'And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the
prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo: and
they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God
of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and
Artaxerxes king of Persia. 15. And this house was finished on the
third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign
of Darius the king. 16. And the children of Israel, the priests, and
the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the
dedication of this house of God with joy, 17. And offered at the
dedication of this house of God an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams,
four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve
he-goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 18. And
they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their
courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is
written in the book of Moses. 19. And the children of the captivity
kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. 20. For
the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were
pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity,
and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. 21. And the
children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all
such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the
heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of Israel, did eat, 22. And
kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the Lord
had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto
them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the
God of Israel.'--EZRA. vi. 14-22.
There are three events recorded in this passage,--the completion of
the Temple, its dedication, and the keeping of the passover some weeks
thereafter. Four years intervene between the resumption of building
and its successful finish, much of which time had been occupied by the
interference of the Persian governor, which compelled a reference to
Darius, and resulted in his confirmation of Cyrus' charter. The king's
stringent orders silenced opposition, and seem to have been loyally,
however unwillingly, obeyed. About twenty-three years passed between
the return of the exiles and the completion of the Temple.
I. The prosperous close of the long task (vers. 14, 15). The narrative
enumerates three points in reference to the completion of the Temple
which are very significant, and, taken together, set forth the
stimulus and law and helps of work for God.
It is expressive of deep truth that first in order is named, as the
cause of success, 'the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah.'
'Practical men,' no doubt, then as always, set little store by the two
prophets' fiery words, and thought that a couple of masons would have
done more for the building than they did. The contempt for 'ideas' is
the mark of shallow and vulgar minds. Nothing is more practical than
principles and motives which underlie and inform work, and these two
prophets did more for building the Temple by their words than an army
of labourers with their hands. 'There are diversities of operations,'
and it is not given to every man to handle a trowel; but no good work
will be prosperously accomplished unless there be engaged in it
prophets who rouse and rebuke and hearten, and toilers who by their
words are encouraged and saved from forgetting the sacred motives and
great ends of their work in the monotony and multiplicity of details.
Still more important is the next point mentioned. The work was done
'according to the commandment of the God of Israel.' There is peculiar
beauty and pathos in that name, which is common in Ezra. It speaks of
the sense of unity in the nation, though but a fragment of it had come
back. There was still an Israel, after all the dreary years, and in
spite of present separation. God was still its God, though He had
hidden His face for so long. An inextinguishable faith, wistful but
assured, in His unalterable promise, throbs in that name, so little
warranted by a superficial view of circumstances, but so amply
vindicated by a deeper insight. His 'commandment' is at once the
warrant and the standard for the work of building. In His service we
are to be sure that He bids, and then to carry out His will whoever
opposes.
We are to make certain that our building is 'according to the pattern
showed in the mount,' and, if so, to stick to it in every point. There
is no room for more than one architect in rearing the temple. The
working drawings must come from Him. We are only His workmen. And
though we may know no more of the general plan of the structure than
the day-labourer who carries a hod does, we must be sure that we have
His orders for our little bit of work, and then we may be at rest even
while we toil. They who build according to His commandment build for
eternity, and their work shall stand the trial by fire. That motive
turns what without it were but 'wood, hay, stubble,' into 'gold and
silver and precious stones.'
The last point is that the work was done according to the commandment
of the heathen kings. We need not discuss the chronological difficulty
arising from the mention of Artaxerxes here. The only king of that
name who can be meant reigned fifty years after the events here
narrated. The mention of him here has been explained by 'the
consideration that he contributed to the maintenance, though not to
the building, of the Temple.' Whatever is the solution, the intention
of the mention of the names of the friendly monarchs is plain. 'The
king's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the watercourses; He
turneth it whithersoever He will.' The wonderful providence,
surpassing all hopes, which gave the people 'favour in the eyes of
them that carried them captive,' animates the writer's thankfulness,
while he recounts that miracle that the commandment of God was
re-echoed by such lips. The repetition of the word in both clauses
underscores, as it were, the remarkable concurrence.
II. The dedication of the Temple (vers. 16-18). How long the
dedication was after the completion is not specified. The month Adar
was the last of the Jewish year, and corresponded nearly with our
March. Probably the ceremonial of dedication followed immediately on
the completion of the building. Probably few, if any, of the aged men,
who had wept at the founding, survived to see the completion of the
Temple. A new generation had no such sad contrasts of present
lowliness and former glory to shade their gladness. So many dangers
surmounted, so many long years of toil interrupted and hope deferred,
gave keener edge to joy in the fair result of them all.
We may cherish the expectation that our long tasks, and often
disappointments, will have like ending if they have been met and done
in like spirit, having been stimulated by prophets and commanded by
God. It is not wholesome nor grateful to depreciate present blessings
by contrasting them with vanished good. Let us take what God gives
to-day, and not embitter it by remembering yesterday with vain regret.
There is a remembrance of the former more splendid Temple in the name
of the new one, which is thrice repeated in the passage,--'this
house.' But that phrase expresses gratitude quite as much as, or more
than, regret. The former house is gone, but there is still 'this
house,' and it is as truly God's as the other was. Let us grasp the
blessings we have, and be sure that in them is continued the substance
of those we have lost.
The offerings were poor, if compared with Solomon's 'two and twenty
thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep' (1 Kings
viii. 63), and no doubt the despisers of the 'day of small things,'
whom Zechariah had rebuked, would be at their depreciating work again.
But 'if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to
that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.' The
thankfulness of the offerers, not the number of their bullocks and
rams, made the sacrifice well pleasing. But it would not have been so
if the exiles' resources had been equal to the great King's. How many
cattle had they in their stalls at home, not how many they brought to
the Temple, was the important question. The man who says, 'Oh! God
accepts small offerings,' and gives a mite while he keeps talents,
might as well keep his mite too; for certainly God will not have it.
A significant part of the offerings was the 'twelve he-goats,
according to the number of the tribes of Israel.' These spoke of the
same confidence as we have already noticed as being expressed by the
designation of 'the God of Israel.' Possibly scattered members of all
the tribes had come back, and so there was a kind of skeleton
framework of the nation present at the dedication; but, whether that
be so or not, that handful of people was not Israel. Thousands of
their brethren still lingered in exile, and the hope of their return
must have been faint. Yet God's promise remained, and Israel was
immortal. The tribes were still twelve, and the sacrifices were still
theirs. A thrill of emotion must have touched many hearts as the
twelve goats were led up to the altar. So an Englishman feels as he
looks at the crosses on the Union Jack.
But there was more than patriotism in that sacrifice. It witnessed to
unshaken faith. And there was still more expressed in it than the
offerers dreamed; for it prophesied of that transformation of the
national into the spiritual Israel, in virtue of which the promises
remain true, and are inherited by the Church of Christ in all lands.
The re-establishment of the Temple worship with the appointment of
priests and Levites, according to the ancient ordinance, naturally
followed on the dedication.
III. The celebration of the Passover (vers. 19-22). It took place on
the fourteenth day of the first month, and probably, therefore, very
soon after the dedication. They 'kept the feast, ... for the priests
and Levites were purified together.' The zeal of the sacerdotal class
in attending to the prescriptions for ceremonial purity made it
possible that the feast should be observed. How much of real devotion,
and how much of mere eagerness to secure their official position,
mingled with this zeal, cannot be determined. Probably there was a
touch of both. Scrupulous observance of ritual is easy religion,
especially if one's position is improved by it. But the connection
pointed out by the writer is capable of wide applications. The true
purity and earnestness of preachers and teachers of all degrees has
much to do with their hearers' and scholars' participation in the
blessings of the Gospel. If priests are not pure, they cannot kill the
passover. Earnest teachers make earnest scholars. Foul hands cannot
dispense the bread of life.
There is a slight deviation from the law in the ritual as here stated,
since it was prescribed that each householder should kill the passover
lamb for his house. But from the time of Hezekiah the Levites seem to
have done it for the congregation (2 Chron. xxx. 17), and afterwards
for the priests also (2 Chron. xxxv. 11, 14).
Verse 21 tells that not only the returned exiles, but also 'all such
as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the
heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of Israel,' ate the
passover. It may be questioned whether these latter were Israelites,
the descendants of the residue who had not been deported, but who had
fallen into idolatry during the exile, or heathens of the mixed
populations who had been settled in the vacant country. The emphasis
put on their turning to Israel and Israel's God seems to favour the
latter supposition. But in any case, the fact presents us with an
illustration of the proper effect of the presence anywhere of a
company of God's true worshippers. If we purify ourselves, and keep
the feast of the true passover with joy as well as purity, we shall
not want for outsiders who will separate themselves from the more
subtle and not less dangerous idolatries of modern life, to seek the
Lord God of Israel. If His Israel is what it ought to be, it will
attract. A bit of scrap-iron in contact with a magnet is a magnet.
They who live in touch with Him who said, 'I will draw all men unto
Me' will share His attractive power in the measure of their union with
Him.
The week after the passover feast was, according to the ritual,
observed as the feast of unleavened bread. The narrative touches
lightly on the ceremonial, and dwells in conclusion on the joy of the
worshippers and its cause. They do well to be glad whom God makes
glad. All other joy bears in it the seeds of death. It is, in one
aspect, the end of God's dealings, that we should be glad in Him. Wise
men will not regard that as a less noble end than making us pure; in
fact, the two are united. The 'blessed God' is glad in our gladness
when it is His gladness.
Notice the exulting wonder with which God's miracle of mercy is
reported in its source and its glorious result. The heart of the king
was turned to them, and no power but God's could have done that. The
issue of that divine intervention was the completed Temple, in which
once more the God of that Israel which He had so marvellously restored
dwelt in the midst of His people.