Ezra 4 is the fourth chapter of the Book of Ezra in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, or the book of Ezra–Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, which treats the book of Ezra and book of Nehemiah as one book. Jewish tradition states that Ezra is the author of Ezra–Nehemiah as well as the Book of Chronicles, but modern scholars generally accept that a compiler from the 5th century BCE (the so-called "Chronicler") is the final author of these books. The section comprising chapter 1 to 6 describes the history before the arrival of Ezra in the land of Judah in 468 BCE. This chapter records the opposition of the non-Jews to the re-building of the temple and their correspondence with the kings of Persia which brought a stop to the project until the reign of Darius the Great.
Text
This chapter is divided into 24 verses. The original language of 4:1–7 is Hebrew language, whereas of Ezra 4:8–24 is Aramaic.
Textual witnesses
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew/Aramaic are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, that is, 4Q117 (4QEzra; 50 BCE) with extant verses 2–6 (2–5 // 1 Esdras 5:66–70), 9–11. There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century).
An ancient Greek book called 1 Esdras (Greek: ) containing some parts of 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah is included in most editions of the Septuagint and is placed before the single book of Ezra–Nehemiah (which is titled in Greek: ). 1 Esdras 5:66–73 is an equivalent of Ezra 4:1–5 (Work hindered until second year of Darius's reign), whereas 1 Esdras 2:15–26 is an equivalent of Ezra 4:7–24 (Artaxerxes' reign).
The oldest Latin manuscript of 4 Esdra is the Codex Sangermanensis that lacks 7:[36]–[105] and is parent of the vast majority of extant manuscripts. Other Latin manuscripts are: Codex Ambianensis: a Carolingian minuscule of the ninth century); Codex Complutensis: written in a Visighotic hand and dating from the ninth to tenth century, is now MS31 in the Library of Central University at Madrid. Codex Mazarineus: in two volumes, dating from the eleventh century, numbered 3 and 4 (formerly 6,7) in the Bibliothèque Mazarine at Paris. The text of 4 Ezra is given in the sequence of chapters 3–16, 1–2.
An offer of help (4:1–5) The non-Jewish inhabitants of the land of Judah offered to help with the building, but regarding it as a 'proposal of compromise', the leaders of Judah rejected the offer. Due to the rejection, the surrounding inhabitants mounted opposition to the building project.
Verses 1–2
Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity built the temple unto the Lord God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chiefs of the fathers' households, and said to them, "Let us build with you, for, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here." "Adversaries" or "enemies". "Zerubbabel": is the leader of the group and of Davidic line (), so he is associated with the messianic hope in the book of Zechariah, although none of it is mentioned in this book. His office is not named in this book, but he is identified as the "governor of Judah" in Haggai 1:1, ; . The enemies of the exiles try to destroy that community by assimilation, pointing out important similarities among their peoples (verse 2), wanting the exiles to be entirely like them, but the enemies don't have allegiance to Yahweh and assimilation for the exiles would have meant destruction of the covenant with God. The reference to the Assyrian king recalls the story in that after the fall of Samaria in 721 BC, the genuine Israel inhabitants of the northern kingdom were deported elsewhere and the Assyrians planted people from other places (bringing their own gods; cf. ) to the region of Samaria, initiated by Sargon (722–705 BC), but from this verse apparently extended to the reign of Esarhaddon (681–669 BC).
Verse 3
But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel said to them, "You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God; but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us." "Jeshua": or "Joshua". His office is not named in this book, but he is identified as the "high priest" in Haggai 1:1, , ; ; . "House" refers to "Temple". The rejection of Zerubbabel was based on "spiritual insight".