Глава 8

The purpose of the future age for the few (1–3). Ezra's perplexity about the cruel fate of man, who came out of the hands of the Creator Himself and is under the special protection of Providence (4–14) and, in particular, about the fate of the chosen people (15–19). Ezra's prayer for mercy for his native people (20–36). The naturalness of the death of sinners, illustrated by an example from the life of a farmer (37–46). Ezra's promise of blessedness in the age to come (47–55). The legality of punishing sinners in the presence of free will (56–62). Ezra's question about the time of the end (63). 3Ezra 8:1 He answered me and said: The Most High has created this age for many, but the next for few. 3 Ezra 8:2 I will tell you, Ezra, the likeness. Just as if you ask the earth, it will tell you that it produces a lot of substance from which clay things are made, and not a lot of dust, from which gold is made, so are the works of the present age. 3Ezra 8:3 Many have been created, but few will be saved. 3. Wed. Matthew XXII:14; XX:46. Gilgenfeld and Gausrath bring together the expression of the prophetic book of Ezra: “many are created, but few will be saved” with the words of the Savior: “many are called, but few are chosen.” The first of them assumes that the evangelist took this passage from the book of Ezra, the second allows for reverse borrowing. However, despite the similarity of individual words, there is too much difference between both books in the thoughts that are put into the given expressions. Pseudo-Ezra has in mind all of humanity created by God, and is amazed at the small number of those being saved. The Gospel compares the fate of the chosen people, who were the subject of the special favor of God, who called them into His Kingdom through the prophets, with the fate of the pagans, who were in worse conditions. Despite this, the pagans became members of the Church of Christ, and the people of God were rejected for their stiff-neckedness. 3Ezra 8:4 I answered and said, Soul! devour meaning and devour wisdom. 3Ezra 8:5 For you promised to listen, and were willing to prophesy, but you have been given time only to live. 5. The Vulgate text is damaged at this point, so its meaning is rather obscure. The author’s thought is conveyed most clearly in the Syriac text: “You do not come at will and leave when you do not want to. For you have not been given power except for a short time in your life.” Latin manuscripts give this passage as follows: “you came to obey (obaudire) and did not leave of your own free will, for you were given only a short time to live.” Gunkel explains the origin of the word obaudire, which does not fit well with the train of thought by the incorrect reading of the Greek word ' άκουσα (against the will, sine voluntate, Syr.), taken for the verb άκούσαι (to hear). 126. 3Ezra 8:6 O Lord! Will You not allow Your servant to pray before You for the gift of seed to our hearts and cultivation minds, so that fruit may arise by which every corrupted person who will bear the name of man can live? 3Ezra 8:7 Thou art one, and we are one creation of Thy hands, as Thou hast said. 3Ezra 8:8 And how is it now that a body is formed in the mother’s womb, and You give members, how is Your creation preserved in fire and water, and how does Your creation, which was created in it, endure within itself for nine months? 3Ezra 8:9 Both that which is preserved and that which is kept, both are preserved, and the mother’s womb in due time gives back that which has been preserved, that which has grown in it. 3Ezra 8:10 You commanded that from the members themselves, that is, from the breasts, milk should be given, the fruit of the breasts, 3Ezra 8:11 Let the created things be nourished for a while, and then hand them over to Your mercy. 3Ezra 8:12 You brought him up with Your righteousness, You taught him Your law, You instructed him with Your understanding, 3Ezra 8:13 And thou shalt put him to death, as thy workmanship, and thou shalt quicken him again, as thy work. 3Ezra 8:14 If You destroy what was created with such care, then it will be easy for Your commandment to arrange for what was created to be preserved. 14. Reading Latin manuscripts comes closer to further words. “If You easily, by Your command, destroy the one who was created with such labor by Your command, then why was he born?” 3Ezra 8:15 And now, Lord, I will say: You know better about every person; but I will speak about Your people, for whom I am sick, 3Ezra 8:16 for your inheritance, for which I shed tears, for Israel, for whom I grieve, for Jacob, for whom I grieve. 3Ezra 8:17 I will begin to pray before You for myself and for them, for I see the fall of us who dwell on earth. 3Ezra 8:18 But I have heard that the Judge will soon come. 3Ezra 8:19 Therefore hear my voice, heed my words, and I will speak before you. [The beginning of Ezra's words before he was taken.] 3Ezra 8:20 I said: Lord, who liveth forever, whose eyes are on high and heavenly things, 20. Ezra's prayer for the mercy of the people is placed among the hymns in the Vulgate and in the liturgical collections of the Catholic Church. In view of this, before it there is the heading “The beginning of the words of Ezra’s prayer before he was taken.” Its text has been preserved in two editions, short and lengthy. Gunkel favors the authenticity of the Spanish version (Codex Mazarinaeus). The rest make additions taken from liturgical collections. The manuscripts give the beginning of the prayer in this form: “The Lord who dwells in heaven (qui inhabitas seculum), whose eyes are high above, and whose upper room (superiora) is in the air.” The word "age" is used here in the sense of heaven (cf. III:18). Gunkel sees the source of the view that the Divinity is in heaven in Sabeanism. In Judaism, it had a purely spiritual meaning, pointing to the transcendence of the Divine and His inaccessibility to man. By the eyes of God we mean the stars. The word "superiors" represents a translation of the Greek ύπερωα (Hilgenfeld, Gunkel). This meaning is supported by the Armenian translation (coenacula). According to the author, the world is structured like a residential building. The earth with all its population constitutes its lower floor. The top, most honorable floor, embraces the heavenly space where God dwells. 3Ezra 8:21 Whose throne is priceless and whose glory is incomprehensible, Whose hosts of angels, serving in wind and fire, stand with trembling, Whose word is true and whose words are sure, 21. Wed. Eez I; Ps. CIII:4 to LXX; Hebrews I:7. 3Ezra 8:22 The command is strong and the government is terrible, whose gaze dries up the depths, whose wrath melts the mountains and the truth endures forever! 3Ezra 8:23 Hear the prayer of Your servant, and attend to the prayer of Your creation. 3Ezra 8:24 As long as I live I will speak, and as long as I understand I will answer. Do not look at the sins of Your people, but at those who serve You in truth; 3Ezra 8:25 Pay no attention to the wicked deeds of the pagans, but to those who have kept Your covenants in the midst of adversity; 3Ezra 8:26 Do not think about those who acted deceitfully before You, but remember those who, according to Your will, knew fear; 3Ezra 8:27 Do not destroy those who lived like beasts, but look to those who clearly taught Your law; 3Ezra 8:28 Do not be angry with those who are considered the worst of beasts; 3Ezra 8:29 But love those who always trust in Your righteousness and glory. 3Ezra 8:30 For we and our fathers suffer from such diseases; 30. “For we and our fathers lived in mortal manners” (mortalibus moribus egimus). Wed. VII:119; Heb VI:1. 3Ezra 8:31 But you, for our sinners’ sake, call yourself merciful. 3Ezra 8:32 If You wish to have mercy on us, You will call yourself merciful, because we have no works of righteousness. 3Ezra 8:33 But the righteous, from whom they have acquired many works, will receive reward according to their own works. 3Ezra 8:34 What is man, that you should be angry with him, and a corrupt generation, that you should be so grieved by him? 3Ezra 8:35 Truly, there is none who is born who does not act wickedly, and among those who confess You there is no one who does not sin. 3Ezra 8:36 In this way Your righteousness and Your goodness will be proclaimed, O Lord, when You have mercy on those who do not have the essence of good works. 32–36. The author comes into contact here with the teachings of the Ap. Paul (Rom III:21-31), according to which salvation is obtained only through the assistance of justifying grace. The fundamental difference between them is that Ezra allows for the possibility of righteousness that does not require the mercy of God for salvation. The righteous will be judged according to their own merits (v. 33). This indicates that righteousness is understood by the author in the sense of the formal fulfillment of the law. 3Ezra 8:37 He answered me and said, “You have said something rightly, and according to your words it will be so.” 37. Here of course is Ezra's prayer that God would focus His attention not on sinners, but on the righteous (vv. 24-29). 3Ezra 8:38 For truly I do not consider the deeds of those creatures who sinned before death, before judgment, before destruction; 3Ezra 8:39 But I delight in the exploits of the righteous, and remember how they wandered, how they saved themselves and tried to earn their reward. 38–39. “For I will indeed not think about what sinners have created for themselves, about death, condemnation or destruction, but I will rejoice in what the righteous have acquired for themselves, their departure, salvation and receipt of reward.” The departure of the righteous to another world is the subject of his cherished wishes (2 Cor 5:8), which is why it is placed here in first place among the blessings awaiting them in the future. 3Ez.8:40 As I have said, so it is. 3Ezra 8:41 Just as a farmer sows many seeds on the earth and plants many plants, but not all that is sown will be preserved over time, and not all that is planted will take root, so those who are sown in this age will not all be saved. 3Ezra 8:42 I answered and said, If I have found grace, I will speak. 3Ezra 8:43 Like the seed of a farmer, if it does not sprout, or does not receive Your rain in time, or is damaged by the abundance of rain, it perishes: 3Ezra 8:44 So is man, created by Your hands, and You are called his prototype, because You are like him, for whom You created everything and whom You likened to the seed of the farmer. 44. “But man who was created by Your hands and named in Your image, for he is likened (to You) for whose sake You created everything... and You likened him to the seed of the farmer.” The author finds it too humiliating for human dignity to compare it with grain thrown on arable land. 3Ezra 8:45 Do not be angry with us, but have mercy on Your people and have mercy on Your inheritance, and You are merciful to Your creation. 3Ezra 8:46 He answered me and said, The present is for the present, and the future for the future. 3Ezra 8:47 You lack much, so that you could love My creation more than Me, although I have often drawn near to you, but never to the unrighteous. 47. The further, the more insistently God emphasizes His love for people, which far exceeds ordinary human pity. The thought of this should calm Ezra's grief over the death of most people. In addition, God reveals to Ezra that he himself belongs to the righteous, and therefore must forget about sinners who deserve their fate, and think only about his own bliss. “You have often equated yourself with the wicked; let this never happen” (Syr). The printed text of the Vulgate speaks not of Ezra, but of God. 3Ezra 8:48 But even in this you are marvelous before the Most High, 3Ezra 8:49 that you humbled yourself, as became you, and did not judge yourself in such a way as to gain much glory among the righteous. 3Ezra 8:50 Many and sorrowful evils will come upon those who inhabit the world in the last time, because they walked in great pride. 3Ezra 8:51 But take care of yourself, and seek glory for those like you; 3Ezra 8:52 For paradise is opened to you, the tree of life is planted, the future is prepared, abundance is prepared, a city is built, rest is prepared, perfect goodness and perfect wisdom. 52. Rest is a common eschatological concept (Heb. III:18; IV:11), then we are not talking about goodness, but about good works (bonitas), preserved by the Most High, which will be shown to the righteous at judgment (cf. Eph. II:10). Ap speaks about wisdom, prepared from eternity for the glory of people (ante perfecta sapiential). Paul (1 Cor. II:7). 3Ezra 8:53 The root of evil is sealed from you, weakness and corruption are hidden from you, and corruption flees to hell and oblivion. 3Ezra 8:54 The illnesses passed, and at the end the treasure of immortality appeared. 3Ezra 8:55 Do not try to worry any more about the multitude of those who are perishing. 3Ezra 8:56 For they, having received freedom, despised the Most High, despised His law, and forsook His ways, 3Ezra 8:57 And they also trampled down His righteous, 3Ezra 8:58 And they said in their hearts, “There is no God,” although they knew that they were mortal. 58. Psalm. XIII:1; LI:2. 3Ezra 8:59 Just as the things that were said before await you, so also thirst and torment that are prepared for them. God did not want to destroy man 3Ezra 8:60 But they themselves who were created dishonored the name of Him who created them, and were ungrateful to Him who prepared life for them. 3Ezra 8:61 Therefore my judgment is now drawing near, 3Ezra 8:62 which I have not revealed to everyone, but only to you and a few like you. I answered and said: 3Ezra 8:63 Behold, now, Lord, You have shown me many signs that You will begin to perform at the end, but You have not shown me at what time.