Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem,
God turns the king's heart
Ezra had just recorded a Persian king's letter. It gave him money, authority, and permission to return to Jerusalem. Instead of praising the king, he blesses God. Who moves history — the man on the throne, or the God who moves the man on the throne?
One writer traces the decree past King Artaxerxes to God Himself. He finds the same pattern in Cyrus, another Persian king.
L M GrantIt is true, not only of believing kings, but of all kings, that their hearts are in the hand of the Lord. They may think they rule on their own, but the Lord knows how to turn their hearts to do His will. God even moved Cyrus the king of Persia to write a proclamation and send it out through his kingdom... God had spoken to Cyrus in such a way that he became willing to do what Israel's neighbours today would flatly refuse — to build anything for Israel's benefit.
The kind of man God used
Artaxerxes was not a worshipper of Israel's God. Yet his letter names that God again and again, and one writer weighs carefully what was and was not going on in the king's soul.
H. L. RossierThe decree of Artaxerxes... shows us the state of mind of the rulers of Persia. They had some fear of God, but no faith that gives life... He let each people keep their idols, as history tells us, yet he himself had none... but in his decree Artaxerxes goes further. He acknowledges the God of Ezra, the God of Israel, and the God of Jerusalem. He also admits that he answers to this God, whose anger is to be feared.
Ezra keeps nothing for himself
Earlier Ezra had asked the king for this, and the king agreed. Here he refuses to let his own part in it count as the reason.
Edward DennettIn this he showed himself to be a true man of faith. He traced everything up to God. He lost sight of himself, and to his soul God was all and in all. So it was not his asking that made the king 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 his own power that gathered the chief men to go up with him; it was God who strengthened him with His own hand upon him.
What it means to beautify the house
The purpose of the whole grant was to make God's house beautiful. Silver and gold were the obvious means — but not, one writer suggests, the best one.
F. B. HoleThe 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 can. The piety that marked Ezra himself is easy to see in these two verses.
Praise where complaint would have been easy
Ezra blesses the God of his fathers while Israel is still a humbled people under a foreign empire. That situation could have produced bitterness instead of blessing.
The Bible TreasuryAll this drew out Ezra's thanksgiving to the LORD, the God of his fathers, as he expresses it in verses 27 and 28. A soul less devout, and less willing to bow to God's will while Israel was humbled, would have grown resentful.
Living under God's hand
The phrase "the hand of the LORD my God" runs right through Ezra's account of himself. It covers far more than this one royal favour.
H. L. RossierAs for Ezra, he attributes everything to God, even the favour of the king... Above all, he lives in the presence of His God. He proves that "the hand of the LORD" is upon him to answer his prayer, protect him, strengthen him, and rescue him.
What Ezra did with a Persian decree, any believer can do with any circumstance.
Edward DennettIn all this he is a striking example to every believer. Happy is the one who, like Ezra, has learned to live in the presence of God. He looks beyond what men do to the power that controls them all. He receives everything from the Lord — favour or persecution, help or hindrance. That soul has found the secret of perfect peace in the confusion and turmoil of the world, and in the face of Satan's power.
Summary
- Source. The decree looks like a king's generosity. But kings' hearts are in God's hand, and He turns them to do His will even when they think they rule alone.
- Instrument. Artaxerxes had some fear of God but no faith that gives life. God can use a man who acknowledges Him without trusting Him.
- Credit. Ezra traced everything up to God: not his request, not his influence, not his own power. He lost sight of himself.
- Result. Silver and gold beautified the house. But the law taught to the people would produce a piety that adorns it far more.
- Example. Look beyond what men do to the power that controls them. Receive everything — favour or persecution — from the Lord. That is the secret of perfect peace.