with them to Jerusalem; comp. 1Ch 29:17; 2Ch 5:11. ידם על, like יד על, Ezr 1:8, to their hand, i.e., handed over to their keeping. The gifts amounted to: six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels one hundred in talents, i.e., one hundred talents in value, one hundred talents of gold, and twenty covered basins of gold (comp. Ezr 1:10) one thousand dariks in value, and two brazen vessels of fine golden brilliancy, precious as gold. מצהב is an abstract noun, formed from the participle Hophal of צהב, to glitter like gold, and constructed as a feminine. The word, with its adjective, either depends upon נחשׁט, in the stat. construct., or stands in apposition thereto, and is not, as a participle Hophal, used adjectively and combined with נחשׁט, for then the two adjectives מצהב and טובה would not be in different genders. חמוּדות, like חמוּדות כּלי, 2Ch 20:25.
Verses 28-29
On delivering these treasures, Ezra adds the admonition: Ye are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the gold and the silver are a free-will offering unto the Lord God of your fathers; watch and keep (that which is committed to you). Since they were themselves, as priests and Levites, holy to the Lord, they were also to treat and keep the gifts committed to their charge as holy gifts, until, on their arrival at Jerusalem, they should weigh them (i.e., deliver them by weight) before the priests, the Levites, and the princes of Israel, in the chambers of the house of the Lord. The article to הלּשׁכוה (stat. construct.) is among the incorrectnesses of the later Hebrew.
Verse 30
Then they took the weight of the silver, ... i.e., received the silver, etc., delivered to them by weight.
Verses 31-36
The start, the journey, and the arrival at Jerusalem. - Ezr 8:31 The start from the river Ahava (comp. Ezr 8:15) did not take place till the twelfth day of the first month; while according to Ezr 7:9, the journey from Babylon was appointed for the first day of the month, and according to Ezr 8:15, the bands of travellers who assembled at the river Ahava encamped there three days. These statements may be reconciled as follows: On the first day the company of travellers began to assemble, and during the three days'
