68. When they came. The writer passes over the journey in silence (see on Gen. 24:7, 62), though it must have taken several weeks. The route is not mentioned, although the topography of the Near East leaves few uncertainties in this respect (see on Gen. 12:5). The caravan probably followed the banks of the Euphrates up to the 36th parallel, or went through the former homeland of Assyria to Arbela, and then followed the approximate course of the present Syro-Turkish border till they reached the Euphrates. From there, the desert between the Euphrates and the Orontes River was crossed, with the Aleppo oasis as a stopping place, midway across the desert. Reaching the Orontes, they probably followed this river up to its source, and then marched through the Beqa‘, the valley between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges, until they reached the upper course of the Jordan, and so entered Palestine. This was the route that most military forces of the Assyrians and Babylonians had taken in the past and that the captive parents and grandparents of this group apparently traversed in the opposite direction half a century earlier (see Jer. 39:5-7; 52:9, 10, 27).
The time of departure was probably the spring of 536 (see on 1:1), and perhaps Jerusalem was reached in the summer of the same year. Eighty years later it took Ezra and his caravan almost four months to reach Jerusalem ( 7:8, 9; 8:31), and it is reasonable to think that Zerubbabel’s journey lasted as long as that of Ezra.
Offered freely. Arriving at the site of the former Temple, the members of the expedition conducted a thanksgiving service in which the heads of families and the people offered gifts for the planned reconstruction of the Temple building to the sum of 61,000 drams of gold and 5,000 silver minas.
This was a most remarkable sum for a group of people who had but recently regained liberty. A spirit of liberality must have taken hold of them like that which gripped the people at the building of the tabernacle at Sinai (see Ex. 36:5-7). They knew how God had fulfilled His promises through the prophets, and were willing to make a sacrifice to re-establish the Temple and its service.
God has ever provided His people with opportunities to give of the means entrusted to them. There is no better cure for the spirit of selfishness that naturally infects the human heart than to respond “freely” to calls to advance the cause of God in the earth and to help their fellow men. Those who truly love God will cultivate the spirit of liberality (see 2 Cor. 9:6, 7).
chapter 3
1 The altar is set up. 4 Offerings frequented. 7 Workmen prepared. 8 The foundations of the temple are laid in great joy and mourning.