Die Esra-Apokalypse

The apocalypse of Ezra was written as response to the desperate situation of the Jewish people after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem (70 AD) around 100 AD. The writer projected the story to the Babylonian exile in the year 597 BC and thus demonstrated that distress and burden are universal for all mankind. The experience of the suffering of the righteous raises the question why a good God permits evil in the world. In his despair, the protagonist addresses God in a daring way, looking for understanding. He seeks answers why God acts apparently unjustly towards his people. In three episodes he debates this problem with an angel who was sent by God. The four following episodes are arranged as visions, in which the events before the eschatological judgment are revealed. Rise and decline of the last kingdoms are foreshadowed, the coming of the Messiah prophesied, and eventually it is promised that the righteous will be saved on account of his faith and his trust in the almighty God.