1Now these are the heads of their fathers’ households, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king:
2Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom.
Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel.
Of the sons of David, Hattush.
3Of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah; and with him were listed by genealogy of the males one hundred fifty.
4Of the sons of Pahathmoab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah; and with him two hundred males.
5Of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel; and with him three hundred males.
6Of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan; and with him fifty males.
7Of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah; and with him seventy males.
8Of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael; and with him eighty males.
9Of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel; and with him two hundred eighteen males.
10Of the sons of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah; and with him one hundred sixty males.
11Of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai; and with him twenty-eight males.
12Of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan; and with him one hundred ten males.
13Of the sons of Adonikam, who were the last, their names are: Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah; and with them sixty males.
14Of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud; and with them seventy males.
15I gathered them together to the river that runs to Ahava; and there we encamped three days. Then I looked around at the people and the priests, and found there were none of the sons of Levi. 16Then I sent for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, for Elnathan, for Jarib, for Elnathan, for Nathan, for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib and for Elnathan, who were teachers. 17I sent them out to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia; and I told them what they should tell Iddo and his brothers the temple servants at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God. 18According to the good hand of our God on us they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and his brothers, eighteen; 19and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty; 20and of the temple servants, whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, two hundred twenty temple servants. All of them were mentioned by name.
Today we because of the death and resurrection of Jesus we worship God wherever we are. God’s presence had never been limited, but we need to remember that in the days of the early Hebrew nation God had chosen to be present in the temple. The Glory of God was evident in that place. It was important for the returning exiles to rebuild it as a physical presence, but they also needed their hearts to be restored and ready for the presence of God too. This is where Ezra steps in, as he leads the second exile group to Judah. In this phase it was the Levites or the temple workers who returned.
However, when the information first went out that a new group would be returning to the homeland, no Levites volunteered. It was a disappointing start; the temple could not function without the workers. Ezra had to make a second plea. The Levites needed to be reminded who they were and what they were called to do. They had become comfortable and complacent, they had carved out new lives for themselves in Babylon. Ezra’s second call was to remind them that they were not fulfilling their true calling, anything less than God’s call was not enough. God wanted them to live the lives he has called them to so that the people in Jerusalem could live their lives as God intended them to, in true worship to him.
It is not always easy to live as God intended us to live. God’s call upon our lives is not always comfortable and if we are being honest we like comfort. Is God calling you to do something for him? Are you ready to leave your comfort zone?