Who was Ezra in the Bible?
Ezra appears in Scripture as a man of the return from exile: a descendant of Aaron who came up from Babylon to Jerusalem under a Persian king, carrying gifts for the temple and a mission to restore God's law among a shattered people. The record raises a question larger than his biography — what makes a person fit to lead God's people back to His Word?
Priest by Birth, Scribe by Study
The opening verses of Ezra 7 trace his family line back to Aaron, Israel's first high priest. But writers point out that his lineage gave him only half of what he needed.
Edward DennettHe became a priest by birth and consecration; but he only became "a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given," by personal study of the Word. Inherited office therefore, even with the Jews, could not bestow the qualifications for its exercise — these could only come from individual time with God in the Scriptures.
A Prepared Heart
Ezra 7:10 gives three verbs in a fixed order — seek, do, teach — and commentators treat that order as the key to the man.
H. L. RossierHe prepared his heart to seek it first of all, and then to do it, for as far as he was concerned personally, he did not separate practice from knowledge. He was not like those teachers of the law who, in the days of Jesus, laid upon "men burdens heavy to bear," while they themselves did not touch "the burdens with one of their fingers" (Luke 11:46). His practical life was soaked in the precepts of the Word he fed on. And it was only after this that he set his heart "to teach in Israel statutes and the ordinance."
The Good Hand of His God
A phrase repeats through Ezra's story like a refrain, and it explains how a captive obtained a royal permit.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinEzra, occupied with the Law and the Word of God, wanted 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... 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.
Crossing the Desert Unguarded
Ezra carried a fortune in gold and silver across dangerous country, yet asked the king for no soldiers.
Edward DennettEzra would not ask the king for any military escort, because he had expressed to the king his confidence in God (Ezra 8:22); and God had abundantly justified his confidence, in guarding him and his companions "from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way."
Commentators differ on how to read this next to Nehemiah, who did travel with an armed guard. Dennett calls Nehemiah less simple in faith; Rossier argues that no blame attaches to Nehemiah, since Ezra was entrusted with treasure belonging to God and had to show the world that faith looks to God to protect it.
Owning the Sin as His Own
When Ezra learned that priests and leaders had married into the surrounding nations, he did not organise a response — he collapsed under it.
F. B. HoleHe just FELT things before God, and as they affected God. He so felt things that he tore his clothes, pulled out his hair, and sat down stunned, until, realising the full extent of things, he fell on his knees, and began a memorable prayer of confession.
The pronouns in that prayer are what strike his readers most. He never says "they."
The Christian's FriendNot even in spirit does he separate himself from those who had sinned; he and they — indeed, all the people — are one, corporately one before God... Ezra understood this, and was thus qualified to become an intercessor for the people with God; for unless we grasp our oneness with God's people, that their sin and sorrow are our sin and sorrow, we cannot truly carry them on our hearts before the Lord in the time of their need.
Making the Book Understood
Years later, in Nehemiah 8, Ezra stands on a wooden platform and reads the law aloud while the Levites explain it.
Edward DennettIt must be remembered that the people had lived long in Babylon, and that many of them, influenced by their surroundings, had adopted Babylonian habits and ways, and even the Babylonian tongue... First, we learn that becoming like the world leads to forgetfulness and ignorance of the word of God; and secondly, that the true function of the teacher is to give the sense of the Scriptures, to explain what they mean.
Summary
- Seek — Ezra's office came by birth, but his usefulness came from personal study; inherited position never supplies the qualification to use it.
- Do — He obeyed what he learned before he taught it, unlike teachers who load burdens on others and carry none themselves.
- Trust — "The good hand of his God" runs through his whole account: it opened the king's heart, guided the journey, and guarded the treasure he refused an escort to protect.
- Weep — Facing his people's sin he said "our iniquities," not "theirs"; owning their guilt as his own is what made him an intercessor.
- Teach — He ended where he began, opening the book so a Babylon-shaped generation could understand it — the teacher's real task being to give the sense.