Ezra, Ezra

Emil G. Hirsch, Isaac Broyd, " Ezra the Scribe ", Jewish Encyclopedia (Online).

It was included in the canon of the Septuagint (a translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek). In the reforming Council of Trent (154563), the Roman Catholic Church removed the book from the canon and placed it as an appendix to the New Testament. (cf. "biblical literature." Encyclopdia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopdia Britannica Online, p.173; "Esdras, First Book of." Encyclopdia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopdia Britannica Online ) The Eastern Orthodox Church however considers I Esdras as canonical, as does the Oriental Orthodox Church (cf. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, p.423; R. W. Cowley, The Biblical Canon Of The Ethiopian Orthodox Church Today , Ostkirchliche Studien, 1974, Volume 23, pp. 318-323.) The first century Jewish historian, Josephus, preferred I Esdras over the canonical EzraNehemiah and placed Ezra as a contemporary of Xerxes son of Darius, rather than of Artaxerxes.

It was one of the most important sources for Jewish theology at the end of the first century. In this book, Ezra has a seven part prophetic revelation, converses with an angel or God three times and has four visions. Ezra, while in the Babylonian Exile, prophecies the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.

Even if the law had not been given to Moses before, Ezra was worthy of being its vehicle.

Only one Qur'anic verse () mentions Ezra or Uzair, by the name and accuses Jews therein of hailing him as "the son of God", in a similar fashion as the Christians hail Jesus as the "son of God", citing it to be a blasphemous utterance of which neither Christians nor Jews have any authority and that in saying so they merely imitate what other peoples of more ancient cultures used to attribute to God, i.e., a progeny. There is no support for this claim in any Jewish literature or available historical accounts.

The early second century BCE Jewish author Jesus ben Sirach praises Nehemiah, but makes no mention of Ezra.

Source: Wikipedia > Ezra