Session 21: Ezra’s Return

Ezra 7:1–28

I. Genealogy and identity of Ezra the priest (vv.7:1-7:6)

The events about to be described (vv. 7-10) are a third return to Jerusalem, and it takes place after the dedication of the Temple, during the reign of the current king, Artexerxes -a title (”the Great King”) and not a name. Here it is referring to Darius Hystaspis.
- First return: Nehemiah, under Cambyses.
- Second return: Zerubbabel, under Cyrus.
- Third return: Ezra, under Darius Hystaspes.
As the Son of Seraiah, Ezra is the uncle to Jeshua, the High Priest
- Jeshua is the son of Jozadak (Ezra 3:2).
- Jozadak is the son of Seraiah (1 Chron. 6:14–15).
  - Jozadak was part of the deporation to Babylon (1 Chron. 6:15)
- Ezra is also a son of Seraiah.
- Ezra is therefore:
  - Brother to Jozadak.
  - Uncle to Jeshua the high priest.
Ezra’s father Seraiah had been killed by Nebuchadnezzar - 2 Kings 25:18-21
- Note: Typical chronology rejects this premise and claims that this genealogy is telescoped to only include major names. The chronology we’ve been using doesn’t require that.
The link in the family tree in verses 1-5 link Ezra back to Aaron, brother of Moses, the High Priest.

Ezra, a “ready scribe” - one whose job was to accuratly and faithfully preserve the Word of God in print form.
The word scribe comes from סֹפֵר (sōp̄ēr), literally “one who counts.”
- The word was originally used of those who kept records in the King’s court.
- At the time of Ezra this begins to change, and the scribe becomes “Torah expert” or “lawyer” (expert in the Law).

The “children of Israel, and of the children of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, and the Nethinims” were involved in this return.
The “children of Israel” is yet another bit of evidence that there were not 10 “lost tribes.”
Some of "the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters” had gone up in previous returns also.
The “nethinims” have been mentioned previously (Ezra 2:70). Who are they?
- From the Hebrew nathan -a gift.
- Ezra 8:20 tells us they were “appointed for the service of the Levites” by David.
- Jewish tradition, with some merit, is that they were Gibeonites, based on Joshua 9:27.

The fifth month is now known as Ab or Av
It was the same month that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the Temple (2 Kings 5:8)
It became a month of mourning (Zechariah 7:3)

The journey from Babylon is 800-900 miles, and would take three-months minimum. This journey was almost exactly four months.
The “good hand of his God” was “upon him.” This is a theme in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Ezra’s desire was “to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it.”
- The Torah was “do-able” in spite of what many modern teachers claim.
- See “Living The Torah” series by Randy White

The scripture, in Aramaic, records the letter of permission from Artaxerxes to Ezra.
Ezra is recognized as a “scribe of the law of the God of heaven” (v. 12) by the “king of kings” (Darius). Darius, like other Persian kings, always showed reverence to the Jewish God.

Ezra and any “which are minded of their own freewill,” are granted permission to go to Jerusalem.
Darius believed that the children of Israel were compelled by “the law of thy God” to go to Jerusalem.

Carrying silver and gold offered by “the king and his counselors” as well as others who desired to give “to God of Israel” (vv.15-16)
Buying offerings to present on altar in Jerusalem (v.17)
- At least 11 times in Ezra we are told that the Temple is “in Jerusalem.”
- The king and the people of Persia were giving of their wealth for the sacrificial system of the Jews.
Permission to use the remaining silver and gold in accordance with the will of God (v.18)
Delivering any remaining vessels for service of God’s house (v.19)

The king was unbelievably generous with his favorable disposition to the Jews and the restoration of Jerusalem and Judah.
He had a fear of God: “for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?”

This is the first explicit civil declaration of a tax exemption for religious workers in the Bible.
Earlier, the priests of Egypt were exempt from participating in Joseph’s use of land for developing an emergency grain supply (Genesis 47:22), but the Ezra statement is more explicit.