Eighty years after Zerubbabel had led the first remnant of Jews to Jerusalem, Ezra led an additional 1,500 Jewish men and their families to Jerusalem. Ezra was the son of a priest born in Babylon. Not only was Ezra a priest, but he was also a scribe. A scribe, such as Ezra, studied and taught the Law of Moses. Ezra could function as both a priest and a teacher. He could offer sacrifices at the Temple, but he could also read, interpret and teach the Law. Ezra pictures the Lord Jesus Christ as both priest and teacher.
“This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him” (Ezra 7:6). Ezra is described as a “ready scribe.” The word “ready” in the Hebrew means to be skilled or diligent. This same concept is found in Paul’s letter to Timothy: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). Believers are to be skilled in the Word of God. We study the Bible with the aim to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is within us (1 Pt. 3:15).
It’s one thing to have the Bible in your head, but it’s another thing altogether to have it in your heart. “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments” (Ezra 7:10). The apostle James wrote, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). Knowledge of the Bible should lead to obedience. Likewise, if we are to teach others then it is imperative that we live what we preach.