ESDRAS, THE FIRST BOOK OF, is the first of the Apocryphal books in the English translations of the Bible (viz., Coverdale, Matthews, Taverner, the Geneva Bible, Cranmer's Bible, the Bishops' Bible, the A. V.), which follow Luther and the translators of the Zurich version, who were the first that separated the apocryphal from the canoni cal books. It must, however, be observed that Luther himself never translated the apocryphal portions of Ezra, because he regarded them as un worthy of a place amongst the apocrypha (see be low, sec. 5).
1. The Title and Position of the Book.—This book has different titles. In some editions of the Sept. it is called 6 'Iepek, the Priest (Cod. Alex.), which is equivalent to Ezra, who 'car' l oXrw was styled IrCri or ',ZVI, in others it is designated 'Eo-Spcts Ezra, whilst in the Vatican and many modern editions of the Sept., as well as in the Old .Latin and the Syriac, it is called 'the first book of Ezra,' and accordingly is placed before the canonical Ezra, which is called ' the second book of Ezra,' because the history it gives is in part anterior to that given in the canoni cal Ezra. In the Vulg. again, where Ezra and Nehemiah are respectively styled the first and se cond book of Ezra, this apocryphal book, which comes immediately after them, is called the third hook of Ezra.' Others again call it second book of Ezra' (Isidor. Orzgg. vi. 2), because Ezra and Nehemiah, which it follows, were together styled ' the first book of Ezra,' according to a very ancient practice among the Jews, who by putting the two canonical books together, obtained the same num ber of books in the Scriptures as the letters in the Hebrew alphabet : and others call it Pseudo-Ezra, in contradistinction to the canonical Ezra. The name first Esdras given to it in the A. V. is taken from the Geneva Bible ; the older English transla tions (viz., Coverdale's Bible, Matthew's Bible, the Bishops' Bible), as well as the sixth article of the Church of England (1571), following Luther and the Zurich Bible, call it the third Esdra, according to the Vulg. Since the Council of Trent (1546) this book has been removed from its old position to the end of the volume in the Sixtine and Clementine editions of the Vulg.
2. The Design and Contents of the Book.—The design of this book, as far as its original portion is concerned (iii. 1.-v. 6), is to excite the heathen rulers of juda to liberality and kindness towards the Jews, by depicting the good example of Darius, from whom Zerubbabel obtained permission by the aid of wisdom to return with his brethren to Palestine and to rebuild the city and the temple. This design is worked out in
the following attractive story. Darius, having given a sumptuous feast to all his subjects in the second year of his reign, retired to rest (iii. 1-3) ; when asleep his three bodyguards, Zerubbabel being one of them, proposed each to write a maxim stating what he thought was the most powerful thing, in the hope that the king would reward the wisest writer (4-9). Accordingly they all wrote ; one said Wine is the most powerful ;' the other, A king is the most powerful ; ' whilst Zerubbabel wrote—' Women are very powerful, but truth con quers all.' The slips containing these maxims were put under the king's pillow, and were given to him when he awoke (to-12). When he had read them he immediately sent for all his magnates, and having read these maxims before them (13-15), called upon the three youths to explain their say ings (16, 17). The first spoke elaborately about the great power which wine manifests in different ways (IS-24) ; the second descanted upon the un limited power of royalty, illustrating it by various examples (iv. 1-12) ; whilst Zerubbabel discoursed upon the mighty influence of women, frequently contravening the power of wine and monarchs, and then burst forth in praise of truth so elo quently, that all present exclaimed—' Great is truth, and mightiest above all things' (13-41). Darius then offered to Zerubbabel anything he should ask (42), whereupon he reminded the king of his vow to rebuild Jerusalem and return the sacred vessels when he ascended the throne The king stood up, kissed Zerubbabel, wrote to all officials to convey him and all his brethren to Palestine, and to supply all the necessary materials for the rebuild ing of the temple This is preceded and followed by descriptions of events which present the whole as one continuous narrative, relating in historic order the restoration of the temple-service first under Josiah, then under Zerubbabel, and finally under Ezra, and which are compiled from the records contained in the books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, as follows : I. Chap. i. corresponds to 2 Chron. xxxv. and xxxvi., giving an account of Josiah's magni ficent celebration of the passover-feast in the eighteenth month of his reign, and con tinuing the history till the Babylonish cap tivity.