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Ezra 7 · a question people ask

Why would a king of Persia pay for God's house in Jerusalem?

In the text

The chapter gives two answers, in two voices, and sets them side by side. The letter gives the king's own: "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?" (7:23) (tap commanded). Ezra gives his: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the LORD’s house which is in Jerusalem" (7:27). Earlier the book said something like it of "the king of Assyria": "the LORD had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them" (Ezra 6:22). The chapter doesn't say what Artaxerxes believed. He calls Ezra's God "the perfect God of heaven" (7:12) and "the God of heaven" (7:21, 7:23) and "the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem" (7:15), and speaks of him to Ezra as "your God" (7:14, 7:17-20, 7:25-26).

The verses

“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?”
Ezra 7:23 · World English Bible
“Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the LORD’s house which is in Jerusalem;”
Ezra 7:27 · World English Bible
“and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy; because the LORD had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of God, the God of Israel’s house.”
Ezra 6:22 · World English Bible
“Artaxerxes, king of kings, To Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the perfect God of heaven. Now”
Ezra 7:12 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Ezra 7

Ezra 7: The hand of his God on him

Ezra isn't named until chapter 7, and he comes as priest and scribe: his line runs back to Aaron (7:5), and he "had set his heart to seek the LORD’s law, and to do it, and to teach" (7:10), doing before teaching. The king wrote the letter, but three times the chapter says the hand of his God was on him (7:6, 7:9, 7:28).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions