Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Ezra 4:1

Clarke's Commentary

CHAPTER IV

The Samaritans endeavour to prevent the rebuilding of the

temple, 1-5.

They send letters to Artaxerxes, against the Jews, 6-9.

A copy of the letter, 10-16.

He commands the Jews to cease from building the temple, which

they do; nor was any thing farther done in the work till the

second year of Darius, 17-24.

NOTES ON CHAP. IV

Verse Ezra 4:1. Now when the adversaries — These were the Samaritans, and the different nations with which the kings of Assyria had peopled Israel, when they had carried the original inhabitants away into captivity, see Ezra 4:9-10.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Opposition stops the work (4:1-24)

As a result of Assyria’s resettlement program of two centuries earlier, a race of people grew up in the area around Samaria and Jerusalem who were of mixed blood and mixed religion. They were known as Samaritans (see notes on 2 Kings 17:24-33). The Jewish leaders refused their offered help in building the temple of God, no doubt to prevent wrong ideas from corrupting Israel’s religion. The Samaritan group reacted bitterly. They opposed the Jewish builders so fiercely that soon work on the temple stopped completely (4:1-5,24).

Two examples show the kind of opposition that Israel suffered. These stories do not belong to the time of Zerubbabel. They are taken from official documents of a later period, and in fact are written in a different language from the rest of the book. The writer puts them into his account at this point to give the reader an idea of how Israel was unjustly persecuted.

The first example is taken from the reign of Ahasuerus, also known as Xerxes I (6). (This king later showed favour to the Jews, as the book of Esther shows). The second belongs to the reign of Artaxerxes I. By that time the temple had long been completed and the Jews were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Their Samaritan opponents wrote to Artaxerxes, accusing the Jews of fortifying Jerusalem in preparation for a rebellion against Persia (7-16). The king therefore commanded that the work cease immediately, though he reserved the right to reverse his decree at a later date if he so desired (17-23). (We learn from Nehemiah 2:1-8 that later this king did, in fact, reverse his decree and give his support to the Jews.)

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

NEARLY A CENTURY OF OPPOSITION TO ISRAEL;
TWENTY-FIVE YEARS FROM 535 TO 520 B.C.

"Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity were building a temple unto Jehovah, the God of Israel; then they drew near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of the fathers' houses, and said unto them, Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as ye do; and we sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us hither. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us building a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto Jehovah, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia."

This is an extremely abbreviated report, as a glance at the chronology of the rulers of Persia, given in the preceding chapter will show. A full twenty-five years of opposition is recorded in these five verses. These years included the remaining years of Cyrus' dominion, the twelve year reign of Cambyses, and into the second year of Darius I (Hystaspes).

Evidently, the great prophet Daniel was deceased early in this period, because it is evident that no powerful voice was available to defend the interests of Israel until the times of Darius I.

"Let us build with you, for we seek your God, as ye do" The people who thus approached the Jews were the remnants of the Northern Israel which remained after the fall of Samaria in 722 B.C.; and when wild animals became a threatening problem after many of the people were carried away by Assyria, the Assyrian kings repeopled the land with non-Israelites. It is true that they worshipped Jehovah, after a fashion; but their worship was corrupted by idolatry. Zerubbabel and all Israel were very wise to reject this offer of the Samaritans. The proof that they really had no love at all for Israel appears in their continued opposition.

"Since the days of Esarhaddon" "Isaiah had prophesied in 734 B.C. that Northern Israel would cease to be a distinct people within sixty-five years (Isaiah 7:8); and this was fulfilled by 669 B.C., during the reign of Esarhaddon (680-668 B.C.)."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 426.

The following verses (Ezra 4:6-23) are, in fact, an unusually long parenthesis which describes the continual opposition of the people of the land to the development of Jerusalem until the times of Artaxerxes.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Adversaries - i. e., the Samaritans, a mixed race, partly Israelite but chiefly foreign, which had replaced to some extent the ancient inhabitants after they were carried into captivity by Sargon (see 2 Kings 17:6 note).

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 4

And when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity [had built the towers,] started to build the temple of the Lord unto the LORD God of Israel; they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and they said, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as you do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon the king of Assur, which brought us up hither. But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, You don't have anything to do with us to build a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building ( Ezra 4:1-4 ),

Now when the northern kingdom was destroyed by Assyria, the Assyrian king took the people of the northern kingdom and scattered them throughout the world, and they had brought other people that they had conquered and settled them in the land of the northern kingdom. Became known as Samaria. But that was the capital city. And the people ultimately became known as the Samaritans. Now when they came into the land, the wild animals began to turn against the people, and many of them were devoured. And they came to the king and they said, "Hey, we can't get along with the gods of the land. The animals are turning against us. So send us some priests that they may teach us how to worship in order that we might worship these gods of the land so that these wild animals won't be eating our kids and all."

So the king of Assyria found some priests and they brought them to these people who the priests taught them the worship of God. And so they feared Jehovah, but they worshipped their own gods. In other words, He was just made a part of their whole total worship program, but it wasn't a true worship of Jehovah, nor were they truly descendants of Abraham or Israel. So they did, however, as a part of their total worship, worship Jehovah, even as they were taught, they did have the sacrifices; they did offer the sacrifices and all because the priest taught them the burnt offerings, the peace offerings and these things, so they did do that. And so when these fellows came and were going to build their temple, they said, "Hey, we'd like to help you because we worship your God, too." But they worship God as a mixture, with a lot of other gods. And so Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the chief men decided that they didn't want their help.

Now it would be great if the church would maintain that same attitude today. We don't need the help of the world in doing the work of God. But not all churches see it that way, and many are trying to conscript Satan to come help them in their building programs or whatever. But God doesn't need any help in accomplishing His program, especially from those who are not true servants of God. And I feel that it is wrong to go to worldly people to try to conscript aid for the work of God.

They refused to accept their help. Now these are the same people that in the time of Christ were called the Samaritans. And the Jews would not have any dealings, even after they returned, they would not have any dealings four hundred years later when Christ came, they still would not have any dealings with the Samaritans. And you remember when Jesus met the woman of Samaria at the well and said, "Would you give me a drink of water?" She said, "How come you're asking me for a drink? You're a Jew, I'm a Samaritan. The Jews don't have dealings with the Samaritans."

It is true the Jews would usually, when they were coming to the feast from Galilee, go clear on down to the Jordan River and come all the way along the Jordan River and then come up from Jericho rather than take the shorter route directly through Samaria, because they just didn't like to be around the Samaritans. There was a lot of bad blood between the two.

Now the Holy Spirit came upon the church, and in one of the early persecutions, the church was sort of scattered, and Jesus had said to His disciples, "When the Holy Ghost comes upon you, you shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in Judaea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." So in the persecution, as the church was scattered, Philip went up to Samaria and began to preach Christ to the Samaritans. And many believed and were baptized when they saw the miracles that were wrought through the hands of Philip.

Now when the church in Jerusalem heard that the Samaritans had also received the Gospel, they sent unto them Peter and John for as yet the Holy Spirit had not come upon them. And when they came, they laid hands on them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. And that's when Simon said, "Hey, I'd like to buy this power that whoever I lay my hands on they would receive, too." And Peter said, "Your money perish with you because you think that the gifts of God can be bought with money." And told him to pray that God would forgive him the bitterness, the gall that was in his heart.

So the Samaritans received the Gospel, a great revival. Now at the present time there are still about two hundred Samaritans still living. They're almost extinct. There's only about two hundred of them living today. They still live in the area of Nablus, which is at the, in the valley at the base of mount Ebal and mount Gerizim. And they still believe that mount Gerizim is the place where God should be worshipped. You remember the woman by the well said to Jesus, when she realized that He was a prophet, "Sir, I perceive that you're a prophet, our fathers say that we are to worship God in this mountain, Gerizim," right above them there, for they were at Shechem which is the present-day Nablus( John 4:19-20 ), in that area. "Our fathers tell us we're to worship God in this mountain, Gerizim. You say in Jerusalem. Where is God to be worshipped?"

And so they still today have an annual Passover sacrifice, and they sacrifice a lamb at the top of mount Gerizim still to the present time. They are called the Samaritans, as I said there are only about two hundred of them left and they are pretty much imbecilic. They're pretty much imbeciles now because of the close cross breeding. They won't marry outside, and so their numbers continue to reduce. And they have just a lot of idiocy among them because of this cross, close cross breeding. But they still exist, which is about two hundred Samaritans left.

So these were the people that came to Jeshua and Zerubbabel and they said, "Hey, we will help you because we worship your gods, too. We'll help you build this temple." And they consulted together and they said, "Nope, we don't want your help." Well, their help being spurned, then they turned against them and did their best to defeat their purposes of rebuilding. They started really hassling them and hindering in every opportunity.

So they hired attorneys, to frustrate their purposes ( Ezra 4:5 ),

To file injunctions, to get the court to file injunctions. Make them have an EIR report and all this kind of junk, you know, to just frustrate their building efforts. I'm sure that no matter what they did, they couldn't foul things up as much as things can be fouled up with our present governmental systems today. If you want to build anything, it is just unreal what they make you go through. We are, we are just governmentalized to death. It seems to be the government's purpose to put everybody out of business and to make everybody dependent on the government. That sounds good, but then who's going to pay the bills? If the government makes, try and be independent, so difficult, more and more ordinances, OSHAs and everything else to come and harass you. I'll tell you, they couldn't harass them nearly as much as the government harasses building projects today. It's a... Some of you may be government employees and... But oh, the bureaucracy today is something horrible. We're just going to sink under bureaucrats.

So they sought to frustrate the purposes.

all of the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the time that Darius took over the throne. So in the reign of Ahasuerus [who is the Cambyses of secular history], at the beginning of his reign, they wrote to him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. And in the days of Ahasuerus Artaxerxes [who is also Ahasuerus the previous verse, Cambesis( Ezra 4:6 ) of the secular history] they wrote him a letter in the Syrian tongue. And they said, Artaxerxes the king; Thy servants the men on this side of the river, and at such a time. Be it known to the king, that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come to Jerusalem, and they are building the rebellious and bad city, they have set up the walls, and they've joined the foundations. Be it known now unto the king, that, if this city is built, and the walls are set up again, then they will not pay their toll, or their taxes, or customs, so that you will be endangered in receiving revenue. Now because we have maintenance from the king's palace, and it was not meet for us to see the king's dishonor, therefore we have sent and certified to the king these things; [And we suggest] That you search the book of records: and you will find in the book of 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 in old times: for this cause this city was destroyed. We certify the king that, if this city be built again, and the walls are set up, by this means thou shalt have no portion on this side of the river. Then sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria, and unto the rest beyond the river, Peace, and at such a time. The letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me. And I have commanded, and a search hath been made, and it is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein. There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, which have ruled over all the countries beyond the river; and toll, tribute, and custom, was paid unto them. Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not built, until another commandment shall be given from me. Take heed now that ye fail not to do this: why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and to his companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia ( Ezra 4:5-7 , Ezra 4:11-24 ).

So during the time of Cambesis(???), the Artaxerxes, the work was stopped. The period of perhaps ten years or so. They have started, they laid the foundation, they were building, and they got this order to cease and desist. So they stopped the building, and in stopping the building, they got then involved in their own houses, and fixing up their own places. And they started fixing up their houses very nicely, just forgot and left desolate the house of the Lord. And so if you will read Haggai, chapter one, he is crying out against the people for their forsaking the house of the Lord. "Is it time for you, O Israel, to dwell in your ceiled houses, while the house of the Lord lies desolate? Behold, take a look at things because you have sowed much, but you're gathering little" ( Haggai 1:4 , Haggai 1:6 ).

It seems like your pockets have holes in them. You can't keep your money. And you're always broke and you never have enough. And the reason is, is that you've been spending everything for yourself and you've just been letting God's house go desolate. And so Haggai is encouraging the people, "Let's get back and let's start building the temple once again." "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Opposition during Cyrus’ reign 4:1-5

The Assyrian government encouraged its residents to move to Israel and to settle there after the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C. This was official government policy during the reigns of the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon (680-669 B.C.; 2 Kings 17:24) and Ashurbanipal (668-ca. 630 B.C.; Ezra 4:10). These immigrant people worshipped pagan idols (2 Kings 17:30-31), but also started worshipping Yahweh, whom they regarded as the god of the land in which they now lived (2 Kings 17:32-33). Eventually they intermarried with the Jews who had remained in the land. Their descendants became the Samaritans, a mixed breed racially and religiously. The exiles who returned from Babylon and their descendants despised them (cf. John 4:9). It was these people of the land who approached Zerubbabel and offered to help the Jews rebuild their temple (Ezra 4:2).

"But ’people of the land’ is a vague term being attached to different groups during different phases of the historical period and having no inner continuity to the term itself. Chronologically, it cannot refer to Samaritan opposition, since the Samaritan sect is a much later emergence." [Note: Dumbrell, p. 67. Cf. R. J. Coggins, "The Interpretations of Ezra IV. 4," Journal of Theological Studies 16 (1965):124-27.]

Zerubbabel refused their offer because, even though they worshipped Yahweh, they did not worship Him exclusively, as the Mosaic Law specified (Exodus 20:3). Zerubbabel realized that if their commitment to God did not include a commitment to obey His revealed will, the Jewish remnant could only anticipate endless disagreement, conflict, and frustration with them.

"This attitude of exclusiveness displayed by the Jews . . . is troublesome to our modern society, where perhaps the highest virtue is the willingness to accept and cooperate with persons whose beliefs and practices differ from one’s own. If we are tempted to think that Zerubbabel and the other leaders were sinfully separatistic or mistaken in their evaluation of those who offered their assistance, we must observe that these outsiders are identified as ’enemies.’ Their motives were clearly subversive." [Note: Breneman, p. 97.]

"The leaders in the province of Samaria may well have seen the emergence of a new, aggressive presence in Judah, and one which enjoyed the favor of the imperial government, as threatening. . . . An offer to share the labor, and presumably also the expense, of rebuilding the sanctuary would have been taken to entail, and would in fact have entailed, a share in controlling the temple itself with all that implied." [Note: Joseph Blenkinsopp, Ezra-Nehemiah, p. 107.]

The fact that these neighbors had no sincere interest in helping the Jews became obvious very quickly (Ezra 4:4-5). Their persistent opposition continued into the reign of Darius I (Hystaspes) of Persia (521-486 B.C.).

"The Persian officials were bribed to frustrate the plans of the returnees. Bribery as a practice was well known in Persian times." [Note: Fensham, The Books . . ., p. 68.]

Opposition during Ahasuerus’ reign 4:6

"When he [the writer] discussed the problems of the building of the temple in Ezra 4:1-5, it reminded him of later similar troubles with the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, and Song of Solomon 4:6-16 has been inserted, almost parenthetically, before the argument of the building of the temple has again been taken up in Ezra 4:24 ff. (already noted by C. F. Keil in the last [nineteenth] century)." [Note: Ibid., p. 70. See C. F. Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, pp. 62-65.]

This king of Persia, whose Greek name was Xerxes, was the man Esther married. He ruled from 486 to 464 B.C. Since the restoration Jews completed the temple in 515 B.C. (Ezra 6:15), this verse shows that the neighbors of the returned exiles continued to oppose them long after they had finished rebuilding the temple.

"Without this foretaste of history to reveal the full seriousness of the opposition, we would not properly appreciate the achievements recorded in the next two chapters (5 and 6) nor the dangers hidden in the mixed marriages which Ezra would set himself to stamp out (chaps. 7-10)." [Note: Kidner, p. 48.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin,.... The Samaritans, as appears from Ezra 4:2,

heard that the children of the captivity; the Jews, who had been in captivity seventy years, and were just come out of it, and still were not quite free, but under the jurisdiction and control of the king of Persia:

builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel; that they were going about it, and had laid the foundation of it, which might soon come to their ears, the distance not being very great. Josephus c says they heard the sound of the trumpets, and came to know the meaning of it.

c Antiqu. l. 11. c. 4. sect. 3.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel;   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.   3 But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.   4 Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,   5 And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

      We have here an instance of the old enmity that was put between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. God's temple cannot be built, but Satan will rage, and the gates of hell will fight against it. The gospel kingdom was, in like manner, to be set up with much struggling and contention. In this respect the glory of the latter house was greater than the glory of the former, and it was more a figure of the temple of Christ's church, in that Solomon built his temple when there was no adversary nor evil occurrent, (1 Kings 5:4); but this second temple was built notwithstanding great opposition, in the removing and conquering of which, and the bringing of the work to perfection at last in spite of it, the wisdom, power, and goodness of God were much glorified, and the church was encouraged to trust in him.

      I. The undertakers are here called the children of the captivity (Ezra 4:1; Ezra 4:1), which makes them look very little. They had newly come out of captivity, were born in captivity, had still the marks of their captivity upon them; though they were not now captives, they were under the control of those whose captives they had lately been. Israel was God's son, his first-born; but by their iniquity the people sold and enslaved themselves, and so became children of the captivity. But, it should seem, the thought of their being so quickened them to this work, for it was by their neglect of the temple that they lost their freedom.

      II. The opposers of the undertaking are here said to be the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin, not the Chaldeans or Persians (they gave them no disturbance--"let them build and welcome"), but the relics of the ten tribes, and the foreigners that had joined themselves to them, and patched up that mongrel religion we had an account of, 2 Kings 17:33. They feared the Lord, and served their own gods too. They are called the people of the land,Ezra 4:4; Ezra 4:4. The worst enemies Judah and Benjamin had were those that said they were Jews and were not,Revelation 3:9.

      III. The opposition they gave had in it much of the subtlety of the old serpent. When they heard that the temple was in building they were immediately aware that it would be a fatal blow to their superstition, and set themselves to oppose it. They had not power to do it forcibly, but they tried all the ways they could to do it effectually.

      1. They offered their service to build with the Israelites only that thereby they might get an opportunity to retard the work, while they pretended to further it. Now, (1.) Their offer was plausible enough, and looked kind: "We will build with you, will help you to contrive, and will contribute towards the expense; for we seek your God as you do," Ezra 4:2; Ezra 4:2. This was false, for, though they sought the same God, they did not seek him only, nor seek him in the way he appointed, and therefore did not seek him as they did. Herein they designed, if it were possible, to hinder the building of it, at least to hinder their comfortable enjoyment of it; as good almost not have it as not have it to themselves, for the pure worship of the true God and him only. Thus are the kisses of an enemy deceitful; his words are smoother than butter when war is in his heart. But, (2.) The refusal of their proffered service was very just, Ezra 4:3; Ezra 4:3. The chief of the fathers of Israel were soon aware that they meant them no kindness, whatever they pretended, but really designed to do them a mischief, and therefore (though they had need enough of help if it had been such as they could confide in) told them plainly, "You have nothing to do with us, have no part nor lot in this matter, are not true-born Israelites nor faithful worshippers of God; you worship you know not what,John 4:22. You are none of those with whom we dare hold communion, and therefore we ourselves will build it." They plead not to them the law of their God, which forbade them to mingle with strangers (though that especially they had an eye to), but that which they would take more notice of, the king's commission, which was directed to them only: "The king of Persia has commanded us to build this house, and we shall distrust and affront him if we call in foreign aid." Note, In doing good there is need of the wisdom of the serpent, as well as the innocency of the dove, and we have need, as it follows there, to beware of men,Matthew 10:16; Matthew 10:17. We should carefully consider with whom we are associated and on whose hand we lean. While we trust God with a pious confidence we must trust men with a prudent jealousy and caution.

      2. When this plot failed they did what they could to divert them from the work and discourage them in it. They weakened their hands by telling them it was in vain to attempt it, calling them foolish builders, who began what they were not able to finish, and by their insinuations troubled them, and made them drive heavily in the work. All were not alike zealous in it. Those that were cool and indifferent were by these artifices drawn off from the work, which wanted their help, Ezra 4:4; Ezra 4:4. And because what they themselves said the Jews would suspect to be ill meant, and not be influenced by, they, underhand, hired counsellors against them, who, pretending to advise them for the best, should dissuade them from proceeding, and so frustrate their purpose (Ezra 4:5; Ezra 4:5), or dissuade the men of Tyre and Sidon from furnishing them with the timber they had bargained for (Ezra 3:7; Ezra 3:7); or whatever business they had at the Persian court, to solicit for any particular grants or favours, pursuant to the general edict for their liberty, there were those that were hired and lay ready to appear of counsel against them. Wonder not at the restlessness of the church's enemies in their attempts against the building of God's temple. He whom they serve, and whose work they are doing, is unwearied in walking to and fro through the earth to do mischief. And let those who discourage a good work, and weaken the hands of those that are employed in it, see whose pattern they follow.