Ezra 7:11 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

This is the copy of the letter that the King Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra “It can hardly be supposed, but that some more than ordinary means were used to obtain so great a favour from Artaxerxes, as this commission was upon which Ezra went; and therefore we may suppose that it was granted at the solicitation of Esther; for this Artaxerxes was the Ahasuerus of Esther. She was become the best beloved of the king's concubines, though not yet advanced to the dignity of queen; for, it being usual for the kings of Persia, on some particular days and occasions, to allow their women to ask what boons they pleased, it is not unlikely that, by the direction of Mordecai, upon some such occasion as this, Esther, though she had not discovered her kingdom and nation, might make this the matter of her request.” Dodd. See also Pri., Ann. 459, and Le Clerc. Even a scribe of the words, &c. The phrase seems emphatical, denoting that he explained both the words and the things: for the Jews, in the land of their captivity, had, in a great measure, lost both the language and the knowledge of God's commands, and therefore Ezra and his companions instructed them in both.