Ezra 1:7-11

Ezra 1:7-11

[7] Also Cyrus  the king  brought forth  the vessels  of the house  which Nebuchadnezzar  had brought forth  out of Jerusalem,  and had put  them in the house  of his gods;  [8] 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.  [9] And this is the number  of them: thirty  chargers  of gold,  a thousand  chargers  of silver,  nine  and twenty  knives,  [10] Thirty  basons  of gold,  silver  basons  of a second  sort four  hundred  and ten,  and other  vessels  a thousand.  [11] All the vessels  of gold  and of silver  were five  thousand  and four  hundred.  All these did Sheshbazzar  bring up  with them of the captivity  that were brought up  from Babylon  unto Jerusalem. 

What does Ezra 1:7-11 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Sometimes warring armies in the ancient Near East carried images of their gods into battle to help secure victory (cf. 2 Samuel 5:21; 1 Chronicles 14:12). When one army defeated the other, the victors would take the images of their defeated foes captive, and lock them up, to testify to the impotence of those gods.
"To displace the authority of a city, it was normal practice for a conquering power to carry off the emblems of deity (cf. Jeremiah 48:7)." [1]
Since the Israelites had no images of Yahweh, Nebuchadnezzar took the temple utensils in their place. [2] Cyrus released these utensils so the returning Jews could take them back to Jerusalem (cf. Daniel 5:1-4).
"The return of the temple vessels ( Ezra 1:7) reverses this and empowers Jerusalem once more in Persian eyes to become the city of Yahweh. Doubtless in this task Cyrus saw himself in typical Achaemenid fashion, as the representative and thus the "servant" of Yahweh." [1]5
"Achaemenid" refers to the dynasty of Persian rulers who were in power from the seventh through the fourth centuries B.C. Achaemenes, who ruled from about700 to675 B.C, founded this royal dynasty.
There is no evidence that the Babylonians took the ark of the covenant to Babylon, or that the returning Jews brought it with them back to the Promised Land. Most scholars speculate that the Babylonians broke it up when they sacked the temple. Josephus wrote that the ark was not in the holy of holies in the second temple. [4] Edersheim wrote that it was empty except for a rock, called the Foundation Stone, that, according to tradition, previously covered the mouth of the pit on which the world was founded. [5]
Sheshbazzar was evidently the uncle of Zerubbabel ( 1 Chronicles 3:17-19). Another less likely view is that Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel were the same individual (cf. Ezra 1:8; Ezra 3:8-10; Ezra 5:14). [6] He seems to have been the leader and governor when the first group of captives returned. [7] Shenazzar was a variation of the name Sheshbazzar. [8] The writer named both Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel as having had a part in the rebuilding of the temple ( Ezra 5:16; Haggai 1:1; Haggai 1:12; Zechariah 4:9). It seems most probable that Zerubbabel succeeded his uncle as the chief man in the restoration leadership, since Zerubbabel became the governor of Judah ( Haggai 1:1; Haggai 1:14; Haggai 2:2; Haggai 2:21). These were, therefore, not two names for the same man (cf. 1 Esdras 6:18).
The inventory of temple articles here ( Ezra 1:9-11) poses a problem. Ezra 1:9-10 give the following quantities.
Gold dishes30Silver dishes1 ,000Others29Gold bowls30Silver bowls410Other articles1 ,000Total2 ,499
However, Ezra 1:11 says the total was5 ,400. Perhaps the writer counted only the larger [9] or most important [10] vessels, and the5 ,400 figure represents the grand total including many lesser vessels.
"The closing words of the chapter, from Babylon to Jerusalem, mark one of the turning points of history." [4]
"Throughout chap1the author"s purpose was clearly to show the small postexilic Jewish community their legitimate continuity with the preexilic community and with God"s plan of redemption. Therefore he used motifs from the exodus; he emphasized God"s providence; he mentioned Judah, Benjamin, priests, and Levites; and he explained that even the former articles from the temple had been returned." [12]