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Texts -- Ezra 4:1-15 (NET)

Context
Opposition to the Building Efforts
4:1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin learned that the former exiles were building a temple for the Lord God of Israel , 4:2 they came to Zerubbabel and the leaders and said to them , “Let us help you build , for like you we seek your God and we have been sacrificing to him from the time of King Esarhaddon of Assyria , who brought us here .” 4:3 But Zerubbabel , Jeshua , and the rest of the leaders of Israel said to them, “You have no right to help us build the temple of our God . We will build it by ourselves for the Lord God of Israel , just as King Cyrus , the king of Persia , has commanded us.” 4:4 Then the local people began to discourage the people of Judah and to dishearten them from building . 4:5 They were hiring advisers to oppose them, so as to frustrate their plans , throughout the time of King Cyrus of Persia until the reign of King Darius of Persia .
Official Complaints Are Lodged Against the Jews
4:6 At the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus they filed an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem . 4:7 And during the reign of Artaxerxes , Bishlam , Mithredath , Tabeel , and the rest of their colleagues wrote to King Artaxerxes of Persia . This letter was first written in Aramaic but then translated . [Aramaic :] 4:8 Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter concerning Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows : 4:9 From Rehum the commander , Shimshai the scribe , and the rest of their colleagues – the judges , the rulers , the officials , the secretaries , the Erechites , the Babylonians , the people of Susa (that is, the Elamites ), 4:10 and the rest of nations whom the great and noble Ashurbanipal deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and other places in Trans-Euphrates . 4:11 (This is a copy of the letter they sent to him:) “To King Artaxerxes , from your servants in Trans-Euphrates : 4:12 Now let the king be aware that the Jews who came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem . They are rebuilding that rebellious and odious city . They are completing its walls and repairing its foundations . 4:13 Let the king also be aware that if this city is built and its walls are completed , no more tax , custom , or toll will be paid , and the royal treasury will suffer loss . 4:14 In light of the fact that we are loyal to the king , and since it does not seem appropriate to us that the king should sustain damage , we are sending the king this information 4:15 so that he may initiate a search of the records of his predecessors and discover in those records that this city is rebellious and injurious to both kings and provinces , producing internal revolts from long ago . It is for this very reason that this city was destroyed .

Pericope

NET
  • Ezr 4:1-5 -- Opposition to the Building Efforts
  • Ezr 4:6-24 -- Official Complaints Are Lodged Against the Jews

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
  • Jeroboam, who would become the first king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, was from Ephraim, the most prominent tribe in the North (v. 26).Part of Benjamin affiliated voluntarily with Judah eventually (v. 32; cf. 12:21; 2 C...
  • The Chronicler's main interest in David's reign, as we have seen, focused on the Davidic Covenant with its promises to David and his descendants. In recounting the events of Solomon's reign he proceeded to emphasize the templ...
  • Due to the ancient tradition that the same writer composed both parts of the book (chapters 1-6 and 7-10), many scholars believe Ezra produced all of it.5A passage in the Talmud credits Ezra with the authorship of Ezra-Nehemi...
  • The earliest historical reference in Ezra is to the decree of Cyrus that he issued in his first year on the throne (1:1), 538 B.C.12The latest historical reference was just prior to Nehemiah's first trip to Jerusalem (4:21-23...
  • I. The first return under Sheshbazzar chs. 1-6A. The return from Babylon chs. 1-21. The edict of Cyrus and its consequences ch. 12. The exiles who returned ch. 2B. The rebuilding of the temple chs. 3-61. The beginning of cons...
  • "This whole section (Ezra 1-6) emphasizes God's sovereignty and his providence; God works in history to fulfill his will."15
  • "It is not strange according to the Semitic style to start a book with a waw["And"or "Now"], especially when the author intended to write a continuation of the history of his people. He connects the history which he wants to ...
  • Construction of the temple began soon after the exiles returned to Jerusalem. However problems threatened the completion of the project. First, the immigrants contemplated abandoning their religious distinctives to get along ...
  • The Assyrian government encouraged its residents to move to Israel and to settle there after the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C. This was official government policy during the reigns of the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon ...
  • "When he [the writer] discussed the problems of the building of the temple in 4:1-5, it reminded him of later similar troubles with the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, and so 4:6-23 has been inserted, almost parenthetica...
  • Artaxerxes was the successor of Ahasuerus (Xerxes) who ruled the Persian Empire from 464 to 424 B.C.73Clearly the incident reported in these verses took place long after the temple was complete. It really involved the attempt...
  • The reference in this verse to work stopping indicates that at this point the writer returned to the opposition he had been describing earlier (vv. 1-5). Verses 6-23 are parenthetical. They record later events and simply illu...
  • As a result of Samaritan intimidation (4:1-5) the restoration Jews stopped building the temple in 536 B.C. (4:24). They did little work on it until 520 B.C. The Jews should have persevered because Cyrus had supported their ef...
  • In contrast to Rehum and Shimshai's letter to Artaxerxes (4:11-16), Tattenai's letter to Darius was fair and objective. He did not want to stop the Jews' project. He only wanted to know if Cyrus had really given permission fo...
  • Several factors resulted in the completion of the temple that the writer brought together in verse 14. The reference to Artaxerxes (v. 14; cf. 4:7-23) does not mean that he had a part in completing the temple. As I pointed ou...
  • Compared with the dedication of the first temple this one was very modest. Solomon had offered more than 200 times as many animals.96The Jews offered one sin offering, which involved slaying a goat, for each of the 12 tribes ...
  • A period of 58 years separates Ezra 6 from Ezra 7 (515-458 B.C.). During this time the events in the Book of Esther took place in Persia and, in particular, Susa, one of the Persian capitals.Darius I (Hystaspes; 521-486 B.C.)...
  • "These things"(v. 1) refers to the events of the first return that the writer described in chapters 1-6.Ezra's genealogy (vv. 1-5) shows that he was a man of importance whom his fellow Jews would have respected. He was a desc...
  • This decree appears in Aramaic, the official language of the Persian Empire, in the Hebrew Bible.The king appointed Ezra as the person responsible to him for the affairs conducted in the Jewish community in Judah. He held a p...
  • The Book of Ezra records two major Jewish returns to the Promised Land from Babylon.The first of these took place in 537 B.C. under the leadership of Sheshbazzar and then Zerubbabel. About 50,000 Jews returned, rebuilt the te...
  • The focus of restoration activities in Nehemiah is on the walls of Jerusalem. In Ezra it was the altar of burnt offerings and especially the temple in Jerusalem."The orientation of Nehemiah is more civil and secular than that...
  • Because of the opposition of the Jews' neighbors, Artaxerxes sent a military escort to accompany Nehemiah to Jerusalem (v. 9). It is not certain how many Jews travelled with Nehemiah on this occasion. The writer gave us no nu...
  • The events of the Book of Esther took place during the Persian period of ancient history (539-331 B.C.) and during the reign of King Ahasuerus in particular (486-464 B.C.).Chronology of the Book of Esther483Ahasuerus' militar...
  • This introductory segment provides the basic information about the historical situation that Judah faced plus God's command concerning that situation. Would King Ahaz face his threat from God's perspective or from man's? Woul...
  • 11:14-15 The Lord then replied that many of the Jews in Jerusalem were saying that the Judahites who had gone into captivity were the ones that God was judging. They believed that the Jews left in Jerusalem were the remnant t...
  • The emphasis on the holiness of God that has marked this vision continues strong in this pericope and the next. God's holiness will determine who serves as priests and how they serve.44:4 The guide proceeded to take Ezekiel t...
  • 5:29 Belshazzar kept his promise (v. 16) though Daniel's honors only lasted a few hours at most, typical of the honors of this world. The king's response is surprising. We might have expected him to execute Daniel for confron...
  • The vision in chapter 9 came after Daniel had been praying and fasting (9:3). The vision that follows also came to him after he had been mourning, fasting, and undoubtedly praying for three weeks (cf. 1:11-13). Obviously thes...
  • The Babylonians, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed the city of Jerusalem, including Solomon's temple, in 586 B.C. and took most of the Jews captive to Babylon. There the Israelites could not practice their formal worship ...
  • 1:1 Yahweh sent a message to Zerubbabel and Joshua through the prophet Haggai, though it went to all the Israelites too (vv. 2, 4). Zerubbabel was the political governor (overseer) of the Persian province of Judah who had led...
  • 4:6 The angel announced a word of explanation from Yahweh that Zechariah was to pass on to Zerubbabel, the descendant of David who was the leader of the first group of returnees from exile.88He was to tell him, "not by might ...
  • Chapter 8 not only contains two major messages from the Lord (vv. 1-17, 18-23) but 10 minor messages, "a decalogueof divine words,"155that make up the two major ones. "Thus says the Lord"introduces each of these minor message...
  • Malachi was one of the three post-exilic writing prophets along with Haggai and Zechariah, and he was quite certainly the last one chronologically, even though we cannot be dogmatic about a date for his writing.The first grou...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

  • Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel; 2. Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let...
  • The time and place are precisely given. The month Chisleu' corresponds to the end of November and beginning of December. The twentieth year' is that of Artaxerxes (Neh. 2:1). Shushan,' or Susa, was the royal winter residence,...
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