In our study of Ezra chapter two, we look at the list of people who returned from bondage to Jerusalem for God' work. In chapter one, we saw that all of the people were authorized to return to Jerusalem but, as we see here, not every Jew went back.
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Here is a list of the people of the province who had been exiled, carried off to Bavel by N'vukhadnetzar king of Bavel, but who later returned from exile and went up to Yerushalayim and Y'hudah, each to his own city; they went with Z'rubavel, Yeshua, Nechemyah, S'rayah, Re'elyah, Mordekhai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rechum and Ba'anah. The number of men from the people of Isra'el:
There were three different returns of the people to Jerusalem from Babylon. This is the first and it is led by the political leader, Zerubbabel. He was the governor of the Persian province of Judah and he was the grandson of Jehoiachin who had been king of Judah. He is also listed in the family line of Jesus (see Matthew 1:13).
descendants of Par'osh 2,172 descendants of Sh'fatyah 372 descendants of Arach 775 descendants of Pachat-Mo'av, from the descendants of Yeshua and Yo'av 2,812 descendants of 'Eilam 1,254 descendants of Zatu 945 descendants of Zakkai 760 descendants of Bani 642 descendants of B'vai 623 descendants of 'Azgad 1,222 descendants of Adonikam 666 descendants of Bigvai 2,056 descendants of 'Adin 454 descendants of Ater, of Y'chizkiyah 98 descendants of Betzai 323 descendants of Yorah 112 descendants of Hashum 223 descendants of Gibbar 95 descendants of Beit-Lechem 123 people of N'tofah 56 people of 'Anatot 128 descendants of 'Azmavet 42 descendants of Kiryat-'Arim, K'firah and Be'erot descendants of Ramah and Geva people of Mikhmas people of Beit-El and 'Ai descendants of N'vo descendants of Magbish descendants of the other 'Eilam descendants of Harim descendants of Lod, Hadid and Ono descendants of Yericho descendants of S'na'ah The cohanim: descendants of Y'da'yah, of the house of Yeshua descendants of Immer descendants of Pash'chur descendants of Harim 621 122 223 52 156 1,254 320 725 345 3,630 973 1,052 1,247 1,017 The L'vi'im: descendants of Yeshua and Kadmi'el, of the descendants of Hodavyah The singers: descendants of Asaf 128 The descendants of the gatekeepers: descendants of Shalum, descendants of Ater, descendants of Talmon, descendants of 'Akuv, descendants of Hatita, and descendants of Shovai in all, 139 The temple servants: descendants of Tzicha, descendants of Hasufa, descendants of Taba'ot, descendants of Keros, descendants of Sia'ha descendants of Padon, descendants of L'vanah, descendants of Hagavah, descendants of 'Akuv, descendants of Hagav, descendants of Salmai, descendants of Hanan, descendants of Giddel, descendants of Gachar, descendants of Re'ayah, descendants of Retzin, descendants of N'koda, descendants of Gazam, descendants of 'Uza, descendants of Paseach, descendants of Besai, descendants of Asnah, descendants of Me'unim, descendants of N'fusim, descendants of Bakbuk, descendants of Hakufa, descendants of Harhur, descendants of Batzlut, descendants of M'chida, descendants of Harsha, descendants of Barkos, descendants of Sisra, descendants of Temach, descendants of N'tziach, and descendants of Hatifa. The descendants of Shlomo's servants: descendants of Sotai, descendants of Hasoferet, descendants of P'ruda, descendants of Ya'alah, descendants of Darkon, descendants of Giddel, descendants of Sh'fatyah, descendants of Hatil, descendants of Pokheret-Hatzvayim, and descendants of Ami. All the temple servants and the descendants of Shlomo's servants numbered 392 The following went up from Tel-Melach, Tel-Harsha, K'ruv, Adan and Immer; but they could not state which fathers' clan they or their children belonged to, [so it was not clear] whether they were from Isra'el: descendants of D'layah, descendants of Toviyah, and descendants of N'koda 652 and of the descendants of the cohanim: descendants of Havayah, descendants of Hakotz, and descendants of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gil'adi and was named after them. These tried to locate their genealogical records, but they weren't found. Therefore they were considered defiled and were not allowed to serve as cohanim. The Tirshata told them not to eat any of the especially holy food until a cohen appeared who could consult the urim and tumim.
If we are honest, we will probably ask ourselves why God would include this list of people in the Bible. First of all, it is encouraging to know that God knows each and every one of His people by name. The second thing is that we see there are divisions based on their service to God and this is a picture of the judgment of rewards that we see in Revelation. God not only knows who we are but He also knows how we have served Him. Those that could not trace their family line back to Levi were excluded from the priesthood as that was the tribe set aside by God. Because they were excluded they were not allowed to eat the food that was brought to the temple for the priests. This was to be their fate until a priest could find the will of God by using the Urim and Thummim. Today, all who are in Christ are a part of the priesthood and we have access to the will of God by the Holy Spirit living inside of us.
The entire assembly numbered 42,360 - not including their male and female slaves, of whom there were 7,337. They also had 200 male and female singers. Their horses numbered 736; their mules, 245; their camels, 435; and their donkeys, 6,720.
Here, we are given the number of people that returned to the land and we notice that it was significantly less than the total number of Jews.
Some of the heads of fathers' clans, when they came to the house of ADONAI in Yerushalayim, made voluntary offerings for rebuilding the house of God on its site. According to their means they gave into the treasury for the work 61,000 gold darkmonim [about two-thirds of a ton], 5,000 manim of silver [just over three tons], and a hundred tunics for the cohanim.
We see that God spoke to the hearts of some of the families and used them to provide the money to rebuild the temple. We see that this was a "freewill" offering which means that it was done spontaneously and willingly as prompted by the Holy Spirit. Today, we have corrupted the concept of a freewill offering as many leaders badger people into giving instead of allowing God to speak to the hearts of men to provide for His work. As the saying goes: 'If it's His will, it's His bill" and so we can trust God to provide what is required for the building of His kingdom.
So the cohanim, the L'vi'im, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers and the temple servants lived in their towns and all Isra'el in their towns.
So, the people returned to their towns.
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