Then said we unto them after this manner, What are the names of the men that make this building?
Ver. 4. Then said we unto them] We (Tatnai, Shetherboznai, and their companions) thus said, and thus inquired; see Ezra 5:16, and be sensible how wicked men conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, "and their belly prepareth deceit," Job 15:35. Not their heads only are hammering it, but their bellies are hatching it; they take a kind of contemplative kind of pleasure in their wily projects, as the epicure doth in his dainties; he delights to be acting them over beforehand.
What are the names of the men] They that are minded to do mischief unto others will do what they can to know their names. I have heard of one (saith Master Fox) who being sent to the Christian congregation in Queen Mary's days in London to take their names, and to espy their doings, yet in being among them was converted, and cried them all mercy (Acts and Mon. fol. 1881). Tremellius readeth this text otherwise. Then answered we them thus, and [told them] what were the names of the men who built this building. He means, as I conceive, We were not ashamed or afraid to make them around and ready answer; and to give them the names of our chieftains, Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Haggai, Zechariah, &c. This was better than that of those cold friends to religion, 1 Kings 18:11, who (when the prophet had said, If the Lord be God, follow him) held their peace, and thought it good policy to reserve themselves. Better also than that of the bondslaves of Antichrist, who receive his mark in their hand, the which they may, as occasion serveth, cover or discover, Revelation 13:16. The servants of the God of heaven and earth (such as were these in this chapter, Ezr 5:11) receive his mark in their foreheads, where it may be seen and read of all, Revelation 7:3. The primitive Christians were called in derision Confitentes; and Chrysostom saith of them, that they would not be kept from visiting the martyrs in prison, tametsi multis terroribus, &c., though they were much threatened, and punished for so doing (Hom. Deu 2:1-37 Martyr.).