a. And Ezra came to Jerusalem: Ezra came to a city that had been repopulated by the Jewish people from their exile for about 20 years. i. “Though the direct distance between Babylon and Jerusalem is about five hundred miles, the travelers would have had to traverse nine hundred miles, going northwest along the Euphrates River and then south.” (Yamauchi) ii. Some of the children of Israel: “And but some; for many chose rather to continue in the
Ezra 7:7–10