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12. But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:

13. So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

against the half-encircling green background of Olivet.

Nor has there been in

ancient or modern times a sacred building equal to the temple, whether for situation or magnificence."

Edersheim.

:

And yet even this temple and nation were to have glories and prosperity that former times knew not. So says Haggai (2 7, 9), who was commissioned to comfort them by the assurance that the deficiency of this temple in exterior glory should be abundantly compensated by the coming of the Messiah, whose presence should give to the second house a glory greater than that which the first house could boast.

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The older men, v. 12, that had seen the first house in contrast with the mere foundations of the temple yet to be built. Possibly some of them had stood on this very spot half a century before, in an agony of despair, while they saw the cruel flames licking the ancient stones, and blazing up

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among the cedar beams, and all the fine gold dimmed with . . . smoke" (Expositor's Bible), and, with the past glorified by their imagination, wept with a loud voice. "Distance lent enchantment to the view." The Golden Age was in the past. Only the glories were recalled, and they were not annoyed by its imperfections and evils.

The

13. It was a strange scene. people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people. . and the noise was heard afar off.

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The Hittite Stone and the Meteors. Not many years ago in the town of Hamath in Northern Syria was discovered a sacred stone with Hittite inscriptions throwing light upon that ancient race referred to in Genesis, but The Stairway and Arch of Approach for many centuries unknown to history, to the "Dome of the Rock" on the north side. insomuch that many believed that the Bible story of the Hittites was legendary. This stone was with great difficulty purchased for a museum, and was being carted away to the Euphrates to be shipped, when there occurred an unusual display of November meteors. This frightened the people of Hamath; they thought that God was angry with them for selling the sacred stone, and that he was flinging the stars about everywhere in the sky in his wrath.

They sent a deputation after the stone and demanded its return. The old Turk who had it in charge, after a long conference, told them that they had completely misunderstood the meaning of the falling stars; that so far from expressing God's anger, they meant, on the contrary, that God was so glad on account of their self-denial in yielding the stone to science that he was setting off fireworks in heaven for joy.

The Seven Fears to Seven Joys. In the Light of Asia, the king dreamed troublous dreams about his son, Prince Siddartha, and seven great and terrible fears came before him in vision. The flag of Indra was rent by a rushing wind, ten huge elephants

shook the earth with their tread, a mighty drum pealed like a thunderstorm; his son sat on a tower scattering gems, as if it rained jacinths and rubies, and all the world seized on these treasures. Every one was to the king a great fear. But a wise counsellor showed him that every one of his fears was in reality a great joy. The rent flag was but the beginning of the new. The ten elephants were the ten great gifts of wisdom; the tower was the growing of the true religion, and the gems were the truths his son would give to the world; and the drum was the thunder of the preached word. IV. OPPOSITION AND DELAY FOR FIFTEEN YEARS, see chs. 4-6. Everything seemed ready for building the Temple; and there was much to do. The temple foundations were laid, but everything was in an unfinished condition. The walls of the city, and a large part of the city itself, was in ruins. Everywhere were scattered broken foundations, heaps of ruins, building stones, and all the rubbish and débris of a captured city.

Then all at once an obstacle arose that delayed the work on the Temple for 15 years. The race of mongrel Jews and heathen from the far east, as mongrel in religion as in race, from whom descended the Samaritans, desired to unite with the returned Jewish exiles in building the temple. They said they worshipped the same God, but they did it partially in connection with other things which would destroy the perfection and power of the Jewish worship. They worshipped after the manner of the Northern Kingdom, by means of the two calves set up in Bethel and Dan, which worship had led them into idolatry, and destroyed the kingdom. They were adversaries from the first, and not friends changed into adversaries by wrong treatment.

Why did They Want to Join with the Jews? It would strengthen them politically and socially. It would give them the best friends and allies they could have. They imagined that the wealth and prosperity of the newcomers would be an advantage. The Jews gave so liberally to the Temple that probably their wealth was overestimated.

The Jews Peremptorily Refused their Request. Why? Because the result would have been to deteriorate the Jews, and frustrate the religious value of the Return. The colony could not have joined with this adulterated race without destroying the possibility of the restoration of a pure and holy religion. They could indeed have united with them in whatever things were common ground, as in defence against enemies, in common work for the general good.

But in religious work and service it would have been ruin. The people were not firmly enough fixed in their principles and methods to have endured the strain. Rawlinson calls it "an heroic refusal to accept the material aid of a rich and powerful people at the risk of imperiling religious purity." "Thus was a great peril averted." "They saved a nation, for the time at any rate, from the danger of having their religion corrupted and adulterated by intermixture with a form of belief and practice which was altogether of an inferior type, and to a considerable extent tainted with heathenism." Rawlinson.

Some writers have regarded it as a great mistake, a piece of narrow-minded, bigoted folly, which made enemies of those who should have been friends, and kindled hatred and jealousy, and lowered the moral tone and cooled the zeal of the new colony.

The Enemies' Plans. They immediately hired men who had influence at the Persian court; and wrote letters falsely charging the Jews with rebellion, with the intention to refuse to pay taxes as soon as the walls of the city were finished, and with sedition; so that the king would have no portion beyond the river Euphrates. Moreover they assured the king that in the past mighty kings had ruled over Jerusalem, and had kept the taxes and tribute for themselves.

Immediately King Artaxerxes sent a delegation in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews, and made them to cease by force (with a strong arm) and with strength (a powerful army).

Then ceased the work of the house of God which was at Jerusalem, unto the second year of the reign of Darius Hystas'pis, king of Persia; that is for 15 years till B.C.520. V. THE TEMPLE COMPLETED AND DEDICATED, 6: 14-18. Time, 4 years, B.C. 520-516. Completed 70 years after the first temple was destroyed B.C. 586.

First. Political changes in the government of the Eastern nations had made it possible to build the Temple at Jerusalem. The opposing king of Persia was dead, and a new and better king, Darius the son of Hystaspes, had come to the throne, B.C. 521). It could not have been known beforehand that Darius would become a second Cyrus to them, but the enemies of the Jews sent a letter to King Darius to find

6:14. 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.

out whether it was true that Cyrus had given the Jews permission to rebuild the Temple. Darius ordered a search to be made for Cyrus' decree, and he found it, not in Babylon, but at Achmetha (Ecbatana) in the province of the Medes whither the records had been carried. He immediately ordered the Cyrus decree to be carried out (Ezra 6:1-13).

Second. Two prophets arose at this time and inspired the people to arise and build (6:14).

Illustration. Then I saw in my dream that the Interpreter took Christian by the hand, and led him to a place where there was a fire burning against a wall, and one standing by it, always casting much water upon it, to quench it; yet did the fire burn higher and hotter. Then said Christian, "What means this?" The Interpreter answered, "This fire is the work of grace in the heart. He that casts water upon it, to extinguish and put it out, is the Devil. But in that thou seest the fire notwithstanding burn higher and hotter, thou shalt also see the reason of that." So he had him about to the back side of the wall, where he saw a man with a vessel of oil in his hand, which he did also continually cast (but secretly) into the fire. Then said Christian, "What means this?" The Interpreter answered, "This is Christ,

who continually with the oil of his grace maintains the work begun in the heart." Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Interpreter's House. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah were those who were casting the oil of God's favor on the fire that the enemies of the Jews were trying to put out.

Haggai, who urged on the building of the Temple, is generally regarded as an old man at this time. He uttered four prophecies, all delivered in the autumn of B.C. 520. He began at the religious festival of the New Moon when crowds of people were assembled, probably (Geikie) in the Temple area itself, where the altar was smoking with sacrifices, and the unfinished foundations and the desolation of the city were in full view, while in the distance were the homes and fields of the leaders.

The arguments by which he aroused the people to build. I. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Look over the past few years. Is it right, is it honest and fair that you should dwell in your ceiled houses, while the house of the Lord who brought you home from exile lies waste! Is that the way you thank him?

2. The Lord, by his providential dealings, has been compelling them to consider their ways. Look at your fields! and gardens ! "Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands. . . . I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail."

Why? saith the Lord of hosts.

Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her

fruit.

Haggai, in the name of God, said to them, Look at the results of your bad policy. Change your plan. Put God and religion first. Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness. Then you will succeed in giving the nation true prosperity, and its place of usefulness in the world.

Note that drought and short crops and failures in business are not necessarily proofs of wrong-doing; very good men thus suffer. But there are cases where these evils are a sign. A lazy man's crops are a sign. A drunkard, a dissolute or neglectful man, or an ignorant man that will not learn, suffers because of his character.

And God can use the laws of his world in such a way as to make these laws a discipline when it is necessary.

3. Haggai encouraged the people by glorious promises. "The glory of this latter

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.

house shall be greater than of the former." "The Desire of Nations shall come." "The silver and gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts." You can have all you need. An Illustration from The Youth's Companion. "Several years ago a woman, with her little baby, was riding in a stage-coach in western Montana. The weather was bitter cold, and, in spite of all the driver could do to protect her, he saw that the mother was becoming unconscious from the cold. He stopped the coach, took the baby, and wrapping it warmly, put it under the seat, then seized the mother by the arm, and dragging her out upon the ground, drove away, leaving her in the road. As she saw him drive away, she ran after him, crying piteously for her baby. When he felt sure that she was warm, he allowed her to overtake the coach and resume her place by her baby. Can we not imagine her gratitude when she realized that he had saved her life? He had done as God sometimes does, to shake us out of soul-lethargy and moral sleep

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Dedicating the Temple.

which would end in death."

So Haggai set before the Jews (who had become cold, and in danger of losing it) the hope and success of their nation, till they became earnestly absorbed in gaining it.

Zechariah. While aged Haggai was urging the people to rise up and build, a younger prophetpreacher was inspired to encourage the people, and to remove their difficulties and doubts, by a series of emblematical visions, or object lessons.

1. The vision of the horses, God's messengers over the whole world, showing that God has not

From an old print. forgotten his people, but can bring help from every part of the world. 2. The vision of the horns.

These representing the powerful nations of the world which had gored and torn Jerusalem, are being destroyed by the mightier forces of God.

3. The vision of the measuring line, showing that no measuring line is long enough to express the extent of the future city of God they were building.

4. The vision of Satan presenting a list of Israel's sins, while the representative of the nation stands clothed in vile garments, which are changed into the glorious raiment of the high priest.

5. The vision of the Golden Candlestick, supplied by an unfailing source of oil, shows the nation giving light, with its life, beauty, comfort, power, and glory, to all the world.

6. The vision of the flying scroll, containing a list of crimes, removes the discouragement which came from the consciousness that many bad people were among them. 7. The vision of the huge measure, bearing far away sin and temptation.

8. The vision of the four chariots, God's messengers, bringing his aid to the Jews from distant regions.

These Visions express the great religious truths and principles by which the nation could be redeemed. And they bear their meaning down the ages, for all nations and all times, and for each individual as well as each nation. They were full of inspiration and hope.

Five phrases in Zechariah should be engraved in letters of gold upon the memory.

I. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.

2. A brand plucked out of the fire.

3. Who hath despised the day of small things?

4. And the streets of the city (the new Jerusalem) shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.

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5. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar."

The Temple was finished (6 : 15) on the third day of the month Adar (March) . in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king, four years after it was begun, 70 years after the former Temple was destroyed.

The Dedication was celebrated with great joy.

In a few weeks, on the 14th day of

the first month (April) the Passover was celebrated with repentance and new consecration, and joy.

"As exhalations when they burst

From the warm earth, if chilled at first,
If checked in soaring from the plain,
Darken to fogs, and sink again.

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"But if they once triumphant spread
Their wings above the mountain head,
Become enthroned in upper air
And turn to sun-bright glories there."

Helps for To-day. The institutions of religion, the church buildings, and all the rooms and means for worship and study, are essential to the best religious life. "Without the Temple," says George Adam Smith, "the continuity of Israel's religion could not be maintained.' No community can long prosper which gives its time to material things, and neglects the spiritual; which builds beautiful dwellings, but neglects its schoolhouses and churches. The buildings which represent and cultivate the higher nature should be the noblest and best in the community. Wise colonists or builders of towns always build churches, schoolhouses, and libraries among the first things they do.

So Whittier sings in "Our State":

"Nor heeds the sceptic's puny hands,

While near the school the church-spire stands:

Nor fears the blinded bigot's rule

While near the church-spire stands the school."

This was one secret of the power of the Puritan Pilgrims in New England. Their first work was to worship God, to build churches, and found schools. So when food came after the terrible siege of Leyden, men who rushed first for the food over-ate and died : but the majority went first to the church, and gave thanks to God, and then satisfied their hunger, and found health and strength. Then they founded a university as their thank-offering. See the Siege of Leyden, in Motley's Dutch Republic, pp. 570580.

LESSON IV. - October 28.

EZRA'S RETURN FROM BABYLON.- Ezra 8:15-36.
PRINT vs. 21-32. MEMORIZE vs. 21, 22.

GOLDEN TEXT - The hand of our God is upon all them that seek him, for good.
EZRA 8:22.

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