The priests the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three.
Up to this point the list of returning exiles has counted families and towns. At this verse it turns to those who would serve God's house, and the priests come first. Two questions follow. Why does God count and name them? And what does so short a list say about the state of the priesthood?
This verse opens a very short list of priests. Only a fraction of the old priestly order came home:
The record lists the different temple officials next, and it mentions the priests first. 1 Chronicles 24 lists twenty-four courses. Jedaiah, Immer and Harim appear in the record of Chronicles. In all there were 4,289 priests who went back. And these made up four courses only.
The words "of the house of Jeshua" tie these priests to one of the two men who led the return:
The first return happened around the year 536 BC. Zerubbabel was a descendant of King David. Jeshua was a descendant of Aaron the high priest. These two men led the first Jews home. First they built the altar for burnt offerings in the outer court of the temple, and then the temple itself.
A roll of names and figures can look like filler. One writer reads the existence of the list as evidence of how God felt about the people who answered His call:
The record holds several interesting details. The first is that the list exists at all. Its existence shows how precious to God was the response His grace had produced in the hearts of His people — however feebly they understood His thoughts about His house. For this reason He has kept this list. It is evidence that He looks with joy on the smallest fruits of His Spirit's work. It also shows that the very names of His people are known and proclaimed. This encourages all to walk in His ways, to be identified with His interests, and to stay faithful in times of corruption.
Verse 36 begins a block of four priestly families totalling over four thousand. The Levites that follow number seventy-four. That imbalance is a reversal of the earlier history of Israel:
Notice in passing how many the priests were, and how few the Levites. Before the captivity it was the Levites who stood out in comparison. The priests had gained from the recent trial and from God's intervention.
Even so, priests in this list are a hopeful sign. The shortage of Levites is the part that keeps repeating:
It is good to see that there were priests among them (v. 36), and also Levites (v. 40). It is good to see priestly activity coming back among the people, and Levitical service too. But Levites always seem to be in short supply. Here we find just 74 Levites for about 4,000 priests, and we will find an even greater shortage in chapter 8. Very few are willing to do practical work for the benefit of the people of God. But praise the Lord there are some!
Another writer carries the ratio over to the church. The priest stands for the worshipper, the Levite for the one who does the practical work:
Don't these facts have something to say to us today? All Christians are priests, and their proper function is to worship God. That is why many of them feel the need to fill their role as worshippers in the assembly of the living God — though it goes without saying that even this number is too few. But the absence of Levites hurts badly. Their functions correspond to the ministries in the Christian assembly. It was not that there was any lack of people, as we shall see in Ezra 8. On their part there was indifference, spiritual laziness, and love of their own comfort, no doubt. So only seventy-four people present themselves to escort the priests, the people, and their leaders!
- Counted — God kept this list because He values the response His grace produced, however small. He records the very names of His people.
- Named — Jedaiah heads one of the twenty-four priestly courses of 1 Chronicles 24. Only four of those courses came back, 4,289 priests in all.
- Led — The house of Jeshua ties these priests to Jeshua, a descendant of Aaron. He led the return with Zerubbabel, who came from David's line.
- Willing — The priests had gained from the recent trial. They now outnumber the Levites, which reverses Israel's earlier history.
- Lopsided — Worshippers come forward more readily than workers. Indifference and love of comfort thinned the Levites, and the pattern still holds.
The children of Immer, a thousand and fifty-two.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
The children of Pashhur, a thousand two hundred and forty-seven.
One line in a long list: the family of Pashhur, 1,247 strong, among the priests who came back from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem. Why does Scripture keep a bare headcount of one priestly family? And what does that number say about God's people at the time?
The first lesson is that the list exists at all. One commentator sees in it God's delight in a response He Himself produced:
The fact that this record exists shows how precious to God the response of His people was. His grace had produced that response in their hearts, however feebly they grasped His thoughts about His house. For this reason He has kept this list. It is evidence that He looks with joy on the smallest fruits of His Spirit's work. It also shows that He knows the very names of His people and makes them known. He does this to encourage everyone to walk in His ways, to stand with His interests, and to stay faithful in times of corruption and falling away.
Another writer links the list to a promise that God does not forget what His people do:
It is a sample page of the records God keeps. From it we may learn that He remembers His people. He knows them by name, and He does not forget their works... He has a book of remembrance (Mal. 3:16). The apostle reminded the Hebrew believers of this when he wrote: "For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do" (Heb. 6:10).
Pashhur sits in a short block of its own. One writer traces the order of the register:
From verse 3 to verse 35 the register counts the people of various cities. Then verses 36 to 39 mention priests among those returning. Verse 40 speaks of Levites, and verses 41-42 of singers.
That block holds only four families. The priesthood once had twenty-four divisions of service, and only a few of them came home:
In 1 Chronicles 24 twenty-four courses are mentioned. Jedaiah, Immer and Harim are found in the record of Chronicles. In all there were 4,289 priests who went back. And these made up only four courses.
Set beside the seventy-four Levites later in the chapter, Pashhur's 1,247 looks large. One writer sees in that contrast a reversal of what the nation had been before the exile:
Notice in passing how many priests there were, and how few Levites by comparison. Before the captivity the Levites had been the ones who stood out. The priests had profited by the recent trial and by God's intervention.
Another writer brings the same gap into the present day:
Here we find just 74 Levites for about 4,000 priests, and chapter 8 shows an even greater shortage. Those willing to take on practical work for the good of God's people are notoriously few. But praise the Lord there are some!
A name in the register mattered. A few verses later, some priests looked for their own entry and could not find it. The ruling against them had a limit:
If any could not show their genealogy, they had no claim to take part in the work of their calling. For the priests the result was even more serious. If they could not find their register, they were treated as polluted and put out of the priesthood. No one told them they were not priests. The ground taken was that their claim was not proven. It might be proven at a future time. When a priest once more stood up with Urim and Thummim — the light and perfection of God, giving him divine intelligence and discernment — he might judge them to be true priests. Meanwhile their claim was forfeited. Grace could restore what was lost under law, but for that they had to wait patiently.
One writer draws from this a caution for days of weakness, and notes how long the gap has lasted:
A day of weakness demands care not to go beyond our measure... Israel as a natural nation has never had a priest with Urim and Thummim since, least of all when they refused the Lord Jesus. It will not be so always.
- Counted. God takes account of everyone who answered His call. The number 1,247 stands in Scripture as one page from the records He keeps.
- Named. Pashhur's name is in the register. In this chapter, a name you can trace is the difference between serving and being set aside.
- Partial. Four priestly families out of twenty-four returned, 4,289 men in all: a real recovery, but a fraction of what once was.
- Lopsided. About 4,000 priests to 74 Levites: those willing to do the practical work were the fewest of all.
- Awaited. Unsettled cases had to wait for a priest with Urim and Thummim. Grace could restore what law had lost, but only in God's time.
The children of Harim, a thousand and seventeen.
This verse ends a short list of four priestly families who went back from Babylon to Jerusalem. One line of numbers raises a real question. Why does God keep a roll of names at all? And what does this list tell us about His people after the exile?
The chapter moves in blocks, and this verse belongs to the priestly one. One writer maps the divisions:
From verse 3 to verse 35 the record lists the people of various cities. Then from verse 36 to 39 it mentions priests as part of the number of those returning. Verse 40 speaks of the Levites, and verses 41-42 of the singers.
Harim himself appears only as the head of a family line:
Ancestor of priests who returned from exile. Ezra 2:39; Ezra 10:21. Neh. 7:42.
A list of families and figures can look like dead weight in Scripture. One commentator argues the opposite — that its very existence is the point:
The fact that this list exists shows how precious to God was the response His grace had produced in the hearts of His people. They may have grasped very little of His thoughts about His house. For this reason He has kept this list. It is evidence that He sees with joy the smallest fruits of His Spirit's work. It is also evidence that the very names of His people are known and proclaimed. That encourages all to walk in His ways, to make His interests their own, and to stay faithful in times of corruption.
Harim's name is worth tracing back. An earlier record lists twenty-four priestly groups, called courses. Only a few of them appear here:
The priests come first. In 1 Chronicles 24 we find twenty-four courses. Jedaiah, Immer and Harim appear in the record of Chronicles. In all 4,289 priests went back. And they made up only four courses.
The priests came back in force. The men who did the practical work of God's house did not:
The priests came from four families of the sons of Aaron. They proved eager to take up again their place and work in the house of God that was about to be built. They numbered 4,289 (Ezra 2:36-39). But of the three families of the Levites, only one family was there at all, and even that family came in numbers far too few.
Another writer draws the shortfall out as a pattern rather than a one-off:
It is good to see that there were priests among them (v.36), and also Levites (v.40). It is good to see priestly activity recovered among the people, as well as Levitical service. But Levites always seem to be in short supply. Here we find just 74 Levites for about 4,000 priests, and we will find an even greater shortage in chapter 8. Those willing to do practical work for the good of the people of God are known to be few. But praise the Lord there are some!
The sons of Harim are on the roll; a few verses later, other priestly families are not. Their descent could not be traced, and the register decided the matter:
If any could not show their genealogy, they had no claim to take part in the work they had been called to. For the priests the result was even more serious. If they could not find their register, they were treated as unclean and put out of the priesthood. No one told them they were not priests. The ground taken was that their claim was not proven. It might be proven at a future time. So the governor told them not to eat of the most holy things until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim. When that time came, that priest — once more given divine intelligence and discernment through Urim and Thummim, the light and perfection of God — might judge them to be true priests. Until then their claim was forfeited. Grace could restore what was lost under law, but for this they had to wait patiently.
Commentators differ on how hard to press these numbers. On the honesty of the decision itself they agree:
Under the circumstances, the best course of action is to take account of our weakness and not to pretend to have what we do not have (v.63). It must have been hard to refuse those priests, but doing so simply showed that they put God first, not human feelings.
- Named. God kept this list because He treasures the response His grace produced. He sees the smallest fruits of His work, and "the very names of His people are known and proclaimed."
- Numbered. Harim's 1,017 form part of 4,289 priests — but only four of the original twenty-four courses came back.
- Proved. Being counted meant showing a register. Families who could not show one had to wait outside priestly service until God settled the matter.
- Unbalanced. About 4,000 priests came back, but only 74 Levites. Worship recovered faster than practical work, and that shortage keeps returning.
- Honest. Refusing to claim what was lost was not weakness but putting God before human feeling.