GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
EZRA 8:24-31
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24 Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them. 25 I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the articles which the king, his counselors and his lords and all Israel who were present there had offered for the house of our God. 26 I weighed out to them 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels worth 100 talents, and 100 talents of gold, 27 twenty golden bowls worth 1,000 darics, and two polished bronze vessels as precious as gold.
This distribution of the treasure is an important detail. They were about to travel some six hundred miles without an armed escort with something approaching ten tons of precious metals; mostly in Persian silver and gold coins. A Bactrian camel (the kind with two humps) can carry a quarter of a ton. Taking into account the need to carry water, food, and personal items, this would have been a big caravan.
King Artaxerxes had a policy of giving large gifts to expeditions like this one, and of encouraging (commanding) those Jews who were not going along to give gifts as well. Commentator Derek Kidner explains: “If the God of the Jews were no more than a name (he might have argued), the whole exercise was pointless. But if he existed, he would expect tangible courtesies from a king– and the scale of them should reflect the donor’s power and majesty” (Ezra and Nehemiah, Tyndale Commentary, p. 66).
28 Then I said to them, “You are holy to the LORD, and the vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of our fathers. 29 Guard them and keep them until you weigh them out before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of families of Israel at Jerusalem, within the chambers of the house of the LORD.” 30 So the priests and the Levites took the full weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God. 31 Then on the twelfth day of the first month we departed from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes along the way.
Without commenting about the occasion, Ezra departed just three days before Passover, on the twelfth day of Nisan, which was the first month. On this occasion, the need to travel would surpass the need to observe the festival.
Away from their camp by the Canal they went. Northward they walked in order to travel south and west, for the Lord delights in the small, things, the foolish things, in order to destroy the wisdom of the wise and the intelligence of the intelligent. On the third day of their walk they would observe not only the passing of the Passover, but the foreshadowing of the Great Passover, the crucifixion of the Lamb of God, an offense to the Jews of his day and foolishness to Gentiles. An ancient poet wrote:
“He who hung the earth is hanging.
He who fixed the heavens in place has been fixed in place.
He who laid the foundations of the universe
has been laid on a tree.
The Master has been profaned.
God has been murdered.
The King of Israel has been destroyed
by an Israelite right hand.
The Lord clothed himself with humanity,
And with suffering on behalf of the suffering one
And bound on behalf of the one constrained,
And judged on behalf of the one convicted,
And buried on behalf of the one entombed,
Rose from the dead…” (Melito of Sardis)
Ezra teaches us that twelve priests of the temple received this great treasure given by the earth’s great king, twelve priests standing in for the twelve tribes of Israel. Like a finger at the other end of time this reception of this great, almost inestimable treasure, carried without warriors to guard it, guarded by God and his angels alone, points ahead to the giving of a far greater treasure, even more inestimable, given by the King of Kings alone, and received by more than the tribes of Israel, but by all the world. Christ our Savior, given for us. Christ our Lord, who lived perfectly in our stead. Christ our King, who suffered and died to atone for our sins. Christ the Firstfruits, who rose before us all, to prove the Father’s love and the Spirit’s truth and his own great good will toward men.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Ezra 8:24-31 Three days to Passover