Ezra 4

Ezr 4:1-6.

THE

BUILDING

HINDERED.

1. the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin--that is, strangers settled in

the land of Israel.

2. we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the

days of Esar-haddon . . . which brought us up hither--A very

interesting explanation of this passage has been recently obtained from

the Assyrian sculptures. On a large cylinder, deposited in the British

Museum, there is inscribed a long and perfect copy of the annals of

Esar-haddon, in which the details are given of a large deportation of

Israelites from Palestine, and a consequent settlement of Babylonian

colonists in their place. It is a striking confirmation of the

statement made in this passage. Those Assyrian settlers intermarried

with the remnant of Israelite women, and their descendants, a mongrel

race, went under the name of Samaritans. Though originally idolaters,

they were instructed in the knowledge of God, so that they could say,

"We seek your God"; but they served Him in a superstitious way of their

own (see on

2Ki 17:26-34, 41).

3. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua . . . said . . . Ye have nothing to do

with us to build an house unto our God--This refusal to co-operate with

the Samaritans, from whatever motives it sprang, was overruled by

Providence for ultimate good; for, had the two peoples worked together,

familiar acquaintanceship and intermarriage would have ensued, and the

result might have been a relapse of the Jews into idolatry. Most

certainly, confusion and obscurity in the genealogical evidence that

proved the descent of the Messiah would have followed; whereas, in

their hostile and separate condition, they were jealous observers of

each other's proceedings, watching with mutual care over the

preservation and integrity of the sacred books, guarding the purity and

honor of the Mosaic worship, and thus contributing to the maintenance

of religious knowledge and truth.

4, 5. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of

Judah, &c.--Exasperated by this repulse, the Samaritans endeavored

of the building; and, though they could not alter the decree which

Cyrus had issued regarding it, yet by bribes and clandestine arts

indefatigably plied at court, they labored to frustrate the effects of

the edict. Their success in those underhand dealings was great; for

Cyrus, being frequently absent and much absorbed in his warlike

expeditions, left the government in the hands of his son Cambyses, a

wicked prince, and extremely hostile to the Jews and their religion.

The same arts were assiduously practised during the reign of his

successor, Smerdis, down to the time of Darius Hystaspes. In

consequence of the difficulties and obstacles thus interposed, for a

period of twenty years, the progress of the work was very slow.

6. in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they

. . . an accusation--Ahasuerus was a regal title, and the king referred

to was successor of Darius, the famous Xerxes.

Ezr 4:7-24.

LETTER TO

ARTAXERXES.

7. in the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, &c.--The three officers

named are supposed to have been deputy governors appointed by the king

of Persia over all the provinces subject to his empire west of the

Euphrates.

the Syrian tongue--or Aramæan language, called sometimes in our

version, Chaldee. This was made use of by the Persians in their decrees

and communications relative to the Jews (compare

2Ki 18:26;

Isa 36:11).

The object of their letter was to press upon the royal notice the

inexpediency and danger of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. They

labored hard to prejudice the king's mind against that measure.

9. the Dinaites--The people named were the colonists sent by the

Babylonian monarch to occupy the territory of the ten tribes. "The

great and noble Asnappar" was Esar-haddon. Immediately after the murder

of Sennacherib, the Babylonians, Medes, Armenians, and other tributary

people seized the opportunity of throwing off the Assyrian yoke. But

Esar-haddon having, in the thirtieth year of his reign, recovered

Babylon and subdued the other rebellious dependents, transported

numbers of them into the waste cities of Samaria, most probably as a

punishment of their revolt [HALES].

12. the Jews which came up from thee to us--The name "Jews" was

generally used after the return from the captivity, because the

returning exiles belonged chiefly to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

Although the edict of Cyrus permitted all who chose to return, a

permission of which some of the Israelites availed themselves, the

great body who went to settle in Judea were the men of Judah.

13. toll, tribute, and custom--The first was a poll tax; the second

was a property tax; the third the excise dues on articles of trade and

merchandise. Their letter, and the edict that followed, commanding an

immediate cessation of the work at the city walls, form the exclusive

subject of narrative at

Ezr 4:7-23.

And now from this digression [the historian] returns at

Ezr 4:24

to resume the thread of his narrative concerning the building of the

temple.

14. we have maintenance from the king's palace--literally, "we are

salted with the salt of the palace." "Eating a prince's salt" is an

Oriental phrase, equivalent to "receiving maintenance from him."

24. Then ceased the work of the house of God--It was this occurrence

that first gave rise to the strong religious antipathy between the Jews

and the Samaritans, which was afterwards greatly aggravated by the

erection of a rival temple on Mount Gerizim.