68 And some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, gave freely of their wealth for the building up of the house of God in its place:
Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and this is the altar for Israel's burned offerings.
Take from among you an offering to the Lord; everyone who has the impulse in his heart, let him give his offering to the Lord; gold and silver and brass; And blue and purple and red and the best linen and goats' hair, And sheepskins coloured red, and leather, and hard wood, And oil for the lights, and spices for the holy oil and for the sweet perfumes for burning. And beryls and jewels to be cut for the ephod and for the priest's bag. And let every wise-hearted man among you come and make whatever has been ordered by the Lord; The House and its tent and its cover, its hooks and its boards, its rods and its pillars and its bases; The ark with its cover and its rods and the veil hanging before it; The table and its rods and all its vessels, and the holy bread; And the support for the lights, with its vessels and its lights and the oil for the light; And the altar for burning spices, with its rods, and the holy oil and the sweet perfume, and the curtain for the door, at the door of the House; The altar of burned offerings, with its network of brass, its rods, and all its vessels, the washing-vessel and its base; The hangings for the open space, its pillars and their bases, and the curtain for the doorway; The nails for the House, and the nails for the open space and their cords; The robes of needlework for the work of the holy place, the holy robes for Aaron the priest, and the robes for his sons when acting as priests.
And they took from Moses all the offerings which the children of Israel had given for the building of the holy place. And still they went on giving him more free offerings every morning.
And they came with their offerings before the Lord, six covered carts and twelve oxen; a cart for every two of the chiefs, and for every one an ox. And the Lord said to Moses, Take the things from them, to be used for the work of the Tent of meeting; and give them to the Levites, to every man what is needed for his work. So Moses took the carts and the oxen and gave them to the Levites. Two carts and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon for their work; And four carts and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari for their work, under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. But to the sons of Kohath he gave nothing; because they had the care of the holy place, taking it about on their backs. And the chiefs gave an offering for the altar on the day when the holy oil was put on it; they made their offering before the altar. And the Lord said to Moses, Let every chief on his day give his offering to make the altar holy. And he who made his offering on the first day was Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah: And his offering was one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering; One gold spoon of ten shekels, full of spice for burning; One young ox, one male sheep, one he-lamb of the first year, for a burned offering; One male of the goats for a sin-offering; And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab. On the second day Nethanel, the son of Zuar, chief of Issachar, made his offering: He gave one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering; One gold spoon of ten shekels, full of spice; One young ox, one male sheep, one he-lamb of the first year, for a burned offering; One male of the goats for a sin-offering; And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Nethanel, the son of Zuar. On the third day Eliab, the son of Helon, chief of the children of Zebulun: His offering was one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering; One gold spoon of ten shekels, full of spice; One young ox, one male sheep, one he-lamb of the first year, for a burned offering; One male of the goats for a sin-offering; And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Eliab, the son of Helon. On the fourth day Elizur, the son of Shedeur, chief of the children of Reuben: His offering was one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering; One gold spoon of ten shekels, full of spice; One young ox, one male sheep, one he-lamb of the first year, for a burned offering; One male of the goats for a sin-offering; And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Elizur, the son of Shedeur. On the fifth day Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai, chief of the children of Simeon: His offering was one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering; One gold spoon of ten shekels, full of spice; One young ox, one male sheep, one he-lamb of the first year, for a burned offering; One male of the goats for a sin-offering; And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai. On the sixth day Eliasaph, the son of Reuel, chief of the children of Gad: His offering was one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering; One gold spoon of ten shekels, full of spice; One young ox, one male sheep, one he-lamb of the first year, for a burned offering; One male of the goats for a sin-offering; And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Eliasaph, the son of Reuel On the seventh day Elishama, the son of Ammihud, chief of the children of Ephraim: His offering was one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering; One gold spoon of ten shekels, full of spice; One young ox, one male sheep, one he-lamb of the first year, for a burned offering; One male of the goats for a sin-offering; And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Elishama, the son of Ammihud. On the eighth day Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur, chief of the children of Manasseh: His offering was one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering; One gold spoon of ten shekels, full of spice; One young ox, one male sheep, one he-lamb of the first year, for a burned offering; One male of the goats for a sin-offering; And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur. On the ninth day Abidan, the son of Gideoni, chief of the children of Benjamin: His offering was one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering; One gold spoon of ten shekels, full of spice; One young ox, one male sheep, one he-lamb of the first year for a burned offering; One male of the goats for a sin-offering; And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Abidan, the son of Gideoni. On the tenth day Ahiezer; the son of Ammishaddai, chief of the children of Dan: His offering was one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering; One gold spoon of ten shekels, full of spice; One young ox, one male sheep, one he-lamb of the first year, for a burned offering; One male of the goats for a sin-offering; And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai. On the eleventh day Pagiel, the son of Ochran, chief of the children of Asher: His offering was one silver plate; a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering; One gold spoon of ten shekels, full of spice; One young ox, one male sheep, one he-lamb of the first year, for a burned offering; One male of the goats for a sin-offering; And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Pagiel, the son of Ochran. On the twelfth day Ahira, the son of Enan, chief of the children of Naphtali: His offering was one silver plate, a hundred and thirty shekels in weight, one silver basin of seventy shekels, by the scale of the holy place; the two of them full of the best meal mixed with oil for a meal offering; One gold spoon of ten shekels, full of spice; One young ox, one male sheep, one he-lamb of the first year, for a burned offering; One male of the goats for a sin-offering; And for the peace-offerings, two oxen, five male sheep, five he-goats, five he-lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Ahira, the son of Enan. These were the offerings given for the altar by the chiefs of Israel, when the holy oil was put on it: twelve silver plates, twelve silver basins, twelve gold spoons; The weight of every silver plate was a hundred and thirty shekels, and of every basin seventy; the weight of all the silver of the vessels was two thousand and four hundred shekels, by the scale of the holy place; The weight of the twelve gold spoons of spice for burning was ten shekels for every one, by the scale of the holy place; all the gold of the spoons was a hundred and twenty shekels; All the oxen, for the burned offering were twelve, the male sheep twelve, the he-lambs of the first year twelve, with their meal offering; and the males of the goats for sin-offering twelve; And all the oxen for the peace-offerings, twenty-four oxen, the male sheep sixty, and the he-goats sixty, the he-lambs of the first year sixty. This was given for the altar after the holy oil was put on it. And when Moses went into the Tent of meeting to have talk with him, then the Voice came to his ears from over the cover which was on the ark of witness, from between the two winged ones. And he had talk with him.
Gold for the gold things, and silver for the silver things, and for every sort of work to be done by the expert workmen. Who then will come forward, offering himself this day for the Lord's work? Then the heads of families and the chiefs of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the controllers of the king's business, freely gave themselves; And they gave for the use of the house of the Lord, five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, and ten thousand talents of silver, and eighteen thousand talents of brass, and a hundred thousand talents of iron. And those who had stones of great price gave them to the store of the house of the Lord, under the care of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people were glad because their offerings were freely given, for with a true heart they freely gave what they had to the Lord; and David the king was full of joy. So David gave praise to the Lord before all the people; and David said, Praise be to you, O Lord the God of Israel, our father for ever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the strength and the power and the glory, and the authority and the honour: for everything in heaven and on earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are lifted up as head over all. Wealth and honour come from you, and you are ruler over all, and in your hand is power and strength; it is in your power to make great, and to give strength to all. So now, our God, we give you praise, honouring the glory of your name. But who am I and what is my people, that we have power to give so freely in this way? for all things come from you, and what we have given you is yours. For we, as all our fathers were, are like men from a strange country before you, who have got a place for a time in the land; our days on the earth are like a shade, and there is no hope of going on. O Lord our God, all this store, which we have made ready for the building of a house for your holy name, comes from your hand and is yours. And I am conscious, my God, that you are the searcher of hearts, taking pleasure in righteousness. As for me, with an upright heart I have freely given all these things; and I have seen with joy your people who are here to make their offerings freely to you.
Then Solomon made a start at building the house of the Lord on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, where the Lord had been seen by his father David, in the place which David had made ready in the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
And some of the heads of families gave money for the work. The Tirshatha gave into the store a thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, five hundred and thirty priests' robes. And some of the heads of families gave into the store for the work twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand, two hundred pounds of silver. And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand pounds of silver, and sixty-seven priests' robes. So the priests and the Levites and the door-keepers and the music-makers and some of the people and the Nethinim, and all Israel, were living in their towns.
Your people give themselves gladly in the day of your power; like the dew of the morning on the holy mountains is the army of your young men.
And looking up, he saw the men of wealth putting their offerings in the money-box. And he saw a certain poor widow putting in a farthing. And he said, Truly I say to you, This poor widow has given more than all of them: For they gave out of their wealth, having more than enough for themselves: but she, even out of her need, has put in all her living.
For I give them witness, that as they were able, and even more than they were able, they gave from the impulse of their hearts,
For if there is a ready mind, a man will have God's approval in the measure of what he has, and not of what he has not.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » John Gill's Exposition of the Bible » Commentary on Ezra 2
Commentary on Ezra 2 John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 2
This chapter contains a list of those that went up from Babylon to Jerusalem, of their leaders, their chief men, princes and priests, Ezra 2:1 of the people, described by their families, towns, and cities, and number of persons, Ezra 2:3, of the priests, Levites, and Nethinims, Ezra 2:36, and of those that could not make out their genealogy, people and priests, Ezra 2:59, and then the sum total of the whole congregation is given, Ezra 2:64, besides men and maidservants, singing men and women, and cattle of divers sorts, Ezra 2:65, and the chapter is closed with an account of the freewill offerings of the principal men towards the building of the temple, and of the settlement of the people in their respective cities, Ezra 2:68.
Now these are the children of the province,.... Either of the province of Babylon, as Aben Ezra, where they were either born, or had dwelt for many years; or else rather, according to Jarchi, of the province of Judea, as it is called, Ezra 5:8 once a flourishing kingdom, but reduced to a province of the Babylonian monarchy, now in the hands of the Medes and Persians, of which province they and their fathers originally were:
that went out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon; who either in person, or in their parents, were carried captive by him, and who were the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; and they are only mentioned, because they were the principal that returned, though there were some of the other tribes that also came up with them:
and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, everyone unto his city; that he dwelt in before, or was now assigned to him by lot, see Nehemiah 11:1, &c.
Which came with Zerubbabel,.... The head of them, the prince of Judah; and the chief that came with him are the ten following; Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah; the first of these, Jeshua, was Joshua the high priest, the son of Josedech, Haggai 1:1. Dr. LightfootF19Works, vol. 1. p. 127. So Broughton, Works, p. 258. thinks that Nehemiah is the same, whose name the following book bears; and that Mordecai is he who was uncle to Esther, so Aben Ezra; but, if so, they must both return again; for that Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, Nehemiah 1:1, and that Mordecai brought up his niece in the city of Shushan, in the times of Ahasuerus, is certain; and this, with respect to both, is denied by othersF20Vid. Rainold. de Libr. Apocryph. Praelect. 111, 117, 148. , who take them to be different men of the same name; and the same writer is of opinion that Seraiah, and who is called Azariah, Nehemiah 7:7 is the same with Ezra, who therefore must and did return, since he went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, Ezra 7:1, as for the others, we know nothing more of them than their names:
the number of the men of the people of Israel; either of the principal of them before named, or of the common people, which next follows.
The children of Parosh, two thousand an hundred and seventy two. From hence, to the end of Ezra 2:35, a list is given of the captives that returned, described by the families they were of, their ancestors from whence they sprung, or the towns and cities to which they originally belonged, and by their numbers; otherwise nothing more of them is known.
The priests,.... An account of them is given in this and the three following verses, and only four families are mentioned, those of Jedaiah, Immer, Pashur, and Harim, and the number of them amounted to 4289; these, according to the Jews, were heads of four courses, which were all that returned from BabylonF21T. Hieros. Taanioth, fol. 68. 1. .
The Levites,.... Singers and porters, who are reckoned in this, and the two following verses, whose numbers were no more than three hundred and forty one; whereas, in the times of David, they were 38,000, 1 Chronicles 23:3.
The Nethinims,.... Supposed by Aben Ezra and Jarchi to be the Gibeonites, who were "given" by Joshua, as the word Nethinims signifies, to the congregation, to be hewers of wood and drawers of water; but rather were those that were given by David to assist the Levites; of these is an account from hence to the end of Ezra 2:58, together with those who descended from Solomon's servants, who seem to be the remains of the Canaanites in the land, whom Solomon made bondservants of, 1 Kings 9:20, who, and their posterity, became proselytes; or those sprung from men that were domestic servants of Solomon's, and valued themselves on that account; the number of the Nethinims and these together were three hundred ninety and two.
And these were they that went up from Telmelah, Telharsa,.... Places in the land of Babylon, see Isaiah 37:12.
Cherub, Addan, and Immer; but they could not show their father's house, and their seed, whether they were of Israel; these were such that professed the Jewish religion, and went for Jews in Babylon, but could not trace their pedigree, and tell what family they were of, who their ancestors, and where they had lived in Judea; they had lost their genealogical tables, if they ever had any, and could not make it out, whether their parents were Israelites or proselyted Gentiles; or they were such who had been exposed, and taken out of the streets, and their parents unknown.
The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, and the children of Nekoda, six hundred fifty and two. These, though their immediate parents were known, yet by their being mentioned here, it seems as if they could not carry their genealogy further, and make it clearly appear what was the house of their fathers, or what their family.
And of the children of the priests,.... Who could not make out their pedigree, for those that could are mentioned before:
the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai; how the latter came by this name follows:
which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name; this man married a woman that descended from the famous Barzillai the Gileadite, in the times of David; and the priesthood being in disuse, and mean and despicable, in Babylon, he chose to take the name of his wife's family, and pass for a descendant from that, and perhaps destroyed, or at least neglected, to take care of the genealogy of his own family.
These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy,.... To find their names written and registered there; for the Jews kept public registers of their priests, their descent, marriages, and offspring, that it might be known who were fit, and who not, to officiate as such:
but they were not found; their names were not there, nor any account taken of them:
therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood; were not suffered to attend at the altar, and offer sacrifice, and enjoy the privileges belonging to that office.
And the Tirshatha said unto them,.... By whom Jarchi understands Nehemiah, and observes, that their rabbins say he was so called, because the wise men allowed him to drink the wine of the Gentiles, he being cupbearer to the king; but Aben Ezra, with greater probability, takes it to be a name of honour and grandeur in the Chaldee language, as a prince or governor; and no doubt Zerubbabel is meant, the prince of the Jews, the same with Sheshbazzar, Ezra 1:8 according to GussetiusF23Ebr. Comment. p. 809. , this office was the same with that of the king's commissary in a province, delegated to carry his orders, make them known, and see them put in execution; and that this name Tirshatha is the same with Tithraustes in AelianF24Var. Hist. l. 1. c. 21. Vid. Corn. Nep. Vit. Conon. l. 9. c. 3. ; but that seems to be not the title of an office, but the personal name of a man that was a chiliarch:
that they should not eat of the most holy things; as of the shewbread, and those parts of the sin offerings, and of the peace offerings and meat offerings, which belonged to the priests, which the governor forbid these to eat of, who were rejected from the priesthood:
till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim; as yet there was not any priest that had them; they were not to be found at the return from Babylon; the governor might hope they would be found, and a priest appear clothed with them, when it might be inquired of the Lord by them, whether such priests, before described, might eat of the holy things or not; but since the JewsF25T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 21. 2. acknowledge that these were one of the five things wanting in the second temple; it is all one, as the TalmudistsF26T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 48. 2. & Gloss. in Kiddushin, fol. 60. 2. express it, as if it had been said, until the dead rise, or the Messiah comes; and who is come, the true High Priest, and with whom are the true Urim and Thummim, lights and perfections to the highest degree, being full of grace and truth; of the Urim and Thummim; see Gill on Exodus 28:30.
The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore. But the sums before given make no more, with Zerubbabel, and the ten principal men, than 29,829, so that there are more than 12,000 wanting; wherefore, in answer to the question, where are the 12,000? the Jews say in their chronologyF1Seder Olam Rabba, c. 29. p. 86. these are they of the other tribes, who set up the altar on its bases, and gave money to the masons, &c. Ezra 3:1, this was a much larger number than were carried captive; see 2 Kings 24:14, but not to be compared with the number that came out of Egypt, Exodus 12:37. An Arabic writerF2Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 5. p. 82. makes them 50,000, but wrongly.
Besides their servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven,.... This shows that the greater part of those that returned were of the poorer sort, since there were so few servants that belonged unto them; these came not into the above account:
and there were among them two hundred singing men and singing women; among the servants, who were kept by persons of figure for their pleasure and recreation, see Ecclesiastes 2:8, for that these were such as were employed in sacred service is not so clear, especially the latter, though some conclude it from 1 Chronicles 25:5, but rather they were such as were employed at marriages, festivals, and funerals; though Jarchi thinks they were employed by the returning captives, to make them cheerful as they travelled along; see Gill on Isaiah 55:12.
So that the far greatest part of them must walk on foot, since these can be thought to be little more than sufficient to carry their goods or baggage; some copies of the Vulgate Latin read six hundred and thirty six horsesF3Ed. of Sixtus V. and the Lovain in James's Contrariety of Popish Bibles, p. 295. .
And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the Lord that is at Jerusalem,.... That is, when they came to the place where it formerly stood, and where were still the ruins of it:
offered freely for the house of God, to set it up in its place; to rebuild it upon the spot where it formerly stood; this they did besides the freewill offerings they brought with them from Babylon.
They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the world threescore and one thousand drachms of gold,.... These "darcemons or darics" were a Persian coin; one of which, according to BrerewoodF11De Pret. & Ponder. Vet. Num. ch. iii. v. , was of the value of fifteen shillings of our money, and so this quantity of them amounted to 45,750 pounds; but according to Bishop CumberlandF12Scripture Weights & Measures, ch. 4. p. 115. they were of the value of twenty shillings and four pence of our money, and so came to upwards of 61,000 pounds; these everyone, according to his ability, put into the common stock or treasury for the work of building the temple; the Vulgate LatinF13Sixtus V. Lovain & MSS. in James ut supra. (Contrariety of Popish Bibles, p. 295) reads 40,000:
and five thousand pounds of silver; and an Hebrew "mina", or pound, being of our money seven pounds, ten shillings, according to BrerewoodF14Ut supra, (De Pret. & Ponder. Vet. Num.) ch. iv. v. , amounted to 31,250 pounds: but othersF15Universal History, vol. 10. p. 183, marg. , reckoning a drachm of gold at ten shillings, and a mina or pound of silver at nine pounds, make the whole to amount only to 75,500 pounds of our money:
and one hundred priests' garments; which, as they were laid up among treasures, so were necessary for the service of the temple.
So the priests and the Levites, and some of the people, and the singers, and the Nethinims, dwelt in their cities,.... Which were assigned to them out of the several tribes, and in which they or their forefathers had dwelt before the captivity:
and all Israel in their cities; as those of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, so of the other ten, as many as returned and joined those who were left in the land.