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THE EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE
EDITED BY THE REV.
W. ROBERTSON NICOLL, M.A., LL.D.
_Editor of "The Expositor"_
AUTHORIZED EDITION, COMPLETE
AND UNABRIDGED
BOUND IN TWENTY-FIVE VOLUMES
NEW YORK
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
LAFAYETTE PLACE
1900
EZRA, NEHEMIAH,
AND
ESTHER
BY
WALTER F. ADENEY, M.A.
PROFESSOR OF NEW TESTAMENT EXEGESIS AND CHURCH HISTORY,
NEW COLLEGE, LONDON
NEW YORK
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
LAFAYETTE PLACE
1900
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY: EZRA AND NEHEMIAH 1
CHAPTER II.
CYRUS 12
CHAPTER III.
THE ROYAL EDICT 24
CHAPTER IV.
THE SECOND EXODUS 36
CHAPTER V.
THE NEW TEMPLE 48
CHAPTER VI.
THE LIMITS OF COMPREHENSION 60
CHAPTER VII.
THE MISSION OF PROPHECY 72
CHAPTER VIII.
NEW DIFFICULTIES MET IN A NEW SPIRIT 83
CHAPTER IX.
THE DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE 95
CHAPTER X.
EZRA THE SCRIBE 107
CHAPTER XI.
EZRA'S EXPEDITION 119
CHAPTER XII.
FOREIGN MARRIAGES 131
CHAPTER XIII.
THE HOME SACRIFICED TO THE CHURCH 142
CHAPTER XIV.
THE COST OF AN IDEALIST'S SUCCESS 153
CHAPTER XV.
NEHEMIAH THE PATRIOT 163
CHAPTER XVI.
NEHEMIAH'S PRAYER 174
CHAPTER XVII.
THE PRAYER ANSWERED 186
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE MIDNIGHT RIDE 198
CHAPTER XIX.
BUILDING THE WALLS 210
CHAPTER XX.
"MARK YE WELL HER BULWARKS" 223
CHAPTER XXI.
ON GUARD 235
CHAPTER XXII.
USURY 247
CHAPTER XXIII.
WISE AS SERPENTS 259
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE LAW 271
CHAPTER XXV.
THE JOY OF THE LORD 284
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE RELIGION OF HISTORY 295
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE COVENANT 307
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE HOLY CITY 317
CHAPTER XXIX.
BEGINNINGS 328
CHAPTER XXX.
THE RIGOUR OF THE REFORMER 339
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE BOOK OF ESTHER: INTRODUCTORY 351
CHAPTER XXXII.
AHASUERUS AND VASHTI 361
CHAPTER XXXIII.
HAMAN 371
CHAPTER XXXIV.
QUEEN ESTHER 382
CHAPTER XXXV.
MORDECAI 392
CHAPTER I.
_INTRODUCTORY: EZRA AND NEHEMIAH._
Though in close contact with the most perplexing problems of Old
Testament literature, the main history recorded in the books of 'Ezra'
and 'Nehemiah' is fixed securely above the reach of adverse criticism.
Here the most cautious reader may take his stand with the utmost
confidence, knowing that his feet rest on a solid rock. The curiously
inartistic process adopted by the writer is in itself some guarantee
of authenticity. Ambitious authors who set out with the design of
creating literature--and perhaps building up a reputation for
themselves by the way--may be very conscientious in their search for
truth; but we cannot help suspecting that the method of melting down
their materials and recasting them in the mould of their own style
which they usually adopt must gravely endanger their accuracy. Nothing
of the kind is attempted in this narrative. In considerable portions
of it the primitive records are simply copied word for word, without
the least pretence at original writing on the part of the historian.
Elsewhere he has evidently kept as near as possible to the form of his
materials, even when the plan of his work has necessitated some
condensation or readjustment. The crudity of this procedure must be
annoying to literary epicures who prefer flavour to substance, but it
should be an occasion of thankfulness on the part of those of us who
wish to trace the revelation of God in the life of Israel, because it
shows that we are brought as nearly as possible face to face with the
facts in which that revelation was clothed.
In the first place, we have some of the very writings of Ezra and
Nehemiah, the leading actors in the great drama of real life that is
here set forth. We cannot doubt the genuineness of these writings.
They are each of them composed in the first person singular, and they
may be sharply distinguished from the remainder of the narrative,
inasmuch as that is in the third person--not to mention other and
finer marks of difference. Of course this implies that the whole of
Ezra and Nehemiah should not be ascribed to the two men whose names
the books bear in our English Bibles. The books themselves do not make
any claim to be written throughout by these great men. On the
contrary, they clearly hint the opposite, by the transition to the
third person in those sections which are not extracted verbatim from
one or other of the two authorities.
It is most probable that the Scripture books now known as Ezra and
Nehemiah were compiled by one and the same person, that, in fact, they
originally constituted a single work. This view was held by the
scribes who arranged the Hebrew Canon, for there they appear as one
book. In the Talmud they are treated as one. So they are among the
early Christian writers. As late as the fifth century of our era
Jerome gives the name of "Esdras" to both, describing "Nehemiah" as
"The Second Book of Esdras."
Further, there seem to be good reasons for believing that the compiler
of our Ezra-Nehemiah was no other than the author of Chronicles. The
repetition of the concluding passage of 2 Chronicles as the
introduction to Ezra is an indication that the latter was intended to
be a continuation of the Chronicler's version of the History of
Israel. When we compare the two works together, we come across many
indications of their agreement in spirit and style. In both we
discover a disposition to hurry over secular affairs in order to
dilate on the religious aspects of history. In both we meet with the
same exalted estimation of The Law, the same unwearied interest in the
details of temple ritual and especially in the musical arrangements of
the Levites, and the same singular fascination for long lists of
names, which are inserted wherever an opportunity for letting them in
can be found.
Now, there are several things in our narrative that tend to show that
the Chronicler belongs to a comparatively late period. Thus in
Nehemiah xii. 22 he mentions the succession of priests down "to the
reign of Darius the Persian." The position of this phrase in
connection with the previous lists of names makes it clear that the
sovereign here referred to must be Darius III., surnamed Codommanus,
the last king of Persia, who reigned from B.C. 336 to B.C. 332. Then
the title "the Persian" suggests the conclusion that the dynasty of
Persia had passed away; so does the phrase "king of Persia," which we
meet with in the Chronicler's portion of the narrative. The simple
expression "the king," without any descriptive addition, would be
sufficient on the lips of a contemporary. Accordingly we find that it
is used in the first-person sections of Ezra-Nehemiah, and in those
royal edicts that are cited in full. Again, Nehemiah xii. 11 and 22
give us the name of Jaddua in the series of high-priests. But Jaddua
lived as late as the time of Alexander; his date must be about B.C.
331.[1] This lands us in the Grecian period. Lastly, the references to
"the days of Nehemiah"[2] clearly point to a writer in some subsequent
age. Though it is justly urged that it was quite in accordance with
custom for later scribes to work over an old book, inserting a phrase
here and there to bring it up to date, the indications of the later
date are too closely interwoven with the main structure of the
composition to admit this hypothesis here.
[1] Josephus, _Ant._, XI. viii. 7.
[2] Neh. xii. 26 and 47.
Nevertheless, though we seem to be shut up to the view that the
Grecian era had been reached before our book was put together, this is
really only a matter of literary interest, seeing that it is agreed on
all sides that the history is authentic, and that the constituent
parts of it are contemporary with the events they record. The function
of the compiler of such a book as this is not much more than that of
an editor. It must be admitted that the date of the final editor is as
late as the Macedonian Empire. The only question is whether this man
was the sole editor and compiler of the narrative. We may let that
point of purely literary criticism be settled in favour of the later
date for the original compilation, and yet rest satisfied that we have
all we want--a thoroughly genuine history in which to study the ways
of God with man during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.
This narrative is occupied with the Persian period of the History of
Israel. It shows us points of contact between the Jews and a great
Oriental Empire; but, unlike the history in the dismal Babylonian age,
the course of events now moves forward among scenes of hopeful
progress. The new dominion is of an Aryan stock--intelligent,
appreciative, generous. Like the Christians in the time of the
Apostles, the Jews now find the supreme government friendly to them,
even ready to protect them from the assaults of their hostile
neighbours. It is in this political relationship, and scarcely, if at
all, by means of the intercommunication of ideas affecting religion,
that the Persians take an important place in the story of Ezra and
Nehemiah. We shall see much of their official action; we can but grope
about vaguely in search of the few hints of their influence on the
theology of Israel that may be looked for on the pages of the sacred
narrative. Still a remarkable characteristic of the leading religious
movement of this time is the Oriental and foreign locality of its
source. It springs up in the breasts of Jews who are most stern in
their racial exclusiveness, most relentless in their scornful
rejection of any Gentile alliance. But this is on a foreign soil. It
comes from Babylon, not Jerusalem. Again and again fresh impulses and
new resources are brought up to the sacred city, and always from the
far-off colony in the land of exile. Here the money for the cost of
the rebuilding of the temple was collected; here The Law was studied
and edited; here means were found for restoring the fortifications of
Jerusalem. Not only did the first company of pilgrims go up from
Babylon to begin a new life among the tombs of their fathers; but one
after another fresh bands of emigrants, borne on new waves of
enthusiasm, swept up from the apparently inexhaustible centres of
Judaism in the East to rally the flagging energies of the citizens of
Jerusalem. For a long while this city was only maintained with the
greatest difficulty as a sort of outpost from Babylon: it was little
better than a pilgrim's camp; often it was in danger of destruction
from the uncongenial character of its surroundings. Therefore it is
Babylonian Judaism that here claims our attention. The mission of this
great religious movement is to found and cultivate an offshoot of
itself in the old country. Its beginning is at Babylon; its end is to
shape the destinies of Jerusalem.
Three successive embassies from the living heart of Judaism in Babylon
go up to Jerusalem, each with its own distinctive function in the
promotion of the purposes of the mission. The first is led by
Zerubbabel and Jeshua in the year B.C. 537.[3] The second is conducted
by Ezra eighty years later. The third follows shortly after this with
Nehemiah as its central figure. Each of the two first-named
expeditions is a great popular migration of men, women, and children
returning home from exile; Nehemiah's journey is more personal--the
travelling of an officer of state with his escort. The principal
events of the history spring out of these three expeditions.
Zerubbabel and Jeshua are commissioned to restore the sacrifices and
rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. Ezra sets forth with the visible
object of further ministering to the resources of the sacred shrine;
but the real end that he is inwardly aiming at is the introduction of
The Law to the people of Jerusalem. Nehemiah's main purpose is to
rebuild the city walls, and so restore the civic character of
Jerusalem and enable her to maintain her independence in spite of the
opposition of neighbouring foes. In all three cases a strong religious
motive lies at the root of the public action. To Ezra the priest and
scribe religion was everything. He might almost have taken as his
motto, "Perish the State, if the Church may be saved." He desired to
absorb the State into the Church: he would permit the former to exist,
indeed, as the visible vehicle of the religious life of the community;
but to sacrifice the religious ideal in deference to political
exigencies was a policy against which he set his face like flint when
it was advocated by a latitudinarian party among the priests. The
conflict which was brought about by this clash of opposing principles
was the great battle of his life. Nehemiah was a statesman, a
practical man, a courtier who knew the world. Outwardly his aims and
methods were very different from those of the unpractical scholar. Yet
the two men thoroughly understood one another. Nehemiah caught the
spirit of Ezra's ideas; and Ezra, whose work came to a standstill
while he was left to his own resources, was afterwards able to carry
through his great religious reformation on the basis of the younger
man's military and political renovation of Jerusalem.
[3] Allowing some months for the preparation of the expedition--and
this we must do--we may safely say that it started in the year after
the decree of Cyrus, which was issued in B.C. 538.
In all this the central figure is Ezra. We are able to see the most
marked results in the improved condition of the city after his capable
and vigorous colleague has taken up the reins of government. But
though the hand is then the hand of Nehemiah, the voice is still the
voice of Ezra. Later times have exalted the figure of the famous
scribe into gigantic proportions. Even as he appears on the page of
history he is sufficiently great to stand out as the maker of his age.
For the Jews in all ages, and for the world at large, the great event
of this period is the adoption of The Law by the citizens of
Jerusalem. Recent investigations and discussions have directed renewed
attention to the publication of The Law by Ezra, and the acceptance of
it on the part of Israel. It will be especially important, therefore,
for us to study these things in the calm and ingenuous record of the
ancient historian, where they are treated without the slightest
anticipation of modern controversies. We shall have to see what hints
this record affords concerning the history of The Law in the days of
Ezra and Nehemiah.
One broad fact will grow upon us with increasing clearness as we
proceed. Evidently we have here come to the watershed of Hebrew
History. Up to this point all the better teachers of Israel had been
toiling painfully in their almost hopeless efforts to induce the Jews
to accept the unique faith of Jehovah, with its lofty claims and its
rigorous restraints. That faith itself however had appeared in three
forms,--as a popular cult, often degraded to the level of the local
religion of heathen neighbours; as a priestly tradition, exact and
minute in its performances, but the secret of a caste; and as a
subject of prophetic instruction, instinct with moral principles of
righteousness and spiritual conceptions of God, but too large and free
to be reached by a people of narrow views and low attainments. With
the publication of The Law by Ezra the threefold condition ceased, and
henceforth there was but one type of religion for the Jews.
The question when The Law was moulded into its present shape
introduces a delicate point of criticism. But the consideration of its
popular reception is more within the reach of observation. In the
solemn sealing of the covenant the citizens of Jerusalem--laity as
well as priests--men, women, and children--all deliberately pledged
themselves to worship Jehovah according to The Law. There is no
evidence to show that they had ever done so before. The narrative
bears every indication of novelty. The Law is received with curiosity;
it is only understood after being carefully explained by experts; when
its meaning is taken in, the effect is a shock of amazement bordering
on despair. Clearly this is no collection of trite precepts known and
practised by the people from antiquity.
It must be remembered, on the other hand, that an analogous effect was
produced by the spread of the Scriptures at the Reformation. It does
not fall within the scope of our present task to pursue the inquiry
whether, like the Bible in Christendom, the entire law had been in
existence in an earlier age, though then neglected and forgotten. Yet
even our limited period contains evidence that The Law had its roots
in the past. The venerated name of Moses is repeatedly appealed to
when The Law is to be enforced. Ezra never appears as a Solon
legislating for his people. Still neither is he a Justinian codifying
a system of legislation already recognised and adopted. He stands
between the two, as the introducer of a law hitherto unpractised and
even unknown. These facts will come before us more in detail as we
proceed.
The period now brought before our notice is to some extent one of
national revival; but it is much more important as an age of religious
construction. The Jews now constitute themselves into a Church; the
chief concern of their leaders is to develop their religious life and
character. The charm of these times is to be found in the great
spiritual awakening that inspires and shapes their history. Here we
approach very near to the Holy Presence of the Spirit of God in His
glorious activity as the Lord and Giver of Life. This epoch was to
Israel what Pentecost became to the Christians. Pentecost!--We have
only to face the comparison to see how far the later covenant exceeded
the earlier covenant in glory. To us Christians there is a hardness, a
narrowness, a painful externalism in the whole of this religious
movement. We cannot say that it lacks soul; but we feel that it has
not the liberty of the highest spiritual vitality. It is cramped in
the fetters of legal ordinances. We shall come across evidences of the
existence of a liberal party that shrank from the rigour of The Law.
But this party gave no signs of religious life; the freedom it claimed
was not the glorious liberty of the sons of God. There is no reason to
believe that the more devout people anticipated the standpoint of St.
Paul and saw any imperfection in their law. To them it presented a
lofty scheme of life, worthy of the highest aspiration. And there is
much in their spirit that commands our admiration and even our
emulation. The most obnoxious feature of their zeal is its pitiless
exclusiveness. But without this quality Judaism would have been lost
in the cross currents of life among the mixed populations of
Palestine.
The policy of exclusiveness saved Judaism. At heart this is just an
application--though a very harsh and formal application--of the
principle of separation from the world which Christ and His Apostles
enjoined on the Church, and the neglect of which has sometimes nearly
resulted in the disappearance of any distinctive Christian truth and
life, like the disappearance of a river that breaking through its
banks spreads itself out in lagoons and morasses, and ends by being
swallowed up in the sands of the desert.
The exterior aspect of the stern, strict Judaism of these days is by
no means attractive. But the interior life of it is simply superb. It
recognises the absolute supremacy of God. In the will of God it
acknowledges the one unquestionable authority before which all who
accept His covenant must bow; in the revealed truth of God it
perceives an inflexible rule for the conduct of His people. To be
pledged to allegiance to the will and law of God is to be truly
consecrated to God. That is the condition voluntarily entered into by
the citizens of Jerusalem in this epoch of religious awakening. A few
centuries later their example was followed by the primitive
Christians, who, according to the testimony of the two Bithynian
handmaidens tortured by Pliny, solemnly pledged themselves to lives of
purity and righteousness; again, it was imitated, though in strangely
perverted guise, by anchorites and monks, by the great founders of
monastic orders and their loyal disciples, and by mediæval reformers
of Church discipline such as St. Bernard; still later it was followed
more closely by the Protestant inhabitants of Swiss cities at the
Reformation, by the early Independents at home and the Pilgrim Fathers
in New England, by the Covenanters in Scotland, by the first
Methodists. It is the model of Church order, and the ideal of the
religious organisation of civic life. But it awaits the adequate
fulfilment of its promise in the establishment of the Heavenly City,
the New Jerusalem.