**Ezra**, often called _Ezra the Scribe_ (or _Ezra the Priest_), a central figure in the Hebrew Bible. He lived during the **Persian period** (5th century BCE) when the Jews were returning from the Babylonian exile under Persian imperial rule. ### **What he did** The Book of **Ezra, chapters 9–10** describes him leading a reform movement in [[Jerusalem]]. He was alarmed that many Jewish men had married “foreign women” from surrounding peoples. Viewing this as a threat to the community’s covenantal identity, he issued a directive that these men **separate from their non-Jewish wives and children**. ### **Why it happened** Ezra’s concern was not ethnic purity in a modern racial sense, but **religious fidelity** and the survival of a fragile, recently restored community. Intermarriage was framed as leading to the adoption of non-Yahwistic religious practices, which he believed would undermine the renewed covenant. ### **Persian context** The Persian [[Empires|Empire]] allowed considerable local autonomy, including religious and legal self-governance. Ezra is presented as having imperial authorisation to restore Jewish law, which gave him the authority to carry out these reforms. `Concepts:` `Knowledge Base:`