Ezra 5:27

27 . Michmas ] in the tribe of Benjamin, on a hill overlooking the gorge of the same name, which was the scene of Jonathan’s victory over the Philistines ( 1 Samuel 13:23 ; 1 Samuel 13:14 ). It was evidently a strong situation (cf. 1 Samuel 13:2 ; 1 Samuel 13:5 ; 1 Samuel 13:16 ). Geba was on the S., Michmash on the N. side of the gorge. This agrees with the passage in Isaiah 10:28-29 where the march of an invading Assyrian army from the N. is described, ‘At Michmash he layeth up his baggage: they are gone over the pass; they have taken up their lodging at Geba: Ramah trembleth’. Ezra 2:27

10 . We asked their names ] R.V. we asked them their names . So the Aramaic. For the names of the Elders, cf. Ezra 2:2 . the chief of them ] R.V. at the head of them. Literally ‘at or in the heads of them’. The R.V. renders as if the word was in the singular; cf. 2 Chronicles 20:27 , ‘Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them’, (lit. at their head). But the rendering ‘that were their heads’ would be equally correct, and would account for the use of the plural. Ezra 5:10

Of Israel, as distinguished from priests and Levites, i.e., of the laity. Of these latter are given in all eighty-six names, belonging to ten races, vv. 25-43, who returned with Zerubbabel. See Nos. 1, 5, 6, 9, 8, 4, 30, 17, and 27 of the survey of these races. ירמות in Ezra 10:29 should, according to the Chethiv, be read ירמות. - The twofold naming of sons of Bani in this list ( Ezra 10:29 and Ezra 10:34 ) is strange, and Bani is evidently in one of these places a mistake for some other name. Bertheau supposes that Bigvai may have stood in the text in one of these places. The error undoubtedly lies in the second mention of Bani ( Ezra 10:34 ), and consists not merely in the wrong transcription of this one name. For, while of every other race four, six, seven, or eight individuals are named, no less than seven and twenty names follow בּני מבּני, though all these persons could hardly have belonged to one race, unless the greater number of males therein had married strange wives. Besides, no names of inhabitants of cities of Judah and Benjamin are given in this list (as in Ezra 2:21-28 , and Ezra 2:33-35 ), although it is stated in Ezra 10:7 and Ezra 10:14 that not only the men of Jerusalem, but also dwellers in other cities, had contracted these prohibited marriages, and been summoned to Jerusalem, that judgment might be pronounced in their several cases.

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 .

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.

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 ).

Verse 5. - Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests... to swear . Rather, " made the princes, the priests, etc. to swear" LXX.). That they would do according to this word . That they would act in the matter as Shechaniah had recommended, and put away the idolatrous wives. EZRA'S FAST (ver. 6). Matters having reached this point, the covenant having been made, and the only question remaining for consideration being how the decision come to should be carried out, Ezra "rose up," and withdrew himself for a time from the people, entering into one of the side chambers of the temple, and secluding himself there. The guilt of his brethren still pressed heavily on his spirit, and he continued the mourning which he had commenced as soon as it came to his ears. To this mourning he now joined a fast of the strictest kind, an entire abstinence both from eating and drinking, like that of Moses on Mount Sinai ( Exodus 34:28 ). Natural piety seems to have taught men generally ( Jonah 3:5-7 ), and the Jews among them, that such abstinence was a fitting accompaniment of penitential prayer, and might be counted on to lend it additional force with Almighty God. Compare the private and personal fasts of David ( 2 Samuel 12:16 ), Ahab ( 1 Kings 21:27 ), Daniel ( Daniel 9:3 ), and Nehemiah ( Nehemiah 1:4 ). Ezra 10:5

The occurrence of the same name in Plin. iv. 35, Dion.-Cass. liv. 5, indicates that it was, like Pharaoh, a dynastic name or title. Eusebius (Hist. ii. 1) states that in his time (circ. A.D. 430) the region was still under the rule of a queen, according to the custom of the country. Who had the charge of all her treasure.—The Greek word for treasure is Gaza, a word of Persian origin, which about this time had come into use both among Greek and Latin writers (Cicero, de Off. ii. 22). The LXX. translators employ it in Ezra 5:17; Ezra 6:1; Ezra 7:21; Isaiah 39:2. Aristotle (Hist. Plant. viii. 11) is the first Greek writer in whom we find it naturalised. It is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, but a compound form appears as denoting the treasury of the Temple in Luke 21:1. The coincidence between this Gaza and the name of the town is at least suggestive of the thought that St. Luke saw in it a nomen et omen. The man came from one Gaza, and was going to another; and he, like the man in the parable of Matthew 13:44, found a treasure which he had not looked for, but which came to him as the reward of his diligently seeking. Had come to Jerusalem for to worship.—The act itself, even prior to the eunuch’s conversion by Philip, was a fulfilment of the hope of the prophet Zephaniah cited above.