7/9/2011 8:27:41 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Stage one: the work opposed-Part 2&3
(Accusation leading to fear & Other opposition to God’s work)
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezra 4:4-5, 24 & 4:6-23
Message of the verses: “4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, 5 and 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.
6 ¶ Now in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. 7 And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the rest of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the text of the letter was written in Aramaic and translated from Aramaic. 8 Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes, as follows- 9 then wrote Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their colleagues, the judges and the lesser governors, the officials, the secretaries, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the Elamites, 10 and the rest of the nations which the great and honorable Osnappar deported and settled in the city of Samaria, and in the rest of the region beyond the River. Now 11 this is the copy of the letter which they sent to him: "To King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the men in the region beyond the River, and now 12 let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem; they are rebuilding the rebellious and evil city and are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. 13 "Now let it be known to the king, that if that city is rebuilt and the walls are finished, they will not pay tribute, custom or toll, and it will damage the revenue of the kings. 14 "Now because we are in the service of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see the king’s dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king, 15 so that a search may be made in the record books of your fathers. And you will discover in the record books and learn that that city is a rebellious city and damaging to kings and provinces, and that they have incited revolt within it in past days; therefore that city was laid waste. 16 "We inform the king that if that city is rebuilt and the walls finished, as a result you will have no possession in the province beyond the River."
“17 ¶ Then the king sent an answer to Rehum the commander, to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and in the rest of the provinces beyond the River: "Peace. And now 18 the document which you sent to us has been translated and read before me. 19 "A decree has been issued by me, and a search has been made and it has been discovered that that city has risen up against the kings in past days, that rebellion and revolt have been perpetrated in it, 20 that mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem, governing all the provinces beyond the River, and that tribute, custom and toll were paid to them. 21 "So, now issue a decree to make these men stop work, that this city may not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me. 22 "Beware of being negligent in carrying out this matter; why should damage increase to the detriment of the kings?" 23 Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by force of arms. 24 Then work on the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.”
There are two verses in the NT that describe how this scene in Jerusalem was playing its self out and they have to do with how Satan works. In 2Cor. 11:13 Paul writes that Satan can come in as a serpent to deceive, and this is what he did at first, and that failed. Now he comes like a lion to devour and this is described by Peter in 1Peter 5:8, and this time it worked.
Dr. Wiersbe writes of this defeat: “This defeat wasn’t because the king had issued a decree against them, but because the Jewish remnant feared the people of the land. The Jews had begun to get more interested in their own houses than in the house of God (Hag. 1:1-11). The worked actually stopped on the house of God for ten years from 530-520.
The next sub-section has many more verses in it and this will be the commentary on verses 6-23 of Ezra 4.
Ezra now writes in verses 6-23 other instances of the work being attacked, and he includes the events that occurred during the time of Darius who reigned from 522-486, and also Xerxes as seen in verse six who was Ahasuerus who is seen in the book of Ester. He reigned from 486-424 and was assassinated, then the next was Artaxerxes-I who reigned from 465-424. Artaxerxes is the one who is mentioned in Nehemiah chapter two.
It should be noted that Ezra 4:8-6:18 and also Ezra 7:12-26 are written in Aramaic rather than in Hebrew. These letters and the decree were actually copied from official documents kept in government archives. I believe that the only other portions of Scripture written in Aramaic are some sections in Daniel.
This section (6-23) is a long parenthesis and it deals with the building of the city and not the building of the temple. Dr. Wiersbe writes “It’s additional evidence of the fact that whenever God’s people try to serve the Lord, somebody will oppose them.” This was a long period of opposition and the names that are recorded in this section are mostly people who opposed the building of the city, as they were spies sent out by the ruler to see what was going on in the kingdom. Rehum was one of these and he gave four reasons as to why the work of building the city should be stopped by the Jews. The first reason was that Jerusalem had been a rebellious and wicked city according to the history of it. If it was restored then there would be rebellion against the king and would want to declare its independence (Ezra 4:12) (A side note on this verse is that this is the first time that the word “Jews” is used in the Scripture, and it means those from the tribe of Judah).
The second reason he gives is that an independent Judah would mean less taxes for the kingdom. Thirdly a successful rebellion would dishonor the king. Lastly Rehum suggests that if given their independence they would conquer the entire territory across the Euphrates (V-16). All of these reasons gave the king enough information that he decided to check out the archives and he found the proof he needed and thus stopped the building of the city, a victory for the opposition headed by Satan. The work not only stopped but was probably torn down by the Persians as the report that Nehemiah received suggests this from the first chapter of Nehemiah.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I am reading a book by Charles Stanley entitled “When the Enemy Strikes.” This book is about winning your spiritual battles. It is a bit personal in places as to how Dr. Stanley has been attacked by the enemy and so he writes about it. There is a portion in it that I have typed onto my word processor that I wish to put in this section as it does go along with this section of Scripture, for it was Satan who was opposing this work and he is still in the business of doing this today and that is why the spiritual armor described in Ephesians 6:10-18 is important to the believer.
“ Putting on your armor
Lord, by faith here’s what I’m doing right now to prepare myself for the coming day. I’m putting on the belt of truth. I ask You to make it very clear to me what I am to accept into my life and what I am to reject. Help me to see clearly the motives of others as they deal with me and converse with me. Let me walk in Your truth, making decisions and choices according to Your plans and purposes for my life.
I am putting on the breastplate of righteousness. Guard my emotions today. Protect my heart. Help me to take into my life only the things that are pure, and nothing that is poison or polluting. Help me to live in integrity and to have a reputation based upon doing, saying believing, thinking and feeling the right things. Help me to live in right relationship with You every moment of this coming day.
I am putting on my spiritual boots. Help me to stand and walk in Your peace and to move forward in ways that bring Your peace and love to others. Help me to have the full confidence and assurance that come from knowing that I am filled with the peace that only You can give to those who are Your children. Help me to be a peacemaker. Show me where to walk and bow to walk as You would walk.
I am picking up the shield of faith. Help me to trust You to be my Victor in every area of life today. Help me to trust You to defend me, provide for me, and keep me in safety every hour of this day.
I m putting on my helmet of salvation. Guard my mind today. Bring to my remembrance all that You have done for me as my Savior. Let me live in the hope and confidence that You are saving me—rescuing me and delivering me—from evil.
I am picking up my sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Bring to my remembrance today the verses of the Bible that I have read and memorized, and help me to apply them to the situations and circumstances I will face. Let me use Your Word to bring Your light into the darkness of this world and to defeat the devil when he comes to tempt me.
Father, I want to be fully clothed with the identity of Jesus Christ today. I am in Christ. He is in me. Help me to fully realize and accept that He is my Truth, my Righteousness, my Peace, my Savior, the source of my faith, and the ever—present Lord of my life.
I want to bring glory to Your name today. I ask all of this in the name of Jesus. Amen.”
My Steps of Faith for Today:
1. Put on the armor.
2. Continue to learn contentment.
7/9/2011 9:37:33 AM
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