From now on to the end of this book and the book of Nehemiah which follows, there is opposition. Whenever we seek to do a work for and serve God there will invariably be opposition, if not from Satan himself, from his servants.
“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, 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 Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.” (v1,2)
We need to remember that they did not come to an empty land, there were other inhabitants left behind at the exile. Some were Samaritans brought by Esarhaddon, king of Assyria. Many had intermarried with the people left behind. Samaritans were a mixture of peoples with connections to the Jews. Maybe you remember Jesus in John 4 meeting with a woman of Samaria who said, “The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.” And Jesus’ telling the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. 2 Kings 17:33 describes the Samaritans, “They feared the LORD, yet served their own gods; according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away”.
When the Samaritans heard of the work they came and offered to help with the building, saying that they were seeking the same God. They either wanted to help or hinder the work. As it turned out it was the latter. As they were more in number than the returned Jews they probably wanted to take over and rule them. Going back to John 4 the Samaritan woman said to Jesus that they worshiped God but in a different way to the Jews and at a different place. It is clear that these Samaritans had been worshiping and sacrificing in some way different to the people of God. They had several gods in addition to the true God. This alliance spelt danger and disaster, and we must be aware of that today.
The people under Zerubbabel and Jeshua were united in their refusal to enter into an alliance to build (v3).
One writer stated that ‘men of faith have often fallen into this mistake and have associated with those who are not. Samaritans worshiped God along with other gods and to divide His dominion is to dethrone Him altogether.’ Another said that if they had taken an active share, they could not have been excluded from taking part in the temple worship.
How we must be careful of this today. It is easy to slip into such things and allow unbelievers to get a toehold in individual lives and church life. We must be wise and take precautions against ungodly relationships and associations. In any case it is unfair to them to give a false sense of security.
Having been refused, the Samaritans switch to discouragement mode (v4,5). “…. They troubled them in building, 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.” Now going to great lengths to stop the building and it is believed that it interrupted the work for several years. They even continued to oppose it after it was built and during the rebuilding of Jerusalem in the book of Nehemiah.
In verse 6 they are still at it in the reign of Ahasuerus (Xerxes 485-465BC) (see the book of Esther) and in verses 7-16 to Artaxerxes (464-424BC). They wrote a letter to the king in Aramaic script and translated into the Aramaic language. The letter is copied here and it is clear that they are complaining about rebuilding the walls and city, the temple having been finished, even the use of large, heavy stones, which they said was suspicious. The letter was mischievous and largely untrue as they were speaking as though they were supporting the king, referring to Jerusalem as that rebellious and evil city.
Even today, Satan does exactly the same with lies and a smattering of truth. The bible calls him the accuser of the brothers. He accuses us even to God. He says we have sinned, which is correct, but overlooks the work of our Saviour, Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:10).
The king answered the letter (v17-23). He said it had been read before him. He had caused a search of the records and gave command that the building must cease. As a result, Rehum the Samaritan commander, Shimshai the scribe and their companions went and stopped the work by force with the backing of the king’s command.
Thus (v24) the work ceased until the second year of Darius king of Persia which was about fifteen years. But the work was delayed not defeated as their history shows.
