1. An Aaronic priest, a descendant of Eleazar and Phinehas, a scholar, an expert copyist and teacher of the Law, skilled in both Hebrew and Aramaic.

(Ezʹra) [Help].

1. An Aaronic priest, a descendant of Eleazar and Phinehas, a scholar, an expert copyist and teacher of the Law, skilled in both Hebrew and Aramaic. Ezra had genuine zeal for pure worship and “prepared his heart to consult the law of Jehovah and to do it and to teach in Israel regulation and justice.” (Ezr 7:1-6, 10) In addition to writing the book bearing his name, Ezra apparently wrote the two books of Chronicles, and Jewish tradition credits him with beginning the compiling and cataloging of the books of the Hebrew Scriptures. Moreover, Ezra was an outstanding researcher, citing about 20 sources of information in the two books of Chronicles. Since many of the Jews were scattered far and wide in Ezra’s day, it necessitated the making of many copies of the Hebrew Scriptures, and likely Ezra pioneered this work.

No details of Ezra’s early life are given in the Bible. He lived in Babylon. He was from a family of high priests but was not of the particular branch that held the high priesthood immediately after the return from exile in 537 B.C.E. The last of Ezra’s ancestors to hold that office was Seraiah, who was high priest in the days of King Zedekiah of Judah. This Seraiah had been put to death by Nebuchadnezzar at the capture of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. (Ezr 7:1, 6; 2Ki 25:18, 21) In Babylon the Jews retained respect for the priesthood, and therefore, the priestly families maintained their identity. Moreover, the Jewish community organization, with the older men as heads, continued functioning. (Eze 20:1) Ezra’s family likely was interested in seeing that Ezra was equipped with a knowledge of God’s law, as was Ezra himself. Accordingly he was well educated.

If, as some scholars believe, a man could not become a scribe until reaching the age of 30, Ezra may have been more than 30 years old in 468 B.C.E. when he went to Jerusalem. He undoubtedly lived during the rule of Ahasuerus, in the time of Mordecai and Esther, at the time the decree went out to exterminate the Jews throughout the Persian Empire. There were many Jews living in Babylon, so this national crisis must have made an indelible imprint on Ezra, strengthening him in faith in Jehovah’s care for and deliverance of his people and serving as training, maturing him in judgment and competence to accomplish the tremendous task later set before him.​—Es 1:1; 3:7, 12, 13; 8:9; 9:1.