The number of descendants of Parosh in Nehemiah's list of returnees
The number 2172 appears in Nehemiah 7:8 as the count of descendants of Parosh who were among those returning to Judah from the Babylonian exile. The Parosh clan was one of the largest family groups in the list of returnees, highlighting this family's significance in rebuilding the Jewish community. The list in Nehemiah 7 serves as a census that legitimized the returnees' right to the land and temple service, and the precise recording of numbers testifies to thorough administrative practice in the restored community. That each individual clan was preserved and brought back through the exile testifies, from a biblical perspective, to God's faithfulness to covenant promises to bring the people home to their land. The parallel list in Ezra 2:3 gives the same number – 2172 – for the descendants of Parosh. This is remarkable because several other families have differing numbers between the two lists, which may indicate that the Parosh clan's own genealogical records were particularly well preserved through the exile period. The name Parosh (Hebrew פַּרְעֹשׁ, par'osh) means "flea." Such humble animal names were not uncommon as personal names in ancient Israel and the Middle East. The Parosh clan is also mentioned in Ezra 10:25 among those who had taken foreign wives and had to send them away during Ezra's reforms, showing that the clan remained a prominent part of the post-exilic community.*