_THE RELIGION OF HISTORY._
NEHEMIAH ix.
After the carnival--Lent. This Catholic procedure was anticipated by
the Jews in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. The merry feast of
Tabernacles was scarcely over, when, permitting an interval of but a
single day, the citizens of Jerusalem plunged into a demonstration of
mourning--fasting, sitting in sackcloth, casting dust on their heads,
abjuring foreign connections, confessing their own and their fathers'
sins. Although the singular revulsion of feeling may have been quite
spontaneous on the part of the people, the violent reaction to which
it gave rise was sanctioned by the authorities. In an open-air meeting
which lasted for six hours--three of Bible-reading and three of
confession and worship--the Levites took the lead, as they had done at
the publication of The Law a few weeks earlier. But these very men had
rebuked the former outburst of lamentation. Must we suppose that their
only objection on that occasion was that the mourning was then
untimely, because it was indulged in at a festival, whereas it ought
to have been postponed to a fast day? If that were all, we should have
to contemplate a miserably artificial condition of affairs. Real
emotions refuse to come and go at the bidding of officials
pedantically set on regulating their alternate recurrence in
accordance with a calendar of the church year. A theatrical
representation of feeling may be drilled into some such orderly
procession. But true feeling itself is of all things in the universe
the most restive under direct orders.
We must look a little deeper. The Levites had given a great spiritual
reason for the restraint of grief in their wonderful utterance, "The
joy of the Lord is your strength." This noble thought is not an elixir
to be administered or withheld according to the recurrence of
ecclesiastical dates. If it is true at all, it is eternally true.
Although the application of it is not always a fact of experience, the
reason for the fluctuations in our personal relations to it is not to
be looked for in the almanack; it will be found in those dark passages
of human life which, of their own accord, shut out the sunlight of
Divine gladness. There is then no absolute inconsistency in the action
of the Levites. And yet perhaps they may have perceived that they had
been hasty in their repression of the first outburst of grief; or at
all events that they did not then see the whole truth of the matter.
There was some ground for lamentation after all, and though the
expression of sorrow at a festival seemed to them untimely, they were
bound to admit its fitness a little later. It is to be observed that
another subject was now brought under the notice of the people. The
contemplation of the revelation of God's will should not produce
grief. But the consideration of man's conduct cannot but lead to that
result. At the reading of Divine law the Jews' lamentation was
rebuked; at the recital of their own history it was encouraged. Yet
even here it was not to be abject and hopeless. The Levites exhorted
the people to shake off the lethargy of sorrow, to _stand up_ and
bless the Lord their God. Even in the very act of confessing sin we
have a special reason for praising God, because the consciousness of
our guilt in His sight must heighten our appreciation of His
marvellous forbearance.
The Jews' confession of sin led up to a prayer which the Septuagint
ascribes to Ezra. It does so, however, in a phrase that manifestly breaks
the context, and thus betrays its origin in an interpolation.[233]
Nevertheless the tone of the prayer, and even its very language, remind us
forcibly of the Great Scribe's outpouring of soul over the mixed marriages
of his people recorded in Ezra ix. No one was more fitted to lead the Jews
in the later act of devotion, and it is only reasonable to conclude that
the work was undertaken by the one man to whose lot it would naturally
fall.
[233] LXX. Ezra ix. 6-15.
The prayer is very like some of the historical psalms. By pointing to
the variegated picture of the History of Israel, it shows how God
reveals Himself through events. This suggests the probability that the
three hours' reading of the fast day had been taken from the
historical parts of the Pentateuch. The religious teachers of Israel
knew what riches of instruction were buried in the history of their
nation, and they had the wisdom to unearth those treasures for the
benefit of their own age. It is strange that we English have made so
little use of a national history that is not a whit less providential,
although it does not glitter with visible miracles. God has spoken to
England as truly through the defeat of the Spanish Armada, the Puritan
Wars, and the Revolution, as ever He spoke to Israel by means of the
Exodus, the Captivity, and the Return.
The arrangement and method of the prayer lend themselves to a
singularly forcible presentation of its main topics, with heightening
effect as it proceeds in a recapitulation of great historical
landmarks. It opens with an outburst of praise to God. In saying that
Jehovah is God alone, it makes more than a cold pronouncement of
Jewish monotheism; it confesses the practical supremacy of God over
His universe, and therefore over His people and their enemies. God is
adored as the Creator of heaven; and, perhaps with an allusion to the
prevalent Gentile title "God of heaven," as even the Maker of the
heaven of heavens, of that higher heaven of which the starry firmament
is but the gold-sprinkled floor. There, in those far-off, unseen
heights, He is adored. But earth and sea, with all that inhabit them,
are also God's works. From the highest to the lowest, over great and
small, He reigns supreme. This glowing expression of adoration
constitutes a suitable exordium. It is right and fitting that we
should approach God in the attitude of pure worship, for the moment
entirely losing ourselves in the contemplation of Him. This is the
loftiest act of prayer, far above the selfish shriek for help in dire
distress to which unspiritual men confine their utterance before God.
It is also the most enlightening preparation for those lower forms of
devotion that cannot be neglected so long as we are engaged on earth
with our personal needs and sins, because it is necessary for us first
of all to know what God is, and to be able to contemplate the thought
of His being and nature, if we would understand the course of His
action among men, or see our sins in the only true light--the light of
His countenance. We can best trace the course of low-lying valleys
from a mountain height. The primary act of adoration illumines and
directs the thanksgiving, confession, and petition that follow. He who
has once seen God knows how to look at the world and his own heart,
without being misled by earthly glamour or personal prejudice.
In tracking the course of revelation through history, the author of
the prayer follows two threads. First one and then the other is
uppermost, but it is the interweaving of them that gives the definite
pattern of the whole picture. These are God's grace and man's sin. The
method of the prayer is to bring them into view alternately, as they
are illustrated in the History of Israel. The result is like a drama
of several acts, and three scenes in each act. Although we see
progress and a continuous heightening of effect, there is a startling
resemblance between the successive acts, and the relative characters
of the scenes remain the same throughout. In the _first_ scene we
always behold the free and generous favour of God offered to the
people He condescends to bless, altogether apart from any merits or
claims on their part. In the _second_ we are forced to look at the
ugly picture of Israel's ingratitude and rebellion. But this is
invariably followed by a _third_ scene, which depicts the wonderful
patience and long-suffering of God, and His active aid in delivering
His guilty people from the troubles they have brought on their own
heads by their sins, whenever they turn to Him in penitence.
The recital opens where the Jews delighted to trace their origin, in
Ur of the Chaldees. These returned exiles from Babylon are reminded
that at the very dawn of their ancestral history the same district was
the starting-point. The guiding hand of God was seen in bringing up
the Father of the Nation in that far-off tribal migration from Chaldæa
to Canaan. At first the Divine action did not need to exhibit all the
traits of grace and power that were seen later, because Abraham was
not a captive. Then, too, there was no rebellion, for Abraham was
faithful. Thus the first scene opens with the mild radiance of early
morning. As yet there is nothing tragic on either side. The chief
characteristic of this scene is its promise, and the author of the
prayer anticipates some of the later scenes by interjecting a grateful
recognition of the faithfulness of God in keeping His word. "For Thou
art righteous," he says.[234] This truth is the keynote to the prayer.
The thought of it is always present as an undertone, and it emerges
clearly again towards the conclusion, where, however, it wears a very
different garb. There we see how in view of man's sin God's
righteousness inflicts chastisement. But the intention of the author
is to show that throughout all the vicissitudes of history God holds
on to His straight line of righteousness, unwavering. It is just
because He does not change that His action must be modified in order
to adjust itself to the shifting behaviour of men and women. It is the
very immutability of God that requires Him to show Himself froward
with the froward, although He is merciful with the merciful.
[234] Neh. ix. 8.
The chief events of the Exodus are next briefly recapitulated, in
order to enlarge the picture of God's early goodness to Israel. Here
we may discern more than promise; the fulfilment now begins. Here,
too, God is seen in that specific activity of deliverance which comes
more and more to the front as the history proceeds. While the
calamities of the people grow worse and worse, God reveals Himself
with ever-increasing force as the Redeemer of Israel. The plagues of
Egypt, the passage of the Red Sea, the drowning of the Egyptians, the
cloud-pillar by day and the pillar of fire by night, the descent on
Sinai for the giving of The Law--in which connection the one law of
the Sabbath is singled out, a point to be noted in view of the great
prominence given to it later on--the manna, and the water from the
rock, are all signs and proofs of God's exceeding kindness towards His
people.
But now we are directed to a very different scene. In spite of all
this never-ceasing, this ever-accumulating goodness of God, the
infatuated people rebel, appoint a captain to take them back to Egypt,
and relapse into idolatry. This is the human side of the history,
shown up in its deep blackness against the luminous splendour of the
heavenly background.
Then comes the marvellous third scene, the scene that should melt the
hardest heart. God does not cast off His people. The privileges
enumerated before are carefully repeated, to show that God has not
withdrawn them. Still the cloud-pillar guides by day and the
fire-pillar by night. Still the manna and the water are supplied. But
this is not all. Between these two pairs of favours a new one is now
inserted. God gives His "good Spirit" to instruct the people. The
author does not seem to be referring to any one specific event, as
that of the Spirit falling on the elders, or the incident of the
unauthorised prophet, or the bestowal of the Spirit on the artists of
the tabernacle. We should rather conclude from the generality of his
terms that he is thinking of the gift of the Spirit in each of these
cases, and also in every other way in which the Divine Presence was
felt in the hearts of the people. Prone to wander, they needed and
they received this inward monitor. Thus God showed His great
forbearance, by even extending His grace and giving more help because
the need was greater.
From this picture of the wilderness life we are led on to the conquest
of the Promised Land. The Israelites overthrow the kings east of the
Jordan, and take possession of their territories. Growing in numbers,
after a time they are enough to cross the Jordan, seize the land of
Canaan, and subdue the aboriginal inhabitants. Then we see them
settling down in their new home and inheriting the products of the
labours of their more civilised predecessors. All this is a further
proof of the favour of God. Yet again the dreadful scene of
ingratitude is repeated, and that in an aggravated form. A wild fury
of rebellion takes hold of the wicked people. They rise up against
their God, fling His Torah behind their backs, murder the prophets He
sends to warn them, and sink down into the greatest wickedness. The
head and front of their offence is the rejection of the sacred Torah.
The word Torah--law or instruction--must here be taken in its widest
sense to comprehend both the utterances of the prophets and the
tradition of the priests, although it is represented to the
contemporaries of Ezra by its crown and completion, the Pentateuch. In
this second act of heightened energy on both sides, while the
characters of the actors are developing with stronger features, we
have a third scene--forgiveness and deliverance from God.
Then the action moves more rapidly. It becomes almost confused. In
general terms, with a few swift strokes, the author sketches a
succession of similar movements--indeed he does little more than hint
at them. We cannot see how often the threefold process was repeated;
only we perceive that it always recurred in the same form. Yet the
very monotony deepens the impression of the whole drama--so madly
persistent was the backsliding habit of Israel, so grandly continuous
was the patient long-suffering of God. We lose all count of the
alternating scenes of light and darkness as we look at them down the
long vista of the ages. And yet it is not necessary that we should
assort them. The perspective may escape us; all the more must we feel
the force of the process which is characterised by so powerful a unity
of movement.
Coming nearer to his own time, the author of the prayer expands into
detail again. While the kingdom lasted God did not cease to plead with
his people. They disregarded His voice, but His Spirit was in the
prophets, and the long line of heavenly messengers was a living
testimony to the Divine forbearance. Heedless of this greatest and
best means of bringing them back to their forsaken allegiance, the
Jews were at length given over to the heathen. Yet that tremendous
calamity was not without its mitigations. They were not utterly
consumed. Even now God did not forsake them. He followed them into
their captivity. This was apparent in the continuous advent of
prophets--such as the Second Isaiah and Ezekiel--who appeared and
delivered their oracles in the land of exile; it was most gloriously
manifest in the return under Cyrus. Such long-continued goodness,
beyond the utmost excess of the nation's sin, surpassed all that could
have been hoped for. It went beyond the promises of God; it could not
be wholly comprehended in His faithfulness. Therefore another Divine
attribute is now revealed. At first the prayer made mention of God's
righteousness, which was seen in the gift of Canaan as a fulfilment of
the promise to Abraham, so that the author remarked, in regard to the
performance of the Divine word, "for Thou art righteous." But now he
reflects on the greater kindness, the uncovenanted kindness of the
Exile and the Return; "for Thou art a gracious and merciful God."[235]
We can only account for such extended goodness by ascribing it to the
infinite love of God.
[235] Neh. ix. 31.
Having thus brought his review down to his own day, in the concluding
passage of the prayer the author appeals to God with reference to the
present troubles of His people. In doing so he first returns to his
contemplation of the nature of God. Three Divine characteristics rise
up before him,--first, _majesty_ ("the great, the mighty, the terrible
God"); second, _fidelity_ (keeping "covenant"); third, _compassion_
(keeping "mercy").[236] On this threefold plea he beseeches God that
all the national trouble which has been endured since the first
Assyrian invasion may not "seem little" to Him. The greatness of God
might appear to induce disregard of the troubles of His poor human
children, and yet it would really lead to the opposite result. It is
only the limited faculty that cannot stoop to small things because its
attention is confined to large affairs. Infinity reaches to the
infinitely little as readily as to the infinitely great. With the
appeal for compassion goes a confession of sin, which is national
rather than personal. All sections of the community on which the
calamities have fallen--with the significant exception of the prophets
who had possessed God's Spirit, and who had been so grievously
persecuted by their fellow-countrymen--all are united in a common
guilt. The solidarity of the Jewish race is here apparent. We saw in
the earlier case of the sin-offering that the religion of Israel was
national rather than personal. The punishment of the captivity was a
national discipline; now the confession is for national sin. And yet
the sin is confessed distributively, with regard to the several
sections of society. We cannot feel our national sin in the bulk. It
must be brought home to us in our several walks of life.
[236] Neh. ix. 32.
After this confession the prayer deplores the present state of the
Jews. No reference is now made to the temporary annoyance occasioned
by the attacks of the Samaritans. The building of the walls has put an
end to that nuisance. But the permanent evil is more deeply rooted.
The Jews are mournfully conscious of their subject state beneath the
Persian yoke. They have returned to their city; but they are no more
free men than they were in Babylon. Like the _fellaheen_ of Syria
to-day, they have to pay heavy tribute, which takes the best of the
produce of their labour. They are subject to the conscription, having
to serve in the armies of the Great King--Herodotus tells us that
there were "Syrians of Palestine" in the army of Xerxes.[237] Their
cattle are seized by the officers of the government, arbitrarily, "at
their pleasure." Did Nehemiah know of this complaint? If so, might
there not be some ground for the suspicion of the informers after all?
Was that suspicion one reason for his recall to Susa? We cannot answer
these questions. As to the prayer, this leaves the whole case with
God. It would have been dangerous to have said more in the hearing of
the spies who haunted the streets of Jerusalem. And it was needless.
It is not the business of prayer to try to move the hand of God. It is
enough that we lay bare our state before Him, trusting His wisdom as
well as His grace--not dictating to God, but confiding in Him.
[237] Herodotus, vii. 89.