Ezra 9:17

Verse 23. - Until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight (see the comment on ver. 18) as he had said by all his servants the prophets. The destruction of the kingdom of Israel had been distinctly prophesied by Ahijah the Shilonite ( 1 Kings 14:15, 16 ), Hosea (Hosea 1:4; 9:3, 17), and Amos ( Amos 7:17 ). General warnings and denunciations had been given by Moses ( Leviticus 26:33 ; Deuteronomy 4:26, 27 ; Deuteronomy 28:36 , etc.), by Isaiah ( Isaiah 7:8 ; Isaiah 28:1-4 ), and probably by the entire series of prophets enumerated in the comment on ver. 13. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day ; i.e. up to the time that the Second Book of Kings was written, about B.C. 580-560 , the Israelites remained within the limits of the country to which they were carried by the conqueror. Not long after this time, about B.C. 538 , a considerable number returned with Zerubbabel to Palestine, and others with Ezra (see Ezra 2:70 ; Ezra 3:1 ; Ezra 6:16, 17 ; Ezra 7:13 ; Ezra 8:35 - 1 Chronicles 9:2, 3 ; Zechariah 8:13 ). What became of the rest has been a fertile subject of speculation. Probably the more religions united with the Jewish communities, which were gradually formed in almost all the cities of the East; while the irreligious laid aside their peculiar customs, and became blended indistinguishably with the heathen. 'There is no ground for expecting to find the "ten tribes" anywhere at the present day. 2 Kings 17:23

2 . And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel , one of the sons of Elam ] R.V. Shecaniah. A Jehiel is mentioned in Ezra 10:26 as one ‘of the sons of Elam’ that had married ‘strange women’. It is hardly likely that Shecaniah would have taken action against his own father and mother (or stepmother); though, if he did, it would strikingly illustrate the intensity of the feeling aroused. ‘The children of Elam’ are mentioned in Ezra 2:7 , Ezra 8:7 . We have trespassed ] See on Ezra 9:2 . have taken strange wives ] R.V. have married strange women. ‘Have married’ a word meaning literally ‘caused to dwell’ used in this technical sense here and Ezra 10:10 ; Ezra 10:14 ; Ezra 10:17-18 ; Nehemiah 13:23 ; Nehemiah 13:27 . of the people of the land ] R.V. of the peoples of the land. ‘of the land’, not as in Ezra 9:1-2 ; Ezra 9:11 ‘of the lands’. Shecaniah refers especially to the heathen living amongst the people of Israel. yet now there is hope in Israel ] ‘Hope’. This word in the Hebrew is used for the object of hope in Jeremiah 14:8 ; Jeremiah 17:13 ; Jeremiah 50:7 . In 1 Chronicles 29:15 ‘our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding (Heb. ‘hope’)’, and in this passage, the source or means of ‘hope’ is denoted. Shecaniah relied upon the promise attached to repentance (e.g. Deuteronomy 30:1-10 ). ‘Even now’ corresponds to the ‘and now’ in Ezra 9:10 . concerning this thing] The same words in the Hebrew as ‘because of this’ ( Ezra 9:15 ).

The word in the original for ‘be’ (y‘hî), containing the first two consonants of ‘Jahveh’, may possibly have been mistaken for it and have given rise to the variation. The words are a common form of blessing. Cf. English ‘Good-bye’ (God be with you). After the blessing comes the substance of the decree, (1) the Return, (2) the Building of the Temple. and let him go up ] Change of subject, “His God be with him and let such an one ‘go up’ ”. The journey to the land of Judah is treated as an ascent. Cf. “The Songs of Ascents”, Psalms 120-134. and build ] i.e. rebuild. the Lord God of Israel ] R.V. the Lord, the God of Israel , in the original ‘Jahveh the God of Israel’; ‘the God of Israel’, the old national title used freely without room for misconception after the destruction of the Northern kingdom (cf. in Ezra 4:1 ; Ezra 4:3 ; Ezra 5:1 ; Ezra 6:14 ; Ezra 6:21-22 ; Ezra 7:6 ; Ezra 7:15 ; Ezra 8:35 ; Ezra 9:4 ; Ezra 9:15 ). The discipline of the Captivity had revived the conception of the true Israel (see Isaiah 41:17 ; Jeremiah 30:2 ; Ezekiel 8:4 ). ( he is the God ,) which is in Jerusalem ] So R.V. text, but R.V. margin ‘ he is the God which is in Jerusalem ’, gives an alternative rendering. ( a ) If the words ‘he is the God’ be taken parenthetically as in A.V. and R.V. text, then ‘which is in Jerusalem’ refers to ‘the house of Jahveh’. It gives an additional piece of information necessary to those who did not associate the temples of gods with any one place.

Complaints against the Jews to Kings Ahashverosh and Artachshasta. - The right understanding of this section depends upon the question, What kings of Persia are meant by Ahashverosh and Artachshasta? while the answer to this question is, in part at least, determined by the contents of the letter, Ezra 4:8-16 , sent by the enemies of the Jews to the latter monarch. Ezra 4:6-7 And in the reign of Ahashverosh, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. שׂטנה, not to mention the name of the well, Genesis 26:21, occurs here only, and means, according to its derivation from שׂטן, to bear enmity, the enmity; hence here, the accusation. ישׁבי על belongs to שׂטנה, not to כּתבוּ; the letter was sent, not to the inhabitants of Judah, but to the king against the Jews. The contents of this letter are not given, but may be inferred from the designation שׂטנה. The letter to Artachshasta then follows, Ezra 4:7-16. In his days, i.e., during his reign, wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions. כּנותו, for which the Keri offers the ordinary form כּנותיו mrof yra, occurs only here in the Hebrew sections, but more frequently in the Chaldee (comp. Ezra 4:9, Ezra 4:17, Ezra 4:23; Ezra 5:3, and elsewhere), in the sense of companions or fellow-citizens; according to Gesenius, it means those who bear the same surname (Kunje) together with another, though Ewald is of a different opinion; see 117, b, note.

Complaints against the Jews to Kings Ahashverosh and Artachshasta. - The right understanding of this section depends upon the question, What kings of Persia are meant by Ahashverosh and Artachshasta? while the answer to this question is, in part at least, determined by the contents of the letter, Ezra 4:8-16 , sent by the enemies of the Jews to the latter monarch. Ezra 4:6-7 And in the reign of Ahashverosh, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. שׂטנה, not to mention the name of the well, Genesis 26:21, occurs here only, and means, according to its derivation from שׂטן, to bear enmity, the enmity; hence here, the accusation. ישׁבי על belongs to שׂטנה, not to כּתבוּ; the letter was sent, not to the inhabitants of Judah, but to the king against the Jews. The contents of this letter are not given, but may be inferred from the designation שׂטנה. The letter to Artachshasta then follows, Ezra 4:7-16. In his days, i.e., during his reign, wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions. כּנותו, for which the Keri offers the ordinary form כּנותיו mrof yra, occurs only here in the Hebrew sections, but more frequently in the Chaldee (comp. Ezra 4:9, Ezra 4:17, Ezra 4:23; Ezra 5:3, and elsewhere), in the sense of companions or fellow-citizens; according to Gesenius, it means those who bear the same surname (Kunje) together with another, though Ewald is of a different opinion; see 117, b, note.

Verse 2. - The holy seed. Compare Isaiah 6:13 . The "seed of Israel," however much it polluted itself by transgressions, was still "holy" by profession, by call, by obligation, by prophetic announcement. They were "a kingdom of priests, a holy nation" ( Exodus 19:6 ); bound to be "separated from all the people that were on the face of the earth" ( Exodus 33:16 ), and to keep themselves a "peculiar people." When they mingled themselves with the people of the lands, they not only broke a positive command ( Deuteronomy 7:3 ), but did their best to frustrate God's entire purpose in respect of them, and to render all that he had done for them of no effect. The hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in the trespass. "Princes and rulers" are here opposed to people of the middle and lower ranks. The upper classes, whether clerical or lay, had been the chief offenders (see Ezra 10:18 ); and compare the similar defection of Jews of the upper classes in Nehemiah's time ( Nehemiah 6:17, 18 ; Nehemiah 13:4, 28 ). EZRA'S ASTONISHMENT AND HORROR ( Ezra 9:3, 4 ). In Babylonia, whence Ezra had come, the inclination to intermarry with the heathen had not, it would seem, shown itself. Exiles in a foreign land naturally cling to each other under their adverse circumstances, and, moreover, being despised by those among whom they sojourn, are not readily accepted by them into social fellowship, much less into affinity and alliance. Thus the thing was to Ezra a new thing.