Ezra 5

Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophets, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.  So Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak[a] rose up and began to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and the prophets of God were with them, helping them. vv.1-2

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After we saw the building of the temple be stopped in the last chapter, now twenty years later we see it start back up again.  What caused the Jews to start building again?  God's word through His prophets to the people.  Haggai and Zechariah were the prophets at this time and we can read of their prophesies in the books we have in the Bible.  These prophets didn't just prophesy years before of what would happen but right then and there of God's word and also helping them in the building; they were basically the project managers (vv.3-4).  These fresh and encountering words of God encouraged the people.  How might you need a fresh and encountering time in God's word to encourage you?
Of course opposition comes again as they begin constructing again but they continue on and speak wisely against this opposition.  The elders tell those in opposition of the command by Cyrus, king of Persia twenty years ago, to return to their land and rebuild the temple and walls along with articles of the treasury that were taken in their captivity; this is proven true in the records of the kings.  The other thing the elders do is admit the sins of their fathers for why their was destruction of their land and why they went in to captivity (v.12).  This wasn't to criticize their fathers and the past generation, but recognize and learn from past sin.  It's a hard but humbling thing to understand sometimes that those that came before us weren't perfect nor we ourselves.  Is it hard for you to talk about past generations sin because it may resemble your own?