in Zerubb11.bel, the spirit of faith, which can recognize the superiority of thinii:e spiritual and religio~s to things earthly and secular, that is not ashamed to espouse tho cause of truth and righteousness on earth, however humble and obscure, because it le t.he tnit.h of God, and that is 11.lways ready, when the voice of God cries within tbo soul, ""Who will go for us?" to respond, "Here aru I, Lord; send me I" lies at the be.sis of all true greatnees in the soul. I~I.. AN EXAMPLE f?F mDOMITABLE COURAGE.. Fe'l'I'. things rarer, even among Chnstians, than a fortitude that can bravo all d1fficult1es and defy all oppositions, especie.lly in matters of religion. Yet is nothing more indispenee.ble. Thousands of brilliant schemes, private as well as public, in Church e.s in state, have come to nothing for we.nt of manly resolution to go on with them nnd carry them through. Had Zerubbe.bel been a craven, he never would have done so outwe.rdly foolish a thing as join himself with a handful of pilgrims who proposed to quit their comfortable homes and prosperous estates in Babylon, and undertake a long and perilous journey to a promised land on the other side of the Syrian desert. Nor, had he been a weakling would he have succeeded in carrying these pilgrims in safety to their destination'. Traced out on a modern map, it seems not a far journey between Babylon and Jeru- salem. Most likely Zerubbe.bel took the road that Abraham had travelled by when be departed from Ur of the Cbaldees, moved northwards to Haran, rounded the head of the Syrian desert, and came down upon Palestine by Dame.sous. Yet to Abraham, with his comparatively small company, the feat must'have been immensely easier than it could have been to Zeru bbabel, with fifty thousand heads of families and nearly a quarter of a million souls in all to take charge of. But with the help of God and bis own stout heart he did it. It was a feat only second to that of Moses, who brought their fathers out of Egypt, led them through the scorching and fiery wilderness, and set them down at the gate of Cana.an. Nor again, unless Zerubbabel had been a hero who was not easily discouraged, could be have brought the temple to completion, working, as be did, with a company of builders who became alarmed at every menace uttered against them by the people of the lend, and who threw down their tools on encountering the smallest resistance. So difficnlt was the task to keep them at their work, and so formidable were the obstacles he bad to encounter, that Zechariah, a younger prophet :han Haggai, likened the work he had to do to the levelling of a great mountain, encouraging him at the same time with the assurance that it would be levelled, " Who art thou, 0 great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain." And hecome a plain it did. Reinforced by a fresh company of builders who came up from Babylon under the leadership of Ezra, Zerubbe.bel and his band pushed on the work till it we.s :finished, and the temple received its top-stone with shouting& of "Grace, grace unto it " (Ezra vii. 6-8; Zech. iv. 7). IV. AJl ILLUBTB.ATION OF CONSPICUOUS PROMOTION. A great honour was conferred on Zerubba.bel when chosen by Jehovah to be bis servant, and as such appointed the leader of his people. A greater when assured that God would graciously assist him until the task assigned to him had been successfully carried through. The greatest when, in reward for his faithful service, it was promised that he and his would be sharers in the future Messianic glory reserved for Israel; for this is what the clause means, "I will make thee as a signet-ring, 0 Zerubbabel, my servant." It lends a remarkable interest to this verse of Haggai to be told that in recent excavations upon Temple Hill, a ring has been discovered with the name of Haggai inscribed upon it (' Recent Discoveries on the Temple Hill,' pp. 78-80). In the eyes of Orientals the finger-ring, or signet, was regarded as a valuable possession, to lose which was esteemed a dire calamity. To speak of one as a Hignet-ring wns to assure him of tender regard and watchful preservation. Reversing the threat prono111nced against Jeconiah, the last King of J ude.b, and the grandfather of Zerubbabel (Jer. xxii. 24), Jehovah promises that Zerubbabel shall be as a signet-ring upon hie own finger, i.e. shall be indissolubly associated with himself and regarded with sincere affection; and this promise may he said to have been fulfilled, so far as Zerubbabel was concerned, in that be was henceforth inseparably linl.:ed with the history of God's people, and in fact constituted an ancestor of Messiah, who afterwards sprang from hie line. But as the •day when the promised distinction should be conferred on Zerubbabel was expressly specified as the day when the proce11s begun h• Jehovah of shaking the heavens and t4e IW'th should have been OH, JI, 1-23,) THE BOOK OF HAGGAT. 33
brnught to n comploHon, at which time Zerubbabel should h_ave been J,m_g ,le_ail, it bocomes obvious that the promise must be understood 11s havmg reached its highest fulfilment in Zerubbabcl's distinguished descendant, who should then be made ,J ehovah's signet-ring in reward for a greator work of emancipation and temple-building than had boon perfo;metl by Zerubbabel. And in this_rewa_rd all sha~e who, "'.hether be~ore h)~ coming or since, have been fellow-workers with him by servmg the W11l of God m theu day and generation. LESSONS, 1. The value of great men to their own age and to the world at large. 2. 'l'he certainty of a Divine fore-ordination in ordinary life. 3. The impossibility of faithful work on earth losing its reward.