Ezra 4:21

Ezra 4:21 Ver. 21. Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease,.... From building: and that this city be not builded until another commandment shall be given from me; he might suspect that this case, in all its circumstances, was not truly stated, and that hereafter he might see reason to recede from the present orders he gave; and the rather, as by searching, and perhaps on his own knowledge, must have observed, that his father Cyrus had shown favour to the Jews, and had not only set them at liberty, but had encouraged them to rebuild their temple; which might be what they were about, and was the case, and nothing else, except their houses to dwell in. Ezra 4:22 Ver. 22. Take heed now that ye fail not to do this,.... To put his orders into execution, and at once, without any loss of time, oblige the Jews to desist from rebuilding the walls of their city, which he was told they were doing, though a great falsehood: why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? of him and his successors, to be deprived of their toll, tribute, and customs, and to have insurrections, mutinies, and rebellions, in the dominions belonging to them. Ezra 4:23 Ver. 23. Now when the copy of King Artaxerxes letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions,....

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.

Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease,.... From building: and that this city be not builded until another commandment shall be given from me; he might suspect that this case, in all its circumstances, was not truly stated, and that hereafter he might see reason to recede from the present orders he gave; and the rather, as by searching, and perhaps on his own knowledge, must have observed, that his father Cyrus had shown favour to the Jews, and had not only set them at liberty, but had encouraged them to rebuild their temple; which might be what they were about, and was the case, and nothing else, except their houses to dwell in.

Ezra 4:21 . Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease — Thus he suffered himself to be imposed upon by their fraud and falsehood, and took no care to examine the allegations of their petition concerning what the Jews were now doing; but took all they had asserted for matter of fact, and therefore was very ready to gratify them with an order of council to stay proceedings. Until another commandment shall be given — So that, it appears, however, he kept his ears open to further information; which if he should receive, different from theirs, he might give other orders.

Verse 21. - Until another commandment shall be given . It can scarcely be supposed that the Pseudo-Smerdis had any intention of issuing "another commandment;" but, since "the laws of the Medes and Persians," as a general rule, "altered not" ( Esther 1:19 ; Daniel 6:15 ), it may well be that the clause before us was one inserted as a matter of form in most decrees, to prevent them from being irrevocable. Ezra 4:21

Mighty kings ... - If this reference can scarcely have been to David or Solomon (see marginal reference), of whom neither the Babylonian nor the Assyrian archives would be likely to have had any account - it would probably be to Menahem 2 Kings 15:16 and Josiah ( 2 Chronicles 34:6-7 ; 2 Chronicles 35:18 ).

21 . Give ye now commandment ) R.V. Make ye now a decree. Cf. 19. The Samaritan officials clearly held some authority over the whole adjoining territory. and that this city be not builded ] See notes on Ezra 4:12-13 . The king’s alarm lest a strong city should be made of Jerusalem agrees rather with the time of Nehemiah than with that of Zerubbabel. The naval victories of the Greeks had rendered the Persian coast frontier peculiarly vulnerable. until another commandment shall be given from me ] R.V. until a decree shall be made by me. The A.V. by introducing the word ‘another’ produced a needless ambiguity. The original has ‘the decree’, i.e. the permission to build.

The Ethiopian Eunuch, chamberlain to queen Candace, was ‘over all her treasure’, ἐπὶ πάσης τῆς γάζης αὐτῆς ( Acts 8:27 ). The word for ‘the treasury’, used in the gospels, means “the place for keeping the ‘gaza’,” γαζοφυλάκιον (cf. Mark 12:41 ; Luke 21:1 ; John 8:20 ). and numbered them ] so A.V. R.V. Better, and he numbered them. The king made the gift; his officer had the charge of its disposition and valuation. unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah ] There seems to be no good reason to doubt that the Sheshbazzar mentioned here and in Ezra 5:14 ; Ezra 5:16 is the same as Zerubbabel. For although Zerubbabel ( Ezra 3:2 ; Ezra 3:8 , Ezra 4:3 , Ezra 5:2 ) is not designated by any official title in our book, still (1) the manner in which he is regarded as the representative of the Jewish returned exiles in Ezra 4:2 , (2) the fact that his name, as that of the chief layman and of the head of the Davidic line, is associated with that of the High-priest Jeshua in the general administration, Ezra 3:2 ; Ezra 3:8 , Ezra 4:3 , Ezra 5:2 ; Haggai 1:1 ; Zechariah 3:4 , (3) the title of ‘governor (pekhah) of Judah’ given him by the prophet Haggai ( Ezra 1:1 , Ezra 2:2 ; Ezra 2:21 ), and given also to Sheshbazzar ( Ezra 5:14 ) make it reasonable to suppose that Sheshbazzar was another name of Zerubbabel, just as Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were the names given in the Captivity to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah ( Daniel 1:6-7 ).