June 16, 2010

An obstacle the Jews faced during the rebuilding of the temple [Ezra 4]

Synopsis:

After Persia defeated the Babylonians, King Cyrus started allowing some of the Jewish captives to return home to Jerusalem. Upon return, they began rebuilding the Jewish community, including the altar, temple, and walls. The Jews encountered resistance and distrust from the inhabitants that existed in their homeland, while the Jews were in exile. According to the book of Ezra, during the building of the temple, some adversaries wrote a letter to the current king of Persia, Artaxerxes, warning him of the dangers surrounding allowing the Jews to rebuild their autonomy. Artaxerxes ordered the work to cease, and it remained so until King Darius’ reign.
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#1 (4:1-3) Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the LORD, the God of Israel, they approached [them] 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.”

Here, the writer claims that they are adversaries, so we assume their intentions were not genuine. However, without the intentions being known, the case could be made for sincerity on the part of the preexisting inhabitants. It appears as though they were brought to that land while in captivity under Assyrian rule, so they have gone from being subjects of one power to subjects of another, with no identity of their own. If they thought the Jews were rebuilding in anticipation of revolting against Persia, they could wish to help in hopes of staking claim to an autonomous homeland. Separate groups that share a commonality can unify while fighting a mutual outside enemy.
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#2 (4:3) … "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."

Since the Jews did see the locals as insincere adversaries they did not want them involved in their reconstruction at all. If they let enemies get involved, trouble could have risen in any facet of the undertaking. If we hope to be successful in a task, we need to guard against our adversaries participating in the job. Even if their intentions are true, valuable energy is displaced by second guessing their true intentions, instead of full attention to the task at hand.
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#3 (4:4-5,12) 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… … "Be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city."

Here, the locals have proven their true nature. Regardless of their original intent, the result of rejection was total betrayal and sabotage. If they truly hoped for the Jews success, any support would have proven to the Jews that they were honorable people. A person’s true character is often revealed when things do not go their way.