The letter was posted from the royal palace at Susa in the year 535. Traveling no doubt by horse, mule, and dromedary express, it was carried across the Tigris River, up the Euphrates Valley, skirting the Arabian Desert, along the Bekka Valley, past the towering Mount Hermon, down the Damascus Road, along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and, catching the northern end of the Patriarch’s Highway in the Jezreel Valley, made its way into the hands of “Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions” (Ezra 4:9) in Samaria.
The king’s letter began: “Peace, and at such a time.” Such a time indeed! The people of God had been scattered to the winds, far from the place where God had chosen to dwell among them. The City of Peace lay in ruins, victim of its inhabitants’ pathetic slide into idolatry. The enemies of God were scheming to neutralize the efforts of a little remnant who were attempting to “strengthen the things which remain[ed]” (Rev. 3:2).
This letter from Ahasuerus, the sovereign of the world’s ruling power, was in answer to one sent by “the people of the land,” Gentile imports who had been refused a hand in building the temple. They called on the king to stop the fortifying of Jerusalem because it was a “rebellious and bad city” (Ezra 4:12). It looked like their plan would work. In fact, fifteen years went by as the hammer and chisel lay silent and the Lord’s earthly capital remained a reproach before the nations.
Enter Haggai the encourager in 520 bc, and later Nehemiah the builder. There would be no peace, no blessing, they told them, as long as the people spent their days paneling their houses while the Lord’s house lay in ruins, while the walls were rubble and the gates were ashes. How could they expect the favor of God if they had no desire for the fellowship of God? Haggai diagnosed their condition as follows: “Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways” (Hag. 1:6-7).
It was time to invest serious effort in the work which would glorify and please the Lord (Hag. 1:8). Peace and at such a time? Certainly not by letting the enemy trample across their lives. Not by succumbing to the threats of evil men. Lines must be drawn. Walls must be built. Gates must be hung. Sentries must be stationed. And God must have His rightful place–not only in the city, in the temple, but in the citadel of His people’s hearts and minds. It was of little use to have their mezuzas on the gateposts and their phylacteries on their arms and foreheads if they did not love the Lord with all their hearts and minds. No wall would be high enough or thick enough to keep out the enemy if their souls harbored the foes within.
Five hundred years later, a Benjamite incarcerated for his belief that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel, wrote: “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep (garrison) your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Phil. 4:6-9).
Paul had learned the secret of peace from the enemies without and within. The peace of God was ready to garrison the minds and hearts of His own if they were prepared to build a wall of supplication and thanksgiving. And the God of peace was ready to reside in Peace Castle with them if they would furnish it with Christ-occupation and childlike obedience to Him. Peace, and at such a time!