Ezra 8

Artaxerxes reigned from 465-425 BC. He became king 50 years after Jews finished rebuilding the Temple in 515 BC.

Ezra didn’t count ladies or livestock. Both belonged to the men. At least that’s what men seemed to think in those days.

Two families of priests are listed first, ahead of the royal family of King David. Ezra is a priest from Phineas’ family, which tops the list. There were just two families of priests: Phineas and Ithamar. Those men were two of the four sons of Aaron, Israel’s first priest (Exodus 6:23). Ithamar was also a distant relative of King David. Ithamar’s mother, Elishiba, was the daughter of Amminadab (Exodus 6:23; Numbers 3:2), great-grandfather of Boaz (Ruth 4:19-21), who was David’s great-grandfather (Ruth 20:22).

Zattu shows up in ancient Greek copies of Ezra but he’s a no-show in Hebrew copies of Ezra.

Bani shows up in ancient Greek copies of Ezra but he, too, is a no-show in Hebrew copies.

Location of Ahava is uncertain. Scholars have suggested several locations, but not with certainty. Babylon was built beside the Euphrates River. There were a lot of natural streams in the area, along with hand-dug canals built for various reasons: transportation, irrigation, and defense. It’s harder for invaders to attack a city if they have to cross a body of water to get there. There’s nowhere to hide in the middle of a stream.

Levites were descendants of Levi, one of Jacob’s 12 sons. Levi’s descendants, or tribe, became the nation’s priests, Temple workers, and other worship leaders and associates. Bible writers often mention priests and Levites as though Levites were associates of priests. Yet, both were descendants of Levi, which makes them both Levites in one sense of the word. But there was another sense of the word. Historians still debate what the difference was between a priest and a Levite. It seems that priests performed what people considered the more important religious duties. Levites may have been more like associate ministers. But that’s a guess.

Casiphia’s location is unknown. And it’s unclear what Casiphia was. Many scholars say Bible writers often used the phrase describing it, “the place,” as code for a place of worship—possibly a synagogue. Many historians say synagogues first appeared during the exile, as a substitute for the Jerusalem Temple that Babylonians destroyed. There in the synagogue they could read the sacred Jewish writings and worship. But they couldn’t sacrifice. Jerusalem’s Temple altar was the only place Jews could sacrifice (Deuteronomy 12:5; 2 Chronicles 6:6).

There’s no obvious record in the Bible of David appointing servants like this. There are, however, references to “Temple servants” (1 Chronicles 9:2) in addition to priests and Levites.

Christians often call this “prayer and fasting.” The word for “fast” more literally means, “deprive your throats,” as in, “don’t eat or drink.” The practice is sometimes called “self-denial.” Instead of eating, people are encouraged to pray and to confess their sins. Christians often fast in times of deep trouble when health and safety are threatened. Most wouldn’t call it twisting God’s arm, though it might look that way. Those who practice fasting often say they’re simply doing what Jesus did (Matthew 4:1-11).

It’s hard to know if Ezra overstated God’s willingness to do something people can do for themselves, such as beefing up security. Whatever he said, it sounds as though it left him afraid of the king’s potential comeback: “I thought you said God had you covered? Give me back my gifts to God’s Temple and stay here.” A few years later, a Jew named Nehemiah made the same trip, but with a military escort (Nehemiah 2:9).

That’s 650 talents of silver and 100 talents of containers and gold. The bowls were valued in a currency of coins called “daric.” All those 1,000 coins together would have weighed roughly 20 pounds, or about 8.6 kilograms.

The theological term behind these words is “consecrated.”

The Jewish month of Nisan stretches between March and April.

This was the most common animal sacrifice. Worshipers burned the entire animal. “Rest your hand on the head of the bull you’ll sacrifice. When you do this, the LORD will accept your offering. This sacrifice atones for your sins and puts you on good terms with God” (Leviticus 1:4).

A sin offering sometimes refers to something the people of Israel brought to God after they realized they had accidentally broken one of God’s laws earlier. Some scholars say a better translation is the opposite of “sin” because the sacrifice is intended to “un-sin” people, to purify them. So those scholars call it a “purification offering.”