And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic language. – Ezra 4:7

Today's Scripture Reading (August 17, 2020): Ezra 4

A friend tells a story about attending a dinner party that was held with a group of dignitaries in attendance. At the last minute, my friend was asked to pray a blessing over the meal. This tends to be the curse of being a pastor, whenever a prayer is needed, it is the pastor who is asked to pray. So, my friend responds that he would be honored. When the time for the blessing arrives, he is announced and invited to come to the podium to offer a blessing over the food. My friend steps up to the mic … and goes completely blank. Nothing, no words appropriate to the situation, come to mind. And so, my friend, in a deep voice, begins his prayer with all the importance that he could muster. "God is Good … God is Great! … Let us thank him for our food. Amen." A prayer from childhood, spoken with as much dignity as possible.

Our language tends to change with our circumstances. The reality is that we speak differently, use different phrasing, when we are hanging out with friends than we do when we are making an official speech. It is just the way that things are.

Ezra makes a point of telling his readers that the next few verses are written in Aramaic. And it is not just a transliteration, changing the language but using Persian letters, much like most pastors do when teaching from the biblical languages. This letter of opposition to the rebuilding of Jerusalem was written with Aramaic script or Aramaic lettering. If we were holding the original document in our hands, we would notice the definite change, because in the original Hebrew document, not only is the statement present, but the words used are not translated. Ezra 4:8 until 6:18 are written in Aramaic instead of Hebrew (as is Ezra 7:12-26).

The question that arises out of this change is, why? We might think that, possibly, it was the language that King Artaxerxes, the letter's recipient, was more comfortable with; that Aramaic was the language that the King spoke. But that isn't it. In his reply, Artaxerxes makes it clear that the letter "has been read and translated in my presence" (Ezra 4:18). Artaxerxes couldn't read or understand the language of the message. He had to find people that did understand the language to read it to him in a language that he understood, adding an extra layer between the letter and the King.

But Aramaic was making a transition into the culture. As Ezra was rebuilding Jerusalem, Aramaic was becoming the language of business in the area, much like English has become the language of commerce throughout much of our world. In the Middle East, Aramaic was the language of money.

And even more importantly, Aramaic was the language that the reply would be written in when it came to the exiles. And by writing the original letter in Aramaic, those who opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem were offering a template for the written reply, a cease and desist order from King Artaxerxes, commanding the exiles to stop their rebuild of the city, should that letter ever come.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezra 5