We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on anyone of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.
Ezra 7:24 closes a Persian king's written order, and it frees every worker at the Jerusalem temple from state tax — priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers and temple servants alike. Why would a foreign emperor give up income for a religion that was not his own?
Who is on the list
The verse reaches past the priests to the lowest ranks of temple staff. One of those names needs explaining:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe Nethinim were temple servants. The word means "given" or "devoted," that is, devoted to God. We find this name in only one other passage (1 Chron. 9:2). According to Ezra 8:20 this order originated with King David. Jewish tradition identifies them with the Gibeonites, whom Joshua appointed as helpers to the Levites (Josh. 9:3-27). Whatever their origin, they were devoted servants of God assigned to certain duties in the temple.
What the exemption covered
The three charges named are not repetitions of one tax. Writers distinguish them:
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe words halak, τέλος, apparently allude to the duty paid on merchandise or produce, and should be distinguished from 'tribute.' Ezra 4:13, 20; Ezra 7:24; Matt. 17:25; Rom. 13:7.
Taken together, the effect was total. Ezra and his helpers were
F. B. Holeexempted from every form of tax or exaction, and also given power to punish all evildoers, whether they broke the law of God or 'the law of the king'.
The old accusation turned inside out
Years earlier, enemies had written to a Persian court warning that a rebuilt Jerusalem would stop paying its dues. Now a Persian court grants that very thing on purpose:
Leslie M. GrantMore than this, the king ordered that it would be unlawful to impose tax, tribute or custom on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, Nethinim or servants of the house of God (v. 24). Rehum and Shimshai had urged a previous Artaxerxes to stop the Jews from building by claiming that the Jews would not pay tax, tribute or custom (ch. 4:9-13), but the king now was ready to forgo these things for heads of Israel, so that Judah would prosper.
What was in the king's mind
How far did the king's own belief go? One writer weighs his fear of God against his lack of faith:
H. L. RossierThe decree of Artaxerxes, like the letter of Darius (Ezra 6), shows us how the rulers of Persia thought. They had a certain fear of God, but no living faith. Like his grandfather Darius, Artaxerxes acknowledged the God of heaven. In his decree he goes further. He acknowledges the God of Ezra (v. 14), the God of Israel (v. 15), and the God of Jerusalem (v. 19). He also admits that he answers to this God, and that God's anger is something to fear (v. 23).
Read the other way, the calculation was political as much as religious — the king
Leslie M. Grantrightly realized that it would be beneficial to his entire empire if God were given His place in Israel.
A privilege that also marks a loss
A tax break from a foreign throne is a favour. It is also proof that Israel no longer ruled itself, but lived under Gentile (non-Jewish) power:
Edward DennettNotice again that the signs of the transfer of governmental power on earth from the Jew to the Gentile are everywhere plain. So the date of Ezra's mission is given as "in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia," and his commission from the king is set out at length (vv. 11-26). This proves that God's people were at this time under the authority of the Gentiles, and that God Himself always recognises the powers which have their source in His own sovereign appointment.
The same favour is described elsewhere as mercy shown through the very power that held Israel down:
The Bible TreasuryRoyal liberality, not without a certain fear of God, is owned with exemption in such things from tribute in verses 19-24... A soul less devout and submissive to God's will in the humbling of Israel would have chafed.
Where Ezra put the credit
Ezra credited none of this to his own standing at court:
Edward DennettSo it was not his asking (v. 6) that led the king to act. It was God who put the thing into the king's heart. It was not Ezra's influence that commended him to the king and his princes. It was God who showed him mercy in their presence. It was not in his own power that he gathered the chief men to go up with him. It was God who strengthened him with His own hand upon him.
Summary
- Hand. The exemption began with God's hand on the king's heart, not with Ezra's standing at court.
- Heart. That hand moved a ruler who feared God without living faith, yet named Him as the God of Ezra, of Israel, and of Jerusalem.
- Grant. The gift was full relief from tribute, custom and toll — three charges, not one tax under three names.
- Reach. It covered the whole staff of God's house, down to the Nethinim. Their name means "given" — servants devoted to God.
- Reversal. Enemies once tried to stop the work by claiming the Jews would not pay. The king made that very thing his policy, so that Judah would prosper.