miah o.s Mnemon. Bara the son of Beraiah. accomplishment of it within a moderate space Probo.bly the great-gree.t-gre.ndson. In the of time (vers. 6, 9). langue.ge of the so.cred writers, every de- scende.nt is n "son," and every e.ncestor a Ver. 6.-Thia Ezra went up. See comment "fe.ther." Christ is "the son of Do.vid," ??' eh. ii.}, :where the same expression- e.nd De.vid "the son of Abre.ham" (Me.tt. i. . went up -IS used. He was a ready scribe 1). Jore.m "begat" Uzziah(ibid. 8), hisgreat- 1n. the law of Moses. On t~e. meaning of gl'eat-~ndson. J ochebed we.s'' the daughter" this phrase, and the new pos1t1on occupied of Levi (Exod. ii. 1). Ezraomlts the names of by "scribes" after the captivity, see 'Intro- hisfe.ther, grandfather, e.ndgreat-grandfather, duction to Ezra,' § 5. Which the Lord God who were undistinguished, and claims descent of Israel had given. It is characteristic of from Seraiah, the last high priest who he.d Ezra's piety never to forget that the law was ministered in Solomon's temple (2 Kings not a mere human code given by an earthly :xxv. 18). Azariah, the father of Sere.ie.h, lawgiver, not even a national treasure, the does not occlll' in either Kings or Chronicles ; accumulation of centuries, but a direct but Jlilkiah, Aze.riah's father, is no doubt the Divine gift---" the law of the Lord" (ver. high priest of Josiah's time (2 Kings xxii. 10), "the words of the commandments of 4-14; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14-22, &c.). the Lord, and of his statutes to Israel" Vera. 2-4. -This portion of the genealogy (ver. 11), "the law which the Lord had agrees exactly with that of J ehoze.dak in 1 commanded by Moses" (Neh. viii 14). Chron. vi 3-15, excepting in the omiBsion, According to the hand of the Lord his God which he.a been already noticed, of six names upon him. I. e. '' by reason of God's favour between Azariah and Meraioth. We me.y to him." God, by reason of his favour to Ezra gather from 1 Chron, ix. 11 the.t a Meraioth inclined the heart of Artaxerxes toward~ is also omitted between the Zadok and Ahitub him, so that he granted all his request. of ver. 2. The nature of the " request" is not directly stated, but may be gathered from the EzRA's JOURNEY FROM BAllYLON TO JERU- "letter of Artaxerxes," especially vers. 13, SALEM, WITH DATES (eh. vii. 6-10). In 14, 16. introducing himself, Ezra seems to regard it Ver. 7.-The same six classes are here mentioned as furnishing colonists under .., or primary importance to state two things Ezra which, according to the earlier narra- -(1) who he was, and (2) what place he he.din tive (eh. ii. 70), had accompanied Zerub- a history of which the me.in object is to give babel. The order in which the classes are e.n account of the return of Isre.el from cap- mentioned is nearly, but not quite, the tivity. In connection with the former point, same. In the seventh year of Arta.xerxes. This is the emphatic clause of the verse ; he gives, first of all, his genealogy ; and, Ezra's main object in the section being to secondly, the account of himself contained give the exact date of his journey. As in vers. 6 and 10. He describes himself as "a Artaxerxes began to reign in B.C. 464 (Clin- ready scribe "-one who '' had prepared his ton, F. H., vol. ii. p. 380, note b), his heart to seek the le.w of the Lord, and to do seventh year would be B.c. 458. Ver. 8.-And he came to Jerusalem in it," and also "to teach in Israel statutes and the :fifth month. From the ninth verse it judgments." In connection with the latter, appears that the first day of the first month he is careful to put before us e.t once the fact -the opening day of the year-was selected that he too, like Zerubbabel, "went up from for the commencement of the journey. This Babylon" to Jerusalem by the permission was no doubt viewed as an auspicious day for beginning an important undertaking. of the Persian king, and, like Zerubbabel, The time occupied on the way was exactly was accompanied by p1iests, Levites, both four months, which is longer than might singers and porters, N ethinim, and a number have been supposed to be necesse.ry. Hero- of the people (ver. 7). He adds e.n exact dotus reckoned it a three months journey statement as to the date of both his departure from Sardis to Susa (ver. 53), and the younger Cyrus conducted a.n army from and arrival, very natural in one who is his Ephesus to Cunaxa, near Babylon, in ninety- own biographer, and very interesting to the three marching days (Xen., 'Anab.,' ii. 1, § ti) genere.l historian. He also, without any -the distance in either case being consickr- parade of religious sentiment, acknowledges o.bly more than that from Bo.bylon to Jcrn- the hand of God as directing, helping, and salem, even supposing the route followed t,, ho.ve been by Balis and Aleppo. But ,1 eusta.ining him in all hie proceedings, ascrib- caravan, like an o.rmy, requires rests ; a.ml we ing to the Divine favolll', especially, Arta- hear of one such rest at Ahava (eh. viii. 15 ). xerxee allowo.nce of his journey, and his s11fe Cyrus gave his troops more days of rest tlmu 102 THE BOOK OF EZRA. [CR. VII. 1-10.
of movement, and took he.If the year to reach Ver. 10.-For Ezra had prepared hla Cunaxa from Ephesus. We need not be heart, &c. God's favour towards Ezra, a,nd surprised, therefore, that Ezra's journey the prosperous issue of his journey, were the occupied four months. Some delay must consequences of his ha,ving set his heart on a~ost certainly have been caused by the learning God's will, and doing it, and teach- perils of the route (see eh. viii. 31). ing it to others. To seek the law is to aim Ver. 9.-Aocording to the good hand of at obtaining a complete knowledge of it. his God. For the meaning of this phrase, To teach statutes and judgments is to see comment on ver. 6. The special favour inculcate both the ceremonial and the moral of God here intended would seem to be precepts. Ezra appears as a teacher of right- deliverance from certain enemies who de- eousness in eh. x. 10, 11, and again in Neh. signed to attack the caravan on the way viii. 2-18 (see the nei.."t chapter, vers. 21-23, 31).
HOMILETICS.