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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 7:19
The vessels also. It does not appear that these were sacred vessels belonging to the temple, like those which Cyrus had intrusted to Zerubbabel for restoration to the house of God. Rather, it would seem, they were a par…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 7:20
Whatever more shall be needful. Here the terms of the firman are very wide indeed, and authorise apparently an unlimited application of the royal revenue, or, at any rate, of the revenue of the province, to any purpose…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 7:21-24
The decree of Artaxerxes to the treasurers. Embodied in the letter of the Persian king to Ezra we have certain directions addressed through him to the treasurers beyond the river. These directions, though emanating from…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 7:22
Unto a hundred talents of silver. At the lowest estimate of the Jewish silver talent, this would be a permission to draw on the royal treasury to the amount of £24,000 sterling. If we adopt the views of Mr. R.S. Peele (…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 7:23
Why should there be wrath against the realm? In the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanns there was "wrath against the realm" of Persia in a very dangerous quarter, viz; Egypt. Egypt had revolted from the Persians in b.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 7:24
We certify you. The use of the plural is curious. Hitherto the king has made every permission and command to rest on his own sole authority (see Ezra 7:12, Ezra 7:13, Ezra 7:21). Now that he reaches the most important p…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 7:25
And thou, Ezra. This conclusion would be by itself sufficient to remove the document out of the ordinary category of "decrees" or "edicts," and to render it, what it is called in verse 11, nishtevan, "a letter." After t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 7:26
Finally, to Ezra is intrusted distinctly the civil government of the Jewish people, with power to fine, imprison, banish, or put to death offenders, as he may think right. These powers were always intrusted by the Persi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 7:27
Having concluded the important document, which he has transcribed, and not translated, and which is consequently in the Chaldee dialect, Ezra now resumes the use of the more sacred Hebrew, and henceforth employs it unin…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 7:27-28
EZRA'S THANKSGIVING ON RECEIPT OF ARTAXERXES' LETTER (Ezra 7:27, Ezra 7:28). With an abruptness that may appear strange, but which has many parallels in the works of Oriental writers, Ezra passes without a word of expla…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 7:27-28
The reformer's psalm. Very abruptly, even in our translation, does this short psalm of praise come in. Still more so in the original, where the writer here passes suddenly from Chaldee to Hebrew; that being, in his case…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 7:28
Hath extended mercy unto me before the king. i.e. "hath given me favour in the king's sight"—"hath made him graciously disposed towards me" (see Ezra 7:6). And his counsellors and … princes. Compare the comment on Ezra…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:1-20
EXPOSITION THE NUMBER OF THOSE WHO WENT UP TO JERUSALEM WITH EZRA, AND THE NAMES OF THE CHIEF MEN (Ezra 8:1-14). This list is parallel with that of Ezra 2:3-19, and repeats for the most part the same family names, thoug…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:1
On the expression chief of the fathers see comment on Ezra 2:68.
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:1-20
The rendezvous, or the second muster. We have been told twice before in this story that Ezra went up from Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:6-8, Ezra 7:9), and that he did not go by himself. But we only now enter upon the ac…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:1-20
The Church preparing itself for duty. I. THAT IT IS PREPARED BY COMING OUT FROM A HUMILIATING CAPTIVITY. "This is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon" (Ezra 8:1). Ezra and his comrades must quit the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:3
Of the sons of Shechaniah. This clause should be attached to the preceding verse, since it refers to Hattush, who was Shechaniah's grandson; and Ezra 8:3 should begin with the words, "Of the sons of Pharosh, Zechariah."
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:5
A name has fallen out either between "Shechaniah" and "the son of Jahaziel," or between "of the sons" and "of Shechaniah." The Septuagint has, "Of the sons of Zattu, Shechaniah, the son of Jahaziel." Zattu is mentioned…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:10
Here again there is a similar omission of a name, which the Septuagint supplies by reading, "Of the sons of Bani, Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah." Bani appears as the head of a family in Ezra 2:10.
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:13
The last sons of Adonikam are probably his younger sons, whose descendants returned with Ezra, their elder brethren's families having returned with Zerubbabel.
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:15
1 gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava. The "river that runneth to Ahava" is now generally identified with the Is of Herodotus, a small stream flowing into the Euphrates from the east, at a point wh…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:15-20
The halt at the Ahava. The journey of the children of Israel from Babylon to Jerusalem may be viewed, like that of their fathers from Egypt to Canaan, as a type of the pilgrimage of Christians from the abominations and…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:15-31
DETAILS OF EZRA'S JOURNEY FROM BABYLON TO JERUSALEM (Ezra 8:15-31). We gather from scattered statements in this passage— 1. That Ezra, with his companions, after a journey of nine days' duration, reached Ahava from Baby…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:17
Iddo, the chief at the place Casiphia. Not "the Caspian" certainly; nor even "Casvin," which is at least 400 miles from Hit by the nearest route, but some Babylonian village in the vicinity of Ahava, not otherwise known…