Morning Bible Study Ezra 8:1-16 20141231 Ezr 8:1 These are the heads of their fathers houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of King Artaxerxes: Ezr 8:2 of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, Hattush; Ezr 8:3 of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah; and registered with him were one hundred and fifty males; Ezr 8:4 of the sons of Pahath-Moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males; Ezr 8:5 of the sons of Shechaniah, Ben-Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males; Ezr 8:6 of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males; Ezr 8:7 of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males; Ezr 8:8 of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him eighty males; Ezr 8:9 of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males; Ezr 8:10 of the sons of Shelomith, Ben-Josiphiah, and with him one hundred and sixty males; Ezr 8:11 of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight males; Ezr 8:12 of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him one hundred and ten males; Ezr 8:13 of the last sons of Adonikam, whose names are these—Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah—and with them sixty males; Ezr 8:14 also of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud, and with them seventy males. Ezr 8:15 Now I gathered them by the river that flows to Ahava, and we camped there three days. And I looked among the people and the priests, and found none of the sons of Levi there. Ezr 8:16 Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, leaders; also for Joiarib and Elnathan, men of understanding. New King James Version The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version® is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., 501 Nelson Place, Nashville, Tennessee, 37214-1000. Ezra 8:1-14 3. The List of the Returnees (Ezr_8:1-14) This list consists of the major men (family heads) who returned as well as the numbers of those who accompanied them. Most of the people listed were related to the families who had returned previously under Zerubbabel (537 b.c.) 79 years earlier (Ezr_2:1-70). Many of the family names in Ezr_8:3-14 are mentioned in Ezr_2:3-15. Gershom was a descendant of Phinehas, son of Aaron’s third son Eleazar (Exo_6:25), and Daniel was descended from Ithamar, Aaron’s fourth son (Exo_6:23). The total number of men who returned was 1,514 including 18 heads of families and 1,496 other men. With the 258 Levites assembled later (Ezr_8:15-20) the number came to 1,772. With women and children, the group may have totaled between 4,000 and 5,000. Even so, this group was much smaller than the near-50,000 on the first return (Ezr_2:64-65). Ezra 8:15 4. The Details of the Journey and Arrival (Ezr_8:15-36) a. Levites recruited for the journey (Ezr_8:15-20) Levites were to function as teachers of the Law (cf. Lev_10:11; Deu_33:10). Therefore they were to have an extremely important role in the reestablished community. The people desperately needed to understand the importance of the Law as they faced their situation as returnees from exile. The Levites would have a difficult time in the new land for they were to be involved in the disciplined ministry of temple service. Perhaps that is why none were present when Ezra and his group were ready to depart from the canal of Ahava (cf. Ezr_8:21, Ezr_8:31), whose location is unknown. This canal may have been a tributary of the Euphrates River. Even Zerubbabel had comparatively few Levites on his return (733 [Ezr_2:40-58], less than 1.5% of the 49,897 [Ezr_2:64-65]). THE BIBLE KNOWLEDGE COMMENTARY An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty Based on the New International Version by John F. Walvoord Roy B. Zuck Cook Communications Ministries I love how the Lord ensures teachers and preachers are among the people returning to Jerusalem. God wants to ensure we are being feed spiritual and that we are to work on our relationship with Him. Even though it was a small bunch of Levites that came back, their dedication to teaching the Word is what is most important. As we will see God only used 12 men to start a movement that would change the world. Amen Revelation from God
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 15:32:52 +0000
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