EXPOSITION
THE NUMBER OF THOSE WHO WENT UP TO JERUSALEM WITH EZRA, AND THE NAMES OF THE CHIEF MEN (Ezra 8:1-14). This list is parallel with that of Ezra 2:3-19, and repeats for the most part the same family names, though not quite in the same order. The numbers are in each case very much smaller, never amounting to one-third, and sometimes falling below one-twelfth. At the utmost, three new families are mentioned as furnishing colonists those of Shechaniah (Ezra 2:5), Shelomith (Ezra 2:10), and Joab (Ezra 2:9); but in two of these cases the reading is doubtful Altogether, we may say that Ezra was accompanied to Jerusalem by members of the same families as Zerubbabel, but by fewer families, and by fewer members of each. Thus Ezra's list is much shorter than Zerubbabel's. It contains, however, more names of chiefs, eighteen such names being given, whereas in Zerubbabel's list there are, including Zerubbabel himself, only eleven. The entire number of adult male colonists who accompanied Ezra was, including Levites and Nethinim, 1773. Counting five to a family, this would give a total of nearly 9000 souls. Among the chief men, there is no name that is remarkable, excepting that of Hattush. "Hattush, of the sons of Shechaniah," is, beyond all reasonable doubt, the descendant of David mentioned in 1 Chronicles 3:22, who was a son of Shemaiah, and Zerubbabers great-great-grandson.