March 2, 2021
Ezra 5:6-11
Tattenai's Letter to King Darius
This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai and his associates, the governors who were in the province Beyond the River, sent to Darius the king. They sent him a report, in which was written as follows: “To Darius the king, all peace. Be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands. Then we asked those elders and spoke to them thus: ‘Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure?’ We also asked them their names, for your information, that we might write down the names of their leaders. And this was their reply to us: ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.
The letter sent to King Darius from Tattenai the governor of the province Beyond the River was a very accurate account of what took place. The answer given by the Jewish leadership was not what the governor was looking for but it was all he got.
They did not give him their name, but they identified who they were, and why they were doing it. Is it not the answer you and I should be giving, “ ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth” and we are busy doing the will of our Father in heaven.
But many who go by the name Christian do not have any understanding of their true identity, if they did they would remove the little gods they have trusted in such, as self, wealth, and government, and look to who God has said they are, When that happens the Christian army will be a mighty army of the power of our God, and we will answer “we are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are about His business.
(Note: We will address verses 12-17, tomorrow.)
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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