In our first study in Ezra we read that the jews had spent the last 70 years settling into life in Babylon. But that was only half of the story. When the Babylonians swept through the land they deported people from all surrounding nations too, installing them in other recently emptied territories, to work the land and pay taxes. This meant that when the Jews returned to what had been their ‘Promised Land’, it was already occupied by foreigners. And those people had also spent the last 70 years settling in.
(You may like to look at 2 Kings 17:24-41)
Read Ezra 4:1-7
1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, ‘Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.’
3 But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, ‘You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.’
4 Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. 5 They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.
6 At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
7 And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic language.
Back to Ezra 4:1-2
This would seem on the face of it to be a perfectly reasonable request. The normal understanding of the people at that time was that each land had its own god, and if you were to enjoy success you had to worship him. And they had ‘been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.’
But on the other hand they may also have felt that their right to remain living in the land was now being questioned, and they even felt themselves threatened. Perhaps by offering to help in the rebuilding of the Temple they could be regarded as equal partners.
Read Ezra 4:3
3 But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, ‘You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.’
Actually the Jews too were in a difficult situation. The land of Judah was now only a district, ‘Yehud’, within the Persian empire and they were all under the control of Cyrus. He had designated officials to oversee the returning people, and they were unlikely to have been Jews – and every other nation had at one time or another been their enemies. So the Jews were in no position to cause trouble.
In particular, the lands to the north, originally called ‘Israel’, had suffered deportation and resettlement too, but as the ‘Ten Tribes’ had been broken up and dispersed, there would be no returning exiles here. This land, Samaria, had earlier been repopulated under the Assyrians and now contained a mixture of many nations and traditions, but still with a smattering of original Jews who had escaped deportation. The lands to the east had all at one time been subservient to David and Solomon, so they too were unlikely to have been very friendly.
Read Ezra 4:4-6
4 Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. 5 They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.
6 At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
Effectively, as soon as Cyrus had been replaced, they wrote to the new king.
It was standard practice to try to gain the ear of a new king before he could fully appreciate what was going on!
Read Ezra 4:7
7 And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic language.
Ezra wrote his book for a Jewish audience, in Hebrew. But the official language of the rest of the empire was Aramaic. (By the time of Jesus, 400 years later, Aramaic had become adopted, and spoken Hebrew was no longer in use.)
Read Ezra 4:8-10
8 Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows:
9 Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary, together with the rest of their associates – the judges, officials and administrators over the people from Persia, Uruk and Babylon, the Elamites of Susa, 10 and the other people whom the great and honourable Ashurbanipal deported and settled in the city of Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates.
Note the specific mention of Samaria.
Read Ezra 4:11-16
11 (This is a copy of the letter they sent him.)
To King Artaxerxes,
From your servants, the men of Trans-Euphrates:
12 The king should know that the people who came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring the walls and repairing the foundations.
13 Furthermore, the king should know that if this city is built and its walls are restored, no more taxes, tribute or duty will be paid, and eventually the royal revenues will suffer. 14 Now since we are under obligation to the palace and it is not proper for us to see the king dishonoured, we are sending this message to inform the king, 15 so that a search may be made in the archives of your predecessors. In these records you will find that this city is a rebellious city, troublesome to kings and provinces, a place with a long history of sedition. That is why this city was destroyed. 16 We inform the king that if this city is built and its walls are restored, you will be left with nothing in Trans-Euphrates.
Reading this letter, do you get a sense that these were loyal subjects wishing to protect the honour and income of the king, or were these people at last able to get their own back? Also note that no mention was made of rebuilding the Temple – no king would be bothered by that. Rather they speak of building the walls – and that would interest the king.
Read Ezra 4:17-18 – Again, noticed ‘Samaria’
17 The king sent this reply:
To Rehum the commanding officer, Shimshai the secretary and the rest of their associates living in Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates:
Greetings.
18 The letter you sent us has been read and translated in my presence.
Kings were not necessarily literate, but often the practice was to use scribes to read all their mail to them. The word ‘translated’ is not in the original, ‘explained’ is probably better.
Read Ezra 4:19-24
19 I issued an order and a search was made, and it was found that this city has a long history of revolt against kings and has been a place of rebellion and sedition. 20 Jerusalem has had powerful kings ruling over the whole of Trans-Euphrates, and taxes, tribute and duty were paid to them. 21 Now issue an order to these men to stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until I so order. 22 Be careful not to neglect this matter. Why let this threat grow, to the detriment of the royal interests?
23 As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop.
24 Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
It’s easy to feel that God’s work had been thwarted. But although earthly kings come and go, God remains forever, and he will act in his good time!
Ten years later, with a new king on the throne, now was the time for the Lord to act!
We will leave Ezra for a while, and read from the prophet Haggai
Haggai 1:1-15
1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest:
2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘These people say, “The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.”’
3 Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, while this house remains a ruin?’
5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’
It is worth looking at Deuteronomy 28:15-68 (particularly from verse 38).
7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured,’ says the Lord. 9 ‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labour of your hands.’
12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.
13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: ‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord. 14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.
Note this was all the Lord’s doing – First he sends a prophet to tell the people exactly what they've done.
The people understand and respond out of fear (v 12)
Then (v13) Haggai gives them encouragement: ‘I am with you,’ declares the Lord.
Finally
the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel
and the spirit of Joshua
and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people.
and it was that that drove them to start rebuilding.
