Ezra 4:2

_THEN THEY CAME TO ZERUBBABEL, AND TO THE CHIEF OF THE FATHERS, AND SAID UNTO THEM, LET US BUILD WITH YOU: FOR WE SEEK YOUR GOD, AS YE DO; AND WE DO SACRIFICE UNTO HIM SINCE THE DAYS OF ESARHADDON KING OF ASSUR, WHICH BROUGHT US UP HITHER._ We seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar-haddon ... which brought us up hither. A very interesting explanation of this passage has been recently obtained from the Assyrian sculptures. On a large cylinder, deposited in the British Museum, there is inscribed a long and perfect copy of the annals of Esar-haddon, in which the details are given of a large deportation of Israelites from Palestine, and a consequent settlement of Babylonian colonists in their place. It is a striking confirmation of the statement made in this passage. The Assyrian monarchs, like the ancient and modern sovereigns of Egypt, employed their...

1-5 Every attempt to revive true religion will stir up the opposition of Satan, and of those in whom he works. The adversaries were the Samaritans, who had been planted in the land of Israel, Ezra 4:2. It was plain that they did not mean to unite in the worship of the Lord, according to his word. Let those who discourage a good work, and weaken them that are employed in it, see whose pattern they follow....

Verse Ezra 4:2. _LET US BUILD WITH YOU_] We acknowledge the same God, are solicitous for his glory, and will gladly assist you in this work. But that they came with no friendly intention, the context proves....

Compare 2 Kings 17:24 notes. SINCE THE DAYS - Esar-haddon reigned from 681-668 B.C. Thus, the Samaritans speak of what had taken place at least 130 years previously. There appear to have been at least three colonizations of Samaria by the Assyrian kings. The first is mentioned in 2 Kings 17:24. Later in his reign Sargon added to these first settlers an Arabian element. Some 30 or 40 years afterward, Esarhaddon, his grandson, largely augmented the population by colonists drawn especially from the southeast parts of the Empire Ezra 4:10. Thus, the later Samaritans were an exceedingly mixed race....

THEN THEY CAME TO ZERUBBABEL, AND THE CHIEF OF THE FATHERS,.... These they addressed, as knowing that if they could not prevail with them, they could never succeed in their design; and these were no doubt the principal of the Samaritans that applied: AND SAID UNTO THEM, LET US BUILD WITH YOU; that is, the temple, they proposed to join with them, and assist them in it; which proposal at first sight might seem very agreeable and welcome, and would have been so had they been sincere, but they were not; they hoped, by getting among them, to have sown discord among them, and disunited them; and so by these or other means to have retarded the building; or if it went forward, that they might have a claim to it as theirs, at least as to set up their own idols in a part of it; the reasons they gave follow: FOR WE SEEK YOUR GOD AS YE DO; which was false, for they did not worship him alone, but w...

FOR WE SEEK The people of the land sought to hinder the work in three ways: (1) by seeking to draw the Jews into an unreal union, (Ezra 4:3). (cf) (2 Kings 17:32). (2) by "weakening the hands of the people of Judah," (Ezra 4:4) i.e, by withholding supplies, etc.; and (3) by accusations lodged with Ahasuerus and Darius. The first was by far the most subtle and dangerous. The lives of Ezra and Nehemiah afford many illustrations of true separation. (2 Corinthians 6:14); (2 Timothy 2:19)....

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

THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE OPPOSED. Ezra 4:1. the adversaries: _i.e._ the northern Israelites of mixed race, Samaritans; they are called adversaries by anticipation, as they did not oppose the building of the Temple until their co-operation had been refused. BUILDED A TEMPLE: better were building, note that while here the building of the Temple is in question the next section deals with the building of the walls. Ezra 4:2. we seek your God: the words show that these people were not true worshippers of Yahweh, whatever their intention for the future might be. AND WE DO SACRIFICE UNTO HIM: but the Massoretic text reads (_cf. mg.),_ we have not offered sacrifice. THE DAYS OF ESARHADDON: _cf._...

ZERUBBABEL. See note on Ezra 3:2. CHIEF. heads. WE SEEK YOUR GOD.. priest had been sent to these Samaritans (2 Kings 17:28). WE DO SACRIFICE UNTO HIM. Hebrew text. "although we have not been sacrificing". Some codices, and two early printed editions, with Septuagint and Syriac, add "unto Him". ESAR-HADDON. The son and successor of Sennacherib (see notes on 2 Kings 19:37, and 2 Chronicles 33:11). ASSUR. Assyria....

_then they came_&c. R.V. THEN THEY DREW NEAR TO ZERUBBABEL, AND TO THE HEADS OF FATHERS" HOUSES. _for we seek your God, as ye do_ The claim to cooperate in the work of building the Temple is based upon the assertion of common worship. The phrase -to seek" in the sense of -to worship" is not uncommon in these books and in Chronicles. Cf. Ezra 6:21; 1 Chronicles 22:19; 2Ch 15:13; 2 Chronicles 17:4; 2 Chronicles 31:21; 2 Chronicles 34:3. _and we do sacrifice unto him_ so R.V. text. R.V. margi