Ezra 4:19, commentary and pictures

Ezra 4:19 records the Persian king's answer to the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin who sought to hinder the rebuilding of the temple after Zerubbabel and Jeshua refused their alliance. At their urging a search was commanded in the royal records, and it was found that Jerusalem of old had risen against kings with rebellion and sedition therein. The king who made the search and ordered the stop was the usurper Smerdis, called Artaxerxes, who reigned about seven months after Cambyses and was hostile to the Jewish religion. Upon that finding the rebuilding was stopped by force, and the work ceased until the second year of Darius, when search for the decree of Cyrus led Darius and later kings to reverse the hindrance and command that the house be finished with full support. Though the record of the city's rebellious past was true, it did not prove that rebuilding meant revolt, and opposing circumstances were no sign that duty should be abandoned.

Opposition and Royal Search

The verse belongs to the opposition raised by the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin, the Samaritans and others, after Zerubbabel and Jeshua refused their offer to join in rebuilding the temple and re-establishing worship. They set out to hinder the work in every way, acting in the king of Persia's name and seeking influence at the Persian court, hiring counselors against the Jews all the days of Cyrus and Cambyses without success, and slandering them. That resistance kindled a hatred and enmity between the peoples that never ended. They are the same class that later opposed Nehemiah.

The verse reports the king's command for a search and the finding in the royal records that Jerusalem of old time had made insurrection against kings and that rebellion and sedition had been made therein. The search found a long record of uprisings, revolt and rebellion against kings in the distant past. That history was made the ground for hindering and stopping the Jews' work of restoration, on the accusation that the city would rebel again if its wall were rebuilt.

The king who commanded the search and ordered the stop was the impostor Smerdis, called Artaxerxes in Ezra, the pseudo-Smerdis Gomates the usurper, who may have borne that name. He reigned about seven months in 522 B.C. after Cambyses, called Ahasuerus, and as one of the Magi was opposed to the Jewish religion. The stop order was procured through misrepresentations by the accusers after the opponents of the temple builders appealed to the Persian court and made complaint to him.

On that finding he ordered the rebuilding stopped, and the enemies made the Jews cease by force and power. The opposition continued from Cyrus until Darius became king, and the building ceased unto the second year of Darius Hystaspes in B.C. 520, about two years. The rebuilding was delayed fifteen years after the foundation was laid, while the people were poor and lacked resources so the work seemed impossible to complete. Their adversaries caused enough trouble by influence at the Persian court that the Jews stopped working until Haggai and Zechariah began to prophesy.

The hindering decree was later far removed when search was made for Cyrus's first decree for the house of God, it was found, and Darius passed a decree agreeing with Cyrus that removed what hindered the work. Later kings reversed the stoppage, a new and honest governor sending an honest account, and decreed that the work at Jerusalem should go on. It should be speedily helped with money from the king's tribute and with bullocks, rams, lambs, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, all that was needed, so the house was completed. A later search of those records thus confirmed Israel's account of the earlier decree authorizing the work, after which the king renewed the decree.

The records did confirm the claims about the city's rebellious past, and in that sense they were true. But they were used deceptively, for Jerusalem's history did not show that the Jews intended to rebel by rebuilding it or that rebuilding would cause such a result.

Prophecy and Doctrinal Use

Ezra 4 together with Ezra 7 fixes the beginning of the seventy weeks of Daniel 9:24 at the decree of Artaxerxes in Ezra 7, not at the decree of Cyrus and not at the decree of Darius. The resistance offered by the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin when the Jews returned to rebuild the temple, acting in the name of the king of Persia, was the work of the fourth power that had scattered Judah and Israel and Jerusalem. The pseudo-Smerdis, called Artaxerxes and who may have borne that name, is noted in prophecy because of his decree against the Jews recorded in Ezra 4:7-22.

The chapter is an example of material that is not a promise, since it recounts opposition to the rebuilding of Jerusalem, including the report that the city had rebelled against kings. The search found that Jerusalem had rebelled against kings in the distant past, and the Septuagint wording renders that remoteness with forever, showing that forever is used for a remote period or a long but limited time and does not necessarily mean unending duration.

Duty Under Hindrance

The search confirming the accusation that Jerusalem had long been a rebellious city became the ground for ordering the work on the temple to stop. The Jews took that order as a sign that God did not want them to build, but opposing circumstances are no proof that duty should be abandoned, for God does not always make the path of duty smooth. The stop order came because enemies slandered the Jews as rebellious, a charge of slander the Jews could have answered by writing to the king to contradict it. Nor did the order make continuing impossible, for no earthly monarch can prevent work that God favors.

Accepting the order also came from the Jews becoming more interested in building beautiful dwellings for themselves and in cultivating fields and vineyards. God showed that reason was not sufficient in His sight by sending Haggai with reproof. He allowed drought and pestilence to teach His displeasure that His house lay in ruins while their own homes were luxuriously finished.

Despite the troubles faced while restoring the temple, God was able to fulfill His promise of security and peace for Jerusalem if the people remained obedient. Their adversaries had sought influence at the Persian court and had succeeded in stopping the work of restoration until the prophets spoke in God's name. Then Haggai and Zechariah stirred the people to build again, and the people began building again. With a new and honest governor sending an honest account to Darius, the work was resumed and ordered to go on and to be speedily helped with money from the king's tribute and with bullocks, rams, lambs, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, all that was needed.