There is a discrepancy between the total number of exiles the writer gave here (49,897) and the sum of the various groups he just mentioned (29,818). Perhaps the women and children made up the difference, though if this was the case there were many more men than women and children. This may have been the case in view of the rigors that the people would have had to experience migrating from Babylon to Jerusalem.
"More likely is the suggestion that since this is a composite list, some families simply were omitted; but the overall total remains correct."52
Another explanation follows.
"There is general agreement that the divergences are copying errors, arising from the special difficulty of understanding or reproducing numerical lists."53
Some of the Jews took their servants back to Judah with them (v. 65). The ratio was about one servant to every six Jews, which confirms the wealth of the Jews then (cf. v. 69). Twenty years later most of them were poor (cf. Hag. 1:6, 9; 2:17). These singers (v. 65) may have been entertainers since they are distinct from the temple singers (v. 41). If they were, their presence would illustrate further the returning exiles' prosperity.
"The [one-humped Arabian] camel [v. 67] can carry its rider and about four hundred pounds and can travel three or four days without drinking."54
