1 Esdras 3:1-5:6 (OSB 1 Ezra); 1 Corinthians 13; Proverbs 31; Psalm 119 [118]:160; Matthew 19:5; Matthew 24:35
Tucked into the historical books of the Orthodox Old Testament (which is based on the Septuagint, or Old Greek version) is the composite book of 1 Esdras (as it is known in the Greek tradition), also called 1 Ezra (Orthodox Study Bible), 3 Ezra (Roman Catholic tradition) and 2 Ezra (Slavonic tradition). It has been used by the Church since the very beginning, though much of it is a summary or repetition of material in 2 Chronicles, joined to sections of the books known as Ezra (or 2 Ezra in the OSB) and Nehemiah. Ezra and Nehemiah were and are part of the holy corpus for the Jewish people, and their accounting is a tradition followed by Protestants. However, 1 Esdras is not well known, since it fell out of favor among the Jewish people, and is not read routinely by Roman Catholics (though it was included in an appendix by Pope Clement VIII in the sixteenth century). But fathers from the East and West knew it well, referred to it, and even quoted it.
In the midst of its retold stories of 2 Chronicles, Ezra (OSB 2 Ezra), and Nehemiah, this book includes a unique and memorable episode (1 Esdras 3:1-5:6), which establishes the fame of Zerubbabel, the governor under whom many exiles returned to the Holy Land, during the early sixth century BC, in a first wave, in order to rebuild the Temple. For Christians, Zerubbabel is important, as his name is found in both the genealogies of Matthew and Luke as an ancestor of Jesus. Just as Zerubbabel rebuilt the altar and Temple of the LORD, so Jesus would present his own body as the Temple, and gather the faithful to become the new Temple of God. The episode in our OT book is framed as a a court tale that reminds us of the initial stories of Daniel, and is attached to King Darius, also known from the book of Daniel. In it, three bodyguards of the king set up a contest in order to win the king’s favor—a contest of wisdom. The king has had a great feast, and has retired, setting the scene for the three young men to act. They decide together that each of them will write down on a slip of paper, placed under the king’s pillow, what they consider to be the strongest thing in the world. After the king awakens, each of them will defend their choice, and the king will give great rewards to the winner, including calling him the friend of the king, and making him second in power in the kingdom. The first man submits his answer as “wine,” the second chooses the king himself, and the third chooses women, but adds that truth actually conquers all.
Of course, the plot thickens when the king awakens and asks the three to clarify their answers. All three are eloquent, using rhetoric and high-flying language to make their point, with the first pointing out the obvious— that wine can break down the defenses of any many—and the second flattering the king with regards to his high status and power to compel obedience. But it is the third who commands our attention. He points out that without women there would be no men to make wine, nor men to be kings. In general, “men cannot exist without women…. You should realize that women rule over you!” As evidence, he riffs off Genesis 2:24, (“Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife”), asserting that a man’s affection for a woman is even greater than family loyalty. The third bodyguard’s argument is more general than the praise of a good wife in Proverbs 31, for it also speaks about female power rather than simply the virtue of a good woman. Turning to the dark side of romantic relations, he reminds his hearers of the evil and sin that has been done because a man loves or heeds a woman. As a final daring ploy, he reminds those listening of the link between King Darius and his beloved concubine, who even had the audacity to tease the king by removing his crown in public, and putting it on her own head.
As all those who are gathered look at each other, in silent commentary of his argument, the third bodyguard, whom we now learn is called Zerubbabel, begins his discourse on truth, which is actually a discourse on the God of truth, whose “truth is great and stronger than all things.” Wine, he says, can be unrighteous, as can a king, and as can a woman, but “the truth abides and is strong forever.” Zerubbabel’s commendation of truth reminds us of St. Paul’s hymn to Love in 1 Corinthians 13 (that is, the love known as agape, or charity): all things will pass away, but faith, hope and love remain forever. As does truth! As Zerubbabel declares, “For strength, dominion, authority, and majesty belong to it unto all ages, and blessed be the God of truth.”
At this, the entire assembly agrees with the Zerubbabel, crying out, “Great is the truth, for it is the strongest!” The king, encouraging the young man to ask what he desires, is pleased to remember his promise that the Judean exiles may return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. This the King organizes, putting Zerubbabel in charge of the return, and Zerubbabel closes off the section with a hymn of thanksgiving to God, followed by a great feast of singing and dancing before the exiles actually return.
There is a whimsical quality to this tale, with the three agreeing among themselves what the king will do for the one who wins the contest (how can they be sure that the king will do this?), with the king listening without anger to words about himself and his concubine that might seem demeaning, and finally with the king granting Zerubbabel a status that will benefit all the Jewish exiles. It has a similar shape to the contest of the wise men regarding the interpretation of the king’s dream in Daniel, or to the victory of the children in the furnace or Daniel himself with the lions. Yet, there is no real danger or stakes here for Zerubbabel, who does not risk death, fire, or lions. Rather, the contest serves as a way of introducing the one who will be the first governor of the returned exiles, and also as a way of comparing various human “goods” so that the reader can be made wise.
Wine, royalty, and women are all a part of everyday life, and have their separate charms—especially the section on women seems to win some Biblical support through God’s prescription that a man should cleave to his wife, or the chapter in Proverbs that exalts a good wife. Indeed, in many of our Readable Books, we have seen our fair share of domestic bliss, female power, and the use of female imagery for good things such as wisdom—Susanna’s rescue, Judith’s victory, the divinely designed marriage of Tobias to Sarah, the fortitude of Solomonia while her sons were martyred, the figures of Wisdom in Baruch, Wisdom of Solomon, and Sirach, and so on. Among all the sections of the Bible, the Readable Books account most strongly, it would seem, for the place of women in society and among God’s people. There is, we could say, a recognition of the domestic aspect of life, and its importance in the walk of faith. Though women may not have formal titles like prophets, priests, and kings, these books (and especially the speech of Zerubbabel) remind us, the readers, that there has been and will continue to be a strong influence on society coming from its women. God’s own words in Genesis regarding a man’s cleaving to his wife are approvingly quoted by Jesus (Matthew 24:35), and show how the marriage bond is even greater, in God’s eyes, than the family bond. St. Paul extends this when in Ephesians 5 he insists that a husband should be willing even to give his life for his wife.
Yet there is also a sobriety in Zerubbabel’s argument—women are praised, but he also recognizes the sin and disruption that can occur because of their influence when it is not sound. The courtier does not have to mention the Biblical record concerning Eve, David’s desire for Bathsheba, Solomon’s many wives, Jezebel, and so on: we know these stories all too well. Along with godly mothers and wives are also the faithless, and the mistresses, and the seductresses. The Readable Books in general, and this young bodyguard, do not fall prey to sentimentality in their regard for women, but leave the highest place for something more exalted—truth.
Zerubbabel’s words concerning truth being eternal prefigure those of Jesus, when He assured us, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Mat 19:5). It is indeed this teaching concerning truth (3:12; 4:34-40) that is mostly quoted by church fathers such as Clement of Alexandria (Stromata 1.21), Origen, Cyprian, Eusebius, Athanasius, Ambrose, Ephrem the Syrian, John Chrysostom, John of Damascus, and in the West, Augustine (City of God 18:36). (For more detail on these citations, see David deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha, 2002, 295; J. M. Myers I and II Esdras, 1974, 17-18). For Christians, of course, any discourse concerning the supremacy of God’s truth is congenial, for it is we who worship the One who called Himself “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and who taught us the full meaning of Psalm 119 [118]:160— “God’s word is truth and all His righteous judgments are eternal.“
Just as Daniel, who as a youth could discern who was lying when Susanna was slandered, and then became a great prophet to whom God gave much insight and wisdom, so here the young Zerubbabel shows his aptitude to become a wise leader. Part of his wisdom is his willingness to enter the “game” with his two other friends, showing them the unexpected power of women over wine and even the king: he is willing to consider the ordinary elements of life and the part that these play in our desire to be faithful. But he also goes beyond the wager, and speaks about the sublime or divine power of God’s truth. In doing so he both commends the domestic life, and also leads us to gaze beyond it to a world that often remains unseen or unnoticed—the world of righteousness, faithfulness, and truth.
Zerubabbel’s double discourse reminds me of why I love the Readable Books in general—they do not leave behind our ordinary lives, but show us the importance and the beauty of the various elements within them. There is a “homey” quality to these books that assures us that in all our ordinariness, we are part of this large story that God is telling. The Readables are “at home” in our world, and so underscore the words of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, of blessed memory, that God uses the things of this world sacramentally to point us to what is beyond (For the Life of the World). All the stories of the “ordinary” heroes in these books do likewise—they are fascinating in their own right, but point us beyond themselves, through what we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch, to God’s world, into which He beckons us. Our thankfulness for wine used in moderation, for pious human leaders, for our godly and loving spouses, when these things are offered to God, takes us even beyond these good things to eventual intimacy with Him. I am reminded of the nineteenth century hymn by Pierpoint, who tallies up all the things for which we give God praise:
For the beauty of the earth, for the beauty of the skies,
For the Love which from our birth over and around us lies:
Christ, our God, to Thee we raise this our Sacrifice of Praise.
For the joy of human love— brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above; For all gentle thoughts and mild:
Christ, our God, to Thee we raise this our Sacrifice of Praise.
For each perfect Gift of Thine to our race so freely given,
Graces human and Divine, flowers of earth, and buds of Heaven:
Christ, our God, to Thee we raise this our Sacrifice of Praise.
For Thy Martyrs’ crown of light, for Thy Prophets’ eagle eye,
For Thy bold Confessors’ might, for the lips of Infancy:
Christ, our God, to Thee we raise this our Sacrifice of Praise.
For Thy Virgins’ robes of snow, for Thy Maiden Mother mild,
For Thyself, with hearts aglow, Jesu, Victim undefiled,
Offer we at Thine own Shrine Thyself, sweet sacrament divine.
“Flowers of earth, and buds of heaven!” Zerubbabel pleaded for the strength of women, but then pointed beyond this arena to God’s very truth. Even in exile, he knew that God has placed us in this world, in homes, in a domestic situation; at the same time his words call us to see and participate in God’s truth, moving beyond the domestic, and sometimes by means of these small things, to those graces that are divine!
Edith M. Humphrey 