Ezra 2:59-63

TEXT, Ezra 2:59-63

59

Now these are those who came up from Tel-melah, Telharsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but they were not able to give evidence of their fathers-' households, and their descendants, whether they were of Israel:

60

the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, 652.

61

And of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was called by their name.

62

These searched among their ancestral registration, but they could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and were excluded from the priesthood.

63

And the governor said to them that they should not eat from the most holy things until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim.

COMMENT

In Ezra 2:59 the settlements in Babylon from which they came are mentioned; then the names of their families, first of the common people in Ezra 2:60, and of those who claimed to be of the priesthood in Ezra 2:61. Dr. Ironside compares these priests with some now, who cannot trace their genealogy but nevertheless insist on the Christian place as rightfully theirs. He cautions against presumptuously denying that they are born of God, yet says we cannot own them as such till they can give clear evidence of being indeed of the priestly company and partakers of the divine nature.[16][16] H. A. Ironside, Notes on The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther, p. 22.

Should these be censured for having lost the important records of their ancestry, thus their birthright and identity as God's children and servants? Or should they be praised for the religious fervor that set them apart from those content to stay in Babylon, in spite of their lack of documents which would guarantee them the worldly benefits which their companions could claim? Enough that they were going back to scenes and circumstances reminiscent of their forefathers-' close walk with their God!

Those particularly who claimed priestly backgrounds had a special problem: they would be presiding over Israel's religion as well as deriving their support from it, so great care must be taken to insure the correctness of their religious backgrounds. Priests, prophets, and kings were all messiahs: that is, they were anointed of God as His representatives to the people. No person who came from a foreign land could become a prophet of Israel; he must be from your own countrymen (Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 18:18). The king also must be a native (Deuteronomy 17:15); the wisdom of this requirement is recognized even in the American Constitution, which specifies that no one can become president of the United States who is not a citizen by birth.

The priest must meet an additional requirement: he must be not only an Israelite by birth, but he must be taken from the descendants of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi (Exodus 28:1 ff). No one must take this office on himself (Hebrews 5:4). It had been one of the Levites above any of the other tribes who had demonstrated loyalty to Israel's God against heathen gods and customs during the Wilderness Wanderings, at Baal-Peor (Numbers 25:5-13); therefore they were chosen above the firstborn of all Israelites to serve in the house of the Lord and to protect the purity of the worship. It was essential then that priests be able to trace their descent from this tribe.

Ezra 2:63. But for those of the priestly line who had lost evidence of their descent, there was a door left slightly open. They were not simply disfellowshipped. God had spoken through His priests in time past by means of Urim and Thummin, objects in the custody of the priests (Exodus 28:30, 1 Samuel 28:6). If God wished the services of any of these men, He would restore the Urim and Thummim which seem to have been lost in the Captivity, that He might be consulted about each of these individuals. There is no record of the priests-' possession of these after the return from Captivity, therefore many authorities, though not all,[17] suppose that these men were never granted a full status as priests.

[17] G. Coleman Luck, Ezra and Nehemiah, p. 22.

WORD STUDIES

ZERUBBABEL: a seed of Babylon: a reminder that God preserved a seed of His people through the Babylonian Captivity, from which His nation would once again spring to life,

TEMPLE SERVANTS (Ezra 2:43): literally, the Nethinim: those given. The word is a plural form; it comes from the word Nathan. These were the persons given to the priests to assist with the menial tasks of preparing for sacrifice and worship.

JESHUA, or its variant, JOSHUA: Jehovah is Salvation, or Salvation from Jehovah. This is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek name, Jesus.

MINA: the basic meaning is to divide out, or measure out, or number. Money originally had to be measured, or weighed, at each transaction. This is the word Mene in the handwriting on the wall, in Daniel 5:25 f. Note that the consonants are the same as those in our word money, and in reverse order, the first two consonants in number. Can you find the two letters hidden in the denomination of a bill? In numismatics? Now you are looking at the building blocks of language!