The next king of Persia, according to Daniel 11:2, would have been Darius Hystaspes, and he is Artaxerxes in the text at Ezra 4:7 and is the king of reference throughout the remainder of the chapter.[1] So, if Cambyses stopped the construction of Jerusalem and the Temple of God in the beginning of his reign (Ezra 4:6; Nehemiah 1:1-3), he couldn’t be the same king of Persia, who permitted the rebuilding to commence once more in the twentieth year of his reign, which was again stopped in his thirty-second year (Nehemiah 5:14). Therefore, the Ahasuerus of Ezra 4:6 is not the Artaxerxes of Ezra 4:7. They are two different kings, Cambyses and Darius Hystaspes, according to the chronology mentioned in Daniel 11:2.
A close comparison of Ezra with Nehemiah would show that the letter that was sent to Artaxerxes (Ezra 4:7) was sent to Darius Hystaspes, and the governor of the Province of Judah at this time was Nehemiah, whom Hystaspes had sent to begin the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple, nearly 30 years after it was stopped by Cambyses (Nehemiah 1:1-3; 2:5-8).
The officials in Samaria, Rehum, the governor, and Shimshai, the Persian appointed scribe, wrote to the king in a letter against the rebuilding project at Jerusalem. They wrote in the Syrian language (Aramaic),[2] and the letter was translated from Aramaic into the Persian tongue (Ezra 4:7-8). They are identified in the letter as the group of loyal citizens, whom the king of Assyria had planted in Samaria over a century ago in an effort to bring the rebellious Israelites into conformity with the empire’s manner of life (Ezra 4:9-10).
The letter informed the king that the building project at Jerusalem was going on and, presently, the walls and foundations were fully joined and continued to be built. Moreover, Jerusalem was accused to have been a very rebellious city, and the officials writing the letter feared that it would continue to be rebellious, and, if the building project was permitted to be completed, the king’s revenue (taxes from Jerusalem) would surely be stopped by such a rebellious city. Therefore, the loyal citizens of Samaria, have written to the king in an effort to ensure the king’s honor would be upheld (Ezra 4:11-14).
To put this letter in context, we need to read Nehemiah 6:5-7. There the governor, Nehemiah, was accused in an open letter to all the Jews in the province, that he was conspiring to set himself up as king and planned to rebel against Darius Hystaspes, king of Persia. This seems to be the real meaning behind the letter written in the Syrian tongue, which we find in Ezra 4:9-16.
Finally, the Samaritan officials advised the king to search the records of the ancient fathers, and it would be proven to him that what they (the Samaritan officials) claimed about Jerusalem was, in fact, true, and couldn’t be denied (Ezra 4:15-16). Thus, we see that we cannot escape our past. Indeed, a search was made, as we shall see in the next study, and the building of Jerusalem and the Temple, which was the work of God at that time, was stopped, due to the Jews’ past sins. Obedience today cannot erase our past. Even repentance and the Lord’s forgiveness cannot undo what we’ve already done, and sometimes, but not always, past sins will haunt our present labor in obedience to the Lord. I say this, not because repentant sinners aren’t forgiven, or that the Lord holds our past against us, but because men fear the light (John 3:19), and don’t want their own sins exposed by the obedience of others. Anything, indeed, everything that can be used to put out the light, keep men from obeying God, will be used against the righteous.
[1] See my earlier study The Four Kings of Persia, which contains a chart that identifies the Persian kings mentioned in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.
[2] The Book of Ezra was written in two languages. It is mostly Hebrew (Ezra 1:1 to 4:7; 6:19 to 7:11; and 7:27 to 10:44), but parts are written in Aramaic, (Ezra 4:8 to 6:18 and 7:12-26).
Smoodock's Blog 