they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”
The builders had just laid the foundation of the temple. Then neighbours arrived with a warm religious offer: they worshipped the same God, and had been sacrificing to Him for generations. Scripture has already told us who these men are. So why was such a reasonable offer refused?
The Name Before the Offer
Verse 1 calls these men adversaries. Verse 2 puts friendly words in their mouths. One writer traces the refusal back to grace, not to suspicion:
J. N. DarbyThey argued for their claim by saying that they called on God as the Jews did. They had also sacrificed to Him since Esarhaddon brought them into the land. This was not enmity. Why turn away such a desire? The Spirit of God calls them the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin. The people of God — the assembly of God — should know their own special privileges. They should know that they are the assembly of the Lord. The Lord loved Judah and Benjamin. All the blessing they received flowed from His grace towards them. They were bound to recognise that grace fully. Not to recognise it was to despise it.
What Their Own Words Reveal
Their claim to seek the same God sounds unanswerable. But the next clause dates their worship from the day a foreign king moved them into the land:
Michael HardtHowever, their next phrase gives them away: "and we have been sacrificing to Him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here." A comparison with 2 Kings 17 will show what had happened. Assyria had deported the ten tribes, and its king repopulated the land of Samaria with people from Assyria. But God sent lions who killed some of these people. So the king took advice. He sent them a priest to teach them Jewish ways, hoping to appease the God of Israel. The result was a strange mixture of the worship God had established and idolatry.
That blend of true and false worship is not a curiosity of ancient history. One writer sees the same pattern wherever religion keeps God's name while keeping the world too:
H. L. RossierYou could not call this mixture pure idolatry. It makes us think of the blend people call Christendom, in whatever form it appears... where the worship of the true God stands side by side with the moral darkness of the world, and where what people claim to be has no connection with what ought to mark out the people of God.
An Offer That Looked Like Help
One writer pictures how the offer must have looked to the builders:
William KellyHow kind it seemed! How fair! Now at least, instead of the old antagonism, their neighbours were going to be so friendly — to help them build, and to worship and serve the same Lord as they did!
The Mask Comes Off
The refusal showed what the offer really was. The friendly neighbours turned into open opponents, and the builders who stood up to the flattery gave way to the threats:
H. L. RossierThe enemy had presented himself as a friend; this called for special watchfulness and caution. But these men, once rejected, very soon show their true character openly: "Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose." The people had been firm. They had resisted the tricks and cunning of the ancient serpent. But they become frightened when the adversary appears as a roaring lion.
Weak, Yet Distinct
Zerubbabel and Jeshua answered by pointing to Cyrus's command. One writer asks why a foreign king had to be mentioned at all:
William KellyNo doubt it was a state of weakness, a state of humiliation — for why mention king Cyrus? What had he to do with it? What a strange position, that he should be commanding Israel! But so it was... They owed their protection and whatever good government they enjoyed to the powers of that day. Even so, they held strictly to the word of God about the special place of Israel... Never was there a deeper sense in Israel of Israel's special place than when they were this low and feeble.
Carried Into the Work Today
One writer brings the same refusal into the work of God today:
Michael HardtTo this day, the people of God must do the work of God. If the world offers cooperation we have to refuse. If we do, then those who made the offer will soon show their true colours. But if we don't, we will soon spoil the work. The world's principles end up ruling the work we wanted to do for God.
Summary
- Named first. Scripture calls the speakers adversaries before they open their mouths. The verdict comes from God, not from the builders' instincts.
- Betrayed by their own sentence. Their own words tied their worship to the day a foreign king moved them in. Their religion mixed true worship with idolatry.
- Kindness as the weapon. The offer looked like the end of old hostility and the arrival of help. The enemy had come dressed as a friend.
- Refusal unmasks. Once refused, the friends became open opponents. They discouraged, frightened and bribed. The builders stood up to the tricks, but not to the threats.
- Weakness is no excuse. Humbled under a foreign king, they still held the special place God's grace had given them. The work of God still belongs to the people of God.