Ezra 8:15 - Exposition

1 gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava . The "river that runneth to Ahava" is now generally identified with the Is of Herodotus, a small stream flowing into the Euphrates from the east, at a point where stood a city of the same name, distant (according to Herodotus) eight days' journey from Babylon. The city appears to be mentioned under the slightly variant forms of Ava ( עַוָּא ) and Ivah ( עִוָּה ) in the Second Book of Kings (17:24; 19:13). It is called Aia, or Aba, by the LXX .; Ihi in the Talmud; Aei by Isidore of Charax. The modern name is Hit. The town has always been one of some importance in connection with the bitumen springs of the neighbourhood. Ezra s reason for selecting the place as a halting-point seems to have been the fact that many Jews were settled in the district (see verse 17). We abode in tents . A large caravan, like Ezra's, even when it reached a town, would pitch its tents outside, and remain in them rather than scatter itself among the khans and caravanserais. The phrase is therefore to be understood literally. I viewed the people. Rather, "I looked among the people"—I looked to see whether there were any Levites or no. (" Quaesivi in populo et in sacerdotibus de filiis Levi . " — Vulg.) And found there none of the sons of Levi . It is difficult to account for the fact; but there seems certainly to have been a special disinclination to return to Jerusalem on the part of the Levites. Only seventy-four went up with Zerubbabel, when the priests who returned were 4289 ( Ezra 2:36-40 ); and now there was not a single one in the whole of Ezra's band. Did the jealous spirit of Korah ( Numbers 16:8-10 ) still animate the great body of the tribe?