That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and [certain] men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
Ver. 2. That Hanani] A gracious man, according to his name (Nomine tu, quin sis natura Gratius, ac te Gratius hoc Christi gratia praestet, Amen), and zealous for his country; which indeed is a man's self; and therefore when our Saviour used that proverb, Physician, heal thyself, the sense is, heal thy country, Luke 4:23 .
One of my brethren] Not by race, perhaps, but surely by grace and place; a Jew, and that inwardly, and therefore intrusted, after this, by Nehemiah with a great charge, Nehemiah 7:2 .
Came, he and certain men of Judah] Upon some great suit, likely, for their country; because they took so long and troublesome a journey in the winter, not without that Roman resolution of Pompey in like case, Necesse est ut eam, non ut vivam. It is necessary that I go not that I live. Whatever their business was, these men had better success than afterwards Philo the Jew and his colleagues had in their embassy to Caligula the emperor; who cast them out with contempt, and would not hear their apology against Appion of Alexandria, their deadly enemy.
And I asked them concerning the Jews] The Church was his care; neither could he enjoy aught so long as it went ill with Zion. He was even sick of the affliction of Joseph; and glad he had got any of whom to inquire; he asked them, not out of an itch after news; but of an earnest desire to know how it fared with God's poor people, that he might cum singulis pectus suum copulate, with singleness of purpose, having bound him, as Cyprian speaketh, rejoice with them that rejoiced, and weep with those that wept, Romans 12:15, a sure sign of a sound member.
Which were left of the captivity] One of whom he well knew to be more worth than a rabble of rebels, a world of wicked persons; as the Jews rise to say of those seventy souls that went down with Jacob into Egypt, that they were better worth than all the seventy nations of the world besides.