Be it known unto the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is builded with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on, and prospereth in their hands.
We have here, I. The cognizance which their neighbours soon took of the reviving of this good work. A jealous eye, it seems, they had upon them, and no sooner did the Spirit of God stir up the friends of the temple to appear for it than the evil spirit stirred up its enemies to appear against it.
Commenting on Ezra 5:3-17
Be it known unto the king,.... This seems to have been the usual form of beginning a letter to a king in those days, Ezr 4:12 that we went into the province of Judea; which from a kingdom was reduced to a province, and was become a part of the Babylonian, now Persian, monarchy, see Ezr 2:1 to the house of the great God; as...
the house of the great God, which is builded with great stones--literally, "stones of rolling"; that is, stones of such extraordinary size that they could not be carried--they had to be rolled or dragged along the ground.