Ezra 4:1-3
4:1 a Judah and Benjamin: Most of the exiles who had returned were from these two tribes of Israel (1:5 b).4:2 c King Esarhaddon of Assyria (680–669 BC) had deported the people of Israel to foreign lands and had relocated other conquered peoples to the land of Israel during the reign of King Manasseh in Judah. These foreigners had learned about the Lord when they entered the land of Israel but had also continued to worship their old gods (2 Kgs 17:27-34 d, 40-41 e).
4:3 f The key political, religious, and tribal leaders spoke with a unified voice against the foreigners’ proposal, which would have opened the door for their idolatrous beliefs. The Jews did not want to make the same mistake as their ancestors, who were sent into exile as a result of worshiping the false gods of the Canaanites.
• as King Cyrus of Persia commanded us: See 1:2-4 g.
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