Wesley Corpus

Chapter II The leaders that returned, ver. 1, 2. The people, ver. 3 - 35 The priests, Levites and retainers to the temple, ver. 36 - 63. The sum total and their substance, ver. 64 - 67. Their offerings, ver. 68 - 70. The province - Of Judah, called a province, chap.5:8. And he calls it thus emphatically to mind himself and his brethren of that sad change which their sins had made among them, that from an illustrious, independent, and formidable kingdom, were fallen to be an obscure, servile, and contemptible province, first under the Chaldeans, and now under the Persians. Who came, &c. - This catalogue, differs in some names and numbers from that Neh 7:6 - 64, which might be because several names were given to the same persons; and because of the many changes which might happen in the same families between the time of the first making of this catalogue by Ezra, and the making it anew so many years after. The children - The posterity, as that word is constantly taken in this catalogue. Of Parosh - That descend either from Parosh, or from that family whereof Parosh was the chief. And so for the rest. Seven hundred, &c. - In Neh 7:10, they were only six hundred and fifty two, it seems seven hundred and seventy five marched out of Babylon, but some of them died, others were hindered by sickness, or other casualties, and so there came only six hundred and fifty two to Jerusalem. And the like is to be said in the like differences: which it suffices to hint once for all. Beth - lehem - And so these were the remainders of the inhabitants of that city. (And the like may be said of the two following names, Netophah and Anathoth, or others of the like nature.) So little was Beth - lehem among the thousands of Judah! Yet thence must the Messiah arise. Harim - The head of one of the twenty four courses which David appointed, 1Chron 24:8, of all which courses, some observe here are not above four or five that returned. There is another Harim mentioned above, ver.32, but that was no priest, as this was ver.36. Nethinims - Persons devoted to the inferior services of the priests and Levites.