The Pulpit Commentary — Ezra — Section 103

and prayer for the reception of the gospel in all its entirety ; will exhibit the goRpel in his daily conduct ; will seek the hidden messages of the gospel ; and will strive to bring mankind to a. knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. }V, THAT HE 1B A MAN CAPABLE OF ATTACHING MEN TO HIMSELF_(ver 7; compare vm. 16, 18). Ezra went not alone to Jerusalem, but succeeded m getting many to accompany him. 1. He awa.kened sympathy in many of his comrades. 2. He awakened conscience in some of his comrades. 3. He employed appropriate agencies to induce others to join him in the journey (eh. viii. 18). The true minister will employ all rightful means to indace men to walk with him in the ways of a new life to heaven ; he will not isolate himself from men, but take them with him by the force of sympathy. V. TEAT EE IS A MAN WHO ENDEAVOURS RIGHTLY TO INFLUENCE THE CIVIL AUTHORI- TIES. Ezra was evidently on the most friendly terms with Artaxerxes ; magistrates and ministers should be in sympathy with each other. The sovereign and the scribe should be mutually helpful ; there should be no antagonism between the Church and the state. The true minister will cultivate a judicious co-operation with the " powers that be." Ezra taught the king, hence his knowledge of the God of Israel (ver. 15). It is the office of the minister to instruct men in lofty social station, when they have the opportunity, as well as to aid the poor Israelite. The Church is the best teacher of the state.-E. Vera. 9, 10.-Ezra and his mis&on. Two generations had elapsed between the close of Ezra vi. and the events with which the final chapters of the book are concerned. The prophetic voice was silent; Haggai and Zechariah had long since passed away. Zerubbabel, the last representative of the house of David, in whose person some had looked for a restoration of the Jewish kingdom, was dead. Tbe high priesthood, which had been filled by the saintly Jeshua, was occupied by Eliashib, who became connected by marriage with two conspicuous enemies of the faith of Israel. His grandson married a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite; be himself "was allied unto Tobiah," to whom he gave a residence "in the courts of the house of God" (Neh. xiii. 4-7, 28). Darius had been succeeded by Xerxes, the story of whose pride, lasciviousness, passion, and feebleness is one of the most ignoble of the records of classic history. He was the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther. We may judge from the book of Esther how unfavourable the times were for carrying on the national and spiritual restoration of Israel. The full extent of the debasement of the settlers in Palestine was not known in Babylon ; it broke on both Ezra and Nehemiah with pa.inful surprise (Ezra ix.; Neh. xiii.). But enough was known to awaken concern; he desired "to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." Filled with this pious desire, he obtained permission to go up to Jerusalem. I. THE CHARACTER OF EzRA. He was a priest, but he was still more a scribe ; tradition assigns to him a leading part in the formation of the canon of Jewish Scriptures. The beginning of the study of Hebrew literature belongs to this period; the dignity of the pursuit invested the name " scribe " with honour, changed tbe mere registrar of documents and chronicler of events into the scholar and teacher. The change of language consequent on the deportation of the Hebrews into Babylon rendered it necessary that some should draw the inspiring record of the past from the obscurity of a dead or dying language, and make the people acquainted with their Divine mission and the duties that mission imposed upon them. Above a.II, the law of the Lord was the object of Ezra's reverence; he was II a ready scribe in the la.w of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given ;" he II had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do and teach it." The character of Ezra was intimately associated with his vocation : his were the habits of the student; his virtues were not those of the statesman, the warrior, or the priest, but the virtues of the scholar ; it was his not to give, but to interpret, laws. 1. The profound piety of the man first strikes us. The precepts of the law were to him "the words of God;" behind the writings he saw the august personal authority of the ever-living Ruler of his people. He lived in awe of his will ; he had a deep conviction of t,he evil of sin against him, so deep that it impressed itself on others ; they who sympathised with his purpose were those who " trembled at the words of the God of Israel " (Ezra iL  108 THE BOOK OF EZRA. [oB. VII. 1-10,