Ezra 7:6

This Ezra went up from Babylon,.... A second time; for that he went up with Zerubbabel is clear from Ne 12:1, and is plainly intimated, Ezra 5:4, and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which

This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.

Ezra went up from Babylon, with the king’ s consent and commission. A ready scribe, i.e. a learned and expert doctor; for in that sense the word scribe is oft used, as 23:2,13 Mr 12:28, compared with ,36. According to the hand of the Lord his God upon him, i.e. by the grace and favour of God so disposing the heart of the king.

Ezra 7:6 This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he [was] a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.Ver. 6. This Ezra went up from Babylon] Together with many others, who were moved thereunto by his example and authority. He was (as one saith of Tiberius) imperio magnus, exemplo maior. Great men are looking glasses, according to which most men dress themselves; let them look to it, therefore, and shine as lamps. And he was a ready scribe] Or a nimble textman: his office was to write out copies of the law, and to interpret it. He wrote (say some) the Hebrew Bible out in Chaldee letters (the same that we now call Hebrew, the ancient Hebrew characters remained with the Samaritans) for the use of his countrymen returned out of Chaldea. He first ordained (say others) the vowels, accents, and Masoreth. A great scholar he was, and excellently well seen in the learning of Scripture: to which all other skill is but straminea candela, a rush candle, a small light, that serveth but to light men into utter darkness. Be wise be learned, saith the Psalmist; but in addition serve the Lord with fear, kiss the Son, &c., Psalms 2:12 otherwise ye may be as learned as Varro, that general scholar; as Albertus Magnus, quem nihil penitus fugit, omnia perfecte novit, who knew whatsoever was knowable, as one saith of him or as Tostatus (otherwise called Abulensis), qui omnium scientiarum doctrinarumque arca fuit et emporium, saith Bonosius, that writes his life who was a living library; and yet ye may perish everlastingly. The Jews called their learned men Scribes, as the Persians did theirs Magi the French, Druids; the Indians, Brahmans &c. But he that is not a scribe instructed, and instructing others, to the kingdom of heaven Matthew 13:52, shall hear, "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?" 1 Corinthians 1:20, Sapientes sapienter in infernum descendent The wise, wisely descend into hell. (Aug.). Which the Lord God of Israel had given] The moral law, with his own immediate mouth (so that he might say with Joseph, Genesis 45:12, "Behold, your eyes see, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you"), the other laws he ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator, i.e. of Moses, Galatians 3:19. Hence Josephus calleth the Jewish polity a theocracy; and Prosper thinketh that they were called Judaei, because they received ius Dei, the Law from God. But we can give a better derivation from the Hebrew, viz. Jews, i.e. confessors, such as were those above, Ezra 5:11. And the king granted him all his request] Giving him more and greater things than he dared desire.

(6) A ready scribe.—The “ready writer” of Psalms 45:1. Ezra was a priest, and this title is rightly placed before that of scribe in what follows; but here at the outset, when he first appears in history, the title is used which expressed his pre-eminent function, that of guarding and interpreting the law (Ezra 7:10). All his request.—This anticipates the letter of Ezr 7:11; a series of supplementary notes intervenes. According to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.—The full formula for that special providence over God’s servants which both Ezra and Nehemiah recognised.

Verse 6. A ready scribe] סופר מחיר sopher machir does not merely signify a speedy writer or an excellent penman, but one who was eminently skilful in expounding the law. In this sense the word γραμματευς, scribe, is repeatedly used in the New Testament, and we find that both in the Old and New Testament it had the same signification. The Syriac gives the sense of the word by translating [Persian] sophro chocimo, a wise scribe, or expounder.

6–10. Arrival at Jerusalem6. went up from Babylon] i.e. to Jerusalem, cf. Ezra 1:11, Ezra 2:1. It will be observed that this description of Ezra is given in the 3rd person. At Ezra 7:27 there is a change to the 1st person. and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses] Cf. Ezra 7:10; Ezra 7:12. ‘the scribe’ (Hebr. Sophêr) in the days of the Monarchy was the king’s State Secretary or Chancellor. Cf. Seraiah, the scribe (2 Samuel 8:17), Sheva, the scribe (2 Samuel 20:25) = Shavsha (1 Chronicles 18:16): Elihoreph and Ahijah, scribes (1 Kings 4:3): Shebna, the scribe (2 Kings 18:18, &c.): Shaphan, the scribe (2 Kings 22:3). Cf. Gemariah (Jeremiah 36:10), Elishama (Jeremiah 36:12), Jonathan (Jeremiah 37:15). During the latter days of the Monarchy, the name began to receive a special meaning as applied to those who were occupied in studying and copying the documents containing the sacred laws of the nation, e.g. Jeremiah 8:8 ‘How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? But, behold, the false pen of the scribes hath wrought falsely’. After the Captivity, the increased importance of the written law and the necessity of explaining its obligation upon the people brought ‘the scribes’ into great prominence. ‘The scribe’ took the place of the prophet and, in his influence upon his countrymen, eclipsed the priest. The name of Ezra is associated with the development of ‘the scribe’ and he is designated ‘the scribe’ as by an honourable title in Ezra 7:11, and Nehemiah 8:1. He was the typical representative and in a measure the founder of the later type of scribes. Devoted to the minute study of the written law, he sought to expound it to his people and to impress upon them the duty of its rigid observance. (See Introduction.) To the same class perhaps belonged ‘the teachers’ mentioned in Ezra 8:16, and ‘Zadok the scribe’ (Nehemiah 13:13). The word ‘ready’ is the same as appears elsewhere in the O.T. only in Psalms 45:1 ‘a ready writer’. Proverbs 22:29 ‘diligent in his business’. Isaiah 16:5 ‘swift to do righteousness’. A ‘ready scribe’ would be one prompt and skilful in interpreting the difficulties of the law. His quickness is the dexterity of his erudition, not of his pen. the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given] R.V. the Lord the God of Israel, cf. Ezra 1:3. ‘The law of Moses’, see Ezra 3:2, Ezra 6:18, and cf. 1 Kings 2:3, 2 Kings 14:6; 2 Kings 21:8. The Divine origin of the law is here asserted with reverent emphasis. The expression is well illustrated by Malachi 4:4 ‘the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and judgements’ and Nehemiah 8:14 ‘The law which the Lord had commanded by Moses’. all his request] What the request was, which Ezra preferred to Artaxerxes, we are not told, but are left to gather it from the letter of Artaxerxes (12–26).

A ready scribe - Or, “a ready writer” Psalms 45:1. The professional scribe was well known in Egypt from an early date (see Genesis 39:4 note); and under David and his successors “scribes” were

6. A ready scribe in the law of Moses — Not merely skilled as a copyist, the lowest function of a scribe, but a man thoroughly versed in the history and meaning of the law.