Ezra 8:35 - Exposition

Also the children of those who had been carried away. i.e. the newly-returned exiles. Like their predecessors under Zernbbabel, who had made an offering for all Israel ( Ezra 6:17 ), so the present colonists under Ezra, assuming that they represented all Israel, offered for the whole nation. The classes of animals offered are the same on the two occasions, and the number of the he-goats is identical; but in every other case the victims are far less numerous now than on the former occasion. This is fully accounted for by the comparatively small number of those who returned under Ezra.