Ezra 2:68 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezra 2:68
And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the LORD which is at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up in his place:
the head (as most easily shaken) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
fathers
הָֽאָב֔וֹתha.'a.Vot
H1
father · definite article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
came
בְּבוֹאָ֕םbe.vo.'Am
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
house
לְבֵ֥יתle.Veit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Jerusalem
בִּירוּשָׁלִָ֑םbi.ru.sha.Lim
H3389
Jerushalaim or Jerushalem · preposition + proper noun, a place name
freely
הִֽתְנַדְּבוּ֙hit.na.de.Vu
H5068
to impel · verb, hithpael perfect, 3rd person common plural
house
לְבֵ֣יתle.Veit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
God
הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔יםha.'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
up
לְהַעֲמִיד֖וֹle.ha.'a.mi.Do
H5975
to stand · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
place
מְכוֹנֽוֹme.kho.No
H4349
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
Exodus 35:5-19 Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, and silv…
Exodus 35:29 The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the LORD, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all manner…
Exodus 36:3 And they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make…
2 Corinthians 8:3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves;
Numbers 7:3-89 And they brought their offering before the LORD, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for two of the princes, and for each one an ox…
1 Chronicles 21:18 Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor o…
1 Chronicles 22:1 Then David said, This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezra 2:64–end
Here is, I. The sum total of the company that returned out of Babylon. The particular sums before mentioned amount not quite to 30,000 (29,818), so that there were above 12,000 that come out into any of those accounts, who, it is probable, were of the rest of the tribes of Israel, besides Judah and Benjamin, that could not tell of what particular family or city they were, but that they were Israelites, and of what tribe. Now, 1. This was more than double the number that were carried captive into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, so that, as in Egypt, the time of their affliction was the time of their increase. 2. These were but few to begin a nation with, and yet, by virtue of the old promise made…
some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the Lord offered freely for the house of God, &c.--The sight of a place hallowed by the most endearing and sacred associations, but now lying in desolation and ruins, made the wellsprings of their piety and patriotism gush out afresh. Before taking any active measures for providing accommodation to themselves and their families, the chief among them raised a large sum by voluntary contributions towards the restoration of the temple.
Adam Clarke on Ezra 2:66
Their horses - seven hundred, etc. - They went into captivity, stripped of every thing; they now return from it, abounding in the most substantial riches, viz., horses 736, or, according to Esdras, 7036; mules, 245; camels, 435; asses, 6720; besides gold, and silver, and rich stuffs. See below.
John Gill on Ezra 2:68
And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the Lord that is at Jerusalem,.... That is, when they came to the place where it formerly stood, and where were still the ruins of it:
offered freely for the house of God, to set it up in its place; to rebuild it upon the spot where it formerly stood; this they did besides the freewill offerings they brought with them from Babylon.
The Church Fathers
And of the leaders of the fathers, when they entered the temple of the Lord, etc. It is a great sign of devotion when someone, not only offering the due oblations, which are commanded by the law of the Lord, but also in addition to these, offering other things which are not commanded but are advised, freely offers his gifts to the divine majesty. For it is commanded: Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness; honor thy father and mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself (Matt. XIX). The voluntary offering, however, is: If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, and give to the poor. And what the Apostle says: Concerning virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord, but I give counsel (1 Cor. VII). And concerning himself: The Lord has ordained that they who preach the gospel should live by the gospel, but I have used none of these things (1 Cor. IX). And to the Thessalonians: Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought, but worked with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be burdensome to any of you; not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an example for you to follow (1 Thess. IV). Therefore, it is rightly said that the leaders of the fathers freely offered gifts for the construction of the house of God; because the more someone abstains from what is forbidden and even from what is allowed, the more effectively he builds the Church of God; when all who know their examples of perfection fear falling into illicit acts themselves, seeing that these men do not use even lawful things fully; they rather say, All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient (1 Cor. VI). It is also rightly said that they gave according to their ability for the expenses of the work. For this is the measure of human perfection, to labor for the Lord according to one's ability and to establish the state of the holy Church, first by rightly conducting one's own life, and then by correcting others. And those who live in this way among the people of God are rightly called leaders of the fathers; because by the perfection of their lives and teachings, they rule over those who, by the merit of their pious care, deserved to be called fathers in the Church, living more excellently and transcending the general commandments of the law. They gave voluntary offerings:…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Captivity — (1.) Of Israel. The kingdom of the ten tribes was successively invaded by several Assyrian kings. Pul (q.v.) imposed a tribute on Menahem of a thousand talents of silver (2 Kings 15:19, 20; 1 Chr.…
Ozias — Son of Joram (Matt. 1:8); called also Uzziah (2 Kings 15:32, 34).
Sadoc — Just, mentioned in the genealogy of our Lord (Matt. 1:14).
Temple, the Second — After the return from captivity, under Zerubbabel (q.v.) and the high priest Jeshua, arrangements were almost immediately made to reorganize the long-desolated kingdom. The body of pilgrims, forming…
Priests · Garments of: Often provided by the people — Garments of: Often provided by the people
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on Ezra 2:68–end
Contributions towards the rebuilding of the temple, and concluding remarks. Comp. Neh 7:70-73. - Some of the heads of houses, when they came to the house of Jahve, i.e., arrived at the site of the temple, brought free-will offerings (התנדּב; comp. Ch1 29:5) to set it up in its place (העמיד, to set up, i.e., to rebuild; identical in meaning both here and Ezr 9:9 with הקים). After their ability (כּכוחם; comp. Ch1 29:2) they gave unto the treasure of the work, i.e., of restoring the temple and its services, 61,000 darics of gold = 68,625, and 5000 mina of silver, above 30,000, and 100 priests' garments. The account of these contributions is more accurately given in Neh 7:70-72, according to whi…
As when the Tabernacle was built (Exod 25:2-7; 35:4-9) and the Temple was renovated (2 Kgs 12:1-21), the people gave voluntary offerings to finance this effort. These funds supplemented the provincial grant by Darius (Ezra 6:8) and gifts from Israelites who stayed in Babylon (1:6). Each gave as much as he could based on his resources.
Rashi on Ezra 2:68
donated They were donating toward the building of the Temple.
