Reading for November 6th

Read Ezra 4.1-5. In 4.1-5: Opposition to rebuilding the Temple. This section shows the surrounding peoples opposing the rebuilding of the Temple, just as the following section will detail opposition by surrounding peoples to the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem over a half of century later. Such opposition to sacred actions furthers the prohibition of intermarriage witht he surrounding peoples. In verse 1: The adversaries of Judah and Bejanmin: By charactererizing these persons as adversaries, the author makes their subsequent request less than truthful. In verse 2: We worship your God as you do: As deportees who have been settled in the land by the Assyrains, the "adversaries" would not have known the Pentateuch nor the orders of the Temple service attributed to King David. Consquently, they could not approach God inthe same way as the returned exiles. In verse 3: We alone will build to the Lord ... as King Cyrus of Persia has commanded us: The community determines to show its devotion on its own, and claims this is reuired by Cyrus' orders. There is nothing in the decree that restricts who can participate in the rebuilding. In verse 4: The people of the land discouraged the people of Judah: Here the people of the land is defined by what preceeded it, namely they are deportees who were brought into the land by the Assyrains. However, the author will use the term simpley as a generic label for those who are not of Judah. The Hebrew term tranlated as discourged is better rendered "undermined." Comments or Questions..