Ezra 8 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

A List of Heads of Families. It contains the names of the heads of the families who returned to Palestine with Ezra.

The Gathering together of the Exiles at Ahava. The narrative is told here in the first person.

Ezra 8:15. Ahava: cf. Ezra 8:21; Ezra 8:31; this seems to have been a place which gave its name to one of the many canals constructed in Babylonia for irrigation purposes. none of the sons of Levi: as the main object of the return was the resuscitation of the Temple worship the Levites were, of course, indispensable.

Ezra 8:17. Casiphia: the exact locality is unknown; there appears to have been a colony of Levites and Nethinim here.

Ezra 8:25 f. The amount of money here mentioned, equivalent to nearly a million pounds sterling, is a characteristic exaggeration on the part of the Chronicler.

The Arrival in Jerusalem.

Ezra 8:31. on the twelfth day. : cf. Ezra 7:8 f., Ezra 8:15.

Ezra 8:35. Cf. Zerubbabel's offerings at the dedication of the Temple, Ezra 6:17.

Ezra 8:36. the king's commissions: mentioned in Ezra 7:21-24. satraps. governors: the satrap was a higher official, being ruler of a province; the governor (pekhah) administered a smaller district.