Ezra 4

The Ops Try to Block the Rebuild

1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were rebuilding the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, they got nervous.

2 So they pulled up on Zerubbabel and the leaders and said, “Listen, let us build with you all! We worship your God too, we been sacrificing to Him ever since King Esarhaddon of Assyria brought us here.”

3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the heads of the families told them straight up, “Nah. This is not your mission. We must handle this ourselves. We are rebuilding the house of the LORD, the God of Israel, just like King Cyrus of Persia told us to.”

The Pressure Campaign Begins

4 So the people of the land started making life hard for the ones building. They discouraged them, had them second guessing, and brought stress.

5 They even hired lawyers and political folks to block the work. They kept this up all through the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia, until Darius became king.

New Ops During Xerxes’ Reign

6 When Xerxes (also called Ahasuerus) became king, the haters wrote him a letter snitching on the people of Judah and Jerusalem.

The Snitch Letter to Artaxerxes

7 Later, in the days of King Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and their crew wrote another letter to the king, in Aramaic, with an Aramaic translation too.

8 Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote the letter against Jerusalem.

9 It was sent by Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their people, judges, officials, Persians, Erechites, Babylonians, people of Susa (that is Elamites),

10 And everybody the great and mighty Osnappar had moved into the city of Samaria and other spots west of the Euphrates River.

11 Here is what the letter said: “To King Artaxerxes, peace and respect. Just want to let you know what is going on.”

12 “Listen King, the people who left you and came up to us in Jerusalem, They rebuilding that rebellious, dangerous city. They laying the foundation and fixing the walls.”

13 “If this city gets rebuilt and the walls get done, they will not pay taxes, tolls, or tribute. It is going to mess up your bag, Your Majesty.”

14 “We are not tryna disrespect, but since we eating off your kingdom, we figured we better give you the heads up.”

15 “Check the royal records, look up their past. You will see this city got a long history of rising up, rebelling, and bringing problems for kings. That is why it got destroyed.”

16 “If you let this city get rebuilt and the walls go up, you will not have any control west of the Euphrates anymore.”

King Artaxerxes Responds

17 The king sent this reply: “To Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of you all living in Samaria and across the river, peace.”

18 “I read the letter you sent.”

19 “I checked the records and yup, that city has got a wild history, rebellions, uprisings, kings who flexed on everybody and taxed heavy across the region.”

20 “Strong kings ruled from that city, controlling everything west of the river and collecting tribute.”

21 “So here is what it is: Stop that work immediately. Shut it down until I give the word.”

22 “Make sure nobody is slacking on this. I do not want to see this situation get worse and cause me even more damage.”

The Work Gets Shut Down

23 As soon as Rehum, Shimshai, and their boys got that letter, they rushed over to Jerusalem and shut the work down, by force.

24 So the work on God’s house in Jerusalem stopped. It stayed shut down all the way until the second year of King Darius of Persia’s rule.