Cyrus seems to have realized that a tribute-paying nation would be more profitable than a devastated country. Thus, he looked forward to turning the desolation into a profitable source of revenue.

Here is the point. Cyrus had his own reasons for instituting his political policy and they were not God’s reasons. Nevertheless, the actions of Cyrus were also fulfilling the plan of God for His people. The actions of the king were doing the will of God even though that king was working on his own agenda.

"It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’" (Isaiah 44:28).

Over a hundred years before the coming of Cyrus, God declared through the prophet Isaiah that this same Cyrus would perform His will by ordering the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Cyrus had not even been born when this was written.

The Lord states that He chose Cyrus to perform certain things even though Cyrus himself was an unbeliever who did not know the Lord. God is not restricted to using believers to carry out His plan. In the same way that He used Cyrus, so also He used the pharaoh of the Exodus.

It was the Lord who raised up the unbelieving pharaoh of the Exodus to his position of leadership over Egypt. He did this so that, by bringing him to defeat through the plagues and through the incident at the Red Sea, the name of the Lord might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.

Are we to take these instances of Cyrus and the pharaoh of Egypt as being the exceptions rather than the rule? Does God’s plan only extend to the great and the powerful while ignoring the humble and the weak? Not at all! If there were anyone who was said to have "free will," it was the king. He could point to someone and say, "Off with his head" and that head would topple. Thus, when the book of Proverbs states the principle of God’s sovereignty over rulers as a general principle, the implication is that God is sovereign over ALL men.

It has been said that man’s free will flows in the channels which have been dug by the sovereignty of God. Such a concept is presented here. The Lord carries out His plans and protects His people, not merely in spite of a pagan king, but He actually uses that pagan king to work out His will.

Paul takes this principle a step further to teach that the rulers themselves are placed in their positions of authority by the Lord.

Paul was not speaking in the context of a Christian king or governor. It was during the reigns of the Roman Emperors that he penned these words. He did not say that only those authorities which are obedient to divine laws are established by God, but ALL authorities.

This means that, whether a leader has taken a throne by force of arms or through inheritance or even through a national election by the vote of the "free will" of the populace, it is ultimately the Lord who places in office those whom He has chosen.

Then the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.

As the call went out for people to return and rebuild the Temple, there were two responses which are mentioned in this passage. First, there were those who went. We are told specifically that God had been as work in stirring up their spirit to go and to do this work. We have already seen how God can motivate a pagan king to accomplish His will. Here we see how He also motivates His own people to do His will.

The second group is made up of people who did not make the journey, but who nevertheless supported the word with gifts and offerings.

There is a lesson here. Not everyone is called to be a missionary to a foreign country. But those who do not go themselves are nevertheless able to support those who do go.

2. Opposition in the Land.

Thus as this chapter opens, there are people living in the land who have come to worship Yahweh, the One whom they perceive to be the God of that land. As they learn that a Temple is being built to Yahweh, they come and offer their services. After all, they are all worshiping the same God. It seems only right that they pool their resources in a true ecumenical effort.

The offered assistance from their neighbors is coldly refused. This brings up a question. Were the Jews correct in refusing the aid that was offered? In the previous chapter they actively sought such aid in the form of building supplies from the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon. Solomon had used Phoenician craftsmen in the work of constructing the Temple. Could this not have been an opportunity to take these worshipers of God and to lead them more correctly in the worship of the Lord? There are several answers:

a. The Fickleness of False Friends.

This offer of friendship would quickly turn to hatred. Why? Because the offer was a false offer. These neighboring people had their own agenda.

Here is the principle. False friends will continue to pretend friendship as long as it means that they can get what they want from you.

b. The Fabrication of False Fidelity.

The claim of these foreigners was that they had been worshiping the same God as the God of the Israelites. They reasoned that, since they were all worshiping the same God, then they ought to get together and hold hands and sing "Kumbaya" together around a campfire.

But we know that theirs was a false fidelity. They worshiped a god of their own making. They had heard that Yahweh was the God of this land, so they said, "Let’s take all of our previous idolatry and we will just change the names. Instead of Baal, we will worship Yahweh."

They even went so far as to accept the Pentateuch. But because they didn’t like certain portions of it, they took it and they rewrote it to be more culturally acceptable.

c. The Fable of Formulaic Fellowship.

We live in the age of syncretism - when the only sin over which society is intolerant is the sin of intolerance.

There are times when Christians SHOULD get together and cross denominational lines. But that does not mean that we automatically join in fellowship with every single person that says something nice about God. The Bible warns against the acceptance of heretics.

Once they had been rebuffed, the enemies of the Jews banded together and sent a letter of complaint to the King of Persia, accusing the Jews of intrigue.

The city of Jerusalem HAD been a rebellious city. Against the advice of Jeremiah, the people had revolted against Nebuchadnezzar on at least three different occasions. It was for this reason that the city had been destroyed.

What was not true was the charge that the Jews were preparing to do it again. Their motivation in rebuilding the city and the Temple was so that they could worship God, not so that they could rebel against Persia. The remaining history of the Jews shows that, when they were finally allowed to complete the work of rebuilding the Temple and the walls of the city, they did not return to their rebellious ways. To the contrary, they continued as faithful subjects of Persia even when Alexander the Great marched into Palestine as a self-proclaimed liberator from the Persian Empire.

Unfortunately, the lie was believed by those in authority and the proclamation when out to cease and desist the work on the Temple. As a result, the work was halted for a number of years.

Haggai uses a play on words as he proclaims that because the Lord's house had remained "a ruin" (hareb, Haggai 1:4, 9), the Lord would bring "a drought" (horeb, Haggai 1:11) on the land. The reason that things were going hard for the Jews was because they were not giving their full devotion to the Lord.

Ezra’s account does not give us the exact dates of when this took place. But we do find that information provided in the books of Haggai and Zechariah.

In obedience to the instructions of the prophets, the people resume the work, even though no permission had been given by the Persian governors. There is a principle here. It is that we ought to obey God rather than man. This is not an excuse for rebellion against authority, but it does mean that we recognize the Lord as a higher authority.

When the Persians learn of the work of rebuilding, an appeal is made on the basis of the initial decree of Cyrus. A search is made and the decree is located. As a result, the present king of Persia issues a decree that the work on the Temple is to be continued to completion.

Once permission has been given, the full weight of the Persian government lends itself to assist in the project. There is a symphony of effort as the elders and the prophets and the Lord and even the kings of Persia combine their mutual efforts to rebuild the Temple of God.

Nehemiah makes his request of Artaxerxes, the king of the Persian Empire. He specifically requests letters of authorization for his travels as well as for the acquisition of the building materials he shall need to perform the task.

When he is asked by the king how long this project would take and how long it would be before Nehemiah could return to his palace duties, we read that Nehemiah "gave him a definite time." This tells me something about Nehemiah. He was a man both of prayer as well as of planning. He wasn't "shooting from the hip." He had carefully thought through what would be needed.

We are given some considerable detail as to the reconnaissance. We are specifically told that Nehemiah was in the city for three days. This is striking because he has been waiting to get to Jerusalem for over four months and he gets the permission and he gets the funding and he finally arrives at the city and then, for three days, there is no apparent activity. Why?

There is a lot that goes on in ministry behind the scenes. A lot of it is planning. Nehemiah is seen to be the master planner. A part of that plan involves going through the city by night and developing a vision. He then will go on to share that vision with the people.

Here is the principle. You've got to have the vision yourself before you can give it to others. Don't try to infect others with your Christian faith unless you have the real disease yourself. If it is not real in your life, then don't try to export it.

Throughout chapter 3 we are given a listing of each section of the wall and the names of those to whom that portion of labor was assigned. Why is this included? I'm not certain, but I find it interesting that Nehemiah knew their names. That tells me something about leadership. It has to be PERSONAL.