Ezra 8:1-14--Genealogy of Those Who Returned with Ezra

Ezra 8:1-14
English Standard Version

Genealogy of Those Who Returned with Ezra
8 These are the heads of their fathers' houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king: 2 Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush. 3 Of the sons of Shecaniah, who was of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, with whom were registered 150 men. 4 Of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 men. 5 Of the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah the son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 men. 6 Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him 50 men. 7 Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him 70 men. 8 Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him 80 men. 9 Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men. 10 Of the sons of Bani, Shelomith the son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 men. 11 Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah, the son of Bebai, and with him 28 men. 12 Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 men. 13 Of the sons of Adonikam, those who came later, their names being Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 men. 14 Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 men.

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This second wave of exiles returning to Jerusalem and Judah was open to anyone who volunteered to go.  This is the record of the heads of the families who went and the number of men from each family.  One person from each of the priestly families, and one from the royal family there was one representative.  I'm not familiar with the other family heads, but they must be other people from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.  Overall, there were about 1500 men depending on if the family heads were counted in the total numbers that were with them or not.  

We can compare this to the record taken in Ezra 2 when a much larger delegation of 42,360 went to Jerusalem for the first time under Cyrus.  It doesn't seem like a very large group in comparison, but it was only a small delegation for the inspection and report and everyone else with them likely was going there to return home.  Today we have a situation where many of the Jews have been dispersed throughout the world for various reasons--starting with the destruction of the Temple and the Diaspora in 70 A.D. and continuing through the time of the Holocaust, there was a need for the Jewish people to flee persecution and find safe haven wherever they could, even though it would many times be far away from the covenant Promised Land that belonged to them and their families.  Now the LORD seems to be bringing them back to the Land again, which is a sign to me that everything He promised about the end times is going to happen.  Just as this return got everything ready for the first coming of Christ, the Jews living and being in control of the Promised Land again (and probably rebuilding the Temple again from what we read in Scripture) will be a precursor to the coming Day of the LORD.  Therefore, as we see this happening again, there is an urgency upon us to take the gospel to the whole world--both Jews and Gentiles--as there is not much time left.