Ezra 6:17

An hundred bullocks. The number of sacrifices offered during this dedication service is small in comparison with similar services celebrated during the reigns of Solomon (1 Kings 8:63), Hezekiah (2 Chron. 30:24), and Josiah (2 Chron. 35:7). Hundreds now take the place of the thousands previously offered. All Israel. In v. 16 the congregation is referred to as “the children of Israel.” The writer is careful to present the returned exiles as “Israel,” not merely as “Judah” (see chs. 2:70; 3:1; 4:3; 5:1). The number of he-goats offered was 12 (Ezra 6:17), the number of tribes in the undivided kingdom. We may assume that representatives of every tribe had returned with Zerubbabel, and that consequently it was possible to regard the re-established people as “Israel” (see Neh. 11:20; Jer. 50:4; Ezek. 37:15-19; Zech. 8:13; Mal. 1:1). However, the great majority of the repatriated exiles were of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and were accordingly more commonly spoken of as “Judah” (Ezra 4:1, 6; 5:1; Zech. 8:15). Desirous of emphasizing the nobler and grander view, of seeing in the congregation the remnants of the whole people of God, Zerubbabel ordered this solemn sin offering of 12 he-goats, one for each of the tribes. Ezra followed the same procedure when he arrived in Jerusalem with the second group of exiles some 60 years later (Ezra 8:35).