No II.

EZRA.

THE events which we have been considering were deeply significant. The throne of God was no longer at Jerusalem. God had fulfilled His threat of casting off the city which He had chosen. He had bestowed the throne of the earth upon the Gentiles (Daniel ii. 37). Not only had Israel failed under the old covenant and rejected God, so that God was no longer their king; but even after grace had raised up the house of David to sustain the relations of the people with God, everything was entirely corrupted by sin; so that there was no more remedy, and God had written Lo-Ammi (not my people) as it were on the forehead of a people who had forsaken Him. The counsels of God cannot fail; but such was the sad condition of the relationship between this people and God; if it can be said that a judgment like this allowed any relationship still to exist. So far as it depended on Israel-on man: all was lost. The consequences of this, with respect to God's dealings, were of great importance; they were nothing less than His taking His throne from the earth, casting off His people, and transferring power to the Gentiles. Man, in probation under the law, had failed, and he was condemned. He had been sustained by grace, through means which God had granted for his continuance therein, and he had failed again. Kingly power was in the hands of the Gentiles, and the people were under condemnation, according to the old covenant. But God now brings back a little remnant, and causes the temple to be rebuilt in its place, according to the promises given by the mouth of Jeremiah, and at the request of His servant Daniel. The latter, still at Babylon, with a deeper sense of the real condition of the people than they had who were rebuilding the temple, has received much more extensive information as to the future destiny of Israel, and the intentions of God respecting it.

A due appreciation of this return from captivity is not then without importance, since it is evident that the

understanding of God's dealings with respect to the restoration of Israel, is connected with this event. It was the will of God that there should be some respite; but the current of His purposes, concerning the times of the Gentiles and the position of His people was unaltered.

It is Cyrus, king of Persia, who commands the people to return to Jerusalem, and to rebuild the temple. A type, himself, in some respects, of a far more glorious deliverer, he confesses Jehovah, the God of Israel, to be the true God, He is "the righteous man raised up from the east who treads down the princes like mortar." Called of the Lord by name for this purpose, he favours Israel and honours the Lord. A man distinguished and blessed by the favour of the mighty God, a man whose conduct was certainly under the guidance of God, His personal character did not interfere with its being the times of the Gentiles, notwithstanding that God had put it into the heart of one of these Gentiles to favour His people. The word of God, by Jeremiah, is fulfilled. Babylon is judged. But, in fact, that which still exists is a prolongation of its power. The seat of the royal authority which God bestows on man, is a city which is not the city of God; which is neither the earthly Jerusalem nor the heavenly. The house of David no longer holds the sceptre entrusted to it.

It is true that the rod of the tribe of Judah is preserved, in order that "the Branch" of the root of Jesse may be presented to this tribe. But the power of the Gentiles still continued; it existed even when the Messiah was on earth, and the Jews had to be commanded to render unto Cæsar the things that were Cæsar's. The presentation of Jesus, the true Messiah, was but the occasion of fully demonstrating this, in the cry, "We have no king but Cæsar."

Nevertheless, God still gives the people-guilty under the law an opportunity for the exercise of faith.

Let us examine the principles that characterise the energy of the Holy Ghost in the people, at the time of their return.

The first thing to be observed is, that having felt what

it was to have to do with the Gentiles, and having experienced the power and wickedness of those whose help they had formerly sought, the children of the captivity resolve that Israel shall be an unmingled Israel, and proved to be so. They are most careful in verifying the genealogies of the people and of the priests, in order that none but Israel should be engaged in the work. Formerly one priest succeeded another without previous examination; genealogy was not verified, and children came into their father's place in the enjoyment of the privileges which God had granted them. But Israel now, through the great grace of God, had to recover their position. This was neither the beginning of their history nor the power suited to the beginning; it was a return, and the disorder that sin had brought in was not henceforth to be endured. What had any but Israel to do there? To mark out the family of God was now the essential thing. Deliverance from Babylon was their deliverance. It was this family, or a small remnant of it, which God had brought, or was bringing, out from thence. Thus, even amongst those who had come up to Judah, whoever could not produce his genealogy was set aside; and every priest with whom this was the case, was put away from the priesthood as polluted, whatever, as it appears, might be the reality of his qualification. Divine discernment might, perhaps, recognise them and their rights another day; but the people who had returned from captivity could not do so. They were a numbered and recognised people. They dwelt each in his own city.

In the seventh month, the children of Israel gather themselves together at Jerusalem, each one going up from the place where he dwelt. The first thing which they do there, under the direction of Joshua and Zerubbabel, is to build the altar, to place themselves under the wings of the God of Israel, the sole Help and sole Protector of His people; for fear was upon them, because of the people of those countries. Their refuge is in God: beautiful testimony of faith; precious effect of the state of trial and abasement they were in. Surrounded by enemies, the unwalled city is protected by the altar of

her God, erected by the faith of God's people; and she is in greater security than when she had her kings and her walls. Faith, strict in following the word, confides in the goodness of its God. This exactness in following the word, characterised the Jews at that time in several respects. We have seen it, chap. ii. 59-63; we find it again here, iii. 2; and again in verse 4, on the occasion of the feast of tabernacles. Customs, traditions, all were lost. They were very careful not to follow the ways of Babylon. What had they left, except the word? A condition like this gave it its full power. All this takes place before the house is built. It was faith seeking the will of God, although far from having set everything in order. We find then no attempt at doing, without God, those things which required a discernment that they did not possess. But with touching faith, these Jews exercise piety towards God, worship God, and, as we may say, set Him in their midst, rendering Him that which duty required. They acknowledged God by faith; but until the Urim and Thummim should be there, they placed no one on God's part in a position which required the exercise of God's authority, with the object of giving some competency to act for Him.

Having at length brought together the materials which the king of Persia had granted them, the Jews begin to build the temple, and lay its foundations. The joy of the people, generally, was great. This was natural and right. They praise the Lord according to the ordinance of David, and sing (how well it became them now to do so!) "His mercy endureth for ever." Nevertheless, the ancient men wept, for they had seen the former house, built according to the inspired direction of God. Alas! we understand this. He who thinks of what the Church was at the first, will understand the tears of these old men. This became nearness to God. Farther off, it was right that joy, or at least the confused shout which only proclaimed the public event, should be heard; for, in truth, God had interposed in His people's behalf.

Joy was in His presence and acceptable. Tears confessed the truth, and testified a just sense of what God had been for His people, and of the blessing they had

enjoyed nnder His hand. Tears recognised, alas! that which the people of God had been for God; and these tears were acceptable to Him. The weeping could not be discerned from the shout of joy; this was a truthful result, natural and sad, yet becoming in the presence of God. For He rejoices in the joy of His people, and He understands their tears. It was, indeed, a true expression of the state of things.

But, in such a case, difficulties do not arise only from the weakness of the remnant; they proceed also from elements with which the remnant are outwardly connected, and which, at the same time, are foreign to the relationship of the people with God. In Israel's case, there was real weakness, because God-although faithful to His people according to their need-did not, in fact, come forward to establish them on the original footing. To do so, would not have been morally suitable; either with respect to the position in which the people stood with God; or with regard to a power which He had established among the Gentiles, apart from Israel; or with a view to the instruction of His own people in all ages, as to the government of God. Relationship with God is never despised with impunity.

In such a state of things, the power of the world having gained so much ground already in the land of promise even among the people, to whom the promise belonged, difficulties arose from the fact that persons who, in consequence of the intervention of the civil powers, were within the borders of the promised land, desired to participate with the Jews in constructing the temple. They alleged, in support of their claim, that they called upon God as the Jews did, and had sacrificed unto Him since Esar-haddon had brought them into the land. This was not enmity. Why repel such a desire? The Spirit of God calls them the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin. The people of God-the Church of God-ought to be conscious of their own peculiar privileges, and that they are the Church of the Lord. The Lord loved Judah and Benjamin. From His grace towards this people flowed all the blessing of which they were the object, and the people ought fully to recognise