Ezra 9:18

He is so called also in the letter of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:11), because he is said (Ezra 7:9) to have applied his heart to seek out and to do the law of the Lord, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgment, i.e., because he had made the investigation of the law, for the sake of introducing the practice of the same among the congregation, his life-task; and the king granted him all his desire, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. The peculiar expression עליו אלהיו יהוה כּיד which is found only here and in Ezra 7:9, Ezra 7:28, Ezra 8:18; Nehemiah 2:8, Nehemiah 2:18, and in a slightly altered guise in Ezra 8:22, Ezra 8:31, "according to the good hand of his God, which was over him," means: according to the divine favour or divine care arranging for him; for the hand of God is הטּובה, the good (Ezra 7:9, and Ezra 8:18), or לטובה, Ezra 8:22. בּקּשׁה, the desire, request, demand, occurs only here and in the book of Esther.

He is so called also in the letter of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:11), because he is said (Ezra 7:9) to have applied his heart to seek out and to do the law of the Lord, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgment, i.e., because he had made the investigation of the law, for the sake of introducing the practice of the same among the congregation, his life-task; and the king granted him all his desire, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. The peculiar expression עליו אלהיו יהוה כּיד which is found only here and in Ezra 7:9, Ezra 7:28, Ezra 8:18; Nehemiah 2:8, Nehemiah 2:18, and in a slightly altered guise in Ezra 8:22, Ezra 8:31, "according to the good hand of his God, which was over him," means: according to the divine favour or divine care arranging for him; for the hand of God is הטּובה, the good (Ezra 7:9, and Ezra 8:18), or לטובה, Ezra 8:22. בּקּשׁה, the desire, request, demand, occurs only here and in the book of Esther.

Verse 18. - By the good hand of our God upon us. This is Ezra's usual mode of acknowledging the good providence and favour of Almighty God (see Ezra 7:6, 9, 27 ; and Ezra 8:31 ). Similar expressions occur also in Nehemiah ( Nehemiah 2:8, 18 ), but not elsewhere in Scripture. A man of understanding. In the Hebrew Ish-sekel , which some take for a proper name, but without any necessity. No such name is known to have existed; and the real name of "the man of understanding" appears to have been "Sherebiah," who is mentioned more than once in Nehemiah ( Nehemiah 8:7 ; Nehemiah 9:4, 5 ) as a chief Levite. And Sherebiah should be simply "Sherebiah." The preposition "and" (Hebrew ן ) has been inserted by a careless copyist. Ezra 8:18

The expression is well illustrated by Malachi 4:4 ‘the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and judgements’ and Nehemiah 8:14 ‘The law which the Lord had commanded by Moses’. all his request ] What the request was, which Ezra preferred to Artaxerxes, we are not told, but are left to gather it from the letter of Artaxerxes (12–26). The word ‘request’ in the Hebrew denotes an eager quest, and occurs elsewhere in the O.T. only in the book of Esther ( Ezra 5:3 ; Ezra 5:7-8 , Ezra 7:3 , Ezra 9:12 ). according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him ] This expression is characteristic of the writer. It occurs again Ezra 7:28 , with the adjective ‘good’, Ezra 7:9 , Ezra 8:18 ; Nehemiah 2:8 ; Nehemiah 2:18 , and in a slightly different form Ezra 8:22 ; Ezra 8:31 . ‘The hand of the Lord’ denotes the merciful favour, as may be seen from the context here and in Ezra 7:28 , even without the addition of the adjective good: cf. ‘the eye of the Lord’, chap. Ezra 5:5 . Similar is the phrase in 2 Chronicles 30:12 . From that ‘hand’ comes discipline as well as bounty, Job 2:10 ‘Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?’ Job 19:21 ‘the hand of God hath touched me’. In adversity ‘the hand of the Lord’ is described as ‘ against ’, not ‘upon’ a person. See Deuteronomy 2:15 ; Ruth 1:13 .

6 . A brief exordium: expression of personal shame and national guilt. I am ashamed and blush ] These words occur together frequently as in Jeremiah 31:19 ‘I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth’. Isaiah 45:16 ; Psalm 35:4 . Ezra’s expression of shame and confusion is the echo of the prophet’s words, ‘Beashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel’ ( Ezekiel 36:32 ), the very opposite of their spirit, who ‘were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush’ ( Jeremiah 6:15 ; Jeremiah 8:12 ). to lift up my face to thee ] The consciousness of sin will not permit the humble supplicant to ‘lift up so much as his eyes to heaven’ ( Luke 18:13 ). The first person singular is here dropped. for our iniquities are increased over our head ] The metaphor is drawn from the waters of a flood (cf. Genesis 7:17-18 ). Compare Psalm 38:4 ‘For mine iniquities are gone over mine head’. and our trespass ] R.V. our guiltiness . The word ‘guiltiness’ (‘ashmah’, not ‘ma-al’ ‘trespass’ of Ezra 9:1 ) is used here and in Ezra 9:7 ; Ezra 9:13 ; Ezra 9:15 , Ezra 10:10 ; Ezra 10:19 . It is the state of guilt resulting from sin, e.g.