How Many Sons of Bethlehem & Netophah Returned?

In Ezra 2, it states that 123 men from Bethlehem and 56 men from Netophah returned from Babylon; however, in Nehemiah 7, it states there are in total 188 men that returned (i.e. 9 more men than in Ezra).

Ezra 2:21-22

"The men of Bethlehem, 123; the men of Netophah," (Ezra 2:21-22 NASB1995).

Nehemiah 7:26

"The men of Bethlehem and Netophah, 188;" (Nehemiah 7:26 NASB1995).

Several potential solutions have been proposed to explain this discrepancy. The most likely explanation is a copyist error, where a scribe made a mistake while copying the text. In this case, one number (or in biblical Hebrew, a letter) may have been misread as another and thus mistakenly copied (Crossway 835; Keil).

Another possibility is that Nehemiah and Ezra used different categorical systems. Ezra might have recorded, in total, 179 instead of 188 because some men had died shortly after their return, or perhaps the man returned at a later time. Ezra could be documenting all returns, while Nehemiah may include all returns. To illustrate, imagine two generals compiling a list of war casualties—one might count only those who died on the battlefield, while the other might include soldiers who died later from related causes, such as infection (Crossway 835). While these are plausible explanations, it remains unclear which is correct without further information.

References:

ESV Study Bible. United States, Crossway, 2008

Keil, C. F., & Delitzsch, F. (1920). Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament. Library of the Union Theological Seminary.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.

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