Ezra 8: Ezra Returns

Ezra 8:22 "I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, "The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.""

Here we have a list of the exiles who returned to Jerusalem with Ezra, as well as an account of what it took to get there. 

Without a temple, without priests, without even Levites, Ezra was sort of on his own. It doesn't say he was a prophet, it did say he was a teacher. He wanted to make sure that this return trip was done according to the LORD. I don't know if I would have done that. I probably would have just hit the road, maybe praying along the way. If I remembered to. But he actually sends for priests to come from however far away Casiphia was. They come and prepare a fast to the LORD for safety on their journey. 

This journey probably wasn't going to be easy. They were going to walk the whole way. I imagine there were a bunch of threats...wild animals, weather, bandits, soldiers, etc. Who knows, so this probably was a great idea. Apparently Artaxerxes would have provided his soldiers as escorts, had Ezra asked. Nicely. But Ezra shows some humility here, as well as someone who isn't afraid to be afraid. There weren't too many lay people who did devotion to God better than Ezra. Even though his faith was very strong, as was his devotion, he kind of laid it all out on the line. He knew God would protect him, but maybe he thought that God would have provided him with protection through Artaxerxes soldiers. But then again, maybe Ezra wanted all glory to God, so that no one could say a man had to protect God's man, which has happened before.