Ezra,

3 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Ezra
       n 1: a Jewish priest and scribe sent by the Persian king to
            restore Jewish law and worship in Jerusalem
       2: an Old Testament book telling of a rabbi's efforts in the
          5th century BC to reconstitute Jewish law and worship in
          Jerusalem after the Babylonian Captivity [syn: {Book of


          Ezra}]

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Ezra
     help. (1.) A priest among those that returned to Jerusalem under
     Zerubabel (Neh. 12:1).
     
       (2.) The "scribe" who led the second body of exiles that
     returned from Babylon to Jerusalem B.C. 459, and author of the
     book of Scripture which bears his name. He was the son, or
     perhaps grandson, of Seraiah (2 Kings 25:18-21), and a lineal
     descendant of Phinehas, the son of Aaron (Ezra 7:1-5). All we
     know of his personal history is contained in the last four
     chapters of his book, and in Neh. 8 and 12:26.
     
       In the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus (see
     {DARIUS}), he obtained leave to go up to Jerusalem and
     to take with him a company of Israelites (Ezra 8). Artaxerxes
     manifested great interest in Ezra's undertaking, granting him
     "all his request," and loading him with gifts for the house of
     God. Ezra assembled the band of exiles, probably about 5,000 in
     all, who were prepared to go up with him to Jerusalem, on the
     banks of the Ahava, where they rested for three days, and were
     put into order for their march across the desert, which was
     completed in four months. His proceedings at Jerusalem on his
     arrival there are recorded in his book.
     
       He was "a ready scribe in the law of Moses," who "had prepared
     his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, and to teach
     in Israel statutes and judgments." "He is," says Professor
     Binnie, "the first well-defined example of an order of men who
     have never since ceased in the church; men of sacred erudition,
     who devote their lives to the study of the Holy Scriptures, in
     order that they may be in a condition to interpret them for the
     instruction and edification of the church. It is significant
     that the earliest mention of the pulpit occurs in the history of
     Ezra's ministry (Neh. 8:4). He was much more of a teacher than a
     priest. We learn from the account of his labours in the book of
     Nehemiah that he was careful to have the whole people instructed
     in the law of Moses; and there is no reason to reject the
     constant tradition of the Jews which connects his name with the
     collecting and editing of the Old Testament canon. The final
     completion of the canon may have been, and probably was, the
     work of a later generation; but Ezra seems to have put it much
     into the shape in which it is still found in the Hebrew Bible.
     When it is added that the complete organization of the synagogue
     dates from this period, it will be seen that the age was
     emphatically one of Biblical study" (The Psalms: their History,
     etc.).
     
       For about fourteen years, i.e., till B.C. 445, we have no
     record of what went on in Jerusalem after Ezra had set in order
     the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the nation. In that year
     another distinguished personage, Nehemiah, appears on the scene.
     After the ruined wall of the city had been built by Nehemiah,
     there was a great gathering of the people at Jerusalem
     preparatory to the dedication of the wall. On the appointed day
     the whole population assembled, and the law was read aloud to
     them by Ezra and his assistants (Neh. 8:3). The remarkable scene
     is described in detail. There was a great religious awakening.
     For successive days they held solemn assemblies, confessing
     their sins and offering up solemn sacrifices. They kept also the
     feast of Tabernacles with great solemnity and joyous enthusiasm,
     and then renewed their national covenant to be the Lord's.
     Abuses were rectified, and arrangements for the temple service
     completed, and now nothing remained but the dedication of the
     walls of the city (Neh. 12).
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Ezra, help; court