B. The Rebuilding of the Temple chs. 3-6

Construction of the temple began soon after the exiles returned to Jerusalem. However problems threatened the completion of the project. First, the immigrants contemplated abandoning their religious distinctives to get along with their neighbors (ch. 4). Then opposition from their enemies threatened to terminate construction.

"The temple was the basis for the postexilic community's fellowship with God."⁵⁸

"In a sense the standing of the furnished Temple of God symbolizes the existence of his covenant with his people. This is why the rebuilding of the Temple occupies so central a place in the Book of Ezra."⁵⁹

 1. The beginning of construction ch. 3

 2. The opposition to construction ch. 4

No project that seeks to honor God and advance His will in the world will go unopposed by Satan and his agents.

"From this point onward right to the end of Nehemiah there is conflict."⁶⁵

This chapter reveals that Israel's enemies opposed temple reconstruction energetically and for many years.

"The peoples of the land wished the exiles to be entirely like them. But these were people whose allegiance was fundamentally not to Yahweh."⁶⁶

 3. The delay in construction ch. 5

As a result of Samaritan intimidation (4:1-5) the restoration Jews stopped building the temple in 536 B.C. (4:24). They did little work on it until 520 B.C. The Jews should have persevered because Cyrus had supported their efforts to rebuild it. Artaxerxes' work stoppage order (4:21) came much later in 446 B.C. and suspended work on the walls of Jerusalem, not the temple.

"Like every spiritual advance, from Abraham's to the missionary expansion in Acts, this venture began with a word from the Lord. And in common with the rest, it was quickly tested and threatened."⁸⁴

 4. The completion of construction ch. 6

Darius not only approved his predecessor Cyrus' decree, he issued one himself that gave even greater support to the Jews in their building project.