HarperCollins Study Bible
Page 185
“To King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the people of the province Beyond the River, send greeting. And now 12may it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city; they are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. 13Now may it be known to the king that, if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be reduced. 14Now because we share the salt of the palace and it is not fitting for us to witness the king’s dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king, 15so that a search may be made in the annals of your ancestors. You will discover in the annals that this is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from long ago. On that account this city was laid waste. 16We make known to the king that, if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.”
17The king sent an answer: “To Rehum the royal deputy and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now 18the letter that you sent to us has been read in translation before me. 19So I made a decree, and someone searched and discovered that this city has risen against kings from long ago, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it. 20Jerusalem has had mighty kings who ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid. 21Therefore issue an order that these people be made to cease, and that this city not be rebuilt, until I make a decree. 22Moreover, take care not to be slack in this matter; why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”
23Then when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and the scribe Shimshai and their associates, they hurried to the Jews in Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. 24At that time the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped and was discontinued until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia.
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a Heb adds in Aramaic, indicating that 4.8-6.18 is in Aramaic. Another interpretation is The letter was written in the Aramaic script and set forth in the Aramaic language
4.1–5 The building of the temple ceases, ostensibly because of opposition from northern neighbors.
4.1 The adversaries, presumably the people of the land (v. 4). The returned exiles. Again, there is no word of those who had stayed in the land (see note on 3.8).
4.2 Esar-haddon, king of Assyria (681–669 BCE), who imported colonists from other parts of his empire to settle in northern Israel after the deportation of many inhabitants in 721 BCE (see also v. 10).
4.3 No part with us. Perhaps it is implied that those in the land continued worship of their national gods along with Yahweh, as former colonists are said to have done (2 Kings 17.41).
4.4 People of the land, non-Jewish settlers in the land of Israel (see note on 4.2). Discouraged, lit. “relaxed the hands of,” i.e., “weakened the morale of.”
4.5 Until the reign of King Darius (522–486 BCE). The opposition of the non-Jewish settlers is offered as the explanation of the cessation of temple building from 537 to 520 BCE.
4.6–23 This section has nothing to do with the building of the temple, but with opposition to the building of the city of Jerusalem, many years later. Apparently it has been included here to illustrate the kinds of methods that enemies of the Jews would have employed to discourage them (v. 4).
4.6 Ahasuerus, the Persian king Xerxes I (486–465 BCE). In his accession year, December 486 to April 6, 485 BCE.
4.7 Artaxerxes I, 465–424 BCE. Bishlam, perhaps Belshunu, the governor of the province Beyond the River. Translated, at the court, into Persian (cf. v. 18).
4.8–6.18 The text is in Aramaic (as the last word of 4.8 says; see text note a), not Hebrew; several Aramaic documents seem to be cited here.
4.8–16 An accusation, no doubt false, by officials of the province of Samaria that the Jews intend to revolt against the Persians. It is in the name of various Persian officials (e.g., judges, envoys) and ethnic groups settled there (e.g., people of Erech).
4.8–9 The repetitions can best be explained if v. 8 was the summary that typically appeared on the outside of a papyrus letter.
4.10 Osnappar, Ashurbanipal (669–ca. 627 BCE), the last of the great Assyrian kings. The province Beyond the River, the satrapy Abar-Nahara, of which Samaria and Judea (Aramaic Yehud) were provinces.
4.14 Share the salt. Partners in a covenant agreement ratified it by a meal seasoned with salt (cf. Lev 2.13; Num 18.19).
4.15 The annals. Cf. 6.1–2; Esth 6.1.
4.21 Until I make a decree. A Persian decree for rebuilding the city is mentioned in Neh 2.5–6.
4.23 Force and power, military strength.
4.24 This verse resumes from v. 5 the narrative about the temple, after the digression about the city. The second year of…Darius, 520 BCE.
EZRA 5
Restoration of the Temple Resumed
1Now the prophets, Haggaia and Zechariah son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. 2Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set out to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God, helping them.
3At the same time Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus, “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?” 4Theyb also asked them this, “What are the names of the men who are building this building?” 5But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until a report reached Darius and then answer was returned by letter in reply to it.
6The copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his associates the envoys who were in the province Beyond the River sent to King Darius; 7they sent him a report, in which was written as follows: “To Darius the king, all peace! 8May it be known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built of hewn stone, and timber is laid in the walls; this work is being done diligently and prospers in their hands. 9Then we spoke to those elders and asked them, ‘Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’ 10We also asked them their names, for your information, so that we might write down the names of the men at their head. 11This was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. 12But because our ancestors had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. 13However, King Cyrus of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. 14Moreover, the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem and had brought into the temple of Babylon, these King Cyrus took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor. 15He said to him, “Take these vessels; go and put them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.” 16Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem; and from that time until now it has been under construction, and it is not yet finished.’ 17And now, if it seems good to the king, have a search made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by King Cyrus for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. Let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.”
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a Aram adds the prophet
b Gk Syr: Aram We
5.1–17 Restoration of the temple building is resumed. Two prophets provide a new stimulus for the rebuilding (vv. 1–2); the provincial government in
vestigates the work (vv. 3–5) and reports to the central government (vv. 6–17).
5.1 Haggai and Zechariah. See Hag 1.1; Zech 1.1.
5.2 Zerubbabel, Jeshua. See note on 3.2.
5.3 The province Beyond the River. See note on 4.10.
5.5 Strangely, Zerubbabel is not mentioned here or at the completion of the temple (6.14–18), despite Zechariah’s assurance that “his hands shall also complete it” (Zech 4.9). Had Zerubbabel died or fallen out of favor with the Persians? A report, given in 5.7–17. Answer, given in 6.2–12.
5.8 Timber is laid in the walls. Timber was layered between stone courses, as in the building edict of Cyrus (6.4), and also in the account of Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6.36; 7.12), possibly to limit damage in case of an earthquake.
5.11 A great king of Israel, Solomon.
5.12 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean. Nebuchadnezzar II ruled the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 605 to 562 BCE and captured Jerusalem in 597 and again in 587 or 586, taking many inhabitants into captivity (2 Kings 24–25). He was by tribal affiliation a Chaldean from southern Babylonia.
5.13 Made a decree. The reference is to 6.3–5; cf. also 1.1.
5.14 Vessels…which Nebuchadnezzar had taken. See note on 1.7. Sheshbazzar. See note on 1.8. A man named Sheshbazzar seems deliberately disrespectful; the idiom is often found in Aramaic papyri in reference to slaves. The term translated governor may not mean “provincial ruler” (as in v. 6; Neh 5.14), but simply “commissioner” for this project.
5.16 Foundations, or rather the platform on which the temple was built; the term is different from that in 3.10. In all the other evidence it is Zerubbabel, not Sheshbazzar, who is said to have begun the rebuilding (3.2; 4.3; 5.2; Hag 1.14; Zech 4.9). Perhaps it was the commissioner Sheshbazzar who was named in the official Persian correspondence and not the governor Zerubbabel. From that time…under construction. But both 4.4, 24 and Hag 1.2, 4, 9 report that work ceased for about seventeen years. The leaders obviously do not want to admit this; and it is true enough that since work has not yet been completed, it could be said to be still “in progress.”
EZRA 6
The Decree of Darius
1Then King Darius made a decree, and they searched the archives where the documents were stored in Babylon. 2But it was in Ecbatana, the capital in the province of Media, that a scroll was found on which this was written: “A record. 3In the first year of his reign, King Cyrus issued a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices are offered and burnt offerings are brought;a its height shall be sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, 4with three courses of hewn stones and one course of timber; let the cost be paid from the royal treasury. 5Moreover, let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple in Jerusalem, each to its place; you shall put them in the house of God.”
6“Now you, Tattenai, governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and you, their associates, the envoys in the province Beyond the River, keep away; 7let the work on this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its site. 8Moreover I make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for the rebuilding of this house of God: the cost is to be paid to these people, in full and without delay, from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province Beyond the River. 9Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests in Jerusalem require—let that be given to them day by day without fail, 10so that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his children. 11Furthermore I decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of the house of the perpetrator, who then shall be impaled on it. The house shall be made a dunghill. 12May the God who has established his name there overthrow any king or people that shall put forth a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, make a decree; let it be done with all diligence.”
Completion and Dedication of the Temple
13Then, according to the word sent by King Darius, Tattenai, the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates did with all diligence what King Darius had ordered. 14So the elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of the prophet Haggai and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished their building by command of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus, Darius, and King Artaxerxes of Persia; 15and this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
16The people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. 17They offered at the dedication of this house of God one hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 18Then they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.
The Passover Celebrated
19On the fourteenth day of the first month the returned exiles kept the passover. 20For both the priests and the Levites had purified themselves; all of them were clean. So they killed the passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests, and for themselves. 21It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile, and also by all who had joined them and separated themselves from the pollutions of the nations of the land to worship the LORD, the God of Israel. 22With joy they celebrated the festival of unleavened bread seven days; for the LORD had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.
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a Meaning of Aram uncertain
6.1–12 The decree of Darius authorizing the rebuilding of the temple quotes the earlier decree of Cyrus (vv. 2–5).
6.2 Ecbatana, modern Hamadan, the former capital of Media and the summer residence of the Persian kings. Scroll, or “roll,” a rolled piece of leather or papyrus written on in Aramaic and kept in a clay sealing shaped like a napkin ring.
6.3 Sacrifices. The Persians themselves did not sacrifice. Its height…and its width. The length dimension is missing. Solomon’s temple was 60 cubits long, 20 wide, 30 high (1 Kings 6.2). If the Second Temple was 60 cubits long, it would have been a perfect cube, 60 by 60 by 60 cubits; but it would also have been six times the volume of Solomon’s temple! To fit on the same foundations (see note on 3.10), the Second Temple would most likely have had the same dimensions. A cubit was about 17.5 inches or, if the “royal” or “long” cubit was used (Ezek 41.8), about 20.4 inches. On the basis of the standard cubit, the temple would have been 90 by 30 by 45 feet.
6.4 Three courses…timber. See note on 5.8. Paid from the royal treasury, hence the necessity for details of size and building materials in the edict. It is said that this is the first time in recorded history that a ruler not only approved the practice of a foreign religion in his empire but also devoted state resources to its maintenance.
6.5 Vessels…Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple. See note on 1.7.
6.8 From…the tribute of the province Beyond the River, i.e., from Tattenai’s own revenues, not from central Persian funds.
6.9 Wheat was offered as flour, alone or mixed with olive oil (cf. Lev 2.1–7; 5.11). Salt accompanied cereal offerings (Lev 2.13), and wine was a libation with daily and festival burnt offerings (Ex 29.38–41; Lev 23.13, 18, 37).
6.12 Established his name there, a very Jewish, and not at all a Persian, phrase (cf., e.g., Deut 12.11).
6.13–18 The temple is finally completed and dedicated.
6.14 By command…by decree. The twin impulses, from divine and human sources, are artlessly conjoine
d. The reference to King Artaxerxes (465–424 BCE) is out of place here, since he did not come to the throne until decades after the temple was completed.
6.15 On the third day…in the sixth year, March 12, 515 BCE. Apparently that was a sabbath, in which case it was the day after the completion of the work (cf. Gen 2.2). But perhaps we should follow 1 Esd 7.5 and read “the twenty-third day,” namely, April 1, a Friday.
6.16 The returned exiles. See notes on 3.8; 4.1.
6.17 The ceremony of dedication is modeled on that of Solomon (1 Kings 8; 2 Chr 7.4–7), though the number of animals said to have been sacrificed is very much smaller (cf. 1 Kings 8.63). A sin offering de-contaminates the temple from impurity (cf. Ezek 43.18–27). The number of the tribes. Although only members of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi are said to have constituted the postexilic community, they regard themselves as the authentic Israel and as worshiping on behalf of all the tribes.
6.18 As it is written in the book of Moses. In the biblical tradition, however, it was not Moses but David who arranged the divisions and courses of these clergy (1 Chr 23–26); Moses simply established the two classes (Ex 29; Lev 8; Num 3; 4; 8).
6.19–22 Now that the temple is finished, it can serve its purpose as the center for the celebration of the festivals. The first festival that falls due is Passover (cf. Ex 12), some six weeks after the dedication, on April 21, 515 BCE.
6.21 All who had joined them. For the first time (see notes on 3.8; 4.1) the presence of a wider circle of Jews than those who had returned from exile is acknowledged. Pollutions of the nations of the land, the worship of foreign gods practiced by non-Jews in Judea.