Ezra 4:4: “Then the people of the land weakened the hands of Judah and troubled them in building.”

As I read the news coming out of Israel today and I see the tensions growing between the government of the United States and Israel, I cannot help but wonder if history is just not repeating itself. I also wonder if there is not a personal application for us individually in our own spiritual walk with God.

The story of Ezra takes place at the time of the return of Israel from captivity.  The Northern ten tribes of Israel, Samaria were taken into captivity by the Assyrian Empire.  After the collapse of the Assyrian Empire, the Babylonian Empire became the world empire and the Northern ten tribes of Israel were scattered throughout the world.  The Southern Kingdom, Judah, remained unconquered until the rise of the Babylonian Empire which finally conquered Judah and took them into captivity.  During their captivity Babylon fell to the Persian Empire.  Daniel was a favorite of the Persian King Cyrus the Great (559-530 BC) and the Jews enjoyed favorable status with the Persian Empire.  This, however, resulted in much jealous among the people of the other conquered nations. At one point we have the story of Hamon who plotted to have the Jews destroyed and the plot was put to rest thanks to Esther (a Jew) who was the Queen of Persia and, of course, had much favor with her husband King Xerxes who was the grandson of Cyrus the Great (486-465 BC).  Esther’s step son King Araxerxes I (465-424 B.C.) granted a decree that allowed Nehemiah and Ezra to lead their people back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple under the protection of the Persian Empire.  Here we see almost a repeat of Jewish History beginning in 1948 AD when the United Nations granted Israel the right to return to their homeland.

When Nehemiah returned to the land he found the land was occupied by colonists who were sent to occupy the land many years earlier by the now fallen Assyrian empire. These colonist who were from the land of the Amorites, Moabites and other nations were not too thrilled with the returning Jews and in fact feared them because of their support from  the Persian empire.   Thus, they were determined to harass them to the point where they would just give up trying to colonize the land and return to Persia.  They could not declare outright war against the Jews as they had the support and backing of the Persian Empire which ruled the known world at that time.  So they just started a campaign or war of attrition to wear the Jews down.  In time King Araxerxes was burdened with domestic problems and the threat of other nations seeking war against the Persians.  As a result King Araxerxes turned the responsibility of the Jewish nation over to his son Susa who was, for want of a better word, anti-Semitic. Thus, the Persian support of Judah started to evaporate. This was ok with Nehemiah and Ezra as they were of the mind that if God wanted Jerusalem rebuilt He would do it without the help of Persia. Indeed God did but from a practical standpoint.  Persia’s waning support did embolden their enemies and their harassment steadily increased.  What Nehemiah and Ezra did not reckon with was that they knew God would keep His end of the bargain but the people would not hold up their end and continue to trust in God, rather they started to trust in the arm of the flesh.

According to Ezra 4:4 this war of attrition was apparently working. The people of Judah’s hands were weakened and they were troubled by their enemies in the rebuilding of Jerusalem.   The expression their hands were weakened is an idiomatic expression which conveys the idea of becoming discouraged and fearful.  The word weakened in Hebrew is meraphim which comes from the root word rapah which means to sink down or to loosen one’s grip.  The word is found in a Piel form so it really has the idea of just letting go.  In other words, it is  just giving up.  Do you ever feel that way in your service to God? God opens the door to a new and exciting ministry for you and you enter into it with all the enthusiasm of the people of Israel and their return to their homeland.  Then the Moabites and Amorites start to come at you from every end with a war of attrition.  They start to criticize, condemn, and accuse you of things that you never did or intended.   Eventually, you just become so bitter and discouraged that you simply meraphim or give up.

The people of Judah just became weary of the constant harassment by their enemies.   Although their enemies initially could not outright harm them physically, they would mock them, make fun of them, rob their homes while they were working on the building project or destroy their crops while they were rebuilding the walls.   Nehemiah had returned to Persia for a period of time and when he returned to Jerusalem, he found a people who were in spiritual decline, they had given up on their work on the walls to protect their own interests and they had fallen into spiritual paganism and idolatry.

Even in the secular world you are taught that to be successful you must surround yourself with positive people.  You surround yourself with negative thinkers you will become negative yourself.  I remember when serving as a Christian Education Director I found I had to fill in for the nursery one Sunday.  I had a dozen infants that I was responsible for during the morning worship service.  I learned a real lesson that Sunday. If just one of those infants began to cry, it would be a sure bet that in a matter of minutes they would all begin crying.   We are not much different than adults.  If we are around one person crying, complaining and bellyaching, it won’t be long before we too are crying and singing the blues.

That is why Paul encourages us in Ephesians 15:19: “Speak to one another with Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord.”  Nehemiah, in Nehemiah 8:10, reminds the people of Judah as he reminds us that the “Joy of the Lord is our strength.”  We will not fulfill God’s work for us if we fall prey to the work of the enemy like Judah did and allow negative thinking and words control us. Instead we need to fill our hearts with the Word of God like Ezra did and encourage each other with songs of praise and joy.

We can look at Israel today and wonder if history is repeating itself.  However, how many of us can look at own lives, our own ministry which has stopped dead in the water by the war of attrition from the enemy. Perhaps you are like Israel of 400 BC, you are a meraphim, just too worn out from the criticism, condemnation  and false accusations from those jealous of your territory.   Perhaps you’re Persian or United States benefactor is losing interest in your ministry and you feel you are being abandoned.   Then reach back 2,500 years in history to some advice from a man named Nehemiah who also found himself and his nation in similar circumstances and just focus on finding that personal joy in the Lord you once had for Nehemiah is crying out with advice that holds just as true today as it did back then, the joy of the Lord is your strength.