DiscipleDeck
Get started
Bible Commentary

Ezra 5:12

The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 5:12

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Our fathers provoked the God of heaven unto wrath. Mainly by their long series of idolatries, with the moral abominations that those idolatries involved—the sacrifice of children by their own parents, the licentious rites belonging to the worship of Baal, and the unmentionable horrors practised by the devotees of the Dea Syra.

For centuries, with only short and rare intervals, "the chief of the priests, and the people, had transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen," and had even "polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem" ().

Therefore, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon. He punished, as he always does, national apostasy with national destruction. Making an idolatrous people, but a less guilty one, his sword, he cut off Judah, as he had previously cut off Israel, causing the national life to cease, and even removing the bulk of the people into a distant country.

Not by his own power or might did Nebuchadnezzar prevail. God could have delivered the Jews from him as easily as he had delivered them in former days from Jabin ( 4:2-24), and from Zerah (), and from Sennacherib ().

But he was otherwise minded; he "gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar". He divided their counsels, paralysed their resistance, caused Pharaoh Hophra to desert their cause (), and left them helpless and unprotected.

Nebuchadnczzar was his instrument to chastise his guilty people, and in pursuing his own ends merely worked out the purposes of the Almighty.

Recommended reading

More for Ezra 5:12

Continue with other commentaries and DiscipleDeck content connected to this verse, chapter, or topic.

Other commentaries

Matthew Henry on Ezra 5:3-17Ezra 5:3-17 · Matthew Henry Concise CommentaryWhile employed in God's work, we are under his special protection; his eye is upon us for good. This should keep us to our duty, and encourage us therein, when difficulties are ever so discouraging. The elders of the Je…The Case Represented to Darius. (b. c. 519.)Ezra 5:3-17 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleTHE CASE REPRESENTED TO DARIUS. (B. C. 519.) We have here, I. The cognizance which their neighbours soon took of the reviving of this good work. A jealous eye, it seems, they had upon them, and no sooner did the Spirit…The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 5:3-17Ezra 5:3-17 · The Pulpit CommentaryOpposition revived. We have in these verses a twofold account of two different things. In Ezra 5:3, Ezra 5:4, in the first place, we have the historian's account of the revived opposition called out by the revival of th…The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 5:3-17Ezra 5:3-17 · The Pulpit CommentaryEXPOSITION RENEWAL OF OPPOSITION ON THE PART OF THE NEIGHBOURING HEATHEN. LETTER WRITTEN BY THEM AND SENT TO DARIUS (Ezra 5:3-17). Once more opposition showed itself. Tatnai, a high officer, called "governor on this sid…The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 5:3-17Ezra 5:3-17 · The Pulpit CommentaryWisdom in trial. Hardly had the Jews recommenced their work, when they again found themselves subjected to a— I. TRIAL OF FAITH. "At the same time," etc. (Ezra 5:3). Again their unfriendly neighbours came to the attack.…The Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 5:6-17Ezra 5:6-17 · The Pulpit CommentaryThe letter to Darius. The occasion of this letter was the resumption of the work of rebuilding the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem after an interval of sixteen years. The authors of it are Tatnai, the governor, probably…
commentaryMatthew Henry on Ezra 5:3-17While employed in God's work, we are under his special protection; his eye is upon us for good. This should keep us to our duty, and encourage us therein, when difficulties are ever so discouraging. The elders of the Je…Matthew HenrycommentaryThe Case Represented to Darius. (b. c. 519.)THE CASE REPRESENTED TO DARIUS. (B. C. 519.) We have here, I. The cognizance which their neighbours soon took of the reviving of this good work. A jealous eye, it seems, they had upon them, and no sooner did the Spirit…Matthew HenrycommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 5:3-17EXPOSITION RENEWAL OF OPPOSITION ON THE PART OF THE NEIGHBOURING HEATHEN. LETTER WRITTEN BY THEM AND SENT TO DARIUS (Ezra 5:3-17). Once more opposition showed itself. Tatnai, a high officer, called "governor on this sid…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 5:3-17Wisdom in trial. Hardly had the Jews recommenced their work, when they again found themselves subjected to a— I. TRIAL OF FAITH. "At the same time," etc. (Ezra 5:3). Again their unfriendly neighbours came to the attack.…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 5:3-17Opposition revived. We have in these verses a twofold account of two different things. In Ezra 5:3, Ezra 5:4, in the first place, we have the historian's account of the revived opposition called out by the revival of th…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 5:6-17The letter to Darius. The occasion of this letter was the resumption of the work of rebuilding the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem after an interval of sixteen years. The authors of it are Tatnai, the governor, probably…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Ezra 5:11-17Things a Church should understand concerning itself. I. THAT IT IS ENGAGED IN THE SERVICE OF HEAVEN. "We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth" (Ezra 5:11). 1. An exalted service. It is the service of God. 2.…Joseph S. Exell and contributors