“These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city;”
The genealogical record proper begins: "These are the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had taken into exile; they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his town." The identification of the returnees as those exiled by Nebuchadnezzar and the specification that they have returned to their ancestral towns establishes the legitimacy of the return and the basis for reclaiming property and position within the restored community. The phrase "each to his town" suggests a systematic repatriation where families returned to their geographic origins, facilitating the reestablishment of tribal and familial continuity. This opening identification frames the genealogical list as a record of genuine return from exile, not merely a registration of resident aliens or new settlers.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a note on this verse
0/2000
No notes on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!