Since the people of the land were not allowed to join the building project, they try their best to stop the Jews in other ways. This is proof that these people were not interested in worshipping the Lord; they just want to make sure that the Jews’ plans do not succeed. Maybe they were motivated primarily by political reasons. They wanted to control the region and if the Jews rebuild the temple, then the Jews would have an advantage.1
4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build