SKILLED

This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of Israel had given.

Ezra 7:6a

Isn’t it inspiring to watch someone display a high level of skill. Years ago I watched a young man display his skill on a double bass. The double bass itself is a large instrument. The strings alone are taller than a man. And yet as his fingers danced up and down the finger board, he showed no sign of hesitancy about what he was doing or incompetence in the execution of each note. He had mastered his instrument!

Ezra is described as being skilled in the Law of Moses. Jewish tradition teaches that he could write the entire Law from memory. That’s skill. Some may attribute his ability to good genes – after all, he was descended from Aaron the High Priest (vs. 1-5). However, skill goes deeper than that. Proverbs 22:29 says, “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings.” Skill here is connected with “work”. So how does someone gain skill? By doing lots and lots practice. It takes time and effort. It takes careful attention to every detail. It takes self-discipline to get it right every time. But that is looking at it from the human side.

For Ezra, there was more to being skilled. Three times in this chapter Ezra points out that, “the hand of Yahweh was upon him” (7:6, 9, 28). The key to Ezra’s success was that God was blessing him. All of his efforts to master God’s Law were meaningless without God’s intervention. Yes, Ezra had worked hard to prepare himself, but it was God who gifted Ezra with the ability to display his skill.

Philip Moeller