EZRA, the Babylonian Hebrew priest sur named "THE SCRIBE," after whom, with his contemporary Nehemiah, the 'Books of Ezra and Nehemiah' of the Hebrew canon are named. By permission of King Artaxerxes I Babylon, as leader of 1,754 of his country men he returned to Jerusalem 458 Lc. On the basis of a firman granted by the King, and by the appointment of the King's cup-bearer Nehemiah as governor of Judea 445 a.c., he was instrumental in purifying and re-establishing, under sanction of the law, the Jewish religion in Jerusalem, where it had become deeply cor rupted. The drastic steps associated with the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah were not ac ceptable everywhere and led to endless discus sion, especially was this the case when a great number of the Jews were compelled to divorce the foreign wives they had married. The most famous of the early scribes, Ezra is referred to as ((the scribe of the commandments of the Lord and of his statutes to Israel° (Ezra vii, 2) and as "a ready scribe in the law of Moses which the Lord, the God of Israel had given." He was the first of the Sopherim or scribes who handed on the charge to the "Men of the Great Synagogue," a body or succession of teachers which he founded and now represented by the rabbis. To Ezra is credited the introduction of Assyrian script, or the adoption of Aramaic handwriting in Judea in the 5th century B.0
In 444 B.C. Nehemiah describes Ezra as a scribe reading the 'Book of the Law' to the congre gation of the children of Israel gathered on the plateau near the Water Gate, and the Levite priests reciting the 'Targums' or Aramaic para phrases to enable the people to understand the laws. The reading occupied two days and was productive of impressive results. The important services rendered by Ezra to his countrymen on that occasion, and also in arranging and practi cally settling the canon of Scripture are espe cially acknowledged by the Hebrews, and he is even regarded by many as the second founder of the nation. Malachi, signifying "My Messen ger,' the name assigned to the last book of the Old Testament, is identified by some authorities with Ezra. Some writers assert that Ezra re turned to Babylon and died there at the age of 120 years. Josephus states that he died in Jerusalem and was buried there with great pomp. On the Shatt el-Arab near Korna the tomb of Ezra is venerated as a shrine. Consult Herford, (Pharisaism) (New York 1912); Tor rey, Studies' (Chicago 1910).