Text: Ezra 1:4
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 12:35
Subject: contributions from neighbors
Source: Keil and Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament (1866)
Reference Type: Echo
Connection Method(s): Typology
Anchor Text: Exod 12 — The Passover
Significance: In Exodus 12:35 the Israelites asked (שָׁאַל, sha'al) the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold, and the LORD gave them favor so the Egyptians granted their request. Ezra 1:4 echoes this pattern when Cyrus commands that returning exiles "be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods, and livestock." Both passages depict a departing people receiving material wealth from their former captors as they begin a journey of redemption. The Chronicler-Ezra narrative deliberately frames the return from Babylon as a second exodus, with pagan neighbors supplying the covenant community just as Egypt supplied Israel, demonstrating God's sovereign ability to transfer the wealth of nations to His people at the moment of deliverance.