Bible Commentaries

PART II (Ezra 7-10). The Work of Ezra.

Ezra 7:1-10. Ezra's Genealogy; his Return to Palestine.

Ezra 7:1. Now after these things: i.e. those recorded as having taken place in the sixth year of Darius (Ezra 6:15).—in the reign of Artaxerxes: 465-425 B.C. What is now recorded took place in the seventh year (see Ezra 7:7) of Artaxerxes, i.e. in 458, so that a period of nearly sixty years is passed over in silence. For the genealogy of Ezra cf. 1 Chronicles 6:4-14. It is not complete; in addition to 1 Chronicles 6:4-14 see also 1 Chronicles 9:10 f., Nehemiah 11:11, Greek Ezra 8:1 f., 2 Esdras 1:1-3.

Ezra 7:6. a ready scribe in the law of Moses: for the rise of the scribes and their activity, see the present writer's The Books of the Apocrypha, Prolegomena, ch. 4.—all his request: i.e. as contained in the letter in Ezra 7:12-26.

Ezra 7:7. Cf. Ezra 8:15 ff.; that in addition to the lay element there should have seen not only priests and Levites, but also singers, doorkeepers, and Nethinim in Babylon or its neighbourhood (see Ezra 8:17-20) witnesses to a considerable communal organisation among the Jews during the captivity.

Ezra 7:8. the fifth month: Ab = August approximately.

Ezra 7:9. on the first day of the first month: in Ezra 8:32 it is the twelfth day of the first month, i.e. of Nisan (= March approximately); they arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month, so that the journey from Babylon took about three months and a half.—began he to go up: read "he decided to go up," i.e. the matter was settled on this day; the actual start, owing to the delay mentioned in Ezra 8:15 ff., was not until the twelfth day of the same month.

Ezra 7:10. For Ezra had set his heart . . .: He only continued to do more fully what he had been doing among his people in Babylon.

Ezra 7:11-26. Decree of Artaxerxes.—This decree granted a further return of exiles for the purpose of reorganising the Temple worship. With the exception of the introductory words of Ezra 7:11, this section is in Aramaic. There is no reason for doubting the substantial genuineness of this document, though in the form here given the Chronicler, with his love for all that has to do with the Temple ritual, has introduced some of his own ideas.

Ezra 7:27 f. Ezra's Thanksgiving.—This purports to be in the very words of Ezra. The narrative is here continued in Hebrew again.