Ezra 4:8

The Letter to King Artaxerxes

8 Rehum the commander * and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, as follows -

Ezra 4:8 Meaning and Commentary

Ezra 4:8

Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, wrote a letter
against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort.
] This means the same letter as before; which, according to Jarchi, was sent in the name of Mithredath Tabeel and his company, was endited by Rehum, master of words or sense, and written by Shimshai the scribe, whom he makes to be a son of Haman ^F9; but it was written rather in all their names.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F9 So Midrash Esther, fol. 85. 3.

Ezra 4:8 In-Context

6 Now in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

7 And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated from Aramaic.

8 Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, as follows -

9 then wrote Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their colleagues, the judges and the lesser governors, the officials, the secretaries, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites,

10 and the rest of the nations which the great and honorable Osnappar deported and settled in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the region beyond the River. Now

Footnotes

• [a]. Ch 4:8-6:18 is in Aram