Ezra 1:4

And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Ezra 1:4. Whosoever remaineth in any place where be sojourneth, &c. — This seems to relate to such as were desirous to go up with their brethren, but were forced to stay behind for want of necessaries to support them in so long a journey. To such he would have a supply of all things needful to be given by the inhabitants of the places where they lived, who could afford it, besides sending by them an offering toward the rebuilding of the temple.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:1-4 The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus. The hearts of kings are in the hand of the Lord. God governs the world by his influence on the spirits of men; whatever good they do, God stirs up their spirits to do it. It was during the captivity of the Jews, that God principally employed them as the means of calling the attention of the heathen to him. Cyrus took it for granted, that those among the Jews who were able, would offer free-will offerings for the house of God. He would also have them supplied out of his kingdom. Well-wishers to the temple should be well-doers for it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let the men of his place help him - i. e., "Let the pagan population help him" (see Ezra 1:6).

The freewill offering - Probably that made by Cyrus himself Ezra 1:7-11.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. Who is there among you of all his people—The purport of the edict was to grant full permission to those Jewish exiles, in every part of his kingdom, who chose, to return to their own country, as well as to recommend those of their countrymen who remained to aid the poor and feeble on their way, and contribute liberally towards the rebuilding of the temple.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Whosoever remaineth; who, when his brethren were gone up, was desirous to go with them, but forced to tarry there for want of necessaries for his journey.

Let the men of his place help him; I require my officers to take care that they may be supplied, either by the voluntary contributions of the people, or by a moderate tax to be laid either only upon those Jews who were resolved to stay, or upon the Gentiles also, which the Persian monarchs, being absolute, had a power to do; and which was the more reasonable, because the king himself submitted to it, and bore a great part of the burden, and because it was for the house of that great God to whom they all owed their present peace and great felicity.

With silver and with gold, which upon this occasion I give you leave to transport.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth,.... Is left behind, and cannot go up through poverty, not having a sufficiency to bear his charges in his journey to Jerusalem:

let the men of his place keep him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts; with money to bear the expenses of his journey, with goods to furnish his house, or trade with, when he came to Judea, and with cattle to carry him, and his goods, and to till the ground with, when he came thither; and the men exhorted to this are either the Gentiles that dwelt in the cities where these poor Jews were, or the richer Jews, who chose as yet not to go up until they saw how things would succeed; and are therefore called upon to assist their brethren who had a will, but not ability:

besides the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem: which they freely gave, and sent by them for the rebuilding of the temple.

Geneva Study Bible

And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, {e} let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, {f} beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

(e) If any through poverty were not able to return, the king's commission was that he should be furnished with all he needed.

(f) Which they themselves should send for the repairing of the temple.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth] R.V. And whosoever is left, in any place where he sojourneth. The wording of this clause is a little ambiguous. The following paraphrase will give the meaning. ‘In any place where survivors of the Jewish captivity are to be found sojourning, there let the natives of the place, the non-Israelite neighbours, render him all assistance.’ That this is the right interpretation is shown by the passages Nehemiah 1:2, ‘The Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity’ and Haggai 2:3, ‘Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory’. Cf. 2 Kings 25:22 and ‘the residue’ (R.V.) in Jeremiah 8:3; Jeremiah 24:8; Jeremiah 39:9, &c.

The A.V. gives no intelligible sense. The R.V. (1) by altering ‘remaineth’ to ‘is left’ preserves the application of the word in the original to the survivors of the Captivity, (2) by punctuation indicates the construction of the verse, in which ‘whosoever is left’ is placed independently as a heading to the whole sentence; while the words ‘in any place where he sojourneth’ do not belong to ‘whosoever is left’ but introduce the succeeding clause ‘let the men &c.’

The passage is somewhat awkwardly worded, but with the above explanation is rendered quite clear in meaning. The decree made no universal requisition for aid to the Jews. It only enjoined that local assistance should be given by neighbours, wherever any resident Jew availed himself of the king’s edict for the Return.

sojourneth] The word in the original regularly used in the sense of ‘to dwell as a stranger’. Cf. Leviticus 19:34.

help] The A.V. margin has ‘Heb. lift him up’. The word in the original is the intensive Mood of the verb ‘to lift or carry’, and occurs in 1 Kings 9:11 = ‘furnished’. The LXX. (ἀντιλαμβανέσθωσαν αὐτοῦ) renders the sense well by the Greek word so familiar to English readers in the words ‘He hath holpen Israel his servant’ (Luke 1:54).

with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts] The assistance should be given in money for the journey, in necessaries for the new homes, and in means of transport.—“Goods” a vague word, reproducing the indefiniteness of the original. It occurs again Ezra 8:21, Ezra 10:8, = ‘substance’ in A.V. and R.V. (LXX. κτῆσις and ὕπαρξις, Vulgate ‘substantia’). Here the LXX. has ἀποσκευή and the Vulgate ‘substantia’. From its use in these passages and in Genesis 12:5; Genesis 13:6, we gather that the word means the moveables of a household. ‘Beasts’ i.e. beasts of burden—horses, camels and asses. Cf. Ezra 2:66-67.

besides the freewill offering] ‘beside’, i.e. along with (Vulg. wrongly ‘excepto quod’) certain voluntary gifts of a more private nature especially intended for the Temple, as in chap. Ezra 8:25. Compare the freewill-offerings mentioned in Exodus 35:29; Leviticus 22:23. This freewill offering is not to be restricted, as by some commentators, to the gifts either of Cyrus or of the Jews who remained behind. Any one, Jew or Gentile, could make such offerings, in Ezra 3:5.

for the house of God] These words denote the object of the free-will offering: and are not, as the Hebrew accents interpret, to be taken as following after ‘help him’, the intervening words being taken parenthetically.

that is in Jerusalem] R.V. which is, consistently with Ezra 1:2-3. The clause refers to ‘the house’. Some understand ‘God’ as the antecedent to ‘which’; but see note on a similar interpretation in Ezra 1:3. The expression is in its explicitness similar to ‘Jerusalem which is in Judah’ (Ezra 1:2).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - Whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth. Literally correct; but the meaning is, "And with regard to all those who remain (of the captive people) in any part of the country where they have their temporary abode, let the men of his district help him with silver," etc. Cyrus finishes his decree by calling upon his heathen subjects to come to the aid of the poorer Israelites, and assist them with money, cattle, and other commodities, in order that none may be hindered by poverty, or by the want of beasts of burthen, from joining the band of emigrants, and setting out on their return to Jerusalem. Again, the kindliness of his disposition is apparent. Beside the freewill offering. So the Septuagint; but the Vulgate has, "Except the freewill offering," etc. The Septuagint and the A. V. are right. Cyrus means that money, cattle, and goods are to be made over to the poorer Israelites, in addition to any offering that might be intrusted to them for conveyance to Jerusalem, either by himself or by his subjects. Individually, he was about to send "a freewill offering," consisting of a number of gold and silver vessels for the service of the temple. His words suggest that his subjects might follow this good example.

Ezra 1:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

וגו וכל־הנּשׁאר are all belonging to the people of God in the provinces of Babylon, all the captives still living: comp. Nehemiah 1:2.; Hagg. Ezr 2:3. These words stand first in an absolute sense, and וגו מכּל־מּקמות belongs to what follows: In all places where he (i.e., each man) sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with gold, etc. The men of his place are the non-Israelite inhabitants of the place. נשּׂא, to assist, like 1 Kings 9:1. רכוּשׁ specified, besides gold, silver, and cattle, means moveable, various kinds. עם־הנּדבה, with, besides the free-will offering, i.e., as well as the same, and is therefore supplied in Ezra 1:6 by על לבד. Free-will offerings for the temple might also be gold, silver, and vessels: comp. Ezra 8:28; Exodus 35:21.