Ezra 1:8

Even these did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer,.... Or Mithridates, a name common with the Persians, from their god Mithras, the sun they worshipped: and

Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.

Numbered them, i.e. he caused them to be delivered to the Jews by number. Unto Sheshbazzar, i.e. Zorobabel, as appears by comparing , with , to whom the Persians, or rather the Chaldeans, had given this name of Sheshbazzar, as they gave other names to Daniel and his companions, . The prince of Judah, and the captain and governor of these returning Jews, . So the sceptre is not yet departed from Judah.

Ezra 1:8 Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.Ver. 8. Even those did Cyrus king of Persia] So styled, because, though he was monarch of many countries, yet Persia was his hereditary kingdom, and Persepolis the place of his residence; which great city was afterwards burnt by Alexander the Great, at the motion and by the request of a base harlot. By the hand of Mithredath the treasurer] Heb. Gizhar; Inde Gasper, saith one. Mithridates, king of Pontus, was famous in later ages, or, rather infamous, for his craft in saving himself, and his cruelty to the Roman merchants, trading through his territories, killing eighty thousand of them with one letter (Val. Max.). And numbered them unto Sheshbazzar] Joy in tribulation, this is the signification of the word; a fit name for a prince, who should be Deliciae orbis, as Titus the emperor, of whom it is said, that he never sent away any suitor sad or discontented, Neminem a se dimisit tristem (Sueton.); and remembering on a day that he had not done any poor man good, he cried out to his friends, Hodie non regnavimus: Amici, diem perdidi, accounting that day lost wherein he had not showed some man courtesy. Such a gracious prince was Job, Job 29:12, "I delivered the poor that cried," saith he, "and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him." The Great Turk styleth himself, The world’ s refuge; professing that all that lament unto him shall have redress and help. James V of Scotland was called "The poor man’ s king," for his readiness to right and relieve the afflicted. Zerubbabel, however he came by this name Sheshbazzar for that he was the man I take for granted, Ezra 5:16; Ezra 3:8 Zechariah 4:9, though Junius thinks otherwise), he deserved it doubtless; and of him it might well be said, as the historian Vopiscus doth of Probus the emperor, Si probi nomen non haberet, habere cognomen posset, pity he had been called anything but Probus, so honest a prince he was: think the like here. The parliament here held A.D. 1376 was called The Good Parliament; and another not long after Parlamentum benedictum, The Blessed Parliament. God grant us such a one next (this was written, May 18, 1653); for at present we are without any, but not without cause to cry out, as those in Jeremiah 8:20; Jeremiah 8:22, The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not helped. "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!" Jeremiah 8:15

(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 8. Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.] This was probably the Chaldean name of him who was originally called Zerubbabel: the former signifies joy in affliction; the latter, a stranger in Babylon. The latter may be designed to refer to his captive state; the former, to the prospect of release. Some think this was quite a different person, a Persian or Chaldean, sent by Cyrus to superintend whatever officers or men Cyrus might have sent to assist the Jews on their return; and to procure them help in the Chaldean provinces, through which they might be obliged to travel.

8. by the hand of] So A.V. and R.V. This phrase in the original is a little difficult. It occurs Ezra 8:26, ‘I even weighed into their hand &c.’, 33, ‘was the silver and the gold and the vessels weighed into the hand of, &c. (marg. ‘by’), Esther 6:9, ‘let the apparel and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes’. It seems better here to render ‘into the hand of’. The vessels were brought out and given into the charge of Mithredath, who was to superintend their numbering. Mithredath the treasurer] This is the Hebrew form of the old Persian name ‘Mithradata’, familiar to us as Mithridates. On coins we find the more correct transliteration ‘Mithradates’. It was a very common name among the Medo-Persians, cf. Ezra 4:7. It is derived from ‘Mithras’, the name of the Persian sun-god, and the root ‘da’ = to give, and has been differently understood to mean either ‘given by Mithras’, or ‘given, i.e. dedicated, to Mithras’. Of these the former is the preferable Cf. Hormisdas = ‘given by Ormuzd’, Theodotus = ‘given by God’. the treasurer] The word in the original is a Persian, not a Hebrew word, and occurs again Ezra 7:21; Daniel 3:2-3. The ‘gizbar’, Old Persian ‘gazabara’, mentioned here seems to have been the king’s Privy Purse, the bearer or dispenser of the royal treasure. The Persian word will remind the student of the Hellenistic ‘gaza’ (γάζα) = ‘treasure’ adopted from the Persian. The Ethiopian Eunuch, chamberlain to queen Candace, was ‘over all her treasure’, ἐπὶπάσηςτῆςγάζηςαὐτῆς (Acts 8:27). The word for ‘the treasury’, used in the gospels, means “the place for keeping the ‘gaza’,” γαζοφυλάκιον (cf. Mark 12:41; Luke 21:1; John 8:20). and numbered them] so A.V. R.V. Better, and he numbered them. The king made the gift; his officer had the charge of its disposition and valuation. unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah] There seems to be no good reason to doubt that the Sheshbazzar mentioned here and in Ezra 5:14; Ezra 5:16 is the same as Zerubbabel. For although Zerubbabel (Ezra 3:2; Ezra 3:8, Ezra 4:3, Ezra 5:2) is not designated by any official title in our book, still (1) the manner in which he is regarded as the representative of the Jewish returned exiles in Ezra 4:2, (2) the fact that his name, as that of the chief layman and of the head of the Davidic line, is associated with that of the High-priest Jeshua in the general administration, Ezra 3:2; Ezra 3:8, Ezra 4:3, Ezra 5:2; Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 3:4, (3) the title of ‘governor (pekhah) of Judah’ given him by the prophet Haggai (Ezra 1:1, Ezra 2:2; Ezra 2:21), and given also to Sheshbazzar (Ezra 5:14) make it reasonable to suppose that Sheshbazzar was another name of Zerubbabel, just as Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were the names given in the Captivity to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (Daniel 1:6-7).

Mithredath - Or, “Mithridates.” The occurrence of this name, which means “given by Mithra” or “dedicated to Mithra,” is an indication that the sun-worship of the Persians was at least as old as the time of Cyrus. Sheshbazzar - i.

8. Sheshbazzar — The Chaldee or Persian name of the prince of Judah, who is elsewhere called Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:2; Ezra 3:2; Ezra 3:8; Ezra 4:2, etc.; compare Ezra 5:16, and Zechariah 4:9.