Chargers of Gold, Silver and Twenty Nine Knives - Ezra 1:9

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. Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah” and in chapter one and verse nine of Ezra, Ezra shared about,“chargers of gold, silver and twenty nine knives” where we read,

And this it the number of them:

Thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives.

The verse reads, “And this is the number of them:” Ezra began with the words, “and this is the number” or “and the following exists as the tale, count or accounting” “of them” which means “pertaining to the implements given by Cyrus to Mithredath and subsequently to Sheshbazzar”. Ezra began to account for the tale of the implements of the temple in Jerusalem given by “Cyrus” to Zerubbabel. 

The verse continues, “Thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives.” Ezra added the words, “thirty charges of gold” or “thirty vessels, baskets or basins made with gold metal”, “a thousand chargers of silver” which means “one thousand vessels, baskets or basins made with silver metal”, “nine and twenty knives” or “twenty-nine sharp carving knives”. Ezra said there were “thirty gold metal vessels”, one thousand silver metal basins and twenty-nine sharp knives returned by “Cyrus”.

When we think through the words in this verse, we learn through Ezra about the amount of the implements “Cyrus” sent back to Jerusalem through “Zerrubabel”. These vessels of silver and gold and the knives were just the beginning of the items returned. God was carrying out His plan to restore the people of Israel to their homeland after seventy years of captivity in Babylon, and they would not being going back without valuable assets and the original implements from the temple in Jerusalem. (See Exodus 12:35-36) God loves the people of Israel, and He loves us. He will forgive the sins and grant everlasting life to every person who yields to His Son Jesus who died on the cross for the sins of the world. He will also provide us with gifts through His Holy Spirit to continue the work in His Kingdom until we go to live with Him forever. 

Next time Ezra shares about, “basins of gold, silver and other vessels”, 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".