Ezra 7:26

_WHATSOEVER IS COMMANDED BY THE GOD OF HEAVEN, LET IT BE DILIGENTLY DONE FOR THE HOUSE OF THE GOD OF HEAVEN: FOR WHY SHOULD THERE BE WRATH AGAINST THE REALM OF THE KING AND HIS SONS?_ NO JFB COMMENTARY ON THESE VERSES....

11-26 The liberality of heathen kings to support the worship of God, reproached the conduct of many kings of Judah, and will rise up in judgment against the covetousness of wealthy professed Christians, who will not promote the cause of God. But the weapons of Christian ministers are not carnal. Faithful preaching, holy lives, fervent prayers, and patient suffering when called to it, are the means to bring men into obedience to Christ....

Verse 26. _WHETHER_ IT BE _UNTO DEATH_] These include almost _every_ species of punishment which should be inflicted on culprits in any civilized state. With this verse the _Chaldee_ part of this chapter ends....

BANISHMENT - literally, as in the margin. Separation from the congregation is probably intended (compare Ezra 10:8)....

EXPOSITION THE DECREE OF ARTAXERXES WITH RESPECT TO EZRA (Ezra 7:11). The present decree was of the nature of a _firman _granted to an individual. It embodied, in the first place, a certain number of provisions which were temporary. Of this character were— 1. the permission accorded to all Persian subjects of Israelite descent to accompany Ezra to Jerusalem (verse 13); 2. the commission to Ezra to convey to Jerusalem certain offerings made by the king and his chief courtiers to the God of Israel (verses 15, 19); 3. the permission given him to convey to Jerusalem the free-will offerings of Jews and others resident in Babylonia (verse 16); 4. permissi

AND WHOSOEVER WILL NOT DO THE LAW OF THY GOD, AND THE LAW OF THE KING,.... Either the judge who delays judgment, or does not execute it according to the law of God, and of the king; or the people, that do not obey the law of God in matters of religion, and the law of the king in civil things, Judea being now a province of the Persian empire; though some think the law of the king only refers to this law or decree of the king, which gave the Jews power to execute their own laws: LET JUDGMENT BE EXECUTED SPEEDILY UPON HIM; immediately, without delay, according to the nature of his crime: WHETHER IT BE UNTO DEATH; if guilty of a capital crime, deserving death, let him be put to death: OR TO BANISHMENT; from his native country to a foreign distant land; OR TO ROOTING OUT y, as the word signifies; an utter extirpation of him and his family, a destroying him root and branch; or, as Jarchi e...

II. THE RETURN UNDER EZRA AND HIS REFORMATION CHAPTER 7 _ 1. The journey of Ezra to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:1)_ 2. The decree of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:11) 3. Ezra's thanksgiving (Ezra 7:27) Ezra 7:1. The record of the return under Zerubbabel and the rebuilding of the temple ends with the previous chapter. Many years passed after the temple had been built before the godly Ezra and his companions returned to Jerusalem. No record whatever is in existence covering the years which intervened between Zerubabbel's expedition and work, and Ezra's expedition. The critics claim that “it was in these apparently barren years that the priestly c

DECREE OF ARTAXERXES. This decree granted a further return of exiles for the purpose of reorganising the Temple worship. With the exception of the introductory words of Ezra 7:11, this section is in Aramaic. There is no reason for doubting the substantial genuineness of this document, though in the form here given the Chronicler, with his love for all that has to do with the Temple ritual, has introduced some of his own ideas....

TO BANISHMENT: or exclusion from the assembly. Chaldee. to rooting out. Occurs only here....

The contents of the letter are given in Aramaic....