Ezra: A Commentary (Critical Commentaries)
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
Lisbeth Fried’s commentary on Ezra is the first instalment of a projected two-volume commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah. It is the first full-length scholarly commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah to be written since 1988 and takes advantage of recent results in archaeology, of recent historical studies on the Persian Empire, and of recent studies of the influence of Hellenistic textual and legal traditions on Judean thought. It also draws extensively on the author’s own research into the mechanisms by which the Persian Empire dominated and controlled its subject populations.
The present volume includes a new translation of the Book of Ezra, plus annotations on each verse that compare and contrast the Greek, Latin and Syriac variations, including the text of Greek Esdras A. It also provides an extensive Introduction and chapter commentaries that discuss larger historical and literary issues.
Fried concludes that Ezra-Nehemiah was written as one book at the beginning of the Hellenistic period. Although written then, it was formed from earlier texts: an Ezra memoir, a letter to Ezra from Artaxerxes II, and a Nehemiah memoir. All of these have been heavily edited, however. Fried concludes that both Ezra and Nehemiah were Persian officials, Ezra a Persian episkopos, and Nehemiah a Persian governor, and that both acted with the goals of their Persian overlords in mind, not the goals of the subject Judean population. The Judean author, writing under Hellenic domination, transformed these men into Judean heroes in order to promote the novel idea of a long tradition of foreign imperial support for local institutions--cultic, legal and physical.
Fried’s commentary promises to revolutionize how one reads the book of Ezra.
This is the first volume in a new series of substantial works, Critical Commentaries.
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- Takes advantage of recent results in archaeology and of recent historical studies on the Persian Empire
- Includes a new translation of the Book of Ezra, plus annotations on each verse that compare and contrast the Greek, Latin and Syriac variations
- Provides an extensive Introduction and chapter commentaries that discuss larger historical and literary issues
- Introduction to the Books Ezra–Nehemiah
- Ezra 1–6, Introduction to Part I: The Story of the Return to Judah and of Building
- Ezra 1, Prologue: The Return Home under Cyrus
- Ezra 1.1, Setting the Stage for Cyrus’s Edict
- Ezra 1.2-4, The Edict of Cyrus
- Ezra 1.5-11, The People Return Home
- Ezra 2, The Prologue (Continued): The List of Returnees
- Ezra 3.1-6a, The Prologue (Continued): The Protagonists Are Introduced, the Altar Is Built, Sukkot Is Celebrated
- Ezra 3.6b-7, The Prologue (Continued): Building Materials Are Obtained and the Positive Attitude toward the Protagonists Is Increased
- Ezra 3.8-9, The Prologue (Continued): The Protagonists Take Charge
- Ezra 3.10-11, The Prologue (Continued): The Foundations of the Temple Are Laid and the Good Fortune of the Protagonists Increases
- Ezra 3.12-13, The Prologue (Continued): Celebration!
- Ezra 4.1-5, The Plot Begins: Judah’s Leaders Make a Terrible Mistake and Temple Building is Stopped
- Ezra 4.6-11a, The Plot Thickens: The Enemies of Judah Write Slanderous Letters to the Persian Kings
- Ezra 4.11a-24, The Proof: The Letter to King Artaxerxes and the Horrible Result
- Ezra 5.1-2, Deus Ex Machina: Haggai and Zechariah Encourage the Builders
- Ezra 5.3-5, Tattenai, the Viceroy of Beyond-the-River, Investigates Jerusalem
- Ezra 5.6-17, The Viceroy of Beyond-the-River Reports to the King
- Ezra 6.1-5, Darius Searches the Archives and the Temple Is Rebuilt
- Ezra 6.6-12, Darius Confirms Cyrus’s Memorandum and Orders Work on the House of the God in Jerusalem to Continue
- Ezra 6.13-22, The Temple Is Completed and Dedicated with Joy, Passover Is Celebrated at the New Temple
- Ezra 7–10, Introduction to Part II: The Story of Ezra’s Arrival in Jerusalem and the Mass Divorce
- Ezra 7.1-10, Ezra: Priest, Scribe, and King’s ‘Ear’
- Ezra 7.11, The Hebrew Introduction to Artaxerxes’ Letter to Ezra
- Ezra 7.12, Salutation
- Ezra 7.13-26, The Body of the Letter
- Ezra 7.27-28a, Ezra Reacts to his Appointment
- Ezra 7.28b–8.14, Those Who Went Up with Ezra
- Ezra 8.15-35, Ezra Brings Gifts to Jerusalem and Reports Back to the King
- Ezra 9.1-2, Ezra Begins his Activities in Beyond-the-River
- Ezra 9.3-15, Ezra Reacts to the News of the Intermarriages and Prays
- Ezra 10.1-17, The Mass Divorce
- Ezra 10.18-44, The Judean Men Who Married Foreign Women
- Title: Ezra: A Commentary
- Author: Lisbeth S. Fried
- Series: Critical Commentaries
- Publisher: Sheffield Phoenix Press Ltd
- Print Publication Date: 2017
- Pages: 488
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
- ISBNs: 9781910928264, 1910928267
- Resource ID: LLS:EZRAACOMMENTARY
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-09-24T20:10:08Z