Ezra 8:28-30. Ezra has been given the charge by King Artaxerxes to help rebuild the Lord's house in Jerusalem. First, Ezra collects the gold, silver, and other offerings from the king and from his fellow Jews. Then, before he himself returns to Jerusalem, he counts and weighs all of it and calls forth twelve leading priests to take it all back to Jerusalem. He says to them "You are holy to the Lord," and tells them the vessels, gold, and other offerings are a free will offering to the Lord. The priests are to guard these offerings until they weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites in Israel within the chamber of the house of the Lord. And the twelve priests "took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of the Lord."

I love the phrasing that the priests "took over the weight" of all of this wealth. It is weighty! Wealth itself is weighty, and can be a great burden - many a rich man is unhappily heavily burdened by his wealth. But here, the weight is not due to a preoccupation with the wealth itself, but is indicative of the responsibility that it carries with it. Ezra has been given all of this wealth to bring it to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. That, however, is only one of his responsibilities as he takes charge of the rebuilding in Jerusalem. He is happy and excited to do this work, but he realizes he has to delegate, so he chooses twelve priests to take this responsibility and passes the "weight" on to them.

This accomplishes several things. It frees Ezra up from worrying inordinately about the wealth and its protection so he can then think of other things. It also indicates great trust in these twelve priests who are to carry the wealth. That trust is necessary. If the people are going to begin practicing their faith again, they will need to know they can look to their priests for trustworthy guidance. The priests, then, are being given this opportunity to show their merit and their trustworthiness. Even if any one of them does not individually feel worthy of this charge, he has eleven helpers and Ezra's confidence. This, along with the support of their fellow priests and the eyes of the people (and of God, at the end of all this!) will awaken or strengthen in them their trustworthiness and goodness. It really is such a good plan!