This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.

a ready (Sopher mahir does not merely signify a speedy writer, or an excellent penman, but one eminently skilful in expounding the law, sophro chochmo, 'a wise scribe,' as the Syriac renders.)

Ezra 7:11,12,21 Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave …

Psalm 45:1 My heart is gushing a good matter: I speak of the things which I …

Matthew 13:52 Then said he to them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed …

scribe

Nehemiah 8:4,9,13 And Ezra the scribe stood on a pulpit of wood, which they had made …

Nehemiah 12:26,36 These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, …

Jeremiah 8:8 How do you say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? …

1 Corinthians 1:20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of …

the law

Deuteronomy 4:5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD …

Deuteronomy 28:1 And it shall come to pass, if you shall listen diligently to the …

Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you: …

1 Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brothers, I declare to you the gospel which I preached …

1 Thessalonians 4:1,2 Furthermore then we beseech you, brothers, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus…

granted him

Ezra 7:11-26 Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave …

according to

Ezra 7:9,28 For on the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, …

Ezra 6:22 And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the …

Ezra 8:18,22,31 And by the good hand of our God on us they brought us a man of understanding, …

Genesis 32:28 And he said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: …

Nehemiah 1:10,11 Now these are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed …

Nehemiah 2:8,12,18 And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest…

Nehemiah 4:15 And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known to …

Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths.

Isaiah 50:2 Why, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none …

Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither …

Ezra 7:7

And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king.

the children

Ezra 8:1-14 These are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy …

the Levites

Ezra 2:40,41 The Levites: the children of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the children …

Ezra 8:15-20 And I gathered them together to the river that runs to Ahava; and …

singers

1 Chronicles 6:31 And these are they whom David set over the service of song in the …

1 Chronicles 25:1-8 Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service …

porters

Ezra 2:42 The children of the porters: the children of Shallum, the children …

1 Chronicles 9:17 And the porters were, Shallum, and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman, …

Nehemiah 7:45 The porters: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children …

Nethinims

Ezra 7:24 Also we certify you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, …

Ezra 2:43 The Nethinims: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the …

Ezra 8:20 Also of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed for …

Nehemiah 7:46 The Nethinims: the children of Ziha, the children of Hashupha, the …

Nehemiah 10:28 And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, …

Artaxerxes

Ezra 7:11,12 Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave …

Ezra 6:14 And the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the …

Ezra 8:1 These are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy …

Nehemiah 2:1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of …

Ezra 7:8

And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.

Ezra 7:9

For upon the first day of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.

began he to go up. Heb. was the foundation of the going up. according to

Ezra 7:6 This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the …

Nehemiah 2:8,18 And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest…

Ezra 7:10

For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.

prepared

1 Samuel 7:3 And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If you do return …

1 Chronicles 29:18 O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers…

2 Chronicles 12:14 And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD.

2 Chronicles 19:3 Nevertheless there are good things found in you, in that you have …

Job 11:13 If you prepare your heart, and stretch out your hands toward him;

Psalm 10:17 LORD, you have heard the desire of the humble: you will prepare their …

Psalm 57:7 My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise.

the law

Ezra 7:6 This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the …

Psalm 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law does he …

Psalm 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony …

Psalm 119:45,96-100 And I will walk at liberty: for I seek your precepts…

to do it

Deuteronomy 16:12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt: and you shall …

Matthew 5:19 Whoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and …

Matthew 7:24 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will …

John 13:17 If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.

Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right …

and to teach

Ezra 7:25 And you, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God, that is in your hand, …

Deuteronomy 33:10 They shall teach Jacob your judgments, and Israel your law: they …

2 Chronicles 17:8,9 And with them he sent Levites, even Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and …

2 Chronicles 30:22 And Hezekiah spoke comfortably to all the Levites that taught the …

Nehemiah 8:1-9 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the …

Malachi 2:7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek …

Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus …

1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, …

2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, …

Titus 2:1,15 But speak you the things which become sound doctrine…

Ezra 7:11

Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his statutes to Israel.

the copy

Ezra 4:11 This is the copy of the letter that they sent to him, even to Artaxerxes …

Ezra 5:6 The copy of the letter that Tatnai, governor on this side the river, …

a scribe

Ezra 7:6 This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the …

Matthew 23:2,13 Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat…

Mark 7:1-13 Then came together to him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, …

Ezra 7:12

Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time.

Artaxerxes (The title of the king would, in Persian, run thus: Ardsheer shahinshah, or padshah, 'Ardsheer, king of kings,' i.e. great or supreme king or emperor.)

1 Kings 4:24 For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from …

1 Kings 20:1 And Benhadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and …

Isaiah 10:8 For he said, Are not my princes altogether kings?

Ezekiel 26:7 For thus said the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring on Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar …

Daniel 2:37,47 You, O king, are a king of kings: for the God of heaven has given …

1 Timothy 6:15 Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, …

Revelation 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: …

Revelation 19:16 And he has on his clothing and on his thigh a name written, KING …

unto Ezra, etc. or, to Ezra the priest, a perfect scribe of the law of the God of heaven, peace, etc. and at such a time

Ezra 4:10,11,17 And the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnapper brought …

Ezra 7:13

I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.

I make

Ezra 5:13 But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king …

Ezra 6:1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house …

2 Chronicles 30:5 So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all …

Esther 3:15 The posts went out, being hastened by the king's commandment, and …

Esther 9:14 And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given …

Psalm 148:6 He has also established them for ever and ever: he has made a decree …

minded

Ezra 1:3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and …

Psalm 110:3 Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties …

Philippians 2:13 For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, …

Ezra 7:14

Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellers, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand;

of the king. Chal. from before the king. seven counsellors (Seven princes of Persia having conspired against and slain the usurper Smerdis, and thus made way for the family of Darius, which afterwards filled the throne, the Persian kings of this race had always seven chief princes as their counsellors, who possessed peculiar privileges, were his chief assistants in the government, and by whose advice all the public affairs of the empire were transacted. The names of these counsellors are given in the parallel place of the book of Esther.)

Esther 1:14 And the next to him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, …

according

Ezra 7:25,26 And you, Ezra, after the wisdom of your God, that is in your hand, …

Deuteronomy 17:18,19 And it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom…

Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this …

thy God

Ezra 1:3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and …

Ezra 5:8 Be it known to the king, that we went into the province of Judea, …

Ezra 6:12 And the God that has caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings …

Daniel 2:47 The king answered to Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your …

Daniel 6:20,26 And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice to …

Ezra 7:15

And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellers have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem,

the silver

Ezra 6:4,8-10 With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let …

Psalm 68:29,30 Because of your temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents to you…

Psalm 72:10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the …

Psalm 76:11 Vow, and pay to the LORD your God: let all that be round about him …

Isaiah 60:6-9 The multitude of camels shall cover you, the dromedaries of Midian …

Revelation 21:24-26 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of …

whose habitation

Ezra 6:12 And the God that has caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings …

2 Chronicles 2:6 But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven …

2 Chronicles 6:2,6 But I have built an house of habitation for you, and a place for …

Psalm 9:11 Sing praises to the LORD, which dwells in Zion: declare among the …

Psalm 26:8 LORD, I have loved the habitation of your house, and the place where …

Psalm 76:2 In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.

Psalm 135:21 Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, which dwells at Jerusalem. Praise …

Ezra 7:16

And all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem:

all the silver

Ezra 8:25-28 And weighed to them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even …

offering

Ezra 1:4,6 And whoever remains in any place where he sojournes, let the men …

1 Chronicles 29:6,9,17 Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel …

2 Corinthians 8:12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to …

2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; …

Ezra 7:17

That thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meat offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.

buy speedily. See on

Ezra 6:9,10 And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, …

Deuteronomy 14:24-26 And if the way be too long for you, so that you are not able to carry …

Matthew 21:12,13 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that …

John 2:14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, …

their meat offerings

Numbers 15:4-13 Then shall he that offers his offering to the LORD bring a meat offering …

offer them

Deuteronomy 12:5-11 But to the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all …

Ezra 7:18

And whatsoever shall seem good to thee, and to thy brethren, to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do after the will of your God.

whatsoever

2 Kings 12:15 Moreover they reckoned not with the men, into whose hand they delivered …

2 Kings 22:7 However, there was no reckoning made with them of the money that …

that do

Ezra 7:26 And whoever will not do the law of your God, and the law of the king, …

Ephesians 5:17 Why be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

after the will (He gave them the fullest liberty to order every thing according to their own institutions; binding them to no form or mode of worship.)

Ezra 7:19

The vessels also that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, those deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem.

The vessels

Ezra 8:27-30,33,34 Also twenty basins of gold, of a thousand drams; and two vessels …

the God of Jerusalem

2 Chronicles 32:19 And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods …

Jeremiah 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and …

Ezra 7:20

And whatsoever 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.

bestow it

Ezra 6:4,8 With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let …

Ezra 7:21

And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily,

Artaxerxes

Ezra 7:12,13 Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law …

beyond the river

Ezra 4:16,20 We certify the king that, if this city be built again, and the walls …

Ezra 6:6 Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shetharboznai, …

Ezra 6:6,10,11 Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shetharboznai, …

Ezra 7:22

Unto an hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.

measures. Chal. cors

Luke 16:7 Then said he to another, And how much owe you? And he said, An hundred …

baths of wine

Ezekiel 45:14 Concerning the ordinance of oil, the bath of oil, you shall offer …

Luke 16:6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said to him, Take …

salt

Leviticus 2:13 And every oblation of your meat offering shall you season with salt…

Ezra 7:23

Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?

Whatsoever is commanded. Chal. Whatsoever is of the decree

Ezra 7:13,18 I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his …

let it be

Psalm 119:4 You have commanded us to keep your precepts diligently.

why should there be wrath (As Artaxerxes believed he was appointed by the Almighty to do this work, he therefore wished to do it heartily; knowing that if he did not, God would be displeased, and that the kingdom would be cut off from him or his posterity.)

Ezra 6:10-12 That they may offer sacrifices of sweet smells to the God of heaven, …

Zechariah 12:3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all …

Ezra 7:24

Also we certify you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethinims, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom, upon them.

touching any

Ezra 7:7 And there went up some of the children of Israel, and of the priests, …

Ezra 2:36-55 The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine …

Ezra 7:25

And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know them not.

the wisdom

Ezra 7:14 For as much as you are sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, …

1 Kings 3:28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and …

1 Chronicles 22:12 Only the LORD give you wisdom and understanding, and give you charge …

Psalm 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony …

Psalm 119:98-100 You through your commandments have made me wiser than my enemies: …

Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs …

James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all …

James 3:17,18 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, …

set magistrates

Exodus 18:21-25 Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men, such as …

Deuteronomy 16:18 Judges and officers shall you make you in all your gates, which the …

1 Chronicles 23:4 Of which, twenty and four thousand were to set forward the work of …

2 Chronicles 19:8-10 Moreover in Jerusalem did Jehoshaphat set of the Levites, and of …

beyond the river (That is, 'west of the Euphrates,' which was beyond with regard to the king of Persia, who was on the east.)

Ezra 6:6 Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shetharboznai, …

teach ye

Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and …

2 Chronicles 17:7-9 Also in the third year of his reign he sent to his princes, even …

Nehemiah 8:1-3,7,8 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the …

Nehemiah 9:3 And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law …

Nehemiah 13:1-3 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the …

Malachi 2:7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek …

Matthew 13:52 Then said he to them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed …

Matthew 23:2,3 Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat…

Mark 6:34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with …

Romans 10:14-17 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and …

Ezra 7:26

And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.

whosoever

Ezra 6:11 Also I have made a decree, that whoever shall alter this word, let …

Daniel 3:28,29 Then Nebuchadnezzar spoke, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, …

Daniel 6:26 I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble …

the law of thy God

2 Chronicles 30:12 Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the …

whether it be

Exodus 21:1-22:31 Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them…

Leviticus 20:1-27 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying…

Deuteronomy 13:1-18 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives …

banishment. Chal. rooting out

Psalm 52:5 God shall likewise destroy you for ever, he shall take you away, …

Ezra 7:27

Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem:

Blessed (There is a most amiable spirit of piety in these reflections. Instead of expatiating on the praises of his munificent patron, or boasting of his own services, he blesses God for 'putting such a thing in the king's heart;' and for all the assistance and favour shown him by the king and his counsellors.)

Ezra 6:22 And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the …

1 Chronicles 29:10 Why David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David …

Philippians 4:10 But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care …

put such

Ezra 6:22 And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the …

Nehemiah 2:12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told …

Nehemiah 7:5 And my God put into my heart to gather together the nobles, and the …

2 Corinthians 8:16 But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care into the heart …

Hebrews 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel …

Hebrews 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, …

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down …

Revelation 17:17 For God has put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, …

in the king's heart

Nehemiah 2:8 And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest…

Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: …

to beautify

Isaiah 60:13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the fir tree, the pine tree, …

Ezra 7:28

And hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellers, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.

extended

Ezra 9:9 For we were slaves; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, …

Genesis 32:28 And he said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: …

Genesis 43:14 And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send …

Nehemiah 1:11 O LORD, I beseech you, let now your ear be attentive to the prayer …

his counsellors

Ezra 7:14 For as much as you are sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, …

Jonah 3:7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by …

And I was strengthened (In what the king decreed he saw the hand of God: he therefore gave Him the praise, and took courage.)

as the hand

Ezra 7:6,9 This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the …

Ezra 5:5 But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, that they …

Ezra 8:18 And by the good hand of our God on us they brought us a man of understanding, …

Nehemiah 2:8 And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest…

2 Timothy 4:17,18 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that …

Ezra 7

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Ezra 7

Ver. 1. Ezra the son of Seraiah- He calls himself here, according to the Hebrew idiom, the son of Seraiah, who was the high-priest that Nebuchadnezzar caused to be slain at the taking of Jerusalem, 2Ki 25:18; 2Ki 25:30.; but had he been his real son, he must then have been at least one hundred and thirty-two years old, supposing him to have been an infant when his father died; and so wholly unfit for such a journey and employment: whereas we find him capable of reading the Scriptures to the people from morning till noon, one whole week; and of assisting Nehemiah in his office thirteen years after, when he must have been at least one hundred and forty-five years old; but since he there also calls Azariah the son of Meraioth, though it appears from 1Ch 6:7; 1Ch 6:81 that there were six descendants between them, it becomes very probable that he may himself have been some descents off Seraiah, though it does not appear how many.

Ver. 6. A ready scribe- The LXX, the Vulgate, and our translation, render the original words a ready scribe; as if to have a quick hand at writing out the law were any great perfection, or that an aged man, as Ezra was, should be renowned for it. It was not for writing, then, but for explaining the things of Scripture, that Ezra was so famous; for סופר soper denotes one skilled and learned, from ספר seper, a book; and, as no book was comparable to the book of the law, סופר soper became a name of great dignity, and signified one who taught God's law, and instructed the people out of it. In which sense we find the word γραμματεις, or scribes, used in the New Testament; for when our Saviour is said to have taught the people as one having authority, and not as the scribes, this plainly shews, that these scribes were not transcribers, but teachers and expounders of the law, though they did not do it with a proper authority. It can hardly be imagined but that some more than ordinary means were used to obtain so great a favour from Artaxerxes, as this commission was upon which Ezra went; and therefore we may suppose, that it was granted at the solicitation of Esther; for this Artaxerxes was the Ahasuerus of Esther. She was become the best-beloved of the king's concubines, though not yet advanced to the dignity of queen; for it being usual for the kings of Persia, on some particular days and occasions, to allow their women to ask what boons they pleased, it is not unlikely that, by the direction of Mordecai, upon some such occasion as this, Esther, though she had not discovered her kingdom and nation, might make this the matter of her request.

Ver. 25. That is in thine hand- Which is in thee. See Nold. 917.

Ver. 26. The law of the king- i.e. Says Bishop Patrick, this decree which was made in favour of the Jews, whereby they were authorized to use the laws of Moses: in any case where these were doubtful, they were to be directed by the king's ordinances.

REFLECTIONS.-1st, Ezra seems, soon after the dedication of the temple, to have returned to court, either to give an account of their proceedings, or to complain of the backwardness of the governors to supply them according to the king's commission, or to invite more of his brethren to return, since their beginnings were now so prosperous.

1. His character answered his high birth. He was eminent for his learning, especially in the law of God; and as eminent for his practice. His knowledge was not barren and unfruitful; it engaged him to fidelity in doing the will of God, while he earnestly sought deeper discoveries of it; and he was zealously communicative of his spiritual wisdom, in order to teach others how to walk and please God. Note; (1.) Of all learning, scripture learning is most desirable: none beside can make us wise to salvation. (2.) They who would know God's truth, must search for it as for silver. Idleness and ignorance are necessarily connected. (3.) That is truly profitable knowledge, which is employed in the instruction of others in the good ways of our God. (4.) They who practise what they teach can speak with greater confidence, and may expect success. Little can be hoped from the scribe who sits in Moses's seat, and saith, and doth not.

2. Having executed successfully his commission at the Persian court, he returned to Jerusalem, bringing with him a number of his brethren, who, hearing of the prosperity of Zion, were desirous to share in it. Though the journey was long, God's presence and providence comforted and strengthened them, and they arrived safe, after a four months' journey, at Jerusalem. Note; God's merciful providence is continually to be acknowledged in all our goings out and comings in: every mercy that we enjoy comes from his good hand.

2nd, We have the honourable commission addressed to Ezra the scribe from the king of Babylon; whose dominions were so extensive, that he assumed the title of King of kings.

1. He gives liberty to all the Jews in his dominions to return to their own land under the conduct of Ezra, who is constituted chief inquisitor into the affairs of the Jewish people, and authorized to take care that the law of God in all things might be observed among them.

2. He sends by him a noble present from himself and his princes, with vessels of silver and gold, to be employed in the service of the temple, as Ezra and his brethren saw most adviseable; and authorizes him to collect from the Jews, who continued to reside in Babylon, whatever free-will offerings they chose to send to the house of God at Jerusalem, to be laid out according to the will of God. Note; (1.) The revealed will of God must be the constant standard of our conduct. (2.) They who are employed in such trusts of public money need be men of tried integrity.

3. He gives him a large order upon his governors, for whatever more might be wanting for the service of God; to maintain which, he would spare no expence, knowing how much it was his interest to engage him as a friend; and how dangerous, by neglect, to provoke him as an enemy. Note; (1.) How will the solicitude of a heathen king to obtain God's favour rise up in judgment, to reprove the negligence and carelessness of professed christians! (2.) They who are zealous in the cause of God will have generous hearts and open hands.

4. He exempts all the ministers of the sanctuary, from the highest to the lowest, from tribute; as an honourable mark of distinction. However they may now be slighted, there was a time when even heathen kings thought that they ought to be had in honour.

5. Ezra is empowered to nominate magistrates skilled in God's law over his own people, that no heathen judge might have jurisdiction among them. They were to administer justice, and instruct the ignorant; and all pains and penalties were put in their power to punish the disobedient, even to imprisonment or death. Note; (1.) Magistrates must not bear the sword in vain. (2.) Among the greatest temporal blessings, is an impartial administration of justice according to the law of God.

3rdly, With grateful acknowledgement Ezra interrupts the history, to offer up a pious and thankful ejaculation to his merciful God.

1. For the gracious commission which the Lord had put it into the king's heart to give him. Note; (1.) In all our blessings, we must look above men and means to the great author of all grace. (2.) If there be a good desire put into the heart, we may be assured that it is from above.

2. For the support and strength with which he had been supplied in negotiating this service. Note; Whatever abilities or natural fortitude we possess, we must ascribe all our success, not to ourselves, but to the support of God's good grace.

3. For the company that God gave him, inclining his brethren, and the chief of them, to go with him. Note; (1.) It is not our persuasions as ministers, but God's powerful operative grace upon the heart, that can engage any man to quit this Babylon of the world, to travel to Zion, the mount of God. (2.) It is matter of most unspeakable thankfulness to ministers, when their preaching is made effectual to the engaging of men's hearts to follow Christ and his gospel.

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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge by R. A. Torrey [ca. 1880]
Expanded version courtesy INT Bible ©2013, Used by permission

Ezra 7 - Treasury of Scripture Knowledge vs Calvin John vs Coke Thomas

Ezra 7

Ezra 7

Ezra 7

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