Ezra 9:25

Ezra 10:9 . Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin, &c. — Not only of these two tribes, as appears from the following catalogue, in which there are priests and Levites; but all the Israelites, ( Ezra 10:25 ,) who are thus described, because the greatest part of them were of these tribes, though others were mixed with them: and because they all now dwelt in that land, which formerly was appropriated to those tribes. All the people sat in the street — Hebrew, ברחוב , birchob, LXX., εν πλατεια , in a broad, open place, of the house of God. Houbigant renders it, the court, namely, that in which the people stood when they worshipped. This, lying open, and not being yet enclosed by a wall, as may be conjectured from Nehemiah 2:8 , is called in the original an open place, or street, and not חצר , chatser, the name usually given to the court. Here the people were not only within view of the temple, but in a place adjoining to it, that so they might be as in God’s presence, and be thereby awed to a more faithful and vigorous prosecution of their work. Trembling because of this matter — The offence they had committed against God, and the consequences thereof; and for the great rain — Hebrew, ם i הגשׁמי , haggeshamim, the rains, or showers. It was now the depth of winter, when the rains in Judea are extremely cold; and the people seem to have taken the heavy rains on this occasion as a token of God’s displeasure.

This they had done, either, 1. In the land of their captivity, into which these people were carried as well as others, as appears from Jeremiah 25:9 , &c. Or rather, 2. Since their return, as may be gathered from Ezra 9:8,9,10,14 . The princes and rulers; who should have restrained the people from this sin by their authority and example; and, by doing otherwise, made the sin more general, and involved themselves and the nation in the guilt of it.

25–43 . Israel, or the laity as distinguished from priests and Levites. Cf. Ezra 2:2 ‘the men of the people of Israel’. Ezra 9:1 ‘the people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites’. Moreover of Israel ] R.V. And of Israel. There is no variety to break the simplicity of the list. The names of the houses here mentioned have all been mentioned in chap. 2. Thus Parosh ( Ezra 10:25 ) in Ezra 2:3 : number of offenders 7 Elam ( Ezra 10:26 ) in Ezra 2:7 number of offenders 6 Zattu ( Ezra 10:27 ) in Ezra 2:8 number of offenders 6 Bebai ( Ezra 10:28 ) in Ezra 2:11 number of offenders 4 Bani ( Ezra 10:29 ) in Ezra 2:10 number of offenders 6 Pahath-Moab ( Ezra 10:30 ) in Ezra 2:6 number of offenders 8 Harim ( Ezra 10:31 ) in Ezra 2:32 number of offenders 8 Hashum ( Ezra 10:33 ) in Ezra 2:19 number of offenders 7 Bani ( Ezra 10:34 ) in Ezra 2:10 number of offenders 27 Nebo ( Ezra 10:43 ) in Ezra 2:29 number of offenders 7 In this list, as compared with that in Ezra 2, the following points may be observed: ( a ) The house of Bani is twice mentioned ( Ezra 10:29 and Ezra 10:33 ). This is almost certainly due to an early error in the text.

Ezra 3:2 , Jeshua—his brethren the priests.) appointed the Levites ] The word ‘appointed’, lit. ‘to cause to stand’, is one very common in our author. Used of a building ‘to set up’, Ezra 2:68 , Ezra 3:3 , Ezra 9:9 ; Nehemiah 3:1 ; Nehemiah 3:3 ; Nehemiah 3:6 ; Nehemiah 3:13 ; Nehemiah 6:1 ; Nehemiah 7:1 ; of persons ‘to appoint’, ‘set over’, Ezra 3:9 , Nehemiah 4:13 ; Nehemiah 6:7 ; 1 Chronicles 6:31 ; 1 Chronicles 15:17 . from twenty years old and upward ] The limits of age for the Levite laid down in Numbers 8:24-25 excluded from service those younger than 25 and older than 50. The religious reorganization under David required the services of the Levite ‘from twenty years old and upward’; so 1 Chronicles 23:24 ; 1 Chronicles 23:27 . The small number of Levites available made it all the more important to lower the standard of age. (For modification of original legislation see also on Ezra 6:20 .) to set forward the work ] R.V. ‘to have the oversight of’ , (Marg.) ‘ set forward ’. A rare word used in Ezra and 1 Chronicles 23:4 . Elsewhere it occurs only as a participle in titles to Psalms and in Habakkuk 3:19 ‘for the Chief Musician.’ The Latin version ‘ut urgerent opus’ has suggested the rendering of the A.V. But the sense, suggested by the participial title ‘the Chief Musician, Conductor or Director’, is that of superintendence and direction.

Verse 12. - Give not your daughters, etc. Here Deuteronomy 7:3 is plainly referred to, though not verbally quoted. This is the sole place in the Law where the double injunction is given, Exodus 34:16 referring to the taking of wives only. Nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever. So Moses had enjoined with special reference to the Moabites and Ammonites ( Deuteronomy 23:6 ). With regard to the other idolatrous nations, the exact command was "to make no covenant with them" ( Exodus 23:32 ; Exodus 34:12 ), i.e. no terms of peace. Much the same was probably meant by both injunctions. That ye may be strong. See Deuteronomy 11:8 . And eat the good of the land. These words are taken from Isaiah 1:19 . And leave it for an inheritance, etc. No single passage seems to be referred to here, but the clause embodies the idea found in Deuteronomy 11:9 ; Proverbs 10:27 ; Ezekiel 37:25 , and elsewhere. Ezra 9:12

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 ).

The seventy weeks date thirteen years before the rebuilding of Jerusalem; for then the re-establishment of the theocracy began, namely, at the return of Ezra to Jerusalem, 457 B. C. So Jeremiah's seventy years of the captivity begin 606 B. C. , eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem, for then Judah ceased to exist as an independent theocracy, having fallen under the sway of Babylon. Two periods are marked in Ezra: (1) The return from the captivity under Jeshua and Zerubbabel, and rebuilding of the temple, which was the first anxiety of the theocratic nation. (2) The return of Ezra (regarded by the Jews as a second Moses) from Persia to Jerusalem, the restoration of the city, the nationality, and the law. Artaxerxes, in the seventh year of his reign, gave him the commission which virtually includes permission to rebuild the city, afterwards confirmed to, and carried out by, Nehemiah in the twentieth year (Ezra 9:9; 7:11, &c.). Daniel 9:25, "from the going forth of the commandment to build Jerusalem, " proves that the second of the two periods is referred to.