Ezra

Ezra is a priest and a legal expert who explains to the Judean exiles how to be faithful to the Law of God.
The book of Ezra is named after him. This book concerns the situation of the Jews in the Persian province of Judah in the first centuries after the Babylonian exile.

The name Ezra means “help”. Ezra is a descendant of Aaron through Zadok from the tribe of Levi.
Ezra is an official in the court of the Persian King Artaxerxes I. In 450 BC, he brings several thousand Judeans in exile back from Babylonia to Jerusalem.
Another man named Ezra is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:17-18, who belongs to the tribe of Judah and has four sons.

In Babylonia, Ezra is given special responsibility for Jewish matters in the court of King Artaxerxes I. Ezra sets out from Babylonia with a special letter from Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:11-26). In that letter, Artaxerxes gives Ezra and the priests, Levites and other Judean exiles permission to travel back to Jerusalem.
It also confirms the king’s command for Ezra to investigate whether everyone in Judah and Jerusalem is living correctly according to the Law of Moses. By the king and his advisors, Ezra is given money and precious gifts as offerings for the Temple of God.

Ezra does not want any protection from the king on his journey to Jerusalem, but relies on God to protect him and his fellow travellers. They arrive safely in Jerusalem after four months of travelling.
In Jerusalem, Ezra reads the Laws of God given on Mount Sinai to Moses, and the people of Judah respond by promising afresh that they will live according to the Law of God (Nehemiah 8–10).

When he arrives in Judah, Ezra discovers that many of the Jews who lived there during the exile are not observing the Laws of Moses but are marrying women from other nations, a practice that is forbidden.
So Ezra has all the foreign women and their children ceremonially sent away (Ezra 10:10-14). In this way, he seeks to prevent the people of Judah from mixing with the local population and abandoning traditional holiness in their way of life.