Ezra 7:1-Nehemiah 3:32 NIV

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ezra 7:1

After these things - The words mark an interval of 57 years; if, with most commentators, we take Artaxerxes to be Longimanus. See the introduction to the Book of Ezra. Three kings named Artaxerxes, the Greek rendering of the Hebrew Artakhshasta, and the Persian Artakhshatra, ruled over Persia, namely,: Longimanus, Mnemon, and Ochus. The evidence is in favor of the first being meant here: he was the grandson of Darius Hystaspis, Jeshua’s contemporary.The genealogy of Ezra here is incomplete. The... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Ezra 7:1

Ezra 7:1. In the reign of Artaxerxes The same of whom he speaks chap. Ezra 6:14. Ezra the son of Seraiah Descended from him, but not immediately. For Seraiah, being high-priest when Jerusalem was taken was then slain by the Chaldeans, (2 Kings 25:18; 2 Kings 25:21,) at which time, it is likely, Ezra was not in being: but he was his grandson, or great-grand-son, and his descent is mentioned from him, because he was an eminent person, who flourished before the destruction of the temple,... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Ezra 7:1-28

7:1-8:36 RETURN UNDER EZRAThe temple was completed in 516 BC. Ezra’s return was in 458 BC, the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes I (see 7:1,7). There is therefore a gap of about sixty years between Chapters 6 and 7. By the time of Ezra, former leaders such as Zerubbabel, Joshua, Haggai and Zechariah had died. Without their leadership, Israel’s religious life became weak and its community life disordered. The only detailed information that the Bible gives of events during these years is... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Ezra 7:1

Artaxerxes = the great king: i.e. Darius (Hystaspis). See notes on p. 618. App-57 and App-58 . Ezra. By this genealogy (verses: Ezra 7:1-5 ), compared with 1 Chronicles 6:15 , Ezra was brother to Jehozadak and uncle to the high priest Joshua. Ezra was deported with Zedekiah. son = descendant. Seraiah. Slain at Riblah (2 Kings 25:18-21 ). read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Ezra 7:1

UNDER ARTAXERXES I; EZRA RETURNS FROM BABYLON"After these things in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia ..."This verse establishes the chronology of this chapter which features Ezra's journey from Babylon to Jerusalem, but the problem centers in the question of just which one of the two kings of Persia named Artaxerxes is the one spoken of here.Those kings were Artaxerxes I (Longimanus) who reigned 465-425 B.C., and Artaxerxes II (Mnemon) who ruled in 405(4) to 358 B.C. Depending upon which... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ezra 7:1

Ver. 1. Ezra the son of Seraiah— He calls himself here, according to the Hebrew idiom, the son of Seraiah, who was the high-priest that Nebuchadnezzar caused to be slain at the taking of Jerusalem, 2 Kings 25:18; 2 Kings 25:30.; but had he been his real son, he must then have been at least one hundred and thirty-two years old, supposing him to have been an infant when his father died; and so wholly unfit for such a journey and employment: whereas we find him capable of reading the Scriptures to... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Ezra 7:1

1, 2. in the reign of Artaxerxes—the Ahasuerus of Esther. Ezra the son of Seraiah—that is, grandson or great-grandson. Seraiah was the high priest put to death by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah ( :-). A period of one hundred thirty years had elapsed between that catastrophe and the journey of Ezra to Jerusalem. As a grandson of Seraiah, namely, Jeshua, who held the office of high priest, had accompanied Zerubbabel in the first caravan of returning exiles, Ezra must have been in all probability a... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Ezra 7:1-10

Ezra’s background 7:1-10"These things" (Ezra 7:1) refers to the events of the first return that the writer described in chapters 1-6.Ezra’s genealogy (Ezra 7:1-5) shows that he was a man of importance whom his fellow Jews would have respected. His name is a shortened form of "Azariah," meaning "Yahweh helps." He was a descendant of Aaron, the first high priest of Israel (Ezra 7:5). There are gaps in this genealogy (cf. 1 Chronicles 6:3-15). "Son of" occasionally means "descendant of," as... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Ezra 7:1-28

The Journey of Ezra to Jerusalem1. Now after.. Artaxerxes] The interval of time here implied amounted to more than fifty years, from the sixth year of Darius (516 b.c.) to the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus (458 b.c.). Between the reign of Darius and Artaxerxes there intervened the reign of Xerxes (485-464 b.c.), to which belong the incidents related in the book of Esther. In the early years of his successor Artaxerxes an effort was made to surround Jerusalem, with a wall (see Ezra... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ezra 7:1

(1) After these things.—Fifty-seven years after: this special phrase is here alone used. During the interval we must place the events of the Book of Esther.Ezra the son of Seraiah.—His lineage is given, as frequently in Scripture, compendiously, and according to the genealogical law which makes every ancestor a “father” and every descendant a “son.” We know not the reason why certain names supplied in 1 Chronicles 6:0 are here omitted; but Seraiah is claimed as the father of Ezra because he was... read more