Commentary for Ezra 4:7

And in the days of Artaxerxes He is Cyrus, the king of Persia. The numerical value of the letters of כּרֶשּׁ equal the numerical value of the letters of דָּרְיָוֶשּׁ: [כ = 20; ר = 200; שּׁ = 300; total = 520. ד = 4; ר = 200; י = 10; 520 ו = 6; שּׁ = 300; total = 520.] And so we learned in Tractate Rosh Hashanah (3b): “The same one is Cyrus, who is Darius, who is Artaxerxes.” [He was called Cyrus כּרֶשּׁ because he was a worthy (כָּשֵּׁר) king; Artaxerxes, because of the kingdom, and in Seder Olam (ch. 30): “Darius was Artaxerxes (אַרְתַּחְשַּׁשְּׁתָּא), and the entire kingdom was called Artaxerxes, etc.” [meaning that all the kings were called Artaxerxes].

wrote with peace wrote his letter with words of peace.

Mithredath Tabeel This is the name of a man, one of the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin.

and the rest of his colleagues Heb. כְּנָותָיו, his companies and his societies.

to Artaxerxes [as translated,] to Artaxerxes.

and the script of the epistle Heb. וּכְתָב הַנִשְּׁתְּוָן.

written in Aramaic in Aramaic characters.

and explained in Aramaic The script was explained in the Aramaic language.