Ezra 1:9

“And this is the number of them, etc.] Of the vessels delivered, as follows: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver; these, according to Ben Melech, were vessels in which water was put to wash hands in; but rather they were, as Aben Ezra observes from the Jerusalem Talmud f17, vessels in which they gathered the blood of lambs and bullocks slain for sacrifices: nine and twenty knives; which, because the handles of them were of gold or silver, were valuable, and might be very large knives, and what the priests used in slaying and cutting up the sacrifices.”

“Chargers - The word in the original thus translated occurs only in this passage. Its meaning is doubtful. Some derive it from a Hebrew root, “to hollow out,” and translate “cup” or “vessel.” Knives - This is another doubtful word, only used here. The etymology points to some employment of basket-work. return to 'Top of Page'”

“1:9-11 5,400 articles of gold and silver: The numbers listed total only 2,499 items. A parallel account, in the apocryphal book 1 Esdras 2:13-15, lists 5,469 items, while a list in the Jewish historian Josephus’s Antiquities 11.15 lists 5,220 objects. Ezra’s shortened list illustrates the kind of items included but does not include every item. Keeping track of consecrated utensils reduced the possibility of confusing these sacred items with the pagan utensils used in the worship of other gods.”

“chargers of gold: Num 7:13, 19-89; Kg1 7:50; Ch2 4:8, Ch2 4:11, Ch2 4:21, Ch2 4:22, Ch2 24:14; Mat 14:8 nine: Mat 10:29-31 Ezra 1:11”