Ezra 5:12

Ezr 5:12 But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon.

Ver. 12. But after that our fathers had provoked] Sin is the breeder of dissention that sets heaven and earth at odds, and hurleth confusion over the whole creation, Isa 59:2 Num 11:31. There were more remarkable expressions of God’s anger upon man’s sin in the dead body of a man than of a beast: one made unclean but till the evening; the other, for seven days.

He gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar] This is still the property of sin unpardoned, to raise the Posse comitatus, all the armies of God against the sinner.

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 5:12-14. After that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven — It was to punish us for our sins, that we were, for a time, put out of the possession of this house, and not because the gods of the nations had prevailed against our God. But in the first year of Cyrus, &c. — We have the royal decree of Cyrus to justify us, and bear us out in what we do. And he not only permitted, but charged and commanded us, to build this house, and to build it in its place, (Ezr 5:15,) the same place where it had stood before. And the vessels also, &c. — These also he delivered to one whom he intrusted with the care of them, and commanded him to restore them to their ancient place and use. And these we have to show in confirmation of what we allege.

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

5:12 destroyed this Temple and exiled the people: See 2 Kgs 25:9-17.

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

(12) Gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean.—These words not only show that the people regarded themselves as punished by the sole hand of God, but also remind the overthrowers of the Chaldean power that they also themselves are no more than instruments of the same Divine will.

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

12. after that] So R.V., R.V. marg. ‘because that’. The purpose of the passage is to account for the destruction of the Temple and the captivity of God’s people. The conjunction is not temporal, but causal: ‘for this reason, namely, that &c.’ The rendering of the R.V. margin is preferable.

provoked … unto wrath] The word used here for ‘provoke’ is found in the Hebrew books with this meaning only in Job_12:6. Elsewhere to ‘shake’, ‘disquiet’, 1Sa_28:15; Isa_13:13; Isa_23:11; Jer_50:34.

the God of heaven] See on Ezr_1:2. A general description of Israel’s provocation of their God is given in 2Ch_36:14-21.

Nebuchadnezzar] Cf. on Ezr_1:7 : the Chaldean, i.e. the Babylonian.

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.

But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto wrath,.... By their idolatries; which accounts for it how it was that they who were the servants of the great God of heaven and earth, and this temple built for the honour of his name, were not preserved by him; but they were carried captive, and this house left desolate: it was for their sins for which

he (God) gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon; see Ch2 36:19.

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

Our fathers provoked the God of heaven unto wrath. Mainly by their long series of idolatries, with the moral abominations that those idolatries involved the sacrifice of children by their own parents, the licentious rites belonging to the worship of Baal, and the unmentionable horrors practised by the devotees of the Dea Syra. For centuries, with only short and rare intervals, "the chief of the priests, and the people, had transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen," and had even "polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem". (2Ch_36:14) Therefore, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon. He punished, as he always does, national apostasy with national destruction. Making an idolatrous people, but a less guilty one, his sword, he cut off Judah, as he had previously cut off Israel, causing the national life to cease, and even removing the bulk of the people into a distant country. Not by his own power or might did Nebuchadnezzar prevail. God could have delivered the Jews from him as easily as he had delivered them in former days from Jabin, (Jud 4:2-24) and from Zerah, (2Ch_14:11-15) and from Sennacherib. (2Ki_19:20-36) But he was otherwise minded; he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar". (comp. 2Ch_36:17) He divided their counsels, paralysed their resistance, caused Pharaoh Hophra to desert their cause, (2Ki_24:7) and left them helpless and unprotected. Nebuchadnczzar was his instrument to chastise his guilty people, and in pursuing his own ends merely worked out the purposes of the Almighty.

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

For this reason (להן), because (מן־דּי = מאשׁר, e.g., Isa 43:4) our fathers provoked the God of heaven, He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, and he (Nebuch.) destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon. For כּסדּיא the Keri requires כּסדּאה, the ordinary form of the absolute state of the noun in ai. סתר, Pael, in the sense of destroy, appears only here in biblical Chaldee, but more frequently in the Targums. עמּה, its people, would refer to the town of Jerusalem; but Norzi and J. H. Mich. have עמּהּ, and the Masora expressly says that the word is to be written without Mappik, and is therefore the stat. emphat. for עמּא.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

General Information:

The letter from Tattenai to the king continues. Tattenai continues to tell the king what the Judeans had told him beginning in Esra 5:11.

enraged the God of heaven

"made the God of heaven become very angry with us"

he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and took the people

The hand is a metonym for power or control. Also, "Nebuchadnezzar" represents his army. AT: "allowed the army of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the Chaldean, to destroy this house and to take the people" (See: Metonymy)

destroyed this house

"tore down this house"

Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild the house of God

Cyrus ordered that the people rebuild God's temple.

translationWords

Nebuchadnezzar

Babylon

exile

Cyrus

decree

house of God

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

But now But now, since our forefathers angered the God of the heavens, He delivered them into the hands of the Chaldean king of Babylon, and he destroyed this House and exiled the people to Babylon.

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.