What is significant about Judah and Benjamin being mentioned together?
Ezra 1:5 (ESV)
5Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites,everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem.
The southern kingdom of Judah (930–587 BC) was made up of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin. These are the people who had been taken off into exile in 605 BC, 597 BC, and 587 BC.
5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem.