Ezra 7:6 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Ver. 6. A ready scribe— The LXX, the Vulgate, and our translation, render the original words a ready scribe; as if to have a quick hand at writing out the law were any great perfection, or that an aged man, as Ezra was, should be renowned for it. It was not for writing, then, but for explaining the things of Scripture, that Ezra was so famous; for סופר soper denotes one skilled and learned, from ספר seper, a book; and, as no book was comparable to the book of the law, סופר soper became a name of great dignity, and signified one who taught God's law, and instructed the people out of it. In which sense we find the word γραμματεις, or scribes, used in the New Testament; for when our Saviour is said to have taught the people as one having authority, and not as the scribes, this plainly shews, that these scribes were not transcribers, but teachers and expounders of the law, though they did not do it with a proper authority. It can hardly be imagined 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.