Ezra 4:16

_THAT SEARCH MAY BE MADE IN THE BOOK OF THE RECORDS OF THY FATHERS: SO SHALT THOU FIND IN THE BOOK OF THE RECORDS, AND KNOW THAT THIS CITY IS A REBELLIOUS CITY, AND HURTFUL UNTO KINGS AND PROVINCES, AND THAT THEY HAVE MOVED SEDITION WITHIN THE SAME OF OLD TIME: FOR WHICH CAUSE WAS THIS CITY DESTROYED._ 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....

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

WE CERTIFY THE KING, THAT IF THIS CITY BE BUILDED AGAIN, AND THE WALLS THEREOF SET UP,.... As it formerly was, and now attempted, as they suggest: BY THIS MEANS THOU SHALT HAVE NO PORTION ON THIS SIDE THE RIVER; the river Euphrates; intimating that the Jews would not only shake off his yoke, and refuse to pay tribute themselves, but would seize on all his dominions on that side the river, and annex them to their own....

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

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

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 and Jerusalem. 7 And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his colleagues, wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated from Aramaic. 8 Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, as follows: 9 then wrote Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their colleagues, the judges and the lesser governors, the officials, the secretaries, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites, 10 and the rest of the nations which the great and honorable Osnappar de

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 being refused....

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 were building a *temple for the *LORD the God of Israel. V2 The enemies came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families. They said, ‘Let us help you to build. We *worship your God, even as you do. We have given *sacrifices to your God since the time of Esarhaddon the king of Assyria who brought us here.’ V3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered them. ‘You have no part with us in the work to build a *temple for our God. We will build it ourselves for the *LORD the God of Israel. That is what King Cyrus, the king of Persia, ordered us.’ Verses