Ezra 4:3

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezra 4:1-5

We have here an instance of the old enmity that was put between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. God's temple cannot be built, but Satan will rage, and the gates of hell will fight against it. The gospel kingdom was, in like manner, to be set up with much struggling and contention. In this respect the glory of the latter house was greater than the glory of the former, and it was more a figure of the temple of Christ's church, in that Solomon built his temple when there was no... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezra 4:3

But Zerubbabel, and Joshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers, said unto them ,.... The prince and high priest, and chief of the people: you have nothing to do with us to build an house to our God ; being neither of the same nation, nor of the same religion: but we ourselves together will build to the Lord God of Israel ; we and we only, who are together as one man, united in one body of people, and in the same religious sentiments, being Israelites; we separately, without... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezra 4:3

Ye have nothing to do with us - We cannot acknowledge you as worshippers of the true God, and cannot participate with you in anything that relates to his worship. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ezra 4:3

Ye have nothing to do with us - Because the Samaritans had united idolatrous rites with the worship of Yahweh 2 Kings 17:29-41. To have allowed them a share in restoring the temple would have been destructive of all purity of religion.As king Cyrus ... commanded us - The exact words of the edict gave the right of building exclusively to those who should “go up” from Babylonia to Judaea Ezra 1:3. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Ezra 4:3

Ezra 4:3. Ye have nothing to do with us The chief of the fathers were soon aware that they meant them no kindness, whatever they might pretend, but really designed to do them an injury; and therefore, (though they had need enough of help, if it had been such as they could confide in,) they told them plainly they could not accept it, nor unite with them, as being of another nation and religion, and therefore not concerned in Cyrus’s grant, which was confined to the Israelites. But we... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Ezra 4:1-24

Opposition stops the work (4:1-24)As a result of Assyria’s resettlement program of two centuries earlier, a race of people grew up in the area around Samaria and Jerusalem who were of mixed blood and mixed religion. They were known as Samaritans (see notes on 2 Kings 17:24-33). The Jewish leaders refused their offered help in building the temple of God, no doubt to prevent wrong ideas from corrupting Israel’s religion. The Samaritan group reacted bitterly. They opposed the Jewish builders so... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Ezra 4:3

Jeshua. See note on Ezra 3:2 . Israel. See note on Ezra 2:2 and 1 Kings 12:17 . as = according as. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Ezra 4:3

Ver. 3. Ye have nothing to do with us, &c.— The Jews esteemed these people no better than idolaters; for, although from the time that they had been infested with lions, in the days of Ezar-haddon, they had worshipped the God of Israel, yet it was only in conjunction with their other gods whom they worshipped before; and therefore, notwithstanding their worship of the true God, since they worshipped false gods also at the same time, they were in this respect idolaters; which was reason... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Ezra 4:3

3. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua . . . said . . . Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God—This refusal to co-operate with the Samaritans, from whatever motives it sprang, was overruled by Providence for ultimate good; for, had the two peoples worked together, familiar acquaintanceship and intermarriage would have ensued, and the result might have been a relapse of the Jews into idolatry. Most certainly, confusion and obscurity in the genealogical evidence that proved the... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Ezra 4:1-5

Opposition during Cyrus’ reign 4:1-5The Assyrian government encouraged its residents to move to Israel and to settle there after the fall of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C. This was official government policy during the reigns of the Assyrian kings Esarhaddon (680-669 B.C.; 2 Kings 17:24) and Ashurbanipal (668-ca. 630 B.C.; Ezra 4:10). These immigrant people worshipped pagan idols (2 Kings 17:30-31), but also started worshipping Yahweh, whom they regarded as the god of the land in which they... read more

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