Of the sons also of Bigvai; Uthai, and Zabbud, and with them seventy males.
Ezra 8:14 belongs to the account of Ezra's journey from Babylon to Jerusalem, when he gathered the returning exiles at the river Ahava before setting out, and it records Uthai and Zabbud with seventy males of the family of Bigvai among those who joined the company. The listing belongs to 458 B.C., closing the fifty-eight-year period from 515 B.C. in which Esther is set, in the middle of the reign of Xerxes, about sixty years after the first return and twenty years after the completion of the temple. It stands in the account of fasting and prayer by the river Ahava, after which the helpless band of Israelites passed safely through the dreaded land of robbers.
Babylonian life in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah is made known by archaeology, and discoveries in ancient lands adjoining Israel that had dealings with that people confirm the Bible narrative to which the verse belongs. The verse shows that the hand of God is upon all them for good that seek Him. United and whole-hearted seeking of God is honored with great blessing and deliverance.
Ezra 8:14 belongs to the account of Ezra's journey from Babylon to Jerusalem, when he gathered the returning exiles at the river Ahava before setting out, and it records Uthai and Zabbud with seventy males of the family of Bigvai among those who joined the company. The listing belongs to 458 B.C., closing the fifty-eight-year period from 515 B.C. in which Esther is set, in the middle of the reign of Xerxes, about sixty years after the first return and twenty years after the completion of the temple. It stands in the account of fasting and prayer by the river Ahava, after which the helpless band of Israelites passed safely through the dreaded land of robbers.
Babylonian life in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah is made known by archaeology, and discoveries in ancient lands adjoining Israel that had dealings with that people confirm the Bible narrative to which the verse belongs. The verse shows that the hand of God is upon all them for good that seek Him. United and whole-hearted seeking of God is honored with great blessing and deliverance.