Ezra 2:63

And the Tirshatha said unto them,.... By whom Jarchi understands Nehemiah, and observes, that their rabbins say he was so called, because the wise men allowed him to drink the wine of the Gentiles,

And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.

The Tirshatha, i.e. the governor, to wit, Zerubbabel; whence Nehemiah also is so called, 10:1. Till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim; that this point, which could not be found out by any human skill or industry, might be determined by Divine direction. Hereby it appears that the Urim and Thummim were lost in the destruction of the city and temple, though the Jews fed themselves with hopes of recovering them, but in vain. Of the Urim and Thummim, see .

Ezra 2:63 And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.Ver. 63. And the Tirshatha said unto them] i.e. Zerubbabel, the chief magistrate, a man of great power and no less courage, who would not be guilty of passive injustice. That they should not eat of the most holy things] Make a gain of the priesthood, which they had slighted when nothing was to be obtained by it. Now they should neither do the work nor have the means. Caietan commenting upon Matthew, then when the French soldiers brake into Rome, and made a scorn and prey of the Popish clergy, acknowledged that it was a just hand of God upon them, because they were grown unsavoury salt, good for little else but to look after the rights and revenues of the Church. Till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim] That is, never, or not in haste. Some faint hopes the governor might have that such an ephod with Urim and Thummim, as was now burnt or otherwise lost, might be had again, but it seemed not very likely. The great High Priest was now at hand, and the ceremonials to cease shortly.

(63) Tirshatha.—Interchangeable with Pechah, or governor, as Zerubbabel is called in chapter 5:14 and always in Haggai. It is probably an old Persian term, signifying “The Feared.” With Urim and with Thummim.—See Exodus 28:30. They were pronounced to be excluded from priestly functions. Without ark or temple, the people had not as yet that special presence of Jehovah before which the high priest could “inquire of the Lord by Urim and Thummim.” Zerubbabel might hope that this privilege would return, and thought the official purity of the priestly line of sufficient importance for such an inquiry. But the holy of holies in the new temple never had in it the ancient “tokens “; and by Urim and Thummim Jehovah was never again inquired of.

Verse 63. The Tirshatha] This is generally supposed to be Nehemiah, or the person who was the commandant; see Nehemiah 8:9; Nehemiah 10:1, for the word appears to be the name of an office. The Vulgate and Septuagint write it Atershatha, the Syriac and Arabic render it the princes of Judah. Some suppose the word to be Persian, but nothing like it of the same import occurs in that language at present. If, as Castel supposed, it signifies austerity, or that fear which is unpressed by the authority of a governor, it may come from [Persian] ters, FEAR, or [Persian] tersh, ACID, the former from [Persian] tarsidan, to FEAR or DREAD. Should not eat of the most holy things] There was a high priest then, but no Urim and Thummim, these having been lost in the captivity.

63. the Tirshatha] This title is here and in Nehemiah 7:65; Nehemiah 7:70 apparently applied to Zerubbabel: Haggai his contemporary calls him ‘Pekhah’ (= Governor), see Haggai 1:1; Haggai 1:14; Haggai 2:2; Haggai 2:21. In the same way Nehemiah, who is called the Tirshatha, Nehemiah 8:9; Nehemiah 10:1, is also spoken of as ‘Pekhah’ in Nehemiah 12:26. ‘Pekhah’ was the Babylonian, ‘Tirshatha’ the Persian title for a local or provincial governor. The governors were subject to the satraps, the satraps were responsible to the king. The word ‘Tirshatha’ is said to be the same as the Persian ‘tarsβta’, from ‘tars’ to fear, and to denote complimentarily the awe which the office inspired. That the ‘Tirshatha’ here mentioned was Zerubbabel is rendered probable by the nature of the prohibition contained in this verse, which none but a native Governor or the High-priest himself would have issued. that they should not eat of the most holy things] The priests were especially required to eat of the ‘meal-offering’ (Leviticus 2:3; Leviticus 2:10; Leviticus 6:18), the sin offering (Leviticus 6:26), the guilt offering (Leviticus 7:6), and of the peace offering (Leviticus 7:31-34). Certain portions were set aside for the sons of Aaron. The prohibition therefore refers to the ceremonial rules already in force. ‘The most holy things’ is a phrase which can best be illustrated from Numbers 18:9-11. The consecration of a priest was accompanied by the sacrifice of a ram which Aaron and his sons should eat. Exodus 29:33-37. A priest excluded from eating of ‘the most holy things’ was therefore only a priest by title and lineage. He could not be consecrated (see Exodus 29), he could not offer sacrifices, he could not enter the holy place. He was excluded apparently more rigidly than the priest ‘that hath a blemish’, who was forbidden to ‘come nigh to offer the bread of his God. He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy. Only he shall not go in unto the veil, nor come nigh unto the altar’ (Leviticus 21:21-23). The distinction here made between the ‘most holy’ and the ‘holy’ is important. ‘The most holy’ included the shewbread, the incense, the sin and guilt offering, the drink offering. ‘The holy’ comprised the thank-offering, the firstlings of herd and flock, the first-fruits, the tithe. Of ‘the holy’ things members of the priests’ families might partake. But ceremonial cleanness was in all cases needed. The declaration of ‘defilement’ excluded those who were defiled from a source of priestly income as well as from the dignity of priestly occupation. till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim] In former times the High-priest had enquired of the Lord by Urim and Thummim. After the Captivity, the High-priest had no Urim and Thummim.

The Tirshatha - i. e., Zerubbabel. See margin. The word is probably old Persian, though it does not occur in the cuneiform inscriptions. Some derive it from a root “to fear.” See the introduction to the Book of Ezra, first note.

63. The Tirshatha — A Persian title of the governor of a district, and, according to Gesenius: equivalent to Your Severity, or Dread Sovereign.