HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-20.-The 1·endezvous, or the second 111,11,Ster. We have been to!,! twice before in this story that Ezra went up from Babylon to Jerusalem (vii. 6-8, 9), and that he did not go by himself. But we only now enter upon the actual details of this second and supplementary expedition. Who were those that went up with him '? And what was the nature of the first step which he and they took in common? We may answer these questions in the opposite order. The first step was to meet Ezrn at the river or town of Ahava, situated, it is supposed, on the road to Jerusalem vi,i Carchemish, and far enough off from Dabylon to ensure comparative quiet and proper discrimination. Those who came consisted of two principal detachments, one of which came to the spot not only before the other, but in a somewhat different way. We may describe the first detachment as one in which we find the.first last; t.he second as being one in which we find the last first. I. THE FIRST LAST. Who might be expected to be foremost in a case of this kind? Where do we find them in actual fact? Let us consider this-1. As to family. Judging by all analogy, the family of David, the royal family of Judah, ought to have been .foremost in such a matter. Who so likely to feel the evils of captivity as the heirs to a throne? Who so eager to return from banishment (one would suppose) as those who had been banished at once from dignity and from home? The previous return, also, under the edict of Cyrus, seems to bear out thi~ idea. Though no figure there is so prominent as that of Ezrn is here, yet the most prominent of all thope there mentioned is that of Zerubbubel, the lineal descendant 124 TRE BOOK OF EZRA. [ctI. Vrtr. 1-20.
of David, and representative of his house. Under his Babylonian name of Sheshbazzar he is the only person mentioned by name as returning in eh. i., nnd ~e c_omes first of all in the detailed catalogue of eh. ii. Most probably, also, Judgmg from what ·we read long afterwards of the descendants of David in Luke ii. 4, the 123 returning "men of Bethlehem" mentioned in Ezra ii. 21 in a later part of the same catalogue were kinsmen of bis. In the present instance, on the other hand, we find apparent mention in vers. 2, 3 of only one of this same royal family ss returning, viz., Hattush, of the sons of Shechaniah (so, with many, we read tl:.ese verses. Comp. 1 Chron. iii. 22 and preceding verses). Also we find even this solitary specimen of that royal raco only occupying the third place on the list of those named. Whatever the reasons, therefore, this is the fact, that the family first in rank and genealogy appears anything but first here either in importance or position. Is it the beginning of that descent which ends long after with finding David's greatest de- scendant as a " carpenter's son" ? (2) As to class. Here, also, judging from analogy the class to take the lead in a journey to the centre and heart of Jewish worship and faith would be that class to which belonged exclusively, in its various ramifica- tions, the administration of worship. Such, we find, too, in the previous expedition, "'-'as the case on the whole. The Levites then, it is true, were not many either in number or in proportion, when all told ; but the priests then, though all belonging, apparently, to only four out of the whole twenty-four courses, were very many in proportion. The exact numbers of both (Wordsworth) were 350 Levites and 4200 priests, out of a total of 42,300 Israelites, the priests, therefore, constituting a.bout one-tenth of the whole (Ezra. ii. 36--42, 64). A very large proportion, if we bear in mind that the priests represented only one family (that of Aaron) out of two families (those of Aaron and Moses), both sprung from Amram, one of the eight grandsons of Levi ; a state of things, it will be easily seen, which would probably make the priests about one-sixteenth of one tribe, instead of being, as in this case, one-tenth of the whole assemblage. In contrast to this, in the present case, though something more than twelve priests, judging from ver. 24, must have been present, only two, exclusive of Ezra himself, were thought worthy of being named (see ver. 2), those who accompanied them (if any really did) being not referred to or even mentioned, as was the case before in eh. ii. 36-39, and as is the case also here as to all the other Israelitish families referred to in vers. 3-14. The case as to the Levites is still more surprising. Not only were none numbered in this first detach- ment; none at all after three days' search were even to be found (end ver. 15). They were "conspicuous by their absence." Other families of Israelites that had sent up members before were doing the same now (comp. vers. 3-14 with eh. ii. 3 seq.) ; one such family, apparently, their very last man (ver. 13) ; but no Levitical family had done anything of the kind. Many lay Israelites, a few priests, no Levites at all. Altogether, this is the most notable feature in this detachment as here reviewed by Ezra (ver. 15), viz., that those who should have been in the van of all are either, as it were, in the rear, or else not present at all. II. THE LAST FIRST. This will be seen by considering the steps taken by Ezra to remedy the state of things just described. We find that he went (1) to the right quarter, viz., to a plate called Casiphia (possibly the II White House," from keeeph, white), the geography of which is unknown, but which may have been (Wordsworth and others) a kind of college for Levites, or at any rate a place where many dwelt in company with their associates the Nethinime, and under the presidency of one Iddo, either himself perhaps a Levite, or even a ~ethinim (comp. "hie bret~ren," ver. 17), of high repute. Also he sent (2) by the nght sort of messengers, viz., by a considerable body of them, even eleven well-known men, likely therefore to be of weight. Aleo by men well qualified, being men accustomed to command (11 chief"), und yet prepared to obey (" with commandment") ; some of them, further, being accustomed to teach (" men of understanding"= teachere-1 Chron. xv. 22; xxv. 8; Neh. viii. 7, 9, &c., Kiel), yet not unwilling to be taught, and to have words put in their mouth (ver. 17, margin); thus showing, as noticed before, that Ezra understood men as well as books. (3) With the right kind of result. (a) As to number, bringing back 258 pilgrims in all; (b) as to qualifications, all brought buck being such "ministers" (ver. 17) ae were sought; (c) r,e to variety, being both Levites and en. vm. 1-20.J 'fHE BOOK OF EZRA. 125