Ezra 5:24

For, to say nothing of the contents of Ezra 4:6, although it may seem natural to refer the בּאדין of Ezra 4:24 to Ezra 4:23, it cannot be affirmed that this reference is either necessary or the only one allowable. The assertion that בּאדין is "always connected with that which immediately precedes," cannot be strengthened by an appeal to Ezra 5:2; Ezra 6:1; Daniel 2:14, Daniel 2:46; Daniel 3:3, and other passages. בּאדין, then ( equals at that time), in contradistinction to אדין, thereupon, only refers a narrative, in a general manner, to the time spoken of in that which precedes it. When, then, it is said, then, or at that time, the work of the house of God ceased (Ezra 4:24), the then can only refer to what was before related concerning the building of the house of God, i.e., to the narrative Ezra 4:1. This reference of Ezra 4:24 to Ezra 4:1 is raised above all doubt, by the fact that the contents of Ezra 4:24 are but a recapitulation of Ezra 4:5; it being said in both, that the cessation from building the temple lasted till the reign, or, as it is more precisely stated in Ezra 4:24, till the second year of the reign, of Darius king of Persia. With this recapitulation of the contents of Ezra 4:5, the narrative, Ezra 4:24, returns to the point which it had reached at Ezra 4:5. What lies between is thereby characterized as an illustrative episode, the relation of which to that which precedes and follows it, is to be perceived and determined solely by its contents.

"Then ceased the work of the house of God at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of Darius king of Persia." With this statement the narrator returns to the notice in Ezra 4:5 , that the adversaries of Judah succeeded in delaying the building of the temple till the reign of King Darius, which he takes up, and now adds the more precise information that it ceased till the second year of King Darius. The intervening section, Ezra 4:6 , gives a more detailed account of those accusations against the Jews made by their adversaries to kings Ahashverosh and Artachshasta. If we read Ezra 4:23 and Ezra 4:24 as successive, we get an impression that the discontinuation to build mentioned in Ezra 4:24 was the effect and consequence of the prohibition obtained from King Artachshasta, through the complaints brought against the Jews by his officials on this side the river; the בּאדין of Ezra 4:24 seeming to refer to the אדין of Ezra 4:23 . Under this impression, older expositors have without hesitation referred the contents of Ezra 4:6 to the interruption to the building of the temple during the period from Cyrus to Darius, and understood the two names Ahashverosh and Artachshasta as belonging to Cambyses and (Pseudo) Smerdis, the monarchs who reigned between Cyrus and Darius. Grave objections to this view have, however, been raised by Kleinert (in the Beitrgen der Dorpater Prof. d. Theol. 8132, vol. i) and J. W. Schultz (Cyrus der Grosse, in Theol. Stud. u.

(24) The second year. —The record here returns to Ezra 4:5 , with more specific indication of time. The suspension of the general enterprise—called “the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem”—lasted nearly two years. But it must be remembered that the altar was still the centre of a certain amount of worship.

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.

16 . Then came the same Sheshbazzar ] The work here ascribed to Sheshbazzar is evidently that over which Zerubbabel presided in chap. 3. the foundation ] R.V. ‘ the foundations ’; so the Aramaic and Ezra 4:12 . since that time &c.] A sentence showing that the cessation of the work mentioned in Ezra 4:5 ; Ezra 4:24 must not be taken perfectly literally. Building was carried on from time to time, but no longer on any effective scale. The interval of time was from 536 to 520. finished ] R.V. completed . A different word in the original from that rendered ‘finish’ in Ezra 5:3 ; Ezra 5:9 ; Ezra 5:11 , Ezra 6:14 .

Ezra 4:24 . Then ceased the work of the house of God — For they neither could nor might proceed in that work against their king’s prohibition, without a special command from the King of heaven, which, however, they afterward received. But even then they were cold and indifferent about it, and were accordingly reproved by the Prophets Haggai and Zechariah 5:1 , compared with Haggai 1:2 . So that the work, in a great measure, stood still until the second year of the reign of Darius — This, as was intimated on Ezra 4:6 , was Darius the son of Hystaspis, successor of Cambyses; not, as some would have it, Darius Nothus, the son of Artaxerxes Longimanus: for he was not emperor till above one hundred years after Cyrus, and, if he had been the Darius here intended, there must consequently have been about one hundred and thirty years from the beginning of the building of the temple to the finishing of it; which is not credible to any one that considers, 1st, That the same Zerubbabel did both lay the foundation, and finish the work, Zechariah 4:9 . 2d, That some of the same persons who saw the finishing of this second house; had seen the glory of the first house, Haggai 2:3 .

This word is rendered "governors" in Daniel 2:48 (see the note at that place), and in Daniel 3:3, Daniel 3:27; Daniel 6:7. It does not elsewhere occur. The Hebrew word corresponding to this - סגנים segânı̂ym - occurs frequently, and is rendered "rulers" in every place except Isaiah 41:25, where it is rendered "princes:" Ezra 9:2; Nehemiah 2:16; Nehemiah 4:14 (7); Nehemiah 5:7, Nehemiah 5:17; Nehemiah 7:5; Jeremiah 51:23, Jeremiah 51:28, Jeremiah 51:57; Ezekiel 23:6, Ezekiel 23:12, Ezekiel 23:23, et al. The office was evidently one that was inferior to that of the "satrap," or governor of a whole province. And the captains - פחותא pachăvâtâ'. This word, wherever it occurs in Daniel, is rendered "captains," Daniel 3:2-3, Daniel 3:27; Daniel 6:7; wherever else it occurs it is rendered governor, Ezra 5:3, Ezra 5:6, Ezra 5:14; Ezra 6:6-7, Ezra 6:13. The Hebrew word corresponding to this (פחה pechâh) occurs frequently, and is also rendered indifferently, "governor" or "captain:" 1 Kings 10:15; 2 Chronicles 9:14; Ezra 8:36; 1 Kings 20:24; Jeremiah 51:23, Jeremiah 51:28, Jeremiah 51:57, et al. It refers to the governor of a province less than satrapy, and is applied to officers in the Assyrian empire, 2 Kings 18:24; Isaiah 36:9; in the Chaldean, Ezekiel 23:6, Ezekiel 23:23; Jeremiah 51:23; and in the Persian, Esther 8:9; Esther 9:3. The word "captains" does not now very accurately express the sense.

Verse 17. - And offered... an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs. A poor offering, if it be compared, not alone with Solomon's ( 1 Kings 8:63 ), but even with Hezekiah's ( 2 Chronicles 30:24 ), or Josiah's ( ibid. 35:7). Hundreds now take the place of the thousands offered under the old monarchy. A sin offering for all Israel. See comment on ver. 16. We may assume that some of every tribe had returned with Zerubbabel, and that consequently it was possible to regard the re-established people as "Israel" (comp. Nehemiah 11:20 ; Zechariah 8:13 ; Malachi 1:1 ); though, since the great majority were Jews, they were more commonly spoken of as "Judah" ( Ezra 4:1, 6, 23 ; Ezra 5:1, 5 ; Ezra 6:7, 14 ; Zechariah 8:15 , etc.). Zerubbabel, desirous of emphasising the nobler and grander view, made this solemn sin offering of twelve he-goats, one for each of the tribes. Ezra acted similarly when he brought the second colony ( infra , Ezra 8:35 ). Ezra 6:17