Ezra 7:6 NIV

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ezra 7:6

A ready scribe - Or, “a ready writer” Psalms 45:1. The professional scribe was well known in Egypt from an early date (see Genesis 39:4 note); and under David and his successors “scribes” were attached to the court as the king’s secretaries (2 Samuel 8:17; 2 Samuel 20:25; 2 Kings 12:10, etc.). It was scarcely, however, until the time of the captivity that the class to which Ezra belonged arose. The “scribes” of this time, and of later Jewish history, were students, interpreters, and copiers of... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Ezra 7:6

Ezra 7:6. This Ezra went up from Babylon With the king’s consent and commission. And he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses He is called a scribe, as Buxtorf observes in his Tiberias, not from writing and describing, but from declaring and explicating those things that are contained in the Scripture. For, as ספר , sepher, signifies a book, so סופר , sopher, signifies one skilful and learned in that book, an interpreter and teacher out of it. And, there being no book comparable to... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Ezra 7:1-28

7:1-8:36 RETURN UNDER EZRAThe temple was completed in 516 BC. Ezra’s return was in 458 BC, the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes I (see 7:1,7). There is therefore a gap of about sixty years between Chapters 6 and 7. By the time of Ezra, former leaders such as Zerubbabel, Joshua, Haggai and Zechariah had died. Without their leadership, Israel’s religious life became weak and its community life disordered. The only detailed information that the Bible gives of events during these years is... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Ezra 7:6

ready = skilful. the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4 . God. Hebrew. Elohim. App-4 . read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ezra 7:6

Ver. 6. A ready scribe— The LXX, the Vulgate, and our translation, render the original words a ready scribe; as if to have a quick hand at writing out the law were any great perfection, or that an aged man, as Ezra was, should be renowned for it. It was not for writing, then, but for explaining the things of Scripture, that Ezra was so famous; for סופר soper denotes one skilled and learned, from ספר seper, a book; and, as no book was comparable to the book of the law, סופר soper became a name... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Ezra 7:6

6. This Ezra . . . was a ready scribe in the law of Moses—The term "scribe" does not mean merely a penman, nor even an attorney well versed in forms of law and skilled in the method of preparing public or private deeds. He was a rabbi, or doctor, learned in the Mosaic law, and in all that related to the civil and ecclesiastical polity and customs of the Hebrew people. Scribes of this description possessed great authority and influence (compare Matthew 23:25; Mark 12:28). the king granted him... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Ezra 7:1-10

Ezra’s background 7:1-10"These things" (Ezra 7:1) refers to the events of the first return that the writer described in chapters 1-6.Ezra’s genealogy (Ezra 7:1-5) shows that he was a man of importance whom his fellow Jews would have respected. His name is a shortened form of "Azariah," meaning "Yahweh helps." He was a descendant of Aaron, the first high priest of Israel (Ezra 7:5). There are gaps in this genealogy (cf. 1 Chronicles 6:3-15). "Son of" occasionally means "descendant of," as... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Ezra 7:1-28

The Journey of Ezra to Jerusalem1. Now after.. Artaxerxes] The interval of time here implied amounted to more than fifty years, from the sixth year of Darius (516 b.c.) to the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus (458 b.c.). Between the reign of Darius and Artaxerxes there intervened the reign of Xerxes (485-464 b.c.), to which belong the incidents related in the book of Esther. In the early years of his successor Artaxerxes an effort was made to surround Jerusalem, with a wall (see Ezra... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ezra 7:6

(6) A ready scribe.—The “ready writer” of Psalms 45:1. Ezra was a priest, and this title is rightly placed before that of scribe in what follows; but here at the outset, when he first appears in history, the title is used which expressed his pre-eminent function, that of guarding and interpreting the law (Ezra 7:10).All his request.—This anticipates the letter of Ezra 7:11; a series of supplementary notes intervenes.According to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.—The full formula for that... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Ezra 7:1-8

EZRA’S EXPEDITIONEzra 7:1-8LIKE the earlier pilgrimage of Zerubbabel and his companions, Ezra’s great expedition was carried out under a commission from the Persian monarch of his day. The chronicler simply calls this king "Artaxerxes" (Artahshashta), a name borne by three kings of Persia, but there can be no reasonable doubt that his reference is to the son and successor of Xerxes - known by the Greeks as "Macrocheir," and by the Romans as "Longimanus"-Artaxerxes "of the long hand." for this... read more