Ezra 8:2

The Priestly and Royal houses. The numbers from these houses are not given. They are placed in a position of honour at the head of the list.

Of the sons of Phinehas; Gershom R.V. Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. The punctuation is corrected throughout 2 14.

The family of Phinehas (son of Eleazar, son of Aaron) is represented by Gershom. To his -house" Ezra must have belonged (cf. Ezra 7:1-5).

Daniel represented the line or family of Ithamar, Aaron's younger son, and gave his name to a house (see Nehemiah 10:6). His name appears as Gamael in 1Es 8:29. From this mention of "the sons of Ithamar we gather that the priesthood was not, as Ezekiel required (Ezekiel 43:19; Ezekiel 45:15) limited to the line of Zadok.

That Gershom and Daniel were not the only two priests, but heads of two -fathers" houses", is shown by Ezra 8:24.

of the sons of David; Hattush According to 1 Chronicles 3:22, the words "Of the sons of Shechaniah" (Ezra 8:3) belong to the genealogy of Hattush. "And the sons of Shechaniah (query, Zerubbabel's grandson); Shemaiah: and the sons of Shemaiah; Hattush and Igal." Hattush was therefore the grandson of Shechaniah, and (?) the great-great-grandson of Zerubbabel. The line of David was represented by the house of Shechaniah, which was represented by Hattush.

1Es 8:29 has "Of the sons of David, Lettus the son of Sechenias", which in conjunction with the rest of the list seems to show that our text should run "Of the sons of David, Hattush, the son of Shechaniah". This Hattush of the lineage of David must therefore not be confounded with the priest of the same name mentioned Nehemiah 10:4; Nehemiah 12:2.