The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three.
The book containing the enumeration of nine hundred seventy-three sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua among the priests is supplemental to Ezra, and together with Ezra it gives the history of the Jews during the restoration. In the Jewish scriptures it is called the second book of Ezra. In that history Ezra held the office of priest while Nehemiah was governor, after having been cup-bearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes Longimanus, who gave him permission to return with a colony of Jews in 455 B.C. Although bitterly opposed by factions led by Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, his work was prospered by God because he was always diligent and zealous for God.
The enumeration itself is part of the renewed numbering of the Jews in Nehemiah 7 after the wall was finished in fifty-two days, when even their enemies perceived that the work was wrought of God and proper officers and watches were appointed, in B.C. 444. It belongs to the biblical narrative of Babylonian life in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. That narrative is confirmed by discoveries in ancient lands adjoining Israel that had dealings with Israel, which also give much information concerning archaeology and its rapid development.
The book containing the enumeration of nine hundred seventy-three sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua among the priests is supplemental to Ezra, and together with Ezra it gives the history of the Jews during the restoration. In the Jewish scriptures it is called the second book of Ezra. In that history Ezra held the office of priest while Nehemiah was governor, after having been cup-bearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes Longimanus, who gave him permission to return with a colony of Jews in 455 B.C. Although bitterly opposed by factions led by Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, his work was prospered by God because he was always diligent and zealous for God.
The enumeration itself is part of the renewed numbering of the Jews in Nehemiah 7 after the wall was finished in fifty-two days, when even their enemies perceived that the work was wrought of God and proper officers and watches were appointed, in B.C. 444. It belongs to the biblical narrative of Babylonian life in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. That narrative is confirmed by discoveries in ancient lands adjoining Israel that had dealings with Israel, which also give much information concerning archaeology and its rapid development.