* forty.
Though the sum total, both here and in Nehemiah, is equal,
namely, 42,360, yet the particulars reckoned up only make
29,818; in Ezra, and 31,089; in Nehemiah; and we find that
Nehemiah mentions 1,765; persons who are not in Ezra, and Ezra
has 494; not mentioned in Nehemiah. This last circumstance,
which seems to render all hope of reconciling them impossible,
Mr. Alting thinks is the very point by which they can be
reconciled; for, if we add Ezra's surplus to the sum in
Nehemiah, and Nehemiah's surplus to the number in Ezra, they
will both amount to 31,583; which subtracted from 42,360,
leaves a deficiency of 10,777, which are not named because
they did not belong to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, or to
the priests, but to the other Israelitish tribes.
9:8 Ne 7:66-69 Isa 10:20-22 Jer 23:3
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