Ezra 2:40

Study note

Setting — Ezra 2:40 functions as a census entry within the list of returning exiles, recording the number of Levites who returned from Babylon. The text enumerates the descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel through the line of Hodaviah as seventy-four individuals.

The words — The Hebrew בּנֵי (benei) translates literally to "descendants" or "sons," establishing genealogical succession. The numeral שִבְעִים וְאַרְבָּעָה (shiv'im ve'arba'ah) counts exactly "seventy and four."

The thread — This entry parallels Nehemiah 7:43, which repeats the same Levitical count with a minor orthographic variation for the patriarch's name. Ezra 3:9 later identifies Jeshua and Kadmiel as officials directing temple construction.

Why it lands — The passage requires readers to acknowledge that post-exilic restoration depended on documented tribal lineage rather than voluntary association. It demands recognition that religious authority and communal identity were anchored in recorded ancestry.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.