* strange wives.
Pr 2:16 5:3,20
* and some of them.
This observation was probably intended to shew that only a few
of them had children, and also how rigorously the law was put
in execution. According to a passage in Justin Martyr's
Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, Ezra offered a paschal lamb on
this occasion, and addressed the people thus: "And Ezra said
to the people, This pass-over is our Saviour and our Refuge;
and if ye will be persuaded of it, and let it enter into your
hearts, that we are to humble to Him in a sign, and afterwards
shall believe in Him, this place shall not be destroyed for
ever, saith the Lord of hosts; but, if ye will not believe in
Him, nor hearken to his preaching, ye shall be a
laughing-stock to the Gentiles." This was probably a marginal
note added by some early Christian.
CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE BOOK OF EZRA.
This book details the events of a very interesting period of
the Sacred History, when, according to the decree of
Providence, the Jewish people were to be delivered from their
captivity, at the expiration of seventy years, and restored to
the land of their fathers. This book informs us how the
Divine goodness accomplished this most gracious design, and
the movers and agents He employed on the occasion. Ezra was
undoubtedly the chief agent under God in effecting this
arduous work; and his zeal, piety, knowledge, and discretion,
appear here in a most conspicuous point of view, and claim our
utmost admiration. Descended from Seraiah, in a direct line
from Aaron, he seems to have united all the requisites of a
profound statesmen with the functions of the sacerdotal
character. He appears to have made the Sacred Scriptures,
during the captivity, his peculiar study; and, perhaps
assisted by Nehemiah and the great synagogue, he corrected the
errors which had crept into the Sacred Writings, through the
negligence or mistake of transcribers; he collected all the
books of which the Sacred Scriptures then consisted, disposed
them in their proper order, and settled the canon of
Scriptures for his time; he occasionally added, under the
dictation of the Holy Spirit, whatever appeared necessary for
the purpose of illustrating, completing, or connecting them;
he substituted the modern for the ancient names of some
places, which had now become obsolete; and transcribed the
whole of the Scriptures into the Chaldee character. He is
said to have lived to the age of 120; years, and, according to
Josephus, was buried in Jerusalem; but the Jews believe he
died in Persia, in a second journey to Artaxerxes, where his
tomb is shown in the city of Zamusa. Though not styled a
prophet, he wrote under the Divine Spirit; and the canonical
authority of his book has never been disputed. It is written
with all the spirit and fidelity that could be displayed by a
writer of contemporary times; and those parts which chiefly
consist of letters, decrees, etc., are written in Chaldee,
because it seemed more suitable to the fidelity of a sacred
historian to give these official documents, as they may be
termed, in the original language, especially as the people,
recently returned from the captivity, were familiar, and
perhaps more conversant with the Chaldee, than with the
Hebrew.
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