Ezra 6:18 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezra 6:18
And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses.
a section (of the Levites) · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
for
עַל'al-
H5922
above · preposition
service
עֲבִידַ֥ת'a.vi.Dat
H5673
labor or business · noun, common feminine singular construct
God
אֱלָהָ֖א'e.la.Ha'
H426
God · noun, common both genders singular determined + particle of affirmation
Jerusalem
בִירוּשְׁלֶ֑םvi.ru.she.Lem
H3390
Jerusalem · preposition + proper noun, a place name
written
כִּכְתָ֖בkikh.Tav
H3792
something written · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
book
סְפַ֥רse.Far
H5609
a book · noun, common both genders singular construct
Moses
מֹשֶֽׁהmo.Sheh
H4873
Mosheh · proper noun, a man's name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Numbers 3:6 Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him.
1 Chronicles 24:1 Now these are the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron; Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
2 Chronicles 35:4-5 And prepare yourselves by the houses of your fathers, after your courses, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to…
Numbers 8:9-26 And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Isra…
1 Chronicles 23:1-26 So when David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezra 6:13–end
Here we have, I. The Jews' enemies made their friends. When they received this order from the king they came with as much haste to encourage and assist the work as their predecessors had done to put a stop to it, Ezr 4:23. What the king ordered they did, and, because they would not be thought to do it with reluctance, they did it speedily, Ezr 6:13. The king's moderation made them, contrary to their own inclination, moderate too.
II. The building of the temple carried on, and finished in a little time, Ezr 6:14, Ezr 6:15. Now the elders of the Jews built with cheerfulness. For aught I know, the elders themselves laboured at it with their own hands; and, if they did, it was no disparagement t…
they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses . . . as it is written in the book of Moses--Although David arranged the priests and Levites in courses according to their families, it was Moses who assigned to the priests and Levites their rights and privileges, their stations and several duties.
Adam Clarke on Ezra 6:18
And they set the priests - With this verse the Chaldee or Aramitic part of this chapter ends.
John Gill on Ezra 6:18
And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God which is at Jerusalem,.... All in their proper classes and courses, to do the work of the temple at Jerusalem in their turns:
as it is written in the book of Moses; see Numbers 3:6, from hence it is plain the Pentateuch was not written by Ezra, as suspected by Spinosa (m), but by Moses; see the argument of the book of Genesis. See Gill on Genesis 1:1.
(m) Tract. Theolog. Polit. c. 8. p. 163.
Keil & Delitzsch on Ezra 6:13-18
The execution of the royal decree, the completion of the building, and the dedication of the new temple. - Ezr 6:13 Tatnai and his associate diligently executed the commands of Darius. "Because Darius the king sent (i.e., despatched to them the letter, whose contents have just been given, Ezr 6:6), they speedily acted accordingly in the manner stated" (כּנמא).
Ezr 6:14
The elders of the Jews, moreover, built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah, who thereby effected the resumption of the work, and promised them success. ב is used of the rule by which, or manner in which anything is done. "They built and finished (the building) according to the commandment of th…
The Church Fathers
And they appointed priests in their orders, etc. The order demanded devotion, so that after the Lord's house was built and dedicated, priests and Levites who would minister in it were immediately ordained; lest the house shine in vain if those who serve God within were lacking. This should be frequently impressed upon those who, constructing monasteries with magnificent work, do not at all place teachers in them who would encourage God's people to the works of God, but rather serve their own pleasures and desires there. But what he says about priests in their orders and Levites in their turns being appointed signifies the shifts of weeks; in which the whole assembly of each rank was distributed into twenty-four parts, so that each order would minister its turn during its week, specifically from Sabbath to Sabbath in the temple; and then, for twenty-three weeks, free from the temple's duties, they would take care of their own household affairs, as the Words of the Days narrate. For around the inner sanctuary, they had already made the porches of the temple, at the gates of which the Levites kept watch in turns, as it is also written there. But what is said, "As it is written in the book of Moses," does not refer to the shifts of the Levites, but to the works of God; for Moses wrote what the priests and Levites ought to do in the house of God; but the shifts of the Levites and the orders of the priests into twenty-four lots, as we mentioned, were described not by Moses, but by King David with the prophets, priests, and Levites of that time. And now too, with Christ's Church being built and dedicated through the regeneration of new peoples to the faith, it is fitting to appoint priests and Levites in their orders and turns over the works of God; and the people are initiated not only into the sacraments of faith but are also instructed to perform the works of God by the examples and teachings of the righteous ones preceding in Christ; and this not by the capture of human ingenuity, but as it is written in the book of Moses. To which the Lord's saying agrees: "Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matt. 28). Therefore, we must teach our hearers not our own precepts, but those which are the commands of the law and the…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Pentateuch — The five-fold volume, consisting of the first five books of the Old Testament. This word does not occur in Scripture, nor is it certainly known when the roll was thus divided into five portions…
Sheshbazzar — O sun-god, defend the lord! (Ezra 1:8, 11), probably another name for Zerubbabel (q.v.), Ezra 2:2; Hag. 1:12, 14; Zech. 4:6, 10.
Zerubbabel — The seed of Babylon, the son of Salathiel or Shealtiel (Hag. 1:1; Zorobabel, Matt. 1:12); called also the son of Pedaiah (1 Chr. 3:17-19), i.e., according to a frequent usage of the word “son;” the…
Levites, The · Served in courses after captivity — Served in courses after captivity
Temple, The Second · Dedication of, celebrated with joy and thankfulness — Dedication of, celebrated with joy and thankfulness
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
prescribed in the Book of Moses: See Exod 29; Lev 8; Num 3. The Temple personnel operated according to the organization instituted by David (1 Chr 23–27). • This verse concludes the Aramaic section that began in Ezra 4:8.
Rashi on Ezra 6:18
Now they set up the priests in their divisions for the priests were divided in their service and the Levites in their watches.
