Who were the people who made so much trouble for those Jews who returned from captivity?

Today Bible Study:

Who were the people who made so much trouble for those Jews who returned from captivity?

In Ezra 3:3, it mentions “the people of those countries.” These were the settlers who had come to occupy the land during the 70 years of Israel’s absence. They were deportees brought in from other countries by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. These inhabitants saw the Jews as a threat and quickly wanted to undermine their allegiance to God (4:1,2). These are called “the adversaries”—Israel’s enemies in the region, who resisted their reestablishment of the temple.

These enemies came to the Jews offering their assistance, saying, “We have sacrificed to Him” (v. 2).This false claim represented the syncretistic worship of the Samaritans, whose ancestry came from intermarriage with foreign immigrants in Samaria after 722 B.C. (4:10). In the British Museum is a large cylinder; and inscribed on it are the annals of Esarhaddon, an Assyrian king (ca.681–669 B.C.), who deported a large population of Israelites from Palestine. A consequent settlement of Babylonian colonists took their place and intermarried with remaining Jewish women and their descendants. The result was the mongrel race called Samaritans. They had developed a superstitious form of worshiping God (2 Kin. 17:26–34).

Idolatry had been the chief cause for Judah’s deportation to Babylon, and they wanted to avoid it altogether. While they still had their spiritual problems (Ezra 9; 10), they rejected any form of mixed religion, particularly this offer of cooperation which had sabotage as its goal (vv.4, 5).“King Cyrus…commanded us.” This note gave authority to their refusal.

Nevertheless, the enemies hired counselors who managed to “frustrate” the work on the temple. This caused a 16-year delay (ca. 536–520 B.C.). As a result, the people took more interest in their personal affairs than in spiritual matters (Hag. 1:2–6).

©BY PASTOR JUDAH OLATUNDE