Making a Difference. Essays on the Bible and Judaism in Honor of Tamara Cohn Eskenazi

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1 Making a Difference Essays on the Bible and Judaism in Honor of Tamara Cohn Eskenazi Edited by David J.A. Clines, Kent Harold Richards and Jacob L. Wright Sheffield Phoenix Press 2012

2 Copyright 2012 Sheffield Phoenix Press Published by Sheffield Phoenix Press Department of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield Sheffield S3 7QB All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without the publisher s permission in writing. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Typeset by CA Typesetting Ltd Printed on acid-free paper by Lightning Source UK Ltd, Milton Keynes ISBN

3 The Law Triumphant: Another Look at 1 Esdras 1 Lisbeth S. Fried Issues Surrounding 1 Esdras The questions confronting readers of 1 Esdras are many: Is this Greek text a translation from a Hebrew or Aramaic original, or was it originally written in Greek? Is this the original version of the book, and the original order of the chapters, or is the canonical Ezra Nehemiah the original version? That is, did the author of Ezra Nehemiah rewrite 1 Esdras, or did the author of 1 Esdras rewrite Ezra Nehemiah? 2 When and why was it written? Does it end in midsentence? Is it the intended ending? Is the beginning the original beginning, or are the beginning and the ending both lost? That is, is 1 Esdras simply a fragment of a much larger work that stretched perhaps from 1 Chron. 1.1 to Neh ? The answers to all these questions as well as its purpose and theological import must be sought in the order of the chapters within 1 Esdras, since this really is the only difference between the versions. Work on the relationship between Ezra Nehemiah and 1 Esdras has been ongoing for over 200 years. Yet since Pohlmann, scholars have been divided into two main camps. 3 The first considers 1 Esdras to be a fragment of a long history that includes Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah. 4 According 1. I offer this piece in love and respect to Professor Tamara C. Eskenazi in gratitude for her friendship and for many enlightening conversations. 2. This question is indeed the focus of the articles in Lisbeth S. Fried (ed.), Was 1 Esdras First? An Investigation into the Priority and Nature of 1 Esdras (Ancient Israel and its Literature, 7; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011). 3. K.-F. Pohlmann, Studien zum dritten Esra: Ein Beitrag zur Frage nach dem ursprünglichen Schluss des chronistischen Geschichtswerkes (FRLANT, 104; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1970). For a history of research see K. De Troyer, Zerubbabel and Ezra: A Revived and Revised Solomon and Josiah? A Survey of Current 1 Esdras Research, CBR 1 (2002), pp E.g., C.C. Torrey, Ezra Studies (New York: Ktav, 1970 [1910]); Pohlmann, Studien zum dritten Esra; A. Schenker, La relation d Esdras A au texte massorétique d Esdras-Néhémie, in Tradition of the Text: Studies Offered to Dominique Barthélemy in Celebration of his 70th Birthday (ed. G.J. Norton and S. Pisano; OBO, 109; Freiburg: Universitätsverlag and Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1991), pp ; Adrian Schenker, The Relationship between Ezra Nehemiah and 1 Esdras, in Was 1 Esdras First?, pp ; D. Böhler, Die heilige Stadt in Esdras a und Esra-Nehemia:

4 Fried The Law Triumphant 133 to this camp, except for the story of the three youths, a late addition, 1 Esdras reveals the original form of the text of Ezra to which Nehemiah was added secondarily. When Nehemiah was added, the story of Ezra s reading the Torah was then taken from the end of Ezra and plunked into the middle of Nehemiah. That author then added the long prayer and the Amāna signing to form a covenant renewal ceremony, often taken as the climax of the canonical story of the return. 5 The second group of scholars sees 1 Esdras as a compilation of various passages taken from the separate books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, books which were already in their present form when the excerpts were taken. 6 According to this view, passages were compiled and rearranged just to accommodate the story of the three youths, a story seen as integral to rewritten Ezra. Both groups recognize, however, that once the story of the three youths is removed, not only is the order of events largely the same in the Zwei Konzeptionen der Wiederherstellung Israels (OBO 158; Freiburg: Universitätsverlag and Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1997); Böhler, On the Relationship between Textual and Literary Criticism: The Two Recensions of the Book of Ezra: Ezra Neh (MT) and 1 Esdras (LXX), in The Earliest Text of the Hebrew Bible: The Relationship between the Masoretic Text and the Hebrew Base of the Septuagint Reconsidered (ed. A. Schenker; SBLSCS, 52; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2003), pp See recently, Deirdre N. Fulton and Gary N. Knoppers, Lower Criticism and Higher Criticism: The Case of 1 Esdras, in Was 1 Esdras First?, pp ; Lester L. Grabbe, Chicken or Egg? Which Came First, 1 Esdras or Ezra Nehemiah?, in Was 1 Esdras First?, pp E.g., Dennis J. McCarthy, Treaty and Covenant (Analecta biblica, 21; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute, 1963); McCarthy, Covenant and Law in Chronicles Nehemiah, CBQ 44 (1982), pp ; Michael W. Duggan, The Covenant Renewal in Ezra Nehemiah (Neh 7.72b 10.40): An Exegetical, Literary, and Theological Study (SBL Dissertation Series, 164; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2001). For a suggestion of the original purpose of the Amāna in Nehemiah 10 see Lisbeth S. Fried, A Greek Religious Association in Second Temple Judah? A Comment on Nehemiah 10, Transeuphratène 30 (2005), pp E.g., Z. Talshir, 1 Esdras: From Origin to Translation (SBLSCS, 47; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1999); Talshir, 1 Esdras: A Text Critical Commentary (SBLSCS, 50; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2001); Bob Becking, The Story of the Three Youths and the Composition of 1 Esdras, in Was 1 Esdras First?, pp ; Kristin De Troyer, The Second Year of Darius, in Was 1 Esdras First?, pp ; Lisbeth S. Fried, Why the Story of the Three Youths in 1 Esdras?, in Was 1 Esdras First?, pp ; Juha Pakkala, Why 1 Esdras Is Probably Not an Early Version of the Ezra Nehemiah Tradition, in Was 1 Esdras First?, pp ; Zipora Talshir, Ancient Composition Patterns Mirrored in 1 Esdras and the Priority of the Canonical Composition Type, in Was 1 Esdras First?, pp ; James C. VanderKam, Literary Questions between Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 Esdras, in Was 1 Esdras First?, pp ; Jacob L. Wright, Remember Nehemiah: 1 Esdras and the Damnatio memoriae Nehemiae, in Was 1 Esdras First?, pp

5 134 Making a Difference initial six or seven chapters of these books, but in the majority of passages the wording is identical. Passages agree sentence for sentence. It must be concluded therefore that either 1 Esdras is a revision of Ezra Nehemiah, or that Ezra Nehemiah is a revision of 1 Esdras, or that they are each revisions of a third source. They cannot be independent accounts of historical events. Date and Place of Composition Although there is no consensus, a majority of scholars have concluded recently that 1 Esdras was based on the canonical texts of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and that the author of 1 Esdras rewrote Ezra in order to accommodate the story of Darius s three bodyguards. 7 If so, then the date of composition can easily be determined. Paul Harvey, Jr, has shown that the author of the story of the bodyguards was acquainted with court titles that were used solely by the Ptolemies, beginning with Ptolemy II Philadelphus ( bce). This establishes a locale in Egypt, most probably Alexandria, and a terminus a quo for the composition of the book. Hence, we have the same place and period of composition as the Letter of Aristeas. Indeed, that text exhibits the same attitude toward the Law that we see in 1 Esdras: Our Lawgiver first of all laid down the principles of piety and righteousness and inculcated them point by point, not merely by prohibitions but by the use of examples as well, demonstrating the injurious effects of sin and the punishments inflicted by God upon the guilty. Working out these truths carefully and having made them plain he [Eleazar, the High Priest] showed that even if a man should think of doing evil to say nothing of actually effecting it he would not escape detection, for he made it clear that the power of God pervaded the whole of the law (Letter of Aristeas ). Purpose of the Book Since recent research has come down on the side of the priority of the canonical Ezra Nehemiah, we are now free to ask about the purpose of the revision; several theories have been proposed. 8 While most scholars have focused on the first six chapters of Ezra and the purpose for their rewriting and for including the story of the three youths, Wright focuses on the reason for the elimination of Nehemiah s story. 9 Wright argues that the author of 1 Esdras knew Ezra Nehemiah as one book and that he purposely rewrote the story of Ezra to blot out Nehemiah s memory. Nehemiah s memoir had offended the priestly writers who composed 1 Esdras because of its insinuation that the 7. The majority of scholars writing in Fried, Was 1 Esdras First?, have concluded for the priority of the canonical books Ezra Nehemiah. 8. See the articles in Fried, Was 1 Esdras First? 9. Wright, Remember Nehemiah.

6 Fried The Law Triumphant 135 priesthood was corrupt, and that it had made alliances with and had even married into non-israelite families. Ezra Nehemiah, moreover, presents the city of Jerusalem in ruins until Nehemiah a non-priest and non-davidide could come and rebuild it, rather than showing it to have been built by the priests immediately upon their return. All this is rectified by 1 Esdras s new and perfected version of the story of the return with the Davidide Zerubbabel and the priest Jeshua replacing Nehemiah as protagonists. I suggest here an additional reason for omitting Nehemiah s story. In addition to these theories proposed recently, one view that has been overlooked is the problem expressed in both 1 Esdras and in Ezra Nehemiah of how to cope with an angry god. The answer is certainly evident in Ezra Nehemiah (i.e., follow the commandments of Torah), but 1 Esdras answers it even more forcefully and more definitively than the canonical books. 1 Esdras begins with the story of Josiah s Passover, one that had not been held like it before (1 Esd [20]). Josiah is the epitome of the good king in both Kings and in Chronicles: He did what was right in the sight of Yhwh, and walked in all the way of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left (2 Kgs 22.2 = 2 Chron. 34.2). But 1 Esdras adds another verse, not present in Kings or Chronicles: The deeds of Josiah were upright in the sight of the Lord, for his heart was full of godliness. In ancient times the events of his reign have been recorded concerning those who sinned and acted wickedly toward the Lord beyond any other people or kingdom, and how they grieved him deeply, so that the words of the Lord fell upon Israel (1 Esd [23-24 et]). 10 This verse in 1 Esdras foreshadows the fall of the kingdom to the Babylonians in 586. It is stressed that it was only because of the sins of the people and their wickedness that the kingdom fell, in spite of Josiah s attempt to do what was right. 1 Esdras continues with the story of the fall of the kingdom (not told in canonical Ezra), and the return of Judeans to Judah and Jerusalem, the immediate rebuilding of the city and the temple, opposition to the temple s construction, its final completion and dedication under Darius, and the celebration of the Passover (1 Esd. 7.10). This celebration forms an inclusio with Josiah s Passover and indicates a return not only to Judah and Jerusalem in body, but also in spirit Ralph W. Klein, The Rendering of 2 Chronicles in 1 Esdras, in Was 1 Esdras First?, pp See Sylvie Honigman, Cyclical Time and Catalogues: The Construction of Meaning in 1 Esdras, in Was 1 Esdras First?, pp , for a discussion of the cyclical construction of these books.

7 136 Making a Difference In 1 Esdras, as in the canonical book of Ezra, the figure Ezra arrives in Judah immediately after the temple s dedication and the celebration of the Passover. He learns of the perfidy of the people in their intermarriages and, as in canonical Ezra, he prays and mourns. As in canonical Ezra, the people undergo a mass divorce, but in contrast to the canonical book, the narrative moves immediately to Ezra s reading the law. As Wright stresses, the entire story of Nehemiah is omitted. 12 There is nothing about Nehemiah s building the wall or his reforms; nor is there the anything even resembling a covenant renewal ceremony. There is no public signing of any agreement. All that is gone. The only section included from Nehemiah is the story of the law-reading, and with that, Ezra s role ends. The book finishes with the completion of the reading and the people going forth in great rejoicing because they were inspired by the words that they had been taught. 13 One then must ask: If the covenant renewal ceremony is the climax of Ezra Nehemiah, as often claimed, 14 why would it have been omitted from 1 Esdras? One answer offered is that we may not have 1 Esdras s actual ending. 1 Esdras ends with and they were gathered together, a phrase possibly taken from Neh and possibly the beginning of the celebration of the Sukkot holiday. 15 If 1 Esdras was intending to continue with the rest of Nehemiah 8, however, then it would have begun as Neh does with a reference to the second day. Nehemiah 8.13 begins on the second day they gathered, a phrase not found in 1 Esdras. Van der Kooij shows that the ending of 1 Esdras is likely the original ending. Instead of adopting a reading similar to that of nrsv ( because they were inspired by the words which they had been taught. And they came together ), he translates the passage thus: Then they all went their way, to eat and drink and enjoy themselves, and to give portions to those who had none, and to make great rejoicing; both because they were inspired by the words which they had been taught and because they had been brought together (1 Esd , my italics). This is one intelligible sentence, with the conjunction kai meaning both and. 12. For a discussion of a possible reason for omitting Nehemiah, see Wright, Remember Nehemiah. 13. Or because they thoroughly understood the words (Zipora Talshir, 1 Esdras: A Text Critical Commentary (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2001). 14. E.g., Duggan, The Covenant Renewal in Ezra Nehemiah. 15. Arie van der Kooij, On the Ending of the Book of 1 Esdras, in VII Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies: Leuven, 1989 (ed. C.E. Cox; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991), pp ; H.G.M. Williamson, 1 Esdras, in Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible (ed. James D. Dunn and John W. Rogerson; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), pp See also Honigman, Cyclical Time and Catalogues ; and Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, The Chronicler and the Composition of 1 Esdras, CBQ 48 (1986), pp

8 Fried The Law Triumphant 137 If the present ending is the original ending of 1 Esdras, then one must ask why the covenant renewal ceremony is omitted. It is not enough to argue for the damnatio memoriae of Nehemiah, since Nehemiah s title could have easily been substituted for his name (Neh [et 10.2]), as it is in 1 Esd Rather, by ending with the law reading and not including the events of Nehemiah s governorship and not including the covenant renewal ceremony, 1 Esdras presents an entirely different picture of the restoration period from that presented in the canonical books. According to 1 Esdras, the people of Judah had been removed from their land because of sin, but now Ezra has brought the law, cleansed the people from the impurities of their mixed marriages through the mass divorce, and read the law in such way that the people now fully understand it. In 1 Esdras, the purified people rejoice because they have been inspired by the law. The picture is one of extreme optimism and relief. The world, or at least Judah and Jerusalem, has been set right, and as long as this course is kept, all will go well. There is no possibility of backsliding because the people have truly understood the law. The world is in a perfected state. This contrasts starkly with the ending of the present book of Nehemiah. It presents the law-reading directly before a long confessional prayer that declares how God s gracious acts have been met only with disobedience and rebellion (chap. 9). The people promise to keep the commandments (chap. 10). The fact that this promise needs to be safeguarded by a curse (Neh [et 29]) only confirms the people s frailty. This frailty is reified in Nehemiah 13. Nehemiah had left Jerusalem, returning a few years later only to find that these wonderful promises made by the people in Nehemiah 10 were all for naught. The promise to bring the tithe to the Levites (Neh [36]) was broken as soon as Nehemiah left the city (Neh ). The promise to keep the Sabbath, and not to buy grain or produce on the Sabbath (Neh [31]) was also broken as soon as Nehemiah went away (Neh ). To top it off, in spite of the mass divorce of the Judeans (Ezra 10) and in spite of their promise never to give their daughters to foreigners nor to take their daughters for their sons (Neh [30]), Nehemiah returns after his short absence only to find that indeed Judeans had married the women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab (Neh , 24). In contrast to the optimism and joy described in 1 Esdras, Ezra Nehemiah ends in failure, the grand promises all broken; the value of understanding the law has proven to be non-existent, their merriment only temporary. I suggest that this may be why 1 Esdras eliminated Nehemiah s memoir entirely and ends his story with the reading of the law. In 1 Esdras, the law-reading implies a perfected world under Torah law. In Nehemiah, reading the law has proved worthless. 16. Pace Wright, Remember Nehemiah.

9 138 Making a Difference 1 Esdras s law-reading is preceded by the mass separation from foreign wives. In canonical Ezra Nehemiah, the mass divorce is followed not by the law-reading but by the story of Nehemiah s wall. The divorce and lawreading are separated by a good eight chapters. 17 By directly preceding the law-reading by the divorce, 1 Esdras highlights the holiness of the law since the entire community who hears the law is bound by it. Passive observers, those not under the strict command of the Mosaic covenant, are excluded from even listening to it. 1 Esdras then ends with the law-reading, with no hint of backsliding. If the text of 1 Esdras had originally begun with Josiah s finding the law in the temple, then the story of Ezra reading the law to the assembled people provides a nice conclusion. 17. For a suggestion as to the reason behind this strange ordering of chapters in Ezra Nehemiah, see Lisbeth S. Fried, Who Wrote Ezra Nehemiah and Why Did They?, in Unity and Disunity in Ezra Nehemiah: Redaction, Rhetoric, and Reader (ed. M.J. Boda and P.L. Redditt; Hebrew Bible Monographs, 17; Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2008), pp

RBL 02/2009 Boda, Mark J., and Paul L. Redditt, eds. Hebrew Bible Monographs 17. Andrew E. Steinmann Concordia University River Forest, Illinois

RBL 02/2009 Boda, Mark J., and Paul L. Redditt, eds. Unity and Disunity in Ezra-Nehemiah: Redaction, Rhetoric, and Reader Hebrew Bible Monographs 17 Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix, 2008. Pp. x + 384. Hardcover.