Their attack by letter was a skillful combination of truth and lies. (1-2) Adversaries try to join the work of building the temple.Heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you doand we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of AssyriaTo the Samaritans, Yahweh was one of many powerful gods. “If they had taken an active share and labour and sacrifice of the construction of the temple, they could not have been excluded afterwards from taking part in the temple worship.” (Adeney)iv. 2. Ezra 4 is the fourth chapter of the Book of Ezra in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, or the book of Ezra-Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, which treats the book of Ezra and book of Nehemiah as one book. Otherwise you will be prompted again when opening a new browser window or new a tab.Click to enable/disable _ga - Google Analytics Cookie.Click to enable/disable _gid - Google Analytics Cookie.Click to enable/disable _gat_* - Google Analytics Cookie. They warned that the Jews would stop paying taxes when their fortifications were complete ( In his reply Artaxerxes explained that, having done some research, he had concluded that it seemed to be in his best interests to halt work temporarily. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. “The Samaritans did not worship Jehovah as the Jews, but along with their own gods (2 Kings 17:25-41). Since the restoration Jews completed the temple in515 B.C. ( Artaxerxes was the successor of Ahasuerus (Xerxes), who ruled the Persian Empire from464to424 B.C.The antagonists enlisted the help of local Persian officials, including Rehum and Shimshai ( Israel"s enemies presented three reasons Artaxerxes should withdraw the Jews" building permit. www.easyenglish.bible. They may even have destroyed part of the rebuilt wall and burned the gates (cf. 7. in the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, &c.--The three officers named are supposed to have been deputy governors appointed by the king of Persia over all the provinces subject to his empire west of the Euphrates. They troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. This was a dangerous partnership for the returned exiles.Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel said to themYou may do nothing with us to build a house for our GodThen the people of the land tried to discourage the people of JudahAll the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of PersiaCyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of PersiaIn the reign of Ahasuerus… they wrote an accusationAnd are building the rebellious and evil city, and are finishing its walls and repairing the foundationsIt was not proper for us to see the king’s dishonorThis city is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces4. To divide His dominion with others was to dethrone Him altogether. Another is that some of the same people who saw the glory of Solomon’s temple also lived long enough to see Zerubbabel’s temple finished (Haggai 2:3).i. The calculation, no doubt, was that if the returning exiles could be united with the much more numerous Samaritans, they would soon be absorbed in them.” (Maclaren)i. The following verses (Ezra 4:6-23) are, in fact, an unusually long parenthesis which describes the continual opposition of the people of the land to the development of Jerusalem until the times of Artaxerxes.

ii. Jeremiah 38:4).” (Yamauchi)i. [Note: Dumbrell, p67. ""The Persian officials were bribed to frustrate the plans of the returnees. the Syrian tongue--or Aramæan language, called sometimes in our version, Chaldee. Robert Bryce. Because the Samaritans had some historical connection to the people of Israel, their faith was a combination of law and ritual from the Law of Moses and various superstitions.

If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. “Men of faith have often fallen into this blunder, and have associated with themselves those not sharing their faith, and therefore in the deepest sense opposed to their enterprises. (1-5) The building of the temple is hindered. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. Ezra 4:4. Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Cf. Ezra 4:1–6. These leaders were not deceived. About two years later (444 B.C. “‘To discourage’ is literally ‘to weaken the hands,’ a Hebrew idiom (cf.

Please see our Privacy Policy for cookie usage details.We may request cookies to be set on your device. ""The leaders in the province of Samaria may well have seen the emergence of a new, aggressive presence in Judah, and one which enjoyed the favor of the imperial government, as threatening.... An offer to share the labor, and presumably also the expense, of rebuilding the sanctuary would have been taken to entail, and would in fact have entailed, a share in controlling the temple itself with all that implied. Words in boxes are from the Bible. Ezra 4:1-5 Defeating Discouragement; CHUCK SMITH. You can also change some of your preferences. The king suffered himself to be imposed upon by these frauds and falsehoods. But God's judgment is just; he sees things as they are.

Ezra 4 Commentary, One of over 110 Bible commentaries freely available, this commentary, filling six volumes, provides an exhaustive look at every verse in the Bible. In a similar pattern our adversaries – Satan and his angels, the enemies of our soul – often attack us with a combination of truth and lies.

Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan. © 2020 Christianity.com. ]. He ruled from486 to464 B.C. The *Jews return to Jerusalem. It was an important step of faith to refuse a partnership that might have seemed helpful.