7:1 Now after this. About sixty years passed between the events at the end of ch. 6 and those at the beginning of ch. 7. The only information we have on this period from Ezra and Nehemiah concerns opposition in the days of Ahasuerus (4:6 note)—the events in the Book of Esther occurred during this period (Esth. 1:1).

Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes I, king of Persia from 465–424 b.c.

Ezra. The lengthy introduction of Ezra (vv. 1–10) signals his importance for what follows. The first information given about Ezra is his ancestry. The genealogy is full but not complete; the phrase “son of” is often used to mean “descendant.” Ezra’s line goes back to Aaron, establishing his priestly authority for his subsequent actions.