SERIES O --- RETURN TO THE LAND --- LESSON 01

CAPTIVITY ENDS

VESSELS OF GOLD AND SILVER

From Ezra 1; 2:1, 59-70

In the first year after Cyrus became king of Persia, Adonai stirred up in him a desire to return the Jews to their homeland. This fulfilled the prophecy which Jeremiah had given that the Jews would remain in captivity seventy years. Cyrus put his proclamation in writing and sent it throughout his kingdom. This was the proclamation: [Adonai YHVH of the heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has directed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. All of His people throughout my kingdom may now return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of Adonai, the YHVH of Israel. Those of His people who remain behind should provide the builders with silver, gold, animals, and other items as a freewill offering for YHVH’s house in Jerusalem.] YHVH stirred the leaders of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and Levites to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple of YHVH. The Jews who chose to remain in Persia provided a freewill offering of silver, gold, animals, and other precious things for the work. King Cyrus brought out the vessels of the temple which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his gods. Cyrus ordered Mithredath, the treasurer, to turn these items over to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. The temple treasures included a thousand gold dishes, a thousand silver dishes, twenty-nine censers, thirty gold bowls, four hundred and ten silver howls, and a thousand other items. In all there were five thousand four hundred vessels. Sheshbazzar brought back all of these things with the group of people who returned to Jerusalem. There is a long list of the exiles who returned to Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. Years before, their ancestors had been brought from these places to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. These included the leaders, priests, Levites, temple assistants, and certain descendants of King Solomon’s officials, One group, which came from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and miner, could not find their family records, and so they could not prove that they were true Israelites. There were six hundred and fifty-two of these people, descendants of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekodla. Still another group could not find its family records. These people were descendants of the priests Habaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai. This Barzillai had married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite and had taken her family name. Since they could not find their names in the record books, they were considered to be of mixed blood and were not permitted to serve as priests. The governor also ordered them not to eat any of the food which the priests usually received from the people who came to sacrifice. Perhaps when Urim and Thummim could be consulted, it might be determined that these people were descended from priests, and then they could have priestly privileges. Altogether there were forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty people who returned to Judah, plus seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven slaves and two hundred male and female singers. There were also seven hundred and thirty-six horses, two hundred and forty-five mules, four hundred and thirty-five camels, and six thousand seven hundred and twenty donkeys. When the people came to Jerusalem, some of the leaders gave freewill offerings for the house of YHVH so that it could be rebuilt at the original location. Each gave what he could afford. The gifts totalled sixty-one thousand gold drachmas, worth more than three hundred thousand dollars, and five thousand minas of silver, worth about a hundred and seventy thousand dollars, as well as a hundred garments for the priests. Some of the people settled in Jerusalem with the priests and Levites while the singers, gatekeepers, and temple attendants settled in the surrounding towns of Judah from which their ancestors had come.

COMMENTARY

WRITING ON CLAY

Most of the stone available in the Mesopotamian area crumbled easily and was hard to obtain. The peoples of Babylonia, Assyria and Persia used clay as a common writing surface. The supply was ample, and the clay was strong and smooth, having been washed clean of all impurities by the river water that was its source. Small bits of broken pottery -- called [ostraca] -- were used for unimportant messages; since ostraca were cheap and abundant, these made up the writing surfaces of the poor. Using ink on the paper-like papyrus, carving in stone or scratching on clay were slow processes, but permitted written figures to be curved, when necessary, as in Egyptian picture-writing, or hieroglyphics. Scribes, however, discovered that it was faster to make impressions into soft clay than to scratch or carve on it after it had hardened. They used a stylus, a short stick with a triangular-shaped tip. Forming curved lines with such a tip was almost impossible; short straight lines were easiest and quickest to make. Gradually the writing simplified, and the word-pictures became wedge-shaped or triangular signs—the beginning of a form of writing called [cuneiform.] But even with these simplifications, learning to write was not easy. Scribes needed much training. An Israelite scribe, for example, started his training at the age of thirteen, and continued until he was thirty years old. Scribes performed a very important function. They were actually the record-keepers for every level of the entire society. Since few people could read and write, they were used by everyone from rulers on down to record everything from business transactions to royal proclamations. The public scribe sat at the open gate of the city, to be hired by businessmen and the public as they needed him. He would write what he was told on a tablet of clay -- and write rapidly, because otherwise the clay would dry and harden. When the message or record was completed, the person who had dictated it to the scribe signed it with his personal seal. This was either a carving on a signet ring, or one on a stone cylinder worn on a chain or cord around his neck. To sign the document, the wearer pressed the ring signature onto the clay, or rolled the roller signature onto it. No one else had the same combination of pictures and symbols on his signature, so this was almost like signing one’s name.