Ezra 4:1-24: Work on the Temple Delayed

When the people of Judah began to return from exile, the people of the land approached them in order to ask to participate in the rebuilding of the temple. The people of the land were Samaritans, people living in the former northern kingdom who had intermingled true religion with false religion in the aftermath of the Assyrian conquest. The faithful people of Judah refused their help, sticking to the plain command God had given and refusing to fall into faithlessness. The people of the land thus began to persecute the faithful returnees and worked to delay the rebuilding of the temple and Jerusalem. Such hostility continued for many years, even as the enemies of the Church still seek to persecute Christians today. The response of God’s people must be faithfulness still today. Rev. Andrew Preus, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in New Haven, MO, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Ezra 4:1-24. "God Brings His People Home” is a series on Sharper Iron that goes through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. After 70 years in exile, the LORD began to fulfill His promise to bring His people back to the Promised Land. In the years that followed, faithful clergy and dedicated laity worked together to rebuild Jerusalem physically and restore the people of God spiritually. Through it all, God was at work to keep His promise of bringing the Savior into the world in the fullness of time.