Ezra 7 · a question people ask

Ezra's family line in 7:1-5 isn't the same as the priests' line in 1 Chronicles 6. Why?

In the text

The Bible doesn't say, and these notes set the two lists side by side without explaining them. Ezra 7 goes back from Ezra with "the son of"; 1 Chronicles 6 goes forward from Aaron with "became the father of" (1 Chronicles 6:4-14). Read from Aaron down, Ezra's list names Aaron, Eleazar, Phinehas, Abishua, Bukki, Uzzi, Zerahiah, Meraioth (7:3-5), and 1 Chronicles 6:3-6 has the same names in the same order. Then Ezra has Azariah, Amariah, Ahitub, Zadok, Shallum, Hilkiah, Azariah, Seraiah (7:1-3). After Meraioth, 1 Chronicles has Amariah, Ahitub, Zadok, Ahimaaz, Azariah, Johanan, Azariah (1 Chronicles 6:7-10), and then Amariah, Ahitub, Zadok, Shallum, Hilkiah, Azariah, Seraiah (1 Chronicles 6:11-14), the same names in the same order as Ezra's from Amariah to Seraiah. A second list in 1 Chronicles, "These are the sons of Aaron" (1 Chronicles 6:50), runs from Eleazar to "Zadok his son, and Ahimaaz his son" (1 Chronicles 6:53), with the same names as 6:4-8. 1 Chronicles 6's line goes on past Seraiah: "Seraiah became the father of Jehozadak" (1 Chronicles 6:14), and "Jehozadak went into captivity" (1 Chronicles 6:15). Ezra 7 begins, "Ezra the son of Seraiah" (7:1). Neither book says whether its Seraiah is the other's, or the "Seraiah the chief priest" of 2 Kings 25:18, and neither says why its list is written as it is. These notes don't say which names in one list stand for which in the other, or that any name was left out or counted twice.

The verses

“Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest—”
Ezra 7:1-5 · World English Bible
“These are the sons of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son, Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son, Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son, Zadok his son, and Ahimaaz his son.”
1 Chronicles 6:50-53 · World English Bible
“The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold;”
2 Kings 25:18 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Ezra 7

Ezra 7: The hand of his God on him

Ezra isn't named until chapter 7, and he comes as priest and scribe: his line runs back to Aaron (7:5), and he "had set his heart to seek the LORD’s law, and to do it, and to teach" (7:10), doing before teaching. The king wrote the letter, but three times the chapter says the hand of his God was on him (7:6, 7:9, 7:28).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions