Ezra 8:15-20

2. Levites are added to the company.

TEXT, Ezra 8:15-20

15

Now I assembled them at the river that runs to Ahava, where we camped for three days; and when I observed the people and the priests, I did not find any Levites there.

16

So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, teachers.

17

And I sent them to Iddo the leading man at the place Casiphia, and I told them what to say to Iddo and his brothers, the temple servants at the place Casiphia, that is, to bring ministers to us for the house of our God.

18

And according to the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of insight of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, and his sons and brothers, 18 men;

19

and Hashabiah and Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his brothers and their sons, 20 men;

20

and 220 of the temple servants, whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, all of them designated by name.

COMMENT

Ezra 8:15 name's the staging area: the river to Ahava. While its precise location cannot be identified, it may have been a canal close by Babylon, possibly at a fork in the trade routes leading north and west. Here the Israelite worshipers may have been accustomed to meeting, for such sites are mentioned elsewhere. Psalms 137:1, for example, is descriptive of Israel's days in captivity:

By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat down and wept,

When we remembered Zion.

Much later, a Jewish traveling preacher far from home sought out a riverside, supposing he would find others of his religious background there; and yes, there was such a faithful company gathered for prayer; and among them was Lydia (Acts 16:13).

A look around the encampment uncovered a startling fact: no one was there of the Levites, those assigned by God to be servants in the Temple. There were only people and priests, in the verses above. Ezra, as a priest, would be painfully conscious of this omission.

Ezra 8:16 gives his solution to the problem: leaders were chosen to seek out recruits. Only two of the names are the same as those in Ezra 8:3-14, showing that these were farther down in the ranks of leadership.

In Ezra 8:17, these leaders are sent to Casiphia (location unknown) where a number of Levites and temple servants resided. The verse is a reminder that minister is another word for servant.

Ezra 8:18-20 tell the result: the names of leaders, and number of those who decided to accompany them (total, 258). We may wonder why this group of people would be willing to cut themselves off from their homes and surroundings so abruptly, and how they could start off on a four-month trip with just a few days-' notice. There would certainly be job security for them in employment at the Temple. There is always the basic desire to do something pleasing to God. While it may not be easy for everyone to be ready to travel at a moment's notice, there are a few in any society who are capable of this. Those who were willing to go are certainly worthy of our attention and admiration.

Mahli, in Ezra 8:18, is the son of Merari, and the grandson of Levi according to Exodus 6:19. This demonstrates again how the term, son, was used in genealogies.

Ezra 8:19, oddly enough, does use the name of Merari, which was omitted between Levi and Mahli in the previous verse.

Ezra 8:20: the order of the temple servants, assigned to the tribe of Levi by David, has been mentioned before in Ezra 2:43.

WORD STUDIES

AHAVA (Ezra 8:15; Ezra 8:21): possibly means water; it may be akin to the Latin, aqua.

BABYLON (Ezra 8:1): gate, i.e., court, of Bel (the god of the Babylonians).

CASIPHIA (Ezra 8:17): this comes from a word meaning pale, silver, white, or shining. Perhaps it was a city known for its brightness, or for its money.

HOLY (Kodesh: Ezra 8:28): pure, consecrated, separated. Because a thing was entirely or purely separated to one purpose, it was sacred for that use. With little change the word is used of men devoted to pagan temples and practicing the lowest vices and perversions. It makes a great deal of difference to what purpose, or God, a person devotes his life.