The Enemies False Display of Kindness
(EZRA 4:1-6)
1Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the LORD God of Israel, 2they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' households, and said to them, "Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here." 3But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers' households of Israel said to them, " You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us." 4Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, 5and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. 6Now in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
Have you ever had someone walk up to you and act like your friend when in reality they had their own selfish motives in mind. It’s happened to all of us. We call those instances Judas Moments. A time when someone shows apparent good will but in truth they mean nothing but ill-will toward us. Of course we get the name from what happened to Jesus in the gospels as a result of Judas’ betrayal.
As we continue our study through Ezra/Nehemiah we come upon a very important moment, what appears to be a “Judas Moment.” Verse 1 notes that the “…enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple…” How did they know? Remember that shout which we discussed the last time in chapter 3 verse 13? More than likely this shout along with all of the other activity received huge amounts of attention. Now the enemies of God’s people have arrived and as usual they appear to have friendship in their words, but their motives are questionable. What we see here is the enemy’s false display of kindness.
We must first ask the question as to why these people were considered enemies? Verse 2 answers our question. First they approach “…Zerubbabel and the head of the fathers’ households…” This particularly interests me because Jeshua’s name is not mentioned. While that may not mean too much to most people it interest me because this indicates that the Levites were not consulted in the work of the temple. The enemies only approached the civil authorities and not those who are in charge with the building of the temple. While most say that Jeshua and the Levites were considered in with “…the head of the fathers’ households…” I think differently because the writer of both books are very distinct about who they are talking about. This may have been done for one of three reasons: (a) It was an honest mistake; (b) There was hope that leadership would divide causing a rift in the community; or (c) Selfish motives from leadership would begin to show up proving that motives were not true. Second they are enemies because they want to “…build with you…” This indicates that rather than a partnership in building the temple together, they want to build something along side of the temple. Third, they claim, “…for we like you seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esahaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.”
There are a couple of sub-thoughts which can come from this: (a) They do not seek God (Yahweh) the same as the Jews did. Notice the name Esahaddon which is mentioned. Many scholars have a hard time placing this king but most agree that more than likely he is the king mentioned in 2nd Kings 17:24-26, 28, 32-33. In that passage it notes that the king of Assyria transplanted people from other lands into Israel and took the people of Israel and scattered them throughout the known world. In the process many of these transplanted people began to die. The people began to fear the God of the land and made an appeal to Assyria for a Levite to come teach them about Yahweh. The request was acknowledged and they learned about sacrificing to Yahweh. When this happened the deaths began to decrease. The problem is that these Levites would have also mixed much of the rival religions teachings in; therefore the people would mix the worship with Yahweh in with other gods. (b) Their sacrifices are questionable. If they do not truly worship in the way that the Law required then their sacrifices are suspect. 1st Samuel 15:22-23 states, “...’Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams. 23For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry…” The Psalmist writes in Psalm 40:6-8, “Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. 7Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me; 8I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.’” Even though this is a Messianic Psalm it still points to what Samuel told King Saul, it is not the act of sacrifice that God is concerned with, but the condition of the heart. The enemies worship was corrupted and their sacrifices were questionable because their hearts were not right. This can be seen the statement “…your God…” In other words they have no personal attachment with Yahweh. They do what they do to fulfill an obligation not truly worship Him.
So what can we learn from this passage? First, No matter how the enemy or enemies approach us they are still enemies of truth. Second, leadership is always the first and most important target. They will approach leadership first in order to compromise its effectiveness. Therefore they will always approach the most vulnerable area. Third, there is always the claim that they worship the same God in an attempt to mask their true identity. Pluralism, postmodernism and essentialism are three of the most dangerous tools that are used in modern day Evangelicalism today.
What concerns me is this, that through the last thirty years churches have been in decline causing the churches to slide back into pre-World War II conditions. For pastors and members alike this has been a great cause of concern. As a result we have begun to pick up on the world’s tactics in areas of leadership, management, and commercialization. While this may not be wrong in and of itself, through the years it has caused us to culturize the church rather than the church affecting the culture. This has lead to what is known as the “Emergent Church” which has taken pluralism, postmodernism and essentialism to its highest level regarding Christianity and applying them to God’s word. We have now moved from pre-World War II conditions to a pre-Christian era and way of thinking. The errors that the post-modern approach has attempted to mix yogism and meditation with prayer. It attempts to prove that Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is the same as the gods of other religions.
There is also a lack of concern to come to Sunday morning services and continue to support the work of the local church. This is more evidence of the same Biblical cowardness as that which was just mentioned regarding emergent church theology. Paul wrote in 1st Timothy 4:1-5-“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 4For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected it is received with gratitude; 5for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”
The point is we cannot afford to worship in the way of the world and hope to walk in the ways of God! My question to you and others is who is the focus of our worship? And what is the focus of our instruction? Our instruction should come clearly from Scripture alone and our focus of worship should be Christ alone. Understand I believe in Biblical scholarship as well, so don’t think that when the scriptures are studied, it is done blindly without an understanding of history, language, culture, and art. So as you go to worship this Sunday morning, think about what you are doing. Christianity is a thinking person’s religion. We should worship with minds in gear, but with Jesus at the center of our thoughts.
Lord Bless,
Steven Swaim
(All Scriptural quotes come from the New American Standard Version)
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