Ezra 4:5
And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
The verse comes immediately after Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the chief of the fathers answered the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin that they had nothing to do with them in building the house of God, though those adversaries professed to seek God and to sacrifice to Him ever since Esar-haddon had brought them up. Those who offered to join in the work were not true worshipers, for they set other gods before the Lord, so their offer was not genuine support and the leaders were right to refuse all union with them in building the temple at Jerusalem and restoring His worship there. After that refusal the people of the land, the Samaritans, opposed the rebuilding in the earlier years of the restoration from Babylon by weakening the hands of the people of Judah, troubling them in building, and hiring counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia even until the reign of Darius. Their obstruction continued through the reigns of Cyrus and Darius.
Part of that untiring opposition worked by false reports that aroused suspicion in minds easily led to suspect, and at times rulers in authority were moved to act against the purposes of God. Behind this earthly work Satan was striving to influence the highest powers of Medo-Persia to show disfavor to God's people, while angels worked in behalf of the exiles in a controversy in which all heaven was interested. Gabriel wrestled for three weeks to counteract the influences at work on the mind of Cyrus, until Michael, who is Christ, came to his aid, and all that heaven could do was done.
The victory gained held the powers of evil in check for many years, so that the people of God in Judea had liberty to continue their work. The forces of the enemy were held in check through all the days of Cyrus and all the days of his son Cambyses, who reigned about seven and a half years. God needs no help from His enemies to establish His worship. He asks no sacrifice of wickedness and accepts no offering from those who have other gods before Him.
His people must therefore trust in God alone and receive no help from those who do not serve Him, seeking help from the Lord rather than relying on people opposed to His worship, believing that He will defend and prosper their efforts to serve Him.