The Good Hand of God on a Prepared Man Text: Ezra 7:1-10
Introduction: Reformation is Not an Accident
We live in an age that loves spontaneity, but despises preparation. We want the fruit of revival without the labor of repentance. We want cultural transformation, but we treat the law of God as though it were an embarrassing relative we have to tolerate at family gatherings. We want the blessings of a Christian civilization, but we are unwilling to do the slow, hard, generational work of building one. Our moment is characterized by a great deal of enthusiasm and very little diligence.
Into this slapdash and haphazard evangelicalism, the book of Ezra arrives like a master carpenter with a plumb line. The first six chapters show us the initial return from exile and the rebuilding of the Temple under Zerubbabel and Joshua. It was a great work, but it was an incomplete work. The walls of the city were still in ruins, and more importantly, the people were largely ignorant of the law of God. A temple without the Word is just a pretty building, a hollow shell. God's house is to be a house of instruction, a place where His covenant is known, loved, and obeyed.
After a gap of nearly sixty years, God raises up another man to continue the work. This man is Ezra. And what we find in our text is not a story of a man who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. We see the meticulous providence of God preparing a man, and a man diligently preparing himself, for a great work of reformation. Reformation is never an accident. It is the result of God's sovereign hand resting upon men who have set their hearts on God's sovereign Word. The story of Ezra is the story of how God uses prepared men to rebuild a ruined culture, starting with the law of God. It is a story we desperately need to hear and heed today.
The Text
Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, there went up Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest. This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all he requested because the hand of Yahweh his God was upon him. And some of the sons of Israel and some of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For on the first of the first month he began to go up from Babylon; and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, because the good hand of his God was upon him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of Yahweh and to practice it, and to teach His statute and judgment in Israel.
(Ezra 7:1-10 LSB)
The Man and His Pedigree (vv. 1-5)
The first thing the text establishes is who Ezra is, and it does so by anchoring him in history.
"Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, there went up Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah... son of Aaron the chief priest." (Ezra 7:1-5)
Modern readers are tempted to skip genealogies. We see a list of names and our eyes glaze over. But this is a profound mistake. In the Bible, genealogies are theology. They are the skeletal structure of redemptive history. This long list of names does several crucial things. First, it establishes Ezra's legitimacy. He is not some self-appointed religious guru. He is a son of Aaron, a direct descendant of the first high priest. He has a lawful, covenantal claim to the work he is about to undertake. This is a polemic against all forms of Gnostic, free-floating spirituality. God's work in the world is historical, it is generational, it is rooted in His covenant promises to specific families.
Second, this genealogy is a declaration of God's faithfulness. Seraiah, Ezra's ancestor mentioned here, was the last high priest to serve in Solomon's temple before he was executed by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:18-21). For seventy years, the priesthood was in exile. The line was nearly extinguished. But God, in His faithfulness, preserved the line of Aaron through the darkest days of judgment. Ezra's very existence is a testimony that God does not forget His promises. The exile did not nullify the covenant. This is a profound comfort. No matter how dark the times, God is always preserving His remnant and preparing the next generation for the work of restoration.
The Scribe and His King (v. 6)
Verse 6 gives us Ezra's resume and the ultimate reason for his success.
"This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all he requested because the hand of Yahweh his God was upon him." (Ezra 7:6 LSB)
Ezra is a "scribe skilled in the law of Moses." A scribe was not a mere copyist. He was an expert, a scholar, a lawyer, a theologian of the Torah. He had dedicated his life to the study of God's Word. This was his singular expertise. Notice the text emphasizes that this law was given by Yahweh. This is not the tribal custom of the Jews; this is the revealed will of the Creator of heaven and earth. Ezra's authority comes from the authority of the text he has mastered.
But then we see a remarkable thing. Artaxerxes, a pagan emperor, the most powerful man in the world, grants Ezra everything he asks for. Why? Does Ezra have some great political leverage? Is he a master negotiator? The text gives us the ultimate, causal reason: "because the hand of Yahweh his God was upon him." This is the central theme of the book. The hand of God is the invisible hand that moves the visible hands of kings and emperors. God's sovereignty is not a polite theological doctrine; it is the engine of history. Proverbs 21:1 tells us that the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He will. God wanted to rebuild His people in Jerusalem, so He reached into the heart of a pagan king in Persia and turned it to His purposes. This should give us tremendous confidence. Our political situation is never ultimate. God can use a Cyrus, a Darius, or an Artaxerxes to accomplish His will just as easily as He can use a David.
The Journey and Its Company (vv. 7-9)
Ezra does not go alone. A new wave of exiles is stirred to return with him.
"And some of the sons of Israel and some of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants went up to Jerusalem... He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month... because the good hand of his God was upon him." (Ezra 7:7-9 LSB)
A reformation is not a one-man show. Ezra's mission is to restore the worship and the law, and so God provides him with the necessary personnel. Priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, they all go up. This is a picture of the church in miniature. God calls and equips all the various members needed for the body to function. The work of God requires not just scholars, but musicians, administrators, and servants.
The journey itself takes four months, a long and dangerous trek of about 900 miles. And again, the reason for his safe arrival is stated explicitly: "because the good hand of his God was upon him." This phrase, "the hand of God," appears six times in Ezra and Nehemiah. It is a constant refrain. It is the explanation for everything. Ezra's success, the king's favor, the people's willingness to go, the safe journey, it is all traced back to this one source. This is the essence of a Reformed worldview. We see secondary causes, human actions, and historical events, but we see through them to the primary cause, the sovereign, good hand of our God orchestrating all things for His glory and the good of His people.
The Heart of the Matter (v. 10)
Verse 10 is the linchpin of the entire passage. It is the spiritual biography of Ezra in a single sentence. It explains why the good hand of God was upon him.
"For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of Yahweh and to practice it, and to teach His statute and judgment in Israel." (Ezra 7:10 LSB)
This verse gives us a divine sequence, a three-fold pattern for any man who would be used by God. This is the Ezra pattern for reformation, and it must be our pattern as well. The word "for" at the beginning connects this verse directly to the previous one. Why was the hand of God upon him? Because Ezra had prepared his heart.
First, he set his heart to study. The Hebrew word for "set" means to prepare, to establish, to make firm. This was not a casual hobby for Ezra. This was the central, fixed purpose of his life. He was not studying to be clever, or to win arguments, or to get a doctorate. He was studying the law of Yahweh to know God and to understand His will. All true reformation begins here, with a deep, serious, and prayerful immersion in the Word of God.
Second, he set his heart to practice it. This is where so much modern scholarship falls down. It is possible to know the Bible inside and out and for it to have no effect on your life. The Pharisees were a testament to that. For Ezra, study and obedience were inextricably linked. He studied the Word not just to know it, but to do it. His life was to be a living demonstration of the law he taught. Before he could call the nation to repentance, he had to be a man of repentance. Before he could teach the law, he had to live under the law. A teacher's life is the primary exegesis of his doctrine. If your life contradicts your teaching, it is your life that people will believe.
Third, he set his heart to teach it. The goal of study and obedience is not private piety. The goal is public faithfulness. The light is not meant to be hidden under a bushel. Ezra's personal holiness was fuel for his public ministry. He wanted to see the statutes and judgments of God re-established in the life of the nation. This is the great commission. We learn, we live, and then we teach others to do the same. This is the pattern of discipleship. You cannot teach what you do not know, and you cannot authentically teach what you do not live.
Conclusion: The Ezra Pattern Today
The principle here is straightforward. God's favor rests on those who take His Word seriously. The good hand of God is upon the man who has set his heart to study, to do, and to teach the law of the Lord.
We look at the ruins of our own culture, the broken walls and the desecrated temple of our Western civilization, and we can be tempted to despair. What can we do? The answer is that we must become men and women like Ezra. We must reject the shallow, sentimental, and biblically illiterate Christianity of our age. We must set our hearts. We must resolve, with steely determination, to know the Word of God.
This means turning off the television and opening the Scriptures. It means dedicating ourselves to the systematic study of the whole counsel of God. Then, as we study, we must pray for the grace to obey. We must ask God to conform our lives, our families, our finances, and our habits to what His Word requires. We must strive to live it out, to practice what we preach to ourselves.
And as God works this in us, we must then teach. We teach our children, first and foremost. We teach in our churches. We teach our neighbors through our lives and with our words. We work to see the statutes and judgments of God re-established in our land. This is the slow, patient, multigenerational work of reformation. It is not glamorous. It does not offer quick results. But it is the work to which we are called. And as we give ourselves to it, we can have the same confidence that Ezra had. That as we go about our Father's business, the good hand of our God will be upon us.