Ezra 7:12 - Exposition

Artaxerxes, king of kings . "King of kings, kkshayathiya khshaya-thiyanam ," an equivalent of the modern shahinshah , was a recognised title of the Persian monarchs, and is found in every Persian inscription of any considerable length. It was a title that had been used occasionally, though not at all frequently, by the Assyrian monarchs, and naturally expressed the fact that those monarchs for the most part maintained the native princes on the thrones of the countries which they conquered (see Isaiah 10:8 ). It was less appropriate to the Persians, whose empire was in the main satrapial, but still had a basis of truth to rest upon, since the Persian monarch had always a certain number of tributary kings under him. The Parthian kings took the title from the time of Mithridates I.; and from them it passed to the Sassanians, who style themselves malkan malka , from first to last, upon their coins. The God of heaven. On this favourite Persian expression see comment on Ezra 1:2 . Perfect peace. There is nothing in the Chaldee original in any way corresponding to "peace;" and the participle passage being translated as in the margin of the A. V.—"to Ezra the priest, a perfect scribe of the law of the God of heaven." And at such a time. Rather, "and so forth," as in Ezra 4:10 , Ezra 4:11 , Ezra 4:17 .