… the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest. – Ezra 7:5

Today's Scripture Reading (November 6, 2023): Ezra 7

Ezra was a scribe, someone who was responsible for the painstaking task of copying the Bible. But scribes weren't just human photocopiers. To copy the scripture correctly, you had to know the Bible. And scribes knew the Bible so well that they became some of Israel's best teachers.

Ezra introduces this section of the story with a list of his ancestors. Not every generation was listed; Ezra gives his readers only the highlights, but some important names are included on this list. Ezra recognizes that following the exile, there has been a problem with the priesthood; it had become corrupt. Priests were supposed to be descendants of Aaron, but not all were. People claimed to be priests who had no connection with the descendants of Aaron. The priesthood had devolved into something less than it was intended to be, and some people believed that the rehabilitation of the priesthood began with returning to the descendants of Aaron. And so, Ezra lets his reader know he is of the correct lineage to be part of the priesthood.

But Ezra also informs his audience that he was also part of the house of the Zadok. Zadok had been the house of the High Priest up until the time of the Maccabees, a couple of generations after the era of Ezra. And after the time of the Maccabees, a High Priest from the house of Zadok would become the dream. The priesthood could be cleansed and restored to what God had desired if they could just have a priest from the lineage of Zadok. Ezra stresses that he was of the family of Zadok, a member of his house.

Hilkiah was another vital name in the lineage of Ezra. Hilkiah was a priest during the reign of King Josiah and was responsible for finding a lost book of the Bible during the renovation of the Temple; our best guess is that the discovered scroll was the Book of Deuteronomy. Ezra was a descendant of Hilkiah.

This is who Ezra was; these names form part of Ezra's resume for the job of High Priest on behalf of the people as they began their return to Judah and Jerusalem. He would prove to be a great scribe and priest, but he couldn't stay in that lane. Ezra also had to deal with the King of Persia. Ezra, who knew the law, believed that the exile happened in the first place because the people had rebelled against God. His message was clear: if you want to become an important political entity in the Middle East, that job would begin with getting your spiritual house in order. There is a connection. Part of Ezra's message was that there are times when the political and spiritual can't be kept in separate boxes.

And that truth hasn't gone away. The dichotomy of body and spirit actually seems to be a Greek idea, not a Hebrew one. We have perverted the Gospel of Christ by saying there is a disconnect between the body and spirit. So much so that some have argued that I can sin in my body because it is my body, which is temporary and a throw-away. What matters is that we are pure in spirit.

But the Bible repeatedly responds that body and spirit are intimately connected. What I allow my body to do will impact my spirit. Ezra understood that and knew that for Israel to get its political house together, they would have to first get their spiritual house in order.   

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezra 8