I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezra 3-5.

    As soon as the returned Exiles got settled they rebuilt the altar at the Temple site and began offering sacrifices on it. Next they began rebuilding the Temple, starting with the foundation. Upon completion of the foundation they held a worship service celebrating its completion. This can be a good lesson for us to follow, but one which we should consider carefully before doing so. On the one hand, they held celebrations when they reached each of their milestones, which reminds people that progress is being made and helps maintain enthusiasm for the project. However, it also reminds those who may oppose the project that it is going on and stiffen their resolve to interfere with it.

    The next passage troubles me every time I read it. The people who were living in the land, who were the descendants of those who the Assyrians brought in when they conquered the Northern Kingdom, asked to help the returned Exiles rebuild the Temple. I am troubled by the fact that the returned Exiles unconditionally rejected their aid. I suspect that there are some conditions on the offered assistance which are not mentioned, or perhaps there had already been some conflicts over worship practices. Those whose aid was rejected are the religious forefathers of the Samaritans, so we know that there were some differences in their understanding of God.
    This is really a passage where we need to take a close look at the consequences of the decision to reject the aid, and the possible consequences of accepting it. On the one hand, the people whose aid was rejected worked to oppose the rebuilding of the Temple once their aid was rejected. The wording of the passage, and the rest of the book, suggests to me that the writer believed that the offer of aid was just a ruse to interfere with construction: that those whose aid was rejected opposed the rebuilding from the beginning. I suppose that is possible, but I suspect that they only began opposing the rebuilding of the Temple when their input was rejected. Which brings us to the possible consequences of accepting such assistance, and what I suspect is the reason the aid was rejected. It is likely that these outsiders who were offering to help would have wanted to have at least some say in the design of the rebuilt Temple. The returned Exiles were rebuilding the Temple according to design information contained in the Torah, while the outsiders would have wanted the design to take into account the worship practices they had developed over the years. Ultimately, the lesson for us is to be cautious about making common cause with non-believers in doing God’s work, especially those who claim to share our faith but reject elements of it.