I am currently reading through Ezra and the amazing permission given for him and his fellow Israelites to be granted freedom to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple there. Not only could they go, but they were given gifts of silver and gold too. My NIV account mentions that there was the equivalent of 22 tonnes of silver and 3.5 tonnes of Gold given. Checking today's silver and gold market prices I worked out that they were given more than £93,000,000 worth. A phenomenal gift.
Then I wondered how would they transport the 25.5 tonnes of heavy metal for the 1000km from Babylon to Jerusalem. If they packed it on to donkeys, which could perhaps comfortably carry 50kg and possibly 100kg at a push, then they would need some 480 donkeys for the task of carrying the silver and gold, let alone all of the other paraphernalia they would take with them.
Ezra's group would have numbered between 8 - 10,000 depending on the number of women and children present. At that time, a veritable city of people crunching along the desert sands.
They took almost exactly four months to achieve the journey.
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