Holy Bible

Ezra the son of Seraiah. Ezra 7:1-10 Ezra the distinguished William Jones. Consider Ezra, as — I. A man of distinguished ANCESTRY. II. A man of distinguished ATTAINMENTS. III. A man in the enjoyment of distinguished FAVOURS. IV. A man of distinguished INFLUENCE. V. A man of distinguished SUCCESS. VI. A man of distinguished AIM. He aimed at — 1. The acquisition of the highest knowledge. 2. The practice of the highest knowledge. 3. The impartation of the highest knowledge. VII. man of distinguished BLESSING. ( William Jones. ) And he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses Scribism W. F. Adeney, M. A. Scribism was one of the remarkable features of the later days of Israel. Its existence in so much prominence showed that religion had passed into a new phase, that it had assumed a literary aspect. At first in their religious life the Jews did not give much heed to literary documents. Priestism was regulated by traditional usages rather than by written directions, and justice was administered under the kings according to custom, precedent, and equity. Quite apart from the discussion concerning the antiquity of the Pentateuch, it is certain that its precepts were neither used nor known in the time of Josiah, when the reading of the roll discovered in the temple was listened to with amazement. Still less did prophetism rely on literary resources. What need was there of a book when the Spirit of God was speaking through the audible voice of a living man? The function of the scribes was to collect the sayings and traditions of earlier ages, to arrange and edit the literary fragments of more original minds. Scribism rose when prophecy declined. It was a melancholy confession that the fountains of living water were drying up. It was like an aqueduct laboriously constructed in order to convey stored water to a thirsty people from distant reservoirs. Moreover, scribism degenerated into rabbinism, the scholasticism of the Jews. We may see its counterpart in the Catholic scholasticism which drew supplies from patristic tradition, and again in Protestant scholasticism — which comes nearer to the source of inspiration in the Bible, and yet which stiffened into a traditional interpretation of Scripture, confining its waters to iron pipes of orthodoxy. ( W. F. Adeney, M. A. ) According to the hand of the Lord his God upon him God's helping hand J. M. Sherwood, D. D. Ezra was wonderfully blessed in his desire and effort to restore Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Seemingly, the power and the blessing which served Ezra so signally was all from "the king," but really it was all from Ezra's "God," whose will disposed the king's heart, whose providence guided every step, and whose power and Spirit gave efficiency and success to every plan and effort. And so it is in all human planning and effort. The success is just in the measure of "God's hand upon us." If we rise up to build, and do not first enlist His gracious approval, providential interposition, and Spirit's agency, our best efforts will miscarry or prove disastrous. If we plan a revival, and put in requisition the agencies, and will the conversion of sinners, we shall be sadly disappointed, if we do not first, by prayer and preparation, array God the Lord on our side, and get hold of His "outstretched arm of salvation." It is easy to work, and glorious are the results — all human agencies so readily fall into line and aid us — when the hand of the Lord our God is upon us. The application, the lesson, is therefore obvious — 1. Prayer lies at the foundation of all wise planning and all successful effort to advance Christ's kingdom in the world. 2. God's hand must be upon us — His providence must be enlisted in our behalf — there must be co-operation between the Divine and the human. 3. The secret of declension, of abounding evil, of the lack of converting power in the Church, of the dearth of revivals, is to be found in the fact that God's hand is not upon us, because of the lack of faith and prayer. ( J. M. Sherwood, D. D. ) For upon the first day of the first month New Year's Day D. Davies. (a talk with children): — The Bible attaches a great deal of importance to first things; the first-fruits of the earth were sacred, the first batch of bread was a consecrated batch, the first hour of the day, the first day of the week, the first week of the month, the first month of the year, the first year in seven years, and above all the first day of the first month, or in other words "New Year's Day," were considered specially important. It was on New Year's Day that the waters of the deluge finally dried up; it was on New Year's Day that the tabernacle was set up for the first time, that the temple was completely consecrated in the days of Hezekiah; and it was on New Year's Day that the captives in Babylon began their march out of captivity on their return to Canaan under Ezra. Now if you will just remember these four striking instances you will say that New Year's Day has a very important history. How monotonous life would be if there were not something new every day! Why you know that little baby boy at home wants a fresh toy every day. The old toys soon become uninteresting and he wants a new one constantly. Now you used to be the same when you were a very little boy, and you are not very different from that now. All through your little life you have been glad of any little change that gives a novelty and freshness to it. God thinks of all that, and therefore He gives you one thing at a time that will be likely to interest you; and when you have made use of that He gives you another and still another. He gives you life moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day. One day is in one sense very much like the other; and yet not two days are alike, especially when you think of the experiences of each day. Every day has something fresh in it; and God ordains all that in order to make you happy and to enable you to learn constantly, from some experience which each day teaches you, something you have not learnt before. This is specially true with regard to the first day of the New Year. You remember when at school you had a copy book given you. When you had it first of all it was a clean and charming copy book. When you began to write you took a great deal of trouble, especially with the first page. There was not a mistake or blot, or careless line on the whole page. The second page had just one little mistake. Then the third, perhaps, had a blot, and then you got rather careless, and hurried over some of the pages as you drew near the end of your copy book. Your teacher was probably vexed with you because you had not improved as you proceeded with it; then you felt ashamed of yourself, and said, "I wish I could begin again." The day at length came when you got a new copy book, and you were permitted to begin again. Now that is just as God deals with you. He gave you a fine copy book last year — it had 365 pages, and clean throughout; and you were expected to write your very best on those pages. I know some of you tried the first day or two, and now and then you tried again; but some of you got rather careless and restless as you advanced. Here and there you did that which was wrong, and that in each case left a blot behind. The Master took note of it, and there it is now in His presence. You cannot be very proud of your last year's history. Yet to-day the Lord says, "I know all about it; but I will give you a new copy book; and will put that old one aside and forget all about it. I will forgive you; but you must try to do better with this new copy book. Do your very best. If you cannot write as you would, ask Me to help you, and I will take your hand and guide it, and will help you to do what is right and well-pleasing in My sight." When I was a boy at school we used to have in our copy books what we called a script line on the top of the page. We used to copy that. Now the Saviour has put the script line over every day for us. It is His own writing, and we have to copy it. ( D. Davies. ) New Year's Day J. Reid Howatt. The name of Fernando de Magellan is not so well known as it should be. 'Tis over 350 years ago since he first discovered for us the Pacific Ocean, and to reach it he had to go through the Straits which have ever since borne his name — straits extending hundreds of miles, sometimes narrowing to the breadth of a broad river, and again expanding to the breadth of seas. What a day that was when, after long windings to and fro, his ships entered the waters of the Pacific! These were the first keels which ploughed it. His ships came back, but their brave commander never did; the silent sea which had beckoned him on lured him to his death. Is it much different with the boom of the clock which tells us we have entered on the unknown stretch of a New Year? I think not; we are all voyaging, and no ship has gone in advance into the New Year. What lies ahead of us? No one knows, and no one needs to know. The important thing is, that with all our tacking to and fro we are seeking to drop our anchor at last in the good haven. If that is our aim, and we are prayerful and earnest about it, it matters little what the year has in store for us: all will prove well and rightly done in the end. Bend heart and head to this, and leave all else with God. ( J. Reid Howatt. ) For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it. Man's duty in relation to God's redemptive truth Homilist. The text indicates man's duty in relation to God's redemptive truth. The "law" here refers undoubtedly not to God's truth in general, but to that truth which He has condescended to reveal to man as a fallen being. In relation to this he has to do three things — I. HE HAS TO LEARN IT. "Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord." Two things are to be attended to in our endeavours to attain a knowledge of the truth which God has revealed to fallen man. 1. It must be sought for where it is to be found. Truth from God may be found written in the volume of nature, in the facts of human history, in the constitution of the human soul: but the truth from God which man wants as a sinner is to be found in the Bible. It must be sought for here; it is here under the cover of facts and histories, metaphors and poetries. 2. It must be sought for in the manner in which it is to be found. There is a right way of seeking as well as a wrong way. "Ezra had prepared his heart to seek" it. It must be sought —(1) With devout earnestness. It must be regarded as the supreme good.(2) With persevering diligence. It must be searched for as hidden treasures. II. HE HAS TO PRACTISE IT. Ezra had not only "prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord," but "to do it." The truth that God has revealed to sinners is not a subject for mere speculative thought or logical debate, it is a practical system. 1. The doing of it is essential to a thorough understanding of it. "He that doeth the will of God shall know of the doctrine." There are some things that a man may understand without practising. A man may understand architecture who has never built a house, agriculture who has never cultivated a farm, but no one can understand theology unless he has practised it. 2. The doing of it is necessary in order to be really benefited by it. Truth as ideas in the mind is only like floating clouds, rolling undischarged over the barren soil; but truth as deeds is like living streams so intersecting each other, and winding in every direction, as to touch the whole region into life, verdure, and beauty. III. HE HAS TO PREACH IT. "And to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." God's truth to sinners is to be taught by men. But none can teach it but those who have learnt it and practised: the right kind of preaching is life preaching. This life preaching is — 1. The most intelligible. 2. The most incontrovertible. 3. The most constant. 4. The most Christlike.Conclusion: We must learn, practise, and preach the Bible. The last can only be done by those who have accomplished the first and second. ( Homilist. ) Ezra the scribe James Menzies. I. HIS PRIVATE CHARACTER. 1. I would call him a manly man. The most uncouth, ignorant country clodhopper may be drilled into being a common soldier, who may pass muster with his fellows in a review. But there are few men who can become great generals. Many are able and willing to follow a leader, but there are only too few who have the power to lead others. In the Church as well as in the State our great want is men, manly men. 2. He was a godly man. It is not always the case that great men are godly men also. Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord his God, and to do it; and that added to his greatness. 3. He was a man of discernment. For himself he found it was wisest and best to seek the law of the Lord and to do it. He saw also that it was righteousness for the nation as well as the individual. II. EZRA IN THE DISCHARGE OF HIS PUBLIC DUTIES. 1. As the leader of the returning exiles he was scrupulously honest. 2. He showed boundless trust in the protection of God. 3. As the ruler of the people in Jerusalem he identified himself with the people under him. ( James Menzies. ) Ezra's exemplary conduct William Jones. Contemplate its chief features. I. THE ACQUISITION OF DIVINE TRUTH FOR HIMSELF. In aiming at this attainment he adopted — 1. The right method. He sought for it. 2. The right manner. "He had prepared" — i.e ., fixed or set — "his heart to seek the law of the Lord." 3. The right place. II. THE EMBODIMENT OF DIVINE TRUTH IN HIS LIFE. Knowledge misapplied is — 1. Useless ( Matthew 7:21-27 ; James 1:25 ). 2. An occasion of condemnation ( Luke 12:47, 48 ). III. THE COMMUNICATION OF DIVINE TRUTH TO OTHERS. He taught others both by his speech and by his action. Merely verbal teaching will not bear comparison with that which is also of the character and conduct. The latter is — 1. More intelligible. 2. More continuous. 3. More influential. ( William Jones. ) The Christian ministry The Preacher's Portfolio. We have here pointed out some indispensable qualifications for an able minister of the New Testament. I. DEVOTEDNESS TO GOD'S WORD. II. PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. ( The Preacher's Portfolio. ) Divine sequence in service Sunday School Teacher. Everything in its due order is a universal law. This applies to Sabbath-school teaching. I. THERE MUST BE DILIGENT SEARCHING FOR THE LAW OF GENESIS II. THERE MUST BE A HEARTY DOING OF THE DISCOVERED WILL. Alas 1 for him who seeks to teach others laws which he himself does not obey, and to enforce commands which he himself defies. III. THEN MAY WE TEACH THE LAW OF THE LORD. Let us give heed to this sequence. It is taught in many parts of Scripture; but let Ezra's embodiment of it make it plain. ( Sunday School Teacher. ) A mind saturated with Scripture The late Sydney Dobell, poet and philosopher, and devout Christian, has this remark: "The more exquisite your sense of beauty becomes, the dearer will the Holy Scripture become to you, the more natural and indispensable will the wisest and grandest of its sayings become to your heart and mind — as wings to the air, as feet to the ground, as light to the eyes; you will feel certain that the mind was created for the saying, and the saying for the mind. I learned at one period of my life the whole New Testament by rote, and I cannot unlearn the beauty of those sweet old Saxon phrases in which I thought so long. Full of 'the light that never was on sea or shore,' I feel, in using them, to mingle a new element with earthly speech and to relieve, in some sort, with their glory, the dreary lifelessness of words." Testimonies to the Bible Sunday School Times. "In this book," said Ewald to Dean Stanley, "is all the wisdom of the world." "That book," said Andrew Jackson, as he lay on his death-bed, "is the rock on which our republic rests." Said the great chemist Faraday, "Why will people go astray when they have this blessed book to guide them?" "If we be ignorant," say the translators of 1611, "the Scriptures will instruct us; if out of the way, they will bring us home; if out of order, they will reform us; if in heaviness, they will comfort us; if dull, quicken us; if cold, inflame us." Hooker said, "There is scarcely any part of knowledge worthy of the mind of man but from Scripture it may have some direction and light." Theodore Parker said, "The literature of Greece, which goes up like incense from that land of temples, has not half the influence of this book of a despised nation. The sun never sets upon its gleaming pages." Heine, the infidel, said, "What a book! Vast and wide as the world, rooted in the abysses of creation, and towering up behind the blue secrets of heaven. Sunrise and sunset, promise and fulfilment, birth and death, the whole drama of humanity, all in this book." ( Sunday School Times. ) Study of the Scriptures J. Bawden Allen. The Abbe Wincklemann, a classical writer on the fine arts, after descanting with great zeal on the perfection of sculpture, as exhibited in the Apollo Belvedere, said to the students, "Now go and study it, and if you see no beauty in it, go again and again, go until you feel it, for be assured it is there." So we say to the Bible student, "Go and study the Scripture, and if at first you discover no beauty, go until you feel the power of its glorious truths, for be assured it is there." ( J. Bawden Allen. ) The Scriptures a safeguard of a nation W. E. Gladstone. If we wish to know what the Christian tradition has done for us, we must examine the moral standards of nations who have differed from us in not having it. For example, we must look at the Greeks of the fifth century before Christ, or the Romans at or after the period of the Advent. The Christian faith and the Holy Scriptures arm us with the means of neutralising and repelling the assaults of evil in and from ourselves. Mist may rest upon the surrounding landscape, but our own path is always visible. ( W. E. Gladstone. ) The inestimable value of the Scriptures Dr. Smith, of Edinburgh, preaching recently, said the Scriptures were an unalienable treasure of the Church, and urged his hearers to make a more diligent use of them. He told of an Australian farmer, who for years tried vainly to make a competence out of his soil. He transferred it at a low price to a neighbour, who shortly discovered a priceless mine upon the property. "So," the preacher said, "we are apt to forget that underneath the newspapers and novels which cumber our tables, lies a small volume which is worth inestimably more than all of them." The Scriptures a winding splendour Christian Age. Passing from Bonn to Coblentz, on the Rhine, the scenery is comparatively tame. But from Coblentz to Mayence it is enchanting. You sit on deck, and feel as if this last flash of beauty must exhaust the scene; but in a moment there is a turn of the river, which covers up the former view with more luxuriant vineyards, and more defiant castles, and bolder bluffs, vine-wreathed, and grapes so ripe that if the hills be touched they would bleed their rich life away into the bowels of Bingen and Hockheimer. Here and there there are streams of water melting into the river, like smaller joys swallowed in the bosom of a great gladness. And when night begins to throw its black mantle over the shoulder of the hills, and you are approaching disembarkation at Mayence, the lights along the shore fairly bewitch the scene with their beauty, giving one a thrill that he feels but once, yet that lasts him for ever. So this river of God's Word is not a straight stream, but a winding splendour — at every turn new wonders to attract, still riper vintage pressing to the brink, and crowded castles of strength — Stolzenfels and Johannisberger as nothing compared with the strong tower into which the righteous run and are saved — and our disembarkation at last, in the evening, amid the lights that gleam from the shore of heaven. The trouble is, that the vast majority of Bible voyagers stop at Coblentz, where the chief glories begin. ( Christian Age. ) Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes. Ezra 7:11-27 The office and duty of the civil magistrate Philoclesius. It is the office of a Christian magistrate to encourage and protect good men in the exercise of religion, Dora by his own example and wholesome laws, and to promote true religion in his dominions. Thus far the good magistrates among Jews, heathens, and Christians have proceeded to their lasting honour and commendation; but those who acted on the contrary have been branded with infamy and contempt. Joshua, the Judges, David, Solomon and Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah and others, destroyed idolatry, erected altars, ordered the courses of the priests, built and repaired the temple, collected and disposed of money for those charges, caused the Passover and other religious duties to be celebrated, and wrought a glorious reformation in true religion, when the priests and Levites were negligent in their office. Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes, the King of Nineveh, Alexander the Great, and Seleucus, etc., made decrees through all their dominions to worship the true God; they set His people at liberty, ordered them to rebuild the temple to the Lord God of heaven, allowed timber, salt, and similar charges for the sacrifices out of their own treasury; they required the prayers of God's people for themselves, their families and dominions, they protected them from their adversaries and appointed solemn fasts, etc. Lycurgus, Numa, and Solon made laws concerning religion in Athens, Rome, and Sparta; Timoleon, Augustus, and others rebuilt and endowed all the temples that had fallen into decay in Crete and about Rome. Judas Maccabeus repaired the breaches, purchased holy vessels and instruments for the service of the temple, pulled down the idols, and cleansed the sanctuary from the profanation of Antiochus Epiphanes, chose priests of a blameless conversation, and appointed an anniversary festival in commemoration of the reparation of the temple which our Saviour honoured with His own presence ( John 10:22 ). Constantine published several edicts in favour of Christian religion, granting to all professors the free exercise of it; he destroyed the idol temples, restored the former places of worship to them, and built several magnificent churches and gave great gifts to them; he also commanded fine copies of the Bible to be made. When the heresy of Arius infected the Church, he assembled the first General Council at Nice, consisting of 318 bishops from all quarters of the empire. He banished Arius and burnt his books, he settled the time for the keeping of Easter, and made many good laws for the discipline and government of the Church. Theodosius, Justinian, and others of his successors thought it their duty to enact good laws for the establishment of the true religion. The British, Saxon, and English princes have been as active therein as other Christian monarchs, for King Lucius sent a letter to Eleutherius, Bishop of Rome, desiring his directions to make him a Christian; he also turned some heathen temples into Christian churches and built and endowed others at his own charges. kindly received and main tained Augustine and his companions, built and granted great privileges to the Abbey of Westminster, and made many excellent laws for the benefit and protection of the Church, which were rather the laws of his predecessors than those of his own making. William the Conqueror at his coronation took an oath that he should defend the Church of Christ, and all our monarchs have done the like. By Act of Parliament the sovereign is declared to be supreme Head of the Church, and has the glory of being described as Defender of the Faith. ( Philoclesius. ) The commission of Artaxerxes William Jones. It indicated a spirit of — I. GREAT REVERENCE FOR GOD. II. PROFOUND RESPECT FOR THE LAW OF GOD. III. SINCERE REGARD THE WORSHIP OF GOD. IV. HEARTY APPRECIATION OF THE CHARACTER OF A GOOD MAN. His liberal gifts may be exhibited as — 1. A rebuke to the parsimony of many Christians. 2. An example to all Christians. ( William Jones. ) The Lord God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem. Ezra 7:15 Jevoah's habitation J. Irons. I. THIS HOLY ALLIANCE: "The God of Israel." We have here — 1. A description of God and His Church. The "God of Israel" includes both. Israel His Church; and the God that claims it; a living God amidst a living people. 2. Infinitude associated with a royal seed. Israel signifies a prevailing prince before God. 3. A veritable portion on both sides. "The Lord's portion is His people'; "The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. 4. The living connection between God and His people constitutes the stronghold of faith. II. HIS HABITATION. He dwells — 1. In "the Jerusalem which is above." 2. In the living Church of God which was typified by Jerusalem. 3. In the Jerusalem of every regenerated soul. ( J. Irons. ) Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done. Ezra 7:23 The decree of Artaxerzes C. Simeon, M. A. It is remarkable that some of the richest effusions of poetry in the whole Scriptures proceeded from heathen monarchs, e.g ., Darius and Nebuchadnezzar. Consider these words — I. IN REFERENCE TO THE JEWISH CHURCH. 1. The state of the Jewish Church at this time is not unlike to that in which it was in the days of Ezra. It is impossible to behold them in their religious services, and not to see how thick s veil is yet upon their hearts. Nor do they manifest any respect for their own law in its sublimer precepts. Of real holiness of heart and life they are ignorant in the extreme. 2. But to us is given, no less than to Ezra, a command to advance their welfare. 3. In this work we should engage with all diligence ( Romans 11:30, 31 ). II. IN REFERENCE TO THE CHURCH WHICH IS AMONGST US. 1. We need to have God's work advanced in our midst. 2. We ought to engage in this work with our whole hearts. Conclusion :We ought to obey this imperial mandate — 1. In a way of personal reformation. 2. In a way of ministerial exertion. ( C. Simeon, M. A. ) Christian missions Samuel Thodey. We may well sit at the feet of Artaxerxes and learn from heathen lips the extent of our duty and the nature of our obligations. We plead for missions. I. TO ASSIGN SOME REASONS FOR ACTIVE DEVOTEDNESS TO THE CAUSE OF GOD IN THE WORLD. 1. From the Divine authority by which it is enjoined. It "is commanded by the God of heaven." We love to see the estimate of Christian duties from the men of the world. They often take a just measure of our obligations. The law of love to the perishing heathen is clearly laid down. God makes man the medium of His blessings to man. The same God who bids us "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" that we may be saved bids us "go into all the world," etc. We should like to see inscribed over all our missionary institutions the law, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." 2. From the urgent necessity which exists for your exertions. 3. From the fearful consequences of the neglect of this duty. "For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?" 4. From the success which has attended the fulfilment of this duty. II. TO OFFER SOME SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE SPIRIT AND MODE IN WHICH THIS WORK SHOULD BE CARRIED ON. 1. Earnestly, without remissness. "Let it be diligently done." 2. Prayerfully. 3. Speedily. ( Samuel Thodey. ) Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart. Ezra 7:27, 28 Kings of Persia -- nursing fathers of the Church W. Mackenzie. The book of Ezra contains an interesting record of the dealings of God in His providence towards His visible Church under the Persian Empire. That empire performed important services for the Church — a brief consideration of which as they are recorded in the first seven chapters of Ezra will exhibit wonderful instances of the watchful care of Providence for the Church, and open up the way for the following inferences : I. THE DECREE OF ARTAXERXES WAS RIGHT IN THE JUDGMENT OF GOD AS WELL AS IN THE JUDGMENT OF THE CHURCH. Ezra gives thanks to God for this decree and ascribes the procuring of it to the immediate hand of God. II. THAT IT IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE TO OBTAIN THE COUNTENANCE AND AID OF THE CIVIL POWER IN FAVOUR OF THE VISIBLE CHURCH IN ALL AGES. It is true God can preserve and increase His Church without the aid and in spite of the opposition of kings and rulers. It multiplied amidst the exterminating persecution in Egypt; and it was not lost during the seventy years' captivity in Babylon; and for three hundred years after Christ the Church was generally persecuted by the civil powers, and yet multiplied exceedingly. But still opposition by the civil powers, and much more persecution, is in itself an evil; and the nursing care of the kings of the earth is s great blessing to the Church. III. IF CIVIL AID AND COUNTENANCE BE SO IMPORTANT TO THE CHURCH, IT IS THE DUTY OF ALL WHO LOVE THE PROSPERITY OF JERUSALEM TO ENDEAVOUR TO OBTAIN IT. Ezra did so (ver. 6), "And the king granted him all his request according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him." IV. WE OUGHT NOT TO BE DISCOURAGED FROM SEEKING THE ADEQUATE SUPPORT OF THE STATE BY THE APPARENT IMPROBABILITY OF OBTAINING IT. "Who art thou, O great mountain?" said the prophet Zechariah, in reference to the usurping Persian king, stirred up by the enemies of the Church, "before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain" ( Zechariah 4:6, 7 ). V. THE FRIENDS OF RELIGION AND THE CHURCH OUGHT NOT TO BE UNDULY CONCERNED WHICH PARTY IS UP OR WHICH IS DOWN. When the friends of the Church are uppermost, give thanks, like Ezra, to God, who putteth it into the heart of the king to beautify His house. When the enemies are uppermost, do as David did, when he encouraged himself in the Lord his God. VI. THE FRIENDS OF THE CHURCH OUGHT NOT TO BE MUCH MOVED EITHER BY THE FLATTERIES OR THE THREATS OF THE ENEMIES. VII. THE CHURCH NEEDS, AND IS ENTITLED TO, THE PRIVATE LIBERALITY OF INDIVIDUALS AS WELL AS THE PUBLIC SUPPORT OF THE NATION. Large and liberal as were the government grants by Darius, Cyrus, and Artaxerxes, yet the voluntary liberality of the private Jews was called into exercise. So it was in the time of Moses and the kings, and so it must be as it has been in the times of the gospel. VIII. THE CHURCH OF GOD OUGHT NOT TO BE TREATED EITHER BY INDIVIDUALS OR NATIONS IN A MEAN AND NIGGARDLY MANNER. Artaxerxes had not to build the temple — that was done already — but he beautified it; he laid out money on it, as some would say unnecessarily and extravagantly. But Ezra thanks God for putting such a thing as this into the king's heart, to beautify the house of God. IX. AS IT IS THE DUTY OF ALL TO SERVE AND GLORIFY GOD, SO NO ONE IS EXEMPTED FROM THE DUTY OF SUPPORTING HIS TRUE CHURCH. X. WE OUGHT NOT TO REFUSE TO ADD TO THE NUMBER OF MINISTERS AND BUILDINGS IN THE CHURCH UNTIL THE CHURCH IS PERFECTLY REFORMED. XI. THE AID OF GOVERNMENT TO THE EXTENSION OF THE CHURCH IS THE RICH GIVING TO THE POOR. XII. LET US NOT THINK THAT WE SHALL GROW POOR IF WE GIVE MUCH TO GOD. ( W. Mackenzie. ) Exemplary praise William Jones. I. THE TRUE OFFERERS OF PRAISE. Ezra exhibits in these verses — 1. Unaffected humility. 2. Sincere piety. 3. Practical religiousness. II. THE GRAND OBJECT OF PRAISE. 1. The Supreme Being. 2. The Supreme Being in covenant relation with His worshippers. 3. The Supreme Being whom our fathers worshipped. III. GOOD REASONS FOR PRAISE. 1. God inspires the worthy purposes of men. 2. He beneficently influences the moral judgments of men. 3. He invigorates the heart and life of His servants. ( William Jones. ) To beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem God's love of the beautiful W. Proudfoot, M. A. One of the desires common to humanity is the desire for what is beautiful. We need not go far for evidence of this universal feeling. It is seen declaring itself in the little flower that lends a nameless grace to the cottage window, in many a simple ornament and picture to be found in the homes of labour and in the preference given to some spot favoured with more than usual sweetness and charm. The desire for beauty and the expressions of it are the creation of the Divine inbreathing. To limit human conduct to what is strictly useful would impoverish existence and rob it of half its interest and grace. If utility were to be the sole standard of human action, the mother would be forbidden to kiss her child and the mourner to shed a tear

Benson Commentary Ezra 7:1 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, Ezra 7:1 . In the reign of Artaxerxes — The same of whom he speaks chap. Ezra 6:14 . Ezra the son of Seraiah — Descended from him, but not immediately. For Seraiah, being high-priest when Jerusalem was taken was then slain by the Chaldeans, ( 2 Kings 25:18 ; 2 Kings 25:21 ,) at which time, it is likely, Ezra was not in being: but he was his grandson, or great-grand-son, and his descent is mentioned from him, because he was an eminent person, who flourished before the destruction of the temple, whereas Ezra’s father, if not also his grandfather, lived obscurely in captivity. Ezra 7:2 The son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, Ezra 7:3 The son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, Ezra 7:3 . The son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth — There are six generations omitted between Azariah and Meraioth, as before some were omitted between Seraiah and Ezra, which are to be supplied out of 1 Chronicles 6:7 , &c. Ezra 7:4 The son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, Ezra 7:5 The son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest: Ezra 7:6 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. Ezra 7:6 . This Ezra went up from Babylon — With the king’s consent and commission. And he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses — He is called a scribe, as Buxtorf observes in his Tiberias, not from writing and describing, but from declaring and explicating those things that are contained in the Scripture. For, as ??? , sepher, signifies a book, so ???? , sopher, signifies one skilful and learned in that book, an interpreter and teacher out of it. And, there being no book comparable to the book of the law, therefore Sopher became a name of great dignity, and signified one that taught God’s law, and expounded it to his people. Thus, in the New Testament, the scribes were those who instructed the people in the law. It is said he was a ready scribe, because he was expert in the law, and understood it thoroughly, both in all things belonging to the priesthood, and to the civil power; in which he was so well versed, that he could give a ready account of any part of it. The Jews say, he collected and collated all the copies of the law, and published an accurate edition of it, with all the books that were given by divine inspiration, and so made up the canon of the Old Testament. Moses in Egypt, and Ezra in Babylon, were wonderfully fitted for eminent service in the church. This was the second time that Ezra came up from Babylon, for he came up at first with Zerubbabel, as we learn from Nehemiah 12:1 , and probably returned to Babylon to persuade those who had staid behind to come up to Jerusalem, and to obtain some further assistance from the king. According to the hand of the Lord his God upon him — God not only stirred up Ezra to this undertaking, but was so favourable to him as to incline the king to give a gracious answer to his petition. 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. Ezra 7:7 . There went up some of the children of Israel — This was the second company that went up to Jerusalem, consisting of such like persons as went up at first with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and others, Ezra 2:2 ; Ezra 2:70 . For, hearing the temple was rebuilt, and the worship of God restored, we may very well think many went along with Ezra, who had not such a strong motive to go at the first. 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. Ezra 7:9 . According to the good hand of his God upon him — There was great reason to acknowledge the favour and protection of God, in conducting them safe to Jerusalem; for the journey was long and difficult, and they had many impediments, (going with wives and children, flocks and herds,) and were not without enemies, by whom they were in danger of being waylaid. These, however, Ezra did not fear, but relied on the divine protection, as he told the king, Ezra 8:2 , being inspired with supernatural courage and fortitude. 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. Ezra 7:10 . For Ezra had prepared his heart, &c. — He had set his mind and affections upon it, and made it his chief business. To seek the law of the Lord — To search and find out the true sense and meaning of it, and thence to learn what sins or errors were to be reformed, and what duties were to be performed. And to do it, and to teach in Israel — The order of things in this verse is very observable: first, he endeavours to understand God’s law and word, and that not for curiosity or ostentation, but in order to practice; next, he conscientiously practises what he did understand, which made his doctrine much more effectual; and then he earnestly desires and labours to instruct others, that they also might know and do it. 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. Ezra 7:11 . This is the copy of the letter that the King Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra — “It can hardly be supposed, 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.” — Dodd. See also Pri., Ann. 459, and Le Clerc. Even a scribe of the words, &c. — The phrase seems emphatical, denoting that he explained both the words and the things: for the Jews, in the land of their captivity, had, in a great measure, lost both the language and the knowledge of God’s commands, and therefore Ezra and his companions instructed them in both. 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. Ezra 7:12 . Unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven — Or, as the Hebrew may be rendered, a perfect scribe of the law, &c., a title which, it seems, Ezra delighted in, and desired no other; no, not when he was advanced to the proconsular dignity, and made the governor of a province. He reckoned it more to his honour to be a scribe of God’s law than to be a peer or prince of the empire. 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. 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; Ezra 7:14 . And of his seven counsellors — His chief nobles and officers of state; of whom see Esther 1:10 ; Esther 1:14 . This decree, being made by their advice, had the greater authority. To inquire concerning Judah according to the law of thy God — To make inquiry into all abuses and deviations from your law, and to redress them. Which is in thy hand — With which thou art very conversant, and in which thou art well skilled. It may seem strange that the edict should be drawn up in this manner, as it is more in the style of a Jewish supreme governor than of a heathen king; but it is not improbable that Ezra, being in such favour in the Persian court, might get the edict drawn up in the manner and words which he thought would be most proper for the purposes for which he had obtained it. 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, Ezra 7:15-16 . Which the king and his counsellors have freely offered unto the God of Israel — This shows that they had a high opinion of the God of Israel, and were desirous of his favour. And all the silver and gold that thou canst find — That is, procure, as ???? , shechach, often signifies. Whatsoever thou canst get of my subjects, by way of free gift. With the free-will-offering of the people — Namely, of Israel. 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: 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. 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. 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. 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. Ezra 7:20 . Whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God — Toward the reparation, or adorning, or completing of it. 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, 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 . Ezra 7:22 . Salt, without prescribing how much — He limits all the other expenses, except salt, which was of low price, and of very common and necessary use in all their sacrifices; and therefore, since he would not have any sacrifice hindered, he did not prescribe any measure of it, but permitted them to take as much as they found necessary. The sum here ordered, in silver, amounts to thirty-five thousand three hundred pounds sterling; the wheat to eight hundred bushels; the wine to twelve or thirteen hogsheads; and the oil to the same quantity, which shows the princely liberality of Artaxerxes. 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? Ezra 7:23 . Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done — Here Jacobus Capellus cries out in a kind of rapture, “O, words to be written upon the palaces of kings, in golden letters, and engraven on the minds of all, with a style of adamant! For they express an exceeding great sense of God, and of his supreme authority, and the regard due to him from the greatest kings and potentates.” It appears from this verse, that Ezra had informed Artaxerxes that the God of Israel had appointed and given his people certain laws, according to which he was to be worshipped, and therefore the edict enjoins these laws to be exactly observed. For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? — For the omission of any part of his worship, occasioned by my neglect. He discerned his duty in this matter, and the danger of incurring God’s displeasure if he neglected it, partly by the light of nature, and principally by the information of Ezra. The neglect and contempt of religion brings the judgments of God upon kings and kingdoms; and the likeliest expedient to turn away his wrath, when it is ready to break out against a people, is to support and encourage religion. 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. Ezra 7:24 . It shall not be lawful to impose tolls, &c. — Thus he discharged all the ministers of religion, from the greatest of the priests to the least of the Nethinims, from paying taxes to the government, and made it unlawful for the king’s officers to impose any taxes on them. This was putting a great honour upon them, as free denizens of the empire, and would gain them respect as favourites of the crown, at the same time that it gave them liberty to attend on their ministry with freedom and cheerfulness. 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. Ezra 7:25 . After the wisdom of thy God in thy hand — That is, which God hath put into thy heart, and which appears in the works of thy hand. Wisdom is sometimes ascribed to the hand, as Psalm 78:72 . Or, by the wisdom of God, he means the law of God, which was said to be in his hand, Ezra 7:14 . Set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people, &c. — All the Jews on that side of the river. All such as know the laws of thy God — All that professed the Jewish religion were to be under the jurisdiction of these judges; which intimates that they were exempt from the jurisdiction of heathen magistrates. It was a great favour to the Jews to have such magistrates of themselves, and especially of Ezra’s nomination. And teach ye them that know them not — They were to instruct in the laws of God those that were ignorant of them, whether Jews or others, which implies that he had no objection to their making proselytes to the Jewish religion. 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. Ezra 7:26 . Whosoever will not do the law of thy God, &c. — They were not allowed to make new laws, but were to see the law of God duly executed, (which is here made the law of the king, ) and therefore were intrusted with the sword, that they might be a terror to evil-doers. What could Jehoshaphat, or Hezekiah, or David himself, as king, have done more for the honour of God and the furtherance of religion? 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: Ezra 7:27 . Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, &c. — Ezra cannot proceed in his story without inserting this thankful acknowledgment to God’s goodness to him and the people. Which hath put such a thing as this into the king’s heart — God can and frequently does put things into men’s hearts which would not rise there of themselves, and that both by his providence and by his grace. If any good appear to be in our own hearts, or in the hearts of others, we must acknowledge it was God that put it there, and must bless him for it, for it is he that worketh, in us both, to will and to do that which is good. 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. Ezra 7:28 . And hath extended mercy to me, &c. — The king, in the honour he did Ezra, we may suppose, had an eye to his merits, and preferred him because he judged him to be an intelligent, dis-interested, and upright man: but he himself ascribes his elevation purely to God’s mercy. And I was strengthened — Endowed with courage and ability to undertake the services; as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me — To direct and support me. If God gives us his hand, we are bold and cheerful, if he withdraws it, we are weak as water. Whatever service we are enabled to do for God and our generation, God must have all the glory of it. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Ezra 7:1 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, EZRA’S EXPEDITION Ezra 7:1-8 LIKE the earlier pilgrimage of Zerubbabel and his companions, Ezra’s great expedition was carried out under a commission from the Persian monarch of his day. The chronicler simply calls this king "Artaxerxes" ( Artahshashta ), a name borne by three kings of Persia, but there can be no reasonable doubt that his reference is to the son and successor of Xerxes - known by the Greeks as "Macrocheir," and by the Romans as "Longimanus"-Artaxerxes "of the long hand." for this Artaxerxes alone enjoyed a sufficiently extended reign to include both the commencement of Ezra’s public work and the later scenes in the life of Nehemiah which the chronicler associates with the same king. Artaxerxes was but a boy when he ascended the throne, and the mission of Ezra took place in his earlier years, while the generous enthusiasm of the kindly sovereign-whose gentleness has become historic-had not yet been crushed by the cares of empire. In accordance with the usual style of our narrative, we have his decree concerning the Jews preserved and transcribed in full; and yet here, as in other cases, we must make some allowance either for the literary freedom of the chronicler, or for the Jewish sympathies of the translator; for it cannot be supposed that a heathen, such as Artaxerxes undoubtedly was, would have shown the knowledge of the Hebrew religion, or have owned the faith in it, which the edict as we now have it suggests. Nevertheless, here again, there is no reason to doubt the substantial accuracy of the document, for it is quite in accord with the policy of the previous kings Cyrus and Darius. and in its special features it entirely agrees with the circumstances of the history. This edict of Longimanus goes beyond any of its predecessors in favoring the Jews, especially with regard to their religion. It is directly and personally addressed to Ezra. whom the king may have known as an earnest, zealous leader of the Hebrew community at Babylon, and through him it grants to all Jewish exiles who wish to go up to Jerusalem liberty to return to the home of their fathers, it may be objected that after the decree of Cyrus any such fresh sanction should not have been needed. But two generations had passed away since the pilgrimage of the first body of returning captives, and during this long time many things had happened to check the free action of the Jews and to cast reproach upon their movements. For a great expedition to start now without any orders from the reigning monarch might excite his displeasure, and a subject people who were dependent for their very existence on the good-will of an absolute sovereign would naturally hesitate before they ventured to rouse his suspicions by undertaking any considerable migration on their own account. But Artaxerxes does much more than sanction the journey to Jerusalem; he furthers the object of this journey with royal bounty, and he lays a very important commission on Ezra, a commission which carries with it the power, if not the name, of a provincial magistrate. In the first place, the edict authorises a state endowment of the Jewish religion. Ezra is to carry great stores to the poverty-stricken community at Jerusalem. These are made up in part of contributions from the Babylonian Jews, in part of generous gifts from their friendly neighbours, and in part of grants from the royal treasury. The temple has been rebuilt, and the funds now accumulated are not like the bulk of those collected in the reign of Cyrus for a definite object, the cost of which might be set down to the "Capital Account" in the restoration of the Jews; they are destined in some measure for improvements to the structure, but they are also to be employed in maintenance charges, especially in supporting the costly services of the temple. Thus the actual performance of the daily ritual at the Jerusalem sanctuary is to be kept up by means of the revenues of the Persian Empire. Then, the edict proceeds to favour the priesthood by freeing that order from the burden of taxation. This "clerical immunity," which suggests an analogy with the privileges the Christian clergy prized so highly in the Middle Ages, is an indirect form of increased endowment, but the manner in which the endowment is granted calls especial attention to the privileged status of the order that enjoys it. Thus the growing importance of the Jerusalem hierarchy is openly fostered by the Persian king. Still further, Artaxerxes adds to his endowment of the Jewish religion a direct legal establishment. Ezra is charged to see that the law of his God is observed throughout the whole region extending up from the Euphrates to Jerusalem. This can only be meant to apply to the Jews who were scattered over the wide area, especially those of Syria. Still the mandate is startling enough, especially when we take into account the heavy sanctions with which it is weighted, for Ezra has authority given him to enforce obedience by excommunication, by fine, by imprisonment, and even by the death-penalty. "The law of his God" is named side by side with "the law of the king," { Ezra 7:26 } and the two are to be obeyed equally. Fortunately, owing to the unsettled condition of the country as well as to Ezra’s own somewhat unpractical disposition, the reformer never seems to have put his great powers fully to the test. Now, as in the previous cases of Cyrus and Darius, we are confronted with the question, How came the Persian king to issue such a decree? It has been suggested that as Egypt was in revolt at the time, he desired to strengthen the friendly colony at Jerusalem as a western bulwark. But, as we have seen in the case of Cyrus, the Jews were too few and feeble to be taken much account of among the gigantic forces of the vast empire; and, moreover, it was not the military fortification of Jerusalem-certainly a valuable stronghold when well maintained-but the religious services of the temple and the observance of The Law that this edict aimed at aiding and encouraging. No doubt in times of unsettlement the king would behave most favourably towards a loyal section of his people. Still, more must be assigned as an adequate motive for his action. Ezra is charged as a special commissioner to investigate the condition of the Jews in Palestine. He is to "inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem." { Ezra 7:14 } Inasmuch as it was customary for the Persian monarchs to send out inspectors from time to time to examine and report on the condition of the more remote districts of their extensive empire, it has been plausibly suggested that Ezra may have been similarly employed. But in the chronicler’s report of the edict we read, immediately after the injunction to make the investigation, an important addition describing how this was to be done, viz. , "According to the law of thy God which is in thine hand," { Ezra 7:14 } which shows that Ezra’s inquiry was to be of a religious character, and as a preliminary to the exaction of obedience to the Jewish law. It may be said that this clause was not a part of the original decree, but the drift of the edict is religious throughout rather than political, and therefore the clause in question is fully in harmony with its character. There is one sentence which is of the deepest significance, if only we can believe that it embodies an original utterance of the king himself-"Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, 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?" { Ezra 7:23 } While his empire was threatened by dangerous revolts, Artaxerxes seems to have desired to conciliate the God whom the most devout of his people regarded with supreme awe. What is more clear and at the same time more important is the great truth detected by Ezra and recorded by him in a grateful burst of praise. Without any warning the chronicler suddenly breaks off his own narrative, written in the third person, to insert a narrative written by Ezra himself in the first person-beginning at Ezra 7:27 and continued down to Ezra 10:1-44 . The scribe opens by blessing God "the Lord God of our fathers," who had "put such a thing in the king’s heart as to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem." { Ezra 7:27 } This, then, was a Divine movement. It can only be accounted for by ascribing the original impulse to God. Natural motives of policy or of superstition may have been providentially manipulated, but the hand that used them was the hand of God. The man who can perceive this immense fact at the very outset of his career is fit for any enterprise. His transcendent faith will carry him through difficulties that would be insuperable to the worldly schemer. Passing from the thought of the Divine influence on Artaxerxes. Ezra further praises God because he has himself received "mercy before the king and his counsellors, and before all the king’s mighty princes." { Ezra 7:28 } This personal thanksgiving is evidently called forth by the scribe’s consideration of the part assigned to him in the royal edict. There was enough in that edict to make the head of a self-seeking, ambitious man swim with vanity. But we can see from the first that Ezra is of a higher character. The burning passion that consumes him has not a particle of hunger for self-aggrandisement, it is wholly generated by devotion to the law of his God. In the narrowness and bigotry that characterise his later conduct as a reformer, some may suspect the action of that subtle self-will which creeps unawares into the conduct of some of the noblest men. Still the last thing that Ezra seeks, and the last thing that he cares for when it is thrust upon him, is the glory of earthly greatness. Ezra’s aim in leading the expedition may be gathered from the reflection of it in the royal edict, since that edict was doubtless drawn up with the express purpose of furthering the project of the favoured Jew. Ezra puts the beautifying of the temple in the front of his grateful words of praise to God. But the personal commission entrusted to Ezra goes much further. The decree significantly recognises the fact that he is to carry up to Jerusalem a copy of the Sacred Law. It refers to "the law of thy God which is in thine hand." { Ezra 7:14 } We shall hear more of this hereafter. Meanwhile it is important to see that the law, obedience to which Ezra is empowered to exact, is to be conveyed by him to Jerusalem. Thus he is both to introduce it to the notice of the people, and to see that it does not remain a dead letter among them. He is to teach it to those who do not know it. { Ezra 7:25 } At the same time these people are distinctly separated from others, who are expressly described as "all such as know the laws of thy God." { Ezra 7:25 } This plainly implies that both the Jerusalem Jews, and those west of the Euphrates generally, were not all of them ignorant of the Divine Torah. Some of them, at all events, knew the laws they were to be made to obey. Still they may not have possessed them in any written form. The plural term "laws" is here used, while the written compilation which Ezra carried up with him is described in the singular as "The Law." Ezra, then, having searched out The Law and ‘tested it in his own experience, is now eager to take it up to Jerusalem, and get it executed among his fellow-countrymen at the religious metropolis as well as among the scattered Jews of the provincial districts. His great purpose is to make what he believes to be the will of God known, and to see that it is obeyed. The very idea of a Torah implies a Divine will in religion. It presses upon our notice the often-forgotten fact that God has something to say to us about our conduct, that when we are serving Him it is not enough to be zealous, that we must also be obedient. Obedience is the keynote of Judaism. It is not less prominent in Christianity. The only difference is that Christians are freed from the shackles of a literal law in order that they may carry out "the law of liberty," by doing the will of God from the heart as loyal disciples of Jesus Christ, so that for us, as for the Jews, obedience is the most fundamental fact of religion. We can walk by faith in the freedom of sons, but that implies that we have "the obedience of faith." The ruling principle of our Lord’s life is expressed in the words "I delight to do Thy will, O My God," and this must be the ruling principle in the life of every true Christian. Equipped with a royal edict, provided with rich contributions, inspired with a great religious purpose, confident that the hand of his God was upon him, Ezra collected his volunteers, and proceeded to carry out his commission with all practicable speed. In his record of the journey, he first sets down a list of the families that accompanied him. It is interesting to notice names that had occurred in the earlier list of the followers of Zerubbabel, showing that some of the descendants of those who refused to go on the first expedition took part in the second. They remind us of Christiana and her children, who would not join the Pilgrim when he set out from the City of Destruction, but who subsequently followed in his footsteps. But there was little at Jerusalem to attract a new expedition, for the glamour which had surrounded the first return, with a son of David at its head, had faded in grievous disappointments, and the second series of pilgrims had to carry with them the torch with which to rekindle the flames of devotion. Ezra states that when he had marshalled his forces he spent three days with them by a river called the "Ahava." apparently because it flowed by a town of that name. The exact site of the camp cannot be determined, although it could not have been far from Babylon, and the river must have been either one of the tributaries of the Euphrates or a canal cut through its alluvial plain. The only plausible conjecture of a definite site settles upon a place now known as Hit, in the neighbourhood of some bitumen springs, and the interest of this place may be found in the fact that here the usual caravan route leaves the fertile Valley of the Euphrates and plunges into the waterless desert. Even if Ezra decided to avoid the difficult desert track, and to take his heavy caravan round through Northern Syria by way of Aleppo and the Valley of the Orontes-an extended journey which would account for the three months spent on the road-it would still be natural for him to pause at the parting of the ways and review the gathering host. One result of this review was the startling discovery that there were no Levites in the whole company. We were struck with the fact that but a very small and disproportionate number of these officials accompanied the earlier pilgrimage of Zerubbabel, and we saw the probable explanation in the disappointment if not the disaffection of the Levites at their degradation by Ezekiel. The more rigid arrangement of Ezra’s edition of The Law, which gave them a definite and permanent place in a second rank, below the priesthood, was not likely to encourage them to volunteer for the new expedition. Nothing is more difficult than self-effacement, even in the service of God. There was a community of Levites at a place called "Casiphia," under the direction of a leader named Iddo. It would be interesting to think that this community was really a sort of Levitical college, a school of students of the Torah, but we have no data to go upon in forming an opinion. One thing is certain. We cannot suppose that the new edition of The Law had been drawn up in this community of the Levites, because Ezra had started with it in his hand as the charter of his great enterprise; nor, indeed, in any other Levitical college, because it was not at all according to the mind of the Levites. After completing his company by the addition of "the Levites," Ezra made a solemn religious preparation for his journey. Like the Israelites after the defeat at Gibeah in their retributive war with Benjamin; { Jdg 20:26 } like the penitent people at Mizpeh, in the days of Samuel, when they put away their idols; { 1 Samuel 7:6 } like Jehoshaphat and his subjects when rumours of a threatened invasion filled them with apprehension, { 2 Chronicles 20:3 } -Ezra and his followers fasted and humbled themselves before God in view of their hazardous undertaking. The fasting was a natural sign of the humiliation, and this prostration before God was at once a confession of sin and an admission of absolute dependence on His mercy. Thus the people reveal themselves as the "poor in spirit" to whom our Lord directs His first beatitude. They are those who humble themselves, and therefore those whom God will exalt. We must not confound this state of self-humiliation before God with the totally different condition of abject fear which shrinks from danger in contemptible cowardice. The very opposite to that is the attitude of these humble pilgrims. Like the Puritan soldiers who became bold as lions before man in the day of battle, just because they had spent the night in fasting and tears and self-abasement before God, Ezra and his people rose from their penitential fast, calmly prepared to face all dangers in the invincible might of God. There seems to have been some enemy whom Ezra knew to be threatening his path, for when he got safely to the end of his journey he gave thanks for God’s protection from this foe, { Ezra 8:31 } and, in any case, so wealthy a caravan as his was would provoke the cupidity of the roving hordes of Bedouin that infested the Syrian wastes. Ezra’s first thought was to ask for an escort, but he tells us that he was ashamed to do so, as this would imply distrust in God. { Ezra 8:22 } Whatever we may think of his logic, we must be struck by his splendid faith, and the loyalty which would run a great risk rather than suffer what might seem like dishonour to his God. Here was one of God’s heroes. We cannot but connect the preliminary fast with this courageous attitude of Ezra’s. So in tales of chivalry we read how knights were braced by prayer and fast and vigil to enter the most terrible conflicts with talismans of victory. In an age of rushing activity it is hard to find the hidden springs of strength in their calm retreats. The glare of publicity starts us on the wrong track, by tempting us to advertise our own excellences, instead of abasing ourselves in the dust before God. Yet is it not now as true as ever that no boasted might of man can be in any way comparable to the Divine strength which takes possession of those who completely surrender their wills to God? Happy are they who have the grace to walk in the valley of humiliation, for this leads to the armoury of supernatural power! EZRA THE SCRIBE Ezra 7:1-10 ALTHOUGH the seventh chapter of Ezra begins with no other indication of time than the vague phrase "Now after these things," nearly sixty years had elapsed between the events recorded in the previous chapter and the mission of Ezra here described. We have no history of this long period. Zerubbabel passed into obscurity without leaving any trace of his later years. He had accomplished his work, the temple had been built; but the brilliant Messianic anticipations that had clustered about him at the outset of his career were to await their fulfilment in a greater Son of David, and people could afford to neglect the memory of the man who had only been a sort of temporary trustee of the hope of Israel. We shall come across indications of the effects of social trouble and religious decadence in the state of Jerusalem as she appeared at the opening of this new chapter in her history. She had not recovered a vestige of her ancient civic splendour; the puritan rigour with which the returned exiles had founded a Church among the ruins of her political greatness had been relaxed, so that the one distinguishing feature of the humble colony was in danger of melting away in easy and friendly associations with neighboring peoples. When it came, the revival of zeal did not originate in the Holy City. It sprang up among the Jews at Babylon. The earlier movement in the reign of Cyrus had arisen in the same quarter. The best of Judaism was no product of the soil of Palestine; it was an exotic. The elementary "Torah" of Moses emerged from the desert, with the learning of Egypt as its background, long before it was cultivated at Jerusalem to blossom in the reformation of Josiah. The final edition of The Law was shaped in the Valley of the Euphrates, with the literature and science of Babylon to train its editors for their great task, though it may have received its finishing touches in Jerusalem. These facts by no means obscure the glory of the inspiration and Divine character of The Law. In its theology, in its ethics, in its whole spirit and character, the Pentateuch is no more a product of Babylonian than of Egyptian ideas. Its purity and elevation of character speak all the more emphatically for its Divine origin when we take into account its corrupt surroundings; it was like a white lily growing on a dung-heap. Still it is important to notice that the great religious revival of Ezra’s time sprang up on the plains of Babylon, not among the hills of Judah. This involves two very different facts-the peculiar spiritual experience with which it commenced, and the special literary and scientific culture in the midst of which it was shaped. First, it originated in the experience of the captivity, in humiliation and loss, and after long brooding over the meaning of the great chastisement. The exiles were like poets who "learn in suffering what they teach in song." This is apparent in the pathetic psalms of the same period, and in the writings of the visionary of Chebar, who contributed a large share to the new movement in view of the re-establishment of religious worship at Jerusalem. Thus Jerusalem was loved by the exiles, the temple pictured in detail to the imagination of men who never trod its sacred courts, and the sacrificial system most carefully studied by people who had no means of putting it in practice. No doubt The Law now represented an intellectual rather than a concrete form of religion. It was an ideal. So long as the real is with us, it tends to depress the ideal by its material bulk and weight. The ideal is elevated in the absence of the real. Therefore the pauses of life are invaluable; by breaking through the iron routine of habit, they give us scope for the growth of larger ideas that may lead to better attainments. Secondly, this religious revival appeared in a centre of scientific and literary culture. The Babylonians "had cultivated arithmetic, astronomy, history, chronology, geography, comparative philology, and grammar." In astronomy they were so advanced that they had mapped out the heavens, catalogued the fixed stars, calculated eclipses, and accounted for them correctly. Their enormous libraries of terra-cotta, only now being unearthed, testify to their literary activity. The Jews brought back from Babylon the names of the months, the new form of letters used in writing their books, and many other products of the learning and science of the Euphrates. Internally the religion of Israel is solitary, pure, Divine. Externally the literary form of it, and the physical conception of the universe which it embodies, owe not a little to the light which God had bestowed upon the people of Babylon; just as Christianity, in soul and essence the religion of Jesus of Nazareth, was shaped in theory by the thought, and in discipline by the law and order, with which God had endowed the two great European races of Greece and Rome. The chronicler introduces Ezra with a brief sketch of his origin and a bare outline of his expedition to Jerusalem. { Ezra 7:7-9 } He then next transcribes a copy of the edict of Artaxerxes which authorised the expedition. { Ezra 7:11-26 } After this he inserts a detailed account of the expedition from the pen of Ezra himself, so that here the narrative proceeds in the first person-though, in the abrupt manner of the whole book, without a word of warning that this is to be the case. { Ezra 7:1-10 } In the opening verses of Ezra 7:1-28 . the chronicler gives an epitome of the genealogy of Ezra, passing over several generations, but leading up to Aaron. Ezra, then, could claim a high birth. He was a born priest of the select family of Zadok, but not of the later house of high-priests. Therefore the privileges which are assigned to that house in the Pentateuch cannot be accounted for by ascribing ignoble motives of nepotism to its publisher. Though Ezra is named "The Priest," he is more familiarly known to us as "The Scribe." The chronicler calls him "a ready scribe" (or, a scribe skilful) "in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given." Originally the title "Scribe" was used for town recorders and registrars of the census. Under the later kings of Judah, persons bearing this name were attached to the court as the writers and custodians of state documents. But these are all quite distinct from the scribes who appeared after the exile. The scribes of later days were guardians and interpreters of the written Torah, the sacred law. They appeared with the publication and adoption of the Pentateuch. They not only studied and taught this complete law; they interpreted and applied its precepts. In so doing they had to pronounce judgments of their own. Inasmuch as changing circumstances necessarily required modifications in rules of justice, while The Law could not be altered after Ezra’s day, great ingenuity was required to reconcile the old law with the new decisions. Thus arose sophistical casuistry. Then in "fencing" The Law the scribes added precepts of their own to prevent men from coming near the danger of transgression. Scribism was one of the most remarkable features of the later days of Israel. Its existence in so much prominence showed that religion had passed into a new phase, that it had assumed a literary aspect. The art of writing was known, indeed, in Egypt and Babylon before the exodus; it was even practised in Palestine among the Hittites as early as Abraham. But at first in their religious life the Jews did not give much heed to literary documents. Priestism was regulated by traditional usages rather than by written directions, and justice was administered under the kings according to custom, precedent, and equity. Quite apart from the discussion concerning the antiquity of the Pentateuch, it is certain that its precepts were neither used nor known in the time of Josiah, when the reading of the roll discovered in the temple was listened to with amazement. Still less did prophetism rely on literary resources. What need was there of a book when the Spirit of God was speaking through the audible voice of a living man? At first the prophets were men of action. In more cultivated times they became orators, and then their speeches were sometimes preserved-as the speeches of Demosthenes were preserved-for future reference, after their primary end had been served. Jeremiah found it necessary to have a scribe, Baruch, to write down his utterances. This was a further step in the direction of literature, and Ezekiel was almost entirely literary, for his prophecies were most of them written in the first instance. Still they were prophecies, i.e. , they were original utterances, drawn directly from the wells of inspiration. The function of the scribes was more humble-to collect the sayings and traditions of earlier ages; to arrange and edit the literary fragments of more original minds. Their own originality was almost confined to their explanations of difficult passages, or their adaptation of what they received to new needs and new circumstances. Thus we see theology passing into the reflective stage; it is becoming historical; it is being transformed into a branch of archaeology. Ezra the Scribe is nervously anxious to claim the authority of Moses for what he teaches. The robust spirit of Isaiah was troubled with no such scruple. Scribism rose when prophecy declined. It was a melancholy confession that the fountains of living water were drying up. It was like an aqueduct laboriously constructed in order to convey stored water to a thirsty people from distant reservoirs. The reservoirs may be full, the aqueduct may be sound, still who would not rather drink of the sparkling stream as it springs from the rock? Moreover scribism degenerated into rabbinism, the scholasticism of the Jews. We may see its counterpart in the Catholic scholasticism which drew supplies from patristic tradition, and again in Protestant scholasticism-which came nearer to the source of inspiration in the Bible, and yet which stiffened into a traditional interpretation of Scripture, confining its waters to iron pipes of orthodoxy. But some men refuse to be thus tied to antiquarianism. They dare to believe that the Spirit of God is still in the world, whispering in the fancy of little children, soothing weary souls, thundering in the conscience of stoners, enlightening honest inquirers, guiding perplexed men of faith. Nevertheless we are always in danger of one or other of the two extremes of formal scholasticism and indefinite mysticism. The good side of the scribes’ function is suggestive of much that is valuable. If God did indeed speak to men of old "by divers portions and in divers manners," { Hebrews 1:1 } what He said must be of the greatest value to us, for truth in its essence is eternal. We Christians have the solid foundation of a historical faith to build upon, and we cannot dispense with our gospel narratives and doctrinal epistles. What Christ was, what Christ did, and the meaning of all this, is of vital importance to us, but it is chiefly important because it enables us to see what He is today-a Priest ever living to make intercession for us, a Deliverer who is even now able to save unto the uttermost all who come unto God by Him, a present Lord who claims the active loyalty of every fresh generation of the men and women for whom He died in the far-off past. We have to combine the concrete historical religion with the inward, living, spiritual religion to reach a faith that shall be true both objectively and subjectively-true to the facts of the universe, and true to personal experience. Ezra accomplished his great work, to a large extent, because he ventured to be more than a scribe. Even when he was relying on the authority of antiquity, the inspiration which was in him saved him from a pedantic adherence to the letter of the Torah as he had received it. The modification of The Law when it was reissued by the great scribe, which is so perplexing to some modern readers, is a proof that the religion of Israel had not yet lost vitality and settled down into a fossil condition. It was living, therefore it was growing, and in growing it was casting its old shell and evolving a new vesture better adapted to its changed environment. Is not this just a signal proof that God had not deserted His people? Ezra is presented to us as a man of a deeply devout nature. He cultivated his own personal religion before he attempted to influence his compatriots. The chronicler tells us that he had prepared (directed) his heart, to seek the law of the Lord and to do it. With our haste to obtain "results" in Christian service, there is danger lest the need of personal preparation should be neglected. But work is feeble and fruitless if the worker is inefficient, and he must be quite as inefficient if he has not the necessary graces as if he had not the requisite gifts. Over and above the preparatory intellectual culture-never more needed than in our own day-there is the all-essential spiritual training. We cannot effectually win others to that truth which has no place in our own hearts. Enthusiasm is kindled by enthusiasm. The fire must be first burning within the preacher himself if he would light it in the breasts of other men. Here lies the secret of the tremendous influence Ezra exerted when he came to Jerusalem. He was an enthusiast for the law he so zealously advocated. Now enthusiasm is not the creation of a moment’s thought; it is the outgrowth of long meditation, inspired by deep, passionate love. It shows itself in the experience expressed by the Psalmist when he said, "While I mused the fire burned." { Psalm 39:3 } Ours is not an age of musing. But if we have no