And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors have freely offered unto the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem. In the temple built there; for the service of which, either for purchasing and procuring vessels that were wanting in it, or for sacrifices to be offered in it, the king and his nobles had made a voluntary contribution, and intrusted and sent Ezra with it. read more
The reformer's commission. The insertion here of this decree of Artaxerxes at length, and in its original Chaldee form, is in more or less close keeping with the earlier parts of this book ( Ezra 1:2-4 ; Ezra 4:11-16 , Ezra 4:17-22 ; Ezra 5:6-17 ; Ezra 6:3-12 ); and furnishes an argument, therefore, strongly in favour of the unity of authorship of the whole book. It is also in keeping with the character of Ezra himself. As a special student of God's written law, he would... read more
Pagan piety. It is certainly a striking fact that a second Persian monarch should have shown so right a feeling toward the people and the cause of God. We have in this Artaxerxes another illustration of pagan piety. We see— I. ITS FAITH . "Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done," etc. ( Ezra 7:23 ). Evidently Artaxerxes thoroughly believed in the existence and the power of Jehovah. It is noteworthy that he speaks of him not as the God of Judaea or... read more
Ezra's commission from Artaxerxes. After giving a general account of the exodus of Israel from Babylon under his leadership, Ezra transcribes the letter of the king of Persia containing his commission. In considering this very remarkable document, we notice— I. THE GREETING . 1. The monarch announces himself. "Artaxerxes king of kings." 2. He addresses his letter : II. THE FAVOURS . Verse 13, etc. The particulars are— 1. Permission to go up to Jerusalem. ... read more
1. the permission accorded to all Persian subjects of Israelite descent to accompany Ezra to Jerusalem (verse 13); 2. the commission to Ezra to convey to Jerusalem certain offerings made by the king and his chief courtiers to the God of Israel (verses 15, 19); 3. the permission given him to convey to Jerusalem the free-will offerings of Jews and others resident in Babylonia (verse 16); 4. permission to Ezra to draw on the royal treasury to the amount of a hundred talents of... read more
And to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors have freely offered. Large sums in specie had in ancient times to be remitted from one country to another under escort . The roads were never safe from robbers; and the more considerable the remittance, the greater the danger of its being intercepted. We hear of its being usual to protect the treasure annually remitted to Jerusalem from Babylon in Roman times by an escort of above 20,000 men (see Joseph; 'Ant. Jud.,'... read more
Ezra 7:15-16. Which the king and his counsellors have freely offered unto the God of Israel This shows that they had a high opinion of the God of Israel, and were desirous of his favour. And all the silver and gold that thou canst find That is, procure, as שׁכח , shechach, often signifies. Whatsoever thou canst get of my subjects, by way of free gift. With the free-will-offering of the people Namely, of Israel. read more
7:1-8:36 RETURN UNDER EZRAThe temple was completed in 516 BC. Ezra’s return was in 458 BC, the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes I (see 7:1,7). There is therefore a gap of about sixty years between Chapters 6 and 7. By the time of Ezra, former leaders such as Zerubbabel, Joshua, Haggai and Zechariah had died. Without their leadership, Israel’s religious life became weak and its community life disordered. The only detailed information that the Bible gives of events during these years is... read more
Israel. See note on 1 Kings 12:17 . read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezra 7:11-26
We have here the commission which the Persian emperor granted to Ezra, giving him authority to act for the good of the Jews; and it is very ample and full, and beyond what could have been expected. The commission runs, we suppose, in the usual form: Artaxerxes, King of kings. This however is too high a title for any mortal man to assume; he was indeed king of some kings, but to speak as if he were king of all kings was to usurp his prerogative who hath all power both in heaven and in earth. He... read more