Ezra 4:13, commentary and pictures

The verse is part of a formal letter from the Samaritan adversaries of the Jews to the Persian king called Artaxerxes, the usurper Gomates the false Smerdis who held undisputed sway after the death of Cambyses, though those who held it otherwise taught that the addressee was Cambyses. It warned that if rebellious Jerusalem was rebuilt and its walls set up again with the foundations joined, the Jews would withhold toll, tribute and custom and so damage the revenue of the kings. That financial and political charge was false and a misrepresentation, for rebuilding the city and its walls did not mean the Jews intended to withhold payment nor would it produce that result, even though Jerusalem had rebelled against eastern kings in the past. The letter belonged to a longer effort to hinder Zerubbabel and Jeshua in rebuilding the temple after the return from Babylon in B.C. 535, in which the opponents, after their offer to join the work was refused, hired counselors at the Persian court and sent slanders to discourage the builders and stop the work. The accusation persuaded the king to decree a halt until the second year of Darius Hystaspes, but the work was resumed at the stirring of Haggai and Zechariah, and after Darius searched for the decree of Cyrus he ordered it to go forward with support from the royal tribute, so the house was finished in his sixth year. The enemies' success in obtaining the stop order did not prove that God would have the temple left unfinished, for an earthly king could not thwart a work God favored, and the decrees of Cyrus and Darius concerning the temple only are not the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem from which the seventy weeks of Daniel 9:24 are reckoned, which is the decree of Artaxerxes in Ezra 7, while the removal of the hindrance fulfilled the promise of Micah 7:11 that the decree stopping the building would be far removed when the walls were built.

Letter and Historical Setting

Ezra 4:13 is part of a formal letter sent by the Samaritans, the adversaries and neighboring peoples of the Jews, to the Persian king called Artaxerxes. That Artaxerxes was Gomates the usurper, the false or pseudo-Smerdis, the Magian, and the letter was written at once after Cambyses died when he had undisputed sway. The appeal of these neighboring peoples led the king to order the rebuilding work stopped.

The letter warned that Jerusalem was a rebellious and bad city, and that if it was built and its walls set up again with the foundations joined, the result would follow. In that case the Jews would not pay toll, tribute and custom to Persia, so the revenue of the kings would be endamaged. This warning about loss of tolls, tribute and customs supplied the financial and political charge against restoring the city and its walls.

That charge was false and a misrepresentation of the rebuilding. Rebuilding the city and restoring its walls did not mean that the Jews intended to withhold payments, and it would not produce that result. This was true even though Jerusalem had rebelled against eastern kings in the past.

The letter belonged to a longer effort to hinder Zerubbabel and Jeshua or Joshua in rebuilding the temple after the return from Babylon in B.C. 535. After their offer to join the work was refused, the opponents hired counselors against the Jews at the Persian court through the time of Cyrus and Cambyses, the Ahasuerus of Esther. They sent slanders that discouraged the builders and sought influence to trouble and stop the work. When counsel and slander through Cyrus and Cambyses did not succeed, this formal charge of disloyalty over rebuilding the city and walls was pressed upon Gomates.

The accusation persuaded the king to decree a halt, and Gomates absolutely forbade prosecution of the work. The work therefore ceased until the second year of Darius Hystaspes, B.C. 520, a stoppage of about two years and fifteen years after the foundation was laid. It resumed when Haggai and Zechariah stirred the people to build again. After further opposition and an honest report by the new governor, Darius searched for the decree of Cyrus and decreed that the work go on. He speeded it with money from the king's tribute and with bullocks, rams, lambs, wheat, salt, wine and oil, so the house was completed in his sixth year.

The verse thus supplies the historical setting for Haggai's time, when Jerusalem was dilapidated and the temple work was languishing.

Prophecy Doctrine and Application

After the death of Cyrus and before the house of God was finished, the adversaries of the Jews persuaded the king to decree a stop to the building work at Jerusalem. That stopping decree is the decree that Micah 7:11 said would be far removed in the day the walls were built. This was accomplished when Darius king of Persia had search made for the decree of Cyrus and then passed one agreeing with Cyrus and removing what hindered the work, so that the house was completed.

The letter in Ezra 4:11-16 was addressed to the Samaritan colony's king Cambyses. The later second Persian edict, that of Darius Hystaspes made about fourteen years after Cyrus and 550 years before the death of Christ, related to the temple only and was not efficacious. The decrees of Cyrus or Darius are therefore not the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem from which the 490 years of the seventy weeks of Daniel 9:24 are reckoned. That starting point is the decree of Artaxerxes in Ezra 7.

The verse belongs to the opposition the Samaritans made against the Jews when they were building the temple under Zerubbabel and Ezra. Through that opposition hatred was aroused between the two peoples, so that nothing was so evil in Jewish eyes as a Samaritan. The adversaries opposing Zerubbabel's work of rebuilding were powerful, and their opposition made the work seem impossible given the people's poverty. The opposition included the claim that restoring the city and its walls would deprive the king of revenue, as part of the troubles faced by the Jews during the restoration, making God's promise of peace and protection seem remarkable.

The obstruction came when Israel's enemies complained to the Persian king in the period of the false Smerdis, a royal decree stopped the work, and the people became discouraged and turned from God's work to their own interests. The enemies' accusation portrayed the Jews as rebellious by claiming that rebuilding Jerusalem and its walls would cause the king to lose tolls, tribute, and other revenue, and it helped prompt the order to stop the work. Yet that success did not prove that God wanted the temple left unfinished. The Jews could have answered the slander and should not have treated an earthly king as able to thwart a work God favored.