Ezra highlights his authority by listing his genealogy (record of ancestors). He traces his family line through Zadok, who served as priest under Solomon, and back to Aaron, the high priest and brother of Moses (1 Kings 2:35). This genealogy is clearly shortened. It includes only 16 generations from Aaron to about eighty years after the exile, while 1 Chronicles 6:3–15 lists 23 generations from Aaron to the exile in Babylon.