Ezra 4:15, commentary and pictures

The verse is the enemies' plea for the Persian king to search the royal records of his fathers to prove that Jerusalem was a rebellious city hurtful to kings and provinces, given to sedition of old time, and destroyed for that cause. It was pressed by the Samaritan colonists and neighboring officials through hired counselors and then by letter to the usurper Smerdis called Artaxerxes, and it succeeded in stopping the temple work for about fifteen years until the second year of Darius. The records did confirm Jerusalem's former rebellion and destruction, but the further charge that rebuilding it would renew rebellion was false and unsupported. When honest search was made under Darius, Cyrus's decree for rebuilding was found, and Darius not only let the work go on but aided it with tribute money and offerings, undoing the usurper's stoppage so the house was finished. Opposing circumstances are not a sure sign to relinquish God-given work, and the stopping under the false Artaxerxes shows that Daniel's seventy weeks are reckoned not from Cyrus or Darius but from the decree of Artaxerxes in Ezra 7.

Charge and Historical Setting

The verse is the enemies' appeal urging the Persian king to search the book of the records of his fathers, where he would find that Jerusalem was a rebellious city hurtful to kings and provinces, given to sedition of old time, and destroyed for that cause. They claimed the royal archives would show the city had long rebelled against kings and provinces, had repeatedly stirred revolt, and had therefore been destroyed. The appeal belonged to the account of opposition to rebuilding the temple, and to the complaint that delayed the work of rebuilding until the decree of Cyrus was found and the work was allowed to continue under Darius II.

The phrase of old time denotes a remote period, a long but limited time and not necessarily eternity. The Septuagint renders it as from the days of forever.

The accusation was pressed by the Samaritans, a mixed people and neighboring inhabitants of Palestine, with other Samaritan colonists and Persian officials, through hired counselors during Cyrus and Cambyses without effect. It was then pressed by formal letter to the impostor Smerdis called Artaxerxes in the account. He is identified as Gomates the false Smerdis and usurper, as Artaxerxes the Magian, and as Cambyses' successor, with one account calling Cambyses the Ahasuerus of Esther.

Under Smerdis the charge succeeded in obtaining a decree stopping the building, which the Samaritans enforced and forced the Jews to cease work. The temple work then ceased about two years, for fifteen years after the foundation was laid, until the second year of Darius Hystaspes in B.C. 520. At that time Haggai and Zechariah stirred the Jews to build again, after opponents who had first offered to help had opposed the work when refused and had hired advisers at court to turn the king against them.

An honest report to Darius led to search for Cyrus's decree, and when it was found Darius decreed not only to let the work go on but to speed it with money from the king's tribute and with bullocks, rams, lambs, wheat, salt, wine, and oil. His work of stopping the building as the usurper was thus undone by the kings that followed him, the stopping decree was removed by a decree agreeing with that of Cyrus and for removing what hindered the work, and the house was completed. In the later inquiry the records were searched and confirmed that Israel had authority for the work under the earlier royal decree, so the king renewed that decree.

The royal records did confirm Jerusalem's former rebellion and destruction. The further claim that rebuilding it would renew rebellion, and that the Jews intended to rebel by rebuilding it, was false and unsupported.

Prophecy and Chronology

The short-reigning Persian ruler called Artaxerxes who issued the decree against the Jews in Ezra 4:7-22 is the pseudo Smerdis, and his action is noted in prophecy. After the first decree for building the house of God under Cyrus, the adversaries of the Jews prevailed upon the king after Cyrus's death to make a decree putting a stop to the building at Jerusalem. That stopping decree had been shown nearly one hundred years before to Micah as the decree that should be far removed when the walls should be built. It was removed when Darius king of Persia decreed that search should be made for the decree made by Cyrus, and when it was found passed a decree agreeing with that of Cyrus and for removing what hindered the work, so the house was completed.

The verse belongs to the letter of the Samaritan colony to Cambyses in Ezra 4:11-16, and it proves that the second Persian edict, that of Darius Hystaspes, related to the temple only and was not carried into effect, so the 490 years of the seventy weeks cannot be reckoned from it. Ezra 4 considered alongside Ezra 7 establishes the decree of Artaxerxes in Ezra 7 as the true starting point and true date for the beginning of Daniel's seventy weeks of Daniel 9:24, rather than a decree of Cyrus or a decree of Darius. The Persian officials' appeal to search the royal archives for evidence against Jerusalem claimed the records would show that the city had long rebelled against kings and provinces, stirred up sedition, and had therefore been destroyed. That complaint delayed the work of rebuilding Jerusalem's wall until the decree of Cyrus was found and the work was allowed to continue under Darius II.

Opposition and Faithful Response

The verse belongs to the adversaries' opposition to Zerubbabel and Joshua and Ezra in rebuilding the temple. After the Jews refused their offer to help build, the Samaritans weakened the hands of the Jews, hired counselors at the Persian court to turn the king against them, misrepresented them by slander, and succeeded in hindering and stopping the restoration. That Samaritan opposition during the rebuilding under Zerubbabel and Ezra helped create hatred between Jews and Samaritans. The trouble caused the Jews to stop building until Haggai and Zechariah began prophesying to them.

The episode is counted among the forces that brought desolation upon Judah and Jerusalem, when the adversaries appealed to the Persian king and portrayed Jerusalem as rebellious and harmful to kings and provinces. Their opposition to Zerubbabel's temple-building work, together with the people's poverty, made the task seem impossible. Yet God could still accomplish it when human resources were weak.

The verse belongs to the same period as Haggai's message, when Jerusalem was dilapidated and the temple rebuilding had languished. This was fifteen years after the Jews returned from Babylon to begin the temple, when the temple was still in much the same condition as at the joyous laying of the foundation stones.

The king, quite a different man from Cyrus, believed the charge from the neighboring inhabitants of Palestine that the Jews were a rebellious people, a city hurtful to kings and provinces and stirring sedition of old time, and sent an order to discontinue the work. That command looked like an excellent reason and even an impossibility for going on, and was taken as an indication that God did not then wish the temple built. But the Jews could have answered the slanderous accusation urging search of the royal records to prove Jerusalem's past sedition and destruction, and the king's opposition was not sufficient reason to abandon the temple work God favored. Opposing circumstances are not a sure sign from God to relinquish an unpleasant undertaking, for God does not always make the path of duty smooth. The decision should rest on the mind and judgment God has given, prayer for guidance, willingness to do what God would like notwithstanding difficulties, and what would be best in God's sight, rather than abandoning God-favored work because of the king's opposition.