The Pulpit Commentary — Ezra — Section 94

man, it is a joy. 2. The purpose of the work a joy. It is built for the glory of God and for the good of man. 3. The spirit of the work a joy. 4. The completion of the work a joy. 5. The prospect of the work a joy. 6. The interest of the work a joy. Hea,en rejoices in tl1e finished sanctuary, in which its holy worship shall be conducted, and its redemptive purposes be promoted. Religious worship is a joyful thing; let us enter the house of God with thanksgiving. II. THAT WE SHOULD DEDICATE A NEW CHURCH TO Gon IN A SPIRIT OF DEEP SELF- ABASEMENT. "For a sin offering" (ver. 17). 1. We must not be proud of our mechanical skill. Israel might be tempted to think that as a band of captives they had displayed great skill in building the house ; they rather felt that God had built it. 2. When we have completed any great work for God we must not think that we have done anything worthy of praise ; we must not commend our energy, devotion, or self-sacrifice ; but we must remember our delay, our weakness, and how we needed the ministers of God to stir us to duty. 3. We must humble our souls before God in deep confession of sin. 4. We must come offering by faith the only sacrifice that can avail to make us and our imperfect work acceptable to God. The best house we can build for God is unworthy his acceptance ; he can only accept it through the sacrifice of Christ. 5. We must come united in the sacred fellowship of the Church. Israel united in the feast. • Ill. THAT WE SHOULD DEDICATE A NEW CHURCH TO GOD BY INAUGURATING USEFUL )!ORAL AGENCIES. "They set the priests in their divisions" (ver. 18). The house "ill be comparatively worthless unless it becomes the scene of busy Christian toil and enterprise ; it is to be a house of moral industry. The agencies are-1. Authori- tative, 2. Varied. Priests and Levites; all kinds of workers. 3. Orderly-"in their course." 4. Useful-" for the service." 5. Continuous. One course will relieve another. It is impossible to indicate the manifold agencies which ought to be set in operation by a new church, or to estimate the mighty impulse which should be given to the work of Christ on the earth. IV. THAT WE SHOULD DEDICATE A NEW CHURCH TO GOD REGARDING IT AS THE REPOSITORY OF CHRISTIAN TRUTH AND THE SCENE OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. "As it is written in the book of Moses" (ver. 18). "And killed the passover" (ver. 20), 1. The repository of the truth. The temple was the repository of the law of Moses ; in it the law of Moses was recognised as of supreme authority. In the new church God's book must rule our thought, speech, and action; a law more complet,e than the law of Moses ; for in these last days God bath spoken unto us by his Son. 2. The scene of worship. The new church ia not merely for literary, scientific, philanthropic purposes ; but for the passover, for Christian worship. See that it is used for its rightful purpose.-E. Vers. 19-22.-The passover. Six memorable l.assovers are mentioned in Old Testament Scripture. The first was in Egypt (Exo . xii.). The second in the wilder- ness (Num. xi.). The third at Gilgal (Josh. v.). The fourth in the days of Heze- kiah (2 Chron. xxx.). The fifth in the eighteenth year of Josiah (2 Kings xxiii.). The sixth is that here mentioned. The subject is distributed into two part~:- I. THE FEAST. This also is distributed into two parts. 1. The f,assover proper. (1) This was held " upon the fourteenth day of the first month. ' This was the e.nniversary of the night before the departure of the children of Ierael from Egypt, when the angel who destroyed the first-born of the Egyptians passed over the Israelites, who were protected by the blood of a slaughtered lamb. (2) What an ex- pressive type of the protection we derive through the sprinkling of the blood of Christ (see 1 Cor. v. 7) I The very time of the death of Jesus was indicated in this date. He suffered not only in the first month and on the fourteenth day, but also, "between the evenings" (Matt. xxvii. 46). 2. The feast of unleavened bread. (1) Scrupulous care was taken that no leaven should be found in their dwellings. Leaven is a salt and sour matter which is put into dough to ferment the mass for bread, and ia also of a putrefying nature. Its ex,.l•1sion by the ancient Israelite expressed his OH. VI. 13--22,] THE BOOK OF EZRA. 99