The contents of this chapter are the offer the Samaritans made to the Jews, to assist them in building the temple, which having refused, they gave them all the trouble they could, Ezr 4:1 and a letter of theirs to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, full of accusations of them, Ezr 4:7 and the answer of Artaxerxes to it, giving orders to command the Jews to cease building the temple, Ezr 4:17 which orders were accordingly executed, and the work ceased till the second year of Darius, Ezr 4:23.
Ver. 1. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin,.... The Samaritans, as appears from Ezr 4:2,heard that the children of the captivity; the Jews, who had been in captivity seventy years, and were just come out of it, and still were not quite free, but under the jurisdiction and control of the king of Persia:builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel; that they were going about it, and had laid the foundation of it, which might soon come to their ears, the distance not being very great.
Josephus says they heard the sound of the trumpets, and came to know the meaning of it. Antiqu. l. 11. c. 4. sect.