Ezra 10:25

25–43. Israel, or the laity

as distinguished from priests and Levites. Cf. Ezr_2:2 ‘the men of the people of Israel’. Ezr_9:1 ‘the people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites’.

Moreover of Israel] R.V. And of Israel. There is no variety to break the simplicity of the list. The names of the houses here mentioned have all been mentioned in chap. 2. Thus

Parosh (Ezr_10:25)

in Ezr_2:3 :

number of offenders

7

Elam (Ezr_10:26)

in Ezr_2:7

number of offenders

6

Zattu (Ezr_10:27)

in Ezr_2:8

number of offenders

6

Bebai (Ezr_10:28)

in Ezr_2:11

number of offenders

4

Bani (Ezr_10:29)

in Ezr_2:10

number of offenders

6

Pahath-Moab (Ezr_10:30)

in Ezr_2:6

number of offenders

8

Harim (Ezr_10:31)

in Ezr_2:32

number of offenders

8

Hashum (Ezr_10:33)

in Ezr_2:19

number of offenders

7

Bani (Ezr_10:34)

in Ezr_2:10

number of offenders

27

Nebo (Ezr_10:43)

in Ezr_2:29

number of offenders

7

In this list, as compared with that in Ezra 2, the following points may be observed:

(a) The house of Bani is twice mentioned (Ezr_10:29 and Ezr_10:33). This is almost certainly due to an early error in the text. The conjecture that the name of Bigvai (Ezr_2:14) or of Bezai (Ezr_2:17) should be, in one instance or the other, substituted for that of Bani is not improbable, especially as otherwise there are seven houses (Ezr_2:12-19) in succession not mentioned here.

(b) The disproportionately large number of offenders belonging to the second Bani (Ezr_10:34) makes it probable that we have lost the names of three other houses. It will be noticed that the ‘sons of Nebo’ are the only representatives of about twenty towns mentioned in Ezr_2:21-35.

(c) The order of the list of houses is here quite different from that of Ezra 2, an illustration probably of the faithfulness with which the various extant lists were reproduced.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ezr 10:25. Moreover of Israel — Of the people of Israel, distinguished from the priests and Levites hitherto named, who before, Ezr 10:9, were called Judah and Benjamin.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Meaning, of the common people: for before he spake of the Priests and Levites.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 25. Moreover of Israel] That is, as Calmet observes, simple Israelites, to distinguish them from the priests, Levites, and singers, mentioned in Ezr 10:18; Ezr 10:23; Ezr 10:24.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Israel. Laymen, (Calmet) not of the tribe of Levi. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Of Israel, i.e. of the people of Israel, distinguished from the priests and the Levites hitherto named, who before were called Judah and Benjamin, Ezr 10:9, See Poole "Ezr 10:9".

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

25. Moreover of Israel — That is, of non-official or simple Israelites, as distinguished from the priests, Levites, and singers just mentioned. The names of the chief fathers of this list are all found in the list of those who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel, chap. 2. The Bani of Ezr_10:34 is not to be identified with the Bani of Ezr_10:29. The latter is probably the Bani of Ezr_2:10, while the other is, perhaps, a corruption of Bezai, (of Ezr_2:17,) or possibly the name of some person not mentioned at all in the list of chapter 2.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of Israel. i.e. "of the laity."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Of Israel - Of the people of Israel, distinguished from the priests and Levites hitherto named.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Of Israel, as distinguished from priests and Levites, i.e., of the laity. Of these latter are given in all eighty-six names, belonging to ten races, vv. 25-43, who returned with Zerubbabel. See Nos. 1, 5, 6, 9, 8, 4, 30, 17, and 27 of the survey of these races. ירמות in Ezr 10:29 should, according to the Chethiv, be read ירמות. - The twofold naming of sons of Bani in this list (Ezr 10:29 and Ezr 10:34) is strange, and Bani is evidently in one of these places a mistake for some other name. Bertheau supposes that Bigvai may have stood in the text in one of these places. The error undoubtedly lies in the second mention of Bani (Ezr 10:34), and consists not merely in the wrong transcription of this one name. For, while of every other race four, six, seven, or eight individuals are named, no less than seven and twenty names follow בּני מבּני, though all these persons could hardly have belonged to one race, unless the greater number of males therein had married strange wives. Besides, no names of inhabitants of cities of Judah and Benjamin are given in this list (as in Ezr 2:21-28, and Ezr 2:33-35), although it is stated in Ezr 10:7 and Ezr 10:14 that not only the men of Jerusalem, but also dwellers in other cities, had contracted these prohibited marriages, and been summoned to Jerusalem, that judgment might be pronounced in their several cases. These reasons make it probable that the twenty-seven persons enumerated in Ezr 10:34-42 were inhabitants of various localities in Judah, and not merely individuals belonging to a single house. This supposition cannot, however, be further corroborated, since even the lxx and 1 Esdr. read the name Bani in Ezr 10:27 and Ezr 10:34, nor can any conjecture respecting the correct reading laying claim to probability be ventured on. In the single names, the Greek texts of the Septuagint and 1 Esdras frequently differ from the Hebrew text, but the differences are almost all of a kind to furnish no material for criticism. A considerable number of these names reappear in the lists of names in the book of Nehemiah, but under circumstances which nowhere make the identity of the persons bearing them certain.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)