Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary
Ezra 4:14
Thus they pretend the king's service to their own malicious designs and private interests.
Thus they pretend the king's service to their own malicious designs and private interests.
Verse 14. _NOW BECAUSE WE HAVE MAINTENANCE FROM_ THE KING'S _PALACE_] More literally: _Now because at all times we are salted_ _with the salt of the palace_; i.e., We live on the king's bounty, and m...
WE HAVE MAINTENANCE - See the margin. The phrase “to eat a man’s salt” is common in the East to this day; and is applied not only to those who receive salaries, but to all who obtain their subsistence...
CHAPTER 4 _ 1. The offer of the Samaritans refused (Ezra 4:1)_ 2. The letter to King Artaxerxes (Ezra 4:7) 3. The king's reply (Ezra 4:17) 4. The work is stopped ...
EZRA 4:8 TO EZRA 6:18. EXTRACT FROM AN ARAMAIC DOCUMENT. Ezra 4:8 contains a letter, together with the king's reply to it, written by adversaries of the Jews to Artaxerxes for the purpose of frustrat...
WE HAVE MAINTENANCE. the salt of the palace is our salt. See note on Numbers 18:19....
Note on Ezra 4:7-23 The names of the Persian kings which occur in this chapter occasion special difficulty. Upon their right identification necessarily depends our understanding of the whole passage....
_have maintenance from_the king's _palace_ R.V. EAT THE SALT OF THE PALACE; which preserves the metaphor of the original. The LXX. omitted the clause: Vulg. -memores salis, quod in palatio comedimus":...
2. Israel's enemies write letters to prevent rebuilding. TEXT, EZRA 4:6-16 6 Now in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah...
_NOW BECAUSE WE HAVE MAINTENANCE FROM THE KING'S PALACE, AND IT WAS NOT MEET FOR US TO SEE THE KING'S DISHONOUR, THEREFORE HAVE WE SENT AND CERTIFIED THE KING;_ We have maintenance from the king's pa...
FEUD BETWEEN THE JEWS AND SAMARITANS This chapter describes the desire of the Samaritans to take part in the rebuilding of the Temple, and their successful opposition to the Jews on their request bei...
WE HAVE.. PALACE] Mt. 'we have salted the salt of the palace': cp. the term 'salary,' from _salarium,_ 'money given to provide salt.'...
THE *JEWS RETURN TO JERUSALEM EZRA _ROBERT BRYCE_ CHAPTER 4 V1 The enemies of the *descendants of Judah and Benjamin heard that they had returned from the *exile. Their enemies heard that they we...
MAINTENANCE. — more exactly, _we eat the salt of the palace._ This seems to be a general expression for dependence on the king, whose dishonour or loss they profess themselves unwilling to behold....
כְּעַ֗ן כָּ ל ־קֳבֵל֙ דִּֽי ־מְלַ֤ח הֵֽיכְלָא
THE COST OF AN IDEALIST'S SUCCESS Ezra 4:6 THE fourth chapter of the Book of Ezra contains an account of a correspondence between the Samaritan colonists and two kings of Persia, which follows sharpl...
THE ENEMY'S SHORT-LIVED TRIUMPH Ezra 4:11 The promoters of this letter were descendants of the heathen colonists who had been sent into the land by the Assyrians, 2 Kings 17:24. It was written to the...
In this chapter we have the story of the opposition of the Samaritans, and the consequent cessation of work on the Temple for a time. The historic chronology presents difficulties. The subject is not...
Eaten. Chaldean, "on account of the salt, with which we have been salted, from the palace." The king's officers were fed from his table. Salt is put for all their emoluments; (Calmet) and hence the wo...
It should seem that Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes are both names of the same person: probably meaning the same as King. And it should seem that the enemies of the church caught at the first moment in the o...
But, in such a case, difficulties do not arise only from the weakness of the remnant; they proceed, also, from elements with which the remnant are outwardly connected, and which, at the same time, are...
NOW BECAUSE WE HAVE MAINTENANCE FROM THE KING'S PALACE,.... Have posts under the king, to which salaries were annexed, by which they were supported, and which they had from the king's exchequer; or "s...
Now because we have maintenance from [the king's] palace, and it was not meet for us to see the king's dishonour, therefore have we sent and certified the king; Ver. 14. Now because we have maintenan...
_Now because we have maintenance from the king's palace_ In the Hebrew it is, _we are salted with the salt of the palace._ That is, are sustained by the king's munificence, or have a salary from him,...
1 The aduersaries, being not accepted in the building of the Temple with the Iewes, endeauour to hinder it. 7 Their Letter to Artaxerxes. 17 The decree of Artaxerxes. 23 The building is hindred. 1...
Now, because we have maintenance from the king's palace, literally, "because with the salt of the palace we are salted," said of living on any one's bounty, AND IT WAS NOT MEET FOR TO SEE THE KING'S D...
THE LETTER TO ARTAXERXES...
PRETENDED FRIENDSHIP AND OPPOSITION (vv. 1-5) Satan is subtle in the way he attacks a work of God. He appears to be friendly, as is seen in the way the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin came to Zeru...
WE HAVE MAINTENANCE FROM THE KINGS PALACE: Chal. we are salted with the salt of the palace...
6-24 It is an old slander, that the prosperity of the church would be hurtful to kings and princes. Nothing can be more false, for true godliness teaches us to honour and obey our sovereign. But wher...
Ezra 4:14 Now H3705 because H6903 H3606 receive H1768 support H4415 (H8754) H4416 palace H1965 not...
THE SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF THE ENMITY REVEALED AGAINST THE RETURNEES UP TO THE TIME OF NEHEMIAH (EZRA 4:6). What follows up to Ezra 4:23 goes beyond the question of building the Temple. The writer now...
CONTENTS: Work hindered by adversaries. CHARACTERS: Zerubbabel, Ahasuerus, Jeshua, Artazerxes, Rehum, Shimshai. CONCLUSION: God's work cannot be advanced but Satan will rage and the gates of hell wi...
Ezra 4:1. _The adversaries of Judah._ These were the Samaritans; that is, Jews of the ten tribes, apostate from the religion of their fathers, now intermarried with the heathen, who were worshippers o...
_Now because we have maintenance from the king’s palace._ GOOD CAUSE FOR GREAT ZEAL I. We acknowledge a very gracious fact. 1. We have been maintained from the King’s palace-- (1) In things tempor...
_Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah._ THE HOSTILITY OF THE SAMARITANS TO THE JEWS I. The tactics of the wicked. If they cannot bend the good to their wishes and ai...
EZRA 4:1 Enemies Stall the Project by Conspiring against It. The rebuilding project encounters opposition from other groups in the region, and the work ceases. ⇐...
EZRA—NOTE ON EZRA 4:6 This section interrupts the historical narrative (Ezra 1:1), which resumes at Ezra 4:24....
EZRA—NOTE ON EZRA 4:7 The author jumps forward again to another hostile episode, when leaders in the province sent a formal letter of complaint to King Artaxerxes I (reigned 464–423 B.C.)....
EZRA—NOTE ON EZRA 4:13 The threat of an independence movement in Jerusalem is exaggerated. The imperial RECORDS would include those of Assyria and Babylon....
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.] In this chapter we have—(i.) The proposal of the Samaritans to unite with the Jews in building the Temple, and its rejection (Ezra 4:1). (ii.) The opposition of the Sa...
EXPOSITION EZRA 4:7 AND IN THE DAYS OF ARTAXERXES. See the comment on Ezra 4:6. If Artaxerxes be the Pseudo-Smerdis, we can readily understand why an application was not made to him at once, and how...
And when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity [had built the towers,] started to build the temple of the Lord unto the LORD God of Israel; they came to Zerubb...
Ezekiel 33:31; John 12:5; John 12:6; John 19:12...