Ezra 2:69

Ezr 2:69 They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the work threescore and one thousand drams of gold, and five thousand pound of silver, and one hundred priests’ garments.

Ver. 69. They gave after their ability] Men must take heed they stretch not beyond the staple, and so mar all. But few are herein faulty; few Macedonians, that, to their power and beyond, are willing of themselves, &c., 2Co 8:8. Rari quippe boni.

Threescore and one thousand drams of gold] That is, nineteen thousand sixty-two pounds ten shillings.

And five thousand pound of silver] i.e. Fifteen thousand pounds sterling. These sums of money, together with the costly priests’ garments, though they fall far short of what was provided and given in David’s days, 1Ch 22:1-19 1Ch 29:1-30, towards the building of the first temple; yet, considering the mind of this poor people, and their small ability, this gift was as great in God’s account. See Luk 21:1-2. The widow’s mite was beyond the rich man’s magnificence, because it came out of a richer mind.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ezr 2:69. Threescore and one thousand drachms of gold, &c. — About seventy-five thousand and five hundred pounds of our money; for every drachm of gold is worth ten shillings of our money, and every mina, or pound of silver, nine pounds; for it contains sixty shekels, and every shekel of silver is worth three shillings of our money. And one hundred priests’ garments — Garments, as well as gold and silver, were wont to be laid up in treasuries, Mat 6:20. We may infer then, from these rich offerings, not only, as has been just intimated, that the Jews were not made such poor slaves in Babylon as wrought for their lords and masters, but that there may not be all the truth imaginable in that common saying among them, that they were only the bran, that is, the dregs of the people, who returned to Jerusalem at the end of the captivity, and that all the fine flour stayed behind at Babylon. See Prideaux’s Connect., Ann. 536, and Dodd.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:69 Each of the gold coins (Hebrew darics) was worth a month’s wages for a professional soldier. • 6,250 pounds (Hebrew 5,000 minas): Each mina weighed 20 ounces and was equal to 60 shekels of silver; each shekel was worth an average worker’s monthly wages.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which are called, mina, and contain a piece two marks: so 50,000 minas make 55,000 franks, which mount to of our money 69,666 pounds, 13 shillings 4 pence so that the whole sum was 94,493 pounds, 6 shillings, 8 pence.

Which mount to of our money, 24,826 pounds, 13 shillings and 4 pence, esteeming the French crown at 6 shillings and 4 pence for the dram is the eighth part of an ounce, and the ounce the eighth part of a mark.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

drams of gold--rather, "darics," a Persian coin (see on Ch1 29:7).

priests' garments--(compare Neh 7:70). This--in the circumstances--was a very appropriate gift. In general, it may be remarked that presents of garments, or of any other usable commodities, however singular it may seem to us, is in harmony with the established notions and customs of the East.

Next: Ezra Chapter 3

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 69. Threescore and one thousand drams of gold] דרכמונים darkemonim, drakmons or darics; a Persian coin, always of gold, and worth about 1£. 5s., not less than £76,250 sterling in gold.

Five thousand pounds of silver] מנים manim, manehs or minas. As a weight, the maneh was 100 shekels; as a coin, 60 shekels in value, or about 9£.; 5000 of these manehs therefore will amount to £45,000, making in the whole a sum of about £120,000; and in this are not included the 100 garments for priests.

Thus we find that God, in the midst of judgment, remembered mercy, and gave them favour in the land of their captivity.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(69) The dram being a daric of a little more than our guinea, and the pound, or maneh, a little more than £4. the whole would be nearly £90,000, and not an exorbitant sum for a community far from poor. But Nehemiah c statement is smaller, and probably more correct.

One hundred priests’ garments.—An almost necessary correction or supply in the defective text of Nehemiah (Neh_7:70) makes his “four hundred and thirty priests’ garments,” as contributed by the Tirshatha, “five hundred pounds of silver and thirty priests’ garments.” This being so, the two accounts agree, always allowing that Ezra’s 61,000 is a corruption of 41,000 in the gold, and his 5,000 pounds of silver and 100 priests’ garments round numbers.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

69. they gave &c.] There is a slight discrepancy between the sums mentioned in this verse and the sums recorded in greater detail in Nehemiah. The figures stand thus—

Ezra

Heads of fathers’ houses 61,000

darics of gold

5,000

pounds of silver

100

priests’ garments.

Nehemiah

darics of gold

basons

pounds silver

priests’ garments

Tirshatha

1,000

50

500?

30

Heads of fathers’houses

20,000

2,200

Rest of people

20,000

2,000

67

Total

41,000

4,700

97

The contributions as described in Ezra are all placed to the credit of the heads of fathers’ houses; in Nehemiah we find a considerable portion contributed by the Tirshatha and by the rest of the people.

(a) The 61,000 darics of gold appear to consist of the Tirshatha’s 1000+other contributions of which we are able to identify 40,000 (i.e. 20,000 given by heads of fathers’ houses+20,000 given by the rest of the people). Perhaps the value of 50 basons and of the other gifts amounted to a figure which could be described in round numbers as 20,000.

(b) The 5,000 pounds of silver express in round numbers the 2,200 contributed by the heads of fathers’ houses+the 2,000 by the rest of the people+500 pounds silver given by the Tirshatha (the probable reading of Neh_7:70).

(c) The 100 priests’ garments represent the 30 given by the Tirshatha (probable reading of Neh_7:70), and the 67 given by the rest of the people.

after their ability] literally ‘strength’ or ‘power’ as in Dan_1:4 : not elsewhere of ‘wealth’. The word rendered ‘ability’ in Neh_5:8 is different and denotes ‘sufficiency’.

unto the treasure] R.V. into the treasury.

drams] R.V. darics. The A.V. translation ‘dram’ seems to suppose that the coin spoken of was the Greek ‘drachma’. It is in reality the well-known Persian gold coin ‘daric’. The name has commonly been derived from the Darius who was said to have first had the piece coined. But this is far from certain. The word ‘daric’ more probably refers to the emblem on the coin, and is to be derived either from a Persian word meaning ‘a bow’, or from ‘dara’ = ‘a king’, cf. our ‘sovereign’. The obverse side of the coin has the figure of a crowned king, kneeling, holding in his right hand a sceptre or spear and in his left a bow; for the sake possibly of securing a good impression, the reverse of the coin was left rough.

The ‘daric’ is transliterated into Hebrew as ‘Adarcon’ in chap. Ezr_8:27; 1Ch_29:7 : but in this verse and in Neh_7:70-72 it appears as ‘Darcemon’ with a various reading ‘Adarcemon’.

Its value was as nearly as possible equivalent to our sovereign. The coin is by some identified with the gold stater of Crœsus, the last king of Lydia. This is the first mention of coined money in the Old Testament, as the reference to ‘darics’ in David’s reign (1Ch_29:7) is strictly an anachronism.

pound] Hebr. ‘maneh’. We do not find in the Old Testament any mention of Persian silver coinage. Before the Persian period, Hebrew money had for the most part been calculated by weight upon something akin to the Babylonian system, by ‘talent’, ‘maneh’, ‘shekel’.

A ‘talent’ of Hebrew money consisted of ‘50 manim’, one maneh of 60 shekels.

priests’ garments] The priests differed from the Levites in having special garments ‘in which they ministered’ and which they put off as being holy, as soon as they had ceased from their ministrations (Lev_6:10; Eze_42:14; Eze_44:19). The priestly garments are briefly enumerated in Exo_28:40; Exo_39:27. They consisted of (1) a long coat or tunic, (2) a mitre or turban, (3) breeches or nether garments, (4) a girdle. The material was fine linen, and the colour white. These garments the priest appears to have laid aside and deposited in one of the chambers at the entrance of the inner court of the Temple, before passing into the people’s court.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The numbers here and in Nehemiah (see the marginal reference) vary.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Solids. Hebrew darcemonim. (Haydock) --- "Darics," worth as much as a golden sicle. (Pelletier) (Calmet) (1 Paralipomenon xxix. 7.) --- Pounds, (mnas) or 60 sicles. (Menochius) --- 3 Esdras has "mnas" in both places.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

A dram of gold is supposed to be of the weight of the fourth part of a shekel, and of the value of a French crown.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

69. Threescore and one thousand — Literally, Six myriads and one thousand.

Drams of gold — Rather, gold darics. These were a coin current in the Persian empire from the time of Cyrus onward, probably till the spread of the Macedonian power over the East. Gold darics have been discovered bearing on one side the figure of a king, with a bow in one hand and a lance or javelin in the other, and on the other side a figure of uncertain meaning. The coin weighs 128 grains, and is valued at $5.52. The whole amount of gold, then, contributed by these wealthy fathers was $336,720 — a gift worthy of the occasion.

Five thousand pounds of silver — The Hebrew word here rendered pounds is מנים, manim, that is, mina. The silver mina or maneh is valued at $32, so that the whole amount of silver here named would be $160,000. Nehemiah’s numbers are different. Neh_7:70-72. He says the Tirshatha gave 1,000 gold darics, 50 basins, 530 priests’ garments. Some of the chief fathers gave 20,000 darics, and 2,200 silver mina; and the rest of the people gave 20,000 darics, 2,000 mina, and 67 priests garments; so that the gross sum in Nehemiah is 41,000 darics, 4,200 mina, 597 priests’ garments, and 50 basins. Bertheau thinks Nehemiah’s text is the more accurate and complete; but here again, as in the lists above, one table may supplement the other, so that neither is in itself complete.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

After their ability. As each was able; the richer more, the poorer less. Threescore and one thousand drams of gold. The word translated "dram" is darkemon, which appears to be the Hebrew representative of the Persian word which the Greeks rendered by dareikos, or "daric." This was a gold coin, stamped with the figure of a Persian king, wearing his crown, and armed with a bow and arrow. According to the most exact computation, each such coin contained somewhat more pure gold than an English guinea, and was worth 1s. 10.5d. of our money. The 61, 000 darics would therefore have been equal to 15s. Five thousand pounds of silver. The word translated "pound" is maneh, an equivalent of the Greek tuna and the Latin mind. In Greece the silver mind was worth a little more than of our money. The value of the Hebrew silver munch is uncertain, but probably was not very different from the Greek. Thus the sum contributed in silver may be estimated at above and the entire contribution at nearly It must be noted, however, that Nehemiah"s estimate (7:71, 72) is less. One hundred priests" garments. Nehemiah says ninety-seven (ibid. vers. 70, 72), whence we may conclude that Ezra uses a round number.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Sixty one thousand drams - Sixty one thousand drams of gold amount to something more than so many pounds of our money. So bishop Cumberland, who likewise supposes five thousand pounds of silver, to be about thirty seven thousand pounds sterling.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

According to their ability according to their ability and their money.

drachmas Heb. דַּרְכְּמוֹנִים, the name of a golden coin.

and priests’ tunics in which to serve.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.