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 the very similar confession speaks of him, co.Us him "kindly" or "gra- of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. vi. 26). cious" (,v,ppwv); Herodotus says he mletl Ver. 4.-Whosoever remaineth in e.ny his subjects like a father ; Xenophon makes place where he sojourneth. Literally cor- him o. model prince ; Plutarch observes that rect; but the meaning is 1 "And with regard "in wisdom o.nd virtue and greatness of to all those who remam (of the captive soul he excelled all other kings ; " Diodoms people) in any part of the country where ascribes to him o. remarkable power of self- they have their temporary abode, let the eommand, together with good feeling and men of his district help him with silver," gentleness. The Latin writers, Cicero and &c. Cyrus finishes his decree by calling others, o.dd their meed of praise ; and o.l to- upon bis heathen subjects to come to the airl gether it may be so.id that, so fo.r as the of the poorer Israelites, and assist them with evidence reaches, no nobler character appears money, cattle, and other commodities, in in ancient history. The Scriptmal notices, order that none may be hindered by poverty, whether in this book or in Isaiah, are in or by the "·o.nt of beasts of burthen, from remarkable accord. Let him go up. Jeru- joining the band of emigrants, and setting lem wo.s on o. much higher level than Bnby- out on their return to Jerusalem. Again, lon, and the travellers would consequently the kindliness of his disposition is apparent. have to ascend considerably. And build the lleside the freewill offering. So the Septu- house. The " charge " 'to Cyrus did not agint; but the Vulgate has, "Except the require him to take a personal share in the freewill offering," &c. The Septuagint and building. He was simply to "say to Jeru- the A. V. are right. Cyrus means that salem, Thou sho.lt be built; and to the temple, money, cattle, and goods are to be made Thy foundation shall be lo.id" (Isa. xliv. over to the poorer Israelites, in addition to 28). He is therefore content to assign the any offering that might be intrusted to them actual work to others. He is the God. The for conveyance to Jerusalem, either by him- Septuagint and the Vulgate o.ttach the last self or by his subjects. Individually, he clause of the verse to these words, and render was about to send "a freewill offering," "He is the God who is in Jerusalem," which consisting of a number of gold and silver greatly weakens the force of the expression. vessels for the service of the temple. His According to this punctuation, Cyrus makes •words suggest that his subjects might follow Jehovah o. mere local Deity ; according to this good example.
HOMILETICS. Ver. 1.-The crisis. The very first word of this book (literally "o.nd," Keu, Wordsworth, &c.) has its importance. It shows the book to be an additional o.nd con- tinuous portion of that most important of all histories, the history of the Jews. How large is the place of that history in the Bible, beginning at Gen. xii. and hardly passing again to that of the Gentiles at Acts x. How interesting a story in itself I No people so favoured (Amos iii. 2; Rom. iii. 1; xi. 28). No people so exalted (Exod. iv. 22; Jer. xx:xi. 9; John i. 47). How important a story to us I So instruc- tive (1 Cor. x. 11, &c., &c.). So vital (Gen. xii. 1-3; Nurn. xx.iv. 9, &c.). We are all the better or the worse for the lessons of the story of the Jewish people. This opening verse of Ezro. introduces us to this singular people at a very important juncture, and relates, in connection with their history, a very momentous event. I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE JUNCTURE. We find the people, e. g., in very great tribullltion. They are under the rule of a stranger, counting the years of their history by the years of a "king of Persia." This not so in former days (see 2 Chron. :11;:tiiv, 8 ; xxxv. 19; and, as perhaps an instance of transition in this respect, Jer. hi.12). We are thus pointed backward to the invasions of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, and to those three successive waves of desolation which came over the land under him. See 2 Chron. xx:xvi. 61 7; Dan. i. 1, 2, for the first invasion, in the days of Jehoiakim or Eliakim, about 607 B.C. For the second, in the days of Jeconiah or Jehoiachin, about 599 B.c., see 2 Kings x.xiv. 13; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9, 10. For the third, in th<:' reign of Zedekiah, B.O. 588, see 2 Kings xxv. 14; Jer. Iii. 8. Some idea of tho desolation thus caused in the land itself may be inferred from what is said in 2 Kings ~iv. 14, of only "the poorest sort of the people" remaining after the second incur- a.on ; and from what is said in Jcr. xiii. 2, after the third; as also from what we D2 THE BOOK OF EZRA. [CH. I. 1-4,