Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezra 6:2
And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that [is] in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein [was] a record thus written:
2. And there was found at Achmetha ] R.V. margin, That is, Ecbatana. The precious document was not found at Babylon. It has been suggested that valuable records were hastily transferred from Babylon to Ecbatana during the short and disturbed reign of Pseudo-Smerdis, who would wish to destroy the edicts of his predecessors. But whatever the cause may have been, notice of its removal had been duly recorded, and the enquiry at Babylon led to search and identification at Ecbatana.
Achmetha ] This is the Aramaic transliteration of the Median capital known to us as ‘Ecbatana’ (Gr. and ) of which the Persian pronunciation was something like ‘Hangmatna’. It was the summer residence of the Persian kings. According to Herodotus it was built by king Deioces (708 655 b.c.) and surrounded with seven walls. Alexander the Great resided there in the autumn of 324. After his death, the city fell into insignificance until under the Parthian monarchy it once more became a royal residence. Under the Mohammedans the name became altered to Hamadan. An unhistorical description of the place is given in Jdt 1:1 ff.
in the palace ] The royal palace, which was probably also the citadel (brah, Greek ) and the treasury. The Aramaic word is the same as the Hebrew rendered ‘palace’ (marg. or ‘castle’) in Neh 1:1; Est 1:2 &c.; Dan 8:2 in reference to ‘Shushan’, and in 1Ch 29:1; 1Ch 29:19 in reference to ‘the Temple of Solomon’; ‘castle’, Neh 2:8; Neh 7:2 in reference to fortifications of Temple.
in the province of the Medes ] R.V. of Media. Literally ‘in the province of Madai’ (see Gen 10:2). Media stretched north and south between the Caspian sea and the country of Elam, being bounded by Mt Zagros on the W. and by Parthia on the E. During the earlier period, of which we have an historical account in the Inscriptions, Media seems to have been a tributary province of the Assyrian Empire. She shook off the yoke probably in the reign of Assurbanipal (666 624); and the Median king Cyaxares joined with the Babylonian king Nabopolassar in the overthrow of Nineveh. Cyrus by his defeat of Astyages (550 b.c.) gained possession of Media, which he united with the Persian kingdom.
was a record thus written ] R.V. was thus written for a record. More literally accurate: the roll was to serve as the official memorandum.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Achmetha is the Ecbatana, or Agbatana, of the Greeks, the Persian name for which, as we find in the Behistun Inscription, was HaGMaTANa.
We must suppose that, when Babylon had been searched in vain, the other cities which possessed record-offices were visited, and the decree looked for in them. Ecbatana was the capital of Cyrus.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. At Achmetha] Ecbatana in India, whither it is probable all the records of Cyrus had been carried. This was a sort of summer residence for the kings of Persia.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Here the kings answer may seem to begin, and this following account he sends to them, and after that lays down his commands.
Achmetha; the royal city of the Medes and Persians.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Achmethalong supposed tobe the capital of Greater Media (the Ecbatana of classical, theHamadan of modern times), [is] at the foot of the Elwund range ofhills, where, for its coolness and salubrity, Cyrus and hissuccessors on the Persian throne established their summer residence.There was another city, however, of this name, the Ecbatana ofAtropatene, and the most ancient capital of northern Media, andrecently identified by COLONELRAWLINSON in theremarkable ruins of Takht-i-Soleiman. Yet as everything tendsto show the attachment of Cyrus to his native city, the AtropatenianEcbatana, rather than to the stronger capital of Greater Media,COLONEL RAWLINSONis inclined to think that he deposited there, in his fortress, thefamous decree relating to the Jews, along with the other records andtreasures of his empire [Nineveh and Persepolis].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And there was found at Achmetha,…. Which Jarchi and Aben Ezra take to be the name of a vessel in which letters and writings were put for safety; but it was no doubt the name of a place; the Vulgate Latin version has it Ecbatana; and so Josephus s; which was the name of a city in Media, where the kings of that country had their residence in the summer time t; for it has its name from heat u; the Persian kings dwelt at Shushan in the winter, and at Ecbatana in the summer w; hence they are compared by Aelian x to cranes, birds of passage, because of their going to and from the above places:
in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, here was found
a roll; which was the decree of Cyrus, which perhaps he took with him when he went thither:
and therein was a record thus written; as follows.
s Antiqu. l. 11. c. 4. sect. 6. t Curtius, l. 5. c. 8. Vid. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 3. c. 6. u Hiller. Onomastic. Sacr. p. 618. w Athen. Deipnosophist, l. 12. c. 1. x De Animal. l. 3. c. 13.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(2) At Achmetha.That is, Ecbatana, the Median capital of Cyrus. It is probable that the original roll of parchment had been destroyed at Babylon by Smerdis, but a copy of it was found here, probably in a Chaldean transcript.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Achmetha The Chaldee form of the Persian Hagmatana or Hagmatan, and the Ecbatana of the classical writers. Its site is usually identified with the modern Hamadan. Herodotus (i, 98) describes it as a great city, whose walls were built circle within circle, each wall out-topping the one beyond it by the height of its battlements. This was done by means of the conical hill on which the city was built. The circular walls were seven in number, and the royal palace and treasury were within the innermost wall. It was originally the capital of the Medes, and hence its location here noticed as in the province of the Medes, but it was subsequently made the summer residence of the Persian kings. Hither it would seem the royal records had been transferred for greater security. The Behistun inscription shows that Babylon revolted at the beginning of Darius’s reign, but was soon reconquered, and that may have been the occasion of this transfer of the archives, and among them this celebrated roll containing Cyrus’s decree for the restoration of the exiles, and the rebuilding of their temple. Perhaps, however, the record in question had never been deposited at Babylon, but placed originally among the archives kept at Achmetha.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ezr 6:2 And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that [is] in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein [was] a record thus written:
Ver. 2. And there was found at Achmetha ] Or Ecbatana. This was occasioned by the malice of the Jews’ adversaries, and proved a great furtherance to the finishing of the temple. Sic canes lingunt ulcera Lazari. So dogs licked the sores of Lazarus. All things work together for good to them that love God, Rom 8:28 . Venenum aliquando pro remedio fuit, At length a poison will be for a medicine. saith Seneca.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Achmetha = Ecbatana, the capital of ancient Media.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
at Achmetha: or, at Ecbatana, or, in a coffer, [Strong’s H712], probably from the Persian Mx, kham, “a house for a summer residence,” with a prefix, , aleph, and the Chaldee termination )t, tha, most likely denotes Ecbatana, as the Vulgate and Josephus read, the summer residence of the Persian monarchs. It was situated in a mountainous region at the foot of mount Orontes, or Jasonius, according to Ammianus, on the southern confines of Media and Persia, and according to Pliny, 750 miles from Seleucia the Great, 20 miles from the Caspian passes, 450 miles from Susa, and the same from Gaze Atropatene, and in lat. 37 degrees 45 min., long. 88 degrees, according to Ptolemy. The building of the city is ascribed to Semiramis by Diodorus, but to Deioces by Eusebius (in Chron. Ezr 1:1), and Herodotus, who states that it was surrounded by seven walls, strong and ample, built in circles one within another, rising each above each by the height of their respective battlements; each being distinguished by a different colour, the first white, the second black, the third purple, the fourth blue, the fifth orange, the sixth plated with silver, and the seventh with gold. The largest of these was nearly the extent of Athens, i.e., 200 furlongs, according to Dion Chrysostom; but Diodorus Siculus states the circumference of Ecbatana to be 250 furlongs. Within the inner circle stood the king’s palace and the royal treasury, so much celebrated for its splendour and riches by Polybius. It is highly probable, as D’Anville and Major Rennel suppose, that the present Hamadan, whose ruins attest its former splendour, occupies the site of Ecbatana. It is situated in Al Gebal, at the foot of the lofty mountain Alwend, about 80 leagues from Ispahan, and also from Bagdad.
Reciprocal: Ezr 2:1 – the children Ezr 4:19 – search Ezr 5:17 – let there be Neh 7:6 – the children Jer 36:2 – a roll Act 2:9 – Medes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6:2 And there was found at {a} Achmetha, in the palace that [is] in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein [was] a record thus written:
(a) In which were the acts of the kings of the Medes and Persians.