Ezra 5:11
And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was builded these many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded and set up. And thus they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build the house that was builded these many years ago, which a great king of Israel builded and set up.
The reply preserved in the verse was given by the Jews who had returned from exile when Persian officials confronted them and demanded to know by what authorization they were building. Their answer was both a declaration of loyalty and an explanation of their work in response to that official investigation. They met the inquiry not with evasion but with an open statement of who they were and what they were doing.
In that statement they identified their allegiance by calling themselves servants of the God of heaven and earth. The title set forth a universal Sovereign as their Master, above any earthly power questioning them. It defined their identity and obedience as belonging to Him.
They further explained their labor as rebuilding the house of God that had stood long before. That house, they declared, had first been built and established many years earlier by a great king of Israel. Their present building was therefore restoration of an ancient divine house, not a new and unauthorized enterprise.