Ezra 8:1 – The Exiles Who Returned with Ezra “These are the family heads and genealogical records of those who returned with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:
from the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom; from the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel; from the descendants of David, Hattush of the descendants of Shecaniah; from the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 men; from the descendants of Pahath-Moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men;
from the descendants of Zattu, Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men; from the descendants of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men; from the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men; from the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 men; from the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men; from the descendants of Bani, Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men; from the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 men;
from the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men; from the later descendants of Adonikam, these were their names: Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men; and from the descendants of Bigvai, both Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men.
Ezra Sends for the Levites Now I assembled these exiles at the canal that flows to Ahava, and we camped there three days. And when I searched among the people and priests, I found no Levites there. Then I summoned the leaders: Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, as well as the teachers Joiarib and Elnathan. And I sent them to Iddo, the leader at Casiphia, with a message for him and his kinsmen, the temple servants at Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.
And since the gracious hand of our God was upon us, they brought us Sherebiah—a man of insight from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, the son of Israel—along with his sons and brothers, 18 men; also Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah, from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and their sons, 20 men. They also brought 220 of the temple servants, all designated by name. David and the officials had appointed them to assist the Levites.
Fasting for Protection And there by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from our enemies on the road, since we had told him, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek Him, but His great anger is against all who forsake Him.” So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He granted our request.
Priests to Guard the Offerings
Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, together with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers, and I weighed out to them the contribution of silver and gold and the articles that the king, his counselors, his leaders, and all the Israelites there had offered for the house of our God. I weighed out into their hands 650 talents of silver, silver articles weighing 100 talents, 100 talents of gold, 20 gold bowls valued at 1,000 darics, and two articles of fine polished bronze, as precious as gold. (650 talents is approximately 24.5 tons or 22.2 metric tons of silver. 100 talents is approximately 3.77 tons or 3.42 metric tons of silver articles. 100 talents is approximately 3.77 tons or 3.42 metric tons of gold. Or worth 1,000 drachmas; that is, approximately 18.5 pounds or 8.4 kilograms of gold)
Then I told them, “You are holy to the LORD, and these articles are holy. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers. Guard them carefully until you weigh them out in the chambers of the house of the LORD in Jerusalem before the leading priests, Levites, and heads of the Israelite families.” So the priests and Levites took charge of the silver and gold and sacred articles that had been weighed out to be taken to the house of our God in Jerusalem.
On the twelfth day of the first month, we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us to protect us from the hands of the enemies and bandits along the way.
Arrival in Jerusalem So we arrived at Jerusalem and rested there for three days. On the fourth day, in the house of our God, we weighed out the silver and gold and sacred articles into the hand of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest. Eleazar son of Phinehas was with him, along with the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui. Everything was verified by number and weight, and the total weight was recorded at that time.
Then the exiles who had returned from captivity sacrificed burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and a sin offering of 12 male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the LORD.
They also delivered the king’s edicts to the royal satraps and governors of the region west of the Euphrates, who proceeded to assist the people and the house of God.”
Poor Ezra! Just imagine this enormous cavalcade he had to organize and the immense wealth it was carrying. Undoubtedly, there were those who watched closely as the group was organizing and heading out, just waiting for their opportunity to attack. Surely in the hundreds of miles between Babylon and Jerusalem there would be ample opportunities for ambush, murder, and thievery. Just to complicate things further, Ezra had made brave testimonies of faith to King Artaxerxes, asserting that God would protect his group as they traveled. No wonder that Ezra called for fasting and prayer; at this point, that was all he could do.
What did the would – be robbers see as they viewed the caravan? Perhaps they saw glistening angels. Perhaps God hid the caravan from their eyes completely. Perhaps the fear of the Lord fell upon everyone who was plotting attack; we can’t know. All we know is that the caravan moved without a military escort and yet reached Jerusalem safely.
Once more, Ezra the Scribe exerted his calling to record all those who freely volunteered to return to an uncertain future in Jerusalem. Sadly, none of the Levites or descendants of temple servants offered in the beginning. Even though those men should have been the first to offer, it took a special delegation of the elders to encourage them to come. It was those who were not professional religious workers who first risked their lives.
APPLICATION: These days, prayer and fasting has gone out of popularity, unless you mention intermittent fasting for weight control. But for Ezra and those with him, these practices were part of their routine worship. Ezra had already gone out on a limb by asserting to King Artaxerxes that God would protect the caravan; now Ezra had to live up to that brave statement. Little wonder if Ezra was having sleepless nights and praying even more than he usually did!
There is nothing easy or simple about the walk of faith! In Ezra’s case, he was jeopardizing the lives of more than 1,000 people traveling with him when he refused to request an armed guard with mounted soldiers. There is no doubt that King Artaxerxes would have readily granted such a request. The potential for disaster was enormous.
In the movie “Indiana Jones and the Search for the Holy Grail,” at one point, the hero finds himself at the brink of a seemingly bottomless chasm. At first, there appears to be no way across, until the hero collects a handful of sand and throws it out across the chasm, outlining a narrow bridge across it. As the hero steps out, he must trust that the bridge really exists and that it will bear his weight. Even then, the hero must keep his eyes on the bridge and its junction with the cliffs at the other side. One look down will spell disaster.
Many times, those of us walking by faith share the trepidations of Indiana Jones as he tries to find that narrow path and then follow it. My husband and I work with two different mission groups, both of which are “faith missions.” That designation indicates that we receive only the donations that people make in a given month without a guaranteed salary. We support a number of students in school as well as assisting the mission hospital where we work and sometimes helping individual patients. This last week we sent one young lady for complicated orthopedic surgery and had to repair the hospital van we used to transport her. Only last night, I learned of yet another female nursing student from a poor family who will be forced to drop out of school for lack of funds. Now I am begging God to cover this student’s expenses.
What gives us hope in these situations is that the God of Ezra has not changed. The same God who moved King Cyrus to issue his edict, the same God who moved King Artaxerxes to donate generously, the same God who protected Ezra and more than 1,000 people and a rich treasure for several hundred miles – that is the same God whom we serve. We are trusting that God will support us in the future as He has in the past. We are also trusting that Eloheinu Melekh Ha’olam, the Lord God of the Universe, has all the resources necessary to help those in need whom he brings to us.
PRAYER: Blessed are You, oh Lord of the Universe! You are our Father, our Provider, our Helper, our Keeper! You are the One who preserved Ezra and all of his troop and You are the One who will strengthen us and help us as well. WE pray in the mighty and precious Name of Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus, the Messiah. Amen.
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