A ready scribe - Or, “a ready writer” Psalms 45:1. The professional scribe was well known in Egypt from an early date (see Genesis 39:4 note); and under David and his successors “scribes” were attached to the court as the king’s secretaries (2 Samuel 8:17; 2 Samuel 20:25; 2 Kings 12:10, etc.). It was scarcely, however, until the time of the captivity that the class to which Ezra belonged arose. The “scribes” of this time, and of later Jewish history, were students, interpreters, and copiers of the Law (see the marginal references and Jeremiah 8:8). They retained the knowledge of the old dialect, which was being rapidly superseded by a new one. The emphatic application of the title “the scribe” to Ezra marks the high honor in which the office was now held. Its glories eclipsed those of the priesthood.
The hand of the Lord ... upon him - The use of this phrase in a good sense is rare elsewhere (compare 1 Kings 18:46), but is a favorite one with both Ezra and Nehemiah (see the marginal references; Nehemiah 2:8, Nehemiah 2:18).