Know Thyself and Know Thy Enemies!

Ezra 4:1-2
(1) When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel, (2) they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”

Socrates the great Greek philosopher said that to know thyself is wisdom. You need to fully know yourself with all your limitations. This is the sure way to wisdom, peace, and success. Many of us easily get offended when circumstances start revealing that we do not know as much as we thought we did. Yet Socrates found pleasure in acknowledging that he didn’t know much, therefore he pursued the path of knowing himself. Know thyself!

Our title today is the words of Sun Tzu a great Chinese thinker. Sun Tzu was an expert in war, he developed military strategies and even wrote the book, The Art of War. In that book he says, “Know thyself, know thy enemy and in a thousand battles you will win a thousand victories.” Know thyself and know thy enemies!

Israel was getting back to Jerusalem after seventy years of captivity. They were in the process of rebuilding Jerusalem. However, they had enemies from surrounding communities who did not want to see Israel prosper in any way. They did everything to ensure that Jerusalem was not rebuilt so that Israel as a nation is not restored. It is from the activities of the enemies in this chapter today, that we will get to know our enemies. Know thyself and know thy enemies!

The assumption we are making is that you know yourself and I know myself. We know that we belong to God. We know that God is all-powerful. We know that when we do our best and pray to God, He will bless us and grant us success. We know that God has promised to fight our battles. We know that we cant dare revenge on any enemy because our revenge will not be as good as the revenge God does. We therefore quickly forgive and leave matters in God’s hands. Essentially we let God deal with our enemies as we forgive them and move on. That is what we know about ourselves. We love our enemies and we don’t fight nor revenge, God does that for us in a better way. We know ourselves, don’t we? Know thyself and know thy enemies!

Ezra 4:1-2
(1) When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel, (2) they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”

The enemies of Israel first used the method of seeking to help them. They came in as friends. They came in as supporters. They told Israel to let them help in rebuilding the Temple. Take note that not everyone who seeks to help you is your friend and not everyone who keeps off is your enemy. Some enemies want to be part of your inner circle and from within they destroy you. Do not be so gullible that with every free help that comes your way, you welcome it. Scammers and con people present themselves as friends who bring help.

Ezra 4:3
But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.”

The leaders of Israel knew the enemies. Even when enemies started behaving well, they stood firm and did not allow them into the inner circle. They were not fooled by the enemy behaving well. They were not excited by the free offer to be assisted by enemies. We should know our enemies so well that we do not get fooled by their free friendly offers. Know thyself and know thy enemies!

You get praised by your business competitors and you fall for it and reveal all your secrets? A member of the opposite gender hoovers around your spouse and you are told it’s nothing much? A fellow student assures you that you can study later, for now, you can do other non-academic things and you fall for it? How can someone you are competing with come and help you perform better than them? That free help is an attempt to get into your inner circle and destroy you. When a rival political party joins another one, the intention ultimately is to destroy it from within. Unless you know your enemies, you will let them into your life, and from within you will be destroyed. Know thyself and know thy enemies!

Men seeking sexual escapades will posture themselves to the target woman as the best suitor ready to marry. They will swear in the name of love. They will behave well until they are let in. What follows next is heartbreak. The enemy comes within and destroys you from within. The mistake is that many do not notice that, not every declaration of love is love. Be worried when an enemy swears that they love you. If you let them in, you are done. Israelite leaders rejected the enemies’ offer because they knew the enemy. Know thyself and know thy enemies!

Ezra 4:4
Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.

If the enemy fails to get in and destroy you from within, they will go to the next stage of enemy action. The enemy will bring discouragement. The enemy will bring negative talk and negative energy. The enemy will bombard you with discouragement after discouragement. The enemy will tell you that some people want to destroy you and you should be afraid of them. The net effect is not warning but instilling fear. You need to know that the enemy will seek to discourage you. Do not get discouraged. Know thyself and know thy enemies!

Luke 13:31-32
(31) At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”
(32) He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’

Pharisees were enemies of Jesus. They came with information that would help Jesus escape from the planned assassination by Herod. How can enemies save you from assassination yet they are the ones who want you dead? Jesus realized that this was an intention to install fear in Him and discourage Him. Jesus refused to yield to the enemy’s plan. Jesus said He will not stop preaching and He must finish His mission. Do not yield to discouragement from the enemy. Know that even confidential information from an enemy may be intended to discourage you. Know thyself and know thy enemies!

Ezra 4:5
They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

The last act of the enemy is to recruit others to join them in being your enemy. Enemies eventually rally people to support their course against you. Enemies will directly confront you and frustrate what you are doing. At this stage, the enemy is on the exit. They have done everything and have failed, what remains is to, directly and indirectly, attempt to stop you.

Do not accept being recruited as an enemy. If someone has enemies, they should not recruit you to be an enemy too. You too will suffer God’s punishment if you get recruited to be an enemy. Know thyself and know thy enemies!

When the enemy gets vicious, it is the last stage before God destroys them. Hang on by faith, the enemy you see today, you will never see again. This was the promise Moses gave Israelites as the Egyptian army approached them in anger. Hold on to God. Do not act desperately, you will overcome, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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