Lives of Scripture

As Ezra assembled the exiles who would return with him to Jerusalem, he reviewed the group gathered at the Ahava Canal and found no Levites among them (Ezra 8:15). So he sent for "men of insight" -- among them Jarib -- and dispatched them to Iddo, the leader at a place called Casiphia, with instructions to bring back attendants for the house of God (8:16-17). The mission succeeded: "by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of insight" along with Levites and 220 temple servants, enough to serve in Jerusalem (8:18-20). Jarib is thus one of a small group of named leaders entrusted with securing workers for the temple's service, a task treated with enough seriousness that Ezra credits its success to God's own hand. A man named Jarib appears again later, listed among the priestly family of Jeshua who had married foreign wives and pledged, under Ezra's reforms, to send them away (Ezra 10:18-19) -- Scripture does not state plainly whether this is the same man honored earlier for his role in gathering Levites, or another leader who shared his name.