An example of the enemies’ lobbying
11 (This is a copy of the letter they sent him.) To King Artaxerxes,
From your servants, the men of Trans-Euphrates:
12 The king should know that the Jews who came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring the walls and repairing the foundations.
13 Furthermore, the king should know that if this city is built and its walls are restored, no more taxes, tribute or duty will be paid, and the royal revenues will suffer. 14 Now since we are under obligation to the palace and it is not proper for us to see the king dishonored, we are sending this message to inform the king, 15 so that a search may be made in the archives of your predecessors. In these records you will find that this city is a rebellious city, troublesome to kings and provinces, a place of rebellion from ancient times. That is why this city was destroyed. 16 We inform the king that if this city is built and its walls are restored, you will be left with nothing in Trans-Euphrates.
In their letter the enemies relied on half-truths and flattery to gain their ends. It was true that Judah had been a rebellious nation in the time of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires, but those days were in the distant past. Because the Persian Empire was constantly plagued by revolts, the enemies knew that the very mention of rebellion was sure to create alarm in Persia. The enemies pretended to be motivated by concern for the king’s interests, yet their real motive was jealousy of the people of Jerusalem.
The heading of the letter lists the homes of some of the Samaritans before they had been deported to Israel by Asshurbanipal, a king of Assyria (669–626 B.C.), who had continued the deportation policies of his father Esarhaddon (681–669 B.C.) (Ezra 4:2). There is some uncertainty about the proper translation of some of the titles and place-names in this heading, as a footnote in the NIV indicates. The main difficulty is whether the word “Tripolis” is a place-name or a title. “Persia” may also refer to a class of government officials rather than to the nationality of the settlers. Erech is a city near Babylon, and Susa is in Persia. Trans-Euphrates is the Persian name for the satrapy, or province, that lay west of the Euphrates River. It included Palestine and Syria. Judah was apparently a subdivision of this province.
Ezra 4:8–6:18 is written in Aramaic rather than Hebrew, because Ezra is quoting diplomatic correspondence, which was written in Aramaic. Aramaic served as the international diplomatic language during the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian Empires, just as English and French have in modern times.