Ezra 7:1-5

Ezra 7:1-10. A brief Summary of Events

1 5. Ezra's Genealogy

Now after these things An interval of 58 years is passed over in silence (516 458). One allusion has already been made to the reign of Xerxes (ch. Ezra 4:6). But with this exception the Compiler apparently found nothing to record of historic importance in the formation of the new religious community at Jerusalem during the period which elapsed between the completion of the Temple and the accession of Artaxerxes. The story of Esther belongs to Xerxes" reign, which belongs to the chronicles of -the Dispersion". It has no part in the development of the Jewish constitution. -Now after these things". A not infrequent phrase combining connexion (-now" or -and") with the previous narrative and statement of indefinite interval. Cf. Genesis 15:1; Genesis 22:1; Luke 10:1.

in the reign of Artaxerxes Artaxerxes the son of Xerxes began to reign in 465 b.c.

Ezra, the son of Seraiah&c. Ezra's genealogy is here traced back to Aaron.

(a) His immediate connexion with the high-priestly line is through Seraiah. He is therefore here called -the son of Seraiah", although Seraiah was High-priest in the days of king Zedekiah and was slain at Riblah by Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:18-21) in 588 b.c. (i.e. 130 years before). Inasmuch as (1) the High-priest Jeshua (538) is described as the son of Jehozadak, (2) neither of these names occurs in Ezra's genealogy, (3) Jehozadak was the eldest son of Seraiah (1 Chronicles 6:14) succeeding to the High-priesthood, we conclude that Ezra was descended from a younger son of Seraiah.

(b) In this genealogy 15 names occur between Ezra and Aaron. This is manifestly too small a number for a period of about 1000 years (reckoning 30 years to a generation), especially when we find 26 names recorded between Zerubbabel (who was of the previous generation to that of Ezra) and Nashon, prince of Judah, the contemporary of Aaron, in 1 Chronicles 2:10-15; 1 Chronicles 3:1-19.

Ezra's genealogy therefore appears here in an abbreviated form. We are enabled in a great measure, if not completely, to fill up its lacunæ by means of (a) Ezra's genealogy in the parallel passage, Esther 8:1; Esther 8:1-2, (b) in Esther 1:1; Esther 1:1-3, (c) the genealogy of the High-priests Jehozadak and Seraiah in 1 Chronicles 6:3-15, (d) in 1 Chronicles 9:10-11; Nehemiah 11:11.

The full genealogy then appears as follows:

1 Aaron, 2 Eleazar, 3 Phinehas, 4 Abishua, 5 Bukki, 6 Uzzi, 7 Zerahiah, 8 Meraioth, 9 Amariah, 10 Ahitub, 11 Zadok, 12 Ahimaaz, 13 Azariah, 14 Johanan, 15 Azariah, 16 Amariah, 17 Heli(?), 18 Phinehas(?), 19 Ahiah, 20 Ahitub, 21 Meraioth(see 1 Chronicles 9:11), 22 Zadok, 23 Shallum, Meshullam (1 Chronicles 9:11), 24 Hilkiah, 25 Azariah, 26 Seraiah, 27 son of Seraiah, 28 (?), contemporary with Zerubbabel, 29 father of Ezra, 30 Ezra.

Of these names 9 14 occur in 1 Chron. 6:7 10:21 in 1 Chronicles 9:11: 17, 1 Chronicles 9:18; 1 Chronicles 9:19 in 2EEsther 1:2 are doubtful. At least threeand possibly fourgenerations must be inserted between Seraiah (died 588) and Ezra (? died circ. 430), the names being here omitted because they were not High-priests.

(c) Why does Ezra's genealogy appear in this abbreviated form, if the materials of a fuller one were accessible to the compiler of our book in the materials of the book -Chronicles"?

(i) Jewish genealogies were often abbreviated by the omission of unimportant or dishonourable names, for the sake of securing a shorter list or an arrangement of names more easily remembered (see Genesis 11:13; cf. Luke 3:36 and Matthew 1:8).

It is possible that the present genealogy was artificially arranged. By reference to 1 Chronicles 6:10, we find that Azariah (Ezra 7:3) is there specially described as -having executed the priest's office in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem". Azariah's name therefore represents the age of the foundation of the Temple, just as Aaron's name represents the foundation of the Levitical system, Ezra's its reconstitution. It is noteworthy that between Ezra and Azariah there are seven names, between Azariah and Aaron seven names: the first group contains the names of High-priests before the setting up of the Monarchy and before the Temple was built, the second group contains the list of the High-priests during the Monarchy down to the destruction of Jerusalem. It is possible that this twofold arrangement of seven names placed between the two names representative of the foundation and the revival of the Mosaic system, and linked by the name representative of the Temple, may be the explanation of the abbreviation (cf. the threefold grouping by -fourteen" in Matthew 1:1-16).

(ii) On the other hand it must be granted that a list containing two trios of Amariah, Ahitub, Zadok, threeAzariahs, twoAmariahs, and a Meraioth could easily give rise to errors in transcription; a copyist's eye passing from one similar name or termination to another. It is thus quite possible that after Azariah (No. 15) the copyist accidentally passed on to Meraioth (No. 8) which followed the similarly sounding Amariah.

It is clear from the fewness of the names and from the omission of all names after Seraiah that the genealogy cannot pretend to be complete. The view that the six names (9 14) have accidentallydropped from the text, rests on the omission of the renowned Zadok and Ahimaaz, whose names we should naturally expect to find inserted in a list of Ezra's forefathers (1 Chronicles 6:8).

Hilkiah the celebrated High-priest of the reign of Josiah: see 2 Kings 22:4, &c.; 2 Chronicles 34:14, &c.