348
July 1929
T h e
K i n g ' s
B u s i n e s s
FRED S. SHEPARD ’S BLACKBOARD OUTL INE M o t i v e B A N S E T H O D My soul longeth for the courts of Jehovah.—Ps. 84:2.
kingdom, made overtures to them, beg ging permission to assist in the erection of the building and stating that they had sacrificed to God from the days of Esar- haddon, King of Assyria, who reigned from 681 to 666 B. C. The Jewish lead ers detected a false note in their speech and plainly yet firmly refused them any share in the work. Insulted by this re buff, they prejudiced the people of the land against the Jews and hindered in every way possible the progress of the work. They even hired counselors to plan ways and means whereby to dis courage the people and to frustrate the work. In Ezra 4 :5 the statement is made that the work was frustrated “all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia” (Darius Hys taspes). This statement, as shown above, refers to the fifteen years during which the work was suspended on account of opposition. In verse 6 the writer says that “in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the begin ning of his reign, wrote they an accusa tion against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.” This statement has given much trouble to commentators. A careful study of the context leads to the conclu sion that the statement in verse 5, given above, is a blanket statement giving the period of cessation of the work. There fore the Ahasuerus of verse 6 must be a king who reigned between Cyrus and Darius. It is a well-known fact to his torians that Cambyses, son and successor of Cyrus, was called Ahasuerus and reigned from 529 to 522 B. C. In verse 7 appears the name of Artaxerxes. Who is this king? This name simply means “great shah” and was the title among the Persian kings, similar to the term Phar aoh in Egypt. While Cambyses was on his expedition against Egypt a usurper seized the government, who is known as Pseudo-Smerdis. In verses 13 and 22 ap pears the word “kings.” The significance of this expression is plain in the light of the historical situation. Associated with Pseudo-Smerdis. was his brother Pati- zithes. They reigned, however, only seven months and were followed by Darius Hystaspes. V. The Work Resumed. According to 4:24, the work which had ceased on the house of God was never re sumed until the second year of Darius king of Persia, 520 B. C. Resumption of the work was started by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, who, by their powerful preaching and holy lives, stirred the discouraged exiles to renewed interest in spiritual matters and holy zeal. On the first day of the sixth month of the second year of Darius (520 B. C.), Haggai reproved the people for their liv ing in ceiled houses whereas the house of God was lying in ruins. By the 24th day of the same month all of the people were stirred and had a mind to work. Three months later (Hag. 2:18) the foundations of the house were laid and there was great rejoicing in Jerusalem. At the same time Zechariah was delivering his soul- stirring messages and encouraging Zerub babel and Joshua to carry on the work. One of the great incentives which caused Zerubbabel to surmount difficulties was the prophecy found in Zech. 4:6-10. In this prophecy it is declared that it is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of God that things are accomplished. Fur thermore, the prophet compared the diffi
culties confronting Zerubbabel to a mountain, and said that they would be leveled into a plain and that Zerubbabel, who had laid the foundation, should place the capstone, bringing it to completion. No sooner had the work been resumed in earnest than active opposition was be gun by Tattenai the governor and She- thar-bozenai, officials of the government. They endeavored to stop the work, but the courageous Jews refused to stop for a moment. These Persian officials wrote to Darius concerning the matter and re ceived the reply that the archives showed that Cyrus had issued the decree that the Jews should return and should be allowed to build the house. This official communi cation stopped the active opposition against the work, which went forward. VI. The Work Completed. Under the inspiring influence of the two prophets the work went on to comple tion. This fact is stated in 6 :14, “And they builded and finished it, . . . accord ing to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.” This quotation has been freely interpreted. The difficulty arises from the word “and” in serted between Darius and Artaxerxes. The Hebrew conjunction, like the Greek conjunction kai, primarily means “and” but frequently means “even.” If it is to be translated as “and,” one would under stand that there were three decrees. The facts are that there were only two de crees, one by Cyrus and the other by Darius; therefore the Hebrew conjunc tion would best be translated with its sec ondary meaning, namely, “even.” This translation is in perfect accord with the meaning of Artaxerxes, which means “great shah,” and which, as stated above, was the official name of the king. On the third day of the month Adar, which was the twelfth month, of the sixth year of Darius Hystaspes, was the temple finished. When it was finished there was a great dedication service held at which many and great sacrifices were offered. Following this dedication, at the regular time, was the Passover held on the four teenth day of the first month, at which time there was great rejoicing. In d ian M otherhood Sadhu Sundar Singh, speaking of his mother, says : “I was influenced more than the rest of the family by her pure life and teach ing. She early impressed on me the rule that my first duty in the morning-was that I should pray to God for spiritual food and blessing, and that only after that should I breakfast.” How much more ought our American mothers to teach their children to know Jesus Christ who is the Bread sent down from heaven. Scanty A spring storm broke a large limb of a cherry tree. It hung by a slender con nection. But the blossoms came, and soon the fruit began to grow as on the other branches. By and by the fruit ripened on broken branch and on unbroken. I didn’t understand till one day Jesus’ word “much” made me notice that only those branches in full connection bore “much” fruit, the broken branch “scanty” fruit. How are your connections ? The fruit tells, much or scanty.— S. D. Gordon.
•code having come from the days of Moses, as is supposed by the rationalistic critics. According to the Persian method of dating the reign of their kings, the date of a king’s accession to the throne was considered the beginning of his reign. This method of reckoning time differed from that which prevailed in Israel and in Egypt. According to 3:4 the Jews kept the Feast of Tabernacles, as it was written, at the regular time, which followed the Feast of Atonement. This feast com memorated the fact that they had lived in bondage in Egypt. They continually kept up the monthly festivals and other Levitical regulations. According to verse S the people freely and willingly gave of their substance for freewill-offerings unto the Lord. It was a glad occasion for them to return to the homeland and to worship God in His appointed way. The regular Levitical worship was car ried on notwithstanding the fact that the temple had not been built—even the foun dation had not been laid. The people, however, gladly gave money to the work men who were making preparation for the rebuilding of the temple. III. Work Begun on the Temple. According to Ezra 3 :8, in the second month of the second year active prepara tions were begun for the reconstruction of the temple. Certain men were appoint ed to have the oversight of the work. If one had only the record contained in the book of Ezra, he would think that the foundation of the temple was laid immediately, i.e., in the second month of the second year of Cyrus, which was the year 535 B. C. Light is thrown upon the subject by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, contemporaries of Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest. According to Ezra 5 :16, Sheshbazzar laid the foundations of the house of God. Ac cording to Zech. 4:9, Zerubbabel laid the foundations of the temple. Therefore Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel are one and the same person. According to Hag. 2:18, the foundations of the temple were laid on the 24th day of the ninth month of the second year of Darius Hystaspes (cf. Hag. 2:10). The second year of Cyrus was 535; the second year of Darius w.as 520 B. C.; therefore fifteen years inter vened between verses 9 and 10 of Ezra 3. Therefore Ezra 3:10-13 is proleptic ; Ezra 4:1-24 is a parenthesis in the narrative, which explains why the work begun in 535 was stopped. Hence, 3:10-13 joins
chronologically on to 5:lf. IV. The Work Stopped.
As soon as the returned exiles began to make preparations for the rebuilding of the house of God, their adversaries, who were the descendants of the northern
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