CHAPTER 8 Nov.12 
The People Who Returned with Ezra
Now these are the heads of their fathers’ households, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king: 2Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush. 3Of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah; and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males one hundred and fifty. 4Of the sons of Pahathmoab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah; and with him two hundred males. 5Of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel; and with him three hundred males. 6Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan; and with him fifty males. 7Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah; and with him seventy males. 8Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael; and with him eighty males. 9Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel; and with him two hundred and eighteen males. 10Of the sons of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah; and with him one hundred and sixty males. 11Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai; and with him twenty-eight males. 12Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan; and with him one hundred and ten males. 13Of the sons of Adonikam, who were the last; and these are their names: Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah; and with them sixty males. 14Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud; and with them seventy males.
Ezra Finds Levites for the Temple
15I gathered them together to the river that runs to Ahava; and there we encamped three days: and I viewed the people and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi. 16Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, who were teachers. 17I sent them forth to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia; and I told them what they should tell Iddo, and his brothers the Nethinim, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God. 18According to the good hand of our God on us they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brothers, eighteen; 19and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty; 20and of the Nethinim, whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim: all of them were mentioned by name.
Fasting and Prayer
21Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of Him a straight way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. 22For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken to the king saying, The hand of our God is on all those who seek Him for good; but His power and His wrath is against all those who forsake Him. 23So we fasted and begged our God for this: and He was entreated of us.
Offerings for the Temple
24Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them, 25and weighed to them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering for the house of our God, which the king, and his counsellors, and his princes, and all Israel there present, had offered: 26I weighed into their hand six hundred fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels one hundred talents; of gold one hundred talents; 27and twenty bowls of gold, of one thousand darics; and two vessels of fine bright brass, precious as gold. 28I said to them, You are holy to Yahweh, and the vessels are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to Yahweh, the God of your fathers. 29Guard and keep them, until you weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites, and the princes of the fathers’ households of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the rooms of the house of Yahweh. 30So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God.
Return to Jerusalem
31Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was on us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the bandit by the way. 32We came to Jerusalem, and stayed there three days. 33On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest; and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them was Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, the Levite. 34Everything was counted and weighed: and all the weight was written at that time. 35The children of the captivity, who had come out of exile, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs and twelve male goats for a sin offering: all this was a burnt offering to Yahweh. 36They delivered the king’s commissions to the king’s satraps, and to the governors beyond the River: and they furthered the people and God’s house.

Commentary

8:21 A straight way for us- God’s people had been prophesied as returning, walking “by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble” (Jer. 31:9). Ezra fasted for them to be given a “straight way”, as Jeremiah had foretold they could have. He saw the need for them to make the effort to fulfil the prophecy Ezekiel’s vision of the cherubim featured “straight” progress; the wheels on earth surely connect with how Israel should have been, moving in a straight way back to the land, in harmony with the Angel-cherubim above them likewise moving in a straight way. But they failed to “keep in step with the Spirit” (Gal. 5:25). They were to walk “each one straight before him” (Is. 57:2 Heb.), as each of the cherubim went straight ahead (Ez. 1:12). We too are not alone in this world, we are being guided by the Angels above, and are to walk in step with them. 
8:22 The returning exiles had been comforted by the prophetic word: “Fear not... I willhelp you” (Is. 41:10). Ezra was ashamed to ask for help against Judah’s enemies, the implication being that he wanted that human help but was ashamed to ask for it from the King. He had initially believed those words of Isaiah, but found it hard to maintain that level of faith. We find ourselves so often in this situation as we struggle to believe God’s promises in the midst of our secular lives.