And of the children of the priests the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai; who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name.
The list of returning exiles pauses over some priests who could not prove they were priests. One family among them even carried a name that was not their own — and the verse tells us why.
Exile had made such checking impossible. The return made it urgent. One writer sets the two times side by side.
In the land of their exile they had not taken the same care about claims and qualifications. Babylon stands for the corruption that holds God's people in bondage through their sins. So their captivity was a careless time — a time when they suffered under the hand of their God, and still a time of confusion and disorder. It had to be so, since they had no temple, no sacrifices, and no presence of the Lord. But through the mercy of their God there had been a recovery — partial, it is true, but the Spirit of God was clearly at work in it. Now the Lord's house was to be their centre again, so they were right to weigh the claim of everyone who had returned from Babylon.
Another writer explains why the problem could not have arisen earlier, and names what they had lost.
This problem could only arise because priestly service had stopped for 70 years, and because of all the confusion that came with the Babylonian captivity. In other words, it was a result of the ruin of the people — and, of course, of some carelessness by these priests, if indeed they were priests, in keeping their documents together. There was a further difficulty: they no longer had the Urim and Thummim, as they once did. These would have let them find out the truth.
The strange detail in the verse is a priest who married into Barzillai's family and took his wife's family name.
One writer explains why that match looked so good, and what it cost.
No doubt the marriage was considered a very good match for the young priest, and it brought wealth, riches and honour with it. Barzillai was a very great man, and so immensely wealthy that he could support the king out of his own money while the king was rejected. It was no light thing to become the son-in-law of such a man. The young priest, against God's order, gave up his own name and took the name of his wife. So in Ezra he stands with the name "Barzillai." His own priestly name is gone — gone, it appears, in his desire to get on in the world, for riches, wealth and honour. No doubt he gained all these, and he probably thought the price he paid was very small. How little he knew that his act would cost his children their blessed, privileged place as priests five hundred years later! But we cannot gain advancement in the things of the world without loss in the things of heaven.
The exclusion that follows in verse 62 was not a verdict that these men were frauds.
They were not told that they were not priests. The ground taken was that their claim was not proven. It might be proven later, and so "the governor told them that they were not to partake of the most holy food, until there should be a priest to consult Urim and Thummim." When that day came, that priest would again have divine intelligence and discernment through the light and perfection of God, and he might judge them to be true priests. But meanwhile they lost their claim. Grace could restore what was lost under law; only, for that they must wait patiently.
One writer looks ahead to the priest they were waiting for.
"Until there should be a priest to consult Urim and Thummim" — that is, until the Lord Jesus comes. He will no doubt be the King, and He will also act in the full power of priesthood, the power of Urim and Thummim in the lights and perfections of God. He will then untangle all the confusion and supply all that is lacking.
Human judgment offered a way out of the deadlock. One writer shows what faith did instead.
"Decide the matter by human rules of evidence," is the natural reply. "Settle their status one way or the other, by the best light we have." That is how man brings his own wisdom into the things of God. But Zerubbabel was a man of faith. He would not act without God. No thought of convenience, no wish to strengthen the priesthood, would make him put them in without God's sanction... What a lesson for the day of ruin! How refreshing is the faith that, when God gives no guidance, refuses to act in the wisdom of the flesh or for convenience. It simply stands still and waits on God.
- Ruin. The missing registers point to a wider collapse: seventy years without priestly service, and some carelessness about the papers.
- Compromise. One ancestor married well and gave up his own name for it. That is why his family could no longer trace their line.
- Cost. Five centuries later his children paid for that choice. They lost their place as priests. Gain in the world meant loss in heaven.
- Restraint. The leaders did not call these men false priests, only unproven. They refused to settle the doubt by human evidence or for convenience.
- Waiting. They left the case open until a priest with Urim and Thummim should come. One writer sees here a pointer to the Lord Jesus, who will untangle all the confusion and supply all that is lacking.
These sought their genealogical register, but they were not found; therefore were they, as polluted, removed from the priesthood.
Seventy years in Babylon had broken the paper trail, and now a group of families claiming priestly descent came home to find no record of their names. The register said nothing about their sincerity. Yet it settled everything about their place. Why should a missing document cost a man his ministry?
One commentator points to two causes running together: the collapse of the nation and carelessness with papers.
It is important to see that this sort of problem would not have arisen in the early days. Back then, everyone knew who the priests and their families were. This problem could only arise because priestly service had stopped for 70 years, and because of all the confusion that came with the Babylonian captivity. In other words, it was a consequence of the ruin of the people. And, of course, of a certain carelessness in these priests — if indeed they were priests — about keeping their documents together. An added difficulty was that they no longer had the Urim and Thummim, as they used to, which would have let them find out the truth.
A second writer connects that carelessness to what Babylon itself stood for.
In the land of their exile they had not taken the same care about title and qualification. Babylon represents the corruption to which God's people are in bondage through their sins. So the period of their captivity was a time of carelessness. They were suffering under the hand of their God, but it was still a time of confusion and disorder. It had to be, since they were without the temple, without sacrifices, and without the Lord's presence. But now, through the mercy of their God, there had been a recovery... and now that the Lord's house was once more to become their centre, they were right to be careful about the title of everyone who had returned from Babylon.
The exclusion rested on missing evidence, not on a verdict about these men. (Older translations read "as polluted, put from the priesthood.")
When the remnant who returned found certain priests who could not show their genealogy, they put them out of the priesthood. This was not because anyone could disprove their claim, but because no one could prove it. No one could decide whether they were really priests. There was no recognised way of getting an answer from God.
Another writer draws the line between what the leaders could judge and what they left with God:
The mere claim of descent by the person in question was not enough. In times of ruin, someone who lays claim to a title must prove his right to it. Not that Zerubbabel questioned the claim. That he left to God. "The Lord knows those who are his" (2 Tim. 2:19). But they could only decide on clear evidence.
One writer traces the missing name back to a wedding generations earlier.
Long years before, one of their forefathers married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite. No doubt it seemed a very good match for the young priest. Against God's order, the young priest gave up his own name and took the name of his wife. So in Ezra he stands with the name "Barzillai". But his own priestly name is lost. It was lost, it seems, in the desire for worldly advancement, riches, wealth and honour. No doubt he gained all these, and he probably thought the price he paid was very small. But how little he thought that his act, five hundred years later, would cost his children their blessed, privileged place as priests!
The ruling suspended these men; it did not finish them.
They were not told that they were not priests. The ground taken was that their claim was not proven. It might be proven at a future time... Meanwhile their claim was forfeited. Grace could restore what was lost under law; only for this they must patiently wait.
The same writer brings this home to Christians today.
It is essential to realise that the church, as far as its practical testimony and state go, is in ruins today... 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. It must have been hard to refuse those priests. But doing so simply showed that they put God first, not human feelings.
- Cause — ruin lost the register: seventy years without priestly service, plus careless record-keeping.
- Cost — one ancestor traded his priestly name for a rich marriage. His children paid for it five centuries later.
- Charge — "unclean" here means unproven, not disproved. No one doubted their hearts, only their papers.
- Conduct — the leaders judged by the evidence in hand. They left the rest with God and claimed no power they no longer had.
- Conclusion — the ruling held the case open. What law forfeited, grace could restore to those willing to wait.
And the Tirshatha said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.
The exiles had come home, but not every record had survived. Several families claiming priestly descent could not prove it, so the governor barred them from the priests' food until a priest with Urim and Thummim could settle the case.
The ESV says simply "the governor." The writers here use an older translation, which keeps the word behind it: Tirshatha.
A great number of priests "looked for their genealogical register, but they were not found; so they were treated as unclean and removed from the priesthood. And [Zerubbabel] the Tirshatha (a Persian word: the name given in Ezra and Nehemiah to the governor of Jerusalem under the Persian kings) said to them that they were not to eat of the most holy things..."
No one had evidence against these men. The problem was that no one had evidence for them, and the usual way of asking God had gone.
When the remnant who returned found priests who could not show their genealogy, those priests were put out of the priesthood. No one had disproved their claim; they could not prove it. There was no one to decide whether they truly were priests, and no recognised way of getting an answer from God. So they were told to wait until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim.
This was a suspension, not a verdict. The door stayed open.
They were not told that they were not priests. The ruling was only that their claim was not proven. It might be proven at a future time... but meanwhile their claim was forfeited. Grace could restore what was lost under law; only for this they must wait patiently.
There was an obvious fix: settle it by the best evidence available and fill out a thin priesthood at the same time. Zerubbabel refused.
"Decide the matter by human rules of evidence," is the natural reply; "settle their standing one way or the other, by the best light we have." That is how man brings his own wisdom into the things of God. But Zerubbabel was a man of faith. He would not act without God. No motive of convenience, not even the need to strengthen the priesthood, would make him put them in without God's approval... What a blessed and refreshing faith this is! When God gives no guidance, it refuses the wisdom of the flesh and the pull of convenience; it stands still and waits patiently on God.
The names of the two say what they did — and this verse marks where they were lost.
These two words mean "Light" and "Perfection." No one knows just what they were or how they worked. After the captivity in Babylon they were lost, as Ezra 2:63 shows. What seems certain is that through the Urim and the Thummim people could ask God and get an answer, so that divine light could be shed on dark points in Israel's history in a perfect way.
The ruling ends by pointing to a person still to come.
"The Tirshatha (or governor) said to them that they were not to eat of the most holy things" — that is, they were not to have the full enjoyment of priestly privilege — "until there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim." That is, until the Lord Jesus comes by and by. He will, no doubt, be the King, and He will also act in the full power of priesthood, the power of Urim and Thummim, in the lights and perfections of God. He will then untangle all the confusion and supply all that is lacking.
For Israel, that priest has still not stood up.
Israel after the flesh has never had this since, and least of all when they refused the Lord Jesus. It will not always be so. They will look on Him whom they pierced; and then there will be pardon and peace, power and blessing.
The decision cost something, and one writer applies it to us.
In these circumstances, the best course is to face 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 showed that they put God first, not human feelings.
- Lost. Urim and Thummim, "Light" and "Perfection," were the way to ask God and get a clear answer. This verse shows they were gone after the captivity.
- Unproven. No one disproved these priests. They could not prove their claim, and no way remained of settling it.
- Suspended. No one told them they were not priests. Their claim stayed open for a future day, and they had to wait.
- Unforced. Zerubbabel would not settle it by human evidence, even to fill out a thin priesthood. With no word from God, he stood still.
- Awaited. The ruling points to a priest yet to stand up. He will untangle the confusion and supply what is lacking. Until then, honesty about weakness beats pretending.