EZR 4Mamma. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity were building the temple, they came to Zerubbabel and the chief of the fathers, and said to them: Let us build with you, for we seek your God, and we sacrifice to Him. But they answered, ye have nothing to do with us to build a house to our God; we ourselves together will build it, as Cyrus commanded us.
Sophy. Why would they not let them help in the work?
M. Because they were not true Israelites. They had not separated themselves from the defilement of the heathen, as the children of the captivity had sought to do. This is the way all false worship has crept in, by men of the world proposing to help the people of God in the Lord's service.
S. What is the Lord's service?
M. Building a house to His name, was the service of the faithful in that day, just as gathering a people to His name is the service for this day. Now God's Spirit does not dwell in a temple built with hands. I explained to you that God has always had a testimony on the earth since the day He called out Abraham from his own country. That means that God has always had a people living on the earth, sometimes many, and sometimes but a few, who were witnesses of His salvation from the judgment to come; and of His mercy and love to sinful man.
S. But would they not build more quickly if they had more help?
M. It is quite true that more work might be done, but it would not be true work. The Bible says, many have built wood and bay and stubble, and this sort of work will be burnt up. It was quite right of Zerubbabel not to let these people work with him; what could these uncircumcised ones know about a habitation for the living God? We see how entirely it was an effort of Satan to hinder them, for as soon as their help was refused, these people tried in every way to weaken their hands, and to trouble them in building. They even tried to get the king of Persia to stop their work. Cyrus would not do so, but in the time of another king who came after him, they all joined together in a petition, the people of Samaria, and from the other side of Jordan.; and they wrote a letter to the king, and pretended to be very loyal to him, for they said that Jerusalem had always been a rebellious city; and that if the children of the captivity were allowed to build a house for their God, they would not pay tribute to the kings of Persia.
King Artaxerxes believed what they wrote, and he ordered them to go at once and stop the work at Jerusalem. So it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia.
S. Was it right of them to stop building?
No! certainly not—they paid more attention to the word of the king than to the message of God.
M. If they had had faith to go on in spite of persecution, no doubt God would have helped them; but they were afraid of the people of the land. Yet the work was God's work, and He would not allow it to be stopped. He sent His prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to stir up the people. Haggai said: How can you live in nice houses while the house of the Lord lies waste? He said you are all thinking of your own things instead of the Lord's things. Then they wrote to the king, and told him how king Cyrus had commanded them to build the temple. And Darius, made inquiry, and he found it was quite true, so Darius ordered his people to help them in every way, that they might offer sacrifices to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons. And in the sixth year of his reign the house was finished. Even the tribute which was paid by the men on the other side of Jordan, Darius said was to be given to them, to help in the work at Jerusalem.
S. Those were the men that stopped them before?
M. Yes. We often see this kind of retribution in the ways of God.
When the house was finished, the priests and Levites, and all the children of the captivity, came up to dedicate the house of God, with joy. They offered burnt offerings and peace offerings; and a sin offering for all Israel.
S. Were only Judah and Benjamin there?
M. Yes, but faith always takes in all the people of God, so they offered twelve he-goats for one sin-offering for the twelve tribes of Israel.
S. That was like Hezekiah when he prayed for all Israel.
M. Yes. When he said: The good Lord pardon every one!
They set the priests and Levites in their order, as it was written in the book of Moses. And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month; for they had all separated themselves from the idolatry and wickedness of the heathen, in order that they might seek the Lord. And they kept the feast of unleavened bread for seven days with joy; for the Lord had made them joyful.
S. Tell me more about the way to serve God now.
M. To serve a person greater than ourselves two things are necessary. One thing is to know something of the thoughts and feelings of the person you want to serve; and the other is to be so subject that you would be willing to do whatever he desires and nothing more.
S. What do those who preach about Jesus know about His thoughts and feelings?
M. They ought to know two things. That He likes His people to be comforted; and that He, loves them so much that He says, whatever is done to them is done to Himself. Just as Ezra knew that to teach God's people, and to build God's house was pleasing to God in his day. The apostle Peter was one who longed to serve the Lord, and when Jesus was going away, He said to Peter: "Feed my sheep; feed my lambs." Peter spent his life in doing it, with all love and tenderness. And in the end he was put to death because he would not cease from telling of Jesus and His love; and entreating sinners to believe in Him. This is service to God, and this is being a witness to Christ, who has loved us, and washed us from our Sins in His own blood.