Envy: A Root of Much Evil

“Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations.  Be it known now unto the king, that, if this city be builded, and the walls set up again, then will they not pay the toll, tribute, and custom, and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of the kings.”  Ezra 4:12-13

Envy causes folks to do things that they might not do otherwise.  Some people do not like to see others prosper.  They become jealous of what someone else has, but they are not willing to work, take a risk, or sacrifice to have similar possessions or circumstances.  Our nation is quickly becoming a nation of folks who feel “entitled” to whatever they desire because they have been led to believe that they are victims of society.  The enemies of Israel had come to consider themselves “victims” of God’s chosen people.  Why should God bless Israel and not them?  That’s an easy question to answer.  If one decides he or she wants nothing to do with God, doesn’t desire to worship, serve, give of time, talent, or treasure, and makes gods of whatever he or she desires, then why would God bless them?  His word is pretty clear about what He desires from His creation, but the majority doesn’t give a rip.  And then they don’t understand why they aren’t contented with their lives.

When Israel’s enemies desired to stop Zerubbabel and his fellow Jews from rebuilding the temple, the house of God, they tried several tactics to no avail.  They then decided to write a letter to king Artaxerxes (this was a different king than Artaxerxes I who came into power over Persia several years later), telling him that those rebellious Jews were building a “bad” city.  One would think that they could have been a little more sophisticated in their description of Jerusalem.  They indicated to the king that if he allowed this to continue, then the people of Israel would stop paying their taxes to Persia, and that would damage the treasury of the king.  Then they proceeded to care about the honor of king Artaxerxes.  Like they really cared.  They were only using him to stop the Jews from their construction.  They were fearful that a completed Jerusalem would unify the Jews against them and provide a way to keep them out of the city.  Plus, their envy of Israel was a huge motivating factor to oppress, suppress, and harass the people of Jerusalem.

These men urged the king to do some research in old records to find instances of Israel’s rebellion and sedition against other lands.  After all, they reminded him, wasn’t that the reason they went into captivity?  No, they went into captivity for following after other gods, but that didn’t fit into the narrative of these enemies.  If Israel committed sedition, it wasn’t against Babylon, but rather against the God of Israel.  They also reminded the king that if Jerusalem continued to be rebuilt, he would lose control of the Jordan River.

The king did research the records as the men suggested, and what do you know, he did find evidence of insurrection against kings, rebellion, and sedition by Israel.  He should have dug a little deeper.  Israel was not the one who started the fights.  Israel has always been accused of things that they didn’t do and still are being accused of insurrection to this day.  That’s the thing about lying.  Israel’s enemies and the enemies of most believers are liars.  After all, the father of lies is Satan himself (John 8:44), so we would expect his followers to be liars as well.

The king responded with his reply to the men who desired for the building in Jerusalem to stop.  He told them that he understood their request, and that he did research the records and found that Israel had rebelled against other kings.  Remember, though, that these were records kept by Persians, not the people of Israel, and Israel’s enemies could lie all they desired.  These Persians were no different than our modern-day politicians who lie and plot against their opponents to remain in power.  Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:9-11 that nothing is really new.  Everything that happens has been done before.  Folks don’t remember what happened hundreds of years ago, and neither will folks hundreds of years from now remember what happened in our day.  Solomon was so right.

Saddled with all of this information, as untruthful as it was, the Persian king ordered the work to stop until further notice from him.  He saw no reason to allow it to continue since it could adversely affect him or any other king of any other nation, thus, he warned the writers of the letter to not let him down.  Failure to heed his command was not an option.

Next time:  God has the last word, not those who oppose Him.