WHEN grace interposes to bless God's people in any real way, after just chastisement of sin and even universal departure, faith surely appreciates His mercy but ought not to forget the wrong done His name and the ruin of His people as a whole. True and holy intelligence, as it ever looks on Christ and the glory of God in His own, cannot rest in partial blessing, and feels just humiliation, while the mass of His people are scattered and the gathered are short of what His majesty justly calls for. Self-satisfaction, even where most is enjoyed, is unworthy of Him. How deeply the Lord felt this! “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you”? This lack of sense of ruin, and feebleness in applying the light of glory to judge self and the present even at its best, we have to feel, and to seek the moral mind of the Lord; and this was the great want of old. Nor did the fruit fail to appear.
But there were difficulties from without also in those that aped the ways of God's people, and claimed their relationship without reality.
“And the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the sons of the captivity were building a temple to Jehovah the God of Israel; and they came to Zerubbabel and to the chief fathers, and said to them, Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as ye; and we have sacrificed to him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria who brought us up hither. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the chief fathers of Israel said to them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build a house to our God; but we alone will build to Jehovah the God of Israel, as king Cyrus, the king of Persia, hath commanded us. And the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius [Darjavesh] king of Persia.
“And in the reign of Ahasuerus [Ahashverosh] in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
“And in the reign of Artaxerxes [Artahshashta], wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his companions, to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in Aramaic and interpreted in Aramaic.
“Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort: Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions, the Dinaites, the Apharsachites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsitos, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shusanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites, and the rest of the peoples whom the great and noble Osnappar brought over and set in the city of Samaria and the rest [of the land] beyond the river, and so forth. This [is] the copy of the letter that they sent unto Artaxerxes the king; Thy servants the men beyond the river, and so forth. Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which came up from thee are come to us unto Jerusalem; they are building the rebellious and the bad city, and have finished the walls, and repaired the foundations. Be it known now unto the king, that, if this city be builded and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and in the end will damage the kings. Now because we eat the salt of the palace, and it is not meet for us to see the king's dishonor, therefore have we sent and certified the king; that search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers: so shalt thou find in the book of the records, and know that this city [is] a rebellious city, and hurtful unto kings and provinces, and that they have moved sedition within the same of old time: for which cause was this city laid waste. We certify the king that, if this city be builded, and the walls finished, by this means thou shalt have no portion beyond the river. [Then] sent the king an answer unto Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and [to [ the rest of their companions that dwell in Samaria, and in the rest of the country beyond the river, Peace, and so forth. The letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me. And I decreed, and search hath been made, and it is found that this city of old time hath made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein. There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, which have ruled over all [the country] beyond the river; and tribute, custom, and toll, was paid unto them. Make ye now a decree to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded, until a decree shall be made by me. And take heed that ye be not slack herein: why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went in haste to Jerusalem unto the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power. Then ceased the work of the house of God which [is] at Jerusalem; and it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia” (vers. 1-24).
The opening words of the Holy Spirit reveal the snare. Whatever the specious advances of the people of the land, they were not God's people but adversaries of Judah and Benjamin. Their movement was of the enemy, and this Zerubbabel and the other chiefs at once perceived and refused. It was no question of friendly feeling, or of catholic sentiment, but of God and His will. It may have been politic to plead the command of Cyrus the Persian; but God's people are strongest when in their weakness they stand solely on the word of God, however glad to know that Cyrus knew and owned the charge of the God of heaven to build Him a house in Jerusalem. They drew their motive from Himself, Who has all hearts in His keeping, moving one to forward His will and letting others oppose it for the trial of faith in His people.
And the weakness of the leaders showed itself still more in the people, who were troubled, or terrified from building for many a day. Yet the enemy could only delay, not frustrate, their purpose, which was of God. But the effort went on from the days of Cyrus till Darius Hystaspis resigned. Verses 6, 7, speak accordingly but in brief of the accusation in the reign of Cyrus' son and successor Cambyses. Verses 7-23 detail the more successful device in the days of the Pseudo-Smerdis, the Magian usurper, who personated the true Smerdis, Cyrus' younger son whom Cambyses had got dispatched. It was really an effort of the Medes to recover the ascendancy in the kingdomwhich the Persians had enjoyed since Cyrus. After little more than seven months the false Smerdis or Artaxerxes of our chapter was assassinated, the Magians in general were massacred, and Darius Hystaspis, one of the highest of the Persian nobles, obtained the kingdom. This may serve to explain why the impostor, ignorant of the policy of Cyrus, lent so ready an ear against it; and why under God he who was in accord with the great king inquired gravely into the truth and adhered to the measures which honored the God and people of Israel.
In their prime duty of separateness to God as His people the chiefs were firm. It was in vain for these heathen to seek fellowship. “For they feared Jehovah, and served their own gods after the manner of the nations whence they had been carried away.” With professed fear of Jehovah “they served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day” (2 Kings 17:33, 4533They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence. (2 Kings 17:33)). Impossible that the true God could consent to a partnership with false objects of worship, behind which were demons; and never would Judah and Benjamin, even though ever so feeble a remnant, abandon their special honor as His chosen, till His love and glory were nothing in their eyes. People ignorant or incredulous may brand faith in His word and the bond between Him and His own as narrow and presumptuous and uncharitable; but those that value the truth justly feel that relationship with Him is necessarily exclusive. It may be of fleshly descent, as of old; or of the Spirit in honor of Christ as now; but it must and ought to shut out all whom God does not own as His according to His goodness revealed then or now. Not that God did not of old show His mercy to strangers; and now more than ever in the gospel He sends His glad tidings to every creature under heaven. But He never did and never will consent to merge in one those who are His and those who are not; and of all strangers none so offensive in His eyes as those who professing that they know Him serve the enemy. The great test now is to confess Jesus. This is to bring the doctrine of Christ come in flesh. Only such have truth, life, or holiness. To abide in the doctrine of Christ is to have both the Father and the Son: more or better none can have. Those who bring not that doctrine do not guard themselves from idols; nor will such as know the truth accredit but avoid them. The principle is the same then and now: only the character differs, because the Son is come, and God has given us His Spirit as could not be before redemption.
Whether the world oppose, or the world sanction, this is a question of providential circumstances: the believer is bound to obey God; if the world interpose or persecute, he has to suffer. But he is on the earth to do God's will, and if hindered by force can await His time. God's word is the expression of His will; as the Holy Spirit is sent forth from heaven to give it effect in the hearts of His children. Nor are the gifts of the Lord (Eph. 4:11I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, (Ephesians 4:1)) withheld, save those which laid the foundation, but given in His faithful love, evangelists, pastors and teachers &c., for the perfecting of the saints, unto ministerial work, unto edifying or building up the body of Christ. There is gracious power assured, and no excuse for disobedience. For God is faithful, Who suffers not His children to be tempted above what they are able.
But there was timidity then through want of faith. The Jews were terrified, and flagged long before their adversaries succeeded in getting the usurper's prohibition. Compare Hag. 1:1-41In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, 2Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. 3Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? (Haggai 1:1‑4). They had soon the sanction of the civil power revoked; and their adversaries had only ill-will till a king arose who knew pot Isaiah's prophecy. Yet were they deterred from the work while they themselves forgot or slighted the word of Jehovah. Nor was it the world's smile or authority which renewed their courage and recalled them to His work. But for explaining this we await the chapter that follows.