Ezri is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Ezri was an overseer of the workers who tilled the soil during the reign of King David. He is named only once in Scripture, in a roster of officials who administered various aspects of David’s kingdom. The men listed in 1 Chronicles 27:25–31 were charged with managing the king’s property and enterprises—storehouses, vineyards, olive trees, herds, camels, donkeys, flocks, and, in Ezri’s case, the fields. His sphere of responsibility was the land itself: those who “did the work of the field for tillage of the ground.”
The text identifies him specifically as “Ezri the son of Chelub.” His father Chelub is mentioned nowhere else in connection with him, so we know nothing more of his family line than this single patronymic. What Scripture does tell us is his function: he stood over the laborers who worked the soil, a supervisory role in the agricultural engine that helped sustain David’s court and kingdom. Farming was the economic backbone of ancient Israel, and someone had to organize, direct, and account for that labor. Ezri was that man for the fields.
Beyond this one verse, the Bible says nothing further of Ezri—no deeds, no words, no later mention. He appears in a administrative list and then vanishes from the record. Yet his inclusion in Scripture is not accidental. He belonged to the ordered structure by which David’s reign functioned, a structure that the chronicler took care to preserve. He was a real man with a real task, serving faithfully in a role that most would never notice.
The Name
The name Ezri is a shortened form of a Hebrew name built on the root *ʿ-z-r*, which carries the sense of “help” or “aid.” Names of this family appear elsewhere in Scripture—Azariah (“the LORD has helped”) and Ezra (“help”) share the same root. Ezri itself is commonly understood as a contraction meaning something like “my help” or “help of the LORD,” though the precise expansion is not certain since the theophoric element (the divine name) has been dropped in the shortened form. The meaning is not invented here; the root is well established, but the full original form behind this particular contraction is not clearly recoverable, so the exact nuance should be stated with appropriate caution.
A Closing Thought
Ezri never preached, never fought a battle, never wrote a psalm. He simply made sure the fields were worked. Yet the chronicler recorded his name among the officials of a king whose reign pointed forward to a greater King. Most of us will live lives that look more like Ezri’s than David’s—quiet, useful, largely unseen. That is no small thing. God’s kingdom has always depended on those who faithfully tend the ground entrusted to them, whether anyone notices or not. The One who sees in secret does not forget the name of a man who oversaw the soil.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: Old
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- 1 Chronicles 27:26 — And over them that did the work of the field for tillage of the ground was Ezri the son of Chelub: