You can view an in-depth discussion of “Facing Opposition” in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. Click on the image to view:

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Unfortunately, the opposition that the Jews encountered from the surrounding nations, as described in Ezra chapters 4-6, left them afraid and unwilling to work on the temple.

As mentioned before, Ezra 4:6-6:22 is not written in chronological order. Therefore, we will look at chapter 5 before chapter 4.

Read Ezra 5:1-5. Why does God send the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to the Jews? What is the result of their prophesying?

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The Jews had stopped building because they were afraid. But God had sent them to Judah to rebuild the temple and the city, and He had a plan. Since they were afraid, He had to do something in order to encourage them. Therefore, He called two prophets to step in. Human opposition doesn’t stop God; even if the Jews contributed to this opposition by their own actions, God did not abandon them. He worked through the prophets to motivate and propel them into action again.

Read Haggai 1:1-15. What is the message for them, and what can we take away from this for ourselves?

“The prophets Haggai and Zechariah were raised up to meet the crisis. In stirring testimonies these appointed messengers revealed to the people the cause of their troubles. The lack of temporal prosperity was the result of a neglect to put God’s interests first, the prophets declared. Had the Israelites honored God, had they shown Him due respect and courtesy, by making the building of His house their first work, they would have invited His presence and blessing” – Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, pages 573, 574.

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Read Ezra 4:1-5. Why do you think the Israelite remnant refused the help of other people in building the temple?

On the surface, the request seemed like a kind, neighborly thing to do, so why turn down the help? In one sense, the answer is found in the text itself. The “adversaries” came to offer them help. Adversaries? That alone gives a powerful hint as to why the Israelites reacted as they did.

Opposition

Why were the people called “adversaries”? Second Kings 17:24-41 explains that these people were imported from other nations into Samaria and the surrounding region after the Northern Kingdom Israelites were deported. The king of Assyria sent them priests, who were to teach them how to worship the God of the land, that is, the God of Israel. However, the resulting religion incorporated the Canaanite gods as well. Therefore, the Israelite remnant was afraid that this religion would be brought into their temple worship. Hence, the best and smartest thing to do was what they did, which was to say, “No, thank you”.

We have to remember, too, just why all this was happening to begin with. It was their forefathers’ constant compromise with the pagan faiths around them that led to the destruction of the temple, as well as to their exile. Presumably, while in the very process of building the temple anew, the last thing that they would want to do would be to get too closely aligned with the people around them.

What else in these texts shows why this refusal was the right thing to do? (See Ezra 4:4-5).

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