Ezra 4:1-6

1 Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the sons of the captivity built the temple unto the LORD God of Israel,

2 then they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads 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, who brought us up here.

3 But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God; but we alone will build unto the LORD God of Israel as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, 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 counsel, all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia.

6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote accusations against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

Ezra 4:1-6 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.