Reading for April 15th

EZRA'S INQUIRY

Chs.7-10: With little in the way of transition, a first-person narrative recounts the conditions under which Ezra was authorized to undertake a trip to Jerusalem, and his initial concerns once there. The use of a first-person narrative maybe the result of the author's use of an authentic source (an "Ezra memoir") or may be a literary device intended to give immediacy and emotional power to the narrative. 

 Read Ezra 7.1-10. In 7.1-10: Introduction to the mission of Ezra. The purpose of this third person narration is to give the reader a sense of who Ezra was and what was significant about his role in relation to the community. In verse 5: Son of Eleazar, son of the chief priest Aaron: Ezra is given a distinguished lineage, concluding with the most important aspect of his family line, that he was a descendant of the primary line of priests in ancient Israel. In verse 6: A scribe skilled in the law: The ability to read and write led people to expect that scribes could also explain legal issues. Law of Moses: apparently the Pentateuch in some form. The king granted him all that he asked for the hand of the Lord his God was upon him. There is no explanation of how a person who was a specialist in a religious tradition whose followers were a small minority with in the empire could get repeated to the king. Hand of the Lord ...  was upon him: A common expression of the presence of God in some sense guiding the person's career. In verse 7: Some people of israel: presumably only a small portion of the Jewish community in Babylon chose to return Jerusalem. Life in exile was more that likely not too difficult, and the prospect of returning to a land deastated by warfare and economic ruin not very attractive. The seventh year of King Artaxerxes would be 458 BCE if this was Artaxerxes I of Persia, Since Ezra's opposition to inter marriage receives no mention in the account o Nehemiah, and Nehemiah addresses the same issues as if they had never been raised before, some have argued Ezra really came under Artaxerxes II (the seventh year being 398 BCE). The confusion over Ezra's chronological relation to Nehemiah comes about from trying to read Ezra-Nehemiah as straight history rather than as an apologetic. The author intents the reader to believe that Ezra came first. In verse 10: Ezra set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it: Not only was Ezra a student of the law, but he sought to observe its requirements in his everyday life. Out of his study and experience, Ezra would teach the people. Comments or Questions..