Ezra

Ezra was a priest and scribe learned in the Law of Moses who led a group of exiles back to Jerusalem from Babylon around 458 BCE under the authority of the Persian king Artaxerxes I (Ezra 7). He brought with him silver and gold for the Temple, and carried a letter authorizing him to appoint judges and teach God's law to any who did not know it. Dismayed to find that many returned exiles, including priests, had intermarried with the surrounding peoples, he led a public confession and covenant renewal (Ezra 9–10). The book of Nehemiah records his public reading of the Torah before the assembled community in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 8), an event of pivotal importance for the development of Second Temple Judaism and the centrality of Scripture in communal worship.