Ezra 4:2 Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do
“An offer was made by the Samaritans, who claimed Israelitish descent, to assist them in restoring the sacred edifice and make it a sanctuary common to both races. This proposal was rejected by the Jews, who denied the lineal claim of the Samaritans, and the latter then made war upon the colonists and succeeded in delaying for several years the work they had undertaken.” (Contributor, vol. 6 (October 1884-September 1885), Vol. Vi. May, 1885. No. 8. 282.)
Ezra 4:4-5 the people… troubled them in building, And
hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose
John Young
There never has been a time when we have commenced to build a Temple but the Devil has called upon his servants to prevent us from doing the work, if possible. It was so in Kirtland; it was so in Far West and in Illinois; and I expect it will be so here; but it will all tend to roll on the work of God. (Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints' Book Depot, 1854-1886], 5: 26 - 27)
Ezra T. Benson
We are going to build a temple, we are now laying the foundation, and when it is completed we expect to receive our blessings, and do you think the devil knows this? Yes, he knows all about it, and he stirs up the wicked, and why does he do this? To hinder the people of God from obtaining the blessings they desire. (Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints' Book Depot, 1854-1886], 2: 359. April 8, 1855.)
James E. Faust
I now come to some even milder forms of trying to serve the Lord without offending the devil. Having a temple recommend and not using it seems mild enough. However, if we live close to a temple, perhaps having a temple recommend but not using it may not offend the devil. Satan is offended when we use that recommend, going to the temple to partake of the spiritual protection it affords. How often do we plan to go to the temple only to have all kinds of hindrances arise to stop us from going? The devil always has been offended by our temple worship. As President Brigham Young once said about the building of temples, there are Saints who say, "I do not like to do it, for we never began to build a temple without the bells of hell beginning to ring." His answer was, "I want to hear them ring again. All the tribes of hell will be on the move, if we uncover the walls of this temple." (Finding Light in a Dark World [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1995], 75)
Ezra 4:21 Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease, and
that this city be not builded
Rebuffed by the Jews, the Samaritan neighbors do everything they can to stop the building of the Second Temple—even to the point of writing a letter to the Persian King Artaxerxes. They accuse the Jews of rebellion, tax evasion, sedition, insurrection, etc. (v. 11-22). “Force them to stop building this temple,” is their request. Artaxerxes, not knowing any better, acquiesces.
Certainly, this was the act that engendered the greatest resentment among the Jews. When we think of the Jews hatred for the Samaritans during the Lord’s ministry, we acknowledge that it was a self-righteous, ethno-centric, religious prejudice which was unjustified. Yet, if we look far enough back in the pages of history, we can see the origins of the conflict. For the Samaritans to have the restoration of Jerusalem and its temple halted was greater than any other crime imaginable.
“When the Jews returned from their Babylonian exile, the Samaritans attempted to establish cordial relations with them but were rebuffed, and an adversary relationship soon developed that was largely a continuation of the ancient hatred between Israel and Judah. (See Ezra 4:1-4.) The antagonism reached its peak, however, during the Maccabean period, for the Samaritans did not join the Jews in revolt against the Greeks, nor did they support the Jews who did. It was in retaliation for this policy, which the Jews viewed as treachery, that John Hyrcanus destroyed the Samaritan Temple in 128 B.C. After that event, there could be no friendly relations between Samaria and Judah.” (Kent P. Jackson and Robert L. Millet, eds., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 5: The Gospels [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1986], 28)
James E. Talmage
The illimitable hatred, rising from so many sources, found vent in the tradition that a special curse had been uttered against the Samaritans, by Ezra, Zerubbabel, and Joshua. It was said that these great ones assembled the whole congregation of Israel in the Temple, and that three hundred priests, with three hundred trumpets, and three hundred books of the Law, and three hundred scholars of the Law, had been employed to repeat, amidst the most solemn ceremonial, all the curses of the Law against the Samaritans. They had been subjected to every form of excommunication; by the incommunicable name of Jehovah; by the Tables of the Law, and by the heavenly and earthly synagogues. The very name became a reproach. “We know that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil,” said the Jews, to Jesus, in Jerusalem. (Jesus the Christ [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983], 173, footnote)
Ezra 5:1 Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and
Jerusalem
Following the Babylonian captivity, Cyrus the Persian king authorized the Jews to build a temple… but the Jews met difficulties, including much opposition from the Samaritans, and discontinued building. But in the second year of Darius the king (520 B.C.), the Lord gave word to the Jews to finish the sacred structure. The whole prophecy of Haggai is in relation to this project. (Sidney B. Sperry, “Ancient Temples and Their Functions,” Ensign, Jan. 1972, 70)
This people say, The
time is not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built.
Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the
prophet, saying,
Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
… Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. (Haggai 1:2-4, 9)
Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD. (Haggai 1:12)
“While Haggai's message is basically to inspire his people to build the temple, he does speak of the coming of the mortal Messiah as ‘the desire of all nations’ (Haggai 2:7). Such is not the case with Zechariah; his message extends to both comings of Jesus Christ and graphically predicts the Messiah's appearance to the Jews when all nations are gathered against the latter-day nation of Judah (see Zechariah 12:9-10; 13:6; 14:1-9).” (Monte S. Nyman, ed., Isaiah and the Prophets: Inspired Voices from the Old Testament [Provo: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1984], 7 - 8)
Josephus
There were two prophets at that time among them, Haggai and Zechariah, who encouraged them, and bid them be of good cheer, and to suspect no discouragement from the Persians, for that God foretold this to them. So, in dependence on those prophets, they applied themselves earnestly to building [the temple] (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 4:5)
Ezra 6:14 they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the
prophet and Zechariah
“The story of the rebuilding of the temple in the post-Exilic period (from 538 B.C. on) provides Latter-day Saints with some valuable lessons. We come to understand just how effective a weapon discouragement can be to material and spiritual progress. The work of the Lord is greatly hampered by attitudes of discouragement, but listening to our prophets can change people's attitudes and they, in turn, can change life's circumstances. Indeed, one of the great lessons of this episode is that the prophetic voice of encouragement is just as valuable as the prophetic voice of warning. Heeding the prophets produces prosperity: ‘Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them. . . . And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia’ (Ezra 5:2; 6:14).
“Another lesson for our day concerns the challenges to temple-building the returning exiles had to overcome. As seen by the people then, and as we know from recent experience, the adversary will go to great lengths and use any obstacle to keep temples from being built. The Lord's chosen people of every temple-building dispensation will always find it necessary to have faith and go to work (see Hag. 2:4).
“History of the post-Exilic period begins with the book of Ezra, a fact obscured by its order of placement in English translations of the Bible. Ezra and Nehemiah are actually the last two historical books of the Old Testament. Zechariah and Haggai were among the prophets of the period and were among the last to have served Judah. We know only of Malachi and perhaps Joel who came after them. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah originally circulated as one book and told the story of Judah's history from the return to Jerusalem to the end of Nehemiah's second term as governor (538 B.C. to about 400 B.C.).
“The era discussed in Ezra 1 through 6 witnessed profound changes for the remnant of Judah that returned to Jerusalem. Culturally these changes are evidenced by the fact that a large portion of Ezra (Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26) is preserved in Aramaic rather than Hebrew, which reflects the new cultural milieu out of which Judah came in 538 B.C. But the greatest changes were religious. Much of Israel was gone; only Judah remained. Prophecies of doom and destruction made before the Exile had been fulfilled. It had taken the disaster of the captivity and the destruction of Solomon's temple to humble a nation and awaken it to its responsibilities and transgressions. But out of that awakening something significant had come. Repentance had occurred, the temple had been rebuilt, and the Jews now had a second chance to live as the Lord's covenant people. They had the holy city Jerusalem, the leadership of a descendant of David, and divine guidance through prophets. The task of the returned exiles would be to live in such a way that they could enjoy those blessings forever.” (Kent P. Jackson, ed., Studies in Scripture, Vol. 4: 1 Kings to Malachi [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993], 345)
Ezra 7:6 Ezra… was a ready scribe in the law
of Moses
“The reading of the Law before the congregation by Ezra, the ‘ready scribe in the law of Moses’ (Ezra 7:6), was a very important event in Jewish history. This event and the attitudes that grew out of it are considered the beginning of a new and stronger affinity for the Law of Moses and the establishment of a strong scribal tradition among the Jews. Although there is little information about this period, from either secular or scriptural sources, historians believe that the scribal tradition, in turn, brought to the Holy Land a synagogue form of worship that had its roots in the Babylonian captivity.” (Richard D. Draper, “Judah between the Testaments,” Ensign, Oct. 1982, 37–38)
Ezra 7:10 Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord
“In a Church News interview in December 1993, Elder Ronald E. Poelman of the Seventy and a counselor in the Sunday School general presidency, commented on the significance of the discovery and reading of the book [of the law]:
The 8th chapter of Nehemiah tells about how 'all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel.'
We need to keep in mind that these
people had not had this book available to them when they were in Babylon. We
continue to read: 'And Ezra the priest brought the
law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with
understanding, . . .
'And he read therein . . . and . . . all of the people were attentive unto the book of the law. . . .' (The Levites assisted in this process, to help the people understand the law.)
'So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.' (Neh. 8:2Neh. 8:3Neh. 8:2-3, Neh. 8:8 8.)
“Elder Poelman said,
Now, pay close attention to the next verse, in which we're told Nehemiah and Ezra taught the people, saying: This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. (v. 9.)
This is where the feeling comes in. We see some of the emotion of those who had been deprived of having the book of the law. There was probably only one copy, and it probably had to be read to them.
This has always been touching to me—when they heard the word they wept, and then they were comforted.
“Elder Poelman said if he were going to call the attention of a teacher to one passage with regard to how to be successful in teaching he would refer to a statement regarding Ezra's teaching the law of God.
“Elder Poelman said:
In Ezra 7:10, Nehemiah wrote: 'For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.'
Now it's interesting to me that Ezra didn't prepare his facts, and his logic, and his intellect. He prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord." (LDS Church News, 1994, 08/06/94)
“By pushing a few buttons or turning a few pages, we can review any or all sessions of a general conference. The messages delivered are prayerfully prepared by specially called servants of the Lord. But preparation is not limited to them only. We must be prepared to receive those messages in the same spirit in which they are given. Even the technological wonders of science cannot take away our responsibility to prepare our hearts and minds to receive knowledge and instruction.
“The prophet Ezra, for example, ‘prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it. . . .’ (Ezra 7:10.)
“Ideally, as we attend or watch conference proceedings, or, at a later time, view them or read reports, we will strive to comprehend the whole of what has been said.” (LDS Church News, 1991, 04/06/91)