It is a this point that we realize… Ezra wrote about the events in chapters 1-6 as a historian, not as an eye-witness.

The events of Ezra 1 happened about 78 years before Ezra actually arrived in Jerusalem himself. He wasn’t even born yet when Cyrus issued that decree and Zerubbabel and Friends started rebuilding the temple.

It’s very likely that the chronicle of the building of the 2nd temple wasn’t the only history Ezra wrote. He is probably the person who wrote the books of Kings and Chronicles based on ALL of the collected records of Israel.

First Kings make reference to “The Book of the History of the Kings of Israel” (1 Kgs 22:39), which tells us that the person who wrote it was referencing a known history book. It was written years after the events it records. First Chronicles 3:19-24 gives the names of the descendants of Zerubbabel. Several generations, in fact! That couldn’t have been written until after they were born. Second Chronicles ends with the proclamation of Cyrus to rebuild the temple. That couldn’t have been written until after it happened. Which means that everything between the beginning of 1st Chronicles and the end of 2n Chronicles was not written until long after the events they record.

I belabor this because of how normal it is for us to imagine (without realizing it’s inaccurate) that there was some guy following every king of Israel and Judah around with a notepad, writing everything down and that from the moment he wrote it down it was considered “the Bible.”That’s not how it worked.

The writings of the prophets were probably considered “holy scripture” from the moment they were written, but the historical books are a little different.

Someone, perhaps Ezra, perhaps another scribe, had to collect and edit all of the stacks of court records and genealogy lists, and histories into a readable text. And the Holy Spirit inspired that whole process. There may have been multiple “editorial hands” as the scholars call them. This is not a problem for the doctrine of Inspiration. If anything it’s further proof that a single Divine Mind and Hand was overseeing the formation of the scriptures. There is no way you take 40 (or more) writers spread across 1400 years on 3 continents and get a cohesive book unless Someone Eternal and Omniscient is involved.

Back to Ezra 7.

This chapter includes a copy of the letter from King Artaxerxes to Ezra and it reveals a LOT.

• Ezra was commissioned by the king to basically do an investigation of Jerusalem and see if things were actually being done according to God’s Law.
  • I’m guessing that this is because of Jerusalem’s previous reputation as a city that disobeyed God’s Law and brought about disaster as a consequence.
• Ezra had a copy of the Torah. It’s very likely he had copies of other inspired texts including the earlier prophets, psalms, and wisdom books.
• The Persian government (this is modern Iran) made a generous free-will offering to Yahweh. They acknowledged that Jerusalem was the home of the God of Heaven!
• Ezra was authorized to take up a collection from private citizens in the province of Babylon for the Temple of Yahweh. And people donated!
• The letter specifically mentions “vessels” or “cups” in verse 19. These are probably the very cups that Belshazzar and friends were drinking from when the handwriting on the wall appeared and Daniel interpreted it. They were taken from the temple by the Babylonians as plunder and sat in the royal treasury for about a century.
• Ezra was essentially given a “blank check” from the royal treasury to purchase anything they needed.
• Ezra the priest was recognized as the royally-appointed teacher of the Law of the God of Heaven, not just for the Jews, but the implication is for anyone in the empire that wanted to know about the God of Israel. Ezra is the official expert.
• Artexerxes was afraid to incur the wreath of Yahweh. His attitude was, “I don’t care how much it costs, give Him whatever He asks.” I’ll bet that Artaxerxes had read what happened to the kings of Babylon who had disregarded Yahweh. He was not going to make that mistake.
• The king granted everyone who worked in the Temple tax-exempt status. And they could buy anything in the kingdom duty-free and could travel on any road toll-free. Those are the kinds of perks only available to government officials. Persia was treating the Temple of Yahweh as something worthy of state protection and favor, likely because they believed it to be in their best interest.
• Ezra was given authority to set up an entire judicial system and appoint men to the needed positions as judges and magistrates. He was also commissioned to teach the Law of God to everyone – apparently Jew and Gentile alike.

Ezra’s commission hits some of the same notes as what Christians call “The Great Commission.”

“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We too are priests of the Lord. We too have a “letter” from our King that grants us authority in His name to teach all nations. And we also have been given a blank check from the treasury of Heaven to supply all that is needed to fulfill our commission. We have a copy of the Word of God in our hands. Let’s be faithful our calling, wherever the king sends us.