Ezra 5:8

Ezra 5:8 speaks of the province of Judea. This shows how the land had passed under the control of a foreign power, and Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the temple. The only bit of true godliness belonged to a small, weak group.

The ban on building only came two reigns later. The Jews had already stopped building because they were afraid of their enemies (compare Ezra 4:4, 21, and Ezra 5:1, with Haggai 1:1-4; Haggai 2:15). And they did not start again because the king's decree reached them. They started again because they feared the LORD and did not fear the king's command, seeing Him who is invisible (Haggai 1:12-13)... the source of their weakness was that they had forgotten God.

How bold faith is! And God justifies the faith that He gives. This looked like a lack of respect for the royal authority. But in fact they had at least as good an authority for going on with the work. If Artaxerxes here stops the building of the house, Cyrus had already ordered it to be built. They did what was quite right. They treated what Artaxerxes brought in as an accident, a thing brought about by circumstances. They saw it as a command of the man himself, not of Persia. They go back to what Cyrus had commanded. They knew well that one of the great rules of the Persian kingdom was that the laws of the Medes and Persians did not change. It was Artaxerxes who had changed.

It is clear that the work of the feeble Jews impressed them, because they tell the king that the house of the great God "is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands." Unlike the letter in the earlier chapter, this one at least reports the facts faithfully. Both letters aimed to stop the work. Yet here the enemy testifies to the diligence and devotion of the builders.

Their letter to Darius begins by reporting that the building of the temple of the great God at Jerusalem was moving fast (v. 8). They did not treat the God of Israel as just one more idol of the nations. They recognised Him as the great God. They put the whole matter in a restrained and fair way. They did not demand that the work stop. They only asked whether the king of Persia had allowed it.

But these enemies had not reckoned with the Keeper of Israel, who never sleeps or slumbers. They had no idea that what they were doing would lead to victory for God's people and would end with the house of God finished... God held Tatnai back from ordering the work to stop, so they kept right on working. Blessed are all the servants of the LORD who work hard in the fear of the LORD. They know that His eye is on them, and that He supports all who put their trust in Him.