Ezra 8:18

_AND BY THE GOOD HAND OF OUR GOD UPON US THEY BROUGHT US A MAN OF UNDERSTANDING, OF THE SONS OF MAHLI, THE SON OF LEVI, THE SON OF ISRAEL; AND SHEREBIAH, WITH HIS SONS AND HIS BRETHREN, EIGHTEEN;_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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!...

AND SHEREBIAH - Either a name has fallen out before the words “a man of understanding,” or the “and” here has crept into the text by accident. Sherebiah appears among the most earnest of the Levites under Nehemiah (see the marginal references)....

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 BY THE GOOD HAND OF OUR GOD UPON US,.... Favouring their designs and orders, protecting those that were sent, and inclining those they were sent to use their interest and authority with those that were under them, and making them willing also to agree to what was proposed to them: THEY BROUGHT US A MAN OF UNDERSTANDING OF THE SONS OF MAHLI, THE SON OF LEVI, THE SON OF ISRAEL; an Israelite, of the tribe of Levi, in the line of Mahli a son of Merari, the third son of Levi: AND SHEREBIAH; or rather "even Sherebiah"; so Aben Ezra; for he is the understanding man that is meant, and described by his pedigree: WITH HIS SONS AND HIS BRETHREN, eighteen; all together made this number....

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

_And by the good hand_ R.V. AND ACCORDING TO THE GOOD HAND. For the phrase see on chap. Ezra 7:6. _a man of understanding_ R.V. A MAN OF DISCRETION. Marg. Or _Ish-sechel_. Discretion (_sechel_). Cf. 1 Chronicles 22:12; 2 Chronicles 2:12; Proverbs 19:11: = understanding, Proverbs 3:4; Proverbs 13:15; Proverbs 16:22;...

2. Levites are added to the company. TEXT, EZRA 8:15-20 15 Now I assembled them at the river that runs to Ahava, where we camped for three days; and when I observed the people and the priests, I did not find any Levites there. 16 So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, teachers. 17 And I sent them to Iddo the leading man at the place Casiphia, and I told them what to say to Iddo and his brothers, the temple servants at the place Casiphia, that is, to bring ministers to us for the house of our God. 18 And according to the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of insight of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, and his sons and brothers, 18 men; 19 and Hashabiah and Jeshaiah of

8:18 namely, (a-31) Or 'and.'...