Ezra 7:1 - Exposition

The writer makes a marked division between his first and second sections by means of the words, " Now after these things ," which he uses in this place only. The actual interval seems to have been one of between fifty-seven and fifty-eight years, the sixth year of Darius being b.c. 516, and the seventh of Artaxerxes Longimanus b.c. 458. Artaxerxes is in the original " Artakhshata ," which reproduces the Persian Artakhshatra with the change of only one letter. That Longimanus, the grandson of Darius, is meant seems to follow from the fact that Eliashib, the grandson of Jeshua is high priest under him ( Nehemiah 3:1 ).

Darius, correspond to Jeshua,

Xerxes correspond to Joiakim

Artaxerxes correspond to Eliashib

But for this it would be possible to regard the Artaxerxes of Ezra ( Ezra 7:1-28 .) and Nehemiah as Mnemon. Ezra the son of Seraiah . Probably the great-great-grandson. In the language of the sacred writers, every descendant is a "son," and every ancestor a "father." Christ is "the son of David," and David "the son of Abraham" ( Matthew 1:1 ). Joram "begat" Uzziah ( Matthew 1:8 ), his great-great-grandson. Jochebed was "the daughter of Levi ( Exodus 2:1 ). Ezra omits the names of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, who were undistinguished, and claims descent from Seraiah, the last high priest who had ministered in Solomon's temple ( 2 Kings 25:18 ). Azariah , the father of Seraiah, does not occur in either Kings or Chronicles; but Hilkiah , Azariah's father, is no doubt the high priest of Josiah's time ( 2 Kings 22:4-14 ; 2 Chronicles 34:14-22 , etc.).