and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the LORD my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.
The Persian king Artaxerxes has just granted Ezra everything he asked for. Ezra answers with worship. He credits the king's favour to God's mercy, and his own courage to God's hand. The verse raises the question every servant of God faces — when doors open and helpers appear, who did it?
The Hand of God on His Servant
One phrase keeps coming back in Ezra's record. A writer traces it through the book and lists what that hand did:
Arno Clemens Gaebelein"The hand of the LORD his God was on him." This phrase appears many times (7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 22, 31), and it shows how this man of God trusted the LORD for guidance. He saw His hand when Artaxerxes granted him everything he asked for. It was the good hand of God who brought him to Jerusalem (7:9). His hand strengthened him (7:28). He acknowledges the good hand of the LORD again in bringing them ministers (8:18) and in deliverance (8:31). The same hand that was for good on Ezra, guiding, keeping and shielding him, is still on all His people who trust Him and obey His Word.
Faith Traces Everything Back to God
Ezra asked. Ezra had the king's ear. Ezra gathered the company. He credits none of it to himself:
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. 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 extended mercy to him 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.
A Heart Set on God's Will, and an Open Door
Ezra did not manufacture his opportunity. He had set his heart to seek and obey God's law, and the circumstances followed:
William KellyEzra now has authority to act; but the grand point is the purpose of his heart to do the will of God. We should expect the same now — that our heart should be towards the Lord, as it was with the church in Philadelphia. How does the Lord introduce Himself there? "I have set before you an open door." He has power to open, and none can shut; to shut, and none can open. In this book, king Artaxerxes is a figure 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, and opens the way when our heart within is 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.
A Small Mission, Fitted to the Need
What God gave Ezra was not a display of might. One writer says the mission fitted what the people needed:
J. N. DarbyThe way God stepped in through Ezra's mission is, I think, a touching proof of His loving-kindness. It suited the needs of the people exactly. It was not power. Power had passed to another place. 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). Guarded by the good hand of his God, this devoted man goes up with many others to Jerusalem.
The group he gathered was small next to the first return:
Michael HardtThis time, there are only around 1,500 men plus families who went up, not 43,000 as in chapter 2. But it was God's work and His good hand was on Ezra. This was the secret of his success.
The Peace It Produces
Seeing God behind the acts of powerful people does more than answer a question. It settles the heart:
The Christian's FriendIn 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. Such a person looks beyond the actions of men to the power that controls them all, and receives everything — favour or persecution, help or hindrance — from the Lord. That soul has found the secret of perfect peace amid the confusion and turmoil of the world, as well as in the presence of Satan's power.
Summary
- The hand — one phrase runs through Ezra's account. It covers guidance, safe arrival, strength, helpers and rescue.
- The hand grants — the king's decree, and the mercy shown before his counsellors and princes. Ezra credits both to God, not to his own asking or influence.
- The hand strengthens — not with power, which had passed elsewhere, but with the knowledge of God's mind in His word. That is what the people needed.
- The hand gathers — the group that followed him was small next to the first return. God's good hand on him was the secret of his success.
- The hand settles — look past what people do to the power behind them. Then favour and opposition both come from the Lord, and the heart keeps perfect peace.