Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.
Ver. 8. Even those did Cyrus king of Persia] So styled, because, though he was monarch of many countries, yet Persia was his hereditary kingdom, and Persepolis the place of his residence; which great city was afterwards burnt by Alexander the Great, at the motion and by the request of a base harlot.
By the hand of Mithredath the treasurer] Heb. Gizhar; Inde Gasper, saith one. Mithridates, king of Pontus, was famous in later ages, or, rather infamous, for his craft in saving himself, and his cruelty to the Roman merchants, trading through his territories, killing eighty thousand of them with one letter (Val. Max.).
And numbered them unto Sheshbazzar] Joy in tribulation, this is the signification of the word; a fit name for a prince, who should be Deliciae orbis, as Titus the emperor, of whom it is said, that he never sent away any suitor sad or discontented, Neminem a se dimisit tristem (Sueton.); and remembering on a day that he had not done any poor man good, he cried out to his friends, Hodie non regnavimus: Amici, diem perdidi, accounting that day lost wherein he had not showed some man courtesy. Such a gracious prince was Job, Job 29:12, "I delivered the poor that cried," saith he, "and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him." The Great Turk styleth himself, The world's refuge; professing that all that lament unto him shall have redress and help. James V of Scotland was called "The poor man's king," for his readiness to right and relieve the afflicted. Zerubbabel, however he came by this name Sheshbazzar for that he was the man I take for granted, Ezra 5:16; Ezr 3:8 Zechariah 4:9, though Junius thinks otherwise), he deserved it doubtless; and of him it might well be said, as the historian Vopiscus doth of Probus the emperor, Si probi nomen non haberet, habere cognomen posset, pity he had been called anything but Probus, so honest a prince he was: think the like here. The parliament here held A.D. 1376 was called The Good Parliament; and another not long after Parlamentum benedictum, The Blessed Parliament. God grant us such a one next (this was written, May 18, 1653); for at present we are without any, but not without cause to cry out, as those in Jeremiah 8:20; Jeremiah 8:22, The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not helped. "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!" Jer 8:15