Ezra 8:19
also Hashabiah, together with Jeshaiah, from the descendants of Merari, and his brothers and their sons, 20 men.
Sermons
Men of UnderstandingWilliam Jones.Ezra 8:1-20
The Assembly At AhavaWilliam Jones.Ezra 8:1-20
The Church Preparing Itself for DutyJ.S. Exell Ezra 8:1-20
The Halt At the AhavaJ.A. Macdonald Ezra 8:15-20
InfluenceW. Clarkson Ezra 7:27, 28; 8:1-20














The journey of the children of Israel from Babylon to Jerusalem may be viewed, like that of their fathers from Egypt to Canaan, as a type of the pilgrimage of Christians from the abominations and miseries of the sinful world to the purity and happiness of heaven. In this view the halt at the "river that runneth to Ahava" may suggest -

I. THAT WE SHOULD HAVE SEASONS FOR REELECTION.

1. The halt furnished Ezra with such a season.

(1) It gave him an opportunity for "viewing the people and the priests." His purpose was to see how the company he conducted would be useful in recruiting the colony at Jerusalem. Christians should consider of what service may they be to the Church of the firstborn in heaven.

(2) The value of service is measured by sympathy with its purposes. Therefore we should cultivate fellowship with God and with the purest and noblest of his people.

2. The review discovered to Ezra a want of Levites in the company.

(1) There were priests there who were Levites. But the priests had functions of their own distinct from those of the Levites who were not of the family of Aaron.

(2) There were no Levites who were not priests. These too had their own proper functions.

(3) As in Jerusalem there was work for every order of sacred person, so should there be in the Church. So will there be in Jerusalem above. Query - Do we, as Ezra did, reflect upon the needs of God's Church? Is God's cause ours, as it was his?

II. THAT REFLECTION SHOULD LEAD TO ACTION.

1. Ezra resolved upon a mission.

(1) There were Levites still in Babylon. So are there Christians mingled with the communities of Antichrist.

(2) The Levites were congregated at Casiphia. This word comes from a root which denotes silver. Some think Casiphia meant the Caspian Mountains, in the silver mines of which these Levites were working. Others construe it to mean Silver Street, possibly some bazaar in Babylon in which silversmiths conducted trade. How characteristic of the sons of Levi to be where precious metals are exchanged!

2. The mission he resolved upon he organised.

(1) He chose "chief men" for his missionaries. If Providence has given men high social position, its influence should be devoted to the ministry of his message.

(2) He also summoned "men of understanding." The world should not so monopolise the talent of our sons that only the refuse, the imbeciles, are given to the Church. There is scope in the message of God for the greatest ability.

(3) "Men of understanding" here are not only those of good natural parts, but those who are skilled in the teaching of God's law (Nehemiah 10:28, 29).

3. He then instructed his missioners.

(1) He sent them "with commandment unto Iddo, the chief at the place of Casiphia." Calls to the service of God come with authority. Ministers of the gospel are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20).

(2) He sent them with arguments. He "put words into their mouths." The import of the words is suggested in the end to be accomplished, viz., "that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of God." Surely the service of God in his house is far more important than the trade in Silver Street.

III. THAT WELL-DIRECTED EFFORT WILL INSURE SUCCESS.

1. The missioners returned, having gained over "a man of understanding.

(1) This achievement is put in the forefront. This son of Mahli was evidently a great acquisition to Ezra.

(2) A man of understanding is an acquisition to any cause. How valuable to the cause of order is the influence of such an one!

2. Thirty-eight Levites are next mentioned.

(1) The man of understanding" is mentioned before Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and Jeshaiah, with their sons and brethren, perhaps because of the influence he may have exerted in bringing them over. A man is not only valuable for what he is, but for what he does.

(2) We have Sherebiah the Levite again mentioned amongst them that made religious confession of God's goodness and their own wickedness (see Nehemiah 9:5).

3. Then follow 220 Nethinims.

(1) Here is an acquisition for which Ezra had not asked. God does for us more than we ask (l Corinthians 2:9; Ephesians 3:20).

(2) All success is from God. Ezra recognised this (ver. 18). Let us follow his good example. - J.A.M.

.

And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava.
I. THE LONG JOURNEY COMMENCED.

II. AN IMPORTANT INSPECTION MADE. This halt illustrates —

1. The need of seasons of rest.

2. The use of seasons of rest.

III. A GRAVE DEFICIENCY DISCOVERED. Ministers of religion are sometimes slow in making personal sacrifices and rendering personal assistance even in a good enterprise.

IV. THE SUPPLY OF THE DEFICIENCT SOUGHT. He sought them —

1. By means of influential men.

2. By sending them to the right place.

3. By sending them to the right man.

4. By sending them with precise instructions.

V. THE SUPPLY OF THE DEFICIENCY OBTAINED.

1. The supply was sufficient.

2. The supply was various.

3. The supply was remarkable for the presence of at least one man of distinguished ability.

4. The supply was obtained by the blessing of God.

(William Jones.)

A man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli
I. ARE THE GIFTS OF GOD.

1. They derive their abilities from Him.

2. They rightly develop their abilities by His blessing.

3. They attain their moral excellences by His blessing.

II. ARE OF GREAT WORTH AMONGST MEN.

1. Understanding is essential to the beneficent employment of other gifts and powers.

2. The employment of understanding itself confers great benefits upon society.Conclusion: It behoves us —

1. To praise God for men of understanding.

2. To prize such men.

3. To endeavour to become men of understanding.

(William Jones.)

People
Adin, Adonikam, Ariel, Artaxerxes, Athaliah, Azgad, Bani, Bebai, Bigvai, Binnui, Daniel, David, Ebed, Elam, Eleazar, Eliezer, Elihoenai, Eliphelet, Elnathan, Gershom, Hakkatan, Hashabiah, Hattush, Iddo, Isaiah, Ithamar, Jahaziel, Jarib, Jehiel, Jeiel, Jeshaiah, Jeshua, Jeuel, Joab, Johanan, Joiarib, Jonathan, Josiphiah, Jozabad, Levi, Levites, Mahli, Merari, Meremoth, Meshullam, Michael, Nathan, Noadiah, Obadiah, Pahathmoab, Parosh, Pharosh, Phinehas, Shecaniah, Shechaniah, Shelomith, Shemaiah, Shephatiah, Sherebiah, Uriah, Urijah, Uthai, Zabbud, Zaccur, Zattu, Zebadiah, Zechariah, Zerahiah
Places
Ahava, Babylonia, Beyond the River, Casiphia, Jerusalem
Topics
20, Brothers, Descendants, Hashabiah, Hashabi'ah, Isaiah, Jeshaiah, Jeshai'ah, Kinsmen, Merari, Merar'i, Nephews, Sons, Twenty
Outline
1. The companions of Ezra, who returned from Babylon
15. He sends to Iddo for ministers for the temple
21. He keeps a fast
24. He commits the treasures to the custody of the priests
31. From Ahava they come to Jerusalem
33. The treasure is weighed in the temple
36. The commission is delivered

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Ezra 8:18

     1265   hand of God
     7372   hands, laying on

Library
The Charge of the Pilgrim Priests
'Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them ... at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the Lord.'--EZRA viii. 29. The little band of Jews, seventeen hundred in number, returning from Babylon, had just started on that long pilgrimage, and made a brief halt in order to get everything in order for their transit across the desert; when their leader Ezra, taking count of his men, discovers that amongst them there are none of the priests or Levites. He then takes measures to reinforce his little
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Heroic Faith
'I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon them all for good that seek Him.... 23. So we fasted and besought our God for this.... 31. The hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way. 32. And we came to Jerusalem.'--EZRA viii. 22, 23, 31, 32. The memory of Ezra the scribe has scarcely had
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Of the Public Fast.
A public fast is when, by the authority of the magistrate (Jonah iii. 7; 2 Chron. xx. 3; Ezra viii. 21), either the whole church within his dominion, or some special congregation, whom it concerneth, assemble themselves together, to perform the fore-mentioned duties of humiliation; either for the removing of some public calamity threatened or already inflicted upon them, as the sword, invasion, famine, pestilence, or other fearful sickness (1 Sam. vii. 5, 6; Joel ii. 15; 2 Chron. xx.; Jonah iii.
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

The Old Testament Canon from Its Beginning to Its Close.
The first important part of the Old Testament put together as a whole was the Pentateuch, or rather, the five books of Moses and Joshua. This was preceded by smaller documents, which one or more redactors embodied in it. The earliest things committed to writing were probably the ten words proceeding from Moses himself, afterwards enlarged into the ten commandments which exist at present in two recensions (Exod. xx., Deut. v.) It is true that we have the oldest form of the decalogue from the Jehovist
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible

Upon Our Lord's SermonOn the Mount
Discourse 7 "Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: And thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." Matthew 6:16-18. 1. It has been the endeavour of Satan, from the beginning of the world,
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Ezra-Nehemiah
Some of the most complicated problems in Hebrew history as well as in the literary criticism of the Old Testament gather about the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Apart from these books, all that we know of the origin and early history of Judaism is inferential. They are our only historical sources for that period; and if in them we have, as we seem to have, authentic memoirs, fragmentary though they be, written by the two men who, more than any other, gave permanent shape and direction to Judaism, then
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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