“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” —John C. Maxwell
As we examine the list of those who accompanied Ezra back to Jerusalem, we should notice the arrangement. “These are the heads of their fathers’ houses, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon” (Ezra 8:1). The list gives prominence to the family of the high priest (vv 2-3). But notice that each verse begins with a man long dead. Phinehas, for example, the grandson of Aaron and son of Eleazar (Ex 6:25), lived at the time of the exodus from Egypt. This genealogy includes “the sons of Phinehas” (Ezra 8:2), where the word “sons” refers to the males in his line willing to travel back to Israel. Clearly, this isn’t an exhaustive list of all the people who went with him (as noted in chapter 2 regarding Zerubbabel’s companions). It’s a list of the historic family “heads” and then the male family leaders at the time of the return. Contrary to modern thinking that rails against “male patriarchy” and rejects the notion of male leadership in the home and church, this is God’s design. The man was not to dominate, but to defend; not to act as sovereign, but as servant. The Scriptures couldn’t put it more strongly: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Eph 5:25). Nonetheless, husbands and fathers have been given both authority (vested, and therefore limited) and accountability. The sad disarray both in home and church today can largely be attributed to AWOL men. The adult males in the list total 1,496, with the Levites and Nethinim adding 258, so the entire number came in somewhere near 7,000 souls (Ezra 8:3-14). Their rendezvous spot was “by the river that flows to Ahava” (v 15), where they camped for three days, preparing for the four-month trek.