Ezra 8

THese are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king.

Of the sons of Phineas; Gershom: of the sons of Ithamar; Daniel: of the sons of David; Hattush.

Of the sons of Shechaniah; of the sons of Pharosh i. e. One of the Sons of Pharoh: whereby h... is differenced from the other Shechaniah, v. 5.; Zecharia: and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males Though the Males only be expressed here, and in the succeeding verses yet it is more than probable they carried the Women along with them, as they did carry little ones, as it is expressed here, v. 21., an hundred and fifty.

Of the sons of Pahath-moab; Elihoenai, the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males.

Of the sons of Shechaniah; the son of Jahaziel Either his only son, or the most eminent of his sons, and therefore so called here., and with him three hundred males.

Of the sons also of Adin; Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males.

And of the sons of Elam; Jeshajah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males.

And of the sons of Shephatiah; Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him fourscore males.

Of the sons of Joab; Obadiah the son Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males.

And of the sons of Shelomith; the son of Josiphiah, and with him an hundred and threescore males.

And of the sons of Bebai; Zechariah the son of Bebai, and with him twenty and eight males.

And of the sons of Azgad; Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him an hundred and ten males.

And of the last sons of Adonikam, whose names are these, Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemajah, and with him threescore males.

Of the sons also of Bigvai; Uthai, and Zabbud, and with them seventy males.

And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava Or, river of... ava, as it is called, v. 21, 31. By comparing of these places it seems that A... ava was the name both of the River, and of the Town or place by which it ran. Either this was that River which other Writers call Adiava, which runs to Assyria, which thence is called A... iabene: or some other River running into Euphrates.; and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi To wit, who were simple Levites, and not Priests. And therefore the Levites mentioned, chap. 7. 7. by anticipation were not yet come to him..

Then sent I for Eliezer To come to me, and go along with me to Ierusalem., for Ariel, for Shemajah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zecharia, and for Meshullam, chief men: also for Jojarib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding Who seem to have had more knowledge than pious zeal for God, and his House and solemn Worship, which was confined to Jerusalem..

And I sent them with commandment Which he might do, partly by virtue of that authority which he had over them by his Priesthood: and partly by that authority which he either had received, or could easily procure from the King to that purpose. unto Iddo the chief The Head of the rest, either by Ecclesiastical Order or Government, which the Persian Kings allowed to the Jews: or by some Grant or Commission from the King., at the place Casiphia Not a place near the Caspian lake, as some guess from the likeness of the names; for that was at too great a distance for his present purpose, but some other place not far from Ahava: where he knew that there was a Colledg, or considerable company of Levites together., and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God.

And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel and Sherebiah, with his sons, and with his brethren, eighteen:

And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshajah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty.

Also of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites The Gibeonites who were devoted to this service by Ioshua and the Princes of his time, Ios. 9. 21. and are said to be appointed by David and his Princes, because they were confirmed by them in their former Office, and more particularly applied to the several services of the Temple: though this be not distinctly related in 1 Chr. 24, & 25, & 26. because his business there was to give an account only of the new constitutions and alterations made by David in those matters., two hundred and twenty Nethinims: all of them were expressed by name.

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might afflict our selves before our God, to seek of him a right way i. e. A safe and prosperous journey: or such a way and course as might be best for us. for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of Soldiers and horsemen, to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good, that seek him, but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.

So we fasted and besought our God for this, and he was entreated of us He gave us some assurance of his gracious Answer to our request..

Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah; and ten of their brethren with them Or, and Sherebiah, &c. who were the Levites mentioned.... 18. who were joyntly intrusted together with the Priests with the charge of carrying these things carefully and safely. The particle, and, is oft understood.;

And weighed unto them the silver and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering of the house of our God, which the king, and his counsellors, and his lords, and all Israel there present, had offered.

I even weighed unto their hand, six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels an hundred talents, and of gold an hundred talents:

Also twenty basons of gold, of a thousand drams, and two vessels of fine copper, precious as gold Heb. desirable as gold, not that it was of equal price and worth with it, but for its incomparable excellency in its kind, and for its great rarity, for which cause there were only two vessels of that sort..

And I said unto them, Ye are holy unto the LORD, the vessels are holy also, and the silver and the gold are a free-will-offering unto the LORD God of your fathers.

Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them before the chief of the priests, and the Levites, and chief of the fathers of Israel at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD.

So took the priests and the Levites, the weight of the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God.

Then we departed from the river of Ahava, on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way To wit, in the direct way. Whereby it may be conjectured, that God directed them to fetch a little compass, and to go a more uncouth and unsuspected way, as they had begged of God, v. 21..

And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days.

Now on the fourth day was the silver, and the gold, and the vessels weighed in the house of our God, by the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them was Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, Levites:

By number and by weight of every one: and all the weight was written at that time.

Also the children of those that had been carried away, which were come out of the captivity To wit, these now commers, whom God had safely conducted hither., offered burnt-offerings unto the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambs, twelve he-goats for a sin offering: all this was a burnt-offering unto the LORD.

And they delivered the kings commissions unto the kings lieutenants, and to the governours on this side the river; and they furthered the people, and the house of God In the adorning and furnishing of it with these vessels and other conveniences; and in promoting Gods Worship and service therein..