Intentional Leadership

Ezra was a leader.  He led Israel in the project of re-building the temple amid opposition by the gentiles in the land.  How did he do this in the midst of such resistance and difficulty?  The answer, I think, in Ezra 7:6, 9 – 10 (Here at Bible Gateway).  Here are some of the things we learn about Ezra there:

• He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses
• The hand of the Lord was with him
• He set his heart to study the Law of the Lord
• He set his heart to practice the Law of the Lord
• He set his heart to teach the Law of the Lord in Israel

The structure and the figure of speech used here helps us to observe what is said about Ezra.  The use of the two ands connects "set his heart" to both of the following verbs.  The repetition of and, also is a figure of speech that intends for us to slow down and consider each of the statements carefully.  If the ands are replaced by commas on the other hand, we are to speed through the list to the result.

  

The first two observations above tell us much about Ezra, namely, that he was accomplished in his profession and that the Lord was using him.

The next three observations tell us that even though he was accomplished and had the Lord’s favor, he did not take that for granted but intentionally engaged in studying what he already knew.  He knew that there was more to learn.  Then note that he was committed to practicing, obeying, performing, following through on what he saw in the Law.  Further, he was committed, set, to teach others to do what he was doing.

We saw in 2 Timothy a few days ago that all ministry is the overflow of the Word of God from our lives into the life of others.  Here we see an example of that in action.  As we saw yesterday in Ezra 3:3 (Here at Bible Gateway) and Romans 15:4 (Here at Bible Gateway) we have an example we should both learn from and follow.