Azgad

Azgad surfaces in the post-exilic registers as the eponymous head of a family that returned from Babylonian captivity, and the name reappears across the records of Ezra and Nehemiah in three distinct settings: the first-return roll, a later contingent that came up with Ezra, and the list of chiefs who sealed Nehemiah's covenant.

Eponym Of A Returnee Family

The earliest mention places Azgad at the head of a sizeable clan in the register of those who came up with Zerubbabel: "The sons of Azgad, a thousand two hundred twenty and two" (Ezr 2:12). Nehemiah's parallel roll preserves the same family but reports a larger total: "The sons of Azgad, two thousand three hundred twenty and two" (Neh 7:17). The two figures stand side by side in the post-exilic registers without being harmonized in the text itself.

A Later Contingent Under Ezra

Some years after the first return, a further group from the same family travels up with Ezra: "And of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan; and with him a hundred and ten males" (Ezr 8:12). The notice names the head of this smaller party, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and reckons the count of males who accompanied him.

A Chief Who Sealed The Covenant

In the list of those who set their seal to Nehemiah's covenant, the name appears again among the chiefs of the people: "Bunni, Azgad, Bebai" (Neh 10:15). Whether this signatory is the family-eponym carried forward as a clan title or a later individual bearing the same name, the text presents him in the company of other chiefs subscribing to the covenant.