And of the priests the children of Hobaiah, 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.
Nehemiah's register of returned exiles stops at three priestly families whose papers were missing, one of them carrying a wife's family name instead of its own. The verse raises a hard question: what happens to a God-given place when the proof of it is lost?
Commentators trace the lost register back to a marriage that looked like a step up.
And what was the cause of this shame and degradation? Why could these people not trace their genealogy? Long years before, one of their forefathers married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite. No doubt people thought it a very good match for the young priest, and it surely brought wealth, riches and honour with it. Barzillai was a very great man, and his name itself meant "Iron of the Lord" — most firm and true. He was so immensely wealthy that he could take care of the king out of his own money while the king was rejected.
The verse notes that he "was called by their name" — the wife's name, not his own.
It was no small thing to become the son-in-law of such a man. Against God's order, the young priest gave up his own name and took the name of his wife. So in Ezra he stands under the name "Barzillai." But his own priestly name is lost — lost, it seems, in the desire for worldly advancement, riches, wealth and honour. He probably thought the price he paid was very small. But how little he realised what his act would do! Some five hundred years later it cost his children their blessed, privileged place as priests. We cannot gain advancement in the things of the world without loss in the things of Heaven.
Some families still had their papers when they came back from Babylon.
Happy the man who had preserved his own record, and who so valued the heritage of the Lord that he counted it precious! It was a proof of faith; for it might have been said, What use are these genealogies in Babylon?
The ruling set the three families aside, but its wording was careful.
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 consequence was still more serious. These — if they could not find their register — were treated as defiled and put out of the priesthood. They were not told that they were not priests; the ground taken was that their claim was not proven. It might be proved at a future time. Then a priest would stand up, once more given divine intelligence and discernment through the light and perfection of God (Urim and Thummim). He might then judge them to be truly priests. Grace could restore what was lost under law; only for this they must wait patiently.
One writer applies the same honesty to the church today.
It is essential to realise that the church, in its practical testimony and state, 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.
Yet weakness did not stop them from acting.
But did they plead their feebleness and do nothing? Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah do what they can. They cannot recover everything, but they do what they can. Among other services, they read the genealogies, and they do not let unproved claimants to the priesthood eat the holy things.
The case stayed open, and commentators differ on when it closes. One reads the promised priest as still to come:
"Until a priest with Urim and Thummim should arise." That is, until the Lord Jesus comes in due time. 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 light and perfections of God. He will then untangle all the confusion and supply all that is lacking.
Another finds the comfort already in hand:
I may point to the end of the passage as a blessed message of hope. For us a priest has stood up with Urim and Thummim, and He knows the heart. He knows whether the genealogy is really true, and whether there has been the new birth. Years of contact with the world may have hidden it from the eyes of others.
- Cause. A priest married into wealth and honour, and let his wife's name replace his own. The trade looked cheap at the time.
- Cost. Gain in the things of the world came with loss in the things of Heaven. The bill arrived five hundred years later, on his children.
- Record. Keeping a genealogy in Babylon served no earthly purpose, which is what made it a proof of faith.
- Ruling. No one called the three families impostors. Their claim was unproven, and an unproven claim could not eat the most holy things.
- Hope. The case waited for a priest with Urim and Thummim — the One who reads hearts, not registers, and untangles what weakness cannot.
These sought their genealogical register, but it was not found; therefore were they, as polluted, removed from the priesthood.
The men listed here came home from exile in Babylon claiming a place among the priests. Their names were not in the official family records. One missing document decided their standing. So what should God's people do when a claim cannot be proved either way?
In settled times nobody needed paperwork to prove he was a priest. The exile changed that. It broke off the whole order of worship for decades.
First of all, it is important to see that this kind of problem would not have come up in the early days. Back then everyone knew who the priests and their families were. It 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 came from the ruin of the people — and, of course, from a certain carelessness in these priests (if they really were priests) about keeping their documents together. There was an added difficulty: they no longer had the Urim and Thummim, as they once did, which would have let them find out the truth.
Read carefully, the verse does not say these men were frauds. It says no one could verify their claim, and it leaves the door open for a later ruling.
If any could not show their family record, they had no claim to share in the work they had been called to. For the priests the result was even more serious. These men — if they could not find their register — were put out of the priesthood as unclean. 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... When that time came, the priest — once more given divine understanding and discernment through the light and perfection of God (Urim and Thummim) — might judge them to be true priests. But meanwhile their claim was forfeited. Grace could restore what was lost under law; only for this they had to wait patiently.
The easy course was to settle it by human judgment. Baines treats the refusal to do that as faith.
"Settle it by human rules of evidence," is the natural reply. "Decide 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 thought of convenience, no wish to strengthen the priesthood, would make him admit them without God's approval... What a lesson for a day of ruin! How blessed and refreshing is the faith that, when God gives no guidance, refuses to act by human wisdom or by what is convenient, but simply stands still and waits patiently for God!
One family in this list carried the name of Barzillai, a rich man of Gilead. They gained it by marriage. Willis traces the lost record back to that choice.
It was no small 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 his wife's name... But his own priestly name is lost — lost, it seems, in the desire for worldly advancement, riches, wealth and honour. No doubt he gained all these. He probably thought the price he paid was very small. But how little he thought that his act would cost his children their blessed, privileged place as priests, some five hundred years later! We cannot gain advancement in the things of the world without loss in the things of heaven.
Kelly applies this checking of genealogies to Christians today. A weak day, he argues, is no excuse for carelessness.
What I call your attention to is this principle. It was a day of weakness and humiliation, but it was not to be a day of carelessness. It was to be a day of the greatest care. God's people were to be as watchful and alert for His name as when everything stood in the full power and beauty of divine order... And so we are entitled to demand that they prove their genealogy. The reason is plain: people now commonly take the place of Christians without being real.
Willis also points forward: what these men lacked, believers now have.
For us a priest has stood up with Urim and Thummim, and He knows the heart. He knows if the genealogy is really true, if there has been the new birth, even though years of contact with the world may have hidden it from others.
- Register — Descent had to be on paper. Where the paper was missing, the claim failed. A day of weakness called for more care, not less.
- Ruin — The captivity caused the crisis, not the law. Seventy years without service, and lost papers, made the question unavoidable.
- Refusal — The verdict was not "false" but "not proven". The men were kept back, not condemned.
- Restraint — The leaders would not settle the case by the best human guess. They stood still and waited on God. That is the pattern for any day of confusion.
- Restoration — What a grasp at worldly gain lost, only grace could restore. And the One who knows the heart reads a genealogy no register holds.
And the Tirshatha said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up the priest with Urim and Thummim.
Some priests came back from Babylon, but no one could find their names in the register. The governor did not settle the matter. He suspended it. These men were not condemned and not cleared. They were told to wait for something no one there could give them.
They were kept from the most holy food. One writer reads that as a loss of priestly enjoyment, and looks ahead to the One who will put the whole matter right (older translations read "the most holy things"):
"That they should not eat of the most holy things" — that is, they should not have the full enjoyment of priestly privilege — "till 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. 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.
The two Hebrew words are a description in themselves, and their meaning shows what the returned people had lost:
The meaning of these Hebrew words is "lights" and "perfections." They were distinct from the gems on the breastplate. We know this because Moses put the breastplate on Aaron, and then "in the breastplate he put the Urim and the Thummim" (Leviticus 8:8). It is clear that God answered questions by means of the Urim and Thummim (Numbers 27:21; Deuteronomy 33:8; 1 Samuel 28:6)... This great privilege has never yet been restored.
A problem like this would have been unthinkable in earlier days. It belongs to a time when everything had broken down:
First of all, it is important to see that this kind of problem would not have arisen in the early days. Back then, everyone knew who the priests and their families were. The 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. These priests — if indeed they were priests — had also been careless about 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 distinction matters. Nothing stood against these men except a missing document, and no one there could rule either way:
When the remnant returned from captivity, they found certain priests who could not show their genealogy. These men were put out of the priesthood. That was not because anyone could disprove their claim, but because no one could prove it. No one could settle the question of whether they were really priests. There was no recognised way of getting an answer from God. So they were told to wait until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim. God might raise up a prophet and send a message through him. He did just that at the time, through Haggai and Zechariah. But there was no regular way of access to God to get the kind of answer this case needed.
The governor delayed the decision instead of forcing it. That left these men something to wait for:
They were not told that they were not priests; the ground taken was that their claim was not proven. It might be at a future time... When that time came, the priest would once more be given divine intelligence and discernment through the light and perfection of God (Urim and Thummim). He might then judge them to be true priests. But in the meantime they lost their claim. Grace could restore what was lost under law; only for this they must patiently wait.
One writer applies the same rule to the Lord's table today:
But it is objected: do you not make yourselves judges of others? By no means. As the governor said in effect to the priests in this chapter, who were put away, "You may really be priests, only you cannot produce your title. It must therefore be left over until a priest arises with the Urim and Thummim — one who can judge according to God." So now the burden of proof lies on the one who wants to come to the Lord's table and be identified with His people. If he fails to produce it, the people around him do not shut him out. His own inability to declare his genealogy shuts him out. And if he really is a member of the body of Christ, the Lord Himself will fully acknowledge his title in a future day — though all is of grace.
- Ruin — The missing register was not a filing mistake. It came from the captivity, which broke off priestly service for seventy years.
- Loss — With the Urim and Thummim gone, no one had a regular way to get an answer from God, so the question stayed open.
- Restraint — The governor refused to pretend. He barred these men from the most holy food, yet never told them they were not priests.
- Patience — Their claim was suspended, not destroyed. What law could not restore, grace might. For that they had to wait.
- Hope — No one shuts out the man who cannot produce his title; his own inability does. And the Lord Himself will acknowledge every true claim in His day.