Those who came with Ezra from Babylon and the treasure they brought
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| 1 ¶ These
are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them that
went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king.
.2 Of the sons of Phinehas; Gershom: of the sons of Ithamar; Daniel: of the sons of David; Hattush. 3 Of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Pharosh; Zechariah: and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males an hundred and fifty. 4 Of the sons of Pahathmoab; Elihoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males. 5 Of the sons of Shechaniah; the son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males. 6 Of the sons also of Adin; Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males. 7 And of the sons of Elam; Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males. 8 And of the sons of Shephatiah; Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him fourscore males. 9 Of the sons of Joab; Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males. 10 And of the sons of Shelomith; the son of Josiphiah, and with him an hundred and threescore males. 11 And of the sons of Bebai; Zechariah the son of Bebai, and with him twenty and eight males. 12 And of the sons of Azgad; Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him an hundred and ten males. 13 And of the last sons of Adonikam, whose names are these, Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them threescore males. 14 Of the sons also of Bigvai; Uthai, and Zabbud, and with them seventy males. 1 - Genealogy The list parallels the one at ezr0203. The numbers here are much smaller. Adding women and children to the 1,754 men we may estimate that about 8,000 people were in that group. 2 - Hattush The semicolons represented a major break when the KJV was written. Hattusch was a grandson of Shechaniah v3. 1ch0322. Thus the latter should be at the end of verse 2. 5 - Shechanniah A name may have been lost from the text. |
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| 15 And I gathered them together
to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days:
and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons
of Levi.
16 Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding. |
16 - Then I sent for Ezra was concerned that no Levites had volunteered to leave Babylon. He had planned for spiritual revival ezr0710, ezr10. |
| 17 And I sent them with commandment
unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should
say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia,
that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God.
18 And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen; 19 And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty; .20 Also of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinims: all of them were expressed by name. |
18
- Man of understanding Hebrew 'ish sekel. Some believe
that the term was the name of a person but this is problematic. Perhaps
Ezra didn't remember his name or it got omitted.
20 - Nethinims They assisted the Levites. I take this to mean more than sweeping the floors. They have a serious responsibility in v17. |
| 21 ¶ Then I proclaimed
a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before
our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and
for all our substance.
22 For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him. 23 So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us. |
22 - Ashamed to require ... soldiers "He had represented God, the object of his worship, as supremely powerful, and as having the strongest affection for his true followers: he could not, therefore, consistently with his declarations, ask a band of soldiers from the king to protect them on the way, when they were going expressly to rebuild the temple of Jehovah, and restore his worship. He therefore found it necessary to seek the Lord by fasting and prayer, that they might have from Him those succours without which they might become a prey to their enemies; and then the religion which they professed would be considered by the heathen as false and vain. Thus we see that this good man had more anxiety for the glory of God than for his own personal safety." (Adam Clark's Commentary). Nehemiah did have human protection however ne0209. |
| 24 ¶ Then I separated
twelve of the chief of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their
brethren with them,
25 And weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering of the house of our God, which the king, and his counsellors, and his lords, and all Israel there present, had offered: 26 I even weighed unto their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels an hundred talents, and of gold an hundred talents; 27 Also twenty basons of gold, of a thousand drams; and two vessels of fine copper, precious as gold. |
24-32 - Separated ... weighed The custody of the contributions and of the sacred vessels was, during the journey, committed to twelve of the chief priests, who, with the assistance of ten of their brethren, were to watch closely over them by the way, and deliver them into the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. The treasures in silver and gold, according to the value of the Babylonian talent, amounted to about 515,000 pounds sterling." The commentary quoted from was probably written during the 1800s or early 1900s. |
| 28 And I said unto them, Ye
are holy unto the LORD; the vessels are holy also; and the silver and the
gold are a freewill offering unto the LORD God of your fathers.
.29 Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them before the chief of the priests and the Levites, and chief of the fathers of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD. 30 So took the priests and the Levites the weight of the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God. |
29 - Chambers Rooms in the temple complex. |
| 31 ¶ Then we departed
from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto
Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from
the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.
32 And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days. |
31 - Delivered us This does not mean that they were attacked. |
| 33 Now on the fourth day was
the silver and the gold and the vessels weighed in the house of our God
by the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest; and with him was Eleazar
the son of Phinehas; and with them was Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah
the son of Binnui, Levites;
34 By number and by weight of every one: and all the weight was written at that time. |
33
- Fourth day ... house "The first three days after their
arrival in Jerusalem were undoubtedly given to repose; on the next, the
treasures were weighed and handed over to the custody of the officiating
priests of the temple. The returned exiles offered burnt offerings, and
Ezra delivered the royal commission to the satraps and inferior magistrates;
while the Levitical portion of them lent all the assistance they could
in performing the additional work which the arrival of so many new worshippers
occasioned." (JFB).
33 - Meremoth Leader of one of the orders of priests who served under both Ezra and Nehemiah and helped repair the wall ne0304, ne0321. He also signed the covenant ne1005. 34 - Jeshua and Noadiah See the note at the left for Jeshua. 34 - Weight written This record meant that audits would be allowed. |
| 35 Also the children of those
that had been carried away, which were come out of the captivity, offered
burnt offerings unto the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel,
ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambs, twelve he goats for a sin
offering: all this was a burnt offering unto the LORD.
.36 And they delivered the king's commissions unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors on this side the river: and they furthered the people, and the house of God. |
35
- Burnt offerings Like those who preceded him under Zerubbabel
offered the sacrifice for "all Israel" in the temple dedication ezr0617
those who came from captivity also made this sacrifice.
35 - Twelve bullocks "Though of tribes there were only Judah and Benjamin, yet they offered a bullock for every tribe, as if present. There can be little doubt that there were individuals there from all the twelve tribes, possibly some families of each; but no complete tribe but those mentioned above." (Clark) 36 - Delivered This verse may have been a summary of a report of travel to Jerusalem. Some have argued that two authors are seen but evidence is insufficient. 36 - Lieutenants From 'achashdarpenim. the equivalent of the Persian word for "satrap." See es0312. |
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