From Splendor to Shadow

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Chapter 50—Ezra, the King's Trusted Friend

About seventy years after the return of the first exiles, Artaxerxes Longimanus came to the throne of Medo-Persia. During his reign Ezra and Nehemiah lived and labored. In 457 B.C. he issued the third decree for the restoration of Jerusalem. During his long rule he often showed favor to God's people, and in his trusted Jewish friends, Ezra and Nehemiah, he recognized men of God's appointment. SS 314.1

Ezra, living among the Jews who remained in Babylon, attracted the favorable notice of King Artaxerxes with whom he talked freely regarding the power of God and the divine purpose in restoring the Jews to Jerusalem. SS 314.2

Ezra had been given priestly training, and in addition had acquired familiarity with the writings of the wise men of the Medo-Persian realm. But he was not satisfied with his spiritual condition. He longed to be in full harmony with God. And so he “prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it.” Ezra 7:10. This led him to search the books of the Bible to learn why the Lord had permitted Jerusalem to be destroyed and His people carried captive into a heathen land. SS 314.3