a. I gave them a command … that they should bring us servants for the house of our God: With this, Ezra sent back to Babylonia for Levites to come and join the work in Jerusalem. He didn’t accept the initial failure of Levites to join the group but kept appealing for help. i. Ezra planned carefully in the Levite recruitment effort. He specifically chose the recruiters—nine leaders, and two men of understanding to make the appeal as persuasive
Ezra 8:16–20