Ezra 5:8

Be it known unto the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is builded with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on, and prospereth in their hands.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) To the house of the great God.—A solemn tribute to the God of the Jews, which, however, the decree of Cyrus enables us to understand in this official document. Tatnai probably dwelt at Damascus, and when he went to Jerusalem was deeply impressed. But he only gives a statement of the progress which he observed in the Temple. “The walls here are the walls within the Temple, not the city walls.

Benson Commentary

Ezra 5:8. To the house of the great God — Whom the Jews account the great God, the God of gods, esteeming all others to be but little, or rather false gods. And, indeed, thus far the greater part of the Samaritans agreed with them.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:3-17 While employed in God's work, we are under his special protection; his eye is upon us for good. This should keep us to our duty, and encourage us therein, when difficulties are ever so discouraging. The elders of the Jews gave the Samaritans an account of their proceedings. Let us learn hence, with meekness and fear, to give a reason of the hope that is in us; let us rightly understand, and then readily declare, what we do in God's service, and why we do it. And while in this world, we always shall have to confess, that our sins have provoked the wrath of God. All our sufferings spring from thence, and all our comforts from his unmerited mercy. However the work may seem to be hindered, yet the Lord Jesus Christ is carrying it on, his people are growing unto a holy temple in the Lord, for a habitation of God through the Spirit.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Great stones - literally, as in the margin; i. e., stones so large that they were rolled along, not carried. Others translate "polished stones."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. the house of the great God, which is builded with great stones—literally, "stones of rolling"; that is, stones of such extraordinary size that they could not be carried—they had to be rolled or dragged along the ground.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The great God; whom the Jews account the great God, the God of gods, esteeming all others to be but little and false gods.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Be it known unto the king,.... This seems to have been the usual form of beginning a letter to a king in those days, Ezra 4:12 that we went into the province of Judea; which from a kingdom was reduced to a province, and was become a part of the Babylonian, now Persian, monarchy, see Ezra 2:1 to the house of the great God; as the Jews called the Lord their God; and even the Heathens had a notion that there was one supreme God, though they worshipped inferior ones; and some had a notion that Jehovah the God of the Jews was he:

which is builded with great stones; marble stones; as Jarchi (q), stones of rolling, as it may be rendered; which, according to Aben Ezra, were so large and heavy, that they could not be carried, but were obliged to roll them:

and timber is laid in the walls, cedar wood, as Aben Ezra interprets it, for beams, for flooring and raftering; or rather, is put upon the walls, for the lining and wainscoting of them, which was done with cedar wood:

and this work goeth fast on, and prospereth in their hands; and, unless timely prevented, will soon be finished.

(q) So David de Pomis, Tzemach David, fol. 15. 3.

Geneva Study Bible

Be it known unto the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is builded with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on, and prospereth in their hands.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. the province of Judea] R.V. the province of Judah. On ‘the province’ see Ezra 2:1. The A.V. gives the title ‘Judea’, which belongs to a later time, as the name of a country inhabited by the Jews. It occurs first in the Apocrypha (Tob 1:18; 1Ma 3:34; 2Ma 1:10, &c.). ‘Judah’ occurs frequently in Ezra, e.g. Ezra 4:6, Ezra 5:1. The LXX. gives εἰς τὴν Ἰονδαίαν χώραν: the Vulgate ‘ad Judæam provinciam’.

to the house of the great God] The governor uses terms of great reverence towards the God of the Jews. In consequence some have called in question the genuineness of this letter. But there is in reality nothing unusual in the use of such expressions by Eastern potentates with reference to the gods of a conquered or subject country.

with great stones] Literally ‘stones of rolling’. Stone, that is to say, too large for ordinary transport and requiring to be moved on rollers. The immense size of the stones used in the construction of the temples in early days is an unending source of amazement, e.g. Baalbec.

The LXX. renders by ‘chosen stones’ 1Es 6:9, by ‘polished stones very precious’: misunderstanding the original. Such adjectives applied to the foundations of the Temple were perhaps before the mind of the Apostle when he employs the metaphor of the building, cf. 1 Peter 2:4-7 (Isaiah 28:16). Vulg. ‘lapide impolito’.

timber is laid in the walls] i.e. beams or joists for supporting floor or roof. Some suggest party-walls, for the division of chambers.

goeth fast on] R.V. goeth on with diligence. ‘With diligence’, a Persian word ‘osparna’ (used also Ezra 6:8; Ezra 6:12-13, Ezra 7:17; Ezra 7:21; Ezra 7:26) which denotes care and attention as well as energy.

in their hands] referring to the Jews, implied in the words ‘the province of Judah’.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - We went into the province of Judaea. It has been supposed (Pusey's 'Daniel,' p. 571), on the strength of a doubtful passage in Nehemiah (Nehemiah 3:7), that Tatnai ordinarily resided at Jernsalem. But this expression indicates the contrary. Most probably the satrap of Syria held his court at Damascus. The house of the great God is a remarkable expression in the mouth of a heathen. It has some parallels, e.g. the expressions of Cyrus in Ezra 1:2, 3, and of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2:47 and Daniel 3:29; but they were persons who had been brought to the knowledge that Jehovah was the one true God, under very peculiar and miraculous circumstances. Tatnai, on the other hand, represents the mere ordinary Persian official; and his acknowledgment of the God of the Jews as "the great God" must be held to indicate the general belief of the Persians on the subject (see the comment on Ezra 1:2). Which is builded. Rather, "being builded." With great stones. Literally, "stones of rolling," which is commonly explained as stones so large that they had to be rolled along the ground. But the squared stones used in building neither were, nor could be, rolled; they are always represented as dragged, generally on a rough sledge. And it is not at all probable that in the "day of small things" (Zechariah 4:10) the Jews were building with very large stones. The LXX. translate "choice stones;" the Vulgate "unpolished" or "rough stone." Some of the Jewish expositors suggest "marble." And timber is laid. A good deal of timber had been employed in the old temple, but chiefly for the floors of chambers (1 Kings 6:10), for the internal lining of the walls (ibid. vers. 9, 15), and probably for the roofing. In the new temple, timber seems to have been employed also as the main material of the party-walls. Here again we have a trace of the economy necessary in the "day of small things." Ezra 5:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In Ezra 5:6-17 follows the letter which the royal officials sent to the king. Ezra 5:6 and Ezra 5:7 form the introduction to this document, and correspond with Ezra 5:8-11 in Ezra 4. Copy of the letter (comp. Ezra 4:11) which Tatnai, etc., sent. The senders of the letter are, besides Tatnai, Shethar-Boznai and his companions the Apharsachites, the same called Ezra 4:9 the Apharsathchites, who perhaps, as a race specially devoted to the Persian king, took a prominent position among the settlers in Syria, and may have formed the royal garrison. After this general announcement of the letter, follows the more precise statement: They sent the matter to him; and in it was written, To King Darius, much peace. פּתגּן here is not command, but matter; see above. כלּא, its totality, is unconnected with, yet dependent on שׁלמא: peace in all things, in every respect. The letter itself begins with a simple representation of the state of affairs (Ezra 5:8): "We went into the province of Judaea, to the house of the great God (for so might Persian officials speak of the God of Israel, after what they had learned from the elders of Judah of the edict of Cyrus), and it is being built with freestone, and timber is laid in the walls; and this work is being diligently carried on, and is prospering under their hands." The placing of wood in the walls refers to building beams into the wall for flooring; for the building was not so far advanced as to make it possible that this should be said of covering the walls with wainscotting. The word אספּרנא here, and Ezra 6:8, Ezra 6:12-13; Ezra 7:17, Ezra 7:21, Ezra 7:26, is of Aryan origin, and is explained by Haug in Ew. Janro. v. p. 154, from the Old-Persian us-parna, to mean: carefully or exactly finished-a meaning which suits all these passages.