Political maneuvering
Day 284, Thursday, May 22
Ezra Chapters 4 – 5
Political gamesmanship and influence through half-truths are nothing new, and much of today’s reading sounds like it could have been written about the modern day.
Like yesterday’s passage it starts with one of the more confusing parts: people who don’t like the newcomers offer to help build the temple, and the returned exiles refuse their help despite being short on manpower. While it’s impossible to know all that went into either the offer or the rejection, this appears to be an early conflict between the returnees and the descendants of those who had stayed (later to be called Samaritans).
The returnees considered themselves more pure and more Jewish than those who had stayed—an attitude that was still causing problems in the day of Jesus.
Once their help was rejected, the one group sent a letter to the king of Persia trying to get the work stopped. The letter sounds a lot like online arguments today, insisting that if one thing is allowed to happen (reconstruction of the temple), then another thing will follow (rebellion and loss of tax revenue). Like their modern counterparts, they fail to make a very convincing connection between cause and effect.
One particularly insincere-sounding sentence brings to mind the Jewish leaders before the crucifixion when they were insisting on their loyalty to Rome. Here, centuries earlier, it is a difference occupying power but a similar sentiment: “Now since we are under obligation to the palace and it is not proper for us to see the king dishonored, we are sending this message to inform the king…”
While the opponents of the returning Jews succeed in getting work shut down, it eventually resumes without permission. The people ask King Darius for permission to continue the work—permission that will eventually be received.

Thursday meditation

Proverbs 28:13-14
Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble.

Prayer focus
Forgive us when we are selective with the truth in an attempt to sway others.

-Rev. Mark Fleming