Ezra 4:1-5

The Rebuilding of the Temple Opposed.

Ezra 4:1. the adversaries: i.e. the northern Israelites of mixed race, Samaritans; they are called adversaries by anticipation, as they did not oppose the building of the Temple until their co-operation had been refused. builded a temple: better were building, note that while here the building of the Temple is in question the next section deals with the building of the walls.

Ezra 4:2. we seek your God: the words show that these people were not true worshippers of Yahweh, whatever their intention for the future might be. and we do sacrifice unto him: but the Massoretic text reads (cf. mg.), we have not offered sacrifice. the days of Esarhaddon: cf. 2 Kings 19:37 *; he was king of Assyria from 681- 668 B.C. (pp. 59f.) which brought us up hither: they were, therefore, not Israelites; they had, in some sort, accustomed themselves to the worship of the land because they had been in danger of wild beasts (see 2 Kings 17:28); but it was not, according to 2 Kings 17:41, of a genuine character, and they evidently soon reverted to their ancestral worship.

Ezra 4:3. Ye have nothing to do with US...: this refusal is quite comprehensible since these mixed people were, for the most part, non-Israelites; so that neither in relation to race nor worship could there be any bond of sympathy between them and the Jews. as king Cyrus. hath commanded us (cf. Ezra 1:1).

Ezra 4:4. the people of the land: in Heb. - am ha-' aretz, the name given in post-exilic times to those dwelling in Palestine who were of non-Israelite extraction. M. Friedlä nder (Die religiö sen Bewegungen, pp. 78ff.) in writing of somewhat later times, has shown how erroneous it is to maintain that the expression people of the land became a synonym for the unlearned and ignorant; the passage usually quoted in support of this idea (John 7:49) refers to the multitude in Jerusalem, and does not mention the - am ha-' aretz, which became a recognised name for those of anti-Pharisaic tendency. troubled them in building: read terrified them from building.

Ezra 4:5. all the days of Cyrus. : since what is recounted in the previous verses presumably took place in the second year of Cyrus (see Ezra 3:8), i.e. 536 B.C., and Darius came to the throne in 521 (though it was not until the second year of his reign that the building recommenced), there is, according to the text, a period of about sixteen years during which nothing was done; there is clearly a displacement of the text.