1. Ezra 2:2 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Did all the Judeans return home together?

Ezra 2:2 (ESV)

2 They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah.The number of the men of the people of Israel:

It is unlikely that all the people returned in one big group.1 The individuals listed were probably all leaders who led a company of willing exiles back to Jerusalem. This chapter as a whole is an important testimony to a gradual return by various groups in the first twenty years of (Persian) rule.2