Ezra 2:63

_AND THE TIRSHATHA SAID UNTO THEM, THAT THEY SHOULD NOT EAT OF THE MOST HOLY THINGS, TILL THERE STOOD UP A PRIEST WITH URIM AND WITH THUMMIM._ And the Tirshatha said unto them, х_ HATIRSHAATAA'_ (H8660)] - a title borne by the Persian governors of Judea (see also Nehemiah 7:65; Nehemiah 8:9; Nehemiah 10:1). It is derived from the Persic word torsh, which means severe, and is equivalent to 'your severity,' 'your awfulness.' THAT THEY SHOULD NOT EAT OF THE MOST HOLY THINGS, UNTIL THERE STOOD UP A PRIEST WITH URIM AND WITH THUMMIM. Zerubbabel, apparently perplexed about such cases as those of priests being unable to prove their Aaronic descent,

36-63 Those who undervalue their relation to the Lord in times of reproach, persecution, or distress, will have no benefit from it when it becomes honourable or profitable. Those who have no evidence that they are, by the new birth, spiritual priests unto God, through Jesus Christ, have no right to the comforts and privileges of Christians....

Verse 63. _THE TIRSHATHA_] This is generally supposed to be Nehemiah, or the person who was the commandant; see Nehemiah 8:9; Nehemiah 10:1, for the word appears to be the name of an _office_. The _Vulgate_ and _Septuagint_ write it _Atershatha_, the _Syriac_ and _Arabic_ render it _the princes of Judah_. Some suppose the word to be _Persian_, but nothing like it of the same import occurs in that language at present. If, as _Castel_ supposed, it signifies _austerity_, or that _fear_ which is unpressed by the authority of a governor, it may come from [Persian] _ters_, FEAR, or [Persian] _tersh_, ACID, the former from [Persian] _tarsidan_, to FEAR or DREAD. _SHOULD NOT EAT OF THE MOST HOLY THINGS_] There wa

THE TIRSHATHA - i. e., Zerubbabel. See margin. The word is probably old Persian, though it does not occur in the cuneiform inscriptions. Some derive it from a root “to fear.” See the introduction to the Book of Ezra, first note. A PRIEST WITH URIM AND WITH THUMMIM - See Exodus 28:30 note. According to the rabbinical writers, the second temple permanently lacked this glory of the first. Zerubbabel, it would seem by the present passage (compare Nehemiah 7:65), expected that the loss would be only temporary....

EXPOSITION THE NUMBER OF THOSE WHO RETURNED FROM CAPTIVITY WITH ZERUBBABEL, AND THE NAMES OF THE CHIEFS (Ezra 2:1). It has been argued that the whole of this chapter is out of place here, and has been transferred hither from Nehemiah (Nehemiah 7:6), where it occupies its rightful position (Bishop A. Hervey). According to this view, the list is one embodying the results of the census made by Nehemiah, not a list of those who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel But it seems strange that such a theory should ever h

AND THE TIRSHATHA SAID UNTO THEM,.... By whom Jarchi understands Nehemiah, and observes, that their rabbins say he was so called, because the wise men allowed him to drink the wine of the Gentiles, he being cupbearer to the king; but Aben Ezra, with greater probability, takes it to be a name of honour and grandeur in the Chaldee language, as a prince or governor; and no doubt Zerubbabel is meant, the prince of the Jews, the same with Sheshbazzar, Ezra 1:8 according to Gussetius w, this office was the same with that of the king's commissary in a province, delegated to carry his orders, make them known, and see them put in execution; and that this name Tirshatha is the same with Tithraustes in Aelian x; but that seems to be not the title of an office, but the personal name of a man that was a chiliarch: THAT THEY SHOULD NOT EAT OF THE MOST HOLY THINGS; as of the shewbread, and those

URIM (_ See Scofield) - (Exodus 28:30). _...

CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The leaders (Ezra 2:1)_ 2. The names of the returning exiles (Ezra 2:3) 3. The priests (Ezra 2:36) 4. The Levites and singers (Ezra 2:40) 5. The porters and Nethinim (Ezra 2:42) 6. Solomon's servants (Ezra 2:55) 7. Those of doubtful descent (Ezra 2:59) 8. The number of the whole company ...

A LIST OF THE EXILES WHO RETURNED UNDER ZERUBBABEL. See the Greek Ezra (1 Esdras) Esther 5:7 and Nehemiah 7:6_ a_, where this list also occurs, though with some variations. Ezra 2:1 a. province: Heb. _medinah,_ equivalent to the Persian satrapy. It refers here to the tract of country, with Jerusalem as its centre (_cf._ Ezra 5:8; Nehemiah 1:3; Nehemiah 11:3), over which Zerubbabel was governor, the province of Judah. ZERUBBABEL: seed of Babel; according to

TIRSHATHA. governor (Persian title). Here refers to Nehemiah, as in Nehemiah 8:9; Nehemiah 10:1; Nehemiah 12:26. The Hebrew title is _Pechah_ (Nehemiah 5:14; Nehemiah 5:18; Nehemiah 12:26). Whence the Turkish _Pashah._ See note on Ezra 5:3. NOT EAT OF THE MOST HOLY THINGS: i.e. the remains of the meal offering, sin offering, and right shoulder of the peace offerin