Counselors?

Day: 164

OT Reading: Ezra 3-5

NT Reading: John 20

As Zerubbbabel and the others work on rebuilding the temple of God in Jerusalem, they do not do so unopposed. In fact we read in chapter four that some directly opposed them, and eventually appealed to the reigning King to make the work stop. This much of the story I was familiar with before. But as I was reading chapter four today, one note struck me. It's in 4:4-5 which reads, "Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans..."

I'm not sure how to appropriately express my reaction in textual form so as to convey how I feel when I read this, but let me try it this way:

WHAT????

Seriously? They hired...counselors? I could see hiring mercenaries. I could understand if they paid off people on the inside to try and set back or sabotage progress. But what in the world does it mean that they hired 'counselors?'

Were these like...therapists who were covertly making the people more depressed? Were these advisors who offered bad counsel to the Jewish leaders? Were these just really bad leaders at the Jerusalem summer camps? I honestly have no idea.

Now to be fair, I could go spend time trying to research this word or this passage, and see what I come up with. I could...but nah. I'll just let my mind contort fun images about what this may have looked like. Until I read something weird tomorrow that is :-).