According to the text, the final preparation, which needed to be made before departing Ahava for Jerusalem, was setting certain men in authority over the precious things given by the king, his counselors, his lords, and the freewill offerings given by the children of Israel. However, what Ezra did next isn’t completely clear, according to scholarly interpretation. The Septuagint translates the Hebrew for Sherebiah (H8274) in the accusative, which makes him and Hashabiah two of the twelve chiefs of the priests, which, clearly, they are not (Ezra 8:18-19). The fact is, Sherebiah and Hashabiah were the chiefs of the Levites that had come from Iddo the Chief (Ezra 8:17), and they joined Ezra’s caravan at Ahava. On the other hand, if we translate Sherebiah (H8274) in the dative case, as is done in the Vulgate, that would put the Levites, Sherebiah and Hashabiah in authority over the twelve chief priests, whom Ezra chose out of the other chief priests (Ezra 8:24), but such a thing is contrary to the Law of Moses.
What, then, did Ezra actually do in verse-24? An acceptable sense is given in the Apocrypha, in 1Esdras. Here, the Greek is given to say that “Ezra separated twelve chiefs of the priests and twelve Levites, for the purpose of delivering to their custody the gifts of gold, silver, and implements for the Temple.” (1Esdras 8:54)[1] So, it seems that the Levites, Sherebiah and Hashabiah and ten of their brethren (chosen out of the 38 Levites that came from Iddo the Chief, Ezra 8:17-19) were each placed in charge of carrying one portion of twelve divisions Ezra made of all the gifts given to God for the Temple at Jerusalem. As for the twelve chief priests, they were either placed in authority over the twelve chief Levites and their charge, or they oversaw the protection of the precious items in equal authority with the twelve leading Levites.
Therefore, these twenty-four men were made responsible for all the precious gifts made to God by the heads of Persia and the freewill offerings made by the children of Israel. Ezra weighed, presumably in equal measure, or as close as could be done, to each of the twelve pairs of men he had chosen out of the priesthood and the Levites (Ezra 8:25-27).
After this was done, Ezra told the twenty-four leaders that they were holy, in the sense that they were chosen out from among their brethren to watch over their charge and protect it, because it, too, was holy, in the sense that it was chosen out from among the wealth of its contributors for the purpose of the work of God. Moreover, it will be weighed again, once they arrive in Jerusalem for its distribution in the Temple of God (Ezra 8:28-29).
This is similar to what Paul did when he took a freewill offering from the churches of God in the Diaspora and brought it to Jerusalem for the poor. He took one or two men from each church to travel with him (Acts 20:4; cp. 24:17), and they were given the responsibility not only for the protection of the offering in route, but to see that it was distributed to the poor, for whom the offering was made. Thus, the priests and the Levites, willingly took responsibility for that, which was committed to their charge, and they guarded it, while they journeyed to Jerusalem to be handed over to those in authority over the House of God (Ezra 8:30).
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[1] Although I haven’t been able to find an English translation of 1Esdras 8:54 that clearly separates the priests and the Levites, I trust that the commentary refers to the Greek of 1Esdras 8:54 and not its translation into English. See Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament at Ezra 8:24.
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