Ezra 2:64

A SUMMARY OF ALL THOSE WHO RETURNED

"The whole assembly together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore, besides their men-servants and their maid-servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven: and they had two hundred singing men and singing women. Their horses were seven hundred thirty and six; their mules two hundred forty and five; their camels, four hundred thirty and five; their asses, six thousand seven hundred and twenty."

"The numbers given earlier in the chapter add up to twelve thousand less than the total of 42,380 given in this verse. Reckoning up the smaller numbers we have 29,818 as given here and 31,089 as given in the parallel in Nehemiah. Ezra mentions 491 not mentioned by Nehemiah; and Nehemiah mentions 1765 not given in Ezra. If we add Ezra's 491 to Nehemiah's total and Nehemiah's 1765 to Ezra's total, they both equal 31,583, which is a deficiency of exactly 10,777."[19]

They may have been left out, either because they were not members of Abraham's posterity, and from the Jewish viewpoint therefore did not count. There is also the possibility that these were women, the wives of the returnees.[20]

"Two hundred singing men and singing women" (Ezra 2:65). "These were not singers appointed for use in the worship but musicians retained by the wealthy for their entertainment."[21] Significantly, they were not listed as part of the assembly but along with other properties, the horses, mules and camels. Whitcomb thought that these singers were, "Hired by the Israelites for festivities and lamentations."[22] However, Hamrick, and others, insist that, "They were slaves maintained for the entertainment of the rich."[23]

"This catalogue of the property that Israel brought back to Palestine indicates the general poverty and low estate of the returnees. They had but one slave and one ass for every six of their number, one horse to every sixty, one camel to every hundred, and one mule to every one hundred and seventy and five."[24]