Unto an hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred measures of wheat, and to an hundred baths of wine, and to an hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.
An hundred talents of silver - 22,000 British pounds, according to the rate of the silver talent of Babylon. Fourthly, Artaxerxes gave his royal sanction in establishment of the divine law which exempted priests and Levites from taxation or tribute, and confirmed to them the exclusive right to officiate in the sacred services of the sanctuary. And, finally, in the expression of the king's desire for the divine blessing upon the king and his government (Ezra 7:23), we see the strong persuasion which pervaded the Persian court, and had been produced by the captivity of the Hebrew people as to the Being and Directing Providence of the God they worshipped. It will be observed, however, that the commission related exclusively to the rebuilding of the temple-not of the walls. The Samaritans (Ezra 4:20-22) had succeeded in alarming the Persian court by their representations of the danger to the empire of fortifying a city notorious for the turbulent character of its inhabitants and the prowess of its kings.