We Meet Ezra


Ezra 7:1-10
1 Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, 2 son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, 3 son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, 4 son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, 5 son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest— 6 this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him. 7 And there went up also to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants. 8 And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 9 For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him. 10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

Fifty-seven years after Zerubbabel finishes completion of the restored Temple, God sends Ezra into Jerusalem. He is a priest and a scribe. As a priest, we find his lineage traced all the way back to the Aaron, the brother of Moses. As a scribe, he is considered a true expert in the Pentateuch – the first five books of the Old Testament. God is sending Israel a teacher.

While Ezra is indeed considered a priest due to ancestry, his role as scribe (teacher) is far more important. We don’t find him acting as priest on many occasions in the story but we do find him teaching the people from the Word and acting as prophet. The story indicates that the king grants Ezra’s request to go to Israel because “the hand of Yahweh his God was upon him”. This phrase is used eight time in Ezra and Nehemiah to describe God’s favor upon the people.

This favor of God was declared by Ezra to be on everyone who seeks God, and Ezra sought God in his holy Word. Just as God’s hand was upon Ezra, in Ezra’s hand was the Word of God.
Steinmann, A. E. (2010). Ezra and Nehemiah (p. 289). Saint Louis, MO: CPH.

Here we find an example of what it means to live your life based on what is found in God’s Word. Clearly Ezra loved to read and study the Word of God. And he himself credits his blessings from God with his commitment to live by God’s Word. Do not construe this as a way to manipulate God into blessing your life. That is not where these thoughts are headed. Instead we find in God’s Word direction and wisdom for this life and the next. When we learn of God and walk with Him, we are not promised an easy life. We are promised a life with God. Easy is not the goal; godly is the goal.

I used to say that I have lived a fairly easy life. I still believe that. I have two living parents (and I’m old!), two beautiful daughters who haven’t filled my life with grief. Gorgeous grandchildren who bring me joy and a husband who is gift from God. I have never known want or had to live without something I needed (or even just wanted!). It’s been an easy life. One of the greatest blessing of my life that was born during my childhood and nurtured by my parents, has been an enduring love for God and His Word. There has never been a time when I wasn’t captivated by what God tells us in His Word. Because of that love, the blessings mentioned before are colored by His Word and what He says about me and my life. Perhaps it is a simplistic way to view the world and my place in it. I’m okay with that. Perhaps tomorrow God will allow a tremendous struggle to assail me. I won’t like it but I’m okay with that too. His Word tells me of the Savior and I press into Him every day for every blessing and need. That, I believe, is what Ezra went to Jerusalem to share with God’s people and I envy him that mission.

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