Ezra 4:12
Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations. Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations.
The verse is the adversaries' written charge to the Persian king that the Jews who had come up to Jerusalem were rebuilding the rebellious and bad city, setting up its walls and joining its foundations. The accusers were the Samaritans, descended from the peoples settled in the land by the king of Assyria, whose worship mixed the true God with idolatry, and their open opposition began when Zerubbabel and Jeshua refused their offer to join in rebuilding the temple. Their charge mixed truth with falsehood, for Jerusalem had a history of rebellion, but the claim that the builders meant to rebel and injure the king and his revenue was false and was made to turn the king against them and stop the temple work. The letter belonged to the reign of the impostor Smerdis, called Artaxerxes in Ezra, who ordered the work to cease and whose officers enforced it by force, and the halt lasted until the second year of Darius Hystaspes in B.C. 520 when Haggai and Zechariah stirred the people to build again. That halt is reckoned as about two years in one account, while other accounts reckon the misrepresentations stopped the rebuilding for fifteen years until the second year of Darius. The Jews wrongly took the king's command and hard circumstances as proof that God did not want them to build, when opposing circumstances are no sure sign to abandon duty and no earthly monarch can prevent what God favors, and the decree involved here concerned the temple only and is distinct from the decree of Artaxerxes in Ezra 7 which is the true beginning of the seventy weeks of Daniel 9:24.
Accusation and Opposition History
The verse is the written accusation the adversaries sent to the Persian king, reporting that the Jews who had come up to Jerusalem were rebuilding the rebellious and bad city, setting up its walls and joining its foundations. The complaint called Jerusalem rebellious and wicked, claimed its rebuilding threatened the king's revenue and control, and led to a decree that stopped the work for a time until the earlier authorization was found and confirmed and the rebuilding was allowed to continue under Darius. The accusers were the Samaritans, descendants of the nations the king of Assyria settled in Palestine when Israel was taken captive, whose religion mixed worship of the true God with idolatry.
The opposition began when Zerubbabel and Jeshua refused the enemies' offer to join in rebuilding the temple, after which the enemies hired counselors against the Jews at the Persian court through the reigns of Cyrus and Cambyses without success, acted in the king of Persia's name, and sought to hinder Zerubbabel and Joshua in rebuilding the temple. The letter belonged to the reign of the impostor Smerdis, also called Gomates and Artaxerxes in Ezra, the Magian dated to 522 B.C., who held undisputed sway after Cambyses died. He ordered the work to stop, and the Samaritans enforced the order by force and power.
The stop order halted the restoration work until the prophets spoke in God's name and the people began building again, the trouble halting the work until Haggai and Zechariah began prophesying. In one account the work ceased about two years until the second year of Darius Hystaspes in B.C. 520, when Haggai and Zechariah stirred the Jews to build again. Opposition resumed at once, but a new and honest governor sent Darius a truthful report and Darius decreed not only that the work go on but that it be speedily helped with money from the king's tribute and with bullocks, rams, lambs, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, all that was needed at Jerusalem.
In other accounts the misrepresentations led Artaxerxes to stop the rebuilding for fifteen years, bringing the building to a halt until the second year of Darius, fifteen years after the temple foundation was laid. Later kings reversed the stoppage, a search of the records confirmed the earlier authorization and led to its renewal, and the written decree of Cyrus was found and confirmed, allowing the rebuilding to continue under Darius. The setting was a dilapidated city while the temple work was languishing, with the returned Jews beginning to rebuild the city walls and restore their foundations as part of the restoration after the Babylonian captivity, though the people were poor and the task seemed impossible.
Decrees, Dates and Prophecy
The letter in Ezra 4:11-16 was sent by the Samaritan colony to Cambyses, reporting that the Jews had come to Jerusalem and were building the rebellious and bad city and had set up its walls and joined its foundations. It shows the setting for the decree of Darius Hystaspes, which was made about fourteen years after Cyrus and 550 years before the death of Christ. That decree related to the temple only and was not carried into effect, so it cannot be the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem from which the 490 years of the seventy weeks are reckoned. The decrees of Cyrus and Darius are distinct from the decree of Artaxerxes in Ezra 7, and the decree of Artaxerxes in Ezra 7 is the true date for the beginning of the seventy weeks of Daniel 9:24.
The ruler of Ezra 4:7-23 was the pseudo Smerdis, who is called Artaxerxes in the account. His seven-month reign explains why he is omitted from Ptolemy's list of kings, while his action against the Jews in issuing the decree against them is noted in prophecy. The verse belongs to the period of Haggai and the rebuilding of the temple, about 520 B.C. It describes Jerusalem as a dilapidated city while the temple work was languishing, with the returning Jews having begun rebuilding the city walls and restoring their foundations, and this forms the historical background for Haggai's message to encourage the builders.
Deception, Discouragement and Duty
The charge was a deceptive mixture of historical truth and false claim about intent. That Jerusalem had a history of rebellion was true, but that the returned Jews meant to rebel, to threaten the king's revenue and control, and to harm the king was false. That false accusation disclosed the accusers' own concealed purpose, which they had hidden when they first offered to help rebuild.
The enemies called Jerusalem rebellious and wicked to persuade the Persian king, to turn him against the Jews, to win royal opposition, to discourage the work, and to hinder the temple work. Their slander aimed to get an order stopping the temple work by portraying the city as rebellious and its reconstruction as a threat. The opposition succeeded in bringing the building to a temporary halt until the second year of Darius, fifteen years after the temple foundation was laid. After the resulting trouble halted the work, it did not resume until Haggai and Zechariah began prophesying.
That halt left the Jews discouraged and turned to their own concerns. The opposition also aroused hatred between the two peoples, so that to a Jew nothing was so evil as a Samaritan, and to be a Samaritan was the same as to be possessed of a devil.
The Jews wrongly treated the king's command and opposing circumstances as an indication that God did not wish them to build the temple then. Opposing circumstances are not a sure sign to relinquish an unpleasant undertaking, God does not always make the path of duty smooth, and no earthly monarch can prevent an undertaking God favors. The king who received the charge of rebellion was quite a different man from Cyrus, and on that charge he ordered the work discontinued, yet his stop order was not a good reason to delay building.
They should have answered the slander to the king with the truth by writing to contradict it, and their ready surrender showed an excuse for neglect. While the house of God remained in ruins they preferred building beautiful dwellings for themselves and cultivating their fields and vineyards, with their own homes luxuriously finished. God showed those reasons were not sufficient in His sight by sending Haggai with reproof and by allowing drought and pestilence to teach them He was displeased.
The verse belongs to the opposition that made Zerubbabel's temple-building work seem impossible despite limited resources, for the people were poor and powerful adversaries resisted them and the task seemed beyond them. In that setting God assured Zerubbabel that the work could be completed. It is also part of the record of troubles suffered while rebuilding Jerusalem that made God's promise of peace and security seem marvelous to them.