John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 5:13
But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon ,.... That is, the first year he was king of Babylon, having taken it, otherwise he was king of Persia many years before: the same King Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God ; see Ezra 1:1 . read more
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezra 5:3-17
We have here, I. The cognizance which their neighbours soon took of the reviving of this good work. A jealous eye, it seems, they had upon them, and no sooner did the Spirit of God stir up the friends of the temple to appear for it than the evil spirit stirred up its enemies to appear against it. While the people built and ceiled their own houses their enemies gave them no molestation (Hag. 1:4), though the king's order was to put a stop to the building of the city (Ezra 4:21); but when they... read more