Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

5:1-2 The prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, are also known from their books, which contain prophecies made in the second year of King Darius, 520 b.c. (Hag. 1:1; 2:1; Zech. 1:1, 7; cf. note on Ezra 4:24; cf. also 6:14). Haggai proclaims that the people were in trouble because they had lost sight of their top priority of rebuilding the temple (Hag. 1:4-6). Verses 1-2 of Ezra 5 bring out the connection between the prophetic work and the renewed action, following the discouragement recorded in 4:4-5, 24. In beginning again, Zerubbabel and Jeshua are simply reimplementing Cyrus's decree, recognizing it as the will and purpose of God.

5:3-5 The officials Tattenai and Shethar-bozenai are much more neutral than the officials named in 4:8-10. Clearly they have no knowledge of Cyrus's decree, no doubt because the work had long stopped, and they presumably came to power only after the exiles first arrived. They are interested only in the proper authorization of this important thing that was happening under their jurisdiction, and they do not actually interfere with the work's progress. The author knows that a higher authority, the eye of . . . God (5:5), was watching over the builders' activity and that God was protecting them (cf. Ps. 33:18).

5:6 The copy of the letter has a formal opening similar to the one in 4:7-16.

5:8 The province of Judah lay within the Persian province Beyond the River, of which Tattenai was governor in Samaria. (Texts from the reign of Darius I dating 520-519 b.c. name the local governor of the province "Beyond the River" as Tattanu [cf. Tattenai; vv. 3, 6; 6:6, 13].) The expression the house of the great God is a diplomatic way of referring to the temple and the God of Israel, and does not imply that the writers of the letter believe in him. The use of huge stones and timber recalls the building of the first temple (1 Kings 6:36; 7:12) and was a common practice in the ancient Near East.

5:9-10 The officials' concern for administrative propriety is reflected in their inquiries about both the original authorization and the names of those who are to be held responsible for the action being undertaken.

5:11-17 The letter now reports the reply of the Jewish leaders. (Quotation was also a feature of known formal Persian letters.)

5:11 The letter writers probably got their information from the returned exiles themselves, since it reflects their understanding of the situation. We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. They do not hesitate to say that they are serving not a local deity but the one true God of the whole world. They give this answer instead of giving their individual names when asked (v. 10). The great king of Israel is Solomon.

5:12 This verse sums up the message of 1-2 Kings.

5:13-15 These verses essentially repeat information found in 1:2-4. The report stops short of claiming that Cyrus had also commanded that the building be funded by local donations (1:4). This was perhaps more than Tattenai (or even the exiles) wished to urge at this point.

5:13 Cyrus the king made a decree. See 1:1-4.

5:14 Sheshbazzar was introduced as "the prince of Judah" in 1:8, being the one who had received directly from King Cyrus the charge to rebuild the temple. Here he is called governor, a name applied to Tattenai himself in 5:3; it seems that the term could be used somewhat loosely, since Judah would not have had a "governor" on a par with the governor of the entire province Beyond the River (v. 6, etc.). Darius's reply also refers to a "governor of the Jews" (6:7), a name given to Zerubbabel in Hag. 1:1.

5:16-17 it has been in building. The period when building had ceased was irrelevant both to the information Tattenai was giving and to the request he was making. The author therefore omits here the specific work of Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Haggai, and Zechariah (though their names were no doubt among those asked for by the governor, and sent with the letter; see v. 10). Tattenai, following the Jews' own account, wants to make a link between the original authorization and the present building activity, and so portrays Sheshbazzar as having laid the foundations of the temple, since it was done under his authority, though that achievement is attributed to the work initiated by Zerubbabel and Jeshua in 3:8-10.