Ezra 8:24 Commentary and Bible Study

Then the practical matter; Ezra provides for the treasure, and there are lessons from this. Sherebiah was also the name of another person, of the best of the thirty-eight Levites that came with him. But the chief priest at the time also bore the name of Sherebiah. Twelve priests were selected to guard the treasure they were taking to Jerusalem, to pay for the worship to be resumed, and all other works that were necessary to be put in hand. Then immediately Ezra goes into his accountancy mode in verse 25. ‘And weighed unto them the silver’, but you can see from what he is doing that there is going to be transparency and real responsibility. There is not one treasurer or even two; there were twelve treasurers, twelve priests, including the chief priest, for such a vast amount of money. You cannot do better than that. They, of all people, must surely be those you can count on for some integrity. The treasure is going to be counted out before their eyes, and every item weighed. Ezra will tell them in these verses that this procedure is to be repeated when this wealth is handed over to the custodians in the temple. So there is going to be a day of account. When this journey is over, and the four-month journey is completed, all this counting and weighing is going to be repeated all over again. So it will be known, if there has been any pilfering, if anything has disappeared, anything has been lost, and the chief priest and his eleven helpers: they are responsible. So there is the weighing of the amount, and the committing of all these things into the hands of these twelve trusted men.’