Catholic Commentary
Introduction to Artaxerxes' Royal Decree
11Now this is the copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even the scribe of the words of Yahweh’s commandments, and of his statutes to Israel:
Ezra 7:11 introduces a royal letter from King Artaxerxes to Ezra, identifying him with a compound title that emphasizes his dual authority as priest and scribe of God's commandments. The verse establishes that Ezra acts as custodian of divine law, positioning him as an instrument through which God's will operates within the Persian Empire.
Ezra arrives as scribe of God's commandments, and a pagan king's decree becomes an instrument of the divine Word—the first hint that earthly power serves a heavenly throne.
The narrative arc: By placing this elaborate double title before reproducing the royal letter, the narrator makes a subtle but potent theological argument: whatever follows in Artaxerxes' letter must be read through the lens of Ezra's identity. The decree of an earthly king is being handed to the servant of the heavenly King. This framing anticipates the theological summary of Ezra 7:27–28, where Ezra himself attributes the king's generous decree entirely to "the LORD, the God of our fathers," who "put such a thing as this in the king's heart."
Typological and Spiritual Senses: On the typological level, Ezra — priest and scribe of God's word — anticipates Christ, who is both the eternal High Priest (Hebrews 4:14) and the very Word of God (John 1:1). The faithful scribe who guards and transmits the divine commandments also prefigures the Church's Magisterium, which neither invents nor distorts the deposit of faith but receives, safeguards, and hands it on. The introduction of an earthly royal decree into the service of God's Word likewise typifies the way divine Providence recapitulates worldly powers for sacred ends — a pattern fulfilled supremely in the Roman Empire becoming the vehicle for the Gospel's spread.
Catholic tradition reads this verse with particular richness through the lens of the relationship between Scripture, Tradition, and the Church's teaching authority.
Ezra as Type of the Magisterium: St. Jerome, himself the great scribe of the Latin Church, saw in Ezra a figure of the faithful transmitter of revelation. In his Prefaces to the Vulgate, Jerome frequently draws on Ezra's scribal work as a model for the Church's task of preserving the sacred text. The Ezran title — scribe of the words of Yahweh's commandments — resonates with the Catechism's teaching that "the task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God… has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone" (CCC 85).
Scripture and Tradition as one deposit: The Second Vatican Council's Dei Verbum (§10) teaches that Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition together form "one sacred deposit of the word of God." Ezra's dual identity as priest and scribe embodied precisely this unity in embryo: the liturgical-sacramental life (priesthood) and the guarding of the revealed text (scribal office) were inseparable in his person, just as they remain inseparable in the Church.
Providence and pagan authority: St. Augustine (City of God, Book XVIII) reflects on how God deploys pagan rulers to serve His people, and this verse is a perfect instance. Artaxerxes' letter, drafted in the corridors of imperial Persia, becomes a vessel of divine grace. This anticipates Catholic Social Teaching's recognition that legitimate civil authority, even when not explicitly Christian, can serve the common good and the purposes of Providence (CCC 1897–1899).
The priestly-scribal synthesis: Origen (Homilies on Numbers) saw the union of priestly and scribal roles as anticipating the Church's own synthesis: the priest who celebrates the Eucharist is the same minister who opens the Scriptures in homily — word and sacrament inseparably bound.
Ezra 7:11 speaks powerfully to Catholics navigating a culture where religious authority is widely contested and the transmission of sacred teaching is under pressure. Ezra's title — scribe of the words of Yahweh's commandments — is a call to take seriously the vocation of every baptized Catholic as a custodian of the Word. We receive Scripture and Tradition not as optional resources but as a living deposit entrusted to us to be handed on intact.
Practically, this verse challenges the Catholic who reads Scripture: do I approach the Bible merely as personal inspiration, or do I approach it as Ezra did — with reverence for its divine origin, within the community of faith, informed by the Church's interpretive tradition? Ezra did not invent the commandments he transcribed; he received them and served them.
For catechists, teachers, parents, and preachers, Ezra's double identity as priest-scribe is an invitation to integrate worship and learning: the Word proclaimed at Mass and the Word studied in quiet reading belong to one seamless act of fidelity. And for all Catholics, the reminder that even a pagan king's decree could serve God's purposes should foster trust in Providence even in hostile or indifferent political climates.
Commentary
Verse 11: The Double Identity of Ezra
At first glance, Ezra 7:11 appears to be nothing more than a formulaic epistolary heading — the ancient Near Eastern equivalent of "Re: Official Letter." But a careful reading reveals that the narrator has packed extraordinary theological weight into this single verse of introduction.
"the copy of the letter" — The Hebrew pəṯaḵ (copy or transcript) signals that what follows is an exact reproduction of an official royal document. This literary device lends the account authority and credibility. The reader is being invited to witness something historical and legally binding — a Persian imperial decree now preserved within sacred Scripture. The insertion of a foreign king's letter into the biblical text is itself theologically bold: it asserts that God's providential hand moves through the instruments of pagan empire.
"King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra" — The verb nāṯan (gave) quietly reverses the apparent power dynamic. While Artaxerxes is king, he is the one who gives — and what he gives ultimately serves not Persian policy but the restoration of Israel's worship. The name Artaxerxes here is almost certainly Artaxerxes I Longimanus (r. 465–424 BC), placing Ezra's mission squarely in the mid-fifth century BC. The king acts as an instrument; the true mover remains offstage until the fuller theological portrait of chapter 7 is completed.
"the priest, the scribe" — This compound title is remarkable and carefully deliberate. In Second Temple Judaism, the roles of priest and scribe were distinct, yet Ezra unites them. As priest (kōhēn), he stands in the line of Aaron, authorized to mediate between Israel and God in the realm of cult and sacrifice. As scribe (sōphēr), he belongs to the emerging class of textual scholars whose work would become foundational to post-exilic Jewish religious life. Together the two titles signal that Ezra embodies a new kind of leadership for a restored people: one who mediates divine presence through both liturgy and Scripture.
"the scribe of the words of Yahweh's commandments" — This is the most theologically dense phrase in the verse. The narrator does not merely call Ezra "a scribe" in the administrative or even legal sense — he is specifically the scribe of the words (diḇrê) of Yahweh's commandments (miṣwōṯ) and statutes (ḥuqqîm) . This phrase, unique in its fullness in the Hebrew Bible, invests Ezra's scribal work with a quasi-prophetic or even apostolic character. He is not drafting documents for a human sovereign — he is the custodian and transmitter of the divine Word to the covenant people.