Edward J. Eyre, 

 British explorer 



EYRE 



Eyre, EDWARD JOHN (1815- 

 1901). British explorer and colo- 

 nial governor. Born at Hornsea, 

 Yorkshire, 

 Aug. 5, 1815, 

 he emigrated 

 to Australia in 

 1833, and car- 

 ried out valu- 

 able explora- 

 t i o n s of un- 

 it no wn terri- 

 tory, especially 

 of the coast 

 between Ade- 

 laide and King George Sound, in 

 1 841 . He went to New Zealand as 

 governor in 1846, to St. Vincent, 

 1854, and to Jamaica, 1861. His 

 stern handling of the negro rising 

 there in 1865 caused his recall to 

 England, where his action roused 

 wide controversy. In 1872 the 

 government repaid the legal ex- 

 penses which he had in self-defence 

 incurred, and awarded him a pen- 

 sion in 1874. He died Nov. 30, 

 1901. 



Eyre, SIR JAMES (1734-99). 

 English lawyer. Born at Wells, he 

 was the son of a clergyman. From 

 Winchester he went to S. John's 

 College, Oxford, and became a 

 barrister. He was counsel for the 

 defence of John Wilkes in 1763. 

 From his post as recorder of 

 London he was promoted in 1772 

 to be a judge ; in 1787 he became 

 chief baron of the exchequer and 

 in 1793 chief justice of the court of 

 common pleas. He remained at the 

 common pleas until his death, 

 July 1, 1799, having been for a 

 few months commissioner of the 

 great seal when there was no lord 

 chancellor, and having presided at 

 the trial of Home Tooke. 



Eyre, SIR VINCENT (1811-81). 

 British soldier. The son of a soldier, 

 he was born Jan. 22, 1811, and 

 educated at Norwich Grammar 

 School. He joined the service of the 

 E. India Co. hi 1828 and, in the 

 artillery, was with the force that 

 entered Afghanistan in 1840 ; after 

 the siege of Cabul by the Afghans 

 he and his family were surrendered 

 to them as hostages. In 1843 they 

 were rescued by a relieving force, 

 after which Eyre commanded the 

 artillery at Gwalior. During the 

 Mutiny he distinguished himself by 

 his prompt action in marching 

 against some rebels at Arrah and 

 defeating them also at Jagdespur. 

 He held a command in the force 

 that relieved Lucknow, was recom- 

 mended for the V.C., and retired as 

 a major-general in 1863. During 

 the Franco-Prussian War he orga- 

 nized an ambulance service. He 

 died at Aix-les-Bains, Sept. 22, 

 1881. Eyre wrote an account of his 

 imprisonment in Afghanistan. 



3O58 



Eyre's Peninsula. Tract of 

 land in S. Australia. It lies be- 

 tween the Great Australian Bight 

 and Spencer Gulf, an area of sand, 

 scrub, and salt marsh. Port Lin- 

 coln, near its apex, exports wheat. 



Ezekiel, BOOK or. One of the 

 prophetic books of the O.T. Eze- 

 kiel was both priest and prophet. 

 He was one of the priests of Jeru- 

 salem, who, with King Jehoiachim 

 and other members of the upper 

 classes, were deported to Baby- 

 lonia in 597 B.C. by Nebuchad- 

 nezzar (605-562 E.G.). The exiles 

 were settled at different points, 

 Ezekiel becoming a member of the 

 community at Tel-abib, near the 

 river Chebar, which has been iden- 

 tified with the grand canal in the 

 neighbourhood of Nippur. We are 

 told that the prophet received his 

 call in the fifth year of the reign of 

 Jehoiachim (592 B.C.). 



The book falls into five divisions : 

 (a) the prophet's call and consecra- 

 tion, Ezek. i, 1-iii, 15 ; (b) dis- 

 courses on the imminent destruc- 

 tion of Jerusalem, Ezek. iii, 16- 

 xxiv, 27 ; (c) oracles against Am- 

 mon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, 

 Sidon, and Egypt, Ezek. xxv- 

 xxxii ; (d) prophecies of the re- 

 storation of Israel and the over- 

 throw of her foes, Ezek. xxxiii- 

 xxxix; (e) vision of a restored theo- 

 cracy of a united Israel, Ezek. xl.- 

 xlviii. The book itself assigns defin- 

 ite dates to many of the prophecies, 

 the latest mentioned being about 

 570 B.C. On one occasion the pro- 

 phet admits that a prediction had 

 not been fulfilled. In Ezek. xxvi, 

 7-14, Nebuchadnezzar is expected 

 to capture Tyre. Tyre, however, 

 did not fall, and in Ezek. xxix, 

 17-21, Nebuchadnezzar is prom- 

 ised Egypt as a recompense. 



The authorship and integrity of 

 the book of Ezekiel present no 

 difficulty. The difficulties are 

 associated with the Hebrew text, 

 often obscure and corrupt. As the 

 author was a priest, it is not sur- 

 prising to find that he lays more 

 stress than the other great pro- 

 phets on externalities, rites, and 

 ceremonies. We find points of 

 affinity with the priestly phrase- 

 ology of the later legislation, which 

 has been called the Code of Holi- 

 ness ( Lev. xvii-xxvi). But due 

 emphasis is laid also upon personal 

 responsibility and personal re- 

 ligion. He has been described even 

 as "pastor rather than prophet." 



Ezekiel' s visions of the chariot 

 and cherubim (Ezek. i, 1 iii, 15) 

 had considerable influence on the 

 later symbolical literature. They 

 have been interpreted (e.g., by the 

 Rabbis) as a synopsis of theo- 

 sophy. The vision of the valley of 

 dry bones in Ezekiel xxxvii has 



become famous. In Ezekiel xxxviii 

 and xxxix occur the curious crea- 

 tions Gog and Magog. Gog, per- 

 haps suggested by Gyges, king of 

 Lydia, is a prince from the land of 

 Magog, who leads a great host 

 of nations against the restored 

 Israel, and is defeated ignomini- 

 ously. In the later Jewish eschat- 

 ology Gog and Magog are repre- 

 sented as leading in vain the final 

 attack of the powers of the world 

 upon the Kingdom of God. 



Bibliography. Introd. to the Lit- 

 erature of the O.T., S. R. Driver, 8th 

 ed. 1909 ; The Books of the O.T., O. 

 C.Whitehouse, 1910 ; Critical Introd. 

 to the O.T., G. B. Gray, 1913 ; Lit. 

 of the O.T., G. F. Moore, 1914. 



Ezra, BOOK OF. Book of the O.T. 

 Ezra was a Jewish scribe living in 

 exile in Babylon, under Artax- 

 erxes Longimanus. He is said to 

 have belonged to the priestly line, 

 and to have been a descendant 

 of Seraiah, the high priest when 

 Jerusalem was captured by Nebu- 

 chadnezzar. About 458 B.C. he was 

 allowed to return to Jerusalem 

 with about 1,500 men, in addi- 

 tion to women and children. There 

 he found that the remaining Jews 

 had intermarried with heathen 

 women, and great laxity pre- 

 vailed, and he set out to restore 

 worship and order. He started the 

 rebuilding of the Temple, and re- 

 stored the text of the Jewish law. 



The O.T. Book of Ezra is closely 

 related to the Book of Nehemiah, 

 so closely indeed that, asthe Talmud 

 and early Christian writers indi- 

 cate, they form really one work. 

 Closely related to them are the 

 Books of Chronicles, of which Ezra 

 and Nehemiah are a continuation. 

 The, three- fold work, Chronicles- 

 Ezra-Nehemiah, covers the history 

 of Israel from the period of Adam 

 to the second visit of Nehemiah to 

 Jerusalem in 432 B.C. ; but the 

 history is viewed from a differ- 

 ent standpoint from that of the 

 other O.T. books from Genesis to 

 Kings, namely an ecclesiastical and 

 priestly standpoint. 



Ezra Nehemiah ( which together 

 appear in the Septuagint as II 

 Esdras) includes the history from 

 538 B.C., when Cyrus issued a de- 

 cree permitting Jewish exiles to 

 return, to 432 B.O., when Nehemiah 

 made his second visit to Jerusalem. 

 The Ezra portion records the re- 

 turn of the exiles, the rebuilding of 

 the temple, and the mission of Ezra, 

 who was sent as royal commissioner 

 from Babylonia to Jerusalem by 

 Artaxerxes. Part of the book is 

 written in Aramaic (iv, 8-vi, 18, 

 and vii, 12-26). Ezra-Nehemiah 

 seems to have been compiled from 

 various sources, including the 

 Memoirs of Ezra and Nehemiah, 

 between about 300 and 250 B.C. 



