Prophets Haggai and Zechariah Encourage Jews to Rebuild Temple

EZRA 5 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
1
ow Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the
prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the
Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the
God of Israel, who was over them.
BAR ES, "Haggai and Zechariah stirred up Zerubbabel and Joshua Ezr_5:2; Hag_
1:14, and warned the people against neglecting the building of the temple, in order to
give themselves to the beautifying of their own houses (see Hag_1:4, Hag_1:9).
Zechariah was the son of Berechiah, and grandson of Iddo (see the marginal reference;
Mat_23:35). Compare a similar application of “son” in the case of Jehu (see the 2Ki_
9:20 note).
In the name of the God of Israel, even unto them - Rather, “in the name of the
God of Israel, which was upon them.” The two prophets addressed the Jews, in respect
of their being God’s people, or, in Hebrew phrase (see the Jer_15:16 margin), “having
God’s name called upon them.”
CLARKE, "Haggai - and Zechariah - These are the same whose writings we have
among the twelve minor prophets.
The son of Iddo - That is, the grandson of Iddo; for Zechariah was the son of
Barachiah, the son of Iddo. See his prophecy, Zec_1:1 (note).
GILL, "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.

HE RY, "Some reckon that the building of the temple was suspended for only nine
years; I am willing to believe that fifteen years were the utmost. During this time they
had an altar and a tabernacle, which no doubt they made use of. When we cannot do
what we would we must do what we can in the service of God, and be sorry we can do no
better. But the counsellors that were hired to hinder the work (Ezr_4:5) told them, and
perhaps with a pretence to inspiration, that the time had not come for the building of the
temple (Hag_1:2), urging that it was long ere the time came for the building of
Solomon's temple; and thus the people were made easy in their own ceiled houses, while
God's house lay waste. Now here we are told how life was put into that good cause which
seemed to lie dead.
I. They had two good ministers, who, in God's name, earnestly persuaded them to put
the wheel of business in motion again. Observe,
1. Who these ministers were, namely, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, who both
began to prophesy in the second year of Darius, as appears, Hag_1:1; Zec_1:1. Note, (1.)
The temple of God among men is to be built by prophecy, not by secular force (that often
hinders it, but seldom furthers it), but by the word of God. As the weapons of our
warfare, so the instruments of our building, are not carnal, but spiritual, and they are
the ministers of the gospel that are the master-builders. (2.) It is the business of God's
prophets to stir up God's people to that which is good, and to help them in it, to
strengthen their hands, and, by suitable considerations fetched from the word of God, to
quicken them to their duty and encourage them in it. (3.) It is a sign that God has mercy
in store for a people when he raises up prophets among them to be their helpers in the
way and work of God, their guides, overseers, and rulers.
2. To whom they were sent. They prophesied unto the Jews (for, as to them pertained
the giving of the law, so also the gift of prophecy, and therefore they are called the
children of the prophets, Act_3:25, because they were educated under their tuition and
instruction), even unto them, upon them, even upon them (so it is in the original), as
Ezekiel prophesied upon the dry bones, that they might live, Eze_37:4. They prophesied
against them (so bishop Patrick), for they reproved them because they did not build the
temple. The word of God, if it be not received now as a testimony to us, will be received
now as a testimony to us, will be received another day as a testimony against us, and will
judge us.
3. Who sent them. They prophesied in the name, or (as some read it) in the cause, or
for the sake, of the God of Israel; they spoke by commission from him, and argued from
his authority over them, his interest in them, and the concern of his glory among them.
JAMISO , "Ezr_5:1-17. Zerubbabel and Jeshua set forward the building of the
Temple in the reign of Darius.
Then the prophets ... prophesied ... in the name of the God of Israel — From
the recorded writings of Haggai and Zechariah, it appears that the difficulties
experienced and the many obstacles thrown in the way had first cooled the zeal of the
Jews in the building of the temple, and then led to an abandonment of the work, under a
pretended belief that the time for rebuilding it had not yet come (Hag_1:2-11). For
fifteen years the work was completely suspended. These two prophets upbraided them
with severe reproaches for their sloth, negligence, and worldly selfishness (Hag_1:4),
threatened them with severe judgments if they continued backward, and promised that
they would be blessed with great national prosperity if they resumed and prosecuted the
work with alacrity and vigor.

Zechariah the son of Iddo — that is, grandson (Zec_1:1).
K&D, " “The prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo,
prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel upon
them.” ‫י‬ ִ ַ‫נ‬ ְ‫ת‬ ִ‫ח‬ without ‫,א‬ which this word occasionally loses in Hebrew also, comp. 1Sa_
10:6, 1Sa_10:13; Jer_26:9. The epithet ‫אה‬ָ ִ‫ב‬ְ‫נ‬ added to the name of Haggai serves to
distinguish him from others of the same name, and as well as ‫יא‬ ִ‫ב‬ָ ַ‫,ה‬ Hagg. Hag_1:1,
Hag_1:3, Hag_1:12, and elsewhere, is used instead of the name of his father; hence, after
Zechariah is named, the prophets, as designating the position of both, can follow.
‫א‬ֵ‫י‬ ָ‫הוּד‬ְ‫ל־י‬ ַ‫,ע‬ they prophesied to (not against) the Jews; ‫ל‬ ַ‫ע‬ as in Eze_37:4, = ‫ל‬ ֶ‫,א‬ Eze_37:9;
Eze_36:1. The Jews in Judah and Jerusalem, in contradistinction to Jews dwelling
elsewhere, especially to those who had remained in Babylon. ‫ּון‬‫ה‬‫י‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ֲ‫ע‬ belongs to ָ‫ל‬ ֱ‫א‬ ‫ם‬ ֻ‫שׁ‬ ְ , in
the name of God, who was upon them, who was come upon them, had manifested
Himself to them. Comp. Jer_15:16.
COFFMA , "Verse 1
AFTER A 15-YEAR DELAY; WORK O THE TEMPLE RESUMED;
THE GOVER OR REPORTS TO DARIUS I;
THE HISTORICAL SITUATIO
The opposition of the people of the land had succeeded in weakening the purpose of
Israel to rebuild the temple. As we learn from Haggai and others of the Minor
Prophets, the lack of zeal and devotion on the part of God's people themselves had
also contributed to this long delay (Haggai 1:2-11). Under the urgent admonitions of
Haggai, both Zerubbabel and Jeshua rose up and vigorously began work on the
temple. The foundation had been laid much earlier, but that foundation was
probably little more than a ground-breaking that projected the size of the structure
but did little else.
Also a new governor, operating from his headquarters in Damascus, under the
authority of the Persian ruler who, at this time was Darius Hystaspes, was in charge
of the satrapy that included Palestine. The governor was Tattenai, a far more noble
person than the evil Rehum, a governor who came much later, and whose
sympathies were totally in favor of the Samaritans and who was bitterly opposed to
Israel.
We may be sure that when work was resumed on the temple that the Samaritans
went immediately to Damascus to enlist the aid of the new governor in stopping it.
Tattenai, however, refused to take any action against the temple work until he had
consulted his overlord Darius I.
This chapter provides the sacred record of these developments.

WORK O THE TEMPLE RESUMED
" ow the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied
unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem; in the name of the God of Israel,
prophesied they unto them. Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and
Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at
Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God helping them."
" ow the prophets" (Ezra 5:1). The record here does not mention what the
prophets prophesied; but it is clear that they demanded that the Jews resume work
on their temple. (See Vol. 3 of our Commentaries on the Minor Prophets (Haggai),
pp. 187-197, for a discussion of just how urgent the message of the prophets was.) At
any rate, Israel heeded it, and began to build the temple.
"Haggai ... and Zechariah" (Ezra 5:1). "The work on the temple was renewed only
three weeks after Haggai began preaching, which was Sept. 20,520 B.C."[1]
"Zerubbabel is highly honored in Haggai and in Zechariah 4; Jeshua is honored in
Zechariah 3 and Zechariah 6."[2]
"And began to build the house of God" (Ezra 5:2). This supports our view that the
first laying of the foundation was a very elementary thing. Haggai complained that
the house of God "lay in waste" (Haggai 1:4); and that is the same terminology that
was used after ebuchadnezzar destroyed it. Furthermore, as Hamrick pointed out,
"Haggai 1:12-15 does not mention any previous attempt to build the temple; and
this probably means that Sheshbazzar's beginnings had been so meager that the
project had to be started anew."[3]
"Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel" (Ezra 5:2).
COKE, "Ver. 1. Haggai—and Zechariah— Concerning these prophets, see the
books which bear their names. They are both thought to have been born at Babylon
during the captivity, and both with united zeal encouraged the people to go on with
the work of the temple. Upon the accession of Darius to the throne, Haggai in
particular, by reproaching the people with their indolence and insensibility; by
telling them, that they were careful enough to lodge themselves very commodiously,
while the house of the Lord lay buried in its ruins; and by putting them in mind,
that the calamities of drought and famine, wherewith God had afflicted them since
their return, were owing to their neglect in building the temple, prevailed with them
to set about the work in good earnest; so that, by virtue of these reproofs, as well as
some encouragements which God occasionally authorized him to give them, they
brought the whole to a conclusion in a short time.
ELLICOTT, "(1-2) ow occurs the intervention of the two prophets, Haggai and
Zechariah, whose testimonies and predictions should at this point be read. They
reveal a state of apathy which Ezra does not allude to; such a state of things, in fact,
as would have thwarted the whole design of Providence had it not been changed.
Hence the abrupt return of the spirit of prophecy, some of the last utterances of

which provoked or “stirred up “—as Cyrus had been stirred up—the spirit of the
two leaders and of the heads of the families.
BE SO , "Ezra 5:1. Haggai and Zechariah — Concerning these prophets, see the
books which bear their names. They are both thought to have been born at Babylon
during the captivity, and both with united zeal encouraged the people to go on with
the work of the temple. Upon the accession of Darius to the throne, Haggai, in
particular, by reproaching the people with their indolence and insensibility; by
telling them that they were careful enough to lodge themselves very commodiously,
while the house of the Lord lay buried in its ruins; and by putting them in mind that
the calamities of drought and famine, wherewith God had afflicted them since their
return, were owing to their neglect in repairing the temple, prevailed with them to
set about the work in good earnest; so that, by virtue of these reproofs, as well as
some encouragements which God occasionally authorized him to give them, they
brought the whole to a conclusion in a short time. The son of Iddo — That is, the
grandson; for Zechariah was the son of Barachiah. Prophesied unto the Jews —
Commanding them from God to return to building the temple, with a promise of his
favour and assistance.
CO STABLE, "The resumption of work5:1-2
The Book of Haggai contains four messages that Haggai delivered to the returned
exiles in520 B.C. We know from what he said that the people had turned from their
commitment to rebuild the temple, to constructing comfortable houses for
themselves ( Haggai 1:2-11). The prophet Zechariah joined Haggai in encouraging
the people to give God"s interests priority over their own ( Ezra 5:1).
"There is always an effective answer to discouragement in the bold proclamation of
the word of God." [ ote: McConville, p32.]
In response to the ministries of these prophets, the people began to rebuild the
temple again ( Ezra 5:2; Haggai 1:12-14) in520 B.C. ( Ezra 4:24).
DUMMELOW, "The Building of the Temple Recommenced
This chapter gives an account of a renewed attempt to rebuild the Temple, and
recites a letter from the Persian officials in Judæa to the Persian court to enquire
whether the Jews had leave to proceed with the work.
1. Then the prophets] The hostility of their neighbours (Ezra 4:4-5), coupled with
disastrous seasons (Haggai 1:10-11; Haggai 2:17), had so discouraged the people
that they said 'The time is not come for the Lord's house to be built' (Haggai 1:2).
Out of this despondency they were roused by two prophets, whose presence amongst
them must of itself have convinced them that the Spirit of the Lord was once more
with them.

Haggai] The prophecies of Haggai were all delivered in the second year of Darius. In
them he upbraided the people for bunding substantial houses for themselves whilst
neglecting the House of God; attributed to such neglect the prevalent scarcity, which
was God's judgment upon them; and when the work was once again taken in hand
by Zerubbabel, predicted that the glory of the second Temple would exceed that of
the first.
Zechariah] The prophecies of Zechariah (who was really son of Berechiah and
grandson of Iddo) were delivered at intervals between the second and fourth years
of Darius. In them he consoled his countrymen for their afflictions, denounced
(God's wrath upon the nations who had oppressed Jerusalem, encouraged with
hopes of a great future both Zerubbabel and Joshua in their work of rebuilding the
Temple, and exhorted the people to truth, justice, and mercy.
In the name.. even unto them] RM 'in the name of the God of Israel which was upon
them': cp. Jeremiah 14:9 (which is lit. 'thy name is called upon us').
2. Began to build] It had really been begun sixteen years before (Ezra 3:8.), but the
work having been suspended, it had to be recommenced.
3. Tatnai] perhaps the satrap of all the Persian possessions W. of the Euphrates (the
'river').
4. Said we] better, with the LXX, 'said they.'
5. They could not cause them to cease] Tatnai could not venture to arrest a work
which was alleged to have the sanction of Cyrus (Ezra 5:13), though he cautiously
sent to Persia to have the statement verified. Till the matter came, etc.] RV 'till the
matter should come to Darius, and then answer should be returned.'
13. Cyrus the king of Babylon] The king of Persia included Babylon within his
dominions: cp. ehemiah 13:6.
14. Sheshbazzar] i.e. Zerubbabel: see on ehemiah 1:8.
LA GE, "I. The Resumption of the Work of Building the Temple. Ezra 5:1-5
1Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied
unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel,
even unto them 2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua son of
Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them
were the prophets of God helping them 3 At the same time came to them Tatnai,
governor on this side the river, and Shethar-boznai, and their companions, and said
thus unto them, Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up this
wall? 4Then said we unto them after this manner, What are the names of the men
that make this building? 5But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews,
that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter came to Darius: and then they

returned answer by letter concerning this matter.
LA GE, "Ezra 5:1. Then the prophets, Haggai, the prophet and Zechariah.—We
learn also from Haggai himself that the congregation at that time needed prophetic
admonition. At first the most of them had, without doubt, with great reluctance
allowed the building to remain unfinished, but gradually had lost the desire thereto,
caring only for their own interests, such as the erection of their own houses in as
beautiful a manner as possible. otwithstanding this, however, some of them had
still such devotion to the Lord and zeal for His worship, that the prophetic office
was possible, and there was relatively a great susceptibility for it. ‫ָאה‬‫יּ‬ִ‫ב‬ְ‫נ‬ in Hebrew
‫ִיא‬‫ב‬ָ‫נּ‬ַ‫ה‬, seems to have been almost a surname of Haggai, Ezra 6:14; Haggai 1:1. The
plural “the prophets,” which in the Hebrew text follows Zechariah son of Iddo, as if
Haggai had not yet been called prophet, is in favor of this view. The preposition ‫ַל‬‫ע‬
after “prophesied,” does not denote hostility, but simply the direction of the address,
“unto” (comp. 2 Chronicles 20:37; 1 Kings 12:8, etc.), as is sufficiently clear from
the contents of the prophecies.—The Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem.—
Thus they are designated to distinguish them from those who remained behind in
Chaldea. At the same time it indicates those who had undertaken the task of
building the temple. ‫ֵיהוֹן‬‫ל‬ֲ‫ע‬ is a closer designation of the name of God, so that the
relative might be supplied before it: Who was over them (comp. Ezra 3:3, etc.),
which characterizes them as those who belonged to God. ( Isaiah 4:1 and Jeremiah
4:16), who leads them, urges them on and encourages them.[F 1]
PULPIT, "RECOMME CEME T OF THE BUILDI G I THE SECO D YEAR
OF DARIUS. PREACHI G OF HAGGAI A D ZECHARIAH (Ezra 5:1-17 :l, 2). It
appears from the extant prophecies of these two prophets that the long frustration
of their hopes had had its natural effect on the spirits of the people. They had begun
to weary of endeavours which produced no practical result, and to despair of
accomplishing an object which all their efforts did not perceptibly advance. A
reaction had set in. The burning enthusiasm which had shown itself on the first
arrival of the exiles with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:68, Ezra 2:69; Ezra 3:11) had faded
away; indolence had succeeded to activity, and a selfish desire of comfort to zeal for
the honour of God. Instead of watching eagerly for an opportunity of recommencing
the great work, and seizing the first occasion that offered itself, the people had come
to acquiesce in its indefinite postponement, and to say among themselves, "The time
is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built" (Haggai 1:2). Laying
aside all idea of moving further in the matter of the temple, they had turned their
energies to the practical object of establishing themselves in good and comfortable
houses (Haggai 1:4, Haggai 1:9). The great revolution in Persia, by which the
Pseudo-Smerdis was dethroned and slain, Magism put down, and the
(comparatively) pure religion of Zoroaster re-established as the religion of the
Persian state, failed to stir their minds or raise their hopes. A whole year was
allowed to elapse, and nothing was done, no fresh effort made. It was the second
year of King Darius (Ezra 4:24)—nay, it was the sixth month of that year, the month
Elul, corresponding to our September, as we learn from Haggai (Haggai 1:1)—and
still no step was taken. The nation was "eating," and "drinking," and "clothing
itself" (Haggai 1:6), and making for itself "cieled houses" (Haggai 1:4), while the

house of God lay "waste" (Haggai 1:9)—in that unsightly condition always
presented by works commenced and then suspended for years. Even Zerubbabel
and Jeshua the civil and ecclesiastical rulers—acquiesced apparently in this
miserable state of things—this tameness, sloth, indifference to God's honour, and
general pursuit of mere carnal delights. Such was the situation, when suddenly,
unexpectedly, to the people's consternation rather than their joy, a Prophet
appeared upon the scene. "In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month,
on the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet
unto Zerubbabel." Prophecy had been in abeyance for sixteen years, since the
"third of Cyrus," when Daniel uttered his last warning (Daniel 10:1). It was now
revived. Haggai came forward, self-proclaimed a prophet of Jehovah (Haggai 1:13),
and rebuked the people in the old prophetic tone, and "stirred up the spirit of
Zerubbabel and the spirit of Jeshua" (Haggai 1:14), and by exhortations, and
warnings, and threats brought about in little more than three weeks (Haggai 1:15)
the resumption of the work, which was henceforth pressed forward with zeal.
Haggai's mission continued only for a very short space from September, b.c. 520, to
December of the same year; but before his work came to an end God raised up a
second prophet—"Zechariah the son of Iddo"—who carried on his task, sustained
the spirit of the people and the rulers, and saw the happy accomplishment of the
great undertaking, which he had previously announced as near (Zechariah 4:9), in
the sixth year of Darius, b.c. 516.
Ezra 5:1
Zechariah the son of Iddo. Really the grandson (Zechariah 1:1). But Bere-chiah, his
father, probably died while he was a child, and, being brought up by Iddo, he was
called "the son of Iddo. Prophesied unto the Jews. The addresses of Haggai and
Zechariah were only occasionally "prophetic," as we now commonly understand the
word. But in the language of the Biblical writers all religious teaching is
"prophesying," and Ezra here refers mainly to the exhortations addressed to the
Jews by Zechariah and Haggai.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "ZECHARIAH THE PROPHET
Zechariah 1:1-6; Ezra 5:1;, Ezra 6:14
ZECHARIAH is one of the prophets whose personality as distinguished from their
message exerts some degree of fascination on the student. This is not due, however,
as in the case of Hosea or Jeremiah, to the facts of his life, for of these we know
extremely little; but to certain conflicting symptoms of character which appear
through his prophecies.
His name was a very common one in Israel, Zekher-Yah, "Jehovah remembers." In
his own book he is described as "the son of Berekh-Yah, the son of Iddo," and in the
Aramaic document of the Book of Ezra as "the son of Iddo." Some have explained
this difference by supposing that Berekhyah was the actual father of the prophet,

but that either he died early, leaving Zechariah to the care of the grandfather, or
else that he was a man of no note, and Iddo was more naturally mentioned as the
head of the family. There are several instances in the Old Testament of men being
called the sons of their grandfathers; [Genesis 24:47, cf. 1 Kings 19:16, cf. 2 Kings
9:14; 2 Kings 9:20] as in these cases the grandfather was the reputed founder of the
house, so in that of Zechariah Iddo was the head of his family when it came out of
Babylon and was anew planted in Jerusalem. Others, however, have contested the
genuineness of the words "son of Berekh-Yah," and have traced their insertion to a
confusion of the prophet with Zechariah son of Yebherekh-Yahu, the contemporary
of Isaiah. This is precarious, while the other hypothesis is a very natural one.
Whichever be correct, the prophet Zechariah was a member of the priestly family of
Iddo, that came up to Jerusalem from Babylon under Cyrus. [ ehemiah 12:4] The
Book of ehemiah adds that in the high-priesthood of Yoyakim, the son of Joshua,
the head of the house of Iddo was a Zechariah. If this be our prophet, then he was
probably a young man in 520, and had come up as a child in the caravans from
Babylon. The Aramaic document of the Book of Ezra [Ezra 5:1;, Ezra 6:14] assigns
to Zechariah a share with Haggai in the work of instigating Zerubbabel and Jeshua
to begin the Temple. one of his oracles is dated previous to the beginning of the
work in August, 520, but we have seen that among those undated there are one or
two which by referring to the building of the Temple as still future may contain
some relics of that first stage of his ministry. From ovember, 520, we have the first
of his dated oracles; his Visions followed in January, 519, and his last recorded
prophesying in December, 518.
These are all the certain events of Zechariah’s history. But in the well-attested
prophecies he has left we discover, besides some obvious traits of character, certain
problems of style and expression which suggest a personality of more than usual
interest. Loyalty to the great voices of old, the temper which appeals to the
experience, rather than to the dogmas, of the past, the gift of plain speech to his own
times, a wistful anxiety about his reception as a prophet, [Zechariah 2:13;,
Zechariah 4:9;, Zechariah 6:15] combined with the absence of all ambition to be
original or anything but the clear voice of the lessons of the past and of the
conscience of today these are the qualities which characterize Zechariah’s orations
to the people. But how to reconcile them with the strained art and obscure truths of
the Visions-it is this which invests with interest the study of his personality. We have
proved that the obscurity and redundancy of the Visions cannot all have been due to
himself. Later hands have exaggerated the repetitions and raveled the processes of
the original. But these gradual blemishes have not grown from nothing: the original
style must have been sufficiently involved to provoke the interpolations of the
scribes, and it certainly contained all the weird and shifting apparitions which we
find so hard to make clear to ourselves. The problem, therefore, remains-how one
who had gift of speech, so straight and clear, came to torture and tangle his style;
how one who presented with all plainness the main issues of his people’s history
found it laid upon him to invent, for the further expression of these, symbols so
labored and intricate.
We begin with the oracle which opens his book and illustrates those simple

characteristics of the man that contrast so sharply with the temper of his Visions.
"In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Jehovah came to the
prophet Zechariah, son of Berekhyah, son of Iddo, saying: Jehovah was very wroth
with your fathers."
"And thou shalt say unto them: Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: Turn ye to Me-oracle
of Jehovah of Hosts-that I may turn to you, saith Jehovah of Hosts! Be not like your
fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying: ‘Thus saith Jehovah of
Hosts, Turn now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds,’ but they hearkened
not, and paid no attention to Me-oracle of Jehovah. Your fathers, where are they?
And the prophets, do they live for ever? But, My words and My statutes, with which
I charged My servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? till these
turned and said, As Jehovah of Hosts did purpose to do unto us, according to our
deeds and according to our ways, so hath He dealt with us."
It is a sign of the new age which we have reached, that its prophet should appeal to
the older prophets with as much solemnity as they did to Moses himself. The history
which led to the Exile has become to Israel as classic and sacred as her great days of
deliverance from Egypt and of conquest in Canaan. But still more significant is
what Zechariah seeks from that past; this we must carefully discover, if we would
appreciate with exactness his rank as a prophet.
The development of religion may be said to consist of a struggle between two
tempers, both of which indeed appeal to the past, but from very opposite motives.
The one proves its devotion to the older prophets by adopting the exact formulas of
their doctrine, counts these sacred to the letter, and would enforce them in detail
upon the minds and circumstances of the new generation. It conceives that truth has
been promulgated once for all in forms as enduring, as the principles they contain.
It fences ancient rites, cherishes old customs and institutions, and when these are
questioned it becomes alarmed and even savage. The other temper is no whit behind
this one in its devotion to the past, but it seeks the ancient prophets not so much for
what they have said as for what they have been, not for what they enforced but for
what they encountered, suffered, and confessed. It asks not for dogmas, but for
experience and testimony. He who can thus read the past and interpret it to his own
day-he is the prophet. In his reading he finds nothing so clear, nothing so tragic,
nothing so convincing as the working of the Word of God. He beholds how this came
to men, haunted them and was entreated by them. He sees that it was their great
opportunity, which being rejected became their judgment. He finds abused justice
vindicated, proud wrong punished, and all God’s neglected commonplaces achieving
in time their triumph. He reads how men came to see this, and to confess their guilt.
He is haunted by the remorse of generations who know how they might have obeyed
the Divine call, but willfully did not. And though they have perished, and the
prophets have died and their formulas are no more applicable, the victorious Word
itself still lives and cries to men with the terrible emphasis of their fathers’
experience. All this is the vision of the true prophet, and it was the vision of
Zechariah.

His generation was one whose chief temptation was to adopt towards the past the
other attitude we have described. In their feebleness what could the poor remnant of
Israel do but cling servilely to the former greatness? The vindication of the Exile
had stamped the Divine authority of the earlier prophets. The habits, which the life
in Babylon had perfected, of arranging and codifying the literature of the past, and
of employing it, in place of altar and ritual, in the stated service of God, had
canonized Scripture and provoked men to the worship of its very letter. Had the
real prophet not again been raised, these habits might have too early produced the
belief that the Word of God was exhausted, and must have fastened upon the feeble
life of Israel that mass of stiff and stark dogmas, the literal application of which
Christ afterwards found crushing the liberty and the force of religion. Zechariah
prevented this-for a time. He himself was mighty in the Scriptures of the past: no
man in Israel makes larger use of them. But he employs them as witnesses, not as
dogmas; he finds in them not authority, but experience. He reads their testimony to
the ever-living presence of God’s Word with men. And seeing that, though the old
forms and figures have perished with the hearts which shaped them, the Word itself
in its bare truth has vindicated its life by fulfillment in history, he knows that it lives
still, and hurls it upon his people, not in the forms published by this or that prophet
of long ago, but in its essence and direct from God Himself, as His Word for today
and now. "The fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? But
My words and My statutes, with which I charged My servants the prophets, have
they not overtaken your fathers? Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, Be ye not like your
fathers, but turn ye to Me that I may turn to you."
The argument of this oracle might very naturally have been narrowed into a
credential for the prophet himself as sent from God. About his reception as
Jehovah’s messenger Zechariah shows a repeated anxiety. Four times he concludes a
prediction with the words. "And ye shall know that Jehovah hath sent me," as if
after his first utterances he had encountered that suspicion and unbelief which a
prophet never failed to suffer from his contemporaries. But in this oracle there is no
trace of such personal anxiety. The oracle is pervaded only with the desire to prove
the ancient Word of God as still alive, and to drive it home in its own sheer force.
Like the greatest of his order Zechariah appears with the call to repent: "Turn ye to
Me-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts-that I may turn to you." This is the pivot on which
history has turned, the one condition on which God has been able to help men.
Wherever it is read as the conclusion of all the past, wherever it is proclaimed as the
conscience of the present, there the true prophet is found and the Word of God has
been spoken.
This same possession by the ethical spirit reappears, as we shall see, in Zechariah’s
orations to the people after the anxieties of building are over and the completion of
the Temple is in sight. In these he affirms again that the whole essence of God’s
Word by the older prophets has been moral-to judge true judgment, to practice
mercy, to defend the widow and orphan, the stranger and poor, and to think no evil
of one another. For the sad fasts of the Exile Zechariah enjoins gladness, with the
duty of truth and the hope of peace. Again and again he enforces sincerity and the

love without dissimulation. His ideals for Jerusalem are very high, including the
conversion of the nations to her God. But warlike ambitions have vanished from
them, and his pictures of her future condition are homely and practical. Jerusalem
shall be no more a fortress, but spread village-wise without walls. Full families,
unlike the present colony with its few children and its men worn out in middle life
by harassing warfare with enemies and a sullen nature; streets rife with children
playing and old folk sitting in the sun; the return of the exiles; happy harvests and
spring-times of peace; solid gain of labor for every man, with no raiding neighbors
to harass, nor the mutual envies of peasants in their selfish struggle with famine.
It is a simple, hearty, practical man whom such prophesying reveals, the spirit of
him bent on justice and love, and yearning for the un-harassed labor of the field and
for happy homes. o prophet has more beautiful sympathies, a more direct word of
righteousness, or a braver heart.
"Fast not, but love truth and peace. Truth and wholesome justice set ye up in your
gates. Be not afraid; strengthen your hands! Old men and women-shall yet sit in the
streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand for the fullness of their years; the city’s
streets shall be rife with boys and girls at play."
Verse 1-2
THE MISSIO OF PROPHECY
Ezra 5:1-2
THE work of building the temple at Jerusalem, which had been but nominally
commenced in the reign of Cyrus, when it was suddenly arrested before the death of
that king, and which had not been touched throughout the reigns of the two
succeeding kings, Cambyses and Pseudo-Bardes, was taken up in earnest in the
second year of Darius, the son of Hystaspes (B.C. 521). The disorders of the empire
were then favourable to local liberty. Cambyses committed suicide during a revolt of
his army on the march to meet the Pretender who had assumed the name of his
murdered brother, Bardes. Seven months later the usurper was assassinated in his
palace by some of the Persian nobles. Darius, who was one of the conspirators,
ascended the throne in the midst of confusion and while the empire seemed to be
falling to pieces. Elam, the old home of the house of Cyrus, revolted; Syria revolted;
Babylon revolted twice, and was twice taken by siege. For a time the king’s writ
could not run in Palestine. But it was not on account of these political changes that
the Jews returned to their work. The relaxing of the supreme authority had left
them more than ever at the mercy of their unfriendly neighbours. The generous
disposition of Darius might have led them to regard him as a second Cyrus, and his
religion might have encouraged them to hope that he would be favourable to them,
for Darius was a monotheist, a worshipper of Ormazd. But they recommenced their
work without making any appeal to the Great King and without receiving any
permission from him, and they did this when he was far too busy fighting for his
throne to attend to the troubles of a small, distant city.

We must look in another direction for the impetus which started the Jews again
upon their work. Here we come upon one of the most striking facts in the history of
Israel, nay, one of the greatest phenomena in the spiritual experience. of mankind.
The voice of prophecy was heard among the ruins of Jerusalem. The Cassandra-like
notes of Jeremiah had died away more than half a century before. Then Ezekiel had
seen his fantastic visions, "a captive by the river of Chebar," and the Second Isaiah
had sounded his trumpet-blast in the East, summoning the exiles to a great hope;
but as yet no prophet had appeared among the pilgrims on their return to
Jerusalem. We cannot account for the sudden outburst of prophecy. It is a work of
the Spirit that breathes like the wind, coming we know not how. We can hear its
sound; we can perceive the fact. But we cannot trace its origin, or determine its
issues. It is born in mystery and it passes into mystery. If it is true that "poeta
nascitur, non fit," much more must we affirm that the prophet is no creature of
human culture. He may be cultivated after God has made him; he cannot be
manufactured by any human machinery. o "School of the Prophets" ever made a
true prophet. Many of the prophets never came near any such institution; some of
them distinctly repudiated the professional "order." The lower prophets with which
the orthern Kingdom once swarmed were just dervishes who sang and danced and
worked themselves into a frenzy before the altars on the high places; these men were
quite different from the truly inspired messengers of God. Their craft could be
taught, and their sacred colleges recruited to any extent from the ranks of
fanaticism. But the rare, austere souls that spoke with the authority of the Most
High came in a totally different manner. When there was no prophet and when
visions were rare men could only wait for God to send the hoped-for guide; they
could not call him into existence. The appearance of an inspired soul is always one
of the marvels of history. Great men of the second rank may be the features of their
age. But it is given to the few of the very first order to be independent of their age, to
confront it and oppose it if need be, perhaps to turn its current and shape its course.
The two prophets who now proclaimed their message in Jerusalem appeared at a
time of deep depression. They were not borne on the crest of a wave of a religious
revival, as its spokesmen to give it utterance. Pagan orators and artists flourished in
an Augustan age. The Hebrew prophets came when the circumstances of society
were least favourable. Like painters arising to adorn a dingy city, like poets singing
of summer in the winter of discontent, like flowers in the wilderness, like wells in the
desert, they brought life and strength and gladness to the helpless and despondent,
because they came from God. The literary form of their work reflected the
civilisation of their day, but there was on it a light that never shone on sea or shore,
and this they knew to be the light of God. We never find a true religious revival
springing from the spirit of the age. Such a revival always begins in one or two
choice souls-in a Moses, a Samuel, a John the Baptist, a St. Bernard, a Jonathan
Edwards, a Wesley, a ewman. Therefore it is vain for weary watchers to scan the
horizon for signs of the times in the hope that some general improvement of society
or some widespread awakening of the Church will usher in a better future. This is
no reason for discouragement, however. It rather warns us not to despise the day of
small things. When once the spring of living water breaks out, though it flows at
first in a little brook, there is hope that it may swell into a great river.

The situation is the more remarkable since the first of the two prophets was an old
man, who even seems to have known the first temple before its destruction by
ebuchadnezzar. [Haggai 1:10; Haggai 2:9] Haggai is called simply "the prophet,"
perhaps because his father’s name was not known, but more likely because he
himself had attained so much eminence that the title was given to him par
excellence. Still this may only apply to the descriptions of him in the age of the
chronicler. There is no indication that he prophesied in his earlier days. He was
probably one of the captives who had been carried away to Babylon in his
childhood, and who had returned with Zerubbabel to Jerusalem. Yet all this time
and during the first year of his return, as far as we know, he was silent. At length, in
extreme old age, he burst out into inspired utterance-one of Joel’s old men who were
to dream dreams, [Joel 2:28] like John the Evangelist, whose greatest work dates
from his last years, and Milton, who wrote his great epic when affliction seemed to
have ended his lifework. He must have been brooding over the bitter
disappointment in which the enthusiasm of the returned captives had been
quenched. It could not be God’s will that they should be thus mocked and deceived
in their best hopes. True faith is not a will-o’-the-wisp that lands its followers in a
dreary swamp. The hope of Israel is no mirage. For God is faithful. Therefore the
despair of the Jews must be wrong.
We have a few fragments of the utterances of Haggai preserved for us in the Old
Testament Canon. They are so brief and bald and abrupt as to suggest the opinion
that they are but notes of his discourses, mere outlines of what he really said. As
they are preserved for us they certainly convey no idea of wealth of poetic
imagination or richness of oratorical colouring. But Haggai may have possessed
none of these qualities, and yet his words may have had a peculiar force of their
own. He is a reflective man. The long meditation of years has taught him the value
of thoughtfulness. The burden of his message is "Consider your ways." [Haggai 1:5;
Haggai 1:7] In short, incisive utterances he arrests attention and urges
consideration. But the outcome of all he has to say is to cheer the drooping spirits of
his fellow-citizens, and urge on the rebuilding of the temple with confident promises
of its great future. For the most part his inspiration is simple, but it is searching,
and we perceive the triumphant hopefulness of the true prophet in the promise that
the latter glory of the house of God shall be greater than the former. [Haggai 2:9]
Haggai began to prophesy on the first day of the sixth month of the second year of
Darius. [Haggai 1:1] So effective were his words that Zerubbabel and his
companions were at once roused from the lethargy of despair, and within three
weeks the masons and carpenters were again at work on the temple. {Haggai 2:1.
seq.} Two months after Haggai had broken the long silence of prophecy in
Jerusalem Zechariah appeared. He was of a very different stamp; he was one of the
young men who see visions. Familiar with the imagery of Babylonian art, he wove its
symbols into the pictures of his own exuberant fancy. Moreover, Zechariah was a
priest. Thus, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, he united the two rival tendencies which
had confronted one another in marked antagonism during the earlier periods of the
history of Israel. Henceforth the brief return of prophetism, its soft after-glow

among the restored people, is in peaceable alliance with priestism. The last prophet,
Malachi, even exhorts the Jews to pay the priests their dues of tithe. Zechariah, like
Haggai, urges on the work of building the temple.
Thus the chronicler’s brief note on the appearance of two prophets at Jerusalem,
and the electrical effect of their message, is a striking illustration of the mission of
prophecy. That mission has been strangely misapprehended by succeeding ages.
Prophets have been treated as miraculous conjurers, whose principal business
consisted in putting together elaborate puzzles, perfectly unintelligible to their
contemporaries, which the curious of later times were to decipher by the light of
events. The prophets themselves formed no such idle estimate of their work, nor did
their contemporaries assign to them this quaint and useless role. Though these men
were not the creatures of their times, they lived for their times. Haggai and
Zechariah, as the chronicler emphatically puts it, "prophesied to the Jews that were
in Jerusalem even unto them." The object of their message was immediate and quite
practical-to stir up the despondent people and urge them to build the temple-and it
was successful in accomplishing that end. As prophets of God they necessarily
touched on eternal truths. They were not mere opportunists; their strength lay in
the grasp of fundamental principles. This is why their teaching still lives, and is of
lasting use for the Church in all ages. But in order to understand that teaching we
must first of all read it in its original historical setting, and discover its direct
bearing on contemporary needs.
ow the question arises, In what way did these prophets of God help the temple-
builders? The fragments of their utterances which we possess enable us to answer
this question. Zerubbabel was a disappointing leader. Such a man was far below the
expected Messiah, although high hopes may have been set upon him when he started
at the head of the caravan of pilgrims from Babylon. Cyrus may have known him
better, and with the instinct of a king in reading men may have entrusted the lead to
the heir of the Jewish throne, because he saw there would be no possibility of a
dangerous rebellion resulting from the act of confidence. Haggai’s encouragement to
Zerubbabel to "be strong" is in a tone that suggests some weakness on the part of
the Jewish leader. Both the prophets thought that he and his people were too easily
discouraged. It was a part of the prophetic insight to look below the surface and
discover the real secret of failure. The Jews set down their failure to adverse
circumstances; the prophets attributed it to the character and conduct of the people
and their leaders. Weak men commonly exercise their inactivity by reciting their
difficulties, when stronger men would only regard those difficulties as furnishing an
occasion for extra exertion. That is a most superficial view of history which regards
it as wholly determined by circumstances. o great nation ever arose on such a
principle. The Greeks who perished at Thermopylae within a few years of the times
we are now considering are honoured by all the ages as heroes of patriotism just
because they refused to bow to circumstances. ow the courage which patriots
practised in pagan hands is urged upon the Jews by their prophets from higher
considerations. They are to see that they are weak and cowardly when they sit in
dumb despair, crushed by the weight of external opposition. They have made a
mistake in putting their trust in princes. [Psalms 118:8-9] They have relied too much

on Zerubbabel and too little on God. The failure of the arm of flesh should send
them back to the never-failing outstretched arm of the Almighty.
Have we not met with the same mistaken discouragement and the same deceptive
excuses for it in the work of the church, in missionary enterprises, in personal lives?
Every door is shut against the servant of God but one, the door of prayer.
Forgetting this, and losing sight of the key of faith that would unlock it, he sits, like
Elijah by Kerith, the picture of abject wretchedness. His great enterprises are
abandoned because he thinks the opposition to them is insuperable. He forgets that,
though his own forces are small, he is the envoy of the King of kings, who will not
suffer him to be worsted if only he appeals to Heaven for fresh supplies. A dead
materialism lies like a leaden weight on the heart of the Church, and she has not
faith enough to shake it off and claim her great inheritance in all the spiritual
wealth of the unseen. Many a man cries, like Jacob, "All these things are against
me," not perceiving that, even if they are, no number of "things" should be
permitted to check the course of one who looks above and beyond what is seen, and
therefore only temporal, to the eternal resources of God.
This was the message of Zechariah to Zerubbabel;
" ot by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art
thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain; and he shall
bring forth the head stone with shoutings of Grace, grace unto it!" [Zechariah 4:6-7]
Here, then, is the secret of the sudden revival of activity on the part of the Jews after
they had been sitting for years in dumb apathy, gazing hopelessly on the few stones
that had been laid among the ruins of the old temple. It was not the returning
favour of the court under Darius, it was not the fame of the house of David, it was
not the priestly dignity of the family of Zadok that awakened the slumbering zeal of
the Jews; the movement began in an unofficial source, and it passed to the people
through unofficial channels. It commenced in the meditations of a cairn thinker; it
was furthered by the visions of a rapt seer. This is a clear indication of the fact that
the world is ruled by mind and spirit, not merely by force and authority. Thought
and imagination lie at the springs of action. In the heart of it history is moulded by
ideas. "Big battalions," "the sinews of war," "blood and iron," are phrases that
suggest only the most external and therefore the most superficial causes. Beneath
them are the ideas that govern all they represent.
Further, the influence of the prophets shows that the ideas which have most vitality
and vigor are moral and spiritual in character. All thoughts are influential in
proportion as they take possession of the minds and hearts of men and women.
There is power in conceptions of science, philosophy, politics, sociology. But the
ideas that touch people to the quick, the ideas that stir the hidden depths of
consciousness and rouse the slumbering energies of life, are those that make straight
for the conscience. Thus the two prophets exposed the shame of indolence; they
rallied their gloomy fellow-citizens by high appeals to the sense of right.

Again, this influence was immensely strengthened by its relation to God. The
prophets were more than moralists. The meditations of Marcus Aurelius could not
touch any people as the considerations of the calm Haggai touched the Jews, for the
older prophet, as well as the more rousing Zechariah, found the spell of his message
in its revelation of God. He made the Jews perceive that they were not deserted by
Jehovah; and directly they felt that God was with them in. their work the weak and
timid citizens were able to quit them like men. The irresistible might of Cromwell’s
Ironsides at Marston Moor came from the unwavering faith in their battle-cry,
"The Lord of Hosts is with us!" General Gordon’s immeasurable courage is
explained when we read his letters and diaries, and see how he regarded himself as
simply an instrument through whom God wrought. Here, too, is the strong side of
Calvinism.
Then this impression of the power and presence of God in their destinies was
deepened in the Jews by the manifest Divine authority with which the prophets
spake. They prophesied "in the name of the God of Israel"-the one God of the
people of both kingdoms now united in their representatives. Their "Thus saith the
Lord" was the powder that drove the shot of their message through the toughest
hide of apathy. Except to a Platonist, ideas are impossible apart from the mind that
thinks them. ow the Jews, as well as their prophets, felt that the great ideas of
prophecy could not be the products of pure human thinking. The sublime character,
the moral force, the superb hopefulness of these ideas proclaimed their Divine
origin. As it is the mission of the prophet to speak for God, so it is the voice of God
in His inspired messenger that awakes the dead and gives strength to the weak.
This ultimate source of prophecy accounts for its unique character of hopefulness,
and that in turn makes it a powerful encouragement for the weak and depressed
people to whom it is sent. Wordsworth tells us that we live by "admiration, love, and
hope." If one of these three sources of vitality is lost, life itself shrinks and fades.
The man whose hope has fled has no lustre in his eye, no accent in his voice, no
elasticity in his tread; by his dull and listless attitude he declares that the life has
gone out of him. But the ultimate end of prophecy is to lead up to a gospel, and the
meaning of the word "gospel" is just that there is a message from God bringing
hope to the despairing. By inspiring a new hope this message kindles a new life.
ISBET, "PROPHET HELPERS
‘Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied
unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel.’
Ezra 5:1
This reference to the prophets Haggai and Zechariah marks very plainly the nature
and object of the prophetic office. The word which God in time past spake by the
mouth of His holy prophets was no empty sound or mystical foretelling of future
events, the interpretation of which was to be found when the events were fulfilled; it
was then what it is now: the voice of God to His Church, stirring up zeal, and love,
and faith, and obedience to every good word and work. It was the fresh spring of
moral and religious life to the nation.

The great lessons we may learn from a review of the last canonical period of Jewish
history are:—
I. The place which the spiritual element must occupy in all national and social
organisation for the good of the people.—Secular power, Act of Parliament power,
intellectual power, public opinion power, philanthropic power, have been tested and
tried to the uttermost, but no one of them, nor all put together, have ever succeeded
in regenerating a nation or converting a soul. That people is on the high road to
apostasy which teaches for doctrines the commandments of men.
II. The religious teaching must be of the right stamp.—It must be revealed truth.
Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi preached by inspiration of God.
III. If declension and backsliding come in among a people, what appeal can be made
to awaken fear and rouse the torpid conscience?—‘The day cometh which shall
burn like an oven’ is no myth. The doctrine of everlasting punishment from the
presence of the Lord is as certain as the hope of being with Him and like Him for
ever. ‘Knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men; for we must all appear
before the judgment-seat of Christ.’
Dean Fremantle.
Illustration
‘The three causes which are apt to hinder our faithful zeal in building for the
Lord—selfish sloth, unbelieving despondency, and carnal security—are they not the
bane also of our own spiritual life? The Lord will not, He cannot, bless us personally
while we yield to these temptations to slackness in the business in which He would
engage us.’
LA GE,"Ezra 5:1-5. How does the Lord prevent our being conformed to the
world? 1) By His warning word.—Starke: It is the office of faithful teachers to
strengthen the faint hands and feeble knees ( Isaiah 35:3). 2) By the trials that He
sends, especially by making the accomplishment of His own word difficult3) By
providential care and preservation ( Ezra 5:5).—Brentius: Multa hic notanda.
Primum, quod Deus sæpenumero nos a bono proposito impedit, non ut non
exequamur, sed ut clarius et illustrius exequamur. Deinde, quod sit ingenium vulgi:
mox enim putat, numquam fore, ut promoveat (sc. Deus opus suum, si aliquamdiu
intermittatur).—The movements that the development and advance of the kingdom
of God call forth: 1) The congregation is agitated by the overwhelming voice of God;
it gives new courage, and lays hold of the work of building obligatory upon it with
new joy.—Starke: Although it involves not a little danger for awhile to accomplish
with obedience that which God commands in His word, yet we should obey not
withstanding, and not allow ourselves to be frightened off by any danger2) The
world is agitated, for it cannot quietly see the events in the kingdom of God,
especially when the congregation is subordinated to its civil authority, but it is
obliged to assist in furthering the cause of God in its own way3) God Himself is

agitated. He directs His eye with especial care and wisdom upon the leaders of the
congregation, and stretches forth His hand to give protection and help.
2
Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son
of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God
in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with
them, helping them.
BAR ES, "Began to build - i. e., “made a second beginning” - recommenced the
uncompleted work.
Helping them - By infusing zeal into the people (see Hag_1:12).
CLARKE, "Then rose up Zerubbabel - Here we find three classes of men joining
in the sacred work: Zerubbabel the civil governor; Jeshua the high priest or ecclesiastical
governor; and Haggai and Zechariah the prophets. How glorious it is when we see the
civil government joining with the sacerdotal and prophetic for the establishment and
extension of true religion!
GILL, "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.
HE RY, " They had two good magistrates, who were forward and active in this work.
Zerubbabel their chief prince, and Jeshua their chief priest, Ezr_5:2. Those that are in
places of dignity and power ought with their dignity to put honour upon and with their

power to put life into every good work: thus it becomes those that preceded, and those
that preside, with an exemplary care and zeal to fulfil all righteousness and to go before
in a good work. These great men thought it no disparagement to them, but a happiness,
to be taught and prescribed to by the prophets of the Lord, and were glad of their help in
reviving this good work. Read the first chapter of the prophecy of Haggai here (for that is
the best comment on these two verses) and see what great things God does by his word,
which he magnifies above all his name, and by his Spirit working with it.
JAMISO , "Then rose up Zerubbabel ... and Jeshua ... began to build the
house of God — The strong appeals and animating exhortations of these prophets gave
a new impulse to the building of the temple. It was in the second year of the reign of
Darius Hystaspes that the work, after a long interruption, was resumed.
K&D, "Ezr_5:2
“Then rose up Zerubbabel ... and Joshua ... and began to build the house of God at
Jerusalem, and with them the prophets of God helping them.” The beginning to build is
(Ezr_3:6, etc.) the commencement of the building properly so called, upon the
foundations laid, Ezr_3:10; for what was done after this foundation-laying till a stop was
put to the work, was so unimportant that no further notice is taken of it. The “prophets
of God” are those mentioned Ezr_5:1, viz., Haggai, and Zechariah the son, i.e., grandson,
of Iddo, for his father's name was Berechiah (see Introd. to Zechariah). Haggai entered
upon his work on the first day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius; and his
first address made such an impression, that Zerubbabel and Joshua with the people set
about the intermitted work of building as early as the twenty-fourth day of the same
month (comp. Hag_1:1 and Hag_1:14.). Two months later, viz., in the eighth month of
the same year, Zechariah began to exhort the people to turn sincerely to the Lord their
God, and not to relapse into the sins of their fathers.
ELLICOTT, "(2) Then rose up.—This does not intimate that they had become
indifferent. But the voice of prophecy inspirited them to go on without formal
permission of Darius, who was known secretly to favour them already.
The prophets of God helping them.—In these two prophets we can read the
invigorating sayings that encouraged the people almost from day to day and from
stage to stage of their work.
BE SO , "Ezra 5:2. Then rose up Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and began to build the
house — It had been begun to be built long before, but from the first had gone on
very slowly, and afterward had been quite intermitted, till those great men, excited
by the prophets, set the work forward again. With them were the prophets of God
helping them — Encouraging them by their presence, and by assuring them that
God would be with them to protect them from their enemies, and give them success.
It is supposed the work had been stopped about fifteen years. The first chapter of
Haggai is the best comment on these two verses.

LA GE, "Ezra 5:2. Then rose up Zerubbabel.—They now had an express
command of God, which already in itself was an advantage; now moreover they
could no longer doubt that the building would succeed.—And began to build.—
Properly it should have been: They Revelation -commenced, but we might disregard
the fact that ‫ָה‬‫נ‬ָ‫בּ‬ readily =rebuild, for the first beginning was so long before, and had
had such little success, that it no longer came into consideration.
PULPIT, "Ezra 5:2
Then rose up Zerubbabel … and Jeshua. Haggai's preaching was especially
addressed to these two leaders (Haggai 1:1), and their spirit was especially "stirred
up" (Haggai 1:14) by his preaching. The prophets of God—Haggai and Zechariah—
were with them, throughout their work, helping them; and that in various ways.
1. By direct command to the people—"Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and
build the house" (Haggai 1:8);
2. By warnings—"Because of mine house that is waste … therefore the heaven over
you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit" (Haggai 1:9, Haggai
1:10);
3. By exhortations—"Be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O
Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be ye strong, all ye people of the land,
saith the Lord, and work" (Haggai 2:4); and
4. By encouraging prophecy—"The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation
of this house; his hands shall also finish it" (Zechariah 4:9); and "the glory of this
latter house shall be greater than that of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts: and in
this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts" (Haggai 2:9). By these and
similar means the two prophets aroused a spirit of enthusiasm, which caused the
work to make rapid progress, and was an invaluable assistance.
PULPIT, "Ezra 5:1, Ezra 5:2
The work revived.
How completely the work described in these verses was a revival of the previous
work of building the temple, as described in chaps, 1-3; may be seen by the use of
the word "began" in Ezra 5:2. Even "Zerubbabel" and "Jeshua," the leaders, had
been remiss and, as it were, dead to the enterprise; consequently, in again going on
with it, had again, as it were, to "begin." This seems also the best explanation of the
singular way in which Haggai (Haggai 2:18) and Zechariah (Zechariah 8:9) speak of
the "foundation" of the Lord's house as having been "laid" at this time. This second
"foundation," in the reign of Darius, led to so much more than the first did in that
of Cyrus, and proved so much more worthy, therefore, of such a name in the issue,
that, not unnaturally, it got almost to monopolise that name even on prophetic lips.

It is thus, in another sphere, that historians speak of the Roman empire as being
founded by Augustus Caesar, though in reality he only re-established in a more
abiding form (as it turned out) what his predecessor, Julius Caesar, had previously
founded and lost. Strictly speaking, indeed, would either of these first foundations
have been a foundation practically if it had not been afterwards followed up and, as
it were, superseded by a second? How this happy resurrection of a buried cause was
brought about in this instance is the special point now to consider. It was by the
indications of Providence, we shall find, in the first place; and by the voice of
prophecy, in the next.
I. The I DICATIO S of PROVIDE CE. Providence had spoken to the people, in
the interim between the visit of Rehum (Ezra 4:23) and the time at which our
chapter opens, in various ways.
1. In the language of hope. A change of rulers had taken place—both of chief rulers
and also of subordinates. Darius instead of Artaxerxes; Tatnai, etc. (Ezra 5:3)
instead of Rehum, etc. This was something of itself. When things are as bad as they
can be, no change, to say the least, can be for the worse. In such a case, moreover, a
violent change, such as this which brought Darius Hystaspis to the throne in place of
the usurper Pseudo-Smerdis, and which probably, therefore, affected the empire in
all its provinces, was of a still more hopeful description. How likely that the hand
which took the previous monarch's crown should also reverse his policy! Especially
as, in this instance (and it is almost certain that some rumours of this would reach
the ears of the Jews), the new king was showing almost ostentatious respect to the
name and memory of that Cyrus £ who had been so favourable to the Jews. To men
anxious to be at work again, this would have been great encouragement to begin.
2. In the language of blessing. Judging from the apparently royal luxury which some
of the returned Jews were enabled to indulge in (Jeremiah 22:14; Haggai 1:4), the
means of recommencing the work must have been somehow placed in their power.
This, also, a call to do so (comp. Deuteronomy 8:12, Deuteronomy 8:17,
Deuteronomy 8:18; Galatians 6:10; James 4:17).
3. In the language of affliction. These other calls not being attended to, there came
one of a different kind. God met the people in their path of disobedience, as the
angel met Balaam ( umbers 22:32), with signs of displeasure. The blessings he had
given being misused, he began to withdraw them. Instead of plenty there was
"dearth" (Haggai 1:11), to the great impoverishment (verse 6) and sore
disappointment (begin. verse 9) of them all. See further Zechariah 8:9, Zechariah
8:10 as to the wide extent and deep severity of this visitation; and also as to the
precise time of its occurrence, viz; just "before" the people for a second time laid the
"foundations" of God's house. Putting these things together, were they not a loud
constructive call to begin? So fair an opening, such ample means, such a clear-timed
judgment, what does it all mean? To this effect, at least, the Jewish elders ought, in
such circumstances, to inquire (see end of Job 10:2).
II. The VOICE of PROPHECY. It was the special privilege, however, of Israel to

have more than "constructive" calls from God's throne. He was graciously pleased
to make known his will to them by articulate speech (Deuteronomy 4:33; Romans
3:1, Romans 3:2). So, accordingly, it was here. Besides these silent gestures on the
part of Providence, so to call them, there were direct verbal utterances also from the
lips of those who were authorised to speak to Israel in his name. Two such men, two
of these prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, raised up especially, as it appears, for this
special emergency, prophesied at that time to these returned Jews (Ezra 5:1). Much
importance seems attached here to this fact. These prophets prophesied to these
Jews, it is said, "in the name of the God of Israel which was upon them." Being
God's people—being, in fact, the very heart and hope of God's people at that
particular moment—God's prophets were commissioned to recognise and address
them as such. Well might the people listen, that being the case. The purport, also, of
the message thus sent to them was just as much to the point. A mere glance at the
extant prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah will suffice to show this. The prophecies
sent, e.g; were just what was needed—
1. In the way of appeal. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider" (Haggai 1:5); so
again Haggai 1:7, "Consider so, twice over, and with a special note of urgency, in
Haggai 2:18 : "Consider now from this day and upward … consider." Consider
what you are doing, and what you ought to be doing, in your present circumstances.
Consider their meaning and message, and what they are now saying to you, in effect.
2. In the way of interpretation and explanation. This is what these circumstances are
saying to you, viz; that it is "time" to build the Lord's house (Haggai 1:1-3). There is
no further change to be waited for. ow, under your present ruler, is the "time" to
begin. Your recent blessings mean this (Haggai 1:4). Your present trials mean it too
(Haggai 1:6-11). Thus did prophecy, in this case, interpret Providence, and explain
the "signs," as it were, of those "times."
3. In the way of promise. Our present history seems to speak of this particularly in
the end of Haggai 2:2—"the prophets of God helping them." The first result of the
appeal and remonstrance above spoken of seems to have been a feeling of "fear"
(Haggai 1:1-15. end of Haggai 1:12). As soon as this began to manifest itself (see
middle of same verse) in a spirit of obedience, the voice of promise was heard.
"Then spake Haggai the LORD'S messenger in the LORD'S message unto the
people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD" (Haggai 1:13). Within a short
month after (comp. Haggai 1:15, and Haggai 2:1) came another and larger promise
(Haggai 2:2-9); and two others again from the same prophet in about two months
from that time. Besides that notable series of eight prophetic visions, mainly of hope
and encouragement, from the prophet Zechariah, before the close of the same year
(Zec 1:7-6:15). So plentifully was this precious dew vouchsafed at this special season
of growth; and so harmoniously did all these various changes, dispensations, and
voices work together for this revival of God's work.
From these considerations we see—
1. The duty of studying God's works: his works in providence, and in nature too, so

far as we have opportunities for so doing, because in all of them he has something to
say to us, if we are only able to understand it. This applies especially to those works
or doings of God which concern our own persons and times, because we may almost
say of such doings that they are presented to us for study. ote the comparison on
this subject between nature and providence in Matthew 16:2, Matthew 16:3; and see
1 Chronicles 12:32.
2. The duty of listening to Gods word. Partly on account of the clearer significance
which it gives to God's works; partly because of the additional message which it
brings of its own. For the language of some of God's works see Psalms 19:1-6, and
comp. Romans 1:19, Romans 1:20. For the further language of God's word see same
Psalms 19:7-9. Compare also, as showing the specially exalted and complementary
character of prophecy or revelation, the remarkable declaration of Psalms 138:2,
and 2 Peter 1:19-21. The dark page of God's doings (for so it is to us,. see Psalms
97:2) should never be neglected; but it never can be safely interpreted apart from
the plainer page of his word. We may also see from these considerations what is—
3. The central topic of all prophecy. The building of God's house by God's Israel
pointed forward in manifold ways to the coming and work of God's Son. That house
was a well-known type of his body (John 2:19-21). In that restored house he himself
was to appear (Haggai 2:7; Malachi 3:1; Luke 2:25-30). And out of that figurative
"house" or family of Israel, as their peculiar crown and salvation, and as a blessing
to all other families on earth, he was to arise. When, therefore, the work of building
that house, under apparently hopeless circumstances, has to be revived, how
fittingly does the spirit of prophecy suddenly reappear on the scene, to stimulate,
direct, and encourage these men, who were, virtually, building for all mankind in
building for their own Messiah. It may remind us of those well-known passages,
John 5:39; Acts 10:43; Revelation 19:10. May it teach us also to give that adorable
Saviour a similarly pre-eminent place in our thoughts I
3
At that time Tattenai, governor of Trans-
Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their
associates went to them and asked, "Who
authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore
this structure?"

BAR ES, "Governor on this side the river - Compare Ezr_4:10 note. Tatnai was
apparently satrap of Syria, which included the whole tract west of the Euphrates from
Cilicia to the borders of Egypt. Zerubbabel must have been, to some extent, under his
authority.
Who hath commanded you to build? - There was no doubt a formal illegality in
the conduct of Zerubbabel and Jeshua: since all edicts of Persian kings continued in
force unless revoked by their successors. But they felt justified in disobeying the decree
of the Pseudo-Smerdis (see the Ezr_4:7 note), because the opposition between his
religious views and those of his successor was matter of notoriety.
CLARKE, "Tatnai, governor - He was governor of the provinces which belonged
to the Persian empire on their side of the Euphrates, comprehending Syria, Arabia
Deserta, Phoenicia, and Samaria. He seems to have been a mild and judicious man; and
to have acted with great prudence and caution, and without any kind of prejudice. The
manner in which he represented this to the king is a full proof of this disposition.
GILL, "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.
HE RY, "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 (2Th_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.
JAMISO , "At the same time came to them Tatnai, governor on this side
the river — The Persian empire west of the Euphrates included at this time Syria,
Arabia, Egypt, Phoenicia, and other provinces subject to Darius. The empire was divided
into twenty provinces, called satrapies. Syria formed one satrapy, inclusive of Palestine,
Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and furnished an annual revenue of three hundred fifty talents. It
was presided over by a satrap or viceroy, who at this time resided at Damascus. Though
superior to the native governors of the Jews appointed by the Persian king, he never
interfered with their internal government except when there was a threatened
disturbance of order and tranquillity. Tatnai, the governor (whether this was a personal
name or an official title is unknown), had probably been incited by the complaints and
turbulent outrages of the Samaritans against the Jews; but he suspended his judgment,
and he prudently resolved to repair to Jerusalem, that he might ascertain the real state
of matters by personal inspection and enquiry, in company with another dignified officer
and his provincial council.
COFFMA , "Verse 3
THE GOVER OR TATTE AI I VESTIGATES
"At the same time came to them Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, and
Shethar-bozenai, and their companions, and said unto them, Who gave you a decree
to build this house, and to finish this wall? Then we told them after this manner,
what the names of the men were that were making this building. But the eye of their
God was upon the elders of the Jews, and they did not make them cease, till the
matter should come to Darius, and then answer should be returned by letter
concerning it."
"At the same time ... came Tattenai" (Ezra 5:3). "The Persian Empire at that time
was divided into twenty satrapies, presided over by governors under the authority
of Darius. The territory ruled by Tattenai included Syria, Palestine, Phoenicia and
Cyprus."[4] This satrapy was called Syria, and Tattenai's capital was Damascus.
We do not have to wonder how he happened to appear at that particular time when
the Jews had taken up work on the temple. That evil racial mix of ten strains of
people under the title of Samaritans had run like the tattletales they were to inform
the governor against Israel. They found a governor who was fair-minded and who
refused to become their instrument of hatred against Israel. He allowed the work to
proceed until he could consult Darius the king.
"The governor beyond the River" (Ezra 5:3). "Beyond the River" in Ezra is always
a reference to the territory west of the Euphrates. The perspective is from that of
Darius' capital in Babylon, or Shushan.
"Shethar-bozenai" (Ezra 5:3). This man was apprently the secretary of Tattenai,

just as, at a later time, Shimshai was the secretary of Rehum.
"The eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews" (Ezra 5:4). The providence
of God most certainly entered into this new development; however, God's
instrument of blessing Israel here was in His appointment of Tattenai, a governor
who would not be controlled or manipulated by the evil Samaritans.
ELLICOTT, "(3) Tatnai, governor on this side the river.—Satrap, or Pechah, of the
entire province of Syria and Phœnicia, and therefore with a jurisdiction over
Judaea, and over Zerubbabel its Pechah or sub-Satrap. What Shimshai was to the
Samaritan Pechah, Rehum, Shethar-boznai seems to be to Tatnai—his secretary.
Who hath commanded you?—It is obvious that the overthrow of Smerdis, the
Magian hater of Zoroastrianism and destroyer of temples, had encouraged the
builders to go on without fearing molestation from the Court of Darius. Moreover,
the two prophets had made their duty too plain to be deferred. Still, the decree of
the preceding chapter had never been expressly revoked.
BE SO , "Ezra 5:3-4. Tatnai and Shethar-boznai — These were probably new
governors, or prefects, whom Darius had sent; for it was usual with new kings to
change the governors of provinces. Who hath commanded you to build this house?
— o sooner did the Spirit of God stir up the friends of the temple to appear for it,
but the evil spirit stirred up its enemies to appear against it. While the people
builded and ceiled their own houses, their enemies gave them no molestation,
(Haggai 1:4,) though the king’s order was to put a stop to the building of the city,
Ezra 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 it. Then said we unto them — We Jews; What
are the names, &c. — Certainly there ought to be no interrogation in this verse, but
the words should be rendered, Then we told them accordingly (that is, according to
what they asked) what were the names of the men that made this building; that is,
who were the chief undertakers and encouragers of the work. For it appears, from
Ezra 5:10, that Tatnai and his companions inquired who were the chief promoters
of the work, to which a true answer was immediately given.
CO STABLE, "Tattenai"s question5:3-5
The text does not say if the Jews" antagonistic neighbors had provoked Tattenai,
the governor of the Persian province in which Jerusalem stood, to ask to see the
Jews" temple building permit. It simply says he asked to see it. The Jews kept the
construction work going while Tattenai determined whether they had authority to
build.
Tattenai had reason to question the Jews" actions without prodding from the
Samaritans. The Persian Empire had undergone political upheaval since Cyrus"
death in530 B.C. Cyrus" son and successor, Cambyses, had to put down several
rebellions against his authority. This involved his executing his brother, Smerdis.
An Egyptian nobleman, Gaumata, then claimed to be the true Smerdis and revolted

against Cambyses. Popular opinion swung behind Gaumata, and Cambyses
committed suicide in522 B.C. However, the Persian army supported a distant cousin
of Cambyses named Darius I (Hystaspes). Darius was able to overthrow Gaumata
and to put down several other claimants to the throne, as well as rebellions in many
different parts of the empire. [ ote: A. T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire,
pp107-16.] In view of these events, it is easy to see why Tattenai would have been
suspicious of any attempt to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, and why he wrote to
Darius for instructions.
Another reason for Tattenai"s concern may very well have been what Zechariah
was prophesying. He said that the "Branch," the long-expected descendant of
David"s line, would soon appear and sit on David"s throne ( Zechariah 3:8; cf.
Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5-6). What Zechariah predicted of Messiah seemed to fit
Zerubbabel to a tee ( Zechariah 6:9-15).
LA GE, "Ezra 5:3. At the same time.— ow again they were threatened with
interruption. ‫ָא‬‫נ‬ְ‫מ‬ִ‫ז‬ ‫ֵהּ‬‫בּ‬, at it, the time, = at the same time. Comp. Daniel 3:7; Daniel
3:9; Daniel 4:33.[F 2] Again Persian officials arrive, but at this time only do their
duty.—Tatnai, governor on this side the river, of the entire province to the west of
the Euphrates, outranked Zerubbabel, whom Cyrus had appointed governor of
Judah (comp. Ezra 5:14). He was perhaps unacquainted with the mission of
Zerubbabel, because he had come into his office at a subsequent period to him.—
Shethar Boznai who accompanied him, is not designated indeed as Shimshai (chap.
Ezra 4:8 sq.), e. g, as scribe or chancellor, but the entire appearance is in favor of his
being likewise a magistrate.—Their companions, however, who in Ezra 5:6 are
especially called his companions, that Isaiah, Shethar-Boznai’s companions, and are
named the Apharsachites, are according to Ezra 5:6 likewise government officials,
probably of a lower grade. At this time also the Samaritans may have been at work
in that they had called attention to the building of the temple in Jerusalem, but now
they were no longer able to fill the officials with hostile sentiments. They simply
inquire who hath commanded you to build this house?—‫ֵא‬‫נ‬ְ‫ב‬ִ‫ל‬ here and in Ezra 5:13
is a singular form, since the infin. in Chald. is ‫ֵא‬‫נ‬ְ‫ב‬ִ‫מ‬ (comp. Ezra 5:2; Ezra 5:17; Ezra
6:8), or ‫ָה‬‫י‬ְ‫נ‬ְ‫ב‬ִ‫מ‬, comp. chapter Ezra 5:9. R. orzi has here and in Ezra 5:13 a dagesh
in the ‫,ב‬ but there cannot be an assimilation of the ‫מ‬ because it has a vowel. It may
be that the language was not entirely fixed in its usage of ‫מ‬ in the infin, as it is here
absent from the infin. in Peal, to which elsewhere it is peculiar, so it has been at
times prefixed to the Pael and Aphel, before which it is usually absent, and always to
the infinitive of the passive conjugations in the later Targums. Comp. Winer, Gram,
§ 12. [Luzzatto Gram., § 88.—Tr.]. [Rawlinson, in loco. “There was no doubt a
formal illegality in the conduct of Zerubbabel and Jeshua; since all edicts of Persian
kings continued in force unless revoked by their successors. But they felt justified in
disobeying the decree of the Pseudo-Smerdis, because the opposition between his
religious views and those of his successors was a matter of notoriety. (See Ancient
Monarchies, IV. p405).”—Tr.]. ‫ָא‬‫נ‬ ְ‫ר‬ַ‫שּׁ‬ֻ‫,א‬ a word of doubtful etymology, is in Esdras
rendered by ‫פ‬‫ףפ‬ ‫ם‬‫פב‬ ‫דחם‬‫ך‬ ‫פחם‬ὰ‫פ‬ ‫י‬ὰ ἄ‫נ‬ ‫ככב‬‫םפב‬ (the beams and all the rest), in the
Sept. on the other hand by ‫פ‬‫קןסחד‬ ‫ם‬‫פב‬ ‫בם‬‫פחם‬ (this sacred service = this building).
These derivations in the versions makes it probable that there was no fixed tradition

respecting the meaning; the one rendering being as much guess work as the other.
The Vulg, Syriac and the Rabbins have explained it as “walls,” which might well be
the most suitable and correct, having as its root not ‫אשׁר‬ (Gesen.), but ‫אשׁן‬ more
properly ‫שׁוּן‬ָ‫א‬ (firm, strong).
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, " EW DIFFICULTIES MET I A
EW SPIRIT
Ezra 5:3-17; Ezra 6:1-5
IT is in keeping with the character of his story of the returned Jews throughout,
that no sooner has the chronicler let a ray of sunshine fall on his page-in his brief
notice of the inspiriting mission of the two prophets-than he is compelled to plunge
his narrative again into gloom. But he shows that there was now a new spirit in the
Jews, so that they were prepared to meet opposition in a more manly fashion. If
their jealous neighbours had been able to paralyse their efforts for years, it was only
to be expected that a revival of energy in Jerusalem should provoke an increase of
antagonism abroad, and doubtless the Jews were prepared for this. Still it was not a
little alarming to learn that the infection of the anti-Jewish temper had spread over
a wide area. The original opposition had come from the Samaritans. But in this later
time the Jews were questioned by the Satrap of the whole district east of the
Euphrates-"the governor beyond the river," [Ezra 5:3] as the chronicler styles him,
describing his territory as it would be regarded officially from the standpoint of
Babylon. His Aramaic name, Tattenai, shows that he was not a Persian, but a native
Syrian, appointed to his own province, according to the Persian custom. This man
and one Shethar-bozenai, whom we may assume to be his secretary, must have been
approached by the colonists in such a way that their suspicions were roused. Their
action was at first only just and reasonable. They asked the Jews to state on what
authority they were rebuilding the temple with its massive walls. In the Hebrew
Bible the answer of the Jews is so peculiar as to suggest a corruption of the text. It is
in the first person plural-"Then said we unto them," etc. [Ezra 5:4] In the
Septuagint the third person is substituted" Then said they," etc., and this rendering
is followed in the Syriac and Arabic versions. It would require a very slight
alteration in the Hebrew text. The Old Testament Revisers have retained the first
person-setting the alternative reading in the margin. If we keep to the Hebrew text
as it stands, we must conclude that we have here a fragment from some
contemporary writer which the chronicler has transcribed literally. But then it
seems confusing. Some have shaped the sentence into a direct statement, so that in
reply to the inquiry for their authority the Jews give the names of the builders. How
is this an answer? Possibly the name of Zerubbabel, who had been appointed
governor of Jerusalem by Cyrus, could be quoted as an authority. And yet the
weakness of his position was so evident that very little would be gained in this way,
for it would be the right of the Satrap to inquire into the conduct of the local
governor. If, however, we read the sentence in the third person, it will contain a
further question from the Satrap and his secretary, inquiring for the names of the
leaders in the work at Jerusalem. Such an inquiry threatened danger to the feeble
Zerubbabel.

The seriousness of the situation is recognised by the grateful comment of the
chronicler, who here remarks that "the eye of their God was upon the elders of the
Jews." [Ezra 5:5] It is the peculiarity of even the driest records of Scripture that the
writers are always ready to detect the presence of God in history. This justifies us in
describing the Biblical narratives as "sacred history," in contrast to the so-called
"secular history" of such authors as Herodotus and Livy. The narrow conception of
the difference is to think that God was with the Jews, while He left the Greeks and
Romans and the whole Gentile world to their fate without any recognition or
interference on His part. Such a view is most dishonouring to God, who is thus
regarded as no better than a tribal divinity, and not as the Lord of heaven and
earth. It is directly contradicted by the Old Testament historians, for they
repeatedly refer to the influence of God on great world monarchies. o doubt a
claim to the Divine graciousness as the peculiar privilege of Israel is to be seen in the
Old Testament. As far as this was perverted into a selfish desire to confine the
blessings of God to the Jews, it was vigorously rebuked in the Book of Jonah. Still it
is indisputable that those who truly sought God’s grace, acknowledged His
authority, and obeyed His will, must have enjoyed privileges which such of the
heathen as St. Paul describes in the first chapter of his Epistle to the Romans could
not share. Thus the chronicler writes as though the leaders of the Jews in their
difficulties were the special objects of the Divine notice. The eye of God was on
them, distinctively. God is spoken of as their God. They were men who knew,
trusted, and honoured God, and at the present moment they were loyally carrying
out the direction of God’s prophets. All this is special. evertheless, it remains true
that the chief characteristic of Biblical history is its recognition of the presence of
God in the affairs of mankind generally, and this applies to all nations, although it is
most marked among those nations in which God is known and obeyed.
The peculiar form of Providence which is brought before us in the present instance
is the Divine observation. It is difficult to believe that, just as the earth is visible to
the stars throughout the day while the stars are invisible to the earth, we are always
seen by God although we never see Him. When circumstances are adverse-and these
circumstances are only too visible - it is hard not to doubt that God is still watching
all that happens to us, because although we cry out in our agony no answer breaks
the awful silence and no hand comes out of the clouds to hold us up. It seems as
though our words were lost in the void. But that is only the impression of the
moment. If we read history with the large vision of the Hebrew chronicler, can we
fail to perceive that this is not a God-deserted world? In the details His presence
may not be discerned, but when we stand back from the canvas and survey the
whole picture, it flashes upon us like a sunbeam spread over the whole landscape.
Many a man can recognise the same happy truth in the course of his own life as he
looks back over a wide stretch of it, although while he was passing through his
perplexing experience the thicket of difficulties intercepted his vision of the heavenly
light.
ow it is a most painful result of unbelief and cowardice working on the
consciousness of guilt lurking in the breast of every sinful man, that the "eye of

God" has become an object of terror to the imagination of to many people. Poor
Hagar’s exclamation of joy and gratitude has been sadly misapprehended.
Discovering to her amazement that she is not alone in the wilderness, the friendless,
heart-broken slave-girl looks up through her tears with a smile of sudden joy on her
face, and exclaims, "Thou God seest me!" [Genesis 16:13] And yet her happy words
have been held over terrified children as a menace! That is a false thought of God
which makes any of His children shrink from His presence, except they are foul and
leprous with sin, and even then their only refuge is, as St. Augustine found, to come
to the very God against whom they have sinned. We need not fear lest some day God
may make a miserable discovery about us. He knows the worst, already. Then it is a
ground of hope that while He sees all the evil in us God still loves His children-that
He does not love us, as it were, under a misapprehension. Our Lord’s teaching on
the subject of the Divine observation is wholly reassuring. ot a sparrow falls to the
ground without our Father’s notice, the very hairs of our head are all numbered,
and the exhortation based on these facts is not "Beware of the all-seeing Eye!" but
"Fear not." [Luke 12:7]
The limitation of the chronicler’s remark is significant. He speaks of the eye of God,
not of God’s mighty hand, nor of His outstretched arm. It was not yet the time for
action; but God was watching the course of events. Or if God was acting, His
procedure was so secret that no one could perceive it. Meanwhile it was enough to
know that God was observing everything that was transpiring. He could not be
thought of as an Epicurean divinity, surveying the agony and tragedy of human life
with a stony gaze of supercilious indifference, as the proud patrician looks down on
the misery of the dim multitude. For God to see is for God to care; and for God to
care is for God to help. But this simple statement of the Divine observation
maintains a reserve as to the method of the action of God, and it is perhaps the best
way of describing Providence so that it shall not appear to come into collision with
the free will of man.
The chronicler distinctly associates the Divine observation with the continuance of
the Jews in their work. Because the eye of God was on them their enemies could not
cause them to cease until the matter had been referred to Darius and his answer
received. This may be explained by some unrecorded juncture of circumstances
which arrested the action of the enemies of Israel; by the overruling Providence
according to which the Satrap was led to perceive that it would not be wise or just
for him to act until he had orders from the king; or by the new zeal with which the
two prophets had inspired the Jews, so that they took up a bold position in the calm
confidence that God was with them. Account for it as we may, we see that in the
present case the Jews were not hindered in their work. It is enough for faith to
perceive the result of the Divine care without discovering the process.
The letter of the Satrap and his secretary embodies the reply of the Jews to the
official inquiries, and that reply clearly and boldly sets forth their position. One or
two points in it call for passing notice.
In the first place, the Jews describe themselves as "servants of the God of heaven

Prophets Haggai and Zechariah Encourage Jews to Rebuild Temple

Prophets Haggai and Zechariah Encourage Jews to Rebuild Temple

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