The blessing of God, however, did not make unnecessary the exercise of prudence and forethought. In safeguarding the treasure, Ezra “separated twelve of the chief of the priests ... and weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering of the house of our God.” Verses 24, 25. These men were solemnly charged to act as vigilant stewards over the treasure. “Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel at Jerusalem.” Verse 29, RSV. SS 318.3
Only those whose trustworthiness had been proved were chosen. Ezra recognized the necessity of order and organization in the work of God. SS 318.4
“We departed,” Ezra writes, “on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.” Verse 31. About four months were occupied on the journey. Their enemies were restrained from harming them, and on the first day of the fifth month, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, they reached Jerusalem. SS 319.1