Ezra 7:24

Ezr 7:24 Also we certify you, that touching any of the priests and Levites, singers, porters, Nethinims, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom, upon them.

Ver. 24. And also we certify you, that touching any of the priests] These he taketh special order for, that they be freed from public payments; and the like care was taken by our ancestors for the ministers of the Church of England, as appeareth by Magna Charta, chpat. 14. Their maintenance is of the law of nature, Gen 47:22. Jezebel provided for her priests; idolatrous Micah for his Levite; the Papists for their shavelings, granting them many and great immunities, and being so free to them, that there was need of a statute of Mortmain providing that men should give no more to the Church. But tempera mutantur, &c. Seasons be changed.

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 7:24. It shall not be lawful to impose tolls, &c. — Thus he discharged all the ministers of religion, from the greatest of the priests to the least of the Nethinims, from paying taxes to the government, and made it unlawful for the king’s officers to impose any taxes on them. This was putting a great honour upon them, as free denizens of the empire, and would gain them respect as favourites of the crown, at the same time that it gave them liberty to attend on their ministry with freedom and cheerfulness.

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

7:24 The tax exemptions given to Temple personnel in Jerusalem were similar to the conciliatory gestures made to those in other nations.

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

Verse 24. It shall not be lawful to impose toll] As these persons had no private revenues, it would have been unreasonable to have laid them under taxation.

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

(24) We certify you.—The exemption of so large a number as the entire ministry of the Temple from all kinds of taxation is emphatically introduced.

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

24. Nethinims] R.V. Nethinim, cf. Ezr_2:43.

ministers] R.V. servants. The word in the original connected with that rendered “service” (Ezr_7:19). The expression “or servants” would cover any other branch (e.g. Solomon’s servants, Ezr_2:55) of attendants on the Temple.

toll, tribute, or custom] R.V. tribute, custom, or toll. See on Ezr_5:13.

Compare immunity from all taxation described by Josephus as having been granted to the priests and Levites by Antiochus the Great (Ant. XII. 3. 3), “And let the senate and the priests and the scribes of the Temple and the sacred singers be discharged from all poll-money and he crown tax, and other taxes also.” (Tran. Whiston.)

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.

And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king,.... Either the judge who delays judgment, or does not execute it according to the law of God, and of the king; or the people, that do not obey the law of God in matters of religion, and the law of the king in civil things, Judea being now a province of the Persian empire; though some think the law of the king only refers to this law or decree of the king, which gave the Jews power to execute their own laws:

let judgment be executed speedily upon him; immediately, without delay, according to the nature of his crime:

whether it be unto death; if guilty of a capital crime, deserving death, let him be put to death:

or to banishment; from his native country to a foreign distant land:

or to rooting out (y), as the word signifies; an utter extirpation of him and his family, a destroying him root and branch; or, as Jarchi expresses it, a rooting him out of the world, his seed and family:

or to confiscation of goods; to payment of mulcts and fines:

or to imprisonment; for such a term of time; all according to the breach of what law he may be guilty of; thus far the king's decree.

(y) "ad eradicationem ejus", Pagninus, Montanus; "ad eradicationem", Tigurine version, Vatablus, De Dieu, Michaelis.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The decree of Artaxerxes was more favorable to the Jews than those of all previous Persian monarchs. We hear of a similar exemption of ecclesiastics from tribute, only to a less extent, under the Seleucidae.

Ministers - The rare word here used, which in Daniel has the sense of “worshippers,” appears to designate in this place the lowest class of persons employed in the service of the temple.

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

Nathinites. 3 Esdras, "sacred slaves." (Haydock) --- Artaxerxes confirms the immunities granted by the law of God, (Numbers iii. 6, 12,) by the kings of Egypt, (Genesis xlvii. 22,) and by all nations to the ministers of religion. (Calmet)

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).

24. Toll, tribute, or custom — See note on Ezr_4:13.

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

We certify you. The use of the plural is curious. Hitherto the king has made every permission and command to rest on his own sole authority (see vers. 12, 13, 21). Now that he reaches the most important point in the whole of his decree the permanent exemption of a large part of the people from liability to taxation of any kind, his style changes, and he says, We certify you." Perhaps he speaks in the name of himself and his successors; or possibly he means to say that in this matter he has asked and obtained the assent and consent of his council (compare ver. 28). Or ministers. Rather, "and ministers." It is generally allowed that the word here translated "ministers" is not applied to the Nethinim, but to that still lower grade of attendants in the sanctuary called "Solomon"s servants" in Ezr_2:55-58, and Neh_7:57-60. It shall not be lawful to impose toll, tribute, or custom upon them It may be suspected from this proviso that the Persians exempted from taxation their own (Magian) priests, though of this there is no other evidence. But they would scarcely have placed a foreign priesthood on a higher level of favour than their own.

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

Connecting Statement:

This continues the decree that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra.

We are informing them about you not to impose any tribute or taxes

"We are telling them not to impose any tribute or taxes"

musicians

people who play musical instruments

translationWords

tax

priest

Levi

temple

servant

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And we are making known to you And we are making known to you that [over] all the priests, the Levites, the musicians, the gatekeepers, and the Nethinites, who are wood cutters and water drawers for the altar, and those who serve in this House of the Holy One, no man shall be empowered over them to levy upon them any tribute or head tax, but they shall be free from the service of the king.

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.