Esdras, Second Book of

▪ apocryphal work

also called  Fourth Book Of Ezra, or Ezra Apocalypse,  abbreviation  Ii Esdras, 

      apocryphal work printed in the Vulgate and many later Roman Catholic bibles as an appendix to the New Testament. The central portion of the work (chapters 3–14), consisting of seven visions revealed to the seer Salathiel-Ezra, was written in Aramaic by an unknown Jew around AD 100. In the mid-2nd century AD, a Christian author added an introductory portion (chapters 1–2) to the Greek edition of the book, and a century later another Christian writer appended chapters 15–16 to the same edition. It is possible that the whole Greek edition (from which all subsequent translations were derived, the Aramaic version having been lost) was edited by a Christian author, because there are passages in the central Jewish section that reflect Christian doctrines on original sin and Christology.

      II Esdras is concerned primarily with the future age that will succeed the present world order. The occasion for its composition was the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in AD 70, which had a drastic effect on the nationalistic aspirations of the Jews and on their view of Judaism.

      The central theme of the work is the justification of the ways of God to man. The author, deeply concerned over the future of Jews deprived of the Temple of Jerusalem, challenges God to explain why the righteous suffer at the hands of sinners. The answers are similar to those in the Book of Job: the actions of God are inscrutable, human understanding is finite and limited, and God will always love his chosen people in spite of appearances to the contrary.

      There is a marked dualistic motif in this work contrasting the present, evil-ridden world to a future, heavenly age when the righteous few who survive the final judgment will live in an immortal state.

* * *