12 Be it known to the king, that the Jews who have come up from thee unto us, have come in to Jerusalem, the rebellious and base city they are building, and the walls they have finished, and the foundations they join.
13 `Now, be it known to the king, that if this city be builded, and the walls finished, toll, tribute, and custom they do not give; and at length `to' the kings it doth cause loss.
14 Now, because that the salt of the palace `is' our salt, and the nakedness of the king we have no patience to see, therefore we have sent and made known to the king;
15 so that he doth seek in the book of the records of thy fathers, and thou dost find in the book of the records, and dost know, that this city `is' a rebellious city, and causing loss `to' kings and provinces, and makers of sedition `are' in its midst from the days of old, therefore hath this city been wasted.
16 We are making known to the king that, if this city be builded and the walls finished, by this means a portion beyond the river thou hast none.'
17 An answer hath the king sent unto Rehum counsellor, and Shimshai scribe, and the rest of their companions who are dwelling in Samaria, and the rest beyond the river, `Peace, and at such a time:
18 The letter that ye sent unto us, explained, hath been read before me,
19 and by me a decree hath been made, and they sought, and have found that this city from the days of old against kings is lifting up itself, and rebellion and sedition is made in it,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezra 4
Commentary on Ezra 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 4
The good work of rebuilding the temple was no sooner begun than it met with opposition from those that bore ill will to it; the Samaritans were enemies to the Jews and their religion, and they set themselves to obstruct it.
Ezr 4:1-5
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 Ki. 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.
Ezr 4:6-16
Cyrus stedfastly adhered to the Jews' interest, and supported his own grant. It was to no purpose to offer any thing to him in prejudice of it. What he did was from a good principle, and in the fear of God, and therefore he adhered to it. But, though his reign in all was thirty years, yet after the conquest of Babylon, and his decree for the release of the Jews, some think that he reigned but three years, others seven, and then either died or gave up that part of his government, in which his successor was Ahasuerus (v. 6), called also Artaxerxes (v. 7), supposed to be the same that in heathen authors is called Cambyses, who had never taken such cognizance of the despised Jews as to concern himself for them, nor had he that knowledge of the God of Israel which his predecessor had. To him these Samaritans applied by letter for an order to stop the building of the temple; and they did it in the beginning of his reign, being resolved to lose no time when they thought they had a king for their purpose. See how watchful the church's enemies are to take the first opportunity of doing it a mischief; let not its friends be less careful to do it a kindness. Here is,
Ezr 4:17-24
Here we have,