Ezra

Ezra . . . who was he? Well, as I read along I realized that he wasn't exactly like Nehemiah.

When I read the Bible I don't really expect to see the personality of a person. I'm not sure why, I guess it could be that I assume the since the basics are usually what's written that it won't be thought nessesary to express. Now this is clearly a WRONG assumption because obviously David has a strong personality that is expressed in scriptures, as well as Peter, and many others. This is just one of those "first thought" assumptions that I still have even though I know from previous experience that it's wrong.

Nonetheless, I was still amazed to see the differences between Nehemiah and Ezra. Nehemiah seemed more logical (not that Ezra wasn't—he was) in the sense that I didn't really see him display emotions such as mourning. Whereas Ezra tore his garments and wept and pulled out his hair when hearing about the peoples sin. Their sin broke his heart and he responded from the heart.

When Nehemiah had to deal with the sin of the people he displayed more of an anger than bitter sadness. Not that he lost his cool (cause he was very calm, cool, and collected) but it affected him in a different way. He didn't display much personal emotion. He was very no-nonsense and just wouldn't take certain things. He would speak strongly to the people and expected change right away.

Ezra dealt with things with words as well and expected change but first he dealt with his personal emotions. Whereas it seems that Nehemiah dove right into the heart of the matter . . . i.e. the merchants selling things on Sabbath. 

Annnd . . . something I just realized in flipping through Nehemiah just now is that Ezra is in Nehemiah! In chapter 8 he reads the law to the people. I totally didn't even remember him. Ha!

Anyway . . . I'm wondering . . . you know, Ezra was a scribe . . . and writers, I think, tend to be more emotional—it's because we're, in a sense, artists. And Nehemiah was definitely a leader . . . and leaders tend to, I think, look for results quickly and how something can get accomplished in the best, quickest, and easiest way before dealing with how the situation makes them feel.

Hmm . . . just a thought.