Ezra 4:1-5

Opposition to Rebuilding the Temple

1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles^[a] were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel,

2 they approached Zerubbabel and the leaders of the families and said to them, "Let us build with you, for we also worship your God and have been sacrificing to Him^[b] since the time King Esar-haddon of Assyria^[c]; 2 Kg 19:37 ; Isa 37:38 brought us here."

3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other leaders of Israel's families answered them, "You may have no part with us in building a house for our God, since we alone must build [it] for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us."

4 Then the people who were already in the land^[d] discouraged^[e] the people of Judah and made them afraid to build.

5 They also bribed officials [to act] against them to frustrate their plans throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia.^[f]

Ezra 4:1-5 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 4

The contents of this chapter are the offer the Samaritans made to the Jews, to assist them in building the temple, which having refused, they gave them all the trouble they could, Ezr 4:1-6 and a letter of theirs to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, full of accusations of them, Ezr 4:7-16 and the answer of Artaxerxes to it, giving orders to command the Jews to cease building the temple, Ezr 4:17-22 which orders were accordingly executed, and the work ceased till the second year of Darius, Ezr 4:23,24.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit the sons of the exile
• [b]. Alt Hb tradition reads have not been sacrificing
• [c]. Esar-haddon reigned 681-669 b.c.
• [d]. Lit people of the land
• [e]. Lit relaxed the hands of
• [f]. Darius reigned 521-486 b.c.