Ezra 2:3 Commentary and Bible Study

We have a great list of names here. Why are these individuals honoured in this way? It was very important they should be honoured, because God wished to give them a memorial. All Zion’s patriots are known to God. It is those who God honours that matter, not those whom the world honours. In the eyes of the world, believers ‘are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things’, but their names are recorded in heaven for eternity. We need to note several things. There were insufficient animals to carry them all – far fewer animals than people – so that the majority must have come on foot. There were far fewer servants than masters, so that those who returned were probably of the lower end of society. The more well-to-do were settled in Babylon and less inclined to disrupt their lives and make the Lord’s purposes their chief priority.They are named after the most prominent head of the family, or in some cases by the place in Judah where they were from. Many of the place names are found elsewhere in the Old Testament, and all the places were ‘situate in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem’ (Keil and Delitzsch).Not all the families are mentioned here, for the total number in verse 64 is greater than the sum of all the families and place names mentioned.