Thoughts for the Day

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 Zerubbabel and the heads of families 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 King Esar-haddon of Assyria who brought us here.’ But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of families in Israel said to them, ‘You shall have no part with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus of Persia has commanded us.’

Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and made them afraid to build, and they bribed officials to frustrate their plan throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia....

In the reign of Ahasuerus, in his accession year, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.....and again in the days of Artaxerxes....who made an order that the people be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt..... At that time the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped and was discontinued until the second year of the reign of King Darius of Persia.

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

We have seen how God stirred up the pagan king Cyrus to send the Jews who had originally been taken to Babylon back to their own land to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem (Ezra 1.1-4). Although only a remnant returned, he also arranged to send back the silver and gold that had been ransacked some 70 years earlier. However, those returning were not particularly welcomed by those who had stayed. It was mostly the elite of the country that had been taken captive to Babylon. Those who were left were the poorest and lowliest of society. Over the years others had drifted in from Samaria - outsiders who were brought in by the Assyrians when the kingdom of Israel was captured. These people were very unhappy to see the people of Judah and Benjamin back in their ancestoral lands.

Their first action was to offer to help rebuild the Temple, but those returning saw that for the Samaritans, Jehovah (God) was only one of a number of gods that they worshipped, and they refused the offer, despite what seemed like a good offer, and the fact they were vastly outnumbered. For the rest of Cyrus' reign and for two kings afterwards, they were opponents causing Zerubbabel and Jeshua great difficulties, and it wasn't until the Persian king Dariuscame to the throne that God's plans continued.

When we answer God's call to action, it may not always succeed in the short term, but ultimately if we have faith in him and persevere all will be well.

Heavenly Father,
You take the long view
whereas we only see the short-term.
Help us to listen to You
and take up the challenge
to do Your work,
and to say "No!" when an offer
does not seem right.
Teach us also to know
that there will be others
to pick up the baton and run with it
if we falter or fail.
Amen.