Ezra 6:5

And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) And also let the golden and silver vessels . . . be restored.—The desecration of these vessels by Belshazzar (Daniel 5:2-3) was thus to be expiated. Every word, including the twice repeated “house of God,” is most emphatic.

Benson Commentary

Ezra 6:5. And place them in the house of God — Thus far the decree of Cyrus is recited, which justified all the allegations of the Jews in the foregoing chapter. In the next verse the decree of Darius thereupon appears to begin.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:1-12 When God's time is come for fulfilling his gracious purposes concerning his church, he will raise up instruments to do it, from whom such good service was not expected. While our thoughts are directed to this event, we are led by Zechariah to fix our regard on a nobler, a spiritual building. The Lord Jesus Christ continues to lay one stone upon another: let us assist the great design. Difficulties delay the progress of this sacred edifice. Yet let not opposition discourage us, for in due season it will be completed to his abundant praise. He shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The word translated "row" occurs only in this passage. Some regard it as a "course," and suppose that after every three courses of stone there followed a course of timber. Others understand three "storeys" of stone, with a fourth "storey" of woodwork on the summit (compare 1 Kings 6:5-6). Others consider that Cyrus intended to limit the thickness of the walls, which were not to exceed a breadth of three rows of stone, with an inner wooden wainscotting.

Let the expenses be given out of the king's house - i. e., "out of the Persian revenue," a portion of the decree which was probably not observed during the later years of Cyrus and during the reign of Cambyses, and hence the burthen fell upon the Jews themselves Ezra 2:68-69.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. Achmetha—long supposed to be the capital of Greater Media (the Ecbatana of classical, the Hamadan of modern times), [is] at the foot of the Elwund range of hills, where, for its coolness and salubrity, Cyrus and his successors on the Persian throne established their summer residence. There was another city, however, of this name, the Ecbatana of Atropatene, and the most ancient capital of northern Media, and recently identified by Colonel Rawlinson in the remarkable ruins of Takht-i-Soleiman. Yet as everything tends to show the attachment of Cyrus to his native city, the Atropatenian Ecbatana, rather than to the stronger capital of Greater Media, Colonel Rawlinson is inclined to think that he deposited there, in his fortress, the famous decree relating to the Jews, along with the other records and treasures of his empire [Nineveh and Persepolis].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Be restored to Sheshbazzar; for this is part of Cyrus’s decree, (which is here recited,) and not Darius’s, which does not begin till the next verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And also let the golden and silver vessels,.... See Ezra 1:7 and which confirms what the Jews said to Tatnai, Ezra 5:14.

Geneva Study Bible

And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and {b} brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God.

(b) Meaning Zerubbabel to whom he gives charge.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. and place them in the house of God] R.V. And thou Shalt put them in the house of God. The A.V. does not mark the abrupt transition to the 2nd pers. sing. The use of the 2nd pers. sing. and the occurrence of the same word ‘put’ as in the parallel context of Ezra 5:15 show that Sheshbazzar is here addressed. This name has not occurred before in this copy of Cyrus’s decree. We must suppose that the copyist gives a free paraphrase of its contents.

the house of God] The Divine name is here used absolutely for the God of Israel.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5.- Also let the gold and silver vessels... be restored. The decree terminated with instructions for the restoration of the vessels. Undoubtedly it was impressed upon Cyrus, when he took Babylon, tEzra 6:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"And also let the vessels ... be restored, and brought again to the temple at Jerusalem, to their place, and (thou) shalt place them in the house of God." On the matter of this verse, comp. Ezra 1:7 and Ezra 5:14. The sing. יהך (comp. Ezra 5:5) is distributive: it (each vessel) to its place. ותחת (comp. אחת Ezra 5:15) cannot, according to the sense, be third pers. fem. (neutr.), but only second pers. imperf. Aphel: thou shalt place. None but Sheshbazzar can be addressed (Ezra 5:15), though he is not named in Ezra 6:3. The historian is evidently not giving the contents of the document word for word, but only its essential matter; hence he infers the address to Sheshbazzar from the answer of the Jewish elders (Ezra 5:15). Perhaps it was also remarked in the document, that Coresh caused the sacred vessels to be delivered to Sheshbazzar (Ezra 1:8).