Ezra 1:9

I. The Return of the Jews from Babylon under Cyrus. Restoration of the Temple and of the Worship of God at Jerusalem - Ezr 1:1 When the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity had elapsed, King Cyrus, by an edict published in the first year of his rule over Babylon, gave permission to all the Jews in his whole realm to return to their native land, and called upon them to rebuild the temple of God at Jerusalem. The execution of this royal and gracious decree by the Jews forms the subject of the first part of this book - Ezr 1:1-11 and 2 treating of the return of a considerable number of families of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, under the conduct of Zerubbabel the prince and Joshua the high priest, to Jerusalem and Judaea; the remaining chapters, Ezra 3-6, of the restoration of the worship of God, and of the rebuilding of the temple.

In this chapter we have, I. The proclamation which Cyrus, king of Persia, issued out for the release of all the Jews that he found captives in Babylon, and the building of their temple in Jerusalem (Ezr 1:1-4). II. The return of many thereupon (Ezr 1:5, Ezr 1:6). III. Orders given for the restoring of the vessels of the temple (Ezr 1:7-11). And this is the dawning of the day of their deliverance.

1:9-11 5,400 articles of gold and silver: The numbers listed total only 2,499 items. A parallel account, in the apocryphal book 1 Esdras 2:13-15, lists 5,469 items, while a list in the Jewish historian Josephus’s Antiquities 11.15 lists 5,220 objects. Ezra’s shortened list illustrates the kind of items included but does not include every item. Keeping track of consecrated utensils reduced the possibility of confusing these sacred items with the pagan utensils used in the worship of other gods.