Ezra 5:3

Satan is still working behind the scene. Whenever God acts on the earth through His people, Satan at once works against it. This is the force of the words, "At the same time." We do not read of any persecution while they were building their own houses, the time Haggai speaks of. But at once, when they take up their work on Jehovah's house again, they are met by new tricks — in fact, open opposition.

If believers settle down in the world, mind earthly things, and become "dwellers on earth" — using that phrase in its moral sense — Satan will leave them alone. But the moment the Spirit of God works in them, so that they grasp His mind and go out in living testimony, the adversary will try to turn them aside. He will use any art or device likely to achieve his purpose.

In making this enquiry the governor was certainly within his rights. He was acting in the interests of his king, since a decree had gone out forbidding the building of the city, if not of the temple. He could know nothing of any commandment except that of his own king. The children of this world can never understand the claims of God upon His people. It always seems foolish to them that anyone should risk a ruler's anger to please One they themselves do not believe in.

No doubt they were subject to the powers ordained by God, and a decree forbidding them to build had been obtained. But God Himself had spoken. So if they were to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, they were also to render to God the things that are God's. When God stoops to speak, His claims are supreme. They stand above every other consideration, whatever the consequences.

If Artaxerxes had forbidden the building of the temple at the start, they might have been in difficulty. God's direct claim would have stood on one side and the kingdom's claim on the other. The principle would then apply that we must obey God rather than men. But in fact the case lay between two kings. There was one difference, and a very great one: the first and greatest king, the founder of the Persian monarchy, was the very one who had commanded the building of the temple.

The eye of God was on His beloved people, seeing their danger. He would supply the courage they needed in the presence of the enemy. He would give them the sense of His presence and shelter, and so stir them to persevere in their work. And it is a wonderful thing for our souls when we realise in any measure that the eye of God is upon us. It produces in us that holy fear which makes us fearless of man.

To faith it was clear that God was working behind the scenes, using the power of the enemy to carry out His own purposes... When their adversaries interfered, Darius did more than confirm the decree of Cyrus. He issued another decree: all the provision needed for the house of God was to be supplied at his own expense.