◄ Ezra 7:2 ►
the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub,
Study Bible
son of Shallum
The phrase "son of Shallum" introduces us to a lineage that is deeply rooted in the priestly tradition of Israel. Shallum, a name meaning "retribution" or "recompense" in Hebrew, signifies a person who is part of a divine plan of justice and restoration. This lineage is not just a biological connection but a spiritual heritage that underscores the continuity of God's covenant with His people. Shallum's mention here connects Ezra to a line of faithful servants who have upheld the worship and laws of Yahweh, emphasizing the importance of maintaining spiritual integrity and leadership.

son of Zadok
The name "Zadok" is significant in the history of Israel's priesthood. Zadok, meaning "righteous" in Hebrew, was a high priest during the reigns of David and Solomon. His loyalty to King David during Absalom's rebellion and his role in anointing Solomon as king highlight his dedication to God's chosen leaders. The mention of Zadok in Ezra's genealogy underscores the legitimacy and purity of Ezra's priestly line, as Zadok's descendants were promised an everlasting priesthood (1 Kings 2:35). This connection serves as a reminder of God's faithfulness to His promises and the importance of righteousness in leadership.

son of Ahitub
Ahitub, meaning "brother of goodness" or "my brother is good" in Hebrew, further establishes the priestly lineage of Ezra. Ahitub was a descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses, and part of the high priestly line. His mention in this genealogy highlights the continuity of the Aaronic priesthood, which was central to the religious life of Israel. This continuity is crucial for understanding the role of Ezra as a reformer and restorer of the Law in post-exilic Jerusalem. The reference to Ahitub serves as a testament to the enduring nature of God's covenant with the house of Aaron and the importance of maintaining a godly heritage.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Shallum
A priestly ancestor of Ezra, Shallum is part of the lineage that traces back to Aaron, the first high priest. This connection emphasizes the legitimacy and authority of Ezra's priestly role.

2. Zadok
A significant priest during the time of King David and King Solomon, Zadok was known for his loyalty and righteousness. His lineage continued to hold the high priesthood, which underscores the continuity of God's covenant with the priestly line.

3. Ahitub
Another ancestor in the priestly line, Ahitub's mention highlights the unbroken chain of priestly service and the faithfulness of God in maintaining His promises through generations.
Teaching Points
The Importance of Lineage and Heritage
Understanding our spiritual heritage can strengthen our faith and sense of identity in God's family. Just as Ezra's lineage affirmed his role, our spiritual lineage in Christ affirms our identity and purpose.

Faithfulness Across Generations
The continuity of the priestly line from Ahitub to Ezra demonstrates God's faithfulness. We are called to be faithful in our generation, trusting that God will continue His work through us and future generations.

God's Sovereignty in History
The preservation of the priestly line through tumultuous times shows God's sovereign hand in history. We can trust that God is in control of our personal and communal histories, working all things for His purposes.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding the lineage of Ezra enhance our appreciation of his role in the restoration of Israel?

2. In what ways can we trace our spiritual heritage, and how does this impact our faith journey today?

3. How does the faithfulness of past generations inspire us to live faithfully in our current context?

4. What are some examples in your life where you have seen God's sovereignty at work, similar to how He preserved the priestly line?

5. How can we ensure that we are passing on a legacy of faithfulness to the next generation, as seen in the lineage from Ahitub to Ezra?
Connections to Other Scriptures
1 Chronicles 6
This chapter provides a detailed genealogy of the Levites, including the line of Aaron, which is relevant to understanding the priestly lineage mentioned in Ezra 7:2.

2 Samuel 8:17
Zadok is mentioned as a priest during King David's reign, illustrating his importance and the continuity of the priestly line.

1 Kings 2:35
Zadok's role as a high priest during Solomon's reign is affirmed, showing the fulfillment of God's promises to maintain a faithful priesthood.
Sermons
A Mind Saturated with ScriptureEzra 7:1-10
Divine Sequence in ServiceSunday School Teacher.Ezra 7:1-10
Ezra the DistinguishedWilliam Jones.Ezra 7:1-10
Ezra the ScribeJames Menzies.Ezra 7:1-10
Ezra the Type of as Ideal MinisterJ.S. Exell Ezra 7:1-10
Ezra: His Character and WorkW. Clarkson Ezra 7:1-10
Ezra's Exemplary ConductWilliam Jones.Ezra 7:1-10
God's Helping HandJ. M. Sherwood, D. D.Ezra 7:1-10
Man's Duty in Relation to God's Redemptive TruthHomilistEzra 7:1-10
New Year's DayD. Davies.Ezra 7:1-10
New Year's DayJ. Reid Howatt.Ezra 7:1-10
ScribismW. F. Adeney, M. A.Ezra 7:1-10
Study of the ScripturesJ. Bawden Allen.Ezra 7:1-10
Testimonies to the BibleSunday School TimesEzra 7:1-10
The Christian MinistryThe Preacher's Portfolio.Ezra 7:1-10
The Exodus Under EzraJ.A. Macdonald Ezra 7:1-10
The Inestimable Value of the ScripturesEzra 7:1-10
The Scriptures a Safeguard of a NationW. E. Gladstone.Ezra 7:1-10
The Scriptures a Winding SplendourChristian AgeEzra 7:1-10
People
Aaron, Abishua, Ahitub, Amariah, Artaxerxes, Azariah, Bukki, Eleazar, Ezra, Hilkiah, Israelites, Levites, Meraioth, Phinehas, Seraiah, Shallum, Uzzi, Zadok, Zerahiah
Places
Babylonia, Beyond the River, Jerusalem, Persia
Topics
Ahitub, Ahi'tub, Shallum, Zadok
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Ezra 7:1-5

     1350   covenant, with Israel's priests

Ezra 7:1-21

     7464   teachers of the law

Library
Appendix. The Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament.
1. The Greek word Apocrypha, hidden, that is, hidden or secret books, was early applied by the fathers of the Christian church to anonymous or spurious books that falsely laid claim to be a part of the inspired word. By some, as Jerome, the term was extended to all the books incorporated by the Alexandrine Jews, in their Greek version, into the proper canon of the Old Testament, a few of which books, though not inspired, are undoubtedly genuine. Another designation of the books in question …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Reading the Law with Tears and Joy
'And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. 2. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. 3. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate, from the morning until midday, before …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Rome and Ephesus
Corinth as portrayed in the Epistles of Paul gives us our simplest and least contaminated picture of the Hellenic Christianity which regarded itself as the cult of the Lord Jesus, who offered salvation--immortality--to those initiated in his mysteries. It had obvious weaknesses in the eyes of Jewish Christians, even when they were as Hellenised as Paul, since it offered little reason for a higher standard of conduct than heathenism, and its personal eschatology left no real place for the resurrection …
Kirsopp Lake—Landmarks in the History of Early Christianity

Authorship of the Pentateuch.
The term Pentateuch is composed of the two Greek words, pente, five, and teuchos, which in later Alexandrine usage signified book. It denotes, therefore, the collection of five books; or, the five books of the law considered as a whole. 1. In our inquiries respecting the authorship of the Pentateuch, we begin with the undisputed fact that it existed in its present form in the days of Christ and his apostles, and had so existed from the time of Ezra. When the translators of the Greek version, …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Of Antichrist, and his Ruin: and of the Slaying the Witnesses.
BY JOHN BUNYAN PREFATORY REMARKS BY THE EDITOR This important treatise was prepared for the press, and left by the author, at his decease, to the care of his surviving friend for publication. It first appeared in a collection of his works in folio, 1692; and although a subject of universal interest; most admirably elucidated; no edition has been published in a separate form. Antichrist has agitated the Christian world from the earliest ages; and his craft has been to mislead the thoughtless, by …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Brave Encouragements
'In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the Lord by the prophet Haggai, saying, 2. Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, 3. Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? 4. Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

General Account of Jesus' Teaching.
^A Matt. IV. 17; ^B Mark I. 14, 15; ^C Luke IV. 14, 15. ^a 17 From that time Jesus began to preach [The time here indicated is that of John the Baptist's imprisonment and Jesus' return to Galilee. This time marked a new period in the public ministry of Jesus. Hitherto he had taught, but he now began to preach. When the voice of his messenger, John, was silenced, the King became his own herald. Paul quoted the Greeks as saying that preaching was "foolishness," but following the example here set by …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Section Chap. I. -iii.
The question which here above all engages our attention, and requires to be answered, is this: Whether that which is reported in these chapters did, or did not, actually and outwardly take place. The history of the inquiries connected with this question is found most fully in Marckius's "Diatribe de uxore fornicationum," Leyden, 1696, reprinted in the Commentary on the Minor Prophets by the same author. The various views may be divided into three classes. 1. It is maintained by very many interpreters, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Formation and History of the Hebrew Canon.
1. The Greek word canon (originally a straight rod or pole, measuring-rod, then rule) denotes that collection of books which the churches receive as given by inspiration of God, and therefore as constituting for them a divine rule of faith and practice. To the books included in it the term canonical is applied. The Canon of the Old Testament, considered in reference to its constituent parts, was formed gradually; formed under divine superintendence by a process of growth extending through …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Appendix v. Rabbinic Theology and Literature
1. The Traditional Law. - The brief account given in vol. i. p. 100, of the character and authority claimed for the traditional law may here be supplemented by a chronological arrangement of the Halakhoth in the order of their supposed introduction or promulgation. In the first class, or Halakhoth of Moses from Sinai,' tradition enumerates fifty-five, [6370] which may be thus designated: religio-agrarian, four; [6371] ritual, including questions about clean and unclean,' twenty-three; [6372] concerning …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Historical Books.
1. In the Pentateuch we have the establishment of the Theocracy, with the preparatory and accompanying history pertaining to it. The province of the historical books is to unfold its practiced working, and to show how, under the divine superintendence and guidance, it accomplished the end for which it was given. They contain, therefore, primarily, a history of God's dealings with the covenant people under the economy which he had imposed upon them. They look at the course of human events on the …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible

Influences that Gave Rise to the Priestly Laws and Histories
[Sidenote: Influences in the exile that produced written ceremonial laws] The Babylonian exile gave a great opportunity and incentive to the further development of written law. While the temple stood, the ceremonial rites and customs received constant illustration, and were transmitted directly from father to son in the priestly families. Hence, there was little need of writing them down. But when most of the priests were carried captive to Babylonia, as in 597 B.C., and ten years later the temple …
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Ezra-Nehemiah
Some of the most complicated problems in Hebrew history as well as in the literary criticism of the Old Testament gather about the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Apart from these books, all that we know of the origin and early history of Judaism is inferential. They are our only historical sources for that period; and if in them we have, as we seem to have, authentic memoirs, fragmentary though they be, written by the two men who, more than any other, gave permanent shape and direction to Judaism, then …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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