The Edict of Men and the Sovereignty of God Text: Ezra 4:17-24
Introduction: The Unflustered God
We come now to a passage that, on the surface, appears to be a story of abject defeat. The people of God, having returned from exile with a royal commission to rebuild the house of the Lord, are stopped dead in their tracks. The enemies of God have successfully manipulated the levers of political power. They sent a letter full of slander and half-truths, and in our text, the pagan king responds just as they had hoped. He issues a stop-work order, and the enemies of Judah enforce it with glee, using the force of the state. The hammers fall silent. The dust settles. And for a time, it seems as though the kingdom of man has triumphed over the kingdom of God.
This is a scenario that should be deeply familiar to the saints in every generation. The work of God is always contested. The world, the flesh, and the devil do not sit idly by while the temple is being rebuilt. They hire counselors, they write letters, they whisper accusations, they lobby kings, and they use the bureaucratic machinery of the state to frustrate the purposes of God. We see it today in zoning laws that hinder church plants, in lawsuits aimed at Christian schools, and in the constant cultural pressure to halt our work of building a distinctly Christian civilization.
But we must read this text, and every text like it, with a firm grip on the foundational truth of Scripture: God is sovereign, and the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He will (Proverbs 21:1). This passage is not ultimately about the triumph of Artaxerxes, Rehum, or Shimshai. It is about the unflustered providence of the God who ordains even the temporary setbacks of His people for His own glory and their ultimate good. This is not a defeat; it is a divinely appointed pause. God is not wringing His hands in heaven. He is working all things, including the malicious edicts of pagan kings, according to the counsel of His will. This is a story designed to teach us patience, to test our faith, and to show us that the timeline of God's kingdom is not determined by the whims of earthly rulers, but by the unshakeable decree of the King of kings.
The Text
Then the king sent an edict to Rehum the commander, to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their colleagues who live in Samaria and in the rest of the provinces beyond the River: “Peace. And now, the document which you sent to us has been plainly read before me. So a decree has been issued by me, and a search has been made and it has been found that that city has lifted itself up against the kings in past days, that rebellion and revolt have been perpetrated in it, that strong kings have been over Jerusalem, even rulers in all the provinces beyond the River, and that tribute, custom, and toll were given to them. Now issue a decree to make those men stop, that this city may not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me. And beware of being negligent in doing this matter; why should harm increase to damage the kings?”
Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by force and military.
Then the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
(Ezra 4:17-24 LSB)
The Royal Response (v. 17-20)
We begin with the king's reply to the slanderous letter.
"Then the king sent an edict... 'Peace. And now, the document which you sent to us has been plainly read before me. So a decree has been issued by me, and a search has been made and it has been found that that city has lifted itself up against the kings in past days, that rebellion and revolt have been perpetrated in it, that strong kings have been over Jerusalem, even rulers in all the provinces beyond the River, and that tribute, custom, and toll were given to them.'" (Ezra 4:17-20)
The king's response is a textbook example of how secular power operates. It is polite, bureaucratic, and utterly devoid of any concern for the truth of God. He begins with a standard greeting, "Peace," and then acknowledges the letter. He has done his due diligence, or so it appears. He has ordered a search of the royal archives.
And what does he find? He finds a half-truth, which is the most effective kind of lie. It was absolutely true that Jerusalem had a history of strong kings. David and Solomon were indeed powerful rulers who controlled territory "beyond the River" and to whom tribute was paid. It was also true that later kings of Judah had rebelled against the empires of Assyria and Babylon. The historical record, from a purely secular and political standpoint, supported the accusation. Jerusalem had been a regional power, and it had been a troublesome one for empires.
What the king's research fails to grasp, of course, is the theological reality behind the history. Jerusalem's strength under David and Solomon was a result of God's blessing for covenant faithfulness. Its later rebellion and destruction were a result of God's judgment for covenant unfaithfulness. The king sees only political history, a pattern of sedition. He is blind to the hand of God that raises up and casts down. This is always the world's mistake. They analyze the symptoms but are willingly ignorant of the ultimate cause. They see the church as a political threat, a voting bloc, a cultural force to be managed, but they cannot see it as the house of the living God, the pillar and buttress of the truth.
So the king, operating on this flawed, secularized reading of history, concludes that the complainers have a point. Rebuilding this city is a potential threat to the royal revenue and the stability of the empire. He is not motivated by a hatred of Yahweh, whom he likely knows nothing about. He is motivated by pragmatism, political security, and the bottom line. And in this, he becomes a willing tool in the hands of those who are motivated by a deep-seated spiritual animosity.
The Stop Work Order (v. 21-22)
Based on his findings, the king issues a clear and authoritative command.
"Now issue a decree to make those men stop, that this city may not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me. And beware of being negligent in doing this matter; why should harm increase to damage the kings?" (Ezra 4:21-22 LSB)
The language is absolute. "Make those men stop." This is the power of the state brought to bear against the work of God. The king is not interested in nuance or compromise. He sees a potential problem and moves to eliminate it. He even adds a threat to his own officials: "Beware of being negligent." He wants this handled, and handled now. Why? Because he doesn't want "harm" to "increase to damage the kings." It is all about protecting the throne, the revenue, the power of the empire.
But notice the little crack of light that God leaves in this dark decree. The king says the city may not be rebuilt "until a decree is issued by me." This is a crucial qualifier. The king, in his arrogance, assumes that any future decree will also come from him. He sees himself as the ultimate authority. But we, reading this with the benefit of inspired history, know that God is the one who directs the hearts of kings. This "until" is not a word of defeat for the Jews; it is a word of promise. This stoppage is temporary. It will last only as long as God ordains it. The king thinks he is setting the terms, but he is merely speaking the lines that the divine Author has written for him. This edict has an expiration date, and the one who set it is not Artaxerxes, but Yahweh.
Enthusiastic Enforcement (v. 23)
The enemies of Judah receive this news and act upon it with predictable zeal.
"Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews and stopped them by force and military." (Ezra 4:23 LSB)
There is no reluctance here. They went "in haste." They now have the official sanction they craved. Their spiritual malice is now cloaked in legal authority. They go to Jerusalem and stop the work "by force and military." The original Hebrew is even stronger; it's "by arm and by power." This was not a polite request. This was the iron fist of the state coming down on the builders. Soldiers, weapons, and the full authority of the Persian empire were used to halt the construction of God's house.
This is a perennial tactic of the enemy. When the church is faithful, it will eventually face opposition that is not just cultural but also legal and physical. The enemies of God love nothing more than to use the sword of the state to accomplish their wicked ends. They are delighted when they can persecute God's people and call it "law and order." We should not be surprised when this happens. The world hated our Master, and it will hate us. And when it has the opportunity, it will use force.
The Great, God-Ordained Pause (v. 24)
The chapter concludes with a stark and discouraging summary of the situation.
"Then the work on the house of God in Jerusalem stopped, and it was stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia." (Ezra 4:24 LSB)
Here is the result of the world's machinations. The work stopped. For about sixteen years, the foundation of the temple lay silent. The enemies had won. The bureaucrats had triumphed. The slander had succeeded. From a human perspective, this was a catastrophic failure. The momentum was gone. The people were demoralized. The promises of God seemed very far away.
But again, the Holy Spirit includes that glorious, postmillennial word: "until." The work stopped, but not forever. It was stopped until the second year of Darius. This is not the end of the story; it is the middle. God is sovereign over the timeline. This sixteen-year pause was not a surprise to Him. He ordained it. Why? We are not told everything, but we can surmise. Perhaps the people's hearts needed to be tested. Perhaps their initial zeal had cooled and needed to be rekindled by the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, which is exactly what happens next in the story. Perhaps God wanted to demonstrate His power not by preventing the opposition, but by overcoming it in His perfect time.
God often works through delay. He promised Abraham a son and then made him wait twenty-five years. He promised Israel deliverance from Egypt and let them suffer for four hundred years. He promised the Messiah and let the world wait for millennia. Our God is a God of patience, and He uses these times of waiting and apparent defeat to purify our faith, to teach us to trust His promises instead of our circumstances, and to show the world that His kingdom cannot be stopped by the edicts of men. The work was stopped, but only until God said, "It's time to begin again."
Conclusion: Building in Hopeful Defiance
So what do we take from this? We must understand that opposition is not a sign that we are outside of God's will. Often, it is a confirmation that we are right in the middle of it. The world does not kick a dead dog. When you set out to build for God, expect the Reehums and Shimshais of this world to write their letters. Expect the secular authorities to misunderstand you at best, and maliciously oppose you at worst. Expect setbacks. Expect delays. Expect to be stopped "by force and military."
But we must never despair. Our hope is not in the goodwill of kings or the fairness of bureaucracies. Our hope is in the sovereign God who holds the king's heart in His hand. The world may issue its stop-work orders, but God will have the final word. He is the one who says "until."
Our task is to be faithful in the season we are in. When we are permitted to build, we build with all our might. And when we are forced to pause, we wait, we pray, and we trust, knowing that the pause is part of the plan. This is the essence of a robust, optimistic, postmillennial faith. It is not a naive belief that we will face no opposition. It is the rugged, battle-tested conviction that our God will overcome all opposition in time, in history, on this earth, as it is in heaven. The work in Ezra's day was stopped, but it was not abandoned. And in the second year of Darius, the prophets preached, the Spirit moved, the king's heart was turned, and the sound of hammers once again echoed in Jerusalem. So it has been, and so it will be for the Church of Jesus Christ, the true temple, against which the gates of hell, and the edicts of kings, shall not prevail.