Ezra 8:25

And weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering of the house of our God, which the king, and his counsellers, and his lords, and all Israel there present, had offered:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) And weighed.—The gold and silver were in bars. According to the best computation, the silver would amount to a quarter of a million of our money, and the gold to about three-quarters of a million.

Benson Commentary

Ezra 8:25. And weighed unto them the silver and the gold — Because he expected to receive it from them again by weight. In all trusts, but especially sacred ones, we ought to be punctual, and preserve a right understanding on both sides. In Zerubbabel’s time the vessels were delivered by number, here by weight, that all might be forth-coming, and it might easily appear if any were missing.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:24-30 Do we expect that God should, by his providence, keep that which belongs to us, let us, by his grace, keep that which belongs to him. Let God's honour and interest be our care; and then we may expect that our lives and comforts will be his.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

What "enemy" menaced Ezra, and on what account, is wholly uncertain (compare Ezra 8:31). Perhaps robber-tribes, Arab or Syrian, were his opponents.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24-32. Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests … and weighed unto them the silver, &c.—The custody of the contributions and of the sacred vessels was, during the journey, committed to twelve of the chief priests, who, with the assistance of ten of their brethren, were to watch closely over them by the way, and deliver them into the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. The treasures in silver and gold, according to the value of the Babylonian talent, amounted to about £515,000 sterling.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And I weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels,.... When he delivered them to them; this he did as a proof of his own integrity and faithfulness, and as a security against any charge or accusation of embezzling any part of them, and to set them an example, and also that they might be under no temptation of acting such a part, and might be vindicated should they be charged with it: even

the offering of the house of our God; what was freely offered for the service of it:

which the king and his counsellors, and his lords, and all Israel there present, had offered; as freewill offerings, see Ezra 7:15.

Geneva Study Bible

And weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering of the house of our God, which the king, and his counsellors, and his lords, and all Israel there present, had offered:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. and weighed] Money was still for the most part reckoned by weight (cf. on Ezra 7:22).

the silver, &c.] The offerings referred to in Ezra 7:15-18, and the vessels given by the king and others Ezra 7:19; Ezra 7:27.

the offering of the house, &c.] R.V. the offering for the house. A dedicatory offering (t‘rûmah), as is described in Exodus 35:24. Literally ‘the offering of’, as in Exodus 30:15, ‘the offering of the Lord’, or ‘heave offering unto the Lord’, Numbers 18:26; Numbers 18:28-29; Numbers 31:29; 2 Chronicles 31:14, ‘the oblations of the Lord’. Here ‘the offering of’, i.e. ‘belonging to the house’ is equivalent to ‘the offering for the house.’ The expression does not occur again.

his counsellers] cf. on Ezra 7:14.

his lords] R.V. his princes; as in Ezra 7:28.

and all Israel there present] Literally ‘and all Israel that were found’. A peculiar phrase, occurring also in 1 Chronicles 29:17, ‘thy people which are present here’ (lit. that are found here); 2 Chronicles 5:11, ‘all the priests that were present’ (lit. that were found).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 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 stores in bars (Herod., 3:96). Ezra 8:25

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

To these chief priests and Levites Ezra weighed the silver and the gold and the vessels; שׁקל, to weigh, i.e., to deliver by weight. In the Chethiv אשׁקולה the O sound is maintained, and consequently the Keri is pointed -. On the other hand, in Ezra 8:26 the וּ is dropped, and the form pointed with -, though many MSS, followed by J. H. Michaelis, have ו- here also. אל בּית תּרוּמת is in apposition with the before-named objects: the gold, the silver, and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God, which the king, his councillors ... had offered; comp. Ezra 7:15-16, Ezra 7:19. In ההרימוּ the article represents the relative pronoun; see on 1 Chronicles 26:28. הנּמצאים, all Israelites who were found, met with, in Babylon, and were not going with them to Jerusalem; comp. 1 Chronicles 29:17; 2 Chronicles 5:11. ידם על, like יד על, Ezra 1:8, to their hand, i.e., handed over to their keeping. The gifts amounted to: six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels one hundred in talents, i.e., one hundred talents in value, one hundred talents of gold, and twenty covered basins of gold (comp. Ezra 1:10) one thousand dariks in value, and two brazen vessels of fine golden brilliancy, precious as gold. מצהב is an abstract noun, formed from the participle Hophal of צהב, to glitter like gold, and constructed as a feminine. The word, with its adjective, either depends upon נחשׁט, in the stat. construct., or stands in apposition thereto, and is not, as a participle Hophal, used adjectively and combined with נחשׁט, for then the two adjectives מצהב and טובה would not be in different genders. חמוּדות, like חמוּדות כּלי, 2 Chronicles 20:25.