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Prophets and Kings
until ye weigh them before the chief of the priests and the Levites,
[617]
and chief of the fathers of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the
house of the Lord.”
Verses 24, 25, 28, 29
.
The care exercised by Ezra in providing for the transportation and
safety of the Lord’s treasure, teaches a lesson worthy of thoughtful
study. Only those whose trustworthiness had been proved were chosen,
and they were instructed plainly regarding the responsibility resting
on them. In the appointment of faithful officers to act as treasurers of
the Lord’s goods, Ezra recognized the necessity and value of order and
organization in connection with the work of God.
During the few days that the Israelites tarried at the river, every
provision was completed for the long journey. “We departed,” Ezra
writes, “on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem:
and the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the
hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.”
Verse
31
. About four months were occupied on the journey, the multitude
that accompanied Ezra, several thousand in all, including women and
children, necessitating slow progress. But all were preserved in safety.
Their enemies were restrained from harming them. Their journey was
a prosperous one, and on the first day of the fifth month, in the seventh
year of Artaxerxes, they reached Jerusalem.