A scribe and priest who led the spiritual reformation of Israel after the Babylonian exile. Ezra was deeply devoted to studying, practicing, and teaching God’s law. He led a second wave of exiles from Babylon back to Jerusalem and was devastated to discover that the returned community had intermarried with surrounding peoples. His public prayer of confession, accompanied by weeping and prostration, moved the entire community to repentance and covenant renewal.
For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.Ezra 7:10 · Berean Standard Bible
Many years later, during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest— this Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the…
A priest and scribe with the law of God in his hand. The king gives him everything he asks for. Ezra credits one thing: the hand of God.
After these things had been accomplished, the leaders approached me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the surrounding peoples whose abominations are like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. Indeed, the Israelites have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has been…
Ezra learns the people have intermarried with pagan nations. He tears his clothes, pulls his hair, and falls before God in one of the most raw prayers in Scripture.
At that time all the people gathered together in the square before the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel. On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could listen and understand. So Ezra read it aloud from daybreak until noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate, in front of the men…
Ezra reads the Law to the assembled people. They weep when they hear it. Then Nehemiah tells them: the joy of the Lord is your strength.
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