Ezra 2:69

They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the world threescore and one thousand drachms of gold,.... These "darcemons or darics" were a Persian coin; one of which, according to Brerewood

They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the work threescore and one thousand drams of gold, and five thousand pound of silver, and one hundred priests' garments.

A dram of gold is supposed to be of the weight of the fourth part of a shekel, and of the value of a French crown.

Ezra 2:69 They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the work threescore and one thousand drams of gold, and five thousand pound of silver, and one hundred priests’ garments.Ver. 69. They gave after their ability] Men must take heed they stretch not beyond the staple, and so mar all. But few are herein faulty; few Macedonians, that, to their power and beyond, are willing of themselves, &c., 2 Corinthians 8:8. Rari quippe boni. Threescore and one thousand drams of gold] That is, nineteen thousand sixty-two pounds ten shillings. And five thousand pound of silver] i.e. Fifteen thousand pounds sterling. These sums of money, together with the costly priests’ garments, though they fall far short of what was provided and given in David’ s days, 1 Chronicles 22:1-19 1 Chronicles 29:1-30, towards the building of the first temple; yet, considering the mind of this poor people, and their small ability, this gift was as great in God’ s account. See Luke 21:1-2. The widow’ s mite was beyond the rich man’ s magnificence, because it came out of a richer mind.

(69) The dram being a daric of a little more than our guinea, and the pound, or maneh, a little more than £4. the whole would be nearly £90,000, and not an exorbitant sum for a community far from poor. But Nehemiah c statement is smaller, and probably more correct. One hundred priests’ garments.—An almost necessary correction or supply in the defective text of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 7:70) makes his “four hundred and thirty priests’ garments,” as contributed by the Tirshatha, “five hundred pounds of silver and thirty priests’ garments.” This being so, the two accounts agree, always allowing that Ezra’s 61,000 is a corruption of 41,000 in the gold, and his 5,000 pounds of silver and 100 priests’ garments round numbers.

Verse 69. Threescore and one thousand drams of gold] דרכמונים darkemonim, drakmons or darics; a Persian coin, always of gold, and worth about 1£. 5s., not less than £76,250 sterling in gold. Five thousand pounds of silver] מנים manim, manehs or minas. As a weight, the maneh was 100 shekels; as a coin, 60 shekels in value, or about 9£.; 5000 of these manehs therefore will amount to £45,000, making in the whole a sum of about £120,000; and in this are not included the 100 garments for priests. Thus we find that God, in the midst of judgment, remembered mercy, and gave them favour in the land of their captivity.

69. they gave &c.] There is a slight discrepancy between the sums mentioned in this verse and the sums recorded in greater detail in Nehemiah. The figures stand thus— EzraHeads of fathers’ houses 61,000 darics of gold ,000 pounds of silver priests’ garments. Nehemiahdarics of goldbasonspounds silverpriests’ garmentsTirshatha 1,000 50 500? 30 Heads of fathers’houses 20,000 2,200 Rest of people 20,000 2,000 67 Total 41,000 4,700 97 The contributions as described in Ezra are all placed to the credit of the heads of fathers’ houses; in Nehemiah we find a considerable portion contributed by the Tirshatha and by the rest of the people. (a) The 61,000 darics of gold appear to consist of the Tirshatha’s 1000+other contributions of which we are able to identify 40,000 (i.e. 20,000 given by heads of fathers’ houses+20,000 given by the rest of the people). Perhaps the value of 50 basons and of the other gifts amounted to a figure which could be described in round numbers as 20,000. (b) The 5,000 pounds of silver express in round numbers the 2,200 contributed by the heads of fathers’ houses+the 2,000 by the rest of the people+500 pounds silver given by the Tirshatha (the probable reading of Neh 7:70). (c) The 100 priests’ garments represent the 30 given by the Tirshatha (probable reading of Neh 7:70), and the 67 given by the rest of the people. after their ability] literally ‘strength’ or ‘power’ as in Daniel 1:4 : not elsewhere of ‘wealth’. The word rendered ‘ability’ in Nehemiah 5:8 is different and denotes ‘sufficiency’. unto the treasure] R.V. into the treasury.drams] R.V. darics. The A.V. translation ‘dram’ seems to suppose that the coin spoken of was the Greek ‘drachma’. It is in reality the well-known Persian gold coin ‘daric’. The name has commonly been derived from the Darius who was said to have first had the piece coined. But this is far from certain. The word ‘daric’ more probably refers to the emblem on the coin, and is to be derived either from a Persian word meaning ‘a bow’, or from ‘dara’ = ‘a king’, cf. our ‘sovereign’. The obverse side of the coin has the figure of a crowned king, kneeling, holding in his right hand a sceptre or spear and in his left a bow; for the sake possibly of securing a good impression, the reverse of the coin was left rough. The ‘daric’ is transliterated into Hebrew as ‘Adarcon’ in chap. Ezra 8:27; 1 Chronicles 29:7 : but in this verse and in Nehemiah 7:70-72 it appears as ‘Darcemon’ with a various reading ‘Adarcemon’. Its value was as nearly as possible equivalent to our sovereign. The coin is by some identified with the gold stater of Crœsus, the last king of Lydia. This is the first mention of coined money in the Old Testament, as the reference to ‘darics’ in David’s reign (1 Chronicles 29:7) is strictly an anachronism. pound] Hebr. ‘maneh’. We do not find in the Old Testament any mention of Persian silver coinage.

The numbers here and in Nehemiah (see the marginal reference) vary.

69. Threescore and one thousand — Literally, Six myriads and one thousand. Drams of gold — Rather, gold darics.