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Commentary on Ezra 5 verses 3–17
We have here, I. The cognizance which their neighbours soon took of the reviving of this good work. A jealous eye, it seems, they had upon them, and no sooner did the Spirit of God stir up the friends of the temple to appear for it than the evil spirit stirred up its enemies to appear against it. While the people built and ceiled their own houses their enemies gave them no molestation (Hag 1:4), though the king's order was to put a stop to the building of the city (Ezr 4:21); but when they fell to work again at the temple then the alarm was taken, and all heads were at work to hinder them, Ezr 5:3, Ezr 5:4. The adversaries are here named: Tatnai and Shethar-boznai. The governors we read of (ch. 4) were, it is probable, displaced at the beginning of this reign, as is usual. It is the policy of princes often to change their deputies, proconsuls, and rulers of provinces. These, though real enemies to the building of the temple, were men of better temper than the other, and made some conscience of telling truth. If all men have not faith (Th2 3:2), it is well some have, and a sense of honour. The church's enemies are not all equally wicked and unreasonable. The historian begins to relate what passed between the builders and those inquisitors (Ezr 5:3, Ezr 5:4), but breaks off his account, and refers to the ensuing copy of the letter they sent to the king, where the same appears more fully and at large, which he began to abridge (Ezr 5:4), or make an extract out of, though, upon second thoughts, he inserted the whole.
II. The care which the divine Providence took of this good work (Ezr 5:5): The eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, who were active in the work, so that their enemies could not cause them to cease, as they would have done, till the matter came to Darius. They desired they would only cease till they had instructions from the king about it. But they would not so much as yield them that, for the eye of God was upon them, even their God. And, 1. That baffled their enemies, infatuated and enfeebled them, and protected the builders from their malicious designs. While we are employed in God's work we are taken under his special protection; his eye is upon us for good, seven eyes upon one stone in his temple; see Zac 3:9; Zac 4:10. 2. That quickened them. The elders of the Jews saw the eye of God upon them, to observe what they did and own them in what they did well, and then they had courage enough to face their enemies and to go on vigorously with their work, notwithstanding all the opposition they met with. our eye upon God, observing his eye upon us, will keep us to our duty and encourage us in it when the difficulties are ever so discouraging.
III. The account they sent to the king of this matter, in which we may observe,
1.How fully the elders of the Jews gave the Samaritans an account of their proceedings. They, finding them both busy and prosperous, that all hands were at work to run up this building and that it went on rapidly, put these questions to them: - "By what authority do you do these things, and who gave you that authority? Who set you to work? Have you that which will bear you out?" To this they answered that they had sufficient warrant to do what they did; for, (1.) "We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. The God we worship is not a local deity, and therefore we cannot be charged with making a faction, or setting up a sect, in building this temple to his honour: but we pay our homage to a God on whom the whole creation depends, and therefore ought to be protected and assisted by all and hindered by none." It is the wisdom as well as duty of kings to countenance the servants of the God of heaven. (2.) "We have a prescription to this house; it was built for the honour of our God by Solomon many ages ago. It is no novel invention of our own; we are but raising the foundations of many generations," Isa 58:12. (3.) "It was to punish us for our sins that we were, for a time, put out of the possession of this house; not because the gods of the nations had prevailed against our God, but because we had provoked him (Ezr 5:12), for which he delivered us and our temple into the hands of the king of Babylon, but never intended thereby to put a final period to our religion. We were only suspended for a time, not deprived for ever." (4.) "We have the royal decree of Cyrus to justify us and bear us out in what we do. He not only permitted and allowed us, but charged and commanded us to build this house (Ezr 5:13), and to build it in its place (Ezr 5:15), the same place where it had stood before." He ordered this, not only in compassion to the Jews, but in veneration of their God, saying, He is the God. He also delivered the vessels of the temple to one whom he entrusted to see them restored to their ancient place and use, Ezr 5:14. And they had these to show in confirmation of what they alleged. (5.) "The building was begun according to this order as soon as ever we had returned, so that we have not forfeited the benefit of the order for want of pursuing it in time; still it has been in building, but, because we have met with opposition, it is not finished." But, observe, they mention not the falsehood and malice of the former governors, nor make any complaint of them, though they had cause enough, to teach us not to render bitterness for bitterness, nor the most just reproach for that which is most unjust, but to think it enough if we can obtain fair treatment for the future, without an invidious reference to former injuries, Ezr 5:16. This is the account they give of their proceedings, not asking what authority they had to examine them, nor upbraiding them with their idolatry, and superstitions, and medley religion. Let us learn hence with meekness and fear to give a reason of the hope that is in us (Pe1 3:15), rightly to understand, and then readily to declare, what we do in God's service and why we do it.
2.How fairly the Samaritans represented this to the king. (1.) They called the temple at Jerusalem the house of the great God (Ezr 5:8); for though the Samaritans, as it should seem, had yet gods many and lords many, they owned the God of Israel to be the great God, who is above all gods. "It is the house of the great God, and therefore we dare not oppose the building of it without orders from thee." (2.) They told him truly what was done, not stating, as their predecessors did, that they were fortifying the city as if they intended war, but only that they were rearing the temple as those that intended worship, Ezr 5:8. (3.) They fully represented their plea, told him what they had to say for themselves, and were willing that the cause should be set in a true light. (4.) They left it to the king to consult the records whether Cyrus had indeed made such a decree, and then to give directions as he should think fit, Ezr 5:17. We have reason to think that if Artaxerxes, in the foregoing chapter, had had the Jews' cause as fairly represented to him as it was here to Darius, he would not have ordered the work to be hindered. God's people could not be persecuted if they were not belied, could not be baited if they were not dressed up in bears' skins. Let but the cause of God and truth be fairly stated, and fairly heard, and it will keep its ground.
And it pleased them that the matter should be referred to Darius, etc., until the end of the letter. This letter that Thathannai writes to Darius is very different from the letter that Rehum and Samsai wrote to Artaxerxes. For that letter was filled with accusations against the people of Jerusalem, whereas this one is full of praise not only of the people but also of Almighty God. Indeed, it begins thus: “To King Darius, all peace. Let it be known to the king, that we went to the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is being built with unpolished stone, and timber is being laid in the walls, and this work is being diligently built, and it grows in their hands. Therefore, we questioned these elders, and thus we said to them: Who gave you the authority to build this house? etc.” In these words, it is also noteworthy how it is said, the house of God is built with unpolished stone; since it is evident that such a work could only have been done with polished stones. But “unpolished stone” should be understood to mean new stone, which they indeed found unpolished, but by polishing, they made it fit for building the house of the Lord: for even if some of the old stones, which, as Jeremiah lamentingly shows (Lamentations 4), were scattered at the head of every street, remained, it is nonetheless doubtful that new stones had to be polished, from which the work of the temple could be completed. In which indeed there is an evident mystery, since we see the Church of God being built, not only from those who repentantly return to the life of holiness which they previously lost by sinning; but also from those who recently have been called to faith, composed under the instruction of teachers like the rule of craftsmen, and placed in the building of the house of the Lord in a suitable order. Although it can also be rightly understood this way, that the temple was built of both old and new stones, of long-polished and more recently unpolished stones; since from both peoples, namely the Jews and the Gentiles, one Church of Christ is gathered; one, which was long polished in knowledge and observance of God's law; the other, which was enslaved to idolatry, had shed the deformity of a rustic and earthly mind by no industry of spiritual architects, by no cult of piety. And what follows in the same letter: And timber is placed in the walls. The timber that was placed for the monument or ornament of the walls of the temple signified the same life of the saints in the ornament of the holy Church, which the stones also signify, as we have taught above. These timbers the prophet mentions in a psalm, in which the house of the Lord is built after the captivity: “Then all the trees of the forest will rejoice before the face of the Lord, because he comes, for he comes to judge the earth” (Psalm 96). Indeed, the hearts of the once proud rejoice because they were cut from the impious mount of ancestral tradition, and have deserved to be transferred into the construction of the house of the Lord. They rejoice before the face of the Lord, because he comes to judge the earth; whose strict judgment they have anticipated by a healthy fear, and whose coming once they dreaded as sinners, now corrected and justified, they eagerly desire. That former letter, therefore, was written with insidious intent, this one with friendly letters; and rightly so, because the former was from the Samaritan enemies of the Jews everywhere; but this one was sent by the governor of the region beyond the river, that is, lower Syria and Phoenicia, and by his associates, who had no domestic enmities against the Jews, but only wished to know and execute the will of the king, from whom they received the authority of governance. Hence, the Samaritans, who wrote the first letter inciting the king's anger against the builders of the temple, are rightly compared to heretics, who often so defile the Church with vile plagues that they even make it hateful to the Gentiles and arouse their fury against it. Nevertheless, this governor of Syria, who does not accuse but consults the king about the work of the house of God, rightly represents those who, still situated in gentile life, marvel at the faith and works of the Church; nor do they deny that they would believe if they could understand that this is the true and just worship of divinity. Finally, hearing from the elders of the Jews, when they gave an account of their construction: “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are building the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and completed. But because our fathers provoked the God of heaven to wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house; and the rest, which they answered about the renovation of the same temple, which was commanded by Cyrus.” Having nothing further to contradict with his advisers, nor wishing to impede the builders, he was simply inquiring whether Cyrus had indeed ordered the temple to be built, and whether Darius himself wanted it built. Having recognized the will of both kings, along with his own, he diligently aided the construction of the temple that the entire work might be completed, as is written subsequently. All these things harmonize with the mind and action of those who, previously living a gentile life, suddenly witnessing the conduct of the holy Church, desire to hear and learn the rationale of the same religion; and at last, recognizing that this originated from the God of heaven and earth, who is the only true God, they themselves, believing, rejoice to assist its building. But let us see what King Darius did when he received the letter from the governor and his advisers.
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SUMMARY
Ezra 5:7 serves as the formal opening of a meticulously crafted letter dispatched by Tatnai, the Persian governor of Trans-Euphrates, and his associates to King Darius I. This crucial communication was initiated in direct response to the renewed and vigorous efforts of the Jewish community to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, a project that had previously been stalled. The verse precisely captures the diplomatic protocol of the vast Persian Empire, commencing with a respectful and deferential salutation to the reigning monarch, "Unto Darius the king, all peace," thereby signaling a formal inquiry rather than an immediate, arbitrary cessation of the sacred work.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Ezra 5:7 primarily employs Direct Discourse, as it presents the verbatim opening words of the letter sent to King Darius. This literary choice allows the reader to directly engage with the formal and diplomatic language characteristic of ancient Persian administration. The pervasive use of Formulaic Language is strikingly evident in the standardized greeting "Unto [Name] the king, all peace," which was a common and expected epistolary convention of the era, signifying profound respect, adherence to protocol, and a desire for auspicious communication. Furthermore, the verse demonstrates remarkable Conciseness in its opening, conveying a profound sense of deference, official intent, and strategic diplomacy in just a few carefully chosen words, thereby effectively setting the deferential and formal tone for the detailed inquiry that would follow.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Ezra 5:7, though appearing to be a simple administrative detail, carries profound theological weight, powerfully demonstrating God's absolute sovereignty over earthly rulers and intricate bureaucratic processes. Even when His people face potential opposition or scrutiny from governing authorities, God's divine plan for their restoration and the sacred rebuilding of His temple relentlessly moves forward. The respectful and legalistic approach prudently taken by Tatnai, rather than an immediate and arbitrary cessation of work, ultimately serves to confirm the divine decree originally given through King Cyrus. This sequence of events vividly showcases how God can strategically use human systems, even those operating outside of His direct covenant people, to meticulously accomplish His sovereign will. This verse serves as a powerful reminder that God's ultimate purposes are never thwarted by human inquiries or administrative hurdles but can, in fact, be divinely advanced and fulfilled through them.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Ezra 5:7 offers invaluable and practical lessons for believers navigating the complexities of contemporary society. It profoundly underscores the enduring importance of respectful engagement with governing authorities, even when their intentions or policies might appear to challenge our faith or mission. Tatnai's deliberate decision to follow proper channels and address the king with profound deference, rather than resorting to immediate force or arbitrary action, serves as a compelling model for how believers can and should operate within established systems. It actively encourages us to communicate with unwavering integrity and deep respect, seeking clarification and presenting our case through appropriate, legal means, all the while trusting implicitly that God can sovereignly work through such processes. Furthermore, the verse provides profound encouragement that God's overarching purposes are never derailed by bureaucratic inquiries or unforeseen challenges, but that He can, in fact, sovereignly use such situations to bring about His desired outcomes, ultimately leading to the glorious fulfillment of His promises and the relentless advancement of His eternal kingdom.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why did Tatnai write to Darius instead of just stopping the work?
Answer: Tatnai, as a high-ranking Persian governor, operated within a highly structured and legally-driven administrative system that placed immense value on legal precedent and royal decrees. The Jewish people claimed they were rebuilding the temple based on a legitimate decree from King Cyrus (Ezra 5:11-15). To arbitrarily stop the work without first verifying this claim would have constituted a serious overreach of his authority, particularly if a valid royal decree indeed existed. By sending a formal letter to King Darius, Tatnai was meticulously following proper imperial protocol, seeking definitive clarification from the highest authority in the empire. This cautious and legalistic approach ensured that any action taken would be legally sound and unequivocally backed by the king's supreme word, thereby preventing potential political repercussions for Tatnai and demonstrating his unwavering loyalty and strict adherence to imperial law.
What is the significance of "all peace" in this context?
Answer: The phrase "all peace" (Aramaic shᵉlâm, cognate with the Hebrew shalom) is a profound and comprehensive greeting that extends far beyond merely signifying the absence of conflict. In this diplomatic context, it conveys a profound wish for wholeness, complete well-being, abundant prosperity, security, and harmonious stability in all aspects of the king's life and reign. It serves as a formal expression of deep deference, unwavering loyalty, and a sincere desire for the king's continued welfare and the enduring stability of his vast empire. By opening with such a respectful and encompassing wish, Tatnai and his associates aimed to establish a favorable and deferential tone for their subsequent inquiry, demonstrating their allegiance and seeking the king's goodwill before presenting their concerns about the temple rebuilding.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Ezra 5:7, with its emphasis on a formal greeting of "all peace" directed to an earthly king, profoundly foreshadows the ultimate "Prince of Peace" who would come to establish an eternal kingdom of true and lasting peace. The shalom sought for Darius, a temporal ruler of a fleeting empire, finds its ultimate and eternal fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the divine one who brings about perfect reconciliation between a holy God and fallen humanity, effectively breaking down the dividing wall of hostility through His sacrificial death on the cross (Ephesians 2:14-16). Just as God sovereignly worked through the intricate Persian bureaucracy to ensure the rebuilding of the physical temple in Jerusalem, He meticulously orchestrated all of human history, including the rise and fall of earthly kings and empires, to bring about the glorious coming of His Son. Christ, the true and eternal King, possesses all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18), and His righteous reign ushers in a peace that transcends all human understanding (Philippians 4:7), not merely the absence of conflict, but the comprehensive well-being, spiritual harmony, and divine flourishing that God eternally desires for His entire creation. The rebuilding of the physical temple in Ezra points powerfully forward to the spiritual temple, the Church, which is built upon Christ as its chief cornerstone, where God's true presence eternally dwells and where His perfect peace is fully realized (1 Peter 2:4-5).