290 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the Lord that is at Jerusalem,.... That is, when they came to the place where it formerly stood, and where were still the ruins of it: offered freely for the house of God, to set it up in its place; to rebuild it upon the spot where it formerly stood; this they did besides the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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 (k), was of the value of fifteen shillings of our money, and so this quantity of them amounted to 45,750 pounds; but according to Bishop Cumberland (l)...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So the priests and the Levites, and some of the people, and the singers, and the Nethinims, dwelt in their cities,.... Which were assigned to them out of the several tribes, and in which they or their forefathers had dwelt before the captivity: and all Israel in their cities; as those of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, so of the other ten, as...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Ezra 3 This chapter relates how that the people of Israel returned from captivity, gathered to Jerusalem, and set up the altar, where sacrifices were offered, Ezra 3:1, and kept the feast of tabernacles, and offered the sacrifices of that, besides the daily sacrifice, and of other festivals; and contributed to the workmen that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the seventh month was come,.... The month Tisri, which answers to part of September and October; or when it "was approaching" (p), for before it was actually come some following things were done, the people met, and an altar was built; for on the first day of it sacrifices were offered, Ezra 3:6, and the children of Israel were in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak,.... Who was the high priest, and the proper person to give the lead in the following work: and his brethren the priests; the common priests, very fit to join him, and assist him in it: and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel; the prince and governor of Judah, whose presence was necessary to give countenance to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they set the altar upon his bases,.... Which might remain of the old altar; or the meaning is, that it was fixed and settled on the same spot where it stood before: for fear was upon them, because of the people of those countries; and therefore they hastened to erect an altar, and offer sacrifices to the Lord, in hope that he would appear for...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written,.... According to the rules prescribed for the observation of it in Leviticus 23:34 this began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month: and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required; for on all the eight days of the feast there...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And afterwards offered the continual burnt offering,.... Not after the feast of tabernacles, as if they then began to offer the daily sacrifice; for that they did as soon as the altar was set up, and on the first day of the month, Ezra 3:3, rather the sense is, that after the daily burnt offering of the morning, they offered the other sacrifices...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
From the first of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord,.... And which day was not only a new moon, but a grand festival, the feast of blowing of trumpets, Leviticus 23:24, and no doubt but they observed the tenth day of this month, with all the rites of it, which was the day of atonement, Leviticus 23:27, but the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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 were more agreeable to them than money, because there was not plenty of such things in their country, as in the land of Israel: to bring cedar trees...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem,.... The place where it formerly stood; the Jews seem to have set out from Babylon, in the spring of the preceding year, as it was now of this; which to Jerusalem was a journey of about four months, as Ezra performed it, Ezra 7:9, but might take up longer time for such a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then stood Jeshua, with his sons,.... Not Jeshua the high priest before mentioned, but Jeshua the Levite, Ezra 2:40, and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together; the same with Hodaviah, Ezra 2:40 to set forward the workmen in the house of God; to give them orders to begin and lay the foundation, and hasten and animate them...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord,.... The masons, whose work it was, Ezra 3:7 they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets; these were set in a proper place by the prince and the high priest, in their priestly garments, with trumpets in their hands to blow with, as the foundation was laying: and the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they sang together by course,.... They sang by turns in responses, and answered one another, as the word signifies; when one company had performed their part, another took theirs: in praising and giving thanks to the Lord; for returning them to their own land, and giving them opportunity, ability, and will, to set about the rebuilding of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men,.... Seventy or eighty years of age: that had seen the first house; the temple built by Solomon, as they very well might, since then it had been destroyed but fifty two years; for the seventy years captivity are to be reckoned from the fourth of Jehoiakim, when it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people,.... That is, not clearly and distinctly, they were so mixed and confounded together, and made such a jarring and discord: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off; the shouting being of young people,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Ezra 4 The contents of this chapter are the offer the Samaritans made to the Jews, to assist them in building the temple, which having refused, they gave them all the trouble they could, Ezra 4:1 and a letter of theirs to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, full of accusations of them, Ezra 4:7 and the answer of Artaxerxes to it, giving...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin,.... The Samaritans, as appears from Ezra 4:2, heard that the children of the captivity; the Jews, who had been in captivity seventy years, and were just come out of it, and still were not quite free, but under the jurisdiction and control of the king of Persia: builded the temple unto the Lord God of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then they came to Zerubbabel, and the chief of the fathers,.... These they addressed, as knowing that if they could not prevail with them, they could never succeed in their design; and these were no doubt the principal of the Samaritans that applied: and said unto them, let us build with you; that is, the temple, they proposed to join with them,...