Ezra 2:65

Enumeration Of Their Slaves (Ezra 2:65).

Ezra 2:65

‘Besides their male slaves and their female slaves, of whom there were seven thousand, three hundred and thirty seven, and they had two hundred singing men and singing women.'

These were additional to the assembly of Israel. This very much points then to the fact that these were slaves. Israelite servants would have been counted as part of the assembly. The singing men and women would not be Temple singers, already counted in Ezra 2:41, but singers for the purpose of entertainment in wealthy households and for purposes of mourning (compare 2 Samuel 19:35; Ecclesiastes 2:8; 2 Chronicles 35:25). Thus the total number of slaves was approximately seven thousand, five hundred and thirty seven (the ‘two hundred' might be a round number, for Nehemiah 7 has 245 singers, although that could be because forty five singers arrived subsequently with the sons of Azgad). These would not be Israelite slaves. Such were forbidden in Israel (Leviticus 25:39). The ownership of these slaves points to a certain initial level of wealth in the restored community, although this would soon be depleted by famine and robbery (Ezra 4:4; Ezra 4:23; Haggai 1:6; Haggai 1:9; Haggai 2:16).