Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Twenty basons of gold, of a thousand drams - Not of a thousand drams (i. e., darics) each, but worth altogether a thousand darics. As the value of the daric was about 22 shillings of British money, each basin, or saucer, would have been worth (apart from the fashioning) 55 British pounds.

Of fine copper - The word translated “fine,” which occurs here only, is thought to mean either “yellow” or “glittering” (see the margin). Probably the vessels were of orichalcum, an amalgam which was either brass or something nearly approaching to brass, but which was very rarely produced in the ancient world, and, when produced, was regarded as highly valuable.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Also twenty basins of gold, of a thousand drams,.... Which were upwards of 1000 pounds of our money; for Bishop Cumberland says^F5Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 4. p. 115. , the Persian "daric", "drachma", or "drachm", weighed twenty shillings and four pence; and, according to Dr. Bernard, it exceeded one of our guineas by two grains; see Gill on 1 Chronicles 29:7.

and two vessels of fine copper, precious as gold; which perhaps is the same with the Indian or Persian brass Aristotle^F6De Mirabilibus, p. 704, vol. 1. speaks of, which is so bright and pure, and free from rust, that it cannot be known by its colour from gold, and that there are among the cups of Darius such as cannot be discerned whether they are brass or gold but by the smell: the Syriac version interprets it by Corinthian brass, which was a mixture of gold, silver, and copper, made when Corinth was burnt, and which is exceeding valuable; of which Pliny^F7Nat. Hist. l. 34. c. 1, 2. makes three sorts, very precious, and of which he says, it is in value next to, and even before silver, and almost before gold; but this sort of brass was not as yet in being: Kimchi^F8Sepher Shorash. rad. צהב. interprets the word here of its colour, being next to the colour of gold.

Geneva Study Bible

(i) Read (Ezra 2:69).

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

two vessels of fine copper, precious as gold — Almost all commentators agree in maintaining that the vessels referred to were not made of copper, but of an alloy capable of taking on a bright polish, which we think highly probable, as copper was then in common use among the Babylonians, and would not be as precious as gold. This alloy, much esteemed among the Jews, was composed of gold and other metals, which took on a high polish and was not subject to tarnish [Noyes].

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Ezra 8:27 Also twenty basons of gold, of a thousand drams; and two vessels of fine copper, precious as gold.

Ver. 27. Of a thousand drachms] 312 pounds 10 shillings. The Hebrew (or rather Chaldee) word here rendered a drachm seems to be taken from the Greek word Dραχμη.

And two vessels of fine copper] Ex orichalco praestante, Of some choice mixed metal, Auro contra non caro. Overlaid with gold without no dross.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Heb. desirable as gold; not that it was of equal price and worth with it, but for its incomparable excellency in its kind, and for its great rarity, for which cause there were only two vessels of that sort.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

27.A thousand drams — Worth about five thousand five hundred dollars. See on the word dram, or daric, at Ezra 2:69.

Fine copper — Or, rather, copper shining beautifully. The value of all these treasures, according to the above estimate, must have been nearly seven million dollars, an amount so great as to lead us to suspect some corruption or error in the numbers.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

CHAPTER VIII.

Solids. Hebrew adarconim. Darics, equivalent to the golden sicle. (Calmet) (1 Paralipomenon xxix. 7.) --- Best. Protestants, "of fine copper, precious as gold." It might resemble the Corinthian brass, or aurichalcum, (Haydock) composed of gold, silver, and brass melted together, in the burning of Corinth, by L. Mummius. (Pliny, [Natural History?] xxxiv. 2.) --- Yet no such Corinthian vessels have come down to us; so that the account seems fabulous; and, at any rate, the city was not taken in the days of Esdras, but in the year 608 of Rome. We cannot say whether he speaks of copper, brass, &c. (Calmet)

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

basons = bowls.

of = valued at.

fine copper, &c. = copper shining like gold.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

Also twenty basons of gold, of a thousand drams; and two vessels of fine copper, precious as gold.

Also twenty basons of gold, of a thousand drams, [ la'

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(27) A thousand drams.—Darics, and therefore the whole worth rather more than a thousand guineas.

Fine copper.—Probably the Roman Orichalcum, a metal very highly valued.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

fine copper

Heb. yellow, or shining brass. The Syriac renders, nechosho korinthyo tovo, "good Corinthian brass;" so called from the brass found after the burning of Corinth by Lucius Mummius, which was, as is generally supposed, brass, copper, silver, and gold, melted together. Sir J. Chardin, however, in a MS. note, cited by Harmer, mentioned a factitious metal used in the East, and highly esteemed there, which might probably be of an origin as ancient as Ezra. He says, "I have heard some Dutch gentlemen speak of a metal in the island of Sumatra, and among the Macassars, much more esteemed than gold, which royal personages alone are privileged to wear. It is a mixture, if I remember right, of gold and steel, or copper and steel." He afterwards added, "calmbac is the name of this metal, which is composed of gold and copper."

precious

Heb. desirable.

Lamentations 4:2