2 Esdras chapter 2
[This chapter is in Orthodox Bibles] God’s judgment on Israel. The reward for the new Israel. Exhortation to good works. Ezra on Mount Horeb. Ezra sees the Son of God.
Note. The Book of Second Esdras is recognized as Deuterocanonical Scripture by the Orthodox Churches
GOD’S JUDGMENT ON ISRAEL
VERSE 1. The Lord says, “I brought this people out of bondage. I gave them my commandments by my servants the prophets, whom they would not listen to, but made my counsels void.
I gave them my commandments. The LORD God gave them the Law.
by my servants the prophets. The Laws are given through prophets.
VERSE 2. The mother who bore them says to them, ‘Go your way, my children, for I am a widow and forsaken.
The LORD God judges and rejects Israel as a mother rejects her children.
VERSE 3. I brought you up with gladness, and I have lost you with sorrow and heaviness, for you have sinned before the Lord God, and done that which is evil before me.
VERSE 4. But now what can I do for you? For I am a widow and forsaken. Go your way, my children, and ask for mercy from the Lord.’
For I am a widow and forsaken. Zion, speaking as Israel’s mother, is both widowed and forsaken.
Go your way, my children. Zion rejects her children.
VERSE 5. As for me, O father, I call upon you for a witness in addition to the mother of these children, because they would not keep my covenant,
O father. In this context, the father might be the LORD God. Or perhaps Ezra.
in addition to the mother. In this context, the mother is Zion.
Both are called for reject the “children.”
VERSE 6. that you may bring them to confusion, and their mother to ruin, that they may have no offspring.
VERSE 7. Let them be scattered abroad among the heathen. Let their names be blotted out of the earth, for they have despised my covenant.
Let them be scattered. This is an ultimate curse for disobedience (Lev 26.33).
Let their names be blotted out. They will be annihilated from human memory.
VERSE 8. Woe to you, Assur, you who hide the unrighteous with you! You wicked nation, remember what I did to Sodom and Gomorrah,
VERSE 9. whose land lies in lumps of pitch and heaps of ashes. That is what I will also do to those who have not listened to me,” says the Lord Almighty.
THE REWARD FOR THE NEW ISRAEL
VERSE 10. The Lord says to Esdras, “Tell my people that I will give them the kingdom of Jerusalem, which I would have given to Israel.
VERSE 11. I will also take their glory back to myself, and give these the everlasting tabernacles which I had prepared for them.
everlasting tabernacles. Righteous believers will be rewarded.
VERSE 12. They will have the tree of life for fragrant perfume. They will neither labor nor be weary.
the tree of life. Some people have thought the tree of life exuded a fragrance or oil, rather than fruit.
VERSE 13. Ask, and you will receive. Pray that your days may be few, that they may be shortened. The kingdom is already prepared for you. Watch!
Ask, and you will receive. We are to commanded to ask! Read more »
VERSE 14. Call heaven and earth to witness. Call them to witness, for I have left out evil, and created the good, for I live, says the Lord.
To choose the way of life means to learn from the Bible and act upon it. Blessings and wisdom will follow. As for you and your house, will you serve the LORD? Read more »
EXHORTATION TO GOOD WORKS
VERSE 15. “Mother, embrace your children. I will bring them out with gladness like a dove does. Establish their feet, for I have chosen you, says the Lord.
Mother. In this section the image of the mother is applied to the church.
VERSE 16. I will raise those who are dead up again from their places, and bring them out from their tombs, for I recognize my name in them.
This verse is speaking of resurrection.
VERSE 17. Don’t be afraid, you mother of children, for I have chosen you, says the Lord.
VERSE 18. For your help, I will send my servants Esaias and Jeremy, after whose counsel I have sanctified and prepared for you twelve trees laden with various fruits,
twelve trees. This is an image from paradise.
VERSE 19. and as many springs flowing with milk and honey, and seven mighty mountains, on which roses and lilies grow, with which I will fill your children with joy.
milk and honey. These are traditional symbols of fertility.
seven mighty mountains. These might allude to the mountains of paradise, which are mentioned in 1 Enoch 24–25.
VERSE 20. Do right to the widow. Secure justice for the fatherless. Give to the poor. Defend the orphan. Clothe the naked.
These requirements appear throughout the Bible.
VERSE 21. Heal the broken and the weak. Don’t laugh a lame man to scorn. Defend the maimed. Let the blind man have a vision of my glory.
These requirements appear throughout the Bible.
VERSE 22. Protect the old and young within your walls.
These requirements appear throughout the Bible.
VERSE 23. Wherever you find the dead, set a sign upon them and commit them to the grave, and I will give you the first place in my resurrection.
VERSE 24. Stay still, my people, and take your rest, for your rest will come.
These images of stillness and resting suggest Contemplative Prayer.
VERSE 25. Nourish your children, good nurse, and establish their feet.
VERSE 26. As for the servants whom I have given you, not one of them will perish, for I will require them from among your number.
VERSE 27. Don’t be anxious, for when the day of suffering and anguish comes, others will weep and be sorrowful, but you will rejoice and have abundance.
VERSE 28. The nations will envy you, but they will be able to do nothing against you, says the Lord.
VERSE 29. My hands will cover you, so that your children don’t see Gehenna.
Gehenna. Or Hell.
VERSE 30. Be joyful, mother, with your children, for I will deliver you, says the Lord.
VERSE 31. Remember your children who sleep, for I will bring them out of the secret places of the earth and show mercy to them, for I am merciful, says the Lord Almighty.
sleep. In this section, death.
I will bring them out. Resurrection.
VERSE 32. Embrace your children until I come, and proclaim mercy to them, for my wells run over, and my grace won’t fail.”
EZRA ON MOUNT HOREB
VERSE 33. I, Esdras, received a command from the Lord on Mount Horeb to go to Israel, but when I came to them, they rejected me and rejected the Lord’s commandment.
on Mount Horeb. Ezra is on Mount Horeb. That makes Ezra like Moses.
VERSE 34. Therefore I say to you, O nations that hear and understand, “Look for your shepherd. He will give you everlasting rest, for he is near at hand who will come at the end of the age.
Look for your shepherd. Our shepherd is the Lord Jesus Christ.
VERSE 35. Be ready for the rewards of the kingdom, for the everlasting light will shine on you forevermore.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the light that burns and gives light! Read more »
VERSE 36. Flee the shadow of this world, receive the joy of your glory. I call to witness my savior openly.
my savior. Our savior is the Lord Jesus Christ.
VERSE 37. Receive that which is given to you by the Lord, and be joyful, giving thanks to him who has called you to heavenly kingdoms.
VERSE 38. Arise and stand up, and see the number of those who have been sealed at the Lord’s feast.
VERSE 39. Those who withdrew themselves from the shadow of the world have received glorious garments from the Lord.
glorious garments. These are shining robes worn by the righteous at the end.
VERSE 40. Take again your full number, O Zion, and make up the reckoning of those of yours who are clothed in white, which have fulfilled the law of the Lord.
your full number. The total number of righteous people is known.
VERSE 41. The number of your children, whom you long for, is fulfilled. Ask the power of the Lord, that your people, which have been called from the beginning, may be made holy.”
EZRA SEES THE SON OF GOD
VERSE 42. I, Esdras, saw upon Mount Zion a great multitude, whom I could not number, and they all praised the Lord with songs.
VERSE 43. In the midst of them, there was a young man of a high stature, taller than all the rest, and upon every one of their heads he set crowns, and he was more exalted than they were. I marveled greatly at this.
he set crowns. For a similar description of the crowning, see the Shepherd of Hermas.
VERSE 44. So I asked the angel, and said, “What are these, my Lord?”
VERSE 45. He answered and said to me, “These are those who have put off the mortal clothing, and put on the immortal, and have confessed the name of God. Now are they crowned, and receive palms.”
they crowned, and receive palms. This might be a reference to martyrs.
VERSE 46. Then said I to the angel, “Who is the young man who sets crowns on them, and gives them palms in their hands?”
VERSE 47. So he answered and said to me, “He is the Son of God, whom they have confessed in the world.” Then I began to praise those who stood so valiently for the name of the Lord.
VERSE 48. Then the angel said to me, “Go your way, and tell my people what kind of things, and how great wonders of the Lord God you have seen.”
2 ESDRAS
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize, How Many People Will Be Saved
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