עזרא, פרק ד׳, פסוק י״ז

In response to a formal letter of complaint, the king conducts a historical review of the matter and issues an official written decree to his officials. This royal response is directed to the primary figures who initiated the correspondence: the appointed minister or commander, and the royal scribe. The decree also includes their various colleagues, partners, and factions stationed throughout Samaria and the surrounding region across the river.

The opening address of this letter concludes with a specific phrase that commentators interpret in three distinct ways. Some view the terms as references to specific geographic locations intended to receive the king's letter [רש"י, רלב"ג], conveying a message of peace to the inhabitants of those areas [אבן עזרא]. A second approach understands the phrase simply as a standard, polite greeting to open the royal correspondence. In this view, the king begins his letter with a soft, diplomatic offer of peace [רס"ג, מצודת דוד], functioning as an everyday transition like "Peace, and now..." [שטיינזלץ].

A third, unique perspective frames the opening as a matter of bureaucratic shorthand. According to this view, the king trusted his ministers' claims about a current rebellion without investigating the present facts, choosing only to verify Jerusalem's history of uprisings. Because of this administrative efficiency, the royal scribe avoided writing out the exhaustive list of officials and nations that had already been mentioned in previous letters. Instead of a greeting of peace, the phrase acts as an instruction to complete the list, functioning essentially as an "etcetera." It directs the reader to mentally fill in the remaining recipients before moving on to the body of the letter [מלבי"ם].