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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:6-24
Three thoughts from old documents. The determined attempts made by the Samaritans to prevent the Jews from building the temple and the walls of Jerusalem are well illustrated in the correspondence between them and the k…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:6-16
The work maligned. Besides "hiring counsellors," as mentioned in Ezra 4:5; or, it may be, in order to provide these counsellors with documents to present and act on; we are here told that the Samaritan "adversaries" sen…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:7-16
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on 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…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:8
Rehum the chancellor. Literally, "the lord of judgment." It may be conjectured that Rehum was the sub-satrap ( ὑποσατράπης, Xen.), of the province of Samaria. And Shimshai the scribe. Or "secretary." Herodotus tells u…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:9
The Dinaites, etc. It is curious that the Samaritans, instead of using a general appellation, describe themselves under the names of the various nations and cities which had furnished the colonists of whom they were the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:10
The rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnapper brought over. Nothing more is known of "the great and noble Asnapper," who is here mentioned as bringing the colonists and setting them in the cities of Samaria.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:11
This is the copy of the letter. The address having been given, the writer now proceeds to the contents of the letter. Thy servants the men on this side the river, etc. This was a sort of heading inside the letter—a repe…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:12
The Jews which came up from thee. i.e. from the central provinces—from that part of the empire where thou dwellest. To us. To our part of the world—to Palestine. Are … building the rebellious and the bad city. The groun…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:13
Then will they not pay toll, tribute, and custom. This was plausible reasoning. In Greece, if a subject city set to work to fortify itself, rebellion was immediately anticipated, not unfairly. But the circumstances of t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:14
We have maintenance from the king's palace. The marginal rendering is better, and shows the true sense. "Eating a man's salt" in the East is deriving one's subsistence from him. The man who eats another's salt is bound…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:15
That search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers. It was the practice at the Persian court to register all important events in a book, which from time to time was read to the kings (Esther 2:23; Esther…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:16
Thou shalt have no portion on this side the river. It is not quite clear whether the river intended here and in Ezra 4:10 is the Euphrates or the Jordan. Generally in the Old Testament hannahar means the Euphrates, but…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:17
Then sent the king an answer. The complaint made was of such importance that an answer was returned without delay. It was addressed both to Rehum and Shimshai, since they were independent authorities.. Peace, and at suc…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:17-24
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:17-24
The work stopped. The ostensible object of the letter to Artaxerxes (Ezra 4:11-16) was to stop the building of the walls of Jerusalem. Its real object was to put a stop to the building of God's house. In this for a time…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:17-24
Man hindering the work of God. I. THAT MEN ARE CAPABLE OF HINDERING THE WORK OF GOD. "Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded" (Ezra 4:21). 1. Presumptuous. "Then ceased th…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:18
The letter hath been plainly read before me. Despatches are read to, not by, Oriental sovereigns, who have often no literary education. (Compare Esther 6:1.)
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:19
I commanded, and search has been made. The Pseudo-Smerdis, who was a fanatical adherent of Magism, which disallowed temples altogether (Herod; 1.130), and who had already destroyed the temples of Ormuzd in Persia ('Behi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:20
Mighty kings. David and Solomon best answer to this description, possessing as they did a kingdom which extended from the Euphrates to the borders of Egypt (1 Kings 4:21, 1 Kings 4:24), and drawing tribute from the vari…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:21
Until another commandment shall be given. It can scarcely be supposed that the Pseudo-Smerdis had any intention of issuing "another commandment;" but, since "the laws of the Medes and Persians," as a general rule, "alte…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:23
They went up in haste. The "adversaries" lost no time. Having obtained the decree which forbad further building, they proceeded with it to Jerusalem, and by a display of force compelled the Jews to submission. No doubt…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 4:24
Then ceased the work … until the second year of the reign of Darius. The interval of compelled inaction was not long. The Pseudo-Smerdis reigned, at the utmost, ten months; after which a revolution occurred, and the thr…
The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 5:1-2
EXPOSITION RECOMMENCEMENT OF THE BUILDING IN THE SECOND YEAR OF DARIUS. PREACHING OF HAGGAI AND ZECHARIAH (Ezra 5:1-17 :l, 2). It appears from the extant prophecies of these two prophets that the long frustration of the…