John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Chronicles 34:1



INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 34



This chapter begins with the good reign of Josiah, the reformation he made in the land, purging it from idolatry, 2Ch 34:1, relates the orders he gave to repair the house of the Lord, which was accordingly done, 2Ch 34:8, when the book of the law was found and brought to him, which greatly affected him, 2Ch 34:12, upon which he deputed some persons to inquire of the Lord, who did of Huldah the prophetess, to whom she gave an answer, which they returned to the king, 2Ch 34:20 and the chapter is concluded with an account of reading the book in the ears of all the people, and of the king, and then making a covenant with the Lord to serve him, 2Ch 34:27.



Ver. 1,2. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign,.... Of these two verses, See Gill on "2Ki 22:1",

See Gill on "2Ki 22:2".





2 Chronicles 34:2



Ver. 2. See Gill on "2Ch 34:1"





2 Chronicles 34:3



Ver. 3. For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young,.... Being in the sixteenth year of his age; though Kimchi thinks it was the very year he began to reign, which was the eighth of his age; and Jarchi observes, it may be interpreted, "though he was young, he began to seek after the God of David his father"; to pray unto him, to seek after the knowledge of him, and the true manner of worshipping him, what were his will, commands, and ordinances; the Targum is,



"to seek instruction or doctrine of the Lord God of David his father,''



to be taught his ways, such as David his great ancestor walked in, and whom he chose to follow:



and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves and the carved images, and the molten images; which were made in the times of Manasseh; and though removed by him when humbled, were restored in the reign of Amon. Now Josiah purged the land from these, by putting them down, and destroying them; and this he did when he was twenty years of age, having now more authority, being out of his minority, and from under guardians, and one year before Jeremiah began to prophesy, Jer 1:1.





2 Chronicles 34:4



Ver. 4. And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence,.... He not only ordered them to be broke down, but he went in person, and saw it done; these were the altars Manasseh had reared up to the idols; and though upon his humiliation he cast them out, they were rebuilt by Amon his son, see 2Ch 33:3,



and the images that were above them he cut down; sun images, as the word signifies; these Chamanim might be representatives of Cham or Ham, the son of Noah, the same with Jupiter Ammon; and there was another Heathen deity, Amanus, Strabo {w} speaks of, supposed to be the sun,

See Gill on "Le 26:30", these, as Jarchi says, were in the form of the sun, and were set above the altars, over against the sun, to whom worship was paid; though some think this respects not place, but time, and that these were images in times past; in the preceding age, as the Tigurine version:



and the groves, and the carved images and the molten images, he brake in pieces; ordered them to be broken; the groves were statues, or images in groves, and thereby distinguished from those made of wood, and were carved, and from those that were of molten metal, and were placed elsewhere:



and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them, see 2Ki 23:6.



{w} Geograph l. 11. p. 352.





2 Chronicles 34:5



Ver. 5. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars,.... On which they sacrificed, in detestation of their idolatry, and to deter from it; and this he did according to the prophecy of him, above three hundred and fifty years before:



and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem; from idolatry, and all the monuments of it.





2 Chronicles 34:6



Ver. 6. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali,.... Which though they belonged to the ten tribes, yet these being carried captive by the king of Assyria, they that were left became subject to the kings of Judah,

See Gill on "2Ki 23:19",



with their mattocks round about; or hammers or mauls, as Kimchi, or pick axes, such sort of instruments as were used in demolishing altars and images: the Targum is,



"in the house of their desolation;''



and so other versions, "in their desolate places" {x}, which were become such, the inhabitants being carried captive, and few left behind.



{x} Mhytbrtb "in desolatis locis suis, [vel] eorum", Montanus, Tigurine version, Rambachius.





2 Chronicles 34:7



Ver. 7. And when he had broken down the altars and the groves,.... The statues or images in them:



and had beaten the graven images into powder; and strewed it on the graves of the idolaters:



and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel; the sun images as in 2Ch 34:4,



he returned to Jerusalem; this tour of his throughout the whole land, and the things done by him, which are represented as done before the repairs of the temple were made, and the book of the law found and read, and the covenant he and his people made with the Lord, are spoken of in 2Ki 23:4, as if done after.





2 Chronicles 34:8



Ver. 8. Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house,.... The temple; this was in the twenty sixth year of his age, six years this work had been doing before it was finished:



he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah: who only is mentioned in

2Ki 22:3 two more are added here, as follow:



and Maaseiah the governor of the city; the city of Jerusalem, a deputy governor under the king, a sort of mayor or provost:



and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder; who was over the book of memorials, as the Targum; the word may be rendered "the remembrances"; and, according to Jarchi, as every king of Judah had a scribe to write down the memorable things that happened in his reign, good or bad, so the scribe had one by him, to put him in mind of every transaction, from whom he wrote it down:



to repair the house of the Lord his God; that is, to give orders for the doing of it, to prepare for it, provide workmen, and appoint overseers of them: it had not been repaired since the times of Joash, which, according to the Jewish chronology {y}, was a space of two hundred and eighteen years.



{y} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 24.





2 Chronicles 34:9



Ver. 9. And when they came to Hilkiah the high priest,.... To whom they were sent to advise with about the repair of the temple:



they delivered the money that was brought into the house of God; that is, the high priest, and the Levites the doorkeepers, gave it to the king's ministers; which money was either brought to the temple voluntarily, as the free gifts of the people, for the repairs; or rather what was collected by the Levites, sent throughout the land for that purpose, or it may be both:



which the Levites that kept the doors; of the temple; and received the money as the people brought it:



and also had gathered of the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of all the remnant of Israel, and of all Judah, and Benjamin; they went throughout all the land of Israel and Judah, and collected money for the above purpose:



and they returned to Jerusalem; with it, which the high priest took the sum of, see 2Ki 22:4 of whom the king's ministers now received it.





2 Chronicles 34:10



Ver. 10. And they put it,.... The king's ministers did:



in the hand of the workmen that had the oversight of the house of the Lord; whose business it was to inspect the temple, and see what repairs were necessary, and to overlook the workmen in making those repairs; the names of these overseers are in 2Ch 34:12,



and they gave it to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and mend the house; that is, the overseers gave the money they received to the labourers, as the hire of their labour, and the reward of their work, and to buy materials with, as follows.





2 Chronicles 34:11



Ver. 11. Even to the artificers and builders gave they it,.... To the masons and carpenters:



to buy hewn stone; to put in the room of that which was decayed or fallen down:



and timber for couplings; of boards, beams, and rafters:



and to floor the houses; the chambers, the apartments in the temple, which belonged to the priests and Levites:



which the kings of Judah had destroyed; the idolatrous ones, who had let them go to decay and ruin, taking no care of them.





2 Chronicles 34:12



Ver. 12. And the men did that work faithfully,.... The labouring men, as also their inspectors, see 2Ki 22:7



and the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari; the third son of Levi:



and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites; who had their name from Kohath, the second son of Levi:



to set it forward; to urge and animate the men to their work, to keep them constant to it, and see that they did it well:



and other of the Levites, all that could skill of instruments of music; these, when they were not employed in singing in the temple, attended this service, to look after the workmen at the repairs of it; and perhaps they might play, as some think, on their instruments of music, while the men were at work, that they might go on in it the more pleasantly and cheerfully.





2 Chronicles 34:13



Ver. 13. Also they were over the bearers of burdens,.... Who carried the timber and stones to the workmen, to look after them, that they were not dilatory, and that the workmen might not stand still for want of materials being brought to them to work with:



and were overseers over all that wrought in any manner of service; whether in the way of masonry, or in that of carpenters, or of such that served them, or in whatsoever way:



and of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters; some to take the account of the money carried in and paid, who were the



scribes, according to Jarchi; and others who looked after the men, and kept them to work, who were the



officers; and others that let them in and out, called



porters.





2 Chronicles 34:14



Ver. 14. And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord,.... The Levites, who brought it out of the country into the temple, and from thence brought it to the high priest, who delivering it to the king's ministers, and they to the overseers, the repairs were begun:



and then Hilkiah the high priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses house of the Lord,.... The Levites, who brought it out of the country into the temple, and from thence brought it to the high priest, who delivering it to the king's ministers, and they to the overseers, the repairs were begun: See Gill on "2Ki 22:8". From hence, to the end of 2Ch 34:28, is the same as 2Ki 22:8.

See Gill on "2Ki 22:9" See Gill on "2Ki 22:10" See Gill on "2Ki 22:11" See Gill on "2Ki 22:12" See Gill on "2Ki 22:13" See Gill on "2Ki 22:14" See Gill on "2Ki 22:15" See Gill on "2Ki 22:16" See Gill on "2Ki 22:16" See Gill on "2Ki 22:17" See Gill on "2Ki 22:18" See Gill on "2Ki 22:19" See Gill on "2Ki 22:20"





2 Chronicles 34:15



Ver. 15. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:16



Ver. 16. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:17



Ver. 17. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:18



Ver. 18. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:19



Ver. 19. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:20



Ver. 20. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:21



Ver. 21. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:22



Ver. 22. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:23



Ver. 23. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:24



Ver. 24. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:25



Ver. 25. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:26



Ver. 26. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:27



Ver. 27. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:28



Ver. 28. See Gill on "2Ch 34:14"





2 Chronicles 34:29



Ver. 29-32. Then the king sent and gathered,.... From hence, to the end of 2Ch 34:32, the same account is given of the reading of the law to the people, and of the covenant the king and they made to serve the Lord, as in 2Ki 23:1.





2 Chronicles 34:30



Ver. 30. See Gill on "2Ch 34:29".





2 Chronicles 34:31



Ver. 31. See Gill on "2Ch 34:29".





2 Chronicles 34:32



Ver. 32. See Gill on "2Ch 34:29".





2 Chronicles 34:33



Ver. 33. And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that [pertained] to the children of Israel,.... All their idols, as related in 2Ki 23:4, &c.



and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God; by his edicts, and by his example:



and all his days they departed not from following the Lord God of their fathers; not publicly and universally; otherwise there were great declensions and corruptions among them, as the prophecies of Jeremiah and Zephaniah show.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Chronicles 35:1



INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 35



In this chapter we have an account of the keeping of the passover and its preparation, for which the priests and Levites were ordered to prepare, and to which Josiah, and his princes, gave liberally, and such an one was kept as had not been for ages past, 2Ch 35:1, and of Josiah's rash engagement in battle with the king of Egypt, in which he was slain, 2Ch 35:20 and of the great lamentations that were made for him, 2Ch 35:24.



Ver. 1. Moreover, Josiah kept a passover unto the Lord in Jerusalem,.... Where only it was to be kept:



and they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month; the month Nisan, as the Targum, which was the exact time of killing the passover lamb, according to the law of Moses, Ex 12:6, in the Vulgate Latin version of the Apocrypha in:



"And Josias held the feast of the passover in Jerusalem unto his Lord, and offered the passover the fourteenth day of the first month;'' (1 Esdras 1:1)



it is called the fourteenth moon of the first month; a phrase often used in ecclesiastical writers, when speaking of the time of the passover; and so we now call one of the days of the week "dies lunae", Monday.





2 Chronicles 35:2



Ver. 2. And he set the priests in their charges,.... In their offices, and in their proper places, to execute them:



and encouraged them to the service of the house of the Lord; to attend it with cheerfulness and constancy, and do it according to the will of God, promising his favour and protection.





2 Chronicles 35:3



Ver. 3. And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel,.... Whose business it was to go through the several tribes, and instruct them in the knowledge of God, his word and worship, statutes and ordinances. In an ancient MS. mentioned by Junius, it is read, "who prepared for all Israel the holy things", &c.



which were holy unto the Lord; who were consecrated to the name of the Lord, as the Targum, dedicated to his worship and service; or it may signify the holy things they taught or prepared:



these put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; which some think was removed from thence by Amon, and an idol put in its room, which is the greater trespass he is said to be guilty of, 2Ch 33:23 others, that it was privately removed by the high priest in idolatrous times, and laid up in some secret place for the preservation of it; but rather the truth is, that it had been removed by the order of Josiah, for the sake of the repairs of the most holy place; and this being done, he orders it to be replaced; and though the Levites might not go into the holy of holies, yet they could carry it to the entrance of the holy place, and the priests from thence to the door of the most holy place, where the high priest could receive it, and fix it in its proper place:



it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders; it was not now to be carried from place to place, having a fixed abode in the most holy place, and therefore they were at leisure to attend other service:



serve now the Lord your God, and his people Israel; by singing the praises of God, and slaying the passover lambs for the people.





2 Chronicles 35:4



Ver. 4. And prepare yourselves,.... To do their work in this service of the sanctuary, the passover; that they be ready to do it, and diligent in it, and perform it according to the law of God:



by the houses of your fathers, after your courses; such of them whose turn in course it was to officiate:



according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son; who had given in writing directions in what manner their courses should be observed, see 1Ch 23:1.





2 Chronicles 35:5



Ver. 5. And stand in the holy place,.... The court of the priests, where their ministrations were:



according to the divisions of the families of your brethren the people; of the other tribes, who were according to their families to provide a lamb for the passover:



and after the division of the families of the Levites; who were obliged to observe the same ordinance in their respective families, and for whom, as well as for the other families of Israel, they were to slay the lamb.





2 Chronicles 35:6



Ver. 6. So kill the passover,.... In the manner, time, and place, and for the persons it should be killed:



and sanctify yourselves: by washing themselves and garments, that they might be fit for this service:



and prepare your brethren; prepare a lamb for your brethren, or instruct them how to perform their office that needed instruction:



that they may do according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses; celebrate the ordinance of the passover in all its rites, according to the law of Moses, at least in every rite in which they were more peculiarly concerned.





2 Chronicles 35:7



Ver. 7. And Josiah gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings,.... Which be either lambs or kids of the goats, Ex 12:5, for all that were present, to the number of 30,000; that is, 30,000 lambs or kids, which would serve 30,000 families:



and three thousand bullocks; these were for the "chagigah" or feast, kept on the day following the passover:



these were of the king's substance; taken out of his flocks and herds, or bought with his money, and liberally given to the people, to such poor families as could not afford well to be at the expense of such a festival.





2 Chronicles 35:8



Ver. 8. And his princes gave willingly to the people, to the priests and the Levites,.... Besides, to some other families, they gave also to poor priests and Levites, which the king's bounty did not extend to; and these princes were not secular, but ecclesiastical princes, as follows:



Hilkiah, and Zechariah, and Jehiel, rulers of the house; of the temple; Hilkiah was high priest, and the other two were chief priests, the one of the line of Eleazar, and the other of the line of Ithamar:



these gave unto the priests for the passover lambs; 2600 small cattle; which were lambs, or kids, or both:



and three hundred oxen; for peace offerings on the seven days of unleavened bread, to feast upon.





2 Chronicles 35:9



Ver. 9. Cononiah also, and Shemaiah and Nathaneel his brethren,.... See 2Ch 31:12



and Hashabiah, and Jehiel, and Jozabad, chief of the Levites; men of considerable substance, and in good posts and offices:



gave unto the Levites; their poor brethren of that order:



for passover offerings five thousand small cattle; lambs, or kids, or both:



and five hundred oxen; for the feast that followed the passover.





2 Chronicles 35:10



Ver. 10. So the service was prepared,.... Every thing was got ready both for the passover and the feast of unleavened bread, for all sorts of people, rich and poor:



and the priests stood in their place; in their court near the altar, to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifices about it, as in the following verse:



and the Levites in their courses; whose turn it was to officiate:



according to the king's commandment, 2Ch 35:4.





2 Chronicles 35:11



Ver. 11. And they killed the passover,.... The lambs for the passover, which was done by the Levites:



and the priests sprinkled [the blood] from their hands; which they received from the Levites, see 2Ch 30:16.



and the Levites flayed them; the passover lambs, took off their skins.





2 Chronicles 35:12



Ver. 12. And they removed the burnt offerings,.... Either such of the lambs and kids as were designed for burnt offerings for the people; these they separated from those that were for the passover; or they removed from them what was to be burnt, the fat of the inwards, of the kidneys, and the caul on the liver:



that they might give; the rest for the passover:



according to the divisions of the families of the people, to offer unto the Lord; according to the number of them:



as it is written in the book of Moses; see Le 3:3,



and so did they with the oxen; such of them as were appointed for burnt offerings were set apart by themselves, and such as were for peace offerings; what of them were to be burnt, as those before mentioned, were taken from them.





2 Chronicles 35:13



Ver. 13. And they roasted the passover with fire, according to the ordinance,.... Of the Lord by Moses, Ex 12:8



but the other holy offerings; which were the peace offerings:



sod they in pots, and in cauldrons, and pans; which was forbid to be done with the passover lamb, but might with the other sacrifices, which were to be eaten, Ex 12:9



and divided them speedily among all the people; the parts which belonged to the offerer, who was the king; but he gave his part to the people, and therefore the Levites delivered them to them as soon as they could.





2 Chronicles 35:14



Ver. 14. And afterwards they made ready for themselves, and for the priests,.... The passover lambs, and such parts of the peace offerings that belonged to them:



because the priests the sons of Aaron were busied in offering burnt offerings; such as are before said to be removed or separated for that purpose:



and the fat; of the peace offerings that was to be burnt: and this employed them



until night; so that they could not prepare the passover for themselves:



and therefore the Levites prepared, not only for themselves, [but] and [also] for the priests the sons of Aaron; who were otherwise engaged in the service of the day.





2 Chronicles 35:15



Ver. 15. And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place,.... In the court of the priests, singing and playing on their instruments while the sacrifices were offering:



according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer; the same with Ethan; and everyone were seers, as Jarchi interprets it, that is, the three last:



and the porters waited at every gate; such of the Levites as were in, that post and office:



they might not depart from their service; to let people in and out, that came for their passover lamb, and share in their other offerings:



for their brethren the Levites prepared for them; because they were not at leisure to prepare for themselves.





2 Chronicles 35:16



Ver. 16. So all the service of the Lord was prepared the same day,.... With every sacrifice, and for all sorts of persons:



to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the Lord; which were required to be done on that day:



according to the commandment of King Josiah; which was, that every thing be provided, prepared, and done, as the law required.





2 Chronicles 35:17



Ver. 17. And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time,.... In its proper time, on the fourteenth day of Nisan:



and the feast of unleavened bread seven days; the seven days following the passover, as the Lord by Moses appointed.





2 Chronicles 35:18



Ver. 18-19. And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel,.... So exactly according to the law, so universally by Israel and Judah, and with such liberality shown by the king, and the chief of the priests and Levites; of this, and the following verse, See Gill on "2Ki 23:22",

See Gill on "2Ki 23:23"





2 Chronicles 35:19



Ver. 19. See Gill on "2Ch 35:18"





2 Chronicles 35:20



Ver. 20. After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple,.... Purified it, and cleansed it from the filth in it, and from all idolatry, and had repaired it, and put the service of it in good order, and on a good footing, after which great prosperity in church and state might have been expected:



Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates; now called Querquisia, supposed by some to be the same with the Cadytis of Herodotus, which that historian calls a great city of Syria, whither he says Necho went after the battle with the Syrians {x}; of which

See Gill on "Isa 10:9" and of this king of Egypt,

See Gill on "2Ki 23:29" See Gill on "Jer 46:2"



and Josiah went out against him; or to meet him, and stop him from going through his land, which lay between Egypt and Syria; Egypt being on the south of Israel, and Euphrates on the north of it, as Jarchi observes.



{x} Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 159. & Galei not. in ib.





2 Chronicles 35:21



Ver. 21. But he sent ambassadors to him,.... That is, Necho sent to Josiah:



saying, what have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? signifying he had no quarrel with him, he did not come to fight with him, and he had no business to intermeddle between him and another prince:



I come not against thee this day; in an hostile manner:



but against the house wherewith I have war; the king of Assyria:



for God commanded me to make haste; and oppose his enemy: according to the Targum, it was his idol; and which is the sense of other Jewish writers {y}; but the true God might have appeared to him in a dream, or sent a prophet to him; or at least he might pretend this, that it might have the greater effect on Josiah; and indeed it seems to be real from the following verse:



forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not; he concluded God was with him, and would succeed him, because he had put him upon this enterprise, and hastened him to it; therefore Josiah, in opposing him, might expect to be resisted by him, and fall.



{y} T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 22. 2.





2 Chronicles 35:22



Ver. 22. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him,.... Or withdraw his forces, and go back:



but disguised himself that he might fight with him; without being personally known, and aimed at, see 1Ki 22:30



and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God: not believing that what he said came from the Lord, though it might; and his infirmity was, that he did not inquire of the Lord about it:



and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo; which was in the tribe of Manasseh, thought to be the Magdolum of Herodotus, where he says Necho fought the battle {z}; See Gill on "2Ki 23:29".



{z} Gale in Herodot. ut supra. (Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 159. & Galei not. in ib.)





2 Chronicles 35:23



Ver. 23. And the archers shot at King Josiah,.... For, though disguised, he appeared to be a general officer, and indeed chief commander, and therefore aimed at him, and pressed him hard:



and the king said to his servants, have me away, for I am wounded; as Ahab said, when in the like case, 1Ki 22:34.





2 Chronicles 35:24



Ver. 24. And his servants therefore took him out of that chariot,.... Dead, and had him to Jerusalem, and buried him;

See Gill on "2Ki 23:30",



and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah; he having been so good a king, so tender of them, and such an happy instrument in restoring the true religion, and the service of God; this was the sense of the generality of them, who were sincere in their mourning; but it is not improbable that those who were inclined to idolatry were secretly glad, though they dissembled mourning with the rest.





2 Chronicles 35:25



Ver. 25. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah,.... Composed a lamentation for him, which is now lost; for what is said in La 4:20 respects Zedekiah, and not Josiah:



and all the singing men, and all the singing women, spake of Josiah in their lamentations unto this day; who were made use of on mournful occasions, as the "preficae" among the Romans, see Jer 9:17 these in their mournful ditties used to make mention of his name, and the disaster that befell him:



and made them an ordinance in Israel; an annual constitution, as the Targum calls it, appointing a solemn mourning for him once a year, which Jarchi says was on the ninth of Ab or July:



and, behold, they are written in the lamentations; not of Jeremiah; though the Targum is,



"lo, they are written in the book which Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah, concerning the lamentations,''



but respect a collection of lamentations on various subjects then in being, but since lost.





2 Chronicles 35:26



Ver. 26,27 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his goodness,.... His piety towards God, and liberality to the people; of these two verses,

See Gill on "2Ki 23:28".





2 Chronicles 35:27



Ver. 27. See Gill on "2Ch 35:26"

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

2 Chronicles 36:1



INTRODUCTION TO 2 CHRONICLES 36



This chapter records the reigns of the four kings of Judah, and the captivity of the Jews, the short reign of Jehoahaz, deposed by the king of Egypt, and his brother Eliakim or Jehoiakim set up in his room, 2Ch 36:1, the reign of Jehoiakim, who was bound and carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, 2Ch 36:5, the reign of Jehoiachin his son, who also in a short time was taken and carried to Babylon by the same king, 2Ch 36:9, the reign of Zedekiah, who also rebelled against the king of Babylon, and he and his people were taken and carried captive by him for his sins, which are here mentioned, according to the prophecy of Jeremiah, and where the Jews continued until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, 2Ch 36:11 and the chapter is concluded with the proclamation of Cyrus king of Persia, and with which also the next book begins, 2Ch 36:22.



Ver. 1-13. Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah,.... Of whose reign, and of the three following, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, and the account of them, from hence to the end of 2Ch 36:13, what needs explanation or reconciliation,

See Gill on "2Ki 23:31" See Gill on "2Ki 23:32" See Gill on "2Ki 23:33" See Gill on "2Ki 23:34" See Gill on "2Ki 23:35" See Gill on "2Ki 23:36" See Gill on "2Ki 23:37" See Gill on "2Ki 24:5" See Gill on "2Ki 24:6" See Gill on "2Ki 24:8" See Gill on "2Ki 24:10" See Gill on "2Ki 24:17" See Gill on "2Ki 24:18"





2 Chronicles 36:2



Ver. 2. See Gill on "2Ch 36:1"





2 Chronicles 36:3



Ver. 3. See Gill on "2Ch 36:1"





2 Chronicles 36:4



Ver. 4. See Gill on "2Ch 36:1"





2 Chronicles 36:5



Ver. 5. See Gill on "2Ch 36:1"





2 Chronicles 36:6



Ver. 6. See Gill on "2Ch 36:1"





2 Chronicles 36:7



Ver. 7. See Gill on "2Ch 36:1"





2 Chronicles 36:8



Ver. 8. See Gill on "2Ch 36:1"





2 Chronicles 36:9



Ver. 9. See Gill on "2Ch 36:1"





2 Chronicles 36:10



Ver. 10. See Gill on "2Ch 36:1"





2 Chronicles 36:11



Ver. 11. See Gill on "2Ch 36:1"





2 Chronicles 36:12



Ver. 12. See Gill on "2Ch 36:1"





2 Chronicles 36:13



Ver. 13. See Gill on "2Ch 36:1"





2 Chronicles 36:14



Ver. 14. Moreover, the chief of the priests, and of the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the Heathens,.... The priests, and even the chief of them, who should have instructed the people in the duties of religion, and retained them in the pure worship of God, these were the ringleaders of idolatry, who led the people to commit all the idolatries of the Heathens round about them; and of the people, all ranks and degrees of them were corrupted with them; this was their case in several of the preceding reigns, and now a little before the destruction of them:



and polluted the house of the Lord, which he had hallowed in Jerusalem; the temple dedicated to his worship there; this they defiled, by setting up idols in it.





2 Chronicles 36:15



Ver. 15. And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers,.... The prophets of the Lord, to admonish them of their idolatries, and to reprove them for them, to warn them of the wrath of God that would come upon them on that account, unless they repented and reformed; these were at the beginning of their apostasy, and were successively continued unto this time, as Ahijah, Elijah, and others, in the first times of it; Amos, Isaiah, and others, in the middle of it; and Jeremiah, Zephaniah, and Ezekiel, towards the close of it:



rising up betimes, and sending; which is either to be understood of the Lord, and as expressive of his care and diligence, like the master of a family, solicitous for the good of it; or of the messengers, the prophets, who made haste to go or send their prophecies and instructions to reclaim the people; the phrase is often to be met with in the prophecy of Jeremiah, See Gill on "Jer 11:7":



because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwellingplace; being unwilling they should come to ruin, and perish, and their city and temple be destroyed where they dwelt.





2 Chronicles 36:16



Ver. 16. But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words,.... Which was the treatment Jeremiah and Ezekiel frequently met with:



and misused his prophets; imprisoned them, as Micaiah and Jeremiah were:



until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people; which burned like fire in his breast, and broke out to the consumption of them:



till there was no remedy; or healing of them; there was no reclaiming or recovering of them, no bringing them to repentance, and no pardon for them.





2 Chronicles 36:17



Ver. 17. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees,.... Nebuchadnezzar; and though it was the rebellion of Zedekiah which was the cause and occasion of his coming against them, yet it was the Lord that moved him to it, and gave him success:



who slew their young men with the sword, in the house of the sanctuary; in the temple, where they took sanctuary, imagining that sacred place would protect them from the rage of the enemy, but it did not:



and had no compassion on young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age; spared none on account of age or sex, but put them all to the sword, or carried them captive:



he gave them into his hand; that is, the Lord delivered them into the hand of the king of Babylon, for their sins.





2 Chronicles 36:18



Ver. 18. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small,.... All that were left; for some had been carried away in both the reigns preceding:



and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes; which became the spoil and booty of the soldiers:



all these he brought to Babylon; the vessels were laid up there, and restored when Cyrus took it; but the treasures were no doubt in part taken for his own use, and the rest divided in the army.





2 Chronicles 36:19



Ver. 19. And they burnt the house of the Lord,.... The temple; of which, and what follows in this verse, See Gill on "Jer 52:13",

See Gill on "Jer 52:14".





2 Chronicles 36:20



Ver. 20. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away captive,.... The king of Babylon, or his general by his orders, excepting some poor persons left to till the land, see Jer 52:15,



where they were servants to him and his sons; his son Evilmerodach, and his grandson Belshazzar, See Gill on "Jer 27:7":



until the reign of the kingdom of Persia; until that monarchy began, as it did upon the taking of Babylon by Cyrus king of Persia. This is the first place we meet with this name of Persia in Scripture. The Arabic writers differ about the origin of it; some derive it from Pars the son of Arsham (Arphaxad), the son of Shem; others from Pars the son of Amur, the son of Japheth; and others say Pars was the son of Elam, the son of Shem, the son of Noah {a}; but Bochart {b}, seems to be most correct in the derivation of the word, who observes, from Xenophon {c}, horses were very rare in this country; and very few could ride them before the times of Cyrus, who taught his foot soldiers to ride horses; and hence it became common, so that none of the best men of the land cared to be seen on foot; yea, he made a law, that it should be reckoned infamous if any of those he had taught the art of riding were seen to go on foot, though ever so little a way; from this sudden change made in his time the people were called Persians, and the country Persia; in the Arabic language, "pharas" signifying a horse, and "pharis" a horseman; and the same writer observes, that hence it is that no mention is made of this country, in the name of Persia, by Isaiah and Jeremiah; but by Ezekiel and Daniel, who were contemporary with Cyrus; and in this book and the following historical ones, which were wrote after the Babylonish captivity, as their history shows; and that this book was, is clear from the preceding clause, as well as from the three last verses.



{a} Hyde, Hist. Relig. Vet. Pers. c. 35. p. 418, 419. {b} Phaleg. l. 4. c. 10. col. 224. {c} Cyropaedia, l. 1. c. 11. & l. 4. c. 17, 18.





2 Chronicles 36:21



Ver. 21. To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah,.... That is, the Jews were so long servants in Babylon, as in the preceding verse, to accomplish Jeremiah's prophecy of it, 2Ch 25:12



until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths; the sabbatical years, or seventh year sabbaths, which, according to the law of the land, was to rest from being tilled, Le 25:4, which law had been neglected by the Jews, and now, whether they would or not, the land should have rest for want of persons to till it:



for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years; as threatened in Le 26:34 on which text Jarchi observes, that at the destruction of the first temple the law concerning the sabbath, or rest of the land had been neglected four hundred and thirty years, in which space were sixty nine sabbatical years; and, according to Maimonides {d}, it was at the end of a sabbatic year that the city and temple were destroyed, and so just seventy years had been neglected, and the land was tilled in them as in other years, and now it had rest that exact number of years; but of this we cannot be certain, though it is probable.



{d} Hilchot Shemitah Veyobel, c. 10. sect. 3.





2 Chronicles 36:22



Ver. 22,23. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia,.... These two verses are the same with which the next book, the book of Ezra, begins, where they will be explained; and these two books, the one ending and the other beginning with the same words, is a strong presumption, that one and the same person, Ezra, is the writer of them both; or rather, as a learned {e} writer conjectures, these two verses are added by some transcriber, who, having finished the book of Chronicles at verse twenty one went on with the book of Ezra, without any stop; but, perceiving his mistake, broke off abruptly; for so it is plain these verses conclude; however, this shows, as the same writer observes, that the book of Ezra followed that of the Chronicles, in the Hebrew copies, though it now does not.



{e} Dr. Kennicott's Dissert. 1. p. 492, &c.





2 Chronicles 36:23



Ver. 23. See Gill on "2Ch 36:22".

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Ezra 1:1



INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF EZRA



This book, in the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions, is called the "First" Book of Ezra, Nehemiah being reckoned the "second"; but with the Jews both were accounted but one book {a}; in the Syriac version, it is called the Writing or Book of Ezra the Prophet; and this title is given him, both by Jews {b} and Christians {c}; in the Arabic version, it is called the First Book of Ezra the Priest, skilful in the Law; and that he was a priest is clear, since he was the son of Seraiah the high priest, who was slain by Nebuchadnezzar, and the younger brother of Josedech, who succeeded his father as high priest, and uncle to Joshua that succeeded him; and he was also a ready scribe in the law of Moses, see Ezr 7:1. That Ezra was the writer of this book is believed by the Jews {d}, and by the generality of Christians; only Huetius {e} thinks that the six first chapters were written by another hand, but his reasons are not satisfactory; and it has been universally received as canonical by all; it agrees with the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, and serves to illustrate them; it is of use for the continuation of the sacred history, to point at the fulfilment of prophecies concerning the return of the Jews from captivity, and the rebuilding of the temple; and to give us an account of the state of the church in those times, the troubles and difficulties it met with, and what care was taken to keep the tribes and families distinct, that it might be known from whom the Messiah sprung; this book contains an history of seventy years, according to the calculation of Bishop Usher {f}, from A. M. 3468, to A. M. 3538.



{a} Origen apud Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l. 6. c. 25. Hieron. Opera, tom. 3. Epist. ad Paulin. fol. 6. B. & ad Domnion. & Rogat. fol. 7. G. {b} Seder Olam Zuta, p. 108. {c} Lactant. Institut. l. 4. c. 11. {d} T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 15. 1. {e} Demonstr. Evangel. prop. 4. p. 208, 209. {f} Annal. Vet. Test. p. 146, 193.



INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 1



This chapter informs us of the proclamation of Cyrus king of Persia, for the Jews to return to their own country, and rebuild their temple, Ezr 1:1, and that, upon it, the chief of them rose up for that purpose, whose hands were strengthened and supplied by those about them, Ezr 1:5 and particularly by Cyrus, who gave orders that the vessels belonging to the temple should be delivered to them, Ezr 1:7.



Ver. 1. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia,.... Not in the first of his reign over Persia, for he had been many years king over that, and now had all the kingdoms of the earth given him, Ezr 1:2, but over Babylon, and the dominions belonging to it, which commenced with Darius upon the taking of Babylon; he reigned in all thirty years, as Cicero {g} from a Persian writer relates; or twenty nine, according to Herodotus {h}; but in what year this was is not certain; Africanus {i}, has proved, from various historians, that it was the first year of the fifty fifth Olympiad, perhaps about the twentieth of Cyrus's Persian government {k}; See Gill on "Da 10:1",



that the word of the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled; which foretold that the Jews should return from their captivity at the end of seventy years, which fell on the first of Cyrus, reckoning from the fourth of Jehoiakim, and the first of Nebuchadnezzar, see Jer 25:1.



The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia; who has the hearts of all men in his hands, and even of the kings of the earth, and can turn them as he pleases; he wrought upon him, put it into his heart, enlightened his mind, showed him what was right, and his duty to do, and pressed him to the performance of it; so that he could not be easy until he had done it, and he was made thoroughly willing, and even eager to do it:



that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing; gave it in writing to his heralds to read and proclaim throughout all his dominions:



saying; as follows.



{g} De Divinatione, l. 1. {h} Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 214. {i} Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 10. c. 10. p. 488. {k} Nic. Abrami Pharus, p. 303.





Ezra 1:2



Ver. 2. Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia,.... Of whom, and this edict of his, Isaiah prophesied two hundred years before he was born,

Isa 44:28



the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; many he had conquered before he took Babylon, and then the whole Babylonian monarchy fell into his hands. Herodotus {l} says, he ruled over all Asia; Xenophon {m} reckons up many nations that were under his government, Medes and Hyrcanians, Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappadocians, both the Phrygians, Carians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Bactrians, Indians, Cilicians, Sacae or Scythians, Paphlagonians, Megadinians, and many other nations, the Greeks inhabiting Asia, and the Cyprians, and Egyptians; and elsewhere he says {n}, the borders of his kingdom were, to the east the Red sea, to the north the Euxine Pontus, to the west Cyprus and Egypt, and to the south Ethiopia. And the possession of these kingdoms Cyrus ascribes, not to his own martial courage and skill, but to the providence and disposal of the God of heaven, which he seems to have had some notion of:



and he hath charged me to build an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah; in the prophecy of Isaiah, which, according to Josephus {o}, he had seen and read, and believed it to be a charge upon him, and a command unto him to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem; however, to give leave for the rebuilding of it, and to encourage to it, and assist in it; an Arabic writer says {p}, that Cyrus married a sister of Zerubbabel, and that it was at her request that the Jews had leave to return; which is merely fabulous.



{l} Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 130. So Sallust, Bell. Catalin. p. 2. {m} Cyropaedia, l. 1. in principio. {n} L. 8. c. 48. {o} Antiqu. l. 11. c. 1. sect. 1, 2. {p} Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 5. p. 82.





Ezra 1:3



Ver. 3. Who is there among you of all his people?.... The people of God, the Israelites, as well of the ten tribes, as of the two of Judah and Benjamin; for this edict was published throughout all his dominions, where were the one as well as the other:



his God be with him; to incline his heart to go, to protect him in his journey, and succeed and prosper him in what he goes about:



and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, he is the God; the one only living and true God:



which is in Jerusalem; who has been in former times, and is to be worshipped there; though Aben Ezra says, this is to be connected with "the house of the Lord"; as if the sense was, to build the house, that was in Jerusalem, or to be built there; and so our version connects them, putting those words into a parenthesis, "he is God"; but this is contrary to the accents.





Ezra 1:4



Ver. 4. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth,.... Is left behind, and cannot go up through poverty, not having a sufficiency to bear his charges in his journey to Jerusalem:



let the men of his place keep him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts; with money to bear the expenses of his journey, with goods to furnish his house, or trade with, when he came to Judea, and with cattle to carry him, and his goods, and to till the ground with, when he came thither; and the men exhorted to this are either the Gentiles that dwelt in the cities where these poor Jews were, or the richer Jews, who chose as yet not to go up until they saw how things would succeed; and are therefore called upon to assist their brethren who had a will, but not ability:



besides the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem: which they freely gave, and sent by them for the rebuilding of the temple.





Ezra 1:5



Ver. 5. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin,.... Princes of these tribes, and heads of families in them, and of some other tribes too, though chiefly of these, as appears from 1Ch 9:3,



and the priests and the Levites: whose presence was necessary both to direct in the building of the temple, and to animate to it, and to set the vessels in their proper places; and particularly to assist in the setting up of the altar, and to offer sacrifices on it, which was the first thing done when come to Jerusalem, Ezr 3:2



with all them whose spirit God raised to go up, to build the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem; God, who "works" in men "both to will and to do", wrought powerfully by his Spirit on their hearts, inclined their minds, and made them willing to go up, and set about this work; and such a divine, powerful, and efficacious operation upon them, was necessary to engage them in it, since the embarrassments, difficulties, discouragements, and objections, were many: some of them were well settled, and had contracted a pleasing acquaintance with many of their neighbours, and indeed to most of them it was their native place; and as for Judea and Jerusalem, they knew nothing of but what their fathers had told them; the way to it unknown, long, and dangerous, at least fatiguing and troublesome to their wives and children; and Judea and Jerusalem desolate and in ruins, and in the hands of enemies, from whom they had reason to expect trouble.





Ezra 1:6



Ver. 6. And all they that were about them,.... Their neighbours, the Chaldeans:



strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things; which they either did of themselves at their own motion, or by the direction and example of Cyrus, Ezr 1:4 and perhaps many of them to ingratiate themselves into the favour of their new monarch:



besides all that was willingly offered: by the rich Jews, who thought fit, at least for the present, to remain in Babylon.





Ezra 1:7



Ver. 7. And Cyrus brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord,.... Or ordered them to be brought forth:



which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem; out of the temple there, when he took it and burnt it:



and had put them in the house of his gods; in the temple of Belus at Babylon, see 2Ch 36:7, by which means they were providentially preserved.





Ezra 1:8



Ver. 8. Even these did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer,.... Or Mithridates, a name common with the Persians, from their god Mithras, the sun they worshipped:



and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar prince of Judah; delivered them by tale to him; who, according to the Jewish rabbins, as Jarchi says, was Daniel, who was so called, because he stood in six tribulations; but it does not appear that Daniel went up to Jerusalem with the captivity, as this man did, but remained at Babylon; rather, with Aben Ezra, it is best by him to understand Zerubbabel, who did go up, and was the prince of Judah; and Cyrus, in his letter {q} to the governors of Syria, expressly says, that he delivered the vessels to Zerubbabel, the prince of the Jews. He had two names, Sheshbazzar, which signifies he rejoiced in tribulation, and Zerubbabel, which signifies either the seed of Babylon, being born there, or dispersed, or a stranger there, as others.



{q} Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 11. c. 1. sect. 3.





Ezra 1:9



Ver. 9. And this is the number of them,.... Of the vessels delivered, as follows:



thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver; these, according to Ben Melech, were vessels in which water was put to wash hands in; but rather they were, as Aben Ezra observes from the Jerusalem Talmud {r}, vessels in which they gathered the blood of lambs and bullocks slain for sacrifices:



nine and twenty knives; which, because the handles of them were of gold or silver, were valuable, and might be very large knives, and what the priests used in slaying and cutting up the sacrifices.



{r} T. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 41. 1.





Ezra 1:10



Ver. 10. Thirty basins of gold,.... Cups or dishes with covers, as the word seems to signify; but, according to Jarchi and Aben Ezra, they were vessels in which the blood of sacrifices was received, and out of which it was sprinkled on the altar:



silver basins of a second sort four hundred and ten; perhaps lesser than the other, however not so valuable, being of silver; in the Apocrypha:



"And this was the number of them; A thousand golden cups, and a thousand of silver, censers of silver twenty nine, vials of gold thirty, and of silver two thousand four hundred and ten, and a thousand other vessels.'' (1 Esdras 2:13)



the number is 2410; and in the letter of Cyrus, before referred to, it is 2400:



and other vessels a thousand; which are not particularly mentioned; Junius and Tremellius render the words,



other vessels by thousands, there being near 3000 that are not described.





Ezra 1:11



Ver. 11. All the vessels of gold, and of silver, were five thousand and four hundred,.... Those that are mentioned make no more than 2499, which Aben Ezra thinks were the larger vessels; but this general sum takes in great and small, as in 2Ch 36:18 in the letter of Cyrus, before mentioned, these vessels are more particularly described, and their several numbers given, which together amount to the exact number in the text, 5400; the apocryphal Ezra makes them 5469:



all these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity, that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem: of whom there is a large and particular account in the following chapter.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Ezra 2:1



INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 2



This chapter contains a list of those that went up from Babylon to Jerusalem, of their leaders, their chief men, princes and priests, Ezr 2:1 of the people, described by their families, towns, and cities, and number of persons, Ezr 2:3, of the priests, Levites, and Nethinims, Ezr 2:36, and of those that could not make out their genealogy, people and priests, Ezr 2:59, and then the sum total of the whole congregation is given, Ezr 2:64, besides men and maidservants, singing men and women, and cattle of divers sorts, Ezr 2:65, and the chapter is closed with an account of the freewill offerings of the principal men towards the building of the temple, and of the settlement of the people in their respective cities, Ezr 2:68.



Ver. 1. Now these are the children of the province,.... Either of the province of Babylon, as Aben Ezra, where they were either born, or had dwelt for many years; or else rather, according to Jarchi, of the province of Judea, as it is called, Ezr 5:8 once a flourishing kingdom, but reduced to a province of the Babylonian monarchy, now in the hands of the Medes and Persians, of which province they and their fathers originally were:



that went out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon; who either in person, or in their parents, were carried captive by him, and who were the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; and they are only mentioned, because they were the principal that returned, though there were some of the other tribes that also came up with them:



and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, everyone unto his city; that he dwelt in before, or was now assigned to him by lot, see Ne 11:1, &c.





Ezra 2:2



Ver. 2. Which came with Zerubbabel,.... The head of them, the prince of Judah; and the chief that came with him are the ten following; Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah; the first of these, Jeshua, was Joshua the high priest, the son of Josedech, Hag 1:1. Dr. Lightfoot {s} thinks that Nehemiah is the same, whose name the following book bears; and that Mordecai is he who was uncle to Esther, so Aben Ezra; but, if so, they must both return again; for that Nehemiah came to Jerusalem in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, Ne 1:1, and that Mordecai brought up his niece in the city of Shushan, in the times of Ahasuerus, is certain; and this, with respect to both, is denied by others {t}, who take them to be different men of the same name; and the same writer is of opinion that Seraiah, and who is called Azariah, Ne 7:7 is the same with Ezra, who therefore must and did return, since he went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, Ezr 7:1, as for the others, we know nothing more of them than their names:



the number of the men of the people of Israel; either of the principal of them before named, or of the common people, which next follows.



{s} Works, vol. 1. p. 127. So Broughton, Works, p. 258. {t} Vid. Rainold. de Libr. Apocryph. Praelect. 111, 117, 148.





Ezra 2:3



Ver. 3-35. The children of Parosh, two thousand an hundred and seventy two. From hence, to the end of Ezr 2:35, a list is given of the captives that returned, described by the families they were of, their ancestors from whence they sprung, or the towns and cities to which they originally belonged, and by their numbers; otherwise nothing more of them is known.





Ezra 2:4



Ver. 4. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:5



Ver. 5. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:6



Ver. 6. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:7



Ver. 7. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:8



Ver. 8. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:9



Ver. 9. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:10



Ver. 10. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:11



Ver. 11. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:12



Ver. 12. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:13



Ver. 13. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:14



Ver. 14. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:15



Ver. 15. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:16



Ver. 16. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:17



Ver. 17. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:18



Ver. 18. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:19



Ver. 19. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:20



Ver. 20. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:21



Ver. 21. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:22



Ver. 22. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:23



Ver. 23. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:24



Ver. 24. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:25



Ver. 25. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:26



Ver. 26. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:27



Ver. 27. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:28



Ver. 28. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:29



Ver. 29. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:30



Ver. 30. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:31



Ver. 31. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:32



Ver. 32. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:33



Ver. 33. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:34



Ver. 34. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:35



Ver. 35. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:36



Ver. 36-39. The priests,.... An account of them is given in this and the three following verses, and only four families are mentioned, those of Jedaiah, Immer, Pashur, and Harim, and the number of them amounted to 4289; these, according to the Jews, were heads of four courses, which were all that returned from Babylon {u}.



{u} T. Hieros. Taanioth, fol. 68. 1.





Ezra 2:37



Ver. 37. See Gill on "Ezr 2:36".





Ezra 2:38



Ver. 38. See Gill on "Ezr 2:36".





Ezra 2:39



Ver. 39. See Gill on "Ezr 2:36".





Ezra 2:40



Ver. 40-42. The Levites,.... Singers and porters, who are reckoned in this, and the two following verses, whose numbers were no more than three hundred and forty one; whereas, in the times of David, they were 38,000, 1Ch 23:3.





Ezra 2:41



Ver. 41. See Gill on "Ezr 2:40".





Ezra 2:42



Ver. 42. See Gill on "Ezr 2:41".





Ezra 2:43



Ver. 43-58. The Nethinims,.... Supposed by Aben Ezra and Jarchi to be the Gibeonites, who were "given" by Joshua, as the word Nethinims signifies, to the congregation, to be hewers of wood and drawers of water; but rather were those that were given by David to assist the Levites; of these is an account from hence to the end of Ezr 2:58, together with those who descended from Solomon's servants, who seem to be the remains of the Canaanites in the land, whom Solomon made bondservants of, 1Ki 9:20, who, and their posterity, became proselytes; or those sprung from men that were domestic servants of Solomon's, and valued themselves on that account; the number of the Nethinims and these together were three hundred ninety and two.





Ezra 2:44



Ver. 44. See Gill on "Ezr 2:43".





Ezra 2:45



Ver. 45. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:46



Ver. 46. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:47



Ver. 47. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:48



Ver. 48. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:49



Ver. 49. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:50



Ver. 50. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:51



Ver. 51. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:52



Ver. 52. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:53



Ver. 53. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:54



Ver. 54. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:55



Ver. 55. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:56



Ver. 56. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:57



Ver. 57. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:58



Ver. 58. See Gill on "Ezr 2:3".





Ezra 2:59



Ver. 59. And these were they that went up from Telmelah, Telharsa,.... Places in the land of Babylon, see Isa 37:12.



Cherub, Addan, and Immer; but they could not show their father's house, and their seed, whether they were of Israel; these were such that professed the Jewish religion, and went for Jews in Babylon, but could not trace their pedigree, and tell what family they were of, who their ancestors, and where they had lived in Judea; they had lost their genealogical tables, if they ever had any, and could not make it out, whether their parents were Israelites or proselyted Gentiles; or they were such who had been exposed, and taken out of the streets, and their parents unknown.





Ezra 2:60



Ver. 60. The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, and the children of Nekoda, six hundred fifty and two. These, though their immediate parents were known, yet by their being mentioned here, it seems as if they could not carry their genealogy further, and make it clearly appear what was the house of their fathers, or what their family.





Ezra 2:61



Ver. 61. And of the children of the priests,.... Who could not make out their pedigree, for those that could are mentioned before:



the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai; how the latter came by this name follows:



which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name; this man married a woman that descended from the famous Barzillai the Gileadite, in the times of David; and the priesthood being in disuse, and mean and despicable, in Babylon, he chose to take the name of his wife's family, and pass for a descendant from that, and perhaps destroyed, or at least neglected, to take care of the genealogy of his own family.





Ezra 2:62



Ver. 62. These sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy,.... To find their names written and registered there; for the Jews kept public registers of their priests, their descent, marriages, and offspring, that it might be known who were fit, and who not, to officiate as such:



but they were not found; their names were not there, nor any account taken of them:



therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood; were not suffered to attend at the altar, and offer sacrifice, and enjoy the privileges belonging to that office.





Ezra 2:63



Ver. 63. And the Tirshatha said unto them,.... By whom Jarchi understands Nehemiah, and observes, that their rabbins say he was so called, because the wise men allowed him to drink the wine of the Gentiles, he being cupbearer to the king; but Aben Ezra, with greater probability, takes it to be a name of honour and grandeur in the Chaldee language, as a prince or governor; and no doubt Zerubbabel is meant, the prince of the Jews, the same with Sheshbazzar, Ezr 1:8 according to Gussetius {w}, this office was the same with that of the king's commissary in a province, delegated to carry his orders, make them known, and see them put in execution; and that this name Tirshatha is the same with Tithraustes in Aelian {x}; but that seems to be not the title of an office, but the personal name of a man that was a chiliarch:



that they should not eat of the most holy things; as of the shewbread, and those parts of the sin offerings, and of the peace offerings and meat offerings, which belonged to the priests, which the governor forbid these to eat of, who were rejected from the priesthood:



till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim; as yet there was not any priest that had them; they were not to be found at the return from Babylon; the governor might hope they would be found, and a priest appear clothed with them, when it might be inquired of the Lord by them, whether such priests, before described, might eat of the holy things or not; but since the Jews {y} acknowledge that these were one of the five things wanting in the second temple; it is all one, as the Talmudists {z} express it, as if it had been said, until the dead rise, or the Messiah comes; and who is come, the true High Priest, and with whom are the true Urim and Thummim, lights and perfections to the highest degree, being full of grace and truth; of the Urim and Thummim,

See Gill on "Ex 28:30".



{w} Ebr. Comment. p. 809. {x} Var. Hist. l. 1. c. 21. Vid. Corn. Nep. Vit. Conon. l. 9. c. 3. {y} T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 21. 2. {z} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 48. 2. & Gloss. in Kiddushin, fol. 60. 2.





Ezra 2:64



Ver. 64. The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred [and] threescore. But the sums before given make no more, with Zerubbabel, and the ten principal men, than 29,829, so that there are more than 12,000 wanting; wherefore, in answer to the question, where are the 12,000? the Jews say in their chronology {a} these are they of the other tribes, who set up the altar on its bases, and gave money to the masons, &c. Ezr 3:1, this was a much larger number than were carried captive; see 2Ki 24:14, but not to be compared with the number that came out of Egypt, Ex 12:37. An Arabic writer {b} makes them 50,000, but wrongly.



{a} Seder Olam Rabba, c. 29. p. 86. {b} Abulpharag. Hist. Dynast. Dyn. 5. p. 82.





Ezra 2:65



Ver. 65. Besides their servants and their maids, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven,.... This shows that the greater part of those that returned were of the poorer sort, since there were so few servants that belonged unto them; these came not into the above account:



and there were among them two hundred singing men and singing women; among the servants, who were kept by persons of figure for their pleasure and recreation, see Ec 2:8, for that these were such as were employed in sacred service is not so clear, especially the latter, though some conclude it from 1Ch 25:5, but rather they were such as were employed at marriages, festivals, and funerals; though Jarchi thinks they were employed by the returning captives, to make them cheerful as they travelled along, See Gill on "Isa 55:12".





Ezra 2:66



Ver. 66,67 Their horses were seven hundred thirty and six, their mules two hundred forty and five, their camels four hundred thirty and five, [their] asses six thousand seven hundred and twenty. So that the far greatest part of them must walk on foot, since these can be thought to be little more than sufficient to carry their goods or baggage; some copies of the Vulgate Latin read six hundred and thirty six horses {c}.



{c} Ed. of Sixtus V. and the Lovain in James's Contrariety of Popish Bibles, p. 295.





Ezra 2:67



Ver. 67. See Gill on "Ezr 2:66".





Ezra 2:68



Ver. 68. And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the Lord that is at Jerusalem,.... That is, when they came to the place where it formerly stood, and where were still the ruins of it:



offered freely for the house of God, to set it up in its place; to rebuild it upon the spot where it formerly stood; this they did besides the freewill offerings they brought with them from Babylon.





Ezra 2:69



Ver. 69. They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the world threescore and one thousand drachms of gold,.... These "darcemons or darics" were a Persian coin; one of which, according to Brerewood {k}, was of the value of fifteen shillings of our money, and so this quantity of them amounted to 45,750 pounds; but according to Bishop Cumberland {l} they were of the value of twenty shillings and four pence of our money, and so came to upwards of 61,000 pounds; these everyone, according to his ability, put into the common stock or treasury for the work of building the temple; the Vulgate Latin {m} reads 40,000:



and five thousand pounds of silver; and an Hebrew "mina", or pound, being of our money seven pounds, ten shillings, according to Brerewood {n}, amounted to 31,250 pounds: but others {o}, reckoning a drachm of gold at ten shillings, and a mina or pound of silver at nine pounds, make the whole to amount only to 75,500 pounds of our money:



and one hundred priests' garments; which, as they were laid up among treasures, so were necessary for the service of the temple.



{k} De Pret. & Ponder. Vet. Num. ch. iii. v. {l} Scripture Weights & Measures, ch. 4. p. 115. {m} Sixtus V. Lovain & MSS. in James ut supra. (Contrariety of Popish Bibles, p. 295) {n} Ut supra, (De Pret. & Ponder. Vet. Num.) ch. iv. v. {o} Universal History, vol. 10. p. 183, marg.





Ezra 2:70



Ver. 70. So the priests and the Levites, and some of the people, and the singers, and the Nethinims, dwelt in their cities,.... Which were assigned to them out of the several tribes, and in which they or their forefathers had dwelt before the captivity:



and all Israel in their cities; as those of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, so of the other ten, as many as returned and joined those who were left in the land.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Ezra 3:1



INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 3



This chapter relates how that the people of Israel returned from captivity, gathered to Jerusalem, and set up the altar, where sacrifices were offered, Ezr 3:1, and kept the feast of tabernacles, and offered the sacrifices of that, besides the daily sacrifice, and of other festivals; and contributed to the workmen that prepared for the building of the temple, Ezr 3:4 and began it by laying the foundation of it; which to some was matter of joy, to others of grief, on different accounts, Ezr 3:8.



Ver. 1. And when the seventh month was come,.... The month Tisri, which answers to part of September and October; or when it "was approaching" {p}, for before it was actually come some following things were done, the people met, and an altar was built; for on the first day of it sacrifices were offered, Ezr 3:6,



and the children of Israel were in the cities; their respective cities, settling their domestic affairs:



the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem; the thing was universal, and done with as much dispatch as if only one man was concerned; and it seems to denote as if they were under a divine impulse, and came together without any consultation, or knowledge of each other's designs, and without summons.



{p} egyw "cum appropinquaret", Piscator.





Ezra 3:2



Ver. 2. Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak,.... Who was the high priest, and the proper person to give the lead in the following work:



and his brethren the priests; the common priests, very fit to join him, and assist him in it:



and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel; the prince and governor of Judah, whose presence was necessary to give countenance to the work, and animate to it:



and his brethren; the princes and heads of the people, particularly those mentioned Ezr 2:2



and builded the altar of the God of Israel; the altar of burnt offering, gave orders for the building of it, and directions about it:



to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God; or prophet of God, as the Syriac version; see Le 1:1.





Ezra 3:3



Ver. 3. And they set the altar upon his bases,.... Which might remain of the old altar; or the meaning is, that it was fixed and settled on the same spot where it stood before:



for fear was upon them, because of the people of those countries; and therefore they hastened to erect an altar, and offer sacrifices to the Lord, in hope that he would appear for them, and help them against their enemies; or rather, as some render the words {q} "though fear was upon them", &c. yet they were not deterred from the work, worship, and service of God:



and they offered burnt offerings unto the Lord, even burnt offerings, morning and evening; the daily sacrifice, as directed to

Ex 29:38.



{q} yk "quamvis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Patrick.





Ezra 3:4



Ver. 4. They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written,.... According to the rules prescribed for the observation of it in

Le 23:34 this began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month:



and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required; for on all the eight days of the feast there was a certain number of sacrifices fixed for every day; and exactly according to the law concerning them did they offer them at this time; see Nu 29:12.





Ezra 3:5



Ver. 5. And afterwards offered the continual burnt offering,.... Not after the feast of tabernacles, as if they then began to offer the daily sacrifice; for that they did as soon as the altar was set up, and on the first day of the month, Ezr 3:3, rather the sense is, that after the daily burnt offering of the morning, they offered the other sacrifices peculiar to the several days of the feast of tabernacles; they never neglected that, yea, always began with it; all the rest were after it, and so on other festivals:



both of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated; to the service of the Lord, and the honour of his name, as every first day of the month, and every other appointed festival, they offered the sacrifices appropriate to each; but not to the neglect of that sacrifice, and always after it:



and of everyone that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the Lord; these they were careful also to offer in their proper time.





Ezra 3:6



Ver. 6. From the first of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord,.... And which day was not only a new moon, but a grand festival, the feast of blowing of trumpets,

Le 23:24, and no doubt but they observed the tenth day of this month, with all the rites of it, which was the day of atonement,

Le 23:27,



but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid; they began first with sacrifices, that having thereby given thanks to God for their return to their own land, and for all the benefits they enjoyed, and made atonement for their sins in a typical way, they might be the more prepared and fit for the work of building the temple; or, "though the foundation" of it was not laid {z}, yet they offered the above sacrifices.



{z} Etsi, Michaelis.





Ezra 3:7



Ver. 7. They gave money also to the masons, and to the carpenters,.... To buy stone and timber with for the building of the temple:



and meat and drink and oil unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre; which were more agreeable to them than money, because there was not plenty of such things in their country, as in the land of Israel:



to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa; as they did at the first building of the temple by Solomon; they cut down cedars at Lebanon, which belonged to them, and sent them by sea to Joppa, the nearest seaport to Jerusalem, about forty miles from it: see 2Ch 2:16,



according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia; for Tyre and Zidon being under his dominion as well as Judea, he not only gave leave to the Jews to get cedar wood from Lebanon, but gave orders to the Zidonians and Tyrians to furnish them with it, paying a valuable consideration for it; and so some {a} render the word, "according to the commandment of Cyrus".



{a} Nwyvrk "juxta praeceptum", Vatablus; "juxta quod praeceperat", V. L. So Ben Melech.





Ezra 3:8



Ver. 8. Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem,.... The place where it formerly stood; the Jews seem to have set out from Babylon, in the spring of the preceding year, as it was now of this; which to Jerusalem was a journey of about four months, as Ezra performed it, Ezr 7:9, but might take up longer time for such a body of people to do it in, being larger than that with him; wherefore, after they had visited their respective cities, and settled their affairs there, they came to Jerusalem on the seventh month, or September, and kept the feast of tabernacles, and then they returned to their cities again, the winter season being an improper time to begin the building of the temple; having given money to workmen to purchase materials with, and no doubt left a sufficient number to clear away the rubbish, and get things ready by the returning spring to set about the work:



in the second month; the mouth Ijar, as Jarchi observes, answering to part of April and May, having, as may be supposed, kept the passover the month before:



began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak: the prince, and the high priest:



and the remnant of their brethren, the priests and Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; whose names and numbers are given in the preceding chapter:



and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and upwards to set forward the work of the house of the Lord; to put men to work upon it, and direct them what to do, and urge them to attend closely to it; ever since David's time the Levites were employed at twenty years of age, when before not till thirty, or twenty five; see 1Ch 23:24.





Ezra 3:9



Ver. 9. Then stood Jeshua, with his sons,.... Not Jeshua the high priest before mentioned, but Jeshua the Levite, Ezr 2:40,



and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together; the same with Hodaviah, Ezr 2:40



to set forward the workmen in the house of God; to give them orders to begin and lay the foundation, and hasten and animate them to it:



the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites: two of this man's sons are mentioned in Ne 3:18.





Ezra 3:10



Ver. 10. And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord,.... The masons, whose work it was, Ezr 3:7



they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets; these were set in a proper place by the prince and the high priest, in their priestly garments, with trumpets in their hands to blow with, as the foundation was laying:



and the Levites the sons of Asaph, with cymbals to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel; these were instruments of brass, and made a tinkling sound, and were by the order of David; and the persons that made use of them; and the songs of praise they were played upon unto; all by his appointment, as well as harps and psalteries, which might now be used, though not expressed; see 1Ch 15:16. So the Messenians, when the walls of their city were raised by Epaminondas, and their houses and temples erected, attended it with sacrifices and prayer, and with piping and singing {b}.



{b} Pausan. Messenica, sive, l. 4. p. 368.





Ezra 3:11



Ver. 11. And they sang together by course,.... They sang by turns in responses, and answered one another, as the word signifies; when one company had performed their part, another took theirs:



in praising and giving thanks to the Lord; for returning them to their own land, and giving them opportunity, ability, and will, to set about the rebuilding of the temple of the Lord, and restoring the pure worship of God;



because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever towards Israel; which words are often repeated in Ps 136:1 and which might be the psalm the Levites now sung by responses:



and all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord; to express their joy, in the best manner they could, on this solemn occasion:



because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid; which gave them hope the temple in due time would be rebuilt, and the service of it restored; see Job 38:6.





Ezra 3:12



Ver. 12. But many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men,.... Seventy or eighty years of age:



that had seen the first house; the temple built by Solomon, as they very well might, since then it had been destroyed but fifty two years; for the seventy years captivity are to be reckoned from the fourth of Jehoiakim, when it began, and which was eighteen years before the destruction of the temple; the beginning of the next clause,



when in the foundation, according to the Hebrew accents, is to be connected with this,



that had seen the first house; not when first founded, for that was five hundred years ago, but in "its foundation"; they saw it standing upon its foundation, in all its glory, and so the Septuagint version; and we may read on, when



this house was before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; seeing what it was like to be by the foundation now laid, and was in their sight as nothing in comparison of the former; see Hag 2:3 but Aben Ezra connects this clause as we do,



when the foundation of this house was laid; not but that the dimensions of this house strictly taken were as large as the former: see Ezr 6:3, but not the courts and appendages to it: besides, what might affect them, there was no likelihood of its being so richly decorated with gold and silver as the former temple, and many things would be wanting in it, as the Urim and Thummim, &c.



and many shouted aloud for joy; of the younger sort, who had never seen the grandeur of the first temple, and were highly delighted with the beginning of this, and the hope of seeing it finished.





Ezra 3:13



Ver. 13. So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people,.... That is, not clearly and distinctly, they were so mixed and confounded together, and made such a jarring and discord:



for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off; the shouting being of young people, whose voice was strongest, and they the most numerous, the noise of shouting prevailed over the noise of weeping; and it was heard further, and at a distance appeared more distinctly to be the noise of shouting, that of weeping not reaching so far; though Jarchi is of opinion that the noise of weeping was heard further than the noise of shouting, which is not likely.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Ezra 4:1



INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 4



The contents of this chapter are the offer the Samaritans made to the Jews, to assist them in building the temple, which having refused, they gave them all the trouble they could, Ezr 4:1 and a letter of theirs to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, full of accusations of them, Ezr 4:7 and the answer of Artaxerxes to it, giving orders to command the Jews to cease building the temple, Ezr 4:17 which orders were accordingly executed, and the work ceased till the second year of Darius, Ezr 4:23.



Ver. 1. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin,.... The Samaritans, as appears from Ezr 4:2,



heard that the children of the captivity; the Jews, who had been in captivity seventy years, and were just come out of it, and still were not quite free, but under the jurisdiction and control of the king of Persia:



builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel; that they were going about it, and had laid the foundation of it, which might soon come to their ears, the distance not being very great. Josephus {c} says they heard the sound of the trumpets, and came to know the meaning of it.



{c} Antiqu. l. 11. c. 4. sect. 3.





Ezra 4:2



Ver. 2. Then they came to Zerubbabel, and the chief of the fathers,.... These they addressed, as knowing that if they could not prevail with them, they could never succeed in their design; and these were no doubt the principal of the Samaritans that applied:



and said unto them, let us build with you; that is, the temple, they proposed to join with them, and assist them in it; which proposal at first sight might seem very agreeable and welcome, and would have been so had they been sincere, but they were not; they hoped, by getting among them, to have sown discord among them, and disunited them; and so by these or other means to have retarded the building; or if it went forward, that they might have a claim to it as theirs, at least as to set up their own idols in a part of it; the reasons they gave follow:



for we seek your God as ye do; which was false, for they did not worship him alone, but with idols, nor in the same manner as the Jews did:



and we do sacrifice unto him; but even that could not recommend them to the Jews, since they ought not to sacrifice, even to the Lord himself, but at Jerusalem: there is a various reading here; the textual reading is, "we do not sacrifice"; that is, to idols; the marginal reading is, "we sacrifice to him", which we follow; Aben Ezra takes in both, perhaps most rightly; "we do not sacrifice to any other, but to him"; which was also false:



since the days of Esarhaddon, king of Assur, who brought us up hither; to Samaria, from Babylon, and other places; see 2Ki 17:24.





Ezra 4:3



Ver. 3. But Zerubbabel, and Joshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers, said unto them,.... The prince and high priest, and chief of the people:



you have nothing to do with us to build an house to our God; being neither of the same nation, nor of the same religion:



but we ourselves together will build to the Lord God of Israel; we and we only, who are together as one man, united in one body of people, and in the same religious sentiments, being Israelites; we separately, without admitting strangers among us, will build a temple to the God of Israel:



as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, hath commanded us; thereby letting them know that they acted by his authority, and the commission they had from him only concerned themselves, and not others.





Ezra 4:4



Ver. 4. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building. By threatening them, or by dissuading the workmen from going on, by endeavouring to hinder their having materials from the Tyrians and Zidonians, or money out of the king's revenues to bear the expenses as ordered; see Ezr 6:4.





Ezra 4:5



Ver. 5. And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose,.... Either to advise and persuade the king of Persia's officers in those parts not to supply them with money, or to influence the great men at his court to get the edict revoked: and this they did



all the days of Cyrus king of Persia; who, though the hearty friend and patron of the Jews, yet being engaged in wars abroad with the Lydians and Scythians, and leaving his son as viceroy in his absence, who was no friend unto them, the work went on but slowly, attended with interruptions and discouragements:



even until the reign of Darius king of Persia; who was Darius Hystaspis, between whom and Cyrus were Cambyses the son of Cyrus, and Smerdis the impostor, who pretended to be Smerdis, the brother of Cambyses; a space of about fifteen years.





Ezra 4:6



Ver. 6. And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign,.... According to Jarchi, this was Ahasuerus the husband of Esther; but, as most think {d}, was Cambyses, the son and successor of Cyrus; so Josephus {e}; who was an enemy to the Egyptians; and, fearing the Jews might take part with them, was no friend to them; their enemies therefore took the advantage of the death of Cyrus, and the first opportunity after Cambyses reigned in his own right:



and wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem; full of hatred and enmity, spite and malice, charging them as a turbulent, disobedient, and rebellious people.



{d} Spanhem. Introduct. Chron. ad Hist. Eccl. p. 54. & Universal History, Vol. 5. p. 203. Prideaux, p. 175. {e} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 11. c. 4.) sect. 4, 6. Vid. R. David Ganz. Tzemach David, par. 2. fol. 8. 2. So Dr. Lightfoot, Works, vol. 1. p. 139.





Ezra 4:7



Ver. 7. And in the days of Artaxerxes,.... The same with Ahasuerus, in the preceding verse; and who also is Cambyses, which is his name in Heathen authors, Artaxerxes being a common name to the kings of Persia; though some {f} think this was Smerdis, the magician and impostor, who was between Cambyses and Darius; but as he reigned but seven months, it is not very likely that he should be wrote unto, and an answer received from him; besides he sent to every nation he ruled over {g}, and so to the Jews, and proclaimed to them freedom from tribute and the militia for three years, to ingratiate himself to them:



wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions; or his company; for Jarchi thinks only one person is meant; that Mithredath Tabeel is the name of one of the adversaries of Judah; and that Bishlam is an appellative, and signifies that he wrote in peace, or in a way of salutation and greeting; but they seem to be the names of governors in the cities of Samaria under the king of Persia: these wrote



to Artaxerxes king of Persia; instigated by the Samaritans:



and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue; or Chaldee, of which Ezra gives a copy in the Chaldee language; the meaning either is, that it was written both in Syriac letters, and in the Syriac language; for sometimes words are written in one language and in the character of another, as the Syriac is sometimes written in, Hebrew characters, and the Hebrew in Roman; or else there was a postscript added to this letter, explaining some things in it, which also was written in the same language: some take {h} the word "nishtevan", rendered "written", to be the name of a province on the borders of the country beyond Euphrates, whose figure and characters were in high esteem, and fit to write in to kings; but the words and language were Syrian, and needed interpretation.



{f} Prideaux's Connect. par. 1. p. 175. Authors of the Universal History, vol. 5. p. 199, 203. So Vitringa, Hypotypos. Hist. Sacr. p. 108. {g} Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 67. Justin. l. 1. c. 9. {h} Praefat. Arugas Habbosem apud Buxtorf. de liter. Heb. add.





Ezra 4:8



Ver. 8. Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort. This means the same letter as before; which, according to Jarchi, was sent in the name of Mithredath Tabeel and his company, was endited by Rehum, master of words or sense, and written by Shimshai the scribe, whom he makes to be a son of Haman {i}; but it was written rather in all their names.



{i} So Midrash Esther, fol. 85. 3.





Ezra 4:9



Ver. 9. Then wrote Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions,.... who all signed the letter; namely, the governors of the following nations;



the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Susanchites, the Dehavites, and the Elamites; which were colonies from several parts of Chaldea, Media, and Persia, and were settled in the several cities of Samaria, as several of their names plainly show, as from Persia, Erech, Babylon, Shushan, and Elimais; some account for them all, but with uncertainty; according to R. Jose {k} these were the Samaritans who first were sent out of five nations, to whom the king of Assyria added four more, which together make the nine here mentioned, see 2Ki 17:24.



{k} Pirke Eliezer, c. 38.





Ezra 4:10



Ver. 10. And the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnappar brought over,.... The river Euphrates:



and set in the cities of Samaria; placed there in the room of the Israelites carried captive; this Asnappar was, according to Jarchi and others {l} Sennacherib; but, with Grotius, Shalmaneser; rather he was Esarhaddon, the son of the former, and grandson of the latter; so Dr. Prideaux {m}; though he might be only some commander of the Assyrian monarch, who carried them over by his orders:



and the rest that are on this side the river; the river Euphrates:



and at such a time; which may respect the date of the letter, which, no doubt, was expressed, though not here given; or this, as some think, was the same with our &c. something following, unto King Artaxerxes greeting, or something like that; though David de Pomis {n} takes it to be the general name of the people beyond the river.



{l} Kimchi Sepher Shorash. fol. 166. 2. & Vajikra Rabba in ib. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 94. 1. {m} Connexion, &c. vol. 1. p. 30. {n} Tzemach David, fol. 63. 3.





Ezra 4:11



Ver. 11. This is the copy of the letter they sent unto him, even unto Artaxerxes the king,.... Which Ezra brought with him from Babylon, and is contained in the five following verses:



thy servants the men on this side the river, and at such a time; this was the inscription of the letter, or the beginning of it.





Ezra 4:12



Ver. 12. Be it known unto the king,.... The intent of this letter was, that it might be known to the king what follows:



that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem; this they observe partly out of contempt of the Jews, having been lately captive in Babylon, and partly to insinuate what ingratitude they were guilty of; that having got their liberty, and come to Jerusalem, they made use of it to the king's detriment:



building the rebellious and the bad city; as they suggest it had been to kings, even his predecessors, in former times, Ezr 4:15



and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations; which was a falsehood; for the most they had done was setting up the walls of their houses in Jerusalem, and laying the foundation of the temple; as for the walls of the city, they had not as yet done anything unto them.





Ezra 4:13



Ver. 13. Be it known now unto the king,.... And let it be seriously and thoroughly considered by him and his counsellors:



that if this city be builded, and its walls set up again, then will they not pay toll, tribute, and custom; being able to defend themselves against the king's forces, sent to reduce them to their obedience; these three words take in all sorts of taxes and levies on persons, goods, and merchandise:



and so thou shall endamage the revenue of the kings; not only his own, but his successors';



this they thought would be a very striking and powerful argument with him.





Ezra 4:14



Ver. 14. Now because we have maintenance from the king's palace,.... Have posts under the king, to which salaries were annexed, by which they were supported, and which they had from the king's exchequer; or "salt" {o}, as in the original, some places of honour and trust formerly being paid in salt; hence, as Pliny {p} observes, such honours and rewards were called "salaries":



and it was not meet for us to see the king's dishonour; to see any thing done injurious to his crown and dignity, to his honour and revenues, when we are supported by him; this would be ungrateful as well as unjust:



therefore have we sent and certified the king; of the truth of what is before related; and, for the further confirmation of it, refer him to the ancient records of the kingdom, as follows.



{o} xlm "salem vel sale", Montanus, Vatablus, Michaelis. {p} Nat. Hist. l. 31. c. 7.





Ezra 4:15



Ver. 15. That search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers,.... That is, his predecessors in the Babylonian monarchy; though, as the Medes and Persians were included in that, and joined the Babylonians in their wars with others, and particularly with the Jews, the records of the Medes and Persians might also be applied to:



so shalt thou find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful unto kings and provinces, and that they have moved sedition within the same of old time; against the king of Babylon, particularly in the times of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah:



for which cause was this city destroyed; as it was by Nebuchadnezzar; see 2Ki 24:1.





Ezra 4:16



Ver. 16. We certify the king, that if this city be builded again, and the walls thereof set up,.... As it formerly was, and now attempted, as they suggest:



by this means thou shalt have no portion on this side the river; the river Euphrates; intimating that the Jews would not only shake off his yoke, and refuse to pay tribute themselves, but would seize on all his dominions on that side the river, and annex them to their own.





Ezra 4:17



Ver. 17. Then sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe,.... This affair, upon examination, being found to be of importance, the king of Persia thought fit to send an answer to the above letter, which was doing them an honour, and gave them the power and authority they wished to have:



and to the rest of their companions that dwelt in Samaria; in the kingdom, province, and cities of Samaria:



and unto the rest beyond the river; the river Euphrates, the rest of the nations before mentioned, Ezr 4:9.



Peace, and at such a time: that is, all health and prosperity, &c.





Ezra 4:18



Ver. 18. The letter which ye sent unto us,.... The plural number is used, being now become courtly for kings thus to speak of themselves:



hath been plainly before me; by such that understood both the Syrian and Persian languages; the letter was written in the Syrian language, and the king being a Persian, it was necessary it should be interpreted and explained to him.





Ezra 4:19



Ver. 19. And I commanded, and search hath been made,.... In the records of his predecessors, whether Chaldeans or Persians:



and it is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein: and yet this could not be carried higher than to the times of Zedekiah and Jehoiakim, as before observed, which was not one hundred years ago, unless the rebellion of Hezekiah against the king of Assyria could be thought to be in these records, 2Ki 18:7, and yet from hence it is concluded as if in ages past they had been guilty of rebellion and sedition, and even always.





Ezra 4:20



Ver. 20. There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, which have ruled over all countries beyond the river,.... As David and Solomon; and the account of these they had in their records, see 2Sa 8:1



and toll, tribute, and custom, was paid unto them; as appears from the places referred to; and this served to strengthen the insinuation made to the king, that if these people were suffered to go on building, he would lose his tribute and taxes in those parts.





Ezra 4:21



Ver. 21. Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease,.... From building:



and that this city be not builded until another commandment shall be given from me; he might suspect that this case, in all its circumstances, was not truly stated, and that hereafter he might see reason to recede from the present orders he gave; and the rather, as by searching, and perhaps on his own knowledge, must have observed, that his father Cyrus had shown favour to the Jews, and had not only set them at liberty, but had encouraged them to rebuild their temple; which might be what they were about, and was the case, and nothing else, except their houses to dwell in.





Ezra 4:22



Ver. 22. Take heed now that ye fail not to do this,.... To put his orders into execution, and at once, without any loss of time, oblige the Jews to desist from rebuilding the walls of their city, which he was told they were doing, though a great falsehood:



why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? of him and his successors, to be deprived of their toll, tribute, and customs, and to have insurrections, mutinies, and rebellions, in the dominions belonging to them.





Ezra 4:23



Ver. 23. Now when the copy of King Artaxerxes letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions,.... By him or them to whom it was particularly directed:



they went up in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews; not only in obedience to the king's command, but from an eagerness of spirit to put a stop to the proceedings of the Jews, to whom they had an aversion, instigated by the Samaritans:



and made them to cease by force and power; from going on with the building of the temple, which they reckoned a part of the city, and within their commission; this they did by showing the power and authority they had under the king's hand, and by the forces they brought with them to compel them to it, should they refuse to obey; or, however, they threatened them highly what they would do, if they did not desist.





Ezra 4:24



Ver. 24. Then ceased the work of the house of God, which is at Jerusalem,.... How far they had proceeded is not said, whether any further than laying the foundation of it; though probably, by this time, it might be carried to some little height; however, upon this it was discontinued:



so it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia; not Darius Nothun, as some think, for from the first of Cyrus to the sixth of his reign, when the temple was finished, was upwards of one hundred years; yea, according to some, about one hundred and forty; which would carry the age of Zerubbabel, who both laid the foundation of the temple, and finished it, and the age of those who saw the first temple, to a length that is not probable; but this was Darius Hystaspis, who succeeded Cambyses the son of Cyrus, there being only, between, the short usurpation of Smerdis for seven months.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Ezra 5:1



INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 5



This chapter relates, how that the people of the Jews were stirred up by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah to set about the building of the temple again, notwithstanding the orders to the contrary from the deputy governors of the king of Persia; nor could the present ones cause them to cease from it; though it must be owned they behaved towards them in a better manner than the former ones did, Ezr 5:1, and who, upon the answers received from the Jews, wrote a letter to Darius, to know the truth of things; and in which they seem to state fairly the case of the Jews, as they had it from them, so far as they understood it, Ezr 5:6.



Ver. 1. Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo,.... The grandson of Iddo; for he was the son of Berechiah, Zec 1:1,



prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel; this they both did in the second year of Darius; the one began in the sixth month, and the other in the eighth month of the year, Hag 1:1, even "unto them"; or "against them", as De Dieu; reproving them for their sloth and neglect of building the temple, when they were careful enough to raise up goodly houses for themselves to dwell in; and for being intimidated by the command of the king of Persia, which only forbid the building of the city, that is, the walls of it, but not the temple any more than their own houses; and besides, there was now a new king, from whom they had not so much to fear.





Ezra 5:2



Ver. 2. Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak,.... Whose spirits were stirred up and quickened by the ministry of the prophets, the Lord accompanying it by his Spirit, Hag 1:12,



and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem; to go on with the building of it; for they had laid the foundation before, and perhaps had carried it up to some little height, at least, before they ceased from it, Ezr 3:10



and with them were the prophets of God helping them; with words of counsel, comfort, and exhortation, directing and encouraging them, and promising them protection and success: these are the prophets before named.





Ezra 5:3



Ver. 3. At the same time came to them Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shetharboznai, and their companions,.... These were new governors and officers under the king of Persia in those parts, the old ones, Rehum, Shimshai, &c. being either dead, or removed upon this new king coming to the throne: these came to the Jews,



and said thus unto them, who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up this wall? for it seems by this time they had raised up the walls of the temple from its foundation to some height; for of these it must be understood, see Ezr 4:8 for it can hardly be thought they were as yet enclosing it with a wall round about it; now they asked them by what authority they did this? who set them to work? and what were their names? for that this question was asked, though not here expressed, is clear from Ezr 4:10 and to which an answer is given in the next verse.





Ezra 5:4



Ver. 4. Then said we unto them after this manner,.... In answer to their questions; namely, Ezra and other Jews replied; for though Ezra is said after this to come from Babylon in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, he might go thither on some business, and then return again at that time; some indeed think these are the words of Tatnai and those with him; so Ben Melech, which seems to be favoured by Ezr 4:10, and by reading the words with an interrogation, as we do; Aben Ezra says they are either the words of the builders, or of the scribes, the secretaries that came to question them; but they are the words of the former, as order requires, or otherwise no answer would be returned, at least as expressed; and the next clause may be read without an interrogation, and the sense be, that they told them not only that they acted according to an edict of Cyrus king of Persia, for this was said, as appears from Ezr 5:13, but they declared



what were the names of the men that did make this building; or employed them in it, namely, Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the chief men of the Jews; they made no scruple of telling them who they were; neither ashamed of their masters nor of their work, nor afraid of any ill consequences following hereafter.





Ezra 5:5



Ver. 5. But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews,.... He in his providence looked favourably at them, smiled upon them, encouraged them in the work by his good Spirit, and by the prophets, and gave them success, and protected and defended them, see

2Ch 16:9,



that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter came to Darius; they were not intimidated by what the governor and those with him said to them, but went on in their work; nor did the governor attempt to interrupt them, they having referred him and their cause to Darius for the truth of what they had said, and for further information from him:



and then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter; that is, Tatnai and those with him sent a letter to Darius about this affair, to which they had an answer, which are both related in this and the following chapters.





Ezra 5:6



Ver. 6. The copy of the letter that Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shetharboznai, and his companions the Apharsachites, which were on this side the river,.... Which is thought by some to be one of the nations mentioned, Ezr 4:9 the name being pretty near alike to two of them; but perhaps might be a distinct colony in those parts Tatnai was governor of:



these sent unto Darius the king; and is as follows.





Ezra 5:7



Ver. 7. They sent a letter unto him, wherein was written thus,.... Or this was the inscription of it:



unto Darius the king, all peace; wishing him all kind of happiness and prosperity.





Ezra 5:8



Ver. 8. Be it known unto the king,.... This seems to have been the usual form of beginning a letter to a king in those days, Ezr 4:12 that we went into the province of Judea; which from a kingdom was reduced to a province, and was become a part of the Babylonian, now Persian, monarchy, see Ezr 2:1 to the house of the great God; as the Jews called the Lord their God; and even the Heathens had a notion that there was one supreme God, though they worshipped inferior ones; and some had a notion that Jehovah the God of the Jews was he:



which is builded with great stones; marble stones; as Jarchi {q}, stones of rolling, as it may be rendered; which, according to Aben Ezra, were so large and heavy, that they could not be carried, but were obliged to roll them:



and timber is laid in the walls, cedar wood, as Aben Ezra interprets it, for beams, for flooring and raftering; or rather, is put upon the walls, for the lining and wainscoting of them, which was done with cedar wood:



and this work goeth fast on, and prospereth in their hands; and, unless timely prevented, will soon be finished.



{q} So David de Pomis, Tzemach David, fol. 15. 3.





Ezra 5:9



Ver. 9. Then asked we those elders,.... The elders of the province of Judea; the chief men of it:



who commanded you to build this house, and to make up these walls? see Ezr 5:3.





Ezra 5:10



Ver. 10. We asked their names also,.... The names of the elders, those that set men about this work:



to certify that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of them; take the names of them in writing, that they might with certainty acquaint the king who they were, and that if it was necessary they might be called to an account for what they were doing.





Ezra 5:11



Ver. 11. And thus they returned us answer,.... To the purpose and in the manner following:



saying, we are the servants of the God of heaven and earth; signifying that they were doing his work, in obedience to his will, and to whom they were accountable:



and build the house that was builded these many years ago; even five hundred years ago, or thereabout; so that they were not erecting a building where there was none before, but were rebuilding what was in ruins:



which a great king of Israel builded and set up; King Solomon, who was a great king for wisdom, honour, riches, peace, prosperity, and extent of his kingdom.





Ezra 5:12



Ver. 12. But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto wrath,.... By their idolatries; which accounts for it how it was that they who were the servants of the great God of heaven and earth, and this temple built for the honour of his name, were not preserved by him; but they were carried captive, and this house left desolate: it was for their sins for which



he (God) gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon; see 2Ch 36:19.





Ezra 5:13



Ver. 13. But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon,.... That is, the first year he was king of Babylon, having taken it, otherwise he was king of Persia many years before:



the same King Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God; see Ezr 1:1.





Ezra 5:14



Ver. 14,15 And the vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God,.... Of which, and of what is said concerning them, and particularly of the delivery of them to Sheshbazzar, whom Cyrus made governor of Judah, and ordered him to carry them to Jerusalem, and build the temple there, and put them in it, see Ezr 1:7.





Ezra 5:15



Ver. 15. See Gill on "Ezr 5:14".





Ezra 5:16



Ver. 16. Then came the same Sheshbazzar, and laid the foundation of the house of God which is in Jerusalem,.... Which makes it clear, that by Sheshbazzar is meant Zerubbabel; for he it was that laid the foundation of the temple, or at least by whose order it was laid, see Zec 4:9



and since that time even until now; from the first of Cyrus to the second of Darius, a space of about eighteen years, and just seventy from the destruction of the temple:



hath it been in building, and yet it is not finished; the work going on slowly, not without interruption and intermission, through the enmity of the Samaritans unto them, who had made false representations of them; but these men, Tatnai and those with him, as the Jews gave them a very particular account of things, as above, so they fairly and fully related them in this their letter to the king.





Ezra 5:17



Ver. 17. Now therefore, if it seem good to the king, let there be search made in the king's treasure house, which is there at Babylon,.... Where were the archives of the kingdom, where the laws, decrees, edicts, and proclamations, and other things relating to the state, were laid up, that recourse might be had to them upon occasion:



whether it be so, that a decree was made of Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem; which the Jews affirmed was made by him, and upon which they proceeded:



and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter; whether the Jews should be allowed to go on with the building of their temple, and finish it, or whether they should be restrained from it; signifying they were ready to do his will and pleasure either way, as he thought fit.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

Ezra 6:1



INTRODUCTION TO EZRA 6



Darius, on receiving the letter from his officers in Samaria, searched for the decree of Cyrus, and found it, and which he confirmed, Ezr 6:1 and made a fresh decree, and ordered expenses to be given out of his tribute for the building of the temple, and for the sacrifices of it; and that whosoever altered it should be hanged on the timber of his own house, and imprecated a curse on those that should destroy the house of God, Ezr 6:8 upon which the building went on, and was finished, Ezr 6:13 and the temple was dedicated to God in a solemn manner, Ezr 6:16, and the passover was kept by all the people, Ezr 6:19.



Ver. 1. Then Darius the king made a decree,.... To make inquiry after the edict of Cyrus, to search the public records for it:



and search was made in the house of the rolls; or "books" {r}, in a public library or museum:



where the treasures were laid up in Babylon; where things of worth and value were reposited; not only gold, silver, jewels, and precious stones, and things rare and curious, but all sorts of writings relating to the monarchy, and the dominions belonging to it; but it seems it could not be found here, and therefore the king ordered search to be made elsewhere.



{r} ayrpo tybb, en taiv biblioyhkaiv, Sept. "in bibliotheca", V. L. "in bibliotheca librorum", Tigurine version; "in domo librorum", Pagninus, Montanus.





Ezra 6:2



Ver. 2. And there was found at Achmetha,.... Which Jarchi and Aben Ezra take to be the name of a vessel in which letters and writings were put for safety; but it was no doubt the name of a place; the Vulgate Latin version has it Ecbatana; and so Josephus {s}; which was the name of a city in Media, where the kings of that country had their residence in the summer time {t}; for it has its name from heat {u}; the Persian kings dwelt at Shushan in the winter, and at Ecbatana in the summer {w}; hence they are compared by Aelian {x} to cranes, birds of passage, because of their going to and from the above places:



in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, here was found



a roll; which was the decree of Cyrus, which perhaps he took with him when he went thither:



and therein was a record thus written; as follows.



{s} Antiqu. l. 11. c. 4. sect. 6. {t} Curtius, l. 5. c. 8. Vid. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 6. {u} Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 618. {w} Athen. Deipnosophist, l. 12. c. 1. {x} De Animal. l. 3. c. 13.





Ezra 6:3



Ver. 3. In the first year of Cyrus the king; the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be builded,.... See Ezr 1:1,



the place where they offered sacrifices; to God in times past, ever since it was built by Solomon:



and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; so as to bear and support the building erected on them, as the word signifies:



the height thereof sixty cubits; which were thirty more than the height of Solomon's temple, 1Ki 6:2 though sixty less than the height of the porch, which was one hundred and twenty, 2Ch 3:4 and which some take to be the height of the whole house; and hence it may be observed what Herod said {y}, that the temple then in being wanted sixty cubits in height of that of Solomon's:



and the breadth thereof sixty cubits; whereas the breadth of Solomon's temple was but twenty, 1Ki 6:2, but since it cannot reasonably be thought that the breadth should be equal to the height, and so very disproportionate to Solomon's temple; many learned men understand this of the extension of it as to length, which exactly agrees with the length of the former temple, 1Ki 6:2.



{y} Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 15. c. 11. sect. 1.





Ezra 6:4



Ver. 4. With three rows of great stones,.... Which Jarchi interprets of the walls of it, and these stones of marble; and so Ben Melech:



and a row of new timber; of cedar wood upon the rows of stone, see 1Ki 6:36 or for the lining and wainscoting the walls:



and let the expenses be given out of the king's house; treasury, or exchequer; but it does not appear that this part of the decree was observed, at least hitherto; but the Jews built at their own expense, and perhaps did not exactly observe the directions given as to the dimensions of the house.





Ezra 6:5



Ver. 5. And also let the golden and silver vessels,.... See Ezr 1:7 and which confirms what the Jews said to Tatnai, Ezr 5:14.





Ezra 6:6



Ver. 6. Now therefore Tatnai, governor beyond the river,.... The river Euphrates, that side of it towards the land of Israel; Josephus {z} calls this man master of the horse:



Shetharboznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far from thence; keep at a distance from the Jews, and give them no disturbance, nor interrupt them in their work of building of the temple, but mind your own business and government.



{z} Ibid. (Antiqu.) l. 11. c. 4. sect. 7.





Ezra 6:7



Ver. 7. Let the work of this house of God alone,.... Suffer them to go on with it, and do not hinder them; it looks, by these expressions, as if he had some suspicion or hint given him that they were inclined to molest them, or that there were some that stirred them up to it, and were desirous of it:



let the governor of the Jews, and the elders of the Jews, build this house of God in his place; where it formerly stood; that is, go on with the building of it.





Ezra 6:8



Ver. 8. Moreover, I make a decree, what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews, for the building of this house of God,.... This must be considered as an additional decree of Darius, which was peculiarly made by him, in which more was granted in favour of the Jews, and as an encouragement to them to go on with the building of the temple; though Josephus {a} says this is no other than a confirmation of the decree of Cyrus; for, according to him, all that is here granted to them, or threatened to others, from hence to the end of Ezr 6:10, was contained in the decree:



that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the river; what was collected out of his dominions on that side the river Euphrates, towards the land of Israel: according to Herodotus {b}, this Darius was the first of the kings of Persia that exacted tribute; under Cyrus and Cambyses only presents were brought; but he imposed a tribute, and was therefore called kaphlov, an huckster, as Cambyses had the name of lord, and Cyrus that of father: the same writer gives an account of the several nations he received it from, and the particular sums, which in all amounted to 14,560 Euboic talents of gold; among whom are mentioned all Phoenicia and Syria, called Palestine, the tribute of which parts is the tribute beyond the river he referred to: and this king was well disposed to the Jewish nation, temple, and worship, before he was king, if what Josephus {c} says is true, that, while a private man, he vowed to God that, if he should be king, he would send all the sacred vessels that were in Babylon to the temple at Jerusalem: and out of the above tribute it is ordered,



that forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered; from going on with the building, for want of money to buy materials, and pay the workmen.



{a} Antiqu. l. 11. c. 4. sect. 6. {b} Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 89-95. {c} Antiqu. l. 11. c. 3. sect. 1.





Ezra 6:9



Ver. 9. And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven,.... All which were used for burnt offerings, see Le 1:2



wheat, salt, wine, and oil; "wheat", or "fine flour", for the "minchah" or meat offering; "salt", for every offering; "wine", for the drink offerings; and "oil", to be put upon the meat offerings, see Le 2:1,



according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail; for the daily sacrifice, and the meat and drink offerings which attended it, Ex 29:38.





Ezra 6:10



Ver. 10. That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven,.... Such as will be acceptable to him, Ge 8:21



and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons; prayer being wont to be made at the time of the morning and evening incense; and the Jews used to pray for other people besides themselves, and especially when desired, and particularly for kings and civil magistrates, to whom they were subject, see Jer 29:7, the sons of Darius Hystaspis, for whose life, as well as his own, he would have prayer made, were, according to Herodotus {d}, three by his first wife, the daughter of Gobryas, before he began to reign, the eldest of which was Artobazanes; which sons must be here meant, since this was towards the beginning of his reign; he had afterwards four more by Atossa the daughter of Cyrus, the eldest of which was Xerxes, who succeeded him: many of the Heathens had an high opinion of the God of the Jews, and of their prayers to him for them; even the Emperor Julian {e} styles him the best of all the gods, and desired the Jews to pray to him for the welfare of his kingdom; nor need it seem strange that Darius should desire the same, since he was a devout prince; his father Hystaspes is supposed by some to be the same that was one of the most famous among the Persian Magi, or ministers in sacred things; and Darius himself had so great a veneration for the men of that sacred order, that he commanded that it should be put upon his sepulchral monument, that he was master of the Magi {f}; and by his familiarity with the priests of Egypt, and learning their divinity, had the honour, while alive, to have deity ascribed to him {g}.



{d} Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 2. {e} Opera, par. 2. ep. 25. p. 153. {f} Porphyr. de abstinentia, l. 4, c. 16. {g} Diodor. Sic. l. 1. p. 85.





Ezra 6:11



Ver. 11. Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word,.... Act contrary to this command, will not obey it, but as much as in him lies changes and revokes it:



let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him, be hanged thereon; that is, let a beam be taken from it, and a gallows or gibbet made of it, and hang him on it:



and let his house be made a dunghill for this; be pulled down, and never rebuilt more, See Gill on "Da 2:2",

See Gill on "Da 2:9".





Ezra 6:12



Ver. 12. And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there,.... Whose name is not only called upon there, and that called by his name; but who grants his presence, and causes his Shechinah, or divine Majesty, to dwell there, as in Solomon's temple, which Darius had some knowledge of:



destroy all kings and people; let them be who they will, high or low:



that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God, which is at Jerusalem; this he said to deter from hindering the building of it now, and from attempting to destroy it hereafter:



I Darius have made a decree, let it be done with speed; be carried immediately into execution, especially with respect to the disbursement for the building of the temple, and for the sacrifices of it.





Ezra 6:13



Ver. 13. Then Tatnai, governor on this side the river, Shetharboznai, and their companions,.... Having received and read the above letter:



according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they did speedily; acquainted the Jews with what the king had written; were so far from hindering the work going forward, that they encouraged it; and made disbursements to them out of the king's tribute, and furnished them with everything necessary for sacrifice: and this they did immediately, without delay.





Ezra 6:14



Ver. 14. And the elders of the Jews builded,.... Went on with the building of the temple:



and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo; or grandson, as before; being animated and encouraged by them; and as they foretold and promised it would, be, so it was; they had success in their work, the Lord overruling the heart of Darius the king and his council in their favour:



and they builded and finished it; that is, the temple:



according to the commandment of the God of Israel; by the above prophets, who spoke to them, and prophesied in his name:



and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia; the commandment of Cyrus is in Ezr 1:1 that of Darius in this, Ezr 6:8, but who Artaxerxes is, and his commandment, is not easy to say; he cannot be the Artaxerxes between Cyrus and Darius, but one that followed the latter; besides, he was a hinderer of the building, Ezr 4:21, some think this was Xerxes the son and successor of Darius, and who might be partner with his father in the empire at this time, and so is joined with him in this commandment; which is more probable than that he should be his grandson Artaxerxes Longimamus, in whose reign the temple, it is supposed, was beautified and ornamented, though the exterior building of it was before finished; and so he is spoken of by anticipation; and still more plausible than that he should be, with others, Artaxerxes Mnemon, the son of Darius Nothus; but, after all, I am most inclined to think, with Aben Ezra, that he is Darius himself; and the words to be read, Darius, that is, Artaxerxes, king of Persia; Artaxerxes being, as he observes, a common name of the kings of Persia, as Pharaoh was of the kings of Egypt; though this is by some rejected {h}; and who goes by this name in the continuance of this history, in whose seventh year, the year after this, Ezra went up to Jerusalem, and, in the twentieth of his reign, Nehemiah, Ezr 7:1, and I find Dr. Lightfoot {i} was of the same mind; and, according to Diodorus Siculus {k}, the kings of Persia were called by the name of Artaxerxes after Mnemon; and so they might before; Cambyses is so called in Ezr 4:7. Herodotus {l} says the name signifies "a mighty warrior".



{h} Vid. Rainold de Lib. Apocryph. praelect. 31. p. 271. {i} Works, vol. 1. p. 139. {k} Bibliothec. l. 15. p. 400. {l} Erato, sive, l. 6. c. 98.





Ezra 6:15



Ver. 15. And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar,.... The twelfth month of the year with the Jews, and answers to part of our February and part of March:



which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king; four years after the decree came forth.





Ezra 6:16



Ver. 16. And the children of Israel,.... Those of the ten tribes that remained after the body of the people were carried captive, or came with the Jews at their return:



the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity; those of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin:



kept the dedication of this house of God with joy; they set it apart for sacred use and service, with feasting and other expressions of joy and gladness, as follows.





Ezra 6:17



Ver. 17. And offered, at the dedication of this house of God, an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs,.... Hecatombs of various sorts, which were always reckoned grand sacrifices, even among Heathens, of which Homer sometimes speaks; some of these were for burnt offerings, and others peace offerings, by way of thankfulness to God for the finishing of the temple; part of which belonging to the offerers, they feasted upon it with great gladness of heart:



and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel; for though the ten tribes were carried captive by Shalmaneser, yet, as before observed, there were some of them that remained in the land, and others that went and returned with the two tribes; and therefore a sin offering was made for them all, for the typical expiation of guilt contracted since they had been in an Heathen land, and, temple service had ceased.





Ezra 6:18



Ver. 18. And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God which is at Jerusalem,.... All in their proper classes and courses, to do the work of the temple at Jerusalem in their turns:



as it is written in the book of Moses; see Nu 3:6, from hence it is plain the Pentateuch was not written by Ezra, as suspected by Spinosa {m}, but by Moses; see the argument of the book of Genesis. See Gill on "Ge 1:1".



{m} Tract. Theolog. Polit. c. 8. p. 163.





Ezra 6:19



Ver. 19. And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. The month Nisan or Abib, which was the month following that in which the temple was finished, Ezr 6:15, this passover was kept at the exact time the law commanded, Ex 12:2.





Ezra 6:20



Ver. 20. For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure,.... They were all to a man pure, and all purified as one man; all were of one mind to purify themselves, and took care to do it, and did it with as much dispatch as if only one man was purified; so that they were more generally prepared for service now than in the times of Hezekiah, 2Ch 29:34



and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests and for themselves; which seems to have been done by the Levites, for themselves and for the priests, and for all the people, who were not so pure as the priests and Levites; or otherwise they might have killed it themselves, Ex 12:6, as Bochart {n} thinks.



{n} Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 50. col. 576.





Ezra 6:21



Ver. 21. And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity,.... The tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with some of the ten tribes mixed with them:



and all such as had separated themselves unto them, from the filthiness of the Heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of Israel, did eat; such of the Gentiles in the dominions of Babylon, and came with the Jews from thence, who were enlightened into the knowledge and worship of the true God, and not only renounced their idolatry, here called filthiness, but were circumcised, and embraced the religion of the Jews, and so were proselytes of righteousness, as they call them; or otherwise they would not have been allowed to eat of the passover, as they did, Ex 12:48.





Ezra 6:22



Ver. 22. And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy,.... Which immediately followed upon the passover, Ex 12:18,



for the Lord had made them joyful; the building of the temple being finished, and the service of it restored to its original purity;



and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel; by giving them leave to go on in building the temple, and by encouraging and assisting them in it till they had finished it; this was Darius Artaxerxes, who, though called king of Persia, was also king of Assyria, being possessed of the Assyrian monarchy, as his predecessors were upon the taking of Babylon, and the same is therefore called also the king of Babylon, Ne 13:6. God, the God of Israel, who has the hearts of all men in his hands, and so the hearts of kings, and can turn them at his pleasure, inclined his heart to do them good, which was matter of joy unto them, see Ezr 7:27.

 

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.

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