Ezra 4:8 Commentary: Rashi, Rambam, Ibn Ezra & More

רְח֣וּם בְּעֵל־טְעֵ֗ם וְשִׁמְשַׁי֙ סָֽפְרָ֔א כְּתַ֛בוּ אִגְּרָ֥ה חֲדָ֖ה עַל־יְרוּשְׁלֶ֑ם לְאַרְתַּחְשַׁ֥שְׂתְּא מַלְכָּ֖א כְּנֵֽמָא׃

Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort—

Rashi on Ezra

Rehum was the secretary Rehum was the secretary and the master of words to compose the epistle.
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Rashi on Ezra

and Shimshai was the scribe And Shimshai was the scribe: he is Shimshai the son of Haman. So it is customary to mention the scribe and the secretary together because they need each other; one composes and dictates, and the scribe writes, as it says (I Kings 4:3): “Eliphoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes, Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahlud, the secretary,” and in another place it says (Isa. 36: 22): “And Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah etc. and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph the secretary, came.”
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Rashi on Ezra

they wrote a letter These two, Rehum and Shimshai, wrote the letter as Mithredath Tabeel had commanded them, and they all were dwellers of the cities of Samaria.
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