Passage Read: Ezra 2-5
Meditation Verses: 4:1-5
Thought
Ezra characterizes these people as enemies before anything is recorded about their deeds. Were they known as enemies from the beginning? It had been recorded elsewhere that those who were leaders were unhappy when men came to look after the welfare of the Jews. Were they unhappy that the Jews had returned? Perhaps some among those exiled to Samaria remembered the nation of Judah and didn't think kindly of them. Were they coming to offer aid but really planning to sabotage the work? It is true that they had been worshiping the Lord along with all their original gods from shortly after their arrival. But even that shows that they knew little or nothing about the God they were worshiping. They were unclean idol worshipers even as they worshiped God. The priests they brought back to teach them were priests of the golden calves Jeroboam had originally set up. So again, they didn't really worship the Lord and certainly didn't worship Him in truth. That may have been explained to them in the "harsh" words of Zerubbabel and the others, but they were offended by the Jews who they wanted to help, who spoke truth to them that they didn't like or accept. And they immediately turned against them, which is not the behavior of earnest seekers but people who think they know better.
Application
There are many who think they know God, who think they worship Him in truth, but they clearly know nothing about Him. They are the hardest people to win. They've been worshiping God forever! How dare anyone tell them they have it all wrong and have no business serving in God's house! Sadly, that's a message coming for a lot of people who think they are Christians. They don't worship God. They make up something they think is God, but absolutely isn't! Like Allah. Just because you think he is the one true God does not make him so. The One True God tells us who He is and we must take Him at His Word. If we don't like what He says and make adjustments to who He is and what He requires, we're no longer worshiping the true God. And we'll be quick to hate anyone who tries to correct us. That's even more proof that we don't know or belong to the true God. Humility and a hunger to learn and know the truth is the mark of a true believer in the true God. My enemies are not merely those who hate God and the idea of God, but they are those who think they worship the true God but don't. They want to come and help and sabotage the truth, whether they recognize they're doing violence to the revealed character and nature of God or not. They're still enemies of the truth because they're unwilling to accept the truth, but want to fight against many things God is and claims to be. I have no need to accommodate them. Rather, I would do well to refuse their "help."