nnd Ha.~gai was no longer prophesying, and some of those who had the direction of pubho affa.ire-" princes" they are called (ver. 1)--came to Ezra with a very serious con_iplaint. '£hey came t~ tell him that several o~ the Jews, including many of the Levites, and even of the pneate, and also (and notoriously) some of the princes had broken the clear and plain commandment of the Law by mingling and eve~ intermarrying with the people of surrounding lands, in fact with the heathen (see Exod. xxiii. 32, and xxxiv. 12, 15, 16; Deut. vii. 3). It is not quite certain that they had not gone further than this in the way of laxity and worldliness ; but as far as this they had certainly gone, and the fact that the leaders, secular and spiritual, wern setting the example (ver. 2) made the matter one of the greatest consequence. The soul of Ezra was filled with sadness ; with extreme disappointment and dismay that there should be found so serious a blemish in the holy nation. When he was think- ing that everything promised well, here was an evil in the midst of them which threatened to undo all that had been done, to bring down the wrath of God, and to demolish the good work which he and others before and beside him had so labori- ously built up. He " rent hie garment and hie mantle ; " he " sat astonied until the evening sacrifice" (vers. 3, 4). Such is the common experience of Christian workmen. When the Master himself gathered disciples, the scribes and the Pharisees sought to sow estrangement and separation in their hearts. When Paul, with untiring labour, had founded Churches in Galatia, Judaising teachers followed, undermining hie influence and corrupting the truth he had preached. When we think that all is going well with the cause of God, and that we may rest in spiritual enjoyment, then we, too often, find that tares are among the wheat, that dross is mixed up with the gold, that error is falsifying and distorting truth, that sin is in the Church of Christ. We need not look out for disappointment as a. thing to be certainly found, but when it comes we may remember that it has been an invariable ingredient in the Christian workman's cup, from the Master down to the humblest teacher, from apostolic days to our own. It is trying in the last degree. It tries our patience, our trust in God, our confidence in hie truth ; but it leads us to him, as then it led Ezra, in humble, earnest, united prayer. The Jewish people at this period afford an instance of- II. DISOBEDIENCE-a recurring note in the life of the Christian Church. Diso- bedience had seriously affected the Jews from the highest social rank to the lowest. Princes, priests, Levites, and the common people were all compromised to a greater or less degree. The wrong-doing may not seem so flagrant to us as it did to Ezra, for wide-spread intercourse, national intermingling, is a marked feature of our times. But the one special virtue the J ewieh Church was bound to exemplify was purity ; its principal duty was to maintain separateness from surrounding evil. It was now failing in that respect in which it was most urgently required to be steadfast and true. Hence the intensity of the feeling of Ezra and those who " trembled at the words of the God of Israel" (vere. 3, 4). How often and how sadly has the.Christian Church disappointed its Lord by disobedience to his will. (1) Sinful alliances with the secular power which have corrupted and enfeebled it; (2) guilty conformity to the (a) idolatrous, or (b) licentious, or(c) convivial, or (a) untruthful, or (e) dishonest practices of an unrenewed, unpurified world; (3) culpable disregard to his will respecting the equality of his disciples, and our duty to the "little child," the lowly and help- less member of his Church; (4) faulty negligence to evangelise the surrounding and outlying world-these a.re disobediences which (a) disfigure the beauty of the Church, (/3) disappoint and displease the Master, and (y) delay the conversion of the world.-C.
Vere. 4-15.-Sensibility. Ezra. was a man not only of vigorous mind and strong will, with whom things soon took shape and form, but also of keen sensibility, into whose heart things cut deeply, and whose soul was stirred with strong emotion Therefore he knew not only great joys, but great sorrows also. "Dearly bought the hidden treasure Finer feelin~s can bestow ; Chords that vibrate deepest pleasure Thrill the deepest notes ot woe." L2 148 THE BOOK OF EZRA. [CH, IX. 1-15,