And this is the copy of the letter that king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a scribe of the words of the commandments of Jehovah, and of his statutes to Israel
Ezra 7:11 is the hinge of the chapter: it pauses the story to introduce a royal letter, and first it stacks up Ezra's titles — priest, scribe, expert in God's commandments. Why does a Persian king write such a letter, and why does Scripture list Ezra's credentials again before quoting it?
The verse names Ezra as both priest and scribe. He came by those two titles in very different ways.
Ezra's family line is traced back to Aaron. He was therefore entitled to all the rights and privileges of the priesthood. He was also a skilled scribe, and so qualified to teach the people the statutes of the LORD. He became a priest by birth and consecration. But he became a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the LORD, the God of Israel, had given only by personal study of the Word. So inherited office, even among the Jews, could not supply the qualifications needed to carry it out. Those could only come from personal dealings with God in the Scriptures. Consecration entitled the priest by grace to minister before God. But he could only minister acceptably when he did everything in obedience to the Word, and he could not teach at all unless he himself knew the mind of God.
The verse does not call Ezra a scribe only. It calls him a scribe of the LORD's commandments and statutes. One writer warns what a narrow knowledge of the Word does.
Often nothing is more damaging to souls than a shallow and narrow knowledge of the Word. God's children would avoid so many divisions and disputes if they looked at the Scriptures from their various sides. Take one truth away from the other truths tied to it, and leave those other truths out of account, and you usually show ignorance and self-will. It may even be the fruit of a proud self-satisfaction that wants to teach others and refuses to be taught by God. Almost all false doctrines start from a truth taken out of context. Misunderstood in that way, it becomes the very root of error.
The letter comes right after the statement that Ezra had set his heart to seek, do, and teach the law. One commentator reads the two verses together: the first explains the second.
Ezra now has power to act. But the great point, notice, is the purpose of his heart to do the will of God… In the book we are considering, king Artaxerxes pictures one who sets an open door before Ezra. Yes, but Ezra's heart was set on doing the will of God. God arranges all the outward circumstances, and opens the way, when our heart within is set on doing the right thing in the sight of the Lord. We never have any ground to complain about circumstances if only our heart is right with the Lord. The Lord can and will take care of everything else.
Verse 11 is the heading. The letter itself runs from verse 12 to verse 26. One writer reads it and sees God at work in the king's mind.
After this statement of the piety and zeal that marked Ezra, we get a full account of the letter Artaxerxes gave to Ezra. It amounts to a decree. Under its authority Ezra travelled to Jerusalem and acted once he got there. As you read these verses, you cannot help being struck by the wonderful work of God in the mind of a pagan king. It led the king to grant such powers, to order such help, and to acknowledge the claims and greatness of "the God of heaven". We also see the overruling wisdom of God controlling the mind of the king. So the king gave God's servant liberty — and even commanded him — to do what God intended.
The verse names a king and a scribe in one line. One writer sees God's hand in that pairing.
The lesson lies on the surface. God is sovereign in the choice of His instruments. He does according to His will among the inhabitants of the earth as in the army of heaven, and none can stop His hand or say to Him, What are you doing? Our chapter shows it. "Artaxerxes, king of kings," and "Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God," are yoked together to carry out God's thoughts for His people and for His house in Jerusalem.
- Heart first. Ezra's letter follows his resolve. Set your heart on doing God's will, and God arranges the outward circumstances and opens the way.
- Study, not status. Priesthood came to Ezra by birth; skill in the law came only by personal dealings with God in the Scriptures. Office never supplies its own qualification.
- Whole Word. A "scribe of the commandments" knows Scripture from every side. A truth pulled out of context is the root of almost every false teaching.
- Royal pen, divine hand. God worked in a pagan king's mind. That is where the powers, the help, and the words about "the God of heaven" in his decree came from.
- Yoked instruments. God yokes a king of kings and a priest-scribe together for His house. He chooses His instruments as He wills.
Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, an accomplished scribe of the law of the God of the heavens, and so forth.
This verse opens the royal letter that Artaxerxes handed to Ezra, and the book quotes it down to verse 26. Why does a Persian emperor who calls himself "king of kings" write to a Jewish priest, and how do the two end up serving the same purpose?
At this verse the book changes language. Two sections of it are not in Hebrew, and this letter is one of them.
Two parts of this book are written in the Syriac or Aramean language — the language spoken in Babylon and Assyria. They are Ezra 4:8 to 6:18, and Ezra 7:12-26.
The title was true of Artaxerxes in a limited way. One writer points out who it fits far better.
He refers to himself as "king of kings," for there were kings in the Persian empire who were subject to him (v. 12). But how much more fitting is this title when applied to the Lord Jesus! (Rev. 19:16). However, he addressed Ezra as "a scribe of the law of the God of heaven." It seems he realized that Israel's God was much higher than the idols of Persia.
The name the king uses is not a vague courtesy. It belongs to a particular moment in God's dealings, after He had given His people over to Gentile rule and said of them Lo-ammi, "not my people."
God gave up apostate Judah to the Gentiles, as He had given up Israel before, and passed the sentence of Lo-ammi (not-my-people). He stopped acting as God of the earth, the Jehovah of His people. As "God of the heavens" He granted world-empire for a time to the four Gentile powers that followed one another. See Daniel 2.
That explains the strangeness of Ezra's position. The man sent to restore God's law among God's people carries his authority from a foreign throne.
But he takes up this work under the authority of the Persian power that had followed Babylon, made supreme by the God of the heavens. It was a strange thing for Israel, whose turning away from Jehovah had brought it about.
The letter does not stop at a general name for God. Later on the king becomes more specific, and one writer asks how deep his knowledge really went.
They had a certain fear of God, but no living faith. Like his grandfather Darius, Artaxerxes acknowledged the God of heaven... but in his decree Artaxerxes goes further: he acknowledges the God of Ezra (v. 14), the God of Israel (v. 15), and the God of Jerusalem (v. 19). He also acknowledges his responsibility toward this God whose wrath is to be feared (v. 23).
Another writer reads the same letter more hopefully, so commentators differ here.
Though he was a Gentile, it would almost seem that he was in full fellowship with Ezra's object. And from his confession of Jehovah as the God of heaven (vv. 21, 23), it is not impossible that grace had visited his heart.
The king addresses Ezra by the one title that mattered. Ezra held two positions, and he came by them in two very different ways.
He became a priest by birth and consecration. But he became "a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the LORD, the God of Israel, had given" only by personal study of the Word. So inherited office, even among the Jews, could not give a man the qualifications for doing the work. Those could only come from personal time with God in the Scriptures.
The greeting of the letter is itself the lesson. God chooses whom He will to carry out what He intends.
The lesson lies on the surface. God is sovereign in the choice of His instruments. He does according to His will among the inhabitants of the earth as in the army of heaven, and none can stop His hand, or say to Him, "What are you doing?" Our chapter illustrates this. "Artaxerxes, king of kings," and "Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God," are yoked together to carry out God's thoughts for His people and for His house in Jerusalem.
- Cause — Israel's apostasy is why the letter exists. God set His people aside as "not my people." He stepped back from acting as God of the earth and handed world power to the Gentiles.
- Title — "The God of heaven" is the name that fits those times. A Persian king uses it, and it marks both God's unchanged supremacy and Israel's lost place on earth.
- Instrument — God chooses whom He will. He yokes a Persian king and a Jewish priest together to serve His purpose for His house.
- Qualification — Ezra's priesthood came by birth; his knowledge of the law came only by personal study. A man can inherit an office. He can never inherit fitness for it.
- Result — Under the authority of a foreign crown, God's word goes back to Jerusalem. Nothing in the king's greeting is outside God's hand.
I have given orders that all they of the people of Israel, and of their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who are disposed to go to Jerusalem, go with thee.
In Ezra 7:13 a Persian king throws a door open. Any Israelite, priest or Levite in his empire may travel with Ezra to Jerusalem, if he wants to go. The permission is real. But God's people now need a foreign king's signature to go home. Even then, only willing hearts will use it.
The verse dates the decree to a Persian king's reign. Commentators read that detail as a sign of where power now sat.
Notice again that the signs are everywhere: governmental power on earth has passed from the Jew to the Gentile. The date of Ezra's mission is "in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia," and the king sets out his commission for the work at length (vv. 11-26). This proves that God's people were at this time under the authority of the Gentiles. It also proves that God Himself always recognises the powers that have their source in His own sovereign appointment.
God moved Ezra to take up this work. Yet the authority to send him sat with a foreign throne.
God puts it into the heart of Ezra, a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, to think of the remnant in Jerusalem. He puts it into his heart to seek the law of the LORD, to teach it and to see it obeyed. Here again it is still the Gentile king who sends him for this purpose to Jerusalem. All blessing is of God. But when it comes to authority, nothing comes directly from God — except prophecy, in which God was sovereign. He could not leave unrecognised the throne He had Himself set up among the Gentiles on the earth. And Israel was an earthly people.
The decree reads like the work of a man who feared Israel's God.
As you read through these verses, you cannot help being struck by the wonderful work of God in the mind of a pagan king. That work led him to grant such powers, to order such help, and to express such a recognition of the claims and greatness of "the God of heaven". We also see the over-ruling wisdom of God controlling the king's mind. So the king gave God's servant liberty, and even commanded him to do what God proposed.
This was not the first such offer.
Cyrus, as seen in Ezra 1, had also granted the same privilege. Now, many years later, the Spirit of God works through the king once again to deliver His people. But there was to be no human force. If any man went up, it must be his own free choice, for God would have willing servants. If any pressure moved him, it must be only the pressure of the Holy Spirit.
A generous decree did not produce a crowd.
In view of the magnificent decree and liberality of Artaxerxes, the company was very small. The majority preferred Babylon, and remained there. The faithful ones are known to God, and their names are here written forever in His Word. The Gentile king had given the decree, and the people had all the means they needed. Even so, the undertaking was one of faith. They came out of Babylon trusting the LORD; they marched on in faith.
An earlier invitation had worked the same way. Its open wording sorted people by what they loved.
Worded this way, the proclamation meant that those who responded would mostly be men of piety. Their hearts were alive to the glory of God and to the place of His Name. The more worldly-minded and selfish would rather stay in the comfortable homes they had built during the seventy years of captivity. They would leave the task to others who were ready to face the difficulties and hardships.
So what did those who went up gain?
I think this work of God through Ezra's mission is a touching proof of His loving-kindness. It fitted the needs of the people exactly. It was not power. That had been removed to another place. It was the knowledge of the will and the ordinances of God — of the mind of God in the word.
- Willing, not forced. The decree set no quota and named no one: "there was to be no human force… for God would have willing servants."
- Willing hearts, moved by God. The liberty came through a king's pen. But God moved both the king's mind and the hearts that answered.
- Willingness sifts. Wide-open wording lets love decide; those alive to God's glory go, the comfortable stay.
- Willingness costs. Even with royal funding, the journey was a step of faith. Most chose to stay in Babylon.
- Willingness aims at the Word. What the volunteers gained was not restored power but the mind of God in His word — exactly suited to their need.
Because thou art sent by the king, and by his seven counsellors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thy hand;
Ezra 7:14 sits inside a letter that Artaxerxes, ruler of the Persian empire, handed to Ezra before he left Babylon for Jerusalem. A foreign court sends a priest and scribe to look into the state of Judah — and tells him to measure it by the law of his own God, carried in his own hand.
The striking thing is who issued this commission. One writer draws out the lesson:
We cannot help noticing that this Gentile ruler refers everything to the will of God. To put it more exactly, he directs that everything should be ordered in subjection to that will... From his confession of the LORD as the God of heaven (vv. 21, 23), it is not impossible that grace had visited his heart... The lesson lies on the surface. God is sovereign in the choice of His instruments. He does according to His will among the inhabitants of the earth as in the army of heaven. None can stop His hand or say to Him, "What are you doing?" We see an illustration of this in our chapter: "Artaxerxes, king of kings," and "Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God," are yoked together for carrying out God's thoughts for His people and for His house in Jerusalem.
The powers granted went well beyond what a foreign official could normally expect. Another writer reads the king's generosity as evidence of something working behind the throne:
As one reads through these verses, one cannot help being struck by the wonderful work of God in the mind of a pagan king, which led him to grant such powers, to order such help to be given, and to express such recognition of the claims and greatness of "the God of heaven". We also see the over-ruling wisdom of God controlling the mind of the king, so that His servant was given liberty — and even commanded — to do what God intended.
The verse ties the inquiry to something else. One survey of the chapter notes what went with Ezra:
He was not sent empty-handed to inquire about Judah and Jerusalem. The king and his seven counsellors offered gifts to the God of Israel of their own free will, because he was to inquire "according to the law of his God which was in his hand" — a remarkable testimony from such a source.
One commentator tracks how far the king's knowledge of God went, and where it stopped:
The decree of Artaxerxes... shows us the mental attitude of the rulers of Persia. They had a certain fear of God, but without living faith... Although he allowed, as history tells us, each people to keep their idols, he himself had none... Without doubt their religion disposed them to acknowledge the "God of the heavens". But in his decree Artaxerxes goes further. He acknowledges the God of Ezra (v. 14), the God of Israel (v. 15), and the God of Jerusalem (v. 19). He also owns that he is responsible to this God, and that His anger is to be feared (v. 23).
Commentators differ here. Dennett thinks grace may have touched the king's heart. Rossier stops at a fear of God without living faith.
Why was the law "in your hand" at all? A few verses earlier we read what Ezra did first:
He prepared his heart to seek it first, and then to do it. He himself did not separate practice from knowledge. He was not like the teachers of the law in the days of Jesus. They laid on people "burdens hard to bear", and would not touch the burdens with one of their fingers. The precepts of the Word he fed on soaked into his daily life. Only after this did he set his heart "to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances."
The sequence explains the royal letter rather than the other way round. The open door came second:
In the book we are considering, king Artaxerxes is a picture of one who sets an open door before Ezra. Yes — but Ezra's heart was set to do the will of God. God works all outward circumstances. He opens the way when our heart is inwardly set to do the right thing in the sight of the Lord. We have no ground ever to complain of circumstances if only our heart is right with the Lord. The Lord can and will take care of everything else.
There is a shadow over all this favour. One summary of the chapter names both sides at once:
Ezra the priest went up from Babylon, and with him other Israelites of every rank. He went by the king's favour, with freewill offerings and with authority for everything he needed for the house of his God, and for instructing and judging the Jews. It was a witness both of God's mercy through the Gentile king, and of the abnormal position of Israel.
- Hand — the law is "in your hand" because Ezra first sought it, then did it, then taught it.
- Heart — the open door came after the settled heart. When the heart is set right, God arranges the outward circumstances.
- Throne — a foreign king and a Jewish scribe are yoked together for God's purpose. God chooses His instruments, and no one can stop His hand.
- Reach — the decree moves from "God of heaven" to the God of Ezra, of Israel, of Jerusalem. Yet it stays a fear of God, not living faith.
- Reminder — the king's favour was real mercy. But needing a foreign king's letter showed how far from normal Israel's position had become.
and to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counsellors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is at Jerusalem,
Ezra 7:15 sits inside a letter from a Persian king. It records something unexpected: a foreign ruler and his advisers hand over silver and gold as a gift to the God of Israel. How did a pagan court come to pay for the worship of a scattered, conquered people? And who was really behind it?
The letter reads like the act of a generous king. One commentator traces it back further, and points out how often God is named in this Persian state document.
There can be no question that God moved Artaxerxes in all he did... This document keeps using the name of God, the law of God, the house of God. Then the king and his seven counsellors freely gave silver and gold "to the God of Israel, whose dwelling 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; Ps. 62:10-11).
So the gift is an early sample of what Isaiah and the Psalms promise on a far larger scale.
The word "freely" covers the whole decree: both the people who travelled and the money they carried.
First comes the greeting, and it shows that Ezra was a true witness among the Gentiles. Then the king decrees that "all those of the people of Israel, and His priests and Levites, in my realm, who freely choose to go up to Jerusalem, may go with you."... But no human force was to be used. If any man went up, it must be his own choice, for God would have willing servants. Any constraint must come only from the Holy Spirit... He was also to take charge of the silver and gold which the king and his counsellors had freely offered to the God of Israel.
The source of the money is what makes this striking.
Nor was he sent empty-handed to ask about Judah and Jerusalem. The king and his seven counsellors freely offered to the God of Israel... a remarkable testimony from such a source.
The order of spending matters too.
They were to carry the silver and gold given by the king and his counselors, and the silver and gold given to them in all the province of Babylon. These were freewill offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem (vv. 15-16). So the king told Ezra to take care to buy bulls, rams and lambs with this money, along with grain offerings and drink offerings, for the altar of the house of God in Jerusalem (v. 17). It is good to see that the king's first priority was what honored God. All these offerings symbolize Christ in some special way.
The gift ties a Gentile king — a ruler outside Israel — to a scribe of God's law. One commentator finds the chapter's main lesson in that pairing.
We cannot miss how this Gentile king refers everything to the will of God... It would almost seem, Gentile though he was, that he shared Ezra's aim fully. He confesses Jehovah as the God of heaven (vv. 21, 23), so it is not impossible that grace had visited his heart... The lesson lies on the surface. God is sovereign in the choice of His instruments. He does as He wills among the people of the earth as among the army of heaven, and no one can stop His hand, or say to Him, "What are You doing?" Our chapter shows it: "Artaxerxes, king of kings," and "Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God," are harnessed together to carry out God's thoughts for His people and for His house in Jerusalem.
Dennett stops short of claiming the king was converted.
Ezra copies out the royal letter, then names the one he thinks is really behind it.
Ezra himself is filled with worship as he thinks about the wonder-working power of his God's hand. Having written down the king's letter, he breaks out in praise: "Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem."
- Heart. The gift starts in a heart God touched. God moved Artaxerxes "in all he did," so the gift is God's work before it is the king's.
- Free. No one was forced. The travellers went by their own free choice and the money was "freely offered," because "God would have willing servants."
- First. The silver and gold went to the altar first, because "the king's first priority was what honored God."
- Reach. God works outside Israel too. "Artaxerxes, king of kings," and a scribe of God's law are "harnessed together to carry out God's thoughts."
- Praise. Ezra closes the circle. He blesses the God "who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart," crediting God, not Persia.
and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, besides the voluntary offering of the people, and of the priests, who offer willingly for the house of their God which is at Jerusalem.
Ezra carries three streams of wealth from Babylon to Jerusalem. The Persian king and his advisers give. More comes from across the province of Babylonia. Israelites still living there add their own offerings. It all has one address — the house of God in Jerusalem. Why would a foreign king fund the worship of Israel's God? And what makes a gift a "freewill offering"?
The letter reads like royal generosity. Reading the whole decree, one writer is struck less by the king than by the hand moving him:
As you read through these verses, you cannot help being struck by the wonderful work of God in the mind of a pagan king. It led him to grant such powers, to order such help, and to express such a recognition of the claims and greatness of "the God of heaven." We also see the overruling wisdom of God controlling the king's mind, so that the king gave God's servant liberty and even commanded him to do what God proposed.
Ezra's errand was to look into the state of Judah and Jerusalem. One commentator notes where his funding came from:
He was not sent empty-handed to inquire about Judah and Jerusalem. The king and his seven counsellors freely offered gifts to the God of Israel, since Ezra was to inquire "according to the law of his God which was in his hand." That is a remarkable testimony from such a source.
The temple's supplies now arrive by permission of a foreign court. One writer sees both mercy and something out of place in this:
In the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, Ezra the priest went up from Babylon. Other Israelites of all ranks went with him, by the king's favour, and with freewill offerings. Ezra carried authority for all he wanted for the house of his God, and for teaching and judging the Jews. It is a witness both of divine mercy through the Gentile, and of the abnormal position of Israel.
The people and the priests gave willingly too. One commentator traces where such willingness comes from:
"My people shall be willing" (Psalm 110). "Willing" and "liberal" are the same word… Again, in 2 Corinthians 8:5, Gentiles had been made willing — "they gave themselves first to the Lord." They are recognised and owned by the Lord, and then the generosity comes. Grace worked it in them, and God calls it their own voluntary will — "every man according as he purposes in his heart" (2 Corinthians 9:7).
The gifts were not a general fund. The decree names what the silver must buy:
It was by the king's authority, and they were to carry the silver and gold given by the king and his counselors, along with the silver and gold given them in all the province of Babylon — freewill offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem (vv. 15-16). So Ezra was told to be careful to buy with this money bulls, rams and lambs, with grain offerings and drink offerings, to be offered on the altar of the house of God in Jerusalem (v. 17). It is good to see that the king's first priority was what was for God's honour. All these offerings symbolize Christ in some special way.
A pagan king's letter calls Jerusalem the dwelling place of the God of Israel. One commentator sees an early sample of a much larger day:
Then the King and his seven counsellors freely gave silver and gold "to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem." In a future day, when all Israel is saved and Christ comes again, the Gentiles and their kings will offer their silver and gold (Isaiah 60; Psalm 62:10-11). Artaxerxes and his counsellors were not the only givers. Non-Jews and the Jewish residents of Babylon brought offerings too.
- God moves first. The powers, the funds and the recognition of "the God of heaven" came from a foreign king's pen. Behind that pen was God's overruling wisdom, moving the king to command what God already intended.
- Then the king gives. Ezra did not travel empty-handed. A Persian court giving to the God of Israel is a remarkable testimony from such a source.
- Then the people give. Willingness and liberality are one idea. Grace produces the generosity, and God still calls it the giver's own choice.
- It all lands on the altar. The king's first priority was God's honour. The silver bought bulls, rams and lambs for the altar, and each one pictures Christ.
- And it previews more. Gentile silver and gold flows to Jerusalem here. It is a small sample of the day when the nations and their kings will bring their wealth to the God of Israel.
Therefore thou shalt buy diligently with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their oblations and their drink-offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is at Jerusalem.
In his letter, the Persian king Artaxerxes hands Ezra public money and names the first purchase: animals for sacrifice, for the altar in Jerusalem. Why would a foreign court pay for Israel's worship, and why did the animals come before every other cost?
The decree came from a foreign king. One writer points to the hand behind it.
As one reads through these verses, one cannot help being struck by the wonderful work of God in the mind of a pagan king. That work led him to grant such powers, to order such help, and to express such a recognition of the claims and greatness of "the God of heaven". We also see the over-ruling wisdom of God controlling the mind of the king, so that His servant was free — and even under orders — to do what God proposed.
The king's letter fixes the order of spending. One writer notes what comes first.
The king instructed Ezra to buy bulls, rams and lambs with this money, with care, along with grain offerings and drink offerings. These were to be offered on the altar of the house of God in Jerusalem (v. 17). It is good to see that the king's first priority was that which was for God's honour. All these offerings picture Christ in some special way.
The king let Israelites travel to Jerusalem with Ezra. One writer notes that no one was pushed into going.
Cyrus, as seen in Ezra 1, had also granted this same privilege of going up to Jerusalem. Now, after many years, the Spirit of God works again, through the king, to deliver His people. But no human force was to be used: if any man went up, it must be by his own will, for God would have willing servants. Any constraint must be only that of the Holy Spirit.
The verse names bulls, rams and lambs. One writer, looking at a burnt offering of seven lambs, one bull and two rams, draws out what each animal pictures.
The seven lambs of the first year without blemish tell of the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God. … The bullock, as the largest animal offered in sacrifice, may symbolise energy and devotedness, while the ram speaks of consecration.
The grain offering matched the animal it went with. One writer draws meaning from the exact amounts. An ephah was a dry measure of grain.
Change is only in the number of each of the first three animals. The meal-offering that goes with them stays in constant proportion: one tenth of an ephah for a lamb, two tenths for a ram, three for a bullock. So our grasp of Christ's person grows with our grasp of His work, if this is real. Drink-offerings accompany the rest also in due proportion.
Drink offerings appear only a handful of times in Israel's story. One writer notes that this verse is the last of them, and what it is tied to.
Ezra 7:17 is the last of the historical references to the drink offering and again speaks of revival in Judah. This revival is not tied to the restoration of temple worship, as in 2 Chronicles 29 and again in Ezra 1-6. It is tied to Ezra's mission, which was "to teach his statutes and rules in Israel" (Ezra 7:10). This was not achieved at once, because Ezra did not instruct the people in God's word until Nehemiah 8.
A foreign king's silver and gold went to Jerusalem for the house of God. One writer sees in this a preview of a far greater day.
Then the king and his seven counsellors freely gave silver and gold "to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem." In a future day all Israel will be saved and Christ will come again. Then the nations and their kings will offer their silver and gold (Isaiah 60; Psalm 62:10-11).
- Given — the silver and gold came from a foreign king, not from Israel. God was at work in his mind, so the king granted, and even ordered, what God had already purposed.
- Spent — the altar had the first claim on the money. God's honour came first, and every animal named pictures Christ.
- Willing — the king and his counsellors gave freely, and the travellers went by their own choice. God would have willing servants, and the only pressure allowed was the Holy Spirit's.
- Measured — bull, ram and lamb each carry their own meaning. The grain and drink offerings grow with the animal, so our grasp of Christ's person keeps pace with our grasp of His work.
- Ahead — this is the last drink offering in Israel's story, and it belongs to Ezra's teaching mission. A foreign king's gold at Jerusalem points to the day when the nations and their kings offer their silver and gold.
And whatever shall seem good to thee and to thy brethren to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do according to the will of your God.
Ezra 7:18 sits inside a letter from a Persian king, who hands Ezra silver and gold for the temple in Jerusalem. After naming the sacrifices to be bought, Artaxerxes leaves the rest to Ezra's judgment — and the standard he sets is not royal policy but the will of Ezra's God.
The decree is remarkable for who wrote it. A foreign king fills his official letter with the God of Israel, and one writer sees God moving him.
There can be no question that God moved Artaxerxes in all he did. The decree states that any Israelites, priests and Levites in his kingdom who are willing to go up to Jerusalem of their own free will may go with Ezra. This document uses the name of God, the law of God and the house of God again and again.
One writer traces how far the king's acknowledgement goes through the letter, while also being honest about its limits.
They had a certain fear of God, but no living faith… In his decree, Artaxerxes goes further. He acknowledges the God of Ezra (v. 14), the God of Israel (v. 15), and the God of Jerusalem (v. 19). He also admits that he is responsible to this God, whose wrath should be feared (v. 23).
The phrase "according to the will of your God" is not a closing flourish. The king applies that measure to everything he authorises, and one writer draws a lesson from it.
We cannot help noticing that this Gentile king refers everything to the will of God. To put it more exactly, he directs that everything be ordered in subjection to that will… The lesson lies on the surface. God is sovereign in His choice of instruments. He does according to His will among the inhabitants of the earth as in the army of heaven, and no one can hold back His hand, or say to Him, What are You doing?
Verse 18 only makes sense after verse 17. The king set the money aside first for sacrifices on the altar. Only what was left came under Ezra's judgment.
It is good to see that the king's first priority was what honored God… So, if God had His place first, the king was confident he could depend on Ezra to use the rest of the silver and gold well. He told Ezra he could act in this as "seems good to you," and "according to the will of your God" (v. 18).
Artaxerxes did not micromanage. The powers he handed Ezra went well beyond this one decision.
Ezra, we see, was given remarkable authority. The king took it for granted that he would act, as he said, "according to the wisdom of your God." He freed Ezra and his helpers from every form of tax or payment, and gave them power to punish all evildoers… So, in the providence of God, the king commissioned Ezra to go up to the land armed with remarkable powers.
A man left to decide "as seems good" needs more than good intentions. One writer names what kept Ezra on course.
To follow this path of obedience without turning aside from it, Ezra needed a special knowledge of the whole body of Scripture… Often nothing is more deadly to souls than a shallow, limited knowledge of the Word… To take one truth apart from the other truths that go with it, and to leave those out of account, is usually a proof of ignorance and self-will.
Believers meet the same pattern today. God leaves some matters open, and one writer says why.
The Lord's purpose is clearly to leave many things to the prayerful exercise of His saints. They must search the Scriptures to find what pleases Him, and judge by comparing how He acted in days past. In this way they grow, with their senses trained to tell good from evil. In such matters each of us must seek to find out God's will and be fully persuaded in our own minds.
The gifts would make the house more beautiful. One writer names a finer adornment that no treasury could supply.
The silver and gold and other gifts from the treasuries would no doubt be used to increase the natural beauty of the house being built. But we venture to think that the teaching of the law, which Ezra planned to do, would produce godliness in the people, if they received it. That adorns any house more than any amount of silver and gold can.
- Moved — a foreign ruler with no living faith still fills his decree with the God of Israel, because God stirred him.
- Measured — the king puts everything in his letter under God's will; God works His purposes on earth, and no one can stop His hand.
- Ordered — the altar gets its portion first; only what is left falls to human judgment.
- Trusted — God gives freedom to a man who knows the whole of Scripture; a shallow knowledge of the Word breeds self-will.
- Beautified — silver and gold adorn the building, but God's truth received by the people adorns it far more.
And the vessels that have been given thee for the service of the house of thy God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem.
This verse comes from a Persian king's letter to Ezra, a Jewish priest, about gold and silver objects for worship in Jerusalem. Two questions follow: why is a foreign king handling the vessels of God's house, and what does it mean to hand them over before the God of Jerusalem?
The verse is not Ezra speaking. It is part of the king's own letter, and one writer sees in that a shift in who holds power.
The signs of the transfer of governmental power in the earth from the Jew to the Gentile are everywhere apparent. So the date of Ezra's mission is given as "in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia," and his commission for his work from the king is set out at length (vv. 11-26). This proves that God's people were at this time under the authority of the Gentiles, and that God Himself always recognises the powers which have their source in His own sovereign appointment.
The title the king uses in this verse is unusual, and it is one step in a series of confessions running through his decree.
The decree of Artaxerxes, as well as the letter of Darius (Ezra 6), shows us the state of mind of the rulers of Persia. They had a certain fear of God, but without living faith. Like his grandfather Darius, Artaxerxes acknowledged the God of heaven. He let each people keep their idols, as history tells us, but he himself had none... No doubt this disposed them to acknowledge the "God of the heavens". But in his decree Artaxerxes goes further: he acknowledges the God of Ezra (v. 14), the God of Israel (v. 15), and the God of Jerusalem (v. 19). He also acknowledges his responsibility toward this God whose wrath is to be feared (v. 23).
The letter keeps naming God, and one writer links the king's gift to a day still ahead.
There can be no question that Artaxerxes was divinely moved in all he did... 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 "to the God of Israel, whose dwelling 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; Psalm 62:10-11).
Notice the order. God has His place first; only then does Ezra have freedom over what is left.
If God was given His place first, the king had confidence that he could depend on Ezra to use the rest of the silver and gold rightly. He told him he could act in this as "seems good to you," and "according to the will of your God" (v. 18). Ezra was entrusted with articles for the service of the temple, and he was to deliver them in full before the God of Jerusalem (v. 19).
The vessels were holy, and so the character of the men who carried them mattered.
These gifts were sanctified by the name of the Lord and by the character of those who kept them... These gifts, coming in large part from the king, counsellors and princes, were not defiled in any way. Since the name of the Lord and His temple had been recognised by these men, God could take pleasure in their offerings. But even for these material gifts, whether silver or gold, the priests had to watch over them and guard them, for nothing must be lost. The men entrusted with this deposit must show absolute faithfulness and integrity. In the day of grace we see the apostle Paul show the same strict care in watching over the deposit given to him by the assemblies of Gentile believers for the saints at Jerusalem (2 Cor. 8:20).
The same writer turns this into a rule for anyone holding something on God's behalf.
May we copy them in the responsibilities, great or small, which the Lord entrusts to us. May we never treat anything He puts into our hand as our own. It is to be given back to Him, after we have managed it faithfully for Him.
- Entrusted, not owned. The vessels are "given" to Ezra, yet they are for God's house — what comes into a servant's hand is to be handed on, not kept.
- Entrusted by a Gentile. The commission comes in a Persian king's letter. Governmental power in the earth had passed from the Jew to the Gentile.
- Entrusted by God behind the king. Artaxerxes names the God of Ezra, of Israel, and of Jerusalem. Commentators say God moved him, though his fear of God had no living faith in it.
- Entrusted in order of priority. Sacrifice and the temple vessels are settled first; only the remainder is left to Ezra's discretion, and even that "according to the will of your God."
- Entrusted to clean hands. Holy vessels need carriers of absolute faithfulness. Nothing is lost, and everything goes back to Him.
And whatever 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.
One line in a Persian king's letter puts the royal treasury behind the temple in Jerusalem. Whatever else the house of God needs, Ezra may draw on it — and Ezra decides what that is. Why would a foreign ruler sign such a blank cheque, and what does it say about a people who needed his money?
The verse is the open-ended clause of the decree. The king promised to cover any cost left over. He also named the officials who would pay.
The king instructed that anything more needed for furnishing the temple should come from the king's treasury (v. 20). A further decree went to all the treasurers on Israel's side of the River Euphrates. They were to give Ezra whatever he asked for. It limited the silver to 100 talents, the wheat to 100 cors, and the wine and oil to 100 baths each. There was no limit on the salt (vv. 21-22).
The king did not worship the God of Israel. Commentators trace his generosity past the man who signed it.
As you read through these verses, you cannot help being struck by the wonderful work of God in the mind of a pagan king. It led him to grant such powers, to order such help, and to voice such recognition of the claims and greatness of "the God of heaven". We also see the overruling wisdom of God controlling the mind of the king, so that the king gave His servant liberty — and even commanded him — to do what God proposed.
The same note sounds all through the letter. The king keeps pointing past himself to God.
You cannot fail to notice that this Gentile king refers everything to the will of God. Or, more exactly, he gives orders that everything must be subject to that will.
A king and a scribe are pulling the same load, and the reason lies outside them both.
The lesson lies on the surface. God is sovereign in the choice of His instruments. He does according to His will among the people of the earth as in the army of heaven. No one can stop His hand or say to Him, What are you doing? Our chapter shows it. "Artaxerxes, king of kings," and "Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God," are yoked together to carry out God's thoughts for His people and for His house in Jerusalem.
There is a shadow over the generosity. The temple now ran on a foreign budget, and that said something about Israel's standing.
The people were now under Gentile rule. They owed the Gentile for permission to live in the land of their fathers, and to keep the laws and do the service of their God. They were subjects of the Persian, and their ruler was his deputy.
Money can make a building beautiful. Writers point to something that beautifies it more.
It was all "to beautify the house of the Lord". The silver and gold and other gifts out of the treasuries would no doubt add to the natural beauty of the house they were building. But we think the teaching of the law, which Ezra planned to do, would produce a piety in the people, if they received it. That piety adorns any house more than any amount of silver and gold ever could.
Ezra had asked the king for something, and the king had said yes. When he writes it up, he credits neither his request nor his standing at court.
It was not his request that moved the king to act; it was God who put the thing into the king's heart. It was not Ezra's influence that won him favour with the king and his princes; it was God who extended mercy to him in their presence. He did not gather the chief men to go up with him by his own power; it was God who strengthened him with His own hand upon him.
- Need. The decree covered whatever else the temple needed. Named treasurers had to pay, up to fixed limits.
- Source. The gift came through a foreign king. Writers trace it to God at work in his mind, and the king's own letter bows to the will of God.
- Instrument. God chooses whom He will. He yoked a Persian emperor and a Jewish scribe to one purpose neither of them began.
- Humility. Funding is not the same as freedom. Leaning on a Gentile treasury marked the people as subjects, not a free nation.
- Result. Silver made the building beautiful. The law taught and received beautifies it more. Ezra took no credit, tracing his request, his favour and his strength to God's hand.
And I, I Artaxerxes the king, do give orders to all the treasurers that are beyond the river, that whatever Ezra the priest and scribe of the law of the God of the heavens shall require of you, it be done diligently,
Ezra 7:21 comes from a Persian king's official letter, ordering his treasurers west of the Euphrates to give Ezra whatever he asks for. Why would a foreign ruler call Israel's God "the God of heaven," and who was moving his pen?
The letter did three things at once.
The king's letter of authorization empowered Ezra to act. It defined the aim of his mission. And through the king's treasurers beyond the river, it supplied the means to carry out his service in setting the house of Jehovah in order.
The next verse sets limits on this open-ended order — with one exception.
The king issued a decree to all the treasurers on Israel's side of the River Euphrates. They were to give Ezra whatever he might need. The only limits were 100 talents of silver, 100 cors of wheat, and 100 baths each of wine and oil — with no limit to the salt (vv. 21-22).
The same letter also cancelled the taxes that earlier officials had once used as an argument against the Jews.
More than this, the king ruled that no one could lawfully impose tax, tribute or custom on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants or servants of the house of God (v. 24). Rehum and Shimshai had once urged an earlier Artaxerxes to stop the Jews from building, claiming that the Jews would not pay tax, tribute or custom (ch. 4:9-13). Now the king was ready to give up these payments for the heads of Israel, so that Judah would prosper.
Commentators differ on what was going on inside Artaxerxes. One sees in his words a possible sign of grace at work.
We cannot fail to notice that this Gentile king refers everything to the will of God — or more precisely, that he directs everything to be ordered in subjection to that will. Gentile though he was, he almost seems to be in full fellowship with Ezra's aim. And from his confession of Jehovah as the God of heaven (vv. 21, 23), it is not impossible that grace had visited his heart.
Another writer sees respect without faith, and notes how the king's words grow more specific.
They had a certain fear of God, but without living faith. Like his grandfather Darius, Artaxerxes acknowledged the God of heaven… but in his decree he goes further. He acknowledges the God of Ezra (v. 14), the God of Israel (v. 15), and the God of Jerusalem (v. 19). He also acknowledges his responsibility toward this God whose wrath is to be feared (v. 23).
The verse calls Ezra "the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven." But his gift alone was not what qualified him.
God had prepared him beforehand, as a special gift, to be the leader of His people. But that was not enough to qualify him for his ministry: "Ezra had directed his heart to seek the law of Jehovah, and to do it" (v. 10). He prepared his heart to seek it first, and then to do it. For his own part, he did not separate practice from knowledge… The precepts of the Word he fed on soaked through his daily life. Only after this did he set his heart "to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances."
Ezra credits none of this to his own standing at court.
He traced everything up to God. He lost sight of himself, and to his soul God was all and in all. It was not his asking (v. 6) that moved the king to act; it was God who put the thing into the king's heart. It was not Ezra's influence that commended him to the king and his princes; it was God who extended mercy to him in their presence. It was not by his own power that he gathered the chief men to go up with him; it was God who strengthened him with His own hand upon him.
The gifts would add to the beauty of the house. One writer points to a greater adornment.
The silver and gold and other gifts out of the treasuries would doubtless increase the natural beauty of the house being built. But we venture to think that the teaching of the law, which Ezra planned to do, would produce a piety in the people, if they received it. And piety adorns any house more than any amount of silver and gold can.
- Heart first. Ezra set his heart to seek God's law, to do it, and then to teach it — the order that made him fit to be trusted.
- Then the hand. God put the thing into the king's heart. The decree, the favour and the strength all came from Him, not from Ezra's influence.
- Then the treasury. One letter empowered Ezra to act, defined his mission, and paid for it from the province's own funds.
- Then the limits. The king capped the silver, wheat, wine and oil; only salt had no limit, and he freed the temple workers from tax.
- Then the beauty. The gifts would adorn God's house, yet a people taught the Word adorn it more than silver ever could.
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].
Artaxerxes has just told his treasurers west of the Euphrates to give Ezra whatever he asks for the temple. Now he sets the ceiling. Silver, wheat, wine and oil are each capped at a hundred. Salt gets no figure at all. Why does a Persian king pay for the worship of Israel's God? Why these four goods? And why is salt the one item left uncounted?
This verse is the fine print of a royal order:
The king instructed that the king's treasury would supply anything more the temple needed for its furnishing (v. 20). A decree backed this up. It went to all the treasurers on Israel's side of the River Euphrates, telling them to give Ezra whatever he might need. It limited only the silver, to 100 talents, the wheat to 100 cors, and the wine and oil to 100 baths each. There was no limit to the salt (vv. 21-22).
The funding was not a private favour. The empire's own system carried it:
The king gave Ezra a letter of authorization. It empowered him to act. It defined the object of his mission. And through the king's treasurers beyond the river, it provided the means for carrying out his service in the ordering of the house of Jehovah.
The list is not a supply of food for Ezra's party. These are the raw materials of Israel's sacrifices. An earlier Persian decree had already named the same four goods. One writer matches each item to its offering:
The material mentioned was for the sacrifices and offerings. Young bulls, rams and lambs for the burnt offerings. Wheat, oil and salt for the meal offering, and wine for the drink offering. All these things were to be given to the priests without fail day by day.
So the hundred cors and baths are altar supplies. A foreign treasury now kept the fire burning in Jerusalem.
This gap is not unique to Artaxerxes' order:
"Salt without prescribing how much" (Ezra 7:22).
What salt stood for explains the missing number:
Salt meant the very opposite of leaven. It was the symbol of what opposes corruption. So it was the type of what endures, and of the holiness that the "covenant of God" implies. A holy God can only go on with what is holy, and therefore salt is the "salt of His covenant." So it was never to be missing from any offering.
Silver can be counted. Holiness cannot.
The letter does more than release supplies:
You cannot fail to notice that this Gentile king refers everything to the will of God. To say it more exactly, he directs that everything be ordered in subjection to that will. Gentile though he was, he almost seems to be in full fellowship with the aim of Ezra. And from the confession of Jehovah as the God of heaven (vv. 21, 23), it is not impossible that grace had visited his heart. … The lesson lies on the surface: God is sovereign in His choice of instruments, and none can stay His hand. In this chapter "Artaxerxes, king of kings" and "Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God" are yoked together to carry out God's thoughts for His people and for His house in Jerusalem.
Commentators differ on how far to press this. One reads the decree as a sign of God's hidden control rather than of the king's faith:
We cannot help being struck by the wonderful work of God in the mind of a pagan king, which led him to grant such powers.
Ezra had asked the king for this (v. 6). Yet in his own account, the credit goes elsewhere:
So it was not his own asking (v. 6) that led the king to act. It was God who put the thing into the king's heart. It was not Ezra's influence that commended him to the king and his princes. It was God who extended mercy to him in their presence. It was not in his own power that he assembled the chief men to go up with him. It was God who strengthened him with His own hand upon him.
- Heart — It starts with God working in a king's mind. That is why the empire's own treasurers paid for the worship of Israel's God.
- Gift — The hundred talents, cors and baths were not travel money. They were altar material: wheat, oil and salt for the meal offering, wine for the drink offering.
- Measure — The king put a number on the silver, wheat, wine and oil. Only these carried a ceiling.
- Salt — Only salt went uncapped, and Scripture never fixes its amount anywhere. It stands for what resists corruption and endures, and it was never to be missing from any offering.
- Praise — Ezra received it all as God's doing, not his own: he had asked the king, but he thanked God.
Whatever is commanded by the God of the heavens, let it be carefully done for the house of the God of the heavens; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?
Artaxerxes has already backed Ezra with a royal decree, and now he adds a strange order: do all that the God of heaven asks, or wrath may fall on the king and his sons. The questions here are about the king, not Ezra: what did he understand, what did he fear, and who put such words in his mouth?
How much real faith stood behind this decree? The king names God three times over, yet one thing is missing.
The rulers of Persia had a certain fear of God, but no living faith. Like his grandfather Darius, Artaxerxes acknowledged the God of heaven... but, in his decree, Artaxerxes goes further: he acknowledges the God of Ezra (v. 14), the God of Israel (v. 15), and the God of Jerusalem (v. 19). He also admits his own responsibility toward this God, whose wrath is something to fear (v. 23).
The command and the warning sit in one sentence. The king wants nothing left out, because he has worked out what neglect could cost him.
It may seem amazing that the King of Persia would decree, "Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven" (v. 23). We might expect such words from a godly king of Israel; but God knows how to work in the hearts of others outside Israel too. Artaxerxes realized that the God of heaven was in such control that He might make Persia suffer His wrath if they did not encourage Israel to obey God.
The king does not just allow the work. He orders everything to fall in line with God's will. Commentators differ on whether his own heart was touched.
You cannot miss it: this non-Jewish king refers everything to the will of God. To put it more exactly, he directs that everything be arranged in submission to that will... because he confesses the Lord as the God of heaven (vv. 21, 23), it may be that grace had visited his heart... The lesson lies on the surface: God is sovereign in the choice of His instruments... Our chapter shows it. "Artaxerxes, king of kings," and "Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God," are joined together to carry out God's thoughts for His people and for His house in Jerusalem.
Why does the order reach Jerusalem through Persia at all? One writer traces it to the throne God Himself had set up among the nations.
Here again it is still the Gentile king who sends him for this purpose to Jerusalem. All blessing is of God, but nothing... in the matter of authority comes directly from God. He could not ignore the throne that He Himself had set up among the nations on the earth. And Israel was an earthly people.
Ezra, who copies the decree into his book, credits none of it to his own standing at court.
So it was not his own asking (v. 6) that moved the king to act. It was God who put the thing into the king's heart. It was not Ezra's influence that won him favour with the king and his princes. It was God who showed him mercy in front of them. It was not in his own power that he gathered the chief men to go up with him. It was God who strengthened him, with His own hand upon him.
The king set an open door before Ezra. What Ezra brought to it was a heart already made up.
In the book we are considering, king Artaxerxes is the figure of one that sets an open door before Ezra. Yes, but Ezra's heart was set to do the will of God. God works all outward circumstances. He opens the way when our heart within is set on doing what is right in the sight of the Lord. We have no ground ever to complain about circumstances, if only our heart is right with the Lord. The Lord can and will take care of all else.
- The hand that moves kings. God worked in the heart of a foreign ruler. So a Persian king spoke of the God of Ezra, the God of Israel, and the God of Jerusalem.
- The hand that is feared. Artaxerxes wanted the work done in full. He feared that neglect would bring wrath on his realm and his sons.
- The hand that supplies. The king's letter put the empire's authority under a will that was not his own. It joined "king of kings" and scribe together for God's house.
- The hand that guides. Ezra credited the decree, the favour, and his own strength to God, not to his request or influence.
- The hand that opens doors. The open door met a man whose heart was already set to do God's will. Keep the heart right, and God handles the circumstances.
Also we inform you, as regards all the priests and Levites, singers, doorkeepers, Nethinim, and ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, tax, and toll upon them.
Ezra 7:24 closes a Persian king's written order, and it frees every worker at the Jerusalem temple from state tax — priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers and temple servants alike. Why would a foreign emperor give up income for a religion that was not his own?
The verse reaches past the priests to the lowest ranks of temple staff. One of those names needs explaining:
The Nethinim were temple servants. The word means "given" or "devoted," that is, devoted to God. We find this name in only one other passage (1 Chron. 9:2). According to Ezra 8:20 this order originated with King David. Jewish tradition identifies them with the Gibeonites, whom Joshua appointed as helpers to the Levites (Josh. 9:3-27). Whatever their origin, they were devoted servants of God assigned to certain duties in the temple.
The three charges named are not repetitions of one tax. Writers distinguish them:
The words halak, τέλος, apparently allude to the duty paid on merchandise or produce, and should be distinguished from 'tribute.' Ezra 4:13, 20; Ezra 7:24; Matt. 17:25; Rom. 13:7.
Taken together, the effect was total. Ezra and his helpers were
exempted from every form of tax or exaction, and also given power to punish all evildoers, whether they broke the law of God or 'the law of the king'.
Years earlier, enemies had written to a Persian court warning that a rebuilt Jerusalem would stop paying its dues. Now a Persian court grants that very thing on purpose:
More than this, the king ordered that it would be unlawful to impose tax, tribute or custom on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, Nethinim or servants of the house of God (v. 24). Rehum and Shimshai had urged a previous Artaxerxes to stop the Jews from building by claiming that the Jews would not pay tax, tribute or custom (ch. 4:9-13), but the king now was ready to forgo these things for heads of Israel, so that Judah would prosper.
How far did the king's own belief go? One writer weighs his fear of God against his lack of faith:
The decree of Artaxerxes, like the letter of Darius (Ezra 6), shows us how the rulers of Persia thought. They had a certain fear of God, but no living faith. Like his grandfather Darius, Artaxerxes acknowledged the God of heaven. In his decree he goes further. He acknowledges the God of Ezra (v. 14), the God of Israel (v. 15), and the God of Jerusalem (v. 19). He also admits that he answers to this God, and that God's anger is something to fear (v. 23).
Read the other way, the calculation was political as much as religious — the king
rightly realized that it would be beneficial to his entire empire if God were given His place in Israel.
A tax break from a foreign throne is a favour. It is also proof that Israel no longer ruled itself, but lived under Gentile (non-Jewish) power:
Notice again that the signs of the transfer of governmental power on earth from the Jew to the Gentile are everywhere plain. So the date of Ezra's mission is given as "in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia," and his commission from the king is set out at length (vv. 11-26). This proves that God's people were at this time under the authority of the Gentiles, and that God Himself always recognises the powers which have their source in His own sovereign appointment.
The same favour is described elsewhere as mercy shown through the very power that held Israel down:
Royal liberality, not without a certain fear of God, is owned with exemption in such things from tribute in verses 19-24... A soul less devout and submissive to God's will in the humbling of Israel would have chafed.
Ezra credited none of this to his own standing at court:
So it was not his asking (v. 6) that led the king to act. It was God who put the thing into the king's heart. It was not Ezra's influence that commended him to the king and his princes. It was God who showed him mercy in their presence. It was not in his own power that he gathered the chief men to go up with him. It was God who strengthened him with His own hand upon him.
- Hand. The exemption began with God's hand on the king's heart, not with Ezra's standing at court.
- Heart. That hand moved a ruler who feared God without living faith, yet named Him as the God of Ezra, of Israel, and of Jerusalem.
- Grant. The gift was full relief from tribute, custom and toll — three charges, not one tax under three names.
- Reach. It covered the whole staff of God's house, down to the Nethinim. Their name means "given" — servants devoted to God.
- Reversal. Enemies once tried to stop the work by claiming the Jews would not pay. The king made that very thing his policy, so that Judah would prosper.
And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, which is in thy hand, set magistrates and judges who may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye him that knows [them] not.
Ezra goes back to Jerusalem with a letter from a Persian king. It gives him power to set up judges over God's people and to teach God's law to anyone who does not know it. The surprise is the standard the king uses: "the wisdom of your God that is in your hand."
The words come from Artaxerxes, yet he keeps pointing to the will of Israel's God rather than his own:
You cannot help noticing that this non-Jewish king refers everything to the will of God. To put it more exactly, he directs that everything should be ordered in submission to that will. Though he was not an Israelite, he almost seems to be in full agreement with Ezra's aim... The lesson lies on the surface. God is sovereign in the choice of His instruments. He does according to His will among the people of the earth as in the army of heaven. None can stop His hand, or say to Him, What are you doing? Our chapter illustrates this. "Artaxerxes, king of kings," and "Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God," stand yoked together to carry out God's thoughts for His people and for His house in Jerusalem.
The king gained something from this too. One writer points out what Ezra's appointment secured for the throne:
He shows great confidence in Ezra, a man of God. He puts the appointing of magistrates and judges for the region beyond the river into Ezra's hand (v. 25). He knows very well that godly Ezra will not choose anyone who rebels against the royal authority. He wants this man to instruct the ignorant, and for him this is the guarantee of peace for his reign (v. 25).
The king credited Ezra too with God-given wisdom. Ezra was to appoint magistrates and judges in the region west of the River, men who knew the laws of God, so as to teach the people (v. 25). So the king recognised that the land of Israel had a special place in the eyes of the God of heaven and earth. He wanted that country to give God's honour its due. He rightly saw that his whole empire would benefit if Israel gave God His place.
Why did God send a scribe with the law rather than a show of power? One writer sees loving-kindness in that choice:
The way God stepped in through Ezra's mission is, I think, a touching proof of His loving-kindness. It was exactly suited to the needs of the people. It was not power. That had been moved elsewhere. It was the knowledge of the will and the ordinances of God — of the mind of God in the word. The king himself recognised this (Ezra 7:25).
Half the commission is remedial: people who do not know the law are to be taught it, not simply judged by it. Ezra could carry that out because nothing in him competed with the word he handled:
In him we find no miraculous gift and no prophetic gift, such as the prophets Haggai and Zechariah had. There is no extraordinary display of divine power. He has nothing that goes beyond the common measure and ordinary resources. But his heart is devoted to the honour of the lovely name of the Lord, and he cares about the prosperity of the people. Above all, his mark is his understanding of the law of Moses, of the written Word. The Word directs him in everything, and his faith rests on the Word. He insists on the principles the Word presents. He puts them into practice, and he lets no one depart from them. In this way he earns the confidence even of the king, and this is also the only source of his authority.
- Hand. Ezra governs and teaches out of "the wisdom of your God that is in your hand." The wisdom is given to him, not his own.
- King. A foreign ruler bends his whole decree to the will of God. God is sovereign in choosing His instruments.
- Word, not power. Ezra brings no miracle and no display of power. What suits the people's need is the mind of God in His word, and the king himself recognises it.
- Reach. Ezra appoints judges who already know God's laws for all the people beyond the River, and he teaches those who do not.
- Authority. The Word directs Ezra, and he practises what he insists on. That wins even the king's confidence, and it is his only authority.
And whosoever will not do the law of thy God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed diligently upon him, whether unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.
This verse closes the letter that the Persian king Artaxerxes hands to Ezra. It puts the king's power behind God's law, and it names four penalties for anyone who refuses to obey: death, banishment, loss of property, or prison. Why did God's law need a foreign king's backing, and what does that say about the state of His people?
Through the whole letter the king keeps naming the God of Israel. In this last verse that respect turns into law.
History tells us that Artaxerxes let each people keep their idols, yet he had none himself... but in his decree he goes further: he acknowledges the God of Ezra (v. 14), the God of Israel (v. 15), and the God of Jerusalem (v. 19). He also acknowledges that he is responsible to this God, whose anger is to be feared (v. 23)... Lastly, he orders severe measures against those who break the law of God and of the king, because in his mind these two laws are one and the same (v. 26).
Commentators differ on how the king ranked the two laws. Another writer reads it the other way: the king put his own law second, under God's. That reading also brings out how fast the sentences were to fall.
Finally, he ordered that the law of God should be fully enforced. Anyone who would not keep it, and the law of the king (which he ranked below the law of God), would face judgment without delay. The case might call for death, banishment from Israel, loss of property or prison (v. 26). Where guilt was proved beyond question, this is good government. It is not like so many cases today, dragged out for months without reason.
The penalties do not stand alone. The verse before it tells Ezra to appoint judges and to teach those who do not know the law. So the threat of punishment comes tied to a duty to teach.
The king is generous, and not without a certain fear of God... Ezra is given power, "according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand," to appoint magistrates and judges to judge all the people, "all such as know the laws of your God," and to teach the one who did not know them. All this stands under the grave penalties of death, banishment, confiscation, or imprisonment (verses 25, 26).
Power like this needed a man whose own life matched the law he enforced. Ezra had done that work long before the king's letter arrived.
He prepared his heart to seek the law first of all, and then to do it, for in his own case he did not separate practice from knowledge. He was not like those teachers of the law who, in the days of Jesus, loaded people with "burdens hard to bear," while they themselves did not touch "the burdens with one of [their] fingers" (Luke 11:46). The precepts of the Word he fed on soaked right through his daily life. And it was only after this that he set his heart "to teach in Israel statutes and the ordinance" (v. 10). In a word, his life and his conduct were in complete agreement with his teaching.
A foreign emperor enforcing God's law says less about Persia than about the God who chooses His instruments.
The king provides for the carrying out of Ezra's mission in every possible way, and at the same time he entrusted Ezra with the government of his people "according to the wisdom of God." Finally, he attached penalties to disobedience to the law of God and to the law of the king, rising even to death itself. The lesson lies on the surface: God is sovereign in the choice of His instruments... Our chapter shows it, in that "Artaxerxes, king of kings," and "Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God," are yoked together to carry out God's thoughts for His people and for His house in Jerusalem.
Yet a decree like this has a sad side. Israel once had its own king. Now even its freedom to serve its own God came by a foreign ruler's permission.
The people were now under the Gentile's power. They owed the Gentile for permission to live in the land of their fathers, and to keep the laws and do the service of their God. They were subjects of the Persian, and their own ruler was only his deputy.
- Decree — The king puts real force behind God's law: death, banishment, loss of property, prison — and no delay.
- Rank — Writers differ. Did the king make the two laws one, or put his own law second? Either way, he names a God he fears.
- Teaching — The same letter that appoints judges also orders teaching, so those who do not know the law can learn it.
- Character — Ezra sought the law, then did it, then taught it. His life matched his message before any king trusted him.
- Hand — God yokes a foreign emperor to a Jewish scribe to do His will. Yet the borrowed sword shows a people who now live by a foreign king's permission.