Ezra 7:21
I, King Artaxerxes, decree to all the treasurers west of the Euphrates: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, may require of you, it must be provided promptly,
Sermons
Ezra's Commission from ArtaxerxesJ.A. Macdonald Ezra 7:11-26
Pagan PietyW. Clarkson Ezra 7:11-26
The Commission of ArtaxerxesWilliam Jones.Ezra 7:11-27
The Office and Duty of the Civil MagistratePhiloclesius.Ezra 7:11-27
The Decree of Artaxerxes to the TreasurersJ.A. Macdonald Ezra 7:21-24














Embodied in the letter of the Persian king to Ezra we have certain directions addressed through him to the treasurers beyond the river. These directions, though emanating from a heathen source, suggest the principles which should guide liberality in the cause of God, as to its measure, its spirit, and its reasons.

I. THE MEASURE.

1. This should be generous. "Whatsoever Ezra the priest," etc.

(1) Provision for the immediate wants of the temple had already been made in the free gifts - viz., from the king, from his counsellors, from his people in the province of Babylon, from the Jews abiding there (see vers. 15-20).

(2) This direction was intended to sustain the service in perpetuity. Fitful generosity is better than none; but principle, rather than emotion or passion, should guide. The cause of God should not languish for support until men make their wills and die.

(3) The ministers of the sanctuary were to be exempted from taxation (ver. 24). The reason is that they were dependent for support upon the gifts of the people; and it is respectful to their sacred office that they should be generously treated.

2. It should not be reckless.

(1) Here is a prescribed limit. "Unto," etc. (ver. 22). A talent of silver is estimated as equivalent to £400, so here the limit is f 40,000. The measure (cor) is estimated at 86 gallons, so here the limit is 8600 gallons of wheat. The bath is seven gallons and five pints, so the limit of wine is 760 gallons.

(2) Two things should limit our liberality - viz.,

(a) The necessity of the case.

(b) Our ability. If we give what is not ours we act fraudulently.

3. It should be religious. "Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven," etc. (ver. 23).

(1) The laws of God are reasonable, merciful, just.

(2) Therefore if "the scribe of the God of heaven," an inspired man, be he Ezra, Moses, or Paul, in the sacred writings, make demands, these should be respected.

(3) But this does not say that uninspired men, because in clerical orders, have any right dogmatically to prescribe to the laity. If there be no sphere for the right of private judgment, there is an end to individual responsibility.

II. THE SPIRIT.

1. It should be diligent. "Let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven" (ver. 23).

(1) Sacred objects are fittingly called "charities," or objects of love. The cause of God in all its departments should be dear to us, and the claims of these will be diligently studied as a labour of love.

(2) Pains should be taken so to minister liberality that the maximum of good may be attained. Causes should be "sought out" (Job 29:16). Promiscuous relief may encourage deception, and what is given to the worthless is diverted from the worthy.

(3) Careless donors are responsible to God for the misery they might have alleviated by the use of diligence.

2. It should be prompt. "Let it be done speedily" (ver. 21).

(1) This note was rendered necessary by the tardy manner in which things are commonly done in the East. Through this slowness incalculable misery is endured. But "the king's business requires haste."

(2) Much more the work of God. This is of the utmost importance. Eternal issues depend upon it. Time is running. Souls are perishing.

III. THE REASONS.

1. It should be done unto God.

(1) Ezra was to receive from the treasurers what he needed - viz., in his capacity as "the priest" and the "scribe of the law of the God of heaven." What he should need for the temple and the altar. What his learning in the law of God should instruct him was needful to the service of the God of heaven (ver. 23).

(2) No higher reason than this can be conceived.

2. The prosperity of the realm required it. "For why should wrath be against the realm?" The history of nations shows that as they became haughty against God they suffered adversity. Egypt. Old Canaan. Nineveh. Babylon.

(2) Why should not a blessing be upon the realm? Was not the hand of God conspicuous in the prosperity of Persia (see Ezra 1:2)? At this very time Longimanus began to be successful against a formidable rebellion in Egypt.

3. The happiness of the royal family is concerned.

(1) "Why should wrath be against the king?" The reverses of a nation are reverses to the king. But the king, like his subjects, has his individual responsibilities to God. His elevation no more exempts him than their obscurity conceals them from his claims upon the personal homage of intellect and heart.

(2) Why should wrath be against the king's "sons"? God has set mankind in families, so "the seed of the righteous is blessed." History also shows how families are ruined by irreligion. The antediluvians. The posterity of Nebuchadnezzar (see Daniel 5:5). Money is a prodigious power for evil or for good. Those who have it should never cease to pray for grace to use it wisely. - J.A.M.

The Lord God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem.
I. THIS HOLY ALLIANCE: "The God of Israel." We have here —

1. A description of God and His Church. The "God of Israel" includes both. Israel His Church; and the God that claims it; a living God amidst a living people.

2. Infinitude associated with a royal seed. Israel signifies a prevailing prince before God.

3. A veritable portion on both sides. "The Lord's portion is His people'; "The Lord is my portion, saith my soul.

4. The living connection between God and His people constitutes the stronghold of faith.

II. HIS HABITATION. He dwells —

1. In "the Jerusalem which is above."

2. In the living Church of God which was typified by Jerusalem.

3. In the Jerusalem of every regenerated soul.

(J. Irons.)

People
Aaron, Abishua, Ahitub, Amariah, Artaxerxes, Azariah, Bukki, Eleazar, Ezra, Hilkiah, Israelites, Levites, Meraioth, Phinehas, Seraiah, Shallum, Uzzi, Zadok, Zerahiah
Places
Babylonia, Beyond the River, Jerusalem, Persia
Topics
Across, Artaxerxes, Ar-ta-xerx'es, Beyond, Care, Decree, Diligence, Diligently, Euphrates, Ezra, Heaven, Heavens, Issue, Keepers, King's, Law, Money, Order, Orders, Priest, Provide, Province, Provinces, Require, Requires, River, Scribe, Speedily, Teacher, Trans, Treasurers, Whatever, Whatsoever
Outline
1. Ezra goes up to Jerusalem
11. The gracious commission of Artaxerxes to Ezra
27. Ezra blesses God for this favor

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Ezra 7:1-21

     7464   teachers of the law

Ezra 7:21-22

     4363   silver
     5617   measures, liquid

Ezra 7:21-23

     4357   salt
     4492   olive
     4542   wheat

Library
Appendix. The Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament.
1. The Greek word Apocrypha, hidden, that is, hidden or secret books, was early applied by the fathers of the Christian church to anonymous or spurious books that falsely laid claim to be a part of the inspired word. By some, as Jerome, the term was extended to all the books incorporated by the Alexandrine Jews, in their Greek version, into the proper canon of the Old Testament, a few of which books, though not inspired, are undoubtedly genuine. Another designation of the books in question
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Reading the Law with Tears and Joy
'And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. 2. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. 3. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate, from the morning until midday, before
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Rome and Ephesus
Corinth as portrayed in the Epistles of Paul gives us our simplest and least contaminated picture of the Hellenic Christianity which regarded itself as the cult of the Lord Jesus, who offered salvation--immortality--to those initiated in his mysteries. It had obvious weaknesses in the eyes of Jewish Christians, even when they were as Hellenised as Paul, since it offered little reason for a higher standard of conduct than heathenism, and its personal eschatology left no real place for the resurrection
Kirsopp Lake—Landmarks in the History of Early Christianity

Authorship of the Pentateuch.
The term Pentateuch is composed of the two Greek words, pente, five, and teuchos, which in later Alexandrine usage signified book. It denotes, therefore, the collection of five books; or, the five books of the law considered as a whole. 1. In our inquiries respecting the authorship of the Pentateuch, we begin with the undisputed fact that it existed in its present form in the days of Christ and his apostles, and had so existed from the time of Ezra. When the translators of the Greek version,
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Of Antichrist, and his Ruin: and of the Slaying the Witnesses.
BY JOHN BUNYAN PREFATORY REMARKS BY THE EDITOR This important treatise was prepared for the press, and left by the author, at his decease, to the care of his surviving friend for publication. It first appeared in a collection of his works in folio, 1692; and although a subject of universal interest; most admirably elucidated; no edition has been published in a separate form. Antichrist has agitated the Christian world from the earliest ages; and his craft has been to mislead the thoughtless, by
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Brave Encouragements
'In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, 2. Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, 3. Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? 4. Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

General Account of Jesus' Teaching.
^A Matt. IV. 17; ^B Mark I. 14, 15; ^C Luke IV. 14, 15. ^a 17 From that time Jesus began to preach [The time here indicated is that of John the Baptist's imprisonment and Jesus' return to Galilee. This time marked a new period in the public ministry of Jesus. Hitherto he had taught, but he now began to preach. When the voice of his messenger, John, was silenced, the King became his own herald. Paul quoted the Greeks as saying that preaching was "foolishness," but following the example here set by
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Section Chap. I. -iii.
The question which here above all engages our attention, and requires to be answered, is this: Whether that which is reported in these chapters did, or did not, actually and outwardly take place. The history of the inquiries connected with this question is found most fully in Marckius's "Diatribe de uxore fornicationum," Leyden, 1696, reprinted in the Commentary on the Minor Prophets by the same author. The various views may be divided into three classes. 1. It is maintained by very many interpreters,
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Formation and History of the Hebrew Canon.
1. The Greek word canon (originally a straight rod or pole, measuring-rod, then rule) denotes that collection of books which the churches receive as given by inspiration of God, and therefore as constituting for them a divine rule of faith and practice. To the books included in it the term canonical is applied. The Canon of the Old Testament, considered in reference to its constituent parts, was formed gradually; formed under divine superintendence by a process of growth extending through
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Appendix v. Rabbinic Theology and Literature
1. The Traditional Law. - The brief account given in vol. i. p. 100, of the character and authority claimed for the traditional law may here be supplemented by a chronological arrangement of the Halakhoth in the order of their supposed introduction or promulgation. In the first class, or Halakhoth of Moses from Sinai,' tradition enumerates fifty-five, [6370] which may be thus designated: religio-agrarian, four; [6371] ritual, including questions about clean and unclean,' twenty-three; [6372] concerning
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Historical Books.
1. In the Pentateuch we have the establishment of the Theocracy, with the preparatory and accompanying history pertaining to it. The province of the historical books is to unfold its practiced working, and to show how, under the divine superintendence and guidance, it accomplished the end for which it was given. They contain, therefore, primarily, a history of God's dealings with the covenant people under the economy which he had imposed upon them. They look at the course of human events on the
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Influences that Gave Rise to the Priestly Laws and Histories
[Sidenote: Influences in the exile that produced written ceremonial laws] The Babylonian exile gave a great opportunity and incentive to the further development of written law. While the temple stood, the ceremonial rites and customs received constant illustration, and were transmitted directly from father to son in the priestly families. Hence, there was little need of writing them down. But when most of the priests were carried captive to Babylonia, as in 597 B.C., and ten years later the temple
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Ezra-Nehemiah
Some of the most complicated problems in Hebrew history as well as in the literary criticism of the Old Testament gather about the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Apart from these books, all that we know of the origin and early history of Judaism is inferential. They are our only historical sources for that period; and if in them we have, as we seem to have, authentic memoirs, fragmentary though they be, written by the two men who, more than any other, gave permanent shape and direction to Judaism, then
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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