Ezra 1:4

And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that [is] in Jerusalem.

Ver. 4. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth] Heb. Gershom. A name that Moses gave his eldest son born in his banishment; for he said, "I have been a stranger in a strange land," Exodus 2:22. These poor captives had been longer so than Moses in Midian, and met with more hard measure, Psalms 137:1; Psalms 137:8. But as those who are born in hell know no other heaven (as the proverb is), so fared it not with a few of these; loth to be at the pains and run the hazard of a voyage to the Holy Land. A little with ease is held best. Let us, who are strangers here, haste homeward, heavenward. Some of these poor Jews had a mind to return, but wanted means. For these necessitous people the king takes care and course here, that they be supplied and set forward on their journey, after a godly sort, or worthy of God, as St John phraseth it, 3 John 1:6, who else will require it.

Let the men of his place] Whether Jews or proselytes, brethren by race, grace, or place only.

Help him with silver] Heb. Give him a lift out of the dust, as Job's friends did him off the dunghill; as Joseph did his brethren when he filled their bags, and returned them their moneys; and as all Christians are bound and bid to support or shore up their weaker brethren, 1 Thessalonians 5:14 (Aντεχεσθε των ασθενων).

With silver, and with gold] These are notable good levers at a dead lift in this present world where money bears the mastery, and answereth all things, Ecclesiastes 10:14, a satisfactory answer it giveth to whatsoever is desired or demanded. He that helpeth a man, therefore, in his necessity with silver and gold is a friend indeed. Let a man make God his friend, and then (saith Eliphaz) the Almighty shall be his gold, and he shall have plenty of silver, Job 22:25; Jacob shall be sure of so much as shall bring him to his journey's end, a sufficiency, if not a superfluity, of all things needful to life and godliness.

And with goods] Heb. Recush (whence haply our English words riches and cash), chattels, movables, gathered substance, as the word signifieth, which whosoever he was that first called substance was utterly mistaken; sith wisdom only (that is, godliness) is durable substance, Proverbs 8:21. Wealth is but a semblance, Proverbs 23:5 1Co 7:31 And he that first called riches goods was a better husband than divine. But it may be thought the most are such husbands; since the common cry is, Who will show us any good? a good booty, a good bargain, a good beast? &c., Psalms 4:6. That one thing necessary, that is both Bonum hominis, the good of man, Micah 6:8, and Totum hominis, the whole of man, Ecclesiastes 12:13, lieth wholly neglected by the most.

And with beasts] Those most serviceable creatures, both ad esum and ad usum, for food and other uses, as sheep, horses, camels, dromedaries, swift, patient, painful.

Besides the freewill offering] Which the king presumeth all God's free-hearted people (volunteers, every soul of them, Psa 110:3) will be most forward unto in so good a work, so acceptable a service. See Leviticus 5:6; Leviticus 5:12; Leviticus 14:10; Leviticus 14:21; Leviticus 14:30. God straineth upon no man, Exodus 25:2; Exodus 35:5. Lex quaerit voluntarios, The law calleth for volunteers, saith Ambrose, see Isaiah 56:6 2Co 8:12; 2 Corinthians 9:7, and learn to come off roundly and readily in works of piety and charity; for else all is lost; since Virtus nolentium nulla est, unwilling service is nothing set by.

That is in Jerusalem] This city he so often nameth, that he may seem delighted with the very mention of it; and to be of the same mind with those pious captives that vowed to prefer Jerusalem (that joy of the whole earth) before their chief joy, to make it ascend above the head of their joy, as the Hebrew hath it, Psalms 137:6. How then should it cheer up our hearts to think of heaven, and that we are written among the living in Jerusalem, Isaiah 4:3; fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of heaven, Ephesians 2:19 .