Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest—
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Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest— this Ezra went up from Babylon. He was a skilled scribe in the law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given; and the king granted him all his request, according to Yahweh his God’s hand on him. Some of the children of Israel, including some of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God on him. For Ezra had set his heart to seek Yahweh’s law, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.
Parallel Translations
-
Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest—
-
Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest:
Show all 3 translations
-
Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest —
Cross-references (41)
- Nehemiah 2:1 (v1) In the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, I picked up the wine, and gave it to the king.…
- 1 Chronicles 6:4-14 (v1) Eleazar became the father of Phinehas, Phinehas became the father of Abishua, Abishua became the father of Bukki. Bukki became the father…
- 2 Kings 22:4 (v1) “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money which is brought into Yahweh’s house, which the keepers of the threshold…
- Ezra 6:14 (v1) The elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They built and…
- Ezra 7:12 (v1) Artaxerxes, king of kings, To Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the perfect God of heaven. Now
Show all 41 cross-references
- Ezra 7:21 (v1) I, even I Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers who are beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of…
- Exodus 6:25 (v5) Eleazar Aaron’s son took one of the daughters of Putiel as his wife; and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses…
- Leviticus 10:6 (v5) Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, “Don’t let the hair of your heads go loose, and don’t tear your clothes, so…
- Leviticus 10:12 (v5) Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons who were left, “Take the meal offering that remains of the offerings of…
- Leviticus 10:16 (v5) Moses diligently inquired about the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was burned. He was angry with Eleazar and with Ithamar, the…
- Numbers 3:32 (v5) Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be prince of the princes of the Levites, with the oversight of those who keep the requirements of…
- Numbers 20:25-28 (v5) Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron…
- Numbers 25:7-13 (v5) When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the middle of the congregation, and took a spear in…
- Numbers 27:2 (v5) They stood before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, at the door of the Tent of Meeting,…
- Numbers 31:6 (v5) Moses sent them, one thousand of every tribe, to the war with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the…
- Numbers 31:31 (v5) Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Numbers 31:54 (v5) Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Tent of Meeting for a…
- Joshua 14:1 (v5) These are the inheritances which the children of Israel took in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and…
- Joshua 22:13 (v5) The children of Israel sent to the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of…
- Joshua 22:31 (v5) Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, “Today we…
- Joshua 24:33 (v5) Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
- Judges 20:28 (v5) and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, “Shall I yet again go out to battle against the…
- 2 Samuel 8:17 (v2) Zadok the son of Ahitub and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar were priests, Seraiah was scribe,
- 1 Kings 2:35 (v2) The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.
- 2 Kings 22:8 (v1) Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the law in Yahweh’s house.” Hilkiah delivered the book to…
- 2 Kings 25:18 (v1) The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold;
- 1 Chronicles 6:4 (v5) Eleazar became the father of Phinehas, Phinehas became the father of Abishua,
- 1 Chronicles 6:50-52 (v5) These are the sons of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son, Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son, Meraioth…
- 1 Chronicles 9:11 (v1) and Azariah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of God’s house;
- 1 Chronicles 24:1-6 (v5) These were the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their…
- 2 Chronicles 19:11 (v5) Behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of Yahweh; and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, in…
- 2 Chronicles 26:20 (v5) Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out quickly…
- 2 Chronicles 34:9 (v1) They came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into God’s house, which the Levites, the keepers of the…
- 2 Chronicles 34:15 (v1) Hilkiah answered Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the book of the law in Yahweh’s house.” So Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.
- Ezra 7:10 (v1) For Ezra had set his heart to seek Yahweh’s law, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.
- Nehemiah 8:2-9 (v1) Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the…
- Nehemiah 11:11 (v1) Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of God’s house,
- Psalms 106:30-31 (v5) Then Phinehas stood up and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped. That was credited to him for righteousness, for all generations to…
- Jeremiah 52:24-27 (v1) The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold: and out of…
- Hebrews 5:4 (v5) Nobody takes this honor on himself, but he is called by God, just like Aaron was.
- Ezra 8:1-10 (v1) Now these are the heads of their fathers’ households, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (23 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 5 The Hebrews write, that divers of the kings of…
The Hebrews write, that divers of the kings of Persia were called by this name, as Pharaoh was a common name to the kings of Egypt, and Caesar to the Emperors Roman.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–5 Ezr 7:1 Now after these things, in the reign…
Ezr 7:1 Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
Ver. 1. Now after these things] After that Zerubbabel had done his part in building the altar and temple, Ezra (according to the notation of his name) began his, and became a singular helper of the afflicted Church of God, as appeareth in this chapter, and those that follow.
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In the reign of Arlaxerxes] sc. Longimanus, Esther’s son, and the same that thirteen years after sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem, Neh 2:1; Neh 2:11, while Ezra was yet alive, Neh 8:1.
Ezra the son of Seraiah] That is, the grandson: for Seraiah was slain when Jerusalem was last taken, 2Ki 25:18; 2Ki 25:21.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v1 Artaxerxes; the same of whom he speaks Ezr 6:14.…
Artaxerxes; the same of whom he speaks Ezr 6:14. The son of Seraiah, i.e. his grandson. Here are divers persons omitted for brevity sake, which may be supplied out of 1Ch 6; 1Ch 7; 1Ch 8; 1Ch 9.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Here is, I. Ezra's pedigree. He was one of…
Here is, I. Ezra's pedigree. He was one of the sons of Aaron, a priest. Him God chose to be an instrument of good to Israel, that he might put honour upon the priesthood, the glory of which had been much eclipsed by the captivity. He is said to be the son of Seraiah, that Seraiah, as is supposed, whom the king of Babylon put to death when he sacked Jerusalem, Kg2 25:18, Kg2 25:21. If we take the shortest computation, it was seventy-five years since Seraiah died; many reckon it much longer, and, because they suppose Ezra called out in the prime of his time to public service, do therefore think that Seraiah was not his immediate parent, but his grandfather or great-grandfather, but that he was the first eminent person that occurred in his genealogy upwards, which is carried up here as high as Aaron, yet leaving out many for brevity-sake, which may be supplied from Ch1 6:4, etc. He was a younger brother, or his father was Jozadak, the father of Jeshua, so that he was not high priest, but nearly allied to the high priest.
II. His character. Though of the younger house, his personal qualifications made him very eminent. 1. He was a man of great learning, a scribe, a ready scribe, in the law of Moses, Ezr 7:6. He was very much conversant with the scriptures, especially the writings of Moses, had the words ready and was well acquainted with the sense and meaning of them. It is to be feared that learning ran low among the Jews in Babylon; but Ezra was instrumental to revive it. The Jews say that he collected and collated all the copies of the law he could find out, and published an accurate edition of it, with all the prophetical books, historical and poetical, that were given by divine inspiration, and so made up the canon of the Old Testament, with the addition of the prophecies and histories of his own time. If he was raised up of God, and qualified and inclined to do this, all generations have reason to call him blessed, and to bless God for him. God sent to the Jews prophets and scribes, Mat 23:34. Ezra went under the latter denomination. Now that prophecy was about to cease it was time to promote scripture-knowledge, pursuant to the counsel of God by the last of the prophets, Mal 4:4. Remember the law of Moses. Gospel ministers are called scribes instructed to the kingdom of heaven (Mat 13:52), New Testament scribes. It was a pity that such a worthy name as this should be worn, as it was in the degenerate ages of the Jewish church, by men who were professed enemies to Christ and his gospel (Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees), who were learned in the letter of the law, but strangers to the spirit of it. 2. He was a man of great piety and holy zeal (Ezr 7:10): He had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, etc. (1.) That which he chose for his study was the law of the Lord. The Chaldeans, among whom he was born and bred, were famed for literature, especially the study of the stars, to which, being a studious man, we may suppose that Ezra was tempted to apply himself. But he got over the temptation; the law of his God was more to him than all the writings of their magicians and astrologers, which he knew enough of with good reason to despise them. (2.) He sought the law of the Lord, that is, he made it his business to enquire into it, searched the scriptures, and sought the knowledge of God, of his mind and will, in the scriptures, which is to be found there, but not without seeking. (3.) He made conscience of doing according to it; he set it before him as his rule, formed his sentiments and temper by it, and managed himself in his whole conversation according to it. This use we must make of our knowledge of the scriptures; for happy are we if we do what we know of the will of God. (4.) He set himself to teach Israel the statutes and judgments of that law. What he knew he was willing to communicate for the good of others; for the ministration of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. But observe the method: he first learned and then taught, sought the law of the Lord and so laid up a good treasure, and then instructed others and laid out what he had laid up. He also first did and then taught, practised the commandments himself and then directed others in the practice of them; thus his example confirmed his doctrine. (5.) He prepared his heart to do all this, or he fixed his heart. He took pains in his studies, and thoroughly furnished himself for what he designed, and then put on resolution to proceed and persevere in them, and thus he became a ready scribe. Moses in Egypt, Ezra in Babylon, and both in captivity, were wonderfully fitted for eminent services to the church.
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III. His expedition to Jerusalem for the good of his country: He went up from Babylon (Ezr 7:6), and, in four months' time, came to Jerusalem, Ezr 7:8. It was strange that such a man as he staid so long in Babylon after his brethren had gone up; but God sent him not thither till he had work for him to do there; and none went but those whose spirits God raised to go up. Some think that this Artaxerxes was the same with that Darius whose decree we had (ch. 6), and that Ezra came the very year after the temple was finished: that was the sixth year, this the seventh (v. 8), so Dr. Lightfoot. My worthy and learned friend, lately deceased, Mr. Talents, in his chronological tables, places it about fifty-seven years after the finishing of the temple; others further on. I have only to observe, 1. How kind the king was to him. He granted him all his request, whatever he desired to put him into a capacity to serve his country. 2. How kind his people were to him. When he went many more went with him, because they desired not to stay in Babylon when he had gone thence, and because they would venture to dwell in Jerusalem when he had gone thither. 3. How kind his God was to him. He obtained this favour from his king and country by the good hand of the Lord that was upon him, v. 6, 9. Note, Every creature is that to us which God makes it to be, and from him our judgment proceeds. As we must see the events that shall occur in the hand of God, so we must see the hand of God in the events that do occur, and acknowledge him with thankfulness when we have reason to call it his good hand.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On v1 Now after these things,.... The finishing of the temple,…
Now after these things,.... The finishing of the temple, and the dedication of it, and keeping the passover:
in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia; in the seventh year of his reign, Ezr 7:7, who is the same with Darius in the preceding chapter; so Jarchi and Aben Ezra; See Gill on Ezr 6:14.
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Ezra the son of Seraiah; the high priest slain by Nebuchadnezzar Jer 52:24, this Ezra was a younger son of his, brother to Josedech, and uncle to Joshua, who were high priests in succession; his pedigree is carried in the ascending line up to Aaron, in this and the four following verses; only six generations, for brevity sake, are omitted, between Azariah and Meraioth, which may be supplied from Ch1 6:7; see Gill on
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v1 An account of Ezra and his expedition to Jerusalem,…
An account of Ezra and his expedition to Jerusalem, ver. 1-10. The commission which Artaxerxes gave him, ver. 11-26. His thankfulness to God for it, ver. 27, 28.
Artaxerxes - The same of whom he speaks, chap. vi, 14. The son - His grand-son. Here are divers persons omitted for brevity sake, which may be supplied out of 1 Chron. vi, 1-xi, 47. Ezra was not himself the high priest; but he was nearly related to him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v1 In the seventh year of Artaxerxes, king of Persia,…
CHAPTER VII
In the seventh year of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra goes up
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to Jerusalem; and with him certain of the priests, Levites,
porters, and Nethinim: his character, 1-10.
The letter and decree of Artaxerxes in behalf of the Jews,
11-26.
Ezra's thanksgiving to God for these mercies, 27, 28.
NOTES ON CHAP. VII
Verse 1. In the reign of Artaxerxes] This was Artaxerxes Longimanus, the seventh of whose reign chronologers place A.M. 3547, sixty-eight years after Cyrus had sent back Zerubbabel. - Calmet. See the introduction.
Son of Seraiah] Either this could not have been Seraiah the high priest, who had been put to death by Nebuchadnezzar one hundred and twenty-one years before this time, or the term son here must signify only his descendants, or one of his descendants. Were it otherwise, Ezra must now be at least one hundred and twenty-two years of age, supposing him to have been born in the year of his father's death; if, indeed Seraiah the high priest was his father; but this is evidently impossible. In this place there are only sixteen generations reckoned between Ezra and Aaron, but in 1Ch 6:3; Ezra 6:4, c., there are not less than twenty-two. We must therefore supply the deficient generations from the above place, between Amariah son of Meraioth, 1Ch 6:7, and Azariah the son of Johanan, 1Ch 6:10. There are other discrepancies relative to genealogies in these historical books which it would be useless to investigate. On these differences much has been already said in different parts of this comment.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Ezr 7:1. In the reign of Artaxerxes — The…
Ezr 7:1. In the reign of Artaxerxes — The same of whom he speaks chap. Ezr 6:14. Ezra the son of Seraiah — Descended from him, but not immediately. For Seraiah, being high-priest when Jerusalem was taken was then slain by the Chaldeans, (2Ki 25:18; 2Ki 25:21,) at which time, it is likely, Ezra was not in being: but he was his grandson, or great-grand-son, and his descent is mentioned from him, because he was an eminent person, who flourished before the destruction of the temple, whereas Ezra’s father, if not also his grandfather, lived obscurely in captivity.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v1 After these things - The words mark an interval…
After these things - The words mark an interval of 57 years; if, with most commentators, we take Artaxerxes to be Longimanus. See the introduction to the Book of Ezra. Three kings named Artaxerxes, the Greek rendering of the Hebrew Artakhshasta, and the Persian Artakhshatra, ruled over Persia, namely,: Longimanus, Mnemon, and Ochus. The evidence is in favor of the first being meant here: he was the grandson of Darius Hystaspis, Jeshua’s contemporary.
The genealogy of Ezra here is incomplete. The time between the Exodus and Ezra must have exceeded one thousand years, and cannot have been covered by 16 generations. One gap may be filled up from 1Ch 6:7-10, which supplies six names between Meraioth and Azariah Ezr 7:3 : another gap probably occurs between Seraiah Ezr 7:1 and Ezra himself; since Seraiah appears to be the high priest of Zedekiah’s time (marginal reference), who lived at least 130 years before Ezra. Three or four names are probably missing in this place. Another name (Meraioth) may be supplied from 1Ch 9:11, between Zadok and Ahitub Ezr 7:2. These additions would produce 27 generations - a number nearly sufficient - instead of 16 generations.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 5 Things, sixty-eight years after the journey of Zorobabel. (Calmet)…
Things, sixty-eight years after the journey of Zorobabel. (Calmet) --- Salien adds ten years more. (Haydock) --- Artaxerxes Longimanus. (Menochius) (Tirinus) --- Son, or great grandson of Saraias, who had been slain 121 years. Esdras was still living, in the days of Nehemias. Many persons are omitted in this genealogy. The immediate descendants of Azarias may be found, 1 Paralipomenon vi. Similarity of names has occasioned many mistakes. 3 Esdras viii. reckons only eleven persons between Aaron and Esdras; and 4 Esdras i. has eighteen; whereas here we behold sixteen generations, and [in] 1 Paralipomenon, twenty-two. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 The Congregation as the People of the Lord. Negative…
PART SECOND
The Congregation as the People of the Lord. Negative Strengthening of their Life in the Law (Ezra’s Activity)
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Ezra 7-10
FIRST SECTION
Ezra’s Emigration to Jerusalem
Ezra 7-8
A.—EZRA’S JOURNEY AND PURPOSE, AND ARTAXERXES’ LETTER OF COMMISSION
Ezr_7:1-27
I. Ezra’s Journey and Purpose. Ezr_7:1-10
1Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, 2the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, 3the son of Ahitub, The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Ma 4rioth, The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, 5The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest: 6This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, accord ing to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. 7And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinim, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. 8And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 9For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. 10For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
II. Artaxerxes’ Letter of Commission
11Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord, and of his statutes to Israel. 12Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time. 13I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee. 14Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand; 15And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, 16And all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem: 17That thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat-offerings and their drink-offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. 18And whatsoever shall seem good to thee, and to thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God. 19The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem. 20And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king’s treasure-house. And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God 22of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily, Unto a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. 23Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? 24Also we certify you, that, touching any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethinim, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toil atribute, or custom, upon them. 25And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know them not. 26And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.
III. Ezra’s Thanksgiving
27Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem: And hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of my Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Our author has no scruples in simply leaping over a period of fully fifty-seven years, in the use of the loose connecting formula: And after these things (comp. Gen_15:1; Gen_22:1, etc.). Such gaps the ancient sacred history has again and again; it is silent respecting the time between Joseph and Moses, respecting the time passed by the generation rejected of God in the wilderness, respecting the time of the exile. There was lacking in these times useful material calculated for the edification of the congregation, so much the more then must this have failed in the time subsequent to the building of the temple, when the congregation of Jehovah had been excused from the task of giving their life a civil organization, and accordingly was referred to a quiet life, in which there could be no longer expected, as in former times, new and important manifestations of God. Nevertheless the new beginning of the congregation after the exile, which the book of Ezra would describe, had not been entirely completed by that which had already transpired. It is true the temple and its worship had been re-established by Zerubbabel and Jeshua, but the law was only thereby secured at the basis, an objective validity. With the new and holy zeal that inspired all, at the beginning, it was their earnest endeavor, as we can hardly doubt, to carry the law out likewise subjectively in the domestic and personal life, with more and more completeness and thoroughness. But the vicinity of the heathen, their dependence upon their superior authorities, the manifold intercourse with many of them, which could hardly be avoided, made the temptation easy to be brought into closer association with them, even to intermarry with them, and thereby there was necessarily involved a neglect of the law, especially in its prescription as to food and purity. Besides, the descendants of Zerubbabel, if we may refer Neh_5:15 to them, were not calculated to offer the congregation a higher support, they rather, in all probability, soon enough entirely withdrew. Thus notwithstanding the temple and its worship, that which was properly the principal thing, the life of the congregation in accordance with the law, yea the congregation itself as such, was soon again brought into question. The thorough subordination to the divine law, on the part of all, was now all the more necessary that it alone could hold the individuals together. What previously had been accomplished by the kingdom in Israel, must now be done by the law. It was necessary that the law, as never before, should be exalted on the throne. And only when a real strengthening of the life in the law had taken place could there be said to be such a new establishment of the congregation as really promised to be the beginning of a new and permanent existence. This re-establishment was now for the first the work of Ezra, and is rightly ascribed to him by a thankful posterity which honored him as a second Moses. Certainly if we look upon the letter of commission which Artaxerxes gave him to take along with him upon his first appearance in chap. 8. it seems as if for him likewise the worship of the temple and its furtherance stood in the foreground. And surely he took great pains in this direction likewise. But both of these, the elevation of the temple worship, that perhaps again threatened to fall into decay, and the strengthening of the congregation, in the life in the law, were too closely connected together, that Ezra should have thought the one possible without the other. And his real design was from the beginning very well given in Ezr_7:10 : to teach in Israel statutes and judgments; and the letter of commission of Artaxerxes authorized him, in a manner worthy of attention (Ezr_7:25), to set up magistrates and judges, who should provide for the enforcement of the law. In our book he accomplishes the re-establishment at least in a negative way, by the separation of heathen women, in general by the doing away with intermarriage with the heathen; in Neh. (8–10.) likewise in a positive way, that is, by renewing the covenant with God on the basis of those prescriptions of the law that were then most important.
Ezr_7:1-10. Artachshasta, which is here written אַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא, as in Ezr_7:11; Ezr_8:1; Neh_2:1; Neh_5:14; Neh_13:6, is surely the same, who in Ezr_6:14 is called אַרְתַּחְשַׁשְׁתְּא (so also Ezr_4:8; Ezr_4:11; Ezr_4:23), and in Ezr_4:7אַרְתַּחְשַׁשְׁתָא, namely, Artaxerxes Longimanus. In Neh_13:6, where the same person is certainly meant, since there is no doubt that Ezra and Nehemiah were cotemporaries according to Neh_12:36, the reference is to the thirty-second year of his reign. This does not properly refer to Xerxes, whom Josephus (Arch. XI. 5, 1) and recently even Fritzsche (comp. Ezr_8:1), would understand, because it is most natural to think of him after the Darius of the previous chapter, but only to Artaxerxes Longimanus, to whom indeed the name itself refers with sufficient clearness. Ezra sprang, according to the accompanying genealogy from the family of the high-priest through Seraiah. For all the names from Seraiah up to Aaron are of the line of the high-priest (comp. 1 Chron. 5:30–40); only in. Ezr_7:3 six members of the line are passed over between Azariah and Meraioth (according to 1Ch_6:7-10), without doubt only for the sake of brevity, as is frequently the case in the longer genealogies. Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, was the high-priest whom Nebuchadnezzar had commanded to be slain at Riblah (2Ki_25:18-21), was thus the father of the high-priest Jehozadak, who was carried into exile (1Ch_6:14 sq.). It is very notable, however, that Ezra did not spring from Jehozadak in whose line the high-priesthood was inherited, but from a younger son; for else the intervening member between him and Seraiah would not have been left unmentioned. Ezra was probably the great grandson of Seraiah; for the high-priest Jeshua who had gone to Jerusalem seventy-eight years before with zerubbabel, was a grandson of Seraiah. One hundred and thirty years had already passed since the execution of the latter in the year 588.
Ezr_7:6. This Ezra went up from Babylon.—This renews the subject and gives the predicate of Ezr_7:1.—A ready scribe.—Since Ezra is designated already at the beginning as a skillful or learned scholar, that talent is ascribed to him, upon which under the present circumstances, the fostering of the life of the congregation most depended. סוֹפֵר, in the ancient writings, writer or secretary, has already obtained the meaning of γραμματεύς in Jer_8:8, where it is parallel and synonymous with חֲכָמִים. If it became the official name of the chancellor in the sense of scribe, it has in the sense of scholar, as is clear especially from Ezr_7:11, already almost the character of a title of honor for the man of learning. The additional clause: the king granted him——all his request, indicates that his journey was no private undertaking, that he rather was provided with a certain authority, and journeyed as an official personage. Yet we must not think of him as governor of Judah; he is nowhere given this title. He had simply the authority to teach as a teacher his knowledge of the law, and at the same time as a superior judge—according to Ezr_7:25, likewise by the setting up of suitably subordinate judges—to vindicate the law.—בַקָשָׁה, the request, the petition, except here, is only found in the book of Esther, Ezr_5:3; Ezr_5:6. The question how this favoring of Ezra is related to the writing of Artaxerxes given in chap. 4., is best answered by the fact that Ezra’s journey occurred somewhat later, that Artaxerxes, since he had been moved to that writing by his officials, had paid more attention to the Jews, and that he furthered Ezra’s journey in order to strengthen the Jewish congregation; perhaps also in order to show thereby that he actually was ready to be as just as possible, notwithstanding the prohibition issued respecting the walls of the city. It is shown then by this approval that he would perhaps recall at a suitable time even that prohibition which indeed had been issued at first only provisionally.—According to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.—This language which occurs elsewhere only in Ezr_7:9; Ezr_7:28; Ezr_8:18; Neh_2:8; Neh_2:18, and whose foundation is contained in Ezr_8:22; Ezr_8:31, means so much as this, namely: “according to the goodness, providence and grace which ruled over him,” namely Ezra, as then this band of God sometimes is expressly designated as הַטּוֹבָה(Ezr_7:9; Ezr_8:18) or לְטוֹבָה (Ezr_8:22).
Ezr_7:7-8, mentions in addition that Ezra at the same time led to Jerusalem a new increase of the population.—And there went up some.—This, in the view of the historian, so involves “with him” that he continues in Ezr_7:8 without any further ceremony with he came to Jerusalem. Comp. Ezr_7:13; Ezr_7:28; Ezr_8:1. מִן is used partitively in the sense “some of” as Ezr_2:70, etc. The Levites in distinction from the priests on the one side, and from the Levites in the broader sense, from the singers and porters on the other side, are those who performed the proper service of the Levites.
Ezr_7:9. For upon the first day of the first month he had fixed the departure from Babyion, and on the first of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem.—This would state the duration of the journey. Instead of יְסֻד we are probably to read יָסַד, and indeed in the sense of constituo, præcipio, in which it occurs, especially in Est_1:8. Probably the punctators had scruples about admitting this unusual sense, especially as they supposed that they could better give the force of הוּא by understanding it as: on the first of the first month ipsum erat fundamentum profectionis, as R. Solomon and J. H. Mich. translate; הוּא would thus serve to emphasize the “fundamentum” or the beginning in distinction from the completion. But we should expect יְסוֹד instead of יְסֻד, moreover the following בָּא would not connect itself therewith. Besides, on the first of the first month they began to betake themselves to the common place of assembly, whence then the entire company entered upon the proper journey to Palestine on the 12th of the month. Comp. Ezr_8:31.1
Ezr_7:10. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.—This is not to explain the last subordinate clause of Ezr_7:9 : according to the good hand of God upon him; but the entire undertaking of the journey. דָּרַשׁ is here in connection with אֶת־תּוֹרַת יהְוָֹה in the same sense as usual in connection with אֶת־יְהֹוָה, “adhere to the law as to a Lord and Benefactor.” This “adhere to the law” comes into consideration with respect to the following “doctrines” as a necessary foundation, without which the instruction can never be carried on with success. Ezra’s design was to bring again to the consciousness of the Jewish congregation, the law which they had in part neglected and consequently likewise forgotten, to direct their life according to it and strengthen their relations thereto.
Ezr_7:11. Now follows the documentary basis for the summary representation in the foregoing, and indeed first of all the letter of commission given to Ezra by Artaxerxes.—And these are the contents of the letter.—For פַּרְשֶׁנֶן, comp. Ezr_4:11, and for נִשְׁתְּוָן, Ezr_4:7. Ezra is called here and in Ezr_7:12; Ezr_7:21 Neh_8:9; Neh_12:26, first the priest, and then afterwards the scribe; in Ezr_10:10; Ezr_10:16; and Neh_8:2 even, only the priest; hence he is then in Esdras likewise constantly designated merely as ὁ ἱερεύς.—The scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord and of His statutes to Israel means: “the scribe who especially occupied himself with the words of the law, and who thus before all was learned with reference to it.”
Ezr_7:12. Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra—perfect (peace).—This is the introductory formula. נְּמִיר cannot be an adjective of סָפַר דָּתָא; it would then thus placed alone by itself have to be in the stat. emph. גְּמְירָא. yet it cannot before the following וּכְעֶנֶת mean that all that usually belonged to the introductory formula had been completely expressed in the original document (Berth.); in this way it would seem too peculiar. There is as little in favor of the view of Keil that it is an adverb in the sense of “very” belonging to an adjective to be supplied to ספר, as if the sense were: doctori doctissimo; the adjective could hardly have failed in such a cage. According to Ezr_7:7 we should expect that the letter, conformable to its contents of good will, would have contained in its introductory formula a greeting or wish of peace; so there is to be supplied in thought after נְּמִיר a verb as “he wishes,” and the sense is: Artaxerxes wishes, in a complete manner, or abundantly—namely, peace [so Esdras, χαίρειν, followed by A. V. perfect (peace).—Tr.]
Ezr_7:13-19 gives the first part of the royal mandate: Let every one of Israel who will, go up with Ezra. Ezra, however, is to encourage further the worship in Jerusalem with the money that was given him for the purpose.
Ezr_7:13. I make a decree,etc. Comp. Ezr_6:8. לִמְהָךְ depends upon כָּל־מִתְנַדַּב = that every one who is freely minded to go. יְהָךְ depends upon ךִּי—may go with thee.—For the infin. מְהָךְ and the future יְהָךְ, comp. Ezr_5:5.
Ezr_7:14 would say: because the commission of the king and his seven counsellors is designed to encourage and strengthen the worship of Jehovah, and accordingly also the condition of His congregation. For the seven counsellors who constituted the supreme tribunal of the Persian kings, vid. Est_1:14.2יַעֲטֹהִי, for which we might expect יָעֲטֹהִי because יַעֲטִין corresponds with the Heb. יוֹעֲצִים, and is used as חַשְׁחָן in Ezr_6:9. Naturally “thou” cannot be at once supplied to שְׁלִיחַ; rather the expression is a general one: the sending is made.—To inquire concerning Judah according to the law of thy God, which is in thine hand.—That the second person is prominent here, cannot be strange because, indeed, the whole matter is a communication to Ezra. בַּקָּוָה עַל “to hold investigation over,” thus, “revise something,” is then at the same time the same as “to put in order.”3בְּדַת, which st. constr. in Norzi’s edition is pointed דָּת, properly: with the law; means: according to the norm of the law. דִּי בִּידָךְ “which is in thy hand,” means, “which thou possesseth,” is not however to be under stood as if Ezra had a particular copy of the law, which Artaxerxes hereby would have explained as the ancient and true law of God; after that he had obtained the consent of the more distinguished of the Jews; but it is, as it were, “which thou knowest, understandest, and hast in hand.” [Rawlinson, in loco, “righteously and justly according to the principle of thy religion.”—Tr.]
Ezr_7:15. And to carry the silver and gold,etc. For a fuller statement of this, vid.Ezr_8:25.
Ezr_7:16. All the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the free-will offering of the people and of the priests,etc. The king here presupposes that in addition to himself and his counsellors there would likewise be found others, not Israelites, in the province of Babylon, who would be willing to contribute silver and gold for the support of the Jewish people; and indicates that he has given Ezra permission to take up a collection among them; for what is collected in the province of Babylon in general, is distinguished with sufficient clearness from the gifts of the people and priests, that is to say, the Jews, as is evident from the subsequent clauses. הִתְנַדָּבוּת an abstract formation from infin. Ithpaal, is that which is voluntarily given. מִתְנַדְּבִין, if it were in simple apposition to people and priests, or represented a relative clause, as Berth supposes, would necessarily have the article; it is rather loosely connected in the sense of: “if they, so far as they voluntarily contribute.”
Ezr_7:17-19. Even on this account, properly in view of these things, namely, because this sending is ordained by me to encourage the Jewish congregation and their worship.—Thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks—with their meat and drink offerings—that is, the meat and drink offerings belonging to the sacrifices according to Num_15:1 sq.—And offer them on the altar.—The Pael. תְּקָרֵב is used instead of Aphel in Ezr_6:10; Ezr_6:17.
Ezr_7:18. And whatsoever shall seem good to thee.—The thorough organization of the Jewish congregational life might readily render necessary some additional expense, e. g. for the decoration of the temple; and Artaxerxes presupposes that the authorities in Jerusalem will be able also to make such arrangements that they may have something left of the gifts for such purposes—and thy brethren = the elders in Jerusalem, who also appear in 5. and 6. to decide such questions.—That do after the will of your God—namely, as it is declared in the law.
Ezr_7:19. And the vessels, for the service of the house of thy God deliver completely.—These vessels are numbered in Ezr_8:25; Ezr_8:27. The noun פָּלְחָן, which is only found here—but comp. פָּלְחֵי in Ezr_7:24—is identical with פוּלְחָן = “service” of the Syriac and Targums, and corresponds with the Hebrew עֲבוֹרָה. The meaning of הַשְׁלֵם “render completely” is usual in the Aphel in the Syriac, and is connected with the meaning of the Hebrew Piel שִלֵּם “pay.”—Before the God of Jerusalem is essentially the same as “before the God whose dwelling is in Jerusalem.” Comp. Ezr_1:3 : He is the God, who is in Jerusalem.
Ezr_7:20-24. The second part of the decree orders that the royal treasury of the land beyond the river is to supply whatever else may prove to be necessary.
Ezr_7:20. And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which shall occur to thee, as to be given, that is to say, whatever need may arise when the other means have been exhausted—shalt thou give out of the house of the treasury of the king—that is, out of the royal treasury.4
Ezr_7:21 now gives at once the supplementary order for the treasurer in question; as a command to which Ezra might appeal. This must also be given here.—By me, Artaxerxes, myself, is decreed.—The pronoun אֲיָה serves to emphasize the suffix of מִנִּי (comp. Dan_7:15), and so also the following noun. The order: all that Ezra shall require of you, turns itself directly to the treasurer, because it is thus so much the more clear and impressive.
Ezr_7:22. Unto an hundred talents, states the limit to which the giving may extend. The עַד־ (up to one hundred talents) is connected with the phrase: it shall be done of Ezr_7:21, so far as this involves: it shall be rendered or given. The כִּכָּר, the talent, weighed three thousand sacred shekels (comp. Exo_38:25; Exo_38:27), the holy shekel was about two marks, the Persian (comp. Xenoph. Anab. I. 5, 6) one and a quarter marks. The כֹּר, which occurs already in 1Ki_5:2; Eze_45:14, instead of the Chomer = ten ephahs or baths, thus almost two bushels.—Salt, which is not prescribed—which is not stated, not limited to a definite amount. [For the need of these things in the Jewish system of sacrifice, vid. Ezr_6:9. “As the Persian tribute was paid partly in money and partly in kind (see note on Ezr_4:13), the treasuries would be able to supply them as readily as they could furnish money.” Rawlinson in loco.—Tr.]
Ezr_7:23 gives a still more comprehensive injunction—all that is in accordance with the command of the God of heaven—what is demanded according to the divine law—let it be completely done.—The ἅπ. λεγ. אַדְרַזְדָּא is regarded by Hitzig and Berth. as compounded of אֲדַר and אַזְדָּא (Hitz. Comm. on Daniel II. 5; Bertheau on II. 3) especially because אָדַר in אֲדַרְגָּזְרַיָּאDan_3:2 can be clearly recognized as an intensive prefix (“very”). Haug, on the other hand, in Ewald’s Bib. Jahrb. V., S. 152 sq., derives it from the Persian dorest, the Zend. root doreç = “grow, prosper, become firm,” as formed by אprosth. in the meaning of “completely, punctually in every thing.”—For why—דִּי־לְמָה = for wherefore = “in order that not.” Comp. Ezr_4:22.
Ezr_7:24 gives an additional clause, which is for the consideration of the treasurer likewise.—And to you it is made known,etc., מְהוֹדְעִין has an indef. subject, or the active is for the passive; to you is it made known. Those addressed are still the same, as from Ezr_7:21 on, thus the treasurers.—That all priests,etc., that is, concerning all priests.—Ministers of the house of God.—The פָּלְחֵי בֵית אֱלָהָא are alongside of the priests not all worshippers of the true God in general, but official persons, perhaps the lowest class [Rawlinson] as we may infer from their position after the Nethinim, or those who are not included in the foregoing classes. Bertheau compares the servants of Solomon, who occur in Ezr_2:55; Ezr_2:58, after the Nethinim. For מִנְדָּה, etc., comp. Ezr_4:13. לָא שַׁלִּיט properly = one not having authority, with the infin., and ל = one who has not power, or: it is not allowed, as frequently in Syriac. לְמִרְמָא from רְמָא in the Targums for שִׂים. Such a liberation of priests and Levites from taxes, occurred also under Artaxerxes the great, Comp. Joseph. Arch., xv. 3, 3. 5
Ezr_7:25-26. The third part of the decree authorizes Ezra to set up judges experienced in the law for the entire Jewish people, and impose punishments for infractions of the law; this contains that very matter in which he is to afford be very help to the congregation upon which all now depended, a matter in which Artaxerxes in his good-will made an important step in advance beyond Cyrus and Darius. Since the civil and social life of Israel was so closely connected with their religion by the law, they could not well prosper under judges who had neither appreciation nor understanding of their religion. It might appear strange to us that nothing more is expressly said of the setting up of Jewish judges. but our book, which limits itself to the negative side of confirmation in the law, to the separation. of the heathen women, was not the proper place for this. In the book of Nehemiah, which adds the positive side, since the congregation obligate themselves in chap. 10 to keep all the important parts of the law, this is implicitly involved.
Ezr_7:25. And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God,etc.—דִּי בִידָךְ as in verse 24, etc., “which thou possessest.” מֶּנִּי is imper. Pa. “appoint,” “set up,” for מַּנִּי, the less hard e sound is more easily uttered, and occurs as a matter of course when it is followed by a second syllable ma or man.—Magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river.—The imperf. לֶהֱוֹן, with the part. expresses continued action. The people to be judged are as a matter of course the Jewish people. Among them are not only those who know the law of God, but also others who yet for the first time must be instructed in it. We are not to think of the latter as proselytes, nevertheless it refers not only to the Jews of Palestine, but also to those dwelling widely scattered in the land to the West of the Euphrates. They are all to be subject to the judges set up by Ezra; the judges however are, according to the context, to watch over the observation of the Mosaic law, and maintain its authority. This is the foundation for the Jewish tradition of the institution of the great synagogue by Ezra.
Ezr_7:26. The object of this institution was that judgment might be diligently held over any one who did not keep the law of God and the king.—The law of the king can here be joined on to that of God, because so far as it required obedience to the law of God in the foregoing decree, it was transgressed by disobedience. Perhaps it had already been shown, likewise, that where obedience to the law of God ceased, usually also obedience to the royal command vanished. עֲבַד דִּינָה is in the Targ. not unusual for “hold judgment.” מִנֵּהּ “out from him” = “over him.” The point of beginning is here at the same time the point aimed at. The following הֵן—הֵן = sive—sive—whether it be unto death or to banishment, whether to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment.—שְׁרשׁוּ an entirely Syriac form of שֵׁרֵשׁ, properly rooting out, is here in distinction from death, banishment, Vulg: exilium, or at least excommunication (comp. Ezr_10:8) [Rawlinson], not παιδεία (Sept.). Respecting the punishment in נִכְסִין, treasure, property, as Ezr_6:8, comp. Ezr_10:8.
Ezr_7:27-28. A closing doxology. Ezra cannot but add to the foregoing decree—whose communication we are without doubt to ascribe to his hand—his praise for the grace of God, which had been so gloriously exhibited in putting this into the heart of the king to beautify the temple in Jerusalem.6נָתַן בְּלֵב as Nehemiah 12; Neh_7:15, yet likewise already in 1Ki_10:24. כָּזֹאת = the like, namely, as is indicated in the foregoing decree. We are to consider that the exaltation of the worship is likewise a glorification of the house of the Lord.
Ezr_7:28. And hath extended mercy unto me before the king.—This is the continuation of the relative clause in Ezr_7:27. The לְ before כָּל־שָׂרֵי puts this word on one and the same footing as the foregoing. Comp. the לְ before שָׂבֵי in Ezr_6:7; that is to say it represents here essentially the לִפְנֵי, which is before הַמֶּלֶךְ. The clause: And I was strengthened, which leads over to the narrative, would say “I was able, would feel myself strong,—and I gathered together = so that I gathered together out of Israel chief men. These chief men were heads of households or families who, if they should be taken for the emigration to Judah, would naturally take their families with them.
thoughts upon the history of redemption
Ezr_7:1-10. (1) It seems that there were found among the Jews remaining behind in Babylon, even after Zerubbabel and Jeshua, at different times, such persons as were seized with a holy longing for the land of their fathers, especially for the temple of the Lord, with its lovely divine worship; who also, accordingly, went up thither not merely for a short time, but to remain forever, in order to become members of the congregation of Jerusalem, although many difficulties stood in the way of most of them, and it might be known to all what great deprivations, yea, evil circumstances, were to be endured in Judah. “Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.” This was certainly in these times the sigh of many with the poet of the 120th Psalm; and “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help” was their subsequent triumphal song with the author of Psalms 121. How much more then should Christians be inspired with a holy longing to become pilgrims on the way to heaven, and become members of the upper Jerusalem, seeing that in the city of God, that is above, among the many thousand angels and saints every lack and every evil circumstance has vanished. Ezra and the others who went up to Jerusalem in order to be able to lift up their eyes to the heights of the earthly Zion, seem to us to be saints. That Christians should strive for the higher aim, that beckons them from heaven, is, after all, only natural, and so much the more are we obliged to charge ourselves with frivolity, if we lose sight of the aim and jewel of our heavenly calling—yea, are in a condition of entire forgetfulness of it.
(2) To reform the congregation when it has fallen away to the world is impossible without a faithfully preserved and unfalsified word of God, which is their heavenly archetype; or rather ever holds before them anew the eternal norm, according to which they are to be fashioned. Even in Jerusalem, even in the most immediate vicinity of the temple, the congregation, when they neglected and forgot the law of God, might fall into a condition in which a reformation was pressingly necessary. And even in the distance, even in Babylon, Ezra, because he was a true student of the Scripture, might be called to be the reformer.
Ezr_7:11-26. (1) The congregation in the Diaspora had, properly speaking, for the present the great task of awakening in the heathen world—even in heathen princes, in some way a presentiment that true knowledge of God and piety above all were with them, and thereby to beget in the deeper spirits a receptivity as well for the worship of the true God as for the observation of His law. The decree of Artaxerxes, the goodwill of the heathen king towards Jerusalem in general, might be an evidence of the important fact that the Diaspora actually fulfilled this allowed task. Thus there is involved therein the prophecy that they were to render this preparatory and mediatorial service for the first time to its proper extent in the Messianic times. This second edict of Artaxerxes was in distinction from the first (chap, 4), at any rate, an evidence that he was only prejudiced against the supposed political efforts of the Jews, that he had no objection to their worship of the true God, to their existence as a religious congregation; that on the contrary it caused him joy if the worship of God in Jerusalem was promoted in a suitable manner.
(2) Notwithstanding the commands of Artaxerxes respecting what should be done for the improvement of the worship of Jerusalem were so minute, he did not allow himself in the least degree to prescribe that which concerned the internal affairs, which were regulated by the word of God. He exercised only the so-called jus circa sacra, and we find this in him, the heathen prince, from good motives. Manifestly, since there is no longer any theocracy, all princes likewise should be thus discreet. For the internal affairs there are higher laws and authorities, in which an earthly authority can never interfere without punishment.
Ezr_7:27-28. The Lord’s praise expressed by Ezra is a thanksgiving that the Lord, by turning the heart of the king and his counsellors, had enabled him to make the journey to Jerusalem. We may, however, find still something more therein. After all he likewise expressed, if only mediately, his joy that the grace of God had succeeded in making such an impression upon the head of the world-monarchy at that time as the congregation, according to its highest task, was to make,—a joy which was well calculated to mark an era in the history of the congregation living in the Diaspora.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Ezr_7:1-10. God’s care over His congregation. 1) He awakens teachers (if it be necessary, even reformers) and other persons of importance to the divine worship. He wins also the hearts of the rulers, upon whose good-will the success of the teacher is conditioned.—Starke: It is not enough to build houses and temples of stone, but we must have living instruments, that is, teachers and preachers. Preachers must first of all exhibit in their own life and consecration that which they preach to others of practical truth, as necessary and possible, 1Co_9:27; 1Ti_4:12; 1Ti_4:16.—No one should be presumptuous in any thing; he will then be sure of his calling, and it will give great comfort in all kinds of opposing circumstances.—Magistrates should also contribute their part to the building of churches and schools, and, above all, act with benevolence, because they can best do so; otherwise the heathen will put them to shame in that day. It is a sign of the great grace of God towards a people when He inclines the heart of their rulers to take suitable care that pious teachers be given to them. It is very easy for God to fill His people with blessings, for the earth is His, and the fulness thereof (Psa_24:1; 2Ch_30:12), and He has much more to give away than He has already given. 2) He protects and preserves His instruments in the way that they must go ere they can labor with the congregation. 3) He gives in their hearts the impulse and calling to do, as well as to teach His will.—The holy longing for Jerusalem 1) it urges us out of Babylon to Jerusalem, and wins for us the hearts of such as will sustain us; 2) it provides us with fellow-pilgrims; 3) it causes the journey to succeed.
Ezr_7:11-26 are to be treated in essentially the same way as the decree of Darius in chap. 6.
Ezr_7:27-28. The best grounds for thanksgiving to God: 1) God has made the authorities of earth serviceable for the glorifying of His house and name; 2) He has placed His called ones in the position of being active in the enlargement and strengthening of His congregation.—Starke: It is a noble gift of God, if we have a magistrate who is devoted to the true religion.—The servants of God, it is true, must submit to receive unthankfulness and disfavor for all of their faithfulness from mankind in general and great lords in particular; but if the contrary should be the case, they should recognize the fact with all the more thankfulness.
[Henry: Moses in Egypt, Ezra in Babylon, and both in captivity, were wonderfully fitted for eminent service to the church.—Would we secure our peace and prosperity, let us take care that the cause of God be not starved.—If any good appear to be in our own hearts, or in the hearts of others, we must own it was God that put it there, and bless Him for it.—Wordsworth: Even Artaxerxes, a heathen king, is conscious and proclaims his persuasion, that the neglect of God and His service brings down God’s anger on a nation.—Tr.]
Footnotes:
[1][Rawlinson: “The direct distance of Babylon from Jerusalem is not more than about five hundred and twenty miles; and it may therefore seem surprising that the journey should have occupied four months. But no doubt the route followed was that circuitous one by Carchemish and the Orontes valley, which was ordinarily taken by armies or large bodies of men, and which increased the distance to about nine hundred miles. Still the time occupied is long, and must be accounted for by the dangers alluded to, Ezr_8:22; Ezr_8:31, which may have necessitated delays and detours to avoid conflicts.”—Tr.]
[2][“Herodotus relates that there were seven families pre-eminent in Persia, those of the seven conspirators against the Pseudo-Smerdis (3:84); and it is reason able to suppose that the heads of these families formed the special council of the king, the ‘Achæmenidæ,’ or royal family, being represented by the head of the branch next in succession to that of the reigning monarch.” Rawlinson in loco. See also. Ancient Monarchies. Vol .IV., pp. 403 and 404.—Tr.]
[3][“Probably the commission was general to inquire into the state of the province. According to Xenophon (Cyrop. viii. 6, § 16) it was a part of the Persian system for the king to send an officer once a year into each province to inspect it and report upon it.” Rawlinson in loco.—Tr.]
[4][“The Persian system of taxing the provinces through the satraps involved the establishment in each province of at least one local treasury. Such treasuries are mentioned occasionally in Greek history (see Arrian, Exp. Alex. i. 17; iii. 18, 19, etc.).”Rawlinson in loco—Tr.]
[5][“Here the decree of Artaxerxes was more favorable to the Jews than those of all previous Persian monarchs. We hear of a similar exemption of ecclesiastics from tribute, only to a less extent under the Seleucidæ. (Josephus’ Ant. Jud. xii. 3, §3).” Rawlinson in loco .—Tr.]
[6][“This abrupt transition from the words of Artaxerxes to those of Ezra, may be compared with the almost equally abrupt change in Ezr_6:6. The language alters at the same time from Chaldee to Hebrew, continuing henceforth to be Hebrew till the close of the book.” Rawlinson in loco.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v1 EZRA’S GOING UP TO JERUSALEM, Ezr_7:1-10.
SECTION SECOND.
THE ACTS OF EZRA. — CHAPS. 7-10.
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EZRA’S GOING UP TO JERUSALEM, Ezr_7:1-10.
1. After these things — Fifty-seven years after the events narrated at the close of the last chapter.
In the reign of Artaxerxes — In the seventh year of his reign, as appears from Ezr_7:7-8. So that between the sixth year of Darius Hystaspes, with which the last chapter closed, (vi, 15,) and the present date, fall the last thirty years of Darius, (for he reigned thirty-six years,) and the whole of Xerxes’ reign of twenty years, and the first seven years of this Artaxerxes, who was the son and successor of Xerxes the Great, the Ahasuerus of the Book of Esther. The Artaxerxes of this chapter and of the Book of Nehemiah is commonly known as Artaxerxes Longimanus. According to Ctesias, he was the youngest of three sons who survived Xerxes, and succeeded to the throne by assassinating his eldest brother, and taking advantage of the absence of the other, who was at the time satrap of Bactria. Troubles accompanied this irregular accession, and rebellions broke out in various parts of the empire, and it occupied all the first years of his reign to restore peace to his vast dominions. From all we can gather outside the Scriptures as to the character of Artaxerxes, he seems to have been a weak and irresolute prince. He reigned forty years, a longer period than that of any previous Persian king. Nehemiah (Neh_5:14; Neh_13:6) mentions his thirty-second year, which fact serves to show that he cannot be identified with Xerxes, as some have proposed, since Xerxes reigned but twenty years. Ezra, the distinguished priest and scribe, whose acts are recorded in the four following chapters of this book, was born and reared in exile, but by assiduous study had made himself a profound student and most competent scribe in the law of Moses. Ezr_7:6; Ezr_7:11. See notice of his character and life at the close of chap. 10.
Son of Seraiah — It is somewhat uncertain whether by this Seraiah we are to understand the immediate father of Ezra, or that distinguished ancestor who was chief priest at the destruction of the temple, and was slain by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. 2Ki_25:18-21. His son Jehozadak went into exile, (1Ch_6:15,) and, perhaps, had a son Seraiah, who was father of Ezra. It would be very natural, however, for Ezra, in here recording his genealogy, to pass over his immediate ancestors, as he certainly does omit the name of Jehozadak, and link himself at once to that ancestor with whom the acting priesthood at Jerusalem had been broken off. He aims in this record to give the main links of his ancestry back to Aaron, and a comparison with the record of his genealogy, given in 1Ch_6:3-15, will show that he has passed over several other names there registered.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 5 Ch. Ezr_7:1-10. A brief Summary of Events
Ch. Ezr_7:1-10. A brief Summary of Events
1–5. Ezra’s Genealogy
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Now after these things] An interval of 58 years is passed over in silence (516–458). One allusion has already been made to the reign of Xerxes (ch. Ezr_4:6). But with this exception the Compiler apparently found nothing to record of historic importance in the formation of the new religious community at Jerusalem during the period which elapsed between the completion of the Temple and the accession of Artaxerxes. The story of Esther belongs to Xerxes’ reign, which belongs to the chronicles of ‘the Dispersion’. It has no part in the development of the Jewish constitution. ‘Now after these things’. A not infrequent phrase combining connexion (‘now’ or ‘and’) with the previous narrative and statement of indefinite interval. Cf. Gen_15:1; Gen_22:1; Luk_10:1.
in the reign of Artaxerxes] Artaxerxes the son of Xerxes began to reign in 465 b.c.
Ezra, the son of Seraiah &c.] Ezra’s genealogy is here traced back to Aaron.
(a) His immediate connexion with the high-priestly line is through Seraiah. He is therefore here called ‘the son of Seraiah’, although Seraiah was High-priest in the days of king Zedekiah and was slain at Riblah by Nebuchadnezzar (2Ki_25:18-21) in 588 b.c. (i.e. 130 years before). Inasmuch as (1) the High-priest Jeshua (538) is described as the son of Jehozadak, (2) neither of these names occurs in Ezra’s genealogy, (3) Jehozadak was the eldest son of Seraiah (1Ch_6:14) succeeding to the High-priesthood, we conclude that Ezra was descended from a younger son of Seraiah.
(b) In this genealogy 15 names occur between Ezra and Aaron. This is manifestly too small a number for a period of about 1000 years (reckoning 30 years to a generation), especially when we find 26 names recorded between Zerubbabel (who was of the previous generation to that of Ezra) and Nashon, prince of Judah, the contemporary of Aaron, in 1Ch_2:10-15; 1Ch_3:1-19.
Ezra’s genealogy therefore appears here in an abbreviated form. We are enabled in a great measure, if not completely, to fill up its lacunæ by means of (a) Ezra’s genealogy in the parallel passage, 1Es_8:1-2, (b) in 2Es_1:1-3, (c) the genealogy of the High-priests Jehozadak and Seraiah in 1Ch_6:3-15, (d) in 1Ch_9:10-11; Neh_11:11.
The full genealogy then appears as follows:
1 Aaron, 2 Eleazar, 3 Phinehas, 4 Abishua, 5 Bukki, 6 Uzzi, 7 Zerahiah, 8 Meraioth, 9 Amariah, 10 Ahitub, 11 Zadok, 12 Ahimaaz, 13 Azariah, 14 Johanan, 15 Azariah, 16 Amariah, 17 Heli (?), 18 Phinehas (?), 19 Ahiah, 20 Ahitub, 21 Meraioth (see 1Ch_9:11), 22 Zadok, 23 Shallum, Meshullam (1Ch_9:11), 24 Hilkiah, 25 Azariah, 26 Seraiah, 27 son of Seraiah, 28 (?), contemporary with Zerubbabel, 29 father of Ezra, 30 Ezra.
Of these names 9–14 occur in 1 Chron. 6:7–10:21 in 1Ch_9:11 : 17, 18, 19 in 2Es_1:2 are doubtful. At least three and possibly four generations must be inserted between Seraiah (died 588) and Ezra (? died circ. 430), the names being here omitted because they were not High-priests.
(c) Why does Ezra’s genealogy appear in this abbreviated form, if the materials of a fuller one were accessible to the compiler of our book in the materials of the book ‘Chronicles’?
(i) Jewish genealogies were often abbreviated by the omission of unimportant or dishonourable names, for the sake of securing a shorter list or an arrangement of names more easily remembered (see Gen_11:13; cf. Luk_3:36 and Mat_1:8).
It is possible that the present genealogy was artificially arranged. By reference to 1Ch_6:10, we find that Azariah (Ezr_7:3) is there specially described as ‘having executed the priest’s office in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem’. Azariah’s name therefore represents the age of the foundation of the Temple, just as Aaron’s name represents the foundation of the Levitical system, Ezra’s its reconstitution. It is noteworthy that between Ezra and Azariah there are seven names, between Azariah and Aaron seven names: the first group contains the names of High-priests before the setting up of the Monarchy and before the Temple was built, the second group contains the list of the High-priests during the Monarchy down to the destruction of Jerusalem. It is possible that this twofold arrangement of seven names placed between the two names representative of the foundation and the revival of the Mosaic system, and linked by the name representative of the Temple, may be the explanation of the abbreviation (cf. the threefold grouping by ‘fourteen’ in Mat_1:1-16).
(ii) On the other hand it must be granted that a list containing two trios of Amariah, Ahitub, Zadok, three Azariahs, two Amariahs, and a Meraioth could easily give rise to errors in transcription; a copyist’s eye passing from one similar name or termination to another. It is thus quite possible that after Azariah (No. 15) the copyist accidentally passed on to Meraioth (No. 8) which followed the similarly sounding Amariah.
It is clear from the fewness of the names and from the omission of all names after Seraiah that the genealogy cannot pretend to be complete. The view that the six names (9–14) have accidentally dropped from the text, rests on the omission of the renowned Zadok and Ahimaaz, whose names we should naturally expect to find inserted in a list of Ezra’s forefathers (1Ch_6:8).
Hilkiah] the celebrated High-priest of the reign of Josiah: see 2Ki_22:4, &c.; 2Ch_34:14, &c.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v1 (1) After these things.—Fifty-seven years after: this special phrase…
(1) After these things.—Fifty-seven years after: this special phrase is here alone used. During the interval we must place the events of the Book of Esther.
Ezra the son of Seraiah.—His lineage is given, as frequently in Scripture, compendiously, and according to the genealogical law which makes every ancestor a “father” and every descendant a “son.” We know not the reason why certain names supplied in 1 Chronicles 6 are here omitted; but Seraiah is claimed as the father of Ezra because he was the eminent high priest who last ministered in Solomon’s Temple and was slain at Riblah (2Ki_25:18). The links wanting in the lineage are easily supplied.
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II.—THE SECOND RETURN UNDER EZRA.
VII.
(1-10) A. general summary of Ezra’s expedition under Divine guidance.
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–2 FIFTY-SEVEN years after the completion of the temple and…
FIFTY-SEVEN years after the completion of the temple and its dedication, when the long and eventful rein of Darius was over, and his son Xerxes, probably the Ahasuerus of Esther, had also lived and reigned and passed away, and the grandson of Darius, known generally as Artaxerxes Longimanus, occupied the Persian throne, a further return of Israelites from Babylon, on a tolerably large scale, took place. Ezra, a member of the high priest"s family, a descendant of Seraiah, the "chief priest" at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, (2Ki_25:18) and probably a third cousin of the existing high priest, Eliashib, having access to Artaxerxes, and, apparently, a certain influence with him, asked (Ezr_7:6) and obtained the royal permission to reinforce the colony in Judaea by a fresh body of emigrants, and at the same time to convey to Jerusalem a sum of money, which the Babylonian Jews had subscribed towards the temple service (ibid. ver. 16). Artaxerxes appears to have had a high respect for Ezra; he recognised in him one possessed of wisdom from on high (ver. 25), and readily granted him, not only the request that he had made, but an important commission, which was mainly one of inquiry (ver. 14), but which made him for a time paramount civil ruler of the province, with power of life and death over its inhabitants (ver. 26); and also conferred upon the Jewish people certain valuable gifts and privileges. The terms of the decree are set forth in Ezr_7:12-26, where the Chaldee version of the text, as published by Artaxerxes, is probably given verbatim et literatim. After reciting it, Ezra breaks out into a brief but earnest burst of thanksgiving and acknowledgment of God"s goodness, which concludes ch. 7., occupying the last two verses. He then proceeds, in ch. 8., to give an account of the number of the Jews who returned with him, with the names of their leaders, whom he calls "chief of the fathers." Having completed his list in ver. 14, he goes on (vers. 15-31) to describe the circumstances of the journey from Babylon to Jerusalem, which occupied exactly four months, commencing on the first day of the first month and terminating on the first day of the fifth month. (Ezr_7:9) In conclusion, he tells us how, after a rest of three days, he discharged himself of the most pressing of the commissions intrusted to him, delivering over to the priests in charge of the temple the gifts sent by Artaxerxes, and making known to the various Persian officials of the district the terms of the royal decree so far as they were affected by it. (Ezr_8:32-36) This section may be subdivided into seven parts:
1. The genealogy of Ezra; (Ezr_7:1-5)
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2. The fact of his journey, with its dates (ibid. vers. 6-10);
3. The decree of Artaxerxes with respect to Ezra (ibid. vers. 1126);
4. The thanksgiving of Ezra (ibid. vers. 27, 28);
5. The numbers of those who accompanied him to Jerusalem, with the names of the chiefs; (Ezr_8:1-14)
6. The circumstances of the journey from Babylon to Jerusalem (ibid. vers. 15-31); and
7. The three days" rest at Jerusalem and execution of the more pressing commissions (ibid. vers. 32-36).
THE GENEALOGY OF EZRA. (Ezr_7:1-5) It is plain that this genealogy is incomplete. It gives no more than sixteen generations between Ezra and Aaron, whereas the number of generations between Zerubbabel and Nashon, prince of Judah in Aaron"s time, (Num_1:7 Num_2:3) was twenty-six, (1Ch_2:10-15 1Ch_3:5-19) and that between Aaron himself and Eliashib at least as many (1Ch_6:3-15 1Ch_9:11; Neh_12:10) Six names are omitted between the Azariah and Memioth of ver. 3, which will be found in 1Ch_6:7-10; and at least three must be wanting between Ezra himself and Seraiah, who was the great-great-grandfather of Eliashib, Ezra"s contemporary. (Neh_3:1 Neh_13:4) The curtailment of genealogies by the omission of names was a common practice of the Jews. A notable instance is the omission of three royal names in St. Matthew"s genealogy of our Lord. (Mat_1:8)
The writer makes a marked division between his first and second sections by means of the words, Now after these things," which he uses in this place only. The actual interval seems to have been one of between fifty-seven and fifty-eight years, the sixth year of Darius being B.C. 516, and the seventh of Artaxerxes Longimanus B.C. 458. Artaxerxes is in the original Artakhshatra," which reproduces the Persian Artakhshatra with the change of only one letter. That Longimanus, the grandson of Darius, is meant seems to follow from the fact that Eliashib, the grandson of Jeshua is high priest under him. (Neh_3:1)
Darius, correspond to Jeshua,
Xerxes correspond to Joiakim
Artaxerxes correspond to Eliashib
But for this it would be possible to regard the Artaxerxes of Ezra (ch. 7.) and Nehemiah as Mnemon. Ezra the son of Seraiah. Probably the great-great-grandson. In the language of the sacred writers, every descendant is a "son," and every ancestor a "father." Christ is "the son of David," and David "the son of Abraham". (Mat_1:1) Joram "begat" Uzziah (ibid. 8), his great-great-grandson. Jochebed was "the daughter of Levi. (Exo_2:1) Ezra omits the names of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, who were undistinguished, and claims descent from Seraiah, the last high priest who had ministered in Solomon"s temple. (2Ki_25:18) Azariah, the father of Seraiah, does not occur in either Kings or Chronicles; but Hilkiah, Azariah"s father, is no doubt the high priest of Josiah"s time (2Ki_22:4-14; 2Ch_34:14-22, etc.)
Vers. 1-10.
The reformer.
these things nearly sixty years "after," as usually understood certain other things came to pass. Things so far similar that they may be recorded in the same connection; things so far different as to open out to us quite a new part of this book. There is this similarity, for example that we have the story here of another and supplementary pilgrimage of captive Israelites from Babylon to Jerusalem. On the other hand, there are these points of difference that the new pilgrimage is on a much smaller scale; and that the story itself is rather biographical than historical, as before all of it, in fact, centring closely round the doings of one man. Accordingly, it is with the portrait of this one man, Ezra, that this new portion begins. We can see at once, on looking at the portrait, that he is a zealous ecclesiastical reformer; and we can easily understand there being a great necessity at Jerusalem for such a man at that time. Of this, however, and of what he did there, we shall read by and by. At present we see chiefly his fitness for this difficult role; and that in connection
1. with his ancestry;
2. his attainments; and
3. his ambition.
I EZRA"S ANCESTRY. This, given us in vers. 1-5, would be such as to fit him for the work of Church reformation in several ways.
1. As to office. By lineage we see that he was a priest; and therefore an authorised preacher (Lev_10:11; 2Ch_15:3; Mal_2:5-7) and therefore a person who would have special facilities in reforming or setting things right, because such endeavours would, in his case, be only expected. How can any man teach truth and right without correcting error and wrong?
2. As to tradition. It may at least be noticed that, according to this lineage, very many of the traditions of his peculiar priestly ancestry would be specially in favour of reforming work. He belonged, e.g. , to the better of the two principal priestly lines, viz., that of Eleazar as compared with Ithamar, to which Eli and his sons (1Ch_24:3, 4 6:8) belonged. Also, even in this very abridged form of his genealogy, how conspicuous are the individual names of Phinehas (Nu 25 Jos 22; Psa_106:30) and Hilkiah (2Ki 22 2Ch 34) in regard to this point! It could never, therefore, be said of him, in attempting similar work, as in 1Sa_10:12.
3. As to position. Being himself descended from Seraiah, the grandfather or great (or great-great) grandfather of the high priest of that time (1Ch_6:14; Ezr_3:2; Neh_3:1 Neh_12:10) he would be not only a priest, but a priest with peculiar family advantages for exerting an influence for good, something as is the case with a "prince of the blood" among us. On the whole, while all these things by themselves would not necessarily dispose him to become a reformer, they would all help him, if so disposed.
II EZRA"S SPECIAL ATTAINMENTS. These would also qualify him for such labours. For we find that he had learned
1. How to listen to God. The man who would reform others must begin by reforming himself; and this he can only do effectually by means of an accurate knowledge of God"s will, that one standard of perfect right. (see Psa_111:10, and end of Luk_11:2) This point secured in the present instance
(a) by Ezra"s discrimination. He knew where to look for God"s word, viz., in the "Scriptures" of truth, recognising clearly their double aspect, as at once human (the "law of Moses"), and also Divine (which "God had given"). Comp., 1Th_2:13 word of God which ye heard of us." He recognised also their peculiar value (which the God of Israel had given") as God"s special gift to his own people. (Rom_3:1, Rom_3:2)
(b) By Ezra"s diligence. Being thus valuable, he treated them accordingly. How much is implied in that expression, a "ready scribe"! "Reading," to know the letter. "Marking," to know the meaning. "Inwardly learning and digesting," to know the power. And all together, to acquire the right use to be "ready" with them whenever called for. A man thus familiar withthe "sword of the Spirit" might naturally be expected to further the Spirit"s work.
2. How to speak to men. Many book-learned men are too bookish for this; and, therefore, not fit for reforming efforts. They can describe their weapons, but not employ them. Ezra, we find, on the contrary, was a man able to persuade men of all ranks and conditions, whether superiors, from whom he asked permission to go (end of vers. 6 and 28), or equals and inferiors, both lay and clerical (ver. 7), whom he persuaded to go with him. Note, however, that this second qualification or attainment was the result of the first, as implied in end of ver. 6, and in what we afterwards read in Ezr_8:17, Ezr_8:18.
III EZRA"S SPECIAL AMBITION. Unless a man desires an end unless he strongly desires it, if difficult of attainment & Ntilde; he is never likely to reach it. However favoured by circumstances, however qualified in itself, the locomotive will never go forward without the requisite moving power. This supplied here by Ezra"s special ambition. We notice
1. Its patience. What is said here (in ver. 9) of the length of his journey from Babylon may help to illustrate this. Also what we read afterwards in the detailed account of that journey, his waiting for the Levites, in Ezr_8:15-20, and subsequent delay for fasting (ibid. vers. 21-23). What is worth obtaining is worth waiting for. Perhaps this conviction is, of all necessities, the most necessary for success. (Jam_5:7)
2. Its depth. "Ezra prepared his heart." He was deeply earnest as well as patient; could strike as well as endure; and not only bide his time, but use it too. This a rare combination, but most important, in doing good. (see Gal_6:9; also examples of Jacob, Moses, and Jehoiada, the high priest, in 2Ch_22:12 2Ch_23:1-15)
3. Its direction. Those qualifying attainments we have spoken of were his because he had sought them sought them not only as an end, but as a means also to other ends. How definite and complete the description. "Ezra had prepared his heart, to seek to do and to teach." "To teach in Israel statutes and judgments:" there was the summit of his ambition. First to know and "do" it himself: there was the path, in his judgment, that led to that summit. (comp. 1Ti_4:12, 1Ti_4:16; Tit_2:7) As the poet has written: "Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way.
Such is the opening portrait of the man whom God had called then to this special calling. We may gather from it some general considerations as to God"s preparatory work in such cases. We see, e.g.
1. How far back such work may begin. In this ease of Ezra, e.g. , as far back (shall we say?) as Aaron. Certainly before his own birth (comp. Jer_1:5; Gal_1:15) and thenceforward, continually, in all his early training and studies, and in all the various hereditary and circumstantial influences that made him finally the man that he was. This especially illustrated in the case of the greatest of all these "sent forth". (Heb_3:1) As far back, at least, as the birth of Seth, God was preparing for that of Christ.
2. How far off such work may begin. Here, e.g. , in Babylon for the benefit of those in Jerusalem. So afterwards at Joppa for Cornelius in Cesarea. So in Egypt in Pharaoh"s bed-chamber (Ge 41) for the preservation of those then in Canaan. So in Troas for the benefit of Macedonia; (Act_16:8, Act_16:9) and in Philippi for that of Thyatira (ibid. ver. 14; Rev_2:18) and in Palestine for the salvation of Ethiopia; (Act_8:26-39) and, finally, in heaven itself for the good of earth (Luk_19:10; 1Ti_1:15)
3. How far in both ways it extends. Here the good work afterwards done by Ezra at Jerusalem helped to preserve by purifying the nucleus of the whole Jewish dispersion then residing there; and so, afterwards still, the whole dispersion. The dispersion, thus preserved, prepared the way, as we saw before, for the preaching of the gospel to all nations in all parts of the world; which, again, is to prepare for the restoration of Israel to God"s favour, and the consequent fulness of blessing to all mankind. (Rom_11:12, Rom_11:15) What an extraordinary power and depth and stretch of influence for good is implied in these words for the fathers" sakes."! And how constantly we see similar influence telling on strange peoples and future generations in the history of the world!
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD. Vers. 1-10.
The exodus under Ezra.
these things," viz., the events which culminated in the dedication of the temple, and consequent ordering of the service of God. "In the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia," after an interval of nearly sixty years, during which the house of the Lord had so fallen into disrepair as to need "beautifying," and the civil state of the children of the restoration had become disordered, and needed readjustment. With these purposes, and with a view to leading back to Judaea another detachment of Israelites, Ezra received a commission from the king. In the text
I HE AUTHENTICATES HIMSELF AS THE LEADER OF THIS EXODUS.
1. He evinces his social qualification.
(1) He announces himself as "the son of Seraiah." This was the high priest who was killed by Nebuchadnezzar. (2Ki_25:18, 2Ki_25:21) Ezra was not immediately his son, for even supposing him to have been born the year of Seraiah"s death, that would make him now 122 years of age! The immediate son of Seraiah who went into captivity was Jehozadak. (1Ch_6:14, 1Ch_6:15) Ezra, therefore, was probably the grandson or great-grandson of Jehozadak, and nephew or grand-nephew to Jeshua, the high priest who accompanied Zerubbabel. By calling himself "the son of Seraiah" he seems to have claimed now to be in some sort his representative. Jeshua was probably deceased. This stepping over intermediate generations has other examples in this list (vers. 1-5), for it only reckons sixteen from Seraiah to Aaron, whereas, according to 1Ch 6., there are twenty-two.
(2) Lineage is not without religious as well as civil advantages. Sons of Aaron only could officiate as priests. It was of substantial advantage to have descent from Abraham when temporal blessings of the covenant were limited to his seed, for these were not without their relation to the spiritual, though these are limited to the children of his faith. Children of godly persons are generally those who keep up the succession of the Church both in its membership and ministry. (see Isa_65:23)
2. He evinces his moral qualifications. "He was a ready scribe," etc.
(1) This law is distinguished as that "which the Lord God of Israel had given." The solemnities of Sinai and the miracles of the first exodus are here called to mind. Such a glorious authentication can be pleaded in favour of no other system of religion. Buddhism? Hinduism? Confucianism? Mahommedanism?
(2) This is the law, therefore, to be studied. Its author, God. Its matter, truth the most sublime. Its spirit, holiness. Its end, heaven.
(3) A ready scribe (not a skilful penman only, but an able expounder also) of such a law has the noblest qualifications to be a leader of men.
3. He evinces his political qualification.
(1) He had the commission of the king. "The king granted him all his request." There was great advantage in this, viz., to influence the Jews to muster, to influence the heathen to aid them.
(2) This he had "according to the good hand of the Lord his God upon him." By God"s blessing he had wisdom to influence the king. That blessing also disposed the king to listen. (Ezr_6:22) Note God is in everything good; it is our duty to discern this.
II HE RELATES THE SUCCESS OF HIS UNDERTAKING.
1. In the muster.
(1) He had "some of the children of Israel." Those who came to his standard were volunteers (see ver. 13). They numbered 1773 adult males, which with a proportionate number of women and children would make 9000 persons.
(2) Amongst these were persons of influence. There were "priests and Levites." Of these last some were of the families of the "singers" and of the "porters.
(3) There were also Nethinims, descendants of those "whom David and the princes bad appointed for the service of the Levites". (Ezr_8:20) The limitation of particular functions to families tends to perfect efficiency. The service of God in all its departments should be the most efficient.
2. In the journey.
(1) Incidents are scantily given. The time occupied was four months (ver. 9). It appears to have been, at least for the able-bodied, a march; for whence could carriages be procured for the transport of 9000 persons? Amongst the requisites they were provided with they had tents for their encampment. (Ezr_8:15) During their pilgrimage their hearts would be in Zion. So the Christian pilgrim on this earth, etc.
(2) If incidents are not particularly given, the success of the enterprise is, most emphatically. They went up from Babylon" and "came to Jerusalem" (vers. 6, 8, 9). Far better go up from the mystic Babylon to the mystic Jerusalem than reverse the journey, as too many do. Ezra had not only the skill to plan an exodus, but also the energy to carry it out. Many a good thought perishes for lack of executive ability. Happy is the coincidence of noble thoughts and noble deeds.
3. In the blessing of God.
(1) Ezra "sought the law of the Lord." No study more remunerative more ennobling more pleasing to God.
(2) He sought it in earnest. "Prepared his heart," viz., by raising it above impure prejudices; by seeking the light of the great Inspirer in prayer.
(3) He reduced it to practice. He prepared his heart "to do it." Glorious example. His life was therefore righteous, and his influence consequently great viz.,
(a) With God.
(b) With the king.
(c) With the people.
(4) And "he taught it to Israel." He taught Israel the "statutes," viz., precepts and "judgments," viz., sanctions (1Ki_6:12; Eze_11:12) What a degenerate succession from the noble Ezra were the scribes of our Lord"s day! Let us emulate his qualities. J.A.M.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1-10.
Ezra: his character and work.
The study of human character and of human life is not only an essential part of human knowledge, but of spiritual culture. Biography is a means of grace. We do well to follow in thought the lines along which the noblest of our race have moved: we are thereby attracted toward them, and grow up toward their spiritual stature. We may learn from the life and character of Ezra by considering
I WHAT WE KNOW HE WAS AND DID. He was
1. A priest, claiming descent, as we see, from Aaron (ver. 5); and we doubt not that he discharged, faithfully and conscientiously, the duties of the priesthood. He was, moreover, what came to be called
2. A scribe (ver. 6), i.e.
(1) a student,
(2) an interpreter, and
(3) a copyist of the law.
Ezra "prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach," etc. (ver 10): These three functions of the scribe include the three most important duties a man can undertake: viz.,
(1) his duty to himself, in studying the will of God as revealed in his word, that he may have it in his own heart; and,
(2) his duty to his own generation, in teaching his fellows what he has learned: in interpreting, in "giving the sense", (Neh_8:8) in "teaching statutes and judgments" (ver. 10), i.e. in declaring and enforcing the great truths which God had revealed, especially those which affected the duty and the prospects of the Jewish people; and
(3) his duty to his race, in copying, and thus multiplying and preserving intact the word and the very words of God. Ezra "gave his heart" to this (ver. 10), and the result was that he did it with conspicuous and commanding ability (Nehemiah 8). He was a "ready scribe" (ver. 6).
1. Administrator and reformer. He conducted the party whom he headed to Jerusalem in peace and safety (ver. 8); there he established himself as leader of the people, and set about the work of reforming abuses with a vigorous hand. His ardour led to a serviceable organisation and reform. He seems also to have been, as few strong-willed men are, a co-operator with others. He acted with Nehemiah, the governor, and it may well have been difficult to define strictly their respective offices.
2. Man of influence with his fellows. There was that about him, due to the elevation and disinterestedness of his character as well as to the vigour and robustness of his mind, which gave him strange influence with the king, so that he gave him leave to lead out a large return party, and also entrusted him with large powers in the commission. Men who, like Ezra, earnestly seek the will of God and do what they know to be right (ver. 10), and lay themselves out for "doing good and communicating", (Heb_13:16) are likely to have power with men.
3. Man through whom God wrought. "The hand of the Lord his God was upon him" (vers. 6, 9, etc.). His soul felt the quickening touch of the Divine finger, and it kindled with a sacred glow of piety and zeal. He was moved of God to attempt great things, and helped of God to achieve them. His life flowed on like a fertilising river, and did so because "all his springs were in God". (Psa_87:7) Our character may contain much that is excellent, and our lives include much that is honourable, but except the "hand of the Lord our God be upon us," renewing our heart and blessing our life, we shall not be or do that which is pleasing to him or useful to our fellows.
II GENERALLY RECEIVED TRADITION RESPECTING EZRA. It is commonly believed among the Jews that he instituted the Great Synagogue, that he settled the canon of Scripture, that he himself wrote the books of the Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and (perhaps) Esther, and that he established the system of synagogue worship. This last arose about his time, and, if indeed due to him, is a work which laid his countrymen, and indeed us all (for had not the forms of the synagogue something, if not much, to do with the forms of the early Church?), under a heavy debt of gratitude. Ezra was a holy and zealous man, with a strong mind and a firm will, exercising a commanding influence on his contemporaries, making the word of God the basis and mainspring of his action, seeking and striving for the purity of the people of God. Some things he did we know. Others we know not of. We may not be so great and distinguished as he was. It may not be in our power to render such signal services as he did, or to leave behind us such a reputation as he has left. Yet in the essentials of his character and work we may be like him. We also may
(1) Be devout students of God"s will as revealed in his word our heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it.
(2) Open our hearts to receive heavenly influences; gain by humility, docility, and prayer "the hand of the Lord our God upon us," so that he will dwell in us and work through us.
(3) Make known the will of God to others, teaching in some sphere, higher or humbler, the word of God and the truth of Jesus Christ.
(4) Co-operate cheerfully with others, yielding our preferences to theirs, being "of the same mind in the Lord" with those who are our fellow-labourers in the field of Christian work. And if we do this as did Ezra, we shall, like him,
(5) do that which men will mark and praise, but much more that they will not record; much, however, that will not be unwritten in some book of God, and that will "in no wise lose its reward. C.
HOMILIES BY J.S. EXELL Vers. 1-10.
Ezra the type of as ideal minister.
I THAT HE IS GENERALLY A MAN OF GOOD MORAL ANCESTRY. "The son of Aaron the chief priest" (ver. 5). Ezra was in the line of a renowned and religious ancestry; the past history of Israel would be full of meaning to him; sacred traditions would inspire him in the present national crisis, It is well for a minister to have in his ancestry men whose lives and activities have been intimately associated with the Church; their holy example will animate him; natural sympathy will stimulate him; the sacred enterprise of his family will inspire him; a blessed heritage will be his. It is a privilege for a minister to be in the line of Aaron, if he continue faithfully in the work of Aaron. The inspiration and influence of a holy ancestry is a rich ministerial endowment.
II THAT HE IS A MAN OF SELF-SACRIFICING SPIRIT. Ezra left Babylon for Jerusalem. He exchanged the comfort and influence which he enjoyed in the court of Artaxerxes for the hardships of a perilous journey, and for the broken fortunes of Israel. The true minister will ever be ready to leave Babylon for Jerusalem; he will esteem luxury, and even life itself, as subservient to the welfare of the people of God. Christ left a better court than Babylon, and allied himself with sinful men that he might restore their broken hopes. The early disciples left all and followed Christ; the carnal must be sacrificed to the spiritual.
III THAT HE IS A MAN INTELLIGENTLY TAUGHT IN THE WORD OF GOD. "And he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses" (ver. 6).
1. He intelligently understood the truth.
1. Its divinity.
2. Its obligation.
2. He carefully prepared his moral nature for the reception of the truth. "For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord" (ver. 10).
1. He constantly endeavoured to make his conduct an embodiment of the truth. "And to do it" (ver. 10).
2. He wisely recognised the deeper meanings of the truth. "To seek the law of the Lord
3. He earnestly sought to impart to others a knowledge of the truth. "And to teach in Israel." Thus the true minister will understand the gospel; will prepare his soul by repentance and prayer for the reception of the gospel in all its entirety; will exhibit the gospel in his daily conduct; will seek the hidden messages of the gospel; and will strive to bring mankind to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.
IV THAT HE IS A MAN CAPABLE OF ATTACHING MEN TO HIMSELF (ver 7; compare 8:16, 18). Ezra went not alone to Jerusalem, but succeeded in getting many to accompany him.
1. He awakened sympathy in many of his comrades.
2. He awakened conscience in some of his comrades.
3. He employed appropriate agencies to induce others to join him in the journey. (Ezr_8:18) The true minister will employ all rightful means to induce men to walk with him in the ways of a new life to heaven; he will not isolate himself from men, but take them with him by the force of sympathy.
V THAT HE IS A MAN WHO ENDEAVOURS RIGHTLY TO INFLUENCE THE CIVIL AUTHORITIES. Ezra was evidently on the most friendly terms with Artaxerxes; magistrates and ministers should be in sympathy with each other. The sovereign and the scribe should be mutually helpful; there should be no antagonism between the Church and the state. The true minister will cultivate a judicious co-operation with the "powers that be." Ezra taught the king, hence his knowledge of the God of Israel (ver. 15). It is the office of the minister to instruct men in lofty social station, when they have the opportunity, as well as to aid the poor Israelite. The Church is the best teacher of the state. E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Ezra the son of Seraiah.
Ezr_7:1-10
Ezra the son of Seraiah.
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Ezra the distinguished
Consider Ezra, as--
I. A man of distinguished ancestry.
II. A man of distinguished attainments.
III. A man in the enjoyment of distinguished favours.
IV. A man of distinguished influence.
V. A man of distinguished success.
VI. A man of distinguished aim. He aimed at--
1. The acquisition of the highest knowledge.
2. The practice of the highest knowledge.
3. The impartation of the highest knowledge.
VII. man of distinguished blessing. (William Jones.)
And he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses.
Scribism
Scribism was one of the remarkable features of the later days of Israel. Its existence in so much prominence showed that religion had passed into a new phase, that it had assumed a literary aspect. At first in their religious life the Jews did not give much heed to literary documents. Priestism was regulated by traditional usages rather than by written directions, and justice was administered under the kings according to custom, precedent, and equity. Quite apart from the discussion concerning the antiquity of the Pentateuch, it is certain that its precepts were neither used nor known in the time of Josiah, when the reading of the roll discovered in the temple was listened to with amazement. Still less did prophetism rely on literary resources. What need was there of a book when the Spirit of God was speaking through the audible voice of a living man? The function of the scribes was to collect the sayings and traditions of earlier ages, to arrange and edit the literary fragments of more original minds. Scribism rose when prophecy declined. It was a melancholy confession that the fountains of living water were drying up. It was like an aqueduct laboriously constructed in order to convey stored water to a thirsty people from distant reservoirs. Moreover, scribism degenerated into rabbinism, the scholasticism of the Jews. We may see its counterpart in the Catholic scholasticism which drew supplies from patristic tradition, and again in Protestant scholasticism--which comes nearer to the source of inspiration in the Bible, and yet which stiffened into a traditional interpretation of Scripture, confining its waters to iron pipes of orthodoxy. (W. F. Adeney, M. A.)
According to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.--
Gods helping hand
Ezra was wonderfully blessed in his desire and effort to restore Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Seemingly, the power and the blessing which served Ezra so signally was all from the king, but really it was all from Ezras God, whose will disposed the kings heart, whose providence guided every step, and whose power and Spirit gave efficiency and success to every plan and effort. And so it is in all human planning and effort. The success is just in the measure of Gods hand upon us. If we rise up to build, and do not first enlist His gracious approval, providential interposition, and Spirits agency, our best efforts will miscarry or prove disastrous. If we plan a revival, and put in requisition the agencies, and will the conversion of sinners, we shall be sadly disappointed, if we do not first, by prayer and preparation, array God the Lord on our side, and get hold of His outstretched arm of salvation. It is easy to work, and glorious are the results--all human agencies so readily fall into line and aid us--when the hand of the Lord our God is upon us. The application, the lesson, is therefore obvious--
1. Prayer lies at the foundation of all wise planning and all successful effort to advance Christs kingdom in the world.
2. Gods hand must be upon us--His providence must be enlisted in our behalf--there must be co-operation between the Divine and the human.
3. The secret of declension, of abounding evil, of the lack of converting power in the Church, of the dearth of revivals, is to be found in the fact that Gods hand is not upon us, because of the lack of faith and prayer. (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)
For upon the first day of the first month.--
New Years Day
(a talk with children):--The Bible attaches a great deal of importance to first things; the first-fruits of the earth were sacred, the first batch of bread was a consecrated batch, the first hour of the day, the first day of the week, the first week of the month, the first month of the year, the first year in seven years, and above all the first day of the first month, or in other words New Years Day, were considered specially important. It was on New Years Day that the waters of the deluge finally dried up; it was on New Years Day that the tabernacle was set up for the first time, that the temple was completely consecrated in the days of Hezekiah; and it was on New Years Day that the captives in Babylon began their march out of captivity on their return to Canaan under Ezra. Now if you will just remember these four striking instances you will say that New Years Day has a very important history. How monotonous life would be if there were not something new every day! Why you know that little baby boy at home wants a fresh toy every day. The old toys soon become uninteresting and he wants a new one constantly. Now you used to be the same when you were a very little boy, and you are not very different from that now. All through your little life you have been glad of any little change that gives a novelty and freshness to it. God thinks of all that, and therefore He gives you one thing at a time that will be likely to interest you; and when you have made use of that He gives you another and still another. He gives you life moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day. One day is in one sense very much like the other; and yet not two days are alike, especially when you think of the experiences of each day. Every day has something fresh in it; and God ordains all that in order to make you happy and to enable you to learn constantly, from some experience which each day teaches you, something you have not learnt before. This is specially true with regard to the first day of the New Year. You remember when at school you had a copy book given you. When you had it first of all it was a clean and charming copy book. When you began to write you took a great deal of trouble, especially with the first page. There was not a mistake or blot, or careless line on the whole page. The second page had just one little mistake. Then the third, perhaps, had a blot, and then you got rather careless, and hurried over some of the pages as you drew near the end of your copy book. Your teacher was probably vexed with you because you had not improved as you proceeded with it; then you felt ashamed of yourself, and said, I wish I could begin again. The day at length came when you got a new copy book, and you were permitted to begin again. Now that is just as God deals with you. He gave you a fine copy book last year--it had 365 pages, and clean throughout; and you were expected to write your very best on those pages. I know some of you tried the first day or two, and now and then you tried again; but some of you got rather careless and restless as you advanced. Here and there you did that which was wrong, and that in each case left a blot behind. The Master took note of it, and there it is now in His presence. You cannot be very proud of your last years history. Yet to-day the Lord says, I know all about it; but I will give you a new copy book; and will put that old one aside and forget all about it. I will forgive you; but you must try to do better with this new copy book. Do your very best. If you cannot write as you would, ask Me to help you, and I will take your hand and guide it, and will help you to do what is right and well-pleasing in My sight. When I was a boy at school we used to have in our copy books what we called a script line on the top of the page. We used to copy that. Now the Saviour has put the script line over every day for us. It is His own writing, and we have to copy it. (D. Davies.)
New Years Day
The name of Fernando de Magellan is not so well known as it should be. Tis over 350 years ago since he first discovered for us the Pacific Ocean, and to reach it he had to go through the Straits which have ever since borne his name--straits extending hundreds of miles, sometimes narrowing to the breadth of a broad river, and again expanding to the breadth of seas. What a day that was when, after long windings to and fro, his ships entered the waters of the Pacific! These were the first keels which ploughed it. His ships came back, but their brave commander never did; the silent sea which had beckoned him on lured him to his death. Is it much different with the boom of the clock which tells us we have entered on the unknown stretch of a New Year? I think not; we are all voyaging, and no ship has gone in advance into the New Year. What lies ahead of us? No one knows, and no one needs to know. The important thing is, that with all our tacking to and fro we are seeking to drop our anchor at last in the good haven. If that is our aim, and we are prayerful and earnest about it, it matters little what the year has in store for us: all will prove well and rightly done in the end. Bend heart and head to this, and leave all else with God. (J. Reid Howatt.)
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it.--
Mans duty in relation to Gods redemptive truth
The text indicates mans duty in relation to Gods redemptive truth. The law here refers undoubtedly not to Gods truth in general, but to that truth which He has condescended to reveal to man as a fallen being. In relation to this he has to do three things--
I. He has to learn it. Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord. Two things are to be attended to in our endeavours to attain a knowledge of the truth which God has revealed to fallen man.
1. It must be sought for where it is to be found. Truth from God may be found written in the volume of nature, in the facts of human history, in the constitution of the human soul: but the truth from God which man wants as a sinner is to be found in the Bible. It must be sought for here; it is here under the cover of facts and histories, metaphors and poetries.
2. It must be sought for in the manner in which it is to be found. There is a right way of seeking as well as a wrong way. Ezra had prepared his heart to seek it. It must be sought--
(1) With devout earnestness. It must be regarded as the supreme good.
(2) With persevering diligence. It must be searched for as hidden treasures.
II. He has to practise it. Ezra had not only prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, but to do it. The truth that God has revealed to sinners is not a subject for mere speculative thought or logical debate, it is a practical system.
1. The doing of it is essential to a thorough understanding of it. He that doeth the will of God shall know of the doctrine. There are some things that a man may understand without practising. A man may understand architecture who has never built a house, agriculture who has never cultivated a farm, but no one can understand theology unless he has practised it.
2. The doing of it is necessary in order to be really benefited by it. Truth as ideas in the mind is only like floating clouds, rolling undischarged over the barren soil; but truth as deeds is like living streams so intersecting each other, and winding in every direction, as to touch the whole region into life, verdure, and beauty.
III. He has to preach it. And to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. Gods truth to sinners is to be taught by men. But none can teach it but those who have learnt it and practised: the right kind of preaching is life preaching. This life preaching is--
1. The most intelligible.
2. The most incontrovertible.
3. The most constant.
4. The most Christlike.
Conclusion: We must learn, practise, and preach the Bible. The last can only be done by those who have accomplished the first and second. (Homilist.)
Ezra the scribe
I. His private character.
1. I would call him a manly man. The most uncouth, ignorant country clodhopper may be drilled into being a common soldier, who may pass muster with his fellows in a review. But there are few men who can become great generals. Many are able and willing to follow a leader, but there are only too few who have the power to lead others. In the Church as well as in the State our great want is men, manly men.
2. He was a godly man. It is not always the case that great men are godly men also. Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord his God, and to do it; and that added to his greatness.
3. He was a man of discernment. For himself he found it was wisest and best to seek the law of the Lord and to do it. He saw also that it was righteousness for the nation as well as the individual.
II. Ezra in the discharge of his public duties.
1. As the leader of the returning exiles he was scrupulously honest.
2. He showed boundless trust in the protection of God.
3. As the ruler of the people in Jerusalem he identified himself with the people under him. (James Menzies.)
Ezras exemplary conduct
Contemplate its chief features.
I. The acquisition of divine truth for himself. In aiming at this attainment he adopted--
1. The right method. He sought for it.
2. The right manner. He had prepared--i.e., fixed or set--his heart to seek the law of the Lord.
3. The right place.
II. The embodiment of divine truth in his life. Knowledge misapplied is--
1. Useless (Mat_7:21-27; Jam_1:25).
2. An occasion of condemnation (Luk_12:47-48).
III. The communication of divine truth to others. He taught others both by his speech and by his action. Merely verbal teaching will not bear comparison with that which is also of the character and conduct. The latter is--
1. More intelligible.
2. More continuous.
3. More influential. (William Jones.)
The Christian ministry
We have here pointed out some indispensable qualifications for an able minister of the New Testament.
I. Devotedness to Gods word.
II. Public instruction. (The Preachers Portfolio.)
Divine sequence in service
Everything in its due order is a universal law. This applies to Sabbath-school teaching.
I. There must be diligent searching for the law of Genesis
II. There must be a hearty doing of the discovered will. Alas 1 for him who seeks to teach others laws which he himself does not obey, and to enforce commands which he himself defies.
III. Then may we teach the law of the Lord. Let us give heed to this sequence. It is taught in many parts of Scripture; but let Ezras embodiment of it make it plain. (Sunday School Teacher.)
A mind saturated with Scripture
The late Sydney Dobell, poet and philosopher, and devout Christian, has this remark: The more exquisite your sense of beauty becomes, the dearer will the Holy Scripture become to you, the more natural and indispensable will the wisest and grandest of its sayings become to your heart and mind--as wings to the air, as feet to the ground, as light to the eyes; you will feel certain that the mind was created for the saying, and the saying for the mind. I learned at one period of my life the whole New Testament by rote, and I cannot unlearn the beauty of those sweet old Saxon phrases in which I thought so long. Full of the light that never was on sea or shore, I feel, in using them, to mingle a new element with earthly speech and to relieve, in some sort, with their glory, the dreary lifelessness of words.
Testimonies to the Bible
In this book, said Ewald to Dean Stanley, is all the wisdom of the world. That book, said Andrew Jackson, as he lay on his death-bed, is the rock on which our republic rests. Said the great chemist Faraday, Why will people go astray when they have this blessed book to guide them? If we be ignorant, say the translators of 1611, the Scriptures will instruct us; if out of the way, they will bring us home; if out of order, they will reform us; if in heaviness, they will comfort us; if dull, quicken us; if cold, inflame us. Hooker said, There is scarcely any part of knowledge worthy of the mind of man but from Scripture it may have some direction and light. Theodore Parker said, The literature of Greece, which goes up like incense from that land of temples, has not half the influence of this book of a despised nation. The sun never sets upon its gleaming pages. Heine, the infidel, said, What a book! Vast and wide as the world, rooted in the abysses of creation, and towering up behind the blue secrets of heaven. Sunrise and sunset, promise and fulfilment, birth and death, the whole drama of humanity, all in this book. (Sunday School Times.)
Study of the Scriptures
The Abbe Wincklemann, a classical writer on the fine arts, after descanting with great zeal on the perfection of sculpture, as exhibited in the Apollo Belvedere, said to the students, Now go and study it, and if you see no beauty in it, go again and again, go until you feel it, for be assured it is there. So we say to the Bible student, Go and study the Scripture, and if at first you discover no beauty, go until you feel the power of its glorious truths, for be assured it is there. (J. Bawden Allen.)
The Scriptures a safeguard of a nation
If we wish to know what the Christian tradition has done for us, we must examine the moral standards of nations who have differed from us in not having it. For example, we must look at the Greeks of the fifth century before Christ, or the Romans at or after the period of the Advent. The Christian faith and the Holy Scriptures arm us with the means of neutralising and repelling the assaults of evil in and from ourselves. Mist may rest upon the surrounding landscape, but our own path is always visible. (W. E. Gladstone.)
The inestimable value of the Scriptures
Dr. Smith, of Edinburgh, preaching recently, said the Scriptures were an unalienable treasure of the Church, and urged his hearers to make a more diligent use of them. He told of an Australian farmer, who for years tried vainly to make a competence out of his soil. He transferred it at a low price to a neighbour, who shortly discovered a priceless mine upon the property. So, the preacher said, we are apt to forget that underneath the newspapers and novels which cumber our tables, lies a small volume which is worth inestimably more than all of them.
The Scriptures a winding splendour
Passing from Bonn to Coblentz, on the Rhine, the scenery is comparatively tame. But from Coblentz to Mayence it is enchanting. You sit on deck, and feel as if this last flash of beauty must exhaust the scene; but in a moment there is a turn of the river, which covers up the former view with more luxuriant vineyards, and more defiant castles, and bolder bluffs, vine-wreathed, and grapes so ripe that if the hills be touched they would bleed their rich life away into the bowels of Bingen and Hockheimer. Here and there there are streams of water melting into the river, like smaller joys swallowed in the bosom of a great gladness. And when night begins to throw its black mantle over the shoulder of the hills, and you are approaching disembarkation at Mayence, the lights along the shore fairly bewitch the scene with their beauty, giving one a thrill that he feels but once, yet that lasts him for ever. So this river of Gods Word is not a straight stream, but a winding splendour--at every turn new wonders to attract, still riper vintage pressing to the brink, and crowded castles of strength--Stolzenfels and Johannisberger as nothing compared with the strong tower into which the righteous run and are saved--and our disembarkation at last, in the evening, amid the lights that gleam from the shore of heaven. The trouble is, that the vast majority of Bible voyagers stop at Coblentz, where the chief glories begin. (Christian Age.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 ALTHOUGH the seventh chapter of Ezra begins with no…
EZRA THE SCRIBE
Ezr_7:1-10
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ALTHOUGH the seventh chapter of Ezra begins with no other indication of time than the vague phrase "Now after these things," nearly sixty years had elapsed between the events recorded in the previous chapter and the mission of Ezra here described. We have no history of this long period. Zerubbabel passed into obscurity without leaving any trace of his later years. He had accomplished his work, the temple had been built; but the brilliant Messianic anticipations that had clustered about him at the outset of his career were to await their fulfilment in a greater Son of David, and people could afford to neglect the memory of the man who had only been a sort of temporary trustee of the hope of Israel. We shall come across indications of the effects of social trouble and religious decadence in the state of Jerusalem as she appeared at the opening of this new chapter in her history. She had not recovered a vestige of her ancient civic splendour; the puritan rigour with which the returned exiles had founded a Church among the ruins of her political greatness had been relaxed, so that the one distinguishing feature of the humble colony was in danger of melting away in easy and friendly associations with neighboring peoples. When it came, the revival of zeal did not originate in the Holy City. It sprang up among the Jews at Babylon. The earlier movement in the reign of Cyrus had arisen in the same quarter. The best of Judaism was no product of the soil of Palestine; it was an exotic. The elementary "Torah" of Moses emerged from the desert, with the learning of Egypt as its background, long before it was cultivated at Jerusalem to blossom in the reformation of Josiah. The final edition of The Law was shaped in the Valley of the Euphrates, with the literature and science of Babylon to train its editors for their great task, though it may have received its finishing touches in Jerusalem. These facts by no means obscure the glory of the inspiration and Divine character of The Law. In its theology, in its ethics, in its whole spirit and character, the Pentateuch is no more a product of Babylonian than of Egyptian ideas. Its purity and elevation of character speak all the more emphatically for its Divine origin when we take into account its corrupt surroundings; it was like a white lily growing on a dung-heap.
Still it is important to notice that the great religious revival of Ezras time sprang up on the plains of Babylon, not among the hills of Judah. This involves two very different facts-the peculiar spiritual experience with which it commenced, and the special literary and scientific culture in the midst of which it was shaped.
First, it originated in the experience of the captivity, in humiliation and loss, and after long brooding over the meaning of the great chastisement. The exiles were like poets who "learn in suffering what they teach in song." This is apparent in the pathetic psalms of the same period, and in the writings of the visionary of Chebar, who contributed a large share to the new movement in view of the re-establishment of religious worship at Jerusalem.
Thus Jerusalem was loved by the exiles, the temple pictured in detail to the imagination of men who never trod its sacred courts, and the sacrificial system most carefully studied by people who had no means of putting it in practice. No doubt The Law now represented an intellectual rather than a concrete form of religion. It was an ideal. So long as the real is with us, it tends to depress the ideal by its material bulk and weight. The ideal is elevated in the absence of the real. Therefore the pauses of life are invaluable; by breaking through the iron routine of habit, they give us scope for the growth of larger ideas that may lead to better attainments.
Secondly, this religious revival appeared in a centre of scientific and literary culture. The Babylonians "had cultivated arithmetic, astronomy, history, chronology, geography, comparative philology, and grammar." In astronomy they were so advanced that they had mapped out the heavens, catalogued the fixed stars, calculated eclipses, and accounted for them correctly. Their enormous libraries of terra-cotta, only now being unearthed, testify to their literary activity. The Jews brought back from Babylon the names of the months, the new form of letters used in writing their books, and many other products of the learning and science of the Euphrates. Internally the religion of Israel is solitary, pure, Divine. Externally the literary form of it, and the physical conception of the universe which it embodies, owe not a little to the light which God had bestowed upon the people of Babylon; just as Christianity, in soul and essence the religion of Jesus of Nazareth, was shaped in theory by the thought, and in discipline by the law and order, with which God had endowed the two great European races of Greece and Rome.
The chronicler introduces Ezra with a brief sketch of his origin and a bare outline of his expedition to Jerusalem. {Ezr_7:7-9} He then next transcribes a copy of the edict of Artaxerxes which authorised the expedition. {Ezr_7:11-26} After this he inserts a detailed account of the expedition from the pen of Ezra himself, so that here the narrative proceeds in the first person-though, in the abrupt manner of the whole book, without a word of warning that this is to be the case. {Ezr_7:1-10}
In the opening verses of Ezra 7. the chronicler gives an epitome of the genealogy of Ezra, passing over several generations, but leading up to Aaron. Ezra, then, could claim a high birth. He was a born priest of the select family of Zadok, but not of the later house of high-priests. Therefore the privileges which are assigned to that house in the Pentateuch cannot be accounted for by ascribing ignoble motives of nepotism to its publisher. Though Ezra is named "The Priest," he is more familiarly known to us as "The Scribe." The chronicler calls him "a ready scribe" (or, a scribe skilful) "in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given." Originally the title "Scribe" was used for town recorders and registrars of the census. Under the later kings of Judah, persons bearing this name were attached to the court as the writers and custodians of state documents. But these are all quite distinct from the scribes who appeared after the exile. The scribes of later days were guardians and interpreters of the written Torah, the sacred law. They appeared with the publication and adoption of the Pentateuch. They not only studied and taught this complete law; they interpreted and applied its precepts. In so doing they had to pronounce judgments of their own. Inasmuch as changing circumstances necessarily required modifications in rules of justice, while The Law could not be altered after Ezras day, great ingenuity was required to reconcile the old law with the new decisions. Thus arose sophistical casuistry. Then in "fencing" The Law the scribes added precepts of their own to prevent men from coming near the danger of transgression.
Scribism was one of the most remarkable features of the later days of Israel. Its existence in so much prominence showed that religion had passed into a new phase, that it had assumed a literary aspect. The art of writing was known, indeed, in Egypt and Babylon before the exodus; it was even practised in Palestine among the Hittites as early as Abraham. But at first in their religious life the Jews did not give much heed to literary documents. Priestism was regulated by traditional usages rather than by written directions, and justice was administered under the kings according to custom, precedent, and equity. Quite apart from the discussion concerning the antiquity of the Pentateuch, it is certain that its precepts were neither used nor known in the time of Josiah, when the reading of the roll discovered in the temple was listened to with amazement. Still less did prophetism rely on literary resources. What need was there of a book when the Spirit of God was speaking through the audible voice of a living man? At first the prophets were men of action. In more cultivated times they became orators, and then their speeches were sometimes preserved-as the speeches of Demosthenes were preserved-for future reference, after their primary end had been served. Jeremiah found it necessary to have a scribe, Baruch, to write down his utterances. This was a further step in the direction of literature, and Ezekiel was almost entirely literary, for his prophecies were most of them written in the first instance. Still they were prophecies, i.e., they were original utterances, drawn directly from the wells of inspiration. The function of the scribes was more humble-to collect the sayings and traditions of earlier ages; to arrange and edit the literary fragments of more original minds. Their own originality was almost confined to their explanations of difficult passages, or their adaptation of what they received to new needs and new circumstances. Thus we see theology passing into the reflective stage; it is becoming historical; it is being transformed into a branch of archaeology. Ezra the Scribe is nervously anxious to claim the authority of Moses for what he teaches. The robust spirit of Isaiah was troubled with no such scruple. Scribism rose when prophecy declined. It was a melancholy confession that the fountains of living water were drying up. It was like an aqueduct laboriously constructed in order to convey stored water to a thirsty people from distant reservoirs. The reservoirs may be full, the aqueduct may be sound, still who would not rather drink of the sparkling stream as it springs from the rock? Moreover scribism degenerated into rabbinism, the scholasticism of the Jews. We may see its counterpart in the Catholic scholasticism which drew supplies from patristic tradition, and again in Protestant scholasticism-which came nearer to the source of inspiration in the Bible, and yet which stiffened into a traditional interpretation of Scripture, confining its waters to iron pipes of orthodoxy.
But some men refuse to be thus tied to antiquarianism. They dare to believe that the Spirit of God is still in the world, whispering in the fancy of little children, soothing weary souls, thundering in the conscience of stoners, enlightening honest inquirers, guiding perplexed men of faith. Nevertheless we are always in danger of one or other of the two extremes of formal scholasticism and indefinite mysticism. The good side of the scribes function is suggestive of much that is valuable. If God did indeed speak to men of old "by divers portions and in divers manners," {Heb_1:1} what He said must be of the greatest value to us, for truth in its essence is eternal. We Christians have the solid foundation of a historical faith to build upon, and we cannot dispense with our gospel narratives and doctrinal epistles. What Christ was, what Christ did, and the meaning of all this, is of vital importance to us, but it is chiefly important because it enables us to see what He is today-a Priest ever living to make intercession for us, a Deliverer who is even now able to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God by Him, a present Lord who claims the active loyalty of every fresh generation of the men and women for whom He died in the far-off past. We have to combine the concrete historical religion with the inward, living, spiritual religion to reach a faith that shall be true both objectively and subjectively-true to the facts of the universe, and true to personal experience.
Ezra accomplished his great work, to a large extent, because he ventured to be more than a scribe. Even when he was relying on the authority of antiquity, the inspiration which was in him saved him from a pedantic adherence to the letter of the Torah as he had received it. The modification of The Law when it was reissued by the great scribe, which is so perplexing to some modern readers, is a proof that the religion of Israel had not yet lost vitality and settled down into a fossil condition. It was living, therefore it was growing, and in growing it was casting its old shell and evolving a new vesture better adapted to its changed environment. Is not this just a signal proof that God had not deserted His people?
Ezra is presented to us as a man of a deeply devout nature. He cultivated his own personal religion before he attempted to influence his compatriots. The chronicler tells us that he had prepared (directed) his heart, to seek the law of the Lord and to do it. With our haste to obtain "results" in Christian service, there is danger lest the need of personal preparation should be neglected. But work is feeble and fruitless if the worker is inefficient, and he must be quite as inefficient if he has not the necessary graces as if he had not the requisite gifts. Over and above the preparatory intellectual culture-never more needed than in our own day-there is the all-essential spiritual training. We cannot effectually win others to that truth which has no place in our own hearts. Enthusiasm is kindled by enthusiasm. The fire must be first burning within the preacher himself if he would light it in the breasts of other men. Here lies the secret of the tremendous influence Ezra exerted when he came to Jerusalem. He was an enthusiast for the law he so zealously advocated. Now enthusiasm is not the creation of a moments thought; it is the outgrowth of long meditation, inspired by deep, passionate love. It shows itself in the experience expressed by the Psalmist when he said, "While I mused the fire burned." {Psa_39:3} Ours is not an age of musing. But if we have no time to meditate over the great verities of our faith, the flames will not be kindled, and in place of the glowing fire of enthusiasm we shall have the gritty ashes of officialism.
Ezra turned his thoughts to the law of his God; he took this for the subject of his daily meditation, brooding over it until it became a part of his own thinking. This is the way a character is made. Men have larger power over their thoughts than they are inclined to admit, and the greatness or the meanness, the purity or the corruption of their character depends on the way in which that power is used. Evil thoughts may come unbidden to the purest mind for Christ was tempted by the devil, but such thoughts can be resisted, and treated as unwelcome intruders. The thoughts that are welcomed and cherished, nourished in meditation, and sedulously cultivated-these bosom friends of the inner man determine what he himself is to become. To allow ones mind to he treated as the plaything of every idle reverie-like a boat drifting at the mercy of wind and current with.-out a hand at the helm-is to court intellectual and moral shipwreck. The first condition of achieving success in self-culture is to direct the course of the thinking aright. St. Paul enumerated a list of good and honourable subjects to bid us "think on" such things. {Php_4:8}
The aim of Ezras meditation was three-old. First, he would "seek the law of the Lord," for the teacher must begin with understanding the truth, and this may involve much anxious searching. Possibly Ezra had to pursue a literary inquiry, hunting up documents, comparing data, arranging and harmonising scattered fragments. But the most important part of his seeking was his effort to find the real meaning and purpose of The Law. It was in regard to this that he would have to exercise his mind most earnestly Secondly, his aim was "to do it." He would not attempt to preach what he had not tried to perform, he would test the effect of his doctrine on himself before venturing to prescribe it for others. Thus he would be most sure of escaping a subtle snare which too often entraps the preacher. When the godly man of business reads his Bible, it is just to find light and food for his own soul, but when the preacher turns the pages of the sacred book, he is haunted by the anxiety to light upon suitable subjects for his sermons. Every man who handles religious truths in the course of his work is in danger of coming to regard those truths as the tools of his trade. If he succumbs to this danger it will be to his own personal loss, and then even as instruments in his work the degraded truths will be blunt and inefficient, because a man can never know the doctrine until he has begun to obey the commandment. If religious teaching is not to be pedantic and unreal, it must be interpreted by experience. The most vivid teaching is a transcript from life. Thirdly, Ezra would "teach in Israel statutes and judgments." This necessarily comes last-after the meditation, after the experience.
But it is of great significance as the crown and finish of the rest. Ezra is to be his nations instructor. In the new order the first place is not to be reserved for a king; it is assigned to a schoolmaster.
This will be increasingly the case as knowledge is allowed to prevail, and as truth is permitted to sway the lives of men and fashion the history of communities.
So far we have Ezras own character and culture. But there was another side to his preparation for his great life-work of which the chronicler took note, and which he described in a favorite phrase of Ezras, a phrase so often used by the scribe that the later writer adopted it quite naturally. Ezras request to he permitted to go up to Jerusalem with a new expedition is said to have been granted him by the king "according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him." {Ezr_7:6} Thus the chronicler here acknowledges the Divine hand in the whole business, as he has the inspired insight to do again and again in the course of his narrative. The special phrase thus borrowed from Ezra is rich in meaning. In an earlier passage the chronicler noticed that "the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews." {Ezr_5:5} Now, in Ezras phrase, it is the hand of his God that is on Ezra. The expression gives us a distinct indication of the Divine activity. God works, and, so to speak, uses His hand. It also suggests the nearness of God. The hand of God is not only moving and acting; it is upon Ezra. God touches the man, holds him, directs him, impels him; and, as he shows elsewhere, Ezra is conscious of the influence, if not immediately, yet by means of a devout study of the providential results. This Divine power even goes so far as to move the Persian monarch. The chronicler ascribes the conduct of successive kings of Persia to the immediate action of God. But here it is connected with Gods hand being on Ezra. When God is holding and directing His servants, even external circumstances are found to work for their good, and even other men are induced to further the same end. This brings us to the kernel, the very essence of religion. That was not found in Ezras wisely chosen meditations, nor was it to be seen in his devout practices. Behind and beneath the mans earnest piety was the unseen but mighty action of God, and here, in the hand of his God resting upon him, was the root of all his religious life. In experience the human and the Divine elements of religion are inextricably blended together; but the vital element, that which originates and dominates the whole, is the Divine. There is no real, living religion without it. It is the secret of energy and the assurance of victory. The man of true religion is he who has the hand of God resting upon him, he whose thought and action are inspired and swayed by the mystic touch of the Unseen.
EZRAS EXPEDITION
Ezr_7:1-8
LIKE the earlier pilgrimage of Zerubbabel and his companions, Ezras great expedition was carried out under a commission from the Persian monarch of his day. The chronicler simply calls this king "Artaxerxes" (Artahshashta), a name borne by three kings of Persia, but there can be no reasonable doubt that his reference is to the son and successor of Xerxes - known by the Greeks as "Macrocheir," and by the Romans as "Longimanus"-Artaxerxes "of the long hand." for this Artaxerxes alone enjoyed a sufficiently extended reign to include both the commencement of Ezras public work and the later scenes in the life of Nehemiah which the chronicler associates with the same king. Artaxerxes was but a boy when he ascended the throne, and the mission of Ezra took place in his earlier years, while the generous enthusiasm of the kindly sovereign-whose gentleness has become historic-had not yet been crushed by the cares of empire. In accordance with the usual style of our narrative, we have his decree concerning the Jews preserved and transcribed in full; and yet here, as in other cases, we must make some allowance either for the literary freedom of the chronicler, or for the Jewish sympathies of the translator; for it cannot be supposed that a heathen, such as Artaxerxes undoubtedly was, would have shown the knowledge of the Hebrew religion, or have owned the faith in it, which the edict as we now have it suggests. Nevertheless, here again, there is no reason to doubt the substantial accuracy of the document, for it is quite in accord with the policy of the previous kings Cyrus and Darius. and in its special features it entirely agrees with the circumstances of the history.
This edict of Longimanus goes beyond any of its predecessors in favoring the Jews, especially with regard to their religion. It is directly and personally addressed to Ezra. whom the king may have known as an earnest, zealous leader of the Hebrew community at Babylon, and through him it grants to all Jewish exiles who wish to go up to Jerusalem liberty to return to the home of their fathers, it may be objected that after the decree of Cyrus any such fresh sanction should not have been needed. But two generations had passed away since the pilgrimage of the first body of returning captives, and during this long time many things had happened to check the free action of the Jews and to cast reproach upon their movements. For a great expedition to start now without any orders from the reigning monarch might excite his displeasure, and a subject people who were dependent for their very existence on the good-will of an absolute sovereign would naturally hesitate before they ventured to rouse his suspicions by undertaking any considerable migration on their own account.
But Artaxerxes does much more than sanction the journey to Jerusalem; he furthers the object of this journey with royal bounty, and he lays a very important commission on Ezra, a commission which carries with it the power, if not the name, of a provincial magistrate. In the first place, the edict authorises a state endowment of the Jewish religion. Ezra is to carry great stores to the poverty-stricken community at Jerusalem. These are made up in part of contributions from the Babylonian Jews, in part of generous gifts from their friendly neighbours, and in part of grants from the royal treasury. The temple has been rebuilt, and the funds now accumulated are not like the bulk of those collected in the reign of Cyrus for a definite object, the cost of which might be set down to the "Capital Account" in the restoration of the Jews; they are destined in some measure for improvements to the structure, but they are also to be employed in maintenance charges, especially in supporting the costly services of the temple. Thus the actual performance of the daily ritual at the Jerusalem sanctuary is to be kept up by means of the revenues of the Persian Empire. Then, the edict proceeds to favour the priesthood by freeing that order from the burden of taxation. This "clerical immunity," which suggests an analogy with the privileges the Christian clergy prized so highly in the Middle Ages, is an indirect form of increased endowment, but the manner in which the endowment is granted calls especial attention to the privileged status of the order that enjoys it. Thus the growing importance of the Jerusalem hierarchy is openly fostered by the Persian king. Still further, Artaxerxes adds to his endowment of the Jewish religion a direct legal establishment. Ezra is charged to see that the law of his God is observed throughout the whole region extending up from the Euphrates to Jerusalem. This can only be meant to apply to the Jews who were scattered over the wide area, especially those of Syria. Still the mandate is startling enough, especially when we take into account the heavy sanctions with which it is weighted, for Ezra has authority given him to enforce obedience by excommunication, by fine, by imprisonment, and even by the death-penalty. "The law of his God" is named side by side with "the law of the king," {Ezr_7:26} and the two are to be obeyed equally. Fortunately, owing to the unsettled condition of the country as well as to Ezras own somewhat unpractical disposition, the reformer never seems to have put his great powers fully to the test.
Now, as in the previous cases of Cyrus and Darius, we are confronted with the question, How came the Persian king to issue such a decree? It has been suggested that as Egypt was in revolt at the time, he desired to strengthen the friendly colony at Jerusalem as a western bulwark. But, as we have seen in the case of Cyrus, the Jews were too few and feeble to be taken much account of among the gigantic forces of the vast empire; and, moreover, it was not the military fortification of Jerusalem-certainly a valuable stronghold when well maintained-but the religious services of the temple and the observance of The Law that this edict aimed at aiding and encouraging. No doubt in times of unsettlement the king would behave most favourably towards a loyal section of his people. Still, more must be assigned as an adequate motive for his action. Ezra is charged as a special commissioner to investigate the condition of the Jews in Palestine. He is to "inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem." {Ezr_7:14} Inasmuch as it was customary for the Persian monarchs to send out inspectors from time to time to examine and report on the condition of the more remote districts of their extensive empire, it has been plausibly suggested that Ezra may have been similarly employed. But in the chroniclers report of the edict we read, immediately after the injunction to make the investigation, an important addition describing how this was to be done, viz., "According to the law of thy God which is in thine hand," {Ezr_7:14} which shows that Ezras inquiry was to be of a religious character, and as a preliminary to the exaction of obedience to the Jewish law. It may be said that this clause was not a part of the original decree, but the drift of the edict is religious throughout rather than political, and therefore the clause in question is fully in harmony with its character. There is one sentence which is of the deepest significance, if only we can believe that it embodies an original utterance of the king himself-"Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?" {Ezr_7:23} While his empire was threatened by dangerous revolts, Artaxerxes seems to have desired to conciliate the God whom the most devout of his people regarded with supreme awe.
What is more clear and at the same time more important is the great truth detected by Ezra and recorded by him in a grateful burst of praise. Without any warning the chronicler suddenly breaks off his own narrative, written in the third person, to insert a narrative written by Ezra himself in the first person-beginning at Ezr_7:27 and continued down to Ezra 10. The scribe opens by blessing God "the Lord God of our fathers," who had "put such a thing in the kings heart as to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem." {Ezr_7:27} This, then, was a Divine movement. It can only be accounted for by ascribing the original impulse to God. Natural motives of policy or of superstition may have been providentially manipulated, but the hand that used them was the hand of God. The man who can perceive this immense fact at the very outset of his career is fit for any enterprise. His transcendent faith will carry him through difficulties that would be insuperable to the worldly schemer.
Passing from the thought of the Divine influence on Artaxerxes. Ezra further praises God because he has himself received "mercy before the king and his counsellors, and before all the kings mighty princes." {Ezr_7:28} This personal thanksgiving is evidently called forth by the scribes consideration of the part assigned to him in the royal edict. There was enough in that edict to make the head of a self-seeking, ambitious man swim with vanity. But we can see from the first that Ezra is of a higher character. The burning passion that consumes him has not a particle of hunger for self-aggrandisement, it is wholly generated by devotion to the law of his God. In the narrowness and bigotry that characterise his later conduct as a reformer, some may suspect the action of that subtle self-will which creeps unawares into the conduct of some of the noblest men. Still the last thing that Ezra seeks, and the last thing that he cares for when it is thrust upon him, is the glory of earthly greatness.
Ezras aim in leading the expedition may be gathered from the reflection of it in the royal edict, since that edict was doubtless drawn up with the express purpose of furthering the project of the favoured Jew. Ezra puts the beautifying of the temple in the front of his grateful words of praise to God. But the personal commission entrusted to Ezra goes much further. The decree significantly recognises the fact that he is to carry up to Jerusalem a copy of the Sacred Law. It refers to "the law of thy God which is in thine hand." {Ezr_7:14} We shall hear more of this hereafter. Meanwhile it is important to see that the law, obedience to which Ezra is empowered to exact, is to be conveyed by him to Jerusalem. Thus he is both to introduce it to the notice of the people, and to see that it does not remain a dead letter among them. He is to teach it to those who do not know it. {Ezr_7:25} At the same time these people are distinctly separated from others, who are expressly described as "all such as know the laws of thy God." {Ezr_7:25} This plainly implies that both the Jerusalem Jews, and those west of the Euphrates generally, were not all of them ignorant of the Divine Torah. Some of them, at all events, knew the laws they were to be made to obey. Still they may not have possessed them in any written form. The plural term "laws" is here used, while the written compilation which Ezra carried up with him is described in the singular as "The Law." Ezra, then, having searched out The Law and tested it in his own experience, is now eager to take it up to Jerusalem, and get it executed among his fellow-countrymen at the religious metropolis as well as among the scattered Jews of the provincial districts. His great purpose is to make what he believes to be the will of God known, and to see that it is obeyed. The very idea of a Torah implies a Divine will in religion. It presses upon our notice the often-forgotten fact that God has something to say to us about our conduct, that when we are serving Him it is not enough to be zealous, that we must also be obedient. Obedience is the keynote of Judaism. It is not less prominent in Christianity. The only difference is that Christians are freed from the shackles of a literal law in order that they may carry out "the law of liberty," by doing the will of God from the heart as loyal disciples of Jesus Christ, so that for us, as for the Jews, obedience is the most fundamental fact of religion. We can walk by faith in the freedom of sons, but that implies that we have "the obedience of faith." The ruling principle of our Lords life is expressed in the words "I delight to do Thy will, O My God," and this must be the ruling principle in the life of every true Christian.
Equipped with a royal edict, provided with rich contributions, inspired with a great religious purpose, confident that the hand of his God was upon him, Ezra collected his volunteers, and proceeded to carry out his commission with all practicable speed. In his record of the journey, he first sets down a list of the families that accompanied him. It is interesting to notice names that had occurred in the earlier list of the followers of Zerubbabel, showing that some of the descendants of those who refused to go on the first expedition took part in the second. They remind us of Christiana and her children, who would not join the Pilgrim when he set out from the City of Destruction, but who subsequently followed in his footsteps.
But there was little at Jerusalem to attract a new expedition, for the glamour which had surrounded the first return, with a son of David at its head, had faded in grievous disappointments, and the second series of pilgrims had to carry with them the torch with which to rekindle the flames of devotion.
Ezra states that when he had marshalled his forces he spent three days with them by a river called the "Ahava." apparently because it flowed by a town of that name. The exact site of the camp cannot be determined, although it could not have been far from Babylon, and the river must have been either one of the tributaries of the Euphrates or a canal cut through its alluvial plain. The only plausible conjecture of a definite site settles upon a place now known as Hit, in the neighbourhood of some bitumen springs, and the interest of this place may be found in the fact that here the usual caravan route leaves the fertile Valley of the Euphrates and plunges into the waterless desert. Even if Ezra decided to avoid the difficult desert track, and to take his heavy caravan round through Northern Syria by way of Aleppo and the Valley of the Orontes-an extended journey which would account for the three months spent on the road-it would still be natural for him to pause at the parting of the ways and review the gathering host. One result of this review was the startling discovery that there were no Levites in the whole company. We were struck with the fact that but a very small and disproportionate number of these officials accompanied the earlier pilgrimage of Zerubbabel, and we saw the probable explanation in the disappointment if not the disaffection of the Levites at their degradation by Ezekiel. The more rigid arrangement of Ezras edition of The Law, which gave them a definite and permanent place in a second rank, below the priesthood, was not likely to encourage them to volunteer for the new expedition. Nothing is more difficult than self-effacement, even in the service of God.
There was a community of Levites at a place called "Casiphia," under the direction of a leader named Iddo. It would be interesting to think that this community was really a sort of Levitical college, a school of students of the Torah, but we have no data to go upon in forming an opinion. One thing is certain. We cannot suppose that the new edition of The Law had been drawn up in this community of the Levites, because Ezra had started with it in his hand as the charter of his great enterprise; nor, indeed, in any other Levitical college, because it was not at all according to the mind of the Levites.
After completing his company by the addition of "the Levites," Ezra made a solemn religious preparation for his journey. Like the Israelites after the defeat at Gibeah in their retributive war with Benjamin; {Jdg_20:26} like the penitent people at Mizpeh, in the days of Samuel, when they put away their idols; {1Sa_7:6} like Jehoshaphat and his subjects when rumours of a threatened invasion filled them with apprehension, {2Ch_20:3} -Ezra and his followers fasted and humbled themselves before God in view of their hazardous undertaking. The fasting was a natural sign of the humiliation, and this prostration before God was at once a confession of sin and an admission of absolute dependence on His mercy. Thus the people reveal themselves as the "poor in spirit" to whom our Lord directs His first beatitude. They are those who humble themselves, and therefore those whom God will exalt.
We must not confound this state of self-humiliation before God with the totally different condition of abject fear which shrinks from danger in contemptible cowardice. The very opposite to that is the attitude of these humble pilgrims. Like the Puritan soldiers who became bold as lions before man in the day of battle, just because they had spent the night in fasting and tears and self-abasement before God, Ezra and his people rose from their penitential fast, calmly prepared to face all dangers in the invincible might of God. There seems to have been some enemy whom Ezra knew to be threatening his path, for when he got safely to the end of his journey he gave thanks for Gods protection from this foe, {Ezr_8:31} and, in any case, so wealthy a caravan as his was would provoke the cupidity of the roving hordes of Bedouin that infested the Syrian wastes. Ezras first thought was to ask for an escort, but he tells us that he was ashamed to do so, as this would imply distrust in God. {Ezr_8:22} Whatever we may think of his logic, we must be struck by his splendid faith, and the loyalty which would run a great risk rather than suffer what might seem like dishonour to his God. Here was one of Gods heroes. We cannot but connect the preliminary fast with this courageous attitude of Ezras. So in tales of chivalry we read how knights were braced by prayer and fast and vigil to enter the most terrible conflicts with talismans of victory. In an age of rushing activity it is hard to find the hidden springs of strength in their calm retreats. The glare of publicity starts us on the wrong track, by tempting us to advertise our own excellences, instead of abasing ourselves in the dust before God. Yet is it not now as true as ever that no boasted might of man can be in any way comparable to the Divine strength which takes possession of those who completely surrender their wills to God? Happy are they who have the grace to walk in the valley of humiliation, for this leads to the armoury of supernatural power!
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.] We now enter upon the…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.] We now enter upon the second and concluding part of this book, which treats of the return of certain Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem under Ezra, and the reformation which he accomplished amongst the people (chap. Ezr_7:10). The first section of this part gives the history of the return of Ezra and his company from Babylon to Jerusalem, with the names of “the chief of their fathers” and the numbers of the respective families (chaps. 7 and 8). The present chapter contains—(i.) The genealogy of Ezra and a brief statement of his journey with others to Jerusalem (Ezr_7:1-10). (ii.) The commission given by Artaxerxes the king to Ezra (Ezr_7:11-26). (iii.) Ezra’s praise to God for the favours received from the king (Ezr_7:27-28).
Ezr_7:1. Now after these things] Fifty-seven years had elapsed since the events recorded in the close of the preceding chapter. “Such gaps,” as Schultz observes, “the ancient sacred history has again and again; it is silent respecting the times between Joseph and Moses, respecting the time passed by the generation rejected of God in the wilderness, respecting the time of the exile. There was lacking in these times useful material calculated for the edification of the congregation.” Artaxerxes king of Persia] Heb. Artachshasta. Artaxerxes Longimanus, son of Xerxes and grandson of Darius, is meant. Ezra the son of Seraiah] “Ezra was probably the great-great-grandson of Seraiah; for the high priest Jeshua, who had gone to Jerusalem seventy-eight years before with Zerubbabel, was a grandson of Seraiah. One hundred and thirty years had already passed since the execution of the latter (2Ki_25:18-21) in the year 588.”—Schultz. According to the usage of the writers of Scripture, every descendant is designated a “son,” and every progenitor, a “father.”
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Ezr_7:1-5] A number of generations are not mentioned between Ezra and Aaron. Three names are omitted between Ezra and Seraiah (Ezr_7:1), and “in Ezr_7:3 six members of the line are passed over between Azariah and Meraioth (according to 1Ch_6:7-10), without doubt only for the sake of brevity, as is frequently the case in the longer genealogies.”
Ezr_7:6. A ready scribe in the law of Moses] “The word סוֹפֵר means in older works writer or secretary; but even as early as Jer_8:8, the lying pen of the סֹפְרִים is spoken of, and here therefore סוֹפֵר has already attained the meaning of one learned in the Scripture, one who has made the written law a subject of investigation. Ezra is, however, the first of whom the predicate הַסּ֜פֵר, ὁ γραμματεύς is used as a title.”—Keil. Which the Lord God of Israel had given] It thoroughly accords with the piety of Ezra to regard and speak of the law as the gift of God. And the king granted him all his request] “The question how this favouring of Ezra is related to the writing of Artaxerxes given in chap. 4, is best answered by the fact that Ezra’s journey occurred somewhat later, that Artaxerxes, since he had been moved to that writing by his officials, had paid more attention to the Jews, and that he furthered Ezra’s journey in order to strengthen the Jewish congregation; perhaps also in order to show thereby that he actually was ready to be as just as possible, notwithstanding the prohibition issued respecting the walls of the city. It is shown then by this approval that he would perhaps recall at a suitable time even that prohibition which indeed had been issued at first only provisionally.”—Schultz. According to the hand of the Lord his God upon him] This expression is found only here and in Ezr_7:9; Ezr_7:28; Ezr_8:18; Neh_2:8; Neh_2:18; and with slight variations in chap. Ezr_8:22; Ezr_8:31; and it signifies, according to the favour and furtherance which God had granted to him.
Ezr_7:7. And there went up some of the children of Israel] &c. (Comp. chap. Ezr_2:70.)
Ezr_7:9. For upon the first day of the first month] &c. The journey occupied exactly four months, which seems an unnecessarily long time. “The direct distance of Babylon from Jerusalem,” says Rawlinson, “is no more than about five hundred and twenty miles; and it may therefore seem surprising that the journey should have occupied four months. But no doubt the route followed was that circuitous one by Carchemish and the Orontes valley, which was ordinarily taken by armies or large bodies of men, and which increased the distance to about nine hundred miles. Still the time occupied is long, and must be accounted for by the dangers alluded to in chap. Ezr_8:22; Ezr_8:31, which may have necessitated delays and detours to avoid conflicts.” Moreover, we read of one rest of three days by the river of Ahava (chap. Ezr_8:15), and there might have been other rests during the journey.
Ezr_7:12. Artaxerxes, king of kings] One of the recognised titles of the Persian monarchs, to whom were subject a number of tributary sovereigns. Perfect peace] “Peace” has been supplied by the translators of the A.V., and that improperly, in the opinion of some Hebraists. The explanation of גְּסִיר (from נָּמַר = to complete) is difficult. Fuerst says it is the passive participle. Keil is inclined “to regard it as an adverb used adjectively: To the scribe in the law of God perfectly, for the perfect scribe, &c., corresponding with the translation of the Vulgate, doctissimo.” The correct meaning is probably that which is given in the margin of the A.V., “Unto Ezra the priest, a perfect scribe of the law of the God of heaven.” And at such a time] Rather: et cetera, and so forth. (Comp. chap. Ezr_4:11.) The letter of the king is given in the Chaldee original.
Ezr_7:14. His seven counsellors] constituted the supreme court of the kingdom. (Comp. Est_1:14.) To inquire concerning Judah] &c. “Probably the commission was general to inquire into the state of the province. According to Xenophon (Cyrop. VIII., vi. 16), it was a part of the Persian system for the king to send an officer once a year into each province to inspect and report upon it.”—Rawlinson. According to the law of thy God] &c. i.e. “righteously and justly, according to the principle of thy religion.”
Ezr_7:15-16. And to carry the silver and gold] &c. “Three kinds of offerings for the Temple are here spoken of: 1st, the gifts of the king and his counsellors for the service of the God of Israel; 2d, the gold and the silver that Ezra should obtain in the province of Babylon, i.e. by the collection which he was consequently empowered to make among the non-Israelite population of Babylon; 3d, the freewill offerings of his fellow-countrymen.”—Keil.
Ezr_7:20. Out of the king’s treasure house] i.e. the royal treasury. “The Persian system of taxing the provinces through the satraps involved the establishment in each province of at least one local treasury. Such treasuries are mentioned occasionally in Greek history (see Arrian, Exp. Alex. I. 17; III. 18, 19, &c.).”—Rawlinson.
Ezr_7:22. Here the limit is stated which the treasurers were not to exceed in their grants to Ezra. An hundred talents of silver] According to Bishop Cumberland’s computation of the Hebrew silver talent, this would amount to about £35,350. According to Dr. Arbuthnot’s tables it would amount to £34,218, 15s. But according to Mr. R. S. Poole (“Dict. of the Bible,” articles, Money, and Weights and Measures), it would be as much as £40,000. But it is not certain that the Hebrew talent was meant. An hundred measures of wheat] Margin: Chald. cors. Cor is the later word for homer. It was equal to ten ephas or baths, almost two bushels (1Ki_5:11; Eze_45:14). The bath was equal to seven and a half gallons, according to Dr. Arbuthnot; but, according to the Rabbinists, to between four and five gallons, while, according to Josephus, it was between eight and nine gallons. Wheat, wine, oil, and salt] were required by the Jews for their meat offerings; and “as the Persian tribute was paid partly in money and partly in kind, the treasuries would be able to supply them as readily as they could furnish money.”
Ezr_7:23. Let it be diligently done] Keil translates, “completely done.” So does Schultz also. Why should there be wrath] &c. (Comp. Ezr_6:10.)
Ezr_7:24. We also certify you] or, “and to you it is made known.” “The treasurers which are beyond the river” are still addressed. Or ministers] Rather, “and ministers.” “The expression comprises any servants of the Temple who might have been omitted in the classes enumerated.”—Keil. It shall not be lawful to impose] &c. In this respect “the decree of Artaxerxes was, more favourable to the Jews than those of all previous Persian monarchs.” Toll, tribute, or custom] (See notes on chap. Ezr_4:13.)
Ezr_7:25. That is in thine hand] i.e. “which thou possessest.” All the people that are beyond the river] is limited to Israelites or Jews by the following clause, all such as know the laws of thy God. And teach ye them that know them not] These words do “not refer to the heathen, but to born Israelites or Jews, who, living among the heathen, had not hitherto made the Mosaic law the rule of their lives. Such were the judges to constrain to the observance and obedience of the law.
“By granting these privileges, Artaxerxes was not only treading in the footsteps of Cyrus and Darius Hystaspes, but even going beyond these princes in granting to the Jews a jurisdiction of their own.”—Keil.
Ezr_7:27-28. Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers] &c. “This abrupt transition from the words of Artaxerxes to those of Ezra may be compared with the almost equally abrupt change in Ezr_6:6. The language alters at the same time from Chaldee to Hebrew, continuing henceforth to be Hebrew till the close of the book.”—Rawlinson.
Ezr_7:28. And hath extended mercy unto me before the king] i.e. hath awakened in him such a kind disposition towards me. And I gathered together] &c. Ezra regards this as a result of his being “strengthened.” Chief men to go up with me] These chief men being heads of households, their families would accompany them to the land of their fathers.
EZRA THE DISTINGUISHED
(Ezr_7:1-10)
In this paragraph Ezra appears before us as—
I. A man of distinguished ancestry. “Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, &c.” (Ezr_7:1-5). He was able to trace his pedigree up to Aaron the high priest; and he was “descended from the heads of that line.” To have descended from godly progenitors is a blessing of incalculable worth. This blessing comprises—
1. The inspiration of noble examples.
2. The inheritance of excellent constitutional moral tendencies. (a).
3. The rich results of parental prayers. (b).
“My boast is not that I deduce my birth
From loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth;
But higher far my proud pretensions rise—
The son of parents passed into the skies.”
—Cowper.
II. A man of distinguished attainments.
1. Here are distinguished attainments. “This Ezra was a ready scribe.” This does not mean merely a ready writer; but, as Bishop Patrick observes, “he calls himself a scribe, from his declaring and explaining the things contained in the Scriptures. The word in the original signifies one skilled and learned in that which was the Book by way of eminence, a teacher and expounder of it; and he was a ‘ready scribe,’ because he was peculiarly expert and understanding in the law, both in matters which related to the priesthood, and to the civil authority.”
2. Distinguished attainments in a great subject. “He was a ready scribe in the law of Moses.” Ezra was famous for his learning and skill, not in any trivial matters, or in things of inferior importance, but in themes and things of the most vital and enduring interest. He was “mighty in the Scriptures.” And, passing over the Jewish traditions concerning him in this respect, we may observe, quoting the words of Bishop Hervey, “that the pointed description of Ezra (Ezr_7:6) as ‘a ready scribe in the law of Moses,’ repeated in 11, 12, 21, added to the information concerning him that ‘he had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments’ (Ezr_7:10), and his commission to teach the laws of his God to such as knew them not
(25), and his great diligence in reading the Scriptures to the people, all give the utmost probability to the account which attributes to him a corrected edition of the Scriptures, and the circulation of many such copies. The books of Nehemiah and Malachi must indeed have been added later, possibly by Malachi’s authority.” (c).
3. Distinguished attainments in a great subject by a great Author. “He was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given.” In the estimate of Ezra, the law was not a human code which originated with Moses; the Scriptures were not merely the richest treasures of their national literature, which had required many ages for their accumulation. They had God for their author; they were His special gift to His chosen people; they were sacred things to this earnest and reverent student of them.
III. A man in the enjoyment of distinguished favour. “This Ezra went up from Babylon, … and the king granted him all his request.” It is probable that the officers of the Persian government in Syria were not faithfully and fully carrying out the decree of Darius as regards the grant of supplies for the Jewish worship at Jerusalem (chap. Ezr_6:9-10), and that Ezra, representing the elders of the Jews, requested the king to issue new commands concerning them; for the commission of Ezra from the king provides fully for these things (Ezr_7:15-23). His request seems also to have been for permission for himself to go up to Jerusalem, and for all such as were disposed to accompany him, that they might be allowed to do so. And this pious and patriotic scribe stood so high in the estimation of Artaxerxes that “the king granted him all his request.” That he should enjoy so much of the confidence and favour of such a monarch as Artaxerxes is a valuable testimony to the worth of Ezra. “The king’s favour is toward a wise servant.”
IV. A man of distinguished influence. “And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests,” &c. (Ezr_7:7). Ezra was trusted not only by the king and his counsellors, but by his own countrymen also, with whom he had great influence. This influence was over—
1. Various classes of men. Priests, Levites, people of the other tribes, not set apart for religious services, and Nithinim, accompanied him to Jerusalem from Babylon.
2. Large numbers of men. Of all classes there were upwards of 1770 adult males in the party which went up to Jerusalem with Ezra; so that the total, including wives, children, and servants, would probably be from 8000 to 9000 souls. (d).
V. A man of distinguished success. We have an example of this in his journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. “He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For upon the first,” &c. (Ezr_7:8-9). This journey was—
1. Long. About nine hundred miles by the route which they probably pursued.
2. Difficult. It was by no means an easy matter to conduct so large a number of persons, including many women and “little ones,” through so long a journey in those times and countries. (Comp. chap. Ezr_8:21.)
3. Perilous. They were in danger of being attacked by Arabian freebooters, by whom the country through which they had to travel was infested. (Comp. chap. Ezr_8:22; Ezr_8:31.)
4. Successful. “On the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.”
VI. A man of distinguished aim. “Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord,” &c. (Ezr_7:10). We see that he aimed at—
1. The acquisition of the highest knowledge. “He had prepared”—set or fixed—“his heart to seek the law of the Lord.” He resolutely sought thoroughly to know the Scriptures.
2. The practice of the highest knowledge. “And to do it.” He endeavoured to conform his life to the law of Jehovah. (e).
3. The importation of the highest knowledge. “And to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” By both precept and example he strove to bring the people to know and obey the Divine law. We must know ourselves what we would teach others; and if we would teach with practical effect, we must ourselves practise what we teach.
VII. A man of distinguished blessing. “The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.… Came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.”
1. The blessing of God rested upon him. By reason of it he was protected in journeyings, and prospered in his undertakings.
2. The blessing of God was acknowledged by him. He traced his successes to their First Cause; and gratefully acknowledged the gracious providence of God in his life. (f)
We are all recipients of the manifold blessings of God; let us also heartily recognise them as such, and gratefully bless the Giver.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) If you plant seeds for apple-stalks, you are obliged to graft every one of them; but if you take from a good apple-tree a cutting, it will grow up and bear the same kind of fruit which that tree bears. Now, I do not say that literally there is a transfer of qualities from parents to children, as there is a literal transfer of fruit from the original tree to the tree which is produced from a cutting, so that the apples are greenings or pippins according to the stock from which they sprung; but I believe it is substantially like that. I believe it is in the power of father and mother to rear the child so that from its earliest periods it shall be drawn by the Spirit of God.—H. W. Beecher.
Your father was a holy man,—will you undertake to break the line of a holy succession? Ought not the fame of his holiness to awaken your own religious concern? Are you prepared to make yourself the turning-point in the line of a pious ancestry? Beware lest you say in effect, “For generations my fathers have trusted in God and looked to Him for the light of their lives, but now I deliberately disown their worship and turn away from the God they loved.” This you can say if you be so minded. God does not force Himself upon you. You may start a pagan posterity if you please.—Joseph Parker, D.D.
(b) Though God has not bound Himself to hear the prayers of any one for the salvation of the soul of another, yet He frequently does so; and hence perhaps, though grace does not run in the blood, yet we frequently see it runs in the line. Many more of the children of God’s children prove gracious than those of others.—Dr. Ryland.
(c) That is a good day in which you learn something new of the Bible. Do not keep treading around in just the same place, reading the same Psalms of David over and over again because they are short, while you neglect other portions of the Gospel. If your friend writes you a letter written on four sides of a letter-sheet, you do not stop after you have read the first page. You do not treat him well unless you read the second page, the third page, and the fourth page, as well as the first. God our Father has written us a very long letter, all full of affection and counsel; and what a mean thing it is if we only read one or two of the pages when all of them demand our attention. How many verses could you quote to me from Obadiah, or Habakkuk, or Nahum, or Leviticus? Not one. Find out what part of the Bible you know the least about, and study it. Do not spend your entire time under one tree when there is around about you a great orchard.—T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.
(d) The greatest works that have been done, have been done by the ones. The hundreds do not often do much, the companies never do; it is the units, just the single individuals that, after all, are the power and the might. Take any Church—there are multitudes in it; but it is some two or three that do the work. Look on the Reformation!—there might be many reformers, but there was but one Luther: there might be many teachers, but there was but one Calvin. Look ye upon the preachers of the last age, the mighty preachers who stirred up the churches!—there were many coadjutors with them; but, after all, it was not Whitefield’s friends, nor Wesley’s friends, but the men themselves, that did it. Individual effort is, after all, the grand thing. A man alone can do more than a man with fifty men at his heels to fetter him. Look back through all history. Who delivered Israel from the Philistines?—it was solitary Samson. Who was it gathered the people together, to rout the Midianites?—it was one Gideon, who cried, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” Who was he that smote the enemy?—It was Shamgar, with his ox-goad; or it was an Ehud, who, with his dagger, put an end to his country’s tyrant. Separate men—Davids with their slings and stones—have done more than armies could accomplish.—C. H. Spurgeon.
(e) I ask you to remember, at home, in the shop, and in the counting-house, that you are epistles of Christ; and that in your spirit, habits, and character, His very thoughts are to be translated into forms which common men can read and understand. You would condemn with heaviest censure the presumptuous hand which wilfully corrupted the text of the printed book in which the acts and thoughts of God are preserved for the instruction of the world; you would condemn with censure hardly less severe the carelessness which should omit chapter after chapter, and give false readings instead of true. But you are the living revelation of God to mankind. Through you it is meant that the Holy Ghost should speak, not in mere words, but in acts, which are more intelligible and emphatic than words. The very life of the Spirit of God is intended to be manifest in your conduct, as the life of a plant is manifested in the flower, and the life of a tree in the fruit. Are you giving a true revelation to mankind, or are you perverting, corrupting, falsifying it?
Your religious emotions irreligious men can know nothing of, but your virtues and vices are a language plain and familiar to them as their mother tongue. They can read these without note or comment. They can judge of the Divine inspiration of these without any argument from miracles. As the style of a great artist is recognised in the drawing and colouring of his pictures; as the genius of Mozart or Beethoven may be known at once by the movement of the melody and the flowing sweetness or mysterious complexity of the chorus, so—if you are really God’s workmanship—there ought to be the manifested impress of the Divine hand in your character, and to those who know you well, your life ought to be plainly the revelation of a Divine idea.—R. W. Dale, M.A., D.D.
(f) When men have had a successful season in merchandise, they are apt to attribute it to their own acumen or their partners in business. When men have had a successful season in husbandry, they attribute it to the phosphates used, or to the agricultural journal that gave them the right kind of information. How seldom it is that men first of all go to the Lord, who is the owner of the field, and who presides over all merchandise, and who gives us all our worldly as well as our spiritual success!—T. De Witt Talmage, D.D.
STUDYING, PRACTISING, AND TEACHING THE SACRED SCRIPTURES
(Ezr_7:10)
The conduct of Ezra as described here is eminently worthy of imitation. Let us contemplate its chief features—
I. The acquisition of Divine truth for himself. “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord.” In aiming at the attainment of a knowledge of the Divine law, Ezra adopted—
1. The right method. He sought for the knowledge which he desired; he put forth efforts to acquire it. Would any one attain a competent knowledge of any science? He must seek it, he must read, think, experiment, &c. Would any one “know the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make him wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus”? He must “search the Scriptures,” &c. Personal effort is indispensable.
2. The right manner. Ezra sought for this knowledge resolutely and earnestly. “He had prepared”—i.e., fixed or set—“his heart to seek the law of the Lord.” He who would seek successfully must seek resolutely. It is the earnest student who overcomes obstinate difficulties, disentangles bewildering perplexities, and makes glorious discoveries. Moreover, though it is not mentioned in this verse, we have abundant evidence of the fact that Ezra was a devout student of the Scriptures. In this province of investigation, reverence is as important as earnestness. “The meek will He guide in judgment,” &c. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him,” &c.
3. The right place. Ezra sought “the law of the Lord” in the Holy Scriptures. Divine truth may be discovered in the material creations of God, in the revolutions of human history, &c. But he who would acquaint himself with moral law, let him “search the Scriptures;” he who would know the redemptive truth of God, let him study the Bible.
II. The embodiment of Divine truth in his life. Ezra had set his heart not only to seek the law of the Lord, but also “to do it.” He translated his discoveries into deeds. The truth which he acquired by his heart and mind, he practised in his life. In this also he is an example to us. And the importance of imitating him in this respect will appear if we consider that knowledge misapplied is—
1. Useless. Knowledge of the laws of nature benefits us only as it leads us to act in harmony with those laws. And knowledge of Gospel truth becomes a blessing to us only as we receive it into our heart by faith, and give practical expression to it in our lives. “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,” &c. (Mat_7:21-27). It is the “doer of the work” that is “blessed in his deed” (Jas_1:25). (a).
2. Anoccasion of condemnation. “That servant which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes,” &c. (Luk_12:47-48). (b).
III. The communication of Divine truth to others. Ezra had set his heart also “to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” A solemn obligation rests upon man not only to acquire truth, but also to impart it. He who has learned of others must himself in his turn become a teacher of others. Here is the Divine law on the question: “Freely ye have received, freely give.”
“Thyself and thy belongings
Are not thine own so proper, as to waste
Thyself upon thy virtues, them on thee.
Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do:
Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, ’twere all alike
As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched,
But to fine issues; nor nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence,
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor,
Both thanks and use.”—Shakespeare.
“Measure for Measure,” i. 1.
Ezra first learned the truth for himself, then practised it in his own life, and then taught it to others. He taught others both by his speech and by his action. Merely verbal teaching will not bear comparison with that which is also of the character and conduct. The latter is—
1. More intelligible. Minds which would utterly fail to follow our arguments can understand our actions.
2. More continuous. Instruction by means of sermons or lessons is necessarily occasional, but the teaching of the life is constant. (c).
3. More influential. “How forcible are right words!” But how much more forcible are right works! Ezra’s power as an expository preacher was great, as we see from Nehemiah 8; but his power as a holy and zealous man was greater. And it seems to us that much of his power as a preacher arose from the saintliness and strength of his character. (d).
Let all Christians, but especially Christian preachers and teachers, copy the example of Ezra, and first study the Scriptures for themselves, then live the Scriptures for themselves, and then teach the Scriptures to others.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) As compared with professions, good deeds are put into ever-lustrous eminence, both by their solid quality, and by that grand refutation of all talking hypocrisy and ceremonial cant, from the mouth of the Judge Himself, “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father.” We cannot be wrong—if there is such a thing as truth in God’s universe, we must be right—in esteeming one palpable and ponderable action in Christ’s name before a library of dogmatic credos, subscription to the straitest ecclesiastical vows, or the handsomest adjustment of the mantle of public conformity. If we must have one without the other, an acre of statements must be let go rather than an ounce of life.—F. D. Huntington, D.D.
I beseech you more earnestly endeavour to reduce the things you know to practice. Nothing can be more absurd than to content ourselves with only a notional knowledge of practical matters. We should think so in other cases; as if any man should satisfy himself to know the use of food, but famish himself by never eating any, when he hath it at hand! Oh, what holy and pleasant lives should we lead in this world, if the temper and complexion of our souls did but correspond to the things we know. The digesting our food is what God eminently calls for.—John Howe.
(b) The more any one doth only nationally know in the matters of religion, so as that the temper of his spirit remains altogether unsuitable to the design and tendency of the things known, the more he hath lying ready to come in judgment against him; and if, therefore, he count the things excellent which he knows, and only please himself with his own knowledge of them, it is but a like case as if a man should be much delighted to behold his own condemnation written in a fair and beautiful hand; or as if one should be pleased with the glittering of that sword which is directed against his own heart; and so little pleasant is the case of him who thus satisfies his own curiosity with the concerns of eternal life and death, that any serious person would tremble on his behalf, at that wherein he takes pleasure, and apprehend just horror in that state of the case whence he draws matter of delight.—Ibid.
(c) If we distinguish man as a creature of language, and thus qualified to communicate himself to others, there are in him two sets or kinds of language,—one which is voluntary in the use, and one that is involuntary; that of speech in the literal sense, and that expression of the eye, the face, the look, the gait, the motion, the tone or cadence, which is sometimes called the natural language of the sentiments. This natural language, too, is greatly enlarged by the conduct of life, that which, in business and society, reveals the principles and spirits of men. Speech, or voluntary language, is a door to the soul, that we may open or shut at will; the other is a door that stands open evermore, and reveals to others constantly, and often more clearly, the tempers, tastes, and motives of their hearts. Within, as we may represent, is character, charging the common reservoir of influence, and through these twofold gates of the soul, pouring itself out on the world. Out of one it flows at choice, and whensoever we purpose to do good or evil to men. Out of the other it flows each moment, as light from the sun, and propagates itself in all beholders.
The door of involuntary communication, I have said, is always open. Of course we are communicating ourselves in this way to others at every moment of our intercourse or presence with them. But how very seldom, in comparison, do we undertake by means of speech to influence others! Even the best Christian, one who most improves his opportunities to do good, attempts but seldom to sway another by voluntary influence, whereas he is all the while shining as a luminous object unawares, and communicating of his heart to the world.—H. Bushnell, D.D.
(d) If every disciple is to be an “epistle known and read of all men,” what shall we expect but that all men will be somehow affected by the reading? Or, if he is to be a light in the world, what shall we look for, but that others, seeing his good works, shall glorify God on his account? How often is it seen, too, as a fact of observation, that one, or a few good men, kindle at length a holy fire in the community in which they live, and become the leaven of a general reformation! Such men give a more vivid proof in their persons of the reality of religious faith, than any words or arguments could yield. They are active; they endeavour, of course, to exert a good voluntary influence; but still their chief power lies in their holiness, and the sense they produce in others of their close relation to God.
… Where the direct or active influence of men is supposed to be great, even this is due, in a principal degree, to that insensible influence by which their arguments, reproofs, and persuasions are secretly invigorated. It is not mere words which turn men; it is the heart mounting uncalled into the expression of the features: it is the eye illuminated by reason—the look beaming with goodness; it is the tone of the voice, that instrument of the soul, which changes quality with such amazing facility, and gives out in the soft, the tender, the tremulous, the firm, every shade of emotion and character. And so much is there in this, that the moral stature and character of the man that speaks are likely to be well represented in his manner. If he is a stranger, his way will inspire confidence and attract good will. His virtues will be seen, as it were, gathering round him to minister words and forms of thought, and their voices will be heard in the fall of his cadences.—Ibid.
THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
(Ezr_7:10)
This learned and pious priest is an eminent model for the study of those who are engaged in the public service of God. Born in Babylon, he nevertheless became an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile. His zeal for the pure worship of God—for the reformation of social manners and faithful administration of the law; his personal consecration, his profound study of the sacred writings, his deep views of the evil of sin, his power with God in prayer, his personal humility and true nobleness of character, entitle him to rank among the most illustrious of God’s worthies in the ancient Church.
The text points out some indispensable qualifications for an able minister of the New Testament.
I. Devotedness to God’s Word.
1. The minister is called to this; it is the indispensable requirement of his office.
2. Its inexhaustible riches require profound and constant research.
3. Prayer is absolutely necessary for the right understanding of the Scriptures.
II. Personal religion.
1. Without this all other qualifications will prove unavailing.
2. Its influence upon the minister’s own heart and life is necessary to his success.
3. Its power over others.
III. Public instruction.
1. Its subjects. Scripture:—God in Christ, sin, salvation.
2. Its spirit. Dependent on Divine aid, faithful, bold.
3. Its manner. Simple, unaffected, earnest, practical, affectionate.—The Preacher’s Portfolio.
DIVINE SEQUENCE
(Ezr_7:10)
In most operations due sequence is of as great importance, in order to success, as correct action or proper quality. To transpose the order in a succession of processes is certain failure. How manifestly fatal as to the result, for a farmer to sow before ploughing, or to harrow before sowing! How vain the blacksmith’s labour if he smite the iron first, and then make it hot! Everything in its due order is a universal law. It applies to Sabbath-school teaching as inexorably as to other matters, and to ignore it is culpable folly. The law of true sequence in this case is plainly taught in the Word of God, and is forcibly illustrated in the conduct of Ezra.
I. There must be diligent searching for the law of God. “Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord.” Teachers must know before they can teach, and there is need for searching in order to knowledge. “Search the Scriptures” is the first step in the Divine sequence. “Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord.” And for effective teaching, to head-knowledge there must be heart-sympathy.
II. There must be a hearty doing of the discovered will. Ezra prepared his heart not only to seek, but “to do” the law of the Lord, and this is the second process in the Divine order. Alas! for him who seeks to teach others laws which he does not himself obey, and to enforce commands which he himself defies! Doing, moreover, stands in double relation to knowing and teaching. “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God” (Joh_7:17). Hence its importance in relation to knowledge. It is also indispensable to true teaching for by our lives we must teach, even though we be very unskilful with our tongues. “Whosoever shall do and teach, shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Mat_5:19).
III. Then may we teach the law of the Lord. This is the last step in the Divine sequence; and how firm a foundation will the teaching rest upon if the sequence has been duly observed! Knowledge treasured in the heart and acted in the life will give power and energy to the teachings, such as can in no other way be gained. How forcible will such teaching be—how irresistible! What efficacy the observance of this Divine sequence gave to Ezra’s teaching may be learned from his subsequent history, for all the congregation were by his words convinced of their sin, and truly repenting, they cried, “As thou hast said, so must we do” (chap. Ezr_10:12), and they did it. So will our scholars act, if we faithfully fulfil the Divine conditions. Let us give heed to this sequence. It is taught in many parts of Scripture; but let Ezra’s embodiment of it make it plain. Let his example stir our emulation, and his success whet our desire for a like result.—B. P. P., in The Sunday School Teacher.
THE COMMISSION OF ARTAXERXES TO EZRA
(Ezr_7:11-26)
I. The granting of this commission. This letter, conveying such large powers, was given—
1. In answer to the request of Ezra. We see this from Ezr_7:6 : “the king granted him all his request;” and from Ezr_7:28 : God “hath extended mercy unto me before the king and his counsellors,” &c. It was a courageous thing for Ezra to make such a request before such an assembly (comp. Neh_2:2; Est_4:11); and the fact that it was granted is a forcible testimony to the very high esteem in which he was held.
2. By the supreme authority of the empire. “Thou art sent of the king and of his seven counsellors” (Ezr_7:14). “God hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king’s mighty princes” (Ezr_7:28). Thus the commission carried the greatest weight and importance.
II. The articles of this commission.
1. Those which are addressed to Ezra.
(1.) Permission for him to go up to Jerusalem with as many of his fellow-countrymen as wished to do so. “I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel,” &c. (Ezr_7:13). This permission was necessary to enable them to go forth, because they were captives. And it was simply a cordial permission; it was not a sentence of banishment from Babylon. The Jews were not sent away, but freely allowed to go if they desired to do so.
(2.) Authority to investigate the affairs of those Jews who were already settled in their own land. “Thou art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to inquire,” &c. (Ezr_7:14). The subject of the inquiry is not stated; and it cannot be determined whether it referred to their general condition and progress, or more particularly to their religious condition. But the rule by which the inquiry was to be conducted is clearly laid down: “according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand.” Thus the Divine law was honoured by the Persian monarch and his supreme council.
(3.) Authority to receive, convey, and distribute money and other valuables for the worship of Jehovah at Jerusalem (Ezr_7:15-19). Notice—(i.) The treasures committed to him. “The silver and gold which the king and his counsellors freely offered,” &c. (Ezr_7:15). The contributions of money which the non-Israelite population in all the province of Babylon, and such Jews as elected still to remain in Babylon, were disposed freely to contribute for the worship of the God of Israel. “And all the silver and gold that thou canst find,” &c. (Ezr_7:16). And certain vessels which had been given for use in the Temple—service at Jerusalem. “The vessels also that are given thee,” &c. (Ezr_7:19). It is probable that the sacred vessels which Zerubbabel had taken to Jerusalem were inadequate to their requirements at the great religious festivals. (ii.) The use to be made of these treasures. The vessels were to be delivered up in the Temple to the proper persons for use in its services. “The vessels … deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem.” The money was to be employed in the purchase of animals and other things for religions sacrifices. “That thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks,” &c. (Ezr_7:17). And the residue of the money was to be appropriated to such religious uses as seemed good to Ezra and to his brethren. “And whatsoever shall seem good to thee and to thy brethren,” &c. (Ezr_7:18).
(4.) Authority to obtain further needful supplies from the royal treasury in Syria. “And whatever more shall be needful for the house of thy God,” &c. (Ezr_7:20). The requirements at Jerusalem could not be fully known by Ezra until he had looked into the state of affairs there; hence this warrant concerning further supplies was both thoughtfully and generously given. And such a use of royal revenues was both wise and worthy in the highest degree.
(5.) Authority to appoint magistrates and judges with full judicial powers. “And thou Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges,” &c. (Ezr_7:25-26). Observe: (i.) Their jurisdiction was over the Jews and the proselytes to the Jewish religion. They were to “judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God,” &c. (ii.) Full power was granted to them for maintaining their authority and enforcing their decisions. They were authorised to inflict the severest penalties which the law prescribed. “Whosoever will not do the law of thy God,” &c. (Ezr_7:26). They were “responsible to the king alone for the exercise of their authority.”
2. Those which are addressed to the Persian treasurers in Syria. “And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river,” &c. (Ezr_7:21-24). These commands refer to two things—
1. To contributions which they were to make to Ezra. They were to furnish him with certain supplies for the service of the Temple of the God of heaven, according to his request.
(1.) These supplies were liberal. “Unto an hundred talents of silver,” &c. (Ezr_7:22, and see explanatory note).
(2.) These supplies were to be quickly and fully furnished. “Whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily.… Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be completely done,” &c.
(3.) The reason assigned for furnishing these supplies is significant. “For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?” This inquiry implies a conviction of several things:—e.g., that the God of heaven is almighty; that the neglect of His worship was likely to awaken His anger; that His anger should be earnestly dreaded and deprecated; and that a liberal regard for His worship was likely to secure His favour.
2. To exemptions from taxation which they were to make. Every minister of the Temple, from the high priest to the humblest of the Nethinim, was to be entirely relieved of government taxation. “Also we certify you, that touching any of the priests and Levites,” &c. (Ezr_7:24). This was at once a liberal favour and an honourable distinction for all those whom it concerned.
This official letter reflects very great credit upon Artaxerxes. It is, as M. Henry observes, “to the praise of this heathen king, that he honoured the God of Israel though His worshippers were a despicable handful of poor men, who were not able to bear the charges of their own religion, and were now his vassals, and that, though he was not wrought upon to quit his own superstitions, yet he protected and encouraged the Jews in their religion, and did not only say, ‘Be you warmed, and be you filled,’ but gave them such things as they needed.”
III. The spirit of this commission.
The letter indicates clearly a spirit of—
1. Great reverence for God. Thrice it speaks of Him as “the God of heaven,” thus showing that Jehovah was regarded by the king not as a mere local deity, but as the Supreme Being. And the inquiry, “Why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?” implies (as we have mentioned above) certain important convictions concerning Jehovah, God of Israel. (a).
2. Profound respect for the law of God. “According to the law of thy God which is in thine hand” (Ezr_7:14). “Do after the will of your God” (Ezr_7:18). “Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be completely done,” &c. (Ezr_7:23). Ezra is commissioned to teach those persons the laws of God who did not know them (Ezr_7:25). And, according to Ezr_7:26, the law of Jehovah was made the law of Artaxerxes so far as the Jews were concerned. “The law of thy God, and the law of the king.” (b).
3. Sincere regard for the worship of God (Ezr_7:15-24). The munificence of the royal grant for this worship indicates the depth and sincerity of his regard for it.
4. Hearty appreciation of the character of a good man. That this large and liberal commission was granted to Ezra in answer to his request is an evidence—
(1.) That the life of Ezra must have been distinguished by wisdom, uprightness, and piety.
(2.) That Artaxerxes sincerely appreciated the wisdom and worth of Ezra, for in honouring him the king seems to have taken pleasure. This letter is greatly to the praise of both the monarch of Persia and the scribe of the law of Jehovah. (c).
CONCLUSION:
The liberal gifts of Artaxerxes for the support of the worship of God may be exhibited as—
1. A rebuke to the parsimony of many Christians in this respect.
2. An example to all Christians. (d).
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) How should we reverence that God that hath a throne encompassed with such glorious creatures as angels, whose faces we are not able to behold though shadowed in assumed bodies! How should we fear the Lord of Hosts, that hath so many armies at His command in the heavens above, and in the earth below, whom He can dispose to the exact obedience of His will! How should men be afraid to censure any of His actions, to sit judge of their Judge, and call Him to an account at their bar! How should such an earthworm, a mean animal as man, be afraid to speak irreverently of so great a King! Not to fear Him, not to reverence Him, is to pull His throne from under Him, and make Him of a lower authority than ourselves, or any creature that we reverence more.—S. Charnocke, B.D.
(b) We cannot be too strongly impressed with the goodness or benevolence of the Divine law. Right and good are correlative ideas, but we are not equally affected by them. More spontaneously can we conclude that all good is right, than that all right is good. And we more slowly confess the good of law, because we commonly regard law itself as restraint rather than as protection. We forget that it is far more restraint upon others than upon ourselves, and that our protection is in that restraint. Every interdict is on all, and each one obtains the benefit. Every obligation binds the whole race to the security and welfare of the individual. The best definition of liberty is, protection from wrong. And if we inspect the great social law, what is it but a fence and safeguard thrown around our dearest, most precious, interests? Its heed holds back that which receives every denouncement, when we call it lawless. Its observance defends the allegiance of our household, the sanctity of our life, the legitimacy of our offspring, the possession of our store, the reputation of our character, even to the proscription and to the driving from the heart of any secret wish that might seek to injure us. It sets a seal upon all. Our forbearance to aggrieve others, which must be harmful to ourself, is repaid by forbidding any grievance against our welfare from the millions upon millions who might otherwise inflict it. The duty which every man owes to love us as himself, is a blessed and rich return of our duty thus ourselves to love every man. The rule commands and obliges every man to love me, to uphold me,—invests him as my brother, authorises him as my keeper, arms him as my defender, pledges him as my surety, adorns him as my example, couples him as my co-heir. It is the law of love. It is the perfect commutative justice. How benign must be the univeral regulation, all whose requirements, bearings, consequences, motives, aims, are fulfilled by love! The same reflections are appropriate with respect to the claims of the Deity.… Let us honour law as the crowning blessing of blessings. Let us remember that intellectual creatureship without it is as inconceivable as it would be insupportable. Let us acknowledge it as the most sublime of ideas, the true exponent of happiness, the proper basis of dignity, the exclusive shield of freedom, the pure fountain of goodwill,—inaugurating truth in its state, decking benevolence in its majesty, lifting right to its throne, and then proclaiming with imperial authority that all this is but God, and that, therefore, there is none good but One, that is God!—R. W. Hamilton, LL.D., D.D.
(c) There is something in a holy life which wonderfully conciliates the minds of men. At first, indeed, like a strong influx of light, it offends their eyes; and the beholders, unable to bear the effulgence of its beams, turn away from it, or perhaps desire its utter extinction. But when it has shone for a long time before them, and they have had sufficient opportunity to contemplate its worth, they are constrained to acknowledge that “the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour;” and they begin to venerate the character, whose virtues at first were occasions of offence.—C. Simeon, M.A.
(d) In collecting money for the repairs of the Temple, which Athaliah and her sons had dilapidated, the good priest did a thing worth noticing. He had a chest placed right alongside the brazen altar in front of the Temple, and in the lid of the chest was a hole bored, and into the hole the priests, selected for the purpose, dropped the coins which the people brought, either as their half-shekel tax, or as the offering for vows, or as a freewill offering to the Temple of Jehovah. When I read this story and then read from Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians, “Upon the first day of the week” (the Lord’s-day, mind you!) “let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him,” I cannot help thinking that giving is a part of worship! Close alongside of the altar, where the type of the Lamb of God was offered up, was the money chest. How exalted giving to the Lord’s cause is in this light! And Paul calls it Sunday work, puts it with prayer, and praise, and Bible instruction, and all that is improving to the soul. I take it that if all Christians in our land would entertain the notion of Jehoiada and Paul about giving to the Lord (and it is not their notion, but the Holy Ghost’s), our spiritual temple would not be so dilapidated—thousands would flow forth from willing hearts where now hundreds are squeezed out. Take the idea, my brother with the long purse; yes, and my brother with the short purse, too. Make your giving a part of your worship, and then thank Jehoiada and Paul, but above all the Lord, for making your Christian life the happier.—Dr. Crosby.
REASONS FOR ACTIVE DEVOTEDNESS TO THE CAUSE OF GOD
(Ezr_7:23)
Here Artaxerxes issues a decree, gives wealth, displays great zeal for God, and as though ambitious to sink the monarch in the preacher, exhorts to diligence and fervour in the work. “Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven,” &c. We may well sit at the feet of this lord of one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, and learn from heathen lips the extent of our duty and the nature of our obligations. We plead for missions.
I. To assign some reasons for active devotedness to the cause of God and truth in the world.
1. From the Divine authority by which it is enjoined. It “is commanded by the God of heaven.” We love to see the estimate of Christian duties from the men of the world, who, while they are blind as bats in discerning their own defects, are clear-sighted as eagles to mark the inconsistencies of the professed followers of Christ. They often take a just measure of our obligations, and reason with wonderful exactness and form just conclusions, from the principles which we lay down, as to the course which we ought to follow,—just as Artaxerxes did here. The text is remarkable from the quarter whence it comes; not from the hovel of poverty, but from the throne of power; not from one who prophesied in sackcloth, but from one clothed in the purple and fine linen of royal houses.
The law of love to the perishing heathen is clearly laid down. We labour under no uncertainty upon the subject. We are not left to the trembling ifs and conjectures of mere circuitous and inductive reasoning, but the rule is express and final: “Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother.” The same law which says, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart,” says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” We should like to see inscribed over all our missionary institutions the law, “Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” The same God who bids us “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” that we may be saved, bids us “Go into all the world,” &c. God makes man the medium of His blessings to man. He blesses us by making us blessings. The harvest of immortal souls is to be gathered in, but human hands are to be employed in the work. The scattered flock of Christ, wandering upon the dark mountains of the Eastern and Western world, claim your ready aid, and Jesus commissions you to bring them into the fold.
2. From the urgent necessity which exists for your exertions. “In Judah was God known; His name was great in Israel;” but His spiritual claims were unknown and disregarded everywhere else. And the Gospel cannot be proclaimed in the heathen world except Christians proclaim it; for “how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?” &c. (Rom_10:14-15). We cannot plead ignorance of the state of the heathen world, or of the religious destitution of the heathen without the Gospel. It was never safe to use this plea as an excuse for indifference, but it is wholly impossible to urge it now. “We know that the whole world lieth in wickedness.” “We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain,” &c. The islands and continents of the kingdoms under darkness have been completely explored. The reports of travellers, merchants, missionaries, and scientific men only confirm the testimony of Scripture as to the moral misery and degradation of mankind without the Gospel. Where Christianity is not, the race is stationary, if not retrograde; social life loses its security and charm, &c.
3. From the fearful consequences of the neglect of this duty. “For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?” The king feared God’s anger, and apprehended that the neglect of Zion’s interests would be fatal. He could not be ignorant of the ruin that had overtaken the Pharaohs of Egypt, Sennacherib of Assyria, and the monarchs of Babylon; and he trembled for himself, for his sons, and for the future stability of the Persian throne.
It is not safe for individuals to oppose the kingdom of Christ. They who “break His bands asunder,” do it at their own peril. And there is no neutrality: not to assist is to oppose; not to seek Christ is to neglect Him. Every one of us is taking a side—for Christ against Satan, or for Satan against Christ. It is not safe for churches to do so. What has become of the Jewish church? of the seven churches of Asia? &c. Their golden lamps have been extinguished. It is not safe for nations to neglect the interests of religion. “The nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish,” whether that nation be Persia or Judea, Carthage or Rome, Spain or England. I should tremble for Britain’s safety, if she forgot her obligations to the God of the Bible, and failed to pay some small fraction of the mighty debt she owes to the Providence that has exalted her, by extending the Gospel. God has not raised her so high for any mean and ignoble purpose. He has not given her the empire of the seas, and a voice among the nations at which the mightiest tremble, and an extent of colonial territory heretofore unknown, merely for purposes of national aggrandisement or personal pride; but to render us, as we hope, the world’s benefactors, the heralds of the Cross, the willing harbingers of the onward triumphs of the Prince of Peace. Fulfilling this duty, Britain stands: failing to fulfil it, Britain falls; for God’s wrath will be against the realm of the Queen and her sons.
4. From the success which has attended the fulfilment of this duty.
II. To offer some suggestions as to the spirit and mode in which this work should be carried on.
1. Earnestly, without remissness. “Let it be diligently done.” Learn a lesson from the activity of the opposite party. The infidel and socialist come into your workshops and manufactories. The emissaries of the Papacy are not idle. Popery is fighting, not for existence, but for dominion.
2. Prayerfully, without pride.
3. Speedily, without delay.
—Samuel Thodey.
THE DECREE OF ARTAXERXES
(Ezr_7:23)
The words before us breathe a spirit which we should scarcely have expected to find in a heathen prince; but it is remarkable that some of the richest effusions of piety in the whole Scriptures proceeded from heathen monarchs, e.g., Darius and Nebuchadnezzar. To make a due improvement of the words before us we shall consider them—
I. In reference to the Jewish Church.
1. The state of the Jewish Church at this time is not unlike to that in which it was in the days of Ezra. Though the Temple worship was restored, it was carried on by the Jews without any zeal for God’s honour, or any of that spirituality of mind which is the very essence of all acceptable worship. Nor was the law of God regarded amongst them with any just measure of submission; for, in direct opposition to its most authoritative dictates, they formed connections with the heathen round about them, &c. (chap. Ezr_9:1-9). So at this time the Jewish people are at a very low ebb, both in respect of morals and religion.… It is impossible to behold them in their religious services, and not see how thick a veil is yet upon their hearts. Nor do they manifest any respect for their own law in its sublimer precepts. Of real holiness of heart and life they are ignorant in the extreme.
2. But to us is given, no less than to Ezra, a command to advance their welfare. Ezra received a commission from Artaxerxes to go and rectify the abuses which obtained at Jerusalem, &c. And have we no command to seek the welfare of that degraded people? Are we not told what God’s purpose is respecting them; namely, to “raise up the tabernacle of David,” &c.? (Amo_9:11). This is God’s express command to us strangers of the Gentiles: “The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls,” &c. (Isa_60:10-12). With their material temple we have nothing to do; but for the erection of God’s spiritual temple amongst them we are bound to labour, proclaiming to them the advent of their Messiah, saying, “Behold your salvation,” &c. (Isa_62:11; Isa_40:9).
3. In this work we should engage with all diligence. It is not to be effected by good wishes merely, but by great exertions. It was not without great exertions on the part of men that the Gentiles were converted to the faith of Christ; and the same kind of efforts which the apostles made for the conversion of the Gentiles we are to make for the restoration of the Jews to the favour of their God. This is our duty. God has told us that He has made us the depositaries of His Gospel, not for our benefit merely, but for the benefit of His outcast people: “As ye in times past,” &c. (Rom_11:30-31).
II. In reference to the Church which is amongst us.
1. Ye, brethren, need to have God’s work advanced in the midst of you. Ye are God’s house (Heb_3:6); ye also are called the temples of God, in which He lives and dwells (2Co_6:16). But in whom is God honoured as He ought to be? In whom are found sacrifices so pure, so spiritual, so abundant, as God calls for at our hands? Truly there is much amiss in all of us; much evil to be rectified, and much defective to be supplied.
2. I call upon you, then, to engage in the Lord’s work with your whole hearts. We will suppose that you are built upon the Lord Jesus Christ, as the foundation which God has laid in Zion (Isa_28:16). But no man is contented with having laid a foundation; he proceeds to build upon it, and never considers his work as finished till he has brought forth the top-stone. So it must be in this spiritual building which is begun within us. We must come to Christ daily “as lively stones, that we may be built up,” &c. (1Pe_2:4-6). To this, then, would I call you, &c. Oh! learn of a heathen to venerate the Divine authority, and to exert yourselves to the uttermost to promote the Divine glory.
Let me call you to obey this imperial mandate—
1. In a way of personal reformation. At the time of the Passover, the Jews swept every corner of their houses, in order to purge from them every particle of leaven which might have escaped their more general and superficial search. And this is what we are called to do. Alas! there are many evil dispositions which lurk within us, and which a superficial survey will not enable us to detect. Pride, envy, discontent, &c. Oh, be diligent in “purging out this old leaven, that ye may be a new lump” (1Co_5:7-8).
2. In a way of ministerial exertion. In this, persons of rank and influence ought to take the lead. Who can see a heathen monarch thus interesting himself for his Jewish subjects, and not wish that all monarchs with “their counsellors” were embarked in this holy cause? In this the clergy, also, should be most distinguished. Gladly did Ezra avail himself of the liberty accorded to him of going to Jerusalem for the purpose of remedying the evils which obtained there, &c. It was an office of great labour, yet he willingly undertook it. And does not this show, how those who are distinguished for rank and learning amongst the clergy should employ their talents and influence for the Lord?
The readiness with which the people of Babylon concurred in this good work shows how all classes of the community amongst ourselves should unite in the work. They contributed no less than eighty thousand pounds in silver, and one hundred and fifty thousand pounds in gold, besides a vast abundance of wheat, &c. This was done by heathens to honour the God of the Jews. What, then, should not be done by us Christians, who profess to serve the God of the Jews, and to feel our obligations to Him for all the wonders of redeeming love?—C. Simeon, M.A.
EXEMPLARY PRAISE
(Ezr_7:27-28)
I. The true offerers of praise. We regard Ezra as an example of the true and acceptable worshipper. He exhibits in these verses—
1. Unaffected humility. There is not here the least indication of self-laudation or self-commendation. All thought of his own character and influence and work seems lost in his admiration and thankfulness for the doings of God. Humility is always becoming in man; but in drawing near to the great and mighty, the holy and blessed God, humility is especially incumbent upon us. (a).
2. Sincere piety. Of this here are two evidences—
(1.) Ezra traces all good to God. He looks above secondary causes to the great First Cause. The godly soul sees the hand of God in all the worthy purposes and kind actions of men, and in all that is true and good in life. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,” &c. (b).
(2.) Ezra delights in the worship of God. It was matter of joy to him that the king designed “to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.” “We read not of any orders given to paint or gild it, or to garnish it with precious stones, but to be sure that the ordinances of God were administered there constantly, and carefully, and exactly, according to the institution; and that was indeed the beautifying of the Temple.” When God is honoured by the erection of beautiful temples, and more, by the presentation of spiritual and reverent worship, the good man realises great joy of spirit.
3. Practical religiousness. Ezra’s pious feelings were expressed in consistent actions. He blessed God in words, and sought to bless Him in works also. “And I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.” The noblest praise that we can present to God is that of hearty conformity to His will. “Thanksgiving is a good thing; thanksliving is better. (c).
II. The grand Object of praise. “Blessed be Jehovah God of our fathers.”
1. The Supreme Being. “Jehovah God.” “Jehovah,” i.e. the Self-Existent, the Eternal, the Unchangeable One. “God,”—the primary idea of the word is the Strong One, the Almighty. The true object of worship for man is the Omnipotent and Eternal, the Supremely Great and Good.
2. The Supreme Being in covenant relation with His worshippers. “Jehovah my God” (Ezr_7:28). The Israelites had entered into solemn covenant relations with God (Exo_24:3-8). God by the Psalmist speaks of them thus: “My saints; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” Again He says: “I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be My people” (Lev_26:3-13). And the true worshippers to-day are in covenant relation with God; they have embraced Him as their Supreme Good, and have fully given themselves to Him.
3. The Supreme Being whom our fathers worshipped. There is pathos in the expression “Jehovah God of our fathers.” That they worshipped Him binds us tenderly yet tenaciously to His service. There is inspiration also here. He who proved Himself the unfailing Friend and Helper of our fathers is worthy of our trust: He will not fail us, &c.
“In Thee our fathers put their trust;
Thy ways they humbly trod:
Honoured and sacred is their dust,
And still they live to God.
Heirs to their faith, their hope, their prayers
We the same path pursue:
Entail the blessing to our heirs;
Lord, show Thy promise true.”
—Conder. (d).
III. Good reasons for praise. “Blessed be Jehovah God of our fathers, which hath put,” &c.
1. He inspires the worthy purposes of men. He put it into “the king’s heart to beautify the house of Jehovah which is in Jerusalem.” “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; He turneth it whithersoever He will.” “All holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed” from Him.
2. He beneficently influences the moral judgments of men. “And hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and all his mighty princes.” The influence of Ezra over the sovereign and these mighty princes was very great; and to his mind the secret of it was that God had inclined them to regard him with esteem, and to give their judgment in his favour.
3. He invigorates the heart and life of His servants. “And I was strengthened as the hand of Jehovah my God was upon me,” &c. God encouraged His servant in order that he might carry out his sacred mission, and he at once proceeded to do so. The strength which God gives must be used in accordance with His will, and for His glory. “If God gives us His hand, we are bold and cheerful; if He withdraws it, we are weak as water. Whatever service we are enabled to do for God and our generation, God must have all the glory of it. Strength for it is derived from Him, and therefore the praise of it must be given to Him.” (e).
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) Two men went up into the Temple to pray, the one a very righteous man, as he seemed to himself and to others; but God, who seeth not as man seeth, accounted the unrighteous man the more righteous of the two. So have I seen two flowers, side by side, the one erect, and without a misgiving, looking up to heaven; the other, with its head all adown upon its breast, looking only to the earth. But the flower that looked earthward, as though not worthy to look heavenward, was the more heavenly of the two. Then said I, Pride and self-sufficiency are a miserable insufficiency; but meekness and self-distrust are allied to All-sufficiency. Question: Does God always give least to those who think themselves greatest, and most to those who think least of themselves? Answer: Humility hath the palm.—John Pulsford.
(b) As rivers empty their streams again into the bosom of the sea, whence they at first received them; so men give the praise of what they do unto that by which they do it. If they attempt any enterprise with their own wit, you shall have them bring the sacrifice to their own wit or net. But faith teaches the creature to blot out his own name, and write the name of God in its room upon all he hath and doth.—W. Gurnall.
What I have done is worthy of nothing but silence and forgetfulness; but what God has done for me is worthy of everlasting and thankful remembrance.—Bishop Hall.
(c) Holiness was meant, our New Testament tells us, for everyday use. It is homemade and home-worn. Its exercise hardens the bone, and strengthens the muscle in the body of character. Holiness is religion shining. It is the candle lighted, and not hid under a bushel, but lighting the house. It is religious principle put into motion. It is the love of God sent forth into circulation, on the feet, and with the hands, of love to man. It is faith gone to work. It is charity coined into actions, and devotion breathing benedictions on human suffering, while it goes up in intercessions to the Father of all pity. Prayers that show no answers in better lives are not true prayers. Of religion without holiness—or the spurious pretence current under that name—the world has seen enough; it has more than once made society, with all its reforms, go backward; it has sharpened the spear of the scorner, and sealed the sceptic’s unbelief. It has hidden the Church from the market. It has gone to the conference and communion-table, as to a sacred wardrobe, where badges are borrowed to cloak the iniquities of trade. It has said to many an outcast and oppressed class, “Stand by thyself; the Master’s feast is for me, and not for you.” It has thinned the ranks of open disciples, and treacherously offered to objectors the vantage-ground of honesty. My friends, get faith, and then use it. Gain holiness, and wear it. Pray, and watch while you pray. Keep the Sabbath; keep it so carefully that it shall keep you all the week,—a mutual friendship. Come to the church; come to carry the church back with you, not in its professions nor its external credit, but its interior substance, into a consistent holiness.—F. D. Huntington, D.D.
(d) The covenant made with the Patriarch was made with Abraham and his seed after him. Throughout the Mosaic period, children were included with their fathers in all the blessings of the elder Testament. “The promise is unto you and your children,” is the constant doctrine through all God’s messages to the Israelites. We are expressly told, that under Christ, in the New Testament, the same covenant is renewed, only expanded and deepened. Throughout, the law of descent is carefully respected. The hereditary tie is recognised. Offspring, at birth, are supposed to be bound up in the same bond of Christian privileges and helps which encircles their believing progenitors.—Ibid.
(e) What reward shall we give unto the Lord for all the benefits He hath bestowed? From the cheerless gloom of non-existence He waked us into being; He ennobled us with understanding; He taught us arts to promote the means of life; He commanded the prolific earth to yield its nurture; He bade the animals to own us as their lords. For us the rains descend; for us the sun sheddeth abroad its creative beams; the mountains rise, the valleys bloom, offering us grateful habitation and a sheltering retreat. For us the rivers flow; for us the fountains murmur; the sea opens its bosom to admit our commerce; the earth exhausts its stores; each new object presents a new enjoyment; all nature pouring her treasures at our feet, through the bounteous grace of Him who wills that all be ours.—Basil.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Journey of Ezra to Jerusalem
The Journey of Ezra to Jerusalem
1. Now after.. Artaxerxes] The interval of time here implied amounted to more than fifty years, from the sixth year of Darius (516 b.c.) to the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus (458 b.c.). Between the reign of Darius and Artaxerxes there intervened the reign of Xerxes (485-464 b.c.), to which belong the incidents related in the book of Esther. In the early years of his successor Artaxerxes an effort was made to surround Jerusalem, with a wall (see Ezr_4:12), though with no success. Probably to the same period should be assigned the ministry of the prophet Malachi. From his writings it may be gathered that the religious and moral condition of the Jewish community at Jerusalem was very unsatisfactory. The people were divided into two sections, the one scrupulous in their religious duties, the other sceptical and indifferent (Mal_3:18). The latter party had contracted marriages with heathen women (Ezr_2:11); oppression and immorality were prevalent (Ezr_3:5); the Temple services were neglected (1:6-14); and the maintenance of the priesthood stinted (Ezr_3:8-10). Against the continuance of these evils the prophet raised a strong protest, denouncing divine judgment upon the offenders, but promising that God's blessing would attend them upon their reformation (Ezr_3:10; Ezr_4:1-3).
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Ezra.. Seraiah] Ezra was a descendant of the Seraiah who was chief priest in the reign of the last king of Judah (2Ki_25:18). His genealogy as given in Ezr_7:1-5 is abbreviated by the omission not only of all the generations separating him from Seraiah, but also of many of those between Seraiah and Aaron: cp. 1Ch_6:3-15.
6. This Ezra] Ezra, as his history shows, was a devout and zealous ecclesiastic, of passionate temperament, strong religious faith, and rigid principles, who, though he met with temporary failure, in the end permanently influenced the thoughts and habits of his countrymen. A ready scribe] Ezra belonged to the class of literary men, who, being acquainted with the art of writing, had, in the time when the nation was independent, furnished its statesmen with their secretaries (2Sa_8:17; 1Ki_4:3; 2Ki_18:18), but now that its political life had ceased, were students of the Law, which they copied, and interpreted (cp. Neh_8:7). All his request] The nature of this is implied in the letter of Artaxerxes (Ezr_7:12-26).
9. Began he to go up] better (by a slight correction), 'he fixed the going up.' The actual journey was not begun till the twelfth day (Ezr_8:31). The first month] i.e Nisan. (=Mar.-April). The fifth month] i.e. Ab (=July-August). The journey, which lasted some three months and a half, was probably made by way of the Euphrates to Carchemish, then across to Hamath, and so southward along the Orontes. The distance was about 900 m.
10. To teach in Israel] Ezra, though like Zerubbabel he led a body of settlers to Jerusalem, is never styled 'Tirshatha' (as Zerubbabel is in Ezr_2:63), and his mission appears to have had purely religious ends in view. The Jews who remained in Babylon, and who were surrounded by a population wholly heathen, were marked off from their neighbours by a much deeper line of cleavage than were the Jews of Palestine, and a higher standard of religious devotion prevailed amongst them: consequently when the religious laxity of the people of Jerusalem became known at Babylon, Ezra was sent to enquire into it (Ezr_7:14), to introduce reforms, and, by authority of the Persian king, to enforce the observance of the Law by means of penalties (Ezr_7:26).
12. King of kings] The same title was used by the kings of Babylon (Eze_26:7; Dan_2:37). Perfect peace, and at such a time] better, 'the whole' (of the usual heading) 'and so forth.'
13. His priests] RV 'their (i.e. Israel's) priests.'
14. His seven counsellors] In Est_1:14 mention is made of seven princes 'who saw the king's face and sat the first in his kingdom.'
16. Canst find] i.e. obtain from the native Babylonians and Persians: cp. Ezr_1:4, Ezr_1:6.
22. Talents.. measures.. baths] The 'talent' used by the early Hebrews weighed 96 lb., the Persian talent was 66 lb. A 'measure' (Heb. cor) contained 83 gallons, a 'bath' a little more than 8 gallons. The wheat, wine, oil, and salt were required for the sacrificial offerings: see Exo_29:40; Lev_2:13.
23. Why should there be wrath, etc.] The piety of the Persian kings led them to seek the favour of the deities worshipped by the different nationalities under their sway: cp. Lev_6:10.
26. Banishment] or exclusion from the congregation: cp. Lev_10:8.
27. Blessed be the lord, etc.] This introduces Ezra's thanksgiving for the king's letter. His gratitude to God is conspicuous throughout the passages in this book which proceed directly from him (e.g. Ezr_8:18, Ezr_8:22, Ezr_8:31), and is reflected in the account of the historian (Ezr_7:6, Ezr_7:9, etc.).
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The journey of Ezra to Jerusalem (Ezr 7:1-10)
II. THE RETURN UNDER EZRA AND HIS REFORMATION
CHAPTER 7
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1. The journey of Ezra to Jerusalem (Ezr 7:1-10)
2. The decree of Artaxerxes (Ezr 7:11-26)
3. Ezra’s thanksgiving (Ezr 7:27-28)
Ezr 7:1-10. The record of the return under Zerubbabel and the rebuilding of the temple ends with the previous chapter. Many years passed after the temple had been built before the godly Ezra and his companions returned to Jerusalem. No record whatever is in existence covering the years which intervened between Zerubabbel’s expedition and work, and Ezra’s expedition. The critics claim that “it was in these apparently barren years that the priestly code was elaborated by the priests who had not left Babylon, and that part at least of the second half of Isaiah (chapter 40, etc.) was composed and put together in Babylon.” But what historical foundation for their theory can they offer? There is nothing in existence which in any way warrants such claims. The evidence that Moses wrote the Pentateuch and that Isaiah is the author of the entire book which bears his name is overwhelming. The theory of a priestly code, that the priestly laws of Leviticus were collected in Babylon and brought back by Ezra, is an invention.
What became of Zerubbabel is not known. But we know that a sad decline among the returned remnant set in. Their moral and religious condition had suffered a severe relapse. Perhaps these very conditions moved Ezra to leave Babylon and go to Jerusalem.
It was in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, King of Persia, that Ezra went up. The genealogy of Ezra is given, showing that he was a direct descendant of Aaron, the chief priest. Ezra was “a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given.” A blessed testimony that the Law of Moses was given by God, and not put together piece-meal, corrected, revised and added to by different hands. Ezra, occupied with the Law and the Word of God, desired to go up to Jerusalem. God put it into his heart, and the Gentile King granted him all his request. In all this the hand of the Lord is acknowledged. “According to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.” This phrase we meet a number of times (7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 22, 31); and it shows how this man of God trusted in the LORD for guidance. He saw His hand in having all his request granted by Artaxerxes. It was the good hand of God who brought him to Jerusalem (7:9). His hand strengthened him (7:28). The good hand of the LORD is again acknowledged in bringing them ministers (8:18) and in deliverance (8:31). The same hand which was for good upon Ezra, which guided, kept and shielded him, is still upon all His people who trust Him and are obedient to His Word. (The character of our work forbids an attempt to enlarge upon the identity of the different rulers mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah--which is a difficult matter, involving a careful examination of chronology. We suggest a good book on chronology The Romance of Bible Chronology, by M. Anstey.)
With Ezra a company of people went up to Jerusalem, 1,496 in all. They left on the first day of the first month, and arrived on the first day of the fifth month, corresponding to the end of July or beginning of August. The distance they travelled by way of Carchemish was over 800 miles.
In verse 10 we have the secret of Ezra’s piety: “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” Diligently and prayerfully he sought the truth and the will of God in the Word of God. The law of the LORD was his joy and delight. How he must have searched the Scriptures with deep exercise of soul. This is the foundation of godliness. The heart must enter into the things of God as revealed in His Word. And his aim was “to do it;” to live according to the truth God had given him. Finally, the third desire of Ezra was “to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.” Heart preparation in the Word, obedience to the word, must be the marks of the true servant of the LORD.
Ezr 7:11-26. The copy of the letter that Artaxerxes gave to Ezra is now recorded. This section is again in Aramaic. In the salutation of the letter Artaxerxes calls himself “king of kings” and addresses Ezra as the scribe of the law of the God of heaven. There can be no question that Artaxerxes was divinely moved in all he did. The decree states that all Israelites, priests and Levites in his realm who are minded of their own free will to go up to Jerusalem, may go with Ezra. The name of God, the law of God, the house of God are constantly used in this document. Then the King and his seven counsellors freely gave silver and gold “unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem.” In a future day, when all Israel is saved, when Christ comes again, the Gentiles and their kings will offer their silver and gold (Isaiah 60; Psa 62:10-11). Besides the silver and gold Artaxerxes and his counsellors gave, there were other offerings of non-Jews and of the Jewish residents of Babylon. The king had perfect confidence in Ezra. After buying bullocks, rams, lambs, etc., the king wrote, “And whatsoever shall seem good to thee, and to thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God.”
Ezr 7:27-28. Then Ezra broke out in a beautiful doxology. He blessed the LORD God of his fathers. He had put all this in the King’s heart. And Ezra was strengthened as the hand of the LORD His God was upon him.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Journey of Ezra and his Company
The Journey of Ezra and his Company
v. 1. Now, after these things, almost sixty years after the events last related, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, the Artaxerxes Longimanus of secular history, Ezra, the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah,
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v. 2. the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
v. 3. the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth,
v. 4. the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki,
v. 5. the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the chief priest, Ezra himself being very careful to note his priestly descent, although he does not give every link in the genealogical chain,
v. 6. this Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the Law of Moses, a learned rabbi, or doctor, in the Mosaic Law and its interpretation, which the Lord God of Israel had given. And the king granted him all his request, entrusting him, at his own suggestion, with an important commission to the Jews, according to the hand of the Lord, his God, upon him. It was due to the goodness, providence, and grace of God which ruled over him that Ezra was granted this favor by the king.
v. 7. And there went up, subsequently, some of the children of Israel, and of the priests and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinim, the lower servants of the Temple, to whom the more menial tasks were entrusted, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.
v. 8. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, after a journey of four months, which was in the seventh year of the king.
v. 9. For upon the first day of the first month, the new moon of the ecclesiastical year, began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to 3erusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him, who directed also this affair to the blessing of all His children concerned.
v. 10. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, in studying the Law of God, its principles, institutions, privileges, and requirements, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments, the knowledge of which, at this time, had been considerably reduced, so far as the people as a whole were concerned. Where God is served with serious devotion, where his Word and worship are upheld with all zeal, there others are gained for the Lord. The more strictly the Church will follow the precepts of the Word of God, also in uncompromising opposition to all unionism, the better will it be able to do mission-work.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 General Information:
General Information:
Ezra's genealogy goes back to Aaron, the first high priest.
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Ezra came up from Babylon
Where Ezra came up to can be stated clearly. AT: "Ezra came up to Jerusalem from Babylon" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Seraiah
See how you translated this man's name in Esra 2:2. (See: How to Translate Names)
Shallum
See how you translated this man's name in Esra 2:42. (See: How to Translate Names)
Azariah, Hilkiah, ... Zadok, Ahitub, Amariah, Azariah, Meraioth, Zerahiah, Uzzi, Bukki, Abishua, Phinehas, Eleazar
This list is all men's names. (See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
king
Artaxerxes
Ezra
ancestor
Phinehas
Aaron
high priest
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 7:1-5 Ezra highlights his standing by listing his own…
7:1-5 Ezra highlights his standing by listing his own genealogy through Zadok, priest under Solomon (1 Kgs 2:35), all the way back to Aaron the high priest, Moses’ brother. This list is clearly abbreviated: It has only sixteen generations from Aaron to eighty years after the Exile, while 1 Chr 6:3-15 has twenty-three generations from Aaron to the Exile.
7:1 Many years later: Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in 458 BC (7:7-8), about fifty-seven years after the dedication of the second Temple. Ezra has been recording events that occurred before his time, but now he begins to record his own history. • son: In biblical genealogies, the Hebrew word translated son often means descendant. • Seraiah was high priest under Zedekiah; he was executed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC (2 Kgs 25:18-21).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.