The Character of Leadership: Ezra

In this study of the character of leadership, I find myself thinking about “the character of characters.” A “character” is a person, often someone who plays a part in a story and is an example from whom we can learn, but it is also a trait or attribute that can be applied to that person and to his/her leadership. When we study the character of that character – identifying biblical characters, and then identifying something in their character that can teach us something about who we are and how we lead – we learn things about the character of leadership that can be applied in our own lives. In this week’s episode, we are learning from Ezra.

It’s going to be fair to say that the book of the Bible that has had probably the greatest influence on my leadership in the last 15 years is the book of Ezra. I even wrote a book about it! It all started when I came across a specific verse, Ezra 7:10, which says, “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.” (‭NKJV‬‬) I remember when that verse jumped out at me, and I found personal significance in the meaning of it.

Ezra, the person, does not actually show up until about halfway through the book that bears his name. The book itself is the story of the return of the people of Israel to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and restore the people’s relationship to God. In the first half of the book, Zerubbabel leads the people of Israel back to Jerusalem during the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia, to rebuild the temple. Because of the obstacles they faced, it took years before that was accomplished. It is after that was done, that Ezra leads a second group of people back to repopulate Jerusalem, and to restore the heart of the people to God.

There are a lot of leadership lessons that I have drawn from the book of Ezra, and from the life of Ezra himself, all of which you can read in my book, “Leadership Ezra,“ available on Amazon, but I think the foundational characteristic for Ezra‘s leadership is found in that verse, Ezra 7:10. In this verse, we see how it is that Ezra had prepared himself for the responsibility he would be given.

In this single verse, there are four things that we can learn. First, he had prepared himself. It was intentional, and something that he actively participated in and pursued. Before he even knew what responsibility he would have from the Lord, he had done the work and taken the time to prepare himself for whatever that would be. In the same way your leadership doesn’t happen by accident, but rather as a combination of how you have prepared yourself and how God has prepared you. Second, his preparation began with building his knowledge, learning the right things in order to prepare himself for when the need would arise. As a follower of Jesus, it’s critical to note that the foundation of his knowledge base was knowing God. He studied scripture and spent time cultivating not only his knowledge of God, but his relationship with God. His knowledge gave him the capability to lead. Third, he practiced what he preached. He lived what he knew, and believed in the practices and actions of his life, this reflected integrity in his character, and gave him the credibility to lead. Finally, out of his capability and credibility, he stepped up and taught the people from what he knew, he showed the people from how he lived, and he led them to where they needed to be.

What a great lesson for us from the character of this character. In the same way, you can prepare yourself to lead by learning, living, and then leading from who you have become in that process. This is true generally speaking about who you are as a person, but I hope you will take it to the deeper level that Ezra did, and make it the model of leadership that stems first and foremost from a deep relationship with God. Just as it says about Ezra in Ezra 7:10 – prepare your heart, learn it, and live it, and then you can lead.