Bible Commentaries

List of Those Who Returned fromBabylon with Zerubbabel and Joshua - Ezra 2

The title (Ezra 2:1 and Ezra 2:2) announces that the list which follows it (vv. 3-67)contains the number of the men of the people of Israel who returned toJerusalem and Judah from the captivity in Babylon, under the conduct ofZerubbabel, Joshua, and other leaders. It is composed of separate lists: ofthe families of the people, vv. 3-35; of the priests and Levites,Ezra 2:36-42; of theNethinims and servants of Solomon, vv. 43-58; of families who could notprove their Israelite descent, and of certain priests whose genealogy couldnot be found, Ezra 2:59-63; and it closes with the sum-total of the persons, andof their beasts of burden, Ezra 2:64-67. This is followed by an enumeration of thegifts which they brought with them for the temple (Ezra 2:68 and Ezra 2:69), and bya final statement with regard to the entire list (Ezra 2:70). Nehemiah also, whenhe desired to give a list of the members of the community at Jerusalem,met with the same document, and incorporated it in the book which bearshis name (Neh 7:6-73). It is also contained in 1 Esdr. 5:7-45. The threetexts, however, exhibit in the names, and still more so in the numbers, suchvariations as involuntarily arise in transcribing long lists of names andfigures. The sum-total of 42,630 men and 7337 servants and maids is alikein all three texts; but the addition of the separate numbers in the Hebrewtext of Ezra gives only 29,818, those in Nehemiah 31,089, and those in theGreek Esdras 30,143 men. In our elucidation of the list, we shall chieflyhave respect to the differences between the texts of Ezra and Nehemiah,and only notice the variations in 1 Esdras so far as they may appear toconduce to a better understanding of the matter of our text.

The title. - “These are the children of the province that went upout of the captivity, of the carrying away (i.e., of those which had beencarried away), whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried awayunto Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, every one to hiscity.” In Nehemiah 7:6 לבבל is omitted, through an error oftranscription caused by the preceding בּבל; and וליהוּדה stands instead of ויהוּדה, which does not, however,affect the sense. המּדינה is the province whose capital wasJerusalem (Nehemiah 11:3), i.e., the province of Judaea as a district of thePersian empire; so Ezra 5:8; Nehemiah 1:2. The Chethiv נבוכדנצור is similarto the form Nebucadrezor, Jeremiah 49:28, and is nearer to the Babylonian formof this name than the usual biblical forms Nebucadnezzar orNebucadrezzar. For further remarks on the various forms of this name, seeon Daniel 1:1. They returned “each to his city,” i.e., to the city in which he or hisancestors had dwelt before the captivity. Bertheau, on the contrary, thinksthat, “though in the allotment of dwelling-places some respect wouldcertainly be had to the former abode of tribes and families, yet the meaningcannot be that every one returned to the locality where his forefathers haddwelt: first, because it is certain (?) that all memorial of the connection oftribes and families was frequently obliterated, comp. below, Nehemiah 7:61-64; andthen, because a small portion only of the former southern kingdom beingassigned to the returned community, the descendants of dwellers in thosetowns which lay without the boundaries of the new state could not returnto the cities of their ancestors.” True, however, as this may be, the city ofeach man cannot mean that “which the authorities, in arranging the affairsof the community, assigned to individuals as their domicile, and of whichthey were reckoned inhabitants in the lists then drawn up for the sake oflevying taxes,” etc. (Bertheau). This would by no means be expressed by the words, “they returned eachto his own city.” We may, on the contrary, correctly say that the wordshold good à potiori, i.e., they are used without regard to exceptionsinduced by the above-named circumstance. אשׁר־בּאוּ, Ezra 2:2,corresponds with the העלים of Ezra 2:1; hence in Nehemiah 7:7 we findalso the participle בּאים. They came with Zerubbabel, etc., thatis, under their conduct and leadership. Zerubbabel ( Ζοροβάβελ ,זרבּבל or זרוּבבל, probably abbreviated from בּבל זרוּע, in Babylonia satus seu genitus) the son of Shealtiel was adescendant of the captive king Jehoiachin (see on 1 Chronicles 3:17), and wasprobably on account of this descent made leader of the expedition, androyal governor of the new settlement, by Cyrus. Jeshua (ישׁוּע, the subsequently abbreviated form of the name Jehoshua orJoshua, which is used Nehemiah 8:17 also for Joshua the son of Nun, thecontemporary of Moses) the son of Josedech (Hagg. Joshua 1:1), and thegrandson of Seraiah the high priest, who was put to death byNebuchadnezzar at Riblah, was the first high priest of the restoredcommunity; see on 1 Chronicles 6:15. Besides those of Zerubbabel and Joshua, nine (or in Nehemiah morecorrectly ten) names, probably of heads of families, but of whom nothingfurther is known, are placed here. 1. Nehemiah, to be distinguished fromthe well-known Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah, Nehemiah 1:1; 2. Seraiah,instead of which we have in Nehemiah 7:7 Azariah; 3. Reeliah, in Nehemiah,Raamiah; 4. Nahamani in Nehemiah, Εὐηνέος in 1 Esdras 5:8, omitted inthe text of Ezra; 5. Mordecai, not the Mordecai of the book of Esther (Esther 2:5.); 6. Bilshan; 7. Mispar, in Nehemiah Mispereth; 8. Bigvai; 9. Rehum,in 1 Esdras Ροΐ́μος ; 10. Baanah. These ten, or reckoning Zerubbabel andJoshua, twelve men, are evidently intended, as leaders of the returningnation, to represent the new community as the successor of the twelvetribes of Israel. This is also unmistakeably shown by the designation, thepeople of Israel, in the special title, and by the offering of twelve sin-offerings, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, at the dedicationof the new temple, Ezra 6:16. The genealogical relation, however, of these twelve representatives to thetwelve tribes cannot be ascertained, inasmuch as we are told nothing of thedescent of the last ten. Of these ten names, one meets indeed with that ofSeraiah, Nehemiah 10:3; of Bigvai, in the mention of the sons of Bigvai, Ezra 8:14; of Rehum, Nehemiah 3:17; Nehemiah 12:3; and of Baanah, Nehemiah 10:28; butthere is nothing to make the identity of these persons probable. Even incase they were all of them descended from members of the former kingdomof Judah, this is no certain proof that they all belonged also to the tribes ofJudah and Benjamin, since even in the reign of Rehoboam pious Israelitesof the ten tribes emigrated thither, and both at and after the destruction ofthe kingdom of the ten tribes, many Israelites might have taken refuge andsettled in Judah. The last words, Ezra 2:2, “The number of the men of thepeople of Israel,” contain the special title of the first division of thefollowing list, with which the titles in Ezra 2:36, Ezra 2:40, Ezra 2:43, and Ezra 2:55 correspond. They are called the people of Israel, not the people of Judah, becausethose who returned represented the entire covenant people.

List of the houses and families of the people. Comp. Neh 7:8-38. - To showthe variations in names and numbers between the two texts, we here placethem side by side, the names in Nehemiah being inserted in parentheses.

d Ezra IIEzra IINeh. VII
d
d 1. The Sons of Parosh
d 21722172
d
d 2. The Sons of Shephatiah
d 372372
d
d 3. The Sons of Arah
d 775652
d
d 4. The Sons of Pahath Moab, of the sons of Joshua and Joab
d 28122818
d
d 5. The Sons of Elam
d 12541254
d
d 6. The Sons of Zattu
d 945845
d
d 7. The Sons of Zaccai
d 760760
d
d 8. The Sons of Bani (Binnui)
d 642648
d
d 9. The Sons of Bebai
d 623628
d
d 10. The Sons of Azgad
d 12222322
d
d 11. The Sons of Adonikam
d 666667
d
d 12. The Sons of Bigvai
d 20562067
d
d 13. The Sons of Adin
d 454655
d
d 14. The Sons of Ater of Hezekiah
d 9898
d
d 15. The Sons of Bezai
d 323324
d
d 16. The Sons of Jorah (Harif)
d 112112
d
d 17. The Sons of Hashum
d 223328
d
d 18. The Sons of Gibbar (Gibeon)
d 9595
d
d 19. The Sons of Bethlehem
d 123123
d
d 20. The Men of Netophah
d 5656
d
d 21. The Men of Anathoth
d 128128
d
d 22. The Sons of Azmaveth (men of Beth-azmaveth)
d 4242
d
d 23. The Sons of Kirjath-arim, Chephirah, Beeroth
d 743743
d
d 24. The Sons of Ramah and Gaba
d 621621
d
d 25. The Men of Michmas
d 122122
d
d 26. The Men of Bethel and Ai
d 223123
d
d 27. The Sons of Nebo (Acher)
d 5252
d
d 28. The Sons of Magbish
d 156wanting
d
d 29. The Sons of other Elam
d 12541254
d
d 30. The Sons of Harim
d 320320
d
d 31. The Sons of Lod, Hadid, Ono
d 725721
d
d 32. The Sons of Jericho
d 345345
d
d 33. The Sons of Senaah
d 36303930
d
d Total
d 24,14425,406
d
d

The differences in the names are unimportant. In Ezra 2:6 the ו copulativeinserted between the names ישׁוּע and יואב, both inNehemiah and 1 Esdras, is wanting; the name בּני (Ezra 2:10) iswritten בּנּוּי in Nehemiah (Nehemiah 7:15); for יורה (Ezra 2:18),Nehemiah 7:24 has חריף, evidently another name for the sameperson, Jorah having a similarity of sound with יורה, harvest-rain, and חריף with חרף, harvest; for נּבּר (Ezra 2:20), Nehemiah 7:25 more correctly read גּבעון, the name of the town; and forערים קרית (Ezra 2:25), Nehemiah 7:29 has the more correct formיערים קרית: the sons of Azmaveth (Ezra 2:24) stands inNehemiah as the men of Beth-azmaveth; while, on the other hand, for thesons of Nebo (Ezra 2:29), we have in Nehemiah (Nehemiah 7:33) the men of NeboAcher, where אחר seems to have been inserted inadvertently,Elam Acher so soon following.

(Note: This view is more probable than the notion of Dietrich, in A. Merx, Archiv für wissensch. Forschung des A. T., No. 3, p. 345, thatby the addition אחר in Nehemiah, the Nebo in Judah isdistinguished from the Nebo in Reuben.)

The names Bezai, Jorah, and Hashum (Ezra 2:17-19) are transposed inNehemiah (Nehemiah 7:22-24) thus, Hashum, Bezai, and Harif; as are also Lod,etc., and Jericho, (Ezra 2:33, Ezra 2:34) into Jericho and Lod, etc. (Nehemiah, vv. 36,37). Lastly, the sons of Magbish (Ezra 2:30) are omitted in Nehemiah; and thesons of Bethlehem and the men of Netophah (Ezra 2:21 and Ezra 2:22) are inNehemiah (Nehemiah 7:26) reckoned together, and stated to be 188 instead of 123 +56 = 179. A glance at the names undoubtedly shows that those numbered1-17 are names of races or houses: those from 18-27, and from 31-33, areas certainly names of towns; there, therefore, inhabitants of towns arenamed. This series is, however, interrupted by Nos. 28-30; Harim beingundoubtedly, and Magbish very probably, names not of places, but ofpersons; while the equality of the number of the other, Elam 1254, withthat of Elam (No. 6), seems somewhat strange. To this must be added, thatMagbish is wanting both in Nehemiah and 2 Esdras, and the other Elam in1 Esdras; while, in place of the sons of Harim 320, we have in 1 Esdr. 5:16, in a more appropriate position, υἱοὶ Ἀρομ 32. Hence Bertheauinfers that Nos. 28 and 29, sons of Magbish and sons of Elam Acher (vv. 30 and 31), are spurious, and that Harim should be written Ἀρώμ , andinserted higher up. The reasons for considering these three statementsdoubtful have certainly some weight; but considering the greatuntrustworthiness of the statements in the first book of Esdras, and theother differences in the three lists arising, as they evidently do, merelyfrom clerical errors, we could not venture to call them decisive.

Of the names of houses or races (Nos. 1-17 and 30), we meet with manyin other lists of the time of Ezra and Nehemiah;

(Note: In the list of those who went up with Ezra (Ezra 8), the sons ofParosh, Pahath-Moab, Adin, Elam, Shephatiah, Joab, Bebai, Azgad,Adonikam, Bigvai, and, according to the original text (Ezra 8:8, Ezra 8:10),also the sons of Zattu and Bani. In the lists of those who had takenstrange wives (Ezra 10) we meet with individuals of the sons of Parosh,Elam, Zattu, Bebai, Bani, Pahath-Moab, Harim, Hashum, and of thesons of Nebo. Finally, in the lists of the heads of the people in thetime of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 10:15.) appear the names of Parosh,Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, Azgad, Bebai, Bigvai, Adin, Ater,Hashum, Bezai, Harif, Harim, Anathoth, together with others whichdo not occur in the list we are not treating of.)

whence we perceive,(1) that of many houses only a portion returned with Zerubbabel andJoshua, the remaining portion following with Ezra; (2) that heads ofhouses are entered not by their personal names, but by that of thehouse. The names, for the most part, descend undoubtedly from the time anteriorto the captivity, although we do not meet with them in the historicalbooks of that epoch, because those books give only the genealogies ofthose more important personages who make a figure in history. Besidesthis, the genealogies in Chronicles are very incomplete, enumerating for themost part only the families of the more ancient times. Most, if not all, ofthese races or houses must be regarded as former inhabitants of Jerusalem. Nor can the circumstance that the names given in the present list are notfound in the lists of the inhabitants of Jerusalem (1 Chron 9 and Neh 11)be held as any valid objection; for in those lists only the heads of the greatraces of Judah and Benjamin are named, and not the houses which thoseraces comprised. The names of cities, on the other hand (Nos. 18-33), arefor the most part found in the older books of the Old Testament: Gibeonin Joshua 9:3; Bethlehem in 1:2; Micah 5:1; Netophah, 2 Samuel 23:28 - seecomm. on 1 Chronicles 2:54; Anathoth in Joshua 21:18; Jeremiah 1:1; Kirjath-jearim,Chephirah, and Beeroth, as cities of the Gibeonites, in Joshua 9:17; Ramahand Geba, which often occur in the histories of Samuel and Saul, also inJoshua 18:24-25; Michmash in 1 Samuel 13:2, 1 Samuel 13:5; Isaiah 10:28; Bethel and Ai inJoshua 7:2; and Jericho in Joshua 5:13, and elsewhere. All these places were situate in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and wereprobably taken possession of by former inhabitants or their childrenimmediately after the return. Azmaveth or Beth-azmaveth (Nehemiah 7:28) doesnot occur in the earlier history, nor is it mentioned out of this list, exceptin Nehemiah 12:29, according to which it must be sought for in theneighbourhood of Geba. It has not, however, been as yet discovered; forthe conjecture of Ritter, Erdk. xvi. p. 519, that it may be el-Hizme, nearAnâta, is unfounded. Nor can the position of Nebo be certainlydetermined, the mountain of that name (Numbers 32:3) being out of thequestion. Nob or Nobe (1 Samuel 21:2) has been thought to be this town. Itssituation is suitable; and this view is supported by the fact that in Nehemiah 11:31., Nob, and not Nebo, is mentioned, together with many of theplaces here named; in Ezra 10:43, however, the sons of Nebo are againspecified. As far as situation is concerned, Nuba, or Beit-Nuba (Robinson's BiblicalResearches, p. 189), may, as Bertheau thinks, correspond with this town. Magbish was by many older expositors regarded as the name of a place,but is certainly that of a person; and no place of such a name is known. The localities Lod, Hadid, and Ono (Ezra 2:33) first occur in the later books ofthe Old Testament. On Lod and Ono, see comm. on 1 Chronicles 8:12. חדיד is certainly Ἀδιδά (1 Macc. 12:28, 13:13), not far fromLydda, where there is still a place called el-Hadithe, Arab. ('l-(hdı̂th) (Robinson's Biblical Researches, p. 186). סנאה, Ezra 2:35, isidentified by older expositors with Σεννά, ν͂ν Μαγδαλσεννά , whichJerome describes as terminus Judae, in septimo lapide Jerichus contra septentrionalem plagam (Onom. ed. Lars. et Parth. p. 332f.); in oppositionto which, Robinson, in his above-cited work, identifies Magdal-Senna witha place called Mejdel, situate on the summit of a high hill about eighteenmiles north of Jericho. The situation, however, of this town does not agreewith the distance mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome, and the nameMejdel, i.e., tower, is not of itself sufficient to identify it with Magdal-Senna. The situation of the Senaah in question is not as yet determined; itmust be sought for, however, at no great distance from Jericho. Of thetowns mentioned in the present list, we find that the men of Jericho,Senaah, and Gibeon, as well as the inhabitants of Tekoa, Zanoah, Beth-haccerem, Mizpah, Beth-zur, and Keilah, assisted at the building of thewalls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah (Nehemiah 3:2-3, Nehemiah 3:7). A larger number oftowns of Judah and Benjamin is specified in the list in Nehemiah 11:25-35,whence we perceive that in process of time a greater multitude of Jewsreturned from captivity and settled in the land of their fathers.

The list of the priests is identical, both in names and numbers, with that ofNehemiah 7:39-42. These are:


d The sons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua973
d
d The sons of Immer1052
d
d The sons of Pashur1247
d
d The sons of Harim1017
d
d Total4289
d
d
Jedaiah is the head of the second order of priests in 1 Chronicles 24:7. If, then,Jedaiah here represents this order, the words “of the house of Jeshua”must not be applied to Jeshua the high priest; the second order belongingin all probability to the line of Ithamar, and the high-priestly race, on thecontrary, to that of Eleazar. We also meet the name Jeshua in otherpriestly families, e.g., as the name of the ninth order of priests in 1 Chronicles 24:11, so that it may be the old name of another priestly house. Since,however, it is unlikely that no priest of the order from which the highpriest descended should return, the view that by Joshua the high priest isintended, and that the sons of Jedaiah were a portion of the house towhich Joshua the high priest belonged, is the more probable one. In thiscase Jedaiah is not the name of the second order of priests, but of the headof a family of the high-priestly race. Immer is the name of the sixteenth order of priests, 1 Chronicles 24:14. Pashurdoes not occur among the orders of priests in 1 Chron 24; but we find thename, 1 Chronicles 9:12, and Nehemiah 11:12, among the ancestors of Adaiah, apriest of the order of Malchijah; the Pashur of Jer 20 and Jeremiah 21:1-14 being, on thecontrary, called the son of Immer, i.e., a member of the order of Immer. Hence Bertheau considers Pashur to have been the name of a priestly race,which first became extensive, and took the place of an older and perhapsextinct order, after the time of David. Gershom of the sons of Phinehas,and Daniel of the sons of Ithamar, are said, Daniel 8:2, to have gone up toJerusalem with Ezra, while the order to which they belonged is notspecified. Among the priests who had married strange wives (Ezra 10:18-22) are named, sons of Jeshua, Immer, Harim, Pashur; whence it has beeninferred “that, till the time of Ezra, only the four divisions of priests hereenumerated had the charge of divine worship in the new congregation”(Bertheau). On the relation of the names in Ezra 2:36-39 to those in Nehemiah 10:3-9 and 12:1-22, see remarks on these passages.

Levites, Nethinim, and Solomon's servants. Comp. Neh. 7:43-60.

d EzraNeh.

d
d Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodivah
d 7474
d
d Singers: sons of Asaph
d 128148
d
d Sons of the door-keepers; sons of Shallum, Ater. Etc.

d 139138
d
d Nethinim and servants of Solomon, in all
d 392392
d
d Total
d 733752
d
d
The Levites are divided into three classes: Levites in the stricter sense ofthe word, i.e., assistants of the priests in divine worship, singers, anddoor-keepers; comp. 1 Chronicles 24:20-31, 1 Chronicles 24:25, and 26:1-19. Of Levites in thestricter sense are specified the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel of the sons ofHodaviah (וקדמיאל, and הודויה of our text areevidently correct readings; and לקדמיאל and הודיה, Keriלהודיּה, Nehemiah 7:43, errors of transcription). The addition, “of the sonsof Hodaviah,” belongs to Kadmiel, to distinguish him from other Levites ofsimilar name. Jeshua and Kadmiel were, according to Ezra 3:9, chiefs oftwo orders of Levites in the times of Zerubbabel and Joshua. These namesrecur as names of orders of Levites in Nehemiah 10:10. We do not find the sonsof Hodaviah in the lists of Levites in Chronicles.

Ezra 2:41

Of singers, only the sons of Asaph, i.e., members of the choir ofAsaph, returned. In Nehemiah 11:17 three orders are named, Bakbukiahevidently representing the order of Heman.

Ezra 2:42

Of door-keepers, six orders or divisions returned, among whichthose of Shallum, Talmon, and Akkub dwelt, according to 1 Chronicles 9:17, atJerusalem before the captivity. Of the sons of Ater, Hatita and Shobai,nothing further is known.

Ezra 2:43-58