Ezra 8:17 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezra 8:17
And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God.
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Nethinims
הַנְּתִינִים֙ha.ne.tu.nim
H5411
the Nethinim · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
place
הַמָּק֔וֹםha.ma.Kom
H4725
properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Casiphia
בְּכָסִפְיָ֣אbe.kha.sif.Ya'
H3703
Casiphja · preposition + proper noun, a place name
bring
לְהָֽבִיאle.ha.vi'-
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
ministers
מְשָׁרְתִ֖יםme.sha.re.Tim
H8334
to attend as a menial or worshipper · verb, piel active participle, masculine plural absolute
house
לְבֵ֥יתle.Veit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
God
אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ'e.lo.Hei.nu
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
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
Ezra 2:43 The Nethinims: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth,
Exodus 4:15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shal…
Numbers 8:22-26 And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons: as the LORD…
Numbers 18:6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do…
Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them a…
2 Samuel 14:3 And come to the king, and speak on this manner unto him. So Joab put the words in her mouth.
2 Samuel 14:19 And the king said, Is not the hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman answered and said, As thy soul liveth, my lord the king, non…
1 Chronicles 23:3-6 Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward: and their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty and eight tho…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezra 8:1-20
Ezra, having received his commission from the king, beats up for volunteers, as it were, sets up an ensign to assemble the outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah, Isa 11:12. "Whoever of the sons of Sion, that swell with the daughters of Babylon, is disposed to go to Jerusalem, now that the temple there is finished and the temple-service set a-going, now is their time." Now one would think that under such a leader, with such encouragements, all the Jews should at length have shaken themselves from their dust, and loosed the bands of their neck, according to that call, Isa 52:1, Isa 52:2, etc. I wonder how any of them could read that chapter and yet stay behind. But multitudes did. They…
then sent I for Eliezer . . . with commandment unto Iddo the chief--Ezra sent this deputation, either by virtue of authority which by his priestly character he had over the Levites, or of the royal commission with which he was invested. The deputation was despatched to Iddo, who was a prince or chief of the Nethinims--for the Persian government allowed the Hebrews during their exile to retain their ecclesiastical government by their own chiefs, as well as to enjoy the privilege of free worship. Iddo's influence procured and brought to the camp at Ahava thirty-eight Levites, and two hundred twenty Nethinims, the descendants of the Gibeonites, who performed the servile duties of the temple.
Adam Clarke on Ezra 8:17
At the place Casiphia - The most judicious commentators are agreed that by Casiphia, the Caspian mountains, between Media and Hyrcania, are intended; where, probably, the Nethinim were employed in working silver mines: כסף keseph, from which the word comes, signifies silver.
John Gill on Ezra 8:17
And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief, at the place Casiphia,.... Not a place by the Caspian sea, and near the Caspian mountains, as Munster, which was too far off to go and return in the time they must, see Ezra 7:9, but, as Jarchi, a place in Babylon so called, a village near it, or a parish or street in it, where Ezra knew lived many of the Levites and Nethinims, and where Iddo was the chief of the Levites, and over them both:
and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia; but Iddo was not one of the Nethinims; for he was chief of the Levites, and by his authority many of them were sent as well as of the Nethinims;…
The Church Fathers
And I sent them to Iddo, etc. The Caspian Sea, as Orosius writes, rises from the northern region of the ocean, whose shores and deserted places around the ocean are uninhabited and uncultivated. From there, it extends southwards through long narrow passages, until, expanded over great distances, it is bordered by the roots of Mount Caucasus. It has many Hyrcanian and Scythian tribes from the east to the ocean, wandering widely due to the unfruitful spread of the lands. To the west, it has many tribes. But in general, the region far beyond Albania under the Caspian Sea and mountain is called by the name of the Amazons. It should be noted here that while historians write "Caspium," Ezra in this passage calls it "Casphiae." For the Hebrews, not having the letter P, use the letter Ph in Greek or barbarian names, such as Phetrus, Philatus. Therefore, it is also proven that the sons of Israel reached the places of Casphiae through the captivity by the Assyrians or Chaldeans, as Ezra sends there to bring ministers of the house of the Lord, namely Levites and Nethinim, whom Josephus calls sacred servants. It should be noted that they lived very freely in peace, even though they were among foreigners, who immediately at the command or request of Ezra could send such a large group of soldiers. For two hundred and fifty-eight chosen men were on that expedition, as their following catalog shows; to which Ezra being added, it is found that his army almost had the total of seventeen hundred men.
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
Casiphia — Silver, a place between Babylon and Jerusalem, where Iddo resided (Ezra 8:17); otherwise unknown.
Ezra — Help. (1.) A priest among those that returned to Jerusalem under Zerubabel (Neh. 12:1). (2.) The “scribe” who led the second body of exiles that returned from Babylon to Jerusalem B.C. 459, and…
Iddo — (1.) Timely (1 Chr. 6:21). A Gershonite Levite. (2.) Lovely. The son of Zechariah (1 Chr. 27:21), the ruler of Manasseh in David’s time. (3.) Timely. The father of Ahinadab, who was one of Solomon’s…
Minister — One who serves, as distinguished from the master. (1.) Heb. meshereth, applied to an attendant on one of superior rank, as to Joshua, the servant of Moses (Ex. 33:11), and to the servant of Elisha (2…
Sherebiah — Flame of the Lord, a priest whose name is prominent in connection with the work carried on by Ezra and Nehemiah at Jerusalem (Ezra 8:17, 18, 24-30; Neh. 8:7; 9:4, 5; 10:12).
Casiphia · A place in the Persian empire — A place in the Persian empire
Nethinims · Return from the — Return from the
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).
Account of the journey. - Ezr 8:15 The assembling of the expedition. When the Israelites who were about to return to Jerusalem had assembled, and were ready for starting, Ezra perceived that there were no Levites among them. He then sent for certain chief men among them, and by means of the influence of Iddo, the chief at the place Casiphia, induced a number of Levites and Nethinim to determine on joining the expedition (Ezr 8:15). He then proclaimed a fast at the place of meeting, for the purpose of supplicating God to grant them a prosperous journey (Ezr 8:21).
Ezr 8:15-17
The travellers assembled at the river Ahava, where they encamped three days. In Ezr 8:15 the river is designated אל־אה…
The Hebrew term translated men of discernment refers to those who could interpret and explain the Torah. These men were probably respected because of their expertise in Scripture (cp. Neh 8:8-9). Ezra commissioned them to use their influence to recruit more Levites.
Rashi on Ezra 8:17
And I commanded them, etc. I sent them and commanded them to speak to Iddo, who was the greatest and most esteemed in Casiphia.
to Iddo Heb. עַל אִדוֹ, lit. about Iddo.
and I put...into their mouth I put into their mouth words to speak as my emissary to Iddo and his brother, who were placed and settled in Casiphia, to bring us servants to serve in the Temple.
in Casiphia the name of a place in Babylon.
Ahiv the name of a man.
who were settled Heb. הַנְתִינִים, like הַנְתוּנִים, those who were settled. Therefore, it is written with a “vav.”
