Thought from today’s Bible reading from Ezra 1-3.

We hear people today talk about “undocumented immigrants.” This term refers to immigrants who have come into this country but do not have the necessary papers (documentation) showing that they can legally be here. This has led to a great political debate about what to do with these “undocumented immigrants” – deport them, grant them amnesty, ignore their lack of documentation, etc.

When the Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, they had to deal with another “undocumented” group. Certain priests did not have the appropriate documentation showing their ancestry and, therefore, could not prove that they had a lawful place in the priesthood. Notice what was done with these undocumented priests:

“Of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and he was called by their name. These searched among their ancestral registration, but they could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood. The governor said to them that they should not eat from the most holy things until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim” (Ezra 2:61-63).

Notice a few points about the undocumented priests.
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