Ezra 2:21

_THE CHILDREN OF BETHLEHEM, AN HUNDRED TWENTY AND THREE._ The children of Beth-lehem - [Septuagint, Beethlaem]....

1-35 An account was kept of the families that came up out of captivity. See how sin lowers a nation, which righteousness would exalt!...

Verse 21. _THE CHILDREN OF BETH-LEHEM_] The inhabitants: see before....

EXPOSITION THE NUMBER OF THOSE WHO RETURNED FROM CAPTIVITY WITH ZERUBBABEL, AND THE NAMES OF THE CHIEFS (Ezra 2:1). It has been argued that the whole of this chapter is out of place here, and has been transferred hither from Nehemiah (Nehemiah 7:6), where it occupies its rightful position (Bishop A. Hervey). According to this view, the list is one embodying the results of the census made by Nehemiah, not a list of those who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel But it seems strange that such a theory should ever h

Ezra 2:3....

CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The leaders (Ezra 2:1)_ 2. The names of the returning exiles (Ezra 2:3) 3. The priests (Ezra 2:36) 4. The Levites and singers (Ezra 2:40) 5. The porters and Nethinim (Ezra 2:42) 6. Solomon's servants (Ezra 2:55) 7. Those of doubtful descent (Ezra 2:59) 8. The number of the whole company ...

A LIST OF THE EXILES WHO RETURNED UNDER ZERUBBABEL. See the Greek Ezra (1 Esdras) Esther 5:7 and Nehemiah 7:6_ a_, where this list also occurs, though with some variations. Ezra 2:1 a. province: Heb. _medinah,_ equivalent to the Persian satrapy. It refers here to the tract of country, with Jerusalem as its centre (_cf._ Ezra 5:8; Nehemiah 1:3; Nehemiah 11:3), over which Zerubbabel was governor, the province of Judah. ZERUBBABEL: seed of Babel; according to

Names of towns and places. It is possible that the register dealt first with the dwellers in Jerusalem. The inhabitants of the towns and places nearest to Jerusalem and best known are mentioned next: last of all, the inhabitants of the less known or more remote places. The numbers are much smaller than those of the households (3 19)....

3. Next it includes people identified mainly by their towns. TEXT, EZRA 2:21-35 21 the men of Bethlehem, 123; 22 the men of Netophah, 56; 23 the men of Anathoth, 128; 24 the sons of Azmaveth, 42; 25 the sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, 743; 26 the sons of Ramah and Geba, 621; 27 the men of Michmas, 122; 28 the men of Bethel and Ai, 223; 29 the sons of Nebo, 52; 30 the sons of Magbish, 156; 31 the sons of the other Elam, 1,254; 32 the sons of Harim, 320; 33 the sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, 725; 34 the men of Jericho, 345; 35 the sons of Senaah, 3,630. COMMENT Note that the phrases, the men of, and the sons of, are used interchangeably. The proper names are all, or nearly all,

THE NAMES AND NUMBER OF THOSE WHO RETURNED 1. The province] i.e. the Persian province of Judæa (Ezra 5:8). HAD CARRIED AWAY] in 597 b.c. and 586 b.c. EVERY ONE UNTO HIS CITY] i.e. to the provincial towns. This process can only have taken place very gradually....