Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezra 8:31
Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth [day] of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.
31 36. The Journey and the Arrival at Jerusalem
31. from the river of Ahava ] See note on Ezr 8:15. Here ‘the river of Ahava’ translates the Hebrew accurately as ‘the river Ahava’ does in Ezr 8:21. Vulg. ‘a flumine Ahava’.
on the twelfth day of the first month ] Compare with this date the statements in chap. Ezr 7:8-9, Ezr 8:15. The encampment at Ahava lasted three days (Ezr 8:15). The arrival at Ahava was therefore on the ninth day of the month. Supposing that Ahava is the same as Is (cf. Ezr 8:15), those nine days would have been consumed in the march from Babylon, and the march would have actually begun on the first of the month, Ezr 7:9.
Preferring another explanation of chap. Ezr 7:9, and regarding the encampment at Ahava as a preliminary muster of the whole company made at a convenient spot not far from Babylon, we consider the actual march did not begin till ‘the twelfth day of the first month’ (Nisan).
the hand, &c.] Cf. on Ezr 7:6.
the enemy ] See note on 22.
and of such as lay in wait by the way ] R.V. and the lier in wait by the way. This explains more fully who ‘the enemy’ was. Whether any attack was made we are not told. The deliverance may either imply the repulse of such an attack or the absence of any hostile movement.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Jews with Ezra left Babylon on the first day of the first month Ezr 7:9. They reached Ahava in nine days, and, having remained there three Ezr 8:15, quitted it, and resumed their journey on the twelfth. They reached Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month Ezr 7:9, four months after the departure from Babylon.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
To wit, in the direct way; whereby it may be conjectured, that God directed them to fetch a little compass, and to go a more uncouth and unsuspected way, as they had begged of God, Ezr 8:21.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
31. we departed from the river ofAhava on the twelfth day of the first monthComputing from thetime of their setting out to the period of their arrival, theyoccupied about four months on the way. Their health and security weremarvellous during so long a journey. The pilgrim-caravans of thepresent day perform long journeys through the wildest deserts of theEast under the protection of a firman from the Porte, and an escortof soldiers. But for a large body, composed as that of Ezraof somethousands of men, women, and children, unaccustomed to travel,undisciplined to order, and without military strength, and with solarge an amount of treasure tempting the cupidity of the marauding,plundering tribes of the desertto accomplish a journey so long andso arduous in perfect safety, is one of the most astonishing eventsrecorded in history. Nothing but the vigilant care of asuperintending Providence could have brought them securely to theirdestination.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then we departed from the river of Ahava, on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem,…. The month Nisan, answering to part of March and part of April; this was two days before the passover began:
and the hand of our God was upon us; guiding, directing, and protecting them by his providence:
and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way; either by intimidating them, that they dared not attack them, or by directing them to take a different road, whereby they escaped them, see Ezr 8:22.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Ezra’s Arrival at Jerusalem. | B. C. 457. |
31 Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way. 32 And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days. 33 Now on the fourth day was the silver and the gold and the vessels weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest; and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them was Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, Levites; 34 By number and by weight of every one: and all the weight was written at that time. 35 Also the children of those that had been carried away, which were come out of the captivity, offered burnt offerings unto the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambs, twelve he goats for a sin offering: all this was a burnt offering unto the LORD. 36 And they delivered the king’s commissions unto the king’s lieutenants, and to the governors on this side the river: and they furthered the people, and the house of God.
We are now to attend Ezra to Jerusalem, a journey of about four months in all; but his multitude made his marches slow and his stages short. Now here we are told,
I. That his God was good, and he acknowledged his goodness: The hand of our God was upon us, to animate us for our undertaking. To him they owed it, 1. That they were preserved in their journey, and not all cut off; for there were enemies that laid wait for them by the way to do them a mischief, or at least, like Amalek, to smite the hindmost of them, but God protected them, v. 31. Even the common perils of journeys are such as oblige us to sanctify our going out with prayer and our returns in peace with praise and thanksgiving; much more ought God to be thus eyed in such a dangerous expedition as this was. 2. That they were brought in safety to their journey’s end, v. 32. Let those that have stedfastly set their faces towards the new Jerusalem proceed and persevere to the end till they appear before God in Zion, and they shall find that he who has begun the good work will perform it.
II. That his treasurers were faithful. When they had come to Jerusalem they were impatient to be discharged of their trust, and therefore applied to the great men of the temple, who received it from them and gave them an acquittance in full, Ezr 8:33; Ezr 8:34. It is a great ease to one’s mind to be discharged from a trust, and a great honour to one’s name to be able to make it appear that it has been faithfully discharged.
III. That his companions were devout. As soon as they came to be near the altar they thought themselves obliged to offer sacrifice, whatever they had done in Babylon, v. 35. That will be dispensed with when we want opportunity which when the door is opened again will be expected from us. It is observable, 1. That among their sacrifices they had a sin-offering; for it is the atonement that sweetens and secures every mercy to us, which will not be truly comfortable unless iniquity be taken away and our peace made with God. 2. That the number of their offerings related to the number of the tribes, twelve bullocks, twelve he-goats, and ninety-six rams (that is, eight times twelve), intimating the union of the two kingdoms, according to what was foretold, Ezek. xxxvii. 22. They did not any longer go two tribes one way and ten another, but all the twelve met by their representatives at the same altar.
IV. That even the enemies of the Jews became their friends, bowed to Ezra’s commission, and, instead of hindering the people of God, furthered them (v. 36), purely in complaisance to the king: when he appeared moderate they all coveted to appear so too. Then had the churches rest.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Arrival In Jerusalem, Verses 31-36
Reference back to Ezr 7:9 shows that Ezra and his party began their departure for Jerusalem on the first day of the first month of the year. The thirty-first verse of this passage shows that only twelve days had expired before the entourage left the river of Ahava. It was during these twelve days that the fast had been held, and before that, the solicitation of other Levites and Nethinim for the group occurred. Ezra seems to have been a man of action, who went promptly about his business without delay.
Of his journey Ezra says only that the “hand of our God was upon
us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.” Several things are apparent from this statement. the foremost is that Ezra’s faith in the Lord to keep them safe was well founded. It is also evident that potential dangers were prevalent along the journey. There were enemies who did not desire the progress of the temple worship in Jerusalem, and there were thieves and robbers lurking in the wilderness of their road. But the Lord saw them safely to Jerusalem, and the whole journey took four months (see Ezr 7:9).
The party rested for three days, then carried the silver, gold, and vessels to the temple, conveying it into the hand of the priests and chief Levites there. Record was made of all that Ezra’s party had brought and the tally was found to agree with that when they departed from the river of Ahava. A celebration was held in which the newcomers were joined by the people of the captivity who had returned to the land of Judah earlier. Burnt offerings were sacrificed to the number of twelve bullocks, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs. Twelve he goats were offered as a sin offering.
When all this was cared for Ezra delivered the commissions of the king to his lieutenants and governors of the land. These furthered the cause of the people and the temple because that is what the commissions required them to do. Again God’s dependability was proven (Pro 29:25).
Lessons from chapter 8: 1) a godly leader will attract the less bold to the service of God; 2) everything needful should be secured to do a task best for the Lord; 3) the saved have a rich spiritual treasure which the powers of darkness would destroy without God’s intervention; 4) the world cannot protect the Christian’s treasure; 5) going God’s way will assure a safe arrival.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
5. The journey is made, and the goods are delivered at Jerusalem.
TEXT, Ezr. 8:31-36
31
Then we journeyed from the river Ahava on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was over us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the way.
32
Thus we came to Jerusalem and remained there three days.
33
And on the fourth day the silver and the gold and the utensils were weighed out in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them were the Levities, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui.
34
Everything was numbered and weighed, and all the weight was recorded at that time.
35
The exiles who had come from the captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, 12 male goats for a sin offering, all as a burnt offering to the Lord.
36
Then they delivered the kings edicts to the kings satraps, and to the governors in the provinces beyond the River, and they supported the people and the house of God.
COMMENT
In Ezr. 8:31 the journey is resumed after eleven days spent at the staging area; once more the book speaks of the hand of God: and the mention of the enemy and ambushes shows that Gods protection was very necessary and very real.
Ezr. 8:32 speaks of three days, perhaps suggesting a time for rest and reorganization, or possibly a Sabbath observation before they reported their arrival and officially handed over the treasures.
Ezr. 8:33-34 : see the care taken in this entire operation. Of those who received the valuables, four men are named and identified by family and position. Everything is weighed as it is changing hands. Every piece receives a number, and all information is recorded on the spot.
The mention of Meremoth raises some interesting speculation. Here he is called the son of Uriah the priest. In Neh. 3:4; Neh. 3:21 he is further identified as the grandson of Hakkoz. The sons of a man by the same name are mentioned in Ezr. 2:61 as unable to supply genealogical records; therefore they were excluded from the priesthood until the deficiency could be amended by Gods answer through Urim and Thummim. Perhaps they were able to find the missing records; perhaps God corrected the deficiency and made His acceptance known; or perhaps there were two men named Hakkoz, and only one lacked proper credentials; at any rate, here is Meremoth, grandson of Hakkoz, discharging a high responsibility as a priest.
Ezr. 8:35 again stresses the number twelve and its multiples, as the new arrivals made an offering in behalf of all Israel; only the number 77 varies from the pattern.
We have seen that there were about 1500, plus 258, or roughly 1760 men on the trip; they sacrificed almost 200 animals; assuming that the total number of men, women, and children was about 7,000, that would be an animal for every nine men, or thirty-five people: a respectable offering.
With Ezr. 8:36 the mission is completed; all records are turned over to the officials whom the Persians had appointed over the Beyond-Euphrates area. Ezra had fulfilled his responsibility to the king (Ezr. 7:14), to his people and to God.
WORD STUDIES
AHAVA (Ezr. 8:15; Ezr. 8:21): possibly means water; it may be akin to the Latin, aqua.
BABYLON (Ezr. 8:1): gate, i.e., court, of Bel (the god of the Babylonians).
CASIPHIA (Ezr. 8:17): this comes from a word meaning pale, silver, white, or shining. Perhaps it was a city known for its brightness, or for its money.
HOLY (Kodesh: Ezr. 8:28): pure, consecrated, separated. Because a thing was entirely or purely separated to one purpose, it was sacred for that use. With little change the word is used of men devoted to pagan temples and practicing the lowest vices and perversions. It makes a great deal of difference to what purpose, or God, a person devotes his life.
SUMMARY
The eighth chapter of Ezra furnishes details of the trip described in chapter seven, One note runs through it: there was a division of responsibility.
As the company prepares to leave Babylonia, we are made conscious of two priests, a descendant of royalty, and twelve heads of clans in charge. When Ezra needs recruits from among the Levites, he sends nine men and instructs them how to get them. When the trip begins, he calls for fasting and prayer and lays their whole safety in the hands of God. The treasures for the Temple he entrusts to twelve of the priests. When the trip is ended and everything has been turned over to the Temple officials, they celebrate with sacrifices and a full report is turned over to their superiors, along with the original orders.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(31) The hand of our God was upon us.This sums up the history of the journey.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE JOURNEY AND ARRIVAL AT JERUSALEM, Ezr 8:31-36.
31. On the twelfth day They began to gather at Ahava on the first day, (Ezr 7:9,) but the fast and other events mentioned above (Ezr 8:15-30) occupied ten or eleven days.
The hand of our God was upon us Providence favoured us, and delivered us from all enemies and dangers.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ezr 8:31
‘Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and those who lie-in-wait by the way.’
They left the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the month. The intention to leave earlier was possibly because of the approaching Passover, which they would celebrate as a family festival en route. The first month may well have been chosen in order to parallel the flight from Egypt. And during their journey, which would be almost a thousand miles, they were aware that the hand of God was upon them. Given that their journey took around four months, they would have had to travel at about nine miles a day which was good going for such a mixed caravan. But the Persian network of roads made it quite feasible.
‘The hand of our God was on us.’ In Ezr 8:22 Ezra had informed the king that ‘the hand of Israel’s God was upon all who those who seek Him’. In Ezr 8:17 he had declared that they had obtained a response from the Levites as a result of the fact that ‘the hand of Israel’s God was upon them’. Now he reveals that they had a safe journey because ‘the hand of Israel’s God was upon them’. This would again tie in with the idea that this passage was written as a report to the king.
‘He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and those who lie-in-wait by the way.’ We do not know whether the deliverance came as a result of beating off attacks, or by way of no attacks. But either way God was triumphant. For ‘the enemy’ compare ‘the enemy in the way’ (Ezr 8:22). We have here a reminder of the dangers of travel in those days. There were those who lay in wait, ever ready to take advantage of a weak moment, and as we know the caravan was a rich prize.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Was not this journey a type of the gospel pilgrimage – long, and dangerous, exposed to the dens of lions, and the mountains of leopards? And is not the hand of our God upon us, to deliver us from every foe? Precious Jesus! how art thou going before thy people, and protecting them continually!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ezr 8:31 Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth [day] of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.
Ver. 31. And of such as lay in wait by the way ] Enemies they had not a few, (when was it otherwise?) but some that purposely waylaid them; but were defeated by a gracious providence. So were the Manichees, who lay in wait for Austin; and those that pursued Jewel, about the beginning of Queen Mary’s reign, as he was going from Oxford to London. Both these had been caught, and made a prey to their enemies, but that they lost their way. What saith the prophet? As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem (like as when the young are in danger of the kite, the bird flies to save them); defending also, he will deliver it, and passing over, he will preserve it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ezra
HEROIC FAITH
Ezr 8:22 – Ezr 8:23
The memory of Ezra the scribe has scarcely had fairplay among Bible-reading people. True, neither his character nor the incidents of his life reach the height of interest or of grandeur belonging to the earlier men and their times. He is no hero, or prophet; only a scribe; and there is a certain narrowness as well as a prosaic turn about his mind, and altogether one feels that he is a smaller man than the Elijahs and Davids of the older days. But the homely garb of the scribe covered a very brave devout heart, and the story of his life deserves to be more familiar to us than it is.
This scrap from the account of his preparations for the march from Babylon to Jerusalem gives us a glimpse of a high-toned faith, and a noble strain of feeling. He and his company had a long weary journey of four months before them. They had had little experience of arms and warfare, or of hardships and desert marches, in their Babylonian homes. Their caravan was made unwieldy and feeble by the presence of a large proportion of women and children. They had much valuable property with them. The stony desert, which stretches unbroken from the Euphrates to the uplands on the east of Jordan, was infested then as now by wild bands of marauders, who might easily swoop down on the encumbered march of Ezra and his men, and make a clean sweep of all which they had. And he knew that he had but to ask and have an escort from the king that would ensure their safety till they saw Jerusalem. Artaxerxes’ surname, ‘the long-handed,’ may have described a physical peculiarity, but it also expressed the reach of his power; his arm could reach these wandering plunderers, and if Ezra and his troop were visibly under his protection, they could march secure. So it was not a small exercise of trust in a higher Hand that is told us here so simply. It took some strength of principle to abstain from asking what it would have been so natural to ask, so easy to get, so comfortable to have. But, as he says, he remembered how confidently he has spoken of God’s defence, and he feels that he must be true to his professed creed, even if it deprives him of the king’s guards. He halts his followers for three days at the last station before the desert, and there, with fasting and prayer, they put themselves in God’s hand; and then the band, with their wives and little ones, and their substance,-a heavily-loaded and feeble caravan,-fling themselves into the dangers of the long, dreary, robber-haunted march. Did not the scribe’s robe cover as brave a heart as ever beat beneath a breastplate?
That symbolic phrase, ‘the hand of our God,’ as expressive of the divine protection, occurs with remarkable frequency in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and though not peculiar to them, is yet strikingly characteristic of them. It has a certain beauty and force of its own. The hand is of course the seat of active power. It is on or over a man like some great shield held aloft above him, below which there is safe hiding. So that great Hand bends itself over us, and we are secure beneath its hollow. As a child sometimes carries a tender-winged butterfly in the globe of its two hands that the bloom on the wings may not be ruffled by fluttering, so He carries our feeble, unarmoured souls enclosed in the covert of His Almighty hand. ‘Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand?’ ‘Who hath gathered the wind in His fists?’ In that curved palm where all the seas lie as a very little thing, we are held; the grasp that keeps back the tempests from their wild rush, keeps us, too, from being smitten by their blast. As a father may lay his own large muscular hand on his child’s tiny fingers to help him, or as ‘Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands,’ that the contact might strengthen him to shoot the ‘arrow of the Lord’s deliverance,’ so the hand of our God is upon us to impart power as well as protection; and our ‘bow abides in strength,’ when ‘the arms of our hands are made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.’ That was Ezra’s faith, and that should be ours.
Note Ezra’s sensitive shrinking from anything like inconsistency between his creed and his practice. It was easy to talk about God’s protection when he was safe behind the walls of Babylon; but now the pinch had come. There was a real danger before him and his unwarlike followers. No doubt, too, there were plenty of people who would have been delighted to catch him tripping; and he felt that his cheeks would have tingled with shame if they had been able to say, ‘Ah! that is what all his fine professions come to, is it? He wants a convoy, does he? We thought as much. It is always so with these people who talk in that style. They are just like the rest of us when the pinch comes.’ So, with a high and keen sense of what was required by his avowed principles, he will have no guards for the road. There was a man whose religion was at any rate not a fair-weather religion. It did not go off in fine speeches about trusting to the protection of God, spoken from behind the skirts of the king, or from the middle of a phalanx of his soldiers. He clearly meant what he said, and believed every word of it as a prose fact, which was solid enough to build conduct on.
I am afraid a great many of us would rather have tried to reconcile our asking for a band of horsemen with our professed trust in God’s hand; and there would have been plenty of excuses very ready about using means as well as exercising faith, and not being called upon to abandon advantages, and not pushing a good principle to Quixotic lengths, and so on, and so on. But whatever truth there is in such considerations, at any rate we may well learn the lesson of this story-to be true to our professed principles; to beware of making our religion a matter of words; to live, when the time for putting them into practice comes, by the maxims which we have been forward to proclaim when there was no risk in applying them; and to try sometimes to look at our lives with the eyes of people who do not share our faith, that we may bring our actions up to the mark of what they expect of us. If ‘the Church’ would oftener think of what ‘the world’ looks for from it, it would seldomer have cause to be ashamed of the terrible gap between its words and its deeds.
Especially in regard to this matter of trust in an unseen Hand, and reliance on visible helps, we all need to be very rigid in our self-inspection. Faith in the good hand of God upon us for good should often lead to the abandonment, and always to the subordination, of material aids. It is a question of detail, which each man must settle for himself as each occasion arises, whether in any given case abandonment or subordination is our duty. This is not the place to enter on so large and difficult a question. But, at all events, let us remember, and try to work into our own lives, that principle which the easy-going Christianity of this day has honeycombed with so many exceptions, that it scarcely has any whole surface left at all; that the absolute surrender and forsaking of external helps and goods is sometimes essential to the preservation and due expression of reliance on God.
There is very little fear of any of us pushing that principle to Quixotic lengths. The danger is all the other way. So it is worth while to notice that we have here an instance of a man’s being carried by a certain lofty enthusiasm further than the mere law of duty would take him. There would have been no harm in Ezra’s asking an escort, seeing that his whole enterprise was made possible by the king’s support. He would not have been ‘leaning on an arm of flesh’ by availing himself of the royal troops, any more than when he used the royal firman. But a true man often feels that he cannot do the things which he might without sin do. ‘All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient,’ said Paul. The same Apostle eagerly contended that he had a perfect right to money support from the Gentile Churches; and then, in the next breath, flamed up into, ‘I have used none of these things, for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void.’ A sensitive spirit, or one profoundly stirred by religious emotion, will, like the apostle whose feet were moved by love, far outrun the slower soul, whose steps are only impelled by the thought of duty. Better that the cup should run over than that it should not be full. Where we delight to do His will, there will often be more than a scrupulously regulated enough; and where there is not sometimes that ‘more,’ there will never be enough.
‘Give all thou canst; high Heaven rejects the lore
Of nicely calculated less or more.’
Notice, too, Ezra’s preparation for receiving the divine help. There, by the river Ahava, he halts his company like a prudent leader, to repair omissions, and put the last touches to their organisation before facing the wilderness. But he has another purpose also. ‘I proclaimed a fast there, to seek of God a right way for us.’ There was no foolhardiness in his courage; he was well aware of all the possible dangers on the road; and whilst he is confident of the divine protection, he knows that, in his own quiet, matter-of-fact words, it is given ‘to all them that seek Him.’ So his faith not only impels him to the renunciation of the Babylonian guard, but to earnest supplication for the defence in which he is so confident. He is sure it will be given-so sure, that he will have no other shield; and yet he fasts and prays that he and his company may receive it. He prays because he is sure that he will receive it, and does receive it because he prays and is sure.
So for us, the condition and preparation on and by which we are sheltered by that great Hand, is the faith that asks, and the asking of faith. We must forsake the earthly props, but we must also believingly desire to be upheld by the heavenly arms. We make God responsible for our safety when we abandon other defence, and commit ourselves to Him. With eyes open to our dangers, and full consciousness of our own unarmed and unwarlike weakness, let us solemnly commend ourselves to Him, rolling all our burden on His strong arms, knowing that He is able to keep that which we have committed to Him. He will accept the trust, and set His guards about us. As the song of the returning exiles, which may have been sung by the river Ahava, has it: ‘My help cometh from the Lord. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.’
So our story ends with the triumphant vindication of this Quixotic faith. A flash of joyful feeling breaks through the simple narrative, as it tells how the words spoken before the king came true in the experience of the weaponless pilgrims: ‘The hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way; and we came to Jerusalem.’ It was no rash venture that we made. He was all that we hoped and asked. Through all the weary march He led us. From the wild, desert-born robbers, that watched us from afar, ready to come down on us, from ambushes and hidden perils, He kept us, because we had none other help, and all our hope was in Him. The ventures of faith are ever rewarded. We cannot set our expectations from God too high. What we dare scarcely hope now we shall one day remember. When we come to tell the completed story of our lives, we shall have to record the fulfilment of all God’s promises, and the accomplishment of all our prayers that were built on these. Here let us cry, ‘Be Thy hand upon us.’ Here let us trust, Thy hand will be upon us. Then we shall have to say, ‘The hand of our God was upon us,’ and as we look from the watch-towers of the city, on the desert that stretches to its very walls, and remember all the way by which He led us, we shall rejoice over His vindication of our poor faith, and praise Him that ‘not one thing hath failed of all the things which the Lord our God spake concerning us.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Ezr 8:31-34
31Then we journeyed from the river Ahava on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was over us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the way. 32Thus we came to Jerusalem and remained there three days. 33On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the utensils were weighed out in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas; and with them were the Levites, Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui. 34Everything was numbered and weighed, and all the weight was recorded at that time.
Ezr 8:31 the hand of our God was over us See notes at Ezr 7:6; Ezr 7:9; Ezr 7:28; Ezr 8:18; Ezr 8:22. See Special Topic: Hand .
Ezr 8:32 One wonders if these three days are related to the three days of fasting and prayer of Ezr 8:15; Ezr 8:21. Ezra prayed before he left and maybe he also had a time of thanksgiving and prayer when he arrived (cf. Ezr 8:21; Ezr 8:25; Neh 2:11).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
first month
i.e. April.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the river of Ahava: Ezr 8:15, Ezr 8:21
the hand: Ezr 8:22, Ezr 7:9, Ezr 7:28, Job 5:19-24, Psa 91:9-14, Isa 41:10-14, Act 25:3, Act 26:22
and he delivered: Ezra and his company had now entered upon a journey of several hundred miles through the desert, which they were nearly four months in completing, encumbered with families and possessions, and carrying large treasures with them, which would invite the attempts of the Arabian hordes, and others, that infested that neighbourhood; yet, having declared to the king, “that the hand of God was upon all them for good that seek him, and that his power and wrath were against all them that forsook him,” – Ezr 8:22, he determined to travel without a guard, except that of the Almighty, being ashamed to ask any other, after his former avowed confidence in Him! Having, therefore, humbled themselves before the Lord, and besought his guidance and protection, he was intreated by them, their enemies were restrained or disabled, and they arrived unmolested at Jerusalem.
Reciprocal: Ezr 7:6 – according to Ezr 8:17 – Casiphia Ezr 8:23 – and he was entreated Psa 121:8 – thy going out Psa 137:1 – the rivers Isa 66:14 – the hand Hos 6:9 – as troops Act 20:3 – the Jews
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
FAITH AND COURAGE
The hand of our God was upon us. And we came to Jerusalem.
Ezr 8:31-32
I. If Ezra had been a coward, he would never have accomplished what he did.Had he looked at the difficulties in the way, he never would have started for Jerusalem, for the journey was long and dangerous. It lasted for four months, and he knew that there were many robbers in the way, and that he was especially exposed to them, for he carried about four million dollars in treasure in his caravan. But he trusted in his God, and took courage, and in the end he succeeded in getting to Jerusalem in safety.
II. What he did in his line of duty we may do in ours.A Christian worker told me of all the difficulties in the way of Sunday school work in his village. As a result, he had given up trying to do much. But he was only an example of many in these days. They say, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets, and then they lie down and go to sleep, instead of starting out to kill the lion. Now what we need to learn from Ezra is that difficulties are not to daunt us, but to stimulate us to more of effort. The world has many examples of mere boys and girls who have succeeded because they have faced the difficulties that confronted them, and have overcome them. What we want to know first is that we are in the path of duty, and then we must let no obstacles daunt us.
III. There is another lesson that we may learn from this story of the experiences of Judah, and that is that mere outward things will not insure our spiritual welfare.The Temple in Jerusalem had long been completed, but Ezra found that the people had gone off once more into idolatrous marriage alliances, and there was danger that they would fall into idolatry themselves, as their fathers did. To this Ezra put a stop. Just so we are in danger all the time of mistaking the outward for the inward. How many church buildings have we in the United Kingdom? Are our people, then, all that they should be? Far from it. In spite of churches and chapels there are still millions in the land who never go inside a place of worship. But do all that go to church live as they should? Alas! no. There are many thousands of church-goers who are anything but what they should be. These people have a name to live, but are dead. They mistake the outward for the inward, and so are hypocrites. How stands the matter with you? If things are not right, then learn from this incident that nothing but true inward worship is well pleasing to God, and no amount of church-going will make up for genuine heart-worship.
Illustration
Ezra was ashamed to ask for a band of soldiers because he had boasted to the king of Jehovahs power and faithfulness. There was really nothing inconsistent between the testimony Ezra had borne to the divine power and faithfulness and a request for a bodyguard, yet it was possible that the request might be misconstrued, and therefore, yielding to a fine sensitiveness for the honour of God and the welfare of His cause, the noble priest resolved to transcend policy and trust everything to the unseen horses and chariots of fire. Occasions still arise when devout men find themselves in similar perplexity, and when they must determine whether they will trust themselves and their interests to ordinary human safeguards or rest simply on pure faith in the unseen.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Ezr 8:31-32. The hand of our God was upon us To protect and strengthen us in so dangerous and long a journey. And he delivered us from the hand of the enemy There were not only many enemies who hated them, and were desirous to cut them off; but many robbers, who watched for a booty, whom God either diverted some other way, or disheartened from attempting any thing against them. And of such as lay in wait by the way To wit, in the direct way. From this it may be conjectured, that God inclined them to fetch a little compass, and to go a more unsuspected way, as they had begged of him. And abode there three days Before Ezra opened out his commission, or did any thing material.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ezr 8:31-36. The Arrival in Jerusalem.
Ezr 8:31. on the twelfth day . . .: cf. Ezr 7:8 f., Ezr 8:15.
Ezr 8:35. Cf. Zerubbabels offerings at the dedication of the Temple, Ezr 6:17.
Ezr 8:36. the kings commissions: mentioned in Ezr 7:21-24.satraps . . . governors: the satrap was a higher official, being ruler of a province; the governor (pekhah) administered a smaller district.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
8:31 Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth [day] of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in {k} wait by the way.
(k) This declared that their journey was full of danger and yet God delivered them according to their prayer.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Safe arrival 8:31-36
The exiles had begun their journey on the first day of the first month (Ezr 7:9), but they had camped by the Ahava waterway for 12 days (Ezr 8:31). They arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month (Ezr 7:9). God kept them safe on their dangerous trip, and all their valuable cargo arrived safely.
Burnt offerings represented the consecration of the worshippers’ persons to God (Leviticus 1; Lev 6:8-13). Sin offerings provided atonement (covering) for the worshippers’ sinful natures (Lev 4:1 to Lev 5:13; Lev 6:24-30). A satrap (Ezr 8:36; lit. protector of the realm) ruled over governors in the Persian governmental structure.