“When the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the hands of families and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as yo do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of King Esarhadden of Assyria who brought us here.” But Zerubbabbel, Jeshua and the rest of the heads of families in Israel said to them,
“You shall have no part with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus of Persia had commanded.”
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and made them afraid to build, and they bribed officials to frustrate their plan officials to frustrate their plan throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia.” –Ezra 4:1-5
How often do we miss a chance at community because we turn down the invitation to build with people we perceive as adversaries? Israel is returning after exile and is approached with an offer to help with the rebuilding of the temple. But they insist on building the temple by themselves! And so what do “the adversaries of Judah” do? They live into their reputation and make it hard for the Israelites to finish their building. What a strategic loss on Israel’s part! These ‘adversaries’ may have been captives of Assyria–it says they were brought by the King of Assyria. So maybe they were in the same position Israel was just coming out of. And they say they’ve been worshiping “your God…as you do.” So why wouldn’t Israel receive their help?
What is it about us that is so eager to define who is the adversary and who is the ‘insider’? Why is it so hard to believe that those outside our community might be worshiping our God as we do? Why do we constantly turn down help and insist on doing things our own way??? And what’s the result of our pride? We meet resistance and we miss opportunities for community. Plus, whatever we are trying to build becomes a lot harder.
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