I Don't Understand Why

Ezra 4:6-24

6 At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
7 And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. The letter was written in Aramaic script and in the Aramaic language.  
8 Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows:
9 Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary, together with the rest of their associates-the judges and officials over the men from Tripolis, Persia, Erech and Babylon, the Elamites of Susa, 10 and the other people whom the great and honorable Ashurbanipal deported and settled in the city of Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates.
11(This is a copy of the letter they sent him.)
To King Artaxerxes,
From your servants, the men of Trans-Euphrates:
12 The king should know that the Jews who came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring the walls and repairing the foundations. 13 Furthermore, the king should know that if this city is built and its walls are restored, no more taxes, tribute or duty will be paid, and the royal revenues will suffer. 14 Now since we are under obligation to the palace and it is not proper for us to see the king dishonored, we are sending this message to inform the king, 15 so that a search may be made in the archives of your predecessors. In these records you will find that this city is a rebellious city, troublesome to kings and provinces, a place of rebellion from ancient times. That is why this city was destroyed. 16 We inform the king that if this city is built and its walls are restored, you will be left with nothing in Trans-Euphrates.
17 The king sent this reply:
To Rehum the commanding officer, Shimshai the secretary and the rest of their associates living in Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates:
Greetings.
18 The letter you sent us has been read and translated in my presence. 19 I issued an order and a search was made, and it was found that this city has a long history of revolt against kings and has been a place of rebellion and sedition. 20 Jerusalem has had powerful kings ruling over the whole of Trans-Euphrates, and taxes, tribute and duty were paid to them. 21 Now issue an order to these men to stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until I so order. 22 Be careful not to neglect this matter. Why let this threat grow, to the detriment of the royal interests?
23 As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop.
24 Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Author Marshall Shelly, who suffered the death of two of his children, writes in Leadership: Even as a child, I loved to read, and I quickly learned that I would most likely be confused during the opening chapters of a novel. New Characters were introduced. Disparate, seemingly random events took place. Subplots were complicated and didn't seem to make sense in relation to the main plot.

But I learned to keep reading. Why? Because you know that the author, if he or she is good, will weave them all together by the end of the book. Eventually, each element will be meaningful.

At times, such faith has been a conscious choice.

Even when I can't explain why a chromosomal abnormality developed in my son, which prevents him from living on earth more than two minutes...

Even when I can't fathom why our daughter has to endure two years of severe and profound retardation and continual seizures...

I choose to trust that before the book closes, the Author will make things clear.

Last week we read that the peoples around Judah and Jerusalem offered their help in rebuilding the Temple of the Lord. Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the other leaders of Judah said, “Thanks, but no thanks.” While the offer of help seemed innocent it was not, the Sumeritans and their friends were really looking for a way to hinder the rebuilding of the Temple. They were pagans who did not exclusively worship the One true God, but instead many gods.

With their offer of help refused, the Samaritans and the others in the surrounding area showed their true colors. The taunted, and threatened the Jews. They also hired some official back in Persia to spread lies about the Jews. Starting in verse 6 of Ezra, Chapter 4, the chronicler interrupted his story of Zerubbabel and the rebuilding of the Temple to illustrate the persistent opposition faced by the Jews as they tried to establish a community under God and the law.

The first example of a letter writing campaign is seen in verse 6, with a letter written to King Ahasuerus (akh-ash-vay-rosh'), the Hebrew form of the Persian name which was better known in its Greek form, Xerxes.

1. Fast Forward (vs. 6)

Somewhat surprisingly, this section of Ezra moves quickly through time to another historical era. Verse 5 and verse 24 relate that the building of the Temple was delayed from the reign of Cyrus until the second year of Darius I (520 B.C.).

Verses 6-23 deal with events that took place during the reign of Xerxes (486-465 B.C.) and Artaxerxes I (ah r - t uh - Z UH R K - s ee z ) (465-424 B.C.). These verses which concern the building of the walls of Jerusalem, are out of chronological order, and had nothing to do with the rebuilding of the Temple.

Here was the chronicler's proof that Judah's neighbors, the Samaritans and those others in the surrounding area were truly the “enemies” of verse 1 and they would do anything to undermine God's holy enterprise.

It would be nice if everything in life was easy, wouldn’t it?

• It would be nice if there were only down-hills, with no up-hills.
• It would be nice if there were only mountain tops and no valleys.
• It would be nice if there were only roses and no thorns.

But that’s not the way things work world we live in. Life is filled with its’ challenges and obstacles. The work of God's kingdom will get Satan's attention, and he will use anyone or anything to stop that work.

When you make it your goal to serve the Lord and to accomplish His purposes, you can expect that you will face obstacles and opposition. You will be doing the Lord's work and then “BAM!” something happens and your work is stalled or stopped dead in its tracks. You just want to throw up your hands and say, “Lord, what happened?” or “Lord, I quit!” I know it is easier said than done, but keep pressing on. Remember our God created Satan, and God not Satan is in control.

Now another history lesson so bare with me. This is the chronology of the kings of Persia and what happened during their reign:

• Cyrus was king of Persia from 539 BC to 530 BC – Cyrus was the Persian king who allowed the Jews to return and rebuild the temple. All of the events we have looked at so far have happened under the reign of Cyrus.
  

• The next king of Persia is Cyrus’ son, Cambysses [kam-bahy-seez] , who reigned from 530 BC to 521 BC – no progress on the temple is going to be made during his reign.
  

• Then comes Darius who was king of Persia from 521 BC to 486 BC – Darius will play an important roll in allowing the temple to be rebuilt. He also was the king mentioned in the book of Daniel.
  

• Next comes king Xerxes, or Ahasurerus (akh-ash-vay-rosh') who reigned from 486 BC to 465 BC – He will become Esther’s husband.
  

• Finally, there is king Artaxerxes I (ah r - t uh - Z UH R K - s ee z ) who reigned from 464 BC to 423 BC – He is the king who is reigning at the end of Ezra and through the book of Nehemiah.
  

2. The Letter (vs. 7-16)

21 years after the letter written to Xerxes in verse 6, another letter is written. Verses 7-16 recount this instance of opposition to Judah, this time during the reign of “Artaxerxes I” (v. 7).

The letter must have been written before Nehemiah’s successful rebuilding of the Jerusalem wall in 445 B.C. Sometime during the reign of Artaxerxes I (ah r - t uh - Z UH R K - s ee z ), the Jews who had recently returned from Babylon to Judah (with Ezra?) began to rebuild Jerusalem and especially its broken walls (v. 12).

This caused concern for those who lived outside of Judah, probably because they enjoyed their positions of power over the Jews. So the residents from the lands and their leaders wrote a letter of complaint to Artaxerxes with the intention of stopping the rebuilding project (v. 16). Verse 7 identifies some of those who wrote the letter and clarifies that it was written in Aramaic, a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew. The letter was sent officially from “Rehum (rekh-oom') the commander” and his scribe “Shimshai” (vv. 8–9). And a bunch of other officials. They were likely high ranking government investigators sent by the king to check on the royal interests in the west. As well as the local governor and other local leaders.

When we look closely at this letter, we see that it lays out the opposition’s case in four accusations and each of those accusations is a lie.

• Verse 12 falsely states the remnant’s record – it accuses them of being rebellious and wicked by attempting to rebuild a rebellious and wicked city.
  

• Verse 13 falsely states the remnant’s intent – it accuses them of intending not to pay taxes when they are finished with the project – money always gets the attention of politicians.
  

• Verses 14-15 falsely state the remnant’s authority – it had been many years since Cyrus’ decree and the letter accuses the remnant of never having permission to build in the first place.
  
• Verse 16 falsely states the remnant’s political impact – it accused the remnant of taking over everything in that region.
  

• What a conspiracy theory this all was! It may have been ridiculous, but it was persuasive.

Sadly, lies often are persuasive – that’s why people tell them. The creators of the letter motivated Artaxerxes through fear of losing money and power—a classic and effective strategy! Satan never plays fair. He is the father of lies. He won’t hesitate to use any weapon against you. And he always knows which weapon will work best on you.

3. The Kings Responsed (vs. 17-23)

What was the king’s response? At his request (v. 15), a search was made of Persia’s historical archives, in which Jewish independence and sedition were documented (v. 19).

He decided: “I also deserve to receive “tax, tribute, and custom”” (v. 20). Verse 21 records the stop-work order was issued, although Artaxerxes reserved the right to change his mind at a later date. With the king’s endorsement, the local officials went up to Jerusalem and “by force of arms” made the Jews stop rebuilding the wall.

Sometimes the enemies of the Lord win a battle or two, but they will never win the war, why? Because God has already won the war.

4. Opposition Succeeds (4:24)

The work on the Temple of God came to a screeching halt. The opposition had succeeded in its plan to halt reconstruction of God's Temple. A sixteen-year interval from 536 B.C. to 520 B.C. separated the beginning of rebuilding in chapter 3 and the later resumption of rebuilding in chapter 5.

Verse 24 repeats the sad note already mentioned in verse 5. The final phrase, “until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia,” foreshadows Ezra 5.

But the Books of Ezra-Nehemiah do not tell the whole story of why work on the temple stopped, so we need to turn to the prophet Haggai to fill in the blanks. He tells us that God rebuked the people for not building His “house” (Hag. 1:3). They had put off construction of the temple in order to build their own “paneled houses” (Hag. 1:4). As a result, God chastised them with economic hardships (Hag. 1:6) and a drought (Hag. 1:11). These difficulties, of course, further hindered work on the temple.

Although not stated specifically, we can imagine how the people of Judah, faced with threats and harassment from outsiders; turned away from God’s work to meet their personal needs.

Then, as the years passed, it became easier and easier to procrastinate at resuming work on the Temple. By the reign of Darius, only God could motivate the people to rebuild again. And He did.

I wonder what it was like to walk by that unfinished Temple for 16 years – a monument to discouragement and unfulfilled dreams. The people shaking their heads and saying, “I don't understand why...”

Conclusion: Satan has centuries of experience with mankind. Once he has learned that a trick works, he will play that hand again and again.

What will it take to stop Calvary? What will it take to stop your pastor? What will it take to stop you? Satan knows, and he will try! But God forbid that we do Satan's work ourselves!!! Let us be encouragers, not discouragers. Let us be bold in the faith!

For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, (2 Timothy 1:6-8)