Ezra 4 Study Notes

4:11 The authors of the letter specified their residences as the region west of the Euphrates River (lit “Beyond [the] River”), which became the standard administrative and political designation in the Persian Empire for the vast area from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. This region is also referred to as the “Trans-Euphrates.”

4:12 This is the first occurrence of the word Jews in Ezra-Nehemiah. “Jew” (Aramaic yehuday; Hb yehudi) was derived from the word “Judah” (Hb yehudah). The Hebrew word yehudi appears in 2Kg 16:6 where it is translated “Judahites,” referring to those who lived in the kingdom of Judah. During the postexilic era the term became the standard designation of the entire religious community of Israel, whether located in the land of Israel or elsewhere.

4:13 Xerxes’s battles with the Greeks were a financial drain on the empire. Later, Artaxerxes’s suppression of the revolt in Egypt was an additional financial burden. Rehum knew that Artaxerxes could not afford the loss of tribute, duty, or land tax.

4:14-17 We have taken an oath of loyalty to the king translates an obscure Aramaic phrase (lit “We have salted the salt of the king”). On the suspicion that a scribal error has altered the original sentence, some scholars note that a minor change of the Aramaic verb would yield a more understandable rendering: “We have eaten the salt of the king.” In the OT there are several references that associate salt with a covenant (Lv 2:13; Nm 18:19; 2Ch 13:5), suggesting that salt, a valuable commodity in the ancient world, was used in the ritual of making a covenant. In a letter (Ezr 4:11-16) marked by exaggeration aimed at inciting suppression of the Jews, the concluding warning (v. 16) reached its crescendo: failure to stop the Jews from rebuilding would cause Artaxerxes to lose “Beyond the River”—the region west of the Euphrates River.

4:18-19 The form of this letter matches the form of letters discovered from that period. Due to the efficiency of the Persian administration, letters would have traveled between Samaria and the Persian king in about a week.

4:20 Powerful kings may be a reference to foreign kings, such as Assyrian and Babylonian kings who once controlled the region west of the Euphrates River and collected tribute. However, the context gives no indication of a change in subject. This most naturally suggests that Israelite kings were these “powerful kings.” If this is correct, it is possibly another aspect of exaggerating the threat posed by the Jews and Jerusalem.

4:21-22 Until a further decree has been pronounced by me was a providential loophole. Such a decree was issued in about 446 BC.

4:23 Literally this text reads, “they made them cease by force and might.” This must have been a painful and humiliating experience for the Jewish people.

4:24 The verse begins with an Aramaic preposition, be’dayin, that is usually translated “then,” which suggests that v. 24 temporally follows v. 23. But as pointed out above, vv. 6-23 form a parenthesis in which letters written to the Persian kings illustrate opposition to the Jews. Thus v. 5 and v. 24 serve as parallel bookends that bracket the lengthy parenthesis of vv. 6-23.