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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:18
By the good hand of our God upon us. This is Ezra's usual mode of acknowledging the good providence and favour of Almighty God (see Ezra 7:6, Ezra 7:9, Ezra 7:27; and Ezra 8:31). Similar expressions occur also in Nehemi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:20
The Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed. We learn this fact from the present passage only; since neither in Kings nor Chronicles is there any mention made of David's adding to the hieroduli, or temple se…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:21-23
The spiritual and secular aids of life. I. THE SPIRITUAL NEEDING THE AID OF THE SECULAR. "To require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way" (Ezra 8:22). Ezra was about to co…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:21
Then I proclaimed a fast there. The fight of the civil ruler to "proclaim a fast" was unquestioned among the Jews and Israelites. Jezebel proclaimed one in Ahab's name when she wished to impress the Jezreelites with the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:21-36
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:21-23
The fast at the Ahava. The halt on the banks of the Ahava lasted three days. Ezra lost no time. He viewed his company, and finding no Levites, organised a mission to induce some of them to join him. To the credit of the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:21-30
Before starting. Ezra's body of travellers now duly assembled and organised, what else was required? On the one hand, they were in a condition of much danger. Without being very numerous, they were numerous enough to be…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:22
I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers. Before he apprehended danger Ezra had boasted to Artaxerxes of the power and goodness of God, and had spoken of himself and his brethren as assured of the Divine…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:24
The sacred trusts of life. I. THE TRUST GIVEN. "And weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering of the house of our God" (Ezra 8:25). 1. Their nature. As the men appointed by Ezra had…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:24-30
The custody of the treasure. After fasting and prayer, before the caravan moved from the halt on the banks of the Ahava, Ezra made arrangements for the custody of the offerings with which he was intrusted. Whatever is d…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:24-36
Zionwards. Ezra and the company he had gathered were now fairly on their way homewards, and we may look at them, looking also at ourselves, as— I. TRAVELLERS TO JERUSALEM. "Then we departed to go unto Jerusalem" (verse…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:24
Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, etc. Our translators, following the Vulgate, have omitted to render the preposition לְ, which occurs in the Hebrew text before the name of Shere…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:25
And weighed unto the the silver, etc. We may gather from this that the silver and gold were in bars or ingots, and not in coined money. The Persians had coined money at this tin. e, but the Treasury kept the bulk of its…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:26
Six hundred and fifty talents of silver, according to Mr. Peele's estimate of the talent, would be nearly a quarter of a million of our money. The annual revenue of Persia was about three and a half millions (Herod; 3.9…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:27
Twenty basons of gold, of a thousand drams (see comment on Ezra 2:69). The "basons" would be worth about £55 each. Fine copper, precious as gold. The metal intended is probably that known to the Romans as orichalchum, w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:28
Ye are holy. Consecrated to God by their office, the priests and Levites were the fitting custodians of consecrated things.
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:29
The chambers of the house of the Lord are the rooms placed on either side of the main building (see 1 Kings 6:5), partly as chambers for the priests, partly as store-rooms (see Nehemiah 13:5).
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:31-36
Progress. When the treasure was disposed in custody of priests sanctified to watch over it, and the caravan was otherwise ordered, the pilgrims started from the camp of the Ahava en route for Jerusalem. As we might expe…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:31
The river of Ahava. Rather, "the river Ahava," as in the Vulgate ("a fiumine Ahava"). The place had probably taken its name from the stream. The twelfth day of the first month. Compare Ezra 7:9, and Ezra 8:15, from whic…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:31-36
After arriving. "We departed." "We came." Thus it is that Ezra here relates the rest of his journey, the only thing worthy of note between Ahava and Jerusalem being this, that, through "the good band of God" upon the tr…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:32-36
EZRA'S THREE DAYS' REST AT JERUSALEM, AND SUBSEQUENT EXECUTION OF THE MORE PRESSING OF THE COMMISSIONS INTRUSTED TO HIM (Ezra 8:32-36). After the fatigues of a four months' journey, a brief period of complete rest was w…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:33
Meremoth the son of Uriah, or Urijah, was one of the heads of the priestly order, both under Ezra and under Nehemiah. He is mentioned as repairing two pieces of the wall of Jerusalem when Nehemiah was governor (Nehemiah…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:34
By number and by weight. The gold and the silver were weighed; the vessels were both counted and weighed; the object being to see that what was delivered to Meremoth corresponded exactly with what Ezra had given in char…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 8:35
Also the children of those who had been carried away. i.e. the newly-returned exiles. Like their predecessors under Zernbbabel, who had made an offering for all Israel (Ezra 6:17), so the present colonists under Ezra, a…