When slander and lies occur,.....

Ezra 4-6, God is still using unbelievers to accomplish His goals. The various Persian kings allow for the reconstruction to continue. Notice how the local leaders try to stir up trouble (and temporarily succeed) in ch 4. When the people of Judah reach out to the Persian king, they do not attack the local leaders, rather they stand on the truth. They have that truth to rely on. Similarly, we have the truth in our lives, thus we need not attck others. Rather we simply need to reveal that truth to others to allow the Holy Spirit to do His work. So why is the book of Ezra important so far? It show how God is still with His people. Even after the punishing exile to Babylon, He is still working for them....and today, that has not changed!