A VIOLENT OPPOSITION It was not expected from the devil to stand motionless before such a magnificent scene: The altar of the Lord is built; the priests together with the leaders and the people are exultant, even though their exuberant shouts of joy mixed with the tears of those who compared between the old and the new temples. The devil therefore, stirred up the people of Samaria to oppose them with every possible means. The good hand of God which allowed for them to return from captivity, also allowed for the opposition against them to flare up; for without it we shall not discover our inner corruption, to return and be worthy of such heavenly conquests and crowns. 1- The Samaritans who resisted them, a mixture of the Jews and the Gentiles, sought to partake of the work, claiming that they, as well, worship the God of Israel, even though as one of several gods. Their goal was not a fellowship in work as much as it was an attempt to destroy it from within. 2- The adversary Samaritans were called “the people of the land” (4), not “the people of God”, having been bound to the earthlies and not the heavenlies. The “people of the land” who put their heart in the temporal things, would never endure to see “the people of God” dedicate their hearts to God. 3- The adversaries presented complaints to Cambyses the son of Cyrus, full of false claims. 4- Through using some counselors in the court of the Persian king, the adversaries got their hearts’ desire – a royal decree to stop the work. We should not fear the outer opposition, however deceptive or violent they are, but count it as a call to reconsider our souls, and to fear the outcome of our sins, the actual cause of failure. 1- Rejecting the fellowship with the unfaithful 1 - 5 2- Vain accusations 6 - 10 3- False claims 11 - 13 4- Complimenting the authorities 14 5- A rebellious city from the old 15 - 16 6- A royal decree to stop work 17 – 24 1- REJECTING THE FELLOWSHIP WITH THE UNFAITHFUL: “Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel…” (1) “The adversaries of Judah and Benjamin”: the Samaritans, were a mixture of the ten tribes and the peoples whom the Assyrian kings brought over and planted in Israel. The worship of the people of Samaria, being a mixture of the worship of the living God and that of the idols, was therefore more dangerous than idol-worship, and they bore more animosity against Judah and Benjamin. That mixture between the truth and vanity corrupts the heart, and destroys the faith, through some kind of licentiousness and lack of seriousness. As according to the apostle Paul: “What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what Communion has light with darkness? And what Accord has Christ with Belial? And what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” (2 Corinthians 6: 14-16). + Can’t you see that “evil company corrupts good habits?” (1 Corinthians 15: 33) By it we cannot utter the gospel, but hear the words of the idols; By it we lose the truth that Christ is God; and what we drink there, we vomit in the church. (St. Augustine) + A young man in the company of another young man for evil; Let those dedicated mourn them. + O Lover of God, when you see the hypocrites use the words and expressions of cheating and deception, flee from there, lest their deadly words may cling to your ears. (The spiritual elder) + According to the apostle, “What communion has light with darkness?” Between them their is a distinct contradiction that cancels any possibility of reconciliation. Whoever combines the two together, his faith would provide the aspect of light; yet, his dark habits would put off the lamp of the mind. As there is no possibility nor reason for the light to conform to darkness, whoever has both combined, will become his own enemy, being divided into two ways between virtue and evil. He sets within himself a battle, which could not end up in the victory of any of them (for the conquest of one would mean the death of the other); Hence life would be utterly confused. Virtue will not have the conquest on evil, except when the later utterly clears the way, through the unity of the reasonable elements against the unreasonable ones … Goodness would never be able to exist in me except through the death of my enemy. It is not possible for us to hold fast to adversaries by both hands; for both could never coexist in the same being. In case we acquire evil, we would lose the possibility to acquire the virtue. (St. Gregory, bishop of Nyssa) Judah and Benjamin; were the majority of those who returned and could identify their real genealogy. “The descendants of captivity were building the temple”; they were so called because they have been negligent of the temple in the past. “They came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the fathers’ houses, and said to them, ‘Let us build with you for we seek your God as you do, and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Ezarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here” (2) They came with sweet words that bore hidden deadly poison, to proclaim their desire to have a fellowship in building the house of the Lord, for no other goal other than to stop the work, and to bring forth the idol worship into it. “For we seek God as you do”. They imagine that they worship God; yet their religion had just a few of the worship of God, and much of idol worship. Why was the request of those who sacrificed to God in the days of Ezarhaddon king of Assyria, to partake of building the house of God, denied? Those of the region of Samaria, who bore animosity against Judah and Benjamin, were descendants of the peoples whom the kings of Assyria brought forth from different regions, to settle down in the Northern kingdom of Israel, after taking the Jews captives to Babylon in the year 722 BC. There they mixed with the Jews, and mixed the worship of the living God with idol-worship. As it came in the second book of the kings: “Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamth, ; and from Sepharvaim and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities And it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them; … Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying: ‘Send there one of the priests whom you brought from there; let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land. Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord. However, every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt” (2 Kings 17: 24-29) . Their request to partake of the building of the house of God, seemed apparently faithful, yet they did not bear the same conviction, nor the loyalty to the whole Holy Book, nor the bond to Jehovah alone; They wished to partake of the work, but to remain worshipping idols, and rejecting all the other Holy Books except the five books of Moses. Zerubbabel doubted the faithfulness of the Samaritans concerning worshipping the living God with purity; and that their offer to partake of the work bore ulterior political motives. They intended to partake of the work, being a sanctuary of one of the gods which they worshipped. Yet this mixing between the worship of the living God and the pagan worship had caused the desolation before the captivity, and both Zerubbabel and Jeshua did not want that tragedy to happen again. The world’s help to the church often has a very high price (Revelation 2: 20); even though rejecting that help may, at the same time, cause fierce opposition against the church. They were the descendants of those brought forth by Esarhaddon (2) and Osnapper (10); whose religion was a mixture of some godliness to the Lord, but most of it were pagan vanities; hence they wiped out the identity of Israel (Isaiah 8: 7); and their animosity against the people of God was traditional, that had its origin since the animosity came between the seed of woman and the seed of the serpent (Genesis 3: 15). The devil would no doubt oppose the building of the temple, and any building for the body of Christ. “But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the fathers’ houses of Israel said to them, ‘You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God, but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us” (3) The response was firm; as the command to build was issued by the king of Persia specifically to the Jewish people. If therefore, the Samaritans or any others, wanted to partake of the work, they had to refer to the King of Persia. It was not possible to accept that fellowship which carried no kind of holiness nor faithfulness, for “What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” (Corinthians 6: 14 – 16). And as the apostle Peter said to Simon the Sorcerer: “You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God” (Acts 8: 21). “You may do nothing with us” Although the Jews responded negatively, for they perceived their goal, yet they could not tell them the true reason of rejecting their offer for fear of them; they only said that the command of king Cyrus was issued specifically to the Jews and no others. They therefore had to commit themselves to it alone. “Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building” (4) They started to exhibit their real intentions, that they neither seek the Lord, nor building His house. As the response of Zerubbabel exposed the real deception of “the people of the land”, they became fierce opponents, sometimes by scoffing the builders , and other times by intimidating them. If the believers are called “The people of God”, the wicked are called “The people of the land”, on account of that their hearts and minds are bound to the earthlies; and the heavenlies have no place in their life. “and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia” (5) “They hired counselors against them” in the king’s court and palace, Giving them bribes; they could , in the days of Cambyses the son of Cyrus, convince him to issue a decree to stop the building until the reign of Darius. If those people were faithful in their intention to partake of building the house of God, they would never pay bribes to stop the building. King “Darius” was ‘Darius Hestaseb’, who reigned after Artexerxes, issued a decree to restart the building. 2- VAIN ACCUSATIONS: “Now in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem” (6) According to some, the words: ‘Ahasuerus’ and ‘Artaxerxes’ were titles of the kings of Persia, the way the kings of ancient Egypt were called ‘Pharaohs’; and ‘Ahesuerus mentioned here is Cambyses the son of Cyrus 9529 – 522 BC. The word ‘accusation’ in Hebrew is ‘Satna’ or ‘Shatna’, derived from ‘Satan’ or the (accuser). It is obvious that verse 6 here was put by Ezra as another example of the persistent opposition of the enemies against the work of God, through which they managed to stop building the walls, until Nehemiah got a decree from the successor of Ahasuerus: “Artaxerxes Longimanus” to resume the building. “In the days of Artaxerxes also, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions, wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia, and the letter was written in Aramic script, and translated into the Aramaic language” (7) Most of the names mentioned here, like Bishlam, Mithredath, and Tabeel, are foreign and not Jewish names, of the peoples who were brought forth to dwell in Israel. There were most probably two messages in the early days of the king, from Bishlam and his companions, which was not recorded; and another from Rehum and his companions. ‘Tabeel’ was probably ‘Tobiah’ the Ammonite slave who opposed the building of the wall on the hand of Nehemiah. Starting by verse 8 to 16, the letters to the king of Persia were written in the Aramic script and language and not in Persian. The Aramic was the language of the government, of the foreign commerce, and of the ‘Tergom’. Ezzra used the Aramic language here, for he provides letters he preferred to quote as it was written, and not translated. “Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to king Artaxerxes in this fashion: (8) That was a third letter written and sent in the name of those brought by king of Assyria to dwell in the cities of Samaria, by ‘Rehum’ the commander of the land, and Shimshai his scribe. “From Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions – representatives of the Dinaites, the Apharsathehites, and the Tarpelites, the people of Persia and Erech and Babylon and Shushan, the Dehavites, the Elamites” (9) Those were different tribes brought by the kings of Assyria to dwell in Israel…. Notice how the people of Samaria were formed of diverse races. The Dinaites: This name came in the version within our hands as being the name of a tribe brought forth to dwell instead of the Israelites who were carried into captivity. But in most of the recent versions, beside the Septuagint version, it came to refer to ‘judges’ (the way the Arabic name indicate). According to others they were residents of ‘Dayen’, a country that was often referred to in the Assyrian inscriptions, as being located on the border of Celicia and Cappaducia. According to others, they were people sent by king ‘Osnapper’ (Ashurbanipal) to occupy the land of Samaria. And still according to others, they probably were of the Armenian peoples, identified by the Assyrians as ‘Dayani’. The Apharsathehites: There is a wide controversy concerning these people: a- According to some they were a mountainous people or tribe who dwelt between Media and Persia. b- According to some they were the inhabitants of one of two cities in Media, referred to in the inscriptions of Ezarhaddon as: Partakka and Partukka. c- According to some, they were a specific tribe, but a group of citizens under the leadership of Dariun. d- According to some it is an old Persian word (Sparasarka) meaning (a minor governor). The Tarpelites: Were set by the Assyrian king in Samaria, thought to be a Medianite tribe called ‘Tapyri’ east of ‘Elymais’’. According to ‘Rawlinson’, it is the tribe of ‘Tuplai’ that came in the inscriptions as analogous to the Greek word ‘Tibarenoi’; a tribe on the coast of ‘Pontes’; And according to ‘Hitzig’, it is in Tripolis north of Phoenicia. According to some, this word carries no racial meaning, but it is a name of some Persian officers in Saaria; while according to others, it is an Assyrian word, meaning (scribes of tablets). The Aphorsites: According to some it is a tribe in Media, mentioned in the inscriptions of Sennecharib, as inhabitants of the province of ‘Barstow’; And according to some it means ‘Persians’. The Elamites: The inhabitants of the province of Elam (Genesis 10: 22) The Archevites: The inhabitants of Erec (Genesis 10: 10) The Susanchites: The people of ‘Susan’ the capital of Elam, south-west of Persia, close to the River Olai, called nowadays the River Qarun. The Dehavites: Among the peoples captivated by ‘Osnapper’ (Achurbanipal), king of Assyria, and made them dwell in the cities of Samaria. “and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnapper took captive and settled in the cities of Samaria and the rest of the region beyond the river – and so forth” (10) ‘Osnapper’; (Mast probably ‘Assurbanipal) who reigned in Assyria in the year 668 – 626 BC; a great king well known for his might; fought against his own brother, the governor of Babbylon who rebelled against him, and fought against Elam. He was probably the king who exiled some Babbylonians and Susanchites (the people of Susan) and brought them forth to dwell in the cities of Samaria.; And he probably was Ezarhaddon himself, or a leader deputized to carry out that mission. 3- FALSE CLAIMS: “This is a copy of the letter that they sent to him – To king Artaxerxes from your servants the men of the region beyond the River, and so forth:” (11) “Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem, and are building the rebellious and evil city, and are finishing its walls and repairing the foundations” (12) The Jews: This name was first called on the people of the southern kingdom, namely Judah and Benjamin; But after the return from captivity it became the name of all the Jews from all tribes. The Jews who came up from you: Namely those who returned from captivity. The first false claim was that, in their message they disregarded the decree issued by king Cyrus allowing the building of the house of the Lord; and counted those who returned from captivity as disobedient rebels who came to build “the rebellious and evil city”. (referring to the history of Jerusalem that rebelled against the kings of Assyria and Babylon in the old days). The second false claim was their claim that those returning from captivity have finished building the walls and repairing its foundations, when all what they did was laying some foundations. “Let it now be known to the king that, if this city is built and the walls completed, they will not pay tax, tribute, or custom, and the king’s treasury will be diminished” (13) The third false claim was that the Jews were building the walls of the city to stop paying taxes to the king; when they were building the temple now and not the walls; and they had no intention to stop paying tax, tribute, or custom (13). The tax is what is paid to the king; the tribute is the fees on trade, and the produce of the land; to spend on the local services; and the custom is the fees put on the users of highways to spend on their repair and to pay the wages of the security men who guard them... Notice how the enemies of the Jews exaggerate things in their message, to stir up the king against them; on account of that the Persians were mostly interested in collecting taxes and tributes to spend on their huge armed forces. The enemies perpetually kept on telling many false claims against the believers; to stir up the kings against the church and against the people of God. The Jews did the same against the Lord Christ, when they accused him of being an enemy of Caesar. 4- COMPLIMENTING THE AUTHORITES: “Now because we receive support from the palace, it was not proper for us to see the king’s dishonor; therefore we have sent and informed the king” (14) By such pretense of being faithful to the king who supports them, they attempted to cover up their real intention. At the same time, they presented a false interpretation of the actions of those who returned from captivity, that they are causing harm to the king, which could not be disregarded. It is amazing how this same accusation is perpetually directed along the eras against the church; that her care for worship cause harm to the state, and a rebellion against the authorities; And was the same accusations declared by the Jews when they said to Pilate, the governor about the Lord Christ:: “If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend” (John 19: 12). If whoever “receives support from the palace” is committed to be faithful to the king; How we, who have got all our good things from God, are committed to have the glory of God as our goal?! 5- A REBELLIOUS CITY FROM THE OLD: “that search may be made in the book and records of your fathers, and you will find in the books of the records and know that this city is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces, and they have incited sedition within the city in former times, for which cause this city was destroyed” (15) The enemies used some past events like the rebellion of king Jehoiakin against Nebuchadnezzar, that ended up in taking the later shackled in chains to Babylon; to portray the situation in Jerusalem as a rebellion against Persia; in an attempt to set a kingdom of Israel that could have dominion upon the whole region, denying Persia of any authority over all the nations beyond the River. It is as though those who are building the house of God had the intention to enjoy worldly authority and not to enjoy just the worship of God. The books of the records, namely the governmental archives of the kings and countries that were under the authority of king Artaxerxus. “We inform the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, the result will be that you have no dominion over the region beyond the River” (16) That is the craftiness of the serpent, said to stir up the Persian king against the Jews. For, if the Jews supposedly built the walls of Jerusalem, would that cause all the countries west of the Euphrates to stop paying taxes to Persia? That would be possible only if a Jewish kingdom is established, great and powerful enough to have dominion over the whole region beyond the River. 1- A ROYAL DECREE TO STOP THE WORK: “Then the king sent an answer: To Rehum the commander, to Shimshai the scribe, to the rest of their companions who dwelt in Samaria, and to the rest in the region beyond the River: Peace and so forth” (17) The evil king sent a letter to Rehum, to Shimshai, and the rest of their companions, to investigate the matter, to confirm what came in their message to him, and gave them the authority to stop the work. The king trusted in his unfaithful servants, and made the adversaries judges and executioners of the verdicts; as according to the sage: “If a ruler pays attention to lies, all his servants become wicked” (Proverb 29: 12). The evil ruler represents a focal point of evil around which the wicked gather to partake of his evil; and by their evil counsel they push him further to more evil. When Jeroboam and all Israel sought from Rehoboam the son of Solomon to lighten their yoke, he, according to the counsel of the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him, answered those who appealed to him, saying: “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it; My father chastised you with whips, but I shall chastise you with scourges” (2 Chronicles 10: 10-11). As a result of that foolish counsel, the kingdom was divided, and ten tribes separated from him. + The foolish counselor is a blind guard; and the wise counselor is a stronghold of trust. (St. (Mar) Isaac the Syrian) “The letter which you sent to us has been clearly read before me” (18) “And I gave the command, and a search has been made, and it was found that this city (Jerusalem) in former times has made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been fostered in it” (19) “There have also been mighty kings over Jerusalem, who have ruled over all the provinces beyond the River; and tax, tribute, and custom were paid to them” (20) “Now give the command to make these men cease, that this city may not be built until the command is given by me” (21) We cannot deny that there are some good sides in that message, which are actually a gift from the good hand of God to His people; which are: a- The command was issued to stop the building and not to demolish what was already built. b- It was only a temporary stoppage. c- He did not give the command to bring those who returned back into captivity. d- Saying, “Until the command is given by me”, he did not utterly close the door; for after him came another king who gave the command to resume the building. It is the hand of God working. Although by what he did, that king altered “the law of the Mades and Persians which does not alter” (Daniel 6: 8); and did not honor king Cyrus’ decree; Yet, that stoppage was a chastisement by God because of the un-holiness of the people, or on account of that they cared for their own houses more than for building the house of the Lord, as it is clear in the next chapter. + Calling the devil ‘strong’, is not because he is so by nature, but in reference to his authority he has got because of our weakness. (St. John Chrusostom) “Take heed now that you do not fail to do this. Why should damage increase to the hurt of the kings?” (22) King Artaxerxes , as a representative of the devil , the enemy of believers, seeks from his servants “not to fail to do this”; namely to oppose them; counting every slothfulness on their part, a great damage to his kingdom. The war of the devil against man will never stop. + The way the Lord casts His net and catch a multitude of fish; and His fishermen disciples gather together those who believe in Him through them, and bring them forth to Him; So the devil does through his demons submitted to him, who cast their nets to catch men and bring them forth to him. (St. Jerome) + The evil spirits envy us for knowing that we attempt to recognize our shame and reproach, that we are looking for ways to reject their evil counsels they plant in us; and that many of us scoff their tricks. The devils know that the Creator of this world, has condemned them to death, and prepared for them Hades to inherit. (St. Anthony the Great) “Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem against the Jews, and by force of arms made them cease” (23) Why did the work stop?Was it because of the fierce opposition? No! It was rather for the shameful slothfulness of the builders, who neither prayed nor fasted; until the prophets Haggai and Zechariah the son of Eddo came and firmly rebuked them. Before the amazing work of God, the psalmist stood in awe. In the midst of the battle between God and the devil, he saw himself like a helpless bird that cannot escape the snare of the fowlers, namely the devil and his angels. But, when the Almighty God helped him, broke the snare and set him free, he sang saying: “Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 124: 7, 8). + What is the snare that was broken? The apostle says: “The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly” (Romans 16: 20); “that you may come to your senses, and escape the snare of the devil” (2 Timothy 2: 26). Behold, you can see Satan as the hunter who longs to catch our souls for perdition. He is a master of every kind of snares, and of every kind of deception … When we are in a condition of grace, our souls would be secure; but once we start playing with sin, our souls would be disturbed, and come to be like a boat struck by mighty waves. (St. Jerome) “Thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased, and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia” (24) The work stopped, yet for some time. If the real cause was the inner corruption; God, the Grantor of conquest, allows for temporary wounds and defeat, to provoke His children to return to Him, to give them victory. While we are in the midst of the battle, fighting and getting wounded, we would ask ourselves: Who will prevail?! … It will be, brethren, he, who trusts in God who supports him while fighting, and does not trust in his own strength. The devil has his experience in war; but if God is on our side, we shall prevail against him. The devil fights by himself; but if we do the same, he will prevail against us, for he is an experienced warrior; We therefore should resort to the Almighty God to stand against him. Let Him dwell in you, He who would never be defeated, to prevail against him who is used to prevail against those whose hearts are empty of God. + God, who knows your effort and your good will, anticipates your strife, supports your weakness, and will crown your conquest. (St. Augustine) ---------------------------- AN INSPIRATION FROM EZRA 4 SCATTER THE CLOUD, AND SHINE YOUR LIGHT ON US + The devil, our enemy, will never cease to oppose us; Will pour on us accusations without limit; Will raise against us false claims; Will use every way to destroy our work in Your kingdom; His violence and cruelty are indescribable. + In the midst of this battle, even if the enemy think he has prevailed, The secret of his conquest is not his strength, but our weakness. Our sin is the way of his success; Let Your grace work in us; And Your light shine over us; Sanctifying us, we would enjoy Your strength; Hidden in You, we would prevail. + Glory be to You, who allows our defeat for a limited time; Glory be to You, who calls us to eternal conquest; You are Good, O Holy One; You are the secret of our conquest and victory.
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