Ezra 1:6

And all they that [were] about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all [that] was willingly offered.

Ver. 6. And all they that were about them] Both their countrymen the Jews (that thought not good to themselves or not yet, till they should see further: there is none so wise as the sluggard, Pro 26:16), and others of the neighbourhood: for the Egyptians may lend jewels to the Israelites, dogs may lick Lazarus's ulcers, and the earth may help the woman, by opening her mouth, and swallowing up the flood cast out after her by the dragon to drown her, Revelation 12:16 .

Strengthened their hands] Which else, for want of such support, would have hung down, and their feeble knees buckled under them, ere they had come to their own country; neither could they without such supplies have so comfortably carried on the work they went about. For, if wisdom be a defence, or a shadow, to those that have seen the sun (as in the former verse) and are scorched with the heat of it, so is money too, saith Solomon, Ecclesiastes 7:12; and though wisdom without wealth is good, yet it is better with inheritance, Ezra 1:11, which is not only an ornament, but an instrument of virtue. When men go on Virtute dace, comite fortuna, then it is well with them as it was with good Josiah, Jeremiah 22:15,16. But Agur would not be poor, lest he should be put upon ill courses, Proverbs 30:9, put to his shifts. Poor Hagar, when the water was spent in the bottle, cast the child under the shrubs, Genesis 21:15 .

With vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts] See the note on Ezra 1:4. These are things that men do not usually so easily part with to others till they needs must. Euclio in the comedian sits abrood upon his heaps and hoards, and will not be drawn off. Shall Nabal take his bread and his flesh, and give it to those he knows not? 1Sa 25:23-31 Misers will as soon part with their blood as their gold; whence the Chaldees call their money dam, that is, blood. Many a man shows himself like the Cornish crow, which will steal a piece of money, and hiding it in some hole, will never help herself or any other with it afterwards. Hermocrates, being loth that any man should enjoy his goods after him, made himself, by his will, heir of his own goods. Athenaeus telleth of one, that at his death devoured many pieces of gold, and sewed the rest in his coat, commanding that they should be all buried with him. But these in the text seem to have been of the race of those Persians spoken of, Isaiah 13:17, which regarded not silver, and as for gold, they cared not much for it. Or if they were proselytes to the Church, then they had learned (with Tyrus, now also converted) to give over heaping and hoarding of wealth, and therewith to feed and clothe God's poor saints; and so to furnish them for their journey to their Father's house, that they may eat sufficiently, and have durable clothing, Isaiah 23:18. This was God's work upon their hearts; and Quando Christus magister, quam cito discitur quod decatur? (Augustin.) Whereunto may be added, that Cyrus, who set forth this edict, as he was an absolute sovereign (and so his word went for a law), so he was a gracious and courteous prince, ita ut Patris nomen meruerit, so that he merited the name and title of Father of his Country, and might command anything of them.

And with precious things] Even the very best of the best they had. The word signifieth praestantissimum et pretiosissimum in quocunque genere fructuum, metallorum, gemmarum, vestium, the choicest and chiefest of all kind of commodities. Such as Eliezer gave to Rebekah and her brother, Genesis 24:53, and as Jehoshaphat gave his younger son, 2 Chronicles 21:3. For the purchase of the pearl of price, the wise merchant makes a thorough sale of all. Barnabas parteth with his lands, Zaccheus with his goods, Matthew with his meat, the centurion with his money, to build those synagogues that wicked Antiochus had thrown down; and these in the text, with their most precious things, to refurnish that temple that Nebuchadnezzar had burnt.

Beside all that was willingly offered] A freewill offering then there was Ezr 1:4 brought in by God's willing people, Psalms 110:3, that wait for God's law, as Isaiah 42:8,9, and hold with that ancient, that it is nimis augusta innocentia ad legem bonum esse, to do no more service to God than needs must, to get so much grace only as will keep life and soul together (that is, soul and hell asunder), this they judge to be a low and unworthy strain of some good people. David voweth freewill offerings often, and could beteem God a great deal more love and service than he is able to perform to him, Psa 5:6 1 Chronicles 29:8,9. Those good souls, Zechariah 8:21, call upon themselves and one another to be continually going before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I (saith each for himself) will go also. Hannah went up with her husband every year to the feast, 1 Samuel 1:4; 1 Samuel 1:21; so did the Virgin Mary to the passover with her son Jesus, Luke 2:41,42; yet none were expressly commanded so to do but males, and those also nothing under twenty years of age, as fit to be numbered, Exodus 30:14. So those among us that hear weekday sermons, as Mary did, Luke 10:42, and many other good people in our Saviour's days, Luke 19:47,48; Luke 21:37,38. Hereby we shall show our love, and do a service highly accepted in heaven.