What Does Ezra 4:1 Mean?
Now when the ones pressing in on Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the exile built the temple to the LORD God of Israel.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel;THE KEY
The children of exile become builders, while the word for their adversaries carries an echo of constriction.
THE MEANING
A people emerging from captivity is rebuilding a dwelling for the LORD God of Israel, and those who oppose them hear of it. Restoration is already taking shape while resistance takes notice. The verse holds rebuilding and opposition in the same moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that resistance means the rebuilding has not begun dissolves here: the people are already building while their adversaries hear of it.
THE ROOT
צָרֵי
tsarey
GROWS FROM
צָרַר
tsarar
To bind, press in, or harass.
“the ones pressing in” in this verse is tsarey. The word for adversaries carries an echo of צַר (tsar), meaning narrow or constricted. Opposition enters the verse with the shape of pressure against the rebuilding.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: Adversary or foe; also narrow or constricted.
צָר
The echo of narrowness gives the opposition a constricting shape.
tsarah: Distress or trouble.
צָרָה
This branch names the pressure or distress that can accompany opposition.
בֹּנִים
bonim
GROWS FROM
בָּנָה
banah
To build or build up.
“built” in this verse is bonim. The phrase “children of the captivity” stands beside the verb for building, with both carrying the b-n sound. Hebrew tradition links בֵּן (ben), “son,” with building a household: the displaced children are the ones building a dwelling again.
ALSO GROWS
ben: Son or descendant.
בֵּן
A son carries a household forward, joining the language of children to the act of building.
binyan: Building or structure.
בִּנְיָן
This branch names the structure taking shape in the verse.
THE PATTERN
When restoration becomes visible, opposition takes notice and gathers against it.
But it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he burned exceedingly, and foamed, and jeered with his lips at the Jews.Then from that day forward they took counsel together to put him to death.They threw their hands upon them and put them in keeping until the next day, for evening had already come.THE THREAD
But it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he burned exceedingly, and foamed, and jeered with his lips at the Jews.Both passages use בָּנָה (banah), “to build”; the same root describes the temple being built here and the wall being built there. Nehemiah shows opposition moving from hearing about the work to mocking it, while the building is already underway.
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