Giving Israel Gold and Silver, Cyrus Improves on a Biblical Motif

Abraham, Jacob, and the Israelites in Egypt acquire wealth from foreign peoples in morally ambiguous ways. In contrast, the Judeans’ return from exile, depicted as a second exodus, is accomplished with the blessing of the gentile king, and the wealth obtained in exile is entirely untainted.

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"Giving Israel Gold and Silver, Cyrus Improves on a Biblical Motif" (n.d.). TheTorah.com. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://www.thetorah.com/article/giving-israel-gold-and-silver-cyrus-improves-on-a-biblical-motif

Prof. Hava Shalom-Guy
Giving Israel Gold and Silver, Cyrus Improves on a Biblical Motif

King Cyrus Handing over the Treasure Looted from the Temple of Jerusalem, Ferdinand Bol, 1655 - 1669. Rijksmuseum.nl

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Published: April 1, 2020

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Last Updated: September 7, 2026

  1. Unless otherwise indicated, all biblical translations follow Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (New York: Norton, 2019), with slight revisions.

  2. Using the term כָל־הַנִּשְׁאָר to describe the returnees to Judah “appears illogical and even paradoxical: ‘the one who remains’ is the one who goes up’!, but this appears to be a technical term for those ‘who belong to the remnant’, who will renew life in Judah.” Sara Japhet, עזרא-נחמיה: עם מבוא ופירוש [Ezra-Nehemiah: Introduction and Commentary], Mikra Leyisrael (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2019), 58–59. Cf. Neh 1:2–3, Hag 2:3. See also Joseph Blenkinsopp, Ezra-Nehemiah: A Commentary, OTL (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1988), 76. For a survey of the solutions to this linguistic difficulty, see Sara Japhet, “The Concept of the ‘Remnant’ in the Restoration Period: On the Vocabulary of Self-Definition,” in From the Rivers of Babylon, 423–449, here 444–45.

  3. Japheth (Ezra-Nehemiah, 59) attributes the rare use of נש"א in the pi‘el pattern with a direct object to denote to be assisted to the influence of 1 Kings 9:11:

    מלכים א ט:יא חִירָם מֶלֶךְ־צֹר נִשָּׂא אֶת־שְׁלֹמֹה בַּעֲצֵי אֲרָזִים וּבַעֲצֵי בְרוֹשִׁים וּבַזָּהָב לְכָל־חֶפְצוֹ.
    1 Kings 9:11 Hiram king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedarwood and cypress-wood and gold as all that he desired.

    Here too the context is the temple.

  4. Instead of כסף וזהב found in v. 4 in the proclamation, we find here בכלי כסף בזהב. The mention of silver objects does not fit the context and it appears that the LXX version ἐν πᾶσιν, ἀργυρίῳ is preferable: בכל, כסף וזהב. See BHS ad loc. and Japhet, Ezra-Nehemiah, 61.

  5. Cf. סביבת היאור (Exod 7:24); סביבת האהל (Num 11:24); סביבות ירושלים (Ps 99:3). See Japhet, Ezra-Nehemiah, 60.

  6. Josh 23:1; Judg 2:14, 8:34; 1 Sam 12:11, 14:47; 2 Sam 7:1, 1 Kgs 5:4, 11, 18.

  7. Daube, Exodus Pattern, 62–72; Zakovitch, The Concept of Exodus in the Bible, 37–38, 46–48.

  8. שמות יא:ב דבֶּר־נָא בְּאָזְנֵי הָעָם וְיִשְׁאֲלוּ אִישׁ מֵאֵת רֵעֵהוּ וְאִשָּׁה מֵאֵת רְעוּתָהּ כְּלֵי־כֶסֶף וּכְלֵי זָהָב
    Exod 11:2 Speak, pray, in the hearing of the people, that every man borrow from his fellow man and every woman from her fellow woman, objects of silver and objects of gold.

  9. Cassuto, Commentary on Genesis, 2:334-37; Zakovitch, The Concept of Exodus in the Bible, 18–26, among others. See also Yairah Amit, “Travel Narratives and the Message of Genesis,” in The Formation of the Pentateuch: Bridging the Academic Cultures of Europe, Israel, and North American, ed. Jan C. Gertz et al., FAT 111 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016), 223–242, here 237, 238, and n. 65.

  10. Zakovitch, The Concept of Exodus in the Bible, 58.

  11. “Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20=1QapGen),” trans. Daniel A. Machiela with James C. Vanderkam, in Genesis Apocryphon and Related Documents, vol. 8A of The Dead Sea Scrolls: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek Texts with English Translations, ed. James H: Charlesworth (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018).

  12. Cited from James C. VanderKam, Jubilees 1: A Commentary on the Book of Jubilees Chapters 1–21, ed. Sidnie White Crawford, Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2018).

  13. Yair Zakovitch and Avigdor Shinan, אברם ושרי במצרים: בראשית יב 10–20 במקרא בתרגומים העתיקים ובספרות היהודית הקדומה לסוגיה [Abram and Sarai in Egypt: Gen. 10:10–20 in the Bible, The Old Versions and the Ancient Jewish Literature], Projects of the Institute of Jewish Studies Monograph Series 2 (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1983), 78.

  14. Betsy Halpern-Amaru, “Judith,” in Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture, ed. Louis H. Feldman, James L. Kugel, and Lawrence H. Schiffman (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2013).

  15. Yair Zakovitch, צבת בצבת עשויה: מה בין מדרש פנים-מקראי למדרש חוץ-מקראי [Inner-biblical and Extra-biblical Midrash and the Relationship between Them] (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1983), 261.

  16. For a discussion of this trick, see Zev Farber, “Maternal Impressions: From Sheep to Humans,” TheTorah (2013). Shakespeare makes much of the moral problem in the dialogue between Antonio and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. See discussion in Herbert Basser, “Shakespeare Plays on the Questionable Source of Jacob's Wealth,” TheTorah (2015).

  17. For a survey of opinions, see Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Exodus, trans. Israel Abrahams (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1967), 43–44, trans. of פירוש על ספר שמות(Jerusalem: Magnes, 1975); David Daube, The Exodus Pattern in the Bible, All Souls Studies (London: Faber and Faber, 1963), 55–72; Moshe Greenberg, Understanding Exodus, Heritage of Biblical Israel Series 2 (New York: Published by Behrman House for the Melton Research Center of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1969), 86–87; Brevard S. Childs, Exodus: A Commentary, OTL (London: S.C.M. Press, 1974), 175–77; Nehama Leibowitz, “שאילת הכלים” [Borrowing Objects], in עיונים חדשים בספר שמות [New Studies in Shemot] (Jerusalem: Hahistadrut ha-tziyonit ha-olamit, 1970), 129–35; Leonard Greenspoon, “Despoiling the Egyptians: A Concerning Jewish Legacy,” TheTorah (2017).

  18. For ש.א.ל as borrowing see Exod 22:13; 2 Kgs 4:3, 6:5; for ש.א.ל as requesting a gift, see 1 Sam 1:28, 2:20; Judg 8:24. See discussion in BDB, 981–982; Menahem Zevi Kaddari, מילון העברית המקראית [A Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew] (Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2007), 1040–41. I note that this polysemy is reflected in the selections quoted above, where we find both “ask” and “borrow” used by the same translator, Robert Alter.

  19. But here we have hitpa‘el and not pi‘el . See Rashi ad loc. and others in his wake. For the meanings of the root נ.צ.ל, see BDB, 664–65; Kaddari, Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew, 726.

  20. See, among others, Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis: Part II, trans. Israel Abrahams (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1964(, 334–37, trans. of פירוש על ספר בראשית (Jerusalem: Magnes, 1974); Leibowitz, “שאילת כלים,” 134; Greenberg, Understanding Exodus, 86; Daube, Exodus Pattern, 55–61; Yair Zakovitch, ......And You Shall Tell Your Son : The Concept of the Exodus in the Bible (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1991), 17, 58. They note the affinity between the borrowing of objects in Exodus and the bonus granted to a Hebrew slave on his release (Deut 15:13–14); cf. Exod 3:21–22.

  21. ונתתי את חן העם הזה בעיני מצרים [והיה כי תלכון לא תלכו ריקם] (ג 21). מה שאמרתי לאברהם: ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול (בר' טו 14), כן אני עתיד לעשות אותם לחן בעיני מצרים כדי שישאילום וילכו מלאים, כדי שלא יהא פתחון פה לאברהם אביהם לומר: ועבדום וענו אתם (שם 13) קיים בהם, ואחרי כן יצאו ברכש גדול – לא קיים עמהם.
    “And I will grant this people favor in the eyes of Egypt [and so when you go, you not go empty-handed]”—As I promised Abraham, “and afterward shall they come out with great substance” (Gen 15:14), thus will I make you find favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that they may lend you things that you may depart well laden; so that Abraham, our father, may not have the excuse to say that God has certainly fulfilled His promise “and they shall serve them and afflict them” but not His promise of “and afterwards shall they come out with great substance.”

    The Hebrew is from: Avigdor Shinan, שמות רבה פרשות א–יד [Midrash Shemot Rabbah: Chapters I–XIV] (Tel Aviv: Dvir, 1984), 133. The English is from: Midrash Rabbah: Exodus, trans. S. M. Lehrman (London: Soncino, 1951) with adjustments.

  22. The psalmist also relies on other pentateuchal narratives and even on other books (other Psalms, Deutero- and Trito-Isaiah, among others) using them to create allusions or inner-biblical interpretations. Berlin, “Torah Traditions in Psalm 105,” 20–36, 239–43.

  23. See, among others, Berlin, “Torah Traditions in Psalm 105,” 33; Penina Galpaz Feller, ונתתי את חן העם הזה" "בעיני מצרים ... (שמות ג, כא) [And I Will Give This People Favor in the Sight of the Egyptians (Exodus 3:21)], Bet Mikra 47 (2002): 133–42, here 140; Rolf A. DeClaissé-Walford, Nancy L. Jacobson, and Beth Laneel Tanner, The Book of Psalms, NICOT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014), 79.

  24. According to Charles A. Briggs, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Psalms, ICC (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1986), 2:341, 347, the verse originally read ויוצא את עמו בכסף וזהב and the phrase was reduced by a copyist to the suffix mem. In previous contexts it was used with reference to Egypt and it was necessary to specify that Israel is the object here. Support for this supposition comes from the Dead Sea Scrolls: 11QPsa: יוצא עמו; 4QPse: ויוצא את עמו. See DeClaissé-Walford, Jacobson and Tanner, Book of Psalms, 786 n. 22. They adopt this version.

  25. The verse makes no mention of the divine command to request these objects, the enactment of the command by the Israelites, or how they found favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, but this is not surprising considering the terseness of the cola here.

  26. : ויפר, ויעצמהו, הפך, שלח, בחר, שלח, הפך, וימת, אמר, נתן, ויך, וישבר, אמר, ויך. This is also the case for the following verses: פרש, שאל, ישביעם, פתח, זכר, ויוצא, ויתן.

  27. See Yair Hoffman’s interpretation of Ps 105 in תהילים ב' [Psalms 2], ed. Nahum M. Sarna; Olam Hatanakh (Tel Aviv: Davidson-Iti, 1995), 129; Adele Berlin, “Interpreting Torah Traditions in Psalm 105,” in Jewish Biblical Interpretation and Cultural Exchange: Comparative Exegesis in Context, ed. Natalie B. Dohrmann and David Stern (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008), 20–36, 239–43, here, 22, 240 n. 6; Atar Livneh, “אברהם בסקירות הסטוריות בספרות הבית השני” [Abraham in Second Temple Historical Summaries], Meghillot 13 (2017): 119–59, here, 124 n. 19. For a survey of scholarly opinion, see Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101–150, WBC (Nashville: T. Nelson, 2002), 53–57. For a dating of Psalm 105 to the exilic or early postexilic period, see Marc Zvi Brettler, “The Poet as Historian: The Plague Tradition in Psalm 105,” in Bringing the Hidden to Light: The Process of Interpretation - Studies in Honor of Stephen A. Geller, ed. Kathryn F. Kravitz and Diane M. Sharon (Winona Lake, IN: JTS and Eisenbrauns, 2007), 19–28.

  28. On the stabilization of pentateuchal authority in Israelite life during the restoration period, and the importance assumed by its public reading and study (see Neh 8:1–9:4; 10:30; 13:1–3), see Mark J. Boda, Praying the Tradition: The Origin and Use of Tradition in Nehemiah 9, BZAW (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1999), 197; Sara Japhet, "טקס קריאת התורה: נחמיה ח:1–12" [The Ritual of Reading Scripture: Nehemiah 8:1–12], Shnaton 22 (2013): 67–82, here 77–78; idem, “What May Be Learned from Ezra-Nehemiah about the Composition of the Pentateuch,” in The Formation of the Pentateuch: Bridging the Academic Cultures of Europe, Israel, and North American, ed. Jan C. Gertz et al., FAT 111 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016), 543–60; David M. Carr, "The Rise of Torah," in The Pentateuch as Torah: New Models for Understanding Its Promulgation and Acceptance, ed. G.N. Knoppers and B.M. Levinson (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2007), 39–56; Konrad Schmid, "Divine Legislation in the Pentateuch in its Late Judean and Neo-Babylonian Context," in The Fall of Jerusalem and the Rise of the Torah, ed. Peter Dubovskỳ, Dominik Markl, and Jean-Pierre Sonnet, FAT 107 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016), 129–53.

  29. See e.g. Jer 23:7–8, Isa 51:9–11. It is especially prominent in Deutero-Isaiah. See Claus Westermann, Isaiah 40-66: A Commentary, trans. David M.G. Stalker, OTL (London: SCM, 1969) 21-22; Hoffman, Doctrine of the Exodus in the Bible, 60–65, 155–60; Yonina Dor, "תפילת עזרא בהקשרה (עזרא ט–י)" [Ezra’s Prayer in Its Context (Ezra 9-10)], Shnaton 14 (2004): 75-99, here 89-90; Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40-66: Introduction and Commentary, Eerdmans Critical Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012), 45–46; Sara Japhet, “The Temple in the Restoration Period,” in From the Rivers of Babylon to the Highlands of Judah: Collected Studies on the Restoration Period (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2006), 183–232, here 202–203, among others.

  30. Yair Hoffman,יציאת מצרים באמונת המקרא [The Doctrine of the Exodus in the Bible] (Tel Aviv University, Chaim Rozenberg School for Jewish Studies, 1983), 185.

  31. Dor, “Ezra’s Prayer,” 89–90.

  32. Berlin, “Torah Traditions in Psalm 105,” 26, 31. Editor’s note: For a similar argument pertaining to another exilic psalm, 114, see Marc Zvi Brettler, “Psalm 114,” TheTorah (2020).

  33. The opposite root, י.ר.ד, is frequently used to describe going down to Egypt (Gen 12:10; 46:3, 4, among others); see Japhet, Ezra-Nehemiah, 57–58.

  34. See Greenberg, Understanding Exodus, 21 and n. 2; Hava Shalom-Guy, אלה תולדות גדעון: מחזור סיפורים מקראי בראי מקבילותיו [The Gideon Cycle through the Mirror of Its Literary Parallels] (Tel Aviv: Resling, 2013), 48 and n. 36.

  35. Japhet, Ezra-Nehemiah, 58.

  36. See Zakovitch, “The Concept of the Exodus in the Bible,” 57 – 58; Japhet, Ezra-Nehemiah, 57–58, see also 19–20; idem, “The Temple in the Restoration Period,” 202–4.

Prof. Hava Shalom-Guy is academic vice-president at the David Yellin Academic College of Education in Jerusalem and teaches in its Department of Bible. She has a Ph.D. in Bible from the Hebrew University and is the author of The Gideon… Read More

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