Ezra 4-5

Refusing to Compromise

Is it always wrong to compromise?

What are some ways you are tempted to compromise your principles?

How have you been able to refuse to compromise?

Consider the situation in Jerusalem with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other returned exile:

Ezra 4:1

Ezra 4:1–2 LEB

Now the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple for Yahweh the God of Israel. And they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the families, and they said to them, “Let us build with you. Like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him from the days of Esarhaddon the king of Assyria who brought us up here.

How were the people of the land (the “enemies”) asking Zerubabbel to compromise his principles?

Why was that a problem?

Now consider the response:

Ezra 4:3 LEB

But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel said to them, “It is not for you but for us to build a house for our God. For we ourselves alone will build it for Yahweh the God of Israel, just as Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

Ezra 4:

How did Zerubbabel resist the temptation to compromise?

He did not face the temptation alone, but pulled together Jeshua and others to help him resist.

He was clear on what God’s desire was for who should be involved in building the temple.

He did not prioritize finishing the Temple above obedience to God’s plan for how to build it.

He went over the heads of the opposition to a higher authority (King Cyrus to be exact).

The Enemy is Persistent

How have the enemies of the church tried to prevent its success over the years?

How long have the enemies of the church persisted in trying to prevent its success?

Consider the text:

Ezra 4:4-7

Ezra 4:4–7 LEB

Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed officials against them to frustrate their plan for all the days of Cyrus king of Persia until the reign of Darius king of Persia. In the reign of Ahasuerus, at the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written in Aramaic and translated from Aramaic.

What is the first method the enemies of the Jews use to frustrate their work of building the Temple? (Bribery)

How long did they actively oppose the building of the Temple and then the building of the city and its walls?

Note that the documented succession of Persian rulers is: Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius, Xerxes (aka Ahasuerus), and Artaxerxes.

The majority of Ezra chapter 4 is the letter to King Artaxerxes telling him that if he lets the Jews rebuild Jerusalem, he will effectively lose control of the territory south of Samaria because the Jews will rebel and refuse to pay the tribute to Persia. Artaxerxes agrees that a fortified Jerusalem is a potential threat to his rule in the region, so he writes a letter back directing the Jews to stop rebuilding the city until further notice.

Ezra 4:23–24 LEB

Then when a copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read before Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their associates they returned in a hurry to Jerusalem against the Jews and they stopped them by force and power. Then the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped, and was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Here bribery is augmented with force and power as methods of stymieing the building of the Temple.

Verse 23 is the result of the letter in the time of Nehemiah, preventing him from rebuilding the wall. Verse 24 is the timing of how long the work on the Temple itself was halted.

The Right Words Help a Lot

When has someone come along at a frustrating time in your life and said just the right thing to get you through the day and keep you going?

In we noted two groups of people that are essential for the success of the project: those who take an active role in the execution of the project and those who take a supporting role in the project. The former group were those who actually returned to Judah from exile, and the latter were those who supplied material assistance to those who returned.

We usually think of “material assistance” as money, goods, services, and such. But sometimes a good word is as valuable as money, even more so.

Ezra 5:1–2 LEB

Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and in Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak set out and began to build the house of God that is in Jerusalem. And with them the prophets of God were helping them.

The building had come to a halt in the face of the intimidation and hostility of the people of the land. Haggai and Zechariah challenged Zerubbabel and Jeshua to get off of high center and start making progress again.

Notice that the prophets of God were helping out just as much as those who were doing the construction itself.

Keep Ego Out of It

When can our egos get in the way of a successful project?

What are ways we can keep our ego in check and keep the focus where it needs to be?

Ezra 5:

Ezra 5:3–4 ESV

At the same time Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus: “Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?” They also asked them this: “What are the names of the men who are building this building?”

Interestingly, the answer given by Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the elders is not given directly in the text after Tattenai asks the question. Instead, it is recorded as part of the letter Tattenai sends to Darius the king:

Ezra 5:9-

Ezra 5:9–13 LEB

Then we asked those elders and said this to them, ‘Who issued forth to you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’ We also asked them their names to make them known to you, that we might write down the name of their leaders. And this is the answer they returned to us: ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are building the house that was built formerly many years ago, which a great king of Israel had built and finished. But because our ancestors angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of the Chaldean King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. But in the first year of King Cyrus of Babylon’s reign he issued forth a decree to build this house of God.