When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel,
We have here an instance of the old enmity that was put between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. God's temple cannot be built, but Satan will rage, and the gates of hell will fight against it. The gospel kingdom was, in like manner, to be set up with much struggling and contention.
Commenting on Ezra 4:1-5
Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin,.... The Samaritans, as appears from Ezr 4:2, heard that the children of the captivity; the Jews, who had been in captivity seventy years, and were just come out of it, and still were not quite free, but under the jurisdiction and control of the king of Persia: builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel; that...
Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel; (a) Meaning, the inhabitants of Samaria, whom the king of Assyria had placed in the place of the ten tribes, . They professed God but worshipped idols and therefore were the greatest enemies to the true servants of God.