seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Ezra 8:1These are the family heads and those registered with them who came up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:
2 of the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom;
of the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel;
of the descendants of David, Hattush 3 of the descendants of Shekaniah;
of the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 men;
4 of the descendants of Pahath-Moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men;
5 of the descendants of Zattu,[a] Shekaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men;
6 of the descendants of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men;
7 of the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men;
8 of the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 men;
9 of the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men;
10 of the descendants of Bani,[b] Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men;
11 of the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 men;
12 of the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men;
13 of the descendants of Adonikam, the last ones, whose names were Eliphelet, Jeuel and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men;
14 of the descendants of Bigvai, Uthai and Zakkur, and with them 70 men
Bible.org had something interesting to say about this list.It is one thing to go and ask the king’s permission to lead a delegation of exiles back to Jerusalem. But it is another thing actually to get volunteers to commit to the difficult task of giving up their comfortable situations in Babylon and to make the move back to an uncertain future in Israel.
The list of names (8:1-14) begins with priestly families (8:2), then those from the royal line of David (8:2b-3a), followed by 12 “lay” families (8:3b-14), which may be representative of all Israel. The number of men listed is 1,496, plus the 18 heads of families, totaling 1,514. Adding in the 258 Levites and temple servants assembled later (8:15-20) brings the total to 1,772. The women and children would bring the group to around 5,000, compared to almost 50,000 on the first return.
One significant fact about the list is that everyone, except for Joab (8:9) is connected to the pioneers who had first returned 80 years before (Derek Kidner, Ezra & Nehemiah, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries [IVP], p. 65). This implies that “the original challenge to return, in the days of Cyrus, had had a very mixed response, dividing individual clans down the middle” (ibid.). The phrase “the last ones” (8:13) may indicate that these descendants represented the final members of that clan residing in Babylon. But that fact that clans were split up points both to the comfortable lifestyle in Babylon that contributed to the spiritual indifference of returning; and to the faith and commitment of those who did return.
This is from the easy English site.
Ezra had found some of the chief men of Israel to go with him (Ezra 7:28). These chief men brought members of their families with them. And Ezra recorded the names of these men and the number of family members who came with them. Many of them were relatives of the first Jews to return from the exile almost 80 years earlier (Ezra 2:3-65). We do not know much about these men and their families, but they were important to God. God knew that they were leaving their homes in Babylonia. In Babylonia, they probably had comfortable lives and perhaps some of them were wealthy. God knew that they were going on a long journey. They were going to live in a place that, probably, they had never seen before. There they would have to work hard to make God’s people, the Jews, into a proper nation again. They had made this brave decision because they wanted to serve God. So they wanted to live in the new nation that he was establishing.
It takes a lot of courage to go out on a mission. Some people think it's crazy to pick up and move to desolation. Military families pick up and move to unknown places all the time. These brave people were stepping out in faith.... going back to "who knows what".... that they have never seen before.... because they had a job to do. Jerusalem was calling.The Promised Land seems to be the "I Promise" land.
I Promise to put God first.... who else would walk four months to an unknown future.... but someone who was on a mission.... these people were on a mission putting God first.
