MORE than sixty years elapsed: a space more than adequate for the decline from the powerful impulse given to faith by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, when God, Who cannot fail, sent suited help through a pious priest till then residing in Babylon, whose very name is hence derived—Ezra. Indeed it would seem that his commission was no more permanent than Nehemiah's, who was his contemporary and appeared a few years later for awhile in Jerusalem, even then but “the place of my father's sepulchers,” as he pathetically described it to the great king. How little Josephus can be relied on appears from his statement that Ezra died old and was buried magnificently in Jerusalem (Ant. xi. v. §.65), and before Nehemiah governed, in the face of the Tirshatha's express words.
“Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest: this Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which Jehovah, the God of Israel, had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of Jehovah his God upon him. 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 Nethinim, unto Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For upon the first of the first month began he to go up from Babylon, and on the first of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. For Ezra had set his heart to seek the law of Jehovah, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statute and judgment.
“Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even the scribe of the words of the commandments of Jehovah, and of his statutes to Israel. Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heavens, perfect and so forth. I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and their priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with thee. Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king and his seven counselors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thy hand; and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, and all the silver and gold that thou shalt 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; therefore thou shalt with all diligence buy with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meal offerings and their drink offerings, and shalt offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. And whatsoever shall seem good to thee and thy brethren to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do ye after the will of your God. And the vessels that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem. 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. 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 heavens, shall require of you, it be done with all diligence, unto a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths Of oil, and salt without prescribing [how much]. Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heavens, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? Also we certify you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, the singers, porters, Nethinim, or servants of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll, upon them. And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God that is in thy hand, appoint 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 him that knoweth [them] not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed upon him with all diligence, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.
“Blessed [be] Jehovah, the God of our fathers, who hath put [such a thing] as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of Jehovah which is in Jerusalem; and hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened according to the hand of Jehovah my God upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me” (vers. 1-28).
The people were careless, forgetful, and disobedient. They felt neither for God's glory nor for their relationship to Him. But God never ceases to be God, if His people were Lo-ammi; and faith alone reaps the blessing of His grace and issues in fidelity. They were not only few and feeble, but unfaithful; and Ezra had directed his heart to seek Jehovah's law, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statute and ordinance But this he undertakes under the authority of the Persian power that had succeeded Babylon, set supreme by the God of the heavens: a strange fact for Israel, whose apostasy from Jehovah had brought it about. In such circumstances the evil heart of unbelief, which wrought the ruin, is apt to become hard, indifferent, or despairing. Faith cleaves the more to the living God, feeling and owning the iniquity of His people, the real source of the mischief. But now that their apostasy had laid them at the feet of the Gentile world-power, God wrought in His compassion, first by prophets and His own word, now by succor according to the king's word from Babylon. And the faithful priest who enjoyed the king's confidence comes up to Jerusalem to recall the remnant to the neglected and violated law of Jehovah.
Liberty is given to all of Israel, and of their priests and the Levites, in the Persian realm, who were disposed, to go with Ezra to Jerusalem (ver. 13). Nor was he sent empty-handed to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem: the king and his seven counselors freely offered to the God of Israel, as he was to inquire “according to the law of his God which was in his hand “: a remarkable testimony from such a source (vers. 14, 15). His sacrifices and offerings were represented where He set His name, but a free discretionary power for what seemed good to Ezra and his brethren to do “according to the will of their God” (vers. 16-18). Royal liberality, not without a certain fear of God, is owned with exemption in such things from tribute in vers. 19-24: as Ezra is empowered, “after the wisdom of thy God that is in thy hand,” to appoint magistrates and judges who might judge all the people, “all such as know the laws of thy God,” and to teach him that knew them not; and this under grave sanctions of death, banishment, confiscation, or imprisonment (vers. 25, 26). All this drew forth Ezra's thanksgiving to Jehovah, the God of his fathers, as he expresses in vers. 27, 28. A soul less pious and submissive to God's will in the humiliation of Israel would have chafed. We, Christians, are not an earthly people like Israel and have no such wants as they, though needing to humble ourselves under God's mighty hand for a departure from His will yet more serious.