Expert: Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner - 6/14/2011

Question
Do Jewish people believe Ezra is the son of God?

Answer
Dear Mustafa,

Thanks for writing.

Jewish people do not believe that anyone is "son of God," or that anyone has divinity. God is unique and singular without any human connections, now or in the past and not in the future.

Ezra was a scribe, a trained transcriber of the Torah tradition, and a political spiritual leader who encouraged the Jewish People to return to Israel from Babylonia and restore the monarchy as indeed it was done. He was never referred to as "the son of God."

I hope that this is helpful.

Rabbi Dov


From the 2007 edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica that may not be available to you.

EZRA AND NEHEMIAH, BOOKS OF

EZRA AND NEHEMIAH, BOOKS OF, two books in the Hagiographa (i.e., the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah), which were originally a single work.

The Masoretic tradition regarded the books of Ezra and Nehemiah as one book and referred to it as the Book of Ezra. This was also the Greek tradition, and the same Greek name, Esdras, was given to both books (see below). The division into separate books does not occur until the time of Origen (fourth century C.E.) and this division was transferred into the Vulgate where the books are called I Esdras (Ezra) and II Esdras (Nehemiah). It was not until the 15th century that Hebrew manuscripts, and subsequently all modern printed Hebrew editions, followed this practice of dividing the books. However, there are good reasons (linguistic, literary, and thematic) for the argument that the two books were originally separate works (Kraemer), which were brought together by a later compiler, and are now to be read as a single unit (Grabbe).
Place in the Canon

There are two traditions regarding the place of Ezra-Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible. The more dominant Babylonian tradition, which is followed by all modern printed editions, places Ezra-Nehemiah immediately before Chronicles, the last book of the Writings. However, the Palestinian tradition, which is found in major Tiberian manuscripts, such as Aleppo and Leningrad, places Chronicles first in the Writings (before the Psalms), and places Ezra-Nehemiah last. In the Protestant Old Testament (e.g., the NRSV version), Ezra-Nehemiah is placed among the historical books, after Chronicles and before Esther. In the Roman Catholic Old Testament (e.g., the Douay-Rheims version), the books are similarly placed after Chronicles but before Tobit, Judith, and Esther.

Authorship and Date

The question of the authorship of Ezra-Nehemiah is bound up with its relation with the book of Chronicles. Since the time of Zunz (1832), the consensus of modern scholarship has been that the author of Chronicles was also the author of Ezra-Nehemiah, and this view still has its adherents (Blenkinsopp, Clines (1984)). Arguments for joint authorship include common vocabulary, style, uniformity of theological conceptions, similar description of religious ceremonies, penchant for occupational and genealogical lists, and, most importantly, the fact that the first few verses of Ezra (1:1–3a) are identical to the last two verses of Chronicles (II Chron 36:22–23), thus indicating that Chronicles leads in by means of catchlines to the following Book of Ezra (Haran). The position of Ezra-Nehemiah before Chronicles in the Protestant and Catholic Old Testament canons would seem to lend support for this point of view. In recent times, however, the independent authorship of both works has been argued on the basis of the following perceived contrasts: that Chronicles glorifies David, highly regards prophecy, has a conciliatory view of Northerners, and a miraculous view of history, whereas Ezra-Nehemiah emphasizes Moses and the Exodus, is forceful about its opposition to the Northerners (Samaritans), and has a different view of history. Ezra-Nehemiah ought then to be dated to the end of the fifth century B.C.E. whereas Chronicles is a later book composed at the end of the fourth century B.C.E. (Japhet). The catchlines at the end of Chronicles were borrowed from Ezra to give the book of Chronicles an "upbeat" ending heralding Cyrus' decree, and so not ending with the exile of the people in Babylon (Williamson).