Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Ezra 2:53

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

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1:1-2:70 ZERUBBABEL’S RETURN

Cyrus had been ruler of Persia for some time before he conquered Babylon in 539 BC. His policy was, when he conquered a nation, to allow any people held captive by that nation to return to their homeland. Therefore, soon after he conquered Babylon (i.e. in his first year as the Jews’ new ruler) he gave permission for the Jews to return to Jerusalem (1:1-4). Jeremiah’s prophecy made seventy years earlier had come true: the Jews were released from Babylon’s power to return to Palestine and rebuild their nation (Jeremiah 25:1,Jeremiah 25:12; Jeremiah 29:10).

Although all had permission to return, many chose to remain in Babylon. They were reasonably well settled and secure in Babylon, and did not want to face the risks and hardships of a new life in Jerusalem. Nevertheless, they assisted those who returned by giving them money and goods. Cyrus also gave some assistance, giving back the temple treasures and handing over a gift of money from the royal treasury to help finance the reconstruction of Jerusalem (5-11; see also 3:7; 6:4).

At first the leader of the returning exiles was Sheshbazzar (see 1:8, 5:14), but for some reason not recorded he was soon replaced by the joint leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua (see 3:2; 5:2; Haggai 1:1; Haggai 2:2). Alternatively, Sheshbazzar may have been another name for Zerubbabel.

The record of those who returned to Jerusalem begins by listing the chief men who were to assist Zerubbabel and Joshua (2:1-2). (The person named Nehemiah in this list is not the person we meet later in the book of Nehemiah.) The total number who returned was about 50,000. Some were classified according to their families (3-19), others according to the towns their families originally came from (20-35). The priests, Levites and temple servants were all listed separately (36-58). Others could not be fitted into any category (59-63). On arrival in Jerusalem, some made offerings of money towards the building of the temple. All the people were then settled in and around Jerusalem (64-70).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE NETHINIM WHO RETURNED

"The Nethinim: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth, the children of Keilos, the children of Siaha, the children of Padon, the children of Lebanah, the children of Hagabah, the children of Akkub, the children of Hagab, the children of Shamlai, the children Hanan, the children of Gibbel, the children of Gahar, the children of Reaiah, the children of Rezin, the children of Nekoda, the children of Gazzam, the children of Uzza, the children of Paseah, the children of Besai, the children of Asnah, the children of Meunim, the children of Nephisim, the children of Bakbuk, the children of Hakupha, the children of Harhur, the children of Bazluth, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha, the children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Temah, the children of Nezeiah, the children of Hatipha."

"The Nethinim" "The name comes from a Hebrew expression which means, `given as helpers,' that is, bondmen of the temple."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 6a, p. 112. Cook also referred to these as, "The sacred slaves given to assist the Levites."F. C. Cook, Barnes' Commentary Series, Ezra, p. 439. However, Williamson believed that, "The name might mean no more than devoted."Wycliffe Bible Commentary, op. cit., p. 36. To this writer, the more likely meaning is that given by Cook. This is supported by the prominence of foreign names in the list, names connected with the ancient Canaanites, and also by their being classified with the "children of Solomon's servants" (Ezra 2:55), who were most certainly slaves. A plausible theory, supported by the considerable number of foreign names, is that they were prisoners of war allocated to the temple for the more mundane tasks."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 399.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 2

So here they are returning to Jerusalem, as I said, some fifty thousand. And in chapter two it gives you the names of the people and the families that came and the numbers that came with them. Beginning in, or in verse thirty-six to thirty-nine, you have the priests that returned. Then beginning with verse forty, the Levites that returned. Then Solomon's servants that returned.

Now in verse sixty-one, there were some of the Levites that were returning who could not find their names in the register. Among those that were reckoned by genealogy, they just could not find their names there. That is, they could not accurately trace their family history. They could not trace themselves back to the tribe of Levi.

Therefore they were as polluted, and they were put out of the priesthood ( Ezra 2:62 ).

They were not allowed to minister or to function as a priest or to receive the offerings, the tithes, or the dues that were given to the priests in those days, because they could not prove their pedigree. They could not trace their names in the records. And they were kept out of the priesthood until such a time as they could find a priest with the Urim and the Thummim in order that they might inquire of the Lord and determine if these men really belonged to the priesthood or not.

Now the Urim and the Thummim are the thing that the high priest wore upon his chest, and the words mean light and perfections. Just what they were, we really don't know. But they would use the Urim and the Thummim to inquire of the will of God. Now the common theory is that it was a little pouch with a black stone and a white stone. And they would ask a question and the priest would say, "Lord, give us a perfect lot." You know, and he would reach in to the little bag and pull out a stone. If it was the black stone, then the answer was no. If it was the white stone, the answer was yes. And they used this method to ascertain the will of God in certain things. Keep asking questions, keep pulling out the stones, and if you pulled out the white stone, that answer yes. If you pulled out the black stone, the answer no. And so this is what some have theorized the Urim and the Thummim to be. Just what it was, we don't know. It was a method by which the high priest received God's answer for the people and God's directions for the people. It was some type of device by which divine guidance was given to the people.

Now, though we don't know exactly what it was, I do know exactly what it wasn't. It wasn't a pair of glasses that Joseph Smith found with the twelve golden tablets that when he put them on, he could magically decipher the hieroglyphics by putting on these glasses, which he said were the Urim and the Thummim. That is not so. During the time of Moses they didn't even know how to make glass. And it wasn't a magic pair of spectacles to read the hieroglyphics on the golden tablets. But as I say, what it was, I don't know. But I do know what it wasn't.

So there were about fifty thousand who returned at this first repatriation under Cyrus. And going back to build the temple, plus they had seven hundred and thirty-six horses, and two hundred and forty-five mules, and four hundred and thirty-five camels and all.

And some of the chief fathers, when they came to the house of the LORD which is at Jerusalem, they offered freely for the house of God to set it up in his place: and they gave after their ability unto the treasure of the work threescore and one thousand drams [or sixty-one thousand drams] of gold, five thousand pounds of silver, and one hundred priests' garments. So the priests, the Levites, and some of the people, and all the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities ( Ezra 2:68-70 ).

So they returned and they took up an offering. Some of the wealthier families and all gave as was their ability for the rebuilding of the temple there in Jerusalem. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The temple servants 2:43-54

The "temple servants" were an order of Israelites that David had established to assist the Levites (Ezra 8:20). The biblical writers sometimes called them the Nethinim (lit. those given, i.e., dedicated, to God). They may have been the descendants of the Gibeonites whom Joshua had subjugated (Joshua 9:27), and or the descendants of other war captives. [Note: Myers, p. 19.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

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Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      36 The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three.   37 The children of Immer, a thousand fifty and two.   38 The children of Pashur, a thousand two hundred forty and seven.   39 The children of Harim, a thousand and seventeen.   40 The Levites: the children of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the children of Hodaviah, seventy and four.   41 The singers: the children of Asaph, a hundred twenty and eight.   42 The children of the porters: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, in all an hundred thirty and nine.   43 The Nethinims: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth,   44 The children of Keros, the children of Siaha, the children of Padon,   45 The children of Lebanah, the children of Hagabah, the children of Akkub,   46 The children of Hagab, the children of Shalmai, the children of Hanan,   47 The children of Giddel, the children of Gahar, the children of Reaiah,   48 The children of Rezin, the children of Nekoda, the children of Gazzam,   49 The children of Uzza, the children of Paseah, the children of Besai,   50 The children of Asnah, the children of Mehunim, the children of Nephusim,   51 The children of Bakbuk, the children of Hakupha, the children of Harhur,   52 The children of Bazluth, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha,   53 The children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Thamah,   54 The children of Neziah, the children of Hatipha.   55 The children of Solomon's servants: the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Peruda,   56 The children of Jaalah, the children of Darkon, the children of Giddel,   57 The children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth of Zebaim, the children of Ami.   58 All the Nethinims, and the children of Solomon's servants, were three hundred ninety and two.   59 And these were they which went up from Telmelah, Telharsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer: but they could not show their father's house, and their seed, whether they were of Israel:   60 The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred fifty and two.   61 And of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai; which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name:   62 These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood.   63 And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.

      Here is an account, I. Of the priests that returned, and they were a considerable number, about a tenth part of the whole company: for the whole were above 42,000 (Ezra 2:64; Ezra 2:64), and four families of priests made up above 4200 (Ezra 2:36-39; Ezra 2:36-39); thus was the tenth God's part--a blessed decimation. Three of the fathers of the priests here named were heads of courses, 1 Chronicles 24:7; 1 Chronicles 24:8; 1 Chronicles 24:14. The fourth was Pashur, Ezra 2:38; Ezra 2:38. If these were of the posterity of that Pashur that abused Jeremiah (Jeremiah 20:1), it is strange that so bad a man should have so good a seed, and so numerous.

      II. Of the Levites. I cannot but wonder at the small number of them, for, taking in both the singers and the porters (Ezra 2:40-42; Ezra 2:40-42), they did not make 350. Time was when the Levites were more forward to their duty than the priests (2 Chronicles 29:34), but they were not so now. If one place, one family, has the reputation for pious zeal now, another may have it another time. The wind blows where it listeth, and shifts its points.

      III. Of the Nethinim, who, it is supposed, were the Gibeonites, given (so their name signifies) by Joshua first (Joshua 9:27), and again by David (Ezra 8:20), when Saul had expelled them, to be employed by the Levites in the work of God's house as hewers of wood and drawers of water; and, with them, of the children of Solomon's servants, whom he gave for the like use (whether they were Jews or Gentiles does not appear) and who were here taken notice of among the retainers of the temple and numbered with the Nethinim, Ezra 2:55; Ezra 2:58. Note, It is an honour to belong to God's house, though in the meanest office there.

      IV. Of some that were looked upon as Israelites by birth, and others as priests, and yet could not make out a clear title to the honour. 1. There were some that could not prove themselves Israelites (Ezra 2:59; Ezra 2:60), a considerable number, who presumed they were of the seed of Jacob, but could not produce their pedigrees, and yet would go up to Jerusalem, having an affection to the house and people of God. These shamed those who were true-born Israelites, and yet were not called Israelites indeed, who came out of the waters of Judah (Isaiah 48:1), but had lost the relish of those waters. 2. There were others that could not prove themselves priests, and yet were supposed to be of the seed of Aaron. What is not preserved in black and white will, in all likelihood, be forgotten in a little time. Now we are here told, (1.) How they lost their evidence. One of their ancestors married a daughter of Barzillai, that great man whom we read of in David's time; he gloried in an alliance to that honourable family, and, preferring that before the dignity of his priesthood, would have his children called after Barzillai's family, and their pedigree preserved in the registers of that house, not of the house of Aaron, and so they lost it. In Babylon there was nothing to be got by the priesthood, and therefore they cared not for being akin to it. Those who think their ministry, or their relation to ministers, a diminution or disparagement to them, forget who it was that said, I magnify my office. (2.) What they lost with it. It could not be taken for granted that they were priests when they could not produce their proofs, but they were, as polluted, put from the priesthood. Now that the priests had recovered their rights, and had the altar to live upon again, they would gladly be looked upon as priests. But they had sold their birthright for the honour of being gentlemen, and therefore were justly degraded, and forbidden to eat of the most holy things. Note, Christ will be ashamed of those that are ashamed of him and his service. It was the tirshatha, or governor, that put them under this sequestration, which some understand of Zerubbabel the present governor, others of Nehemiah (who is so called, Nehemiah 8:9; Nehemiah 10:1, and who gave this order when he came some years after); but the prohibition was not absolute, it was only a suspension, till there should be a high priest with Urim and Thummin, by whom they might know God's mind in this matter. This, it seems, was expected and desired, but it does not appear that ever they were blessed with it under the second temple. They had the canon of the Old Testament complete, which was better than Urim; and, by the want of that oracle, they were taught to expect the Messiah the great Oracle, which the Urim and Thummim was but a type of. Nor does it appear that the second temple had the ark in it, either the old one or a new one. Those shadows by degrees vanished, as the substance approached; and God, by the prophet, intimates to his people that they should sustain no damage by the want of the ark, Jeremiah 3:16; Jeremiah 3:17. In those days, when they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord, neither shall it come to mind, for they shall do very well without it.