Ezra 7:9

The same word appears in Exodus 20:26 for the steps of an altar, and in 1 Kings 10:19 for the steps of a throne. In 2 Kings 9:13 it means the stairs. In 1 Chronicles 17:17 it describes a man of high degree. In Ezra 7:9 it is used of a journey: "began to go up." The word it comes from means simply to go up — to ascend.

The character of this intervention of God 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 removed 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). Guarded by the good hand of his God, this godly and devoted man goes up with many others to Jerusalem.

Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD first, and then to do it. He did not separate practice from knowledge. His daily life was soaked in the precepts of the Word he fed on. Only after that did he set his heart to teach it in Israel. In short, his life and his conduct agreed completely with his teaching. The result of this complete consecration to the Word and to the work was that "the good hand of his God was upon him," because — notice this "for" — he had set his heart. We find this in every period of time. God's protection rests especially on those who forget themselves to depend on Him alone, and who give themselves without reserve to His work.

As for Ezra, he attributes everything to God, even the favour of the king (see verses 27, 28). 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 (v. 6), protect him (v. 9), strengthen him (v. 28), and deliver him (8:31).

Verse 31 gives a short statement about their journey. It simply records the faithfulness of their God in answer to their prayers. "Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. We came to Jerusalem." Ezra 7:9 says they began to go up on the first day of the first month. That was likely the date when the people gathered at the river Ahava (Ezra 8:15). So the journey itself took a little under four months. Ezra testifies that God guided them safely through all its perils and dangers, and shielded them from all their foes.

How good it is to leave ourselves in His hands! We are often tempted to jump the barriers people put in our path, and to force open the doors that human hands have closed. But it is our comfort and strength to remember that the Lord can make His way plain before us whenever He wills. Our part is to wait quietly on Him, ready to go forward when He speaks the word. Recognising the hand of God upon him was a mark of this devoted servant (see verse 9; Ezra 8:18, 22, 31). It was the source of both his patience and his courage.