Introduction: The Roster of Those Who Ascended with Ezra
Chapter 8 of Sefer Ezra opens with a detailed roster of those who ascended with Ezra from Babylon to Eretz Yisrael - the individuals who came to assist the settlers of the land and the builders of the Beis HaMikdash. Afterwards, Ezra describes the preparations for the journey: searching for the Levi'im, the fast and prayer by the Ahava River, entrusting the silver and gold vessels to faithful guardians, and the caravan's safe arrival in Jerusalem.
וְאֵלֶּה רָאשֵׁי אֲבֹתֵיהֶם וְהִתְיַחְשָׂם הָעֹלִים עִמִּי בְּמַלְכוּת אַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא הַמֶּלֶךְ מִבָּבֶל׃ - And these are the heads of their fathers' houses, and the genealogical registration of those who ascended with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artachshasta.
"And their genealogical registration" (vehityachsam) - their genealogical records. Notice that the word is spelled here with a sin (written as a shin), whereas we are accustomed to spelling yichus with a samech. This is a well-known phenomenon: many words are spelled in the Torah and Tanach with a sin, while in the language of Chazal they are written with a samech to create a clear distinction and make it easier to recognize that it is not a right-dotted shin. Thus we find eirushin (betrothal) spelled with a sin in Biblical Hebrew and as eirusin with a samech in Rabbinic Hebrew; similarly cheresh and cheres (earthenware); and ka'as (anger), which appears in Iyov with a sin and in Chazal with a samech, among many other instances.
All of them ascended with their lineage, and this lineage was twofold: first, each individual demonstrated how he was traced back to a specific ancestral house - son of so-and-so, son of so-and-so, all the way to the head of the family. Beyond that, there was the lineage linking that ancestral house to the head of the tribe, showing that the entire family descended from so-and-so all the way back to Binyamin, for example.
מִבְּנֵי פִינְחָס גֵּרְשֹׁם, מִבְּנֵי אִיתָמָר דָּנִיֵּאל, מִבְּנֵי דָוִיד חַטּוּשׁ׃ - Of the sons of Pinchas, Gershom; of the sons of Itamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, Chattush.
מִבְּנֵי שְׁכַנְיָה, מִבְּנֵי פַרְעֹשׁ זְכַרְיָה וְעִמּוֹ הִתְיַחֵשׂ לִזְכָרִים מֵאָה וַחֲמִשִּׁים׃ - Of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were genealogically registered one hundred and fifty males.
The one who ascended from the sons of Pinchas was named Gershom; from the sons of Itamar, Daniel; and so forth with all the names. From the sons of Shechaniah who descended from Parosh was Zechariah, and those genealogically registered with him reached the number of one hundred and fifty, all of them males. The primary census here is of the males, in accordance with the Torah's way of reckoning "according to their families, by their fathers' houses" - by their fathers' houses and not by their mothers' houses.
And so on: of the sons of Pachat-Moav, Eliehoenai the son of Zerachiah, and with him two hundred; of the sons of Shechaniah, the son of Yachaziel, and with him three hundred; of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Yonatan, and with him fifty - "Ebed" here is not a title ("servant") but a proper noun, that was his personal name; of the sons of Eilam, Yeshayah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy; of the sons of Shefatyah, Zevadyah the son of Michael, and with him eighty; of the sons of Yoav, Ovadyah the son of Yechiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen; and of the sons of Shelomit, the son of Yosifyah, and with him one hundred and sixty.
Why All the Names Were Recorded
As explained in previous lessons, Ezra wanted to record them so they would serve as an everlasting memorial, so that all could see who merited to ascend to the Holy Land. Just as there are those who become an "everlasting abhorrence," there are those who merit to be inscribed, in the words of Chazal, in the book of the righteous. These returnees were not numerous - roughly fifty thousand people - and they were mentioned by their names and families in order to glorify and elevate them: here are those who abandoned the exile and came to settle the Land amid great hardship and formidable challenges, as will be seen later on, dedicating their very lives to this endeavor. Therefore, the author of the book mentions them by name, so that they may be an everlasting remembrance in the Sanctuary of Hashem.
The roster continues: of the sons of Bevai, Zechariah the son of Bevai, and with him twenty-eight; and of the sons of Azgad, Yochanan the son of HaKatan, and with him one hundred and ten.
וּמִבְּנֵי אֲדֹנִיקָם אַחֲרֹנִים וְאֵלֶּה שְׁמוֹתָם אֱלִיפֶלֶט יְעִיאֵל וּשְׁמַעְיָה וְעִמָּהֶם שִׁשִּׁים הַזְּכָרִים׃ - And of the sons of Adonikam, the last ones, and these are their names: Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males.
Incidentally, the name Eliphelet is familiar to us - one of King David's sons bore this name as well; similarly, the name Daniel was also the name of one of David's sons. And what does "the last ones" mean? It teaches us that from this family, not a single person remained outside the Land - they all came. We have seen that 666 men from this family had already gone up earlier, and these were the final members of the family to leave, not leaving behind even a single branch in exile.
"And of the sons of Bigvai: Uthai and Zaccur, and with him seventy males." Note that there is a keri and ketiv here: there is a version reading "Zabbud," and in the commentary of the Ibn Ezra it is "Zabbur" - some say he was called by one name and some by the other, which is why it is written with a keri and ketiv.
Gathering the People and Finding the Levites
וָאֶקְבְּצֵם אֶל־הַנָּהָר הַבָּא אֶל־אַהֲוָא וַנַּחֲנֶה שָׁם יָמִים שְׁלֹשָׁה וָאָבִינָה בָעָם וּבַכֹּהֲנִים וּמִבְּנֵי לֵוִי לֹא־מָצָאתִי שָׁם׃ - And I gathered them to the river that flows to Ahava, and we encamped there for three days; and I looked closely among the people and the Kohanim, but I found no Levites there.
I gathered them in order to ascend, and the meeting point was at the river that flows toward Ahava. There was a river named Ahava, and the river flowing into it had no specific name - for had it had a name, Ezra would have called it by that name. Just as we might describe an unnamed alley: "This is the alley that leads into such-and-such street." So too here, this river had no name of its own, so he identified it by means of the Ahava River, which was well known.
Va'avinah ("and I looked closely") is an expression of careful scrutiny. I observed, searched, and investigated, and found that there were no Levites among those ascending with us to the Land of Israel. It was vital that Levites ascend as well, for they are the ministers of Hashem in the Beit HaMikdash - they are the singers and the gatekeepers.
וָאֶשְׁלְחָה לֶאֱלִיעֶזֶר לַאֲרִיאֵל לִשְׁמַעְיָה וּלְאֶלְנָתָן וּלְיָרִיב וּלְאֶלְנָתָן וּלְנָתָן וְלִזְכַרְיָה וְלִמְשֻׁלָּם רָאשִׁים וּלְיוֹיָרִיב וּלְאֶלְנָתָן מְבִינִים׃ - And I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, leaders; and for Joiarib and Elnathan, men of understanding.
I sent for all these men, who were leaders of the people or its sages - mevinim ("men of understanding") refers to wise men.
וָאֲצַוֶּה אוֹתָם עַל־אִדּוֹ הָרֹאשׁ בְּכָסִפְיָא הַמָּקוֹם וָאָשִׂימָה בְּפִיהֶם דְּבָרִים לְדַבֵּר אֶל־אִדּוֹ אָחִיו הַנְּתִינִים בְּכָסִפְיָא הַמָּקוֹם לְהָבִיא־לָנוּ מְשָׁרְתִים לְבֵית אֱלֹהֵינוּ׃ - And I gave them a charge for Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I put words in their mouths to speak to Iddo and Achiv, the Netinim, at the place Casiphia, to bring us attendants for the House of our God.
I sent them and commanded them to speak to Iddo, who was a great and distinguished person in Casiphia. Casiphia was the name of a place in Babylon. "And I put words in their mouths" - I instructed them and rehearsed with them precisely what to say, to speak on my mission to Iddo and to Achiv who resided in Casiphia, so that they would bring us people to serve in the House of Hashem. And "Achiv," Rashi notes, is a proper name of an individual, not a term of kinship ("his brother").
וַיָּבִיאּוּ לָנוּ כְּיַד־אֱלֹהֵינוּ הַטּוֹבָה עָלֵינוּ אִישׂ שֶׂכֶל מִבְּנֵי מַחְלִי בֶּן־לֵוִי בֶּן־יִשְׂרָאֵל וְשֵׁרֵבְיָה וּבָנָיו וְאֶחָיו שְׁמֹנָה עָשָׂר׃ - And according to the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding of the sons of Mahli, son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and his brothers, eighteen.
"According to the good hand of our God upon us" - the Holy One, blessed be He, watched over us with benevolent providence, and indeed they sent us the very men we requested. "A man of understanding" - wise men. From here we see that a Levi can have the name Yisrael, just as an ordinary Yisrael can have the name Levi. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev - "Levi" was not a surname, but his first name. When Yaakov named his son Levi, he likewise gave him a first name, not a surname. Among Ashkenazim, and particularly among Chassidim, it is common to name a boy Levi, and that is his name. Thus, just as the name Levi can belong to an ordinary Yisrael, the name Yisrael can belong to a man who is a Levi.
וְאֶת־חֲשַׁבְיָה וְאִתּוֹ יְשַׁעְיָה מִבְּנֵי מְרָרִי אֶחָיו וּבְנֵיהֶם עֶשְׂרִים׃ - And Hashavyah, and with him Yeshayah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty.
They also brought Hashavyah, and with him Yeshayah of the descendants of Merari, "his brethren" - his friends and companions, and their sons, totaling twenty.
The Netinim and the Purpose of Drawing Them Close to the House of Hashem
וּמִן־הַנְּתִינִים שֶׁנָּתַן דָּוִיד וְהַשָּׂרִים לַעֲבֹדַת הַלְוִיִּם נְתִינִים מָאתַיִם וְעֶשְׂרִים כֻּלָּם נִקְּבוּ בְשֵׁמוֹת׃ - And of the Netinim, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Netinim, all of them designated by name.
Beyond this, he also brought from the Netinim. The Netinim were the Gibeonites who, as we recall, were initially made hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and in the second stage, hewers of wood and drawers of water for the House of Hashem, for the Tent of Meeting, and that remained their role from then on.
The purpose of this, as we learned in Sefer Yehoshua, was that they would be strengthened through it: since they would be around the House of Hashem and serve the Kohanim of Hashem, and "the lips of a Kohen should safeguard knowledge, and they shall seek Torah from his mouth" - the source of wisdom and Torah was always with the Kohanim. For this reason, as we have noted several times, people would ascend to the Beit HaMikdash during the Shemittah year to immerse themselves in Torah study there: someone who was a farmer for six years had leisure during the seventh year to learn Torah. Likewise, those who went up with Ma'aser Sheni to eat it in Yerushalayim - there too, the purpose was that "the lips of a Kohen should safeguard knowledge, and they shall seek Torah from his mouth," and they would be strengthened in the observance of the mitzvot. The same applies here: by bringing the Netinim close to the Kohanim and the servants of Hashem, they would be strengthened in the service of Hashem and not stray from the path - as we saw in the days of David, when they harbored vengefulness and demanded the sons of Ritzpah bat Ayah, the sons of Shaul, to kill them in revenge for those of them who were slain in Nov, the city of Kohanim, who were the servants of Hashem.
The Fast and Prayer by the Ahava River
וָאֶקְרָא שָׁם צוֹם עַל־הַנָּהָר אַהֲוָא לְהִתְעַנּוֹת לִפְנֵי אֱלֹהֵינוּ לְבַקֵּשׁ מִמֶּנּוּ דֶּרֶךְ יְשָׁרָה לָנוּ וּלְטַפֵּנוּ וּלְכָל־רְכוּשֵׁנוּ׃ - Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, to afflict ourselves before our God, to seek from Him a straight path for us, for our little ones, and for all our substance.
When we arrived there, we began to pray to Hashem to help and assist us on the road we were traveling, which, as we will soon see, was not simple at all. The order of prayer here is instructive: Chazal say that a person should pray by starting with small requests and gradually adding more. Just as David prayed, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from hidden faults," and afterward, "Keep back Your servant also from willful sins; let them not have dominion over me" - he began with errors, with the lighter matters. So too here: he begins with "for us," then "for our little ones," and then, Master of the Universe, also for the silver, gold, and all the possessions we carry with us.
כִּי בֹשְׁתִּי לִשְׁאוֹל מִן־הַמֶּלֶךְ חַיִל וּפָרָשִׁים לְעָזְרֵנוּ מֵאוֹיֵב בַּדָּרֶךְ כִּי־אָמַרְנוּ לַמֶּלֶךְ לֵאמֹר יַד־אֱלֹהֵינוּ עַל־כָּל־מְבַקְשָׁיו לְטוֹבָה וְעֻזּוֹ וְאַפּוֹ עַל כָּל־עֹזְבָיו׃ - For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying: "The hand of our God is upon all those who seek Him for good, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him."
Ezra says: We know that we are heading into danger on our journey up to the Holy Land. Seemingly, since the king had offered to fulfill all our needs and everything required for the service of the Beit HaMikdash, why not ask him to send an escort of troops and horsemen? After all, they were crossing a desert and traveling along a hazardous route. To this Ezra replies: "For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen." And why was I ashamed? "Because we had spoken to the king, saying: 'The hand of our God is upon all those who seek Him for good'" - we told him that the Holy One, blessed be He, protects all who seek Him for good, and we also told him, "but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him," meaning His anger and might are arrayed against all who abandon Him. Therefore, we felt ashamed to ask him, having just told him that Hashem accompanies us with miraculous providence. Although a person should generally not rely on a miracle, we nevertheless said: We are going to fulfill such a great mitzvah, and we therefore trust that the Holy One, blessed be He, will assist us.
How Did They Know Their Prayer Was Accepted?
וַנָּצוּמָה וַנְּבַקְשָׁה מֵאֱלֹהֵינוּ עַל־זֹאת וַיֵּעָתֵר לָנוּ׃ - So we fasted and besought our God for this, and He was entreated of us.
We prayed and pleaded concerning this matter, and behold, Hashem was entreated of us. But how did they know that their prayer was accepted? Ibn Ezra explains that Hashem informed them of this in a dream. The Malbim explains that it was like Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, who would pray for the sick and say: This one will live, and that one will die. When they asked him, "How do you know? Are you a prophet?" he replied, "I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet; rather, if my prayer flows fluently in my mouth, I know that he is accepted and will live, and if not, I know that he is torn away" - meaning his time has ended, his mind is confused, and he will depart from this world. In other words, the very inner feeling and fluency during prayer served to let them know.
It is told of Rabbi Akiva Eiger that once a name was submitted to him to pray for, and he sent back a note saying: "I prayed and was not answered; please check if there is an error in the name." They checked and found that there was indeed a mistake in the mother's name. A similar story is told about the Chazon Ish: once a prayer request was sent to him, and he told them to verify if the name was correct; upon checking, they found that the name was indeed inaccurate. According to the Malbim, this is what happened here: they experienced a clear inner sense that the Holy One, blessed be He, was with them. There is also a simpler explanation offered by Rashi: "And He was entreated of us" - how did they know? Because they arrived in Jerusalem safely. In retrospect, Ezra saw that they had arrived safely, and from this he understood that Hashem had answered their prayer, for this route was naturally fraught with danger.
Handing Over the Silver and Gold to the Kohanim
וָאַבְדִּילָה מִשָּׂרֵי הַכֹּהֲנִים שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר לְשֵׁרֵבְיָה חֲשַׁבְיָה וְעִמָּהֶם מֵאֲחֵיהֶם עֲשָׂרָה׃ - Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the kohanim: Sherevyah, Chashavyah, and with them ten of their brethren.
וָאֶשְׁקֳלָה לָהֶם אֶת־הַכֶּסֶף וְאֶת־הַזָּהָב וְאֶת־הַכֵּלִים תְּרוּמַת בֵּית־אֱלֹהֵינוּ הַהֵרִימוּ הַמֶּלֶךְ וְיֹעֲצָיו וְשָׂרָיו וְכָל־יִשְׂרָאֵל הַנִּמְצָאִים׃ - And I weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering for the house of our God, which the king, and his counselors, and his princes, and all Israel there present, had offered.
There, by the Ahava River, I selected from among the leaders of the kohanim and entrusted the silver and gold into their hands, that they might weigh them into the treasuries of the House of Hashem. I weighed it out to them and said: You are kohanim, and you are destined to ascend and serve in the Beis HaMikdash; here at the Ahava River I am already transferring everything to you, and you will bring it up to the Beis HaMikdash and use it for the building of the House, its enhancement, or the fashioning of its sacred vessels. The word "ha-herimu" is an abridged form of "asher herimu" - which the king, his counselors, his officers, and all of Israel present in Babylonia had dedicated.
וָאֶשְׁקְלָה עַל־יָדָם כֶּסֶף כִּכָּרִים שֵׁשׁ־מֵאוֹת וַחֲמִשִּׁים וּכְלֵי־כֶסֶף מֵאָה לְכִכָּרִים זָהָב מֵאָה כִכָּר׃ - I even weighed into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels of a hundred talents, and of gold a hundred talents.
A kikar (talent) is a unit of weight and measure. I weighed into their hands six hundred and fifty talents of silver, silver vessels totaling one hundred talents, and one hundred talents of gold.
וּכְפֹרֵי זָהָב עֶשְׂרִים לַאֲדַרְכֹנִים אָלֶף וּכְלֵי נְחֹשֶׁת מֻצְהָב טוֹבָה שְׁנַיִם חֲמוּדֹת כַּזָּהָב׃ - Also twenty bowls of gold, of a thousand darics; and two vessels of fine bright brass, precious as gold.
What are keforei zahav? They are sprinkling basins (mizrakim). And why are they called keforim? As we have already explained, lechaper means to wipe or clean, as in the Talmudic phrase, "and he came to wipe his hands on that man." It was their practice that when receiving the sacrificial blood from the animal, blood would sometimes spill onto the kohen's hand; what would he do to ensure that this blood entered the vessel as well? He would wipe (mechaper) his hand along the rim of the basin, so that this blood too would go into the vessel. It is from this usage that they are called keforei zahav, from the concept of wiping. "Of a thousand darics (adarkonim)" - an adarkon is a type of coin, and these twenty basins were worth a total of one thousand darics.
"And vessels of fine, gleaming copper" - copper with a bright, golden sheen. And why is "tovah" (fine/good) in the feminine, when it seemingly should have said "tov" (masculine)? Rather, "tovah" refers back to the copper (nechoshet), which is grammatically feminine, not to "mutzhav" (gleaming), which is masculine. And if you ask: if it refers to the copper, why did the verse use the masculine "mutzhav" instead of the feminine "tzehubah"? Because "mutzhav" refers to the vessel (kli), which is masculine. Thus we have: a gleaming vessel made of fine copper - matching masculine to masculine and feminine to feminine.
"You Are Holy to Hashem" - The Responsibility of Guarding
וָאֹמְרָה אֲלֵהֶם אַתֶּם קֹדֶשׁ לַה' וְהַכֵּלִים קֹדֶשׁ וְהַכֶּסֶף וְהַזָּהָב נְדָבָה לַה' אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֵיכֶם׃ - And I said to them: You are holy to Hashem, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to Hashem, the God of your fathers.
I gave this to them and said: Why must you specifically be obligated to guard them? Because you are holy to Hashem, for the Holy One, blessed be He, sanctified the kohanim for His service. The vessels are also holy, and the silver and gold are a freewill offering to Hashem. And to whom was it said, "You shall keep the charge of the Sanctuary"? To the kohanim. Consequently, it is fitting that all of this be placed in your hands and that you guard it: you are holy, the vessels are holy, and the sacred vessels are entrusted into the hands of the kohanim, who are holy.
שִׁקְדוּ וְשִׁמְרוּ עַד־תִּשְׁקְלוּ לִפְנֵי שָׂרֵי הַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַלְוִיִּם וְשָׂרֵי־הָאָבוֹת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל בִּירוּשָׁלִָם הַלִּשְׁכוֹת בֵּית ה'׃ - Watch diligently and guard them until you weigh them before the officers of the kohanim and the Levites, and the heads of the ancestral houses of Israel, in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the House of Hashem.
"Watch diligently and guard" - take utmost care. "Shikdu" comes from the idea of diligence and persistence: take care to guard them continuously, until you arrive at the Beit HaMikdash and weigh everything there before the leaders of the kohanim, the Levites, and the ancestral leaders of Israel in Jerusalem, in the chambers that are in the House of Hashem.
וְקִבְּלוּ הַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַלְוִיִּם מִשְׁקַל הַכֶּסֶף וְהַזָּהָב וְהַכֵּלִים לְהָבִיא לִירוּשָׁלִַם לְבֵית אֱלֹהֵינוּ׃ - And the kohanim and the Levites received the weight of the silver, the gold, and the vessels, to bring to Jerusalem, to the House of our God.
"Ve-kiblu" (and they received) - even though this appears to be in the past tense, it is a conversive vav, referring to the future: they, the kohanim and the Levites, will receive from you the weight of the silver, the gold, and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem, to the House of our God. One can also explain that he was warning them: know that there will be a weighing in the end. Let no one, God forbid, be careless or irresponsible - I am handing them over to you by weight, and know that at the conclusion as well, when the kohanim and Levites receive them from you, everything will be weighed. Therefore, take care that nothing is lost or damaged; just as you received it, so must you deliver it there.
The Journey and Arrival in Jerusalem
וַנִּסְּעָה מִנְּהַר אַהֲוָא בִּשְׁנֵים עָשָׂר לַחֹדֶשׁ הָרִאשׁוֹן לָלֶכֶת יְרוּשָׁלִָם וְיַד־אֱלֹהֵינוּ הָיְתָה עָלֵינוּ וַיַּצִּילֵנוּ מִכַּף אוֹיֵב וְאוֹרֵב עַל־הַדָּרֶךְ׃ - Then we journeyed from the Ahava River on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambusher along the way.
Just as we prayed, so it came to pass: we departed from the Ahava River on the twelfth of Nisan to travel to Jerusalem, and the hand of Hashem our God was upon us, delivering us from the grasp of every enemy and ambusher on the way. From here derives the phrasing we utter in Tefillat HaDerech (the Traveler's Prayer): "and deliver us from the hand of every enemy and ambusher along the way" - this verse is the source.
וַנָּבוֹא יְרוּשָׁלִָם וַנֵּשֶׁב שָׁם יָמִים שְׁלֹשָׁה׃ - And we arrived in Jerusalem, and we stayed there for three days.
וּבַיּוֹם הָרְבִיעִי נִשְׁקַל הַכֶּסֶף וְהַזָּהָב וְהַכֵּלִים בְּבֵית אֱלֹהֵינוּ עַל יַד־מְרֵמוֹת בֶּן־אוּרִיָּה הַכֹּהֵן וְעִמּוֹ אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן־פִּינְחָס וְעִמָּהֶם יוֹזָבָד בֶּן־יֵשׁוּעַ וְנוֹעַדְיָה בֶן־בִּנּוּי הַלְוִיִּם׃ - And on the fourth day, the silver, the gold, and the vessels were weighed in the House of our God into the hands of Meremoth the son of Uriah the kohen, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them were Jozabad the son of Jeshua and Noadiah the son of Binnui, the Levites.
And how does the calculation work out? They set out on the twelfth of the first month. And how long did their journey take? The same amount of time as from the conclusion of the festival pilgrimage until the last of the returnees arrives in Babylonia - two weeks. They arrived in Jerusalem and stayed there for three days, and on the fourth day of their stay in Jerusalem, the silver, gold, and vessels were weighed in the House of our God into the hands of Meremoth the son of Uriah the kohen, Eleazar the son of Phinehas, Jozabad, and Noadiah - into their hands everything was weighed with exact precision.
בְּמִסְפָּר בְּמִשְׁקָל לַכֹּל וַיִּכָּתֵב כָּל־הַמִּשְׁקָל בָּעֵת הַהִיא׃ - Everything was counted and weighed, and the entire weight was recorded at that time.
The number of vessels and their weight - just as they had received them, so they unloaded them, without any shortage whatsoever, and they recorded the weight, and certainly the number as well.
The Sacrifices and Delivering the King's Decrees
הַבָּאִים מֵהַשְּׁבִי בְנֵי־הַגּוֹלָה הִקְרִיבוּ עֹלוֹת לֵאלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל פָּרִים שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂר עַל־כָּל־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֵילִים תִּשְׁעִים וְשִׁשָּׁה כְּבָשִׂים שִׁבְעִים וְשִׁבְעָה צְפִירֵי חַטָּאת שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר הַכֹּל עוֹלָה לַה'׃ - Those who returned from the captivity, the children of the exile, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve he-goats for a sin offering - all as an olah to Hashem.
Upon their arrival, they began offering burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve he-goats for a sin offering, offering all of this as an olah. And what was the nature of this offering? An olah brought as an emergency ruling (hora'at sha'ah), as we explained earlier, for there is normally no such offering on its own: a chatat offering is brought only for a specific sin, unlike an olah offering which an individual may bring as a freewill donation.
וַיִּתְּנוּ אֶת־דָּתֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ לַאֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ וּפַחֲווֹת עֵבֶר הַנָּהָר וְנִשְּׂאוּ אֶת־הָעָם וְאֶת־בֵּית הָאֱלֹהִים׃ - And they delivered the king's decrees to the king's satraps and to the governors of Beyond the River, and they supported the people and the House of God.
They showed them the king's decree, which ordered that permission and directives be given to assist the returnees. For we have seen that he issued an edict with explicit instructions to assist and support them in every possible way - not only were they not to hinder them, but each official was to contribute according to his ability. They also presented the royal decree to all the appointed satraps, so they would know that the king commanded them to obey and to assist in rebuilding the House of God.
Summary:
Chapter 8 opens with the list of those who ascended with Ezra, recorded by name and genealogy for an everlasting remembrance - those who left the exile and went up to settle the Land amid great hardship. Ezra gathered them at the river flowing toward Ahava, discovered there were no Levites among them, sent emissaries to Casiphia, and brought from there Levites and Netinim for the service of the House of Hashem. There he proclaimed a fast and prayer, being ashamed to request an army and horsemen from the king after testifying before him regarding Hashem's providence over those who seek Him; and Hashem answered their prayers. He entrusted the silver, gold, and vessels into the hands of twelve of the leading kohanim with precise weight, emphasizing, "You are holy to Hashem, and the vessels are holy - watch and guard them." The caravan set out on the twelfth of Nisan, was delivered "from the hand of the enemy and the ambush along the way," arrived in Jerusalem, and on the fourth day everything was weighed and counted without any shortage. Finally, they offered burnt offerings and an emergency sacrifice, and delivered the king's decrees to the satraps and governors Beyond the River - that they might support the people and the House of God.