Ezra 2

In Ezra 1, Cyrus issued a decree permitting the exiles to return, and this chapter lists those who came back under that decree. The same list also appears in Nehemiah 7.

Outline

• Verses 1–2 introduce the people who returned with eleven leaders, including Zerubbabel and Jeshua.
• Verses 3–35 number the laypeople by family and by town.
• Verses 36–39 record the numbers of the four priestly families.
• Verses 40–42 record 74 Levites, 128 singers, and 139 porters (gatekeepers).
• Verses 43–58 list the Nethinim and the children of Solomon's servants, who together numbered 392.
• Verses 59–63 note 652 people who could not prove their Israelite descent. Priestly families whose genealogical records could not be found were barred from serving until a priest should stand up with Urim and Thummim.
• Verses 64–67 give the total of the congregation as 42,360. In addition, there were 7,337 servants and maids, 200 singing men and women, and livestock.
• Verses 68–70 record that the chief of the fathers gave 61,000 drams (darics) of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, and 100 priests' garments for rebuilding the temple, and that the returnees settled, each in his own city.

Key Verses

• Ezra 2:1 "those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah": announces that the return from exile had actually taken place.
• Ezra 2:68 "offered freely for the house of God to set it up in his place": shows that the purpose of the return was the rebuilding of the temple.

People and Places

• Zerubbabel: the leader from the house of David who led the return.
• Jeshua: the high priest of the returned community. In Haggai and Zechariah he is called "Joshua."
• Nebuchadnezzar: the king who carried the people of Judah away to Babylon.
• Barzillai: the forefather of a priestly family; he married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by his father-in-law's name.
• Places: towns in the territories of Judah and Benjamin appear, including Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Bethel, and Jericho.

Points for Reflection

• The individual figures add up to fewer than 30,000, falling short of the total of 42,360. Interpretations differ: some hold that people omitted from the list or members of other tribes were included in the total, while others attribute the discrepancy to changes in the numbers during scribal transmission. Some numbers and names also differ from those in Nehemiah 7.
• Because the Nehemiah and Mordecai of verse 2 do not fit the chronology, they are generally understood to be different individuals who bore the same names.
• The verification of genealogies and the mention of the Urim and Thummim show that the returned community placed great importance on the legitimacy of the priesthood.
• In the New Testament, Zerubbabel appears in the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew 1 and Luke 3.