Ezra 2:3

The children of Parosh, two thousand an hundred and seventy two. From hence, to the end of Ezra 2:35 , a list is given of the captives that returned, described by the families they were of, their ancestors from whence they sprung, or the towns and cities to which they originally belonged, and by their numbers; otherwise nothing more of them is known.

(3) The children of Parosh . . . —Then comes the enumeration of the family and local names. In the following instances we note when two of the three authorities agree. In Ezra 2:6 , Ezra is confirmed by 1 Esdras as against Nehemiah’s 2,818; in Ezra 2:8 , against his 945; in Ezra 2:11 , against his 628; in Ezra 2:15 , against his 655; in Ezra 2:17 , against his 324; in Ezra 2:33 , against his 721. In Ezra 2:10 , the children of Bani, or Binnui, are 642, but 1 Esdras agrees with Nehemiah in making them 648; in Ezra 2:14 , the two latter correct 666 into 667.—In Ezra 2:20 , heads of families become places; Nehemiah substitutes Gibeon for Gibbar. Ezra 2:30 has no representative in Nehemiah. In Ezra 2:31 , “the other Elam” has the same number as Elam in Ezra 2:7 ; and the Nebo of Ezra 2:29 is called in Nehemiah “the other Nebo,” though the only one, as if the “other” had slipped in from what in Nehemiah is found in the next verse. In a few cases all the authorities differ, but the differences are not important.

The province - Judaea was no longer a kingdom, but a mere "province" of Persia. "The children of the province" are the Israelites who returned to Palestine, as distinct from those who remained in Babylonia and Persia. Every one unto his city - That is, to the city whereto his forefathers had belonged. Of course, in the few cases where this was not known Ezra 2:59-62, the plan could not be carried out. Two other copies of the following list have come down to us - one in Nehemiah 7:7-69, and the other in 1 Esdras 5:8-43. All seem to have been taken from the same original document, and to have suffered more or less from corruption. Where two out of the three agree, the reading should prevail over that of the third.

3 . The children of Parosh ] A strange proper name, meaning a ‘flea’. A special branch of this family, called after Shechaniah, returned with Ezra ( Ezra 8:3 ). Members of the family are mentioned as having married ‘strange wives’ ( Ezra 10:25 ) and as assisting in the rebuilding of the walls ( Nehemiah 3:25 ). 3–19 . Names of households or families. Many of these names occur again in other lists, e.g. Ezra 8:1-14 ; Ezra 10:18-44 ; Nehemiah 10:1-27 , and in connexion with much later events in the lifetime of Ezra and Nehemiah. These names therefore are not to be regarded as the names of the leading men of the various families who accompanied Zerubbabel, but as the titles of the families or clans into which the people were divided. These titles were probably taken from the founders of the families and were many of them of great antiquity. The mention of the same names of the ‘families’ at the return of Ezra ( Ezra 8:1-14 ) merely shows that, though a certain number of a household had accompanied Zerubbabel, many members of it remained in Babylon, of whom some returned with Ezra, e.g. Parosh, Pahath-moab, Adin, Shephatiah, Elam, Bebai, Azgad, Adonikam, Bigvai, &c., cf. Nehemiah 10:14 ff. Ezra 2:3

List of the houses and families of the people. Comp. Nehemiah 7:8-38 . - To show the variations in names and numbers between the two texts, we here place them side by side, the names in Nehemiah being inserted in parentheses. Ezra II Ezra II Nehemiah 7 1. The Sons of Parosh 2172 2172 2. The Sons of Shephatiah 372 372 3. The Sons of Arah 775 652 4. The Sons of Pahath Moab, of the sons of Joshua and Joab 2812 2818 5. The Sons of Elam 1254 1254 6. The Sons of Zattu 945 845 7. The Sons of Zaccai 760 760 8. The Sons of Bani (Binnui) 642 648 9. The Sons of Bebai 623 628 10. The Sons of Azgad 1222 2322 11. The Sons of Adonikam 666 667 12. The Sons of Bigvai 2056 2067 13. The Sons of Adin 454 655 14. The Sons of Ater of Hezekiah 98 98 15. The Sons of Bezai 323 324 16. The Sons of Jorah (Harif) 112 112 17. The Sons of Hashum 223 328 18. The Sons of Gibbar (Gibeon) 95 95 19. The Sons of Bethlehem 123 123 20. The Men of Netophah 56 56 21. The Men of Anathoth 128 128 22. The Sons of Azmaveth (men of Beth-azmaveth) 42 42 23. The Sons of Kirjath-arim, Chephirah, Beeroth 743 743 24. The Sons of Ramah and Gaba 621 621 25. The Men of Michmas 122 122 26. The Men of Bethel and Ai 223 123 27. The Sons of Nebo (Acher) 52 52 28. The Sons of Magbish 156 wanting 29. The Sons of other Elam 1254 1254 30. The Sons of Harim 320 320 31. The Sons of Lod, Hadid, Ono 725 721 32. The Sons of Jericho 345 345 33. The Sons of Senaah 3630 3930 Total 24,144 25,406 The differences in the names are unimportant.

In Ezra 2:6 the ו copulative inserted between the names ישׁוּע and יואב, both in Nehemiah and 1 Esdras, is wanting; the name בּני (Ezra 2:10) is written בּנּוּי in Nehemiah (Nehemiah 7:15); for יורה (Ezra 2:18), Nehemiah 7:24 has חריף, evidently another name for the same person, Jorah having a similarity of sound with יורה, harvest-rain, and חריף with חרף, harvest; for נּבּר (Ezra 2:20), Nehemiah 7:25 more correctly read גּבעון, the name of the town; and for ערים קרית (Ezra 2:25), Nehemiah 7:29 has the more correct form יערים קרית: the sons of Azmaveth (Ezra 2:24) stands in Nehemiah as the men of Beth-azmaveth; while, on the other hand, for the sons of Nebo (Ezra 2:29), we have in Nehemiah (Nehemiah 7:33) the men of Nebo Acher, where אחר seems to have been inserted inadvertently, Elam Acher so soon following. (Note: This view is more probable than the notion of Dietrich, in A. Merx, Archiv fr wissensch. Forschung des A. T., No. 3, p. 345, that by the addition אחר in Nehemiah, the Nebo in Judah is distinguished from the Nebo in Reuben.) The names Bezai, Jorah, and Hashum (Ezra 2:17-19) are transposed in Nehemiah (Nehemiah 7:22-24) thus, Hashum, Bezai, and Harif; as are also Lod, etc., and Jericho, (Ezra 2:33, Ezra 2:34) into Jericho and Lod, etc. (Nehemiah, vv. 36, 37).