Then, according to the word sent by Darius the king, Tattenai, the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates did with all diligence what Darius the king had ordered. And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia; and this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.
So, King Darius made a decree that everyone in the land of Jerusalem should help Ezra with the rebuilding of the Temple. And, if they didn’t what would happen? Why was Tattenai so eager to help out the returning exiles build a Temple to God, whom they did not worship? Perhaps it was because Darius added this warning to his decree:
Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a dunghill.
That is not the motivational tool of the carrot. That is the stick!! Seldom are we taught today to use the stick as a motivational tool. We are more often than not told to entice them with the carrot ... if not an entire carrot cake. We should understand that discipline and consequences are a large part of how society works. It flows from how God works. God does use the carrot, but God also employs the stick (Hebrews 12). We ought not to be out of balance. King Darius let everyone know his expectations and what would happen if they failed to meet his expectations. That is the formula for holding others accountable. This is what God does in His word. The latter chapters of Deuteronomy lay before the nation of Israel the “blessings” and the “curses.” This is God’s carrot and stick approach. In our society today we don’t think this way. Yet, for those who are being transformed into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18), we should live and act like Him. That means our motivation is impacted by the approach observed in this ungodly king, Darius. If non-believing king can demonstrate the character of God in his motivation of others, we too, ought to do that. After all, the book of Ezra is a motivational book to show us how to do just that.
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