EXPOSITION
THE DECREE OF ARTAXERXES WITH RESPECT TO EZRA (Ezra 7:11-26). The present decree was of the nature of a firman granted to an individual. It embodied, in the first place, a certain number of provisions which were temporary. Of this character were—
1. the permission accorded to all Persian subjects of Israelite descent to accompany Ezra to Jerusalem (verse 13);
2. the commission to Ezra to convey to Jerusalem certain offerings made by the king and his chief courtiers to the God of Israel (verses 15, 19);
3. the permission given him to convey to Jerusalem the free-will offerings of Jews and others resident in Babylonia (verse 16);
4. permission to Ezra to draw on the royal treasury to the amount of a hundred talents of silver, a hundred measures of wheat, a hundred "baths" of wine, a hundred "baths" of oil, and salt to any amount (verse 22); and,
5. an indefinite commission to "inquire" (verse 14).
Besides these temporary enactments, the decree contained certain provisions of a more permanent nature.
1. Ezra was invested with the chief authority over the whole district "beyond the river," and was commissioned to appoint all the subordinate "magistrates and judges" (verse 25).
2. He was authorised to enforce his decisions by the penalties of imprisonment, confiscation of goods, banishment, and even death itself (verse 26).
3. An exemption from taxation of every kind was granted to all grades of the sacerdotal order—to the priests, the Levites, the singers, the porters, the Nethinim, and the lowest grade of "ministers"—to all, in fact, who were engaged in the performance of any sacred function connected with the temple (verse 24). This last provision was absolutely permanent, and probably continued in force down to the close of the empire.