing to show the simultaneity of the calling of all saints and the absence of any difference among them because of time, the prophet Ezra says that all saints in their totality will present as if a crown, for, as in a crown due to its round shape, you will not find where to your eye beginning or end, so among the saints no one is called a beginner or first depending on the time of staying in that age.” Hilgenfeld (Esra und Daniel, 69. Messias Iudaeorum, 52) and Hausrath bring the end of the verse, which speaks of first and last, close to the Gospel of Matthew (XIX:30; XX:16) and allow the possibility of literary dependence of one book on another. But all similarity is limited to individual words. The Gospel prophecy, that the first will be last and the last first, has in mind the rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles. This thought is completely foreign to our author.

2 Esdras 5:43. I answered and said: could you not have united those who were created before, and those who exist, and those who will be, that you might declare your judgment to them more quickly? 43. The Latin text is exactly reproduced in the Slavonic Bible. “Could you not have created at once those who were created before, who live now and who will live?”

2 Esdras 5:44. He answered me: creation cannot hasten the purpose of its Creator, nor can this age contain in itself all together who are to be created. 44. “Creation cannot display greater haste than the Creator.” It is unable, contrary to God’s plans, to hurry with its appearance in the world and its development.

2 Esdras 5:45. And I said: how then have you said to your servant that you gave life to created creation together, and yet creation endured this; therefore those existing now could also endure together. 45. The author refers in the beginning of the verse to the words of the Angel about the final judgment upon which all humanity will stand. The further sense is quite obscure due to the substitution in the Vulgate of future tense for past. Volkmar, defending the Vulgate reading, sees in the first words a reference to the account in the Book of Genesis about creation. But the text of the book provides no grounds for this. According to Volkmar, Bissell, and Lepton, the doctrine of Philo is set out here, that God created all things at once (Cf. Sir 18:1, κοινή). In the manuscripts, it is about the future resurrection of all humanity. “How then have you said to your servant that you will give life at once (in-unum) to the creation created by you? If they will live (viventes vivent) all together (in unum), and creation will be able to bear them on itself (sustinebit), then it is now able to bear on itself all people together (in unum) in their present state (praesentes).” The author continues to defend his thought that the best thing would have been to create all people at once. This would have hastened the judgment, which he awaited so impatiently (Van-der-Olis, Hilgenfeld, 53. 129, Zöckler, 453, and Gunkel, 363).

2 Esdras 5:46. He said to me: ask a woman and say to her, “if you bear ten, why do you bear them at different times?” and ask her to bear all ten at once. 2 Esdras 5:47. I said to Him: it is impossible, but it must happen in time. 2 Esdras 5:48. Then He said to me: even so have I given to the womb of the earth the ability that what is sown on it should grow at the proper time. 2 Esdras 5:49. As an infant cannot produce what belongs to the aged, so I have appointed the age that I created. 49. In its development, the world passes through the same ages as an individual human. “As an infant cannot give birth, and she who has already grown old, so I have distributed the age that I created.”

2 Esdras 5:50. Then I asked Him and said: when you opened to me the way, permit me to say to you: is our mother, about whom you spoke to me, still young, or is she approaching old age? 50. The Slavonic translation expresses the thought that although the world by the time of its existence must be recognized as young, by all other signs it is approaching old age. In Volkmar’s and Zöckler’s opinion, the Angel in the preceding speech gave to understand that the world is still young. This prompts the author to raise the question again about the nearness of the end. However, it is much more natural to see in this verse a question expressed in a disjunctive form. Such a meaning it has in the Syriac, Armenian, and our Russian translation (Hilgenfeld, Fritzsche, Bissell, Bensly, Gunkel). This is the same question that Ezra posed in the previous vision (IV:33), about the time remaining until the advent of the new age. The thought of the world’s decay is found in pagan (Lucretius), Jewish (Philo. De mundi opificio, S. 49) and Christian (Cyprian. Letter to Demetrius) writers. Ambrose (De bono mortis, 10) cites an extensive passage from our book (V:50–55) to explain the diminishment of humanity observed in his time: “Scripture has not concealed why those born in former times are taller in appearance, and those born later are weaker. It compares the offspring of the present age with the womb of a mother; for those born in flourishing youth are stronger, and those born in old age are weaker. From the multitude of those born, the present age has grown old; like the loins of a woman in labor and an aging creature, it loses youthful strength due to the weakening of its forces.”

2 Esdras 5:51. Ask about this the one who bears, and she will tell you. 2 Esdras 5:52. Say to her: “why are those born to you now not like those who were born before, but smaller in stature? 2 Esdras 5:53. And she will say to you: “some have been born to me in the strength of my youthful power, and others have been born in my old age, when my loins began to lose their strength. 2 Esdras 5:54. Consider then: you now are smaller in stature than those who were before you; 2 Esdras 5:55. and those who will be born after you will be even smaller than you, as creation, now growing old, and the strength of youth has already passed away. 2 Esdras 5:56. And I said: if I have found favor in your sight, show your servant through whom you visit your creation? 56. From what was said above about God’s final visit to the world, there were no grounds for assuming any mediator between God and people. The special importance that the author attaches to this question suggests that he is here polemicizing against views widespread at his time in Jewish circles, to the effect that the final visit of the world would be carried out through the mediation of the Messiah (Volkmar, 37. Kabish, 48. Gunkel, 337). Volkmar’s supposition that he is struggling here against the Christian preaching of the near coming of the Messiah (Matt 25:31-46, Rom 2:16) is not sufficiently grounded.