Ezra 4:10

_AND THE REST OF THE NATIONS WHOM THE GREAT AND NOBLE ASNAPPAR BROUGHT OVER, AND SET IN THE CITIES OF SAMARIA, AND THE REST THAT ARE ON THIS SIDE THE RIVER, AND AT SUCH A TIME._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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 where the command of God requires one thing and the law of the land another, we must obey God rather than man, and patiently submit to the consequences. All who love the gospel should avoid all appearance of evil, lest they should encourage the adversaries of the church. The world is ever ready to believe any accusation against the people of God, and refuses to listen to them. The king suffered himself to be imposed upon by these frauds and falsehoods. Princes see and hear with other men's eyes and ears, and judge things as represented to them, which are often done falsely. But God's judgment is just; he sees things as they are....

Verse Ezra 4:10. _THE GREAT AND NOBLE ASNAPPER_] Whether this was _Shalmaneser_, or _Esar-haddon_, or some _other person_, learned men and chronologists are not agreed. The Syriac terms him _Asphid_; but of this person we know no more than we do of _Asnapper_. He might have been the military officer who was appointed to escort this people to Judea....

These verses form the superscription or address of the letter (Ezra 4:11, etc.) sent to Artaxerxes. The Dinaites were probably colonists from Dayan, a country often mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions as bordering on Cilicia and Cappadocia. No satisfactory explanation can be given of the name Apharsathchites (see Ezra 5:6 note). The Tarpelites were colonists from the nation which the Assyrians called Tuplai, the Greeks “Tibareni,” and the Hebrews generally “Tubal.” (It is characteristic of the later Hebrew language to insert the letter “r” (resh) before labials. Compare Darmesek for Dammesek, 2 Chronicles 28:23 margin). The Apharsites were probably “the Persians;” t

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 it came about that the Jews recommenced their building, as they appear from Ezra 4:12, Ezra 4:13 to have done. The Pseudo-Smerdis was a usurper; his reign was a time of partial anarchy; in a distant part of the empire it would not be known for a while who was king. Men would be thrown on themselves, and would do as it seemed good in their own eyes. Later, there may have been some doubt whether a king, who was known to be

AND THE REST OF THE NATIONS WHOM THE GREAT AND NOBLE ASNAPPAR BROUGHT OVER,.... The river Euphrates: AND SET IN THE CITIES OF SAMARIA; placed there in the room of the Israelites carried captive; this Asnappar was, according to Jarchi and others l Sennacherib; but, with Grotius, Shalmaneser; rather he was Esarhaddon, the son of the former, and grandson of the latter; so Dr. Prideaux m; though he might be only some commander of the Assyrian monarch, who carried them over by his orders: AND THE REST THAT ARE ON THIS SIDE THE RIVER; the river Euphrates: AND AT SUCH A TIME; which may respect the date of the letter, which, no doubt, was expressed, though not here given; or this, as some think, was the same with our c. something following, unto King Artaxerxes greeting, or something like that though David de Pomis n takes it to be the general name of the people beyond the river. l Kimchi Se...

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 4:23) Ezra 4:1. The adversaries were the Samaritans. (There is an interesting correspondence with the book of Acts. After the Spirit of God had begun His blessed work, the enemy from without and then within started his hindering work.) They had watched silently the work of restoration and then appeared before Zerubbabel and the chief of the fathers and said unto them, “Let us build

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 frustrating the _building of the city walls._ The writers are different from those mentioned in Ezra 4:7 as writing to Artaxerxes; two letters are, therefore spoken of, so that what is said in Ezra 4:7 cannot be in reference to the letter now dealt with. Moreover, this letter has nothing to do with the events recorded in Ezra

NATIONS. peoples. ASNAPPER. Assur-bani-pal, or Sardanapalus, the only Assyrian king who got into Elam, or held Shushan (now Susa) its capital. ON THIS SIDE. beyond, on the west side: regarded from the east side of the Euphrates. AT SUCH. TIME. This may refer to the date of the letter; or be rendered, as in Revised Version, "and so forth"....

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. (_a_) The Persian kings succeed one another in the following order: (1) Cyrus (died, 529); (2) Cambyses, 529 522; (3) Gomates or Pseudo-Smerdis, 522; (4) Darius Hystaspes, 522 485; (5) Xerxes, 485 465; (6) Artaxerxes I. Longimanus, 465 425; (7, 8) Xerxes II. and Sogdianus; (9) Darius II. Nothus, 424 395, &c. (_b_) In chap. Ezra 4:5 we learn that the work of building the Temple was frustrated by the Samaritans "all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia." Again in Ezra 4:24 (th