Ezra 5

1 the son of Iddo. That is, descendant; for he was the grandson of Iddo: see Zech. i. 1. See also the preface to Haggai, and ch. i., ii. These two prophets were raised up at this critical period to arouse the people to a sense of their duty, and to encourage them by assurances of Divine help and of the future glory of the Temple; and their writings are intimately connected with this portion of history.

unto them. R.V. places a stop at “Jerusalem,” and reads, “in the name of the God of Israel prophesied they unto them.”

3. Tatnai. This was about fifteen years after the first opposition (iv. 5). In the interval there had been a change of governors. Tatnai and his associates seem to have discharged their duty with great fairness and candour; giving an impartial statement of the case, very different from that which had been made by their predecessors in office (iv.).

4. Then said we. The Septuagint, with which the Syriac and Arabic versions agree, uses the third person, “And they said unto them,” etc.

5 that they could not cause them to cease, etc. R.V., “and they did not make them cease, until the matter should come to Darius, and then answer should be returned by letter concerning it”; see note on ver. 3, as to the conduct of Tatnai.

11 set up. Rather, “finished” (R.V.).

17 the king’s treasure-house. The “rolls” or records of the kingdom were carefully preserved in a part of the “treasure-house”: see vi. 1.