H.i%.%\ LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON. N. J. Presented by TVie Widow o"f Gre or ©"eDvAp^n , ^(=> Section kt..4r. ' k V/7 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.archive.org/details/bookofezra72schu THE BOOK OF EZRA. THEOLOGICALLY AND HOMILETICALLY EXPOUNDED, r FR. W. SCHULTZ, PROFESSOR IN ORDINARY OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BRESLAU. PRUSSIA. TRANSLATED, ENLARGED, AND EDITED REV. CHARLES A. BRIGGS, D.D, PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT EXEGESIS IN THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW YORK. NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBXERS SONS, 743-745 Broadway*. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by SCEIBNEE, AEMSTEONG & CO., In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. INTRODUCTION. \ 1. THEIR SIGNIFICANCE, CHARACTER AND CONTENTS. 1. Their Significance. — It might readily spein as if the development of Israel subsequent to the exile had been backwards, and it bad had but a negative significance wi.h reference to the history of redemption ; that is, as if it was merely through the deficiencies of the present, that the desire for a betier future had been awakened and pointed forward to it. If, how- ever, it was the final destiny of Israel to overcome the empires of the world, and set up the kingdom of Go 1, not through political, but religious forces; not as a na ion ia battle with the nations of the world, but as leaven cast in among them; not from without, but from within, and without political independence or power — in other words: if the kingdom of God, the preparation for which is here considered, was to be a higher spiritual kingdom, then even the circumstances of the exile, still more those subsequent to the exile, were pecu- liarly appropriate to prepare Israel for its work in a positive way, likewise ; yea, they con- strained this people at once from the very beginning to become a community which was not so much political as religious, which, in distinction from the previous royal kingdom, we may call a priestly kingdom. (Couip. J. P. LANGE, Introd. to the Scriptures in the vol. of the Comm. on Matt., p. 4.) In all their public undertakings, even after the close of the exile, although so dependent upon their heathen rulers and overseers that they could not even build their temple, not to speak of the walls of Jerusalem, without permission, they yet had t!ie important task of showing that in spite of the loss of their national independence, they were in a position to maintain victoriously their internal religious peculiarities, and that they had in them a treasure through which, if they faithfully cherished the inheritance entrusted to them from above, they might be enabled to rise above all external oppressions — yea, through which they might arise in the most powerful and glorious manner even from their apparent defeats. It is true that they still for a long time could not entirely dispense with externalities. It was necessary that their God should ever have a temple, in which to dwell among His people, though apart from them; their hearts were not yet sufficiently won and purified to become His dwelling and temple. And so Israel itself still needed a city in w'lich they might be near the temple, in which more than any where else they might live as a religious community, and they must still secure it with walls and gates. But in view of their higher and proper aims, they were no longer calle 1 to reconquer their political inde- pendence and re-establish a worldly kingdom. The efforts of the Maccabees, so far as they tended to this result, and their consequences, were in a false and round-about way. The development of the people of God, as such, at that time necessarily required that the external vessel, which indeed was entirely appropriate to its times and even indispensa- ble, should gradually more and more completely fall away and disappear, as the chrysalis, out of which the butterfly, attired in the most beautiful colors, soared upward to the bright 1 2 INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAII. sky ; so that that which was spiritual and belonged to eternity might attain its pure repre- sentation as spiritual and eternal, and that the words whose depth and fullness we still to- day so insufficiently appreciate : " My kingdom is not of this world," might be more and more understood. Now the more Israel was referred to their religion and religious customs, the more weight would they be likely to give to those things which still seemed to give their religion its greatest stability ; the more decidedly they found their calling in being a holy people, the more might it seem that they were commanded to clothe with religious consecration those things which were externally as well as those which were ethically holy, e. g. the sanc- tuary, especially the temple and the institutions of worship, the ancient writings also which guided to the religion, the people which had its existence through the religion and the law over against the heathen world; yea, the city itself, in which alone they were able to pre- serve all these holy things. Yes, they were in great danger of regarding reverence and care for the»e sacred things as the highest and most important of all things, and thus of external- izing religion in a worse way than before the exile, when it was through the undue estima- tion of other things. In short both tendencies were possible. The times following the exile might just as well prepare the way for the new, real and internal organization of the king- dom of God, commencing with Christ and the apostles, as be the beginning of that entirely opposite extreme of Pharisaism through the cultivation of externals and of antichriatian Judaism. And both possibilities have been realized. It is the great significance of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah that they historically describe that effort, yea, likewise power and might of Israel in rising up again and maintaining the field, even without political independence, as a purely religious community, thus of struggling for the New Testament and spiritual mode of existence, so likewise it at least let9 us, through the entire character of the persons with whom they have to do, yea even through the condition of the entire con- gregation, forebode the danger pointed out of a new external religion putting itself in place of the old. The book of Esther also shares in this characteristic, as on the one side it brings into view the faithfulness of Israel to the law of their fathers in the midst of the severest temptations and trials ; whilst on the other it does not extol this faithfulness as being as pure and exalted as we could wish. Thus these three books were given for instruction, edi- fication, consolation and warning, especially for those times when the congregation is again in the condition of doing away with their previous unreliable and frail props, of becoming poorer in apparent blessings and of being obliged to return to the real and substantial bless- ings. They bear witness to the congregation in the plainest and most unmistakable marner that it can show itself as internally, really rich even in external poverty, and can rise above all difficulties, trials and oppressions in spite of external weakness, yea, they prophesy to it, that whilst not of this world, it will abide ever anew as indestructible and eternal. But they likewise warn, in such times of mortification and trouble, not to be careless of self, or to find true piety, which can only consist in sincere devotion to God, ii the estimation and cultivation of those things which are really the products of piety itself. 2. TJidr Character. — It might be questionable whether the period subsequent to the exile afforded the appropriate material for a sacred history. Sacred history had previously had espe- cially to do with the government of God as it was more or less revealed in Israel. If now there were no longer any such manifestations of God as had previously been described, no more such preservation, deliverance, revival and advancement of the people; if the people continued to exist merely as a religious community, and accordingly lead merely a quiet, so to say a hid- den life, without rejoicing in new revelations — then at least it is not quite clear why the his- tory should still maintain a sacred character. But on the other hand the history might, yea, must exhibit, on the one side, the new beginning at all events, so far as the people had such a beginning in Jerusalem as a religious community, and thus the return of a portion of the exiles and the restoration as well of the temple as of the city with its walls, as a secure place of the community ; but especially likewise the re-establishment of the community itself as a people separating themselves decidedly from the heathen, and living in accordance with the divine law in communion with God. I 1. THEIR SIGNIFICANCE, CIIARACTER AND CONTENTS. This beginning had been expressly set in prospect by the prophets as G d's own act, anil so could not come to pass without the especial co-operation of God, that is, unless He had made the heathen world-powers subservient to His purpose, and inclined a portion of the exiles to return to their devastated land. Moreover, on the other side, the preservation of the portion remaining in the lands of the exile might at all events take such a form that it would not be an entirely inappropriate theme of sacred history. That is, if a danger should arise for this Judaism in the Diaspora too great to be overcome through human power and sagacity without a higher divine providence; if it should especially threaten Judaism as such, that is, on account of the law and their lawful reverence of God so that it became doubtful whether obedience to the divine law could be maintained in spite of the human claims to obedience — then there could, yea, must be such a preservation. That portion of Judaism remaining in heathen lauds had by no means been dismissed as such from commu- nion with Jehovah ; it had a not unimportant part to play for the kingdom of God, as is manifest in the apostolic times, where it constituted with its synagogues the best starting- point for the preaching of the gospel; and their remaining behind in exile was in some measure approved by the word of God itself, inasmuch as the prophets had placed the proper return in connection with the appearance of the Messiah. The new beginning we find described in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and a pre- servation of the character above pointed out in the book of Esther. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah by no means intend to narrate the history of the entire period which they embrace from Zerubbabel to Nehemiah ; but they would in reality merely treat of that which was essential to the new beginning. This is clear not only from what they narrate, but also from that which they omit. And with respect to the book of Esther, the principal thing is not so much the person of Esther or Mordecai and their exaltation, as the deliverance of Israel, for which all else is as the means to the end. As it was to be expected, however, the history of this new period has a new method and a different tone. Whilst the representation of the times before the exile regarded the external affairs, that is, the people and their pos- session of the land, as the bearers of the internal; and the lower, that is, the political fortune as the outflow of the highest; and thus had ever occupied itself with the proper soul of that which occurred, with the thoughts and plans of God, especially with the holy and glorious acts of God : the historian of the times subsequent to the exile naturally took the external it- self at once as an internal thing, so that he stopped with the lower, earthly and human. Whilst the history of the times previous to the exile, as a faithful copy of the great conflict, which the Lord had then conducted for the existence of His truth, against all heathenish influences within and without Israel, had on its part most earnestly taken part in the struggle, and become especially great and strong through its simple, constantly-repeated, but at the bottom the only valid criticism of the heathenish influence, the apostacy from Jehovah, the carnal im- pulses and errors — the history of the times subsequent to the exile contented itself with a simple account of that which transpired, and purposed merely to excite a grateful remembrance of that which God had done, or of the services of the prominent men and families. Whilst the history of the pre-exile times had a genuine prophetic character, in that it had immediately taken part in real life, as it then was also conducted by prophets ; that of the post-exile times assumed a priestly Levitical character without doubt likewise proceeding from priests and Levi'es. This new method of conception and treatment had likewise its propriety. The view which supported this method was that ultimately all depends upon the divine service, and that which is connected therewiih, that hence the temple and the capital deserve the most attention as the places of the divine service. This was sufficiently sustained by that advance in development, which marked the post-exile time and the new arrangement of affairs, and is entirely correct. And if now the singers and musicians appeared alongside of the priests, this is all the more established, as alongside of and after the offerings the wor- ship must more and more gain through the word a higher and more spiritual value. We must find sufficiently good reasons for this, and recognize it with thankfulness that a histo- rian subsequent to the exile in the books of Cliron'cles treated the entire history previous to the exile from the same point of view an 1 according to the same principles. 4 INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH But we must also bring into consideration a difference in the method of using the sources, which, if it is more of a formal character is yet not unimportant. Whilst in the pre-exile history the use of the sources was the subordinate and secondary thing, and the independent representation in accordance with practical aims was the principal thing; in the post-exile history, as it appears in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the chief thing appears to be the use of the sources. The author lets his own representation remain in the back-ground, at least so far as that he merely gives a sufficient introduction to the sources or original docu- ments respecting the subject in hand, so far as he can use them, and seeks to put them in proper connection with one another, and even in the Chronicles he does not revise, but com- piles. Hence he heaps up the original documents, especially in (he book of Ezra, official letters, which naturally seem too detailed, and in addition registers of names, which strike us as too long-winded. But when we ask what induced him to make these so prominen', we might bring into consideration in general and above all that which was involved in the entire development of the times, the above-mentioned es'imate of ancient pieces of composi- tion as holy treasures; but the chief reason for the adoption of such epistolary documents, as we find especially in the book of Ezra, was certainly in the circumstance that the whole existence of the community subsequent to the exile, poli'ically so dependent, was based upon them, so that they really had an inestimable worth ; with respect to the register of names, we are likewise to consider, that in a time when the existence of the community gathered about the temple was no longer given by the simple mention of their membership in the tribe or people, but was dependent on the free resolution of the individuals who would return from Babylon, and as a matter of fact limited itself to individual households of the ancient families and tribes, that it was no longer sufficient to speak in general of Judah or Benjamin, but was natural to mention the individual families and households, yea, here and there likewise of individual persons, and to hold them as worthy of a thankful remembrance. These registers of names cannot hut remind us from this point of view of the fact that the farther the congregation developed itself in accordance with this idea, the more the personality of the individual gained in importance and came into estimation. 3. Their Contents. — The chief topics of consideration after the exile were, on the one side, the temple as the dwelling place of God; on the other side the city with its walls as the place of the congregation, and besides the congregation itself. Thm in the book of Ezra the temple stands decidedly in the foreground, in the book of Nehemiah the city with its walls, whilst both books, in their second parts, take up the congregation itself, that is the organization of their life in accordance with the law. The b>ok of Nehemiah, moreover, embraces the city walls and the life of the congregation in accordance with the law once more in a brief closing section. More closely considered there are only a few principal topics treated of with reference to these subjects. The book of Ezra begins with the year in which Cyrus gave the Jews per- mission to return (536), and extends at least to the seventh year of Artaxerxes (45S), embra- cing accordingly a space of about eighty years. The book of Nehemiah alludes to the twen- tieth year of Artaxerxes, and touches besides upon what happened after his thirty-second year, thus after 433. Limiting itself, however, to the beginnings, the book of Ezra occupies itself merely with the fundamental permission of Cyrus, the building of the temple under Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and finally merely with the negative consolidation of the life of the congregation under the law, which still so readily mixed itself with heathenism, namely, with the exclusion of heathen women by Ezra; it thus, after narrating the building of the temple, leaps over the entire period between the seventh year of Darius Hystaspis and the seventh year of Artaxerxes, a period of fifty-six years. The book of Nehemiah discourses merely respecting the restoration of the city-walls and the positive strenglhening of the life under the law through the renewal of the covenant between God and the new congregation, with an emphasis of the conditions then particularly important. How much the author i3 inclined to make use of the documents and sources respecting the re-establishment of the congregation, or rather give them after a short introduction, is manifest enough from the beginning. After referring to Jeremiah's words with reference to the end of the exile and re-establishment of Jerusalem, by which the subsequent history is put in the light of an act \ 1. THEIR SIGNIFICANCE. CHARACTER AND CONTENTS. 5 of God in fulfilment thereof, the edict of Cyrus follows, that called upon the Jews to return to Jerusalem and build the temple, and moreover called upon those who remained to assist the departing. The restoration of (lie vessels of the temple, once carried away from Jerusa- lem by Nebuchadnezzar to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah, is likewise mentioned (chap. i.). This is, however, in a certain sense, merely the introduction to chap. ii. Without going fur- ther into a description of tbe return, yea, without even simply mentioning it in so many words, the author at once gives the register of those who returned wi h Zerubbabel and Jeshua, whilst he adds at the close their number and the number of their servants, maid- servants, horses, etc , at the same time, moreover, the sum which the heads of fathers among them offered for the building of the temple (chap. ii.). In chap. iii. he again continues his narrative. The returned people again assembled from the different cities in which they had settled, towards the seventh month, and in order to bo able to celebrate the feast of taberna- cles, restored at first merely the ancient altar, then, moreover, directly prepared also for the building of the temple. Already in the second year and indeed in the second mon'h occurred the laying of the foundation of the temple, when shouts of joy and cries of lamentation touchin and '2>' 'J1 'N \3 (the last is not found indeed in other books, but in the written sources, Ezra vii. 28; viii. 18, 22, 31, as well as in vii. (3-9, and besides Neh. ii. S \. By far the most of them occur, as we must at once remark, if we review the passages cited by Zoeckler iu the Introduct. to Chronicles, \ 2, not to speak of Chronicles, on the one side, in Ezra i. and iii., as well also in the other passages not presenting themselves as original documents or sources, and on the other side in Neh. vKi.-x. Here belong most decidedly these very phenomena of the language, which may be regarded most properly as idiomatic expressions of the books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehe- miah; thus the expression, DTDJ7" "■ 2 Chron. iss. 1G ; xxxv. 10; Neh. viii. 7 ; ix. 3 ; xiii. ll,_rri-n. 1 Chron. xvi. 27; Ezra vi. 16; Neh. viii. 10— "TIS3 = goblet, 1 Chron. xxviii. 17 ; Ezra i. 10; viii. 27; p'TPoS-TJ?, 2 Chron. xxvi. 15; Ezra iii. 13; T\h*, of divisions of the Le- vites, 2 Chron. xxxv. 5; Ezra vi. 18; so also termini, which emphasize the being iu accord- ance with the law, which in the later period seem so particularly important, especially B3»S3, 1 Chron. xxiii. 31 ; 2 Chron. xxxv. 13 ; xxx. 16 ; Ezra iii. 4 ; Neh. viii. 18, for which in the older writings rPl'RS 3?f\33 occurs frequently, furthermore liturgical formula, as nin'S iS^ni rfln, l Chron. xvi. 4 ; xxiii. 30 ; xxv. 3, etc. ; Ezra iii. 11, *AnSl nflfrlS, and " that Jehovah is good, and his mercy endure h forever,'' 1 Chron. xvi. 34, 41; 2 Chron. v. 13; Ezra iii. 11, — the standing expressions in connection with descriptions of festivals and the like : nnpifS, 1 Chron. xii. 40, etc. ; Ezra iii. 12 ; and TH '"V-Si'. 1 Chron. xxv. 2, 6 ; Ezra iii. 1 '.—finally, the official names of the musicians and servants in the temple that only occur in our books, D*"1"lt0p [Pfl72fa and D'J'fU- But even those phenomena, which seem in general to belong to the later language on the whole, because they are found here and there in other books likewise, are found besides in the Chronicles, at least pre-eminently in those very parts of our books under consideration. To these belong 1), the brief method of subordination of the relative clauses, together with their collocation after a stat. eonstr., 1 Chron. xxix. 3; 2 Chron. xxxi. 19; Ezra i. 5; Neh. viii. 10; 2) the case of the icfin. with ?, in order to express a poten- tial mood, 1 Chron. v. 1 ; ix. 25; yiii. 4, et at.; Ezra iv. 3 ; x. 12; Neh. viii. 13; 3) the ex- traordinarily frequent use of the preposition 7 partly before the object as nota accusalivi, part'y after an accusative, to continue it, 1 Chron. xxviii. 1, etc.; Neh. ix. 32, as especially before ^3i when in enumerations everything is to be included, 1 Chron. xiii. 1 ; 2 Chron. v. 12; Ezra i. 5 (certainly moreover also vii. 28) ; Neh. xi. 2, after the preposition "TJJ., 1 Chron. xxviii. 7, 20, etc.; Ezra iii. 13 ; x. 14 (moreover also ix. 4, 6) ; 4) the redundant use of prepo- sitions in general, e. g., in expressions like Dai'3, Neh. ix. 19; 5) the use of the article bef re a verb instead of the relative pronoun, 1 Chron. xxvi. 28; xxix. 8, 17, etc. : Ezra viii. 25 ; x. 14, 17; Neh. ix. 33. i. 1 . and ehni-es to t'-.e first alter a few chap'.jra (i. 2>22). Further on, in book iv., he resumes the third l Iu book v. i; he b;;ins iu the third, but runs on into the first, which he again uses in book vii. 97.--TR.] 1 10 INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOKS OP EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. The manner iu which the section Nek. viii 1 sq. is connected with Chronicles and Ezra on the one side and on the other is distinguished from the rest of the book of Nehemiah, is in a criti- cal point of view very important. In order to carry out the latter point, how it separates itself from the rest of the book, we might already bring into consideration the subject-matter itself. This is not only suddenly entirely different from the previous context, since it no longer treats of the strengthening of the city wall and the like, but treats of religious acts, but it seems almost as if we might first have expected something else instead of it. Nehemiah in chap. vii. has given an account of the completion of the building of the walls; it is singular that there is no reference here to the dedication of the walls, but that this comes only after- wards in xii. 27 as supplementary. In chap. vii. 4 he has mentioned that the inhabitants of Jerusalem were too few; it is singu'ar that their increase is first intimated in xi. 1, and indeed only incidentally. It is very true that the book, as it now is, has a tolerable continuity, since the author allows himself to make use of the remark respecting the inhabitants of Jerusalem in vii. 4, as an occasion for going over from the securing the safety of the capital, of which he had previously written, to the congregation and its organization, in order further on to mention the increase of the inhabitants and the dedication of the walls, merely as a supple- ment, and as it were incidentally. Nevertheless this kind of progress of thought compared with the first part, has something surprising in it. It seems as if here suddenly a point of view was taken, which for the previous part of the work bad originally not been considered important. But besides this there are still many other circumstances which render the dif- ference of subject here very significant. 1. Nehemiah very suddenly ceases to speak of him- self in the first person. 2. He here in general retires to the background, whilst Ezra, who is mentioned in the book of Nehemiah elsewhere only at the dedication of the walls incidentally (xii. 23), is the chief person. Nehemiah occurs only as supplementary, and indeed only twice, viii. 9; x. 2. 3. He bears here both times the title of "the Tirshatha," whilst in v. 14, 15, 18, he is called " Pechah." 4. Whilst the chiefs are called ii. 10 ; iv. 8, 13 ; v. 7, 17 ; vi. 17 ; vii. 5; xii. 40; xiii. 11, D'*in and D^J3, the term n'UNrvtyso occurs in viii. 13. 5. The ex- pressions peculiar and usual to Nehemiah are missing, as "according to God's hand over me," comp. ii. 8 and 18 ; furthermore, " God gave to me in my heart," comp. ii. 12 and vii. 5. Even Kleixert (Dorp, thcol. Beitr. I., S. 114 sqq.) and H^veexick [Einleit. II. 1, S. 305 sqq ) find it probable that there was another author for vii. 73 b—x. 40; they suppose that this section was not composed by Nehemiah, but by Ezra as the leader of the religious transactions here described, and was only appropriated by Nehemiah.* But, 6. The author speaks also of the times of Ezra and Nehemiah as past, yea, considers likewise the times subsequent to Nehemiah, Neh. xii. 11, 22, and thereby makes himself known, as be does likewise in Chronicles as a later writer, as will be still more evident when we consider the time of its composition. The grounds adduced by Keil for the traditional view that Neh. viii.-x. comes from the same hand as the rest of the book, namely, from Nehemiah himself, have little significance. That the previous threads of thought in Neh. viii. have been allowed so entirely to fall, yea, to be broken off, is to be explained, says he, simply and artlessly from the succession of the things narrated in time, as if the order in time could not yield at times to the logical order of facts, yea, in such cases as the present must not yield What would have hindered the author in such a case, if, for the sake of chronological order, k> would have come to the public reading of the law in viii. sq., from reserving the state- ment, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem were few, and therefore also the list of the exiles who first returned, for another place, where he then could have spoken at once of the increase of the inhabitants? That Nehemiah suddenly steps so decidedly into the back-ground with r-spect to Ezra, he says, has its ground in the fact that Nehemiah as civil governor was not authorized to lead t ! ie religious feast here narrated which alone belonged to the priest and a ribe Ezra (—at first it speaks only of the public reading of the law, which Nehemiah might have very well occasioned,—), that he here rather could only co-operate subordinate!)' ♦ [IUvunsok in loco conjectures here that Zadok (or Zidkijah), Nehemiah's scribe, or secretary, was the au- '-witneso of the proceedings. — T»J \ 2. SOURCES, COMPOSITION, AND AUTHENTICITY. 11 *s membrum prcecipuum eeclesiae I*raeltiicsc. But if it were really so, the question would at once arise, how is it that Nehemiah narrates here something in which he had so little t<> do, since he elsewhere limits himself entirely to that which had been urged and brought about by himself. Moreover, under all circumstance*, the failure of the first person, which is else- where so consistently retained in the writings of Nehemiah, is not explained. When KEIL refers to xii. 27 sq., where he says not " we," but " they sought the Levitcs,'' to prove that Nehemiah might very well put others in the foreground in connection with facts that did not originate primarily with himself, this very section suffices with reference to the principal point for a very decisive counter argument. For notwithstanding Nehemiah does not stand so much in the foreground as a matter of course as elsewhere, yet he uses the first person in vers. 3 1 and 38 even in this connection. What Keil says respecting the Tirshatha and Rashe haaboth deserves no mention. With the different character of the section, Neh. viii.-.\., if critical probability is worth anything, we are to suppose that here anotber author has sup- plemented Nehemiah's writing, whether from another d cument or from tradition. Who this was cannot remain in doubt in connection with the similarity of the style that is mani- fest here, in the book of Ezra and in the Chronicles. The question whether this author is to be regarded moreover a3 the editor or the proper author of our two books, i3 answered from the foregoing of itself. It is possible, that already Ezra, when he described his journey to Jerusalem, and his principal work there, likewise collected the original documents respecting the previous times, and placed them, provided with historical introductions, before his book. Yet we ha^e no right to derive from him in our present book, any more than chap, vii 22, 28, and chap. viii. — ix. 15, that is, any more th-.nthe passages, which show clearly by the first person that they were written by him, which thereby distinguish themselves from all the other passages, especially from chap. vii. 1-10, and chap. x. Whatever is not as chap. ii. -1, 8-23, an original document, or as chap. v. 5, 6, 12, chaps, viii. and ix. sources, whatever serves as introduction to the original document or sources, as especially chaps, i. and iii. and v. 1-10, bears the stamp of the so-called chroni- cler, or at least of his time. When Keil, in order to show that the whole, and therefore also the tenth chap, was composed by Ezra, raises the question, what could have determined the author to break off the further communication of the memoir of Ezra at the end of chap. ix. and narrate the end of the transaction in his own words, — criticism would not be required tc answer this question, unless it knew something more of the memoir of Ezra than it can know at present. Now we may think of various reasons.— With more propriety the book of Ne- hemiah might be spoken of as merely edited. Since however the last author has inserted chaps, viii.— x., and indeed for the most part with the help of his own literary activity, he must be designated here at least as a supplemented Although he already had before him the book of Ezra, and so also a book of Nehemiah, yet the form of these books, as it lies be- fore us, originated first with him, and the design which he on his part pursued in his literary activity. Perhaps he had also transformed, to some extent, the text cf the registers an 1 ori- ginal documents, which he reproduced in his work here and there in accordance with his method, as it may perhaps be seen, for example in Ezra ii. G8 sq , in comparison with Neh vii. 71 sq., and so also Ezra vi. 16-18, if here an authority has been really used. The question, when this last and real author actually lived, has already been answered by Zoeckler (in his introduction to the books of Chronicles), who, it is true, with reference to Ezra and Nehemiah regards him only as an editor. In Neh. xii. 10,11,22 and 23, the line of high-priest is carried down to Jaddua, who, according to Josephes' statement, not to be d mbted here [Antiqu. XI. 10) held his office in the time of Alexander t'.ie Great. Keil's supposition that the author had known Jaddua not yet as high-priest, but only as a child, and had men ioned him merely as grandson of the last high-priest of his own time, Joiada, is already in itself improbable, and besides has against it the fact that the same person is mentioned with the others as one in whose days the Levites were recorded. It seems that the meaning of ver 22 is that under the four high-priests EHashib, Joiada, Johananand Jad- dua, four registrations of Levitcs had been made. Keil understands, it is tru \ that only one occurred, namely, under Eliashib and Joiada, and the others are mentioned merely because 12 INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOKS OF EZR V AND NEHEMIAH. they then already lived. But this supposition is too clearly a mere evasion of the difficulty. If immediately afterwards only the one record of priests, which was made in the time of Da- rius, is me- tioned, this is to he explained from the fact that this one chiefly, yea exclusively comes into consideration for the author, since he according to the entire context, would men- tion only those belonging to the times of the beginning — :it all events those living up to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah — as he then also in chap. xii. 1-11 expressly names only tboss of the time of Zerubbabel, and then in ver. 12 sq., only those of the times immediately fal- lowing Joiakim, and in ver. 26, after mentioning the heads of the Levites, expressly adds that he thereb? had given only those of the time of Joiakim and Nehemiah. — This mark of a late period of composition that has been adduced, stands, it is true, somewhat apart by itself, and would not signify much if anything else contradicted it; we might readily suppose that the names of the later high-priests (and an also those of the later posterity of Zerubba- bel in 1 Chron. iii. 19-24) were subsequently added as a supplement by a late hand ; but since there is nothing of the kind, since on the contrary the times of Ezra and Nehemiah are spoken of as of a previous period, and of themselves as of persons of the past in Neh. xii. 23, 27, so the probability is, so far as it can bo established by criticism, that the author was one who at the earliest lived in the time of Jaddua,* at the end of the Persian or the beginning of the Greek supremacy. [RAWLINSON in loco thinks that Ezra, " who seems to have had only a temporary commission (vii. 14), returned to the Persian court when he had carried through the matter of the marriage, and either a 1 ttle before or a little after his return wrote the Book which has come down to us." He thus accounts for the abrupt conclusion of the book, and gives the date as 457 or 6. With regard to Nehemiah he thinks that it is most probable that the various sections of the book of Nehemiah " were collecte 1 by Nehemiah himself, who had written, at any rate, two of them (i.-vii. 5 and xii. 27-xiii. 31). The date of the compilation would be about B. C. 430."— Tr.] 3. Authenticity. — Already the style of composition, and also the kind of contents and the method of stating them, testifies that the author, even if he wrote a hundred or more years after Nehemiah, in general pursued a method that was entirely historical. We have seen that he supports almost every important event that he narrates, with orL-inal documents, or presents it in the language of the written authorities. There is not the least occasion for doubt with reference to the historical character of the original documents and written autho- rities. There is only one point that can be questioned, having no confirmatory document, unless we should recognize as surh the report of the eldera in Jerusalem given in the letter to Darius, chap. v. 10. This is where it is said that the returned exiles already in the first year of their emigration had re-established the altar, and already in the second year had laid the foundation of the temple (Ezra iii.). (Comp. Schradee Theol.Slud. und Krit, 18G7,S.400 ft, and De Wette EinL, 8 Ausg., \ 235). Since in later times Schkadek supposes it has been presupposed that the returned exiles were pervaded with glowing love for the religion of their sires, were filled with the greatest joy over their finally successful redemption from Ba- bylon, and of the most sincere thankfulness towards the God of their fathers, they have quite gradually it is true, and without having any historical foundation for it, been able to give way to the idea that the returned exiles, as soon as they arrived in the land of their fathers, had had nothing more speedily to be done than to think of the restoration of the temple. In roa'ity, however, the congregation hardly went so far as to put their hands to this work until the time when they actually carried on the building to its completion, in the second to the sixth year of Darius. If they had really begun already in the time of Cyrus, we cannot think that they then would have let it remain idle for fourteen entire years: if they would not have ventured to undertake it again in the time of Cyrus, yet they might well do so un- der Cambyses or S?merdis. Yet these assertions gain some likelihood only from the fact that the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, in the time of Darius, speak not of a fresh undertaking of the building, but of the building simply, yea, that they speak still of a laying of the foun- dation of the temple, as if it really had now been proposed for the first time. In that Hajrjrai * [Puspy and Hawlin^on agree in regarding this verse as an interpolation or marginal gloss of a later date, that has crept into the text. — Tr.] $2. SOURCES, COMPOSITION, AND AUTHENTICITY. IS ii. 18. '' Consider now from this day and upward, from the 24th day of the 9th month, as from the day when the foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid consider " assigns the 1. lying of the foundation of the temple to the 24th day of the 9th month, that he adds the phrase "ID' "KVX Di'H J? 1 ? in apposition and accordingly as of lil^e meaning with the phrase, '■ from the 24th day of the 9th month," is just as clear as the interpretation of Keil, according to which p 1 ? etc., would be in apposition indeed, yet would reach back to the time of Cyrus, is artificial and untenable. And that Zech. viii. 9, "the prophets which were in the day when the foundation of the house of the Lord of ho-ts was laid, that the temple might be built," does not mean the prophets after the exile in general (Keil) but those of the better times (Kohler) which were already bringing the fulfilment, as they, according to the imme- diately following verse, had not come previously, but for the first now after the failure of the harvest, that the laying of the temple's foundations accordingly also here is recognized as of the present, can as little he denied. But with all this the conclusions which Sohrader de- rives from it are by far too hasty. As ilJ3 often means continue the building, orals'", re- build, comp. Ps. Ii. 20; lxix. SO, so "ID' also may be used in different senses, since in a nar- rower sense it refers merely to the laying of the foundation stone, in a broader and fuller sense to the laying of the foundations in general. Only in the narrow sense had the laying of the foundation taken place in the time of Cyrus; for without doubt only atmall portion of the congregation had as yet the leisure to occupy themselves therewith. Above all, more- over, the ruins had to be removed and the necessary new material be procured. In the fuller sense the laying of the foundations did not really take place until the time of Darius. Now for the first time was stone laid upon stone, as it was necessary, if the foundations as a whole were to be carried up. (Comp. Hag. ii. 15).* That the returned, however, had constantly undertaken, already in the time of Cyrus, the re-establishment of the temple, yea, regarded it as must necessary and important, is en- tirely probable, and cannot be conceived of as otherwise. (Comp. Ewald, Geschlchte Israels IV. S. 129 sq). Not on'y because that the pre-exile prophets, as Jeremiah, by whose utter- ances the returning exiles allowed themselves to be chiefly led, that Ezekiel also had seen in the re-establi>hment and continuance of the temple worship and priestly office the best se- curity for the continuance of the true religion itself, Jer. xxxiii. 17-26 ; Ezek. xx. 40 ; xxxiv. 26 ; xxxvii. 26 and 28, and especially in chaps. xl.-x!vii. (comp. Ewald IV. S. 43) and that in Jer. xliv. 28 the re-establishment of the temple under and by Cyrus was set down definitely as the will of God, comp. also Isa. Ix. 7 — against which it might perhaps he said that pass- ages of contrary purport may be found in Jer. iii. 16 and Isa. lxvi. 1 — but the edict of Cyrus itself, which constituted the foundation for the existence of the new congregation itself, had decidedly the same purport that the congregation should above all have the task of building the temple and restoring the temple worship, as is testified not only by Ezra i. but also by the original Chaldee document given in chap. vi. 3 sq. Over against this edict they would have lost the right of their existence in Jerusalem if they had set aside the building of the temple for the sake of any incident that changed the posture of affairs, or had postponed it for fully fourteen years. That they, however, did not touch the building for a long time after they had been interrupted, and did not even in the time of Cambyses attempt to take it up again, is easily explained from the many sad circumstances, especially also from the ex- ternal dangers threatening them, under which they had to suffer, as is to be seen from the book of Ezra, and especially from the book of Nehemiah. • According to Hag. i. 14, 15, it is true they had not for the first begun to work upon the house of the Lord on the 9th month and 24th day, when, according to chap. ii. IS, the foundation of the temple of the Lord was laid, but already in the Gth month. But that they then had merely performed the preparatory labor, removed the rubbish, and procured materials for building, that the proper work of building really began on the 24th day of the 9th month, is clear from the simple fact (hat the prophet makes this later day his great terminus fit quo, with which the had growth shall come to an end and abetter and more fruitful time begin, and of a quid pru o/uo(Keil) there can be thought if we understand it thus. 11 INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. I 3. RELATION OF THE TWO BOOKS TO ONE ANOTHER, TO THE CHRONICLES, AND ESDEAS. If the composition of the two books was in the manner above described, the question readily arises whether the last author from the first regarded the Chronicles, Ezra and Nehe- miah as three particular books, or planned them as one work. That the unity, which has in recent times been asserted by Zunz (Gottesdienstl. VorUdge dtr Juden), Ewald, Berth., ctal, really exists in a certain sense, cannot be ignored. The three books are so cut out that they unite to form a greater whole, not only in the looser way of the books of Samuel and Kings, but in a much more internal and firmer manner. Ezra begins with the same edict of Cyrus with reference to the return of the Jews, with which the Chronicles end. Ezra and Nehemiah, moreover, on their side are united together in the closest manner by Neh. viii. — xii. 26. Ezra's activity, the first part of which alone is Darrated in the book of Ezra, is here described as to its continuance and results, the strengthening of the life of the congregation by this activity, the negative side of which is taken into consideration in the book of Ezra, is here carried on to its completion by the positive side. The book of Ezra is thus continued in the book of Nehemiah, and only finished therein. Neh. viii. — x. might have been added to the book of Ezra ; it is annexed to the book of Nehemiah only because it describes a later period in which Nehemiah likewise came into consideration along-side of Ezra. Moreover, there is properly in all three books throughout one and the same subject treated ; the history of the city of Jerusalem, the worship of God in it, an 1 the most important persons who ren- dered services to it. But it is just as easy to see likewise that the division into three particular books cannot have been made at a subsequent period, still less that it rests upon arbitrary grounds. The book of Nehemiah begins with a particular title, which designates it as the history of Nehe- miah, and clearly enough separates it as a particular and independent writing from the book of Ezra. This title, moreover, cannot have been appended at a later period, but must have been placed there already by Nehemiah, otherwise the first person that constantly occurs, could not be explained. Moreover the supposition that the book, in spite of this title, should be regarded as merely a section of another larger book, would be against all Biblical analo- gies. And from this results also the independence of the book of Ezra. That which has been said in favor of the separation of Nehemiah, is also in favor of that of Ezra. To make Nehemiah independent, and append Ezra to the Chronicles (Movers) would be very inconsis- tent at any rate, and all the more so, indeed, that the book of Ezra treats of an entirely new period, which was separated by a great and gloomy chasm, from all that preceded it. Be- sides, if the author had written Chronicles and Ezra as a single book, he would have men- tioned the edict of Cyrus but once, certainly, and he who separated Ezra would have caused the Chronicles to end before the introduction of this fact ; in general before the mentioi of Cyrus at all. That edict would have its proper place only at the beginning of the book of Ezra, where it formed the foundation for the subsequent history, and where it was therefore indispensable. To put it at the end of the Chronicles, moreover, would have been too re- fined for a mere arranger; this rather would come only into the mind of the author himself, who thereby would certainly merely satisfy the need of indicating by a brief word the resto- ration also after the exile and the destruction, which could not here be entirely absent. Ti favor of the view that at least Fzra and Nehemiah originally constituted a single book, the circumstance is cited that both books from the most ancient times, namely, in ihe Talmud, yea, even in Joseph, and in the Alexandrine version, and accordingly also in Mi- letus of Sardis and Origen, in Eusebius' Church Hist. II. 25, have been counted as one. But at the basis of this enumeration there is hardly more than the true recognition of the relationship that has been shown, and on the other side, the wish to have no more than ju-t so many books in the Canon of the Old Test, as there are letters of the Alphabet. For the same reason the books of Judges and Ruth were connected together. For already Joseph. (r. Ap. I 8) enumerates, although he does not expressly give the reason, exactly twenty-two books, and Jerome says in the prohgus gal, expressly that the Hebrews had twenty-two ca- \ 3. RELATION OF THE TWO BOOKS TO ONE ANOTHER, ETC. nonical books, according to the number of the letters of their alphabet, which he, namely, mentions, and then adds that some, because the rabbins distinguish Sin and Shin, and fur the sake of the sign of Jehovah, would set up a double yod in the alphabet, suppose that there are twenty- four, since they separate Ruth and Lamentations. That Ezra and Nehemiah are properly two books, can be the less denied, as they without doubt recognize two authors; for the book of Ezra, the priest of that name, of whom it is expressly said in the Talm. {Bah. balr. Fol. 14) : "Esra scripsit librum suum el genealogias librorum chron. usque ad sua tr.mpora," at d for the book of Neh. with as much certainty the governor Nehemiah also makes himself known unmistakably as the author by the use of the first person. As for the Alex, version the connection of the two books is found indeed In Cod. Alex, and Cod. Frid.-Aug., but not in the Cod. Vatic* Now in the Alexandrine version there is found a translation at first of our book of Ezra, enlarged by additions, and only afterward a translation that conforms closely to our text, and the question arises what weight the former has with its deviations, as well critical as exege- tical. The former is in the Alex, in the ancient Latin and in the Syriac versions (cornp. Ubri vet. test, apocryphi syriaee e recogn. de Lagarde) 'EoSpac ■nparoc, the second 'Ectpac iivro- poc, the book of Nehemiah 'EaSpac rpiroc, or also (probably from the time of Jerome) Nehe- mias ; in the Vulgate, on the other hand, the book of Ezra in its present unenlarged form, is called I. Esra, the book of Nehemiah, II. Esra, as then likewise already Origen (in Eusebius' Church Hist. IV. 25), then the council Laodicm can. 80, and other lists, distinguish our books of Ezra and Nehemiah as "EnSpac sparer and Stvrepog, — the enlarged translation however is called Til. Ezra, and the apocalyptic pseudepigraphicbook of Ezra finally the IV. Ezra. — The enlargement of the translation was brought about on the one side by placing before the pro- per beginning the closing part of the Chronicles (chaps, xxxv. and xxxvi), namely the de- scription of the brilliant passover feast under Josiah, and at the same time the last history of Jerusalem before the exile, and by adding as a conclusion the beginning of the second part of Nehemiah, Neh. vii. 73— viii. 13, namely, the public reading of the law by Ezra before the door of the restored temple. We see that as in the original book, so also in this enlargement nothing is so much regarded as the history of the temple worship, and indeed especially its indestructiblene=s. The translator would first of all recall the evening sky in which he rejoiced shortly before the exile, for this reason, because it was to him to a certain extent a prophecy of the morning and the resurrection, which might be expected after the temporary ruin in exile, through the power and grace of God. He then lets the contents of our book of Ezra follow, and adds Neh. vii. 73— viii. 13, because here the fulfilment of that prophecy is narrated. For the public reading of the law before the door of the temple, Neh. vii. 70 sq., came into consideration for him without doubt as a kind of temple worship, yea, was regarded by him perhaps in accordance with the ideas subsequently formed, as the most suitable and important worship of God alongside of the sacrificial worship. He needed not to go further than Neh. viii. 13, however ; it was already sufficiently established by the history preceding, up to this time, that the restoration had been completed, and especially in the last verse do's it still stand firth, what seems to have come into consideration for the author therewith that the people by their worship of God had again been exalted to prosperity and joy. — On the other side, however, the author has taken into his book likewise a passage entirely foreign to the canonical Old Test., which gives an account of a banquet which the Persian king Darius prepared in the second year of his reign, where Zerubbabel found opportunity to gain the king's favor for himself and his people, so that he permitted the building of the temple, con- tributed to the restoration of the worship in Jerusalem and influenced many Jewish heads of * [Davidson's summary is as follows: " Intro. II., p. 148. The extended work of the Ohronist embraced a post- exile as well as a pre-exile part ; but the former was afterwards separated from the latter, and received a distinet name, the book of Ezra, including what is now Nehemiah. In this post-exile portion the Chronicle writer copied his sources more extensively than in the preceding part. In Ezra ii. 1-63 he gave an old list; in iv. S — vi. IS a fragment of an Aramean narrative which he had got In vii. 12 — ix. 15 he inserted a piece of Ezra's memoirs, and in x. 1S-33, he put a list or register which had come into his hands. Thus more than two-thirds of the book oi Ezra was transcribed from the sources at his disposal. With respect to the book of Xehemiah. which was merely intended as an appendix to the whole, he filled up gaps in N^hemiah's memoirs with vii. 71 b — ix.; xii. 1 — xiii. 3, and with minor interpretations besides. We have then left for the authorship of Ezra vii. 12 — ix. 15; for Nehe- miah i. 1 — vii. 73 n, x. at first ; xi. a— xiii. 4-31."— Tit.] ]-; INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAH. families to return. This is the section, chaps, iii. — v. 6, which may be compared with the " passages in Esther." It is quite probable that the author here had reproduced a popular tradition (Fritzsche, Einl. zu. III. Esra § 5) ; but without doubt, in the formation of the story the design had already co-operated of giving moral truth a historical dress (ZrjJfz, Gol- tesdienstl. VorL, S. 106 and 123). Zerubbabel and two other young men were at that ban- quet, body-guards of the king; they agreed, when the latter had gone to sleep, to lay down their opinions before him with reference to what was the mightiest on earth, and see to which he would give his recognition. The one wrote "' wine," the second "the king," the third (Ze- rubbabel) wrote " women are mightiest ;" the latter added, however, " but truth gains the victory over every thing," and this he explained afterwards so that every other thing, even the king, had fallen into unrighteousness, and hence likewise become perishable. Only truth lasts. The author might by this sentence of Zerubbabel, so to say, have indicated the spirit of his presentation of history ; not the king, that is worldly power and glory, can do every- thing. Their victory over the Lord is only apparent. The worship of Jehovah and the ex- istence of Jerusalem can only be interrupted by thera for a time. The king is not the might- iest, because on the one side even wine, and on the other women, rule over him ; in other words, because he belongs to the world and its lust-(, that is, to vanities ; but it is the truth, the dirine truth, which guarantees the eternal duration of the worship of God, because it is one with it ; it proceeds from the eternal, and must therefore endure forever. Now with respect to the critical value of this enlargement, it is by no means in the con- dition to make probable to us the already rejected view of an original external unity of Chro- nicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, notwithstanding the reasons for the opposite opinion ; the in- ternal connection is sufficient to explain why the author, if Irs object was the temple wor- ship, went to work to collect material at the same time from the three fields. No more are we to suppose that he had found a basis in the original for the section, chaps, iii. — v. 6, that he inserted. " The language (of this passage) betrays itself throughout as originally Hellen- istic (Feitzsche, if. c). It seems to Fmtzsche that only the conclusion, chap. v. 1-6, can be an exception. At any rate III. Ezra might come into consideration with reference to textual criticism. The translation is indeed frequently free, yet is as a whole in close conformity to the Hebrew text, in comparatively good Greek, and " is therefore an important evidence of the condition of our presnt Hebrew text at the time of this author" (Berth., S. 15). However, the author could not have lived earlier than the first century before Christ, and the changes in th i text that he recommends to us, are only to be admitted with great caution. Exegetically and historically the III. Ezra might almost make it questionable for us whe- ther we interpret the i ames of the Persian kings aright when we understand by the Darius mentioned after Cyrus, Darius Hystaspis, and by Artasasta, Artaxerxes. After having in- formed us of the edict of Cyrus in chap. ii. 1-14 and other matters contained in the canoni- cal book of Ezra, III. Ezra lets the two original documents of Ezra iv. directly follow in vers. 15-25, the letter of the officer to Artaxerxes and its answer, and in addition the transition verse, by which it is carried back to Darius, "then the work on the house of the Lord was discontinued until the twentieth year of Darius." It also gains the appearance as if it had held the Artaxerxes, to whom the Samaritans turned themselves through the Persian offices, as one of the kings previous to Darius, perhaps Cambyses. Since then in chaps, iii. — v. 6, in his apocryphal addition, in that Zerubbabel still under Darius, and indeed still as a young man, stayed at the Persian court, he excites the appearance as if already before or even along- s'de of Cyrus, Darius had been favorable to the Jews, and had given them permission to return. The skein of difficulties, moreover, is entangled, as soon as it is supposed that the author in his statement, so to say, has made two beginnings, and indeed the second time in chap. v. 7, however little, there is here to be observed by the reader a larger pause. The n?inouncement of the exiles who returned under Darius, which we read here in ver. 4 " these Ere the names of the men who went up," etc., is only to be referred to the names that follow i.i vers. 5 and 6, that is to the priests, the sons of Phineas. to Jeshua the high-priest, and Joakim, the son of Zerubbabel, not at (he same time to those fo'lowing from ver. 7 onward. In ver. 7 a new announcement, corresponding to that of Ezra i. 2, introduces the names cf I 4. LITERATURE. 17 those who returned already in the time of Cyrus, or as it is expressly said with Zerubhabel and Jeshua. The matter would be clearer if the fifth chapter did not begin until vcr. 7. It seems as if the author, before he passed over to the statement of the history proper, as it lies before us in Ezra iii., would anticipate all that which subsequently would have too muc'.i in- terrupted the connection of the history of the temple at Jerusalem, and which was yet of im- portance with reference to the course that affairs took ; at first the edict of Cyrus, which con- stituted the foundation for all that followed, but then also the letter of the adversaries to Ar- taxerxes, with reference to the building of the city and its walls, and his unfavorable answer to the Jews, which original documents at the very beginning would throw a strong light upon the adversaries who were active at the time of the building of the temple likewise, and which already, because they are broug -t out in so much detail in our canonical Ezra, must be men- tioned somewhere — finally the apocryphal section respecting the events at the banquet of Da- ' rius, which explains the sentiments of this king as so favorable and so decided for the build- ing of the temple. The letter to Artaxerxes and the reply, he probably placed before the apocryphal history from the time of Darius, because it would have interrupted the nar- rative if placed after it, that is, would have too much separated similar things, — the names of those who returned under Darius on the one side, and the list of those who returned under Cyrus on the other side. Perhaps it likewise comes into consideration, tha 1 ". the closing verse after the reply of Artaxerxes, "then the building of the sanctuary at Jerusalem ceased until the second day of the reign of Darius" (chap. ii. 25), which here really has no sense at all, provided that under Artasasta we are to understand Artaxerxes, and under Darius the Da- rius Hystaspis, who had already reigned previously, — was well calculated to form the transi- tion to the section respecting Darius. If it should be thought that the author thought of Cambyses as Artasasta, and therefore had placed the letter in question before, objections are excited by the close of the 5th chap., where he says, changing our Ezra freely, " they, namely, the Samaritans, hindered, that the building was not completed the entire period of the life of king Cyrus, and they were restrained from building two years, to the reign of Darius," which sounds as if, according to his view, Darius had followed immediately after Cyrus, and indeed already two years after the interruption of the building of the temple. — That the au- thor makes Zerubhabel still live in the time of Darius, and indeed s ill as a young man at the Persian court, although he yet, according to him, was already active in Jerusalem under Cyrus, rests perhaps on a corruption of the text ; perhap3 the young man who influenced Darius so favorably in chap. iii. was not Zerubbabel, as, it is true, it is expressly said in chap, iv. 13, but the son of Zerubbabel, Joiakim, who in chap. v. 5 is mentioned as one who re- turned under Darius, and at the same time, also, expressly as the one who spake wise words under Darius, the king of Persia. To be sure, however, the difficulty still remains that as the high-priest, not Jeshua's son, but Jeshua himself, stands alongside of him. It is possible that rather the name Joiakim in chap. v. 5, rests on an alteration, by which a copyist would assist the author, and the appearance of Zerubbabel as a young man at the court of Darius is to be explained from the fact that the author himself thought of Darius, who already so soon after the interruption of the building of the temple attained the sovereignty, as the im- mediate successor of Cyrus ; at any rate it must properly be supposed that Zerubbabel, after the interruption of the temple building, returned again to Babylon. § 4. LITERATURE. As in the books of Chronicles, so here we have to complain of the small amount of exe- getical and critical literature. Of Jewish interpreters, besides the well-known R. S. Jarchi and Abex Ezra, who wrote commentaries upon almost the entire Old Test., which are printed in the Habbin. Bible of Buxtorf, we may mention R. Simeon ben Joiakim, whose Commentary on Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles, according to Bartolocci, (bibl. rabb. TV., p. 412) appeared at Venice from Bomberg, — furthermore Joseph, bar Aben Jechijja, of whom a Commentary on the 5 Megillolh and the rest of the Hagiographa is mentioned, and I'AAK ben R. Solomon Jabez, whose Thoralh chesed likewise embraces the Mcgilloth and She rest of the Hagiographa. 13 INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOKS OF EZRA AND NEHEMIAII. Of the Fathers of the Church only Beda. Ven. comes into consideration, who composed two books of allegorical interpretation upon Ezra and Nehemiah (op. I. IV., p. 462 sq.) ; he would show by both books how those who have fallen into ruin by carelessness or error, miut turn to repentance, how great God's grace is, etc. Of the Reformers, only John Brenz wrote a Commentar. in Esdram, and provided the first three chapters of Nehemiah with annoia- liones. Vict. Strigel's scholia in libr. Esrm appeared at Leipsic, 1571 ; his scholia in lib,-. Nehemise, Leipsic, 1575 ; Erasmi Sarcerii scholia in. Nehemiam and Cyriaci Spangenbergii tabulse (Basel, 15G3) are barely worthy of mention. The expository writings of the lGth and 17th Centuries are embraced, so far as they deserve mention, in the great collection " Critici sacri," London, 1660, 9 vol. fol., and in the selections therefrom of Matth. Polus, Synopsis Critico- rum «., London, 1669. On the part of the Roman Catholics are to be mentioned : Thomas de Vio, Rome, 1553; Dionys. Carthusianus, Cologne, 1534 ; Caspar Sanctius, Lyons, 1627, and Nicolaus Lombardus (Commcntariui literalis, moralis, et allegoricus in Nehemiam et Esram. Pari-*, 1643). Of the Reformed Church are : Ludov. Lavaterus (38 Homilies upon Ezra, and 58 upon Nehemiah), Zurich, 1586; Johann Wolff, Nchemias de instaurata Hierosohjma sen commenlarius in librum Nehemia;, Zurich, 1570 ; Christianus Schotanus, bibliotheca, hist, sacr. V. T. T. II., p. 1154 sq.; Guilelm Pembelius, explicaiio locorum obscurorum ex Eirsc, etc., libro, Lond., 1658 ; H. Grotius, Annotatt. in Vet. Test., Paris, 1644, ed. Vogel el Doe- derlein, Halle, 1775-6.; Franc. Burmannus, a Belgian Commentary upon the books of Kings, Chronicles, and Ezra, Amsterdam, 1694. Of the 18th Century are only the works embracing the entire Old Test., or at least a greater part of it, by Aug. Calmet, Commentaire literal, Paris, 1707 sq. ; by Jo. Clericus, Commentarius (3 vols, in Hagiographa), Amsterdam, 1731 ; by Joh. Heinr. Michaelis, ad- notatior.es uberiores in hagiographos veteris testamenti libros, Halle, 1720 (the book of Ezra, by J. H. Michaelis himself, the book of Nehemiah, by J. J. Rambach, both in the third vol.) ; by H. B. Stark Notse selectee in Pent., etc., Leipsic, 1714, — by Joach. Lange, Mosaisches, Prophetisches u. s. w. Licht und Recht, Halle, 1729 — 38, by Chr. Starke the Synopsis III. ; by J. D. Michaelis, Die TJebersetzung des Alten Testaments mit Anmerkungen fur TJngelehrle. Theil 12, 1785. Of the 19th Century we have, by J. B. D. Maurer, Comment, gramm. crit. in V. T., vol. I., Leipsic, 1835 ; E. Bertheau, Die Pitcher Esra, Nehemia, and Esther (17 Lie- ferung des kurzgefassten exegetischen Handbuches zum A. Testament), Leipsic, 1862 ; Bunsen, Pibeboerk (Thl. I., Abth. 3, by Ad. Kamphausen), Leipsic, 1865; C. F. Keil, EM. Kom- mentar iiber die naehtxil. Gesehichtsbucher ; Chronik, Esra, Nehemia und Esther (Thl. 5 des bibl. Kommentars of Keil and Delitzscii, Leipsic, 1870 —[Trans, in Clark's For. Theol. Li- brary'] ; Schirmer, observatt. exegi. crit. in 1 Esdrse, Breslau, 1820. There are the following introductory crit'eal treatises on the books of Ezra and Nehemiah; Kleinert, uber die Eatstehung, die Ptstandtheile und das Alter der Pitcher Ezra und Nehemia, in the Peitr. zu den theol. Wistenschoften by the Professors of Theology at Dorpat, Hamburg, 1832, first vol- ume ; Keil, itber die Integrildt des Pitcher Ezra in his Apol. Vcrsueh uber die Chronik, S. 93 sq.; F. W. Schultz, ' Cyrus der Grosse " in the Stud. u. Kril , 185C, S. 624 sqq. ; Baihinger, " zur Axtfliellung der nachexil. Geschichte Israels " Stud. u. E~rit., 1857, S. S7 sqq.; E. Schrader, " die Dauer des zweiten Tempelbaus," Stud. u. Krit., 1867, S. 460 sqq. E. Schrader's book, " die Eeilinschriften und das Alte Testament," Giessen, 1872, contains contributions worthy of consideration with reference to the book of Ezra, fewer with reference to Nehemiah. [To these we may add the few works upon Ezra and Nehemiah in English. The Holy Bible, with notes of the older Matthew Henry and Scott, and the more recent Holy Bi lie, with Notes of Wordsworth, vol. II., new ed., London, 1873; the Bible or Speaker's Comm,, vol. III., London, 1874, by Rawlinson, to which frequent reference is made by the trans' ator. See also Davidson's Introduction to the Old Test. II., 121-132, Edin., 1862 ; Ptjsey on Daniel, p. 331 sq., 3d ed., London, 1869; also in Kitto's Cyclopcedia, 3d edit., 1865, and Smith's Plblicd I ictionary — especially the American edition. — Tr.] THE BOOK OF EZRA. PART FIRST. The Temple as the Place of the Lord. (Period previous to Ezia.) Chaps. I.— VI. FIRST SECTION. The Most Important Fundamental Facts. Chapters I. II. a.— THE DECREE OF CYRUS— THE DEPARTURE FROM BABYLON— THE RESTITUTION OF THE SACRED VESSELS. Chap. I. 1-11. I. The Decree of Cyrus. Vers. 1-4. 1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it aUo 2 in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus kin^ of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth ; and he hath charged me to build him a 3 house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of I-rael, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. 4 And whosoever remaueth in auy place where he sjourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, aud with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, besides the free-will offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. II. The Departure from Babylon. Vers. 5, 6. 5 Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the 6 house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, aud with beasts, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered. III. The Restitution of the Vessels of the Temple. Vers. 7-11. 7 Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the 8 house of his gods ; Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of S Judah. Aud this is the number of them : thirty chargers of gold, a thousand 19 20 THE BOOK OF EZRA. 10 chargers of silver, nine and tweuty knives, Thirty basins of gold, silver basins of a 11 second sort four hundred and ten. and other vessels a thousand. All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Shesh- bazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Vers. 1-4. The decree of Cyrus placed here at the beginning constituted the basis of all that followed, first of all, of the re-establishment of the lemple and the renewal of the congregaiion. And although this decree was issued by a hea- then prince, it yet involved a great act of fulfill- ment on the part of the Lord. It is manifest from the first verse that the Lord was there present and acting to fulfil His word. Ver. 1. And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia. — The 1 (and), which under other circumstances might be deemed unimpor- tant, here, in view of 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22, con- nects the subsequent re-establishment with the previous destruction. The first year of Cyrus naturally refers to that first year, in which he began to come into consideration as ruler with reference to the Jews, that is, over Babylon, and indeed not mediately, as the sovereign of Darius the Mede, in view of Dan. vi. 1, but im- mediately. It was the year 53ti B. C. — [Raw- linson contends that " by the first year of Cyrus is to be understood his first year at Babylon, which was the first year of his sovereignty over the Jews. This was B. C. 538."— Tr .]— Bh'13 corresponds with the old Persian kurus, the Greek avpo(, and is perhaps connected with kurus the name of prince in ancient India [and the kuru race, according to Rawlinson, who also thinks that the Masuretie pointing is incorrect for E?"U3. — Tr.]. — Vid. Delitzsch, Com., Isaiah xliv. 28. D"13 (in the best editions with pathah under resh, for which we have qatnetz in strong pause, as with silluq, ch. iv. 3) is in the cunei- form inscriptions Parana, in the native dialect Par<;a, vid. Schrader, Keilmschriflen, S. 244 [Raw- linson, Appendix to Com. on Persian words in Ezra. — Tr.] — That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be ful- filled. — PftaS would generally be rendered : in order that it might be completed. The sub- ject would then be properly regarded as the period of seventy years which the divine word had determined (so Berth, and Keil); yet as this is not the subject, but rather the word of the Lord itself, we are compelled to render: in order that it might be fulfilled. rP3 means properly to be ready, and thence, on the one side, to be finished, e. g. Ex. xxxix. 32, especially of buildings, as of the temple, 1 Kings vi. 38, but likewise of predicted events, Dan. xii. 7; in the Piel, to finish, 1 Kings vii. 1 sq. ; in Pual, to be completed, Gen. ii. 1 ; on the other Bide, to pass away. Taking it thus, HwDT is essen- tially the same as rviJO^S, which is used as its synonym, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21 (Vulg. ut complere- tur) t although this term rests on a different idea. The word of God is not as with /VIN70 to be regarded as a measure to be filled full, but as the vital beginning of that which is to be car- ried out. — That our author, as well as the author of Dan. ix. 1, brings into consideration above all the prophecy of Jeremiah, xxv. 11 sq. and xxix 10, not that of Is. xli. 2-4, 25 ; xliv. 24-28; xlv. 1-6, 13; xlvi. 11; xlviii. 13-15, is to be explained from the fact that he is concerned, as we see from 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21, not merely with the deliverance after the exile, but likewise with the lime of that deliverance, that is, with its beginning, after the expiration of the seventy years of the exile, which is foretold in Jeremiah alone. Besides the prophecies of Jeremiah were the more popular as they were older and more fundamental.* The seventy years of the exile, to the first year of Cyrus, can only be made out by going back to the first beginning of all the Chaldean wars, conquests and captivities of Israel — that is, to the victory of Nebuchadnezzar over Pharaoh-Necho at Carchemish in fhe fourth year of Jehoiakim, 60b" B. C. [Rawlinson and Smith both make the date 605 B. C. The former con- tends that seventy is a round number sufficiently fulfilled by sixty eight years, which he makes between 605 and 538. — Tr.], wheu Jeremiah first uttered the prophecy under consideration (comp. ch. xxv. 1 sq. and xlvi. 1). We are fully justified in doing this, as is now again generally recognized. That already in the fourth year of Jehoiakim there was really a conquest of Jerusalem and a carrying into captivity of Jews of the principal families, is shown not only by the fact that this year had to Jeremiah the sig- nificance of an important crisis, comp. ch. xxv., not only, moreover, from the statement, 2 Kings xxiv. 1, that Nebuchadnezzar made a first expe- dition against Jehoiakim, and then reduced him to submission for a long time, but likewise from the combination ol very definite historical state- ments. Here belongs especially the remark of Jer. xlvi. 2, that Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pha- raoh Necho in the fourth year of Jehoiakim at Carchemish, and in connection therewith the account of Berosus, that he pursued the Egypt- ians in conquest into their own land, and then when the account of the death of his father recalled him, bad carried away captive the Jews among other nations. Besides, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 6 may he adduced as an evidence of this fact (with Bertheau), since the accouut there mani- festly tnken from ancient sources, that Nebu- chadnezzar had ordered Jehoiakim to be bound with an iron chain, in order to bring him to Babylon, cannot, be referred to the last campaign * [The author adopts the view of Ewald, Hitzit. "' <*!■■ that th* second part of Isaiali was written by "the great unknown in the latter part ol the exile." This view ia to be rejected, and the unity of Isaiah maintained with most evangelical critics. Hence the author's state- ment of the priority of Jeremiah falls.— Tu.] chap. i. 1-11. 21 against Jehoinkim, in which he perished in his native laud, but only to a previous expedition. The fact that Jeremiah makes no mention of a capture of Jerusalem in the fourth year of Je- hoiakim canuot count for the contrary opinion ; for Jeremiah touches upon the history of Jeru- salem only in so far as it determined his own history; and there is no more importance to be given to the fact that Jeremiah, oh. xxxvi. 9 sq., caused to be read in the fifth year of Jehoiakim and the ninth month a prophecy that Nebuchad- nezzar would come and destroy the land. Je- hoiakim was ever thinking of rebellion, and the people were of like spirit, and would not believe that ruin actually threatened them from the Chaldeans. They were therefore still in espe- cial need of such a threatening, even if the mis- fortune had already begun. It might also under these very circumstances be as unwelcome to them as it appears from ch. xxxvi. 11 sq. In contrast with their hopes and efforts it was cer- tainly the most undesirable (against Biihr on 2 Kings xxiv. 1). At that time they held a fast, and that they thereby would lament a misfortune already suffered, and not. merely avert one that was to be feared, is in connection with the false security so natural to them, and their effort to suppress those gloomy thoughts that were any- where about to have vent, is at least highly pro- bable. — The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus. — This does not mean that Cyrus was influenced in the same way as were the prophets, upon whom, with their greater susceptibility, the Spirit of the Lord came; but yet an influ- ence in consequence of which Cyrus made the will of God his own will, and executed it in the things under consideration. God gave him tho resolution and the desire to execute His inten- tion, conip. 1 Chron. v. 26 j 2 Chron. xxi. 16; Hag. i. 14 sq. That the Lord at this time chose a heathen, and indeed the ruler of a heathen empire, as His instrument, was in accordance with the new position that the empires of the world were henceforth to assume with reference to the kingdom of God. — He made a procla- mation throughout all his kingdom, and also (made known) by ■writing. — Usually Tip T^J'n means "to cause to be made known through heralds," comp. ch. x. 7; Neh. viii. 15; 2 Chron. xxx. 5 ; Ex xxxvi. 6; that it is to be taken here in the same sense is clear from the use of DJ before 3j-0"D3, which is thus adjoined t: * : ' J in zeugma, so that we must supply a new verb with a general meaning, such as "he made known." Ver. 2. The decree of Cyrus immediately fol- lowing was not merely designed for the Jews, accordingly was by no means merely to be com- municated to them secretly; but, according to ver. 4, it was directed to all the subjects of the Persian empire. All the more striking there- fore is the open confession of Jehovah, which Cyrus makes at the very beginning. — All the kingdoms of the earth hath Jehovah the God of heaven given me, and He hath charged me to build Him a house — We are not therefore to suppose that the author simply imputed to Cyrus the acknowledgment of Jehovah or indeed that he altogether in- vented this entire edict. Chapter v. 17; vi. ',', suffice to disprove this supposition. It is not to be supposed, indeed, that Cyrus spak 3 in his edict of Jehovah as the God of hea- ven who had given him the lands; for his subjects would have regarded it as an apostasy from the Persian re'igion, which might ba\o been fatal to him ; moreover such a thing woul 1 be without any analogy.* Against this view there cannot he cited the case of that king of Hamath who in the inscription of Sargon at Khorsebad and Nimrud is called Jahubihd, in another inscription however Ilubikd, who thus seems not only to have employed the name of El., but likewise of Jehovah. Comp. Schrader, I. c, S. 3 sq. Without doubt the Persians had an en- tirely different self-consciousness from the Sy- rians, who as a matler of course were much more closely related to the Israelites. Notwithstand- ing this, however, it is clear from the fact of I he edict itself and the dismission of the Jews, that Cyrus tolerated the religion of Jehovah, at least as much as so many others in his wide realm, yea we may certainly conclude therefrom that he favored it. He would not only have Je- hovah recognised as a God alongside of other gods; for such a polytheistic syncretism would have accorded but little with the strong mono- theistic bent of the Persian religion, and would still less accord with that recognition of Jehovah which is declared in the decree before us. Cyrus might very well have regarded the Jewish reli- gion as a method of worshipping the highest God, which deserved a preference above many other sensuous conceptions of the Deity. He might have seen in Jehovah, so to speak, only another name for Ahi/ra muzda, and might have been so much the more inclined to this concep- tion, as the Persians had an idea of God which in itself was purer than that of other nations, which has been obscured for the first time by more sensuous religious elements, pressing in upon them from Media and the West. Comp. Dollinger, Ueidenthum und Judcitthum, S. 351 sq. [also llawlinsou's Ancient- Monarcliies, III., p. 97]. A good impression in this respect might have been made upon him by the fact that his conquest of Babylon had been very desirable to the Jews, yea that they had placed their hopes at once in him as their deliverer. It is then but probable that they made their disposition and expectations known to him, and if they laid before him, as Josephus s Arch. IX., i. 7) informs us, at once likewise the prophecies referring to him in Isa. xli. 2—4, 25 sq.; xliv. 24-28; xlv. 1 sq., this must have given him a very favorable disposition towards them. Moreover, as Cyrus recognised in the Jewish God, so might the Jew s easily find in the Persian God one closely related to their own, yea identical with Him. Without regard to the fact that the divine name Ahura = asura, from as = esse, to a certain extent coin- cides with il'liT (compare Bottcher, Rudimenta. mythologve semiticte, spec. I.), the Zoroastrian religion was nearer to the religion of Jehovah than any other, and it is very remarkable that it is predicted in Isa. x'i. 25; xlv. 3, not only * [We have here not a citation of the very words of the decree, as is so often tie' ease in Ezra and Nehemiah, tint rather a free reprodu 'tion of it. — 'fa. J 22 THE BOOK. OF EZRA. that Cyrus will call upon and proclaim the name of the Lord; that he will recognise Jehovah as the one who ha9 chosen him, but likewise that he will be a mighty instrument in the hand of the Lord for overcoming the respect of the Chal- dean gods. In fact, since Cyrus and the esta- blishment of the Persian empire, the temptation to the rude worship of idols has declined as never before, not only in Israel, but likewise there gradually came over the other nations, even over the Greeks and Romans from that time forth more and more a spirit of enlightenment that certainly paved the way for the agency of the second great instrument of God, the servant of the Lord foretold in Isa. xlii. — The introduction given by Cyrus to his decree: "all the kingdoms of the e:irth haih Jehovah the God of heaven given me, and hath charged me with building him a house in Jerusalem," corresponds with the beginnings of the proclamations of the Persian kings, as they are preserved to us in the cunei- form inscriptions. These likewise frequently begin with the confession that they owe their dominion to the highest God, the creator of heaven and earth. (Comp. Lassen, Die altprrsis- chen Keilinschriften, Bonn, 1836, S. 172; and more recently Joach. Menant, Exposi des elements de la grammaire Assyrienne, Par., 1868, p. 302 sq., ac- cording to whom the trilingual inscription of Elvend begins thus: deus mar/nus Aiira-mazda, qui maximus deorum, qui hanc terrain creavit, qui hoc ccclum creavit , qui homines creavit, qui potentiam (?) dedit hommibus, qui Xerxem rejem fecit, etc. [Also Rawlinson's Monarchies, III., 348, and bis Com. on Ezra, where he gives the inscription of Da- rius : " The great God, Ormazd, who is the chief of the gods; he established Darius as king; ho granted him the empire; by the grace of Ormazd is Darius king." — Tr.]). The words: "all the kingdoms of the earth" are explained from the wide extent of the Persian empire. When Cyrus conquered Babylon, he had already subjugated to himself almost the entire eastern Asia, even to the Indian Ocean (according to Berosus in Joseph, c. Ap.). Afterwards he pressed south- ward also, and entered even into Egypt and Ethiopia. The words of Cyrus: "lie hath charged me to build Him a house," would be possible and justified even if he had merely felt himself charged by circumstances to build the temple at Jerusalem, but is still better explained if the Jews, as Josephus, I. c, says, laid before him Isaiah xliv. 24 and 28, and xlv. 1 sq. [So also Rawlinson, who says: "It is a reason- able conjecture that, on the capture of Babylon, Cyrus was brought into personal contact with Daniel, and that his attention was drawn by that prophet to the prophecy of Isaiah. — Cyrus pro- bably accepted this prophecy as a 'cbarge' to rebuild the temple." Keil also refers to Dan. vi., which states that Darius the Mede made Daniel one of the three presidents of the one hundred and twenty satraps of the empire, and valued him greatly at court. — Tr.]. J. H. Mi- chaelis therefore explains the passage thus: mindavit milii, nimirum dudum ante per Jesaiam, cap. xliv. 21-28; xlv. 1-13. The reference to tin'se prophecies is :i 11 the more apparent since there, as well as here, the Bums fundamental fact is so strongly and repeatedly empha- sized, namely, that the Lord gave to him the kingdoms of the earth, comp. especially Isa. xli. 2, 3, 2o; xlv. 1 sq. Comp. A. F. Kleiuert, Ueher die Echtheit sammtHcher in dem Buch Jesaia enllial- tenem Weiisagungen, Berlin, 1829. Ver. 3. Cyrus would first call upon the Jews, but yet turn to all his subjects with his address ; because he had something to say to those also who were not Jews, but were dwelling with the Jews — Who among you, of all His people, etc. With all the people of Jehovah he also pro- perly includes the descendants of the ten tribes. Vet these seem not to have been thought of, nor does it seem that any important element of them made use of the permission of Cyrus. The bless- ing:— His God be with him — thus emphatic in position, shows that that which fallows is not so much command as permission, as if he would say: His God be with him should he go up and build. Besides, this wish involves not only the permission to build the temple, but at the same time the consent to all that was necessarily con- nected therewith, especially the (migration to Palestine.* The additional clause, He is the God who is at Jerusalem, which would give the motive for building the temple of Jehovah, does not mean that Jehovah is present only in Jerusalem, and only has power in Canaan, for Cyrus has already ascribed to Him the power over the kingdoms of the earth — but it simply expresses the idea that He has chosen Jerusalem, above all oilier places, as the holy place which He would have distinguished for His worship. [Compare the confession of Darius, Dau. vi. 2ti, " He is the living God." — Tr.] Ver. 4. And as for every one of the sur- vivors, let the people of his place assist him, etc — The heathen, on their part, are to as- sist. 1K"Jjn _ 73, is accusative absolute, placed before for emphasis. The designation of the exiles as survivors, properly those left over, is connected with the thought of the great and se- vere judgments that had overtaken Israel, and is found therefore especially among the Israelites themselves, comp. Neh. i. 2sq.; Hag. ii. 3 sq. This thought, however, was natural enough even for the heathen. The words : From all the places where he sojourneth, can only be connected with the subsequent clause. The Piel X^?J here means to assist, as in 1 Kings ix. 11, etc. — With silver and with gold, and with goods (here perhaps clothing or ten's) they are to enable the departing to emigrate. — Besides the free-will offering. — This was something additional (D^ comp. ver. 6) to the gifts, by which they were to contribute directly to the building of the house of God. Comp. chap. viii. 25; Ex. xxxv. 29; Lev. xxii. 25. [Rawlinson regards the free-will offering as that of Cyrus himself. — Tr.] Ver. 5. The permission to march to Jerusalem was made use of by the heads of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites. — We are to conclude as a * 1 see no sufficient ground, with Ewald, Lehrhuch, 9. 7:U. either to strike uut entirely TV or change it into nin\ after 2 Chrou. xxxvi. 23. In Esd. ii. 5, we have for it ivrta. chap. i. 1-11. 23 mutter of course that with the heads of the fa- thers* the fathers themselves set out, and with the fathers their families ; that is, that the divi- sions of a higher aud lower degree accompanied their heads. But it does not mean that all of the heads of the three tribes mentioned sot out, hut all -whose spirit God had raised. — It certainly must have been the most of them, other- wise it would not have been said so distinctly the heads of the fathers. The simple 737 (to * T I x be distinguished from 737?, chap. vii. 28) does not serve, in enumerations, to add in a short and summary way all the others, which have not yet been mentioned, as if the meaning were that be- sides the heads there were others also who Bet out (Berth. [A. V.]), but it adds to that which has been already said a still closer definition, which is important to the context, (comp. Neh. xi. 2 ; 1 Chron. xiii. 1 ; 2 Chron. v. 12), so that it corresponds with our "namely," "that is" [Ew. 5 310 a], 7 properly here, as elsewhere, indicates the belonging to a class or kind. The author has then, in a manner peculiar to him- self, subordinated the following relative clause to the "73 without T$N. God must awake the spirit of those who would ascend, that is, must make them willing (comp. ver. 1 ) ; for the return home was not a matter that required no consi- deration. Their native land lay either desolate or occupied with heathen and barbarous nations. Great dangers threatened the little nation, that would put itself in opposition withthe inhabitants and indeed severe tasks awaited them In Ba- bylon, on the other hand, their circumstances had become such that they could very well en- dure them, yea, they were favorable, as we can see from Isa. lvi. 11 — Iviii., hence ■KoWoi narc- fieivav £v ttj Ja 3i'?.£ivt r& KT^fiara Kara7jrrliv bv $e?.nvrec. ( Many remained behind in Babylon, unwilling to relinquish their property (Joseph. Arch. XI. 1, 1). Ver. 6. All they that -were about them. — The call to assist the returning exiles was obeyed and their neighbors, who certainly included the Israelites, who remained behind, who if they had means, would especially contribute with liber- ality (comp. Zech. vi. 9) in order to a certain ex- tent to make up for what they seemed to neglect by their remaining behind. But there were surely heathen, also, whom Cyrus had chiefly in view, under the supposition that the Israelites could not let his permission go by without using it. The example of the king and his exhorta- tion must have already made them willing, but there were certainly here and there some who were influenced by their friendly relations to the departing. D7YT3 Dtn means, like p'Tnn T3, first of all to lake by the hand, in order to hold or support (Berth., Kdl), then passes over • LTfaKTI 'BftO for the fuller form fYUNn JT3 'Bfafl, T |T " T T |T " " T Ex. vi. 14. that is. heads or ehiofs nf the fathers' houses or families, which were subdivisions of the r\in3~"0, as the latter were of the D'BSi? or tribes. Thus the fathers" houses of the going up from Bahvlon are in striking contrast with the tribes of the going up from Egypt. as the German " jemandem unter die. Arme yreifen," immediately to the meaning "assist" (although the construction with 3 is against a full equiva- lence of the expression with the frequently-oc- curring T DTrij as is clear from the context, which demands the meaning, assist, the 3 be- fore ( 1DZ)~ , 73 the following noun 37ir, and the ti'Cl) corresponding to it in ver. 4. — Besides all that was willingly offered. — "137 is here con- nected with TJ>, (which properly would have sufficed by itself), for the usual [3 Gen. xxxii. 12. Comp. Ex. xii. 37 ; Num. xxix. 39. ~13 after 7.1' is certainly to be taken as neuter. 2.7J?n which is closely connected with the foregoing must have supplied not only "VlW, but also the subject "what" he, namely, the giver, gave as an offering. 3Tjnn means properly " to act freely," is frequently used in this sense by our author, so likewise here " to give freely," comp. 1 Chron. xxix. 9; Ezra ii. 68; iii. 5, and indeed in the liturgical sense " give for the temple," to a cer- tain extent as an offering, 71313. Comp. ver. 4. Vers. 7—11. It was Cyrus himself who espe- cially helped the returning exiles by bestow- ing upon them the vessels that had been plundered from the temple. These vessels might have been taken away by Nebuchadnezzar, at the very first capture of Jerusalem in the fourth year of Jchoiakim, comp. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 7; Dan. i. 2. That nothing of the kind is men- tioned either in 2 Kings xxiv., or by Jeremiah, is explained naturally from the fact that iu ge- neral so little is expressly said with reference to that first campaign of Nebuchadnezzar. When .lehoiachin (Jechoniah) was carried away cap- tive, there was certainly a plundering of the temple, and that seemed more worthy of men- tion, 2 Kings xxiv. 13; Jer. xxvii. 10; xxviii. 1 sq. ; whilst it is expressly said, 2 Kings xxiv. 13, that Nebuchadnezzar at this time brake off the gold of the vessels, which seems to indicate that there were no longer vessels of massive gold, but merely vessels overlaid with gold. When Zedekiah was set aside by the governor of Ne- buchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan (2 Kings xxv. 13 sq.; Jer. Iii. 18 sq.), the vessels remaining were mostly of brass. Ver. 8. Cyrus delivered over the vessels by the hand of the treasurer Mithredates.* — T~7j£, that is, so that he had at the same time to take them in his hands to inspect them, to recog- nize them as the vessels of the temple at Jerusa- lem, accordingly under his supervision. Comp. chap. viii. 33 j Esth. vi. 9. 13U is the Zend gaza-bara, treasurer, whilst the other form, "1313 pi. J'"}?^ Dan. iii. 2, 3, corresponds with the old Persian gadn-bara (gaint bnra, modern Per- * [Milhredath. Rawlinson: " The occurrence of tiiis name, which means given by Mithra," Persian .1/ '/<- ,'i'M = Mithra, "tiie Sun-God," and data past part, of da ™ "to give." or dedicated to Mithra, is an indication that the sun worship of the Persians was at lea^t as old as the time of Cvrus. (Comp. Xen. Ci.rop. ch. VIII.3, ■( 24.--TH.] THE BOOK OF EZilA. sian geng' war) from gada or ganda. Comp. Eeil, Dan. v. 36, Anm. 1. — Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah, to whom Mithredates counted out the vessels, meets us again in the Chaldee passage, chap. v. 14, 16, and indeed as pacha or governor tf the new community in Judea, who laid the foundation of the new temple, so that without question he is identical with Zerubbabel (chap, ii. 2; iii. 8 ; iv. 3) the son of Sheiltiel (chap. iii. 2, 8; v. 2 ; Hag. i. 1, etc., comp. also Matth. i. 12 ; Luke iii. 27), who, 1 Chron. iii. 19, is like- wise a son of Pedaiah, a brother of Sheaitiel, and belongs to the family of Daniel. Alongside of the more Chaldee name of Sheshbazzar, Zerub- babel was used as a more Hebrew name. The latter occurs even in the Chaldee part of the book, chap. v. 2. In the same way Daniel an 1 his three companions had with their Chaldee names, which they received when they entered into the service of the king of Babylon, likewise Hebrew names, Dan. i. 7. The meaning of Shesh- bazzar is still more uncertain than that of Zerub- babel. Not even the pronunciation of the word is certain. The Alex, version has, in most ac- cordance with the Masoretie form ^.aaa}aadp t but likewise Ea,3axaaap, and Zava Sdaaapoc. The latter form is found in accordance with the best MSS. in Esdras, where the reading alongside of it is Sauavaoodp. Ver. 9. In the enumeration of the vessels their names, as well as their numbers, afford difficul- ties. Instead of the usual names for temple ves- sels, others are chosen here, perhaps, because they were preferred as more comprehensive and popular terms. The detailed numbers do not correspond with the sum total in ver. 1 1 . Thirty golden and one thousand silver □"/QIJX were numbered first of all, according to the Alex, ver- sion tyvKTTjpec (wine coolers), Esdras ii. 11, oirov- deia, cups for drink-offerings, according to the interpretation of the Tiilmud in Aben Ezra from "UN to collect, and rwH, lamb, vessels for collect- ~ T '"' T ing the blood of lambs, winch is certainly unte- nable. Probably we have in the Arabic katallat, Syriac hartolo, Greek tcdpraXXoc, the same term, accordingly a basket coming to a point below (see Suidas). The twenty-nine D'2SnO which follow, are judged according to their small number merely a subordinate kind of the preceding, which differed from them in some special kind of dccoraiion or arrangements, thus not cultri., sacrificial knives (Vulg. ), according to rabbini- cal interpretation, from ^Sn to penetrate, to cut in two, but rather according to r\l£nno= braids, Judges xvi. 13, 19, adorned with net work(Ew.) or provided with holes above, designed for in- cense (Berth.), or likewise from ^vn in Piel and II i ph. to change, sacrificial dishes serving for the pouring out of the blood of the sacrifices. Ver. 10. The thirty golden cups D , "]'!33 (pro- perly covered vessels, 1 Chron. xxviii. 17) are followed by silver ones in parallelism with verse 9. D'3CD has been taken by the ancient and more recent interpreters as an adjective in the sense of secundarii, as if the Bilver cups were thereby compared with the golden as expressive of a less good, merely second sort and quality. Since this closer definition seems strange and at any rate superfluous, it is more appropriai e to sup- pose that WyciD (pointing it, as it were, as a Pie! participle) designates a subordinate kind of eupt, corresponding with the CS^riD in the previous ver. and with essential'}' the same meaning, which likewise served for pouring out; or it has ari-en from a numeral, perhaps D'37X (Esdras ii. 12), so that not 410 but 2410 silver cups were re- turned. If we find a subordinate sort indicated by D'JtJD, then the number must be supplied to the previous principal sort. Of the subordinate sort there were 410, and of other vessels 1.UU0 more. Ver. 11. The sum total, 5400, is more thr.n double the detailed numbers given in our text of the 9ih and 10th verses, 2499, and can only be made out by conjecturing the number of the sil- ver cups as 1000 or 2000. If we supply 2000, the sum total of 4499 results, thus in round num- bers 4500, and it is possible this may be the cor- rect sum, arisen from 5400 by transposition of numbers. But at any rate the LXX. already favored the text, as we have it, and Esdras which has 1000 golden and 1000 silver a-ovona; 29 sil- ver -BviaKai, 30 golden, and 2410 silver q)id1ai, and 1000 other vessels, in all 5469, has ventured to conjecture, in order to reach the sum total in some measure. [So Keil, but Ewald, Oesch. IV. p. 88, Bertheau el al. more properly find the key to the difficulty in Esdras. — Tr.]. It is however possible that the author, as J. H. Michaelis as- serts against Clericus, passed over many sub- ordinate vessels in the detail, but in the sum- total has taken them all into consideration. [Raw- linson thinks the sum-total in our passage a conuption. — Tr.]. — All these did Shesh- bazzar bring up with (or ai i the bringing up of the captives. — (i"\l7.rn is the infin. Niph. with passive meaning as in Jer. xxxvii. 12). This statement passes over lightly the long and diffi- cult journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. It is possible that the documents used by our author, contained something more on this subject. But the author himself has hardly given anything more that has been lost, but he hastens to his proper topic, to come to the bui'ding of the tem- ple in Jerusalem. In Esdras v. 1-6 some verses are found respecting the journey of those who returned under Darius. Darius sent with them 1000 cavalry, in order to bring them in peace to Jerusalem, with musical instruments, with kettle- drums and flutes, and all their brethren played, etc. Fritzsch and Bertheau are of the opinion that these verses were taken from a Hebrew ori- ginal and conjecture that they originally stood in our book of Ezra, and referred to the return under Cyrus. But their contents are so cheerful that we have no reason for finding any greater autho- rity for them than that afforded by 1 Chron. xi i. 8, and similar passages. THOUGHTS UPON THE HISTORY OF REDEMPTION. Ver. 1. That it might be fulfilled. — This chapter contains nothing less than the beginning of the fulfilment of all the great and glorious prophe- CHAP. I. 1-11. 25 cies with which the prophets before the exile brightened the gloomy night of the severe judg- ments of God — the dawning light of the gs apparently used from the subsequent standpoint of the au- thor of the document. It certainly does not mean, according to the city, which was already theirs from the time of the fathers — for only a small portion of Ihe former southern kingdom was taken possession of by the new community. CHAP. II. 1-70. ;i the special title of the first section of the cata- logue after the analogy of vers. 3G, 40, 43 and 65. Vers. 3-35. The families and households of the people. Many of the names mentioned in vers. 3-19 and ver. 32 meet us again in the register of the times of Ezra and Nt-liomiah, thus the children Parosh, Pahath-Moab, Adin, Elam, Shephatiah, Joab, Bebai, Azgad, Adonikam, Bigvai, and according to the original reading, the children of Zattu and Bani, in ch. viii., in the catalogue of those returning with Ezra; so likewise men of the sons of Parosh, Elam, Zattu, etc., in ch. x., among these, who bad strange wives, and also in Neh. x. 15 sq., "from which we see, a) that of many families only apart returned with Zerubbabel and Jeshua; another part followed under Ezra; b) that heads of the fathers' houses are not mentioned for the sake of their personal names, but for the names of the houses of which they were fathers originating without doubt from more ancient times" (Keil). Since in vers, 30-35 the inhabitants of the other cities are mentioned according to the names of their localities, so probably the most or all which bear the names of their fathers' houses are to be regarded as inhabitants of Jerusalem. The names in vers. 3-19 are beyond question names of families or households, and those in vers. 20-29 and 33-35 are just as surely names of cities. This order seems, however, to be in- terrupted by vers. 30-32, in that perhaps Harim, according to ch. x. 21, the other Elam, after the analogy of ver. 7, and perhaps also Magbish, are names of persons, not of places. Yet Ezra x. 21 is not entirely decisive for Harim as the name of a person, since in Neh. x. 15 sq., like- wise, names of places, as for example Auathoth, occur in ver. 19 in the middle among names of families. Besides it is possible that the text in vers. 30-32 may have been corrupted ; it seems strange that with the other Elam here the same number, 1254, occurs as with the Elam of ver. 8, and that the name Magbish is not found either in Nehemiah or Esdras. In Esdras the other Elam is passed over, and instead of the children of Harim three hundred and twenty, there is (ch. v. 10) in the corresponding place, that is, among the names of families, vioi 'A/id/i, thirty- two. The cities mentioned in vers. 20-35 occur for the most part in other parts of the Old Tes- tament: Gibeon, which, according to Neh. vii. 25, is to be read for Gibbah, already in Josh. ix. 3; Bethlehem in Ruth i. 2; Mie. v. 1; Netopha (apparently in the vicinity of Bethlehem) in 2 Sam. xxiii. 38 sq. ; 2 Kings xxv. 23; 1 Chron. ii. 54; Anathoti in Josh. xxi. 18; Jer. i. 1; Kirjath arim, Chephira and Beeroth as cities of the Gibeonites, Josh. ix. 17; Kama and Geba already in Josh. ix. 25 sq., and then especially in the history of Samuel and Saul; Miohmas in 1 Sam. xiii. 25; Isa. x. 28; Bethel and Ai in Josh. vii. 2 and Jericho in Josh. v. 13, etc.; all situated in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and first of all taken possession of by those who returned. On the other hand Azmaveth or Bethazmaveth. Neh. vii. 28, occurs besides only in Neh. xii. 29. Accordingly it was situated apparently in the neighborhood of Geba. It has not yet been dis- covered. Kilter's conjecture (Erdk. xvi. S. 519) that it is El-II z-ne in the vicinity of Anata has nothing in its favor. Nebo, which has nothing to do with the mountain of this name, Num. xxxii. 32, has been identified with Nob, or Nobe, 1 Sam. xxi. 2, whose situation would certainly suit, especially as in Neh. xi. 31 sq., among many other places named here Nob, but not Nebo, is mentioned. Besides the sons of Ncbo occur again in Ezra x. 43. Bertheau thinks of Nuba or Beit-Nuba (Robinson, New Bibli- cal Researches, III. page 144). Lod is Lydda, where Peter healed the paralytic (Acts ix. 32 sq.), at present Ludd, comp. 1 Chron. viii. 12. Ono, which occurs again in Neh. xi. 35 and 1 Chron. viii. 12, must have been situated in the vicinity of Lydda. There also we must seek Hadid, now El Haditheh (Robinson, B. R., p. 143), according to 1 Mace. xii. 38; xiii. 13. Senaah was rcga-ded by the more ancient inter- preters as "Ztwh vvv MaySa'Aoevvd, which, ac- cording to Jerome, was situated as terminus Judst in septimo lapide Jerichus contra septentrtona- lem plagam (Onom. ed. Lars, et Parth., p. 332), and which is hardly to be identified, as Robin- son (B. R. III. p. 295), with Mejdel, which is too far distant, four German miles north of Jericho, situated on a lofty mountain-top. At the buil 1- ing of the walls of the city, Neh. iii., there are mentioned besides the men of Jericho, Senaah and Gibeon, inhabitants also of Tekoah, Zanoah, Bethhaccerem, Mizpah, Bethsur and Keilah, and a still greater number of cities occurs in Neh. xi. 25->l5. From this it is clear that gradually the cities of Judah and Benjamin were taken possession of, and more and more of them inha- bited. Vers. 36-39. The priest-classes. Of the four names mentioned here three agree with the names of three classes of priests, which were among the twenty-four classes introduced by David, 1 Chron. xxiv. 7 sq. ; Jedaiah was the second, Immer the sixteenth, Harim the third class. It is very probable, therefore, that the divisions here are connected with such classes. For additional remarks upon this subject, vid. notes upon Neh. xii. 1 sq. The house of J. sliua, however, may very properly refer to the house of the high-priest Jeshua, to which the children of Jedaiah belonged. This view is favored by the fact that amoug those who returned, in all probability, this family was more numerously represented perhaps by a class of priests be- longing to it. It is true the high-priest Jeshua belonged to the line of Eleazar; the class of Jedaiah, on the other hand, it is supposed, we must seek as the second in the line of Ithamar, and yet the order of classes was determined by lot, 1 Chron. xxiv., and it is a very natural sup- position, since there is some uncertainty in the passage as to the method of the lot, that th. second class was of Eleazar's line. BJse Jeshua might also be the name of an ancient head of the family ; in 1 Chron. xxiv. 11 it is the name of the ninth class of priests. — The children of Pashur constitute a new class, which does not, occur in 1 Chron. xxiv. as a class of priests, and this name does not ocC'ir among the nine classes subsequent to the exile, Neh. xii. They occur again, however, in Ezra x. 18-22 among the priests who had married strange wives, along- side of the sons of Jeshua, Immer and Harim. 32 THE BOOK OF EZRA. The name Tnshur is besides found even in more ancient times, 1 Chron. is. 12 ; Nehem. xi. 12 ; Jer. xx., xxi. Vers. 40—58. The Levites, servants of the temple (Nethinim), and servants of Solomon: The Levites fall into three divisions according to their different official duties; the first was the Levites in the narrower sense, the assistants of the priests in the divine worship, the second was the singers, the third the porters, 1 Chron. xxiv. 20-31 ; xxv. and xxvi. 1—19. The children of Jeshua and Kadmiel are mentioned in ver. 40 as Levites in the narrower sense. The addi- tional clause: of the children of Hodaviah, belongs probably only to the last family, the children of Kadmiel, comp. notes on iii. 9; the name is not found in the lists of Levites in Chronicles. — Of the singers (ver. 41) only the members of the choir of Asaph returned with the first company. Yet in Neb., xi. 17 three classes are mentioned again as in times before the exile. — Of the six classes of porters (ver. 42) three, Shallum, Talmon and Akkub, are men- tioned 1 Chron. ix. 17 as those who dwelt in Jerusalem already before the exile. Thirty-five families of the Nethinim are mentioned (vers. 43-54), of the servants of Solomon ten families (vers. 55-57). In Nehemiah the children of Akkub, Hagab and Asnah have fallen out, and some names are written differently, partly through oversight, partly on account of another method of writing tliem. The most of the fami- lies of the Nethinim may have descended from the Gibeonites, Josh. ix. 21-27. The children of Mehuninn, however, in ver. 50, belonged, as the plural form of the name shows, to the tribe or people of the Mchunim, and were probably prisoners of war, — perhaps alter the victory of the king Uzziah over that people (2 Chron xxvi. 7) they had been given to the sanctuary ai bondsmen. The children of Nephusim might have been prisoners of war fro-u the Ishmaelite tribe of t^'iJJ, Gen. xxv. 15. The children of the servants of Solomon, who are mentioned again in Neh. xi. 3, elsewhere connected witli the Nethinim, with whom they are here arranged in the enumeration, were certainly not the de- scendants of those Amorites, Hethites, etc., whom Solomon, 1 Kings ix. 20 sq. ; 2 Chron. viii. 7 sq., had made tributary and bondsmen [Rawlinson], but apparently prisoners of war from tribes that were not Canaanites. The name Dpi'n FTOb in ver. 57 probably denotes: catcher of gazelles. Vers. 59, 60. Fellow-countrymen, who could not show their ancestry. They went up from Tel Mclah (salt-hill), Tel Harsa (bush or wood-hill), Cherub, Addan aud Immer. The last three words are probably not names of per- sons, they are first mentioned in ver. 00, but still as names of places. Like Tel Harsa, they might likewise be connected without [D. Per- haps they may designate one district, that is, three places situated close to one another in the same district. We have then perhaps three dis- tricts for the three families named in ver. 60. — [Rawlinson regards these as villages of Baby- lonia, at which the Jews here spoken of had been settled. The first and third he regards as really identified with the Thelm6 aud Chiripha of Ptolemy. — Tn.] — They could not shew their fathers' house, that is, could not prove to which of the fathers' houses of Israel their forefathers, after whom they were called. Dela- iah, Tobiah and Nekoda, belonged. — And their seed, that is, their family line, whether they were of Israelite origin or not. Clericus pro- perly remarks : Judaicam religionem dudum sique- banlur, quamobrem se Judxos censebant: quamvis non posserit genealogicus tabulas ostendere, ex quibus constant, ex Hebrmis oriundos esse. It is possible that there was a doubt whether the children of Nekoda here mentioned did not belong to the Nethinim family of the same name in ver. 48, and with respect to the other two families, there were similar doubts (Bertheau). Since we do not find any of these names again in the enume- ration of the heads of the people and fathers' houses in Neh. x. 15—28, or in the list of Ezra x. 25-43, it seems that although they were not expelled, yet the right of citizenship was with- held from them. Vers. 61-63. Priests who could not show that they belonged to the priesthood, the children of Habaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillai. Whether these children of Hakkoz claimed to belong to the seventh class of priests of the same name, 1 Chron. xxiv. 10, is uncertain. The name occurs also elsewhere, comp. Neh. iii. 4. — The children of Barzillai were descended from a priest who properly bore another name, but who married a daughter of the Gileadite Barzillai, well-known in the history of David (2 Sam. xvii. 27; xix. 32-39; 1 Kings ii. 7). It is conjectured that she was an heiress (Num. xxxvi.), and to ob- tain possession of her inheritance, he assumed her name. Comp. Num. xxvii. 4. The name Barzillai and membership in a family of Gilead might have subsequently rendered the priestly origin of his posterity doubtful, although they would by no means have lost the right of the priesthood, if they could have proved in any way their priestly origin. The suffix with DOtJ' must be referred back to fi'l33. For the masc. T form for the fem., comp. Gesen., $ 121, Anmerk. 1. Their register in ver. 62 is their KTIjl "^p, Neh. vii. 5, their writing of genealogy, their register of their descent; this writ. rig had the title of D"J£TTrran, those registered as to gene- alogy ; for this word is in apposition with D3H3, and 'NSDJ refers back to this plural, for which t : • in Neh. vii. 64 the sing., SOfDJ, referring back to D3H3, is found, as we say in Ger-nany, not to be able to find their forefathers, instead of the register of their forefathers. — They were as polluted put from the priesthood. — ONri is a pregnant term=they were declared polluted, so that they were excluded from the priesthood. The more definite decision respect- ing them was given according to ver. 63 by the Tirshalha the civil governor of the community, according to Neh. vii. 65, comp. with ver. 70, Zerubbahel, who, Hag. i. 1, 14; ii. 2, 21, is called HUH; nrj3. In Neh. viii. 9 and x. 2 Nehemiah bears this title, who besides in Neh. CHAP. II. 1-70. 33 xii. 26 likewise has the title Dr\3, Tirsbatha T V ie without doubt the Persian designation of t lie governor. It is probably not connected with tartu, fear = the one feared [Rawlinson, who regards it as the Persian tarsatu, past part, of tars=to fear=the feared, a title which well might be given to one in authority. He com- pares the German gestremjer Iierr and our title of "Reverend." — Tit.], or with tnrash, acer, a!* is according to later usage for D*p (comp/ Dan. viii. 23; xi. 2, etc.). The question arises why the high-priest Jeghua could not have given the desired decisiou by means of Urim and Thummim, for the use of which we are to compare Ex. xxviii. 30. The reason could hardly have been of such a perso- nal and external character as Ewald, Gesch. Isr. IV. 95 conjectures, as if Jeshua was perhaps not the eldest son of his father, and therefore not entirely suited to the high-priesthood. It is probable that in the times subsequent to the exile there was no longer as formerly any more decisions by means of Urim and Thummim. Little importance is to be given to the opinion of Josephus Arch. III. 8, 9, that its use had not ceased till two hundred years before his time, since he acts upon the opinion that it had been used for the purpose of predicting vic- tory. The Rabbins reckon this method of divine revelation among the five things which from the beginning were lacking in the second temple. Comp. Buxtorf, exercit*. ad historiam Urim e 1 Thummim, cap. V., and Vitringa observalt., s. VI., cap. VI , p. 324 sq. We are rather to sup- pose that they believed that they must wait until such a time when the high-priest would again be ahle to fulfil his entire calling. The temple must first arise again, and the Lord must declare His presence again in some special practical and un- mistakable manner, without which indeed a re- velation through Urim and Thummim was in- conceivable. Vers. 64-67. The sum-total of those that returned, their servants and maid- ervanls and beasts of burden. The sum of 42,360 is given in our passage in Nohemiah and Esdraa, for the whole cougr gatiou togoihor (so mani- festly here "inX.3, (it is otherwise in chap. iii. 9 ; vi. 20) ; a number which is not gained by aiding the detailed numbers together, either here or in Neh. or Esdras, for the sum total is much too great for the detailed numbers, which amount to only 29,818 here, in Nchemiah 31,089, in Esdras 30,143. How then did this difference arise ? Even Keil is convinced that it is due only to mistakes of copyists. " Any attempt to explain them (the differences) in any other way cannot be justified." But if this were really so, there would be greater differences between the detailed numbers as they are given here ami in Nehemiah ; and reckoned together they would, in accordance with one or the other texts, ap- proximately make out the sum total of 42,360. If such essential mistakes as these occurred in co- pying, then the fact that the result of reckoning together the numbers agrees, at least in the main, and that each text is about the same num- ber behind the sum total of 42,360, could not be possible unless the mistakes were above nil in this sum total, which however is inconceivable in connection with the exact agreement which everywhere prevails. It is certainly clear that the sum total was not meant to embrace any others, such as those who returned of the ten tribes (Seder Olam, Raschi, Usserius, J. H. Mich., el al.) but only the constituent parts con- tained in the previous verses. But perhaps it was understood of itself according to the funda- mental notions and ideas of the time that there were others still belonging to the 2172 sons of Parosh, etc., who properly were not reckoned with them, but who yet united with them in con- stituting the "entire congregation," ;npn~7.D, and were given with them in Bumming it up. It depends upon the idea of 7npri~7.3. Possibly if the number of the children of Parosh, etc., were to be given, only the independent people, especially the heads of families, came into con- sideration ; whilst in the "entire congregation " there were, counted perhaps likewise the larger sons, who had reached the age of discretion, Neh. viii. 2, 3. If in Esdras v. 41 our ver. 64 reads " all of Israel from twelve years old and up- wards, besides the servants and maid-servants, were 42,360," this addition, "from twelve years and upward," is indeed critically worthless, yet it might rest upon a correct knowledge of ancient customs, although perhaps the age of twelve years corresponds only with latter circumstances. If the servants and maid-servants were reckoned to the 7np71~73, whose number is given in ver. 65, they might have been counted in the sum total, although they were not taken into consideration in the detailed numbers. Ver. 65. Besides their servants and 34 THE BOOK OF EZRA. maids. — H7S, which is properly connected with the subsequent words by the accents, is explained as referring to the following sum, 7337 = be- sides their servants, etc., who make out the fol- lowing numbers. The additional clause : And they had two hundred singing men and ■women, can only mean : and they who returned — for the suffix DH7, certainly refers to those to V T * whom the suffix of DTY13J.2, etc., also refers, — had singing men and women, who because they were hired and paid, stood upon the same footing as the servants and maids, and since they were probably not of Israelite origin, did not be- long to the congregation. They served, how- ever, doubtless to increase the joy of the feasts, and for singing dirges in connection with sor- rowful events, comp. Eccl. ii. 8 ; 2 Chron. xxxv. 25. At any rate these singing people are to be distinguished from the Levitical singers and mu- sicians who took part in divine worship. J. D. Mich, would change these singing men and wo- men into oxen and cows (as if D ,- 1"1V£'D were for D'TltV) since we would rather expect these here, after the domestics, and in connection with the horses, mules, camels, and asses. But it may be that the returning exiles only took with them beasts of burden, or at least chiefly of these, and obtained their cattle rather on their arrival in Canaan. If animals were intended here, we would not have DH 7, but the suffix as in the fol- V T lowing verse. Vers. 68—70. Contributions for the building of the temple and closing remarks. — Ver. 68. And of the heads of the people = some of them. Comp. Di'n - ]"31 in ver. 70. Neh. uses instead fti'DIpl, a part, as Dan. i. 2, etc., 13"Unn they freely offered gifts, and indeed for the house of God. Comp. notes upon chap. i. 6. lTO^Tn, = in order to erect it, rebuild it=ia , 'pri7, comp. ver. 63. Ver. 69. They gave to the treasure of the work, that is, into the treasure that was collected for the work of t lie temple 61,000 da- rics of gold, ( |i03Tl here and Neh. vii. 70 sq., for which JY3TTSJ, with N, prosthetic. 1 Chron. xxix. 7, and Ezra viii. 27, the Greek Saptiudc, a Persian gold coin worth twenty-two German marks, [shillings, English] or seven aud a half German thalers [five and a half American dol- lars], comp. I Chron. xxix. 7) = 457,500 Ger- man thalers, and 5.000 pounds of silver (above 200,000 German thalers) and 100 priests' gar- ments. It seems that our author lias here abbre- viated the list that was before him, and given the figures in round numbers. We recognize here, as Bertheau properly points out, expressions peculiar to the author: "house of Jehovah, which is in Jerusalem," comp. chapter i. 4; iii. 8; 3,"ljnn, comp. chapter i. 6; iii. 5: 1 Phr xxix. 5, 6 ; TipJ^rn, comp. 1 Chron. xvi. 16 ; 2 Chron. ix. 8; Ezra ix. 9 : Dribs, r-nmn. 1 Chr. T xxix. 2; " they gave into the treasure.'' comp. 1 Chron. xxix. 8, etc. In Nehemiah the text of the document has been mure faithfully re- tained.— In accordance with this some of the heads of fathers' houses contributed to the work, viz., the Tirshatha (who comes into considera- tion as the first of these heads, and is mentioned by himself, with his contribution, which was probably especially larg; j ) gave to the treasure 1000 darics of gold, 50 sacrific'al bowls, and 30 priests' garments, and 500. probably pounds, of silver). It cannot mean 530pries's' garment.", for then the hundreds should stand first. Per- haps the things numbered have fallen away be- fore the 500, in all, probably, D'J"2 HDDl. Some (viz., others besides the Tirshatha) heads of fa- thers' houses gave 20,000 darics of gold, 2200 pounds of silver, and the rest of the people gave -0,000 darics of silver, 2000 pounds of Bilver, and 67 priests' garments. Accordingly the mini total amounted to 41,000 darics of gold, 4700 pounds of silver, 97 priests' garments, and 50 sacrificial bowls. An important difference between these statements and our text of the book of Ezra is found in 41,000 darics, for which Ezra has 61,000. Since this cannot be balanced by the 50 sacrifi- cial bowls, which are passed over in our text, the 61,000 must be ascribed to a copyist's error. Ver. 70. Here, in the closing remarks, the hand of our author may be recognized. The ori- ginal text read somewhat thus: And the priests and Levites and some of the peo- ple and entire Israel dwelt in their cities. — But the author would in his own way specify the persons who took part in the divine worship, and adds therefore after those of the people, the singers and door-keepers and temple ser- vants, and in connection therewith perhaps also that which directly followed the former, in their cities, which is missing in Nehemiah. In Ne- hemiah this statement is improved in this way, that he lets the Levitical singers and porters fol- low immediately after the Levites, and indeed the porters first, notwithstanding their office was less honorable than that of the singers, because he is not concerned with the dignity of their of- fice, but with their membership among the Le- vites. It is true he had the disadvantage of being obliged to separate theNethinim, whom he could not very well place " before those of the people," by D> PI |D1 from the porters and sing- ers. Dl/'n 1*3? at any rate does not mean "some," "many of the people;" the meaning cannot be that at first only some of them took possession of their cities, against which is the concluding state- ment " and all Israel were in their cities,"* but the others of the people, besides the priests and Levites. Respecting the in their cities, comp. remarks on ver. 1. Our author in a similar man- ner, as in the closing verse of the first chapter, passes over many things that would have seemed worthy of mention under other circumstances, as in what condition they found the cities, where they settled, whether they contended with the inhabitants of the laud for them, how they ac- complished their organization and the like. The reason is the same as that adduced in our notes upon chap. i. II, * [■' All Israel" is interpreted l>y Rawlinson as refer- ring to representatives of the tt-n tribes. — Ta.J CHAP. II. 1-70. 35 THOUunTS UPON THE HISTORY OF REDEMPTION. Ver. 2. Siuce the people formed the new con- gregation no longer as a nation, or according to tlie'r external membership in the nation, — siuce ail depended upon the tree choice of particular families, — there is no longer any mention of the ancient distinction of tribes which w is based on merely natural laws. But the congregation, not withstanding, again has its heads, and indeed again exactly twelve, as the people in the times before the exile had had twelve elders of tribes. Doubtless they needed them still just as much, if not even still more, since indeed the Persian king and his officers did not occupy themselves so immediately, and in so many ways, in their affaire as the previous royal government had done. The restoration of the temple and in worship was imposed directly and pre-eminently upon them, and they certainly had pre-eminently to take care that the law of God should prevail as thoroughly as possible in the life of the con- gregation. Hence there is sufficient reason that they should be placed foremost here just as the twelve elders of tribes had been in the time of Moses, Num. i. 15, 16. There must always be office-holders, ranks, and acorresponding subor- dination in the congregation of God, as surely as it ever needs guidance and training. And if the officials are no longer given by natural rank, or appointed by the state, if the relation to them is thus a more tender one, then they ought to meet them as those who have been freely chosen to positions of trust, with all the more respect, yea, reverence. Vers. 36-30. T'ie priests were disproportion- ately numerous in the new congregation. They made up about the seventh part of the whole. If in consequence of this they were obliged to be all the more discreet to maintain themselves, since the offerings falling to them hardly sufficed for their support, — if therefore it could not. be permitted them to acquire land for themselves, work them, or to learn trades and practice them, then it was without doubt th') namely, to build. The conjecture of Ewald {Gesch. IV., S. 131), that the suffix of DH'S;' re- fers to the people of the lands and the reference is to their coming together to Israel in a friendly spirit, in accordance with Esdras v. 49, is en- tirely inadmissible. Accordingly they had not ventured to undertake anything greater or more public, because they feared the hostility of the surrounding nations, so long as the congregation was not assembled in greater numbers, and they had even now to fear hostile interruption in a greater undertaking. The explanation of J. H. Mich, and Keil: They re-esUblished altar and worship in order to secure for themselves the divine protection against the peoples, of whom they were afraid, not only requires us to supply too much, but also is opposed by the fact that THE BOOK OF EZRA. we should expect, if this view were correct, that they already previously would have gone to work upon the erection of the altar, and have offered sacrifices, especially those of the daily sacrifice. The peoples are certainly the neighboring peo- ples, comp. chap. ix. 1 ; x. 2. — And offered thereon burnt offerings, etc. — They sought to act in accordance with the law before all in of- fering the daily sacrifices. The sing. 7.JH is to be referred to the one upon whom the offering of the sacrifice was chiefly incumbent, the priest in service at the time, — it is the indefinite subject. Perhaps however the plural of the qeri is more appropriate. The burnt offerings for the morn- ing and evening are those belonging to every morning and evening. Those on the weekly Sabbath and feast days were required to be of- fered in various numbers. Comp. Ex. xxix. 38 sq. ; Numb, xxviii. 3 sq. The prominence given to the burnt offering alone is to be explained from the fact that these chiefly came into consi- deration, since the daily sacrifices, a-i well as those of the feasts, were chiefly burnt offering*, as then the burnt offering was regarded in ge- neral as the principal sacrifice. Cut at any rate they were entirely appropriate, in as much as they were the sacrifices of homage, through which the congregation might best express what they now above all had to confess, that they had Je- hovah for their Lord, and prayed to Him a3 such. In vers. 4, 5 I he congregation attests its sacred zeal by the celebration of the feast of taberna- cles, and by other ceremonies of worship. The burnt offering of the "day by day," or "every day" is that prescribed for the various days of the feast of tabernacles. 1DD03 = numbered, T : • : pro numero in sinijulos dhs definito (J. II. Mich.), comp. 1 Chron. ix. 28 ; xxiii. 31 ; Ezra viii. 34. D3tyrD3 = according to law ; in Num. xxix. 18 t: ■ : = , . 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, to which passages there is a re- ference here, it is somewhat more definite, in their number, according to the law QDtf'33 D1D0O3. to'VS O'V 131 is in apposition = the matter of the day in its day, opus dies in die suo ( Vulg. and J. II. Michaelis), comp. Nehem. xi. 23. Bertheau exnlains this expression as in accord- ance with DV3 DV (vi. \ Comp 1 Chron xxiii. 24, etc. Vers. 10, 11. The laying of the foundation was accomplished with solemnity and festivity. The perf. with the simple copula HuH does not in it- self carry on the narrative, but serves, as if the subject preceded and the preterite followed, to give the circumstances of the subsequent state- ment, so that the sense is: And when the builders laid the foundations of the tern- 40 THE BOOK OF EZRA. pie, they appointed the priests, e'c, — The subjects of WD>'^_are Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the congregation with them. The Kal., the priests stood, which is in Esdras, Sept., and Vulg., instead of the Hiphil, would not be better (Dertheau), unless we should regard this verse as well as the ninth, as carrying on the eighth verse; in other words, if it were parallel with the ninth, which is Eot the case. Rather it is parallel with the eighth verse, and contains a new appointment, that of the priests and musi- cians, and then ver. 11 parallel with ver. 9 nar- rates the activity of those who had been ap- pointed. — In their apparel. — We must supply W3 (Byssus) with U'VTIO, comp. 2 Chron. v. 12: at any rate, the sense is: clothed with official robes. The following "with trumpets" does depend upon it. The trumpets, which do not properly have music in view, were entrusted to the priests (Num. x. 10). The music proper was from the time of David incumbent upon particu- lar families of the Levites, especially that of Asaph (1 Chron. xiii. 8; xv. 1G, 10). 'T"^ is, according to the appointment, institution, 1 Chron. xiv. 2. Ver. 11. And they sang together by course in praising, etc. — We may tuke 'JJ"l_in the usual sense: they began with praising, etc ; but may likewise, with the older interpreters, as Clericus and J. H. Michaelis, explain: they responded to one another in responsive songs. Whilst the one choir sang: "Praise the Lord, for He is good," the other answered: "For His mercy endureth forever." They were songs of praise, as Ps. cvi. and cvii., cxviii. and exxxvi., that they struck up, comp. 1 Chron. xvi. 34, 41 ; 2 Chron. v. 13; vii. 3, etc. "IDin ")$_, "over the being fo;inded"=on account of the laying of the foundation. Comp. 2 Chron. iii. 3. Vers. 12, 13. It is true that strcng expressions of sorrow mingled with the joy, yet both sorrow and joy showed equally well the sacred zeal of the congregation in the worship of God. If the exile had begun in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and the temple had not been destroyed till eight- een years later in 688 B. C , there might now very well be old men present, — since only seventy-two years had passed since that beginning of the ex- ile, — who ba.d seen the old temple, and had still a lively remembrance of it. Even Haggai, in the second year of Darius, when some seventy years (more accurately sixty-six) had passed since the destruction of the temple itself presupposes that one and another had still a remembranceof the old temple. Comp. Hag. ii. 3. ilp'3 is attached by the accents to the previous words, as if ID' were a noun, which meant founding, then permanence. But this noun nowhere else occurs; besides, np'3, as an infin., seems to be conneoted with the words that follow thus: When the foun- dation of this house was laid before their eyes. — With this interpretation, it is true, the suffix is pleonastic, but in other passages of this author the suffix anticipates with emphasis the subject following it in apposition, comp. chap. ix. 1; 2 Chron. xxvi. 14, etc.; Ewald, J 209 c. [This is a late Hebrew usage, an Aramaism; so also ni without the article and before its noun is cmphatic=thissim\ thisvery. — Tit.] — Many old people wept with a loud voice. — Not, as it were, tears of joy, because they could now again Bee the h iuse of Go 1 arise; so also not merely with tears of emotion, because they on this occasion were again vividly reminded of the evils they had passed through. The relative clause: that had seen the first house gives the sense very decidedly : they wept tears of sot- row, because they could not conceal from them- selves the fact that the new work, in accordance with all the prevailing circumstances, promised but little to attain unto the glory of the old. In favor of this is also Hag. ii. 3 and Zech. iv. 10. These tears were thus a proof that if only it had been in any way possible, they would gladly have made the new house as glorious as the old. The second clause is then antithetical: but many shouted aloud for joy — that is, were in such a joyful condition that tbey could not but be loud in their expression of joy. A r er. 13. Themeaningofthe words: the people could not discern the noise of the shouts of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, can only be that both those who rejoiced and those who wept were alike zealous to express their feelings — so much so indeed that the words which were sung could not be under- stood. — For the people shouted with a loud shout and the noise was heard afar off — jTJMTn and Vlp in this clause in distinction from iinotyn njNIfl in the first clause, can only mean the cry in general. This confused cry would be to the blame of the new congregation, if the confusion itself had not been the result of sacred enthusiasm for the cause of the Lord. pimoS-lj; Btands for the more simple pHmOl as in 2 Chron. xxvi. 15. THOUGHTS "UPON THE HISTORY OF. REDEMPTION. Our chapter presents a beautiful picture of the sacred enthusiasm of the new congregation for the glory of God, and especially of their commendable zeal for the restoration of the tem- ple. In former times pious kings had provided in this way for the worthy worship of God ; but now here for the first time we see the congrega- tion as a whole of their own accord stepping forward in this manner. Such an inspiration of heart, had without doubt from the first been rendered possible and brought about by the severe judgment which God had sent upon them, and by the hard oppression connected therewith. It was like the break of a lovely spring day, full of new life, after a storm. It did not by any means secure them a result that must be secured by them, without trials and hindcrances; but yet they were finally to have a noble and great success, yea, they gained a great importance for the entire subsequent development of the con- gregation and of the kingdom of God. Vers. 1-3. That the congregation, as soon as they could be assembled together as such, should CHAP. III. 1-13. a feel above all impelled to build the Lord an allar and offer burnt-offerings, was in accordance with the command which Moses had once given to the people to set up on Ebal, the navel of the laud, Btones and inscribe thereon the law of the Lord (Deut. xxvii. 1-8), and even so with the other command to proclaim on this mountain the curse for the transgressor, and on Gerizim the blessing for t he obedient, Deut. xi. 29-32; xxvii. 9-26. If the ancient congregation had by that act placed the land under the divine commandment, aud marked it as under the Lord's jurisdiction, and put it uuder the obliga- tion to obe}' Him, so the new congregation con- secrated themselves by this worship unto Sim, as entirely belonging to Him ; they confessed by the burnt-offering in a symbolical manner, that what they have, they have from the Lord, and what they are, they are through Him, that thus they must be entirely devoted to Him. As of- ferings of homage, the burnt-offerings were bet- ter calculated than others to inaugurate the new beginning, the spring, which now broke forth for the congregation after the long night of w i nter. Ver. 4. It was because of the season of the year in which the congregition had arrived in Canaan that the first feast which they could again celebrate in accordance with the law was the feast of tabernacles. At the same time, however, we may see therein a special provi- dence of God, which was at o^ce lovely and sig- nificant to the congregation. The booths adorned with foliage and fruits had previously represented as well the gracious help in the times of the wilderness as also the gracious blessings of har- vest in the present (not the tent-life in the wil- derness as such, comp. my Abh. in der deutschrn Zatschrift, 1S37. and my Komm. zii V. Mot. XVI., and Keil's ArchSol. I., S. 412 sqq.); cor- responding wi'h this, the booths now gained of themselves a reference, on the one side, to the exhibition of grace during the new prolonged wilderness-time of the exile, which had entered with so much gloom into the midst of the history of Israel; so to speak to the booths of protec- tion aud defiance which had arisen for the peo- ple by the grace of the Lord even in the heathen world, and on the other side to the new regain- ing of Canaan, which, to a certaiu extent, was a security and a pledge of all the further blessings in store for them in this land. They expressed the thanks which they owed to the Lord for both of these blessings in an especially lively and internal manner. This feast of tabernacles was a festal and joyous conclusion of all the preser- vations, consolations and blessings that were bebiud them, connected with a joyous glance into the future ; it was an evidence that a height had been reached upon which finally even the last height might be attained, an indication that some day, after all their struggles and all their labors, a still more glorious feast of tabernacles, the Messianic, the eternal and truly blessed one, would come. Comp. Zech. xiv. Vers. 6, 7. The celebration of the feast of tabernacles was followed by the preparation for building the temple in an especially appropriate and beiutiful manner. If the Lord had pro- vided His congregation with booths of preserva- tion, of consolation, and of joy, nut only now in Canaan, but even also in the times of the wil- derness of the exile, how ought they now to have felt impelled from the heart to build Him a tabernacle also, in which His honor might dwell, a tabernacle of God with men, at least with aud among His people! The communion with the Lord, which they had already enjoyed, would have been no true one, if it had not been connected with the desire that it should become strengthened aud made more iutitnatc, and if this desire had not now engaged in building tho temple. That is the great end of all provideu- tial guidances, that communion between Himself and men, as it was prepared on His part by Hiu condescension, should become established and enlivened more aud more also on the part of men; for the most part naturally through the communion of the heart with Him, but also in order that it might be cherished in the heart, by I he establishment, enlargement and completion of the external means and institutions which liave been provided by God Himself for the pur- pose. The blessings and gifts with which He lias blessed us should always be employed first and chiefly for this purpose. Aud how greatly are we shamed in this respect by this weak con- gregation of returned exiles, who were scarcely able to sow and reap, and who yet had so much left for the building of the temple. Ver. 7. It was significant also ihat at this building of tho temple again it was not Canaan proper, but the Phoenician Lebanon, that pro- vided the building-material and that, correspond- ing with this heathen workmen and artists also took part in erecting the house of God. It indicates that the rest of the earth also, and cor- responding thereto, the rest of mankind, are to render their gifts and capacities, which are more and more to take part in the complete and iruo worship of the Lord, that the Lord by no I means regards them as profane. The rest of j the earth and mankind became thereby, to a certain extent, consecrated in advance and de- [ signated as one who, if now already in the Old Testament economy, yet still more some day in the fulness of time, would take part in the high- est destiny of Israel. Comp. the beautiful re- marks of B'ahr on 1 Kings v. Vers. 8, 9. It was not a tingle head, as once with Solomon, from whom now the building of the temple proceeded ; with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, at the same time all the returned exiks equally took part, as it is expressly said. That the entire congregation should take part fretly in the highest woik of humanity is the great object in view in all the divine providential gui- dances. Connected with this, however, tho con- gregation gave a Levitical family the charge of conducting the work of building, accord- ingly in their choice of officers fell in with tho regulations made and sanctified by God already long before, and thus certainly took the best action, since indeed in the tribe of Levi the interest in the house of God was still cherished in the most lively manner, and the understand- ing of what was necessary or appropriate was most surely preserved. That is always the most salutary and beautiful when the free re- cognition or choice on the part of the congrega- 42 THE BOOK OF EZRA. tion and the arrangements objectively present on the part of God harmoniously combine. Vers. 12, 13. With respect to the expressions of joy and sorrow at the laying of the founda- tion of the temple, every step by which we atlumpt to draw near to our highest end, the confirmation of our communion with God, should become a joyous feast. For the nearer we approach this end, the more there comes into view not only the true reverence of the Lord, but also the fulness of redemption and life, of righteousness, of peace, and of joy, involved therein. The farther otf we remain therefrom, the more do unrighteousness, discord and mis- chief threaten to prevail. In fact nothing is so well calculated to exalt the hearts of the chil- dren of God from within outward, to fill them with sacred joy and attune them to festivity, as the coming of the kingdom of God. EwalJ properly conjectures that at the time of the lay- ing of the foundation (we must understand the times of the building of the temple and those that immediately followed as included therein), many a grand song resounded afresh, as the 118th Psalm, a song of festivity and sacrifice expressing the feelings of that period with such wonderful depth ; and that they Boon, as they again made pilgrimages to the ancient seat of true religion and the Davidic sovereignty, as well as the sanctuary itself (so Psalm lxxxvii.), as nlso on the joyous pilgrim-march, sang a rich abundance of new songs of great power and en- chanting inwardness, such as had hardly arisen since the time of David in such streaming full- ness and creative life (so Ps. cxx.-cxxxiv ). Comp. Ewald, Gesch. IV., S. 181, 133. In the profound 110th Psalm: "I love the Lord be- cause he hath heard my voice and my supplica- tions," the voice of joy mingled with 6orrow, then so general, has found an appropriate and particular expression, which is so beautiful, that the pious king Fred. TVilliam IV, of Prussia, in his last severe affliction, chose it for his prayer. In the cxiii. Psalm, however, "Praise, ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord — the Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens," there is combined, in the same characteristic manner, the thought of the lowliness and poverty that they then so severely felt, and the praise for the exaltation which had now taken place. Especially, how- ever, Psalm cvii. belongs here with its remem- brance of all the different afflictions and dangers through which they had passed with God's help and with its constantly recurring refrain: ''0 that men would praise the Lord for His good- ness, and for His wonderful works to the chil- dren of men;" and probably also Psalm cvi., with ils prayer that the Lord would still further ga- ther them from among the heathen and redeem them from trouble. If we still so often, on our part, have a lack of joy and suffer from depres- sion of spirits, and if even in better hours a pres- sure remains upon the soul, of which we are at times scarcely clearly conscious, then even this sadness may redound to the glory of God, that is, bo a divine sorrow, which has its ground in the fact that we cannot serve God as we would wish, and ns would be really worthy of Him. Under snob, circumstances we should not lack beams of hope, or rather of promise, that would be able to transfigure them. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Vers. 1-6. The feast of the redeemed : 1) They present their offerings to God ; a) for the redemp- tion for which they are thankful to the Lord, and for which they owe all to Him ; 6) notwithstand- ing the hostility of the world, which indeed grieves them and hinders them in many ways ex- ternally, but cannot hold them back from that which is essential; c) they consecrate themselves by a daily dedication of themselves. 2) They celebrate especially a feast of tabernacles ; a) as preserved in the desert of the world and deli- vered therefrom ; b) as richly blessed in the land of the Lord ; c) as called to the eternal taberna- cles of joy. 3) They advance the building of the house and kingdom of God; a) they conse- crate for this purpose their possessions and gifts ; i) they seek therefore also to add thereto that which is suitable in the world — all (1, 2 and 3) on the ground of and according to the prescriptions of the word of God. — Brentius : Nobis quolidic hoc festum celebrandum est, quod turn celebratur, dum docemus et sentimus, nos esse peregrinos in hoc •mundo et in tabernaculis corporis nostri brevi duran- tibus, nostrum politcuma esse in ccelo. Starke : How lovely and necessary is brotherly love among the children of God ! Especially in the building of the spiritual temple under Christ should there be one heart and one soul, and each one should stand as all and all as one man, Acts ii. 44; iv. 32 ; Ps. exxxiii. 2. If we would again properly reform and re-establish the worship of God, God's word must be the law, rule, lamp, and guiding star, Ps. six. 5 ; xxiii. 4; cxix. 103. Although believers have the commandment and promise of God before them, yet the human heart is often so weak that it is easily frightened; but we should here be at the same time blind and dumb, and not look to the present state of affairs, but rely upon God's word alone, Prov. xviii. 10. Vers. 6-10. How the house (kingdom) of God is built: 1) by the offerings of men; a) by the possessions and gifts of the congregation; b) by appropriating and using that which is useful in the world ; c) under the protection of the civil authorities ("according to the permission of Cyrus"). 2) By the activity not only of the heads but also of the other members. The heads have their work to do as leaders, but the rest have freely to co-operate, they have to assist those who according to the divine arrangement have the charge of affairs, encourage them and strengthen them. 3) By the faithfulness of of- ficers to their duties. God has ordained officers for the sake of order. There is not only the of- fice of priests, but also that of their helpers, the teachers, and especially also fathers and mothers. — Starke: God distributes His gifts in many ways ; to one He gives talents for one work, to another for another, 1 Cor. xii. 7 sq. The spi- ritual temple should also be urged on in all ranks of society with all energy, in order that the peo- ple may be built up into an holy temple in the Lord, Ez. ii. 22. Preachers and magistrates, in- structors also, and parents, thus build a temple when they properly teach and preach, preserve CHAP. IV. 1-24. 43 discipline and honesty, and bring up the youth to piety. Vers. 11-13. The joy of the congregation of the Lord : 1 ) Its ground — the laying of the foun- dation of t lie house of God ; God on His part would have a dwelling among men, for this He has accom- complished the work of redemption, especially the incarnation, the atonement, and the establishment of the Church; the congregation on their part constitute ever some part of the beginning of the house of God. 2) Its hind — -it is a festive joy, and expresses itself accordingly in music and songs in praise of the Lord, but is still saddened, because the house of God still continues to lack the true glory. 3) Its significance, — its incom- pleteness of itself, points to its fulfilment. — Starke : Christ is the true foundation and cor- ner-stone of His church (Ps. cxviii. 22 ; Isa. xxviii. 1G ; 1 Cor. iii. 11), in whom wo highly rejoioGf and on whose account we have to praise God. Experience of previous times often gives an impulse to correct judgment ; sometime^ how- ever unbelief derives an evil example and sup- port therefrom. The inward joy of the Spirit should suppress all temporal sorrows, so that we should not hear the weeping for the joy. [Scott: Tho greater difficulties and the more formidable enemies we are exposed to, the more we need t he friendship and assistance of God.— In this world joys and sorrows will be blended, for it is a mixed state; hereafter there will be a complete separation. — Henry: Let worldly business be postponed to the business of religion and it will prosper the better. — They that do not work them- selves may yet do good service by quickening and encouraging those that do work. — Tit.] B.— THE INTERRUPTION AND AN ORIGINAL DOCUMENT RESPECTING THE MACHI- NATIONS OF THE ENEMIES. Chapter IV. 1-24. I. The Interruption of the Building of the Temple. Vers. 1-5. 1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of 2 the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel ; Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you : for we seek your God, as ye do ; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days 3 of Esar-haddou king of Assur, which brought us up hither. But Zerub^ab?l, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God ; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath com- 4 nianded us. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Ju- 5 dah, and troubled them in building, And hired counsellors against them, to frus- trate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. II. An Original Document respecting the Hostile Machinations. Vers. G— 24. 6 And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they unto him 7 an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. And in thu days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of their companions, unto Artaxerxes king of Persia ; and the writing of the letter was written in the 8 Syrian tongue, and interpreted in the Syrian tongue. Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this 9 sort : Then wrote Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the s?ribe, and the rest of their companions ; the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Aphar- sites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Susanchites, the Dehavtes, and the 10 Elamites, And the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnapper brought over, and set in the citks of Samaria, and the rest that are on this side the river. 11 and at such a time. This is the copy of the letter that they sent unto him, even unto Artaxerxes the kiDg ; Thy servants the men on this side the river, and at such 12 a time. Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up ii THE BOOK OF EZRA. 13 the walls (hereof, and joined the foundations. Be it known now unto the king, that if this city be builded, and the walls set up again, then will they not pay toll, 1 1 tribute, and custom, and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of the kings. Now because we have maintenance from the king's palace, and it was not meet for us to 15 see the king's dishonour, therefore have we sent and certified the king ; That search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers : so shalt thou find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, a*:d hurtful unto king3 and provinces, and that they have moved sedition within the same of old 16 time: for which cause was this city destroyed. We certify the king that, if this city be builded again, and the walls thereof set up, by this means thou shalt have 17 no portion on this side the river. Then sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria, and unto the rest beyond the river, Peace, and at such a time. 18,19 The letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me. Audi commanded, and search hath been made, and it is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been ' 20 made therein. There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, which have ruled over all countries beyond the river ; and toll, tribute, and custom was paid 21 unto them. Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease, and that this 22 city be not builded, until another commandment shall be given from me. Take heed now that ye fail not to do this : why should damage grow to the hurt of the 23 kings? Now when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went up in haste to Jerusalem 21 unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Vers. 1-5. The interruption. Vers. 1-3 first give iU occasion. When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard of the undertaking in Jeru- salem, they wished to unite with them in build- ing. They are called the adversaries, not of the cbildren of the captivity, but of Judah and Benjamin, because their opposition and hos- tility had arisen already in pre-exile times, and indeed against the southern kingdom, which was then most suitably called that of Judah and Ben- jamin, rnun "J3 — children or members of the captivity, is the name given to the returned ex- iles in chap. vi. 19 sq. ; viii. 35; x. 7, 16, etc. ; so also briefly H/UH — e. g., chap. i. 11. In or- der to establish their claim they maintain: We seek your God as ye (do). — 'd~\7 with 7 or 7*5, also with the simple accusative, is the con- stant expression for our somewhat colorless ex- pression worship God ; properly it is to turn to God with petition or questions, or with desires in general, to apply to Him. — And sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon. etc. — The Kethib: "we do not offer" cannot well mean : we do not offer to other gods, for then it would be necessary to mention expressly these other gods. If it were original to the text it might perhaps simply have the sense we did not offer at all, not even to Jehovah, since we well knew that Jehovah would accept offering only at the one legitimate place of worship at Jerusalem. Then it would involvo the meaning that they would gladly sacrifice to Jehovah, and on this very account desired to take part in building tho temple at Jerusalem. But this view is opposed by the fact that they then would without doubt have too openly and boldly gone in the face of all truth, since they certainly had very many altars and sacrificed often enough. Moreover the emphatic position of 'JH3X does not accord with this view; besides, in such a case we would ex- pect the perf. 'JHDf instead of the part. D'tlDt. It is very probable that X7 here, as in fifteen other passages (comp. e. g, Ex. xxi. 8 ; 1 Sam. ii. 3; 2 Sam. xvi. 18; 2 Kings viii. 10) is for ft, in consequence of a mistake, or of design, in that they would state that their sacrifices did not pro- perly deserve the name of sacrifices, as then 17 likewise is found in Qjri, and is read by Esdras (aiiTtf)), by Sept., Syriac, and also indeed by the Vulg., which at least does not have the nega- tive. Since the speakers designate themselves as those whom Esar-haddou had brought into their present abode (comp. Biihr on 2 Kings xiv. 37), we have to identify them beyond question with those colonists referred to in 2 Kings xvii., with the Samaritans so-called, whom the king of Assyria, 2 Kings xvii. 24, had brought up out of Babylon, Cutha, and other eastern countries, into the ciiies of Samaria. These colonists, when they first settled in Canaan, it is true, did not fear Jehovah ; it was not till a considerable later period that they asked for an Israelite priest out of Assyria, in order to be instructed by him in tho worship of Jehovah; but the words: since the days when Esar-haddon brought us up, are either a somewhat inexact statement, or aro to be explained from their efforts to date their wor- CHAP. IV. 1-24. ship of Jehovah as far back as possible. Kuo- bcl (/Cur Otschic/lle der Samarilaner, Denktehr. il r OaeUieh, fur Wistensch. and Kuiust in Gicssen, I. 1, .->. 117 sqq.), on account of these words, impro- perly holds them for those who had emigrated from Assyria with the Israelite priests. It is clear from our passage that the colonization spoken of in 2 Kings xvii , if it perhaps had already begun under Sargon and Sennacherib, yet chiefly took place under Esar-haddon. With this agree the cuneiform inscriptions, in accordance with which Esar-haddon had despoiled, not expressly, it is (rue, the land of the ten tribes, hut yet Syria and Phoenicia of their ancient inhabitants, and pro- vided them with new ones, comp. Schrader, I. c, upon our passage.* The occasion of this request of the Samaritans, was the correct recognition of the fact that those who should have the tem- ple at Jerusalem, would be regarded as the lead- ing nation, whilst those who should be excluded from this central point of the worship of the land would appear as less authorized, as intru- sive; they likewise no doubt expected, if they were admitted to participation in the building of the temple, as well as to consultation with reference to it, to gain thereby influence in shaping the affairs of the congregation iu gene- ral. If in addition to this they had also a reli- gious interest in the matter, it was only in order to seoure for themselves the favor of t lie God of the laud, whom they recognised as Jehovah, and then therewith aho the same possessions and blessings in their new home as the Jews designed for themselves. We cannot regard them as actu- ated by any higher and purer motive, — for their entire subsequent behaviour, which makes them appear as quite indifferent to religious affairs, and also that which we elsewhere learn of their reli- gion, is opposed to that view. That which is said in 2 Kings xvii. on this subject cannot be understood (as Baur on that chap.) as staling that they only in part retained their heathen go Is, that many had already worshipped Jehovah only, that these latter had worshipped Him, if indeed in the forn of a bull, yet, as the only God. There is no distinction between the differ- ent classes; for ver. 33 is not, as Biibr translates, "there were afso worshippers of Jehovah," — but it is said of all ; they feared Jehovah, and served their own gods, and of all it is then likewise said in ver. 31: "they feared not Jehovah;" they prayed to Jehovah only as one of many, only as a limited being, only as an idol, not as the only true God. It is true the question then arises whether this syncretistic stand-point that in no respect can be regarded as even an approxima- tive worship of Jehovah, that in truth was only ordinary heathenism, was still maintained by * [Also Smith, the Asfttfrian Canon, p. 138, and Rawlin- bod in lorn, who says: ''There appear to have been at least three colonizations of Samaria by tin- Assyrian kings. Sargon, soon after his conquest, replaced the captives whom he had carried otf by colonists from Ba- bylonia and from Hamath (2 Kings xvii. 24). Later in his reign he a 1,1 -d to these first settlers an Arabian ele- ment {Ancient AfbnarcAtes, II.. p. 416). Some thirty or forty years afterwards, Esar-haddon, his grandson, largely augmented the population of colonists drawn from various parts of the empire, but especially from the southeast, Stisiana, Elymais. and Persia. Thas the later Samaritans were an" exceedingly mixed race. 11 — Ta.l them in the times subsequent to the exile, whe- ther they had not made an advance in religion beyond it. The question is, how the remnant of the ten tribes, who had maintained themselves in their habitations in the midst of the colonists, especially according to Jer. xli. 4 sq. ; and 2 Chron. xxxiv. 9, IU (comp. Bahr on 2 Kings xvii., S. 401, and Niigelsbach on Jer. xli. 4sq.}, acted both with reference to these colonists iu geueral, and to the claim here made by them. But if the long prevailing opinion were correct that the Samaritans for the most part consisted of the Israelites who remained iu the land at the exile, so that they might he regarded as an actual continuation of the people of the ten tribes, and the heathen elements among them had become more and more conformed to the Israelites, we cannot conceive why they did not maintain al- ready now this their external and internal con- nection with Israel as well as on later occasions when it suited them so to do. That would have been the strongest reason that could have influenced the Jews to admit their claim. For great and respected predecessors, as Hezekiah, 2 Chron. xxx.; and Josiah, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 56, had ex- pressly occupied themselves iu attracting the remnants of Israel to the worship of Jehovah at Jerusalem. At first the remnant may have kept themselves concealed from the new comers and the masters of the land, by contenting themselves with the more distant regions and lurking- places of the mountains. They certainly consti- tuted merely despised and scattered bands, which neither sought nor offered any communication, whom therefore the colonists could not trust. Otherwise they would not have had a priest sent to them from Assyria, when they wished to worship Jehovah as the god of the land, comp. 2 Kings xvii. 2. Very soon, it is true, many of them approached the colonists, and mixed with them by marriage; but instead of exerting any influence in shaping them, they rather subordi- nated themselves — of themselves having quite a strong inclination to heathenism — to the colonists us t lie more powerful and more favored on the part of the government and united with them in their manners and customs, and also in their religion, so that they more and more disappeared among them. This is very clear partly from the way in which the Samaritans here speak of themselves, partly from their subsequent actions, in that they in contrast to the Jews still preferred to be the representatives of the royal prerogatives of Persia, and designate themselves after their As- syrian places of origin (comp. ver. 7 sq.), but give not the slightest hint of a connection with the ancient Israelites, or of having been iu any way modified by them.* Therefore it is impro- bable that they shou'd have been influenced by these latter in making their claim upon the new congregation, as Berth, and after him Keil sup- poses. If they subsequently more and more deci- dedly went over to monotheism and the observa- * It was not until very late that their historians in- vented a return of three hundred thousand men from th<- Assyrian banishment, and a new establishment of ancient* Israel iu the midst of the laud by this great band, and especially on Mt. Gerizim. (Comp*. Ahull' Arnh. Chromic in Paulus' MemorabUien. II.. s. 54-10/1. and in the Samaritan hook of Joshua, published at Ley- den, in 1818. Fid. Ewald IV., S. 125.) 4(3 THE COOK OF EZRA. tion of the Mosaic law, they were moved thereto, not by the remnants of Israel, which had blended witli them, but by the Jews themselves. They would not remain behind the new congregation in Jerusalem, for they could not conceal from themselves on reflection that the stand-point of the religion of Jehovah, as it was represented in Jerusalem, was higher than their own. And it was for this reason that they then accepted the first Manasseh, and under his direction built the temple on Gerizim, by which circumstance the transformation was as a matter of course still further favored. Besides this there was the en- tire tendency of those times that was decidedly towards a higher and more spiritual worship of God. Moreover, in addition to such fragments of Israel as were lost among the Samaritans, others still were left in the land who sought to preserve their independence. It is probable that these, who were of themselves more devoted to the religion of Jehovah, let themselves be di- rected by the judgments that passed over their kingdom, and the contrast that was exhibited between themselves and the colonists, still more decidedly to Jerusalem and the worship there conducted. In favor of this view is the fact that some of them already in the time of Josiah contributed to the restoration of the temple in Jerusalem (2 Chron. xxxiv. 9, 10), and that still after the destruction of the temple eighty men of Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria came in mourning to bring their gifts to the place where up to this time they had worshipped, Jor. xli. 5, 6. In accordance with some other evidence, there were still at the time such better elements in the northern region of the land. Among those who had separated themselves from the impurities of the nations to unite with the returned exiles in seeking Jehovah (ch. vi. 21) belonged probably at least remnants of Israel as well as of Judah. And this sheds light upon the obscure question, how we are to account for the origin of the Jewish population in Galilee. Bertheau properly remarks with reference to such better elements: "They are the ancestors of a great part of the Jews whom we meet in subsequent times iu northern Palestine." There in northern Palestine they had not been dis- lodged by the colonists, who occupied the cities of Samaria. There, as to their old ancestral abodes, and to their kindred, must those return who now and subsequently gradually returned from any of the ten tribes. It is possible, in- deed, that this better remnant of the northern kingdom soon still more decidedly than the Samaritans directed their attention to the tem- ple at Jerusalem. But perhaps they had not yet concluded what relation they should assume to the congregation at Jerusalem ; wc may sup- pose that it was in consequence of the impulse that went forth from Jerusalem for them cer- tainly much more than for the Samaritans, that they reflected more deeply upon themselves, and finally attached themselves to the worship at Jerusalem. Ver. 3. The Jews refused the Samaritans. The sing. "lOtd is used not only because the number of the verb is freer when it precedes the subject, but because Zerubbabel was the chief person who gave the answer; c. g. Zerub- babel spake in agreement with Jeshua, etc. Jeshua and the heads of the fathers of Israel had united in the answer. 7JOJP' is used with -t: • 7, and accordingly is not the slat. abs. of the fore- going nf3Xi"l, for otherwise this would not have the article, according to the usual combination with 'BftO. — Ye have nothing to do with us to build, that is, it is uot for you and us in common ; couip. the expression " what is to me and thee," namely, in common, Jos. xx. 24; Judges xi. 12; 2 Kings iii. 13. In that they say : house — not unto God, as chap. i. 4, but unto our God, they mean that Jehovah belongs to them more than to the Samaritans, yea, to them alone. — But we ourselves together=we as a compact unity, excluding others. They might appeal to the decree of Cyrus in this refusal, since if they were obliged to admit the Samaritans, they would not have gained, according to their feel- ings and knowledge, that which they had the right to expect from it, namely, an undisturbed worship of Jehovah in all its t.uth, free from all dangers. It is true it could not escape the con- gregation, that it was a very serious matter to make those their enemies who had probably connections, consideration and influence at the seat of government, and who naturally regarded themselves as the outposts and guardians of the sovereignty of Persia in Canaan. But never- theless the dangers to which they would have exposed themselves by a union with these Sa- maritans who appeared so objectionable, espe- cially in a religious point of view, would have been fur greater, and they should not be charged with too great anxiety, or one that cannot be entirely approved (against Ewald, Gesch. IV., S. 125, 135). Those who gradually imitated them when they kept themselves pure from their mixed religion, and through them were impelled to a monotheistic development, would, if they had gained an influence and rightful position in Jerusalem from the begin- ning, have involved them in their heathen doubt and obscurity. Their renunciation of the exter- nal advantages which were set before them by the proffered alliance was the result, on the one side, of a correct appreciation of that which they must regard as of the most importance, and on the other side of a candid and humble recognition of their weakness. As a matter of course they were obliged to take an entirely different course with reference to the remnants of the northern kingdom, when these in another way began to seek Jehovah again in sincerity, and on this account desired to be admitted into Jerusalem That they did not fail in this par- ticular we see in the circumstanoe that the Gali- lean ever had an undisputed admission. Vers. 4, 5. The consequence of this refusal was the interruption of the building of the tem- ple. The Samaritans are called the people of the lnml in ver. 4 because they, at least until this time had been the proper inhabitants of the land, and at all events constituted the chief part of the population. As such they were strong enough to slacken the hands of the people of Judah, that is, the people now inhabiting Judah. CI1A1\ IV. 1-24. 47 iTWr, already in pre-exile times ilie name of the southern kingdom is used here also as the name of the country (conip. ver. 0). rvn with the part, (slackening and affrighting) expresses the continuance of the actiou ; the secouJ parti- ciple is explanatory of the first, n'lJ27 D'itJMi affrighting with reference to building=from building. The Kethib DTlS^O is Buffioiently established by the noun nn"?5 (Isa. xvii. 14) and by the Syriac: the Qcri, D'7H??> prefers the usual form 7713. — Without doubt they threat- ened the Jews with violence, and with punishment on the part of the government, as soon as they had frustrated the edict of Cyrus. — They hired counsellors against them — for a cancelling of the edict according to ver. 5, in that they were able to influence probably the ministers to whom chap. vii. 28 and viii. 25 refer, or other influential persons, to give advice to Cyrus un- favorable to the Jews. At court they naturally did not understand how it could be that those who were as much the inhabitants of the land as the returned exiles, and therefore seemed entitled to the God of the land, should be ex- cluded. If Cyrus had seen in Jehovah his own supreme God, it must have been all the more an- noying to him that those who apparently had the best intentions of worshipping Him. should be rejected. It would seem as if the reason why the Jews opposed the union could only bo a na- tional and political one, and the suspicion was quite natural, that they already designed to form not merely a religious community, but also had national and political designs, that, they thus gave an entirely false interpretation to the decree of Cyrus. The part. D'^pS is in continuation of the part, of the previous verse; "03 is a later form of "OE7. The time during which they suc- ceeded in frustrating the purposes of the Jews, (for which "^n is to a certain extext the term, techn.), consisted of about fourteen years — from about the third year of Cyrus in Babylon (comp. Dan. x. 2 sq. ) until the second of Darius, comp. Hag. i. 1. Vers. 6-22 contains the original document re- specting the hostile efforts of the Samaritans. The author adds what the Samaritans did and accomplished in the time of Ahasuerus and Ar- taxerxes, and the question arises first of all, what kings were meant under these names ? : ^ Most ancient and modern interpreters, (comp. J. II. Michaelis, in loco.) had supposed that the au- thor from ver. onward would explain why the building of the temple was discontinued for so long a time, as stated in ver. 5. that he then en- tered into the period between Cyrus and Darius. They were led to this opinion by ver. 24, which leads over to Darius, and what happened under him, in such a manner that it seems certainly, at * Kleinert already in the Beitragen der Dorp j toren Thcol., 1S32. Bd. 1, had to a certain extent | to the correct opinion, which has been comm." cognized, as in mv article " Ci/rue der Gr\ Kni. 1 53, 8. 624 sqq.; by Baihinger. Stud. u. KriU 1857, S-B7sqq.; hy Hengst., ChristotogieIl.,S.H3; by Berth, and Keil in their Commentaries, ct al.. first, as if the kings mentioned hero in vers. 3 the Persian fra, the Sanscrit pra=-p6, pro, the new Persian far, in the corresponding J13 the Zend paid (Sanscrit prati)=irpoTi and nori, np6c\ in jJu/ a word like crnr/hana, old Persian lhanhana, from cenghdicere, prmdicare. — In the second half of the verse, the * According to Hitzip's faithful disciple Egli. it would be an Appellative, that would show us the relationship of the Assyrian with the German and would be essen- tially the same as the German " Schnappcr." CHAP. IV. 1-24. 51 letter begins : thy servants, the men on this side of the river, etc.— Here also there has been left off what usually stands at the begin- ning of a letter: the sense is: thy servants wish thee, king, peace, comp. ver. 17. Alongside of the form of the Qeri, ^3)?, that ot the K'thib, Tpl3,g, is also justified. Vers. 12-10. The information given to the king: Be it known unto the king. — OTTJ for »iT as |\nS for jijT, and yvrh for jniTj vii. 25J 25; Dan. ii. 20, 28, 29, 45, etc. 7 has in Bib'. Chald., occasionally also in the Targums, more frequently in the Talmuds, vindicated itself as preformative like : in Syriac. Comp. Zcick., Dan. ii. 20.*— That the Jews unto us have come. — fill*, they have come, is cer- tainly more closely defined by the following participle "building." But yet it is singular that in the time of Artaxerxes there was still mention made of coming. It seems that the coming of the Jews, even after the time of Cyrus, still went on; with the close connection, which those who remained behind maintained with the returned (comp. Zech. vi. 9 sq. ; Neh. i. 2 Bq.), this might indeed have been pre-supposed as a matter of course.— Building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations. Kjmo, with metheg in the second syllable, and so T whh kametz under *», is hardly a correct reading. We should read either NJVnO (so Norzi) with short o sound in the second syll. from the form "llID, which occurs in the Tar- gums, and is given by the Peschito — an inten- sive formation like Hebrew K13p_; or KJJ"!-'? i J. II. Mich.) as stat. emphat. of the stat. abs., N"P3 (comp. ver. 15). We must certainly pre- fer* the Qeri W??B? RHWh to rS^ZKJX HlWl. A similar false separation of words is found in 2 Sam. xxi. 12. "jlTd is shaphel of 7"?3, and means to make ready. That the perf. vTOtt should follow the part., is in historical narrative not unusual; here, however, it has its special reason perhaps in the fact that the Samaritans would co-ordinate this expression: and they have made the walls ready, to the first and principal statement (irtN), in order to bring it into suitable prominence. Besides they may be charged in alt probability with a kind of exag- geration, even if the perfect was not meant, to be taken strictly. If the Jews had now really brought the walls so near to completion, Nehe- miah would not have found them still under this same king in the condition described in Neh. ii. Since they yet let an imperfect follow the per- fect, they indicate of themselves, as it were involuntarily, that the work still continued; otherwise the transition to the imperfect would be without any reason. ID'tT might be the * [More properly it is the characteristic of the sub- junetive or optative foree ot' the verb. See Liuatto's Oram, dcr bib. Chald., \ 10D, and Rigg's Manual of Chal- dce, p. 55.— Te.] imperf. Aphel of DOTI, dig, dig out, which is also found in Syriac, since D'iT would be for HIT; to dig out the foundations would then be simply=make excavations for the foundations; it might, however, still easier be taken as imperf. Aphel of Din, properly sew together, then heal, improve; alongside of D"P' the sharper form D\T is to be maintained, after the analogy of which under the influence of the guttural we have DTV. Ver. 13. Be it known now unto the king that they will not pay toll, tribute and custom. — The three usual kinds of taxes are here meant, comp. ver. 20 and vii. 24. ntJO, for which vi. 8 has DTp, which expres- sion is also usual in Syriac, is etymologically= measure ; here, however, the appointed geueral tax. 1^3 after H73 is perhaps the consumption tax, and TjSn the toll for highways. — And that it finally will prepare damage to the king. — The meaning of DhpN, which is entirely dis- regarded by the ancient versions, is entirely uncertain. The meaning "income" is simply invented by tho Jewish interpreters of the mid- dle ages, and is not recommended by vers. 15 and 22 in so far as the kings themselves are those who are there injured. Haug {I. c. ) com- pares DH1X in the Pehlewi language, which=the last, hindermost, Sansc. apa, superl. apama, and thus gains for our word the meaning of "finally, at last," which certainly is entirely appropriate. D'jTO is a Hebraism, or perhaps only a copy- ist's mistake for |"3V?- PUnri is tert. fern, in Aphel, in which conjugation the Bib. Chald. some- times chooses the prefix H, which it preserves even in theimperf. and part., comp. n^if'riri in ver. 15. The subj. is the city of Jerusalem, or the indef. subject, referring to the design of Jerusalem. Ver. 14. Now because we have mainte- nance from the king s palace — The writers would here at any rate state a reason for the following statement, that it was not meet for them to see the injury of the king. The rabbi- nical explanation followed by Luther: "we all, who have destroyed the temple," is therefore not recommended; besides we would then have to expect at least instead of: salt the salt of the temple, scatter salt on the temple, comp. Judges ix. 45; Jer. xvii. 6; Isa. Ii. 6. To salt the salt of any one probably means to live through any one's bounty, perhaps pay, and therefore be obligated to him, stand in his service. Syriac and Persian expressions accord with this, comp. Gesen., Thes., p. 790. We may also compare solarium. Whether the writer as an official really received pay from the palace of the king, or speaks figuratively, we cannot say.* "370 fttTg is according to the analogy of the Heb., PiY\Jf, the uncovering, not in the sense of deprivation, but of dishonoring; the Sept. has properly aaxvi'-oavvri, whilst the Vulg. employs Uesiones. * ['"The Persian satraps had no salaries, but taxed the provinces for the support of themselves and their courts." Rawlinson in loco.— Te.] 52 THE BOOK OF EZRA. It would be a dishonoring of a great king if the Jews should throw off their allegiance (refuse to fulfil their duties). }"")X, also in the Talinud= appropriate, fitting, is connected with ^|1,J?, ar- range. — Therefore have we sent, namely, this letter, and made known to the king, namely, the following. Ver. 15. That search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers. — Subj. of 1p?' is he whose duty it is to search, the keeper of the archives, properly indef. subj. — ri3"01 and nM"OT (comp. vi. 2) is the memo- T t : - t ; • v rable occurrence from 131=131. In Esther vi. 1; this book is called more completely: the book of the memorable events of the day. The fathers of Artaxerxes are here his predecessors on the throne, and indeed including also those not Medo-Persian, especially the Chaldean, who in this connection come very particularly into consideration. For the rebellions that follow must mean above all those under Jehoiachim and Zedekiah. The manner of expression is properly explained from an inclination of the inhabitants of Western Asia to assume a connec- tion of families between the dynasties that suc- ceeded one another, but also from figurative language, which was all the more natural if Artaxerxes already had had many real ances- tors for predecessors on the throne. — So shalt thou find. — These words may be taken as depending upon the verb make known in the previous verse, but yet really contains the con- sequence of the investigation. *injjH?X is nom. verb, of Ithpaal of the verb *ntf, uproar; it is found elsewhere only in ver. 19. ]'~}3y, they make (continually) uproar, indefin. subject, they make ; in ver. 19 there is made. Rliy no'V JD, from the t : - .- I ■ * days of old. The fem. form rnv is also found in Syriac alongside of the masc. ; otherwise in Bib. Chald. the masc. 'OV is used, as then in Heb. likewise the masc. is throughout the usual form, the fem. only occurring in poetry. With the clause: For which cause was this city destroyed, we certainly are to look back to the destruction of the city by Nebuchadnezzar. rOinn is Hoph., which is used throughout in Bib. Chaldee for the Ittaplial. Ver. 16. We certify the king, that if by this means thou shalt have no portion on this side the river. — The verse concludes with this inference and summing up. Hjl 73p 7 —on this account, in consequence of this cir- cumstance as in Dan. ii. 12. They supposed that the fortified Jerusalem would not merely free itself from taxes, but also appropriate to itself all the territory on the west of the Eu- phrates, so that the great king would have nothing left, comp. Eccl. ix. 6; 2 Chron. x. 16; Jos. xx. 25, 27. Vers. 17-22. The writers of the letter had manifestly desired to obtain by means of their information authoritative measures, authorizing them to restrain the Jews. These they obtained. — The king sent an edict — The abrupt way in which the letter of the king is mentioned may be explained from the fact that the same address as in ver. 11 is here used, even if with slight differences. i"l3Jri3 from the Zend, pati- ° T t : ■ * gama (modern Persian paigam. Armenian patt- kam) is the command, and in this sense has even passed over into the Hebrew, comp. Eccl. viii. 11 ; Esther i. 20. At its root is the word paid (~f>6g) and gam=go, accordingly =t he approach- ing message (comp. Keil on Dan. iii. 16). Moreover, comp. notes on ver. 10. Ver. 18. The letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me. — C^-33, Pael part, passive, meaus here, since the Aramaic without doubt was chosen only because it was used at court, not translated, but explained, or adverbially, plainly, comp. the Pual part, in this sense in Neh. viii. 8, as then this word has the same meaning also in the Talmud* Ver. 19. And I commanded — D'S? pro- perly, Kal passive part. ; in Bib. Chaldee is used instead of a tertia pers. praet. pass, accordingly, instead of the lthpael (comp. v. 17; Dan. iv. 6); moreover the Peil part, in Bib. Chald. usually gives a new preterite passive, and is for this purpose conjugated throughout with the afforma- tives of the verb. Alongside of D'«y, the form D& also occurs, in fem jlOVi', Dan. vi. 18. — Search hath been made, and it is found that this city — hath made insurrection — Nl^Jpn is here used as in 1 Kings i. 5 in Hebrew, of rising up in rebellion. Comp. ver. 15. Ver. 20. There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem which have ruled. — The reference is to Uzziah, Jotham, and perhaps David and Solomon, if in any way a rumor of them had come to Babylon and to the Per- sians. f Since these kings had subjugated the land to the west of the Euphrates, especially the territory of the Moabites and Ammonites and similar tribes, the suspicion was quite natural that Jerusalem would again strive for such a supremacy. 2 before 73 depends upon the pre- vious J'ip'vBf: ruling over all on that side of the river. With reference to the following clause comp. ver. 13. Ver. 21. Give ye now commandment, namely, to those who are building in Jerusalem. D>'iJ is here as in ver. 19, not in the sense of in- vestigation, observation, as in Dan. iii. 12, in connection with 1}! DV«y, but in the sense of de- cision, command, N7D37 — that you cause tc T T - : cease by your command. From this infinitive, as frequently in Hebrew, the construction passes over into the finite verb: and that this city be not built. The additional clause: until a command shall be given from me, namely, that defined by the context, for building, hence the flat. emph. XOi'tD- This is not a mere phrase, * [" It is doubtful if the Persian mnnurchs could ordi- narily read (.AnoisnlMonarehies, Vol. IV.. p. 185). At any rate it was not their habit to read, but to have documents read to them (comp. Esther vi. 1)." Raivlinson in Ivm. — Tr.1 t fRawlinson in loco doubts the reference to David and Solomon, and thinks the reference more probable to Menahem (2 Kings xv. 16), and Josiah (2 Chron. xxxiv. 6, 7; xxxv. 18;.— Ta.) CHAP. IV. 1-24. 53 that would make all tilings dependent upon him- self and his words, but a product of his prudence, since he really had in view the possibility of a change. With this agrees very well the earnest- ness and severity with which in Ver. 22 lie sharpens the previous command: and be careful — so TSTti which is especially frequent in Syriac, — to make a mistake = that you may not make a mistake with reference to this matter, riD7 properly "to what" = that not, comp. vii. 23, so also in Syriac. Ac- cordingly the meaning is, that iT73n, damage, which easily grows as a pest, may not become grea'. Ver. 23. The consequences of the royal edict are now added, probably by the same hand, that had added the introductory address of the ori- ginal document. — Now when the contents of the letter . . . were read. A parenthetical clause begins with ,r T"]0- It is not until 17_TX that the principal clause continues. — They went up to Jerusalem, unto the Jews. — 7TS may be connected with 7 and 1}} in the sense of ''going to or unto" (comp. v. 8 Din. ii. 24 ; here both prepositions follow. The subject is supplied from the parenthetical clause. jniX3, properly, "with arm," or "the power of the arm," but this could not be the meaning here, were it not for Till = troops, which is accord- ingly added. The Sept. renders freely, but. not incorrectly (against Keil): ev Inrrofc koc 6wduet t comp. the Hebrew ^*1"H, Ezra xvii. 0, and flij/nr, or BTfVlTi Dan. xi. 15, 31, where also Keil ex- plains the meaning as warlike powers. Instead of JfTlSi almost always >'"H occurs without the prosthetic X. Ver. 24. Then ceased the work of the house of God. — This verse already begins the continuation of vers. 1—5, the further history of the building of the temple; at least it is intro- ductory thereto. Our author himself (comp. notes on ver. 6) here gives the results of the hos- tile effort, but not those of the last struggle, but those of the first under Cyrus, which already results from the idea of 703, if it is taken in the strict sense. The author would not have gone back to the cessation, were it not that he would come to something that had already eonnected hself with the first intimation which had occa- sioned the cessation.* THOUGHTS UPON' THE HISTORY OF REDEMPTION. Vers. 1—3. (1) The release of Israel and the re-establishment of Jerusalem and the temple connected therewith was a beginning of the ful- filment of the great prophetic promises. Among these promises were those that said that the * ("The stoppage of the building by the Pseudn Smer- dis i^ in complete harmony with his character. He w:i j a Magus, devoted to the Alagian elemental worship, ami opposed to belief in a persona] god. His religion did not approve of temples {Htrcd. I., 130i; and as he perse- cuted the Zoroastrian {Behist Inaer., col. i., par. 14.. so would he naturally be inimical to the Jewish faith (comp. Ancient Monarchiti, Vol. IV., pp. ;(47, CDS)" Baw- liuson in loco. — Tr.] heathen would come near, to walk in the light of the Lord (especially Mic. iv. 1 sq.; Isa. ii. 2, 24; )x 1 sq.); they were to take part in the commu- nion with Him, and accordingly in His worship and kingdom, and rejoice in His blessings. When now t lie Samaritans drew nigh with the request that they might help in building t he tem- ple, was not their claim sustained by these pro- phets? Should not I-rael have been ready gladly to contribute their part for the accom- plishment of the prophecy, even if it should for the moment be burdensome to them? Did they not have to fear lest they should by a refusal strive against God's own great thoughts and de- signs which had been expressed long before? If the one prophecy is compared and explained by the other, then it follows, certainly, that this conversion of the heathen was not to be expected until the appearance of the Messiah. But if the Lord had given the one thing that was to come with the better and Messianic times, namely the return to the land of their fathers, could He not then very soon also afford them the other, the appearance of the Messiah itself? At present, indeed, Israel had no other prince than Zerub- babel, who did not even have the majesty of an ordinary king, not to speak of Messianic majesty and glory. But if now the congregation had gained in strength and numbers by the reception of the Samaritans, would it not thereby have also gradually advanced an important stage, and would not other tribes and families also have gradually followed the Samaritans? The congregation was obliged in those times, when so much was but feeble, and began to have but little prospect of improvement (comp. Zech. iv. 10), to look at. so many things with the eye of faith, if they would make no mistakes; and grasp them in faith, if they wou'd not lack courage for them from the outset — should they not then have seen here also in faith a beginning, that would have its continuation and completion; should they not have covered over with the veil of mildness and forbearance the many weaknesses which might still adhere to the Sama- ritans, and have excused them with the hope of better things? They felt themselves too weak to overcome the heathen elements that were natural to them, and to meet the influences which they would exert in case of a union. But should they not have overcome their feeling of weakness in the power of the enthusiasm of their faith ? They were obliged to recognise likewise that some- thing of good was in the Samaritans, and were in duty bound to God to trust in Him that He would make the good to prevail over the evil and secure the victory to the truth. Was it not, if they rejected the Samaritans, looking deeper, a lack of faith, unnecessary anxiety, and was not national narrow-mindedness, and uncharitable- ness mingled therewith? There are many who take this view of it, and are very much inclined to make use of such thoughts with reference to si- milar things, which are not entirely lacking at present. But, however difficult it may appear to take a safe course in such a state of affairs, one thing is sure: The Samaritans had no right to an entrance into the congregation on their asser- tion that they had already always and from the be- ginning worshipped the Lord, for on the contrary this could have been the case only in that they 54 THE BOOK OF EZRA. could have shown at some period of their history a decisive break with their previous heathenism and a real conversion to Jehovah. Such a con- version, however, of a true and hearty charac- ter, such as the prophets had prophesied as taking place in the Messianic time (comp. Isa. xix. 16 Bq ) was not at all possible on their part. They needed first for this a turning unto them, a change on the part of the Lord. Israel was what it was in consequence of the divine elec- tion. The Samaritans also, and indeed all other nations, can become God's people only when God extends His election clearly and effectually unto them likewise. They cannot choose Him, but He must choose them. It was His prerogative in this as in all other things, to take the initia- tive, if indeed He was the God of revelation, and was to be honored as such. It was necessary that He should reveal Himself in some manner, that He should draw near them and become ap- prehensible ; He must send a mediator, under whom they likewise might find themselves, and in whom there should be a righteousness, a perfection and glory which would be undoubtedly for them, yea, overpowering them, and above all, likewise rendering satisfaction for them, and of a suffi- ciently representative character ; He must do a re- demptive act, by which He should purchase and take them to Himself. It was necessary that there should first be a new manifestation, which should lay anew foundation, and even on this account, also another instrument than Zerubbabel and Jeshua, coming from heaven, the appearance of the Sun of righteousness itself, with healing in its beams even for the heathen. That the congregation in Jerusalem rightly judged the Samaritans has been attested by the Lord Himself in John iv. 22, as Hengstenberg has well shown in his Gesch. des Reiches Goltes ("ye worship ye know not what") and the history itself has shown that they justly estimated that the hour of God had not yet come. This hour did not strike until Christ the Lord authoritatively removed the fence that had been erected between Israel and the heathen. (2) The congregation had at first for their own sake as well as for the sake of the Samaritans, to adopt an exclusive policy. Whilst, if they had taken the Samaritans into their membership they would have been ruined by the latterthrough their worldly conformity, now they remained a salt, that in good time might become useful even to them, yea, they became already in advance a warning and an impulse to them, in consequence of which they gradually turned to better things. The good Samaritan in the gospel makes it pro- bable that the Lord found here and there among them, hearts that were less hard than those of the priests and Levites in Jerusalem. The story of the Samaritan who was healed of leprosy, who alone rendered thanks to the Lord, is an evi- dence that the noblest virtue might easily thrive among them better than among the Jews. The Samaritan woman at Jacob's well and the people of Sychar, then those in Samaria itself (Acts viii.) show a susceptibility for the Saviour, by which they might become true members of the people of God before many in the ancient con- gregation. Would that those, who as the Sama- ritans do not worship the true and holy God who does not allow His people to be put to shame, but only their own idols who are easily satisfied, might have a clearer and stronger conception of the chasm that separates them from the true con- gregation of the Lord! It would be a help for them that they need first of all. (3) The congregation had to do without an increase such as would have come through the Samaritan element; they must rather remain small ami suffer persecutions than abandon unto corruption the blessings entrusted to them. But after that Jesus Christ has come into the world anil redemption has been made for all, so that only the innermost inclination of the heart need be brought into consideration, it is much more difficult to properly recognize the Samari- tan influence that would press into the Church, and there is need in this respect of a very great and especial care. Above all we must take this to heart, that no one has to be converted to us, to our opinions and methods, but that every one is to be converted to Jesus Christ alone. The two do not coincide as long as we are still in an imperfect state. But at all events conversion is the decisive thing. How necessary this is and how fundamental it must be has now become still clearer in the light of Jesus Christ. He who now without conversion thinks that he can take part in the kingdom of God, who disputes the necessity of conversion, the depth of human sin- fulness, the strictness of the divine holiness, in that he sets before him the grand aim of human- izing Christianity, reconciling it with culture, would set aside the opposition of the world against the Church, the Church's rigor, narrow- ness, lack of culture, whilst in truth he seeks to make the Church conformable unto the world — such nn one is in fact to be placed on a par with the Samaritans: lie is, indeed, because he is more accountable, worse than a Samaritan. — The state of affairs, however, to-day is an en- tirely different one, inasmuch as Samaritanism is not without, but within the congregation [that is, in the State Churches especially : to a limited extent in the free evangelical churches — Tr.], yea, at times indeed is to be found in those who govern the congregation, where then at any rate the parable of the wheat and tares comes into consideration with reference to the way of judging it and treating it. Vers. 4, 5. The Samaritaus were able for a time to prevent the building of the house of God. But what God would have, must finally come to pass. Just as at a previous time when David could not at once and himself execute his design of building a temple to the Lord (2 Sam. vii.), so the Lord now showed that He did not require under all circumstances that which the world was still able to take away from Him and His people. Thus then the Church should never be discouraged when their enemies triumph for a season, and when it is as if they accomplished nothing, as if they lacked the most necessary things, and walked in a way that is not good. When the progress of their work is rendered more difficult by a thousand persecutions, by the spread of many calumnies and the like, then is the time, as Starke says, to pray the third petition that God would prevent all and every wicked counsel and purpose. But we should CHAP. IV. 1-24. 66 not judge by success whether we have chosen the right or the wroug way, but only by God's word and truth. We should not find it too hard to be miserable and poor so long as it pleases God. It so easily happens, as it is elsewhere said, thai the belter the work, the greater hin- drances are found, and that where God proposes something good, the devil does not rest, but sows tares with it (Starke). Vers. 7-16. It was calumniation when the Samaritans charged the Jews behind their back at the Persian court with pursuing political ends, although in Artaxerxes' time the question was no longer of the temple, but of the city and its walls. The Jews had nothing to do with politi- cal deliverance and independence, but with se- curing their existence and freedom of worship which could hardly be refused them by the Per- sians. But such slanders were almost a neces- sity. The Church must ever be prepared for them. The world knows only worldly molives, worldly aims, and cannot but ascribe them also to the Church; with all things that they allow themselves, they make a crime for the Church. But all the more care must the Church take that such calumniations may not gain ground ; all the more carefully accordingly must it hold itself aloof from the world and its aims. Otherwise it not only injures itself for the present, but also for the future; it makes itself suspected. For their accusers already, to gain credence for their word, refer to the fact that the Jews had already in former times snatched to them- selves a great worldly power. that the con- gregation might not be so much denied by their own and their forefathers' sins ! how much more irreproachably, powerfully and charmingly would they be able to carry out their work of missions in the world. Vers. 17-23. The Persian king Artaxerxes commanded that the building of the walls of Jerusalem should cease. We might ask how it was possible that the only true God, the Lord of heaven and earth, should make the lot of His people, and accordingly the history of His king- dom dependent upon the command of the king of Persia; that He should allow His people, and indeed His cause in general, to fall into such dependence upon men, and indeed heathen'? But this is indeed His method. Even the indi- vidual is allowed a free and determining influ- ence upon his action. And in the very fact that He limits Himself, makes Himself dependent, lets Himself be satisfied, so that the world may enjoy an independent, true existence, and men may have a real freedom, He shows His highest and best greatness. Only the false God, the one merely conceived, is the entirely unlimited one who takes away every freedom of the crea- ture, who wills and does everything himself, and thereby becomes of the nature of the crea- ture and sinful. It is shown here so truly how that which is truly great and important may be externally weak and inversely. Ver. 24. When Cyrus had given the congre- gation permission to return and build the tem- ple of the Lord, it almost appeared as if already heathenism was capable and ready under the circumstanoes to establish a free church in a free state. But when afterwards the building was obliged to stop and regain so long unfi- nished, when so to speak the Church must lie down in ch tins, the saying of the free church in the free state became a fable, and as such must it ever anew prove itself to be. The interests and also the callings of the Si ate and the Church are in- V dved in loo many ways and in too close relations for the former not to claim when il has the power an oversight of the latter and an influence upon it. The most favorable thing for the Church is ever the Christian State, which really wishes ihe Church well and ministers to it; as the last thing, however, it has to expect the antichris- tian state, which restrains it, persecutes it, and where it is possible, enchains and destroys it. [The author's view of the relations between Church and State are the usual ones prevailing on the continent of Europe and among State- church men in Great Britain. It has been suffi- ciently proved, however, in the United States and the British colonies that a free Church in a free State is no fable, but a historical fact, and a condition in which the Church is purest, strongest and most dominant in the land through the Christianizing influence that it freely exerts on all classes of the community. And whilst Church and State are closely related in many questions of morals and religion, in education, in marriage and divorce, the observance of the Sabbath, questions of property, individual rights, etc., and conflict will more or less arise, yet the relations will become more and more accurately defined without interfering with the prerogatives of either. Comp. the section on Church and State in the Evangelical Alliance proceedings, N. 1"., 1873. — Tit.] HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Vers. 1-3. The Church cannot receive every one into her communion or suffer all to remain therein. Her duty to excommunicate is shown: 1) From what would happen if she excluded none — they would be made to conform to the world by the worldly-minded; 'a) From what happens when they do exclude them — they ma- nifest the worldly disposition in their hearts, and do much damage by their hostility; but they cannot ruin the congregation: the possi- bility remains that they themselves may be the subjects of saving influences. — Starke: No one should enter into communion in religious mat- ters with strange and false religious opinions, 2 Cor. vi. 14; Tit. iii. 10. Tale-bearers and fvlse and wicked talkers are cursed; for they perplex those who enjoy good peace (Sir. xxviii. 15), and invent villany, Ps. !x v. 7; cxl. 4. The Church of God and its members suffer greater injury by false friends than by open enemies, Ps. xli. 10; 2 Cor. xi. 26. Vers. 1-5. The duty of the congregation to be apparently intolerant: 1) Towards whom — even against many who would enjoy its communion; 2) how — excluding that which is excluded by its entire character and then bearing whatever evil is ascribed to them on account of this ; 3) for what purpose — in order to preserve its best things and thereby at the proper time' like- wise offer salvation to their enemies. — Bren- tius; Ejusdem farime sunt, qui nunc hujus nunc 06 THE BOOK OF EZRA. illius relijionis sunt. Injustum est ; qui fides est persuasio certa de divinis promissionibus. Hi autem, cum hine inde fiuctuent, non habent fidem. — The foolisU behaviour of the world towards the Lord's people: 1) The world would belong to the Lord's people, and yet not be converted unto God; 2) They seek to set aside the wor- ship of the true God, and yet can prosper only in the light that streams forth from it. Vers. 7—16. The charges raised by the world against the people of God ; their apparent jus- tice and their lack of grounds. 1) The congre- gation builds itself at present not with peaceful, but rebellious disposition: in fact, it must obey God rather than men; but they know also how falsely thi3 word is applied by those who have forgotten that the kingdom of the Lord is not of this world. 2) They have in past times con- stantly sought after worldly power, and have been guilty of manifold encroachments; in fact, the Church has at first more and more taken a political form and equipped itself with external worldly power ; but the consciousness that accord- ing to its own idea something different was more appropriate has never been able to be entirely sup- pressed. 3) The church will, if it have its own way, in future endanger the existence of the state; in fact, it cannot acquiesce in the state as it is; the church must seek to gain power over the king, but in a spiritual sense; not with power, but kindness; not from without, but from within. It would not oppress, but change, transform, glorify. — Brf.ntius: Vide, mirabilem piorum sor- tem in hoc s:cculo. Pii sunt, propter guos omnia bona hominibus hvjus scculi eveniunt. Attamen ac- cusantur, quod soli hi sint, propter quos omnia mala, bella, fames et seditiones eveniant. — Stakke: God's church has at all times been subjected to false accusations. Christ and His apostles could give sufficient witness of this. Let us only avoid the doing, the lie is good counsel, Acts xxiv. 5 sq. Vers. 14—24. The church's independence of tho state. God makes His church dependent on tho world: 1) on its own account to glorify its faith and to exercise its patience; 2) for His own sake in order to bring it to a proper conception of the fact that it does not need external majesty and power, a magnificent cultus, etc.; 3) for the sake of the world — that it may learn to see that tho church cannot, be suppressed by it, that there is something higher than it can reach with all its power. — Starke: God often lets it happen that a good intention is interrupted by the craft of enemies, iu order to try His believers. Magistrates are God's officers. If, however, they do not properly fulfil their office, a severe judg- ment will pass over them, Wisd. vi. 5, 6. God is a long-suffering God who allows Himself to be interfered .with and presents Himself as a hero who is faint-hearted (Jer. xiv. 9), but He will wake up some time, Sir. xvii. 19. [Scott: Every vigorous and successful attempt to revive true religion will excite the opposition of Satan and of the children of disobedience in whom he worketh. — Henry: The worst enemies Judah and Benjamin had were those that said tbey were Jews and were not, Rev. iii. 9. — Take heed who we go partners with, and on whose hand we lean. While we trust God with a pious confi- dence, we must trust men with a prudent jea- lousy and caution. —See how watchful the church's euemies are to take the first opportunity of doing it a mischief. Let not its friends be less careful to do it a kindness. — A secret enmity to Christ and His gospel is oft gilded over with a pre- tended affection to Ctesar and his power. — At some times the church has suffered more by the coldness of its friends than by the heat of its enemies; hut both together conimouly make church work slow work. — Tn.] THIRD SECTION. The Resumption of the Work of Building the Temple and its completion. Chapters V. VI. A —THE RESUMPTION OF THE WORK AND THE REPORT OF TIIE OFFICIALS TO DARIUS. Chapter V. 1-17. I. The Resumption of the Work of Building the Temple. Vers. 1-5. 1 Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zschariah the son of Iddo, prophe- sied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of 2 Israel, even unto them. Then rose up Zsrubbabel the sou of Shealtiel, and Jeshua son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem : and 3 with them were the prophets of G.;d helping them. At the same time came to them Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shethar-boznai, and their companions, chap. v. l-iT. 57 and said thus unto them, Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to 4 make up this wall ? Then said we unto them after this manner, What are the 5 names of the men that make this building ? But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter came to Darius : and then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter. II. The Report ■/ the officials. Vers. 6-17. f> The copy of the letter that Tatuai, governor oil this side the river, and Shethar- boznai, and his companions the Apharsachites, which were on this side the river, 7 sent unto Darius the king : They sent a letter unto him, wherein was written thus ; 8 Unto Darius the king, all peace. Be it known unto the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is builded with great stoues, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on, aud prospereth in their 9 hands. Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus, Who commanded 10 you to build this house, aud to make up these walls ? We asked their names also, to certify thee, that we might write the names of the men that were the chief of 11 them. And thin they returned us answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and build 'the house that was builded these many years ago, 12 which a great king of Israel builded and set up. But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchad- nezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, aud carried 13 the people away into Babylon. But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon, 14 the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God. And the vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought them into the temple of Babylon, those did Cyrus the king take out of the temple of B ibylon, and they were delivered unto 15 ime, whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor ; And said unto him, Take these vessels, go, carry them into the temple that it in Jerusalem, and 16 let the house of God be builded in his place. Then came the same Sheshbazzar, and laid the foundation of the house of God which it in Jerusalem : and since that 17 time even until now hath it been in building, and yet it is not finished. Now there- fore, if it seem good to the king, let there be search made in the kiug's treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it be so, that a decree was made of Cyru3 the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send his plea- sure to us concerning this matter. EXEOETICAL AND CRITICAL. Vers. 1—5. The author now narrates in the closest connection with the last verse of the pre- vious chapter how it came to pass that the work of building, which had been interrupted, was re- sumed. Ver. 1. Then the prophets. Haggai, the prophet and Zechariah — We learn also from Haggai himself that the congregation at that time needed prophetic admonition. At first the most of them had, without doubt, with great re- luctance allowed the building to remain unfi- nished, but gradually had lost the desire thereto, caring only for their own interests, such as the erection of their own houses in as beautiful a mauuer as possible. Notwithstanding this, bow- ever, some of them had still such devotion to the Lord and zeal for His worship, that the prophetic office was possible, and there was relatively a great susceptibility for it. rtX'3J in Hebrew K '?3n, seems to have been almost a surname of Haggai, chap. vi. 14; Hag. i. 1. The plural " the prophets," which in the Hebrew text fol- lows Zechariah son of Iddo, as if Haggai had not yet been called prophet, is in favor of this view. The preposition 7J£ after "prophesied," does not denote hostility, but simply the direction of the address, "unto" (comp. 2 Chron. xx. 37; 1 Kings xxii. 8, etc.), as is sufficiently clear from the contents of the prophecies. — The Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem. — Thus they are designated to distinguish them from those who remained behind in Chaldea. At the same time it indicates those who had undertaken the task of buildiug the temple. fin'Sj* is a closer designation of the name of God, so thai the rela- tive might be supplied before ii : Who was over them (comp. chap. iii. 3, etc.). which cha- racterizes them as those who belonged to God. (Isa. iv. 1 and Jer. iv. 16). who leads them, urges them on and encourages them.* Ver. 2. Then rose up Zerubbabel — They now had an i xpress command of God, which al- ready in itself was an advantage; now moreover they could no longer doubt that the building * [Rawlins >n in toco more properly renders in accord- ance with the current Hebrew phrase '■ which was upon them," that is, having God's name called upon them. -Ta.] 58 THE BOOK OF EZRA. would succeed. — And began to build — Pro- per, y it should have been : They -e-couiineuced, but we might disregard the fact tuat DJ3 readily —rebuild, for the first beginning was so long before, and had had such little success, that it no longer came into consideration. Ver. 3. At the same time. — Now again they were threatened with interruption. NJfpT H3, at it, the time, = at the same time. Comp. Dan. iii. 7, 9 ; iv. 33.* Again Persian officials arrive, but at this time only do their duty. — Tatnai, governor on this side the river, of the en- tire province to the west of the Euphrates, out- ranked Zerubbabel, whom Cyrus had appointed governor of Judah (comp. ver. 14). He was perhaps unacquainted with the mission of Ze- rubbabel, because he had come into his office at a subsequent period to him. — Shethar Boznai who accompanied him, is not designated indeed as Shimshai (chap. iv. 8 sq.), e. g., as scribe or chancellor, but the entire appearance is in favor of his being likewise a magistrate. — Their com- panions, however, who in ver. 6 are especially culled his companions, that is, Shetbar-Boznai's companions, and are named the Apharsachites, are according to ver. 6 likewise government offi- cials, probably of a lower grade. At this time also the Samaritans may have been at work in that they had called attention to the building of tlie temple in Jerusalem, but now they were no longer able to fill the officials with hostile senti- ments. They simply inquire who hath com- manded you to build this house ? — $037 here and in ver. 13 is a singular form, since the infin. in Chald. is $033 (comp. vers. 2, 17; ch. vi. 8), or iTJ3D, comp. chapter v. 9. R. Norzi has here and in ver. 13 a dagesh in the 3, but there cannot be an assimilation of the because it has a vowel. It may be that the language was not entirely fixed in its usage of D in the infin., as it is here absent from the infin. in Peal., to which elsewhere it is peculiar, so it has been at times prefixed to the Pael and Aphel, before which it is usually absent, and always to the infinitive of the passive conjugations in the later Targums. Comp. Winer, Gram., $ 12. [Luz- zatto Gram., % 88. — Tr.]. [Rawlinson, in loco. " There was no doubt a formal illegality in the conduct of Zerubbabel and Jeshua; since all edicts of Persian kings continued in force unless revoked by their successors. But they felt jus- tified in disobeying the decree of the Pseudo- Sinenlis, because the opposition between his re- ligions views and those of his successors was a matter of notoriety. (See Ancient Monarchies, IV. p. 405)." — Te.]. JO^tfN, a word of doubtful etymology, is in Esdras rendered by rr)v artynv ra'vTJjv KaL ra ak\a navra (the beams and all the rest), in the Sept. on the other hand by rqv x n f"l- yiav Ta'vrrn> (this sacred service = this building). These derivations in the versions makes it pro- hable that there was no fixed tradition respecting the meaning; the one rendering being as much guess work as the other. The Vulg., Syriac and * (Suffix with prep, before its noun has this foree in Aramaic, Highs' Manual, j) 49. 3. Comp. Cowper, Syriac. Oram., \ 2U3, 6.— Ta.] the Rabbius have explained if as " walls," which might well be the nust suitable and correct, ha- ving as its root not "IEW (Gesen.), but WK more properly j?!?X (firm, strong). Ver. 4. Then said we unto them. — Here the Masoretic text gives at once the answer of the Jews. But this text is in more than one re- spect singular. The first person might be ex- plained, it is true, very well as having come from the use of an aucient document, whose author had taken part in the building. But 1DX should be followed by the direct discourse, whilst the indirect is used, so that we must translate, not, then we said, but then said we to them, what the names of the men were. Besides, if the Jews here Bpake, that is, answered to the question in ver. 3, instead of referring to the names of the men, we should expect another answer. It. is natural therefore with Bertheau to conjecture that the text has been corrupted in some way, that is to say that the first person is incorrect, as it were, has come over from ver. 9, instead of which we must read here the third person, so that the Per- sian officials still continue: then said they to them, what are the names of the men, etc., as from the start we might expect, according to vers. 9 and 10. It is possible then that likewise j'TX, which would separate almost too much the second part of the address from the first in ver. 3, is a mis- take likewise. The Sept. and Esilras already have regarded the verse as a que stion of the Per- sian officials, the former translating: t6tc ravra eiKoaa\', the latter, in that it passes over entirely the first four words. It is true that the ob- jection might be raised, that then there is no an- swer on the part of the Jews. But this might have been omitted with reference to ver. 11. The names of the men were important to the officials, for they had to know whom the king was to hold responsible. Instead of nriOT the more accu- rate editions have r\T\OU. t t : Ver. 5. The eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews. — This is theprelimi- minary result, producing for them mildness on the part of the officials, and securing them from interruption. The eye is used instead of the hand, because the Providence and Wisdom of God above nil came into consideration. Comp. Ps. xxxiv. 10; Zech. iv. 10; 1 Peter iii. 2. The j'3ty, corresponding with the D'JpJ in Hebrew, are at the same time the D'lt? chap. x. 8. — Un- til the report came to Darius, and they then brought back a letter concerning the matter. — Bertheau understood it as: Un- til a command arrived from Darius, etc. But □>'£3 need not be the royal decree. Although this word does not assume the wider sense of causa (Keil). it yet has the meaning of ratio, and indeed also in the sense of account (or likewise of consideration) NO^'B 3H\ Dan. vi. 3 = give account. Thus it may be used here for a report, by which officers would give their king an ac- count, of an important occurrence, and their ob- servation of it The 7 before Darius cannot be a circumlocution of the genitive — it is thus used only in designations of time. On the other hand CHAP. V. 1-1 T. &J its use with ^]7l1 t0 g' ve lu o end, is entirely as- sured. Comp. cliup. vii. 13, etc. Finally, if it did pot mean " to Darius," the T7H alone would be too indefinite. As well Esdras as the Sep- tuagint also Inis, therefore, although rendering freely, properly understood it as a report to D.i- rius. Naturally, however, these words are only preparatory for Ihe following clause: "Until they bring buck a letler, etc.", which really for the first expresses the limit of time meant. }rv imperf. ofjSn (comp. chap. vi. 6; vii. 13) is re ferr d by Winer. \ 25, to a special root tfnn. It is possible, however, that as usually (he n is absorbed at the beginning, so here Ihe 7 of l/H and thus we have ^H' for S]7iT.* The letter to be brought hack, was certainly to come from Da- rius, there is no occasion lo think of one from Tatnai, etc., unless it is already supposed that there is a royal command in D£i3. The subject ot pynj is indefinite "they." Vers. 6-17. The report of the officers to Cyrus in vers. 6, 7, at first, precisely like chap. iv. 8-1 1 , has the superscription which thisletter probably received already in the collection of documents at Jerusalem. — These are the contents of the letter that Tatnai — Shetbar boznai and his companions the Apharsachites — We must leave in doubt the question why Ihe Apharsachites (comp iv. 9) are especially men- tioned as the companions of Shethar-bozeai, which here means either lower officials or as it were men of the same race, or else people espe- cially attached to him.f Ver. 7. They sent a report — X0jH3 ac- T T : • cording to its etymol^gv (comp. iv. 17) is used in the same sense as D.PO in ver. 5, e.g., report, message. Jwb is loosely connected with (O^t? ° T * TT : = peace, hence peace universally = peace in its fulness. Ver. 8. Be it known unto the king. — The letter in iv. 12 began in the same way. The pre- sent letter however is distinguished by the fact that it gives first of all a simple objective report. Judah is called a rU'TD (see ii. 1), the god of the Jews, the great God. — It is not probab'.e how- ever that they, like the Samaritans (iv. 1) actually paid a certain degree of reverence to him, rather the deep reverence of the Jews made such an im- pression upon them that they supposed He must be an especially great God (namely, for His wor- shippers). What they say respecting the building, is manifestly to show that the work was well- done, in a strong, stately manner. — Of great stones. — 773 px here the accusative of mate- T : 1 V V rial is the stone which was too heavy to lift, and which could only be rolled along ; thus very heavy and large stones (as chap. vi. 4), which were only taken for great buildings, designed to last a very long time. The Sept. empbasizeshy its translation ?u&oi enl.sKTol, the excellence of the material ; Es- * (So Luzatto Oram.. ? 104. This is the better inter- pretation of the form. — Tr.] t [Rawlinaon, in luco. regards them as Persians or fo- reign settlers in Samaria generally. — Te.] dras vi. 9, by its translation MAVm ^earbc troTivre- '/.etc at the same time the labor appl ed to them, as well as their cosilinc.-s. — And timber is laid in the walls. — Berth, understands by this the placing of beams in the walls, that is. in the par- titions, [Rawl'tison, in loco, "parly walls"], or likewise the erection of the scaffolding on the out r walls. But the expressions indicate ra- ther the inlaying of ihe walls wi;h wood work ar- tistically finished (comp. iTIWlS l's. lxxiv. 6), t mis according I o the view of the writer represent the building as one erected with great care. It is true the work had not made such progress, in fact that ihe walls, which themselves were first built of the great stones, could have been already inlaid. But if is probable that the zeal, which is clearly enough attested by Haggai, manifested itself likewise in this way, that those skilled in wainscoting went at once to work, since more- over it was necessary to make as great has'e as possible on account of the threatened interrup- tion. The haste is expressly referred to by the officials in the last words — and this work go- eth fast on— n:i30N (comp. vi. 8, 12, 13; vii. T : - : T v r 17, 21, 2G) is explained from the Persian, and means properly, very active. DN is probah'y the ancient Persian us or os, Sanscrit ut, whicli ex- presses intensity; as our " vevy " and parna is an adjective from the ancient Persian par, Zend pere = do, complete. Comp. Haug. a. a. 0. The subject of rni'O, it prospereth is not the form riHTJ^ (comp. vi. 14; Dan. vi. 29), but "it." Vers. 9, 10 then give an account at first of their question. — Then asked we those el- ders. — Y>H, those who, as a matter of course, were in Jerusalem at the head, ver. 10, at their head.— QiVl^X '3 is more naturally explained as at their head (comp. 2 Chron. xx. 2), than: in their capacity as the'r heads (Berth., Ceil). [A. V., -'that were the chief of them"}. The latter in- terpretation of 3 is in itself doubtful, especially moreover, since no verb is given with it. The plural, expressed by the vowels, maybe explained by ihe fact that they worked in different groups, namely, by families (comp. Neh. iii. ) Ver. 11 sq. gives the answer of the heads cf the Jews. — And thus they made us the re- port, namely, the one required. * l p~'"' = *JR7 — We are the servants of the God of hea- ven. — The pleonastic suffix of 'riH2j/ empha- sizes very strongly the fact, no* that they above all others and alone are servants of God (Berth.) but that they above all others are servants of the Go I of heaven, and not of any lower being. They therefore expressly designate God as the Goil of heaven and earth, that is, the highest; yea, properly the only true God. They would witiiout doubt Bhow the officers that they had good grounds and were very well entitled to build their temple, and that those would do wrong who should oppose their undertaking. (In this account therefore they add that their God had had this house long ago, and in it had long ago possessed a worthy place of worship. — And we 60 THE BOOK OF EZRA. build the house that was built. — not M3fin, it was once built, but NJ3 X1H, it was built anJ continued to be a place of worship — these many years ago. — H:"l np"lpJ3 = before this (present) time. — A great king of Israel built and com- pleted it. — It would have been an evidence against their God if He had not provided Him- self with a worthy place of worship in ancient times, and had not made the king of his people great and mighty. They say intentionally not the great king Solomon, but a great king (the geni- tive relation being expressed by 7); they thus emphasize better the idea itself, that the king was a great one. Ver. 12. It is true the temple has been de- stroyed, but this does not show any weakness in their God. but rather His holiness. — On this account, because our fathers provoked.— \?h does not refer to that which precedes, but to what follows, for it is used in its usual sense of "on this account," and is here really = only on this account. It does not follow from the fact that it sometimes has the sense of "but" after ne- gative expressions, that it may also be an adver- sative particle, and mean "nevertheless," "how- ever," "yet." 'TIDi however, is here not in the temporal sense, [A. V. after that'], for then it would express very vaguely the idea: since that the fathers had already provoked God long be- fore He abandoned His temple; but it is here in its usual causal sense " because." JO may be very properly used in this sense, comp. Hebrew TtfXO, Isa. xliii. 4. "lf)3 = to conceal, then like the Hebrew Tn3il to destroy. It is true it is only used here in the Bible in this sense, but in the Targums occurs quite frequently. HHJ^ might, if it had the suffix, that is, if the n were pointed with niappiq, mean simply, "the people of the land;" JHX is often to be supplied. Yet the Massora remarks, that mappiq is not to be written, and R. Norzai and J. H. Mich, have left, it out, so that the H is to be taken as a represen- tative of the X, as is often the case in this book. Ver. 13. But in the first year of Cyrus. — When the predestined time of chastisement had passed the Lord Himself was able to gain recog- nition from Cyrus, so that now the restoration of His temple has a good and assured founda- tion. Comp. chaps, i. 2; vi. 3. IM37> as chap, v. 3. Ver. 14. And the vessels also — did Cyrus the king take. — So great was the recognition that Cyrus gave to the true God, that he not only allowed II is veneration, but furthered it with offer- ings, so that the building of the temple, unless the vessels were to remain without a suitable place, became so much the more necessary. KITH is here used as at the first, so naturally also the second and third time in the sense of temple. Comp. VrnK JV3, chap. ii. 7. '3'rH is probably the conjugated passive participle = and they were given, not the active preterite = they gave, for the indefin.suhject with sing, (against Berth.). In the last case we would expect lSil after the object, which is not elsewhere in such cases omitted: moreover, the yod in the second sylla- ble has usually only an intrans. or passive signi- fication. — Whose name is Sheshbazzar — thus indefinitely, as we would say, to Sheshbaz- zar, as he is called. For this name see chap. i. 8. As in Hag. i. 1, etc., so here Zeruhbabel is desig- nated as Pechah, whilst in chap. i. 8 as prince ot'Judah, N'Ba • T Ver. 15. And he said unto him, Take these vessels. — In connection with giving out the vessels Cyrus expressly ordained the build- ing of the temple. Instead of HyS, the Qeri is here as in 1 Chron. xx. 8, IX- The three un- connected imperatives, "take, go forth, lay down," comprehend the three acts, to a certain extent, in one, thus expressing likewise the zeal of Cyrus, and the zeal that Sheshbazzar was ex- pected to exhibit, finN, notwithstanding the Chateph Pathah, may be merely the imper. Aphel of nnj, of which we have the part, in chap. vi. 1, and the imperf. in chap. vi. 5. — And let the house of God be built. — These words are connected with the words lay them down in the temple as a necessary complement, by the copula V Ver. 16. Then came this Sheshbazzar, namely from Babylon to Jerusalem, and laid the foundations, etc. — The copula is also lacking before 3iT, because the two acts are connected together in the closest way. X'UJN. as in chap, iv. 12. Here it can only mean the laying of the foundations in chap. iii. 8-10 — Since that time even until now hath it been in building, and is not yet finished. — These words were probably designed to let the present activity appear as a simple continuation of the building, ordained by Cyrus, thus also as something en- tirely justified. At any rate it was entirely in the interest of the Jews to be silent respecting the fact that Cyrus had allowed an interruption to take place, and there is nothing in our repre- sentation of the subject opposed to its reality. But had the express prohibition of the Arta- xerxes in chap. iv. 17 sq. already preceded, yet the Jews might well have said that it had been occasioned only by the entirely groundless slan- ders of the Samaritans. Hence they must regard it as their absolute duty to contradict these slan- ders. D L ?E' occurs only here in Bib. Chaldee, yet often enough in the Targums and Syriac, and indeed in the sense of "complete and ready." Ver. 17. And now, if it seem good to the king, let there be search made in the trea- sure-house. — hym, comp. vii. 18; Dan. vi. • T 1 24, as in later Hebrew, 1£ 3113, Esther i. 19, good according to any one's judgment. N^tJJ. Heb. Will (Esth. iii. 9; iv. 7), are the treasures, probably from 111 "" DID, collect, and dsltanasn, conceal, but at the same time in accordance with the Arian gaza, comp. "\?U, Ezr. i. 8; on the other hand, T|7U 1 Chron. xxviii. 11. It is clear from this passage and chap. vi. 1, that written CHAP. V. 1—11 Gl documents were likewise preserved in I he trea- sure-house. — Whether a command was given by king Cyrus. — ]H = whether, as likewise Jer. ii. 10. For D'tf, vid. chap. iv. 19. ruy\ comp. chap. vii. 18, from n>'1 — H.JH, vo- luntas, c pinion. THOUGHTS UPON TOE HISTORY OP REDEMPTION. Ver. 1. Notwithstanding t lie great readiness which distinguished the new congregation at first (comp. notes upon chap. Hi.), they yet fell into indolence and worldlincss as soon as difficul- ties were placed in the way of their work, comp. Ilaggai's prophecy. It was even necessary that n<"-ain God's word should arouse, encourage, strengthen them, and fi'.l them with joy. And indeed the Lord docs not fail on His part: wherever any powers whatever are present ; if slumbering. He awakens them. The more we need His all-awakening call, and the more that is the result of undeserved grace and faithfulness that shames us, the more willing should we be to hear and follow Him, Vers. 1-5. Although the new congregation, when they were called upon by the prophets and strengthened by their prophecies, might have readily supposed that the building of the tcmplo would now be finished without, stumbling upon difficulties, they were yet obliged presently to submit to an inquiry on the part of the Persian officials, that might again easily result in an in- terruption. Such trials the Lord Himself sends at the time, — and then'often very properly, — when His own word has given the impulse to an under- taking or action. Even then, and then particu- larly, faith must be strengthened by trials. The congregation at this time did not allow the inter- ference of the Persian officials to surprise them too much; they were not faint-hearted on this account, and did not allow themselves to be de- terred thereby from building; in the careful hesitancy of the officials they saw rather the in- fluence and protection of God. Thus is it ever for the church, so long as it is in covenant with the Lord, to regard the hinderances even if they seem threatening, and easily might be destruc- tive, as yet trifling; and things favorable, even, if they seem ai first insignificant, as great ami important. We must be inclined thereto by the contentment with which one feels impelled to thankfulness for the little, and the faith in Him who has all things in His hand. It is the very reverse with the world. Vers. 6-17. The magistracy often, as is clear from chap, iv., allows itself to use calumniators as its instruments. But without regard to the fact that they are obliged to help in realizing the design of God even in such a case, they are easily preserved by their office and their du- tiesfrom such errors, even if they are worldly and heathen in their character. Tn our present chap- ter they act as true magistrates; they quietly listen to the report of the Jews, and bring it without misrepresentation before the king. Bren- tius righ'ly remarks: "rides dijferentiam inter calumniatores et bono* ac probos viros. Una ea- demque causa erat sedificii tewpH, unus idernque populus Jiidxorum: attamen hujut populi causa aUter refcrtur ab impiis calumniator tints aliter a bonis viris. How much worse off the Jewish congregation would have been, if the Samaritans had had to do with them without the Persian officials ! Hence the church should never forget, even if at times it has had to suffer injustice from worldly authorities, to be thankful from the heart to God that there are magistrates after all, comp. Rom. xiii. 1 sq., etc. Vers. 11 12. The congregation did not keep back their faith, when it came to the point of rendering account of their designs before the magistrates, rather did they lay down an open confession, even before the heathen, without fearing to be laughed at. for their assertion that (hey served the only true God. In order to ward off the objection that their Lord had been with- out power, they confessed the sinfulness of their fathers, and praised the holiness of God. God's honor was for tVm more important than the honor of their fathers or of the nation. Well for the church, when the world itself is obliged to give testimony to it, as it here gives to the Jewish congregation, that.it has made such a good confes- sion as this. If with such a confession heart and hand accord, it has the power that overcomes the world. « HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Vers. 1-5. How does the Lord prevent our being conformed to the world? 1) By His warn- ing word. — Starke: It is the office of faithful teachers to strengthen the faint hands and feeble knees (Isa. xxxv. 3). 2) By the trials that He sends, especially by making the accomplishment of His own word difficult. 3) By providential care and preservation (ver. 5). — Brentius : Multa hie notanda. Primum, quod Deus tstpemt- mero nos a bono proposito impedit, non ut non exe- quamur, sed ut clarius et illustrius exequamur. Deinde, quod sit internum vulyi: max enim putat, numquam fore, ut promoveat (sc. Deus opus suum, si aliquamdiu intermittatur). — The movements t hat the development ami advance of the kingdom of God call forth: 1) The congregation is agitated by the overwhelming voice of God ; it gives new courage, and lays hold of the work of building obligatory upon it with new joy. — Starke: Al- though it involves not a little danger for awhile to accomplish with obedience that which God commands in His word, yet we should obey not- withstanding, and not allow ourselves to be frightened off by any danger. 2) The world is agitated, for it cannot quietly see the events in the kingdom of God, especially when the congre- gation is subordinated to its civil authority, but it is obliged to assist in furthering the cause of God in its own way. 3) God Himself is agitated. He directs His eye with especial care and wisdom upon the leaders of the congregation, and stretches forth His hand to give protection and help. Vers. 11, 12. The true confession. 1) The oc- casion of it — the magistrates call to account, — 2) its contents, God's grace and truth and our owe sins, — 3) its aim, the establishment of a taber- nacle of God among men. The true contents of a believing confession. 1) God's gracious acts — He has by them from the most ancient times ob- tained worship. Starke: If we purify the doc- 62 THE COOK OF EZRA. trines with which Christ and Ilia apostles have erected a spiritual temple to God, from human ordinances, we start no new doctrine, but erect again the marred temple of God. 2) Exhibition of the divine holiness. He has imposed upon His church dependence and deficiencies on ac- count of its sins. — Starke: Even the sins of our forefathers we should not cloak, but where they have erred, confess it. 3) God's assertions of power. — He has wrung a recognilion from even a Cyrus, even the mightiest worldly power, and made them serviceable for the re-establishment of His worship. [Scott: Whilst we continue in this world, we shall always have to confess that our sins have provoked the God of heaven unto wrath, and that nil our Bufferings spring from this source, and all our comforts from His unmerited mercy. — Henry: Our eye upon God. observing His eye upon us, will keep us to our duty, and encourage us in it when difficulties areneverso discouraging. Let the cause of God, and Truth, be fairly Btated, and fairly heard, audit will keep its ground. — Tr j B.— TnE ANSWER OF DARILS, THE COMPLETION OF THE TEMPLE, AND THE FIRST CELEBRATION OF THE PASSOVER. Chapter VI. 1-22. I. Darius' Answer. Vers. 1-12. 1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the 2 rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And there was found at Ach- metha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a 3 record thus written : In the first year of Cyrus the king, the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the hou^e of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they i ffe.red sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof three-score cubits, and the breadth thereof three-score 4 cubits; With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the ex- 5 penses be yiveu out of the king's house : And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house 6 of God. lHow therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shethar-boznai, and yimr companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far from 7 thence: Let the work of this house of God alone; lee the governor of the Jews and 8 the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his pla> e. Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith 9 expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered. And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt-offer- ings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail : 10 That they may offer sacrifices of sweet savors unto the God of heaven, and pray 11 for the life of the king, and of his sons. Also I have made a decree that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up. 12 let him be hanged therpon ; and let his house be made a dunghill for this. And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people, that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree ; let it be done with i-peed. 13 IT. The Completion and Dedication of the Temple. Vers. 13-18. Then Tatnai, governor on this side the river, Shethar-boznai, and their compa- nions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they did speeddy. 14 And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying CHAP. VI. 1-22. 60 of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, i nd finished"'?, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to 15 the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth 16 year of the reign of Darius ihe king. And the childr n of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of 17 this house of God with joy. And offered at the dedica ion of this house of God a 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. III. Celebration of Ihe Firs! rassover- Feast. Vers. 19-22. . 19 And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of 20 the first m nth. 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 21 their brethren the priests, and for themselves. 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. 22 did eat. 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. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Vers. 1—12. The answer of Darius. Notwith- standing the great importance of the decision that Darius gave in reply to the letter of his officers and the greatness of its results, in that after so long a waiting it finally introduced a new and significant turn of affairs, its introduc- tion is quite brief. — Then Darius the king made a decree. — These words seem to red r only to the command to make an investigation; but in reality they serve as an introduction to the decree which was promulgated to Tatnai, etc. ; comp. v. 6. It is a9 if the subsequent nar- rative: and search was made, were taken up merely as an explanation of the decree fol- lowing in ver. 6 sq. Without doubt it was con- tained in the decree of Darius to Tatnai, as its basis or introduction. — The house of -wri- tings. — Comp. v. 17.* Here the treasures like wise were laid up. 1*000? is participle Aphel of fin]. Comp. chap. v. 15. Ver. '1. And theie was found at Achme- tha. — Search was made for the writing in Ba- bylon; but it was found in Achmetha, after that there was probably found in the archives at Babylon a reference to the archives of Achmetha for the documents of the time of Cyrus. The letters Dnx engraved on coins seem to designate * [Rawlinson '» loco: "A house of writings was dis- covered at Koyunjik the ancient Nineveh by Mr. La- yard in the year 1850 — a s*'t of chambers, i. e. in the palace devoted exclusively to the storing of public documents. These were in baked clay, and covered the floors to the depth of more than a foot." Many of these writings were removed to the British Museum, where they have been partially arranged ami translated by Rawlinson, Smith. Talhot and others. The library was again visited, and many of its treasures removed by Smith in 1873 and '4 and again in Wfi. See Assyrian Discoveries of Geo. Smith. New York, 1875. — Ta.] this city. Comp. Mordtmann, D. M. Zeilichrifl, VIII., S. 14. In ancient Persian, however, Achmetha probably was Hagamatha. — [Rawlin- son in loco: " in the Behistun inscription llagma- tana."— Tr.] — In Greek it is ' Ayftarava (Herod. I. 98) or 'E«/3drara (Judith i. 14), the summer- residence of the Persian and Parthian kings, built by Deiokes, the capital of Media Ihe great, in the vicinity of Ihe present Hamadan. — In the palace. — The archives were especially in the citadel, rp'3=// : 1*os, and understands three stories of stone, with a fourth story of wood-work on the summit. Bawlinson thinks that rvrns would limit the thickness of ihp walls to thro., rows of utone with an inner wootlen wainscotting. — Te.J to be retained, we must suppose that the edict of Cyrus was addressed to some individual, perhaps Zerubbabel himself, and that Cyrus now turns immediately to him. Yet the transition to the direct address is here somewhat singular and ab- rupt, and it seems best to take finri as 3d pers. fern, imperf. Kal, which indeed should be pointed rtnfl or at least DUTI with the indefinite sub- ject. Ver. 6. The previous edict of Cyrus is now followed by the order of Darius, so favorable and careful in its provisions for the Jews, that it is as if the latter would not. only confirm the for- mer's action out of reverence, but even surpass him. If it should be dim :ult for the little con- gregation of Jews to conduct the worship in Je- rusalem in accordance with the prescriptions of the law, in that a great expense was especially necessary for the offerings. Darius helped them to bear the burden by his great liberality. He at first in vers. 6, 7 arranged that his governor should not hinder the work. — Now therefore Tatnal, etc. — For the connection with previous context see notes on ver. 1. — And your com- panions, your Apharsachites = those who are your companions, etc. For an explanation of the terms comp. v. 3, 6. — Be (or keep your- self ) far from thence, e. g., interfere not with the imposition of burdens or hindrances, Ver. 7. Let alone. — p3p e.accus. = to give way to or permit something. — The work of this house of God, namely, that brought in question by you. — Let the governor and the el- ders build. — '2bO' is here after fin3 clearly a second subject to pJ3'. 7 is hence used here to introduce a subject, which isquite unusual. Comp. perchance Isa. xxxii. 1 and Dan. iv. 33, and in- deed without exactly making "2'C? more promi- nent than nn3. Ver. 8. Then Darius directs his officers to de- fray he cost of the building. — Moreover I make a decree -what ye shall do. — Comp. iv. 19; N37 = in reference to that which ye are to do, comp. ~7X with TWi, Isa. xxiii. 11 ; Ps. xci. 11 ; 2 Kings xx. 1. Dj? is used here with 13>> in no other way than with T\Z'P in Heb., comp. Gen. xxiv. 12 sq. It corresponds to some extent with the German "an," but expresses still fur- ther "in favor of." — For the building. — (02"37 = in order that they may build. The second half of the verse: that of the king's goods, even of the tribute, contains the principal thing that the royal officers were to do, so that 1=an 1 indeed— With expenses— that they be not hindered — HJ13DX as in ver. 8. X7- , 1 X^37 cannot well mean that there be no stop- ping, or that it may not come to a stopping of the work (Keil after the Vulgate: tie impediutur opus), since no object such as work is mentioned here as in chap. iv. 21 and 23; but it means; which (prescribed action) is not to be brought to an end, or discontinued (Bertheau). Comp. Dan. cs THE BOOK OF EZRA. vi. 9. This additional clause is to sharpen the previous one. In vers. 9 and 10 Darius further add3: that his officers shall provide the material of the offer- ings in order that prayer may be offered for hitu, and the welfare of his empire in the Jewish man- ner, in Jerusalem likewise. — And 'whatever is necessary — j^^n is fern. pi. (necessary things) from ron for jriiyn, comp. rtliyn Dan. iii. 1G, and |'p7? Dan. v. 25, according to Winer's GV., \ 34, ill. [Riggs' Gr., g 32— Tr.]. the vocaliza- tion varies. — Both young bullocks and. — The following 1 — 1 is properly = as well — as, or also, whether — or. Darius names here vari- ous animals and other materials, which may iu any way come into consideration, since he leaves the more particular designation of what would be required to the priests at Jerusalem. — Let it be given them without fail. — The singular 3TTi13 Xirn (comp. N1H7 iv. 12) is explained perhaps from the fact that Darius goes back upon TtO and embraces every individual in an indefi- nite " it." ITO N 7 _, 1 means : that there be no T T interruption, namely, in providing what is neces- sary, or indeed in the worship. In the transla- tion of tbe LXX. b lav airqaovoi, which overlooks the «7 and in that of the Vulgate ne sit in aliquo quxrimonia, Ot7 seems to have been derived from 7Xt7. Ver. 10. In order that they may be offer- ing (continually) sacrifices of sweet savour for the life of the king and his sons. — I'n'lITJ are (comp. Dan. ii. 46) sacrifices which afford God a n'tri'J TTT (Lev. i. 9, 13, etc.), and thereby gain his good will, comp. Jer. xxix. 7; 1 Mac. vii. 37; xii. 11, etc.; Josephus, Arch. XII. 2, 5 ; c. Ap. II. 5. Darius thereby indi- cates the same recognition of the Lord to be wor- shipped in Jerusalem, as Cyrus, without doubt, from the same stand-point. Comp. i. 2. Vers. 11, 12. Darius here shows as an addi- tional sign, how earnest ho was that his will should he carried out, sealing what has been said with a penalty. — Whosoever shall alter this word. — The nom. absol. represents a protasis: if any man whatever MHiT as in ver. 12 ; Dan. vi. 9 and 10, change by transgression or also (comp. ver. 12) by doing away with it. — Let a timber (beam) be torn from his house, let him be fastened thereon and crucified. — ^P' in itself = raise on high, can just as well mean •' empa'e " or "pierce through," a3 also, like the Syriac "crucify." Empalement or the piercing through of delinquents on a pointed wooden stake, was the usual punishment among the Assyrians and Persians, comp. Liyard, Ni- neveh and Babylon, p. 355, and Nineveh and its re- mains, p. 379, with the plate fig. 58 * Of Darius it is said avtoKoXdKioe (Herod. III. 159). Yet the fastening on a cross likewise occurred among the Persians, yet so that the head of the one to be * [Rawlinson says, that crucifixion was the most comnioD form of punishment among the Persians. Yi'l. Com. m loco ana Ancient Monarchies IV.. p.fiOS; He- rod. III. UJ; IV. 5i Iich. Ins., col. II., par. 14, etC—TR.] crucified was first cut off. ViJ. the passages of Herodotus in Brisonii de rejni Persarun princip., II., c. 215. — And let hi3 house be made a dunghill for this, that is, let it be torn down an I change 1 into a common sewer, comp. 2 Kings x. 27, and Haveruick, Com. on Dan. II. 5. ?7lJ as 'SiJ Dan. ii. 5* t: • t : Ver. 12. And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there, destroy all kings, etc. — ^J"2' corresponds with the Heb. "U3, Ps. lxxxix. 45. The expression, who has caused His name to dwell there, is so decidedly Hebrew in style (comp. Deut. xii. 11, 14, 23; Jer. vii. 12; Neh. i. 9l, that we must suppose the authordoes not impart the decree verbally, or that Darius made use of Jewish help in this entire affair. Even the entire conception that God confined His especial presence to a temple building was en- tirely unlike the Persian conception, so that the entire proceedings toward the Jews with refe- rence to the temple on the part of Darius, and already on the part of Cyrus, must ba referred back to an accommodation of views. — Who stretches forth his hand to change, to de- stroy. — it^yjTy! for which we would expect X'3i?ri7 is explained by PPS! - !?, which indicates tt : - : r " tr-; what kind of change of the decree ish"re thought of. The threat itself, as we have it here, is ge- nuine Persian; it reminds U3 of the conclusion of the inscription of Darius at Behistun, where the punishment of Ahuramazada is desired to descend upon him who ventures to violate the image and inscription, his blessing on the one who holds them in honor (Berth). [Rawlin=on in loco. Sea Beh. Int., col. IV., part 17. — Tr.] Ver. 13. This happy turn of affairs is followed by the completion of the work, on which, a3 a matter of course, all depended. It is character- istic of the book that this fact should also be nar^ rated in the Chaldee. It is as if the continued use of this language should express the accom- panying fact of their dependence upon Persia, which still continued. Yet this was not so de^ pressing in its influence as encouraging, for, ac- cording to divine providence, even the mighty princes of Persia co-operated on their part and in their way in the worship of Jehovah. The author first lets the Persian officers take part in the recognition of Jehovah: According to that which Darius the king had sent bo they did speedily. — X"3.13, according to the word (of the king) comp. iv. 13, in consequence of the fact that Darius hal seat, namely, answer and com- mand. "J 73">^ properly, over against the fact that = considering that, as usually ,: V"v3P~'3- Ver. 14. The author here reminds U9 of all those to whom the congregation were especially indebted for the new temple. They were encou- raged by (3) the prophesying of the prophets; but it was the command of God, and then that of Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes, that had been the source or origin (]?) of all that happened. • [llonbigant and Pathe prefer the Vulgate render- ing : domue ejus puWiMfao*, " let his house be con&toatrd." But the balani t authority is in favor of \h ■ transla- tion given above. Rawlinsou, in hco. — Tit.] CHAP. VI. 1-22. God is mentioned here, and indeed before Cyrus and Darius, since the Author goes forth from the fact, that there would have been no command of Cyrus and Darius without God's command. If we had here a simple account of the final com- pletion of the building, it would seem strange that here the author should go back even to Cyrus, still more that the much later Artaxerxes is taken into consideration, who had nothing to do with the building here under consideration. The author, however, instead of giving a simple narrative, would rather express recognition and thanks, and hence could forget none who were deserving of mention. Artaxerxes came into consideration only on account of the gifts which he caused to be brought to Jerusalem by Ezra, vii. 15, 19. Ver. 15. For a work of such importance the date is properly given. N'X't^. for which the Qeri gives 'X't?, is the Shaphel of Xi", [so Lu- zatto, Gram., % 45. — Tk.] ; in the Targum 'X't^ has mostly an active sense, yet at times also an intransitive sense, so that it. corresponds with our "end;" now transitive and theu intransitive. Thus it is hardly necessary to regard N'i"ty as a Hebraistic passive formation of the Shaphel (Berth, and Keil). By the third day of the month Adar, that is the last month of the year, was the temple finished, since it is probable that they made haste to have time left in this year for a worthy dedication; whilst the Sept. agrees with our text in respect to the third day, Esdras vii. 5 has instead of it the twenty-third day, but pro- bably, only because the author held that the dedication immediately followed the completion, and that it lasted eight days, after the example of the temple of Solomon, 1 Kings viii. 60, and 2 Chron. xxix. 18. and filled up the last eight days of the year. [The sixth year of Darius, according to Rawlinson, was B. C. 516-515. — Tr] Vers. 16, 17. The great significance of that which had been attained, and the consciousness of it in the congregation at the time, the author very beautifully shows by what he says respect- ing the dedication. All observed it (13.J5 as TTdy, with H3m 2 Chron. vii. 9), with joy, and indeed with the offering of a number of sacrifices which, whilst small in comparison wiih the multitude iu Solomon's lime (1 Kings viii. 5, 63), thus in ac- cordance with the limiied relations of the lime, yet might ever be regarded as a glad beginning, showing by the twelve goats for sin-offerings, that they would act in the name of enlire Israel, and regain the divine grace for the whole body of the people. Comp. ii. 2; viii. 35. Whether then already remnants of the northern tribes had returned and settled themselves in Juda. or whether there were from former limes re, resen- tatives of these tribes, scattered about in the land, does not come properly into consideration here. The principal thing is, that the new con- gregation, without doubt in consequence of former prophecies, had no oihcr thought than that those so long separated from them had retained their privilege of being the people of God, and would realize it in some way or other as in olden times. Besides, the offerings prescribed in Num. vii. 11 sq. were here offered in the manner of the law. Comp. 1 Kings viii. 63; 2 Chron. xxix. 20 sq. Ver. 18. Thus there was again a legal wor- ship, so likewise a legal body of persons to conduct the worship. — They set up. — iTpm as n'D2!2> iii- 8, namely, to perform the business of the divine worship. — The priests in their classes, and the Levites in their divisions (comp. 2 Chron. xxxv. 5, 12; 1 Chron. xxvii. 4), since every class and division had its week. Comp. 2 Kings xi. 9, and 2 Chron. xxiii. 4. That it is expressly added, as it is 'written in the book of Moses (comp. Num. iii. 6; viii, 14), may be in accordance with the legal disposition, which became very soon characteristic of these times, comp. iii. 2; 2 Chron. xxiii. 18; but at the same time this likewise might well come into consideration, that it was so important, that, whilst still so many other things might be dis- pensed wiih, yet at least they should again have a worship in accordance wiih the law. Vers. 19-22. It is very significant that the auihor here at the close of this entire sectiou adds an account of the first celebration of the passover after the completion of the temple. This came into consideration certainly not merely as an evidence that in the new temple the divine worship had its regular course with the cycle of feasts (Keil), but before all as a feast, by which Hie congregation might again show itself so appro- priately as the redeemed and favored people of the covenant of the Lord, also again more and more assure itself of the covenant relation, as a conclu- sion, which at the same time was a beginning assu- ringanew and glorious continuance and progress. This is quite clear lrom the confirmation given in ver. 22, by which nothing less than the proper end of ihe entire previous period of nffliciiou itself is designated as the foundation of this Passover feast. So then the circumstance that the author now returns to the Hebrew language is likewise appropriate — one might Boy very significant. If the Chaldee language has been used because Chaldee documents had to be placed in order that is, because Ihe restoration depended first of all on the world power, and that by it the co- venant people had beeu deprived for a while of their covenant jewels, the temple, and divine worship — so now, when the congregation was again constituted as such, and also provided Willi their temple and their divine worship, and where the narrative might be occupied with this exclusively, there was at least, nothing in the way of a return to the Hebrew tongue. Ver. 2n For the priests and Levites had purified themselves as one man (without exception, comp. iii. 9), they were all clean. — This has reference not lo the cause of the cele- bration, but its possibility. Priests and Levites had sufficiently prepared themselves, and were now in the condition to fulfil the duties devolved upon them. Defilements, as Lev. xxii.4sq. makes them especially prominent with reference to the priests, occurred again and again, and had been certainly more frequent under previous circum- stances, where the priests as such had come but little into consideration, but they must now he put aside ere they could fulfil their priestly functions. At any rate, the author means lo 68 THE BOOK OF EZRA. point out a noble readiness, yea, a holy zeal, on tbeir part. The subjects of 'BQIi'' are, as is clear from the following context, those who were to do the slaughtering, e.g. of the Levites. Proper- ly, it is true, every father of a family had himself to slay the Paschal lamb, Ex. xii. 6 sq.; but after the time of Hezekiah, when the Levites had un- dertaken the slaying for all who had not puri- fied themselves (2 Chron. xxx. 11), it seems to have been more and more the custom for the Le- vites to do the slaughtering lor all (comp. 2 Chr. xxxv. 4, 14) — for the priests, because they were so busy elsewhere; and for the rest of the peo- ple, because it was so easy for a defilement to happen to them. As in 2 Chron. xxix. 34; xxxv. 15, the priests are designated as their = the Le- vites' brethren, probably in connection with the increasing importance of the Levites. Dri7l = "and for themselves," as in 2 Chron. xxxv. 14. Ver. 21. This fair conclusion of the previous times of trial, and this promising beginning of the new congregation was all the grander that, the returned did not eat the Passover alone, but also such persons united with them who woul 1 Beparate themselves from the impurities of the people of the land, and seized with a new and holy zeal, would henceforth hold to the Lord. — And all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the hea- then of the land.— pxn \\M, as pXH 'Bg, X. 2, 11, are the heathen nation? dwelling in Pa- lestine, whilst the heal hen in neighboring lands belong to the niSINH 'S£, ix. 1,2; iii. 3. Those who separated themselves from these heathen are not proselytes from heathenism (Aben Ezra, Raschi, Clericus. et al.), but descendants of the Jews and Israelites who had remained in the land when the rest of the nation had been car- ried captive, as all the parallel passages show, comp. ix. 1, 10; X. 2, 10, 11; Neh. ix. 2; x. 29. They had without doubt intermarried with the heathen, and the more they had entered into communion with them, the less were they in a positiou to observe the Mosaic laws respecting food and purification. To separate themselves from the impurities of the heathen meant for them to forsake altogether communion with the heathen, and seek communion with the Jewish congregation. For tyT17 comp. iv. 2. Ver. 22. If eating trie passover (namely, in the narrow sense, notin the broader 8'-nsc, which means to eat the festival oflferings in general, comp. Deut. xvi. 3) as a means of appropriating the covenant grace, closely combines seriousness and joy, so the eating of the unleavened bread ministered exclusively to joy and gave full ex- pression to their joyous and elevated feelings. The concluding clause — for then had the Lord made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them — means tosay: for after all the hard Bufferings of the exile, and after all the severe trials which had come upon them since the time of Cyrus, the Lord had now, by the re-establishment of the temple, exactly seventy years after its destruc- tion, caused a real and great change of affairs to take place. There was now a new foundation for the celebration of redemption, a second re- demption, which was hardly less than the pre- vious one out of Egypt, a redemption out of the firm bonds of Assyria. Darius, the king of Per- sia, is here called king of Assyria, not only ''»9 ruler of the territory of the previous Persian empire (Keil), or because Assyria from ancient time had been the usual name tor all that region (Clericus),* which cannot be proved from Judith ii. 1 ; but above all, likewise, because Darius, as head of the great empire of the world, properly took the Bame relative position over against the people of God as the Assyrian and Chaldean kings had once had, because it was properly only a continuation or renewal of the same, and be- ciuse the thought was now to be expressed that finally that very enemy who had once so fearfully and destructively oppressed the people of God had been changed by the grace of God into a friend, so that he had even himself strengthened the hands of the congregation in re-establishing the destroyed temple (as I have alread3' shown in my article, Studien und Krttiken, 1858, S. 51). -I T pin with 3 as 1 Sam. xxiii. 16. THOUGHTS UPON THE HISTORY OF REDEMPTION. Vers. 1-5. 1) It was not alone Cyrus who had previously determined and established in docu- ments the restoration of the temple and its wor- ship, even to the de'ails of the limits of its measurements, the kind of material that should be employed, but also before all God the Lord Himself, as the great prophecy of Ezekiel re- specting the new temple (Ezek. xl-xlvii.) shows. Cyrus was only an instrument of the Lord, and had only given expression to His sovereign will. Thus the congregation, however many hin- drances might be placed in their way, although the circumstances might appear different to them, yet having the eye of faith, they had no suffi- cient reason for despondency, but only the more confidently to look upon the wonderful provi- dence of God, which makes even opposing forces to serve His purpose. Is there not then also with respect to the building of the Christian Church or of the kingdom of God such a divine predestination, whicli has provided beforehand even to details all and everything that is adapted to the honor of the Lord and the salvation of men; and which in spite of temporary gloom and struggles and apparent defeat, must yet more and more prevail, and be carried out more and more decidedly by princes and peoples whether they be Christian or not? The pro- phecy of Ezekiel and even the edict of Cyrus are evidences to us that there is Buch a predestina- tion, and that likewise there has been prepared, so to Bay, a document which can never be hist or destroyed ; for they prove that the temple of God can suffer only temporal, properly only * [Rawlinson in loco mentions as a corresponding fact that Herodotus, with similar inexactness, calls Cyrus tin Ici'r-: of the Medesd. 200).— Tit.) t [This was in accordance with the constant usage of prophecy in representing all the enemies of the king- dom of Goii by the most prominent enemy of the pro- phets' time. This enemy having been tho Assyrian in the times of the prophets, it was natural that in think- ing ..i the fulfilment of prophecy, the author should use the prophetic term. — Ta.] CHAP. VI. 1-22. G9 apparent losses, that it must grow aud increase ami gain one victory after another. 2) It is not euougti for the Lord to restore His kingdom and glory when sin and judgments have come in between to disturb them : He causes Ilia kingdom to grow, increase, advance. Where there is life, there is also development, appropriation, struggle and victory. Here is the highest: and most powerful, here h the divine life. Cyrus must even surpass a Solomon, with respect to the size of the temple, in order to show that the cause and kingdom of God ad- vances victoriously from century to century through the history of mankind, and ever achieves a higher stage towards the highest and most glorious end. It is true He more and more de- prives His Church of ex'ernal power and pomp; it is to become more and more internal and spi- ritual, and thus to work. But even this change is a great advance. If the walls which the worldly power has drawn around the Church fail, theu we need comfort ourselves with the words of the Lord through Zechari ill (iv, G) in these very times of Darius "not by might and not by power (namely, on the side of men), but by my Spirit," and as an open country shall Jeru- salem lie on account of crowds of men and cat- tle in her. I myself will be to her a wall of fire round about and for glory 1 will be in her (ii. 8). Vers. 1-12. The worldly authorities have often lower motives or interests in the steps that they take; it is often merely to iucrease their autho- rity and their power. Thus the Persian officials when they made iuquiry ia Jerusalem and re- ported to Darius would merely prove their watchfulness. The emperor Augustus, when he gave the command Luke ii., would merely accomplish a census of Israel. But the conse- quences that followed their steps were yet, by God's will, the advancement of His kingdom. The Persian governor here must give the occa- sipn thereto in that the ancient decree of Cyrus is again brought to light, and the new and still more favorable one of Darius in addition is car- ried into effect. Vers. B— 12. Earthly kingdoms must perish to make room and prepare the way for the king- dom of God. Thus had the Lord spoken in the second year of Darius, accordingly four years before t.he completion of the temple through Hagg. ii. 20 sq. I will shake the heavens and the earth, ami overthrow the throne of king- doms, and destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen, and overthrow the chariots and those that ride in them, that the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother— and indeed all this in order to erect the promised kingdom of the Mes- siah. And the angel of the Lord who stood between the myrtle trees (Zech. i. 11, 12), when his messenger announced to him that the whole earth sitteth still, and is at rest, cried out in intercession: Jehovah Sabaoth, how long will Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which Thou hast had indigna- liou these seventy years, imploring the shaking and destroying of the heathen kingdoms. But these latter must p rish only in so far as they stand entirely in the way of the kingdom of God, and will not let that kingdom come at all. At the bottom the interests of the earthly powers and rulers agree very well with those of tho kingdom of God. Darius rightly laid great value upon the execution of his edict with refer- ence to the fuitherauce and support of the wor- ship in Jerusalem. His wish that they should offer sacrifices of sweet savor to the God of hea- ven in Jerusalem, and pray for his life and the life of his son, not only might, but iudeed must be fulfilled, so sure as the congregation of the true God must be grateful, and indeed sincerely and heartily. Coujp. Jer. xxix. 7; 1 Mace. xii. 11; 1 Tim. ii. 2. The congregation could be in his way only if it- sought again for earthly power and freedom, if it thus had forgotten its proper nature aud its true calling. Let tho church then earnestly examine itself when it enters into conflict with the State whether it is not going astray from its proper ways. Woe to it if instead of permeating the State more and more with divine thoughts, it itself gives more nod more place for human thoughts aud human nature; if it regards flesh for its arm and seeks to appropriate to itself that which belongs to the State. If the salt itself has lost its savor, wherewith shall we season? The responsibility of Rome, which would bow the States not. under the kingdom of God, but under its own rule which is still so carnal, is great, the greater that thereby so easily the false view is awakened, as if State and Church could not avoid in any way being in conflict with one another. — Al- ready through Cyrus and Darius there was a fulfillment of those great and noble words of Isai. xlix. 23: " Kings thall be thy foster-fathers, and their queens thy nursing-mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their faces toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet." But already now it is manifest that the true ful- fillment involves neither on the part of kings a determining influence on the mo le of worship, nor on the side of the congregation an external sovereignty over kings. Vers. 13-15. Much was required, and very many different things must come together from different sides, in order that the building of the house of God might be undertaken, and could be actually finished. Above all it was necessary that it should' be in accordance with the will of God the Lord Himself, and then that the rulers of the world should likewise be willing thereunto. The congregation had brought about this dependence on the world by their own sins, aud they were now obliged to be satisfied with it. So also it was necessary that the congrega- tion itself should be aroused to true readiness, and be strengihened when wearied by the hin- drances that placed themselves in their way. It was therefore necessary that suitable pro- phetic organs should be found, who nrght work upon the congregation through the divine word and in the power of the divine Spirit. But much more than this was still, if not exactly necessary, yet highly important, so, for exam- ple, that the nearest authorities in Palestine should be distinguished by righteousness or im- partiality. And so it finally came to pass, and at last all things worked well together in cor- respondence with the divine purpose of redemp. 70 THE COOK OF EZRA. firm. We say " finally " and "at last;" but it was now for the first the exactly right time. The temple was ready just seventy years after its destruction, so that the prophecy of the seventy years was now fulfilled exactly thereby. Would that the congregation, the Church, might have like patience with respect to the accomplishment of greater work, the revival of faith in the un- believing community, or the Christianizing of the heathen world. Would that they might never be over-hasty or attempt to use violence in accomplishing that which can come to pass only when it has been sufficiently prepared, an 1 bo to say, is ripe; when likewise it has a real ■value. Would that they might never regard the time that elapses too long, but rather think that the building of the house of God is the highest and most glorious, and on this very account the most difficult work on earth, which can only be the final result of all other works, arrangements and developments. Vers. 16-18. 1) The congregation dedicated the house of God with joy. They might have held a fast day instead of a fea.H of joy. Even now when the work, after many years of effort, stood before them finished, lofty and broad enough, it is true, but far from reaching the magnificence of the old temple, and besides ac- complished only through the permission, and indeed the assistance of a foreign heathen king, they might have had a specially vivid realiza- tion of the entire wretchedness of their situation according to external appearance. How easily there comes over us men, at the very lime when we reach the aim of long-cherished hopes and strivings, dissatisfaction, ill humor, dejection, instead of joy, because it does not correspo id with our ideas! But it is a matter of humility and faith, under all circumstances, to recognize willi internal thankfulness that that which has been g lined is much more than we could in any way expect, that it is super-abundant grace and mercy : a child-like heart with reference lo what is still denied us waits patiently on the Lord, and says to itself that it is perhaps unable to judge correctly respecting what at preseut does not at all please it. With humble, believ- ing, childlike hearts shall we be able again and again to ascend from the vale of tears to the bright peaks of joy, shall ag an and again be able to celebrate feasts of dedication and really enjoy the times of refreshment and grace which the Lord gives as the very thing that should b 1 . It is notable and edifying for us to see that those poets of the Psalter, who probably belong to this period, had sufficient joy of faith to comfort and encourage above all their people, the poets of Ps. exxxv. and exxxvi.. in that they called upon them to praise the Lord on account of His revelation of Himself in nature, but espe- c'ally for his revelation in history; the poet of Ps. cxlvi., in that he strikes up, "Bless the Lord, my soul," which is sweetly re-echoed in our • "Lnhr den Hrrrn. O mcine Secle, ich will ihn loben bis in den Tod." Without doubt the congregation then sung Ps. cxviii. with the inmost accord of the heart, al- though it was really composed somewhat earlier, an 1 especially did they appropriate with greatly agitated hearts the shout of triumph : " The right hand of the Lord is exalted, the right hand of tie Lord doeth valianily — open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go in, and I will praise the Lord — the stone which the builders refused is become the head of the corner." The poet of Ps. exxxvii., whose heart Bwells with patriotism and religion, at the same time with freshness and p iwer, yea, almost with passion, cannot but re- call, with the most bitter experience, the abode in exile : " By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down; yea we wept," and wish Babylon a just recompense, thus regarding his present situation as so much better. But already the Lord like- wise came to the help of their faith, as is clear from this very Psalm, in that even now, when He turned the heart of the king of Assyria towards Israel, and thus brought the period of exile to an end, He delivered over the ancient enemy Baby- lon to the destroying judgment. Already the same Dirius, to whom the restoration is very properly ascribed, had so severely chastised Ba- bylon, that the poet of Ps exxxvii. can designate it in ver. 8 as overthrown or laid waste. 2) It was still the highest, thing for the con- gregation of the old covenant to dedicate a tem- ple, iu which the Lord would dwell in their midst, yet separated from them, and indeed in the midst of a priesthood, which must still staud to mediate between them and the Lord. To us, the New Testament congregation, much more is granted. On the peaks that we Christians may ascend in humility and faith, we should dedicate temples to the Lord, since He will dwell among us, moreover also internally within us, namely, in our hearts, we should accordingly rejoice in an entirely immediate communion with Him, and all the peace and blessing that are involved therein, and exercise ourselves in a holy priest- hood, that is, offer sacrifices of praise through our Lord Jesus Christ, to show forth, etc. 1 Peter ii. 9. 3) Vers, lfl-22. The Feast of Passover and un- leavened bread constituted the conclusion of the old and the beginningof thenew period. Through the offering of the Paschal Lamb and the partaking of the Passover meal connected therewith, the congregation of the old Covenant appropriated to iiself the forgiveness of Sod as the God of the covenant, which forgiveness they ever needed, and the preservation conditioned thereon. But through the feast of unleavened bread they vowed, in that the strict abstinence from all leaven was connected therewith, io walk not in the old lea- ven of wickedness ami wantonness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Well for us that we also, where we are truly conscious of our redemption, can celebrate ever anew the feast of passover and unleavened bread, since we also have a paschal lamb, yea, that we can do this in a different way from the Old Testament congregation, since our paschal offering and the sacred meal connected therewith, imparts in a much more powerful manner forgiveness and preservation, since we thus have far more cogent motives to rise into the new and pure life of sin- cerity and truth. CHAP. VI 1-22. 71 HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Vers 1-12. That which threatens lo become a hindrance must serve for our advantage. 1) When, — if in our undertakings, looking at the final aim. it is to be done for the cause and glory of God. 2) Why, — because the advancement of the cause of God, long in advance and to the mi- nutest detail has been once for all provided for and ordained. 3) How, — the example of prede- cessors, who have previously taken part in this work, comes into mind and gives their successors a favorable disposition towards the work. — Starke: It is easy to conceive, moreover, how it must have grieved the Samaritans that they were not only obliged to let the temple be en- tirely brought to completion, but that also their tribute should be applied to the promotion of the building, and the observation of the divine service with sacrifices. — How import- ant and thankworthy the favorable conduct of even heathen princes has been toward the people of God. 1) That of Cyrus — a, He gave to the congregation again their liberty to wor- ship the Lord, and ordered the restoration of the temple; b, he thereby gave an example, which determined the conduct of his successors. — Starke: Great lords should be diligent in the practice of virtue, in order that their successors after their death may have a good example, and that they thereby may gain an everlastingnatne. Ecci. vii. 1 : Prov. xxii. 1. The richest persons should be the first to open their liberal hands when something is to be given for the building of churches and the support of the ministry. — God has the heart of kings also in His hand and can incline them so that they are obliged to have good-will to His children, Din. ii. 48. 2) The favorable conduct of Darius: a) he lets himself he guided by a noble example, yea seeks to sur- pass it; b) he desires the prayers of the congre- gation; c) he used his power in a good and pro- per manner to help the pious and threaten the wicked. — Starke: Respecting the duty of sub- jects to pray for their rulers, even if they are heathen, see 1 Tim. ii. 2; comp. Jer. xxix. 7; 1 Mace. xii. 11. Magistrates should act in their government so as to comfort themselves with the general prayers of their subjects. Regents should make arrangements that prayers should be made to God for their welfare and successful government; for the devil lays many snares for them, but a devout prayer will help them much. The sword, intrusted by God to magistrates, must afford protection to the pious, Rom. xiii. 4. Vers. 13-10. The building of the temple or kingdom of God is the final result of all the di- vine guidance: 1) It needs the willingness of the congregation, anil on this account also the activity of prophets and preachers; 2) it needs, moreover, kings and their representatives, and on this account also a direction of history, by which God works on their hearts; 3) it needs above all the good and gracious will of God. — Starke: The Lord has a kingdom and He rules among the heathen, Ps. xxii. 29. He brings the counsel of the heathen to nought, and turns the thoughts of the nations, He disposes their hearts. Ps. xxxiii. 10, 15. Vers. 16-18. The true joy of dedication. 1) Upon what it is founded : Starke: My Chris- tian friend, has the spiritual building of the house of God been established in thy soul, then forget not to praise and give thanks. 2) How it is estab- lished, — -by our taking to ourselves, with humi- lity and gratitude, what the Lord grants, as truly good and salutary, and puttiug our trust in Him with respect to all that is still lacking. 3) How it expresses itself by true sacrifices, thus by setting to work in the universal priesthood. — Starke: Our redemption from the kingdom of the devil and the deliverance of the church is tlie work of God alone; for His hand helps power- fully, Ps. xx. 7. And then for the first will our mouth he full of laughter, and our tongue full with singing, Ps. exxvi. 2. Vers. 19-22. The life of him who has conse- crated his heart to be a temple of the Lord is a continual passover feast, for he feels himself compelled, 1) ever to take anew grace for grace, fleeing from the death of the curse ; 2) ever anew to let himself be sanctified unto sincerity and truth, so that he rises from the death of sin ; 3) to rejoice with the holy passover joy of redemp- tion, which God has accomplished in Jesus Christ, and which He will likewise fulfil in Him at last. — [Henry: Let not the greatest princes despise the prayers of the meanest saints ; 'tis desirable to have them for us, and drtadful to have them against us. — Whatever we dedicate to God, let it be done with joy, that He will please to accept of it. — The purity of ministers adds much to the beauty of their ministrations, so doth their unity.— Tr.] THE BOOK OF EZRi. PART SECOND. The Congregation as the People of the Lord Negative Strengthening of their Life in the Law (Ezras Activity). Chaps. VII.-X. FIRST SECTION. Ezra's Emigration to Jerusalem. Chaps. VII.-VIII. A.— EZRA'S JOURNEY AND PURPOSE, AND ARTAXERXES' LETTER OF COMMISSION. Chap. VII. 1-27. I. Ezra' s Journey and Purpose. Vers. 1—10. 1 Now after these things, iu the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son 2 of Seraiah, the sw it out of the king's treasure-house. And I, even, I Aitaxerxes the king, do make a decre* to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the s ribe of the law of the God 22 of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily Unto a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred ba'hs of wine, and to a hun- 23 dred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. Whatsoever is com- manded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done for the house of the God of heaven: fur why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his eons? 21 Also we certify you, that, touching any of the priests and Levites, sngers, porters, Nethinim, or ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose toil, 25 tribute, or custom, upon them. And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are bevond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that 2G know them not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God. ami the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. III. Ezra* Thanksgiving. Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the bouse of the Lord which is in J-, rusalem: And hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of my Loi;d my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Our author ha-< no scruples in simp'y leaping over a period of fully fifty-seven years, in the use of the loose connecting formula : And after these things (eomp. Gen. xv. 1 ; xxii. 1, etc.). Such gaps the ancient sacred history has again and again: it is silent respecting the time be tween Joseph and Moses, respecting the time passed by the generation rejected of God in the wilderness, respecting the time of the exile. There wis lacking in these times useful material calculated for the edification of the congregation, BO much the more then must this iiave failed in the time subsequent to the building of the tem- ple, when the congregation of Jehovah had been excused from the task of giving their life a civil organization, and accordingly was referred to a <|iuet life, in which there could be no longer expected, as in former limes, new and important manifestations of God. Nevertheless the new be- ginning of the congregation after the exile, which the book of Gzra would describe, had not been entirely completed by that which had already transpired. U is true the temple and its wor- ship had been re-established by Zerubbabel and Jeshua, but the law was only thereby secured at the basis, an objective validity. With the new j and holy zeal that inspired all, at the beginning, it was their earnest endeavor, as we can hardly doubt, to carry the law out likewise subjectively in the domestic and personal life, with more and more completeness and thoroughness. But the vicinity of the heathen, their dependence upon their superior authorities, the manifold inter- course with many of them, which could hardly i be avoided, made the temptation easy to be brought into closer association with thcra. even to intermarry with them, and thereby there was necessarily involved a neglect of the law, espe- cially in its prescription as to food and purity. Besides, the descendants of Zerubbabel, if we may refer Neh. v. 15 to them, were not calcu- lated to offer the congregation a higher support, they rather, in all probability, soon enough en- tirely withdrew. Thus notwithstanding the tem- ple and its worship, that which was properly the principal thing, the life of the congregation in accordance with the law, yea the congregation itself as such, was soon again brought into ques- tion. The thorough subordination to the divine law, on the part of all, was now all the more ne- cessary that it alone could hold the individuals together. What previously had been accom- plished by the kingdom in Israel, must now be done by the law. It was necessary that the law, as never before, should be exalted on the throne. And only when a real strengthening of the life in the law had taken place could there be said to he such a new establishment of the congrega- tion as really promised to be the beginning of a new and permanent, existence. This re-cstab- lishment was now for the first the work of Ezra, and is rightly ascribed to him by a thankful posterity which honored him as a second Moses. Cenainly if we look upon the letter of commis- sion wiiich Aitaxcxes gave him to take along with him upon his first appearance in chap. viii. it seems as if for him likewise the worship of the temple and its furtherance stood in the fire- ground. And surely he took great pains in this direction likewise. But botli of these, the eleva- tion of the looiple worship, that perhaps again •5 74 THE BOOK OF EZRA. threatened to fall into decay, and the strength- ening of the congregation in the life in the law, were too closely connected together, that Ezra should have thought the oncpos-ible without the other. And his real design was from the begin- ning very well given in chap. vii. 10: to teach in Israel statutes and judgments ; and the letter of commission of Artaxerxes authorized him, in a manner worthy of attention (vii. 25), to set up magistrates and judges, who should provide for the enforcement of the law. In our book he ac- complishes the re-establishment at least in a ne- gative way, by the separation of heathen women, ia general by the doing away with intermarriage with the heathen ; in Neh. (viii. — x.) likewise in a positive way, that is, by renewing the cove- nant with God on the basis of those prescriptions of the law that were then most important. Vers. 1-10. Artachshasta, which is here writ- ten NnDtynrHX, as in ver. 11, and viii. 1 ; Neh. ii. 1 ; v. 14; xiii. 6, is surely the same, who in vi. 14 is called NJTOtJnrnN (so also chap. iv. 8, 11,23), and in iv.' 7 'NTOOTirnX, namely, Ar- taxerxes Longimanus. In Neh. xiii. 6, where (he same person is certainly meant, since there is no doubt that Ezra and Nehemiah were cotem- poraries according to Neh. xii. 36, the reference is to the thirty-second year of his reign. This does not properly refer to Xerxes, whom Jose- phus (Arch. XI. 5, 1) and recently even Fritzsche (co"ip. Esdras viii. 1), would understand, be- cause it is most natural to think of him after the Darius of the previous chapter, but only to Ar- taxerxes Longimanus, to whom indeed the Dame itself refers wiih sufficient clearness. Ezra sprang, according to the accompanying gene- alogy from the family of the high-priest through Seraiah. For all the names from Seraiah up to Aaron are of the line of the high-priest (comp. 1 Chron. v. 30—40) ; only in ver. 3 six members of the line are pissed over between Azariah and Meraioth (according to 1 Chron. vi. 7-10), with- out doubt only for the sake of brevity, as is fre- quently the case in the longer genealogies. Se- raiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah. was the high-priest whom Nebuchadnezzar had commanded to be slain at Riblah (2 Kings xxv. 18-21), was thus the father of the high-priest Jehozadak, who was carried into exile (1 Chro- nicles vi. 14 sq.). It is very notable, however, that Ezra did Dot spring from Jehozadak in whose line the high-priesthood was inherited, but from a younger son ; for else the interve- ning member between him and Seraiah would not have been left unmentioned. Ezra was probably the great great-grandson of Seraiah ; tor the high-priest Jeshua who had gone to Jerusalem seventy-eight years before with Ze- rubbabel, was a grandson of Seraiah. One hun- dred and thirty years had already passed since the execution of t lie latter in the year 588. Ver. 6. This Ezra -went up from Baby- lon. — This reuews the subject and gives the predicate of ver. 1. — A ready scribe. — Since Ezra is designated already at the beginning as a skillful or learned scholar, that talent is ascribed to him. upon which under the present ciroumstances, the fostering of Iho lifo of the congregation most depended. 1310, in the an- cient writings, writer or secretary, has already obtained the meaning of ypa/iua-ehc in Jer. viii. 8, where it is parallel and synonymous with D'ODH. If it became the official name of the chancellor in the sense of scribe, it has in the sense of scholar, as is clear especially from ver. 11, already almost the character of a title of honor for the man of learning. The additional clause : the king granted him all his re- quest, indicates that his journey was no pri- vate undertaking, that he rather was provided with a certain authority, and journeyed as an official personage. Yet we must not think of him as governor of Judah ; he is nowhere given this title. He had simply the authority to teach as a teacher his knowledge of the law, and at the same time as a superior judge — according to ver. 25, likewise by the selling up of suitably subordinate judg-s — to vindicate the law. — rii^pD, the request, the petition, except here, is only found in the book of Esther, chap. T. 3, G. The question how this favoring of Ezra is related to the writing of Artaxerxes given in chap, iv., is best answered by the fact t'jat Ezra's jour- ney occurred somewhat later, that Artaxerxes, since he had been moved to that writing by his officials, had paid more attention to the Jews, and that he furthered Ezra's journey in order to strengthen the Jewish congregation; perhaps also in order to show thereby that he actually was ready to be as just as possible, notwith- standing the prohibition issued respecting the walls of the city. It is shown then by this ap- proval that he would perhaps recall at a suita- ble time even that prohibition which indeed had been issued at first only provisionally. — Ac- cording to the hand of the Lord his God upon him — This language which occurs else- where only in vers. 9, 28; viii. 18; Neh. ii. 8, 18, and whose foundation is contained in viii. 22,31, means so munh as this, namely: "ac- cording to the goodness, providence and grace which ruled over him," namely Ezra, as then this hand of God sometimes is expressly desig- nated as nnitan (ver. 9 and viii. 18) or rDlB 1 ? (viii. 22). Vers. 7, 8, mentions in addition that Ezra at the same time led to Jerusalem a new increase of the population. — And there went up some. — This, in the view of the historian, so involves "with him" that he continues in ver. 8 without any further ceremony with he came to Jerusalem. Comp. vers. 13 and 28 and viii. 1. p is used partitively in the sense "some of" as chap. ii. 70, etc. The Levites in distinction from the priests on the one side, and from the Levites in the broader sense, from the singers and porters on the other side, are those who performed the proper service of the Levites. Ver. 9. For upon the first day of the first month he had fixed the departure from Babyion, and on the first of the fifth month came he to Jerusalem. — This would Btate the duration of the journey. Instead of Ip" wo are probably to read 1D\ and indeed in the sense of constitun, p-xcipio, in which it oc- curs, especially in Esther i. 8. Probably the CHAP. VII. 1-27. punclntors had scruples about admitting this unusual sense, especially a9 tliey supposed that they could belter give the force of N1H liy un- derstanding it us: on the first of the first mom !i iptum erut fundamentum profectionis, as R. Solo- mon and .). II. Mich, translate; N?n would thus serve lo emphasize the "fundamentum" or the beginning in distinction from the completion. But we should expect 1iD' instead of Hp\ moreover the following X3 would not connect itself therewith. Besides, on the first of the first month they began to betake themselves to the common place of assembly, whence then the entire company entered upon the proper jour- ney to Palestine on the 12th of the month. Comp. chap. viii. 31.* Ver. 10. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judg- ments. — This is not to explain the last subor- dinate clause of ver. 9: according to the good hand of God upon him; but the entire under- taking of the journey. BH1 is here in connec- tion with ITiiT mijVflX in the same sense as T : ~ n-ual in connection with iil7T~nX, "adhere to the law as to a Lord and Benefactor." This " adhere to the law" comes into consideration with respect lo the following "doctrines" as a necessary foundation, without which the in- struction can never be carried on with success. Ezra's design was to bring again to the con- sciousness of the Jewish congregation, the law which they had in part neglected and conse- quently likewise forgotten, to direct their life according to it and strengthen their relations thereto. Ver. 11. Now follows the documentary basis for the summary representation in the forego- ing, and indeed first of all the letter of commis- sion given to Ezra by Artaxerxes. — And these are the contents of the letter. — For jjeni), comp. iv. 11, and for PfltJfj, iv. 7. Ezra is called here and in vers. 12 and 21 : Neh. viii. 9; xii. 26, first the priest, and then afterwards the scribe; inz. 10, 16; and Neh. viii. 2 even, only the priest; hence he is then in Esdras likewise constantly designated merely as 6 lepebg. — The scribe of the words of the command- ments of the Lord and of His statutes to Israel means: " the scribe who especially occu- pied himself with the words of the law, and who thus before all was learned with reference to it." Ver. 12. Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra — perfect (peace). — This is the in- troductory formula. ~l'03 cannot bean adjective of Xm 13D ; it would then thus placed alone T T - T r by itself have to be in the slat. emph. K"VD1, * [Rawlinson: "The direot distance of Babylon from Jerusalem is no more than about five hundred and twenty miles; and it may therefore seem surpri ing that the journey should "have occupied four months. But no doubt the route followed was that circuitous one by i larchemi -h and the Orontes valley, which was or linarily taken by armies or large bodies of men, and which increased the distance to about nine hundred miles. Still the time occupied is long, and must be accounted for by the dangers alluded to, chap. viii. 22, 31, which may have necessitated delays and detours to avoid conflicts." — Ta.) Yet it cannot before the following PJJKM mean that alt that usually belonged to the introductory formula ha I been completely expressed in the original document (Berth.); in this way it would seem too peculiar. There is as little in favor of the view of Keil that it is an adverb ia the sense of "very " belonging to an adjective to be supplied to "I3D, as if t he sense wc"e: iloclnri doetissimo; the adjective could hardly have failed in such a case. According to ver. 7 we Bhould expect that the letter, conformable to its contents of good will, would have contained in its introductory formula a greeting or wish of pence ; so there is (o be supplied in thought after T03 a verb as "he wishes," and the sense is: Artaxerxes wishes, in a complete manner, or abundantly — namely, peace [so Esdras, x a '~ peiv, followed by A. V. perfect (pence). — Tit.] Vers. 13-19 gives the first part of the royal mandate : Let every one of Israel who will, go up with Ezra. Ezra, however, is to encourage fur- ther the worship in Jerusalem with the money that was given him for the purpose. Ver. 13. I make a decree, etc. Comp. vi. 8. Tpvy) depends upon 31J."l'p"73 = that every one who is freely minded tog i. IJiT depends upon 'T — may go with thee. — For the infin. ^HO and the future ^TY, comp. v. 5. Ver. 14 would say: because the commission of the king and his seven counsellors is designed to encourage and strengthen the worship of Jeho- vah, and accordingly also the condition of His congregation. For the seven counsellors who constituted the supreme tribunal of the Persian kings, vid. Esther i. 14.* 'tlOJ?', for which we might expect "nD>" because Tpi" corresponds with the Heb. D'i'i'V, and is used as JITjn in vi. 9. Naturally "thou" cannot be at once sup- pMed to n'TO ; rather the expression is a gene- ral one: the sending is made. — To inquire concerning Judah according to the law of thy God, which is in thine hand. — That the secon 1 person is prominent here, cannot be strange because, indeed, the whole matter ia a communication to Ezra. iV PPp3 " to hold in- - TIT" vestigation over," thus, u revise something." is then at the same time the same as "to put in or- der."! '■lli which st. constr. in Norzi's edi- tion is pointed m, properly : with the law ; means: according to the norm of the law. "H }T3 " which is in thy hand," means, " which thou possesseth," is not however to be under- * [" Herodotus relates that there were seven families pre-eminent in Persia, those of the seven conspirators t the Pseudo^Smerdis (III. 84); and it is reoson- abl ■ to suppose that the heads of these families formed the special council of the king, the ' Achsemenidffi,' or royal family, being represented by the head o( the branch next in succession to that 01 the reigning mo- narch." Rawlinson i» loco. See also. Ancient Monar- ch,,*. Vol. IV.. pp. 403 and 4n4.— Ta.) t [" Probably the commission was general to inquire into the state of the province. AooordingtoXenophon (Q/rop.VIII. 0, J 16) it was a part of the Persian system for the king to send an officer onceayear into each provinee to inspect it and report upon it." Rawlinson in loco. — Ta.J 76 THE BOOK OF EZRA. stood ns if Ezra had a particular copy of the law, which Artaxerxes hereby would have ex- plained as the ancient and true law of God ; after that he had obtained the consent of the more dis- tinguished of the Jews; but it is, as it were, •' which thou knowest, understandest, and hast in hand." [Rawlinson, in loco, "righteously and justly nc voiding to the principle of thy reli- gion." — Tu.] Ver. 15. And to carry the silver and gold, etc. For a fuller statement of this, vid. fin. 25. Ver. 16. All the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, with the free-will offering of the people and of the priests, etc. The king here pre- supposes that in addition to himself and his counsellors there would likewise be found others, not Israelites, in the province of Babylon, who would be willing to contribute silver and gold for the support of the Jewish people; and indi- cates that he has given Ezra permission to take up a collection among them; for what is collec- ted in the province of Babylon in general, is dis- tinguished with sufficient clearness from the gifts of the people and priests, that is to say, the Jews, as is evident from the subsequent clauses. rVDIJiVI an abstract formation from infin. Ithpaal, is that which is voluntarily given. fO^TO, if it were in simple apposition to people and priests, or re- presented a relative clause, as 15-Tlh. supposes, would necessarily have the article; it is rather loosely connected in the sense of: "if they, so far as they voluntarily contribute." Vers. 17-19. Even on this account, pro- perly in view of these things, namely, because this sending is ordained by me to encourage the Jewish congregation and their worship. — Thou mayest buy speedily with this money bullocks — with their meat and drink of- ferings — that is, the meat and drink offerings belonging to the sacrifices according to Num. xv. 1 S q. — And offer them on the altar. — The Pacl. 3"1pn is used instead of Aphel in vi. 10, 17. Ver. IS. And whatsoever shall seem good to thee. — The thorough organization of the Jew- ish congregational life might readily render ne- cessary some additional expense, e.g. for the de- coration of the temple; and Arlaxerxes presup- poses that the authorities in Jerusalem will be able also to make such arrangements that they may have something left of the gifts for such pur- poses — and thy brethren = the elders in Je- rusalem, who also appear in v. and vi. to decide such questions.— That do after the will of your God — namely, as it is declared in the law. Ver. 19. And the vessels, for the service of the house of thy God deliver com- oletely. — These vess Is are numbered in viii. 25, 27. The noun jnSa, which is only found hern— but comp. "nSa in ver.24 — is identicalwith Tn^S = "service" of the Syriac and Targums, ami corresponds with the Hebrew iTTD#. The meaning of uhu7\ " render completely " is usual in the Aphel in the Syriac, and is connected with the meaning of the Hebrew Piel D.W " pay."— Before the God of Jerusalem is essentially the same as " before the God whose dwelling is in Jerusalem." Comp. i. 3: He is the God, who is in Jerusalem. Vers. 20-24. The second part of the decree or- ders that the royal treasury of the land beyond the river is to supply whatever else may prove to be necessary. Ver. -0. And -whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which shall occur to thee, as to be given, that is to say, whatever need may arise when the other means have been exhausted — shalt thou give out of the house of the treasury of the king — that is, out of the royal treasury.* Ver. 21 now gives at once the supplementary order for the treasurer in question; as a com- mand to which Ezra might appeal. This must also be given here. — By me, Artaxerxes, myself, is decreed. — The pronoun PPX serves to em- phasize the suffix of '313 (comp. Dan. vii. 15), and so also the following noun. The order: all that Ezra shall require of you, turns itself directly to the treasurer, because it is thus so much the more clear and impressive. Ver. 22. Unto an hundred talent3, states the limit to which the giving may extend. The ~~\'J (up to one hundred talents) is connected with the phrase: it shall be done of ver. 21, so far as this involves: it shall be rendered or given. The 133, the talent, weighed three thousand sa- cred shekels (comp. Ex. xxxviii. 25, 27), the holy shekel was about two marks, the Persian (comp. Xenoph. Anab 1.5,6) one and a quarter marks. The *i3, which occurs already in 1 Ki. v. 2; Ezek. xlv. 14, instead of the Chomer = ten ephahs or baths, thus almost two bushels. — Salt, which is not prescribed— which is not stated, not limited to a definite amount. [For the need of these things in the Jewish system of sacrifice,^, vi. 9. "As the Persian tribute was paid partly in money and partly iu kind (see note on iv. 13), the treasuries would be able to supply them as readily as they could furnish money." Rawlinson in loco. — Tr.] Ver. 23 gives a si ill more comprehensive in- junction—all that is in accordance with the command of the God of heaven— what is demanded according to the divine law — let it be completely done. — The air. /Iry. N 7P1- ' 3 regirded by Hitzig and Berth, as compounded of ■n.t and N"UX (Hit*. Comm. on Daniel II. 5; Bertheau on II. 3) especially because YW in tfHtiTlX Dan. iii. 2 can be clearly recog- nized as an intensive prefix (• very"). Hang, on the other hand, in Ewald's Bib. Jahrb. V , S. 152 sq., derives it from the Persian doresl, the Zend, root dnrrc = " grow, prosper, become firm," as formed by X prnstfi. in the meaning of " com- pletely, punctually in every thing." — For why nO l 7- , 'n = for wherefore = "in order that not." Comp. iv. 22 * ["The Persian system of taxing the provinces through the satraps involved the establishment in each province of at least one local treasury. Such treasuries are mentioned occasionally in Greek history (see A*- rian. Exp. Alex. I. 17 ; 111. 18, 19, etc.)." Rawlinson m loco— Te.J CHAP. VII. 1-27. Ver. 24 gives an additional clause, which is fur ihe consideration of the treasurer likewise. — And to you it is made known, etc., pjPrttTO has an indef. subject, or the active is for the pas- sive ; to you is it. made known. Those addressed are still the same, as from ver. 21 on, thus the treasurers. — That all priests, etc., that is, con- cerning all priests. — Ministers of the house of God — The KH^X iT3 'p!~!2 arc alongside of t t v: ■• •• : t the priests not all worshippers of the true God in general, but official persons, perhaps the low- est class [Rawlinson] as we may infer from their position after the Nethinim, or those who are not included in the foregoing classes. Bertheau compares the servants of Solomon, who occur in II. 55, 58, after the Nethinim. For HIM, etc., comp. iv. 13. !3"W N 1 ? properly = one not having authority, with the infin., and 7 = one who has not power, or: it is not allowed, as frequently in Syriac. NT^"?7 from XO"l in the Targums for D"B'. Such a liberation of priests and Levites from taxes, occurred also under Ar- taxerxes the great. Comp. Joseph. Arch., XV. 3, 3.* Vers. 25, 26. The third part of the decree au- thorizes Ezra to set up judges experienced in the law for the entire Jewish people, and impose punishments for infractions of the law ; this con- tains that very matter in which he is to afford the very help to the congregation upon which all now depended, a matter in which Artaxerxes in his good-will made an important step in advance h-yond Cyrus and Darius, .since the civil and social life of Israel was so closely connected with their religion by the law, they could not well prosper under judges who had neither apprecia- tion nor understanding of their religion. It misht appear strange to us that, nothing more is expressly said of the setting up of Jewish judges. But our book, which limits itself to the negative sile of confirmation in the law, to the separation of the heathen women, was not the proper place for this. In the book of Nehemiah, which adds the positive side, since the congregation obligate themselves in chap. x. to keep all the important parts of the law, this is implicitly involved. Ver. 25. And thou, Ezra, after the wis- dom of thy God, etc. — }T3 "I as in verse 21, etc., "which thou possessest." -JO is imper. Pa. "appoint," "setup," for '33, the less hard e sound is more easily uttered, and occurs as a mat- ter of course when it is followed by a second syl- lable ma or man. — Magistrates and judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river.— The imperf. |\rn, with the part expresses continued action. The people to be judged are as a matter of course the Jewish people. Among them are not only those who know the law of God. but also others who yet for the first time must be ins rucled in it. We are * '"Here the decree of Artaxerxes was more favorable to the Jews than those of all previous Persian monarch*. W ■ hear of a similar exemption of ecclesiastics from tri- bute, only to a less extent under the Seleucidea. fjose- phus' Ant JuJ. XII. 3, \ 3)." Rawlinson fn loco.— Te.] not to think of the latter as proselyte", neverthe- less it refers not only to the Jews of Pales- tine, but also to those dwelling widely scattered in the land to the West of the Euphrates. They are all to be subject to the judges set up by Ezra; the judges however are, according to the context, to watch over the observation of the Mo- saic law, and maintain its authority. This is the foundation for the Jewish tradition of the insti- tution of the great synagogue by Ezra. Ver. 26. The object of this institution was that judgment might he diligently held over any one who did not keep the law of God and the king — The law of the king can here be joined on to that of God, because so far as it required obe- dience to the law of God in the foregoing decree, it was transgressed by disobedience. Perhaps it had already been shown, likewise, that where obedience to the law of God ceased, usually al- so obedience to the royal command vanished. nj'T T3J? is in the Targ. not unusual for " hold judgment." HJD "out from him" = "over him." The point, of beginning is here at the same time the point aimed at. The following tn in = sive — Bive — whether it be unto death or to banishment, whether to con- fiscation of goods or to imprisonment. — WhVf an entirely Syriac form of t?."}£\ properly rooting out, is here iu distinction from death, ba- nishment, Vulg. : exilium, or at least excommu- nication (comp. x. 8) [Rawlinson], not trai/ltia (Sept.). Respecting the punishment in |'i?3J. treasure, property, as vi. 8, comp. x. 8. Vers. 27, 28. A closing doxology. Ezra can- not but add to the foregoing decree — whose com- munication we are without doubt to ascribe to hia hand — his praise for the grace of God, which had been so gloriously exhibited in putting this into the heart of the king to beautify the temple in Jerusalem* 3^3 jnjasNeh. 12; vii. 15. yet likewise already in' 1 Kings x. 24. nNT3 = the like, namely, as is indicated in the foregoing decre '. We are to consider that the exultation of the worship is likewise a glorification of the house of the Lord. Ver. 28. And hath extended mercy unto me before the kiug.-Th is is the continuation of the relative clause in ver. 27. The 7 before ^^"73 puts this word on one and the same footing as the foregoing. Comp. the 7 before '3br in vi. 7 ; that is to say it represents here essentially the •J37, which is before ,(70n. The clause : And I was strengthened, which leads over to the narrative, would say " I was able, would feel myself strong, — and I gathered together = bo that I gathered together out of Israel chief men. These chief mon were heads of households or families who, if they should be taken for ttie emigration to Judah, would naturally lake their families with them. * ["This abrupt transition from the words of Artax- erxes to those of Ezra, mav be compared with (ho al- most equally abrupt chance in vi. r>. The language alters at the same time from Chaldee to Hebrew, con- tinuing henceforth to be Hebrew till the close of the book." Rawlinson in loco. — Ta.J THE BOOK OF EZRA. THOUGHTS UPON THE HISTORY OP REDEMPTION. Vers. 1-10. (1) It seems that there were found among the Jews remaining behind in Babylon, even after Zerubbabel and Jeshua, at different times, such persons as were seized with a holy longing for the land of their fathers, especially for the temple of the Lord, with its lovely divine worship; who also, accordingly, went up thither not merely for a short time, but to remain for- ever, in order to become members of the congre- gation of Jerusalem, although many difficulties stood in the way of most of them, and it might be known to all what great deprivations, yea, evil circumstances, were to be endured in Judah. " Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar." This was certainly in these times the sigh of many with the poet of the 120th Psalm; and "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help" was their subsequent, triumphal song with the author of Psalm cxxi. How much more then should Christians be inspired with a holy longing to be- come pilgrims on the way to heaven, and become members of the upper Jerusalem, seeing that in the city of God, that is above, among the many thousand angels and saints, every lack and every evil circumstance has vanished. Ezra and the others who went up to Jerusalem in order to be able to lift up their eyes to the heights of the earthly Zion, seem to us to be saints. That Christians should strive for the higher aim, that beckons them from heaven, is, after all, only na- tural, and so much the more are we obliged to charge ourselves with frivolity, if we l r >se sight of the aim and jewel of our heavenly calling — yea, are in a condition of entire forgetfulness of it. (2) To reform the congregation when it has fallen away to the world is impossible without a faithfully preserved and unfalsified word of God, which is their heavenly archetype; or rather ever holds before them anew the eternal norm, according to which they are to be fashioned. Even in Jerusalem, even in the most immediate vicinity of the temple, the congregation, when they neglected and forgot the law of God, might fall into a condition in which a reformation was pressingly necessary. And even in the distance, even in Babylon, Ezra, because he was a true student of the Scripture, might be called to be the reformer. Vers. 11-26. (1) The congregation in the Dia- spora hail, properly speaking, for the present the great task of awakening in the heathen world — even in heathen princes, in some way a presen- timent that true knowledge of God and piety above all were with them, and thereby to beget in t he deeper spirits a receptivity as well for the worship of the true God as for the observation of His law. The decree of Artaxerxes, the good- will of the heathen king towards Jerusalem in general, might be an evidence of the important fact that the Diaspora actually fulfilled this allowed task. Thus there is involved therein the prophecy that they were to render this prepara- tory ami mediatorial service for the first, time to its proper extent in the Messianic times. This Becond edict of Artaxerxes was in distinction from the first (chap, iv.), at any rate, an evidence that he was only prejudiced against the supposed political efforts of the Jews, that he had no ob- jection to their worship of the true God, to their existence as a religious congregation; that on the contrary it caused him joy if the worship of God in Jerusalem was promoted in a suitable manner. (2) Notwithstanding the commands of Artax- erxes respecting what should be done for the improvement of the worship of Jerusalem were 80 minute, he did not allow himself in the least degree to prescribe that which concerned the in- ternal affairs, which were regulated by the word of God. He exercised only the so-called jus circa sacra, and we find this in him, the heathen prince, from good motives. Manifestly, since there is no longer any theocracy, all princes likewise should be thus discreet For the inter- nal affairs there are higher laws and authorities, in which an earthly authority can never inter- fere without punishment. Vers. 27-28. The Lord*s praise expressed by Ezra is a thanksgiving that the Lord, by turning the heart of the king and his counsellors, had enabled him to make the journey to Jerusalem. We may, however, find still something more therein. After all he likewise expressed, if only mediately, his joy that the grace of God had suc- ceeded in making Buch an impression upon the head of the world-monarchy at that time ai the congregation, according to its highest task, was to make, — a joy which was well calculated to mark an era in the history of the congregation liviug in the Diaspora. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Vers. 1-10. God's care over His congregation. 1) He awakens teachers (if it be necessary, even reformers) and other persons of importance to the divine worship. He wins also the hearts of the rulers, upon whose good-will the success of the teacher is conditioned. — Starke: It is not enough to build houses and temples of stone, but we must have living instruments, that is, teach- ers and preachers. Preachers must first of all exhibit in their own life ami consecration that which they preach to others of practical truth, as necessary and possible, 1 Cur. ix. 27; 1 Tim. iv. 12, 16. — No one should be presumptuous in any thing ; he will then be sure of his calling, and it will give great comfort in all kinds of opposing circumstances. — Magistrates should also contri- bute their part to the building of churches and Bchools, and, above all. act with benevolence, be-- cause they can best do so; otherwise the heathen will put them to shame in that day. It is a sign of the great grace of God towards a people when He inclines the heart of their rulers to take suit- able care that pious teachers be given to them. It is very easy for God to fill His people with blessings, for the earth is His, and the fulne-s thereof (Ps. xxiv. 1; 1 Chron. xxx. 12), and He has much more to give away than He has already given. 2) He protects and preserves His instru- ments in the way that they must go ere they can labor with the congregation. 3) He gives in their hearts the impulse and calling to do, as well as to teach His will.— The holy longing for Je- CHAP. VIII. 1-30. rusalem: 1) it urges us out of Babylon to Jeru- salem, and wins for us the hearts of such as will sustain us; 2) it provides us with fellow-pil- grims; 3) it causes the journey to succeed. Vers. 11-26 are to be treated in essentially the same way as the decree of Darius in chap. vi. Vers. 27-2S. The best grounds for thanksgiving to God: 1) God has made the authorities of earth serviceable for the glorifying of His house and name; 2) He has placed His called ones in the position of being active in the enlargement and strengthening of His congregation. — Starke: It is a noble gift of God, if we have a magistrate who is devoted to the true religion. — The ser- vants of God, it is true, must submit to receive unthankfulness and disfavor for all of their faithfulness from mankind in general and great lords in particular ; but if the contrary should be the case, they should recognize the fact with all the more thankfulness. [Henry: Moses in Egypt, Ezra in Babylon, and both in captivity, were wonderfully fitted for emi- nent service to the church. — Would we secure our peace and prosperity, let us take care that the cause of God be not starved. — If any good ap- pear to be in our own hearts, or in the hearts of others, we must own it was God that put it there, and bless Him for it. — Wordsworth: Even Ar- taxerxes, a heathen king, is conscious and pro- claims his persuasiou, that the neglect of God and His service brings down God's anger on a na- tion.— Tr.] B.— EZRA'S OWN DOCUMENTARY REPORT. Chap. VIII. 1-36. I. Respecting his Companions. Vers. 1-14. These are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king. Of the sons of Phinehas; Gershom: of the sons of Ithamar; Daniel: of the sons of David; Hat- tush. Of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Pharosh ; Zeehariah : and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males a hundred and fifty. Of the sons of Pa- hath-moab; Elihoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males. Of the sons of Shechaniah; the son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males. Of the sons also of Adin ; Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males. And of the sons of Elam ; Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, aud with him seventy males. And of the sons of Shephatiah : Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him fourscore males. Of the sons of Joab ; Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males. And of the sons of Shelomith ; the son of Josi- 11 phiah, aud with him a hundred and threescore males. And of the sous of Bebai; 12 Zeehariah the son of Bebai, and with him twenty and eight males. And of the sons of Azgad: Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him a hundred and ten males. And of the. last sons of Adouikam, whose names are these, EHphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them threescore males. Of the sons also of Bigvai ; Uthai, and Zabbud, and with them seventy males. 9 in 13 14 15 II. Respecting a Rendering of this Band Complete. Vers. 15-20. And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the people, aud the priests, and found 16 there none of the sons of L?vi. Then sent I f>r Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan. and for Nathan, and for Zeeha- riah, and for Meshullam, chief men; al*o for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, men ot 17 understanding. And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinim, at. the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for 18 the house of our God. And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Lsvi, the son of Israel ; 19 and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen; And Hashabiah, and with 80 THE BOOK OF EZRA. 20 him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty; Also of the Ncthinim, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim : all of them were expressed by name. III. Respecting the Preparation for the Journey, the Journey and Arrival in Jerusalem. Vers. 21-36. 21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict our- selves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, 22 and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that 23 seek him ; but his power and his wrath is against all thtm that forsake him. So we 24 fasted and besought our God for this : and he was entreated of us. Then I sepa- rated t velve of the chief of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiih, and ten of their 25 brethren with them, And weighed unto them the silver, and the gold, and tbe ves- sels, even the offering of the house of our God, which the king, ami his counsellors, 26 and his lords, and all Israel there present, had offered: I even weighed uuto their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels a hundred talents, 27 and of gold a hundred talents; Also twenty basins of gold, of a thousand drams; 28 and two vessels of fine copper, precious as gold. And I said unto them, Ye are holy unto the Lord ; the vessels are holy also ; and the silver and the gold are a 29 freewill offering unto the Lord God of your fathers. Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them before the chief of the priests and the Levite=, and chief of the 30 fathers of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the Lord. So took the priests and the Levites the weight of the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, 31 to bring them to Jerusalem unto the house of our God. Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, 32 and of such as lay in wait by the way. And we came to Jerusalem, and abode 33 there three days. Now on the fourth day was the silver and the gold and the ves- sels weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest ; and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas ; and with them was Joza- 34 bad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah th'B son of Binnui, L°vites; By number and 35 by weight of everyone: and all the weight was written at that time. Also the children of those that had been carried away, which were come out of the captivity, offered burnt-offerings unto the God of Israel, twelve bu'locks for all Israel, ninety and s'x rams, seventy and s-ven lambs, twelve he goats for a sin-offering ; all this 36 was a burnt-offering unto the Lord. And they delivered the kind's commissions unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors on this side the river: and they furthered the people, and the house of God. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Vers. 1-14. The register of those heads of families who went up to Jerusalem with Ezra is here inserted as a second important document. It originated from Ezra himself, as the use of the first person in ver. 1 shows; it is the foun- dation on which his narrative of his journey and activity in Jerusalem rests. It is distin- guished from the register in chap. ii. by giving not only the names of the families to which those returning belonged, but also the heads themselves of those households who returned. It is as if they became gradually more and more conscious that the existence of the Jewish con- gregation no longer depended upon nationality, but the free resolution of individuals, that the individual accordingly, that especially the de- riding heads of households had an entirely dif- ferent significance from ever before, and that this their significance might he exhibited by their express mention by name in the sacred history. That the names of families here al- most exclusively, yea, if we accept the very natural emendation in vers. 3, 5, 10, are with- out exception the same as those that occurred already in chap, ii., is explained simply from the fact that of the families which returned with Zernbbahel, households had still remained be- hind in Babylon, which now with Ezra followed their relatives; and that, this very relationship might have been decisive for the resolution to go up with Ezra. It is worthy of note that in this emigration just, twelve families were repre- sented. In connection with the importance then ascribed to the number twelve (comp. chap. ii. 1 sq. ; vi. 17; yiii. 35) Bertheau finds it proha- ble that Ezra's company was to be a representa- tion of the congregation of Israel in its totality. — In Esdras vi ii. ^8-40 are found some other deviations, which now perhaps are worthy of CHAP. VIII. 1-86. 81 consideration. As regards the sum total of those who returned with Ezra, it amounted to one thousand four hundred and ninety-six men and fifteen heads according to the Massoretic text: but according to Esdraa one thousand six hundred and ninety men and thirteen head-* without counting the priests and Bona of David, whose number is not given, aud iu comparison with the number of the rest was perhaps but small, since Zerubbabel had already led back with him a relatively large number of priests and sous of David. In the numerical signs cor- ruption might easily creep in, aud we must leave it undecided, which statements are more correct. Ver. 1. These are now the heads of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them that went up. — DrVTTJX 'U/JO = 0iTrCN~iV2 "SMOj nut only here but usually, house of their fathers=their household. The head of the house of their fathcr=the head of the household. In a household, however, the sons are often again fathers, without their form- ing on this account households of their own. Thus often many fathers belong to the house- hold, and under a common head of the house- hold. Thus the head of the father's houses can easily be head of fathers. The suffix of DiTfUN refers without doubt to the totality, that is, to the children of Israel. K'nTin is first " record itself;" then the "register of families" is, how- ever, sometimes used for the family itself. It is here added, because the name of the heads of households is to be followed by the name of the family to which they belonged. Ver. 2. Here are first mentioned two heads of households of two priestly families; of the family of Phineas, who was a son of Eleazar, thus a grandson of Aaron, Gerson ; p.nd of the family of Ithamar, who was Aaron's younger son (comp. 1 Chron. xxx. and xxix.), Daniel; whether the latter is identical with the one mentioned in Neh. x. 7 is uncertain. Both are to be regarded as accompanied by their house- holds ; for iu ver. 21 Ezra is able to select from the priests who went up with him, twelve to take care of the presents. Then follows a head of a household of the family of David, without doubt the king David, namely, Hattush, possi- bly to bo identified with Hattush, the son of Hashaniah (Xeh. iii. 10), but to be distinguished from the priest Hattush, Neh.x. 5; xii. 2. It is questionable, however, whether he is not more closely defined by the first words of ver. 3. Ver. 3. Of the sons of Shechaniah, of the sons of Pharosh. — The twice-repeated '33"p following one another and unconnected is striking. The Sept. has supplied an "and" before the second, so that it designates at. once two families as such to which the head of house- hold next following belongs. But this is cer- tainly only to improve the text which was at that time just the same as ours. Esdras, on the other hand, has Aadovx mv Zc-£fw<5u. since it ren- ders the ii'lDn of ver. 2 by Aofloir, attached 7TJ3E' 'J30 of verse 3 as a much closer defi- nition, and besides read the singular 13 for 'J3?. It is very probable that there has been a corruption of the text in this passage, and the conjecture that Esdras makes recommends itself all the more that D'lUH in 1 Chron. iii. 22 is adduced as a son of Shemaiah, and therewith also is a grandson of Shechaniah [so Rawlinson. — Tr.] Accordingly we have lefi in ver. 3 only the family of Pharosh, as such, to which Zccha- riah with his household belonged. Tho next clause we may translate: And with him be- longed genealogically one hundred and fifty men, since t?n*nn is taken as preterit., aud the singular is explained from the fact that it precedes the verb. fcTViin might, however, be a noun, so that the sense would be: aud with a family, D'~On = of men. Ver. 5. Of the sons of Shechaniah the son of Jahaziel. — It is singular that the sou of Jahaziel is not mentioned by name. The Sept, has iiCtv Srztfffyc Sfi^f««flc fodc 'AC/,-'., and Esdras viii. 32 essentially the same. Zail6i/c seems to be the same as NlfiT, Ezra ii. 8. Thus the Sept. and Esdras seem to have read NinT*J33, so that it is to be translated : of the children of Zattu, Shechaniah, the son of Jahaziel [so Raw- linson. — Tr.] Ver. 9. Here the sons of Joab arc treated as a particular family, whilst iu chap. ii. 6 they are counted with the sons of Jeshua as of the family of Pahath-Moab. Probably only a few of them belonged to those who returned under Zerubbabel, so that they were then not counted with that family with which they were nearest related, although the number of the children of Pahath Moab, in consequence of this, became rather large. Ver. 10. Here the Masoretic text has: of the sons of Shelomith the son of Josiphiah — It is the sauie as in ver. 5, according to the Sept. and Esdras, and we are to read: Of the suns of Bani (comp. Ezra ii. 10) Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah [so Rawlinson. — Tit.]. Ver. 13. And of the last sons of Adoni- kam, whose names are these. Eliphelet, etc. — It is strange that a common head of a household should be mentioned first. Keil sup- poses that the sons of Adonikam, here referred to, because they did not constitute a proper father's house, are embraced logether with the sons of Adonikam, who returned under Zerub- babel, and distinguished from the latter as D'P'inN. But all the new comers here men- tioned would have united with their fellow- memhers of the same families who already dwelt in Judah from the time of Zerubbabel. Besides the reference to those who previously returned is so entirely without support that D'jpnx cannot well be explained from it. Perhaps the meaning is: not a first-born of the first liue. who as such would have been head of the father's house, but only a later born, none of whom had the dignity of a head of a father's house, but only that of subordinate heads of families. Ac- cordingly only lesser divisions of that father's house went up with Ezra. Thus would CJ^nN be explained from the same circumstance from which the name of a common head of a house- 82 THE BOOK OP EZRA. hold fails. It is true we must tben suppose that D'JtnN had gained such a general seose in itself that it had become a technical term for those later born. Ver. 14. Instead of one head of the sons of Bigvai, two are mentioned, Uthai and Zabbud, yet not as later born eons, but as it seems as real heads of father's houses. The author of Esdras viii. 40 has ov&i 6 tov 'iGTa^Kovpov, so that it might be asked, whether the two names are not to be reduced to one. Vers. 15-20. Above all Ezra was anxious to gain for the emigration some persons capable of ministering in the worship. Ver. 15 is pro- bably to be translated: I gathered them to- gether to the river, that runneth to Ahava, not that floweth into the Ahava. Ahava is probably the name of a place or region, after which the river there flowing was named; in ver. 21 it occurs briefly as N171X "I71J, and in T ~: - T T ver. 31 N1HN "I71J, which is either: the river of Ahava ; or also after the analogy of the 1713 7113, the river Ahava. Where we are to seek t : the river and region is not. known; probably, however, in the vicinity of Babylon; probably it is a tributary or canal of the Euphrates, ac- cording to Ewald, Gesch. IV., S. 154, perhaps the Pallacopas, in favor of which is certainly the name (N171N J 73), and indeed the more northern, which lay more in a direction towards Canaan.* — And I viewed the people — Re- specting the lengthened form by the addition of the 71, nrpxi here and nnWiO in ver. 16, comp. Ew T ald7? 232, g [Green,'| 99, 3.— Tit.]. Ver. 16. The Sept. translates: And I sent to or for Elieser, etc. [so A. V.]. This might mean in connection with ver. 17: I sent thither in order to have him come and use him as a messenger to Iddo. We may, however, take the 7 in this later usage of the language with the Vulg. and many interpreters without hesitation, as nota accus., according to 2 Chron. xvii. 7, where it is used in this very way with XrlV, thus: I sent Elieser, etc. The first named mes- sengers were D't^NT, probably heads of little communities; the remaining two D'J'30, that is, teachers, Neh. viii. 7, 9 ; 1 Chron. xv. 22; xxviii. 8, etc. Keil takes it in a more general sense, judicious, prudent; but this is opposed by its connection with D'tytO and the circum- stance that Ezra would have sent men who could make an impression in accordance with their entire position. According to ver. 15 these men did not belong to the Levites, who usually car- ried on the office of instruction, comp. 1 Chron. xv. 22; xxviii. 8, etc. But scholarship in the Scriptures might have gradually become more * [Rawlinson: "In the right direction and at about the right distance are found a river and a town bearing tho same name, called by the early Greeks U. {Herod. [. 179), and i.y the later "An t hi, I.' rims., p. 6), by the Babylonians themselves Ibi, and here appun-ntlv Aha- va. The modern name of tne place is Hit Itis&mous for its bitumen BpriBRS, and is situated on the Euphrates al a distance <>r about eighty miles from Babylon towards the northwest." — Tr.J widely diffused, especially in B ibylon. It is possible, also, that they were priests. In chap. x. 15, 18-31, many of the names here mentioned recur again ; but probably different persons were meant there. Ver. 17. And I sent them -with com- mandment; thus the Qeri. According to tho Kethib, whether now the 1 in 71XV1X1 be cenu- T * T " ine, or first added by the Masoretes, it is to be understood: I had them go forth, tfX'171 "H;;-Sj; unto Iddo. — 7j£, according to later usage is for _ 7X. What kind of a head or chief Iddo was, what society he was of, whether merely reli- gious, or also learned, why Ezra did not above all seek to influence Iddo himself to the return to Palestine: all this we must leave undeter- mined — At the place Casiphia. — We know not, as a matter of course, how we are to take the clause Dip'Sn ^3D33. The Sept. and Es- dras have not regarded N'^M as a proper name. The former has k v dpyvpiu tov t6~ov, and the latter makes Iddo the head of the treasury without doubt in Babylon. It is probable, if it be a place, it is one in the vicinity of Babylon and Ahava.— To his brethren, etc.— D'JinJTl vnx : - ■ t J which thus gives no sense, should probably be : to his brothers (the Levites) and to the Nethi- nim, namely, besides to himself, I ordered them to go; not. to his brothers, the Nethinim [as A. V.] J for that Iddo himself was one of the Nethinim is improbable from his honorable position; that they, moreover, should be desig- nated as his brethren without any natural relationship would be against all analogy. — To bring us ministers for the house of our God. — Those arc especially meant who, when they had performed the service in the house of God at the feasts, should be able besides to in- struct the people in the law. Ver. 18. And they brought us. — (jPTl is written with dagesh in N as Gen. xliii. 10, as also 1N\2Jli Lev. xxiii. 17, as then 71 n and J? sometimes occur with dagesh, "quorum omnium ratio nota est in Arcanis Cabbalie^ R. Mose bar Nachman in Comm. upon Jezir l'ol. 61. — Under the gracious help of God (T, as vii. C), and through the influence of Iddo, they gained forty Levites and two hundred and twenty Nethinim. First of all the 7J*i^ !2?"X (that this is a proper name is shown by the 1 before the following names), a descendant of Mahli, the grandson of Levi 4 Ex. vi. 16, 19; 1 Chron. vi. 4), then Sherebiah, who again occurs in ver. 24 and Neh. viii. 7; ix. 4; also x. 13; xii. 24; then in ver. 19 Hashabiah, who likewise is again mentioned in ver. 24; Neh. x. 12; xii. 24, and finally Jeshaiah, who does not again meet us in Ezra or Neh.; in ver. 20 the Nethinim, who had been appointed already by Jeshua (comp. note on ii. 43 sq.), then more definitely as it is here alone mentioned, hy David and the princes, that is, the high officials, to perform the heavier work for the Levites. The last words of ver. 20 CHAP. VIII. 1-86. 8:1 mean* according to 1 Chron. xii. 31 ; (hey were all expressed by name (particularly), namely, for the going up with Ezra. Vers. 21-30 The final preparation for the departure; at first the arrangement of the feast. The fasting had the purpose of imploring from God a way straight or level, free from hindrance, thus a prosperous journey. As an evidence of a penitent self-humiliation, it contributed to gain the favor of Him who, since He is throned on high, can only dwell among the lowly (Is. lvii. 15), so already Judges xx. 26; 1 Sain. vii. 6; Joel i. 14; 1 Chron. xx. 3. Ver. 22. To implore the help of God, hid a spe- cial impulse in the circumstance that Ezra and In < companions had expressed a trust in God before Artaxerxes which they would not have confirmed if they had not especially relied upon God ; if they had been willing to claim earthly means of pro- tection. To show this trust in God was cer- taiuly important, because Artaxerxes' respeot for the Jewish religion might he best strength- ened in this very way. They acknowledged that the hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him; but His power and 'wrath is against all them that for- sake Him. -We might expect the words: forevil; but II is strength and His wrath=IIispowerof op- posing, ia sufficiently clear; it is as if the pre- vious clause were: His goodness and favor are over, etc. ; so that the words "for good" might have been left out. Ver. 23. We fasted and besought our God. — This should be followed by J1XI, and not flNr"7i'. J1Nt~7.j; seems to refer back to ver. 22 in the sense of therefore. Yet it is at least questionable whether it may not after the verb of asking, likewise introduce the object, comp. nX'rSj/ with SSsnn (Ps. xxxii. 6), and indeed notwithstanding the [3 before IJ'rPN. — And He let Himself be entreated for us. — This is at once manifest in the successful pro- gress of the journey. Ver. 24 sq. The appointment of guardians of the treasures. — And I separated twelve of the princes of the priests. — Instead of i be- fore n'31'C/, we are to read 1 with Esdras viii. T; .... . 64; for Sherebiah, etc., did not belong to the priests, but to the Levites. In addition, there- tore, to the twelve princes of the priests, there were accordingly twelve Levites, as those to whom Ezra weighed the treasure and gave it iu charge. Ver. 25. And I weighed, etc. — PlSlptyXI is written with 1 after p because the Sheva of p was meant to be heard, and indeed as Chateph Kametz, and it is probahle that this form is to have the same vocalization in the next verse, as then J. H. Mich, found it to be so in many MSS. The other view that it was to be spoken with Chateph Patach was held because the \ was lack- ing after p, as likewise in Jer. xxxii. 9. The * (Rawlinson in torn: "The writer seems to mean that he had before him a li-T of the two hundred and twenty, though he Hid not think it necessary that tie 6houkl insert it." — Ta.l silver and gold were a heave-offering, HS^ri that is, a present to the house of God, that Iho king and his counsellors had set apart, comp. vii. 15, 1G, 19. D'">D iu connection with HO'tit ... T . means: to take off from the other possessions something, in order to consecrate it to God. The article before 'D'ln represents the relative pronoun as 1 Chron. xxvi. 28; xxix. 17; 2 Chron. xxix. 06, etc. ; comp. Ew. 381, b. — D'Xi'OSD (with kametz under X instead of sheen . T . . - \ on account of pause, comp. Esther i. 5). These are those who were happened upon or met. Vers. 26, 27. What Ezra weighed, DT" 1 ?;', in ° TT " their hands, as i. 8. With respect to the talents comp. vii. 22 ; the darics, ii. 69 ; the covered cups, i. 10. Finally there were two copper vessels of ex- cellent polish. 3ni'p cannot very well be part. Hophal ; in connection with J"IDnO, it would just as well as the following n31U have the fern, form. It seems to be a noun formed like pV-l*D, nop, 'lVP (Is. viii. 8, 23) with the meaning of polish. 3DY occurs Lev. xiii. SO, 32 of bleached hair, become somewhat fox-like by leprosy; the root, 3ni', is, however, certainly connected with 3HI, Arab, sahaba, and the other roots iu Hi and Tli, whose meaning extends to : to be bright. ni"N3n is properly a noun=loveli- nesses, comp. fYlUDn '73, 2 Chron. xx. 25. Ver. 28. The sacredness of the guardians as such, especially of the treasures entrusted to them as a heave-offering to the Lord is empha- sized by Ezra, in order to make them right watchful with reference to them until they shall have delivered them up. Ver. 29. POEOn is ace. of direction, but not stat. constr. as the article shows. The riiD'Jl are, because almost exclusively the temple- chambers, sufficiently definite of themselves. mrP. iV3 is in apposition with the foregoing. Vers. 31-30. The journey and arrival in Je- rusalem. — Ver. 31. They began their journey from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month. The interval from the first had been occupied by that which is narrated in vers. 16-30. Tue statement in ver. 15 that they bad encamped only three days on the river of Ahava is probably not to be understood as if they after three days had again broken up (Berth.), but indicates either the point of time when that which is mentioned in ver. 15 sq. occurred (comp. v. 32), namely, when Ezra observed t lie lack of Levites (Keil) ; or it means to say that after three days they had gone some- what further on their way, but without leaving the river Ahava, towards a region where they could unite with those coming from Casiphiah, from thence then entering upon their journey proper. Ver. 32. When then they had come to Jerusa- lem, according to chap. vii. 9, on the first day of the fifth month, then after a lapse of three and a half months, they remained there three days, that is, rested, until they understood something further, just as Nehemiah in chap. ii. 84 THE BOOK OF EZR\. 11, whilst without doubt they already made preparation for the delivery of (he treasures. Ver. 33. Now on the fourth day they weighed out the treasures in the hand (ver. 26) of the priest Meremoth ben Uriah, whom we find again Neh. iii. 4, 21, and probably also Neh. xii. 3, and Eleazar ben Phinehas, who is not further mentioued, and two Levites, Jozabad ben Jeshua, who may be identical with the one mentioned in chap x. 23, and Noadiah ben Bin- nui, whose family is mentioned likewise in Neh. x. 10; xii. 8. Ver. 34. By number and weight of every one, that is, as it was for each and every num- ber and weight. The weight was written then at that time, as Neh. iv. 16, in a public docu- ment, so that the correct preservation might be confirmed. Ver. 35. In order now to secure for them- selves a good reception with the Lord, they offered above all burnt-offerings, whereby they rendered homage to Him, dedicated themselves to Him (comp. notes upon iii. 3), and indeed for all Israel, in their name and as their represen- tatives, conscious indeed that they had value before God only as a part of this whole, or rather as in union with entire Israel. They offered twelve bullocks (comp. vi. 17), besides ninety-six rams (ninety-six as intensification of twelve) and seventy-seven lambs (seventy-seven as intensification of seven, the number seven expressing the covenant-relation), as a founda- tion of the burnt-offering, however, twelve he- goats for a sin-offering, because only the recon- ciled can do homage to the Lord in a proper manner and worthily dedicate themselves to Him. Ver. 36. In order now to put themselves in a good relation with the sat raps and governor in AbarNa- hara, they delivered to them the decree of the king. The satraps. D'JiPTiynX, Persian (accord- ing to the inscription of Behistun), khshatrapava, from khthatrapavan, from which the noun in the Hebrew expression of the word is explained, prop. =land-protector* (comp. Esth. iii. 12; viii. 9 ; Dan. iii. 2), come into consideration as military officers, alongside of the governors, fiiins, as the presidents of the civil government. — And they furthered, etc. — These closing words are certainly to be referred to those Persian mag- nates, to whom indeed this supporting was com- manded by the royal edict, vii. 20-24. NHJ as i. 4. The Perfect IXi^J with 1 simply continues the narrative as *73p! in ver. 30. THOUGHTS UPON THE HISTORY OP REDEMPTION. Vers. 1-14. !?o long as God was obliged to dwell in a particular temple, in the midst of His congregation, yet separated from them, mediato- * TRawlinson in loro: "The word is derived from Ihy.hutra, "crown," and pal., "to protect," the active Sirt. of which would ho pana. It is evident that the ehrew term represents the older form of the word, and represents it. pretty closely. There is a prosthetic Aleph, as in adarknn and Ahasiierus, and the tr of the Persian becomes in the Ilelirew dr ; but otherwise the letters are correctly rendered." Rawlinson refers the satrap to the chief ruler of the Persian provinces, from which the governors (pachavoth), rulers of smaller dis- tricts, are distinguished.— Tu.J rial persons were still necessary, namely, priests, and a worship of sacrifices ; Jerusalem must still remain the proper place of worship, ;ind Judah he the holy laud as no other land could be. And the congregation in the dispersion must regard it as their sacred duty, over and over again to put themselves in relation to the temple and Jerusalem, and send thither whole bands, in whom the longing for the land of their fathers awoke, to the enlargement of the principal con- gregation, or yet at least little embassies (comp. Zech. vi. 9), to enliven the communion with it, so likewise to take part, when opportunity offered, either in person, or at least through representa- tives, in the offering of sacrifice in the legitimate place of sacrifices. This common relation to the one centre and hearthstone of their religious life, constituted a bond, which held the people together in spite of every scattering and spread- ing out, yes, cultivated the feeling of a grand unity; and even if this bond was only an exter- nal one, it yet was all the more important, the weaker the internal bond was in the times of the law and the letter of the law. Christendom is united by the internal bond of one common faith and the most comprehensive love. Would then that this may never prove internally weaker! Would that in spite of all distances aud separa- tions, all might remain ever truly and vitally con- scious of this, that they may constitute more than the people of the old covenant one only great union the body of the Lord! What can be more exalt- ing and strengthening than this consciousness that we do not stand alone, do not struggle alone, do not suffer alone, do not rejoice alone, but that the Lord has in every land a people, a great and united people? Vers. 15-20. The relation to the God of Revela- tion who would be conceived, not according to common notions or ideas, but according to His historical manifestation of Himself, and on the ground of the acts of redemption wrought by Him, would be honored according to the regula- tions given by Himself, — begets by internal ne- cessity the need of instruction and training. It cannot be maintained in any other way than by the parents' making known to their children, and the learned to the unlearned, the Provi- dences and Histories through which the true God has come near to the understanding, and that trained aud suitable persons should cultivate the divine service in a proper man- ner. The idea, that religious knowledge, so far as it is necessary or desirable, makes its appearance in every man of itself, lias no place except in thesphereof natural religion, and iscon- nected, if it has become more general in our day, with a falling away from the religion of revela- tion to the religion of nature. It thus had its good ground that Ezra would not go up to Jerusalem and enter upon the work of elevation of the con- gregation at that place, without having gained above all a sufficient number of persons for his emigration, who might stand at his side, as in- structors and helpers in the worship of God. Aud for those who would cherish the true religion, it should ever be a chief care to attract suitable teachers and ministers to the church, whilst now, sad to see, it Beems as if it were thought that, at any rate, they could be dispensed with. CHAP. VIII. 1-36. 83 Vers. 21-30. Already in Is. lii. 11 the encou- ragement: depart, ill part, go ye out from [hence, is connected with the admonition, be ye clean, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord. Ezra might even, without this, have felt himself called upon to prepare himself and those whoaccompanied him by fasting; that is, by self-humiliation, for the journey to Jerusalem. But since he carried with him vessels and treasure designed for the house of the Lord, and in so far sacred ; in other words, since his journey ministered not to ordinary, but sacred purposes, by which properly all who took part received a higher significance, purification and sanctification by true and genuine fasting, were an especially indispensable prerequisite. No one oan essentially further the cause and ho- nor of God in a free and conscious manner with- out previously doing what fasting signifies— namely, chastising, yea, overcoming his soul — that is, his old man. He who has accomplished this will then have a keener feeling also for the particular obligation imposed upon him by his calling or his task, especially for the sacred duty conscientiously to watch that that which has been intrusted to us of blessings or gifts shall be truly serviceable for the higher ends for which they were given to us. He will under- stand the connection between the two when Ezra says: at first, be ye holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, — so watch and take care, etc. Vers. 31-36. Men like Ezra, who know that they are instruments in the hand of the Lord, and indeed for the accomplishment of a high mission, may reckon with the confidence of heroes on especial divine protection and support in the midst of all the dangers threatening them: " And although all the devils would withstand us," etc. What, however, is secured to them in this respect by God cannot be for them a mo- tive for giving themselves over to a false secu- rity, but only become an impulse for them to make use of all that is entrusted to them, with all the more conscientiousness for the accom- plishment of its purposes. At the same time they would be very careful, like Ezra, when he ordered the weight of the gifts brought by him to be written down, of securing the'r good name against any wicked slanders that so easily are raised against them. That, the returned exiles so soon offered sacrifice to the Lord, and indeed burnt-offerings, with the sin-offorings belonging to them, expresses, moreover, the knowledge that the mere offering of external gifts, however great they might be, amounted to nothing; that an internal gift, namely, that of the heart, by internal worship, must be added, yea, that it alone, if it be of the true kind, g'.ves worth to all the rest. When the returned exiles laid claim ti pro- tection anil support on the part of the magis- tracy through tlie handing over the decree of the king'to his officers, they subordinated them- selves to them thereby at the same time. As they thus through their sacrifice gave to God what be- longed to God, so through the decree of Artnx- erx'S they gave to the state what the state might expect. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Vers. 15-20. The importance of teachers and other officials in the congregation. 1) Ezra, although there were priests enough in Jerusa- lem, felt, the absence of Levites and other per- sons of lower rank, who there might care for the divine service, and aUo instruct the people. 2) He seeks to procure them before ho under- takes anyihing further. 3) He gains them through the experienced help of God. — Starke: That Ezra seeks to supply the lack of Levites, and sends so far for them, shows his zeal for the house of God, and indicates how much we should mike of wis-? ministers of God, should it ever be necessary to bring them from afar. We need also frequently such persons as may fill ihe lower offices more pressingly than others who sit in exalted stations; and we must have more village-pastors than doctors of theology and superintendents. He who is of a sincere and unmvious disposition in the ministerial office will not always be alone, but can very well endure, yea, desires and assists, that more la- borers and colleagues may be procured along- side of him, Num. xi. 29; Matt, ix 37. Vers. 21-30. Respecting the tru» preparation for the most important journey. 1 ) By fasting or overcoming one's self; 2) By watchfulness with respect to the blessings and gifts that serve to glorify the divine name ; 3) By conscientious execution of the higher duties. — Starke: Al- though Christians are not bound to any particu- lar time of fasting, yet they should ever lead a temperate and moderate life, in order that they may be the more qualified for prayer. 1 Peter iv. 8. — Observe this, ye travellers: Divine pro- tection sought by humble prayer is your safest escort. — God is the be-t guide (Ps. xci. 11); though we walk in the dark valley, we need not fear, Ps. xxiii.4. If after I he offering of prayer our enterprise goes successsfully on, we ought not to think that it hns been without dangers, but con- fidently believe that our prayer has been heard. Vers. 31-36. The pilgrims to Zion. 1) Their journey (istowards Jerusalem underGod's espe- cial protection); 2) their blessings and gifts 'be- long to the house and congregation of the Lord) ; ?.) their aim (to offer to the Lord, and indeed, above all themselves, recognizing the authorities of the world). Brentius: Sunt auteni (Chiis- tium), sanctificari in bapti>mo perfidem in Christum. I'nd'. port are debrnt sancta vasa, qum sunt sancta opera. Credere in Christum, sanctum opus est. [Henry: All our concerns about ours-loes, our families, our estates, 'tis our Wisdom and Duty by l'rayer to commit them to God anil leave the care of them with Him. Our prayers must always be seconded with endeavors. — 'Tis a greit ease to one's mind to be discharged from a trust ; and a great, honor to one's name to be able to make it appear that it hath been faithfully discharged. — Wordsworth: It appears from the narrative that Ezra's God was good, his treasurers faith- ful, and his companions devout; and that the royal governors furthered his work. Such were the salutary effects, of prayer and fasting. — Tr.] 86 THE BOOK OF EZRA. SECOND SECTION. The Chief Fault of the Time and its Removal. Chaps. IX.— X. A.— THE CHIEF FAULT OF THE TIME AND EZRA'S PENITENTIAL PRAYER. Chap. IX. 1-15. I. The Chief Fault of the Time, and Ezra' s Sorrow for It. Vers. 1-4. I Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyp- 2 tians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons : so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands : yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this tres- 3 pass. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and 4 plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. II. Ezra's Penitential Prayer. Vers. 5-15. 5 And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, an 1 spread out my hands unto the 6 Lord my God, And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is 7 grown up unto the heavens. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, 8 and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give 9 us a little reviving in our bondage. For we were bondmen ; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair 10 the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy cornmand- II men ts, Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another 12 with their uncleanness. Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever : that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an 13 inheritance to your children for ever. And after all that is come to pass upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our Go>l hast pun- ished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this; 14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us 1 11 thou hadst consumed 15 us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping? O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous ; for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day : behold, we are before thee in our trespasses; for we caunot stand before thee because of this. CHAP. IX. 1-15. 87 EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Vers. 1-4. To a positive strengthening of the life in accordance with the law belonged without doubt a long preparatory activity on the part of Ezra. It could not be accomplished by merely external arrangements or contrivances. Rather it was necessary that Ezra should bring about an internal change, excite a holy zeal for the law, as we see it break forth in fact at a later pe- riod (Neh. viii. — %.), and thus above all deepen and render more general the knowledge of the law. But already, at the outset, he had to un- dertake a negative improvement, the removal of a bad state of affairs that threatened their fu- ture. It was again the question as previously in the time of Zeruhbabel, respecting their relation to the heathen, which was involved in their pre- sent political relations, especially their union with heathen under the same government. If, however, the problem in the time of Zerubbabel had been merely to ward off those who would unite with the congregation on the plea of a com- mon worship of Jehovah, now the question was with reference to the exclusion of those with ■whom union had been established, notwithstand- ing difference of religion. Ver. 1. And after the completion of these things, etc. — flivS is infin. nomin. = com- pletion. nSs is neuter, referring to the things mentioned in chap. viii. 33-36. This statement of time is somewhat indefinite — yet we are not to suppose that the length of time of the things here narrated was very long after chap. viii. The delivery of the gifts brought with them oc- curred on the fourth day after Ezra's arrival ; thus, on the fourth or fifth day of the fifth month (comp. chap. viii. 32 and chap. vii. 9); the bring- ing of the offerings, moreover, chap. viii. 35, without doubt soon followed, and so also the de- livery of the royal decree to the officials (viii. 36); "the support on the part of the latter may be very well mentioned in chap. viii. 36 prolep- tically, or is to be understood of their promise. If a longer time had elapsed between Ezra's arri- val in Jerusalem and chap, ix., it would not have been necessary for the princes of the congrega- tion to have first made complaint respecting the evil circumstances in question, but Ezra would have observed them himself. Accordingly by the ninth month, — on the twentieth day of which, according to chap. x. 9, the first assembly of the people was held respecting the affair here coming into question, — is meant without doubt the ninth of the first year that Ezra passed in Jerusalem. — The princes came to me — D'T^L 1 ( wl,n the article) are not the princes as a whole — for according to ver. 2 many of them participated in the guilt, and these would not have given infor- mation of themselves, — but the princes in dis- tinction from the people. The princes distin- guish as such who have not separated themselves, that is, kept themselves separate from the people of the land, three classes, that occur elsewhere, also along side of one another: the people of Israel — that is, the common people (7N"C' is in apposition to D^'H, comp. Jos. viii. 33; 1 Kings xvi. 21); — the priests and Levites — oomp. e. g. chap. ii. 7(1. — The people of the lands are the edvif. and indeed, first of all, those in the vicinity, comp. chap. vi. 21. For the most part there were, without doubt, remnants of the an- cient tribes of Canaan, whose abominations, ac- cording to the subsequent narrative, were pecu- liar to them; but probably during the exile other heathen races also had emigrated into the depo- pulated Palestine. Ezra and the princes thus, when they required a separation from all these heathen, — that is, excluded an intermarriage with them, — exceeded the letter of the law. which only prohibited intermarriage with the Canaan- ites (Ex. xxxiv. 16; Deut. vii. 3), — but not be- cause a certain Pharisaism had already made it- self felt among them (0. v. Gerlach in his Bible- work), but because it was absolutely necessary now if the congregation was to be preserved from sinking down into heathenism. The heathen dwelling in close vicinity to them, and not being separated in political affairs, the mixed marriages now threatened, if not positively forbidden, to become disproportionately numerous, whilst in former times they could never have been more than exceptional. And besides, these heathen were now essentially the same as the ancient Ca- naanites. — According to their abomina- tions. — This briefly = as their abominations re- quired. 'V337 does not then begin the enume- ration of the races in question — which is against not only the accentuation which separates this clause so strongly from the nations, but also the position of the word, for the clause "according to their abominations " would not then have in- tervened, but should have followed the enume- ration; and besides also the 7 before "Ji'33 — which would have scarcely an analogy in its fa- vor. Rather \yy3j, "belonging to the Canaan- Res;" briefly=as they were peculiar to the Ca- naauites, the Hittites, etc. The abominations are designated by this clause as the ancient ones, condemned by the prophets, and especially by Moses, long before; and all the various names of nations are mentioned because the abomina- tions had been so many and so different among the different races. It was not the purpose to give a complete statement, else the Hivites (comp. Ex. iii. 8; xiii. 5; xxiii. 23) and also the Gir- gashitea (comp. Deut. vii. 1) would also have been mentioned. Ver. 2. For they have taken of their daughters, etc. — namely, wives, comp. chap. x. ii; 2 Chron. xi. 21, etc. The object D'y'J is in this connection, to a certain extent, to oe un- derstood of itself. — And have mingled them- selves as the holy seed with the people of the land. — This has properly the same sub- ject ns the foregoing. The following EHpH V2\ is to be placed in apposition with the subject, a* it seems; that is to say, although they are a new and holy seed, or shoot, which, after the old tree had fallen by the severe judgments of God, was to grow up into anewitnd better tree. Since the expression "holy seed" does not occur again elsewhere, it is not doubtful but that there is 83 THE BOOK OF EZRA. here a reference back to Isa. vi. 13. That at least the better part of the people had not yet by any means forgotten the ancient prophets, but preserved them at the present time to strengthen their faith, follows already from Haggai and Zechariah, where the Messianic promise, on the basis of the more ancient prophecy, yet again brought forth the richest flowers. — Yea, the hand of the princes — rulers hath been chief in this trespass. — In this unfaithful- ness the princes had been leaders with their bad example, assuming thereby the responsibility, comp. Deut. xiii. 10. 7£"3, properly unfaithful- ness (comp. Lev. v. 15) is spoken of, in bo far as they bad abandoned the blessing of the purity of Israel and periled thereby the higher bless- ings connected therewith. Q'JJO = command- o ■ T : ers, chiefs, is a word passing over from the an- cient Persian into the Hebrew, comp. Is. xli. 25. Ver. 3. Ezra could not but express the deepest pain at this information, as well as the greatest displeasure, and indeed with the warmth of Ori- ental manners; none the less that there must be applied a remedy, only to be carried out with difficulty, and occasioning much sorrow. He expressed his grief by rending (tearing) his un- der and over-garment (comp. Lev. x. 6 and Josh. vii. 6), his displeasure and anger by plucking out the hair of the head and beard (a part of it ), comp. Neh. xiii. 25; that is to say, he hurt him- self and disfigured his appearance (comp. Isa. 1. 6); if he had only been sad, he would have shaved hia head, Job i. 20. In this condition he then sat down staring, D^tf in Piel expresses the being stiff and dull (hence also the being waste), comp. Isa. Hi. 14. Ver. 4. Ezra's behaviour produced a profound impression upon those who feared God's word; because of the unfaithfulness of nVun, the people of God living in captivity Ezra continued his behaviour herein even when they assembled themselves unto him. According to chap. x. 3 we are not to explain: all who trembled at the word of God on account of the unfaithfulness, etc.; although "Pn may be connected with lj!_ (Is. lxvi. 2, where 1$, indeed=7X, in the sense of trembling towards, comp. Is. lxvi. 5), but: all who allowed themselves to be frightened by God's words, which referred to the unfaithful- ness. God is here called the God of Israel because He had in the words in question called for the purity and dignity of Israel. Vers. 5-15. At the time of the evening sacri- fice, however, he arose from his mortification — IV39P, humiliation, mortification, which had consisted in giving way to sorrow, but had cer- tain ly likewisB been connected with fasting, and indeed accompanied with the rending of his over or under-garmrnt ; that is to say, in that he still continued or repeated the rending — in order now to spread out his hands to God as those who pray usually did (1 Kings viii., etc.), publicly uttering a penitential prayer. Ver. G. This penitential prayer would empha- size throughout what great reasons the congrega- tion had of bewaring of the sins in question. He renders prominent in ver. 6 how great guilt they already had upon them without this, and adds in ver. 7 that sin has been the cause of all the mis- fortune and misery of Israel. He calls to mind in ver. 9 that God's grace had preserved only just such a remnant, but by no means had con- stituted a situation in which they could dispense with Him. He confesses iu vers. 10-12 that God had expressly forbidden the sins now indulged iu, and had made nothing less thin the strengtli of the congregation, yea. the very possession of the land, conditional upon their obedience to his command. He then in vers. 13 and 14 raises i he painful and sad question, and draws the in- ference whether, if after so many chastisements, and after such an exhibition of favor, they should again be guilty of such a transgression of the di- vine command, whether God would not then really become angry unto their entire destruc- tion. He concludes in ver. 15 with the repenting confession that the Lord is righteous, that the congregation, however, cannot stand before H>m. Ezra now prays expressly for forgiveness, as we . might expect : he ventures not, he is ashamed, as he himself says, to lift up his face to the Lord. But such a penitential prayer and confession of sin is already in itself a pleading for grace ; yea, works more powerfully indeed than a petition expressedly uttered. And, at any rate, it is, just as it is, very well calculated, at the same time, to bring the people to the lively consciousness of the perverseness of their sin. Ver. 6. I am ashamed and blush. — Bfia and DjZlJ are joined together for emphasis, as in Jer. xxxi. 19, etc. — For our iniquities are in- creased over our head. — Occasioned by the transgression under consideration ; all sins and transgressions whatever come to the remem- brance of Ezra. He who already has so many sins upon him should take very particular care lest a new one should be added, especially when one has already been brought into such deep mi- sery by the previous ones. O"^ from 7131 has the same meaning as usually IS 1 } from 33" 1 - i"P,J'07 = upwards, passes over easily in our au- thor to the adverbial sense of " very abundant- ly" (comp. 1 Chron. xxix. 3), even with T\2~\ (comp. 1 Chron. xxiii. 17), but here in connec- tion with tyiO retains its meaning as a preposi- tion = beyond. The iniquities are regarded as a flood in which man soon perishes [comp. Pa. xxxviii. 4, and the general use of water to indi- cate great troubles] [our trespasses — unto the heaven — comp. 2 Chron. xxviii. 9; thus the mercy of God is compared in extent with the heavens, ri'rf. Ps. xxxvi. 5; lvii. 10, etc. — Tr .]. Ver. 7. And for our iniquities we have been delivered into the hands of the kings of the lands to the sword, etc. — To translate, with Bertheau, through the sword, is remote from the sense, and is not suited to thn following "into captivity." The shame is called that of the face because it especially worka upon the face, as Dan. ix. 7. — As this day, namely, teaches or shows; 3 in connection with HIH Dl'H is not= about or on, biU has a comparative CHAP. IX. 1-15. 89 force, as also in Jer. xliv. 6; xxii. 23; 1 Sum. xxii. 8. The present teacbes the here asserted delivering over, in so far as the congregation was still a ilVu. conip. ver. 4. Vers. 8, 9. Tt is true, the Lord has again al- lowed His grace to work after His anger, but not so that He could be dispensed with ; only through Him has the congregation protection and continuance. — And now a little mo- ment (conip. Isa. xxvi. 20) hath been grace from the Lord our God — namely, during the time from Cyrus to the present, which seems short in comparison with the long time of the previous chastisement, especially since the latter had begun already with the Assyrians (comp. chap. vi. 22 and Neh. ix. 32), and had properly been continued even to the time of Cyrus. Ezra would not so much praise the greatness of the divine grace, as if his thought had been that transgression ought to hive been avoided out of thankfulness (for then he would have expressed himself in an entirely different manner), but he would say that the congregation, whatever it might be, was only through grace ; and back of this lies the thought that with it they would for- feit their one and all. — To leave us a rem- nant and to give us a peg in his holy- place. — uS = us, "the people as a whole," in distinction from which the nt0'*73 isthecongre- T " : gation of the returned exiles. The peg, "1JV, is to be regarded as one driven into the wall, on which domestic utensils of any kind were hung, comp. Is. xxii. 23 sq.* Hence we cannot under- stand thereby, either with Bertheau, the congre- gation itself (to make us a peg = a congregation of a reliable stock), or, with Keil, the temple, which is opposed by the words, "in the holy place;'' rather "to give any one a peg in a house" (here in the temple, in the holy place) means to give him a part and right in the house, accept him as a coinhabitant in the house. It comes into consideration that God is often re- garded as a Householder, and His people, in a similar manner, often as His family, who dwell with Him in His house (comp. Psalms xv. 1; xxiii. 6; xxvii. 4, etc.). We have an example in Isaiah I vi. 5: I will give them hand and name in my house, where the T ex- plained in so many different ways may be simply activity or right to be active, in general to stir one's self. — That our God might lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. — The infins. Vxri7 and 'OnnS are subordinated to the foregoing infinitive? = that. he thereby. The subject M'tTttt appears in an independent position, as especially Isa. v. 24 ; comp. Ewald, \ 307, c, because the object 'J'J'^had preceded and intervened between it and the infin. "The eyes enlighten" means to remove the night of trouble and weakness res' ing upon them, which was, according to that which follows, already in- deed a night of death, and indeed by reviving, that * [Rawlinson in loco think? of the tent pin, which is driven into the earth to make the tent firm and secure, Is. xxii. 23. 25.— Te.] is, by bestowing salvation, strength, encourage- ment, comp. Ps. xiii. 4 ; Prov. xxix. 13, especially also 1 Sam. 14, 27, 29. — il'DO — preservation of T : • life, or as here, reviving (comp. 2 Chron. xiv. 12), is used here for the adjective "revived," whilst in ver. 9 it retains its abstract meaning. D£3 is added, without close connection, as Neh. ii, 12; vii. 4. The idea at the basis is, that national ruin is a death of the congregation, anil that the re-establishme.it is an awakening from the dead. This re-estnblishment was a very incomplete ono so long as the dependence on the powers of the world still endured, and the congregation must still be called nVuH- The reference to the pro- phecies of the prophets is here unmistakable. As the expression "holy seed," already in ver. 2, so also " leave a remant," and the expression " peg," remind us very decidedly of Isaiah, comp. chaps, i. 9; xxii. 23 sq.; lvi. 5; the ex- pression "revival "looks back upon Ezek. xxxvii. 1-14, where the figure on which it is based is carried out with great vividness and power. We see that the pious Israelites subsequent to the exile, Ezra before all, attentively took to heart the ancient prophecies of chastisements, and that which should follow them, in order to apply them without doubt to their own times. Ver. 9. And hath extended mercy unto us before the kings of Persia, to give us revival. — The subject of the "giving" is not the Persian kings (Berth., Keil), which is opposed by the previous vorse, and also by the fact itself; but God alone, whose it is alone to slay and make alive. It is not necessary, on this account, to make God the subject of the clause: to set up the house of our God, and erect its ruins. This infin. may be subordinated to the foregoing, so that the Jews become the subject = that we, etc. The subject of the last infin. to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem, is surely again God, and not one of the Persian kings (Berth, and Keil). The expression "give a wall" leads of itself more to God, for it is na- turally to be understood figuratively, and indeed not of the temple, but in the more general sense of the protection which was afforded the con- gregation in Judah and Jerusalem against their oppressors, comp. Zech. ii. 6. Vers. 10-12. The transgression here spoken of cannot be excused at all, with the plea, that it was not expressly forbidden — And now, what shall we say ? — for we have forsaken thy commandments, — not: that we have forsaken (Berth, and Keil), which would be weak. Ezra means: I may thus ask, for, etc. Ver. 11 may be translated: thou who, or also, which thou hast commanded by thy ser- vants, the prophets — Ezra does not mention Moses in particular, but the prophets in general, not because the commands of the Pentateuch were not mediated or written down by Mo-es alone, but also by other organs, as Delitzs h in his introduction to Genesis supposes; — whether Ezra knew this, is at least very doubtful, — but h cause his thought is that God by His prophets has given or again enforced the commandments in manifold and oft-repeated wnys. comp. Judg. iii. 6; 1 Kings xi. 2. When a truth is under '. I THE BOOK OF EZRA. consideration, which is not represented by one p.ophet, but more or less by all, then it is usual to cite in general, as the author of the book of Kings also does. Moses is meant at any rate, yea chiefly. And this explains the fact that Ezra states the command, not it is true verbally from a passage in the Pentateuch, butyet formularized in a manner only appropriate to the Mosaic period, when they still had to take possession of Canaan. He has in mind before all Deut. vii. 1—3, as there also the entire manner of expression is undeniably that of Deuteronomy, but he draws into consideration, in a free manner, other pas- sages, and indeed even from Leviticus, comp. especially Lev. xviii. 24 sq. P11, the abomina- ble, for which in Lev. only HNOI3 and jVUi'W T '• \ occur, is used in the Pentateuch ot the impurity of the issues of blood in women, only subse- quently by the prophets of other impurities like- wise, especially also of ethical impurities (comp. 1 Sara. i. 17; Ezek. vii. 20; xxxvi. 17). It is preferred to its synonyms as an especially strong expression. n3~7S< i"l3"p, does not mean, cer- tainly: from side to side (Keil), or from one end to another (Berth., A. V.); for neither the one nor the other meaning has been proved, or ety- mologically established for PS- Iu Isa. xix. 7 it is either the mouth, or the bed of the Nile (later i i distinction from the bank, as the PI30). H3 T T is easily the equivalent of person, from person to person, is, however = on or in all persons, =lhroughout and everywhere. Comp. 713? 713, 2 Kings x. 21; xxi. 16. It is worthy of atten- tion, of course, that this method of expression only occurs of objects which hold men, of land, huuse and city, or of men themselves. Ver. 12. Nor seek their peace nor their ■wealth forever.-These words are from Dt. xxiii. 7, where this is said with reference to the Moab- ites and Ammonites. It almost seems as if Ezra would have justified from the very letter of the law by this citation, his extension of the prohibition of intermarriage to the Moabites and \mmonites. The clause, that ye may be strong, reminds in of Deuteron. xi. 8; the next clause, and eat the good of the land, of Isa. i. 19; the last clause, however: and possess it, or take possession of it for your children for ever, which does not occur in the Pentateuch in this form, rests on the promise that is often re- p-atcd, especially in Deuteronomy, that in case of obedience they would live long in the land that the Lord gave them. t?'^in means here not give into possession (Berth., Keil), for then it must govern the double accusative (comp. Judg. xi. 31; 2 Chron. xx. 11), but "take into posses- ion, possess." For the children, posterity, that is, permanently. Vers. 13, 14. Thus there can be no question but. that the new transgression is to be decidedly condemned. This follows, as well from the pun- ishmeut for previous sins, as from the way of pardon. — And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass. — The article before N3 properly repre- sents the relative, as viii. 25; x. 14, 17; for SO cannot well be a participle; as such it would be in the plural. The continuation of this clause does Dot occur already in the second half of the ver. (Berth.); in this case the following y 3 would have to be taken in the sense of, in truth (after all, in truth hast Thou, our God, spared us), then ver. 14 would be in too little connection ; it would not appear that two kinds of things, that as well punishment as forgiveness formed the foundation of ver. 14. Rather the second half of the verse verifies the thought, which is in- volved in the first, that the guilt was very great, and that, it properly would have deserved still severer punishment, and thus entirely prepares the way for ver. 14. Its sense is, at any rate, that the punishment has been less than the trans- gression. The words might mean: For thou, our God, hast restrained a part of our sins from below, so that they (namely, through theirco'jsequences,thevisitations of pun- ishment) have not gone entirely over our head, have not utterly ruined us; for there is no objec- tion totakingOJU'O partitively. Already Esdras has thus : i novC/icac rdc d/japviac ij/iCiv. In favor of this view is the fact that in this way i"lt3:37 would come into contrast with n L U>'D v 7 in ver. 6, in which it is also found elsewhere, Jer. xxxi. 37. At all events, however, wo may likewise ex- plain : Thou hast restrained Thine anger or Thy punishment below the measure of our misdeeds, so that the punishment has not been as great as our misdeeds deserved (so J. H. Mich., Gesen., and Keil). Htflp?, indeed, is nowhere else found with [O, but perhaps only for the reason that it nowhere else is followed by a noun of closer de- finition, p follows, at least, the corresponding FnJJul, 1 Chron. xxix. 3; the synonymous finnip has usually 7 after it. Ver. 14. Then should we again break thy commandments, and unite ourselves in marriage with, etc. — This question appeals to the general sentiment, and serves to emphasize very strongly the blamableness of the new trans- gression. — Wouldst thou not be angry with us, even to destruction? — • n73-"l,J?, as 2 Kings xiii. 17, 19. Ver. 15. Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous. — This concluding and confirming confession would not say: Thou art a severe judge, and must interfere against the congrega- tion on account of its decline (Bertheau aud Keil). The usual meaning of p"!S (graciously righteous), is against this, and tlion also the fol- lowing clause, "for we have remained over as an escaped remnant," which is not = we have remained over merely as escaped, but: we have not been utterly ruined. Rather Ezra would say, that no one can reproach God for not doing all that coul 1 be expected. — Behold, we are before thee in our trespasses, etc. — This, the second half of the verse, constitutes a very suitable and logically conclusive antithe- sis to the foregoing. The more blameless God is the more deserving of punishment Israel's CHAP. IX. 1-lu. 91 guilt. Theyodh lnU'£DE?K3 is found in the edi- tion of R. Norzi and J. ii. Mich.; but is missing in some MSS., and the pointing corresponds with the latter. Both methods of writing might in this case easily go on alongside of one another; the singular would be favored by ver. 18, but the plural corresponds with the full-toned style of Ezra. — [We cannot stand before thee, e.g., as thy holy people, who are privileged to stand before their king. — Tr,.] — Because of this. J1XT~ 7J£ = with this new evil deed. THOUGHTS UPON THE HISTORY OF REDEMPTION. Vers. 1-3. 1. If we act upon the supposition that the sacred Scriptures, even the Old Testament already, are to give us warning, exhortation, and instruction with reference to every situation and question of church, civil, ordomestiolife, yea, that the Old Testament very particularly comes into consideration for the details of life it is natural that we should find in the opposition that Ezra makes in chapters ix. and x. to intermarriage wilh the heathen, a warning or exhortation with reference to intermarriage with those of a differ- ent faith from our own. And in fact that which may be urged against such an application, e. g., that as Christiana we rejoice in a greater liberty than the Jews; that mixed marriages have not been forbidden of themselves and under all cir- cumstances, that the Christian church is never threatened with as great dangers as the Jewish congregation in the time of Ezra, that besides the piety of the Christian has a mightier protec- tion and help than the religion of the Old Testa- ment pious — all this is outweighed by the op- posing facts. The wife is now on a greater equa- lity with the husband than in ancient times, has a greater influence upon the man himself, as well as in the training of the children, may thus easily become more dangerous. B-sides Christianity is much more internal and deep than Old Testa- ment piety, more influential upon the heart and disposition upon all sides, and hence comes much more into consideration with reference to the married life, that rests upon internal communion. It is true there is very seldom in the mixed mar- riages of our times a ques ion respecting the dif- ference of religion; usually it is only respecting a difference in the confession of faith, or a dif- ferent degree of vitality of Christian religious- ness — and to place marriages of this kind on the same basis as those intermarriages with the heathen would be premature, yea unfair. Hea- thendom stood in an essential and indeed very positive contrast to Judaism. The different Christian confessions, on the other hand, have the essent tal things in common with one another. And between those which are distinguished merely by the degree of the vitality of their Chris- tian religiousness, there is often no positive con- trast at all; the less vital Christianity may be awakened and strengthened, especially if treated with love. But we must always recognise and lake to heart, with reference to Ezra and his behaviour, the fact, that in the conclusion and conduction of a marriage those considerations which have respect to the interests of religion are more important than all others, and there- fore a difference of confession, which threatens not to promote but diminish religious ardor, accordiug to the nature of the case, which besides constantly disturbs or of itself renders impos- sible the internal living together in the highest and holiest spheres, which then likewise has so much that is unendurable with reference to the training of children, and involves so many diffi- culties; that likewise in the same manner, a lack of any religious faith, that places itself in open conflict with Christianity, that more earnestly eonsidered, is to be regarded as a positively dif- ferent religion, or wanders into scornfulness and frivolity, — these ought to be real hinderances to marriage for all Christians. As regards the lack of faith, of the kind here referred to, which manifestly must be placed on the same footing at least with heathenism, the apostle did not allow (1 Cor. vii. 12, 13) that a Christian brother should marry an unbelieving wife, or the reverse, but only that he should retain her if he once had her. That abrother should marry an unbelieving (heathen) wife, he seems not to have regarded as at nil possible. With reference to marriage with an unbeliever, we are to take to heart what he says in the subsequent context (ver. 1G), What knowest thou, wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband, or what knowest thou, man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? 2. The question how the congregation was to net. towards others of a different faith, was now to be answered for the second time. It is not easy, with reference to this matter, to do exactly the right thing; for Christians, who more deci- dedly have the task of winning others for their faith, thus in no way should shut themselves off from them, it is still less easy than for the Israel- ites. But since all depends upon imparting to the others the best that we have, it follows that we must draw back, when this is impossible, espe- cially if we incur the danger of losing this best thing ourselves. Under all circumstances it is self-evident that we should only cherish such an association as we can ever withdraw from if ne- cessary. 3. No error is so conspicuous in the new con- f-rcgation as that of intermarriage with the heathen. Not only Fzra but Nehetniah had still to contend with it (Neh. x. 31; xiii. 23 sq.), and as the princes, so indeed had the sons of the high-priests taken part in it (comp. chap. x. 18). Without doubt there was a reason in the circum- stances themselves. Usually new tasks are im- posed as well upon the congregation as a whole, as also upon the individuals in the new relations. A new end is to be attained, and the difficulty of striving after this in the right manner often in- volves the temptation of approaching it in a filse way. The task of the new congregation was to ass'ime such a relation to the neighboring nations from whom they were no longer separated by political boundaries, as that they might ever be in the position in the fulness of time for ful- filling their missionary calling with reference to them. Accordingly the history itself urged onwards to a sort of approximation. Notwith- standing this, however, the institution of false relations, which could only render the accom- plishment of their mission impossible, had no excuse. 92 THE BOOK OF EZRA. 4. Having lost their political independence, aad reduced to a small number, the congregation, even their leaders or princes might have come upon the thought that it was not only allowable, but indeed was advisable, to euter inlo closer relations with the heathen, who now were sepa- rated from them by so very little. They might have hoped that their people, on the basis of such a connection, might exercise a good influ- ence with reference to religion and morals, and in consequence of this the congregation would gain the desirable increase; yet this error would not have been possible, if they had had the true singleness of heart towards the divine command. By the lack of this singleness, those who ought to have been to the rest of the congregation guides to good, became guides to evil. Ezra on his part, who did not lack this singUuess, re- cognised in these very circumstances, with which the princes might justify the transgression under consideration, grounds for just the contrary, for a still more careful separation from the heathen. In fact, just because the congregation were without the protection of a political independ- ence, because moreover they had become weak and despised on account of their small numbers, there was scarcely a doubt that the heathen, in- stead of allowing themselves to be influenced by the Israelites, would have become the influential factor for them, and they would have jeopardized the very existence of the congregation itself. 5. In a similar manner, as after other great judgments, as, for example, after the deluge, it became manifest after the exile likewise that the delivered, however excellent they proved to be at first, were unable to constitute a really new beginning, which should be pure and sinless, but ever only a continuation of the ancient sinful existence; that there was now no more sinless development, that rather sin breaks forth in new forms in the new relations which have been established by the judging and preserving provi- dence of God, so that it needs ever anew a holy reaction against it on the part of the Lord. Nevertheless, of course, the judging and pre- serving acts of the Lord are not in vain. The congregation advances through them forwards, if not to a pure, yet to a better development, and their course, even if it is never that of a con- queror who has entirely overcome his hereditary enemy, is yet that of a victorious warrior, who at least beholds the complete victory and its noble prize at the end of his course. Nevertheless, the circumstance that among the princes many recog- nised the wrong as such, ami sought to remove it with the help of Ezra, is a proof that the Lord at this time had provided a number of a bettor element, who already not only constituted a start- ing-point for His reaction, but also themselves began to react out of their own midst. Vers. 5-15. 1. Before Ezra did anything else he expressed his sorrow for the failure of the con- gregation from the word of God, and indeed par- ticularly by a penitential prayer, in which he included himself most devoutly within the con- gregation which had transgressed. The first thing with which to begin a true reformation will ever be (he feeling of penitence, and in accord- ance with this a penitential prayer, which issues from the deepest conviction that we are involved in the sinfulness of the congregation, and which has to share in the fear of the threatening judg- ments, which, however, none the less manifests the sharpest contrast to the sin in question. Such a penitential prayer, especially if it is con- nected with an humble recognition of the justice of the judgment that is feared, already has also the significance of a prayer fur forgiveness, help, and preservation, just as the praise of the Lord as the God who hears prayer, affords redemption and salvation, at the beginning of those very Psalms, that are prayed out of deep need, and run out into a petition for redemption and sal- vation, is itself already a mighty petition, which in spite of every necessity joyfully praising God, is able without doubt to most powerfully move His paternal heart. 2. Ezra's prayer very suitably unites various things, which must fill us with holy abhor- rence of fresh transgressions after redemption; he reminds us at first of the fact that we are deeply involved in Bin from our fathers, we might say, already by nature, and thus can not be too much on our guard against it, and at the same time, that it is our sins that have brought about the misery in which we all more or less live; so then that God has given us grace which certainly ap- pears exceedingly great over against our sins and unworthiness, so that it must fill us with thank- fulness and urge us to sanctification, which, however, over against the necessities of earth, is a small beginning of better things, easily lost again; furthermore, that the sin, that we might perchance be guilty of, is against God's express command, and can never be justified; that God's visitation of punishment, if we are not warned by His punishment or by His grace unto holiness, must necessarily become greater and more se- rious. These truths will have a preserving and improving power for the congregation of all times. HOMILETICAL. AND PRACTICAL. Vers. 1, 2. We have the duty of keeping afar off from others. 1) When? If we can exercise no improving influence, but have to fear lest we be ruined with them. 2) Why? because we have to preserve great blessings for ourselves and others. 3) How? with renunciation of temporal advantages, especially with self-denial. — The im- portance of a correct choice in marriage: 1) the injury that is done by a bad choice; it is not only temporal, but eternal; 2) the gain that we have in a good choice. —Starke: Marriage with an unbelieving woman is very dangerous, for she can convert a man easier than the man can con- vert her, 1 Kings x. 4. — What other injuries un- equal marriage may accomplish, vid. 2 Chron. xviii. 1. — The importance of true family life for the furtherance of church life: 1) Church life is a matter of the free resolution, which must be correctly guided by proper training; 2) church life is conditioned upon learning its advantages, as this is possible, first of all, only in the bosom of the family. Vers. 5-15. The fundamental principles of true reformatory activity: 1) True simplicity of heart, — we must not allow ourselves to be led astray by the temptations that are often involved CHAP. X. 1-44. 93 with sufficient strength in the relations given by God Himself; we must rather gladly and without reserve bow to the divine word; 2) true sor- row for the present transgressions, however diffi- cult they may be to remove, they must yet be recoguized seriously in their true character; 8) true fear of the divine judgment — it is a bitter, hut indispensable medicine for the de- structive wanderings from duly. — BkINTIUs: Eiprimitur affectus pietatis, qui in unoquoque debet geri erga prozimum sttum. videlicet quod u/tusnaiah. All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children. CHAP. X. 1-44. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. Vers. 1—8. This chapter from beginning to end treats of the great results attending the peniteu- tial prayer of Ezra in the congregation. Ver. 1. Now when Ezra had prayed, etc. — Ezra's prayer is properly designated as a con- fessing, nninn, comp. notes on ix. 16. /3jnp means : prostrating one's self, lying on the knees, comp. Ix. 1. — Before the house of God, — else- where also "before the face of God," in the court of the temple. That a great crowd ga- thered together unto him had its reason in the fact that the people wept very much, that is, for sorrow over the evil circumstances into which so many had plunged themselves, and especially were deeply moved with him also in view of the sins by which they had done it, and accordingly also de- sired assistance. i"D3, which form only occurs here, depends upon its verb, although it is sepa- rated from it by the adverb !"l3"in in the man- ner of an infin. abs. Ver. 2. And Shechaniah answered, etc. — That Ezra himself did not step forth with a definite demand, that he waited until one of the congregation should make a proposition, did not have its reason in the fact that his position did not entitle him to make such a demand, but in the circumstance that the reformation could only be of worth and thoroughly carried out when it came forth from the congregation itself. She- chaniah here, the son of Jehiel, is to be distin- guished from Shechaniah, the son of Jahaziel, in chap. viii. .3. And Jehiel, his father, is probably not identical with the one mentioned in ver. 26. Were it so, Shechaniah would not have scrupled to make a proposition by which his own father would be compelled to dismiss his wife. The sons of Elam, to whom he belonged, occur in ii. 7; viii. 7, and again in ver. 26. He was, and this is significant, no priest, nor prince, but one of the congregation, so that in and with him the congregation itself promptly arose to vindicate the law. 3'tyiD, cause to dwell, is in our chap- ter (comp. vers. 10, 14, 17, 18), and so also in Neh. xiii. 23, 27, used for the taking home of wives. Shechaniah confesses: We have acted unfaithfully towards the Lord in taking home foreign women (comp. ver. 10 and Neh. xiii. 27), in order to justify Ezra for his strong condemna- tion of this intermarriage. At the same time he retains hope, nXT~7£ = at this transgression (comp. ix. 15), or rather in spite of it. !$_ in itself sensu medio, may readily have the meaning of "in spite of," comp. Is liii. 9; Job xvi. 17. nipD is here = iTipR Shechaniah is of the opinion that a removal of the evil is still possi- ble, and perhaps he already recognized also the fact that the resolution to carry out this difficult thing might give the impulse to a general refor- mation. Ver. 3. Now therefore let us make a co- venant with our God — that is, we will obli- gate ourselves by a solemn covenant a id a sworn vow to God (comp. 2 Chron. xxix. 10) to put away. — N'iOn is here the opposite of 3'^liT — all the wives — namely, as a matter of cour-\ all foreign ones — and such as are born of them — ilso to send away the children. This resolution might almost seem to be unnecessarily severe, yet it is a matter of question whether it would not have been harder still to separate the mothers from their children. The little ones still needed their mothers, aud the larger ones might easily be a Bupport for their mothers. Moreover, it was to be feared that the children, if they were retained, would constitute a bond between the men and their banished wives that would soon again reassert its power and render possible the return of the wives We are by no means to conclude from vers. 11—19 that they contented themselves with reference to this pro- position, with the removal of their wives. Comp. against this view ver. 44 and Neh. xiii. 23 sq. Moreover, however, that which Shechaniah here in his zeal bo comprehensively proposes might yet not be so recognized and required, wiih- out exception. There was no sufficient ground for removing sons who were willing to live in accordance with the law, and who were not ne- cessarily to be cast out on account of the mother. — According to the counsel of the Lord and of those that tremble at the command- ment of our Lord. — That the Lor ! and those who tremble at His command should be brought together in this way is almost remarkable. The Sept. and Esdras, and afli-r them also De Wette and Bertheau, read accordingly "J^X, my Lord, which would be Ezra [so A.V. and R:\wlinson.]* But Ezra had not yet given any counsel at all, and besides, it is hardly conceivable that Siie- chaniah should here speak to him in such a re- verent tone, and then in the verses immediately following so familiarly and oheeringly. Already the Vulgate has juxta vnluntatem domini, and ac- cording to De Rossi, quite a numher of MSS. read even TVUV. The connection of the two ex- T pressions, which is in itself somewhat remarka- ble, would probably say: according to the coun- sel of the Lord, as it is understood and vindicated by those who tremble at II i s commandments. Entirely parallel is Acts xv. 28: -'for it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us." The nXJj/ of the Lord is often elsewhere His decree (comp. Is. v. 19; xix. 17; Ps. cvi. 13); here, however, according to the context, the counsel, which lie gives, as Ps.cvii. 11 ; Prov. i. 25; 2 Kings xvii. 13. Thus mildly Shechaniah expresses himself, however, because a specific command to dismiss the wives, and likewise also their children, was not found in the law, and moreover also partly because the law, in bo far as it yet gave an im- pulse thereto, had a counselling, that is, a pre- cautionary significance with the good of the con- gregation in view. The clause Hu >". «"l^irO is not to be taken in an optative sense [A.V.] — which would be weak — but as a promise: it pliall happen according >o the law. The fourth verse, moreover, passes over from the tone of comfut c * [Rawlinson in toco: "This expression shmv^ i'i ■ position which Ezra occupied as the commissioner of the Persian king. His- ooun ■! does not appearto have been expressly given tint nii.M be gathered from the general tone of his prayer." — i'a.j y« THhi 1100k OF EZRA. to that of promise. — Arise, for upon thee is the matter. — This can only mean : upon ihee the matter lias to depend ; tliou must carry it out according to iby judgment and conviction. — And we with thee. — This means in accord- ance with the foregoing. And we will be with thee, will help thee. Vers. 6-8. Now Ezra made use of the favorable sentiment : he made the princes, etc., to swear to do run T313, that is, to carry out the pro- TT-' ' " , position of Shechaniah, then however continued his sorrow, and thereby deepened the zeal that had been excited, until he saw the beginning of the execution of the reform. — Ezra arose from before the house of God, that is, he left the place in the court, where he had prayed, and went into the chamber of Johauan. the son of Eliashib, in order to fast and mourn there. This cell was certainly in the wing that the new temple had gained, and which Bervcd for the preservation of the garments of the priests and other articles, but likewise for the provisional abode of the priests and Levites; ac- cording to Neb. xiii. 4-9 the high-priest Elia- shib had erected a cell for the use of the Ammo- nite Tobia, as his relative, which he used in his frequent visits to Jerusalem. The names of Johanan and Eliashib frequently occur (comp. vers. 24, 27, 36), one of (he twenty-four classes of priests had its name from a more ancient Eli- ashib, 1 Chron. xxiv. 12. But that, an apartment or cell of the temple should be named after a subordinate man of the name of Johanan, as Ewald supposes (Gesch. IV., S. 263), is impos- sible. It is very likely that we are to think of the later high-priest Johanan, and indeed the more so that he was not, it is true, as the one under consideration, a son, but a grandson of Eliashib. The order of high-priests from the time of Zerubbabel was as follows: Jeshua, Joi- akim, Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, Jaddua, comp. Neh. xii. 10 sq., where it is true Jonathan stands in place of Jaddua; where however, according to Neh. xii. 22, 23, Johanan is meant. In the time of Ezra, Joiakim or Eliashib was high-priest. We must probably suppose that the author used a later designation for the previous times as one more intelligible to his readers. The apart- ment might have been present already in the time of Ezra, which subsequently, perhaps in consequence of a re-building, was named after the high-priest Johanan. The second :fT1 is a needless repetition, and cannot bo at all com- pared with the twice-repeate 1 Up'\ in verses 6 and 6, which at any rate each time receives a special definileness by an additional clause, (against Keil).* WV is beside", at any rate very seldom used in the sense of "thither," as it must be taken to be in connection with }Vl The sup- position of Cler. and Berth, that we are to read instead of it P", and he passed the night or re- mained there, commends itself very much to our judgment. Already Esdras ix. 1 lias: mi at- 'AwtteXc knit, the Syriac : and he sat or remained * | It may he as in the A. V.. the protasis of a temporal clause, as " When he came thither." — Ta.] there; the Sept. however: nai £Topci>i9i? hh — Eat no bread nor drink water is to last. Comp. Ex. xxxiv. 28 ; Deut. ix. 9. Ver. 7. Thus they, namely, the princes and elders, who according to ver. 8 took the matter in hand — made proclamation. — 71p "TJJM as i. 1, — and indeed probably whilst Ezra was still fasting and mourning, thus immediately after Ezra's penitential prayer and Shechaniah's pro- position — that all the members of the congrega- tion should assemble unto Jerusalem Ver. 8. According to the counsel or re- solution of the princes and the elders, etc. — n^J73 belongs to the following clause— the ban should fall upon every one's substance who should not come in after three days* to Jerusa- lem, his possessions were to be forfeited for the benefit of the templef (Lev. xxvii. 28 and Neh. xii. 28), and he himself however should be at once cast forth from the congregation. Vers. 9-17. The assembling took place on the twentieth day of the ninth month, namely, in the same year which Ezra had arrived in Jerusalem, (comp. chap. ix. 1), and indeed in the square (3im) of the house of God, probably on the east or south east side of the temple court, yet not before the water gate. Comp. notes on Neh. viii. 1. If already the affairs themselves, which naturally had not remained concealed from them, were calculated to excite them to the utmost, and depress them, the stormy weather that had set in made their situation utterly miserable. In December it is not only cold, but the rain is ac- customed to fall in torrents. Comp. Robinson's Phy. Geog., p. 287. Vers. 10, 11. When Ezra now held up before them their error and called upon them to give praise unto the Lord, that is, honor Him indeed by the separation from the people of the land, above all from the foreign wives — illifl [HJ as Josh. vii. 19 — then the entire assembly (ver. 12) announced with a loud voice, accordingly unreservedly resolved — THi np (the same as Vl-U VlpS iii. 12) is a closer designation, which is oo-ordinated to the subject or the so-called ace. instrum., Gesen., S. 138, Amu. 3, comp. Ps. iii. 5, etc. — according as thy words to us we must do. — Already the Vulgate iu accord- ance with the accents, connects T7j; with the foregoing (juxta iuum verbum ad nos, sic fiat) ; we may however in accordance with ver. 4, Neh. xiii. 13; 2 Sam. xviii. 11, likewise connect JJ'Sy with what follows, so that the sense is: thuB we are in duty bound to do. Vers. 13, 14. However, it could not be estab- lished in this way, namely, by a general decla- ration, whether many of the guilty would not be *[Rawlinson in loco. '"The brevity of this term indi- cates the narrowness of the area over which the re- turned Israelites were spread." — Tr.] ■HRawlinson in loco: "The Persians allowed gene- rally to the conquered nations that they should be go- verned by their own laws. In the present case Ezra had had special permission to appoint magistrates and judges who should judge the people according to the law of his God (vii. 26) and could enforce his views of the law not only by confiscation of goods, but even by death (vii. 26)."— Tb.] CII kP. X. 1-44. 97 dissatisfied with the step concluded upon, and seek to withdraw from their obligation. If the se- paration was to be carried out energetically and Burely, it must be established in detail who were united in marriage with strange women, and it was necessary that the elders or princes in ques- tion should undertake to take care that the reso- lution of the congregation should everywhere have its proper consequences. Thus il was ne- cossary that there should be confirmations and explanations that demanded a long time. Those who had spoken accordingly continue: — But the people are many.— 73X is an adversative particle of limitation. Their meaning is that on account of the large number of the assembly, it is not certain whether they all were really agreed. — And the time is violent rain. — This is briefly for: the time is that of the violent rain, just as '•thine eyes are doves" Song of Songs, iv. 1. — And there is no strength to stand -with out = we cannot longer stand in the cold. — And the business is not for one day and not for two, etc. — There are so many cases that must be established and examined into. Ver. 14. Let now our princes stand for the entire congregation, etc. — 7npn~737 serves not as a closer designation of the princes as such who belonged to the entire congregation in distinction from the elders and judges of the separate cities (Berth.), as it has already been taken by the Sept., cri/Tuoav o>) apxovrtc quijv, and Esdras : orr/ruaav d£ bi irponydv/J-evot tov ~7Ji- ■dovc. The 7 is rather a designation of the dat. commodi, and here is equivalent to " in place of." The sense is, let the princes remain in Jerusa- lem and advise with Ezra; especially however name to him the members of the congregation in question. — And let everyone in our cities who has taken home strsnge -wives, come at fixed times, and with them (for, with bin) the elders of every city, and the judges thereof. — The princes are to fix the times for the guilty ones named by them to Ezra, when they have to appear with their elders and judges; the guilty are then to promise to dis- miss the wives; the elders and judges however are intrusted with the duty of watching over the performance of their vows. Since the various local congregations might be called at different times, it was possible in this way to dispose of them in Jerusalem in a much shorter period. The article before 3'C/in again represents the rela- tive as in ver. 17; viii. 25. D'JOtO DT1>' are appointed terms, only here and Neh. x. 35 ; xiii. 31. |8J is a Chaldaism.— Until they turn away the fierce wrath of our God from us with reference to this matter. — 1JJ in the sense of "until," gives no difficulty. For it might be expected of a God who is ever so gra- cious, that with the cause of the wrath the wrath itself also would cease. The supposition of Ber- theau, that T£ with the following 7 in the later language is used for the simple 7, thus stating the purpose, cannot be proved from Jos. xiii. 5 : 1 Chron. v. 9; xiii. 5, compared with Num. xiii. 21. Also in the clause iW] "DfS l;' after wrath, TJJ retains its meaning; the sense is: which reaches even to this matter.* Certainly, how- ever, the simple ilin "017 would have sufficed here (comp. Gen. xix. 21 ; 1 Sam. xxx. 21; Dan. i. 14), just as p^TP07 "!J£, 2 Chron. xxvi. 15; Ezra iii. 13, and p'lFPnS, 2 Sam. vii. 10 amount to the same thing. With the first words of the verse, '• let our princes stand," this clause cannot be connected in the sense of " so long as this matter lasts, (Keil) ; against this is not only the fact that it would be somewhat superfluous, but also that a new clause: And let every one — come — has come in between. Vers. 15-17. Only Jonathan, etc. — If we follow the clear usage of the language we must regard this as in apposition. ^]X properly " only " (then often it is true " in truth ") easily leads to an adversative limitation, and /£ "V3p means 1 Chron. xxi. 1 ; 2 Chron. xx. 23; Dan. viii. 25; xi. 14: stand against any person or thing, as sometimes also 7JJ Dip. Accordingly Jonathan and Jahaziah withstood the adopted resolution, whether they merely had some ob- jection to the proposed method of dealing with the matter, or were also opposed to the banish- ment of strange wives itself. Only the circum- s'auce that verse 16 is joined on, without an adversative particle, although it treats of the obe- dience of the congregation, seems to favor the view that here also an agreement is meant, as then already the Vulgate has: steterunt super hoc prse/ecti sunt huic negotio. But in truth, accord- ing to our conception, ver. 16 is not in contrast with ver. 15. All depends upon the emphasis placed upon ■' only " at the beginning of ver. 15. Not notwithstanding that, but because only Jona- than, etc., withstood, the congregation did, as a whole, as had been proposed. The present read- ing in ver. 16 l7l3|1 Ezra, the priest, men as hends of fathers' houses were separated, is not only opposed by the fact that we Bhould expect with the Sept. and Vulg. the copula before D'^Wi since an asyndeton wo ild here be very remark- able, but likewise by the fact that a separation of Ezra could hardly be spoken of, for he was already sufficiently set apart by his entire posi- tion. We may therefore with Ewald, Gesch. IV., S. 185 and Berth., in accordance with Esdras and the Peschito read iS YJ3^\ — And Ezra sepa- rated for himself, or at any rate also 1 7"13'1 fOIJ'S — there were separated unto Ezra. [So Rawlinson].— After the fathers' house =so that every father's house was represented by its head. -And they all with names, as viii. 20.- And they held a session — so '2!^'' here — on the first day of the tenth month, thus ten days after the general assembly of the people, * [Rawlinson after Dathe and Maurer follows two MS3. which read ntH 12171 Sj;.— Ta.] 1/8 THE BOOK OF EZRA. to investigate the matter. — Instead of EfVTT which is not a Hebrew formation, we are to read the infin. BfrVJ. Ver. I 7 . And they made an end ■with all, etc., U'piH (men who had taken home strange wives) can hardly be in apposition with 733 as the more ancient interpreters would have it; the expression would be too peculiar ; moreover the accentuation is against it. No more can D'C/JX be the object of IvJ" 1 ! and 733 be a designation of place; I hey brought to an end the men (the hearing of them) in everyplace (Berth.); D'!73X in this case would certainly require the article. The same objection is to be made to the ren- dering of Keil, "with reference to the men," which in itself moreover already misses the sense The suspicion that the clause was a title of the following section in ver. 18, and only by mistake was placed here is quite na- tural, but it is not confirmed by any ancient version. Thus we must regard the entire clause as a brief, loosely attached, closer designation of 73, and understand: they were ready with the entire object incumbent upon them, that however was men who, etc. — [Riwlinson in loco: "In some cases, it may be presumed, they had to summon persons before them who did not wish to part with their foreign wives; in all they had to assure themselves that the wives were foreign; finally they had in every case where they decreed a divorce to make out the 'writing of divorcement,' to which the woman put away was entitled as evidence of her having been a wife and having become free." — Tr.1 By the first day of the first month, namely, of the following year The session thus lasted in all very nearly three months. Vers. 18-44. Catalogue of the men, who had strange wives, and were obliged to dismiss them. First of all are the priests in vers. 18-22, and indeed in vers. 18 and 19 four of the house of the high-priest.— Of the sons of Jeshua, etc. This evidently means the high-priest Jeshua, who had come to Jerusalem with Zcrubbabel. The sons of his brother were probably only his distant relatives; according to ii. 36, they were, if Jeshua there is the high-priest Jeshua, sons of Jedaiah, thus brother in a broader sense. Ver. 10. They gave their hands, that is, they vowed in a solemn manner by striking hands (comp. 2 Kings x. 15) to dismiss their wives. D'pU/Xl might follow as epexegesis = and indeed as guilty. But it is more simple to supply: and they were guilty, that is, as they stood there guilty. The more general law of Lev. v. 14 sq. comes into consideration. They must bring a guilt-offering, because they had committed a 7.JJO against Jehovah, for which a satisfaction was possible, and hence must like- wise be given; comp. the different opinions respecting ihe guilt-offering in Keil's Archiiol. I. S. 244. |NY~7'£ is subordinated as an accusa- tive of closer definition to the previous word. In connexion with the folluwiug persons we are to supply in thought the promise to dismiss the wives and probably also the offering of a corres- ponding guilt-offering. — Of the names following in vers. 20-22 some occur again in Neh. viii. 4; x. 2-9, which perhaps designate the same per- sons. In all eighteen priests were guilty; none of the divisions that had returned with Zerubba- bel had kept themselves free from the transgres- sion (comp. ii. 36-39). In vers. 23 and 24 ten Leviles follow, among whom Kelaiah, usually called Kelita (comp. Neh. viii. 7 and x. 11); furthermore Jozabad, who again occurs in Neh. viii. 7. Vers. 26—44 give the names from the rest of Israel. In all there are eighty-six, distributed among ten of the families named in chapter ii. It is singular that the sons of Bani are men- tioned twice in ver. 29 and ver. 34, and proba- bly there is an error in the Becoud Bani, although it already occurs in the reading of the Sept. and Esdras. Whilst of every other family only four, six, seven or eight persons are enumerated in ver. 34 sq. not less than twenty-seven are men- tioned as of this family. Furthermore it is sin- gular that the inhabitants of the cities adduced in ii. 21-28 and vers. 33-35 are not expressly mentioned, whilst yet in ver. 7 sq and ver. 14 those outside the city come into consideration as well as the Jerusalemites. Probably the twenty- seven men menlioned in vers. 34-41 belonged to the different districts of Judah. Ver. 44 concludes the entire catalogue with a summary statement. — All these had taken strange 'wives. — 'Nb'J must be taken as a participle; probably, however, we should read as the perfect IXZ'l. for the expression Up) D'tyj, comp. ix. 2. No admissible sense can be derived from the last words of the verse; the translation: And there were among them wo- men, and they had, or which had brought sons into the world, by which the masc. suffix of DHO, and so also the masc. form ID'ifl, is re- v ..> .^-'^ ferred to the wives, gives a statement, which is too self-evident to be correct. But a change which Bertheau proposes: "And there were among them those who sent away wives and sons," does not commend itself, partly because it is in too little connection with the text as we have it, partly because such a clause would likewise be too self-evident after ver. 3. — [Rawlinson adopts the former interp. and says: " The fact is nut -d as having increased the difficulty of Ezra's task." -Tk.] thoughts upon the history of redemption. Vers. 1-4. 1. It is certainly worthy of remark that it is not narrated of Ezra that he, as we shjuhl expect, expressly and severely denounced the men married to strange wives, but that we are only told of his prayer and confession of sin, in which he includes himself in the number of the guilty. Earnest Borrow for the sin to be de- nounced in others, and especially persevering prayer in their behalf, which in the nature of the case readily includes intercession, generally makes a deeper impression as well upon the per- sons themselves as their adherents, than casti- gating sermons, as then likewis- here a great crowd of men, women, and children assembled CHAP. X. 1-44. 99 about the preying and sorrowing E^ra, deeply affected by his sorrow. 2. If a head of a community sorrows in true sympathy and anxiety for his people, the better class of the people do not lack t lie earnest wish to remove his sorrow, and especially its cause: the love and respect which they entertain for him very easily pass over into this wish, and then there is easily found in the congregation itself a spokesman, who, as here Shechaniah, openly ac- knowledges the guilt, and correctly expresses what it is necessary to do in order to be free from it. Such a voioe, moreover, arising out of the congregation itself, such willingness, spring- ing up of itself, is the best result and reward of the sorrowing one. The willingness of the con- gregation, thus testified, is thereby at the same time still further intensified and enlarged, and the improvement which then takes place as a free act, has a truly ethical significance. 3. Such a one, who stands in the midst of a congregation, has need not only of a strict con- scientiousness, but also of great courage and alacrity, in order to openly designate a sin of which many have been guilty as a sin, and de- mand the putting of it away. But he who is first convinced that the sin in question is really sin, and that the putting it away is really God's will, should not be frightened by any objection from expressing his conviction, and improving the others, who perhaps are only weak, but not hardened. A lack of conscientiousness and cou- rage in this respect is truly lamentable; it is ominous and ruinous for those in question. Joy in God, on the other hand, has its great blessings under all circumstances, even when, instead of good resulting, at first only opposition, scorn, and persecution are reaped. Besides, a good transaction never remains entirely, at least never very long, wholly without results. Vers. 5-8. It is indeed possible, yea, usually the case, that the first better feelings which dawn at a reformation are transitory. Many let them- selves be carried away by the awakening voices of the better spirits, so that they to a certain ex- tent outrun themselves, and regard themselves as capable of the severest self-sacrifices; but af- terwards, when they come to realize the difficul- ties to be overcome, in all their magnitude, they shrink back from them as quickly as they had before resolved to overcome them. Even be- cause they are so great, they deem themselves excused from carrying out their resolution. And the longer they hesitate the more grounds they find to justify the sins that were to be put away. He who would truly improve a congregation should therefore never be satisfied with a first good resolution on their part; his earnestness, his sorrow, his prayer must endure, and it must be felt by all, that he has no rest and no joy un- til the good resolution has become act and fact. But if anything, such a perseverance will have the power to deepen and render permanent the penitence of the congregation, so that, as in our history, it takes the steps with earnestness and zeal, that are necessary to carry out the good re- solution. Vers, fl-12. The wife was not in such a high station among the Israelites as among Chris- tians. Polygamy was still allowed. Yet the true relation to God and the recognition of the truth, that the woman had been created in the divine image, already involved, that the posi- tion of the man towards the woman was much better than among the heathen Asiatics. The demand that wives and children should be dis- missed was at any rate, for the most of the par- ties concerned, one of the hardest that could at all be made. But a true reformer should not he- sitate to demand even the hardest things of the congregation of the Lord, and express his de- mand with clearness and definiteness. His rule is God's word and will alone. Every modifica- tion, weakening, and rendering it easy on his part, renders his work of reformation all the more difficult. For it deprives him of his autho- rity as an instrument of God ; he thereby aban- dons the only safe foundation, besides passes over to act in his own name. It renders it diffi- cult for the congregation to follow him. For to do God's pure and clear will there is ever to be found fresh readiness, but to execute the will of a man, or what he may think proper, does not sa- tisfy. The divine will often demands much — very much — but its accomplishment has a correspond- ing blessing, but this fails if God's demand is weakened by human devices. Vers. 13-17. 1. We cannot blame the autho- rities for assembling the people without delay even in the cold and rainy season of the year. The removal of transgressions against God's law and will admits of no delay. But again, it would not have been justifiable for Ezra to have pre- pared additional unnecessary burdens for the people, who already had besides enough to bear in the burden they had taken on themselves if He exposed them to the injuries of the storm, so to speak, punished them. Towards him who is willing to impose upon himself every self-denial, even the hardest, for the sake of the word of God, every possible forbearance has ever its proper place. And under all circumstances he who would carry out a difficult work of reformation has to take cire that everything moves on in order. 2. From our point of view, the dismissal of strange wives wiih their children, seems extra- vagantly severe, — without doubt there were also many in the congregation of that time who found the demand of Ezra beyond measure hard, many who might be ruined by this proceeding. Not- withstanding, if we properly estimate all the cir- cumstances of that period, and especially the great dangers that threatened the very existence of the congregation, we will be obliged to re- gard Ezra a3 in the right. We are not always to avoid that which maybe a stumbling-block. The point of view which alone decides at last, is ever that the communion with the Lord must be re-established or furthered ; all communion and friendship with men must stand in the back- ground. If, when we let the latter retire to the background we be regarded as destitute of con- sideration and the like, we may easily put up with it. Even the opinion of men already pre- pares a martyrdom, to which Peter's word may be applied, "happy are ye; for the Sprit of glory and of God resteth upon you." 1 Pet. iv. 14. What a thorough success his proceeding without reg