The adversaries] The term is here anticipatory of the opposition subsequently displayed. The people thus designated were the Samaritans, who, in the main, were the descendants of the immigrants who, to replace the Israelite population that had been deported after the fall of Samaria, had been introduced, first of all by Sargon, from Babylon, Cuthah, and other places (2 Kings 17:24), and also at a later date by Esarhaddon and Asshurbanipal (Ezra 4:2; Ezra 4:10). But there must likewise have been mingled with them a certain number of native Israelites, who had been left behind in the country by their Assyrian conquerors.
Related Commentaries of Ezra 4:1
Ezra 4:1
1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the childrena of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel;