Good morning!
Ezra 8 begins by listing the names of the families who left Babylon with Ezra in this wave of dispersed exiles, to return to Jerusalem. To Ezra's surprise, he found no Levites among the group. So, he sent a group of trusted men to a place called Casiphia, where some Levites were living. It was important to take Levites (a branch of the Jewish "family"), because they were the only ones specified by God to be the ministers in the temple.
I've had a bit of confusion about the difference between priests and Levites; so, I looked it up this morning! In short, all priests were from the tribe of Levi (thus being Levites). However, not all from the tribe of Levi were priests. Levitical priests were charged with the most "holy" tasks of the Temple. They were allowed to handle sacred objects and perform sacred rituals. Other Levites served in the Temple, doing non-priestly duties, assisting the priests. They were still highly esteemed because of their service in the temple, but not as highly esteemed as priests.
After gathering together from Casiphia (which no one seems to know the exact location of) 38 Levites and 220 temple-helpers (adopted Levites, you might say). This latter group was called the Nethinims, a group I'd never heard of. So, I did a little digging around.
The name "nithinim" is a derivative of the verb "nathan", which means to "set apart" or "consecrate". It is believed that these people were descendants of slave people, captured as the Jews conquered the promised land. See Numbers 31:47. We find in Ezra 8:20 that, during David's reign, he had commissioned a number of these foreign people to assist the Levitical priests in the service of the temple. Since Ezra could only come up with 38 "true Levites by birth" for the priesthood, his advisors also invited along 220 from the group with the general title of Nithinim. Ezra was perpetuating the example set by David.
Bible scholars agree that King David was a picture (a "type") of the coming Messiah. I've mentioned before in this blog how it is recorded in the New Testament that David was "a man after God's own heart". It is interesting to me how these pagan slaves were more or less "adopted" in to the Levitical class and "grafted in" to serve in the temple. When we find them in Ezra 8, there is no indication that they are now slaves, but rather, treated as family members.
All this is a picture of the gentiles in the Church of Jesus Christ. The Nithinim are a foreshadowing of the gentile peoples who were invited in to the early Church. You may recall that it was a rocky road to get the Jewish believers of the early Church to accept that God wanted to include gentiles (non-Jews). This was a radical change. But, God, in His mercy and holiness, made a way of salvation for ALL people through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus.
Paul explains this in Romans 9:33 - - -
"They are Israelites, and to them belong the glory, the adoption, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen."
But, he goes on to talk about grafting in of gentiles in Romans 11:16-24. He refers to the whole Church as an olive tree, and to the gentile members as "wild olive branches" who were grafted in.
In Romans 1:16, Paul affirms that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been made available "to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (the Greeks being a prominent group of gentile people).
Peter affirms this in his first book, 1 Peter 2:10 - -
"Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."
There is a passage I love - - John 15. Here, Jesus is talking about His Church, with Himself being the "true vine" (or you might say, the tree trunk) and we are the "branches".
As someone with gentile blood, I am so glad that Jesus' redeeming sacrifice was not only for the Jews. Hallelujah!
Father, thank you for extending your offer of salvation and peace to all people. As a "Greek", I am so grateful! And, I thank you for this picture you paint in the book of Ezra to show that your mercy has been abundant from generation to generation, as evidenced not only here in Ezra 8 but also in the example of Ruth, Rahab and others. When we come to you for salvation, we leave our pedigrees at the door, because we all come to you on an even footing - - - dirty sinners, in need of washing in Jesus' blood. We praise you today for your marvelous foreknowledge, mercy and grace! In Jesus' name, amen.
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