Ezra 8:18

Ezr 8:18 And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen;

Ver. 18. And by the good hand of God upon us] God was in all this good man’s thoughts: he set upon every passage, as the ancients upon every special piece of work they did, Yεος, Yεος (Pausanias). This was the only way to make his journey comfortable, thus to converse with God all along, et Paradisum mente deambulare, and let your mind walk in paradise, as Jerome counselled the young hermit, assuring him that so long as he had paradise in his mind, and God in his apprehensions, tamdiu in eremo non esset, so long he should not be in a desert.

They brought us a man of understanding] The Hebrew word Shacal signifieth three things: 1. To understand. 2. To instruct. 3. To prosper. Those that understand themselves, and teach others, shall do much good to themselves and others; see the note on Ezr 8:16. This egregie cordatus homo exceptional sweet hearted man, was Sherebiah, as it followeth here, and Sherebiah, or, even Sherebiah; confer Neh 8:7; Neh 9:4-5.

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 8:18. By the good hand of our God — That is, by the blessing of God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, &c. — They did not return without their errand; but, though the warning was short, they brought about forty Levites to attend Ezra. By this it appears they were not averse to go, but were slothful, and only wanted to be called upon to go.

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

8:18 the gracious hand of our God: Ezra, his leaders, and Iddo all took action to rectify the problem, but ultimately everything was accomplished because of God’s grace. Only thirty-eight Levites (including the leaders) and 220 Temple servants responded.

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

(18) A man of understanding.—Probably a proper name, Ishsekel. This is required by the “and” before “Sherebiah,” who was a Levite, referred to by Nehemiah (Ezr_8:7).

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

18. And by the good hand] R.V. And according to the good hand. For the phrase see on chap. Ezr_7:6.

a man of understanding] R.V. a man of discretion. Marg. Or Ish-sechel. Discretion (sechel). Cf. 1Ch_22:12; 2Ch_2:12; Pro_19:11 : = understanding, Pro_3:4; Pro_13:15; Pro_16:22; Psa_111:10 : = wisdom Pro_12:8; Pro_23:9 : = policy Dan_8:25. The fact that we find in the following clause “And Sherebiah”, &c. favours the supposition that we ought to have the name of the individual mentioned who was “of the sons of Mahli”. Either, as is most probable, this proper name has dropped out of the text before the words “a man of discretion”, or as is possible ‘Ish-sechel’ (LXX. ἀνὴρ Σαχὼν) is a proper name (cf. Ishbosheth, Ish-tob, 2Sa_10:6; Ish-hod, 1Ch_7:18). But such names are rare, and the name Ish-sechel does not occur elsewhere. The view that the ‘and’ before Sherebiah has been carelessly inserted, and that Sherebiah himself is the man of discretion, fails to account for the order of the Hebrew words.

Mahli, the son of Levi, &c.] Cf. Exo_6:16; Exo_6:19; 1Ch_6:19. Mahli was son of Merari, and therefore a grandson of Levi.

Sherebiah] Cf. Ezr_8:24; Neh_8:7; Neh_9:4; Neh_10:12; Neh_12:24.

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.

And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari,.... These were of the same division of Levites as Sherebiah:

his brethren and their sons, twenty; these thirty eight, with those they came with, were all Levites; the Nethinims follow.

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

And Sherebiah - Either a name has fallen out before the words “a man of understanding,” or the “and” here has crept into the text by accident. Sherebiah appears among the most earnest of the Levites under Nehemiah (see the marginal references).

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

18. Mahli — A Levite descended from Merari. 1Ch_6:19.

And Sherebiah — We understand this to be the name of that man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, whom Ezra’s delegation brought, though the English version seems to present him as another person. But render: And Sherebiah and his sons and his brethren were eighteen, and the meaning will be clearer. From this verse and the two following it appears that Ezra’s men succeeded not only in obtaining Nethinim from Iddo to the number of two hundred and twenty, but also in enlisting in their company thirty-eight Levites, who could show their genealogy from distinguished ancestors.

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

By the good hand of our God upon us. This is Ezra"s usual mode of acknowledging the good providence and favour of Almighty God. (Ezr_7:6, Ezr_7:9, Ezr_7:27; and Ezr_8:31) Similar expressions occur also in Nehemiah, (Neh_2:8, Neh_2:18) but not elsewhere in Scripture. A man of understanding. In the Hebrew Ish-sekel, which some take for a proper name, but without any necessity. No such name is known to have existed; and the real name of "the man of understanding" appears to have been "Sherebiah," who is mentioned more than once in Nehemiah (Neh_8:7 Neh_9:4, Neh_9:5) as a chief Levite. And Sherebiah should be simply "Sherebiah." The preposition "and" (Hebrew) has been inserted by a careless copyist.

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

By the good hand - If where ministers have been wanting, the vacancies are well supplied, let us ascribe it to the good hand of God, qualifying them for the service, inclining them to it, and opening a door for them.

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

Sherebiah ... Mahli ... Hashabiah ... Jeshaiah ... Merari

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

So they sent us by our God's good hand a man

God's "good hand" represents his kindness in providing for them. AT: "Because God was kind to us, they sent us a man" (See: Metonymy)

a prudent man

This is a man of understanding and wisdom.

son of Levi son of Israel

Here "Israel" is a man's name. It is the name God gave to Jacob.

eighteen ... twenty

18 ... 20 (See:" Numbers)

Jeshaiah

See how you translated this man's name in Esra 8:7. (See: How to Translate Names)

officials

people with specific authority within a government system

translationWords

God

name

son

Levi

Israel

brother

servant

temple

David

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

according to the hand of our God just as the success of the Holy One, blessed be He, was upon us.

a man of intellect a wise man.

of the sons of Mahli... All these were Levites.

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.