Ezra 4
If you are a person of faith, have you ever struggled with opposition or circumstances? I have, and if truth were told many people of faith sometimes struggle against opposition sometimes it is internal rather than abuse or threats to life and limb.
I'd like to say that now I am entirely comfortable with my faith and beliefs, but I'm not!
The reason I bring this up is that in this chapter the enemies of Judah have seen the returning exiles rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem and they want to either take part or stop it completely, they went to the leaders of the people in Jerusalem saying that they worshipped the same God since they were sent to live in the area by the Assyrian empire.
The leaders of Judah decline the offer of help - they will rebuild the temple themselves as Cyrus, emperor of Persia had ordered.
On hearing this the people tried to discourage the project completely - causing hassle and frightening the Jews. they also spread rumours and gossip among the Persian officials in the region where news would get back to Babylon.
They kept this up for years, until the death of Cyrus and with his successor Xerxes.
They went so far as to write a letter to the new emperor accusing the Jews of plotting rebellion against the king and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple.
Xerxes replied to the letter - he has understood the letter, and checked the histories and found that Judah had once had powerful kings and caused problems and rebellions in the past - so he ordered a stop on all building projects.
The work did not begin again for the rule of Xerxes and began again in the rule of Darius.
Ezra 5
With the hiatus of building, God sent a couple of prophets, Haggia and Zechariah. When the priests and leaders heard the prophets they started to rebuild the temple again, with the prophets actually helping them.
Almost as soon as the work started again Tattenai, the governor of West Euphrates, and some of his cronies came to Jerusalem and demanded "Who gave the order to build the temple and equip it?"
The reply was put in a letter to the emperor, Darius now.
They reported that they had gone to Jerusalem and enquired and had the response that they were building the temple originally built by a powerful king of Israel in the past but due to the unfaithfulness of Israel and God had handed it over to Nebuchadnezzar to destroy and now Cyrus has given orders for it to be rebuilt and returned a lot of the precious items taken.
They also pointed out that if a search is made then Cyrus orders should have been recorded, but in the meantime, we have a temple to finish so please go away!
If you are a person of faith, have you ever struggled with opposition or circumstances? I have, and if truth were told many people of faith sometimes struggle against opposition sometimes it is internal rather than abuse or threats to life and limb.
I'd like to say that now I am entirely comfortable with my faith and beliefs, but I'm not!
The reason I bring this up is that in this chapter the enemies of Judah have seen the returning exiles rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem and they want to either take part or stop it completely, they went to the leaders of the people in Jerusalem saying that they worshipped the same God since they were sent to live in the area by the Assyrian empire.
The leaders of Judah decline the offer of help - they will rebuild the temple themselves as Cyrus, emperor of Persia had ordered.
On hearing this the people tried to discourage the project completely - causing hassle and frightening the Jews. they also spread rumours and gossip among the Persian officials in the region where news would get back to Babylon.
They kept this up for years, until the death of Cyrus and with his successor Xerxes.
They went so far as to write a letter to the new emperor accusing the Jews of plotting rebellion against the king and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple.
Xerxes replied to the letter - he has understood the letter, and checked the histories and found that Judah had once had powerful kings and caused problems and rebellions in the past - so he ordered a stop on all building projects.
The work did not begin again for the rule of Xerxes and began again in the rule of Darius.
Ezra 5
With the hiatus of building, God sent a couple of prophets, Haggia and Zechariah. When the priests and leaders heard the prophets they started to rebuild the temple again, with the prophets actually helping them.
Almost as soon as the work started again Tattenai, the governor of West Euphrates, and some of his cronies came to Jerusalem and demanded "Who gave the order to build the temple and equip it?"
The reply was put in a letter to the emperor, Darius now.
They reported that they had gone to Jerusalem and enquired and had the response that they were building the temple originally built by a powerful king of Israel in the past but due to the unfaithfulness of Israel and God had handed it over to Nebuchadnezzar to destroy and now Cyrus has given orders for it to be rebuilt and returned a lot of the precious items taken.
They also pointed out that if a search is made then Cyrus orders should have been recorded, but in the meantime, we have a temple to finish so please go away!
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