In Ezra chapter 4, the Jews experience a bad case of “frenemies” – pretend friends who are actually enemies seeking to kill, steal, and destroy all that is good in your life. You know them. They want to be your Facebook friend so they can watch everything you do and talk trash with their trashy friends. These people are the epitome of jealousy and envy. They troll and watch because their lives afford them nothing better to do than to try to bring others who are doing the good things they are not, down. That’s what these Jews are about to deal with. Who says the Bible isn’t relevant?!
They have just completed the foundation of the temple and apparently word got around that they were getting somewhere with the project. Along comes some “people of the land,” as they were called, saying, “Hey! Let us help you! We are at your service! We want to build with you!”
Um. No. First of all, let’s consider who these guys are. They are referred to as “adversaries” in the text. They were not foreigners like the Chaldeans or the Persians. These people were originally part of the tribes of Israel. They departed from the true faith of the Jews and began at some point serving many gods and worshiping idols. They had made up their own religion yet continued to call themselves “Jews.” In other words, they said they were Jews, but they were not. They were those who practiced their own made-up form of worshiping whatever they wanted and doing whatever they wanted with pieces of Judaism mixed in.
How familiar does that sound?! Likewise, for Christians today, professing “Christians” who are not truly followers of Christ or Biblical truth and neither nor follow or believe the Bible are the very worst enemies of our faith and true religion. Such ones are altogether ubiquitous within our culture.
So these guys are coming saying they want to help, but the true Jews know better. If there is one thing about a true and a false believer, it’s that a true believer can quite easily spot a fake. Being familiar with the truth of God’s Word imparts wisdom and discernment for such a time as this. Not only that, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look at the very first and foremost command God made, “You shall have no other gods,” look at the fake worshiping many gods, and recognize the disconnect.
Anyway, the Jews said, “No.” In fact, they went so far as to say, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.” ~Ezra 4:3
Think about this. We need to get this. The true believers disallowed the false believers from participating in building the house of God. Please consider that. Why? Like why didn’t they say, hey, sure, come help and talk to them about serving and worshiping the One True God alone? Why didn’t they use this for an opportunity to bring these lost sheep back into the fold? Where’s the compassion for these guys? Hmmmm…
The reasons they would not entertain these men’s request to help were thus:
- They were not true Jews and they were professing to be true Jews. They did not worship God faithfully or as he had clearly instructed. They did religion their own way and were steeped in idolatry which was strictly forbidden by the God they professed to be following. Therefore, these men were lying to themselves, to God, and to others. Until they repented and stopped deceiving, they could not be part of God’s true work.
- Only the true Jews had permission from the king to build. Because these men had at some point been removed from the tribes due to their disobedience, they could not prove they were true Jews and therefore had not been given permission to build by the king.
3. God’s law forbade true Jews from mingling with foreigners. They were to be set apart. This was a rule they often broke which caused much turmoil for the Jews with intermarriage and idolatry. Still today Christians are to follow the same principle of being set apart and avoiding being “unequally yoked” with unbelievers in both marriage and close friendship. This is for our protection and well-being. Bad company corrupts good character.
After the denial to their request to give help, these men turned right around and sought how they might best discourage and distract the work from being done. They hired false counselors to “advise” the builders wrongly and keep them from proceeding and they slandered the Jews to their suppliers and to the new king.
King Cyrus who had given the permission to build lost control of the government and Artaxerxes took over. Immediately these enemies, who, by the way were the ancestors of those we know in the New Testament as “Samaritans,” sent a letter of slander and false accusation concerning the building project and the Jews to the new king. He in turn forbade its furtherance.
In the slanderous letter, these men pretended loyalty and affection to the government, king, and palace in order to gain favor. They were total butt-kissers. They slandered the true Jews and painted them as disloyal, dangerous, rebellious, and against the king and government. They lied saying the walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt and finished when they hadn’t even begun the walls. Their intention was to try to make the Jews look powerful and power-hungry. They also claimed that the Jews would fail to pay taxes and tribute to the king and that they planned to take over the whole side of that country and keep others from paying as well.
Funny thing, the previous king, Cyrus, had not only given permission to these men to build, but he had commanded them to do so AND given them many provisions with which to do so! Nevertheless, the new king took the slanderers’ word for it. He did not examine the false claims made against the Jews at all. The Jews were deemed guilty with no opportunity of proving these baseless claims false. These enemies successfully gave the Jews in Jerusalem a bad name by their slanderous lies and the king commanded them to stop building.
Fortunately, that is not the end of the story, but for two real, human years these guys were held up. Frenemies have a way of slowing down good people and good works by the hate and envy they use to burn everything in their paths down. Ezra 4 ought to be a valuable lesson to us all about the destruction the deceit and jealousy of false professors of religion wreaks on true believers. It is better to shake hands with an irreligious person than one who pretends religion and follows self-made beliefs. Religious fakes are ultimately the absolute worst kind of enemies we will ever meet.
Everyday Encounters With the Creator 