The number of descendants of Shephatiah who returned from exile in Babylon
The number 372 appears in the Bible in connection with the censuses after the return from the Babylonian exile. Both in Ezra 2:4 and Nehemiah 7:9, the number of descendants of Shephatiah is given as 372. These two parallel lists document those who returned to Judah and Jerusalem, and the agreement between the two texts underscores the accuracy of the record. Beyond this specific historical context, the number 372 has not played a prominent symbolic role in biblical or Jewish tradition. In gematria, one can find Hebrew words with the numerical value 372, but none of these have achieved a canonical or widely recognized symbolic meaning. Shephatiah (שְׁפַטְיָה) means 'the Lord has judged' or 'the Lord judges.' He was one of David's sons, born in Hebron (2 Sam 3:4). The descendants mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah likely belong to this lineage. The lists in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 are closely parallel censuses of those who returned from Babylon under Zerubbabel. Most of the numbers correspond, but some differ slightly, which has been a subject of discussion in rabbinic and academic literature.*