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Apocrypha #9
First Esdras
DR Bibles The Douay-Rheims bible contains of two parts 1) old testament and 2) new testament. The Old Testament was first published in 1682 A.D. by the English College at Douay and the New Testament was published in 1582 A.D by the English College at Rheims. This series of bibles has 73 books including seven Deutero-Canonical books
9 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 151
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* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 5, 2022
This recapitulates much of the book of Ezra and retells parts of Israel's old testament history with the addition of a story about 3 young men trying to convince King Darius of what is most important in life in order to be granted a boon. The addition was interesting, the 3 options compared were wine, women, and truth - with truth winning the argument, which adds a degree of context to the wisdom literature tradition present in the Jewish thought world in the historical period when Jesus entered the scene as truth (the divine logos) incarnate. However, the use of this story in the particular context where it appears in Esdras seems to diminish the role of God to that of a secondary character when it comes to the restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem under Persian rule when compared with the Ezra depiction. In Ezra the king is moved by the holy spirit and a humble request from a servant, in the Esdras account he is obligated to fulfill his intention to rebuild because of a boon awarded to a clever Jewish man. God can use our boldness and cleverness to bring about his plans, and we even see kings trying to award Daniel and Mordecai similar boons in the books of Daniel and Ester, but in both cases the men of God do not use the boons won to force the restoration of the Jewish people, instead trusting in God's timing. At the end of the day I prefer the humble boldness of the request in the Ezra account because it better fits the context of Israel in captivity in my view and follows in the precedent set by Ester's humble request in similar circumstances.
December 16, 2019
About the political maneuverings that culminated in the end of the Babylonian captivity and reconstruction of the temple in Jerusalem. One interesting issue was Esdras had them put away their wives and children they had with foreigners in order to keep the covenant. You would think it would be easier to just baptize them…
For Christians wanting to peruse apocryphal Bible books, I recommend starting with 2 Esdras-- it's awesome. This one is very historical-Old-Testament style.
For Christians wanting to peruse apocryphal Bible books, I recommend starting with 2 Esdras-- it's awesome. This one is very historical-Old-Testament style.
July 15, 2017
Interesting historical supplement.
December 9, 2022
Book I of Esdras (Ezra I; Esdras III) is a retelling of the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem after the death of Josiah. The Kings in Israel after Josiah are sinful and cause God to punish the Hebrews all.
I Esdras is cobbled together (or seems to be so). Perspective is shifted and previous events recur in different ways. Near the end of the work, Ezra (a son of Aaron and most holy man) is allowed a first person narration of his return to Jerusalem to hear of the sins of Israel. One of the most important additions to I Esdras, the story of the three guards, goes over how Zerubabel is allowed (by King Darius) the power to re-build Jerusalem's temple. A few pages later, we read that Zerubabel was seemingly at the first rebuilding, when Cyrus ordered it, and we again hear of his association with Darius in the second attempt at reconstruction. Here, then, we see two distinct narratives. When Cyrus is thwarted by the politics of Artaxerxes (who doesn't want the Jews to rebel), we see Zerubabel and his two friends give answer to the question "What is most powerful?" to King Darius. His friends answer "wine" and the "king", whereas he (Zerubabel) answers "women and truth". His answer wins him the reward of anything under the sun--and he chooses to rebuild the temple. This narrative is folkish and strange. In the second narrative, however, we learn that Zerubabel was a prominent member of the team that went to re-build the temple after Cyrus' first attempt, and is given leave to attempt again through Darius. Pointedly, there is no reference to the quiz.
The work has a profound moral position. Ezra is considered a moral and good man, and his deeds therefore must be considered also moral. Why Jerusalem initially falls to Nebuchadnezzar and the holy dishes decamped with is explained by the sinfulness of the kingship after the death of Josiah. These positions, essentially cultural, show in some ways the sinister side to Hebrew superstition. For, even as God gives solace in affliction (now, it is not that we are harmed for nothing, indifferently, but rather that we are harmed by a merciful God who will eventually free us), by the same token all foreign women and children born thereof are expelled from Jerusalem as sinful by Ezra. Husbands are divorced in a sense by force and their children removed, where and to whither we are not given an answer, because God considers those living in the Promised Land before the Israelites as pollutants.
Like many ancient texts originating in some sense from the Bible, I Esdras contains numerous lists of people who did such-and-such things, who accompanied such-and-such peoples; these were a chore to read, but were understandably included by the scholars who composed the work as historical information of some importance, whether cultural or otherwise.
I thought this was a good book; I will be reading II Esdras at some point.
I Esdras is cobbled together (or seems to be so). Perspective is shifted and previous events recur in different ways. Near the end of the work, Ezra (a son of Aaron and most holy man) is allowed a first person narration of his return to Jerusalem to hear of the sins of Israel. One of the most important additions to I Esdras, the story of the three guards, goes over how Zerubabel is allowed (by King Darius) the power to re-build Jerusalem's temple. A few pages later, we read that Zerubabel was seemingly at the first rebuilding, when Cyrus ordered it, and we again hear of his association with Darius in the second attempt at reconstruction. Here, then, we see two distinct narratives. When Cyrus is thwarted by the politics of Artaxerxes (who doesn't want the Jews to rebel), we see Zerubabel and his two friends give answer to the question "What is most powerful?" to King Darius. His friends answer "wine" and the "king", whereas he (Zerubabel) answers "women and truth". His answer wins him the reward of anything under the sun--and he chooses to rebuild the temple. This narrative is folkish and strange. In the second narrative, however, we learn that Zerubabel was a prominent member of the team that went to re-build the temple after Cyrus' first attempt, and is given leave to attempt again through Darius. Pointedly, there is no reference to the quiz.
The work has a profound moral position. Ezra is considered a moral and good man, and his deeds therefore must be considered also moral. Why Jerusalem initially falls to Nebuchadnezzar and the holy dishes decamped with is explained by the sinfulness of the kingship after the death of Josiah. These positions, essentially cultural, show in some ways the sinister side to Hebrew superstition. For, even as God gives solace in affliction (now, it is not that we are harmed for nothing, indifferently, but rather that we are harmed by a merciful God who will eventually free us), by the same token all foreign women and children born thereof are expelled from Jerusalem as sinful by Ezra. Husbands are divorced in a sense by force and their children removed, where and to whither we are not given an answer, because God considers those living in the Promised Land before the Israelites as pollutants.
Like many ancient texts originating in some sense from the Bible, I Esdras contains numerous lists of people who did such-and-such things, who accompanied such-and-such peoples; these were a chore to read, but were understandably included by the scholars who composed the work as historical information of some importance, whether cultural or otherwise.
I thought this was a good book; I will be reading II Esdras at some point.
August 21, 2022
I normally only use the KJV Bible, but I decided to read the Apocrypha ‘lost books’ as research to better understand the background of the Bible and to know about it when/if it comes up in conversation, etc.
First Esdras (aka 3 Esdras) is basically the book of Ezra with an additional section known as the ‘Darius contest’: a speech writing contest by three guardsmen for honor by King Darius. The book starts with the last two chapters of 2 Chronicles, then moves to King Artaxerxes reign and through to the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem by King Josias. There’s also a section about a conflict with king of Egypt.
First Esdras (aka 3 Esdras) is basically the book of Ezra with an additional section known as the ‘Darius contest’: a speech writing contest by three guardsmen for honor by King Darius. The book starts with the last two chapters of 2 Chronicles, then moves to King Artaxerxes reign and through to the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem by King Josias. There’s also a section about a conflict with king of Egypt.
December 5, 2021
This is from the stories in 2 Kings so if you are wondering what happened and why it happened then you should read this. But that is if you read the Holy Bible and understand it then you’ll really like this. But if you haven’t read the Bible or you’re just a passive reader- one verse here and there, and then you read this you will not appreciate it at all and it will just bore you.
January 9, 2024
Has some interesting parts in especially chapter 8 and chapter 2. Chapter 2 has some worldly wisdom in there that's kind of fun, but not particularly spiritual. Excited to start in on 2 Esdras. They didn't have the edition on here that I read, which was the 1611 KJV version.
March 27, 2025
Libro que recapitula bastante los eventos del Esdras canónico, de los apócrifos más citados por los Padres e incluido como apéndice en muchas ediciones de la Vulgata. En cuanto al texto en sí no he sido capaz de ver nada especialmente relevante
November 22, 2020
So many names...
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews