Some fifty-seven years after the end of the events of Ezra 6, there was a second return to Jerusalem (Ezra 7). Ezra, a Jewish priest and scribe, is sent to Jerusalem by the Persian king Artaxerxes in order to ensure that temple worship of the Lord is still taking place and that God’s people are living in accordance with the law of God. The key message of this chapter is that the Lord sends teachers to serve his church.
1 Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah,