Ezra 2:59

Ezr 2:59 And these [were] they which went up from Telmelah, Telharsa, Cherub, Addan, [and] Immer: but they could not shew their father’s house, and their seed, whether they [were] of Israel:

Ver. 59. And these were they which went up from Telmelah, Telharsa, Cherub, &c.] Places in Chaldaea where these Jews were scattered; as at this day their posterity are up and down in Turkey, and some parts of Christendom, a dejected and despised people.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ezr 2:59. Which went up from Tel-melah, &c. — These were names of some cities in the Babylonish empire, from whence many went along with the Jews to Judea. They were of the Jewish religion, and probably were the children of those who had been carried captive before the general captivity; but they had lost their genealogies, and could not show from what families they were derived, and therefore could not obtain any certain possession in Judea, as those did who knew and could show to what family and city they belonged.

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

Those who went up with, but could not prove that they pertained to, the nation of Israel. Comp. Neh 7:61 and Neh 7:62. - Three such families are named, consisting of 652, or according to Nehemiah of 642, persons. These went up, with those who returned, from Tel-melah (Salthill) and Tel-harsa (Thicket or Forest Hill), names of Babylonian districts or regions, the situations of which cannot be ascertained. The words also which follow, אמּר אדּן כּרוּב, are obscure, but are certainly not the names of individuals, the persons who went up not being specified till Ezr 2:60. The words are names of places, but it is uncertain whether the three are used to express one or three places. In favour of the notion that they designate but one locality, may be alleged that in Ezr 2:60 only three races are named, which would then correspond with the districts named in Ezr 2:59 : Tel-melah, Tel-harsa, and Cherub-Addan-Immer; a race from each district joining those who went up to Jerusalem. The three last words, however, may also designate three places in close proximity, in which one of the races of Ezr 2:60 might be dwelling. These could not show their father's house and their seed, i.e., genealogy, whether they were of Israel. הם, as well as the suffixes of זרעם and בּית־אבותם, refers to the persons named in Ezr 2:60. They could not show that the houses of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda, after which they were called, belonged to Israel, nor that they themselves were of Israelitish origin. Cler. well remarks: Judaicam religionem dudum sequebantur, quam ob rem se Judaeos censebant; quamvis non possent genealogicas ullas tabulas ostendere, ex quibus constaret, ex Hebraeis oriundos esse. One of these names, Nekoda, Ezr 2:48, occurring among those of the Nethinim, Bertheau conjectures that while the sons of Nekoda here spoken of claimed to belong to Israel, the objection was made that they might belong to the sons of Nekoda mentioned Ezr 2:48, and ought therefore to be reckoned among the Nethinim. Similar objections may have been made to the two other houses. Although they could not prove their Israelite origin, they were permitted to go up to Jerusalem with the rest, the rights of citizenship alone being for the present withheld. Hence we meet with none of these names either in the enumeration of the heads and houses of the people, Neh 10:15-28, or in the list Ezra 10:25-43.

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.)

2:59-60 Some returnees believed in Israel’s God but had no genealogical records to prove that they were Israelites. Without this information, the other Israelites did not know whether to treat them as brothers and intermarry with them or to treat them as outsiders. The genealogies in 1 Chr 1–9 illustrate how carefully many family histories were kept.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(59-63) Finally, those who had lost the records of their lineage are mentioned. Of the people, the children of three families from Tel-melah, Hill of salt, Tel-harsa, Hill of the wood, and a few other places, are mentioned. Of the priests, there are also three families without their genealogy.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

59–63. Israelites and Priests of uncertain genealogy

59. Tel-melah, Tel-harsa] R.V., Tel-melah, Tel-harsha i.e. Salthill and Forest-hill, probably names of localities in Babylonia.

Cherub, Addan, and Immer] These are names not of people, but, in all probability, of three villages in one district of Babylonia. Rawlinson suggests that Cherub is the Cheripha of Ptolemy, and that Tel-melah is Telme.

There are then three districts, Tel-melah, Tel-harsa, and Cherub-Addan-Immer, from which came the three families Delaiah, Tobiah and Nekoda.

Addan] appears in Neh_7:59 ‘Addon’.

their fathers’ house] their fathers’ houses R.V. They were able to show their recent ancestry, but not their descent from the great clans or households into which the tribes were divided. They could not prove either of the two greatest essentials in a Jewish genealogy, their place in the household or their membership in a tribe.

This technical failure to produce their genealogy probably deprived them of the full rights of citizenship. They were not refused participation in the Return. But the names do not appear in later lists, Ezr_10:25-43; Neh_10:1-27.

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.

These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy,.... To find their names written and registered there; for the Jews kept public registers of their priests, their descent, marriages, and offspring, that it might be known who were fit, and who not, to officiate as such:

but they were not found; their names were not there, nor any account taken of them:

therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood; were not suffered to attend at the altar, and offer sacrifice, and enjoy the privileges belonging to that office.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Tel-melah, Tel-harsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, were probably cities, or villages, of Babylonia, at which the Jews here spoken of had been settled. The first and third have been reasonably identified with the Thelme and Chiripha of Ptolemy. Of the rest, nothing is known at present.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thelmela, "the height of Mela, or of salt." The river Melas empties itself into the Euphrates. (Strabo xii.) --- The cities here mentioned were in Chaldea. Some of the ten tribes had probably been transported into Cappadocia, where Herodotus (ii. 35,) place some circumcised Syrians. --- Thelharsa, or Thelassar, 4 Kings xix. 12. --- Cherub, &c., were cities of Chaldea, (Tirinus) or chief men; but as they had been carried away by Theglathphalassar, they had lost their genealogies, and could only produce circumcision as a proof that they were Israelites.

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).

Tel-mela, Tel-harsa; the names of the places whence they came, and where they had lived in the time of their captivity.

Cherub, Addan, and Immer; the names either of the heads of the families living in the places last mentioned, or of other places where the persons here understood had dwelt.

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

59. Tel-melah, Tel-harsa, Cherub, Addan, Immer — These are the names of cities or districts in Chaldea, but they have not been identified with modern sites. Some take the last three to be names of persons.

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

Tel-melah is probably the Thelme of Ptolemy ("Geograph.," 5:20), a city of Lower Babylonia, situated in the salt tract near the Persian Gulf. Hence the name, which means "Hill of Salt." Cherub is no doubt Ptolemy"s Chiripha, which was in the same region. The other places here mentioned are unknown to us, but probably belonged to the same tract of country. Tel-Harsa means "Hill of the Wood." They could not show their father"s house. It is more surprising that so many of the returning exiles had preserved their genealogies than that a certain number had omitted to do so. Considering the duration of the exile, its hardships, and the apparent improbability of a restoration, there could have been no cause for wonder if the great majority had forgotten their descent.

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

The People and the Priests Without Genealogy

v. 59. And these were they which went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, probably all cities in a province of Babylonia; but they could not show their father’s house, their genealogical tables had been lost, and they could not say to which father-house in Israel their forefathers had belonged, and their seed, their pedigree, their descent, whether they were of Israel:

v. 60. the children of Delaiah, the children of Toblah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred fifty and two. They were not mere adventurers, but had been urged to join the company of returning exiles by their loyalty to Jehovah, even though their family records were lost.

v. 61. And of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai, which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called after their name, 2Sa 17:27. It is supposed that this man of priestly descent married the woman because she was an heiress and assumed her name. In this way his connection with the tribe of Levites was lost sight of. Worldly ambition forfeited the dignity of the priesthood.

v. 62. These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found, they were unable to bring the documentary proof of their priestly descent; therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood, they were excluded from the holy office because their descent was doubtful.

v. 63. And the Tirshatha, the governor of the province, said unto them that they should not eat of the most holy things till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim, Exo 28:30; Num 27:21, that is, a high priest sanctioned by God to give decisions by consulting the Lord in the ancient manner, in infallible Revelation s. Because the matter was in doubt, this was a decision of discretion.

v. 64. The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore. This number is twelve thousand greater than the sum of the numbers, for to the returning exiles must be added the few remaining Jews and even such from Egypt as promptly gathered when they found that the ancient worship would be restored. It was a small flock that came together in Jerusalem and vicinity, but it represented the true worship of Jehovah in those days, the visible Church of God.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

This is a list of people who had returned to Israel from various Babylonian cities but could not prove their heritage. (See: Numbers and How to Translate Names)

Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon, and Immer

These are the names of places in Babylon that no longer exist. (See: How to Translate Names)

652 descendants

"six hundred and fifty-two descendants." (See: Numbers)

Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda

These are men's names. (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

descend

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And these were the ones who ascended from Tel-Mela, etc. And what incident happened to them? They could not tell....

and their children [i.e., the children] of their fathers, because they lost their genealogical records and did not know if they were Israelites.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.