Ezra 4:18

4:6-24 It is an old slander, that the prosperity of the church would be hurtful to kings and princes. Nothing can be more false, for true godliness teaches us to honour and obey our sovereign. But where the command of God requires one thing and the law of the land another, we must obey God rather than man, and patiently submit to the consequences. All who love the gospel should avoid all appearance of evil, lest they should encourage the adversaries of the church. The world is ever ready to believe any accusation against the people of God, and refuses to listen to them. The king suffered himself to be imposed upon by these frauds and falsehoods. Princes see and hear with other men's eyes and ears, and judge things as represented to them, which are often done falsely. But God's judgment is just; he sees things as they are.

The letter which ye sent unto us,.... The plural number is used, being now become courtly for kings thus to speak of themselves: hath been plainly before me; by such that understood both the Syrian and Persian languages; the letter was written in the Syrian language, and the king being a Persian, it was necessary it should be interpreted and explained to him.

18 . The letter ] On the word used here see note on Ezra 4:8 . hath been plainly read before me ] So the R.V. The margin of the R.V. gives ‘translated’ as the alternative rendering for ‘plainly’, and this agrees with the general later usage of the word. The same word in Hebrew occurs in Nehemiah 8:8 , where the R.V. renders ‘distinctly’, and its margin, ‘with an interpretation’. ‘Plainly’ (Vulg. manifeste) would imply that the allusions &c. of the Samaritan letter had been faithfully explained, not merely that the oral reading of the letter had been distinct. There is not much to be said for the rendering ‘translated’. A Persian king would be acquainted with the official dialect of his satrapies; a translation of an Aramaic letter would not be required. before me ] Very possibly the king himself could not read. But see Ezra 4:23 . The reading was performed by servants; cf. Esther 6:1 . This expression favours the view that the king is claiming to himself credit for having heard the letter and had it carefully explained to him.

18 . the priests in their divisions , &c.] The verse refers to the organization of the priests and Levites described in 1 Chronicles 23-26. According to this arrangement, the service of the Temple was distributed by periods, of a week each, among the courses and divisions of priests and Levites (see 2 Kings 11:9 ; 2 Chronicles 23:4 ). On the “divisions” of the priests, see Luke 1:5 ; Luke 1:8-9 . for the service of God ] ‘Service’, the same word as that rendered ‘work’ in Ezra 4:24 . But there ‘the work of the house of God’ refers to he building; here ‘the work or service of God’ refers to the worship. Compare the word ‘liturgy’ ( λειτουργία ) and the growth of its special application. as it is written in the book of Moses ] The reference seems to be to the Levitical arrangements generally upon which the Davidic and Solomonic organization was founded, as described in the books of Chronicles. Special mention of the ordering of the priests and Levites occurs in Numbers 3, 8. This verse concludes the Aramaic section ( Ezra 4:8 to Ezra 6:18 ).

He is so called also in the letter of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:11), because he is said (Ezra 7:9) to have applied his heart to seek out and to do the law of the Lord, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgment, i.e., because he had made the investigation of the law, for the sake of introducing the practice of the same among the congregation, his life-task; and the king granted him all his desire, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. The peculiar expression עליו אלהיו יהוה כּיד which is found only here and in Ezra 7:9, Ezra 7:28, Ezra 8:18; Nehemiah 2:8, Nehemiah 2:18, and in a slightly altered guise in Ezra 8:22, Ezra 8:31, "according to the good hand of his God, which was over him," means: according to the divine favour or divine care arranging for him; for the hand of God is הטּובה, the good (Ezra 7:9, and Ezra 8:18), or לטובה, Ezra 8:22. בּקּשׁה, the desire, request, demand, occurs only here and in the book of Esther.