Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
All Commentaries on Ezra 3:2 Go To Ezra 3
Bede
AD 735
The number of the men of the people of Israel: the children of Parosh two thousand one hundred and seventy-two, and so on until it concludes with a complete catalogue of the people of Israel (i.e. priests, Lévites, singers, Nathinnites and descendants of the servants of Solomon) as follows: All the Nathinnites, and the children of the servants of Solomon, three hundred and seventeen. After the catalogue of leaders there follows the number of the people; after the recounted total of the people there follow in order the different ranks devoted to God. The 'people of Israel' means the tribe of Judah and Benjamin and whoever else from the other tribes had previously escaped from the hands of the Assyrians but had nonetheless been taken with them by the Babylonians and had been led away into captivity. In fact we should note that in the very text of the catalogue - and more where the same catalogue is repeated in the second part of the book, i.e. in the words of Nehemiah - the names of about fifteen cities are inserted which, unless I am mistaken, are all found only in the tribe of Judah and Benjamin. In this passage, then, it is probable that 'people of Israel' is to be understood as these tribes in particular along with the priests and Lévites who had shared the same fate. The Nathinnites, however, who are described in due sequence after the priests, Lévites, singers and gatekeepers, were the equivalent in those days of those who nowadays in the Church are called subdeacons, since they assisted the duties of the Lévites and received offerings in the temple from the peoples. Further, the name 'descendants of the servants of Solomon' was given to the temple stewards who were responsible for repairing the sacred buildings, so that whatever had been damaged might be restored again by them through the use of the sacred funds. What we have said above4 about the vessels should be said now about the people, namely that the reason that Scripture has distinguished so scrupulously how many captives from what families had returned to their country as free men is so that from this we might be advised with how much certitude the Lord writes the sum of his elect in the book of life, records, as it were, in the register of heaven, how many souls each of the faithful have turned from error by preaching or manifesting examples of good works, and compensates those they have converted with an appropriate reward for each one.
