A very good reason why Ezra the scribe was not listed amongst the famous men in the Book of Sirach

 

 

by

 Damien F. Mackey

 

  

In short, the reason why the renowned priest and scribe Ezra (qua Ezra) is missing, seemingly inexplicably, from the list of “illustrious men” in Sirach 44-50, is because Ezra was the author of the book.

At least, that can be concluded from the following argument of mine, identifying Ezra as the book’s author, Jesus ben Sira.

Sirach 51:1, 2, 4:

“I will give thanks to you, Lord and King … for you have been protector and support to me, and redeemed my body from destruction … from the stifling heat which hemmed me in, from the heart of a fire which I had not kindled …”.

 

Saved “from the heart of a fire”, “hemmed in” by its “stifling heat”.

Could Sirach’s be a graphic description by one who had actually stood in the heart of the raging fire? - had stood inside “the burning fiery furnace” of King Nebuchednezzar? (Daniel 3:20)

 

Another translation (GNT) renders the vivid account of the Lord’s saving of the author of Sirach as follows (Sirach 51:3-5): “… from the glaring hatred of my enemies, who wanted to put an end to my life; from suffocation in oppressive smoke rising from fires that I did not light; from death itself; from vicious slander reported to the king”.

 

According to the far more dispassionate account of the same (so I think) incident as narrated in Daniel 3:49-50:

 

… the angel of the Lord came down into the furnace beside Azariah and his companions; he drove the flames of the fire outwards, and fanned into them, in the heart of the furnace, a coolness such as wind and dew will bring, so that the fire did not even touch them or cause them any pain or distress.

 

Note that both texts refer almost identically to “the heart of the [a] fire [the furnace]”.

 

Azariah – {who, unlike “his companions”, Hananiah and Mishael, is named here in Daniel} - I have recently identified as Ezra the scribe. “Ezra [is] a mostly obscure character throughout the Scriptures, despite his immense reputation and status …”. And also that: “… Azariah is always listed as the last of the trio (Daniel 1:6): “Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah”, variously as “Abednego” (cf. vv. 11, 19; 2:17, 49; 3:12-30), perhaps because he was the youngest …”.

 

To which comment, however, I had added, “… it is apparent that it is he [Azariah] who will take the leading part in the confession of guilt and the prayers”.

 

And that would make sense if Azariah were Ezra, for, as also noted in the article with reference to Ezra 7:1-5, “[Ezra was] … a priest in the line of Aaron, hence, potentially, the High Priest”.

 

So why might it be that the Daniel 3 text above names only “Azariah”, he perhaps being the youngest of the trio?

 

Well, if Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) chapter 51 has any relevance to the fiery furnace situation, if Sirach were Azariah-Ezra, then he himself appears to have been the one who had decided to appeal prayerfully to the Divine mercy for help and protection (vv. 6-12):

 

I was once brought face-to-face with death; enemies surrounded me everywhere. I looked for someone to help me, but there was no one there. But then, O Lord, I remembered how merciful you are and what you had done in times past.

I remembered that you rescue those who rely on you, that you save them from their enemies. Then from here on earth I prayed to you to rescue me from death. I prayed, O Lord, you are my Father; do not abandon me to my troubles when I am helpless against arrogant enemies. I will always praise you and sing hymns of thanksgiving. You answered my prayer, and saved me from the threat of destruction. And so I thank you and praise you.

O Lord, I praise you!

   

The three young Jewish men, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, had had no hope whatsoever of obtaining any human deliverance. But once again Azariah alone will be the one to proclaim this (“Then Azariah stood still and there in the fire he prayed aloud”) (Daniel 3:32-33):

 

‘You have delivered us into the power of our enemies, of a lawless people, the worst of the godless, of an unjust king, the worst in the whole world; today we dare not even open our mouths, shame and dishonour are the lot of those who serve and worship You’.

 

Might Sirach 51 be an echo of this terrifying situation, when Sirach prays to God,

 

“You have redeemed me

 

[v. 3] from the fangs of those who would devour me, from the hands of those seeking my life

…

[v. 6] From the unclean tongue and the lying word –

The perjured tongue slandering me to the king.

 

….

[v. 7] They were surrounding me on every side, there was no one to support me;

I looked for someone to help – in vain”.

 

Jesus “snatched from the fire”

 

The name “Ezra” is related to the name “Azariah”, apparently a shortened version of the latter.

 

The author of the Book of Sirach, “Yeshua [Jesus], son of Eleazar, son of Sira” (50:27), was none other than the high priest, Jesus [Joshua] son of Jehozadak, son of Seraiah:

Jeshua

“JESHUA (Heb. יְהוֹשֻׁעַ ,יְשׁוּע), high priest, son of Jehozadak (Jozadak; Ezra 3:2; 10:18) and a grandson of Seraiah the last high priest in the First Temple (I Chron. 5:40)”.

 

The name of Ezra’s ancestor, Seraiah (Ezra 7:1), “…  Ezra son of Seraiah …”, can easily be equated with Sira.

 

Ezra (Azariah), saved from the King’s fiery furnace, was none other than Jesus ben Sirach, who was the high priest of Zechariah 3:2: “Is not this man [Jesus] a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

 

Of course, any correlation between the young Azariah at the time of the Chaldean king Nebuchednezzar, and Jesus ben Sirach, estimated to have lived early in the Maccabean period, is quite unrealistic in terms of the over-extended conventional chronology.

 

My revision, though, may perhaps enable this to become possible, with the holy man living to as late as the wars of Judas Maccabeus.

 

While the Book of Daniel (chapter 3) will recount the story of the three young men in the burning fiery furnace in a somewhat objective and dispassionate fashion, presenting the three young heroes there as respectfully defiant before the Great King, Sirach, on the other hand, reads like a dramatic eye-witness window into the utter fearfulness and terror of the situation – a young man, who had actually experienced it, having been filled with the anxiety of expecting that he was about to lose his life in a most horrifying fashion.