Note 3 at Mt 2:4: Ezra was a scribe during the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, and he was a very godly man. The office of a scribe was a worthy one, but the scribes of Jesus' day were often rebuked by Him for having gone beyond the job of copying out the Scriptures. They had a large volume of interpretations that they had added to the Scriptures based on traditions and had thus made "the word of God of none effect" (Mr 7:13). For additional notes on "scribe," see note 3 at Lu 6:7, note 1 at Mt 13:52, and note 4 at Lu 11:45.