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And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava,.... From whence also the river bore the same name; or that from the river, see Ezra 8:21, and may be the same with Adiabene, a country in Assyria, which had its name from the river Adiava: and there abode we in tents three days; or pitched their camp; this was the place of their...

Ezra 8:16

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding. These were all in the camp, in some part of it, to whom Ezra sent messengers to come unto him; three of them are of the same...

Ezra 8:17

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief, at the place Casiphia,.... Not a place by the Caspian sea, and near the Caspian mountains, as Munster, which was too far off to go and return in the time they must, see Ezra 7:9, but, as Jarchi, a place in Babylon so called, a village near it, or a parish or street in it, where Ezra knew lived...

Ezra 8:18

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And by the good hand of our God upon us,.... Favouring their designs and orders, protecting those that were sent, and inclining those they were sent to use their interest and authority with those that were under them, and making them willing also to agree to what was proposed to them: they brought us a man of understanding of the sons of Mahli,...

Ezra 8:19

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari,.... These were of the same division of Levites as Sherebiah: his brethren and their sons, twenty; these thirty eight, with those they came with, were all Levites; the Nethinims follow.

Ezra 8:20

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Also of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites,.... To wait upon them, and minister to them, as they did to the priests; some think those were the same with the Gibeonites, whom Joshua gave to the service of the sanctuary, and David confirmed; but others are of opinion these were different from them,...

Ezra 8:21

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava,.... After the messengers to Iddo were returned with those they brought with them: that we might afflict ourselves before our God; humble themselves before him for their sins, confess them, and declare their repentance of them, and ask forgiveness for them: to seek of him a right way for us; to...

Ezra 8:22

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

For I was ashamed to require of the kings band of soldiers and horsemen,.... Which he might have had, only asking for them; so great was the interest he had in the king's favour: to help us against the enemy in the way; the Arabs, Samaritans, and others, that might lie in wait for them, to rob them of their substance: because we had spoken unto...

Ezra 8:23

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

So we fasted, and besought our God for this,.... Sought the Lord by fasting and prayer for a good journey, and preservation in it: and he was entreated of us; accepted their prayer, as Jarchi, so that they came safe to Jerusalem.

Ezra 8:24

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Then I separated twelve of the chief of the priests,.... That were in company with him; so that it seems there were more than the two mentioned, Ezra 8:2, very probably their families, or some of their brethren, were with them: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them; these men named were Levites, and not priests, Ezra 8:18 and...

Ezra 8:25

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

And I weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels,.... When he delivered them to them; this he did as a proof of his own integrity and faithfulness, and as a security against any charge or accusation of embezzling any part of them, and to set them an example, and also that they might be under no temptation of acting such a part,...

Ezra 8:26

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

I even weighed unto their hand six hundred fifty talents of silver,.... Which, according to Scheuchzer (a) amount to 975,000 imperials, and, of our money, 2,229,450 pounds sterling: and silver vessels one hundred talents; which came to 35,300 pounds, or 50,000 imperials; according to Jarchi, there were one hundred vessels, and every vessel weighed...

Ezra 8:27

John Gill - Exposition - John Gill

Also twenty basins of gold, of a thousand drams,.... Which were upwards of 1000 pounds of our money; for Bishop Cumberland says (e), the Persian "daric", "drachma", or "drachm", weighed twenty shillings and four pence; and, according to Dr. Bernard, it exceeded one of our guineas by two grains, [See comments on 1 Chronicles 29:7] and two vessels...

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