Ezra 3:7

7 They gave money also to the masons, and to the carpenters; and food, and drink, and oil, to them of Sidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.

Ezra 3:7 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 3:7

They gave money also to the masons, and to the carpenters
To buy stone and timber with for the building of the temple:

and meat and drink and oil unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre;
which were more agreeable to them than money, because there was not plenty of such things in their country, as in the land of Israel:

to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa;
as they did at the first building of the temple by Solomon; they cut down cedars at Lebanon, which belonged to them, and sent them by sea to Joppa, the nearest seaport to Jerusalem, about forty miles from it: see ( 2 Chronicles 2:16 ) ,

according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia;
for Tyre and Zidon being under his dominion as well as Judea, he not only gave leave to the Jews to get cedar wood from Lebanon, but gave orders to the Zidonians and Tyrians to furnish them with it, paying a valuable consideration for it; and so some ^F1 render the word, "according to the commandment of Cyrus".

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 (Nwyvrk) "juxta praeceptum", Vatablus; "juxta quod praeceperat", V. L. So Ben Melech.

Ezra 3:7 In-Context

5 and afterward the continual burnt-offering, and [the offerings] of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of Yahweh that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered a freewill-offering to Yahweh.

6 From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh: but the foundation of the temple of Yahweh was not yet laid.

7 They gave money also to the masons, and to the carpenters; and food, and drink, and oil, to them of Sidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia.

8 Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who were come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of the house of Yahweh.

9 Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to have the oversight of the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brothers the Levites.