Ezra 10:15

15 Only Jonathan son of Asahel, and Jahaziah son of Tikvah, stood against this, and Meshullam, and Shabbethai the Levite, helped them.

Ezra 10:15 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 10:15

Only Jonathan the son of Asahel, and Jahaziah the son
of Tikvah, were employed about the matter
To see that this affair was conducted in the manner proposed; that the magistrates of every city brought the persons that had been delinquents, in their turns, of which they gave them notice, and took the account of them as they came:

and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them;
assisted them in this work; the other two perhaps were priests, and both these Levites; and these four were the only persons appointed over this matter, as the phrase in the preceding clause may signify; though Jarchi interprets it to a quite contrary sense, that they were the only persons that opposed and objected to it; and so Dr. Lightfoot ^F18 understands it, and renders it, "stood against this matter"; in which they were seconded by the two Levites, and the sense is very probable.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Works, vol. 1. p. 144.

Ezra 10:15 In-Context

13 but the people [are] many, and [it is] the time of showers, and there is no power to stand without, and the work [is] not for one day, nor for two, for we have multiplied to transgress in this thing.

14 `Let, we pray thee, our heads of all the assembly stand, and all who [are] in our cities, who have settled strange wives, do come in at the times appointed, and with them the elders of city and city, and its judges, till the turning back of the fury of the wrath of our God from us, for this thing.'

15 Only Jonathan son of Asahel, and Jahaziah son of Tikvah, stood against this, and Meshullam, and Shabbethai the Levite, helped them.

16 And the sons of the removal do so, and Ezra the priest, [and] men, heads of the fathers, for the house of their fathers, are separated, even all of them by name, and they sit on the first day of the tenth month, to examine the matter;

17 and they finish with all the men who have settled strange women unto the first day of the first month.