Esdra 4:1

Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel;

Ver. 1. Now when the adversaries of Judah] Aroused by those loud acclamations and outcries, Esdra 3:12,13. These adversaries were those Samaritans, Esdra 4:3, the kind of mongrels who wore religion as a cloak, which they either put on or threw off at pleasure, and as occasion required.

Satan, saith one, doth not always appear in one and the same fashion; but hath as many several shapes as Proteus among the poets. Here he pretends devotion to his mischievous designs, but was frustrated.

That the children of the captivity] Istos deportatos, by way of contempt, as Junius rendereth it; as if the Jews were, therefore, hated of God because they had been transported, captivated. Cicero passeth the same censure of them in his oration, pro L. Flacco: Ista gens quam chara diis immortalibus esset docuit, quod est victa, quod elocata, quod servata. It appears how dear to God they be by their frequent captivities.