Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezra 2:3
The children of Parosh, two thousand a hundred seventy and two.
3. The children of Parosh ] A strange proper name, meaning a ‘flea’. A special branch of this family, called after Shechaniah, returned with Ezra (Ezr 8:3). Members of the family are mentioned as having married ‘strange wives’ (Ezr 10:25) and as assisting in the rebuilding of the walls (Neh 3:25).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3 19. Names of households or families. Many of these names occur again in other lists, e.g. Ezr 8:1-14; Ezr 10:18-44; Neh 10:1-27, and in connexion with much later events in the lifetime of Ezra and Nehemiah. These names therefore are not to be regarded as the names of the leading men of the various families who accompanied Zerubbabel, but as the titles of the families or clans into which the people were divided. These titles were probably taken from the founders of the families and were many of them of great antiquity. The mention of the same names of the ‘families’ at the return of Ezra (Ezr 8:1-14) merely shows that, though a certain number of a household had accompanied Zerubbabel, many members of it remained in Babylon, of whom some returned with Ezra, e.g. Parosh, Pahath-moab, Adin, Shephatiah, Elam, Bebai, Azgad, Adonikam, Bigvai, &c., cf. Neh 10:14 ff.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 3. The children of Parosh] Where the word children is found in this table, prefixed to the name of a man, it signifies the descendants of that person, as from Ezr 2:3-21. Where it is found prefixed to a place, town, &c., it signifies the inhabitants of that place, as from Ezr 2:21-35.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. The posterity (as that word is for the most part, if not constantly, taken in this catalogue) that descended either from Parosh, or from that family whereof Parosh was the chief. And so for the rest.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. The childrenThis word, asused throughout this catalogue, means “posterity” or”descendants.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ver. 3-35. The children of Parosh, two thousand an hundred and seventy two. From hence, to the end of Ezr 2:35, a list is given of the captives that returned, described by the families they were of, their ancestors from whence they sprung, or the towns and cities to which they originally belonged, and by their numbers; otherwise nothing more of them is known.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
List of the houses and families of the people. Comp. Neh 7:8-38. – To show the variations in names and numbers between the two texts, we here place them side by side, the names in Nehemiah being inserted in parentheses.
Ezra II Ezra II Neh. VII 1. The Sons of Parosh 2172 2172 2. The Sons of Shephatiah 372 372 3. The Sons of Arah 775 652 4. The Sons of Pahath Moab, of the sons of Joshua and Joab 2812 2818 5. The Sons of Elam 1254 1254 6. The Sons of Zattu 945 845 7. The Sons of Zaccai 760 760 8. The Sons of Bani (Binnui) 642 648 9. The Sons of Bebai 623 628 10. The Sons of Azgad 1222 2322 11. The Sons of Adonikam 666 667 12. The Sons of Bigvai 2056 2067 13. The Sons of Adin 454 655 14. The Sons of Ater of Hezekiah 98 98 15. The Sons of Bezai 323 324 16. The Sons of Jorah (Harif) 112 112 17. The Sons of Hashum 223 328 18. The Sons of Gibbar (Gibeon) 95 95 19. The Sons of Bethlehem 123 123 20. The Men of Netophah 56 56 21. The Men of Anathoth 128 128 22. The Sons of Azmaveth (men of Beth-azmaveth) 42 42 23. The Sons of Kirjath-arim, Chephirah, Beeroth 743 743 24. The Sons of Ramah and Gaba 621 621 25. The Men of Michmas 122 122 26. The Men of Bethel and Ai 223 123 27. The Sons of Nebo (Acher) 52 52 28. The Sons of Magbish 156 wanting 29. The Sons of other Elam 1254 1254 30. The Sons of Harim 320 320 31. The Sons of Lod, Hadid, Ono 725 721 32. The Sons of Jericho 345 345 33. The Sons of Senaah 3630 3930 Total 24,144 25,406
The differences in the names are unimportant. In Ezr 2:6 the copulative inserted between the names and , both in Nehemiah and 1 Esdras, is wanting; the name (Ezr 2:10) is written in Nehemiah (Neh 7:15); for (Ezr 2:18), Neh 7:24 has , evidently another name for the same person, Jorah having a similarity of sound with , harvest-rain, and with , harvest; for (Ezr 2:20), Neh 7:25 more correctly read , the name of the town; and for (Ezr 2:25), Neh 7:29 has the more correct form : the sons of Azmaveth (Ezr 2:24) stands in Nehemiah as the men of Beth-azmaveth; while, on the other hand, for the sons of Nebo (Ezr 2:29), we have in Nehemiah (Neh 7:33) the men of Nebo Acher, where seems to have been inserted inadvertently, Elam Acher so soon following.
(Note: This view is more probable than the notion of Dietrich, in A. Merx, Archiv fr wissensch. Forschung des A. T., No. 3, p. 345, that by the addition in Nehemiah, the Nebo in Judah is distinguished from the Nebo in Reuben.)
The names Bezai, Jorah, and Hashum (Ezr 2:17-19) are transposed in Nehemiah (Neh 7:22-24) thus, Hashum, Bezai, and Harif; as are also Lod, etc., and Jericho, (Ezr 2:33, Ezr 2:34) into Jericho and Lod, etc. (Nehemiah, vv. 36, 37). Lastly, the sons of Magbish (Ezr 2:30) are omitted in Nehemiah; and the sons of Bethlehem and the men of Netophah (Ezr 2:21 and Ezr 2:22) are in Nehemiah (Neh 7:26) reckoned together, and stated to be 188 instead of 123 + 56 = 179. A glance at the names undoubtedly shows that those numbered 1-17 are names of races or houses: those from 18-27, and from 31-33, are as certainly names of towns; there, therefore, inhabitants of towns are named. This series is, however, interrupted by Nos. 28-30; Harim being undoubtedly, and Magbish very probably, names not of places, but of persons; while the equality of the number of the other, Elam 1254, with that of Elam (No. 6), seems somewhat strange. To this must be added, that Magbish is wanting both in Nehemiah and 2 Esdras, and the other Elam in 1 Esdras; while, in place of the sons of Harim 320, we have in 1 Esdr. 5:16, in a more appropriate position, 32. Hence Bertheau infers that Nos. 28 and 29, sons of Magbish and sons of Elam Acher (vv. 30 and 31), are spurious, and that Harim should be written , and inserted higher up. The reasons for considering these three statements doubtful have certainly some weight; but considering the great untrustworthiness of the statements in the first book of Esdras, and the other differences in the three lists arising, as they evidently do, merely from clerical errors, we could not venture to call them decisive.
Of the names of houses or races (Nos. 1-17 and 30), we meet with many in other lists of the time of Ezra and Nehemiah;
(Note: In the list of those who went up with Ezra (Ezra 8), the sons of Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Adin, Elam, Shephatiah, Joab, Bebai, Azgad, Adonikam, Bigvai, and, according to the original text (Ezr 8:8, Ezr 8:10), also the sons of Zattu and Bani. In the lists of those who had taken strange wives (Ezra 10) we meet with individuals of the sons of Parosh, Elam, Zattu, Bebai, Bani, Pahath-Moab, Harim, Hashum, and of the sons of Nebo. Finally, in the lists of the heads of the people in the time of Nehemiah (Neh 10:15.) appear the names of Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, Azgad, Bebai, Bigvai, Adin, Ater, Hashum, Bezai, Harif, Harim, Anathoth, together with others which do not occur in the list we are not treating of.)
whence we perceive, (1) that of many houses only a portion returned with Zerubbabel and Joshua, the remaining portion following with Ezra; (2) that heads of houses are entered not by their personal names, but by that of the house. The names, for the most part, descend undoubtedly from the time anterior to the captivity, although we do not meet with them in the historical books of that epoch, because those books give only the genealogies of those more important personages who make a figure in history. Besides this, the genealogies in Chronicles are very incomplete, enumerating for the most part only the families of the more ancient times. Most, if not all, of these races or houses must be regarded as former inhabitants of Jerusalem. Nor can the circumstance that the names given in the present list are not found in the lists of the inhabitants of Jerusalem (1 Chron 9 and Neh 11) be held as any valid objection; for in those lists only the heads of the great races of Judah and Benjamin are named, and not the houses which those races comprised. The names of cities, on the other hand (Nos. 18-33), are for the most part found in the older books of the Old Testament: Gibeon in Jos 9:3; Bethlehem in Rth 1:2; Mic 5:1; Netophah, 2Sa 23:28 – see comm. on 1Ch 2:54; Anathoth in Jos 21:18; Jer 1:1; Kirjath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, as cities of the Gibeonites, in Jos 9:17; Ramah and Geba, which often occur in the histories of Samuel and Saul, also in Jos 18:24-25; Michmash in 1Sa 13:2, 1Sa 13:5; Isa 10:28; Bethel and Ai in Jos 7:2; and Jericho in Jos 5:13, and elsewhere. All these places were situate in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and were probably taken possession of by former inhabitants or their children immediately after the return. Azmaveth or Beth-azmaveth (Neh 7:28) does not occur in the earlier history, nor is it mentioned out of this list, except in Neh 12:29, according to which it must be sought for in the neighbourhood of Geba. It has not, however, been as yet discovered; for the conjecture of Ritter, Erdk. xvi. p. 519, that it may be el-Hizme, near Anta, is unfounded. Nor can the position of Nebo be certainly determined, the mountain of that name (Num 32:3) being out of the question. Nob or Nobe (1Sa 21:2) has been thought to be this town. Its situation is suitable; and this view is supported by the fact that in Neh 11:31., Nob, and not Nebo, is mentioned, together with many of the places here named; in Ezr 10:43, however, the sons of Nebo are again specified. As far as situation is concerned, Nuba, or Beit-Nuba (Robinson’s Biblical Researches, p. 189), may, as Bertheau thinks, correspond with this town. Magbish was by many older expositors regarded as the name of a place, but is certainly that of a person; and no place of such a name is known. The localities Lod, Hadid, and Ono (Ezr 2:33) first occur in the later books of the Old Testament. On Lod and Ono, see comm. on 1Ch 8:12. is certainly (1 Macc. 12:28, 13:13), not far from Lydda, where there is still a place called el-Hadithe, Arab. ‘ l – hdth (Robinson’s Biblical Researches, p. 186). , Ezr 2:35, is identified by older expositors with , , which Jerome describes as terminus Judae, in septimo lapide Jerichus contra septentrionalem plagam ( Onom. ed. Lars. et Parth. p. 332f.); in opposition to which, Robinson, in his above-cited work, identifies Magdal-Senna with a place called Mejdel, situate on the summit of a high hill about eighteen miles north of Jericho. The situation, however, of this town does not agree with the distance mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome, and the name Mejdel, i.e., tower, is not of itself sufficient to identify it with Magdal-Senna. The situation of the Senaah in question is not as yet determined; it must be sought for, however, at no great distance from Jericho. Of the towns mentioned in the present list, we find that the men of Jericho, Senaah, and Gibeon, as well as the inhabitants of Tekoa, Zanoah, Beth-haccerem, Mizpah, Beth-zur, and Keilah, assisted at the building of the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah (Neh 3:2-3, Neh 3:7). A larger number of towns of Judah and Benjamin is specified in the list in Neh 11:25-35, whence we perceive that in process of time a greater multitude of Jews returned from captivity and settled in the land of their fathers.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(3) The children of Parosh . . .Then comes the enumeration of the family and local names. In the following instances we note when two of the three authorities agree. In Ezr. 2:6, Ezra is confirmed by 1 Esdras as against Nehemiahs 2,818; in Ezr. 2:8, against his 945; in Ezr. 2:11, against his 628; in Ezr. 2:15, against his 655; in Ezr. 2:17, against his 324; in Ezr. 2:33, against his 721. In Ezr. 2:10, the children of Bani, or Binnui, are 642, but 1 Esdras agrees with Nehemiah in making them 648; in Ezr. 2:14, the two latter correct 666 into 667.In Ezr. 2:20, heads of families become places; Nehemiah substitutes Gibeon for Gibbar. Ezr. 2:30 has no representative in Nehemiah. In Ezr. 2:31, the other Elam has the same number as Elam in Ezr. 2:7; and the Nebo of Ezr. 2:29 is called in Nehemiah the other Nebo, though the only one, as if the other had slipped in from what in Nehemiah is found in the next verse. In a few cases all the authorities differ, but the differences are not important.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Ezr 2:3 The children of Parosh, two thousand an hundred seventy and two.
Ver. 3. The children of Parosh ] Question is here made by some, whether this and other like chapters, that are nothing but names and numbers, should be read in course, since they may seem to be of no great use to us? To this Chrysostom answereth, In sacris libris nihil contemnatur aut obiter praetereatur, etiamsi nomina recenseantur, that is, let no part of the Holy Scripture be slighted or skipped over, no, though we meet with nothing but names only. But forasmuch as there is never a leaf, nay, line, nay, letter in God’s book, that is not pure, precious, and profitable, Pro 30:5 Psa 12:6 2Ti 3:16 (the Rabbins have a saying that there is a mountain of sense hanging upon every apex or tittle of the word of God); therefore must we read all, in obedience to him, who hath written for us these excellent things in counsel and knowledge, Pro 22:20 , and if anything be yet hid, God shall reveal even this unto us, Phi 3:15 . Joseph understood not his own dreams at first, till he saw his brethren prostrate before him; then Joseph remembered the dreams that he dreamed of them, Gen 42:9 . The disciples conceived not, believed not, many things done by and to their Master, till he was glorified, and they further enlightened, Joh 2:22 ; Joh 12:6 . Surely if Hippocrates could say of medicine, that there was nothing to be accounted little in it, nothing contemptible ( , ); how much more may we say the same of divinity and of the Scriptures!
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
children: The word children, in this table, when prefixed to the name of a man, signifies the descendants of that person, as from verses 3-21; and when prefixed to the name of a town, place, etc., it signifies the inhabitants of that place, as from Ezr 2:21-25.
Parosh: Ezr 8:3, Pharosh, Ezr 10:25, Neh 7:8
Reciprocal: Neh 3:25 – Parosh Neh 7:38 – Senaah Neh 10:14 – Parosh Jer 38:1 – Shephatiah
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Ezr 2:3. The children The posterity, as that word is generally taken in this catalogue. Of Parosh That descended either from Parosh, or from that family whereof Parosh was the chief. And so for the rest.