The Pulpit Commentary — Ezra — Section 122

Ver. 21.-Then I proclaimed a fast there. Go<l, it ought to be hande<l over at once to The 1ight of the civil ruler to "proclaim a the custo~y ~f the ministers of religion, and fast" was unquestioned among the Jews anrl not remam m secular hands (compare ver. Israelites. Jezebel proclaimed one in Ahab's 28). name when she wished to impress the Ver. 25.-And weighed unto them the Jezreelites with the notion that a great silver, &~. We may gather from this that crime had been committed. Jehoshaphat the silve: an~ gold were in bars or ingots, did the same when he was invaded by the and not m corned money. The Persians harl Ammonites, Moabites, and Mehunim (2 coined money at this time, but the Treasury Chron. xx. 1-3). A fast was proclaimed kept the bulk of its stores in bars (Herod., in the fifth year of J ehoiakim when the iii. 96). kingdom of Judah was menaced by Nebu- Ver. 26. -Six hundred and fifty talents of chadnezzar (Jer. xxxvi. 9). Ezra therefore silver, accordin~ to l'rlr. Poole's estimate of assumes that he may command one now, in the talent, would be nearly a quarter of a connection with the perils of the coming million of onr money. The annual revenue journey. That we might afflict ourselves. of Persia was about three and a half millions The Jews were commanded to "afflict them- (Herod., iii. 95). Of gold an hundred selves" on the great day of atonement (Lev. talents. Rather more than a million of our xvi. 29), and understood that the affliction money. was to be mainly by fasting and abstaining Ver. 27.-Twenty basons of gold, of a. from the bath. To ask of him a right way. thousand drams (see comment on eh. ii. 69). Or "a direct road," i. e. a prosperous and The "basons" would be worth about £55 unimpeded journey to Jerusalem. For us each. Fine copper, precious as gold. The and our little ones. The colonists went up metal intended is probably that known to attended by their families. the Romans as orichalchum, which is gener- Ver. 22.-I was ashamed to require of ally believed to have been brass, but which the king a band of soldiers. Before he may have been a more complicated amalgam. apprehended danger Ezra had boasted to Being rarely, and perhaps only accidentally, Artaxerxes of the power and goodness of produced, this metal was highly value<l. God, and had spoken of himself and his Ver. 28.-Ye are holy. Consecrated to brethren as assured of the Di vine protection. God by their office, the priests and Levites Now that peril threatened he found himself were the fitting custodians of consecrated afraid, and would have been glad of such an things. escort as Nehemiah obtained at a later date Ver. 29.-The chambers of the house of (Neh. ii. 9). But after his boasts he was the Lord are the rooms placed on either side ashamed to confess his fear. Who the of the main building (see 1 Kings vi. 5), enemy in the way was it is impossible to partly as chambers for the priests, partly as decide ; but we may gather from ver. 31 store-rooms (see Neh. xiii. 5). that it was no imaginary foe. Probably Ver. 31.-The river of Ahava. Rnther, some of the Arab tribes, who owed no alle- "the river Ahava," as in the Vulg,tte ("11 giance to Persia, had formed a design to llumine Ahava "). The place had probably intercept the caravnn and plunder it. taken its name from the stream. The Ver. 24.-Then I separated twelve of twelfth day of the :first month. Compare the ohief of the priests, Bherebiah, Hasha- eh. vii. 9, and viii. 15, from which it appears biah, &c. Our translators, following the that Ahava was reached by Ezra and his Vulgate, have omitted to render the pre- company on the ninth day after they left position ~. which occurs in the Hebrew text Babylon, which helps to identify Ahava with before the name of Sherebiah, and have Is, since Is (according to Herodotus) was thus represented Sherebiah and Hashabiah eight days' journey from Babylon (see com- as priests, whereas they were not priests, hut ment on ver. 15). God delivered us from Levites, as appears from vers. 18, 19. The . . . . such as lay in wait. The boast of true sense is given by the LXX.-" Then I Ezm (ver. 22) was justified by the event. assigned twelve of the chief priests to Shere- Ho "trusted in God," and was "delivered" biah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren ; " -how delivered we are not told, but i. e. "then I appointed twelve chief priests evidently throncrh no "arm of flesh." The to act with twelve chief Levites, of whom hand of God le~ him safely through all the Shercbiah and Hnshabiah were two, in the perils of the way, and brought him and his matter of the royal offering." Ezra seems companions without loss or damage to tho to hnve considered, th11t ns the gift of "city of their rest." Artaicerxes was 11n offering to the house of EzR.A's THREE DAYS' REST AT JEIWSALE.:11,  128 THE BOOK OF EZRA. [en. vm. 21--88.