Resistance to Rebuilding the Temple

God's People Worship
The Prophet and Praise
Temple Restored

Ezra 4:1-5

The Message

The Building Stopped: Cease Rebuilding in That City

4 ^1-2 Old enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building The Temple of the God of Israel. They came to Zerubbabel and the family heads and said, “We’ll help you build. We worship your God the same as you. We’ve been offering sacrifices to him since Esarhaddon king of Assyria brought us here.”

³ Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the family heads of Israel said to them, “Nothing doing. Building The Temple of our God is not the same thing to you as to us. We alone will build for the God of Israel. We’re the ones King Cyrus of Persia commanded to do it.”
^4-5 So these people started beating down the morale of the people of Judah, harassing them as they built. They even hired propagandists to sap their resolve. They kept this up for about fifteen years, throughout the lifetime of Cyrus king of Persia and on into the reign of Darius king of Persia.

For Reflection

The exiles returned to the home of their fathers only to find that they were not welcomed by those whose way of life was to be interrupted and whose superstitions questioned.  The temple was an outward sign of their commitment to God and an affront to the the residents.  To top it off, the exiles had the permission of the rulers and even used Persian resources to construct the temple.

The temple was the heart of the Jew's sacrificial system. Reestablishing the temple was paramount to reestablishing the  presence of and allegiance to their God. 

Pray

that you will reestablish the presence of your God each day. Pray for the Christian people who now fight to reestablish or maintain their faith in the face of oppression and active non-Christian resistance.