Ezra 5

General context

Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo prophesy to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel. Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rise up and begin to build the house of God, with the prophets helping them. Tatnai, governor on this side the river, Shethar-boznai and their companions come and ask who commanded them to build the house and wall, and ask for the names of the builders. The narrator says the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, so the governors could not stop them until the matter reached Darius. The rest of the chapter is the copy of Tatnai's letter. He reports going to the province of Judea and finding the house of the great God being built with great stones and timber, the work going fast. He recounts asking the elders who commanded them and what their names were. The elders answered that they are servants of the God of heaven and earth, rebuilding a house a great king of Israel built long ago; that their fathers provoked God, who gave them to Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed the house and carried the people away; that in his first year Cyrus decreed the house be rebuilt and returned the vessels to Sheshbazzar, whom he made governor; and that Sheshbazzar laid the foundation and the building has continued unfinished since. Tatnai asks the king to search the treasure house at Babylon for Cyrus's decree and send his pleasure.

Cited passages: Ezra 5:1, Ezra 5:2, Ezra 5:3, Ezra 5:4, Ezra 5:5, Ezra 5:6, Ezra 5:8, Ezra 5:10, Ezra 5:11, Ezra 5:12, Ezra 5:13, Ezra 5:14, Ezra 5:16, Ezra 5:17

Ezra 5 (KJV)

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Historical context

Most of the chapter is a letter, so the account of the temple's history from Solomon's day to Cyrus is the elders' testimony as Tatnai reports it, not the narrator's own statement. The elders credit Sheshbazzar, whom they say Cyrus made governor, with laying the foundation, while Ezra 3 describes Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the builders at the foundation; the text does not say how the two accounts fit together or whether the names belong to one man or two. Verse 4 shifts briefly into the first person, Then said we unto them, in the middle of a third-person narrative, and the text does not identify who we are. The elders call Cyrus the king of Babylon, while chapter 1 calls him king of Persia. The great king of Israel who built the first house is not named. Tatnai's title, governor on this side the river, is the same phrase the chapter applies to the region, and the narrator does not say where he was based. Haggai is called simply the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo; the chapter does not quote what they said. The name of the king in whose reign this happens comes through the reference to Darius at the end of chapter 4, the narrator's note that the matter came to Darius, and the letter's address; the chapter gives no regnal year of its own.

Cited passages: Ezra 5:7, Ezra 5:11, Ezra 5:14, Ezra 5:16, Ezra 3:10, Ezra 3:8, Ezra 5:4, Ezra 5:13, Ezra 1:1, Ezra 5:3, Ezra 5:1, Ezra 4:24

Literary context

The chapter pairs two kinds of authority. It opens with prophets speaking in the name of the God of Israel and the builders rising in response; it ends with an imperial official asking who commanded the work and appealing to a written decree in a treasure house. The same question is asked twice, once in the narrative and once inside the letter, and the request for names is likewise repeated, so the reader hears the challenge from both sides. The narrator's short comment that the eye of their God was upon the elders is the hinge that explains why the work is not halted this time, in contrast to chapter 4, where the Jews were made to cease by force. The elders' reply inside the letter compresses the whole story of the temple, destruction, exile and Cyrus's decree into a few sentences, so the chapter retells the book's opening from the Jews' own mouths before a foreign audience. Tatnai's letter is presented as fair reporting, describing the work as prospering and passing on the elders' claim for verification rather than contradicting it.

Cited passages: Ezra 5:1, Ezra 5:2, Ezra 5:3, Ezra 5:9, Ezra 5:4, Ezra 5:10, Ezra 5:5, Ezra 4:23, Ezra 5:12, Ezra 5:8, Ezra 5:17

Key moments

1. Prophets speak, builders rise (Ezra 5:2). After Haggai and Zechariah prophesy, Zerubbabel and Jeshua begin to build again.
2. Who commanded you? (Ezra 5:3). Tatnai and Shethar-boznai arrive and demand to know who authorized the house and wall.
3. The work is not stopped (Ezra 5:5). The narrator says God's eye is on the elders, so the building continues until the matter reaches Darius.
4. The elders' account (Ezra 5:11). In the letter the elders describe themselves as servants of the God of heaven and earth rebuilding an old house.
5. Sheshbazzar and the foundation (Ezra 5:16). The elders say Sheshbazzar laid the foundation and the work has continued unfinished since.
6. A search requested (Ezra 5:17). Tatnai asks Darius to search the treasure house at Babylon for Cyrus's decree.

For reflection

Asked who commanded them, the elders answer first that they are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and only then cite Cyrus's decree. What does the order of their answer say about where they locate the authority for the work?

People in this chapter

• Cyrus
• Zerubbabel
• Jacob
• Judah
• Nebuchadnezzar
• Haggai
• Joshua the son of Josedech
• Zechariah (Prophet)

Also indexed here:

• Darius
• Shethar-bozenai
• Tattenai
• Iddo
• Jehozadak
• Shealtiel