“And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God. And those who do not know them, you shall teach.
We have here the commission which the Persian emperor granted to Ezra, giving him authority to act for the good of the Jews; and it is very ample and full, and beyond what could have been expected. The commission runs, we suppose, in the usual form: Artaxerxes, King of kings.
Commenting on Ezra 7:11-26
Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers,.... This is Ezra's thanksgiving to God for the above decree: which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart; which he rightly took to be of God, who wrought in him to will and to do: to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem; to provide for the ornamenting of it...
GRACIOUS COMMISSION OF ARTAXERXES. (Ezra 7:11-26) this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave--The measure which this document authorized, and the remarkable interest in the Jews displayed in it, were most probably owing to the influence of Esther, who is thought to have been raised to the high position of queen a few months previous to the departure of Ezra [HALES].
Commenting on Ezra 7:11-26