Ezra 5:19

hatred against sin, together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ, and the perfection of his obedience. It is likewise of use to the regenerate, to restrain their corruptions, in that it forbids sin: and the threatenings of it serve to show what even their sins deserve; and what afflictions, in this life, they may expect for them, although freed from the curse thereof threatened in the law. The promises of it, in like manner, show them God's approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof: although not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works. So as, a man's doing good, and refraining from evil, because the law encourageth to the one, and deterreth from the other, is no evidence of his being under the law; and, not under grace. 11. Romans 6:14; 7:4; 8:1, 33; Galatians 2:16; 3:13; 4:4-5; Acts 13:38-39 12. Romans 7:12, 22, 25; Psalms 119:1-6; 1 Corinthians 7:19; Galatians 5:14-23 13. Romans 3:20; 7:7, 13 14. James 1:23-25; Romans 7:9, 14, 24 15. Galatians 3:24; Romans 7:24-25; 8:3-4 16. James 2:11-12; Psalms 119:101, 104, 128 17. Ezra 9:13-14; Psalms 89:30-34; Galatians 3:13 18. Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 5:33; Leviticus 18:5; 26:1-13; Matthew 5:5; 19:17; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 6:2-3; Psalms 19:11; 37:11 19. Galatians 2:16; Luke 17:10 20. Romans 6:12-15; cf. 1 Peter 3:8-12 with Psalms 34:12-16; Hebrews 12:28- 29

17 . if it seem good to the king ] A similar phrase in Ezra 7:18 ; Esther 1:19 . in the king’s treasure house ] which apparently was the repository of important documents as well as of treasure. The expression occurs again in Esther 3:9 ; Esther 4:7 . The word rendered ‘treasure’ (ginzayya) is rendered by ‘gaza’ ( γάζα ) in the LXX. Compare Ezra 1:8 ; (gizbar) ‘treasurer’; 1 Chronicles 28:11 (ganzak) ‘treasure’; chap. Ezra 6:1 gives the full explanation of the present phrase. The Vulgate too narrowly renders ‘bibliotheca’. at Babylon ] i.e. where would be kept the records of the Babylonian Empire. his pleasure ] Same word as that in Ezra 7:18 , ‘the will of God’. The LXX. by a mistake of similar letters renders ‘having learnt’ ( γνούς ). concerning this matter] Same phrase as in Ezra 5:5 (where see note). The word ‘matter’ added here in the English for the sake of explicitness. Tattenai asks for instructions as to how he should proceed generally in dealing with the Jews and their Temple-building.

12 . the Jews ] We have here practically the first application of this name to the new community at Jerusalem. It had been used of the Southern Kingdom ( 2 Kings 16:6 ; 2 Kings 25:25 ; 2 Chronicles 32:18 ) and of its exiles ( Jeremiah 32:12 ; Jeremiah 34:9 ; Jeremiah 38:19 ; Jeremiah 40:11-12 ; Jeremiah 40:15 ; Jeremiah 41:3 ; Jeremiah 44:1 ; Jeremiah 52:28 ; Jeremiah 52:30 ; Daniel 3:8 ; Daniel 3:12 ). As the return from the Captivity almost exclusively affected the exiles of the Southern Kingdom, the name was naturally applied to the new dwellers in Jerusalem and the neighbourhood, and was quickly adopted as the designation of all members of the race; cf. Zechariah 8:23 ; Ezra 4:23 ; Ezra 5:1 ; Ezra 5:5 ; Ezra 6:7-8 ; Ezra 6:14 ; ten times in Nehemiah, fifty-one times in Esther. The History of Israel had become the History of the Jews. which came up from thee to us are come ] R.V. which came up from thee are come to us, generally expressed; i.e. from exile on the banks of the Euphrates to dwell in Judæa and Jerusalem. The introductory statement of the subject. building ] R.V. they are building. A separate clause, containing an epitome of the charge against the Jews. ‘The rebellious and the bad city’, cf. Ezra 4:15 .

Verse 19. - I commanded, and search has been made . The Pseudo-Smerdis, who was a fanatical adherent of Magism, which disallowed temples altogether (Herod., 1:130), and who had already destroyed the temples of Ormuzd in Persia ('Behistun Ins.,' col. 1. par. 14, 5), was naturally willing enough to do as the Samaritans desired, and stop the restoration of the Jewish temple. Accordingly, he had a search made among the state records, and found, as they had expected he would, evidence of insurrections on the part of the Jews against the foreign countries to which they had been subject, as Assyria ( 2 Kings 18:7 ) and Babylon ( ibid. 24:1; Jeremiah 52:3 ), and also proof of the formidable power possessed by certain Jewish or Israelite kings; upon which he thought himself justified in complying with the Samaritan request, and ordering the work that was going on at Jerusalem to cease (see ver. 21). Ezra 4:19

The sum of the numbers as they stand in the present Hebrew text is 2,499, instead of 5,400. In the Apocryphal Book of Esdras the sum given is 5,469, and with this sum the items in that place exactly agree (1 Esdras 2:13, 14). Most commentators propose to correct Ezra by the passage of Esdras; but the items of Esdras are improbable. Probably the sum total in the present passage has suffered corruption.