To Seek the Law of the Lord
In addition to Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, the third major figure in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah is Ezra himself, the scribe who wrote the book bearing his name and likely helped with the book of Nehemiah. A scripture help tells us this about Ezra: “About 80 years after the first group of exiles returned to Jerusalem, King Artaxerxes of Persia granted Ezra permission to lead another group of exiles back to the city. Ezra was both a scribe and a priest…. Ezra’s roles as scribe and priest, along with his commission from the Persian king, made him an influential leader in Jerusalem. Ezra’s reforms made a lasting impact on the people and contributed to the religious climate that existed during the life of Jesus Christ.” The chronology in our Bible suggests that Ezra received his commission from the king of Persia to go back to Jerusalem in 458 BC, about 14 years before Nehemiah became governor of Jerusalem. The first six chapters of the book of Ezra describes the first group that went bac...