Ezra 5 (JND) - Bible Truth Library

Haggai.These are the same Haggai and Zechariah, whose writings we have among the twelve minor prophets; and, as a great part of them refer to the events here recorded, the reader will find it very profitable to compare them with the history.

Hag. 1:1‑15• ¹In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, came the word of Jehovah by the prophet Haggai unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,
²Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that Jehovah's house should be built.
³And the word of Jehovah came by Haggai the prophet, saying,
⁴Is it time for you that ye should dwell in your wainscoted houses, while this house lieth waste?
⁵And now thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways.
⁶Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but are not satisfied; ye drink, but are not filled with drink; ye clothe yourselves, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages for a bag with holes.
⁷Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways.
⁸Go up to the mountain and bring wood, and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Jehovah.
⁹Ye looked for much, and behold it was little; and when ye brought it home, I blew upon it. Wherefore? saith Jehovah of hosts. Because of my house that lieth waste, whilst ye run every man to his own house.
¹⁰Therefore over you the heavens withhold their dew, and the earth withholdeth its fruit.
¹¹And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon man, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.
¹²And Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all the remnant of the people, hearkened to the voice of Jehovah their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, according as Jehovah their God had sent him, and the people feared before Jehovah.
¹³Then spoke Haggai, Jehovah's messenger, in Jehovah's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith Jehovah.
¹⁴And Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked at the house of Jehovah of hosts, their God,
¹⁵in the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king. (Hag. 1:1‑15)

Zechariah.

Zech. 1:1‑21• ¹In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,
²Jehovah hath been very wroth with your fathers.
³And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Return unto me, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts.
⁴Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets cried, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings; but they did not hearken nor attend unto me, saith Jehovah.
⁵Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
⁶But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? And they turned and said, Like as Jehovah of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.
⁷Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,
⁸I saw by night, and behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the low valley; and behind him were red, bay, and white horses.
⁹And I said, My lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these are.
¹⁰And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees answered and said, These are they whom Jehovah hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.
¹¹And they answered the angel of Jehovah that stood among the myrtle-trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold, all the earth sitteth still and is at rest.
¹²And the angel of Jehovah answered and said, Jehovah of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these seventy years?
¹³And Jehovah answered the angel that talked with me good words, comforting words.
¹⁴And the angel that talked with me said unto me, Cry, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy,
¹⁵and I am wroth exceedingly with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little wroth, and they helped forward the affliction.
¹⁶Therefore thus saith Jehovah: I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith Jehovah of hosts, and the line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.
¹⁷Cry further, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity, and Jehovah shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.
¹⁸And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.
¹⁹And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these? And he said to me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.
²⁰And Jehovah shewed me four craftsmen.
²¹And I said, What come these to do? And he spoke, saying, Those are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these are come to affright them, to cast out the horns of the nations, which lifted up the horn against the land of Judah to scatter it. (Zech. 1:1‑21)

the son of Iddo.That is, "the grandson of Iddo;" for Zechariah was the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo.in the name.

Mic. 5:4• ⁴And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God. And they shall abide; for now shall he be great even unto the ends of the earth. (Mic. 5:4)

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Hag. 1:2‑8• ²Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that Jehovah's house should be built.
³And the word of Jehovah came by Haggai the prophet, saying,
⁴Is it time for you that ye should dwell in your wainscoted houses, while this house lieth waste?
⁵And now thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways.
⁶Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but are not satisfied; ye drink, but are not filled with drink; ye clothe yourselves, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages for a bag with holes.
⁷Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Consider your ways.
⁸Go up to the mountain and bring wood, and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Jehovah. (Hag. 1:2‑8)

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Zech. 1:3‑4• ³And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Return unto me, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts.
⁴Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets cried, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings; but they did not hearken nor attend unto me, saith Jehovah. (Zech. 1:3‑4)

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Zech. 4:6‑10• ⁶And he answered and spoke unto me, saying, This is the word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts.
⁷Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou dost become a plain; and he shall bring forth the head-stone with shoutings: Grace, grace unto it!
⁸And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
⁹The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; and his hands shall finish it: and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto you.
¹⁰For who hath despised the day of small things? Yea, they shall rejoice even those seven--and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel: these are the eyes of Jehovah, which run to and fro in the whole earth. (Zech. 4:6‑10)

• {v.1-2} Before the work can resume, the condition of the people — and not the enemy — must be addressed....The prophets not only faithfully declared God’s message, but they also set an example in lending a hand with the work. (“The Prophets Haggai and Zechariah - Ezra 5:1-5” by N. Simon)

• {v.1} On this very account it was that God came in-not by any act of power to confound the adversary, but by the word of prophecy to reach the conscience of His people, and to stir them up to confidence in Himself. (“The Book of Ezra: Restoration From Babylon: Ezra 5” by E. Dennett)

• The prophet was raised up as the medium for communication with the people of God when the responsible head or heads of the people had failed. Thus when the priesthood had failed under Eli, Samuel was God's chosen vessel for His messages to His people....As a matter of fact, Haggai (as may be seen by a comparison of the dates of their respective prophecies) received his first message from Jehovah two months before Zechariah was employed, and it is worthy of notice as indicative of their failure that his first errand was to Zerubbabel and Jeshua. (See Hag. 1:1.) (“The Book of Ezra: Restoration From Babylon: Ezra 5” by E. Dennett)

J. N. Darby Translation

Now the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem; in the name of the God of Israel did they prophesy to them.