"Thou art sent of the king and of his seven counsellors to hold an
inquiry concerning Judah and Jerusalem _according to the law of thy
God which is in thine hand_....And thou Ezra, according to _the
wisdom of thy God which is in thine hand_, set magistrates and
judges which may judge all the people that are beyond the river,
all such as acknowledge the laws of thy God, and teach ye them
that know them not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God
and the law of the king, let him be prosecuted."
So we read in the commission of the Persian king to Ezra, vii.
12-26; which, even should it be spurious, must yet reflect the
views of his contemporaries. The expression taken from Ezra's
own memoirs, vii. 27, leaves no doubt that he was assisted by
Artaxerxes in the objects he had in view. /1/
***************************************
1. With regard to his relation to the law, we have to consider the
following points: he was a scribe (SWPR = literatus), at home in
the Torah of Moses, vii. 6. He had directed his mind to study
the Torah of Jehovah, and to do and to teach in Israel judgment
and statute, vii.
Pages:
884
885
886
887
888
889
890
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908