Ezra 5:25

5 . law ] dâth , the same Persian word, which is found in Daniel 2:9 ; Daniel 2:13 ; Daniel 2:15 , and also in Daniel 6:8 ; Daniel 6:12 ; Daniel 6:15 , and constantly in Esther. Here, as in Ezra 7:12 ; Ezra 7:14 ; Ezra 7:21 ; Ezra 7:25-26 , it denotes the Jewish law (Heb. tôrâh ). Daniel 6:5

25 . Kirjath-arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth ] Gibeonite cities, see Josh, Joshua 9:17 ‘Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim’ (R.V.) ‘Kirjath-arim’ ( Kiriath-arim R.V.) called in Nehemiah 7:29 Kiriath-jearim, or ‘the city of the woods’. The spelling in our verse is probably due to an early error in the text. Its former name was Baalah ( Joshua 15:9 ). It was assigned to Judah and lay on the border of Judah and Benjamin. The ark rested here after it had been restored by the Philistines ( 1 Samuel 6:21 ; 1 Samuel 7:1 ), and David brought it from here to Jerusalem ( 1 Chronicles 13:5-6 ; 2 Chronicles 1:4 ; 2 Samuel 6:2 , ‘Baale Judah,’ cf. Joshua 18:14 ). From the description given in Joshua 15:8-11 it must have been situate about 9 miles N.W. of Jerusalem. Chephirah, modern Kefireh , a little N. of Kiriath. Beeroth ] = ‘wells’, the native place of the two Benjamite assassins of Ishbosheth, Baanah and Rechab ( 2 Samuel 4:2 ), now known as Bireh 12 miles N. of Jerusalem on the road to Nablûs. It is here that according to tradition the child Jesus was first missed by Joseph and Mary ( Luke 2:44 ). Ezra 2:25

5 . Phinehas, the son of Eleazar ] his religious zeal ( Numbers 25:7-11 ) was celebrated in the records and songs of Israel ( Psalm 106:30 ). As High-priest he appears probably on two occasions Joshua 22:13 ; Joshua 22:30 ; Joshua 22:32 ; Jdg 20:28 . Aaron the chief priest ] Literally the ‘head-priest’ (hak-kohen harôsh). By this title the High-priest was sometimes designated in writings of the Captivity and post-Captivity periods, e.g. 2 Chronicles 19:11 ; 2 Chronicles 24:11 ; 2 Chronicles 26:20 ; 2 Chronicles 31:10 . The earliest instances are 2 Kings 25:18 ; Jeremiah 52:24 . Before the period of the Captivity he is generally called “the priest”. The name High-priest (literally ‘the great priest’) only rarely occurs in the Pentateuch, Leviticus 21:10 ; Numbers 35:25 ; Numbers 35:28 , though more frequently in books of late date, e.g. 2 Kings 12:10 . LXX. ‘the first priest’ ( τοῦ ἱέρεως τοῦ πρώτου ). Vulg. ‘sacerdotis ab initio’. Ezra 7:5

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).

31 . robe ] Heb. me‘îl , a long garment, worn over the tunic, and usually, it seems, open down the front, and with sleeves (see ill. in DB. i. 625a; and Benz. Arch. 2 76 f.), made of better material than the more ordinary simlâh (see on Exodus 12:34 ), and often worn in place of that by men of position ( 1 Samuel 18:4 ; 1 Samuel 24:4 ; 1 Samuel 24:11 ; by Samuel Exodus 15:27 , Exodus 28:14 , cf. Exodus 2:19 ; Ezra 9:3 ; Ezra 9:5 ). blue ] or violet (see on Exodus 25:4 ). The robe was to be entirely woven of this material, and without figures: hence it is called simply the ‘work of the weaver’ ( Exodus 39:22 : see on Exodus 26:1 ).