The priests ,.... An account of them is given in this and the three following verses, and only four families are mentioned, those of Jedaiah, Immer, Pashur, and Harim, and the number of them amounted to 4289; these, according to the Jews, were heads of four courses, which were all that returned from Babylon F21 T. Hieros. Taanioth, fol. 68. 1. . read more
The priests - The preceding list takes in the census of Judah and Benjamin. read more
The list may be divided into ten parts:— 1. Enumeration of the leaders (verse 2). 2. Numbers of those who returned, arranged according to families (verses 3-19). 3. Numbers of those who returned, arranged according to localities (verses 20-35). 4. Numbers of the priests, arranged according to families (verses 36-39). 5. Numbers of the Levites, arranged similarly (verses 40-42). 6. Families of the Nethinim (verses 43-54). 7. Families of "Solomon's servants"... read more
The muster-roll. The last chapter gave us a catalogue of the sacred vessels returned. In that portion of the present chapter which concludes with the above verses we have a similar catalogue of the sacred people returned (see Lamentations 4:2 ). The first verse seems to show us where this catalogue was made out, viz; in the land of their exile, where Judaea was constantly spoken of as "the province" (comp. Ezra 5:8 ; Nehemiah 1:3 ; Nehemiah 11:3 ). If the nearly identical... read more
Spiritual significances. What signifies to us, it may be asked, the exact number of the children of Parosh and Shephatiah ( Ezra 2:3 , Ezra 2:4 )? What does it signify to us that the heads of the returning families bore such and such a name? Why record this? What is— I. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS RECORD OF NAMES AND NUMBERS ? The pains which the children of Israel took to keep a strict record of their families in Persia may have been (a) an act of faith : it... read more
Men forsaking the worldly life. We regard the people returning from Babylon as typical of men going out of the worldly life into the life and work of the kingdom of God. Observe— I. THAT MEN FORSAKE THE WORLDLY LIFE FROM CHOICE . Cyrus compelled no man to leave the land of captivity. The Jews left Babylon in the exercise of their own free will. Israel as a nation went out of Egypt; but as individuals they come out of Babylon. Heaven compels no man to forsake sin. 1. ... read more
The priests. Four priestly families went up with Zerubbabel. Of these, three traced their descent to persons who had been heads of the priestly courses in the reign of David, viz; Jedaiah, Immer, and Hardin ( 1 Chronicles 24:7 , 1 Chronicles 24:8 , 1 Chronicles 24:14 ). The other family had for founder a priest named Pashur, who was not otherwise distinguished. The numbers assigned to the priests by Ezra are identical with those in Nehemiah ( Nehemiah 7:39-42 ). Jedaiah, of the... read more
Ezra 2:36. The priests Having numbered the people that went of Judah and Benjamin, he proceeds now to the tribe of Levi, and first mentions the priests. read more
Ezra 2:39. The children of Harim The head of one of the twenty-four courses which David appointed, (1 Chronicles 24:8,) of all which courses, some observe here, are not above four or five that returned. There is another Harim mentioned above, Ezra 2:32, but that was no priest as this was, Ezra 2:36. read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezra 2:36-63
Here is an account, I. Of the priests that returned, and they were a considerable number, about a tenth part of the whole company: for the whole were above 42,000 (Ezra 2:64), and four families of priests made up above 4200 (Ezra 2:36-39); thus was the tenth God's part?a blessed decimation. Three of the fathers of the priests here named were heads of courses, 1 Chron. 24:7, 8, 14. The fourth was Pashur, Ezra 2:38. If these were of the posterity of that Pashur that abused Jeremiah (Jer. 20:1),... read more