n the presence
of Darius, king of Persia, which resulted in Zerubbabel's favor, and so
pleased the king that he issued letters for the rebuilding of Jerusalem,
and conferred many other favors on the Jews. Chaps. 3, 4. The preceding
and following parts are made up of extracts from 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and
Nehemiah, in which the compiler has made a free use of his biblical
sources, at one time abridging the narrative, at another making
explanatory additions, and again transposing the order of events
contrary to historical truth. Some, as Keil, think that the writer made
use of the Alexandrine version; others, that he drew from the original
Hebrew. His design was to exhibit the liberality of Cyrus and Darius
towards the Jews as a pattern for the heathen rulers of Judea in his own
day. (Keil.) Neither the author nor the date of the book is known, but
it cannot be placed earlier than the second century before Christ.

6. The _second_ book of Esdras (called also the _fourth_, when the first
is reckoned as the third) is extant in a Latin, an Arabic, and an
Ethiopic version. The Greek original has not thus far been found. The
Arabic and Ethiopic are thought to represent the primitive text more
correctly than the Latin: as they want the two introductory and closing
chapters of the latter, which are generally admitted to be spurious
additions by a later hand; and contain, on the contrary, a long passage
after chap. 7:35, which is not found in the Latin, and is thought to be
genuine.

7. If we reject the first two and last two chapters of the Latin
version, which do not belong to the original work, the remainder of the
book has entire unity from beginning to end. It consists of a series of
pretended visions vouchsafed to Ezra through the angel Uriel in the
thirtieth year after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldees, while
he mourned over the desolate and distressed condition of the covenant
people with fasting and prayer. Of these visions, the first six, which
are preparatory to the last, pertain mainly to the method of God's
dealing with men, the end of the present age, the introduction of the
coming age, and the glorification of Zion, with the heavy judgments of
God that shall accompany these events. Many of these revelations are
made through the medium of symbols. In the seventh and last revelation,
a voice addresses Ezra out of a bush, as it did Moses of old. Upon his
complaining that the law has been burnt, he is direct