1 Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” Ezra 4:1–2
The presence of a finished foundation signaled an alive-and-well Satan to switch to Plan B. Distractions and procrastination would no longer be effective. Everything was on order and would be there soon. There’s always going to be opposition to a project, but because this was the temple of the Lord God of Israel, the big guns were out.
It started first with a ploy to infiltrate by “helping out.” The claim was that the people of the land also worshipped “in the high places,” (2 Kings 17:32) and were just as motivated as the Israelites. Zerubabbel and Jeshua quickly saw through this offer and exclaimed, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God” (Ezra 4:3) and went straight to the authority of Cyrus, who had decreed that the people of the Lord God of Israel would build the temple.
So these “people of the land” set out to discourage, frighten, and frustrate the “people of Judah” for the rest of the days of Cyrus and into the reign of Darius. Actually, they were in opposition from Cyrus to Artaxerxes, a total of six Persian kings for a period of at least 108 years. We see this kind of activity today by the political party out of power, who badger, belittle, and accuse opposing leaders, and file lawsuits to derail the implementation of new laws and reformative efforts.
During the rule of Artaxerxes, for instance, in a “last gasp” effort to stop the work in the ”province beyond the river,” a letter was sent to the king attempting to unravel all that King Cyrus had decreed and facilitated, using the loss of revenue as the basis for action. This was ironic when you remember how generous Cyrus and his people were in donating to the effort.
“To King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the men in the region beyond the River, and now 12 let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are rebuilding the rebellious and evil city and are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. Now let it be known to the king, that if that city is rebuilt and the walls are finished, they will not pay tribute, custom or toll, and it will damage the revenue of the kings.” Ezra 4:11–13
So the injunction was filed and enacted and the work was temporarily stopped. This sounds all too familiar these days. One step forward, two steps back.
But in the end, the temple was rebuilt, albeit less magnificent than the first, and the wall was erected around a restored Jerusalem in 52 days in an incredible effort led by Nehemiah with the “help of our God.” No matter how fierce the opposition, the power of God is greater.
15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. Nehemiah 6:15–16
Leave a Reply