Ezra 7:25

Magistrates and judges. The closing part of the decree (vs. 25 and 26) authorizes Ezra to reorganize the judicial system of Judea and to be responsible for all future appointments of judicial officers in that province. The word shaphedin, “magistrates,” is simply the Aramaicized Hebrew equivalent of the word translated “judges.” The word has not been found in non-Jewish documents written in Aramaic, but its root verb appears in Jewish records found at Elephantine. Its use in the decree of Ezra 7 is one more proof that a Hebrew-speaking Jew, probably Ezra, was responsible for the wording of this document. Beyond the river. See on Ezra 4:10. That Ezra’s jurisdiction was not intended to cover the entire area of “Beyond the River” is evident from the additional explanatory clause, “all such as know the laws of thy God.” It assigns to Ezra’s jurisdiction only the Jewish portion of the population, including Jewish proselytes. Teach ye them. Ezra, who was probably responsible for the wording of the decree, must have known something about the spiritual conditions prevailing in Judea, which had convinced him of the need for instructing the returned exiles in the law of God. Knowing that his personal conviction on the matter might not carry much weight with the leadership in Judea, he secured royal authorization for this work in order that the Jews might not be tempted to slight this aspect of his program of reform. That the initiative for these provisions in the decree came from Ezra is implied in vs. 6, 28.