Ezra 7:6

This Ezra] Ezra, as his history shows, was a devout and zealous ecclesiastic, of passionate temperament, strong religious faith, and rigid principles, who, though he met with temporary failure, in the end permanently influenced the thoughts and habits of his countrymen. A ready scribe] Ezra belonged to the class of literary men, who, being acquainted with the art of writing, had, in the time when the nation was independent, furnished its statesmen with their secretaries (2 Samuel 8:17; 1 Kings 4:3; 2 Kings 18:18), but now that its political life had ceased, were students of the Law, which they copied, and interpreted (cp. Nehemiah 8:7). All his request] The nature of this is implied in the letter of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:12).