The descendants return.
Chapter 2
Now these are the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his city. Ezra 2:1
Verse 2 lists the leaders, starting with Zerubbabel, the prince of Judah—in the line of David. Also listed is Jeshua, the high priest.
Next comes a census with the list of men from each family. I'm guessing this doesn't include women and children, but the Ryrie footnote comments that these were families, so I'm not sure. This is one of those long "phone book" lists that some people skip, and I used to, but I've found that in reading them closely, something always pops out. Plus it's just good to read the names from that time period.
Starting in verse 21 the census continues by the name of the cities people were from. Maybe family names get lost when large numbers of people live together, or maybe they don't have family names because they came in from non-Jewish origins. In the family section it was almost all "sons of", but in the cities section, some are "sons of" but some are "men of".
Verse 36-39 lists the priests that returned, 4,289 of them. Verse 40 tells us only 74 Levites returned. Ryrie suggests it was because the priests had a higher standing than the Levites. Maybe the Levites all took on trades in Babylon and didn't want to return to temple duty, where they were dependent on the tithes of others? It is odd. It was such a special calling. Both the priests and the Levites had become completely corrupted, so that may also play a factor.
Also related to the temple ministry were 128 singers, sons of Asaph (from the Psalms from the time of David). Also 139 gatekeepers who handled security inside the Temple.
Verses 43–54 includes a list of "nethinim", which is a term that means "chosen ones" and refers to temple worker who inherit the position. It sound like for menial tasks. The weird thing here is that is a really long list and it's all "sons of", but no numbers are given. So I don't know how there can be an accurate accounting. Plus it tells us something important that so many "menial" workers returned but only 74 Levites. I have a lot of questions here. Even more odd, the Ryrie footnote describes them as Gibeonites, war captives from Joshua 9. So non-Jews doing menial work returned when the majority of Jews chose not to return. It shows that God has made a place for gentiles all along.
The next section, starting in verse 55 is "Solomon's servants". Ryrie notes these were his prisoners of war. For a total of 392. Again, way more than the Levites. Again, non-Jews. This return of the remnant had more than a few non-Jews represented.
Ryrie's subtitle for verse 59-63 is "Uncertain genealogies". 652 people were not able to give evidence of their father's households or whether they were of Israel. I wonder what evidence everyone else had? It's crazy that an ancient people, most of whom were illiterate, who had been taken into captivity by a foreign power would retain evidence of their lineage. There were sons of priests who had taken wives from outside or could not prove their lineage, so they couldn't participate as an official "clean" priest without additional requirements.
Starting in verse 64, we get totals. The whole assembly equaled 42,360. Talk about a remnant. Very few wanted to go back. That's so sad. But God will start with a small remnant rather than the large corrupt population before the captivity. There were another 7,337 servants and 200 singers. Then we get the count of horses, mules, camels, and donkeys.
When they arrived, the heads of the households made an offering at the site of the Temple to restore the foundation–gold, silver, and priestly garments. (277,550 ounces of gold and 6,250 pounds of silver.) They transported literal tons of precious material just to give to the Temple. This remnant came committed to the cause.
Always start with prayer and cheerful giving.
Now the priests and the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers and the temple servants lived in their cities, and all Israel in their cities. Ezra 2:70
I guess that's tells us they didn't all go to Jerusalem. They returned to their own sites. That had to be so weird, returning to piles of rubble. There had to be some very small groups starting over in scattered settlements. I hadn't pictured it that way. I pictured everyone rebuilding Jerusalem together.
The final thought I had after reading this chapter is that these were probably almost all descendants. It's been 70 years (maybe less for some of them), but my guess is not many elderly people could make that brutal trip. That's another parallel to the Exodus. Those who left Egypt weren't the ones to made it to the Promise Land, it was their descendants. Hopefully killing off the corrupt generation and giving the next generation another chance to do it right.
God gives us so very many chances.
Chapter 3
Now when the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. Ezra 3:1
The Ryrie footnote states that the trip took 4 months (530 direct miles; 900 traveling miles).
Zerubbabel and the high priest, along with their brothers first built an altar for burnt offerings, following the description from the words of Moses.
So they set up the altar on its foundation, for they were terrified because of the peoples of the lands; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening. Ezra 3:3
That's an interesting combination of facts. They built the altar to biblical specs on its foundation, all the while fearful as they were surrounded by hostile people who had been living on the land while the Jews were in captivity. Sounds like modern times, Israel is trying to rebuild a civilization while staying safe from those around them who want them dead.
This all officially kicked off during their feast of booths, which was in remembrance of the time Israel spent in the wilderness during their exodus, so add another parallel. All the while, they were offering the various prescribed burnt offerings.
However, they had not laid the foundation for the Temple yet. they were living daily for the Lord, but hadn't started the main project yet. Much like being in the wilderness on the way to the Promise Land.
Starting in verse 7, they gave money to masons and carpenters and traded food, drink, and oil to the people from Sidon and Tyre in exchange for cedar to start the building. This all happened because of the permission from Cyrus.
In the second year, the building on the Temple began by everyone who made the trek back under the oversight of the Levites who were 20 years or older.
According to Ryrie, the foundation was laid in the spring of 535 BC, bringing to a close the 70 years which began in 605 BC. The chief priest and other oversaw the workmen rebuilding the Temple. Then they all came together and celebrated and worshiped the Lord.
He has done great things!
They sang, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, saying, “For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. Ezra 3:11
This small group of stragglers came together to do an amazing thing and they knew it was only happening by the lovingkindenss of the Lord. That had to be an amazing moment. I hope the Lord's heart was pleased by this group and their efforts. It must have been similar when the Jews started pouring in after World War II and building the country into something so grand the world could not fathom it. He does great things through small faithful groups.
It ends with a bittersweet description of this precious moment in history:
Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away. Ezra 3:12–13
The old men looked back on the grand Temple of Solomon and saw this new Temple was going to be smaller and less grand, without the resources that had gone into the first Temple. And they wept. But the young people didn't have those memories and yelled for joy with hope.