Ezra 8:24

THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES WERE ENTRUSTED WITH THE TREASURES

"Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren with them, and 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 counsellors, and his princes, and all Israel there present, had offered: I weighed into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels a hundred talents; of gold a hundred talents; and twenty bowls of gold, of a thousand darics; and two vessels of fine bright brass, precious as gold. And I said unto them, Ye are holy unto Jehovah, and the vessels are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill-offering unto Jehovah, the God of your fathers. Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites, and the princes of the fathers' houses of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of Jehovah. So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God."

"The value of these gifts was well over a million pounds; but this is by no means inconceivable in view of the immense wealth of the Perisan kings."[13]

Responsibility for transporting this vast sum of money, "Was vested in twelve priests and twelve Levites especially chosen for the task. This was in accordance with the Pentateuchal care and movement of the tabernacle furnishings (Numbers 3; Numbers 4)."[14]

"Ye are holy ... the vessels are holy" (Ezra 8:28). Ezra here heeded the prophecy of Isaiah who had prophesied the return of Israel from captivity, saying, "Cleanse yourselves, ye that bear the vessels of Jehovah." (Isaiah 52:11). As Matthew Henry stated it, "We have here an account of the particular care which Ezra took,'"[15] in the handling of the treasures entrusted to him. It is always of the greatest importance that God's servants should take the greatest precautions in handling sacred contributions that their actions should exhibit to all men the utmost honesty and integrity.