The Pulpit Commentary — Ezra — Section 11

J. e. nil their neighbours. Strengthened him~elf, in his inscriptions generally, as e. their he.nds. This is the literal rendering. special devotee of a smgle Babylonian god, The margin gives the right meaning- Merodach, whose _temple, called by the " helped them." With precious things. Greeks that of Bel, IS no doubt here intended Migdarw_th, e. re.re wo:rd, only UBed he~e, in (comp. Dan. i 2). Gen. xx1v. 63, nnd m 2 Chron. XXL 3 ; Ver. 8.-llrlithrede.th the treasurer. Not always connected with silver e.nd gold ; de- "Mithridates, the son of Gaza.bar," as the rived from meged, which means "precious." Vulgate renders. The Hebrew gizbtlr repre- Besides e.11 the.t we.s willingly offered sents e. }'.ersie.n word, gazaba;ra or ganza.- (comp. ver. 4). The gold, silver, precioUB bara, which had no doubt the meaning of things, &c. previously mentioned were free "treasurer," literally "treasure- bearer." gifts to individual Jews, and were additional We have here the first occurrence of the to certain offerings which were intrusted to famous name, borne by so many great kings, them for conveyance to Jerusalem. On the of Mithridates. The name is thoroughly value attached by the Persians to offerings Persian, and is excellently rendered by the made in Jerusalem to Jehovah, see below, Hebrew "'.??i;'?• It means either "given by eh. vi. 10, and vii 17. Mithra." or "dedicated to Mithra," and is THE RESTORATION OF THE SACRED VES• distinct evidence of the worship of Mithra BELS BY CYRUS (vers. 7-11). Following by the Persians as early as the time of Cyrns. Mithra was the sun, and was venerated as the ordinary custom of the early Oriental Mitra by the early Vedic Indians. His conquerors, Nebuchadnezzar, long before he worship in later Persia is clearly established ; destroyed the Jewish temple, had carried off but, except for the name of Mithredath in from it, partly as trophies of victory, partly this place, it would have been doubtful e.s articles of value, many of the sacred i whether he was e.s yet an object of religious veneration to the Iranians. Bheshbazze.r. It vessels used in the temple service (see 2 • is genere.lly allowed that this was the Chalda!an Chron. xxxvi. 10; Jer. x.xviL 19, 20; Dan. or court name of ZerubbabeL (The chief i 2}. At his final capture and destruction of evidence of this is to be found in eh. v. 16 Jerusalem he bore off the remainder (2 Kings compared with eh. iii 8.) Wbat the name xxv. 14, 15}. These he deposited at Baby- signified is uncertain. The prince of Judah. lon in the temple of Merodach (or Bel), the Zerubbabel was the son of Pedaiah, brother of Salathiel, who was the legal heir of J ehoi- god whom he chiefly worshipped (Dan. i 2}, e.chin, king of Judah. He appears to have where they probably remained until Belshe.z- been adopted by Sale.thiel as his son, and to zar had them brought out and desecrated at have been recognized as the legitimate heir to his great banquet (ibid. v. 2). A religious the throne of David. Thus he did not owe instinct now prompted the Persian king to his appointment to the mere favour of Cyrus, but was the natural leader of the people. give the vessels be.ck, in order that they Ver. 9.-Che.rgers. Agarteley, a rare might revert to their original use. The word, perhaps Persian. The LXX. translate careful enumeration of them (vers. 9-11) is 1/iv,crijpE,, "wine-coolers;" the Vulgate has characteristic of Ezra, who is very minute phiala:, "vases ; " the apocryphal Esdras, t1'll'ovotia, "vessels for drink-offerings." and exact in his details, and fond of me.king Probably basons or bowls nre intended. lists or catalogues. Knives. Machaldphim, another rare word Ver. 7.-The veeeels. Probably all that of doubtful sense. The LXX. render 'll'ap11X- he could find, yet scarcely all that had been Xayµ.,va, "changes," regarding the word 11s ta.ken away, since many of these were of derived from !11,l"T, "to exchange." The bronze (2 Kings xxv. 14}, and the restored apocryphal Esdras has llvt<1,ca1, " censers." vessels seem to have been, all of them, either But the most usual translation is that of the of gold or silver (see ver. 11). Which A. V., "knives." Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth. The Ver. 10.-0fa second sort. Not" double,• ~ g off of sacred vessels, e.s well e.s as the LXX. render ; but "secondary," or llllages, from temples is often represented in "of inferior quality" (comp. 1 Sam. xv. 9 the Assyrian sculptures. It was a practice where mislvnim has the same meaning). even of the Romans, and is commemorated Ver. 11.-All the vessels were five thou· on the Pillar of Titus, where the seven- sand and four hundred. The numbers pre- branched candlestick of the Jewish temple is viously given produce e. total of only 2499, repr?sented as borne in triumph by Roman or less than half of this amount. There eold1_ers. And had put them in the house must be some corruption, but whether in of hi~ gods. Eloha,yv, which is the form the tote.I or the items is uncertain. The used m the text 1 can only mean "his god " apocryphal Esdre.s raises the total number of not "his gods. " Nebuche.dnezz11r represents the vessels to 6469.  10 THE BOOK OF EZRA. [cH. I. 5-11,