Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

8:1-14 The party that returned with Ezra was a considerable addition to the community in Judah. It is numbered here according to the heads of their fathers' houses, i.e., heads of families (v. 1). Their genealogy refers to their formal registration in the list of those returning (as in v. 3, registered, which translates the same Hb. word). There are two priestly divisions, namely, Phinehas (v. 2; son of Eleazar, Num. 25:7) and Ithamar (Ezra 8:2; see Ex. 28:1). These were the remaining sons of Aaron following the judgment on Nadab and Abihu (Lev. 10:1-7). Ezra himself was of the line of Phinehas (Ezra 7:5). Daniel (8:2) is otherwise unknown, and is not the Daniel who was carried off to Babylon in 605 b.c. (see Dan. 1:1, 6; also note on Dan. 1:1-2), for this is now 458 (see note on Ezra 7:1-7). A third division is a line of David (8:2; for Hattush, see 1 Chron. 3:22). Ezra's party therefore aims to replenish the priesthood, and perhaps also to renew the claims of the Davidic house to rule in Judah.

8:15 The party camps outside Babylon at the river that runs to Ahava, no doubt one of the network of canals extending from the Euphrates. Ezra discovers that, though he had priests with him, there were none of the sons of Levi, i.e., the lower order of clergy, the Levites (see 2:40).

8:17 Nothing is known of Iddo or of Casiphia, to which Ezra's delegation (v. 16) is sent. But it was apparently a place where Levites and temple servants (see 2:43-54; 1 Chron. 9:2) might be expected to be found, and perhaps where they continued to be trained for the day when there would be a temple again in Jerusalem.

8:18-19 Mahli and Merari belong to the same Levitical family, Merari being a son of Levi (Num. 3:33).

8:20 The number of those who respond to Ezra's call is small, but symbolically important for the nation's future.

8:21 a fast. The custom of fasting grew in importance in the exile as part of a spirit of penitence (see Neh. 9:1; Est. 4:3). humble ourselves. This implied a deliberate penitential attitude, as in the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:31). Yet the prayer (Ezra 8:22-23) chiefly expresses the people's trust in God as they sought to demonstrate his reality to the Persian king. The king's ongoing support, they know, may depend on his belief in the reality and power of the God of Israel.

8:22 On the power of his wrath, see 6:10 and 7:23. Contrast Ezra's policy in 8:22 with Nehemiah's (Neh. 2:9).

8:23 and he listened to our entreaty. God's oversight of the events of history is the background against which this entire book is written (cf. v. 31; also note on 1:1).

8:24-36 Ezra entrusts the offerings that he has gathered for the temple to the priests who are with him (see 7:15-16, 22).

8:26 The amounts of silver and gold are extraordinarily large, the silver weighing around 25 tons (22 metric tons) and the gold 3.75 tons (3.4 metric tons).

8:28 The priests themselves are holy to the Lord (Ex. 29:1), namely, set aside for his service, and the precious metals and vessels have been donated into the holy sphere, and so they are also holy (see Ex. 30:26-29 for consecrated utensils).

8:29-30 The holy vessels are rightly entrusted to the priests; they remain in priestly possession until handed over to their counterparts in the temple itself.

8:31 The group sets out on the twelfth day of the first month (Nisan, March/April); the plan to leave on the first day (7:9) had been delayed by the need to send for more Levites. he delivered us from the hand of the enemy. Whether there were actual attacks on the group is not said, but God's protection on the journey makes this departure from Babylon resemble the ancient exodus of Israel from Egypt (e.g., Ex. 17:8-13; cf. notes on Ezra 1:1; 8:21; 8:22; 8:23).

8:32 We came to Jerusalem. This was on the first day of the fifth month (Ab, July/August; cf. 7:9), so the journey of roughly 900 miles (1,448 km) lasted nearly four months (see note on 7:9).

8:33-34 After a three-day rest, the treasures for the temple are handed over to the priests as planned (vv. 28-30).

8:35 For these exiles it is a first chance to see and worship at the rebuilt temple, and their sacrifices resemble those made at its first dedication (see 6:16-17). twelve bulls. See note on 6:16-17.

8:36 to the king's satraps and to the governors. A "satrap" was a governor of a "satrapy" (province), such as Beyond the River. The double expression here (satraps, governors) is a loose way of referring to the governing officials in general, who continue to have good relations with the community in Judah.