Ezra 7:1-28

Almost Sixty Years After The Building Of The Temple Ezra, An Expert In The Law, Comes To Jerusalem Bringing With Him A Group Of Fellow-Jews And Much Treasure For The House Of God, Being Authorised By King Artaxerxes To Teach The Law Of God And Enforce It Among Those Who Had Come There Out Of The Captivity (Ezra 7:1).

In 458 BC Ezra, a Priest and Expert in The Law Of Moses, came to Jerusalem having been commissioned by King Artaxerxes to teach and enforce that Law among those who claimed to be loyal servants of YHWH, namely the previous returnees from Babylon and those who had united with them in the true worship of YHWH. We are not told what occasioned this commission but it is reasonable to assume that leading Jews among his officials (one of whom was Nehemiah) had drawn his attention to the state of affairs existing among those who had been commissioned by Cyrus to build a Temple in Jerusalem and offer prayers for the Kings of Persia. It was Persian policy to ensure that local religions prospered, and that prayers were offered to the gods of the nations on behalf of the kings of Persia. (Even the Assyrians had sent a priest to teach the ways of YHWH, ‘the God of the land', to those who had been settled in the country of Samaria - 2 Kings 17:27).