Ezra 4:1-3 "Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel; (2) Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither. (3) But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us."
"Now when the adversaries... heard". We can be assured that Satan despises when the Lord's people are busy in His kingdom. Satan is satisfied as long as God's people are slack and sedentary in their service, but when the Lord moves His people to higher service, Satan becomes active. We saw this same strategy when we did our study of Nehemiah a few years ago. Satan tried to stop the building of the wall and now we see him trying to stop the rebuilding of the temple.
He was not concerned even after the people had returned to Jerusalem, but when they began the work, he began his attack. "Let us help you build. We sacrifice to the same God as you." Let's be reminded that Satan is a liar and the father of all lies. No, these people did not sacrifice to the same God. They were Samaritans - people that had been planted during the Babylonian captivity - and had lived off the land for those 70 years. In fact, their sacrifices were to the golden idols that had been set up in the land by King Jeroboam.
We were blessed to be reminded at the beginning of this study that the people had a mind to work in rebuilding the temple. But before they did any advancement of the work, they stopped to pray. Prayer is an absolute necessity for God's people to have success. And prayer is of absolute necessity for God's people to have Spiritual discernment concerning things that are presented to them.
The Lord blessed them to realize the danger of worldly minded people having anything to do with the spiritual work of the temple. Today, the world still wants to offer a "helping hand". Most pastors receive in the mail on a weekly basis offers from people who will teach them how to "grow the church". If the world grows the church, then the world has made great inroads into the church unto its destruction. May God help us to lean upon Him, trust His wisdom, follow His Word, and walk in fellowship with Him rather than the world.