wives. (Ezra 10:1) ... This was effected in little more than six months after his arrival at Jerusalem.
With the detailed account of this important transaction Ezra’s autobiography ends abruptly, and
we hear nothing more of him till, thirteen years afterwards, in the twentieth of Artaxerxes, we find
him again at Jerusalem with Nehemiah. It seems probable that after effecting the above reformations
he returned to the king of Persia. The functions he executed under Nehemiah’s government were
purely of a priestly and ecclesiastical character. The date of his death is uncertain. There was a
Jewish tradition that he was buried in Persia. The principal works ascribed to him by the Jews are—
•The instruction of the great synagogue;
•The settling the canon of Scripture, and restoring, correcting and editing the whole sacred volume;
•The introduction of the Chaldee character instead of the old Hebrew or Samaritan;
•The authorship of the books of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and, some add, Esther; and, many of
the Jews say, also of the books of Ezekiel, Daniel, and the twelve prophets;
•The establishment of synagogues.
Ezra, Book Of
is a continuation of the books of Chronicles. The period covered by the book is eighty years,
from the first of Cyrus, B.C. 536, to the beginning of the eighth of Artaxerxes, B.C. 456. It consist
of the contemporary historical journals kept from time to time, containing, chs. 1-12, and account
of the return of the captives under Zerubbabel, and the rebuilding of the temple in the reign of Cyrus
and Cambyses. Most of the book is written in Hebrew, but from chs. 4:8 to 6:19 it is written in
Chaldee. The last four chapters, beginning with ch. 7, continue the history after a gap of fifty-eight
years—from the sixth of Darius to the seventh of Artaxerxes— narrating his visit to Jerusalem, and
giving an account of the reforms there accomplished, referred to under Ezra. Much of the book was
written by Ezra himself, though the first chapter was probably written by Daniel; and other hands
are evident.
Ezrahite, The
(son of Zerah), a title attached to two persons—Ethan, (1 Kings 4:31; Psalms 89:1) title, and
Heman, Psal 88:1 title.
Ezri
(help of Jehovah), son of Chelub, superintendent of King David’s farm-laborers. (1 Chronicles
27:26) (B.C. 1014.).
Fable
A fable is a narrative in which being irrational, and sometimes inanimate, are, for the purpose
of moral instruction, feigned to act and speak with human interests and passions.—Encyc. Brit.
The fable differs from the parable in that—
•The parable always relates what actually takes place, and is true to fact, which the fable is not;
and
•The parable teaches the higher heavenly and spiritual truths, but the fable only earthly moralities.
Of the fable, as distinguished from the parable [Parable], we have but two examples in the Bible:
•That of the trees choosing their king, addressed by Jotham to the men of Shechem, (Judges 9:8-15)
•That of the cedar of Lebanon and the thistle, as the answer of Jehoash to the challenge of Amaziah.
(2 Kings 14:9) The fables of false teachers claiming to belong to the Christian Church, alluded to