Ezra 4:18

The letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:6-24 It is an old slander, that the prosperity of the church would be hurtful to kings and princes. Nothing can be more false, for true godliness teaches us to honour and obey our sovereign. But where the command of God requires one thing and the law of the land another, we must obey God rather than man, and patiently submit to the consequences. All who love the gospel should avoid all appearance of evil, lest they should encourage the adversaries of the church. The world is ever ready to believe any accusation against the people of God, and refuses to listen to them. The king suffered himself to be imposed upon by these frauds and falsehoods. Princes see and hear with other men's eyes and ears, and judge things as represented to them, which are often done falsely. But God's judgment is just; he sees things as they are.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hath been ... read - It is doubtful if the Persian monarchs could ordinarily read. At any rate, it was their habit to have documents read to them (compare Esther 6:1). This is still the ordinary practice in Eastern courts.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. we have maintenance from the king's palace—literally, "we are salted with the salt of the palace." "Eating a prince's salt" is an Oriental phrase, equivalent to "receiving maintenance from him."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The letter which ye sent unto us,.... The plural number is used, being now become courtly for kings thus to speak of themselves:

hath been plainly before me; by such that understood both the Syrian and Persian languages; the letter was written in the Syrian language, and the king being a Persian, it was necessary it should be interpreted and explained to him.

Geneva Study Bible

The letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. The letter] On the word used here see note on Ezra 4:8.

hath been plainly read before me] So the R.V. The margin of the R.V. gives ‘translated’ as the alternative rendering for ‘plainly’, and this agrees with the general later usage of the word. The same word in Hebrew occurs in Nehemiah 8:8, where the R.V. renders ‘distinctly’, and its margin, ‘with an interpretation’.

‘Plainly’ (Vulg. manifeste) would imply that the allusions &c. of the Samaritan letter had been faithfully explained, not merely that the oral reading of the letter had been distinct.

There is not much to be said for the rendering ‘translated’. A Persian king would be acquainted with the official dialect of his satrapies; a translation of an Aramaic letter would not be required.

before me] Very possibly the king himself could not read. But see Ezra 4:23. The reading was performed by servants; cf. Esther 6:1.

This expression favours the view that the king is claiming to himself credit for having heard the letter and had it carefully explained to him.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - The letter hath been plainly read before me. Despatches are read to, not by, Oriental sovereigns, who have often no literary education. (Compare Esther 6:1.) Ezra 4:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"The letter which you sent to us has been plainly read before me." מפרשׁ part. pass. Peal, corresponds with the Hebrew part. Piel מפרשׁ, made plain, adverbially, plainly, and does not signify "translated into Persian."