wh~ch ther laid down. Meantime the first ardour abated, and priests and people, taking their tone from the governor and the high priest, settled down into satisfaction when they should have been filled with eagerness and anxiety. A noble aspiration ':as rapidly giving way to an ignoble contentment. This is but too frequently recur- ~mg a_ page in the history of human goodness. First an all-consuming ardour, an m~~ms1ty _of ~e~t which promises to shin_e with u~most ~rilliance and b?-rn up every- thmg which 1s impure; then, after a while, the hght dies down, the spirit cools and only a few sparks, .vith a little smoke, are left. First devotion, which think~ the hours of worship all too short; zeal which longs to multiply its labours; consecration which prefers the post of danger and the field of difficulty. Then languor, laziness, love of ease; the hours of worship are too long; the duties too heavy; the perils too great. The sanctuary is passed by, the vineyard deserted, the enterprise abandoned. II. REPROOF (ver. 1). 11 Then the prophets ... prophesied," &c. How vigorously after the manner of a Hebrew prophet, Haggai reproved and incited Zerubbabei and Jeshua, we may read in both chapters of that book of prophecy. "Is it time for you to dwell in your deled houses, and this house lie waste?" is the burden of the Lord which Haggai delivered. These men of God-for he was joined by Zechariah-must have sought the praise of God rather than that of man ; their one care was to be faithful to him in whose name they spoke, and so to "deliver their soul." They did not "prophesy smooth things," but rough, hard, trying things. Not only those whose chief vocation and profession it is to speak for God, but all who fear his name and call themselves his disciples, must be ready, on occasion, to declare the "burden of the Lord," to speak the word which is unpalatable, which wounds and troubles the soul. Sometimes it is our duty, like the Master, to send men away II sorrowful" (Matt. :x:ix. 22). Sometimes we must receive in grief rather than anger the reproaches of our friends. 11 Faithful are the wounds of a friend." III. RECOVERY. 11 Then rose up Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and began to build" (ver. 2). The Jewish leaders hearkened to the voice of God speaking to them through the prophete, and they regained their lost devotedness. "Then they rose up, and began to build." They heeded the admonitions given, and cheerfully co-operated with those who gave them. They had the wisdom to perceive that they were wrong ; they frankly owned it, and they promptly and energetically set themselves to rectify their ways. Here is true manliness as well as wisdom. It is a weak and foolish thing for a man to go on in a false course when he sees that he ia in the wrong. There is nothing which more ( 1) honours our manhood than to submit at once to the known will of God, whether by pursuing our path, or by returning in our way, or by holding our hand. There is nothing which more (2) conduces to our own spiritual elevation and dignity. Before honour is humility ; if we humble ourselves, when wrong, we begin at once to enter the path which leads to true exaltation. There is nothing which more (3) conducts to lasting usefulness and joy. If Zerubbabel had rejected the counsel of the Lord, he would certainly have suffered. As it was, he was honoured and enriched of heaven.-C.
EXPOSITION. in. The burning enthusie.sm which he.d CHAPTER V. shown itself on the first arrive.I of the exiles RECOMMENCEMENT OF THE BUILDING IN with Zerubbabel (eh. ii. 68, 69 ; iii. 11) had THE BEOOND YEAll OF DAllIUB, PREACHING faded away ; indolence had succeeded to OF HAGGAI AND ZECHAllIAB (eh. v. 1, 2). activity, and a selfish desire of comfort to It appears from the extant prophecies of zeal for the honour of God. Instead ot tliese two prophets that the long frustration watching eagerly for an opportunity oi re- of their hopes he.d he.d its natural effect on commencing the great work, and seizing the the spirits of the people. They he.d begun first occasion that offered itself, the people to weary of endeavQurs which produced no had come to acquiesce in its indefinite post, practical result, and to despair of accom- ponement, and to say among themselves, plishing e.n object which e.11 their efforts did " The time is not come, the time that the not perceptibly advance. A reaction had set Lord's ho\l.Se should be built" (Haggai i. 2), CB, v. 1, 2.] THE BOOK OF EZRA. 65