Blessed Be Yahweh
21 I, even I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers who are beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, requires of you, it shall be done with all diligence, 22 up to one hundred talents of silver, and to one hundred cors of wheat, and to one hundred baths of wine, and to one hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. 23 Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? 24 Also we inform you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, or laborers of this house of God. 25 You, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people who are beyond the River, who all know the laws of your God; and teach him who doesn’t know them. 26 Whoever will not do the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed on him with all diligence, whether it is to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. 27 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify Yahweh’s house which is in Jerusalem; 28 and has extended loving kindness to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. I was strengthened according to Yahweh my God’s hand on me, and I gathered together chief men out of Israel to go up with me.
The decree grants tax exemption and judicial power, and the moment it ends the book changes to the first person.
The decree turns to logistics with a personal emphasis: I, even I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers who are beyond the River.
The limits set are generous and then abandoned mid-list: up to a hundred talents of silver, a hundred cors of wheat, a hundred baths of wine, a hundred baths of oil — and salt without prescribing how much. The one commodity left unmetered is the one used in every sacrifice and every meal.
The motive is stated as self-interest, without embarrassment: why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? Darius had wanted prayers for himself and his sons Ezra 6:10; Artaxerxes wants insurance against anger. The book records both and comments on neither.
Verse 24 grants a tax exemption covering every temple grade — priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, or laborers — and the last word extends it past the clergy to the workmen.
Then verse 25 hands over judicial power in the province: appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people who are beyond the River. And the qualification named is knowledge — those who all know the laws of your God — with a clause attached that is unusual in any legal instrument: and teach him who doesn't know them.
The courts are given a teaching duty. Ignorance is to be answered by instruction rather than only by penalty, which fits the third verb of Ezra's own description Ezra 7:10.
Verse 26 supplies the penalties, and they are the king's rather than the scribe's: death, banishment, confiscation, imprisonment, for whoever will not do the law of your God and the law of the king — the two placed side by side as one requirement.
And then the document ends and the book changes voice.
Blessed be Yahweh, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart. From here Ezra speaks as I for two chapters. The first thing he does with the first person is refuse credit for the letter, locating its origin in the king's heart and its cause in God — I was strengthened according to Yahweh my God's hand on me.
settled What this mark means