Ezra 2:63 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Tirshatha The governor or king's commissioner, namely, Zerubbabel: whence Nehemiah is so called, Nehemiah 8:9; Nehemiah 10:2. That they should not eat of the most holy things That they should not partake of the sacrifices offered for sin, nor of the right shoulder of peace- offerings, nor of the show-bread; which were all most holy, and the portion of the priests alone. Till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim Till the Lord himself should show, by an answer given to some high- priest, inquiring of him by Urim and Thummim, as had been anciently done, whether they were of the line of Aaron or not. But as God had ceased to give an answer this way long before this time, therefore, it was as much as to say, that as their names were not found in the authentic genealogical registers of the priests, they should for ever be excluded, till some divine oracle pronounced them to have a right to the priesthood. 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. And by the want of that oracle, they were taught to expect the great oracle, the Messiah.