Ezra 2:51

2:36-63 Those who undervalue their relation to the Lord in times of reproach, persecution, or distress, will have no benefit from it when it becomes honourable or profitable. Those who have no evidence that they are, by the new birth, spiritual priests unto God, through Jesus Christ, have no right to the comforts and privileges of Christians.

The Nethinims,.... Supposed by Aben Ezra and Jarchi to be the Gibeonites, who were "given" by Joshua, as the word Nethinims signifies, to the congregation, to be hewers of wood and drawers of water; but rather were those that were given by David to assist the Levites; of these is an account from hence to the end of Ezra 2:58 , together with those who descended from Solomon's servants, who seem to be the remains of the Canaanites in the land, whom Solomon made bondservants of, 1 Kings 9:20 , who, and their posterity, became proselytes; or those sprung from men that were domestic servants of Solomon's, and valued themselves on that account; the number of the Nethinims and these together were three hundred ninety and two.

36-39. The priests—Each of their families was ranged under its prince or head, like those of the other tribes. It will be remembered that the whole body was divided into twenty-four courses, one of which, in rotation, discharged the sacerdotal duties every week, and each division was called after the name of its first prince or chief. It appears from this passage that only four of the courses of the priests returned from the Babylonish captivity; but these four courses were afterwards, as the families increased, divided into twenty-four, which were distinguished by the names of the original courses appointed by David [1Ch 23:6-13]. Hence we find the course of Abijah or Abia (1Ch 24:10) subsisting at the commencement of the Christian era (Lu 1:5).

The Nethinim, i.e., temple-bondsmen, and the servants of Solomon, are reckoned together, thirty-five families of Nethinim and ten of the servants of Solomon being specified. The sum-total of these amounting only to 392, each family could only have averaged from eight to nine individuals. The sons of Akkub, Hagab and Asnah ( Ezra 2:45 , Ezra 2:46 , and Ezra 2:50 ), are omitted in Nehemiah; the name Shalmai ( Ezra 2:46 ) is in Nehemiah 7:48 written Salmai; and for נפיסים, Ezra 2:50 , Nehemiah 7:52 has נפושׁסים, a form combined from נפוּסים and נפישׁים. All other variations relate only to differences of form. Because Ziha (ציהא, Ezra 2:43 ) again occurs in Nehemiah 11:21 as one of the chiefs of the Nethinim, and the names following seem to stand in the same series with it, Bertheau insists on regarding these names as those of divisions. This cannot, however, be correct; for Ziha is in Nehemiah 11:21 the name of an individual, and in the present list also the proper names are those of individuals, and only the sons of Ziha, Hasupha, etc., can be called families or divisions. Plural words alone, Mehunim and Nephisim, are names of races or nations; hence the sons of the Mehunim signify individuals belonging to the Mehunim, who, perhaps, after the victory of King Uzziah over that people, were as prisoners of war made vassals for the service of the sanctuary. So likewise may the sons of the Nephisim have been prisoners of war of the Ishmaelite race נפישׁ.

Most of the families here named may, however, have been descendants of the Gibeonites ( Joshua 9:21 , Joshua 9:27 ). The servants of Solomon must not be identified with the Canaanite bond-servants mentioned 1 Kings 9:20 ., 2 Chronicles 8:7 ., but were probably prisoners of war of some other nation, whom Solomon sentenced to perform, as bondsmen, similar services to those imposed upon the Gibeonites. The sons of these servants are again mentioned in Nehemiah 11:3 . In other passages they are comprised under the general term Nethinim, with whom they are here computed. Among the names, that of הצּבים פּכרת ( Ezra 2:57 ), i.e., catcher of gazelles, is a singular one; the last name, אמי, is in Nehemiah 7:59 אמון.

This word is rendered "governors" in Daniel 2:48 (see the note at that place), and in Daniel 3:3, Daniel 3:27; Daniel 6:7. It does not elsewhere occur. The Hebrew word corresponding to this - סגנים segânı̂ym - occurs frequently, and is rendered "rulers" in every place except Isaiah 41:25, where it is rendered "princes:" Ezra 9:2; Nehemiah 2:16; Nehemiah 4:14 (7); Nehemiah 5:7, Nehemiah 5:17; Nehemiah 7:5; Jeremiah 51:23, Jeremiah 51:28, Jeremiah 51:57; Ezekiel 23:6, Ezekiel 23:12, Ezekiel 23:23, et al. The office was evidently one that was inferior to that of the "satrap," or governor of a whole province. And the captains - פחותא pachăvâtâ'. This word, wherever it occurs in Daniel, is rendered "captains," Daniel 3:2-3, Daniel 3:27; Daniel 6:7; wherever else it occurs it is rendered governor, Ezra 5:3, Ezra 5:6, Ezra 5:14; Ezra 6:6-7, Ezra 6:13. The Hebrew word corresponding to this (פחה pechâh) occurs frequently, and is also rendered indifferently, "governor" or "captain:" 1 Kings 10:15; 2 Chronicles 9:14; Ezra 8:36; 1 Kings 20:24; Jeremiah 51:23, Jeremiah 51:28, Jeremiah 51:57, et al. It refers to the governor of a province less than satrapy, and is applied to officers in the Assyrian empire, 2 Kings 18:24; Isaiah 36:9; in the Chaldean, Ezekiel 23:6, Ezekiel 23:23; Jeremiah 51:23; and in the Persian, Esther 8:9; Esther 9:3. The word "captains" does not now very accurately express the sense.

2 . they have taken ] i.e. ‘taken wives’ as in Ezra 10:44 ; 2 Chronicles 11:21 ; 2 Chronicles 13:21 . the holy seed ] i.e. the race set apart and consecrated to God, cf. Exodus 19:5-6 . The term ‘the holy seed’ is found also in Isaiah 6:13 . have mingled themselves ] The same phrase occurs in a passage which well illustrates our verse. Psalm 106:34-35 . ‘They did not destroy the peoples (‘ammîm) as the Lord commanded them; but mingled themselves with the nations (haggoyyim) and learned their works’. with the people of those lands ] R.V. with the peoples of the lands , as in Ezra 9:1 . the hand of the princes and rulers ] marg. ‘princes and deputies ’. compare the same phrase Nehemiah 5:7 . The word rendered ‘rulers’ (marg. ‘deputies’) ‘segânîm’ is of Assyrian origin. It occurs in Isaiah 41:25 , and preceded by ‘pekhah’ in Jeremiah 51:23 ; Jeremiah 51:28 ; Jeremiah 51:57 ; Ezekiel 23:6 ; Ezekiel 23:12 ; Ezekiel 23:23 as ‘governors and deputies’; in Nehemiah 4:14 ; Nehemiah 4:19 ; Nehemiah 5:7 ; Nehemiah 7:5 ; Nehemiah 12:40 ; Nehemiah 13:11 as ‘rulers’ (marg. ‘deputies’). ‘The princes’ seem to have been the chief authorities. A ruler or deputy (sagan) held under the governor a post of subordinate responsibility. chief in this trespass ] R.V. marg. first . This is probably more correct; the chiefs and rulers had set the example of wrong-doing, ‘Trespass’ Ezra 9:4 , Ezra 10:6 . Compare the use of this word with reference to national sin, Joshua 7:1 ; Joshua 22:16 .

18 . Jorah ] called in Nehemiah ( Ezra 7:24 , Ezra 10:19 ) Hariph, with which may be compared Hareph ( 1 Chronicles 2:51 ) of the sons of Caleb. The interchange of names is the more strange when we remember that the Hebrew word ‘Joreh’ means ‘autumn-rain’ while the Hebrew ‘Horeph’ means ‘the autumn-season’. Ezra 2:18

2 . princes ] satraps , Aram. ’achashdarpan ,—both this and the Gk. ἐξατράπης , σατράπης , being corruptions of the Old Persian kshatra-pâwan , lit. ‘protector of the realm,’ but denoting by usage (cf. on Daniel 6:1 ) the chief ruler of a province. The term, as is well known, is a standing Persian one: in the O.T., it recurs Daniel 3:3; Daniel 3:27 , Daniel 6:1-4 ; Daniel 6:6-7 (A.V. princes ); and Ezra 8:36 , Esther 3:12 ; Esther 8:9 ; Esther 9:3 (A.V. lieutenants ); R.V. always satraps . The use of the word here is an anachronism: both the name and the office were Persian, not Babylonian. governors ] praefects . The word ( segan ) explained on Daniel 2:48 . captains ] governors (R.V.), Aram. pechah , a term also (like segan ) of Assyrian origin, often used in Assyrian of the governor of a conquered province. It found its way into Hebrew, and is used in the O.T. both of an Assyrian officer ( Isaiah 36:9 = 2 Kings 18:24 : A.V., R.V. captain ), of Babylonian officers ( Jeremiah 51:57 ; Ezekiel 23:6 ; Ezekiel 23:12 ; Ezekiel 23:23 : A.V. captains , R.V. governors ), and especially, in post-exilic writings, of the governor of a Persian province ( Haggai 1:1 ; Haggai 2:2 ; Malachi 1:8 ; Ezra 5:3 ; Ezra 5:6 ; Nehemiah 2:7 ; Nehemiah 2:9 , and elsewhere); as well as once or twice more generally ( 1 Kings 20:24 ; Jeremiah 51:23 ; Jeremiah 51:28 ). In Dan. it recurs Daniel 3:3; Daniel 3:27 , Daniel 6:7 . judges ] So Daniel 3:3 .