NOTES for Ezr 8:1-20
1 These are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king. |
2 Of the sons of Phinehas; Gershom: of the sons of Ithamar; Daniel: of the sons of David; Hattush. |
3 Of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Pharosh; Zechariah: and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males an hundred and fifty. |
4 Of the sons of Pahath-moab; Elihoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males. |
5 Of the sons of Shechaniah; the son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males. |
6 Of the sons also of Adin; Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males. |
7 And of the sons of Elam; Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males. |
8 And of the sons of Shephatiah; Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him fourscore males. |
9 Of the sons of Joab; Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males. |
10 And of the sons of Shelomith; the son of Josiphiah, and with him an hundred and threescore males. |
11 And of the sons of Bebai; Zechariah the son of Bebai, and with him twenty and eight males. |
12 And of the sons of Azgad; Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him an hundred and ten males. |
13 And of the last sons of Adonikam, whose names are these, Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them threescore males. |
14 Of the sons also of Bigvai; Uthai, and Zabbud, and with them seventy males. |
15 And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi. |
16 Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding. |
17 And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God. |
18 And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen; |
19 And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty; |
20 Also of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinims: all of them were expressed by name. |
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Ezra’s companions were very different people, but all of them were heirs of well-known Jewish families. Yet already during the journey it became clear that there were no descendants of Levi among them. Their presence might seem unnecessary, since descendants of priests and Levites were already in Judea and there were people to perform the Temple worship. But for Ezra it is important that descendants of Levi should be present in the group traveling to restore the people’s way of life in the fullness of the Law; without the Levites, Ezra’s mission cannot be fully accomplished.
Having noticed their absence in time, Ezra took action. The caravan he leads now becomes a small-scale image of the people, in which different groups of the population are represented and the people’s fullness is recreated within a small space. It might seem that Ezra, being a priest, could have dispensed with enlisting the Levites for additional help. But no one stands before God alone; the priest’s ministry of prayer is inseparable from the prayer of the people of the Church. Even when it seems to us that not a single kindred soul is nearby, in prayer we always stand invisibly among millions of brothers and sisters.
Readings for 23 October 2018
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