Ezra 7

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Ezra 7 Commentary

by Brad Boyles

There is an old tradition that claims that Ezra had the law memorized and only needed to call upon his mind to write or interpret it. The law was important for these people because there had now been about 1,000 years since they were first given the law from God. A lot had changed from then until now, but the law remained a priority for the people. Just think of how much our culture has changed from 1020 until 2020.

Although we can look at the favor that was granted to Ezra, and place a high value on the cooperation of Artaxerxes, the real leader here was God. We are reminded in this chapter that the hand of the Lord God was upon Ezra. We must be careful when interpreting the text and evaluating our own lives that we don’t place emphasis and credit on man. God granted Ezra favor in the sight of Artaxerxes and Ezra thanked him enthusiastically for that special blessing.

My favorite passage in this chapter is verse 10.

For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Ezra 7:10 NASB 

Ezra was a wise man. He had a heart and desire to study the Word of God. In fact, as I wrote earlier, he memorized it. You could say he meditated on it. From there, what does the text communicate about his process? He practiced it. He didn’t regurgitate it to others. He didn’t use it for power. He didn’t hold meetings and conference just to talk about it. He didn’t hypothesize what it would be like if we applied it.

He actually went out and DID it!

We have all heard the saying, “Do as I say, not as I do.” This was certainly not the case for Ezra. His heart posture was to know the Word and then practice the Word. Only after he had practiced it did he then teach it to the people of Israel. I really believe the ordering of the text is not a coincidence.

How many leaders today are desiring and living the Word before they are going out and teaching it to others? I’m not saying you must “master” the Word before you can teach it, because we all know that no one is perfect. But there is a lot of truth in seeking, doing, and then teaching. I think the most powerful truth is that the hand of the Lord was upon Ezra, and he glorified and sought after God with that favor.