Ezra 3:7

They gave money also to the masons, and to the carpenters,.... To buy stone and timber with for the building of the temple: and meat and drink and oil unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre; which

They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to

Ezra 3:7 They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.Ver. 7. They gave money also unto the masons and carpenters] Who usually get it and eat it, laying up little; their life is called the life of their hands, because maintained by the labour of their hands, Isaiah 57:10; Isaiah 57:14; day wages they must have, or they cannot subsist; and these good Jews spared for no cost, but gave money out of the bag freely to these workmen. Idolaters care not what cost they cast away upon their dumb idols: Drum alienum dotant, so some read that text, Psalms 16:4. The Turkish stately mosques, and Popish Basilicae, stuffed with vowed presents and memories, as they call them, are things known to all. When the famous artificer Phidias advised the Athenians to make the statue of Minerva rather of marble than of ivory, 1. Because more durable, this passed with allowance; 2. Because less chargeable, this they abhorred, and bade him say no more of such a matter. And meat, and drink, and oil] More prized by the Tyrians and Sidonians than money, because their country was nourished by this country, Acts 12:20, as being barren, and not bringing forth provision enough for themselves. Diogenes deeply taxed the folly of his Athenians, that prized money so much and bread grain so little; when as the life of man could be without that, but not without the other. To bring cedar trees] Smooth and durable, and every way fit for fair buildings; and, therefore, made choice of by God himself, 2 Samuel 7:7, by Solomon for the first temple, 1 Kings 5:6, and by these Jews for the second. The temple of Diana at Ephesus was likewise built of cedar; as the devil affecteth to be God’ s ape. To the sea of Joppa] This was a harbour, Joshua 19:46 Acts 9:43 Jonah 1:3, and hath its name, a pulchritudine et elegantia, from its beauty and bravery, such as draweth love and liking. It might have been called The Fair Havens, as well as that place nigh unto the city of Lasea, Acts 27:8, which retaineth the same name unto this day. According to the grant] Or licence, which they took in the largest extent, as we also ought to do God’ s gracious promises. Promissa sunt amplianda; and we must labour to see our own names written in them.

(7) They gave money.—Their own workmen were paid in money; the Phoenicians, as in Solomon’s days (1 Kings 5; 2 Chronicles 2), were paid in kind. This illustrates and is illustrated by Acts 12:20. The sea of Joppa.—The Jewish port to which the cedar-trees were sent by sea, and thence thirty-five miles inland to Jerusalem. The grant.—The authority of Cyrus over Phœnicia seems not to have been doubtful.

Verse 7. They gave money also] They copied the conduct of Solomon while he was building his temple; see 1Kg 5:11. He employed the Tyrians, gave them meat and drink, c. and this permission they now had from Cyrus.

7. First steps taken towards the Rebuilding of the Templethe masons] The stone for the Temple was excavated from the hill on which Jerusalem stood. It is possible that the word rendered ‘masons’ may include the rougher workmen for both stone and wood, i.e. quarrymen and wood cutters, while the word rendered ‘carpenters’ may mean the skilled artificers for working up the wood and stone. meat] The old English expression for ‘something to eat’. Cf. Luke 24:41, ‘Have ye here any meat?’ (R.V. ‘anything to eat?’). oil] One of the necessities of life for the inhabitants of a hot country, applied externally: classed here with meat and drink, and apparently also in Psalms 23:5; Psalms 104:15; Micah 6:15. Solomon hired workmen from Tyre and Sidon and paid them in the same way, when the first Temple was erected. It is noteworthy that whereas 1 Kings 5:11 states that Solomon gave Hiram’s household wheat and oil, we are told in 2 Chronicles 2:10 that he promised to give Hiram’s servants ‘wheat and barley and wine and oil’. On this occasion similar payment in kind was given—a heavy tax upon the resources of the young community—to the Zidonians and Tyrians, engaged in felling trees on Lebanon and floating them to Joppa. from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa] R.V. from Lebanon to the sea, unto Joppa. The mountain of Lebanon from which cedars were obtained and sent into every country far and near (e.g. 2 Samuel 5:11; 2 Samuel 7:2; 1 Kings 5:6; 1 Chronicles 14:1, &c.). Cf. Jeremiah 22:23, ‘O inhabitant of Lebanon that makest thy nest in the cedars’. The Tyrian workmen conveyed the trunks of cedar-trees from the hills to the nearest coast and then floated them in enormous rafts as far as Joppa, the nearest seaport to Jerusalem. Compare 2 Chronicles 2:16, ‘And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need: and we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa (marg. Heb. Japho); and thou shalt carry it to Jerusalem.’ ‘To the sea of Joppa’, the A.V. rendering, preferred by some, is most unnatural. Joppa—the modern Jaffa—was included in the tribe of Dan (Joshua 19:46), but was never taken from the Philistines. Famous from the story of Jonah. In the Græco-Syrian period largely occupied by Jews, and included within Jewish territory by Jonathan and Simon, the brothers of Judas the Maccabee (see 1Ma 10:75). Peter at Joppa restored Tabitha (Acts 9:36-43), and was summoned thence by Cornelius (Acts 10:5). Now a small seaport, but of considerable importance. With certain improvements to the harbour it would become an important place. Distance 30 miles from Jerusalem. according to the grant that they had &c.] The ‘grant’ or permit seems to be the probable rendering of the Hebrew word, which does not occur elsewhere in the Old Testament. of Cyrus king of Persia] What is the grant referred to? It appears from Herodotus (iii. 34; see Rawlinson’s note on Herod. iii.

According to the grant - i. e., in accordance with the permission granted them by Cyrus to rebuild their temple Ezra 1:1-4.

7. They gave money also — The feast of tabernacles was made also an occasion of contributing to the fund necessary to rebuild the temple.