Ezra 7:1-10: a reflection

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 the LORD, the God of Israel, had given; and the king granted him all his request, according to the LORD 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 the LORD’s law, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.

Ezra comes up from Babylon to Jerusalem, and the account keeps saying the good hand of his God was on him. But the reason for that favor is spelled out in one verse worth memorizing: Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach its statutes in Israel. Study, do, teach, in that exact order.

Notice the order, because it matters. Ezra set his heart first to study God's word, then to do it, and only then to teach it. He did not rush to instruct others in what he had not first learned and lived himself. The doing sits in the middle, between the studying and the teaching, so that what he taught, he had already put into practice. His life backed his words.

That order is a safeguard for anyone who handles Scripture, and in some way that is all of us. It is possible to study God's word and skip straight to telling others, or to study and never do. Ezra's pattern holds the three together and keeps them in sequence: learn it, live it, then pass it on. And it began with a set heart, a deliberate resolve, not a drifting interest. Set your heart, as Ezra did, to study God's word, to obey it, and then to share it, and in that order.

Lord, like Ezra let me set my heart to study your word, to do it, and then to teach it, in that order. Keep me from teaching what I have not first lived, and let my life back my words. Put your good hand on a heart set to seek you.