Ezra 4:17-24--The King Orders the Work to Cease

Ezra 4:17-24
English Standard Version

The King Orders the Work to Cease
17 The king sent an answer: “To Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now 18 the letter that you sent to us has been plainly read before me. 19 And I made a decree, and search has been made, and it has been found that this city from of old has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it. 20 And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, who ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid. 21 Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me. 22 And take care not to be slack in this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”

​23 Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. 24 Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

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The letter to the king from the people of Samaria and their associates (those that were enemies of Ezra and the Jews that were rebuilding the Temple) was received and read, and the king was able to find the entries in the records of the events and kings that the Samaritans were describing.  They found that those who had been king in Jerusalem--especially those over a united kingdom--had been blessed to reign directly over or have subjugated the peoples of the Land on the west side of the Euphrates River so that everyone in the region paid tribute, tax, and toll to the king that reigned in Jerusalem (they are probably thinking of the times of David and Solomon).  So, the king issues a decree and gives an order that the Exiles are to stop their work on rebuilding the Temple and the city of Jerusalem, and they are to make sure to deliver this "cease and desist" message quickly so that no harm comes to the king or the kingdom by their delay.

Again, it's funny to think that a king's decree holds any weight against the decree of the LORD, the God of heaven and earth and all that is in them.  However, when the letter was read before the Samaritans and their associates, they immediately went to the Jews in Jerusalem to stop their labor by force, and they made them cease their work on the house of God and Jerusalem.  It would stay like this until the second year of King Darius of Persia (the Persian king that we read about in the book of Daniel--clearly there were other kings between Nebuchadnezzar and Darius, but we don't read about them in the book of Daniel).  It will take the work of the LORD to move the hearts of future kings to do His will. "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will." (Provers 21:1)