NOTES for Ezr 8:1-20

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.