1Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, 2the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, 3the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, 4the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, 5the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest— 6this Ezra went up from Babylon. He was a skilled scribe in the law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given; and the king granted him all his request, according to Yahweh his God’s hand on him. 7Some of the children of Israel, including some of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. 8He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 9For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God on him. 10For Ezra had set his heart to seek Yahweh’s law, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.
As work on the temple continued the people began to ready themselves for its completion. Although they were rebuilding the place of worship, they needed to how to restore their hearts to worship. Despite their rebellion, God’s covenant still stood, he would be their God and they would be his people. The conditions of the covenant remained the same they were to love God and obey his commands. The trouble was they had been overwhelmed by other cultures and traditions and forgotten much of the law.
They needed a new kind of help, not in how to build a temple for God, but in how to build the people of God. it was at this time that God raised up Ezra, a man who had studied the law. The hand of God was upon him and he delighted in the word of God. Ezra wasn’t a mighty warrior, he wasn’t royalty, he wasn’t well known like Jeremiah or Nehemiah. He was a student of the word of God. However, he didn’t just know the word, he had determined to obey it too. Ezra was going to lead by example not only would he love the word of God he would live it out.
Studying God’s word is important, but all the information without any transformation is pointless. God is not just a figure head, he is our reason for living, worship is not just a song it is how we live in response to God, the church is not just a classroom, it readies us for daily living and the bible is not just a good book, it is the living word of God. Knowledge of God and his word is important, but it needs to be backed up with daily living, otherwise it is just knowledge for knowledge sake. As we read God’s word let’s pray for transformation as well as information.