Frustrating Their Purpose - Ezra 4:5

In the book of Ezra, Ezra shared how the people of Israel were attempting to rebuild the temple of Jehovah God, however, “the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, ...”, and in chapter four and verse five of Ezra, Ezra shared how the adversaries, “hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose” where we read,

And hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, 

all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

The verse reads, “And hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, ...” Ezra began with the words, “and hired counselors against them” which means “and employed advisers, deliberators and conspirators for wages in opposition to them, the people of Israel”, “to frustrate their purpose” which means “to break, violate and make ineffectual their, the people of Israel's, counsel, prudence and advice”. Ezra shared how the adversaries of Israel employed for wages people who were advisors and conspirators in opposition to the prudence and plan to rebuild the temple. 

The verse goes on to say, “... all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.” Ezra continued with the words, “all the days of Cyrus” or “each, every, the whole and everyone of the sunrises to sunsets belonging to Cyrus whose name means possess you the furnace” “the king of Persia” which means “the royal leader and ruler belonging to Persia whose name means pure or splendid and was the empire Persia which encompassed the territory from India on the east to Egypt and Thrace on the west and includes, besides portions of Europe and Africa, the whole of western Asia between the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Caspian and the Jaxartes on the north, the Arabian desert, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean on the South”, “even until the reign” or “indeed and also to till the royal power and kingdom” “of Darius” which means “belonging to Darius whose name means lord” “king of Persia” or “who became the royal ruler and leader belonging to Persia whose name means pure or splendid”. Ezra shared how the adversaries of Israel discomforted and made them anxious in their purpose from the ruling of “Cyrus” until the time of “Darius” of Persia. 

When we meditate upon the words in this verse, we learn through Ezra how the opposition to Israel rebuilding the temple of Jehovah God in Jerusalem was relentless in their efforts. The enemy of our soul is like this as well. When we receive God's Son Jesus who died on the cross for our sins as our personal “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and give us the power to endure the onslaught of the enemy even as He did for Israel. Let all who read these words yield to Jesus and appeal to Him when adversaries and foes come against them for long durations of time. (See Matthew 10:22)

Next time Ezra shares what happened, “in the reign of Ahasurerus”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".