Also, of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, and the sons of Barzillai (who had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called by 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.
Why the register mattered now
Exile had made such checking impossible. The return made it urgent. One writer sets the two times side by side.
Edward DennettIn 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.
Michael HardtThis 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.
"Called by their name"
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.
George C WillisNo 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.
Not disproved — only unproven
The exclusion that follows in verse 62 was not a verdict that these men were frauds.
Edward DennettThey 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.
William Kelly"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.
Refusing to settle it by human judgment
Human judgment offered a way out of the deadlock. One writer shows what faith did instead.
T. B. Baines"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.
Summary
- 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.