Still with Ezra on the roller coaster?

Hope you are still with us on this roller coaster. We've been high at the top with a new beginning with God and the folks who journeyed back to Jerusalem.
We're headed down the hill now, unfortunately.
So far in this fourth chapter, we have met the nosy neighbors that I promised you. We've also met the tattletales.

But the tattletales aren't done yet.
In fact, they have upped their game.
Doubled down, as they say.
Let's keep reading and see what they are up to.....

Last time we studied, we saw some of the devil's strategies for throwing obstacles in the paths of new beginnings with God. In the lives of the remnant that returned to Jerusalem, and in our lives today, Satan HATES to see us make new commitments and new beginnings. He will be unrelenting in his opposition.
We saw that one of the first strategies he will use is to try to dilute our efforts and influence by getting us to compromise with the world.
Then, he will add in fear and discouragement. Next, he will use other people to start a campaign of mis-information . . . whispering behind our backs and then confronting us to our faces.

In the book of Ezra, the people of the land are trying to use their power and privilege to stop the rebuilding. You would hope that they would have realized that God's plans can't be stopped, but they didn't!

The next thing they tried was to keep the misinformation going -- by bribing officials to try to get them to stop the children of God.

5 They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. (Ezra 4:5)

The Bible doesn't tell us much about this part. But I think we can fill in the blanks, don't you? I bet that it began with some manager-types, first level officials, who may have circulated among the Jewish people still in captivity. They spread half-truths and misinformation everywhere they could. They knew a campaign like that would grow and grow. (Hmm, sounds a bit like social media today, no?)

And then we have a copy of Rehum and Shimshai's letter to Artaxerxes in chapter 4. These tattletales had no problem making up stuff to tell him. They said things like "I bet when they get the building done, they will rebel against the king. That's why they didn't want help from anyone. They have secret plans!" Or this, that would strike fear in any ruler's heart: "They will stop paying taxes and be independent when they're done!"

And I bet that they may even have been some officials who were in the city of Jerusalem, as well. Perhaps the ruler wanted to know how things were going, so the fine print on their job description detailed a trip or two. They may have said things to the Jewish people like, "Your leaders are just out to build a kingdom for themselves. They're working all of you to death." Or, "Are you sure they are spending the construction money wisely? Not putting some in their own pockets?"

I think they got the rumor machine going big time. And of course, they had their bona fides....they claimed to be loyal to the king:

Now because we are in the service of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see the king’s dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king, (V 14)

They told him to look in the record books and see that "evil" Israel had rebelled in the past. Well, that much is true: Israel had resisted tyrants who had forced them into servitude. But to smear the current building effort with this broad brush was unfair -- and untrue.  We even see in Jeremiah that the Lord told the prophet to encourage the Jews to pray on behalf of Babylon while they were there!

It's unfortunate, but we see the devil using the same trick to smear God's people today. He takes a partial truth and paints every believer with broad strokes to make us all look extreme or unstable. Satan also uses coalitions or groups of people to overwhelm the godly today. The letter in chapter four came from multiple people and parties who joined together against the Jews. Why? Just like today, Satan wants this thought to pop into human heads: "Everyone is against these people." After all, if so many people are against them, they must be the problem!
Today, Satan operates by appealing to popular opinion against believers. "Bible-believing Christians are the problem," we hear on social media. "They are narrow minded and intolerant," we hear on cable news outlets. "Why, they are trying to impose their views on everyone else!"  We hear that, too, from people who who think that if someone disagrees with them, it's hate speech. Oy vey.

Or this, too, "Well, we believe in God, but we are not old fashioned and intolerant." So they mouth the support of God while they support aborting babies and promoting homosexuality, and ignore the squashing of home Bible studies in authoritarian lands, as well as the murder of believers who will not turn from their faith.
By a tremendous force of numbers, the enemy hopes to overwhelm us. But if that doesn't work? Then the devil will use government edicts and sheer force to block God's work.
Unrelenting opposition.
Now it will be much less subtle.
We'll study more on this point tomorrow.....