Ezra 4:14

Ezr 4:14 Now because we have maintenance from [the king’s] palace, and it was not meet for us to see the king’s dishonour, therefore have we sent and certified the king;

Ver. 14. Now because we have maintenance from the king’s palace] Chaldee, are salted with the salt of the palace, Salarium de regis palatio pereipimus, have our salary from the court, as Junius rendereth it. The great use of salt makes it here put for all kind of commodity; like as bread is called pants, as if it were το παν, the all and whole of our sustenance, Deu 8:3.

And it was not meet for us to see the king’s dishonour] Chaldee, nakedness, privities, which uncovered, cause contempt, as it befell Noah in his drunkenness; and the king of Spain, when by Queen Elizabeth proclaimed bankrupt.

Therefore have we sent and certified the king] As knowing that Beneficium postulat officium, Bounty commands duty. Ingratitude is a monster in nature, a solecism in good manners, &c. Lycurgus would make no law against it, because he held that none could be so unreasonable as to be guilty of it. Yet Alphonsus complained of his ungrateful courtiers; and so did Frederick III, emperor of Germany. Queen Elizabeth also said, that in trust she had oft found treason. That traitor Parry had vowed her death, although he had been condemned for burglary, and saved by her pardon (Speed).

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ezr_4:14

Now because we have maintenance from the kings palace.

Good cause for great zeal

I. We acknowledge a very gracious fact.

1. We have been maintained from the Kings palace--

(1) In things temporal.

(2) In things spiritual.

2. Our maintenance from the Kings palace has cost His Majesty dear. He spared not His own Son.

3. We have had a bountiful supply.

4. We have had an unfailing portion.

5. The supply has ennobled us.

6. How cheering it is to have such a soul-satisfying portion in God.

II. Here is a duty recognised. By every sense of propriety we are bound not to see God dishonoured--

1. By ourselves.

2. By those who dwell under our roof.

3. By those with whom we have influence; particularly those who desire to unite with us in Church fellowship. We must not receive into our membership persons of unhallowed life--those who know not the truth as it is in Jesus.

4. By the mutilation and misrepresentation of His Word.

5. By a neglect of His ordinances.

6. By a general decline of His Church.

7. By so many rejecting His gospel. We cannot prevent their doing so, but we can weep for them, pray for them, etc.

III. A course of action pursued. Certified the king. It is a holy exercise of the saints to report to the Lord the sins and the sorrows they observe among the people and to plead for their removal. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ezr 4:14. Now because we have maintenance from the king’s palace — In the Hebrew it is, we are salted with the salt of the palace. That is, are sustained by the king’s munificence, or have a salary from him, as Junius translates it. In ancient times, it appears, it was usual to allow those who had deserved well, and on that account were honourably provided for at the king’s charge, among other things, a daily quantity of salt; it being a thing very necessary in human life. Locke, however, who translates the clause, we have eaten of the king’s salt, understands the meaning to be, “We have engaged ourselves in a covenant of friendship with him.” It was not meet for us to see the king’s dishonour — Thus they represent themselves as very loyal to the government, and mightily concerned for the honour and interest of it; and hence they urge the king to put a stop to the building of the city and temple of Jerusalem, as what would certainly be to his loss and dishonour.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:14 Since we are your loyal subjects: The Aramaic phrase we eat the salt of the palace was a metaphor for taking an oath of loyalty to the king. • The letter’s authors claimed that their only interest was to preserve the honor of the king, but they were actually grasping for power and political advantage over the Jews.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hebrew, in the Chaldea, we have eaten the salt of the palace.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

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."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. Now because we have maintenance from the king's palace] More literally: Now because at all times we are salted with the salt of the palace; i.e., We live on the king's bounty, and must be faithful to our benefactor. Salt was used as the emblem of an incorruptible covenant; and those who ate bread and salt together were considered as having entered into a very solemn covenant. These hypocrites intimated that they felt their conscience bound by the league between them and the king; and therefore could not conscientiously see any thing going on that was likely to turn to the king's damage. They were probably also persons in the pay of the Persian king.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(14) Maintenance.—more exactly, we eat the salt of the palace. This seems to be a general expression for dependence on the king, whose dishonour or loss they profess themselves unwilling to behold.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. have maintenance from the king’s palace] R.V. eat the salt of the palace; which preserves the metaphor of the original. The LXX. omitted the clause: Vulg. ‘memores salis, quod in palatio comedimus’: 1Es_2:20, ‘forasmuch as the things pertaining to the Temple are now on hand’, which substitutes a different sentence for one that was not intelligible. The old Jewish translation ‘because we aforetime destroyed the Temple’, adopted by many former commentators (cf. Luther, ‘Nun wir alle dabei sind, die wir den Tempel zerstöret haben’), seems to have been based upon the old symbolical custom of ‘sowing with salt’ the site of a town or place that had been destroyed, e.g. Jdg_9:45, and upon the idea of unfruitfulness associated with salt (cf. ‘a salt land and not inhabited’, Jer_17:6; Deu_29:23; Zep_2:9; cf. Heb. Job_39:6; Psa_107:34). Others, with the same conception, ‘we have salted (Jerusalem) with the salt of the palace’, i.e. assisted the Imperial armies in its destruction. ‘The palace’ in the original is the same word (‘heycâl’) as that used for ‘the temple’ in Ezr_3:6, Ezr_5:14. The ambiguity of this word and the use of a rare metaphor has given rise to the difficulty of translation. Literally, the words mean ‘because we have salted the palace’s salt’. The explanation then will be not, as has been suggested, ‘because we have been entertained (guest friends, i.e. are the king’s friends), at the palace’, but ‘because we are in the king’s service’. The writers as representatives of colonies and dependent districts were very probably officials, and therefore members of the great network of Persian government.

The English word ‘salary’ from salarium or salt-money is generally compared with this phrase.

and it was not meet] R.V. and it is not meet.

dishonour] literally ‘nakedness’. A strong metaphor, which the LXX. ἀσχημοσύνη reproduces. Cf. Lev_18:7, &c. The order is emphatic, ‘and the shame of the king it is not meet for us to see’. The Vulg. ‘læsiones’ gives the technical Latin word for ‘damage’ in a general sense.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers,.... That is, his predecessors in the Babylonian monarchy; though, as the Medes and Persians were included in that, and joined the Babylonians in their wars with others, and particularly with the Jews, the records of the Medes and Persians might also be applied to:

so shalt thou find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful unto kings and provinces, and that they have moved sedition within the same of old time; against the king of Babylon, particularly in the times of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah:

for which cause was this city destroyed; as it was by Nebuchadnezzar; see Kg2 24:1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

We have maintenance - See the margin. The phrase “to eat a man’s salt” is common in the East to this day; and is applied not only to those who receive salaries, but to all who obtain their subsistence by means of another. The Persian satraps had no salaries, but taxed their provinces for the support of themselves and their courts.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Eaten. Chaldean, "on account of the salt, with which we have been salted, from the palace." The king’s officers were fed from his table. Salt is put for all their emoluments; (Calmet) and hence the word salary is derived. (Pliny, [Natural History?] xxxi. 7.) We may also translate, "because we have demolished the temple, and because," &c. (Kimchi; Grotius, &c.) But this seems to refined. (Calmet) --- Protestants, "Now because we have maintenance from the king’s palace, and it is not meet," &c. To have neglected their master’s interests, would have betrayed great ingratitude and perfidy; particularly if they had entered into a covenant of salt, or solemnly engaged to be ever faithful servants, as the nature of their office implied, Numbers xviii. 19., and 2 Paralipomenon xiii. 5. (Haydock) --- Palace, being honoured with much distinction. (Delrio, adag. 215.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thus they pretend the king’s service to their own malicious designs and private interests.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. We have maintenance from the king’s palace — Omit the interpolation, kings, of the translators. This version gives the sense, but the margin gives the Chaldee more correctly: We are salted with the salt of the palace. To take or eat one’s salt is a common saying among many nations for receiving one’s living from another. Our word salary comes from the Latin word for salt, (sal,) and arose from the custom of paying Roman soldiers in salt. These Samaritans profess great zeal for the king, inasmuch as they obtained their living from him.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

We have maintenance from the king"s palace. The marginal rendering is better, and shows the true sense. "Eating a man"s salt" in the East is deriving one"s subsistence from him. The man who eats another"s salt is bound to look after his interests. It was not meet for us to see the king"s dishonour. Rather, "the king"s detriment or loss it was not meet for us to stand by tamely and see the king stript of his due.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

we have eaten the palace salt

Possible meanings are that this refers to 1) the writers being loyal to the king or 2) the king giving the writers special honors. AT: "we are loyal to you" or "you have honored us by making us your officials" (See: Metonymy)

a rebellious city

The city is a metonym for the people who live in it. AT: "a city in which live people who have rebelled against your father" (See: Metonymy)

the city was destroyed

This can be translated in active form, in which case you will need to make explicit who destroyed the city. The "city" represents the people who live in it. AT: "the Babylonians destroyed the city" (See: Active or Passive and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Metonymy)

if this city and wall are built

This can be translated in active form. See how you translated these words in Esra 4:13. AT: "if they build the city and wall" (See: Active or Passive)

there will be nothing remaining for you

Here "nothing" is an exaggeration to make the king think that he will be losing much tax money if the Judeans rebel. (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)

the Province Beyond the River

This is the name of the province that was west of the Euphrates River. It was across the river from the city of Susa. See how you translated this in Esra 4:10. (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

dishonor

king

province

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Now in view of this, that we wish to destroy the Temple Now in view of this matter, that we wish to implement the destruction of the Temple. דִי מְלַח is an expression of destruction and desolation, like Jer. 17:6): “barren (מְלֵחָה) land that is uninhabitable.”

we wish to destroy We wish to demolish and to destroy.

and... the king’s disgrace Aram. וְעַרְוַת מַלְכָּא, lit. and the king’s nakedness.

it is improper Aram. לָא אַרִיךְ, it is improper for us to see. אַרִיךְ means proper, like “Is it proper (אַרִיךְ) or improper (לָא אַרִיךְ)?” in Tractate Succah (44b).

therefore therefore we have sent and notified the king.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.