Let us now inquire, why the Prophet was bid to take gold from four men; for he says, Take from the transmigration. The word הגולה, egule, is to be taken in a collective sense, as in many other places. Take then from the exiles, who have now returned from Babylon to their own country. But he afterwards mentions four men; and there is some abruptness in the passage, but nothing that obscures the meaning of the Prophet; for he says, Take frown Heldai, and from Tobiah, and from Jedaiah; and then he adds, go in that day, enter the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. The Prophet no doubt had been commanded to go to these four, and to enter the house of one of them; and this is evident from the end of the tenth verse, where he says, who have come from Babylon (65) He had spoken only of Josiah the son of Zephaniah; and then he adds, that they had come from Babylon. I come now to the answer. Some interpreters think that these four men supplied the gold and the silver, because they were chief men among the people, and excelled others in piety. Hence they think that these four men were chosen, as a mark of distinction, to supply the gold and the silver to make the crowns: but I conjecture from the end of the chapter that their weakness is here pointed out, even because they were weak in faith and did not believe the promises of God, and thus disheartened others by their example. It is indeed certain that they were men in high authority, and excelled all others, so that the eyes of all were fixed on them; this is certain. But yet their want of faith is what is here reproved, because they did not attend sufficiently to God’s promises, and thought themselves disappointed of their hope; for they had left Babylon, where they enjoyed great abundance, and returned to the holy land, and found it uncultivated and desolate. There was indeed required great patience, when they had to plow among thorns and brambles; for that land, as I have already said, had not been regularly cultivated. Those indeed who had been sent from the East, dwelt here and there in it; but lions and wild beasts had come into it, so that the desolation of the land rendered much work necessary, when the Jews returned. I hence doubt not but that the Holy Spirit does here reprove these four men, who ought to have been leaders and standard-bearers to others; on the contrary, they broke down the confidence of the common people. And this, I say, may be learnt from the end of the chapter, where God commands the two crowns to be placed in the temple, to be a memorial to them, that they might see there the condemnation of their unbelief, as we shall show in its place.
(65) It is better to take the following words as a paranthesis, “and go thou on that day, go even into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah;” then the whole paragraph might be thus rendered,—
10. Take from the exiles from Heldai, from Tobiah, and from Jedaiah, (and go thou on that day, go even into the house for Josiah the son of Zephaniah,) who have come from Babylon;
11. Yea, take from them silver and gold, and make a large (or, a double) crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest.
The first part is rendered by Henderson as above, and according to Calvin’s translation; but Newcome and Blayney follow our version, which does not seem to be correct; for the first “Take” is repeated, an dthen what the Prophet was to take is mentioned, having previously named the persons from whom the silver and the gold was to be taken.
As to the crown or crowns, various opinions have been entertained. The most consistent with the whole passage is that of Marckius, adopted by Hengstenberg and M‘Caul. He thinks that the plural here is used, as it is often in Hebrew, to express what is large, splended, great, or extraordinary, according to the following examples: [ שמחות ], gladnesses—great gladness, Psalms 45:15; [ חכמות ], wisdoms—chief wisdom or true wisdom, Proverbs 1:20; [ חסדום ], mercies—great mercy, Lamentations 3:22; [ מוצאת ], goings forth—remarkable going forth, Micah 5:2. To which instances may be added these two: [ כהמות ], beasts—a great beast, Psalms 73:22; and [ עגלות ], calves—a great calf, Hosea 10:5. In confirmation of this we find the very word here used in its plural form rendered “a crown” in Job 31:36; and it is followed here, in verse 14, by a verb in the singular number. A large, or a splendid, or a double crown is evidently what is meant. Joshua had his sacerdotal mitre before, see Joshua 3:5; and around this was a crown of gold, not of silver, see Exodus 28:36; but in the present instance there was to be silver as well as gold. It was therefore an extraordinary crown, and designed clearly to denote what was extraordinary—a priest ruling on a royal throne.— Ed.