Ezra 8:15

A SECOND BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY AT AHAVA

"And I gathered them together at the river that runneth 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. Then 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. And I sent them forth unto Iddo the chief of the place Casiphia; and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and his brethren the Nethinim, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of God. And according to the good hand of our God upon 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 brethren, eighteen; and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty; and 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."

"I gathered them together to the river than runneth to Ahava" (Ezra 8:15). Ezra's company had already left Babylon on the first day of the month; and they were delayed here until the twelfth day when the journey was resumed. Some time had elapsed in their journey to this station, and there was more delay while Ezra recruited the Levites and the Nethinim.

"The river that runneth to Ahava" (Ezra 8:15) Several current scholars insist that this place is unknown; but Rawlinson wrote that, "It is now generally identified with the place IS in Herodotus (i. 179), a small stream flowing into the Euphrates from the east, some eight days' journey from Babylon. This place is mentioned under the slightly variant names of Ava and Ivah in 2 Kings 17:24; 19:13, and in the Septuagint (LXX) under the name Aba ... the modern name is Hit.[7] This information fully explains why the departure from Ahava was on the twelfth day of the month. Eight days had been required for their journey to that place, and the other four days were for recruiting the Levites.

Casiphia, also unknown, was evidently quite near this first way-station, otherwise, more time would have been required for enlisting the Levites. "Ezra knew of a settlement of Levites nearby at a place called Casiphia (the location of which is unknown to us)."[8]

"I found there none of the sons of Levi" (Ezra 8:15). The difficulty in recruiting Levites was probably due to the reduction of their status by the encroaching activities of the post-exilic priesthood, whose criminal activity was so dramatically exposed in the Book of Malachi, so terrible, in fact, that God even cursed them (Malachi 2:1-2). The disaffection of the Levites is demonstrated by the fact that, "Only 341 returned with Zerubbabel, compared with 4,289 priests."[9]

Regarding Ezra's determination to include Levites in his migration, Williamson pointed out that, "Ezra regarded his company as `an ideal Israel,"[10] which of course required the presence of Levites. "And as presented in the Book of Ezra, it was a second exodus."[11]

"And of the Nethinim ... two hundred twenty" (Ezra 8:20). The original Nethinim were the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:23).