Ezra 4
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; formula_1; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; formula_1; 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). 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. 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). The rejection of Zerubbabel was based on "spiritual insight". Historical divergence (4:6–23). The story of Zerubbabel was interrupted by the list of some accounts of hostilities which happened in a long period of time to illustrate the continuous opposition by non-Jews of the area to the attempts of the Jews to establish a community under the law of God. The story resumed (4:24). With the repetition of the essence in verse 5, the story of Zerubbabel and Jeshua resumes, continued to the next chapter.