Ezra Ezra was one of the greatest men in the bible. He lived during the reign of the Medes and Persians and was a servant to Artaxerxes. Ezra was a chief priest from the line of Eleazar. He was a highly skilled scribe of the word of God. He was also a great prophet. Some of the most profound prophesies in the scripture was revealed to Ezra. They include but are not limited to: The Prophesy of the Eagle, the man who comes from the sea, the Great war in the Middle East. In his work as a scribe he was sent by commission of King Artaxerxes to oversee the affairs of Judea and to establish and teach the law. We will be discussing this in greater detail. Ezra was a prolific writer, writing not only the book of Ezra and Esdras I and II in the Apocrypha, but in his concern for all of God's children even to the last days he requested of God the Father to allow him to write all of the books of the law that had been burned. II Esdras 14: 20-26; 37-47. Therefore we owe much gratitude to Ezra for the words that we read today; because he re-wrote the books of Moses, the books of the law, the history, the Psalms, what had been lost and buried. He rewrote them word by word. How was this possible? Through the spirit of God it was possible, because Ezra was a Priest and a scribe whose business was to know the Word of God. He had read it many times and studied it constantly. II Esdras 14:40 says "for my spirit strengthened my memory." He remembered word for word --a photographic memory of all that he had ever read in the word of God. He spake the words to five men who themselves were scribes and swift writers. II Esdras 14:24 reviews that they wrote everything he said. Ezra did not die. He lives today in Paradise. He is one of only 3 people recorded by name who we know did not taste death; they are--Elijah, Enoch, and Ezra. II Esdras 8:51-54, II Esdras 14: 8-9, 13-15. It is Ezra's work as a scribe that I will be primarily discussing. First of all, what is a scribe? The dictionary says that a scribe is an official secretary or clerk it also says it is a learned class in ancient Israel studying the scriptures and serving as (copyists) editors, teachers and justices. Certainly a scribe is a writer--look at the root word in scribble or enscribe or script or scripture. Another scribe in ancient Israel in the Old Testament is the prophet Baruch who helped Jeremiah deliver his prophesies. Jeremiah 36: 1-8. Baruch also wrote a small book in the Apocrypha that prophesied a hope of deliverance to God's people as they were being taken captured to Babylon. He sent them also a warning from the prophet Jeremiah not fear or be seduced to worship idols in Babylon. There were many scribes mentioned in the bible in the Old Testament who wrote letters and were sent to deliver messages. There were official scribes in very high positions in the government that sat by the king and were named by King David. A scribe was one of the high ranking offices, along with recorder, a counselor and the General of the Army. I Chronicles 27: 32-34. II Samuel 8: 15-18. I Chronicles 18: 14-17. There is nowhere that says a scribe had to be a priest, though certainly Ezra was. There were families of scribes found among the Kenites who were not even of the children of Israel. I Chronicles 2:55. In the New Testament the scribes were given a lot of honor. They were considered Masters and teachers of the law. They made a career of studying, compiling and adding on to the law. These
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