In the book of Ezra, Ezra shared how, “Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods ... And this it the number of them: Thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives. Thirty basins of gold, silver basins of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand”, and in chapter one and verse eleven of Ezra, Ezra shared about, “all the vessels of gold and of silver” where we read,
All the vessels of gold and silver were five thousand and four hundred.
All these did Sheshbassar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.
The verse reads, “All the vessels of gold and silver were five thousand and four hundred.” Ezra began with the words, “all the vessels of gold” or “each, every, the whole and everyone of the articles, objects, implements or utensils made with gold metal” “and silver” which means “and silver metal implements” “were five thousand” or “numbered to five thousand” “and four hundred” which means “plus four hundred more gold and silver vessels”. Ezra said there were fifty four hundred gold and silver implements being returned to the temple in Jerusalem.
The verse continues, “All these did Sheshbassar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.” Ezra added the words, “all these did Sheshbassar bring up with them” or “each, every, the whole and everyone of the implements did Sheshbassar whose name means worshiper of fire and was the prince of Judah at the first return from exile in Babylon; usually identified as the Babylonian name for Zerubbabel” “of the captivity” which means “from the carrying away and exile” “that were brought up” or “which were carried, exalted and ascended” “from Babylon” which means “separate and apart from Babylon whose name means confusion and was known as Babel or Babylon, the ancient site and/or capital of Babylonia (modern Hillah) situated on the Euphrates” “unto Jerusalem” or “to Jerusalem whose name means teaching of peace and was the chief city of Palestine and capital of the united kingdom and the nation of Judah after the split”. Ezra said “Sheshbassar” or “Zerubbabel” carried every one of these implements from the place of exile in “Babylon” back to “Jerusalem”.
When we meditate upon Ezra's words in this verse, we discover how there were fifty four hundred implements which were part of the temple in Jerusalem which were now going to be returned with “Zerubbabel”. Although the people of Israel were held in captivity in Babylon for seventy years, they were now to return to Jerusalem, rebuild the temple and take the implements with them so they could begin worshiping Jehovah God in their homeland once again. God desires that everyone worship Him in Spirit and in truth, and when He sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind, He provided the way for us to be forgiven of our sins, granted everlasting life and shown the importance of every verse, line, precept and word in His salvation plan to all who believe.
Next time we begin a new chapter and see Ezra share about, “the children of the province that went up out of the captivity”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".
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