Ezra 2:53

. The Jews {r} speak of one Ben Netzer, who they say was a robber, took cities, and reigned over them, and became the head of robbers; and make {s} him to be the little horn in Daniel 7:8 and wickedly and maliciously say {t} he was Jesus; and yet, under all this wickedness, they tacitly own that Jesus of Nazareth is the Netzer this prophecy speaks of; the design of which is to show the meanness of Christ's descent as man, and that he should be as a root out of a dry ground, Isaiah 53:2 or rather as a rod and branch out of a dry root. {o} Apud Aben Ezra in loc. {p} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 85. fol. 75. 1. Midrash Tillim in Psal. lxxii. 1. Apud Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 112. 2. Abarbinel, Mashmia Jeshua, fol. 8. 4. Aben Ezra, Jarchi, & Kimchi, in loc. Nachman. Disputat. cum Fratre Paulo, p. 53. {q} David de Pomis Lexic. p. 141. {r} T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 51. 2. & Gloss. in ib. {s} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 76. fol. 67. 2. {t} Abarbinel in Dan. vii. 8. fol. 44. 1.

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).

53 . Sisera ] possibly from the inhabitants of Northern Canaan (cf. Jdg 4:2 ). Thamah ] R.V. Temah, possibly referring to an Arabian clan (cf. Genesis 25:15 ; 1 Chronicles 1:30 ). Whether we should look for this Tema in the N. of Arabia or identify it with Taima in the Hauran is still uncertain. See Job 6:19 ; Isaiah 21:14 . Ezra 2:53

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.

The descendants of Salma: Bethlehem, i.e., the family of Bethlehem (see on 1 Chronicles 2:52 ), the Netophathites, i.e., the inhabitants of the town of Netophah, which, according to our verse and Ezra 2:22 , and especially Nehemiah 7:26 , is to be looked for in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem (cf. 1 Chronicles 9:16 ); a family which produced at various times renowned men (cf. 2 Samuel 23:28 .; 2 Kings 25:23 ; Ezra 2:22 ). The following words, י עטחרות ב, i.e., "crowns of the house of Joab," can only be the name of a place which is mentioned instead of its inhabitants; for עטרות occurs elsewhere, sometimes alone, and sometimes in conjunction with a proper name, as the name of places: cf. Numbers 32:34 .; Joshua 16:2 , Joshua 16:5 , Joshua 16:7 ; Joshua 18:13 . Hazi-Hammanahath is certainly to be sought in the neighbourhood of Manahath, 1 Chronicles 8:6 , whose position has, however, not yet been ascertained. הצּרעי is only another form of הצּרעתי, and is derived from the masculine of the word. The Zorites here spoken of formed a second division of the inhabitants of Zoreah and the neighbourhood, along with the Zoreathites descended from Shobal, 1 Chronicles 2:53 .