Ezra 2:68-69

8. Their offerings for restoring the Temple are recorded.

TEXT, Ezra 2:68-69

68

And some of the heads of fathers-' households, when they arrived at the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to restore it on its foundation.

69

According to their ability they gave to the treasury for the work 61,000 gold drachmas, and 5,000 silver minas, and 100 priestly garments.

COMMENT

It is interesting that the drachma in particular is a Persian coin (another subtle reminder of their contact with Persia):[18] the mina is a unit of weight used in Israel, Babylon, and Persia. We may see a hint that coins are beginning to be used to simplify monetary exchange, but their use has not become universal.

[18] An example is portrayed in G. A. Barton's Archaeology and The Bible, Plate 63, Figure 189.

According to the Living Bible on this passage, the 61,000 drachmas would be $300,000, and the 5,000 minas, $170,000. This would average out to almost $10 each; Ezra 2:68 tells us however that this amount came from only some of the leaders, and Ezra 2:69 says that they gave according to their ability. Perhaps the others would have given equally if they had been able; the trip must have been a severe financial drain on many of them. Or perhaps those who wished to give were not discouraged by the failure of others to share in the contributions.

It is impossible to make any accurate judgments of the actual value of these sums; we are only comparing amounts of metal in the coins or measures. We know how rapidly money can change its value, even within one lifetime, and especially in a country undergoing great social change. It could be helpful, however, to think of their average as a generous half a month's wages.

In contrast, the travelers accompanying Moses had contributed $1,250,000, by some estimates, for the building of the Tabernacle, and had to be restrained from giving more (Exodus 35:21-29; Exodus 38:24-31). That would average out to $2! But then, those who left Egypt were going out from a house of bondage; these were leaving established businesses and had gained a significant measure of wealth and freedom.

WORD STUDIES

ZERUBBABEL: a seed of Babylon: a reminder that God preserved a seed of His people through the Babylonian Captivity, from which His nation would once again spring to life,

TEMPLE SERVANTS (Ezra 2:43): literally, the Nethinim: those given. The word is a plural form; it comes from the word Nathan. These were the persons given to the priests to assist with the menial tasks of preparing for sacrifice and worship.

JESHUA, or its variant, JOSHUA: Jehovah is Salvation, or Salvation from Jehovah. This is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek name, Jesus.

MINA: the basic meaning is to divide out, or measure out, or number. Money originally had to be measured, or weighed, at each transaction. This is the word Mene in the handwriting on the wall, in Daniel 5:25 f. Note that the consonants are the same as those in our word money, and in reverse order, the first two consonants in number. Can you find the two letters hidden in the denomination of a bill? In numismatics? Now you are looking at the building blocks of language!