WE come now to the record of the number of people who joined Ezra in the journey back to Jerusalem and there arrival there. This takes up the whole of this chapter. Commentators point out a discrepancy between the record of the numbers and families accompanying Ezra in this chapter and in the apocryphal book of Esdras. Books in the Apocrypha have never been accepted as part of the inspired Scriptures and so this discrepancy should not trouble us. The discrepancy does not alter the fact of return of Ezra with a large company of exiles back to Jerusalem, and the details recorded in the book of Ezra concerning the care taken by Ezra concerning all the details of this return.

Another fact is of interest as we meditate on this chapter which is that the journey from Babylon would have been around 900 miles, and taken about 4 months according to chapter 7: 8-9. As we seek to appreciate this huge undertaking it may occur to us that we have here something similar, though not so daunting, as the exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt, and their journey to the promised land. What is significant is the fact that the journey was completed safely, and the often repeated statement given by Ezra of 'the good hand of the Lord was upon me' explains the success of the venture.

This chapter commences with the words 'These are the family heads and those registered with them who came up with me from Babylon'. This shows how meticulous the Israelites were in keeping genealogies and keeping records of families, and marks the care taken at the time of the exile of keeping the distinction between the Israelites and the rest of humanity. It was also in order to preserve the true worship of Jehovah.

As I read through the record of the family heads, and the number in their 'clan' which joined in this return of the exiles to Jerusalem I found my mind spinning. However it does show us how much care was taken, even in the exile to keep the separation of God's people separate from the rest of humanity.

When we come to verse 15 onward, we find Ezra gathering these people for three days beside the canal which flowed towards a place designated as Ahava, which we nothing about. However it is plain that Ezra arranged this time so that he could see that the company was all that it should be. In doing this Ezra found that the Levites were not represented. The Levites were set apart for carrying out all the necessary worship and regulations of the temple worship. For these representatives to be missing was a serious matter. Ezra sought to address this important matter.

We read that Ezra gathered leaders and men of learning, presumably in the Levitical Law to address this serious problem. They were sent to Iddo, the leader of Casiphia. From this and what we read further, this seemed to be a centre where the true religion was sought to be preserved, and even a temple built in Babylon for this purpose. By this we see that in the exile true worship of Jehovah was preserved.

Ezra sent these leaders to Iddo and other temple leaders to gather Levites to address this loss in the company of the returning Jews to Jerusalem. Then we read Ezra saying 'because the gracious hand of our God was upon us' Levites were found. From two Levitical leaders 20 Levites were found to join the company of the returning Jews, together with 220 temple servants. These temple servants were men set aside by David to assist in temple worship.

So we perceive how careful Ezra was in the choice of men and families to accompany him in this return to Jerusalem in order to revitalize the worship of God in the newly built temple in Jerusalem. This is an aspect of true revival brought about by God when such blessing is granted.

These days, no doubt like me, we long for revival. Except for relatively few exceptions, the visible church, in every denomination, we see departure from the faith ever given to God's people in the Bible. One of the aspects of this, perhaps the very core of this decline in the church, is the way authority is taken away from the Bible as the true and central means of finding the true faith of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, set forth specially by the apostles. Authority instead is given to tradition, to science, to philosophy, and human reason.