_THE ROYAL EDICT._
EZRA i. 2-4, 7-11.
It has been asserted that the Scripture version of the edict of Cyrus
cannot be an exact rendering of the original, because it ascribes to
the Great King some knowledge of the God of the Jews, and even some
faith in Him. For this reason it has been suggested that either the
chronicler or some previous writer who translated the decree out of
the Persian language, in which of course it must have been first
issued, inserted the word Jehovah in place of the name of Ormazd or
some other god worshipped by Cyrus, and shaped the phrases generally
so as to commend them to Jewish sympathies. Are we driven to this
position? We have seen that when Cyrus got possession of Babylon he
had no scruple in claiming the indigenous divinity Merodach as his
god. Is it not then entirely in accordance with his eclectic habit of
mind--not to mention his diplomatic art in humouring the prejudices of
his subjects--that he should draw up a decree in which he designed to
show favour to an exceptionally religious people in language that
would be congenial to them? Like most men of higher intelligence even
among polytheistic races, Cyrus may have believed in one supreme
Deity, who, he may have supposed, was worshipped under different
names by different nations. The final clause of Ezra i. 3 is
misleading, as it stands in the Authorised Version; and the Revisers,
with their habitual caution, have only so far improved upon it as to
permit the preferable rendering to appear in the margin, where we have
generally to look for the opinions of the more scholarly as well as
the more courageous critics. Yet even the Authorised Version renders
the same words correctly in the very next verse. There is no occasion
to print the clause, "He is the God," as a parenthesis, so as to make
Cyrus inform the world that Jehovah is the one real divinity. The more
probable rendering in idea is also the more simple one in
construction. Removing the superfluous brackets, we read right on: "He
is the God which is in Jerusalem"--_i.e._, we have an indication who
"Jehovah" is for the information of strangers to the Jews who may read
the edict. With this understanding let us examine the leading items of
the decree. It was proclaimed by the mouth of king's messengers, and
it was also preserved in writing, so that possibly the original
inscription may be recovered from among the burnt clay records that
lie buried in the ruins of Persian cities. The edict is addressed to
the whole empire. Cyrus announces to all his subjects his intention to
rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. Then he specialises the aim of the
decree by granting a licence to the Jews to go up to Jerusalem and
undertake this work. It is a perfectly free offer to all Jews in exile
without exception. "Who is there among you"--_i.e._, among all the
subjects of the empire--"of all His" (Jehovah's) "people, his God be
with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem," etc. In particular we may
observe the following points:--
First, Cyrus begins by acknowledging that "the God of Heaven"--whom he
identifies with the Hebrew "Jehovah," in our version of the edict--has
given him his dominions. It is possible to treat this introductory
sentence as a superficial formula; but there is no reason for so
ungenerous an estimate of it. If we accept the words in their honest
intention, we must see in them a recognition of the hand of God in the
setting up of kingdoms. Two opposite kinds of experience awaken in men
a conviction of God's presence in their lives--great calamities and
great successes. The influence of the latter experience is not so
often acknowledged as that of the former, but probably it is equally
effective, at least in extreme instances. There is something awful in
the success of a world-conqueror. When the man is a destroyer,
spreading havoc and misery, like Attila, he regards himself as a
"Scourge of God"; and when he is a vulgar impersonation of selfish
greed like Napoleon, he thinks he is swept on by a mighty tide of
destiny. In both instances the results are too stupendous to be
attributed to purely human energy. But in the case of Cyrus, an
enlightened and noble-minded hero is bringing liberty and favour to
the victims of a degraded tyranny, so that he is hailed by some of
them as the Anointed King raised up by their God, and therefore it is
not unnatural that he should ascribe his brilliant destiny to a Divine
influence.
Secondly, Cyrus actually asserts that God has charged him to build Him
a temple at Jerusalem. Again, this may be the language of princely
courtesy; but the noble spirit which breathes through the decree
encourages us to take a higher view of it, and to refrain from reading
minimising comments between the lines. It is probable that those
eager, patriotic Jews who had got the ear of Cyrus--or he would never
have issued such a decree as this--may have urged their suit by
showing him predictions like that of Isaiah xliv. 28, in which God
describes Himself as One "that saith of Cyrus, He is My shepherd, and
shall perform all my pleasure: even saying of Jerusalem, Let her be
built; and, Let the foundations of the temple be laid." Possibly Cyrus
is here alluding to that very utterance, although, as we have seen,
Josephus is incorrect in inserting a reference to Hebrew prophecy in
the very words of the decree, and in suggesting that the fulfilment of
prophecy was the chief end Cyrus had in view.
It is a historical fact that Cyrus did help to build the temple; he
supplied funds from the public treasury for that object. We can
understand his motives for doing so. If he desired the favour of the
God of the Jews, he would naturally aid in restoring His shrine.
Nabonidas had fallen, it was thought, through neglecting the worship
of the gods. Cyrus seems to have been anxious to avoid this mistake,
and to have given attention to the cultivation of their favour. If, as
seems likely, some of the Jews had impressed his mind with the
greatness of Jehovah, he might have desired to promote the building of
the temple at Jerusalem with exceptional assiduity.
In the next place, Cyrus gives the captive Jews leave to go up to
Jerusalem. The edict is purely permissive. There is to be no expulsion
of Jews from Babylon. Those exiles who did not choose to avail
themselves of the boon so eagerly coveted by the patriotic few were
allowed to remain unmolested in peace and prosperity. The restoration
was voluntary. This free character of the movement would give it a
vigour quite out of proportion to the numbers of those who took part
in it, and would, at the same time, ensure a certain elevation of tone
and spirit. It is an image of the Divine restoration of souls, which
is confined to those who accept it of their own free will.
Further, the object of the return, as it is distinctly specified, is
simply to rebuild the temple, not--at all events in the first
instance--to build up and fortify a city on the ruins of Jerusalem;
much less does it imply a complete restoration of Palestine to the
Jews, with a wholesale expulsion of its present inhabitants from their
farms and vineyards. Cyrus does not seem to have contemplated any such
revolution. The end in view was neither social nor political, but
purely religious. That more would come out of it, that the returning
exiles must have houses to live in and must protect those houses from
the brigandage of the Bedouin, and that they must have fields
producing food to support them and their families, are inevitable
consequences. Here is the germ and nucleus of a national restoration.
Still it remains true that the immediate object--the only object named
in the decree--is the rebuilding of the temple. Thus we see from the
first that the idea which characterises the restoration is religious.
The exiles return as a Church. The goal of their pilgrimage is a holy
site. The one work they are to aim at achieving is to further the
worship of their God.
Lastly, the inhabitants of the towns in which the Jews have been
settled are directed to make contributions towards the work. It is not
quite clear whether these "Benevolences" are to be entirely voluntary.
A royal exhortation generally assumes something of the character of a
command. Probably rich men were requisitioned to assist in providing
the gold and silver and other stores, together with the beasts of
burden which would be needed for the great expedition. This was to
supplement what Cyrus calls "the free-will offering for the house of
God that is in Jerusalem"--_i.e._, either the gifts of the Jews who
remained in Babylon, or possibly his own contribution from the funds
of the state. We are reminded of the Hebrews spoiling the Egyptians at
the Exodus. The prophet Haggai saw in this a promise of further
supplies, when the wealth of foreign nations would be poured into the
temple treasury in donations of larger dimensions from the heathen.
"For thus saith the Lord of hosts," he writes, "Yet once, it is a
little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the
sea, and the dry land; ... and the desirable things of all nations
shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of
hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of
hosts."[11]
[11] Hag. ii. 6-8.
The assumed willingness of their neighbours to contribute at a hint
from the king suggests that the exiles were not altogether unpopular.
On the other hand, it is quite possible that, under the oppression of
Nabonidas, they had suffered much wrong from these neighbours. A
public persecution always entails a large amount of private cruelty,
because the victims are not protected by the law from the greed and
petty spite of those who are mean enough to take advantage of their
helpless condition. Thus it may be that Cyrus was aiming at a just
return in his recommendation to his subjects to aid the Jews.
Such was the decree. Now let us look at the execution of it.
In the first place, there was a ready response on the part of some of
the Jews, seen especially in the conduct of their leaders, who "rose
up," bestirring themselves to prepare for the expedition, like
expectant watchers released from their weary waiting and set free for
action. The social leaders are mentioned first, which is a clear
indication that the theocracy, so characteristic of the coming age,
was not yet the recognised order. A little later the clergy will be
placed before the laity, but at present the laity are still named
before the clergy. The order is domestic. The leaders are the heads of
great families--"the chief of the fathers." For such people to be
named first is also an indication that the movement did not originate
in the humbler classes. Evidently a certain aristocratic spirit
permeated it. The wealthy merchants may have been loath to leave their
centres of commerce, but the nobility of blood and family were at the
head of the crusade. We have not yet reached the age of the democracy.
It is clear, further, that there was some organisation among the
exiles. They were not a mere crowd of refugees. The leaders were of
the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. We shall have to consider the
relation of the Ten Tribes to the restoration later on; here it may be
enough to observe in passing that representatives of the Southern
Kingdom take the lead in a return to Jerusalem, the capital of that
kingdom. Next come the ecclesiastical leaders, the priests and
Levites. Already we find these two orders named separately--an
important fact in relation to the development of Judaism that will
meet us again, with some hints here and there to throw light upon the
meaning of it.
There is another side to this response. It was by no means the case
that the whole of the exiles rose up in answer to the edict of Cyrus;
only those leaders and only those people responded "whose spirit God
had raised." The privilege was offered to all the Jews, but it was not
accepted by all. We cannot but be impressed by the religious faith and
the inspired insight of our historian in this matter. He saw that
Cyrus issued his edict because the Lord had stirred up his spirit; now
he attributes the prompting to make use of the proffered liberty to a
similar Divine influence. Thus the return was a movement of
heaven-sent impulses throughout. Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones
showed the deplorable condition of the Northern Kingdom in his
day--stripped bare, shattered to fragments, scattered abroad. The
condition of Judah was only second to this ghastly national ruin. But
now to Judah there had come the breath of the Divine Spirit which
Ezekiel saw promised for Israel, and a living army was rising up in
new energy. Here we may discover the deeper, the more vital source of
the return. Without this the edict of Cyrus would have perished as a
dead letter. Even as it was, only those people who felt the breath of
the Divine afflatus rose up for the arduous undertaking. So to-day
there is no return to the heavenly Jerusalem and no rebuilding the
fallen temple of human nature except in the power of the Spirit of
God. Regeneration always goes hand in hand with redemption--the work
of the Spirit with the work of the Christ. In the particular case
before us, the special effect of the Divine influence is "to raise the
spirit"--_i.e._, to infuse life, to rouse to activity and hope and
high endeavour. A people thus equipped is fit for any expedition of
toil or peril. Like Gideon's little, sifted army, the small band of
inspired men who rose up to accept the decree of Cyrus carried within
their breasts a superhuman power, and therefore a promise of ultimate
success. The aim with which they set out confirmed the religious
character of the whole enterprise. They accepted the limitations and
they gladly adopted the one definite purpose suggested in the edict of
Cyrus. They proceeded "to build the house of the Lord which is in
Jerusalem." This was their only confessed aim. It would have been
impossible for patriots such as these Jews were not to feel some
national hopes and dreams stirring within them; still we have no
reason to believe that the returning exiles were not loyal to the
spirit of the decree of the Great King. The religious aim was the real
occasion of the expedition. So much the more need was there to go in
the Spirit and strength of God. Only they whose spirit God has raised
are fit to build God's temple, because work for God must be done in
the Spirit of God.
Secondly, the resident neighbours fell in with the recommendation of
the king ungrudgingly, and gave rich contributions for the expedition.
They could not go themselves, but they could have a share in the work
by means of their gifts--as the home Church can share in the foreign
mission she supports. The acceptance of these bounties by the Jews
does not well accord with their subsequent conduct when they refused
the aid of their Samaritan neighbours in the actual work of building
the temple. It has an ugly look, as though they were willing to take
help from all sources excepting where any concessions in return would
be expected on the part of those who were befriending them. However,
it is just to remember that the aid was invited and offered by Cyrus,
not solicited by the Jews.
Thirdly, the execution of the decree appears to have been honestly
and effectively promoted by its author. In accordance with his
generous encouragement of the Jews to rebuild their temple, Cyrus
restored the sacred vessels that had been carried off by
Nebuchadnezzar on the occasion of the first Chaldæan raid on
Jerusalem, and deposited in a temple at Babylon nearly seventy years
before the time of the return. No doubt these things were regarded as
of more importance than other spoils of war. It would be supposed that
the patron god of the conquered people was humiliated when the
instruments of his worship were offered to Bel or Nebo. Perhaps it was
thought that some charm attaching to them would bring luck to the city
in which they were guarded. When Nabonidas was seized with frantic
terror at the approach of the Persian hosts, he brought the idols of
the surrounding nations to Babylon for his protection. The reference
to the temple vessels, and the careful and detailed enumeration of
them, without the mention of any image, is a clear proof that,
although before the captivity the majority of the Jews may have
consisted of idolaters, there was no idol in the temple at Jerusalem.
Had there been one there Nebuchadnezzar would most certainly have
carried it off as the greatest trophy of victory. In default of
images, he had to make the most of the gold and silver plate used in
the sacrificial ceremonies.
Viewed in this connection, the restitution of the stolen vessels by
Cyrus appears to be more than an act of generosity or justice. A
certain religious import belongs to it. It put an end to an ancient
insult offered by Babylon to the God of Israel; and it might be taken
as an act of homage offered to Jehovah by Cyrus. Yet it was only a
restitution, a return of what was God's before, and so a type of every
gift man makes to God.
It has been noticed that the total number of the vessels restored does
not agree with the sum of the numbers of the several kinds of vessels.
The total is 5400; but an addition of the list of the vessels only
amounts to 2499. Perhaps the less valuable articles are omitted from
the detailed account; or possibly there is some error of
transcription, and if so the question is, in which direction shall we
find it? It may be that the total was too large. On the other hand, in
1 Esdras nearly the same high total is given--viz., 5469--and there
the details are made to agree with it by an evidently artificial
manipulation of the numbers.[12] This gives some probability to the
view that the total is correct, and that the error must be in the
numbers of the several items. The practical importance of these
considerations is that they lead us to a high estimate of the immense
wealth of the Old Temple treasures. Thus they suggest the reflection
that much devotion and generosity had been shown in collecting such
stores of gold and silver in previous ages. They help us to picture
the sumptuous ritual of the first temple, with the "barbaric
splendour" of a rich display of the precious metals. Therefore they
show that the generosity of Cyrus in restoring so great a hoard was
genuine and considerable. It might have been urged that after the
treasures had been lying for two generations in a heathen temple the
original owners had lost all claim upon them. It might have been said
that they had been contaminated by this long residence among the
abominations of Babylonian idolatry. The restoration of them swept
away all such ideas. What was once God's belongs to Him by right for
ever. His property is inalienable; His claims never lapse with time,
never fail through change.
[12] 1 Esdras ii. 14.
It is not without significance that the treasurer who handed over
their temple-property to the Jews was named "Mithredath"--a word that
means "given by Mithra," or "devoted to Mithra." This suggests that
the Persian sun-god was honoured among the servants of Cyrus, and yet
that one who by name at least was especially associated with this
divinity was constrained to honour the God of Israel. Next to Judaism
and Christianity, the worship of Mithra showed the greatest vitality
of all religions in Western Asia, and later even in Europe. So
vigorous was it as recently as the commencement of the Christian era,
that M. Renan has remarked, that if the Roman world had not become
Christian it would have become Mithrastic. In those regions where the
dazzling radiance and burning heat of the sun are felt as they are not
even imagined in our chill, gloomy climate, it was naturally supposed
that if any visible God existed He must be found in the great fiery
centre of the world's light and life. Our own day has seen the
scientific development of the idea that the sun's force is the source
of all the energy of nature. In the homage paid by one of the ancient
followers of Mithra, the sun-god, to the God of Israel, may we not see
an image of the recognition of the claims of the Supreme by our
priests of the sun--Kepler, Newton, Faraday? Men must be more blind
than the slaves of Mithra if they cannot recognise an awful, invisible
energy behind and above the forces of the solar system--nay more, a
living Spirit--God!