Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20101003.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Ezra: Following God For Reconstruction After Group Defeat
Part VII: Following God's Word And Established Order To Resist Threatening Compromise
(Ezra 4:1-3)
  1. Introduction
    1. We Christians may know that we should not compromise God's truth and holy living with error and sin.
    2. However, if the threat of trouble for not compromising becomes great enough, one can easily find himself pressured to rationalize his stand away to his own spiritual harm.
    3. The returning exiles faced very threatening compromise from powerful, established Samaritan opponents who lived around them, and how they stood against this compromise is instructive for us (as follows):
  2. Following God's Word And Established Order To Resist Threatening Compromise, Ezra 4:1-3.
    1. After the Hebrew exiles had returned from the Babylonian Captivity, they faced the threat of harm from powerful, established countries around them. This fear was stated to be present when they rebuilt the temple site altar and reinstated the Levitical sacrificial system in Ezra 3:3.
    2. Accordingly, when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard these returned exiles were starting to rebuild the Jerusalem temple, they approached the Hebrew leaders with a threatening proposal, Ez. 4:1-2:
      1. The people who approached the Hebrew leaders identified themselves as descendants of Assyrians who the former Assyrian king Esarhaddon had brought into the area of Canaan, Ezra 4:2.
      2. They claimed they should be allowed to work with the Hebrews to rebuild their temple, for they sought Israel's God themselves, and had sacrificed unto Him since the days of Esarhaddon, Ezra 4:1-2.
      3. Actually, these folk of Assyrian ancestry were dishonest about their intentions: they hoped to be included in the construction work with the Hebrews in order to infiltrate the group and hinder its construction work, Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament, p. 660!
      4. Well, for the Hebrews to resist this proposal by stating Biblical theological reasons would have left them appearing to be divisive against those of "like faith" to the harm of their reputation before the Persian emperor! That in turn could anger the emperor to the harm of the Hebrews.
    3. However, the Hebrew people's leaders successfully resisted such a temptation to compromise out of threatening pressure, and that by following God's Word and His established order (as follows), Ezra 4:3:
      1. First, the Hebrews resisted this temptation for threatening compromise by following God's Word:
        1. 2 Kings 17:24-41 explains that these people of Assyrian ancestry were a mix of Assryian and Hebrew blood influenced by Assyria's king having brought Assyrians into the land to intermarry with the Jews and so break down Hebrew resistance to his Assyrian rule, cf. 2 Kings 17:24.
        2. This intermarriage of Jews and Assyrians produced a group that worshiped pagan gods, so God had punished them by sending lions to attack them until Assyria's king had sent back a Hebrew priest to teach the people the way of "the God of the land" and appease Israel's God, 2 Kings 17:25-28.
        3. However, this group, later called "Samaritans" (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to 2 Kings 17:24), mingled faith in God with pagan idolatry (2 Kings 17:29-31), making priests of the lowest of the people to serve in various high places all in great violation of God's Word, 2 Kings 17:32-41.
        4. Thus, the Hebrew leaders of the returned exiles who knew of this syncretism decided they could not fellowship with these Samaritans due to their gross violation of God's Word, cf. Ezra 4:3a.
      2. Then, the Hebrews resisted this temptation of threatening compromise by following established order:
        1. Ezra 4:3b shows the Hebrew leaders said nothing about their Scriptures to the Samaritans, for doing so could have produced a destructive reaction from them; rather, the Hebrews replied they would work alone as the emperor had decreed that they, not others, rebuild their temple, cf. Ezra 1:1-3.
        2. The Hebrews thus appealed to the established order of the emperor, an appeal the Samaritans had to heed, respecting the established order God had arranged for them under in the emperor's rule.
Lesson: To offset the threat to compromise from their formidable Samaritan foes, the Hebrew leaders followed God's Word and His established order for them under the secular ruler placed over them.

Application: May we heed the Word of God for discerning His truth from the world's error, and also appeal to the law and order under which God has set us best to avoid formidable threats to compromise.