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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Ezra 2 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/ezra/2.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/ezra/2.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/ezra/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../ezra/">Ezra</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../ezra/1.htm" title="Ezra 1">◄</a> Ezra 2 <a href="../ezra/3.htm" title="Ezra 3">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap">II.</span><p>(1-70) Enumeration of the families and dedication of the substance of the company who returned.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-1.htm">Ezra 2:1</a></div><div class="verse">Now these <i>are</i> the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city;</div>(1) <span class= "bld">The children of the province that went up out of the captivity.</span>—They came from “the captivity,” which was now as it were a generic name—“Children of the captivity” in Babylon (<a href="/daniel/2-2.htm" title="Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.">Daniel 2:2</a>), in Judah (<a href="/ezra/4-1.htm" title="Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity built the temple to the LORD God of Israel;">Ezra 4:1</a>)—and became “children of the province,” the Judæan province of Persia.<p><span class= "bld">Every one unto his city.</span>—So far, that is, as his city was known. The various cities, or villages, are more distinctly enumerated in Nehemiah.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-2.htm">Ezra 2:2</a></div><div class="verse">Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:</div>(2) <span class= "bld">Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua.</span>—The leaders of the people, perhaps the twelve tribes, are represented by twelve names, one of which, Nahamani, is here wanting; three others are given in slightly different forms.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-3.htm">Ezra 2:3</a></div><div class="verse">The children of Parosh, two thousand an hundred seventy and two.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">The children of Parosh</span> <span class= "bld">. . .</span>—Then comes the enumeration of the family and local names. In the following instances we note when two of the three authorities agree. In <a href="/ezra/2-6.htm" title="The children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve.">Ezra 2:6</a>, Ezra is confirmed by 1 Esdras as against Nehemiah’s 2,818; in <a href="/ezra/2-8.htm" title="The children of Zattu, nine hundred forty and five.">Ezra 2:8</a>, against his 945; in <a href="/ezra/2-11.htm" title="The children of Bebai, six hundred twenty and three.">Ezra 2:11</a>, against his 628; in <a href="/ezra/2-15.htm" title="The children of Adin, four hundred fifty and four.">Ezra 2:15</a>, against his 655; in <a href="/ezra/2-17.htm" title="The children of Bezai, three hundred twenty and three.">Ezra 2:17</a>, against his 324; in <a href="/ezra/2-33.htm" title="The children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty and five.">Ezra 2:33</a>, against his 721. In <a href="/ezra/2-10.htm" title="The children of Bani, six hundred forty and two.">Ezra 2:10</a>, the children of Bani, or Binnui, are 642, but 1 Esdras agrees with Nehemiah in making them 648; in <a href="/ezra/2-14.htm" title="The children of Bigvai, two thousand fifty and six.">Ezra 2:14</a>, the two latter correct <span class= "ital">666</span> into 667.—In <a href="/ezra/2-20.htm" title="The children of Gibbar, ninety and five.">Ezra 2:20</a>, heads of families become places; Nehemiah substitutes Gibeon for Gibbar. <a href="/ezra/2-30.htm" title="The children of Magbish, an hundred fifty and six.">Ezra 2:30</a> has no representative in Nehemiah. In <a href="/ezra/2-31.htm" title="The children of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four.">Ezra 2:31</a>, “the other Elam” has the same number as Elam in <a href="/ezra/2-7.htm" title="The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four.">Ezra 2:7</a>; and the Nebo of <a href="/ezra/2-29.htm" title="The children of Nebo, fifty and two.">Ezra 2:29</a> is called in Nehemiah “the other Nebo,” though the only one, as if the “other” had slipped in from what in Nehemiah is found in the next verse. In a few cases all the authorities differ, but the differences are not important.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-36.htm">Ezra 2:36</a></div><div class="verse">The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three.</div>(36) <span class= "bld">The priests: the children of Jedaiah.</span>—The priests are then given by family names, their numbers being very large in proportion to each of the other classes. Three only of David’s priestly courses are represented (<a href="/context/1_chronicles/24-7.htm" title="Now the first lot came forth to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,">1Chronicles 24:7-8</a>; <a href="/1_chronicles/24-14.htm" title="The fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer,">1Chronicles 24:14</a>); Pashur, a name mentioned elsewhere as the name of a priestly race, not being among the twenty-four in the Chronicles.<p><span class= "bld">Of</span> <span class= "bld">the</span> <span class= "bld">house of Jeshua.</span>—A peculiar expression, seeming to indicate merely that the present high priest belonged to the race of Jedaiah, who, in that case, is not the same as the head of the second order in the Chronicles, unless indeed he sprang from the high-priestly family of Eleazar.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-40.htm">Ezra 2:40</a></div><div class="verse">The Levites: the children of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the children of Hodaviah, seventy and four.</div>(40) <span class= "bld">The Levites: the children of Jeshua.</span>—Then follow the Levitical families, not priests: that is, the Levites proper, the singers, the door-keepers or porters. Of the first there were only two families, and these are both traced up to one, that of Hodaviah or Judah (<a href="/ezra/3-9.htm" title="Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brothers the Levites.">Ezra 3:9</a>) or Hodevah (<a href="/nehemiah/7-43.htm" title="The Levites: the children of Jeshua, of Kadmiel, and of the children of Hodevah, seventy and four.">Nehemiah 7:43</a>). The hereditary choristers are also few: of the families of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the first alone is represented. Nehemiah makes their number twenty more; but 1 Esdras agrees with the text of Ezra.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-42.htm">Ezra 2:42</a></div><div class="verse">The children of the porters: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, <i>in</i> all an hundred thirty and nine.</div>(42) <span class= "bld">The children of the porters.</span>—The porters, or gatekeepers, number six families, three of which appear in the old Jerusalem (<a href="/1_chronicles/9-17.htm" title="And the porters were, Shallum, and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman, and their brothers: Shallum was the chief;">1Chronicles 9:17</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-43.htm">Ezra 2:43</a></div><div class="verse">The Nethinims: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth,</div>(43-58) <span class= "bld">The Nethinims.</span>—By the etymology <span class= "ital">those given:</span> known by this name only in the later books. (See <a href="/1_chronicles/9-2.htm" title="Now the first inhabitants that dwelled in their possessions in their cities were, the Israelites, the priests, Levites, and the Nethinims.">1Chronicles 9:2</a>.) They were <span class= "ital">hieroduli,</span> or temple-bondsmen: the lowest order of the ministry, performing the more laborious duties of the sanctuary. Their history runs through a long period. Moses apportioned them first, from the Midianite captives (<a href="/numbers/31-47.htm" title="Even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them to the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.">Numbers 31:47</a>); they were reinforced from the Gibeonites (<a href="/joshua/9-23.htm" title="Now therefore you are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being slaves, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God.">Joshua 9:23</a>), and probably later by David (<a href="/ezra/8-20.htm" title="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.">Ezra 8:20</a>). Three names—Akkub, Hagab, and Asnah—have dropped from Neheniiah’s list, which gives also some unimportant changes in the spelling of the names.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-55.htm">Ezra 2:55</a></div><div class="verse">The children of Solomon's servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Peruda,</div>(55) <span class= "bld">The children of Solomon’s servants.</span>—These are mentioned in 1 Kings 9 as a servile class, formed of the residue of the Canaanites. They were probably inferior to the Nethinims, but are generally classed with them, as in the general enumeration here. Both these classes retained during their captivity their attachment to the service into which they had been received; and, the Levites being so few, their value in the reconstitution of the Temple gave them the special importance they assume in these books.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-59.htm">Ezra 2:59</a></div><div class="verse">And these <i>were</i> they which went up from Telmelah, Telharsa, Cherub, Addan, <i>and</i> Immer: but they could not shew their father's house, and their seed, whether they <i>were</i> of Israel:</div>(59-63) Finally, those who had lost the records of their lineage are mentioned. Of the people, the children of three families from Tel-melah, <span class= "ital">Hill of salt,</span> Tel-harsa, <span class= "ital">Hill of the wood,</span> and a few other places, are mentioned. Of the priests, there are also three families without their genealogy.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-61.htm">Ezra 2:61</a></div><div class="verse">And of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai; which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name:</div>(61) <span class= "bld">Barzillai the Gileadite.</span>—See the well-known history in <a href="/2_samuel/17-27.htm" title="And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,">2Samuel 17:27</a>.<p><span class= "bld">After their name.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">after her name,</span> she having been probably an heiress.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-62.htm">Ezra 2:62</a></div><div class="verse">These sought their register <i>among</i> those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.</div>(62) <span class= "bld">Their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">their record, or the record of the Enregistered.</span><p><span class= "bld">Polluted.</span>—Levitically disqualified.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-63.htm">Ezra 2:63</a></div><div class="verse">And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.</div>(63) <span class= "bld">Tirshatha.</span>—Interchangeable with <span class= "ital">Pechah,</span> or <span class= "ital">governor,</span> as Zerubbabel is called in chapter 5:14 and always in Haggai. It is probably an old Persian term, signifying “The Feared.”<p><span class= "bld">With Urim and with Thummim.</span>—See <a href="/exodus/28-30.htm" title="And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be on Aaron's heart, when he goes in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel on his heart before the LORD continually.">Exodus 28:30</a>. They were pronounced to be excluded from priestly functions. Without ark or temple, the people had not as yet that special presence of Jehovah before which the high priest could “inquire of the Lord by Urim and Thummim.” Zerubbabel might hope that this privilege would return, and thought the official purity of the priestly line of sufficient importance for such an inquiry. But the holy of holies in the new temple never had in it the ancient “tokens “; and by Urim and Thummim Jehovah was never again inquired of.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-64.htm">Ezra 2:64</a></div><div class="verse">The whole congregation together <i>was</i> forty and two thousand three hundred <i>and</i> threescore,</div>(64) This sum total is the same in Nehemiah; but the several sums in Ezra make 29,818, and in Nehemiah 31,089. The apocryphal Esdras agrees in the total, but makes in the particulars 33,950, adding that children below twelve were not reckoned. Many expedients of reconciliation have been adopted; but it is better to suppose that errors had crept into the original documents.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-65.htm">Ezra 2:65</a></div><div class="verse">Beside their servants and their maids, of whom <i>there were</i> seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and <i>there were</i> among them two hundred singing men and singing women.</div>(65) The Rabbis accounted for these “ut lætior esset Israelitarum reditus,” in order that the return of the Israelites might be more joyful; but they were hired for lamentation as well as joy; and here, possibly, to supply the defect of Levites. In Nehemiah (<a href="/nehemiah/7-67.htm" title="Beside their manservants and their maidservants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and they had two hundred forty and five singing men and singing women.">Nehemiah 7:67</a>) there are 245: see for the probable reason of the mistranscription the 245 of the next verse in that chapter.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-67.htm">Ezra 2:67</a></div><div class="verse">Their camels, four hundred thirty and five; <i>their</i> asses, six thousand seven hundred and twenty.</div>(67) The asses, as throughout earlier Hebrew history, are the chief and most numerous beasts of burden.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-68.htm">Ezra 2:68</a></div><div class="verse">And <i>some</i> of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the LORD which <i>is</i> at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up in his place:</div>(68) They came to the site of the house not yet built, and offered for the building.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-69.htm">Ezra 2:69</a></div><div class="verse">They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the work threescore and one thousand drams of gold, and five thousand pound of silver, and one hundred priests' garments.</div>(69) The dram being a daric of a little more than our guinea, and the pound, or maneh, a little more than £4. the whole would be nearly £90,000, and not an exorbitant sum for a community far from poor. But Nehemiah c statement is smaller, and probably more correct.<p><span class= "bld">One hundred priests’ garments.</span>—An almost necessary correction or supply in the defective text of Nehemiah (<a href="/nehemiah/7-70.htm" title="And some of the chief of the fathers gave to the work. The Tirshatha gave to the treasure a thousand drams of gold, fifty basins, five hundred and thirty priests' garments.">Nehemiah 7:70</a>) makes his “four hundred and thirty priests’ garments,” as contributed by the Tirshatha, “five hundred pounds of silver and thirty priests’ garments.” This being so, the two accounts agree, always allowing that Ezra’s 61,000 is a corruption of 41,000 in the gold, and his 5,000 pounds of silver and 100 priests’ garments round numbers.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/ezra/2-70.htm">Ezra 2:70</a></div><div class="verse">So the priests, and the Levites, and <i>some</i> of the people, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.</div>(70) <span class= "bld">Some of the people.</span>—<span class= "ital">Those of the people;</span> placed by Nehemiah after all the others.<p><span class= "bld">All Israel in their cities.</span>—The emphasis lies in the fact that, though Judah and Benjamin contributed the largest part, it was a national revival; and the constant repetition of “in their cities” has in it the same note of triumph.<p><span class= "bld"><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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