John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 1:10
Thirty basins of gold ,.... Cups or dishes with covers, as the word seems to signify; but, according to Jarchi and Aben Ezra, they were vessels in which the blood of sacrifices was received, and out of which it was sprinkled on the altar: silver basins of a second sort four hundred and ten ; perhaps lesser than the other, however not so valuable, being of silver; in the Apocrypha:"And this was the number of them; A thousand golden cups, and a thousand of silver, censers of silver twenty... read more
John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 1:9
And this is the number of them ,.... Of the vessels delivered, as follows: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver ; these, according to Ben Melech, were vessels in which water was put to wash hands in; but rather they were, as Aben Ezra observes from the Jerusalem Talmud F18 T. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 41. 1. , vessels in which they gathered the blood of lambs and bullocks slain for sacrifices: nine and twenty knives ; which, because the handles of them were of gold... read more