Ezra 4:17

These "adversaries of Judah and Benjamin" had claimed they wanted to help build the temple, since they too sacrificed to the God of Israel. Yet in their accusation they say nothing about the temple. They speak only of the city. Their reason is obvious. The proclamation of Cyrus concerned the temple. So by accusing the Jews of building the city, they made their hinted charges of rebellion and treason look believable. The king's answer shows they had judged it right.

The two motives urged on the king were protection against future danger and the possible loss of revenue. The appeal worked. The royal records also confirmed what the letter said about the city's past. So the king wrote, "Give the command now to make these men stop, and that this city not be built, until I give another command. Be careful not to fail in this; why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings?" (vv. 17-22). The adversaries had succeeded. They received the letter and went up at full speed, armed with royal authority. They made sure no one could go on building Jehovah's house. "They made them cease," it says, "by force and power."

Verses 7-23 describe the more successful scheme in the days of the Pseudo-Smerdis. He was a Magian usurper who impersonated the true Smerdis, Cyrus' younger son, whom Cambyses had put to death... After little more than seven months the false Smerdis, the Artaxerxes of our chapter, was killed, and Darius, one of the highest Persian nobles, gained the kingdom. This may explain why the impostor knew nothing of Cyrus' policy and so listened readily to arguments against it. It also explains why, under God, the king who shared the mind of Cyrus looked seriously into the truth and stood by the measures that honoured the God and people of Israel.

They wanted to stop the remnant from gathering together. Such a gathering would take away the enemy's power over the people of God: "If this city is built and its walls are finished, you will have no portion on this side of the river." Scattered, they would easily become the prey of their enemies. In the same way Satan opposes the gathering of the children of God today. If he cannot corrupt the sheep, he makes them quarrel, seizes them, and scatters them.

Note this — it is a very important thing. God does not blame the stopping of the work on the king's command. The king did give in at last, and did yield to their constant pleading to stop the Israelites. The Israelites began to stop before the king's authority came. It was lack of faith, not the king's authority, that stopped the work; and, dear friends, as a rule, is it not always so? The ending of blessing among God's people is never the work of the enemy outside. It is lack of faith, and so of faithfulness, inside.

Altogether it is a sad chapter — the record of Satan's activity... God does not appear in it. To human eyes it looks as if the enemy has completely won. Yet though God does not step in, He is no uninterested spectator of what is happening. Whatever His people are, He remains faithful. He will have His people fully tested. But He only waits for the right moment to raise up a power the enemy cannot withstand.