Esdras 8:15-30 BDS

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezra 8:1-20

Ezra, having received his commission from the king, beats up for volunteers, as it were, sets up an ensign to assemble the outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah, Isa. 11:12. ?Whoever of the sons of Sion, that swell with the daughters of Babylon, is disposed to go to Jerusalem, now that the temple there is finished and the temple-service set a-going, now is their time.? Now one would think that under such a leader, with such encouragements, all the Jews should at length have shaken... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezra 8:21-23

Ezra has procured Levites to go along with him; but what will that avail, unless he have God with him? That is therefore his chief care. In all our ways we must acknowledge God, and in those particularly wherein we are endeavouring to serve the interest of his kingdom among men. Ezra does so here. Observe, I. The stedfast confidence he had in God and in his gracious protection. He told the king (Ezra 8:22) what principles he went upon, that those who seek God are safe under the shadow of his... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezra 8:24-30

We have here an account of the particular care which Ezra took of the treasure he had with him, that belonged to God's sanctuary, Observe, 1. Having committed the keeping of it to God, he committed the keeping of it to proper men, whose business it was to watch it, though without God they would have waked in vain. Note, Our prayers must always be seconded with our endeavours; the care of Christ's gospel, his church, and ordinances, must not be so left with him but that it must also be... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:15

And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava ,.... From whence also the river bore the same name; or that from the river, see Ezra 8:21 , and may be the same with Adiabene, a country in Assyria, which had its name from the river Adiava: and there abode we in tents three days ; or pitched their camp; this was the place of their rendezvous: and I viewed the people and the priests ; mustered them, took the number of them, and what tribe and families they were of: ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:16

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. These were all in the camp, in some part of it, to whom Ezra sent messengers to come unto him; three of them are of the same name; the first nine were men of chief note, rank, and dignity in their family, and the other two were noted for men of good sense, and that could... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:17

And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief, at the place Casiphia ,.... Not a place by the Caspian sea, and near the Caspian mountains, as Munster, which was too far off to go and return in the time they must, see Ezra 7:9 , but, as Jarchi, a place in Babylon so called, a village near it, or a parish or street in it, where Ezra knew lived many of the Levites and Nethinims, and where Iddo was the chief of the Levites, and over them both: and I told them what they should say... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:18

And by the good hand of our God upon us ,.... Favouring their designs and orders, protecting those that were sent, and inclining those they were sent to use their interest and authority with those that were under them, and making them willing also to agree to what was proposed to them: they brought us a man of understanding of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel ; an Israelite, of the tribe of Levi, in the line of Mahli a son of Merari, the third son of Levi: and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:19

And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari ,.... These were of the same division of Levites as Sherebiah: his brethren and their sons, twenty ; these thirty eight, with those they came with, were all Levites; the Nethinims follow. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:20

Also of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites ,.... To wait upon them, and minister to them, as they did to the priests; some think those were the same with the Gibeonites, whom Joshua gave to the service of the sanctuary, and David confirmed; but others are of opinion these were different from them, and an addition to them: two hundred and twenty Nethinims: all of them were expressed by name ; in the history that Iddo sent of them to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:21

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava ,.... After the messengers to Iddo were returned with those they brought with them: that we might afflict ourselves before our God ; humble themselves before him for their sins, confess them, and declare their repentance of them, and ask forgiveness for them: to seek of him a right way for us ; to take from thence towards Jerusalem, to be directed by him in it: either by a prophet, or by a vision in a dream, as Eben Ezra; or rather... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezra 8:1-20

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezra 8:21-23

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezra 8:24-30

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:15

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:16

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:17

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:18

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:19

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:20

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 8:21

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