OUR FATHER WHO GIVES FAVOR TO THOSE WHO BUILD  HIS TEMPLE

The book of Ezra chapter 8 verses 1 - 20 is a record of those who were being enrolled to make the journey from Babylon back to Jerusalem and Ezra recorded the names of the heads of the ancestral houses and their genological records.

1 These are the heads of the ancestral houses and the genealogies of those who returned with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:

2 Of the descendants of Phinehas, Gershon; of the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel; of the descendants of David, Hattush, 3 son of Shecaniah; of the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him one hundred and fifty males were enrolled; 4 of the descendants of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai, son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males; 5 of the descendants of Zattu, Shecaniah, son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males; 6 of the descendants of Adin, Ebed, son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males; 7 of the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah, son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males; 8 of the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah, son of Michael, and with him eighty males; 9 of the descendants of Joab, Obadiah, son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males; 10 of the descendants of Bani, Shelomoth, son of Josiphiah, and with him one hundred and sixty males; 11 of the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah, son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight males; 12 of the descendants of Azgad, Johanan, son of Hakkatan, and with him one hundred and ten males; 13 of the descendants of Adonikam, younger sons, whose names were Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males; 14 of the descendants of Bigvai, Uthai, son of Zakkur, and with him seventy males.

15 I assembled them by the river that flows toward Ahava, where we camped for three days. There I perceived that both laymen and priests were present, but I could not discover a single Levite. 16 So I sent for discerning leaders, Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, 17 with a command for Iddo, the leader in the place Casiphia, instructing them what to say to Iddo and his kinsmen, and to the temple servants in Casiphia, in order to procure for us ministers for the house of our God. 18 Since the favoring hand of our God was over us, they sent to us a well-instructed man, one of the descendants of Mahli, son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and kinsmen, eighteen men. 19 They also sent us Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah, descendants of Merari, and their kinsmen and their sons, twenty men. 20 Of the temple servants, those whom David and the princes appointed to serve the Levites, there were two hundred and twenty. All these were enrolled by name.

When reviewing the men who were to make the journey with him back to Jerusalem, Ezra realised that there were no Levites among them and because the services in the temple required descendants of the tribe of Levi to perform them, Ezra sent some trusted leaders to the head of temple servants (named Iddo) to get him to send men who were qualified to serve in the temple they were going to build in Jerusalem.

In keeping with the favor that God had shown them,  A well-trained Levitic priest named Sherebiah, was sent to them along with a contigent of thirty-seven  priests. In the travelling party were two hundred and fifty men who would help the Levites with the functions and duties of the temple.

Amen.

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