Obligations as

Ezra Narrative

do all the commands of Jehovah our Lord, and his ordinances and his statutes; 30 and that we would neither give our daughters to the peoples of the land nor take their daughters as wives for our sons; 31and that, if the peoples of the land should bring wares or any grain on the sabbath day to sell, we would not buy of them on the sabbath or on a holy day;d and that on the seventh year we would leave the land uncultivated and would refrain from the exaction of any debt.e

32 We also imposed upon ourselves the obligation to give yearly the third sumed part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God,f 33for the bread for the that was set forth, and for the continual burnt-offering, for the sabbaths, support of the the new moons, the fixed feasts, and the holy things, and for the sin-offertemple and ings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our ritual God. 34 And we cast lots, the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood-offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our father's houses, at appointed times year by year, to burn upon the altar of Jehovah our God, as it is prescribed in the law;m 35and to bring the earliest products of our ground, and the first of all fruit of every kind of tree year by year, to the temple of Jehovah; 36also the first-born of our sons and of our cattle, as is prescribed in the law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks,° to bring to the house of God to the priests who minister in the house of our God; 37 and that we should bring the first bread baked of our dough,a our gifts, the fruit of every kind of tree, the new wine and the oil, to the priests, in the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground to the Levites; and that they, the Levites, should receive the tithes in all the cities of our agricultural districts. 38 And that the priest the son of Aaron should be with the Levites, when the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers, into the store-house." 39 For the Israelites and the sons of Levi shall bring the gifts of grain, of new wine, and of oil, into the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests who minister and the porters and the singers, and that we would not neglect the house of our God.

r

V

1030 Cf. 1323 and Ezra 92 and Ex. 346, Dt. 73.

d 1031 Cf. 1315-22, Lev. 233.

1031 Cf. 5, Ex. 2310, 11, Dt. 151-3.

11032 Cf. If Chr. 246-9, Ex. 3011-16.

1033 Lit., the bread that was laid in rows or piled up. Cf. Lev. 245-9.

h 1033 Cf. Ezra 94, Ex. 2938-42, Num. 283-8.

i 1033 Cf. Num. 28.

1033 Cf. II Chr. 2933, 3513.

k103 Cf. Lev. 413-21.

1 1033 Cf. II Chr. 246.

1034 Cf. 1331. The law referred to is not found in the O.T., but in the Mishnah, Taanit 43. Cf. Jos., Jewish Wars, II, 176.

1035 Cf. Ex. 2319, 346, Num. 1812, 13.

1036 Cf. Num. 1815-18, Ex. 1313, 3420.

P 1037 Or, best.

41037 Cf. Num. 1520-21, Dt. 184. 5, 261-7.

1037 Lacking in the Gk. It fits badly in its context and is probably a later addition. 1037 Cf. 13.

IV

ORGANIZATION OF THE RESTORED JUDEAN COMMUNITY, Ezra 21-67, Neh. 76-69, 113-1226

§ 165. Census of the Jews in Palestine, Ezra 21-67, Neh. 76-69 (I Esdr. 57-43)

Chronicler's Ecclesiastical History

title

Neh. 7 6These are the children of the province, who went up out of the The captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city, 7who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah,b Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Rehum,d Baanah.e

с

Organization of the Restored Judean Community.-Regarding the history of the Judean community during the last decades of the Persian period the biblical and extra-canonical sources furnish little information. The period appears to have witnessed the expansion of the territory of Judah. This is indicated by a comparison of the comparatively few villages represented by the builders who worked under Nehemiah (Neh. 3), and the lists of Jewish towns in Neh. 725-37 and 1125-35. The extension was chiefly toward the northwest. Cf. map on the opp. page. Although he stood near enough the events to have written a continuous history on the basis of current information, the Chronicler, guided by his peculiar interests, contents himself with compiling certain lists in which the ideas and traditional claims of the coterie to which he belonged receive especial attention.

§ 165 Nehemiah's statement in Neh. 74 that the inhabitants of Jerusalem were few and that he gathered them together apparently gave the Chronicler an opportunity to bring in one of his long genealogical lists. This characteristic tendency has been often illustrated, but perhaps here most strikingly, by the fact that he has introduced the same list in Ezra 2, modifying the concluding words of Neh. 7 in order to fit the different context. Cf. note § 145. He also joins it closely to Nehemiah's memoirs by adding to Nehemiah's statement in 5 that he gathered together the rulers and people (evidently to devise means for increasing the population of Jerusalem), that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first, and I found written therein: Then follow the lists. The Heb. word, as well as the idea of reckoning by genealogy, is characteristic of the Chronicler, but not of Nehemiah. The latter also knows nothing of those who came up at the first, while it is one of the leading beliefs of the Chronicler. Cf. Introd., p. 29. Similarly 6, 7 reveal the stamp of the editor and his school. Cf. 6, Ezra 1, 38, 621, Neh. 113. The exactly twelve leaders in suggest one of his favorite numbers. The concluding section, 61-69, also has several of his characteristic idioms. The method of writing compound numerals in the list is also confined to very late Heb. writings. It is probable that the editor had older lists before him. He purports to give a list of those who returned from Babylon, but such names as the children of Pahath (governor of) Moab and the census of the inhabitants of the Judean villages, 25-37, by no means support this implication. On the other hand, the long lists of Levites, porters, singers, temple servants, and Solomon's servants in 43-60 were probably added by him."

The date of this census has been much discussed and is the most important problem connected with the chapter. It is obvious that the position of those who maintain that because of its position in Ezra 2 it represents those who returned in 536 B.C. is untenable. It was placed there simply to support the theory of the Chronicler or possibly that of some still later editor. The evidence of the list of towns in 25-37 points conclusively to the latter part of the Persian period, when, according to the testimony of I Mac. 950 and Josephus (Ant., XIII, 13), Judah included Bethel, Bethhoron and Timnath-Parathon. Likewise in the list of leaders Nehemiah, and probably originally Ezra (cf. note b), stood near the head and are followed by the names (some of Persian origin) of later leaders who, following in the wake of Nehemiah's work, probably led back other bands of Jews. Also the large numbers of the children of Jeshua, the contemporary of Zerubbabel, and the prominence of the different classes of the temple ministers, all point to a period not long before that of the Chronicler.

a 76 So Ezra 21 and I Esdr. 57.

b 77 Ezra 22, Seraiah. Cf. Ezra 71, where Seraiah is the father of Ezra. After Nehemiah we expect, Ezra, and the variant suggests that he was in the mind of the Chronicler. In the Heb., Azariah is only slightly different from Ezra.

77 Ezra 22, Reelaiah.

d 77 So Ezra 22 and I Esdr. 58.

e 77 I Esdr. 58 adds, their leaders.

Lay

clans

Inhabi

tants

different towns

Chronicler's Ecclesiastical History

THE NUMBER OF MEN OF THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL

The children of Parosh, two thousand a hundred and seventy-two. "The children of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two. 10The children of Arah, six hundred and fifty-two. 11The children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and eighteen. 12The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred and fifty-four. 13The children of Zattu, eight hundred and forty-five. 14The children of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty. 15The children of Binnui, six hundred and forty-eight. 16The children of Bebai, six hundred and twenty-eight. 17The children of Azgad, two thousand three hundred and twenty-two. 18The children of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-seven. 19The children of Bigvai, two thousand and sixty-seven. 20The children of Adin, six hundred and fifty-five. 21The children of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety-eight. The children of Azzur, four hundred and thirtytwo. The children of Hananiah, a hundred and one.f 22The children of Hashum, three hundred and twenty-eight. 23The children of Bezai, three hundred and twenty-four. 24The children of Hariph, a hundred and twelve. 33The children of Nebo, fifty-two. 34The children of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred and fifty-four. 35The children of Harim, three hundred and twenty. 38The children of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty.

25The men of Gibeon,k ninety-five. 26The men of Bethlehem and Neof the tophah, a hundred and eighty-eight. 27The men of Anathoth, a hundred and twenty-eight. 28The men of Beth-azmaveth, forty-two. 29The men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty-three. The men of Adasa and Modin, four hundred and twenty-two. 30The men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred and twenty-one. 31The men of Michmas, a hundred and twenty-two. 32The men of Bethel and Ai, a hundred and twenty-three. 36The men of Jericho, three hundred and forty-five. The men of Keilah and Azekah, sixty-seven." 37The menm of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-one.

Priestly clans

Leviti

cal

clans

39The priests: The children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three. 40The children of Immer, a thousand and fiftytwo. 41The children of Pashur, a thousand two hundred and forty-seven. 42The children of Harim, a thousand and seventeen.

43The Levites: The children of Jeshua, namely of Kadmiel, of Benui,° of Hodevah, seventy-four. 44The singers: The children of Asaph, a hundred

1721 The last two clans are found only in I Esdr. 515, 16. They have evidently been lost from the Heb. in transmission. Cf. Neh. 1018, 23.

€ 722 The order in Ezra is here different.

b 733 The original list probably gave the clans first, then the inhabitants of the different towns, and then the groups of temple ministers. This order has been restored.

173 So Ezra 229, which also omits, other, before Nebo.

725 So I Esdr. 517, supported by the context. Heb., children.

* 725 I Esdr. 517, Bether. Cf. Josh. 1529, I Chr. 659 (Gk.). This may be original.

1729 I Esdr. 520 inserts this last group. The exact form and identification of the names cannot be determined. The first may be identified with the place mentioned in Josh. 1537 and I Mac. 740.