PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Pulpit Commentary — Ezra
George Rawlinson [1812-1902] · 142,759 words · 159 reading sections
The Pulpit Commentary — Ezra — Section 1
THE PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY THE VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OF GLOUCESTER; AND DY THE REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A. WITH INTRODUCTIONS BY THE VERY REV. F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S., DEAN OF CANTERBURY. RIGHT REV. H. COTTERILL, D.D., F.R.S.E. VERY REV. PRINCIPAL J. TULLOCH, D.D. REV. CANON G. RAWL…
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recorded in it, and hence its historical truth is admitted almost universally. l'he language closely resembles that of other Books of Scripture written about the same time, as Chronicles, Daniel, and Haggai. Like Daniel, it is written partly in Hebrew, partly in Chaldee, the latter being the form which Hebrew had assu…
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J\foccab0ci perioJ, when tho temple had been defiled, and Jemsalem was in the bands of the Syrians. Ezra's death and burial at Samarah has nothing about it that is improbable ; but it is curious, that while the tombs of J onab, Ezekiel, and Daniel are still shown in Mesopotamia, that of Ezra bas passed into oblivion. …
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the Great became King of Persia. by his final Ver. 2.-Thus saith Cyrus. Persian in• defeat and capture of Astyo.ges, m B.o. 559 scriptions do not ordinarily commence in probably. HIS conq.uest -of Babylon was, this way ; but the formula "sais Darius the compe.ni.tively spea.king, le.te in his reign king," " says Xer…
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blessing, indicative of the deep religions the far preferable arrangement of the A. V., feeling e.nd great goodness of heart which be declares emphatically that Jehovah is characterized Cyma e.loneof Persian monarchs. the one true God, beside whom there is no Among the Greeks, .lEsch,Ylus, who first other. Com pare th…
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are told respecting the II few" mentioned there in Jer. xliii. 5-7 No wonder we read the prophet lamenting, as in Lam. i. 1; v. 18. Awful indeed was that gray nnd silent Sabbath which had fallen on Judah's cities and fields I As to the people thence carried away, equnlly desolate were their hearts. How grievous thei…
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(see Keil in loc.), the supreme God, the Most High. Thie the more remarkable because neither Nebuchadnezzar nor Darius before, nor Artaxerxes afterwards, when much impressed with the power of Jehovah the God of the Jews, speak of him in this way (comp. Dan. ii. 47; iii. 29; vi. 26; Ezra vii. 15; also Ezra vi. 12). 3. O…
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understand the words, by a t(J;JJ. There were variom1 places in his dominions where some o~ .~he " remnant" of Israel (" whosoever remaineth" : comp. Neh. i. 2, &c. ; Hagg~1 u. _3, &c.) were "sojourning" as Btrangers. In any such "place," if any lHaehtes WIShed _to go up, the men of that place were hereby commanded …
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Vers. 1--4, 7-11.-The wide reach of the rule of God. We are accmrtomed to pray that the kingdom of God may come; we desire, and therefore ask, that men may offer themselves in willing subjection to the service of their Divine Sovereign. For this we must labour and pray, and always shall do so the more earnestly as we o…
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EXPOSITION. TEE RESPONSE TO THE DECREE (vers. 5- persons took e.dvantage of the opportunity, 11 ). The response me.de to the decree fell and proceeded from Babylonia to Jerusalem short of what might have been expected. (eh. ii 64). The response to the latter part The "pa.triarchal chiefs" who responded of the decree, …
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J. e. nil their neighbours. Strengthened him~elf, in his inscriptions generally, as e. their he.nds. This is the literal rendering. special devotee of a smgle Babylonian god, The margin gives the right meaning- Merodach, whose _temple, called by the " helped them." With precious things. Greeks that of Bel, IS no doubt …
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HOMILETICS. Yers. _5-11,-The muster. We have noted already that the great and primary f<>ature m the restorMion of Israel from captivity was the restoration of the house. ,rith a view to this restoration, as we have seen, the whole edict of Cyrus was framed. In the passage now before us we shall see, in the next pl…
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right in referring the last words of ver. 6 to the grant made by Cyrus himself, as afterwards defined in eh. vi. 3, 4, we see that they had, further, at their disposal the requisite materials for building. This point will perhaps appear more plainly if we compare the last-quoted passage with what is said in 1 Kings vi.…
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I. HIS TWO METHODS OF APPROACH. "'l'hen rose up," &c. (ver. 5). 1. Instrumental. God worked on the minds of the chiefs of the people by means of the proclnmations an~ edicts of Cyrus, and on the m~nds of the gener_ality of the people by means of their leaders. Then-when the kmg's offer was circulated-" rose up the c…
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Judaism in its relation to modern history. The true destiny of Israel is now revealed, to exist ns a "leaven II among the nations. The Divine purpose in the Israelitish people is accomplished in Christendom ; religious susceptibility, fitness for inspiration, has been the signe.l endowment of the Jews ; theirs is a spi…
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they mark design in history. Time, which removes us so far from events that they lose impressiveness, compensates for the loss by revealing more fully correspondences that speak of purpose. The majestic march of Providence makes also a direct appeal to the emotions of piety. Next, AS TO THE PURPOSE OF Goo. The obje…
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etitution of our nature. (2) He holds citizens, ae such, responsible to himself. (3) Experience proves that godly men are the best citizens. 3. Evil rulers are scourges of God to wicked peoples. (1) Not appointed without his providence (see Isa. iii. 4). (2) Rulers are no worse than their people. Representative governm…
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of the king· ; the inspired historian makes known the secret working of God. We know nothi_ng of _the Divi~e heart-stirrings _which precede th~ _great movements_ of our age. God_ 1s beh~nd the kmg and we ~e~ him not. . Tl_1e political serves the spiritual. . Let us nghtly mterpret our heart-stirrmgs ; God 1s m them, th…
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Yer. 36. -The priests.• Four priestly salt tract near tho Persian Gulf. Hence the families went up mth Zerubbabel. Of name, which means "Hill of Salt." Cherub these, three traced their descent to persons is no doubt Ptolemy's Chiripha, which was who h1td been heads of the priestly courses in the same region. The oth…
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ao the entire number must have exceeded Gen. xxiii. 14, 15; 2 Chron. xvii. 11; Job rio 000-e.n enormous body of persons to xlii. 12). They may perhaps be viewed as tr~nsport a distance of above e. thousand teaching the lesson that with God nothing miles e.ccording to Western experience, but one ,:hich will not surprise…
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I_. TH~ KIND OF MEN THAT CAME UP. They appear to have been men, in the m:1m,_ loving the old state of things. They were conservatives, e. g., in politics 1 keeping still, m the _person of Zerubbabel as their chief civil r~ler, to the ancient dynasty, that of David. They are also thought by some, companng the names i…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1, 2.-The restoratwn of Israel. This is an important subject. Great por• tion of Scripture occupied with it. Events of the utmost moment connected with it. I. As THE SCATTERING OF ISRAEL WAS GRADUAL, SO MAY HIS GATHERING BE. 1. His tribes became distributed into two kingdoms. (1) Un…
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Jews were _subsequently scattered by the Romans. Have since been kept scattered by R0ma~1sts and Mahome~ans. (2) But prophecy requires this (see J~r. x:ui. 10; Ezek. xxxrv. 27, 28; Amos ix. 14, 15). "Therefore," &c. III. THIS RESTORATION WAS A PLEDGE OF THE GREATER EVENT. 1. It answered great pu7:poses of prophocy. (1…
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Vera. 61-63. -The privileges of the priesthood. We are here forcibly reminded- !. THAT THE PRIESTHOOD HAD ITS PRIVILEGES. These were-1. They were sancti- fied to the service of God. (1) Distinguished from the tribes whose inheritance was in the soil (see Num. xviii. 20). (2) Distinguished among the Levites. They were …
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HOMILETICS. Vere. 68-70.-The arrival. After the muster-roll, as desci:i':>ed ~o us in vers. 1-67 of this chapter, the ne~t t_hin&", naturally,_ is the exped1t1on itself. !in the present instance however this 1s disposed of m a couple of syllables. They came." Jn thes; modern 'days-so some one has noticed-;in consequen…
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And this they do. it seems, first. Such is the Scriptural, such the politic plan (see Deut. xxvi. 1-11; 1 Kings xvii. 13; Matt. vi. 33; Luke :xi. 41 ). It is 'also to be observed that they do so "freely "-the Scriptural spirit (see E:xod. x:xv. 2; x:x:xv, 5; Deut. xv. 10 : 2 Cor. ix. 7). And that they do so, once more,…
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Vere. 68-70.-Social and spiritual gradations. The company that came out of Babylonian captivity was by no means a disorderly or unorganized multitude. It was well officered, and was divided and subdivided into ranks. It probably marched in regular order. Under the "Tirshatha" Zerubbabel, Jeshue. the high priest, and Mo…
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high priest, though Ezra does not give him people to gather themselves together and the title. Haggai, however (eh. i 1, 14; celebrate the autumnal festival, though they ii. 2), and Zechariah (eh. iii 1, 8; vi. 11) can scarcely have made it on this occasion a distinctly assign him the office. His father, Jozadak, or Jo…
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for all that was most essential in the ritual their wages in kind. .As Phamicia was e. of religion, while the temple itself still narrow strip of country, and grew but little remained unbuilt (see ver. 6). corn, it had always to depend mainly for its PREPARATION OF MATERIALS FOR THE supplies of food on its neighbours,…
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was a marked month in these exiles' minds. How fit a month, therefore, in every way, for making ~ beginning of some kind. "Now, if ever;" almost "Now, or never," the occasion seemed to exclaim. It is by such conjunctions, perhaps, that God most frequently signifies bis guiding will to bis willing people (comp. Acts xvi…
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Vers. 4-7.-The first feast. "Also," ver. 4; "afterward," ver. 5; "but" vcr. 6 • ~hese are the three stepping-stones of this passage. After making a good beginning m restoring the daily sacrifices, the people II also" kept their first feast. " After- ward" they did what they could in restoring the observance of all t…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-3.-The altar rebuilt. The return from Babylon is supposed to have been in the spring. The first employment of the people would be to construct for themselves huts, or so to repair dilapidated buildings as to make them fit for habit- ation.· This accomplished, no time was lost in se…
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Vers. 1-7.-.Acceptable service. When the 42,000 Israelites arrived in the land whither they went forth, they took peaceable and glad possession of their old homes; many, if not most, of them returning to the very fields and homesteads from which their fathers had been led away. They then showed a piety which was partly…
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Vere. 1-7.-Aspects of worship. I. The HUMAN in WuRSHIP. "Then stood up Jeshua the eon of Jozadak," &c. (ver. 2). These men were the leaders in this movement of worebip ; they gathered the people thereto. There is a human side to Divine worship; the altar looke toward earth ae well as toward heaven ; man builde, if God …
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Vere. 4-6.-The worship of the first year. In connection with the worship of the first year after the return of the children of Israel from Babylon, we notice- I. THAT IT WAS SUCH AS COULD BE CONDUCTED IN THE OPEN AIR. 1. They bad their altar rebuilt. ( 1) This was the first thing done, because it was essential. Sacr…
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LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION OF THE Ver. 8.-In the second year. In B.c. 'i'EMPLE AND CEREMONIAL ON THE OCCASION 53~, the second year of Cyrus in Babylon, which was also the second year of their (vers. 8-13). Seven months were occu- coming (i. e. after their coming) to the pied with preparations. The winter was (ruined) ho…
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HOMILETICS. Vera. 8-13.-The first stone. We now come in this story to a very critical time. The great work of the restoration of the house, for the sake of which the partial restoration of lerael to Canaan had been brought about and was to continue (see again eh. i. 2, 3, 4, 5; also vi. 3, noting further how, in fa…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 7-13.-Thought, work, andfming. We have in this passage- !. A _TR'C!E TH?UGHT (ver. 8). "Now in the second year of their coming," &c. We can easily 1magme any orator among the company of the returned Jews making out a strong c'.'-Se for leaving the building of the temple til! bette…
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Vere. 7-13.-The founding of the temple. The worship of Israel during the first year of the restoration from Babylon was such as could be conducted around an altar in the open. The people naturally felt how imperfectly they could fulfil the law of Moses without a temple, with its courts, its veil, and its sacred furnitu…
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Vere. 8-13.-TM joyful and sorrowful in religious worsliip. Here we have illustrated the power of a right leadership, the wisdom of devout co-operation, and the progress of a great enterprise (vers. 8-10). I. The JOYFUL in religious WORSHIP. "They sang together" (ver. 11 ). 1. That God will deign to consecrate by his P…
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the time of hope, was over ; the people stood face to face with the work they had undertaken; its difficulties were before them; they felt the poverty of their resources. But though the enthusiasm of the multitude was checked, it was not dfmnted ; the hope of the younger men overbore the depression of the elders ; the …
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EXPOSITION. vi 14), no "agreement between the temple CHAPTER IV. of God and idols" (ibid. ver. 16). His OPPOSITION MADE TO TIIE REBUILDING OF determination was bitterly resented. Unable THE TEMPLE BY THE SAMARITANS (eh. iv. to seduce him into alliance with them, the 1-24). In this world, whenever a good Samaritans …
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HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-3.-The work endangered. Moses was exposed to danger whilst Atill in his ere.die. The same was true about Christ. There is yet another parallel in this passage. No sooner is the foundation-stone of the restored temple laid, than we hear of thnt branch of the great work of Restoration being in immine…
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Let their Samaritan neighbours at once understand that so their minds were made up. " We ourselves together" will be responsible for this task. 3. A spirit of discretion. God gave them this in conclusion, so that they put the matter, in concluding, on a very wise ground. The decision arrived at might not be pleasing to…
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Jews are anxious to do all by themselves. Let us take care they do none. Such was their inward resolve. Their outward actions accorded. 'l'hey contrived, e. g., to " weaken the hands of the people of Judah." The "hands" of the people, figur- ati,ely speaking, may mean those persons on whose manual labour the work of…
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end," antl the blessing pronounced on "waiting" in eh. xii. 1, 4, 6, 8, 12, 13 (comp. also 2 Pet. iii. 9). 3. But if deliberate, it was also sure-all the surer, in fact, on that ground. See again eh. x. 21 about the "Scripture of truth" (a purpose, it would seem, "written " down in order that the exact terms of the pur…
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wns a time when they might excusably go far in the direction of peace. Would .it not be wrong, by any churlishness or obstinacy on small points or narrowness of view, to plunge the infant Church into strife, perhaps mortal strife with those who had so much in common with them, and whom charity might co~sider brethren? …
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Vera. 1-5.-The friendship of the world. Two classes, strongly contrasted divide the human race (see Eph. v. 8; 1 Thess. v. 4-8; 1 John iii. 10). There i~ no intermediate class (see Matt. xii. 30). Between these classes genuine sympathy is impossible. The syren voice of "charity" must not be heeded here; it is treachery…
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Vers. 4, ~--Human ~red. _Whatever drops of nei~hbourly kindness there may have been m the cup of friendship offered by the Samaritans to "the children of the captivity," these, on the refusal of Zerubbabel to enter into alliance with them turned into bitterest animosity. Thenceforward they "breathed threatening" and…
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EXPOSITION. Ver. 7.-And in the days of Artuerxea. east of Babylon. The Apharsites aro no See the comment on ver. 6. If Artaxerxes doubt Persians ; the Dehavites, Dai or Dahre be the Pseudo-Smerdis, we can readily a tribe located in Persia Proper (' Hero<l. ,' i'. understand why an application was not 125). If uncer…
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took the extreme measure of removing tho once fortified. And so thou shalt endamage ,T e,rn from their own land to Babylo~,, they the revenue. The general meaning is given had rebelled against him three several times- correctly enough by this rendering, but once under Jehoi&ki.m (2 Kings xxiv. 1), once "revenue" is …
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worth, in loc.), we shnll nssume these two kings, notwithRtanding the apparent diversity of their nnmes, to be Cambyses and the Pseudo-Smerdis, the son and pre- tended son, nnd two next successors, of Cyrus. In any case the latter-named letter (ver. 33), if not an exact copy, may be regarded ns a fair sample, of wha…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Yers. 4-16.-The world's opposition to the Church. We observe, in reference to the world's opposition to the Church- I. THAT IT OFTEN SEEKS TO HINDER USEFUL ENTERPRISE. These Samaritans sought to "trouble them in building" ( ver. 4 ). As Israel was employed in rebuilding the ruined temple,…
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2. Defrauding. "They will not pay toll." But does not the Church render unto God the things that are his, and to Cresar the things that are Cresar's? 3. Hypo- critical. They build not the walls of Jerusalem for God, but to shut out the king. 4. Wicked. They designate Jerusalem a" bad city." Thus the world maligns the C…
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Ver. 17.-Then sent the king an answer. (2 Kings xviiL 7) and Babylon (ibi,d. xxiv. The compls.int made was of such importance 1 ; J er. Iii. 3), and also proof of the formid- tho.t an answer was returned without delay. able power possessed by certain Jewish or It was addressed both to Rehum and Shim- Israelite kings ; …
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HOMILETICS. Vere. 17-24.-The work stopped. The ostensible object of the letter to Arfa xer:xes (vers. 11-16) was to stop the building of the walls of Jerusalem. Its real object was to put a stop to the building of God's house. In this for a time it suc- ceeded, as our present passage records. Two things are to be espe…
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own desires, forwarding theirs even more. Here was that which could be used age.inst the Jewish elders at their only strong point-as it seemed. The one thing as noted be_fore, which appeared to giv~ a~y stre.ngth ~o the buildem of the temple: we.s .0e edict of Cyrus. He!e w?-s a s1mlle.r edict, still more urgent e.n…
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HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 17-24.-Man hindering the work of God. I. THAT MEN ARE CAPABLE OF HINDERING THE WORK OF GoD. 11 Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded" (ver. 21). 1. Presumptuous. 11 Then ceased the work of the house of God." How could presumption be gr…
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progress of the building of it. Circumstances were adverse to the Jews• these aro recorded in Ezra iv., and are illustrated in the Persian history of the ti~e. There crept O'l"er the people a growing indifference to the work ; they became unready for the self-denial which it demanded; their spiritual unfitness for i…
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Such a man would not tolerate petty local jealousies ; he was worthy of trust. Hence Haggai und Zechariah began to urge on the work of building ; and Zemb- babel and Jeshua began to build. Then appeared the old vices of the people, testified against by many a prophet; they were also demoralised by their enforced in- ac…
827 wordsSource & rights
Public domain historical Pulpit Commentary. Source page identifies the volume as Public Domain; text extracted from its historical PDF.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.