Ezra was a priest descended from Aaron and "a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses" (Ezra 7:6). About 80 years after the first return from exile, Ezra led a second wave of exiles back to Jerusalem. His life's pattern is captured in Ezra 7:10 — one of the most important verses for any teacher: "For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel." Note the sequence: seek, do, then teach. Anyone who reverses it becomes a Pharisee. When Ezra found that many returned exiles had intermarried with pagan peoples, he tore his clothes, pulled out his hair and beard, and prayed a public prayer of national confession (Ezra 9-10). The people repented. In Nehemiah 8, Ezra led a great public reading of the Law. He stood on a wooden platform, opened the book, and the people stood. The Levites "helped the people to understand the Law... and they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading" (Nehemiah 8:7-8). That is the biblical model of public preaching: read the Word, explain it clearly, help the people understand. Ezra is the patron saint of every serious expositor.