Ezra 5:14 - Exposition

The vessels also of gold and silver. See Ezra 1:7-11 . On the great importance attached to these vessels, see the comment on Ezra 1:7 . So long as they remained at Babylon they were a tangible evidence of the conquest, a glory to the Babylonians, and a disgrace to the Jews. Their retention was a perpetual desecration. Their restoration by Cyrus was an act at once of piety and of kindliness. On the temple of Babylon , out of which Cyrus took them, see the comment on Ezra 1:7 .