The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, besides their male and female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven; and they had two hundred male and female singers.
There were 42,360 people who returned from exile with the children of Israel, including servants.
The story continues to reference servants, offering additional information about their function.
Ezra 2:70-1:
The priests, the Levites, and some of the people lived in Jerusalem and its vicinity; and the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns, and all Israel in their towns.
The narrative appears to suggest that the servants mentioned with the singers were servants of the temple. It does not explain what their function was, however.
Ezra 7:7-8:
Some of the people of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants also went up to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of the King Artaxerxes. They came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king.
Ezra 7:24:
We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on any of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.
Like others ministering in the temple, the servants were exempt from tax.
I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves born in my house; I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.
Qoheleth, the Teacher, boasts of the slaves he owned, and that the slaves produced more slaves for him.
For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons. Thus the holy seed has been mixed itself with the peoples of the lands, and in this faithlessness the offices and leaders have led the way.
The Israelites has intermingled with other nations during their exile, despite God's injunction that they not mix. The Israelites were surrounded by pagan peoples, people who worshipped other gods. Mixing with those people tended to lead the Israelites away from God.
Ezra 9:12:
Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, so that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.
Again, Ezra issued a decree which strengthened the ban against intermarriage. However, this theme of purity through marriage is balanced in the Bible by accounts of Ruth, Tamar, Rahab and other foreign women. Several prominent women of the Bible were not Israelites, but married Israelite men.
Ezra 10:2-3:
Shecaniah son of Jehiel, of the descendants of Elam, addressed Ezra, saying, 'We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. So now let us make a covenant with our God to send away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
In response to Ezra's call to purity of marriage, the Israelite men decided to give up their wives and children who were not Israelites.
Ezra 10:10-15:
Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, 'You have trespassed and married foreign women, and so increased the guilt of Israel. Now make confession to the LORD the God of your ancestors, and do his will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.' Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, 'It is so; we must do as you have said. But the people are many, and it is heavy rain; we cannot stand in the open. Nor is this task for one day or for two, for many of us have transgressed in this matter. Let our officials represent the whole assembly, and let all in our towns who have taken foreign wives come at appointed times, and with them the elders and judges of every town, until the fierce wrath of our God on this account is averted from us.' Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tivah opposed this, and Meshullan and Shabbethai the Levites supposed them.
The Israelites all agreed to give up their foreign wives--accept Jonathan and Jahzeiah. They needed more time to comply, however, due to weather conditions.
Ezra 10:17:
By the first day of the first month they had come to the end of all the men who married foreign women.
Ezra 10:18:
There were found of the descendent's of the priests who had married foreign women, of the descendent's of Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers: Maaseiah Eliezer, Jarib, and Gealiah. They pledged themselves to send away their wives, and their guilt offering was a ram of the flock for their guilt.
Ezra 10:44:
All these had married foreign women, and they sent them away with their children.
The women were sent away with their children. The Bible does not what, if any, provision was made for these women and children.
"The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A, and are used by permission. All rights reserved."
