Ezra 8:17

_AND I SENT THEM WITH COMMANDMENT UNTO IDDO THE CHIEF AT THE PLACE CASIPHIA, AND I TOLD THEM WHAT THEY SHOULD SAY UNTO IDDO, AND TO HIS BRETHREN THE NETHINIMS, AT THE PLACE CASIPHIA, THAT THEY SHOULD BRING UNTO US MINISTERS FOR THE HOUSE OF OUR GOD._ WITH COMMANDMENT UNTO IDDO THE CHIEF. Ezra sent this deputation, either by virtue of authority, which by his priestly character he had over the Levites, or of the royal commission with which he was invested. The deputation were despatched to Iddo, who was a prince or chief of the Nethinims-for the Persian government allowed the Hebrews, during their exile, to retain their ecclesiastical government by their own chiefs, as well as to enjoy the privilege of free worship, Iddo's influence procured and brought to the camp at Ahava thirty-eight Levites and 220 Nethinims, and descendants of the Gibeonites, who performed the servile duties of the te...

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 17. _AT THE PLACE CASIPHIA_] The most judicious commentators are agreed that by _Casiphia_, the _Caspian mountains_, between Media and Hyrcania, are intended; where, probably, the _Nethinim_ were employed in working silver mines: כסף _keseph_, from which the word comes, signifies _silver_....

CASIPHIA - Its situation is wholly unknown; but it cannot have been far from Ahava....

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 SENT THEM WITH COMMANDMENT UNTO IDDO THE CHIEF, AT THE PLACE CASIPHIA,.... Not a place by the Caspian sea, and near the Caspian mountains, as Munster, which was too far off to go and return in the time they must, see Ezra 7:9, but, as Jarchi, a place in Babylon so called, a village near it, or a parish or street in it, where Ezra knew lived many of the Levites and Nethinims, and where Iddo was the chief of the Levites, and over them both: AND I TOLD THEM WHAT THEY SHOULD SAY UNTO IDDO, AND TO HIS BRETHREN THE NETHINIMS, AT THE PLACE CASIPHIA; but Iddo was not one of the Nethinims; for he was chief of the Levites, and by his authority many of them were sent as well as of the Nethinims; but none of the latter were over the Levites, for they were servants to them, Ezra 8:20, but, according to Jarchi,

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

CASIPHIA. Not identified. Probably near Babylon. NETHINIMS. These were the ministers of the Levites. Originally Gibeonites. See note on Ezra 2:43....

_And I sent them with commandment_ R.V. AND I SENT THEM FORTH. Marg. another reading is _I gave them commandment_. The A.V. combines the two readings. The variety of reading arises from the uncertainty felt as to the true rendering of the previous verse. The rendering -then sent I for" in that verse requires in this verse the reading -And I sent them forth" (C'thib). The rendering -then sent I" could be followed by either -I sent them forth" or -I gave them commandment" (K'ri), the latter being less a repetition of the previous sentence. Supposing that "I gave them commandment" was the original reading, we can see that, when the Hebrew idiom in Ezra 8:16 -then sent I" (the object expressed by a preposition) dropped out of sight and the literal translation seemed to be "then sent I for", a reason was given for the very slight alteration, by which "I gave them commandment" was