“The sons of Elam, 1,254.”
Ezra 2:7 ESV“The sons of the other Elam, 1,254.”
Ezra 2:31 ESV
Through the Bible: Ezra 1-3
Have you ever been “the other” in a group of people? My brother is Allen Jackson, and he often introduces himself by saying, “No, not that one.” For my part, James is a pretty common name, so I’m in lots of crowds with other Jameses. In fact, when I first came to the church I serve, an eight year old boy named James informed me that he was James the First because he had been there longer.
There are lots of “others” in the Bible. There was James the Lesser, one of the disciples (Mark 15:40). There was the other Mary in Luke 24:10. There was “Judas, Not Iscariot” in John 14:22. Tradition is this Judas began to go by Jude so the early church would not confuse him with the other Judas. Which then, of course, made him the other Jude–the one that didn’t write the book of Jude.
And here, among the list of exiles who returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity, is “the other Elam.”
I don’t know why he’s the other Elam. Why isn’t the other Elam the other Elam? They both had the exact same number of descendants. So who decided that one was Elam and one was “the other Elam.” We will never know.
As I was meditating on Ezra 2, this poem began to take shape in my head. It’s a poem for all the “juniors,” “others,” and “also rans.” And for any of us that have ever felt like “the other,” maybe this will be our anthem.
I am the other Elam,
Ezra two, verse thirty-one,
I get one verse in the Bible,
one moment in the sun.
There’s an Elam in verse 7,
He’s higher on the list.
Was he more respected?
Or better connected.
If I went on back to Babylon,
Would I ever be missed?
I am the other Elam, and my family's just as large
Twelve hundred fifty four of us
in the entourage
I never faced the lions
Never felt the furnace flames
But I lived just as long back in Babylon,
So aren’t we both the same?
I am the other Elam, and why should I be sad?
I'm mentioned in the Bible, And that ain’t all that bad.
I’ll never be a sermon point,
Never get a second look.
But by the Euphrates
God remembered me
And I wound up in the book.
If you're “the other Elam,” if you feel lost in the crowd,
No one calls to you,
or if they do,
they don’t call very loud—
Then let me be your champion
Listen to my song
Forget the fame, God knows your name,
And He knows where you belong.
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