So yesterday was the foundations going up, today reading from Ezra 4:1-6, learning about how an “offer to help” turned into active opposition.
Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” 3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”
4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build 5 and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
I have to admit, I read the passage today and I wonder… why not let the peoples of the land help? Why turn them down? It was going to be a hard job rebuilding the temple, of putting up the House of The Lord. So why not let them help?
Was it a matter of pride?
Or was it truly a matter of obedience? “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”
I don’t know. I suspect it was obedience just as we read, but it certainly didn’t help their cause at all did it?
The direct result was this: Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
And later on: 6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
Obedience sometimes has a price doesn’t it?
Even when you do what you are you are supposed to do, sometimes your obedience frustrates the purposes of others and it can turn ugly. The question to ask yourself is this: Can you live with that?
Cause I can tell you this.. it is NOT easy to stay the course when people are against you. When it seems like you just can’t make headway. Look what happened to the obedient Israelites. The people of the land set out to discourage them, to make them afraid, to bride the leadership to frustrate them, and then make up accusations against them! They were set upon deliberately.
It’s HARD to stand against that, but the Israelites didn’t stop. They stayed the course.
I need to ask myself this… will I stay the course when folks are against me? When folks try to tell me I’m wrong for what I believe the Lord is telling me to do? What will happen when things get difficult?
It’s good to think on these things, to be prepared, to do what God wants “stand firm and steadfast”, having my mind set on his goal. Which is what the Israelites must have done eh? Setting their mind that THEY were the ones who were to built the temple, no strangers need apply.
Let us then be so set.
Great insight and realism shared here. Obedience is difficult on its own sometimes but when you add intentional opposition? But, when we view history, we see how much the gospel of Christ and the love of God spreads amidst opposition and persecution. So, stay the course and keep your eyes on God.
good encouragement… to see the history. Thanks!