Orientation to 1 Esdras
(avg. read time: 3–6 mins.)
Despite the distinct title, this volume of the Apocrypha is something closer to the Additions to Esther and the Additions to Daniel than it is to other books we have surveyed in this series of orientations. It is largely a text of the book of Ezra with a different arrangement and some additions made at the beginning from 2 Chr 35–36 and at the end from Nehemiah. There is also an addition in the middle in 3:1–5:6 that has no extant Hebrew or Aramaic equivalent. Scholars debate whether or not the text is dependent on a Hebrew Ezra-Nehemiah (since the books tended to be transmitted and read together) and perhaps some revision thereof or if it is independent of any Hebrew or Aramaic text. The designation “1 Esdras” comes from how it is referred to in the Septuagint as Esdras A and in the Old Latin as 1 Esdras, although it is known as 3 Esdras in the Vulgate tradition (with the first two books of Esdras being Ezra and Nehemiah). This text has not been considered strictly canonical among Roman Catholics, although it was transmitted as an apocryphal text for centuries, but at least some of the Eastern Orthodox do treat it as canonical (I have not been able to confirm if this is true of all Eastern Orthodox traditions). Whatever its exact origins, the text is notable in non-Christian history for its use by Josephus, where his text tracks more with 1 Esdras than with Ezra-Nehemiah as such (see Book 11 of his Antiquities).
Overview of 1 Esdras
Chapter 1 corresponds to 2 Chr 35 and 36. The Hebrew Ezra also picks up where 2 Chronicles left off, so both versions of the text show how these texts were clearly linked, perhaps even being read together. It may be that the beginning extends back to the story of 2 Chr 35 of Josiah celebrating the Passover in order to form an inclusio of feasts at the beginning and end, whether or not, as some suggest, the text also originally extended to the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkoth in Neh 8:13–18. There is likewise a smaller structure shaped around feasts in chs. 3–4, where additional references are made to feasts in order to lead up to the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles in 5:47–65, which corresponds to Ezra 3.
Chapter 2 corresponds to Ezra 1 and 4:7–24, and here we see our first major rearrangement. The story of Cyrus’s edict is followed up by a flash forward to the reign of Artaxerxes before we return to feasting. 5:7–65 corresponds to Ezra 2 and 3, but only after an addition in 3:1–5:6. In this addition, while Darius makes a great banquet for his household and the officials of his empire, three of his bodyguards propose a contest whereby they will each declare what is strongest. The one whom Darius and three nobles decide has spoken the most wisely will receive much reward and be exalted over others. They initiate this contest by writing their own statements to place under Darius’s pillow while he sleeps. When he wakes, he calls forward those who wrote these statements to make their respective cases.
The first one claims that wine is the strongest. Is this not evident from the strong influence it has on people’s minds? No matter if someone is rich or poor, king or slave, they are equally under its sway when they imbibe in it.
The second one gives the brown-nose response. For he says that the king is the strongest. Is this not evident from how people who rule over land and sea obey his word, no matter what he commands?
The third one, who is none other than Zerubbabel, says that women are strongest but that truth is still victor over all other things. Is this not evident from how women give birth to great men like the king or even those men who plant the vineyards from which wine is made? Men cannot exist without women. Men work to provide for women and increase their glory. Men love their wives and cling to them above the parents who bore and raised them. Men lose their minds and even their freedom because of women, and many have died for the sake of women or commit sin because of them. The king himself shows more favor to his wives and concubines than he does to any man who might try to act as they would. A smile from a woman would change his mood in the way that no man’s smile could. If she is upset with him, he will seek to do what he can to reconcile with her, going to lengths he would not do for a man who was similarly upset with him.
Yet even compared to the power of women, Zerubbabel insists that truth is superior. All other things that have been named can be unrighteous and unjust, but it is not so for the truth. All of these powerful people and things can perish for lack of truth. Truth endures forever without taint of unrighteousness. Truth is, “the strength, the kingdom, the authority, and the majesty of all ages” (4:40). And so he declares, “Blessed be the God of truth” (4:40).
Darius thus rewards Zerubbabel for speaking the most wisely. Zerubbabel calls upon him to fulfill his vow to the King of heaven to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. When Darius makes all the arrangements for the return of the people, Zerubbabel lifts his face to the King of heaven and said, “From you is victory, from you is wisdom, and yours is the glory, and I am your servant” (4:59).
After this is a feast and some extra framing for the return before we once again pick up with the text of Ezra. 5:7–7:15 corresponds to Ezra 2:1–4:5 followed by 5:1–6:22. 8:1–9:36 corresponds to the rest of Ezra, and 9:37–55 corresponds to Neh 7:73–8:12. The text as it is in the Greek is not fully preserved, as it cuts off mid-sentence at the end in text that corresponds to part of Neh 8:13. What remains today has thus been reconstructed from Latin texts. And as noted earlier, scholars sometimes posit that the text continued to the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles later in Nehemiah.
Resonances with the OT and NT
This text has rather obvious links with Ezra and Nehemiah, as I have noted throughout the overview. There are also connections with 2 Chr 35–36. Of course, the parallels are not always exact, which is one reason why the relationship with the Hebrew texts of Ezra and Nehemiah (as well as 2 Chronicles) is debated. It is not as if this is just a Greek translation of the predecessor to the Masoretic Text where it otherwise parallels the Hebrew. The additions also expand the roles of Zerubbabel and Darius from what we see in Ezra.
Any links the text shares with the NT are also, largely, those Ezra and Nehemiah (as well as the closing chapters of 2 Chronicles) share with the NT. The emphasis on truth also resonates in indirect ways with texts throughout the OT and NT, particularly with Johannine texts, as we have noted elsewhere (see particularly here, here, here, and here). The structural emphasis on feasting, particularly on feasts by which the Jews identified themselves as God’s faithful people, fits with the significance attached to these feasts that we have observed elsewhere in both the OT (particularly in this series) and the NT (especially here). (It is beyond the scope of the OT and NT, but I have also briefly noted the significance of these feasts in the narrations of Josephus here.)
This is the last of these orientations I plan to do for the time being. For the other entries in this series, see below:
Orientation to Maccabean Literature
Orientation to the Additions to Esther
Orientation to Wisdom of Solomon
Orientation to 1 Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, and Prayer of Manasseh