According to Williamson, this reference the people of the land making the Israelites afraid to rebuild is not a new development but refers back to the work they had already been doing in Ezra 3:3 where they made the people afraid. Ezra 4:4–5 is then the author’s way of saying that opposition was seen in the time of Cyrus (Ezra 3:1–6) and the time of Darius (Ezra 3:7 – 4:3).1
4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build