Ezra’s Heart as Priest and Scribe

Ezra 7:1-10

    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, 2 the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, 3 the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, 4 the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, 5 the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest— 6 this Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given. The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him. 

    7 Some of the children of Israel, the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the Nethinim came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. 8 And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 9 On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. 10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.

After the Persian king Darius gave the legal approval to continue the restoration of the house of God in Jerusalem and completed under the oversight of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, Ezra was sent from Babylon to Jerusalem.  The new emperor of Persia, Artaxerxes, granted Ezra’s petition to go there because the hand of the LORD was on him - this was the grace of God on Ezra’s life.  This Ezra was a priest descended from the first high priest, Aaron, and was also well-versed in God’s word, the Law of Moses, as a scribe.  Twice this passage mentions God’s good hand on him, and goes further to give the reason; Ezra pointed the direction of his heart to know God’s word and to put it into practice, as well as to teach it to his fellow people of God to follow wholeheartedly.  This is a pattern for we who are in Christ also, to put Christ first in our lives, that is, to make Him the direction of all we do and desire above our own pursuits according to cultural expectations and personal pleasures (1 John 2:15-17).  Do we then seek to know all we can of the scriptures with a hunger for His word, and a resultant burning desire driving us to trust and obey willingly to put the commands and examples into daily living?  Do we run the race like Paul (1 Corinthians 9:24, Hebrews 12:1-2, Philippians 3:12-14) to the goal of conformity to Christ and His good pleasure?  May we learn this desire from Ezra and other good examples!