Ezra 4:24

This verse resumes the thread of the narrative, which was dropped at the close of Ezra 4:5. It must be admitted that the words -then ceased" refer most naturally to Ezra 4:23. The Compiler, who failed to observe that the preceding passage belonged to the generation of Ezra, and not to that of Zerubbabel, carries on the narrative in his own words.

so it ceased, &c. R.V. and it ceased. The first clause expresses the fact of the cessation, the second its duration and continuance.

second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia b.c. 521.

The Samaritans had succeeded only too well in checking the progress of the work. Cyrus occupied in schemes of conquest had little leisure to attend to such matters. The suspicious temperament of Cambyses inclined him to listen to sinister reports. The disturbed condition of the Empire during his reign and that of Gomates, his successor, gave abundant opportunity for petty tyranny and for the withdrawal of state privileges.