Post by Eugene 2.0 on Jul 2, 2019 21:16:51 GMT
This is an interesting book. Among the main plot - bringing back and start rebuilding the Temple, celebrations of having built the Temple, etc. - it has some pages that similar to the late book of Christianity - Apocalypses.
(There are some differences between 2nd and 3rd - it depends on what Church looks on this book.)
They say that there were some missing pages in Latin Vulgate. Missing Pages. Apocalyptic of Ezra
4 Ezra proper, then, is made up of chapters 3-14 of the Latin text, or 1-12 in the eastern language editions of the text. It is generally agreed to have been a product of the early to mid-1st century AD Jewish community, though many have argued that certain elements, prophecies, and imagery within the text date to earlier centuries before their compilation into this text. The text is structured around a series of revelatory visions received by Ezra during his earthly life in the 5th century BC. There are many features of the text which connect it to other Second Temple Jewish literature of the last few centuries before Christ. One major such feature is the appearance of the Archangel Uriel as the mediator and guide of Ezra through many of his visions. Uriel is the fourth of the seven archangels. While St. Gabriel and St. Michael are mentioned throughout scripture and St. Raphael appears in the book of Tobit, St. Uriel appears throughout Jewish and Christian traditions and literature, but he is not named in the scriptures proper. In addition to 4 Ezra, the Archangel Uriel appears as the angel who rescues St. John the Forerunner from Herod’s massacre of newborn children and leads him to the desert, and accompanied the infant Christ, the Theotokos, and St. Joseph the Betrothed in their escape to Egypt. He is identified in Jewish tradition as the angel with flaming sword who guards the gate of paradise (his name in Hebrew means, ‘The fire of God’). Relatedly, the Apocalypse of Peter presents St. Uriel as the angel who judges repentance. Both St. Dionysius the Areopagite and St. Gregory the Dialogist name him among the archangels. In Orthodox iconography, St. Uriel is often identified by name in the Synaxis of the Holy Archangels.
Seven visions comprise the text of 4 Ezra, with St. Uriel serving as guide in much the same way that St. Gabriel serves in Daniel. The first three visions are given in response to questions from the prophet. First he asks how if God is just, Israel can be left in the misery of exile, as despite returning to the land, she remained under foreign rule. Second, he asks why Israel was sent into exile in the first place. Third, he asks why Israel is not the power that controls the known world, as opposed to a pagan empire. In all three cases, language reminiscent of that of Job is used to explain that human persons cannot understand the ways of God, but that all of the pain, turmoil, and suffering to which Ezra points is temporary, as the day of judgment is coming. On that day, justice will be established for all, the righteous being vindicated and the unrighteous punished for their sins. Judgment here is promised to a suffering people, and not envisioned by them as a threat.
The second set of three visions concerns the coming of the Messiah. The fourth vision concerns a bridegroom, who dies upon the threshold of the bridal chamber before the wedding can be consummated. This death is mourned by the bridegroom’s mother, who in the vision becomes a city, and is identified with Zion itself.
The Source for The Last Text
(There are some differences between 2nd and 3rd - it depends on what Church looks on this book.)
They say that there were some missing pages in Latin Vulgate. Missing Pages. Apocalyptic of Ezra
4 Ezra proper, then, is made up of chapters 3-14 of the Latin text, or 1-12 in the eastern language editions of the text. It is generally agreed to have been a product of the early to mid-1st century AD Jewish community, though many have argued that certain elements, prophecies, and imagery within the text date to earlier centuries before their compilation into this text. The text is structured around a series of revelatory visions received by Ezra during his earthly life in the 5th century BC. There are many features of the text which connect it to other Second Temple Jewish literature of the last few centuries before Christ. One major such feature is the appearance of the Archangel Uriel as the mediator and guide of Ezra through many of his visions. Uriel is the fourth of the seven archangels. While St. Gabriel and St. Michael are mentioned throughout scripture and St. Raphael appears in the book of Tobit, St. Uriel appears throughout Jewish and Christian traditions and literature, but he is not named in the scriptures proper. In addition to 4 Ezra, the Archangel Uriel appears as the angel who rescues St. John the Forerunner from Herod’s massacre of newborn children and leads him to the desert, and accompanied the infant Christ, the Theotokos, and St. Joseph the Betrothed in their escape to Egypt. He is identified in Jewish tradition as the angel with flaming sword who guards the gate of paradise (his name in Hebrew means, ‘The fire of God’). Relatedly, the Apocalypse of Peter presents St. Uriel as the angel who judges repentance. Both St. Dionysius the Areopagite and St. Gregory the Dialogist name him among the archangels. In Orthodox iconography, St. Uriel is often identified by name in the Synaxis of the Holy Archangels.
Seven visions comprise the text of 4 Ezra, with St. Uriel serving as guide in much the same way that St. Gabriel serves in Daniel. The first three visions are given in response to questions from the prophet. First he asks how if God is just, Israel can be left in the misery of exile, as despite returning to the land, she remained under foreign rule. Second, he asks why Israel was sent into exile in the first place. Third, he asks why Israel is not the power that controls the known world, as opposed to a pagan empire. In all three cases, language reminiscent of that of Job is used to explain that human persons cannot understand the ways of God, but that all of the pain, turmoil, and suffering to which Ezra points is temporary, as the day of judgment is coming. On that day, justice will be established for all, the righteous being vindicated and the unrighteous punished for their sins. Judgment here is promised to a suffering people, and not envisioned by them as a threat.
The second set of three visions concerns the coming of the Messiah. The fourth vision concerns a bridegroom, who dies upon the threshold of the bridal chamber before the wedding can be consummated. This death is mourned by the bridegroom’s mother, who in the vision becomes a city, and is identified with Zion itself.
The Source for The Last Text