Ezra 2:65

_BESIDE THEIR SERVANTS AND THEIR MAIDS, OF WHOM THERE WERE SEVEN THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED THIRTY AND SEVEN: AND THERE WERE AMONG THEM TWO HUNDRED SINGING MEN AND SINGING WOMEN._ NO JFB COMMENTARY ON THESE VERSES....

64-70 Let none complain of the needful expenses of their religion. Seek first the kingdom of God, his favour and his glory, then will all other things be added unto them. Their offerings were nothing, compared with the offerings of the princes in David's time; yet, being according to their ability, were as acceptable to God. The Lord will carry us through all undertakings entered on according to his will, with an aim to his glory, and dependence on his assistance. Those who, at the call of the gospel, renounce sin and return to the Lord, shall be guarded and guided through all perils of the way, and arrive safely at the mansions provided in the holy city of God....

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

BESIDES THEIR SERVANTS AND THEIR MAIDS, OF WHOM THERE WERE SEVEN THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED THIRTY AND SEVEN,.... This shows that the greater part of those that returned were of the poorer sort, since there were so few servants that belonged unto them; these came not into the above account: AND THERE WERE AMONG THEM TWO HUNDRED SINGING MEN AND SINGING WOMEN; among the servants, who were kept by persons of figure for their pleasure and recreation, see Ecclesiastes 2:8, for that these were such as were employed in sacred service is not so clear, especially the latter, though some conclude it from 1 Chronicles 25:5, but rather they were such as were employed at marriages, festivals, and funerals; though Jarchi thinks they were employed by the returning captives, to make them chee

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

MAIDS. handmaids....

_their servants and their maids_ R.V. THEIR MENSERVANTS AND THEIR MAIDSERVANTS, which is more accurate. _and_there were _among them_ R.V. AND THEY HAD. The R.V. is certainly right. The meaning is not that singing men and women were included among the servants, but that -the whole congregation" (Ezra 2:64) had in attendance, besides their servants, their troop of singers. _singing_men _and singing_women] The mention of these has caused some difficulty. (1) Singers have already been mentioned (Ezra 2:41). (2) It has been thought that mention of cattle would be expected by the side of the other beasts. The suggestion has been made that we ought to read -oxen" (sh'vârim) for -singing men" (shôr'rim), that the latter word having been introduced by a copyist's error, the words -and s

6. Ezra 2:64-65 give the totals of the returnees. TEXT, EZRA 2:64-65 64 The whole assembly numbered 42,360, 65 besides their male and female servants, who numbered 7,337; and they had 200 singing men and women. COMMENT This grand total of 49,897 may be contrasted with the 601,730 plus the 23,000 Levites (Numbers 26:51; Numbers 26:62) who paused on the edge of the Promised Land under Moses and Joshua, and with the 1,570,000 plus the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in David's time (1 Chronicles 21:5

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....