Chapter 1
THE return of the captives from Babylon, important as it was in itself and in its consequences, was no more than a partial accomplishment of prophecy. Jeremiah's seventy years (chap. 25:11, 29:10) were fulfilled, and Daniel's seventy weeks (chap. 9.) thereon had their occasion. Even worse ruin impended, which the latter was given to know and reveal, following the cutting off of Messiah; as indeed the most fruitful and comprehensive of the prophets had already intimated long before (Isa. 49-57). The incredulity that left Jehovah, their own living God, for idols rose up against their own Messiah. Man, the Jew, must show himself as evil and rebellious in every way, before he finds mercy triumphing to God's glory in his salvation and blessing, when the promises to Abraham will have their long expected fulfillment on earth, and the secret of the divine purpose, hid in God from ages and generations, and before time began, will be displayed in the glory of Christ head over all things to the church, His body. The partial return was a pledge of that complete mercy in the future which is inseparable from Christ returning in power and glory, when the world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Anointed shall come (Rev. 11:1515And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 11:15)). He will then take His great power and reign. For behold He cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him; and all tribes of the earth shall wail because of Him. Yea, Amen (Rev. 1:77Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. (Revelation 1:7)).
But that little return of which Ezra gives the inspired account is itself the best refutation of the ignorant dream that Ezekiel's prediction of the valley of dry bones (chap. 37.) then came to pass. For these bones are expressly “the whole house of Israel,” whom Jehovah will bring into the land of Israel (vers. 11,12). Further, to mark the difference more sharply, the prophet was bidden, as the same chapter tells us, to take two sticks, one for Judah and the sons of Israel his companions, the other for Joseph or Ephraim and all the house of his companions. Both of these were to be joined into one stick and become one in Ezekiel's hand: the symbol, as is explained authoritatively of Jehovah making the sons of Israel one nation in their land, and one king to them all, never more to be two nations or to be divided into two kingdoms, never more to defile themselves with their idols or their detestable things or with any of their transgressions, but to be saved and purified, and to be His people, and He their God, and His servant the Beloved King over them, all having one shepherd, their prince forever: such the everlasting covenant of Jehovah with them when He sets His sanctuary in their midst for evermore, and the nations know that He, Jehovah, thus hallows Israel forever.
It was an evil fruit of Gentile conceit (Rom. 11.) to deny that these glorious visions pertain exclusively to Israel in a coming day. It was suicidal folly for the church to arrogate what, glorious as it will be for the earthly people, is wholly beneath the portion which sovereign grace gives us with Christ on high, in the day when all things shall be under His headship (and we one with Him), whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens. As far as I am aware, not a single one among the Fathers, Greek, Latin, Syrian, &c., escaped this high-minded unintelligence, some earlier interpreting the O.T of the glorified saints in the millennium, others later taking it allegorically even now or by-and-by, but none confessing the hopes proper to Israel, none believing that all Israel shall be saved after the fullness of the Gentiles, now being gathered, is come in. No wonder that their error, wise in their own conceits, has sown the wind for the rationalistic whirlwind that blusters so loudly in our day, the root of which is unbelief in God, and faith in man, which sees in the ruin and decadence of Christendom the signs of progress and triumph for fallen man, ignorant of divine judgment till the Lord is revealed from heaven to execute it.
The truth is that one of the most solemn events in O. T. history accompanied the “times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:2424And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:24)), the period of the four Gentile world-powers, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Macedonia, and the Roman empire. Jehovah no longer reigned in Jerusalem, but marked the change by giving over the last king of David's house to Babylon, the head of the image which set out the succession of imperial power, till His kingdom come judicially in the Stone cut without hands, break in pieces all these kingdom, itself never to be destroyed but to stand forever. The return from Babylon was no return of the Shekinah. Jerusalem was no longer the throne of Jehovah, as it had been; still less as it is to be (Jer. 3:1717At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:17)), when all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem; when the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come out of the land of the north to the land He gave for an inheritance to their fathers. Meanwhile since Nebuchadnezzar the government of the world is in the hands of the Gentiles as in Dan. 2., Zechariah, and the Revelation; and Israel is Lo-Ammi, Not-My-People. When the Son of man comes in His kingdom, the Gentiles shall be punished for their abuse of the trust committed to them, culminating in their rising up against Him in glory as before in humiliation; and the first or former dominion shall come to the daughter of Zion, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem (Mic. 4:88And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. (Micah 4:8)), when she shall arise and thresh, and the once despised Jesus shall be great to the ends of the earth.
Yet the return of the remnant was of deep interest and moment during the power of “the beasts” till under the last Messiah came and put them to this new test, more serious even than the old question of cleaving to Jehovah and refusing all other gods. For indeed He was, and was amply proved to be, Jehovah-Messiah; and their apostasy was yet more guiltily to be shown in despising and crucifying Him. Therefore God in due time gave them up to be shaken and scattered to the winds of heaven by the fourth empire for eighteen long centuries, as for their idolatry they were for seventy years swept away by the first.
The narrative repeats the last two verses of 2 Chronicles “And in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath Jehovah, the God of heaven, given me; and he hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all his people, his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Jehovah, the God of Israel (he is God), which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever is left in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, besides the free-will offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem. And the chief fathers of Judah and Benjamin rose up, and the priests, and the Levites, even all whose spirit God had stirred to go up to build the house of Jehovah which is in Jerusalem. And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, besides all that was offered. And king Cyrus brought forth the vessels of the house of Jehovah, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods; even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine-and-twenty knives, thirty basins of gold, silver basins of a second [sort] four hundred and ten, other vessels a thousand. All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. The whole did Sheshbazzar bring up when they of the captivity were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem” (vers. 1-11).
It was the first year of the reign of Cyrus after his overthrow of Babylon. This it was of moment to note, not his previous circumstances. How powerfully Isaiah's prophecy must have struck a mind so thoughtful! Rationalists were not there to insinuate their skepticism. Daniel was there to point out Jeremiah also. It was not policy but Jehovah that stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, as He did that of the chief fathers of the Jews. The conqueror of Babylon proclaimed a jubilee as it were to the captives, but expressly to build Jehovah's house in Jerusalem. Who but an enemy of God's word can doubt. that Isa. 44:2828That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. (Isaiah 44:28), was his “charge” from Jehovah? And his works were according to his words, without attributing more than the action of conscience in presence of facts so stupendous and above human ken. The holy vessels were counted and restored, as far as was fitting, for Jehovah's house in Jerusalem. The ark, the center, the highest in value, the nearest to the glory, was not there. Alas! the glory itself had withdrawn. But in the day that the salvation of Israel comes out of Zion, the glory will return, no more to leave. When Jehovah turns again the captivity of His people, it will be no feeble remnant: Jacob shall be glad, Israel shall rejoice.