Ezra 1:11

All the vessels of gold, and of silver, were five thousand and four hundred,.... Those that are mentioned make no more than 2499, which Aben Ezra thinks were the larger vessels; but this general sum

All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.

Ezra 1:11 All the vessels of gold and of silver [were] five thousand and four hundred. All [these] did Sheshbazzar bring up with [them of] the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.Ver. 11. All the vessels of gold and of silver] Those best of metals, and therefore fittest for his use and service who is good, Psalms 106:1, better, Psalms 108:9, best, Philippians 1:23, goodness itself, Matthew 19:17. Whose great purse is the earth, with all that is either on it or in it, Psalms 24:1; whose great storehouse are the stars and planets, the sun especially making these metals, and causing plenty, Deuteronomy 28:12. Let us lavish out of the bag, and when we have honoured the Lord with the best of our best, cry out with David, Of thine own, Lord, have we given thee, 1 Chronicles 29:16; and with Justinian, dedicating a very rich communion table, τασαεκτωνσωνσοιπροσφερομενοιδαυλοισου, &c.

(5-11) Immediate result of the decree. (5) With all them whose spirit God had raised.—Namely, all is the more exact rendering. The same influence that prompted the decree of Cyrus was necessary to overcome the inertness of the captives: many preferred to remain in Babylon.—The people were enumerated as tribes, families, and fathers’ houses; the second and third orders of classification are not here distinguished from each other. (6) Precious things.—The Hebrew equivalent is a rare word, which, when it occurs, is connected only with the precious metals. Willingly offered.—Although it is not so said, the people of Cyrus were “stirred up” like himself: how much he gave, and how much he valued the worship of the Temple, we shall hereafter see. (7) His gods.—Rather, his god. Merodach, to wit, whom he called “his lord” (Daniel 1:2). From 2 Kings 25:13-17 it appears that much had been taken away which Cyrus had not been able to find. (8) Mithredath.—“Dedicated to Mithra,” the sun god of the Persians, whose worship among the Vedic Indians had thus early reached Persia. Sheshbazzar.—The Chaldee name of Zerubbabel, whose title, however, as Prince of Judah is given him from the Hebrew side. He was the legal heir of Jehoiachin, being the son of Pedaiah (1 Chronicles 3:19), who possibly married the widow of Salathiel or Shealtiel. And the title “Prince of Judah,” or “Prince of the captivity,” was specially given to him in common with a very few others. (9) Chargers and knives.—Rare words in the original, perhaps on the whole best rendered as here. (10) Of a second sort.—Of inferior quality. (11) Five thousand and four hundred.—The total of the several sums should be in round numbers, such as are frequently used, two thousand and five hundred. Obviously, therefore, the writer, whom we must needs suppose to have his own previous numbers before him, here includes vessels not before enumerated as chargers and basons. Bring up.—They were not, as sometimes said, the freewill offering of Cyrus. Sheshbazzar brought these rich vessels “with them of the captivity,” and they were sent as already belonging to God, who vindicated by His judgment on Babylon their desecration at the feast of Belshazzar.

Verse 11. All the vessels - were five thousand and four hundred.] This place is without doubt corrupted; here it is said the sum of all the vessels, of every quality and kind, was five thousand four hundred; but the enumeration of the articles, as given in Ezra 1:9; Ezra 1:10, gives the sum of two thousand four hundred and ninety-nine only. But we can correct this account from 1Esdras 2:13, 14. I shall set both accounts down, that they may be compared together. EZRA, Ezra 1:9-11. Golden chargers ...... 30 Silver chargers ....... 1000 Knives ................... 29 Golden basons ........ Silver ditto, second sort ... 410 Other vessels ......... ------ Said to be 5400 ....... only 2499 Difference of the first account from itself .. 2901 1 ESDRAS, 1Esdras 2:13, 14. Golden cups ....... Silver cups ......... Silver censers .... Golden vials ........ Silver vials ......... 2410 Other vessels ...... Total ................ 5469 Difference of the second account from the first ... 69 According, therefore, to the sum total in Ezra, the sum total in Esdras is only 69 different. See the next chapter. It may be said that the vessels did actually amount to 5400, and that the chief of them only were intended to be specified; and these happen to amount to 2499; but that it was not the design of Ezra to insert the whole; and that the ninth verse should be considered as stating, And of the chief of them, that is, the gold and silver articles, this is the number. But the expression in Ezra 1:10, other vessels, sets this conjecture aside: the place is most manifestly corrupted.

11. All the vessels, &c., five thousand and four hundred] It is natural to expect that the words ‘all the vessels’ would give us the sum total of the different figures mentioned in Ezra 1:9-10. The sum total however mentioned here Isaiah 5400. The vessels enumerated under the six classes (in Ezra 1:9-10), when added together, make only 2499. Unless we concede that the text is incorrect, the only solution of the variation is to suppose that Ezra 1:9-10 omit a large number of less important vessels. This is unsatisfactory, since the words ‘and other vessels a thousand’ are obviously intended to cover the remainder. It is probable therefore that the discrepancy arises from some ancient corruption in the text, which has been caused by copyists’ errors in transcribing numbers. This is a frequent source of mistake. The LXX. has the same text as the Hebrew, so that the error is of very ancient origin. The 1st Book of Esdras has two variations in the list of items, reading (1) ‘1000’ for ‘30’ ‘chargers of gold’, (2) ‘2410’ for ‘410’ ‘silver bowls’ (reading ‘2000’ instead of ‘a second sort’), and gives a total corresponding to its figures, i.e. 5469. Some scholars, seeing in the variations of 1 Esdras a clue to the true solution, maintain that the corruption of the text is to be found in the figures both of the items and of the total (a) They reject the variation of ‘1000’ for ‘30’ chargers as a round number inserted by 1 Esdras; (b) they read ‘1000’ for ‘30’ ‘bowls of gold’, on the ground that 30 is too small a figure, since Ezra himself brought 20 of this description (Ezra 8:28); (c) they read ‘2410’ for ‘410 of a second sort,’ on the authority of 1 Esdras. These alterations bring the total to 5469, agreeing with 1 Esdras. Ewald (a) combining the reading of Ezra and 1 Esdras reads ‘1030’ for ‘30’ ‘chargers’, (b) keeping the ‘30’ ‘bowls of gold’, accepts the 1 Esdras reading of 2410, and thus obtains the total of 5499. Keil suspecting that the corruption is to be found in the sum total rather than in the items, suggests that by an accidental transposition of figures the true number of 2500 has become altered to 5400. In favour of this view, it must be admitted that (1) the figure of 5400 is surprisingly large, (2) copyists had a greater tendency to increase than to reduce numbers. But as the items are given in detail, so we should expect the sum total to be given exactly and not merely in a round number. As we have the two best texts agreeing in this total figure 5400, it is better to look for the error among the items. The reading of 1 Esdras ‘2410’ may possibly be correct. But in the absence of further evidence we are left to conjecture either that some items have accidentally fallen out or that some of the present figures have been wrongly transcribed.

The sum of the numbers as they stand in the present Hebrew text Isaiah 2,499, instead of 5,400.

11. Five thousand and four hundred — This sum does not agree with the preceding numbers, which are 30+1,000+29+30+410+1,000=2,499. In 1Es 2:13-14, the number of vessels mentioned amounts to 5,469.