Ezra 8:15

_AND I GATHERED THEM TOGETHER TO THE RIVER THAT RUNNETH TO AHAVA; AND THERE ABODE WE IN TENTS THREE DAYS: AND I VIEWED THE PEOPLE, AND THE PRIESTS, AND FOUND THERE NONE OF THE SONS OF LEVI._ I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava х_ 'AHªWAA'_ (H163); Septuagint, ho Eui; Alexandrine, Euei] - called in later times Ihi. Ezra here speaks in the first person. In general the sacred historians write of their own doings in the third person, as did Xenophon, Cesar, and many other eminent historians of antiquity. But the present is an exceptional case, and the reason why Ezra relates this narrative in the first person seems to be that he is giving a report of the execution of his public commission-he is not here relating the procedure of God to His people, but the performance of a responsible trust committed to him by the king. This river has not been ascertained. The probabi...

1-20 Ezra assembles the outcasts of Israel, and the dispersed of Judah. God raised up the spirits of a small remnant to accompany him. What a pity that good men should omit a good work, for want of being spoken to!...

Verse 15. _THE RIVER THAT RUNNETH TO AHAVA_] Ahava was a _river_ itself, which is supposed to be the same that is called _Diava_ or _Adiava_, in the province of _Adiabene_; and perhaps the place whence the people of _Ava_ came who were brought by the king of Assyria to Palestine, 2 Kings 17:24. _NONE OF THE SONS OF LEVI._] None that were _simply Levites_. He found _priests_, and they were _sons of Levi_; but no _Levites_ that were not _priests_....

Ahava was both a town and a river Ezra 8:21. The modern name of the place is Hit. It is famous for its bitumen springs, and is situated on the Euphrates, at a distance of about 80 miles from Babylon, toward the northwest. NONE OF THE SONS OF LEVI - The Levites appear to have been disinclined to return to Jerusalem (see Ezra 3:8 note)....

EXPOSITION THE NUMBER OF THOSE WHO WENT UP TO JERUSALEM WITH EZRA, AND THE NAMES OF THE CHIEF MEN (Ezra 8:1). This list is parallel with that of Ezra 2:3, and repeats for the most part the same family names, though not quite in the same order. The numbers are in each case very much smaller, never amounting to one-third, and sometimes falling below one-twelfth. At the utmost, three new families are mentioned as furnishing colonists those of Shechaniah ...

AND I GATHERED THEM TOGETHER TO THE RIVER THAT RUNNETH TO AHAVA,.... From whence also the river bore the same name; or that from the river, see Ezra 8:21, and may be the same with Adiabene, a country in Assyria, which had its name from the river Adiava: AND THERE ABODE WE IN TENTS THREE DAYS; or pitched their camp; this was the place of their rendezvous: AND I VIEWED THE PEOPLE AND THE PRIESTS; mustered them, took the number of them, and what tribe and families they were of: AND FOUND THERE NONE OF THE SONS OF LEVI; excepting the priests....

CHAPTER 8 _ 1. Those who returned with Ezra (Ezra 8:1)_ 2. The gathering at Ahava (Ezra 8:15) 3. The fast proclaimed (Ezra 8:21) 4. The appointment of guardians (Ezra 8:24) 5. The departure and arrival in Jerusalem (Ezra 8:31) Ezra 8:1. The names of those who gathered around Ezra and went up with him are here recorded. In view of the magnificent decree and liberality of Artaxerxes, the company was very small. The majority preferred Babylon, and remained t

THE GATHERING TOGETHER OF THE EXILES AT AHAVA. The narrative is told here in the first person. Ezra 8:15. Ahava: _cf._ Ezra 8:21; Ezra 8:31; this seems to have been a place which gave its name to one of the many canals constructed in Babylonia for irrigation purposes. NONE OF THE SONS OF LEVI: as the main object of the return was the resuscitation of the Temple worship the Levites were, of course, indispensable. Ezra 8:17. Casiphia: the exact locality is unknown; there appears to have been a colony of Levites and Nethinim here. Ezra 8:25

TOGETHER. out. AHAVA. Ahava. The name of the river, and of the city. Compare Ezra 8:21. ABODE. encamped. NONE OF THE SONS OF LEVI. Only priests and laymen. The Levites were slack. Compare Ezra 2:40. Only. small number accompanied Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:36). Not so the priests (Ezra 2:36)....

(_b_) 15 20. The Encampment of Ahava; the Absence of Levites 15. The Rendezvous 15. _the river that runneth to Ahava_ -Ahava" is here the name of a place, which seems to have also given its name to the river. Ewald conjectured that the river Ahava (or Peleg-Ahava) was to be identified with the Palacopas, which flowed S. of Babylon. Rawlinson identifies with the river Is mentioned by Herodotus (i. 179) flowing from the E. into the Euphrates at a point, where stood a town of the same name (the modern Hit), an eight days" journey distant from Babylon. He points out that a well-known town upon the line of march would be a likely spot for a halting-place. We do not however gather from the verse that Ezra's march had actually begun. The rendezvous at Ahava enabled Ezra to make the necessary preliminary review of his large company. It is hardly likely that this first review would be held at...