February 24, 2022

Passage Read: Ezra 2-5
Meditation Verses: 4:1-3

Thought

Ezra calls these people enemies of Israel, but is that because of their reaction to the Jews' refusal to let them help or because they actually did come deceptively? Did they just want to seek the Lord or just cause trouble? If they really wanted to seek the Lord, the Jews could have explained that they would be welcome to worship the Lord, but God allowed only certain people to build His house. If they came to cause trouble, then no answer would satisfy them, and they were truly enemies. They didn't know the Lord, and they certainly didn't respond with understanding. Instead it can seem like they were just looking for an occasion against the Jews.

Application

These Jews have just come out of captivity, and they've worked at keeping separate from the nations that don't know God. They were in exile because they intermingled with foreigners that didn't serve the Lord, so they would naturally be very sensitive to partnering with pagans. There was nothing wrong with other people supplying raw materials, but to build the house, that was reserved to those who truly worshiped the Lord alone. Those other nations wanted to worship God and their own gods, which was not something someone who truly knew the Lord could do. The Jews were surely not wrong to refuse them, and I need to be careful not to allow unbelievers or false believers to help me do the Lord's work, to help me build the Lord's kingdom. That doesn't mean I need to stop everyone who seems to be a false brother, but I need to not give them a platform where I have charge.