_THE DEDICATION OF THE TEMPLE._
EZRA vi. 6-22.
The chronicler's version of the edict in which Darius replies to the
application of the Satrap Tattenai is so very friendly to the Jews
that questions have been raised as to its genuineness. We cannot but
perceive that the language has been modified in its transition from
the Persian terra-cotta cylinder to the roll of the Hebrew chronicler,
because the Great King could not have spoken of the religion of Israel
in the absolute phrases recorded in the Book of Ezra. But when all
allowance has been made for verbal alterations in translation and
transcription, the substance of the edict is still sufficiently
remarkable. Darius fully endorses the decree of Cyrus, and even
exceeds that gracious ordinance in generosity. He curtly bids Tattenai
"let the work of the house of God alone." He even orders the Satrap to
provide for this work out of the revenues of his district. The public
revenues are also to be used in maintaining the Jewish priests and in
providing them with sacrifices--"that they may offer sacrifices of
sweet savour unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king
and of his sons."[55]
[55] Ezra vi. 10.
On the other hand, it cannot be doubted that Darius sent a reply that
was favourable to the Jews, for all opposition to their work was
stopped, and means were found for completing the temple and
maintaining the costly ritual. The Jews gratefully acknowledged the
influence of God on the heart of Darius. Surely they were right in
doing so. They were gifted with the true insight of faith. It is no
contradiction to add that--in the earthly sphere and among the human
motives through which God works, by guiding them--what we know of
Darius will account to some extent for his friendliness towards the
Jews. He was a powerful ruler, and when he had quelled the serious
rebellions that had broken out in several quarters of his kingdom, he
organised his government in a masterly style with a new and thorough
system of satrapies.[56] Then he pushed his conquests farmer afield,
and subsequently came into contact with Europe, although ultimately to
suffer a humiliating defeat in the famous battle of Marathon. In fact,
we may regard him as the real founder of the Persian Empire. Cyrus,
though his family was of Persian origin, was originally a king of
Elam, and he had to conquer Persia before he could rule over it; but
Darius was a prince of the Persian royal house. Unlike Cyrus, he was
at least a monotheist, if not a thoroughgoing Zoroastrian. The
inscription on his tomb at _Naksh-i-Rustem_ attributes all that he has
achieved to the favour of Ormazd. "When Ormazd saw this earth filled
with revolt and civil war, then did he entrust it to me. He made me
king, and I am king. By the grace of Ormazd I have restored the
earth." "All that I have done I have done through the grace of
Ormazd. Ormazd brought help to me until I had completed my work. May
Ormazd protect from evil me and my house and this land. Therefore I
pray unto Ormazd, May Ormazd grant this to me." "O Man! May the
command of Ormazd not be despised by thee: leave not the path of
right, sin not!"[57] Such language implies a high religious conception
of life. Although it is a mistake to suppose that the Jews had
borrowed anything of importance from Zoroastrianism during the
captivity or in the time of Cyrus--inasmuch as that religion was then
scarcely known in Babylon--when it began to make itself felt there,
its similarity to Judaism could not fail to strike the attention of
observant men. It taught the existence of one supreme God--though it
co-ordinated the principles of good and evil in His being, as two
subsidiary existences, in a manner not allowed by Judaism--and it
encouraged prayer. It also insisted on the dreadful evil of sin and
urged men to strive after purity, with an earnestness that witnessed
to the blending of morality with religion to an extent unknown
elsewhere except among the Jews. Thus, if Darius were a Zoroastrian,
he would have two powerful links of sympathy with the Jews in
opposition to the corrupt idolatry of the heathen--the spiritual
monotheism and the earnest morality that were common to the two
religions. And in any case it is not altogether surprising to learn
that when he read the letter of the people who described themselves as
"the servants of the God of heaven and earth," the worshipper of
Ormazd should have sympathised with them rather than with their
semi-pagan opponents. Moreover, Darius must have known something of
Judaism from the Jews of Babylon. Then, he was restoring the temples
of Ormazd which his predecessor had destroyed. But the Jews were
engaged in a very similar work; therefore the king, in his antipathy
to the idolaters, would give no sanction to a heathenish opposition to
the building of the temple at Jerusalem by a people who believed in
One Spiritual God.
[56] Herodotus, iii. 89.
[57] Sayce, Introduction, pp. 57, 58.
Darius was credited with a generous disposition, which would incline him to
a kindly treatment of his subjects. Of course we must interpret this
according to the manners of the times. For example, in his edict about the
temple-building he gives orders that any one of his subjects who hinders
the work is to be impaled on a beam from his own house, the site of which
is to be used for a refuse heap.[58] Darius also invokes the God of the
Jews to destroy any foreign king or people who should attempt to alter or
destroy the temple at Jerusalem. The savagery of his menace is in harmony
with his conduct when, according to Herodotus, he impaled _three thousand_
men at Babylon after he had recaptured the city.[59] Those were cruel
times--Herodotus tells us that the besieged Babylonians had previously
strangled their own wives when they were running short of provisions.[60]
The imprecation with which the edict closes may be matched by one on the
inscription of Darius at _Behistum_, where the Great King invokes the curse
of Ormazd on any persons who should injure the tablet. The ancient despotic
world-rulers had no conception of the modern virtue of humanitarianism. It
is sickening to picture to ourselves their methods of government. The
enormous misery involved is beyond calculation. Still we may believe that
the worst threats were not always carried out; we may make some allowance
for Oriental extravagance of language. And yet, after all has been said,
the conclusion of the edict of Darius presents to us a kind of state
support for religion which no one would defend in the present day. In
accepting the help of the Persian sovereign the Jews could not altogether
dissociate themselves from his way of government. Nevertheless it is fair
to remember that they had not asked for his support. They had simply
desired to be left unmolested.
[58] Ezra. vi. 11.
[59] Herodotus, iii. 159.
[60] _Ibid._
Tattenai loyally executed the decree of Darius; the temple-building
proceeded without further hindrance, and the work was completed about four
years after its recommencement at the instigation of the prophet Haggai.
Then came the joyous ceremony of the dedication. All the returned exiles
took part in it. They are named collectively "the children of
Israel"--another indication that the restored Jews were regarded by the
chronicler as the representatives of the whole united nation as this had
existed under David and Solomon before the great schism. Similarly there
are _twelve_ he-goats for the sin-offering--for the twelve tribes.[61]
Several classes of Israelites are enumerated,--first the clergy in their
two orders, the priests and the Levites, always kept distinct in "Ezra";
next the laity, who are described as "the children of the captivity." The
limitation of this phrase is significant. In the dedication of the temple
the Israelites of the land who were mixed up with the heathen people are
not included. Only the returned exiles had built the temple; only they were
associated in the dedication of it. Here is a strictly guarded Church.
Access to it is through the one door of an unimpeachable genealogical
record. Happily the narrowness of this arrangement is soon to be broken
through. In the meanwhile it is to be observed that it is just the people
who have endured the hardship of separation from their beloved Jerusalem to
whom the privilege of rejoicing in the completion of the new temple is
given. The tame existence that cannot fathom the depths of misery is
incapable of soaring to the heights of bliss. The joy of the harvest is for
those who have sown in tears.
[61] Ezra vi. 17.
The work was finished, and yet its very completion was a new
commencement. The temple was now dedicated--literally "initiated"--for
the future service of God.
This dedication is an instance of the highest use of man's work. The
fruit of years of toil and sacrifice is given to God. Whatever
theories we may have about the consecration of a building--and surely
every building that is put to a sacred use is in a sense a sacred
building--there can be no question as to the rightness of dedication.
This is just the surrender to God of what was built for Him out of the
resources that He had supplied. A dedication service is a solemn act
of transfer by which a building is given over to the use of God. We
may save it from narrowness if we do not limit it to places of public
assembly. The home where the family altar is set up, where day by day
prayer is offered, and where the common round of domestic duties is
elevated and consecrated by being faithfully discharged as in the
sight of God, is a true sanctuary; it too, like the Jerusalem temple,
has its "Holy of Holies." Therefore when a family enters a new house,
or when two young lives cross the threshold of what is to be
henceforth their "home," there is as true a ground for a solemn act of
dedication as in the opening of a great temple. A prophet declared
that "Holiness to the Lord" was to characterise the very vessels of
household use in Jerusalem.[62] It may lift some of the burden of
drudgery which presses on people who are compelled to spend their time
in common house-toil, for them to perceive that they may become
priests and priestesses ministering at the altar even in their daily
work. In the same spirit truly devout men of business will dedicate
their shops, their factories, their offices, the tools of their work,
and the enterprises in which they engage, so that all may be regarded
as belonging to God, and only to be used as His will dictates. Behind
every such act of dedication there must be a prior act of
self-consecration, without which the gift of any mere thing to God is
but an insult to the Father who only seeks the hearts of His children.
Nay, without this a real gift of any kind is impossible. But the
people who have first given their own selves to the Lord are prepared
for all other acts of surrender.
[62] Zech. xiv. 21.
According to the custom of their ritual, the Jews signalised the
dedication of the temple by the offering of sacrifices. Even with the
help of the king's bounty these were few in number compared with the
lavish holocausts that were offered in the ceremony of dedicating
Solomon's temple.[63] Here, in the external aspect of things, the
melancholy archæologists might have found another cause for
lamentation. But we are not told that any such people appeared on the
present occasion. The Jews were not so foolish as to believe that the
value of a religious movement could be ascertained by the study of
architectural dimensions. Is it less misleading to attempt to estimate
the spiritual prosperity of a Church by casting up the items of its
balance-sheet, or tabulating the numbers of its congregations?
[63] 1 Kings viii. 63.
Looking more closely into the chronicler's description of the
sacrifices, we see that these were principally of two distinct
kinds.[64] There were some animals for burnt offerings, which
signified complete dedication, and pledged their offerers to it. Then
there were other animals for sin-offerings. Thus even in the joyous
dedication of the temple the sin of Israel could not be forgotten. The
increasing importance of sacrifices for sin is one of the most marked
features of the Hebrew ritual in its later stages of development. It
shows that in the course of ages the national consciousness of sin was
intensified. At the same time it makes clear that the inexplicable
conviction that without shedding of blood there could be no remission
of sins was also deepened. Whether the sacrifice was regarded as a
gift pleasing and propitiating an offended God, or as a substitute
bearing the death-penalty of sin, or as a sacred life, bestowing, by
means of its blood, new life on sinners who had forfeited their own
lives; in any case, and however it was interpreted, it was felt that
blood must be shed if the sinner was to be freed from guilt.
Throughout the ages this awful thought was more and more vividly
presented, and the mystery which the conscience of many refused to
abandon continued, until there was a great revelation of the true
meaning of sacrifice for sin in the one efficacious atonement of
Christ.
[64] Ezra vi. 17.
A subsidiary point to be noticed here is that there were just _twelve_
he-goats sacrificed for the twelve tribes of Israel. These were
national sin-offerings, and not sacrifices for individual sinners.
Under special circumstances the individual could bring his own private
offering. But in this great temple function only national sins were
considered. The nation had suffered as a whole for its collective sin;
in a corresponding way it had its collective expiation of sin. There
are always national sins which need a broad public treatment, apart
from the particular acts of wickedness committed by separate men.
All this is said by the chronicler to have taken place in accordance
with The Law--"As it is written in the book of Moses."[65] Here, as in
the case of the similar statement of the chronicler in connection with
the sacrifices offered when the great altar of burnt-offerings was set
up,[66] we must remember, in the first place, that we have to do with
the reflections of an author writing in a subsequent age, to whom the
whole Pentateuch was a familiar book. But then it is also clear that
before Ezra had startled the Jews by reading The Law in its later
revelation there must have been some earlier form of it, not only in
Deuteronomy, but also in a priestly collection of ordinances. It is a
curious fact that no full directions on the division of the courses of
the priests and Levites is now to be found in the Pentateuch. On this
occasion the services must have been arranged on the model of the
traditional priestly law. They were not left to the caprice of the
hour. There was order; there was continuity; there was obedience.
[65] Ezra vi. 18.
[66] Ezra iii. 2.
The chronicler concludes this period of his history by adding a
paragraph[67] on the first observance of the Passover among the
returned Jews. The national religion is now re-established, and
therefore the greatest festival of the year can be enjoyed. One of the
characteristics of this festival is made especially prominent in the
present observance of it. The significance of the unleavened bread is
pointedly noticed. All leaven is to be banished from the houses during
the week of the Passover. All impurity must also be banished from the
people. The priests and Levites perform the ceremonial purifications
and get themselves legally clean. The franchise is enlarged; and the
limitations of genealogy with which we started are dispensed with. A
new class of Israelites receives a brotherly welcome in this time of
general purification. In distinction from the returned captives, there
are now the Israelites who "had separated themselves unto them from
the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the Lord." Jehovah
is pointedly described as "the God of Israel"--_i.e._, the God of all
sections of Israel.[68] These people cannot be proselytes from
heathenism--there could be few if any such in exclusive times. They
might consist of Jews who had been living in Palestine all through the
captivity, Israelites also left in the Northern Kingdom, and scattered
members of the ten tribes from various regions. All such are welcome
on condition of a severe process of social purging. They must break
off from their heathen associations. We may suspect a spirit of Jewish
animosity in the ugly phrase "the filthiness of the heathen." But it
was only too true that both the Canaanite and the Babylonian habits
of life were disgustingly immoral. The same horrible characteristic is
found among most of the heathen to-day. These degraded people are not
simply benighted in theological error; they are corrupted by horrible
vices. Missionary work is more than the propagation of Christian
theology; it is the purging of Augean stables. St. Paul reminds us
that we must put away the old leaven of sinful habits in order to
partake of the Christian Passover,[69] and St. James that one feature
of the religious service which is acceptable to God is to keep oneself
unspotted from the world.[70] Though unfortunately with the
externalism of the Jews their purification too often became a mere
ceremony, and their separation an ungracious race-exclusiveness,
still, at the root of it, the Passover idea here brought before us is
profoundly true. It is the thought that we cannot take part in a
sacred feast of Divine gladness except on condition of renouncing sin.
The joy of the Lord is the beatific vision of saints, the blessedness
of the pure in heart who see God.
[67] Here, at Ezra vi. 18, the author drops the Aramaic
language--which was introduced at iv. 8--and resumes the Hebrew. See
page 71.
[68] Ezra vi. 21.
[69] 1 Cor. v. 7.
[70] James i. 27.
On this condition, for the people who were thus separate, the festival
was a scene of great gladness. The chronicler calls attention to three
things that were in the mind of the Jews inspiring their praises
throughout.[71] The first is that God was the source of their
joy--"the Lord had made them joyful." There is joy in religion; and
this joy springs from God. The second is that God had brought about
the successful end of their labours by directly influencing the Great
King. He had "turned the heart of the king of Assyria"--a title for
Darius that speaks for the authenticity of the narrative, for it
represents an old form of speech for the ruler of the districts that
had once belonged to the king of Assyria. The third fact is that God
had been the source of strength to the Jews, so that they had been
able to complete their work. The result of the Divine aid was "to
strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of
Israel." Among his own people joy and strength from God, in the great
world a providential direction of the mind of the king--this was what
faith now perceived, and the perception of so wonderful a Divine
activity made the Passover a festival of boundless gladness. Wherever
that ancient Hebrew faith is experienced in conjunction with the
Passover spirit of separation from the leaven of sin religion always
is a well of joy.
[71] Ezra vi. 22.