The Scepter and the Scroll
Introduction: The King Who Knew His Place
We live in an age that is pathologically terrified of acknowledging God in the public square. The modern political project is built on a foundational lie, the lie of neutrality. The idea is that the civil magistrate can and must govern from a position of religious and moral impartiality. But this is a sham. There is no such thing as a naked public square. The public square is always clothed in some religion, and if it is not the worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it will be the worship of the god of self, the god of the state, or the god of Mammon. The question is never whether the state will have a god, but rather which god it will be.
Into this modern confusion, the book of Ezra drops a bomb. And the fuse on that bomb is a letter from a pagan king. Artaxerxes, the absolute monarch of the Persian empire, the most powerful man on the planet, writes a decree concerning the Jews. And in this decree, he does something that would make the modern secularist's head explode. He not only tolerates the worship of Yahweh, he funds it. He not only allows God's people to live by God's law, he commands them to set up a civil judiciary based on that law and to enforce it with the full power of the state, up to and including the death penalty.
This is not a story about the separation of church and state. This is a story about the submission of the state to the reality of God. Artaxerxes is no convert. He is not a member of the covenant people. But he is a man with a functioning brain, and he understands something that our own rulers have forgotten. He understands that the God of heaven is real, that He has a law, and that it is wise for earthly kings to get on the right side of that law, lest His wrath come upon their kingdom. This passage is a stunning rebuke to the pietistic retreat of the modern church and the arrogant autonomy of the modern state. It shows us what happens when the scepter bows to the scroll.
The Text
Now this is the copy of the letter which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, learned in the words of the commandments of Yahweh and His statutes to Israel: "Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace. And now, I have issued a decree that any of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my kingdom who freely offer to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. Forasmuch as you are sent from before the king and his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God which is in your hand, and to bring the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, and all the silver and gold which you find in the whole province of Babylon, along with the freewill offering of the people and of the priests, who offered willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem; with this money, therefore, you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and bring them near to the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. And whatever seems good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do according to the will of your God. Also the utensils which are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver in full before the God of Jerusalem. The rest of the needs for the house of your God, which may fall upon you to provide, provide for it from the royal treasury. So I, even I, King Artaxerxes, issue a decree to all the treasurers who are in the provinces beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, may ask of you, it shall be done with all diligence, even up to 100 talents of silver, 100 kors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt without written order. Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, so that there will not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons. We also make known to you that it is not allowed to impose tribute, custom, or toll on any of the priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God. And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God which is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges that they may judge all the people who are in the province beyond the River, even all those who know the laws of your God; and to anyone who does not know the laws, you shall make them known. Whoever will not do the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be done to him with all diligence, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of goods or for imprisonment."
(Ezra 7:11-26 LSB)
The Royal Blank Check (v. 11-20)
The letter begins by establishing Ezra's credentials and the king's authority. Artaxerxes calls himself "king of kings," a standard title, but one that is ironically true only of the God he is about to serve. He recognizes Ezra as a "scribe of the law of the God of heaven." The pagan king knows who Ezra is and what his expertise is. His expertise is the law of God.
"I have issued a decree... to bring the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel... provide for it from the royal treasury." (Ezra 7:13, 15, 20)
The first part of the decree is an act of astonishing generosity. The king not only permits any Jew who wishes to return to do so, but he also bankrolls the entire operation. He and his seven top advisors make a personal donation. He authorizes Ezra to collect offerings from the entire province of Babylon. And then, the kicker: he gives Ezra what amounts to a blank check on the Persian treasury for any future needs of the Temple. This is God's fulfillment of His promise to His people. He plunders the Egyptians on their way out of Egypt, and here He plunders the Persians on their way back to the land. God's work, done in God's way, will never lack God's resources. And God is not shy about using pagan treasuries to build His house. This is a foretaste of the eschatological reality where the kings of the earth bring their glory into the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:24).
Notice the purpose of the money. It is for the meticulous worship of God. "You shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings." This is not a generic fund for "doing good." It is tied directly to the sacrificial system, to the cultic worship at the altar. The king understands that the heart of this project is the restoration of true worship. And he even gives them discretion with the leftovers: "do according to the will of your God." He trusts Ezra's knowledge of God's law to guide the use of these funds. This is a pagan king showing more reverence for the details of God's law than many professing Christians do today.
A Healthy Fear of God (v. 21-24)
The decree then shifts from permission and provision to a direct command to the king's own officials. This is where the rubber meets the road.
"So I, even I, King Artaxerxes, issue a decree to all the treasurers... whatever Ezra the priest... may ask of you, it shall be done with all diligence... Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, so that there will not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons." (Ezra 7:21, 23 LSB)
Artaxerxes puts the full weight of his imperial authority behind this. He commands his treasurers to give Ezra whatever he asks for, up to a staggering amount: 100 talents of silver is about 75,000 ounces, or 3.75 tons. This is not a token gesture. This is a massive state-sponsored project. The king is all in.
But verse 23 gives us the reason, and it is the theological core of the letter. Why is Artaxerxes doing this? He does it "so that there will not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons." This is magnificent. This pagan king has a more robust doctrine of God's providence and judgment than most Western leaders. He understands that the God of heaven is not a tame God. He is a God whose decrees matter, and ignoring them brings wrath. He knows that the stability of his own throne and the future of his dynasty are tied to how he treats the house of the one true God. He is practicing what we might call political propitiation. He is acting to avert judgment. This is the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom, being displayed in a man who does not even know the Lord personally. He is acting on the principle of Romans 13, that the magistrate is God's minister to punish evil and reward good, and he rightly identifies disrespect for God's house as a political liability.
Furthermore, he grants a full tax exemption to all Temple personnel. He is creating a protected class, not for their own sake, but for the sake of the work they do. He is ensuring that the worship of God is not hindered by the machinery of the state. This is the civil government recognizing its limits and actively serving the institutions of worship.
The Theonomic Commission (v. 25-26)
If the previous verses were surprising, these last two are simply breathtaking. The king moves from funding the church to establishing its law as the law of the land.
"And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God which is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges that they may judge all the people who are in the province beyond the River, even all those who know the laws of your God; and to anyone who does not know the laws, you shall make them known." (Ezra 7:25 LSB)
Let this sink in. A pagan emperor commands a Jewish priest to set up a civil judicial system. And what is to be the basis of that system? Not the Persian legal code. Not some abstract principles of justice. It is to be "according to the wisdom of your God which is in your hand", that is, the Torah, the written law of God. The scroll is to govern the scepter. Ezra is to appoint judges who will apply the case laws of Moses to the people of the land.
And this is not just an internal religious court for Jews. They are to "judge all the people who are in the province." And it includes an evangelistic, or rather, a didactic mandate. For those who do not know God's laws, the job of the magistrate is to "make them known." This is state-sponsored discipleship in the law of God. This is the civil government enforcing the first table of the law as well as the second.
And this law has teeth.
"Whoever will not do the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be done to him with all diligence, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of goods or for imprisonment." (Ezra 7:26 LSB)
Notice the seamless union: "the law of your God and the law of the king." The king's law is now backing up God's law. To break God's law is to break the king's law. And the penalties are the standard civil sanctions. This is the power of the sword, the authority to take life, liberty, and property, being explicitly delegated to a judiciary that operates on the basis of biblical law. This is nothing less than a theonomic charter, granted by a pagan king who was wise enough to know that his own authority was derived and that true law comes from the God of heaven.
Conclusion: A Charter for Christian Boldness
What are we to make of this? Is this just a strange, one-off event in redemptive history? Not at all. This is a paradigm. This is a model of how God intends for His kingdom to advance in the world. God's heart is a king's hand, and He can turn it wherever He wishes (Proverbs 21:1).
This passage utterly demolishes the idea that faith is a private matter and that God's law has no place in public life. Here, God's law is made the very foundation of public life. It rebukes the timid pietism that wants to retreat into a spiritual ghetto and let the world go to hell. Ezra did not retreat. He went to the king, and he came back with the king's authority to rebuild the house of God and re-establish the law of God.
This is a postmillennial vision. It is the story of the gospel's influence spreading, of the nations recognizing the wisdom of God's law, and of kings bowing their knee. Artaxerxes did this in ignorance, or at least, with a limited and pragmatic understanding. How much more should kings and rulers bow the knee now that the true King of kings, Jesus Christ, has been revealed? The Great Commission is our Artaxerxes decree. We are sent out with the authority of the King of heaven to teach the nations to obey everything He has commanded (Matthew 28:18-20). That includes His commands for personal life, family life, church life, and civil life.
Our task is not to lobby for a Christianized version of pagan law. Our task is to be like Ezra, scribes skilled in the law of our God. We are to learn it, live it, and teach it. And we are to pray with boldness that God would grant our own magistrates the wisdom of Artaxerxes, to see that a nation's only hope is to honor the Son, lest He be angry and they perish in the way (Psalm 2). The scepter must bow to the scroll, for both belong to Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords.