Advanced Commentary
Texts -- Ezra 4:7 (NET)
Pericope
NET
- Ezr 4:6-24 -- Official Complaints Are Lodged Against the Jews
Bible Dictionary
-
Zerubbabel
[ebd] the seed of Babylon, the son of Salathiel or Shealtiel (Hag. 1:1; Zorobabel, Matt. 1:12); called also the son of Pedaiah (1 Chr. 3:17-19), i.e., according to a frequent usage of the word "son;" the grandson or the nephew of ...
-
Zechariah
[ebd] Jehovah is renowned or remembered. (1.) A prophet of Judah, the eleventh of the twelve minor prophets. Like Ezekiel, he was of priestly extraction. He describes himself (1:1) as "the son of Berechiah." In Ezra 5:1 and 6:14 h...
-
Tabeel
[ebd] a Persian governor of Samaria, who joined others in the attempt to prevent the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Ezra 4:7).
[isbe] TABEEL - ta'-be-el: A name meaning "good is God," borne by two persons in the Old Testament (Isa 7:6, the King James Version, "Tabeal"). (1) The father of the man whom the kings of Israel and Damascus planned to place upon t...
[nave] TABEEL 1. A Persian official in Samaria, Ezra 4:7. 2. See: Tabeal.
-
TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
[isbe] TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT - || I. EARLIEST FORM OF WRITING IN ISRAEL 1. Invention of Alphabet 2. The Cuneiform 3. References to Writing in the Old Testament 4. Inscriptions after Settlement in Canaan 5. Orthography of the Pe...
-
TAX; TAXING
[isbe] TAX; TAXING - taks, taks'-ing: I. INTRODUCTION 1. General Considerations 2. Limits of the Discussion II. TAXES IN ISRAEL UNDER SELF-GOVERNMENT 1. In the Earliest Period 2. Under the Theocracy; in the Period of the Judges 3. ...
-
TARGUM
[isbe] TARGUM - tar'-gum (targum): 1. Meaning and Etymology of the Term 2. Origin of the Targums 3. Language of the Targums 4. Mode in Which the Targums Were Given 5. Date of the Targums 6. Characteristics of the Different Targums ...
-
TABELLIUS
[isbe] TABELLIUS - ta-bel'-i-us (Tabellios): One of the Persian officials in Samaria who wrote a letter to Artaxerxes which caused the rebuilding of Jerusalem to be stopped for a time (1 Esdras 2:16) = "Tabeel" of Ezr 4:7.
-
Syriac
[ebd] (2 Kings 18:26; Ezra 4:7; Dan. 2:4), more correctly rendered "Aramaic," including both the Syriac and the Chaldee languages. In the New Testament there are several Syriac words, such as "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" (Mark ...
-
SHIMSHAI, OR SHIMSHAI
[smith] (sunny), the scribe or secretary of Kehum, who was a kind of satrap of the conquered province of Judea and of the colony of Samaria, supported by the Persian court. (Ezra 4:8,13,17,23) He was apparently an Aramaean, for the l...
-
Mithredath
[ebd] given by Mithra, or dedicated to Mithra, i.e., the sun, the Hebrew form of the Greek name Mithridates. (1.) The "treasurer" of King Cyrus (Ezra 1:8). (2.) Ezra 4:7, a Persian officer in Samaria.
[isbe] MITHREDATH - mith'-re-dath (mithredhath; Persian = "gift of Mithra" or "consecrated to Mithra"): (1) The Persian treasurer through whom Cyrus restored the sacred vessels to the returning Jewish exiles (Ezr 1:8). (2) A Persia...
[smith] (given by Mithra). The treasurer of Cyrus king of Persia, to whom the king gave the vessels of the temple. (Ezra 1:8) A Persian officer stationed at Samaria. (Ezra 4:7)
[nave] MITHREDATH 1. Treasurer of Cyrus, Ezra 1:8. 2. A Persian officer who joined in writing a letter hostile to the Jews, Ezra 4:7.
-
MITHRADATES
[isbe] MITHRADATES - mith-ra-da'-tez (Codex Alexandrinus Mithradates; Codex Vaticanus Mithridates; the King James Version Mithridates): (1) The treasurer of Cyrus to whom the king committed the vessels which had been taken from the...
-
GOVERNOR
[smith] In the Authorized Version this one English word is the representative of no less than ten Hebrew and four Greek words. The chief of a tribe or family. A ruler in his capacity of lawgiver and dispenser of justice. A ruler con...
-
EZRA-NEHEMIAH
[isbe] EZRA-NEHEMIAH - || 1. Name. 2. Object 3. Plan 4. Unity 5. Sources 6. Literary Character 7. Languages 8. Historicity 9. Text LITERATURE 1. Name: The books of Ezra and Nehemiah, by whomsoever written, are properly so named acc...
-
ESDRAS, THE FIRST BOOK OF
[isbe] ESDRAS, THE FIRST BOOK OF - ez'-dras, es'-dras: 1. Name 2. Contents 3. Relation to Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah 4. Versions 5. Date and Authorship LITERATURE 1. Name: In some of the Greek uncials (Codex Vaticanus, etc.) of the...
-
EPISTLE
[isbe] EPISTLE - e-pis'-'-l (epistole, "a letter," "epistle"; from epistello, "to send to"): 1. New Testament Epistles 2. Distinctive Characteristics 3. Letter-Writing in Antiquity 4. Letters in the Old Testament 5. Letters in the ...
-
CHRONICLES, BOOKS OF
[isbe] CHRONICLES, BOOKS OF - kron'-i-k'-ls (dibhere ha-yamim, "The Words of the Days"; Septuagint paraleipomenon: 1. The Name 2. The Position of Chronicles in the Old Testament 3. Two Books, or One? 4. The Contents 5. Sources Bibl...
-
Bishlam
[isbe] BISHLAM - bish'-lam (bishlam, "peaceful" (?)): One of three foreign colonists who wrote a letter of complaint against the Jews to Artaxerxes (Ezr 4:7 = 1 Esdras 2:16). In 1 Esdras the reading is "Belemus." "And in the days o...
[nave] BISHLAM, a Samaritan who obstructed the rebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem, Ezra 4:7-24.
-
BELEMUS
[isbe] BELEMUS - bel'-e-mus (Belemos; Balsamus): An officer of King Artaxerxes in Palestine associated with Beeltethmus in hindering the rebuilding of the temple (1 Esdras 2:16): called Bishlam in Ezr 4:7.
-
BABYLONIA
[isbe] BABYLONIA - bab-i-lo'-ni-a 1. Mounds 2. Explorations 3. Names 4. Semites 5. Sumerians 6. Home of the Semites 7. Immigration 8. Language 9. Script 10. Architecture 11. Art 12. Literature 13. Libraries 14. Personal Names 15. H...
-
Artaxerxes
[ebd] the Greek form of the name of several Persian kings. (1.) The king who obstructed the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 4:7). He was probably the Smerdis of profane history. (2.) The king mentioned in Ezra 7:1, in the seventh y...
[isbe] ARTAXERXES - ar-taks-urk'-sez (Artaxerxes): Is the Greek and Latin form of one, and perhaps of two or three kings of Persia mentioned in the Old Testament. (1) All are agreed that the Artaxerxes at whose court Ezra and Nehem...
[smith] (the great warrior). The first Artaxerxes is mentioned in (Ezra 4:7) and appears identical with Smerdis, the Magian impostor and pretended brother of Cambyses, who usurped the throne B.C. 522, and reigned eight months. In (N...
[nave] ARTAXERXES 1. A Persian king, probably identical with Ahasuerus. Prohibits the rebuilding of Jerusalem, Ezra 4:7-24. 2. King of Persia. Decrees of, in behalf of the Jews, Ezra 7; Neh. 2; 5:14.
Arts
Resources/Books
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...
-
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...
-
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 ...
-
"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...
-
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 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...
-
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 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 ...
-
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...
(NT only) to listen to the NET Bible 
