Table of Contents

Exodus part 1, Ex. 1 - 24

(Part 2 is the file exodus2.doc)

EXODUS

PREFATORY.

E. D. LONDON, 1882.

CHAPTER 1. ISRAEL IN EGYPT.

EXODUS 1.

CHAPTER 2.  THE BIRTH OF MOSES.

EXODUS 2.

CHAPTER 3.  THE COMMISSION OF MOSES,

EXODUS 3, 4.

EXODUS 5, 6.

CHAPTER 5.  JUDGMENTS UPON EGYPT.

EXODUS 7 - 11.

CHAPTER 6.  THE PASSOVER LAMB.

EXODUS 12.

CHAPTER 7.  GOD'S CLAIMS.

EXODUS 13.

CHAPTER 8. GOD AS THE DELIVERER OF HIS PEOPLE.

EXODUS 14.

CHAPTER 9.  THE SONG OF REDEMPTION.

EXODUS 15: 1-21.

CHAPTER 10.  MARAH AND ELIM.

EXODUS 15: 22-27.

CHAPTER 11.  THE MANNA.

EXODUS 16.

CHAPTER 12.  REPHIDIM AND AMALEK.

EXODUS 17.

CHAPTER 13.  MILLENNIAL BLESSING.

EXODUS 18.

CHAPTER 14.  SINAI.

EXODUS 19, 20.

CHAPTER 15.  JUDGMENTS.

EXODUS 21 - 23.

CHAPTER 16.  THE RATIFICATION OF THE COVENANT.

EXODUS 24.

Exodus part 2, Ex. 25 - 40

(Part 1 is the file exodus1.doc)

EXODUS

CHAPTER 17.  THE TABERNACLE.

EXODUS 25: 1-9.

CHAPTER 18.  THE ARK WITH THE MERCY-SEAT.

EXODUS 25: 10-22.

THE MERCY-SEAT.

CHAPTER 19.  THE TABLE OF SHOWBREAD.

EXODUS 19: 23-30.

CHAPTER 20. THE CANDLESTICK OF PURE GOLD.

EXODUS 25: 31-40.

CHAPTER 21. THE CURTAINS OF THE TABERNACLE.

EXODUS 26: 1-14.

CHAPTER 22.  THE FRAMEWORK OF THE TABERNACLE.

EXODUS 26: 15-30.

CHAPTER 23.  THE BEAUTIFUL VEIL, ETC.

EXODUS 26: 31-37.

CHAPTER 24.  THE BRAZEN ALTAR.

EXODUS 27: 1-8.

CHAPTER 25.  THE COURT OF THE TABERNACLE.

EXODUS 27: 9-19.

CHAPTER 26.  THE PRIESTHOOD.

EXODUS 28.

CHAPTER 27.  THE CONSECRATION OF THE PRIESTS.

EXODUS 29: 1-35.

CHAPTER 28.  THE CONTINUAL BURNT-OFFERING.

EXODUS 29: 38-46.

CHAPTER 29.  THE ALTAR OF INCENSE.

EXODUS 30: 1-10.

CHAPTER 30.  THE ATONEMENT MONEY.

EXODUS 30: 11-16.

CHAPTER 31. THE LAVER.

EXODUS 30: 17-21.

CHAPTER 32. THE HOLY ANOINTING OIL AND THE SWEET SPICES.

EXODUS 30: 22-38.

CHAPTER 33.  QUALIFICATIONS FOR SERVICE.

EXODUS 31.

CHAPTER 34. APOSTASY, MEDIATION, AND RESTORATION.

EXODUS 32 - 34.

CHAPTER 35.  DEVOTEDNESS AND OBEDIENCE.

EXODUS 35 - 40.

Ezra

INTRODUCTION

Ezra 1.

Ezra 2.

Ezra 3.

Ezra 4.

Ezra 5.

Ezra 6.

Ezra 7.

Ezra 8.

Ezra 9.

Ezra 10.

Nehemiah

INTRODUCTION

NEHEMIAH 1.

NEHEMIAH 2.

NEHEMIAH 3.

NEHEMIAH 4.

NEHEMIAH 5.

NEHEMIAH 6.

NEHEMIAH 7.

NEHEMIAH 8.

NEHEMIAH 9.

NEHEMIAH 10.

NEHEMIAH 11.

NEHEMIAH 12, NEHEMIAH 13: 1-3.

NEHEMIAH 13: 4-31.

Daniel the Prophet

and the times of the Gentiles.

PREFACE.

INTRODUCTION.

DANIEL 1.

DANIEL 2.

DANIEL 3.

DANIEL 4.

DANIEL 5.

DANIEL 6.

DANIEL 7.

DANIEL 8.

DANIEL 9.

SEVENTY WEEKS.

DANIEL 10.

DANIEL 11.

DANIEL 12.

The Book of Jonah

Jonah 2.

Jonah 3.

Jonah 4.

The Book of Haggai

Haggai 1: 12-15.

Haggai 2: 1-5.

Haggai 2: 6-9.

Haggai 2: 10-19.

Haggai 2: 20-23.

Zechariah the Prophet

Preface

Introduction

Zechariah 1.

Zechariah 2.

Zechariah 3.

Zechariah 4.

Zechariah 5.

Zechariah 6.

Zechariah 7.

Zechariah 8.

Zechariah 9.

Zechariah 10.

Zechariah 11.

Zechariah 12.

Zechariah 13.

Zechariah 14.

Malachi

THE STATE OF THINGS AT THE END.

Malachi 1.

Malachi 2.

Malachi 3.

Malachi 4.

E. Dennett - Old Testament Commentaries

Old Testament Commentary [3]

Edward Dennett

This document may be found online at www.stempublishing.com

You are welcome to freely access and use this material for personal study or sending to other Bible students, compiling extracts for notes etc, but please do not republish without permission.

With the prayerful desire that the Lord Jesus Christ will use this God-given ministry in this form for His glory and the blessing of many in these last days before His coming. © Les Hodgett (contact@stempublishing.com) (2011)

Exodus part 1, Ex. 1 - 24

Exodus part 1, Ex. 1 - 24.

(Part 2 is the file exodus2.doc)

EXODUS

— being a simple exposition.

E. Dennett.

(Broom, 1889)

"A shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." Col. 2: 17.

PREFATORY.

THE following chapters are very simple and purely expository. In dealing with the Tabernacle and its sacred vessels, the subject might have been made more attractive if embellished with illustrations. It may be questioned, however, if pictorial representations, though they may have their value in an educational point of view, whether for the young or for the student, do not really hinder rather than aid in the apprehension of spiritual teaching. Now that the veil is rent, and believers have access, in virtue of the precious blood of Christ, into the holiest, into the immediate presence of God, the meaning of the Tabernacle is best understood by looking back upon it through the light of the fulfilment of all in Christ. For He, and He alone, is the key wherewith to unlock these sacred mysteries. In a word, it is Christ who explains the Tabernacle, and not the Tabernacle which explains Christ. The Tabernacle indeed was not a type, but an antitype, and was only "a figure for the time then present," "the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing." (Heb. 9: 8.) It is therefore the earnest hope and prayer of the writer that the perusal of these pages may, by the blessing of God, help the reader to discover more of the beauties and the excellencies of the person of Christ, and to understand more fully the nature and perfection of His work, as well as the blessed place of privilege and grace into which believers have consequently been brought.

E. D. LONDON, 1882.

CHAPTER 1. ISRAEL IN EGYPT.

EXODUS 1.

THE grand subject of the book of Exodus is that of redemption. In Genesis we have creation, and then, after the fall, and the announcement of a Deliverer in the seed of the woman, who should bruise the serpent's head (Gen. 3: 15) — the revelation, in fact, of the second Man, of whom Adam was a figure (Rom. 5: 14), and in whom all God's counsels should be established — "all the great elementary principles which find their development in the history of the relationships of God with man, which is recorded in the following books." The book of Genesis has therefore been aptly termed the seed-plot of the Bible. But in Exodus the subject is one — redemption with its consequences, consequences in grace, and when the people, showing their insensibility to grace, as well as ignorance of their own condition, had put themselves under law, consequences of government. Still the grand result of redemption, the establishment of a people before God, in relationship with Him, is achieved; and this it is that lends such an interest to the book, and makes it so instructive for the Christian reader.

The first five verses contain a brief statement of the names of Jacob's sons who came into Egypt with their father — they and their households, numbering, together with Joseph and his house already in Egypt, seventy souls. The particulars, of which this is a brief summary, are found in Genesis 46. The immediate occasion of their going down to Egypt was the famine; but by the famine, as by the wickedness of Jacob's sons in selling their brother to the Ishmaelites (Gen. 37: 28), God was but accomplishing the fulfilment of His own purposes. Long ere this He had said unto Abram, "Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years: and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance." (Gen. 15: 13, 14.) This is the history of the first twelve chapters in Exodus; and it fills us with admiration to reflect that, whatever the actings of men even in wickedness and high-handed rebellion, they are made subservient to the establishment of the divine counsels of grace and love. As Peter indeed said, on the day of Pentecost, concerning Christ, "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." (Acts 2: 23.) Thus even the wrath of man is yoked to the chariot wheels of God's decrees.

There is undoubtedly a reason for the children of Israel being shown to us, at the opening of the book, in Egypt. In Scripture Egypt is a type of the world, and hence Israel in Egypt becomes a figure of man's natural condition. Thus, after the statement that "Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation" (v. 6), the narrative passes rapidly on to describe their circumstances and condition. First, their increase and, indeed, prosperity are indicated. They" were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them." (v. 7.) They were the children of promise, albeit in Egypt, and as such God's favour was resting upon them. Hence this picture of earthly prosperity. God never forgets His people, although they may forget Him.

Now another figure appears on the scene — "a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph." (v. 8.) The statement that he "knew not Joseph" is exceeding significant. Joseph in Egypt was a type of Christ in His earthly glory, and consequently not to know him is characteristic of a moral state. Pharaoh in fact is the god of this world, and as such must of necessity be in antagonism to the Lord's people. Accordingly we read at once of his crafty devices and malicious designs to destroy their prosperity, and to reduce them to helpless and hopeless bondage. (vv. 9-12.) And what was his motive? "Lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land." (v. 10.) Satan knows, what we are apt to forget, that the world must hate the children of God, and that they, if faithful, must be in antagonism to the world, and hence he in the person of Pharaoh seems to provide for the contingency of war, and to prevent their deliverance. He therefore "set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses."* Thereby they are brought under bondage to the world, "and the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour: and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage." (vv. 13, 14.) The other side of the picture is, "The more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew." (v. 12.) This arose from the fact already pointed out, that, whatever their condition, they were the people of promise, embraced in the purposes of God, and as such were watched over, shielded, and blessed; so that Pharaoh, as the god of this world, was powerless to accomplish their destruction. The real question was, as the issue shows, between God and Pharaoh; and the king of Egypt was, in his schemes against the children of Israel, fighting against God. Hence his failure on every side. On the other hand, the condition of the Israelites portrays most strikingly the condition of the sinner — the sinner rather who has been made to feel the iron yoke of his slavery to sin and Satan. As with the prodigal, who falls lower and lower, until he is at the point of death and in utter degradation, before he comes to himself, so here God makes the children of Israel feel the weight of their burdens, and to taste the bitterness of their vile servitude, to awaken in them a desire for deliverance before He commences to act on their behalf. There is such a thing as the sinner being insensible to his degradation, and contented, if not happy, in his alienation from God; but if he is to be saved he must pass through the experience which is foreshadowed by this account of the condition of the Israelites. Until then, he never knows his real state, or desires deliverance.

*Not even the site of these cities — although many conjectures are offered — can with any certainty be now identified.

The rest of the chapter (vv. 15-22) is taken up with a description of another attempt to enfeeble, and in time to destroy, the children of Israel. But again there is the activity of another on their behalf. Pharaoh was an absolute king, and none of his subjects dared to oppose his will; but even these feeble women are sustained in their disobedience, because they judged it their first duty to fear God. The mightiest monarch in the world is powerless as against God, and equally so against those who are identified with God and His people. Hence Shiphrah and Puah "did not as the king of Egypt commanded" (v. 17), and God dealt well with them, and because they feared God, He made them houses. (vv. 17-21.) "If God be for us, who can be against us (Rom. 8: 31.) We may therefore learn, first, the utter impotence of the enemy to frustrate the purposes of God; secondly, the invincibility of those who are connected with His purposes; thirdly, how the fear of God can lift the feeblest and humblest above the fear of man; and then, last of all, how grateful to the heart of God is every sign of fidelity to Him in the midst of a scene where Satan reigns, as the god of this world, and oppresses and seeks to destroy His people.

But Pharaoh's enmity increases, and he "charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive." (v. 22.) The next chapter will show us how God used this very decree of the king to prepare a deliverer for His people.

CHAPTER 2.  THE BIRTH OF MOSES.

EXODUS 2.

THIS chapter, full of interest, is made more attractive to the spiritual mind by the divine commentary which is given in Hebrews 11 upon its main incidents. Here it is a simple record of the human side of the actions recorded; there it is rather the divine side, or the estimate which God formed of the deeds of His people. It is only, therefore, by the combination of these two aspects that we can glean the instruction which is thus afforded. As in the case of the birth of our blessed Lord at Bethlehem, so here, little did the parents or the world around understand the significance of the birth of the son of Amram and Jochebed. It is thus that God always works, noiselessly laying the foundation of His purposes, and preparing His instruments until the moment, before determined, arrives for action, and then He makes bare His arm in the display of His presence and power in the face of the world.

But we must trace the events of the chapter. "And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and bare a son; and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months." (vv. 1, 2.) How simply beautiful this natural scene! And how well our hearts can enter into the feelings of this Jewish mother! The king had commanded that every son that was born should be cast into the river (Ex. 1: 22); but what mother could consent to give up her child to death? All the affections of her heart would revolt from it. But, alas! there was the inexorable decree of this despotic king; and how could she, a poor, feeble woman, and a feeble woman of a despised race, resist the will of an absolute monarch? Turn to the inspired comment in the New Testament: "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment." (Heb. 11: 23) True, they owed allegiance to their earthly sovereign, but they also owed allegiance to the Lord of lords, and trusting in Him they were lifted above all fear of the king's commandment, and concealed their child — the child whom God had given to them — for three months. They counted upon God, and they were not confounded; for He never leaves or forsakes them that put their trust in Him. This is a most blessed action of faith, — and in a twofold way. With their eye upon God, they dared to be disobedient to the king's wicked command, and they were fearless of the consequences. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in a later age, they believed that the God whom they served was able to deliver them out of the king's hand. (Daniel 3: 16, 17.) The rulers of this world are powerless in the presence of those who are linked with God by the exercise of faith.

The time, however, came when this "proper child could no longer be hid (v. 2); showing the increasing vigilance of the enemy of God and His people. But faith is never wanting in resources. We accordingly find that "she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him." (vv. 3,4.) As with Isaac and Samuel, so likewise with Moses, death must be known, at least in figure, by the parents, both for themselves and for their child before he can become an instrument in service for God. It is not a little remarkable, in this connection, that the word here used for ark is not found elsewhere in the Scriptures, except for the ark in which Noah and his house were brought through the flood. There is another resemblance. The ark of Noah was pitched within and without with pitch. Jochebed daubs this ark with slime and pitch. Noah acted under divine direction, and hence the word there used for pitch means also a ransom (Exodus 30: 12; Job 33: 24, etc.), shadowing forth the truth that a ransom must be found to deliver from the waters of judgment; but this Hebrew mother used pitch of another kind, and therefore did not know the full truth — Yet she thereby confessed the need of redemption, her faith owned it, and thus her ark of bulrushes, containing its precious freight, floated in safety amid the flags upon this river of death. There may not have been divine intelligence, but there was true faith, and this ever finds a response in the heart of God. Remark, also, that the sister, and not the mother, watches for the issue. This might easily be explained on human grounds, but is there not another solution? The mother believed, and could consequently rest in peace, although the child, dearer to her than life itself, was exposed upon the river. In like manner, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, is not found at the sepulchre in which the Lord of glory lay, because she had entered into the mystery of His death. (John 12: 7.)

We now pass on to consider the action of God in response to the faith of His people. "And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it," etc. (v. 5.) It is exceedingly beautiful and instructive to see God thus behind the scene arranging all for His own glory. The daughter of Pharaoh was acting from her own inclination, and for her own pleasure, and knew not that she was an instrument of the divine will. But everything — her going down to the river to bathe, the time of her doing so — all was according to the purpose of God in respect of the child who was to be the deliverer of His people. Accordingly she saw the ark, had it fetched, opened it, and saw the child; "and, behold, the babe wept." (v. 6.) Even the tears of the babe had their object, and they were not shed in vain; they excited the compassion of this royal woman, as she said, comprehending the secret, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." (v. 6.) The sister who had been anxiously watching to see what might become of her baby-brother, receives the word of wisdom at this critical juncture, and said, "Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother." (vv. 7, 8.) The child Moses, who had been exposed on the river in consequence of the king of Egypt's decree, is thus restored to his mother under the protection of Pharaoh's daughter. And there he remained until he had grown, and then Jochebed "brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water." (v. 10.) His very name shall declare the power of Him who had saved him from death, brought him out of the waters of judgment in His sovereign grace and love. Thus the man of God's choice, the one He had marked out as His chosen instrument for the deliverance of His people, and to become the mediator of His covenant with them, finds shelter under the roof of Pharaoh. During this period he became learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." (Acts 7: 22.)

Another epoch of his life is now presented to us. Forty years had passed away before the incident occurred which is described in the eleventh and following verses. "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and, when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well." (vv. 11-15; see also Acts 7: 23.) As we read this narrative, it might be supposed that the act of Moses, in killing the Egyptian, was nothing beyond the impulse of a generous heart, feeling the injustice which was done, and interfering to avenge it. But what is the interpretation of this act by the Spirit of God? "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible." (Heb. 11: 24-27.)

We must, however, carefully guard ourselves from concluding that the Spirit of God endorses all that the narrative records in Exodus. No doubt Moses acted in the energy of the flesh; but though he had not as yet learned his own nothingness and incompetency, he yet desired to act for God; and it is from the epistle to the Hebrews we learn the true character of his actions before God. That there was failure is clear; but it was the failure of a man of faith, whose actions were precious in the sight of God, because he was enabled, in the exercise of faith, to refuse all that might have tempted the natural man, and to identify himself with the interests of God's people. But this passage in his life demands a more particular notice. First, then, it was by faith that he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. What else, indeed, could have led to the renunciation of such a splendid position? Besides, he might have argued, he had been placed in it by a most singular and striking providence. Might it not be therefore that he should occupy it, and use the influence connected with it, on behalf of his downtrodden brethren? Why, he might succeed in securing the whole influence of the court on behalf of his nation; would it not be, then, to fly in the face of Providence, to forsake such a vantage-ground? But Providence, as has been often remarked, is no guide to faith. Faith deals with things not seen, and hence seldom agrees with the conclusions that are drawn from providential events and circumstances. No; the influence of the god of this world (Pharaoh) can never be employed to deliver the Lord's people; and faith can never be sheltered by or identified with it. Faith has God for its object, and must therefore be identified with what belongs to God, and be in antagonism with all that is opposed to God. As another has said, "How many reasons might have induced Moses to remain in the position where he was, and this even under the pretext of being able to do more for the people; but this would have been leaning on the power of Pharaoh, instead of recognizing the bond between the people and God: it might have resulted in a relief which the world would have granted, but not in a deliverance by God, accomplished in His love and in His power. Moses would have been spared much affliction, but lost his true glory; Pharaoh flattered, and his authority over the people of God recognized; and Israel would have remained in captivity, leaning on Pharaoh, instead of recognizing God in the precious and even glorious relationship of His people with Him. God would not have been glorified; yet all human reasoning, and all reasoning connected with providential ways, would have induced Moses to remain in his position; faith made him give it up." And giving it up, he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. Identification with them had more attractions for his faithful heart than the pleasures of sin; for faith views everything in the light of God's presence. Yea, he rose still higher; he esteemed the reproach of Christ — the reproach arising from identification with Israel — greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. Faith thus lives in the future, as well as in the unseen. It is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen; and hence it governed, controlled, the heart and path of Moses.

It was faith, then, that actuated him when "he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens." (v. 11) And even when, stirred by "seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian," he "supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them." (Acts 7: 24,25.) And so it was to be, but the time had not yet arrived, nor could God yet employ Moses — precious as his faith was in His sight. As Peter had to learn that he could not follow Christ in the energy of nature, whatever the affections of his heart (John 13: 36), so Moses had to be taught that no weapon could be employed in the deliverance of Israel save the power of God. When, therefore, he went out the second day, and seeing two Hebrews striving together, sought to reconcile them, he is taunted with killing the Egyptian, and is himself rejected. (vv. 13, 14.) Pharaoh too heard of what he had done, and sought to slay him. He is thus rejected by his brethren, and persecuted by the world.

From this point he becomes a type of Christ in his rejection; for he is rejected by the people whom he loved, and becomes in his flight separated from his brethren. "By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible." He still trod the path of faith, though that path led him into the desert amongst a strange people. But God provided His servant a home, and a wife in one of the daughters of Jethro (Reuel). Zipporah is thus in figure a type of the church, for she is associated with Moses during the time of his rejection by Israel. But the heart of Moses is still with his people, and hence he names his son Gershom; "for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land." (v. 22.) Joseph, on the other hand, names his sons Manasseh — "for God hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house;" and Ephraim — "for God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction." The comparison is most instructive, and shows in what special aspects Joseph and Moses are types of Christ. If Joseph presents us with Christ as raised through death to the right hand of the throne over the Gentiles, and thereon disclosing Himself to, and receiving His brethren, Moses gives us Christ more exclusively as the Redeemer of Israel; and hence, though he marries during the time of his rejection, and is thus in some sort a figure of Christ and the church in this dispensation, his heart is still with the children of Israel, and therefore he is a stranger in a strange land.

The last three verses bring before us the condition of the people, and reveal at the same time the faithfulness and compassion of God. They belong rather to the next chapter.

CHAPTER 3.  THE COMMISSION OF MOSES,

EXODUS 3, 4.

MOSES was no less than forty years in the wilderness, learning the lessons he needed for his future work, and being qualified to act for God as the deliverer of His people. What a contrast to his former life at the court of Pharaoh. There he was surrounded with all the luxury and refinement of his age; here he is a simple shepherd, keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. Forty is the number of probation, as seen, for example, in the forty years in the wilderness of the children of Israel; also in the forty days' temptation of our blessed Lord. It was therefore a time of testing — testing what Moses was, as well as a time for him to prove what God was; and these two things must ever be learnt before we are qualified for service. Hence God always sends His servants into the wilderness before employing them for the accomplishment of His purposes. Nowhere else can we be brought so fully into the presence of God. It is there, alone with Him, that we discover the utter vanity of human resources, and our entire dependence upon Himself. And very blessed is it to be withdrawn from the busy haunts of men, and to be shut in, as it were, with God, to learn in communion with Himself His own thoughts concerning ourselves, concerning His interests and service. Indeed it is a continual necessity for every true servant to be much alone with God; and where this is forgotten, God often brings it about, in the tenderness of His heart, by the disciplinary dealings of His hand.

The time at length arrives when God can begin to interfere for His people. But let us recall the connection. In the first chapter the people are seen in their bondage; in the second, Moses is born, and introduced into the house of Pharaoh. Then he casts in his lot with the people of God, and in the warmth of his affection seeks to remedy their wrongs; but, rejected, he flees into the desert. After forty years, being now eighty years old, he is to be sent back into Egypt. The third and fourth chapters contain the account of his mission from God, and of his unwillingness to be thus employed. But before this is reached, there is a short preface at the end of the second chapter — which really belongs to the third as to its connection — which reveals the ground on which God was acting for the redemption of His people. First, it tells us that the king of Egypt died, but his death brought no alleviation of the condition of the children of Israel. On the other hand, they "sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God, by reason of the bondage." They were thus reduced to the lowest extremity. But God was not insensible, for He "heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them." (Ex. 2: 23-25.) Their condition touched the heart of God, drew forth His pitying mercies, but the ground on which He acted was His own sovereign grace, as expressed in the covenant He had made with their fathers. It was this same mercy, and His faithfulness to His word, which both Mary and Zacharias celebrated in their songs of praise in connection with the birth of the Saviour, and of His forerunner John. "He hath holpen His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy; as He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever." And again, He "hath raised up an horn of salvation for us . . . to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which He sware to our father Abraham," etc. (Luke 1: 54, 55, 68-73.) It is impossible that God should forget His word, and if He delay to accomplish it, it is only for the brighter display of His unchanging grace and love.

Having, then, laid the foundation in these few words, the next scene brings before us the dealings of God with Moses.

"Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed." (Ex. 3: 1, 2.)

It is most interesting to trace the appearings of God to His people, and to note how the manner of each is related to the special circumstances of the case. (See Gen. 12, 18, 32; Joshua 5, etc.) Here it is strikingly significant as connected with the mission on which Moses was about to be sent. There are three parts to the vision thus vouchsafed — the Lord, the flame of fire, and the bush. Observe, first, that it is said the angel of the Lord appeared unto Moses (v. 2); and then the Lord saw that he turned aside, and God called unto him out of the midst of the bush. (v. 4. Compare Gen. 22: 15, 16.) The angel of the Lord is thus identified with Jehovah, yea, with God Himself; and there is no doubt that in all these appearings of the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament Scriptures, we behold the shadowing forth of the coming incarnation of the Son of God, and hence that, in all these cases, it is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity — God the Son. The flame of fire is a symbol of the holiness of God. This is shown in various ways, especially in the fire on the altar, which consumed the sacrifices; and in the epistle to the Hebrews we have the express statement that "our God is a consuming fire;" i.e. testing everything according to His holiness, and thus consuming everything which does not answer its requirements. The bush was meant to be a figure of Israel. There is nothing more easily consumed by fire than a bush; and it was chosen on this very account to represent the nation of Israel — the nation of Israel in the furnace of Egypt — the fire burning fiercely round about it, and yet not destroying it. It was therefore a consolatory assurance to the heart of Moses — if he could read it aright — that his nation would be preserved however fiercely the fire might burn. In the language of another, "it was meant to be an image of that which was presented to the spirit of Moses — a bush in a desert, burning, but unconsumed. It was no doubt thus that God was about to work in the midst of Israel. Moses and they must know it. They too would be the chosen vessel of His power in their weakness, and this for ever in His mercy. Their God, as ours, would prove Himself a consuming fire. Solemn, but infinite favour! For, on the one hand, as surely as He is a consuming fire, so on the other the bush, weak as it is, and ready to vanish away, nevertheless remains to prove that, whatever may be the siftings and judicial dealings of God, whatever the trials and searchings of man, yet where He reveals Himself in pitifulness, as well as in power (and such it certainly was here), He sustains the object, and uses the trial for nothing but good, no doubt for His own glory, but consequently for the very best interests of those that are His."

Moses was attracted, as well he might be, by "this great sight," and "he turned aside to see." (v. 4.) Then it was that God called to him out of the bush, and called him by name. But he must be reminded of the holiness of the divine presence. "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." (v. 5. Compare Numbers 5: 1-3; Joshua 5: 15, etc.) This is the first lesson which all who approach God must learn — the recognition of His holiness. True, He is a God of grace, of mercy, and also that He is love; but He is all these because He is a holy God, and He could never have manifested Himself in these blessed characters, had it not been that in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ mercy and truth met together, and righteousness and peace kissed each other. But unless our feet are unshod — remembering the holiness of Him with whom we have to do — we can never receive the gracious communications of His mind and will. Hence the very next thing we find here is that He reveals Himself to Moses as the "God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." (v. 6.) This revelation was designed to act upon the soul of Moses, and it does — for he is bowed in heart before Him who spake — and he "hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God." (See 1 Kings 19: 13.) Thereon Jehovah announces the purpose of His manifestation to Moses.

"And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters: for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto Me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." (vv. 7-10.)

The order of this communication is most instructive. (1) God reveals Himself as the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. His own character is the foundation of all His actings. It is exceedingly strengthening to the soul to learn this lesson — that God ever finds His motive within Himself. It is on the ground of what He is, and not on the ground of what we are. (Compare Eph. 1: 3-6; 2 Tim. 1: 9, 10.) (2) The occasion of His action was the condition of His people. "And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows," etc. (v. 7 seq.) What infinite tenderness! There is not a word to show that the children of Israel had cried to the Lord. They had sighed and cried by reason of their bondage, but it does not appear that their hearts had turned to the Lord. But their misery had touched His heart, He "knew their sorrows, and was come down to deliver them." So "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5: 8.) (3) His purpose was to deliver them out of Egypt, "and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites." (v. 8.) There is nothing here between Egypt and Canaan. The wilderness does not appear. In like manner, in Romans we read, "Whom He justified, them He also glorified." We thus learn, as has been often remarked, that the wilderness is no part of the purpose of God. It belongs to His ways, and not to His purposes; for it is in the wilderness that the flesh is tested, that we learn what we are as well as what God is. (See Deut. 8) But as far as God's purposes are concerned, there is nothing between redemption and glory. So in the actual fact, there were only eleven days' journey from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea (Deut. 1: 2), but the children of Israel were forty years through their unbelief in accomplishing the distance. (4) Moses is thereon commissioned as their deliverer. The Lord had heard the cry of the people, though not addressed to Himself, and seen their oppression, and therefore He will send Moses unto Pharaoh that he may bring them forth out of Egypt. (vv. 9, 10,)

We now come to a most sad exhibition of failure on the part of Moses. When in Egypt he ran before he was sent; he thought that, in the energy of his own will, he could emancipate his brethren, or at least redress their wrongs. But now, after forty years spent in "the flesh-subduing solitudes" of the desert, he not only is unwilling. to be employed upon the magnificent mission with which the Lord would entrust him, but he raises objection after objection until he wearies the tender patience and long-suffering of Jehovah, and His anger is kindled against Moses. (Ex. 4: 14.) But every fresh failure of Moses proves the occasion for the display of greater grace — even though in the event Moses suffered through his whole life from his backwardness in obeying the voice of the Lord. Miserable history of the flesh! Now it is too forward, and now it is too backward. There is only One who was ever found equal to all God's will — who always did the things that pleased Him — and that was the perfect servant, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us glance at this series of difficulties which Moses raises.

"And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" (v. 11.)

Who am I?" It is quite right that we should have the sense of our own utter nothingness; for we surely are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. But it is also right that we should think much of God. For when He sends it is not a question of what we are, but of what He is — and it is no small thing to be invested with His authority and power. David had learnt this lesson when he advanced against Goliath; for, in reply to his taunts, he said, "I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied." (1 Sam. 17: 45.) This objection therefore was nothing but distrust. This is distinctly shown out in the answer he received, "CERTAINLY I WILL BE WITH THEE: and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain." (v. 12.) The presence of the Lord was to be both the warrant for his mission and the source of his strength. As the Lord said in after days to Joshua, "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage." (Joshua 1: 5, 6.) The Lord knows the need of His servant, and provides for his weakness by giving a token which should reassure him — should the subtlety of his heart lead him into doubt, — so that he might be able to say, "Now I have a proof of my divine mission." Surely this was enough to scatter his hesitation and fear. Listen to his answer:

"And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? what shall I say unto them?" (v. 13.)

God had already revealed Himself to Moses as the God of his fathers — and this might have been enough, but nothing can ever satisfy doubts and fears. And what an incidental glimpse is thus given of the condition of Israel, so as to render the supposition possible that they might not know the name of the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob! God bears in grace with his feeble, hesitant servant, and replies, "I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." (v. 14.) This is the expression of the essential being of God — His name as the self-existent One; and thereby affirms His eternal being. It was this name the Lord Jesus claimed when He said to the unbelieving Jews, "Before Abraham was, I AM." (John 8: 58.) But this is not all. Having revealed Himself as to His essential existence, He adds, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is My name for ever, and this is My memorial unto all generations." (v. 15.) This is pure grace on the part of God. "I AM, is His own essential name; but as regards His government of, and relationship with, the earth, His name — that by which He is to be remembered to all generations — is the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. This gave Israel, now visited and taken up of God under His name, a very peculiar place." It points indeed to their election by the sovereign grace of God, and to their being beloved for their fathers' sake; and at the same time reveals the fact that Israel shall be for ever the centre of God's ways, and the key to His purposes upon the earth. Hence, as long as Israel is under judgment, scattered throughout the world, the period Of earthly blessing is still postponed.

It was consequently in this name that God was come down to deliver; for as soon as He assumes it, He graciously allows that the people, whom He has thus brought into relationship with Himself, have a claim upon His mercy and compassion. Hence the detailed instructions which are now given to Moses (vv. 16-22), in which the whole history of God's controversy with Pharaoh is given, with its final issue in the redemption of His people. First, Moses is enjoined to assemble the elders of Israel, that he may announce to them, that the Lord God of their fathers had appeared to him, and communicated to him the purposes of His grace towards them, in bringing them up out of the affliction of Egypt unto a land flowing with milk and honey. (vv. 16, 17.) He is foretold that they would hearken to his voice, and that he and they should go together unto Pharaoh, to ask for permission to go three days' journey into the wilderness, that they might sacrifice unto the Lord their God. (v. 18.) He then is forewarned of the stubborn opposition of Pharaoh; but he is likewise told that God would Himself deal with the Egyptian king, and compel him to let them go; and, furthermore, that when they went out they should not go empty, but that they should spoil the Egyptians. (vv. 19-22.)* These instructions are important for all time; for they place beyond a doubt the exact foreknowledge of God. He knew with whom He had to deal, the resistance to be met with, and how it was to be overcome. He saw all things from the beginning to the end. How consolatory to our feeble hearts! Not a difficulty or trial can befall us which has not been foreseen by our God, and for which in His grace provision has not been made! Everything has been prearranged in view of our final triumph, and of our victorious exit from this scene, through the display of His redeeming power, to he for ever with the Lord! Surely Moses might now have been contented.

*As there has been some controversy upon the statement, here and in Ex. 11: 2, that the Israelites were commanded to borrow the valuables of the Egyptians on the eve of their exodus, it may be well to point out that the word has been wrongly translated. There is no idea of "borrowing" in it. It means simply "to ask." The context shows that owing to God's manifest interposition the children of Israel would be in "favour in the sight of the Egyptians;" and being made to feel that they had suffered wrong at their hands, they gladly gave them whatever they desired — it may be as a kind of propitiation — with the full knowledge that they would see the Israelites no more. What they gave was therefore an unconditional gift.

"And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." (Ex. 4: 1.)

Could unbelief be more presumptuous? The Lord had said, "They shall hearken to thy voice." Moses replies, "They will not believe me." What wonder if the Lord had utterly rejected His servant when he thus dared to contradict Him to His face? But He is slow to anger and of great mercy; and truly this scene is full of beauty as revealing the depths of the tenderness and long-suffering of His patient heart. He will therefore bear with His servant, condescend still more, and give even miraculous signs to strengthen him in his weakness, and to dispel his unbelief. "And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And He said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee." (Ex. 4: 2-5.) Two more signs are even added. His hand, on putting it into his bosom and taking it out, became "leprous as snow;" and on repeating the act "it was turned again as his other flesh." (vv. 6, 7.). Then, in case they should not hearken to the first, or to the second sign, a third was added. He was to take water out of the river, and pour it upon the dry ground, and it should become blood upon the dry land. (v. 9.) These signs are significant, and especially so, it should be observed, in relation to the matter in hand. A rod in Scripture is the symbol of authority — power. Cast down, it became a serpent. A serpent is the well-known emblem of Satan; and hence it was power become Satanic, and this was exactly what was seen in Egypt in the oppression of the children of Israel. But Moses puts forth his hand, at the word of the Lord, and takes the serpent by the tail, and again it becomes a rod. The power that had thus become Satanic, resumed by God, becomes a rod of chastening or judgment. Hence this rod, in the hands of Moses, becomes henceforward the rod of God's authority and judicial power. Leprosy is a figure of sin in its defilement, sin in the flesh breaking out and defiling, with its pollutions, the whole man. The second sign therefore presents us with sin and its healing, effected, as we know, only by the death of Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin. Water represents that which refreshes — source of life and refreshment as coming from God; but, as poured out on the earth, become judgment and death. Armed with such signs, Moses might surely return and convince the most hardened doubter. Nay, he is not yet himself convinced; and hence he now replies,

"O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." (v. 10.)

This objection shows most conclusively that self was the beam in his eye that obstructed the vision of faith. For was it his eloquence or the Lord's power that would effect the emancipation of Israel? He speaks as if all depended upon the suasive words of human wisdom, as if his appeal was to be made by human art to the natural man. How common the mistake, even in the Church of God! Hence eloquence is that which even Christians desire — giving it a place beyond the power of God. The pulpits of Christendom are thus filled with men who are not of a slow tongue, and even the saints who in theory know the truth are beguiled and attracted by splendid gifts, and take pleasure in their exercise apart from the truth communicated. How different was the thought of Paul. "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God." And again, My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." (1 Cor. 2: 1, 4.) It is on this account that God often uses the "slow of speech" far more than those who are eloquent; for there is no temptation in such cases to lean upon the wisdom of men, all beholding that it is the power of God. It is this lesson — a lesson which contains at the same time a withering rebuke — that Jehovah now teaches Moses. ""Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." (vv. 11, 12.) The servant could not require more; but the danger lies in forgetting that the mode in which the Lord may employ us may not bring honour to ourselves. On the contrary, we may be regarded as the apostle was, as weak in bodily presence, and in speech contemptible (2 Cor. 10: 10); but what of this if we are made the vehicles of the power of God? The servant must learn to be nothing that the Lord alone may be exalted. But Moses evidently desired to be something, himself, and overwhelmed by the prospect, and, it may also be, borne down by the sense of his incompetency, notwithstanding all the grace and condescension of the Lord, he desires to be excused from so difficult a mission. He therefore says,

"O my Lord, send, I pray Thee, by the hand of whom Thou wilt send." (v. 13.)

That is, "Send any one, but not me." Five times did he thus raise objections to the Lord's commands, presuming upon His forbearance and long-suffering. But now "the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses; and He said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs." (vv. 14-17.) Thus the halting of Moses was overcome, but not until the anger of the Lord was kindled against him on account of his unwillingness to obey His word; but he lost much. Aaron was henceforward to be associated with him, and indeed was to have the most prominent place before man; for he was to be the spokesman of his brother. In tender grace, however, the Lord reserves to His servant Moses the chief place before Him, giving him the honour and privilege of being the medium of communication between Himself and Aaron. Aaron was to be a "mouth" for Moses; Moses was to be to Aaron "instead of God;" i.e. he was to impart to Aaron the message to be delivered. The purposes of God cannot be frustrated; but we may suffer from our obstinacy and disobedience. It was so with Moses. How many times afterwards, during the forty years' sojourn in the wilderness, must he have bewailed the unbelief that led him to refuse the trust which the Lord desired to commit to his hands alone! Finally, the rod of authority is given to Moses — the rod wherewith he was to display the power of God in miraculous signs as an attestation of his mission. This rod plays a most important part throughout the career of Moses, and it is most instructive to trace the occasions of its appearance and use. Here it becomes, as it were, the seal of his mission, as well as the sign of his office; for in very truth he was invested with the authority of God to lead His people out of the land of Egypt.

Moses now returns to seek the permission of Jethro to return into Egypt. God had prepared the way, and hence Jethro consents, saying to Moses, "Go in peace." (v. 18.) The Lord watches over His servant, notes the feelings of his heart, and even anticipates his fears by saying, "Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life." (Compare Matt. 2: 20.) "And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand." (v. 19, 20.) Thereupon the Lord further instructs him, and even reveals to him the character of the final judgment through which He would compel Pharaoh to let His people go. Even more: He now teaches him the true relationship into which He had by grace taken Israel. For the first time is this revelation made: "Israel is My son, even My firstborn;" and it is this which decides the character of the stroke which should fall upon Egypt. "And I say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will stay thy son, even thy firstborn." (vv. 22, 23; compare Num. 8: 14-18.)

One thing now only remains to qualify Moses for his mission. There must be faithfulness within the circle of his own responsibility before he can be made the channel of divine power. Obedience at home must precede the display of power to the world. This explains the following incident: "And it came to pass, by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a, sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So He let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision." (vv. 24-26.) Moses had neglected, from what cause we know not — it may be through the influence of his wife — the circumcision of his child; and hence the Lord had a personal controversy with him, which must be settled before he could appear before Pharaoh with divine authority. The Lord thus laid him low, dealt with him, brought his failure to remembrance that he might judge it, and return to the path of obedience. To borrow the language of another: "God was going to put honour on Moses; but there was a dishonour to Him in the house of Moses already. How came it that the sons of Moses were not circumcised? How came it that there lacked that which typifies the mortifying the flesh in those who were nearest to Moses? How came it that God's glory was forgotten in that which ought to have been prominent in a father's heart? It appears that the wife had something to do with the matter. . . . In fact she at last was obliged to do what she most hated, as she herself said in her son's case. But more than that, it endangered Moses; for God had the controversy with him, not with his wife. Moses was the responsible person, and God held to His order." The words we have ventured to italicise convey a most important principle, and explain fully the ground of God's dealing with Moses. But he received grace to bow before His chastening hand; and most blessed is it where we are enabled to acknowledge with Paul, "We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead." (2 Cor. 1: 9.) The two parts of Moses' qualification, then, were divine authority and personal condition; and these two ought never to be disjoined. For all who would speak in the name of the Lord, or be employed by Him in any service whatever, it is of the utmost importance that they should remember this. Nothing can compensate for the lack of condition of soul. Herein lies in fact the secret of our feebleness in service. If our ways, or, as in the case of Moses, our houses, are unjudged, the Spirit of God is grieved, And as a consequence we are not used for blessing. It is not enough therefore to have the words of God in our mouth; but we must be walking with their power in our own souls, if we are to speak with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

All is now ready; and accordingly we have a beautiful scene at the end of the chapter — a scene which must have gladdened the heart of Moses, and, with the blessing of God, nerved him for the arduous path on which he had entered. First, however, the Lord sent Aaron "into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him." (vv. 27, 28.) The place of their meeting is most significant. It was in the mount of God (Ex. 3: 1), i.e. Horeb, that the Lord appeared to Moses; here now Aaron meets him; and it was in this same place that Moses afterwards received the two tables of stone, with the Ten Commandments written with the finger of God. Leaving this, however, now, it may be remarked — for it contains a most practical lesson — that it is ever most blessed when relatives can meet in the mount of God. Then, as with Moses and Aaron, the conversation will be upon "the words of the Lord," and the meeting will issue in blessing. If, on the other hand, we descend to a lower level, as is too often the case, our communications will be rather concerning ourselves and our own doings, and this will result neither in glory to God nor in profit to ourselves.

Remark, too, that it is from the mount of God they proceed on their mission. Blessed are those servants who go directly from the presence of God to their labours. Coming into Egypt, they "went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel: and Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that He had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped." (vv. 29-31.) The word of the Lord was thus fulfilled. Moses had said, "They will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice." But the people did believe, according to the word of the Lord; and touched by His grace, as they heard how He had visited them, and looked upon their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshipped. True that afterwards, when their difficulties increased, they murmured in their unbelief; but this cannot diminish from the beauty of the picture before us, wherein we see the word of the Lord, in all its freshness and power, reaching the hearts of the elders, and bowing them in adoration in His presence.

CHAPTER 4.  FIRST MESSAGE TO PHARAOH.

EXODUS 5, 6.

THESE two chapters occupy a special place in the narrative. They are really of a prefatory nature, introductory to Jehovah's conflict with Pharaoh by judgments. They are at the same time most instructive as illustrating the ways of God. The message is delivered in grace, the opportunity for obedience is proffered — God waiting in patience and long-suffering before His hand is lifted up in judgment. it is even so with the world at the present time. Now is the time of God's forbearance and grace, during which the message of His mercy is proclaimed far and wide, and whosoever will may hear, believe, and be saved. But this day of grace is hastening on to its close, and the moment the Lord Jesus rises from His seat at the Father's right hand, the door will be shut, and judgments will begin to fall. In like manner these two chapters describe, so to speak, the day of grace for Pharaoh. But while the king of Egypt was a man, he was also, in the position he occupied, as already pointed out, a type of Satan as the god of this world. There is, therefore, further instruction to be gleaned from these chapters in this aspect, and it is this aspect indeed that occupies the prominent place. This will be seen as we proceed.

"And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest He fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let (hinder) the people from their works? get you unto your burdens. And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens." (vv. 1-5.)

The question, be it remembered, is that of the redemption of Israel; and hence it is one in which the people could have no part. God must act for them; and He it is consequently that enters into controversy with Pharaoh. Pharaoh, as the god of this world, Satan, holds the people in bondage. It is God's purpose to deliver them; the message therefore entrusted to Moses is for the ear of the Egyptian king. And what is the object of God in the emancipation of Israel? "That they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness." It is for His own joy, His own joy in the joy of His redeemed. It is for the satisfaction of His own heart. How marvellous that the joy of God is concerned in our salvation! The delivery of the message brings out the true character of Pharaoh. "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." He thus places himself in direct and complete antagonism with God. Solemn position! And this antagonism was never lessened, but went on until it ended in the overthrow and destruction of Pharaoh and his legions. A warning lesson, surely, for all who are unreconciled to God, as well as a revelation of the awful corruption of human nature, which can thus impiously confront, and audaciously defy, the power of God. Nor was this the transient expression of an irritated mind. For, in reply to the continued appeal of Moses and Aaron, he charged them with interfering with the work of the people. The god of this world is the incarnation of selfishness, and must therefore hate God. This was exemplified at Philippi. The moment the preaching and action of the apostle interfered with the gains of the masters of the damsel who was possessed with the spirit of divination, it drew down upon him and his companion their bitterest enmity. So with Pharaoh. The prospect of losing the service of his slaves fills him with anger. The effect was that he increased the tasks of the people, laid upon them heavier burdens, in order to rivet more firmly than ever the fetters of their bondage. It is ever so. But spite of the power and subtlety of Satan, he always defeats himself. Indeed he has no foresight. He cannot see into the future any more than ourselves, and as a consequence he is continually overreaching himself. The people were idle (Pharaoh said), and "therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God." (v. 8.) He desired accordingly that increased work should drive all such thoughts out of their minds. Ah! Satan will compass land and sea to prevent even one of his poor slaves escaping from his service. Hence if a soul is convicted of sin, and begins to yearn after liberty and peace with God, to escape from Egypt and to be saved, Satan will surround that soul with a thousand snares, fascinations, and entanglements. He will seek, just as Pharaoh did with the children of Israel, by increased occupation, by decoying him into a whirl of excitement or activity, to expel all such desires from his mind. If one such should read these pages, let him beware of these subtleties of the evil one, and let him turn resolutely away from all these wiles which are but intended to lure him to destruction; yea, let him, in the consciousness of all his need, and all his helplessness, look away to Him who through death has abrogated the rights of him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, that He might deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Heb. 2: 14, 15.) Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, all such will be turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.

The officers of Pharaoh were faithful, and mercilessly discharged their merciless duty. (vv. 10-14.) The iron of oppression entered into the souls of the children of Israel, and in the bitterness of their hearts they "cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?" etc. (vv. 15-18.) But they cried in vain; for mercy is unknown to Satan, to him whose pleasure is found even in the sorrows of his servants. Disappointed in not finding relief at the hands of Pharaoh, they turned in their anger upon Moses and Aaron, and charged them with being the occasion of increasing the pressure of their servitude. "The Lord look upon you, and judge" (they said), "because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us." (v. 21.) How true this is also in individual experience. In the bitter exercises through which the awakened sinner often passes, when he is overwhelmed by the sense of his guilt, and is made at the same time to feel the heavier weight of Satan's hand, how often he is tempted to wish for the days when he was free from all such conflicts and sorrows, not seeing that they are the pathway to deliverance.

Even Moses bows for the moment before the storm. Yearning, as he doubtless did, for the welfare and redemption of his people, and stung by their reproaches, doubt springs up before this new phase of Pharaoh's policy, and becoming impatient, he said, "Lord, wherefore hast Thou so evil entreated this people? Why is it that Thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all." (vv. 22, 23.) Moses thus shared in the disappointment and impatience of the people. He had not yet learned to walk by faith and not by sight, nor to rest in the Lord and to wait patiently for Him. But yet even his failure arose from sympathy with the oppressed Israelites; and one of the first qualifications to help others is identification with their condition.

So far Moses had fellowship with the mind of the Lord; and He understood the thoughts of His servant's heart. He therefore commissions him anew, and again declares His purposes of grace and mercy, announcing His immutable fidelity to His covenant. Already He had accomplished two things; He had taught both Moses and the people the character of their oppressor, and the nature of their yoke. He had seemingly shut them up into Pharaoh's hand, and thereby produced in them a conviction of the hopelessness of their condition. This is uniformly His method. He never presents Himself as a Saviour until men know that they are guilty and undone. The Lord Jesus said, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." As soon as men are willing to acknowledge themselves lost, then the Saviour stands before their souls. It is so here. The children of Israel are apparently in a worse case than before; they are despairing, and so is Moses. Thereon we have the blessed presentation and announcement of Exodus 6. The Lord therefore was but bringing His people through necessary discipline in Exodus 5. He does this for two reasons; to separate His people from the Egyptians, to produce between them an irreparable breach, and to pave the way for the display of His own power, that the children of Israel, indeed, might know that it was His hand alone that could bring them out of the land of Egypt. First, He declares that Pharaoh shall, under His hand, drive them out of his land. (v. 1.) Next, we have a revelation of great significance:

"And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am JEHOVAH: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; but by My name JEHOVAH was I not known to them." (vv. 2, 3.)

This by no means implies that the name Jehovah was not used before; on the contrary, it is often found. But He had never yet taken it in relationship with His servants. Now He formally adopts it as His name of relationship with Israel, and it is only with Israel that it is thus employed. Believers of this dispensation know Him as their God and Father; and hence it would betray ignorance of their true position and relationship, as well as a confusion of dispensations, for them to use the term Jehovah. It is a name reserved for Israel, and consequently it will again be employed when they are brought back to a knowledge of their relationship with God in the millennium. That Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Jesus of the New is another question, but a question of exceeding moment and importance. He was really Jehovah in the midst of Israel, and as such forgave their iniquities and healed their diseases (Ps. 103: 3); but He is never Jehovah for Christians. He has deigned to bring them into more intimate relationships; as indeed He revealed to Mary, and to His disciples through her, when He said, "Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." (John 20: 17.)

Having now formally entered into relationship with the children of Israel, He recalls the covenant, with its terms, which He had established with their fathers (v. 4; compare Genesis 17: 7, 8); and then expressly states that it is in pursuance of His covenant (for He is faithful) that He has "heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage." (v. 5.) It is on this foundation that He will deliver; viz., on what He is for them as Jehovah in the covenant which He made with their fathers, and the message which He now sends is accordingly most complete and comprehensive. It embraces His whole purpose for the nation. It gives, first of all, the name He has taken, Jehovah — "I am Jehovah;" it declares redemption — they shall be emancipated and redeemed, they shall be brought into relationship with Himself, they shall be His people, and He will be their God; they shall know Him as their Redeemer, as the Lord their God, which brought them out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and they shall be brought into the land which He had sworn to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and they should possess it for an heritage. And everything is made to depend upon what He is, the whole concluding with the repetition of the announcement, "I am Jehovah." He is thus both the Yea and the Amen, the Alpha and Omega, of their redemption. Surely a message of exceeding beauty. As everything is founded upon, so everything is completed by, what He is in Himself. All that He is therefore guarantees the commencement, and also the accomplishment of the redemption of His people.

Moses carried and delivered the message he had received unto the children of Israel: "but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage." (v. 9.) Thus reduced to utter hopelessness, with their misery darkening all their souls, they are deaf to the gracious voice that proclaimed liberty and blessing. Moses is then sent again to Pharaoh to demand the liberty of the people; but disappointed at the fruitlessness of his mission to the Israelites, he replies, "Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips?" (v. 12.) There is therefore nothing but failure. Pharaoh had rejected the Lord's demand; the children of Israel, stupefied by their heavy yoke, will not hearken to the glad tidings of grace, and Moses is unwilling to proceed; for he recalls his old objection, showing that, while he knew something of his own natural incompetency, he had not yet learnt that his all-sufficiency was to be found in the Lord. It is ever a fatal mistake when we measure the difficulties of service by what we are. The question is what God is; and the difficulties that appear as mountains, looming through the mists of our unbelief, are nothing to Him but the occasion for the display of His omnipotent power.

The section ends, as far as appearances are concerned, with utter failure. But the Lord is not affected by human weakness or human resistance; His purposes, flowing from His own heart, and accomplished by His own power, are unchangeable. It is therefore exceedingly beautiful to note the action recorded in verse 10. "And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt." Unmoved by the deafness of His people, the failure of His servant, or the open antagonism of Pharaoh, He calmly proceeds to effect the redemption of His people. It will be observed that from the thirteenth to the thirtieth verse is a parenthesis. It would seem to be introduced for two reasons. It constitutes, in the first place, a new point of departure. Exodus 5, and the first part of Exodus 6 are, as we explained, preliminary — a kind of preface. On the one hand, the period embraced in it is a kind of day of grace for Pharaoh, when looked at simply as a man; on the other, it brings to light the real character of the conflict on which Jehovah was about to enter, and reveals the exact position and condition of all the parties concerned — Pharaoh, the children of Israel, and Moses. At the same time, the foundations on which Jehovah was about to act for His people, are laid broad and deep in His own character and covenant. That period now passed, the Lord commences anew, and hence the repetition of the charge to Moses and Aaron, embracing the object and scope of their mission. This gives the opportunity, in the second place, for the introduction of the genealogy of the people to be redeemed. The point of interest for us lies in the parentage of Moses and Aaron. "And Amram took him Jochebed, his father's sister, to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses." (v. 20.) "These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the Lord said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, according to their armies. These are they which spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt: these are that Moses and Aaron." (vv. 26, 27.) Aaron was thus the elder brother, and it is interesting to notice that pious Amram and Jochebed were blessed in the preservation of both their children spite of the edict of the king. Aaron had in nature priority over Moses; but grace never follows the order of nature. It recognizes all the natural relationships which God has formed, and it can only bring sorrow if not dishonour where this truth is not tenaciously held; but as it is above, and outside nature altogether, it acts in its own sphere and according to its own laws. God therefore, acting according to His own sovereign rights, chose Moses, and not Aaron, though in consequence of the failure of Moses, and from tenderness to his weakness, He afterwards associated his brother with him in his work. But the divine order is, Moses and Aaron, while the natural order, as seen in the genealogy and in verse 26, is Aaron and Moses. The last three verses simply connect the narrative with verse 10. For the objection of Moses in verse 30 is evidently the same as that in verse 12. And yet there is reason for its repetition. In Ex. 3 and Ex. 4 Moses makes five difficulties in reply to the Lord; here in the sixth are two, making seven together. It was therefore the perfect exhibition of the weakness and unbelief of Moses. How it magnifies the grace and goodness of the Lord; for if in His presence man is revealed, it also brings to light what He is in all the perfection of His grace, love, mercy, and truth. Blessed be His name!

CHAPTER 5.  JUDGMENTS UPON EGYPT.

EXODUS 7 - 11.

THESE chapters cannot be divided, as they form one continued narrative — a narrative of awful significance, containing, as it does, the record of the successive judgments which fell, with ever increasing severity, upon Egypt, until God thereby compelled Pharaoh to release the children of Israel from the iron bondage in which they had been held. We have therefore at the commencement a restatement of the mission of Moses and Aaron, of the purpose of Jehovah, and the manner in which He would effect, spite of the opposition of Pharaoh, the redemption of His people.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay My hand upon Egypt, and bring forth Mine armies, and My people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth Mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them, so did they." (Ex. 7: 1-6.)

The Lord thus communicated to His servants what He intended to do, and how it would be accomplished. He unrolled the scroll of the future before their eyes to prepare them for their task, and to strengthen their faith. In like manner He has revealed to us the course of this world's history, warned us of the impending judgments, with the certain destruction of the world, and all who belong to it, if they heed not the monitions of His word, and the invitations of His grace; and, at the same time, He cheers us also with the sure prospect of redemption by power out of it, when the Lord returns to receive His people unto Himself. He thus desired that Moses and Aaron, as He also desires for us, should have fellowship with His own purposes concerning both the world, the god of this world, and his poor, abject slaves. How it strengthens the heart and braces the soul to be filled with the thoughts of God! And what grace on His part to communicate them to us, that we may speak to others with authority and power!

Before we proceed to analyse these chapters there is one point — inasmuch as it often occasions difficulty to the believer, as well as draws forth the attacks of the enemy — that cannot be omitted. It lies in the words, "And I will harden Pharaoh's heart." (Ex. 7: 3.) The doubt that Satan would suggest in connection with this is, Where was the sin of Pharaoh if his heart was thus hardened? Or, How could God righteously destroy one whom He had hardened to resist Him? If the place in which these words occur had been carefully observed, the difficulty would have vanished. The fact is, the practice is so common of citing single verses of Scripture, apart from their context, that difficulties are created which would be dissipated in a moment, if the context were carefully examined. Be it then noted, that this is not said of Pharaoh until after he had contemptuously rejected the claims of Jehovah. He had said, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." (v. 2.) He rejected the word of the Lord, placed himself in open antagonism to Him and His people; and now his heart is judicially hardened. And God still acts upon the same principle. We thus read in 2 Thess. of some on whom He will send strong delusion that they should believe a lie. But wherefore? Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (2 Thess. 2: 9-11.) Let the warning sink deep into the hearts of any unconverted ones whose eyes may fall upon these pages. There will be a time even for them, if they continue to refuse the gospel of God's grace, when it will be impossible for them to obtain salvation. God has fixed a limit even to His day of grace, even as He did for Pharaoh; and when that limit is overstepped there remains nothing but judgment. "Today," then, "if ye hear His voice, harden not your hearts." (Heb. 3: 15.)

There is yet a pause. Moses and Aaron go in unto Pharaoh and present their credentials — attested by a miraculous sign, the sign which the Lord had taught Moses at Horeb. "Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent." (Ex. 7: 10.) The wise men of Egypt, the magicians, did the same with their rods; but "Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods" (v. 12) — the Lord thus vindicating the mission of His servants. As, however, He had foretold, Pharaoh was not convinced; for "He hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said." (v. 13.) Now God Himself appears on the scene, and a succession of terrible judgments falls upon Pharaoh and his land — judgments which will be known while time shall last as "the plagues of Egypt." They are ten in number. First, the waters of the Nile are turned into blood (Ex. 7: 14-25) then follow the plagues of frogs (Ex. 8: 1-15), of lice (Ex. 8: 16-19), of the swarms of flies (Ex. 8: 20-32), of the murrain of the cattle (Ex. 9: 1-7), of boils (Ex. 9: 8-12), of thunder and hail (Ex. 9: 18-35), of the locusts (Ex. 10: 1-20), of darkness (Ex. 10: 21-29), and finally that of the death of the firstborn of man and beast. (Ex. 11, Ex. 12) The Psalmist recounts them more than once in graphic language when celebrating the mighty works of the Lord in song — describing "how He had wrought His signs in Egypt, and His wonders in the field of Zoan" (Ps. 78: 43; see also Psalm 105: 26-36).

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to give a detailed interpretation of these several plagues. Their general object is clear if we remember the character of the controversy which God had with Pharaoh. He dealt thus with Pharaoh as the oppressor of His people, as being in figure the god of this world; and hence His conflict was with Pharaoh and all that wherein Pharaoh trusted. We therefore read that He executed judgment upon the gods of Egypt. (Ex. 12: 12; Num. 33: 4.) It was consequently the brilliant display of God's victorious power in the stronghold of Satan; for if Satan rise in conflict with God, the issue can only end in his utter defeat. First, therefore, the waters of Egypt — specially that of the sacred Nile, source of life and refreshment to Egypt and its people, from the monarch to the humblest of his subjects — are turned into blood, the symbol of death and judgment. As a consequence, "the fish that were in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river: and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt." (Ex. 7: 21.) Thus the river in which they boastfully gloried as an emblem of God, became an object of distaste and loathing. The plague of frogs followed. The frog was regarded with veneration by the Egyptians, being included by them among their sacred animals. Under the judicial hand of God these now "came up, and covered the land of Egypt." They were even to come into the house of Pharaoh, into his bedchamber, and upon his bed, and into the house of his servants, and upon his people, and into the ovens and kneading-troughs. (Ex. 8: 3-6.) The objects of their sacred admiration were thus turned into a pest — beheld with horror and detestation; and for the moment the heart of Pharaoh was so bowed under the affliction that he was constrained to sue for respite. (Ex. 8: 8.) The next blow was of a different kind — aimed more at the persons of the Egyptians. This was the plague of lice. Both ancient and modern historians testify to the scrupulous cleanliness of the Egyptians. Herodotus (2: 37) says that so scrupulous were the priests on this point that they used to shave the hair of their heads and bodies every third day, for fear of harbouring vermin while occupied in their sacred duties.* This stroke would therefore humble their pride and stain their glory, rendering themselves objects of dislike and disgust. The swarms of flies come next. (Ex. 8: 20-32.) It would seem to be impossible to fix with any precision an exact meaning to the word translated "flies," many contending that "beetles" are indicated. Be this as it may, the plague shows an increasing severity by the effect produced. It is also in connection with this that we find, for the first time, a formal division put between the children of Israel and the Egyptians. (Ex. 8: 22, 23.) The Lord in the next place dealt with the cattle — sending a grievous murrain, so that "all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one." (Ex. 9: 6.) Pharaoh verified for himself the destruction made (v. 7); but his heart was still hardened. This blow fell upon one of the sources of Egypt's wealth and prosperity. Bodily sufferings, both for man and beast, followed — arising from "a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt." (Ex. 9: 9.) The destruction of the growing crops of the field by hail and thunder formed the next plague; and this was succeeded by the locusts; and they "went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing in the trees, or in the herbs of the field, through all the land of Egypt." (Ex. 10: 14, 15.) This blow reached the sources of supply for bodily needs. The locusts gone, at the entreaty of the Egyptian king, and he still hardened, there was now "a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings." (Ex. 10: 22, 23.) "In Egypt the sun was worshipped under the title of Rê or Ra: the name came conspicuously forward as the title of the kings, Pharaoh, or rather Phra, meaning 'the sun.'"† Not only therefore was the source of light and heat eclipsed for the Egyptians; but the god they worshipped was obscured — and his powerlessness demonstrated — a proof, had they but eyes to see, that a mightier than the sun, yea, the Creator of the sun, was dealing with them in judgment.

*Cited from Dr. SMITH'S Dictionary of the Bible. See Article "Lice," and for other testimonies.

†WILKINSON'S Ancient Egyptians (iv. 287-289), cited from SMITH'S Dictionary of the Bible under article "Sun."

The death of the firstborn was the final blow. But comment upon this may be reserved until the twelfth chapter. Looking, however, at these plagues as a whole, one cannot fail to be struck with their correspondency with those that will be visited upon the world at a later day, during the sway of the antichrist. (See Revelation 16: 1-14.) Pharaoh indeed is no mean adumbration of this last antagonist of God and His Christ But as God was glorified in His controversy with the one, so will He be in that with the other; for if Pharaoh rushed to his doom, and was whelmed in the waters of the Red Sea, he and all his host, the antichrist, rising to a still greater height of daring impiety, will, together with the "beast" whose false prophet he had been, be "cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." (Rev. 19: 20.) Well then might the Psalmist cry, "Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little." (Psalm 2: 12.) It would be folly, indeed, to be deaf to the lessons which God's controversy with Pharaoh so loudly proclaims. "The carnal mind is enmity against God." (Rom. 8: 7.) Every unconverted one is therefore in open antagonism with God — an enemy of God. What grace on His part to send such repeated messages of grace, such fervent entreaties of love, beseeching, by the gospel, sinners to be reconciled to Him. He has given His only begotten Son to die, and on the foundation of the atonement which He has made for sin by His death, He can righteously save every one that believeth. But if His grace is refused, "how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" (Heb. 2: 3.) What folly, then, on the sinner's part to rest for a single day in his unsaved condition, knowing not how soon he may be called to a doom as irrevocable as that which fell upon the Egyptian king.

It may be interesting now to trace for a little the opposition of the Egyptian magicians to the wonder-working power of Moses and Aaron in the presence of Pharaoh. The chief of these are mentioned by name in the New Testament. We read, "As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth." (2 Tim. 3: 8.) This reference is highly important as showing that a principle of Satan's acting is embodied in the conduct of the magicians. What, then, it may be asked, was its especial character? It was, in one word, IMITATION. Thus when Aaron cast down his rod, and it became a serpent, "they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents." (Exodus 7: 11, 12.) So also when the waters of Egypt were smitten with the rod of God, and they became blood, the magicians "did so with their enchantments." (Ex. 7: 22.) It was the same in the case of the frogs. (Ex. 8: 7.) Their action was thus an imitation of the action of Moses and Aaron. In Timothy also the men who are said to resist the truth, as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, are described as "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." (2 Tim. 3: 5.) This is one of Satan's most dangerous subtleties. If he can succeed in open opposition to the truth, he will not conceal himself; but if this door of antagonism is closed, he will transform himself into an angel of light. It was so in Paul's days; and it is especially the case at the present moment. Professing Christians would scarcely be led away by the open exhibition of Satanic power; but how many are seduced by it because outwardly it is an imitation of the divine. Take one of the grossest examples of this. If Roman Catholicism, with all its vile profanations of the truth, were not dressed up in the outward garb of Christianity, could it by any possibility deceive souls? But claiming to be able to dispense every blessing, which has been secured by the death of Christ, it seduces the souls of men by thousands, and brings them under the complete dominion of its falsehoods and corruptions. It is therefore, as a system, one of Satan's most successful instrumentalities. But there are greater dangers. There is not a single operation of the Spirit of God, nor a single form of His working, that Satan does not imitate. His counterfeits are around us on every hand, within and without. But thanks be to God, He has provided us with sufficient safeguards, and with the means of the detection of every phase of his ensnaring arts. "These things," says John, "have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." (1 John 2: 26, 27.) The Spirit and the word of God are sufficient to preserve us from the most dangerous simulations of the truth that Satan may present to our souls.

More than this, if there is but the steadfast adherence to God and His truth, the workings of Satan will in due time be exposed. Three times did these instruments of his "withstand" Moses. But when the plague of lice was brought in, a question of producing life from the dust of the earth, the magicians were powerless, and compelled to confess that it was "the finger of God." (Ex. 8: 18, 19.) Life belongs to God; He only is its source; and hence here the efforts of Satan are baffled, and we read of no farther attempt on the part of his instruments to intercept the force of the divine signs. In the next chapter, indeed, we find that they "could not stand before Moses because of the boils." (Ex. 9: 11) They themselves have fallen under the punitive hand of God. We may therefore rest confidently, whatever the present seeming success of the evil one; for "the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." (Rom. 16: 20.)

It will give a more complete view of this section if the effects of these judicial plagues on Pharaoh's mind are also noticed. A momentary impression was produced by the scourge of the frogs. "Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Entreat the Lord, that He may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice unto the Lord." (Ex. 8: 8.) Moses responded to this request, and fixed the time for the entreaty, that, in the divine answer to it, Pharaoh might as certainly recognise the hand of the Lord as in the infliction of the judgment. It is beautiful to notice God's tender ways of grace, even with a hardened sinner. If there be but the slightest turning of heart to Him, although He knows that it is not real, there is readiness to hear — a striking testimony to the fact that He willeth not the sinner's death, that indeed He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3: 9.) The Lord thus heard, and "did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields." (Ex. 8: 13.) But what was the consequence? "When Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said." (v. 15.) What a picture of the evil heart of man! Bowed down under the hand of God, alarmed for the consequences, he cries for relief, and promises that if it be granted he will certainly conform himself to the divine commands. The relief is bestowed, and he straightway forgets both his fears and his vows. Many a sinner has thus been brought by sudden sickness down to the door of death, and he has cried aloud for mercy. God heard his prayer, and restored him to health. But instead of devoting himself, as he thought and purposed, to the service of God, he returns to his former course of forgetfulness and sin. The fact is, in all such cases, the conscience has never been really awakened; there has been no sense of guilt before God, no acceptance of His testimony to man's lost and ruined condition, and consequently no recourse to His saving grace as revealed in Christ Jesus as the Saviour; and the vows that were made, were really made as a kind of propitiatory offering to obtain the removal of the hand of God. When relieved, therefore, since there has been no change, no conversion to God, the stream of their lives, diverted for a moment, naturally returns to its former channels. Oh, how many there are of whom this is true! how many of whom it may be said, when they saw that there was respite, they hardened their heart! If these words should meet the eyes of any such, let them sink deep into their hearts; if so be that, awakened to their true condition, they may, while the opportunity still lingers, confess before God that they are guilty, undone sinners, and look alone to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. "Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath" (as Pharaoh did), "against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." (Rom. 2: 4, 5.)

The fourth plague — that of the swarms of flies — seemed to produce a deeper impression. "Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land." This was a most subtle offer, and one that might easily have ensnared Moses and Aaron if they had not known the character and mind of God. Satan has no objection whatever to his servants being religious if they will still continue under his sway. They may profess to serve God as much and as loudly as they may, if they will but recognise his authority. If they will but fall down and worship him, as in the temptation presented to our blessed Lord in the wilderness (Matt. 4), he will grant them all the desires of their heart. If they will but remain of the world, the world and its (rod will love their own. Hence Satan will continually advise — "Serve me and God. Sacrifice to your God, but remain in the land." One word of Scripture will unravel all such specious reasonings: "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." (Matt. 6: 24.) Moses, who has true discernment, because he has the mind of God, perceives this, and accordingly replies, "It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as He shall command us." (Ex. 8: 26, 27.) Moses was not deceived; he knew that Christ was, and must be, an object of contempt to the Egyptians "to the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness" (1 Cor. 1: 23) and that there must be irreconcileable antagonism between them and His people. "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." (John 15: 20.) Egypt therefore could not be a place for the people of God. Moses thus adds two things: First, they must go three days' journey into the wilderness. The number three is significant in this connection — three days' journey being the distance of death. (Compare Num. 10: 33.) They must moreover sacrifice to the Lord their God, as He should command them. Here are truly grand and fundamental principles. Nothing but death — death with Christ — can separate us from Egypt. Hence Paul says, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world" (Egypt) "is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Egypt). (Gal. 6: 14.) No outward change or reformation will bring us out of the house of bondage — nothing but the cross — the death of Christ, made ours through faith in His name. Secondly, there must be obedience to the Lord. No other authority must for one moment be allowed or accepted. Obedience is the first duty, and covers the whole ground of the responsibility of the Christian. Hence indeed the necessity of a total break with, separation (by death) from, the world. Had Moses consented to remain in Egypt, he would have acknowledged Pharaoh's government, and this would have been inconsistent with Jehovah's complete and absolute claims. These two principles — separation from the world, and obedience to Christ — should be engraven upon the hearts of the Lord's people. For they are the basis of their true position and responsibility. Everything indeed flows from these two sources. One thing more may be learned from these words of Moses. No service, or so-called service, can be acceptable to God unless according to His word. Worship and service must be governed by the Lord's own mind. It is therefore not what we deem good and pious, not what we may term worship or good works, but what He considers such. The word of God is consequently the test of everything, and must have the supreme place in the heart and conscience of the Christian, and regulate his whole life. All the corruptions of Christendom, all the failure and ruin of the church, are to be traced back to the neglect of this vital principle. The word of God is the only lamp to our feet, and light to our path. (Ps. 119: 105.) The moment a single human regulation is accepted, whether by the individual or the church, declension and corruption ensue; for another authority is conjoined with that of Christ. It is, as a consequence, our responsibility to test everything around by the word of God. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." (Rev. 2: 11, etc.)

Pharaoh does not openly reject the demand of Moses; he temporizes, dissembles, to obtain the removal of the stroke. His cry is, "Entreat for me." (Ex. 8: 28.) Moses assents, but adds the solemn warning, showing that he saw through the king's flimsy veil of hypocrisy, "Let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord." (v. 29.) But the trouble gone, the usual record is made, "And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go." (v. 32.) Thereon followed another judgment; but Pharaoh was impervious to the stroke. At least there was no outward sign of any relenting. This led to a most solemn and, we may say, awful message as a preface to the next infliction — the plague of thunder and hail. (Ex. 9: 13-19.) The king staggered under the blow, and again besought relief. He even confessed that he had sinned, and. that the Lord was righteous, etc., and once more promised that he would let the people go, provided there might be no more mighty thunderings and hail. (Ex. 9: 27, 28.) The iniquity of Pharaoh is thus brought to light. He sees and avows his guilt, and yet persists in his evil course — his open antagonism to the Lord. For, spite of his confession, no sooner had the Lord answered the entreaty of Moses than he reverted to his hardened ways. But again and again are we reminded that this was no surprise to God. All this happened "as the Lord had spoken by Moses." (v. 35.) He saw the end from the beginning; but He removed His hand at the intercession of Moses on behalf of the Egyptian king. God is never impatient even in the presence of open rebellion. He waits His own time — bearing with the wickedness and impiety of men in long-suffering and grace. If He is thus forbearing, we surely might learn to be so also — turning our eyes to Him, confident that in His own time He will vindicate His righteous government before the eyes of the world. "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." (Ps. 37: 7.)

A new action took place in connection with the threat of the locusts. The servants of Pharaoh, alarmed at the prospect, now interfered. They said unto him, "How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?" (Ex. 10: 7.) At their instance "Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the Lord your God: but who are they that shall go (v. 8.) This reveals once again the wretched heart of this most wretched king. If compelled, he will relax his grasp, but even then he will retain all that he can. He clings tenaciously to what he possessed, and so tenaciously that he will bargain, if possible, with Moses concerning those who should depart. But "Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go: for we must hold a feast unto the Lord. And he said unto them, Let the Lord be so with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the Lord; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence." (vv. 9-11.) This was surely a cunning wile of Satan — professing willingness to let the men go if they would but leave their little ones behind in Egypt. Thereby he would have falsified the testimony of the Lord's redeemed ones, and retained a most powerful hold upon them through their natural affections. For how could they have done with Egypt as long as their children were there? Satan knew this, and hence the character of this temptation. And how many Christians there are who are entangled in the snare! Professing, to be the Lord's, to have left Egypt, they allow their families to remain still behind. As another has said, "Parents in the wilderness, and their children in Egypt. Terrible anomaly. This would only have been a half deliverance; at once useless to Israel, and dishonouring to Israel's God. This could not be. If the children remained in Egypt, the parents could not possibly be said to have left it, inasmuch as their children were part of themselves. The most that could be said in such a case was, that in part they were serving Jehovah, and in part Pharaoh. But Jehovah could have no part with Pharaoh. He should either have all or nothing. This is a weighty principle for Christian parents. . . . It is our happy privilege to count on God for our children, and to "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." (Eph. 6: 4.) These admirable and weighty words should be deeply pondered in the presence of God. For nowhere does our testimony so manifestly break down as in our families. Godly parents, whose walk is blameless, are seduced into permitting their children practices which they would not for one moment allow for themselves, and thus to flood their houses with the sights and sounds of Egypt. This all springs from not recognizing, as Moses did, that the children, together with their parents, belong to God, and form His people on the earth; that therefore it would be a denial of this blessed truth to leave them in the place out of which they themselves, by the grace of God, through the death and resurrection of Christ, have been delivered. It cannot therefore be too strongly urged, that the parent's responsibility covers the whole family; that he is bound before God to hold his children as belonging to the Lord, or otherwise he can never train them up in the way they should go, counting upon Him to show that they are manifestly His by the work of His grace and Spirit.

Pharaoh was angered by these demands, and Moses, together with Aaron, is driven from the king's presence. The locusts are thereon called for by the power of God, and "they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened." (v. 15.) Under the pressure of this grievous stroke, Pharaoh once again summoned Moses and Aaron into his presence, confessed his sin against the Lord their God, and against them — besought forgiveness, and asked that they would entreat the Lord their God "that He may take away from me this death only." (vv. 16, 17.) The Lord heard the intercession of Moses, and the locusts were removed, and cast into the Red Sea; "there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt." (v. 19.)

Forgetting immediately his terror and his word, darkness was brought over the land of Egypt for three days.  (vv. 22, 23.) Once again "Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve the Lord. only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also go with you. And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind: for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord until we come thither." (vv. 24-26.)

The question was one of leaving Egypt to serve the Lord. He therefore not only claimed the people as His, but also all their possessions. On this account Moses repudiated Pharaoh's title to anything. To have done otherwise would at once have been the acknowledgement of his authority. Pharaoh was indeed the enemy of the people of God, holding them in captivity in opposition to His will. As such he is treated by Moses in the rejection of his claims. Besides, they were going forth to sacrifice to the Lord their God, and until delivered from Egypt they knew not with what they must serve the Lord. Pharaoh's stipulation therefore could not for a single moment be allowed. There lies in the words of Moses a principle of the first importance — that God claims all that we have as well as ourselves. Everything must on this account be held at His disposal. He gives, and He demands from us. This was beautifully exemplified in the case of David when providing materials for the temple. "Of Thine own have we given Thee." (1 Chr. 29: 14.) We must not, as the people of God, take from the world, even as Abraham refused to. be made rich by the king of Sodom (Gen. 14: 22, 23); neither must we own the world's claims upon what the Lord has given us. Not a hoof must be left behind, or it might be that very hoof the Lord would demand for sacrifice. It is also striking to observe that, according to the words of Moses, the Lord's mind could not be learned in Egypt. They must be redeemed out of it, and be separated, through death and resurrection, unto God before they could be instructed as to the nature of His service. Though Pharaoh thus opposes every demand upon him concerning the Lord's people, we see that he temporizes with his subtleties; for Jehovah's hand is lifted up in judgment, and is falling in its successive strokes upon Pharaoh and his land, so that he would fain escape their power. Now, however, he is roused to a higher pitch of stubbornness, rushing headlong to his doom, spite of grace, warning, and judgment. "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more: for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die. And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more." (vv. 27-29.)

The Lord thereon proceeds to instruct Moses preparatory to their march out of Egypt.

"Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence: when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow" (i.e. "ask;" see note on page 25) "of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold. And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people." (Ex. 11: 1-3.)

Everything was thus prepared; and Moses accordingly delivers his final message — a message full of solemnity and dignity, suited indeed to the majesty of Him whose messenger he was. The contents of the message will be considered in the next chapter. Moses having ended his mission, "went out from Pharaoh in a great anger (11: S.) He was now in full communion with the mind of God, filled as he was with a holy indignation against Pharaoh's sin. (Compare Mark 3: 5.) All his timidity has vanished, and he stands before the king calm and fearless, consciously invested with the authority of Jehovah. But as the Lord had foretold, and now repeats, Pharaoh would not yield. "Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you; that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land." (vv. 9, 10.)

CHAPTER 6.  THE PASSOVER LAMB.

EXODUS 12.

Two things contained in the eleventh chapter may be recalled. First, the announcement of the judgment upon the firstborn; and, secondly, the difference made "between the Egyptians and Israel." (11: 4-7.) It is in the passover lamb that the reconciliation of these two things lies. For God now raises the question of sin, and thus necessarily presents Himself in the character of Judge. But the moment He does this, both the Egyptians and the Israelites alike are obnoxious to His judgment, inasmuch as both are sinners in His sight. True it was His purpose to redeem Israel out of Egypt, and it is also quite true that in the exercise of His own sovereign rights He can make a difference between the one and the other. But God can never cease to be God, and all His actions must be the expression of what He is in some aspect or character; and hence if He spare Israel — they being equally guilty with the Egyptians, both alike being sinners — while He destroys Egypt, He can only do so in harmony with His own nature. In other words, His righteousness must be as much displayed in the salvation of the one as the destruction of the other. And it is of immense moment to perceive that grace itself can only reign through righteousness. (Rom. 5: 21.) Now this is the very problem solved in this chapter — how God could righteously spare Israel when He destroyed the firstborn of Egypt. He appears to both alike as a Judge; and it will be seen that the only ground of the difference made, lay not in any moral superiority of Israel over Egypt, BUT WHOLLY AND SOLELY IN THE BLOOD OF THE PASCHAL LAMB. It was grace that made the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; it was grace too that provided the lamb; but the blood of that lamb — type as it was of the Lamb of God, Christ our Passover (1 Cor. 5: 7) — met every claim which God had upon Israel because of their sins, and hence He could righteously shelter them while the destroyer was carrying death into every household of the Egyptians. It was in the blood of the Lamb that mercy and truth met together, and righteousness and peace kissed each other. This will be fully seen as we pursue the details of the chapter.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you." (vv. 1, 2.)

Before God time counts for nothing as long as the sinner is in his sins. Until we are sheltered under the blood of Christ we have not begun to live in His sight. We may have lived thirty, forty, or fifty years; but if we have not been born again it is all waste time. Waste time? Waste as far as God is concerned; but, oh, how pregnant with results for eternity, should we continue in that condition! Every day of that period has added to our guilt, to the number of our sins, all of which are recorded in the book that will be opened at the judgment of the great white throne, should we pass into eternity unsaved. What a verdict upon the world's strivings and activities, upon the hopes and ambitions of men! They tell us of the nobility of life, speak of deeds of glory and fame, and seek to inspire our youth with the desire to emulate the deeds of those whose names are enrolled in the historic page. God speaks, and by one word dispels the illusion, proclaiming that not yet have such begun to live. Without life towards Him, however great such may loom in the eyes of men, they are dead, their true history has not yet commenced. So with the Israelites. They have been hitherto the servants of Pharaoh, slaves of Satan; they have not yet commenced to serve the Lord, and hence the month of their redemption was to be the first month of the year to them. From this point their true life's history began.

"Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: and if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls: every man, according to his eating, shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts, and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his Legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

"And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the LORD'S passover. For I will pass through flip, land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread. even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.

"In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one-and-twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread." (vv. 3-20.)

In the midst of judgment God remembers mercy. If He will smite the Egyptians, and if He cannot (cannot consistently with the attributes of His character) spare Israel, unless His claims upon them are fully and adequately met, He will Himself, acting from His own heart, in the exercise of His sovereign rights, according to the riches of His grace, provide the lamb whose blood should form the foundation on which He could righteously exempt His people from the stroke, and bring them out of the house of their bondage. Observe it well, that in the matter of our salvation, as in the redemption of Israel, the question is not what we are, but what God is. It is grounded therefore upon the immutable basis of His own character; and hence as soon as atonement has been made (as will be seen in the progress of this history) all that God is, is pledged for our security.

There are several features in this Scripture demanding distinct and separate notice. First, the lamb. As already pointed out, the whole value of this passover lamb springs from its being a type of Christ. Paul thus says, "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast." (1 Cor. 5: 7, 8.) We are warranted therefore, on divine authority, in seeing the Lamb of God under the shadow of this interesting type; and it is on this account that every detail of this chapter becomes invested with such exceeding interest. On the tenth day of the month the lamb was to be taken — a male of the first year, and without blemish — and it was to be kept up until the fourteenth day of the same mouth. This has generally been thought to correspond with the setting apart of the lamb in the counsels of God; i.e. on the tenth day, and the actual sacrifice in time on the fourteenth day. But another suggestion has been made, which is given and commended to the judgment of the reader. The tenth day, according to this, will correspond with the entrance of Christ upon His public ministry, when He was marked out by John the Baptist, in a most striking way, as "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1: 29.) Then if the Lord's ministry embraced the term of three years, made up of two whole years and parts of two more, this would, according to Jewish reckoning, be four years, and the time of His death would therefore correspond with the fourteenth day. But why, it may be asked, is the number ten taken for the setting of the lamb apart? Because it is the number of responsibility Godward, and it thereby teaches that ere our blessed Lord was publicly owned as the Lamb of God, He had met every responsibility before God, and was thus proved to be without blemish, qualified by what He was in Himself, to be the sacrifice for sin. He was God's Lamb, and it is full of blessed consolation that the lamb was of God's providing Man could have never known what sacrifice would have been acceptable. Israel would have remained in bondage until this day, had it been left to them to devise a means of satisfying the claims of God on account of their sins. Hence God in His mercy and grace furnished a lamb whose blood would suffice to take away the sin of the world. There can never be therefore any other method of cleansing from sin, any other means of shelter from the just judgment of God: the blood of Christ, inasmuch as it is provided by God, is exclusive of all other methods.

The lamb was to be killed on the fourteenth day of the month. "The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening." (v. 6.) All must be identified with the slain lamb. It was for the whole assembly it was to be killed. As a matter of fact every household had its lamb, for every family must be specifically under its shelter; on the other hand, "the assembly of the congregation" is looked upon as a whole. These two unities were ever preserved in the Jewish economy — that of the assembly, and that of the household. That of the family runs throughout the patriarchal age; and now that God is calling a people out of Egypt for Himself, while He establishes the unity of the whole, that of the household is still preserved. They are combined in the ordinance of the passover — the families apart, and the congregation as a whole.

In the next place the sprinkling of the blood is enjoined. The slain lamb would not have ensured the protection of a single household. Had the people rested in the fact that the lamb was killed, the destroyer would have found no bar to his entrance into their houses. There would not have been a house in all their tribes without its dead, equally with those of the Egyptians. No; it was not the death of the lamb, but the sprinkling of the blood, that secured their safety. (vv. 7, 13, 23.) Let the reader ponder it well. Is there no danger of his resting in the fact of Christ's death for protection — without a moment's concern whether he is under its blessed efficacy and value before God? The death of Christ will not save a single soul (we do not speak of infants) apart from faith in Himself. It is quite true that He has made a propitiation for sin — a propitiation which has glorified God in every attribute of His character, on the ground of which He can righteously, and with glory to Himself, bestow a full, complete, and an everlasting salvation upon every sinner that approaches Him through faith in its value. For God hath set forth Christ "a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, at this time, His righteousness: that He might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." (Rom. 3: 25, 26.) But there must be the personal identification with the shed blood through faith or it will have been, as far as such an one is concerned, shed in vain. How then, let it be inquired, did the Israelites come under its protection and value? It was simply and solely through the obedience of faith. They were enjoined to "take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts, and on the upper door-post of the houses," to "take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning." (vv. 7, 22.) They thus had nothing whatever to do excepting to believe and obey. It was not theirs to discuss the method provided, its reasonableness or otherwise, or its probable value. Everything depended upon the heed they gave to the word of God. So now God requires nothing from the sinner but faith — faith in His testimony to his own condition and guilt which expose him to judgment, and faith in the provision made for his need through the death of Christ. If an Israelite, from any pretext whatever, had disregarded the divine command, he could not have escaped the destroyer's stroke. In like manner if a sinner now refuses, on any plea, to bow to God's word respecting his condition, and also concerning Christ, nothing can avert the stroke of eternal judgment. But the moment the Israelite, in simple obedience, sprinkled the blood upon his dwelling, he was inviolably secure through that night of terror and death. The moment, too, a sinner believes in Christ, he is everlastingly safe, for he is protected by all the unspeakable value of His precious blood. Then he may sing with exulting confidence -

"Though the restless foe accuses,

Sins recounting like a flood;

Every charge our God refuses;

Christ hath answered with His blood."

Remark, also, to emphasize this truth still more, that the safety of the people depended in no degree whatever upon their own moral state, nor upon their own thoughts feelings, or experiences. The sole question was, whether the blood was or not sprinkled as directed. If it were, they were safe; if it were not, they were exposed to the judgment then passing through the land of Egypt. They might have been timid, fearful, and despondent; they might have spent the whole night in questionings; but still, if the blood was upon their dwellings, they were effectually shielded from the destroyer's stroke. It was the value of the blood, and that alone, which afforded them protection. Again, if they had been the best people in the world, as men speak, they would have perished equally with the vilest of the Egyptians, if without the sprinkled blood. The foundation of their safety, be it repeated, lay alone in the blood of the Passover lamb. It is the same now with every one in this land. Very soon judgments, far transcending those of Egypt, will descend upon this world, and these will be but the precursors of the last judgment of all before the great white throne, the certain issue of which is the second death (Rev. 20), and no one will escape these unless sheltered by the blood of Christ. Can the reader, then, wonder if the question is pressed upon him with earnestness, nay, even with affectionate vehemence, Art thou safe through the blood of Christ? Give thyself no rest day or night until this question is settled, until thou knowest, on the foundation of God's immutable word, that thou art as safe as the Israelites were in their sprinkled dwellings on this dark and terrible night.

It should be remarked, moreover, that the sprinkled blood was for the eye of God. As another has observed, "It is not said, When you see it, but, When I see it. The soul of an awakened person often rests, not on its own righteousness, but on the way in which it sees the blood. Now, precious as it is to have the heart deeply impressed with it, this is not the ground of peace. Peace is founded on God's seeing it. He cannot fail to estimate it at its full and perfect value as putting away sin. It is He that abhors and has been offended by sin: He sees the value of the blood as putting it away. It way be said, But must I not have faith in its value? This is faith in its value, seeing that God looks at it as putting away sin; your value for it looks at it as a question of the measure of your feelings. Faith looks at God's thoughts." It would save anxious ones from many weary days and nights of perplexity and anguish if this point were remembered. There is nothing beyond accepting God's own testimony as to the value of the blood. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt." All that God is, is against sin, and consequently all that He is, is satisfied with the blood of Christ, or He must still punish sin. His declaration, therefore, that He will spare when He sees the blood, is a distinct testimony to the fact that it has made a full and perfect expiation for sin. If, then, He is satisfied with the blood of Christ, cannot the sinner be also satisfied? And remember that the sinner's unworthiness cannot be pleaded as a bar to its efficacy. If it might, then the blood alone were not sufficient. The moment God's eye rests upon the blood, His whole moral nature is satisfied; and He as righteously spares those who are under its protection and value, as He smites the Egyptians.

The question, however, may be preferred, In what way can we now be brought under the efficacy of the blood of Christ? The Israelites were brought under the shelter of the blood of the passover lamb through faith. They received the message, believed its import, sprinkled the blood according to the directions given, and were thus secured against the judgment-stroke. It is simpler now. The glad tidings of redemption through the blood of Christ are proclaimed, the message is received; and immediately it is received, the eye of God beholds the soul under all its efficacy and value. Every one, therefore, who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ is delivered from the wrath to come. Peace with God is thus founded upon the blood of Christ. For "the blood signified the moral judgment of God, and the full and entire satisfaction of all that was in His being. God, such as He was, in His justice, His holiness, and His truth, could not touch those who were sheltered by that blood. Was there sin? His love towards His people had found the means of satisfying the requirements of His justice; and at the sight of that blood, which answered everything that was perfect in His being, He passed over it consistently with His justice, and even His truth." Peace with God, therefore, we repeat, is based upon the blood of Christ.

There is yet another thing. The passover lamb, whose blood had been sprinkled upon the dwellings of Israel, was to be eaten, and eaten in a special manner with its accompaniments, and in a prescribed attitude. Each of these points has its own interest and instruction. "They shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire." It must not be eaten "raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof." (v. 9.) Fire is a symbol of the holiness of God applied in judgment; and hence the lamb on which they fed told, in figure, that Another had borne the fire of judgment, passed through it, on their behalf. "Roast with fire" speaks thus of Christ who bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and was made sin for us, when He was exposed to the full, unsparing, and searching action of fire — God's judgment against sin. If therefore He spared His people, it was only on the ground of Another bearing what was their righteous due. What love then was expressed in delivering up His Son to such a death! Well might the Spirit of God say, He spared not His own Son, when He devoted Him to receive the stroke of the sinner's judgment.

"To us, our God His love commends,

When by our sins undone;

That He might spare His enemies,

He would not spare His Son."

And how gratefully must the children of Israel have fed upon this lamb roast with fire. If their eyes were opened they would surely say, "The blood of this victim is screening us from the awful judgment which is falling upon the Egyptians; the flesh we are eating has passed through the fire, to which we otherwise must have been exposed." And the thought, as they expressed it, could not fail to move their hearts to thanksgiving and praise to Him who had in His grace provided such a mode of escape and safety.

Two things were to accompany the eating of the lamb — unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Leaven is a type of evil, and hence the unleavened bread speaks, as on the one hand of the absence of evil, so on the other of purity and holiness. The apostle Paul speaks of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. This may be entered into more fully when we speak more at large of the feast of unleavened bread associated with the passover. (vv. 14-20.) It will suffice now to have marked its character. "Bitter herbs" represent the effect of entering into the sufferings of Christ in our behalf; repentance, self-judgment in the presence of God. These two things therefore portray the state of soul in which alone we can truly feed upon the lamb roast with fire. And it is beautiful to notice, how that the One who has borne the righteous judgment of God against their sins now becomes the food of His people. Remark, too, that nothing was to be left until the morning. Should there be any remaining it was to be burnt with fire. (v. 10.) The same direction was given afterwards for most of the sacrifices that were to be eaten. (See Leviticus 7: 15.) This was a provision undoubtedly against the danger of its being consumed as common food. It could only be eaten in association with the judgment through which it had passed. "The flesh" of Christ cannot be eaten except in the apprehension of His death. So here on the passover night, together with the morning, when the judgment had passed, they might forget the import of the lamb roast with fire; but the direction to burn what was left would recall its character, as well as prevent its degradation to common food. It was only around the passover table that they could properly feed upon the passover lamb.

Their attitude was to be in harmony with the position into which they had been brought. "And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's passover." (v. 11) All bespeaks the character to be assumed consequent upon their redemption — for they were about to leave Egypt for ever to march through the wilderness as pilgrims to their promised inheritance. Their loins were girded — in readiness for service, detached from the scene in which they had so long been held as captives, so that nothing might detain or impede them when the signal for the journey should be given; their shoes on their feet — prepared, shod for the march; their staff in their hand — the sign of their pilgrim character, for they were quitting what had been their home, to become strangers in the wilderness; and they were to eat the passover in haste — for they knew not at what moment the summons might be given, and hence they were to be ready — watching and ready. A true picture of the believer's attitude in this world. Would that we all more entirely answered to it! Again and again are we exhorted to have our loins girded; and to have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace (Eph. 6) is necessary if we would have on the whole armour of God. To maintain indeed the pilgrim character belongs to one of the first lessons of our Christian life, seeing that this is not our rest; and to be in the attitude of waiting for Christ belongs to our expectation of His return. This is true, but it is another thing to ask if these things characterize believers now as they should. What we need is a deeper sense of the character of the scene through which we are passing — that it is a judged scene, that God has already judged it in the death of Christ. "Now," said He, "is the judgment, of this world." Having the sense of this in our souls, we shall have no temptation to linger in it; but as true pilgrims, with our loins girded about, and our lights burning, we should ourselves be like unto men that wait for their Lord. (Luke 12: 35, 36.)

The feast of unleavened bread is appointed in connection with the passover. (vv. 14-20.) It was not kept in the land of Egypt, for on the same night that God smote the firstborn the children of Israel commenced their journey. But the connection is preserved to show its true typical significance. It is the same in 1 Cor. 5, "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (vv. 7, 8.) Leaven, as before explained, is a type of evil — evil which spreads and assimilates the mass through which it spreads to its own character. "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." (1 Cor. 5: 6.) To eat unleavened bread therefore will signify separation from evil — practical holiness. Mark, too, that the feast was to last for seven days — i.e. a complete period of time. The lesson, then, in its interpretation is that holiness is incumbent upon all who are sheltered by the blood of the Paschal Lamb throughout the entire period of their lives on earth. This is the import of the connection of the feast with the passover. If we are saved by the grace of God through the sprinkled blood of Christ, our wretched hearts might reason — we might indulge in sin that grace may abound. "No!" says the Spirit of God, "but as soon as you are under the value of the death of Christ, you are under the responsibility to be separate from evil." God thus looks for an answer in us, in our walk and conversation, to what He is, and to what He has done for us. It was to enforce this truth that the Israelites were enjoined to keep this feast "by an ordinance for ever;" first, indeed, to remind them that God had on this self-same day brought their armies out of the land of Egypt, and then to teach them the obligations under which they were thereby brought to maintain a walk in accordance with their new position. And may we not add that believers of the present day need to have this obligation recalled to their minds? The one thing to be pressed upon the consciences of all now is the responsibility of keeping this feast of unleavened bread. Looseness of walk, evil associations, and worldliness, are ruining on all sides the testimony of God's people. "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth." (John 17: 16, 17.) May this prayer of our blessed Lord be more manifestly answered in the increasing separation and devotedness of His people!

From the 21st to the 28th verse the account is given of the assembling of the elders by Moses to receive the directions already considered. The people on hearing the message "bowed the head, and worshipped. And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they." (vv. 27, 28.) One interesting particular is added. Provision is made to keep the children instructed as to the meaning of the passover (vv. 26, 27); and thus from generation to generation the account should be transmitted of the Lord's delivering grace and power when He smote the Egyptians.

The Lord having thus marked off His people in His grace, and secured their exemption from judgment through the sprinkled blood, proceeds to smite Egypt as He had declared.

"And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

"And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men. And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them [such things as they required]: and they spoiled the Egyptians." (vv. 29-36.)

The blow, so long threatened, but delayed in long-suffering and mercy, at length fell, and fell with crushing effect upon the whole land; for "the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle." The hearts of all were wrung with anguish under this sore and bitter stroke, darkening every home in the land, "and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead." Pharaoh's stubborn heart was reached, and for the moment bowed before the manifest judgment of God. He "rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians;" and sending for Moses and Aaron, bid them depart. He made no conditions now, but granted all they had claimed, and even sought a blessing at their hands. His people went further, and were urgent to send the children of Israel away; for they said, "We be all dead men." Hence, too, when asked they gave them anything and everything they desired, and thus, according to the word or the Lord, "they spoiled the Egyptians."

"And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot, that were men, beside children. And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual.

"Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations. (vv. 37-42,)

God thus emancipated His people from the thraldom of Egypt; and they took the first stage of their journey from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children. But, alas! they were not alone. They were accompanied by a "mixed multitude." This has been the bane of the people of God in every age; source of their weakness, failure, and at times of open apostacy. Paul warns the believers of his day of this special danger (1 Cor. 10); as also Peter (2 Peter 2) and Jude. The church at the present moment is likewise afflicted; nay, it would be hardly too much to say that the church in one aspect is composed of this "great mixture." Hence the importance of the apostle's words to Timothy, "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ" (Lord, it should be) "depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, prepared unto every good work." (2 Tim. 2: 19-21.) Their departure was in haste, for they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victual. No! they were cast wholly on God. He had separated them off from the Egyptians, sheltered them by the blood of the Lamb, and now it was His care to lead them forth and to provide them food by the way. Leaven must not be brought out with them.

"Rise, my soul, thy God directs thee,

Stranger hands no more impede;

Pass thou on, His hand protects thee,

Strength that has the captive freed.

Is the wilderness before thee,

Desert lands where drought abides

Heavenly springs shall there restore thee,

Fresh from God's exhaustless tides."

For centuries God's eye had been upon this moment (see Genesis 15: 13, 14); and on the self-same day — the day He had before ordained — His people went forth. They have not as yet crossed the Red Sea; but in the statement that "all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt," the Spirit of God anticipates their full and perfect deliverance. The blood that sheltered was the foundation of their complete redemption. It is no wonder therefore that it is added that the night of their exodus was to be much observed unto the Lord, and indeed to be held in perpetual remembrance. It was to be observed, remark, unto the Lord, in order to bring continually before their minds the source of that delivering grace and power which had brought them out of Egypt. So now in another way. In the same night in which the Lord Jesus was betrayed He took bread and gave thanks, instituting for His people the precious memorial of His death; so that as often as we eat the bread, and drink the cup, we might show forth the Lord's death until He come. Throughout the whole of our pilgrimage He would have us to remember Him — to remember Him on that "dark, betrayal night," when, as our Passover, He was sacrificed for us.

The chapter concludes with "the ordinance of the passover," which contains mainly two things. First, as to the persons who might partake of it: "There shall no stranger eat thereof: but every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof. A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof." Again, "All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof." (vv. 43-45, 47, 48.) There were then three classes who might keep the passover. (1) The Israelites, (2) Their servants bought with money, and (3) The stranger sojourning with them. But the condition for all these alike was circumcision. None could have a place at the passover table unless they had been circumcised. Only thus could they be brought within the terms of the covenant which God had made with Abraham (see Gen. 17: 9-14), and on the ground of which He was now acting in bringing them out of Egypt, and taking them to Himself for a people. Circumcision is a type of death to the flesh, and has its antitype, as to the thing signified, in the death of Christ. Thus Paul writes to the Colossians, "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead." (Col. 2: 11, 12.) Unless therefore all these specified classes were brought on to the ground of the covenant, they could not enjoy the privilege of this most blessed feast — a feast which derived all its meaning from the blood-shedding of the Paschal Lamb. It is exceedingly interesting to notice the special provision made for two of these classes. The Israelites, as such, were entitled to the passover, if they were circumcised. But outside of these were two other classes. A hired servant might not, but a servant bought with money might, if circumcised, be at the feast. It should be remembered that this feast possessed essentially a household character. Hence a servant bought with money became, as it were, incorporated with the family, an integral part of the household, and on this account was included. But a hired servant had no such place or standing, and was consequently excluded. In the "stranger sojourning with thee," we may see a promise of grace to the Gentiles, when the middle wall of partition should be broken down, and the gospel be proclaimed to the whole world.

Then, lastly, there is a provision as to the lamb itself. In one house shall it be eaten: thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof." (v. 46.) Both the meaning of the type, and the unity of the household, or of Israel, if the whole congregation be considered, would have been lost if this injunction had been disregarded. The blood was upon the dwelling, and the passover lamb was only for those under the shelter of the blood — for no other, and thus it must not be carried forth out of the house. The sprinkled blood is an indispensable condition for feeding on the lamb roast with tire. Neither must a bone be broken, because it was a type of Christ. Hence John says, "These things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of Him shall not be broken." (John 19: 36.) It is clear therefore that Christ was before the mind of the Spirit in the paschal lamb; and very blessed is it for us as we read the narrative when we have fellowship with His own thoughts and discern nothing but Christ. May He anoint our eyes ever more fully, that Christ alone may fill the vision of our souls as we read His words!

CHAPTER 7.  GOD'S CLAIMS.

EXODUS 13.

THE narrative of the exodus from Egypt is suspended to bring in certain consequences — responsible consequences for the children of Israel — consequences which flowed from their redemption out of the land of Egypt. For although they are still in the land, the teaching of the chapter is founded upon their having been brought out, and is indeed anticipative of their being in Canaan. If God acts in grace for His people, He thereby establishes claims upon them, and it is these claims that are here unfolded. A redeemed people become the property of the Redeemer. We thus read, "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price." (1 Cor. 6: 19, 20.) It is on the same principle that the Lord here speaks unto Moses, saying, "Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine." (v. 1.) But another thing is introduced in this connection. The feast of unleavened bread was enjoined in the last chapter immediately after the sprinkling of the blood. That was to show that the two things — shelter by the blood, and the obligation of a holy life — can never be separated. It is now given again, with instructions for its observance when the Lord should have brought them into the land of the Canaanites, (v. 5), in connection with the sanctification of the firstborn.

"And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage. for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. This day came ye out, in the month Abib.

"And it shall be, when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which He sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days: and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee; neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters. And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes; that the Lord's law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year.

"And it shall be, when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as He sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, that thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the Lord's. And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.

"And it shall be, when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage: and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the firstborn of my children I redeem. And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt." (vv. 3-16.)

Two or three remarks may be added upon the feast of unleavened bread to include the additional particulars here given. It was to be connected for ever with the remembrance of two things. First, with the day of their redemption. "Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage." (v. 3.) The Lord would ever have His people remember the day of their deliverance, the day in which they were brought out of darkness into light, out from under the judgment due to their sins into the perfect favour of God in Christ. Secondly, they were not to forget the source of their deliverance. "For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place." (v. 3.) To Him alone had they been indebted. No other arm could have riven their fetters, smitten their oppressor, protected them from the destroyer, and given them deliverance. He alone could have ransomed them from the hand of the enemy. Thus the Lord Jesus read, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." (Luke 4: 18, 19) It is therefore exceedingly significant to find that, immediately upon these two things being recalled to their minds, it is added, "There shall no leavened bread be eaten." If the Lord acts for His people, it is to redeem them from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. (Titus 2: 14.) Since He is holy, He looks for holiness in His redeemed, and throughout the complete period (seven days) of their lives. No leaven must be seen in any of their quarters. Not only so; but upon every recurring festival the father was instructed to teach his son the significance of the feast. Responsible for his children, he must carefully explain to them why no leaven could be permitted. It would be inconsistent with the ground of redemption on which he stood. "This is done," he should say, "because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand," etc. (vv. 8, 9); and all this that the Lord's law might be in his mouth. Here is the secret, both of separation from evil and separation unto God. "Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word." "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." (Psalm 119: 9, 11) It is thus that believers now can truly keep the feast of unleavened bread, by heeding and obeying the word of God.

Thereon follow the directions for the sanctification of the firstborn. Devotedness, consecration, must also mark the redeemed, and will be ever a fruit of true separation; and hence the feast of unleavened bread precedes the setting apart of the firstborn. First, we may notice the exception to this general law. "Every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem." (v. 13.) The conjunction of the firstling of an ass with the firstborn of man is most striking, and the more so that both alike were to be redeemed. There is also another thing. The firstling of the ass was to be redeemed with a lamb; the first-born of Israel were redeemed with a lamb on the passover night. Add, that the ass was to be destroyed if not redeemed, as the Israelites would surely have been when the Lord smote the Egyptians, and the parallel is complete. What then do we learn by it? That man, as he is born into the world, is classed with the firstling of an ass; that both alike are unclean, and as such doomed to destruction, unless redeemed with a lamb. Can anything be more humbling to the pride of the natural man? Boasting of what he is, and of his intellectual capacities, let him here behold the divine estimate of his condition. A more degrading comparison could not be made, and yet it is a comparison to which every believer readily sets his seal as divinely true. For that was our state by nature — lost and helpless — and we had surely perished if, in the riches of God's grace, we had not been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. On the other hand, how it magnifies the grace of God in condescending to such as we were, in meeting us when in that state, bringing us to Himself, and associating us for ever with the Lamb by whom we have been redeemed! If by nature we could not have fallen lower, by grace we could not have been raised higher; for He has predestinated us "to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren." (Rom. 8: 29.)

It is important to observe the ground on which God claimed the firstborn. It is expressly connected with the destruction of the firstborn in the land of Egypt. (v. 15.) As we have seen, Israel was spared on that dreadful night solely on the ground of the sprinkled blood of the slain lamb — on the ground of the death of another. It was therefore on the principle of substitution; and this in fact is the ground of God's claim in this chapter. If God spared the firstborn because of the Paschal Lamb, He thereafter claimed them as His own. It is so now. We belong to Him who has redeemed us, because He took our place, and bore our sins in His own body on the tree. He died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them and rose again (2 Cor. 5: 15.) It is well to ask ourselves frequently if we are recognizing His claim — His claim upon us, upon all that we are, and upon all that we have? This truth also the father was to impress upon his son (vv. 14-16); for thereby he would be taught the Lord's claims upon him equally with his father — that both alike, as redeemed ones, owed their service to the Redeemer. It is an immense point gained when the believer looks upon himself and his family as belonging to the Lord. Whether they are individually owning that claim is another matter, and it cannot be pressed too much that there is no salvation apart from individual faith; but it is of great moment that the head of the household should continually remember that he and all his are the Lord's. Only then will he be able, by God's blessing, to bring up his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to govern them for Him, and as in His sight; and it is only as the children perceive this truth that they will look upon parental rule as expressive of the authority of the Lord. Let believers, therefore, not weary in telling their children of the Lord's claims upon the ground of redemption.

The narrative is now resumed.

"And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt. But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him; for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." (vv. 17-22.)

The first thing this part of our chapter brings before us is God choosing the way for His people through the wilderness. If He lead His people out into the wilderness, He will undertake for them in every respect; He will expect nothing from them but obedience to His word. Mark, moreover, the tenderness He displayed in choosing their path. He had respect to their weakness and timidity. He "led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt." Beautiful exhibition of His tender compassion — revealing to us how fully He enters into and feels for His people in all their feebleness and fears. True He had other purposes for them; but it is sweet beyond expression to notice that He determined the particular way by which He would lead them out of regard to their condition. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust."* (Ps. 103: 13, 14)

*Much discussion has been raised upon the statement that the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt (v. 18) — as if of necessity the word meant, armed as warriors. But this is a mistake. It does not seem to imply more than that they went in regular marching order, as would be necessary in conducting the movements of so large a host.

After the statement of the manner of their march, mention is made of the bones of Joseph. This is most beautiful. Turning back to the deathbed of Joseph, we read that he "took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence." (Gen. 50: 25.) In the epistle to the Hebrews God's estimate of this action is recorded. "By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones." (Heb. 11: 22.) In our chapter we find God's response to His servant's faith. There was surely enough to occupy the mind of Moses on this passover night — in arranging for the departure of so large a multitude. What leisure could he have had to care for the bones of Joseph? But Joseph had taken an oath of the children of Israel in dependence upon God. He believed, and therefore he spoke; and putting his trust in God it was impossible that he could be ashamed. To the natural eye there was little probability indeed — when Joseph was dying — of his people leaving Egypt. But this dying saint rested upon the sure word and promise of God, and therefore with confidence "gave commandment concerning his bones." Years had passed away — nearly four hundred (for the Israelites were in Egypt altogether four hundred and thirty years; (Ex. 12: 41) — and God did visit His people, and the oath was remembered, so that the bones of the patriarch accompanied them in their exodus. It is surely a noteworthy example of the faithfulness of God, as well as the preciousness in His sight of the faith of His servant.

The next verse (20th) records the names of their first camping places. "They took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness." They started from Rameses (Ex. 12: 37), then came to Succoth, etc., as here described. These places were all in Egypt, and although much learning and research have been expended upon the subject, their identification has scarcely reached the limits of conjectural probability. What is of more importance is to notice that they were divinely guided on their march. He who selected their path, guided them in it, went before them in the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, in all their wanderings. These gracious symbols of His presence He never took from them as long as they were in the wilderness. This is only an illustration of the truth, that the Lord is ever the guide of His people. He who leads them out of Egypt may ever be seen before them in the path on which they have entered. He never says, "Go;" but His word is always, "Follow me." He has left us an example that we should follow His steps. (1 Peter 2: 21.) He Himself is the Way, as well as the Truth and the Life. (John 14: 6.) It is quite true that we have not the visible guidance which the children of Israel enjoyed; but it is no less discernible and certain to the spiritual eye. The Word is a lamp to our feet and a light unto our path. (Ps. 119: 105.)

It is interesting to remark that there was no such guidance in Egypt or in the land. This brings out the important truth, that it is only in the wilderness that the indication of a way is needed. And there it is in His tenderness and mercy that the Lord takes the lead of His own — showing them the way in which they should walk — where they should rest, and when they should march, leaving nothing to them, but Himself undertaking all for them, only requiring that their eyes should be kept fixed on their Guide. Happy are the people who are thus led, and who are made willing to follow, who by grace are enabled to say

"Only Thou our Leader be,

And we still will follow Thee."

CHAPTER 8. GOD AS THE DELIVERER OF HIS PEOPLE.

EXODUS 14.

IN chapter 12 God appears as a Judge, because when once the question of sin was raised, the holiness of His nature necessitates that He should deal with it — and deal with it righteously. God therefore was there against His people on account of their sin, although means were found, in His gracious provision and according to His direction, to satisfy, through the blood of the Paschal Lamb, His righteous claims. But in this chapter, He who was against the people because of their sin, is now for them because of the blood. His righteousness, His truth, His majesty yea, all that He was, had been satisfied by the sprinkled blood. A propitiation* had been made on the ground of which He could undertake the cause of those who had been brought under its value. Consequently He appears here as a Saviour — a Deliverer. Historically there is an interval between these two characters. He was a Judge on the passover night, and a Deliverer at the Red Sea; and this is the order of apprehension in the case of the majority of awakened souls. When first convicted of sin, when it is really the work of the Spirit of God, God appears to the soul as a Judge because of guilt. But when there is peace of conscience through the apprehension by faith that the blood of Christ has met God's claims, and cleansed from guilt, then the soul perceives that God Himself is on its behalf, and sees the proof of it in His raising the Lord Jesus from the dead. These two stages are clearly marked in Romans 3 and 4. Thus in Romans 3 it is faith in the blood, believing in Jesus (vv. 25, 26); while in Romans 4 it is faith in God. (v. 24.) And there is no settled peace until this second stage is reached. But while these two things are separated historically in connection with the children of Israel, and generally in the experience of souls, it must not be forgotten that they are but two parts of one and the same work. The Red Sea, therefore, in this aspect, while it presents more striking effects in the display of God's power, on the one hand in the redemption of His people, and on the other, in the destruction of Pharaoh and his host, is but the consequence of the sprinkled blood on the passover night. The blood was the foundation of all God's subsequent actings for Israel. Hence, while it is quite true that redemption was not known until the Red Sea was crossed, the blood-shedding was a deeper work, because it was that which glorified God concerning the question of the people's sin, and enabled Him, in harmony with every attribute of His character, to work for their complete deliverance. It is only when this distinction between the two things, and, at the same time, their connection, are remembered, that this chapter can be understood. Bearing it in mind, the key to its interpretation will be possessed, and it will be seen that every action it records is in relation to the truth thus explained.

*When we say, "a propitiation," it will be understood that we are speaking of the typical value of the blood. Propitiation proper was made by the blood sprinkled on the mercy-seat. (Compare Lev. 16: 14 and Rom. 3: 25.)

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them: and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so." (vv. 1-4.)

The first thing which the Lord did was to shut up His people, as far as man was concerned, in a perfectly hopeless position. Encamped by the sea, and surrounded by the wilderness, He so placed them that if Pharaoh followed after them, as He purposed he should, that there would be positively no human way of escape. This was done to entice Pharaoh to his destruction, and to reduce the children of Israel to entire dependence upon Himself. Both things were accomplished; for the Egyptians were to know that He was the Lord, and the Israelites were to confess that He was their salvation. This will be brought before us in the narrative.

"And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us? And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baalzephon." (vv. 5-9)

What a revelation of the possibilities of the human heart is seen in the case of Pharaoh! Though the Lord had made bare His arm in successive judgments, and at length had extorted a cry of anguish from every household in the land of Egypt, we yet find the king and also his servants recovering from the blow which had for the moment overwhelmed them with sorrow, repenting of the release of Israel, and daring to follow after to bring them back to their former servitude. They thus pursued them, "all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon." This, as explained, had been arranged of the Lord. To Pharaoh and his people, it would appear utter folly to occupy such a position, and an evidence, it might be, that they were guided by human folly rather than divine wisdom. They march on therefore in full confidence of an easy victory. For what could rescue a nation of fugitives, encumbered with women and children, from their grasp? So also it appeared to the unbelieving children of Israel. They were sheltered by the blood, they were guided by the pillar of cloud, and they surely might have said, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" But sight was stronger than faith. The sea was before them, and Pharaoh and his mighty armies behind. To the natural eye escape was impossible, and captivity or death certain. This was the effect produced on their minds.

"And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness." (vv. 10-12.)

Unbelief marked every word they uttered, and because they were judging according to the sight of their eyes. They were sore afraid; they would die in the wilderness; they had known it would be so, and servitude in Egypt was far better than the death that now awaited them. The mistake they made was in leaving the Lord out of their calculations — as unbelief ever does — and thus making it a question between themselves and the Egyptians. Moses was sustained; his faith was unfaltering, and he could therefore encourage their hearts as well as rebuke their unbelief.

"And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." (vv. 13, 14.)

In truth a work was to be wrought that day in which the people could have no part. For there were two things from which they needed to be delivered — Satan's power as represented by Pharaoh and his host, and death and judgment which were shown in figure by the Red Sea. And these two are connected. For through man's sin Satan has acquired rights, and wields death as the just judgment of God. It is quite true that the children of Israel were already sheltered by the blood of the paschal lamb, and that they might therefore have rested in perfect peace. But they knew not the value of that blood. That it had saved them from the stroke of judgment, that their houses escaped when God smote the firstborn of Egypt they knew; but they had not yet learned, that this same blood had secured everything for them, deliverance from their foes, guidance through the wilderness, and even the possession of the promised inheritance. Hence the moment Pharaoh appears on the scene they "were sore afraid," and "cried out unto the Lord." The Lord met them in their weakness and doubt, and reminds them by this message which Moses delivered that the work was His, both to save them from the land of Egypt's king, and from the waves of the Red Sea. They were to cease from their fears, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord; for their enemies should disappear for ever from their eyes, the Lord would fight for them, and they should hold their peace. Blessed truth, that salvation is of the Lord! It is one, however, that we are slow to learn. How many become entangled in the thought that they must do something. But no; He who has provided the Paschal Lamb, whose blood cleanses us from our sin, will do all the rest. Salvation is His own perfect, finished work. To add to it in any way by our own doings or strivings is only to mar its beauty and completeness. Nay, what is there that man can do when Satan and death are in question? Man is helpless in the presence of such foes. He cannot escape, he cannot overcome them, and hence perforce — if he would but learn the lesson — he must stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. How quieting to the heart of the timid and the anxious! Let them then enter upon the full enjoyment of this precious message, if terrified by Satan's power in the prospect of death: "The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace."

Following the record we shall perceive how the Lord verified the words of His servant.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: but lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And 1, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen." (vv. 15-18.)

There is no inconsistency between the command of Moses, "Stand still," and that now given, "Go forward." They had truly to be reminded that they could do nothing; but faith should have perceived that the work was done, and marched boldly forward through the sea which seemed to bar their advance. Death, and the power of death, had been overcome, the salvation had been completed, and hence they were to go forward. The order and the teaching of the order are beautiful. The Lord completes the work, and by the finished work of salvation a way of escape from Satan's power through death has been opened. Being opened, it is for the believer to walk through it, to go boldly forward in confidence in Him who, having been their Judge, has now become their Saviour. This the Lord proceeds to unfold by the farther command addressed to Moses. He will show His power over the sea before the eyes of His people, to pacify their fears, and to assure them of His protection and care. But this must be explained more fully. Together with the command to the children of Israel to go forward, Moses was directed to lift up his rod, and stretch his hand over the sea, and divide it, so that the children of Israel might go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. The Egyptians should be hardened to follow, and to follow for their own destruction, and God would be glorified both in the salvation of His people and the destruction of their foes. Having thus directed Moses, the Lord proceeds to act.

"And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: and it came between the camp of the. Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left.

"And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them: there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and His servant Moses." (vv. 19-31.)

The several points in this miraculous deliverance may now be noted. First, the angel of God removed and went "between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel." God thus interposed between His blood-bought people and their pursuers. For indeed all that He was, in every attribute of His character, was engaged on their behalf. That panic-stricken multitude might well be scorned by the flower and chivalry of Egypt, but they were under the aegis of Omnipotence, and before they could. be reached God Himself must be met and overcome. Oh, what strength and consolation lie in this precious truth, that God Himself undertakes the cause of the feeblest of those who are under the shelter of the blood of Christ! Satan may set all his legions in battle array, and seek to terrify the soul by the display of his power, but his vauntings and threats may alike be disregarded, for the battle is the Lord's. It is therefore not what we are, but what God is. And it should be observed, that He that is for the believer is against the enemy. That which gave light to the children of Israel was a cloud and darkness to Pharaoh and his army. The presence of God terrifies all but those who are cleansed from sin by the precious blood. Hence the camp of Egypt was shut off from Israel, and "the one came not near the other all the night." (v. 20.) How fearless, then, we ought to be, when this truth, God for us, is so plainly revealed. Elisha knew its power when, in answer to the expressed fears of his servant, he said, "Fear not; for they that be with us are more than they that be with them;" and then, when in answer to the prophet's prayer the young man's eyes were opened, "he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." (2 Kings 6: 15-17.) Be it, however, repeated, that the alone foundation of God being, for us is the precious blood of Christ. This, then, is the first thing here taught, that God protects His people as against the power of Satan.

The second thing to be remarked is, the division of the waters of the Red Sea. Moses was to lift up his rod, and stretch out his hand over the sea. (v. 16.) The rod is a symbol of the authority and power of God; and hence it was before it that the waters retired. The strong east wind was used as an instrumentality, but in connection with the mandate of His power as expressed in the use of the rod. Thus God opened a way through death for His people. As, on the one hand, He shielded them from Satan's power, so, on the other, He through death delivered them from death. This is the typical significance of the Red Sea — death, and also resurrection — inasmuch as the people were brought through to the other side. "As a moral type," therefore, to use the language of another, "the Red Sea is evidently the death and resurrection of Jesus, so far as the real effecting of the work goes, in its own efficacy as deliverance by redemption, and of His people as seen in Him; God acting in it, to bring them through death out of sin and this present world, giving absolute deliverance from them by death, into which Christ had gone, and consequently beyond the possibility of being reached by the enemy." This is beautifully illustrated by two particulars. They "went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground." Wherefore? Because — we speak of the typical teaching — Christ had gone down into death, and exhausted its power. He "death by dying slew," and in death met and vanquished the whole power of Satan. Through death He destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and delivered them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. (Heb. 2: 14, 15.) All the force and power of death were therefore expended upon Christ, and as a consequence believers pass through on dry ground. Then, moreover, we find that "the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left." (v. 22.) Not only had death no power over them, but it became a defence. Thus "the very sea they dreaded, and which appeared to throw them into Pharaoh's hands, becomes the means of their salvation." It was the way of their deliverance from Egypt, and instead of being their enemy had become their friend. How blessedly all this is fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Christ, every believer should know. It is not only that we have been sheltered from judgment through the sprinkled blood, but through the death and resurrection of Christ, and our death and resurrection in Him, we have been brought out from Egypt, and delivered both from the power of Satan and of death. Already we have passed from death unto life, have been brought completely out of our old condition on to new ground in Christ Jesus. We might still go farther, and point out how this type will be fulfilled in another way. Death, which is the enemy of the sinner, has become the friend of the believer, and will but prove the means of our passage, should we depart before the Lord returns, into His presence.

The last thing to be noted is the destruction of the Egyptians. In the temerity of their daring presumption they "pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen." That pillar of fire even did not keep them back, but, in vain confidence in their own strength, they pressed onward, but to a sure and certain doom. "And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily." They were now convinced of the hopelessness of the contest, and would fain have fled; but it was all too late. At the Lord's bidding, once again Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and it returned and covered all Egypt's host, so that "there remained not so much as one of them." (v. 28.) "By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do, were drowned." (Heb. 11: 29.) The solemn lesson is thus conveyed, that to face the power of death in human confidence is certain destruction. Only the blood-bought people can pass through in safety. All others will surely be overwhelmed; and yet how many a soul dares to meet death and judgment in its own strength. Let all such be warned by the fate of Pharaoh and his army. There can be no escape apart from Christ. He only is the way of safety, because He alone has met and overcome death, is the One who has died, has risen again, and is alive for evermore, and has the keys of hades and death.

Three things conclude the chapter. There is first the repetition of the fact that Israel walked through the sea upon dry land, and found the waters a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. It is the contrast emphasized between the salvation of Israel and the destruction of the Egyptians There are only then two classes. There could be no other — the lost (the Egyptians) and the saved (the Israelites). The former were swallowed up in death and judgment, while the latter were brought through in safety, because they were covered with the value of the blood of the Lamb. We then read that "the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians." (v. 30.) He had before sheltered them from judgment, but now He saved them from the foe. Satan's power was brought to nought, and they were consequently delivered. The full meaning of this term will appear in the next chapter; but it may be remarked that it is here for the first time that the word "saved" acquires its full significance. Lastly, the effect produced upon the minds — in the souls of the children of Israel — is noted. They "saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and His servant Moses." Such a display of power — destructive on the one hand, and redemptive on the other — had bowed their hearts and begotten reverent fear in their souls. In Egypt they had no doubt feared the Lord in the sense of dread — dreading Him as a holy Judge; but now it was fear of another kind — fear begotten by the manifestation of His wonder-working power, and which led them to look upon Him as their Lord. It was the fear of an intimate relationship — the fear which would desire to please, and dread above all things to offend. It was the offspring of recognizing the holiness of God in their salvation. This is shown by the fact that they also believed the Lord, and His servant Moses. The testimony of what and who He was had been unfolded before their eyes. They received it, and now not only had Jehovah chosen them to be His people, but they also by faith recognized and owned Him as their Lord. They also believed Moses — as their divinely-appointed leader. Indeed they were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. (1 Cor. 10: 2.) There was therefore both a work wrought for them and in them — and both alike proceeded from the power and grace of God. He who so marvellously brought them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, produced a response in their hearts to what He was, and what He had done for them. Salvation is never entered into or enjoyed until these two things are united. Thus the work, on the foundation of which God can save sinners, has long been completed; but until it can be said that the sinner believes he is not saved. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation ("the judgment") but is passed from death unto life." (John 5: 24.)

CHAPTER 9.  THE SONG OF REDEMPTION.

EXODUS 15: 1-21.

THIS chapter occupies a most important place — both as marking the new position into which the children of Israel were now brought, and as expressive of the feelings — begotten in them undoubtedly by the Holy Spirit — which were suited to it. It is really a song of redemption; and at the same time it is prophetic in its character, embracing as it does the purposes of God with respect to Israel until the millennium — when "the Lord shall reign for ever and ever." (v. 18.) It has therefore a twofold character, applying primarily to Israel, and then, inasmuch as the passage of the Red Sea was pre-eminently typical in its character, also to the position of the believer. Bearing this in mind, its interpretation will be the more easily apprehended.

"Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation: He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation;* my father's God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the. enemy. And in the greatness of Thine excellency Thou hast overthrown them that rose up against Thee: Thou sentest forth Thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble. And with the blast of Thy nostrils the waters were gathered together: the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with Thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Thou stretchedst out Thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in Thy strength. unto Thy holy habitation. The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them: all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them: by the greatness of Thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till Thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over, which Thou hast purchased. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in; in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them: but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea." (vv. 1-19.)

*This translation is more than questionable. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, Luther, and the French version, agree in rendering it, "He is my God, and I will praise (or glorify) Him, my father's God, and I will exalt Him."

The first thing to be remarked upon this outburst of joy is, that we have no singing mentioned in Scripture, except in connection with redemption. Angels even are never said to sing. At the birth of our blessed Lord "there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2: 10, 14.) So in the Revelation John says, "I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." (Rev. 5: 11, 12.) It is only therefore redeemed ones who can sing, and we learn therefrom the true character of Christian song. It should express the joy of salvation, the accents of praise and gladness produced in the soul by the knowledge of redemption. "Is any merry?" says James, "let him sing psalms." (James 5: 13.) That is, if any one is overflowing with true joy — joy consequent upon known redemption, joy in the Lord as the Redeemer, it should be expressed in psalms — psalms of praise to God. "Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord." It was then, when they knew for the first time what redemption was, that they poured forth the gladness of their hearts in song., And there should be no other, indeed there is no other, song for the Christian. To take another into his lips is to forget his true character as well as the only source of his joy.

The song itself may be considered in two aspects — its general subject, and the truths it contains. As to its general subject, it is simply the Lord Himself, and what He has done. But this embraces a great deal. It is the Lord Himself as apprehended and known in redemption. "The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation." (v. 2.) For it is only in redemption that He can be known. Thus, until the cross of Christ He was not, could not be, fully revealed. He was revealed to the children of Israel in the character of the relationship into which they were brought, but it was not until the redemption was accomplished, of which this recorded here was but the type, that He made Himself fully known in all the attributes of His character. But whatever the measure of His manifestation in each succeeding dispensation, He could not be apprehended, even so far, except through redemption, typical or otherwise, and the consequent relationship into which the redeemed were brought. The children of Israel knew Him as Jehovah; we, by grace, know Him as our God and Father, because the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; but whatever the dispensation, He Himself, as so revealed, is ever the subject of song, for it is in Him alone that His people in every age rejoice. As, however, we have remarked, there is another thing, and that is, what He has done, and this is fully brought out in the song of Moses and the children of Israel. There are necessarily two aspects of this — the salvation of His people, and the destruction of their enemies. This is expressed in every variety of phrase, and with all the sublimity of expression which beseemed the majesty of Him who had thus wrought on their behalf. It is not what they had accomplished, but what the Lord has done. It Was not their, but His triumph that they celebrated. They have lost sight of themselves in the presence of such an astounding display of redemptive power! "I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea." (v. 1.) They thus magnify the Lord, for they perceive, as divinely inspired, that the work which He had achieved redounded to His own exaltation and glory. "Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power;" and again, "Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" (vv. 6, 11.) Surely believers of this dispensation might learn from this primal redemptive song, what should be the character of their praise when gathered for worship in the power of the Holy Ghost. As it is the first song of redemption, it contains the principles of praise for all future generations. It deserves, on this account, the prayerful consideration of every believer.

It is, however, when we consider the truths it contains, that we learn its fulness and variety. The first is that they were now redeemed - redemption being, as pointed out, the burden of their song. "The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation." And again, Thou hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed. Until now they were not redeemed, they did not know salvation. They had been perfectly sheltered from the destroyer in Egypt, but they could not be said to be saved until they were brought out of Egypt, and delivered from Pharaoh — from Satan's power. There is the same difference observable now in the experience of souls. There are many who know the forgiveness of their sins through the blood of Christ; but afterwards not knowing themselves — the nature of the flesh still in them — or the power of Satan to harass and disturb — they not only lose their joy consequent upon pardon, but sometimes fall, through the difficulties which surround them on every hand, into a state of despondency and alarm. Brought into the consciousness of their utter inability to do any thing, or to resist the enemy, they are made to cry, as in Romans 7, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (v. 24.) It is then they are taught that the Lord Jesus has not only provided cleansing for their sins through His precious blood, but that also, through His death and resurrection, He has brought them out of their old condition, and put them in a new place in Him on the other side of death and judgment. Their eyes are now opened to see that in Him they have been completely delivered from all that was against them, and therefore that Satan has lost his rights over, and consequently has no further claim upon, them. They are thus set free; their evil nature has already been judged, and Satan's power has been vanquished, in the death of Christ, and hence, delivered, their hearts are filled with thanksgiving and praise. That many stop short of this full blessing is only too true, but it is, nevertheless, the portion of every believer. And there never can be full assurance of salvation — firm and solid peace — until this complete deliverance is known. No doubt it must be learned experimentally, but it depends entirely and alone upon what Christ is and has done; and accordingly the whole of this blessing is presented to sinners in the gospel of God's grace. It may be that the soul learns forgiveness of sins first; but it is no less the fact that a full redemption is provided for, and preached to, every one who will receive the message of the gospel. It is of the first importance that this truth should be known; for through ignorance of it, there are thousands who are a prey to doubts and fears, instead of rejoicing in the Lord as the God of their salvation. Souls in such a state have little freedom in prayer, or worship, or service; but when once the truth of redemption dawns upon them, like the children of Israel in the scene before us, they are constrained to give vent to their new-found joy in songs of praise.

But there is more. Their position is changed. "Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation." They were brought to God as to the new standing they occupied. In the desert, just indeed entering upon it — this marked their character as pilgrims — they were yet brought unto God's holy habitation. This corresponds with our position as believers in the Lord Jesus. He once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. This is our place as His redeemed. That is, we are brought to God according to all that He is; His whole moral nature, having been completely satisfied in the death of Christ, can now rest in us in perfect complacency. The hymn therefore does but express a scriptural thought, which says -

"So near, so very near to God,

I cannot nearer be,

For in the person of His Son

I am as near as He."

The place indeed is accorded to us in grace, but none the less in righteousness; so that not only are all the attributes of God's character concerned in bringing us there, but He Himself is also glorified by it. It is an immense thought, and one which, when held in power, imparts both strength and energy to our souls — that we are even now brought to God. The whole distance — measured by the death of Christ on the cross, when He was made sin for us — has been bridged over, and our position of nearness is marked by the place He now occupies as glorified at the right hand of God. In heaven itself we shall not be nearer, — as to our position, because it is in Christ. It will not be forgotten that our enjoyment of this truth, indeed even our apprehension of it, will depend upon our practical condition. God looks for a state corresponding with our standing — i.e. our responsibility is measured by our privilege. But until we know our place there cannot be an answering condition. We must first learn that we are brought to God, if we would in any measure walk in accordance with the position. State and walk must ever flow from a known relationship. Unless therefore we are taught the truth of our standing before God, we shall never answer to it in our souls, or in our walk and conversation.

The third thing to be observed is, that their present position was the pledge of the fulfilment of all the rest. "Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in; in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever." (vv. 17, 18.) The power God had displayed at the Red Sea was the guarantee; first, that He would accomplish all His purposes respecting Israel; and, secondly, that that power would finally be exhibited in His everlasting reign. Faith, begotten through the knowledge of redemption, lays hold of this — embracing the whole scope of the purposes of God, and looking upon them as if already accomplished. It is so in the epistle to the Romans. "Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified." (Rom. 8: 30.) If indeed the purposes of God could be frustrated, He were not God. There may be enemies in the way — and they may set themselves against the execution of His declared will. But faith says, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Thus Israel could sing, "The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them: all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them: by the greatness of Thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till Thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over, which Thou hast purchased." (vv. 14-16.) In like manner, the apostle cries, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" No — nothing, for he is "persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8: 35-39.) The efficacy of the blood secures the completion of all God's counsels, brings in all that He is — His majesty, His truth, His mercy, His love, His almighty power — on behalf of His people. It is therefore not presumption, but simplicity of faith, to anticipate the consummation of our redemption. It is not to overlook the character and might of our foes; but, measuring these by what God is, the soul is immediately certified of being more than a conqueror through Him that loved us. It is to derive the full and blessed consolation of the truth, that God is acting by His own power outside of us, and for His own glory. The legions of Satan — the dukes of Edom, the mighty men of Moab, and the inhabitants of Canaan, may seek to bar the way to the inheritance, but when God arises in His strength on behalf of His blood-besprinkled host, they will be scattered as chaff before the wind. Thus the end is sure from the beginning, and hence our triumphant song of victory may be raised before a single step has been taken in the wilderness path. And the issue will be to the glory of the One who has redeemed us. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. So we read in the epistle to the Philippians, that it is according to God's purpose and decree, "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2: 9-11.) What joy it should be to the heart of the believer to contemplate that while we are brought into unspeakable blessing, yet that the result of redemption will be the exaltation of the Redeemer. In this Scripture the reign spoken of has undoubtedly primary application to the earth. It is the everlasting kingdom of Jehovah — the millennial sway of the Messiah, who must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. But in principle it goes further — for He shall reign for ever and ever; and this too will be the fruit of the cross. There He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and as a consequence He is now, and will be for ever, exalted.

There is another thing demanding our notice. So far, everything that has been considered is connected with the purposes of God. But in the second verse there is an exception. No sooner can they say, "The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation," than they add, "He is my God, and I will prepare, Him an habitation;* my father's God, and I will exalt Him." This is different from The sanctuary which Thy hands have established, in the seventeenth verse. That looks on to the accomplishment of the purposes of God in the establishment of the kingdom and the temple at Jerusalem. But this was to be a present thing: "I will prepare Him an habitation." It is in fact the tabernacle. This will come more properly before us in subsequent chapters; but it may be noted here that this is the first time mention is made of a habitation for the Lord with His people. He had saints before this, but not a people; and until redemption was accomplished He never dwelt on earth. He visited His saints, and appeared to them in many ways, but He never had His dwelling-place in their midst. But as soon as expiation for sin has been made by the blood of the lamb, and His people have been brought forth out of Egypt, saved through death and resurrection, then He inspires their hearts to build Him a habitation.† He led them by the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, as soon as they commenced their exodus; but He could not have a dwelling-place in Egypt, in the territory of the enemy. But when they are brought on to new ground, He can identify Himself with them, dwell in their midst, and be their God, and they His people. It is so also in Christianity. Not until atonement had been made, and Christ had risen from the dead and ascended up on high, did God form His present habitation on earth through the Spirit. (Acts 2; Eph. 2) It is so with the individual believer. It is not until he is cleansed by the blood of Christ that his body is made a temple of the Holy Ghost. The truth therefore is, that God's dwelling upon earth is founded upon a completed redemption. And what an immense privilege. Although the wilderness was no part of the purpose of God, yet, in His ways with His people, they wandered there forty years. How blessed, then, for these weary pilgrims, looking onward to the inheritance, to have the habitation of God in their midst; a place where they could approach Him, through the appointed priests, with sacrifices and incense; the centre, too, of their encampment. How it would inspire the hearts of the godly with courage to behold that tabernacle, with the cloud resting upon it, the symbol of the divine presence. Hence the agonizing cry of Moses, after the people's failure, "If Thy presence go not, carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known here that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? Is it not in that Thou goest with us?" (Ex. 33: 15, 16.) Nor should it be forgotten that God has also now His dwelling-place on earth. This truth is, amid the confusions of Christendom, in danger of being ignored. But, spite of our failure, God does dwell in the house which He has formed, and will dwell in it until the return of the Lord. This truth should inspire us also with strength and consolation; for it is no mean privilege to be brought out of the sphere, and from under the power, of Satan into the scene of the presence and the power of God. It is the only place of blessing on earth, and happy are they who have been made sharers of it through the grace of God in the power of the Holy Ghost.

*It may well be doubted if the Hebrew word is here properly translated. (See the note on the translation of this verse, page 110.) The comments made upon the English text may, however, stand; for the truth is of all importance.

†The thought of building a sanctuary came from God, and not from Israel. (See Ex. 25: 8.) It was His desire to dwell in the midst of His redeemed.

This was no common joy which found expression in this song of jubilant praise. It evidently pervaded the whole host; for "Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances." (v. 20.) And Miriam cried, as she led the chorus of their song, "Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea." (v. 21.) It is the first mention of Miriam by name, and it is exceedingly interesting to notice that she was a prophetess. It was she, most probably, who watched over the ark of bulrushes in which her infant brother Moses was laid, and who was the means of his restoration to his mother. Thus she also becomes prominent in Israel, not only from her connection with Moses, but also from her own distinct gift. It is the way of the Lord to bless all connected with the man of His counsels; and at the same time it reveals to us how sacred is the family tie in His sight. But in the scene before us it was her honour and privilege to be the leader and mouthpiece of the joy of the women of Israel. The hearts of all were filled with gladness, and found their utterance in music, dancing, and song. They were redeemed, and they knew it on this happy morn; and laden with the joy of their salvation, they tell it out in these accents of gratitude and praise.

CHAPTER 10.  MARAH AND ELIM.

EXODUS 15: 22-27.

FROM this point to the end of the eighteenth chapter is a distinct section of the book. To understand it aright, it must be remembered that as yet Israel was not under law, but under grace; and hence this brief period closes, in figure, with the millennium. The careful reader will find in this statement the key of many of the events recorded. For example, the murmurings recorded in chapters 15, 16 and 17 are borne by the Lord with long-suffering and tenderness, and their needs are ministered to out of the fulness of His unwearied love. But after Sinai, murmuring of the same character are the occasion of judgment, for the simple reason that the people had been, at their own request, put under law. Being therefore under the reign of righteousness, transgressions and rebellion are instantly dealt with according to the requirements of the law which formed the basis of Jehovah's righteous rule; whereas before Sinai, being under the reign of grace, they are borne with, and their sins and iniquities are covered.

The wilderness journey of Israel had now to be entered upon. The strains of their song had scarcely died away before they commenced their pilgrim journey.

"So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; and they went out into the wilderness of Shur: and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters." (vv. 22-27.)

This, then, was their first experience: "They went three days in the wilderness, and found no water." The expression — "three days," is always significant in Scripture. Numberless examples may be gleaned from a concordance; and it will be found that very frequently it is associated with death; and so here the three days will mean the distance of death. They had in figure passed through death, and now they must learn it practically. If God in His grace gives us a perfect standing before Him, if He associates us with Christ in His death and resurrection, the object of all His ways with us will be to bring us into practical conformity with our new position. The children of Israel must thus be taught that, as a consequence of deliverance from Egypt, the world had become a desert to them, and that this must be entered into by the acceptance of death. This is the fundamental necessity for every believer. There can be no progress, no real break with the past, until death is accepted, until he reckons himself dead to sin (Rom. 6), dead to the law (Rom. 7), and dead to the world. (Gal. 6) Hence the character of God's dealings with souls. He will teach them experimentally — as in the case of Israel before us — and thus enable them to apprehend the true character of the path on which they have entered. And what was the first experience of Israel? They found no water. Like the Psalmist, they were in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. (Psalm 63) No; every spring of earth is dried up for those who have been redeemed from Egypt. There is not a single source of life — nothing that can minister in any way to the life we have received in Christ. And how blessed it is for the soul to apprehend this truth. Starting on our pilgrimage, elated with the joy of salvation, how often are we surprised to find that the sources at which we had drunk before — and drunk with delight — have now run dry. We ought to expect this; but never is the lesson learned until we have gone the three days' journey in the wilderness. It is indeed a startling experience to discover that earth's resources are exhausted; but it is an indispensable requisite if we would know the blessedness of the truth that "all our springs are in Thee."

They passed onward and came to MARAH. Here there was water; but they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. This is the further application of the same principle. First, there was no water to drink; and, secondly, when it is found it is so bitter that it could not be drunk. This is the application to the soul of the power of that death by which they have been delivered. The flesh shrinks from it — and would refuse it altogether. But for those who have been delivered from Egypt, and are pilgrims journeying on to the inheritance, it is absolutely necessary. Truly it is Marah — bitterness; and accordingly it troubled the people, and they murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? What a contrast! A few days ago, as with one heart, they sang, with exultant joy, the praises of their Redeemer; and now the song is silent, and discordant murmurs take its place. So is it with the believer — now filled with praise, and immediately after the flesh complains and murmurs because of the trials of the wilderness. But Moses intercedes for them, and the Lord showed him a tree, which, when cast into the waters, made them sweet. This is a beautiful figure of the cross of Christ — which utterly changes the character of the bitter waters. "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." Or, as Paul cries, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Gal. 6: 14.) Bring the cross into the bitterness of Marah waters, and at once they become sweet to the taste — are welcomed as the means of deliverance and blessing.

Thereon follows a most important principle — a principle ever applicable to the walk of the believer. It is one found throughout the Scriptures, and in every dispensation; viz., that blessing is dependent upon obedience; that is, the blessing of believers (for the children of Israel were now redeemed) is dependent upon their walk. They were to be guarded from the diseases of Egypt, if they would diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord their God, and would do that which was right in His sight, etc. (v. 26.) In the same way our blessed Lord says, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." (John 14: 23.) This principle cannot be too much insisted upon. There are many believers who have known the joy of salvation, and who are yet without the conscious enjoyment of a single blessing. The reason is that they are careless of their walk. They do not study the Word, or "give ear to His commandments," and are consequently walking as seems right in their own eyes. What wonder is it, therefore, that they are cold and indifferent, that they are not in the conscious enjoyment of the love of God — of fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ? No; it is to the obedient ones that God comes, and delights to come, in the sweetest manifestations of His unchanging love; it is to those who have a conscience about every precept of the Word, and are seeking, in the power of the Spirit, to be found in obedience in every particular, to those whose delight it is to be doing the will of their Lord, and whose one aim it is to be at all times acceptable to Him, that He can draw near and bless according to His own mind and heart. Nothing can compensate for the lack of an obedient walk. All our blessing — as to its apprehension and enjoyment — is made dependent upon it. It is moreover the means of growth, and the condition of communion.

It is on this account that it is immediately added, "And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters." That is, they at once found refreshment, rest, and shade — the wells and the palm trees being, as one has said, "types of those living springs, and of that shelter which had been provided, through instruments chosen of God, for the consolation of His people." How welcome the rest to the already weary pilgrims! and how tender of the Lord to provide such grateful refreshment for His people in the wilderness! As the Shepherd of Israel, He thus led them, as it were, into green pastures, and made them to lie down by the still waters, to comfort and strengthen their hearts.*

*Doubtless the numbers twelve and seventy are significant. Twelve is administrative perfection in government in man (Israel). Seventy is not so clear. But it will be remembered that the Lord adopted both of these numbers, in the twelve disciples, and in the seventy (Luke 9, 10); and thus it would seem to point to the fact that through these He would minister these blessings to Israel.

CHAPTER 11.  THE MANNA.

EXODUS 16.

THE enjoyments of Elim were but transient, however blessedly they unfolded the loving, tender care of Jehovah. The children of Israel were pilgrims; and as such it was their vocation to travel and not to rest. The next stage of their journey therefore is immediately recorded.

"And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: and the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full! for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger." (vv. 1-3.)

The wilderness of Sin lay "between Elim and Sinai." It occupied therefore, as indeed has already been indicated, a very special place in the history of the children of Israel. Elim would ever remind them of one of their most blessed experiences, and the journey likewise to Sinai would recall to their minds a period distinguished by long-suffering and grace in God's dealings with them; whereas Sinai would be ever engraven on their memories in connection with the majesty and holiness of the law. Up till Sinai, it was what God was for them in His mercy and love; but from that time the ground, by their own action, was changed into what they were for God. This is the difference between grace and law; and hence the peculiar interest attaching to the journey between Elim and Sinai. But whether under grace or law, the flesh remained the same, and took every opportunity of revealing its corrupt and incurable character. Again the whole congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. (v. 2.) They had done so at Pi-hahiroth, when they saw the army of Pharaoh approaching; they repeated their sin at Marah, because the waters were bitter; and now they complain again because of their pilgrim fare. "They soon forgat His works; they waited not for His counsel; but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert." (Psalm 106: 13, 14.) The recollection of Egypt and Egypt's food possessed their hearts, and forgetful of the bitter bondage with which this had been connected, they looked back with longing eyes. How often this is the case with newly-emancipated souls. There must always be hunger in the wilderness; for the flesh can find no gratification for its own desires, or satisfaction in its toils and hardships. It is the place where the flesh must be tested. The Lord "humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." (Deut. 8: 3.) This is the conflict. The flesh craves that which will meet its desires, but if we are delivered from Egypt this cannot be allowed: the flesh must be refused, looked upon as already judged in the death of Christ; and therefore we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh, for if we live after the flesh we shall die: but if we through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body we shall live. (Rom. 8: 12, 13.) But the Lord, as we have seen in Deuteronomy, has His object in suffering us to hunger; it is to wean us from the flesh pots of Egypt, and to attract us to Himself — to teach us that true satisfaction and sustenance can only be found in Himself and His word. The contrast is therefore between the flesh pots of Egypt, and Christ; and very blessed is it when the soul learns that Christ is enough for all its needs. In their unbelief the children of Israel charged Moses with the design of killing them with hunger. But their hunger was intended to create in them another appetite, by which alone their true life could be sustained. The Lord, however, gave them their request, even though He sent leanness into their soul. For, as will be seen, He gave them the quails as well as the manna.

"Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt; and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the Lord; for that He heareth your murmurings against the Lord: and what are we, that ye murmur against us? And Moses said, This shall be, when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against Him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.

"And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the Lord; for He hath heard your murmurings. And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God." (vv. 4-12.)

Before we speak of the manna, two or three particulars have to be noted. The first is the grace with which God meets the desires of the people. In Numbers 11 He also meets their desire under similar circumstances; but "the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague." (v. 33.) Here there is no sign of judgment — only patient and forbearing grace. The difference springs, if we may so describe it, from the dispensation. In Numbers they were under law, and they were dealt with accordingly; here they are under grace and hence grace reigned spite of their sin. Secondly, their murmurings were the occasion of the display of the glory of the Lord. (v. 10.) Thus the display of what man is brings out of the depths of the heart of God the revelation of what He is. It was so in the garden of Eden, and indeed all down the line of His dealings with man. This principle is seen in perfection in the cross — where man was exhibited in all the utter corruption of his evil nature, and God was fully revealed. The light shineth in darkness, even if the darkness comprehends it not; and indeed the glory of the Lord shines out all the brighter because of the darkness of man's iniquity, which becomes the occasion of its display. Mark, moreover, that murmuring against Moses and Aaron was murmuring against the Lord. (v. 8.) All sin is really against God. (See Psalm 51: 4; Luke 15: 18-21.) Hence it is that the Lord says, "I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel." (v. 12.) It is not enough remembered that all our complaints, our expressions of unbelief, our murmurings, are against the Lord, and come immediately into His ears. How often would our sinful words die away on our lips if this thought were in our minds. If the Lord were visibly before our eyes, we should not dare to utter what we often permit ourselves now to say in the hastiness of our unbelief. And yet we are really before Him, His eyes are upon us, and He hears our every word.* Lastly, remark the difference between the quails and the manna. The quails have no special teaching connected with them, whereas it will be seen that the manna is a very striking type of the Lord Jesus. The quails therefore were given to satisfy the desires of the people, but brought no blessing. It is in connection with these, indeed, that the Psalmist says, "He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul." God may hear the cry of His people, even in their unbelief, and grant them their desires — but for discipline rather than for present blessing. Thus many a believer, forgetting his true portion in Christ, has desired the things of this world the flesh pots of Egypt, and he has been allowed to attain his object, but the consequence has been barrenness of soul — and such barrenness of soul that he has only been restored through the disciplinary trials of the Lord's loving hand. If we turn back in heart to Egypt, and are permitted to gratify our desires, it can only lead to sorrow in days to come. As, for example, Paul writes to Timothy, "They that will be rich, fall into temptation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (1 Tim. 6: 9, 10.) This is only one form of turning back to Egypt, but the principle is applicable to every object which the flesh can desire.

*See, for an example of this, John 20: 26, 27.

The account of the actual bestowment of the quails and the manna is now given.

"And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hear frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating; an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons: take ye every man for them which are in his tents. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack: they gathered every man according to his eating. And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted." (vv. 13-21.)

It will be observed, and the significance of the fact has been indicated, that there is the barest mention of the quails, but a full description of the manna. It is with the manna therefore that we are specially concerned. When the dew was gone up, "behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat." (vv. 14, 15.) This then is the meaning of the manna: the bread which God gave the Israelites to eat in the wilderness. It is consequently the proper wilderness food for the Lord's people. Hence when the Jews said to our Lord, "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat," He replied, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." (John 6: 32, 33. Read especially from 48th to 58th verses.) The manna then, it is clear, is a type of Christ — of Christ as He was in this world — as the One who came down from heaven, and who as such becomes the food of His people while passing through the wilderness. It must be especially noted that until we have life by feeding on His death — eating His flesh and drinking His blood (John 6: 53, 54) — we cannot feed upon Him as the manna. Having received life, then we are told, "As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by" (because of) "the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by" (because of) "Me." (v. 57.)

Leaving the reader, however, to study for himself this most significant Scripture, it will suffice now to recall the two points named; first, that the manna of our chapter sets forth Christ; and secondly, that Christ in this character is the food of His people while in the desert. There is a difference between the children of Israel and believers of this dispensation. The former could only be in one place at a time, for we have here an actual historical narrative. The latter — Christians — are in two: their place is in the heavenlies in Christ (see Eph. 2); and in their actual circumstances they are pilgrims in the wilderness. As being in the heavenlies, a glorified Christ — typified by the old corn of the land — is our sustenance; but in wilderness circumstances it is what Christ was here, Christ as the manna, that meets our need. And amid the weariness and the toil of our pilgrim path, how blessed and how sustaining it is to feed upon the grace, the tenderness, and the sympathy of a humbled Christ. How our hearts rejoice to remember that He has passed through the same circumstances; that He therefore knows our needs, and delights to minister to them for our sustainment and blessing. It is for such a purpose that the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews says, "Consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." (Heb. 12: 3.) As one has said, speaking on this subject, "For instance, something may make me impatient during the day; well, then, Christ is my patience, and thus He is the manna to sustain me in patience. He is the source of grace, not merely the example which I am to copy;" and it is thus as the source of grace, sympathy, and strength to us in the wilderness that Christ is the manna of our souls.

There are some practical directions concerning the gathering of the manna which are of the utmost importance. First, they were to gather it every man according to his eating. (vv. 16-18.) As a consequence he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack. The appetite governed the amount collected. How strikingly true this is of the believer! We all have as much of Christ as we desire — no more, and no less. If our desires are large, if we open our mouth wide, He will fill it. We cannot desire too much, nor be disappointed when we desire. On the other hand, if we are but feebly conscious of our need, a little only of Christ will be supplied. The measure therefore in which we feed upon Christ, as our wilderness food, depends entirely upon our felt spiritual need — upon our appetite. Secondly, it could not be stored for future use. No man was to leave of it until the morning; but some disobeyed this injunction, only, however, to find that what they had thus left had become corrupt. No; the food collected today cannot sustain us on the morrow. It is only in a present exercise of soul that we can feed upon Christ. Much damage has accrued to souls from forgetting this principle. They have had a rich repast of manna, and they have attempted to feed upon it for days; but it has always issued in disappointment and loss instead of blessing. God only gives the portion of a day in its day (see margin of v. 4), and no more. Thirdly, it was to be collected early, for when the sun waxed hot it melted. No time, indeed, is so precious to the believer for gathering the manna as the first moments of the day when in quiet he is alone with the Lord. He has not yet entered upon the experiences of the day, and he knows not what may be the precise character of his path; but he knows that he will need the sustaining manna. Let him therefore be diligent in the early morning, and let his hand not be slack to gather, and to gather as much as he may need; for even should he seek it afterwards, he will find that it has all disappeared before the and the heat of the day. How many a failure may be traced back to neglect on this point! A trial comes — unexpectedly comes, and the soul breaks down. But why? Because the manna was not collected before the sun was hot. All should lay this to heart, and be on the watch against the artifices of Satan to divert our minds from this one necessary thing. Let all diligence be employed that, whatever the emergency throughout the day, there may be no lack of manna.

In connection with the manna the Sabbath is also given.

"And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you, to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that today, for today is a sabbath unto the Lord: today ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

"And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to (rather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days: abide ye every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day." (vv. 22-30.)

We read in Genesis 2 that "God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." (v. 3.) This fixes the meaning of the sabbath or the seventh day; for it should be carefully observed that it is the seventh and no other day, showing clearly that it is God's rest. This meaning is asserted most distinctly also in the epistle to the Hebrews. (See Heb. 4: 1-11.) The sabbath therefore is a type of God's rest, and as given to man expresses the desire of God's heart that he should share with Him in His rest. It is found here for the first time. There is not a trace of it through all the patriarchal age, or during the sojourn of the children of Israel in Egypt, but, as found in this chapter in connection with the manna, it has a most blessed significance.

But a few remarks must be made before this is explained. The object God had in view in its institution has been indicated; but, as is abundantly clear, man in consequence of sin never possessed the thing signified. Nay, more, God Himself could not rest because of sin. Hence, when our blessed Lord was accused of breaking the sabbath, He replied, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." (John 5: 17.) God could not rest in the presence of sin, and of the dishonour done to Him by it, and as a consequence man could not share it with Him. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews develops this latter point. He shows that the children of Israel were shut out from it because of their unbelief and hardness of heart, that Joshua did not give them rest, that in David's time it was spoken of as yet future, and he argues that "there remaineth therefore a rest (a keeping of the sabbath) to the people of God." (Heb. 3 and 4) The question arises then, How is it to be possessed? The answer is found in our chapter. The manna, as we have seen, prefigures Christ, and consequently the connection teaches that it is Christ, and Christ only, who can lead us into the rest of God. He is the only way. The apostle thus says, "We which have believed do enter into rest" (Heb. 4: 3); that is, it belongs to those who believe in Christ to enter into rest — not by any means, as some have taught, that the rest is a present thing The context shows distinctly that it is a future blessing. There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God. That believers may have rest of conscience and rest of heart in Christ is most blessedly true; but God's rest will not be reached until we enter upon that eternal scene in which all things are made new, when the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. (Rev. 21: 1-7.)

There are two circumstances connected with the institution of the sabbath in this place which demand a brief notice. The first is the double provision of manna on the sixth day, that the people might rest in their tents on the seventh. If collected thus on any other day in self-will, it became worthless and corrupt; but when done in obedience in view of the sabbath it remained sound and good. The truth taught, however, is that when sharing in God's rest, in His grace, throughout eternity, Christ will be still our food; nay, it might be said that our enjoyment of that rest will consist in feasting with God upon the once humbled Christ. Nothing less will satisfy His own heart than that we should have full fellowship with Himself concerning His beloved Son. There is perhaps another thought. It is that whatever we acquire of Christ here becomes our eternal possession and delight. Gather as much manna as we may, two omers instead of one; if it is kept for the rest that remaineth, it will be a source of strength and joy throughout eternity. The second thing is that some of the people, spite of the injunction they had received, went out on the seventh day to gather manna, but they found none. (v. 27.) Whatever the exhibitions of grace man's heart remained the same. Disobedience is native to his corrupt nature, and displays itself alike, whether under law or grace. The Lord rebuked through Moses the conduct of His people, though He bore with them in His long-suffering and tender mercy. Taking the sabbath, as has been explained, as a type of God's rest, and therefore, since sin has come in, as yet future, it will be at once seen that there is a distinct typical teaching connected with there being no manna on the sabbath. The time for the manna will then be for ever past. Christ will never more be apprehended in that character; for the wilderness circumstances of His people will then have for ever passed away. The store they collected while in the desert may still be enjoyed; but there will be no more to be gathered. The same lesson, in one aspect, may be seen in the direction given by Moses at the commandment of the Lord.

"And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited: they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah." (vv. 32-36.)

There is doubtless an allusion to this in the promise to the overcomer in the church at Pergamos: "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna," etc. (Rev. 2: 17.) Thus Christ in His humiliation is never to be forgotten, but always to be remembered, and gratefully to be fed upon throughout eternity by His people.

"There on the hidden bread

Of Christ — once humbled here -

God's treasured store — for ever fed,

His love my soul shall cheer."

Hence an omer full of manna was laid up before the Lord, before the Testimony, to be kept for their generations. For forty years, during the whole of their wanderings in the desert, until they came to a land inhabited, this was their daily food; they did eat manna until they came into the borders of the land of Canaan.

CHAPTER 12.  REPHIDIM AND AMALEK.

EXODUS 17.

ONCE again the children of Israel move forward and meet with other difficulties. But "all these things happened unto them for ensamples" (types): "and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." (1 Cor. 10: 11) There is, therefore, a special interest attaching to all their wilderness sorrows and experiences.

"And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. "Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go: behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb: and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not!" (vv. 1-7.)

As in the case of the manna, so with the smitten rock, the people's sin was the occasion for this display of power and grace. In Rephidim there was "no water for the people to drink." And what did the people do? Were they not encouraged, by their past experiences of God's faithfulness and tender care, to turn to Him in the confidence that He would interpose on their behalf? Were not the quails and the manna fresh in their recollection as the evidence of the all-sufficiency of Jehovah to meet their every need? Had they not learnt that the Lord was their shepherd, and that therefore they should not want? All this, indeed, might have been expected; and, were we ignorant of the human heart, of the character of the flesh, it might have been expected as the natural results of what they had seen of the wonderful works of the Lord. But so far from this being the case, they chode with Moses, and said, "Give us water that we may drink." In their sinful murmurings and unbelief, they looked upon Moses as the author of all their misery, and were almost ready to kill him in their anger.

An observation or two may be made upon the character of their sin, before the gracious provision accorded to their need is considered. The people chode with Moses; but in reality, as Moses said, they tempted the Lord (v. 2); saying, by their acts, "Is the Lord among us, or not?" (v. 17.) Moses was their appointed leader, and was, therefore, for the people Jehovah's representative. To chide with him was thus to chide with the Lord; and to complain of their privations was in fact to doubt, if not to deny, the Lord's presence. For had they believed that He was among them, every murmur would have been hushed, and they would have rested in the assurance that He who had brought them out of Egypt, parted for them the waters of the Red Sea, delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh, and guided them in all their journeys by the pillar of fire by night, and the pillar of cloud by day, would in His own time hear their cry, and supply their need. It shows the very solemn nature of the sin of murmuring and complaints, because of the trials of the wilderness, and teaches us, at the same time, that the essence of all such is doubting whether the Lord is with us. Hence the antidote to all such tendencies, to these common snares of Satan, by which he so often entangles the feet of the Lord's people, and robs them of their peace and joy, even when he does not compass their fall, is a firm, unwavering hold upon the truth that the Lord is among us, that He leads His people like a flock through every stage of their wilderness journey. How beautiful, in contrast with the conduct of Israel, is the perfect attitude of our blessed Lord. When tempted by Satan in the wilderness, He in immovable dependence, repelled his every suggestion with the simple word of God.

Moses cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard his prayer, and, spite of the people's sin, "He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river. For He remembered His holy promise, and Abraham His servant." (Ps. 105: 41, 42.) Thus grace still prevailed, and satisfied the needs of the people. But it is in the typical instruction of this incident that the chief interest lies. Even as the manna, the rock also speaks of Christ. Paul thus says, "They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." (1 Cor. 10: 4.) But the Rock was smitten before the waters flowed. Moses was directed to take the rod — the rod wherewith he had smitten the river — and there with Jehovah standing before him on the rock in Horeb, he was to smite the rock, "and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink." The rod has been explained to mean a symbol of God's power, and in smiting it will therefore set forth the exercise of His judicial power. We behold then, in this smiting of the rock, the stroke of His judgment falling upon Christ on the cross. The smitten rock is a crucified Christ. It was the people's sin, remark, that led to the smiting of the rock — a striking exemplification of the truth that "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities." Surely this is a sight both for sinners and saints. Sinners may behold Christ on the cross bearing the judgment of sin, and learn, if they will but ponder it, what sin is in the eyes of a holy God; and as they learn this lesson, let them also be warned of their coming doom if they continue in impenitence and unbelief. For if God spared not His own Son, when dealing with the question of sin, that Son, who was the delight of His heart, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, how can they expect to escape? Saints, moreover, cannot too often look back to the cross. And how will their hearts be touched, humbled, melted, as by grace they are enabled to say, "His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." (1 Peter 2: 24.) Throughout eternity they will never forget that their sins necessitated that death; while they will never cease to remember that God was glorified by it in every attribute of His character, and hence that it is the everlasting and immutable foundation of all their blessing. It is indeed a most solemn, as well as precious, truth, that the Rock must needs be smitten before the people could drink. Inasmuch as sin was in question — sin which had dishonoured God before the whole universe — all that God was demanded it for His own glory; and inasmuch as the people would have perished without water, their needs demanded it that they might live. But God only could provide it, and hence in the directions to Moses another beauteous unfolding of the grace of His heart is exhibited.

The Rock was smitten, and "the waters gushed out." Not before — this was impossible; for because of sin God was, as it were, restrained. His mercies and compassions, His grace and His love, were pent up within Himself. But immediately that atonement was accomplished, whereby the claims of His holiness were for ever satisfied, the flood-gates of His heart were opened to pour forth streams of grace and life throughout the world. Hence we read in Matthew, that as soon as the Lord Jesus had yielded up the ghost, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain, from the top to the bottom." (Matt. 27: 50, 51.) God was now free in righteousness to come out in grace to a sinful world with offers of salvation, and man — the believer — was free to enter boldly into His immediate presence. The way had been revealed by which man could righteously stand before the full light of the holiness of the very throne of God.

The water which flowed from the Rock is an emblem of the Holy Spirit as the power of life. This is clear from the gospel of John. Our blessed Lord thus said to the woman of Samaria, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4: 14.) In John 7 He uses the same figure, and John adds, "This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified." (v. 39.) Two things are indeed clear from this passage — first, that the "living water" is a type of the Holy Ghost; and secondly, that this "living water," the Holy Ghost, could not be received until Jesus was glorified. In other words, the Rock must first be smitten, as already seen, before the waters could flow out to quench the thirst of men.

There is one lesson of great practical importance that cannot be overlooked. There is nothing that can satisfy the undying needs of man but the Holy Ghost as the power of life — everlasting life; and this blessing can only be received through a crucified and risen Christ. Hence He cried to the Jews, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." (John 7: 37.) And the proclamation still goes forth, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." (Rev. 22: 17.) May every one who reads these lines have this truth impressed upon his soul in the power of the Holy Ghost!

Thus the Lord met the murmurings of His people by grace, and gave them water to drink; but the names — Massah and Meribah, given to the place — remained as the monument of their sin.

Immediately after the waters being fetched out of the rock comes conflict with Amalek. The connection of the incidents is most instructive as illustrating the ways and the truth of God. The manna is Christ come down from heaven, the smitten Rock is Christ crucified, the living water is an emblem of the Holy Ghost; and now together with the reception of the Spirit comes conflict. It must be so; for" the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: that ye should not do the things that ye would." (Gal. 5: 17.) Hence the order of these typical events. What then, it may be enquired, is symbolized by Amalek? It is often stated that it is the flesh; but this is only part of the truth. As to Amalek, his real character is readily apprehended from his origin. (See Gen. 36: 12.) But the point to be discerned here is, that Amalek sets himself in open antagonism to the people of God, and seeks to hinder their progress, and even to destroy them from off the face of the earth. It is therefore the power of Satan — acting through the flesh it may be — that thus challenges the onward march of the children of Israel. And the subtlety of Satan in the time chosen for the attack is plainly apparent. It was just after the people had sinned, at a time, therefore, when an enemy might have supposed that they were under the displeasure of God. This is ever his method. But if God be for His people, He will suffer no foe to accomplish their destruction. The people indeed if left to themselves might easily have been scattered; but He who had brought them through the waters of the Red Sea will not now leave them to perish. The Lord was their banner, and thus their defence was sure. Let us then notice how the defeat of Amalek was accomplished.

"Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur, went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon: and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side: and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword." (vv. 8-13.)

First, then, we find that Joshua at the commandment of Moses, places himself at the head of chosen men for the battle. Joshua represents Christ, in the energy of the Spirit, leading His redeemed to the conflict. What a consolation! If Satan marshals his forces to assail the Lord's people, Christ, on the other hand, leads out His chosen men to meet the foe. The battle therefore is the Lord's. This is illustrated again and again throughout the history of Israel; and it is as true in principle of the conflicts of believers of this dispensation. This, if apprehended, would calm our minds in the presence of the sorest difficulties. It would help us to cease from man, and to count upon the Lord. It would enable us to estimate at their proper value the restless activity and the schemes of men, and to look for deliverance alone to the Lord as the Leader of His people. In a word, we should then remember that there can be no successful defence offered to our foes but in the power of the Spirit of God.

There is yet another thing. If Joshua leads his warriors in the plain, Moses — with Aaron and Hur — go up to the top of the hill; and the fight below depends upon the uplifting of the hands of Moses above. Moses, as thus seen, is a figure of Christ above in the value of His intercession. While He leads His people in the power of the Spirit below, He maintains their cause by His intercession in the presence of God; and secures for them mercy and grace for seasonable succour. They have therefore no strength for conflict apart from His priestly intercession; and the energy of the Spirit as leading them onward is in relation to this intercession. Paul indicates this truth when he says, "It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword" (or, we may add, Amalek)? . . . . Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us." (Rom. 8: 34-37.) The Lord Himself taught His disciples the connection between His work above, and the Spirit's action in them below, when He said, "If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you." (John 16: 7.) Hence, too, He terms the Holy Ghost "another Comforter" (John 14: 16); and the apostle John applies to our blessed Lord the same title (i.e. Advocate, but really the same word Paraclete; 1 John 2: 1).

But no one man could be a perfect type of Christ. The hands of Moses were heavy, so that they were sustained by Aaron and Hur. This, however, only brings out more fully the truth of the intercession of Christ. Aaron, though not yet formally set apart, represents the priesthood, and Hur, if the significance of the name may guide us, typifies light or purity. Together therefore it will mean the priestly intercession of Christ maintained in holiness before God; and hence an intercession, since it is based upon all that Christ is and has done, which is ever effectual and prevailing. The lesson should be well observed. The battle below depended not upon the strength of the warriors, nor even upon the Holy Spirit, but upon the enduring and efficacious intercession of Christ. For when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. Hence the necessity of dependence. Apart from it, we may be ready for the conflict; the cause may be a just one, but our failure will be sure and inevitable. But with it, having Christ on high on our behalf, and Christ in the energy of the Spirit as our Leader, "when the wicked, even our enemies and our foes, come against us, they will stumble and fall." Then no foe can stand before the Lord's people.

Amalek was thus discomfited with the edge of the sword. But such a victory — revelation of the source of their strength, and the unchanging character of the enemy — was not to be forgotten. It was to be recorded as a memorial.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi: for he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation." (vv. 14-16.)

Two things were combined in this memorial — the record of their deliverance from Amalek, and the pledge of his final overthrow. Every display of the Lord's power on behalf of His people bears this double character. If He step in and vindicate them from the assaults of their enemies, He, by that same act, assures them of His continual protection and care. Every interposition therefore of His between them and their foes should be rehearsed in their ears, and written on their hearts, both as the memorial of the past, and as the guarantee of His immutable defence. Hence when the Psalmist celebrates a past deliverance, he exclaims, "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident." (Ps. 27: 3.) In the same confidence Moses built an altar. By it he gratefully owned the divine hand, as well as expressed that the praise of the victory belonged to the Lord. It is precisely here that so many fail. The Lord vouchsafes help and deliverance, but they forget to build their altars. Driven into the Lord's presence in their straits, they too often neglect to praise Him when relieved from their pressure. Not so with Moses. By building the altar he declared before the whole of Israel, It is the Lord who has fought for us and secured the victory. This is proclaimed by the title he affixed to it — "The Lord our banner." He therefore it was who led our hosts, and He it is who will lead our hosts; for His controversy with Amalek will never cease. As long as He has a people on the earth, so long will Satan seek to encompass their overthrow. We need to remember this, but with all the prospect it involves, our hearts will be confident, if we can but grasp in power the truth of Jehovah-nissi. The battle is the Lord's, we fight under His colours, and hence — whatever the stubborn persistence of the foe — the victory is assured.

CHAPTER 13.  MILLENNIAL BLESSING.

EXODUS 18.

THIS chapter brings to a close the dispensation of grace in Israel's history. From Egypt to Sinai all was pure grace. At Sinai they put themselves under law. Hence the special character of chap. 18. The manna, as explained, presented Christ in incarnation, the smitten Rock His death, the streams that flowed from it the gift of the Spirit; and now, following the dispensation of the Spirit, we find in figure the blessing of Jew and Gentile, and the establishment of governmental order in Israel. Indeed, the Church, the Jew, and the Gentile, are all typically delineated. This will be perceived if the several points of the following Scripture are indicated:

"When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel His people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt, then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, and her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land: and the name of the other was Eliezer; For the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God: and he said unto Moses, I thy father-in-law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.

"And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him: and they asked each other of their welfare: and they came into the tent. And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, whom He had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly He was above them. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God." (vv. 1-12.)

Jethro, the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, now appears. He had heard of all that God had wrought for His people, and thereon brought Zipporah and her two sons to Moses. The very names of the children explain the typical character of the whole scene. The first is Gershom; "for he said, I have been an alien" or a pilgrim "in a strange land." It is reminiscent therefore of the weary days of Israel's absence from their own land when they were scattered as strangers throughout the world. (See 1 Peter 1: 1.) The name of the second is Eliezer; "For the God of my father was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh This undoubtedly recalled the past; but it is also a prophecy of the future, and therefore, interpreted typically, speaks of the final deliverance of Israel, preparatory to their introduction into blessing under the reign of Messiah. The two names thus mark two distinct periods in God's dealings with Israel: the first covers the whole time that will elapse between their being carried away captive into Babylon; while the second points to that momentous hour in which the Lord will suddenly appear and snatch His people from the very jaws of the enemy, when He shall go forth and fight against those nations who will be gathered against Jerusalem to battle. (Zechariah 14) But the sorrows of their dispersion, as well as their deliverance from the sword of Pharaoh, are looked upon in this scene as past, and they are now in possession, in figure, of their long-delayed and long-looked-for blessing.

The Church is seen in Zipporah. She was the Gentile wife of Moses, and as such prefigures the Church. All thus is in keeping with the millennial character of the picture; for when Israel is restored, and rejoices in the happy sway of Emmanuel, the Church will have her part in the gladness of that day, associated as she will be in the glories of the reign of the thousand years. It will be a day of unspeakable joy to Him who came of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and every pulse of His joy will awaken a response in the heart of her who will occupy the position of the Lamb's wife. He therefore, and she together with Him, whatever her lesser measure, will have fellowship in gladness over the day of Israel's espousals.

Next we have the Gentiles, as symbolized by Jethro's blessing, and confessing Jehovah's name. And observe how this is produced. Moses, the Jew, declares to Jethro "all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them." This relation bows the heart of Jethro, and he rejoices because of the deliverance of Israel, praises the Lord for it, and confesses His absolute supremacy. We thus read in the Psalms, "Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; Thou hast made me the head of the heathen" (Gentiles): "a people whom I have not known shall serve me. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me." (Ps. 18: 43, 44.)

Jethro then unites in worship with Aaron, and the elders of Israel, together with Moses, before God. Moses is here the king, and hence he with Israel, and the Gentiles (Jethro) eat bread before God. It is the union of Israel and the Gentiles in worship. It is the scene predicted by the prophet: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isa. 2: 2, 3)

In the remainder of the chapter the establishment of judgment and government is recorded:

"And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? And Moses said unto his father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God: when they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another; and I do make them know the statutes of God, and His laws. And Moses' father-in-law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: and thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness: and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: and let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

"And Moses let his father-in-law depart; and he went his way into his own land." (vv. 13-27.)

Two things have to be carefully distinguished — the failure of Moses, and the thing symbolized by the appointment of the rulers over the people. To take the latter first, it is evident that this arrangement for judging the people emblematically portrays the order in government which the Messiah will set up when He assumes His kingdom. As the Psalmist speaks, "He shall judge Thy people with righteousness, and Thy poor with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness." (Ps. 72: 2, 3.) Hence it is that this section closes with this account. But while this is divinely intended, the failure of Moses in listening to Jethro must not be concealed. Indeed, if it were, some most valuable instruction would thereby be lost. The first mistake he made was in listening to Jethro on such a matter. The Lord had given him his office; and it was to Him he should have had recourse on every subject that concerned His people. The pleas Jethro advanced were indeed specious and subtle. They were grounded upon his anxiety for the welfare of his son-in-law. "Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone." If Moses would but do as he advised, then he said, "So shall it be easier for thyself," etc.; and again, "Then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall go to their place in peace." It was not therefore concern for God, but for Moses, that actuated Jethro. But the arguments he advanced were those most calculated to influence the natural man. Who is there, even among the Lord's servants, that does not at times feel the weight of his responsibility, and who would not rejoice at the prospect of its being lessened? There is indeed no more seductive temptation presented at such a moment than that of the need of a little care for one's self and one's comfort. But, dangerous as it is, and as it was in the case of Moses, if he had remembered the source of his office, as well as his strength, he would not have yielded to it. For if his work in judging the people were of the Lord, and for the Lord, His grace would be all-sufficient for His servant. He taught Moses this lesson, as we find in the book of Numbers, when Moses complained to the Lord, and in the very words that Jethro had instilled into his mind, "I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me." (Num. 11: 14.) The Lord heard his complaint, and directed him to associate seventy men with. himself to aid him in his work, saying, "I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone." (v. 17.) Though, therefore, the Lord granted him his desire, there was no additional supply of strength for the government of Israel, but Moses was now called upon to share with the seventy the Spirit which he before possessed. According to man, the counsel of Jethro was wise and prudent, evincing much sagacity in human affairs; but according to God, its acceptance was characterized by doubt and unbelief. In reality it left God out of the calculation, and made the health of Moses its chief aim, losing sight altogether of the fact that it was not Moses, but the Lord through Moses, who bore the burden of the people; and hence that it was not a question of the strength of Moses, but of his resources in God. How apt are all to lose sight of this important truth — that in any service, if occupied in it for the Lord, the difficulties in it should be measured, not by what we are, but what He is. We are never sent to warfare at our own charges, but every true servant is sustained by the all-sufficiency of God. Moses might be despondent in the presence of such a task, and Paul might almost faint under the pressure of the thorn in the flesh, but to both one and the other the divine word is spoken, if the ear be but opened to hear, My grace is sufficient for thee."

Several valuable instructions may be deduced from this narrative. First, it is always exceedingly dangerous to listen to the advice of a relative in the things of God. When our blessed Lord, together with His disciples, was exceedingly occupied with His ministry, "so that they could not so much as eat bread," His friends or relatives "went out to lay hold on Him: for they said, He is beside Himself." They thought not of the claims of God, and could not understand anything of that zeal which was consuming Him in the service which He came to fulfil. Relatives look through the medium of their claims, or their natural affection, and hence the eye, not being single, cannot judge aright in the presence of God. It no doubt called for much self-sacrifice and loss of ease and comfort for Zipporah, and Moses, too, in the work to which be was called. It was nevertheless no small honour and privilege to be thus engaged; and had he been fully alive to it, he would have resolutely closed his ears to the seductive voice of the tempter in the person of Jethro.

Secondly, we gather that when once a word of distrust or complaint is admitted into our hearts, it is not very easily dispelled. As we have seen from Numbers 11, Moses uses the very words in his complaint that were suggested by Jethro. It is exactly here that Satan is so successful. There may be but a half unformed thought, an insinuation, in our minds, and immediately he comes and puts it into words, and presents it to our souls. For example, feeling weary in service, and it may be despondent through weariness, how often will Satan suggest that we are doing too much, going beyond our strength; and if we accept the temptation the thought may hamper us for years, even if it does not find expression in murmurs before God. We need therefore to be very watchful over our hearts as not ignorant of the devices of the enemy.

Lastly, it lies on the surface that man's order by no means represents the mind of God. To human eyes the governmental system advised by Jethro was very orderly and beautiful, and far more likely to secure the administration of justice among the people. Man always thinks he can improve upon the order of God. This has been the secret of the ruin of the church. Instead of adhering to the Scriptures, which reveal the divine mind, man has brought in ideas, plans, and systems of his own; and hence the manifold divisions and sects which characterize the outward form of Christianity. The safety of the Lord's people lies in steadfastly cleaving to the word of God; and in the refusal therefore of all counsel and advice which may be given apart from it by man.

Jethro had done his work, and, by the permission of Moses, he went his way into his own land. (v. 27.) What a contrast with Moses and the children of Israel! They were going God's way and to His land; and, as a consequence, were pilgrims passing through the wilderness; but Jethro went his (not God's) way, and into his own (not God's) land. Instead therefore, of being a pilgrim, he had a settled home, where he kept no sabbath, but found his own rest.

CHAPTER 14.  SINAI.

EXODUS 19, 20.

A NEW dispensation is inaugurated in these chapters. Up to the close of chapter 18, as before indicated, grace reigned, and hence characterized all God's dealings with His people; but from this point they were put, with their own consent, under the rigid requirements of law. Sinai is the expression of this dispensation, and is thus associated with it for all time. The apostle contrasts it with Zion as the seat of royal grace, when he says, in writing to the Hebrews, "Ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard, entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more. . . . But ye are come unto mount Sion." (Heb. 12: 18-22.) He shows that Sinai had then passed away, and had been succeeded by another dispensation the expression of which was mount Sion. It is with the former that our chapters deal. The time and place are both distinctly marked. "In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount." (vv. 1, 2.) The Lord thus fulfilled the word which He gave to Moses: "Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain." (Ex. 3: 12.) They were to hold a feast unto the Lord (see Ex. 5: 1; Ex. 10: 9); and they might have done so had they but known themselves, and also Jehovah's heart. But they were about to be tested in a new way. Grace had already searched them, and discovered nothing but disobedience, rebellion, and sin; and now they were to be tried by law. This has been the object of God in all His dispensations — to test, and thereby to reveal, what man is; but blessed be His name, if He has disclosed the incurable corruption of our nature, He has revealed at the same time what He is — each revelation of Himself being according to the character of the relationship into which He entered with His people. Thereby He taught that, if man were completely ruined and lost, help and salvation were to be found in Him, and in Him alone. The giving of the law from mount Sinai has, on this account, a peculiar importance and interest. All its circumstances therefore are worthy of our attention.

"And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

"And Moses came, and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord." (vv. 3-9.)

There are two things in the message which the Lord commissioned Moses to carry to the people. First, He reminds them of what He had done for them and in a way which should have taught them their own utter impotence, and that all their resources were in God. "Ye have seen," He says, "what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself." He had delivered them from Pharaoh, destroyed him and his armies; He had borne His people by His might, had brought them to Himself, and given them a place of nearness and relationship. He had done everything for them, and He appeals to their own knowledge in proof of it; and such an appeal was calculated to touch their hearts with gratitude, as it recalled to their minds the source of all the blessing which they now enjoyed. Then, secondly, He makes a proposal. "Now, therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine," etc. The bearing of this proposal must be distinctly marked. God had redeemed Israel by His own power: in pursuance of His purposes of grace and love He had made them His own people, and He had engaged to bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey (Ex. 3: 7, 8); and all this was founded upon the pure grace of His own heart, and was governed by no conditions whatsoever from the people. He reminds them of this in pointing them back to the work He had wrought on their behalf. But now to test them He says, "I will make your position and blessing dependent on your obedience. Hitherto I have done everything for you; but now I propose to make the continuance of My favour contingent upon your own works. Are you willing to promise absolute obedience to My word and covenant on these terms?" This in substance was the proposition Moses was charged to carry to the children of Israel.

And Moses faithfully fulfilled his mission. He "called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him." (v. 7.) Surely such a message would produce deep exercises of heart. It might be expected, at least, that they would need time to consider it in all its significance. They could not have forgotten that already, even in the short three months that had elapsed since they crossed the Red Sea, they had sinned again and again; that every fresh difficulty had but witnessed their failure and sin. If therefore they had gone over their past experience, they would have seen that if they accepted these new terms everything would be lost. They would surely say one to the other, "We have disobeyed time after time, and we fear that the same thing might happen again, and then we forfeit all. No; we must throw ourselves unreservedly upon that same grace which has saved, led, and preserved us in our journey through the wilderness. If grace does not still reign we are a lost people." So far from this, however, they instantly accept the proposed condition, and said, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." Their past experiences had gone for nothing. They thus betrayed the most utter ignorance, both of the character of God, and of their own hearts. It was in fact a most fatal mistake. Instead of clinging with tenacity, because of their own felt impotence, to what God was for them, which is grace, they foolishly offered to make everything depend upon what they could be for God, which is the principle of law. It is ever the same. Man in his folly and blindness ever seeks to obtain blessing upon the ground of his own works, and rejects a salvation which is offered to him in pure grace; for he is unwilling to be nothing, and grace makes everything, of God, and nothing of man. Hence it is that race wounds the pride and self-importance of the sinner, and thereby provokes the resistance of his depraved heart.

Moses carried back the message of the people, and the Lord prepares to establish His new relationship with His people on the ground of law. First of all, He puts Moses in the place of a mediator. "Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever." He gives him a position that the people should be compelled to acknowledge. After this, directions for the people are given in connection with the promulgation of the code by which they were to be governed, and which sets forth the standard of God's requirements. Everything commanded betokened the change of dispensation. Before they had to do with a God of grace; now they have to do with a God of righteousness. This necessitated distance on the part of God (for He had to do with sinners), and separation and cleansing on the part of the people. The first was signified by the "thick cloud," in which He said He would come to Moses, and the second by the various prescriptions for the people.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, and be ready against the third day: for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: there shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.

"And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives." (vv. 10-15.)

The people were thus to be "sanctified" for two days. The meaning to be attached to this term is always determined by the connection in which it is found. Here it will signify the separation of the people — setting them apart unto God on the ground of their promised obedience. This would doubtless involve their separation externally from everything unsuited to the presence of a holy God. They were likewise to wash their clothes. Everything, it will be remarked, has now to be done from their side. Moses was to sanctify them and they were to wash their clothes; for the moment they undertook to obey, as the condition of blessing, they in reality accepted the responsibility of fitting themselves for God's presence. No doubt they acquired thus a kind of ceremonial qualification to meet with God., but the very distance at which they were kept, proved at once how inadequate were their efforts. They might wash their clothes never so scrupulously, and make them so clean that no human eye could detect defilement, but the question for their consciences, if they had but understood, was, Could they so cleanse themselves as to be able to bear the inspection of a holy God? Let Job answer the question. "If," says he, "I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; yet shalt Thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me." (Job 9: 30, 31.) The Lord Himself has answered it for us. Speaking to Israel, by the prophet, He says, "Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me." (Jeremiah 2: 22.) MAN CANNOT CLEANSE HIMSELF FOR GOD. This is the lesson of the whole Scripture.

Why, then, it will be replied, did the Lord give this commandment to Israel? For the same reason that He gave them the law to prove what was in their hearts, to bring out fully to view what was lurking there, to expose indeed the corruption of their nature, and thereby to teach them their ruined and guilty condition. In measure they learnt the futility of their own efforts; for spite of all their "sanctifying" and "washing" they could not draw near to God, and they were terrified at His voice. It is so oftentimes in the experience of sinners. Awakened to some sense of their condition, they begin to try to improve themselves, to purify their own hearts, and to qualify themselves in this way for the favour of God. But they soon discover that the only effect of all their efforts is to bring to light their own sin and vileness. Or if they succeed in weaving a robe of self-righteousness, and in thus concealing for a time their deformities, the moment they are brought into the presence of God, the robe itself appears in the light of His holiness as nothing but filthy rags. Man indeed is utterly helpless, and until he learns this he can never understand that the only way to cleanse his robes from every spot and stain — so white as to satisfy even the requirements of God's holiness — is in the blood of the Lamb. (See Rev. 1: 5, Rev. 7: 14.)

The people were then sanctified, and they washed their clothes, and fasted in preparation for "the third day." The third day is often significant and typical; and so here it would seem to speak in figure of death. It was, then, on the morning of the third day that the Lord descended upon mount Sinai, with all the accompaniments of His awful and terrible majesty. There were thunders and lightnings — expressive of judicial power, the necessary attitude of God in His holiness, when coming into contact with sinners. There was also a thick cloud upon the mount (see verse 9) setting forth His distance and concealment. As the Psalmist says, "Clouds and darkness are round about Him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne." (Ps. 97: 2.) Moreover the voice of the trumpet, both the herald of the approach of God, and the summons for the assembling of the people, was exceeding loud. Every possible solemnity surrounded the divine steps, and all the people that were in the camp, spite of the preparations they had undergone, trembled. If they had confidence in themselves before, it must now have been rudely shaken, if not dispelled; for if prepared to meet God, why should they fear? Was it not He who had borne them on eagles' wings, and brought them to Himself whom they were to meet? Was He not their Saviour and Lord? Why then did they tremble at the signs of His presence? Because they in their folly had undertaken to meet Him on the ground of what they were in themselves, of their own doings, instead of casting themselves on His mercy, His grace, and love. Fatal mistake! and now they were made to feel it. But their word was irrevocable, and they cannot yet be released from its obligations. Moses therefore brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly." (vv. 17, 18.) As we read in the Psalms, "The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel." (Ps. 68: 8.) Fire was thus the characteristic of the Lord's presence upon Sinai — fire and smoke, fire being the symbol of His holiness, but of His holiness in the aspect of judgment against sin. "Our God is a consuming fire." Hence meeting with Israel on the ground of law, fire was the most significant expression of the fact that righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne. Moses therefore speaks of the "fiery law" that went forth from God's right hand, fiery because being "holy, and just, and good," it could only judge and consume those who did not answer to its requirements. It is of this effect that he speaks when he says, "We are consumed by Thine anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled." (Ps. 90: 7.)

Moses spake to God when the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, and God answered him by a voice. He was then called up to the mount, and what was the nature of the first communication he received? Already bounds had been set round about the mount; for the place whereon God stood was holy ground, and the penalty of death was attached to any one, man or beast, who should even touch the mount. But even this was not enough. "Go down" said the Lord unto Moses, "charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish." (v. 21.) All alike, priests and people, were to be kept at a distance, Moses and Aaron excepted — lest the Lord should break forth upon them (v. 24.)

All these details are most solemnly interesting, as showing man's utter incapacity to stand on his own merits before God, and as teaching at the same time, that if the sinner ventures on such a foundation to come into contact with Him it can only be to his own destruction. God moreover apart from atonement, cannot meet the sinner on the ground of righteousness without destroying him. When will men learn that there is, and must be for ever, the most irreconcilable antagonism between holiness and sin; that God must be against the sinner, unless the claims of His holiness are met; and that these claims can never be met except in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ? In this light it is a touching scene. God in all the awful majesty of His holiness upon Sinai; the people in all their distance and guilt, trembling at what they saw and heard, shut off from the mount, but brought out of the camp to meet with God, and to receive the requirements of His righteous law which they had undertaken to obey.

"And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain. Remember the sabbath-day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath-day, and hallowed it.

"Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's." (Ex. 20: 1-17.)

There are several points in connection with the giving of the law which demand distinct and especial attention. The first is the nature of the law itself. The commandments are ten in number, and they are based upon, or rather flow out from, the relationship into which God had entered with His people in redemption. "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Looking at the commandments together it will be seen that the first four relate to God, and the last six to man; i.e. they define responsibility towards God and towards man. Hence they were summed up by our blessed Lord, in answer to the question, Which is the great commandment in the law? as follows: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matt. 22: 35-40; see Deut. 10: 12; and Lev. 19: 18.) Love to God — perfect love to God, perfect according to their capacity — and love to their neighbour, according to the standard of self-love, were thus enjoined upon Israel.

But remark that in the details of the commandments the characteristic is prohibition. "Thou shalt not" — if we except the fourth, and even in that "keeping the sabbath" means the abstinence from all work — is the essence of the whole. This fact has an important bearing upon the second point to be considered — the object of the law. These ten commandments were the standard of God's requirements from Israel. They had voluntarily undertaken obedience to His voice, and to keep His covenant as the condition of blessing. In response to this the Lord revealed through Moses what He required. A standard therefore was erected by which it could be easily ascertained, even by themselves, whether or not they were obedient to God's word. By these commandments therefore He came to prove them, that His fear might be before their faces that they might not sin. (v. 20.) But He knew what was in their hearts, though they might be ignorant, and hence the giving of the law really had for its object the bringing to light what was in His people's hearts. This accounts for the prohibitive form of the commandment. For why should it be said, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet, unless the tendency to all these forms of sins was found within them? The apostle Paul explains this in Rom. 7. "I had not known sin," he says, "but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was dead." (vv. 7, 8.) The lust was in the heart before the law came, but not being forbidden he could not know it as lust; but immediately the commandment said, Thou shalt not lust, it sprang into the light, and the opposition of the heart to God was made manifest. The law therefore entered, as the apostle elsewhere says, that the offence might abound (Rom. 5: 20); i.e. to make the offences known. They were committed before; but they were not seen as offences until they were forbidden. Then their nature could no longer be concealed, and all might understand that they were transgressions of the law of God.

This point is of the utmost importance, inasmuch as it is contended even now, although the gospel of the grace of God is fully revealed and widely proclaimed, that obedience to the law is the way of life. How many thousands indeed are deluded by this fatal snare. Let such ponder the words of the apostle, "If there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law." (Gal. 3: 21.) True it was said, Ye shall keep my statutes, and my judgments; which if a man do, he shall live in them (Lev. 18: 5); but how could sinners, by nature and by practice, keep the commandments of God? Hear indeed the Holy Spirit's own reasoning, through Paul, upon this matter: "As many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them." (Gal. 3: 10-12.) This removes every difficulty, and places beyond a doubt the true object of the law, which was, as we have said, to erect a standard of God's requirements, and so to convict man of sin. The law entered that the offence might abound. And the law can be very blessedly used now for the same purpose. If a man, strong in the confidence of his self-righteousness, be encountered, he can be probed and tested by it: he can be asked if he loves God with all his heart, and his neighbour as himself, and thereby the deceitful character of his own works be exposed.

If this point is understood, and if there be simple subjection to the word of God, there will be no difficulty in apprehending that the law is not given as a full revelation of the mind and heart of God. The way in which it is often spoken of would lead souls to suppose that there could not be a further and fuller revelation. But if so, where, as another has asked, shall we find His mercy, His compassion and love? No; "the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good;" for it is a revelation of God, as every word and act of His must necessarily be, but to maintain that it is a full and perfect revelation is to ignore the need of atonement, to be blind to the true character of the person and work of our blessed Lord and Saviour — to forget, in a word, the difference between Sinai and Calvary. Until the cross, it was impossible that God could perfectly reveal Himself. But immediately that the work wrought there was completed, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom — to signify that God was now free — free in righteousness — to come out in grace to the sinner, and that the sinner, who believed His testimony to the efficacy of the blood of Christ, was free to go into the immediate presence of God. The law unfolds His righteous character, and consequently His requirements from Israel; but God Himself still dwelt in the thick darkness — unrevealed.

One other point demands a passing notice. Granting that the law is not the means of life, it is sometimes said, Yet is it not the rule of Christian conduct? Look at it well, and then ask if this is possible. Take for example the prohibitions as to one's neighbour. Would God be satisfied with a Christian who abstained from the sins there specified? Nay, would a Christian be satisfied himself that, in abstaining from these things he answered to God's mind as to his walk? Suppose now, that he even did love his neighbour as himself, would this rise to the height of the example of Christ? What does the apostle John say? Hereby perceive we love, because He laid down His life for us. That is, the true expression of love is seen in the death of Christ for us. Hence the apostle adds, "And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." (1 John 3: 16.) To do this would surely be loving the brethren better than ourselves — going therefore marvellously beyond the scope of law. The truth is, as Paul has taught us, we are "dead to the law by the body of Christ; that we should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." (Rom. 7: 4.) The law was a rule for Israel; but Christ, and Christ alone, is the standard of the believer. "He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked." (1 John 2: 6.) It is therefore an infinitely higher standard, involving far greater responsibility, than that of the law. This contention, indeed, that we are still under the law, notwithstanding the statement, "Ye are not under the law, but under grace" (Rom. 6: 14), springs from ignorance of what redemption is. When it is seen that believers are brought through the death and resurrection of Christ out of their old condition, and have a new place and standing altogether; that they are not in the flesh but in the Spirit (Rom. 8: 9), it is easily perceived that they belong to a sphere into which the law cannot enter; and that as Christ is the only object of their souls, so the expression of Christ in their walk and conversation, as they pass through this scene, is their only responsibility. We commend these points to the careful attention of every child of God.

The effect of the giving of the law is now seen. As in the previous chapter, the people are filled with terror, and "they removed, and stood afar off." (v. 18.) They might have thus learned that sinners cannot stand in the presence of God. "And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die." (v. 19.) A sad confession of what they were, and a significant indication of what would come of their promised obedience. Ah! if the sinner would but learn the lesson, that if God speaks with him when in his sins he must die! For holiness and sin cannot co-exist, and if brought into contact, apart from atonement, there could be but one result. These trembling children of Israel, therefore, do but express the simple truth. God had drawn near in His holiness, and they shrink abashed from His presence, lest they should die; and thereby they proclaimed that they were sinners in their guilt, and as such unable to listen to His voice. Moses thereon exhorted them not to fear, telling them that God was come to prove them, and that His fear might be before their faces that they should not sin. The way indeed was plainly marked for them in the ten commandments, and it would soon be seen if they would walk in it or not. The position is now clearly shown. The people are at a distance, actually and morally. God was in the thick darkness, significant of the fact that He must remain concealed as long as He was on the ground of law. Moses occupies, in the election and grace of God, the place of mediator. He thus can draw near to the thick darkness where God was. He is thus a type of the "one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2: 5.)

The chapter concludes with directions concerning worship. For as soon as the formal relationship is established between God and His people, though on the ground of law, provision for worship must be made. Three things need only be noticed in this connection. First, that God could not be approached except through sacrifices. Secondly, He could come and bless them in all places where He would record His name — notwithstanding what they were, on the ground of the sweet savour of their offerings.* Thirdly, the character of the altar is specified. It might be an altar of earth. If of stone, it must not be of hewn stone, "for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto Mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon." (vv. 24-26.) Man's work and man's order are prohibited. Thus in worship everything must be according to God; and if there be but the introduction of a single thing for beauty, or convenience, it is polluted, and man's nakedness is discovered. How jealous, therefore, Christians should be against the admission of anything in worship which is not stamped with the authority of the word of God.

*The sin-offering was not yet prescribed. These, therefore, were all sweet savour offerings.

CHAPTER 15.  JUDGMENTS.

EXODUS 21 - 23.

IN this section are contained the various "judgments" or statutes which God gave to govern His people in their various relationships. It will scarcely be necessary to expound these minutely, though the significance and bearing of each class may be indicated. They afford a striking view of the care of God for all that concerned the walk and ways of His people; and if penalties are attached to the breach of these different laws, it is only in accord with the dispensation which had now been established.

The first relates to the Hebrew servant.

"If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever." (vv. 2-6.)

We have in this Hebrew servant a beautiful and expressive type of Christ. The point to be observed is, that having served six years, he should "go out free for nothing." But if his master should have given him a wife during the time of his servitude, and sons and daughters were born to him, then his wife and children should belong to his master, but he should go out by himself; and the only way by which he could retain his wife and family was by becoming a servant for ever. The typical application of this to Christ is most interesting. He took the form of a servant (Phil. 2); He came to do God's will (Heb. 10); not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. (John 6: 38.) He served perfectly His full allotted period, and might therefore have gone out free. As He said to Peter, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?" (Matt. 26: 53, 54.) There was no necessity, as far as He was concerned, that He should go to the cross; no necessity whatever, excepting from the constraint of His own heart, and from His desire to accomplish the glory of God, and to obtain His bride, the pearl of great price. Why, then, did He permit Himself to be nailed to that shameful cross? to be led as a lamb to the slaughter? He was free before God and man. None could convince Him of sin. He stood absolutely free; and hence we ask again, Why did He "not go out free"? Because, we reply, He loved His Master, His wife, and His children, and therefore would become a servant for ever. His "Master" had the supreme place in His soul, and He burned with a holy desire to glorify Him on the earth, and to finish the work which He gave Him to do; He loved His wife — the Church — and gave Himself for it; and He was bound by the same ties of immutable affection to His children — His own, considered individually — and therefore He would not go out free, but presented Himself to His Master that He might serve Him for ever. His ear was thus bored — sign of service (compare Ps. 40: 6 with Heb. 10: 5) — in token of His abiding position. He will consequently never cease to be the Servant. He serves His people now at the right hand of God (see John 13); and He will serve them in the glory itself. He Himself says, "Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them." (Luke 12: 3 7) This picture therefore combines the lowly service of Christ on earth with the service He carries on, now that He is glorified, at the right hand of God, and will for ever carry on for His people throughout eternity. It reveals at the same time the matchless grace and the unfathomable love of His heart, which thus led Him to take and to retain this position. And how wondrous it is that His affection should associate the Church with His "Master." "I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free." Blessed Lord, Thou hast thus linked Thine own, through the might of Thy love, with Thy God and Thyself for ever!

The next paragraph contains directions as to a maidservant that has been sold by her father.

"And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money." (vv. 7-11.)

Though she might "not go out as the menservants do," yet God in His tenderness carefully guarded her rights in the position occupied. The tendency is only too often apparent to treat those who are entirely subject and dependent according to changing moods and caprice. This was not to be. If her master changed his mind, and she became evil in his eyes (see margin), she should have the option of redemption. She must not be degraded in her service, nor could he sell her to a strange nation. By his deceitful dealing he had forfeited rights which otherwise he would have possessed. Whether betrothed to his son, or to himself, her rights were carefully maintained; and if these were neglected, in case he took another wife, then she should be absolutely free. Thus, in His compassionate love, the Lord surrounds His weak and defenceless ones with laws to secure for them equitable and considerate treatment.

Offences, to which the penalty of death is attached, are next introduced.

"He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death. And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee. But if a man come

presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from Mine altar, that he may die. And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death. And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death." (vv. 12-17.)

The case of murder is first dealt with. This is no new enactment. To Noah God had said, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man." (Gen. 9: 6.) At the hand of every man's brother would He require the life of man. Man therefore was made his brother's keeper, and God protected him whom He had made in His own image by the most solemn penalty which He could exact; for life belongs to Him, and hence he could not suffer another to trench upon His prerogative. Thus when Cain slew his brother Abel, the Lord said unto him, "What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground." (Gen. 4: 10.) For wilful murder there was no release from the penalty, even though the murderer might have fled for protection to God's altar. (See 1 Kings 2: 28-32.) He must die. There is no countenance in the word of God for the modern philanthropic movement for the abolition of capital punishment. It substitutes indeed human ideas in the place of God's primeval law. In fact, it exalts man over God. The directions given by our Lord, in the "sermon on the mount" (Matt. 5: 38-48), apply only to the relationships of the fellow-subjects of His kingdom, and not to those existing between man and man, and in no way therefore set aside the precept given to Noah.

An exception is made. "If a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee." (Compare Deut. 19: 4, 5; indeed the whole chapter.) If we apply these statutes to the action of the Jewish nation against Christ, remembering how they did "lie in wait," and that they at length succeeded by bribery and artifice in securing His apprehension and condemnation, it might seem as if there were for them no possible escape. But our Lord Himself prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23: 34); so that God in grace, if they repent, on the ground of this intercession, will impute ignorance to them, and appoint them a city of refuge for escape and safety. Hence Peter, when preaching to them, said, "I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers." (Acts 3: 17.) Grace thus can relieve from the penalty of the law, on the ground of the atonement for sin that was wrought out by the death of Christ.

Both smiting and cursing father or mother (vv. 15, 17) incurred the same penalty. Thus God established by the holy sanctions of His law parental authority; and demanded for it the reverential regard of children. Disobedience to parents is given as one sign of the perilous times of the last days (2 Tim. 3: 2), fully showing the value in the eyes of God of the subjection of children to their parents. For, indeed, it is God's authority they represent, and hence is absolute in its character when used for God, demanding implicit and unconditional obedience. (See Deut. 21: 18-21; Eph. 6: 1; Col. 3: 20.) Hence the gravity of the sins here specified. But if smiting and cursing earthly parents deserve death, how much greater the sin of open-handed rebellion against God

Man-stealing, and man-selling, slavery in fact, as still practised in many parts of the world, had also the penalty of death. (v. 16.) Man may be a sinner, and yet, notwithstanding God's claims upon him, claims too which must be met ere he can be delivered, he is of such value in the sight of God, that his liberty must be sacredly respected by his fellow-man. How marvellous that, with such a scripture, slavery in its worse forms — stealing, selling, and holding men as mere chattels — could be upheld, even within the recollection of the present generation, by professed followers of Christ!

In the next paragraph are found offences against the person with their specified penalties.

"And if men strive together, and one smite another with a stone, or with his fist, and he die not, but keepeth his bed: if he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed. And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished for he is his money. If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow; he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, that it perish; he shall let him go free for his eye's sake. And if he smite out his manservant's tooth, or his maidservant's tooth; he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake." (vv. 18-27.)

Two things only need be noted, leaving the details for the reader himself. The first is, that all these enactments reveal the tenderness of God in protecting the bodies of His people — and specially of those occupying a subject position. The second is, that we find here the true character of law. Grace is absent. It is eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth, etc. Our blessed Lord especially cites these provisions to point out their contrast with grace. He says, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Matt. 5: 38, 39.) On the ground of law an exact equivalent is demanded — no more, and no less; but grace can remit every claim; for dealt with in grace ourselves, our whole debt remitted, we must act on the same principle in our relationships with one another. Be it, however, never forgotten, that the foundation of grace itself is laid deep in righteousness, and hence it reigns through righteousness (Rom. 5: 21), having thus been established upon an everlasting and immutable basis.

The responsibility of the owner for the acts of his cattle is then laid down.

"If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die; then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit: but if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give, for the ransom of his life, whatsoever is laid upon him. Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him. If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein; the owner of the pit shall make it good, and give money unto the owner of them; and the dead beast shall be his. And if one man's ox hurt another's, that he die, then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the money of it; and the dead ox also they shall divide. Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own." (vv. 28-36.)

It will suffice again to indicate that the same principle of righteous equivalent also obtains in these directions. Even the death of the owner, as well as the ox, is enjoined if there had been a guilty knowledge of the propensity of the animal, and he had made no provision to guard against it. (v. 29.) How vividly it brings before our minds the truth taught by our blessed Lord, that even the hairs of our heads are all numbered. Everything is provided for, and every relationship, with their various breaches, adjusted in harmony with the righteous government under which Israel was now placed. There is one particular that should not be unnoticed. The manservant, or the maidservant, was priced at thirty shekels of silver. It is to this the prophet Zechariah refers: "And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver." (Zech. 11: 12.) It is Christ who is thus set forth who was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver. (Matt. 26: 15.) Such was man's estimate of the value of God manifest in flesh, of the only begotten of the Father!

In the next place (Ex. 22), we have the law of restitution in cases of theft.

"If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution: if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep, he shall restore double. If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in his beast, and shall feed in another man's field; of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution. If fire break out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith, he that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. If a man shall deliver unto his neighbour money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man's house; if the thief be found, let him pay double. If the thief be not found, then the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges, to see whether he have put his hand unto his neighbour's goods. For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour. If a man deliver unto his neighbour an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep; and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it: then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that he hath not put his hand unto his neighbour's goods; and the owner of it shall accept thereof, and he shall not make it good. And if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof. If it be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for witness, and he shall not make good that which was torn. And if a man borrow ought of his neighbour and it be hurt, or die, the owner thereof being not with it, he shall surely make it good. But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good: if it be an hired thing, it came for his hire." (vv. 1-15.)

Zachaeus refers, without doubt, to this provision of the law (v. 1) when he said to the Lord, "If I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." (Luke 19: 8.) As in the previous chapter we saw how God guarded the life and the persons of His people, we perceive in this how He protected their property, and made all who disregarded His law answerable to Himself. But the question for our souls is, If robbing a fellow-man is thus condemned, how can the sin be met of robbing God? How can those who are already sinners make restitution to Him? It is impossible; and if left to ourselves we must for ever have remained under the consequences of our trespasses. But we read in the Psalms of One who said, "Then I restored that which I took not away." (Psalm 69: 4.) He was the trespass-offering as well as the sin and burnt-offerings. He has therefore made full and adequate restitution (we can say, if we believe) for all our trespasses. There is not a single breach which could be laid to our charge Which He, in His wondrous grace and mercy, has not repaired. This brings before us a very blessed aspect of His death. In the chapter the offender had himself to make restitution. We could not do this, and had there been no substitute for us — no one to restore to God that which He had not, but which we had, taken away, we must have for ever been answerable to His claims — for ever answerable, but having nothing to pay. The more therefore we remember this, the more shall we magnify the grace of Him who of His own will answered to God for us, so that He can righteously acquit us from every claim, yea, and as righteously bring us into the unclouded light and joy of His own presence. Blessed be for ever His most holy name!

We now pass to injunctions of another kind. The first of these refers to carnal desire. (v. 16.) The guilt is supposed here to attach mainly to the man — not, however, excepting the woman from her share. But man cannot lightly sin, and act as if he had not sinned, especially in the way here mentioned. Hence he incurred the obligation of endowing her to be his wife. The principle is laid down by Paul. "Know ye not," he says, "that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith He, shall be one flesh." (1 Cor. 6: 16.) For the same reason our blessed Lord taught, "Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery." (Matt. 19: 9.) What a comment upon human laws which permit divorces upon other grounds — to the utter neglect of the wisdom of God, and which at the same time betray the most complete ignorance of the fundamental relationships between man and woman. While therefore we are bound to obey the powers that be, when they are not in conflict with the authority of God, the law of the land cannot be the guide of the conscience of the believer or of the church.

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." (v. 18.) The essential idea of a witch was commerce with spirits, which finds its counterpart in the spiritualism of the present day. Hence in Leviticus she is described as "a woman that hath a familiar spirit." (Lev. 20: 27.) The witch of Endor is the exemplification of her kind; for we read that Saul went to her and said, "I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring him up whom I shall name unto thee." (1 Sam. 28: 8.) This is the very thing that spiritualists profess to do — to bring the inquirer into communion with departed spirits. Like Saul, unable to obtain communications from God, they seek information concerning things unknown and unseen through the agency of spirits. It is in fact a turning from God to Satan. The whole system, whether in Israel or our own day, is Satanic. A witch therefore was to be destroyed; and this shows the utter antagonism of her vocation to God; and the spiritualism now in vogue is no less hateful, and, if persisted in, no less destructive to souls.

Two sins are then named to which is attached the penalty of death. The first is that of the flesh — and of the flesh in its most horrible and revolting form. The second is idolatry. God could not suffer the acknowledgement among His own people of any god beside Himself. It would be a denial of His own claims and authority, and the subversion of the very foundations of His relationship with His people; and on their part it would be the denial of His true character, and the rejection of His absolute sway. The worship of the true God, and of false gods, could not therefore co-exist. The apostle thus says, "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils." (1 Cor. 10: 20, 21.) The acceptance of false gods amounts to a rejection of the true God. Hence, on the other side, when the Thessalonians were converted, it is said of them, "Ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God," etc. (1 Thess. 1: 9.)

Tenderness and compassion are then inculcated in several cases.

"Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. If thou lend money to any of My people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury. If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down: for that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto Me, that I will hear; for I am gracious." (vv. 21-27.)

The stranger comes first, and the remembrance of what they had been in the land of Egypt was to govern their conduct toward such. They had been in bitterness of soul through hard bondage when under the iron yoke of Pharaoh, and they could therefore enter into the feelings of those who were strangers in a strange land. The helpless are next commended to their hearts; and of all the helpless ones that appeal to our compassion, surely the widow and the fatherless have the first claim. God thus surrounds them here with the powerful defence of His own arm. If any should afflict them, they should be killed and their wives and children should become widows and orphans. Throughout the whole of Scripture these two classes are ever indicated as the special object of God's care, and hence should be objects of our compassionate concern. James accordingly says, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James 1: 27.) The two following directions concern the poor — the first, to save him from extortion as well as to prevent the rich from making gain of his poverty; and the second, to secure him from destitution and nakedness. These laws, spite of the fact that the children of Israel were now governed from Sinai, permit us to see into the depths of the heart of God. What inexpressible tenderness in the provision that a pledged garment should be given up "by that the sun goeth down: for that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep? and it shall come to pass, when he crieth unto Me, that I will hear; for I am gracious." The heart of God must be expressed by His people, and He is touched by the sight of one who has nothing to cover his body when he lies down to sleep!

Respect for constituted authorities is also enjoined: "Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people." (v. 28.) The term "gods" evidently is here used of authorities, or judges, as in margin. (See John 10: 34, 35.) The apostle Paul cites this scripture when before Ananias and the sanhedrin. (Acts 23: 5.) It corresponds with the exhortations in various epistles. (Rom. 13; 1 Tim. 2: 2; 1 Peter 2: 13-17.) The path of God's people is thus, as far as regards kings, governors, and magistrates, extremely simple. To all authority, of whatever form, they owe respect and obedience as long as it does not clash with what is due to God. They are put in this place of subjection by the Lord Himself.

The firstfruits and the firstborn are to be offered to God. (vv. 29, 30; see Ex. 13: 12, 13.) They were thus to acknowledge both their dependence and the source of their blessing, and to avow that they themselves belonged to the Lord. It was God who would give the ripe fruits and the "liquors," and in token of this He required an offering to Himself. The firstborn of their children He likewise claimed, but on the ground, as explained in chap. 13, of the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt on the night of the Passover, and their own redemption through the blood of the Paschal lamb.

In fine, they were to "be holy men unto" the Lord, apart from evil, and separated unto God; for He who had made them His own was holy, and He would have them suited to Himself. On this account they were not to defile themselves with unclean food, flesh polluted by unclean animals, and fit only for dogs. A holy people must be holy in their ways, as beseems a holy God. Subjects of another kind are introduced in the next chapter (Ex. 23).

"Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil: neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment. Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause. If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee, lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him; thou shalt surely help with him. Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause. Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked. And thou shalt take no gift; for the gift blindeth the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous." (Ex. 23: 1-8.)

Sins of the tongue begin this section. The first relates to raising or receiving (see margin) a false report. How much mischief has been thus perpetrated, and even in the church of God! There are few who would not be horrified at the thought of raising a false report. Such a sin would be condemned by all upright minds; not even a man of the world would extenuate its guilt. But, as the margin indicates, the word has a wider meaning, and will include also the receiving of a false report. Many who would shun the first sin fall into the snare of the second. A report is heard, and is apparently true, and is circulated, whereas had any trouble been taken to verify it, its falsehood might have been detected. Christians, above all, should be careful as to this, refusing every report to another's discredit, unless vouched for by unimpeachable testimony. The responsibility is thus cast upon the hearer, as well as the repeater, of reports. If this were remembered many a slander would be nipped in the bud, many a tale-bearer unveiled, and many a breach of fellowship avoided. The antidote is found in that charity which "thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beateth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." (1 Cor. 13: 5-7.) Then false testimony is condemned — a sin known by the modern name of perjury. This injunction, as well as that in the next verse, and in verses 3 and 5, would seem connected with the administration of justice. Nothing escapes the eyes of a righteous God, no evil tendency or influence, and hence He makes provision for the conduct of His people in every circumstance of their lives. It is difficult to be alone in opposition to a multitude, though the cause may be just. With the Lord before the soul it becomes simple. On the other hand, a poor man is not to be countenanced in his cause; i.e. when it is unjust, nor when it is just shall his judgment be "wrested." (v. 6.) Some are liable to influences from the rich, and some from the poor, especially in a day of democracy and contempt of lawful authority. But the heart must be free from both, and it will be free if in obedience to the word of God. Interspersed with these commands, a special direction is given concerning the ox or the ass of an enemy. The anger of the heart must not be exhibited against an enemy's cattle, nor must help be refused to the cattle of another on account of their owner's enmity; "but if thou see his ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again; and wilt thou not, in so doing, heap coals of fire upon his head?" So, too, if an ass overburdened be met with, "though his owner hate thee, thou shalt surely help him." The compassions of God flow out to His dumb creatures, and His people should in all things be a reflex of Himself.

Truth and righteousness are also enjoined. (v. 7.) The ground given is most noteworthy — "For I will not justify the wicked." God is righteous in all His ways in government, of unerring discrimination, and does not permit man to "find anything after Him." But, as the Psalmist confesses, He will be justified when He speaks, and clear when He judges. The wicked therefore can never escape His condemnation. But in grace He has revealed a way by which He can justify the ungodly. (Rom. 5) Under law this was impossible. "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe." (Rom. 3: 21, 22.) On this ground He can be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (v. 26.) A warning is added against the acceptance of gifts. The question, be it remembered, is still one of judgment between man and man, or the discernment of truth from falsehood. To receive a gift in such a case would blind the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. It might shut out God from the soul, and thereby prevent a single eye. The ninth verse is a repetition of the injunction contained in Ex. 22: 21. This shows its importance in the eyes of God, and it is added here with emphasis, "Ye know the heart of a stranger." The children of Israel were thus qualified by their own experience to sympathize with strangers (compare Heb. 4: 15; also Heb. 2: 18); and the recollection of their own past sorrow was to mould their conduct towards those who were in the same circumstances.

Divers ordinances follow concerning the land and the feasts, etc.

"And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave, the beasts of the field shall eat. In Eke manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest; that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed. And in all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.

"Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto Me in the year. Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt; and none shall appear before Me empty:) and the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field. Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God. Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until the morning. The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk." (Ex. 23: 10-19)

The land was to enjoy her sabbaths, in perpetual token that it belonged to the Lord. Hence it, as well as man, must share God's rest. Here, however, the poor and the beasts of the field are prominent. There was consideration both for the one and the other — both alike, whatever the distance between, being creatures of God. The children of Israel were thus reminded that they were but tenants, and that, as holding their land as well as their vineyards and oliveyards from the Lord, even the poor and the beasts of the field must be considered, since they were the objects of His care.

The sabbath for man comes next. The feasts in full are found in Leviticus 23; and there, as here, the sabbath comes first. But in this chapter three only are mentioned in addition to the sabbath — the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of harvest, and the feast of ingathering, i.e. the passover, Pentecost, and the feast of tabernacles. The feasts in full, as given in Leviticus, symbolize the whole cycle of God's ways with Israel. On this account the sabbath takes precedence, because the end and results of all God's ways with them (as indeed with believers of this dispensation) is to bring them into the enjoyment of His rest. Having, then, revealed His object, the methods by which this is to be accomplished, or His successive means to this end, are typically unfolded. But though only three are found in this chapter, they are very significant. Unleavened bread is the first;* next we have that of the firstfruits, symbolical of Christ in resurrection, as is seen more fully in Leviticus; then the feast of ingathering, type of the harvest of souls, of which the resurrection of Christ was the pledge, and of which Pentecost was the blessed commencement. We thus read, "Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's, at His coming." (1 Cor. 15: 23.) Primarily, the application in this scripture would be to Israel, but, interpreted broadly, the ingathering here spoken of will include the saints of this, as well as of the millennial dispensation — in a word, the vast multitude of the redeemed of every age and dispensation. Three times in the year they were thus to keep a feast unto the Lord, and on these occasions all their males were to appear before the Lord God. This was the central thought of the feast, the gathering of the people around Himself on the foundation which He Himself had established — on the foundation, in fact, of redemption. They were accordingly, as a redeemed people gathered around Jehovah, to be circumspect concerning all that He had said unto them; and they were not even to mention the name of other gods, nor let it be heard out of their mouth. (v. 13.) They belonged, as a redeemed and a sanctified people, alone and entirely to the Lord.

*The meaning of this has been expounded in connection with Ex. 13.

Leavened bread is once again forbidden in connection with the blood of the sacrifice; for inasmuch as the sacrifices pointed to Christ, leaven, as an emblem of evil, would have falsified their typical teaching. Christ cannot be associated with evil. Hence the leaven was absolutely prohibited. Nor was the fat of the sacrifice to remain until the morning. (Compare Ex. 12: 10.) The full explanation of this will be found in the directions concerning the peace-offering. (Lev. 3) "The fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. And Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord." (vv. 3-5.) The fat therefore was God's portion. (See also Lev. 4: 8-10.) It must, on this account, not be neglected — be left over until the morning, but offered immediately. God must have His part before His people had theirs. This is the secret of all blessing — giving the Lord the supreme place, thinking first of what is due to Him, and losing sight of all else until this is rendered.

The first of the firstfruits of their land was to be brought into the house of the Lord their God. In Deut. 26 will be found a beautiful description of this obligation, together with the manner in which it was to be discharged. It is an inspired exposition of this injunction. Lastly, we have a most remarkable prohibition. (v. 19.) Three times it is found in the Scriptures. (Ex. 34: 26; Deut. 14: 21.) God will have His people tenderly careful, guarding them from the violation of any single instinct of nature. The milk of the mother was the food, the sustenance of the kid, and hence this must not be used to seethe it as food for others. Some have seen a spiritual teaching in this enactment. That analogies might be profitably drawn is undoubtedly true; but this would be more suited to private study than for public exposition.

This section concludes with the provision God had made for their guidance to the place He had prepared, together with warnings as to their conduct, and a statement of the manner in which they should be put into complete possession of the land.

"Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him, and obey His voice, provoke Him not: for He will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in Him. But if thou shalt indeed obey His voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

"There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. I will send My fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come; and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against Me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee." (vv. 20-33.)

An angel was to go before them for guidance and safe conduct. He is often referred to in this connection. (Ex. 14: 19, Ex. 33: 2; Num. 20: 16, etc.) The prophet Isaiah terms Him the angel of His (Jehovah's) presence. (63: g.) Who then was this angel? It is evident, both from this scripture and chapter 14, as well as from others, that divine attributes are attributed to Him. It is said for example here, "My name is in Him." So in Exodus 14, after being spoken of as an angel, He is identified with Jehovah. (24th verse with 19th.) It is the case also in Genesis 22, in connection with the sacrifice of Isaac. (vv. 15, 16.) That He is divine is therefore clear; and the inference is thus justifiable (one that has been drawn by godly students of the Word in all ages) that in this angel we have no other than the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son, Jehovah, and that as such, in His manifold appearings, we may perceive foreshadowings of His incarnation. It is He who has ever been the leader of His people; and it is He who here takes His place at the head of the children of Israel to keep them in the way, and to bring them unto the place which God had prepared. As Isaiah speaks, "The angel of His presence saved them: in His love and His pity He redeemed them: and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old."

Hence the solemn warning addressed to Israel. They were to beware of Him, obey His voice, and provoke Him not. He was holy, and inasmuch as His people had placed themselves under law, He could not pardon their transgressions. "My name" — expression of all that God was in His relationship with Israel — "is in Him," and hence He would act in righteousness, on the basis of the law which had been given as the standard of their conduct. On the other hand, obedience was made the condition of His complete identification with their cause. Their enemies would in that case be His enemies, and He would cut them off.

It will be seen that all these instructions contemplate the land rather than the wilderness. This must be borne in mind. Two things are added in this connection on which all their blessing would depend — separation from evil, and serving the Lord their God. (vv. 24, 25.) These conditions of blessing are unalterable. They are as true now as they were with Israel. The Thessalonians are thus described as having turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. (1 Thess. 1: 9.) Where God indeed is in question, there can be no complicity with evil. He claims all that we are and have, and when this claim is recognized, He can bless us according to the desires of His own heart. So here the blessings follow — earthly blessings because they were an earthly people, but blessings of this character without stint or limit. Mark, moreover, that God loses sight of nothing that affects His people. He tells them that He will not expel their enemies in one year, "lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee." (v. 29.) He would lead them on — and bless them as they might be able to bear it. But, in due time they should possess the full extent of their territory — "from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river" (v. 31) — a promise, alas! which was lost and never realized, excepting for a brief period during the reigns of David and Solomon (1 Chr. 18; 2 Chr. 9: 26), owing to the unfaithfulness of Israel. Even in Solomon's reign, indeed, it was only partially accomplished; for there were still left of the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites (2 Chr. 8: 7, 8) who had not been expelled. It remains, therefore, to be fulfilled in all its extent and blessing under the sway of Him of whom David and Solomon were but shadows and types. What Israel lost under responsibility will then be fulfilled in grace and power.

Finally, absolute separation is once more enjoined. There must be no covenant with the people of the land or their gods; nor should they suffer them to dwell in the land. If so, they would be surely made to sin against the Lord. There can be no alliance between the people of God and His enemies. "The friendship of the world is enmity with God." Would that this truth in all its power were graven upon the hearts and memories of all who bear the name of Christ!

CHAPTER 16.  THE RATIFICATION OF THE COVENANT.

EXODUS 24.

THE covenant having been now unfolded and explained the ground of Jehovah's future relationship with Israel its solemn ratification is recorded in this chapter. As preparatory to this, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, were summoned to come up unto the Lord. (v. 1.) But not all could draw nigh. "Worship ye afar off. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord; but they shall not come nigh, neither shall the people go up with him." (v. 2.) The position of the mediator is clearly marked — a position of the highest honour and privilege, conferred upon Moses by the Lord in His grace. Moses was no more deserving of access to God than his companions. It was grace alone that endowed him with this special place. All is significant of the dispensation — presenting a perfect contrast with the position of believers since the death of Christ. Now it is no more said, "worship ye afar off," but "let us draw near." (Heb. 10: 22.) The blood of Christ has such efficacy that it cleanses the believer from all sin, so that he has no more conscience of sins, he is perfected for ever through the one offering of Christ, and hence, the veil being rent in testimony to the fact that God has been glorified in the death of Christ, he has liberty of access into the holiest of all. There he can worship God in spirit and in truth; there he can joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the reconciliation (Rom. 5: 11); for he is without spot before the all-searching eye of a holy God, and can stand in holy boldness before the very throne of His holiness. What a contrast between law and grace! Law, indeed, "having shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect" (Heb. 10: 1); but in grace, through the one sacrifice of Christ, our sins and iniquities are remembered no more (Heb. 10: 17,), we have through Christ access by one Spirit unto the Father. (Eph. 2: 18.) In some sort therefore Moses, in the place he enjoyed, was a type of the believer. There was, however, this immense difference. He drew near to Jehovah, we have access unto the Father, we worship God, God in all that He is being now fully revealed, and revealed as our God and Father, because the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The occurrence of the names of Nadab and Abihu cannot fail to arrest attention. They were both sons of Aaron, and with their father were selected for this singular privilege. But neither light nor privilege can ensure salvation, nor, if believers, a holy, obedient walk. Both afterwards met with a terrible end. They "offered strange fire before the Lord, which He commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them; and they died before the Lord." (Lev. 10: 1, 2.) After this scene in our chapter, they were consecrated to the priesthood, and it was while in the performance of their duty in this office, or rather because of their failure in it, that they fell under the judgment of God. Let the warning sink deep into our hearts, that office and special privileges are alike powerless to save; and also the lesson, that God cannot accept anything in our worship which is not rendered in obedience to Him. The offering must be of His own providing, and the heart must be in subjection to His will.

Moses, in the next place, descended to the people, and told them "all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do." (v. 3.) Notwithstanding the terror of their hearts at the signs of the Lord's presence and majesty upon Sinai, they remained in total ignorance of their own powerlessness to meet His holy claims. Foolish people! It might have been supposed that ere this their eyes would have been opened; but in truth, we repeat, they were ignorant both of themselves and of God. Hence once again they express themselves as willing to promise obedience as the condition of blessing. God had spoken, and they had assented, and now the agreement must be confirmed and ratified.

"And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the Lord. And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." (vv. 4-8.)

There is but one altar if there are twelve pillars — one altar because it was for God, twelve pillars because all the twelve tribes must be represented in the sacrifices to be offered. The priesthood not yet being appointed, ((young men" do the priestly work of the day. They were probably the firstborn, whom the Lord, as we have seen in chapter 13, claimed specially for Himself. Afterwards indeed the tribe of Levi was exchanged for these, and appointed for the Lord's service. Thus it is said, "And thou shalt bring the Levites before the Lord: and the children. of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites: and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the Lord." (Num. 8: 10, 11; also Num. 3: 40, 41.) Until the substitution of the Levites for the firstborn, "the young men" occupied the place of service in connection with the altar. There were only, it will be remarked, burnt-offerings and peace-offerings — for the reason before given, that until the question of sin was formally raised by the law sin-offerings have no place. The offerings were for God (though the offerers as well as the priest had their share in the peace-offerings, in communion with God — Lev. 3); but the special significance of the rites of this day is to be found in the sprinkling of the blood. Half was sprinkled upon the altar. Then, having read the book of the covenant in the audience of all the people, they again said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. Moses thereon took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning these words. (vv. 7, 8.) Before explaining the meaning of this solemn act, the passage from the Hebrews referring to it, as giving fuller details, may be cited. "For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament" (covenant) "which God hath enjoined unto you." (Ex. 9: 19, 20.) Here we find the interesting particular, not given in Moses, that the book was sprinkled as well as the people. There were thus three sprinklings — upon the altar, upon the book, and upon the people.

The first enquiry must be as to the signification of the blood. It cannot be atonement, because the people and the book are sprinkled equally with the altar; nor, for the same reason, could it be cleansing. The life is in the blood (Lev. 17: 11), and consequently the blood, the shedding of it, will represent death, and death, when connected with sacrifice, as the penalty of sin. Here therefore the sprinkling of the blood signifies death as the penal sanction of the law. The people promised obedience, and then they, as well as the book, were sprinkled to teach that death would be the penalty of transgression. Such was the solemn position into which, by their own consent, they had been brought. They undertook to obey under the penalty of death. Well therefore might the apostle say, "As many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse." (Gal. 3: 10.) It is the same now in principle with all who accept the ground of law as the way of life, all who are trusting to their own works as the condition of blessing. They know it not, but thereby they are really binding upon their shoulders the curse of the law, like the Israelites in this scene, and accepting the condition of death as the penalty of disobedience.

The people therefore were sprinkled with blood upon having promised obedience. It may further help us to compare the expressions found in Peter's epistle, which doubtless refer in part to this transaction. Writing "to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia" - i.e. to the Jewish Christians among the dispersion of these regions — he describes them as "elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus." (1 Peter 1: 2.) This order is very significant, though it has occasioned difficulty owing to the fact that the allusion to the Jewish nation has been missed. As a nation they had been elected by the sovereign call of God, sanctified by fleshly rites — separated from the rest of the nations (see Eph. 2: 14), and set apart to God (Ex. 19: 10), sanctified, moreover, unto obedience — this was the object proposed, and, as we have seen, accepted by the people; and then they were sprinkled with the blood, the covenant of God with them being thus sealed with the solemn sanction of death. The terms therefore exactly correspond; but how great the difference in their meaning! Believers are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, He "having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." Eph. 1: 5.) They were not therefore, like Israel, the objects simply of an earthly election, and for earthly blessing, but the objects of an eternal choice — to be brought into the enjoyment of the intimate relationship of children, in a place of perfect nearness, accepted in the Beloved. They have been sanctified, not by external and carnal rites and ordinances, but by the operation of the Spirit of God in the new birth, in virtue of which they are absolutely set apart to God — no longer of the world, even as Christ is not of the world; and they have been sanctified unto the obedience of Jesus Christ* — i.e. to obey as Christ obeyed, His walk being the normal rule, the standard for every believer (1 John 2: 6); and they have been sanctified moreover, not to the sprinkling of blood, which testified of death for every transgression, but to that which speaks of atonement having been completed, and the perfect cleansing of every soul who is found under its value. — Peter thus draws a perfect contrast, and the contrast is that which is found between law and grace. "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1: 17.)

*Both these terms, obedience and sprinkling, belong without doubt to Jesus Christ; i.e. it is the obedience of Jesus Christ, as well as the blood of Jesus Christ.

The covenant ratified, "Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel," go up; and they saw the God of Israel: and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness. And upon the nobles of Israel He laid not His hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink. (vv. 9-11) Moses alone was permitted to draw near before the covenant was established, but now the representatives of the people have this special grace accorded to them; and they draw near in safety. Two things in this scene are marked. They saw the God of Israel. God displayed Himself in the majesty of His holiness to their gaze. The paved work of a sapphire stone (see Ezek. 1: 26; Ezek. 10: 1), and the additional description, "as it were the body of heaven in its clearness," speak of heavenly splendour and purity. God therefore revealed Himself to these chosen witnesses according to the character of the economy which had now been established. Moreover they did eat and drink. It was in virtue of the blood that they were admitted to this singular privilege, for privilege it was to see the God of Israel and enter into relationship with Him, albeit the very character of the revelation vouchsafed told of distance rather than nearness. Still as men in the flesh they ate and drank in the presence of God, and, as another has remarked, "continued their terrestrial life." They saw God and did not die. For the covenant was only now inaugurated, and failure not having yet come in, God could thus on that foundation permit their access to Him as the God of Israel.

Moses is once again separated from Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the elders. He resumes his mediatorial place — to receive the tables of stone, etc., which God had written — the lively oracles, as they are described by Stephen. (Acts 7: 38.) For this purpose Moses is called up to the Lord in the mount. (v. 12.) Leaving the elders, and appointing Aaron and Hur in charge, he goes up, and for forty days and forty nights he was alone with God. During this time the glory of the Lord was displayed, and 91 abode upon mount Sinai and the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel." (vv. 15-18.) This was not the glory of His grace, but the glory of His holiness, as is seen by the symbol of devouring fire — the glory of the Lord in His relationship with Israel on the basis of law. (Compare 2 Cor. 3) It was a glory therefore that no sinner could dare approach, for holiness and sin cannot be brought together; but now, through the grace of God, on the ground of accomplished atonement, believers can not only draw near, and be at home in the glory, but with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Cor. 3: 18.) We approach boldly, and with delight gaze upon the glory, because every ray we behold in the face of Christ glorified is a proof of the fact that our sins are put away, and that redemption is accomplished.

Exodus part 2, Ex. 25 - 40

Exodus part 2, Ex. 25 - 40.

(Part 1 is the file exodus1.doc)

EXODUS

— being a simple exposition.

E. Dennett.

(Broom, 1889)

CHAPTER 17.  THE TABERNACLE.

EXODUS 25: 1-9.

WITH this chapter we enter upon a new subject — that of the Tabernacle. It is not finished until the close of Ex. 30. But this again is divided into three parts. In the first place, in the directions for the construction of the Tabernacle and its vessels and furniture, those vessels are described which manifest God. This part reaches to Ex. 27: 19. Secondly, the dress and the consecration of the priests are given, in Ex. 28 and 29. Then, lastly, the vessels of approach — i.e. those that were necessary for drawing near to God, are detailed in Ex. 30. It will be observed that some of those which manifested God — some part of His glory — are also used for approach; but if the chief design of each is remembered, confusion will be prevented, and the arrangement easily understood. Opportunity will be found, as the several parts of the Tabernacle pass under review, of indicating the meaning of each more precisely. In the mean time, the division given may help the reader to enter with more intelligence upon the study of this section of the book.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take My offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take of them; gold, and silver, and "brass, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins, and shittim-wood, oil for the light, spices for anointing oil, and for sweet incense, onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate. And let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it." (vv. 1-9.)

There are three things in these directions to be noticed. The first is their object — which is making a sanctuary. "Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." The primary idea of the Tabernacle therefore is, that it was the dwelling-place of God. As remarked upon Ex. 15: 2, God never dwelt on earth with His people until after the Red Sea was crossed — until redemption in figure was accomplished. He visited Adam in the garden, appeared to and communicated with the patriarchs; but until He had redeemed His people out of Egypt, nothing is said of making a sanctuary in which He might dwell. The Tabernacle was thus a proof of redemption, and the sign that God had brought a redeemed people into relationship with Himself, He being the Centre round whom they were gathered. Such is God's thought in redemption. He will not only, according to His own purposes, save His people, but also, according to His own heart, He desires to have them in a place of nearness, gathered around Himself — Himself their God, and they His people. We know in result how imperfectly, through the people's failure under responsibility, the desires of His heart were realized. Still He had His sanctuary in their midst, both in the wilderness and during the kingdom in the Christian dispensation His people themselves form His house; in the millennium He will have another material sanctuary at Jerusalem; and finally, in the eternal state, the holy city, new Jerusalem, will come down from God out of heaven, and form upon the new earth the tabernacle of God with men. (Rev. 21: 2, 3.) Then the counsels of God's heart will be displayed in their consummated perfection, and, inasmuch as the former things, with all the sorrows connected with them through man's sin, will have passed away, there will be nothing to hinder the full, perfect, and blessed enjoyment arising out of the unhindered flow of God's heart to His people, and their hearts to Him, and from His perfect manifestation, and their perfect worship and service. But the type of all this is found in this sanctuary, which Israel was instructed to make that God might dwell among them.

The tabernacle may, however, be viewed in another way. The house in which God dwelt must be of necessity the scene of the revelation of His glory. Hence, as will be seen when considering it in detail, every single part of it is fraught with some manifestation of Himself. As another writes, "The glories in every way of Christ the Mediator are presented in the tabernacle, not precisely, as yet, the unity of His people, considered as His body, but in every manner in which the ways and the perfections of God are manifested through Him, whether in the full extent of the creation, in His people, or in His person. The scene of the manifestation of the glory of God, His house, His domain, in which He displays His being (in so far as it can be seen), the ways of His grace, and His glory, and His relationship through Christ with us — poor and feeble creatures, but who draw nigh unto Him — are unfolded to us in it, but still with a veil over His presence, and with God not the Father." On this account the spiritual mind traces with delight the typical teaching of the minutiae of this sanctuary, learning therefrom the various measures and methods in which God has revealed Himself, and that they are only to be understood when the key of every secret they contain is possessed in the person of Christ. Remembering this will check on the one hand all flights of the imagination, and invest on the other our meditations with a new interest, inasmuch as Christ Himself will ever be before the soul.

There is yet a third aspect of the tabernacle. It is a figure of the heavens themselves. There were the court, the holy place, and the holy of holies. The priest thus passed through the first and second into the third heavens — the scene of the special presence of God. Paul speaks of being "caught up to the third heaven." There is an allusion to this significance of the tabernacle in the epistle to the Hebrews — "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into" (literally, through) "the heavens, Jesus the Son of God." (Heb. 4: 14.) Christ is looked at in this scripture as having passed, like the Jewish high priest on the day of atonement, through the court, the holy place, into the holy of holies (all of which are symbolical of the heavens), into the presence of God.

In this connection it may be mentioned, and this is the second point, that the tabernacle was made after the pattern shown to Moses in the mount (vv. 9, 40, etc.), and was therefore the type of heavenly things. This teaching is developed in the epistle to the Hebrews. We there read of Christ as "a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man" (Heb. 8: 2); and again it is said, "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these" (the blood of animal sacrifices); "but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." (Heb. 9: 23, 24.) It is easily understood therefore that the tabernacle was the scene of priestly ministration; for since it was God's dwelling-place, it was also the place of the sinner's approach to God (or rather of the approach of a people brought into relationship with Himself) in the person of the priest. As a matter of fact, the high priest only entered once a year into the holy of holies (see Lev. 16); but this was in consequence of the failure of the priesthood, and in no way marred its original design. All this, indeed, together with the veil, and the exclusion of all but the priests from the holy place, will but teach, even by the contrast, the fuller and more blessed privileges which believers of the present dispensation enjoy. They have liberty of access at all times into the holiest of all, the veil being rent, inasmuch as they are perfected for ever, having no more conscience of sins, through the one offering of Christ (Heb. 10), and they draw near, not to Jehovah, but to their God and Father in Christ Jesus.

The last point referred to is the invitation addressed to the people to bring offerings of materials of which the tabernacle was to be composed. It is a bright exhibition of grace on the part of God thus associating the people with Himself in His desire to have a sanctuary to dwell in their midst. Hence it was only of willing hearts that the offerings were to be taken. This is exceedingly beautiful. God first produced the willingness, and then ascribed to them the offering they rendered. He counted upon the fellowship of the people, expecting a response to the expressed desires of His heart. The people did respond, as will be seen later on in the book, and so fully that proclamation had to be made to stay the offerings. A fine example of this was seen also in David in regard to the temple: "He sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." (Ps. 132: 2-5.) If in lesser measure than characterized the king of Israel, yet the required offerings flowed out in abundance from willing hearts, hearts made willing by the grace of God, which thus enjoyed the privilege of contributing materials which, when made up according to the directions given, would form Jehovah's dwelling-place, and which separately would be employed as an emblem, and a manifestation of some ray of His glory.

The typical significance of the several materials offered will be explained in connection with their special place in the tabernacle. It will suffice now to say that they all point to Christ.

CHAPTER 18.  THE ARK WITH THE MERCY-SEAT.

EXODUS 25: 10-22.

THE ark and the mercy-seat are in one sense two distinct things, though in another they form a complete whole. They are described as distinct and separate, and it will thus be best to follow, in our exposition, the order of Scripture:

"And they shall make an ark of shittim-wood two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold; within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof; and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of shittim-wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them. The staves shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end; even of the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel." (vv. 10-22.)

There are several things to be considered in connection with the typical significance of the ark. It was on the one hand a manifestation of God in Christ, and on the other the place of His throne and government in Israel.

First, then, the ark may be viewed as a figure of the person of Christ. This is seen from its composition. It was made of shittim-wood, overlaid with pure gold. The shittim was a kind of acacia, a wood said by some to be imperishable. Be this as it may, it is a type of what is human; and if a wood, as some affirm, that would not rot, incorruptible, it was a most suitable emblem of the humanity of our Lord. The gold is always a symbol of what is divine. The structure of the ark, therefore, figures the union of the two natures in the person of Christ. He was "very God, and very man." "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Thereafter we read, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1: 1-14.) He was thus God and man, God manifest in flesh. The contents of the ark are also significant in this connection: "And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee." (v. 16.) That is, the two tables of stone, with the ten commandments written thereon, were deposited in the ark, and hence it is frequently termed the ark of the covenant (Num. 10: 33; Deut. 31: 26, etc.), because it contained the law on which the covenant was founded. But it points in a marked way to Christ. Speaking thus in the Spirit in the Psalms, He says, "Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy Law is within My heart." (Ps. 40: 7, 8.) The testimony in the ark, therefore, exhibits the law of God in the heart of Christ; setting forth, first, that as born into this world, being of the seed of David according to the flesh, He was "made under the law" (Gal. 4: 4); and secondly, that He obeyed it perfectly. The law within the heart, indeed, brings before us the perfection of His obedience — the fact that God found in Him, and in Him alone, truth in the inward parts, a full and complete answer to all the requirements of His holiness, so that he could ever rest in Him with perfect complacency, and, as He beheld Him always doing the things that pleased Him, expressing the delight of His own heart in the words, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matt. 3: 17.)

The rings and the staves (vv. 19 - 15) have also a voice. The object of these was "that the ark may be borne with them." (v. 14.) This shows that God's people were pilgrims in the wilderness, journeying on to the place which God had prepared for them. But the time would come when the inheritance should be possessed, and when the temple, suited in magnificence to the glory of the king of Israel, should be built. The staves, which in the desert were no to be taken from the rings of the ark (v. 15), should then be withdrawn (2 Chr. 5: 9), because, the pilgrimage past. the ark would, with the people, have entered into its rest. (Ps. 132: 8.) The staves therefore in the rings speak of Christ, with His pilgrim host, as being Himself with them in wilderness circumstances. It is Christ in this world, Christ in all His own perfectness as man — Christ, in a word in all that He was as the revealer of God; for in truth, He was the perfect presentation of God to man. "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him." (Matt. 11: 27.)

Secondly, the ark, with the mercy-seat and its cherubim formed God's throne on earth, in the midst of Israel. "The ark of the covenant," says one, "was the throne where God manifested Himself, if any could go in in righteousness (not, I think, separate from holiness, or taking merely duty as the measure of what was accepted), and as the seat of His sovereignty over every living man — the God of the whole earth. The law — the testimony of what He required of men — was to be placed there. Over it was the mercy-seat, which covered it in, which formed the throne, as the cherubim (formed of the same piece), which were its supporters, did its sides." God is thus spoken of in the Scriptures as dwelling between the cherubim. The cherubim are perhaps symbols of God's attributes; and hence the throne of God is sustained by all that He is. For this reason they are throughout the Old Testament connected with judicial power, because since God had to do with sinners His throne was ever judicial in its aspect. God may thus be viewed as sitting on His righteous throne between the cherubim. If it be asked, Why then, since Israel continually broke His law, were they not instantly destroyed? the answer is found (though we are anticipating the truth of the mercy-seat) in the attitude of the cherubim. As executors of the judicial power of God, they would necessarily demand the exaction of the penalty of transgression. But "their faces shall look one to another; towards the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be" (v. 20.) They thus saw the sprinkled blood on the mercy-seat, the blood that was annually put upon it on the great day of atonement (Lev. 16), whereby the claims of the throne were adequately met, and itself rendered favourable to the transgressor. Otherwise God, governing in righteousness, must have visited destruction upon His people.

It was also the place where God met and communed with Moses. (v. 22.) The meeting-place of Jehovah with His people was at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. (Ex. 29: 42, 43.) Moses alone (save the high priest exceptionally on the day of atonement) enjoyed the privilege of meeting God, and receiving communications from Him at the mercy-seat. He was, owned in grace as the mediator. All believers now enjoy this privilege in virtue of the efficacy of accomplished redemption. But of all Israel, Moses alone was free to go on all occasions into the very presence-chamber of God. It was there God spake with him (see Num. 7: 89), and entrusted him with His commandments for the guidance of the children of Israel. It is only there that God's voice can be heard, and His mind apprehended; and whoever would become increasingly acquainted with His will must be found continually in retirement from the world, and even from believers, shut in alone with God.

If now we turn to the book of Numbers, we shall find the directions for the transport of the ark through the wilderness. "And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering veil, and cover the ark of the testimony with it; and shall put thereon the covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof." (Num. 4: 5, 6.) The veil, as will be explained in its place, is an emblem of the humanity of Christ — His flesh. (Heb. 10: 20.) We have then, first, the ark; i.e. Christ, covered with the veil of His humanity. Next, came the badgers' skins, expressive of that holy vigilance by which He absolutely protected Himself from evil, as is seen, for example, in the scripture, "By the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." (Ps. 17: 4.) Then came the cloth wholly of blue — symbol of what is heavenly. "The badger's skin was inside in this case, because Christ kept His perfection absolutely free of all evil, and so the heavenly came out manifestly." It is Christ therefore in the wilderness, and while passing through it He was ever characterized by that which is heavenly. As such, be it ever remembered, He is our example. "He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked."

THE MERCY-SEAT.

The mercy-seat, while forming the lid, and thus completing the structure of the ark, is in another sense complete in itself, and as such, from its importance, deserving special notice. It was placed "above upon the ark" (v. 21), and was therefore in the holy of holies — the scene of the special manifestation of God, and indeed, as explained, the basis of His throne. God dwells there between the cherubim. It differed from the ark in that no shittim-wood entered into its composition. It was made of pure gold, as also were the two cherubim, which were formed out of the same piece as the mercy-seat. Gold is the emblem of what is divine — of divine righteousness. If then it is considered for a moment in connection with the testimony in the ark, there is the combination of human and divine righteousness, the testimony pointing to the law — human righteousness — which was in the heart of Christ (Psalm 40), and the gold to God's righteousness, which is displayed also in Him. The mercy-seat is therefore in a peculiar manner a type of Christ. The apostle indeed applies the term directly to Him. He says, "Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth a propitiation" (a mercy-seat, literally), "through faith in His blood," etc. (Rom. 3: 24, 25.)

This allusion will be at once understood if reference is made to the action of the priest on the great day of atonement. After putting the incense upon the fire before the Lord, it is said, And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat eastward; and before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of the blood seven times. (Lev. 16: 14.) So also he did with the blood of the goat of the sin-offering for the people. Two questions will elicit the meaning of this act. First, Why was the blood sprinkled on and before the mercy-seat? To make propitiation for the sins of the people. Being sinners they could not stand of themselves in the presence of a holy God. The blood therefore was carried in by divine direction, and sprinkled, in the manner described, on the mercy-seat to make propitiation for the people's sins; and also before the mercy-seat, but here seven times, that when the priest approached he might find a perfect testimony to the efficacy of the work. Once, as is often said, was enough for the eye of God, but in grace He vouchsafed that it should be sprinkled seven times, as a complete assurance for the eye and heart of man. What, then, secondly, did it accomplish? It accomplished atonement, satisfied all God's holy claims as against the people — yea, if we think of the blood of Christ, glorified Him fully in all that He is, and glorified Him for ever concerning the question of sin, so that He who was against us because of our guilt, is now for us because of the blood. The mercy-seat therefore speaks pre-eminently of Christ; for, as John speaks, "He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the whole world." (1 John 2: 2.) The sins of believers are gone, and gone for ever; and such is the value of the propitiation made that God can now righteously send out in His grace the gospel to the whole world, and beseech sinners to be reconciled to Him. (2 Cor. 5: 20.) Christ, we repeat, is figured by the mercy-seat; and hence we learn that God is now only approached through Him, as in the wilderness He could only be approached at the mercy-seat. But, blessed be His name, whoever does now approach to Him through Christ will find the perfect testimony to the value of His atoning work in God's presence. But observe it well, that the blood is the only ground of access. He is set forth a propitiation through faith in His blood. Believing therefore in the value of His blood, according to God's testimony concerning it, whoever comes may come boldly, nothing doubting, in the full confidence that the way is thus opened for the guiltiest and the vilest into the immediate presence of God. For "Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption." (Heb. 9: 11, 12.)

The cherubim formed part of the mercy-seat. These, as already said, are symbols of the divine attributes, and, as such, of judicial power. But since God has been glorified by the blood on the mercy-seat, all His attributes are in harmony, and all are exercised on behalf of believers. In the cross mercy and truth met together, righteousness and peace kissed each other; and therefore justice is satisfied, the claims of righteousness met, so that the cherubim are favourable to the dispensation of mercy to all who approach trusting in the value of the blood. Blessed truth! All that God is, is against sin, and now all that God is, is for the believer. The blood upon the mercy-seat has wrought this mighty change.

CHAPTER 19.  THE TABLE OF SHOWBREAD.

EXODUS 19: 23-30.

THE ark, with the mercy-seat and the cherubim, was the sole occupant of the holy of holies. Nothing else was to be found in the immediate dwelling-place of God. But passing from without through the veil (supposing for a moment the erection of the tabernacle) the holy place is entered — the scene of the customary service of the priest. There were three vessels here — the table of showbread, the candlestick of pure gold, and the altar of incense — though the last is not yet described. It is the first of these in order as here given — the table of showbread — that we have now to consider.

"Thou shalt also make a table of shittim-wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt make unto it a border of an handbreadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about. And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim-wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal; of pure gold shalt thou make them. And thou shalt set upon the table showbread before Me alway." (vv. 23-30.)

The composition of the table is the same as that of the ark. It was made of shittim-wood, and overlaid with pure gold. (vv. 23-25.) The meaning, therefore will be the same — the shittim-wood presenting that which is human, and the gold that which is divine. It is then Christ, Christ in His human and divine natures as combined in His one person. This indeed is the beauty of everything connected with the tabernacle. It is Christ everywhere, Christ in Himself or in some of His varied perfections and glories.

The bread on the table. It is in the book of Leviticus that we find. the particulars of the loaves — "And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord. And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto Him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire by a perpetual statute." (Lev. 24: 5-9.) (1) The loaves or cakes were made of fine flour. This at once points to the meat-offering which, in like manner, was made of fine flour, with the addition of oil and frankincense. (See Lev. 2) No leaven is mentioned, whereas in the two wave loaves (Lev. 23: 17) leaven is expressly specified — for the obvious reason that, in this case, the loaves represent the church, and therefore leaven — emblem of evil — is found in them. But the fine flour is a type of the humanity of Christ, and hence the loaves of the showbread are without leaven, He being holy, harmless, undefiled, absolutely without sin. (2) The loaves were baked. They set forth therefore Christ as having been exposed to the action of fire — the judgment of God's holiness by which He was searched and tested when upon the cross, and found to answer, and to answer perfectly, its every claim. (3) They were twelve in number — six in a row. So on the shoulders of the high priest, there were the names of six tribes on the one, and the names of six tribes on the other. The loaves equally point to the twelve tribes of Israel. The number twelve signifies administrative perfection of government in man, and thus there were twelve tribes, twelve apostles, twelve gates, and twelve foundations in the holy city, new Jerusalem. (See for an illustration of this meaning Matt. 19: 28.) The twelve loaves may then be taken to represent Israel in its twelve tribes; and this will give us, in connection with the significance of the number twelve, God revealed in Christ in association with Israel (for Christ was of the seed of David, and heir to his throne — Luke 1: 32) in perfection of government. This will be displayed according to the predictions of the prophets (e.g. Psalm 72) in the millennium. But the loaves were on the table, and hence, on the other hand, Israel is seen in association with Christ before God. (4) Another thing should be noticed. "And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto the Lord." (Lev. 24: 7.) The frankincense typifies the sweet fragrance of Christ to God. Observe therefore that Israel in its twelve tribes is ever presented before God, covered with all the fragrance of Christ, and maintained there through all the night of their unbelief in virtue of what He is, and of what He has done — the sure promise of their future restoration and blessing. Hence the loaves were to be set in order "before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant." (Lev. 24: 8.) They may be unfaithful, as they have been, but God cannot deny Himself; He abideth faithful, and as a consequence, though they have been scattered throughout the world because of their unbelief, He will yet perform His counsels of mercy and truth, and gather them from the four corners of the earth, and reinstate them in their own land in fulness of blessing — blessing which will be established in and secured by Him who is symbolized by the showbread table.

An illustration of this may be gathered from the border of the table: "And thou shalt make unto it a border of an handbreadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about." (v. 25.) It is very clear that the object of this border was to maintain the loaves in their position; and if the ornamental crown of gold be taken as an emblem of the divine glory of Christ, the lesson taught will be, that Israel is secured in its position through Christ before God by all that He is as divine.; nay, that His divine glory is concerned in their maintenance in it, as well as in preserving them. for all the blessing which He Himself has secured, and on which they will therefore one day surely enter. But there is more than Israel's position in this symbol. It embraces in principle that of every believer. There in the holy place, ever before the eye of God, covered with the grateful fragrance of the frankincense, he is seen in Christ. It is indeed the perfect presentation of the believer to God. In other words, it is our acceptance in the Beloved.

We may now consider the bread as food for the priests: "And it shall be Aaron's and his sons'; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto Him of the offerings of the Lord made by fire by a perpetual statute." (Lev. 24: 9.) Feeding indicates identification and communion with the thing fed upon. This is expressly brought out by the apostle Paul in his teaching concerning the Lord's table. "The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many, are one bread, one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread." (1 Cor. 10: 16, 17.) It was the same with the priests. For example, they ate also of the sin-offering in certain cases (Lev. 6: 26), and thereby identified themselves with it. Feeding therefore upon the showbread is a symbol of the fact that Christ, as the Priest, ever identifies Himself with Israel before God. It was only to be eaten, it will be remarked, in the holy place. It is, then, Christ, in communion with the thoughts of God, identifying Himself with the twelve tribes in the exercise of His priesthood. This brings before us a very blessed aspect of truth. That He is the High Priest of this dispensation all admit; but it is not sufficiently borne in mind that, notwithstanding Israel's unbelief, He identifies Himself with them before God in His priestly office, and that He will come out of the holiest, into which He has entered, as Melchizedek and be a Priest upon His throne over a willing people. "The Lord shall send the rod of Thy strength out of Zion: rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: Thou hast the dew of Thy youth. The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek." (Ps. 110: 2-4.)

Then we have the provision for the journey: "And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim-wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them." (vv. 26-28.) The children of Israel were pilgrims in the wilderness, and hence the tabernacle and all its furniture were made for them. in this character, and accompanied them in all their wanderings. Christ is ever with His people; and the very rings and staves, equally with the table itself, composed of gold and shittim-wood, point to Him as the God-man. But it is in the book of Numbers that the details for the transport of the table, when on the march, are given. "And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon: and they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put in the staves thereof." (Num. 4: 7, 8.) The inner covering, it will be observed, is a cloth of blue — symbol of what is heavenly; next, a cloth of scarlet — scarlet being an emblem of human glory or Jewish royalty; and outside came the covering of badgers' skins — a type of protection from evil as a consequence of holy watchfulness. Regarding the whole, the table with its showbread as Christ in association with Israel, to be hereafter displayed in perfection of administrative government, the meaning of this arrangement will be apparent. The cloth of blue was immediately upon the gold; i.e. the heavenly character of Christ was in intimate association with what He was as divine. The scarlet next — royalty, or human glory, because being in the wilderness the time for its manifestation had not yet arrived. That will be connected with the kingdom at His appearing. The badgers' skins are therefore outside, as concealing His human or royal glory, and as expressive of that holy vigilance which guarded Him on every hand from evil while in wilderness circumstances.

All the vessels connected with the table were made of gold (v. 29), all significant of that which was divine, as befitted the service of the One who was really God manifest in flesh, and who will be confessed in the future day of Israel's blessing as their Lord and their God. It will thus be seen that every detail, as well the whole table, speaks of Christ. May our eyes be opened to perceive every aspect of His person and work as presented to us by the Spirit of God!

CHAPTER 20. THE CANDLESTICK OF PURE GOLD.

EXODUS 25: 31-40.

AFTER the table of showbread follows the candlestick. The altar of incense, though belonging to the holy place, is omitted here, because it was a vessel of approach, rather than of display; and, as already pointed out, everything connected with the manifestation of God is given before that which was needed to come into His presence is described. Unless this distinction is borne in mind, instead of order and method, all will seem to be confusion.

"And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold; of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it: three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower; so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. Their knops and their branches shall be of the same; all of it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. And the tongs thereof, and the snuff-dishes thereof, shall be of pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels. And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount." (vv. 31-40.)

First of all, we have the form of the candlestick. If the description be carefully read, it will be seen that the candlestick had seven branches; i.e. a central shaft with three branches springing out from either side. (See vv. 31, 32, also Ex. 37: 17, 18.) There were, therefore, seven lamps upon the one candlestick. The number seven also plays an important part in its ornamentation. There were "three bowls made like unto almonds" in each of the six branches (v. 33), and "four bowls made like unto almonds" in the candlestick (v. 34); i.e. in the central stem from which the branches sprung. The number seven is thus a marked characteristic.

The next thing for consideration is the material of which it was made, and the character of its light. As in the mercy-seat, so in the candlestick, there was nothing but pure gold. (v. 31.) No shittim-wood is found in its structure, and hence nothing human is prefigured by it. All is divine. From Ex. 27 we gather that the light was fed by "pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always." (v. 20.) Oil in Scripture is ever a symbol of the Holy Ghost. The apostle thus says of believers, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One" (1 John 2: 20); and Paul speaks of our having been anointed." (2 Cor. 1: 21.) Putting therefore these three things together in their typical meanings — the number seven, the gold, and the oil — the result is that the significance of the candlestick is, - Divine light in its perfection in the power of the Spirit. It is God giving the light of the Holy Ghost, and this is displayed in its sevenfold perfection. In addressing the Church in Sardis, the Lord speaks as having "the seven Spirits of God "; i.e. the Spirit in His perfection (as indicated by the number seven) and energy (Rev. 3: 1); and we read also of "seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God." (Rev. 4: 5.)

What, then, it may now be inquired, was the purpose of the candlestick? This would seem to have been twofold. First, it was set in the holy place "over against the table." (Ex. 26: 35; Ex. 40: 24.) It thus stood opposite to, and threw its light upon, the table of showbread This therefore it may be inferred was the object in its being thus placed. Now the table of showbread symbolizes, as explained in the last chapter, the manifestation of God in man (Christ) in perfection of administrative government; and the twelve loaves on the table represent Israel, and also in principle believers of this dispensation, in association with Christ before God. The light of the candlestick shining, then, upon the table is the Holy Ghost bearing testimony to the future display of administrative perfection in Christ, when He shall have taken His power, and shall reign from the river unto the ends of the earth; likewise to Israel's (as well as the believer's) true place in connection with Christ before God. These truths may be obscured or forgotten on earth, but there in the holy place before the eye of God they are fully displayed, and exhibited by the perfect light of the Spirit. But secondly, the light was for the illumination of the candlestick itself. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick. And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps thereof over against the candlestick, as the Lord commanded Moses." (Num. 8: 1-3.) That is, giving out the light of the Holy Ghost, reveals the beauties of (or beautifies) the vessel through which it is displayed. A perfect illustration of this is seen in the transfiguration of our blessed Lord, when, as we read, "His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." (Matt. 17: 2.) It was ever so throughout the whole of His blessed pathway for those whose eyes were opened (see John 1: 4; John 2: 11); but on the mount His beauty was manifestly displayed. So also in the case of Stephen. We read that he was "a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost," and that "all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." (Acts 6: 5, 15.) It is so with every believer in the measure in which the light of the Holy Spirit — Christ, indeed, shines out through his walk and conversation.

But it may be further asked, What answers on earth to the perfect light of the Spirit as symbolized by the seven-branched candlestick in the holy place? Christ when here answered to it perfectly. He was thus the light of men, the light of the world, etc. (John 1: 4; John 8: 12.) Never for one moment was the light of the Spirit obscured in Him; it shone purely and steadily, illuminating the darkness through which He passed with its blessed, life-giving radiance throughout the whole of His life. He was a perfect vessel. After His departure from this scene, and His ascension,. the church was constituted the light-bearer. (Rev. 1: 20.) That is her character, however grievous her failure — a failure which will finally issue in her utter rejection as the vessel of testimony upon earth. (See Rev. 3: 16.) The individual believer answers to it also in the measure in which he presents Christ in his walk and ways. Paul thus writes to the Philippians, "Do all things without murmurings and disputings; that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation (generation), among whom ye shine as lights in the world." (Phil. 2: 14, 15.)

It is also interesting to observe how the light was maintained. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive, beaten for the light to cause the lamps to burn continually. Without the veil, of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning, before the Lord continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord continually." (Lev. 24: 1-4; also Ex. 27: 20, 21.) First, the children of Israel were to bring the pure oil olive. This will point to the responsibility of God's people on earth, the vessel in which it was to be displayed — Israel then, now the church. Aaron was to order the lamps. By this is taught that the light of the Spirit, in its display, can only be maintained by the priestly care and intercession of Christ. He alone could use "the tongs thereof, and the snuff-dishes thereof," for both alike were made of pure gold. (v. 38.) Every ray of light that shines out below, whether through the church or the individual believer, is but the answer to His priestly work. In this connection, it may be remarked that the oil olive was to be "beaten" for the light (Ex. 27: 20), and that the candlestick itself was to be made of "beaten" work. This may point to the fact that the intercession of Christ is grounded upon the efficacy of His work on the cross, the term "beaten" shadowing forth the sufferings of Him, by whose stripes we are healed.

Lastly, notice the duration of the light. It was to be "from the evening unto the morning." The lamp is for the night; and all through the night of Israel's unbelief, until the day dawn, and the shadows flee away, the golden candlestick is to be ordered before the Lord. The testimony to their true place is maintained all through the weary years of the darkness of their unbelief by the intercession of Him whom they have rejected and crucified. But at last He Himself shall be for them "as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain." (2 Sam. 23: 4.) The hope of the Christian is more immediate; for "the night is far spent and the day is at hand." But while waiting, may our lamps — fed with the true oil, and ordered before the Lord continually — shine out ever more brightly until the Lord's return!

CHAPTER 21. THE CURTAINS OF THE TABERNACLE.

EXODUS 26: 1-14.

THE last chapter closes with an injunction to obedience. Man's thought or design must have no place in God's house. There His authority must be upheld and acknowledged as supreme. This is a principle of the last importance; and is accordingly asserted again and again in the course of these communications. Having then reminded Moses that the pattern shown him in the mount must be ever kept in view, the Lord proceeds to instruct him concerning the composition, size, etc., of the curtains which were to form the tabernacle, the tent, and their coverings.

"Moreover, thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubim of cunning work shalt thou make them. The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure. The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain, from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another. And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches; and it shall be one tabernacle.

"And thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair, to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make. The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure. And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. And thou shalt make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle. And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side, of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams' skins died red, and a covering above of badgers' skins." (vv. 1-14.)

There are, it will be seen, four sets of curtains. The first is termed the tabernacle (vv. 1-6); the second — those made of goats' hair — is named the tent (vv. 11, 12); and the remaining two are called simply "coverings." Three terms (and it is so also in the original) are applied to the four sets of curtains; viz., "the tabernacle" to the innermost of all, "the tent" to the second, and "coverings" to the outermost two — those made of rams' skins dyed red, and those made of badgers' skins.

Following the order of the scripture, the inner set — the tabernacle — may be first considered. These are made of four materials — fine twined linen, blue, purple, and scarlet. Besides this, there were cherubim embroidered (see margin) upon them. It is in these materials that their typical teaching lies. The fine twined linen is a symbol of spotless purity. The priests were on this account clothed with it (Exodus 28: 39-43); and on the great day of atonement Aaron was dressed in this material (Lev. 16: 4) that he might typify the absolute purity of the nature of the One of whom he was but the shadow. In the New Testament the fine linen is spoken of as the righteousnesses of saints. (Rev. 19: 8.) The blue is always a symbol of what is heavenly — the very colour pointing unmistakably to this significance. The purple is emblematic of Gentile royalty. The gospel of John, for example, records that when the soldiers, with coarse brutality, were mocking the claims of Jesus to be the King, they put on Him a purple robe. (John 19: 2.) The scarlet sets forth human glory, and it may be at the same time, Jewish royalty. David thus speaks of Saul having clothed the daughters of Israel in scarlet with other delights (2 Sam. 1: 24) — as expressive of the dignity he had put upon them; and in Matthew's gospel, where Christ is specially presented as the Messiah, He is said to have been clothed by the soldiers in scarlet, ere they bent their mocking knee before Him, and cried, "Hail, King of the Jews!" (Matt. 27: 28, 29.) Applying all this to Christ the significance is most striking. It gives Christ in the absolute purity of His nature, Christ in His heavenly character, Christ as King of Israel (and, as King of Israel, invested with all human glory), and, last of all, Christ as reigning also over the Gentiles. The last two features coalesce, because when Christ shall sit upon the throne of His father David, it will be the period of His world-sovereignty, when all kings shall fall down before Him, and all nations shall serve Him. (Psalm 72: 11.) It is therefore Christ as He was as Man in this world, and Christ as He will be in the future display of His glory in this world, as Son of David, and as Son of man. But there is another thing. Cherubim were embroidered on these curtains. Cherubim have been explained to signify judicial authority. This gives an additional representation of Christ — of Christ as having authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man. (John 5: 27.) It is thus a full display of what Christ was essentially as Man, and of His glories and dignities connected with the earth. Blessed were those who, admitted in the exercise of their priestly office within the precincts of the holy place, had the privilege of gazing upon these varied displays of the excellencies and glories of the Christ of God!

The dimensions of the curtains are not without meaning. The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure." (v. 2.) Now 28 = 7 x 4; and consequently the length is seven times four; and the breadth, being also four cubits, divides the length into seven; i.e. 28 / 4 gives 7. Seven and four are thus characteristic. Seven is the perfect number, being absolutely indivisible excepting by itself, and the highest prime number; and four is that of completeness on earth — as seen, for example, in the four corners of the earth, four winds, four-square, four gospels, etc. The dimensions of the curtains will then betoken perfection displayed in completeness on earth; and such a meaning could only be applied to the life of our blessed Lord. The curtains of the tabernacle consequently speak of the complete unfolding of His perfections as Man when passing through this scene.

We have, next, their arrangement and number. Five curtains were "coupled together one to another," so that there were two sets of five — as there were ten in number. Ten is the number of responsibility towards God, as, for example, in the ten commandments (see also Exodus 30: 13, etc.), and five is responsibility towards man. (See Gen. 47: 24; Num. 5: 7, etc.) We are thus taught that Christ as Man met the whole of His responsibility both towards God and towards man, that He loved God with all His heart, and His neighbour as Himself — going as to this, we know, even infinitely beyond. And He was the only One by whom these responsibilities were fully and perfectly discharged.

Then the couplings have likewise a voice. There were fifty loops of blue and fifty taches of gold, by which the curtains were connected. Remembering that blue is the heavenly colour, and that the gold is divine, and that the two numbers of ten and five, which have just been explained, enter into the composition of the fifty, we learn that the heavenly and divine character of our blessed Lord secured the perfect adjustment of His twofold responsibility as Man towards God and man; or that they were perfectly united by His divine and heavenly energy. These meanings, the reader is cautioned, are suggestions, but suggestions which are worthy of devout consideration in the light of Scripture, and which, if examined in the presence of God, cannot fail both to be interesting and profitable.

(2) The curtains of goats' hair. These came next to, immediately above, those which are denominated the Tabernacle, and formed the tent. This covering points also to Christ — "to His positive purity, or rather to that severity of separation from the evil that was around Him, which gave Him the character of prophet — severity, not in His ways towards poor sinners, but in separation from sinners, the uncompromisingness, as to Himself, which kept Him apart and gave Him His moral authority, the moral cloth of hair which distinguished the prophet." In confirmation of this interpretation, Zechariah says, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment (margin, a garment of hair) to deceive," etc. (13: 4; compare Matt. 3: 4.) The dimensions of these differ from the curtains of the tabernacle of the same width, they were two cubits longer — thirty cubits instead of twenty-eight — and there was one more curtain. While unable to suggest any typical value to the numbers, the reason of their larger size is yet evident. They were to extend beyond, on all sides, so as completely to protect the tabernacle curtains. "And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent e. the goats' hair curtains), the half curtain hat remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle. And a cubit on the one side, and a cubit on the other side, of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, it shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. (vv. 12, 10.) The meaning will be, then, that Christ in all that He was, as symbolized by the inner curtains, was guarded by that perfect separation from evil which sprang from His positive and absolute purity. He could therefore challenge His adversaries with the words, "Which of you convinceth Me of sin?" (John 8: 46.) Yea, He could say to His own, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me." (John 14: 30.) So complete was His moral separation from all evil that He could even touch the leper and not be defiled.

The couplings of the curtains were of brass instead of gold. The colour of the loops is not mentioned. Brass in this connection would seem to signify divine righteousness, not, as seen in the gold, according to what God is in Himself, but as testing man in responsibility. This will be shown more fully when the brazen altar comes to be considered. The aptness of this significance in connection with goats' hair curtains will be at once apprehended. It brings before us Christ as morally separate from sinners, but tested by divine righteousness in His path all through His earthly sojourn — and tested, it need scarcely be added, only with the result of discovering that He answered perfectly its every claim.

(3) Above the "tent" — i.e. the goats' hair curtains — were two coverings; first, one of rams' skins dyed red, and next, another of badgers' skins. The ram was chosen as the consecration offering in connection with the setting apart of the priests to their office. It is called "the ram of the consecration." (Ex. 29: 27.) Dyed red will point very evidently to death. The meaning therefore is entire consecration, devotedness unto death; and where was that ever seen in its perfection except in the One who humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross? The badgers' skins are an emblem of that holy vigilance exhibited in His walk and ways, which preserved Him from all evil. Jerusalem is said to have been "shod with badgers' skins," the provision the Lord had made to protect her from evil in her walk. The vigilance so symbolized is often expressed in the Psalms: "By the word of Thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer;" and again, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee." The coverings therefore likewise proclaim the perfectness of the One whom they typify. At the same time it must not be forgotten, that the features they portray ought to be seen in every believer. For in all that Christ was in His walk through the world He is our example. If therefore we admire the perfections and excellencies that were displayed in Him, we should remember that He is set before us as the standard of our responsibility.

"My Saviour, keep my spirit stayed

Hard following after Thee;

Till I, in robes of white arrayed,

Thy face in glory see."

If for a moment the Tabernacle is supposed to be complete, it will be seen that the badgers' skins only met the outward gaze. But the priest who enjoyed the privilege of entering the holy place, saw the full beauty of the fine twined linen, the blue, the purple, and the scarlet, and of the embroidered cherubim. It was Christ without and it was Christ within; but it was Christ without as seen by the natural eye — discovering no beauty that man should desire Him; and it was Christ within as seen by the eye opened by the Spirit of God; Christ therefore as the chiefest among ten thousand, and as the altogether lovely.

CHAPTER 22.  THE FRAMEWORK OF THE TABERNACLE.

EXODUS 26: 15-30.

THERE are several distinct things comprised in this section. First, the framework of the Tabernacle, with its foundations, is described.

"And thou shalt make boards for the tabernacle of shittim-wood standing up. Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half shall be the breadth of one board. Two tenons shall there be in one board, set in order one against another: thus shalt thou make for all the boards of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards on the south side southward. And thou shalt make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for his two tenons, and two sockets under another board for his two tenons. And for the second side of the tabernacle on the north side there shall be twenty boards, and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. And for the sides of the tabernacle westward thou shalt make six boards. And two boards shalt thou make for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides. And they shall be coupled together beneath, and they shall be coupled together above the head of it unto one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners. And they shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

"And thou shalt make bars of shittim-wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward. And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end. And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold. And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was showed thee in the mount." (vv. 15-30.)

Attending carefully to the particulars given, it will be seen that the number of the boards constituting the tabernacle, was forty-eight. There were twenty for the south side (v. 18); twenty for the north side (v. 20); six for the sides of the tabernacle westward (v. 22); and two for the corners of the tabernacle in the two sides (v. 23) — making the total of forty-eight. Then observe that each of these boards had two tenons (v. 17); and each tenon had for its base, or foundation, a socket of silver. (v. 19, 25.) In addition there were four sockets of silver underneath the pillars for the beautiful veil (v. 32); so that there were one hundred sockets of silver underneath and supporting the framework of the Tabernacle.

(1) Beginning then at the foundation, the typical teaching of the sockets of silver may be first considered. Leaving, however, their full exposition until the subject is reached in chapter 30, it will suffice now to indicate its outlines. We find, then, that when the people were numbered, every man was to give half a shekel of silver as a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, that the rich should give the same as the poor, and the poor the same as the rich; and that this "atonement" money was appointed for the service of the tabernacle. (Ex. 30: 11-16.) In another scripture, it is stated that the sum thus given amounted to one hundred talents, and one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels; and that the hundred talents were used for the sockets of the boards, etc., and the rest for hooks for the pillars, etc. (Ex. 38: 28.) It is thus evident that the silver sockets, being made up of the ransom money, are a figure of atonement, of the blood of Christ, which He gave as a ransom for many. (Matt. 20: 28.) It is in allusion to this, and to Numbers 31: 49-54, that Peter writes to Jewish believers, "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold." (1 Peter 1: 18.) The blessed truth is therefore taught that God's dwelling-place is founded upon redemption, the redemption which has been effected through the precious blood of Christ. But God's dwelling-place is now composed of believers, and hence the church as such, and every individual believer as forming part of the church (for every Israelite of the required age was represented in the atonement money), are placed before God upon the sure and efficacious foundation of accomplished atonement. The ground of the standing of every believer is the precious blood of Christ, and hence he appears before God in all its unspeakable and infinite value.

Now, as explained, there were one hundred of these sockets — i.e. ten times ten. Ten is the number of responsibility towards God. The blood of Christ therefore, as represented by the silver, has met the highest expression of our responsibility God-ward, — has made an atonement adequate — fully adequate — to all God's claims, and thereby cleared us completely and for ever. Well might the soul, in the perception of this perfect work, joyfully exclaim -

"On Christ the solid Rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand."

(2) The boards; and first as to their material, form, and length. They were made of the same materials as the ark, and the table of showbread — of shittim-wood, overlaid with gold (vv. 15, 29.) They therefore refer primarily to Christ; but also, as will be seen, to the believer. Each board had two tenons — which fitted in their respective sockets of silver. Two in Scripture is the number of adequate testimony: as, for example, "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." (2 Cor. 13: 1; Deut. 19: 15.) Each board contains therefore in itself an adequate testimony to the value and completeness of the atonement on which it rests. (Compare 1 John 5: 6.) The length of each was ten cubits. (v. 16.) This again points to responsibility God-wards — in this case applicable to believers. Having a standing before God on the ground of redemption, responsibility is never to be forgotten. The standing indeed is the measure of it; and accordingly each board was ten cubits in length.

Together, as we have seen, they were forty-eight in number — i.e. twelve times four. Twelve is administrative perfection; and four is completeness on earth. The whole number therefore will be administrative perfection displayed in all its completeness in Christ, or, if the boards are taken in connection with the divine dwelling-place, through the house of God. The former will be witnessed during the millennium; and, in one aspect, the latter too, as Christ will not reign apart from the church. The two numbers, twelve and four, are thus characteristic of the holy city, the New Jerusalem. It may be, that the Pentecostal church at Jerusalem, organized under the twelve apostles, was a passing shadow of this administrative perfection.

One thing more is noticeable — the provision made for their security when standing in their silver sockets. There were five bars of shittim-wood on either side, running through rings of gold (vv. 26-29); and the boards were, in addition, coupled at the corners by rings (v. 24.) The ring is a symbol of security — there being no end to it; and consequently, since the bars were to strengthen and secure the framework, the two together may well signify eternal security. And this both the church and the individual believer enjoy. Concerning the former, the Lord Himself said, "Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16: 18); and of the latter, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand." (John 10: 27, 28.)

The boards completed, they are then to be set in their places. And remark that, once again, Moses is admonished to do everything according to the pattern he had been shown in the mount. It was to be truly an "example and shadow of heavenly things," and consequently there was no room for human thoughts or imaginations. Obedience was the part of Moses, and faithfulness in the execution of the heavenly design. So now fidelity to the word of God, obedience to every part of it, is what God requires from believers in connection with His church. Once admit human regulations, human authority, and the church ceases, in so far, to be a true witness for God. This is the third time that this injunction has been given — showing the importance of obedience in the eyes of God.

CHAPTER 23.  THE BEAUTIFUL VEIL, ETC.

EXODUS 26: 31-37.

THE framework of the Tabernacle, considered in the last chapter, comprised the Tabernacle proper; i.e. the holy place, and the most holy. Outside of this, as will be seen in due course, there was the court of the Tabernacle, completing the threefold division. But inside the framework there were only these two — the holy place and the holy of holies. So far, however, this division has not been shown; but provision is now made for it in the direction given in the following scripture concerning the veil.

"And thou shalt make a veil, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: and thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim-wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver.

"And thou shalt hang up the veil, under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil, the ark of the testimony: and the veil, shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place. And thou shalt set the table without the veil, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side. And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework. And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim-wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them." (vv. 31-37.)

(1) There are several distinct points in the description of the veil to be considered. As to its materials, it will be perceived that they correspond in every particular with those of the curtains forming the Tabernacle. (Ex. 26: 1.) As in these, therefore, so in the veil, it is Christ who is presented — Christ in what He is as to His nature and character, Christ in what He will be as Son of man and Son of David in the future glories of His millennial reign, and Christ, moreover, as Son of man invested with supreme judicial power. There is one difference to be noted. In the curtains of the Tabernacle the fine twined linen comes first; here the blue has the precedence, and the fine twined linen comes last. The reason is that the curtains display Christ in connection with the earth, and hence the absolute purity of His nature is the first thing declared; whereas the veil shows Christ rather in connection with heaven, and consequently the blue — His heavenly character — is prominent. The interpretation of the veil is found in the epistle to the Hebrews: "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh." (Heb. 10: 19, 20.) From this two things may be gathered. First, that just as the veil in the Tabernacle concealed the scene of the immediate presence and manifestation of God, so the flesh of Christ, Christ in incarnation, concealed from the natural eye the presence-chamber of God. He was God manifest in flesh; but His flesh, at the same time, was calculated to blind the eyes of men to this astounding fact. The second is, that just as the veil was the only way into the most holy place, so Christ is the only way to God. He thus said to Thomas, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me." (John 14: 6.)

The supports of the veil were threefold. There were, first, the pillars, then the hooks, and lastly, the sockets of silver. (v. 32.) The pillars were of shittim-wood, overlaid with gold — as seen in the boards, etc. This symbolizes, as shown more than once, the person of Christ in His two natures, human and divine — as the God-man. The lesson then is — inasmuch as the veil was supported by these pillars — that everything in redemption depends upon the person of Christ. If He had not been man, He could not have died for our sins; and if He had been only man, His sacrifice could not have availed for all His people. But being God and man He could make propitiation for the sins of His people and for the whole world. (1 John 2: 2.) The whole value of His work flows from His person; and hence the importance of holding fast the true Scriptural teaching on this point, and of guarding this most blessed doctrine on every hand. If the truth of the person of Christ could be undermined, the whole fabric and structure of redemption would be endangered. Hence the care and, it may be added, the delight of the Spirit of God to testify to it in every shape and form, in figure and type, as well as in distinct words. The hooks were of gold. Gold is divine righteousness. If then, as shown, everything in redemption depends upon the person of Christ, it is equally true, as seen in the fact that the veil was suspended upon these hooks of gold, that everything likewise depends upon the display of God's righteousness in Christ. Or it might be affirmed more directly still, that Christ holds the place of the way to God in divine righteousness. For since He glorified God on the earth, and finished the work which He gave Him to do, God's righteousness was seen in raising Him from the dead, and setting Him at His own right hand. All that God is, is concerned, and righteously concerned, in placing and sustaining Him in the position He thus occupies. The sockets were of silver — figure of the blood of atonement. This carries us down to the foundation of all — the work which Christ wrought out on the cross. These two things — the blood and the veil — are conjoined in the passage already cited from the Hebrews. God will never have it forgotten that the cross is the foundation of everything, of the blessing both of the church and of Israel, as well as of the reconciliation of all things. And the delight of His own heart in what Christ is and has done, is sufficiently revealed in the fact, that every minute thing in connection with His sanctuary points to the one or the other — all alike revealing, if in different aspects, Christ and His work.

The position of the veil is most important. "And thou shalt hang up the veil, under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil, the ark of the testimony: and the veil, shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy." (v. 33.) It thus shut off, as before explained, the holiest of all, in which the ark of the testimony — the throne of God on earth — was placed, so that none might enter there, save Aaron once a year on the great day of atonement. (Lev. 16) And what, it may be asked, was the meaning of this? The answer may be given in the words of Scripture: "The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing." (Heb. 9: 8.) If then, on the one hand, as we have seen, the veil, as a figure of Christ, teaches the blessed truth that it is through Christ alone that access can be obtained to God, the veil in itself, on the other hand, speaks of distance and concealment. God indeed could not fully reveal Himself, could not righteously go out to the sinner, or bring the sinner in to Himself, until the question of sin should be taken up and settled once and for ever. This Christ did, and, as a consequence, immediately that He gave up the ghost, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. (Matt. 27) The veil therefore in the Tabernacle showed that the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest, and by that, not only proved that the question of sin was not yet dealt with, but also that the people were sinners, and as such unfit for the presence of God. Both gifts and sacrifices were offered on their behalf, but these could not make them that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience, or they would have possessed an indefeasible title to enter the holiest. No; it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins; and hence, with guilt bound upon their consciences, they dared not come into the presence of a holy God; and He (be it said with all reverence) could not go out to them, for God in His holiness is a consuming fire.

The existence of the veil therefore reveals the contrast between the position of Israel and that of believers. Israel was shut out, never had access into the holiest; Moses, owned in grace as the mediator, and Aaron as the high priest, once a year, were alone permitted to enter. But now every believer enjoys this precious privilege. (See Heb. 10: 19-22.) The veil is rent; for "Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption." (Heb. 9: 11, 12.) Inside the rent veil is therefore our only place of worship; and we can enter with all boldness, because Christ by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Nor should another contrast be forgotten. Even when Aaron did enter the holiest, he was not in the presence of God as the believer now is. God was only revealed then as Jehovah; but now believers know Him as their God and Father. Hence the apostle says, "Through Him (Christ) we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." Eph. 2: 18 see also John 20: 17.) While therefore we are filled with admiration at the wisdom of God, as seen in the depicted glories and adumbrations of Christ in the Tabernacle, we are constrained to bow before Him with adoring praise as we learn, by contrast, the grace that has brought us into the full enjoyment of all here typified, and of even larger blessings than these.

(2) The arrangement of the holy furniture follows. (vv. 33-35.) It will be needful to remember once again that the altar of incense is not yet described, because it is a symbol of approach (and hence belongs to the last division of this section). The articles given are all symbols of display. Leaving on this account, for the present, any detailed exposition, a brief notice may be given of the arrangement in this scripture. The ark, first of all, was to be put into the holiest, and the mercy-seat upon the ark of the testimony — with "the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat." Nothing else was found in the most holy place, because, as before explained, it was the scene of the presence and manifestation of God. There, dwelling between the cherubim, He was approached with the incense from off the golden altar, and with the blood of the sacrifices on the day of atonement; and there Moses stood to receive communications for the people. The beautiful veil shut it off from the holy place. It was therefore the inner compartment of the Tabernacle. Outside the veil, in the holy place, the table of showbread and the candlestick were arranged; the former on the north, and the table on the south side. To borrow the language of another, "Outside the veil were the table with its twelve loaves and the golden candlestick. Twelve is administrative perfection in man; seven, spiritual completeness, whether in good or evil. The two are found outside the veil, inside which was the most immediate manifestation of God, the Supreme, but who hid Himself, as it were, in darkness. Here was light and nourishment; God in power in union with humanity; and God giving the light of the Holy Ghost. Therefore it is that we have twelve apostles attached to the Lord in the flesh, and seven churches for Him who has the seven Spirits of God. The twelve tribes were, for the time being, what answered externally to this manifestation. It is found in the new Jerusalem. The primary idea is the manifestation of God in man and by the Spirit." And these two truths are connected — shown to be connected by the relative positions of the table and the candlestick; the light of the candlestick indeed ever testifying to the truth embodied in the table of showbread

(3) The last thing connected with this part of the subject is the "hanging for the door of the tent." This "hanging" shut off the court of the Tabernacle from the holy place, and formed the doorway into it. It occupied the same position in reference to the holy place, as the beautiful veil did in respect of the holy of holies. When therefore the priests came from the court (not yet described), they passed through this "hanging" into the holy place to accomplish their service. Its materials correspond with those of the beautiful veil. But there is one important difference. There were no cherubim embroidered on the "hanging." Otherwise it was the same; and hence the typical teaching of the one will apply to the other. What, then, is the significance of the omission of the cherubim? These, it will be remembered, set forth the Son of Man in His judicial character. The "hanging," then, equally with the veil, is a figure of Christ — with His judicial character carefully excluded. The reason is obvious. In the "hanging" He is presented in grace, to those that were without, as the way into the position and privileges of priests, as the way into the presence of God in this character. The pillars are also made of the same material, as well as the hooks; and point likewise to the person of Christ, and to divine righteousness, as accomplished and displayed in Him at the right hand of God. But there are five pillars instead of four. This may arise from what has been already stated — that the "hanging" is Christ in presentation to the world in race, and thus brings with it the thought of responsibility man-wards. The sockets were of brass instead of silver. Brass, as ever, is divine righteousness testing man in responsibility. This will be more fully explained in the next chapter; but it is easily understood that Christ presented in grace, is Christ presented to, and hence a test of, responsible man. The moment, however, the question of his sins is settled, not only before God, but also for his own conscience, Christ is become for him the way into God's presence. Thereafter everything is socketed in silver, for he stands now upon accomplished atonement; in Christ he has redemption through His blood.

Everything still portrays Christ. It may be, and undoubtedly is, difficult to interpret some of the minute details; if, however, Christ is before the soul, some ray of His glory will soon be discovered. Let there but be patience and conscious dependence, combined with watchfulness against the activity of the mind, and the Spirit of God will delight to unfold these shadows to the souls of His people.

CHAPTER 24.  THE BRAZEN ALTAR.

EXODUS 27: 1-8.

PASSING outwards from the holy place, the first thing met, when the Tabernacle and all its arrangements were duly ordered, was the laver. But this is omitted here for the same reason that the altar of incense was not described in the last chapter. It was a symbol of approach, and not of display; and consequently the brazen altar is next given. This, as will be seen, had a peculiar character. It was a manifestation of God, and, at the same time, was the meeting-place between Him and the sinner. It is in this aspect the boundary of His display; i.e. He does not go out in manifestation beyond this limit; for, meeting the sinner here, the sinner (i.e. the priest acting on his behalf), when everything is prepared, has the liberty from this point of passing in, and would thenceforward need the symbols of approach.

"And thou shalt make an altar of shittim-wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad; the altar shall be foursquare; and the height thereof shall be three cubits. And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof; his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass. And thou shalt make his pans to receive his ashes, and his shovels, and his basons, and his fleshhooks, and his firepans: all the vessels thereof thou shalt make of brass. And thou shalt make for it a grate of network of brass; and upon the net shalt thou make four brasen rings in the four corners thereof. And thou shalt put it under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst of the altar. And thou shalt make staves for the altar, staves of shittim-wood, and overlay them with brass. And the staves shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, to bear it. Hollow with boards shalt thou make it; as it was showed thee in the mount, so shall they make it." (vv. 1-8.)

Before entering upon the uses of the altar, it will be necessary to explain its typical meaning. The shittim-wood is found here equally with the ark, the table, etc. But it was overlaid with brass instead of gold. Brass, indeed, is its characteristic. Now brass is divine righteousness, not like that symbolised by the gold according to what He is in Himself, suited, that is, to the divine nature, but as testing man in responsibility. It has always allied with it, on this account, a certain judicial aspect, inasmuch as, meeting man in responsibility, it of necessity judges him because he is a sinner. The altar as a whole, then, is God manifested in righteousness. Hence it formed the meeting-place between God and the sinner; for as long as the sinner is in his sins, God can only meet him on that ground, where he is as under responsibility. The altar consequently was the first thing that met the sinner's eyes when coming up out of the world into the court of the Tabernacle. But then it was an altar — and as such was a symbol of the cross of Christ. When the sinner therefore came to the altar, when he came believing in the efficacy of the sacrifice, though the altar tested him in responsibility, he found that all his sins were gone, and that he could stand before God in all the sweet savour of the sacrifice which had been consumed there. Its very position displays this character. It was just outside of the world, and just inside the court. So when Christ was rejected, He was cast out of the world — lifted up above it, when nailed to the shameful tree. But there on the cross, as on the altar in figure, He met and bore the whole of man's responsibility "went down under all God's holy judgment against sin, and so abundantly answered to every claim of His glory, that the fire fed gratefully upon the sacrifice, which, totally consumed upon the altar, went up as a sweet savour of acceptance to God. It was the burnt-offering, and not the sin-offering which was placed upon the brazen altar. The sin-offering was burnt without the camp. The brazen altar teaches rather what God found — His part — in the death of Christ; and it is not until we have learnt this truth that we can draw near with holy boldness into His presence.*

*It should never be forgotten that while the burnt-offering sets forth God's part in the death of Christ, it was yet accepted for the offerer to make atonement for him. (Lev. 1: 4.)

If we consider now the uses of the altar, further instruction upon this point will be gleaned. It was pre-eminently, as just stated, the altar of burnt-offering (Lev. 1) Besides this, parts of the meat-offering, of the peace-offering, and indeed of the sin-offering, were also burnt upon "the altar of burnt-offering." (See Lev. 2: 2; Lev. 3: 5; Lev. 4: 10) Without entering at this time into the specific characteristics of these several sacrifices, it will be enough to say that they shadow forth different aspects of the death of Christ; and it is therefore in the combination of all, that we learn the infinite value, and the unspeakable preciousness of that one sacrifice which they typify. The brazen altar tells therefore of Christ, of that one sacrifice of Christ when He through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God. When the sinner (an Israelite) therefore brought a sacrifice, he owned by that very act that he could not of himself meet God's righteous claims, that he was a sinner, and as such had forfeited his life; and hence it was that he brought another life to be offered up in his stead. Coming thus, he identified himself with the sacrifice, as shown by putting his hand upon its head. (Lev. 1: 4, etc.) If he brought a sin-offering, the fat only of the inwards, etc., of which was burnt upon this altar (see Lev. 3), when he put his hand upon its head, his guilt was transferred (in figure) to the offering, and it was consequently burnt as an unclean thing — charged with the offerer's sins — outside the camp. If it were a burnt-offering, by the same act of laying his hand upon the head of the victim he became transferred, as it were, into, completely identified with, all the acceptance of the sacrifice. Two things were thus effected. On the one hand, his sins were put out of God's sight; on the other, he was brought before God in all the acceptance of Christ. Thus, if the altar tested man in righteousness, it revealed the grace that had provided a perfect sacrifice on his behalf; so that God could meet him in grace and love, as well as in righteousness, and give him a title to stand in perfect acceptance in His holy presence. The very size of the altar illustrates this truth. It was five cubits square. It was responsibility man-wards completely displayed and met in the cross of Christ.

How abundant then the encouragement which God gives to the sinner! The claims of His throne, His government, have been met by the altar; for the blood has been sprinkled upon it, and the sacrifice has been consumed. He can therefore receive in grace and in righteousness every one that in faith approaches the altar; and it is to announce these glad tidings that the gospel is sent forth into every land. The cross of Christ is the meeting-place now between God and the sinner. It is on the foundation of what was accomplished there that He can be just and the Justifier of every one that believeth in Jesus. There is no other ground on which He can bring the sinner into His presence. If the Israelite rejected the brazen altar, he shut himself out for ever from the mercy of God; and, in like manner, whoever rejects the cross of Christ, shuts himself out for ever from the hope of salvation.

The horns of the altar may also be considered. There were four — one on each corner. (v. 2.) In certain cases the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled upon these, as, for example, in the sin-offering for the ruler or for one of the common people. (Lev. 4: 25, 30, etc.) The horn is a symbol of strength. When therefore the blood was sprinkled upon the horns, the whole strength of the altar (and it was displayed in all its completeness) which had been against, is now exercised on behalf of the sinner. The horns of the altar became thus a place of refuge, an inviolable sanctuary, for all who were rightfully under their protection on the ground of the sprinkled blood. Joab sought this protection when he fled from Solomon (1 Kings 2: 28); but inasmuch as he had no claim upon it, for he was a murderer, he was slain. This is like the sinner who, in his extremity, would fain claim the benefits of the death of Christ to escape the judgment, though he is still alienated in heart from Him. But wherever there is trust in the value of the sacrifice which has been offered to God upon the altar, there is no power in earth or hell that can touch the soul that rests under its shelter and protection.

"The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,

I will not, I will not, desert to its foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavour to shake,

I'll never, no never, no never forsake."

It will be interesting to look for a moment at the provision for the journey detailed in Numbers 4: "And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon: and they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, and the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the Masons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers' skins, and put to the staves of it." (vv. 13, 14.) The purple cloth was put immediately upon the altar. Purple is royalty, and this makes the interpretation evident. It is the sufferings of Christ — as seen in the altar, — and the glories that should follow, as shown by the purple. The cross first, and then the crown. But the altar was in the wilderness, and hence the badgers' skins were without, covering up the purple. The time for the assumption of the royal glory of Christ had not yet arrived. In the meantime the badgers' skins — emblem of that holy vigilance which guarded Him from evil while passing on through the wilderness in rejection, and while waiting for the time of His kingdom, were alone seen.

The vessels of the altar were all made of brass, in harmony with its characteristic feature. The staves wherewith the altar was to be borne were of shittim-wood and brass, as the altar itself. Finally, Moses is again reminded that the pattern shown him in the mount must be his guide. The wisdom of God alone could devise the altar which was to embody so many blessed truths. A king Ahaz, enamoured by the beauty of the Syrian altar, may reject the altar of God (2 Kings 16); but it was the ruin of him and of all Israel. (2 Chr. 28: 23.) So now men may refuse the preaching of the cross of Christ, finding in it, according to their thoughts, either a stumbling-block or foolishness, and choose an altar for their worship which meets their own aesthetic tastes, and which will not therefore offend the prejudices of the natural man; but, as in the case of Ahaz, it can only end in their everlasting ruin. God only can prescribe the suited way and method of access to Himself.

CHAPTER 25.  THE COURT OF THE TABERNACLE.

EXODUS 27: 9-19.

THE brazen altar having been prescribed, the court of the Tabernacle follows. This, it will be remembered, was the open space surrounding the Tabernacle, enclosed by hangings of fine twined linen, as detailed in this scripture. It formed the third division — when considered as a part of, or rather as connected with, the Tabernacle proper. In this, as shown before, there were the holy of holies, the innermost compartment; then, passing outward, the holy place; and then the court which is here given. This is also a manifestation of God — teaching how that Christ is ever before the mind of the Spirit in every part of the sanctuary; and that Christ is thus the only key to unlock its mysteries.

"And thou shalt make the court of the tabernacle for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen of an hundred cubits long for one side: and the twenty pillars thereof and their twenty sockets shall be of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets shall be of silver. And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings of an hundred cubits long and his twenty pillars and their twenty sockets of brass; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets of silver. And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits; their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits. The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three. And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits; their pillars three, and their sockets three. And for the crate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework; and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four. All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass. The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass. All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass." (vv. 9-19.)

It appears from this description that the court of the Tabernacle was one hundred cubits long, and fifty cubits broad. (vv. 9-13.) It was made as follows: first, there were twenty pillars on each of the two sides, north and south (vv. 10, 11), and ten pillars at each of the two ends, east and west — the pillars on the east side, the side of entrance, being made up of three on each side of the entrance, and four for the hanging of the gate of the court. (vv. 12-16.) Altogether there were sixty pillars. On these pillars — or, to speak exactly, on fifty-six of them — excluding the four which were for the hanging of the gate — were suspended the fine twined linen which formed the court. Of this there were one hundred cubits on each side, fifty cubits at the west end, and thirty on the east (vv. 9-15) — altogether two hundred and eighty cubits. The gateway, at the east end, was composed of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework — the same in every respect as the hanging for the entrance into the holy place — and was twenty cubits in length. The sockets of the pillars were all of brass, and the hooks and the fillets for the hanging were of silver. (v. 17.) The typical teaching of these things will be perceived to spring from their twofold symbolical presentation of Christ and of the believer.

The fine twined linen is an emblem, as shown more than once, of the spotless purity of Christ, of the positive purity of His nature. Here it may be seen in another way. The measurement of these hangings of fine twined linen was two hundred and eighty cubits. In the curtains of the Tabernacle (Ex. 26: 1, 2) there were also two hundred and eighty cubits — there being ten curtains, and each curtain being twenty-eight cubits in length. The measurements of these two were therefore equal. The curtains of the Tabernacle present Christ, Christ in His nature and character, and Christ in His future glories and judicial authority; but as so presented He was for the eye of God, and for the eye of the priest. As such He could not be seen from without, only from within. The fine twined linen hangings present Christ also, but not so much to those within as to those without. They could be seen by all in the camp. It is therefore the presentation of Christ to the world, Christ in the purity of His nature. He could thus challenge His adversaries to convict Him of sin; Pilate had to confess again and again that there was no fault in Him; and the Jewish authorities, though they sought with eagle-eyed malice, failed to establish, or even to produce, a single proof of failure. Not a single speck could be detected upon the fine twined linen of His holy life, His life of practical righteousness which flowed from the purity of His being.

There is another thing. These hangings were five cubits high (v. 18); and their lengths at the two sides one hundred cubits, and at the two ends fifty and thirty cubits. These latter numbers can all be divided by ten and five. Accepting then the power of these numbers as responsibility towards God, and responsibility towards man, it follows that the spotless purity of His life sprang from His perfectly meeting this twofold responsibility. He loved God with all His heart, and His neighbour as, yea, more than, Himself. To those therefore whose eyes were opened these curtains proclaimed the coming of One who should perfectly answer in His life and walk to every claim of God.

The pillars, their sockets, fillets, etc. The material of the pillars is not stated. It might seem, at first sight, from the tenth verse, as if they were of brass; but on comparing Ex. 38: 10, it is most probable that the brass refers alone to the sockets. It might be inferred from analogy that they were of shittim-wood overlaid with brass; but where Scripture is silent human inferences are, even if permissible, uncertain. Two things, however, are mentioned. They were socketed in brass, and capped with silver. (Ex. 38: 17.) Brass is divine righteousness testing man in responsibility. Hence, indeed, brass is characteristic of the outside, as gold is of the inside, of the Tabernacle. Man's responsibility must be tested and met before he can be brought into God's presence. Christ in presenting Himself to the world, as symbolized by the line twined linen hangings, stands upon the ground of having met every claim of divine righteousness. This is the foundation of His character as Saviour. Silver speaks of redemption. The pillars were capped with it, and the curtains were suspended upon it. So Christ displays the efficacy of His work. It is His crown of glory even at the right hand of God. If therefore He searches the sinner by the sockets of brass, He declares to him at the same time the value of the blood as shown by the silver. Brass testing man discovers his need, and as soon as the need is known, the silver is there to meet it. The pillars were fifty-six in number — excluding those for the gateway — on which the hangings were suspended. Fifty-six are seven times eight. Seven is the perfect number; and eight is that of resurrection. The practical righteousness of Christ, perfectly displayed in His earthly life, is sealed as it were by His resurrection. He was "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." (Rom. 1: 4.)

The hanging for the gate of the court is the same as the curtain forming the entrance into the holy place, and, as in that, adumbrates Christ in all that He is in connection with the earth, His heavenly character, His royal glories as Son of man and as Son of David, and His spotless purity. Once again there are no cherubim, and this is because He is here the Door, the Way, as presented to the world; for we are told that God sent not His Son to judge the world (that was not His mission then), but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3: 17.) There are now no cherubim and a flaming sword to keep the way of the tree of life, for that flaming sword has descended upon that holy victim which was offered up to God on Calvary, and thus having satisfied, and that for ever, the claims of God's holiness, He can now present Himself in all the attractions of His person and grace to the world, as the way, the truth, and the life. There, before the eyes of all, this hanging for the gate was displayed, and while every colour told of Christ, all together, in their harmony and beauty, united in the proclamation, "By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." It may be observed also that Christ is the way into the holy place, and into the holy of holies as well as into the court. "He is the only doorway," one has remarked, "into the varied fields of glory which are yet to be displayed, whether on earth, in heaven, or the heaven of heavens."

But there is yet another aspect of the court of the Tabernacle. If, on the one hand, it presents Christ, it gives, on the other, and because it is Christ, the standard of the believer's responsibility. No lower one can be raised or accepted; for He has left us an example that we should walk in His steps. The measurements, considered in this aspect also, are significant. The curtains of the Tabernacle were, as stated, two hundred and eighty cubits. These display Christ before the eye of God. But as He is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4: 17.) They are therefore the curtains of privilege — revealing, as they do, our perfect acceptance before God. The fine twined linen hangings were also two hundred and eighty cubits, and inasmuch as they display the practical righteousness of the life of Christ, His blameless walk, His spotless purity, they are the curtains of responsibility. In the Revelation it is said that the fine linen is the righteousnesses of saints. (Rev. 19: 8.) The responsibility of the saint is measured by his privilege, by what he is before God. There is another thought. Our responsibility to walk as Christ walked (1 John 2: 6) is our responsibility to God. But these curtains were five cubits high. Five, it will be recalled, is the number of responsibility towards man; and thereby it may be learned that we are responsible to man as well as to God — responsible to present Christ in our walk and conversation.

The pillars may also point to the believer. Socketed in brass, grounded in divine righteousness, whose claims have been met, and with the value of redemption, as typified by the silver upon our heads, are prerequisites for such a display of Christ. There were also pins and cords. (Ex. 27: 19; Ex. 35: 18.) These were for stability — to keep the pillars with the fine twined linen hangings in their place. Interpreting this of the believer, it will teach that the source of his strength is not in himself, that he needs a power from without if he is to maintain the exhibition of practical righteousness before the world; and, indeed, the wider truth, that, though he is given a standing on the ground of divine righteousness, and is under the value of redemption, he could not maintain the position for a single moment if left to his own resources. The pins and cords therefore reveal that the believer is "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1: 5.) All is of God; all that the believer is, has, and enjoys, is the gift of His grace. His position as well as his responsibility can only be maintained in dependence on the Lord. All these pins, equally with the vessels of the Tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, were of brass. (v. 19.) Thus everything outside the holy place and the holy of holies, was characterized by divine righteousness, but divine righteousness testing man in responsibility because it was the meeting-place between God and the people. (See Ex. 29: 42.) Since, however, man cannot of himself meet its claims, the righteousness of God is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. While therefore he is saved by grace, he stands, as so saved, upon the immovable foundation of divine righteousness before God. For grace reigns, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 5: 21.)

CHAPTER 26.  THE PRIESTHOOD.

EXODUS 28.

BEFORE entering upon this subject, it may be well to recall the point at which we have arrived. With the exception of the altar of incense and the laver, the tabernacle, with its sacred vessels, is now complete. Beginning with the ark of the covenant, the table of showbread and the candlestick were then described. The tabernacle (the beautiful curtains), the tent (the curtains of goats' hair), and the coverings of rams' skins dyed red, and of badgers' skins followed. Next came the boards of the tabernacle, and their erection, and the division between the holy of holies and the holy place by the veil, and the "hanging for the door of the tent;" i.e. the entrance from without into the holy place. The sacred vessels were then arranged: the ark, with the mercy-seat and its "cherubim of glory," was put into the holiest, and the table and the candlestick occupied the holy place. In the next place, the brazen altar was prescribed, and lastly, the court of the tabernacle. So far, everything given is a manifestation of God, or, as it is often termed, a symbol of display; i.e. it reveals in type or figure something of God in Christ. It is God, so to speak, coming out to His people. Thenceforward the order is reversed. It is not now the question of God coming out, but of going in to God. All that follows therefore concerns access into His presence; and consequently all the vessels that have been omitted are symbols of approach; i.e. vessels needed for drawing nigh to God. But before these are entered upon there is a break, and the appointment and consecration of the priesthood are detailed. The reason is, that there must be the designated persons for approach before the vessels could be used. There is therefore a divine order in this seeming confusion. God has come out in type and figure to His people; then He indicates those who are to be set apart for His service in the sanctuary — those who are to enjoy the special privilege of access to Him; and lastly, the vessels etc., are given, which they would need in their holy employment in the house of God. This arrangement will also help us to understand the introduction of the commandment concerning the provision for the oil for the candlestick at the end of Exodus 27. The oil, as has already been explained, is a type of the Holy Ghost. The children of Israel are enjoined through Moses to bring the oil, and thus are formally linked (in figure) with, and so represented in, the light of the candlestick which was to be ordered by Aaron and his sons from evening to morning before the Lord. In other words, the people are defined (though this truth will be more definitely stated when we come to the atonement money) for whom the priests are to act before the priests are appointed. It will thus be seen that every detail, and the position of every verse, as well as the order of the subjects, are stamped with divine wisdom and significance. All being thus arranged, the priests are to be set apart for their holy office.

"And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto Me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons." (v. 1.)

Two or three preliminary remarks will conduce to our understanding of this subject. The necessity for the appointment of priests lay in the fact that the people were sinners, and as such, inasmuch as there was no provision as yet for cleansing them from the guilt of sin, had no title to come into God's presence. Man as he is cannot, dares not, come before God. The object of the priestly office was, therefore, to minister unto God (v. 1); but to minister unto God on behalf of the people. (Heb. 5: 1, 2.) In this dispensation there is no such thing as some of God's people acting as priests on behalf of others in this special way. All believers are now priests (see 1 Peter 2: 5, 9); all alike enjoy liberty of access into the holiest of all. (Heb. 10) Aaron therefore is a type of Christ — a type of Christ when he is alone; but when he is associated with his sons, he with them is a type of the Church as the priestly family; but the Church, at the same time, in association with Christ. This distinction will appear most clearly in the next chapter. It is of the first importance to be clear upon this subject, because, through ignorance or indifference to the truth, thousands of professed believers have gone, and thousands more are going, back to Jewish ground, on which they accept the existence of a special order of men who claim to possess, like Aaron and his sons, the particular privilege of going to God on behalf of their fellow-men. The assertion of such a claim is to attack the very foundation of Christianity, inasmuch as it denies the perpetual efficacy of the one offering of Christ. Aaron then, be it remembered, is a type of Christ; but if he is seen together with his sons, then the privileges of the Church, in association with Christ as the priestly family, are presented. The choice of Aaron and his sons was of pure grace. An essential qualification for the office was divine appointment (Heb. 5: 4); but Aaron was not chosen on the ground of any merit in himself; he was simply in this matter the object of divine and sovereign favour. He had no claim whatever upon God for such an honour; but God gave it to him in the exercise of His sovereign prerogative.

The chapter contains two things — the priestly dress, and the priestly office. The two are intermingled, but the dress comes first for consideration.

"And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto Me in the priest's office. And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. It shall have the two shoulder pieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen." (vv. 2-8.)

There were six holy garments in all (v. 4), or, if we add the plate of pure gold put on the mitre (v. 36), seven, these constituting the garments for glory and for beauty. The ephod comes first, because it was pre-eminently the priestly garment. Without it the priest could not be in the full exercise of his office. It was made of the four materials — blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, which have so frequently been considered, with the addition of gold. (v. 5.) The gold is mentioned first, and signifies that which is divine. If, however, we take the gold as an emblem of divine righteousness, it will signify that this is the ground on which Christ, as Priest, exercises His office; that His intercession is according to it before God, and therefore of necessity prevalent. In the remaining four materials there are the heavenly character of Christ (blue), His glories as Son of man and Son of David (purple and scarlet), and His spotless purity (fine twined linen), as holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Two things are thereby taught. First, that Christ acts for us as Priest in all that He is as divine and human, as the God-man. The whole value of His person enters into the exercise of His office — the gold speaking of what He is as divine, and the varied colours of His perfections and dignities as man. The apostle combines these two things in the epistle to the Hebrews: "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God," etc. (4: 14.) He is Jesus, and He is the Son of God. It is this most precious truth that is displayed in type in the materials of the ephod. How it enlarges our conceptions of the value of His work for us as Priest to remember what He is in Himself, and that we are thus upheld in His intercession by all that He is as Jesus, and as the Son of God! Secondly, these materials reveal the character of His priesthood. There are royal glories portrayed as well as His essential nature and character. He will indeed be a Priest on His throne. (Zech. 6: 13.) Now He exercises His office on behalf of believers after the Aaronic pattern on the great day of atonement inside the veil; but the full expression of His priestly office for Israel will be seen in His Melchizedek character. (Ps. 110; Heb. 7) The ephod of Aaron spoke of these coming glories, which will be displayed when Christ will be both King of righteousness and King of peace. Strictly speaking therefore, the dress is emblematical of Christ as Priest for Israel, though Aaron never went in to the holiest. in the character it exhibited; for failure came in through Nadab and Abihu, and, as a consequence, he was forbidden to go into God's presence, except once a year, and then not in the garments for glory and beauty. (Lev. 10, 16) But Christ will take up all that these garments typified, and then will be seen, for the first time, God's thought of the priesthood for His people fully accomplished.

The girdle of the ephod, was embroidered with the same materials as the ephod itself. It is therefore to the significance of the girdle itself that our attention is directed. In Scripture it is constantly typical of service. One beautiful example of this is found in Luke — in the words of our blessed Lord Himself. He says, "Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself. and. make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them." (Luke 12: 37.) The girdle of the ephod will, then, signify the service of Christ as the Priest, the service He renders to us before God in this capacity. A Servant — the perfect Servant — ever delighting when in this world to do His Father's will, He in His love and grace, though He be glorified, remains a Servant still. He is gone into heaven to appear in the presence of God for us. (Heb. 9: 24.) It is in this character He maintains unwearied intercession on our behalf, whereby He secures for us those continual ministrations of mercy and grace — mercy for our weakness, and grace for our succour when we are tempted — which we need as a people passing through the desert. It is most consoling to raise our eyes, and behold Christ invested with His priestly girdle, for thereby we are assured that He will save us all the way through, bring us through the wilderness in safety, and introduce us into the rest of God, because He ever lives to make intercession for us. And how it reveals to us the depths of His own heart! Moses complained to the Lord that the burden of Israel — the burden of leading them in their wanderings — was too heavy for him. But the Lord Jesus, as our great High Priest, is never weary, notwithstanding the continual failures and unbelief, and the going back in heart to Egypt, of His people. He is ever unwearied and unresting in His service, because His love is inexhaustible. Blessed be His name!

We have next the onyx stones and breastplate.

"And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel: six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth. With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel: thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial. And thou shalt make ouches of gold; and two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches. And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it. Foursquare it shall be, being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof. And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row. And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be set in gold in their inclosings. And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. And thou shalt put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate. And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains thou shalt fasten in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod before it. And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate, in the border thereof, which is in the side of the ephod inward. And two other rings of gold thou shalt make, and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart thereof, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod. And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the Lord continually. And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the Lord: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually." (vv. 9-30.)

First, there are the two onyx stones, with the names of the children of Israel, six tribes on each, engraven thereon, set in ouches of gold, and put upon the shoulders of the ephod, etc. That this description relates in figure to the exercise of the priestly office is clear from the statement that "Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial." The onyx stones were gems — precious stones, figurative of the excellencies of Christ, and combining this with the fact that they were set in gold will give us two things; first, that the names of His people appear upon the shoulders of the Priest in all His beauty and excellency, and, as symbolized by the gold, set in divine righteousness. The shoulder is the emblem of strength. (See Isa. 9: 6; Isa. 22: 22, etc.) Christ therefore, as here portrayed, upholds His people in the presence of God in all His omnipotent strength; and He has the title to do so, seeing that they are set upon His shoulders in divine righteousness and invested with all the radiancy of His own beauty. What a comfort to us in the consciousness of our utter feebleness! He who upholdeth all things by the word of His power maintains us before God; and, as He bears us up in His presence, God beholds us as having an undeniable claim to be upon the shoulders, and sees us encompassed by all the excellency, of the High Priest. Our memorial is thus before Him continually; for Christ cannot be in the presence of God without our names being seen upon His shoulders. Remark also that the ouches in which the onyx stones were set were fastened by two wreathen chains of gold, binding them on His shoulders in divine righteousness.

The breastplate follows. Its materials corresponded with those of the ephod. (v. 15.) It was four-square in shape, and there were set in it four rows of precious stones; and on these stones likewise were engraven the names of the children of Israel according to their twelve tribes, etc. The typical teaching will then be of the same character — noting, however, the differences between the shoulders and the breast. (1) Aaron then bore the names of the children of Israel on his heart, as well as on his shoulders. The breast is symbolic of the affections. It teaches therefore that if Christ upholds His people before God, on the one hand, by everlasting strength, He bears them also, on the other, on His heart in everlasting love. Everlasting strength and everlasting love unite in the presentation of believers before God by the Priest. On the heart of Christ! And who shall sound its depths? If we think of power, we remember His words, "No one can pluck them out of My hand." If our thought is of love, we are reminded of the apostle's challenge, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" And these two — strength and love — and these two as united in Christ — are engaged in presenting us before God. He has bound us upon His shoulders — bearing our weight — with His own almighty strength, and He has fastened us upon His heart with His own deathless and unfathomable love. This will help us to comprehend a little of the efficacy of His intercession, based as it is upon the efficacy of His sacrifice, on our behalf. (2) The names of the children of Israel were graven upon the precious stones. The scene of the exercise of the priesthood, according to the thought of God, and actually so in the case of Christ, if not in that of Aaron, was immediately in God's presence — before the full blaze of the holiness of His throne. Now the action of light upon precious stones has the effect of bringing out their varied and manifold beauties. Hence, as was remarked in connection with the onyx stones, the names of God's people, as borne upon the heart of the priest, shine out in all the sparkling lustre and beauty of the stones on which they are engraven. This symbolizes the fact that believers are before God in all the acceptance of Christ. When God looks upon the great High Priest, He beholds His people upon His heart, as well as upon His shoulders, adorned with all the beauty of the One on whom His eye ever rests with perfect delight. Or, looking at it from another aspect, it might be said that Christ presents His people to God, in the exercise of His priesthood, as Himself. He thus establishes in His intercession His own claims upon God on their behalf. And with what joy does He so present them before God! For they are those for whom He has died, and whom He has cleansed with His own most precious blood, those whom He has made the objects of His own love, and whom finally He will bring to be for ever with Him; and He pleads for them before God according to all the strength of these ties, according, as before observed, to all the claims which He Himself, on account of the work He accomplished on the cross, has upon the heart of God. (3) The breastplate was fastened by wreathen chains of gold, and "a lace of blue," and rings of gold to the ephod. We gather, then, that the breastplate cannot be detached from the ephod. It is bound up inseparably with the priestly office of Christ. It is fastened to the ephod — the priestly garment — by chains of gold, in divine righteousness, divine righteousness as suited to the nature of God, by all that Christ is therefore as divine. It is also an eternal connection as typified by the rings — the ring being without end, and hence, as seen when considering the framework of the tabernacle, an emblem of eternity. As Priest, Christ can never fail us. If He has once undertaken our cause, He will never lay it down. Surely this truth will strengthen our hearts in times of trial or weakness. We may be despondent, but if we look up we may rejoice in the thought that our place upon the heart and shoulders of Christ can never be lost. There are seasons when many believers feel as if they could not get into the presence, or obtain the ear, of God — doubtless through failure, or coldness of heart, or spiritual feebleness. These things are not to be excused; but surely it would prove an antidote to Satan's temptations at such periods to remember, that if we cannot pray ourselves, Christ never fails to bear us up in His prevailing intercession, and that we are bound inseparably upon His heart and upon His shoulders. Nay, it would soon dispel our gloom and coldness of heart, because it would lead us to look away from ourselves, and to expect all from Him, and from His continual ministry for us in the presence of God. As another has said, "He presents us, as that which He has on His heart, to God. He cannot be before Him without doing so; and whatever claim the desire and wish of Christ's heart has to draw out the favour of God, operates in drawing out that favour on us. The light and favour of the sanctuary — God as dwelling there — cannot shine out on Him without shining on us, and that as an object presented by Him for it." (4) Aaron bore the judgment of the people in connection with Urim and Thummim. These were put in the breastplate of judgment. (vv. 29, 30.) Urim and Thummim probably mean "lights" and "perfections." "These we need to get blessing, Stood we before God, such as we are, we must draw down judgment, or lose the effect of this light and perfection of God, remaining without. But, Christ bearing our judgment according to these, our presentation to God is according to the perfection of God Himself — our judgment borne; but then our position, guidance, light, and spiritual intelligence are according to this same divine light and perfection. For the high priest inquired and had answers from God according to the Urim and Thummim. This is a blessed privilege." All these things indeed do but teach how perfectly Christ as the Priest acts and cares for His people.

The robe of the ephod is next described.

"And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue. And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon, that it be not rent. And beneath, upon the hem of it, thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold between them round about: a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister; and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not." (vv. 31-35.)

The robe of the ephod was all of blue — indicative of what is heavenly, adumbrating the heavenly character of the Priest, and it may be, at the same time, the scene of the exercise of His functions, or rather, that His character was suited to the place. He is thus spoken of in the Hebrews not only as holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, but also as made higher than the heavens. (Heb. 7: 26.) Care was to be taken that "it be not rent" (v. 32), for what is heavenly in character must needs be indivisible in its perfection. At the bottom of the robe there were to be pomegranates of blue, of purple, and of scarlet, and bells of gold in alternation; and the object is stated that it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not. (v. 35.) The symbolic significance of these two things is plainly marked; it is the fruits and testimony of the Spirit. And hence "going in" and "coming out" mark two distinct periods. Speaking now of Christ, of whom Aaron was but the figure, He went in when He ascended up on high, and the sound was heard on the day of Pentecost in the testimony which the Spirit of God then raised by the mouth of the apostles. There were also fruits connected with that testimony — fruits of the Spirit in the walk and life of those who were converted through the instrumentality of the testimony. (See Acts 2) The same thing will take place when He comes out, and both alike flow from Christ in His heavenly character. Peter links together the two periods. He cried to the multitude, who had come together in amazement at the witness of the Spirit, "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams," etc. (Acts 2: 16, 17.) What was passing before their astonished eyes was but a sample of that, though of different character, which should be witnessed when the Priest comes out with blessing for Israel. It is in this last connection that the meaning of the colours of the pomegranates may be apprehended. The fruits of the Spirit are heavenly in character, and consequently "blue" is the first colour. But they are also "purple" and "scarlet," because they will be then associated with the kingdom-glories of Christ; yea, with the glories which He will inherit both as Son of man and as Son of David. The two periods — going in, and coming out — may thus answer to the early and the latter rain, at least in association with Israel. (See Hosea 6: 1-3.)

Then there is the plate of gold.

"And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre, upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord." (vv. 36-38.)

This is the gracious provision which God has made for the imperfections and defilements of our services and worship. He can only accept that which is suited to His own nature. Everything offered to Him, therefore, must be stamped with holiness. This being so, if left to ourselves, notwithstanding that we are cleansed and brought into relationship with Him, and having a title of approach, our offerings never could be accepted. But He has met our need. Christ, as the Priest, bears the iniquity of our holy things; and He is holiness to the Lord, so that our worship, as presented through Him, is acceptable to God. Blessed consolation, for without this provision we were shut out from God's presence! Hence the apostle speaks not only of the blood and the rent veil, but also of the High Priest over the house of God. (Heb. 10)

The direction as to the coat of fine linen follows.

"And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and thou shalt make the mitre of fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle of needlework." (v. 39.)

The fine linen, as ever, is a type of personal, and, as applied to Christ, of absolute personal, purity; and its being embroidered tells that, as such, He was adorned with every grace. All the garments alike therefore speak of Christ; although, be it remembered, they were the shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things. This caution is ever needed when considering types and figures. It should be also again stated that these garments for glory and beauty were never worn inside the veil. This fact makes them the more applicable to our position; for had Aaron enjoyed access, as thus arrayed, into the holy of holies, it would have been the sign of the full acceptance of the people whom he represented. We are accepted in the Beloved; and Christ, as glorified, ministers in the true sanctuary as the High Priest of His people, and consequently He puts us into the enjoyment of all the blessings here prefigured. This may be gathered from the epistle to the Hebrews, and explains to us how it is that Christ is there presented in every way as a contrast with that which, in the old dispensation, had fore-shadowed Him, whether in His person, His office, or His work.

The arraying of Aaron's sons together with himself (vv. 40-43) is more properly connected with the subject of the next chapter, the consecration of the priests.

CHAPTER 27.  THE CONSECRATION OF THE PRIESTS.

EXODUS 29: 1-35.

HAVING given the details concerning the priestly robes, the Lord instructs Moses, in the next place, as to the ceremonies to be observed at the consecration of the priests. For the moment the first three verses may be passed over, as the particulars of the general directions upon the subject of the sacrifices to be offered are found further on in the chapter.

"And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt wash them with water. And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod. And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre. Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him. And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them. And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons." (vv. 4-9)

The first part of the process was washing them with water, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. (v. 4.) This action is most significant, as water is a symbol of the word of God, as for example in John 3: 5; Eph. 5: 26, etc. Emblematically therefore this was the new birth, or sanctification by the Word, being thereby set apart for the service of God. Our Lord thus prayed: "For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." (John 17: 19) Aaron was washed with water — if he be considered by himself — to make him in figure a type of the absolute purity of Christ. Christ was personally without spot; Aaron is rendered so typically by the application of the Word, through the sanctification of the Spirit, as it is termed by Peter. (1 Peter 1: 2.) If Aaron is taken in association with his sons, the washing proclaims in type the truth that only those who are born again, separated unto God by the application of the Word to their souls, can occupy the place of priests, and enjoy the privilege of "ministering" in the holiest. Priests cannot be made by man, and the pretence of doing so is utterly to ignore the plainest and most fundamental teaching of the Scriptures. Priests can only be made by God, and every one who is born again, cleansed by the precious blood of Christ, and indwelt by the Holy Ghost, is a priest. To arrogate the claim therefore of ordaining priests — and to do so apart even from the question of their condition before God — is to intrude into a region which borders upon profanity, as well as to deny the rights and privileges of all the people of God.

Aaron is now separated from his sons for the next action; he is robed and anointed alone. First, the priestly garments, described in the last chapter, are put upon him — the garments for glory and beauty. Thereon he is anointed with oil which is poured upon his head. It has already been explained, and must be here recalled to understand this action, that when Aaron is alone he stands before us as a type of Christ; but that when he is in company with his sons, the Church is shadowed forth as the priestly family. This gives the meaning of his being anointed with oil immediately after being arrayed in the sacerdotal robes. Afterwards it will be seen that be, together with his sons, is sprinkled with blood before the anointing oil. It is as a figure of Christ that he is anointed without blood. For Aaron's great Antitype being absolutely holy needed not the blood, and hence it is recorded that, on His entering upon His mission to Israel, He was anointed by the Holy Ghost at His baptism. (Matt. 3; Acts 10: 38.) He received the Holy Spirit, was anointed, on the ground of His absolute holiness, whereas His people (as will be seen) are sealed and anointed on the ground of their perfect cleansing by His precious blood. Aaron being anointed by himself without blood is a type of Christ — Christ in His full character as Priest, the Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

Aaron and This sons present the Church as the priestly family, but as associated with Christ. First, as in the case of Aaron alone, they are all robed. These garments are not the same as those described in detail in the last chapter, but those briefly indicated at the close. They are said to be coats, girdles, and bonnets, and were of fine linen, and embroidered, and said also to be "for glory and for beauty." (Ex. 28: 39, 40; Ex. 29: 9.) The fine linen embroidered shows forth the purity of the nature of Christ adorned with every grace. The robin. of Aaron's sons is really the putting on of Christ; and this, in fact, brings them into association with Him; for the Church possesses nothing apart from Christ. If believers, for example, are brought into the position of priests, and the enjoyment of priestly privileges, it is in virtue of their connection with Him. He is the Priest, and He it is who makes them priests. (See Rev. 1: 5, 6.) Everything flows from Him. Thus, when Aaron is put into company with his sons, it is not so much that he becomes merged into the priestly family, but rather to teach that all the blessings and privileges of the priestly family are derived from Christ. But in order to this they must first be invested with robes for glory and for beauty — robes which adorn them with the glory and beauty of Christ.

The next step was the sacrifice of the sin-offering. Aaron and his sons were encompassed with infirmity, were sinful men, and needed to offer for themselves, as well as for the sins of the people. They must be brought, consequently, under the typical value of the blood before they could enter upon their sacred office and minister in the sanctuary. Hence the following direction:

"And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock. And thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar. And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar. But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin-offering." (vv. 10-14.)

The sin-offering is a type of Christ bearing the sins of His people. Remark then, first, that Aaron and his sons put their hands upon the head of the bullock. This action signified the identification of the offerers with the victim to be offered. (Compare Lev. 4: 4, etc.) After the laying on of their hands, therefore, the bullock which was about to be slain stood before God as the representative of Aaron and his sons in their sins. Their guilt was symbolically transferred, imputed to the victim, which is now looked upon as bearing their sins. Hence by the act they owned their guilt, their desert of death, and their need of a substitute. In the next place the bullock was to be killed before the Lord. As charged with the sins of Aaron and his sons, the stroke of justice fell upon the appointed victim, thereby proclaiming that death was the penalty of sin. If they at all entered into the meaning of what was being enacted, how solemn this transaction must have appeared in their eyes! They must have had a glimpse of the real character of sin before God when the bullock was brought, and when, after silently laying their hands upon its head, it could not be spared, but must die. It is a shadow, if only a shadow, of the cross — of the death of the Lord Jesus, whose soul was made an offering for sin. And it is as we stand there in spirit, and hear His cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" that we are made to comprehend the awful nature of sin — its hatefulness to God, inasmuch as it necessitated the death of His only begotten Son. Believers, as they look back upon that solemn scene, can say, "His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree;" and at the same time learn something of the doom from which, by the grace of God, they have been delivered. Surely it was grace, and grace alone, that provided the sacrifice; and it was love, deathless, unquenchable love, on the part of Him who suffered Himself to be led as a lamb to the slaughter that He might redeem us to God.

After the victim was slain the blood was sprinkled. It was put upon the horns of the altar, and the rest was poured out beside the bottom of the altar. (v. 12.) The blood was thus wholly for God. The life is in it (Lev. 17: 11), and this action consequently signified that the life of the victim was offered up to God instead of that of Aaron and his sons. This was done on the principle of substitution — God in grace accepting the death of the sin-offering in the place of that of those for whom it was offered. Further, the fat that covered the inwards, and the caul, etc., were burnt upon the altar. The fat was prohibited to the children of Israel equally with the blood. It is an emblem of inward energy, force of will, etc. It is burnt upon the altar because the sin-offering was a type of Christ, and thus teaches that, while He was charged with the sins of His people, God found in Him, even as in the case of the burnt-offering, that which completely answered to His own mind — truth in the inward parts. His infinite acceptability to God was never more fully proved than when He bowed His head under the sins of His people. In grace He took our place; but in thus accepting the stroke of judgment that was our due, every thought of His heart, every movement of His will, every energy of His soul, were perfect before God. It was indeed in His death on the cross that He proved His obedience to the uttermost, that He showed that the glory of God was so completely the one motive of His giving Himself up to death, that not even the waves and billows of judgment could turn Him aside. Lastly, the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, were burnt without the camp. It was a sin-offering, and as such must be cast out and consumed, inasmuch as it was looked upon as under the imputation of the guilt of Aaron and his sons. It was thus altogether a type of Christ — of Christ as suffering without the gate, rejected of men, forsaken by God, because He, in His grace and love, suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. This process completed, Aaron and his sons were now under all the efficacy and value of the sin-offering.

The burnt-offering follows the sin-offering.

"Thou shalt also take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar. And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards of him, and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and unto his head. And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt-offering unto the Lord: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the Lord." (vv. 1518.)

As in the case of the sin-offering, Aaron and his sons put their hands upon the head of the burnt-offering; but instead of the transference or the imputation of their guilt, they themselves are transferred, so to speak, so as to become identified with the ram about to be slain. In other words, while the actions are similar the effects are contrasted. The victim in the sin-offering is looked upon, after the laying on of hands, as laden with the guilt of those for whom it was about to be offered as a sacrifice; whereas in the burnt-offering Aaron and his sons are regarded by the same act as invested with all the acceptability of the sacrifice. Their sins were transferred in the first instance, and in the second their standing was changed on to the ground of the value of the offering. The ram was then slain, and the blood sprinkled round about upon the altar; the life was presented to God. This was not all; but the whole ram, having been cut in pieces, and its inwards having been washed, to make it a more fitting type of the spotlessness of Christ, was burnt upon the altar. "It is a burnt-offering unto the Lord: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the Lord." In the sin-offering the flesh of the bullock, etc., were burnt with fire without the camp but the whole ram of the burnt-offering was consumed upon the altar because the whole was acceptable to God. The burnt-offering is a type of the perfect devotedness of Christ unto death; and in this aspect it is not looked upon as bearing sins, but as wholly consecrated to the will and glory of God. As such, therefore, Christ on the cross, under the action of the holy fire — tested, that is, by the searching judgment of God's holiness, was entirely a sweet savour to God. As bearing sins, God hid His face from Him; but as obedient unto the death of the cross, when through the Eternal Spirit He offered Himself without spot to God, He furnished a new motive for love to the Father's heart. "Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again." (John 10: 17.) In this aspect "He was in the place of sin, and God glorified as no creation, no sinlessness could. All was a sweet savour in that place, and according to what God was as to it in righteousness and love." The difference between the two offerings is shown by the words used. The word "burn" in the burnt-offering is not the same as that used in connection with the sin-offering, but the one employed for burning incense. This of itself denotes the infinite fragrance and acceptance of Christ as the burnt-offering. But the point in our scripture is, that it was offered for Aaron and his sons; and accordingly as soon as it was consumed upon the altar they were brought also under all its efficacy. Their sins were cleared away by the sin-offering, but now they stand before God in all the positive acceptance and savour of the burnt-offering — both of these results being gained for the believer by the death of Christ, for these offerings do but present the varying aspects of His one sacrifice.

These offerings were in a measure preparatory, relating rather to their personal fitness. The ram of consecration is now added. Speaking generally, this sacrifice has the character of a peace-offering (see Lev. 3), and represents another aspect of the death of Christ — its value for us, the obligations under which we are brought and the communion with God, with the Priest, and with the whole Church into which we are introduced. But here it has special relation to the office of Aaron and his sons, as will be seen from the scripture.

"And thou shalt take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the ram. Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great too of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him. Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder; for it is a ram of consecration. And one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the Lord: and thou shalt put all in the hands of Aaron, and in the hands of his sons; and shalt wave them for a wave-offering before the Lord. And thou shalt receive them of their hands, and burn them upon the altar for a burnt-offering, for a sweet savour before the Lord: it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And thou shalt take the breast of the ram of Aaron's consecration, and wave it for a wave-offering before the Lord: and it shall be thy part. And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave-offering, and the shoulder of the heave-offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of the consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons: and it shall be Aaron's and his sons' by a statute for ever from the children of Israel; for it is an heave-offering: and it shall be an heave-offering from the children of Israel of. the sacrifice of their peace-offerings, even their heave-offering unto the Lord.

"And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons' after him, to be anointed therein, and to be consecrated in them. And that son that is priest in his stead shall put them on seven days, when he cometh into the tabernacle of the congregation, to minister in the holy place.

"And thou shalt take the ram of the consecration, and seethe his flesh in the holy place. And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And they shall eat those things wherewith the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy. And if ought of the flesh of the consecrations, or of the bread, remain unto the morning, then thou shalt burn the remainder with fire: it shall not be eaten, because it is holy. And thus shalt thou do unto Aaron, and to his sons, according to all things which I have commanded thee: seven days shalt thou consecrate them." (vv. 19-35.)

As in the two preceding offerings, so here, the hands of Aaron and his sons are laid upon the head of the ram of consecration, and thereby they are identified with its value before God. Thereon two distinct actions in respect of the blood are given. First, after the ram was killed, the blood was put upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron and of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot; and it was sprinkled at the same time upon the altar round about. They were thus brought under the value of the atoning blood; for the blood that was offered to God on their behalf, brought them also under His claims, so that henceforward they were not their own, but bought with a price. These several parts of their bodies were therefore sprinkled to signify, that from this moment they were to hearken alone, act alone, and walk alone, for the Lord as those who were redeemed by the precious blood. It is so, too, with believers of this dispensation. Inasmuch as they are redeemed. the belong to the Redeemer, and, set at liberty from the bondage and power of Satan, they enjoy the precious privilege of living unto Him who has died for them, and risen again. Their ears, hands, and feet are all to be used for Him, in His service. After this, a second thing was directed. Both they and their garments were to be sprinkled with the blood upon the altar, and with the anointing oil. (v. 21.) They are thus set apart by the blood, and by the unction of the Holy Ghost. "And it is important to remark here that the seal of the Holy Ghost follows on the sprinkling with blood, not on the washing with the water. That was needed. We must be regenerate; but it is not that cleansing which puts us by itself in a state God can seal; the blood of Christ does. We are thereby perfectly cleansed as white as snow, and the Spirit comes as the witness of God's estimate of the value of that blood-shedding. Hence, too, all were sprinkled with Aaron. The blood of Christ, and the Holy Ghost, have set us in association with Christ, where He is according to the acceptableness of that perfect sacrifice (it was the ram of consecration), and the presence, liberty, and power of the Holy Ghost." The cross and Pentecost are in fact connected — the efficacy of the blood, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and both are here enjoyed — at least in figure.* These three steps lead to the Christian position. Washing with water comes first, then cleansing with blood, and lastly the unction of the Holy Ghost. "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." (Rom. 8: 9.)

*Compare the law for cleansing of the leper in Lev. 14, remembering that there it is a question of cleansing from sins, and not, as here, of consecration to the priesthood.

In the next place, parts of the ram of consecration (v. 22), "and one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer," etc., were put in the hands of Aaron and his sons to be waved for a wave-offering before the Lord. The loaf, the "oiled bread" (v. 2 compared with Leviticus 2) was a meat-offering, representing Christ in the perfection of His humanity, or rather the holiness of His life in devotedness to God, the entire consecration of every faculty of His soul to the will and glory of God. Taken then in connection with the parts of the ram, their hands were, in fact, filled with Christ, with Christ in all that He was in life, and all that He was in death to God. Now the meaning of the word, which is translated in this chapter "consecrate," as may be seen from the margin, is "to fill the hand." This gives us the scriptural signification of consecration. The general thought is, that it lies in our yielding something to God, and hence the soul is thrown back upon itself to seek for strength to devote itself and all its energies to God's service; and, indeed, with this view, it is often called upon to attain it by a solemn act of self-surrender. Scripture reveals a better way. It lies, as seen in this chapter, in being filled with Christ. It is Christ possessing, absorbing, and controlling our souls. It requires no effort therefore on our part, though indeed it requires the maintenance of constant self-judgment, the abiding refusal of the flesh in every shape and form. For Christ is willing yea, desires, to possess us wholly, and if the Spirit be ungrieved, He will dwell in our hearts by faith; and as then He becomes the alone object of our lives, so He alone will be expressed in our walk and conversation. This is consecration according to God — as prefigured by filling the hands of Aaron and his sons.

Having waved the contents of their hands before the Lord, Moses received them, and burnt them upon the altar for a burnt-offering, for a sweet savour before the Lord: it is an offering made by fire unto the Lord. This teaches us both what is acceptable to God in worship, and consequently what is true priestly work. It is the presentation of Christ — the Christ who has passed through the holy fire of judgment, as made sin for us on the cross — it is this which ascends up as a sweet savour to God. This, indeed, is having fellowship with God concerning, the death of His Son; our souls entering, by the Spirit, both into what He is, and into the character of His death, and presenting Him and His work, as thus apprehended, before the eye of God. We delight in presenting, and He delights in receiving. And, blessed be His name, He first fills our hands, and He alone can first fill our hands, with that which He delights to accept. This, then, is our work as priests, our privilege as worshippers, ever to present Christ before God. It will therefore be easily understood, that the flesh can have no part in such work, that, in fact, worship can only be by and in the power of, the Holy Spirit.

Finally, there are diverse instructions concerning eating different parts of the ram of consecration. Moses was to have his part — the breast — after it had been waved for a wave-offering before the Lord. (v. 26.) Aaron and his sons had their part. (vv. 27, 28, 31, 32.) Thus God, and Christ as Priest, and the whole Church, as symbolized by Aaron and his sons, feed alike upon the offered sacrifice. It was the fellowship of God, of Christ, and His people — all having their part — in accomplished atonement. We also learn that Christ alone is the food of His people. Brought under the full value of His sacrifice whereby they are consecrated and sanctified, He becomes their sustenance and strength. (v. 33.) Two prohibitions are added. First, no stranger should eat of this priestly food. It must be confined to those who are hallowed for the office of priests. Secondly, the flesh of the consecrations must be eaten the same day. (v. 34.) Priestly food must be eaten in connection with the altar. In like manner you cannot feed upon Christ if you dissociate Him from the cross. It is as offered to God, and glorified by Him because of the work He accomplished, that He is our food, and is fed upon in fellowship with God.

Seven days these ceremonies were to be repeated; and seven days the altar was to be sanctified. (vv. 36, 37.) The priests must have a perfect consecration, and the altar at which they were to serve must be perfectly sanctified. The consecration and the sanctification alike must be according to the perfection of the requirements of a holy God.

CHAPTER 28.  THE CONTINUAL BURNT-OFFERING.

EXODUS 29: 38-46.

FOLLOWING upon the consecration of the priests, we have directions for the continual burnt-offering — continual because it was to be offered morning by morning, and evening by evening, throughout the generations of the children of Israel. It was, in fact, a perpetual daily sacrifice.

"Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning, and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even: and with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink-offering. And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat-offering of the morning, and according to the drink-offering thereof, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the Lord. This shall be a continual burnt-offering throughout your generations, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the Lord; where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee. And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to Me in the priest's office. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their God." (vv. 38-46.)

There are, it will be observed, three things in this scripture; viz., the burnt-offering and its accompaniments; the meeting-place between God and His people; and Jehovah dwelling among them, and being their God.

The burnt-offering was composed of two lambs of the first year, one to be offered in the morning, and the other in the evening. It was never to cease being offered. (See Num. 28: 3, 6, 10, etc.; Ezra 3: 5.) Its meaning, as explained in the last chapter — i.e. as an emblem of the sacrifice of Christ in this character — is His devotedness unto death, wherein He, in the place of sin and for God's glory, proved His obedience to the uttermost, even to being made sin for His people. All therefore was consumed upon the altar, and went up as a sweet savour unto the Lord (see Lev. 1); and this sweet savour set forth the acceptability of His death to God, yea, the infinite delight which God found in the death of Christ in obedience to His will. Inasmuch, therefore, as the offering before us was perpetual, God laid a foundation thereby on which Israel could stand and be accepted in all its fragrance and savour. It thus becomes no mean type of the position of the believer, revealing the ground of his acceptance in the Beloved; for just as the sweet savour of the continual burnt-offering ever ascended to God on behalf of Israel, so Christ in all His acceptability is ever before His eyes on behalf of His own. We can therefore say, "As He is, so are we in this world;" for we are in the divine presence in all the savour of His sacrifice, and in all the acceptance of His person.

The accompaniments of the burnt-offering were two; first, "a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil;" and, secondly, "the fourth part of an hin of wine." The first was a meat, and the second a drink-offering. The meat-offering, as was pointed out in connection with the consecration of the priests, is an emblem of the devotedness of Christ in life, His entire consecration to the will and glory of God. The fine flour was mingled with oil (see also Lev. 2), to shadow forth the mysterious truth that Christ as to His humanity was begotten of the Holy Ghost. It represented consequently the perfection of His life below — His life of perfect obedience, every energy of His soul flowing out in this channel, finding it His meat to do His Father's will, and to finish His work. Israel was consequently before God in all the value and acceptance of His life and death — of all that He was to God, whether considered in the perfect consecration of His life, or in the highest expression of the perfection of His obedience as displayed when He was made sin on the cross. The drink-offering was composed of wine. Wine is a symbol of joy — "it cheereth God and man;" and since it is here offered to God, it speaks of His joy, His joy in the sacrifice presented. But it was offered by His people, by the priest on their behalf. It expressed on this account also their communion with the joy of God in the perfectness of the life, and the devotedness unto death, of His only begotten Son. Such is the heart of God. He would bring us into fellowship with Himself, have us feast on His own delights, that the joy of His own heart, flowing out, and filling also ours, might overflow in praise and adoration. Hence John says, "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ." (1 John 1: 3.)

The next point is the meeting-place of God with His people. Moses was permitted in grace to meet Jehovah at the mercy-seat (Ex. 25: 22; Num. 12: 8); but the people could not pass beyond the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. It was here that the burnt-offering was presented on the brazen altar; and hence this was the meeting-place, on the ground of the sacrifice, between God and Israel. There could be no other possible place; just as now Christ forms the only meeting-place between God and the sinner. It is most important to see this truth — especially for those that are unsaved — that apart from Christ there can be no drawing nigh to God. "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6.) Mark well, moreover, that God cannot be approached except on the ground of the sacrifice of Christ. This is the truth foreshadowed in connection with the burnt-offering. If the cross, Christ crucified, be ignored, no relationships can be had with God, excepting those that may exist between a guilty sinner and a holy Judge. But the moment the sinner is led to take his stand upon "the sweet savour" of the sacrifice to God, upon the efficacy of what Christ accomplished by His death, God can meet with him in grace and love.

There is a further thing — the consequence of coming to meet and dwell with His people. God will sanctify the tabernacle by His glory; He will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar; and He will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons to minister unto Him in the priest's office. (vv. 43, 44.) In virtue of the sacrifice He claimed everything, and set all apart to Himself. The tabernacle, the altar, and the priests are alike sanctified — claimed as belonging to and for the service of, Jehovah. The expression "by My glory," as applied to the tabernacle, is remarkable. There only in all the earth, in the holy of holies, was His glory manifested — in the bright cloud, the Shekinah, which was the symbol of His presence. Being thus displayed, it separated the tabernacle off from every other thing on the face of the earth, made it a holy place,  sanctified it. But more. His glory being there became the standard of everything presented. The question — looked at in its higher aspects, in the light of the truth now possessed — for all who approached, and for everything that was offered, was accordingly that of suitability to God's glory. Hence we read in the epistle to the Romans that "all have sinned and come short of His glory," showing that unless we answer to its claims, could even stand before the immediate display of His glory, we are guilty sinners. It goes still further. The Tabernacle itself was on earth, and in the midst of God's earthly people. As sanctified by His glory, therefore, it became also prophetic — prophetic of the day when the whole earth will be filled with His glory. It was thus a bright promise of millennial blessing.

This leads on to the third thing — God dwelling in the midst of His people. This was the declared object of the erection of a sanctuary (25: 8). and the end of His dwelling with them was that they might be brought into relationship with, and know Him as the God of redemption, as the One who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. The ground indeed of His dwelling in their midst was accomplished redemption. Thus, as has been already said, He never dwelt with Adam, Noah, Abraham, or the patriarchs, however intimate the intercourse with Him which they were permitted to enjoy. Nor did He, nor could He, dwell with Israel while in the land of Egypt; but after He had brought them out of the house of their bondage, and across the Red Sea, He then desired to have His sanctuary in their midst. The sweet savour of the sacrifice — emblem of the acceptability of the sacrifice of Christ to God — made it possible for Him thus to surround Himself with those whom He had redeemed. But there is more than even dwelling with them: there is also relationship. "I will be their God." It is not, be it remarked, what they shall be to Him, though they were His people by His grace, but what He will be to them. "Their God" — words fraught with unspeakable blessings; for when God undertakes to become the God of His people, deigns to enter into relationship with them, He assures them that everything they need, whether for guidance, sustenance, defence, succour — yea, everything, is secured for them by what He is to them as their God. It was in view of the blessing of such a wondrous relationship that the Psalmist exclaimed, "Happy is that people, whose God is the Lord." (Psalm 144: 15.) As, however, we have seen, if He dwelt among them it was that they might know Him — and know Him through redemption. This was the desire of His heart, and in pursuance of it He had visited them in Egypt, smitten Pharaoh and his land and people with judgments, brought them out with a high hand and an outstretched arm, brought them unto Himself, and now directed that His tabernacle should be erected. He would have His joy in the happiness and joy of His redeemed — in surrounding Himself with a happy, rejoicing people. Such was His thought, however little they entered into it; but a thought which, if postponed, will one day find its full and perfect embodiment. The Tabernacle in the wilderness, indeed, surrounded by the tribes of Israel, is a figure of the eternal state. The purpose which God expresses here was repeated (Lev. 26: 12) and reaffirmed as to the millennium. (Ezek. 37: 27, 28.) But these were but shadows of the full blessing that God designed for His people, and could not be more because of what they were; and hence it is not until the eternal state is reached that it is realized in perfection. Even now God dwells upon the earth, for the church is His habitation through the Spirit; and every believer, who has received the Spirit of adoption, is a temple of the Holy Ghost. But when all God's purposes in Christ are accomplished, the redeemed of this dispensation will, as the new Jerusalem, form the eternal tabernacle and dwelling-place of God. (Rev. 21)

"But who that glorious blaze

Of living light shall tell!

Where all His brightness God displays

And the Lamb's glories dwell.

God and the Lamb shall there

The light and temple be,

And radiant hosts for ever share,

The unveiled mystery."

CHAPTER 29.  THE ALTAR OF INCENSE.

EXODUS 30: 1-10.

THE place which the altar of incense occupies in the directions which Moses received is most instructive. Up to the end of Exodus 27 everything is arranged in respect of the manifestation of God — the symbols of display, as they are sometimes termed. Thereon it becomes the question of approaching God; and hence the next thing is the appointment and the consecration of the priests — these only having the privilege of entering the sanctuary. But before proceeding further, the perpetual burnt-offering is given, as considered in the last chapter; for until the people are before God in all the acceptance of its sweet savour, and God Himself is dwelling in their midst, sanctifying the tabernacle by His glory, and setting all apart for Himself, there could be no drawing nigh — no access into His presence. In other words, there could be no worship apart from the savour of the sacrifice, and the presence of Jehovah. Everything thus being prepared, the symbols of approach follow — i.e. those sacred vessels that were used in connection with coming into God's presence; and the first of these is the golden altar — or the altar of incense.

"And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon; of shittim-wood shalt thou make it. A cubit shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof; foursquare shall it be: and two cubits shall be the height thereof: the horns thereof shall be of the same. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, the top thereof, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns thereof: and thou shalt make unto it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof. upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it.; and they shall be for places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt make the staves of shittim-wood, and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before. the mercy-seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it; a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat-offering; neither shall ye pour drink-offering thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sinoffering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the Lord." (vv. 1-10.)

It was made of the two materials which characterized the ark, the table of showbread, etc. — shittim-wood and gold. (vv. 1-5.) The altar itself therefore — apart from its use — was a figure of the person of Christ — Christ as both God and man, God manifest in flesh. Connected with the altar this is significant — teaching, as it does, that there is no access to God but through Christ, that He indeed is the foundation both of our approach and worship. The priest (the worshipper) at the altar saw nothing but the gold, and God saw only the gold — that which was suited to Him, suited to His own nature. The remembrance of this gives boldness when bowing in His presence. It is indeed a wondrous mercy that Christ is before the eye of God, and before the eye of the worshipper — Himself the meeting place between God and His people, as well as the foundation of His people's acceptance.

The position of this altar is given in the sixth verse. It was to be put before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony. The brazen altar, as has been pointed out, was outside, in the court of the tabernacle — the first thing — that met the eye of one coming out of the camp to the entrance of the court. The lesson was, that the question of sin must be settled before admission could be obtained. The altar of incense was inside — in the holy place — and none but the priests have access to it. There was in fact the laver between; but this is not yet mentioned, because the value of the sacrifice on the brazen altar brings at once (in figure) to the golden altar. The brazen altar tested man in responsibility; and the claims of God's righteousness having been met by the sacrifice, He could introduce the believer into His own immediate presence — give him priestly privileges, and consequently access,. in the person of the priest, to the altar of incense. Once the claims of the brazen altar met, nothing could shut out the worshipper from the golden altar. His title was perfect. This is seen in the epistle to the Hebrews. The blood that was shed on the cross gives boldness of access into the holiest. (See Heb. 10) There is, therefore, the most intimate connection between the two altars.

The use of the altar may now be considered. Aaron was to burn sweet incense (incense of spices) thereon morning and evening when he dressed the lamps. (vv. 7, 8.) The materials of which the incense was composed are named in verse 34. It is there called a perfume. Remark that it was burnt on the altar. It was the action of fire that brought out its sweet fragrance; and the fire used for this purpose was taken from off the brazen altar. (See Lev. 16: 12, 13.) The same fire therefore that consumed the sacrifice brought out the fragrance of the incense. This explains its significance. The fire is a type of the searching judgment of God — of His holiness as applied in judgment, and it was through this that our blessed Lord passed when upon the cross. But the only effect of the action of the holy fire upon Him was to bring out a "cloud" of sweet perfume. The incense typifies this — the fragrance of Christ to God; and inasmuch as it was to be a perpetual incense (v. 8), it shows that this fragrance is ever ascending before the throne. If the efficacy of His work is presented in the savour of the sacrifice, the acceptability of His person is denoted by the incense. The two things are distinguished on the day of atonement. Aaron went in with incense into the holy of holies before he sprinkled the blood upon and before the mercy-seat. So Christ Himself entered with His own blood; but, if it may be so said, where all is inseparably connected, He Himself takes the precedence even of His blood. It is indeed what He is in Himself that gives the blood its unspeakable preciousness.

But what, it may be inquired, is the meaning of this action on the part of Aaron? First, Aaron is a type of Christ, and a type of Christ at the altar in the holy place. He is thus, in burning the incense, a figure of the prevailing intercession of Christ. Aaron, be it remembered, goes into the holy place in all the virtue of the sacrifice which has been consumed upon the brazen altar. The incense moreover that he burns with the holy fire is always acceptable to God. Hence it teaches that the intercession of Christ ascends to God acceptably through the efficacy of what He is, and what He has done. It cannot therefore fail. And as this incense was perpetual, so He ever liveth to make intercession for us; and on this account He is able to save His people to the uttermost — all the way through — even to the end of their wilderness journey. What comfort this assurance gives to His people encompassed by the infirmities, difficulties, and trials of their desert path! Secondly, Aaron at the altar of incense is a figure of the believer, inasmuch as all believers are priests. This aspect is exceedingly instructive; for thus regarding the burning of the incense it is a type of worship. First, then, it should be observed again, that Aaron (and the believer as presented by him) is before the golden altar in all the sweet savour of the burnt-offering. For it is through the virtue of this sacrifice that access into the holy place is enjoyed. This is of great importance. It teaches that there can be really no worship until we know what it is to be brought into God's presence in all the acceptance of Christ — not only knowing that our sins are cleared away, but also apprehending that we are before God in all the acceptability of Christ Himself — in all His inexpressible fragrance. Secondly, it is Christ, in all that He is to God, which is presented to God in worship — not our own feelings, not our own thoughts, but that which delights the heart of God, and that is Christ Himself, Christ as the One who has glorified Him on the earth, and finished the work which He gave Him to do. Thirdly, we gather that the essence of all worship lies in communion with God in all that Christ is, and in all that He has done. For when we worship by the Holy Spirit, we present to God that in which He delights, and we delight in that which we present, and thus our thoughts, feelings, and affections are in unison with those of God Himself. Then worship — adoration of the highest character — is the result. Such is our priestly work at the altar — the perpetual presentation of the merits of Christ; and if we intercede there, our intercession also is according to the value of Christ. Hence He could say, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you." (John 16: 23.)

There is a connection, it will be observed, between the incense and the lamps. Aaron is directed to burn the incense when he dresseth the lamps morning and evening. The lamps, as explained when speaking of the candlestick, are the manifestation of God in the power of the Spirit. This was seen in perfection in Him who was the light of the world, and should be displayed likewise both in the Church and in the believer. But the point here is, that the light was maintained by priestly care. Aaron dressed the lamps. It is so now. The manifestation of God in the power of the Spirit is ever dependent upon the priestly action of Christ;. and the burning of the incense — intercession or worship — will always be in proportion to the display of the Spirit's power. These three things indeed, are inseparable — the priestly care of Christ, the manifestation of God in the power of the Spirit, and the worship of His people. In other words, if believers are not shining as lights in the world, they cannot burn incense at the golden altar, they are powerless for worship. Walk and worship are related; for if the believer is not in the presence of God in his ways throughout the week, he will not know what it is to be inside the rent veil when gathered around the Lord at His table to announce His death. Or, still to put another aspect, there will be no worship except as the result of the manifestation of God in the power of the Spirit. Hence the lamps must be dressed when the incense is burnt.

Warnings follow as to the use of the altar; and if Lev. 10: 1 be combined with this scripture, there are three things forbidden to be used upon this altar. First, there must be no strange incense. The incense offered must be divinely compounded, and no other could be accepted. If for a moment this be taken literally, what awful presumption is witnessed in many "churches" in Christendom in this day! Base imitations of this holy compound — the penalty of making which was death (see v. 38) — are used in public services by those who claim to be priests, and for the worship of God. Even a Jew would regard it as abomination, and yet professing Christians can endorse its use! Surely an evidence both of the corruption of Christianity, as well as the power of Satan. Looking at it as an emblem, we are taught that nothing but the fragrance of Christ is acceptable to God in worship. Everything offered apart from Christ is "strange," and cannot be accepted. Secondly, no burnt sacrifice, no meat-offering, and no drink-offering, must be offered upon this altar. This would be to confound the golden with the brazen altar, and consequently to forget our true priestly position. It would be the same mistake now, if, when gathered for worship, we took our place at the cross, instead of inside the rent veil. This is an error into which many souls unwittingly fall. The consequence is, they never know the joy of being brought to God in virtue of the work of Christ, and hence they cannot occupy their true priestly position. Lastly, the scripture from Leviticus forbids the use of strange fire. It must be God's fire — fire kindled from heaven, from before the Lord (Lev. 9: 24), and no other. Applying this to believers, the lesson is, that they can only worship by the Spirit of God. Natural fervour and natural emotions, however produced, would in this sense be "strange" fire. It was for this reason, doubtless, that the priests were forbidden to drink wine or strong drink when they entered into the tabernacle. The effects of wine simulate those produced by the Spirit of God. (See Acts 2: 13-15.) The fire, equally with the incense, must be divine to be acceptable upon the golden altar — a lesson which Christians of this day would surely do well to lay to heart when the attempt is made on every hand, by sights and sounds, to work on the natural man, and to aid him in the worship of God. May they learn that all such things are really abominations in the sight of God!

Once a year atonement was to be made upon the horns of the altar with the blood of the sin-offering of atonements. (v. 10.) The account of this is found in Lev. 16. The reason of it was the imperfection of the priesthood. The true place of the priest was before the golden altar; and being what he was, he defiled the very place of his approach to God (compare Lev. 4: 7); and hence the need of the continual application of the blood of atonement. This is instructive from its typical contrast. One sacrifice now avails for ever. Christ has perfected for ever by His one offering them that are sanctified; and consequently without interruption they enjoy perpetual access even into the holiest of all.

Finally, a remark may be made upon the provision for the carrying of the altar through the wilderness. The staves and the rings are given here, and need no observation, as they are of the same material as the altar. But in Num. 4: 11 we find that there were two coverings: first, a cloth of blue, and secondly, outside, the badgers' skins. The blue — emblematic of what is heavenly — the heavenly character, as flowing from priestly intercession, and indeed as connected with the priestly position — was concealed. It was for the eye of God alone. Then came the badgers' skins — signifying that holy vigilance by which Christ guarded Himself from evil. This is outside, because it is a question of passing through the wilderness where evil abounds. It teaches therefore that if the heavenly character is to be maintained, there must be unwearied watchfulness, and incessant diligence to guard ourselves — through the use of the Word — from the contaminations and pollutions which beset us on every hand.

CHAPTER 30.  THE ATONEMENT MONEY.

EXODUS 30: 11-16.

THE atonement money has been already referred to when treating of the sockets of silver under the boards of the Tabernacle. At first sight, the introduction of the subject in this place seems peculiar; but in truth it is another mark of the perfection of the design of the Spirit of God. The priests have been appointed and consecrated; the golden altar, with the manner of its service, has been described; but before Aaron can approach to burn incense, there must be a redeemed people on whose behalf he must act. For the very essence of the priesthood is that they were appointed on behalf of others. Hence, as soon as the golden altar has been given, the people are identified with the Tabernacle as represented by the atonement money. Every detail of the order of the subjects is therefore divinely arranged.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel, after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them when thou numberest them. This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls." (vv. 11-16.)

Two things appear in the first verse of this direction — the occasion, and the object of the atonement money. The occasion was — "when thou numberest the people." When they were numbered each man was brought, as it were individually before God; and this was the precise moment chosen to remind them of their condition, and of their consequent need of redemption. As long as sin is not dealt with, if God is brought into contact with men as such, He must from the very holiness of His nature take cognizance of their guilt. Hence this gracious provision. Its typical significance is simply the truth which is found in every page of Scripture; viz., that all men need a ransom for their souls. The object is "that there be no plague." For, as has been remarked, if God notices the sinner in his sins, it must be for judgment, unless he is under the protection of atonement. A striking illustration of this is found in the reign of David. The king was tempted, being proud of the strength of his armies, to have his people numbered. "Go," said he to Joab, "and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people." But he neglected the ordinance as to every man giving a ransom for his soul, and "the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people, from Dan even to Beersheba, seventy thousand men." (2 Sam. 24) This was the more remarkable from the fact that David confessed his sin immediately after the people were numbered; but though the Lord dealt with him in tender grace and compassion, and gave him the choice of the nature of the punishment, judgment could not in righteousness be avoided. The Lord's claims must be acknowledged. Every one of the people that was numbered was amenable to His righteous judgment, and this was to be acknowledged by the ransom money.

The sum to be given was half a shekel of silver (See Ex. 38: 25-28), after the shekel of the sanctuary — i.e., as explained, ten gerahs. Ten is the number of responsibility God-wards; and the lesson consequently is that man's responsibility to God as a sinner must be met. Now silver is a figure of the blood of Christ — i.e. the silver of the ransom money. Peter alludes to this when he says, "Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold . . . but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (1 Peter 1: 18, 19) It will be observed that he speaks of gold as well as silver. There is a special reason for this. On one occasion, after a striking deliverance or preservation of the people from the perils of war, so that when they were numbered it was found that there was not one lacking, gold instead of silver was offered for the ransom money. (Num. 31: 49-54.) The apostle, therefore, combines the two in contrast with, or as a type of, the blood of Christ. Our Lord Himself speaks of giving His life (and the life is in the blood) as a ransom for many. The half shekel of silver was thus a plain figure of the blood of Christ; and hence we learn that it is that precious blood alone that can meet our responsibility to God as sinners, and make atonement for our souls. It is in Christ that we have redemption — through His blood, and in no other way. This is a familiar truth, so familiar that it has become, as it were, a household word. But is there no danger of losing its significance through its very familiarity? Besides, it is against this most blessed and precious truth that all Satan's art and subtlety and malice are directed. Hence it has come to pass that many, even of the professed teachers of Christianity, have either rejected it, or are occupied in insinuating doubts concerning it. It needs to be proclaimed therefore, and repeatedly proclaimed, with increasing earnestness. But it will never be received, unless it is first understood that man both by his nature and his practice needs redemption, that he is a lost, guilty sinner, and that he cannot redeem himself, that, as the Psalmist says, "none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him." If this be first accepted, then it may be received that there is no atonement for the soul excepting by the precious blood of Christ; that without the shedding of blood there is no remission; and that it is only by the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, that all sin can be cleansed away.

Another thing demands special notice. Every man, whether rich or poor, was of precisely the same value before God. "The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less." (v. 15.) When the question of sin is raised there is no difference between man and man in the sight of God. "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Some may have gone further in outward iniquity, in open crimes; but as to state before God, all — the outwardly moral as well as the immoral, the rich as well as the poor — are sinners under condemnation. Wealth, position, attainments, or even moral character, are of no avail before God. All alike have sinned, for there is none that doeth righteousness, no, not one, and all alike need the redemption that is to be found through the blood of Christ alone. Man's heart rebels against this; but the question is, whether it is the truth of God. (See Rom. 1 - 3)

Arising out of this truth, every man had to give for himself. They shall give every man a ransom for their souls. In this matter the rich could not give for the poor, but every man for himself was to be brought into distinct and personal relationship with God as to his ransom or redemption. Unless the money of each one numbered was represented in the silver sockets, he could not be regarded as redeemed. It is so now. Every one must have a personal interest in the blood of Christ or he cannot be saved. The prayers of another will not of themselves save him, unless he is thereby, in the grace of God, led to know for himself Christ as the Redeemer. It is my own guilt, my own sins, that need to be cleansed away, and hence, unless I am under the value of the blood of Christ for myself, I am still exposed to the just judgment of a holy God. Let the reader weigh this matter, and weigh it solemnly in the presence of God, and let him not cease to weigh it until he has ascertained whether he has a claim, through faith, upon the efficacy of the precious blood of Christ. It must be a personal transaction, a personal dealing with God, and a personal interest in the blood. Then, and then only, can redemption, through the blood of Christ, be known and enjoyed.

The last thing noticed is the use made of the atonement money. (v. 16.) It was appointed for the service of the tabernacle. In fact, as already seen, it went to make the sockets of silver which formed the foundation of the sanctuary. The house of God was founded upon redemption, and the ransomed people were identified thus with it — every one of them being represented by the money which had been given, and represented therefore in all the value of that which the silver typified. The object indeed was, "that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls." The silver therefore on which the tabernacle rested testified, on behalf of the children of Israel, that atonement had been made for their souls. They might but feebly enter into this blessed fact for themselves; but the memorial was ever before the Lord, and the question then, as now, is rather, Does He look upon us as redeemed? Has He accepted our redemption price? For if He is satisfied, we also may surely rest in peace.

Thus in grace God linked the people with the tabernacle in which He Himself would dwell, and into which the priests should enter on their behalf. They might not be permitted themselves to enter, but they were all represented in the atonement money, and had therefore their memorial ever before the Lord.

CHAPTER 31. THE LAVER.

EXODUS 30: 17-21.

THE laver is the last of the sacred vessels enumerated. Together with this, the Tabernacle and its arrangements are completed. It was placed outside, in the court of the Tabernacle, between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar; i.e. between the brazen altar which was inside the entrance into the court, and the entrance into the holy place. Thus, passing the altar of burnt-offering — on their way into the Tabernacle — the priests would encounter the laver on the road. The reason of this will be shown as we proceed.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat. When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not: or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord: so they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations." (vv. 17-21.)

It will be observed that nothing is said as to the shape of the laver. All the illustrations that are given of it in works on the Tabernacle are without authority — in fact, they are purely imaginary. There is, without doubt, a divine reason for the concealment both of the shape and size, as it is the thing typified, rather than the vessel itself, to which the Spirit of God would direct our minds. The silence of Scripture is as instructive as its speech, and it is the happy privilege of the believer to bow to the one equally with the other. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." (Deut. 29: 29.)

It was made entirely of brass — both the laver and its foot. The significance of this material has been frequently explained, but may again be recalled. It is divine righteousness testing man in responsibility, and consequently testing man in the place where he is. Brass on this account is always found outside of the Tabernacle, while gold, which is divine righteousness as suited to the nature of God, is found within — in the holy place, as well as in the holy of holies. But testing man, it of necessity condemns him because he is a sinner; and hence it will be found to have associated with it a certain judicial aspect. There is another element to be specified. The laver was made out of a special character of brass, out of the brazen mirrors (see margin) used by the women who assembled at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation (Ex. 38: 8) — out of the very articles that revealed, in figure, their natural condition, and thereby showed their need of cleansing.* If the brass therefore revealed and judged the condition of those it tested, the water was there to cleanse and purify. For the water is a symbol of the Word. It is so used in John 3: 5, compared with James 1: 18 and 1 Peter 1: 23-25. It is also found in Eph. 5: 26 — in the special sense of the water of the laver.

*See, for an instructive illustration of this truth, James 1: 24, 25.

But this will be seen more fully as we consider the use of the laver. It was for Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and their feet thereat. "When they go into the Tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not," etc. It was an imperative, as well as a perpetual, obligation upon the priests to wash their hands and their feet on the occasions specified. Now, before explaining the character of this washing, it will clear the way, and aid the reader, to make a few preliminary remarks. Remark then, first, that the washing of the bodies of the priests, as at their consecration, is never repeated. It is the hands and feet only that are repeatedly to be washed in the laver. The reason of this is obvious. Washing the whole body is a figure of being born again, and this cannot be repeated. Our Lord taught this truth in John 13. In reply to Peter He said, "He that is washed" (literally, bathed; i.e. washed all over) "needeth not save to wash" (another word) "his feet, but is clean every whit." The feet, or, as in the case of the priests, the hands and the feet might be defiled and need to be cleansed again and again, but the body never, for that was cleansed once and for all in water at the new birth. Observe, secondly, that it is water and not blood in the laver. It has often been attempted to deduce from this ordinance for the priests, that the believer needs the repeated application of the blood of Christ. Such a thought is not only alien from the whole teaching of Scripture, but it also tends to undermine the efficacy of the one sacrifice of Christ. Yea, it impugns the completion of atonement, and consequently the title of Christ to an abiding seat at the right hand of God. The blood of Christ has to do with guilt, and the moment the sinner comes under its value before God he is cleansed for ever; for by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. The one object of the Spirit of God in Heb. 9 and 10 is to enforce this precious and momentous truth. That it has been lost sight of in the whole of Christendom is only too true; but the guide of the believer is not to be found in the current teachings of men, but in the immutable word of God. Whoever therefore will read the two chapters indicated — and read them with a sincere desire to understand their teaching — will at once perceive that there is never a question of the imputation of guilt to the believer, but that he is entitled to rejoice in having no more conscience of sins, if he has been once cleansed by the precious blood of Christ.

What then, it may be distinctly asked, was the nature of the cleansing at the laver? It was confined, as pointed out, to the hands and the feet. Comparing this with John 13, a difference will be observed. In the case of the disciples, the feet only were washed; in the case of Aaron and his sons, it was their hands and their feet. The difference springs from the character of the dispensations. The hands are indicated for the priests, as well as the feet, because with them work was in question: they were under law. But with the disciples the feet only are washed — because, though done before the Lord had left them, it was an action typical of the present position of believers — with whom it is no question of work, but one of walk. Let it then be repeated that the priests were never rewashed, or re-sprinkled with blood. They are looked upon as born again in figure, and as abidingly under the value of the blood. But thereafter comes the question of defilements in their service and walk. Now if there had been no provision for these, they would have been debarred from their priestly functions in the sanctuary; for how could they have gone in before God with defiled hands and feet — into the presence of Him of whom it is said, "Holiness becometh Thine house"? Hence this gracious provision of the water — symbol of the Word — that, ere they entered into the holy place, they might cleanse their hands and feet from the defilements which they had contracted.

Bearing in mind, then, the difference of the dispensations (as shown by the inclusion of the hands), the teaching of the laver corresponds entirely with that of John 13. That is, it is a question of cleansing from defilements. We find thus our Lord seated with His disciples, and it is said, "having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." (v. 1.) This statement is significant on two accounts; first, as showing that it was a dealing with those who belonged to Him; and secondly, as revealing the motive of the ministry which He was about to perform, that indeed it flowed from His unchanging heart of love. "During supper" (not "supper being ended the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself." (vv. 2-4.) The meaning of this action was — that as He could not continue longer with them, for He was going to God, He would show them how they might have part with Him in the place to which He was going. They had been washed (v. 10); but in their passage through the world their feet would be defiled, and thereby, unless, as in the case of the priests, provision were made for their cleansing, they would be unable to have part with Him (v. 8) — they would be unable to enjoy communion either with the Father, or His Son Jesus Christ. Hence He reveals to them, by this symbolic act of washing their feet, how He by His ministry on their behalf would remove the defilements they might contract. There are three points in the act to be noticed. First, having laid aside His garments — emblematic of His departure from this world — He took a towel and girded Himself — an act expressive of His service on behalf of His own. Then, secondly, He poured water into a basin. Water is also here a symbol of the Word. Lastly, He began to wash His disciples' feet — i.e. to apply the Word so as to effect their cleansing. Bearing this in mind, we shall easily understand what answers to this in Christ's present ministry for His people — the truth really set forth by the laver. The apostle John says, "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous," etc. (1 John 2: 1.) The context shows that this is stated of those who have eternal life and are brought into fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. It is also clear that there is no necessity that such should sin. "These things write I unto you, that ye sin not;" and then he adds, "If any man sin." The advocacy of Christ with the Father is therefore for believers — and a provision for sin after conversion — God's means of removing the defilements thus incurred. If, then, a believer sins (there is never any question of the imputation of guilt, but) his communion is interrupted; and this can never more be enjoyed until the sin is removed — forgiven. As soon as he sins, Christ as the Advocate undertakes his cause, intercedes for him. An illustration of this is found in Luke. "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." (Luke 22: 31, 32.) It is so now — as soon as, not before, the sin is committed Christ intercedes; and the answer to His intercession is the application of the word through the Holy Ghost, sooner or later, to the conscience. An illustration of this point also is found in the same gospel. After Peter had denied His Lord as he had been forewarned, there was no sense of his sin, not even when he heard the cock crow, until the Lord looked upon him. (Luke 22: 61.) This reached his conscience, broke his heart, as we may say, so that he went out and wept bitterly. In like manner, when the believer falls into sin, he would never repent if it were not for the intercession of the Advocate; and, as a matter of fact, he does not repent until, in response to the prayer of the Advocate, the word, like the look upon Peter, used by the Holy Spirit, reaches the conscience and lays bare the character of his sin before God. Then he is at once bowed in the place of self-judgment, and confesses his sin. This leads to the next and final stage. Confessing his sin, he finds that God "is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1: 9); and, his soul restored, he is able once more to enter the tabernacle, or, in other words, to enjoy again fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

This truth — the truth really of the laver — is of all importance for the believer. It is essential, in the first place, to know that we are cleansed once and for ever as to guilt. But learning this, it is equally essential to understand that if sins after conversion are unconfessed and unjudged, we are shut out from communion with God, disqualified for priestly service and Worship; and not only so, but that if we remain in this state, sooner or later God will deal with us, in answer to the intercession of Christ, to bring our sins to remembrance. The advocacy of Christ therefore meets the need of the believer — being, as it is, God's gracious provision for our sins — for the removal of our defilements, so that we may be free to go in, without let or hindrance, into His immediate presence for worship and praise. One thing more may be added. Aaron and his sons were always to wash at the laver when they entered into the tabernacle. This may teach us our need of continual self-judgment. How often are we hindered in prayer, worship, and service from neglect of this. There has been some failure, and we have not recalled it, or carried it into God's presence for confession and humiliation; and hence, even if unwittingly, we have been entering the tabernacle with defiled feet. As a consequence we have been made to realize our coldness and constraint, our inability to occupy our priestly position. May we never therefore forget the use of the laver — our constant need of having our feet washed by the loving ministry of our Advocate with the Father!

CHAPTER 32. THE HOLY ANOINTING OIL AND THE SWEET SPICES.

EXODUS 30: 22-38.

THE Tabernacle, with its sacred symbols, has now been completely detailed. Two things only are wanting — the anointing oil and the sweet spices.

"Moreover, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of oil olive an hin: and thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil. And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony, and the table and all his vessels, and the candlestick and his vessels, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt-offering with all his vessels, and the laver and his foot. And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatsoever toucheth them shall be holy. And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister unto Me in the priest's office. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, This shall be an holy anointing oil unto Me throughout your generations. Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured; neither shall ye make any other like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be holy unto you. Whosoever compoundeth any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices, with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: and thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: and thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy. And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to the composition thereof: it shall be unto thee holy for the Lord. Whosoever shall make like unto that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people." (vv. 22-38.)

The oil of holy ointment is given first. It was compounded, according to divine direction, from myrrh, cinnamon, sweet calamus, and cassia in their several proportions, mixed with an hin of olive oil. (vv. 23, 24.) The Psalmist, speaking of the Messiah, says, "All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia;" and in the preceding verse he says, "God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy Fellows." (Ps. 40: 7,8.) This will help us to understand the typical meaning of the holy anointing oil. The spices, then, speak of the graces of Christ. His very garments smell of these sweet perfumes. But they were mingled with oil, and oil, as has been frequently stated, is a figure of the Holy Ghost. Combining, then, these two things together, we learn that the graces of Christ — the moral fragrance of His excellencies — were expressed in the power of the Holy Ghost.

This holy anointing oil was used to anoint the tabernacle, the ark, and all the sacred vessels, the priests, etc. (vv. 26-30.) First, the tabernacle, etc., were anointed. This is of great significance. For looking at the tabernacle as the house of God, the scene of His manifestation, and the place of priestly service and worship, the fact that everything was anointed with the holy oil teaches that everything connected with the house of God, its regulation and service, all the priestly work carried on in it (see 1 Peter 2: 5), must be ordered in the power of the Holy Ghost, and that when so ordered it will be expressive of the sweet fragrance of Christ to God. For indeed it is in the power of the Spirit that God reveals Himself, and it is in the power of the Holy Ghost alone that worship and service can be rendered. If therefore everything connected with the house of God were arranged even according to His own word, and yet the holy anointing oil — the power of the Holy Spirit — were lacking, it could not be acceptable to Him. Notice also the effect — everything is sanctified, becomes through the anointing "most holy," so that whatever touches anything on which the oil has been put should likewise be deemed holy. (v. 29.) This is the effect of the action of the Spirit of God. Whatever His power rests upon is set apart for God, and everything that comes under His action, even by contact, is also claimed as holy. The whole sphere of His action is sanctified. (See 1 Cor. 7: 14.)

Aaron and his sons were also anointed. The significance of this has been explained in the consecration of the priests. But there is a special reason for its being introduced here in connection with the tabernacle. It is to point out — to emphasize — that the essential qualification for priestly service is the anointing and power of the Holy Ghost. Every other qualification may be possessed — born again, robed, and under the value of the blood; but if there be not, in addition to these things, the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the priestly position cannot be truly occupied. Even our blessed Lord Himself is said to have been anointed with the Holy Ghost, and with power (Acts 10: 38), and all who are His must be so likewise if they would enjoy the privileges into which they have been introduced. The lesson is needful in a day of incessant activity, and of legal service on every hand. Let it then be ever remembered that, though children of God, we can neither worship nor serve apart from the present power and action of the Holy Spirit. (See John 4: 24; Phil. 3: 3.)

There are two warnings. First, "Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured." (v. 32.) This teaches that the Spirit of God cannot rest upon or dwell in the natural man. It is in direct violation of this truth that in ecclesiastical ordination unconverted men are professedly endowed with the gift of the Holy Ghost. The anointing is never received until after the new birth and known forgiveness of sins. When we are justified by faith, and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, we are both anointed and sealed. (See Rom. 5: 1-5; 2 Cor. 1: 21, 22.) Secondly, no imitation of this anointing oil was to be made under the penalty of death. (v. 33.) It is thus a heinous sin to imitate the action of the Spirit. Ananias and Sapphira did this when they professed to devote the whole proceeds of the property they had sold to the Lord's service. (Acts 5) The same penalty, observe, was attached to putting it upon a stranger, upon those who had no title to it. God is holy, and He jealously guards His sovereign rights, and cannot but visit any infringement of them with punishment. If He seems now to pass by such sins unnoticed, it is owing to the character of the present dispensation — being one of grace; but the sins themselves are no less in His sight.

The sweet spices were also made into a perfume by divine direction, and will mean, as in the former case, the graces, the moral fragrance of Christ to God. It appears from Ex. 25: 6 compared with Ex. 35: 8, that these spices formed the sweet incense which was burnt upon the golden altar, as also indeed from the direction that it should be put "before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee." (v. 36.) This being the case, there is the additional thought that the graces of Christ were brought out through the action of the holy fire; that His exposure to the judgment of God's holiness (fire) upon the cross, as there made sin, did but bring out all that was most precious and fragrant to God. He was indeed never more precious in His eyes, His perfections were never more fully displayed, than when He proved His obedience to the uttermost in the very place of sin. Hence He could say, "Therefore doth My Father love me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again." It was for God's glory that He passed through the fire of judgment, and in doing so all the "sweet spices" of His moral graces and the perfection of His entire devotedness were brought out, and ascended up as a sweet savour to God. On this account — because of the preciousness of its typical significance — it was to be beaten very small (for the more it was beaten the more was its fragrance emitted), and put before the testimony of the tabernacle of the congregation, where Jehovah met with Moses. Moses as the mediator would thus be before God in all the acceptability of this holy perfume; and hence God could meet him in grace, and communicate to him His mind and will for His people.

There is also in connection with this a warning with a penalty. None was to be made like it. This perfume was "most holy," "holy for the Lord." Whosoever therefore should make any like it, to smell thereto, should be cut off from his people. (v. 38.) Counterfeits of the graces of Christ, and finding satisfaction in these, are both an abomination before God. Just as we have seen that the lord guards against any imitation of the action or the power of the Holy Spirit, so here He also warns against any imitation of the fragrance and preciousness of Christ. Man can neither do the one or the other — whatever his pretences. But such is the subtlety of our hearts that we often deceive ourselves, as well as others, into the acceptance of the sweetnesses of nature, its grace and amiability, as the work of the Holy Ghost, as resemblances to Christ. There can be no likeness to Christ except as the result of the work of the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit, as we have seen, is the gift of God. It would be, therefore, hypocrisy of the worst stamp to present knowingly to others any natural qualities, any human graces, the effect of training or cultivation, as the product of the Holy Ghost. Nothing can please God, and nothing should please us, which has not been wrought out by His Spirit for the glory of Christ.

CHAPTER 33.  QUALIFICATIONS FOR SERVICE.

EXODUS 31.

ALL the details of the Tabernacle have now been given. One thing only remains — the provision for the execution of the various commands which Moses had received * Both alike proceed from the Lord; for all must be of grace.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee: the tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy-seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle, and the table and his furniture, and the pure candlestick with all his furniture, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt-offering with all his furniture, and the laver and his foot, and the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office, and the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do." (vv. 1-11)

We learn then from this scripture two things. First, that God alone can designate His servants for their work; and secondly, that He alone can qualify them for the service to which they are called. Both these points deserve special attention. It will be remarked that both Bezaleel and Aholiab are divinely named. They were distinguished by name, and called. This principle runs through all dispensations. The apostle adduces it when speaking of the priesthood of Christ. He says, "So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made an high priest; but He that said unto Him, Thou art My Son, today have I begotten Thee. As He saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." (Heb. 5: 5, 6.) In like manner he speaks of himself as "an apostle by the will of God." (1 Cor. 1: 1; 2 Cor. 1: 1, etc.) This is a point of great moment; for it were worse than presumption to intrude into the things of God uncalled and unsent. It is true that God does not call His servants by name in this dispensation — at least since the days of the apostle Paul; but every servant should look to be divinely certified as to his work, to be undoubtingly assured that he is doing, whatever he may be engaged in, the divine will. Such a conviction is the source both of confidence and courage. The Lord thus speaks to Joshua, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." (Joshua 1: 9.) The essence of all service, indeed, lies in obedience; for if I am not doing God's will it is not service. The Lord Himself characterizes the whole of His life of service as obedience: "I came down from heaven," He says, "not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." (John 6: 38.) It should therefore be our first concern to ascertain whether we have been sent by the Lord, whether we have been called to our work and service, like Bezaleel and Aholiab; and if we are found sitting at the feet of the Lord, His mind in this respect will soon be revealed.

But the second thing is, that called by name they were filled with the Spirit of God, and made dependent on the Lord for wisdom and understanding, to execute the work entrusted to their care. Man's wisdom is of no avail in the service of God. "The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men." The apostle Paul says, If any man thinks himself to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. It is on this account that intellectual men — men who lean to their own understanding — exhibit oftentimes nothing but folly when dealing with divine things. But it is the servants of God who have the most need to remember this truth. How often are they tempted to bring their own reason, or understanding, to bear upon the Scriptures, or upon the difficulties in the church of God — to their own confusion. If, however, it were remembered that there can be no understanding or wisdom apart from God — none whatever, excepting as received of Him, they would be kept in constant dependence — the only condition of its reception. It would produce waiting on God rather than activity — activity surely when the word for action has been given — but waiting in order to obtain the needful wisdom for the service required. Another thing may be added. The proof of divine wisdom in service is that the thing done is according to the word of God. "According to all that I have commanded thee shall they do." The word therefore is both the guide of the servant and the test of his service — the proof of its being done with divine wisdom according to the divine mind. No discretion whatever was left to Bezaleel and Aholiab. There was no classification of the articles to be made, or of the materials to be wrought, into things essential and non-essential. There is not the slightest trace of a single thing being left to their own thoughts or imagination. On the other hand, nothing was left to their own wisdom. Everything was to be done according to the commands given to Moses. It was not open to Bezaleel to work after one, and Aholiab after another pattern. Both alike were bound in the most minute detail by specific directions from God. This fact needs to be emphasized in a day when even Christians are contending for liberty to do every man according to that which is right in his own eyes. The various sects of Christendom, with their manifold ecclesiastical polities, show that they have been formed by no Bezaleels and Aholiabs, but rather by those who have received no divine commission, and endowed with no spirit of wisdom and understanding. For they will not bear the test of the word of God, and on this account have to be rejected by all who have heard the word, "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." (1 Sam. 15: 22.) It is then in this direction that any recovery must begin, where all is in ruin, and where everything is stamped with declension and departure from the word of God. We must begin by refusing everything that will not stand the divine test, and then we must seek, spite of our weakness and confusion, to order everything according to the mind and will of God.

Once more the sabbath is enjoined.

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed." (vv. 12-17.)

As one has said, "The sabbath is always found whenever there is any principle whatever of relationship established between the people and God: it is the result proposed in every relation between God and His people, that they enter into His rest." The meaning of the sabbath has been expounded before, but its continual injunction as revealing the heart of God cannot be overlooked. He knew what His people were, and how they would always fail under responsibility, so that, in this sense, He was never disappointed in the result. On the other hand, the annexation of the sabbath to every relationship between Himself and the people shows how earnestly (if such human language may be employed) He longed that His people should enter into the consummation of His purposes for them, and have the enjoyment of blessed fellowship with Himself in sharing His rest. The rest of God is what the sabbath signifies, and this was the goal God proposed to His people. That they never entered into it we know, and it is fully stated in Hebrews 4; but His purposes never fail, and hence what is lost under responsibility will be established according to His own counsels of grace. There remaineth therefore a rest (a sabbath-keeping) for the people of God; and all who believe will enter into that rest — the object and result of all the counsels and ways of God with respect to His people. We therefore of this dispensation are, even as the children of Israel, pilgrims in the wilderness, journeying on to the rest of which God has spoken; but under the leadership of the Captain of our salvation, we cannot fail of its possession.

The chapter, and this section of the book, concludes by the record of the giving the two tables of testimony. "And He gave unto Moses, when He had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God." (v. 18.) It is necessary to recall that all the instructions from chapter 24 to this point were given in the mount. Moses had been alone with the Lord. The Lord had been "communing with him" concerning the revelation of His mind for the people. Having ended, He gave him the two tables of stone, containing the terms of the covenant which He had made with His people. Moses has described this elsewhere. He says, "The Lord delivered unto me two tables of stone, written with the finger of God: and on them was written according to all the words which the Lord spake with you in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant." (Deut. 9: 10, 11) It appears therefore that the contents of the two tables were the ten "words," or commandments, spoken in Exodus 20, but now written by the finger of God — the commandments which Israel undertook to keep as the condition of blessing. They abandoned the ground of grace on which they had been put after they had crossed the Red Sea, and of themselves, and for themselves, on God's proposal, undertook the responsibility of obedience. Moses had been forty days and forty nights in the mount, during which he neither ate nor drank (see Deut. 9: 9), being as it were in a state above nature, in order to be able to become the channel of God's communications for His people. The flesh must not intrude, must indeed be set aside, and in some sort nature also, if we would hear the voice of God. The reader will not fail to remember the case of Elijah (1 Kings 19: 8), and also that of our blessed Lord — both of whom, like Moses, fasted forty days and forty nights. But as has been remarked by another, "The Lord Jesus must in all things have the pre-eminence. Moses, naturally far off, is separated from his natural state in order to draw near unto God. Christ was naturally near, and more than near; He separated Himself from nature to meet the adversary on behalf of man." This contrast is most significant, and shows plainly that the most devoted of the servants of God can be no more than a shadow of (typifying even by contrast) the excellency of Christ. (Compare also the case of the apostle John in Rev. 1: 10.)

CHAPTER 34. APOSTASY, MEDIATION, AND RESTORATION.

EXODUS 32 - 34.

THE Lord had been occupied with the blessing of His people, giving instructions for the erection of His sanctuary that He might dwell in their midst. Moses was on high to receive these communications of His grace. The Lord was "communing" with His servant concerning the establishment of the precious things connected with the relationship on which He had entered in grace with Israel. But even while He was thus engaged, sin and even apostasy are witnessed in the camp at the foot of Sinai. Above, all is light and blessing; below, all is darkness and evil.

"And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings, and brought peace-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play." (vv. 1-6.)

There is a striking resemblance, in one aspect, between this scene and that witnessed at the foot of the mount of transfiguration. In both alike Satan holds full sway. In the one before us it is the nation who have fallen under his power, in the other it is the child whom he has possessed; but the child again is a type of the Jewish nation of a later day. The absence of Christ on high (shown in figure also by Moses on Sinai) is the opportunity seized by Satan — under God's permission — for the display of his wicked power, and man (Israel) in the evil of his heart becomes his wretched slave. But it should be observed that Satan, whatever his activity, can never forestall God. He may seek to thwart, and he may appear to succeed in postponing the accomplishment of, but he can never frustrate, the purposes of God. Thus, in the scene before us, the Lord had made an end of communing with Moses (Ex. 31: 18), and had arranged everything according to His will, before the people fell into sin. It is so throughout the whole of the Scriptures. Satan, having no foresight, is always a day behind; so that if he seem to gain a momentary success, it is only to expose himself in the end to a more crushing defeat. This fact should encourage the hearts of believers while waiting for the moment, which will come "shortly," when the God of peace shall bruise Satan under their feet.

The act of the people is no less than open apostasy. Its several features may be briefly indicated. First, they forgot and abandoned the Lord. Secondly, they attributed their deliverance from Egypt to Moses: they described him as "the man that brought us out of Egypt." Finally, they fell into idolatry. They wanted visible gods — testifying against themselves that they were "children in whom was no faith." Aaron fell with them — apparently without a struggle. The man who had been designated to the priestly office, the one who was to enjoy the privilege of entering into the holy of holies to minister before the Lord, became the instrument, if not the leader, of their wicked rebellion. Priest and people alike accept the evil inspiration of Satan, and worship the gods which their own hands had made; and they cried, as they worshipped, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." Another thing should be remarked, Aaron seeks to conceal the shame of their idolatry by putting the Lord's name upon it. Having built an altar, he made proclamation, and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to JEHOVAH." This is just what an apostate Christendom has done. Having set up their idols, they call it the worship of the Lord; and thereby souls are deluded into acceptance of that which is really an abomination before God. What was this golden calf? It was, Aaron would have said, but a symbol of Jehovah. So Romanists and Ritualists argue, and they thus dignify their idolatry with the name of Christ and Christianity. This scene therefore — picture on the one hand, it may be, of the last state of the Jews, which will be worse than the first, is no less instructive, on the other, for the present day. In fact, Israel rejected Jehovah, and His servant Moses. They became apostate, and apostasy is the only word which expresses the true condition of modern Christendom, which, while owning the name, really rejects the authority of Christ at the right hand of God.

It was no wonder that the wrath of the Lord waxed hot against His people.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people: now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation." (vv. 7-10.)

Israel had indeed exposed themselves to the righteous judgment of God. They had voluntarily promised obedience to God's law as the condition of blessing; and the covenant had been sealed by the sprinkling of blood — emblem of death — as the penalty of its breach. This penalty they had now incurred. God no longer therefore treats them as His people. They had rejected Him, and had spoken of Moses as the man who had brought them up out of Egypt; and the Lord takes them on their own ground. Hence He says to Moses, "Thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves," etc. (v. 7.) Then, after describing their sin, He announced His solemn judgment: "I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people: now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation." (vv. 9, 10.) Thus Israel, if dealt with according to the righteous requirements of the law which they had accepted, and to which they had promised obedience as the condition of blessing, were lost beyond recovery, and would perish through their own wilful sin and apostasy.

The announcement which the Lord had made evoked from the heart of Moses an intercession of unparalleled beauty and force. The Lord had said, "I will make of thee a great nation." but in his magnificent love for his people, losing sight of himself, and utterly disregarding what might be termed his own interests, he thinks only of the Lord's glory, and the misery of Israel. Through grace he was enabled to take up the true place of a mediator; and he pours out his whole soul in his pleading intercession. The character of his appeal is most noteworthy. He does not for one moment extenuate the sin of the people — this he could not do: nor does he entreat for mercy, for there was no room for mercy in the covenant of Sinai. What he does therefore is to throw himself upon God — and upon what His glory necessitated in connection with the people He had redeemed. First, he urges the dishonour that would be done to His name among the Egyptians, if Israel should be destroyed. He reminds Jehovah of the link established with His people through redemption. God had said to Moses, "thy" people; but Moses pleads that they are "His" people. He will not accept the breaking of the link, but cries, "Lord, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people, which Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did He bring them out?" etc. (vv. 11, 12.) Spite of their shameful apostasy, the plea of Moses was that they were still God's people, and that His glory was concerned in sparing them — lest the enemy should boast over their destruction, and thereby over the Lord Himself. In itself it was a plea of irresistible force. Joshua uses one of a like character when the Israelites were smitten before Ai. He says, "The Canaanites, and all the inhabitants of the land, shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt Thou do unto Thy great name?" (Joshua 7: 9.) In both cases it was faith taking hold of God, identifying itself with His own glory, and claiming on that ground the response to its desires — a plea that God can never refuse. But Moses has another. In the energy of his intercession — fruit surely of the action of the Spirit of God — he goes back to the absolute and unconditional promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, reminding the Lord of the two immutable things in which it was impossible for Him to lie. (Heb. 6: 18.) A more beautiful example of prevailing intercession is not found in the Scriptures. Indeed, in the emergency which had arisen, everything depended on the mediator, and in His grace God had provided one who could stand in the breach, and plead his people's cause — not on the ground of what they were, for by their sin they were exposed to the righteous indignation of a holy God — but on the ground of what God was, and on that of His counsels revealed and confirmed to the patriarchs, both by oath and promise. The Lord heard and "repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people." What encouragement to faith! If ever there was an occasion when it seemed impossible that prayer should be heard it was this; but the faith of Moses rose above all difficulties, and grasping the hand of Jehovah, claimed His help; and, inasmuch as He could not deny Himself, the prayer of Moses was granted. Surely the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

"And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides: on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome; but the noise of them that sing do I hear. And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it of. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf." (vv. 15-24.)

The covenant of Sinai had been broken — broken irretrievably. Still Moses took the two tables of stone with him, as he turned from the presence of the Lord to go down to the camp; and the Spirit of God takes occasion from this circumstance to call attention to its divine and perfect character. "The tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables." (v. 16.) All was divine — divine in its origin, and divine in its execution. But these divine tables of the law never reached the camp. It was impossible. The people had made a complete breach between themselves and God; and there could be therefore no further question of obedience on the ground of pure law. They might be objects of mercy in response to intercession, but as open transgressors they had broken the covenant which they had so readily accepted, and had now become idolators. Joshua thought it was a noise of war he had heard in the camp; but Moses, who had been so long in the presence of God, was more quick to discern the true character of the sounds that reached their ears. "And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount." Remark, how completely Moses had fellowship with the Lord's own mind concerning His people. The Lord's anger had waxed hot against them, and though Moses as mediator had pleaded with Him on this account, yet his own anger waxed hot when he descended and saw the golden calf. If, therefore, he broke the tables of the law, it was only the expression of the necessity which had arisen on account of what the people had done with the covenant, and the act, at the same time, was in entire conformity with the mind of God. To quote the language of another, "His exercised ear, quick to discern how matters stood with the people, hears their light and profane joy. Soon after he sees the golden calf, which had even preceded the tabernacle of God in the camp, and he breaks the tables at the foot of the mount; and, zealous on high for the people towards God because of His glory, he is below on earth zealous for God because of that same glory. For faith does more than see that God is glorious (every reasonable person would own that); it connects the glory of God and His people, and hence counts on God to bless them in every state of things, as in the interest of His glory, and insists on holiness in them at all cost, in conformity with that glory, that it may not be blasphemed in those who are identified with it." These are true and weighty words, and should sink deep into the hearts of the Lord's people in a day like this — when the "camp" of professing Christianity presents an appearance not unlike that which Moses beheld when he came down from the mount; and they should be much pondered over by those of the Lord's servants who have it laid upon them to act for Him in any difficulties, and indeed by all who would be truly identified with the interests of Christ, in the church. For unless we are first zealous before God on behalf of His people, we cannot be zealous for His glory when dealing with His people below.

Moses in the next place deals with Aaron — charges him with bringing so great a sin upon the people. An additional circumstance, which may help us to understand this, is found in Deuteronomy. There Moses says, "And the Lord was very angry with Aaron, to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time." (Deut. 9: 20.) He is undoubtedly looked upon as the responsible head of the people during the absence of Moses, hence the special guilt with which he is charged; and it is evident from the narrative that he was not slow to fall in with the people's desires. As with Israel so with Aaron — both are spared through the intercession of Moses from the governmental consequences of their sin, but the guilt of the sin as toward God remained. This distinction must be carefully borne in mind, or the judgment afterward executed might seem inconsistent with the statement that "the Lord repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people." The nation would have been destroyed but for the intercession of Moses, as the result of God's government on the basis of the law of Sinai. Delivered from this consequence, God was still free to deal with them — as we find, at the close of the chapter, that "the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made." Aaron is distinguished in these words; for, occupying the position he did, he is regarded as specially criminal. His answer to Moses reveals the heart of a convicted sinner. As Adam threw the blame upon Eve, and Eve upon the serpent, so Aaron shelters himself behind the people. It was true that they were "set on mischief;" but his sin lay in helping them to their object. He should have died rather than have yielded to their desires. His weakness — often exhibited, spite of the favour and grace of the Lord — was his shame and guilt.

Moses, seeing that the people were naked (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies), turns from the excuses of his brother, and burning with a holy zeal for the Lord, stood in the gate of the camp, and cried, "Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me." It was no time for concealment of the evil or for compromise. When there is open apostasy there can be no neutrality. Neutrality when the question is between God and Satan is itself apostasy. He that is not with the Lord, at such a time, is against Him. And mark, moreover, that this cry is raised in the midst of those who were the Lord's professing people. They were all Israelites. But now there must be a separation, and the challenge of Moses, "Who is on the Lord's side?" makes all manifest. He became the Lord's centre; and hence to gather to Him was to be for, to refuse his call was to be against, the Lord. What was the effect of his summons? Why that of all the tribes of Israel, Levi only was found faithful. "The sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him." Theirs was the distinguished honour — through the grace of God — of being on the Lord's side when the. whole camp was in utter rebellion. How precious the fidelity of Levi must have been in the eyes of the Lord. It would seem indeed from Deuteronomy that the Lord claimed them for the special service of the Tabernacle in connection with their conduct at this time. Moses says, "At that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord, to minister unto Him, and to bless in His name, unto this day. Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren: the Lord is his inheritance, according as the Lord thy God promised him." (Deut. 10: 8, 9.) It was indeed no common fidelity; for no sooner had they responded to the call of Moses than they were commanded, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that He may bestow upon you a blessing this day." (vv. 27, 28.)

Thus Levi alone responded to the divine call, separating themselves from their idolatrous brethren, and unhesitatingly taking part with God against the iniquity of His people. It was a searching trial — a trial which demanded that Levi should put aside every claim of the flesh, yea, that he should, in the words of Moses, say to "his father and to his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed Thy word, and kept Thy covenant." (Deut. 33: 9.) It was obedience at all costs to the divine call, and hence complete separation from the evil into which Israel had fallen. God often tests His people in the same way; and whenever confusion and declension have begun, the only path for the godly is that which is marked out by the course of Levi — that of full-hearted, unquestioning obedience. Such a path must be painful — involving for those who take it the surrender of some of the most intimate associations of their lives, and breaking many a tie of nature — of kindred and relationship; but it is the only path of blessing. Well may all challenge their hearts, and inquire, if in this evil day they are found apart from all that dishonours the Lord's name in subjection to His word.

Moses on the next day returned to the Lord in the mount.

"And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold; yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin -; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written. And the lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book. Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, Mine angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them." (vv. 30-34.)

First, he charges the people with their sin, and then, in his love for the people, proposes to go on their behalf into the Lord's presence, saying, "Peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin." The contrast between Moses and the Lord Jesus in this respect has been beautifully drawn by another. He says, "What a contrast do we here remark, in passing, with the work of our precious Saviour! He, coming down from above — from His dwelling-place in the glory of the Father — to do His will; and, while keeping the law (instead of destroying the tables, the signs of this covenant, the requirements of which man was unable to meet), He Himself bears the penalty of its infringement; and having accomplished the atonement before returning above, instead of going up with a cheerless 'peradventure' in His mouth, which the holiness of God instantly nullified, He ascends with the sign of the accomplishment of the atonement, and of the confirmation of the new covenant with His precious blood, the value of which was anything but doubtful to that God before whom He presented it." True, Moses was a mediator, but as such it is in the contrast rather that he typifies Christ in this character.

But he returned, confessed his people's sin, and pleaded in the intensity of his affection for their forgiveness. Even more — he could not go farther — he added, "If not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written." So fully had he identified himself with the people — source of all strength in intercession when produced by the Spirit of God — that if they were unforgiven he desired to perish with them. It was the overflowing of his intense love for guilty Israel, as in the not dissimilar case of the apostle Paul, who said, "I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." (Rom. 9: 3.) God did not accede to the request of His servant, for he had no accomplished atonement on which to take his stand, nor had he wherewith to make atonement — the only basis on which a holy God could righteously forgive His people. But his intercession prevailed so far as to secure the people from the governmental consequences of their sin — their destruction as the penalty of their transgression. While however they were spared in the long-suffering of the Lord, He put them back individually under responsibility with the words, "Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My book." (v. 33.) Thereon He commanded Moses to go, and to lead the people to the place He had promised, saying, "Mine angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made." It is not now Jehovah dwelling in their midst, but an angel to go before them, and the people still under just judgment because of their sin. This change, producing a new action and intercession on the part of Moses, is developed as to its consequences in the next chapter.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it., and I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people; lest I consume thee in the way. And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned; and no man did put on him his ornaments. For the Lord had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiff-necked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by the mount Horeb." (vv. 1-6.)

Several points in this statement should be noticed, as indicative of the position which the people now occupied. In the first place, the Lord did not yet take back the people into that relationship with Himself which they had forfeited through their transgression. They had rejected Him, and He keeps them as it were on that footing. He thus still says to Moses, "Thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt." Secondly, He promises them the land notwithstanding; this had been secured by the first intercession of Moses, when he appealed to the absolute and unconditional promises made to the patriarchs. (32: 13.) But, thirdly, He announces that He will not go up in their midst: "For," said He, "thou art a stiff-necked people; lest I consume thee in the way." A holy God, to speak after the manner of men, knew not how He could now dwell in the midst of a nation of transgressors. Lastly, He threatens judgment, and commands the people to strip off their ornaments that He might know what to do with them. God weighs, as it were, the condition of His poor people, and pauses before He smites, seeing that they mourned — humbled by their sin — at the tidings they had received. It is a striking if solemn, scene — the people stripped of their adornments, awaiting the judgment pronounced in bitterness and sorrow of heart; and the Lord pausing before the blow is struck.

But He who pronounced judgment upon the people for their sins, provided a way for their escape through a new action on the part of Moses. First of all, he pitched the tabernacle outside the camp.

"And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and [the Lord] talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle." (vv. 7-11.)

It does not appear that Moses, in pitching the tabernacle* outside the camp, was acting under any direct commandment from the Lord. It was rather spiritual discernment, entering into both the character of God and the state of the people. Taught of God, he feels that Jehovah could no longer dwell in the midst of a camp which had been defiled by the presence of the golden calf. He therefore made a place outside, afar off from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of the congregation. This was a totally different thing from what the Lord had said unto Moses: "Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them." They were no longer to be the Lord's people — grouped round about Himself as their centre; but He being outside, "every one who sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp." It thus became an individual thing; and the true worshippers were in the place of separation — they took the ground of separation from the camp which had acknowledged a false god. This gives a principle of the utmost value and importance. For it must be remembered that Israel professedly were the Lord's people; but their condition had become such that the Lord could no longer be in their midst. So it was in a later day, as we gather from the epistle to the Hebrews; and hence the exhortation which is there given, "Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach." (Heb. 13: 13.) Whenever the Lord's name is dishonoured, and His authority is rejected, and another authority is substituted, there is no resource for the godly but to go outside of all that answers to the camp, if they would worship God in spirit and in truth. And it should be carefully remarked that, as in the case of Moses, the need for such separation is a matter of spiritual discernment. There are times and seasons — and those who have a single eye will not fail to apprehend them — when it becomes a high and holy privilege, as in the case of Levi at the end of the previous chapter, to take part with the Lord against His people, at least in testimony against their ways; and, as in the case of Moses, to take a place outside of all the declension, rejection of the Lord's authority, and idolatrous practices of His people. In taking such a step there must undoubtedly be the authority of the word of God — the only light to our feet in the darkness around, as it is our only resource in the evil day. But the application of the word to any given state of things must be a matter of spiritual wisdom and discernment through the Spirit of God.

*The reader will understand that this was not the Tabernacle, the pattern and details of which had been prescribed to Moses in the mount, but a tent which was now to be a tabernacle — a meeting-place between God and those who sought Him, pitched to meet the present need outside the camp in consequence of the people's sin.

The tabernacle having been pitched, Moses, in the sight of all the people, went out and entered into it; and, as he entered, the Lord immediately endorsed his act of faith, for the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and He talked with Moses. (v. 9.) Being in separation from the camp, the Lord revealed Himself as He had not done before, and so strikingly that the people "rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend." This was a totally new thing, altogether different from the sublime communications of Sinai. It was an intimacy of approach and communion which Moses had never before enjoyed. The Lord Himself alludes to this as the distinguishing privilege of His servant, when vindicating him from the aspersions of Aaron and Miriam. (Num. 12: 5-8.) This fact is full of consolation — teaching as it does that, though ruin, and even apostasy, may characterize the professing people of God, a way into His presence may still be found by those who can enter into His mind, and are enabled by His grace to take a place outside of the corruptions by which they are surrounded; and that the Lord will reveal Himself to such, in response to their faith and faithfulness, in a most special and gracious way. The fact is, identified with the corruptions of an apostate people, we of necessity share their condition and even judgment; but apart according to the mind of the Lord, the barrier to the manifestation of Himself is removed. We are on a different footing — on the footing of individual faith and individual condition of soul. But then it must be remembered, that all who so act will find themselves together gathered individually around a new centre. The act of Moses indeed is, in some sort, the anticipation of that word, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt. 18: 20.) And this assurance is the resource of the godly in this day of confusion and corruption, as the tabernacle of the congregation without the camp was that of those who sought the Lord in the midst of Israel's idolatry; and those who, in simplicity and faith, have recourse to it will receive, as Moses did, special manifestations of the Lord's favour and presence.

The act of Moses having been accepted, he returned to the camp — now the recognised mediator; but Joshua, type of Christ in spirit, as the leader of His people, remains in the tabernacle. Thereon Moses as mediator commences his intercession. He accepts the place into which the Lord had put him — as the one appointed to conduct the people to the promised inheritance. (v. 1.) He takes this ground as the basis of his plea.

"And Moses said unto the Lord, See, Thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and Thou hast not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me. Yet Thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in My sight. Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, show me now Thy way, that I may know Thee, that I may find grace in Thy sight; and consider that this nation is Thy people." (vv. 12, 13.)

He makes supplication in the first place for himself. He desires first to know whom the Lord would send with him. God had said that He would send an angel (v. 2); but Moses would know more; and he pleads for this knowledge on the ground that the Lord had said to him, "I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in My sight." Furthermore, he would know God's way, that he might know Him, that he might find grace in His sight. And then he brings the people before God. As everything now depended on Moses, as mediator, he presents his own cause first; and then he introduces the people. "Consider," he touchingly prays, "that this nation is Thy people." All this is exceedingly beautiful, as it is also full of interest and instruction. It was not enough for Moses that he had been divinely appointed to lead Israel, and that an angel should go before him in the path, but he desired to know, not his but God's way through the wilderness, that he might also know Him. He could not be satisfied short of knowing God and God's way — if he were to lead up the people. This is what every believer needs, and there is nothing beyond while in the wilderness.

The Lord graciously accepted the prayer of His servant. He said, "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." This was a full response to the cry of the mediator, and all that he needed to carry him and the people through their desert path. This comforted and emboldened his heart — and he replied, "If Thy presence go not, carry us not up hence." (v. 15.) Now he identifies himself with the people. This is no mean adumbration of the heart of Christ — this intense love of Moses for Israel, linking them with himself in his place of favour before God. And not only so, but, rising higher, he now links them again with God. We have remarked that God took Israel on their own ground, and since they had rejected Him, He had said to Moses, "thy" people. But now — now that Moses, acting as mediator, has gained the ear of God, he says again "Thy" people. "For wherein," he proceeds, "shall it be known here that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? is it not in that Thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." (v. 16.) He thus claims, as it were, as proof of divine favour — restoration of favour — God's own presence with His people. It could not be otherwise known; and the fact of His presence would separate them off from all other people. It is the same in principle during this dispensation. The presence of the Holy Ghost on earth, building His people into an habitation for God, separates from all else, and so completely, that there are but the two spheres — sphere of the presence and action of the Holy Ghost, and sphere of the action and power of Satan.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in My sight, and I know thee by name." (v. 17.)

The success of the mediation of Moses was thus complete, complete for the restoration of the people. They are once again the Lord's people — to be put under a new covenant, as will be seen in the next chapter, a covenant of law indeed, but law mingled with grace, according to the character of God as now revealed. The effect on Moses of the divine favour is remarkable. Every successive display of grace does but elicit larger desires; and Moses therefore now longs for himself that he may see God's glory.

"And he said, I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory." (v. 18.)

Such is ever the action of grace upon the soul. The more we know of God, the more we desire to know. But this very petition of Moses affords a contrast with the place of the believer. Now we behold with unveiled face the glory of the Lord; here Moses prays that he may see it. The holy longing, however, which he thus expresses, shows the effect of intimacy with God, and the consequent energetic action on the soul of the Holy Ghost.

"And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And He said, Thou canst not see My face; for there shall no man see Me, and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand while I pass by: and I will take away Mine hand, and thou shalt see My back parts; but My face shall not be seen." (vv. 19-23.)

The Lord hears, and grants as far as was possible for Moses to receive, the request he had made. He would make all His goodness pass before him, and proclaim the name of Jehovah. Then He lays down the principle of His sovereignty, on which He must act in order to spare Israel; for had He dealt with them on the basis of righteous law, the whole nation must have perished. It is this very scripture that the apostle Paul cites to enforce the same truth — that Israel was spared on the one hand, and Pharaoh destroyed on the other, in the exercise of God's sovereign rights. His object is to reconcile the bestowal of grace on the Gentiles with the special promises made to Israel, and he thus leads them back to their sin in connection with the golden calf, to remind them that they were at that time equally indebted to the sovereign grace of God as were now the Gentiles — that, both the one, therefore, and the other, were alike the objects of sovereign mercy and grace. This word of the Lord to Moses is the fountain-head — so to speak — of this truth, though God had acted on the principle all down the line of Israel's history. (See Rom. 9: 7-13.) It is affirmed now as the foundation on which, in answer to the intercession of Moses, He could spare the people. But notwithstanding this favour accorded to Moses — this privilege of beholding the goodness of the Lord and bearing His name, he could not behold His face and live. The Lord would put him "in a clift of the rock" while He passed by. "And I will take away Mine hand, and thou shalt see My back parts; but My face shall not be seen." No, God was not yet fully revealed; the work was not accomplished through the efficacy of which God could bring the sinner into His immediate presence, and without a cloud between. Distinguished therefore as was the place which Moses occupied, the humblest believer of this dispensation is brought nearer to God. The Christian may behold all the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; but Moses must be hidden in a "clift of the rock" — type, it may be, of the believer in Christ — while that glory passed by. As another has said, "He will hide him while He passes by, and Moses shall see His back parts. We cannot meet God on His way as independent of Him. After He has passed by, one sees all the beauty of His ways." This is exemplified in the next chapter — on the re-establishment of the covenant with Israel.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first; and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to Me in the top of the mount. And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first: and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." (Ex. 34: 1-7.)

Moses presented himself in obedience to the divine command, with the two tables of stone, to receive again the law under which Israel was to be placed. Sinai is therefore once more the scene of his interview with the Lord. The Lord, faithful to His promise, descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. Name in Scripture, in connection at least with God, is expressive of nature; and hence here it is significant of what God was as JEHOVAH. It is essential to remember that it is not the Father, but Jehovah in His relationship with Israel, who is thus revealed. It is therefore not a complete revelation of God. This could not be until after the cross; but it is the name of Jehovah — expression of what God was in this character — that is proclaimed. "It is not at all the name of His relationship with the sinner for his justification, but with Israel for His government. Mercy, holiness, and patience mark His ways with them, but He does not clear the guilty." The reader must study for himself this unfolding of what God was to Israel — each word employed being in this aspect the declaration of His immutable character. Mercy and truth are seen in combination, though it was not until the cross that they met together, and were harmonized in their activities, when also righteousness and peace kissed each other. Goodness and grace are also here, as well as long-suffering; but there is also holiness, and hence, while keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, Jehovah would by no means clear the guilty. There was indeed a heart of love for His people, but this heart of love was pent up, if it may be so expressed, until atonement should have been completed, when God could righteously justify the ungodly. But whoever traces down the line of God's dealings with Israel, from this moment until their expulsion from the land, and indeed until the cross, will find every one of these attributes in constant exercise. All that God is, as here declared, is revealed in His ways with His ancient people. The proclamation of His name is, in fact, the summary of His government from Sinai until the death of Christ. But while admitting to the full the wondrous character of the revelation thus made to. Moses, let it be again observed that it is not that which Christians now enjoy. If it is compared with the words of our blessed Lord, "I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them" (John 17: 26), the immensity of the difference cannot fail to be apprehended. The difference is between what God was as Jehovah to Israel, and what God is as the Father to His children.

One other remark should be made. Satan had come in, and for the moment seemed as if he had succeeded in frustrating the purposes of God with respect to His people. But Satan is never so completely defeated as in his apparent victories. This is nowhere so fully illustrated as in the cross; but the same thing is perceived in connection with the golden calf. This was Satan's work; but the failure of Israel becomes the occasion, through the mediation of Moses, which God in His grace had provided, of the fuller revelation of God, and of His mingling grace with law. The activity of Satan does but work out the purposes of God, and his wrath is made to praise Him against whom all his malice and enmity are directed.

We may now consider the effect on Moses of the proclamation of the name of Jehovah.

"And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. And he said, If now I have found grace in Thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray Thee, go among us; for it is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance." (vv. 8, 9.)

The first effect is personal. It bows Moses to the ground in worship before the Lord. Every revelation of God to the heart of His people produces this result. This is remarkably illustrated in the experience of the patriarchs. Such records as this are common: "And the Lord appeared unto Abram . . . . and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him." (Genesis 12: 7.) So with Moses. Overwhelmed by the revelation made in grace to his soul, he is constrained to worship. But he immediately takes up his position of mediator. Made to feel his own acceptance by the favour into which he had been brought, and his acceptance, too, as mediator for Israel, he commences his intercession; and he prays that the Lord would go among them, and for the very reason that had led the Lord to say He would not dwell in their midst. (Cp. v. 3.) Moreover, he besought the forgiveness of their sin; and that He would take them for His inheritance. It is exceedingly beautiful to note, now that Moses has obtained the full place of an accepted mediator, how entirely he identifies himself with those whose cause he pleads. He says, "among us;" "our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance." This is a principle of the highest importance. It was exemplified perfectly in Him of whom Moses was but a type. And it will apply to every kind of intercession for the people of God. Indeed, whenever any of the Lord's servants have occupied the place of intercessors, this feature has been distinctly marked. (See Daniel 9; Nehemiah 1, etc.) So now. We can never have power with God on behalf of others, unless by grace we are enabled to enter into the condition of, and identify ourselves with, those whom we would bear on our hearts before the Lord. Moses was enabled to do this, and his prayer was accepted, and, in response, the Lord established a new covenant with the people.

"And He said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord; for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee. Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: but ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: for thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice: and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

"The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. All that openeth the matrix is Mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before Me empty. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. Thrice in the year shall all your men-children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year. Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning. The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." vv. 10-28.)

The terms of this covenant are not new, though they are newly enjoined. Almost every one of them has been already under consideration. (See Ex. 13 and Ex. 23) A brief notice of their character will therefore suffice. The foundation of all is laid in what God would do for His people. (v. 10. ) Thereon He commands complete separation from the nations around, after they should have been put into possession of the land — separation from the people themselves, from their ways, and from their worship. They must worship the Lord alone; for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. (vv. 11 - 16.) But if, on the one hand, there must be separation from evil, there must be, on the other, separation to God. Hence the least of unleavened bread should be kept.* Seven days — a complete period, typical of their whole lives, they were to eat unleavened bread — the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Cor. 5: 8.) They should, moreover, recognize God's claims both upon themselves and upon their cattle. "All that openeth the matrix is mine." (v. 19.) Thereon follows a remarkable provision — that both the firstling of an ass, and the firstborn of their sons, should be redeemed. Man in nature is thus associated with the unclean (see Exodus 13: 13) — teaching both his lost condition as born into this world, and his need of redemption, as well as his doom if unredeemed. The sabbath, the feasts of Pentecost and of Tabernacles, are again commanded — with the provision that three times in the year "all your men-children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel."†

*See Ex. 13 for the exposition of this feast.

†These statutes have been considered in Ex. 23: 14-19.

"After the tenor of these words," the Lord made a covenant with Moses and with Israel. (v. 27.) The words "with thee" are significant. It shows how that the place of Israel had been made dependent upon the mediator, and indicates consequently the position into which Moses had been brought. For the second time he had been forty days and forty nights — in a state above nature — in the presence of God. He did neither eat bread, nor drink water. God thus sustained His servant in His own presence, and enabled him to listen to His voice and receive His words. In fine, he received once again two tables of testimony on which God had written the ten commandments, and descending from the mount, returned to the people.

Such was the covenant into which God in grace entered with His people after their failure and apostasy. "It is important to remark that Israel never entered the land under the Sinai covenant, that is, under simple law (for all this passed under mount Sinai); it had been immediately broken. It is under the mediation of Moses that they were able to find the way of entering into it. However, they are placed again under the law, but the government of patience and grace is added to it." Israel had indeed forfeited everything, and become amenable to destruction, through the sin of the golden calf. They had lost thereby all title to blessing or the inheritance. The mediation of Moses availed, for governmental forgiveness, to restore them to their position as the people of God, and to secure for them the possession of the land. Moreover, God proclaimed the name of Jehovah — the revelation of His character in relation with Israel — and thereafter put them back under law. Israel therefore was never actually under the covenant of Sinai. It was broken before its terms — written on the tables of stone — reached the camp. The terms of the second covenant are indeed the same, but these were mingled with the grace and goodness and long-suffering which had been proclaimed in the name of Jehovah. In fact Israel, after their sin, were saved by grace through the intercession. of Moses; and then they are put back under the law, with the additional elements named. Their position thenceforward was not unlike that of those believers who, not knowing the new place into which they are brought through the death and resurrection of Christ, put themselves under the law as the rule of their conduct and life. What wonder, then, if the path of both alike is marked by continual failure and transgression?

This section closes with a striking account of the effect on Moses of being in the presence of God on the mount.

"And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone: and they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai. And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord, to speak with Him, he took the veil off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the veil upon his face again, until he went in to speak with Him." (vv. 29-35.)

There are three things in this description to be considered. First, the fact that the skin of the face of Moses shone as the consequence of being in the mount with God. brought, into the immediate presence of the glory of Jehovah, his face caught, and retained, some of the beams of that glory — though he "wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him." The contrast with our Lord on the mount of transfiguration cannot fail to be noted. He "was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." (Matt. 17: 2.) But this was the outshining of His own glory — a glory which transfused and irradiated His whole body before the eyes of the disciples, so that He appeared to them as a Being of light. The glory that shone from the face of Moses was but external, the reflection of that of Jehovah, the effect of his communion with God. Moses, absorbed in the communications he was receiving, and in contemplation of the One whose words he heard, knew not that his face had become irradiated with light. No; the believer never knows the outward effect of his being alone with God. Others may see — they cannot fail to see;. but he himself will be unconscious that he is reflecting the light of Him in whose presence he has been. For indeed it is ever true -

"The more Thy glory strikes mine eye,

The humbler I shall lie."

But Aaron and all the children of Israel beheld the glory shining from the face of Moses; and this brings us to the second point; viz., the effect it produced on them. They were afraid to come nigh him; and hence, while Moses was talking with them, giving them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai, he put a veil upon his face. It is this incident which the apostle Paul adduces to show the contrast between "the ministration of death," and "the ministration of the Spirit;" or "the ministration of condemnation," and "the ministration of righteousness;" i.e. between the dispensation of law, and the dispensation of grace. The face of Moses, it should be remarked, did not shine when he came down from Sinai the first time; not until his return from his successful mediation on behalf of the people on account of their sin. Why, then, were they afraid to come near him? Because the very glory that shone on his face searched their hearts and consciences — being what they were, sinners, and unable of themselves to meet even the smallest requirement of the covenant which had now been inaugurated. It was of necessity a "ministration" of condemnation and death, for it required a righteousness from them which they could not render, and, inasmuch as they must fail in rendering it, would pronounce their condemnation, and bring them under the penalty of transgression, which was death. The glory which they thus beheld upon the face of Moses was the expression to them of the holiness of God — that holiness which sought from them conformity to its own standards — and which would vindicate the breaches of that covenant which had now been established. They were therefore afraid, because they knew in their inmost souls that they could not stand before Him from whose presence Moses had come. But in the "ministration" of righteousness and of the Spirit all is changed. This requires no righteousness from man, but reveals God's righteousness as a divine gift in Christ to every believer, and seals its bestowal by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Instead therefore of fearing, we rejoice as we behold the glory in the face of Jesus Christ at the right hand of God; for every ray of that glory speaks of accomplished atonement, and of the complete putting away of our sins if we are believers. For He who was delivered for our offences has been raised again for our justification; He who Himself bare our sins in His own body on the tree, has been raised by God Himself, and exalted at His own right hand. God has glorified Him in Himself. That is, He has come in, and raised up the One that bore our sins, went down into death under them, and in token of His satisfaction with His work, He has put Him in the glory, so that the glory of God now shines forth in the face of Jesus Christ. It is this fact that gives confidence to our souls, enables us to draw near in peace, because the very glory that we behold is the evidence to us that all that was against us is cleared away. Hence, instead of putting a veil on His face, as Moses did, because the children of Israel were afraid to draw nigh, He is at God's right hand with unveiled face, and we delightedly contemplate the glory that is there displayed, and as we gaze we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Cor. 3, 4) The effect therefore on the children of Israel of the glory in the face of Moses forms a perfect contrast to that produced upon the believer as he beholds the glory of the Lord. It is quite true that Israel was no longer under pure law, that goodness and grace had now been mingled with it; but this very fact would make their sin the more heinous if they broke the covenant a second time. In that case, it would not only be sin against righteousness, but also against the goodness and grace which had spared them, and restored them to relationship with God. This enhances, instead of diminishing the contrast, and should lead out our hearts in adoring gratitude in that we are brought into such a place — a place where we behold, with unveiled face, the glory of the Lord — knowing by the very fact of the glory we behold that our sins are gone from the sight of God for ever.

The last action must also be noted. When Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him he took the veil off, until he came out. (v. 34.) He unveils his face to speak to the Lord, while he covers his face to speak to the people. In this respect he becomes rather a type of the present position of the believer, to which reference has already been made. Moses was brought into the very presence of God without a veil, even as the believer is set down in the light as He is in the light. There is still the difference already noted. However intimate the access Moses enjoyed, it was as Jehovah that God spake with him; but the believer is before God according to all that God is, according to that full and perfect revelation of Himself which He has made in Christ as our God and Father. While, moreover, Moses was permitted thus to come before Jehovah to commune with Him, the believer is brought into God's presence as his abiding position. He is ever before God in Christ.

CHAPTER 35.  DEVOTEDNESS AND OBEDIENCE.

EXODUS 35 - 40.

WE have now reached the concluding section of the book. Ex. 32 - 34 are parenthetical. The beginning of chapter 35 is consequently a continuation of Ex. 31; but if a continuation, it is only of God's grace. Had He dealt with Israel for their sin, according to the terms of the covenant into which they had voluntarily entered, their history as a nation, and the narrative of God's dealings with them, would have terminated after chapter 31. But we have seen how, notwithstanding their grievous fall, they were spared through the Lord's tender mercy at the mediation and intercession of Moses, and were brought back again into relationship with Himself as His people. Having therefore propounded the terms of His second covenant, He is free in grace to continue His presence with them, and hence we find, in these closing chapters, the actual execution of the commands Moses had received in the mount concerning the erection of the Tabernacle. But, as preparatory to this, the Sabbath is again enjoined.

"And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said unto them, These are the words which the Lord hath commanded, that ye should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day." (Ex. 35: 1-3.)

The Lord, as has been stated before, always reminds the people of the end and object of all His ways with them; viz., entering into His rest. This was the end proposed, however impossible it became for them to attain it because of their unbelief. Hence the Sabbath is found again in this place, as it always is whenever any new relationship is formed between God and the people. It becomes thus a kind of preface to the account of the construction of the sanctuary.

Moses thereon makes proclamation of the Lord's desire to receive an offering from His people — an offering of the several materials needed for the making of the Tabernacle. (vv. 5-19) God would have His people to enter into His own thoughts and desires for their blessing, and He permits them in His grace and mercy to bring these materials as an offering. He directs what they should bring, although everything they possessed was His own gift (see 1 Chr. 29: 14), and then He would reckon it as their offering. It is ever so. Believers cannot do a single good thing of themselves. Every good work is the product of the Spirit of God, and prepared before of God Eph. 2: 10), and yet when done, God in His grace calls it theirs, and clothes them with the fine linen which is the righteousnesses of saints.

The willingness of God to receive from His people is thus proclaimed. The grace of God in this particular touched and opened their hearts; "and they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments." (v. 21.) And again we read, "The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the Lord, every man and woman; whose heart made them willing to bring, for all manner of work which the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses." (v. 29.) There are principles involved in these statements which are applicable to all dispensations. The apostle Paul enforces the same when he says, "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver." (2 Cor. 9: 7; read the whole chapter.) It is therefore of the first importance to remember that everything offered to God must proceed from hearts made willing by His Spirit, that it must be spontaneous, not the result of persuasion or of external pressure, but from the heart. The church of God would have been in a very different state today if this had been remembered. What has wrought more ruin than the many worldly schemes for raising money? and what more humbling than the fact that solicitations of all kinds are used to induce the Lord's people to offer their gifts? Moses was content with announcing that the Lord was willing to receive, and he left this gracious communication to produce its suited effect upon the hearts of the children of Israel. He needed not to do more; and if saints now were in the current of God's thoughts they would imitate the example of Moses, and would shun the very thought of obtaining even the smallest gift, except it were presented willingly, and from the heart, as the effect of the working of the Spirit of God. And let it be remarked, that there was no lack; for in the next chapter we find that the wise men who wrought came to Moses and said, "The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the Lord commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much." (Ex. 36: 5-7.) If the first Pentecostal days be excepted, there has probably never been seen anything answering, to this even in the history of the church. The chronic complaint now is concerning the insufficiency of means to carry on the Lord's work. But it cannot be too often recalled — first, that the church of God is never held responsible to obtain means; secondly, that if the Lord gives work to do, He Himself will lay it upon the hearts of His people to contribute what is necessary; thirdly, that we are travelling off the ground of dependence, and acting according, to our own thoughts, if we undertake anything for which the needful provision has not already been made; and lastly, that gifts procured by human means can seldom be used for blessing.

Moreover if liberality was the fruit of the action of the Spirit of God, so also was wisdom. Liberality provided the necessary materials, and wisdom used them according to the divine mind. The Lord filled Bezaleel with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; and He also put in his heart that he may teach, both he and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. (Ex. 35: 31-35.) The workmen were the gift of God, and the wisdom and understanding needed for their work proceeded also from Him through the action of His Spirit; and He also endowed them with the capacity to teach others; and there were thus associated with them "every wise-hearted man in whom the Lord put wisdom and understanding, to know how to work all manner of work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that the Lord had commanded." (Ex. 36: 1.) We may surely behold in these workers the pattern of all true servants in every dispensation. They themselves called of God, as was pointed out in Exodus 31, all their activity was the fruit of the Spirit of God. They were not sufficient of themselves to think anything as of themselves, but their sufficiency was of God. (2 Cor. 3: 5.) Human skill, human wisdom or inventions, would but have marred the perfection of the divine design; and hence the workmen were to be but vessels — vessels for the display of divine wisdom and understanding and teaching. Well is it for the workman when he remembers that, like Bezaleel and Aholiab, he is but a vessel; for then it is that the Lord can use him to His own glory in the execution of His own mind and will.

Passing on to Exodus 39, we learn that all the work was done as the Lord had commanded Moses. The essence of all service is obedience, and the test of everything done is its conformity or otherwise with the revealed mind of God. The Lord had given certain directions to Moses, and had instructed His servants for the work; and, as a consequence, the only question concerning their work, when completed, was, Did it correspond in every particular with the pattern given? The Spirit of God has answered this question, affirming in this chapter no less than ten times, that the work was executed as the Lord commanded Moses. (vv. 1, 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 31, 32, 42, 43.) They therefore met their responsibility towards God, and accordingly received His approval and commendation in this repeated and significant statement: that all their work was characterized by obedience. This affords the important principle that everything which claims to be of God must submit to be tested by God's word. The same principle is affirmed by our blessed Lord in His message to the seven churches. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches." (Rev. 2: 11, etc.) And there was never more need than in this day for its application. It cannot be conceived that Moses would have accepted, much less the Lord, any single thing, however innocent, or even beautiful, in itself, that did not correspond with the pattern showed him in the mount. Why then should it be expected now, that believers should accept and endorse anything in connection with the church of God which does not answer to the Scriptures? No; everything must be unsparingly rejected, however enshrined in the affections, or commended by its hoar antiquity, which does not bear the stamp and the sanction of the word of God. For is it for one moment to be supposed that the Lord is less jealous concerning His church — the church which He loved, and for which He gave Himself — than concerning the Tabernacle? Or that He permits man's wisdom, and man's order, to be introduced in the one when He so entirely excluded it from the other? The supposition is monstrous. Let it never be forgotten therefore that the Lord measures everything, and hence that it is also our responsibility to measure everything, by His own word.

In the last chapter we have the actual erection of the Tabernacle, and the Lord taking possession of it as His dwelling-place in the midst of Israel. There are several points to be indicated. It will be observed, in the first place, that the Tabernacle was to be set up on the anniversary of their departure from Egypt (Ex. 12: 2) — on the first day of the first month. (Ex. 40: 2.) As their deliverance from the house of their bondage constituted the commencement of their spiritual history, so the dwelling of Jehovah in their midst formed morally a new period of time. The two things are brought together in Christianity. When the soul is brought out from under condemnation, and apprehends peace with God, the forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ, God seals it by the gift of His indwelling Spirit. The commencement of spiritual life — spiritual life known and enjoyed — and becoming a temple of the Holy Ghost coincide.

The order enjoined in the arrangement of the sacred vessels differs both from that found in the directions given in the mount, and from that of their construction. The ark of the testimony, after the setting up of the Tabernacle, is first put into its place — that which specially distinguished the Tabernacle as God's sanctuary, seeing that the ark was His throne on the earth. Then the ark was covered with the veil; i.e. shut off from view. This formed the holy of holies. The table of showbread, was next brought into the holy place — the next compartment to the most holy — and the bread was set in order upon it; afterwards, the candlestick of pure gold was put into its place, and the lamps lighted before the Lord; then, the altar of gold, the altar of incense, was put "before the veil," before the ark of the testimony, and incense was burnt thereon; and finally, the hanging was set up at the door of the Tabernacle. This completed the arrangement of the holy place. The altar of burnt-offering came next before the door of the Tabernacle of the tent of the congregation — and the burnt-offering and the meat-offering were offered upon it; then the laver was brought and set between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and water put therein, and Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat, etc. (vv. 30, 31.) Thereupon the court round about the Tabernacle and the altar were reared up, and the hanging of the court-gate put in its place — and this completed the Tabernacle with all its arrangements. Moreover the Tabernacle was to be anointed with the anointing oil, and all that was therein, and hallowed with all the vessels thereof. It was to be holy. So also with the altar of burnt-offering — with all its vessels — that the altar might be sanctified. It was to be an altar most holy. The laver and its foot were also to be anointed to be sanctified. Lastly, Aaron and his sons were to be consecrated and robed, that they might minister unto the Lord in the priest's office; "for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations." (vv. 9-15.)

As in the case of Bezaleel and Aholiab, together with their co-workers, so with Moses, the Spirit of God set His seal of commendation upon the manner in which he performed the work entrusted to him. And what is the meed of praise which He bestows? It is that everything was done in obedience — "as the Lord commanded Moses." Eight times it is repeated that everything was done according to the instructions he had received. (vv. 16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 32.) Again, therefore, we learn the value of obedience in the eyes of the Lord. As Samuel said to Saul, "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." As indeed our blessed Lord Himself said, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." (John 14) If obedience be wanting, whatever there may be of real devotedness and zeal, no service offered can be acceptable to God. And it is precisely here that so many Christians fail. There never was a time of greater energy and activity, nor when larger crowds gather together professedly for worship; but when these things are measured by the test which is supplied in the words, "as the Lord commanded Moses," then it is discovered that man's will, and not the Lord's, is often the paramount spring of all. Observe, again, what has been enforced more than once, that this commendation is given to Moses by the Spirit concerning his action in respect of God's house. The church is now the house of God — the habitation of God through the Spirit. Eph. 2: 22.) If therefore it was above all necessary that Moses should strictly and carefully carry out the instructions he had received concerning the Tabernacle, it is equally important that the word of God should be our only guide in all matters affecting the church. We find accordingly that, in the message which the risen Lord sent to the church at Philadelphia, the fact that they had kept His word was a special ground of His approval. (Rev. 3: 8.) No higher praise could be bestowed. "So Moses finished the work" — finished all in obedience to the word of the Lord.

Finally, the Lord takes possession of the sanctuary which had been made that He might dwell among them. The connection is most significant. "So Moses finished the work. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." (vv. 34, 35.) It was not only Jehovah's public endorsement of the work which had been executed, but it was also His taking possession of His house in the sight of all Israel; for the cloud, the symbol of His presence, covered the tent of the congregation without, and His glory filled the Tabernacle within. It was so — in a still more striking way — when the temple was built. "It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God." (2 Chr. 5: 13, 14.) Both alike are surely typical of that Pentecostal scene recorded in the Acts: "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them: and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Acts 2: 1-4.) Here the two things are combined. The house of God was formed and filled by the descent of the Holy Ghost. In both cases, however, it was God taking possession of the house already made for Him; for from this time all the believers, who together composed the habitation of God through the Spirit, became also severally His temple, because indwelt by the Holy Ghost. We have already spoken on the significance of God's dwelling-place on earth (chapter 25: 8); and we then pointed out that His house in every dispensation points onward to the eternal state when the tabernacle of God will be with men, and His glory will fill the whole scene. (Rev. 21)

Moreover, the cloud of Jehovah's presence became also the guide of His people through the wilderness. "The cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys." (v. 38; see also Num. 9) They needed only therefore to keep their eyes upon the cloud; for "when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: but if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up." (vv. 36, 37.) The Lord thus undertook for His people. He had visited them in their affliction in Egypt; He had brought them out with a high hand and an outstretched arm; and had led them forth through the Red Sea into the wilderness. But He Himself would lead them "by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation." "Happy," we might also exclaim, "is that people that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord." For surely there was nothing now wanting to the blessing of Israel. Jehovah was in their midst. The cloud of His presence rested upon, and His glory filled, the Tabernacle. It was indeed a brief period of unmingled blessing — the accomplishment of God's own desires in surrounding Himself with His redeemed people. How soon this bright and beautiful scene was marred is related in other books; but the very fact that Exodus thus ends is prophetic of the time when "the tabernacle of God" shall be "with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Rev. 21: 3, 4.)

Ezra

Ezra

or, Restoration from Babylon.

(Fourth Edition, 1912, Morrish.)

E. Dennett.

INTRODUCTION

THE book of Ezra marks an important epoch in God's dealings with His people Israel. Although seventy years had elapsed, it is yet the continuation of 2 Chronicles; for time does not count with the Jews when in exile from the land of promise. They had lost everything by their sins and apostasy, and God had sent Nebuchadnezzar to chastise them, to destroy His own house which His people had profaned and polluted, to carry them away captive to Babylon, and "to fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths." (2 Chr. 36: 21.)

Nothing could be sadder than the record of the destruction of Jerusalem, and the termination of the kingdom as entrusted in responsibility to the hands of man, except indeed the still more fearful accounts of the siege and capture of Jerusalem by Titus soon after the commencement of the Christian era.

The long-suffering of God had been tested in every possible way. In His patient grace He had borne with the high-handed rebellion of His people; He had lingered with a yearning heart, like the Saviour when He was upon earth, over the city which was the expression of royal grace; He had sent to them by His messengers, "rising up betimes and sending; because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place; but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy. Therefore He brought upon them the king of the Chaldees," etc. The sword of His justice thus fell upon His guilty people; for their sins had exceeded those even of the Amorites whom God had driven out before them. (See 2 Kings 21: 11) God's throne on earth was henceforward transferred to Babylon, and the times of the Gentiles — which still continue, and will do so until Christ Himself shall establish His throne, the throne of His father David (see Luke 1: 32, 33; Luke 21: 24) — commenced. Lo-Ammi (not my people)* was in this way written upon the chosen race, and they entered upon the sorrowful experience of captivity and banishment under the judicial dealings of the hand of their God.

*It is on this account that God never, in these post-captivity books, whatever His care over them, addresses the Jews as His people.

But now, when the book of Ezra begins, the seventy years of their exile, which had been foretold by Jeremiah, had been completed, and Ezra relates the actings of God in connection therewith for the accomplishment of His own sure and faithful word; and it is the character of these which explains the attitude of God towards His people during the times of the Gentiles, and also, to some extent, the peculiarity of this portion of the Scriptures, as well as Nehemiah and Esther. In these books God is no longer seen actively interposing in the affairs of His people, but He works, as it were, behind the scenes, and at the same time, recognizing the new order which He Himself has established, He uses the Gentile monarchs, into whose hands He had committed the sceptre of the earth, for the execution of His purposes.

Bearing these principles in mind we shall be the better able to enter intelligently upon the study of this book. The book divides itself into two parts. The first six chapters give the account of the return of the captives who responded to the proclamation of Cyrus, and of the building of the temple; the last four of the mission of Ezra himself.

Ezra 1.

THERE are two things in this chapter — the proclamation of Cyrus, and the response to it on the part of the people, together with an account of the number of "the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods" (v. 7), and which Cyrus now restored to those of the captivity who were about to return to Jerusalem. The first verse draws back the curtain, and reveals the source of the power which was acting then, and through all the subsequent events of this book, for the fulfilment of Jehovah's purposes. It runs, "Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he might make a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing," etc.

Let us pause for a moment to point out how the Lord — whatever the outward appearances — holds the hearts of all men in His hands, and turneth them whithersoever He will; how He uses men of all degrees as the instruments of the counsels of His will. The very mention of Cyrus carries us a step further back. "Who," says the prophet Isaiah, speaking in the name of Jehovah, "raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him," etc.? (Isa. 41: 2.) And again, "That 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." (Isa. 44: 28.)

This prophecy was uttered long before the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and at least a hundred years before Jeremiah was called to his prophetic work, and thus shows that the eye and heart of God are perpetually upon His people, and upon their interests, and that the public events of the world, the rise and fall of monarchies, the advent of mighty conquerors, are but the instruments of His power, by which He works on through the governments of the world to fulfil His own purposes in relation to His earthly people. How calmly therefore the children of God may rest amid political confusions and strife! In this way God had designated by the mouth of Isaiah, two hundred years before the event narrated in our chapter, His chosen vessel for the restoration of His people, and for the erection of His house at Jerusalem.

A century passed away, and Jeremiah prophesied during the closing days of the kingdom, alternately warning and beseeching his people — warning them of the certainty of the approaching judgments, and beseeching them to repent and to humble themselves before the God whose wrath they had provoked by their wickedness and folly. It was in the course of his work that he said, "This whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord," etc. (Jer. 25: 11, 12.) Also, "For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place." (Jer. 29: 10) First, then, Cyrus is designated long years before he was born into this world, and after another period had elapsed Jeremiah, while announcing the approaching captivity of the people, proclaims the exact duration of their exile.

But there is yet another instrument, not appearing indeed in this chapter, whom God was pleased to associate with Himself in carrying out His purposes of grace and blessing towards His people.

Turning to the book of Daniel we read, "In the first year of his reign" (that of Darius) "I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes," etc. (Daniel 9: 2, 3.) God had spoken the word concerning, and provided the instruments for, the restoration of His people; and yet what do we find? That one of the captives, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away to Babylon, the prophet Daniel, had discovered, not by any special revelation. but by patient study of the writings of Jeremiah, that God had fixed the period of seventy years for "the desolations of Jerusalem."

Thereon, grounding himself upon this infallible word, he gave himself to prayer and fasting, humbling himself before God, confessing the sins of his people, and making supplication for the fulfilment of His own word. "O Lord," he said, "according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now, therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake." (vv. 16, 17.) Thus Daniel, identifying himself with the state of his people, and in communion with the mind of God, had the unspeakable privilege of becoming an intercessor for Israel, and for the fulfilment of the promises of God. His prayer was heard (vv. 21-27); and we thereby learn that God in His grace permits His people to enter into His own thoughts, and to be associated with Himself in the accomplishment of His counsels for His own glory.

All therefore was now ready; the preparatory work had all been accomplished. In accordance with Isaiah's prediction "the righteous man from the east" had been called to the sovereignty of the Gentiles; and it is through him that the appointed deliverance must come. The next action is therefore recorded — "the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia," and the following proclamation is the result:

"Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there 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 the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth 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, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem." (vv. 2-4.)

Three things are here announced; viz., the commission which Cyrus himself had received as to the Lord's house; his royal permission to any of the Jews to return to Jerusalem for the purpose of building the temple; and lastly, his invitation to those Jews who should remain in his dominions, to have fellowship with those who should depart by freewill offerings towards the object they had in view.

The rest of the chapter is taken up with an account of the effect produced by the proclamation. We say "the effect of the proclamation," but the reader will not fail to notice that it was He who had stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, who "raised" the spirit of those who offered themselves for the holy work in prospect. Two or three particulars only need to be observed. It is of importance, first of all, to point out that the chief of the fathers who offered themselves for the work were of the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. There were also Levites, but they did not count as a tribe, for Levi had "no part nor inheritance with his brethren: the Lord is his inheritance," etc. (See Deut. 10: 8, 9.) It is plain indeed from this and other scriptures that, though there may have been individuals from other tribes, there were but these two tribes restored. It was only therefore to Judah and Benjamin that Christ, when born into this world, was afterwards presented for acceptance; and owing to their having rejected Him, it is they, and they only of the twelve tribes, who will pass through the terrible trouble, "such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time; no, nor ever shall be," which will be consequent upon the advent and power of the antichrist in Jerusalem. For the same reason, the ten tribes will not be collected and restored until after the appearing of the Lord for the salvation of the remnant in the land. (See Zech. 14, Ezek. 20: 33-44, Ezek. 34, and Jer. 31: 6-14.)

In the next place, God wrought in the hearts of the neighbours of those who devoted themselves to the work of the Lord's house, for they "offered willingly," according to the terms of the proclamation, of their substance, helping, them with vessels of silver and gold, etc. Lastly, Cyrus himself showed his interest in the work, in evidence that his heart also had been touched by divine power, by restoring the vessels of the temple which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods (See Daniel v. 1-4); and these he numbered unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. (vv. 6-9)

We have thus, in this chapter, all the signs of a genuine work of God. Concurrence of heart and object is produced in all concerned, whether in Cyrus, without whose permission the captives could not have returned; in the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, who were needed for the actual work of building; or in those who remained, who, in having fellowship with their brethren by their freewill offerings, contributed towards the necessary expenses. There were no preliminary meetings to arrange and to come to an agreement, but the union of heart and purpose was produced alone by the action of the Lord on the hearts of all alike. This distinguishes a divine from a human work, and is the sure proof of a real action of the Spirit of God. Every needed instrument therefore comes forward at the right moment, for the work is of God, and it must be accomplished.

The last three verses contain the number of the sacred vessels which Sheshbazzar received from Cyrus, and brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Ezra 2.

WE have in this chapter a register of "the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city." (v. 1) There are several interesting particulars to be noticed in the record; and the first is, that the fact of its existence shows how precious to God was the response which His grace had produced in the hearts of His people, however feebly they may have entered into His thoughts in regard to His house. On this account He has caused this list to be preserved, in evidence that He beholds with joy the smallest fruits of His Spirit's work, and that the very names of His people are known and proclaimed as an encouragement to all to walk in His ways, to be identified with His interests, and to maintain fidelity in times of corruption and apostasy. (Compare Luke 12: 8 and Rev. 3: 5.) In verse 2 the names of the leaders are given, and then the people are classified according to their family descent.

Examining this catalogue a little more closely, a fourfold division will be found. Down to the end of verse 42, those who were undoubtedly of Israel, of Judah, Benjamin, or of Levi (among the last both singers and porters), are described. Then follow two other classes, the Nethinim, and the servants of Solomon, concerning whom a few words will be necessary. (1) The Nethinim. (vv. 43-58.) The question is raised whether these were of Jewish descent. The word would seem to mean "those that are given;" and it has been concluded that they, from the place in which their names occur in the chapter (see also 1 Chr. 9: 2), were of another race, but had been given originally to the Levites for their service, even as the Levites — only these by divine command, and in the place of the first-born of Israel (see Num. 8) — had been given to Aaron for the Lord's service in His tabernacle. And traces of such are found in two scriptures. In Numbers we read, respecting the spoil taken from the Midianites, "Of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses." (Num. 31: 47.) We also find that Joshua said to the Gibeonites, "There shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God." (Joshua 9: 23. Compare Ezra 8: 20.)

It is here, therefore, that we probably find the origin of the Nethinim — those who were spared from the just judgment of God; and if reduced to servile bondage, it was bondage in His mercy in connection with His house, whereby the very curse that rested on them (see Joshua 9: 23) was turned into a blessing. For what do we find? That instead of being destroyed with the sword of the Lord's host, they were rescued, and now, after the lapse of centuries, they are found in honourable association with the Lord's people, and with a heart too for the Lord's house, inasmuch as they returned from Babylon with their fellow-captives at this special moment. They are surely thus no mean foreshadowing of the objects of grace even in this dispensation. (2) Solomon's servants. Of these the information is less distinct. But we read that Solomon levied "a tribute of bond-service unto this day" of the children of the Amorites, etc., that were left in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy (1 Kings 9: 19-21); and it might have been the descendants of these who received the designation of "Solomon's servants." However this might have been, the lesson already drawn is again significant, that the least connection with the Lord's people and the Lord's things becomes a means of blessing — if not always, as it surely does not, of spiritual, yet almost ever of temporal blessing, even though it may be sometimes limited, through sin and unbelief, to length of days and earthly comfort. But with "the servants of Solomon," as with the Nathanael. there must have been more than this; for through grace they had returned, of their own desire, to aid in building the house of God at Jerusalem. The number of these two classes was three hundred and ninety-two.

We have, in the next place, two other classes occupying a peculiar and, in a sense, a most mournful position. There were some — the children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred fifty and two — who could not show their father's house and their seed, whether they were of Israel; and besides these, of the children of the priests. the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai, etc. — "these sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood." (vv. 59-62.)

In the land of their exile the same care as to title and qualification had not been exercised. Babylon represents the corruption to which God's people are in bondage through their sins, and hence the period of their captivity was a time of carelessness, a time indeed when they were suffering under the hand of their God, but still a time of confusion and disorder; and necessarily so, inasmuch as they were without the temple, without sacrifices, and without Jehovah's presence. But now, that, through the mercy of their God, there had been a recovery — a partial recovery, it is true, but one that contained within itself a distinct action of the Spirit of God — and now that Jehovah's house was once more to become their centre, they were properly exercised concerning the title of all who had returned from Babylon.

If any could not show their genealogy they, had no claim to take part in the work to which they had been called; and in the case of the priests the consequence was still more grave. These — if they could not find their register — were, as polluted, put from the priesthood. They were not told that they were not priests; the ground taken was that their claim was not proven. It might be at a future time; and hence "the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim." When that time arrived, the priest, who should be once more endowed with divine intelligence and discernment through the light and perfection of God (Urim and Thummim), might adjudge them to be truly priests; but meanwhile their claim was forfeited. Grace could restore *hat was lost under law; only for this they must patiently wait.

A precisely similar thing in principle was seen during the past century. It is not too much to say that; at its commencement, the Church of God in this land was completely under the domination of the world-power. The life of God's people was sustained through the ministry of a few faithful men here and there, and through the study of the word of God; but the Church as a whole was enslaved, and had been enslaved, in Babylonish captivity. Soon after a recovery took place. God wrought in the hearts of many in different places, producing great exercises of soul; and a movement was initiated, which resulted in the deliverance of numbers in many parts of the country.

The charter of their deliverance from captivity was the word of God. To it they turned day and night, and there they found both light and life. By it they judged themselves and their ways, by it they discovered the true character of their past bondage, and from it they obtained also guidance for the future. Listening to its teachings, they once again spread the Lord's table in all its simplicity. They learned that the Holy Ghost dwelt in the house of God, and that the Lord had promised to come quickly to receive His people to Himself. Thereon they were, immediately confronted with the difficulty found in this chapter — the difficulty of title and qualification to break bread at the Lord's table. In the past every good citizen might do so, and all such were often exhorted to come. No one who claimed to be a Christian was ever denied, while very many, whose lives contradicted their profession, were received without question. Could such practices be continued?

Then the answer was found, that only such as could "show their father's house." or could find "their register," had the scriptural qualification for a place at the table of the Lord. In other words, unless we have peace with God, unless we know that we are children of God through the possession of the Spirit of adoption, and can thus show our Father's house, and trace our genealogy, we have not the divine title required. Profession is not enough. In a day like this, a day of restoration from captivity, there must be the ability to verify our profession from the sure word of God; for, as the apostle says, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many, are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread." ( 1 Cor. 10: 16, 17.)

But it is objected; Do you not constitute yourselves judges of others? By no means. As indeed the governor said in effect to the priests in this chapter, who were put away, "You may be really priests, only you cannot produce your title. It must be left over therefore until a priest arises with the Urim and Thummim — one who can judge according to God." So now the burden of proof lies upon the one who desires to come to the Lord's table, and to be thus identified with His people. If he fail to produce it, he is not excluded by those who have to do with him, but by his inability to declare his genealogy, and if he be really a member of the body of Christ, his title, albeit all is of grace, will be fully acknowledged in a future day by the Lord Himself. It is needful that this scriptural principle should be both understood and enforced.

The question of the priests goes still further. These, as we have seen, were put out from their office, the functions of which were to minister before the Lord, and to teach the people (see Ex. 28; Lev. 10: 9-11; Deut. 10: 8; Mal. 2: 5-7); and they were also forbidden, owing to their inability to find their register, to eat of the holy things. (Compare on this subject Lev. 22: 1-16.) What a solemn commentary upon the practices that have obtained for centuries in Christendom! Forgetful or ignorant of the truth that all true believers, and no other, are priests (1 Peter 2), they have devised a way of making priests — of filling their "holy" offices by a human ordination. And such, when thus appointed, arrogate to themselves the exclusive right of approach to God, as well as that of interpreting the Scriptures. It is a small thing to say that these practices are a denial of Christianity — they are worse; for they set aside the efficacy of the work of Christ, and deny His authority, as well as ignore the sovereign action of the Holy Ghost. God alone makes priests, and every one who is washed with water (born again) is brought under the value of the one sacrifice of Christ, is sprinkled with His precious blood, as also with the anointing oil (the unction of the Holy Spirit), is set apart by Him for this office. (Read Ex. 29; Heb. 10) Such, and such alone, can find their register among those that are reckoned by genealogy, "and have liberty of access into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh" (Heb. 10: 19, 20); where, by the grace of God, they are permitted to feast on the holy things — the various aspects of Christ as symbolized by these — in communion with God in His own presence.

The number of the whole congregation, we are now told, was forty and two thousand three hundred and sixty. Besides these were their servants and maids, amounting to seven thousand three hundred thirty and seven; and among them two hundred singing men and singing women. There were also seven hundred thirty and six horses, two hundred forty and five mules, four hundred thirty and five camels, and six thousand seven hundred and twenty asses. (Verses 65-67.)

Such was the large company or caravan that travelled from Babylon to Judah and Jerusalem, with their hearts set upon the holy enterprise to which they had been divinely called. But a narrower inspection of the elements of which this multitude was composed will discover the sure precursors of decline and decay. What had these pilgrims to do, for example, with singing men and singing women? Their land was desolate, their sanctuary had been consumed with fire, and was lying waste, and they themselves were but a feeble remnant just emancipated from the yoke of captivity. Surely it was no time for mirth and song! (Compare Ps. 137) Alas! every action of the Spirit of God, producing a revival in the hearts of His people, is speedily limited by man, and by his own thoughts and desires. Even the first response to His mighty power gathers with those who are really under His influence those also who will corrupt the movement and ensure its outward failure. How remarkably this is exemplified in the book of judges, and has been so in every age of the Church!

Arrived at their destination, we read that some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up in its place. They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the work threescore and one thousand drams of gold, and five thousand pounds of silver, and one hundred priests' garments. (Verses 68, 69.)

It is interesting to notice the form of the statement — "When they came to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem," showing that the house, whatever its outward condition, and razed to the ground as it had been, still existed before the eye of God. Thus, though there were three different houses until the time of the Lord, it was always the same house in the mind of God. Haggai, on this account, says, as it should be rendered, "The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former." (Haggai 2) There is undoubtedly another reason for this form of words in Ezra. God would seem to have used the desolations of His sanctuary to touch the hearts of these chief of the fathers. When they came to Jehovah's house — when they saw, as it were, its condition — they were moved, and they "offered freely" of their substance; and, as the Spirit of God is careful to notice, thus setting the seal of His approval upon the act, "they gave after their ability." In this they are surely examples for all time for those of the Lord's people who have the privilege of ministering to the Lord, whether in having fellowship with His necessitous saints, or with the needs of His service.

The chapter closes with the statement, "So the priests, and the Levites, and some of the people, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinims, dwelt in their cities." (v. 70.) It is open to the spiritual reader to question whether this record — especially when read in the light of what took place afterward, as related in Haggai 1 — is not symptomatic of the decay of their first energy, whether it does not reveal the tendency to think of themselves and their own houses before the interests of the Lord's house. Solomon spent thirteen years in building his own house, while he occupied but seven upon the temple; and knowing what man is, it is not surprising if the restored remnant began by first minding their own things. But if so, the next chapter will show that the word of God was still energetic in their souls, to the praise of Him who had redeemed them from captivity, and associated them with Himself in the thoughts of His heart towards Jerusalem, and towards His temple.

Ezra 3.

AT the close of the last chapter we have seen that "all Israel" — the remnant in fact, but taking the place of the nation before God — dwelt in their cities. The commencement of this chapter opens out another remarkable action of the Spirit of God. "And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem." (v. 1) In the book of Numbers we read, "In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work; it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you." (Num. 29: 1) This feast of trumpets prefigured the restoration of Israel in the last days; and it was therefore with a true spiritual perception that the people assembled themselves in Jerusalem at this time — a perception which, combined with their perfect unity, showed that both they and their leaders had been taught of God, and were under the power of His word. (Compare Acts 2: 1)

It is but seldom in the history of God's people that such oneness has been displayed, because it can only be produced, not by any general agreement, but by the common subjection of all alike to the power of the Spirit through the truth. Twice only has it been seen in the history of the Church (see Acts 2, 4), and now it will never more be displayed on earth in the Church at large, though it might perhaps be exhibited in small companies of the saints. But here, as at Pentecost, the whole congregation were as one man — one will dominating all, and gathering them with irresistible power to one common centre; for they were all with one accord in one place in the city on which the mind and heart of God were at that time set.

Having thus assembled, there "stood up Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt-offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. And they set the altar upon its bases; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries; and they offered burnt-offerings thereon unto the Lord, even burnt-offerings morning and evening." (vv. 2, 3.) The governor, Zerubbabel, and the priest, Jeshua, (aided by their respective "brethren"), united in this blessed work, the combination of the two foreshadowing Him who will be a priest on His throne, the true Melchizedek. (See Zech. 6: 9- 15. )

One of their motives in the erection of the altar would seem to have been their felt need of the protection of their God, and faith discerned that this protection would be ensured on the ground of the efficacy of the sacrifices. And what could be more beautiful than this exhibition of confidence in God? They were but a feeble remnant, having no outward means of defence, and surrounded by enemies of every kind; but their very weakness and peril had taught them the precious lesson, that God was their refuge and strength. The setting up of the altar was therefore their first object; and as soon as the sweet savour of the burnt-offerings ascended up to God, all that He was, as then revealed, was engaged on their behalf.

It will be moreover observed that their burnt-offerings were presented morning and evening. This was called, at its original institution, the "continual burnt-offering" (see Ex. 29: 38-46), in virtue of which God had been able to dwell in the midst of His people. And if His presence was no longer in their midst, if He dwelt no longer between the cherubim overshadowing the mercy-seat, the efficacy of the burnt-offering remained; and as long as faith brought this, and presented it to God morning and evening, the people were as surely under the protection of Jehovah as before; as safe as, indeed far safer than, when Jerusalem in her glory was surrounded by her fortified walls and bulwarks. They might have therefore adopted the language of one of their psalms: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." (Psalm 46: 1-3.)

The altar having been duly ordered, they kept the feast of tabernacles, as it is written (see Lev. 23: 33-36), and offered the daily burnt-offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required. The feast of tabernacles was a figure of millennial joy. (Lev. 23: 40.) Israel was to rejoice before the Lord their God seven days. To human eyes looking at their desolate condition it might have seemed a mockery for these poor returned captives to be keeping a joyful feast. But faith is "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," and thus brings the future into present realization. Moreover, when the soul once stands before God in all the acceptance of Christ, as prefigured by the burnt-offering, it has already the certainty of every promised blessing as secured in Him. It was thus open to the believing Israelites, who stood around the altar which they had erected amid the ruins of the temple, and as they saw the smoke of the burnt-offerings ascend up to heaven, to look onward to the time when all God's promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would be fulfilled, and when the ransomed of the Lord would return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; when they would obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing should flee away.

They also, we are told, "offered the continual burnt-offering, both of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill-offering unto the Lord." (v. 5.) And it will be remarked that the striking feature of all their proceedings was, that they ordered everything now according to the word of God. (vv. 2, 4.) Whatever they may have practised in Babylon, whatever had been their traditional rites and customs, all these had been left behind in the scene of their captivity; and now, delivered and brought back, nothing could satisfy them short of the authority of the written Word.

We might therefore characterize the proceedings narrated in this passage as the restoration of scriptural worship. This contains a principle of immense importance, and one that has found an illustration within the memory of some who are still living. There was a movement some fifty or sixty years ago, as already pointed out in a previous chapter, corresponding largely, as to its spiritual features, with this deliverance from Babylon; and the first object of the saints at that time, as with this remnant, was the restoration of the altar (using this term as a symbol of worship), and the ordering of the assembly in all its meetings according to the written Word. Customs, traditions, observances, all rites and ceremonies, were now tested by the recorded apostolic practices, and such as could not stand the proof were abandoned. It was but a remnant also that were brought out of bondage; but they had light and life in their dwellings and in their gatherings, because "as one man" they sought to give the Lord Jesus Christ His rightful place of pre-eminence as Son over His own house. In truth, God owned this movement in a remarkable manner, using it to recall believers, in every part of the land, to the authority of the written Word, to the knowledge of the fulness of His grace in redemption, to their priestly place and privileges, to the truth of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and to the expectation of the Lord's return. And if the spiritual power of that day has not been maintained, its influence is still felt; and it is not too much to say that the whole church of God is indebted to it, through the sovereign grace and appointment of God, for the exhibition and preservation of the full-orbed truths of Christianity.

Before that time Christianity, in the hands of its public advocates. had degenerated into a mere code of morals, and the consequence was Socinianism and widespread infidelity; whereas since that day, whatever the increasing power of evil, and the rapid development of the signs of the coming apostasy, there has never been wanting a full testimony to the truth of God, and to His Christ as glorified at His right hand. All this proclaims to us, as with a trumpet voice, that the path of obedience to the written Word, in the power of the Spirit, is both the path of recovery from error, the secret of all blessing, and the true method of arresting spiritual decline.

The first five verses of this chapter are a delightful record, and might well be studied in connection with the first days of the Church after Pentecost. (Acts 2 - 4) In both places alike individual, as well as collective or corporate, spiritual energy is manifested. Thus it was not only the new moons and the set feasts that are noticed as having been observed, but it is added, "And every one that willingly offered a freewill-offering unto the Lord." (v. 5.) When God's Spirit is acting in power, He fills the hearts of many of His people to overflowing, and the vessel, not being able to contain the blessing, runs over in thanksgiving and praise to God. This is the secret both of devotedness and worship.

The next two verses close up this period, preparatory to the introduction of another. "From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia." (vv. 6, 7.) The record of the commencement of offering burnt-offerings the first day of the seventh month is made with evident delight. It was grateful to the heart of God to behold the return of His people to Himself, acknowledging His claims, and the only ground of their acceptance. It shows us how particularly He observes the actions of His own, and that He takes pleasure in their approach and worship. Producing these fruits by His grace in their hearts, with the same grace He puts them to their account. (Compare Eph. 2: 10, and 2 Cor. 5: 10)

Then follows, as we judge, a note of sadness — "But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid." The people had responded largely to the grace and goodness of Jehovah, in their restoration, they had rejoiced to place themselves under His protection, and had ordered His worship according as it was written in the law of. Moses the man of God. But at present they went no farther. Instead of entering into God's thoughts respecting His house, they rested in the blessings into which they had now been brought. Their spiritual energy had in measure expended itself in their first efforts, and their temptation was now to pause before going farther. Such has ever been the. history of all real revivals in the church of God. Take, for example, that mighty work of God, of which Luther was the instrument.

At the outset the authority and sufficiency of the Scriptures was the battle-axe with which he waged war upon the corruptions and idolatries of Rome, and God wrought with him and granted a remarkable deliverance. But what followed? Luther, and his followers alike, rested in and feasted upon the fruits of their first victories, and the Reformation subsided into a system of State churches and creeds, out of which all vitality soon departed. (See Rev. 3: 1-3.) They failed to go on in communion with the mind of God — they laboured for their own objects rather than His, and the consequence was that blight and decay soon showed themselves; the movement was arrested; and now, today, the very truths which were then recovered are fast fading away (if they have not already gone) from the very places which were the scene of the conflict.

We learn therefore that the safety of God's people lies in their rising to the height of their calling. He calls us to fellowship with Himself, and with His Son Jesus Christ. If, forgetting this, we are satisfied with the enjoyment of our blessings, and lose sight of God's desires for us, feebleness and decline will soon mark us, whether as individuals or as companies of believers. If, on the other hand, God's objects are ours, if our minds are set upon what is before Him, He will ever lead us on into fuller intelligence of His purposes of grace, as well as of His ways, and into larger blessedness. He delights in our happiness, and He would ever increase this by associating us in His grace with His own objects and aims.

If, however, the children of Israel did not prosecute the work of the Lord with all diligence, they were not unmindful of the purpose of their restoration; for, as we have seen, they began to make provision for the materials wherewith to build the temple. (v. 7.) To understand the circumstances of the remnant in contrast with the glory of the kingdom when Solomon's temple was built, 1 Kings 5, and 1 Chr. 28, 29, should be read. Together with this, it should be remembered that Jehovah, was the same, and that His resources were as available, through the exercise of faith, for this feeble remnant as for David and Solomon in all their power and splendour. True, they were outwardly dependent upon the grant of a Gentile monarch for permission to build, and for the means to secure the necessary materials; but it was God's work on which they were engaged, and, counting upon Him, He would enable them to prosecute it to a successful issue. When believers work with God, their apparent difficulties and obstacles become the servants of faith to bring, God in, before whom crooked things are made straight, and rough places plain.

In this section the account is given of the actual laying of the foundation of the temple. An interval of at least seven months must be placed between verses 7 and 8. How it was spent is not revealed. The ostensible ground of the pause, before commencing the work of building, would seem, from the connection, to be waiting for the "cedar trees." However this might have been, "In the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of the Lord." (v. 8.)

Three things are to be noted in this statement. Whatever the state of the people at large, Zerubbabel and Jeshua the governor and the priest, are foremost in the Lord's work. Officially at the head, they retain the spiritual lead of the people. Happy is it for the people of God in every age, when their leaders are in the secret of the Lord's mind, when they can call upon the people to follow them in His service. It is not always so: indeed, not infrequently the first action of the Spirit of God is in the midst of His people, and then the nominal leaders are set aside, or constrained to follow to preserve their place.

Secondly, the governor and the priest know how to associate the people with themselves in their sacred enterprise. This is the sure mark of spiritual power on their part, as well as a testimony to the fact that God was working with them. Thus far there were no schisms, but all were banded together by the Holy Spirit for one common object. Lastly, we find that the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, were commissioned to set forward the work of the house of the Lord. This was evidently a recurrence to the scriptural order, arising out of a divine intelligence as to the nature of the work on which they were engaged. (See Num. 4; 1 Chr. 23: 24.) The maintenance of God's order in the work of His house is of the first importance, for it is in fact subjection to His will as expressed in His word. To man's thoughts some other method might have seemed preferable; but the only question for the Lord's servants was, and is, What has He directed? From not perceiving this, there has been perpetual conflict in the church of God between man's will and the Lord's; and, alas! the consequence has been that man and man's thoughts have almost universally usurped the place of Christ and His word.

The Levites through grace readily entered upon their labours. There were but seventy-four. (See Ezra 2: 40.)* In the wilderness, comprising only those who were "from thirty years old and upward, even unto fifty years old," they numbered "eight thousand and five hundred and eighty." (Num. 4: 46-48.) When the Lord therefore opened the door of deliverance for them from their Babylonish captivity, very few had cared to avail themselves of it; they had found a home, alas! in the land of their exile, and had forgotten Jerusalem, and ceased to remember Zion. The more precious to the Lord was the fidelity of these seventy-four, and with His presence and blessing they were enough for His service as overseers of the workmen in the house of God. Grace too had wrought in their hearts, for they stood "together," or, as the margin reads, "as one" in their office. This was true fellowship, and sprang from the fact that they were in communion with the mind of God concerning His house. His objects were theirs, and hence they were not hampered by divided counsels; but "as one" they set forward the workmen. Blessed augury for the success of their enterprise, as well as the evident fruit of the action of the Spirit of God!

*The children of Asaph, and the children of the porters (Ezra 2: 41, 42), were also Levites. Altogether, therefore, they numbered three hundred and forty-one; but only these seventy-four were available for this special work.

The next two verses describe the celebration of the laying of the foundation. "And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel. And they sang together by course, in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid." (vv. 10, 11) It was a day of great joy and gladness; and as they had gone back to the word, "as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God," for directions concerning the altar, the sacrifices, and the feasts, so they have recourse to "the ordinance of David king of Israel," for guidance in their service of praise. (Compare 2 Chr. 5: 12, 13.)

In the wilderness indeed we do not read of songs of joy; they had sung the song of redemption on the banks of the Red Sea, but even that soon died away on their lips, and was succeeded by the murmurs which were begotten by, the hardships and perils of their pilgrim journey. But when in the land the ark had found a resting-place, if but for a time, in Zion, David "appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel." Also Asaph and others were to play upon psalteries and harps, Asaph himself was to make a sound with cymbals, while certain priests were to blow with trumpets. "On that day David delivered first the psalm, to thank the Lord, into the hand of Asaph and his brethren," in which the words occur, "O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever." (1 Chr. 16) Few and feeble therefore as were the children of Israel who gathered this day on mount Moriah, they were scrupulously exact in obedience to the Word. Engaged on the Lord's work, they discerned rightly that in it human thoughts and human wisdom had no place. The Lord and the Lord alone must prescribe the method of His house.

Three classes are distinguished in this joyful celebration: there were the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the sons of Asaph with cymbals; and there were outside of these the people who answered the praise they heard with a great shout, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. None but priests were permitted to blow with the sacred trumpets (see Num. 10), for it needs to be in the holy place, in the presence of God, in communion with His mind, to discern when to sound the notes of testimony and praise. So likewise only the sons of Asaph — Levites, "according to the king's order" — must use the sacred cymbals. (1 Chr. 25: 6.) us duly arranged, "they sang together by course, in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord," and the burden of their song was, "Jehovah is good, for His mercy endureth for ever toward Israel."

But there were tears of sorrow mingled with their notes of praise; for the next verse tells us of many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, those who had seen Solomon's temple in all its glory and splendour, and as they contrasted it with the house they were now commencing, they wept with a loud voice, while the others shouted aloud for joy. And truly the tears of the one and the gladness of the other befitted the circumstances of the day; for those who had seen the glory of the kingdom and the visible cloud of the presence of Jehovah, in the first temple, and who were now spectators of the desolations of Jerusalem, and felt their present impoverished condition, and their feebleness in attempting to build anew the house of the Lord, it was but natural, whatever their gratitude, that grief should predominate. For those, on the other hand, who remembered only their captivity in Babylon, with its deprivation of both altar and temple, it could be nothing but unmingled gratitude and praise.

And who can doubt that both the tears and the gladness were alike acceptable to the Lord, inasmuch as both, might equally have been the fruit of the working of His grace in their hearts? Indeed, might not a parallel be found in our own times? When the Lord brought some of His people out of their Babylonish captivity, in the present century, and they entered anew upon the possession of their priestly privileges of access and worship; when they marked out again from the Word the true ground of the church, and sought in whatever feebleness to occupy it, their hearts, under the power of the Holy Ghost, would of necessity overflow in thanksgiving and praise. Now delivered from sacerdotal assumptions and claims, from the corruptions of the church and of Christianity, and filled with gratitude to Him who in His grace had opened their eyes, smitten off their fetters, and brought them into this wealthy place, they could but "shout aloud for joy."

On the other hand, when the ancient men, who were more deeply instructed in the Word, and who had often pondered the beauty and order of the church in Pentecostal days, compared it with their own feeble efforts to conform themselves according to the directions of the Scriptures, and when they reflected how many of their brethren had been left behind in bondage, sorrow was as appropriate as joy. There could not but be the blending of the two, so that, as in the case of the children of Israel, there might have been a difficulty in discerning "the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people."

Altogether the celebration of laying the foundation of the temple is a beautiful scene. The reader, however, will remark that, in accordance with the nature of the book and the position of the people, the record is wholly taken up with what the people did and felt. God is not visibly in the scene, though it is apparent that all is being done for and to Him. In a word, His people are acting in faith, and faith only could bring Him in, and that of necessity was an individual thing. But we are not left without witness of God's thoughts of His people on this day. If we turn to the book of Zechariah, we shall find that He was watching His people, and interested in their doings. As yet God had not begun to speak by prophecy to His restored people, either by Haggai or by Zechariah; but, when He, some years later, stirred them up and encouraged their hearts by this means, He refers to the laying of the foundation of the temple. Zechariah thus speaks: "The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth." (Zech. 4: 8-10.)

We thus learn how precious to God was the commencement of His house. His heart was set upon it, and He ever rejoices when His people understand His thoughts, and, with intelligence of His mind, seek to be found in the path of His will. Zerubbabel had laid the foundation, and he also should finish it; and this should be a sign to the people that the Lord had sent His servant. It might be a day of small things, as measured by the outward eye; but it was a day which contained within itself the promise of the restoration of the kingdom in glory, under the sway of the promised Messiah (see Zech. 6: 12, 13), and it was the privilege of faith to link itself, in this day of small things, with the full accomplishment of the purposes of God towards His people.

Moreover, the eyes of the Lord — "those seven," His perfect intelligence and cognizance of all things, for they are the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth — should rejoice, and see the plummet in the hands of Zerubbabel; i.e., when His house should be completed. In the previous chapter these seven eyes are upon the foundation-stone. "Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant, THE BRANCH. For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree." (Zech. 3: 8-10)

This scripture reveals to us the full significance in the thoughts of God of the laying of the foundation of His house by the remnant in Jerusalem. It was the assurance of the introduction of Christ, the Branch, who should secure to His people the promised blessing. So looked at, it is God that was doing all, if His people were the instruments. He laid the foundation-stone (compare Isa. 28: 16), though it were by the hands of Zerubbabel. It was His work, inasmuch as it was the fulfilment of His counsels. His eyes were upon the stone — that stone of grace and blessing; for indeed it was "a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation" — and He Himself would engrave the graving; that is, He would unfold and declare all its divine import; and then He would remove the iniquity of the land in one day. For truly it was through His death and resurrection that Christ would become the Saviour of His people from their sins, and thus the foundation-stone on which His people should be built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ ( (1 Peter 2: 4, 5), and on which His people Israel should also rest, and trusting in which they should never be confounded. The consequence therefore should be full earthly blessing, every man calling his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.

Combining the above scriptures with the narrative in Ezra will enable the reader to view the proceedings of that day with a double interest. If in Ezra the Spirit of God would associate us with the thoughts and feelings of the people in connection with their work, in Zechariah He draws us into fellowship with the thoughts of God. The people, it may be, saw but little beyond the promise of the restoration of the temple and its services; but God, with whom a thousand years are as one day, beheld in that day of small things the commencement of His work of grace and power, in virtue of which He would accomplish all His counsel — through the advent, death, appearing, and reign of His anointed — His King, whom He would one day establish on His holy hill of Zion.

Ezra 4.

NO sooner had the foundation of the temple been laid than adversaries appeared on the scene. It was so also in New Testament times; for wherever the apostle went, laying the foundation of the assembly, the activity of the enemy was excited. Hence his warning, "According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Cor. 3: 10, 11) But as with Paul, so also with Zerubbabel and Jeshua the enemy assumed the guise of friendship. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel, then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither." (vv. 1, 2.)

The reader is not left in doubt for a single moment as to the character of these would-be helpers of God's people in their work. The Holy Spirit tells us plainly that they were "the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin," although the words of peace were upon their lips; for He knew their hearts, their aims and ends. And indeed they betray themselves in the very words they use. It is ever so; for the mere professor cannot understand the things of God. They say, "We do sacrifice unto Him" (God) "since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither." They revealed in this way their true origin; they were, by their own confession, not the children of Abraham, but Assyrians, and had therefore no claim to be of the children of Israel. These were, in fact, the fathers of the Samaritans (see 2 Kings 17: 24-41) who continued down to the very end of the Jewish economy, to seek to intrude themselves into the place of privilege and blessing. It was on this account, and because of the strife thereby engendered, that the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. We may learn for ourselves from this incident the source of one of the gravest dangers in the work of the Lord. The kisses of an enemy are both deceitful and dangerous, though it seems so ungracious to refuse the proffered help of professed friends. The Church to her loss has not only forgotten this truth, but has also sought on system the aid of the world in her work. She has thus become both corrupt and corrupting, illustrating anew the old proverb, "The corruption of the best thing is the worst corruption."

Zerubbabel, Jeshua and their fellow-builders, were endowed with divine perception, and hence alive to the wile of the foe. They replied to this seductive offer, "Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us." (v. 3.) It may seem to some that these leaders of the people were taking up a narrow and exclusive position, and in fact they were; but in so doing they had the Lord's mind, and were resting on a divine principle which still abides; viz., that only the Lord's people can be engaged in the work of His house. Others may call themselves builders, and profess a desire to help on His work, but they can only build in wood, hay, or stubble; and the apostle has uttered the solemn warning voice for all ages, "If any man defile" (corrupt) "the temple of God, him shall God destroy." (1 Cor. 3: 17.) No possible straits or difficulties, no circumstances whatever, can justify the alliance of the Church with the world, the acceptance of the world's favour or assistance in the holy work of the Lord. Not of the world, even as Christ was not of the world, it is to deny both our character and that of the world itself, if we break down the everlasting distinction between ourselves and it, which has been revealed in the cross of Christ. (See Gal. 6: 14; John 15: 18-21.)

The true nature of the offer these adversaries of Judah and Benjamin had made is seen by the effect produced by its refusal. For what do we read? "Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building; and hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even unto the reign of Darius king of Persia." (vv. 4, 5.) Thus failing in their object of corrupting the work on which the children of the captivity were engaged, they now throw off the mask of friendship, and seek to hinder by open hostility. Such is Satan's method of proceeding in every age. He and his servants will often transform themselves into angels of light and ministers of righteousness, because it is easier to deceive than to deter the saints; but the moment his presence and activity are detected and exposed, his rage is unbounded. How could he seek to advance the building of God's house? The foundation is Christ; "and what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with Belial?" (2 Cor. 6) But, alas! Satan in the case before us gained a temporary advantage; for through his machinations, working on the fears and the unbelief of the people, he succeeded in stopping the building of the temple, even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia.

It will be perceived that these two verses (4 and 5) are a summary of the activity of the foes of Israel during the reigns of Cyrus, Ahasuerus, and Artaxerxes; and that therefore verse 24 is connected with verse 5, the intervening passage being a parenthesis which gives an account of the way in which the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin succeeded in their designs. Moreover it would seem, from a careful comparison of the prophecies of Haggai with this chapter, that the children of Israel ceased to build long before the prohibition was obtained; for it is evident from Haggai 2: 15, that they had made but little, if any, progress after the foundation was completed. Fear of their adversaries was stronger than their faith in God; and consequently losing heart, and thinking only of themselves and their own selfish interests, they began to build their own houses, and to say, "The time is not come that the Lord's house should be built." (Haggai 1) It is true that they were but a feeble remnant, and that their enemies were numerous and active; but they might have read, in one of their own Psalms, "When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple." (Psalm 27: 2-4.) But, alas! our own hearts understand but too well both the weakness and the fear of these poor captives, and how easily we are disheartened by a demonstration of the enemy's power when we forget that, if God be for us, none can succeed in their designs against us, when, in other words, we walk by sight and not by faith. The failure of God's people in this chapter is therefore but the failure of His servants in all ages.

From verses 6-23, as already pointed out, we have the particulars of the way in which the adversaries of God's people secured a royal decree in their favour, and against the building of the temple. Their attempt in the reign of Ahasuerus seems to have failed (v. 6), but nothing daunted they persevered with their object in the reign of his successor, Artaxerxes, and then their efforts were rewarded.*

*This is scarcely the place to discuss the question as to who were Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes. There is great difficulty in identifying them now with the monarchs of profane history. Probably the first was Xerxes, and the second Artaxerxes Longimanus. The reader may consult on the subject any good Bible Dictionary.

There are several points of instruction to be noted in the record of their proceedings. The first is the union of all the various races of the land "against Jerusalem." "Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions; the Dinaites, the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Susanchites, the Dehavites, and the Elamites, and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnapper brought over, and set in the cities of Samaria" (vv. 9, 10) — all these were banded together to frustrate the work of the Lord in the building of His house. The carnal mind is enmity against God, and there is therefore no difficulty, when God and His testimony are in question, in securing unity of aim and purpose amongst His enemies. Differ as they may amongst themselves, and even hating one another, they have but one mind when God appears on the scene. This was remarkably illustrated in the case of our blessed Lord, when the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers took counsel together against Jehovah, and against His Anointed. (Psalm 2) Even Herod and Pilate, who before had been at enmity between themselves, were made friends together by their common contempt of Christ.

It was in this way that Satan was proved to be the god of the world, for he succeeded in uniting the highest and the lowest against the Son of God, and marshalling all together — Romans and Jews, the civil, the ecclesiastical, and the military authorities, as well as the common people — he led on his army, animated by his own mind and spirit, to cut off Christ out of the land of the living. Once more in the world's history he will prove his power over the hearts of sinful men, but then to his own, and, alas! also to their everlasting destruction. (See Rev. 19, 20) So in our chapter, Satan, though concealed, is the active agent in stirring up these various peoples in their action against the work of the remnant.

This is seen in the next point to be noticed. In the letter addressed to the king they say, "Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations." (v. 12.) This statement betrays the speech of the "accuser of the brethren;" for it was false, and proceeded therefore from Satan, for "when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father of it." So far indeed from having set up the walls and joined the foundations of the city, they had barely laid the foundation of the temple. And the reader will perceive that, though these "adversaries of Judah and Benjamin" had professed a desire to help in building the temple, on the ground that they also sacrificed to the God of Israel, they omit all reference in their accusation to the temple, and speak only of the city. Their reason was obvious. The proclamation of Cyrus was concerning the temple. If therefore they accused the Jews of building the city, they gave a colour to the charges of rebellion and treasonable practices which they insinuated; and from the king's answer it is clear that they had not miscalculated. (vv. 19, 20.)

Another point not to be passed over is, that the sin of Israel in the past bears bitter fruit for these children of the captivity. Their last king, Zedekiah, had "sworn by God" to be faithful to Nebuchadnezzar; but he broke his oath, and rebelled against the king of Babylon, and thus procured the destruction of Jerusalem, as well as incurred the judgment of God. (See 2 Chr. 36: 13; Ezek. 17: 12-16.) There was truth therefore in the accusation that Jerusalem had been a rebellious city; so that while the remnant themselves were under the favour and protection of God, and no one could harm them as long as they went forward in confidence in Him, they now suffered, in His government in this world, the consequence of the sins of their fathers. It is still to be emphasized that these adversaries could have had no power as against the people of God, if the people themselves had not lost faith in God and heart for their work. The apostle wrote, "A great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries" (1 Cor. 16: 9); but not one of his opponents could have hindered his work, because he was counting on Him who "openeth, and no man shutteth." So had it been with the remnant but for their own sloth and unbelief; for, as already pointed out, they ceased, it would seem from their work before the prohibition was obtained.

The two motives urged on the king were provision against future danger, and the possibility of loss of revenue. Thus appealed to, and the statements made concerning the character of the city in past days having been verified by the records in the royal archives, he wrote, "Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded, until another commandment shall be given from me. Take heed now that ye fail not to do this: why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings?" (vv. 17-22.) The adversaries were thus successful, and having received the letter, went up with all speed, armed with royal authority, and effectually provided against any attempt to continue the work of building Jehovah's house. They made them cease," it says, "by force and power."

The chapter then closes with the statement, Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia." (v. 24.) This last verse, however, connects itself with verse 5, and gives the result of the enemy's opposition, of which verses 4 and 5 contain a general summary. The parenthesis gives the details of the way in which Artaxerxes was prevailed upon to issue his decree. Altogether it is a sad chapter — the account of the activity of Satan. The only bright gleam in it is the faithfulness of the leaders of Israel in refusing the alliance of the world. The rest of the chapter is darkness. God does not appear in it; and, looked at with human eyes, it would seem as if the enemy had completely conquered. While, however, God does not interpose, He is no uninterested spectator of what is taking place. Whatever His people are, He abides faithful; and we shall see that, though He will have His people thoroughly tested, He only waits for the proper moment to raise up a power which the enemy will not be able to withstand, and with which He will arouse His servants from their slumbers, and urge them onward in the prosecution of the object for which they had been brought back from Babylon.

Ezra 5.

IN the last chapter we saw how the people were turned aside from their work by the activity of Satan. In the first two verses of this chapter we have the record of God's intervention, by His prophets, on His people's behalf, in order to overthrow the enemy's designs.

The reader will recall the special position of these restored captives. Though brought back, in the mercy of God, to their own land, they could not have Jehovah's visible presence in their midst, as in the days of the kingdom; for He had transferred the sovereignty of the earth to the Gentiles. Fire no longer came down from heaven to consume their sacrifices, and the priests were without the sacred Urim and Thummim. (Ezra 2: 63.) God therefore was now purely the object of faith, and the godly had to endure as seeing Him who was invisible.

On this very account it was that God came in, not by any act of power to confound the adversary, but by the word of prophecy to reach the conscience of His people, and to stir them up to confidence in Himself; and thereby to strengthen them for the conflict which their labours would involve, as well as to assure them that as long as they trusted in Him the utmost efforts of their enemies would be in vain. And herein we learn the true function of the prophet. As another has said, "Prophecy supposes that the people of God are in a bad condition, even when they are still acknowledged and prophecy addressed to them. There is no need of addressing powerful testimony to a people who are walking happily in the ways of the Lord, nor of sustaining the faith of a tried remnant by hopes founded on the unchangeable faithfulness of God, when all are enjoying in perfect peace the fruits of His present goodness — attached, as a consequence, to the faithfulness of the people. The proof of this simple and easily-understood principle is found in each of the prophets."

It should, moreover, be pointed out, that the prophet was raised up as the medium for communication with the people of God when the responsible head or heads of the people had failed. Thus when the priesthood had failed under Eli, Samuel was God's chosen vessel for His messages to His people, and his ministry continued through the reign of Saul, or at least until David was anointed king. This explains the fact that the greatest of the prophets appeared on the scene at the darkest periods of the history of Israel, as, for example, Elijah and Elisha. So in our chapter Zerubbabel, the governor, and Jeshua the high priest, were the responsible heads of the captivity; but, worn out by the harassing attacks of their adversaries, they had also succumbed with the people, and had with them ceased to build the house of the Lord. God therefore now sent prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, and they "prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them." (v. 1.)

As a matter of fact Haggai (as may be seen by a comparison of the dates of their respective prophecies) received his first message from Jehovah, two months before Zechariah was employed, and it is worthy of notice as indicative of their failure that his first errand was to Zerubbabel and Jeshua (See Haggai 1: 1) It is of the utmost importance (as shown in our exposition of Haggai) that the messages of the prophets should be read in connection with Ezra; for it is in these that the true condition of the people is discovered. It is evident that it was not only the fear of the enemy that led them to desist from their work, but that also their own hearts were settling down upon their own ease and comfort. They found time to build their own houses while saying, "The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built." (Haggai 1: 1-5.) Alas! how often is it the case that the people of God, forgetting that their citizenship is in heaven, and that therefore they are pilgrims, bend their efforts to build houses for themselves in a scene of death and judgment. So the children of the captivity, untouched by the sight of the desolations of Jehovah's house, lying waste as it was, turned aside to erect "ceiled houses" for themselves. But God was not indifferent to the state of His house, if they were, and He "blew upon" all the increase of the field because of His house that lay waste, while they were running every man to his own house, (Haggai 1: 6-9)

It was to this state of things that Haggai was sent to call attention; and his words were clothed with such energy and power, that in a little more than three weeks the chiefs of the people, and the people themselves, were aroused from their selfish apathy, and they obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him; and the people did fear before the Lord. (Compare Haggai 1: 1 with vv. 12-15.) It would seem, then, that verse 1 of our chapter is a general statement of the work of the prophets, and that in verse 2 we have, in fact, the effect of Haggai's first message; or it may be also the general effect of the prophetic work amongst the people. "Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them." This last expression will refer to the continuous work of the prophets during the progress of the building, by which Jehovah, encouraged His people to persevere in their labours, unfolding before them the glory of the future in connection with the advent of Messiah and the establishment of His kingdom. The people builded, and the prophets prophesied, both alike filling their appointed places, and both alike fulfilling their task in fellowship with the mind of God. If the prophets spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost (2 Peter 1: 21.), it was Jehovah, who stirred up the spirit of the builders (Haggai 1: 14); and hence all alike laboured in the power of the Spirit, and all occupied the places assigned to them by the sovereign action of the grace of God.

The reader should again be reminded that the people did not wait for the renewal of their commission to build from the Gentile authorities. No doubt they were in subjection to the powers that were ordained of God, and that a decree had been obtained forbidding them to build; but God Himself had spoken, and if, therefore, they were to render to Caesar the things that were Caesar's, they were also to render to God the things that were God's. When God condescends to speak, His claims are supreme, paramount to every consideration, whatever may be the consequences entailed. This principle was recognized by the builders of a later day, Peter and John, who, when forbidden to speak or teach in the name of Jesus, replied, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." (Acts 4: 19, 20.) In truth, faith links itself with God Himself, with His objects and His power, and can thus peacefully leave every other question with Him. Hence these children of the captivity obeyed the voice of their God, and went forward with their work, knowing that He held the hearts of all men in His hands, and that He could — as He did in the issue — use even the opposition of their enemies to further the work of His house. The record of the manner in which God manifested that He was above all the proud devices of the adversary is contained in the rest of this, and the following, chapter. First, we have the action of the Gentile governor, with his companions. We read:

"At the same time came to them Tatnai, governor on this side the river, and Shethar-boznai, and their companions, and said thus unto them, Who hath commanded you to build this house, and to make up this wall? Then said we unto them after this manner, What are the names of the men that make this building?" (vv. 3, 4.)

The governor, in making this enquiry, was undoubtedly within his rights, and acting in the interests of his sovereign, inasmuch as a decree prohibiting the building of the city, if not of the temple, had been issued. He could know nothing of any commandment except that of his own king. The children of this world can never understand the claims of God upon His people, and it always seems folly to them that any should brave the displeasure of an earthly monarch to please One in whom they themselves do not believe.

The fourth verse is somewhat ambiguous. Comparing it with verse 10, it is evident that the "we" of verse 4 applies to the enemies of Israel. It was they who asked, "What are the names of the men that make this building?" their object being to report these transgressors of his commandment to the king. It is still Satan working behind the scene; and whenever God acts on the earth through His people, Satan immediately counterworks. This will be the force of the words, "At the same time." (v. 3.) We do not read of any persecution of the people during the time of which Haggai speaks, when they were building their own houses. But at once, on their resumption of their work upon Jehovah's house, they are met by new wiles — indeed, open opposition.

The house of Jehovah, was the testimony for that day, and it is this which Satan always hates. If believers settle down in the world, mind earthly things, become "dwellers on earth" — using this phrase in its moral sense — Satan will let them alone; but the moment, wrought upon by the Spirit of God, they apprehend His mind, and go forth in living testimony, the adversary will seek to turn them aside by any art or device which is likely to accomplish his purpose. We have a striking and perfect illustration of this principle in the life of our blessed Lord. as well as the exhibition of Satan's powerlessness to touch His people as long as they are maintained in dependence and obedience. (See Matt. 4)

On the other hand, if Satan is merciless in his opposition, God is not indifferent to the needs and weaknesses of His servants when engaged in the conflict. We are thus told, immediately after this new effort of the enemy to deter the Jews from their work. "But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter came to Darius." The eye of God was upon His beloved people, beholding their danger, in order that He might minister the needed courage in the presence of the foe, to give them the consciousness of His presence and shelter, and thus to animate them to perseverance in their work. And indeed it is a wonderful thing for our souls when we in any measure realize that the eye of God is upon us. It produces in us that holy fear which makes us fearless of man, and also gives us the sweet sense of the overshadowing presence and protection of Him who has in His grace bound us to Himself by imperishable ties, while it brings to our lips the victorious challenge of the apostle, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" We are thus enabled to pursue the path of service to which we have been called in calm and peace, though surrounded by powerful enemies, because we are assured of the omnipotent succour of our God. It acts as an incentive both to perseverance and fidelity.

We have, in the next place, the copy of the letter which Tatnai and his companions sent to King Darius, from which fuller details of their visit to Jerusalem may be gathered. A brief analysis of this letter will be both interesting and profitable. They were evidently impressed with the work of the feeble Jews, for they tell the king, "We went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is builded with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on, and prospereth in their hands." (v. 8.) Unlike the letter given in the former chapter, this gives at least a faithful report of the facts, though the object of both was to stop the progress of the work; while the enemy in this case bears testimony to the diligence and devotedness of the builders.

The next two verses (9, 10) are a repetition of verses 3 and 4, for the information of the king; and then from verses 11-16 we have the answer which the elders of the Jews returned to their interrogators. Nothing could be more simple and beautiful than the way in which they give their own history, and that of the temple on the building of which they were engaged. In the very forefront of all they declare themselves as "the servants of the God of heaven and earth." In dealing, with the wiles of Satan there is no weapon more potent than the bold confession of our true character. The beginning of Peter's fall, or rather the first outward step towards it, was his denial that he belonged to Jesus of Nazareth. And how often since that day has it been the precursor of shame and defeat! Blessed was it therefore that these Jews were able to take their stand upon this open confession that they were God's servants: it was blessed for their own souls, the result surely of knowing that the eye of God was upon them, and it was at the same time their complete justification for commencing their work in spite of the king's decree. Moreover, they narrated the cause of the destruction of the house in past days. Their "fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto wrath," and He had given them "into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon." (vv. 11, 12.)

What a history! Solomon had built the house, and Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed it, and the cause of all this sorrow was their fathers' sins. And what a tale of long-suffering grace and mercy was included between these two dates; and, alas! what a revelation of the heart of man — under divine culture as it was! In a word, between those two epochs is contained the history of the kingdom under man's responsibility, established in glory and splendour under Solomon as prince of peace (David was the first king, but it was the erection of the temple that marked the establishment of the kingdom) and destroyed in the reign of weak and wicked Zedekiah. (Read 2 Chr. 36: 11-21.) Furthermore, they explain that the work on which they were employed was the result of a decree of Cyrus, in proof of which they told how he had committed to their care the vessels of gold and silver belonging to the temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away. (vv. 13-15.) They added, "Then came the same Sheshbazzar, and laid the foundation of the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and since that time, even until now, hath it been in building, and yet it is not finished." (v. 16.) If the account, so given by the Jews, were correct, they were entirely justified even in the, eyes of man; for it was a well-known characteristic of the laws of the Medes and Persians (and Cyrus was king of Persia) that they could not be changed (Dan. 6: 8, 14, 15, etc.), and their adversaries were shown to be in error through, ignorance of the law.

Hence the letter now sent concludes with the request, "Now therefore, if it seem good to the king, let there be search made in the king's treasure-house, which is there at Babylon, whether it be so, that a decree was made of Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter." (v. 17.)

Ezra 6.

THE king thus appealed to ordered the search to he made, and the decree of Cyrus was found. (Ezra 6: 1-5) The statement of the Jews was thus confirmed in every particular, and even more; for it was now discovered that Cyrus had not only issued his decree for the rebuilding of the temple, but had also ordered "the expenses to be given out of the king's house," as well as directed the restoration of the sacred vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away.

Acting then upon this decree, Darius commanded Tatnai, Shetharboznai, and their companions to cease to molest the Jews, and to allow them to continue their work in peace. God was manifestly to faith working behind the scenes, and using the power of the enemy for the accomplishment of His own purposes; affording another instance of how He causes all things to work together for good to them that love Him. For not only did Darius, on the interposition of their adversaries, confirm the decree of Cyrus, but he also issued another to the effect that all the necessary provision for the house of God should be made at his expense.

He says, "Moreover, I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews, for the building of this house of God: that, of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered. And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt-offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail: that they may offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons." (Ezra 6: 8-10)

When a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him (Prov. 16: 7); and when found, therefore, in the path of His will, he may safely leave his enemies in the Lord's hands. So these elders of the Jews discovered, and they might have learned the lesson often taught in the word of God, and ever needed by His people, "They that be with us are more than they that be with them."

Thus God Himself was the shield of His people while they were engaged in His service; and as long as they were obedient to His word, and counting upon Him for strength and defence, it was not possible for them to be hindered. In this way Satan once more overreached himself, and was used to further the work that he hated; just as the apostle wrote in after centuries, "I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel." (Phil. 1: 12.) When Satan succeeded in shutting Paul up in prison, he thought he had gained a victory, even as he did in the most notable case of all, when he urged the Jews to demand the crucifixion of their Messiah; but in both instances his apparent success was a most disastrous defeat. We may well, therefore, whatever the opposition or persecution, go calmly forward, courageous in perseverance, because it is the Lord's work on which we are engaged, and He has said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the ages."

Darius went still further. He added, "Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and, being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this. And the God, that hath caused His name to dwell there, destroy all kings and people that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree; let it be done with speed." (vv. 11, 12.) The king thus surrounded the Jews with his authority, and guarded them against further molestation by attaching the penalty of death to interference with their work. And from the language employed, it can scarcely be doubted that Darius had himself some knowledge of "the God of heaven," for he speaks of Him as causing "His name to dwell there." Be this as it may, God disposed his heart in favour of His people and of the work of building His house. The effect of the decree was instantaneous, for we read that Tatnai and his companions "did speedily" according to that which Darius had sent, and forthwith all opposition ceased, and the enemies of the work disappeared from the scene.

Not only had the opposition to the work of the house of God now ceased; but God, in His care for His people, and in response to their faith, had also turned the heart of the king toward them; so that his royal power had now become their shelter and defence. Hence we read:

"And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo: and they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. And this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king." (vv. 14, 15.)

Before entering upon the particulars of this statement, we may recall to the minds of our readers a striking parallel from the history of the building of the house of God in the New Testament. In connection with the death of Stephen, there arose "a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles."

Soon after, on the visit of Saul, after his conversion (we say after his conversion, in fact several years had elapsed (see Gal. 1); but we speak of the order of the narrative), to Jerusalem, opposition was once more aroused, and the Grecians went about to slay Saul; and the brethren sent him forth to Tarsus. (Acts 9: 29, 30.) The statement follows: "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified (built up); and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied." (Acts 9: 31.) God had given them rest from persecuting enemies, and they, by His grace, used the opportunity to build themselves up upon their most holy faith. So was it with the elders of the Jews. They builded, and they were encouraged by the comfort of the Holy Ghost as ministered by the prophets.

It is of importance to notice these two classes — the builders and the prophets. As pointed out, when expounding Haggai, these two characters of service can never be confounded. A builder cannot assume the functions of a prophet, nor could a prophet exchange his prophetic mantle for the trowel of the builder. Hence the apostle says, "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of the faith; or ministry (service), let us wait on our ministering." (Rom. 12: 6, 7.) A builder is one whose work it is to lay stones upon the foundation; one, that is, who is used of God, by preaching or teaching, to gather souls, to bring them as living stones to the foundation, which is Jesus Christ. (See 1 Cor. 3) A prophet is one who both urges the people forward in their work by the communication of the mind of God, and who also tests everything by His word. A prophet sets the conscience in the presence of God, maintains, therefore, the sense of responsibility, and ministers guidance, rebuke, or exhortation according to the need of the moment, speaking as he is moved by the Holy Ghost — now, of course, through the written Word, but guided of the Spirit to the word suited to the case.

Thus the elders of Israel laboured, and the prophets prophesied; and it is also recorded that "they prospered through the prophesying," etc. The reason is evident. The Holy Spirit was acting in power, first through the prophets, and, secondly, in producing a response to the word of God, as ministered by the prophets, in the hearts of the builders. All through the history of the kingdom the nation prospered when they heeded the voices of their prophets; and, on the other hand, every evil consequence flowed from disregard of these heaven-sent admonitions and warnings. Nor is it different in the church of God. Whenever "the builders" are attentive to the prophets who unfold and apply the mind of God as revealed in His word, they prosper, their work is durable, and they themselves receive blessing. But if they are careless of divine guidance and monition, and work after their own thoughts, they do but corrupt the work upon which they are engaged, and introduce wood, hay, and stubble in the place of gold, silver, and precious stones. Their work may seem greater, and even more prosperous, to the eye of man; but it remains to be tested at a future day, and the Lord alone is the judge of true prosperity of service.

There was now no further interruption, for they continued their work until they, had finished it; and, as the Spirit of God carefully, notes, it was finished "according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment (or decree) of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia." All was done, therefore, in obedience to God, and by the permission of the earthly power to which, by God's appointment, they were in subjection. Blessed privilege for these workmen so to have laboured, and no small honour, it may be added, for these Gentile monarchs thus to be associated with and to be used for the execution of the purposes of God! No doubt — and the lesson ought not to be passed over — the names of the kings are thus mentioned to show, for one reason, the value God attaches to the principle of obedience to constituted authority.

The only limit, as before pointed out, is where the "powers that be" intrude their claims into the province in which God is supreme. The moment human authority clashes with the claims of God over the soul it becomes null and void. With this exception (Acts 4: 19) the believer has ever to submit to the powers that are ordained of God. (Rom. 13)

Then the date is added on which the house was completed. It was on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. That is, there were four years occupied from the recommencement of the building until its completion. (Ezra 4: 24.) How many years had passed away since the foundation was laid cannot be exactly ascertained, inasmuch as the length of the reign of the sovereigns between Cyrus and Darius is not given. It could scarcely have been less, and was probably more, than twenty years. With what long-suffering and patience God had borne with the failures of His people. And now that His purpose is accomplished, and the house builded, with what delight He calls our attention to the labours of His people. Although all had been wrought by His grace, in that same grace He reckons to His people that which He Himself had wrought. And so it ever has been, and will be, as the judgment-seat of Christ will abundantly testify. For if any of us receive for the good things we have done in the body, we shall confess to His praise that He Himself was the source and the power of all the good works which He has been pleased to commend.

Jehovah's house being now completed, we have in the next place the account of the dedication.

"And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy, and offered at the dedication of this house of God an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin-offering for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites. in their courses, for the service of God which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses." (vv. 16-18.)

It was but natural that they should rejoice at such a moment, for the. house of their God was the expression of all the blessings of the covenant in which they stood. And at length, after weary years of failure, difficulties, disappointments, and sorrow, it stood completed before their eyes. It was for this that they had been brought up out of Babylon, and if any of them had sown in tears they now reaped in joy. But their own feebleness, and the poverty of their circumstances, may be seen by contrasting this dedication with that of Solomon's temple. Then the king offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep, besides sheep and oxen which could not be told nor numbered for multitude, which were sacrificed before the ark. (2 Chr. 7: 5; 2 Chr. 5: 6.) If they had dwelt on this aspect, their joy, as on laying the foundation, might well have been accompanied with lamentation and tears. Faith, however, has to do with unseen things, and it could thus recall to the mind of this feeble remnant that Jehovah, was no less mighty and no less merciful for them than for Solomon.

The house might be less glorious, and they themselves but poor subjects of a Gentile monarch; but if God was for them, as He was, the resources available for faith were as unbounded as ever. This truth cannot be too deeply impressed on our minds, that Christ remains the same for His people in a day of difficulty as in a season of prosperity. To be in the power of this raises us, as nothing else can, above our circumstances, and gives us courage to press onward whatever the perils of the path.

And faith was in exercise in these children of the captivity; for we find that they offered a sin-offering for all Israel. All Israel was not there — only representatives of two or three tribes; but these few were on the ground of the nation before God, and they understood this, and thus included in their sin-offering all the tribes of Israel. This is surely a significant lesson for the remnant gathered out in these last days to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They may be but few, and both poor and feeble; but if they enter into the truth of their position, they will include in their hearts and in their prayers all the members of the one body. In spirit they will occupy the ground on which they have been set "with all the saints;" or otherwise they will but add another to the many sects which already divide the Church of God. This becomes easy when faith is in lively exercise; for the faith that on the one hand links itself with God, on the other links itself with all His people.

They were also characterized at this moment by obedience. They, regulated the service of the house — the priests and the Levites, "as it is written in the book of Moses." The path of obedience, whether for the individual or for the assembly, is the only path of blessing. At such a time — just when the house of God was completed — it would have appeared folly to them for man to have intruded his thoughts into the house of God. Their only concern was to know what God had said — what He had directed. So was it when the house of God was built at Pentecost, in the apostolic church; and so was it when God graciously permitted the revival of the truth of the Church at the beginning of last century. But what happened after the departure of the apostles has happened again — as also with the remnant, as will be seen in the closing chapter of Ezra — that is, the word of God as the sole regulator of His house is often displaced by man for his own convenience, or for his own wisdom.

No danger is more subtle than the gradual creeping into the assembly of human thoughts and arrangements in substitution for the word of God. In effect, although not so intended, it is the deposition of the Lord from His place of supremacy over His people. There never was a time, therefore, when it was more necessary to remember the words of our risen Lord: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."

Following upon the dedication of the house, although actually a short interval elapsed, the passover was observed.

"And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves. And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of Israel, did eat, and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel." (vv. 19-22.)

The connection is exceedingly beautiful. The house of their God finished, His people celebrate the memorial of their redemption from the land of Egypt, and thus remind themselves, to the praise of Jehovah, of the ground on which they stood, and of the fact that the foundation of all their blessing, of all God's actings in grace towards them, was the blood of the slain Lamb. This, according to the word of Moses, was "a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations." (Ex. 12: 42.) Nothing could show more distinctly that these children of the captivity were at this moment in possession of the mind of the Lord than their observance of the passover. Passing by the glories of the kingdom, they travelled upward until they reached the charter of all they possessed, whether in title or in prospect, and there confessed God as the God of their salvation. They thus built on what God was for them on the ground of the blood of the Passover Lamb, and they found in that, as individual souls ever find, a rock which is both immutable and immovable. Their hearts were in this feast; "for," as we read, "the priests and the Levites were purified together, all of them were pure." (See Num. 9: 10-14.) They discerned what was due to Him whose feast they kept.

There were others besides themselves who united with them in this observance — those who had "separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of Israel." Whether these were of the few Israelites who had been left behind in the land, when their brethren were carried away captive, or whether they were of the heathen, is not mentioned. In Exodus 12 it is said, "There shall no stranger eat thereof;" but it is added, "When a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it." (See also Num. 9: 14.) They were probably therefore "strangers;"* and if so, they had been attracted to the children of the captivity by witnessing the divine power that was seen in their separation from evil. Alas! we do not read of any more being thus drawn; rather the children of Israel were drawn afterwards to the heathen. It is ever the same with the people of God. When the Spirit of God works in their midst, and when, as a consequence, they walk, in any measure, according to the nature of their calling, there will always be numbers, constrained by what they behold, seeking their company and fellowship. When, on the other hand, life and power vanish, and are succeeded by coldness and indifference, it is the world that attracts, and not the Church. Hence it is that every movement in the Church of God is most influential at the outset, because then the display of the Spirit's power is more manifest.

*This conclusion may be questioned. The reader will form, after examination, his own judgment.

After the passover, they observed, according to the word of God, the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy. (See Ex. 13) This feast followed immediately upon the passover, and derives its special significance from it. The apostle has explained this to us. He says, "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Cor. 5: 7, 8.) That is, the moment we are redeemed God claims us, and He desires us to respond to His claims by holy lives — separation from evil, and separation unto Himself. The feast lasted seven days; i.e., a perfect period — typically, the period of our lives. Thus in the Old as in the New Testament all God's claims upon His people are founded on redemption. "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price." This, whatever the change of words, is the unvarying note, and teaches the uniform lesson, everywhere repeated, that since He is holy, we also are to be holy. Leaven must not be found in our dwellings, but we are to keep the feast perpetually with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Nor should these two things be ever disjoined in teaching. If grace — grace unbounded — is displayed in our redemption, grace should be operative in the hearts of the redeemed. If God calls us out of the world, it is not that we should go back to and find our home again in the world. If by His grace we are washed in the precious blood of Christ, He surely looks that we should keep our garments undefiled. If then the memorials of our redemption are sweet to us, if we delight to be found around the Lord's table, to feast upon the emblems of His body and His blood, let us also delight to keep the feast of unleavened bread in testimony to Him who has redeemed us, and for the glory of His blessed name.

It was a time of joy to this poor remnant; for the blessing of God rested upon them, and the heart of the Gentile king was turned towards them. For a season the clouds had disappeared, and they could rest in the sunshine of heavenly and earthly favour.

Here the first part of the book closes; the remaining four chapters are occupied with the mission and work of Ezra.

Ezra 7.

WE now enter upon the second part of this book. In the first part, the return of the people from Babylon and the building of the temple are narrated; and in the second we have the personal mission and the work of Ezra. It should again be noticed that the signs of the transference of governmental power in the earth from the Jew to the Gentile are everywhere apparent. Thus the date of Ezra's mission is given as "in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia," and indeed his commission for his work from the king is given at length (vv. 11-26), in proof that God's people were at this time under the authority of the Gentiles, and that God Himself ever recognizes the powers which have their source in His own sovereign appointment.

It may aid the reader if the structure of chapters 7 and 8 is first briefly indicated. After Ezra's genealogy (Ezra 7: 15) a short summary is given of the king's permission for him to go, of his journey up to Jerusalem, and of the object of his mission. (vv. 6-10) Then follows the king's letter, conferring upon Ezra authority to act, as well as the necessary powers for the execution of his work. (vv. 11-26.) This chapter closes with Ezra's ascription of praise to God for having inclined the heart of the king to Jehovah's temple, and for having extended mercy to himself before the king, etc. (vv. 27, 28.) In Ezra 8: 1-14 we have a catalogue of those who voluntarily availed themselves of the royal permission to go up from Babylon with Ezra. All these having been assembled by "the river that runneth to Ahava," Ezra finding that none of the sons of Levi were there, took measures to secure "ministers for the house of our God." (vv. 15-20.) All being thus prepared, two things follow; first, fasting and supplication before God (vv. 21-23); and secondly, the appointment of twelve of the chief of the priests to take charge of the silver, the gold, and the vessels which had been offered for "the house of our God." (vv. 24-30 ) Lastly, we have the journey, and the arrival at Jerusalem, together with the necessary preparations for the commencement of Ezra's work. (vv. 31-36.)

It will thus be seen that chapters 7 and 8 should be read together, forming as they do a continuous narrative, of which chapter 7: 1-10 is the preface or introduction.

The genealogy of Ezra is traced back to Aaron. (vv. 1-5.) He was one therefore entitled to all the rights and privileges of the priesthood (see Ezra 2: 62); and, moreover, he was a ready scribe in the law of his God, and thereby qualified to be the instructor of the people in the statutes of Jehovah, (See Lev. 10: 8-11; Mal. 2: 4-7.) He became a priest by birth and consecration; but he only became "a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given," by personal study of the Word. Inherited office therefore, even with the Jews, could not bestow the qualifications for its exercise — these could only come from individual converse with God in the Scriptures; for while by virtue of consecration the priest was entitled by grace to minister before God, he could only minister acceptably when all was done in obedience to the Word, and it was impossible that he could teach unless he himself were acquainted with the mind of God. It was neglect of this second part of their office that led to the failure and corruption of the priesthood; for so completely was the word of God forgotten in the days of Josiah, that the finding of a copy of the law in the temple became an epoch in his reign.

It is therefore of surpassing interest — like finding a beautiful flower in the midst of a sandy desert — to discover in Ezra one who, while he cherished his priestly descent, found his joy and strength in the law of his God; and in verse 10 the secret of his attainments is unfolded. He had "prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it. "Let the reader ponder this significant and instructive statement — "He had prepared his heart." So the apostle prayed for the Ephesian believers, that "the eyes of their heart" (heart is the right reading) might be enlightened, that they might know what is the hope of His calling, etc. (Eph. 1: 18.) Yes, it is to the heart that the revelations of God are made, even as it was to the heart of the Magdalene that the Lord manifested Himself at the sepulchre, rather than to the intelligence of His disciples. Nor can we attach too much importance to this truth. Preparation of heart (and this also cometh from the Lord) is everything, whether for the study of the Word, for prayer, or for worship. (See 1 Cor. 8: 1-3; Heb. 10: 22; 1 John 3: 20-23.)

There is yet another thing. If Ezra prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, it was first and foremost that he might do it. It was not therefore to increase his knowledge, to add to his repute as a teacher; but it was that his heart, life, and ways might be formed by it — that his own walk might be the embodiment of the truth, and thus well-pleasing to the Lord. Then followed teaching, "and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." This order can never be neglected with impunity; for where teaching does not flow out of a heart that is itself subject to the truth, it is not only powerless to influence others. but it will also harden the heart of the teacher himself. This is the secret of many a failure in the Church of God. The saints are ever and anon startled by the sudden departure from the truth, or by the fall, of those who had occupied the place of teachers; but whenever the state of the heart is overlooked, and the activity of mind is permitted upon divine things, the soul is exposed to some of Satan's most subtle temptations. A true teacher should be able in measure, like Paul, to point to his own example, and to say, as he did to the Thessalonians, "Ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake." (See also Acts 20 and Phil. 3)

It is evident, moreover, that Ezra was in communion with the mind of God as to His people. His heart was upon them; for we learn that he had sought permission of the king to go up to Jerusalem, and that "the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him." (p. 6.) What he desired, therefore, was the welfare, the blessing of his people, the people of his God, but being under subjection to the king, he had to obtain his leave; for the Lord will not have us, even for His own service, slight the authority under which we are placed. If, however, the Lord had put the desire to serve Him in the heart of Ezra, He will influence the king to answer His servant's request.

How good it is to leave ourselves in His hands! We are tempted oftentimes to overleap the barriers which man may place in our path, to force open the doors which the hand of man may have closed; but it is for our comfort and strength to remember that the Lord can make His way plain before our face whenever He wills, and that our part is to quietly wait on Him, ready to go forward when He shall speak the word. The recognition of the hand of God upon him was a characteristic of this devoted servant (see verse 9; Ezra 8: 18, 22, 31, etc.), and it was at once the source both of his patience and of his courage.

The details of the journey, of which we have a short account in verses 7-9, will occupy us in the next chapter; and hence we may pass at once to the king's letter of authorization to Ezra — a letter which empowered him to act, defined the object of his mission, and provided, through the king's treasurers beyond the river, the means for the execution of his service in connection with the ordering of the house of Jehovah.

First, after the salutation — a salutation which shows that Ezra was a true witness in the midst of the Gentiles — the king decrees that "all they of the people of Israel, and of His priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee." (v. 13. ) Cyrus, as seen in Ezra 1, had also accorded the same privilege; and now, after the lapse of many years, once again the Spirit of God works, through the king, to deliver His people. But no human constraint was to be exercised: if any man went up, it must be voluntarily; for God would have willing servants. If under constraint, it must be only that of the Holy Spirit. Then, from verses 14-20, the scope and objects of Ezra's mission are carefully defined even as to its details. He was "sent of the king and his seven counsellors, to enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand." (v. 14.) He was, further, to take charge of the silver and. gold which the king and his counsellors had freely offered to the God of Israel, also of that found in the province of Babylon, together with the free-will offering of the people, etc.; and this was to be expended in the purchase of animals, for sacrifice, etc., or as Ezra and his brethren might decide, "after the will of their God."

The reader may gather the particulars of Ezra's commission for himself. His attention, however, may be directed to one or two of its instructive features. It cannot fail to be observed that this Gentile monarch refers everything to the will of God, or, to speak more exactly, that he directs that all should be ordered in subjection to that will. It would almost seem, Gentile though he was, that he was in full fellowship with the object of Ezra; and from the confession of Jehovah, as the God of heaven (vv. 21, 23), it is not impossible that grace had visited his heart. Whether this were so or not, he carefully provides for the execution of Ezra's mission in every possible way, and at the same time entrusted Ezra with the government of his people "after the wisdom of God." Finally, penalties were attached to disobedience to the law of God and to the law of the king, rising even to death itself. The lesson lies on the surface that God is sovereign in the choice of His instruments, and that He doeth according to His will among the inhabitants of the earth as in the army of heaven, and that none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou? An illustration of this is found in our chapter in that "Artaxerxes, king of kings," and "Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God," are yoked together for the execution of God's thoughts for His people and for His house in Jerusalem.

Ezra himself is filled with adoration as he contemplates the wonder-working power of the hand of his God; for having recorded the letter of the king, he breaks out into an ascription of praise: "Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem: and hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty princes." (vv. 27, 28.)

He adds, "And I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me." In this he showed himself to be a true man of faith. he traced everything up to God. He lost sight of himself, and to his soul God was all and in all. It was thus not his request (v. 6) that induced the king to act, but it was God who put the thing into the king's heart; it was not Ezra's influence that commended him to the king and his princes, but it was God that extended mercy to him in their presence; it was not in his own power that he assembled the chief men to go up with him, but it was God who strengthened him with His own hand upon him.

In all this he is a striking example to every believer; and happy is he who, like Ezra, has learned to live in the presence of God, to look beyond the actions of men to the power that controls them all, and to receive all, favour or persecution, aids or hindrances, from the Lord. That soul has acquired the secret of perfect peace amid the confusion and turmoil of the world, as well as in the presence of Satan's power.

Ezra 8.

THE close connection between this and the preceding chapter will be at once perceived. Ezra 7 closed with the words, "And I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me;" this commences with, "These are now the chief of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of them that went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king." This genealogy reaches to the end of verse 14, and it shows how precious to God were the very names of those who responded to His call at such a moment. The response itself is the fruit of His grace; but in the exercise of that same grace He is pleased to impute to His people that which He Himself had produced in their hearts. It was a goodly company, numbering over fifteen hundred souls, who were thus gathered to return to the land of their fathers — the land of all their traditions, as well as the land of all their hopes.

The first act of Ezra was to assemble them by "the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the people and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi." (v. 15) There were two, but only two, priests; viz., Gershom, son of Phinehas, and Daniel, son of Ithamar; but of the Levitical family, outside the priesthood, there was absolutely not one. Well  might Ezra have been concerned, for it was a sad symptom of the state into which the people had fallen. The priests alone enjoyed access to the holy place of the house of their God, and the Levites alone were the appointed ministers in all that appertained to its service; and yet when the proclamation was made that they might return and once more resume their privileges, they were untouched and indifferent. They had found a home in the very place where their fathers had hung their harps on the willows, and wept when they remembered Zion. And it is the same with God's people now. The moment they are tempted by the enemy to "mind earthly things," they become careless of their spiritual privileges, and, if not aroused from their lethargy, may even become "enemies of the cross of Christ." No child of God who understands his heavenly calling could be content to dwell in Babylon.

Nor was Ezra content to leave the Levites behind. Besides, he knew the needs of the Lord's house, and it pained this devoted servant to find them caring for their own things rather than for the courts of Jehovah. He accordingly took measures to reach their consciences, that they might even yet join him in his mission to Jerusalem. To this end he sent for some of their chief men, among whom were Joiarib and Elnathan, "men of understanding." It is well for the people of God when, in times of decay and corruption, there are still men of understanding to be found. It is by these that God preserves His saints from sinking into still deeper depths, and keeps alive what of faith and hope may still remain. Ezra knew where to put his hand on some of these; and his zeal for the work on which his heart was set is expressed in the commission with which he entrusted them.

He says, "And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God." (v. 17.) It is said of the Lord Jesus, or rather, speaking in spirit, He Himself said, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up" (Psalm 69: 9; John 2: 17); and this was because the glory of the Father was ever His supreme object. God's name, God's honour, were ever the delight of His soul. And Ezra also, in his measure, desired Jehovah's honour in His house, and was therefore in fellowship with the heart of God Himself. This was the secret of his earnestness in seeking to obtain ministers for the house of our God."

And God wrought with him, as he himself confesses; for he says, "By the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brethren, eighteen; and Hashablah, and with him Jeshaiah, of the sons of Merari, his brethren and their sons, twenty; also of the Nethinims, whom David and the princes had appointed for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinims: all of them were expressed by, name." (vv. 18-20.) There were still less than forty Levites, while there were two hundred and twenty Nethinims.* It is another proof that, amid the carnal ease of Babylon, the national hopes and privileges of the nation had ceased to exert any practical power upon their minds. By the side of the sloth of the Levites, it is beautiful to notice the number of the Nethinims (probably of an alien race) that obeyed the summons of Ezra.

*For an explanation of these, see on Ezra 2.

It may be in reference to this that it is said, "all of them were expressed by name." God notices their faithfulness, and caused it to be recorded.

All was now ready, as far as collecting the people was concerned; but both Ezra as well as the people needed preparation for the journey which they had undertaken. Hence he says, "Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of Him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way; because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek Him; but His power and His wrath is against all them that forsake Him. So we fasted and besought our God for this; and He was entreated of us." (vv. 21-23.)

The work of God is never lightly to be entered upon; and it was with a true discernment both of the character of the work, and of what was due to His glory who had called him to it, that Ezra proclaimed this fast, that he and the people might afflict themselves before their God. The flesh cannot be used, in any shape and form, in the Lord's service; and it is only when in true separation from all that it might feed upon, and in humiliation in the presence of God, that our motives, aims, and objects are tested and become apparent. Thus amongst those that had gathered around Ezra, some might have been attracted by other things than the welfare of the house of their God. This is always the case in any action of the Holy Spirit. Ezra, therefore, would have all searched by the light of God's holy presence, that they might learn that nothing would avail to protect and guide them in their journey, and nothing could sustain them by the way or in their after service, but the good hand of their God. Thus it was that he and they together fasted, afflicted their souls, and prayed.

And the question may well arise whether in this day our service for God is not often too easily taken up; whether it would not conduce to spiritual power and efficacy if, before we embarked upon anything for God, we were more frequently found in this attitude of Ezra and his companions. Far be it from us to insinuate for one moment that the Lord's servants do not thus seek His face before commencing their service. Our question concerns rather collective waiting upon God, with fasting, before work is entered upon in which the saints at large have a common interest. It was understood in the early Church; for we read, "There were in the Church that was at Antioch prophets. . . . As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me now* Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." (Acts 13: 1, 2.) If there were but a revival of such a practice in the power of the Holy Ghost (for to imitate it without the power would be worse than useless), far larger results from service in teaching and ministry might be confidently anticipated.

*This word "now," or some such, should be inserted as a translation of the Greek particle de, and as showing the connection between the ministering and fasting, and the command of the Holy Spirit; in fact, the Holy Spirit responded to the prayers of these prophets.

Another reason for this gathering actuated Ezra. He was a man of faith, and he had avowed before the king his confidence in God for protection during his journey, and he would not therefore ask for a military escort. And now, in consistency with his profession, he, together with the people, cast himself on God for guidance, for a "right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance." As every believer knows, it is one thing to express trust in God before a difficulty comes, and another thing to maintain that dependence in the presence of, and when passing through, the difficulty. Ezra was able to do both, and was able to rest in the assurance that the hand of his God would be upon all them that seek Him for good, and that His power and His wrath would be against all them that forsake Him. All this he doubtless told out before the Lord during this fast, and indeed he had pledged the faithfulness of God before a Gentile monarch, so that the name and honour of Jehovah, were concerned in appearing for His servant. Ezra tells us, "So we fasted and besought our God for this; and He was entreated of us." Yea, God delights to respond to the confidence of His people, and to appear for those who testify to what He is for them amid trials and dangers.

The reader should remark, that it was no imaginary danger which Ezra had conjured up; for he records afterward to the praise of his God that "He delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way." (v. 31.) Surely God is the refuge and strength of His people, and a very present help for them in trouble, and they would know it more fully if, like Ezra, they did but learn to count upon Him as all-sufficient in all possible circumstances. When Nehemiah made the same journey some years after, he was accompanied by captains of the army and horsemen. (Neh. 2: 9.) In him faith was not in such lively exercise, though he had a true heart for the Lord's interests. How much better to trust in the Lord than in a visible arm! and they that wait on Him will, like Ezra, never be ashamed.

In the next place Ezra "separated twelve of the chief of the priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brethren," to take charge of the offerings he had received for the house of their God until they should arrive at Jerusalem. (vv. 24-30.) The ground of the choice was, that they were "holy unto the Lord," as also were the vessels. (v. 28.) As the prophet said, "Ye must be clean that bear the vessels of the Lord." And this we know was according to the divine order; for none but the priests and Levites could touch or carry the holy vessels or furniture of the house of God. (See Num. 4)

Out of a blind misconception of this, and of the nature of Christianity, has grown the ecclesiastical custom of setting apart an order of men, the clergy, for ministration in the Church. It is quite true that those who minister in any way from the Lord to His people must needs be set apart for their service; but this must be accomplished, not by the hands of men, but by the sovereign action in grace of God through the power of the Holy Ghost. Under law there was a distinct class of men — the priests and the Levites — but these were divinely appointed and divinely consecrated; but under grace, while there are still distinctions of gifts and services (1 Cor. 12), all believers alike are priests, and as such have an indefeasible title to appear in the holiest in the immediate presence of God.

It was then to the custody of the priests that Ezra committed the holy vessels, and the silver and the gold, which had been given as a free-will offering unto the Lord God of their fathers. And he enjoined them to watch and keep these things "until ye weigh them before the chief of the priests and the Levites, and chief of the fathers of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the Lord." (v. 29.) The expression "weigh them" contains a principle of importance. It was not that Ezra doubted the fidelity of the priests he had selected; but even as the apostle of a later age, he would "provide for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men." (2 Cor. 8: 21.) The people might have had full confidence in the integrity both of Ezra and of the priests; but Ezra would remove all occasion for the enemy's work by having the vessels, and the silver and the gold, weighed when put into the priest's hands, and again weighed when delivered. He thus proved his and their fidelity. And surely this is a godly, a scriptural example to be followed by those who in any way have charge of the offerings of the Lord's people. Such should be careful to render an account of their stewardship, and not wait to be pressed to give it.

Many a difficulty in the Church of God might have been obviated if this practice had been adopted, It may further be noted that on reaching Jerusalem the weighing was done by others than Ezra, "and all the weight was written at that time." (vv. 33, 34.) In modern language, the accounts of Ezra were checked and audited, and this was done on the fourth day after the completion of their journey.

In verse 31 we have a short statement (already alluded to) concerning their journey. It simply records the faithfulness of their God in answer to their prayers. "Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way. And we came to Jerusalem." In Ezra 7: 9, it is said that they began to go up upon the first day of the first month, this being the probable date of gathering the people to the river Ahava. (Ezra 8: 15.) The actual journey occupied therefore a little less than four months; and Ezra testifies that God safely guided them through all its perils and dangers, and shielded them from all their foes. Truly "the name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe."

Nor were they unmindful of the Lord after the difficulties of their journey were over; for "the children of those that had been carried away, which were come out of the captivity, offered burnt-offerings unto the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambs, twelve he goats for a sin-offering; all this was a burnt-offering unto the Lord."

It is touching in the extreme to see this feeble remnant, as also was the case at the dedication of the house of God (Ezra 6: 17), embrace in their faith the whole of Israel. They were but few in number, but they could accept no narrower ground than that of the twelve tribes, and to this they testified by the number of their offerings. It is the same now, or should be so, with those who are gathered out to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ on the ground of the one body. They also may be few, feeble, and poor; but if they have any intelligence of the wealthy place into which they have been brought, they will refuse any narrower ground than that of all the members of the one body; and if they hold this truth in power, their sacrifices of praise will bear witness to it in the presence of all. Failing to do so, they degenerate, whatever their profession, into the narrowest sectarianism, than which nothing is more abhorrent to the mind of the Lord.

Others may taunt them with their poverty and broken condition; but if they do but, "with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love," endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, maintaining before God the sense of oneness with all the saints, the Lord will abundantly sustain them with His approbation and blessing.

It will be noticed that there were two kinds of sacrifices — burnt-offerings and sin-offerings. From the numbers, it would seem that the twelve he goats, as well as the twelve bullocks, were for all Israel, and that the other offerings were individual, the spontaneous expression of grateful hearts for the mercy of Jehovah, towards them, in bringing them in safety to Jerusalem and to His house.

Having thus put themselves under the efficacy of the sacrifices, and having established their relationships with God on the only possible ground, they proceeded to deliver "the king's commissions unto the king's lieutenants, and to the governors on this side the river: and they furthered the people, and the house of God." (v. 36.) This order is as instructive as beautiful. They first placed themselves under the favour of God, through their offerings, and then they turned to the king's officers. They gave their God their first thoughts and the first place, and they owned thereby that all depended on Him. He answered to His people's confidence by touching the hearts of the lieutenants and governors, and inclining them to favour His people and the object they had in view.

How blessed it is to be wholly dependent on God, and to look to Him alone to further His cause!

Ezra 9.

WHOEVER seeks the welfare of God's people must expect a path of trial and sorrow; for, with the affections of God Himself actuating him, the servant will, in his measure, identify himself with their state and condition while labouring for the glory of God in their midst. This was perfectly exemplified in the life of Him who was able to say, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up;" and also, in no mean degree, in His servant Paul, who says, in the power of the Holy Ghost, "I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." (2 Tim. 2: 10)

It was the experience also of Ezra in the opening of this chapter. Filled with a holy zeal, he had been moved to come up to Jerusalem, that he might "teach in Israel statutes and judgments;" and he finds at the very outset that many of the chosen people had already sunk nearly as low as, if not lower than, the Canaanites, whom God had cast out before them. He says:

"Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass." (vv. 1, 2.)

Such is man! Nay, such are the people of God when following the inclination of their own hearts, instead of walking in obedience to His word! Remark, moreover, that when the saints fall into sin, it is often into worse and grosser forms of sin than those committed by the people of the world. It is as if Satan, having gained the advantage over them, would mock at and triumph over them by displaying the most horrible forms of the flesh. In the case before us, it was not only the abominations of the Canaanites, etc. (the former inhabitants of the land), but also those of the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites, into which the children of the captivity had fallen; i.e., into every possible form of corruption.

And all this had taken place in so short a time — within a few years of the completion of the temple. Objects of the special grace of God in their deliverance from their Babylonish: captivity, they had turned His grace into lasciviousness.

What forbearance and long-suffering on the part of Him who had restored them once again to the land of their fathers, in that He did not instantly deal with them in judgment! But if His people are ever the same in their backsliding and sins, He is also unchangeable in His mercy and grace. Hence the gifts and calling of God are without repentance; and therein, and therein alone, lies the security of His people.

The special sin here mentioned is, that "the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands;" i.e., by inter-marriages. This had been expressly forbidden.* (See Ex. 34: 12-16.) It was therefore in wilful disobedience that they had contracted these shameful alliances with the world; for this is what these marriages typify — the besetting sin of God's people in every age. The apostle James thus says, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be" (is minded to be) "a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (James 4: 4); and the apostle Paul cries, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?" etc. (2 Cor. 6: 14, 15.) For if Jehovah, deigned to say that He was married to Israel (Isa. 54; Jer. 2), believers now are said to be married to Christ. (Rom. 7; 2 Cor. 11) Whether for the Jew therefore or for the Christian to unite himself with the world is both unfaithfulness and sin, as well as to forget the holy place of separation into which the former had been, and the Christian is called.

*That it was not inter-marriages only may be gathered from the passage above cited from Exodus, as also from Numbers 25; in fact, all the abominations of the idolatry of the several nations named were connected with these marriages.

Nor was this sin confined to any one class of the people. "The hand of the princes and rulers had been chief in this trespass," and the priests and the Levites, as well as the people, are distinctly named. It would seem then that the princes and rulers had first set the example, and that the others had only been too ready to follow. "One sinner destroyeth much good," especially when that one has a place of position and influence. As when a standard-bearer fainteth in the day of battle, the soldiers are often discouraged and so easily defeated, so after Satan has succeeded in entrapping a leader in the Church of God, he often finds it easy work to ensnare many who are less conspicuous. On this account the sin of a ruler or priest under the law needed a larger sacrifice than that of one of the common people. It is therefore a solemn thing — solemn for himself and for the consequences entailed — when a "prince" or "ruler" becomes the leader of God's people into the path of worldliness and idolatry.

Such were the heavy tidings brought to the ears of Ezra soon after his arrival in Jerusalem; and in the next verse we have the effect produced upon this pious and devoted soul. He says, "And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied." (v. 3) He was thus smitten with a great and unspeakable grief because of the sins of his people, and the secret of the intensity of his sorrow, expressed in all these outward signs of humiliation before God, was that he felt in his inmost soul the dishonour done to Jehovah's holy name.

It is comparatively easy to feel for God's people when they are dishonoured by their sinful conduct in the eyes of the world; but it is only those who are, through, the power of the Holy Ghost, in communion with the mind of God, those who share in His affections for His own, those therefore who first and foremost are filled with zeal for the maintenance of His glory, that can estimate their sin as it affects the holy Name by which they are called, can go down, take up, make the sin their own, and tell it all out before God. Moses, Nehemiah, and Daniel are examples of this in their several measures, as well as Ezra; but all these, with others that might be named, are but feeble foreshadowings of Him who so identified Himself with His people that in confessing their sins He said, "O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee." (Ps. 69: 5.)

The grief and humiliation of Ezra were used to reach the consciences of others, or rather to attract to him all who in any degree had mourned over the condition of the people; for he tells us, "Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away." (v. 4.) "To this man," says the Lord, "will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word;" for trembling at God's word is the evidence of a, tender conscience, of one walking in the fear of God, and desiring to he found in His ways. Blessed was it therefore that there were still such among the children of the captivity, though it would seem their trembling sprang rather from an apprehension of the consequences of the transgression of their fellows, than from a gracious fear of offending their God.

However this might have been, where had they been, and where their testimony before the arrival of Ezra? But that their hearts were true is shown by their taking their stand at this critical moment with him; and we learn at the same time that we have no power to help our brethren until we distinctly and openly take our stand against the evil by which they have been ensnared. Faithfulness to God is the first qualification for helping others.

Ezra retained his place in the dust — borne down by his inexpressible sorrow — until the evening sacrifice. If on the one hand he was heart-broken on account of the people's sin, on the other he discerned, in the exercise of faith, the only ground of approach to God concerning it. In a word, he laid hold of the efficacy of the sacrifice as the foundation on which he could appear before God to spread out before Him the iniquities of the children of Israel. (Compare 1 Sam. 7: 9; 1 Kings 18: 36, etc.) The evening sacrifice was a burnt-offering, all of which, consumed on the altar, went up as a sweet savour unto the Lord; and when once Ezra was before Him in the value of this — in all the value typically of what Christ was to God in His death — the success of his intercession was assured. The Lord Himself could on this account say, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may he glorified in the Son." (John 14: 13.) It was then, as understanding the value of the sacrifice, that Ezra rose up from his heaviness, and having rent his garment and mantle, he fell upon his knees, and spread out his hands unto the Lord his God, and confessed the sins of his people. Let us examine a little these outpourings of his burdened heart.

Remark, first, how completely he takes the place of the people before God. He says, "O my God, I am ashamed, and blush to lift up my face to thee, my, God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens." (v. 6.) Not even in spirit does he separate himself from those who had sinned; he and they — indeed, all the people — are one, corporately one before God. It was so in the eyes of God Himself; for when Achan transgressed, He said to Joshua, "Israel hath sinned." Ezra understood this, and was thus qualified to become an intercessor for the people with God; for unless we apprehend our oneness with God's people, that their sin and sorrow are our sin and sorrow, we cannot truly bear them on our hearts before the Lord in the time of their need.

Having thus taken their place, Ezra confessed that nothing but sin had marked them from the days of their fathers, and that all God's judicial dealings with them, in delivering them "into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day," had been on account of their iniquities. He justified God in all His past dealings with His people. And then he owned the grace that had been shown to them from the Lord their God in bringing back a remnant, "and to give us a nail in His holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. For," he adds, "we are [not were, as in our version] bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. (vv. 8, 9.)

The order of Ezra's confessions is most instructive. Having owned the sins of his brethren, and justified God in His ways with His people, he in the next place magnifies the grace which had visited them in their low estate, and had brought them — a remnant — back to the land, and permitted them once again to set up the house of their God. But why does he recite this proof of Jehovah's grace and mercy? It was to show the character of His people's sin; for he proceeds, "And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments;" and then he confesses that they had sinned against both light and grace. He conceals nothing, and extenuates nothing, but spreads all out before God, whilst he owns that if, after all the mercy they had received (v. 13), they should again break God's commandments, and "join in affinity with the people of these abominations," God might well be angry with them till He had consumed them, "so that there should be no remnant nor escaping." (v. 14.) He then concludes by once more justifying God, and by taking His part against himself and the people. He says, "O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous, for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this." (v. 15.)

There is much in this inspired confession to commend to the attention of the Lord's people. Its main features have already been indicated; but we desire to emphasize the fact that Ezra from first to last justifies God, and lays bare the iniquities of his people. This in itself is not only a proof of the work of the Holy Spirit, but also a promise of blessing. The place of confession is always the place both of restoration and of spiritual power; and hence it is always a sign of a bad condition when that place is rarely taken. Let us then for a moment challenge ourselves. We have more than once pointed out the correspondence between this remnant and that gathered out to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in the present day. Is there no correspondence between the sins of the two? Is it not the fact that we have largely "joined in affinity" with the people of the world? Have we not submitted ourselves to their habits, ways, and customs? Is not worldliness our bane? Are not traces of Egypt to be seen everywhere in the assembly? Do we not think more of riches and, social position than of the fruits of the Spirit?

Moreover, is it not seldom that our sins (we do not mean our individual sins, but the sins of God's people) are really confessed in our meetings? Nay, is there not an unwillingness on our parts to hear our sins spread out before the Lord? If, for example, our departures from the word of God are owned, our setting aside the authority of Christ, our coldness, our unfaithfulness to the Lord and His truth, our want of separation — if these things are told out in our meetings for prayer, is there not often a manifest impatience, a feeling like that expressed in Malachi, "Wherein have we done this or that?" But we cannot too soon learn the lesson that the Lord will have reality; that, if we are blind to it, He sees our condition, and that until we are brought to own it, like Ezra in this scripture, He must from His very love to us deal with us in corrections and chastisements.

It should also be observed that Ezra does not once pray for forgiveness. Nay, with any intelligence of the mind of God, it was impossible that he should do so. When there is known evil in our hearts or in the assembly, our first responsibility is to judge it, not to pray for forgiveness. Thus, when Joshua lay on his face before the Lord, after the defeat of Israel by the men of Ai, the Lord said, "Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? Israel hath sinned," etc.

And yet how often does Satan beguile the Lord's people, in a time of manifested evil, by suggesting through one or another, Let us pray about it. Confess our sins we surely should, but even then only as seeking grace and strength to deal with the evil, and to separate ourselves from it; for if Ezra lay before the Lord in this chapter owning his people's guilt, we shall see him in the next energetic in dealing with the sin he had confessed, and resting not until it had been put away.

Ezra 10.

THE Lord used the sorrow of His servant to reach the consciences of His people, who had been guilty of transgressing His commandments; for, in truth, the sorrow of Ezra was no common sorrow. Every indication is given of the intensity of his grief. When he "had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God." By his prayer, his confessions, his tears, and his prostration before God, he had told out his grief for the sins of Israel; and he had done so publicly "before the house of God." It became known therefore to those for whom he had been pleading; and "there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore." (v. 1.)

It would seem that the tears of the people proceeded either from contrition, or from fear of the consequences of their misdeeds. Ezra was armed with authority (see Ezra 7: 25, 26), and his zeal for his God was manifested; and they therefore knew that he would proceed to separate them from the evil for which he had humbled himself before God. This would entail upon many of them the most bitter consequences. Though they had acted in self-will, in disobedience, their hearts might have been truly upon the wives they had married, and upon their children. To separate from them might thus involve the rending of the most affectionate ties, a prospect which might well cause them to weep. That this is the explanation of their tears seems plain, from the fact that women and children were found with the congregation that had gathered about Ezra. Alas! how hard it is to retrace the steps of unfaithfulness and sin! And how often the bitter fruits of it remain for the rest of our lives!

There were some, however, who saw the necessity of proceeding at once to act in the matter, at whatever cost, knowing, as they must have done, that Jehovah, could not bless them, or prosper them in the land, as long as they were living in open violation of His commandments. "Shechaniah the son of Jehiel," we read, "one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it." (vv. 2-4.)

Several points in this address of Shechaniah may with profit be noticed. First, it is worthy of attention, as noticed in the last chapter, how the Lord uses the faithful zeal of one to arouse others to the sense of their condition. Before the advent of Ezra, the consciences of all seem to have been deadened. Not even Jeshua or Zerubbabel appear to have been troubled because of the prevailing sin. Ezra was alone, and alone he would be, if necessary, in taking the part of God against the transgression of the people. But it needed courage and a single eye, and both these things Ezra, by grace, possessed. And he had God with him in the part he was taking; and now we see the effect. Shechaniah comes forward on behalf of the people, owns their sin, and accepts the necessity of subjection to the Word; and besides him there were those who trembled at the commandment of God (those alluded to in chap. 9: 4), who had been drawn to the side of Ezra. In times of evil, the only path of blessing — and even of success, in its divine sense — is the path of fidelity.

Secondly, it may be observed, that both wives and those born of them were to be put away. The wives, not being of Israel, were unclean, and the children, the fruit of the mixed marriages, were also regarded as unclean. This was under law, — but now under grace all this is reversed. Not that a Christian is at liberty to intermarry with the unconverted; but, as the apostle teaches, "the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy." (1 Cor. 7: 14.) That is, if either husbands or wives, converted after their marriage, find themselves linked up with the unconverted, the above instruction applies to their case.

Under law, as in the scripture before us, the heathen wife and her children were to be sent away; but under grace the unbelieving wife is sanctified by her husband, and the children are holy. It will be readily understood that the sanctification referred to is of an external character, as well as the holiness of the children. The wives and children were dismissed under the law because they were unclean, and as such could not be admitted into the congregation of Israel; but under grace the unconverted wife is sanctified through the husband, and is thus considered as set apart for God with His people on the earth. So also the children,* they are holy; i.e., separated off from the world through the death and resurrection of Christ, and reckoned therefore on earth as belonging to His people. If this holiness is purely external, and carries no saving power with it, as it surely does not — for salvation is ever connected with the personal exercise of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ — it yet bestows the inestimable privilege of being in the place of blessing, the sphere where the Holy Spirit dwells and acts.

*There is a difference between the sanctified wife or husband and the holiness of the children. That of the former is relative, while that of the latter is absolute.

Grace could not be confined within the narrow limits of the law, even as our Lord taught when He said, "No man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish." (Luke 5: 37.) And how precious to us to learn that the heart of God is interested in all who are linked up by natural ties with His people on the earth!

It may also be pointed out that Shechaniah owns the authority of the Word. "Let it be done," he says, "according to the law." The restoration of the authority of the law over the ways, if not over the hearts and consciences, of the people was the object of Ezra's mission (Ezra 7: 10), and God had now provided him with a helper in Shechaniah. There is, in truth, no other way of reformation amongst God's people.

In the course of time, as may be seen in every dispensation, customs, human maxims, traditions, etc., are adopted to the neglect of the written Word (see Matt. 15; 1 Tim. 4 etc.), all of which are the fruitful cause of corruption, both in heart and life as well as in the government of God's house. The only remedy therefore in times of departure is the rigid application. of that Word which is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and the refusal of all which it condemns. Thereby also the people themselves are brought into the presence of God and His claims, and are encouraged to hear what "the Spirit saith unto the churches."

Individual consciences are aroused and enlightened, and, acted upon by the Spirit of God, all who tremble at the word of the Lord (Ezra 9: 4) are drawn together in the common desire that the Lord's name may be vindicated and His supremacy be restored. Shechaniah's counsel was thus of God, and sprang from a true perception of the cause of Israel's sins, and what was due to Him whose name had been profaned by the transgressions of His people.

Finally, he urges Ezra forward. "Arise," he said; "for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it." How grateful these words must have been to the burdened heart of Ezra! And doubtless he would see in them the interposition of God in answer to his prayers. He had indeed learned the source of all wisdom and strength; and thus he turned to the Lord before he sought to rectify the abuses which were prevalent in the midst of Israel. Hence the Lord went before him, prepared the way and inclined the people to confess and put away their sin.

It is an immense thing to learn, as Ezra had done, that nothing can be accomplished for God by human energy, that it is only as He gives wisdom and strength, discernment and opportunity, that anything can be accomplished.

Ezra redeemed the opportunity which the Lord had thus made for him, and he "made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware." (v. 5.) He thus bound them by a solemn oath to do what they had promised. One cannot but be struck with the spiritual power thus exhibited by one man. The secret of it was, that he was in communion with the mind of God, was standing in faithfulness for God in the midst of common unfaithfulness; and thus God was, and wrought, with His servant. To the outward eye, Ezra was almost alone; but the truth is, it was God and Ezra; and thus it came to pass that the hearts of the people were bowed before him. What a difference it makes when God is brought in! Many a servant might well be daunted when he views the opposition and difficulties by which he is confronted; but the moment he raises his eyes to the Lord, he measures everything by what He is, and immediately the obstacles he deplored become to his faith but occasions for the display of His power in whom he was trusting. Our only concern therefore should be — to see that, like Jonathan, we are working with God.

The work, however, was not yet done, and the sorrow of Ezra continued as long as the sin remained; for he felt in his inmost soul the dishonour done to the name of his God. He then, we read, "rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away." (v. 6.) Ezra felt the sin of his people according to God, and it was in this way God qualified him to separate His people from their sin. When the Lord came down from the mount, and cast out the demon from the afflicted lad, His disciples asked, "Why could not we cast him out?" The answer was, "Because of your unbelief;" and then, after declaring the efficacy of faith to remove mountains, He added, "Howbeit, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." And surely we may say that an unclean spirit had entered into Israel at this time, and it was precisely because Ezra had been before God with prayer and fasting that he could be used to cast him out. Yea, is it not the secret of all spiritual power — to be thus alone with God? There is indeed no power without it, and hence the want of it betrays the fact that we have been so little like Ezra in this scripture.

Proclamation was thereon made "throughout Judah and Jerusalem" that all the children of the captivity should come within three days to Jerusalem, under the penalty for disobedience of the forfeiture of their substance and excision from the congregation. (vv. 7, 8.) All came, "all the men of Judah and Benjamin," in the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. It must have been a striking scene, one easily recalled, as here described — "And all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain." Their bodily discomfort did but add to the sorrow within.

Ezra rose and addressed them. First, he charged them with their sin (v. 10), and then urged them to confess "unto the Lord God of your fathers, and do His pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives." (v. 11) His first thought therefore was concerning what was due to Jehovah, but if they confessed to Him they must submit themselves to His will.

Too often the soul deceives itself even by confession — confession without judging the sin. Ezra was too well instructed in the word and in the ways of God to permit this; and hence there must be self-judgment and separation from the evil as well as its confession. The order of the separation too is most instructive — "From the people of the land, and from the strange wives." As marrying the strange wives had been the sin, it might be thought that these would be mentioned first. But what had led to these marriages? Association with the people of the land. This was the root of the mischief, and Ezra thus deals first with it. So in all departures from God, until the root is discovered nothing is gained, and restoration is impossible.

The Lord Himself has given a perfect illustration of this in His dealing with Peter. Not until He had asked him three times, "Lovest thou me?" (once, "Lovest thou me more than these?" for confidence in his own love to Christ — a love, as he affirmed, greater than that of the rest — was the cause of his fall) did He effect his restoration. It was on this same principle that Ezra acted when he demanded separation, first of all, from the people of the land.

The power of God was still manifestly with His servant. The people assented to his demands, for they had been made to feel that "the fierce wrath of their God" was upon them because of their sins. They answered, "As thou hast said, so must we do." They only pleaded that the work could not be carried our there and then; for they said, "The people are, many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing. Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us." (vv. 12-14.)

The plea and counsel of the people were accepted, and we have in the next place the names of those who were employed about the matter.* (v. 15) Further we are told that "Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated [i.e., set apart for this work], and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month." Thus in two months the work was completed. Thereafter is given a list of the names of those who had transgressed, concerning which there are two or three remarks to be made.

*It is not clear whether those named in verse 15 were not rather opposing the suggestion of the people. One translation gives, "Stood up against this matter." Certainly Ezra and the chief of the fathers did the work. (v. 16.)

First, the names of the priests who had fallen into sin are recorded, and these are divided into two classes. In verse 18 there are "the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren;" and in verses 20-22 other priests. (See Ezra 2: 37-40.) The former were held, it would seem, to be the more culpable, and with reason; for Jeshua had been associated, in the grace of God, with Zerubbabel, as the leaders of His people in building His house. It shows how that all conscience had been lost as to the character of their sin. "The priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they [the people] should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts;" but in this case the priests had corrupted the people by their evil ways. But now being dealt with "they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass." This, it will be observed, is only said of the kindred of Jeshua. The names of the rest, priests, Levites, singers, porters, and Israel are singly given.

This leads to our second observation — that nothing escapes the eye of God. By Him all our actions are weighed and recorded, one day to be produced either to magnify His grace, or (if we include unbelievers) as the ground of righteous judgment. "We must all," says the apostle, "appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." (2 Cor. 5: 10)

Finally, it may be pointed out that while Ezra, as may he seen from Nehemiah (Neh. 8: 1), continued to labour in the midst of his people, he no longer appears as the prominent figure — as the leader. Together with this chapter his special work was done, and he discerns it. For this great grace is needed. The temptation, when the Lord uses one of His servants for some particular and public service, is to think that he must continue in a foremost place. If he yield to the temptation, it brings sorrow to himself, and failure for the people. The Lord who uses one today, may send another tomorrow; and blessed is that servant who can recognize, as Ezra did, when his special mission is ended, and who is willing, like John the Baptist, to be anything or nothing if so be his Lord may be exalted.

Nehemiah

Nehemiah

E. Dennett.

INTRODUCTION

IN commencing an exposition of the book of Nehemiah, a few brief remarks may be permitted by way of introduction to its study. Scarcely thirteen years had passed since Ezra had gone up to Jerusalem, armed with royal authority and impelled by his godly zeal for the glory of Jehovah in the welfare of His people, "to teach in Israel statutes and judgment;" to seek, in a word, to re-establish over the people the authority of the law. And now in His grace and tender mercy God prepared another vessel of blessing for His beloved people.* This fact illustrates in a striking manner a divine principle. It might have been thought that Ezra would be sufficient for the work; but, as is so often seen in the history of God's ways in government, a servant who is suited to one state of the people may be altogether unadapted for another, and even be a hindrance to the work of God if he continue to occupy his position or to assert his claims to leadership. How often has this been seen even in the assembly! More than this may be said. It will sometimes be the case that a less spiritual servant can be divinely employed where one who is more spiritual would be utterly out of place. Thus if a comparison is instituted between Ezra and Nehemiah, devoted as the latter was, and habitually turning to God as he did, as the source of all his strength, it will be at once perceived that Ezra walked on a higher level than his successor. (Compare Ezra 8: 21-23 with Nehemiah 2: 7-9; Ezra 9: 3 with Nehemiah 13: 25.) Yet, though Ezra was still at Jerusalem, it was Nehemiah who is sent at this especial moment. Happy is it when the servant receives his work from the hands of the Lord, and, discerning when his mission for any particular purpose is ended, can retire.

*As a matter of fact God never addresses Israel in this book as His people. The sentence of Lo-Ammi (Hosea 1) was still unreversed, whatever His gracious intervention and actings on their behalf.

In the book of Nehemiah, as well as in that of Ezra, it will be observed that God is ever watching over His people, and sustaining them by the successive interventions of His grace. First, He sent Ezra, and afterwards Nehemiah, to revive His work and to effect the restoration of His people. But as in the book of Judges, so at this period; and as it ever has been in the experience of the church, every successive revival, when the energy that produced it has died away, has left the people in a lower, a worse state than before. The reason is evident. The need for a revival springs from the fact of increasing corruption and decay. By the revival the downward tendency is for the moment checked or arrested; and hence the moment the force which came into conflict with the evil is expended, the corrupt stream sweeps onward with increased power and volume. Such is man; and such is the patient grace of God that, spite of the unfaithfulness and even apostasy of His people, it unweariedly continues to busy itself with their interests and blessing.

As to the character of the book itself we may quote the words of another. He says, "In Nehemiah we witness the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, and the restoration of what may be termed the civil condition of the people; but under circumstances that definitely prove their subjection to the Gentiles." This will be unfolded to us as we pursue our consideration of the book.

NEHEMIAH 1.

THE book opens with a brief narrative of the circumstance which God used to touch the heart of Nehemiah by the condition of His people, and to produce that exercise of soul in His presence which issued, in the ordering and purpose of God, in his mission to Jerusalem. First, giving the date and the place of the occurrence, Nehemiah says "it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace," etc. Nehemiah 11: 1 shows that this was the twentieth year of Artaxerxes; i.e., as already noted, thirteen years after Ezra had gone up to Jerusalem. He had gone up from Babylon (Ezra 7); but Nehemiah was occupied in the king's court as a personal attendant upon the king — "the king's cup-bearer" — at Shushan.* While engaged in his duties, he says, "Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem." (v. 2.)

*Shushan (or Susa) was originally the capital of Elam; afterwards it was incorporated into the kingdom of Babylon, and finally, on the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, it passed into the possession of Persia, of which it seems, at the time of Nehemiah, to have been the metropolis. (See Smith's Bible Dictionary.)

Nehemiah himself was thus an exile; but, though one of a captive race, he had found favour in the eyes of the king, and occupied a high and lucrative position. In such circumstances some might have forgotten the land of their fathers. Not so Nehemiah; for he was evidently known as one who did not cease to remember Zion, from the fact of the visit, here recorded, of his brother Hanani and certain men of Judah. And from the nature of his question, it will be perceived that his heart embraced all the people of the land. He enquired "concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity," that is, concerning those that were left behind when so many were carried away captive to Babylon; "and concerning Jerusalem" — concerning the remnant that had gone up, with the permission of Cyrus, to build the Lord's house. (Ezra 1) He was thus in fellowship with the heart of God, occupied as he was with His people and His interests. Surely Christians might learn many a lesson from these godly Jews. They never dreamt of isolating themselves from the whole nation, nor of seeking the welfare, for example, of a single tribe; but their affections, according to their measure, moved throughout the entire circle of God's interests on the earth. They lost themselves, so to speak, in the welfare and blessing of the whole people. If the ties which bound them together were so intimate and imperishable, how much more should it be so with those who have been all baptized by one Spirit into one body

In answer to his enquiry his visitor said, "The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire." (v. 3.) A sad account indeed of the chosen people in the land of promise! "A land," as Moses described it, "of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: a land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year." (Deut. 11: 11, 12.) Ah! what a tale is unfolded by the present circumstances of the children of the captivity — a tale of sin, rebellion, and even apostasy. And what were their circumstances? They were in great affliction, arising out of their own moral condition and from the activity and enmity of their enemies by whom they were surrounded. (See Neh. 4: 1, 2.) They were also in reproach. Blessed is it when God's people are reproached because they are His people or on account of the name of their God (compare 1 Peter 4: 14); but nothing is more sorrowful than when the Lord's people are reproached by, or become a reproach to, the world through their inconsistent walk and ways. And it would seem from the close of the book of Ezra that the reproach in this case was of the latter kind. Professing to be what they really were — God's people — they were denying it by their alliances with the heathen and by their forgetfulness of the claims of their God.

That this is the interpretation of their affliction and sorrowful condition would seem to be borne out by the statement concerning Jerusalem: "The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire." This was the fact, and Nebuchadnezzar had been the instrument, through his army, to accomplish it. (See 2 Chr. 36) There is however another meaning. The wall is the symbol of separation; and, as we have seen, the wall of separation between Israel and the heathen had been broken down. The gate was the place, and thus the emblem, of judgment; and we are thereby instructed that justice and equity were no longer administered.* (See Nehemiah 5)

*The reader may contrast the description of the heavenly Jerusalem, in Rev. 21, with its wall "great and high," exclusive of all evil, and its twelve gates signifying perfection in the administration of government in righteousness.

What then could be more lamentable than this report which was conveyed to Nehemiah concerning the remnant in Judah and Jerusalem? And the effect was great upon this true-hearted Israelite. He says, "And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven." (v. 4.) He made the sorrowful state of the people his own. He felt it according to God. In their affliction he was afflicted. But he knew to whom to turn. He wept, mourned, fasted, and prayed. "Is any man afflicted?" says James, "let him pray." And the sorrow and affliction of Nehemiah, as expressed in his tears, mourning, and fasting, found an outlet in his prayer. This was a true mark of a mighty action of the Spirit of God upon his soul.

Let us then examine the nature of his supplications. He said, "I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments; let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee; both I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses." (vv. 5-7.)

So far, there are chiefly two things — vindication of God, and confession of sins. Nehemiah owns most distinctly God's faithfulness, that there has been no failure on His part; while, at the same time, he fully recognizes the character of God's relationship with Israel — that, in other words, His attitude towards them depended on their conduct. "He keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His commandments." This, together with his address to God, brings out, in a most marked way, the contrast between law and grace. Devoted and God-fearing as Nehemiah was, one cannot but be sensible of distance in the terms which he uses — "O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God" — a distance necessitated by the dispensation under which he lived. How different from the place into which the Lord brought His disciples, consequent on His resurrection, as set forth in His words, "I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God."

But in the place he occupied, Nehemiah had learnt, what is rarely learnt, in such a measure, even by Christians, viz., how to be an intercessor for his people. "Day and night" he was praying for them; and hence it was that he had the power to confess their sins. No higher privilege could be vouchsafed to a servant than this which was granted to Nehemiah — the power so to identify himself with Israel, as to enable him to take up and confess their sins as his own. "I," he says, "and my father's house have sinned." This is a true sign of spiritual power. Many can lament the condition of God's people; but there are few who can identify themselves with it. It is only such that can truly intercede for them in the presence of God. And let it be noted, that, as yet, he could only take God's part against himself and his people. God is ever faithful to those that love Him and observe His commandments; but, alas! they had not kept His commandments, nor His statutes, nor His judgments. All this is fully confessed; but he now turns to a promise on which he can ground his prayer, and count upon the interposition of God on his behalf.

He proceeds: "Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: but if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there." (vv. 8, 9.) This reference is undoubtedly to Leviticus 26, and looks on to the final restoration of Israel. And herein lay the spiritual intelligence of Nehemiah, as led of the Spirit; for this restoration, as the reader may perceive if he turns to the chapter, will be a work of pure grace, founded upon God's absolute and unconditional covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (See Lev. 26: 42.) Nehemiah really, therefore, threw himself, while confessing the sins of his people, upon the mercy and unconditional promises of God. He rose in this way above law, and reached, in his faith, the source of all blessing — the heart of God Himself. Hence he adds, gathering strength by waiting on God, "Now these are thy servants, and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand." (v. 10.) He thus touchingly presents Israel, sinners and transgressors as they were, before God on the ground of redemption, reminding God, as He graciously permits His people to do, of His purposes of grace towards them.

Having reached the only foundation on which he could rest, he presents the special petition that lay upon his heart. "O Lord," he says, "I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cup-bearer." It is to be observed that Nehemiah associated others with him in his prayer. It was continually so also with the apostle Paul. The fact is, when we are led of the Spirit of God we necessarily identify all in whose hearts He is also working with ourselves; whether in service, or in thanksgivings, or prayer. So one are the people of God, that isolation in spirit is impossible; and hence, when Nehemiah is bowed before God in his sorrow for the state of Israel, and his desires for their deliverance and blessing, he is assured that every godly Israelite is united with him in his supplications. His prayer is very simple; it is for "mercy in the sight of this man." For he knew that it was only through the king's permission that his desire could be accomplished. The sceptre of the earth having been transferred by God Himself, consequent upon the sin and rebellion of His chosen people, to the Gentiles, in acknowledgement of the authority which He Himself had ordained, God would now only work through and by means of the Gentile king. Nehemiah was therefore in communion with the mind of God in making this prayer. But it will also be perceived that, while he understood the position in which he and his people were placed in subjection to Gentile authority, the king was nothing in the presence of God, but "this man." A monarch of almost universal dominion, he dwindled into nothingness before the eyes of faith, being nothing but a man invested with a brief authority for the accomplishment of the purposes of God. Faith thus recognizes that, while the king was the appointed channel through which the requisite permission to go to Jerusalem must be obtained, all depended, not upon the king, but upon God acting on his mind to grant what Nehemiah desired.

Then Nehemiah adds the explanation — "For I was the king's cup-bearer" — to show how, humanly speaking, he was both entirely subject to and dependent on the king. With this the chapter closes. Nehemiah has poured out his heart before the Lord, made known his request, and now he must wait, and many days he must wait, in expectation of the answer to his cries. A prayer may be entirely according to the will of God, and the fruit of communion with His mind, and yet not be immediately answered. This should be well understood, or the soul might be plunged into distress and unbelief without a cause. A prayer is often heard and granted, although God waits, in His infinite wisdom, for the suited moment to bestow the answer. This was the case with that of Nehemiah.

NEHEMIAH 2.

THIS chapter is divided into several sections. First, we have the record of the manner in which God answered His servant's prayer, and disposed the heart of the king to grant all that was necessary for Nehemiah's journey and mission. (vv. 1-8.) Then there is a brief account of his journey to Jerusalem, together with the effect it produced in certain quarters. (vv. 9-11) Next, Nehemiah describes his nocturnal survey of the condition of the walls of the city, as also his conference with the rulers upon the object he had in view. (vv. 12-18.) And, lastly, the opposition of the enemies of God's people is given, with Nehemiah's answer. (vv. 19, 20.)

It is exceedingly interesting to observe the way in which God brought about the accomplishment of Nehemiah's desire. Four months had passed since he had offered the prayer recorded in Nehemiah 1. He is careful to give us the dates. In the month Chisleu (answering to our November) he had prayed; and in the month Nisan (answering to our March) the answer came. During this period, man of faith as he was, he must have waited in daily expectation upon God. He could not foresee how the answer would come; but he knew that God could intervene when and how He would; and thus, to borrow a Hebrew expression, "in waiting he waited." It is in this way God both tries and strengthens the faith of His people. He waits while they wait. But if He wait, it is only to shut His people up to more entire dependence upon Himself, and thus to prepare their hearts more fully for the blessing He is about to bestow. And when He steps in, it is oftentimes, as in this case, in such a quiet and unseen way — unseen by all but by the eye of faith — that it needs the exercise of faith to detect His presence. How natural thus is the way, on the surface, in which Artaxerxes was induced to give Nehemiah permission to visit Jerusalem, etc., only it must be remembered that Nehemiah had prayed that God would "grant him mercy in the sight of this man." Let us examine the scene.

The chapter as it opens shows us Nehemiah occupied with the duties of his office — as the king's cup-bearer. He "took up the wine, and gave it unto the king;" but his heart was occupied with other things, burdened as it was with the unutterable sorrow of his people's condition. But wine and sadness are incongruous; for wine, as the Scripture tells us, maketh a man's heart merry; and it was intolerable to the king that his cup-bearer should wear a sorrowful face at such a time. It destroyed his own pleasure. And Nehemiah confesses that he "had not been beforetime sad in his presence." The king therefore was angry and said, "Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart." "Then," says Nehemiah, "I was very sore afraid." (v. 2.) And well he might have been; for in such a mood, like a true Oriental despot, Artaxerxes might have ordered him forth to instant execution. But if afraid, God preserved to him his presence of mind, and led him, out of the abundance of his heart, to tell simply and truly the cause of his sorrow. He said to the king, "Let the king live for ever why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?" (v. 3.) The king was not unacquainted with the subject of his cup-bearer's sorrow; for he it was who had permitted Ezra to go up to build the temple, and had himself given gold and silver to aid his object. And God used Nehemiah's simple words to interest the king once more in the condition of Jerusalem. And he said, "For what dost thou make request?" Surely most would have hastened to answer the king, assuredly concluding that he would be certain, since he had deigned to put the question, to grant the desired favour. Not so Nehemiah (and this brings out a special trait of his character); for he says, "So I prayed to the God of heaven," and afterwards he presented his petition. Not that we are to conclude that he kept the king waiting. By no means. But the point to be observed is, that before he answered his master he cast himself upon his God — he prayed to the God of heaven. He thus acknowledges his dependence for wisdom to say the right thing, and reveals the special characteristic which another has termed "a heart that habitually turned to God." We might well seek the same grace; for surely it is blessed at all times to be so walking in dependence on God, that when, in the presence of difficulties, perplexities, and dangers, we naturally (if we may use the word) look to the Lord for the needed wisdom, direction, and succour. When this is the case, the presence of God will be more real to us than the presence of men.

Having thus prayed, Nehemiah makes his request — "If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it." (v. 5.) The king (who had the queen at that moment sitting with him) having asked how long he proposed to be absent, etc., at once granted his request. Nehemiah perceiving his opportunity — the opportunity God had vouchsafed — and strengthened by his faith, waxed bolder, and ventured to ask for royal letters "to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over, till I come into Judah; and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace* which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into." Such were his objects, precise and defined: The restoration of the fortress, necessary for the protection of the temple, the rebuilding of the walls of the city, and the erection of a house suitable for himself in the exercise of his office. "And," we read, "the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me." (v. 8.) Before God he had poured out the desires of his heart (desires which God Himself had produced), to God he had looked for guidance and strength when in the presence of the king, and God now showed that He had undertaken for His servant by inclining the king to grant all that was necessary for the accomplishment of the work. And Nehemiah acknowledged this: "It was according to the good hand of my God upon me."

*It would seem that the more exact rendering of this word would be "fortress;" and that this may have been the celebrated fortress connected with the temple, afterwards known, during the Roman domination, as the tower of Antonia.

It is well for us to mark this principle in the ways of God with His people. If He put within our hearts a desire for any service — a service for His glory — He will surely open out before us the way to it. If it be really His work on which our minds are set, He will enable us to do it in His own way and time. The door may seem to be closed and barred; but if we wait on Him "who openeth and no man shutteth," we shall find that it will suddenly open to us, so that we may enter in without let or hindrance. There could be no more difficult position than this of Nehemiah; but the Lord who had touched his heart with the affliction of his people removed all obstacles, and set him free for his labour of love in Jerusalem. "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."

Nehemiah lost no time in the execution of his purpose. He knew how to redeem the opportunity; for he adds, "Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters." But he had not gone alone; he was escorted by captains of the army and horsemen. (v. 9.) There is a great difference, therefore, between his and Ezra's journey to Jerusalem. Ezra would not ask the king for any military escort, because he had expressed to the king his confidence in God (Ezra 8: 22); and God had abundantly justified his confidence, in guarding him and his companions "from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way." Nehemiah was not endowed with the same simple faith; but, though a godly and devout man, he travelled with the pomp and circumstance of one of the king's governors; in a way, therefore, more likely to secure the respect of the world and the assistance of the king's servants. But immediately on his arrival, there was the sign of opposition to his mission — an opposition which grew and confronted him at every step; for, in fact, it was the opposition of Satan to the work of God. At first it seemed a very small thing. It says, "When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel." (v. 10.) And why should they be grieved? The nationality of Sanballat is uncertain; probably he was a Moabite, and his servant was an Ammonite; and of these it is written, "that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever." (Neh. 13: 1; Deut. 23: 3-6.) They were, therefore, the implacable foes of Israel; and, being as such the suited instruments of Satan, they were naturally antagonistic to any effort to improve the condition of the people they contemned. And, indeed, Satan's object is gained in the corruption of God's people; and as long as they are living in forgetfulness of their true place and character, associating themselves with the world, and adopting its manners and customs, Satan will be a professed friend. But the moment a man of God appears on the scene, and seeks to recall them to the claims of God and His truth, Satan is roused to active enmity. Not that this is always avowed. As in the case before us, his servants are only "grieved" — grieved, of course, that the peace, the peace between Israel and their enemies, should be disturbed. For the faithful ones in the midst of God's people, like Elijah of old, are ever regarded as the troublers of Israel — troublers because they stand for God in the midst of evil. Hence it was that Sanballat and Tobiah were "grieved" at the advent of Nehemiah; and, as we shall see, so bitter was their hatred, that they spared no labour to baffle him in his work, and even to compass his death. So far, however, the fact of their "grief" only is noticed; but the Spirit of God shows us thus the cunning of Satan, and the method of his activities.

There follows, in the next place, the account of Nehemiah's survey of the state of Jerusalem. After three days, he says, "I arose in the night," the burden of his mission pressing upon his soul so that he could not rest, "I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon." (v. 12.) This simple statement reveals the characteristics of a true servant. First, he confesses the source of his inspiration for his work. God had put the thought of it into his heart. The assurance of this is the secret of all strength and perseverance in service. Thus the Lord said to Joshua, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage." Then, as already noted, Nehemiah could not rest until he had commenced his labours. The work of God admits of no delays. This principle is involved in the charge of our blessed Lord to His disciples, "Salute no man by the way." When He sent them forth they must go straight on their mission. So felt Nehemiah; and he thus sallied forth on the first opportunity to learn the character and extent of the work God had put into his heart to do at Jerusalem. He tells us, moreover, that he did not communicate his secret to any. To have done so, indeed, might have raised up hindrances on every hand. When the Lord distinctly enjoins a service upon any of His servants, nothing is frequently more dangerous than consultation with others. Faith trusts in Him who commissions for the work, for the strength and wisdom needed in its execution. Conference with others often produces many questions; such as, Is it possible? Is it wise? or, Is it the proper time? And the effect is, that faith droops under the influence of many a suggested doubt, if it does not become altogether extinguished by prudence and common sense. When the time arrives for the mission to be executed, helpers may be welcomed; but until all is arranged according to the dictates of faith, the secret must be kept between the soul and God.

From verses 13-15, the description is given of Nehemiah's tour of inspection, and of the condition in which he found the walls and gates of the city — a condition which corresponded exactly with the report brought to him in Shushan. (Compare verse 13 with Neh. 1: 3.) No one suspected the object Nehemiah had in view; for he adds, And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work." (v. 16.) He had made his survey in silence — alone with God (though some attendants were with him), and gathered strength from his communings with God during the solemnity of that eventful night; and if his heart had been touched by the desolations of the holy city, it was only a feeble reflection of the pity and the compassion of Jehovah for the place which He Himself had chosen, and where, during the kingdom, He had dwelt between the cherubim on the mercy-seat.

All was now prepared, and hence the next thing we find is, that Nehemiah took the rulers, etc. into his confidence. He could allow no one to advise as to the work, because he had received his mission from the Lord; but now that it was only a question of its execution, he could welcome the aid and fellowship of others. This is ever the path of the man of faith. He cannot alter or modify his purposes; but he rejoices in associating others with himself, if they are willing to help forward, in dependence on the Lord, the object he has in view. Nehemiah, therefore, said to the rulers and the rest of the people, "Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God, which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work." (vv. 17, 18.)

It is evident from this address also that Nehemiah's heart was sorely burdened with the condition of his people and city. It was the account of this which had first bowed him down to the ground in the presence of God (Neh. 1: 3, 4); and the words then used seemed to have been indelibly graven on his heart, for he uses them again, as we have seen, in verse 13, as also now in speaking to the people. It was intolerable to him, in his zeal for the Lord and for Jerusalem, that His chosen people should be in such a reproach to the heathen around; and his one desire was to rebuild the wall of separation, and to restore justice and judgment in their midst by setting up the gates. Why should the boar out of the wood continue to waste the vine which God had once more, in His mercy, replanted, and the wild beast of the field devour it? (Ps. 80) Then, after exhorting them to build, he related to them concerning the hand of God which was good upon him, and concerning the king's permission (for by God's appointment as the result of His judicial dealing, they were all subject to the king's authority) to do the work which the hand of God had laid upon him. God wrought with His servant's words, and produced a ready response in His people's hearts, so that they said, "Let us rise up and build." When we are in communion with God's mind, as to our service, He never fails to send the needed helpers. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power" words which contain a principle for all dispensations; for it is ever true, that when God goes forth in power for the accomplishment of any purpose, He prepares willing-hearted servants to execute His designs. So, in the present instance, "they strengthened their hands for this good work," for they had been made to feel that it was of God.

This working of the Spirit of God aroused again the opposition of the enemy. Whenever God works, Satan counterworks. It was so now; for "when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?" (v. 19.) In addition to the Moabite and Ammonite there is now an Arabian — every form of the flesh, as it were, lusting against the Spirit, stirred up as it had been by the craft and subtlety of Satan. It will be observed also that the opposition now assumes another character. At first Sanballat and Tobiah were grieved exceedingly at the intervention of Nehemiah. They affected to be sorry that he should come and disturb the peace that had prevailed between Israel and the heathen; but now they "laughed us to scorn, and despised us." One weapon is as good as another in the hands of the enemy. Seeing that their grief did not affect the purposes of Nehemiah, they would try mockery and contempt; and at the same time they would, if possible, produce fear by insinuating a charge of rebellion. Surely we need to be acquainted with the wiles and devices of Satan, for he knows how to work upon every possible feeling of the natural man. Nehemiah, strong in the sense of the protection of God, and knowing that he was in the path of obedience, was proof against all his artifices. He said, "The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we, His servants, will rise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem." (v. 20.) "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you," says the apostle James. And Nehemiah resisted him by a bold confession of the name of his God, of confidence in His protecting care, and by the expression of His claims over His servants, and by the utter refusal of the title of the enemy to any right or interest in the holy city. There is nothing like boldness in the face of the adversary; but this can only spring from a divine courage, begotten by the assurance that "if God be for us, none can be against us."

NEHEMIAH 3.

THE zeal of Nehemiah was used of the Lord to rouse almost the whole people. There were degrees of energy amongst them, and it may be lukewarmness if not hostility in the hearts of some; but outwardly, and by profession, nearly all came forth and offered their services as builders. It was, in fact, a real revival; and such an one as could only be produced by the Spirit of God. And the value God set upon it, is seen in that He has caused the names of those who engaged in this work to be written and preserved. This very circumstance shows that they had His mind in building the wall. It could not be otherwise; for what was the meaning of their proposed work? It was that they, led forward by Nehemiah, confessed their need of separation from the nations around, and took measures to secure it. Long ages before, Moses had said to the Lord, "Wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth." (Exodus 33: 16.) They had forgotten this truth; but now, through grace, they were about once again to take the place of a people set apart for God. Such is the significance of the activity recorded in this chapter; though, alas! their energy and faithfulness were soon proved to be like the morning cloud that passes away.

There is much to interest in the details of the chapter, a chapter that can scarcely fail to remind the reader of Romans 16, in which the apostle Paul, as guided of the Spirit, specifies so many of the saints by name, and describes, in many cases, their different characteristics in service. For example, he says, "Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, who laboured much in the Lord." (v. 12.) Thus by adding two words, in his salutation to Persis, he gives her a special place before God, as well as in his affections and the affections of the saints, and a superior commendation. So in our chapter we read, "After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece." (v. 20.) It tells us with what minuteness (if we may so speak) God surveys His people, how carefully He notes the state of their hearts and the character of their service, and how grateful to Him is the exhibition of devotedness to His glory. Such commendations — not of man, but of God, and therefore infallible — while they, on the one hand, anticipate the judgment-seat of Christ, should, on the other, stir us all up to seek the same zeal and unwearied diligence in the Lord's service.

While we may leave the reader to examine for himself this interesting record, some of its details may profitably be indicated.

Eliashib the high priest, and his brethren the priests, are the first workers mentioned; not, it is to be concluded, because they surpassed the rest in energy or devotedness, but rather because of the position they occupied amongst the people. It is their rank, as will be afterwards seen, that gives them the precedence in the record, "They builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel." Comparing this account with that in verse 3, a significant difference will be noted. "But the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof." (See also verse 6.) The high priest and his brethren builded a gate, and set up its door, but they did not lay "the beams thereof" to give it stability, nor is it mentioned that they provided locks or bars. The truth is, they were not so much in earnest as the sons of Hassenaah, and Jehoiada the son of Paseah, and his companion. They were willing to have the gate and its doors; but they made no provision to make it secure, in case of need, against the ingress of the enemy. They did not object to the convenience, but they were not prepared to renounce all commerce with the enemy. And the reason was, that Eliashib himself, in whose mouth the law of truth should have been found, and who should have walked with God in peace and equity, and have turned many from iniquity (Mal. 2: 6), was allied unto Tobiah the Ammonite (Neh. 13: 4), and his grandson was son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. (Neh. 13: 28.) He had, therefore, but faint heart for the work of separation, connected as he was, by such intimate ties, with the enemies of Israel, though under the influence of the energetic Nehemiah, he made a show of agreement with his brethren in their efforts to rebuild the wall and gates of the city. It was a solemn position for the high priest, as well as a source of danger to the people.

In verse 5 an exception is noted — "And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord." The Tekoites were willing servants; for in verse 27 it is said that they "repaired another piece." They evidently were zealous men, and this in spite of the indifference, if not opposition, of "their nobles." It is often the case, when God is working in the midst of His people, that "the nobles" are outside the circle of blessing. Even as not many mighty, not many noble are called of God in His grace, so in revivals, in new and distinct actions of the Spirit of God, the first to respond to His energy are most generally found amongst the poor and despised. The "nobles" may, in God's tender mercy, be drawn in afterwards; but He most frequently begins with the poor of this world, whom He has chosen rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to them that love Him. Moreover, the cause of the dissent of these nobles is apparent. They "put not their necks to the work of their Lord." Pride was governing their hearts. They could not stoop low enough. They were not accustomed to the yoke, and they thus preferred their own importance and ease to the Lord's work. What a contrast to Him who, though rich, became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich for ever! He came into this world, to do the will of God, and was in the midst of His own "as One that serveth;" and having finished the work which the Father gave Him to do, He has, in His unspeakable grace and love, become for ever the servant of His people. It is well for every child of God to learn the lesson, that it is only in bowing their necks to the Lord's yoke that rest to their souls can be found. The nobles of Tekoa chose their own will, and lost by their stubbornness the blessing of the service offered to them, and at the same time procured for themselves everlasting exclusion from the commendation given to their brethren, as well as a mark of condemnation for their pride.

In several cases it is specified that certain repaired over against their houses. (vv. 10, 23, 28, 29, etc.) In these notices two things have to be distinguished — the fact and the teaching of the fact. The fact was, as stated, that these children of Israel undertook the building of the wall opposite their own dwellings; but, over and above this, the Spirit of God would have us understand its meaning. And it is not far to seek. We are thus taught — bearing in mind that the wall is an emblem of separation — that these servants of the Lord began first with their own houses; that they sought first of all to bring their own families into subjection to the word of God, and thereby to effect separation from evil within the circle of their own responsibility. And this has ever been the divine order. Thus when God called Gideon to be the deliverer of His people, He commanded him to throw down the altar of Baal in his father's house before he could go forth to battle against the Midianites. As another has remarked, "Faithfulness within precedes outward strength. Evil must be put away from Israel before the enemy can be driven out. Obedience first and then strength. This is God's order." The record, therefore, that these several individuals repaired every one over against his house, shows that conscience was at work; that they rightly understood God's claims upon them in the sphere of their own homes, and that they felt that to set their houses in order was a necessary qualification for any public service. This principle obtains also in the church. "A bishop," writes the apostle, must be" one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity." And deacons are also required to "rule their children and their own houses well." (1 Tim. 3) And it is to the loss of the church and of the saints, as well as to the damage of the souls of those who take the place of rule in the assembly, when this principle is neglected. It is true that the Spirit of God enjoins us to obey them that have the rule over us; but it is likewise important that those who have the lead should possess the scriptural qualifications for the places they have assumed or accepted.

Another interesting point may be noticed. Some who built the gates and assisted with the wall did not repair over against their houses. Eliashib the high priest, for example (cp. v. 1 with vv. 20, 21), and those who repaired over against their houses, are not said to have assisted in building the gates, etc. Two classes of saints are herein indicated. The first class are what may be termed ecclesiastical saints; i.e., those who are strong upon church-truth, and in maintaining the truth of separation from evil for the church, and at the same time are careless as to their own houses. A more sorrowful spectacle cannot be presented in the church of God (and one not infrequently seen), when a public advocate of the claims of Christ over His people, of the maintenance of His authority in the midst of those who are gathered to His name, allows his own house, through its disorder, to become an occasion of reproach by the enemy. Eliashib is an example, in this very chapter, of this class. Whatever the indifference of his heart, he was professedly engaged in the maintenance of separation and justice and judgment in Israel — through building, together with his brethren, the gate and sanctifying it; while, at the same time, he left others to care for the wall over against his own house. (See vv. 20, 21.) Tending the vineyard of others, his own vineyard he had not kept; and this is proved by the fact already mentioned, that he was allied unto Tobiah the Ammonite, while his grandson married a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite. Eli and Samuel and David of an earlier day are also examples of this numerous class.

Then there are others, as we learn from this chapter, who, most zealous in tending their own houses, and regulating them according to God, are almost entirely careless of the welfare of the church. Such have apprehended the truth that they themselves individually are to be witnesses for Christ; but they have not learnt that the church is to be a light-bearer in the midst of the world. In other words, they have not realized the oneness of God's people, that believers are "the body of Christ, and members in particular." As a consequence, while they fully admit that the word of God is their guide as to their individual path, they do not recognize its authority over the saints collectively or corporately. They are thus often linked with such departures from the truth, such disregard of the supremacy of Christ as Head of the church, through their public connection with the people of God, as would fill them with fear if they did but own their responsibility in the church as well as in their own families. But if we understand the position in which through grace we have been set, it will be our earnest desire to unite the repairing over against our own houses with building the wall and the gates.

Nothing in the service of the Lord's people passes unnoticed; and thus in verse 12 we read, that "next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters." The zeal of these godly women has thus obtained for them a place in this memorial of the work of the Lord. Such a record, as well as the more abundant records of the New Testament, shows that there is never any difficulty as to women's place in service when they are filled with the energy of the Spirit of God. The account preserved of Joanna the wife of Chuza, Susanna, and many others, who ministered to the Lord of their substance, of Mary and Martha, of Phoebe, a servant of the church, of Priscilla, of Persis, and of many more, is surely sufficient for guidance to any who are willing to sit at Jesus' feet and learn His mind. This scripture gives us not necessarily what man, but what God saw. The father and his daughters were both engaged in repairing the wall, and the fact that it is mentioned is its commendation. Beyond this nothing can be said; but the examples already cited are enough to teach that there is room enough in the church of God, and also in the world, for women's utmost energy and devotedness to Christ, provided it be exhibited in subjection to Him and to His word.

In the case of Meshullam the son of Berechiah it is said that he repaired over against his chamber. (v. 30.) It would seem that he had no house, only a lodging; but though the circle of his responsibility was narrow, he was found faithful. As the apostle speaks of stewardship, "If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." This should be a comfort to those who are tempted to long after wider spheres of service. It is fidelity in the place in which the Lord has placed us that He values and commends; and hence the work of Meshullam is singled out for notice equally with that of Shallun the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah, of whom it is said that "he repaired the gate of the fountain;" "he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Siloah by the king's garden, and unto the stairs that go down from the city of David." (v. 15.)

Reviewing the whole chapter, two other points of great importance may be specified. The reader will observe that some laboured in companies and some alone. Some were happiest when serving in fellowship with their brethren, and some preferred, while in full communion with the object their brethren had in view, to labour in single-eyed dependence upon, and alone with, the Lord. The same thing is observed in every age of the Church. There are vessels which are adapted for lonely service, and there are others almost useless unless in association with others. There are dangers besetting the path of both. The former are often tempted to be isolated, and to forget that the Lord has other servants working for the same ends; while the latter are sometimes betrayed into forgetfulness of individual dependence, as well as into the sacrifice of their own convictions as to the Lord's will in order to secure peace and union. The important thing is to receive the service from the Lord, to labour as He directs, to go where He sends, whether alone or in company with others, and ever to maintain a single eye to His glory. Happy is that servant who has learnt the lesson that it is the Lord's will, and not his own, which must govern the whole of his activities.

The second noteworthy thing is the variety of the service of these children of Israel. One did one thing and one another, while all were working for the same end. It was no mean shadow of the various functions of the members of the body. Paul, speaking of this, says, "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministry: or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation," etc. (Rom. 12: 6, 7.) The importance of occupying the position given us to fill, and of exercising the special gift, or function in the body, bestowed upon us, cannot be too much pressed. Every Christian has his own place, which no one else can fill, and his own work, which no other can do; and the health and prosperity of the assembly depend upon the recognition and the practice of this truth.

NEHEMIAH 4.

IN chapter 3 we have a beautiful presentation of the energy of the Spirit of God in the devoted service of His people. But whenever the people of God are active, Satan is aroused, and he seeks by every means in his power to raise up hindrances and obstacles. This is illustrated once more in the opening verses of this chapter, which give us the third form of his opposition to the work of God's builders. In Nehemiah 2: 10, the enemy was "grieved exceedingly." Then he tried mockery and scorn (Neh. 2: 19), and now he assumes the weapons of anger and indignation. "It came to pass," we read, "that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall." (vv. 1-3.) The language both of Sanballat and Tobiah was inconsistent with their feelings. It is in verse 1 that we find their real state of mind. Wrath and indignation it was that possessed their souls, for they knew full well the significance of the activity of the children of Israel. But when they spoke they concealed their anger with affected contempt. If however the "feeble Jews" were working in vain, if the wall they were building were of such a contemptible character, wherefore the anger of Sanballat and Tobiah? Happy was it for the builders that their leader was on the watch, and, armed at every point against the devices of Satan, knew how to use the shield of faith wherewith to quench his fiery darts. For what was Nehemiah's resource in the presence of this new form of hostility?

He said, "Hear, O our God; for we are despised." (v. 4.) He simply turned to God in the assurance that He cared for His people, that He would be their defence and their shield, engaged as they were in His own service. And it is ever blessed when we can take all the enemy's revilings to, and leave them with, God. In the energy and impatience of nature we are too apt to attempt to meet the foe in our own strength, and thus we often rush into the conflict only to encounter defeat and disaster. But faith turns the eye upwards, and commits all to the Lord. Hezekiah furnishes us with a beautiful illustration of this when he went up into the house of the Lord, and spread before Him the letter which he had received from Rabshakeh, who commanded the army of Sennacherib. In like manner Nehemiah cried, "Hear, O our God." And mark his plea — "For we are despised." God's people are precious in His sight, and to despise them is to despise Him. Nehemiah had entered into this, and thus made his appeal to the heart of God. Having cast himself in this way upon God, and placed himself and the people (for he fully identifies himself with them) under His protection, he gathers strength to pray against the enemy. "Turn," he says, "their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity; and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked [thee] to anger before the builders." (vv. 4, 5.) It may surprise the superficial reader that such a prayer could be offered. Two things should be remembered: first, the dispensation under which the people were; and secondly, that the enemies of Israel were the enemies of God. Sanballat and Tobiah were deliberately setting themselves in opposition to the work of the Spirit of God. And all may learn from this prayer, as Saul afterwards had to learn in another way, what a solemn thing it is to persecute God's people, and to hinder His work. Thus the ground on which Nehemiah urges his petition is: "They have provoked thee to anger before the builders." The cause of these despised children of the captivity was the cause of God; and it was in this confidence that Nehemiah found, as all believers who are in fellowship with the mind of God in their labours may find, encouragement to invoke His aid as against their foes.

But if Nehemiah prayed (as we shall see again), it did not interfere with his or the people's labours; we might rather say that his perseverance in his work sprang from his prayers. We say his prayers, for these are his individual cries to God, and his cries in secret to God. We are permitted to view the inner life of this devoted servant as well as his public labours. No ear but God's heard these supplications, though they are recorded to teach us that the secret of all true activity, as well as of courage in the presence of danger, is realized dependence on the Lord. Thus, after Nehemiah. records his prayer, he adds, "So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work." (v. 6.) This is a blessed record, and one which testifies to the energy of the Spirit of God acting through Nehemiah upon the people, and producing unanimity and perseverance. For when it says, "The people had a mind to work," it means that they had God's mind. Sometimes unanimity may be seen, and the fact gloried in, irrespective of the consideration whether it is according to the mind of God. To be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment (1 Cor. 1: 10), when the result of divine power, ensures the successful accomplishment of any service to which God calls His people, because with His Spirit ungrieved He is able to work without let or hindrance in their midst.

This spectacle of united perseverance in the work of God excited the foe to more determined opposition. Having tried many weapons without success to deter the people from building the wall, he now produces another. "It came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it." (vv. 7, 8.) Before there were but a few individuals, but now there are numbers. Satan finding that Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem could not succeed by themselves, draws others to their help — the Arabians, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites — these last being entirely new allies. In fact he collects an army, as force is the weapon he is now about to try. But what was it that aroused the enemy anew to attempt to hinder the work? It was the report they had heard, that "the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped." It was now evident that the children of the captivity were in earnest, and that they, under the leadership of Nehemiah, were determined to shut out evil by erecting the wall and stopping the breaches. This never suits Satan, whose desire ever is to break down all distinction between the people of God and the world, and hence it was that he marshalled his forces in order to prevent "these feeble Jews" from accomplishing their purpose.

And what had the children of Israel to meet this array of power on the part of the adversary? They had a leader whose confidence was in God, and who had learnt the lesson Elisha taught his servant, when the king of Syria had sent an army to take him, viz., that "they that be with us are more than they that be with them." Nothing daunted, therefore, by the increasing numbers and rage of the enemy, he says, "Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set our watch against them day and night, because of them." He thus combined dependence on God, in whom alone he knew his strength and defence to be, with unceasing vigilance against the "roaring lion." These are the two invisible weapons which God puts into the hands of His people in the presence of the enemy — weapons which suffice to defeat his most powerful assaults. Hence the Lord, in the prospect of the advancing power of Satan against His disciples, said, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." (Matt. 26: 41.) The apostle likewise writes, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance," etc. (Eph. 6: 18); knowing that, unless watchfulness were maintained, Satan would soon decoy the soul into forgetfulness and sloth. Nehemiah, therefore, was divinely instructed in his means of defence, which, indeed, placed a rampart between him and his foes, against which, if they dashed, it would be only to encounter certain destruction. And observe that the watchfulness (day and night) was as unceasing as the prayer. In this sense there is no rest for the Christian. Having done all, he is still to stand; for as the enemy is unresting in his attacks, the believer must be unceasing in the use of his means of defence.

But a new source of danger is now discovered. Without were fightings, and now, alas! within were fears. "And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall." (v. 10.) As long as "the people had a mind to work," the danger from without, met as it was by watchfulness and prayer, mattered but little; but the difficulty was great when the people themselves became fainthearted and weary. The cause of Judah's despondency was twofold. First, "the strength of the burden-bearers is decayed." Judah had forgotten that the Lord was the strength of His people, and that if He places a burden of service upon the shoulders of any of His people, He gives also the needful strength for its execution. Secondly, they said that on account of the quantity of rubbish it was impossible to build the wall. So have many said since Judah's day. The corruptions in the church have been so many — so much "rubbish" has been imported on every side — that, despairing of carrying out separation from evil according to the word of God, souls have often been betrayed into acceptance of the very things they deplore. It is impossible, they say, to conform ourselves now to the word of God, to restore the authority of the Scriptures over the conduct and activities of the church, to give the place of pre-eminence to the Lord in the midst of His gathered people, to draw the line of distinction between those who are His and those who are not; and we must, therefore, accept things as they are. Granted that there is much rubbish, it is yet clear that the word of God never abates its claims upon His people; and 2 Timothy teaches most distinctly that the responsibility of building the wall is as binding upon the saints when the house of God is in ruins, as was that of maintaining the wall when His house was in order. The fact was, the effect of the display of the enemy's power, and the prospect of incessant warfare, had discouraged the heart of Judah; and he sought to find a justification for his state of soul in the condition of the burden-bearers, and in the obstacles to his work. Many of us can understand this; for to labour under constant discouragements, and in the presence of active enemies, is calculated to try the spirit, and to tempt us to abandon our service; especially when we have ceased to derive our strength and our motives to perseverance from communion with the mind of the Lord.

Two other dangers are indicated in verses 11, 12. The adversaries sought to keep the builders in a continual state of alarm by threatening a sudden onslaught, and thus to wear them out, as they had partially done in the case of Judah, by the strain of continual apprehension. The Jews, moreover, that "dwelt by them," those, that is, who were not inhabitants of Jerusalem, but were scattered through the land in the vicinity of their foes, these came, and assured the builders repeatedly — "ten times" — that danger was really impending, that their adversaries would certainly execute their threats. To sight, therefore, there was little, if anything, to encourage; but perils of every kind were hemming them in, threatening both the continuation of their work, and even their own lives.

If, however, the enemy was unwearying in his assaults, Nehemiah was not less untiring in his watchfulness and defence; and the rest of the chapter (vv. 13-23) gives us a most interesting and detailed account of the measures he adopted for the security of the people, for the progress of the work, and of the manner in which they builded. In the first place, he arranged for defence by setting "the people after their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows, in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places." These were both duly ordered, and fully armed; for when Satan is in question we are powerless unless we are in the right place, and equipped with divine weapons. (cp. (Eph. 6: 10-17.) Thereupon Nehemiah inspirited the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people with words of exhortation. He said, "Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses." (v. 14.) The frequency of the exhortation, in the Scriptures, not to be afraid, addressed to God's people, shows how prone we are to yield to fear in the conflicts we are called upon to wage. It is both the first symptom of want of confidence in God, and the sure precursor of defeat if fear continue to possess our souls. Hence, when Israel went forth to battle in olden days, the proclamation had to be made, as in the case of Gideon's army, "What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart." (Deut. 20: 8.) While, however, Nehemiah urged them not to fear, he supplied the antidote, "Remember the Lord," he says, "who is great and terrible." For he knew that if they but once apprehended the character and presence of God, if they brought Him in, by the exercise of faith, and measured the foe by what He was, they would  be filled with courage, and be able to say, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" He sought in this way to nerve their arm for the battle; and thus he continued: "But fight for your brethren," etc. If the battle was the Lord's, it was yet for all that was dearest to them in this world that they were to fight.

The effect of Nehemiah's vigilant and energetic activity and preparation for defence was to dishearten the foe. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you," if but "for a season." The enemy heard that their plans had come to the knowledge of Nehemiah, and that God had thus frustrated their counsel; and they seem to have retreated for the moment, for the Jews were able to return all of them to the wall — every one to his work. In this way God responded to the faith of His devoted servant by baffling the adversary's designs. But Nehemiah was not ignorant of Satan's devices, and did not for a minute believe the danger was over. He knew too well his restless enmity to imagine that he had given up his designs against the Lord's people and the Lord's work; and while, therefore, the builders recommenced their labour, Nehemiah made effectual provision for defence in case of a sudden attack. His own servants, we read, he divided into two companies, the one of which builded, and the other "held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons." Then he placed the rulers behind all the house of Judah — evidently to encourage them to resistance if attacked by the foe. (v. 16.) Combining this with the description of the manner in which they builded — "every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded" — and with the other added details, some most interesting instruction may be gleaned.

First, and foremost, the several classes of labourers may be specified. There were some wholly devoted to the work. There were others who were entirely occupied with the weapons of warfare. (v. 16.) So is it in the church of God. Some of the Lord's servants are called, and specially qualified, for edification. They therefore occupy themselves with souls and with the assembly, labouring to build up themselves and others on their most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, seeking to maintain the truth of the church amongst the saints, and caring for the holiness of the house of God. There are others who are called to conflict, who are quick to discern the assaults of the enemy upon the truth of God, and wise in the power of the Holy Spirit to meet them with the weapons of their warfare, which are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor. 10: 4, 5.) The builders, the burden-bearers, and those that laded, are also distinguished. (v. 17.) Every one had his appointed work, and all contributed to the same end. Happy is it for the people of God, as may once more be seen, when they perceive the special place for which they are qualified, and occupy it for the Lord. It is the forgetfulness of this truth that has in every age produced confusion in the church, and hence too much stress can never be laid on the importance of filling, and of being satisfied with filling, the place for which we have been divinely qualified. If burden-bearers — burden-bearers for others — let us not seek to be builders; and if builders, let us wait on our building. The Lord and not the servant appoints to the work and qualifies for it.

But whether builders, burden-bearers, or "those that laded," one feature characterized them all alike — "Every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon." This in itself reveals the character of the times in which they laboured. They were in fact perilous times — times, as we have seen, when the power of Satan was increasingly manifested in opposition to the people of God. These times were typical of that in which Jude laboured, especially when he wrote his epistle; for we find the same two things in him — the sword and the trowel. He found it necessary to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, and he also exhorted those to whom he wrote to build up themselves on their most holy faith. And this is also the character of the present day — the perilous times in which our lot is cast. We may, therefore, well learn from Nehemiah's builders, that the divine way of being prepared for the assaults of the enemy is, while we have our weapons of defence in one hand, or our swords girded on our thigh, to be diligently occupied in building. The danger is, when controversies arise through Satan's attacks upon the truth, of forgetting the need of souls — of ceasing to build, of being so occupied with the enemy as to overlook the necessity of diligent and persistent ministrations of Christ to sustain and nourish souls, and thus to enable them to repel the enemy's assaults. God's people cannot be fed, built -up, with controversies — a warning word, which cannot be too loudly sounded forth at the present moment. Our positive work, even when expecting and on the outlook for the enemy, is building; and the more earnestly we build, the more secure we shall be when the enemy delivers his assault. The weapons must be ready; but our work is to go on with the wall.

Then there was the trumpeter. "And he," says Nehemiah, "that sounded the trumpet was by me." (v. 18.) The use of the holy trumpets may be gathered from Numbers 10. It was for "the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps." Moreover, in times of war, "an alarm was to be blown — an alarm which not only assembled the people, but also came up before God, called Him in — so that they might be saved from their enemies. And it was a command, that only the priests should blow with the trumpets — only those who, from their nearness, had intelligence of, were in communion with, the Lord's mind. So here, he who sounded the trumpet was to be with Nehemiah; and, therefore, only to sound it at his master's bidding. It was for Nehemiah to discern the moment to sound, for the trumpeter to catch the first intimation of Nehemiah's mind and will. In like manner now, only those who are living in the enjoyment of their priestly privileges, in nearness to and in communion with the mind of Christ, know how to sound an alarm. To blow at their own will, or on their own apprehensions of danger, would only be to produce confusion, to call the builders away from their labours, and thus to do the work of the enemy. To be able to sound at the right moment, they must be with, and having their eye upon, their Lord.

Nehemiah, in the next place, gave the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, directions concerning what they should do if they heard the sound of the trumpet. (vv. 19, 20.) Scattered, necessarily, in their labours, the moment the trumpet sounded they were to gather together around Nehemiah and the trumpeter. The Lord (if we speak of the spiritual instruction) was with him who had sounded the alarm. He had given the word, and the trumpeter had blown his trumpet; and to the testimony that had gone forth the people must gather. For the moment their labours must be suspended that they might assemble around the Lord and make common cause against the enemy. It would have been unfaithfulness, if the trumpet sounded, to continue in their work; for the Lord's mind for them at that moment would be defence, conflict, and not building. Some of the builders, as often happens, might feel that it was far happier work to build than to fight; but the only question for them would be, Had the trumpet sounded? If it had, it would be for them to obey the summons. This brings out another important feature. In all these arrangements one mind governs all. Nehemiah commands, and the part of the people, whether rulers, nobles, or the rest, was simply obedience. Thus it should ever be. The Lord — by His very title of Lord — claims the subjection of all His servants to His own will as expressed in the written word. Lastly, Nehemiah tells them, "Our God shall fight for us;" falling back, doubtless, in the exercise of faith, upon God's own word, to which we have alluded, in connection with the blowing of an alarm in the time of war, For if God called the people together for the defence of His cause, He would surely deliver them from the power of the foe. And with what courage should the assurance inspire us, that, if by His grace we are associated with God as against the enemy, we may confidently count upon His succour. It is a battle-cry — "Our God shall fight for us" — which will at the same time encourage His servants, and strike dismay into the heart of the adversary.

The chapter then concludes with three additional particulars. "So," that is, in this manner, says Nehemiah, "we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared." (v. 21.) They were thus ever on the alert, ready for the foe, and untiring in their service. They wrought while it was day, from early morning till late at night; for, as we have before seen, they had a mind to work. He also at the same time said unto the people, "Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day." (v. 22.) The day for labour and the night for watchfulness. Satan loves the darkness; it is the element in which he lives and moves, even as his followers love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. (Eph. 6: 12; John 3: 19.) The servants of the Lord therefore should never cease to be watchful, but must make provision for the night as well as for the day, even as we read in the Canticles of the threescore valiant men who were about the bed, "which is Solomon's. . . . They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night." (Cant. 3: 7, 8.) We learn then, from this instruction of Nehemiah, that the place of safety was "within Jerusalem," behind the walls that were being built; and that those who were found within should labour in the day, and keep watch during the night.

Finally, Nehemiah says, "So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing." (v. 23.) This statement, it will be observed, is not made concerning all the people, only concerning Nehemiah, his brethren, and his personal following — servants, and men of the guard. He thus set a blessed example, in the circle of his own responsibility, of personal devotedness. He knew how to refuse himself, his own ease and comfort, in the Lord's service, to endure hardness as a good soldier. (2 Timothy 2: 3.) But he is careful to inform us that they put off their clothes to wash themselves; for those who are engaged in the Lord's work must not neglect personal defilements which would grieve the Holy Spirit, limit His power, and thus mar their usefulness. True it is the Lord's work — Ms blessed work in grace — to wash His people's feet; but self-judgment is the process through which He leads us, through the Spirit, to effect our cleansing; and for this purpose, we must "put off our clothes," everything that might conceal our condition from ourselves, that there may be no hindrance to the washing of water by the word.

NEHEMIAH 5.

INSTEAD of continuing the narrative of building the wall, Nehemiah turns aside to describe the state of things within — amongst the people. And this is most instructive. If we are occupied in dealing with evil from without, we cannot afford to neglect our own moral condition or the condition of the assembly. This has been too often the case; so that it will be sometimes seen that zealous contenders for the truth are altogether neglectful of self-judgment and of discipline in the house of God. No sadder spectacle can be witnessed than an assembly, for example, which is utterly careless of its own state, of its own want of subjection to the word of God, proclaiming the need of separation from evil-doers or from false doctrine. Vessels unto honour, sanctified and meet for the Master's use, become prepared unto every good work by being themselves purged from all that by which they might be contaminated or defiled. Such too is the lesson of these chapters. Conflict characterizes chapter 4, and now in chapter 5 the lesson must be learnt that the builders and warriors must have on the breastplate of righteousness if they are to resist successfully the attacks of the foe.

In verse 1 the internal difficulty is indicated — "And there was a great cry of the people and their wives against their brethren the Jews." (Compare Acts 6) "The people and their wives" are evidently the poor, while "their brethren the Jews" are the rich. And division had come in through oppression by the latter, taking occasion through the poverty of the former to enrich themselves. (Compare James 5, and also 1 Cor. 11: 17-22.) Some had sold their sons and daughters to the rich for corn, that they might eat and live. Some had, with the same object, under pressure from the dearth, mortgaged their lands, vineyards, and houses; and others had borrowed money upon the security of their lands and vineyards to pay the king's tribute. The rich had used the needs of their poorer brethren to become richer, and to bring them completely under their power. The poor, bowed to the dust under the heavy burden of their bondage and need, raised "a great cry," and said, "Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards." (vv. 2-5.)

Such was the sad condition of the returned remnant, even while they were engaged in building the walls of their holy city Jerusalem. Let us then seek to discover the root of this festering sore. It lies in a word — used twice — "their brethren," "our brethren." They were brethren as being common descendants of Abraham, and even in a deeper sense. As God's chosen people they were alike on the ground of redemption, and all therefore were on the same footing before Him — the common objects of His grace, and as such heirs together of the promises made to their fathers. It was in view of this that Malachi challenged them with the question, "Have we not all one Father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?" (Mal. 2: 10.) So now "the Jews" were dealing with the people as if they were not their brethren, in utter forgetfulness of the common relationship in which they stood before God, and so treating them as if they were aliens and heathen. The same evils reappear in varying forms in every age, and are especially noticed in the epistle of James. (See James 1: 9, 10; 2 and 5)

But there was more than forgetfulness of relationship in this conduct on the part of the Jews. There was also positive disobedience. (See Exodus 22: 25; Deut. 15). We may cite one verse: "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates, in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth." (Deut. 15: 7, 8. Read the whole chapter.) As being themselves the recipients of grace, they were to express that grace to their brethren. (cp. 2 Cor. 8: 9 et seq.) But instead of this they denied, as we have pointed out, the truth of their redemptive position, and, exhibiting a spirit of rigour and oppression for the sake of gain, they violated the plainest precepts of the word of God. There are few who. as they read this narrative, would not condemn such gross disobedience; and yet it may be asked, What did it amount to? Simply the adoption of human thoughts instead of God's, of worldly usages and practices instead of those prescribed in the Scriptures. In a word, these Jews walked as men, and as men who hastened to be rich at the expense of their brethren! And is this sin unknown in the church of God? Nay, do not the usages of society and the maxims of the world often force themselves among Christians, and regulate their mutual relationships? Let our own consciences answer the question in the presence of God, and we shall soon discover if the sin of these Jews has its counterpart to-day amongst the Lord's people.

This was the state of things amongst the returned captives — the restored remnant; a moral condition that necessarily crippled the efforts of Nehemiah to cope with the advancing tide of evil from without. He tells us, "I was very angry when I heard their cry, and these words." His faithful heart entered into the sorrowful condition of his poor brethren, and he was righteously indignant with their oppressors. So Paul of a later date, according to the truth of the dispensation in which he was, exclaimed, "Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?" (2 Cor. 11: 29.) In both cases, the anger of Nehemiah, and the sympathy of Paul, in their identification with the sorrows of God's people, were reflections, however feeble, of the heart of God Himself. (Compare Exodus 3: 7, 8.)

But the question for Nehemiah was, How could this state of things be remedied? The answer is found in verses 7-12. Observe the remarkable expression, "Then I consulted with myself" (v. 7); for therein is contained a principle of the utmost importance. The nobles and rulers, with whom, in ordinary circumstances, he might have taken counsel, were the chief offenders; and no light therefore or assistance could be expected from them. Thus it was that Nehemiah was cast on his own resources, or rather that he was shut up to God for guidance in the matter. When all have departed out of the way, and when, as a consequence, the authority of the word of God has been obscured, the man of faith — one who desires to walk with God — cannot afford to consult with others, or he might be fettered with their counsel; he must act alone and for himself, at whatever cost, according to the Word; and in this necessity he finds both strength and courage, because it begets confidence in the Lord, and ensures His presence. Hence the next step was that Nehemiah "rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them." (v. 7.) He convicted them of their sin (see Exodus 22: 25); and, according to the apostolic injunction, rebuked them before all, saying, "We, after our ability, have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer," etc. (vv. 8-14.)

There are several points in Nehemiah's address worthy of special remark. It will be seen, in the first place, that he is enabled to rebuke the offenders by contrasting their conduct with his own. He had redeemed his brethren from the heathen; they had brought them into bondage to themselves, lording it over God's heritage. Most blessed is it when a shepherd amongst the people of God can point to his own conduct as their guide. It was so with the apostle Paul. Again and again he was led of the Holy Spirit to refer to himself as an example. (See Acts 20: 34, 35; Phil. 3: 17; 1 Thess. 1: 5, 6, etc.) So was it with Nehemiah in this instance. And in what a light did he thus place the conduct of the nobles and rulers! Nehemiah, from love to his brethren, and from grief for the dishonour to Jehovah's name by their condition, spent his substance in their redemption; they, from love to themselves, and from a desire to increase in riches, used the necessities of their brethren to bind the yoke of bondage about their necks. Nehemiah showed the spirit of Christ (compare 2 Cor. 8: 9), and they the spirit of Satan. Having thus exposed the nature of their conduct, he appeals to them on another ground. "Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?" (v. 9.) This appeal shows how dear to Nehemiah was the honour of his God, and that it grieved him to the heart to think that the conduct of Israel should furnish a just occasion for reproach from the enemy. They claimed, and claimed rightly, to be God's chosen people; and as such to be holy, to be separated from all the rest of the nations for His service. But if in their walk they resembled the heathen, what became of their profession? They did not cease to be God's people, but by their conduct they denied that they were, and publicly profaned the holy name by which they were called. No greater damage can be done by God's people than to give the enemy just ground for taunting them with their practices. (Contrast 1 Peter 2: 11, 12; 1 Peter 3: 15, 16; 1 Peter 4: 15-17.) On this appeal he based his exhortation — first, to cease to do evil, and then to learn to do well. Reminding them again, that he and his brethren and servants might have acted, if they had chosen, in a similar manner, he says, "I pray you, let us leave off this usury." Remark that he says, "let us;" putting himself in grace alongside of them in their sins, acknowledging, indeed, that he was one with them before God, and seeking thus in a spirit of meekness to effect their restoration. Moreover, he urged upon them to make restitution, to give back that day "their lands, etc., that ye exact of them." (v. 11)

The Lord was with His servant, and they consented to do as they had been urged; but Nehemiah, unwilling to leave the matter in any doubt, or fearing that they might be tempted, when they went back to their homes, to forget their promise, "called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise." Even more, to give greater solemnity to the transaction, he says, "Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the Lord. And the people did according to this promise." (v. 13.) In this manner Nehemiah laboured for the good of the people, and corrected the abuses that had sprung up in their midst to the destruction of order, holiness, and fellowship.

From verse 14 to the end of the chapter, Nehemiah is led to give an account of his own conduct as governor. Looking at this, according to man, it might seem to be self-commendation and exaltation; but it must never be forgotten that we are reading God's word, and that it was therefore as guided of the Holy Spirit that this description is recorded for our instruction. And, as before observed, the lesson is, that the shepherds whom the Lord raises up for His people should ever be "ensamples to the flock." (See 1 Peter 5: 1-3.) Bearing this in mind, we shall be able to profit by the presentation of Nehemiah's conduct. First, he tells us that, for the twelve years he had been governor, neither he nor his brethren had eaten the bread of the governor as his predecessors had done; i.e., he had not, as he explains, been "chargeable unto the people." (vv. 14, 15.) His office entitled him to be so, but he did not use his authority in this respect. We are again reminded of the apostle Paul, who wrote to the Corinthians, "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ." (1 Cor. 9: 11-13, et seq.; see also Acts 20: 33; 1 Thess. 2: 9.) Neither did he, like the former governors, permit his servants to bear rule over the people. No abuse is more common, even in the church of God, than that here indicated. It is often seen, for example, to the sorrow of the saints, and the perversion of the divine order, that the relatives of those who rightly have the place of rule assume place and authority, and expect to be acknowledged because of their relationship. As in Nehemiah's case, so also in the Church, office is personal, for qualification or gift is divinely bestowed, and cannot be transmitted to another. Even Samuel failed in this respect when he made his sons judges; and it was their conduct that provoked the people of Israel to desire a king. (1 Samuel 8: 15.)

Nehemiah was saved from this by walking and acting before God. "So did not I," he says, "because of the fear of God." This reveals to us a man whose conscience was tender and in lively exercise; one who was watchful over his ways and conduct, lest he might be governed by self-will or his own advantage, instead of God's word; one who cherished an habitual reverence both for His presence and His authority, and, maintaining a holy fear in his soul, ever sought to commend himself to the Lord. This was the secret both of his uprightness and devotedness, for he is able to say that he had been willing to spend and be spent in the Lord's service. "Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land; and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work." He gave himself to the work, he sought no earthly possessions for himself, and his servants, as well as himself, were devoted to building the wall. A blessed example surely of self-denial and consecration, and one well calculated, as the fruit of the grace of God, to stimulate the godly to follow in his steps, and to rebuke the avarice and covetousness of those who were trading upon their brethren's necessities. Nor was this all. "Moreover," he adds, "there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, besides those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us;" i.e., Jews who were scattered among the other peoples who at that time inhabited Palestine. And the next verse (18) tells us of the daily provision for his table, and of the store of all sorts of wine furnished once in ten days. From this we learn that Nehemiah was given to hospitality, and that he was "not forgetful to entertain strangers." He had therefore one of the qualifications which the apostle gives as indispensable for a bishop in the church of God (1 Tim. 3: 2) — a qualification which perhaps is now not so much esteemed as in former days. But it may be questioned whether anything more tends to bind together the hearts of the saints, and thus to promote fellowship, than the exercise of hospitality according to God. The word of God abounds in examples as well as in commendations of it. It was the special service of one beloved saint, as shown in his description by the apostle, when he wrote, "Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you." (Rom. 16: 23. See also 3 John.) The source of its exercise is the activity of grace in the heart — delighting to give, and to be made happy in the happiness of others. It is therefore no mean expression of the heart of God. "Yet for all this," Nehemiah adds, "required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people." (v. 18.) His heart was touched with their condition and he had learnt the lesson that it was more blessed to give than to receive. He thus dispensed bountifully to those that came to him, and seems to have welcomed all.

Nor did he look for any human recompense, but, turning to God, in whose presence he walked and laboured, he said, "Think upon me, my God, according to all that I have done for this people." (v. 19.) It has been often said that this prayer, as others recorded by him, is evidence that Nehemiah moved on a low spiritual platform, as it would have been a far higher thing had he not thought of any recompense at all. It may be so; and, as we have pointed out, Nehemiah certainly had not the simple faith of Ezra. On the other hand, we cannot fail to see in the sketch here given that he was distinguished, in a day of confusion and ruin, by a rare devotedness to the service of his God, by an upright conscience, and by an utter self-forgetfulness in his intense desire for the glory of God in the welfare of His people. All that he was, and had, was laid upon the altar, yielded up to God for His use and service, and while it may be admitted that there are loftier prayers than the one here recorded, we prefer to see in it the expression of an earnest desire for the blessing of God in connection with his labours for His people. The Lord Himself said, "Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." It was in the spirit of this, and knowing the faithful Jehovah he had to do with, that Nehemiah turned away from all thought of selfish advantage to God, in the confidence that He who had wrought in his heart this love to His people would not allow him to lose his reward. Like Moses, he had "respect unto the recompence of the reward," but it was not from men, but from God.

NEHEMIAH 6.

IN this chapter Nehemiah returns to his conflicts with the enemy, brought upon him in connection with building the wall of the city. Chapter 5 is therefore really parenthetical, although, as we have seen, it teaches, in its connection with the sixth, an important truth. In it Nehemiah was engaged in correcting abuses within, and, having been enabled to restore the relationships of the people according to the Word, he resumes his narrative of the activity of the adversary. But though the subject is the same, there is a great difference between chapters 4 and 6. In the former the enemy displayed his opposition, in the latter he practises subtlety, and seeks to decoy under the guise of friendship, rather than to deter by the exhibition of his power. We shall accordingly find traces of his presence within as well as without. If in chapter 4 he appears as a roaring lion, in chapter 6 he seeks to circumvent by his wiles — the two forms in which he ever opposes the people of God. (See (Eph. 6: 11; 1 Peter 5: 8, 9.)

The first two verses open out to us the first wile of the adversary. "Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates), that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono." The diligence and perseverance of Nehemiah, overcoming, through the blessing of God, all obstacles, had carried on the work almost to completion. "No breach" was left in the wall, and consequently there was now no covert way of entrance. The doors were still unhung, but these were open to observation, and by these only could the enemies of God's people approach. It was time therefore to put forth their final effort, and they accordingly propose a conference, as if they too were interested in the welfare of Israel! But when the servant of the Lord is walking in His presence, and with purpose of heart is pursuing the path of His will, he is never deceived by Satan's artifices. Thus it was with Nehemiah, and hence he adds, "But they thought to do me mischief." He knew that darkness could have no communion with light, that Satan could not contemplate with pleasure the progress of the Lord's work, that hating his Master, he must hate also His servant. Accordingly he penetrated at once to the heart of the object Sanballat and his companions had in view. Still he "sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?" (v. 3.) When the Lord sent forth His disciples, He charged them to salute no man by the way (Luke 10), that they might learn the absorbing character of His claims, that, when engaged on His service, they had no leisure to turn aside for friendly salutations, but must unwearyingly pursue their mission. Nehemiah had therefore the Lord's mind in the answer he sent, apart from his knowledge of the evil nature of their designs. Doing a great work, it was his business to persevere, even if friends had solicited him to leave it; and to leave it but for a moment would cause it to cease. It was impossible — consistent with the claims of his service — for him to "come down." Many of us might with advantage be instructed by the example of this faithful servant; indeed, it would save us from many a snare. The Lord's work, if it be His work, is not to be taken up and laid down at will; but when He puts it into our hands it claims our first and constant attention, and is worthy of all our energies in its accomplishment. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do" (if of the Lord) "do it with thy might."

The enemy was not content to let the matter rest. "They sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner." (v. 4.) If faithfulness characterized Nehemiah in refusing to go, divine wisdom is equally apparent in the mode of his answer. It was "after the same manner." The circumstances had not changed, and hence his first answer was sufficient. But Satan was practising upon the weakness of the human heart. He knew that souls are often betrayed by importunity. It was so with Samson. There was as much reason for his refusal to tell his secret at last as at first; but Delilah "pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; that he told her all his heart." (Judges 16) It is often so with ourselves, ignorant, as we are to our shame, of Satan's devices.

Failing to seduce Nehemiah by this plan, another artifice is now tried. "Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner, the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand; wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel," etc. (vv. 5-7.) Sanballat affects to be careful of Nehemiah's reputation, and to be fearful lest his proceedings should be misinterpreted! It was a most subtle mask which he assumed, for he contrives in his letter to insinuate three distinct charges, which, if reported to the king, might well endanger Nehemiah's character if not his life. First, he speaks of rebellion, and even adduces a witness — Gashmu or Geshem, the Arabian; then he suggests, what might, if indeed the first allegation were true, be connected with it; viz., that Nehemiah's object in building the wall was to make himself king. And, finally, he says that it was reported that he had appointed prophets to preach of him in Jerusalem, saying, "There is a king in Judah." It is more than likely that there was a show of truth in the last statement. A man so interested as Nehemiah was in his nation, would not forget that all their hopes were centred in the promised Messiah; and he may have sought, through the ministry of prophets, to revive the flagging energies of the people by recalling to their minds the glowing descriptions of the future kingdom under the sway of the true David, as recorded, for example, in the writings of Isaiah. A stranger could not enter into this or understand it, and might well conclude that Nehemiah was sowing sedition and rebellion. The craft of Satan therefore is plainly distinguished in Sanballat's letter. But he had to do with one whose confidence was in God for wisdom as for strength; and hence it was that this attempt upon Nehemiah, like the former, completely failed. His answer is simplicity itself; a plain denial in a few words of the truth of these alleged reports, while at the same time he traced them back to their true source — Sanballat's own wicked heart. "There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart." (v. 8.) And this answer teaches us that we should never enter into argument with the tempter; repel his accusations we may, but if we once begin to reason with him, or even to explain, we shall surely be vanquished. If Nehemiah alone had been concerned, it would have been well; but though the leader, and acting for the people, he could not infuse into them his trust in God and his courage. This will explain his statement: "For they all made us afraid" (the "us" being really the people, Nehemiah identifying himself with them), "saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done." This was Satan's object, to wear out the people by these continued harassing assaults, raining down fiery darts upon them incessantly — darts which only the shield of faith could intercept and quench, and which without this shield could only produce despondency and fear if not destruction. None knew this better than this faithful and devoted servant, or how to avail himself of the weapons of defence against his artful adversary. Hence, while he maintained untiring vigilance against the enemy, he prayed without ceasing. The enemy had said "their hands shall be weakened." Nehemiah prayed, "Now therefore, O God" (these words, "O God," being rightly inserted), "strengthen my hands." Nothing can be more beautiful than the spectacle of this man of God, pressed on every side, turning to God for the needful strength. What could the enemy do with such a man — a man who leaned upon the Almighty God as his defence and shelter? He was powerless, utterly powerless; and he confessed his defeat by changing his front, and proceeding with another wile.

Sanballat finding the uselessness of these attacks from without, sought, in the next place, to conspire against Nehemiah from within. "Afterward," says Nehemiah, "I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee." (v. 10.) Nehemiah, as the reader will perceive, was the one obstacle to the enemy's success, and thus the object of all his hatred. For amid general unfaithfulness he was faithful — sustained in his path by the grace of his God; and on this very account it was that he found the path a lonely one. Enemies without, he knew there were; but now he has to discover that professed friends were amongst his foes. He followed therefore, at however great a distance, in the way trodden by our blessed Lord, whose keenest sorrow, on the side of man, was that one of His own disciples betrayed Him. And mark the spiritual subtlety of this last temptation. Nehemiah had paid, it is evident, a visit of sympathy and friendship to Shemaiah, "who was shut up;" and his friend, seeming to be under great concern for Nehemiah's life, proposed that they should meet, and shut themselves up in the temple for safety, urging that his enemies would come in the night to slay him. It was an appeal to his fears, and one apparently dictated by love and friendship, and sanctified by the holy place in which he was urged to conceal himself. But the tempter again missed his mark; or rather his darts failed to penetrate the invincible faith of this upright and faithful servant. "Should," he said, "such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being, as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in." What is life to a faithful soldier? The place for a soldier to die in is the post of duty. To flee would have been to deny his true character, and to have exposed his followers to the victorious power of the enemy. Through grace Nehemiah was not one to turn his back to the foe in the day of battle; and he thus met the solicitations of his "friend" by resolutely declining his proffered advice. (Compare Ps. 55: 12-14.)

And it is a remarkable thing, that the moment Nehemiah refused the temptation, he perceived the whole character of the enemy's designs, and, piercing through all his disguises, discovered the evil and hypocrisy that were at work to entrap his feet. It is ever so. We are only blinded as long as the temptation is unresisted; when it is refused, all concealment is gone, and Satan stands out fully disclosed. Nehemiah thus says, "And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me." (vv. 12, 13.) This, then, was the secret the enemy's gold had corrupted the prophets of God, who warned Nehemiah in the Lord's name when He had not sent them. They could not serve God and mammon; for the moment they took a bribe from the latter they were bound hand and foot at his service, besides disqualifying themselves as the Lord's messengers. And what grief of heart it must have been to the faithful Nehemiah to detect the corrupting influences of the adversary within the holy circle of God's people, amongst those who should have been the mouthpiece of God to His servants. What a contrast to what we read in Ezra: "And with them" (Zerubbabel and Jeshua building the house of God) "were the prophets of God helping them." These prophets — those of the time of Nehemiah — were helping the enemy, not the Lord's work. Alas! how often has it been so since that day, that those who have occupied the place of prophets, those who profess to be the communicators of God's mind to their fellows, have been in the pay and service of Satan. Even today the most subtle opponents of the truth of God and of building the wall of separation, under the plea of the brotherhood of all men, are found in the pulpits of Christendom.

And what was the object of Shemaiah, the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets? To ruin the character of the leader of God's people. They desired to make him afraid, by destroying his trust in God, and thus to lead him into sin, "that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me." This one faithful man, as we have before remarked, was the object of all the assaults and artifices of Satan; around his feet the most subtle snares were spread, because if he could but be worsted and overcome, the victory was assured. At this moment, as far as revealed, the cause of God in Jerusalem depended upon the courage and fidelity of Nehemiah; and hence it was that Satan sought to circumvent him in every possible way. But though wave after wave dashed against him, he stood, by the grace of God, like a rock; and, unmoved by open opposition, his feet were also kept, although pitfalls were dug for him on every hand. God sustained His servant through that uprightness, integrity, and perseverance which are produced alone by a single eye, and by the maintenance of conscious dependence upon divine power. Once again therefore the plot failed.

The secret of Nehemiah's strength is shown in the next verse (14). Having unfolded the aims of the prophets, who had been hired by the enemy, he looks upward, and says, "My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear." Avoiding all open conflict as useless, he commits the matter to God, like Paul, who says, "Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works." (2 Tim. 4: 14.) It would be well for us to pay especial attention to these examples. There are many forms of evil which cannot be openly assailed without damage to ourselves and to others, and many evil-workers in the church of God that must be left alone. To attack them would only serve the cause of the enemy; but our resource in such circumstances is to cry to God against them. So also we read in Jude that "Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." (v. 9.) May the Lord give us more discernment that we may know how to "behave ourselves wisely" in our spiritual conflicts.

The reader will remark that, though this chapter is devoted to the exposure of the enemy's stratagems, the work of building the wall was in no wise hindered. The faith and courage of Nehemiah never faltered; and though he has been led to give, for our instruction, a detailed account of the wiles of Satan, we now find that the building must have been pressed forward with undiminished zeal; for he says, "So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days." "So" is a remarkable word in this connection. It might mean "in this manner," or "notwithstanding," or "in spite of," according as we take it in its literal or spiritual sense. The rapidity of the execution of the work is a testimony to the energy of the workmen under the guidance of Nehemiah; for "the city was large and great," and to surround it with a wall in fifty-two days was no mean accomplishment, though easily understood when it is remembered that the work was of God, and for God, and that He wrought with the builders. Even the adversaries of Israel were compelled to own this to themselves; for Nehemiah tells us, "And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God." (v. 16.) They had been so far utterly discomfited, and now, as they "heard" and "saw" that the wall was completed, their hopes were dashed to the ground; for this wall — the safety and security of God's people as long as they maintained it in holiness — was an invincible barrier to the foe. This they knew, and hence "they were much cast down in their own eyes." Surely this description is a shadow of the time of which the Psalmist speaks: "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge. For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail." (Ps. 48: 2-6.)

The last three verses of the chapter are taken up with a description of another form *of evil, with which Nehemiah had to contend, in the midst of God's people. Now the action proceeded not from Tobiah, but from the nobles of Judah. Evil, shut out by the completion of the wall, now springs up within, and seeks to link itself with the evil without. The nobles of Judah entered into correspondence with Tobiah; and indeed they were "sworn unto him," for he was connected with them by a double tie. "He was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah." (vv. 17, 18.) They had therefore allied themselves with an Ammonite, upon whom the curse of God rested (chap. 13: 1), in direct disobedience to the word of God (Deut. 7: 3), whereby they also denied the truth of the special place they occupied as the people He had chosen for and separated unto Himself. This has been the continual source of weakness and corruption among the people of God; for the moment any, like these nobles, enter into relationships with the world, they must be opposed to the ground of separation, on which they have been set. Nay, more; for James says, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." (James 4: 4.) Solemn but true words. These nobles of Judah were thus the enemies of God, as are all such who desire to be the friends of the world. And mark how they immediately lost all sense of the distinction between God's people and His enemies; for we read that "they reported his" (Tobiah's) "good deeds before" Nehemiah, and he says they "uttered my words to him." As if good deeds could be done by an enemy of the people of God! They were seeking to prove, as so many do in the present day, that there is no difference after all between saints and men of the world — that the actions of both are alike good. But what did they thereby prove? That they themselves had no conception of what was suited to a holy God, and that they, in their own souls, were on the ground of those who knew Him not. What wonder was it that, with such confederates inside the city, Tobiah renewed his attempts upon Nehemiah — sent letters to put him in fear?

We thus see that this devoted man of God had no rest, that he had to wage perpetual warfare against foes within and foes without, but that, single-handed as he was, strengthened by his faith in God, he was superior to all the power of the foe. It is a wonderful record, and one that abundantly proves the all-sufficiency of God to sustain His servants, whatever their difficulties or perils in any service to which He calls them. To Him alone be all the praise!

NEHEMIAH 7.

THERE are two things in this chapter — First, the government of Jerusalem, of the city of God, together with provision for continual vigilance against the practices of the enemy (vv. 1-4); and secondly, the reckoning of the people by genealogy. (vv. 5-73.)

We learn from verse 1 that the doors had now been set up "upon the gates" (see Neh. 6: 1), and that everything in connection with the walls had therefore been finished. (Neh. 6: 15.) Following upon this, "the porters, and the singers, and the Levites were appointed" — a most interesting notice thus briefly indicated. The porters, it is almost needless to say, were the doorkeepers, on whom devolved the responsibility of admitting only such as had a lawful claim to enter the city, and of keeping out all who could not show the necessary qualification to be inside; in a word, they had authority over the opening and the shutting of the doors. They held a most important post, even as do also the doorkeepers of the present day. For while it is true, and must ever be insisted on, that every believer — every member of the body of Christ — has his place, for example, at the Lord's supper, the "doorkeepers" of the assembly have the responsibility of asking for the production of the evidence that they are what they claim to be. (See Acts 9: 26, 27; 1 Peter 3: 15.) Laxity or neglect in this respect has been productive of the most serious consequences in many an assembly, amounting in some cases to the destruction of all testimony for Christ, and leading to the positive dishonour of His blessed name. It is a matter therefore of the utmost consequence that only faithful and trusted men should do the work of "doorkeepers," especially in a day of common profession, when all alike claim to be Christians.

There were also "singers." Their employment may be gathered from another place. "These are they," we read, "whom David set over the service of song in the house of the Lord, after that the ark had rest. And they ministered before the dwelling-place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem; and then they waited on their office according to their order." (1 Chr. 6: 31, 32.) The Psalmist alludes to these when he says, "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee." (Ps. 84: 4.) Such was the occupation of the singers — praising the Lord "day and night" (1 Chr. 9: 33); a shadow of the perpetual employment of the redeemed in heaven (Rev. 5); a blessed service (if service it may be called) which it is the privilege of the Church to anticipate on earth while waiting for the return of our blessed Lord. (See Luke 24: 52, 53.) Lastly, there were Levites. Of their work it is said, "Their brethren also the Levites were appointed unto all manner of service of the tabernacle of the house of God." (1 Chr. 6: 48.) The gates and doors having been set up, and porters set in their appointed places, the Lord's portion is first thought of in the singers; and then come the Levites to perform the necessary service in connection with His house. The very order of the mention of these three classes is thus instructive, and shows, at the same time, how jealous Nehemiah was of the Lord's claims upon His people, and how carefully he sought, in his devotedness to the Lord's service, to acknowledge His supremacy, and to yield to Him the honour due unto His name.

These things having been arranged, he says, "I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many." (v. 2.) It is not clear, from the words themselves, whether this description applies to Hanani or Hananiah; but we judge it is to the former, for it will be remembered that it was this same Hanani who was used, with others, to bring the intelligence of the state of the remnant and of Jerusalem, which became, in the hands of God, the means of Nehemiah's mission. (Neh. 1) Understanding it so, nothing could more distinctly show Nehemiah's singleness of eye in his Master's service. Hanani was his brother, but he appointed him to this post, not because he was his brother, or a man of influence, but because "he was a faithful man, and feared God above many." In such ways, as well as by the divine directions furnished through the apostle Paul, the Lord teaches us what should characterize those who take the lead among His people; and especially those who occupy places of prominence or care in government. It is not enough that they are men of gift, or position, or influence; but they should be faithful — faithful to God and to His truth, and they should be distinguished by fearing, not men, but God, acting as in His sight, and upholding the authority of His word.

Nehemiah himself gave instructions for the exercise of vigilance and care over the city. First, the gates were not to be opened until the sun was hot. As long as darkness reigned, or any semblance of it, the gates were to be shut against "the rulers of the darkness of this world" (Eph. 6), for the night is ever the time of their greatest activity. As a contrast, we read of the heavenly Jerusalem that "the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there" (Rev. 21: 25.); i.e., they shall stand perpetually open, because evil and the powers of evil will have for ever passed away. Then, "while they stand by, let them shut the doors, and bar them." The porters were not to leave their posts, or delegate their duties to others, but they themselves "standing by" were to see that the doors were both shut and barred. Many a house has been rifled because the shut door has not been "barred," and many a soul has permitted the enemy to gain an entrance because its several "doors" have not been made secure. It was not enough, therefore, since the enemy was in question, that the doors of the gates of Jerusalem should be shut; they must also be barred if the enemy was to be kept outside. We learn from this the imperative necessity of guarding the doors, whether of the soul or of the assembly. In the last place, they were to "appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one to be over against his house." Two things of the greatest moment are here indicated. The first is, that not a single inhabitant of Jerusalem was exempted from the responsibility of exercising watchfulness over the interests of the city. Every one was to be in his watch. The watch was to be duly ordered, and all were to serve in their turn. Secondly, every one was to maintain the watch over against his own house; that is, to sum up the two things, all were concerned in keeping watch over the whole city, but the safety of the city was ensured if each kept watch over against his own house. This is evident, for if the head of every household kept the enemy — evil — out of his house, Jerusalem would be preserved in separation unto God. The whole city was necessarily what its several inhabitants made it. Would that this truth were apprehended in the church of God! The assembly, like Jerusalem, is composed of individuals, of many heads of houses, whatever the intimate bond of union subsisting between the members of the body of Christ; and its state, its public state (if this term is permissible), is simply the state of all. If therefore discipline for God is not maintained in the home, neither can it be in the church. Laxity in the one sphere produces laxity in the other. Worldliness in the one place will be worldliness also in the other. Hence the apostle writes, for example, that a bishop must be "one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?" (1 Tim. 3: 4, 5.) It would indeed savour of the boldest presumption for one whose own house was in disorder to arrogate to himself a place of rule in the assembly, and it would at the same time introduce the very evils of which his household was the theatre. If, on the other hand, the injunction of Nehemiah be attended to — each keeping watch and ward over his own house — the assembly would be the display of order, security, and holiness to the glory of God.

Next follows a note concerning the city itself. "Now the city was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded." This is undoubtedly a testimony of failure. The work of God for that day was building the walls of the city, and this, as we have seen, had been accomplished through the faith and perseverance of Nehemiah, spite of difficulties of every kind. The truth of God would therefore now be bound up with the maintenance of the wall, and the first three verses reveal to us the provision made for that end. But Nehemiah now informs us that though the city was large and great, the people were few therein. Now the testimony for any given day gathers — indeed, true testimony always gathers — to Him from whom it proceeds as its centre. Very few then had been gathered to that which went forth through Nehemiah. The trumpet had been blown for the calling of the assembly (Numbers 10), and through grace some had responded to its summons; but the mass of the people, as at the commencement of Haggai's ministry, were absorbed in their own things rather than the things of Jehovah. (See Phil. 2: 21.) Moreover "the houses were not builded" of those that were gathered. This first responsibility had been neglected, and would be therefore a perpetual source of mischief. When the children of the captivity first returned they began to build their own houses to the neglect of the Lord's house; and now when the time had come to build their own houses they neglected this. Such is man and such are the people of God, for when walking as men they are never in communion with the Lord's mind. They that are in the flesh, and the principle applies to the Christian if he is governed by the flesh, cannot please God. If any enquire how in the present day their houses are to be builded, Ephesians 5: 22, 6: 1-9; Colossians 3: 18, 4: I will answer the question. It is to establish the Lord's authority over every member of them, and especially to bring up the children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Now that Nehemiah had given the necessary instructions for guarding the city from the intrusion of evil, he proceeds to the ordering of the people. But he is careful to relate that it was not his own thought. He says, "And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy." (v. 5.) This gives us a glimpse into the intimacy of his walk with God. It is "my" God, the One he knew as such in that relationship to himself, which faith and experience alone can recognize (compare 1 Chr. 28: 20, 1 Chr. 29: 2, 3; Phil. 4: 19); and it is the One in whose presence he so constantly dwelt, that he could instantly discern the thought which He put within his heart. And the object in view was to examine the title of the people to be in the place where they were. With the constant commerce going on between them and the enemy, and the alliances they had formed in forgetfulness that the Lord had chosen them out of all the peoples on the earth as His peculiar people, there would doubtless be many who could not show their genealogy, and hence had no claim to be numbered with Israel. Now that the wall was built, and the truth therefore of separation proclaimed, such a mixture within could no longer be tolerated. Those who occupied this holy ground, and claimed the blessed privileges of God's house, must have an indefeasible title, and this is the meaning of this next step of Nehemiah. The work in his case was not difficult, for he "found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first," etc. (vv. 5, 6 et seq.); and by this register it was easy to ascertain whether those within the sacred enclosure of the rebuilt walls or those who might seek admission were all of Israel.*

*As the significance of this register of the genealogy of the people has been already given in our exposition of Ezra 2, it is not necessary to repeat it here. The reader is therefore referred to it to aid him in the understanding of the rest of this chapter, for, as will be perceived, Nehemiah 7: 6-73 is the repetition of Ezra 2.

NEHEMIAH 8.

BEFORE entering upon this interesting chapter, it may be profitable to point out the place it occupies. Chapter 6 gives the completion of the wall; chapter 7 the provision and means for the security of the city, and the reckoning of the people by genealogy; and in chapter 8 we have the establishment of the authority of the word of God. This order is most instructive. The walls might be built, and the people duly gathered and ordered; but nothing could keep them in the place into which they had been brought but obedience to the Word; for obedience gives the Lord His place as also the people their place — the Lord the place of pre-eminence, the people that of subjection. Obedience is, therefore, the way of holiness; exclusive as it is of everything inconsistent with the Lord's supreme claims. This furnishes a practical lesson of great moment for the Church. The testimony of God gathers souls to Christ on the ground of the one body; but as soon as they are gathered, then it is the responsibility of teachers and pastors to assert the Lord's supremacy in the authority of the written Word, to feed the flock of God with suited nourishment, to build them up on their most holy faith, and thus to fortify them against the arts and devices of the enemy.

We have seen that Nehemiah reproduces in chapter 7, Ezra 2; and the first verse of this chapter is in exact correspondence with Ezra 3: 1. There we read, "And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem;" here it is, "And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate;" and in verse 2 we find that this gathering was also "upon the first day of the seventh month." It is the date that explains, in both cases, the assembly. The first day of the seventh month was the feast of the blowing of trumpets (Lev. 23: 24; Numbers 29: 1), a figure of the restoration of Israel in the last days, and one that would therefore appeal mightily, where there was any understanding of its import, to the hearts of all true Israelites. Whether in this case the trumpets were blown is not recorded; and the very fact that it is not, is significant. "They spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded." When all is in confusion, through neglect of the word of God, the first thing to be done is not the restoration of feasts, but of the authority of the Scriptures over the conscience. Instead, therefore, of the blowing of the trumpets,* there was a solemn assembly for the reading of the law — the very memory of which seems to have faded away from the people. And it is exceedingly beautiful to notice, that Ezra, of whom there is no previous mention in this book, is he to whom they have recourse in the present need. He was "a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord, and of His statutes to Israel;" and one who delighted in, and fed upon, the Word he communicated to others. But in the time of almost general backsliding, confusion, and ruin, the teacher of the law was not wanted; and thus it was that Ezra had fallen out of notice, if not into obscurity. Now, however, that there was in some sort a revival, producing a desire after the word of their God, Ezra was remembered, and his services were required. Happy the servant who, thinking nothing of himself, can retire when he is not needed, and come forth when once again desired, willing to be anything or nothing, known or unknown, if he can but serve the Lord's beloved people!

*We quote the words of another. "It was really the trumpet of God, although the people were unconscious of it, that gathered them to the new moon, which shone again in grace, whatever might be the clouds that veiled its feeble light."

In verses 2 and 3 we have the account of the assembly for the purpose of hearing the Word. The congregation was composed of "men and women, and all that could hear with understanding;" that is, we judge, all the children who were old enough to comprehend what was read. There was, therefore, no division into classes, no teaching apart of men, women, or children, but all were together as forming the congregation of the Lord. Thus gathered, Ezra read out of the book of the law "from the morning until midday" — probably not less than six hours and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law." In ordinary times, it would be impossible to detain the people, then as now, so long with the simple reading of the Scriptures; but when there is a true work of the Spirit of God, after a season of widespread declension, the saints always turn afresh, and with avidity, to the Bible, and are never weary of reading, or listening to, the truths which have been used to arouse their souls. Love for the word of God, with an intense desire to search for its hidden treasures, is always a characteristic of a genuine revival. It is this fact which explains the eagerness of the people in this chapter, on the first day of the seventh month, to hear the reading of the book of the law.

The second and third verses give the general statement, and then in verses 4-8 we have the details of this remarkable assembly. In the first place, Ezra, we are told, "stood upon a pulpit" (or tower) "of wood, which they had made for the purpose;" the object being, as in modern days, that he might be seen and heard by all the congregation. Six stood beside him on his right hand, and seven on his left hand, and the Spirit of God has caused their names to be recorded, for it was a memorable day, and the privilege vouchsafed to them of standing by Ezra was great. In the next place, "Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up." This was no mere form, for the book Ezra opened was the voice of the living God to the people, and they acknowledged it as such by reverently standing. The words it contained had been first spoken by the Lord at Sinai, "out of the midst of the fire," and Israel had trembled before the holy One who spake them, and "intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more;" and all this could not fall to be recalled by those who now stood before Ezra. They therefore stood up, as in the presence of their God; "and Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God;" i.e., he gave thanks, or in praying gave thanks to Jehovah. We find this use of the word bless in the New Testament, especially in connection with the Paschal feast and the Lord's Supper. Thus in Matthew, for example, it is said that "Jesus took bread, and blessed" (Matt. 26: 26), whereas in Luke we read that "He took bread, and gave thanks." (Luke 22: 19.) It is thus clear that "bless," when used in this way, has the significance of thanksgiving. (See also 1 Cor. 14: 16.) It is the more necessary to point this out, and to insist upon it, from the fact that a mass of sacerdotal assumptions is founded upon the perversion of the word "to bless," in the endeavour to prove that the bread and the cup in the Lord's Supper must first receive a priestly blessing, or be consecrated. It is maintained, for example, that when Paul says, "The cup of blessing which we bless," means the cup which we priests bless. The light of Scripture instantly reveals the unholy character of such priestly trifling with the simple teaching of the word of God, whereby saints are shut out from their privileges, and deprived of the place of nearness and blessing into which they have been brought on the ground of redemption. (See John 20: 17; Heb. 10: 19-22, etc.)

At the conclusion of Ezra's prayer, or thanksgiving, "all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground." (v. 6.) It is a striking scene, for the Lord was working on the hearts of His people with power, and hence it was that their very attitude expressed their hallowed reverence.* They stood while Ezra prayed, and then, together with their responses of "Amen, Amen," with uplifted hands, they worshipped with their faces to the ground.

*In a state of spiritual barrenness and declension the people of God, it may often be noticed, assume positions of bodily ease during praise or prayer; but the moment there is the display of the Spirit's power all this is changed, and those who are most under His influence will immediately adopt the posture (either kneeling or standing) which most exhibits what is suited to the presence of God.

All this was preparatory to the work of the day — which was the reading of the law, of which the next two verses give the account. "Also Jeshua, and Bani . . . . and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly" (or with an interpretation), "and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." (vv. 7, 8.) It must be remembered that the people had dwelt long in Babylon, and that many of them, under the influence of their surroundings, had adopted Babylonish habits and ways, and even the Babylonish tongue. The sacred language, the language too of their fathers, had thus fallen into disuse and had in many cases been forgotten. Then there was another source of confusion. Some of the Jews "had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people." (Neh. 13: 23, 24.) It became necessary therefore to cause the people to understand the law, to read it distinctly or with an interpretation, to give the sense, and to cause them to understand the reading. All this is most instructive, and in two ways — First, we learn that assimilation to the world leads to forgetfulness and ignorance of the word of God; and secondly, that the true function of the teacher is to give the sense of the Scriptures, to explain what they mean, and to cause their hearers to understand their import. There will be also the application of the Word to the state and needs of the people, but even in this, as in the case before us, it will be as guided of the Holy Spirit to the suited portions.

The word of God was "quick and powerful" in the hearts of the people, it was sharper than any two-edged sword, and pierced even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and discerned the thoughts and intents of their hearts; for they "wept when they heard the words of the law." But "Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep." (v. 9.) The feast of trumpets was indeed to be "a holy convocation;" and because of its typical significance, sorrow was unsuited to its character. Hence we read, "Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob." (Psalm 81: 1-4.) They were therefore to be joyful on this day in communion with the mind of their God; but joy cannot be contained; it of necessity overflows, and hence they were to communicate it to others. "Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength." (v. 10.) This order is instructive — communion with the heart of God, and then communion with their brethren. The first thing was to have their own hearts filled with the joy of the Lord, then for that joy to well out in blessing to the poor and needy, and thus they would find that the joy of the Lord was their strength.

"So the Levites," we are told, "stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved." The time would soon come for the expression of their sorrow (Neh. 9); but now they were to rejoice according to the thoughts of the heart of God for their future blessing. Truly they had need of self-judgment and contrition; but the point is, that this holy day was not suited for these things, and the Lord would have them rise above their own state and condition, and for the moment find their joy in His joy, and in His joy would be their strength. There are many saints who will understand this: when gathered, for example, around the Lord at His table to commemorate His death, there might be many things calling for sorrow and humiliation as to our condition; but it would be losing sight altogether of the mind of the Lord to confess our sins at such a season. It is the Lord's death we there remember and announce, not ourselves or our failures; and it is only as we have His objects before our souls in our being gathered that we enter into and have communion with His own heart. So was it on this first day of the seventh month; and this will explain the action of Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites in restraining the expression of the people's grief.

The people responded to the exhortations of their leaders, and "went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them" (v. 12); and in this way they celebrated the feast according to the mind of God, if without the trumpets. They were not in a right condition for testimony; and thus the first thing was to get themselves right by the application of the Word.

The following day there was another gathering, composed of "the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites;" these came "unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law." (v. 13.) It is beautiful to notice this increasing desire for the knowledge of the word of God — a sure sign that God was working in their hearts, inasmuch as obedience to it is a necessary expression of the divine life. When thus assembled, they "found written in the law which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month: and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written." (vv. 14, 15.) Then we are told that "the people went forth," etc. But it will be seen from Leviticus 23 that the day appointed for this feast of tabernacles was the fifteenth day of the seventh month, so that a thirteen days' interval must be placed between verses 15 and 16, as it was on the second day of the month that they found the precept as to the feast. (vv. 13, 14.) This interval would be occupied with the proclamation of the coming observance of the festival (v. 15), to give the people "in all their cities" the time required to gather themselves together at Jerusalem. When assembled, they proceed to keep the feast, as enjoined in the law; they fetched the branches from the mount, "and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim" (v. 16); and in the next verse we read, that "since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun, unto that day, had not the children of Israel done so;" that is, not that they had not kept the feast of tabernacles, for they had done this on their return from captivity (Ezra 3), but that they had not complied with the injunction to dwell in booths during the days of the feast. It was the first time since Joshua that they had made themselves, in this manner, booths of pine, myrtle, and palm branches. This is another proof of the energetic action of the Spirit of God at this moment, leading the people to exact obedience to the word of their God. It is thereon added, "And there was very great gladness." Joy indeed was also the significance of this feast — millennial joy; for, after the directions concerning the booths, it is written, "And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days and during this period they were to dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt I am the Lord your God." (Lev. 23: 40-43.)

If the reader will consult Leviticus 23, he will see that the feast of tabernacles completes the cycle of feasts, and therefore sets forth the end and result of all the ways of God with His earthly people, which will be to set them in His grace, now that they have forfeited all under responsibility, in virtue of the work of Christ, in perfect blessing in their own land, "after the harvest and the vintage." Joy throughout the perfect period (seven days) will be therefore the appropriate expression of their sense of Jehovah's goodness and grace. But while "gladness" was to characterize the festival, they were to remember the past — their deliverance from Egypt, and their pilgrim wanderings in the desert — and thus that redemption through the blood of the passover lamb (for that was the foundation of all God's subsequent actings on behalf of His people), and the relationship to God into which they were consequently brought (I am Jehovah your God), was the source of all the blessing and joy on which they had entered. In the case before us, the gladness was but transient, for, in truth, the festival as yet was only prophetic; but, as prophetic, it might have taught them the unchangeable verity of God as to all His promises on their behalf; and wherever it did so, it would enable them to rejoice in anticipation of this joyful time of blessing which was secured to them by the infallible word of their God.*

*It has been often remarked, that while the passover has had its antitype in the cross, and Pentecost in the descent of the Holy Ghost, the feast of tabernacles has had no fulfilment. The reason of this is, as stated above, that it sets forth the end of God's ways with Israel; and this has not yet been reached. Moreover, Christ is now hidden; when the fulfilment of the feast of tabernacles arrives, He will show Himself to the world. (See John 7)

The whole time of the feast seems to have been devoted — "from the first day unto the last day" — to reading "in the book of the law of God." That was the present felt need; "and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly according unto the manner." (See Leviticus 23: 36.) In the early days of Ezra, restoration of the sacrifices marked the observance of this feast; but here the re-establishment of the authority of the law. Both observances were defective, though according to God as far as they went, for in Ezra there were no booths, and in Nehemiah, as it would seem, no sacrifices. This teaches us one of God's ways in all revivals. One forgotten truth is restored and pressed with power upon the hearts and consciences of His people, a truth necessary for their restoration and preservation in the special circumstances of the moment. Thus the efficacy of the sacrifices was brought into prominence in Ezra 3; here the authority of the word of God. The same thing has been seen again and again in the history of the Church. In the remarkable work of the Spirit of God through Luther and others, the truth of justification by faith alone occupied the foremost place; and in another movement, almost within our own days, it was the presence of the Holy Ghost on earth, and the second advent of Christ. God has wrought in such ways, in every age, for His own glory, and for the welfare of His people. But such is the feebleness and folly of the hearts of His people, that they have often turned His mercy towards them into an occasion for self-exaltation. As if unable to retain the truth in its completeness, and missing His mind in the recovery of certain truths, they have often formed themselves into sects for their preservation. There have been but few Epaphrases in the Church who could labour fervently in prayers for the saints that they might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. (See Col. 4: 12.)

The seven days of the feast having been completed, there was "a solemn assembly according to the manner."* It was on this day "the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this," says John, "spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet [given]; because that Jesus was not yet glorified." (John 7: 39.) The time had not come for Jesus to show Himself to the world, as He will do when the feast of tabernacles is fulfilled, but meanwhile, having taken His place on high, He would quench the thirst of every thirsty soul that came to Him, and moreover cause, through the indwelling Spirit, to flow forth from such rivers of living water for the refreshment of those round about them. Another has said, "Observe here that Israel drank water in the wilderness before they could keep the feast of tabernacles. But they only drank. There was no well in them. The water flowed from the rock." The Lord thus would teach the Jews that their feast of tabernacles (see v. 2) was but an empty rite as long as their Messiah had not come, or rather so long as He was rejected. (John 1: 11)†

*For the details of the observance of this day, as indeed for the whole feast, see Numbers 29: 2-39.

†It is a remarkable thing that neither in Ezra nor in Nehemiah, though in both cases they kept the feast of trumpets and the feast of tabernacles, is there any mention of the observance of the day of atonement which fell to be kept on the tenth day of the seventh month; i.e., between the two feasts above named.

NEHEMIAH 9.

THE feast of tabernacles had been observed, and there had been "very great gladness." The last day — the eighth — would fall on the twenty-third day of the month, and thus chapter 9 opens with the day following. Under the searching power of the words of the law the people had wept, but they were told, "This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep." Now, however, that the days of the festival had run their course, the time had come for the expression of their sorrow — that sorrow, according to God, which worketh repentance — and thus it was that, on "the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sack-clothes, and earth upon them." (v. 1.) The entrance of God's word had given them light, and had shown them the character of their past ways, had set even their secret sins in the light of God's countenance; and, smitten in heart and conscience because of their transgression, they were gathered together with all these outward marks of contrition and humiliation. Blessed effect of the word of God, and the beginning of all true recovery and blessing!

And the reality of their sorrow for their sins was proved by their acts: "And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers." There is a reason for the introduction in this place of the word seed. It is to point out that they were a holy people separated unto God, as born of His people Israel who had been redeemed to Himself on the ground of the blood of the Passover Lamb. They were therefore a "holy seed" (Ezra 9: 2; compare 1 John 3: 9), and as such were to maintain their holy character. It was therefore a denial of the place into which they had been brought to "join affinity" with strangers, as well as to break down the barriers which God Himself had set up between them and other peoples. This they now felt, and accordingly they "separated themselves from all strangers." No doubt it was narrowness according to man's thoughts, and in so doing they would surely incur the imputation of uncharitableness; but what did this matter, as long as they were acting according to God? If God sets the feet of His people in a narrow path, it is their part to keep in it if they would be in the path of blessing.

In the next place they "stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers." And remark that separation preceded confession. Shown by the word that they had sinned in associating themselves with strangers, they acted upon what they saw, and then confessed their guilt before God. This is ever God's order. The moment we see that anything we have allowed, or are in association with, is condemned by the word of God, it behoves us to refuse or to separate ourselves from it. No circumstances in such a case can justify delay. Like the Psalmist, we should "make haste and delay not to keep God's commandments." To confess our sin while cleaving to it is but mockery. They also confessed the iniquities of their fathers, and they did so because the Lord's hand had been upon them on this very account. It was owing to the sins of their fathers that they had suffered captivity in Babylon, and that they now, though restored through the tender mercy of God to their own land, were in bondage to a Gentile monarch. Hence they went down to the root of all the evil, and told out before God their fathers' sins as well as their own. Their humiliation, therefore, on this day was no mere superficial work; but standing before Jehovah, in the light of His presence, they desired to lay bare all the sin and the iniquity on account of which they had suffered chastisement.

In verse 3 we have the details of their occupation in this solemn assembly: "They stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one fourth part of the day; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the Lord their God." The Jewish day was composed of four periods of three hours, commencing at six in the morning. They therefore read the Scriptures three hours, and confessed and worshipped three hours. And in what more blessed occupation could they be engaged? Surely they were divinely taught and divinely led in this matter; and by the very fact of its having been recorded, are we not shown the true method of recovery and restoration in seasons of declension or backsliding? Would that the Lord's people everywhere knew how to gather themselves together in a similar manner, seeking grace to separate themselves from all known iniquity, to confess their sins, to search the Word for light and guidance, and to humble themselves before God! Complaints of coldness and indifference, of insensibility to our real condition, are heard on every hand; and together with this, signs of abounding iniquity, through the power of Satan, are everywhere apparent. Behold, then, in the example of these children of the captivity, the divine remedy, the true way of a real revival. There may be in some places but two or three who feel the present evils; but let these two or three get together to test themselves, and all else, by the Word, and to confess their sins and the sins of their fathers and brethren, and they would soon rejoice in God's interposition and deliverance. Our want of power in this direction is but an evidence of the greatness of our failure; and even if we did but confess our want of power to pray, it would be the dawning of hope in many an assembly. May the Lord stir up the consciences of His beloved people, and may He grant that ere long there may be witnessed in many a place the spectacle of His saints assembling in true contrition of heart, and trembling at the word of God, for humiliation and confession before Him.

The remainder of the chapter (vv. 4-38) contains the confession, or at least a portion of it, made on behalf of the people. First, the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, etc., "stood up upon the stairs . . . and cried with a loud voice unto the Lord their God. Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel," etc., said to the people, "Stand up, and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever;" and then, turning from the people to God, they commenced their praise and confession. The reader will remark, that this outpouring of their hearts before God is a recitation of God's ways of grace with His people, combined with the confession of their own continual sin and hardness of heart. On God's part there had been nothing but grace, mercy, and long-suffering, and on their part nothing but sinful ingratitude and rebellion; and thus they justified Him, and condemned themselves — the sure mark of a work of grace in repentance, whether in the hearts of saints or sinners. It will be instructive to examine this remarkable prayer.

They ascribe, first of all, blessing and praise to the glorious name of their God, and, at the same time, acknowledge that He was exalted above it all. They own His absolute supremacy. (v. 5.) In the next place, they adore Him as the Creator; not merely recognizing the creatorship of God, but that JEHOVAH was the CREATOR. "Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven," etc. (v. 6.) The difference is important. There are many, for example, who, willing to own that God was the Creator, would hesitate to confess of the Lord Jesus Christ, that "all things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made." The natural man might acknowledge the former; but only a true believer could own the latter. They then pass on to God's action in grace in calling out Abram, and in making "a covenant with him, to give the land of the Canaanites," etc.; and they add, "Thou hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous." (vv. 7, 8.) What a resting-place they had found for their souls, even in the faithfulness and righteousness of their God! They had learnt that if they believed not, "He abode faithful: He could not deny Himself." (2 Tim. 2: 13.) Peter in his second epistle celebrates the same thing, writing "to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." (Chap. 1: 1.) There is nothing that a sinner fears more than the righteousness of God, but for the saint it is the immutable foundation on which his soul reposes in perfect peace now that, through the death and resurrection of Christ, grace reigns through righteousness; and hence it is that he can rejoice also in the faithfulness of God knowing that what He has promised He will also perform. This utterance — "Thou hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous" — is therefore most significant. (Cp. Deut. 26: 3.)

Redemption is their next theme. (vv. 9-11) And observe how it is traced down from the heart of God. For where do they commence? It is, "Thou didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt." These are almost the very words that God Himself employed when He first commissioned Moses. "I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt." (Exodus 3: 7.) They thus reached the source whence the blessed streams of grace had flowed; and they proceed, after adding, "and heardest their cry by the Red Sea" — another manifestation of the heart of God — to narrate His wonder-working power in judgment "upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land; for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day." (v. 10.) They then speak of the passage through the Red Sea, where God "threw" their persecutors "into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters." They thus recall their redemption by power out of the land of Egypt, and thereon speak of the cloudy pillar, and the pillar of fire wherewith Jehovah had led them through the wilderness; for, in truth, He who had redeemed His people out of the hand of Pharaoh, led them forth in His mercy, and guided them in His strength unto His holy habitation. (See Exodus 15: 13.) Next, they recite before the Lord His coming down upon Sinai, the giving of the law, His holy sabbath, the precepts, statutes, and laws which He commanded them by the hand of Moses; and they remind themselves of the bread from heaven which He gave them for their hunger, of the water which He brought forth out of the rock for their thirst, and of the land which He had promised them for a possession (vv. 13-15.)

So far, it is a tale of grace — of a giving God. He had chosen Abraham, redeemed His people, guided, spoken to, and sustained them. All had been given from the heart of God — in His own pure and sovereign grace. They turn, in the next place, to their side of the picture. And what a contrast, as it ever is, when the heart of man is put side by side with the heart of God! What then had they to tell of themselves in the presence of all this mercy and grace? Not one single good thing; for they say, "But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks," etc. (vv. 16, 17.) They confessed, in a word, pride, stubbornness, wilful disobedience, forgetfulness of the displays of God's power in their midst, and apostasy. On God's side there had been mercy, long-suffering, and tender care; and on theirs, ingratitude, and almost every form of evil and corruption.

And yet they have more to tell of the inexhaustible goodness of the God who had redeemed them, borne them on eagles' wings, and brought them unto Himself. "But thou," they say, "art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not;" and, moreover, they have further to say, as they magnify the grace of their God, that though their fathers had made a molten calf as their god, ascribing even to it their deliverance from Egypt, "and had wrought great provocations; yet thou, in thy manifold mercies, forsookest them not in the wilderness." No; God had still guided them by His pillar of cloud by day, and His pillar of fire by night. He gave them His good Spirit, withheld not His manna, nor the water out of the rock; but for forty years He sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; "their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not." Moreover, He subdued kingdoms before them, multiplied their children, put them into the land which He had promised to their fathers, gave them victory over all the power of the enemy, and enabled them to take strong cities and a fat land, to possess "houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness." (vv. 19-25.) They celebrate in this manner the unchanging goodness of their faithful God, and measure by it the conduct of their fathers and themselves. For what response did they render to all this grace? "Nevertheless," they say, "they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets, which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations." (v. 26.) The reader will remark the repetition of this last clause. "They had wrought great provocations" both in the wilderness (v. 18) and in the land.

This was what God found in the people He had redeemed as the answer to all His patient grace and goodness; and henceforward a change is marked in God's dealings with them, for they next proceed to narrate His judgments upon His people, yet confessing that He was ever ready to interpose for their succour and deliverance. "Thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies." Again, they tell of sin; and evil. "Yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies." (vv. 27, 28.) To these interpositions in grace in answer to His people's cry, were added testimony against them, forbearance and warnings by prophets, "yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments . . . and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck. and would not hear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands." (vv. 29, 30.)

Such were the causes of their present condition; but they add to the praise of their God: "Nevertheless for thy great mercies' sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God." Again we say, What a tale! It is, as before said, the revelation of the heart of God and of the heart of man; but, alas! it is the revelation of the heart of man under divine culture, the object of sovereign mercy and love. Jehovah had been seeking fruit from His fig-tree all these centuries, and by His own people's confession He found none; and yet, with unwearying grace, He had borne with them in His infinite long-suffering and patience; and the age to come will tell out even more fully the depths of His mercy towards His beloved people, when, spite of all that they have been and are, and notwithstanding they have forfeited all by their sin and apostasy, He will restore them once again to their land, and maintain them in it in the perfection of blessing under the reign of their Messiah. Such are the counsels of His grace already disclosed in and through the death of Christ — counsels which Christ Himself will accomplish in power when He appears in glory, to take the kingdom of His father David, and to wield His sceptre from the river to the ends of the earth.

Having passed in review the history of God's ways with them since the call of Abram, they now present their prayer. Indeed their rehearsal of the past may be said to be the foundation of their special petition, for they have grounded themselves upon the immutable character of their God, as "gracious and merciful," according to the revelation He had made of Himself after the sin of the golden calf. (See Exodus 34: 6.) They had owned that they deserved nothing but judgment, and had therefore confessed that they had no hope but in God Himself. They had thus reached an immovable foundation on which to rest their plea — the heart of their God.

And what was their petition? They say, "Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings . . . . and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day." (v. 32.) Such was their prayer. It was the presentation of their own sorrowful condition under the chastising hand of their God, leaving it, as it were, to Him (for they knew that they deserved nothing but judgment) to deal with them according to His own character as "a gracious and merciful God." For they proceed to say, "Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly." (v. 33.) And again, in their utter abasement before God at this moment, they confess the sins of their kings, their princes, their priests, and their fathers, owning that they had not kept the law, that they had not hearkened unto H's commandments and His testimonies, and that, even in the kingdom which He had given them, as well as the large and fat land, they had not served Him, nor turned from their wicked works. (v. 35.) They describe, furthermore, their present position in the land; and surely, in contrast with the past, it is a touching picture, and one, as delineated by the Holy Spirit, that could not fall to awaken a response in the heart of Him to whom it was presented. They are servants, they say, and instead of eating the fruit and the good of the land which God had given their fathers, they were servants in it, and its increase went to the kings, whom God had set over them because of their sins, and these also had dominion over their bodies and their cattle "at their pleasure, and we are in great distress."

Such is the way in which these children of the captivity poured out their sorrows before Jehovah. They justify God in all His dealings with them, and they magnify His grace, mercy, and long-suffering towards them. They take also the place of true self-judgment, for they vindicate God against themselves, not seeking in any one thing to extenuate their own conduct. No, He was just in all that was brought upon them: He had done right, and they had done wickedly. In such a place — a place which it ever behoves sinners, and saints, too, when they have sinned to take — and in such a dispensation their only refuge was in the mercy of their God. And it was upon this that they cast themselves — unreservedly cast themselves — admitting again and again that they had no claim except indeed upon what God was towards them. And well would it have been if they had left themselves there, if they had rested alone upon their merciful and gracious God. But they went further, and they say, "Because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it." (v. 38.) The question, however, of the covenant which they made belongs really to the next chapter; for it is there we find its terms, and what the people with their leaders solemnly engaged to perform.

NEHEMIAH 10.

AT the close of the last chapter a covenant is made, and at the commencement of this the names are given of those that sealed it; that is, of those who bound themselves to its observance by their signatures, but subscribing their names, it would seem, not only for themselves, but also on behalf of the people. Nehemiah, as the governor, was the first to put his name to this solemn document; he was followed by twenty-two priests (vv. 1-8), then came seventeen Levites (vv. 9-13), after whom there were forty-four chiefs of the people, probably heads of families.

The nature of the covenant is seen in what follows: "And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding; they clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our God, and His judgments and His statutes." (vv. 28, 29.) There can be no doubt that there was a general movement in the hearts of the people, and that this covenant-making was no mere formal act; for while the "nobles" had signed it. on behalf of all, there was an evident concurrence in their deed from the fact of all classes coming spontaneously forth to ratify what was done. Even the wives and children, at least those who had knowledge and understanding, participated in the act and deed.

And what was it, let us enquire more particularly, that they engaged to do? The very thing that Israel had undertaken when standing before Sinai, where, under the sanction of the sprinkled blood, they solemnly said, "All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient." (Exodus 24) Up to that time, since their redemption from the land of Egypt, they had been under grace. God had borne them on eagles' wings, and brought them unto Himself. Grace had set them free; they were to stand still and see the salvation of God; and grace had sustained, provided for, borne with, and guided them, until that moment. But when they came to Sinai, to bring out what was in their heart, the Lord sent, through Moses, this message to His people, "If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people." (Exodus 19: 3-5.) They accepted the proposed condition, with the penalty of death, as proclaimed by the sprinkled blood, attached to transgression (Exodus 19, 24); and henceforward they were on a new footing and relationship with God. Already they were God's people by redemption; and now, in utter forgetfulness of the history of the three months which had elapsed since they crossed the Red Sea, of their continual sins, they expressed themselves ready to abandon the ground of grace, and to accept that of responsibility. They had sinned at Marah, in the wilderness of Sin, and at Rephidim; and God had borne with them in long-suffering mercy, according to the ground on which He had set them, meeting their murmurings with new displays of His grace, and ever bestrewing their path with fresh blessings. What folly then to enter into the covenant of law which was proposed to them at Sinai! Had they known themselves, had they understood the past, had they but reflected, they would have said, "Thou in thy mercy, Lord, hast led forth thy redeemed people, thou hast hitherto undertaken all for us, while we have been continually guilty of sin and hardness of heart. We are thine, and thou must keep us; for if we are left to ourselves, or if anything is made dependent on us and on our doings, we shall lose everything. No, Lord, we are debtors wholly to thy grace, and to thy grace we must be debtors still." But in their ignorance of their own hearts, in the folly of the flesh, they accepted the covenant with all its solemn sanctions and penalties. And what happened? Before even the tables of the law had reached the camp, they had apostatized from Jehovah, and had made the golden calf, before which they fell down, saying, "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." (Exodus 32: 1-4.) Thus having received all under grace, they forfeited everything under responsibility.

Take yet another example. After the reign of wicked Manasseh, who filled Jerusalem with innocent blood "from one end to another," and who "seduced the people to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel," Josiah succeeded to the throne. He was characterized by obedience to the Word, and, in his desire to reclaim the people from their evil ways, he "made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant." (2 Kings 23: 3.) But even while with their lips they "stood to the covenant," they did it "in falsehood" (Jer. 3: 10, margin), and soon even outwardly were worse than ever.

These examples will enable us to estimate the value of the covenant which Nehemiah, with the people, made at this time. They were not ignorant of the past (Neh. 9: 13, 14), and they had confessed the former transgressions of their people; and yet they now make another covenant, blinded by the enthusiasm of the moment to the fact that as their fathers were, so were they, that there was no more probability of their observing these solemn engagements than in the case of their ancestors. And yet they were doubtlessly sincere, fully purposing to be faithful to the obligations they were undertaking. There are few indeed who cannot understand this transaction, for the flesh is naturally legal, and it seems an easy method of providing against failure to make a covenant. God's people have often resorted to this expedient, only to discover their own utter impotence; and thus they have been, in many cases, taught to look to Another for the power they needed instead of to themselves. It is easy to pass condemnation, whether upon Nehemiah or others, but it is better to learn from their example, for it is a necessary stage in the history of souls; and blessed are they who, whether by this or any other process, have come to the end of themselves, have ceased to expect anything from their own promises or efforts and have learned that in their flesh there dwelleth no good thing, and that while to will is present with them, how to perform that which is good they find not.

There were three main articles in the covenant to which they bound themselves by a curse and an oath. First, they engaged to keep the whole law as given to their fathers at Sinai, as well as all the Lord's commandments, judgments, and statutes. Secondly, they declare that they would contract no more marriages with the heathen; and, lastly, that the sabbath, the holy days, and the seventh year (see Deut. 15), with its accompanying conditions, should be faithfully observed. (See Exodus 21, 23, etc.) In addition to this, they made obligatory ordinances to secure provision for the service of the house of God, for the sacrifices, and for all that appertained to their religious observances. Though in weakness, and in bondage to the Gentiles, they desired to order everything connected with Jehovah and His claims according to what had been enjoined upon them in the law of Moses. Every one was, in the first place, to contribute the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of God. As far as can be discovered from the Scriptures, there was no legal precedent for this voluntary assessment. In connection with the erection of the Tabernacle it was ordained that whenever the children of Israel should be numbered, "every one that passeth among them that are numbered" should give half a shekel, "to make an atonement for your souls;" and this money was to be appointed "for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls." (Exodus 30: 11-16.) This no doubt suggested the annual contribution before us, lessened probably to a third of a shekel on account of their poverty. (Neh. 9: 32.) In after years it was raised to half a shekel, and became a tax upon every Jew. It was concerning this that the collectors asked Peter, "Doth not your Master pay tribute?" (Matt. 17: 24-27.)

It is beautiful, whatever the after failure, to see the hearts of these poor returned captives flow out in love to the house of their God, that He might be honoured, and that they might have their standing before Him through His own ordinances in the sanctuary. Thus the money contributed was to be expended in the provision for the continual showbread which, composed as it was of twelve loaves, represented the twelve tribes of Israel in association with Christ and before God — God Himself revealed in Christ in association with Israel in the perfection of governmental administration.* From this fund was to be defrayed also the cost of the continual meat-offering, the continual burnt-offering in their appointed seasons, "and for the sin-offerings, to make an atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God." (v. 33.) Every kind of offering — representing Christ in the devotedness of His life, His perfect humanity, Christ in His devotedness unto death for the glory of God, and Christ as the sin-bearer — was to be provided and offered for Israel. The children of the captivity were but few, but they were on the ground of the whole nation before God, and hence they included in their thoughts the whole of Israel, and they showed by caring for the sacrifices that it was only in and by the efficacy of these that this ground could be secured and maintained. This is evidence of divine intelligence, revealing a true appreciation of Jehovah's claims as well as of the only possible ground on which they themselves could stand before Him.

*See, for a detailed exposition of the Table of showbread The Typical Teachings of Exodus.

They proceeded, in the next place, to "cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood-offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law." (v. 34.) It was necessary that this provision should be made, for the fire on the altar was never to go out. (See Leviticus 6: 8-13.) On this account they selected priests to attend to the altar, Levites to wait upon the priests in this service, and some of the people to bring the needful supplies of wood for the holy fire. All was to be duly ordered and cared for, "as it is written in the law." They had begun to understand that God's thoughts must govern in God's things. The firstfruits of their ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, were also to be annually brought to the Lord's house. They desired therefore, in accordance with the precepts of the law, to honour the Lord with their substance and with the firstfruits of all their increase, in recognition of Him from whom the increase of the field proceeded, and to whom all belonged. They could not enter, as we can, into the blessed typical teaching of the firstfruits; but Christ as the firstfruits (1 Cor. 15: 23) was before the eye of God, and invested the offerings of His people with all His value and preciousness. (Lev. 23: 9-21; see also James 1: 18.)

They promised, furthermore, to bring the firstborn of their sons, of their cattle, of their herds and flocks to the house of their God, unto the priests that minister in the house of their God. (See Exodus 13, and Luke 2: 22-24.) In this they acknowledged themselves as a redeemed people; for when "the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast," He commanded His people to sacrifice to Him "all that openeth the matrix being males," but gave permission to redeem the firstborn of their children. We thus read, "All the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself." (Num. 8: 17.) The restored remnant reverted to this ordinance in the grateful recollection that they had been brought up out of the land of Egypt, and in recognition of what was due to Jehovah their Redeemer.

The last three verses concern the firstfruits and the tithes. The Levites were given unto Aaron, in the place of the firstborn, to be offered "before the Lord for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the Lord." (Num. 8: 11) All the work of the house of God, except the strictly priestly duties, devolved upon them and provision was made for their support in the tithes imposed upon the people. Both the priests and the Levites were to be sustained by the offerings of the people — the character of which had all been duly prescribed. (See Num. 18) All this is now remembered, and the people, in their zeal for the restoration of the law, charge themselves with the observance of their responsibilities in this matter that the service of the house of their God might be duly established. The firstfruits for the priests, as well as the tithes for the Levites, were to be stored in the chambers of the house. (1 Chr. 9: 26-33.)

It will thus be perceived that the covenant, embracing in its terms all that the people on this day engaged to do, included what was due to God and to His house. They put themselves under the solemn obligation to meet all God's claims upon them personally, to maintain a holy separation from the nations around, to keep the sabbath — the sign of God's covenant with them, etc.; and in addition to this, they undertook the burden of caring for all that appertained to the establishment and support of the service of the Lord's house. They concluded the latter part of the covenant therefore with the words, "And we will not forsake the house of our God." Nor can we doubt the sincerity of their intentions. Assembled together, they were for the time one in heart and aim, and their common desire and purpose found expression in this covenant. But it is one thing, as all know, to vow, and another to perform. When wrought upon by some mighty influence, which isolates us from everything but the one thing then presented to our souls, it is easy to bind ourselves to pursue that one object for ever. The influence passes away, and, while the object which had been before us seems as desirable as ever, the impulse to its attainment is no longer felt. Together with this loss of power, the flesh reasserts itself, and finally the "covenant" which, at the time we made it, seemed so easy to keep, becomes impossible, and adds another burden to an already bad conscience. All this the Jews will discover in time. Meanwhile they sketched a beautiful covenant which, if duly observed, would produce a perfect state, and they added an attractive resolution not to forsake the house of their God.

NEHEMIAH 11.

BEFORE entering upon this chapter, it may be helpful to the reader to point out the structure of the book. Up to Nehemiah 7: 5, we have Nehemiah's personal narrative, from the time he first heard of the affliction and reproach of the remnant in Judea, and of the desolate condition of Jerusalem, until the completion of the building of the wall, etc. The remainder of Nehemiah 7 contains "the register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first." The portion included in Nehemiah 8 - 10 gives the reading of the law by Ezra, and the effect of it as seen in the confession of sins, and the making a covenant to keep the law and all the observances of the house of God; and this part of the book, if written by Nehemiah, is not written in the first person singular, as in the former part; but it is "we" did this or that. (See Nehemiah 10: 30, 32, 34, etc.) Coming now to Nehemiah 11 we find an account of how the people were distributed, both in Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, with their genealogies; followed in Nehemiah 12: 1-26 by a list of the priests that went up with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and also of the Levites who were recorded chief of the fathers at certain periods. In Nehemiah 12: 27-43 we have the dedication of the wall, and the chapter closes with the appointment of some "over the chambers for the treasures," and with an account of the duties and maintenance of the singers and porters. The last chapter (Nehemiah 13) is taken up with a description of the abuses Nehemiah found on his return to Jerusalem, after a visit to the king at Babylon, and of the vigorous efforts he made for their correction, and this chapter, as well as the ceremony of the dedication of the wall, is written by Nehemiah himself, as it is an account of what he himself saw and did.

Returning again to chapter 11, the first two verses, it will be observed, are distinct — - complete in themselves. "The rulers of the people dwelt in Jerusalem." "The city," we have before been told, "was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded." (Neh. 7: 4.) In truth it was at this time little else than a desolate heap of ruins; and for the people at large, therefore, there was no means of subsistence. But as it had ever been the seat of authority, and still "the holy city," the rulers, who would also be men of substance, would naturally fix their abode within its sacred walls; for if they were men of faith, they would view it, not as it actually existed before their eyes, but as it would be in a future day — as "the city of the great King" — and as such "the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth." Still there was need for people as well as for rulers; and thus "the rest of the people also cast lots to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine parts to dwell in other cities." Besides these there were others "that willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem," and of these, it is said, "the people blessed" them. Those on whom the lot fell went of necessity; but those who willingly offered themselves were moved by their own choice and affection. This spontaneous offering of themselves could only spring from love to the place which God had desired and chosen for His habitation, and was therefore evidence that they had in some measure entered into the mind and heart of God. "They shall prosper," says the Psalmist, "that love thee" — Jerusalem — because indeed it showed a heart in communion with the heart of God. So with these men who offered themselves; for it was as precious to Jehovah, albeit He had sent Nebuchadnezzar to level it to the ground, in the day of its desolations as in that of its prosperity and splendour. It was as true in the time of Nehemiah as in that of Solomon, that "the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob," and hence it must have been acceptable to Jehovah Himself when these men expressed their desire to dwell at Jerusalem. The people seem to have understood this, for they blessed those who thus came forward. If they had not the energy to do the same thing, they could not help admiring those who had; and, comprehending the privilege they would enjoy, they were constrained to bless them. They might have remembered the words of one of their own psalms — "Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways. . . . Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." (Psalm 84: 5-7.) How often is it seen, even now, that there are believers who can admire the blessedness of devotedness to Christ and His interests without having the heart or courage to pursue the same path for themselves!

In the next place, we have a description of the distribution of the people. (See also 1 Chr. 9: 2-16.) In Jerusalem there were, besides priests and Levites, children of Judah and children of Benjamin (vv. 4, 10, etc.); while in the cities there were "Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nethinims, and the children of Solomon's servants."* We may briefly glance at the details. Of Judah there were in the holy city "four hundred threescore and eight valiant men" — all "sons of Perez" or Pharez; i.e., they are traced back to the son of Judah, as evidence that they could show their genealogy. Of Benjamin there were nine hundred and twenty-eight. Of these "Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer: and Judah the son of Senuah was second over the city." We find here abundant confirmation of the fact that, apart from the priests and Levites, only the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, or representatives of these, were brought back from Babylon. That there might have been individual members of other tribes, such, for example, as Anna, who was "of the tribe of Aser" (Luke 2: 36), in no wise affects this statement. As tribes, Judah and Benjamin only were restored; and thus the remaining ten tribes are "lost" to this day, hidden, in the ways of God, among the peoples of the earth; but the time is fast approaching, though it may be not until after the appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, when they will be brought out of their hiding-place, and set in security and blessing in their own land under the peaceful sway of their glorious Messiah. (See Jeremiah 29: 14, 31; Ezekiel 20: 33-44.)

*See for an explanation of the last two classes our remarks on Ezra 2.

Attention may also be directed to the care with which the genealogy of the people is stated. This, indeed, is of all-importance to the saints of God, and especially to God's ancient people. For seventy years they had been in Babylon, and knowing ourselves the influence of such a scene, it had been no wonder if they had settled down in the country to which they had been exiled, if, in the pursuits and occupations of their daily lives, they, or at least their children born in Babylon, had forgotten the land of their birth, and ceased to remember Jerusalem above their chief joy, and had lost their nationality by commingling with the Gentiles. The record of their genealogy shows that they had not done so, that they had continued to prize their descent from Abraham as their chiefest heritage, because it had put them among a people favoured of Jehovah, and in the midst of whom He Himself had dwelt. These, therefore, were not like Esau, who despised his birthright; but they clung to it, amid all their tribulation and reproach, as their divinely given title to all their national expectations and hopes. It is a great thing for saints at any time to preserve the record of their genealogy. The Jew did it by guarding the written testimony to his descent; the Christian can only do so by walking in obedience, in the power of an ungrieved Spirit, who alone can enable us to cry "Abba, Father," and who Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Moreover, the presentation of their title was a necessity (see Ezra 2: 59, 62) for the admission of their claim to dwell in the holy city; and as in Ezra so here (and we would emphasize the fact), the responsibility of producing the title rested on those who made the claim. It is well to remember this in a day of profession, when all alike, on the ground of that profession, assert their rights to the most blessed privileges of Christianity, and look upon it as a proof of narrowness and lack of charity, if their demands are not instantly recognized. Many such may be really the children of God; only let it be remembered that on them lies the burden of proving it, and that proving it is an indispensable condition of its acknowledgement.

From verse 10 to verse 14, we have the account of the priests, the genealogy of the chief of whom is also carefully stated. Altogether they numbered eleven hundred and fifty-two. Of these Seraiah was "the ruler of the house of God," while no less than eight hundred and twenty-two were occupied in the work of the house. This was a blessed privilege, whether for the former or the latter, whatever the responsibilities connected with the respective offices which had been assigned to them in the grace of God. There are "rulers" of the house of God still; but none can rightly fill the post unless they are possessors of the necessary qualifications. (See, for example, 1 Tim. 3: 1-7.) All may now assist in doing the work of the house, if they are living according to their priestly place in the holiest; for the work in this case was that which belonged to them as priests, and only those who are filling their priestly office can rightly be engaged in priestly service.*

*The reader may study in connection with this subject Rom. 12: 1, Rom. 15: 16 (reading, for "ministering the gospel," "carrying it on as a sacrificial service"); Heb. 13: 15, 16; 1 Peter 2: 5-9, etc.

The Levites follow the priests (vv. 15-18); but altogether they only numbered two hundred fourscore and four. Among these were some who "had the oversight of the outward business of the house of God." Only the priests could minister at the altar, or in the holy places; still the Levites had a blessed place of service. They were originally given to Aaron (Christ) for the service of the tabernacle (Num. 3), for all the work of the house of God outside of the priestly office. At the present time believers are both priests and Levites; for when they are in the holiest offering through Christ the sacrifice of praise to God, or when they "do good" and "communicate," they are acting as priests (Heb. 13: 15, 16), and when occupied for the Lord in other kinds of service they exhibit rather the Levitical character. There is indeed the same distinction in the Church of God: bishops — i.e., those who answer to these as described in the epistles (1 Tim. 3; Titus i.) — are rulers in the house of God, corresponding with Seraiah (v. 11); while deacons (see Acts 6, etc.) are like these Levites, engaged in the "outward business" of the assembly. Then one is specially mentioned, though others were associated with him, who was "the principal to begin the thanksgiving in prayer." There is nothing like this in the service of the Levites in the wilderness, for indeed the wilderness was not a place of song or praise; but this office dates from the time of David, who "appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel." Thereon we read that "on that day David delivered first this psalm, to thank the Lord, into the hand of Asaph and his brethren." (1 Chr. 16: 4-7; also 1 Chr. 25: 1-7.) This will explain why Mattaniah's (v. 17) genealogy is traced back to Asaph, and is at the same time evidence of the care exercised to restore the service of praise "after the ordinance of David king of Israel." (Ezra 3: 10, and Neh. 12: 24.) All this was in harmony with the dispensation Which then obtained; but now that the hour has come when the true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth (John 4: 23), only such as are led of the Holy Spirit can "begin the thanksgiving in prayer." (Eph. 5: 18, 19.)

Besides the Levites, there are mentioned "the porters, and their brethren that kept the gates," numbering an hundred and seventy-two, and the singers of the sons of Asaph that were "over the business of the house of God." (vv. 19-21) Parenthetically it is noted that "the residue of Israel, of the priests and Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, every one in his inheritance. But the Nethinims dwelt in Ophel: and Ziha and Gispa were over the Nethinims." (vv. 20, 21.) Without going into particulars, it may be pointed out that all these details are given to show how complete for the moment was the restoration of divine order in the holy things of Jehovah's house amongst these children of the captivity. Man's will had wrought long enough, and now, once more back in the land of their fathers, the land of promise and hope, their one desire is that Jehovah alone should govern — that everything should be in accordance with His word. But in the midst of this beautiful revival, there are remembrances of their sad condition in contrast with the past. Gentile authority is noticed even in connection with the house of God. Thus, after the introduction of the singers of the sons of Asaph, who were over the business of the house of God, it is added, "For it was the king's commandment concerning them, that a certain portion should be for the singers, due for every day. And Pethahiah the son of Meshezabeel, of the children of Zerah, the son of Judah, was at the king's hand in all matters concerning the people." (vv. 23, 24.)

It was sad beyond all expression that the singers in the temple of the Lord should be dependent for support upon a Gentile monarch. They were Levites, and it was intended that they should be sustained by the willing-hearted contributions of the people (see Deut. 12: 11, 12; Deut. 26: 12, 13), forasmuch as they had no part or inheritance with their brethren of the children of Israel. But the people who had returned from Babylon were few in number; they themselves with their cattle were subject to the pleasure of alien rulers; they were servants in the land God had given to their fathers, and altogether were in great distress. (Neh. 9: 36, 37.) It was not possible for them therefore to provide for these singers;* and while God in His mercy had given them some reviving in the midst of their bondage, He would have them remember that their present condition was the fruit of their past ways, and that, since it was through the chastenings of His hand that they were subjected to Gentile authority, it was a part of their obedience to His will that it should be acknowledged. Alas! the sentence of Lo-ammi had been written upon them (Hosea 1: 9), though God, being what He was, could not but abide faithful to the covenant which He had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Hence He still loved and watched over the people, for His gifts and calling are without repentance; but having, on account of their manifold transgressions, transferred His earthly sovereignty to the Gentiles, the people must render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.

*See, however, Neh. 10: 37 and Neh. 12: 44-47. Still the remarks above must stand, as the king's commandment is distinctly referred to. Probably the people failed in this as in all else.

It was the position of the people, restored by God's mercy, with the permission of the Gentile authority, and still subject, that rendered it necessary for the king to be acquainted with all the matters that concerned them; and Pethahiah was at his hand to give the required information — the representative, as it were, of his people. It is a shadow, however feeble, of Him who is at the right hand of God, gone into heaven to appear in the presence of God for us. How blessed for us to remember that there is One at the right hand of God in all matters concerning the people He has redeemed! One who has undertaken everything for us; and who is able to save us through all the difficulties and perils of the wilderness, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for us.

The rest of the chapter comprises a statement of the location of the children of Judah in the different cities and villages, and also of the children of Benjamin. The former dwelt from Beer-sheba unto the valley of Hinnom (v. 30); the latter in the several places named; and of the Levites were divisions in Judah and in Benjamin. These notices, of little significance to us, will doubtless be consulted with intense interest by the Jews of a later day.

NEHEMIAH 12, NEHEMIAH 13: 1-3.

THIS chapter is divided into two parts: the first, reaching down to verse 26, dealing with genealogical matters; the second, extending to verse 3 of chap. 13, containing the account of the dedication of the wall, together with certain reformations that seem either to have been connected with or to have followed upon it.

The chapter commences with the names of the priests and Levites that went up with Zerubbabel and Jeshua; i.e., (the reader will remember) those who went up in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia. (See Ezra 1, 2) The names only of "the chief of the priests, and of their brethren," in the days of Jeshua, are given. Next we find the chief of the Levites, with Mattaniah, who was over the thanksgiving, he and his brethren; also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brethren who were over against them in their watches. (vv. 8, 9.)

It is worthy of note, in passing, what a prominent place praise and thanksgiving occupied in the Jewish ritual. The Psalms abundantly testify to this — many of which are filled with notes of adoration, and some commencing and closing with Hallelujah — "Praise ye the Lord." (See Psalms 148 - 150) The believer is enjoined in everything to give thanks; and yet it is a question whether praise (which can only be known in its full and blessed character in redemption) marks the assemblies of the saints as distinctly as it should. Not that it is to be supposed, even for a moment, that the notes of praise can be raised by any sense of obligation: they can only indeed spring from hearts made "merry" by the enjoyment of redeeming love in the power of the Holy Ghost.

In verses 12-21 the names of the chief of the fathers (priests) in the days of Joiakim are recorded. Joiakim was the son of Jeshua. (v. 10.) Then in verse 22, we have the statement that "the Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, were recorded chief of the fathers: also the priests, to the reign of Darius the Persian." Comparing this with verses 10, 11, we find that this goes five generations down from Jeshua; that, in other words, the above names are the high-priestly line of descent to the fifth generation from Jeshua. "The sons of Levi, the chief of the fathers, were written in the book of the chronicles, even until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib;" i.e., only so far as the great-grandson of Jeshua. Then the offices of some of the Levites are specified; namely, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David, the man of God, ward over against ward, others being "porters keeping the ward at the thresholds of the gates." (vv. 24, 25.) The names of some of these correspond with some mentioned in verses 8, 9, the reason of this being given in the next verse: "These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe." It would seem as if God had a special delight in those who were occupied in the service of His house in this time of sorrow, when it required more faith and more spiritual energy to be devoted to the interests of His people. He has caused these names to be recorded — recorded, no doubt, mainly for Israel, yet containing lessons for us whose lot is cast in similar times. True that there was failure, very sad failure, with some here named, but in the eye of God, while He is never insensible to the failure of His people, they were robed with the beauty which He in His own grace had put upon them; and in the preservation of their names, He would remember nothing but the fact of their service amidst His people in this sorrowful period of their low estate.

Passing now to the second part of the chapter, we have the dedication of the wall. From the place it occupies, it will be at once seen that the subjects of the latter part of the book are given in their moral rather than in their historical connection. It has already been pointed out that from Neh. 7 onwards to Neh. 12: 31, Nehemiah, if he is the writer, no longer describes his own actions. In this portion it is "we" or "they," not "I." It might seem therefore that the dedication of the wall belongs historically to the first section of the book — to Nehemiah 6, wherein we find the account of the completion of the building of the wall. But when the order of the intervening chapters is considered — the restoration of the authority of the law, the confession of the sins of the people, and of their fathers, the covenant made to walk according to the law, and to make provision for the services of the temple, etc.; the distribution of the people in Jerusalem and around, the ordering of all the affairs of the house of God under priests and Levites, according to the commandment of David the man of God — it will be perceived that morally it is inserted in its only fitting place. Taking all these things together indeed, we have the pattern of all divine reformation. The commencement was made with the people themselves; then they proceeded to God's house, and finally to the walls of the city. They worked from within to without; thus, beginning from themselves, they worked outward to the circumference of their responsibility. And such is ever the true method, even as Paul writes, "Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Rom. 12: 2.) We shall find this order also illustrated in the procedure connected with the dedication itself.

First of all, the Levites were sought "out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps." The "sons of the singers" were also collected from their different places of abode (for they "had builded them villages round about Jerusalem") to aid in the observances of this eventful day. (vv. 27-29.) Next we read, "And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and purified the people, and the gates and the wall." (v. 30.) Here again is the order (and it is most instructive) to which reference has been made and we may also learn that unless we have "purified" ourselves, it is vain for us to attempt to "purify" others. This truth is everywhere affirmed in Scripture. For example, it would be impossible for any whose own feet were not washed (John 13) to wash the feet of their fellow-believers; and the Lord Himself taught, that before we could take the mote out of our brother's eye, the beam must be taken out of our own eye. It is exceedingly interesting therefore to observe that the priests and Levites purified themselves as a necessary preparation for purifying the people, the gates, and the wall. (See also 2 Chr. 29: 5; 2 Chr. 35: 6.)

The means of purification must be gathered from other scriptures. In the wilderness the priests had to wash their hands and feet at the laver every time they went in to accomplish their service (Exodus 30: 17-21), and in the ashes of the red heifer provision was made for all kinds of defilement that might be contracted in their daily life and walk by the people. (Num. 19) Now, as already indicated, a provision of another and more efficacious sort has been made. "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." (1 John 2: 1.) When therefore, through carelessness, or through the allowance of the flesh, we fall into sin, and become defiled, He in His love and mercy intercedes with the Father for us on the ground of what He is as the Righteous One, and of His perfect propitiation; and in answer to His advocacy the Spirit of God works, through the Word, in the conscience of the defiled believer, produces self-judgment and contrition, and leads to confession, whereon God is faithful and just to forgive the sin, and to cleanse from all unrighteousness. Thus the believer is "purified," restored to communion, and so divinely qualified to be sent forth in service to others. It cannot be too earnestly pressed, that in order to be used in any way we must ourselves be "purified" from defilements.

This then was the first thing attended to on this day of the dedication of the wall. In the next place, two companies were arranged by Nehemiah (the reader will remark his reappearance) to make, as it would seem, the circuit of the walls. The first was composed of Hoshaiah, half the princes of Judah, together with certain whose names are given (vv. 32-34), and certain of the priests' sons with trumpets. Of the last Zechariah (whose descent is traced back to Asaph) was the chief; for he and his brethren had charge of the "musical instruments of David the man of God." (See 1 Chr. 15: 16, 17; 1 Chr. 25: 6.) Ezra, the scribe, was the leader of this company; he was "before them." The composition of the other company is not given with such detail. Nehemiah says, "The other company of them that gave thanks went over against them [i.e., we judge, on the opposite wall to the other company], and I after them, and the half of the people upon the wall, from beyond the tower of the furnaces even unto the broad wall." And then, after describing the line of the procession, he says, "They stood still in the prison gate."* It appears as if the two companies, starting at different points, proceeded to make the circuit of the walls until they met, as Nehemiah, after giving the route of each of the companies, says, "So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God,† and I, and the half of the rulers with me: and the priests: Eliakim, Masseiah," etc., "with trumpets." (vv. 40-42.) If this were so, the service of the day took place after the procession was ended, as the statement follows: "And the singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer. Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off." (vv. 42, 43.)

*It is impossible to elucidate all these topographical notices. Much time has been expended in conjectures upon this subject; but, after some examination, the only conclusion reached is that nothing certain can be ascertained. No doubt, through recent investigations, much new light has been discovered, and the time may come when the line of Jerusalem's ancient walls may be redrawn with tolerable accuracy; but at present the reader must be contented to wait, apart from the question whether such a study would tend to any real edification.

†This might mean that those whose employment it was to give thanks in the house of God were, on the present occasion, divided into two companies in connection with the ceremonial observed at the dedication.

Examining a little the details given, there were, we find, those who gave thanks, those who had trumpets, and those who sang; besides this, sacrifices were offered, and all rejoiced. Thanksgivings would seem to have been most prominent, and this is easily understood when it is remembered what the completion of the building of the wall meant for this poor remnant. Truly it was in "troublous times" that it had been built, and, as we have seen, amid opposition and difficulties of every sort, inspired as their enemies had been by the malice of Satan. But encouraged by the indomitable energy of their leader, they had persevered, and now their work was completed; the walls of the city were once more raised for the security of those who dwelt within, and for the exclusion of evil as displayed in their enemies round about. Thanksgiving was therefore but the natural and appropriate feeling on this day of dedication. Observe also that there were trumpets. (vv. 35, 41.) These were carried by the priests; for they alone, as those who had access into the immediate presence of God, and might be thus in communion with His mind, had the privilege of raising the notes of testimony through the sacred trumpets. (Num. 10) This day of dedication was for God; but whenever the claims of God are responded to in the energy of the Holy Spirit, testimony for Him also proceeds from His people. For example, when the saints gather together on the first day of the week to break bread (Acts 20), it is in response to His desire who said, "This do in remembrance of me." It is for Him therefore they gather, for Him — without a thought of others. And yet as often as they eat the bread and drink the cup they announce the Lord's death "until He come;" that is, though they gather in remembrance of the Lord, and, while thus occupied, their hearts are led forth in thanksgiving and adoration, they yet, by the very thing in which they are engaged, proclaim to all the Lord's death. The trumpets are in this way associated with their notes of praise. There were also musical instruments and singing. The singers indeed "sang loud," or, as it is in the margin, made their voice to be heard.

They thus, by the musical instruments and their songs, expressed their joy before the Lord. The character of this is given in the next verse in connection with the sacrifices; for they remembered again on this festival that the only ground on which they could stand before God, though it were to thank and praise His holy name, was the efficacy of the sacrifice. Joy could therefore flow out, and it was joy of no ordinary kind; for "God had made them rejoice with great joy." Nothing could be more blessed. Our poor hearts long for joy, and are ever tempted to seek it from human sources, only to find that it is both unsatisfying and evanescent. Hence the apostle writes, "Be not drunk with wine" (type of the joys of earth), "wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." (Eph. 5: 18, 19.) Such was the joy on this day of the children of Israel; for it had its source in God, and He it was who had filled their hearts with thanksgivings and their lips with praise. They had, we might say, sown in tears, and now they were reaping with joy.

Mark also that all classes of the people participated in it. It is expressly said, "The wives also and the children rejoiced." This was precious to the heart of God; for the wives and children were numbered amongst His people (compare (Eph. 5, 6), and why should they be excluded from the gladness of this day? They had been assembled also with the congregation at the reading of the law (Neh. 8); and indeed it is a characteristic both of this book and in Ezra (see Ezra 10), that the women and children were present in all the great assemblies of the people. The effect of their rejoicing was great; for we read that "the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off." (v. 43.) It went forth into the midst of their enemies as a mighty testimony to Him, by whose grace they had been rescued from Babylon, and by whose protection and succour they had now been permitted to re-erect the walls of the holy city. They were proving anew that the joy of the Lord was their strength both for praise and for testimony. And it is added that "Judah rejoiced for the priests, and for the Levites that waited" (or stood), that stood in their places of service in the temple. It was joy to Judah to behold the services of the house of God restored, and the priests and Levites engaged in the work of their office.

In connection with the ceremonies of the dedication some necessary things were attended to in the house of God: it says, "At that time" — not perhaps on the same day, but "at that time" the time following upon the dedication of the wall. What they did was to appoint some "over the chambers for the treasures, for the offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them, out of the fields of the cities, the portions of the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited." (v. 44.) There was evidently a continual tendency to neglect the concerns of the house of God, and together with this the priests and the Levites were overlooked. It was so on the first return of the captives (Haggai 1), and it was so in every time of declension, as it has been also in every age of the Church. Ceasing to care for the house of Jehovah, the maintenance of the priests and Levites enjoined by the law was not forthcoming; for all were minding their own things, and not the things of the Lord. But when their hearts were touched by the goodness of God in permitting them to complete the wall, they at once remembered the ministers of their God, and again (see Neh. 10: 37-39) made provision for them. This is how God works in the low estate of His people. Granting them a revival, it may be under the power of some special truth, they, acted upon by the new impulse they have thus received, proceed to correct by the application of the Word the abuses that have sprung up on every hand. So it was in this case; and hence we find that the singers and the porters were also arranged, who "kept the ward [charge] of their God, and the ward of the purification, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son. For in the days of David and Asaph, of old, there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God." (vv. 45, 46.) They recall how it was in the beginning of the temple services, and their desire now was to be conformed to the original model. This is an abiding principle; for it is only by testing everything by what was at the beginning that we can discover the extent of our departure, and it is only by going back to it that we can be in harmony with the mind of God.

Moreover, we read, "And all Israel, in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters, every day his portion; and they sanctified the holy things unto the Levites; and the Levites sanctified them unto the children of Aaron." This can hardly be more than a general statement (see Neh. 10: 37-39; Neh. 13: 10) to the effect that there were times, during the periods named, when all Israel owned and met their obligations to these servants of the house of their God. Their failure is not here recorded; that has to be gleaned from the other parts of the book. Here it is only remembered that all Israel had cared for God's ministers of His sanctuary.

Lastly, we are told that "on that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people;" and that when they found therein that "the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever," etc. (Deut. 23: 3, 4), "they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude." (Neh. 13: 13.) Again and again they had thus separated themselves (Ezra 10; Nehemiah 9: 2, etc.), and again and again did "the holy seed mingle themselves with the people of the lands." In truth, then as now, alliance with the world was the most successful snare of Satan; and hence there has ever been need for vigilance and for the enforcement of the truth of separation unto God. But there is a special reason for the introduction of this subject in this connection. The meaning of the wall, as pointed out more than once, is exclusion of evil, separation of God's people from other nations (for us, from the world; from evil, whether in the world or in the Church), and thus to be set apart to God. When we read, therefore, of Israel purging themselves from the mixed multitude, we see that they were simply maintaining the truth of the wall; that, together with its dedication, they felt themselves bound to carry out into practice all that its completion signified. The reader will not fail to perceive the force of the term "the mixed multitude." It was the mixed multitude that "fell a lusting" in the wilderness, and so became a hindrance and a curse to Israel; and ever since that day, whether in Israel or in the Church, they have been the source of almost all the evils that have afflicted the saints. It is among the mixed multitude that Satan ever finds ready instruments to his hands wherewith he may disturb, harass, and ensnare God's people; so that the only pathway of safety is to follow the example of Israel before us in separating from it.

NEHEMIAH 13: 4-31.

IT is impossible now to determine the chronological place of the occurrences of this chapter. We are only told that "before this" Eliashib was allied unto Tobiah, and had been on great terms of intimacy with him; and that during this time Nehemiah was not at Jerusalem. (v. 6.) "Before this" would mean before the separation from the mixed multitude (v. 3), and hence the probability is that the dedication of the wall had been delayed through the absence of the governor; and that, if this were so, the events described here took place prior to the services in connection with the dedication of the wall. This however is of no consequence, for, as before intimated, what we have to seek is the moral and not the historical order. Interpreting the connection thus there is no difficulty; for what was the object of Nehemiah's mission to Jerusalem? It was to build the walls of the holy city (Neh. 3 and 6), and by the good hand of God upon him he was enabled to complete the work to which he had been called. The wall had been erected, and he and the people had celebrated the event with great joy, and under the influence of that day they had set the house of God in order, and recognized that they were a people set apart to Jehovah.

And what was the next thing? FAILURE — failure in every thing which they had undertaken to do, and to which they had bound themselves, under the penalty of a curse, by a solemn covenant. (See Neh. 10) The lesson of Nehemiah's mission is therefore the lesson of every dispensation; viz., that whatever God entrusts to man under responsibility ends in failure. Nay, there is more than this, for we learn that failure is brought in by man at the very moment of God's grace in blessing. It is not only that each successive dispensation ends, but it also begins with failure. Adam, for example, disobeyed as soon as he was set in the place of headship and blessing; Noah, in like manner, sinned as soon as he could gather the fruit of his first vineyard upon the new earth; Israel apostatized before even the tables of the law reached the camp; and David incurred blood-guiltiness soon after the establishment of the kingdom. Nor is it otherwise in the history of the Church. In the end of Acts 4 we see the perfect answer to the Lord's prayer, "that they all may be one" (John 17: 21), for "the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul" (v. 32); and then in Acts 5 we have the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, and in Acts 6 the murmuring of one class of disciples against another. So also with the mission of individuals. As an instance take the case of the apostle Paul. Long before he had finished his course he saw the outward failure of the Church, and "all they which are in Asia" had "turned away" from him. (2 Timothy 1: 15.) These examples will explain the significant moral order of Nehemiah's narrative. Scarcely had the echoes of Jerusalem's joy, in being surrounded once more by her wall of separation (Neh. 12: 43), died away, before all the evils which had hitherto afflicted the people, and which had been the cause of their long years of banishment, reappeared. And the book closes with the account of Nehemiah's conflict with the transgressors in Israel, and of his strenuous efforts to maintain the supremacy of Jehovah in the holy city.

The first thing mentioned is the sin of Eliashib. Eliashib was the grandson of Jeshua, who had returned with Zerubbabel. He filled the office of the priest, had "the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God," and yet, in defiance of the word of God, was allied unto Tobiah the Ammonite, and had even "prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat-offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil" — the portion for the Levites, etc. — and this chamber was "in the courts of the house of God." (vv. 5, 7.) This was corruption in the head and representative of the people before God, and with such an example, what wonder if the people followed in his guilty steps? It is a terrible instance of the hardening effect of familiarity with sacred things when the heart is not upright before God. Eliashib was constantly engaged in the work of his high-priestly office in the holy places, and yet had become blunted and indifferent to the character of the God before whom he appeared, as well as to the holiness of His house. His office in his eyes was an office, and nothing more; and hence he used it for his own purposes and for the assistance of his friends, a pattern that has, alas! been frequently reproduced even in the Church of God.

All this time Nehemiah, as he informs us, was not at Jerusalem. He had paid a visit to the king (v. 6), but, on his return, was made acquainted with the evil Eliashib had perpetrated in connection with Tobiah; and he says, "it grieved me sore." (v. 8.) There are those who can understand the grief of this devoted man. It was a grief according to God; for it sprang from a sense of the dishonour done to the Lord's name. It was akin to that of Jeremiah when he cried, "O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" or again to that of the apostle when he poured forth his earnest admonitions, entreaties, and remonstrances to his Galatian converts. Would that there were more filled with like zeal for the house of God! Nor was it grief only that Nehemiah felt, but it was grief that led him to purge this chamber of the temple from its pollutions. He cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah, and says, "Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat-offering and the frankincense." (vv. 8, 9.) He thus restored the chamber, having purified it, to its proper use.

In connection with this another discovery was made. "I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field." (v. 10.) Together with the admission of the enemy into the holy places of the temple, the ministers of God had been neglected. The Levites and singers had been wholly set apart for the sacred services of the house, and the burden of their maintenance, by divine appointment, fell upon, and had been acknowledged by, the people. But as soon as they lost, through the influence of Eliashib, all sense of the holiness of the house, they forgot their responsibilities; and the servants of the Lord in His house were compelled to have recourse to the ordinary means of support — "they fled every man to his field." The same thing is often seen in the Church. In seasons of devotedness, wrought upon by the Spirit of God, there are those who will give up all for the work of proclaiming the gospel or ministering the Word; and when the saints are walking with God they will welcome such, and "have fellowship with them," rejoicing that the Lord is sending forth more labourers into His harvest, and to care for the souls of His people. But whenever decline sets in, and saints become worldly, labourers are forgotten; so that those who have not learnt the lesson of dependence on God alone, that He is all-sufficient for their needs, are compelled to flee to their fields for support. This difference, however, must be marked. There is no obligation now, as there was with the Jew, to support the Levites, but it is a privilege to do so; and whenever it is done as unto the Lord, the things offered, as they were to Paul, are "an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God." (Phil. 4: 18.) Nehemiah proceeded at once to rectify also this abuse. He contended with the rulers, and said, "Why is the house of God forsaken?" Then he gathered the Levites and singers together, and once more set them in their place. He thus went down to the root of the evil — forsaking the house of God (cp. Heb. 10: 25) — and at the same time dealt with those — the rulers — who were responsible for the neglect; for if they were careless, the people would soon imitate their example. In fact, it was the cropping up of the evil that has afflicted the people of God in every age — minding their own things instead of being occupied with the Lord, His interests and claims.

The influence of the energetic action of Nehemiah was instantly felt; for we read, "Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn, and the new wine, and the oil into the treasuries." (v. 12.) The people had a heart, and their affections towards the house of God and His servants were ready to flow out as soon as Nehemiah led the way. It is another instance that the outward state of the people of God depends almost wholly upon the character of their leaders. If these are earnest and devoted, so will be also the people; while if those who take the lead are careless and worldly, these characteristics will also be displayed by the people. It is so now in different assemblies. Whatever those are who have places of prominence, so are the saints corporately. The leaders impress their own character upon the meeting. There may be individuals in the assembly of entirely another sort, but we speak of meetings as a whole. All this does but show out the solemn responsibility resting upon "the rulers," and will explain, at the same time, the character of the addresses to the angels of the seven churches; for the angels are but the collective responsibility, whether in one, two, or more, of the several assemblies, and hence their state is the state of all, and they are dealt with as responsible for it.

To provide against the recurrence of the evil, Nehemiah "made treasurers over the treasuries" (v. 13), the ground of his selection being that "they were counted faithful; and their office was to distribute unto their brethren." Upright himself before God, he was uninfluenced by any personal considerations; and, governed by the single eye, he had respect only to suitability for the post. Fidelity was the thing needed, as the office was one of trust, requiring faithfulness towards God and also towards their brethren; and hence he sought only such as possessed the necessary qualification. The very composition, moreover, of the treasurers — a priest, a scribe, a Levite, and another — shows how careful he also was in "providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men." (2 Cor. 8: 21.)

This accomplished, Nehemiah turns to God with the prayer, "Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof." (v. 14.) It has often been pointed out that Nehemiah in his prayers was too much occupied with himself and his own good deeds. We do not say that it might not have been so; but they are capable of another interpretation. He was almost alone in the midst of prevailing corruption, and it was only in God that he found his strength and encouragement; and thus, in the midst of all his difficulties, we find continually these ejaculatory petitions. At any rate, it is clear that he looked for no recompense from man, and that he was content to leave himself and the recognition of his doings in the hands of God, assured, as he was, that it was God's work in which he was engaged, and counting upon Him alone for the recompense.

Forsaking the house of God was not the only evil Nehemiah had to contend with. The next was the violation of the sabbath. "In those days," he says, "saw I in Judah some treading wine-presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath-day," etc. (v. 15.) They were also selling victuals, and bought fish and ware of the men of Tyre on the sabbath. (v. 16.) Having lost all sense of the claims of God as to His house, it was but a natural consequence that they should also neglect the sanctity of the seventh day, the observance of which from redemption out of Egypt (Exodus 16; Deut. 5: 14, 15) and onwards, had been enjoined by God in connection with every covenant into which He had been pleased to enter with His people Israel. The profanation therefore of the sabbath was the sign that they had gone far in backsliding, that indeed they were verging upon apostasy; for they were sinning, in this respect, against both light and knowledge. Nehemiah, in his zeal for the Lord, was aroused, and he "contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath-day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath." (vv. 17, 18.) It will be observed that as the rulers were in question in regard to forsaking the house of God, so the nobles are the head and front of the offence in respect of the sabbath. In both cases the fount of the evil was in those who ought to have been examples to the people. It is ever so in times of general declension, inasmuch as it is only the leaders who can draw the mass after them into sin. But this very fact rendered the task of Nehemiah all the more arduous. Single-handed he had to contend with those on whom he had a right to count to sustain his authority and influence. Truly he was a faithful man, and because he was such God was with him in his conflict with the transgressors in Israel. Having convicted them that had sinned before all (see 1 Tim. 5: 20), he used his authority as governor to prevent a recurrence of the evil. First, he commanded that the gates of Jerusalem should be shut before dark on the eve of the sabbath, and that they should be kept closed until the sabbath was over. It shows how few were to be depended upon for this service, in that he stationed some of his own servants at the gates to see to it, that "there should be no burden brought in on the sabbath-day." (v. 19) In addition, he gave his own unremitting attention to the matter; and thus when the Tyrian merchants and vendors lodged without Jerusalem once or twice — their very presence being a temptation to the people — he testified against them, and threatened to lay hands on them, and in this way they were driven off. Finally, he "commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath-day." (v. 22.) It is a beautiful picture of one devoted man seeking with all his might to stem the rushing tide of evil. To human eyes it might seem a hopeless struggle, and even, as to outward results, a failure. But it was God's battle that Nehemiah was fighting, and he knew it, and if but faithful to Him there could never be defeat. God is the appraiser of the conflict, and He counts as victory what human eyes regard as disaster. (See Isa. 49: 4-6.) Nehemiah had in measure learnt this lesson, and thus he turns again to God with the prayer, "Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy." He looks not to man, but to God; and while he desires to be remembered for "this also," yet, in his true humility, conscious of all his own weakness and failure, he does but pray to be spared according to the "greatness" of God's mercy. Blessed state of soul is it when the servant is made to feel that, whatever his service, he has nothing to rest upon but the mercy of God! On that foundation — for Christ Himself is its channel and expression — he can repose, whatever his trials and conflicts, in perfect peace and security.

There was yet another trial. "In those days also," he says, "saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people." (vv. 23, 24.) This was the evil that had so deeply afflicted the heart of Ezra (Ezra 9: 1-3), and which he earnestly sought to eradicate; but it had started up again, and confronted Nehemiah also all through his labours (Neh. 9: 2; Neh. 10: 30, etc.) with its sad and open testimony to the state of the people. For what did it declare? That Israel was abandoning the ground of separation unto God, and breaking down the holy wall of enclosure — "the middle wall of partition" by which He had shut them off from all the peoples that were upon the face of the earth. It was, in truth, no less than a denial that they were God's chosen nation — a holy people to the Lord; and it was thus a surrender of all the privileges, blessings, and hopes of their calling. It was no wonder therefore that Nehemiah was filled with such holy indignation that he "contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves." He reminded them, moreover, of the sad example of Solomon, that, "though there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: even him did outlandish women cause to sin. Shall we then," he enquired, "hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?" (vv. 25-27.)

It must have been indeed a bitter trial to the heart of Nehemiah. It was the account of the great reproach and affliction of the remnant in the province, and of the wall in Jerusalem being broken down, as well as of the gates being burned with fire (Neh. 1: 3), that had been used to stir up the desire in his soul to remedy these evils. The desire of his heart was granted, and he had gone to Jerusalem, and laboured there for years, and at length, through the goodness of God, saw his desire accomplished. But now, together with the close of his labours, he has to mourn over the persistent refusal of the people to remain in holy security within the wall of separation. Having their treasure in the world, their hearts were there also, and they thus continually turned their backs upon all the blessings of the holy place in which they had been set. Still Nehemiah was undaunted, and with unwearied energy he persevered in his labours for the good of his people, seeking only, for the glory of God, to spend and be spent in their service. First, he "chased" from him one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, who was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite.

Eliashib himself, as we have seen, was "allied unto Tobiah," so that he and his family were linked up with the two active enemies of Israel. Here then, in the high priest's family, was the fount of corruption, from which flowed out the dark and bitter streams of sin through the people. To drive the sinner away was all that Nehemiah himself could accomplish; but he had another resource, of which he availed himself — he committed the matter to God. "Remember them, O my God," he cries, "because they have defiled the priesthood" (Lev. 21), "and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites." (Malachi 2: 4-7.) It might seem strange that Nehemiah, armed as he was with authority as the governor, proceeded no further with the punishment of this guilty priest. The fact is, it is impossible, in the way of discipline, to go beyond the moral state of the people. To do so would be only to play into the hands of the enemy; and on this account many a godly man has to remain inactive in the presence of patent and flagrant departures from the word of God, and to content himself, like Nehemiah, with crying to the Lord against the offenders. Where there is no conscience about the sin, the Lord alone can deal with the offender, though it may be often necessary, as in the case before us, to "chase" away the sinner. But in the midst of all the confusion, it is a blessed resource to be able to commit all to the Lord, who, in His own time, will vindicate the name which we may have dishonoured.

Nehemiah nevertheless continued his work of reformation. He says, "Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business; and for the wood-offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits." For the moment all is ordered according to God, and in this way Nehemiah becomes a shadow, if not a distinct type, of Him who will "sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." (Malachi 3: 3.)

Thus end the recorded labours of Nehemiah. He had fully identified himself with the interests of the Lord and with Israel, and he had persevered in his labours amid opposition and reproach; and now that the close had come he is content to leave all results in the hands of God. Hence, looking away from his work and from himself, he cries, "Remember me, O my God, for good." This prayer has already been answered; for it is God who has caused this account of Nehemiah's labours to be preserved, and He will answer it yet more abundantly, for the time will come when He will publicly acknowledge Nehemiah's faithful service, according to His own perfect estimate of his work. For while it is true, and ever to be remembered, that grace alone produces the energy and perseverance of service in the hearts of any, it is also true that the same grace reckons the fruits of labour to those in whose hearts they have been produced. God is the source of all; He calls and qualifies His servants; He sustains and directs them in their labours, and yet He says, "Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." To Him alone be all the praise!

Daniel the Prophet

Daniel the Prophet

and the times of the Gentiles.

E. Dennett.

(Morrish, 1919.)

PREFACE.

IT is in the hope of promoting the knowledge of dispensational truth that this volume is offered to the Christian reader. It does not claim to be more than a concise and simple introduction to the study of the contents of the book of Daniel; and yet enough of detail has been given to enable the reader, if guided and taught of the Holy Spirit, to comprehend the character of "the times of the Gentiles," of which this portion of the inspired volume especially treats. Symptoms of the period spoken of by our blessed Lord are already to be discerned — "Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth" (Luke 21: 26). It is therefore of the utmost importance to understand the nature of the last days and the course of events on to the appearing of Christ, as revealed in the infallible word of God. It tends, moreover, to enhance the appreciation of the heavenly calling and of the character of Christianity to be instructed in the purposes which God has formed for the blessing of His earthly people.

When the heart is at leisure from itself, through being satisfied with Christ, the Holy Ghost is free to lead it out into all the circle of God's interests, whether as regards the church, His ancient people, or the world. May He Himself teach both the reader and the writer how to hold all the truths He has revealed in their, proper relationships, and in living power in the soul.

CROYDON, February, 1893.

INTRODUCTION.

BEFORE entering upon a consideration of the contents of this book, it is needful to call attention, however briefly, to its special and peculiar character. At the very commencement, mention is made of the fact that Nebuchadnezzar had already besieged Jerusalem, and that the Lord had given Jehoiakim king of Judah into Nebuchadnezzar's hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God, etc.; and thereon we read that some of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes, were captives in Babylon. These facts when rightly understood open out to us the significance of the whole book. Until now God's throne had been at Jerusalem; He dwelt between the cherubim; and Israel (we speak of the nation according to the purpose of God) was consequently the centre of God's ways in the government of the whole earth (see Deut. 32: 7-9). Israel, as this same scripture tells us, occupied a special position of favour and blessing, "for the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." Because of their position of blessing and privilege the nation had special responsibilities. This principle is announced by the prophet: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities (Amos 3: 2). Their responsibility was according to their light, and because they were Jehovah's people; for as such they were His witnesses (Isaiah 43: 8-13), and Jerusalem was His candlestick in the midst of the nations.

When, therefore, Israel became worse than even the surrounding nations, and the king of Judah made the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen (2 Chr. 33: 9), the Lord, after many warnings and much long-suffering (2 Chr. 36: 14-20), executed the judgment which He had threatened, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, who "burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon" (2 Chr. 36: 19-20). The dominion of the earth was henceforward committed to the king of Babylon (see Daniel 2: 37, 38), and it is in the midst of this new order of things, as a true remnant and seed preserved of God, that Daniel and his companions are found in the first chapter of our prophet.

This position of the remnant in Babylon, subject to the Gentile power and dominion, affords the key for the interpretation of the book. For the visions, vouchsafed to the kings, concern the Gentile powers themselves, in their successive order, development, and, what may be termed, their moral phases, going on to complete apostasy; and those granted, to the prophet deal with the same subject, but, as going down to the end, in the accomplishment of God's purposes concerning His beloved people, more in their bearing upon this issue. The "pleasant land" finally becomes the centre round which all the Gentile activities and designs gather; and the curtain is lifted to reveal the future of the chosen nation, in its pathway, because of its sins and iniquities, and most of all because of its crowning sin in the rejection of Messiah, through unequalled and unheard of sorrow and trouble (Dan. 12: 1) on to the enjoyment of its purposed blessing according to the thoughts of God.

All this will be more distinctly seen as we pursue our studies; but it may now be pointed out that the book is divided into two equal parts — Dan. 1 to 6 forming the first, and Dan. 7 to 12 the second part. The first part is wholly made up of the visions and actings of the Gentile monarchs and their subordinate authorities. Daniel and his companions appear on the scene as having the mind of God, and as faithful to Him amid all the seduction and opposition by which they were surrounded. Daniel, like Joseph in Egypt, is first brought to the notice of the king as an interpreter of dreams; and also, like Joseph, he is, as a consequence, taken into favour, and exalted to the seat of government. Having obtained from the king the association of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, with himself in his exaltation, they become the objects of the envy and enmity of the princes. The details will be found in their place; but the two things are interwoven, the character of the Gentile powers, and the suffering condition of the remnant and their. final deliverance from under the Gentile persecuting dominion. The second part of the book, commencing with Daniel 7, contains the prophetic visions, with their interpretations, received by Daniel; and they embrace the course, character, and destiny of the Gentile empires, which followed the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Their various actings are described, especially those of the third and fourth, in relation to the Holy Land and the Jewish people; and we have, moreover, the special revelation made to Daniel of the seventy weeks, as indicative of the period in which God's purposes for His earthly people will be accomplished.

Finally, in the long vista of the future opened up to the prophet, the Gentile governments are displaced by the Son of man to whom there is given "dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Dan. 7: 14). It is in connection with His coming to establish His kingdom that Daniel is told: "At that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book" (Dan. 12: 1). At His first coming He was cut off (Dan. 9: 26), and had nothing; but though He was rejected and crucified by "His own" people, He yet, according to the counsels of God, died for that nation; and it is on the foundation of that efficacious sacrifice that God, after He has, in His righteous government, punished them for their sins, will act in the future for the restoration of His beloved, but guilty, people. Isaiah can thus cry, "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins" (Isa. 40: 1, 2). The book of Daniel reaches in prophetic vision to this point; but it does not go beyond. For the establishment and the glory of the kingdom other prophets must be consulted. What we have in Daniel is, as we have already indicated, the course and character of Gentile powers, from the destruction of Jerusalem on to the appearing of Christ, together with the position of the remnant, and the sufferings of the Jewish people, while the Gentiles possess the dominion, until at last God, in His faithfulness in pursuance of His purposes, interposes, and, for His own glory, works for the rescue and blessing of His elect earthly people. This blessed consummation is yet future, and though our calling and portion are heavenly, and our hope is the coming of the Lord to receive us unto Himself, and to introduce us into the Father's house, it is yet of the utmost importance that we should understand the nature of "the times of the Gentiles," and embrace in our thoughts the whole circle of God's revealed interests. It is to aid in this object that we desire to commend to our readers the earnest study of this part of the inspired volume.

DANIEL 1.

WHATEVER the state of things on the earth God never leaves Himself without a witness. He may punish His people on account of their unfaithfulness and their sins, and He may permit them to be carried into captivity, and to be enslaved under the power of their enemies, and yet, in the midst of the darkness by which they are surrounded, He will rekindle the torch of His truth, in testimony to Himself and to His faithfulness, and as encouragement to those who cleave or turn to Him in their sorrows. He will, moreover, cause those whom He has used to chastise His people to know that they are still the objects of His care and love; and that their oppressors, however seemingly exalted and mighty, are subject and accountable to Him.

The first three verses of our chapter are the introduction to the book, and they explain how it had come to pass that Daniel and his companions are found in connection with the court of the king of Babylon. The reference, as may be easily seen by turning to the historical accounts in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, is to the first siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. In Chronicles, after the mention of the accession of Jehoiakim to the throne, through the instrumentality of Necho, king of Egypt, it says, "Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon" (2 Chr. 36: 6, 7). But neither here, nor in Kings, is it mentioned that there were other captives at this time, and it is quite possible that the short introductory statement of our chapter includes, in its purport, the subsequent proceedings of the king of Babylon until Jerusalem was destroyed, and the princes, and the mighty men of valour, together with the mass of the people, had been deported to Babylon (see 2 Kings 24: 12-16, 2 Kings 25: 1-21). It is therefore the general position which is here defined. The Lord had given Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar's hand, and so completely had He abandoned His house in Jerusalem, that He had permitted the sacred vessels of the temple, profaned as they were by the sins of the kings of Judah, to be carried into the land of Shinar,* to the house of Nebuchadnezzar's god. God's candlestick at Jerusalem was thus for the time removed; and it was judicially removed, because it had ceased to give forth divine light for guidance and blessing amid the moral darkness of this world.

*For the significance of this statement the reader should consult Zechariah 5.

In the next paragraph (vv. 3-7) the remnant, or its representation, is introduced. After that Hezekiah had received the embassy from the king of Babylon, and, gratified by the attention thus shown to him, had exhibited to them all the treasures of his kingdom, Isaiah was sent to him with this message: "Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon. . . . And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon" (Isaiah 39: 5-7). The opening verses of our chapter reveal the fulfilment of Isaiah's prediction; but what we desire to call attention to is, that, in fulfilling His own word in judgment, God remembered mercy, for it is out of these very descendants of Hezekiah that He raised up witnesses for Himself in the midst of Babylon's idolatrous corruptions.

In permitting Nebuchadnezzar to carry them away as captives, God was accomplishing His own purpose; but Nebuchadnezzar, having obtained power over them, sought to make them serve his will. The consequence was, that a conflict immediately arose between the thoughts of God and the thoughts of the icing of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar desired to adorn his palace with those of his captives "in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans" (v. 4). The world is every ready to make the people of God its servants, and to derive light from their knowledge; but it cannot tolerate them, if they maintain fidelity to their God in obedience to His word, and in a holy separation from evil. The king, therefore, would have these captives to be fed with his own meat, and to drink of his own wine, that, nourished from his resources for three years, they might at the end thereof stand in his presence (v. 5). He would have them, in one word, to cease being Jews, and to become Chaldeans; and to mingle with their new religion the light they had received from the oracles of God. Such is the origin of philosophy even in Christian times — that philosophy against which Paul earnestly warns us as being "after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (Col. 2: 8).

It is in connection with this command of Nebuchadnezzar that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are brought into prominence (v. 6). Their very names, when understood, proclaimed to whom they belonged,* and the character of their God: and the prince of the eunuchs, instinctively feeling that such names would not suit his master's court, gave them others, all of which were more or less connected with Babylon's idols (v. 7).

*Daniel means "God's judge"; Hananiah, "whom Jehovah graciously gave"; Mishael, "who (is) as God"; and Azariah, "whom Jehovah aids."

The question now raised for Daniel and his companions was, whether for the sake of the world's favour and advancement, they would yield to the king's command. The answer had already been given: "Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself" (v. 8). As a Jew, obedient to the word of God, it was impossible for Daniel to eat the food of the Gentiles. Both the fat and the blood of those animals which were permitted to be eaten, were forbidden; and it was only of the clean beasts and birds that a Jew was allowed to partake (see Lev. 7: 22-27, Lev. 11, Lev. 22). Unless, therefore, Daniel and his companions were prepared to surrender their faith, and to renounce the word of their God, they could not accept the royal provision. And there is another instruction — if an application may be made to ourselves. The food of the world, that in which man as man, alienated from God as he is, finds his strength and sustenance, is ever destructive to the spiritual life of the Christian; and if he would be a true Nazarite, and walk in the path of holy separation unto God, he must ever turn aside from the wine, the joys of earth. The apostle thus writes, "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5: 18). In the attitude of Daniel we have then an example for all believers; and the closer it is followed, the more will they enjoy the conscious favour and blessing of God; and, as morally dead to things here, they will the more fully realize their true portion in Christ, in the place where He is.

We now read, as explanatory of what follows, that "God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs "(v. 9). Again we are reminded of the similar case of Joseph. Sold into Egypt, and becoming an inmate of Potiphar's house, "he found grace" in his master's sight. But, like Daniel, refusing the world's food and wine, he, unlike Daniel, was cast into prison, where the Lord also "gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison." "When a man's ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him"; and hence it was that the prince of the eunuchs, notwithstanding his fear of his lord the king, and the possible danger to his own life. granted through Melzar the request of Daniel, that he and his companions might be tested for ten days with pulse to eat and water to drink, instead of the king's food and wine. God was with Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and hence it was that, at the end of the ten days, "their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat" (v. 15). God had sustained and prospered His servants in their path of fidelity to His will, in keeping themselves undefiled amid the Babylonish seductions and corruptions by which they were surrounded. Even Melzar could not gainsay that they had flourished on their simple regimen, and henceforward he gave them pulse.

The reflection may be permitted, that there are many of the people of God who can walk in the narrow path of devoted discipleship as long as they are in the enjoyment of the fellowship of saints, and in the midst of happy spiritual influences. But it is sometimes seen that such, when transported into a worldly circle, are apt to fall in with the practices and habits of their new society, and thus to lose their distinctness of walk, even if their testimony be not altogether extinguished. It is therefore full of refreshment and encouragement to ponder the spectacle presented by these four children of Judah. Deprived of all the privileges of the temple, the temple itself destroyed, themselves captives at the mercy of a heathen monarch, plied, too, with every sort of alluring temptation, they maintained the Nazarite's place of true separation through obedience to the word of God. Doubtless it was the faith and energy of Daniel that acted on his companions, and led them to follow him in the path of God's will; but if so, the others were willing to follow, and all four present a striking proof of the all-sufficiency of God's grace to sustain His servants in the most unfavourable circumstances that could possibly be imagined.

The significant statement follows: "As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams" (v. 17). "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant." This principle ever abides; and it is seen in all dispensations. It is first laid down by God Himself in the familiar words, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? . . . For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him" (Genesis 18: 17-19). It appears also in the prayer of the apostle Paul for the Colossians, "That ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" (Col. 1: 9). It is abundantly plain, in other words, that God gave these four "children" knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom because of their separation in heart and life from the defiling evils around. It is indeed ever true, that the nearer we are practically to the Lord, the more fully He communicates to us of His mind; and remark, that it is not only what is generally understood as "His mind, but it is in all learning and wisdom. The students of modern days, even Christian students, are too often betrayed into the thought, that for the acquisition of human "learning and wisdom" they are dependent upon their own industry and power. The consequence is, that the years of their student-life are often marked by spiritual declension, if not by open backsliding. The example of the four "children" might well teach another lesson.*

*The well-known saying of Luther, although he referred to the Scriptures, might be profitably recalled in this connection, "To have prayed well is to study well."

At the close of the verse Daniel is singled out from his fellows; for we are told, undoubtedly in view of his special work and mission, that he had understanding in all visions and dreams. Thereby, too, we are taught, that in all the circumstances and experiences through which God leads His people, He is forming them as vessels for His service. On the human side it was a calamity that had befallen Daniel; on God's side, as is plainly revealed, this seeming calamity was but the instrumentality which He had chosen to form Daniel for his mission to carry His testimony into the court of the mighty Gentile monarch — His testimony concerning the powers which He had allowed to supercede His own direct government of the earth through Israel, and through Jerusalem as His, dwelling-place and throne. But it is faith alone that can rise up beyond all secondary causes, connect everything with the hand of God, and at the same time peacefully rest in Him assured of His infinite wisdom and love, and that the issue of all events will be according to His own perfect will.

The next three verses (18-20) give the result before the king of the training to which the four children, as well as the others selected, had been subjected. All alike were brought into the royal presence, and Nebuchadnezzar himself examined the students of his college: he "communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm" (vv. 19, 20). They might each have thus adopted the language of the Psalmist. "Thou through Thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Thy precepts" (Psalm 119: 98-100). Would that the lesson might he laid to heart by all the young Christians of the present day!

The chapter closes with the remark, that "Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus." He lived, therefore, to see the fall of the colossal empire of which Nebuchadnezzar was the monarch; he served under Darius the Mede, and witnessed the advent of Cyrus, of whom Isaiah had prophesied more than one hundred and fifty years before (see Isaiah 44: 28; Isaiah 45: 1-3, etc.) as the one who should be instrumental in the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple. It should, however, be observed that this last verse is only a general statement that Daniel lived to see the accession of Cyrus; for in chapter 10: 1 we find that he received special revelations from God "in the third year of Cyrus king of Persia." How far he may have survived that date is not mentioned; but the one given makes it certain that he lived to a good old age, exceeding, at any rate, the limits of threescore years and ten.

DANIEL 2.

IT is evident that the real subject of the first part of this book commences with this chapter. Chapter 1 is prefatory and introductory, giving, so to speak, the situation, and displaying a view of the various actors in the following events, together with their relative positions, while behind all God is clearly revealed as working all things after the counsel of His own will. However supreme man may seem to be, as, for instance, Nebuchadnezzar in his dominion, it is always to be remembered that God never surrenders the reins of government. He may control directly or indirectly, but He does control the smallest as well as the greatest events that happen on the earth. It was thus by no chance that Nebuchadnezzar "dreamed dreams" in the second year of his reign, "wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him" (v. 1). The like thing had happened, it will be recalled, to Pharaoh, and it was used to bring Joseph to the notice and succour of the king, and to be the means, in God's hand, of constituting him ruler over all the land of Egypt; and he thus became no mean type of the rejection and exaltation of Christ in His earthly glory. In a similar way the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar were the occasion for the introduction of Daniel to the king, and of his exaltation as ruler over the whole province of Babylon.

But man must ever come to the end of his own resources before he is made willing to turn to God for aid and direction. The king had ascertained for himself that in all matters of wisdom and understanding the "four children" were ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm; and yet he did not in his perplexity turn to them for help and counsel. For we read, "Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king." All the wise men of his realm, men of knowledge and experience, all the philosophers and scientists of the day, were thus assembled to listen to the commands of Nebuchadnezzar. The king's request was simple: he had forgotten his dream, and he desired them to tell him what it was that he had dreamed, and then to give its interpretation. Pity might be felt for these men of wisdom, in being subjected to such an ordeal, did we not remember that the professors of the occult sciences of that day claimed to be able to reveal secrets, and to penetrate into regions hidden from mortal eyes; and, secondly, that the whole thing was designed of God to bring to nought, in the eves of this absolute monarch, the wisdom of the wise, to take them in their own craftiness, and thus to pour contempt upon all the pride of man. Their reply was, "Tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation."

An interpretation might easily be given, one which, if it concerned future events, might pass unchallenged, for until the time came for it to be realised no one could say whether it was true or false. The purpose of God, therefore, to expose the vanity of their pretended skill and knowledge, would not then have been accomplished. The king would not be pacified by their answer; and, on being further urged by alternate promises of reward and threatenings, they were driven to confess, "There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things at any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean. And it is a rare thing that the king requireth, and there is none other that can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh" (vv. 10, 11).

The issue raised was thus decided, and the wise men themselves were compelled, in no dubious language, to own their incompetency to reveal the king's secret, and to declare at the same time that the knowledge required of them lay outside the domain of man altogether, that the "gods" alone possessed it. On the side of man the answer was not so unreasonable; but Nebuchadnezzar, absolute and imperious monarch as he was, would not suffer the contradiction of his wishes; and, enraged, he commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. "And the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain and they sought Daniel and his fellows to be slain (v. 13).

Man's extremity is God's opportunity. Daniel had not been summoned with the astrologers before the king; but, being included in the public reckoning among the "wise men," he was amenable to the king's decree. This brought him into notice, and into contact with the officer charged with its execution. It was God's purpose to bring His witness, in the person of Daniel, before Nebuchadnezzar; and the king's forgetfulness of his dream, and his anger at the failure of his wise men to tell him what it was, were only the instrumentalities for its accomplishment.

On learning from Arioch the cause of the king's anger, and of the decree that had gone forth, "Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would show the king the interpretation" (v. 16). What, it may be enquired, led Daniel to suppose that this secret would be communicated to him? The answer is, Confidence in God, and the assurance that as His glory was concerned in the matter, as well as the safety of those who had, through His grace, maintained their faith and hope in Him amid all the seductions of the Babylonian court, He would not fail to interpose for their rescue in this hour of peril. It was, in truth, a supreme moment — a moment when all the wisdom of the world had confessed its failure. If, therefore, Daniel could reveal the king's secret, God would be publicly magnified before the whole realm.

Daniel's next step was to go to his house, and make the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon" (vv. 17, 18). Counting upon God, Daniel associated his companions with himself in his supplications. It is the first instance of united prayer recorded in Scripture; and the fact that these children of the captivity resorted to it, discovers to us the secret of their holy and separate walk. Dependence on God in secret is the means of all power in life and testimony, and, it may be added, of courage in the presence of man and of Satan's power. These four, on their knees at such a moment before the God of heaven, present a wondrous spectacle. They were but aliens in a strange land, expatriated for the sins of their nation; and now they were doomed to a speedy death, unless the forgotten dream could be recalled and interpreted. But they knew with whom they had to do, the One who had said in their own Scriptures, "Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me" (Psalm 1. 15) and hence they Waited and pleaded before Him concerning this secret." Nor was their confidence in vain: God heard their cry, and the secret was revealed unto Daniel in a night vision (v. 19).

It will be remarked that they pray to the God of heaven. In Israel He was known as the Lord of all the earth (Exodus 8: 22; Joshua 3: 11; 2 Kings 5: 15); for indeed He dwelt, and had His throne, in the midst of His people. But now it was otherwise; for He had removed His throne from Jerusalem, and committed the sovereignty of the earth to Nebuchadnezzar (vv. 37, 38); and hence it was with a true understanding of their own position in relation to God, that the "four children" addressed Him as the God of heaven. The time will come when He will once more resume the title of the God of the earth, and it is His claims as such that will form the subject of testimony on the part of the two witnesses in the book of Revelation.*

*The true reading in Rev. 11: 4 is "the Lord of the earth."

The heart of Daniel was filled with thanksgiving at the revelation to him of the king's secret; and the character of his piety, the state of his soul, is seen in that he turned immediately to God with thanksgiving and praise. When blessings are communicated there is often a tendency to fall at once to their enjoyment instead of tracing them back, as Daniel did, to the heart of God. Verse 19 gives the general fact of his having blessed God; and then we have, in vv. 20-23, the exact words in which his thanksgiving was rendered. First. he ascribes blessing to the name of God for ever and ever. The praise he offers he desires to be eternal, "from eternity to eternity," as the due of Him who had been pleased to reveal Himself to His people. He then assigns a reason — "Wisdom and might are His." A simple utterance, but how profound! For if wisdom and might are God's (compare Rev. 5: 12), they are nowhere else to be found, and it is in vain to turn for them to any but God. Next, he ascribes to God universal sovereignty. "He changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings." The potentates of the earth may claim to exercise absolute power; and men by the force of arms, or even by political movements, may depose monarchs and establish governments; but neither the power nor the wisdom is theirs — they are but the blind instruments of the divine will. Once recognize with Daniel the sovereignty of God, and, whatever the character of the times in which we live, or the menacing aspect of public affairs, we may rest in perfect peace, knowing, as Nebuchadnezzar had to confess, that God "doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth" (Dan. 4: 35). Moreover, Daniel says, "He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding." This principle is everywhere affirmed, that there must be a state of soul to receive from God. The apostle thus prayed, that the Colossians might be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. In like manner we learn from these words of Daniel, that to be divinely wise, wise after God's thoughts (and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom), is the condition of receiving wisdom. To him that hath shall be given, and this is what Daniel confesses, whether in respect of wisdom or understanding. He therefore proceeds, "He revealeth the deep and secret things: He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him"; for He is a God of omniscience, and all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do (see Ps. 139). After this celebration of what God is, in His wisdom, power, and sovereignty, Daniel offers his thanksgivings for the special mercy he had received. And in doing so he passes from the address, "God of heaven," to the more intimate title, "God of my fathers"; for the God his fathers had known and who had succoured them out of their distresses, is the One who had appeared on his own behalf, and he thanks and praises Him accordingly, and as the One who had now given him "wisdom and might." It is beautiful to notice, lastly, how he associates his companions with himself. "Thou," he says, "hast made known unto me now what we desired of Thee: for Thou hast now made known unto us the king's matter." Together they had sought the help of their God; and Daniel in full identification with his brethren acknowledges that the answer they had received was God's response to their united cry.

At once "Daniel went in unto Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy the wise men of Babylon: he went and said thus unto him, Destroy not the wise men of Babylon: bring me in before the king, and I will show unto the king the interpretation" (v. 24). Arioch complied "in haste" with Daniel's request; and "the king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?" The answer of Daniel is given in three parts; first, his explanation of the source and the object of the revelation of the secret; secondly, the dream itself; and lastly its interpretation. Daniel commences, in evident communion with the mind of God, by declaring the impotence of human wisdom, in accordance with the words of another prophet, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." Writing thus, as led of the Holy Spirit, the sentence of death upon the wisdom of the world, Daniel proceeds to declare the source of the vision. "There is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets," and this was Daniel's God, and he delighted to exalt Him in the presence of this absolute and idolatrous king. He then announces the object of the dream in respect of Nebuchadnezzar; it was to make known to him what should be in the latter days (vv. 28, 29). Finally, he disclaims any merit for himself; he was nothing but the vessel, of the forgotten dream. God had. His people in view, the faithful remnant to which Daniel belonged, in revealing the dream; and He also purposed that the king should know the thoughts of his heart. Daniel thus kept himself in the background a sure sign of his moral preparedness to bear testimony for God. The nearer we are to God, the more we lose sight of ourselves, and the better we are able to apprehend and to communicate His mind.

After Daniel had explained to the king the source and object of the revelation of his secret, he proceeded to recall the dream and to give the interpretation. The language he employed in describing the dream was as simple as it was grand. "Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible" (v. 31). The details will come before us in considering the interpretation; but it may be remarked at once that while the image represents the times of the Gentiles, from Nebuchadnezzar's day until the establishment of the kingdom of Christ, it is yet one image, and that the image of a man. It is thus, as has been strikingly observed by another, a representation of "the man of the earth" (see Psalm 10: 18), and the man of the earth, it may be added, as expressed in government — in all the various phases, as will afterwards be seen, of his corrupt heart and unbridled will. Man is never, indeed, fully revealed until all restraints are removed and he has the liberty as well as the inclination to gratify his own lusts (see 2 Thess. 2: 6-12). The image, while a complete image, is yet divided, as to its composition, into four parts the head of fine gold; his breast and arms of silver; his belly and his thighs of brass; and his legs of iron his feet part of iron and part of clay. There is, therefore, deterioration from the head to the feet, as seen in the figurative employment of the different metals. Finally, the image was smitten by a stone "cut out without hands," and all its several parts were "broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth" (vv. 34, 35).

Such was the dream; and the prophet's authentic interpretation follows. The head of gold was Nebuchadnezzar (v. 38). Of all the kingdoms that are to span the interval between the destruction of Jerusalem and the period of the establishment of the everlasting dominion of the Son of man, that of Babylon is pre-eminent. The reason is here given. Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was a direct gift from God. As Daniel said, "Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory." This could not be said of any of the three successive kingdoms. They come upon the scene in a providential manner, as permitted of God, for the government of the earth, and according to His ordering; but their respective heads were in no sense the direct depositaries of power, as was Nebuchadnezzar. He was nearest God in this external sense, and his responsibility was consequently all the greater.

The character of his kingdom, as described by Daniel, was remarkable. Nebuchadnezzar was a king of kings — the supreme monarch, by God's appointment, over all the kings of, the earth, for God had given him "a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory" — all of which were wonderful words as setting forth the majesty and excellency of his position and dominion. Nor was his authority confined to men; for "wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all" (v. 38). A comparison has sometimes been drawn between the place occupied by Adam as head of this creation, and that here given to the king of Babylon; and it has been well said: "Although more limited, it is a dominion characterized by the same features as that of Adam., It differs in that men are placed under his power; it is more limited, for the sea is not included in his sovereignty, but it reaches to every place where the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven exist."* Taking these various features into consideration, it is easily comprehended that Nebuchadnezzar should be set forth as the head of gold.†

*Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, by J. N. Darby, vol. ii. New edition.

†It must be observed that it is not only Nebuchadnezzar personally that is figured by the head of gold, for the successors of his own line until Belshazzar are included.

The next two kingdoms, as denoted by the silver and the brass, are passed over with the slightest mention in the interpretation; but in another part of the book they are plainly stated to be the Medo-Persian and Grecian kingdoms (Dan. 8: 20, 21). The fourth kingdom is described more at large; and happily there is no difficulty in its identification, as all prophetic expositors agree that it, is that of Rome — the four kingdoms being Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome; and these, as will be seen, are to occupy the whole period of the times of the Gentiles.

The features of the fourth kingdom, as delineated by Daniel, must be briefly considered. Before this is done, however, its duration must be indicated. It continues plainly until the kingdom of Christ is established (v. 44); and hence, to understand this, other scriptures have to be consulted. Historically, the Roman empire succeeded that of Greece, and, "strong as iron," it broke in pieces and subdued all things. Its might for the time seemed to be irresistible, and it established its dominion throughout the greater part of the then known world. All this is matter of history; but the question arises, If this Roman empire is to be found in existence on the eve of the appearing of Christ, where is it now, and whence is it again to emerge into view? It is in the book of Revelation that the answer to this question is found. That the outward form of this kingdom has disappeared is only too apparent; to human eyes it is, in fact, non-existent. In God's eyes it is, but hidden for the moment, and waiting to spring forth and to astonish the world by its reappearance. The angel thus said to John, in interpreting the "mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. . . . The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition" (Rev. 17: 7-11). And more precisely still. "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is" (v. 8). Two things are taught in these scriptures — firstly, that the "beast" is regarded as the continuation of that which formerly existed; and, secondly, that "while of the seven," he reappears after an interval of apparent non-existence. Now this "beast" represents the head of the revived Roman empire in the last days; and his origin and characteristics, as well as the source of his throne and authority, are depicted in Rev. 13: 1-8; and if verse 2 in this scripture be compared with Daniel 7: 3-6, it will also be seen that this beast is the successor of the three previous kingdoms, and that as such he combines all their moral features, as portrayed under the symbols of the leopard, the lion, and the bear.

The fourth kingdom therefore, the kingdom in power when our blessed Lord was here on the earth, and by whose authority, in the person of Pilate, He was adjudged to be crucified, is that which will once more be established, and which will continue until smitten by the stone "cut out without hands."

In verses 41-43 Daniel calls attention to a source of weakness in what was otherwise as "strong as iron": "And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay." We see no reason to doubt a very common interpretation of the clay, that it represents the mingling of popular, democratic forms with absolute government, the combination of absolutism with the popular will, which, as they are incongruous elements, can never be thoroughly welded together, and must, in the very attempt at union, become a source of weakness.

A further idea is given in verse 43, and is thus explained by another: "'The seed of men' is, I think, something outside of that which characterises the proper strength of the kingdom. . . . It appears to me that the Barbaric or Teutonic element is probably here pointed out as added to that which originally constituted the Roman empire."*

*Those who desire to pursue the historical investigation of this statement will find ample accounts of the effect of the irruption of the Goths into Italy, and of the capture of the imperial city, in GIBBON's Roman Empire, and other works.

That the ten toes are also symbolical may be gathered from Daniel 7, and also from Revelation 17; but as they are not explained here the subject may be left until chapter 7 is reached, merely remarking that they set forth the ten kingdoms which, federated together under one imperial head, represent the final form of the Roman empire.

It will now be understood that, under this image, the various forms of the world-power are sketched from the days of Nebuchadnezzar down to the time when the Lord will come, take His sovereignty over the whole earth, and reign for ever and ever. The chart of this world's history, onward to the close, thus lies open before the eye of God. Men may agitate, devise, form and overturn governments, as they think, in their own power, and according to their own will; but prophecy teaches that they can only act within the limits of the divine will for the accomplishment of what has been purposed. We see, moreover, that human governments, whatever the efforts of sincere, though misguided men, must deteriorate until at length, as we, are distinctly told in the Apocalypse, Satan will be the source and sustainer of the last form of earthly rule. It is well for us, therefore, when, as taught of the Spirit of God, we survey the future, to seek grace to maintain the place of separation outside of all the alarms and confusions of the world, while waiting for the Lord's return.

Passing now to verse 44, we learn that "in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever"; and this is given, as Daniel expressly says, as the explanation of the stone, cut out of the mountain without hands, smiting the image upon his feet, and breaking them to pieces. The expression, "in the days of these kings," is to be noted, especially as following on verse 43, as giving the fact, elsewhere formally stated, that the last kingdom of the four will be subdivided into ten kingdoms; and this also marks the time when the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will displace, first destroy and then displace, the last form of the Roman empire. This kingdom set up from heaven is the kingdom of Christ (see Daniel 7: 1-14); and its first act will be to break the "image" in pieces, and then, when formally established in power by Christ Himself, it will enlarge itself, until it fills the whole earth; and it will have no successor, for it will stand for ever.

In concluding his interpretation, Daniel added two things — first, he repeated that the great God had made known to the king what should come to pass hereafter; and, secondly, he assures the king of the certainty both of the dream and of its interpretation. As befitted a divine messenger, he was confident of the truth of his message. It is precisely in this particular that a revelation from God differs from what is of man. All that is outside of the Bible, all that presumes to come into competition with it, and challenges the ears of men, is but a sea, an unformed mass, of opinions and reasonings. How welcome therefore to the soul, wearied in its quest after some stable foundation on which to rest in view of death and eternity, is the immutable basis laid for faith in the infallible Scriptures. Daniel's message concerned time alone (although it reached onward to the close of all God's ways in government on the earth); but knowing the source whence it came, he could authoritatively announce that what he had spoken would be surely fulfilled.

And Nebuchadnezzar, idolator though he was, acknowledged, was constrained to acknowledge, the power of the word. He "fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him. The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret" (vv. 46, 47). There was no escape for the king from this conclusion. He only had the dream, and having had it, he only could test Daniel's claim for God to reveal secrets; and hence, when his secret was revealed, the conclusion was irresistible that Daniel's God was above all gods. The confession indeed was remarkable, admitting as it did the supremacy of God in heaven and on earth, and also what amounted to His omniscience. Far, however, as it went, neither Nebuchadnezzar's conscience nor heart appears to have been reached. It was but the bowing of his mind to the evidence offered. just as those in the days of our Lord who believed in His name when they saw the miracles which He did (John 2: 23). His action, in yielding homage to Daniel and in commanding an oblation to be offered to him, as well as his subsequent conduct, is the proof of this; even though for the moment he proclaimed in the presence of his court the sovereignty of Daniel's God in heaven and on earth.

Lastly, Nebuchadnezzar "made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon" (v. 48). Like Pharaoh, the king felt that "a man in whom the Spirit of God" was (Genesis 41: 38), would be a valuable assistant in government; and he consequently promoted him to great honour. Daniel had neither sought nor asked anything for himself; but now that he was exalted, he "requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king."

In such a way, when the sentence of death had gone forth against them, did God rescue His servants, and, working out His own purposes in testimony and blessing, bring them forth in the full light of the day. They were of the captivity of Judah; but now they are made to occupy the most prominent places in Babylon, for the king exalted them above all his courtiers and nobles in the direction of public affairs, while Daniel himself was in a still higher position, for he "sat in the gate of the king."

DANIEL 3.

IN chapter 2 the image which Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his night-dreams shadowed out, according to Daniel's authoritative interpretation, the whole course of the times of the Gentiles. It is therefore a general picture, but a picture so distinct in its outline, that no one who gives himself earnestly to study the subject can possibly mistake its import. He that runs may read the character of the kingdoms that bridge the space between the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the appearing of Christ in glory. After this, general outline, our attention is called, by the Spirit of God, to what may be termed the moral characteristics of the Gentile powers, chiefly as displayed in Babylon; but, though displayed, there, the several features are typical or representative of what will be seen throughout the whole duration of the Gentile sovereignty. In other words, we are now permitted to gee the use which the Gentiles will make of the power entrusted to them in responsibility. This is abruptly brought before us in the opening verse of this chapter: "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was three-score cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon" (v. 1).

Such is man. Nebuchadnezzar had learnt from Daniel, if he had not known before, that the God of heaven had given him his universal kingdom, and he had confessed that Daniel's God was "a God of gods and a Lord of kings," and yet he will use his absolute power to have a god of his own, to assert his own will over the consciences of his subjects throughout his vast dominions, and thus to usurp for himself the place and authority that belonged alone to the God of heaven. That is, he used the power that God gave him to deny God and to put himself in the place of God, although this feature is subsequently expressed in a still more distinct form.

Such conduct would be wholly inexplicable were we not acquainted with the subtle motives that animate and govern the human heart, and did we not remember that we ourselves have often used the blessings vouchsafed of God for our own profit and exaltation. In truth, Nebuchadnezzar might have had strong inducements to the course delineated in this chapter. His empire must have been an immense conglomerate, composed of numberless tongues (see vv. 4-8) and religions, all of which would tend, politically speaking, to disturb the peace of his realm.* If, therefore, his heterogenous dominions could be welded together by a common religion, his empire would be consolidated and the welfare of his subjects promoted. Whatever his thoughts, such was the course he adopted, and he made the magnificent image which he determined should serve as the deity for "all the people, the nations, and the languages" that were subject to his authority.†

*The difficulties in the government of India, springing up from the difference of religion, will afford an illustration of this.

†It has often been suggested that the image of his dreams formed the pattern for his idol. It is certainly remarkable that the one followed so closely upon the other, and that, as the head of the one that symbolised his own kingdom was of gold, he should make his idol of gold. There might have been a connection in his mind between the two, but the wonder is, as already seen, that the impressions made upon his mind by the revelation of his secret, and by the interpretation Daniel gave him, could have been so soon effaced. We all know, however, how transient the deepest feelings are where there is no positive work of the Holy Ghost in the soul.

The image erected, all the governing authorities and officials of his realm were summoned to Babylon, to be present at "the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up"; and they were all obedient to the royal command. Assembled "before the image," the decree was proclaimed by an herald — "To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: and whoso falleth not down and worshippeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace" (vv. 4-6).

The decree would be easily understood: it was simple and brief, and the penalty was plain. Nor was there much, according to human thoughts, required. An act of prostration before the king's idol at the appointed moment, and the whole thing was over. But the decree needs a little examination. It was, as before observed, the intrusion of man's will into God's domain. Obedience to the powers that be, as may be hereafter more fully explained, is a sacred duty; but obedience to the powers that be can only be rendered within the circle of their own lawful authority. If they step out of this circle, as the rulers in Jerusalem did when they commanded the apostles not to teach or to preach in the name of Jesus, they must be told, as Peter and John answered, "We must obey God rather than men." Absolute monarch, therefore, as Nebuchadnezzar was, he stepped outside of his own domain, and claimed for himself what was due to God alone, when he issued his decree.

Another thing may be remarked. The signal for the worship of the image was the outburst of all kinds of music from the finest band in all the king's dominions. If religious feelings did not exist, they must be produced by the sweet and sensuous sounds of harmony. How subtle the wiles of Satan! for we have really here the history of all religious music. It appeals to nature, and begets natural emotions; but in these the Spirit of God has no part, for they that worship God "must worship Him in spirit and in truth." All these expedients do but deceive souls by their enjoyment of what is natural, and at the same time they both shut out God and conceal the spiritual condition of the professed worshippers.

There was practically entire unanimity in obedience to the king's command. Three only, as far as is recorded, refused to comply with his decree. These were brought to the notice of the king by certain Chaldeans, who "came near, and accused the Jews" (v. 8). After reciting the king's decree, with the accompanying penalty for disobedience, they proceeded: "There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded thee: they serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up" (v. 12). If the accusation was subtle, and couched in the form most likely to arouse the anger of the king, its motive is very apparent. Jealousy is written plainly upon it. "There are certain Jews" — men of an alien race, belonging to a hostile nation, of those who were brought here as captives, and those whom thou hast promoted over the heads of thine own loyal subjects — it is these who have set themselves up in opposition to thy royal command. Hatred is scarcely less concealed, for, before charging them with refusing to worship the king's image, they say, "They serve not thy gods." The king knew this well from Daniel, and had, notwithstanding, appointed them to their posts of honour; but the Chaldeans could not brook the servants of the true God being thus exalted, and the opportunity had at length arrived for them to express the enmity of their hearts in the accusation they now made. Happy was it for Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego that no charge could be brought against them excepting, as afterwards in the case of Daniel, concerning the law of their God.

If, however, the manner of the accusation was dictated by jealousy and hatred, it was well calculated to appeal to the conscience of Nebuchadnezzar. The mention of his promotion of the three Jews would, it might be supposed, surely recall to the king's mind that eventful day when Daniel had unfolded his secret and its meaning, together with the confession which Daniel's words had extorted from his lips. But if so, all was forgotten in his "rage and fury" at the men who had dared to disregard his absolute and imperious will. The knowledge which God had communicated to Daniel had, in a certain sense, ministered to the king's desire, whereas now, faithfulness to God crossed his will, and taught him that there were some who believed, and who acted on their belief, that God was, to use the king's own words, "a God of gods, and a Lord of kings." This was insufferable to the insensate and irritated monarch, and he commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego should be brought. "Then they brought these men before the king" (v. 13).

Morally speaking, it was a most impressive scene. On the one hand there was Nebuchadnezzar, the mightiest monarch the world had ever, seen, surrounded with all the pomp and magnificence of his court and realm; and on the other, three men of a despised race, whatever the position they occupied at that moment in the government. And the question about to be raised was this: Who is the master of men's consciences, God or man? Nebuchadnezzar himself raised it. First, he asked them if the accusation were true; and it will be observed that he travels outside his own decree in accepting the additional charge — that they did not serve the king's gods — which the Chaldeans had brought. Next, he gives them a further opportunity of proving their loyalty when the band of music should once more break out in exciting strains. If then "ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace" (v. 15). Lastly, carried beyond all bounds by his rage, he dared to challenge the interposition of anyone superior to himself, and thereby to assert his own omnipotence; for he added, "Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?" This was in truth a gage of battle, and the conflict now commenced was between Nebuchadnezzar and God.

The answer of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, quiet and subdued in tone, is sublime in the confidence in God and in His power which it breathes, and in the calm courage it expresses in their determination to dare all and to endure all rather than be unfaithful to their God. They say, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.* If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up" (vv. 16-18). As wisdom, divine wisdom, was found to be with the remnant in the previous chapter, so now faithfulness, indomitable faithfulness, to God is exhibited. Grace gave to them both the one and the other, for it was God who had taken up His servants to display, through them, His own wisdom and power.

*Some translate, "It is not necessary to answer thee on this subject."

But this answer of the three children of Judah to Nebuchadnezzar must be examined to understand its full import. First, then, they declared that they were not careful, or that it was not necessary, to reply to the king in "this matter," meaning, undoubtedly, that as the king had defied God, it was He alone who could deal with him, and that they fully counted on His interposition to rebuke his arrogant and profane presumption, and to vindicate His own name and supremacy. They then proceeded calmly to confess their faith in the power of their God to deliver them should Nebuchadnezzar carry out his threat of casting them into the furnace, and their confidence that He would deliver them out of his hand. They added, moreover, that should He not deliver them, their determination was fixed not to yield to the king's command. They knew whom they had believed, and that He was able to preserve them from the king's fury; but if it were His will, they were ready to die as martyrs for His name's sake. As another has observed, their faith and obedience were as absolute as the will of the king.

This attitude of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego defines with exactitude, as already remarked, the true position of the believer in relation to the powers that be. Everywhere in the New Testament submission to these is enjoined, and such is to be the path of the Christian in the midst of political agitations and confusions. He is neither to raise questions, nor to examine the lawfulness of constituted authorities. It is enough for him that they are in power, and he pursues his way in peace as he renders the required obedience. But if these authorities, whether they be emperors, kings, or magistrates, travel outside of their own province, as Nebuchadnezzar did, and seek to substitute their will for the word of God, and to impose that will on the consciences of their subjects — putting themselves, in fact, in the place of God — then, in very faithfulness to God, like these three children of the captivity, and at whatever cost, the believer is bound to disobey. The limit of his obedience to kings is obedience to God in obeying them. The moment he is called upon to disobey God by yielding to a monarch's demands, he must, if he would retain a good conscience towards God, refuse the demanded subjection, even at the cost of life. Such was the ground taken in this conflict between Nebuchadnezzar and these three subjects of his realm.

This was a new thing to this master of the world. Absolute in authority over all the kingdoms of the earth, was he to be flatly and publicly disobeyed by three Jews — members of a nation which he had conquered? Such a thing could not for one moment be tolerated; and hence he was "full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego"; and "he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace."

A public example must be made of these rebels to the king's commands, and a salutary impression produced on all the representatives of the government. In some measure, one can understand the wrath of this arbitrary monarch. He had devised an expedient for securing the unity of the various races of his dominions, and it seemed likely to be successful. Not a hand nor a foot was moved against the project, when suddenly three Jews, and these the special objects of the king's favour, were brought before him and charged with resisting his commands.* His entire scheme was thus imperilled, and hence the ungovernable passion with which he ordered the rebels to his authority to the cruellest doom that could possibly be devised.

*Many speculations have been offered upon the fact of Daniel's absence from this scene. That he did not surrender his faith, that he was as faithful as his companions, is attested by his subsequent history. Why he does not appear in this chapter is not revealed.

His commands were instantly obeyed, and "because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego." What was human life to this wilful, raging king? But God will teach him by the very contrast, that what is death to His enemies cannot injure those who are under His protection. (Compare Exodus 14; Mark 16: 18.) "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace — and, their confidence in God vindicated, they were not destroyed. The men who had cast them into the furnace were overpowered and killed by the scorching flames; but they themselves though in the midst of the furnace were unharmed. Their God was able to deliver them. There was another thing to fill the mind of the king with astonishment. He "rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God" (vv. 24, 25). Two miracles thus amazed the king: the fact of his intended victims being loose and unhurt, and the presence with them of a supernatural Companion, whom he designates as "like the Son of God."* Not that he understood his own speech; but we may conclude that the Spirit of God, as often in the Scriptures, controlled him, and made him proclaim the truth. Isaiah had said, speaking in the name of Jehovah to Israel, "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; . . . When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (Isa. 43: 2); and this promise was now fulfilled to this believing remnant, as it will be to the remnant of a future day, of which these three children are a type. Jehovah was with His faithful servants in the furnace to sustain, to comfort, and to secure them from harm. Before the very eyes of the king, who had impotently and impiously dared Him to deliver out of his hand, He appears, and shielding His servants from the power of the flames, vindicates their confidence in Him, and their fidelity to His name. Has He not also said to us, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me"? (Hebrews 13: 5, 6).

*Whether the translation be accepted as it stands, or taken as "Son of the gods," the significance remains. He owns that some one, more than mortal, is with them in the furnace.

Nebuchadnezzar had provoked the conflict in challenging the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. God came in, and silently exhibited His power before the furious king; and he is conquered! Forgetful of everything else now but the spectacle before his eyes, insensible even to his own public humiliation, he, confessing his defeat, with his whole mien and aspect changed, advanced "to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire" (v. 26).

It is to be remarked that it is not said that anyone besides Nebuchadnezzar saw the divine Companion of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. His eyes were for the moment opened to see what was naturally invisible, that he might learn his own folly in entering upon a conflict with the God of heaven. What patience and long-suffering on the part of God, in the presence of the weak profanity of one of His own creatures! Happy is it for man, for us all, that He never allows His purposes to be frustrated by our daring presumption and rebellion.

The king's command was now obeyed, and these "servants of the most high God" came forth; and the truth of their preservation — the miracle wrought — was verified by "the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors," who were "gathered together," it would seem, to examine the reality of this miraculous preservation; and they "saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them" (v. 27). The deliverance was total and complete, for the fire had only been allowed to burn the bonds wherewith they had been bound: at least they were seen, notwithstanding they had been bound, walking in liberty in the company of their Deliverer and Preserver. Overwhelmed by the undeniable character of the evidence offered, and owning his own impotence and defeat before such a God, Nebuchadnezzar said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent His angel, and delivered His servants that trusted in Him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God" (V. 28). He thus paid honour to God, who had rescued His servants from the king's wrath, and he justified those who, in fidelity to "their own God," had refused to worship the image which he himself had set up. He made a decree, moreover, "That every people, nation, and language, which speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill: because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort" (v. 29).

All the king's thoughts and projects were thus utterly set at nought. The image he had made had been publicly refused, and as publicly declared to be a false god. Nebuchadnezzar himself was constrained to confess the impotence of himself and of his god, and to proclaim throughout his empire that there was no god like the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. His magnificent assembly had been in vain as far as his own purposes were concerned. Obsequious subjects came from all parts of his dominions to accept and to worship the king's idol: and lo! even before they dispersed, a trumpet-tongued testimony was raised to the supremacy of the most High God. God vindicated His own name, and the faith of His servants, before all the notabilities of the realm.

One thing more is recorded: "Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon" (v. 30). The victory vouchsafed was complete; for not only did God frustrate the designs of the king, but also those of the jealous and malignant enemies of His servants. They had thought to compass the destruction of these faithful men; but the issue was their further promotion and exaltation.

So far the record is historical; but is it only historical? To suppose so would be to miss the main object of the narrative. The actual facts took place, but these actual facts were chosen to set forth what will lake place in the last days. As the first Gentile empire became idolatrous so will also the last, as we may learn from Rev. 13, and as God's faithful remnant was the object of enmity and persecution under the king of Babylon, so will it be again under the last head of the Roman empire (see Rev. 12: 13-17; Rev. 13: 6-8, 15, etc.). But, as we read in this same book, Daniel's people, however hot the furnace into which they shall at that time be cast, "shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." Satan may be allowed to rage, and to sift the people of God, but not a hair of their heads can fall without God's permission. The history therefore of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego is full of encouragement — especially for the Jewish remnant in the last days, but also for the saints of God in every age when surrounded by the fires of persecution, when Satan, as a roaring lion, is seeking whom he may devour. And the lesson is written large: "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (1 Cor. 10: 13).

DANIEL 4.

A SPECIAL character attaches to this chapter from the fact that it contains a communication or letter, written by Nebuchadnezzar himself, and addressed to "all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth." He had been favoured with many signs from God through Daniel's interpretation of his dream in chapter 2, and in connection with the deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the power of the flames in chapter 3, and, under the momentary impressions produced, he had confessed Daniel's God to be a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a Revealer of secrets, and that there was no god that could deliver as the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. His heart, however, was unchanged; but in the narrative before us, which again is both historic and prophetic, we are permitted to see the way in which this idolatrous king is brought at last to "praise and extol and honour the King of Heaven" (v. 37). Read in its connection, there cannot be a doubt that Nebuchadnezzar really bowed in conscience and heart to the testimony which reached him through the prophet Daniel, and that he thus became a servant of the "Most High."

The proof of this lies in the royal communication to all his subjects. He desires that every person in his dominions should be made acquainted with his "conversion." The address of the letter has already been noticed; and this is followed by a salutation — "Peace be multiplied unto you" — which in its form is almost apostolic. (Compare 1 Peter 1: 2.) In verses 2, 3 he concisely states the object he has in addressing his subjects: "I thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me"; and then his heart overflows in admiration as he recalls what God had wrought, exclaiming, "How great are His signs! and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation." It is a good thing when the soul is constrained to confess what God has wrought by His grace; for, as the apostle teaches, if the heart believes unto righteousness, it is with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. It is due to God that confession should be made, and when made it turns to a testimony for His glory.

Following upon this, he gives his own personal circumstances at the time when this new message from God reached him. "I Nebuchadnezzar was at rest in mine house, and flourishing in my palace" (v. 4). He had attained the summit of all human ambition. Monarch of all the kingdoms of the earth, his authority undisputed, prosperous in all his undertakings, with nothing to disturb his tranquillity, whether as touching his public or his private affairs; he was in peace* in his house, and flourishing in his palace. Everything, in a word, went well with this mighty monarch, so that he might have been, if human prosperity could have given it, in the enjoyment of perfect happiness. And he was, it would seem, happy, but without God. It was from this clear sky, with no premonition of coming trouble, that God's warnings suddenly came to arouse the king and to fill him with apprehensions. "I saw a dream," he says, "which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head. troubled me" (v. 5).

*Such is the translation given by some; and this removes perhaps the ambiguity of the words "at rest," as in connection with his dream and visions they might be thought to mean that he was resting in sleep.

The dream did not, as on a former occasion, pass away from his mind; nor did he understand what he had seen, although he was troubled — troubled as he felt that it contained something of momentous import for him and for his kingdom. He therefore at once issued a decree to bring, in all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to him the interpretation of the dream (v. 6). Having proved their incompetency in Daniel 2, and having, at the same time, learned that Daniel alone could unravel his mystery, it may seem strange that Daniel was not immediately summoned into the king's presence. There is no affinity between the natural and the spiritual man. Saul was glad to avail himself of David's services both with his harp and with his sword, and yet he hated him. In like manner, Nebuchadnezzar had profited by Daniel's interpretation; but he could not love the one who was the representative before him of the God of heaven. If, therefore, he could do without Daniel, he would; and consequently he first tried his own wise men. Again their impotence was manifested. The wisdom of man is confined to earth; but Nebuchadnezzar's dream came from heaven. The subject was one outside of all the thoughts of men, even though it related to the earth. To understand God's things a man must be instructed of God; and this the wise men of Babylon were not. Foiled in his purpose, the king tells us, "At the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god," etc. (v. 8). The next verse plainly shows that Nebuchadnezzar had not forgotten Daniel's ability as an expounder of secrets, although he could not have known the source of his inspiration, nor that he was God's vessel of the spirit of prophecy. He only sent for him, therefore, from necessity, inasmuch as in all his dominions there was no other who could interpret his dream.

Every particular of the dream was fast rooted in the king's memory, and he proceeded to repeat it to Daniel. It falls into three parts; first, its subject-matter, the tree (vv. 10-12) secondly, the judgment upon the tree (vv. 13-16) and lastly, the object of the judgment executed (v. 17). As all these particulars are taken up by Daniel, we may pass to his interpretation, after noticing, first, the effect on Daniel of the king's recital.

When Nebuchadnezzar had explained to him what he had seen in the visions of his head in his bed (v. 10), "Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was astonied for one hour, and his thoughts troubled him." The meaning of the dream was unfolded to his soul as he heard it, and as he comprehended its import in its application to the king, filled with amazement, and troubled, he was reluctant, it would appear, to communicate to him the significance of the dream. This was perceived by Nebuchadnezzar, and he said, "Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation thereof, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies" (v. 19). It may be questioned whether Daniel, in speaking thus, having received from God the interpretation of the dream, maintained the level of his prophetic office as a messenger from God; and it will be observed that in the record of this sentence the name Daniel is dropped. It is for the first and only time Belteshazzar — "not Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar," but simply Belteshazzar — who answered the king.

However this may be, Daniel commenced to give to the king the interpretation of his dream: "The tree that thou sawest, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight thereof to all the earth; whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the heaven had their habitation: it is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong: for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth" (vv. 20-22). The figure of a tree to denote men in their earthly greatness is often used in the prophets. Ezekiel thus says: "Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. . . . All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations," etc. (Ezek. 31: 3-9). This striking correspondence helps much to understand the symbology of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams, and enables us to perceive how apt an illustration it is of exaltation in the government of the earth, in the far-reaching, wide-spreading, and sheltering protection it affords to all ranks and conditions of men. The beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven are introduced because both alike had been given into his hand (see Dan. 2: 38); and hence they, as well as the children of men, are looked upon as subject to, sustained and protected by, his authority. Well therefore might Daniel say to the king, "Thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth."

A difference between the head of gold in chapter 2, and the tree here, in their respective applications, is to be remarked. Both concern Nebuchadnezzar, as plainly said; but the former includes his dynasty, inasmuch as it is not until his dynasty ends that the second of the four prophetic kingdoms appears. The latter is a symbol of Nebuchadnezzar himself, as is seen by the judgment executed; only, it has to be added, that his degradation is in reality, as may be afterwards explained, typical of the character of the Gentile power in government on to its supersession at the appearing of Christ to establish His kingdom.

Having given the application of the symbol, Daniel continued his interpretation: "And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it; yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him; this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the most High, which is come upon my lord the king: that they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will. And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the tree roots; thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule" (vv. 23-26).

Nothing could be more precise than this interpretation, and it is given at length that the reader may perceive how exact in every detail was the fulfilment. It could not be otherwise, inasmuch as it was, through Daniel, a divine exposition of Nebuchadnezzar's vision. It may now be understood why Daniel was tempted, as the judgment impending over the king rose up before him, to say, "The dream be to them that hate thee." It was only the courage which the sense of his mission from God imparted that enabled him thus fearlessly to unroll the scroll of the king's future; and it needed courage for the Jewish captive-prophet to stand before the monarch of the world, and to depict such an overwhelming disaster. Daniel himself would appear to have been moved; for he appealed to the king in words of earnest entreaty, "Wherefore, O king, let my counsel, be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity." Like Paul with Felix, Daniel reasoned with Nebuchadnezzar of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come; but we do not read that the king trembled. The message however had been delivered and the appeal made; and the momentous interview between the prophet and the monarch was ended.

In the next place the history of the fulfilment of Daniel's interpretation is given. "All this," he says, "came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar" (v. 28); and then we have the circumstances under which the threatened judgment was executed. Twelve months had passed, and there is no record that the king had even been troubled by the warning he had received. The sky was still clear, with not a cloud on the distant horizon. This might be a matter of unspeakable surprise if we did not remember that the spectacle of sinners unmoved on the eve of eternal woe greets our eyes every day. Death must come, and judgment will follow, and yet men are careless and heedless. So with Nebuchadnezzar; and hence it is that we read that "at the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon." And what was the subject of his meditations? His own greatness, power, and majesty. "The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" (v. 30). All this was the glorification of himself, the full-blown pride of the human heart, begotten of his exaltation and prosperity — the pride that goeth before destruction. The source of his power had been communicated to him (Dan. 2); but this he had entirely forgotten in attributing all the glory of his kingdom to himself. Surveying the magnificence of his palace and metropolis, with a heart swelling with pride and exultation, he ascribed all to the might of his own power, and declared that it was all for the honour of his own majesty. God was not in all his thoughts, nor even his own false gods; his vision was bounded by himself — himself as the source of all his glory, and himself as the object of all his works. What an insight into the heart of man! We are thus allowed to behold the moral condition of this gigantic tree before it is hewn down according to the divine decree.

The similarity between this and the parable of the rich man, whose ground brought forth plentifully, will at once be recalled. As he congratulated himself upon his prosperity, purposed to enlarge his barns, and contemplated years of selfish enjoyment, the judgment went forth, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee" (Luke 12: 16-20). In like manner, as Nebuchadnezzar vented the pride of his heart in his foolish boasting, even "while the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, The kingdom is departed from thee"; and then the judgment pronounced by Daniel is repeated by the voice, and immediately executed. For "the same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his. hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws." When God speaks it is done, and what He commands ever stands fast.

It is now necessary to enquire into the meaning of this judgment; and on examination it will be found that it has a threefold significance — personal, moral, and prophetic. First, then, the personal meaning has to be considered. This lies in the fact that what was inflicted upon Nebuchadnezzar was a direct judgment from God for his personal pride, for what might be termed his self-deification. The pride of man is one of the especial objects of God's hatred; and because of its expression in an extreme form in the king of Babylon, he fell under God's judicial hand. There are those who endeavour to account for his condition in a natural way by terming it a special form of madness. Even so, the question returns, Whence came it? The Biblical narrative supplies the answer — an answer recorded by the king himself — that it came from the hand of God as a just judgment upon Nebuchadnezzar's overweening pride and vainglory. Threatened a year before it was inflicted, and space thus having been given for repentance, he has the very words of Daniel recalled to his mind by a voice from heaven, at the very moment when the punitive stroke was about to descend. Entrusted with the government of the earth, God held him accountable, and punished him accordingly, and yet in grace, as well as in righteousness, since the object was to teach him "that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will" (v. 32).

The moral significance of what befell Nebuchadnezzar is even, if possible, of more importance. He was driven from men, became as a beast of the earth, for he ate grass as oxen, and in his bodily condition was even worse than the beasts of the field. All this is but expressive of his moral state, and of the character of the power he wielded as dissociated from God. In the language of another: "Power is reduced to the condition of the beasts that know not God, and are devoid of man's understanding. The only true privilege of man, that which ennobles him, is that he can look up to God and acknowledge Him. Without this he looks downward, he cannot suffice to himself, he is degraded. . . . Pride and independence separate man from God; he becomes a beast, devoid of real intelligence." The physical state of this monarch is therefore a moral picture, and one that should often be pondered, inasmuch as it reveals man's condition according to the estimate of God, when he vaunts his own power, seeks his own glory, and asserts his own independence. But it goes further than the king himself; it embraces also the character of his rule, and of his kingdom. If then the first kingdom in man's hand becomes in Daniel 3 idolatrous, in Daniel 4 it becomes bestial, bestial in the sense of being devoid of all intelligence as dissevered from God, and as looking downward, and feeding only upon the motives and objects of earth. For when man in his exaltation shuts out God from his thoughts, mid makes himself his centre and object, he is morally no better than a beast. As the Psalmist says, "Man that is in honour and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish" (Psalm 49: 20).

There is lastly the prophetic aspect. "Seven times" were to pass over the king in his degradation before he should be restored. It does not say "years," though possibly the "times" might be "years," but "times." The expression is vague, while the term "seven" gives it a very precise meaning; that is, a perfect period, a period comprising the whole duration of the times of the Gentiles. We gather, therefore, that all the four kingdoms — and these, it will be remembered, embrace the whole period of Gentile rule — will have the same moral character before God; that the power exercised in them will be apart from God, and will be wielded for self, for man, and for earthly objects, without regard to God's thoughts, or to responsibility to Him from whom the power has been derived. This is a very solemn consideration, and on many accounts. It shows that no improvement in the governments of the earth is to be expected, and therefore that it is worse than useless, to say nothing of inconsistency with his heavenly calling, for the Christian to embark upon the sea of political agitations, in the hope of securing some amelioration in the state of things around. It is not for one moment denied that man's condition in this world may be improved by just and beneficent laws; but the question remains, Will any political changes or legislative enactments alter the moral character either of human governments or of their subjects? Our chapter, with a host of other scriptures, proclaims that the character of the first kingdom will be repeated in its successors; and it will, as we know from the book of Revelation, be seen without any disguise in the final form of the last of the four prophetic kingdoms. If any one should doubt this statement, let him trace the course of human governments from the days of the kingdom of Babylon up to the present time. Let him wade through the histories of conquests, wars, and dynasties, and then let him ask himself if he could name any period when the power of the throne was held from God, and wielded for God. He will undoubtedly discover that some individual monarchs have been pious men; but he will also have to confess that, whatever their piety, they could not change the course or the character of their governments. The powers that be are ordained of God, and therefore the Christian is to render them all due honour and subjection; but this in no wise militates against the fact that Nebuchadnezzar's condition in its moral aspect, as given in our chapter, depicts the character of the kingdoms which fill up the times of the Gentiles.

Having traced the meanings of Nebuchadnezzar's degradation, we may now consider its effect on himself. The "seven times" may also refer to this effect. The period was divinely appointed, and, as in analogous cases in the typical books, had without doubt regard to the change to be wrought in his soul. His degradation, in other words, was to continue for a perfect period, as indicated by the number seven, until the divinely-intended work in his soul should be accomplished. Hence he says, "And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured Him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation: and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?" (vv. 34, 35). The object of God's dealings with him was attained; for the king had now learnt the lesson appointed him, that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will (see vv. 25, 32).

Let us, however, examine his confession more particularly. In the judgment with which he had been visited he was as a beast of the earth; and, as we have pointed out, the characteristic of a beast is that it looks downward, and does not possess the intelligence of man. It is, therefore, most interesting to notice that the moment Nebuchadnezzar lifted up his eyes to heaven his understanding returned. So with the prodigal who had wandered into the far country; his "coming to himself" and his turning to his father's house are connected. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and this statement is illustrated in the experience of the king of Babylon. Turning upward to the hand that had smitten him, he began to understand, for he learnt for the first time his accountability to God.

And remark that the first use he makes of his newly-found understanding is to bless the most High, to praise and honour Him as the eternal God, and as the Sovereign Ruler both in heaven and on earth. This is exceedingly beautiful; and is the sure evidence of what we know as a work of grace in the soul. The character under which he blesses God, "the most High," is also significant. This title is first found in connection with Melchizedek, who is termed the priest of the most High God; and who, blessing Abram on his return from the slaughter of the kings, said, "Blessed be Abram of the most High God, possessor of heaven and earth" (Genesis 14: 18, 19). This plainly teaches, as also may be gathered from other scriptures, that this is the title which God will assume in the age to come, when He will, in very deed, possess the earth as well as heaven. In addition, therefore, to the significance of the use of the title by Nebuchadnezzar, who owned thereby that God, though He had committed the sovereignty of the earth to him, yet did according to His will on earth as in heaven, there is also a prophetic meaning. We have already called attention to the fact that Nebuchadnezzar's degradation shadowed forth the character of Gentile rule on to the end; and now we learn that it will be through judgment that the nations will be brought to acknowledge God. We thus read in the prophet Zephaniah, "My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent" (Zeph. 3: 8, 9).

Daniel had told the king that the kingdom should be sure unto him; after that he had learnt that the heavens do rule. This prediction was also verified; for he further adds: "At the same time my reason returned unto me; and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honour and brightness returned unto me; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me" (v. 36). God thus fulfilled His own word by the mouth of His servant; not one jot or tittle was allowed to fall to the ground; and Nebuchadnezzar joyfully confesses and records the divine faithfulness. And it is no small encouragement in the presence of the pride of power everywhere displayed, and amid all the confusions of earth, to see that God is working through all for the accomplishment of His own purposes, and that in the issue all the Gentiles, as well as His ancient people, will be brought into willing subjection to Christ when He establishes His kingdom, and extends His sway throughout the whole earth.

The chapter closes with another note of praise: "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase" (v. 37). Comparing the Nebuchadnezzar who renders this praise to God with the Nebuchadnezzar who said, as he surveyed the magnificence of his city, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?" etc., we can only exclaim, "What hath God wrought!" He had indeed shown His power to abase the one who was walking in pride; and, more than this, in abasing him He so effectually changed the heart of the monarch that he turned submissively to the hand that had smitten him, and confessed that all God's works are truth, and His ways judgment. He thus justified God, a sure and unmistakable sign of conversion, and as he justified Him his lips were filled with praise and adoration. It is a lovely picture of the ways of God both in judgment and in grace.

A word should be added upon the character in which he here confesses God. He now speaks of Him as the King of heaven; and this is also evidence of his having been divinely taught. When Jehovah had His throne in Jerusalem, He was God of the earth as well as of heaven; but when He had abandoned His throne there, and had committed the sovereignty of the world to the Gentile monarch, He would be known as the God of heaven, and it is to Him as such that Daniel bore testimony before the king (Dan. 2: 37-44). But while God had now assumed this title, He in no wise surrendered either His claims to the earth, or the present actings of His power in government; for His object in the judicial stroke that fell upon Nebuchadnezzar was, as we have seen, to teach him, "that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will." Nebuchadnezzar had confessed this truth; but ere he concludes the account of God's dealings with himself he proceeds a step further, and owns Him as the King of heaven.

It is exceedingly interesting to trace the various stages in Nebuchadnezzar's history which led up to this conclusion. In Daniel 2 he confessed to Daniel, "Of a truth it is that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret"; in Daniel 3 he decreed that no one, under the extreme penalties of the law, should speak against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, owning that there was no other god that could "deliver after this sort"; and, lastly, in our chapter he acknowledges God as the most High, and as the King of heaven. God thus in His mercy subdued the proud heart of this mighty potentate, and humbling him before Him, made him confess His name before all the inhabitants of his vast empire. If a record of judgment, it is yet a story of unbounded grace.

DANIEL 5.

IT is of all importance to remind ourselves again and again, in reading the chapters that form the first part of this book, that while they are strictly historic they are also prophetic; that while they describe characteristics of the thrones of the Gentiles, to which God entrusted the sovereignty of the earth after the destruction of Jerusalem, these characteristics will reappear in the last days. There are three things, indeed, which especially have this prophetic character: the acts of these various monarchs; the judgments that followed as in the last, and in the present, chapter; and the deliverance of God's people as seen "in chapter 3, and again in the person of Daniel, in chapter 6. To these may be added the acknowledgement of the true God by the Gentiles after their having been judged, as portrayed in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, and also in that of Darius (Dan. 6), albeit his confession is elicited rather by the display of God's power in succouring His people, as represented by Daniel, when in the very jaws of destruction.

Coming now, to our chapter, a still worse moral feature of Gentile sovereignty is exhibited. Idolatry and pride of power — vainglory — had marked Nebuchadnezzar; but Belshazzar is distinguished by the public insolence of daring impiety, venting itself in open wickedness and profanity. The occasion for this outburst of iniquity is described in the first verse: "Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand." It was a night of feasting, revelry, and unbridled licence, when all the evil passions of man's corrupt heart were inflamed and enticed to their gratification. For, mark, it was while Belshazzar "tasted the wine," that he gave the commandment "to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar* had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein" (v. 2).

*The chronology of Nebuchadnezzar's successors cannot be accurately determined, but it seems beyond question that Belshazzar could not have been his son. It is possible that he might have been his grandson, though this is not certain. The term "father," therefore, as is often the case in Scripture, is used in the sense of progenitor, or forefather. Whatever the exact relationship he bore to Nebuchadnezzar, he could not have been very far removed from that monarch, seeing that he was well acquainted with the judgment that had fallen upon him (v. 22).

Was he intoxicated? With the pride of wicked presumption certainly; and this was inflamed by the wine which he drank. Indulgence in wine, in the joy which earth affords, necessarily panders to the heart's worst desires; and the company that surrounded the king reveals that this instance was no exception to the general rule. Had this been, however, but an ordinary revel or debauch, whatever its accompanying licentiousness, no inspired pen would have recorded it; but the crowning sin of it was the direct insult which Belshazzar offered to the God of Israel, the God of heaven. The holy vessels were holy still in God's eyes, however polluted they had been by the sins of His kings and priests, for they had been used in the house where He had put His name for ever, and where His eyes and His heart should be perpetually (1 Kings 9: 3). True He had in judgment suffered them to share in the captivity of His people; but He could not allow them, consistently with all that He was, and with all that He purposed, to be defiled by the Gentile monarch and his profligate associates. Nor was it only that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them; but "they drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." Gods of all degrees were extolled and their superiority over the God of Israel insultingly vaunted; and in so doing they challenged God publicly and insolently. With such insensate folly and impiety did this foolhardy king dare the interposition of the living and true God.

The answer — for it could not be delayed — was at hand; almost before the sounds of their idolatrous chants had died away — "in the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote (v. 5). Silently came these mysterious fingers in answer to the king's challenge, silently they wrote their words of doom amid the noise of revelry and of song, and yet, for an unseen power directed his eyes, the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. And what was the effect of the apparition? Surely fortified by wine, and strong in confidence in the omnipotence of his gods, the king will not be afraid? But even he — wicked as he was — had a conscience, and he knew of the power that had driven even Nebuchadnezzar from his throne, and made him, for a season, like the beasts of the earth; and conscience now, in spite of the king's surroundings, asserted its office, and "the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another (v. 6). What a change! In the midst of his banquet he had dared to insult the God of heaven, and now, at the sight of this mysterious hand, fear and dread possessed his soul, and he trembled from head to foot. He had girded himself to challenge the omnipotent God; and the moment the challenge was accepted, before the blow had been struck, his heart failed him under the awful apprehension of coming judgment. Who can help him at such a moment? Instead of humbling himself before the One against whom he had so grievously sinned, he called to his succour the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers, and by the proffer of munificent rewards hoped they might be able to solve the written words, and thus, as he vainly thought, give him relief. But the wisdom of this world could not unravel God's secrets nor interpret His writing; and these men of pretended knowledge were as impotent as they had been proved to be in the days of Nebuchadnezzar. "The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God."

Belshazzar was still more troubled, panic-stricken as he had been, and even his courtiers were astonished. But God meant that the king should have the writing explained, only it must be done by His own chosen vessel. The instrument was at hand to bring Daniel to Belshazzar's notice. "The queen* by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house" (v. 10). She had not taken part in the wild orgies of this eventful night; but the rumour of the apparition that had startled the king and his guests had gone out through the palace and reached her ears. She was fully acquainted with what had taken place in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, as also with the service Daniel had rendered, and with the place to which he had been consequently appointed, and she hastened therefore to the king's help. "O king," she said, "live for ever: let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed: there is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods"; and then, after describing what he had proved himself to be in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, she added, "Let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation" (vv. 10-12).

*This could scarcely have been Belshazzar's wife (see v. 3); most probably therefore it was the queen-mother, or, as expressed in modern language, the queen-dowager.

Daniel was at once "brought in before the king. And the king spake and said unto Daniel, Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Jewry?" He had known, as before remarked, of the services of Daniel, but he had not cared to know him personally. The impious king had no desire for acquaintance with the servant of God; and had only now sent for him in his extremity for help in the hour of his need. He then told Daniel, what he had heard of him, and continued: "Now if thou canst read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation thereof, thou shalt be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shalt be the third ruler in the kingdom" (vv. 14-16).

Daniel was standing before the sovereign of all the kingdoms of the earth, before an absolute monarch, and before one who held the power of life and death over all his subjects (see v. 19); but Daniel was the servant of the God, who was the source of Belshazzar's brief power; and he, therefore, conscious of his mission, neither feared the king nor was tempted by his offered rewards. In the calm confidence which, through grace, he possessed in Him whose servant he was, he "answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another; yet I will read the writing unto the king, and make known to him the interpretation" (v. 17). It was a noble preface, befitting the messenger of God to the wicked king; and the reader will not fail to remark the different spirit in which Daniel addressed Belshazzar from that in which he spoke to Nebuchadnezzar. The latter was idolatrous, imperious, and had sought to compel his subjects to worship the idol which he had made; but he had not gone the length of Belshazzar in his profanity. Daniel therefore made a distinction, taught as he undoubtedly was by the Spirit of God, and knowing that the cup of Belshazzar's iniquity was now filled up to the brim. But he will deliver his message, though, first of all, Belshazzar must be made to hear how God had dealt with Nebuchadnezzar in the past, and how that, absolute monarch as he was, and universal as was his dominion, "when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him." Daniel recounted, moreover, the nature of the judgment that was inflicted upon him, and reminded Belshazzar that all this was "till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that He appointeth over it whomsoever He will." Thereon he proceeded to deal with the trembling monarch before him — in severe, but faithful words: "And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified" (vv. 22, 23).

If God was about to smite, He will have the grounds of His action explained. It is indeed a striking feature in His ways, especially as recorded in the Old Testament, that before He acts in judgment, He is careful to state the reasons of it, that He may be clear when He speaks, and justified when He judges (see, for example, 2 Chr. 36: 11-21). So here Daniel presented the indictment against the king, showed him that he had slighted all the warnings of the past, had sinned against light and knowledge, and that he had finally lifted up himself against the Lord of heaven, and had polluted the holy vessels of His house. This shows plainly the meaning of the king's action in commanding these vessels to be brought; that it was no mere wild freak, while under the heat of wine, but a deliberate and studied insult against God. Hence it was that Daniel would have the king to understand, that "the part of the hand" was sent from God to write on the wall in connection with this very act (v. 24). In such a solemn moment there must be no mistake, and thus he arraigned the king before the tribunal of God before he expounded the writing.*

*As the writing was in the Chaldaic language, it was not that the king's wise men did not understand the words. It was the connection, application, and interpretation that they could not unfold. So many separate words would appear to them, being without the clue, as disjointed and meaningless.

The words were four: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN, and we have next Daniel's authoritative interpretation.

Before entering upon it, attention may be drawn to the fact that Daniel does not merely translate the words which had been written, but he gives out the mind of God intended to be conveyed. This could not have been done unless he himself had received a direct communication from God. The words themselves, if rendered according to their meaning, are "numbered," "weighed," and "divided"; but no human ingenuity could have discovered their divine significance, and it is this which Daniel explains. The first word was repeated. The reason for this may be doubtless found in Joseph's words to Pharaoh: "And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass" (Genesis 41: 32).

"This," says Daniel, "is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it" (v. 26). In expounding Nebuchadnezzar's vision of the great image, Daniel had said to him, "Thou art this head of gold," and, inasmuch as Babylon was to be succeeded by the Medo-Persian kingdom, it is evident, as previously remarked, that Nebuchadnezzar's dynasty was included in this term, Belshazzar being its last member. God Himself had committed the sovereignty of the earth to Nebuchadnezzar in responsibility, and He alone determined the duration of his kingdom. When therefore Daniel said to Belshazzar. "God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it," he meant that, according to the divine appointment, the termination of Babylon's sovereignty had arrived; that its days were numbered, and were now ended.

The ground of this annunciation is found in the next verse: "TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting" (v. 27). If God had committed the government of the earth to Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, for the accomplishment of His purposes in His ways with His people, He held them responsible for the way in which they fulfilled their trust. The verdict is now pronounced upon Belshazzar. Nebuchadnezzar had also failed, if not to the same extent; but, under chastisement from God, he had humbled himself, owned Him as the source of his authority, as the omnipotent Ruler in heaven and on earth, and had extolled and honoured Him as the King of heaven. Belshazzar, blind to all the teachings of the past, had more grievously sinned by magnifying his idols above the God in whose hand his breath was, and had thus lifted up himself against the Lord of heaven. His probation was now ended, and Daniel declared to him the result that, as shown by the mysterious word "Tekel," weighed in God's unerring balances, he was found wanting.

Judgment is contained in the next word, PERES,* the public judgment consequent upon Belshazzar's failure in the use of the power entrusted to him in the government of the earth: "Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." The long suffering of God towards the "head of gold" was ended; and hence there is no exhortation to repentance, nothing but the announcement of the result of God's verdict, together with the accompanying judgment. Altogether "this narrative," as has been well said, "gives us the last character of the iniquity of the sovereign power of the Gentiles, in opposition to the God of Israel, and the judgment which falls in consequence upon the monarchy of which Babylon was the head, and to which Babylon had given its own character."

*Peres is another form of the word Upharsin. The former is the participle passive, and the latter the participle active of the verb P'ras, to divide.

Nothing is said as to the effect of this awful interpretation. With the judgment pronounced God had, save the execution of the sentence, done with the man who had arrogantly defied His power. One thing, however, is added, and that is Belshazzar's last act of royalty. He could not, whatever the attitude of Daniel, allow his public promise of reward to the interpreter to fall to the ground. Men who are false to God are often true to one another in their very selfishness. Belshazzar therefore commanded, "and they clothed Daniel with scarlet, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom" (v. 29). If he believed the interpretation, it is evident that he had no conception of the rapidly approaching execution of the sentence he had heard; but "in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about three score and two years old" (vv. 30, 31).

God thus judged the first of the kingdoms of the Gentiles, and this was the monarchy of Babylon. The event was of the highest importance historically, and of no less moment prophetically; for the moral features which marked Belshazzar's sovereignty will appear in the future Babylon spoken of in Revelation.

There it is seen under two aspects — that of a woman, and that of a city.* The moral character of the former is given in these words: Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth; and we read of the ruler whose throne was derived from Satan, that "he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven" (see Rev. 17: 5; Rev. 13: 6). Moreover, as to the judgment of Babylon it is said, "Her plagues shall come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine"; and so it will happen, for those who bewail her destruction are represented as saying, "Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come" (Rev. 18: 10). This will suffice to show the exactness of the correspondence, and the prophetic nature of these historical narratives. (Compare also Jer. 50: 35-46; Jer. 51: 24-64.)

*For an explanation of these two aspects see The Visions of John in Patmos.

A few words should perhaps be said upon the question of the historical event alluded to when Belshazzar was thus surprised and slain in his capital. Isaiah is thought to refer to the capture of Babylon by Cyrus in Isaiah 45: 1, 2; and in Isaiah 47 he speaks expressly of her sudden destruction (vv. 11-15; see also Isaiah 21: 1-9). Jeremiah also prophesies with more detail of the surprise and taking of Babylon, and that in connection with the Medes (Jer. 51: 28-32); and this of the two prophecies would rather point to the event recorded in our chapter. There are those who, in the hopeless confusion of the pretended histories of the past,* seek to establish the identity of Darius with Cyrus; but the Scripture narrative is clear that Darius took the kingdom, and that Cyrus is subsequently found in its possession. And let it not be forgotten that the importance of the narrative lies in its moral and prophetic instruction; and happy are they who, with unquestioning confidence in the word of God, have their hearts prepared and opened to receive its teaching.

*In proof of this it may be said, that in Smith's Bible Dictionary the articles on Babylon, Cyrus, and Darius are made up mainly of conjecture and of attempts to reconcile the contradictory statements of the ancient records.

DANIEL 6.

IN this series of historical pictures there are presented, it will be remembered, the moral features which will distinguish, in the last days, the last form of Gentile sovereignty. If Belshazzar, therefore, typified the impiety that dared to lift itself up against the Lord of heaven, Darius sets forth the exaltation of man, and indeed, the substitution of man for God, as an object of worship. This is by no means altered by the fact that he was betrayed into taking this position, or that he himself was a man of an amiable character; for it is still true that he signed the decree, that whosoever should ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save of himself, should be cast into the den of lions (v. 7). It is not what he was in himself, but what he did, that contains the prophetic instruction; and it is quite possible that he, who in a future day will oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, and who will sit in the temple of God, and show himself that he is God (2 Thess. 2: 4), will possess many features which will extort the admiration and homage of men. When the Lord was upon the earth there was no beauty in Him that men should desire Him; there was nothing in Him to commend Him to the natural man; but, on the other hand, when Antichrist appears on the scene he will be marked by the features which will attract the hearts of men as men. Of the world, the world will love its own; whereas Christ, who was not of the world, was hated by it. It is just because Darius was naturally a man of an admirable character that he was fitted to shadow out in this respect this future ruler in his self exaltation and deification.

The first three verses of this chapter furnish the groundwork of what follows, the occasion of the actings that issued in the casting of Daniel into the lions' den. On taking possession of the throne of Babylon, Darius reorganized the affairs of the kingdom; and he "set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes . . . and over these, three presidents, of whom Daniel was first. . . . Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm" (vv. 1-3). Belshazzar had, on the eve of the capture of his city, proclaimed Daniel as the third ruler in the kingdom; Darius promoted him to the first place under himself, being God's instrument in doing so for the accomplishment of His purposes. Daniel was no unknown man; and he was hated both as a Jew and as a true worshipper of the God of heaven. His exaltation in the government still further provoked the envy and jealousy of the nobles, the princes, and the presidents over whom he had been placed. A man of incorruptible fidelity, and seeking only to commend himself to God, could not be loved by men of corrupt and covetous hearts. They therefore determined in some way or other to compass his deposition or destruction; and first of all they sought to find occasion against him concerning the kingdom — concerning his administration of the government. There are none so eagle-eyed as malicious men; so that nothing — whether in matters of finance or other branches of the affairs of this vast empire — would escape their notice; "but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him" (v. 4). What a testimony to the probity and uprightness of this servant of God; and it is all the greater because, as we read in the next verse, it was a testimony borne by his enemies, They knew not that Daniel laboured under the eye of Him who beholds the secrets of the heart, and that it was the joy of his life to walk in the favour and blessing of his God.

Foiled in this direction, with the inventiveness which ever characterizes the evil heart, they chose another ground of attack. They said — "these men" (a term seemingly chosen to express their iniquity) said, "We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God" (v. 5). Idolaters as they all were, and having a sovereign who was also an idolater, it was easy, they thought, to entangle Daniel in their net on such a ground. But Darius could scarcely have been ignorant of what had transpired between Daniel and Belshazzar, or of the fact that he was a godly Jew; and this will account for the method adopted by these princes and presidents. They did not proceed to charge Daniel with worshipping his God; in greater subtlety they determined, first, to flatter the king by offering to him the place of absolute supremacy — supremacy over heaven as well as earth — and then to bring Daniel into conflict with, as well as disobedience to, the king.

As inspired of Satan, their project was cleverly devised, and they sought immediately to put it into execution. Accordingly they "assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever"; and they then informed his majesty that, after due consultation, they had agreed "to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions" (v. 7). The only thing wanting to ensure the validity of the decree was the king's signature, and then it could not be changed, "according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not" (v. 8). The king, flattered probably by the homage and subjection of his nobles in his new dominions, fell at once into the snare they had woven about his feet, and not pausing to consider the awful place which he was accepting, a place belonging to God alone, "signed the writing and the decree" (v. 9). Nebuchadnezzar had made an image, and had commanded his nobles to be present at its dedication, and to unite in rendering it homage; but Darius himself now took the place of God, and forbade any of his subjects for the space of a whole month, whether in private or in public, to fall down before any "god" but himself. It was the deification of man, which will, as we have pointed out, have its counterpart in the last days, and towards which men are even now proceeding with such rapid steps. The displacement of God by man is seen even in Christendom; what wonder then if, after the church is gone, when the energy of Satan will be unlimited and unhindered, man publicly and avowedly assumes the place of God, even with approbation. Such a consummation is only gradually reached. The steps toward it are silently and unwittingly trodden; for the minds of men are so prepared through teachings which in their fruit must bring in this conclusion, that they will scarcely be astonished when a man who has won their homage by his earthly wisdom and power, declares that he is God.

But what of Daniel in the presence of such a decree? Will he yield obedience to it? or will he, like his three companions of the captivity, disregard the king's commandment? Who could doubt what his course would, be — seeing how faithfully he had spoken both to Nebuchadnezzar and to Belshazzar? The fact, moreover, that, within the circle of his responsibility and allegiance to his monarch, he had served so well that even his enemies could not find matter of accusation, affords a guarantee that he, a servant of the God of heaven, will be no less conscientious in that other sphere where God is supreme. Darius — however he had been entrapped — had stepped outside of the circle of his authority, and had, in signing this decree, intruded into God's circle, where man has neither right nor place. if Daniel, therefore, would maintain a good conscience towards God, he had no alternative but to refuse subjection to the decree that had been issued. When therefore he "knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime" (v. 10).

What a spectacle! A man of another race, an object of the envy of the Chaldeans, and enjoying his exaltation simply by the king's favour, dares, at all cost, the power of the whole realm, because he would not be unfaithful to his God! And observe that there was no ostentation in the course he pursued. He continued in his usual course; it was "as he did aforetime." He might have closed his windows and escaped observation, but to have done this, under the circumstances, would have been all one as if he were respecting the king's decree. His windows had ever been open towards Jerusalem, and they must still be kept so. Daniel, thus morning, noon, and evening, — Cried to the Lord "as he did aforetime," regardless, by the grace of God, of the consequences of his act.

There was a reason for his windows being opened towards Jerusalem. At the dedication of the temple Solomon had prayed thus concerning the people, should they be carried away into captivity in the enemy's. land, far or near: "If they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives . . . and pray unto Thee toward their land which Thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which Thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for Thy name: then hear Thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven Thy dwelling-place, and maintain their cause" (1 Kings 8: 46-49). Daniel was consequently resting on the sure word of God in thus praying, for the Lord had said to Solomon, "I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me" (1 Kings 9: 3).

Daniel was no "secret disciple"; his habits of prayer were known, and accordingly his enemies understood how to discover whether he was, or was not, obedient to the decree. "These men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God" (v. 11). The term "these men," as in verse 5, is again employed (see also vv. 15, 24), doubtless to express the divine estimate of their wicked conduct. But they had gained their point; their wicked device had so far prospered; and, exulting over their success, "they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king's decree" (v. 12). Had not his majesty, they enquired, signed the decree? The king replied, "The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not." Alas! the king was in the hands of these unscrupulous men. He had accepted their flattery, and now he had become their. helpless slave. He himself had unsuspectedly riveted his own chains. Having thus secured the monarch in their toils, they proceeded to unveil the purpose of their malicious hearts; and the very words they used did but betray the depth of their iniquity. They said before the king, "That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day" (v. 13).

Their personal enmity to Daniel and to his race, together with their envy because of his position, are plainly revealed, as well as the fact that they had but used the king, in their professed desire for his absolute supremacy, as their tool for the accomplishment of Daniel's destruction. The king was in this way brought face to face with the fruit of his own doings, and could no longer conceal from himself the real object of the writing he had signed. How often it is that we are blinded to the nature of our actions until we encounter their irrevocable consequences! So was it with Darius and when he heard the accusation against Daniel, he was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him" (v. 14). His efforts were a testimony to his appreciation of Daniel, and also to the kindness of his own heart; but he was no longer his own master. He himself had declared the immutable character of the laws of the Medes and Persians; and Daniel's enemies were not slow to take advantage of this admission; for they again "assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed" (v. 15). They asserted their power; and their language, "Know, O king," betrayed their purpose to maintain it at all costs; so that Darius did not dare to trifle any longer with the most influential nobles of his realm, for they, through his own folly, had the law on their side. He therefore "commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions" (v. 16).

The deed was consummated, and "these men triumphed over both Daniel and Darius. But there was Another on Daniel's side on whom his enemies had not counted; and, as will be seen in the following narrative, their short-lived victory was but the prelude to their own defeat and destruction. If God is for His people none can be successfully against them, whatever the appearances for the moment. Even Darius had, in some way or other, the conviction that Daniel would not be allowed to perish. "Thy God," he said, "whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee" (v. 16). And yet he was still in the power of his servants, and was compelled to carry out his decree to its bitter end; for after the stone had been "brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; . . . the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel" (v. 17).

Before passing on, a remark may be permitted upon the similarity between the action of Darius and his lords and that of the chief priests and Pharisees, as recorded in Matthew's gospel. These had been allowed of God to compass the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, and after His death He was buried in the sepulchre. Not content with the attainment of their object, they obtained leave of Pilate to make "the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch." In both cases man thought to secure his end by making intervention and rescue impossible. But God was not in all his thoughts; and what can man do when he ventures to fight against God?

That the heart of Darius was not in what was done has been plainly seen; and now that the deed had been accomplished, notwithstanding his expressed assurance that God would deliver Daniel, he was filled with remorse. He passed the succeeding night fasting, dispensed with his usual music, his sleep went from him, and, rising early in the morning, he went in haste unto the den of lions. All his thoughts were for the time centred on Daniel. "And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice . . . O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?" God had not forgotten His servant; and though Daniel had been exposed to the full display of Satan's power,* he was not, and could not be, injured, for he was under the omnipotent protection of the living God. He was therefore able to reply to the king's question, after the customary loyal address, "My God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before Him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt" (v. 22).

*It was, of course, an actual den of lions into which Daniel had been thrown; but we see no reason for departing from the usual typical significance of the lion in Scripture.

It was thus still true that the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them. It should be noticed, however, Daniel claimed that "innocency" was found in him before God. The lesson is, that we could not be consciously under God's protection, nor could we claim, or rather expect, His succour, if we had not a good conscience in His sight. Before the king Daniel was as clear as before God; like the apostle, he had a conscience void of offence both towards God and towards men; and God, later on, stepped in and, vindicating His servant, delivered him, like Paul (2 Tim. 4: 17), from the mouth of the lion.

The decree having been executed, for the penalty of its infraction *as that the offender should be cast into the lions' den, not that he should be killed by the lions, the king was freed from the meshes of his lords. The law had been vindicated, and Daniel had suffered its punishment. Darius could therefore, no one forbidding on the ground of the unchangeable laws of the Medes and Persians, exercise his prerogative, and command that Daniel should be taken up out of the den; and being taken up, "no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God" (v. 23). The whole secret of his protection and deliverance is here revealed. Faith, divinely produced in his soul, brought in God, who shielded His servant from the malice of his enemies by subduing and restraining the natural and ravenous instincts of the lions. The apostle, with Daniel in mind, speaking of the prophets, says, "Who through faith . . . stopped the mouths of lions" (Hebrews 11: 33). It was one of the victories of faith that should encourage the people of God to trust in, and to count upon, Him at all times, remembering that while all things are possible with God, all things are also possible to him that believeth; and it is of this wondrous truth that Daniel is here the exemplification.

The king's work was not completed with the deliverance of Daniel. Made fully aware, by what had taken place, of the enormity of the iniquity of his presidents and princes, he, in righteous indignation, "commanded, and they brought those men which had, accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den" (v. 24). "These men" thus fell into the pit which their own hands had digged, and in the snare which they had laid for Daniel were their own feet taken. In this way God testified to His servant, and executed judgment upon His enemies.

A profound impression was made upon Darius by the events he had witnessed; and he sent a proclamation throughout the whole of his realm, to the different nations "that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for He is the living God, and steadfast for ever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end" (vv. 25, 26). How far he entered into the truth of the words he caused to, be written is not revealed. However this might have been, it was no mean testimony he rendered to God and to His sovereignty. He went much farther than Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 3. This monarch contented himself with forbidding his subjects, under extreme penalties, to speak anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Darius commanded that in all his dominions men should tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, because He was the living God, and His kingdom was everlasting. In such a marvellous way did God make the wrath of man to praise Him, and the attempt to quench for ever the light of His testimony in Babylon was made the means of kindling it throughout the whole earth.

At the commencement of this chapter we saw that Darius, in accepting the place which his counsellors offered him, was a type of the future head of the last form of Gentile sovereignty who will accept divine honours, and have his deification enforced upon his subjects (Rev. 13: 8-12). The deliverance of Daniel is also typical. He prefigures the remnant, God's faithful remnant, who will be found in Jerusalem and in the land during the days of Antichrist's fearful sway. Through the machinations of their enemies they will be cast, as it were, into the lions' den, surrounded on all sides by the various displays of Satan's power, and their destruction will appear to human eyes to be imminent and certain. But God will Himself protect them, and interposing for their release by the appearing of Christ, will bring upon their enemies the very judgment which they had designed for His people. This situation of the remnant, previous to the appearing of Christ in glory, is often depicted both in the prophets and in the Psalms. A citation from the latter will, make this clear: "My soul," says the Psalmist, speaking as the mouthpiece of the Spirit of Christ in this remnant, "My soul is among lions: and I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." Then turning upward, he cries, "Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens let Thy glory be above all the earth,". knowing that when the glory of God is thus displayed at the appearing of Christ, the time of the remnant's deliverance will have arrived. As indeed he says in a previous verse, "He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. God shall send forth His mercy and His truth." Yet again, in correspondence with the prophetic character of Daniel's deliverance, he says, "They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves" (Psalm 57). This psalm was written at least five hundred years before the time of Daniel; and yet its resemblance to his experience is so striking as to arrest the attention of any devout reader of the Scriptures. The explanation is, that the circumstances of David, which furnished the occasion for the psalm, as well as those of Daniel, were both alike prophetic of those of the remnant in the last days.

And it may be remarked again for the help of the younger students of Scripture, that very few of the narratives of the Bible are simply historical. As histories they are full of interest, and afford moral lessons of great value; but they are also often typical and prophetic. For example, David is a historical personage, and much instruction can be gleaned from his life and conduct, instruction which yields both encouragement and warning. But we have also, in all his rejection and persecution before ascending the throne, to view him as a type of Christ when He came to His own and His own received Him not. So afterwards in the kingdom he presents to us Christ as the King of righteousness, while Solomon, his son, shadows forth the Messiah as King of peace. David, moreover, as we know on the authority of the apostle Peter (Acts 2: 30), was a prophet, and hence it is, as in the Psalm above referred. to, that many of his writings are descriptive of the future, whether of the position and state of the remnant or of the blessings and glory of Messiah's reign and kingdom. It greatly enhances our interest in the Scriptures to remember this, and it enables us at the same time to understand their profound character and God's purpose in the special events recorded.

It only remains to point out that Darius's confession of Daniel's God as the living God is also typical, inasmuch as it prefigures the conversion of the Gentiles, consequent upon the interposition of Jehovah for the rescue of His people, and for judgment upon their enemies. In Psalm 18 we thus read, after a description of Messiah's victory over His foes, "Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the heathen [nations]: a people whom I have not known shall serve me. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me."* And again, "He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, Thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore will I give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, among the heathen [the nations', and sing praises unto Thy name" (vv. 43, 44, 48, 49). We learn, therefore, as from all the prophetic writings, that the Lord will deliver His people through unsparing judgments, and that, after He has visited His wrath upon their oppressors, He will establish His throne, and that then all kings will fall down before Him, and all nations will serve Him.

*The marginal rendering is more accurate "shall yield to me feigned obedience." Afraid before the display of Messiah's power, and apprehensive of the consequences of rebellion, they will, while still hating Him in their hearts, proffer their allegiance.

DANIEL 7.

WITH this chapter we enter upon the second part of the book. The first part contains the visions seen by the monarchs, together with their actings and the actings of others in relation to Daniel and his companions; and Daniel is brought upon the scene as the messenger from God, possessing His mind, to expound authoritatively the dreams and visions which Nebuchadnezzar had received. All this we have considered, and now, in this second part, we have the visions, with their interpretations, which were vouchsafed to Daniel himself, communications "which contain not merely general principles, but details relative to God's people and the Gentiles who oppressed them — historical details, though given beforehand prophetically." A difference between these and the ordinary prophetic communications will at once be noted. It is not with Daniel, as with the prophets generally, that the word of the Lord came unto him, or that he spake as moved by the Holy Ghost; but he "had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed," or, as in Daniel 8, "a vision appeared unto" him. In fact, he was not a messenger to God's people, as, for example, Isaiah and Jeremiah were; but, like John in Patmos, he received revelations of the future for the guidance of God's people in all ages. The visions of Daniel are thus, like those of John, apocalyptic in their nature.

The first of these is recorded in this chapter, and it took place "in the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon" (v. 1). We say the first vision, though, as a matter of fact, three visions are here given, commencing with vv. 2, 7, and 13; and besides these the interpretation, in answer to his inquiry, is found in vv. 17-27. The object of the chapter would seem to be the fourth Gentile empire, and its judgment and supersession by the kingdom of the Son of man. The three first empires are introduced, though briefly, and the chapter thus covers, from another point of view, the same ground as the vision of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2. The three visions are all connected and supplementary; and it will, therefore, conduce to a better understanding of them if they are considered in the order in which they are placed, reserving the interpretation until they have been apprehended in their characteristic outlines.

The subject, then, of the first vision was four great beasts: "Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another" (vv. 2, 3). The sea, a mass of waters, will mean, as often in Scripture (see Rev. 17: 1-15) peoples and nations; and, in the case before us, there is a state of anarchy and confusion, inasmuch as "the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea." The winds are various disturbing influences, ordered of God in a providential way, and in judgment, for the accomplishment of His purposes in the government of the earth. Thus, in Rev. 7 we have angels holding back the four winds of the earth from their judicial mission until the servants of God should have been sealed in their foreheads. It is the winds of earth there, because the earth was the object of their visitation; whereas in Daniel they are the winds of heaven, as indicating the source whence they were directed to issue.

It was then out of the sea, out of the masses of the peoples in a state of agitation, if not of chaotic confusion, that the four beasts were seen to arise. It is not, however, to be supposed that their rise was simultaneous, for if it be that they represent, as scarcely any one doubts, the same four empires as Nebuchadnezzar's image typifies, they appear successively on the scene; and, indeed, this is indicated by Daniel in verse 6 (when he says, "After this I beheld, and lo another," etc.), and also in verse 7. It is but a general statement in verse 3, but one showing that all these empires came up into view, and obtained their dominions in the same way; that they sprang into existence as universal empires at a time of revolutionary agitation, and were built up upon the ruins of other kingdoms. All alike are portrayed as beasts, differing in this from the symbolism of Nebuchadnezzar's Image. In the image the idea was embodied of the gradual deterioration of the governmental power in the hands of the Gentiles, from Nebuchadnezzar (to whom it was directly committed by God Himself), as the head of gold, down to the iron and clay in the legs and feet. Here all alike, while differing in their character, and perhaps in degrees of excellency, are seen as beasts to show their moral features, for God being shut out, self, selfish appetites, earthly aims and earthly motives and objects, cruelty and rapacity, characterize all these Gentile kingdoms. What a revelation, that all the governments of the earth, from the destruction of Jerusalem until the kingdom of Christ, should be morally figured as "beasts!"

The first, that is, Babylon, "was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it" (v. 4). Both these symbols — the lion and the eagle — had been before used of Babylon (Jer. 4: 7, Jer. 49: 19-22, compared with verse 30), and they speak of majesty and rapidity — rapidity of march and conquest, both of which especially marked the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. But the prophet beheld a remarkable change. The wings of the beast were plucked; it lost the swiftness of execution which had distinguished it, thus revealing what the empire became in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar's effeminate successors. Moreover, the beast lost its characteristic attitude, was made to stand up like a man, and received the heart of a man — figures of the state of weakness to which Babylon was ultimately reduced. For if a lion is made to stand up, and its whole nature is changed, it has lost both its power and its grandeur.

The second beast was "like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh" (v. 5). As plainly, if Babylon is designated by the first beast, Persia, or rather the Medo-Persian kingdom, is set forth by the second; for we are expressly told in Daniel 5 that this kingdom succeeded that of Babylon, and, in Daniel 8, that it preceded that of Greece (vv. 20, 21). The fact, moreover, is well known from history. The symbol of a bear will indicate its ferocious character, and raising itself up on one side calls attention to the fact that, composed at the outset of the two kingdoms of the Medes and Persians, one of these — the latter under Cyrus — obtained the superiority, even if it did not absorb the other. The remaining feature, having three ribs in its mouth between its teeth, and the exhortation, "Arise, devour much flesh," evidently points to the distinguishing feature of this empire, viz., its rapacity — swallowing up, devouring, as it were, kingdom after kingdom.

Greece follows — the Grecian kingdom as formed by the conquests of Alexander. And yet not only as held by him, for "the beast had also four heads"; and hence, just as the single head of gold symbolized Nebuchadnezzar and his dynasty, so the successors of Alexander are seen in these four heads, the dominion of Alexander being finally divided after his death into four kingdoms, ruled over by four of his generals.* The two prominent features, as portrayed by the leopard with the four wings of a fowl on its back, are agility and speed in execution — features which, in a remarkable manner, distinguished Alexander in his. wars and conquests. For rapidity and impetuosity he has probably never been surpassed, and it should be borne in mind that these traits of the Grecian king were depicted about two hundred years before he was born. Like Cyrus, therefore, he was girded for his work, though he knew not the One who had called him into existence.

*Two only of these remained in the issue. The Seleucidae had Syria, and the Ptolemies Egypt. The other two kingdoms, Greece and Thrace, were soon conquered by the Romans. The two former, Syria and Egypt, continued till about 50 B.C.

It is in a separate vision that the fourth beast is seen, and the reason is, as has been stated, that it is the fourth kingdom which the Spirit of God has specially in view in this chapter; and on this account the first three beasts are only slightly sketched as introductory, and as, with the fourth, covering the whole period of the times of the Gentiles.

Daniel was, for the same reason, specially arrested by the fourth beast, as may be seen from the striking language he was led to employ. He says: "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things" (vv. 7, 8). That the Roman Empire is here depicted all expositors agree, whatever their differences of opinion as to the period of the application of parts of the description. No other interpretation, indeed, is possible, as it is easily ascertained that the final successor to Alexander's dominion was Rome. We need not now, however, do more than consider a feature or two of Daniel's vision of this empire, seeing that we have an authoritative interpretation at the end of the chapter.

The prominent characteristic then is strength, resistless might, striking terror into the hearts of those who beheld its relentless and pitiless cruelties. As another has written, "Strength and rapacity, which spare and respect nothing, appropriating everything, or trampling it under foot without regard to conscience; such are morally the characteristics of the fourth beast."* Remark, too, that it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and the explanation of this may perhaps be found in the book of Revelation, where we read of this same beast that it "was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority" (Rev. 13: 2). That is to say, this beast concentrated in itself all the bestial forms which had distinguished its three predecessors, and moreover received its kingdom, in its final form, directly from the hands of Satan. Nebuchadnezzar had received his dominion from God; the revived Roman empire at the close will accept its power from, and be energised by, Satan. It is the complete apostasy of human government; for not only will it, beast-like, derive its motives from, and seek its objects on, the earth, and, in lust of aggrandizement and the gratification of its own desires and passions, exclude God from all its designs; but, turning completely round, as completely as the children of Israel did when they worshipped the golden calf, it will also become the willing dependant and bond-slave of Satan. Such will be the issue of all the boasted progress and enlightenment and of all the political science of the closing years of the present age. It will be seen, as far as the ruling powers are concerned, in the dethronement of God and in the exaltation of Satan to His seat!

*Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, by J. N. Darby, vol. ii. New edition, revised.

It is also important to observe that in this vision of the fourth empire Daniel sees it as a whole — that is, from its rise until its termination. Leaving further remark upon this till the close of the chapter, it may be simply added that the proof of it lies in the mention of the ten horns and in the appearance of another little horn with remarkable power and characteristics of intelligence and speech, and from the fact that the destruction of this fourth beast is followed by the introduction of the kingdom of the Son of man.

Daniel thus continues the account of what he saw in his night visions: "I beheld till the thrones were cast down,* and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool: His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him: thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened" (vv. 9, 10). That the Ancient of days is the Eternal God is undoubted; and it is as evident both from verse 22 and from Rev. 1 that the Son of man is the Ancient of days, the Eternal God. All judgment has been committed to Him because He is the Son of man; and this is plainly declared in the scene before us to be a session of judgment — not the session of judgment of the Great White Throne in Rev. 20, but a session for the judgment of the living (for He will judge the quick, the living, as well as the dead) preparatory to the establishment of His kingdom (v. 14). The throne was like the fiery flame, its wheels as burning fire, and a fiery stream came forth from before Him; for fire is ever a symbol in Scripture of the holiness of God as applied in judgment. The myriads of angels also, who serve and wait before Him, point to the same conclusion, even as we read in Matthew, in connection with the judgment of the nations, "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory," etc. (Matt. 25: 31). The thrones — not the throne at the end of verse 9, which is that of the Ancient of days, but the thrones at the beginning of the verse — are those found in Rev. 20, "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them" (v. 4). These are the thrones occupied by the saints, the armies in heaven that will follow Christ when He comes forth for the judgment of our chapter (Rev. 19: 11-21). The apostle could thus write to the Corinthians, "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?" They will be thus associated with Christ in the judgment of the living, and on this account Daniel beheld thrones in addition to the one like the fiery flame on which the judge Himself sat.†

*Scarcely anyone doubts that these words should be rendered "set" or "placed" instead of "cast down." The Revised Version gives "placed."

†It should be remarked that Daniel saw only the thrones themselves, whereas John saw them occupied by those that followed Christ out of heaven.

The occasion of the judgment, as revealed to the prophet, is given in the next verse: "I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame" (v. 11). The occasion then was "the great words which the horn spake." In Revelation 13 it is said of the beast; "There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. . . . and he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven"; and it was on account of these blasphemies that the Ancient of days came and sat for judgment on His fiery throne. By these daring acts of defiance against God the cup of his iniquity was filled to overflowing, and judgment swift and sure came upon him; for the beast was slain, and his body consigned to the everlasting flame (compare Rev. 19: 19-21).

Then follows the general statement As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time" (v. 12). It must not be supposed that this was in direct sequence to that which precedes. All four beasts had been exhibited to Daniel, and now, after having given the judgment of the last, the vision goes back to tell us what had been done, not at this session of judgment, but previously in God's judicial dealings in His providential government with the first three beasts. The dominion and life of the last beast were "taken away" at the same time. Not so with Babylon, Persia, and Greece. Babylon continued to exist long after its subjugation by the Medes and Persians; Persia, shorn of her former glory, remains until the present day; and Greece has been once more, in these last years, constituted a kingdom. The lives of these empires have thus been prolonged for a season and a time; but when the Roman empire, after its resuscitation to the astonishment of all beholders, is finally judged, both it and its head will disappear for ever.

Consequent upon the judgment of the fourth beast, is the vision of the kingdom which will never pass away: "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed" (vv. 13, 14). The Ancient of days, as already seen, is the Son of man; but in this vision they are distinguished. It is often so in the Psalms. The Messiah is Jehovah; and yet in Psalm 110 Jehovah speaks to Adonai: "Sit Thou at my right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool." It is the mystery of the divine persons. They are distinguished in Daniel's vision because, as Son of man, our Lord receives everything from God. Hence, after He is brought to the Ancient of days, it says, "There was given Him a dominion," etc. This shows plainly, both: from the title, Son of man, and from the fact that He receives His dominion, that what we have here is His universal kingdom, extending throughout the whole earth, which He will establish after His appearing in glory. It is, in one word, the fulfilment of Psalm 8, all things being put under His feet. This vision therefore is immediately connected with verse 11, and the order of events will be, first, the coming of Christ in glory with His saints; then, His judgment of the beast; after that, though not specifically mentioned here, the establishment of His throne in Zion; and, lastly, the rod of Jehovah's strength, will go out from that centre (see Psalm 110), and subdue all people, nations, and languages, that they may serve Him, who is both the Christ and the Son of man. The man of the earth will thus no more oppress for ever; for he will, in the person of the fourth beast, have been dispossessed and judged; but Christ Himself will rule over all the nations of the earth, and the cry will be, "Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: He shall judge the peoples* righteously" (Psalm 96: 10).

*So it should be rendered — not "people," but "peoples."

Some of the features of this glorious kingdom will be seen in the interpretation of the vision; but before entering upon these, the effect on Daniel of what he had seen must be noticed. He says, "I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me" (v. 15). It is remarkable that while he had been enabled, through having been divinely taught, to explain Nebuchadnezzar's dreams and visions, he could not understand his own. No man knoweth the things of God but the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2); and therefore unless He is pleased to communicate the meaning of any divine revelation, it could never be ascertained. Daniel consequently was as dependent on God for the interpretation of his own vision as he had been for Nebuchadnezzar's. It should be said, however, that God never sends a message of any sort, apocalyptic or otherwise, without providing means for its understanding. Both for Nebuchadnezzar and for Belshazzar explanations were at hand, as also for Daniel in this chapter.

But why was the prophet "grieved" and "troubled"? As a godly Jew he would look for the coming Messiah, with His reign of peace, prosperity, and blessing; but now the Spirit of God had opened out before his soul the vista of the future; and, mysterious to him as much of it would necessarily be, he could not but, perceive that there was a long pathway of sorrow to be trodden by his people before their longed-for consummation would be reached. He was therefore cast down, and desired of "one of them that stood by" "the truth of all this." Who these standing by were, is not revealed: according to the character of the book they were probably angels. The one addressed responded at once to Daniel's request, and "he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things" (v. 16).

It will be remarked that there are really two interpretations (a general one in verses 17, 18, and then a more specific one in verses 23-27) in reply to Daniel's interrogation concerning the fourth beast. Both of these must be considered.

In the general interpretation the angel says, "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever." This explanation has been largely anticipated, but there are two or three points which demand further notice. The four kings are viewed as representing their several kingdoms, viz., Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome; and they will therefore, as has been before said, include their dynasties or successors on to the termination of their respective empires. In verse 3 these kings, the beasts, are said to come up from the sea, whereas here they are described as arising out of the earth. In the former passage they are viewed on the occasion of their appearance, and of their acquisition of governmental power, ascending their thrones out of the surging waves of the people; in this verse they are seen rather in their origin, "out of the earth," in contrast with Him who will come out of heaven to take His kingly power. These four then span the whole interval from the prophet's day, for Babylon was still in existence, until the coming of Christ in glory. On this account it is added, "But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom," etc., after which there is no other, for they will possess it for ever and ever.

Who then, are these "saints of the most High"? The term "most High" is used in verses 22, 25, 27, besides verse 18; but it should be noticed that, excepting in verse 25, where the term is used of God Himself as the title He will be known by in the future, it is in the plural; and that consequently the exact rendering is the saints of the "high places." And it is scarcely questioned that the term "heavenly places" in Ephesians is derived from this expression in Daniel. It need hardly be said, that a far larger meaning as flowing from the truth of that epistle, which unfolds the eternal counsels of God for the glory of His beloved Son, and for the blessing of the saints in Him, is to be attached to these words in Ephesians than in Daniel; but their import in both places is the same in this respect — that they speak of a heavenly sphere, a sphere outside of this world, to which certain saints belong. Who, then, the question may be repeated, are the saints so described? In the larger and more general sense they comprise, as may easily be gathered from the epistle to the Ephesians, all believers from Pentecost to the coming of Christ, all who are united to Christ by the Holy Ghost, and therefore compose His body. But such an anticipation and revelation of the "mystery" (Ephesians 3: 3) could scarcely be expected in the prophet Daniel. While, however, they might be in the mind of the Spirit; for they that suffer with Christ will reign with Him, and hence they must not be excluded by the Christian reader, another class must be sought for, to whom the description will apply. If now we turn for a moment to Revelation 20, we shall see that there are two classes who are added to the first resurrection, those who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and those (for so it should be read) who had not worshipped the beast (the fourth beast of our chapter), neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years (v. 4). During the terrible times of the "little horn's" domination these saints had refused to acknowledge his power, for they owned and worshipped the God of heaven, confessing that His was the kingdom both in heaven and on earth, and that the heavens did rule, and hence they in view of what awaited them and of the special honour to be accorded to them. are also termed "saints of the high places." Though on earth they belonged to heaven, for instead of being preserved for earthly blessings under the reign of their glorious Messiah, the brighter portion awaited them of reigning with Him in the kingdom. And it is to these that special reference is made in our verse, although the general statement may include all the heavenly saints, when it says, that the saints of the high places shall take the kingdom, etc.

Daniel then proceeded to inquire more particularly concerning the fourth beast; and it will be observed that, while he repeats what he had seen, as given in verses 7, 8, he adds two things not before mentioned. In verses 21, 22 be says, "I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." The explanation of these additions will come in when considering the authoritative interpretation given to Daniel; but attention is now called to them as an illustration of the fact that there are no mere repetitions in Scripture. The connection, or the object, is different, or, as here, the interest is enhanced by a further revelation so that no scripture, which seems the same as another, should ever be lightly passed over. The fact of a seeming repetition should invite all the closer study to receive the fresh light communicated.

We pass now to the angelic exposition of the vision of the fourth beast. Having already pointed out in verses 7, 8 that the Roman empire is symbolized by the fourth beast, it is only necessary to dwell upon the special characteristics here explained. First, it is said that this kingdom "shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces" (v. 23). Those who are acquainted with history will confess that a more accurate description of the Roman empire, in its character, progress, and dominion, could not have been conveyed. It was different from all its predecessors in the nature of its government, combining, as it did, the utmost absolutism with democratic forms, mingling thus the iron and the clay of Nebuchadnezzar's image. By its irresistible arms it acquired almost universal dominion, devoured the whole earth, and subdued and broke to pieces nations on every hand. These statements apply to its rise and zenith — especially to the period of the Consuls and the Caesars.

Next, we are told, that "the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise" (v. 24). This is really the crucial point in the interpretation, for the question arises, inasmuch as verse 23 refers undoubtedly to the past, whether these ten kings are past or future. There are those who contend entirely for what is termed the historical interpretation, and maintain that the prophecy has thus been fulfilled.* The fatal objection to this theory lies in the fact that this fourth kingdom having been judged, is immediately succeeded and displaced by the kingdom of the Son of man (vv. 13, 14, 26, 27; compare also Dan. 2: 43, 44). For what event in the past, it may well be enquired, could answer, even in the smallest degree, to that spoken of in the above scriptures? It is only indeed by spiritualizing the kingdom of the Son of man, and interpreting it as Christianity, that any show of evidence in support of such a theory can be obtained. But even so, what is there in the public course of Christianity that corresponds with the predicted universal dominion of the Son of man, before whom all kings will fall down, and whom all nations will serve? If such an explanation could be accepted, any possible view might be read into the words of Scripture. But this is not the way of the Spirit of God. He speaks clearly and definitely, and when He uses the term the "Son of man," and describes the extent and glory of His kingdom, and this as following upon the governments of the earth, it may be easily ascertained by the unbiassed student of Scripture that He refers neither to the church nor to Christianity, but to the kingdom which Christ will establish in this world in a future day, when He will return with His saints in glory.

*To cite a representative interpreter of this school, Mr. Elliott says that the ten kings are found in the "Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Allemans, Burgandians, Visigoths, Suevi, Vandals, Heruli, Bayarians, Ostrogoths, ten in all"; and he labours thereon to prove the connection of those ten early barbaric kingdoms with the bishops of Rome as their ecclesiastical and spiritual head; agreeably with the Apocalyptic symbol of the ten horns, sprouting from the Beast's eighth head." (Horae Apocalypticae, vol. iii., pp. 124-134. fourth edition).

Accepting this view all is plain, and we thus understand that in this divine communication received by Daniel, the Roman empire is seen as a whole, from the time. of its establishment on to its resuscitation, as explained in Rev. 17: 10-13,* and its destruction at the appearing of the Lord. There is, on this account, a large interval of time between verses 23, 24, only it should be remembered that if verse 23 portrays the Roman empire in its pristine energy and strength, the same features will reappear in its final form; and hence that the portraiture, as is often the case in Scripture, is both historical and prophetic.

These ten kings are then future, and they point to the peculiar form of the last phase of the fourth kingdom, that there will be ten kingdoms in Western Europe confederated under one imperial head. This fact is shadowed out in the ten, toes of the image Nebuchadnezzar, saw, and is plainly stated in the Apocalypse (Rev. 17: 12, 13). Insisting on this as the mind of the scripture before us, it can well be conceived that in the past there have been adumbrations of this final fulfilment; but the mistake is, to claim these foreshadowings as the fulfilment itself instead of regarding them as finger-posts by the way to indicate the consummation intended.

*See The Visions of John in Patmos, for a further elucidation of this subject.

Not only will there be these ten kings, but "another shall rise a after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High,* and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time" (vv. 24, 25). This is the little horn of verses 8, and 20, 21; but is entirely distinct, as will afterwards be explained, from the little horn in Daniel 8: 9. The horn of our chapter is in connection with the Roman empire in the west of Europe, where the ten kings will exercise their sovereignty within the boundaries, speaking generally, of the ancient Roman empire in Europe; † whereas the horn of chapter 8 will have his seat in Syria, and is often mentioned in Scripture as the king of the north.

*Here again the word is in plural, and it should be rendered as in verse 18, "high places."

†The reader can easily trace these boundaries in any Scripture atlas, or in most Bibles that contain maps, and he will then perceive the meaning of the term "Western Europe." Germany, Scandinavia, and European Russia were never within the territory of the empire.

Several particulars of the little horn of our chapter should be noted in order to his identification. First of all he arises after the ten kings, and he is different from these,* though in what respect he is distinguished from them is not stated. Secondly it is said that "'he shall subdue three kings," that is, three out of the ten who are on the scene when he arises. In the next place it is evident that he acquires the power of the whole empire, for it is "his dominion" that is taken away when the judgment sits. Lastly, the very same things are ascribed to him in verse 25 as are imputed to the first beast of Rev. 13 in verses 5-7. The conclusion therefore is irresistible that the little horn is no less a personage than the head of the revived Roman empire in Western Europe in the last days; and this conclusion is still further strengthened by the statement in Rev. 17, that the ten kings "have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast" (v. 13). The little horn thus arises after the formation of the ten kingdoms, and having subdued three of these, whether by military prowess or other means, the other seven are led in conjunction with the three subdued kingdoms to unite in one vast confederation, of which the little horn becomes the imperial head. If Rev. 13: 1-8, and Rev. 17 are read in this connection, the whole position of the little horn will be more clearly apprehended.†

*The words "the first (v. 24) are plural, and hence refer to the ten kings,

†If the little horn of this chapter foreshadows the head of the revived Roman empire in the last days, it should be remembered that the Antichrist will be existent at the same time, that he will be associated with the Roman head, will exercise "all the power of the first beast before him," and will cause "the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the beast whose deadly wound was healed," as well as induce them to make an image "to" him to be worshipped (Rev. 13). He will be thus in every way morally identified with the western beast, and hence it is that, as his prophet, he will share in the same doom (Rev. 19: 20).

His moral character is presented next to us in the words, "And he shall speak great words against the most High" (v. 25). Not only is his carnal mind, as is the case with every unregenerate man, enmity against God, but in his mad impiety he also dares to take the ground of open defiance. (Compare Rev. 13: 5, 6.) As a consequence — for he that hates God must also hate His people — he will "wear out the saints of the high places" (he "made war with the saints, and prevailed against them," verse 21) in his presumptuous effort to destroy the name of God from off the face of the earth. (See Rev. 13: 7, Rev. 14: 12, 13.) God will thus allow the patience of His earthly people to be tested; for as yet they will not know that Jesus of Nazareth is their promised Messiah. They will cry to the God of their fathers, and turn to Him for succour, as we find in the psalms that treat of this period; but it is not until the Lord appears from heaven that they will look upon Him whom they had pierced, and have their eyes open to discern, like Thomas, that the once crucified Jesus is their Lord and their God. This enables us to understand why He allows them to fall at this time, for their chastisement and purification, into the hands of their enemy. But though their enemy, as the instrument of Satan, may sift them, not one single grain of wheat shall fall to the ground. This were impossible, for, to cite another illustration, the hairs of their head will all be numbered.

The next clause of verse 25 reveals plainly who these saints are. This little horn will "think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand." At this period the Jewish temple will have been rebuilt, though in unbelief; and in connection with it the ordinances of the law and the various feasts will have been established. These are the "times and laws" which this king will think to change, that is, to abrogate, because their very existence, whatever the state of the people who observe them, will constitute a testimony to the existence of God, and this will be insupportable to one who desires to occupy for himself the place of God. And he will succeed in their abolition; for they (not the saints, but the times and laws) will be given into his hand.

Antiochus Epiphanes, as he is known in history, and of whom we shall find traces in Daniel 11, did the same thing, and profaned the temple; and his exploits will be repeated in a still more terrible way, by this little horn at the time of the end. But He who will allow His people to be cast into the burning fiery furnace of persecution, will determine the limit of the power of the enemy: it will only be for a time and times, and the dividing of time, the 1260 days, the forty-two months, the three years and a half of the book of Revelation. Our Lord speaks of the commencement of this period when, citing from Daniel, He says, "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains," etc. (Matt. 24: 15; Daniel 12: 11; compare Dan. 9: 27).

At the termination of this allotted period "the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end" (v. 26). As this session of judgment had been fully revealed to the prophet, the interpretation only gives this passing reference to it. It is a judgment conducted by the Ancient of days from His fiery throne, with all His attendant majesty, accompanied by His myriads of angels (vv. 9, 10); and we learn moreover, and this also proves that the Ancient of days is the Son of man, that the saints who come with Christ, the heavenly saints, will be associated with Him in the judgment (v. 22; compare Psalm 149: 6-9) of that day, when God will take public and formal cognizance of the acts and words of this daring enemy. It is for this purpose that the books will be opened (v. 10), the books that will contain the infallible records of this impious sinner's deeds, and, the sentence will be passed according to the requirements of the glory of Him who will sit on His holy throne.

The execution of the sentence is thus recorded: "And they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end" (v. 26). Adding to this description what we find in verse 11, it will be seen what the judgment was on his person, though, strictly speaking, only the "body" of the beast is there spoken of. The "great works which the horn spake" are, however, mentioned as the occasion of the judgment. Turning for a moment to Revelation 19, we find some supplementary information. In connection with the same judgment, we read that both the beast and the false prophet were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone (v. 20). Deprived of his dominion, having, like Belshazzar, been weighed in the balances and found wanting, he suffers with the false prophet the vengeance of eternal fire, and gill be cast alive into it. The prayer of David is thus fulfilled: "Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered: let them also that hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God"; or, as he says in another place, "Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick [living] into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them" (Ps. 68: 1, 2; Ps. 55: 15).

Judgment having been passed upon the little horn, and his dominion having been taken away, consumed and destroyed unto the end, "the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High ["high places"], whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him" (v. 27). This is the kingdom of the Son of man which, consequent upon the judgment and removal of the last of the four world empires, is established upon earth. In verses 13, 14 we have His investiture. As Son of man, He receives the kingdom from the Ancient of days. Already we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour. In the scene before us all things are given into His hands, to be put in subjection under Him; for He must reign until all enemies are put under His feet. In verse 27, however, it is "the people of the saints of the high places" who are brought into prominence, and who are said to have the kingdom given to them. Yet it is not apart from Christ, as at the end of the verse it says, "Whose" (i.e. Christ's) "kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him." It is His kingdom, only He is pleased in His grace to associate with Himself "the people of the saints of the high places." Who then are these? As already pointed out in verse 18, "the saints of the high places" are said to take the kingdom; and in verse 22 "the saints" possess it, while here it is "the people of the saints of the high places." There is a reason for this term. It means the Jews; and they are thus denominated as being, during the millennial kingdom, connected with, if not dependent upon, the saints of the high places. The latter reign with Christ; through the former Christ will subdue the nations, and exercise His sovereignty over the earth; for "the Lord shall send the rod of Thy strength out of Zion; rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies" (Psalm 110: 2. See also Jeremiah 51: 19-21; Isaiah 60: 10-16).

There are then three classes specified in this chapter. "The saints of the high places," in verse 22, would seem to be the heavenly saints; in verse 18 the same term, while not excluding the heavenly saints, refers especially to the saints on earth during the domination of the little horn, who look up to God, and acknowledge Him as the God of heaven, and as the only source of authority, whether in heaven or upon earth. They are regarded on this account as belonging to heaven, and, as we learn from Rev. 20, will ultimately participate in the first resurrection, and reign with Christ a thousand years. Lastly, the people of the saints of the high places are earthly saints, God's ancient people, who in the mercy and faithfulness of their God, brought through all their trials and sorrows, will at length possess the kingdom and dominion on earth under the reign of their exalted and glorified Messiah.

The conclusion of these visions and their interpretation is now reached; but the prophet adds, "As for me, Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart" (v. 28). If it is an unspeakable honour to be made the depositary of divine thoughts, the vessel must suffer, and the more so because the time for their communication had not yet arrived. At this period Daniel was in the midst of all the splendour and magnificence of the empire of Babylon, whose authority extended to the ends of the earth, and whose stability was unquestioned. But the scroll of the future had been unrolled before his astonished gaze, and he saw in the long vista that stretched far away into the coming centuries, a succession of wars, conflicts, tyrannies, and oppressions before He who had retired from His throne at Jerusalem would interpose, bestow the sovereignty of the earth upon the Subject of all Jewish hopes, and re-establish His beloved people in blessing under Messiah's peaceful and glorious reign. Daniel had indeed seen the visions of God, but they had brought death into his own soul, and thereby he was divinely qualified to be the channel of these divine revelations (compare 2 Cor. 4: 7-18, etc.).

DANIEL 8.

Two changes mark the commencement of this chapter. From Daniel 2: 4 to the end of chapter 7: the language employed is Chaldee; from Daniel 8: 1 to the end of the book it is Hebrew. While the Spirit of God was unfolding things connected with the Gentile monarchs and their actings, present and future, together with the character and course of their several kingdoms, He used the tongue of the country in which Daniel dwelt; but the moment He begins to treat of their actings in relation to the land and to the sanctuary, He returns to the sacred language.* Secondly, the scene is changed. Until now Daniel had been in Babylon; here, "in the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar," when the vision of this chapter appeared unto him, he was "at Shushan in the palace, which is in the province of Elam," a country adjacent to Persian territory, and which seems afterwards to have become a Persian province. It was here "by the river of Ulai" that Daniel "saw in a vision." "Then," he says, "I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but. one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great." (vv. 2-4). This is a symbolic description of "the kings of Media and Persia "† (v. 20); and it represents the dual character of that empire, composed as it was of Media and Persia (see Dan. 5: 28, Dan. 6: 8); and the fact, in that the horn that came up last was higher than the other, that the Persian part of the kingdom ultimately gained the ascendancy. Darius the Mede was thus succeeded by Cyrus the Persian; and the ram pushing westward, northward, and southward, invincible in its conquests, and doing "according to his will," exhibits this kingdom in the zenith of its power and aggrandizement, and probably during the reign of Cyrus. The rapacity of this empire in its career of victorious conflict was pointed out when considering Dan. 7: 5. This was the second of the four Gentile kingdoms, and consequently the successor of Babylon.

*We say "returns," because chapters 1 - 2: 1-3 is in Hebrew.

†It is said that a ram was used as an emblem of their kingdom by the Persians themselves, and a goat by the Macedonians.

Daniel next relates what he further saw in these words: "And as I was considering, behold, an he-goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes" (v. 5). The goat sets forth "the king of Grecia," the king being here, as often, the expression of the sovereignty or kingdom; and, consequently, the "notable horn" stands for the Alexander whose martial genius, courage, and victories, have been so largely celebrated in history. The rapidity of his movements, which was a conspicuous feature in his campaigns, is strikingly described in the vision: "An he-goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground." In about ten years he conquered almost all the kingdoms of the then known world. In verses 6, 7, we have the attack of Alexander upon Persia figuratively described; and yet, though the language is symbolic, a more accurate description of his conquest could not have been conveyed. The goat "came to the ram that had two horns . . . and ran unto him in the fury of his power." Again: "And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns" (vv. 6, 7). The very words used express a specially hostile feeling on the part of Persia's assailant; and this was the case, for Greece had never forgotten the invasion of their country by the Persian hordes, and they burned to revenge themselves upon their enemy. No less graphically is the utter powerlessness of Persia in the presence of her foe portrayed: "There was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand" (v. 7). In fact the duration of the Persian empire had, by God's appointment, reached its termination; and the kingdom which He had destined to succeed it was now to obtain the supremacy. The battles of Issus and Arbela are among the decisive battles of the world, and they were decisive because God was using Alexander "the Great" to accomplish His purposes in respect of the government of the earth.

The object of the mention of Persia and Greece, and of these two only, in this place is well stated in the following words: "The two empires of Persia and Greece, or of the East, which succeeded that of Babylon under which the prophecy was given, are only introduced to point out the countries in which these events are to take place, and to bring them before us in their historical order. The Persian empire is overthrown by the king of Greece, whose empire is afterwards divided into four kingdoms, from one of which a power arises that forms the main subject of the prophecy."* This last sentence will be explained by the two following verses: "Therefore the he-goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven. And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land" (vv. 8, 9). A long stretch of history is compressed into this compendious statement, which contains, however, all the points affecting the prophetic subject of the chapter. First, the fact of the establishment of the Grecian kingdom is given; then the death of Alexander in the midst of his triumphs — when he was strong"; — the subsequent partition of his empire between four of his generals; and finally the rise out of one of these of "a little horn, which waxed exceeding great."

*Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, by J. N. Darby, vol. ii., (New edition, revised).

Leaving the reader, if he so desire, to pursue the examination of the history, it will suffice to here state, that the four kingdoms, as pointed out in Daniel 7, into which Alexander's empire was ultimately divided, were Syria, Egypt, Greece, and Thrace. The two latter soon succumbed to the advancing Roman power; but the two former continued till about 50 B.C. The one out of which the little horn arose was Syria, and for reasons which will appear in the course of the prophecy, this little horn was the king known as Antiochus Epiphanes. It will therefore be seen, if what was said of the little horn of chapter 7 be remembered, that the two little horns are entirely distinct; that the one of chapter 7, which subdues three kings, and finally wields the whole power of the empire, belongs to the west. It is the dominion of the revived Roman empire which he possesses. The little horn of Daniel 8 has his seat and throne in Syria, and it is on this account that he becomes such a remarkable foreshadowing of the personage so often mentioned in the prophetic scriptures as the Assyrian, and as the king of the north.*

*See, for example, Isa. 10: 24; Isa. 14: 25; Isa. 31: 8; Micah 5: 5 Daniel 11: 6, 8, etc.

This little horn extended his kingdom, "waxed exceeding great toward the south," that is, toward Egypt, which is always so denominated as being south of Palestine; "toward the east," that is, toward Parthia and Armenia, etc.; and "toward the pleasant land," that is, Palestine. All these again are well-known facts of history, and the various campaigns of this notorious king in these several countries are given in historical records.*

*His actings in respect of the pleasant land are narrated in 1 Maccabees, which, though no part of Sacred Scripture, is judged to be accurate in the main. This remark will not apply to the other books of the Maccabees, except perhaps in measure to the second book.

It is in the next three verses that his doings in respect of the "pleasant land" are found, the doings, indeed, to which our attention is specially directed as of great prophetic importance: "And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them" (v. 10). The first thing necessary for the understanding of this description is to ascertain the import of the "host of heaven." That the sun, moon, and stars are indicated by this term is seen in one of the Psalms: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth" (Psalm 33: 6); and it is as plain from the Scriptures that the sun, moon, and stars represent, symbolically, ruling authorities — the sun supreme, the moon derivative, and the stars subordinate authorities. This symbolic significance is drawn from the actual functions assigned to the heavenly luminaries. In Genesis we read, "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [He made] the stars also" (chap. 1: 16); and in Psalm 136 it says, "To Him that made great lights . . . the sun to rule by day . . . the moon and stars to rule by night" (vv. 7-9). In accordance with the emblematic meaning thus drawn, we have the sun, moon, and stars introduced in Rev. 12: 1, and the stars in v. 4.*

*For an exposition of these Scriptures see The Visions of John in Patmos.

The conclusion, therefore, may be safely drawn, that the "host of heaven" in our Scripture is figurative of some ruling authorities. Who then are they? The references in the following verse, point, without doubt, to Jerusalem as the place where they existed at the time indicated; that is, a period after Persia had been conquered by Greece. It is indispensable to bear this in mind, because, as we learn from Ezra and Nehemiah, the temple and the holy city had been rebuilt during the sovereignty of Persia. The temple services were organised at the period spoken of, whatever the state of the people and the corruption into which they had fallen; and provision had been made in measure for their government according to Jewish customs and forms. The "host of heaven" will thus signify those who held the place of authority in the Jewish polity, those who occupied, by whatever means, positions of responsibility in the government of the Jewish people. Stars are employed, it will be remembered, in Rev. 1 - 3, as emblems of those who have the place of rule in the church, the assembly; and in like manner, the host of heaven designates those to whom rule was entrusted at this epoch in the midst of the Jews.

What we learn then from our scripture is that this little horn, Antiochus Epiphanes (and that he did so is a matter of history), assailed the ruling powers among the Jews, cast down some of different grades, "stamped" upon them, and subjected them to every species of ill-treatment and degradation, even to destruction.

The next verse carries us further, and gives us more details; but it should be carefully observed that from the beginning of v. 11 to the word "transgression" in v. 12 is an explanatory parenthesis, so that the clause after this word is connected with the end of v. 10. This may be readily perceived if it be noticed that in the parenthesis "he" is employed, whereas after it the neuter pronoun "it" is again used (agreeing with "horn") as found in vv. 9, 10. Taking now the parenthesis, we, read, "Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host [i.e., the prince of the host of heaven], and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression" (vv. 11, 12). The change from "it" to "he," which has been pointed out, would seem, it has been suggested, to show that it was the king in person who so acted — the king figured by the little horn — and this suggestion commends itself from the fact that the little horn might be expressive, though in a general way, of the power of the kingdom. We gather then that such was the daring of this king that he ventured openly and avowedly to set himself in opposition to Him who was no less than Jehovah. In profession, at least, the Jewish rulers were God's servants; and their Prince, the One they waited for, whatever their carnal expectations, was Israel's God, the One who afterwards appeared in this world as Jehovah-Jesus to save His people from their sins.

The next clause is obscure, but most agree that it should be rendered, "and from him [not by him] the daily sacrifice was taken away." This means that it was taken away from Jehovah, that it was, in fact, suppressed — it does not say by whom, though the context points very plainly to the little horn, the king himself. The beginning of the next verse reveals also that, whatever the wickedness of the agent, he was but an instrument in the hands of God for the chastisement of those who were in the place of His people, for this wicked king was allowed to succeed in his designs against the daily sacrifice "by reason of transgression." Moreover, "the place of His sanctuary was cast down." For the time all Jewish rites and sacrifices were abolished, and Zion, the holy mountain, was defiled by the Gentile oppressor.* In addition to this the little horn (for now. the connection with v. 10 is resumed) "cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered." Together with the abolition of the daily sacrifices, and the profanation and destruction of the sanctuary, the truth, as Isaiah speaks, was fallen in the streets, "cast down" by the violence of the enemy; and this wicked power practised — practised by subtleties, plans, and schemes — and prospered.†

*See for the history of these particulars 1 Maccabees 1.

†Psalm 79 may be read as a commentary upon the state of things at this time in Jerusalem.

At this point of the vision Daniel "heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed" (vv. 13, 14). Passing by the question for the present (as it must come before us in examining the interpretation), whether this period of time named in the answer of the angel has any prophetic significance, it will be enough now to perceive that it must have had an historical application. The sacrifice was taken away, the place of the sanctuary was defiled, "cast down," by the personage denominated as the little horn; the temple was cleansed again after a certain time by the Maccabees, and the sacrifices were restored, so that there is no necessary connection between this period and those named of a different duration in Daniel 12.

The prophet was not content with the vision itself, but he "sought for the meaning." The desire of his heart was approved of God, for He delights in communicating His mind to the seeking soul; and hence no sooner did the prophet wish to know the meaning of the vision than the interpreter was at hand. He says, "Behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision" (vv. 15, 16). Gabriel, obedient to the command he had received, came near where Daniel stood. Afraid in the presence of his angelic visitant, the prophet fell upon his face; but Gabriel "said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision." Daniel, overcome, was in a deep sleep on his face toward the ground; "but he touched me, and set me upright" (vv. 17, 18). Gabriel thus imparted understanding and strength to enable him to receive the interpretation of the vision. The title "Son of man" is also given him, the significance of which may be gathered from the following remarks upon the same title as bestowed on Ezekiel. It is "a title that suited the testimony of a God who spoke outside His people, as being no longer in their midst; but, on the contrary, was judging them from the throne of His sovereignty. It is Christ's own title, looked at as rejected and outside of Israel, although He never ceases to think of the blessing of the people in grace. This puts the prophet in connection with the position of Christ Himself."*

*Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, vol. ii.

Before proceeding with the explanation of the vision, it will be for profit to again state distinctly the relation of a divine interpretation to the thing interpreted. The interpretation never confines itself to the matter to be explained, but adds whatever may be necessary to bring out the mind of God in the thing communicated. A simple illustration from John 14 will unfold the principle. When the Lord had spoken of manifesting Himself to the one who had His commandments and kept them, Judas enquired as to how He could manifest Himself to His own, and not to the world. In the answer to this question our Lord goes much beyond (at east in explaining its import) what He had before said. Instead of manifesting Himself, we have "WE (the Father and the Son) will come unto him, and make our abode with him." All this unquestionably lay in His first statement, but it would not have been apprehended unless He had explained it. And in the interpretation of a prophetic vision additions and applications are made in order to bring out its divine meaning — a meaning which otherwise would have been hidden.

So is it here. What Daniel saw was fulfilled, historically, in Antiochus Epiphanes during the time of the Maccabees; but we now learn from Gabriel's interpretation that this historical fulfilment was also prophetic of another fulfilment, and hence that the full realization of what is described will be after the rapture of the Church, when the Jews will be once more in their own land.* Thus in the very first words of the angel he says, "At the time of the end shall be the vision"; and again, "Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be" (vv. 17, 19). There is a remarkable proof in the prophet Isaiah, that the period here spoken of refers to the last days a passage in which he speaks of the Assyrian, or the king of the north, of whom "the little horn," Antiochus Epiphanes, is such a striking figure: "Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt. For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in, their destruction" (Isa. 10: 24, 25).

*Dr. Arnold, of Rugby, in a volume of published discourses, called special attention to this prophetic principle, that a fulfilment became, in God's hand, the shadow of a deeper fulfilment.

That this scripture applies to the future may be seen from the fact that the apostle Paul so uses the immediate context (Rom. 9: 28); and this was the important point for Daniel to understand that the vision had to do with the accomplishment, through sorrows and tribulation, of God's purposes of blessing for His beloved people. It is true that Antiochus had not yet arisen; but with this authentic unfolding of the vision, it would be impossible for any one acquainted with it to suppose, however closely Antiochus might resemble him, that he was the personage here delineated, unless the issue of his advent had been the restoration and blessing of the chosen nation.

Seeing then that the fulfilment of this vision is yet future, the details of the angelic interpretation may now be considered. Since, however, in dealing with the vision itself, many of these have been necessarily anticipated, it will suffice to show their bearing and connection. In verses 20-23 we have it authoritatively stated that the two kingdoms figured by the ram and the goat (vv. 3-7) are Persia and Greece, and it will be recalled that the introduction of these two kingdoms in this chapter is merely to show the quarter whence the little horn is to arise. Greece succeeds Persia in the world-empire; the notable horn of Greece, Alexander the Great, is broken, and "four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power." These kingdoms have already been specified; but the angel adds one particular, that they will not be in the power of their predecessor. Then, leaping over the interval from the existence of these four kingdoms to "the time of the end" (v. 17), for at that period the Assyrian, the king of the north, will have appeared, and will exercise his sovereignty in the same regions as the little horn of verses 9, 10, Gabriel proceeds: "And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up" (v. 23). This is the personal description of the antagonist of Israel in the last days, the one of whom Isaiah so often speaks as the Assyrian.* Pride and cruelty seem to mark his appearance; and a kind of supernatural wisdom (understanding dark sentences), enabling him to penetrate into the meaning of mysterious forms of speech, will give him ascendancy over the minds of men, and especially over the Jewish mind in alienation from God. In himself he is not to be a powerful king, for if mighty, it will not be "by his own power"; that is, he will be sustained in his realm by a mightier potentate than himself.†

*It may be interesting to recall, in proof that the Assyrian is a future enemy, what has been often noticed, that Assyria historically succumbed to Babylon, whereas prophetically the Assyrian is, after the restoration of Israel to their own land, their last external adversary.

†Two things are often put together in connection with this statement, viz., that the seat of the sovereignty of this king will be in Asiatic Turkey; and, secondly, that Russia, as plainly shown in Ezekiel 38 and 39, will be the final enemy of Israel, after their establishment in the land in blessing under their Messiah. The deduction is then made that the power behind this king of the north will be Russia. It may be so, but where Scripture does not speak positively, a conjecture can only be accepted as a possibility.

Next, the actions of this fierce king are described: "He shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people." The location of this king, it must not be forgotten, like that of his prototype, will be in Syria, in the north of Palestine, and hence his designation in this book (Dan. 11) as the king of the north; and thus, being on the borders of, he will wax exceeding great towards the pleasant land, as we learn from verse 9. This explains the statement of our verse concerning his deadly hostility to the Jews. As another has written, "He will make great havoc, will prosper and practise, destroying the mighty, or a great multitude of persons, and especially 'the people of the holy ones'; that is, the Jews (Dan. 7: 27). He is subtle, and his craftiness is successful. He will magnify himself in his heart, and will destroy many by means of a false and religious security." Altogether it is a fearful portraiture of one who will be an apt tool of Satan, and yet withal an instrument in the hand of God for the chastisement of the ungodly Jews. He will be a man of resolute will, refined cruelty, one practised in designing craftiness, a master of occult knowledge, and one of such determined purpose that he will allow nothing to stand in the way of the execution of his own selfish designs; for all his object will be his own aggrandizement and exaltation. Such will be one of the powerful enemies of the Jews, after they have been restored to their own land, and have rebuilt the temple, while still in unbelief, before the appearing of their Messiah in glory.

But his career of prosperity will be his ruin. Deceived by his own successes and lifted up in heart, he will venture also to "stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand." The fact only is stated that this earthly monarch will dare to be the open antagonist to Him who will soon assert His title as King of kings and Lord of lords, and that in some way, "without hand," he will meet with instant destruction. The same event is probably alluded to in Daniel 11: 45, where it says that "he shall come to his end, and none shall help him"; and as the occasion of his being in the "pleasant land," when condign punishment thus overtakes him, is there given with some detail, it will be more suitable to defer further remarks till this passage is reached.

Gabriel finally affirms the truth of the vision which Daniel had received, and commands him to shut it up, "for it shall be for many days." Under the burden of these divine communications Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days (v. 27). The vessel was strained by the contents, portending so much of sorrow and tribulation, which had been poured into it, and for a time was disabled. "Afterward," he says, "I rose up, and did the king's business" (ever faithful to his earthly master); "and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it." Who were the "none" is not explained, although we may be sure that they were of Daniel's companions in captivity. Even the people of God do not listen willingly to the prophet of coming sorrows, while the prophet of smooth things ever finds a ready ear. Hence it is that a soul who is in the secret of the divine mind must be content to be unappreciated and to walk alone.

DANIEL 9.

DANIEL appears in a new character in this chapter. Hitherto we have seen him as the recipient in different ways of divine and prophetic communications; we now behold him discovering the mind of God from studying the Scriptures, and as an intercessor for God's chosen people. How long an interval had elapsed between this and the preceding chapters cannot be ascertained, since we know not the duration of Belshazzar's reign. Belshazzar, on account of his impiety, had forfeited his life under the just judgment of God, and "Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes . . . was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans"; and the events of this chapter took place "in the first year of his reign" (vv. 1, 2).

Two things evidently distinguished Daniel: an intense love for the place where God's honour had dwelt; and an undying affection for God's people. He might truly have been the mouthpiece of his fellow-captives in the well-known psalm, the authorship of which is not revealed, "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right. hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy" (Psalm 137: 5, 6). It was doubtless this love for Jerusalem that led him to the writings of Jeremiah, to ascertain how long it was to remain in desolation; and he says, giving the result of his study, "I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem" (v. 2; Jeremiah 25: 11, 29: 10).

The effect of this discovery on Daniel was, In his unquenchable love for his people, to lead him to identify himself with their state, to confess their sins, and to intercede for their forgiveness and restoration; for he well knew that there must first be a work wrought in their souls to qualify them for returning to their own land and to their city. It is only where divine affections for the people of God exist in the heart, as so markedly exemplified both in Moses and in Paul, as well as in Daniel and in Ezra, that there can be power in intercession on their behalf. And may it not be, suggested as present instruction that the urgent need of today is that of intercessors? of holy men and women, who, divinely taught and filled with the Spirit, shall be enabled, like Epaphras, to labour fervently for the saints in prayer? And if we ourselves, through lack of zeal for God's glory, and of love for His people, cannot be intercessors, we may at least pray that such may be raised up throughout the whole church of God in every part of the world.

Before considering Daniel's prayer it may be helpful to observe what has been elsewhere pointed out,* that the intercession of the prophet is one of three links in God's ways for the accomplishment of His purposes in respect of Jerusalem. Jeremiah was commissioned to prophecy of her desolation for seventy years on account of her transgressions; Daniel was stirred up by the Spirit of God to pray for her restoration; and finally Cyrus was raised up "that the word of the lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled," to issue a proclamation concerning the rebuilding of the Temple (Ezra 1). God Himself must have the glory of all His work, and He will not permit any of His servants to claim the credit of that which His own power has executed.

*In Ezra; or, Restoration from Babylon.

It will not be necessary to make more than a few brief remarks upon the prayer, as its intention, character, and purport are easily apprehended. It should be noted, however, first of all, that Daniel's own state of soul was in correspondence with his confessions and prayers. He says, "I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes" (v. 3). It is only as we ourselves are truly humbled before God that we can humble ourselves for His people. Through grace, and the power of the Holy Spirit, we must put ourselves morally into the circumstances of those whose case we desire to present to God. The state of the people required prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes, and the prophet as one of them, understanding their condition, took this ground in the presence of God. The Lord Himself was the perfect example of this, as when seen in the Psalms confessing His people's sins."* Nothing indeed more plainly exhibits the Spirit of Christ than this complete identification with the sorrowful condition of God's people through their sins. It is thus that saints may bear one another's burdens, and fulfil the law of Him who was the great burden-bearer.

*See as an example of this Psalm 69: 5.

The two prominent features of Daniel's supplications are confession and the justification of God in what He had done in His dealings with His people. In the address to God in verse 4, he lays. the basis for justifying God. He says, "O Lord,* the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His commandments." God could not fail in keeping His covenant with His people, and hence the conduct of the people themselves must have been the cause of all the chastisement by which they had been overtaken. And it is this sinful conduct which Daniel now proceeded to specify. "We," he says, "have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments (v. 5). He offers no palliation of, nor does he seek to extenuate, the enormity of the guilt of his people; but in every variety of expression makes the fullest confession of their manifold transgressions. They had aggravated their sin, moreover, by refusing to listen to the prophets whom God, in His long-suffering and tender mercy, had sent to their kings, their princes, their fathers, and to all the people of the land (v. 6). The guilt lay alike upon every class. As a consequence, and this Daniel owns, righteousness in His ways with His people, belonged to the Lord, but confusion of face "to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither Thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against Thee" (v. 7).

*The reader may observe the change from "Jehovah, my God" in the first line of the verse to "Adonai" in line three.

This particularity of confession, taking nothing for granted as already known in. the presence of God, may be well commended to us for imitation. It is an infallible sign of the "true heart," of uprightness of soul before God, and hence of a real work of the Holy Spirit in the heart and conscience. But if confusion of face, as Daniel again confesses (v. 8), belonged to every class of the people because of their sins, "to the Lord our God," he proceeds to, say, "belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against Him," though they had not obeyed His voice through the prophets, and though all Israel had transgressed the law of the Lord their God, and had therefore fallen under the curse and penalty of their sins, as had been written in the law of Moses the servant of God (vv. 9-11). Daniel in that one sentence, "To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses," had reached the only foundation on which he could rest in his intercession. Had he known only the law, he could not have hoped to be heard; but he knew the Lord his God also in the measure of grace in which He had been revealed both to Moses (Exodus 34: 6, 7), to David, and to Solomon in connection with the building of the temple on Mount Zion, which was henceforward to be known as the expression of royal grace (see 1 Chr. 21; 2 Chr. 6: 36-39). It was therefore on God as known in grace that the prophet depended; and it is only as grace is known that the heart is enabled to unburden its sins and sorrows in the presence of God.

Daniel will hide nothing, and hence he further says that, while God had only confirmed His words in bringing upon His people so great an evil (and there was never a greater under the whole heaven than that which had been done upon Jerusalem); and while the evil came upon them exactly as written in the law of Moses, "yet," he says, "made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand Thy truth" (vv. 12, 13). The result of all this evil conduct is now stated: "Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the Lord our God is righteous in all His works which He doeth: for we obeyed not His voice" (v. 14). Yet again he mentions another aggravation of their guilt — it was against Him who had redeemed them with a mighty hand out of the land of Egypt, and had gotten Himself renown, that they had sinned and done wickedly (v. 15). Daniel went thus to the very bottom, and viewed all the sins of his people in the light of God's holiness, justifying God, and owning that the judgment which had overtaken Jerusalem, Judah, Israel, kings, princes, and people, was but their righteous due. It is therefore a pattern confession for all time, whether for saints or for sinners, only remembering that grace is now still further known (see 1 John 2: 1, 2; chap. 1: 9); but if further known this is an additional incentive for thoroughness and openheartedness in confession.

Having confessed the sins and iniquities of his people, Daniel, in the next place, turns to intercession. The form of it is. much to be observed. Daniel had fully owned the righteousness of God in the chastisement of His people, and now he appeals to the Lord according to all His righteousness, to turn away His; anger and His fury from His city Jerusalem, His holy mountain; and he further pleads that Jerusalem and Jehovah's people, because of their sins and iniquities, were now "a reproach to all that are about us." The prophet was entitled to plead the Lord's righteousness, for Jehovah had put His NAME in the sanctuary built by Solomon; He had moreover accepted Solomon's prayer at its dedication, and He had thus bound Himself to hear the prayers of His people, when humbled before Him by reason of their sins.* Daniel, therefore, in this plea counted on all that Jehovah was as revealed to Israel, and upon His fidelity to His own word. Nothing gives the soul so much courage as the apprehension of God's righteousness, or so completely sets it at liberty in God's presence. It is very touching also to see the way in which Daniel uses the term, "Thy people." In fact God had written Lo-ammi ("not my people") on Israel, but faith would re-establish the link, and hence it refuses the term of reproach.

*See also Deuteronomy 30.

The sanctuary in all its desolation is next presented and the ground of his prayer and supplications that God would cause His face to shine upon His sanctuary, is, "for the Lord's sake," a ground of appeal which could not be refused. In the following verse (18) the subject of his petition is "our desolations, and the city which is called by Thy name," and for this he urges yet another plea: "We do not present our supplications before Thee for our righteousnesses, but for Thy great mercies."

These then are the three pleas Daniel urges before the Lord — His righteousness, His own sake, and His mercies; and having laid these out in His presence, he gathers up all his desires and pours them forth in one last earnest entreaty: "O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for Thine own sake, O my God; for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy name." Here was the secret of his strength; he was concerned most of all for the name of his God, and for His interests in His sanctuary, His city, and His people. He has not one single thing to ask for himself, or even for his companions in captivity; but his whole heart goes out in supplication for the honour of the name of his God, and for the interests of God upon the earth. It is a prayer, therefore, which might well be often studied by those who desire, in any measure, to be in fellowship with God's heart concerning the sorrowful condition of His church in the world.

Before Daniel had ended his supplications the answer to his cries was received — in so far as concerned the revelation of the mind of God touching the subjects of his prayer. He says: "And whilst I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation" (vv. 20, 21). Two remarks may be made before proceeding: first, to remind ourselves anew that God's ear is ever open to the prayers of His people. As John wrote, "If we ask anything according. to His will, He heareth us," and it was so in this case. Daniel was in the secret of God's mind, and God delighted in His servant's supplications, every word of which ascended up before Him as sweet incense; for, in truth, they were His own desires which had been begotten in His servant's heart. Secondly, it was at the time of the evening oblation that Gabriel arrived and "touched" Daniel. The evening oblation was the perpetual burnt offering — appointed to be presented morning and evening continually. The temple having been destroyed, it could no longer be offered; but Daniel was before God in the virtue of it; that is, he identified himself in spirit with all its sweet fragrance, as constituting his own acceptance, and the efficacy of his prayers (compare 1 Samuel 7: 9, 10; 2 Kings 3: 20). So is it with our prayers now when, through faith and in the power of the Holy Ghost, we rest wholly and entirely upon what Christ is, and upon all the virtue of His sacrifice, before God.

Gabriel came, first of all, to give Daniel "skill and understanding" (v. 22); and, moreover, told him "at the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision" (v. 23). The revelation about to be made would need divine intelligence to comprehend it, and this it was that God first imparted, through Gabriel, to His servant. He would have Daniel also know that He had read the desires of his heart, and had, at the beginning of his supplications, given commandment for Gabriel's mission; and in His precious grace, to encourage Daniel's heart, He would also have him informed that he was greatly beloved — beloved, like the disciple whom Jesus loved, as being in the intimacy of the Lord's mind and affections, and thus enabled to receive the impartation of divine secrets. For it is ever true that the nearer we are to the Lord the more fully He can open out His mind to us. Hence Gabriel adds, "Therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision." The qualifications were possessed; divine intelligence and a heart in communion with God; and Daniel, thus endowed through grace, was in a position to comprehend the revelation he was about to receive.

This brings us to the most difficult part of the book, or at least to one made difficult through speculation and controversy, viz., the subject of the

SEVENTY WEEKS.

Some preliminary observations will pave the way for its consideration. It is then of the utmost moment to note that the revelation of God's purpose goes a long way beyond the prophet's prayer. Jeremiah had said, "Thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place" (Jer. 29: 10; see also Jer. 25: 11-14). It was these scriptures which Daniel had discovered, and on which he had based his intercession, becoming, as possessing the mind of God, a mediator. Hence it is that, as often observed, he does not go back to God's unconditional covenant with the patriarchs, on the ground of which, in virtue of the death of Christ,. He will finally re-establish His people in the land in blessing under the reign of Christ (see Leviticus 26: 40-45), but only to the revelation God had made of Himself, and to the promises He gave to Moses in Exodus 34.* What Daniel sought in his supplications was the fulfilment of the promise made through Jeremiah, and, as led of the Spirit of God, he took the appropriate ground for this in the presence of God. But in the communication made through Gabriel, it is revealed to him that God had still larger thoughts of blessing for His people, which would be surely fulfilled at the end of the seventy weeks.

*In Exodus 32 Moses did go back to the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when it was a question of God's utterly consuming His people and making of Moses a nation to take their place.

It must also be borne in mind that this revelation entirely concerns the Jewish people and Jerusalem. It is strange indeed that this should need to be insisted upon, considering the language employed; but the tendency is so persistent in some quarters to explain away, by spiritualizing, the scriptures which have in view the future restoration of the chosen nation, that it becomes necessary to affirm and to hold fast their manifest application. Gabriel thus says to Daniel, "Thy people," and "thy holy city." Even a child, if he know but the elements of the New Testament, understands that Christians have no holy city upon earth. And should it be contended that it is the heavenly city, new Jerusalem, which is here indicated, it might well be enquired, When were its walls thrown down, so as to need rebuilding? No, the city prayed for is the city of which Gabriel speaks, as is evident from verse 25; and consequently Daniel's people are the Jews, and his city is the earthly Jerusalem. Remark also that, though Daniel had said to the Lord, "Thy people" and "Thy city" Jerusalem, Gabriel says to him, "thy people" and "thy city" (compare the intercession of Moses in Exodus 32 - 34). The link with Jehovah had been broken by Israel's sin, and Lo-ammi (not my people), as before explained, had been pronounced over them; and from that time, until the appearing of Christ and the restoration of His people, the term "my people" is never used.*

*Hence it is never found in Ezra and Nehemiah; but when the Lord once more returns to Zion, He again takes it up (See Zech. 8: 7, 8; Zech. 13: 9; Hosea 2: 23).

Another thing to determine is the meaning of the expression "weeks" — seventy weeks. From familiarity with the term "weeks," and its common use, it might be supposed that a period of seven days was meant; and there have been expositors who have insisted on this theory. The answer is simple and irrefragable. The date of the commencement of the seventy weeks is laid down with the utmost precision (v. 25); and starting from this date, was there, it may well be inquired, if seventy weeks of days are signified, any fulfilment of this prediction within the period named? Nay; has there even yet been the accomplishment of Gabriel's revelation? If not, it is proved beyond all question, for those who believe in the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, that "weeks" in this passage are not weeks of days. The following quotations from one whose intimate acquaintance with the Hebrew language none would question, will be helpful in the understanding of the term. He says: "The word itself is strictly, something divided into, or consisting of, seven parts — a heptad, a hebdomad." Again, "Daniel had made inquiry about seventy years of the captivity in Babylon. The answer speaks also of seventy periods, which in our English translation are called weeks. The word, however, does not necessarily mean seven days, but a period of seven parts; of course, it is much more often used in speaking of a week than anything else, because nothing is so often mentioned as a week which is similarly divided. The Hebrews, however, used a septenary scale as to time, just as habitually as we should reckon by tens; the sabbatical years, the jubilees, all tended to give this thought a permanent place in their minds. The denomination is here to be taken from the subject of Daniel's prayer. He prayed about years, he is answered about periods of seven years; i.e., the recurrence of sabbatical years."*

*S. P. Tregelles, LL.D.

Having shown that weeks in this scripture signify periods of seven years, our next inquiry must be concerning the date of their commencement. It is stated by Gabriel to be "from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem" (v. 25). In the book of Ezra we have a decree by Cyrus, and another by Artaxerxes in the seventh year of his reign; but both of these are concerning the house of God in Jerusalem, and hence neither satisfies the terms mentioned by Gabriel. Passing on however to Nehemiah, we find that, "in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes," he issued letters, in response to Nehemiah's request, commissioning him to go unto Judah, unto the city of his fathers' sepulchres, that he might build it (Neh. 2). Here then is the date referred to by Gabriel, and, as there is no other such "commandment" as to the restoration and building of Jerusalem in any part of scripture, the point of time is fixed and certain.

Another question arises as to whether the year in the world's history of this "commandment" can be ascertained.* Without going into the details of the investigation, which can easily be pursued if desired, it may be stated that the twentieth year of Artaxerxes is believed to coincide, as nearly as possible, with 454 or 455 B.C. The application of this date will be seen in considering the several parts of Gabriel's communication.

*The following fact, borrowed from Dr. Tregelles, may be interesting to some readers. Archbishop Ussher's chronology is that adopted in our own English Bibles, and it seems that he paid very special attention to the date of Artaxerxes' reign. "About a hundred and fifty years ago" (nearer two hundred now), Dr. Tregelles says, "Bishop Lloyd undertook to affix Archbishop Ussher's dates to our English Bibles; but, in this instance, he made a considerable alteration, and substituted another date of his own, so as to adapt the reign of Artaxerxes to his own theory"!

Taking then verse 24, we have the statement that seventy weeks (490 years) are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy" (or, the holy of holies). All these expressions look plainly onward to the full reestablishment of Daniel's people and city in blessing. The transgression will be ended, the transgression for which they have been scattered, Jerusalem having now "received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins," their iniquity will be pardoned (Isaiah 40: 2), everlasting righteousness, God's righteousness, will be brought in (Isaiah 51: 4-8), visions and prophecies will be closed up for ever (see Zechariah 13), and the holy of holies will once more be set apart, sanctified according to the requirements of the glory of Him who will again dwell there (see Exodus 40: 9).

In the next verse (25th) the period of seventy weeks is divided: "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times." The seventy weeks are thus divided into three portions — seven weeks, threescore and two weeks, and one week. The first portion undoubtedly comprises the period occupied in rebuilding Jerusalem and the wall, for the end of the verse expressly speaks of the "troublous," or "strait of," times during which this was performed. In the book of Nehemiah some account is given of the obstacles and opposition which Nehemiah and his builders had to encounter.

Next we have sixty-two weeks, which reach "unto" the Messiah, the Prince. That is, adding the forty-nine years occupied in the restoration of the city, there would be four hundred and eighty-three years until Christ. It must be carefully observed that the expression is general, that neither the birth of Christ, His anointing for His mission, nor His death is specified. It simply says, "unto" Messiah, the Prince. Some. taking the date of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem as 454 or 455 B.C., calculate that the 483 years, included in the sixty-nine weeks, terminated with the death of Christ.* Had the Messiah been received, the Jewish nation would, as we know, have been at once established in the kingdom; and even had He been received by the nation after the crucifixion, the times of refreshing, as Peter distinctly declares, would have come from the presence of the Lord; and He would have sent Jesus Christ to His people (Acts 3: 9-21). But God foreknew all, and hence, after naming the sixty-two weeks, says, "And after† three score and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, and [marginal rendering] shall have nothing" (v. 26). It should be noticed that it does not say immediately after, only "after," leaving room, we cannot doubt, for the half week of the Lord's ministry.

*This calculation takes, what indeed is now commonly accepted, the year 4 B.C. for the birth of Christ and consequently 29 A.D. for His crucifixion. But nothing whatever is gained by this attempt at numerical accuracy; and we cannot but believe that the expression "unto Messiah the Prince" is indefinite, for the reason that the Messiah, as here foretold, would be rejected by those to whom He came. It may be mentioned that some, holding that the sixty-nine weeks end with the birth of Christ, regard the first half of the seventieth week as fulfilled in the ministry of the Baptist, and its second half in the ministry of our Lord, but that, owing to the rejection of Christ this week is cancelled, and therefore remains to be gone over again. We see no Scriptural ground whatever for this opinion, for in no possible way can the ministry of John be extended to three years and a half. Another view, for which there is much more to be said, is that the Lord's ministry embraces the first half of the seventieth week, and hence that only the remaining half is yet to be fulfilled. This view will be more properly discussed in connection with verses 26, 27.

†The article should here be inserted, viz., after the sixty-two weeks.

Be that however as it may, the facts mentioned are divinely given, and are therefore indisputable, viz., that sixty-two weeks, dating from the restoration of Jerusalem, ran on till Christ; and that "after" the termination of this period, He, being rejected, was cut off, and had nothing; for the kingdom and its glory were as a consequence postponed, and, together with it, the fulfilment of the last portion of the seventy weeks. This will be more clearly seen as we follow the scripture.

In connection then with Messiah's being cut off, it is said: "And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined."* (v. 26). The most careful attention must be given to the exact words used in this scripture if we are to understand their import, and it may help to their elucidation if we recall one or two facts to our minds. We have seen then, in the earlier chapters, that the fourth kingdom, the successor to that of Greece, which is to complete the times of the Gentiles, is Rome; and we have also seen that this has no earthly successor, that it will, in fact, be displaced by the kingdom of the Son of man; and consequently that, though to outward eyes the Western Roman empire may appear to have passed away for ever, it will, according to the teaching of Scripture, be revived (see Rev. 13 and 17), and will assume the form of ten kingdoms, confederated under one imperial head — the little horn of Daniel 7, or the first beast of Rev. 13. Moreover, it was in the time of the fourth empire, as a well-known fact in history, and testified to in the Scriptures, that the Lord Jesus came into this world, and that it was at Rome's tribunal, with Pilate as judge, that He was sentenced to the death of the cross. These facts have a most important bearing upon the statements of our scripture.

*Another translation of the last clause is, "And until the end [there is] war [even] that which is determined for desolations."

Remark then, first, that it does not say that a Prince shall come and destroy the city and the sanctuary, but that the people of the Prince that shall come shall do so. In other words "the prince that shall come" applies to the future, and is indeed, as will be seen in the next verse, the imperial head of the revived Roman empire in the last days. The "people" are identified with him because they are Romans of the same kingdom that is yet to reappear, and of which this prince will be the leader and the chief. What we have then, in, this passage, is the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans after the death of Christ as God's judgment upon the Jews for their rejection and crucifixion of their Messiah. Our Lord Himself often spoke of this sorrowful event, and always connected it with His own rejection (see Matt. 22: 7, Luke 19: 41-44, etc.).

The fearful character of this judgment is pointed out in the closing words of the verse — "The end thereof shall be with a flood, and," adopting the alternative translation given, "until the end," there will be wars for the accomplishment of God's will in the desolations of the holy city; for, as the Lord Himself said, "They [the Jews] 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; see also Rev. 11: 2).

It is now apparent why the last of the seventy weeks is separated from the previous sixty-two. Within one week (seven years) when Christ came, the seventy weeks spoken of by Gabriel had run their course; and had the Jews but received Jesus of Nazareth as their promised Messiah, He would have at once established His kingdom, and brought in all the blessings spoken of in verse 24; but they knew not the time of their visitation. As a consequence the course of the seventy weeks has been interrupted, and God does not count time while His ancient people on earth are out of their inheritance, and scattered over the globe. There is therefore a blank, so to speak, in Jewish history, an interval during which the nation, though still watched over, has no recognized relationship with God.* But. blessed be His name, "through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy" (Rom. 11: 11). For it has pleased God, in the depth of the riches both of His wisdom and of His knowledge, to. use this very interval for the unfolding and accomplishment of His eternal counsels in Christ concerning the saints who are to be joint heirs with Christ, and to form His body and His bride. It is precisely this interval, wherein time is not reckoned, which forms the church-period; and when this — the acceptable year of the Lord — is ended, God will again put forth His power for the blessing of the chosen earthly people and then they will sing with overflowing hearts, O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; and gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south" (Psalm 107: 1-3).

*The bond between God and Israel is maintained during this period through the faith of the remnant, as exemplified in the first part of this book in Daniel and his companions.

It will be perceived that an immense interval is to be interposed between verses 26 and 27; that verse 26 refers to the death of Christ and God's judgment upon Jerusalem some thirty years after, while verse 27 passes on to a time after the church-period is closed, when the Jews, though in unbelief, will be again in their own land. Should anyone regard this interpretation as forced, he may be reminded that such instances are common in the prophetic scriptures. Peter, for example, in citing from Psalm 34, says, "The face of the Lord is against them that do evil," but he does not add, what is found in the Psalm, "to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth," for the reason that since God is now acting in grace, while it is ever true that His face is against them that do evil, He will not cut such off from the earth until the kingdom of Christ is established. In other words, the whole of the present period, the day of grace, has to be inserted between the two clauses of the same verse.*

*For another remarkable illustration of the same thing the reader may compare Luke 4: 18, 19, with the place in Isaiah whence the words are taken. He will discover that the Lord did not cite "And the day of vengeance of our God," because in fact that day would not come until after the "acceptable year" — that is, the whole period of grace — had run its course.

We may now proceed to consider the opening statement of verse 27, "And he shall confirm the [rather a] covenant with many [really the many] for one week." The first thing to be decided in this statement is as to who is the person who makes a covenant with the many. Adopting the English translation, "the covenant," some have hastily concluded that it is Christ Himself, omitting to notice that the covenant mentioned is only made for seven years. It is now, however, admitted on all hands that the words should be rendered a covenant, and this at once shows that it could not be the Messiah. Indeed the proper antecedent of the pronoun "he" is the prince that shall come; and it is to this personage that the reference is made. What is asserted therefore is, that the future head of the revived Roman empire will make a covenant with "the many," that is, with the mass or majority of the Jews, who at that time will be again in their own land; for the mention of the sacrifice and the oblation puts it beyond doubt that Jerusalem is in question, and that the temple has been rebuilt. This prince will then enter into an alliance with the Jews, with. all of them save the godly remnant, professedly as befriending their cause, and as protecting them from their adversaries. And it should be well observed that the term of this covenant is one week — that is, for the seventieth week, as we judge, in respect of the unbelieving Jews. Faith may accept the Lord's ministry, when on earth, as the first half of this last week, and go on to the time when the prince breaks his covenant with the Jews for the commencement of the last half; but for unbelief the seventieth week is the week for which this covenant is made. Other scriptures allude to this covenant. We thus read in Isaiah 28, "Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves," etc. (vv. 14, 15). It would appear therefore that it will be the fear of another adversary, "the overflowing scourge" (who is no less a personage than the Assyrian, or the king of the north), which will drive these "scornful men" into the arms of the imperial head of the Roman empire. It must also be remembered, as will be seen when Daniel 11 is reached, that the Antichrist will at this time have his seat and sway in Jerusalem, and that he will act as the "prophet," the false prophet to the prince of the empire (Rev. 13). It will thus be, as led by him, that in fear of their terrible adversary, the Assyrian, they will accept the treaty of alliance proposed by the head of the Roman Empire.

At the outset, as we have seen in Isaiah, all will promise well, and the Jews will delude themselves with the thought that they have secured themselves from all possible danger. Shutting God out, they will lean upon the arm of the most powerful monarch of the world. Of whom therefore should they be afraid? But the very one in whom they trust becomes their enemy; for, false to his own covenant, "in the midst of the week" (that is, at the end of three years and a half) "he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease," and more than this, for (we now give what most competent students of Scripture accept as the true sense or rendering of what follows) "on account of the protection* of idols there is a desolator, and until the consummation that is determined there shall be poured [judgment] upon the desolate." Without attempting to unravel the intricacies of this admittedly difficult passage, it may, be affirmed that its general sense is quite plain, inasmuch as there is light from other scriptures to guide us as to it.

*The word translated "protection" is literally "wing" but every reader of the Bible knows that "wing" is continually a symbol of protection.

Not only will this Roman prince cause the daily sacrifices to be removed, but in addition to his own image erected by Antichrist which will be endowed with seemingly miraculous powers (Rev. 13), the Antichrist himself, as we learn from 2 Thess. 2, will as God sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God (v. 11). The Lord Himself refers to this awful fact in Matthew 24, where He speaks of the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, as to be set up in the holy place, referring to Dan. 12: 11.

The situation then will be thus: The Jews at this time will have returned to their own land, and, though in unbelief as to the mass, they will have rebuilt the temple and restored the temple services. Antichrist, according to the Lord's prediction, having come in his own name. will be received as their king; and, under his leadership, when threatened by the power of the Assyrian, they will enter into a covenant, and make a treaty, with the head of the western empire. This prince breaks his covenant, as we have seen, and "in the midst of the week" abolishes the temple services; and, with daring profanity, the Antichrist, as his prophet, causes an image of himself to be erected in the holy of holies, and demands that divine honours should be rendered to himself instead of to Jehovah.

We have repeated these facts because that, from this point, the setting up of the abomination of desolation in the holy place, commences the last half of the seventieth prophetic week. This is the beginning of the "time and times and the dividing of time" of Dan. 7: 25, and of the forty-two months, or the 1260 days of the book of Revelation, that is of the three years and a half — the last half of the seventieth week. It is of this, period our blessed Lord speaks in Matthew 24 as a time of unequalled sorrow, saying, "Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved" (vv. 21, 22); for it is during these days that the trumpet judgments, and "the vials of the wrath of God," of which we read in Revelation, are poured out on the earth. It is to these judgments, as affecting Jerusalem and the Jews, that allusion is made in the verse in Daniel which we are considering.

First, then, it says, according to the amended translation given "On account of the protection of idols there is a desolator." The desolator here is undoubtedly the "overflowing scourge" of Isaiah 28; for, as before seen, the Jews are led by antichrist to form a treaty with the head of the Roman empire to protect themselves from their northern adversary; and the "scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem," boast of their security. But, says the prophet, "your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it" (Isaiah 28: 18; see also vv. 19-22). In fact, God uses the Assyrian as a rod to break the guilty people to pieces, twice guilty — in rejecting Christ and in again accepting idolatry after the house had been swept and garnished.

There is yet more, for "until the consummation that is determined, there shall be poured [judgment] on the desolate."* Commencing then with the overflowing scourge the Jews will be the objects of unceasing judgment, and Jerusalem will be given up to the fury of her oppressors. As another has said, "the consummation that is determined" is an expression constantly used for the last judgments that shall fall upon the Jews (see Isaiah 10: 22; 28: 22). As these will come before us towards the close of the book, further consideration of them now may be deferred, only remarking that at the close of this night of tribulation their Messiah will appear, and "will destroy in this mountain (Zion) the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it" (Isaiah 25: 7, 8).

*There has been much discussion as to whether this word "desolate" should not be translated "desolator." It is admitted that it will bear both meanings, although the former is the more common rendering. Whichever is adopted the sense remains much the same, excepting that, if "desolate" be retained, Jerusalem is signified, whereas if "desolator" be preferred her adversary is indicated. The meaning in either case is that from the time mentioned increasing judgment will be poured out until "the consummation that is determined."

DANIEL 10.

IT is apparent to the most casual reader that the last three chapters of this book form, so to speak, but one prophecy. It deals, however, with different eras and personages, traverses many spheres of action, but it does not proceed consecutively; for after reaching down to a certain point, with a historical description of machinations and conflicts between the king of the north and the king of the south, it suddenly passes on to the time of the end, and brings before us the "wilful king," the Antichrist, together with his wicked doings (11: 36, etc.), and his conflicts with his adversaries. The last chapter is entirely taken up with the Jews, having especially in view the faithful remnant, the "time of trouble" through which they will pass during the last days of Gentile rule, and their glorious deliverance.

The chapter now before us is occupied mainly with the circumstances under which Daniel received these last communications; and with respect to these it has been well observed "that in both cases (Dan. 9 and Dan. 10 - 12) the revelation given to Daniel, as to his people, is in reply to his exercises. of heart in intercession or fasting; [whereas] the revelations in Dan. 7, 8, as to the western or eastern destroying powers, are not. They are given when God pleases. These were in the time of Belshazzar; the two former after Babylon was taken."* The date of the vision is given in verse 1. It was in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, the king who succeeded, it will be remembered, Darius the Mede, during whose reign Daniel was cast into the den of lions. As expressly said, the thing revealed was "true, but the time appointed" (appointed for the fulfilment of all the events, or of the last of them, which had been unfolded in the prophetic vision) "was long; and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision." If God thus used the prophet as a vessel for the revelation of the future, He also gave him to understand what was revealed.

*Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, by J. N. Darby, vol. ii. New edition. Revised.

The circumstances under which the vision was vouchsafed are next given: "In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled" (vv. 2, 3). The subject of his sorrow and fasting is not stated; but as we know from the previous chapter that the condition of his people and of the holy city lay heavily upon his heart, we may well conclude that his mourning here was on account of the same thing, and the more certainly in that it led to a revelation of the future deliverance of his people. For our own instruction two observations may be made: First, that he who most completely identifies himself with the sorrows of God's people is Most in fellowship with the heart of God for them (compare Isaiah 53: 4, 5); and, secondly, that if we would have the mind of God communicated to us, we must be in a state of soul to receive it. What greater mistake can be made than to suppose that we can enter into God's secrets without a moral preparedness of heart, or to think that it is possible to understand divine things merely through hearing or reading, or because we have ranged ourselves round certain leaders of God's people, and enthusiastically upheld their teachings? Humiliation and fasting were Daniel's means of receiving these revelations; and so now, it is only when we are morally outside of things here — outside of the gratification of the senses and of the joys of earth, having thoroughly chastened ourselves, through the application of the cross, in the presence of God — that the Spirit of God enlightens the eyes of our hearts to comprehend God's mind and will. These two verses, therefore, may be regarded as most important, containing as they do the means by which Daniel was prepared to hear and to understand the divine voice.

Other particulars concerning time and place are added: "And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel;* then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked," etc. (vv. 4, 5). At this date, then, and at this place, the vision of "a certain man" is granted to him, and the various features of his dress and appearance are described. He was clothed in fine linen; his loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz; his body also was like the beryl; his face as the appearance of lightning; his eyes as lamps of fire; his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass; and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude (vv. 5, 6).

*This river is only mentioned by name in one other place (Gen. 2: 14). It is generally identified, both from geographical and etymological considerations, with the Tigris. If this be correct, Daniel would have to cross it on his journeys to Shushan (Dan. 8: 2) from Babylon.

Who, then, was this heavenly visitant? That there are many resemblances to the appearance of the one "like the Son of man," whom John saw in Patmos, is at once perceived; but there are also differences, and there is the absence of some of the most striking characteristics that John records. It is by no means certain, therefore, that this is a divine personage. Indeed, if it is the same speaker throughout this chapter, it could not be, since he speaks of being hindered in his mission by "the prince of Persia" for one and twenty days.*

*Some have supposed that it is a divine person in verses 5-9, and an angel from verse 10. This seems a little forced, although there are traits in verses 5-9 that might suggest that it was more than an angel. Nothing, however, depends upon the interpretation, and the question may therefore be left undecided.

The effect upon Daniel and his companions, the men that were with him, of whom we read here for the first time,* combines in some particulars the effects produced on Paul's attendants when on his way to Damascus, as the light from heaven, beyond the brightness of the midday sun, shone round about him; and those produced on John when he saw, while at Patmos, the vision of the Son of man. Daniel's companions, like those of Paul, were afraid, and so great was the quaking "that fell upon them that they fled to hide themselves; and Daniel himself, like John, fell down as dead before the celestial messenger. He says, "There remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground" (v. 8, 9). It would seem impossible, from many instances in Scripture, for man in nature to hold converse with heavenly beings when surrounded with the majesty and excellency that Pertain to their existence; and hence it is necessary to be like Paul, whether in the body or out of the body he knew not, or like John "in the Spirit," rapt outside of his ordinary mode of being, in order to become the recipient of heavenly secrets. Three things were bestowed upon Daniel before the angel proceeded with his communication: First, "an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands." Divine strength was imparted to him. Secondly, he receives the assurance that he was "a man greatly beloved," an object of the divine affections; and, together with this, and indeed in the power of it, he is commanded to understand the words spoken to him, and to stand upright; for, said the angel, "Unto thee am I now sent" (v. 11). Then, lastly, he is set at liberty. In response to the command to stand upright, he "stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel." He was thus calmed in the presence of the heavenly messenger, his fears having been dissipated, and so qualified to become the depositary of the angel's message. The angel then revealed to him that he had come in answer to his prayer: "From the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words" (v. 12). What gracious encouragement is thus ministered to the intercessors in all ages for the people of God! They may be alone in the midst of the prevailing confusion and corruption; they may even have their names cast out as evil by professing Christians, and by real believers; but their cries are heard by God, and He will sustain them by the assurances of His love, comfort them by the consolations which He alone can minister, and in due time answer their prayers.

*This would seem to point to the conclusion that Daniel was, at this time on a journey, and that the men were his personal attendants.

But, as the angel goes on to inform the prophet, there may be, nay, there will be, antagonistic forces at work to hinder the divine response to the supplications of His servants; and hereby is revealed to us one of the profoundest mysteries of the spiritual world. "The prince of the kingdom of Persia," the angel informs Daniel, "withstood me one and twenty days" (v. 13); that is, during the whole time of Daniel's fasting and prayer. The words of the prophet were heard "from the first day"; and the angel was sent, but this "prince of the kingdom of Persia" in some way or other interposed an obstacle for the period of three weeks. While careful not to go beyond what is written, nor to penetrate into what is not revealed, a few words will be required for the elucidation of this mysterious revelation.

In the first place, it must be observed that "the prince of the kingdom of Persia" is an angel; for Michael, termed in the same verse "one of the chief princes," and in Daniel 12. "the great prince" in connection with Israel, is known, on the authority of Jude, to be the archangel. If so, inasmuch as this "prince" of Persia is seen here acting in opposition to the mind of God, he is a bad angel, in fact, one of Satan's princes.. This will help us to understand what we find often mentioned in the New Testament, viz., that there are good principalities and powers (Eph. 1: 21; Col. 1: 16, Col. 2: 10; 1 Peter 3: 22), and bad principalities and powers (Rom. 8: 38; Eph. 6: 12, etc.). It would seem, therefore, that Satan has imitated the kingdom of God,* and formed his gradations of rank and power according to the divine model. Having therefore seen that God had appointed the archangel Michael to watch over the interests of Israel in His providential government, Satan sent one of his angels to care for his interests in Persia, which at this time held the sovereignty of the earth, and consequently to frustrate, wherever possible, the activities of God upon the earth. In how far this mode of operation may continue during the day of grace we are not distinctly informed. We do find, however, that the Lord, during His sojourn on the earth, referred to the angels of little children, that Peter was delivered from prison through the instrumentality of an angel, that angels are "sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation and it is plain from Daniel 12 that Michael's office continues to the end. And in regard to evil spirits or angels, we learn from Ephesians that their activities and energy are ceaseless (see Eph. 2: 2; Eph. 6: 12) against the children of God. Moreover Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians says expressly, "Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us" (1 Thess. 2: 18). We have, therefore, to count, when walking in God's ways and doing His will, upon the incessant and malevolent opposition of the Evil One through his emissaries; and it is to our loss when we forget this character of the enemy of God and of our souls, for we forget with it our need of being clothed with the panoply of God, and of constant vigilance against Satan's devices.

*We use the term "kingdom of God" in this place as expressive of the whole sphere of God's authority and rule.

It is an encouragement, however, to learn from this scripture that we are not left to ourselves; for if Satan's prince was seeking to hinder the answer to Daniel's supplications, Michael, one of God's chief princes, came. to help His messenger; and he "remained there with the kings of Persia," victorious, through Michael's succour, over the wicked agent who had daringly thrust himself between the command of God and its execution.

The next verse (14th) affords the key to the communication about to be made. The angel says, "Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days." Much of what he is about to impart relates, as we shall see, to what took place during the time of the third kingdom, the time of Alexander's successors; but even this is given such prominence because of its typical foreshadowings. The object of the angel's communication was to make the prophet know what should befall his people in the latter days; and unless this is borne in mind it is impossible to read aright these prophetic intimations. It is from want of attention to such words as these, which open out to us the import of the prophecy, that so many mistakes have been made.

Daniel once again is overcome by the revelations made to him concerning the conflicts in the spiritual world in connection with his people. He set his face toward the ground, and he became dumb (v, 15). But if the human vessel was too weak in itself to utter the thoughts that arose in his heart, divine help was at hand. "One like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength." Both his strength and his breath, as he proceeds to say, had departed. The vessel, as said before, could scarcely bear the strain of the contents of the vision; and in this way, the Lord would teach His servant his utter weakness, that he might learn that His strength is made perfect in weakness. Hence, as soon as Daniel owned that no more strength remained in him, "there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, and said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong" (vv. 18, 19). This is exceedingly beautiful, showing us that the Lord expects nothing from us, except looking to Him, and even for that He will give the power. Strength, the sense of His love, calm, peace, yea, and double strength, are all bestowed on Daniel to qualify him for the service to which he was called. Who, indeed, ever goeth to warfare at his own charges?. No; He who calls, equips, and sustains; and the servant has only to learn how to avail himself of what is provided. The effect on Daniel was immediate; he "was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me" (v. 19).

The last two verses need attentive examination to understand their force and bearing. After the angel had asked, "Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee?" he continued, "and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth" (vv. 20, 21). If we understand rightly, the last clause means that before the angel goes forth against the prince of Persia, he will communicate to Daniel his message, the contents, that is, of chapters 11, 12. This makes all plain. Then, if the prince of Persia signifies a Satanic angel, as already explained, so will also the prince of Grecia, although we are not told for what purpose he will appear on the scene, excepting that we know it must be in hostility to God's people. The reason of the special antagonism of "the prince of Persia" may be easily discerned. Persia was the kingdom in power at this moment, and consequently held the people of God in captivity. As influenced by Satan's prince, apart from natural reasons, Persia would be the enemy of Daniel and his people, whatever the toleration of its rule. It would be interested in retaining them in subjection; and remembering this, one can the better understand the necessity of the conflict of which the angel speaks. Before, however, he departed, he would communicate, by divine direction, the history of the future with its issue in the full accomplishment of God's purposes for His earthly people. And then he adds, "There is none that holdeth with me in these things* but Michael your prince" (v. 21). Satan was thus even then though it had not yet been demonstrated, the god of the world; and his angels had supreme influence with the various governments that swayed the nations, so that on earth there was not one to stand by and assist this angel in his conflict with Satan's agents, excepting the archangel that cared for, in the way of providential government, the interests of the elect nation.

*Some translate "against them," that is, against the "prince of Persia and the "prince" of Grecia. If the rendering "in these things" be retained, the meaning will be the objects for which the angel was contending.

DANIEL 11.

AS before observed, Daniel 10 - 12 form one continuous revelation or prophecy; and it will be seen that the whole of chapter 10, together with the first verse of chapter 11, is introductory, containing the account of the circumstances under which the revelation was made, and the exercises of the prophet which God used to produce his moral fitness to receive these divine unfoldings of the future. Down to the end of verse 35, it may be repeated, we have a narrative of events which were to take place in connection with the kingdoms into which "Grecia" was divided after the death of Alexander the Great; and these are chosen because they bring before us two monarchs, the king of the North, and the king of the South (so denominated because of the geographical position of their respective territories in relation to the "glorious land"), who are themselves foreshadowings of the adversaries of the Jews in the last days. Their actings, as here described, have now long since passed away; but their prophetic significance remains, or they would have no possible interest for the reader, except in so far as they reveal the divine prescience, as also God's care over His people, even while, as a people, they are unfaithful to Him and to His word.

In the first verse a remarkable revelation is made. Every one must be struck, in reading Daniel 6, with the earnestness of Darius in espousing Daniel's cause, and in seeking his deliverance from the devices of his enemies. The secret of this is now discovered, illustrating the fact that God holds the hearts of all men in His hands, and turns them whithersoever He will in pursuance of His purposes. "Also I," said the angel to Daniel, "in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him." Darius knew it not; but the fact is now made known that there was a divine influence secretly working to confirm him in a certain course, and to strengthen him against those who were plotting against God's witness in the king's court. Well may we learn from this to look away from all secondary causes, and to rest in the assurance that God is silently working towards His proposed end through all the apparent confusion of human designs, and in the face of all the demonstrated power of the enemy.

The next three verses (vv. 2-4) give a brief outline of those near events which would form the foundation of the subsequent developments which the Spirit of God was about to trace. First, four kings of Persia were yet to arise; "the fourth shall be far richer than they all." Three of these (the first three) are mentioned in Ezra 4, Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes, and Darius.* The fourth was the famous Xerxes, who, "by his strength through his riches," stirred up "all against the realm of Grecia." The overwhelming defeat of his motley host, and the subsequent invasion and conquest of his kingdom by Alexander — facts well known to every reader of history, and alluded to in Daniel 8: 7 — are here passed over, and Alexander, as a "mighty king," is at once introduced — one "that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will" (v. 3).

*This is not, it should be remarked, Darius the Mede of verse 1, but Darius Hystaspes, as he is known in history. Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes are supposed to be the monarchs designated by profane writers, as Cambyses and Smerdis.

We are next told, that "when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those" (v. 4). The devout believer in the inspired word of God will not need to be told that this is an accurate description in every particular of what took place on the death of Alexander — so accurate, indeed, that the unbeliever can only account for it by maintaining that it was written subsequently to the event! The ingenuity of infidelity to escape the evidence that God has spoken to man in His word, and that the future all lies before his gaze, is simply astounding. The suppositions of unbelief are readily received and circulated as facts; but the verities of the divine record are rejected with contempt. And who is the loser? Surely the man who, in the pride of his fancied self-sufficiency, shuts his eyes against the light. The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.

To return, it is well known (the facts have been before stated) that on the death of this "mighty king," after various contentions and conflicts, his kingdom was "divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity," but by four of his generals. Two of these kingdoms soon disappeared; and two remained till about 50 B.C.;* and these are the two under the appellations of the "king of the south" and the "king of the north" that are found in this narrative.† One thing must be borne in mind in following the narrative, and that is that the king of the north and the king of the south do not always designate the same persons. They are titles (like Pharaoh, for example), and thus apply to all the monarchs of the same line. If therefore one king of the north have died, his successor will bear the same designation. This will be readily understood.

*To speak more accurately, the Syrian Kingdom. only continued till 65 B.C., but that of Egypt was not extinguished until 51 B.C.

†These represent the two famous dynasties of the Ptolemies (Egypt), and the Seleucidae (Syria). For a chronological table of the respective monarchs of these dynasties see Elliott's Horae Apocalypticae, vol. iv. Fourth edition.

The first of these monarchs, to which our attention is directed, is the king of the south — that is Egypt, as seen from verse 8. He is characterised by strength; but there is another "strong above him,"* and "his dominion shall be a great dominion" (v. 5).

*It is not necessary to discuss the translation; it will suffice to state that in the opinion of most, this sentence applies to the king of the north; and that we have here the founders of their respective dynasties, viz., Ptolemy and Seleucus, two of the four who succeeded to Alexander's kingdom.

The monarchs are now in their places, south and north of Palestine; and next we have a record of their relationships and conflicts. It will not be necessary, however, to consider these in all their details: it will suffice to indicate the outline of the occurrences here presented.*

*If the reader desire to study the details he can consult the histories of the period, especially 1 Maccabees, the articles in Smith's Bible Dictionary under the headings of Syria, Alexander, Seleucus, Antiochus, Ptolemy, etc.; Josephus, etc.

We read in verse 6 that "in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement," etc. This was strictly fulfilled; for on a quarrel having ensued between the immediate successors of the first Greek kings of Syria and Egypt, amity was sought to be restored by the king of Egypt giving his daughter (Berenice) in marriage to the king of the north. But, as it is here said, "she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm: but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and he that begat her, and he that strengthened her in these times," so it happened; for this queen (Berenice), together with her husband (the king of the north), her son, and her attendants, were murdered; and in this way the devised means of amity became the ground of future dissensions and conflicts.* The next three verses (7-9) give the description of the avenging of the murder of Berenice by one out of a branch of her "roots," another king of the south, who invaded Syria, entered "into the fortress of the king of the north," and prevailed (v. 7). In fact his victory was complete, and he extended his conquests as far as Antioch, and eastwards to Babylon, and returned to Egypt in triumph with great spoil of gods and treasures, as recounted in verse 8. "So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land" (v. 9).†

*For the authority of these statements see Elliott's Horae Apocalypticae, vol. iv. et seq. (4th edition), and Smith's Bible Dictionary, under the title Ptolemy.

†The name of this king of the south was Ptolemy III., known also by the title Euergetes (Benefactor), which he either assumed or received.

*These were, first, Seleucus Ceraunus who only reigned a year or two; and, secondly, his brother and successor, Antiochus the Great.

It is plain from the context that the term "his sons," in verse 10, applies to the successors of the king of the north who had been overcome by Ptolemy III.; and in fact the two next kings of the north* did attack Egypt with large forces, but were unsuccessful; and the latter of the two suffered a most disastrous defeat, according to the prediction in verse 11, "the multitude [the army of the king of the north] shall be given into his hand" (into the hand of the king of the south — Egypt). But, as we read in verse 12, the king of Egypt did not profit by his victory,* for his heart was lifted up, and although he cast down many ten thousands, he was not strengthened by it. The reason is given in verse 13, which tells us that "the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years — with a great army and with much riches" (v. 13). Many others also shall "stand up against the king of the south"; and in addition to these another class is named, "the robbers of thy people" (that is, of Daniel's people), who are said to "exalt themselves to establish the vision," to verify the divine word, "but they shall fall" (v. 14).

*The battle by which this victory was won is known by the name of Raphia, and the king who won it was Ptolemy Philopator.

All this, it is almost needless to remark, exactly happened; for Antiochus the Great, and Philip III. of Macedonia, formed a league, with others, against Egypt, and many of the Jewish insurrectionists and professed patriots, "the robbers of thy people," threw off, at the same time, their allegiance to Egypt. The issue of this combination against the king of the south is stated in the next verse (15). Antiochus and his allies conquered "the most fenced cities," took possession of the whole of Judea, and decisively defeated the Egyptian army. He did therefore according to his own will, and none was able to stand before him (v. 16); and thereon it is said, "He shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed." The glorious land is Palestine, and the allusion is to some action of the king of the north in respect of the Holy Land. It is maintained by some that the word "consumed" should be "perfected"; and it seems established that the king of the north on this occasion did act as a friend to the Jews, and assisted in the completion or beautifying of the temple.

This however is of little moment, but the circumstance serves to call attention to the special object of the narration of the conflicts of these rival sovereigns. They are given in such detail because of their bearing upon the Jews and the glorious land. This will be understood when the geographical position of Palestine in relation to Syria and Egypt is recalled. It lay between them, and consequently formed the highway of approach from either country. The armies of the two hostile countries were therefore, in their mutual invasions, continually marching through the land; and, moreover, Judea was possessed by the monarch who for the moment was victorious. Palestine was thus largely the battle-field, as constituting the outpost of the territory of both kingdoms. God could not be indifferent to this as affecting the welfare of His poor people who had returned from Babylon; and hence it is that the Spirit of God has caused the account of all these wars to be recorded. It shows us the intensity of God's love for His people, whatever their state; and teaches us likewise that He regards the movement of nations as affecting their interests.

The next section (vv. 17-19) contains the subsequent doings of this king of the north, and the account of his death. First of all he meditated another attack on Egypt; but, changing his mind, he formed an alliance with the king of the south, giving him his daughter to wife, in order to secure his own influence in the Egyptian court. What is meant by "corrupting her" is, that he desired her to act in his own interests rather than in those of her husband; but she, in this respect a true woman, clave to her husband. Having, as he supposed, made all secure in Egypt by the marriage, he proceeded, according to a design that he had formed, to attack "the isles" — the isles of Greece — and took many; and here his career of victory ended. "A prince" appeared on the scene, a Roman commander, for the Roman Republic was in alliance with Greece, and attacked and defeated him in two decisive battles, and compelled him to cede to his victors the western half of his empire, besides imposing upon him the payment of an immense tribute.* In order to obtain the means of paying this tribute the king of the north made an expedition against a rich temple, and was killed while attempting to plunder it; according to the prediction "He shall stumble and fall, and not be found" (v. 19).

*See Smith's Bible Dictionary, vol. i.

His successor, "a raiser of taxes" (v. 20), seeking to raise the Roman tribute, plundered the temple at Jerusalem, and, "within few days," he was destroyed, "neither in anger, nor in battle," the very man he had employed to despoil the temple being the instrument of his assassination.

We arrive now at the advent of a monarch, yet "a vile person" (v. 21), who has been specially chosen as the type of the Assyrian, or the king of the north, of the last days. It is for this reason that his career is given with such detail, occupying the whole paragraph contained in verses 21-25. This "vile person" is known in history as Antiochus Epiphanes, and he commenced his reign about 175 B.C. He was not given "the honour of the kingdom," for he was not the rightful heir; but "he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries," and he fulfilled this description to the letter. Having established himself in the kingdom, his various actings are narrated, his successes, deceit, and increasing strength, the enlargement of his territory, and his reckless prodigality (vv. 22-24). Then, like his predecessors, he proceeded on an expedition. against the king of the south, and, aided by treachery in his enemy's court and camp, he utterly defeated him.* A treaty would seem to be formed according to verse 27, both sovereigns, under the mask of friendship, concealing treachery in their hearts — "they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed." Having settled his affairs for the moment with the king of Egypt, he returned to his kingdom "with great riches"; and now his enmity against the "holy covenant," that is against the Jewish religion, the covenant of God with His people, was in some way manifested; "and" it is added, "he shall do [exploits], and return to his own land" (v. 28). It is said that on his homeward march he attacked Jerusalem, massacred thousands of its inhabitants, and profaned the temple, because of the insurrection of the Jews on a false report of his death.†

*It is said that he made four expeditions against Egypt, in the years B.C. 171, 170, 169, 168, but two only are mentioned in the sacred narrative, unless indeed three are found in verse 29, and these are evidently chosen because of the consequences in regard to the Jews.

† See 1 Maccabees 50: 21-24.

In the following verse (29) we read that "at the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south." By "the time appointed," as we understand, is meant, as stated in verse 27, the time fixed by God for the termination of the deceitful alliance which this monarch had made with the king of the south. It was not to prosper, and accordingly Antiochus, in defiance of his treaty obligations, returned in hostility towards his ally; "but," as Daniel was told, "it shall not be as the former or as the latter." On these previous occasions he had prospered in his designs; but now another power steps forward (the power that was soon, as the fourth prophetic kingdom, to succeed to that of "Grecia" in the government of the world) and checks his victorious career. "For the ships of Chittim shall come against him" (v. 30), the ships of Italy, which is the country designated in Scripture as Chittim, a fleet, in fact, of the Roman republic. Forbidden by the Roman consul to pursue his objects in Egypt, and impotent in the presence of such an enemy, he was compelled to return. His state of mind consequent upon having his prey snatched from his grasp is thus described: "Therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant" (v. 30).

We have now reached the main object of the foregoing recital of what are now historical facts, related by the angel long before they occurred, demonstrating, it may once more be affirmed, both the presence of God and the character of inspiration. It is the habit of the present day to seek among ancient ruins and antique inscriptions and tablets for confirmation of the Bible records. It seems to be forgotten that God is not dependent on man for the authentication of the revelation He has made, and that if the word of God is not its own witness (see John 3: 33) no amount of human evidence will establish it as such in the soul. Besides, the facts adduced, and the translations made from ancient cylinders and monuments assume a very different aspect and importance according to the views of the various interpreters. But accepting the Bible as the veritable word of God, and maintaining therefore its absolute "inerrancy" (to borrow a new theological term) where there is no dispute as to readings or translation, we have an infallible guide, a trustworthy standard of appeal, and thus the certainty that the events predicted must have a real and actual fulfilment, and that the historical facts recorded are given with the most truthful accuracy. It is of all moment, if we would understand the divine records, that we should begin with an undoubting faith in the infallibility of Scripture.

From the middle of verse 30 to the end of verse 35 we have the account of the actings of Antiochus in Jerusalem and the glorious land — actings so diabolical, when estimated according to God, that, as has been observed more than once, he is selected as a type of the powerful enemy of Israel in the last days; and perhaps even more than their last enemy the Assyrian, for he seems to concentre in himself almost every element of hostility and profanity that will be found in the two beasts of Revelation 13 as well as in the king of the north.

We are told in the first place that he shall "have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do"; that is, we apprehend, that he acted according to his indignation against the Jews and the holy covenant. Moreover, he had an understanding ("intelligence") with the apostate Jews. The account of his doings may be gleaned from 1, 2 Maccabees, whence it is to be gathered that he resolutely set himself to work to heathenize the Jews, and indeed, like Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3, to unify his dominions by compelling all his subjects to worship the same false gods. That he largely succeeded among the Jews is seen from this prophetic narrative. Apostates are specified in verses 30 and 32.

In pursuance of his objects the temple would of necessity be in his way, and call forth his deadliest hostility; and verse 31 describes his conduct in regard to it. It says, "And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily [sacrifice], and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate." (v. 31). This is referred to in 1 Maccabees in the following words: "The king had sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, that they should follow the strange laws of the land, and forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the temple; and that they should profane the sabbaths and festival days: and pollute the sanctuary and holy people: set up altars, and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine's flesh, and unclean beasts . . . to the end they might forget the law, and change all the ordinances." And further we read that on "the fifteenth day of the month Casleu, in the hundred forty and fifth year, they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar"; and that on "the five and twentieth day of the month they did sacrifice upon the idol altar, which was upon the altar of God" (chapter 1: 44-59). From other sources we learn that the worship Antiochus enjoined in the place of that of the God of heaven, Jehovah, was that of Jupiter Olympius.

These facts will enable the reader to understand verse 30, and the fearful character of the doings, the profanity and wickedness, of this king of the north; and also the sufferings entailed by his conduct upon those of the Jews who remained faithful to their God and to His word. Some, "such as do wickedly against the covenant," be corrupted by flatteries; but God preserved a faithful remnant, and these knowing their God, were strong, and did exploits, (v. 32). In the next verse a smaller class are introduced to our notice — "they that understand among the people." Thus there were, we apprehend, three classes of Jews; first, the mass who were corrupted by flatteries; secondly, the faithful remnant, who refused to renounce their observance of the law of their God; and lastly, some among the remnant who, as taught of God, were able to instruct them in the word, and to encourage them in the path of fidelity, whatever the persecution to which they might be subjected. This class is again mentioned in chapter 12: 3, and those who compose it are termed "the Maschilim." It was against this class, those who were publicly identified with God's testimony on the earth, that Satan's enmity was specially directed; and, as a consequence, the angel says, "Yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days" (v. 33). The reader of Revelation will recall the similar experiences there recorded (see Rev. 11, Rev. 12: 17; Rev. 13, Rev. 14: 12, 13, etc.).

But they are not left wholly in the hands of the enemy, for "when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries." (v. 34). It could scarcely be otherwise than this, in this prophetic narration, there should be a very distinct allusion to the uprising, and valiant resistance of the Maccabees against the cruelties and profanity of their oppressor. For there was, at least at the commencement of their rebellion, undoubted zeal for God, for His temple and for His law; and the success vouchsafed to them was great. For years they stemmed the tide of the whole power of the king of the north, and maintained, through victory after victory, their just and holy cause. All this is now a matter of history, and it is only recalled here as explanatory of the last clause of verse 34 — "Many shall cleave to them with flatteries" — for subsequently to the reign of Antiochus, when Syria was torn asunder by faction and intestine discords, the Maccabean leaders were, as often courted as threatened.

But the reader may be reminded that while this is history, it is not only history. Antiochus himself, as again and again pointed out, is a typical personage, and many of the events connected with his reign, and especially his actings in Jerusalem, are typical, so that many of these things will be reproduced at the close. Two illustrations of this may be offered. Antiochus caused "the abomination that maketh desolate" to be set up in the temple; in Daniel 12: 11 we learn that this act will be repeated in a future day. Consequently our Lord quotes from chapter 12 in Matthew 24 because He is there speaking of what had hot yet taken place. If this distinction had been more accurately observed, fewer mistakes would have been made in the interpretation of these prophetic scriptures. Then again take verse 35, where we read that God will allow "some of them of understanding" to fall to try the faith and "to purge" the remnant, and "to make them white, even to the time of the end," etc.; the very language used shows that what took place then is given as a sample of a similar thing in the last days. Thus in Revelation 14, after the annunciation of judgment upon those who shall worship the beast and his image, etc., the remnant are described; and it is then the command comes from heaven, "Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord," etc. (vv. 9-13; compare Rev. 13: 5-15). if, therefore, anyone has been tempted to enquire, while reading, this chapter, What advantage is there in these historical details? the answer is, that God has allowed things to be rehearsed, as it were, in preparation for what will be seen in the time of the end. There are very few purely historical events in Scripture for the reason we have given, that the histories recorded are in themselves typical and prophetic. It is an immense thing, an immense help, to the study of the Scriptures, when this principle is understood.*

*It should also be borne in mind that these revelations were for the guidance and comfort of the Jews during the time of these wars between Syria and Egypt, as well as for the instruction of the godly remnant in the last days.

We pass now to another section of the chapter, for there is a break between verses 35, 36. Up to verse 35 we have, in prophetic form, a relation of what, though future in Daniel's day, has now long since been accomplished; from verse 36 we have the account of what is entirely future. The proof of this, it may be at once said, lies in two sentences. In verse 36 we read that the king shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished; and in verse 40 we are told that the event there given is "at the time of the end." It has already been observed, as to the former expression, that it is used in Isaiah of God's last indignation, by means of the Assyrian, against His people in the land before the appearing of Christ. If the reader attentively considers Isa. 10: 20-25, Isa. 28: 16-22, he cannot fail to be convinced of the truth of this interpretation. The latter expression, "the time of the end," may be thought to be more general, because it is also found in verse 35; but even with regard to the use of it there, the typical significance of what is related must be borne in mind. Another thing will appear as we proceed, viz.., the correspondence of the king here described with the 'man of sin,' or the Antichrist of the New Testament. On these grounds we cannot doubt that an immense interval lies between verses 35, 36, and this conclusion will be further strengthened by many of the events found in this closing section of the chapter.

The characteristics and doings of "the king" are given with some particularity. First of all it is said "The king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods etc. (v. 36). The appellation of the "wilful king" is derived from this scripture, expressive of the fact here stated, that his own will is his only law. He will be the incarnation and manifestation of all that is evil in man. Adam in the garden of Eden fell through disobedience, doing his own will instead of God's, and through the desire, at the temptation of Satan, to exalt himself; and these two things will reach their further expression in this wilful king, who will claim, in the height of his presumptuous, folly, to suffice for himself, to be both independent of God and absolute in power. He will be consequently the perfect contrast, morally, to Christ, who, being in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, and having taken upon Him the form of a servant, humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. This man will assert his superiority over every god, and will moreover speak marvellous things against the God of gods. This last feature savours of what in Daniel 7 and in Revelation 13 is ascribed to the imperial head of the revived Roman empire; but it must be borne in mind that this king — king to the Jews, who will receive him as their Messiah — coming as he will in his own name, acts as the prophet, the false prophet, to this monarch, and exercises all this monarch's power in his presence (Rev. 13: 12), and that it is he who will do great wonders, so that he will make fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men in support of his claims. So great will be the unhindered display of Satanic power in this fearful era that men, being under a strong delusion, will believe a lie: that they all might be damned (judged) who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

If we turn for a moment to 2 Thessalonians 2 we shall see that the advent of this "man of sin," this "son of perdition," will not be until after the church has been caught away from the earth at the coming of the Lord. It says plainly, "And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work only he who now letteth (the Holy Ghost in the church, as me understand the passage) [will let], until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked [one] be revealed," etc. (vv. 6, 7). Earlier in the chapter (v. 4) the description of this "man of sin" corresponds most strikingly with what is given in verse 36. It says, "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." It is impossible to read the two scriptures without coming to the conclusion that they refer to one and the same person, and that both alike treat of him in his relation to the Jews. The apostle John presents him to us in his relation to Christianity, when he writes, "He is the* Antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son" (1 John 2: 22).

*The article is in the text, though not given in the Authorized Version.

We also learn that he will prosper till the indignation be accomplished, etc. God will allow him to have his own way for the moment; but when the indignation is accomplished in His chastisement of the guilty nation for the rejection of Christ, at the end of the three years and a half so often spoken of in the Apocalypse, the Lord will appear from heaven and consume this wicked one with the spirit of His mouth, and destroy him with the brightness of His coming (2 Thess. 2: 8; Rev. 19: 20).

Following the prophetic narrative, we learn, in the next place, that Antichrist will be an apostate Jew; he will not "regard the God of his fathers," nor, moreover, "the desire of women, nor regard any god," for the reason already given, that "he shall magnify himself above all." This, we judge, refers to his own state of mind; but as men, speaking generally, must have some kind of religion, he will introduce a god for their acceptance — "the god of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory" (vv. 38, 39). Entirely infidel and atheistic himself, he will, in order to satisfy the cravings of the people, promote the worship of an idol — the image, it is to be concluded, that he himself will cause to be made to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live — the head, that is, of the western Roman Empire in its last revived form. Concerning this we read in Revelation that "the king" of this chapter in Daniel, the beast in Revelation who "had two horns like a lamb, and spake as a dragon" (for they are one and the same person), "had power to give life (breath) unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed" (Rev. 13: 15).* Endowed as this "wilful king" will be with such Satanic art and power, it is easily understood how readily he will obtain ascendancy over the minds of men, and succeed in subduing them to his will for the execution of his diabolical designs. It is of this period the apostle speaks when he says that God will send upon men, because they received not the love of. the truth that they might be saved, a strong delusion that they should believe a lie (2 Thess. 2: 10, 11).

*To prevent confusion, it must again be recalled that, in addition to the image which Antichrist will make and cause to be worshipped throughout the Roman Empire, he will himself sit as a god in the temple at Jerusalem.

The last clause of verse 39 is not so clear. It reads: "And he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain." Its purport has been generally taken to signify that he will promote his own followers to places of honour and rule, and apportion the land either for his own personal profit or as rewards for faithful service, devotedness to his interests. The term "the land" settles beyond doubt the sphere of this king's influence and activity; for it always, as far as we know, describes the land of promise. This in Scripture language is emphatically the land; and consequently it bears out the conclusion arrived at before, that Jerusalem and Palestine is the seat of the wilful king's power, and thus that he is the Antichrist.

Now that the Antichrist has been portrayed in his moral characteristics, the Spirit of God, through the angel, passes on to describe the actings — mainly of the king of the north, though the king of the south is also mentioned. Two or three introductory observations will aid the reader in the study of this part of our scripture. He will now see, from the fact mentioned in verse 40, the reason of the detailed accounts of the conflicts between the kings of the north and south in the earlier part of the chapter. It is simply because of the relationship of these two sovereigns to the Jews and to "the land," and because of their typical and prophetic character in reference to the end. To understand what took place in these conflicts in the past is the qualification for the understanding of what will take place in the future. With this is connected a very important thing, which is revealed in the prophetic scriptures. The kings of the south and north appear in verse 40, and it is "at the time of, the end"; Edom, Moab, and Ammon are named in verse 41 as existing at the same period; and it may be gathered from many other scriptures that when the Jews are once more in their own land, the nations that formerly surrounded them, and were in proximate relationship with them, will re-appear in their old places. "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people [peoples] according to the number of the children of Israel" (Deut. 32: 8). When therefore Israel again occupies its place, the bounds of the peoples will be restored according to their divine and original determination. To perceive this, as revealed in the Scripture, is to possess the key of a large portion of prophecy.*

*It may be interesting to some to state that there are four words used in the Old Testament for people and peoples — one always in the singular, either "the people" or "my people" for Israel; another in the plural to indicate the heathen or nations who are in contrast with Israel as the people of God — Israel is once so designated to mark its guilt in Psalm 43: 1; another for the peoples and nations in general on the earth, the various races of mankind; and lastly one for "the nations, viewed, I think, in connection with Israel restored, and taken into relationship with Jehovah." (See The Synopsis, by J. N. Darby, vol. ii.).

To return to our subject, we are told that the wilful king," will, at the time of the end, be attacked by the king of the south; and that this will bring his adversary, the king of the north, into the field, who will "come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships" (v. 40). At this period the king of the north, strong, "but not by his own power" (Dan. 8: 24), will combine both military and naval forces in his expedition, and will apparently be successful in all his projects. It is not precisely stated what will be the issue of his campaign in Palestine; but we gather from Daniel 8 that he will "destroy the mighty and the holy people" (v. 24), and here we learn that he "shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown" (vv. 40, 41). Doubtless this is the overflowing scourge, of which Isaiah speaks, as passing through the land, and treading down the "scornful men" that rule this people which is in Jerusalem" (Isa. 28: 14-22).

Then, as a wonderful confirmation of the truth and unity of all Scripture, we are told, "But these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon" (v. 41). If we turn to Isaiah 11 we find the explanation. It says, speaking of the time after both Judah and Israel have been restored, "They shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them" (v. 14). God's judgment upon these three nations is to be executed by Israel; and on this account the Assyrian, the king of the north, will not be permitted to touch them; but they will escape out of his hand.

If however these nations elude his vengeance, he will carry his successes into other countries, and especially into Egypt. "The land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps." But it would not be according to the divine purpose that he should go further, or even consolidate his conquests in these southern regions. As the blind instrument of God's will, he may overcome all the forces brought against him, and enrich himself with the treasures of Egypt, and thus be the executor of God's judgment upon that country. But, his work done, he must return, and "tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many" (v. 44). Evidently news of approaching enemies from the east, the east of Syria, and it may be of domestic foes, as the north points to his own country, will reach him; and he, flushed at the moment with his successes, will start, confident in his own power, and "with great fury," to deal with his foes.

It is as he is marching homewards that he will, as the next verse informs us, "plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas* in the glorious holy mountain" (v. 45). Like his type, Antiochus Epiphanes, he makes Jerusalem and the land the first object of his hostility on his return from Egypt; and then it is added, "Yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him." Of the circumstances of the termination of his career we are not told; the simple fact is recorded that, in connection with his hostility against the glorious holy mountain, his end is reached, and he dies under the judgment of God. In Daniel 8 we read that the little horn, who undoubtedly is the king of the north, will "stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand" (v. 25). If this refer to the same event, as appears. probable, we have in both Scriptures the destruction of the prophetic Assyrian by the Lord Himself, and hence he is broken "without hand," that is, without human instrumentality, and moreover, "none shall help him." For, as we learn from Isaiah, "the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled" (Isa. 10: 38). Whether this event must be placed before or after the destruction of the beast and of the false prophet can only be determined by a careful study of the prophetic Scriptures. If Zechariah 14 give the final assault of Jerusalem it must be placed unquestionably after the Lord has cast the beast and Antichrist alive into the lake of fire (see also Micah 5: 4, 5).

*If this rendering be accepted it will mean the Mediterranean, or Great Sea, and the Dead Sea; but there are those who understand the expression to mean, "between Jerusalem and the Sea."

It may be well to add that the end of the "wilful king," the Antichrist, is not here given — that is found in Rev. 19 where he is described as the false prophet. Here it is the end of the king of the north, one of the most formidable enemies of the Jews in the last days — during the time of their unequalled sorrows. They will be beset on every hand; for in addition to the Assyrian (the king of the north), there will be the first beast of Rev. 13 (the imperial head of the western empire) and his ally the Antichrist, as well as the king of the south mentioned in verse 40 of our chapter. This will enable us to understand the language of the Spirit of Christ in Psalm 118. "All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them. They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them (vv. 10-12).

DANIEL 12.

IN reference to the question discussed at the close of the previous chapter as to whether or not the end of the king of the north in verse 45 is the final judgment upon the Assyrian, light is thrown upon it by the first verse of this chapter. The words, "And at that time shall Michael stand up," will refer to the period of the events described in Daniel 11: 36-45, because they are followed by the statement that "there shall be a time of trouble" — the period of unspeakable sorrow for the Jews in the land before the appearing of Christ. Then it is said, "At that time thy people shall be delivered," that is, as we know from other scriptures, at the close of the tribulation, and therefore after the destruction of both Antichrist and the Assyrian. There are three important things contained in this opening verse. The first is the action of Michael. We learned from Daniel 10: 21 that this exalted intelligence had a special connection with the Jews in the ordering of God's providential government, and that he was consequently termed by the angel, when speaking to Daniel, "Michael your prince." Now we gather, whatever his special functions up to this period, that, at the moment indicated by the first words of verse 1, he begins to act in a more energetic way, interposing with power on behalf of the nation entrusted to his care. Have we, any means of discovering what the particular action was, as signified by the words, "At that time shall Michael stand up"? Turning to Rev. 12 we read, "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon . . . was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." And thereon there was a loud outburst of joy in heaven because "the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God night and day" (vv. 7-10). This we cannot doubt is the commencement of the activity of the archangel, when he shall stand up for Daniel's people.

This conclusion is sustained by the fact that the unparalleled time of trouble follows, and this harmonizes with what we find in Revelation: "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." And in the very next verse we read: "And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman [Israel] which brought forth the man child [Christ]." (Rev. 12: 12, 13) Remark, moreover, as having a distinct bearing on the subject, that the woman is endowed with power to escape from his enmity, and is "nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent"; and also that, when the dragon was foiled in his attempt to destroy the woman he was wroth with her, "and went to make wax with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 12: 14-17).

If this interpretation be correct, the next clause of the verse is at once understood. It says: "And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time," There are two other remarkable allusions to this same period of sorrow and tribulation. In Jeremiah we read, "For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; "but he shall be saved out of it" (Jer. 30: 5-7). And the next verse describes his deliverance by the Lord Himself, just as in Daniel the time of trouble is followed by deliverance. Our Lord has also spoken of this period as follows: "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (Matt. 24: 21, 22). To prevent all possibility of mistake as to the period of this tribulation, the Lord expressly connects it with the setting up of the "abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet . . . in the holy place." It will be remembered, from what was said of the seventieth week, when considering Daniel 9, that this occurrence takes place in the middle of that week.

This time of trouble therefore is its last half — the time and times and the dividing of time of Daniel 7: 25; the time, times, and an half of verse 7 of this chapter; and the 1,260 days, or forty-two months of Revelation. Satan is the instigator of the trouble; but his agents, as we learn elsewhere, will be the two great enemies of the faithful remnant among the Jews, the two beasts of Rev. 13, and their enemy from without, the Assyrian. But while Satan is the prime mover of all the sorrow through which Daniel's people will have to pass, it must be borne in mind that God uses it as His judicial rod to punish His people for their crowning sin in the rejection of their Messiah. Restored to their land, after the captivity in Babylon, Christ came in the fulness of time, and was born in Bethlehem, according to the prediction of their prophets, and His forerunner, John the Baptist, proclaimed His advent; but when He came to His own, His own received Him not; they refused and rejected Him, even going so far as to say, "We have no king but Caesar," and to accept the guilt of His death, crying, "His blood be on us, and on our children." God could not but chastise the guilty nation, and this "time of trouble" is the period during which His rod, whatever the instruments, will fall in successive and ever heavier strokes until "the indignation be accomplished."

But in the midst of wrath He will remember mercy, for unless those days should be shortened, as we have seen, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened; and hence it is that we read at the close of verse 1 "And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." The period indicated is, of course, at the close of the "time of trouble." As indeed we gather from other prophets, it will be at the moment when all hope will seem to have departed, just when the jaws of the roaring lion are about to close upon his prey, that the Lord will suddenly appear for the succour and rescue of His poor and afflicted people (see Zechariah 12 - 14; Isaiah 25, 26, etc.).

It is interesting to note the distinction here made between the mass of the nation and the elect remnant. It is not all who are delivered, but "every one that shall be found written in the book." It is very clear therefore that God has His elect amongst His earthly people, as well as that His heavenly people are the, objects of His eternal choice in Christ. They are mentioned, too, in Revelation, where, after the account of the blasphemous conduct of the first beast of Rev. 13, we read, "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain* from the foundation of the world." God therefore from the foundation of the world, not before it as in the case of the heavenly saints Eph. 1: 4), had chosen this remnant, who should prove their election by refusing to worship the image of the beast (compare 1 Thess. 1: 4, 5); and it is of these the angel says that they shall be delivered. Some indeed may seal their fidelity with martyrdom, but, if so, they will obtain a better deliverance, for they will be reserved for heavenly blessing, participating in the first resurrection; but whether thus, or whether, like the 144,000 on Mount Zion, they are brought through the time of trouble, all alike will be redeemed from the hand of their enemies through the faithfulness and power of their God.

*This is better rendered "Whose names had not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb."

The next verse (2) is more comprehensive. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." It should be borne in mind that during the "time of trouble" only two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, are in the land; the remaining ten will be lost, as they are now, among the nations; and it is to these that this verse refers. After the Lord has appeared and succoured the faithful remnant in Judah and Jerusalem (Zechariah 12), He will establish His throne in Mount Zion, and thereafter He will recover His lost people, as we read in the prophet Ezekiel: "And I will bring you out from the people [peoples], and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered. . . . And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. . . . And I will purge out from among you the rebels and them that transgress against me. . . . And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers" (Ezek. 20: 33-42).

Now this passage treats entirely of Israel — that is, the ten tribes as distinguished from the Jews (the two tribes); and it will be seen, if it be attentively considered, that it speaks of two classes — one who will be brought back to the land for blessing, and the other who will be judged in the wilderness. It is of these same two classes that verse 2 speaks. Both alike are regarded as sleeping in the dust of the earth while lost and scattered among the nations; but when the Lord "shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet" to gather "His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matt. 24: 31), all alike will be awakened; some, as we here read, to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. The same contrast is found in the judgment of the living nations, of whom some shall go, away into everlasting punishment, and some into life eternal (Matt. 25: 31). This last scripture is important as showing that the saints during the millennium will enjoy eternal life, if not of the same character as that which Christians possess, yet according to the revelation God will make of Himself to His people of that dispensation. It will be the "life for evermore" of which David speaks in Psalm 133 as characterising millennial blessedness.

Some however may enquire whether this verse (v. 2) does not rather speak of resurrection. Two considerations will, we judge, show that it does not; and that the interpretation given is according to the teaching of scripture. In the first place, the figure of "awaking" is constantly employed in a moral sense in the Old Testament (see Isa. 51: 17, Isa. 52: 1, etc.); and even in the New it is used in a most striking way. The apostle, for example, writing to the Ephesians, says, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" Eph. 5: 14); and no one could doubt the figurative sense in this passage. Secondly the prophet Ezekiel uses the figure of resurrection plainly in the sense of a national revival. We say "plainly," because the application the prophet himself makes shows, beyond question, what was intended (see Ezekiel 37: 1-14).

What we gather therefore is, that God, in some special and extraordinary way, will arouse His scattered people from the lethargy into which they have fallen, and will kindle once more within their hearts the expectation of the fulfilment of the prophetic promises concerning their restoration and blessing under their Messiah. But, together with the re-awakening of their national hopes, God will purge out the rebels from among them, preparatory to their restoration, so that it will be literally true that some will awake to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

The third verse speaks of the class, we apprehend, mentioned in the previous chapter (v. 33); only here it may be that they are divided into two classes — those who are wise, and those who turn many to righteousness, or, as some prefer to render it, those who instruct the many in righteousness. Adopting this rendering, it will point back to the energetic testimony God raised up in the midst of the Jews during the last half week, when Satan's power was demonstrated without let or hindrance. Even then there will be those, chosen and sustained by God, who, undaunted by the terrors of the times, will courageously maintain the authority of God's word, and unweariedly seek to bring "the many" under its influence and power. In the establishment of the kingdom, whatever their sufferings, or even martyrdom, on account of their testimony, their past service will be recognised, and they will occupy a special place. Those that be wise having possessed God's mind, and having been endowed with divine wisdom, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; they will be conspicuously displayed as in the enjoyment of the special favour of God; and they that instruct the many in righteousness [shall shine] as the stars for ever and ever; they shall be assigned a place of authority and light-giving throughout the duration of the kingdom. (Compare Luke 19: 15-19.)

The revelation through Daniel's celestial visitant is now completed, and he receives the command: "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased" (v. 4). It has often been, noticed, in contrast with this instruction to Daniel, that John, at the close of the book of Revelation, is directed not to seal "the sayings of the prophecy of this book," and the reason given is that "the time is at hand" (Rev. 22: 10). This explains the difference between the positions occupied by Daniel and John, The time was not at hand for Daniel, and thus his book was to be scaled to the time of the end. If it be asked how it is that we possess the means for the understanding of that which was to be sealed "to the time of the end," the answer is that this period has arrived for Christians. Paul speaks of the "last days," and John of the "last time" (2 Timothy 3: 1; 1 John 2: 18). The death of Christ indeed, which took place "in the consummation of the ages," inaugurated the time of the end; and hence for those who are Christians, possessing the Holy Ghost, there is nothing concealed (John 16: 13; 1 John 2: 20). Through the Spirit of God therefore, "the time of the end" having arrived, Daniel's book is unsealed; and if we fail to apprehend what was communicated, to him, it is either because we are not in the state of soul which gives the opened ear and entire subjection to the divine word (see Isaiah 50: 4, 5), or because we have not given serious attention to what has been revealed.

The statement that many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased, would seem to give the characteristics of the period from the days of Daniel until "the time of the end." How true it is of the present moment; and until the Lord comes it will be ever more fully exemplified.

From verse 5 we have the conclusion of Daniel's prophetic visions. He is still by the river Hiddekel; and he tells us, "Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river. And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" (vv. 5, 6). The answer explains the question. The man clothed in fine linen "held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished" (v. 7). From the introduction of the familiar period, "time, times, and an half," that is, the last half week we understand that the question referred to the duration of the "time of trouble" mentioned in verse 1; and the answer states that it is limited to three years and a half, or 1,260 days. The latter part of the answer states also, that when God has collected His scattered people, having accomplished His purposes in their dispersion,* all these things shall be finished. Two things are thus revealed: that the period of tribulation shall not extend beyond the half-week; and that at the close of it having succoured His people already in the land, God will assemble His outcast people from all the quarters where they have been dispersed. These two things are confirmed by a divine oath — one of the two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, for a comparison of this scripture with Rev. 10: 5-7 will surely lead to the conclusion that He who utters this oath is more than man.

*This, as we understand it, is the force of this somewhat difficult sentence.

Daniel heard, and understood not; and then said, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?" He is reminded that "the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end"; and then a further communication is made: "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand" (v. 10). It is evident that the reference is still to the "time of trouble" in the last half week; and what we learn is, that the Lord will take up the sorrows and trials of that time and use them as needful discipline for those that wait on Him — His faithful remnant amid the wickedness and apostasy by which they will be surrounded. Whatever their sufferings, therefore, "many shall be purified and made white and tried." It is on this principle God ever acts, even as the apostle teaches that God chastens us "for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness" (Heb. 12: 10). But if God thus purges His people from their dross, the wicked — the wicked, we apprehend, among the Jews — "shall do wickedly." They will, under the leadership of Antichrist, sin with a high hand, throw off all restraint, and fall into open and avowed apostasy.

The last part of the verse alludes to verse 8, where Daniel says he understood not; and in it we have a principle of abiding importance. It gives us the indispensable condition of understanding divine things as revealed in God's word. It says, "None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." There may be the plainest of testimonies. but if the heart, alienated from God, be bent upon wickedness, it will not comprehend it. What is purest light to God's people will be densest darkness to the sinners amongst the nation. The wise only will understand; and let it be for ever remembered that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, that Christ in this present time is the only wisdom of His people. It had been well if this had been remembered, especially now, when the Scriptures of truth are being assailed with persistency, not to say virulence, by men of learning and intellectual power. "The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." And again, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because "they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2: 11-14). None therefore but the wise, the spiritually wise, can in any dispensation enter into the mind of God, however plainly it may be revealed in His word.

It is on the basis of this principle, in answer to Daniel's question, "O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?" (v. 8) that the "man clothed in linen" makes further revelations to the prophet. He now tells him in most express language that "from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days" (v. 11). It is this Scripture our Lord cites in Matt. 24 so far as the setting up of the abomination of desolation is concerned; and from Daniel 9: 27 we have gathered that these things will take place in the middle of the seventieth week; and if so, there will remain only 1,260 days for these prophetic weeks to run their course. But here we have an addition of thirty days. Is it possible to explain the reason of this? Nothing certain can be said; only it is clear, from many references both in this book and in Revelation, that the 1,260 days fix the duration of the "time of trouble," which will be ended by the appearing of Christ. At His coming in glory the beast and the false prophet are taken and cast alive into the lake of fire (Rev. 19), and He will go forth and fight against the nations that will at that time be besieging Jerusalem. There are several great events therefore to follow the termination of the last half week preparatory to the establishment of Messiah's throne in Zion; and it is possible that this is the reason for the additional thirty days. There is, however, in verse 12, a further forty-five days: "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." From the very form in which this extra period is introduced, it evidently points to the full establishment of blessing in the ordering of the kingdom. We may cite on this point the words of a well-known student of the Scriptures: "I have thought it possible that this computation may arise from this. An intercalary month to the 1,260 days, or three years and a half, and then 45 days, if the years were ecclesiastical years, would bring up to the feast of tabernacles; but I offer no judgment on it. At any rate, the statement is clear that when the sanctuary of God is cleansed in Jerusalem."* If the reader will turn to Leviticus 23 he will understand, the purport of the remark as to the feast of tabernacles as he will perceive that it is the last of the cycle of feasts — a feast which was intended to celebrate Israel's rest, and possession of the land, after their wanderings in the wilderness; a feast, therefore, which as yet, according to the teaching of Heb. 3 and 4, has had no complete fulfilment. It awaits its realisation, according to the thoughts of God, until the true Solomon, after He has, as the true David, executed judgment upon His enemies, shall give rest to His people, when with joy they will draw water out of the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12: 3; compare John 7: 37).

*It is clear, from Dan. 9: 24, that the period includes the anointing of the most Holy. If therefore the three years and a half, 1260 days, determine the duration of the time of trouble, there might he a further period for the introduction of the full blessing thus indicated.

But Daniel does not enter upon this scene of millennial joy. He is occupied with the times of the Gentiles up to the deliverance of his people. It was reserved for other prophets to speak of the establishment of the kingdom and of the blessings of Messiah's reign.*

*It is remarkable how few are the scriptures that treat of the actual blessings of the reign of Christ. Among the Psalms, for example, it is only Psalms 72 and 145 that do so. There are many more that deal with His coming, and with the joy of His people in His reception, but they stop short of the millennial reign itself. Neither does Isaiah, who the most frequently alludes prophetically to the coming glories of Immanuel's rule, go much further.

And now with one last word to the prophet the book is ended. Vessel of the divine mind as to the times of the Gentiles, and the deliverance of his people, his work is done, and he is now bidden to retire from the scene: "Go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days" (v. 13). Rest was to follow on the completion of his labours, and he would have his own special place in the Kingdom at the end of the days. Our Lord Himself said, "Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 8: 11); and Daniel will share in the glories of that day. Now one of the spirits of just men made perfect, he will then participate in the first resurrection; and, returning with all the risen saints with Christ in glory, he will stand in his lot, occupy the special place assigned him, in the kingdom of Him, whom he had seen in the night visions as the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven.

The Book of Jonah

The Book of Jonah.

E. Dennett.

Christian Friend, vol. 11, 1884, p. 57.

Chapter 1.

The book of the prophet Jonah stands alone. Its peculiarity is that it does not contain a single prophecy. There is the message to Nineveh — if that can be termed a prophecy — but beyond this there is no record of what Jonah was used to communicate. That he did fulfil his office is plain from a solitary statement in 2 Kings. There we read that Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, "restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He spake by the hand of His servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher." (2 Kings 14: 25.) Nothing else has been preserved; for when we examine the book we discover that its instruction lies in Jonah's personal history, or rather in his conduct, when commissioned by Jehovah to go and cry against Nineveh, because its wickedness had come up before Him. The book therefore has, we might say, a parabolical character — Jonah, both in his unfaithfulness and when under judgment because of it, being taken up and used for typical instruction. It is this feature which has made the book in all ages so full of interest in its various applications. The facts are very simple and familiar. Sent of the Lord to preach against Nineveh, Jonah fled, and going down to Joppa, and finding a ship about to sail for Tarshish, he paid his fare, and embarked "to go with them unto Tarshish, from the presence of the Lord." Such was the vain thought of the prophet, as it is often the foolish thought still even of many of the children of God. The Lord sent out a storm upon the sea, so that the ship was nearly wrecked. Brought face to face with death, the sailors in their terror cried every man to his god, and attempted by throwing overboard their cargo to lighten the ship. All this time Jonah, on whose account this "mighty tempest" had arisen, with strange insensibility, was lying fast asleep. The captain aroused him to a sense of their danger by the solemn words, "What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not." The crew then proceeded to cast lots, having a kind of instinct — awakened, no doubt, by divine power — that the storm was occasioned by some sinner amongst their number. God was behind the scene, and, directing the lot, it fell upon Jonah. They then demanded of him the cause of the evil that had fallen upon them, his occupation, whence he came, his country and his people. Jonah told them all the truth, and even that he had fled from the presence of the Lord. They were smitten with fear when they heard that God was dealing with them on account of the prophet, and they asked what was to be done. Jonah at once replied that the only way of safety for them was to cast him overboard. With real kindliness of heart they were unwilling to do this, and laboured hard to bring the vessel to land. But it could not be; and thus, after they had prayed that they might not incur the guilt of innocent blood, they took Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea. The effect was instantaneous; the sea ceased from her raging, and they, impressed by what they had seen, feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. More than this, the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Such is the outline of the first chapter, and we have now to enquire as to its meaning.

1. In the first place Jonah is a type of the Jewish nation in one particular character. Nineveh, there is little doubt, is a symbol of the world, or, as another has said, the haughty glory of the world, which recognizes nothing but its own importance — the world, the open enemy of God's people simply by its pride. As such it was subject to the just judgment of a holy God. Israel, on the other hand, was God's candlestick on the earth, responsible therefore to bear witness to and for Him who by His grace had called them, and, separating them from the other nations of the earth, made them His people, and dwelt in their midst between the cherubim. We read thus in Isaiah: "Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified or let them hear, and say, It is truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am He: before me there was no god formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour." (Isa. 43: 8-11.) Such was the divinely-given position of Israel in the midst of the world; and inasmuch as the God they knew, and with whom as Jehovah they were brought into relationship, was a righteous God, "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity," their mission was to cry against Nineveh (the world), because its wickedness had come up before the Lord.

How then was their mission fulfilled? The conduct of Jonah supplies the answer. He rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. This is, in one word, the history of Israel as God's messenger. They were quite willing to be exalted by their privileges above the surrounding nations. In this way, indeed, their pride was fostered; but it was quite another thing to accept the responsibility of their position. Nothing is more sad than to trace their history in this respect, from the time they were redeemed out of Egypt to the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. The light which they possessed was used only for self-exaltation and self-righteousness, until at length they compelled God — if we may so speak — to depart from them. Not only did they flee from the presence of the Lord rather than fulfil their mission towards the world, but they also sunk down lower morally than the nations against whom they were called to testify. (See, for example, Jer. 32: 25-35; Ezek. 8, Ezek. 9; Ezek. 16: 44-49, etc.) The Lord said, indeed, through Jeremiah, "Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. And though they say, The Lord liveth; surely they swear falsely." (Jer. 5: 1, 2.)

Jonah therefore in escaping to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, is but a true picture of Israel fleeing from God rather than proclaim His message to the world. And we may see, perhaps, in the ship sailing from Joppa, offering the prophet a ready method of flight, the way of Israel's moral degradation. The ship was the means of trade with the Gentiles, and hence it was through commerce that they acquired familiarity, became conformed in their habits and ways, with the nations of the world, and so lost their power of testimony. Israel thus, like the prophet, with their back toward the Lord instead of the face, and refusing the admonitions of His grace and longsuffering, fell under the chastenings and judgments of His hand. This is represented in our chapter by the statement that the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. But the guilty nation was so insensible that, though the onlookers, the mariners, were afraid, and cried every man to his god in awe before the terrible nature of the storm, they lay, as it were, fast asleep, undisturbed by the roar of the tempest which threatened their destruction.

We need not, however, enter into the details of this strikingly typical narrative, so plainly does it set forth God's dealings with His ancient people on the ground of their responsibility as His light-bearers in the world. Two other points, however, should be mentioned. The unfaithfulness of Israel involves the Gentiles also in the judgments of God. Instead of being the means of light and blessing, they become the occasion of judgment. But, secondly, after the wrath of a holy God has been visited upon his people, the cause of it learned, and the tempest stilled, the Gentiles turn to the Lord, and acknowledge His power and glory. "The men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows." So will it be after the Lord's appearing. "Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent." (Zeph. 3: 8, 9.)

2. The second application of this history is to the servant. Jonah as a prophet was a servant of the Lord, and one, as pointed out, charged with a special mission to the world. His message befitting the dispensation was one of judgment, not of grace or mercy. But he fled, not from the opposition of those to whom he was sent, but from Him from whom he had received his mission. Many a servant, forgetting the source of his strength, as well as the secret of his safety, has been unable to face the power of the enemy in his own stronghold; but Jonah sought to hide himself in the world from the One who had called him to be His servant. Elijah fled from Jezebel, but Jonah, let it be repeated, fled from the Lord. In this he is surely a perfect contrast with our blessed Lord as the faithful witness. He was able to say, "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy loving-kindness and thy truth from the great congregation." (Psalm 40: 8-10.) Jonah, on the other hand, fled rather than tell forth the message of his God, and indeed the responsibility of testimony is always the greatest test. In the case of the blessed Lord Himself, it was His testimony that evoked the bitter hatred of the world. (John 7: 7.) It was under this test that Jonah failed, and perhaps on another ground. The possession of truth, if not communicated, always produces self-exaltation and Pharisaic pride, and where these things are nourished in the heart, there will always be indifference concerning, if not contempt for, the welfare of others. Jonah was a Jew, and God Himself had fenced him off from the world, but that was no reason why Jonah's heart should be without pity for the world. But so it was, and now his real state appears in open disobedience to his Lord.

It is important to note also the amount of self-deception which a soul in an unhappy condition can practise on itself. Jonah confessed to the mariners that he feared the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, who had made the sea and the dry land, and yet he thought to hide himself from His eyes. But if the servant under temptation tries to forget God, God does not forget His servant, nor can He indeed permit him to disregard His authority. Hence He pursues him with His storm; He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, surely not for the destruction of His servant, but to awaken him to a sense of his position and peril. Yea, the Lord loves His servants too well to suffer them to continue in rebellion. But while He is active in pursuit of Jonah, Jonah is asleep in the midst of the signs of His presence and power. Who will not recall, by way of contrast, the storm on another sea, during which He who had made the sea lay asleep on a pillow! In the former case the storm is only appeased by the casting forth of Jonah in the sea; in the latter the Lord, awakened by the importunities of His disciples, manifested His glory and demonstrated His power by rebuking the wind, and commanding the sea to be still.

God's way with Jonah in this chapter illustrates a very important principle. When Israel failed to sanctify His name, God declared that He would sanctify His own name. (See Ezekiel 36: 16-23.) So also with His servants. If they do not glorify Him in the testimony committed to them, He will glorify Himself in them through the chastenings of His hand. Thus in this chapter Jonah proved himself to be an unfaithful servant, one that could not vindicate the name of his Lord before a haughty, wicked world. God then came in and made bare His arm in dealing with Jonah, and by the very judgment which He executed He got Himself praise from the hearts of the heathen. This is a very important principle, and should teach us that, if we are honoured to be servants, we are in no wise necessary for the accomplishment of the purposes of God. Understanding this will keep us very humble, while it will call forth praise from our hearts for the precious privilege of being in any way associated with His divine counsels.

In conclusion it might be profitable to make a twofold enquiry. First, in how far the history of Israel, as shown in this narrative, shadows forth that of the Church in her candlestick position? Alas! the full answer to this question is recorded in the message to the seven churches. (Rev. 2 and 3) Secondly, we might ask whether we, as the Lord's servants, are found more faithful than Jonah? whether many of us are not buried, like him, in profound slumber, even while the signs of coming judgment are already to be heard? May the Lord Himself awaken us to the truth of our condition, that we may no longer remain insensible to the imminent peril of a godless world.

Jonah 2.

The last verse of Jonah 1 tells us that the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and that Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. It is in this fact that we find the key of the interpretation of chap. 2; for our Lord expressly connects this circumstance with His own death. He says, "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the  whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matt. 12: 40.)* And it is exceedingly interesting to trace the way in which Jonah, under the judgment of God, becomes a type of Christ in His rejection and death.

*Rationalism has sought to discover an inconsistency in this statement, alleging that our Lord was actually only two nights in the grave; but this is merely playing with the common ignorance of Jewish modes of reckoning. With them a part of a day always included the whole, so that our Lord simply adopted the usual manner of speech. Nothing is more sad than the petty criticism of human reason, ever on the outlook to discover a ground of exaltation against the wisdom of God. But "the foolishness of God is wiser than men."

We have seen, in our consideration of chap. 1, that the prophet was a type of the Jewish nation — the remnant who always take the place of the nation before God. Unfaithful in their mission to the world, God rejected them as His vessel of testimony, and caused His waves and billows to pass over them; and it is in this position we see them, as personified by Jonah, at the commencement of chap. 2. Now, it was into this very place that Christ in grace, in His unquenchable love for His people, descended. He was rejected, not by God surely — far be the thought — but by "His own," to whom He came. Their iniquity, however, black as it was, did but accomplish the counsels of God, and become, at the same time, the occasion for the display of the depths of the heart of Christ. In the same night in which He was betrayed He took bread and gave thanks; and of the cup He said, "This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matt. 26) He thus suffered Himself to be led as a lamb to the slaughter, and voluntarily went down under all the judgment of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. All God's waves and billows therefore passed also over His head. They had passed over (or rather, viewed prophetically, will pass over) the remnant because of their sins; they went over the head of Christ because in grace He took the place of the people before God, died for that nation, so that God might afterwards righteously, on the ground of the atonement, fulfil all His counsels of grace towards His ancient people.

It is in this way that Jonah in the belly of the whale becomes a figure of Christ in the grave. He thus uses expressions, as led of the Spirit of God, which have a far wider application than to his own circumstances. Look, for example, at Psalm 42. This psalm is the commencement of the second book, "in which the remnant are viewed as cast out of Jerusalem, while the city is given up to wickedness." They have fallen, therefore; under the judgments of God, and they use, in respect of this, the very words found in Jonah — "All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me" (Ps. 42: 7); but the full significance of this statement is only seen when considered in connection with the place our Lord took, when He identified Himself, not only with His people, but also with their sins, when He bore them in His own body on the tree.

We may now trace further the way of God with Jonah, as also with the remnant, as set forth in the language here employed. The chapter commences with the significant statement, "Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly." His face is now in the right direction. He had turned his back upon Jehovah; but now, under the stroke of the divine rod, he is not only arrested, but his eyes are drawn upward to Him from whom he had attempted to flee. Blessed effect of chastisement when the soul owns its dependence, and humbles itself under the mighty hand of God. "Is any man afflicted," says James, "let him pray." Yes, just as a song of praise is the channel of the soul's joy, prayer is the vehicle of its sorrow. Thus Jonah tells us, "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me; out of the belly of hell" (margin, the grave) "cried I, and thou heardest my voice," etc. And then the prophet recounts the whole process which had been wrought out in him, and by which his soul had been restored. (vv. 2-7.) It will be profitable to mark for our own instruction its several steps.

First he owns the hand of the Lord. "Thou," he says, "hadst cast me into the deep." There was no entanglement in second causes, as is so often the case with ourselves, and by which we lose all the blessing of the Lord's dealings with us. Jonah at this moment thought neither upon the storm nor upon the sailors. It was the Lord who had cast him into the, deep. So with our Lord, in a more blessed and perfect manner, when suffering upon the cross. "Thou," he said, "hast brought me into the dust of death." (Ps. 22.) And what rest of soul it gives to take everything that befalls us, as it is our privilege to do, from the hand of the Lord Himself! It stills every murmur, opens the ear to the divine voice, and puts the soul into the condition for profiting by the discipline through which it may be passing. Moreover, he confesses that the Lord's hand was upon him for judgment. All the figures he employs  - the seas, the floods, billows and waves — though literally true in his case, explain this; for they are all the symbols everywhere in the Scriptures of God's judicial wrath. The effect was, that he felt he was cast out of God's sight, and his soul fainted within him. (vv. 4, 7.) In other words, like Paul, though in another manner, he had the sentence of death in himself. He was brought to a sense of his utter nothingness before God, and all the more because it was on account of his own sin. From a rebel fleeing from the divine Presence, he is changed into a penitent, having no plea of justification for what he had done, but taking the place of having nothing, and deserving nothing but the judgment from which he was suffering. And this, the only true place for the soul, whether of a sinner or of a backslidden saint, and the only place where God can meet the soul, on the ground of accomplished atonement, with forgiveness and restoring grace.

Let us, then, now see in what way the Lord responds to the cry of the prophet. Jonah says, "I cried . . . . and thou heardest my voice." Again, "When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple." (vv. 2, 7.) What could more strikingly illustrate the grace of God, or display the tenderness of His heart! The object of His dealings accomplished, He immediately answers the cry of His servant. In the folly of our unbelief how often are we tempted to think that He cannot forgive us after our sinful and rebellious wanderings. But His grace never fails; nay, He waits upon His people, His ear ever being open to their cry; for His attitude towards us does not depend upon what we are, but solely upon what He is in Himself. Satan would always fain deceive us now as he deceived Eve in the garden of Eden, and hence the importance of learning the character and the ways of God from His own word, and from the revelation He has made of Himself in Christ Jesus. Many examples of His readiness to hear His people's cry, spite of their conduct, might easily be collected from the Scripture. Psalm 107 is a collection of such; see also Hosea 4; and especially the Lord's message to Peter on the morning of His resurrection. (Mark 16: 7.) These words of the prophet, "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me," should therefore sink deep into our hearts. They are a blessed encouragement to timid, and, beyond all, to backslidden souls, teaching as they do that God waits for nothing, if we have wandered, but our return to Him. We have a sheet anchor whose hold no storm can loosen when we have learnt the simple truth, that God never changes His attitude toward us, that His love is always the same — the same when we have fallen into sin as when we are walking in the enjoyment of the light of His countenance. And it is just because of His unchanging love that He deals with us in chastening and affliction. "Whom He loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." It was, too, on this same principle that He acted with Jonah, and the issue was that the prophet could declare, "I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God." (v. 6.)

Thus restored, the prophet now can testify of the folly of sin. "They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy." And surely this witness is true. Will not all our hearts, indeed, set their seal to it? For whenever we have been beguiled by the lying vanities of the flesh, of the world, or the devil, have we not proved the truth of the prophet's instruction? Ah! yes, there is a way that seemeth right unto a man (when under the power of these allurements), but the end thereof are the ways of death. Mercy is never found in the path of sin. Under the influence of this truth, wrought out by practical experience in Jonah's soul, he cries, "But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving: I will pay that I have vowed." He thus recognises the source of his preservation and blessing, and renders his thanksgiving and praise.

He then proceeds a step further. "Salvation is of the Lord." And, together with these words, we are told that "the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry ground." This is undoubtedly a remarkable foreshadowing of the truth of deliverance. All the exercises of Jonah's soul lead him up to this beautiful conclusion — "Salvation is of the Lord;" and immediately he is set free. So with the soul in Rom. 7: "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God" (is the answer) "through Jesus Christ our Lord." And the deliverance is reached and enjoyed. Blessed conclusion, again we say, whether for the sinner or the troubled saint — "Salvation is of the Lord." It brings peace into the soul; it stills all doubts and questionings; it puts an end to self-occupation, and it turns the eye upward to the only source of blessing and deliverance. The knowledge of this truth is essential to the whole of the Christian life, and brings ineffable rest to the soul when weary with its burdens and conflicts. "Salvation is of the Lord." Then we have only, like the king of Israel, to say, "We know not what to do: but our eyes are up unto thee;" and we shall find, as he did, that the Lord will come in with His delivering mercy beyond our utmost thought and expectation.

The prophetic application of Jonah's deliverance to the Jewish remnant in the future is easily perceived. We have already called attention to the identity of the expressions used by the prophet with those found in Psalm 42. And the Lord's way with them will be precisely the same as that found here. Bringing in upon them all His waves and billows, He will, by thus exercising their souls, reach their consciences, produce in them the sense of their guilt and utter helplessness, and turning their eyes up to Himself, evoke from their hearts cries and supplications for succour and deliverance. Then, as in the case of Jonah, the Lord, who had been waiting with yearning compassion upon His people, will instantly answer their cry and appear for their salvation. Thereon they will cry, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." (Read Isa. 11: 12; also Isa. 25, Isa. 26; and Zechariah 12-14.)

Jonah 3.

The moment Jonah was delivered "the word of the Lord came unto him the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee;" for if the Lord pursued His servant with His storm anal tempest, and cast him into the deep, in the midst of the seas, it was for restoration as well as correction, and to put the prophet into a right condition of soul to be the vessel of the divine will. Accordingly he did not now attempt to flee, but he arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. It is always so in the Lord's dealings with His people. If we turn back from the path which He marks out for us, we surely must encounter the chastenings of His hand, and the object of His dealings is never accomplished until we are brought face to face again with the path from which we declined, and made willing, by grace surely, to enter upon it. It is on the principle enunciated by the psalmist — "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I have kept thy word."

This teaching lies on the surface; but the typical import of this chapter has, we apprehend, the deeper significance. Jonah is, in figure, a risen man; for he says, "Out of the belly of hell" (or the grave) "cried I." Jehovah had brought death in upon him; and together with this, it must be borne in mind, as shown in the last chapter, he is identified with the remnant. There is therefore a double symbolical meaning. Israel, in the person of Jonah, is set aside, on account of their unfaithfulness, as the vessel of testimony. Judging according to man the light is quenched; all hope for the world has for ever disappeared. When all God's waves and billows were rolling over the heads of those whom He had chosen as His witnesses on the earth, where was the possibility of any further testimony in the world? We might ask with the psalmist, "Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction? shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" (Ps. 88: 10-12.)

The answer to these questions is only found in the death and resurrection of Christ. All hope, as founded upon man's responsibility, was indeed gone; but God in His grace and mercy sent His beloved Son, and when He came He identified Himself with His people, went down in His compassion into the very place where they lay dead in trespasses and sins, Himself died, undertaking the whole of their responsibility, that He might glorify God in the very scene and place where they had dishonoured Him. As He Himself said, "Like as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so should the Son of man" (the rejected One) "be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." But it was not possible that He should be holden of death, not possible, whether we consider the glory of God, or the rights of His own person; and hence He rose on the third day as the first-begotten of the dead, and it is of Him as the risen One that Jonah becomes a figure. As the risen One, He is (though He was ever that), the faithful and true witness; and Israel being now set aside, He can, in the fulfilment of the purposes of God, bear testimony to the Gentiles, and the issue shows, in figure, that the casting away of the Jew is the reconciliation of the world. (Rom. 11.) The two things are in the chapter — the historical fact of Jonah's mission, and that of which this mission is an emblem.

Jonah, now obedient, goes to Nineveh; but before his preaching is described the Spirit of God pauses to call attention to the magnitude of the city. It was a city great before God, of three days' journey. Such was the result of the activity of man in his alienation from God, priding himself upon the greatness, the pomp, and magnificence of his works which tempt him to say with Nebuchadnezzar, "Is not this great Babylon which I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?" And, intoxicated with his own pride, he cares not, even if he remembers, that the judgment of God has been pronounced upon all his works. It was this judgment of which Jonah was the herald, proclaiming in the face of the "haughty glory" of the world, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."

The character of the message demands our attention. It is one of pure judgment, unaccompanied by any offer of mercy whatever, even though the people should repent. This may seem strange; but it must be remembered that Jonah's preaching had reference only to God's government upon the earth. As a rule indeed the prophets generally were not concerned with eternity; i.e. the judgments threatened, and the blessings promised on condition of obedience or repentance, were confined to this world. The subject of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be made manifest, was not within the scope of their ministry. Connected as they were with the kingdom, they spake only of God's ways, claims, righteousness, and government as displayed in this scene.

Looked at in a typical way, the message of Jonah has another significance. The number forty has a distinct meaning in the word of God, as may be seen in the forty years' wandering of Israel in the desert, the temptation of our Lord during forty days in the wilderness, etc. It indicates the period of full probation. Thus understood in this passage, and bearing in mind that Nineveh sets forth the world — the world, especially in the aspect of its exaltation through its own pride against God, we have simply the annunciation of the fact, that after the world has been fully tested, tested in every variety of way, it will be destroyed. It is the cross of Christ that gives us the culmination of God's test of the world; and hence our Lord said, "Now is the judgment of this world." Judgment irreversible was passed upon it in the death of Christ; for thereby God demonstrated openly, before all, the character, the hopelessness of the evil, of the world, inasmuch as it accepted the leadership of Satan in crucifying God's beloved Son. True it was that God withheld the execution of the judgment; for in the death of Christ was laid the foundation on which God could righteously offer salvation to that same world in its guilty and lost condition, and accomplish His own counsels of grace in redemption. But the judgment has not been recalled, could not be consistently with the glory of God. It has only been suspended, because the Lord "is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But," Peter goes on to say, "the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." (2 Peter 3: 9, 10.) Yes, it remains true — "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."

The effect of the preaching was wonderful. We read, "So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them." It began with the king, who "arose from his throne" on hearing the word, "and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes." Moreover, in conjunction with his nobles, he issued a decree that neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, should taste anything; they were not to feed nor to drink water. In a word, an universal fast was proclaimed. All were to be covered with sackcloth, to cry mightily unto God, and to turn from the evil of their ways, in the hope that God would turn away from His fierce anger, that they might not perish. (vv. 5-9.) The reader will remark that they believed GOD. In Jonah 1 the sailors cried to Jehovah, because there it was the glory of Jehovah in His relation to the Jew that had been manifested in His judgments. Here it is the world in relation to God as such, and this will explain the difference; and  being in this chapter on the ground of creatorial relationships, the cattle are also mentioned; for the whole creation (and this includes them) shall one day be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. (Rom. 8.)

Our Lord refers, in a striking way, to the repentance of Nineveh — "The men of Nineveh," He says, "shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here." (Matt. 12: 41.) It was proof indeed of the hardness of the hearts of those to whom the Lord came preaching repentance because the kingdom of heaven was at hand (Matt. 4: 17), that they were insensible to His appeals, even though His appeals were enforced by the miracles which He wrought in their midst. The Ninevites were heathen; the Jews were God's chosen people, and He who came to His own was their own Messiah, Jehovah indeed the Saviour; but they turned a deaf ear to His entreating cries. (Matt. 23: 37.) What clearer demonstration could there have been of the utter depravity of their hearts? And are "the men of this generation" any better? Combined with the ministry of reconciliation which is still carried on (2 Cor. 5) in the tender mercy of God, the proclamation is still made — "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown;" and who heeds it? A few here and there, through grace; but the mass, the world, is as insensible today as it was in the days of our Lord. And further, suppose that some divinely sent messenger were to stand today in the midst of London with the message of Jonah, what would be his reception? It is not too much to say that he would be regarded either as a fool or a madman. Oh, that it were better understood that the bestowment of light and privileges do but bring an increase of responsibility and of condemnation, when the light is refused, and the privileges are despised! Beautiful spectacle this of the repentance of Nineveh, and no mean foreshadowing of the time when the Gentiles shall serve the Lord with one consent!

The chapter concludes with the action of God consequent upon Nineveh's repentance — "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not." We see again what is in the heart of God towards men — that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked; and hence, that if He proclaim judgment it is with the object of turning them from their evil way. The people of Nineveh did not know what He would do. They only said, "Who can tell if God will turn and repent?" And God responded to this feeble faith, as He ever does, and spared them from destruction. It is but a human mode of speech, it need scarcely be added, when it says that He repented. His aim was to produce repentance on the part of Nineveh; and this having been done, He could, consistently with His ways in government, show His compassion and forgiveness. What abundant encouragement for the sinner is found in this record.

"He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on Him." But then, blessed be His name, there is also written, "He that heareth my word, and believeth Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment; but is passed from death unto life." (John 5: 24.) E. D.

Jonah 4.

The instruction of chap. 4 is derived, as in chap. 1, from the conduct of the prophet. At the close of chap. 3 we have the grace of God displayed in sparing the people of Nineveh on their repentance — the revelation, in fact, of God's heart. In the first verse of this chapter we have in contrast with this the unfolding of the heart of Jonah. As we read elsewhere, God has no pleasure in the death of the sinner; but on this very account Jonah was displeased exceedingly and very angry. Not only was he out of communion with, but he was in positive antagonism to, the mind of God. Like the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal, he was angry because those who had no claim upon God had found mercy. By this he only showed that he could not enter into the thought of grace. And how often is it so with ourselves! Spite of the fact that we ourselves have been the objects of mercy, and that, apart from the sovereign grace of God, we could have no standing before Him, we, in the folly of our natural thoughts and feelings, desire that others should be dealt with on the ground of justice. How strikingly this was exemplified in the apostolic days may be seen in the conflicts of Paul. Even Peter was afraid to maintain the truth of grace (Gal. 2); and hence the apostle Paul, as guided by the Holy Spirit, not only withstood Peter to the face, but has also elaborately shown, both in the epistle to the Galatians, and in that to the Romans (Rom. 9 - 11), that the Jew, equally with the  Gentile, was utterly without claim upon God; that had God dealt with Israel on the ground of justice, they, equally with the Gentiles, could not have escaped His judgment. But now He had concluded all, both Jews and Gentiles, in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all. No; the natural man can never understand the grace of God.

But we may go a little deeper, and enquire into the special grounds of Jonah's anger. We read: "And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live." (vv. 2, 3.)

That is, he was afraid lest God might show mercy to Nineveh, and, himself desiring judgment and destruction, he was unwilling to be the bearer of the divine message. What narrowness and hardness of heart! we might say. But there is more than this. There is in this foolish prayer the very essence of self and self-importance. To proclaim the message of judgment to godless Nineveh Jonah was quite willing — if he were but sure that it would be executed — for that would exalt Jonah both in his own eyes, and in the eyes of all who believed in the truth of his mission. Even James and John said to the Lord, "Wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?" But the Lord turned, and rebuked them; for God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Jonah was of the same spirit with these disciples, only he went further, and opposed the manifestation, of mercy. For if, on the one hand, the annunciation of unsparing judgment exalted the preacher, the exhibition of grace set aside the messenger and exalted God. As another has said, Jonah, instead of caring for Nineveh, thinks only of his own reputation as a prophet. Wretched heart of man, so unable to rise up to the goodness of God! . . . . Jonah thought only of himself, and the horrid selfishness of his heart hides from him the God of grace, faithful to His love for His helpless creatures. And we may add that he was entirely without excuse. He says, "For I knew that thou art a gracious God," etc, and yet he was angry — not satisfied with the character of the God he knew!

So great indeed was his disappointment and anger that he requests that he might die. Sad state of soul! for what led him to desire this? The fact that God had spared Nineveh, and, together with this, his chagrin that he and his preaching had apparently been set aside! So petty and narrow is the human heart when occupied with its own things — with its own importance, pride and reputation. The case of Elijah, which, from its seeming similarity, every reader will recall, is very different. In his doubt and despondency he imagined that his work had been entirely in vain. In answer to the Lord's question, "What doest thou here, Elijah? he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away." (1 Kings 19: 11.) For the moment he had lost confidence in God, as he saw the power of the enemy on every hand. Doubtless he was also disappointed that the Lord did not intervene in judgment to vindicate the honour of his name. But this was quite a different thing from Jonah's desire. He thought neither of the Lord's honour, nor of poor guilty Nineveh; only, we repeat, of his own reputation as a prophet. Nothing, indeed, could be more humiliating than his state of mind.

On the other hand, could anything surpass the tender gentleness of the Lord with His wayward servant? For the moment, He contents Himself with a single word: "Doest thou well to be angry?" or, as in the margin, "Art thou greatly angry?" That is all. Like a mother with a petulant child, who knows that it is useless to reason with him when his temper is being displayed, and therefore pays no attention to his foolish requests, but waits until the passion has subsided, so the Lord dealt with Jonah. Ah, how often have we also in our folly ventured, in the spirit of Jonah, to arraign the ways of our God, and to prefer our foolish petitions, which, if they had been granted, would have entailed sorrow upon us for the rest of our lives! But the Lord loved us better than we loved even ourselves.

Jonah did not reply to the Lord's tender remonstrance; he was too angry for that. And he "went out of the city, and. sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city." Poor man! he was evidently hoping still that the Lord would destroy Nineveh, spite of its repentance; so little did he understand the heart of the One who had sent him on his mission. But God had done for the present with Nineveh. "He had repented of the evil He had said that He would do unto them; and He did it not." That, therefore, was irrevocable; and He could not, consistently with His holy name, gratify the evil desires of Jonah. Hence His attention, in His love and grace, was now directed to His servant — to correct and instruct, as well as to explain and justify His own ways. We thus read: "And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad because of the gourd." (v. 6.)

It is exceedingly touching to see God thus watching over and caring for His wilful servant, and the pains He takes to convince him of the unreasonableness of his anger. Why did the prophet now rejoice with great joy? (See margin.) Because of the relief he experienced from the shadow of the gourd. As his anger, so was his joy entirely selfish. Accordingly, "God prepared a worm, when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live." Wholly absorbed in the circle of self, he is wretched and miserable; now because the gourd which had been a comfort to him had been destroyed, and perhaps also because of his bodily suffering. It was to this point that God had been leading him, and He once more intervened, and said to Jonah, "Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death." He had been angry because Nineveh was not overthrown, and now he is angry because the gourd had been destroyed; angry in both cases because of the influence both the one and the other had upon himself, so wretched was his poor contracted heart. It was on the latter point that the Lord took him up, saying, "Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six-score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" (vv. 10, 11.)

In this manner was Jonah convicted by the words of his own mouth; and God was justified, yea, abundantly justified, by the pity which Jonah had felt for the gourd to which he was bound by no ties of relationship, and which he only valued because of its usefulness to himself. Thus, as always, God overcame when He was judged. (See Rom. 3: 4.) There were two things which the prophet (and, may we not add, many Christians also?) had not yet learned. First, that God's tender mercy is over all His works. (Psalm 145: 9.) How beautifully this is shown by the words, "and also much cattle"! This tender mercy will be displayed by-and-by, when Christ shall take His rightful power, and reign over the earth; but the heart of God is ever the same, and He has proved it in that He "so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life;" in the fact that Christ tasted death for everything (Heb. 2), as well as in the lengthening out of the day of grace in His long-suffering, because He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3); and, finally, in His purpose to reconcile all things unto Himself, through the death of Christ, whether things in earth or things in heaven. (Col. 1.) But to enter into this we must lose sight of self, and selfish aims, and be filled with divine thoughts and divine affections. The second thing Jonah had not learned was, that God was "good and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Him." (Psalm 86: 5.) It was this same lesson that Peter had to teach the Jews on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2: 21); that Paul had to press earnestly upon the Hebrew believers of his day (Rom. 10: 11-13); and it is this same truth that many of us, while owning it by the lip, need to hold in greater power at the present moment. If grace is sovereign, as it surely is, on this very account it is unrestricted, and flows out in blessing wheresoever God wills. Oh! how often, in folly similar to Jonah's, do we narrow the heart of God; but in the issue He will show that He has been above and beyond all our thoughts. And, in the meanwhile, let it instruct and comfort our hearts to remember that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

It was no small honour, it may be said in conclusion, for Jonah to be taken up, even in his disobedience, self-will, and anger, and to be thus made a vessel for the exhibition of the mind and heart of God. This also was of grace, and therefore to God is all the praise. E. D.

The Book of Haggai

The Book of Haggai.

E. Dennett.

Christian Friend, vol. 11, 1884, p. 231.

Some introductory words are necessary to enable the reader to enter intelligently upon the study of this most interesting prophet. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi all prophesied after the return of the remnant from their Babylonish captivity; and this fact gives their writings a special interest for those who have been delivered, in any measure, from the corruptions of Christendom in these last days. It must be remembered that they, as we, are in the times of the Gentiles; for God had removed the seat of His sovereignty from Jerusalem, and bestowed the throne of the earth upon the Gentiles. This is indicated by the manner in which this book commences. The prophets before the captivity are dated according to the period of the kings of Judah or Israel in which they exercised their office. Haggai is reckoned from the second year of Darius the king, so also Zechariah. (Compare Luke 3: 1.) It could not indeed be otherwise; for God never ignores His own arrangements. He recognized the sovereignty of the Gentiles, as deriving its right and authority from Himself, and He will have His people also in subjection to the powers which He has ordained. (See Rom. 13.) While therefore He Himself stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to interest himself in the building of His house at Jerusalem, and to issue his proclamation giving the people permission to return, He made it manifest to all that His people were dependent upon this proclamation for their liberty. It is partly on this account that the position of the remnant, addressed in the last three prophets, corresponds so intimately with that of our own. Owning God as supreme in authority and power, confessing that His will is our only law, we are yet subject to kings and all that are in authority; and when oppressed by the unjust exercise of power, by tyranny or persecution, we do not seek relief in agitation, disobedience, or rebellion, but we look to the Lord, who turneth the hearts of kings whithersoever He will (as illustrated in the case of Cyrus) to interpose on our behalf, to influence the governments, which have their source in Himself, to moderation and tolerance. The Christian for this very reason, if indeed he understand his place and position, cannot be a politician, to say nothing of the heavenly character of his calling. Subject to human authorities, he is dependent only upon God; and hence, whatever his needs, difficulties, trials or perils, to God alone does he look. Such is the path of faith, and the path of faith is one of peace and liberty.

The book of Ezra must be read side by side with that of Haggai. Turning thus to the former, it will be seen that the first verse of Haggai links itself with Ezra 4: 24: "Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia." This connection must be briefly developed. The object of the people's return concerned the building of the house of the Lord. This was the subject of the proclamation of Cyrus, who indeed had been raised up for this very purpose (see Isa. 43: 28, and Isa. 44.); and it was for this end that God had wrought in the hearts of those who were made willing to return to the land of their fathers — all, as we read, "whose spirit God had raised, to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem." (Ezra 1: 5.) When they arrived their first concern was to verify their claims to be of Israel, all who could not produce the register of their genealogy being refused (Ezra 2); for when the Spirit of God was working in their midst, and when, in fact, they had already entered upon the enjoyment of deliverance from captivity, the imperative necessity of a holy separation was deeply felt. It is only in times of coldness, lethargic indifference, or open backsliding, that the people of God become insensible to the claims of God's holiness. Accordingly this feeble remnant, in the first flush of their restoration, purified themselves from all doubtful associations. Some who were put away from the priesthood as polluted might have their claims recognized at a future day, when a priest should stand up with Urim and Thummim (see Ex. 28: 30); but for the present place of service and testimony it was essential that the reality of their priesthood should be beyond suspicion, attested by the holy registers. So now many a true child of God may be absent from the Lord's table because he is not able to point to his qualifications as written in the Scriptures. The work of separation accomplished, liberality of heart was displayed in offering "freely for the house of God to set it up in his place." (Ezra 2: 68-70.) Then on the seventh month, which was the month for the blowing of trumpets, figure of the restoration of Israel in the last days, the children of Israel, like the disciples on the day of Pentecost, gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. (Ezra 3: 1.) They were all animated by one desire and one aim — a blessed concord, which can only be produced by the action of the Holy Spirit. There assembled, they builded the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt-offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. Divine intelligence thus marked them; for they in this way declared that their only ground of acceptance before God, and their only hope of securing His favour and blessing on the work which they had in view, lay in the sweet savour of the sacrifice; and in their subjection to the Word (see verses 2-4) they confessed that divine wisdom alone could guide their feet and preserve them from dangers and snares. They were now formally placed under the protection of the God of their fathers.

Still it was not until "the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem" that they actually laid the foundation of the temple (Ezra 3: 8). From the sixth verse it would almost seem that at the very outset — as has been the case in every new movement of the Spirit of God — there was some decline in spiritual energy. At least, the statement is very significant, But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. Be this as it may, the work at length was commenced, and the foundation was laid. To many it was a time of great joy, and their joy found expression in the ancient and divine song, "Oh give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever." (1 Chr. 16: 34; cp. 2 Chr. 5: 13.) With others their joy was mingled with grief; for "many of the priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, and many shouted aloud for joy," etc. (Ezra 3: 12, 13.) Speaking of the sorrow of the ancient men, another has beautifully said, "Alas! We understand this. He who now thinks of what the assembly of God was at the first, will understand the tears of these old men. This suited nearness to God. Further off, it was right that joy, or at least the confused shout, which only proclaimed the public event, should be heard; for, in truth, God had interposed in His people's behalf." Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, vol. 2, p. 5.

The work commenced so auspiciously was soon to be interrupted. Nothing arouses the anger of Satan like any attempt to testify for, and to acknowledge the claims of, God on the earth. Immediately, therefore, on the foundation of the temple being laid, we read of the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin seeking to hinder the progress of the building. In the first place they, like the Gibeonites in the days of Joshua, "did work wilily, professing a desire to build with Judah and Benjamin" (Ezra 4: 2); and then, on being refused, they threw off the mask of their hypocrisy, "and weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, and hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia." (vv. 4, 5.) It is to this point that special attention must be directed in order to understand the commencement of Haggai. Let it be recalled, then, that the remnant who had returned were under the protection and favour of Cyrus, and that in building the house of the Lord they were acting in accordance with the king's decree. With confidence in God, they had therefore nothing to fear from their adversaries. If the king commanded them to desist, they might have obeyed, as they were in subjection to the Gentile power; but the fact was; as may be gathered from a comparison of Ezra with Haggai, that the people were deterred from continuing their work by their adversaries before the letter of Artaxerxes was obtained. The work of the "house of God which is at Jerusalem" ceased from fear of man — fear of man from having lost faith in God; and once having given up all care for God's interests and claims, they began, with all the more energy, to mind their own things, to build their own houses, instead of building the house of God. Such was the state of things amongst the remnant when Haggai began to prophecy; and bearing this in mind, we shall be the better able to comprehend his words.

Note, first of all, that the word of the Lord came unto him in the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month (see Ezra 4: 24), and that it was addressed to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Josedech, the high priest. Then, in one verse, the condition of the people is displayed.

"Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built." (v. 2.)

Such was the occasion of the Lord's message and remonstrance through Haggai. He had wrought in the heart of Cyrus, He had stirred up the spirit of His people, to accomplish His purpose in rebuilding His house; and now, forgetful of the object of their restoration, they professed to discern that it was not a seasonable opportunity for their work. And what led them to this conclusion? The fact that there were adversaries, that the times were not peaceful. As if enemies to the Lord's work would ever cease! As if the time would ever come when the natural eye would perceive the opportunity for labour for the Lord! Ah, we have all to learn the lesson that the Word — the mind of the Lord — is the warrant for service, and that when He speaks it is but for us to go forward, whatever the circumstances and however numerous the adversaries. As He said to Joshua: "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." (Joshua 1: 9.) Their spirit is a complete contrast to that of the apostle who said, "A great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries." (1 Cor. 16: 9.)

It was then to meet this condition of things that the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, "Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house to lie waste?" etc. (vv. 4-11.) Every word of this message is fraught with instruction, and contains principles of the utmost value, applicable to the people of God at all times. They had said, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built. "Is it time, then," said the prophet, "for you to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house to lie waste?" This was indeed a challenge for their hearts, and one that raised an issue that could not by any ingenuity be evaded. For on what ground could they pretend that it was an opportune moment to give the preference to their own interests, to the neglect of the Lord's claims? The secret lay in the fact that building and decorating their own houses raised no opposition. Doing good to themselves would rather elicit the commendation of their adversaries. It is only testimony for the Lord — testimony in word, work, and life — that provokes the hostility of the world. They had chosen therefore the path of selfish ease and self-interest, minding their own things, and not the things of the Lord. They knew nothing of the spirit of the psalmist who "sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." (Ps. 132.) They were rather like those of whom Amos speaks, who lay upon beds of ivory, and stretched themselves upon their couches . . . but were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. (Amos 6.) For not only were they diligent in caring for their own comfort, but they were also indifferent to the fact that the Lord's house was lying waste. God's eye and heart were upon His house (see 2 Chr. 6: 28); their thoughts were upon their own habitations, and they thus showed that they were utterly out of communion with the mind and heart of God.

And let our own hearts speak, and speak honestly as before God, in the presence of such a charge against this indifferent remnant, whether God's house occupies the first place in our minds, whether its desolate condition touches our hearts in His presence, whether we are amongst those who sigh and cry because of its ruined condition, whether, in a word, amid the comfort of our own dwellings we are indifferent to the state of the house of God. Let us be clear upon what is meant. It is not asked if we are interested in the Lord's work, if we are in sympathy with the preaching of the gospel, if we are diligent in visiting and caring for the Lord's poor. All these things are important, and have their rightful place in the heart of every Christian; but our present question concerns "the house of God, which is the Church of the living God." What then is our attitude to it? For if it is the dearest thing to the heart of Christ, if His eye is upon it perpetually, if He is ever engaged in cleansing it with the washing of water by the Word, we cannot be in communion with His heart unless His thoughts and desires concerning it are also ours. Alas? might not the word of the prophet be also addressed with reason to many of us, "Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house to lie waste?" Let us then ponder upon the word of the Lord to His people through the prophet.

"Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes." (vv. 5, 6.)

As our own blessed Lord taught, "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it," so was it with the remnant. Setting their hearts upon rest, ease, and prosperity in this world, desiring to find their "life" in their comforts, they lost it; for they had left God out of the account. Making themselves, and not God, their object, putting their own things in the first place, and becoming indifferent to His honour, claims, and interests, they forfeited the very blessings for which they laboured. How common is this mistake even with Christians; for though the character of the blessing may differ, the principle still obtains. Thus you may see a child of God who, because of his domestic or business claims, as he will tell you, is constantly absent from the assemblies of the saints, and has scarcely any heart for the Lord's objects, but who is withered up in his own soul, and has little peace in his family, and not much prosperity in his affairs. And why is this? Not because of his lack of attention to his own concerns; for, as we have seen, these have the foremost place in his mind. No; but it is because such an one is caring for his own things; all indifferent to the desolation of the house of God; because, in other words, he exalts his own interests above those of the Lord. Let us never forget that there is such a thing as a present judgment of God; that He notices the conduct of His people, and, in His paternal government and care, deals with them according to their state of heart and walk. (See, for example, 1 Peter 1: 17.) It was so in the case before us. They were diligent in sowing their seed, but God gave them but a scanty harvest; they ate and drank, but were not satisfied, for God withheld His blessing; they clothed themselves, but found no warmth, and their savings melted away. In this way God dealt with them, to exercise their souls, to wean them from their selfish aims, and to recall them to the object of their restoration to their own land, that, losing sight of themselves, they might find their blessing in communion with the mind and heart of God: It is this truth which is set before them in the following verses: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord." (vv. 7, 8.)

Again, the Lord calls His people to consider their ways. Blessed occupation this for His saints at all times, for the tendency ever prevails; especially in seasons, of declension; to deceive ourselves into the belief that all is well, even when we may be actually under the chastening hand of God for our unfaithfulness. Many an evil, many a break-down, many a startling manifestation of iniquity in the midst of the assembly would be spared us if we did but heed this admonishing call. It should be, in fact, our constant and habitual employment to consider our ways in the presence of God. There all delusions disappear; there, in the pure light of His holy presence, the secrets of the inmost heart are revealed; and there it is alone that, discerning our true condition and failures, we can receive grace to judge ourselves by the infallible standard of God's glory; and thus, confessing our sins, enter once again upon the enjoyment of forgiveness and restoration. The Lord would therefore call His people, whom He had brought back from Babylon, to come before Him, that they might discover whence they had fallen, and that they might repent and do their first works.

Thereon He commands, or rather perhaps reminds them of, what He desires. They, as we have seen, had set their hearts on their own houses, and the Lord, as it were, says to them, "My heart is on my house. Go up therefore to the mountain, and bring the wood, and build the house." This was the object of their restoration, and the Lord would still have them share the privilege of fellowship with His own purposes. He moreover condescends to say, "I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified." By building the house; they would evoke the satisfaction of His heart and exalt His name. We thus learn that the true way to glorify God is to be in fellowship with His own mind — not in the activities we may choose, however good in themselves; not in works of beneficence and philanthropy, however the wants and sorrows of others maybe thereby alleviated, but in labouring for the object God has before Him at any given time, in working in communion with His mind and heart for the accomplishment of His ends, and not our own. Thus in the time of Haggai no labourers would have been acceptable to God as long as the building of His house was neglected. The only proper attitude therefore for any servant of God is, "Lord, what wilt THOU have me to do?" and his only proper aim is to labour or to strive diligently to be acceptable to the Lord.

In the next three verses (9-11) the people are reminded that they are being chastised because of their indifference to the Lord's house. God was drying up the source of every earthly blessing. He "blew" upon their crops, withheld the dew, called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, upon everything the earth brought forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands. And wherefore did He send this universal blight upon all the labour of their hands and upon all their expectations? Let the answer be indelibly written upon our hearts: "Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man to his own house."

Is there no voice in these words to the saints of this day? God is still God, and He has His objects now as He had then. If then His objects are not ours, is it any wonder that we are suffering from spiritual dearth and barrenness? that when we have sown much, in preaching the Word, we bring in little? that feeding continually upon the ministrations of teachers, we have not enough? that we are neither "warm" nor satisfied, and that there should seem to be a drought throughout the assembly of His saints? Let our hearts, we again say, answer the question, whether this is true, in any measure, of ourselves, that we prefer our own houses above the Lord's house. We learn from Rev. 1-3 how jealous the Lord is of the state of His Church, and that His cry is ever raised in the midst of His saints, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." Well, therefore, might we listen to the teaching of the scripture before us; and if our hearts are but bowed to its solemn lessons, unspeakable blessing cannot but be the result. May the Lord Himself make His word with us, as He did with His people in this chapter, living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, for the glory of His own most holy name!

Haggai 1: 12-15.

In this section we have the effect of the message sent by the Lord through the prophet, which we considered in our last paper. From Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, down to the lowest of the people, obedience was rendered to the voice of the Lord with one consent. The word of the prophet had been with power, and all hearts recognized the truth of his message, and the claims of their God. And it is important to note, as a principle everywhere affirmed in the Scriptures, that the voice of the Lord is linked with the words of the prophet. (v. 12.) When God sends a messenger He is pleased to identify Himself with His servant. Our blessed Lord thus said to His disciples, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me." (John 13: 20; see also Matt. 10: 40-42.) So in our passage it stands, "And the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him." This is a solemn consideration for the people of God; for the converse is true, that if one who is really sent of the Lord is refused, it is the Lord who is refused in the person of His servant. (Matt. 25: 41-45.) Not that everyone who claims to be sent of God is to be received as such; for the test is, Do such speak the words of God? (John 3: 34.) And as we are taught elsewhere, many false prophets are gone out into the world; but it is just on this very account that the responsibility is cast upon the saints of "trying the spirits whether they are of God." (1 John 4: 1.) The apostles could say, "We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." (1 John 4: 6.) They could take this ground because they were inspired men, and they had therefore the infallible word of truth on their lips. No servant, however devoted, could now adopt this language; but he might apply the principle to the message he delivered, if that message were indeed the pure word of God. While these limitations are necessarily made in our present circumstances, yet let us not forget that the Lord does in these last days send His servants with messages to His people, and that wherever the soul is in the presence of God they will be readily discerned; and hence that it is no less grave now than at any former time to turn a deaf ear to the words of admonition and warning they may utter. Look at the case before us. Were not Zerubbabel and Joshua the leaders of the people? And who was Haggai? Why should he set himself against them all? Why should he find so much fault, and prophesy such bitter things? And what had he to recommend himself to the attention of the people? He was evidently of no birth or standing, for his parentage or genealogy is not recorded. He had but one qualification. It was not his position, his office, or his gift; it was simply that he was sent by the Lord their God. So now the only questions for any of us, when a professed servant of the God stands before us, is, Has he been divinely sent? and does he speak the word of the Lord?

The obedience, moreover, which is here spoken of was no mere external compliance with the exhortations they had received, but it was of that sort which proceeds from the action of the word of God on the conscience; for it is added, "And the people did fear before the Lord." This is the sure sign of a real work in the hearts of this feeble remnant. Whether in sinners or saints, if the conscience is not reached, whatever outward and apparent effects may be produced by the ministry of the truth, nothing is gained. In all such cases it will be as Ephraim and Judah, of whom Hosea speaks; their "goodness" will be "as a morning cloud, and as the early dew which passeth away." (Hosea 6: 4.) On the other hand, fear of the Lord will always be produced in a soul when the conscience is in exercise before God; for it is then that God's holy presence is apprehended and His claims acknowledged, while at the same time the sense of failure and sin will not be forgotten. Obedience therefore is the result, as in this instance, God Himself being the object before their souls. It was, in other words, a real turning of heart to the Lord; and recovered from minding their own things, they now desired to give the Lord and His things the first place.

From what follows we learn that if the Lord chastises, or if He speaks in words of warning and admonition, it is only that He seeks to remove out of the way every barrier to His people's blessing. He ad watched the effect of the prophet's words, and immediately the signs of repentance and self-judgment appeared He sends them a message of consolation — "Then spake Haggai, the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord." (v. 13.) The Spirit of God, as it would seem, amplifies the description of the prophet — the Lord's messenger, in the Lord's message — to identify him with his Lord, and to assure the people of the certainty of the truth of his message. There is great significance, moreover, in the message itself. As we have seen, it was fear of their adversaries that deterred the people from the work of building the Lord's house, and now the antidote is administered. How often do we read, for example, in Isaiah, "Fear not; I am with thee." And the Psalmist exclaims, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" Nothing indeed dissipates fear like the assurance of the Lord's presence. But if it is consolation it is also an encouragement, reminding the people that if the Lord called them to go forward in a path of danger, He Himself was in their midst, and would go before them, as He had done in the wilderness, to show them the way. What grace, what condescension, we may add, lies in such a message! These poor, feeble people had but ill responded to the Lord's faithfulness in restoring them from their captivity, and yet, spite of their unfaithfulness and backsliding, the moment their hearts are bowed before the message of the prophet the Lord with unwearied love declares, "I am with you." Yea, His heart is ever upon His people, and if He punish, it is that in their affliction they may seek Him early, so that He may return to them with the assurance of His love. If His people are indifferent to Him, He is never indifferent to them, and He is never satisfied until in the midst of His people He can rest in His love, and joy over them with singing. (See Zephaniah 3: 17.)

In the next place we have power for work. We thus read: "And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, in the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king." (vv. 14, 15.) This statement presents two or three points of special interest and instruction. It should be noticed, first of all, that while the people had left off building, as described in Ezra, from fear of their enemies, before the decree was obtained to prohibit their work, they now recommenced their labours without waiting for the king's permission. Concerning this we quote the remarks of another: "Neither was it because the king's decree was brought them that they began again to build, but because they feared Jehovah, and feared not the king's command, as seeing Him who is invisible. God was not any more to be feared in the reign of Darius than in that of Cyrus or of Artaxerxes; but the source of their weakness was their having forgotten God. . . . All this shows us that, in ceasing to build the temple, Israel was in fault. . . They had no excuse for this, since even the king's commandment was on their side. That which they lacked was faith in God. When there was faith they dared to build, although there was a decree against it. The effect of this faith is to give rise to a decree in their favour, and that even through the intervention of their adversaries. It is good to trust in God. Blessed be His gracious name."* We thus learn the supremacy of God's authority, and that all His people need concern themselves with in their path and service is the undoubted direction of His infallible Word. If God command, it is ours to obey; and we can leave it with Him to remove, as He did for the remnant, whatever obstacles may seem to lie in the way of obedience.

*Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, vol. 2. p. 8.

The source of the power for labour should also be observed. It was not in the people, but in the Lord. It was He who stirred up the spirit of His people, and constrained them to go forward in His service, even as He had in the first instance "raised" their spirit to go up from Babylon to Jerusalem with the object of rebuilding the temple. It takes us a long time to learn that there is no power but in the Lord, that in the Lord's work human energy, will, or perseverance not only go for nothing, but are also really barriers in the way of divine strength. As indeed was said to this same remnant, "This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." (Zech. 4: 6.) Thus it is that when we are weak we are strong, because in the sense of our perfect weakness we are led to dependence on the Lord, and He can then display unhinderedly in and through us His own power. The perception of this truth puts our souls also into the right attitude for blessing; it leads our eyes upward, and keeps us waiting on the Lord in expectation.

And the place in which power comes is most instructive. It is not before but after obedience, and is connected moreover with the assurance of the Lord's presence in the midst of His people. The apprehension of this would dissipate the fallacy often entertained, and sometimes expressed, that we must wait for power in order to obedience. It is not so; but on obedience the Lord gives power; first, there must be the obedience of faith, and then power will be bestowed to walk in the divine paths. For example, when the Lord said to the man with the withered arm, "Stretch forth thy hand," he might have replied, "I have no power;" but with the spirit of obedience he hastened to comply with the command he had received, and he received strength, and was made whole. It is the same order in the account of the remnant in this scripture, and it is ever the same in the history of believers. To be in a right condition of soul is the one thing to be desired. This removes all difficulties, and makes it possible for the Lord to take us up and use us as the vessels of His will. Hence as soon as the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and did fear before the Lord, all was ready; for the Lord at once stepped in, and said, "I am with you;" and He stirred up their spirit to accomplish His purpose in building the temple.

The date, moreover, is given when they recommenced their work. It was in the four-and-twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king; i.e. twenty-three days after Haggai commenced to prophesy. (Verse 15 compared with verse 1.) Three short weeks thus sufficed for the recovery of the people from their backsliding. When God acts in power His work is soon done, and His people are made to rejoice in His restoring grace and pardoning mercy. His delight in the obedience of His people is plainly seen from the record of the date. How yearningly He watches over His saints, and how minutely He notices the first movements of response to His word!

Haggai 2: 1-5.

We have seen, at the close of chapter 1, how mightily the Lord wrought with His word upon the minds of the people, and how, thus stirred up, they responded to the message they had received through the prophet whom He had sent. Before a month had elapsed, "in the seventh month, in the one-and-twentieth day of the month," He again addressed Himself to the hearts of His servants for their sustenance and encouragement. The subject of this message, like the preceding ones, is still the house of the Lord at Jerusalem.

And what, let us enquire, before we enter upon it, was the occasion of this further prophecy? It was undoubtedly the thoughts of some of His people while occupied with their work. This may be gathered from the opening words: "Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?" (vv. 2, 3.) There were some then among the remnant who had seen the temple of Solomon in all its magnificence and splendour, and who, as they contrasted it with the building on which they were now engaged, were sadly despondent if not disheartened. We read of them in the book of Ezra. After describing the joy of the people, when the foundations of the temple were laid, he says, "But many of the chief priests and Levites, and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, and many shouted aloud for joy; so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a great shout, and the noise was heard afar off." (Ezra 3: 12, 13.)

And this sorrow of the ancient men was perfectly natural; for to the outward eye, the contrast present to their minds was humbling in the extreme. The first temple was built amid the glories of Solomon's reign — the king who was the type of the Prince of peace, and one who used all the resources of his mighty empire and of his tributary peoples to erect an house to be the dwelling-place of Jehovah in the midst of His people; for, as David said, "The house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries." (1 Chr. 22: 5.) But the house was now being raised by a few feeble captives, dependent upon a Gentile king for the very materials they were using, surrounded by hostile tribes, and, beyond all this, without any of the visible signs of the Lord's presence — no Shechinah, and no fire to come down from heaven to consume the sacrifices they laid upon the altar. (See 2 Chr. 7: 1-4.) More even than this, for the very things that forced their sad condition upon their minds would but call to remembrance that the loss of the first temple, and their present abject state, were but the consequences of their own sins and transgressions. While therefore not insensible to the Lord's present mercy and goodness, it was not surprising that sorrow should fill their hearts when they were thus reminded of the past glory of their nation, at a time too when they walked in the sunlight and joy of Jehovah's countenance. As another has said, "Alas! we understand this. He who now thinks of what the assembly of God was at the first will understand the tears of these old men."

The point however to which we desire to call attention is, that the Lord read these thoughts of His people, and sent a message of comfort and consolation. It is well for us to understand this; that even the feelings of the saints — feelings engendered in connection with the Lord's ways or service — are regarded by Him with tender concern. How many instances of this might be gleaned from the Scriptures. David says, "Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?" Again, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul." Also, "Thou understandest my thoughts afar off." And it was because the Lord Jesus entered into the feelings of His disciples that He said, "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." How different would be our daily lives, if we were in the realization and power of this simple truth!

But let us now see how Jehovah comforts the hearts of His people before us. He says, "Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the Lord, and work: for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts: according to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not."  -  (vv. 4, 5.) It will be perceived that the Lord addresses all the people — the people as well as their leaders. All are before His mind. We too often deal in generalities. Not so Jehovah; the humblest of His servants does not escape His notice, and if therefore He would encourage His people, He cares for the small as well as the great. He recognises the distinction which He Himself has made, and therefore specifies the governor and the priest; but He is equally concerned for the people under their charge and direction. If, on the one hand, His heart is so large as to embrace the multitude of His saints; He, on the other hand, individualizes every one, that all alike may feel that they are the objects of His mind and heart.

And what is the exhortation He sends? It is, "Be strong;" and the source of their strength is the knowledge of the fact that He is with them. It is so everywhere in the Scriptures. Take two examples: "Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, thy exceeding great reward." (Genesis 15: 1.) Again, "Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest" (Joshua 1: 9.) It was on this account, when the Lord commissioned the twelve to go and teach all nations, etc., that He added, "And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age." (Matt. 28) It is indeed impossible but that the assurance of the Lord's presence should inspire His people with fortitude and courage. If He is with us, resting confidently in what He is for us, we measure our foes and difficulties, not by what we are, or by our own resources, but by what He is in all His own omnipotence. Then we can boldly say with one of old, "They that are with us be more than they that be with them;" or with the apostle, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" It was in this way the Lord would strengthen His poor feeble people in all the poverty of their circumstances; He would attract their eyes to Himself, that they might labour in faith, fearing no foe because their God, who was with them, had thrown around them His impenetrable shield. He reminds them, moreover, of His faithfulness to His covenant which He made with them, when He redeemed them out of Egypt, according to which His Spirit remained among them. (See Isaiah 18: 11-14.) Hence He adds, "Fear ye not." Jehovah Himself in their midst, and His Spirit remaining among them, they might well take up the language of the Psalmist: "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

There are few, we apprehend, who will fail to see in this double assurance a remarkable foreshadowing of the blessings of God's people in this dispensation. "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst." "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever." There is indeed a striking correspondence between the position of this poor remnant, and that of believers who are now gathered to the name of Christ. All was in ruin then, for governmental power had been transferred to the Gentile, because of the sin of Israel and Judah; and those who returned from Babylon, in the mercy of their God, were but a feeble few, and were, as we have seen, without a single external sign of the presence of their God. The fact of His being with them, the acceptance of their sacrifices, the influences of His Spirit, were only known by faith. So now the Church has lost its first estate, and God's people are scattered in disunion and disorder throughout the world. But in these last days a remnant has been gathered out from spiritual Babylon, and as was the house of their God to these Jewish captives, so the name of the Lord Jesus is to them their only centre. Gathered to that ineffable name  - expressive of all the truth of His person, work, and authority — on the ground of the Church, as defined by the Scriptures, they have likewise the assurance of these two things — the Lord's presence, and the abiding of the Holy Ghost. That is all; but we may reverently add, What an "all!" for everything is comprised in the term — the source of all blessing, and the source of all power. If, therefore, Jehovah sent this message at that time to His people, "Be strong; fear ye not;" no less certainly would He address to us the same words. It is true that "a little strength" may now characterize the most faithful of the remnant, that they may have in themselves the most overwhelming sense of their own feebleness (and it is right that it should be so); but if they enter, even in the smallest measure, into the power of these blessed truths — that the Lord is with them, and that His Spirit abides — they will be strong and fearless in the face of the most determined efforts of the enemy, because they will have learned that the Lord's strength is made perfect in weakness, and that greater is He that is in them than he that is in the world. But it is our failure that we are more occupied with our feebleness, with our circumstances, and with the activities of the adversary, than with the Lord's presence and the power of His Spirit. May the Lord Himself draw us away, both from ourselves and our surroundings, and engage our thoughts with these blessed assurances of His own word; that He may thus be enabled to use us more in testimony to His glory, His grace, His power and claims.

Haggai 2: 6-9.

The Lord directs their thoughts, in the next place, to the future glory of His house. After having ministered to their present spiritual needs by encouraging their souls, He proceeds: "For thus saith the Lord of hosts, Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house" (rather, the latter glory of this house) "shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts." (vv. 6-9.)

This important prophecy requires a careful examination; and as a preliminary, it is necessary to understand two of the terms found in it. The first is, "The glory of this latter house." Now, comparing the words with verse 3, it becomes clear that it should be read as we have given it above — the latter glory of this house. It is doubtless the fact, that the temple during the days of our Lord on the earth was not that which was built by the remnant; and it is also certain, that the one which the Lord will visit, in the time of His kingdom, will be another; but still we gather from the Word, that God does not regard them as so many different houses. It is the same house to His eye, and hence He asks in verse 3 of this chapter, "Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory?" The temple therefore is one, whatever the changes it underwent, and notwithstanding the fact that it was, and should be, destroyed and rebuilt. The second term referred to is, "The desire of all nations." This phrase has given rise to great divergence, both in translation and interpretation. It can scarcely be doubted, however, by any one who enters into the scope and spirit of the passage in which it occurs, that it has been rightly applied to the Messiah. Concerning the word itself, we give the remarks of another. "The expression which I have rendered by 'the object of desire shall come' is very difficult to translate. It appears to me that, looking at the context, I have given the sense, and that the Spirit of God designedly expressed Himself in vague terms, which, when the mind apprehended the true glory of the house, would embrace the Messiah."*

*We add a note by the same writer. "Diodati's Italian version, which is considered very accurate, agrees with the English. De Wette renders it, 'The precious things;' but it is not what is very generally used for mere costly things, though the same root. This is Chemdath, that Chamudoth. The difficulty is that [the term 'shall come' is in the plural . . . . The Italian has la scelta verrà, the chosen object (the choice one) of the nations shall come." We fully endorse these observations, and have therefore no hesitation in regarding this as a distinct Messianic prophecy. This will be more clearly seen in our interpretation.

The first thing announced then, is that in a little while the Lord would shake all things, as preparatory to the coming of the Desire of all nations. The heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land, as well as all nations, should be shaken. Compare verses 21-23. The same thing is found in almost all the prophetic writings, both in the Old and New Testaments. One passage may be cited from Matthew: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." (Matt. 24: 29, 30; see also Isa. 2, 24; Joel 2, 3; Zeph. 3; Zech. 14; Rev. 6 etc.) The time referred to is not that of the first advent of our blessed Lord, for the apostle, in writing to the Hebrews, gives the passage a future application (Heb. 12: 26, 27), and this future period will be that immediately preceding the appearing of Christ, when He comes with His saints to establish His kingdom on the earth. What a prospect! And what a contrast to the thoughts of man! He labours to secure permanence and stability, and dreams as he labours of a time of peace and prosperity — but without God. The unrest of evil men, revolutionary thoughts and schemes, the fall of thrones, these are all looked upon as an interference with human order and social laws. And they are; but no efforts of man will succeed in producing tranquillity; no laws, however beneficent their object; no reforms, however desirable, will secure the happiness of the nations; for God hath spoken, "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is." — Hence disorder and confusion will increase; iniquity will manifest itself in ever more startling forms; governmental authority will be more and more defied; until at length the incarnation of opposition to God and His Christ will appear in the man of sin, and then God Himself will intervene in judgment, according to these words of the prophet, and by the thunder of His power He will arise and "shake terribly the earth." Happy is it for those who have a present portion with Christ, and who will be kept from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Rev. 3.)

Such then is the future in store for the poor godless world. Judged in the cross of Christ, convicted already by the Holy Ghost of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16), its sentence, now delayed in the long-suffering grace of God, who is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, will at length be executed; and who can stand in His sight when once He is angry? The nature of the strokes wherewith He will shake all things may be gleaned from the prophets, and especially from the book of Revelation. (Rev. 4 - 20.) In view of what is to come, would that men everywhere would listen to the offers of grace and mercy that are everywhere being made known through the gospel; for now is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation.

All these judgments are preparatory to the coming of Christ. "And I will shake all nations, and the Desire of all nations shall come." Adopting the interpretation given above, it may be asked by some, In what sense can Christ be thus named? It is not to be supposed for one moment that He is the object of their conscious desires. This could not be, for the carnal mind is ever enmity with God, and the nations will eventually accept the leadership of the Antichrist, who will deny both the Father and the Son. This is quite true; and yet, on the other hand, Christ, the true King, is what the nations need. In all their passionate longings and outcries for peace, righteousness in government, justice between man and man, in their groanings under poverty, tyranny and oppression, who, we ask, could meet their desires but the One who shall judge His people with righteousness, and His poor with judgment. Yea, let the nations read this Psalm (72nd), and especially Ps. 72: 12-14, and then let them say whether they have not here the answer to all their wants. And if we look deeper into the needs of the human heart, the inexpressible desires that often find an outlet thence in tears and groans, the unspeakable longings begotten by a sense of disquiet, unhappiness, and unrest, we may see at once the appropriateness of the term which the Holy Spirit employs. Spite of what the nations are, and will be, Christ, Christ as the coming King, though they neither own nor know Him, is their desire, because He alone can govern the world on the foundation of justice and judgment, and cause the whole earth to be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

The effect of His coming here is given in the words, "And I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts." This certifies us, as indeed may be learned from other Scriptures, that the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem; and Ezekiel even gives its divine plan and measurements. It is this house which will yet be rebuilt, identified in the thoughts of God with that built by the remnant from Babylon, that will be filled with glory. God has always filled HIS house with glory. He did the tabernacle erected in the wilderness (Ex. 40), the temple in the kingdom (2 Chr. 5: 14), the church at Pentecost (Acts 2); and the last house to be raised on earth will be no exception. But what constitutes the "glory"? It is the Lord's own presence — the sign of which was the cloud, both in the. tabernacle and Solomon's temple; but in the temple of the returned captives, as in the assembly of the saints gathered to the name of Christ, this presence, this glory, is only to be apprehended by faith. For the glory of the Lord is the display, whether outwardly or to the vision of faith, of what He is, of the sum and excellency of all His attributes; and He thus fills His house with the manifestation of all the perfections of His own spiritual being. Ezekiel actually beheld in prophetic vision the return of the Lord to the house of which Haggai speaks, and which he himself describes. He says, "And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and his voice was like a noise of many waters; and the earth shined with His glory  And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east . . . . And, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house." (Ezekiel 43: 2-5.) Thus the Lord will take possession of the house, and dwell in it, in a more surpassingly excellent way than He did either in the tabernacle or the temple. Taking up, therefore, the comparatively mean building His poor people were at that time engaged upon, He comforts their hearts by unveiling before their eyes the transcendent glory and blessing that would be yet associated with it through the Lord coming suddenly to His temple.

Two things are added. The assertion that the Lord of hosts is the owner of the silver and the gold — all belonging rightfully to Him; and then — after reminding His people that the latter glory of the house should exceed the former, because, as we have seen, the Lord Himself will personally take possession of it — the promise, "In this place I will give peace, saith the Lord of hosts." The explanation of the first statement may perhaps be found in the language of Isaiah — "The forces" (margin, wealth) "of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." Again, "All they of Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense," etc. And once more, "Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He hath glorified thee." (Isa. 60: 5-9. See also Rev. 21: 26.) Yea, just as when Christ was born into the world, wise men from the east came and laid their costly gifts at His feet, so will the Gentiles in a future day come and offer of their treasures to the Lord in His temple at Jerusalem. Christ, the desire of all nations, will be the object of their homage, and they will delight to present their desirable things for the adornment and service of His house, as well as for the glory of His name; and thereby they will confess that the silver and the gold are His.

Then there is also the blessed promise of peace. For indeed it will be in the virtue of accomplished atonement, of His death for the nation (John 11), that the Lord will come back to His people; and inasmuch as through His grace they will, according to His appointment, have afflicted their souls (see Lev. 16, Zech. 12), He will righteously bring them into the enjoyment of all the efficacy of His death, and cause their peace to flow like a river. He will speak peace to all His seed; for "thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." (Zech. 6: 12, 13.)

This prophecy, we may say in conclusion, is a beautiful illustration of the tender ways of the Lord. Viewing the desponding thoughts of His people, when engaged in His work, He steps in and unfolds before their eyes the certainty of the coming glory, and of their full millennial blessing. To live in God's thoughts, and in the assurance of the certainty of the accomplishment of all His purposes at the coming of Christ, is a sure antidote to all feebleness or fear.

Haggai 2: 10-19.

Christian Friend, vol. 12, 1885, p. 15.

The message contained in this section is addressed to the priests, and connects itself historically, as may be seen from verse 18, with Ezra 3: 8-13. Its object was to teach the nature of true separation unto God, and that His blessing was connected with its maintenance — a principle which obtains throughout all dispensations, because it is grounded upon the holiness of God Himself. (See Leviticus 11: 44, 45, and 1 Peter 1: 16.) In Malachi we read that "the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts" (Mal. 2: 7); and it is on this account that Haggai was sent "in the four and twentieth day of the ninth month," two months since his last message, to ask the priests these questions concerning the law.

"If one," said the prophet, "bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.

Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean."

Before entering upon the application of these truths, which the Lord Himself made, through His servant the prophet, it will be good for us to consider their importance. No priest, instructed in the law, could have answered in any other way. Read, for example, the directions for the Nazarite (Num. 6); and the ceremonial directions, found everywhere in Leviticus, concerning cleansing and defilement — all of which contain principles of the deepest significance for believers in every age, for ourselves now, even though we rejoice in the truth that Christ by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

The meaning then of the answers, given by the priests to Haggai (answers which, it should be observed, are grounded on the sure word of God), is, first, that a holy thing has no power to sanctify; and, secondly, that uncleanness must defile everything it comes into contact with. Let us look a little at these two things. It is necessary, first of all, to be clear as to what is meant by a holy thing. It is that which is set apart for the service of God; and thus "holy flesh" might be, for example, a part of an animal which had been devoted to God in sacrifice. (See Leviticus 7: 28-36, etc.) It was not therefore that which is intrinsically and absolutely holy from its very nature. God is thus holy, and such holiness is necessarily exclusive of evil, even as light is exclusive of darkness; but a holy thing in Scripture is that which is consecrated, set apart for God. Israel as a nation was holy in this sense, because they had been taken out from all the other peoples of the earth, and separated unto God; and in like manner every thing they themselves, under divine direction, devoted to God's service was holy. But whatever was holy in this way had no power, as we learn from our passage, to sanctify other things. Well had it been for the church, as also for individual believers, if this lesson had been laid to heart, for the attempt has been made in every age to accomplish that which the Jewish priests declared to be impossible. For example, the prophet Isaiah says that they must be clean that bear the vessels of the Lord; but how has Christendom carried out the spirit of this requirement? By ordination and consecration, as if the recitation of solemn words, and a human touch, even though it were from a holy hand, could sanctify to the Lord's service, or a "holy" office make the holders thereof holy. The same remark applies to the "sacred" things and places that abound on every hand, all of which are made "sacred" by one bearing, as it were, "holy flesh in the skirt of his garment," and by "touching" claiming to impart holiness to them. All this is but a parody upon that which is really and divinely sanctified; and whenever the church seeks to appropriate the things of the world by her "holy" contact for her own use and advantage, she does but betray her ignorance of her true place and character, and become defiled by the very things she has sought to sanctify. It is on this very account that her "holy" orders of men and things and places are but the evidences of her own corruption.

The second principle does but affirm the above conclusion. Uncleanness must defile, but what is the uncleanness spoken of? It is of one who had been clean, but who has been rendered unclean by a dead body. Now death is the fruit of sin, and this therefore is the source of the defilement. (See Num. 6: 19.) It is not then, applying the truth to ourselves, the uncleanness of a sinner before God, but that of a believer who has become defiled by evil associations; and the solemn lesson concerning such a one is, that, like pitch, he pollutes everything he touches. What a responsibility then rests upon us individually in our fellowship with the saints of God! Have we become defiled through unwatchfulness, through contact with a "dead body"? and do we mingle with the saints, as if all were well with our souls? Ah! how little do we remember the effect of our state one upon another. Again, Do any plead that believers, whatever their associations, should be welcomed into the holy fellowship of the saints, in their breaking of bread and prayers? Let them read and ponder the truth of this scripture, and then let them confess that nothing that defiles, if it be known, can be associated with the holy name of Christ. As with individual believers, so with assemblies, the responsibility is to be holy because God is holy.

The prophet, having received his answers from the priests, applies the truth to their own condition. He answered and said, "So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean." The significance of this solemn statement is evident. Israel — for the restored remnant occupied the place of the nation before God — were a holy people, separated unto God. But this entailed upon them the responsibility of walking according to the place they were in by God's sovereign grace; to be for Him to whom they were separated. What, however, do we find? At this moment God's mind was on the building of His house; their minds were on their own houses. (Haggai 1.) They therefore, out of communion with Him who had called them, were for themselves, and not for Jehovah; occupied with their own, and not with His things. They had thus become practically defiled; they had lost, so to speak, their Nazariteship, by becoming unclean through contact with the dead body of their own selfish thoughts and desires. And what was the consequence? The work of their hands was defiled, and so also were the sacrifices which they laid upon Jehovah's altar. Themselves unclean, they polluted everything they touched; and nothing they did, whether in their daily occupations, or in their professed worship, was acceptable to God. And what a lesson for ourselves in this day is thereby taught! We may never be so diligent in activity, or in the assembling ourselves together with the saints; but if we are not right with God, if we are not maintaining our separation, if we have ceased to judge ourselves, and to confess our sins, both our work and our worship are defiled. We have this same lesson taught in the epistle to the Hebrews. After having pointed out that it is the privilege of the believer to have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, the apostle proceeds, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." (Heb. 10: 19-22.) Having the way open into the holiest, and every qualification for entering into it, we may yet not be able to avail ourselves of this unspeakable privilege because of our practical condition. The want of a true heart, a heart that has no reserves before God, that has been fully exposed in the light of His presence in self-judgment, may prove, and will prove, an effectual barrier before the new and living way which Christ has initiated for us through the veil. And should we, in forgetfulness of our practical state, seek to appear before God, like Israel, we shall only in like manner as they defile our offering. (See also 1 Cor. 9: 27-29, 1 John 3: 19-22.)

But through grace the word of God, as before delivered by the prophet, had already reached their consciences, roused them from their indifference and neglect, and, producing in them a sense of their failure, had brought them back to Jehovah. From that moment His things, His house, occupied their minds, and, animated by the encouragement ministered to them through the Lord's tenderness, they proceeded to lay the foundation of His temple. And the object of the Lord in this new message to His people was to call their attention to the change of His attitude towards them since they had become obedient to His word. Thus from verse 15 to 17 we have a description of His dealings with them while neglecting His house. God could not, consistently with His holiness and with His love to His people, bless them when their hearts were turned back from Him, when they were using His grace, in their restoration from captivity, as a means to their own ease and comfort. He therefore dealt with them in judgment, chastising them, to awake them out of their spiritual torpor, and to teach them the lesson which God's people ever need, that their true blessing and prosperity could only be found in the Lord's ways, and not in their own. This explains the words of the prophet "And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward" (i.e. looking back upon the past, the word "upward" being used in the sense of taking a retrospect), "from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord" (when the people said, "The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built") "since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the press-fat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty. I smote you with blasting, and with mildew, and with hail, in all the labours of your hands; and ye turned not to me, saith the Lord." (vv. 15-17.)

Such was the past condition of the people, and so hardened were they, that they were insensible to the chastisements of the Lord — they turned not to Him. But at length, as we have seen, the Lord's object (as must ever be the case) was attained, and He stirred up the spirit of all, from the highest to the lowest, "and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God." (Haggai 1: 14.) It is in reference to this, their spiritual restoration, in fact, that the prophet proceeds with his message

"Consider now from this day and upward" (the word "upward" here being used in the sense of forward), "from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig-tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you." (vv. 18, 19.)

From a comparison of Haggai 1: 13-15 with this scripture, it will be perceived that it was exactly three months from the time when the people commenced to work on the Lord's house, that the foundation was laid. This time would be spent in the necessary preparation; and it is striking to observe that the Lord did not begin to bless them until the foundation was laid. He waited during those three months to test His people's hearts, the reality of their restoration, to work in them a sense of their past condition, and thus to prepare them to receive the blessing which He was about to bestow. It is always so in His ways with His people. His heart towards them never changes, but the manifestation of His heart must depend upon their condition. His heart is always to bless, and if He withhold blessing, it is only because of their spiritual state. And then, when by His grace there is true self-judgment and confession, there is yet oftentimes much work to be done — as in the case of Peter, for example — much searching of heart to be undergone, before He can make them enjoy again the sense of His restoring grace and love. So in our passage. The people had laboured for three months in obedience to Jehovah's word, and now when they, at the end of this period (a period doubtless of much reflection and self-examination), had reached that which was nearest to the Lord's heart, the foundation of His temple, He proclaims that from that time He would bless them; for now they were walking according to the place in which they had been set. Separated as they bad been to God, a holy people, they were now for Him — for Him who had called them. They had therefore lost their uncleanness, their Nazariteship was restored, and thus the work of their hands and their offering were no longer rendered unclean (v. 14); and God's heart was free to go out towards them in abundant blessing.

It is ever so in all dispensations. The blessings here promised to Israel were temporal, in accordance with the economy under which they were; but the principle of blessing, as we have often shown, is the same for believers now. Whenever God's people are walking in subjection of heart to His word, in communion with His own mind, they are in the sure and certain path of blessing and soul-prosperity. And nothing short of this satisfies God's desires for His own. He has in His grace brought us into fellowship with Himself and with His Son Jesus Christ, and it is our blessed privilege to enter upon the enjoyment and realization of this unspeakable blessing. But to do so will involve, as it did in their measure with the remnant, the losing sight of ourselves and our things, that we may be absorbed in God's thoughts, aims, purposes, and desires. But if we examine ourselves, or if we test the various activities and the manifold ministrations of the truth of this day, we shall have to confess how little any of us know what it is to rise to the full height of our calling. But in doing so lies the secret both of strength and blessing — to live in the power of the Spirit even now in a region where man disappears, and God is all in all, where it is our joy to be occupied with His things, and where we want nothing because we are satisfied to the full in the circle of unbounded grace into which we have been introduced, and in which God has condescended to associate us with His own purposes, as well as to link us with the glory of His beloved Son.

And we may add, in conclusion, that whenever the heart of a believer responds through grace to God's call to walk thus with Him, this word, "From this day I will bless you," will be found as true as when spoken to Israel by the prophet. E. D.

Haggai 2: 20-23.

Christian Friend, vol. 12, 1885, p. 42.

This concluding prophecy, or the message of the Lord through Haggai to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, was received on the same day — the four and twentieth day of the month — as the one immediately preceding. And there is an intimate connection between the two a connection as evident as it is beautiful. The last words of the former were, "From this day will I bless you." Now the blessing of the remnant in the land became at once prophetic of the restoration and blessing of Israel in the kingdom; but this involves two things, as revealed everywhere in the prophetic scriptures, viz., the manifestation of the Messiah, and the judgment of the nations; and it is these two things which are found in this brief prophecy.

The first in order, however, as mentioned here, is the judgment of the nations. The period referred to is exactly defined in a previous prophecy (vv. 6-9); but here we have, in addition to shaking the heavens and the earth, the overthrow of the throne of the kingdoms, etc. Concerning this, the question is sometimes raised whether this is the destruction of the beast and the false prophet (see Rev. 19: 19-21), or only of the nations that gather themselves together against Jerusalem. On this another has said, "The judgment mentioned in verse 22 appears to me not the judgment of the head of the beast . . . . All that sets itself up against the rights of Jehovah, established according to His counsels at Jerusalem (rights that were identified with the house they were building), should be utterly overthrown. No doubt this is true, in general, of the kingdom of the beast; but the conditions of its existence are quite different. God had put Jerusalem under the power of the head of this empire. The crimes that draw down judgment on him are yet more audacious and intolerable than those of which the nations are guilty." We concur in this opinion. (Compare Zech. 12 and 14; see also Isa. 24, 25, 29, etc.) For the present the throne of the earth is in the hands of the Gentiles, a throne which they have corrupted and used for their own evil purposes, a throne which has surely become one of godless tyranny and oppression — one that exalts man and shuts out God. Its true nature has already been declared in the crucifixion of Christ; for the kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ. "For of a truth," as the apostles said before God, "against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together."

And yet again the heathen will rage and the people imagine a vain thing, and in their rage against the people of God will assemble themselves against Jerusalem. But when thus gathered in all the might of their strength, it is only to meet the outpouring of the wrathful indignation of God, who at length executes judgment upon the earth, preparatory to the establishment of the throne of Him who shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the rivers unto the ends of the earth. The princes of this world reck not of the coming storm which is so surely and so rapidly approaching; and, in the meanwhile, they delude themselves with their "progressive ideas," and dream of a millennium without God and without His Christ. But this word has proceeded from the mouth of God, and cannot be recalled, "I will shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down every one by the sword of his brother."

But there is a star of hope rising up out of this night of judgment in the promise to Zerubbabel. "In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts." (v. 23.) We have seen that this prophecy refers to the judgment of the nations on the eve, or rather on the morning, of the thousand years. In what sense then does the prophet speak of Zerubbabel in that day? It will be observed that he alone is addressed in this message, and that he is spoken to in his official capacity as the governor of Judah. Now it is in this aspect that he becomes a type of the Messiah; for, as Jacob prophesied, "the sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be;" and as Micah spake, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel." (Micah 5: 2.) It is God's Christ who is thus spoken of in Haggai — the One who is both the root and the offspring of David, and who, in relation to Israel, will then sit upon the throne of His father David; "and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke 1: 32, 33.) He it is who will in that day be displayed by God as a signet, and as His chosen vessel for the blessing of His people. Thus Isaiah cries, in the name of the Lord, "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles." (Isaiah 42: 1.) These three things, as already stated, are ever connected in the Scriptures — the appearing of the Messiah in glory, judgment of the nations, and the establishment of the kingdom in power and blessing.

And the certainty of the divine word is assured by a threefold affirmation. Three times in one short verse we find "saith the Lord," or "saith the Lord of hosts." In condescension to the weakness of His people, Jehovah thus lays an immovable foundation for their faith. To Abraham were given "the two immutable things" (the oath and the promise) "in which it was impossible for God to lie, that we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us" (Heb. 6); but to Zerubbabel, and to the remnant through him, Jehovah gave this triple assertion of the unchangeable verity of His word. Though, therefore, the promise still waits, the time is not far distant when He who has made it will accomplish it to the joy and blessing of His longing elect remnant of Israel.

Before closing our remarks upon this book of Scripture, two observations may be made. The first is, that we learn from it the true function of the prophet. (See Haggai 1: 12-15; and Ezra 5: 1, 2.) The prophet was not himself a builder, but his words were used to stir up and to encourage the people to build. This is, we apprehend, the meaning of the statement in Ezra, "And with them the prophets of God helping them." The Lord thus calls one of His servants to one kind of work, and one to another; and it is their wisdom to do and to keep to the work which He gives them. How much confusion would have been spared in the church of God had this truth been remembered! For what has happened? Prophets have turned builders, and builders prophets; teachers have sought to become evangelists, and more generally evangelists have taken to teaching; while pastors have left the care of the sheep for another kind of work to which they were never called; and as a consequence the sovereign grace of the Head of the Church in the bestowment of gifts has been slighted, and the distinctness of gift has been overlooked. And it is still an evil of no ordinary magnitude — an evil, it may be, the result in measure of the ruined state of things in which we are found; but one for which there is no justification with those who are instructed in the Word, and who are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The exhortation of Peter needs to be pressed anew upon our hearts and consciences. "As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God" (1 Peter 4: 10); and also that of Paul, "Having then gifts differing according to the grace given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry (service), let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation." (Rom. 12: 6-8.)

The second observation is, that the whole of the recorded service of Haggai is comprised in the short period of three months and twenty-four days. He might have been a devoted servant for years — of this we know nothing; but his work which stands out for special remembrance is that found in this book. And how simple it was; and in Haggai's eyes it might have appeared very insignificant. It consisted of a few short messages — all of which might be delivered in a few minutes! But it is this simple service which God selected to stand out in the light for the instruction of His people in all future ages. Surely it is not the quantity, but the quality of work; and not success, but fidelity, which commends the servant to the Lord. May it be therefore our one desire, in this busy age, to be acceptable to the Lord. E. D.

Zechariah the Prophet

Zechariah the Prophet

E. Dennett.

Preface

The following pages contain a simple exposition of the prophet Zechariah; and the writer cannot but hope that the reader will be drawn to the study of this book with increasing interest by what he has written. From much observation he has been forced to the conclusion that the prophetic books are losing their hold on the young believers, if not upon those who are older, of the present day. It is not forgotten that the portion of the heavenly saints, and the hope of the Church, are found in the New Testament; but, while this is true, it is of exceeding moment that the believer should be interested in all that concerns the purposes of God, and the glory of His Christ here upon the earth. Without this the heart is apt to become narrowed and contracted, and the zest is wanting for the intelligent perusal of the Old Testament Scriptures. Besides, there is a special interest attaching to the sacred writings in connection with the restored remnant of the post-captivity period, inasmuch as they so often depict morally the position of saints now while waiting for the return of their Lord. For these reasons the writer most earnestly commends to his readers this portion of the word of God, in the full assurance that both increased intelligence and blessing will be the result of its prayerful study.

Another has said, and the statement is fully endorsed, that his writings express the process of arriving at the truth. This is surely the case; for what with the additional light and understanding given in the course of writing, the feeling is often begotten at the conclusion, that the work should be recommenced. The consolation is that the Lord Himself is the Teacher; and the writer's prayer is that this may be abundantly verified by his readers.

E. D. London, 1888.

Introduction

In the book of Ezra we have the general statement that "Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo,* prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel." (Ezra 5: 1) Zechariah, however, did not commence his ministry (as far as has been recorded) until two months after the first prophecy of Haggai, though the first prophecy of Zechariah was at least a month before the last two of Haggai. They were therefore contemporaneous, and both alike laboured for the encouragement of the children of the captivity in building the temple. (See Ezra 5: 2) But Zechariah takes, under the guidance of the Spirit, a far wider range of vision than Haggai. The latter deals mainly with the moral state of the people in relation to the purpose for which they had returned from Babylon; viz., to build the Lord's house, while, for their encouragement, he unfolds the glories of the future when the kingdom should be established. Zechariah includes in his prophetic vision the Gentile kingdoms to whom the Jews were in subjection, the establishment of the Messiah as a Priest on His throne, who should build the temple of the Lord, and "bear the glory." (Zech. 6: 13) He also deals with the rejection of the Messiah and its consequences, together with the final siege of Jerusalem by the nations, and its deliverance by the sudden appearance of the Lord Himself. Thereon the remnant, as he points out, are humbled to contrition as they look on Him whom they had pierced; and their enemies are destroyed. Moreover, the prophet exhibits Jehovah as king over all the earth, and all nations ascending yearly to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. Finally, he depicts holiness to the Lord as marking every detail of the daily life of the people in Jerusalem and Judah. These several points, with their important links and developments, will come before us in our examination of the book. The book divides itself into two parts: Zechariah 1-6, which contain, after the first six verses, a series of prophetic visions vouchsafed to Zechariah; and Zechariah 7-14, which comprise the messages he received for the instruction and encouragement of the people. The first part may be therefore termed apocalyptic, while the second partakes of the ordinary prophetic character.

*Zechariah, as is stated in the first verse of his prophecy, was the son of Berechiah. Iddo was his grandfather, and inasmuch as Zechariah succeeded Iddo in the priestly office, Berechiah must have died during the youth of his son. Zechariah thus united in himself the offices of prophet and priest.

Zechariah 1.

This short message from Jehovah to the people, which is found in the first six verses, is the introduction to the whole book. In verse 1, the date with the genealogy of the prophet is given; and the reader will note the significant fact that, as in Haggai so here, the date is indicative of the times of the Gentiles. It was "in the eighth month, in the second year of Darius." Through the failure of the kingdom in man's hand, God had transferred His earthly throne from Jerusalem to Babylon, and to its successors. At this time, Babylon having fallen, Darius was the head of the Gentile monarchy, and hence the introduction of his name.

The commencement of this "word of the Lord" is abrupt and solemn; and it is designed to recall to the minds of the people Jehovah's past ways with their fathers, both as a warning and a ground of appeal. "The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers." (v. 2.) Did not the people know it? Was not their present mean condition, in contrast with the glory and prosperity of the past, an evidence of it? The fact that God's chosen people should have been carried away captive, and that they were only now permitted to return by the will of a Gentile monarch, was surely enough to awaken sad reflections as to the cause of their humiliation and sorrow. But it is easy, as we all know, to become habituated to our circumstances, and to ignore the Lord's hand in them, and thus to blame anything and everything, rather than ourselves. It is on this account that the prophet goes down to the root of things, and reminds them of their fathers' sin and the Lord's consequent displeasure.

The next verse contains a principle of the utmost importance. "Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts." (v. 3.) "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (Rom. 11: 29); and thus He never gives up the purposes of His grace whatever the practical condition of His people. Their sin may bring down His chastening hand upon them, but He does not break off His relationship with them on this account. As He Himself hath said, "I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." (Mal. 3: 6.) The unchanging character of His relationships in grace with His people lies, indeed, at the basis of all His dealings with them; and hence, because He is a faithful God, He can send such a message as this before us — "Turn ye unto me, and I will turn unto you." Being what He is, He could not sanction their transgressions and iniquities, and He thus reminds them that the condition of His presence with them, of His actings on their behalf, is that they turn unto Him. As James says, "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you." (James 4: 8; compare 2 Chronicles 15: 2.) It is so now. The Lord can say that He will never leave nor forsake His people, that having loved His own that are in the world, He loves them unto the end, but, at the same time, He will never walk with them, or minister to them the consolations of His presence, in their backslidings and sins. The maintenance of dependence and obedience, of communion with Him, is the secret of all blessing. (Compare John 14: 21-23.) The reader will remark the solemn sanctions appended to this exhortation. Three times are the words "The Lord of hosts" repeated, seeking in this way to reach the consciences of the people, and to remind them of the power and majesty of their covenant God.

The exhortation is based further upon the sad example of their fathers. The former prophets had cried unto them, in the name of the Lord of hosts, "Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord." (v. 4.) And what was the consequence? Have any of the Lord's people found the path of disobedience to be a path of safety or blessing? No; that were impossible; and Zechariah recalls the fact to the people's mind that, while their fathers and the prophets who had spoken to them the word of the Lord had passed off the scene, the word of God had not failed. "But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of [margin, overtake] your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us." (v. 6.) We thus learn that the word of God never returns to Him void, that it must accomplish that which He pleases; heaven and earth may pass away, but His word will never perish; it will infallibly execute the mission on which it is sent. Woe therefore to him who neglects it, who walks according to his own will instead of by the light which it affords; for sooner or later he will have to confess, as these fathers did, that the word was sure, and that, if its warnings were despised, its threatenings would surely be accomplished. (Compare Joshua 23: 14-19.)

Such are the foundation principles with which Zechariah commences his prophetic mission; first, the condition of all blessing (v. 3); second, the evils of disobedience (v. 4); thirdly, the immutable character of the word of God, as unchangeable in its warnings as in its promises; and lastly, that God ever deals with His people, in His government, according to their ways and doings. And these principles are confined to no period, but obtain in and run through all dispensations, because they flow out from what God is in Himself in His unchanging and unchangeable character and nature.

More than three months elapsed, as will be seen from a comparison of the dates in verses 1 and 7, before the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah. His work was simple — to speak when He was commanded, and to be silent when he was without a divine message. Even the Lord Himself, coming to do the Father's will, took the same subject place; as He said, "I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak." (John 12: 49; see also John 14: 10) But since the Holy Ghost came, the direction, as for example, to Timothy, is "Preach the word; be instant in season, and out of season." (2 Tim. 4: 2.) In all alike such a responsibility could only be met by the maintenance of a dependent spirit, and an opened ear. (See Isaiah 1. 4.)

It was an apocalyptic vision, in this case, vouchsafed to the prophet. He says, "I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled [margin, bay], and white." It is to be observed, as will be seen from verse 11, that the man on the red horse among the myrtle trees is the angel of the Lord. Angels are often spoken of as men. (See Luke 24: 4 et passim.) Now a horse, to borrow the definition of another, is "the symbol of divine energy of government in the earth," and hence there will be, in some sort, a correspondence between the horse of the angel, and the three sets of horses standing behind him; and this fact will afford the key wherewith to unlock the mystery of the vision. As every reader of prophecy knows, when God committed the government of the earth, on removing His throne from Jerusalem, to Nebuchadnezzar, it was revealed that three kingdoms would succeed that of Babylon before the kingdom of Christ should be established. At the time of this prophetic vision Babylon had already been judged, and hence there were only these three to follow; viz., Persia, Greece, and Rome.* It is very evident, therefore, that these three empires are represented by the red, speckled, and white horses. Another feature is to be noticed. The colour of the horse on which the angel sits is the same as that of the red horses; that is, the horses which represent the Persian empire. The reason of this may be found in the fact that, at this time, the throne of Persia was favourable to the restored remnant in Judea, as is seen from Ezra 6; and we learn now that the energy of government, acting at this moment through human hands on behalf of God's people, had its source in God Himself: that it was the angel on the red horse that directed, though unseen, the movements of the red horses of Persia's throne. This indeed is characteristic of God's government of the earth all through the period during which Lo-ammi (see Hosea 1) is written upon His people. Man acts, and apparently according to his own arbitrary will, doing as he pleases, but we gather, especially from the book of Esther, that "the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will." (Prov. 21: 1) How calmly, therefore, may God's people rest, in the consciousness of this, in the midst of the busy movements and political agitations of the world!

*We add some important words of another as to the judgment of Babylon: "The destruction of Babylon had a peculiar importance: first, because it was substituted by God Himself in place of His throne at Jerusalem; secondly, because it was the only Gentile power directly set up by Him, though all power be from Him. The others replaced Babylon providentially. Hence, at the destruction of Babylon, Jerusalem is restored — however partially it shows the principle — and the power which judges Babylon is the setter up of God's people again in the holy city. Babylon — its setting up, its rule, and its destruction — involved the whole of the direct dealings of God with the Gentiles, and with His people in power. All the rest came in merely as a prolonging, by-the-bye."

The prophet enquires as to the meaning of the vision unfolded before his eyes. (v. 9.) "And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth." (v. 10) The reader may find instruction in comparing the expression in Revelation 5: "A Lamb . . . having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." (v. 6.) This fixes the interpretation of verse 10; for the Lamb "in the midst of the throne" has in this scene the government of the earth in His hands, although He has not yet taken it into possession. So here, the horses are they "whom the Lord has sent forth to walk to and fro through the earth" — the power of government, universal government, being deposited for the time in their hands. To him — to the angel of the Lord — they also give account of what they found in their mission: "We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest." (v. 11)

The meaning of this report is discovered by what follows. Jerusalem was lying desolate, and God's people were in captivity, and the nations, careless of the state of this despised people, and of the thoughts of God towards them, were at rest. Jehovah had used the Gentiles to inflict His chastisements upon His rebellious and apostate people, and had, as we have pointed out, committed the government of the earth into their hands; but, instead of holding it in responsibility to God, they exercised it for their own enrichment and aggrandisement, and for the oppression of the people over whom they had been permitted to triumph. He therefore says, "I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction." (v. 15; compare Isaiah 47: 6; Jeremiah 50. 51) Man, as ever, cannot understand the thoughts of God.

On receiving the report as to the state of the earth* "the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?" (V. 12.) What a comment upon man! Heaven was occupied with Jerusalem and Judah, while man was occupied with his own interests, and seeking only his own ease and prosperity. And what a lesson for the believer! Vain is the help of man, but he can always turn to God. As we read in the psalm (margin), "Shall I lift up mine eyes unto the hills? Whence should my help come? My help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." (Psalm 121: 1, 2.) The answer came immediately, and it was couched in "good and comfortable words." (v. 13). It is to be observed that the angel bases his plea upon the fact that the indignation had endured for seventy years — the period spoken of by Jeremiah the prophet. (Jer. 25: 11, 12; see also Daniel 9: 2.) The time therefore had come for the Lord to remember Jerusalem; and blessed is it for those who, like Daniel, have understanding of the Lord's mind, and can plead with Him, in communion with His own thoughts, on behalf of His people. But if any would enjoy this privilege they must set themselves, also like Daniel, to understand by books — the books of Scripture — what the will of the Lord is. (Cp. John 15: 7.)

*The horses "have the character of the providentially administering spirits of the empires rather than of the empires themselves;" and the reader will understand that the state of the earth, above referred to, was existent under Darius, the head of the Persian empire.

The answer of Jehovah of hosts is contained in verses 14-17. In the first place the Lord declares His unalterable love for Jerusalem. The angel thus said to the prophet, "Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy." True that He Himself had caused the beloved city to be desolated, that Nebuchadnezzar was His own rod wherewith He had chastised her; but He had dealt thus with her because of her sins, and because indeed of the place of nearness and blessing which she had enjoyed (see Isaiah 1), but now she had received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins, and He could again speak to her heart. (Isaiah 40) Thus it was that the pent-up fires of His zeal and jealousy could again break out on her behalf; the love, which the sin of His people had driven back into His heart, could once more pour itself forth in efforts for her reestablishment and prosperity. This was the one object Jehovah had at this time on the earth; and hence it was that He was sore displeased with the heathen that were at case. (v. 15.) God could not rest because of the state of Jerusalem and Zion; the heathen could be at ease, for they had profited by the sins and sorrows of God's people, and they had no desire for the restoration of a city which, in former days, had been the object of their fear and envy. They had no communion, therefore, with Jehovah's mind. He had been "but a little displeased," and they, wreaking their own revenge, had "helped forward the affliction," and had thus laid the foundation for their own judgment when Jehovah should interpose for the accomplishment of His counsels of grace concerning His people.

After bringing out the contrast in this way between His own mind and that of the heathen, and consequently between His present attitude towards Jerusalem and them, Jehovah announces His unalterable purposes for the full blessing of Jerusalem and Zion. "Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem." (vv. 16, 17.)

The full application of these magnificent promises could only be in the future when Messiah shall have returned and taken His kingdom. But they were given for the present comfort and encouragement of the poor and feeble remnant that had returned from Babylon. They might have well been despondent if occupied with their then circumstances; but man never sees as God seeth, nor thinks according to His thoughts. Jehovah therefore, reveals to this despised few all His heart, and all His counsels for their future prosperity and glory; and He thus gave them a mighty incentive to diligence and zeal, in building the house of their God; and He taught them, at the same time, that their return from Babylon, partial as it was, contained within itself the promise of the fulfilment of every word that He had spoken concerning His ancient people. Nay, more; there is a lesson in this message which God's people would do well to mark in every age. The importance of any work depends not, in anywise, upon its outward magnitude or display, but upon the thoughts of God about it. In all the earth, at this moment, there was nothing to be compared, in the eyes of God, with the work on which His people were now engaged at Jerusalem. And yet what was it to man? A poor and contemptible effort to rebuild a house for the celebration of their national rites and ceremonies! A movement of no account whatever in the busy political activities of the day — lying outside, as it did, of the sphere of the world's observation! But it was there — on that work — that the mind and heart of God were at that moment concentrated. Let this fact speak to our hearts as with a trumpet-tongue; for how often have we been tempted to love that which looms large in the eyes of the world, which commands the world's attention, instead of seeking to be in fellowship with the mind and heart of God, and to be identified with His aims and ends. "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

Upon this follows a vision for the confirmation of the faith of the prophet. "Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns" (v. 18); and the angel, in answer to his inquiry, said, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." (v. 19) That is, the horns are symbolical of the several powers, or kingdoms, that had been used to punish, and to scatter, both Israel and Judah. It is not here the question as to what kingdoms they were, though they can be easily traced in Scripture; but the number four represents the whole of the powers, as four is often used for completeness on earth. Thereon Jehovah showed him four carpenters; and, in answer to the prophet, He spake, saying (after repeating the truth as to the horns), "These are come to  fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter" (v. 21.) The meaning of the carpenters is not given, only Jehovah assures the prophet, that as He used the four horns to scatter His people, so He will provide four instruments, at the proper moment, to fray (i.e., to terrify, or to drive them away with fear — see Psalm 48: 4-6) them, and to cast out the Gentile powers who had served themselves in scattering His people. We thus learn that God still retains the government of the earth in His hands, and that the movements of nations, wars and conquests, are but the means whereby He accomplishes His own purposes in respect of His earthly people. The Gentile powers, or any given nation, may appear never to be so firmly established; but at the appointed moment the  carpenters "come upon the scene, and they are frayed," "cast out," and their dominion is swept away.

Zechariah 2.

The connection of this with the next four chapters may be concisely stated in the words of another. "From chapter 2 to the end of chapter 6 the Spirit presents the circumstances, the principles, and the result of the reestablishment of Jerusalem and of the house [the temple]; and also the judgment of that which was wicked and corrupt. Each chapter has a distinct subject — a vision detached from the others — while forming a portion of the whole. The present responsibility on which the blessing depended, and the sovereign grace that would assuredly accomplish all, are both set before us, each in its place."* This will be more fully seen as we pursue the details.

* Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, by J. N. Darby, vol. ii., third edition.

The subject of our chapter (chapter 2) is the restoration of Jerusalem — full and complete deliverance from the nations which had spoiled her, and her consequent blessing as the result of being once more the dwelling-place of Jehovah And it will help the reader if he remember that this final deliverance flows out of, and is connected with, the partial deliverance enjoyed by the remnant as returned from Babylon. This has already been touched upon in chap. 1, for it has ever been the way of God with His people to use their partial deliverances as shadows of their full blessing under the promised Messiah.

In verses 1, 2 we have the introductory vision: "I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof." Two similar passages are found in the Scriptures — the first in Ezekiel 40; and the Second in Revelation 11, and a reference to them will aid in the interpretation. In both of these cases measuring would seem to be preparatory to appropriation for blessing; that is to say, it is an action directed by God on the eve of His once more coming in to re-establish His dwelling-place, and to own His people. It is so also in Zechariah. Jerusalem had been, as indeed it is at the present moment, trodden down by the Gentiles, made desolate for her sins. But the eye and the heart of God were perpetually upon her; and now that the time of her warfare was drawing to a close, now that she was draining the last drops of the cup of her judgment (for the seventy years of the promised desolations were now ended), He remembers His former mercies towards her, and He sends the "man with a measuring line in his hand" to ascertain the breadth thereof, and the length thereof, before taking possession, and establishing in her His royal throne for righteous government in blessing.

That this is the meaning of the symbolical vision is evident, from the following action: "And behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, and said unto him, Run, speak to this young man,* saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: for I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her." (vv. 3-5).

*This young man is the prophet himself; and it has been contended from the word employed — the same as is used of Jeremiah (Jer. 1: 6) — that Zechariah was but a youth when called to the prophetic office. But as the word is sometimes applied to those who are older, expressive perhaps of affection, as in the cases of Benjamin and Absalom, it would be unsafe to draw any definite conclusion.

To understand the import of this magnificent promise, the reader must place himself in the circumstances, at that moment, of the prophet and his people. They had been permitted to return from Babylon, and they were laboriously engaged, under every form of discouragement and active opposition, in rebuilding the temple, and a temple which, from its contrast to that of Solomon amid the former splendours of the kingdom, only reminded them of their weakness and poverty. The Lord saw the hearts of His people, their fears, faithlessness, and despondency; and He sent them the blessed encouragement of the future — unveiled before their eyes the glory of Messiah's presence, which would eclipse the glory of the past far more than the past did that of their then condition. We should do well to heed this divine method, and learn that the antidote to all despondency, arising out of the confusion and weakness of the present state of the Church, lies in the contemplation of the future, that it is thence we are to draw our sustainment and hope; for just as the joy set before us is given for individual encouragement (see Heb. 12: 2; Rom. 5: 2), so is the presentation of the bride to Christ in her perfect beauty held out for the comfort and consolation of the Church in her widowed condition. (Eph. 5, Rev. 21) To compare the present with the past is always a source of weakness; but the contemplation of the future — of the future in glory with Christ — is as surely the efficacious remedy for all fear and apprehension.

Two things are contained in this glowing prediction — the fact and character of Jerusalem's future prosperity; and its source and means of preservation. The time of this prosperity is plainly indicated from its character. Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls; a population that should increase and break out on every side beyond all restraining limits; and the cattle should share in this illimitable blessing — a prosperity which loudly speaks of full earthly blessing under the peaceful sway of Emmanuel. Isaiah, dwelling upon the same period, says, "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left." (Isaiah 54: 2, 3.) But the secret of all is found in the next verse. Jehovah Himself will be a wall of fire round about her; a sure protection therefore from her foes, and will also be the glory in the midst of her. It is always so. Jehovah's presence has ever been the source of all blessing for His earthly people, just as the Lord's presence is now in the midst of those who are gathered unto His name. And while His presence is the source of blessing, it is also protection; the wall of fire and the glory are ever connected. (Compare Exodus 14: 24, 25; Isaiah 4: 5.)

Another paragraph commences with verse 61 extending to end of verse 9, and contains an address to those who were still in the land of their captivity. The connection with the previous verses is very striking. In the prophetic vision Jerusalem, once more restored and inhabited, is again the dwelling-place of Jehovah; and thereon an appeal is made, a summons issued, to those who had not yet returned, to come and share in the blessing. And not only this, but it is also a warning to escape from the judgments about to fall upon those whose captives they at this time were. (Compare Isaiah 48: 20; Jeremiah 51: 6, etc.) The land of the north is thus clearly Chaldea, the Babylonian empire, throughout which the Jews were scattered — "spread abroad as the four winds of heaven." (See Esther 3: 8.)* In this way God sounds the trumpet-call for the assembling of His outcast people; and in the next verse, addressing them collectively as Zion, He cries, "Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon." (v. 7.) Many thoughts are suggested by this remarkable combination of words. First, we learn that whatever the state and condition of the people they never lose their character before God, neither their place nor their corporate existence. Not only do they belong, equally with the restored remnant, to Zion, but together with them they are Zion. What a seeming contradiction therefore lies in the fact that Zion was dwelling with the daughter of Babylon! What had God's people to do with such an alliance in such a scene of corruption? Alas! they had long since become Babylonian in character; and hence it was that Jehovah had permitted them to be enslaved, and to be transported to this region of man's corruption and power. But now the cry is raised, "Deliver thyself." So also Jeremiah had cried, "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul; be not cut off in her iniquity: for this is the time of the Lord's vengeance: He will render unto her a recompence." (Jer. 51: 6.) And would that God's people today might hear the same mighty voice, "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor. 6: 17, 18.) There is no other way of deliverance from that which ensnares and enslaves us than by coming outside altogether of the scene of its authority and power. Overcoming, even within the sphere of the professing Church, can only be by complete separation in the power of the Spirit from its evil and corruption. In this way alone could the daughter of Zion deliver herself, and return to the dwelling-place of Jehovah Mount Zion, which He loved, where He displayed His glory, and where He encircled the habitation of His holiness as with a wall of fire.

*There are several passages in Jeremiah that help to fix the interpretation of the land of the north (Jer. 1: 13, 14; Jer. 3: 18; Jer. 4: 6, &c.), and which will thus enable the reader to enter more intelligently upon the study of the events of the last days in which the king of the north plays such a conspicuous part.

The ground of the appeal then is given: "For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you; for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye." (v. 8.) The expression — after the glory — has been, owing to ignorance of dispensational truth, a source of great perplexity to many teachers and readers. But to those who understand that it is not until after the appearing of the Lord in glory that He will gather His scattered people from the four winds of Leaven (Matthew 24: 30, 31), and thereafter judge the nations (Matthew 25: 31, 32), it is a beautiful example of the exactitude of Scripture. This is then the order:* after the glory, after the appearing of the Lord, His manifestation to Israel, when, as we read in Zech. 12: 10, they will look on Him whom they had pierced, He will establish His earthly throne in Jerusalem, and He will use His people as His battle-axe and weapons of war to break in pieces the nations, and to destroy kingdoms. (Jer. 51: 20.) The reason is given, "For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye"; i.e., will do himself irreparable damage, or injure himself in the most sensitive part.† "For, behold," the Lord proceeds, "I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me." (v. 9.) Jehovah will in this manner execute judgment upon the nations, and His people, in the words of another prophet, "shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors." (Isaiah 14: 2.) And this verification of the message of the prophet should convince the people of the divine mission of the angel of the Lord. (Compare John 17: 21-23).

*The reader may be interested in comparing the exact translation of Psalm 73: 24: "Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and after the glory thou shalt receive me."

†It is contended by many that "the apple of his eye" refers to God. (Compare Deut. 32: 10). It is a question of interpretation, not of translation, and while in no wise objecting to this, the above is preferred as more in harmony with the context.

According to a frequent manner of prophecy the prediction is no sooner uttered than it is regarded as fulfilled; and hence the prophet proceeds to call upon Zion to sing and rejoice, "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord." (v. 10) As the departure of the Lord from Zion, His rejection of the holy city as His habitation, was in consequence of His people's sins (Ezekiel 9, 10), so His return would, at the same time, mark their restoration to His favour, and be the consummation of all His purposes of blessing towards "the mountain of His holiness." It is in anticipation of this, faith being the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not, seen, that the prophet seeks to awaken the daughter of Zion to rejoice — thus teaching, as before pointed out, that our springs of energy and gladness are to be found in the revelation of the accomplished purposes of God.* It should also be again noticed that the source of all blessing for God's people lies in His dwelling in their midst. From the very first this was the sign of their being His redeemed people (Exodus 25: 8), and of their having found favour in His sight (Exodus 33: 16), even as having His tabernacle with men is the distinctive blessedness in the new heavens and the new earth wherein righteousness will dwell. (Rev. 21) The Church should also be able to prove this blessedness, as the two or three gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ have ever done and do. (Matt. 18: 19, 20) But when Jehovah dwells again in Zion it will be in manifested glory and connected with the splendours of His millennial kingdom.

*There are three other instances in which Zion is similarly addressed — Isaiah 12: 6, 54: 1; Zephaniah 3: 14.

It will be, moreover, a source of blessing for the nations, as the prophet speaks, "And many nations shall be joined [or shall join themselves] to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people." (v. 11) The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the same period when the glory of the Lord shall have risen on Zion, says, "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." (Isa. 60: 3.) It is for this period, indeed, the nations are waiting and unconsciously longing (see Haggai 2: 7), although they are ignorant that their blessing is dependent upon the restoration of the despised race of Israel. Yet it is so; and no sooner will Jehovah have returned to Zion, judged His enemies and founded His kingdom, than the nations will be attracted to the scene of His power and glory, and count it their highest honour to be enrolled amongst His people. (Compare Isaiah 2: 1-5, 19: 23-25, etc.) For, as David speaks, Messiah's "name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed." (Psalm 72: 17). Thereon the promise is repeated, "I will dwell in the midst of thee," the repetition affording a double security for His people's faith, as well as an immutable guarantee of its accomplishment; and the fulfilment of this promise of blessing, even as that of judgment upon the nations, is appealed to in proof that Jehovah of hosts had sent His angel. (v. 11)

There is still more: "And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again." (v. 12.) God had ever spoken of Israel as His inheritance — His portion (Deut. 4: 20, Deut. 9: 26, 29; 1 Sam. 26: 19, and numberless passages; compare as to the Church, Ephesians 1: 18); and though His ancient people are now scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth, He will yet gather them, re-establish them in their own land, and then it is that He will, in the purposes of His grace, inherit Judah — the tribe out of which Christ came according to the flesh — as His portion. The expression is to be observed — "in the holy land" not holy merely on the ground of its being the land of promise; but because its iniquity will be removed in one day (Zech. 3: 9), and thus cleansed from all its defilement, it will again be holy to the Lord — set apart for Him and for His use and service. And He "shall choose Jerusalem again." Ages have passed since these words were uttered, but they have never been, and will never be, recalled, and thus faith knows that, though Jerusalem is trodden down at this moment under the foot of the Gentile, these words will have their fulfilment, and Jerusalem will, in the future, become "the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth," because the object of Jehovah's favour and the seat of His throne.

The chapter concludes with a solemn address to all flesh: "Be silent [or hush] O all flesh, before the Lord: for He is raised up out of His holy habitation." (v. 13). It is a striking appeal. The prophet sees Jehovah in the act of rising up, as it were, out of the habitation of His holiness, coming out in judgment for the accomplishment of the purposes just announced, and, in view of the effect upon men, the prophet cries, "Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord." for when the day of His wrath shall come who will be able to stand? It is at that time the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together, when every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. (Isa. 40; Rev. 1: 7; compare Matt. 24: 29, 30.) Well, then, might all flesh be hushed in the presence of Him who comes forth to smite the earth in judgment as well as to deliver His people. It is in the prospect of the same event that Isaiah cries, "Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty" (Isa. 2: 10); and that Habakkuk says, "The Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him." (Hab. 2: 20; see also Zeph. 1: 7.)

Zechariah 3.

In chapter 2 the Lord has revealed His purposes of grace in the future restoration both of Jerusalem and of His people; chapter 3, while containing a distinct vision and complete in itself, explains how He will accomplish His purposes consistently with His righteousness. Hence we have first of all the state of the people exhibited in the person of Joshua, the high priest, as their representative: "And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him." (v. 1) There are three parties in this striking scene — Joshua, the angel of the Lord, and Satan. Joshua as the high priest is, as already stated, viewed as representing the people, and the fact of his being clothed in filthy garments (v. 3) shows their guilty condition before God. The angel of the Lord is really Jehovah — Jehovah as He had been revealed in the midst of Israel; for as was said to Moses, "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him." (Exodus 23: 20, 21.) This makes it very clear that it is Jehovah Himself who is meant. Satan is, as given in the margin, the adversary, the adversary to God and to man, and hence is known, as the word here etymologically signifies, as the enemy or adversary. But in order to understand the scene, it is necessary to remember that Satan has acquired certain rights over man through man's sin; and he is thus spoken of as having had the power of death, which indeed he wielded over man as God's just judgment against sin. (See Heb. 2: 14.) It was Satan, in these rights which he possessed over the sinner, that our blessed Lord, as we learn from the scripture just cited, through His death destroyed or brought to nought, in order to deliver those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage; and this must be borne in mind in the explanation of the Lord's action with reference to Joshua. Satan, therefore, had grounds for resisting Joshua, i.e., for opposing God's purposes of grace towards His people. They were guilty, and this was evident from the very garments with which Joshua was clothed; and the problem here to be solved was, How could God bless, righteously bless, His people, according to His purposes, while they were in this condition, seeing, in fact, that they were amenable to judgment, on account of their iniquity? How could the claims of Satan be discharged, and the people be set in favour and blessing?

The answer is found in verse 2, an answer which not only reveals the way of the nation's deliverance, but also teaches the way of justification for every poor sinner who seeks salvation. "And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" Satan had rightly read the terms of the law under which the people had been placed; he had also rightly construed his own power accruing from that ministration of condemnation and death; but he had neglected to observe, indeed it was not possible for his evil heart to understand, the intimations of grace which were scattered here and there throughout the Pentateuch and the Prophets, and he consequently concluded that his claims were irresistible. He was thus but little prepared for the withering answer, "The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan;" and the rebuke is administered because of grace, that grace which had stepped in and rescued Jerusalem and Israel from the curse under which they had fallen, and made it possible for them to be restored to the favour of God. Hence it is added, "Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?"

This may need a further word of explanation. Grace then is expressed in the words, "The Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem." She had indeed failed in her responsibility, and had fallen under the rod of Jehovah's anger; but she was, notwithstanding, the object of His grace; and the grace that had chosen would in due season declare the righteous ground of its action (for grace can only reign through righteousness), and, in the prospect of its full display in blessing, could even now view Jerusalem as a brand plucked out of the fire. This righteous ground was found in the death of Christ (see John 11: 51; Acts 5: 31), which is alike the foundation for the salvation of believers in this dispensation, and for the accomplishment of God's purposes of grace towards His ancient people.

A full and complete answer is given to Satan in verse 2. Verse 3 brings out distinctly the state of the nation as seen in the person of Joshua, who was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel. In verse 4 Jehovah proceeds to act, on the ground of the grace announced in verse 2, and to show how He will make Israel fit, morally fit, for His own presence. "And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment." (v. 4.) First, He commands those that stand before Him to take away Joshua's filthy garments. This is ever the first action of grace when the sinner comes to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; for the first thing that troubles the soul when divinely awakened to feel its sin is a sense of its guilt, and its consequent unfitness for the presence of God. The answer to this need is discovered in the blood of Christ, which cleanses from all sin. But not only are the filthy garments removed, but Jehovah also says to Joshua, "I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee," etc. So now God gives the certainty to the soul of being cleansed, even as the Lord Himself when on earth, for example, assured the woman who was a sinner that her sins were forgiven her; for if grace removes our filthy garments, it would also have us know that they are gone.

But this is not all, for there is a further announcement: "And I will clothe thee with change of raiment." And this is effected in the next verse: "And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by." (v. 5.) The change of person in the speaker is worthy of notice — "And I," not He, "said." It would seem as if the prophet had been so brought into communion with the mind of God by the vision which he beheld that he is used to become its expression. He had heard the divine word, "I will clothe thee [Joshua] with change of raiment," and entering into what had thus been promised, he intercedes, as it were, that it might at once be done. In this lies the principle of all prevailing intercession — the soul entering into the thoughts of God and turning them into prayer. (Compare 2 Samuel 7: 25-29; Daniel 9; John 15: 7.) The word, "fair" would be more accurately rendered "pure," as the reference is to the high-priestly garments of fine linen (Exodus 28: 39), which are specially a type of purity, and in one place of the righteousness of saints (Rev. 19: 8); but as worn by the high priest they were a symbol rather of the spotless purity of Christ. And this will enable us to understand the meaning of the action before us. The iniquity of Joshua had been removed, his filthy garments had been taken away, and thus that which disqualified him for the presence of Jehovah was gone; but, now that he was clothed in pure garments, he received his positive fitness and qualification to be before God; and, inasmuch as the mitre was significant of office, he was qualified to be there on behalf of the people. Two things indeed followed upon his receiving the pure garments — he could now stand in righteousness in the presence of Jehovah and he could enjoy continued access there as the ministering priest. Grace thus fully answered the accusations of the adversary, and showed in the completion of its work how "the brand plucked out of the fire," — Jerusalem, or the people — could righteously have a place in the immediate presence of God as a nation of priests.

And it may again be observed that God deals with the individual sinner in precisely the same way; for not only does He, through the applied efficacy of the work of Christ, remove his guilt, but, through his death and resurrection, He brings him into a new place and standing, makes him the righteousness of God in Christ, so that in that new place and condition the sinner answers fully to the mind of God, and can therefore be in His presence in perfect peace and liberty.

If grace, however, brings into blessings and privileges, it makes the realisation and enjoyment of these dependent upon walk and conduct. Accordingly we find Joshua addressed by the angel, in the name of the Lord of hosts, "If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shall also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts; and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by." (v. 7.) To judge the house of God and to keep His courts belonged to the priest's office (see Deut. 17: 9-13; Malachi 2: 7; also 2 Chr. 26: 16-21), but none could do these things truly unless they themselves were walking in obedience to the word; and thus Joshua's occupation of these exalted offices is expressly made conditional upon it, if it be not rather a promise, an encouragement held out to him that he might be enabled to walk in the ways of his God. There is surely a voice in all this for those who take the lead among the saints of God (compare 1 Tim. 3); for just as in Eli's and Samuel's days, when manifold evils, corruptions, and abuses had crept in among the people, to the dishonour of Jehovah's name, when their sons walked according to their own inclinations, instead of keeping the charge of God, so now when man's will in those who lead sets aside the authority of Christ, there can be nothing but confusion and corruption in the assembly. The priests' lips — and this is ever true — should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; and only in this way are those who have prominence among the Lord's people qualified for the maintenance of discipline in the house of God, as upholders and vindicators of the Lord's name and honour entrusted to their care. Moreover Joshua should, if faithful, have a special position before God, liberty of access, and association with, "places to walk among," those that "stand by" in the presence of Jehovah

Verse 7 deals with Joshua in his then relation to the people, charged as he was with the interests of the house of God; whereas verse 8 takes him up, and presents him, as a type of Christ in the days of the kingdom when He will associate Israel with Himself as a nation of priests. (Compare Rev. 1: 5, 6.) This will help to the understanding of the language employed: "Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at [or, men of marvellous signs are they]: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH." (v. 8.) The fellows of Joshua will be the ordinary priests; and as Aaron, together with his sons, ever represents the Church as the priestly family in association with Christ, so Joshua and his companions, in this connection, shadows forth Christ in the midst of His "fellows" (Heb. 1: 9), who, through association with Him will then be a "chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation." And this exaltation will cause them to be men of signs, wondered at, even as when Christ displays the saints in heavenly glory, He will be glorified in them, and admired, wondered at, in all them that have believed. For truly the world will be astonished in beholding the poor despised race of Israel lifted up into association with the King of kings, and Lord of lords, as indeed the prophets have foretold. (See Isaiah 60: 14-22, etc.)

The ground of all is the introduction of the Branch — the Messiah in whom, and by whom, all blessing, whether for the Church or for Israel, is secured. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah had prophesied of Christ in this character (Isa. 4: 2, Isa. 11: 1; Jer. 23: 5, Jer. 33: 15, etc.), and a single citation from one of these will explain its meaning. "There shall come forth a rod," says Isaiah, "out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." (Isa. 11: 1) The figure of a branch is thus evidently derived from the fact that the Messiah has sprung from the family of David according to the flesh, from a root or stock long hidden, as if dead, but which, as will one day be seen, is still full of sap and life. In Revelation we learn that He is the root as well as the offspring of David (Rev. 22: 16); for He who became of the seed of David according to the flesh, was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (Rom. 1: 3, 4.) He was therefore both David's Son and David's Lord. (Matt. 22: 42-4.5.)

The bringing forth of Jehovah's servant, the Branch, will, then, be the means of the accomplishment of the promised blessing; and hence it is that the actual stone which had been laid before Joshua, the foundation stone of the temple, was a type of Christ as the foundation in Zion, "a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation." (Isaiah 28: 16). And there are three things connected with Him in this character: first, "upon one stone shall be seven eyes." (v. 9.) This "one stone" is Christ; and Christ, inasmuch as the stone is to be laid in Zion, as the foundation of God's government in the earth; and on this stone will be the seven eyes, because there will be seen in it the omniscience of God, His perfect intelligence, as displayed in Messiah's righteous government, from Zion as the centre, of the nations of the earth.* The second thing is, "Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts." It should receive the exact impression of His own thoughts, have His own endorsement, be graven with His own device or seal, and thus be publicly known as His; and then we have, thirdly, "I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day." This will be the consequence of the all-efficacious work of Christ; for it was through His death and resurrection that He became the foundation stone, and when His government is established in Zion, His people will have looked upon Him whom they had pierced (see chapters 12 - 14), and thus will, through repentance and faith, have been brought under the value of His atoning sacrifice, so that Jehovah will righteously remove the iniquity of the land in one day. It looks forward to the time when the nation will be cleansed from their sins by the blood of Christ, and when it will thus be possible for Jehovah to dwell once more in the midst of His people.

*For the profit of the reader the following remarks of another are transcribed: "In 2 Chronicles 16 we find the eyes of Jehovah represented as running to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards Him. This is the faithfulness of God in taking cognizance of all things in His ways of government. In Zechariah the eyes are found upon the stone that is laid in Zion. It is there that the seat of that government is placed which sees everything and everywhere. In verse 10 of the next chapter these eyes, which behold all things, which run through the whole earth, are said to rejoice when they see the plummet in the hands of Zerubbabel, that is to say, the house of Jehovah's habitation entirely finished. In this case they are not presented as established in the seat of government upon earth, but in their character of universal and active oversight, and in this providential activity, never resting until Jehovah's counsels of grace towards Jerusalem are accomplished; and then they shall rejoice. The active intelligence of providence finds its full delight in the accomplishment of the unchangeable purpose of the will of God. Finally these eyes are again seen in Revelation 5, in the Lamb exalted to the right hand of God, who is about to take possession of His inheritance of the earth. Here it is the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth; for the government is in the hands of the Lamb, although He has not yet exercised it in the earth, of which He is about to be put in possession." — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, by J. N. D., vol. ii., 3rd edition.

It is interesting to point out the reference to, and the application of, this scripture by the apostle Paul. "Nevertheless," he says, "the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal ['the graving thereof'], The Lord knoweth them that are his. And let every one that nameth the name of Christ [or, of the Lord] depart from iniquity." (2 Tim. 2: 19) The foundation no one could overturn; and the Lord knew in a day of confusion and ruin, who were resting upon it; but it was incumbent upon all who professed His name, owned His authority, to depart from iniquity. If in Zechariah it was God stepping in, on His people's repentance, to remove the iniquity of His land, in Timothy it is the responsibility of all who acknowledge Christ as Lord to walk in separation from evil — this being the evidence of the reality of their profession.

But to return. Following, then, upon the purging of the land there is further blessing. "In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree." (v. 10) This is the blessed effect of the reign of the Prince of Peace, of Christ in the character of Solomon, and therefore the fulfilment of the words spoken of Solomon's reign: "Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry." (1 Kings 4: 20.) It is the favour and blessing of God, and peace with one another, and, as a consequence in the kingdom, full earthly prosperity — the realisation indeed of the truth of the words of the angels at the birth of Christ. "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men [or; in men]." (Luke 2: 14.)

Zechariah 4.

The apocalyptic character of this part of the prophecy is seen again from verse 1, showing, as it does, that this is one of a series of visions which passed before the eyes of the prophet. "And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep." The prophet was in the condition of Daniel by the banks of Ulai when Gabriel was sent to make him know what should be in the last end of the indignation. (Daniel 8: 15-19) Awakened by the angel, he beheld "a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof; and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof." (vv. 2. 3.) Such was the vision. Then we have the angel's explanation of the general meaning of it (vv. 5-7), together, as growing out of this, a special message, "the word of the Lord," to Zechariah (vv. 8-10); and finally, the interpretation of the two olive trees.

Before entering upon these several points, it may be observed that the candlestick is the well-known candlestick — the seven-branched candlestick — of the tabernacle (Exodus 25: 31-40), and that it ever was the symbol of the light of God in the perfection of testimony — testimony in the power of the Holy Spirit on the earth — first in Israel, and then in the Church. (Rev. 1) There are several differences from the original candlestick to be noted. First, the bowl upon the top of it; next, each lamp (see margin) would seem to have seven pipes for the conveyance of the oil from the bowl to the lamps; and lastly, the two olive trees with their branches and golden pipes, through which the oil was supplied to the bowl. Generally speaking, it was no doubt a revelation of the perfect order in government and testimony which Jehovah would establish in Jerusalem in connection with the royal, the Melchisedek, priesthood of Christ. In its full accomplishment it would be, as another has written, — "the royalty and the priesthood of Christ, which maintain, by power and spiritual grace, the perfect light of divine order among the Jews. The work was divine; the pipes were of gold. The thing ministered was the grace of the Spirit, the oil which fed the testimony, maintained in this perfect order."

To comprehend the meaning of the candlestick will enable us to understand the angel's answer to Zechariah. (v. 6.) The time had not yet come, as we know, for the establishment of the kingdom, when Christ will sit as a priest upon His throne; in fact, a poor, feeble remnant only of the people had returned from captivity; and these, without any visible signs of Jehovah's presence, were engaged, amid doubts and fears, in the erection of the temple. But Jehovah watched over the people. His eye and His heart were on their work, and He would animate their drooping spirits, supply them with new energy for their service by directing their gaze, through the prophet, to the glories of the future, and by teaching them that their feeble work was itself the promise of the fulfilment of all His purposes of grace towards His ancient people. Hence it is that when Zechariah enquires, "What are these, my Lord?" the angel replies, "This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shall become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it." (vv. 6, 7.)

This explains most clearly the application of the vision to the circumstances of the moment. There was, as already stated, the exhibition of the perfection of the light of God's order in the future, a testimony to the fact that God never forgets His ultimate purposes. But there was also a present application; and on this account it is that the explanation of the angel takes the form of a message to Zerubbabel — to Zerubbabel who, as governor of Judah, together with Joshua the high priest, was the leader of the people in the work of building the temple. (Ezra 5: 2; Haggai 2: 2, &c.) Zerubbabel was therefore taught that the time had not yet arrived for the display of Jehovah's might or power on behalf of His people; but that if it were, as it was, a time of feebleness, God's Spirit was working to secure, both in the hearts of the people and in their service, all that His name and interests required, and hence that the character of the moment demanded dependence upon, and confidence in, God. This was doubtless a needed lesson for Zerubbabel in his trying position — a position rendered more trying by his own fears. It is comparatively easy, even for the natural man, to engage in the service — the outward service — of God, when He intervenes in power to sustain His servants and to secure the result; but it is only the man of faith who can labour on amid discouragements of every kind, who can trust to a power not seen to uphold and prosper, and is assured that the Spirit, who is invisible in His working to the natural eye, is even more mighty than manifested power. There are many Elijahs indeed who prefer the strong winds and the earthquakes to the all-efficacious still small voice of the Spirit of God.

In the first place then Zerubbabel is to be directed to the only source of power — to the Spirit of God; in the next he is sustained by the promise of the successful issue of his work. The great mountain should "become a plain: and he should bring forth the headstone [of the temple] with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it." (v. 7.) By the mountain, we apprehend, is symbolized all the obstacles that lay, in the way of the completion of the work. It is a figure gathering up the whole of the difficulties, as well as the opposition encountered, the details of which are given in the book of Ezra. But all these — whatever the activity, power, or influence of the adversaries — are nothing to God; and they are likewise nothing to the man of faith when resting alone upon the power of the Spirit, and when walking in the path of God's will. It is thus that the question is triumphantly, not to say defiantly, put, "Who art thou, O great mountain?" It is indeed an exultant challenge, bringing out the confident assurance that before Zerubbabel it should become a plain. (Compare Isaiah 40: 35.) The Lord Jesus, it is more than probable, referred to this scripture when He said to His disciples, "Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig-tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done." (Matthew 21: 21.) For what is the mountain in this case? It was doubtless the Jewish nation in its unbelief and opposition to grace, that enmity of the Jews which was ever the obstacle to the proclamation of the gospel to the Gentiles, and which, overcome by the faith of the disciples, finally disappeared as the Jews were merged in the sea of the nations. But whether this or that, it affords abundant encouragement in the Lord's service, as it will enable His servants to regard the most insurmountable difficulties as occasions only for the display of almighty and victorious power through the working of the Holy Spirit.

The headstone is connected with the completion of the building; the foundation-stone had long since been laid (see Ezra 3: 10; Ezra 4: 24; Ezra 5: 1); and hence the promise refers to the conclusion of the work, which should be accompanied by the joy of the people, and their acknowledgment in their joy that grace, Jehovah's favour, had accomplished all. As a symbol, the headstone, equally with the foundation-stone, points to Christ. This will be seen from the words, "The stone which the builders refused is become the head[stone] of the corner." (Psalm 118: 22.) And it is possible that the passage in Ephesians may connect itself with this: "Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone" (Eph. 2: 20), teaching that He is both the foundation and the crown, the beginning and the end, of the house of God.

Following upon this, another message is given to the prophet, concerning Zerubbabel, even more explicit as to his completion of Jehovah's house, and adding the assurance that the eyes of the Lord would rejoice when they saw the plummet in his hands, on the work being finished. "Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shalt see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven: they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth." (vv. 8-10) Here we have, then, a solemn renewal of the assurance that nothing should hinder Zerubbabel from the execution of his work. The hands that laid the foundation of the house should finish it; and we are thereby taught that no opposition or enmity, not all the subtlety of the adversary, can hinder or even impede, the progress of the work of God, when His people labour in dependence on Him, and count alone on His sustainment and protection. Such an assurance could not fail to comfort the hearts of this feeble remnant at such a moment; for it was not only that the house should be completed, but also that Zerubbabel's hands should finish it. If they did but believe the message, with what courage would they proceed with their labours! Appearances might be, as indeed they were, all against them, but under the influence of faith, they would be able to say, We know that our work will prosper because the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Compare 1 Cor. 15: 58.) Once again the fulfilment of the prophecy (see Zech. 2: 9, 11) is given as a proof of the fact that the Lord of hosts had sent His angel to the prophet.

The question then comes, "Who hath despised the day of small things?" Some, if not all, had been tempted to do this (Ezra 3: 12); for they had compared the meanness of the present building with the glory of that of Solomon. They had been thus discouraged by comparing the present with the past, and, in their discouragement, they had low thoughts of the work on which they were engaged. They are now shown that, in this state of mind, they were not in fellowship with the mind and heart of God; that the question was not concerning the outward glory of their work, but what were God's thoughts about it. They had been repining and were unbelieving while God's heart was upon His people, and His eyes were waiting to express their joy when they should see the building completed — for this is the meaning of the plummet in the hands of Zerubbabel.* It would be well for us if we carefully treasured up this instruction; for we also are slow to learn that the importance of any service depends upon God's estimate of it. If we have once lost fellowship with Him as to our work, our spiritual energy and perseverance are gone, we cease to look to the only source of our strength, and give place, at the same time, to doubts if not despair, because we have commenced to walk by sight instead of by faith. Let us learn then, with these returned captives, that the meanest service, as to its outward character, is worthy, of all our devotedness and zeal if the mind and heart of God are upon it, if He has put it into our hands, and that nothing is to be despised, no day of small things, when it contains in itself the pledge and guarantee of the fulfilment of the purposes of God.

*As to the expression "those seven," "the eyes of the Lord," see Note on Zech. 3: 9.

The prophet then proceeds to enquire, "What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick, and upon the left side thereof? And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches, which through [or, by means of, literally 'by the hand of,'] the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones [sons of oil], that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." (vv. 11-14.) The final answer of the angel gives, as we may see, the key to the whole chapter. The details of the symbol are somewhat difficult to seize; for, as will be perceived, one of the questions of the prophet (v. 12) imports an additional particular into the original vision. We find no mention there of the olive branches. Putting now the whole together, there is, first, the seven-branched golden candlestick; then the bowl on the top thereof with "seven pipes" connected with each of the seven lamps; further, there are the olive trees on either side of the bowl; and finally, we have the two olive branches ["spikes of the olive"], which have their two golden pipes by means of which they empty forth the golden oil out of themselves — presumably, though it is not distinctly said, into the bowl upon the top of the candlestick. One thing more may be noted, before giving the interpretation; viz, that the angel, in replying to the prophet, does not answer his two questions, but, evidently regarding the olive trees and the olive branches as one and the same, says, These are the two sons of oil, etc.

Now, without attempting to explain the vision in all its features, the main lines of its significance are easily followed by the light of verse 14. First, the candlestick with its seven branches represents Christ as the Lord of the whole earth. It looks onward therefore to the time when He shall have come, have established His throne in Zion, and when all nations will have owned His universal sway, when He will be "a great King over all the earth." (See Ps. 47: 2, and the series Ps. 45 - 48 in their connection.) Then it will be, if we understand rightly, that He will be God's golden candlestick on the earth, "the vessel of the light of God on earth ordained in all its perfection. The candlestick was one, but it had seven branches. It was unity in the perfection of spiritual co-ordination, perfect unity, perfect development in that unity," and thus will only find its complete fulfilment in Christ. Israel was set to be God's vessel of testimony on earth, and it failed, how completely we know. After the Jewish nation had been rejected as God's responsible witness, the Church came into its place; and the letter to Laodicea (Rev. 3) informs us also of its failure. After the Church shall have been removed from the scene, Christ Himself will come, and He will answer to all God's thoughts in the perfectness of His testimony. Already He has been here as the faithful witness (Rev. 1: 5), and in that character He was rejected and crucified; on the failure of the Church, which should have borne faithful testimony for God, He presented Himself to her as "the faithful and true witness" (Rev. 3: 14), and now we behold Him, again on the earth, in the same character, not now as the rejected One, but as, having made his title good in power and taken possession of His rightful inheritance, the Lord of the whole earth. God's thoughts must be realised (see Psalm 33: 11); but the history of the dispensations teaches that they will only be realised in Christ. Man has failed, and will, whatever his privileges, fail in everything, but in Christ all the glory of God will be secured.

In addition to — on either side of — the golden candlestick were there these two olive trees, and the question of the prophet concerning the olive branches would seem to make it plain that the olive trees (the sons of oil) were the two sources whence the light of the candlestick was fed and sustained. What then are these? Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah, Joshua (Zech. 3) was the high priest, and the two combined were therefore a type of Christ as the priest on His throne; and hence the two olive trees, as another has written, "are the royalty and the priesthood of Christ, which maintain, by power and spiritual grace, the perfect light of divine order among the Jews." These are the sources whence this perfect light is fed and maintained.*

The reader's attention may also be directed to the term "golden oil." The candlestick is of gold, and though the oil flows from the olive trees, it is through golden pipes, and the oil itself is "golden." The gold, as ever, represents that which is divine, while the oil is the emblem of the Holy Spirit — the Holy Spirit here, inasmuch as it is through Christ as Lord of the earth that the testimony will be borne, in all His divine energy, and manifestly so, and hence it is golden, divine oil. The point is interesting in another way. When Jesus walked here upon the earth He lived, acted, and wrought in the power of the Holy Ghost. This was the source of His words, acts, and miracles. After His resurrection He acted still by the same mighty power; for it is written, "He was taken up, after that He through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom He had chosen." (Acts 1: 2.) And now, as it appears from Zechariah's vision, when He will be here in the glory of the kingdom, He also will rule, maintain His rights, bear testimony for God, in the power of the Holy Ghost.

*If the reader has followed this interpretation, he will be greatly assisted in reading Revelation 11, for there the two witnesses are said to be "the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God [it should be the Lord] of the earth" From this it would appear that the subject of their testimony will be to the claims of Christ over the earth in connection with His royalty and priesthood,

Zechariah 5.

The visions in this chapter are more obscure, though sufficiently plain in their general import. Their subject is the judgment of the wicked in Israel in the last days, and the revelation of the true character, God's estimate, of that which claimed to be Israel, but which had really become an apostate nation. The first vision concerns individuals, and the second the people as a whole — the people in its outward public character, as distinguished from the remnant, hidden from man's eyes, but known to God and having, in fact, before Him the place of the nation.

"Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. And he said unto me What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits." (vv. 1, 2.) The roll is the ordinary form of the ancient Hebrew books; and we accordingly read in Ezekiel, "An hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; and he spread it before me; and it was written within and without [i.e., on both sides]: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe." (Ezek. 2: 9, 10, compare Rev. 5: 1) But the roll in Zechariah was, as may be seen from its dimensions, of no ordinary kind, being purely symbolic there — beheld as it was in prophetic vision. There are things connected with it demanding distinct notice. The first is its size — a feature which immediately attracts the prophet's attention. It was twenty cubits long and ten broad; and this was the exact size of the tabernacle in the wilderness, as may be gathered from the number and the width of the boards which composed it (Exodus 26: 15-25); and it was also the size of the porch of Solomon's temple. (1 Kings 6: 3.) These correspondencies cannot be accidental; on the other hand, they must have been designed, and hence they teach, either that the judgment proceeding would be according to the holiness of Jehovah's habitation in the midst of Israel, that He was about to weigh the conduct of the wicked in Israel in the balances of the sanctuary, or that judgment would begin at the house of God. (See Ezekiel 9: 6.) In either case the holiness of the house, that is, the holiness of Him who dwells therein, according to the revelation of His name to His people, would be the standard of judgment.

The second point is the contents of the roll. The angel explaining, says to Zechariah, "This is the curse that goeth forth over the lace of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it." (v. 3.) It has been a question whether "the whole earth" is universal, or whether it should be rendered, as it might be, the whole "land." The expression in the next verse "that sweareth falsely by my name" would point rather to the latter interpretation; and thus the curse which was written in the roll was one pronounced upon the thieves and the perjurers in the midst of God's professing people — an inexorable curse; for it is to be remembered that the time spoken of is subsequent to the day of grace, and connected with the acting of Jehovah in the land just previous and preparatory to the establishment of Messiah's throne in righteousness. Hence all thieves and false swearers were surely to be cut off, according to the curse on the roll. But what a contradiction — that such open sinners should be found amongst the professing people of God! This is Satan's most successful effort — to introduce his servants among the Lord's people (see Jude), knowing as he does that a little leaven leavens the whole lump. The very fact, however, that God Himself is compelled to step in and vindicate His name, and the holiness of His house, reveals a sad state of general declension. When the consciences of the saints are in exercise, and they are walking humbly before God, they are necessarily, as being in the enjoyment of fellowship with Him, intolerant of evil, and zealous to maintain His honour.

When, on the other hand, they are careless, and the word of God is no longer looked to as the guide of their path and conduct, a spurious charity ensues, discipline is neglected, and iniquity vaunts itself in the open light of day. Such a state of things constrains God, as in the case before us, to interpose that He may cause His people to hear the rod and who hath appointed it. This is an unchangeable principle of His acting, as, for example, we read in Ezekiel, after the details of the evil conduct of Israel in their captivity, "And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them." (See Ezekiel 36: 17-23.)

Lastly, we are told that He who pronounces the curse will cause it to be executed. "I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof." (v. 4.) Well might the prophet Jeremiah say, "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." (Jer. 23: 24.) Thus in the cases before us the thief and the perjurer might flatter themselves that their iniquity was unknown, that they had succeeded in covering up from it all human eyes; and they might even be mixing with their neighbours without a known stain on their character. They might have gone further and said, "The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it." But "he that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see?" (Psalm 94: 7, 9.) Sooner or later all such are here warned that their false security will surely be disturbed, and that God's swift curse will enter their houses for their destruction. It does not follow, we apprehend, that the judgment here spoken of will of necessity be public or sudden. The language is peculiar — the curse enters, remains in their houses, and the houses are consumed. It would seem to be in the way of God's governmental dealing. Whether in this or in any other way, the lesson is the same, that sinners cannot harden themselves against the Lord and prosper, that His strong arm will as surely overtake them in judgment as that His eyes behold the secrets of their hearts; and thus with the arrival of the day of the Lord He will destroy the sinners out of His land. (Isaiah 13: 9.)

The most cursory reader will not fail to notice the difference, in the ways of God in government, between the present time and that spoken of by the prophet. Now in this day of grace, wherein the gospel is proclaimed, God, while He does not give up any of His rights, does not always interpose in judgment, for He is not willing that any should perish, but desires that all should come to repentance. As soon, however, as this day closes, and when once again He begins to act in the earth in righteousness, He will then deal with sinners in the way unfolded to the prophet in this vision. It is necessary to understand these dispensational distinctions in order to read intelligently the Scriptures. It should, however, be added, to prevent misconception, that God does not pass by sin even in this day of grace. He waits upon and pleads with the sinner, to see if he will bow in repentance before Him, and receive, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, salvation; but should the sinner refuse to listen to the voice of God's love and mercy in the gospel, he will but aggravate his doom when judgment is finally executed. (See Romans 2: 4-11.)

The next vision is more mysterious in its form and symbols, although its main significance is clearly seen. "Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said, moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth [or their look or aspect in all the land]. And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of the lead upon the mouth thereof." (vv. 5-8.) This is the first part of the vision, the remaining verses comprising a distinct development, revealing the final consummation of the wickedness first seen among the Jews. And this may explain perhaps the term found so frequently in this chapter — "goeth forth" — a term indicating not only movement, but also, in relation to the subject of the visions, progress in or the development of evil. The beginnings, the germs, were visible in the days of Zechariah; and just as the apostle John speaks of many antichrists having already appeared and looks upon these as the certain precursors of the antichrist, so these germs are taken up in the vision as the foreshadowings of the complete manifestation of the evil which they go on to depict. The exact meaning of the ephah, beyond the fact that it was a measure in use among the Jews,* is not revealed; but, in accordance with what has been said as to progress, its "going forth" would seem to point to the spread of evil throughout the land (Judea); and the fact that it was a known measure may signify that whatever its virulence and power the evil would be, in the government of God, confined within certain limits; or that there were determined bounds, beyond which the long-suffering of God would not pass. Our Lord speaks for example to the Jews, "Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. "

*Its size even cannot be now ascertained. It is said, on the authority of Josephus, to have contained something over a bushel.

The evil itself was personified by a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. This is explained in verse 8: "This," said the angel, speaking of the woman, "is wickedness. And he cast it [i.e. the woman] into the midst of the ephah." So that the end of verse 7 gives the result of the action at the beginning of verse 8; that is, it is the angel who casts the woman (wickedness) into the midst of the ephah, and the prophet beholds her, as a consequence, sitting there. There is yet another action — the angel also "cast the weight of lead [probably the talent of lead named in verse 7] upon the mouth thereof" (of the ephah). A woman is a well-known symbol in Scripture for the expression of a system, sometimes personifying a nation — as, for example, the daughter of Zion and the daughter of Babylon — and sometimes, as in the Apocalypse, setting forth a religious organization. As an illustration of the latter meaning, we have the woman sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast, arrayed in every kind of human glory and grandeur. with her. name written upon her forehead, "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." (Rev. 17: 5.) And we know from verse 18 of that same chapter that Rome — the Romish system, what we understand by the Papal religion — is presented under the form of this woman. This enables us at once to perceive, and the more certainly from the fact that she is sitting in the midst of a Jewish measure, that the woman of our chapter is the expression of organized wickedness among the Jews of the last days. Having rejected Christ, and, as He foretold, having received another who will have come in his own name, they will become the sport and prey, as well as the dwelling-place, of the seven wicked spirits of idolatry, and thus their last state will be worse than the first. (See Matt. 12: 43-45.) This then is wickedness — an organized system of idolatry. She sits in the midst of an ephah, as indicating the Jewish character of her outward form and habitation; and her "sitting" (compare Rev. 17: 3, 9, 15) sets forth the fact of her supremacy over the Jewish nation, that Judaism is the seat of her throne and government.

It is more difficult to seize the precise meaning of the casting the weight of lead upon the mouth of the ephah, but we judge that it points to the immense energy of the wickedness as contained in the ephah. The great weight of lead was cast upon its mouth; some severe repression exercised, it may be, in the way of government, rather than directly, to hinder further expansion and development; and yet, as the remaining part of the vision shows, the wickedness was irrepressible, and flowed out in its true form and character. In a similar way evil is restrained at the present moment, according to that word in 2 Thess. 2: "And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth, will let, until he be taken out of the way, And then shall that Wicked be revealed," etc. (vv. 6-8) In like manner the weight of lead may represent the restraint for a time of the power of the wickedness, symbolized by the woman, through human government, or by other means, confining it to the Jewish ephah until God permits it to overflow and reveal its true origin and habitation. If this be so, verses 9-11 may not follow as to time immediately upon verse 8, but may refer, as before suggested, to the full development of the wickedness which in an organized form had found a home in Judaism. This is the more probable, as there is a distinct break in the vision, if it be not indeed the commencement of a new, though intimately connected, one in verse 9, as shown by the words, "Then lifted I up mine eyes" — words which so frequently are used as introductory to a new subject. (See Zech. 2: 1; 5 Zech.: 1, 5)

When the prophet had again lifted up his eyes, he says, I "looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base." (vv. 9-11) The primary feature of this vision is, that two women come out of the ephah where there had been but one; and, holding to the Scripture symbolism of the woman, the meaning will be, that two systems, united but distinct, are developed out of that which had been contained in the Jewish measure. Then it had a Jewish form as well as a Jewish home, but now its component parts are resolved into two, both of which are represented by a woman. And what are these? An examination of the state of the Jews, as unfolded in the Scriptures, leaves little doubt that they are the twin sisters, SUPERSTITION and INIFIDELITY. It was these our Lord Himself had to contend with in the form of the Pharisees and Sadducees, they are conjoined in their baleful work at this moment in the professing church, and nowhere more apparently than in Romanism, and they will be seen exercising all their frightful influence over the souls of men under the sway of the antichrist, who calls in superstition to his aid when he is permitted to make fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men; and he avails himself of her sister infidelity when he opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or is worshipped.

Such are the two women that came out of the ephah; and then we are told that "the wind was in their wings, for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven." (v. 9.) The wings, we conceive, are merely a detail of the symbol, signifying perhaps rapidity of movement, — the wings of a stork being a figure derived from what often met the eye of the Jew in the annual departure of the storks from their country. The only point of importance to be noted is, that the wind was in their wings. When the disciples were crossing the sea of Galilee by night to go to Bethsaida, we are expressly told that "the wind was contrary unto them" (Mark 6), a figure doubtless of the fact that all the influences of this world, governed as it is by Satan, are against the Lord's people in their passage across the stormy sea of this life. On the other hand, that same wind always swells the sails of Satan's vessels, and we find accordingly in this prophetic vision that the wind was in the wings of these two symbolic women, teaching that all the influence and energy of this world were aiding them in their design. They were doing the work of Satan, and all his forces were therefore at their service. It is ever so, and this accounts for the fact that wicked men are often seen to succeed beyond all expectation in their enterprises. The wind is in their wings, bearing them aloft and onward to their goal.

Zechariah enquires, "Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it" (the house) "shall be established, and set there upon her own base."* (vv. 10, 11) This answer of the angel reveals the whole truth of the vision and of the ephah. The ephah, as we have seen, represents a Jewish form of wickedness, an organized system of evil, but retaining the outward forms of Judaism. This produces, develops, the twin sisters of evil, superstition and infidelity; and these now lead on to full apostasy, and hence they are seen bearing the ephah to the land of Shinar, the place and the home of avowed opposition to God (see Genesis 11: 2), where this incarnation of wickedness should have a house established, and be set upon her own base. The Jewish nation — that is to say, that which is publicly owned as such, although there will be a true remnant which will have this place before God — will become openly apostate, and will then be seen in its real Babylonish character. The fulfilment of all this will take place during the sway of the anti-christ, who will be an apostate Jew (Daniel 11: 37) as well as the. denier of the Father and the Son. (1 John 2)

*The last clause, "set there upon her own base," refers to "wickedness," as the previous one does to the house. This is shown by the difference in the genders of the words.

The reader will not fail to perceive the similarity in this to the course of Christianity. At the end of Rev. 3 Laodicea retains the name and the form of the church, but even then she corresponds with the woman sitting in the ephah; for Christ is outside. Rejected by Christ because she is lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, she progresses in evil with frightful rapidity until, in Rev. 17, she is seen to be Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. She has thus been borne, as it were, on the wings of the wind, and has had a house built for her in the land of Shinar. This is the final goal of Christendom, no less than that of Judaism. and there in the land of Shinar the two will probably coalesce. Mat solemn reflections rise up within our hearts as we behold the future both of Judaism. and Christendom, both alike having possessed the Scriptures; but, turning aside from the light of this sure and infallible guide, both alike fall under the terrible power of Satan, who, transforming himself into an angel of light in man's estimation, and appealing to man's pride and vanity, succeeds in leading both into the denial of all that they had once learned from the word of God. And it were easy, if this were the time and place, to point the reader to existing things which are the sure precursors of this open apostasy; for already the fundamental doctrines of Christianity are being ignored or denied, and man's wisdom and man's power are being vaunted above the wisdom and power of God. There was never more need therefore than at the present moment for the exhortation of the apostle — "Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning." (1 John 2: 24). For the only safety of the believer in these perilous times lies in adhering in every particular to, in testing all things by, and in treasuring up in his heart, the word of the living God.

Zechariah 6.

Another vision now dawns upon the soul of the prophet. "And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass." (v. 1) We are passing now again, it is evident, into the sphere of the world's empires, and God's government of the earth by their means. In chapter 1 there were horses representing the three empires — Persia, Greece, and Rome — that succeeded Babylon; here all these four empires are shown under the symbol of chariots and horses. And they come out from between two mountains of brass. We may be helped in ascertaining the meaning of this expression by the statement in verse 5: "These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth." The chariots thus come out from the presence of the Most High; and the mountains (which are sometimes figuratively used for seats of government, Psalm 72: 3; Rev. 17: 9, etc.) may be regarded as the pillars of His throne. (Compare Ps. 75: 3.) Their being mountains of brass tends also to the same interpretation; for brass is an emblem of divine righteousness testing man (as, for example, in the brazen altar) in responsibility, and hence it is connected with judgment, as indeed in the present vision. (v. 8.) God is taking cognizance of the events of earth as He is about to judge all on the eternal principle of His own righteousness as displayed in His government. Thus the Psalmist says, "Thy righteousness is like the great mountains"; and, "The mountains of God" (Psalm 36: 6), an expression which confirms our interpretation.

The following remarks of another are so striking, and so vividly express, as we judge, the significance of this vision that we give them entire. "In chapter 6 we are shown the government of God in the four monarchies, but neither as immediate government on God's part, nor merely that of human government. We have seen power committed to man in the person of Nebuchadnezzar, and that he had failed therein. But it was not the will of God immediately to resume the reins of government in the earth, neither to leave the earth to the wickedness and the will of man without any providential bridle, without any government. He controls them, not by acting directly, so as to maintain the testimony of His character and His ways, but by means of instruments whom He employs, the result of whose activity is according to His will. The only wise God can do this; for He knows all things, and directs all things to the accomplishment of His purposes. This is the reason that we see all sorts of things morally in disagreement with His ways in government, which yet succeed; a chaos as to the present, but the issue of which will furnish a clue that will make manifest a wisdom even more profound and admirable than that which was displayed in His own immediate government in Israel, perfect as this was in its place. It is that universal providence which, in its results, satisfies the moral exigencies of the nature of God; while in the intermediate course of things free scope is left to the active energies of man's will.

This mediate power, exercised by means of instruments proceeding from the presence of the Most High God is employed in connection with His rights over the whole earth. This is the character of God in the prophecy of Zechariah. It is the character also of His government for the time being, that is, during the four empires. When Christ shall reign, the government will again be immediate in His person, and Jerusalem be its centre.

I think the judgment executed upon Babylon answers to that which is said in verse 8. We know that Chaldea was always the north country to Israel. The spirits employed by God have accomplished His will there. The seventh verse appears to indicate the Roman empire, comprising everything from its first establishment to the present time, and its historical character at all times. The white horses would be the representatives of that which God has done by means of the Greek empire. The grisled and bay appear to indicate a mixture of Greek and Roman power; at least, these horses have a double character, which becomes afterwards two distinct classes (the last only having the character of universality, which goes to and fro throughout all the earth). I doubt not that all these proud instruments of His government will be found again as spheres of judgment in the last days, when God begins to assert His rights as the God of the whole earth, unless Babylon geographically may be an exception in virtue of what is said in verse 8."*

*Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, by J. N. Darby, 3rd edition.

The principles laid down at the commencement of the above extract are of all importance for the understanding of God's ways in the government of the earth during the long interval between the removal of His throne from Jerusalem, on the destruction of the city and temple by Nebuchadnezzar, and the establishment of Messiah's throne in Zion. If, however, the reader should be disappointed at not finding a more precise and detailed interpretation of the chariots and their horses, he must remember that full light will only be thrown back on these symbols when Jehovah again asserts His claims over the earth, and that in the meantime we must be contented with an outline of His working through and by means of these successive world empires. Still, great assistance may be gained in the study of these prophetic visions by a careful examination of all that has been written in other books concerning the empires of the world, as, for example, in Daniel 2: 7 - 11, etc. Two things he will at least learn. First, that the four monarchies, represented by four chariots, are but successive instrumentalities in the hand of God for the accomplishment of His will; and that the various political crises, whether as arising from wars or changes of territory, both in "the north country," and in "the south country," are the result of His working through man's will and man's schemes in view of His immutable purposes of blessing in Israel; and secondly, that the issue of the government of the earth by the hands of man will be the two beasts of Rev. 13, who will be the incarnation of all human wickedness, as seen in the vain attempt to eradicate from the hearts of men all belief in the existence of God. (See Rev. 13)* Happy are those who, through the grace of God, have their portion outside of this scene; who know that their citizenship is in heaven; and who therefore, while they, in obedience to the word of God, are subject to the powers that be and obey magistrates, stand aloof from all political agitations and movements, expecting nothing from man's vain and futile efforts to improve the world, but wait continually for the return of the Lord.

*Strange to say, this is the first article in the creed of that Nihilism which men at present affect to despise and hate, because it wages war against ordered government and society, and thus disturbs their peace. The time is soon coming when they will welcome and applaud the Anti-christ who will proclaim the very doctrines they now abominate.

As arising out of the vision, Zechariah now receives a distinct message, which gives us the frill result of God's ways in government in the introduction of the Messiah, who should be as "a priest upon his throne," between whom and Jehovah as we shall see, there will be "the counsel of peace." First, we have the occasion of the message, and a symbolic action, which becomes a shadow of the complete blessing predicted. "And the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Joshua the son of Zephaniah; then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest." (vv. 9-11) We find no other reference to these names, and it would seem that they had come from Babylon with offerings for the Lord's work in building the temple. They had not availed themselves of the liberty given, through the proclamation of Cyrus, to return to Judah with their brethren; but though they had not faith for this, they had fellowship with the object of those who had returned.* The prophet is commanded to go into the house of Josiah — where these godly Jews lodged, it may be — and take silver and gold, of the offerings they had brought, if this were the purpose of their visit to Jerusalem, and to make crowns and set them upon the head of Joshua the high priest. Thus crowned with many crowns (see Rev. 19: 12), he stood in the midst of his brethren as a type of Christ in His future glory. It was no mean privilege for Joshua, as the crowned priest, to become the symbol of the Messiah; but this honour was accorded to him by Jehovah through His messenger. And while he thus stood before these children of the captivity, Zechariah was charged to speak unto him, saying, "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH, and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both." (vv. 12, 13.)

*It has been noticed that the names of the deputation (for they probably represented others as well) are most expressive spiritually. Thus Tobijah is "The Lord is my good"; Jedaiah, "Jehovah knoweth"; Josiah, "Jehovah supporteth"; Zephaniah, "The Lord hideth." Heldai, or Cheldai, is not so clear.

The message explains most fully the meaning of the symbolical act of crowning Joshua the high priest. He thus became, as already shown, a type of Christ as the true Melchizedek.* The several features of the Messiah in His future glory are very interesting. He is first presented to us as the man whose name is The BRANCH.† According to promise He should spring forth after the flesh from the stock, and thus be the offspring of David; and hence it is added that "He shall grow up out of His place"; i.e. He should be regarded as born in Zion, according to the word in the Psalm — "The Lord shall count, when He writeth up the people, that this man" (Christ) "was born there." (Psalm 87: 6.) For though Bethlehem was the place of David's nativity (also of David's Son and Lord), Zion was the seat of that royal grace displayed in the kingdom, and the place to which therefore Messiah is said to belong. Then moreover it is said, "he shall build the temple of the Lord: even he shall build the temple of the Lord." In this way the faith of Joshua, and the remnant whom he represented, would be encouraged. They were labouring to erect a house for Jehovah amid the desolations of the once beautiful Jerusalem; and the Lord directs them to look upon their work as the promise of a time, which should eclipse the glory of the past far more than the past overshadowed the present, when Messiah Himself should build the temple — one therefore commensurate with the splendours of His own glorious reign, and as such worthy to be the habitation of the Lord their God.

*It should be said that it is not certain whether the word rendered "crowns" should not be given in the singular as "crown." The only difference is, if "crown" it is more distinctly the Melchizedek character of the Messiah brought before us; if "crowns" it would rather be His wider glory as King of kings and Lord of lords, His universal dominion.

†See our remarks on Zech. 3: 8 for the meaning of this expression.

The fact is interesting in itself, and should be noted by every reader of prophecy, as it throws a flood of light upon the future. The temple now being erected was to last till the days of Herod; for he really rebuilt, or made such alterations and renovations as were tantamount to rebuilding the temple. This was destroyed, as we know, by the Romans, and from that day to this, Jerusalem trodden under foot by the Gentiles, has been without a house for Jehovah and will continue to be so as long as the day of grace shall be extended. The time, however, will come when the Jews, restored to their own land, will in their unbelief — unbelief as to Jesus being their Messiah — build another temple; for it is found existing and associated with wickedness. (See Isaiah 66: 6; Matt. 24: 15.) This temple will also be destroyed (Daniel 8: 11), and thus the way is prepared for the advent of the Messiah in His kingdom, when He will fulfil the prediction here given through Zechariah. It will be then for the first time that there will be One to govern upon earth adequate to all the requirements of the glory of God: He shall bear the glory. This is the One of whom the prophet Isaiah had spoken as a nail fastened in a sure place, who should be for a glorious throne to his father's house, upon whom they should hang "all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups even to all the vessels of flagons." (Isa. 22: 23, 24.) Yea, He shall bear the glory; for He has shown, proved, both His worthiness and ability to do so. On the cross He was tested as to this, and it was abundantly demonstrated that He could sustain the whole weight of the glory of God in respect of His people's sins. In the place of sin and for sin He endured all that was necessary to vindicate the name of His God before the universe; for He devoted Himself to such a death for the divine glory, and He to whom He thus offered Himself has declared His satisfaction, His joy, in the death of His beloved Son by raising Him from the dead, and setting Him down at His own right hand in heaven. Already He has glorified Him there with the glory which He had with the Father before the world was; and very soon He will display Him in that glory on the earth, and then it is that He will execute the decree already promulgated — "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." And He will do this in connection with establishing Him as King upon His holy hill of Zion, where the accomplishment of these words, "he shall bear the glory," will be verified, the glory of God in the earth, is He already bears it in heaven. That it is in connection with government is seen from what follows. He "shall sit and rule upon his throne" — the throne of His father David — when "he shall reign over the house (of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke 1: 32, 33.)

Two other things are added; first, that He shall be a priest upon His throne — the true Melchizedek — King of Righteousness, and also King of Peace — the two characters foreshadowed by David and Solomon, and together with these ever maintaining the place and office of the Priest on behalf of His people. (See Psalm 110) Lastly, the counsel of peace shall be between Him and Jehovah; and this, as the result of His bearing the glory, and, governing according to God's perfect standard, the expression in His government of the character and ways of God, and that in the fulness of their perfection; and thus it will be the foundation and the guarantee of the peace and blessing of all who accept from the heart His perfect and righteous rule. (Compare Psalm 72) It is for this blessed future the earth now sighs and waits; for unconsciously to themselves this Royal Priest is the desire of all nations, and when He once comes and takes His power, He will not only satisfy, but far transcend, the most longing expectations. Hence in the prospect of this the psalmist cries, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth; make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be. joyful together before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity." (Psalm 98: 4-9.)

We have now another action. First of all, the crowns (or crown) having been made, were put upon the head of Joshua, who became thus a type of Christ in the glory of the kingdom. Having served this purpose, the crowns (or crown) were to be laid up in the temple of Jehovah as a memorial "to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah." (v. 14.) There is something touchingly beautiful in this act of grace. These godly Jews, as we have before pointed out, had not returned with their brethren from Babylon to unite in the work of building the temple; but, while they had not risen to the call of God in this respect, they were in fellowship with those who had, and had travelled all the way from Babylon to bring their offerings for the work. The Lord had noted all this. His eyes were upon them, for this act of theirs was precious in His sight; and He directed that the crowns which had been made should be kept as a memorial of their fellowship with the work of their brethren — yea, with His own work — In the erection of His habitation in Jerusalem.* Not only so, but these true Israelites in their journey from distant Babylon should themselves become a figure of those who, in the day of Messiah's glory, should come to build in the temple of the Lord. (v. 15.) The prophet Isaiah also speaks of these when he says, "The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces [wealth] of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought . . . The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious." (Isaiah 60: 10-13) Thus while Messiah Himself shall build the temple of the Lord (v. 12) He will permit in His grace the association of others with Him, labouring under His direction and control, in this glorious work. It is the same in principle now in the present dispensation. "On this rock." He says to Peter, "I will build my church." And Paul says, "We are labourers together with God," or fellow-labourers belonging to God, and this, as he explains, in connection with building His church. (1 Cor. 3) How great the grace! How unspeakable the privilege in being thus associated with the Lord in the execution of His designs! And the prophet appeals to this verification of his prophecy as a proof of his mission from Jehovah.

*Monarchs, warriors, and others, under the influence of sacerdotalism and superstition, in ignorance of the teaching of this scripture, as well as of the character of the day of grace, have sought to imitate the action of these pious Jews, and to commend themselves thereby to God by adorning the "churches" of Christendom and the shrines of saints with costly gifts of gold and precious stones.

The chapter concludes with placing the remnant under the responsibility of obedience. "And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God." (v. 15.) In this way the Lord connects the fulfilment of His promises with their obedience, and thus the present with the future. Doubtless the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, and therefore He will surely accomplish His own purposes; but, on the other hand, He ever proposes blessing to His people, on condition of walking in His ways. Thus in Acts 3. by the mouth of Peter, the return of Christ to the Jewish nation was offered on condition of their repentance. And for the Christian it is no less true that obedience is the way of all blessing. In the address therefore to Philadelphia, the Lord says, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." (Rev. 3: 10) In like manner the remnant from Babylon would only be guarded, prospered, and brought into the enjoyment of present blessing in building the temple, even as the remnant in a future day, of whom they were the representatives, would only be permitted to see the fulfilment of these glorious predictions, if they diligently obeyed the voice of the Lord their God.*

*Before passing on to the next section of this book, we desire again to call attention to the special characteristic of that now considered. The following remarks present it clearly and concisely: "We may remark that in Zechariah (Babylon being already judged) we have neither man invested with the government, nor the moral character of the empires presented under the form of an image, or that of beasts, but the government of God, hidden, providential, but real, in connection with these empires. This is an element of much importance, if we would understand the whole system existing from the time of Nebuchadnezzar and the return from captivity until the end, when Christ shall reign in righteousness." — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, vol. ii., third edition.

Zechariah 7.

Together with this chapter we pass out of the region of apocalyptic visions into the domain of pure and proper prophecy; and this extends to the close of the book. The main object of this portion is to bring in the introduction of Messiah, and to show the consequences of His rejection, issuing finally in the attack of the enemy, in the last days, on Jerusalem, and the interposition of God on behalf of His people, as preparatory, to the establishment of Messiah's throne in righteousness, when the Lord shall be King over all the earth.

The chapter commences with the date of the occurrence of the incident which becomes the occasion of, and forms a kind of preface to, the following prophecies. It was "in the fourth year of king Darius." — two years, therefore, after the date of the previous visions (see Zech. 1: 1) - "that the word of the Lord came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chisleu" (v. 1); and this message was received by the prophet with reference to a special embassy which had been sent "to pray before the Lord." The character of this embassy is somewhat obscured by a mistranslation in verse 2. It should probably be rendered as follows: "When Bethel had sent Sherezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to pray before the Lord."* It appears that the Jews who had returned from Babylon, and had fixed their abode at Bethel (see Nehemiah 11: 31; Ezra 2: 28), had sent this deputation to Jerusalem for a twofold purpose: "To pray before the Lord, [and] to speak unto the priests which were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?" (vv. 2, 3.)

*The mistake has arisen from translating the proper name, "Bethel," by the "house of God"; for it would seem that, in the words of another, "the house of God is nowhere in Scripture called Bethel. Bethel is always the name of the place. The house of God is designated, by historians, psalmists, prophets, by the name, Beth-elohim, more commonly Beth-Ha-elohim, or [the house] of Jehovah."

The fifth month was the anniversary of the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, a memorable day to the Jew, significant as it was of the Lord's departure from His people, in the removal of His throne from Jerusalem, and one which, as it would seem from this chapter, was annually celebrated by, a solemn fast. But, as is seen in Christendom as well as among. the Jews, the most solemn fasts are often proclaimed and observed with little or no humiliation before God. And so, by the answer sent to this deputation, it must be concluded to have been with this fast of the fifth month. Those who observed it drew near to God with their lips, while their hearts were far from Him; and, moreover, they had become weary of its annual recurrence. This was the motive of their sending men to Jerusalem, to entreat the face of the Lord, and to enquire if it were necessary to continue to weep and to "separate" themselves as they had done for so many years. Were they not restored to the land? and was not the temple nearly completed?* Might they not now, therefore, lay aside the badges of mourning and sorrow, and give themselves up to enjoyment?

*In fact it was two years from this time before the temple was finished,

The reader, even before the answer is pondered, will easily detect the selfishness that prompted this enquiry, which was addressed to the priests and to the prophets. A fast should be the expression of a state of heart, or it could have no value before God. If, therefore, the men of Bethel had the state of heart which the fast should have expressed, they could not have asked if it were needful to continue its observance. If they had realized the significance of their captivity in Babylon, or the present mournful condition of the restored remnant, they would have welcomed the return of the fast as an opportunity to pour out unitedly before God their tears and supplications; instead of which they felt it a burden, and desired its abolition. It seemed a pious thing to send men to pray before the Lord, and to put this question; but the Lord is not mocked. His eyes behold the heart, its motives, the springs of action; and hence He sends an answer which exposes all to view. The question had been sent by a few, the answer is addressed to all the people of the land, and to the priests. "Then came the word of the Lord of hosts unto me, saying, Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying When ye lasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, [even] to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves?" (or, more exactly, Is it not ye who eat, and ye who drink?) (vv. 4-6.)

In this manner the Lord lays bare the hearts of His people. It was true that they had punctiliously observed for seventy years the fasts of the fifth and the seventh months* with all the external signs of lamentation and mourning; but they fasted not to the Lord, but as He enquires, by the mouth of the prophet, "Did ye at all fast unto me, to me?" No, whether fasting, or eating and drinking, it was done for themselves, and to themselves, God and His claims not being in all their thoughts. It is a striking illustration of how far man may go in self-deception in religious observances. A similar instance is met with in the prophet Isaiah. The Jews of his day had complained, "Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?" They had vainly imagined that they were commending themselves to the Lord by their mournful ceremonials; but the prophet, by the solemn answer he gives, strips them of their illusions. "Behold," he says, "in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?" (Isaiah 58: 3-5.) The natural man never learns the lesson, that while man looks on the outward appearance God regards the heart, and hence, as the Lord Jesus told the Pharisees, that the thing which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination with God.

*As the fast of the fifth month commemorated the destruction of the temple, that of the seventh month recalled the assassination of the governor of the land, and of the Jews that were with him, by Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, an event which was followed by the remnant, in disobedience to the word of the Lord, taking refuge in Egypt. (Jer. 41 - 44)

It is a mistake religious man is ever making, that God must be pleased with him if he attend to outward forms and ceremonies, even when these ritualistic forms are of his own devising. The Lord Jesus Himself has dealt with this in solemn words in Matthew 15, wherein He shows that the iniquity of the Pharisees found its highest expression in teaching for doctrines the commandments of men, and that, as long as the heart is untouched, nothing, however religiously done, can be acceptable to God. This was the case with the Jews in our chapter; for the inhabitants of Bethel were but a sample of the state of all, and hence Zechariah is directed to recall to their minds God's former messages by the prophets, and the fact that all the sorrows which had befallen Jerusalem, as well as themselves, had resulted from their neglect of, and disobedience to, Jehovah's word. He thus, after exposing the insincerity of their pretended fasts, proceeds, "Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?" (v. 7.)

Herein lies a principle of abiding importance. Instead of wondering whether they had not mourned sufficiently over their national disasters, significant of Jehovah's anger against His people, they should have gone back and enquired into the causes of their sorrows, and they would then have learned, that their rebellion against God had procured for them their adversities; and, furthermore, they should have examined themselves as to whether in their fastings they had judged and humbled themselves before God, and whether they were now accepting for themselves the admonitions, the warnings, and the directions of His word. And surely, there is a loud voice in all this instruction for the people of God at the present moment. In our sorrows, our weaknesses, and our chastisements under the Lord's hand, are we also not too often content with meetings for confession and humiliation, while we forget to enquire into the causes of our failures, and to ascertain what departures from the word of God may, have brought us into our low condition? Let us be warned by the case before us, and at the same time learn that, however sincerely even we may humble ourselves before God on account of past sins, there can be no restoration of blessing until we have gone down to the roots of our failure, and tested all by the word of God. The slightest departure from God's order, if known and allowed, is sufficient to grieve the Spirit of God, and to hinder blessing. If therefore we would discover the causes of the broken and captive condition of the church, we must go back to Pentecost, even as the Jews were here commanded to go back to the time of Jerusalem's prosperity, and when we have done this we may, by comparing the present with the past, easily learn the means of restoration and blessing.

The eighth verse would seem at first sight to be the commencement of a new message, but a closer examination reveals the fact that the Lord does but give a summary, through Zechariah of the words which He had "cried by the former prophets." Thus verses 9 and 10 give the substance of His former messages to His people, verses 11 and 12 point out the way, in which His word had been refused; and verses 13 and 14 show that the withering judgments which had fallen upon Israel and the land were the consequence of their hardened hearts and sinful rebellion. We have then first a compendium of what God required of His people as a condition of being retained in blessing in the land. Israel was under law, mingled however with grace after the sin of the golden calf, yet still under law, and therefore under responsibility. Thus the first part of the book of Deuteronomy insists again and again upon obedience as the condition of blessing and of remaining in the land; and Jeremiah, in very similar language to this in Zechariah, teaches the same lesson. He says, "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these. For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever." (Chap. 7: 4-7.)

It will be perceived that it is the second table of the law — love to their neighbours — to which the Lord had recalled the attention of His people in the days of their prosperity. It is, in fact, love to their neighbour in its spiritual measure of love to themselves; and hence they had been called upon to execute true judgment, not to show respect of persons; to have a tender and compassionate heart; to abstain from oppressing the helpless, the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, and the poor; and finally, they were not to imagine (i.e. devise, see Micah 2: 1-3) evil against their brethren in their hearts. All this shows the value God attaches to our practical conduct, to a walk in relation to others as formed and ordered by His word. And He had recalled Israel to these moral features, because it was precisely in these things, as may be gathered from their history, that they were lacking. Unless therefore they listened to these divine admonitions judgment awaited them.

How then had they received them? Can anything be more solemn than the description of the way in which these divine communications were treated? "They refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent in His Spirit by the former prophets." (vv. 11, 12.) There was thus not only indifference, but there was also positive enmity to the word of God, even open rebellion against Him and His claims. Nehemiah confessed the sins of his people in almost the very words which are here used by the prophet. He said, "They dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments. . . . and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their necks, and would not hear." (Nehemiah 9: 29.) Isaiah also points out the same moral characteristics, in evidence of the utter obduracy of the people, in the well known and often cited words, "This people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed." (Matthew 13: 15.) Thus it was the will of Israel not to hear; for they "refused to hearken" — stopped their ears, "made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear," and in this way resolutely turned away from the pleadings and admonitions of the prophets. The apostle Paul speaks of a time when, in like manner, professing Christians "will not endure sound doctrine . . . and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." (2 Tim. 4: 3, 4.) All this, whether among Jews or Christians, is a sign of terrible moral corruption; for nothing betrays more fully the wickedness of the heart than the rejection of the word of God, and when this is openly done it is also the sure precursor of coming judgment. This is simply a matter of fact, as recorded in the Scriptures, but the reader must judge for himself whether the refusal of the divine word is not a characteristic of the present moment; not so much by the infidel and the atheist, who have never received it, as by numbers who claim the Christian name, and even by many among these who assume the place of Christian teachers. To throw doubts upon the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures is but the first step in the development of that rationalism which affects to be wiser than God, which denies the foundations of the faith, and which interprets whatever of the Bible it professes to believe in accordance with the desires of the natural man. God's own word is rejected, and the word of foolish man is substituted in its place; and this is the fruit of the boasted wisdom of the nineteenth century!

Let us now see the consequences of this high-handed rebellion against God. The reader will mark the connection as shown by the word "therefore." "Therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear, so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts: but I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate." (vv. 12-14.) The returned remnant knew very well the past history of their nation, that the pleasant land (the land of desire) had been ravaged and laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar, and that even their present condition, though they had returned from exile, was a testimony to what had been suffered. But whenever we get off the ground of the word of God there is a tendency to lose sight of the hand of God in our chastenings; and it is more than likely that the Jews, forgetting their special place in the dealings of God, were taking up in spirit a position like that of the surrounding peoples. If therefore they had been conquered and carried away captive, so, they might have reasoned, have other nations. To counteract any such thought, and to compel them to see the root of all the evils that had befallen them, the Lord reminds them of the conduct of their fathers, and tells them that it was His wrath they had suffered in judgment; and hence that it was in His favour alone prosperity could be enjoyed, and that obedience to His word was the only way by which His favour could be regained. It was for this reason the prophet was instructed to hold up this picture of the past, that they might learn a lesson, take warning, for themselves. They might fast and separate themselves for ever; but if this were unaccompanied by self-judgment and obedience to the Word, they did but fast in vain. Our Lord also taught the same thing when He said to His disciples, "When ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto Thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly."* (Matthew 6: 16-18). The Jews and the priests to whom Zechariah was sent, in their desire to commend themselves to one another, had too much forgotten Him who "seeth in secret," and thus betrayed the state of their hearts. Nor are we free from the same danger; and hence it is that the apostle insists upon the true heart and the full assurance of faith in our approaches to God. (Hebrews 10; compare 1 John 3: 20-22.) It was then in consequence of disobedience to the word of God that judgment had fallen upon His people. The various stages of His dealings with them are very solemn. First, "there came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts." This failing to produce contrition, "He cried," and they would not hear, and then when they, awakened at length, though too late, did cry to Him, the Lord would not hear. (Compare Prov. 1: 24-31) And thus there came, finally, the crowning woe and judgment in their being scattered with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land, bereaved of its inhabitants, had been desolate; for they, they by their sins, had laid the pleasant land desolate. In this solemn way the prophet is made to lay bare the bitter root of all the sorrows of the people, that they might learn what an evil and bitter thing it was to depart from the living and true God.

*The word "openly" in this scripture, as also in verses 4 and 6 in the same chapter, should be omitted, as having no sufficient evidence for its insertion.

The subject then of the chapter is the failure of God's people when in possession of the land, under responsibility, and the judgment which consequently fell upon them from the Lord through the instrumentality of Nebuchadnezzar. In the next chapter we shall see God restoring and securing in grace what His people had forfeited through their transgressions.

Zechariah 8.

While this chapter contains a distinct prophecy, it flows from, and is connected with, that which precedes. It is divided into two parts — the first, from verse 1 to verse 17, and the second, from verse 18 to the end. The first part is characterised by a seven-fold "Thus saith the Lord of hosts" — one of these, "Thus saith the Lord" only. The second has, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts" three times. This to the human ear might seem to be useless repetition, but by those taught of the Spirit it will be regarded as a solemn affirmation of the truth of the prophetic message, and that, from the number of the times the words are repeated, in a very especial way. There is indeed no variation, even in the form of the divine communications, that does not contain instruction for the devout mind.

The subject of this chapter, in contrast with Zech. 7, reveals the whole truth of God's ways with Jerusalem and the house of Judah, and indeed with man. In the latter part of chapter 7 we have seen the failure of Jehovah's people under responsibility and their consequent judgment. In this chapter we find the revelation of God's purposes, immutable purposes of blessing, according to His counsels of grace. In like manner Adam was tested in the garden, placed under the responsibility of obedience as the condition of blessing. By his transgression he lost all, and then, on his failure, the Man of God's counsels, the seed of the woman, was introduced as the One in and by whom God would accomplish all the thoughts of His heart. Thus it was with Israel. They accepted the law in responsibility, and their blessing was dependent upon their keeping the commandments. Their history is but the record of their transgressions, and chapter 7 brings before those to whom the prophet was sent the conduct of their fathers, and shows them how the land had been forfeited through their disobedience and sin. But the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, and thus, in grace triumphing over His people's sin through Him who was to die for that nation, He can announce His unalterable love for Zion, and His purpose to effect her restoration. It is necessary for the reader to comprehend these principles of God's ways with Israel, if he would read the prophets with intelligence.

The chapter opens then with a real gospel, not the gospel of the grace of God, but the gospel of blessing to Zion. "Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury." (vv. 1, 2.) In these words we have the revelation of the ground of God's intervention on behalf of His people; it is His unchanging love for Zion. He says, I "am," not I "was," jealous for Zion.* Her present mournful condition moved Him, as it were, to compassion, excited His jealousy† on her behalf, and constrained Him to step in for her restoration. The intensity of Jehovah's feelings for this beloved city may be gathered from many scriptures. In Isaiah, for example, we read, "Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." (Isa. 49: 14-16.) It is this same unchanging affection for Zion that finds expression through Zechariah, and, if the words may be reverently used, stirs up Jehovah to interpose for her deliverance and restoration. She may still have to wait, centuries may have to roll by, owing to her yet greater sin in the crucifixion of the Messiah; but the eyes and heart of Jehovah will perpetually rest upon her, and He will infallibly fulfil the word that has gone out of His mouth, and make her yet once more, and in a more perfect way, the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth. (Lam. 2: 15.)

*Thus in the French version of J. N. D. it is given, "Je suis jaloux pour Sion," and Dr. Pusey translates, "I have been and am jealous for Sion."

†Compare as to the word jealousy Canticles 8: 6.

The prophet then proceeds to point out the way in which Jehovah will accomplish His purposes. "Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain." (v. 3.) Jehovah had departed from His dwelling-place at Jerusalem, because of His people's sins (see Ezekiel 11: 23), and He had given up the land for "a desolation and an astonishment" for seventy years (Jer. 25: 11); but now that this period had been fulfilled He had, according to that same word, visited His people, and performed His good word toward them in causing them to return. (Jeremiah 29: 10) Hence it is that He says, by the mouth of the prophet, "I am returned unto Zion"; for in truth, as He spake through Haggai, He was with His people, and His spirit remained among them. (Haggai 2) It is true that they were but a poor feeble few, yet it was on them the Lord's eyes and heart were set. He had been with them in their journey from the land of their exile, and He was now with them in their laborious work in the erection of the temple; for it was His work in which they were engaged. He was thus "returned" to Zion.

He also says," I will dwell at Jerusalem." He does not say, I do, but I will dwell at Jerusalem; for though His people were building a temple to His name, and it was according to His mind that they should do so, and He delighted in their work, He would not yet dwell in Zion — not indeed until many weary years should have passed, not until the establishment of Messiah's kingdom. But, as we have before seen in Haggai, and in the former parts of this book, the work which the children of the captivity, were at this moment doing, contained in itself the promise and the guarantee, of the fulfilment of all that God had spoken concerning the future glory of Jerusalem. A long interval of centuries, therefore, must be interposed between the words, "I am returned unto Zion" and I "will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem," though the two are linked together as a cause and effect in the divine mind.

Then the consequence follows, "And Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain." Formerly Jerusalem had been full of iniquity. Isaiah thus speaks, "How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers"; and then, denouncing judgment upon her, and describing how it should be executed, he says, "Afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city." (Isaiah 1: 21-26.) So here. When the Lord shall have once more taken up His abode in Jerusalem, when there shall have come out of Zion the Deliverer, and have turned away ungodliness from Jacob the city will be, a city of truth, and Zion, God's holy mountain, sanctified by His own glory (compare Exodus 29: 43), and undefiled by His worshippers, shall be preserved in holiness. Wherever God condescends to dwell, whether in the tabernacle, temple, or in the church, truth and holiness must be maintained.

We have, in the next place, the presentation of the prosperity and happiness of the inhabitants of the city. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof." (vv. 4, 5.) It must be remembered that the fulfilment of this promise will take place under the sway of Messiah in the thousand years, when "there shall be no more thence an infant of days" (i.e. death in infancy, a child who shall live but for a few days), nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for health and strength will be possessed by all who are subject to Christ as King. Even under the law this would have been so, had the people been obedient. They would have escaped the diseases of Egypt, and prolonged their days in the land (see Exodus 15: 26; Deut. 4: 10, Deut. 5: 16, 33, Deut. 6: 2, Deut. 11: 9, etc.); but they forfeited all by their disobedience and sin.* But in the future God will cause His people to realize all, and more than all, the blessings which He had promised of old under the condition of keeping the law. Hence this beautiful picture of temporal prosperity, old men and women enjoying in tranquility a peaceful old age, and able still to be in the streets, though bending under the weight of "the multitude of days," supported by their staff, while the streets should, at the same time, resound with the jocund cries of boys and girls in the merriment of their play. It is a scene of perfect natural happiness, and one that reveals the interest, the pleasure, God takes in the temporal prosperity of His people, and the more, it should not be forgotten, because it is one of the blessings consequent on Messiah's righteous reign.

*Faith-healing in all its varieties, confounding the dispensations — that is, transferring the promises given to the earthly people to Christians — bases its teaching on such scriptures as are quoted above; and hence maintains that health of soul will be inevitably followed by health of body. But as soon as the distinction is perceived between Israel (the earthly people) and the Church (the heavenly people) the error is at once detected. That God answers the prayer of faith, as in James 5, all admit; but there is not the shadow of a foundation for the thought that sickness is an indication of a bad spiritual condition. On the other hand, John desires that Gaius might prosper and be in health, even as his soul prospered (3 John 2); and there is not a single instance in the New Testament of any of the apostles healing Christians "by faith." Paul thus says, "Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick" (2 Tim. 4: 20) and he directs Timothy to use a remedy for his "often infirmities" (1 Tim. 5: 23); and he himself had a thorn in the flesh (whatever it may signify), not because he was in, but to prevent his falling into, a bad condition.

The accomplishment of this promise would be a source of astonishment to those who should witness it. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these* days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts." (v. 6.) Nothing is too hard for the Lord, and it was always His thought to bless His people abundantly. We are too apt to forget this, and to accept a low, enfeebled condition as our normal state, instead of perceiving that it is only we ourselves who limit, by our unbelief and disobedience, our blessing. So when the Jews emerge at length from their down-trodden and oppressed condition into the full light and blessing of the kingdom, they will be astounded at the display of God's power and grace on their behalf, and at the character of the wealthy place into which they have been brought. But with God it will only be His long-looked and waited-for opportunity for the execution of all His gracious designs, when He will rejoice over His people with joy, rest in His love, and joy over them with singing. (Zephaniah 3: 17.)

*This should rather be "those," referring as given above, to the remnant in Messiah's day.

The next two verses explain the accomplishment of His purposes. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my, people from the east country, and from the west country, and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness." (vv. 7, 8.) Such is the way in which Jehovah will effect the prosperity and blessing of His people. The details are not found here, but we know from other scriptures that the gathering of the Jews from other lands will be after the appearing of the Son of man (see, for example, Matthew 24: 29-31), and after therefore He shall have taken to Himself His rightful power and throne. Sought out and brought back by the intervention of their glorious Messiah, they shall dwell in "the city of the great King," and shall be introduced into relationship with Him as their God. It is of great moment to observe that all the happiness and prosperity above described will flow from their established relationship with God. They shall be His people, and He will be their God in truth — in the truth of what He is as revealed in His covenant relationship with Israel — and in righteousness, this characterizing the government under which they will be placed. The blessings of Christians are, in like manner, determined by the character of their relationship with God. He is their God and Father, because the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and, as the epistle to the Ephesians shows, all the spiritual blessings which are ours in heavenly places in Christ are connected with this twofold relationship. Jehovah is the name of relationship which God has been pleased to take in reference to Israel, and it is this name — this name in all that it involves as expressive of what God is as thus revealed — which will give character to their millennial blessing; hence the words, we doubt not, of "truth and righteousness" — terms which could hardly be applied to the God of grace in His relationship to Christians as their God and Father. It will be profitable for the reader to mark these distinctions, which are significant of the different dispensations in the course of God's revelations of Himself at different epochs, and thus of the relationships on which He has been pleased to enter with the objects of His grace. To confound these is to miss the key to the interpretation of Scripture.

Having disclosed by the word of the Lord the future restoration, prosperity, and blessing of Jerusalem and Judah, the prophet returns to their present circumstances, as connected with the building of the house of the Lord; and this part of Zechariah's message, though divided into two parts, extends to verse 17. From verse 9 to verse 13 we have the message; in verses 14, 15 the ground is stated — viz., the change in the Lord's attitude towards His people; and then in verses 16, 17 the responsibility of the people is given, showing, as everywhere under the old dispensation, that their blessing was dependent upon their walking according to Jehovah's commandments.

First then we have the message — "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house, of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built." The prophet's meaning is not at first sight apprehended. It would seem that he is recalling to the minds of his hearers the words that had been spoken by the prophets on the day when the foundation of the temple was laid. Thus, "Ye that hear in these days," would refer to his present audience, and, "These words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day," etc., will relate to the special messages given at the time when the foundation was laid for the encouragement of the builders in their work. It is this of which Zechariah reminds the people as he appeals to present facts in confirmation of the word then spoken. What then were the words spoken at that time by the prophets? There is little doubt, from what follows in this chapter, that the reference is to Haggai. We read there, after a description of the state of things that existed, because the people had neglected building the Lord's house, "Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the Lord's temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? Yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive-tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you." (Haggai 2: 18, 19) It is to "these words" that Zechariah doubtless refers; for he also points back to the sorrowful condition of the people before they commenced the work of the house. He says, "Before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast, neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbour." (v. 10) The people, as we learn from Haggai, had all been seeking their own things, had been building their own houses, while saying that it was not the proper moment to build the Lord's house. But the Lord saw, and He loved the people too well to allow them to prosper while forgetting Him and His claims. He thus came in, stirred up "affliction" for them on every hand, brought in trial and adversity, and exposed them to the enmity of their neighbours. But when, aroused by the prophets, and thus recalled to the object and purpose of their restoration from exile, they commenced to lay the foundation of the temple, God began to bless them in all the work of their hands. Seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, they found that all other things — things which before they sought to obtain without God — were now added to them. Hence the Lord says, "But now" (the "now" dating, as we judge, as in Haggai, from the laying of the foundation of the temple) "I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts. For the seed shall be prosperous" (see margin); "the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things." (vv. 11, 12.)

It were well for the people of God in every age to remember this principle. How often is it that they are tempted, for the sake of temporal advantage, or even, as they think, from the necessity of daily duties, to give their own things the first place, a superior place to the Lord's things. Whenever this temptation is yielded to, nothing but sorrow can be the result. It may not be now as with the Jew, to whom temporal prosperity was a sign of Jehovah's favour, that there will be no success in worldly things; but there will be certainly trials and afflictions of one kind or another for every believer whose mind is on earthly things. The only path of blessing, whether in the past or in the present, lies in devotedness to the Lord's service. If in our several measures we follow, however feebly, in the Lord's footsteps, and find it our meat to do His will, we shall assuredly find it a path in which we shall walk in the enjoyment of His favour and blessing.

There was still more: "And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing; fear not, but let your hands, be strong." (v. 13.) They had been scattered, in the Lord's anger, among all the nations (7: 14), and, though they alone of all the nations of the earth had known Jehovah's name, and should therefore have been His witnesses (compare Acts 8: 1-4), they had been a curse through their idolatrous practices. As indeed God spake through Ezekiel, "I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went." (Ezekiel 36: 21) It was on this ground, "For mine holy name's sake" (Ezekiel 36: 22), that God would act, and save His people, according to His word through Zechariah, a promise that embraces, in its entire fulfilment, the restoration of the people according to verses 7, 8, when "the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men." (Micah 5: 7.) It is for the accomplishment of this promise that Jehovah will sprinkle clean water upon His people, "and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you,  and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." (Ezekiel 36: 25-27.) It is then, and then alone, that Israel will blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit, and thus be a blessing.

Together with this divine and glorious encouragement there is the exhortation, "Fear not, but let your hands be strong." The latter part of it is repeated from verse 9. God was now for them, and they were thus not to be afraid, and their hands were to be strong for the work on which they were engaged. This is explained in the following verses. "For thus saith the Lord of hosts, As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not: So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not." (vv. 14, 15.) His chastisements had been irrevocable, and so should be His blessings; and He would have His people therefore to rest in Him, to count upon all that He was on their behalf, and thus not to fear. Once indeed realise that God is for His people, and all fear is dispelled. As the apostle writes, "We may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." (Hebrews 13: 6; compare Psalm 27) And not only so in this case, but the prophet also pledges the word of the Lord that it was now His purpose to "do well" both to Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. They were therefore not to fear, and they were confidently to count on His favour and blessing.

Together with the announcement of His gracious purposes towards His people, Jehovah once more sets forth His requirements. "These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates; and let none of you imagine evil in hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord." (vv. 16, 17.) The reader's especial attention may be drawn to the principle involved in this divine requirement from the people. God had announced His purpose, as we have seen, to bless both them and Jerusalem, and what He thus announced was altogether independent of the state and conduct of the remnant. All had been forfeited by the nation under responsibility, but God, on the ground of the death of Christ, will accomplish, and righteously accomplish, all the good which He had spoken concerning His people.* But the remnant in the land are reminded that for their enjoyment of the promise given in verses 11-13, for their realization of the favour of God, connected with His change of attitude towards them, they were dependent on their walk; that, in other words, they would never themselves receive their promised blessings unless their walk were governed by the word of God. It is so with the Christian, also if in another way. Once really a believer, salvation is assured, and he will be infallibly put in possession of the inheritance, with all the saints of God, at the return of the Lord. While, however, this is certain, yet as long as the believer is in this world, there is no possible enjoyment for him of the favour and blessing of God if he be not walking in God's ways according to His word. All is of grace, all that he has received, or will yet receive; but the practical possession and enjoyment of the blessings secured in Christ, while down here, must depend on his own condition. This is the principle proclaimed by the prophet to the children of the captivity; and he says, as it were, God is now intent on blessing you, but you, if you would enter into and enjoy what he has promised, must be careful of your walk and ways. And remark how practical these injunctions are — all affecting their mutual relationships. They were to speak the truth one to another (compare Ephesians 4: 25); they were to "judge" the judgment of truth and peace in their gates; for the effect of righteous judgment is always peace (see Isaiah 32: 17); they were not to meditate† evil in their hearts against their neighbour, and they would not if they loved their neighbour as themselves, and they were to abstain from false oaths. They were to be in communion with the mind of the Lord as to these things, hating them because they were abhorrent to Him.‡

*It is very interesting to observe in this connection the language of the apostle Peter in his second epistle. He says, "To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1: 1) These words, we apprehend, could not have been written to Gentile believers.

†See the French translation in loco by J. N. D.

‡Compare on these requirements Psalm 15.

Having thus revealed His counsels respecting Jerusalem and Judah, the Lord now gives another message to the prophet, and first of all concerning the feasts about which Bethel had sent men to the house of the Lord to enquire. "And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the last of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace." (vv. 18, 19) All the feasts named would seem to have been connected with the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, and what followed thereon. Allusion has been made in the previous chapter, on verse 5, to those of the fifth and seventh month; that of the fourth month sprung probably from the date of the opening of the gates of Jerusalem to the princes of Nebuchadnezzar (see Jeremiah 39: 2, 3); and it was in the tenth month that the siege was formally opened. (Jeremiah 52: 4.)* All these days therefore brought mournful recollections to the Jew, reminding him not only of national disasters, but also of the anger of Jehovah and it was their humiliation and sorrow which they profess to express in the institution of their fasts. But, as we have seen, there were many who were wearied of their continual observance, and thus they desired to know if, now that they had been restored to the land, they were to be continued. The full answer is now returned. In the previous chapter Jehovah had made them see what it was that led to the terrible chastisements that had fallen upon their nation, and at the same time had put before them the condition of blessing. Now He sends Zechariah to tell them that the time is coming — not yet come, but coming — when all these fasts should become joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Until that time therefore fasting would be the proper expression of their feeble state and condition; but then He would "give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." (Isaiah 61: 3.) In the time of our Lord the Pharisees complained that His disciples did not fast. He answered that they could not fast while they had the Bridegroom with them; but, He said, when the Bridegroom should be taken from them, in those days they would fast. (See Matt. 9: 14, 15.) So with the Jews. Fasting was the true expression of their condition as long as Jehovah had not returned in glory to dwell once more in Jerusalem; but that time was coming, and then, and not till then, their fasts would be turned into festal celebrations of praise. Therefore (such is the exhortation) love the truth and peace, not peace and the truth, but the truth and peace; and herein lies the condition, for all times, of real and abiding blessing. These Jews would not live to see their fasts superseded by feasts, but the path of blessing in the abiding favour of God is here indicated for them in loving the truth and peace.

*It is said that the Jews in more modern times added that it was in the fourth month Moses brake the tables of the law; and that in the fifth month the rebellion of the people took place, when the spies brought an evil report of the land. But this is conjectural, and there can be little doubt that the fasts originated as above.

The rest of the chapter is taken up with a declaration of universal blessing, as resulting from the return of the Lord to His people. Israel, once more restored and blessed under their Messiah, should become the means of blessing to all the earth; and the temple in which Jehovah would again dwell should become the point of attraction for all nations. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts. It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another saying, Let us go speedily* to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord." (vv. 20-22.) Bethel — one small city — had sent men to pray before the Lord (Zech. 7: 2); and this incident is taken up to shadow out the time when the house of God should be the house of prayer for all people (see Isa. 56: 7; also Isa. 2: 1-3; Ps. 65: -7; and Zech. 14: 16); when such embassies as that which had been sent from Bethel should proceed from many cities to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, for in that day all nations will own the Messiah as their King and be His servants.

*This word is translated in different ways, The margin says, "Or, continually"; another version renders, "Let us go on and on" (i.e. perseveringly); while J. N. D.'s French version has, "Allons, allons," i.e., "Let us go, let us go."

Moreover, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts. In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you." (v. 23.) In the time of their captivity and dispersion through the nations the Jews have ever been a despised if not a hated race; but when the Lord shall bring them back to Zion, "the sons of them that afflicted thee," as we read in Isaiah, "shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee" (Zion), "The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy, One of Israel." (Isa. 60: 14.) So in our passage the Jew, once more blessed with the favour of Jehovah becomes an object of admiration to the Gentiles, who desire to share in the blessing of which they have heard, and who are represented here by the ten men* as taking hold of the skirt of the Jew, thus assuming a place of subjection and entreaty, as they say, "We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you." The news, the testimony, going forth that Jehovah hath appeared for, and was dwelling with, His people becomes a mighty power to attract others to the place of His manifested presence. (Compare 2 Chr. 15: 9) The same thing is often seen now in another way in the assembly. Whenever there is a real action of the Holy Spirit, whenever the presence of the Lord is demonstrated in power in the midst of His people, others are drawn in through the desire thus begotten in their hearts to participate in the blessing. ( See 1 Cor. 14: 25.) There is no testimony indeed so powerful as that which declares, and declares with unmistakable proofs, that the Lord is with His people.†

*The number ten is evidently a representative number, standing, we judge, for all the nations. (Compare Lev. 26: 26; Matt. 25: 1)

†The Rabbis, as also the patristic theology of a later date, claim that the Jew in this scripture was the Messiah, an evidence, we judge, rather of their intellectual subtlety than of their spiritual perception. The former not possessing the key of the interpretation of their own scriptures, and the so-called church "fathers" being ignorant of all dispensational truth, and also of the true character of the church, could not but, both alike, be liable to be led astray by their own imaginations.

Zechariah 9.

Jerusalem and Judah restored to blessing, as announced in the previous chapter, the neighbouring peoples come into view in connection with judgment. "The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord." (v. 1.) Very careful consideration must be given to this first verse, as it is the key for the understanding of what follows. Instead of reading the burden of the word of the Lord "in" the land of Hadrach, it should probably be "concerning" or "upon." The preposition is so translated, for example, in Isaiah 9: 8. The Lord sent a word "into" Jacob and it hath lighted "upon" Israel, where both "into" and "upon" represent the same word.* Then there is the question of the time to which the prophecy refers. Some maintain that the prophet is foretelling the judgment that was visited upon the places named by means of Alexander, the king of Greece.† Others contend that the events here described are to be referred to the future, to the time when the Lord Himself will have returned to establish His kingdom. And we cannot question that these, for reasons immediately to be given, are right, though there is no doubt, at the same time, that the march of Alexander through these regions was, if not the fulfilment, yet a fulfilment of Zechariah's predictions. It is often so in prophecy that some near event is contemplated, which becomes in its turn a striking presage of a larger accomplishment of the prophetic word.‡ Our reasons for the conclusion that this prophecy remains to be fulfilled are found in verses 1 and 8. It says in verse 1 that the time shall be "when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord." Now at the time of Alexander the tribes of Israel, save the two tribes which had been restored under Cyrus, were still in captivity, or scattered through the nations, and there was not even the semblance of the eyes of men being turned towards the Lord; for idolatry was almost, if not quite, universal, and held undisputed sway over their minds. And these words will never be verified until the events foretold in the previous chapter (vv. 20-23) have had their accomplishment. Secondly, verse 8 is decisive of the point. The language, "I will encamp about mine house," &c., could not be used of anything short of the actual presence and interposition of Jehovah to shield His house and dwelling-place from the attack of an enemy. It is quite true that Jerusalem was unexpectedly delivered from the hands of Alexander by the impression made on his mind at the sight of the high priest;** but the utmost that could be said, is that while it might have been effected in a providential way, it in no wise corresponded to the terms of this prophecy. It is clear therefore that the Spirit of God looked onward in these predictions to a still future period, to that time when the rights of Israel's Messiah, and of the Son of Man, shall be made good on the earth.

*The Revised Version in Zechariah gives the word "upon," while J. N. D.'s French version renders, "L'oracle de la parole de 1'Eternal (qui vient) dans le pays de Hadrac."

†Thus one writes: "The foreground of this prophecy is the course of the victories of Alexander, which circled round the holy land without hurting it, and ended in the overthrow of the Persian empire. The surrender of Damascus followed first, immediately on his great victory at the Issus; then Sidon yielded itself, and received its ruler from the conqueror, Tyre he utterly destroyed; Gaza we know perished. He passed harmless by Jerusalem. Samaria, on his return from Egypt, he chastised."

‡As an illustration of this we subjoin a note from J.N.D.'s translation of the New Testament. "'In order that it might be' hina (see Matt. 1: 22); 'so that it might be,' hupos (Matt. 2: 23); and, 'then' tote (Matt. 2: 17), 'was fulfilled,' are never confounded in the quotations of the Old Testament. The first is the object of the prophecy; the second, not simply its object, but an event which was within the scope and intention of the prophecy; the third is merely a case in Point, where what happened was an illustration of what was said in the prophecy." (Note to Matt. 2: 23.)

**Those interested in the history will find the record in Josephus' Antiquities, xi. 8, 3-5.

This part of the prophecy itself need not detain us at any length. The expression in verse 1 — "And Damascus shall be the rest thereof" (or "its resting-place") — would seem to mean that the word of the Lord should rest upon or in Damascus in the sense of bringing judgment upon it. Hadrach was probably in the neighbourhood of Damascus,* and, according to this prophecy, will one day reappear,† and reappear for judgment. (Compare Jeremiah 46 - 49)

*A modern writer, who cites Sir H. Rawlinson, says, "it is now certain that there was a city called Hadrach in the neighbourhood of Damascus and Hamath, although its exact site is not known."

†This is one of the striking facts learnt from prophecy, that the cities and nations formerly in the vicinity of Palestine, in external relationship with Israel, though now utterly lost sight of, will be found again in their old places in the last days.

What we have then is God's judgment upon these cities, as connected with the final deliverance of Jerusalem and Israel from their enemies. There remain two or three things to be indicated. First, the territories on which the stroke of judgment will descend. The places named, as the reader will perceive, are on the north of Israel's territory, and that tract of country on the west of Judea which is known throughout the Scripture history as the dwelling-place of the Philistines; and all alike were at some period or other — the Philistines perpetually — the enemies of the people of God, perhaps owing to the fact that they were immediately contiguous to, if not within, the borders of their territory.* Hadrach, Damascus, and Hamath are situated in what was, and is, known as Syria, and these cities are only mentioned as the objects of judgment.† Tyre and Sidon (Tyrus and Zidon) are specified with more detail; and we are taught that neither wisdom (V. 2), nor strength, nor riches — the three things in which man puts his confidence and glories — can avert the sure judgments of God. (vv. 3. 4.) The language concerning Tyrus (compare Ezekiel 28) is both striking and sublime. She "did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. Behold, the Lord will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire." Truly man and all his resources are but vanity in the day of the Lord's anger. (Cp. Isa. 2) Then with a few rapid touches the prophet relates the character of the judgment on Philistia. "Ashkelon shall see it, and fear. Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron, for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite." (vv. 5-7. Cp. Jeremiah 47; Zephaniah 2: 4-7.)

*It is not quite clear whether Tyre and Sidon were not within the territory of Asher — Sidon certainly was (Judges 1: 31; also Joshua 19: 28, 29) — even as the cities of the Philistines were comprised in that of Judah.

†The judgments here denounced are, it would appear, preparatory to the putting of Israel in possession of all the territory promised to them.

It is more than probable, as we have before pointed out, there is a twofold fulfilment in these predictions; that is, that there has already been a partial accomplishment, though not a complete one, in so far as the temporal judgments on these cities are concerned; for nothing can be more certain than that the power of Tyrus in the sea has been smitten, or that these cities of the Philistines have been visited. But the careful reader will not fail to notice that the whole prophecy has not been fulfilled, for it speaks of a spared remnant from the Philistines that shall be "for [or to] our God." This must be future, and points unmistakably to the fact when these cities shall be revived, judgment will again fall upon them; and the Lord, by His chosen instruments, will stain all the pride of their glory, while at the same time He will restore a remnant for blessing. The statement that Ekron shall be as a Jebusite is most likely a reference to the fact that as the Jebusites, not having been driven out by the children of Judah, dwelt with them at Jerusalem (see Joshua 15: 63), so the spared Philistines will be found in a future day, in the time of the kingdom, mingled with Israel.*

*The expressions concerning those spared of the Philistines are very striking, for there is little doubt that "he that remaineth" does refer to such. Cleansed from their idolatries (the "blood" and his "abominations" being connected with his idol worship), he shall be as a governor (''a captain of a thousand") in Judah, etc. The reader will carefully consider these statements.

The future application of this prophetic word is especially seen, as we have shown, by what follows: "And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes." (v. 8.) We gather then that, after Israel is restored to their own land and the temple has been rebuilt (see Zech. 6) by Messiah Himself, the land will be invaded, and Jerusalem will be the object of his attack. This is undoubtedly the last attack of the Assyrian, so often alluded to by the prophets. As King of the North (for the king of the north is identical with the Assyrian) he enters the land before the appearing of Christ (in the interval between the rapture of the saints (1 Thess. 4), and their return with Christ in glory), and after succeeding for a while in his designs, he will "stand up against the Prince of princes, but he should be broken without hand." (Daniel 8: 25.) He has, however, a successor, who, after the return in glory to Jerusalem, also invades the holy land, and seeks likewise to capture the holy city. But the Lord is now there, as will be explained more at length when we reach Zech. 12 - 14, and terrified by what he and his confederates discover, as the psalmist describes, "They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail." (Psalm 48: 5, 6.) Not simply the angel of the Lord, but the Lord Himself will encamp round about His house and His people, and deliver them once for all from their oppressors; "for now," as we read, "have I seen with mine eyes."* The expression is strikingly beautiful. It is as if the Lord had come down to behold the state of His people, even as we read in Genesis that He came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded (Gen. 11: 5); and perceiving how they were beleaguered by the enemy, and pitying their distress, He Himself undertakes their defence, and secures their deliverance. "The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." (Ps. 46: 6, 7.)

*Compare the expression, "And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians," etc. (Ex. 14: 24, 25).

The prophet having gone on to the final emancipation of Judah and Jerusalem from their oppressors through the direct intervention of the Lord Himself, now turns back a little to introduce the person of Him for whom they waited, and in whom alone their deliverance would be found. Viewing in prophetic vision the accomplishment of all that God had promised to His people, he turns with delight to the One who would thus bring salvation, and exclaims, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." (v. 9.) He thus calls upon the daughter of Zion to rejoice in the glorious prospect unfolded, and reminds her at the same time that all she looked and longed for was bound up with the advent of the Messiah. He places the daughter of Jerusalem and of Zion on an eminence, as it were, whence she can behold the King approaching, and calls upon her to shout with joy as she beholds Him.

But how different in character is this presentation of Israel's King from that of the world's monarchs in all their pomp and splendour! Remark that it is "thy" King. As another has written, "He does not say a king, but thy King, thine own, the long-promised, the long-expected"; for in truth He is the One of whom God had spoken, "Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion" (Psalm 2); and He comes now to sit upon the throne of His father David, and to reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke 2: 32, 33; see also Isaiah 9: 6, 7.) Then we have two characteristics. First, He is just, or righteous. This is put first because it represents the character of His reign. He will found His kingdom and reign in righteousness. (Psalm 72:) Next, He has salvation; i.e., He brings salvation, not so much here to the individual soul that trusts in Him, as salvation, or deliverance, to His people from their enemies (Compare Luke 1: 67-75; Luke 2: 29-32), together with all the blessings into which they would be consequently introduced. We have, furthermore, what He is in Himself, and the manner of His approach. He is "lowly." This is to be much observed. That He was the lowly One here all know; but we are apt to forget that meekness is His abiding character, not a feature produced by His circumstances of trial and sorrow when He was down here to do the will of God, but a trait of His perfectness as man; and hence, whether in the glory at the right hand of God, or appearing to Israel as their long looked-for Messiah, He is still the lowly or meek One. Blessed thought! For who could fear, who of His people, however timid and feeble they might be, could shrink from His presence when this divine and perfect lowliness is written on His face? It is in this manner that He is presented to His poor and afflicted people when He comes for their salvation, and as "riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." The sons of judges rode upon asses (Judges 10: 4; Judges 12: 14), but, as a devout writer has remarked, "There is no instance in which a king rode on an ass, save He whose kingdom was not of this world." We all know how exactly this promise was fulfilled, though Zion was not then prepared to receive Him, and did not therefore shout for joy at His approach, at His first coming. True, the crowd that went forth to meet Him, "took branches of palm trees . . . and cried, Hosanna! blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord" (John 12: 13); but their momentary enthusiasm soon passed away, and, swayed by their rulers, they cried, "Crucify Him, crucify Him."*

*As a proof of the wonderful accuracy of Scripture, the reader will be interested to note the omission of some of the words in the citation from Zechariah both in Matthew and John. In Matthew the words "just" and "having salvation" are not found; and in John, where the characteristic presentation of Christ is as the Son of God, the word "lowly" is also omitted. The reason is evident to the spiritual mind. Though Jesus was the Messiah, rejected as He was, He did not then enter Jerusalem as righteous (it was rather in grace), and as having salvation — nor could He while rejected, but He did enter as the lowly One; and hence this word is retained in Matthew, while John leaves out this also, as before said, because of the aspect in which, as led of the Holy Ghost, he portrays the life of our blessed Lord. Observe also that neither Matthew nor John calls upon the daughter of Sion to rejoice or to shout. The former says, "Tell ye the daughter of Sion"; the latter, "Fear not," etc. The time of rejoicing could not come as long as the King was rejected.

From this point to the end of the chapter the consequences of the advent of the Messiah are depicted. First, the Messiah will remove all the false confidences of His people. He says, "I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off." (v. 10) All these things were the symbols of human strength, human grounds of confidence in conflict; and hence the psalmist says, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." (Psalm 20: 7.) Speaking also by the prophet Hosea, Jehovah says, "I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen." (Hosea 1: 7.) And again in Micah: "I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots." (Micah 5: 10) For in that day His people will have to learn that God alone is their refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble — a lesson which even Christians are slow to apprehend. And consequent upon the deliverance of His people, "he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth." For when once the King is established upon the holy hill of Zion, He will ask and receive the heathen for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. What is here predicted is the universal sway of Christ in His kingdom, after His return in glory, as depicted in Ps. 72.

The introduction of Ephraim in this chapter, both in verse 10 and verse 13, should be especially remarked. It shows that the prophet passes from the coming of the King to the restoration of all Israel. Judah and Jerusalem are his subject, but the moment he names Ephraim he implies the restoration of the ten tribes to their own land. This will not take place until after the deliverance and blessing of Judah and Jerusalem; but here the prophet has the consequences of the coming of the King to Zion for all Israel before his mind. And hence the chariot shall be cut off from Ephraim, as well as the horse from Jerusalem; for when Messiah goes forth against His enemies, He, while associating His people with Himself, for they will be all willing in the day of His power, will be independent of all human sources of strength, and He will, at the same time, teach His people that they can only be strong in His strength, as He leads them forth conquering and to conquer, when He will strike through kings in the day of His wrath.

The prophet turns again, in the next place, to the daughter of Zion; and, speaking in the name of the Lord, he says, "As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." (v. 11) "Thy prisoners" will refer to the "sons of Zion" who may at this time be found in captivity, their captivity being set forth by the figure of a pit wherein is no water. Such was their condition — shut in on every side, and deprived of all sources of life; and yet they will be "sent forth," delivered. And the ground of their deliverance is the covenant which God had been pleased to establish with them by blood. Even the first covenant was of this kind (Ex. 24); but it is not on the covenant of Sinai that Jehovah will interpose for the salvation of Israel, but upon that new and better covenant which derives its efficacy and certainty of fulfilment from the precious blood of Christ. Hence the Lord Himself said, as He took the cup, "This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matt. 26: 28.) And it is to this the apostle alludes when he says, "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant." (Heb. 13: 20.) And when we learn from Zechariah that the foundation on which God brought our Lord Jesus up from the grave is that also on which He will send forth, in the day of Messiah's glory, those of His people who may be found as prisoners in the pit wherein is no water.

The exhortation of the next verse is based upon this assurance, and thus the prophet proceeds, "Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee." (v. 12.) The strong hold is Zion, now a strong hold because God is in the midst of her (see Psalm 46); and it is to Zion the prisoners of hope are exhorted to turn, because it is from thence that their Redeemer is to come. The addition of the words "of hope" to the term "prisoners" indicates the class who will participate in the salvation the King brings to Zion; it is those who in their captivity cherish the expectation of the coming Messiah, and who are therefore prisoners of hope. Then the Lord will render double — double in comfort and blessing as compared with what they have suffered. (See Isaiah 40: 1, 2.)

The time of this expected blessing is now declared, and this again makes it clear that the prophecy looks on to future days; it is, "When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man." (v. 13). The "sons of Greece" are here used as representing generally the Gentiles; but they are named for the reason already given that the invasion of the holy land by Alexander is in the foreground of the prophecy as the shadow of the attacks which will be made upon Israel on the eve of, and especially after, the appearing of their Messiah. In that day, as we gather from this and other prophecies, Christ will employ His people Israel to subdue the Gentiles. Jeremiah thus speaks of Israel in the Lord's name, "Thou art my battle-axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms," etc. (Jer. 51: 20-23.)

The next two verses describe the manner of the Lord's going forth, and His defence of them in the conflict. "And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. The Lord of hosts shall defend them, and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar."* (vv. 14, 15.) This is a vivid description of the irresistible might of Jehovah's armies when He Himself leads them forth to battle. And it is to be observed that He will be seen over them; i.e., there will be some visible tokens of His presence with His people, as there were also when He led them through the wilderness — and He will fight for them, as, for example, He did of old when He cast down hail stones upon their enemies (Joshua 10: 11); only here it is the lightning He will employ as His weapon, even as Habakkuk says, "At the light of thy arrows they went, at the shining of thy glittering spear." (Hab. 3: 11) Not only so, but there will also be every accompaniment of terror to strike dismay into the hearts of the foe. In days of old, the priests were, in times of war, to "blow an alarm with the trumpets, and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies" (Num. 10: 9); but here the Lord God will Himself, in all His majesty and power, sound the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south. (See Isaiah 21: 1) So also we read in Psalm 18, "He rode upon a cherub, and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. . . . Yea, He sent out His arrows, and scattered them.; and He shot out lightnings, and discomfited them." (vv. 10-14.)

*The question is sometimes raised as to what particular conflict allusion is here made, as also in Zech. 9: 10, whether it refers or not to the final overthrow of Gog in the land. This is to import a consideration not found in the chapter, the point of which is rather Jehovah's defence and lead of His victorious people than to indicate the foes. That they are Gentiles is clear, and thus it may be the last confederacy of the nations against Israel.

As verse 14 gives the action of God as against the enemy, verse 15 sets forth the effect of His presence upon His people whom He is leading forth to the conflict. In the first place He will defend them; that is, He will so protect them that they shall not be harmed by their foes, even as when Israel went forth to battle with the Midianites, and returned without the loss of a man (Num. 31); and then their victorious energy will be so great that they shall devour and subdue all that opposes. As another has said, to explain the metaphor of the sling stones, "Their enemies shall fall under them, as harmless and as of little account as the sling stones which have missed their aim, and lie on the road to be passed over." The two remaining figures are more difficult, though the first, "they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine," is probably to be referred to the exhilaration produced by the conflict as comparable to the effects of wine. The second, "they shall be filled like bowls" may flow from the first, indicating that they will overflow with the holy excitement called out in them by the presence of the Lord of hosts; but the addition, "like the corners of the altar," cannot be explained with certainty, unless it refers to some practice, now unknown, in connection with the drink-offerings presented with the sacrifices, in which case it would be an allusion to the fact that their zeal was in communion with that of their divine Leader.

Finally, it is added: "And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land." (v. 16.) Together with the Lord's anger against His foes, His protecting shield, as already noticed, is thrown over His people, so that He will save them in that day as the flock of His people from the lions and bears that will be round about them; for no weapon formed against Israel shall then prosper. It is in contrast with the destruction of their enemies that it is said, "They shall be as the stones of a crown," "stones selected for their beauty and preciousness, and as suited to adorn the diadem of their King;" but if so, because they have now been beautified with His beauty, and because all His preciousness now attaches to them. (See 1 Peter 2) And as such they shall be lifted up as an ensign upon His land. First, they will be His battle-axe for conflict, and then, when His enemies shall be have been subdued under Him, His people will be lifted up, or, as it might be, "lifted on high" as an ensign upon His land, to the end that all might behold the place of honour and exaltation in which, by the grace of their King, they have been set, as He thus displays them in all their beauty and excellency as His own royal standard, as the sign of His presence with them, and as the symbol of His universal dominion.

The prophet then concludes with one short word as significant of the greatness of Jehovah's grace and beauty, and of the consequent happiness of His people: "For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids." (v. 17.) All the blessing into which they have been introduced has flowed from the goodness of their God, and their eyes being opened they see the King in His beauty, already become to them the altogether lovely. And feasting upon Him as upon the firstfruits, the true corn of the land in which they now dwell, the young men are made cheerful; and the maids, drinking of the new wine of the kingdom, are made glad. It is a picture of the millennial joy of Messiah's kingdom as flowing from His own heart of goodness or grace.

Zechariah 10.

Before entering upon this chapter it may help the reader to be reminded of a special feature or two of the prophetic writings. This chapter is undoubtedly connected with Zech. 9, but it would be a mistake to suppose that on this account there is a direct sequence in the narration of events. The last verse of the preceding chapter presents, however briefly, the blessing, earthly blessing, which flows from the advent of the Messiah in His kingdom, and thus in a measure reaches down to the end, or rather gives the general character of His peaceful reign. The first verse of this chapter goes back to a time prior to the prosperity and happiness there described. And this is a constant characteristic of all the prophets. Pursuing their theme in some one aspect, they proceed until they have reached the consummation looked for, and then, returning, they will give details or other aspects of the subject. The reader therefore must be on his guard, or otherwise, expecting chronological order, he will be landed in perplexity and confusion. But, if he reads with attention, he will find that there are always landmarks to be discovered — the great central facts of prophecy, round which the details are grouped, or from which certain known consequences ensue, which will guide him through what otherwise might seem an inextricable maze, and enable him to comprehend the object, meaning, and scope of the prophetic word. Then also the warning of the apostle Peter is to be remembered, "that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation"; that is, as another has written, it "is not explained by its own meaning as a human sentence. It must be understood by and according to the Spirit that uttered it. The 'prophecy' is, I take it, the sense of the prophecy, the thing meant by it. Now this is not gathered by a human interpretation of an isolated passage which has its own meaning and its own solution, as if a man uttered it; for it is a part of God's mind, uttered as holy men were moved by the Holy Ghost to utter it."* The remembrance of these principles will keep the reader in dependence, and thus in a condition to be guided and taught, and, holding the imagination in check, enable him to receive the thoughts of God.

*Note to J. N. D.'s new translation On 2 Peter 1: 20.

The prophet commences with an exhortation to the believing remnant. "Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds,* and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field." (v. 1) It had been the original promise of Jehovah to Israel, that if they would "hearken diligently unto my commandments . . . to love the Lord your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give you the rain of your land in its due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle," etc. (Deut. 11: 13-15.) But Israel, by their disobedience and departure from their God, had forfeited this promise, and God in chastisement had withheld both the early and the latter rain. Now, however, inasmuch as it was His thought to do well unto Jerusalem and to His people, He encourages them to seek His face for a return of their former blessing. He was minded to bless them now out of His own pure grace; for the restored remnant, or rather the believing remnant that shall be in those days, will have no claim upon Him, only He would have them learn their dependence upon Him for the blessing they sought, and thus be brought into a condition to receive it. This is surely a lesson for all dispensations. God never withholds from His people except to draw out their sense of need, and to teach them that He alone is the source whence their need can be supplied. If therefore they will but ask the Lord He will give. It is thus He invites the prayers of Israel; and remark, that they were to ask rain in the time of the latter rain, at the season when it should be expected. If withheld, this should be only a provocative to their prayers, and, thus praying, they should be heard, and Jehovah would make lightning, and give them showers of rain to every one grass (or the green herb) in the field.

*Or lightnings, as in margin. See Jer. 10: 13; Ps. 135: 7.

It is, however, of great interest to remark the omission of all reference to the early rain, the prophet only speaking of the time of the latter rain. The reason is, that the time of the early rain had for ever passed away. God sent the first rain on the day of Pentecost; and while many individual hearts were opened to receive it, the nation refused its blessed vivifying influence. And on that very occasion Peter spoke of another — even the latter rain — in the words of the prophet Joel, "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy." (Acts 2: 17, 18.) This is the period of which Zechariah speaks, as he urges the people to wait on the Lord, even as the disciples waited in Jerusalem for the descent of the Holy Ghost, for the fulfilment of His word.

Zechariah then contrasts the impotence of heathen vanities with Jehovah's power, in allusion to the time when God's people, having turned away from Him, had sought help from idols. "For," says he, "the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams, they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd." (v. 2.) Jeremiah refers to the same thing when he says, "Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things." (Jer. 14: 22.)* Israel then in their unbelief had turned to idols and their prophets for succour, but found no relief or comfort; and the prophet depicts them as going their way as a flock, in their disappointment, troubled, because there was no shepherd — none to lead and to tend them; and thus since they had turned away from God, they were cast now in their sins upon their own resources. Jehovah saw and pitied their condition, even as we read of the Lord Jesus, that "when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd." (Matt. 9: 36.) He pitied the flock, but His anger was "kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goals: for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle." (v. 3). It was thus the shepherds He held as chiefly responsible for the condition of the flock.† In Ezekiel this principle is directly asserted: "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand." (34: 10) It is a solemn thing therefore to occupy a place of responsibility, of lead, among the saints of God. Everyone is individually responsible for his own state, but the leaders are held accountable for the state of the assembly; and it is on this account, as in our chapter, that God's anger is kindled against the shepherds when they lead astray the flock of God.‡ In addition to the shepherds, the he-goats (they are really goats, though claiming to be sheep, if not shepherds) are mentioned as being punished. Ezekiel also speaks of these, and distinguishes them from the rams; and from Matthew 25, where the Lord separates the sheep from the goats, we should gather that these, though with the people of God, are not really such, but those who have pushed themselves into places of prominence and dignity,** which they use for their own selfish and evil ends.

*For a constant and instructive contrast between Jehovah and idols, as showing the tendency of Israel to idolatry, the reader may consult Isaiah 40 - 48.

†In the same way in the letters to the seven churches, in Rev. 2, 3, the angels of the several assemblies are charged with their sin and condition.

‡Read the whole of Ezekiel 34 and Jeremiah 23: 1-4 On this subject.

**We infer this from the fact of their being he-goats, and as such leaders, and from Isaiah 14: 9, where the term "chief ones" should rather be, as in margin, "great goats."

There is an instructive play upon the words here used. "I visited upon the goats, for the Lord of hosts hath visited His flock the house of Judah." The time therefore of the judgment upon the shepherds and upon the he-goats (if indeed these be not one and the same class — claiming to be shepherds while they were not even sheep) is the time of God's interposition on behalf of the house of Judah. There may well have been a present application of these words in the days of the prophet, but their full accomplishment can only take place at the return of the Lord to Zion. This is the more certain from the last clause in the verse, where Judah becomes Jehovah's goodly horse in the battle, an expression which links itself as to time with verses 14-16 in the previous chapter.

This leads, in the next place, to a statement of the pre-eminent place which Judah will have in the kingdom, and also of their victorious power in Jehovah's battles. "Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together. And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded." (vv. 4, 5.) That the sovereign favour of God had been bestowed on Judah is declared in that Messiah should spring from that tribe; for the two expressions, "the corner" and "the nail," are both to be referred to Him. The word "corner" indeed is the same as that found in Isaiah, where we read, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner [stone]."* (Isa. 28: 16.) In Isaiah also is to be found the interpretation of the term "nail." Speaking of one who was taken up as a figure of the Messiah, Jehovah says, "And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father's house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father's house," etc. (Isa. 22: 23, 24.) There can be therefore no doubt as to the significance of these figurative terms. The next, however, the battle-bow, which is also said to come out of Judah, will refer to Judah itself, to what Judah will be when taken up by Jehovah for His service in conflict. The One who comes out of Judah, God's anointed King, will employ that people as His battle-bow† when He goes forth to "strike through kings in the day of His wrath." (Psalm 110) And in this fact, we judge, must be sought the explanation of the following clause, "Out of Him every oppressor together." It is an abrupt transition to the effect of Jehovah thus using Judah as His "weapons of war"; viz.., that the oppressors of His people should for ever be expelled, according to His promise in chapter 9, "No oppressor shall pass through them any more" (v. 8), so that, as the Lord had also spoken by the mouth of Isaiah, "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders." (60: 18.)

*The French translation before cited renders it "la pierre angulaire," and the English Revised Version "corner stone."

†The reader will remember that the term battle-axe is used in the same way in Jeremiah 51: 20 of Israel.

The next verse unites this last expression with the close of verse 3, as showing how the victory is gained over their oppressors through the irresistible might which flows to them from the presence of the Lord. It is He who makes them as mighty men, and enables them to tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle. (Compare 2 Samuel 22: 43, and Micah 7: 10) With the shout of the King in their midst, His people are invincible; for, animated with the courage which His presence inspires, they fight, and the riders on horses are confounded. It is a description of the Lord Himself leading forth His people to battle, when He commences to put down all rule, and all authority and power, and to reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet (1 Cor. 15: 24, 25), though here it is in special reference to the salvation of His people from the hand of their enemies. The period, therefore, is that which dates from His appearing in glory and His return to His dwelling-place in Zion.

As consequent upon the subdual of Messiah's enemies, through the instrumentality of Judah, we find, in the next place, the restoration of all Israel, and their blessing in the land. "And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them. And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord." (vv. 6, 7.)

The exactitude of the expressions used will scarcely fail to strike the intelligent reader. Thus, I will "strengthen" the house of Judah, and I will "save" the house of Joseph, and "bring them again" etc. Judah would already be in the land before the appearing of their Messiah, and being delivered, He would "strengthen" them. The house of Joseph, Ephraim, i.e. the ten tribes,* will still be scattered among the nations, and undiscovered, spite of modern pretensions, until after the return of Christ to Zion, and hence the terms employed in our passage.† It is indeed the declar ation of God's unchangeable purposes of grace towards His ancient people, revealing the depth of His long-suffering and immutable love, in spite of their persistent transgressions and sins, and hence saying, "I have mercy upon them," according as we read in Hosea, "I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." (Hosea 2: 23.) Then, when once more the objects of Jehovah's mercy, in the beautiful and tender language here employed, "They shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them." After, therefore, Jehovah has returned to His dwelling-place in Zion, He will perform this His word concerning all Israel. (See Rom. 11: 26 - 29) Restored again to their own land, they will abound, together with their children, in joy and gladness in the Lord. Their heart shall rejoice as through wine, the elevated character of their joy being thus indicated; and then, to show that it is something more than mere natural gladness, it is added, "Their heart shall rejoice in the Lord," in Jehovah their God, who had sought them out in all the places where they had been scattered, brought them up again to their own land, and made them joyful in His own presence and blessing. And it is also touchingly said, "Their children shall see it, and be glad" — glad in the gladness of their parents, and thus the reflectors of their parents' joy.

*Ephraim is constantly used in the prophets to designate the northern kingdom after the division took place during the reign of Rehoboam. It is called indifferently the kingdom of Israel or Ephraim, in contradistinction from Judah.

†It is astonishing how conscientious interpreters, who are ignorant of dispensational truth, can persuade themselves that such scriptures as these have already been fulfilled. For example, one, whose uprightness and piety can scarcely be doubted, writes, "With regard to them (Ephraim), human victory retires out of sight, though doubtless, when their wide prison was broken at the destruction of the Persian empire, many were free to return to their native country, as others spread over the west in Asia Minor, Greece, Rome; and so some may have taken part in the victories of the Maccabees." As if "free to return" and "may have taken part in the victories of the Maccabees" answered to the promise, "I will bring them again to place them." (See also v. 8.) As though feeling this, our author adds, "Yet not victory, but strength, gladness beyond natural gladness, as through wine, whereby the mind is exhilarated above itself; and that, lasting, transmitted to their children, large increase, holy life in God, are the outlines of the promise." And yet he has not the courage to draw the conclusion that, therefore, the promise has not yet been fulfilled!

In the next verse the prophet returns, and describes as the Lord's mouthpiece how they will be gathered, and how their restoration will be effected, and this extends to the end of the chapter. "I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased." (v. 8.) The word "hiss" is often used in Scripture to express the idea of summoning (see, for example, Isa. 5: 26; Isa. 7: 18), and teaches here that the Lord in His own way will arrest the attention of His scattered people, make His mighty call to reach their hearts, and at the same time create in them a response to His word before He works out their deliverance. The ground of His action is contained in the words, "I have redeemed them." just as the blood of the Passover Lamb in Egypt was the all-efficacious ground on which God acted to deliver His people from Egypt, to bring them through the wilderness, and to put them in possession of Canaan, so the redemption, which has been wrought out through the death of Christ, will be the foundation on which God will work in rescuing His people from the hands of their enemies, and in re-gathering them to the land of their fathers. And when they are once again settled in their land they shall increase as they have increased. Jacob had said, "Joseph, is a fruitful bough," as he had said before, that Ephraim should become "a multitude of nations;" and Moses had also spoken, "They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh," both alike predicting that increase in numbers should characterise Ephraim, and Jehovah now says, "They shall increase" — i.e. when restored under His sway and kingdom — "as they have increased," as they had done, that is, in former days.

The next verse would seem to take us back a few steps. "I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again." (v. 9.) The "people" should be rendered "peoples;" i.e. nations. Jehovah would sow his people among the nations; and it is said that the word "sow" is never used in the sense of scattering, and hence that it must mean for increase or blessing. The similar expression in Hosea, "I will sow her unto me in the earth," with its connection, bears out this statement. If so, it will signify that, previous to God's interposition to regather the ten tribes, He will cause them to prosper and multiply where they are among the nations, and, at the same time, begin to act in their hearts just as He did with His people in Egypt, and so cause them to remember Him in far countries. As a consequence of this it is said, "They shall live with their children, and turn again." It is worthy of remark that this is the second time the children are mentioned in this chapter, even as the reader knows that the children of His people are ever the objects of God's tender care and solicitude. Moses insisted, as having the mind of God, that the children must accompany their parents out of the land of Egypt; and now in this second "redemption" Jehovah promises that the children shall live with their parents, and shall turn again — turn again first to God, and then with their faces towards Zion in their homeward march. (Compare Jer. 31: 7-9; Ezekiel 6: 9.)

The countries are now specified whence Israel is to be brought — viz., Egypt and Assyria (see Isa. 11: 10-16) — and then it is said, "I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon and Place shall not be found for them." (v. 10) The land of Gilead, the reader may recall, was on the cast of the Jordan, and was within the territory of the two and a half tribes — Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh. Lebanon was on the cast, and is here used to designate the territory occupied by the remainder of the ten tribes, so that the promise is, they should be settled again in their old habitations. And when there, place should not be found for them, owing to their increase in number and prosperity as before promised. (v. 8; compare Isaiah 49: 20.)

If, however, Israel shall be restored, judgment will fall upon the nations amongst whom they have been scattered. The prophet thus says, "And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away." (v. 11) A few words are necessary, first of all, to elucidate the meaning of the expressions employed. In the translation as thus given, the word "with" has been added before "affliction" as an explanation. It simply reads in the Hebrew, "He shall pass through the sea, affliction," as if affliction were the sea figuratively intended.* If "the sea" is a figurative term, it will apply to the nations (compare Rev. 17: 15) that have oppressed Israel; and then the following words, "And shall smite the waves of the sea," will signify that Jehovah Will at this period step in, when the nations rise up against and threaten to engulf His people, and smite the proud waves of their power, in order to effect their deliverance. And this, in our judgment, is the interpretation of the passage; while at the same time there is undoubtedly an allusion to the past history of Israel, when God smote the proud waters of the Red Sea and brought His people through on dry land. This is the more certain from the next clause: "And all the deeps of the river shall dry up;" for "the river" in Scripture, with one exception (Daniel 12: 5), always means the Nile.

*The French version before cited renders in a note, "Mer d'affliction"; while in the text it gives "Il passera par la mer, [par] 1'affliction." The Revised Version has, "He shall pass through the sea of affliction"; while the Septuagint, taking the word "affliction" in the sense of narrow or restricted, reads, "en thalasse stene."

The two references ("the sea" and "the river") speak then of judgment, and especially upon Egypt; for the drying up of the Nile would involve the entire deprivation of her sources of life and fertility; so that consequent on such a disaster, dependent as she is upon the waters of her river, the whole land would, in an incredibly short space of time, become a barren wilderness. The pride of Assyria is to be brought low, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away. As to the former, Isaiah also speaks, "I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders" (Isa. 14: 25); and also as to the latter, "And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry-shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt." (Isa. 11: 15, 16.) And Ezekiel says, "There shall be no more a prince in the land of Egypt." Assyria and Egypt, the enemies of God's people on the north and on the south, shall thus fall under judgment when the Lord brings out His scattered people from under their power; and not only these two, for these are named — these historical enemies of Israel — as symbolic also of all the nations that will hold Israel captive. (See Isaiah 11: 11) Then it will be seen that no weapon formed against Israel shall prosper; and, moreover, that when Messiah shall take their cause in hand, He will judge among the nations, "he shall fill the places with dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries" (Psalm 110), in connection with the salvation of Israel from the ends of the earth.*

*The express statement here as to the sceptre of Egypt, as well as the passage cited from Ezekiel, are very significant as to the future of this interesting land. The intelligent reader will at once perceive that the place and status of Egypt will not depend upon the political plans and treaties of statesmen, but solely and entirely upon the purposes of God. This fact should guard the Christian from being drawn away into other thoughts by political speculations.

In the last verse we have again, in few words, the happy condition of restored Israel. "And I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall walk up and down in His name, saith the Lord." (v. 12.) Now they will learn that their strength is not in their armies, or in their alliances, but in the Lord alone (cp. Eph. 6: 10); and at liberty before him, they will walk up and down, not to please themselves, or to serve their own ends, but as His servants and representatives, and thus in His name. And this, as we gather from Micah, is what will distinguish them as the Lord's people. "For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever." (Micah 4: 5.) Together with their restoration, therefore, their hearts will be changed, according to the terms of the new covenant, "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." (Heb. 8: 10)

Zechariah 11.

In this confessedly difficult chapter great care is needed in attending to the exact language employed by the Spirit of God. It may aid the reader to remind him that it was "the Spirit of Christ" which was in the prophets of old, and "testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory [glories] that should follow." (1 Peter 1: 11) This will explain the fact that often, as in this chapter, the prophet himself is taken up as a figure, as a personation of Christ, and is used to speak words which could only be true of Christ. (See vv. 7-14, especially (vv. 12, 13.)

The subject brought before us here is the rejection of the Messiah, together with some of the details connected with it, and "the circumstances of the last days in consequence of this rejection. It is the history of Israel in connection with Christ." The first three verses describe the condition of the land after some great public calamity, the effects perhaps of some invasion by the Gentiles. "Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, fir tree, for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage* is come down. There is a voice of the howlings of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled." (vv. 1-3.) All this language is  highly figurative though the meaning is easily apprehended. In the previous chapter Lebanon is named as indicating the part of the land on the west of the Jordan which Israel, when restored, will again inhabit; but here, we judge, it is not so much the actual devastation of the land or of the forest that is intended, as that the destruction of the cedars is employed as an emblem of the slaughter of the great ones of Israel. (Compare Ezekiel 17)† This, indeed, is evident from the next verse, in which the "mighty" are placed between the fir, the cedar, and the oaks of Bashan.‡ All these terms therefore, cedars, firs, oaks, and the defenced forest, represent the strength and glory of Israel, the sources of their natural confidence; and the prophet sets forth the fact that all these were swept away, destroyed, and consumed before the Gentile aggressor, who is sent of Jehovah as Nebuchadnezzar of old, to chastise His sinful and rebellious people. In the third verse, the shepherds, the rulers, are heard howling, bemoaning the calamities by which they have been overtaken (see Jer. 25: 34-36), as also the young lions, because the pride of Jordan is spoiled. The young lions may be an emblem of princes (see Ezek. 19), who also sound out their grief because of the destruction of their pride and shelter.**

*The margin renders "the defenced forest";  J. N. D.'s French version "la forêt inaccessible."

†To take Lebanon as a figure of the temple, and then to apply it to the Church because of the words, "Open thy doors," etc., as some of the old expositors do, is puerile in the extreme. Nothing indeed is more pitiful than the straits to which those are reduced who seek to apply all the prophecies to the Church, and thus to "spiritualize" all these descriptions.

‡Bashan was on the east of the Jordan, and fell within the possessions of the two and a half tribes, and this again makes it more plain that it is an invasion of the northern kingdom, Ephraim, that is here indicated.

**The exact meaning of the expression — the pride of Jordan — is not clear. An old writer, says, "'The pride of Jordan' are the stately oaks on its banks, which shroud it from sight, until you reach its edges, and which, after the captivity of the ten tribes, became the haunt of lions, and their chief abode in Palestine." If this be so the wailing of the young lions, the princes or rulers of Israel, would be on account of the destruction of that — whatever it may have been — which had been hitherto their shelter, their protection and refuge; and this is probably the true interpretation. The Jordan was also, it will be remembered, especially at certain seasons, a natural barrier to the incursions of the enemies of Israel.

We pass now to a direct message from the Lord: "Thus saith the Lord my God — Feed the flock of the slaughter whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not." (vv. 4, 5,) The reader will notice the unusual form of words, "Thus saith the Lord my God," for undoubtedly Christ Himself, as personated by the prophet, is here brought in, that is to say, it is to Him the charge is given, "Feed the flock of the slaughter" - the flock devoted to slaughter by their oppressors. We give the following words of another, as explaining the character and scope of these verses: "Their (the flock of the slaughter) possessors (though I have doubted it), I apprehend, must be the Gentiles their own people, those that sell them to the Gentiles Herod for example, and the preceding chief priests and princes, or an such characters; some who owned Jehovah, but sold His people. The Lord does not think it necessary to say who they are, as He does not own them at all; they (the flock of the slaughter) are possessed by those who slay them, and sold by persons more or less owning the Lord's openly, but loving covetousness, anything but the Lord's care as to their present estate. This flock of the slaughter — their own shepherds (who they are there can be no doubt), their own leaders and rulers, pity them not. Verse 4 is the delivery of them, under these circumstances, into the Lord Christ's hands to feed, or to take charge of them."* There are therefore three classes in this scene; first, the Gentile possessors, who seem to have the dominion over God's people (as they will indeed in the last days); then the leaders of the nation who will be in league and friendly alliance with their Gentile masters, and "the flock of the slaughter" — the true remnant of God's people, who cleave to Him and to their national hopes in spite of dominant evils and the oppression to which they are subjected, and who, on that very account, are exposed to the deadly enmity both of the chiefs of their own nation and of their Gentile rulers.

* The Collected Writings of J. N. Darby, vol. ii. Expository, P. 368.

It is to be remarked, moreover, as showing the frightful wickedness of the leaders of the Jewish nation, and of the haters of God's people, that they use the forms of piety to cloak their evil covetousness in making gain by handing over the "flock of the slaughter" to the Gentiles. Receiving the wages of their iniquity, like the brethren of Joseph, when they sold him to the Ishmaelites, they say, "Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich." Their hearts were hardened, and thus it was that, while the true Israelites were killed all the day long, and were accounted as sheep for the slaughter (Ps. 46: 22) their own shepherds, those who filled that place, pitied them not. But Jehovah saw and He pitied, and in His compassion He commissioned the Messiah to feed, to tend, to take care of, the flock of the slaughter. This is full of consolation for the persecuted saints of God at all times, even as the apostle points out when speaking of the unchangeable love of Christ. "Who shall separate us," he enquires, "from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day, long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." And then he tells us that "in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us;" for, as he goes on to say, there is no power on earth or under the earth, whether present or future, that is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8: 35-39.)

Jehovah's declaration follows, that He will give the godless nation up to judgment. "For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them." (v. 6.) "The inhabitants of the land" are the mass of the Jewish people, as distinguished from the believing remnant, those who identified themselves with their Gentile rulers; and "his king," inasmuch as these events are connected with the life of Christ in Israel, will probably be Caesar, he whom the chief priests, the religious heads of the nation, accepted, and indeed claimed as their king, when, in the madness of their enmity against Christ, they cried, "We have no king but Caesar." (John 19: 15). Into his hands Jehovah did surrender the inhabitants of the land, and the Romans did smite the land, and Jehovah did not then deliver his people. Jehovah had been in their midst, and had sought to gather them together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and they would not; and, as a consequence of their refusal to listen to His pleading cry, strong, withering, and desolating judgments fell upon Jerusalem and the land, and their house was left unto them desolate. (Matt. 23: 37, 38.)

The results of this judgment visited upon them because of their rejection of Christ are now given with some detail. "And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands, and I led the flock. Three shepherds also I cut off in one month, and my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. Then said I, I will not lead you: that that dieth, let it die, and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another." (vv. 7-9.)

Attention may once more be called to the peculiarity of the language. It is Zechariah who speaks, but it is Zechariah, not only in the name of, but also as impersonating, Messiah, so that his words are those of Messiah. Whether Zechariah performed the symbolic actions, such as taking and afterwards breaking the two staves, is not mentioned, nor is it necessary to know, as the main thing is to perceive the connection of all with the life of Christ in the midst of the Jews. It will be noted moreover that it is Jehovah who is the Messiah, according to the word of the angel to Joseph, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus" (that is, Jehovah the Saviour); "for He shall save His people from their sins." (Matt. 1: 21.)

Returning to our scripture, the Lord again distinguishes His little flock. Delivering up the nation, that which was publicly owned as such, to judgment, He says to those who had separated themselves from the ungodly nation, and had attached themselves to Him, "I will feed the flock of the slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock." Poor indeed they were in the estimation of their fellow-countrymen, and also despised, as well as marked out as the objects of their scorn and enmity, really accounted as sheep for the slaughter, and yet, in truth, because of all this, how precious to Christ! He called His own sheep by name, and led them out, found them pasture, and, as the Good Shepherd, He gave His life for the sheep, and also comforted their hearts by telling them that they should never perish, that none should ever pluck them out of His hand. (John 10) What a contrast between "the inhabitants of the land!" and the "poor of the flock!" And how blessed to belong to those who are under the shepherd-care of Christ!

Thereon Messiah took to Him two staves, the explanation of which will be seen afterwards. It will suffice here to say, that they are connected with His Messiahship in relation to Israel, and with His authority over the nations which he will wield through Israel, in virtue of which He will unite the nations, as well as bind together Judah and Israel as one people, under His sway. And then, having assumed His true place in Israel — a place, it is true, only to be morally discerned, but still really taken — He fed the flock, for all who entered in through Him went in and out and found pasture; so that every one of this flock of slaughter could say, "Jehovah is my Shepherd; I shall not want." But if He thus cared for His own, He acted in judgment towards those who hated and rejected Him. "Three shepherds," He says, "I cut off in one month." The shepherds, as before seen, are the self-constituted heads or leaders of the Jewish people, or those that were publicly in that position; but who these shepherds were that were cut off is not revealed.* It is quite probable — nay, it would be consistent with God's ways in government at that period — that these shepherds may have passed off the scene apparently in a natural way; but here it is revealed that they were cut off by the hand of Jehovah. "And," He proceeds, "my soul loathed† them, and their soul also abhorred me," Who can wonder that the Messiah was weary of the unbelieving nation? He came unto His own, and they received Him not. They hated Him without a cause. His soul was burdened with their state and condition. Thus on one occasion, when they watched Him to see whether He would heal the man with the withered hand on the sabbath day, that they might accuse Him, He "looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts." (Mark 3) They repaid His goodness with evil, and His love with enmity; and then He went to die for that nation. Well might He have felt the burden of their sin, and have been weary of their unbelief. "And their soul also," He says, "abhorred me." This they proved at every step of His journey through the whole course of His sojourn in their midst; and their hatred culminated in their choice of Barabbas, and in their demand that Jesus should be crucified. But their abhorrence of Christ brought down judgment upon them, for He declared that He would not feed them; and He gave them up to death, to destruction, and to mutual enmity.

*There has been endless speculation on the subject; but where God has not drawn back the curtain of concealment, it is impossible for man to penetrate into His secrets.

†This word does not seem to express the force of the original. In the margin it is "straitened for them." The Revised Version translates "weary of them"; and the French version, cited in this book, gives, "Mon âme fut ennuyée d'eux;" while the Septuagint renders, "kai barunthesetai e psyche mon ep autous."

In the Psalms this aspect of the suffering of Christ is very clearly distinguished. When the Messiah suffers under the hand of God, as in Psalm 22, nothing but grace flows out to all around; but when He is seen suffering from the hands of men, as in Psalm 69, the consequence is sure and certain judgment. Thus, for example, in this psalm He says, "They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them." (Psalm 69: 21-24.) This is easily explained. In the first case God, on the ground of the atoning work of Christ (and it must never be forgotten that atonement lies in what He suffered from the hands of God), is able, and delights to be able, righteously to assume the attitude of grace towards all, and to bless all that come to Him in the name of Christ. In the second case He acts according to the eternal principles of His government, and judges every man according to his works. Hence if any do not approach Him in and through Christ, they must receive the due reward of their deeds. So here — where we are entirely in the sphere of righteous government — judgment is pronounced upon those who "abhorred" the Messiah. But this in nowise intercepted the presentation of grace to them through the apostles, even after they had by wicked hands taken and crucified their Messiah; nay, this very presentation was secured for them by Him whom they had crucified, through his intercession for them, while on the cross — "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23: 34.) But when they rejected the testimony of the Holy Ghost through the apostles and through Stephen, even as they had refused that of Christ on earth, they were left exposed to all the consequences of their sins, and especially to the stroke of this particular judgment here pronounced; and, as a matter of fact, this judgment literally fell upon them in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.

Consequent then upon His rejection the Messiah, or the prophet in the name of Messiah, performs two symbolic actions with the staves He had taken. "And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people." (v. 10) "All the people" should read "all the peoples," in the sense of all the nations, for it is undoubtedly the Gentiles that are here in view. When Jacob uttered his prophetic blessing on his sons, he said, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." (Gen. 49: 10) Here again it should be "peoples" instead of "people;" and in the light of this prediction may be perceived the meaning of the words in Zechariah. The promise then had been given, that when Messiah came the nations should be gathered unto Him, unto him in subjection, in the acknowledgement of His authority and power, even as Isaiah also writes, "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising."* (Isaiah 60: 3.) But when Messiah came He was rejected; and hence the gathering of the peoples unto Him, though it will surely take place, is postponed — postponed until He comes the second time to Israel in power and glory. It is this which is indicated by the breaking of the staff Beauty. Messiah was there, and ready to perform the word spoken (the covenant He had made) concerning the nations; but inasmuch as He was refused by Israel, and it is through Israel that He will govern the nations on earth, He necessarily put off the assembling of the peoples under His sway and authority. Herein, as the apostle explains, is seen the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, because the sin of Israel in refusing the Messiah is made the occasion for the unfolding of His counsels concerning the Church. Well therefore may we cry with the apostle, "How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" (Romans 11: 33.)

*This is spoken of Jerusalem, as a matter of fact, only "thy light" is the presence of Messiah in His glory, so that the application is to Him.

The effect of breaking the staff upon the remnant is next described: "And it was broken in that day — and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord." (v. 11) The designation of the remnant is very beautiful. they are "the poor of the flock:" it reminds us of the Lord's own words, "Blessed be ye poor: for your's is the kingdom of God." (Luke 6: 20) They were the poor in spirit (Matt. 5: 3.), though mainly also composed of the poor of this world. If, however, they were poor they were yet rich (Rev. 2: 9) in that they had found their treasure in the Messiah; for it was on Him they "waited;" they waited on Him to hear His word, yea, for all their need. (Compare Psalm 123: 2.) They are those who attached themselves to Christ during His earthly sojourn, "the children" whom Jehovah had given Him, as Isaiah speaks 8: 18), who were for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts. The rejection of their Messiah might, according to human thoughts, have proved a stumbling-block to His disciples; but, as we gather from this scripture, they recognised in it, together with its consequences, a fulfilment of the word of the Lord, through its correspondence, we judge, with what had been foretold by the prophets.

The next verses bring the nation again before us. "And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I look the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord." (vv. 12, 13.) The fulfilment of this prophecy is known to all, but we give its record in order to have the subject fully before the reader. In Matthew we read, "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver." (Matt. 26: 14, 15.) In Zechariah it is "I said unto them," whereas in Matthew it is Judas who speaks to the chief priests (the representatives of the nation). This brings out a very interesting principle in the ways of God. It was Judas' sin that betrayed the Lord, but Jehovah used the sin of Judas to test the chief priests as to their estimate of Christ, and thus, passing by the intermediate instrumentality, he says, "I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price." They did "think good," and what was the price, the value at which they estimated Jesus, the Son of God, their Messiah? If we turn to the book of Exodus, we may read, "If the ox shall push a manservant or a maidservant; he" (that is, the owner) "shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned." (Ex. 21: 32.) It was therefore the value of a slave; and this was the contemptuous price the Jewish leaders offered for the life of Him who was Jehovah and Immanuel. Who would have dared to think that man, and man in such a position, with such light as the word of God in his hand afforded, could have fallen so low? And who can fathom the unspeakable grace that led the only begotten of the Father, the Word Who had become flesh, Jehovah the Saviour, to submit Himself to such degradation? Ah! herein lies the revelation of man's heart, and of God's heart, and, together with it, the need — the need as displayed by the heart of man, and the secret — as disclosed by the heart of God in His ineffable grace — of redemption.

The reader will observe in verse 13 the striking words interposed between the command to "cast it unto the potter" and the execution of the thing commanded. The Lord (speaking in Zechariah) interjects, as it were, the words, "a goodly price that I was prised at of them" words which reveal how deeply He felt His contemptuous rejection by "His own," "Reproach," He says in Psalm 69, "hath broken my heart," and so here the knowledge of the goodly price at which He was "prised" wounded His soul. A goodly price indeed at which to value Him who redeemed them out of Egypt, and who had now come into their midst as Jehovah — the Saviour! Such is man; and it was by the presentation of Christ that the state of man was revealed.

The fulfilment of the second part of the prophecy is also found in Matthew: "Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy* the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me." (Matt. 27: 3-10.) It will be observed again that the Lord passes over all the instrumentalities by which this prediction was accomplished. He says in Zechariah, "I" (either the Lord Himself or the prophet symbolically) "took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord." In the gospel we find that it was Judas who cast down the pieces of silver in the temple (in the house of the Lord), and that it was the chief priests who bought with them the potter's field, but as both alike were but the instruments (even while acting according to the suggestions of their own evil hearts), in the Lord's hands, both actions are here connected with the prophet.

*The substitution of Jeremiah's name for that of Zechariah has never been satisfactorily explained. If not a simple error in the copyists, it may be that the name of Jeremiah, as some suggest, was on the roll — as commencing it — which contained the section of the prophets in which Zechariah was found. In this case, it would be naturally cited under the name of Jeremiah. No importance, however attaches to the explanation one way or the other.

It is not the place to comment upon the wickedness of the chief priests, shown by their affectation of the forms of piety, and their distinction between what was lawful and unlawful in regard to the treasury, even while bribing a disciple to betray his Lord, further than to point out that it was the consummation of their enmity against Christ, and the expression of their determination to secure, at all costs, His death. It is on this account that it is accepted, in Zechariah, as their final rejection of the Messiah, and as constituting the breaking off for that time His relationships with the Jewish nation.

This is signified by His now sundering His remaining staff. "Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel." (v. 14.) Ever since the separation of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, on the succession of Rehoboam, from the house of David, there had been more or less enmity, with some occasional alliances, between the two kingdoms; and the prophets had continually spoken of the reunion of the two peoples under the Messiah. Isaiah had thus said, "The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim." (Isa. 11: 13.) in Ezekiel also we find an action which is entirely explanatory of that in Zechariah. "Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: and join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand." And this symbolic action is explained as follows: "I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all." (Ezekiel 37: 15-22.) When therefore Messiah returns and establishes His kingdom this promise will be fulfilled, and it would have been fulfilled when He first came had He been received by His people. Having been rejected, as we have seen, the reunion of Judah and Ephraim was necessarily, like the gathering of the nations, postponed; and this was set forth in our passage by the cutting asunder of the staff Bands. And thus the brotherhood between the two nations is irrevocably broken, and can never be re-established, even though both were found again in the land, until both are united under the sway of the true Son of David. Thus it was through the sin of man — of Judah in particular, although grace has abounded over the sin in bringing to light the eternal counsels of God — that the blessing of the nations, as dependent upon that of Israel under their Messiah, has been delayed, and will now be delayed, until the last of the co-heirs with Christ shall have been brought in to the glory of Him who has known how to make the wrath of man to praise Him, and also to bind the actings of Satan to the chariot-wheels of His purposes for the exaltation and glory of His beloved son.

When our blessed Lord was down here on the earth, He said to the Jews, "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." (John 5: 43.) This is the truth exhibited by the next symbolical action. "And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces."* (vv. 15, 16.) This passage brings antichrist before us as the foolish shepherd, the shepherd of "nought," whom the Jews will by-and-by receive. just as they chose Barabbas in preference to Christ, so, having refused Jehovah as their Shepherd, they will open their arms to welcome this shepherd of "nought." Zechariah was commanded to portray this in figure by assuming the instruments of a foolish shepherd. The next verse gives the character of this shepherd after their own, not after God's, heart — a character which cannot but recall Ezekiel's description of "the shepherds of Israel:" "Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them." (Ezek. 34: 2-4.) All these characteristics will be seen in their full development in this last false shepherd over God's people, who will exalt himself not only over them, but also against God and His Christ. (See 2 Thess. 2: and Rev. 13)

*The Revised Translation renders verse 16 as follows: "Which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek those that be scattered, nor heal that that is broken; neither shall he feed that which is sound, but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and shall tear their hoofs in pieces." The French version gives it thus: "Qui ne visitera pas ce qui va périr, qui ne cherchera pas ce qui est dispersé, qui ne pansera pas ce qui est blessé, qui ne nourrira pas ce qui est en bon état; mais il mangera la chair de ce qui est gras, et rompra la corne de leurs pieds."

Having introduced the foolish shepherd in connection with the rejection of Christ, the prophet then pronounces his judgment — "Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened." (v. 17.) Jeremiah in like manner utters "woe," woe in judgment, from the mouth of God upon "the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep" of Jehovah's pasture. (Jer. 23: 1: compare Ezek. 34) The iniquity of this shepherd of "nothingness" (for such is the force of the word "idol" here) lies in his leaving, forsaking the flock — a word which sums up the several descriptions of the preceding verse. He had abandoned all that needed the shepherd's care, and used the remainder for his own purposes. Like the thief in the parable, he only came to steal, to kill, and to destroy, and, like the hireling, "whose own the sheep are not," when he seeth the wolf coming, he "leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep." (John 10) Therefore he will incur the just judgment of God as expressed in this irrevocable woe — a woe which will bear its bitter fruit throughout eternity. Then the particular form of the judgment is given. "The sword shall be upon his arm and upon his right eye." The sword is the executor of the judgment, the mighty word of God, which, when uttered, accomplishes all His will. The effect is, that his arm shall be clean dried up, his power is entirely paralysed, and his right eye is utterly darkened; his perception, his intelligence is blinded. It is thus that God will deal with him who assumed the place of shepherd over his people, and the enemy of His Christ, reducing him to utter impotence under the withering stroke of His judgment. And if this shepherd is antichrist,* as he doubtless is, the judgment here denounced is only preparatory to that other, which will be inflicted by Messiah Himself at His appearing; for He "shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked" [one]. (Isaiah 11: 4.) And from the book of Revelation, where we are permitted to see still further, we learn that his final doom, together with the beast, is to be "cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone." (Rev. 19: 20.) Such will be the awful end of this false shepherd, this antichrist, towards the development of which man is already hastening with such rapid strides.†

*It is quite possible that this idol shepherd is so described as to prefigure all the false shepherds that might be found amongst the Jews, all of whom in their turn foreshadowed this final one, in whom all their worst features will be concentrated and intensified.

†The reader may peruse with great advantage a most valuable paper on this chapter in J. N. D.'s Collected Writings, vol. ii. Expository.

Zechariah 12.

After the introduction of Antichrist, at the close of the preceding chapter, the prophet is occupied with the events of the last days, or those events which circle around Jerusalem, and which are connected with her siege and deliverance. Looking in the power of the Spirit into the future, he depicts event after event, until he sees, at the end of the book, the kingdom established, with Jerusalem as the religious metropolis of the whole earth, and all nations owning the authority of the King in Zion.

This chapter commences with a solemn "burden" for Israel. "The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem." (vv. 1. 2.) It is a striking feature that the "burden" is for (or "upon") Israel, for its contents seem to be concerned almost entirely with Judah and Jerusalem. It is contended by some, from this circumstance, that Israel, i.e. the ten tribes, must therefore have been restored before the siege of Jerusalem takes place, and that, as a consequence this siege is conducted by the Assyrian and. his confederates subsequent to the destruction of the Antichrist, to which allusion is made in the foregoing chapter.* This question must be decided by the reader himself as he considers the words of the prophet, only it is necessary to remind him again that prophecy often employs language that may apply to different though connected events; and the main point of this chapter, we judge, is the deliverance of Jerusalem and Judah rather than the exact specification of the enemy who is destroyed, although it is clear that there will be at this time a confederacy of the Gentiles against Judah and Jerusalem. The head of this confederacy is not specified.

*We subjoin the following note from the writings of another to make the above remark more intelligible, and to help the reader who may desire to enter further upon this interesting subject. "The departure of God from the direct government of the earth with Israel for the centre, His throne being in their midst, sitting between the cherubim, and His return to the government of the earth, is of immense importance. In Ezekiel we see this judgment (God's departure) on Jerusalem. God comes (Nebuchadnezzar being the instrument); He executes judgment, leaves them and goes into heaven. The Gentiles are left to rule (subject to God's providence and final judgment). Israel, and God's throne in their midst, are set aside. Four great empires arise successively — Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The Roman empire, while devastating everywhere, does not succeed in getting all nations under its power, but continues the great power of the world till the judgment, though in a special form. Then the Assyrian comes on the scene again at the close, that is, geographically in what is now Turkey in Asia, and part of Persia; but in the last days Assyria will appear on the scene in the Russian power" (that is, we apprehend, upheld by, as allied with or subject to, Russia), "according to the testimony of Ezekiel 37, 38, [so that] the world, as connected with Israel and God's ultimate purposes on the earth, is divided into Western Europe, and the basin of the Mediterranean, the Roman Empire; and Eastern Europe, or the Russian" (that is, Eastern Europe will fall within the territory of the Russian Empire). "These two are never confounded in Scripture. The Assyrian was the power that warred against Israel when God owned them (before He wrote the sentence upon them of Lo-ammi, and suffered them to be carried away captive), and the other (the Roman Empire) that oppressed and held them captives when they were not owned." (Lectures on the Second Coming. By J. N. Darby, pp. 156, 157.) We add to this, that both of these powers will be judged by the Lord Himself, and in connection with Jerusalem. First, He will destroy both the head of the Roman Empire and the Antichrist, as described in Rev. 19, and, subsequently, He will destroy the Assyrian, who will come up against Israel after their restoration, and will then meet with his final overthrow. The question then raised above is simply whether the siege spoken of is connected with the overthrow of the Roman power, together with Antichrist, or with that of the Assyrian? If we confine ourselves to the language of the chapter, we shall see that neither is mentioned, that it says merely that all the people (peoples), that is, all the nations, will be in the siege.

Jehovah in this "burden" upon Israel is presented as the Creator — the Creator of the heavens and the earth, as also of "the spirit of man." This is often so in the prophets (see, for example, Isa. 43: 1, Isa. 44: 18); for indeed this is God known in connection with the first creation, and it became therefore the distinctive Jewish testimony. (See Jonah 1. 9.) Jehovah thus lays the foundation of His demonstrated power in creation for the faith of His people as to the accomplishment of His word as to Jerusalem. When Zechariah prophesied the temple was not yet completed, and the city was still desolate; but by the word of Jehovah the people are bidden to look onward to the time when Jerusalem should be once more restored in its beauty and strength, and be made, if the object of the hostility of all the peoples (or all the nations) round about, to strike terror into the hearts of her foes. It is a solemn asseveration of what the Lord would do: "Behold, I will make;" and the next verse does but take up the divine assertion, with a change of figure, and intensify the promise. "And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people [again it is all peoples or nations]: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people [peoples] of the earth be gathered together against it."' (v. 3.) That the time of the end is referred to is shown by the use and the repetition of the phrase, "In that day." It is found, including the next chapter, eight times, and it is therefore abundantly clear that one and the same period is indicated which will comprise all the events which form the subject of Zechariah's "burden;" and, inasmuch as the conversion of the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem is one of these, as also the manifestation to them of the Messiah, the period is defined to be that connected with the Lord's appearing.*

*It is astonishing how godly persons, with verses 9 and 10 before their eyes, can either apply this chapter to any of the past sieges of Jerusalem, or endeavour to spiritualize its meaning, so as to adapt it to the progress of the gospel. We append one comment of the latter kind: "The gospel claiming obedience to the faith among all nations, provoked universal rebellion. Herod and Pontius Pilate became friends through rejection of Christ; the Roman Caesar and the Persian Sapor, Goths and Vandals at war with one another, were one in persecuting Christ and the Church!"

At this time then the nations will be gathered together against Jerusalem, as well as against Judah. What has drawn them together is not here stated, but manifestly their object is to reduce into subjection both the city and the people of Judah. It is an outburst of enmity really against God and His Christ, the fulfilment, in this aspect, of the second Psalm: "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion." (vv. 1-6.) And so here divine judgment falls upon the assembled nations. In verse 2 Jerusalem becomes "a cup of trembling" to all the nations who encompass her in the siege, and in verse 3 she is "a burdensome stone" for them, and "all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces." (Compare Matt 21: 44.) Then once more in the world's history it will be seen that if man in his daring impiety ventures to rush upon "the thick bosses of the bucklers" of God it is only for his instant and complete destruction.*

*As chapter 14 brings before us larger details of the final siege of Jerusalem, we postpone any further remarks on this subject until that chapter is reached.

In the following verses we have Jehovah's interposition for the defence and salvation of His people. Already, as we have noted, it is what he would do — "I will make Jerusalem," etc. (vv. 1-3); and now His action with reference to the enemy is described: "In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the People" (rather, all the horses of the peoples) "with blindness." (v. 4.) "The horse and his rider," as has been said, "had, through Moses' song at the Red Sea, become the emblem of worldly pride and power." But it is not here as in the Red Sea, into which both the horse and his rider were cast; for here they are smitten suddenly with a divine stroke, and the effect is "astonishment and madness." The forces of the nations are thus paralyzed; and so thrown into utter confusion, dismay and disaster are the necessary consequence. The object, if not the motive, of this divine action is beautifully indicated in the midst of the description; it lies in the words, "I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah."* Though all is of grace, we yet learn that Jehovah was moved by compassion for the house of Judah. He opens His eyes upon, beholds, and is touched by, their sorrowful condition; and, if the words may be permitted, hastening to their rescue, He smites all the horses of the people with blindness. Thus at one stroke all the flower and strength of the enemies' armies are destroyed as suddenly as in days of old, when an angel was sent to smite with pestilence the Assyrian host. At once the hearts of the leaders of Judah, as well they might be, are encouraged. "And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God."† (v. 5.) It will be observed that the reference is to an inward conviction wrought in the hearts of the governors of Judah, a conviction wrought doubtless by the Lord Himself, and, if unknown to them, is the sign of the commencement of His work of deliverance. To human eyes at such a moment the inhabitants of Jerusalem, besieged in their city by the nations, would be in the very jaws of destruction, alike helpless and exposed to the fury of the foe; but it is to these apparently doomed ones the heads of Judah look, and are led to feel that their strength would be found in them; but, if in or through them, only from the Lord their God. The very name of God is significant in this connection; it is the Lord of hosts in contrast with man's hosts that were gathered against His people; and it is this name, as identified with the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that is here used to impart confidence to the governors of Judah.

*This expression has been deemed to point to the fact that this interference of Jehovah is rather in connection with the beast and the false prophet (the antichrist) than with the siege of the Assyrian. The phrase "all the peoples" of the earth might be thought to point to the latter. The reader will consider and form his own judgment, remembering, however, what has been already observed, that in the text nothing is said beyond the fact that "all the peoples" are combined in the scene.

†The translation, as the marginal rendering shows, is a little difficult. J. N. D.'s French version gives, "Les habitants de Jérusalem seront ma force, par l'Eternel des armèes, leur Dieu." Others render, "Strength to me are the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the Lord of hosts their God." The sense either way is much the same.

First, then, the Lord works in the heart of these princes, and then, in the next place, He demonstrates their strength — "In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the People" (again, all the peoples) "round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own Place, even in Jerusalem." (v. 6.) As ever, the Lord first prepares His instruments in secret, and then, when the time comes for their use, He displays their fitness for their work. He thus trained David, while tending his father's flocks, through his conflicts with the lion and the bear, to vanquish Goliath, the foe of Israel. In like manner these princes of Judah have been trained, and now, when He launches them against the nations, nothing can stand before them; for they are like a raging, devouring fire, consuming all that comes before it. The result is at once stated, "Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in her own place." And the fact that the result is thus given explains the character of the verse, that the Spirit of God has crowded into it the whole deliverance of Jerusalem, together with her consequent restoration and blessing. This will enable the reader to perceive how pregnant these sentences are. Thus, for example, "I will make the governors of Judah," etc., is now seen to include the actual coming of Jehovah and His taking them up as His weapon for the destruction of the nations. The verse therefore forms a kind of summary, a compendious statement of the rescue of Jerusalem from the grasp of the foe, the means employed for that end, and her consequent prosperity. In the succeeding verses more details, details of the same event, will be found.

"The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that is feeble* among them at that day shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem." (vv. 7-9) In the beautiful language of another, "God would judge the power of man, but would raise up His people in sovereign grace. He would destroy the nations that had come up against Jerusalem. The deliverance of the people by the power of Jehovah comes first. This is sovereign grace to the chief of sinners, the feeble but beloved Judah, who had added to all her rebellion against God the despisal and rejection of her King and Saviour. The grace of God takes the lead over all the resources of man. The audacity of the enemies of God's people stirs up His affection, which never diminishes; and thus, by compelling God to act, this very audacity becomes the means of proving the faithfulness of His love. Judah, guilty yet beloved Judah, is delivered — that is to say, the remnant to whom the affliction of Israel had been a burden — but the question of her conduct towards her God remained."† And this, as will be seen, is dealt with afterwards.

*Rather, "He that stumbleth among them."

†Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, by J. N. Darby, vol. ii. p. 63 5.

It is clear indeed that sovereign grace alone explains the statement that Jehovah first delivers the tents of Judah; and the reason, or rather the object, is very striking — that the glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, do not magnify themselves against Judah. The deliverance of Jerusalem, and the dwelling of Jehovah in her midst, and the fact that the Messiah is the true Son of David, could not fail to reflect glory upon both the city and the house of the King; and knowing what man is, this might lead both the city and the family of David to exalt themselves over Judah. But Jehovah will prevent this by exhibiting His love to Judah in appearing first on her behalf. But if He deliver Judah, it is only, as it were, while on His way to the succour of the beloved city; for He will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. So also we read in Isaiah: "The Lord of hosts shall come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it." (Isa. 31: 4, 5.) Together with His appearing for the defence and succour of the city, He will endow its inhabitants, as it appears, with superhuman strength. Reduced to helplessness, they are in the place and condition to receive strength; for it is ever true, in all dispensations, that when God's people are weak then they are strong, because His strength is made perfect in weakness. Hence he that is feeble, or stumbles from weakness among them, shall be as David — as David when he went forth and overcame all the power of the enemy; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah who was now again at their head as the Captain of the Lord's host (Joshua 5) and leading them forth to battle. There is, in truth, no limit to the power of God's people when they are taken up by Him, and when, in dependence upon Him, they are following Him in conflict with their foes.

The next verse merely gives the fact, afterwards expanded in chapter 14 that Jehovah in that day will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Here it is not so much the execution of His judgment, as the declaration of His purpose to execute it, the announcement that when all nations come against Jerusalem they would come for their entire and total destruction. In the prophetic view they are undoubtedly destroyed, only the words, "I will seek to destroy," speak rather of the purpose in the divine mind, than of its actual accomplishment.

Judah and Jerusalem succoured, we have in the next place a divine action in the hearts of the people. "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." (v. 10) It was in Jerusalem that our Lord was rejected and condemned to be crucified (He suffered without the gate); it was in Jerusalem the gospel was first preached, and the first work of grace commenced; and now we find that it is in Jerusalem Jehovah will first commence the work of grace when he returns to Zion. Nothing could more magnify His grace and unchanging love; and nothing could more fully reveal the impotent condition of man than the fact here recorded, that it is Jehovah — Jehovah who had been rejected in the person of Jesus — who will pour out upon His people the spirit of grace and of supplication. All things truly are of God; and hence, as the apostle writes, it is "by grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of ourselves: it is the gift of God." It is the heart of God moved with compassion for the condition of the people whom He had chosen, and whom He loves; and who, on this account, bestows the spirit of grace and of supplications to prepare them to receive, and to own, their Messiah. Hence the next thing is, "They shall look upon me* whom they have pierced." This is ever the divine order; first, conviction of sin, and then, the presentation of Christ. It was so with Saul of Tarsus; for no sooner had he been charged with, and made to feel, the sin of which he had been guilty in persecuting the saints by the question, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" than, in answer to the response, "Who art thou, Lord?" he received the reply, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." (Acts 9) So also with the brethren of Joseph, who foreshadow, in this particular, what we have here; it was after their exercises of heart and compunctions of conscience that Joseph, said, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt."

*There have been many discussions concerning this reading — "on me"; for Jewish writers have attempted to set aside this plain identification of Jehovah with the crucified Jesus. The result has only been to justify, on irrefutable grounds, the translation in the text.

And what a moment this will be for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem when, as they see their Messiah come in glory for their deliverance, the conviction is begotten in their hearts that it is Jesus whom they had nailed to the bitter tree. For it was through the sin of the house of David, as also that of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that the kingdom was subverted by Nebuchadnezzar (see 2 Chr. 36: 11-20); and Jerusalem had added to all her transgressions that greatest sin of all, the denial and rejection of her Lord. And yet He comes for their deliverance, and, when their eyes are opened, they behold their Deliverer, and recognize that He is Jesus of Nazareth! Then for the first time they will understand by the very magnitude of the grace, the turpitude of their sin, and, transfixed with the arrows of  conviction, will be bowed in the dust before their God in true penitence and sorrow for their guilt. As another has written, "To be loved by a God against whom one has so deeply revolted, melts the heart. Grace then goes farther, and presents to the people the Messiah whom they had pierced. The rejected One is the Jehovah that delivers them. It is now no longer merely the cry of distress that has no refuge, but Jehovah Israel, more strictly Judah, no longer a prey to the terrible anxiety which her distress occasioned, is entirely occupied with her sin felt in the presence of a crucified Saviour. It is no longer a common grief, that of a nation crushed and trodden down in its most cherished sentiments. It is now hearts melted by the sense of what they had been towards One who had given Himself up for them."*

*Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, by J. N. Darby, vol. ii.

There follows a description of this unparalleled grief and first its character is noted: "They shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son," etc. It is a comparison to illustrate the intensity of their grief, even as Amos also speaks, "I bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day," (Amos 8: 10); and then, to enhance the conception of the sorrow, it is said to be "bitterness for Him. as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." Blessed grief, we may add; for it partakes of that sorrow according to God, which works a repentance, not to be repented of, and the end of which will prove to be light, blessing, and joy. Such weeping may endure for the night, but joy will surely come in the morning, the first streaks of which, indeed, have already appeared through the clouds of their darkness and grief.

The prophet proceeds still further to illustrate this penitential mourning of the people: "In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon." (v. 11) It is the same mourning as described in the previous verse; that is, the mourning consequent upon their discovery that the One they had pierced was no other than Jehovah and now to show its depth and intensity reference is made to one of the most calamitous events that had ever befallen the nation; viz., the death of Josiah, who was mortally wounded in battle with Necho, king of Egypt, in the valley of Megiddon. For in truth the death of this monarch was the sunset of the kingdom of Judah. A few gleams of light may have lingered afterwards in Jehovah's mercy; but these soon faded away (for both kings and people were deaf to the pleadings of the prophets) into utter night. The significance of the death of Josiah seems to have been instinctively apprehended; for we read that "all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and, behold, they are written in the lamentations."* (2 Chr. 35: 24, 25.) It was therefore a true national sorrow, and it is to this the Holy Spirit here points back to illustrate the mourning that will ensue upon the revelation of their crucified and glorified Messiah to their hearts.

*Hadadrimmon was situated in the northern kingdom, south of mount Carmel, and a few miles west of Jezreel. It has been remarked that the name is compounded of the appellations of two Syrian idols, and is therefore "a witness how Syrian idolatry penetrated into the kingdom when it was detached from the worship of God."

There is also another feature distinguished: "And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart." (vv. 12-14.) If a national, it is also a household, nay, an individual sorrow, a sure proof of the thoroughness of the work of penitence which will be wrought in their hearts by the Spirit of God. Every family, and every individual in the family, will own the sin of having crucified the Lord. "Each family, isolated by, its personal convictions, confesses apart the depth of its sin while no fear of judgment or punishment comes in to impair the character and the truth of their sorrow. Their souls are restored according to the efficacy of the work of Christ. It is this which definitely brings the people into relationship with God." We thus see that, while it is true that Christ died for the nation, and that the nation (i.e. the remnant that comes into that place before God) will own its sin in the rejection of the Messiah, every individual must own his sin "apart," alone in the presence of God, in order to be brought under the value and efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ. This was foreshadowed indeed in the directions for the day of atonement; "for whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people." (Lev. 23: 20.)

Four families are specified amid "all the families that remain." That of the house of David is mentioned for the reason given in an earlier part of the chapter; viz., that it was the sin of this house, for the kings were held responsible for the state of the nation, that brought the kingdom to its judicial end. Nathan is named perhaps as the representative of the prophets, inasmuch as he was the prophet in the days of David. The house of Levi will stand here more especially for the priestly family; for, in setting forth the causes of God's intervention in judgment in the reign of Zedekiah, the Holy Spirit says, "Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which he had hallowed in Jerusalem." (2 Chr. 36: 14.) And it was the chief priests who, to secure the condemnation of Jesus, cried, and thus deliberately denied their national history and their national hopes, "We have no king but Caesar." (John 19: 15) The family of Shimei is more difficult of interpretation.* A reference is sometimes made to Num. 3: 21, where we read of the family of the Shimites as belonging to Gershon, one of the sons of Levi. If this be the family intended, we have in the list the royal family, the prophetic and priestly families, as well as that of those who were Levites in the ordinary sense of that term, besides all the families that remain. In that case every class of the nation is here represented, and all are brought in for the purpose of showing how general will be the humiliation and contrition of all the people, when at length God once again takes them up for the accomplishment of all His counsels respecting them, and when the first lesson they will have to learn is the nature of their sin in having crucified Jesus of Nazareth.

*The Septuagint gives Simeon, but, as it would appear, with questionable authority.

Zechariah 13.

The subject of the previous chapter is here continued, and, in this case, in progressive order; for Jehovah is still concerned, in the actings of His grace, with the house of David, and with the inhabitants of Jerusalem. "In that day," says the prophet, "there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." (v. 1) That the period is the same as in Zech. 12 is shown from the repetition of the words, "In that day" — the day introduced by the appearing of the Messiah; a day therefore marked and even waited for in the counsels Of God; and a day which will be distinguished for ever in the annals of the history of His earthly people, because it is then that their relationships with Jehovah will be restored.

The fountain of which the prophet speaks is a fountain of water. The word employed is indeed the same as found in Jeremiah, where we read, "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters."* (Jeremiah 2: 13.) There is a beautiful moral order seen in the introduction of the fountain in this place. At the close of the last chapter we have seen the remnant brought under the efficacy of the sacrifice, the value of the blood; for as soon as they looked believingly on Him whom they had pierced, their sins, their transgressions, were all taken away, their guilt was for ever removed. The moment, however, this was (or will be) accomplished another need would arise, and that is, a provision for daily cleansing from sin and uncleanness; and this is made by the fountain; for water, an emblem of the word of God, is ever His means of removing the defilements which His people contract in their daily walk and warfare, as is so strikingly shown in the Lord's washing the feet of His disciples. (John 13) It was symbolized too by what took place at the cross, when the soldier pierced the side of the blessed Lord as He hung dead upon the tree; "and forthwith," as the apostle relates, "came there out blood and water" (John 19: 34) — the blood for expiation or atonement, and the water for cleansing. (See 1 John 5: 6 et seq.) This makes all clear, and enables us to perceive that the fountain is God's blessed provision for maintaining His people in a cleansed walk before Him.

*That the word "fountain" could only be used of water is so apparent that there were no need to refer to it, were it not that Cowper's popular hymn -

"There is a fountain filled with blood,

Drawn from Immanuel's veins," etc.,

which is based upon this scripture, has so connected it with the blood of Christ, that the mass of believers have come to regard this as its proper meaning.

Having removed the guilt of His people, and opened up the sources of their daily purification, Jehovah proceeds in the next place to cleanse His land. "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land." (v. 2.) Idols and false prophets were Satan's two successful instrumentalities by which he led both Judah and Israel to forsake the worship of the Lord their God. The golden calf, while it was their first open rebellion and apostasy, did but exhibit a tendency which never was eradicated while the kingdom lasted. As soon as they were in the land they went after other gods. (See Judges 2: 12, etc.) Even Solomon fell into the prevailing snare; and, with some few exceptions, his successors followed in his steps. (See both 2 Kings and 2 Chr. And wherever idolatory prevails false prophets abound. Thus when Jehoshaphat wished, after he had pledged himself to go to war with the Syrians in alliance with Ahab, to quiet the scruples of his conscience by enquiring "at the word of the Lord," four hundred false prophets were found to prophesy as Ahab desired, whereas there was but one prophet of Jehovah In that other scene too on Mount Carmel Elijah had to confront four hundred and fifty of the prophets of Baal. Nor was it otherwise in the kingdom of Judah; for we often find Jeremiah alone and single-handed in conflict with lying prophets (See Jer. 23: 25-40; Jer. 28: 1-11) but now, at the time here spoken of, the Lord Himself will cut off the names of the idols, and cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. Kings had often endeavoured to purify the land in this way, but the power of evil was too strong for them. Jehovah will do the work effectually. and for ever. One expression proves this; it is, that "the names of the idols shall no more be remembered." For in this day the Lord will put His laws into the minds of His people, and write them in their hearts; and He will put his fear into their hearts, that they shall not depart from Him. (Jer. 32: 38-40; cp. Ezek. 36: 25-38.)

The term "lying spirit" is significant. In the scene already alluded to, in which the false prophets prophesy before Ahab and Jehoshaphat, we are expressly told that the Lord put a "lying spirit" in their mouths (2 Chr. 18: 22); that is, He left them, or put them judicially, in the power of Satan, that they might lure Ahab on to his destruction. But the point we desire the reader to notice is, that it is a "lying spirit" that animates false prophets; not merely that they are ignorant of the truth, and follow the bent and inclination of their own evil hearts, but that they are absolutely in the power and control of the evil one. There might be sincere men among them — men of thought and intellect, the leading spirits of the time, "princes" of the age; but let it not be overlooked that, be they what they may in the world's estimation, they are energized and led by a "lying spirit." Is it any otherwise with the false prophets of Christendom? And who are these? They are those who deny the scripture presentation of the atonement those who question the inspiration of the Scriptures those who are not "sound" on the truth of the person of our Lord; those who in any way undermine the foundations of Christianity, and seek to substitute their own thoughts in the place of the truth of God. These are the false prophets of modern days, and many of them occupy chairs in colleges and universities. Some are amongst our foremost men in science; and others, alas! are found in the pulpits of churches and chapels. But wherever they are, if they refuse the teachings of the word of God, they are led of a "lying spirit." Happy day will it be then for restored and blessed Judah when both idolatry and false prophets are removed for ever; and when they will be enabled to distinguish instantly between the voice of truth and the voice of error!

The people, moreover, will be in full communion with the mind of God as to the false prophets; for Zechariah says, "And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shall not live, for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth." (v. 3.) The truth in that day will hold its rightful place in the hearts and consciences of God's people, and thus be more precious to them than the dearest earthly objects. Then will be seen, once more upon the earth, the spectacle of saints loving the Lord more than father or mother, husband or wife, or children; and they will therefore hold fast His word at all costs, and be, as this scripture teaches, the first to denounce those, be they connected with them by the closest of all ties, who shall seek to supersede the truth of God with their own lying imaginations. (Compare Deut, 13: 6-11.) Well it would have been for the Church of God had there been something of this zeal for the truth. Lacking it, and falling into Laodicean indifference, teachers of error have been permitted to pursue their deadly work until the truth, in the estimation of many, has become a mere matter of opinion; and, its certainty being thus lost, souls have been "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." (Eph. 4: 14.)

The effect of this holy zeal for God against the false prophets is most salutary: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment" (a garment of hair) "to deceive." (v. 4.) "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you;" and so, when the faces of God's people are set against the false prophets, they will disappear, or, if any should continue under the power of Satan, and still have their visions, they will no longer boast of it, as before, but be ashamed, and will lay aside the garment of hair as symbolic of their office.* For in truth the vocation of the prophet — and God's people will know it — will be gone. The prophet was sent in times of backsliding and apostasy to recall the people to the claims of Jehovah and His law, and their function was therefore to appeal to the conscience, denouncing judgments upon the rebellious, and encouraging the obedient with the glorious prospects of the future connected with the advent of the Messiah. Now, therefore, when Messiah shall have come, and when the law shall be written in the hearts of the people, and they shall receive a heart of flesh in the place of the heart of stone, and it will be consequently their delight to be found walking in the ways of the Lord, the prophet will have no more place. Hence restored and converted Israel, Judah here and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will instantly know that any who claim to have seen visions are not the prophets of Jehovah and will accordingly, as having the mind of the Lord, execute judgment upon them.

The next verse demands careful consideration: "But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman, for man taught me to keep cattle * from my youth." (v. 5.) Two things must first be noted; the connection and the translation. At first it would seem that the words "he shall say" referred to the false prophets in the preceding verse, but the language that follows makes this to be impossible. The question then arises, Who is the speaker? If now the sixth verse is examined, it will be at once seen that it could be no other than the Messiah Himself. The transition is abrupt in the extreme, but there can be no manner of doubt, in the light of the following verses, that the Messiah is here introduced. And the ground of it may be explained. Following upon Zech. 12, down to the end of verse 4, the blessed consequences of Jehovah's intervention on behalf of Judah and Jerusalem, and of His return to Zion, are given; and then, on the mention of the false prophets, Christ is brought forth as the One through whose work, as connected with His rejection, all these blessings will be inherited; and as the One, at the same time, who had been the Prophet in their midst, according to Deut. 18, but whose words they would not receive. It is, therefore, the mention of the false prophets that gives the occasion for showing how all had been made to depend upon Christ. Then, secondly, the translation must be weighed. As it stands it gives no distinct meaning, and many suggestions have been made to clear up the difficulty. The one which harmonizes most with the truth, and which also is justified critically, gives as the rendering of the last clause, "for man has acquired me [as a slave] from my youth."† The meaning of these words may. be given in the language of another: "Christ takes the humble position of One devoted to the service of man in the circumstances into which Adam was brought by sin (that is, with respect to His position as a man living in this world)." He was a, nay, the prophet, and God had said that He would require it from the man who would not hearken to the words which Christ should speak in His name. But refused from the very outset, He became a husbandman, a sower of seed (Matt. 13), a dresser of the vineyard (Luke 13), in a word, He became the servant of man for the glory of God. He thus said to His disciples, "I am among you as He that serveth;" for indeed He took upon Him the form of a servant, and became in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion is a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. This verse, therefore, opens out to us the lowly place of service which Christ took, on His first coming, in the midst of Israel, and reveals that unquenchable love which led Him to devote Himself to their true interests in spite of all that they were, and of their enmity and hatred. It contains, in a word, the secret of redemption.

*The reader may remember that a garment of hair, setting forth their moral separation from the evils around, was often worn by the prophets. Elijah (2 Kings 1: 8), and John the Baptist (Matt. 3: 4), may be cited as examples.

†Thus Luther translates, "Denn ich habe Menschen gedienet von meiner Jugend auf"; J. N. D.'s French version is, "Car l'homme m'a acquis [comme esclave] dès ma jeunesse"; and the Revised Version gives, "For I have been made a bondman from my youth."

The following verse thus tells of His rejection: "And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." (v. 6.) What a contrast! He had in love become the servant of man, and for His love He had hatred, rejection, and crucifixion, and this, as He explains, in the house of His friends. For, according to the flesh, He was a Jew, Son of David, heir of the promises, and as such he come into the house of His friends. For Him, too, they waited; all their hopes were centred on His advent, and yet they would not receive Him, but met Him with the enmity of their evil hearts, and rested not until they had pierced His hands and His feet. All this is familiar to us, but we never weary of meditating upon it, because the cross, and the cross alone, is the measure of His love. One further remark may be added. He cannot conceal His love for His people; for though showing the wounds He had received while in their midst, He yet says, "the house of my friends." Truly, blessed Lord, thy love is both unchangeable and unquenchable!

He was wounded by His friends, but He was smitten of Jehovah and thus we read, "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones." (v. 7.) The application and fulfilment of this scripture have been indicated by the Lord Himself. After the Passover feast, "when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad." (Matt. 26: 30, 31.) This makes it plain that the death of Christ in His character as the Shepherd is signified, and thus supplies the key to the interpretation of the passage. The address is to the sword, the sword being a figure of the judicial stroke that fell upon Christ in His death (compare Jer. 47: 6); and the command to smite reveals that while the Jews by wicked hands took and crucified their Messiah, He was yet delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Wounded in the house of his friends was man's work and man's wickedness, smitten by the sword of judgment, though man was the instrument, brings in rather God's action; and thus in these two verses we have indicated His sufferings from the hands of man, and His sufferings from the hand of God. Under the hand of man He died for righteousness' sake a martyr, as suffering under the hand of God, because He offered Himself for the glory of God in expiation, He died as the sacrifice for sin. The sixth verse is therefore the sixty-ninth, and the seventh is the twenty-second Psalm.

Then the character in which the Messiah is here presented must be noticed. First He is termed "My Shepherd." This title is especially used in relation to Israel. We thus read in Ezekiel, "I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd." (Ezek. 34: 23.) And the Lord when down here claimed for Himself that He was the Good Shepherd, even as also the apostle speaks of Him as the great Shepherd of the sheep. (Heb. 13) As here used the title describes Him as the Messiah, who, in the words of Isaiah, "shall feed His flock like a shepherd, He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young." (Isa. 40: 11; compare Ps. 23, Ps. 78: 70-72, etc.) Since, moreover, He is termed "my" Shepherd, He is brought before us as the One of God's providing and appointment, and as the One who answers to His mind. In a word, the Messiah will be God's Shepherd for His people when they are once again restored and blessed in the land; and He was presented as such on His first coming, but, refused, He laid down His life for the sheep. He was smitten of Jehovah's sword in the language of our Scripture. If, however, the term shepherd points to His official place as the King, "the man that is my fellow" reveals to us His divinity; for of no other than He, who was one with the Father (John 10), who subsisted in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God (Phil. 2), and who, as the Word was with God and was God (John 1), could such language be employed. Wondrous words are they to be spoken of the meek and lowly Jesus, of Him whose "visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men" (Isa. 52: 14); but being used, they unfold the truth that Jesus of Nazareth was in very deed God manifest in flesh. And remark, as has often been done, that, addressed here in His humiliation as the "fellow" of Jehovah, in His exaltation where He is addressed as God, the saints are spoken of as His "fellows." (Psalm 45; Heb. 1.)

The Messiah then, as the Shepherd of Israel, and as the One who is described as the fellow of Jehovah is seen here as smitten* — smitten by the sword of judgment because, as the Good Shepherd, He laid down His life for the sheep, thus intercepting the stroke that was their due, that He might, on their behalf, meet all God's holy claims, and glorify Him concerning their sins.

*We do not enter here upon the question as to whether this smiting can be distinguished, in so far as His Messiahship and the position of His people Israel are concerned, from atonement. As Daniel speaks, He was in this sense cut off, and had nothing; that is, His taking possession of the kingdom was postponed, the delay serving, as we know, as the occasion for the unfolding of God's eternal counsels as to the Church. But inasmuch as the smiting was death, and atonement was thereby accomplished, we have spoken of it in that aspect and character.

A twofold immediate effect here follows. First, the sheep are scattered. This was fulfilled literally on the night of His apprehension, when all His disciples, those who had acknowledged Him as the Shepherd of Israel, forsook Him and fled; and in another way, we cannot doubt, it has been accomplished in the scattering of the Jews over the face of the whole earth; for it is written, "He that scattereth Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock." (Jer. 31: 10) He came to gather His sheep, but when they as a people refused to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd, and He was smitten, God in His government, and judicially, "scattered" the flock. It is also added, "And I will turn mine hand upon the little ones."* Thus while judgment should descend upon the sheep who did not know the voice of their Shepherd, and who, instead of following Him, demanded His crucifixion, God would cover with His hand the "little ones" who had recognized their Messiah, the remnant, in fact, who had attached themselves to Him during His earthly ministry, in that day of evil and trouble.

*The point is much discussed whether it is "over" or "upon the little ones. As to the translation either would be correct. The question then arises, Whether the action described is for protection or judgment? Fully admitting that, from usage, the latter sense is to be preferred, we yet judge that, from the context, the former is that intended; viz., that "I will turn mine hand upon [or over] the little ones" — means for their protection.

Lastly, we have the consequences of the smiting of the Shepherd in their final results for God's people. "And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God." (vv. 8, 9.) It is clear, we judge, that the whole of the present interval of grace must be interposed between the seventh and eighth verses; for while judgment, and terrible judgment, did fall upon the Jewish nation some thirty or forty years after the death of Christ, no such result as the bringing a third part through the fire into relationship with God was then reached. The accomplishment of this word, therefore, must be looked for in the future, when the Jews shall have been brought back to their land in unbelief, when God will resume His dealings with them, and when, as we know from other scriptures (Matt. 24; Rev. 13) they will be subjected to hitherto unheard of persecutions. It is then that God will deal with them on account of their sin in rejecting their Messiah, and when, as we read here, two parts "shall be cut off and die," and when, as the Lord foretold, "except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." (Matt. 24: 22.) But a third part shall be brought through this fire, a fire seven times hotter than even Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, and God will purify them in the process, refining them as silver, and trying them as gold (compare Malachi 3: 2, 3, also 1 Peter 1: 7), and thereby bring them back into relationship with Jehovah their God.* This represents the end of all God's ways, in His judicial dealings, with the Jews. Because of their sins He had written the sentence of Lo-ammi (not-my-people), upon them; and now the sentence is reversed, and He, out of the fulness of His heart, on His part declares, It is my people; and they, brought back, repentant and restored, in gratitude respond, The Lord is my God. Blessed, happy, consummation for which God still waits, and for which too His ancient people unconsciously wait, but which will surely arrive in its own time; and when it comes it will usher in the peace and blessing of the millennial day.

*This purified remnant will doubtless be the same as the hundred and forty-four thousand of Rev. 14.

Zechariah 14.

At the close of the preceding chapter the end of God's ways has been reached in respect of Judah — restored, as she has been, to relationship with Jehovah her God. And thus, as another has said, "the effect of the staff being broken, which united Judah and Israel, is here realized. The prophet speaks only of Judah, of the people who in the land were guilty of rejecting the Messiah, and who will suffer the consequence of so doing in the land during the last days, the mass of them at that time joining themselves to antichrist." It is on this very account that Judah will have to endure the "fire" spoken of in the previous verses, and through which only a third part will be preserved, and, as thus preserved, will be brought into blessing through their recognition and acceptance of Messiah, who appears in glory. Israel will yet have to wait, but only for a season; and then Judah and Israel will once more be united under one King, the true Son of David.

Chapter 14 gives the details, to speak generally, of the result for the nations of the coming of Jehovah as the Messiah (see verses 9-16); but, when more closely examined, it is seen to fall into two parts, the first of which closes with "Uzziah king of Judah" in the fifth verse. From that point the prophet returns and describes the coming of Jehovah with His saints, and in so doing "takes up the subject of the relationship of Jehovah with the whole earth," showing that His coming for the succour and blessing of His ancient people is but the occasion for the perennial flowing forth of "living waters" to the ends of the earth.

The chapter opens abruptly with the solemn proclamation, "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee." (v. 1) The "day of the Lord" has a fixed significance in the prophets, and is ever connected with judgment; as, for example, in Isaiah, "The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one, that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up." (Isa. 2: 12. Cp. Joel 2; 2 Peter 3: 10) And the context shows that it has this meaning here, that it is the day when Jehovah will appear for judgment upon His enemies, and for the deliverance of those who have waited for Him. (Isa. 25) The "spoil" spoken of is probably the spoil taken from the nations (see verse 14), which the prophet says shall be divided in the midst of Jerusalem. In one sentence therefore, before he gives the details, the full result is placed before the reader — the full result of the assembling of the nations against Jerusalem. They will come to despoil it, but they shall be spoiled; and the people who were on the very eve of destruction shall divide the spoil of their enemies.

But before this end is reached, there will be terrible experiences. "For," says Jehovah "I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished, and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city." (v. 2.) In Zech. 12 mention is also made, as we have seen, of the siege of Jerusalem, but there in reference rather to the effect upon the peoples who besiege her. Here we have the revelation that at first, before Jehovah appears, the enemy will triumph and capture the city. Jehovah permits this for the punishment of the apostates of Judah under the influence of the antichrist. Isaiah thus speaks, "Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto its: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it." (Isa. 28: 14-18; see also Isa. 8 - 10)* The scripture makes it also plain that Jehovah will suffer Jerusalem to be taken before He intervenes. Micah may allude to the same thing when he says, "This man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men." (v. 5.)

*All these Scriptures refer either to the Assyrian or the confederacy of the nations against Jerusalem, and not to the antichrist. The reader will remember that it has already been pointed out that there win be a siege by the beast (head of the western empire) and the false prophet (the antichrist) and another subsequently by the Assyrian. Which of these two sieges Zechariah speaks of it is difficult to decide; but for the help of the reader we recall a principle before laid down. Before God had written the sentence, "Lo-ammi" (not-my-people), on Judah and Israel, the Assyrian was always the enemy in view; and hence the antichrist is not found in the pre-captivity prophets as a rule. During the interval, after the disowning of His people, and before Jehovah brings them back again into relationship with Himself, their enemy is antichrist. Inasmuch therefore as the capture of Jerusalem in our chapter precedes the appearance of Jehovah for its deliverance, it would almost seem that it must be the first of the two sieges intended. But it is evident from the latter part of the chapter that Jerusalem is finally and completely delivered, and made the religious metropolis of the whole earth, which now acknowledges the undisputed sway of the — Messiah. It is possible therefore that both sieges are found in this chapter — the first in verse 2; and the second, or a reference to it, in verse 12. This, however, is not certain; and it must always be remembered that in the prophetic perspective the features of more than one event may be blended, and hence that the description may cover both. The fulfilment will make all plain, and the godly remnant of that day will behold with wonder that the details of what they will be passing through have been depicted for their guidance and sustenance. While, however, it is impossible to dogmatize on this subject, it is yet certain that the events here foretold will all be connected with, and have their accomplishment in, the appearing of the Messiah in glory, in order to succour His people and to establish His kingdom. For all exhaustive examination of the subject of "the Assyrian" the reader is referred to Part xiii. of Notes and Comments on Scripture, by J. N. Darby.

It is in this way that God will teach Judah and Jerusalem that it is an evil and bitter thing to have rejected Christ, to have forsaken the living God; for now in their extremity, if they should call, there will be none to answer. Allying themselves with the enemy of Jehovah and identifying themselves with his idolatries, they must now pass through these days of vengeance. "And" according to this word of the Lord, "the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished, and half of the city shall go forth into captivity." No city in the world has undergone such frightful sieges. Jeremiah has signalized the sorrows of its capture by, Nebuchadnezzar in his Lamentations, and a description of the horrors of the siege by the Romans has been preserved in the pages of Josephus; and, as we gather from this scripture, the sorrows of this chosen city are not yet ended. Does the reader enquire for the reason? The answer is found in the lament of our blessed Lord Himself: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" (Matt. 23: 37.) And since that day Jerusalem has added to all her sins in crucifying her Lord; and she will aggravate her guilt yet more by receiving him who will deny both the Father and the Son.

A remnant will not be cut off from the city; and the next verse tells us of Jehovah's mighty intervention: "Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle." Whether the Lord appears immediately, or whether indeed this event is subsequent upon the capture of the city, is not evident. The fact is stated, and care must be exercised not to go beyond the fact, that the Lord goes forth against His enemies and the enemies of His people. It is possible that allusion to the same event may be made by Isaiah, when he says, "A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that rendereth recompense to His enemies." And again, "For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by, His sword will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the slain of the Lord shall be many." (Isa. 66: 6, 15, 16; compare Joel 3: 9-17, and Rev. 16: 13, 14.) In such a manner Jehovah will render recompense to His enemies; for He will gird His sword upon His thigh, and His arrows will be sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby. the people fall under Him, and then the nations of the World will have to learn what Pharaoh learnt at the Red Sea — the irresistible might of Him against whom they have dared to set themselves in battle array. "The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters." (Exodus 15: 9, 10)*

*It would almost seem from Rev. 19, in connection with other scriptures, that the beast (the head of the Western or Roman Empire) and the kings of the earth will be gathered together against Jerusalem on the eve of the appearing of Christ with His "armies" from heaven, and that when He appears, and descends to the earth, the beast in his impious rage turns, with the kings of the earth and their armies, to make war against Him that sat on the horse (Christ) and His army (the saints in glory). But whether the scene in Zechariah is identical with that in Rev. 19 is not certain; but if not, both are connected with the appearing of Christ in glory, with no long interval between, and, on the one hand, with the deliverance of His people, and, on the other, with the judgment of His foes.

In the next verse we have one of the most remarkable predictions to be found in the prophetic scriptures: "And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley, and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south." (v. 4.) It was from the mount of Olives, as the reader will remember, that our Lord ascended up to heaven (Acts 1: 12), and, after a cloud had received Him out of the sight of the disciples, and while they were still wistfully gazing after their departed Lord, two angels said to them, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." (Acts 1: 9-11) No words could be more precise or state more definitely that Jesus Himself should return to the earth, and that in a visible manner; and now we learn from Zechariah that He shall return to the very spot whence He ascended, and that the very same feet that once trod Olivet, in company with His disciples, shall once again stand in the same place. No ingenuity whatever can explain away the simple words, "His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,"* and in this way, as another has pointed out, "Jehovah identifies Himself, so to speak, with the meek and lowly Jesus formerly on the earth, in order that the identity of the Saviour and Jehovah should be clearly acknowledged."

*Nor can their importance as to the nature of the fulfilment of prophecy be exaggerated. The writer once, in conversation with one who maintained that all prophecy must be spiritually explained, enquired what was the spiritual significance of the above, and the answer was frankly given that it was impossible to tell. On rejoining that the passage meant what is said, he replied, "If that is contended for I have nothing to say, though I do not understand it."

But when Jehovah thus comes, in the person of the Messiah, He comes with power and great glory; the earth will acknowledge the presence of her rightful Lord, and thus the mountain, on which He will stand, cleaves in the midst. As we read indeed in the psalm, "The earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because He was wroth" (Psalm 18: 7), so will it be again on this eventful day. The effect will be that a great valley will be formed by half of the mountain removing toward the north, and half toward the south, running east and west, its western end being immediately opposite to the eastern side of the city of Jerusalem, and its eastern end terminating, it would seem, at Azal.* Isaiah cries, "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence." (Isa. 64: 1-3.) So will it also be in this day of which Zechariah speaks, and the wonders flowing from the presence of Jehovah will strike terror into the hearts of the beholders, for they will flee as they fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah.†

*Nothing is now known of the locality of Azal, but it will doubtless reappear in the last days.

†There is no other reference in the Scriptures to this notable earthquake. It is said by scientists that Judea does not lie within the region of earthquakes. God, however, is sovereign, and natural laws are but His servants, and hence we find that there were also earthquakes both at the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ. If they were otherwise of rare occurrence, so much the more loudly, would they attest the mighty power of God. It is the fatal defect of men of science that, in searching for the laws that govern any class of phenomena, they lose sight of the Creator and rest in second causes.

The prophet does not pursue this aspect of his subject. Jehovah has come, and His feet stand upon the mount of Olives, and He has thus renewed His relationship with Judah, or at least the remnant, of whom the disciples (who saw their Lord ascend, and who received the promise of seeing Him return) were the representatives. He now recommences (the second part of the chapter beginning at this point) with the coming of the Lord. He says, as if addressing Jehovah "And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." (v. 5.) The introduction of the saints as accompanying, or forming the cortège of Jehovah is an additional feature; and the instructed reader will see in this a remarkable confirmation of what he has learnt of the Lord's coming from the New Testament. Here, as it is His return to Israel, it is His public manifestation — when every eye shall see Him, and when, therefore, as Zechariah states, the saints shall come with Him. If, however, the glorified saints return with Christ, they must have been caught up to be with Him previously; and this is what the New Testament scriptures teach. Thus, in 1 Thess. 4, we learn that when the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, both the sleeping and the living saints will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so will be ever with the Lord. Here there is no question of any being caught up; the Lord comes to His own on the earth for their succour and temporal salvation. This shows the difference between the hope of the Church and the hope of Israel. Believers now wait daily to be caught up to meet Christ, and hence, afterwards, "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory" (Col. 3: 4), whereas the believing remnant, in the day of which the prophet speaks, will await the coming of the Messiah in glory, as described in this chapter. The confusion of the Lord's coming for the Church with His coming with His saints in glory for the restoration and blessing of Israel on the earth has been the source of continual perplexity in the interpretation of the word of God.*

*The reader who may desire further light on this subject may; consult The Blessed Hope, by the writer of this book.

The character of the day in which Jehovah comes with His saints is next given: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light." (vv. 6, 7.) The translation of the sixth verse is doubtful, and many suggested alterations have been made.* But the meaning is tolerably apparent, and may be given in another's words: "It shall not be a day of mingled light and darkness, but a day appointed by Jehovah a day characterized by His intervention and mighty presence, and that could not be characterised by the ordinary vicissitudes of night and day; but, at the moment when the total darkness of night might be expected, there should be light." For in truth it will be the. day of Jehovah, and will therefore have its own character, and one that will be so manifestly outside of all ordinary days as to arrest the attention of all beholders.

*In the Revised Version it stands, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be with brightness and with gloom." J. N. D., in his French version renders, "Et il arrivera, en ce jour-là, qu'il n'y aura pas de lumière, les luminaries seront obscurcis."

Our attention is now directed to another consequence of Jehovah's coming. "And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be." (v. 8.) That is, living waters shall flow out to the Dead Sea on the one side, and to the Great, or the Mediterranean Sea on the other, and neither the heat of summer nor the cold of winter shall interrupt the perennial flood. Two things must be carefully noted: the time when this shall occur, and the meaning of the living waters. We learn from Ezekiel (47) that these waters will not flow forth until after the rebuilding of the temple, and after the glory of God has returned to His dwelling-place in the midst of His people. This fact will supply the reader with a needed caution. He will learn from it that he cannot define the order of events at the Lord's appearing from any one of the prophets, that therefore it is only by the study and comparison of all he will be able to trace the footsteps of the Lord in that day. We thus find that Zechariah passes from the coming of Jehovah over a number of intervening events, to the issuing forth of the living waters "from under," as we gather from Ezekiel, "the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar." (Ezek. 47: 1-8; cp. Rev. 22: 1) The very term used, "living waters," will, in consonance with its employment in other scriptures, explain its meaning. In the gospel of John the Lord speaks of the living water which He would give (John 4), and we learn from the same Gospel that He used the words as a figure of the Holy Spirit, "which they that believe on Him should receive" (John 7: 39); and hence we know that the living water in John is an emblem of the Holy Ghost as the power of life — life eternal. Ezekiel also, who speaks of the same river of water as we find in Zechariah, says, "And it shall come to pass, that everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live . . . and everything shall live whither the river cometh." (Ezek. 47: 9.) There is thus again the quickening and life-giving power seen in the waters — the waters that carry life with them wherever they flow.

In the light then of these scriptures the significance of the passage in Zechariah is at once apprehended. The living waters flow out from Jerusalem — Jerusalem which is now the city of the Great King, and more exactly, as we find in Ezekiel, from the temple which is the dwelling-place and throne of Jehovah as the Messiah. (Compare Psalm 46) We gather, therefore, the blessed truth, that streams of life-giving power and blessing will flow out, unhinderedly and perpetually, to all the world from His throne, as the result of His righteous sway. It will be thus a universal dispensation of blessing as flowing from His government and rule. And yet there will be exceptions to the universality of the blessing; for, as we read in Ezekiel, "The miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed." (Ezek. 47: 11) Even the dispensation of a righteous government will not be perfect. Flesh will remain flesh, and many will be found, who, only yielding a "feigned obedience," will in their hearts refuse the proffered blessing. Alas! such is man — even in the presence of the display of Jehovah's power, grace, and glory. Perfection, perfection within and without, will be only found in the heavenly city, and in the eternal state. But while there will be some barren places, some unyielding hearts, during the thousand years, Jerusalem will be, in some sense, a representation of the Jerusalem above — the city celestial; for John says, "And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." (Rev. 22: 1) The city below has therefore its correspondency with the city above, being, as it will be, the forecourt, or vestibule, to that where "there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever."* (Rev. 22: 3-5.)

*Compare the description of the earthly city as found in Isaiah 60: 19, 20.

Two things follow as the result of the establishment of Jehovah's throne in Jerusalem: "And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's wine-presses. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited." (vv. 9-11) The supremacy of Messiah over all the earth is a constant theme with the prophets. David thus speaks, "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. . . . Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve him." (Ps. 72: 8-11.) And in that day idolatry will cease (see Isa. 2: 18-22), and the one Lord shall be the true God, and His name, not many, but one; for He will then make good His claim and title as Lord of all the earth. (See Joshua 3: 11-13.) Jerusalem, moreover, as the metropolis, will be exalted above all cities, be blessed with overflowing prosperity, and be guarded by divine power; for that we conceive to be the meaning of verses 10, 11. Geba and Rimmon mark the northern and southern boundaries of the kingdom of Judah — "a long mountain chain which is pictured as sinking down into a plain that Jerusalem alone might be exalted." (Compare Isa. 2: 1-4.) The abounding prosperity of the city in these days is indicated by the mention of the limits of the city.* And lastly, as Isaiah also sings, "Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise" (Isa. 60: 18); for God Himself will be in the midst of her (Psalm 46), so that she will never more be moved.

*It is difficult to identify the gates mentioned, though many plausible conjectures are offered. The Jews in this future day will doubtless delight to see the exact fulfilment of the prophetic word; for us the general idea alone is of importance.

In the next place the prophet, having traced out the blessed consequences of the advent of Messiah, proceeds to speak of the special judgment which Jehovah will visit upon the nations that have fought against Jerusalem. He says, "And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people" (peoples or nations) "that have fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth." (v. 12.) It is not definitely stated whether this awful plague will fall upon the nations while in the siege, though it probably will from what follows; it is the fact to which our attention is directed in evidence of the Lord's indignation against those who have fought against His beloved city.* And be it observed that the plague is of such a character as will compel every beholder to own the punitive hand of God. The most hardened heart of unbelief could not account for such an awful visitation on any other ground than that of a divine stroke of judgment. (Compare Isaiah 37: 35, 36.)

*The reader may learn the difference between God's actings in grace at the present time and His ways in righteousness in the age to come, by the contrast between the Lord's dealings with Saul of Tarsus, who persecuted His saints, and His judgment upon these nations who shall have fought against Jerusalem. The former He converted, the latter He will destroy.

Moreover, we are told, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour." (v. 13.) A panic, for such is the force of the word "tumult," shall seize upon the nations who will be besieging Jerusalem, like to that which fell upon the Midianites when attacked by Gideon and his three hundred men, or that other which came into the host of the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Edomites, who were advancing against Judah in the days of Jehosaphat (2 Chr. 20), so that the huge host will melt away, and be mutually destroyed. "And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold and silver, and apparel, in great abundance." (v. 14; compare 2 Chr. 20: 15.) In this way will Jehovah enrich His beloved Judah, hitherto oppressed and persecuted, but now delivered and blessed; and then they will be able to take up in truth the words of one of their psalms, "Thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place." (Psalm 66: 10-12.)

From the following verse we learn that even the cattle — the horse, the mule, the camel, and the ass, together with all the beasts "that shall be in these tents" (v. 15) — will be smitten with the same awful plague as that which will destroy their owners. Truly it is a fearful thing to be found identified with the enemies of the Lord, and an impossible thing to escape His arm when He once rises up to judgment.

The remaining verses of the chapter suppose the establishment of Messiah's throne, inasmuch as He is named the King. Jerusalem therefore has been delivered from the hand of her enemies; judgment has been executed upon those that have fought against her; the Redeemer has come to Zion, and has ordered all things in accordance with His own mind in the establishment of His righteous throne. This having been done, Zechariah speaks now of the consequences for the nations. "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the least of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the least of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles." (vv. 16-19.) The several points of this ordinance must be touched upon in detail. In the first place, it will be a law in Messiah's kingdom that all nations shall come annually to Jerusalem for worship. Isaiah will probably include this in his larger statement, when he says, "And it shall come to pass that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come [it is not here said "to Jerusalem"] to worship before me, saith the Lord." (Isa. 66: 23.) Zechariah deals only with the anniversary of the feast of tabernacles. And it should be specially observed that this coming up of the nations year by year is not to be a matter of choice or privilege, great as the privilege will be, but they will be put under the obligation and necessity of making this annual journey. Herein is seen again the difference between grace and law, Now at the present time it is the attraction of grace that draws believers to worship their God and Father; but in the kingdom it will be the compulsion of righteousness. Now it is, "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Heb. 10); then it will be, that "the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish" (Isa. 60: 12); for when the King commands, His subjects must obey.

There is, secondly, a twofold object in this universal assemblage. First, to worship the King, the Lord of hosts. The King, as we know, is no other than Jesus of Nazareth, of whom the angel said, when announcing His birth, that the Lord God should give unto Him the throne of His father David (Luke 1.); and yet, as the Spirit of God delights to indicate, He is also Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts. He, then, that was once down here as the Root out of a dry ground, with no form nor comeliness to the natural eve, the lowly. Nazarene, shall in the coming age, as the exalted and glorified One, as King over all the earth, be the object of the adoration and worship of all nations. In the very contemplation of this time of blessing for this poor weary earth, well might we say with the psalmist, "Blessed be His glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen, and Amen." (Psalm 72: 19) In connection with this annual worship there will be also the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. The Passover and Pentecost, as often observed, have had their antitypical fulfilment in Christianity; but the Feast of Tabernacles still waits for its accomplishment, because it was a figure of millennial joy; and, as held on the eighth day (Lev. 23), it betokened also that this joy will be shared in by the saints in resurrection. It is primarily Israel's feast of joy when they shall have ended their wanderings in the wilderness, and will be in the possession of the land. And, as another has observed, it "took place after the increase of the earth had been gathered in, and as we learn elsewhere . . . after the vintage also; that is, after separation by judgment, and the final execution of judgment on the earth, when heavenly and earthly-saints should be all gathered in;" and when therefore Christ Himself shall be the spring and centre of all the joy, for it will be the time of His manifestation to the world. (John 7) Then, as we read in Psalm 22, "all the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee." (v. 27); and all alike, both Israel and the nations, in the rejoicing of that day will gladly own that the King, the Lord of hosts, is the source and means of all the blessing which will fill their hearts to overflowing with adoration and praise.

But, as before shown, it will not be a perfect scene and hence' thirdly, there Is the proclamation of penalties for those who refuse to yield obedience to the King's laws. Rain will be withheld, with all its consequences of barrenness and famine, from the families of the earth who do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King; and upon the family Egypt, who are not dependent on rain, if they "go not up," there shall be the plague; that is, we apprehend, the pestilence. In such ways will the King vindicate His authority, and punish the transgressors of His laws.

The last two verses bring before us the positive character of holiness that will distinguish the Lord's house and Jerusalem and Judah. "In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts." (vv. 20, 21.) Formerly there had been clean things and unclean, holy and unholy, but now all such distinctions shall be abolished, inasmuch as all alike will be holy as separated unto the Lord. Now at length Jehovah's own requirement, "Ye shall be holy; for I am holy" (Lev. 11: 44), is met and satisfied, so that even the horses, unclean as they were under the law, have written upon their bells or bridles," Holiness to the Lord."* The pots in the Lord's house, moreover, should be as holy as the bowls before the altar; and every pot in Jerusalem and Judah should be alike "holiness unto the Lord of hosts," and thus should be used by the worshippers for their sacrifices. The homes of the people shall be in that day as holy as the house of the Lord. In Christianity this is anticipated in another way (see 1 Cor. 6: 19, 20; 2 Cor, 6: 14-18; Col. 3: 17; 1 Peter 1: 15, 16, etc.); but this will be a universal consecration of all and everything to the Lord here upon the earth. Finally there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord. Jehovah's house had often been profaned by the introduction of such (see Ezekiel 44: 6, 7); but now, secured and sanctified by the presence and glory of Jehovah Himself, all will be maintained in the holiness suited to Him who has condescended to make it His dwelling-place. Then will be fulfilled the word of the Lord by Ezekiel, "My tabernacle also shall be with them; yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

*It is very interesting to observe in this connection that the Lord Jesus, and the armies that follow Him out of heaven, are represented in the Apocalypse as riding on white horses, white because a symbol of perfect purity. (Ezek. 37: 27, 28.)

Malachi

Malachi

or,

THE STATE OF THINGS AT THE END.

Malachi 1.

THE law and the prophets, we read, were until John; and the Baptist indeed closed up the dispensation of which they were the expressions, inasmuch as he was the fore-runner of the Messiah Himself. But Malachi* was the last of the prophets, the last canonically (for if there were any after him, their prophecies have not been preserved), and the last morally; for he testifies of the coming of the Lord, and of the shining forth of the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings. His prophecies therefore have a grave and solemn importance, and on two accounts. First, as showing the state of the remnant who, in the tender mercy of God, had been brought back from Babylon that He might declare His faithfulness, and fulfil His purpose in the presentation of Messiah to His people; and secondly, because of the correspondence of the position of this remnant with that of God's people at the present moment. As there was nothing between them, so there is nothing to intervene between ourselves, and the expectation of the Lord's return. The message to them was, "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple;" to us it is, "Behold, I come quickly." Whether there is any similarity in our moral condition to theirs, it will be for our consciences to detect as we ponder the revelations found in the book, and the instruction it affords. One other preparatory remark may be made. Though all the people addressed were the descendants of those who had returned from captivity, and all alike were in fact on the ground. of, as well as actually by descent, God's people, yet a remnant is discerned in the midst of this remnant, and it is these alone who meet the mind of the Lord. (See especially Mal. 3: 14-18) The book has therefore a special voice in a day like this for those who have been brought out from the corruptions of Christendom, and for those amongst them whose one desire is to be found keeping the word of Christ, and not denying His name.

*It is interesting to note, especially in connection with chapter 3, that "Malachi" means the messenger of Jehovah. The prophet therefore, as was not unusual, had a typical character.

There is something almost sublime in the simple and emphatic way in which the book commences.

"The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord." (vv. 1, 2.)

Whatever the state of His people, the Lord never forgets, and never hesitates to declare, His love for them. it is in this way indeed that He brings their true condition to light. We might have supposed that the first word would be one of warning and rebuke on account of their sins; but no, God's first word is one that ought to have recalled the length and breadth, the depth and height, of that unchanging love which had flowed out in the activities of His mercy and grace from the call of Abraham until now. It is so also in the epistles. The heart of God for His saints is always displayed before the needed admonitions and corrections are given. As we read in another prophet, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." (Jer. 31: 3.) We are thus brought face to face with the source of our redemption, and of all the blessings we enjoy; for we cannot be too often reminded that we do not belong to the Lord because we love Him, but because He has loved us and made us what we are. (Cp. 1 John 4: 9, 10; Rev. 1: 5, 6; Deut. 7: 6-8, &c.)

With this simple declaration of Jehovah's love the state of the people immediately appears in their response, "Wherein hast thou loved us?" the expression of a moral insensibility, as well as of spiritual blindness, which is their characteristic in this prophecy. Blind indeed they must have been to question the truth of Jehovah's love; for had they not the records of the wonders He had wrought in their redemption, in the guidance of their fathers through the wilderness, in dispossessing the heathen and setting them in a land flowing with milk and honey? And was not their own position at that moment the proof of it. Ah! but they would have probably said, "If the Lord loves us, why have we suffered chastisement and judgment, and why are we now so feeble and impoverished?" This is but a common deception which souls in every age practise upon themselves; that is, these poor Israelites wanted to turn every one after his own ways, and to have at the same time the blessing of God, to please themselves and yet to be surrounded with the tokens of God's favour. (Compare Jer. 44) They had not, as so many of us have not, learned the truth, "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth."

But the Lord proceeds to give His own proofs, and puts the question through the prophet, "Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness." (vv. 2, 3.) It must be carefully observed that this is not an appeal to God's sovereignty in His choice of Jacob as in Rom. 9, where the apostle indeed cites this passage (after he has recalled the scripture which announced the divine purpose respecting Esau and Jacob) to show, not only that Israel was entirely indebted to grace for the difference God had put between themselves and Esau, but also that God's ways with the two branches of Isaac's descendants had been in accordance with His purposes. The evidence here given is drawn wholly, not from God's action towards Esau himself, but from God's judgments upon his posterity — "I laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness." And in other scriptures we find (see especially Obadiah) that these judgments were visited upon them because of their irreconcilable hatred of Israel, and their triumph over, and their vengeance upon, them in the day of their calamity. God had chosen Jacob — let not this truth be ignored, albeit Esau despised his birthright; but the scripture before us concerns the ways rather than the sovereignty of God.

Moreover the Lord takes occasion to proclaim His everlasting indignation against Edom (see Isa. 34: 5-8; Isa. 63: 1-4; Jeremiah 49: 9-17, &c.), and that though Edom would seek, in the energy of their own strength, to build, God, being against them, would throw down, and manifestly make them a byword amongst their neighbours who should call them "The border of wickedness," and "The people against whom Jehovah hath indignation for ever." Thus the issue of God's dealings with Israel and Esau respectively would prove His love for His chosen people; but He says, "Your, eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel." From the revelation thus made flow two most instructive lessons. First, that God is not to be judged by present circumstances. It is the result of His ways that vindicates His name. Faith always justifies God in His dealings with His people; but eventually all His ways will be seen, as in the case before us, to be the expression both of His love and His truth. The second lesson is, that God never allows the state of His people to interfere with the accomplishment of His counsels of grace. Thus at the very moment that He is about to expose the wretched spiritual condition of Israel, He declares their future blessing. Truly the knowledge of this should humble us, and at the same time give us a deeper sense of the sin of coldness, indifference, and backsliding in the presence of such unchanging grace and love. He can righteously act thus, because He has been (and all His ways with Israel had respect to this) so abundantly glorified in the death of His beloved Son, who died for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. (John 11: 51, 52.)

The Lord having reminded His people of His relationship to them, and of His unalterable purposes of grace, now commences on that foundation to search them as to their practical condition. This principle is of all importance. The believer can never measure his true state before God unless he does it by the standard of the position in which he by grace has been set. It is a common error to deduce our place from our state; but nothing could more completely contradict the truth of God. If a saint, if a child of God, a member of Christ, a believer, does not cease to be this because he has backslidden, and become insensible to the claims which are thus established upon him, it is only, on the other hand, by the acceptance, without question, of every position in which he has been put, that he can either understand what grace is, or gauge the depth of his fall, if he has fallen. It is on this principle that Jehovah acts in this scripture, and hence He says: "A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?" (v. 6.)

In this solemn manner does God arraign, not the people merely, but especially the priests. These He had chosen to stand before Him, to offer the sacrifices of His people, to instruct them in His word, and to have compassion on the ignorant and those that were out of the way; but so far from meeting their responsibilities they had sunk into complete moral degradation. The state of the priests, even as now the state of those who presumptuously take the place of such, as well as those who are really "pastors and teachers," is always more or less the state of the people. And what is the indictment that God brings against these sons of Aaron? He says, 'You profess that I am a Father to you' (and the adoption belonged to Israel), 'and that I am your Master: where then,' He asks, 'are the honour and the reverence due to me as such?' Nay, He tells them, "You despise my name."

The response to this charge brings out a characteristic of the whole book. "Wherein," say they, "have we despised thy name?" (See vv. 2, 6, 7; Mal. 3: 7, 8, 13.) Not only were they pursuing a course of forgetfulness of God, and dishonouring His name in all that they did, but, what was still worse, they were also ignorant of their actual condition. Hence in reply to the charges brought against them, they say, almost in surprise, "Wherein" have we done this or that? The counterpart of this may be seen in every age. Together with declension, spiritual perceptions grow ever more feeble, and keeping up, and it may be diligently and zealously, the outward forms of religion, souls are astonished if their attention is directed to their state. "An evil prophet," say they;" he takes a gloomy view of things; it is not well to be occupied with evil. Are we not the Lord's people? Ah! he should see us as the Lord sees us, and then he would look more constantly on to the time when the Church will be presented to Christ in all her spotless beauty and glory." But the work of a prophet is to deal with the state of the people, and to set their consciences in exercise in the presence of God, to cry indeed with Paul, "I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you a chaste virgin to Christ." (2 Cor. 11)

Let us then see how God proves to these careless priests that they were despising His name. He says:

"Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible. And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor: will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts. And now, I pray you, beseech God that He will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts. Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand." (vv. 7-10.)

It should be noted that the altar and the table of the Lord, in this scripture, are one and the same thing. The altar is thus denominated because the sacrifices were termed, as also Christ whom these typified, God's bread. (See Lev. 21: 6, 8, 17, 21, 22; Num. 28: 2; John 6: 33.) Hence the priests here are charged with offering polluted bread upon God's altar in proof that they despised Jehovah's name; for in so doing they plainly showed that they had lost all conception of the holiness of Him to whom they professed to sacrifice, and that the altar was in their eyes but a common thing, saying, by their act, that the Lord's table was contemptible. But the charge against them is even more distinct: they offered the blind, the lame, and the sick for sacrifice, thereby violating, and knowingly violating, one of the most rigid precepts of the Scriptures. In every case the animal offered upon the altar was to be "without blemish" (see Lev. 22: 17-25), that it might be a more fitting type of Christ. But this was to give God of their best; and these men, as they surveyed their herds and flocks, lost to all sense of the divine claims, and the meaning of the sacrifices He required, were willing to give Him what was of no use to themselves — their valueless animals, but nothing more, thereby truly despising His name, polluting His altar, and making the Lord's table contemptible. They were thus treating Jehovah as they would not have dared to do with their governor. 'Offer what you offer me, saith the Lord, unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person?' They knew he would not.

Is there no voice to us in this solemn language? Are we never betrayed into offering to the Lord our useless things? When, for example, the opportunity is presented of giving to the Lord of our substance, to minister to His poor, or to have fellowship with His work in encouraging those who go forth, whether at home or abroad, taking nothing of the Gentiles, in what way do we act? Do we give of our best, of our first-fruits, or of our superfluities or useless things? Do we lay, so to speak, upon the altar as much as we can, or only as much as we may think necessary? Do we, in a word, acknowledge that the Lord's claims — we speak after the manner of men — are first and foremost? Do we begin first with Him or with ourselves? And do we never give more to man, when he asks of us, than we should have done if left to ourselves to act in secret before the Lord? Has not man indeed often more influence upon us in these things, because he is seen, than the Lord who is not seen? We might well search our hearts by the light of such words, that, while learning from them the state of this poor remnant, we may gain practical instruction for ourselves.

The prophet thereon proceeds (as it seems to us) in a tone of irony, "And now, I pray you, beseech God that He will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means" (or, from your hand): "will He regard your persons? saith the Lord of hosts." "If I regard iniquity in my heart," says the Psalmist, "the Lord will not hear me." But these priests, spite of their condition — utterly indifferent and insensible as they were — did not hesitate to appear before God as if all were well. Pray, then, says the prophet, intercede that God may be gracious to us, and see if He will regard your persons. It is often a characteristic of a backslidden state that the outward forms of piety are continued, and sometimes with increased zeal. In proportion as life decays the attention is directed to rites and ceremonies. The soul thus deceives itself, and slides, as in the case before us, into a state of ignorance of its real condition. Losing all sense of its relationship with God, it places its dependence upon the exact performance of the required ceremonial. The Pharisees, for example, were most scrupulous in cleansing the outside of the cup and the platter, while they were perfectly indifferent concerning their inward cleansing.

Another charge is now formulated against these wicked priests. "Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought?" (evidently the doors of the temple) "neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought." (v. 10.) So low had these sons of Aaron fallen that, forgetting the election of grace which had distinguished them from their brethren, and conferred upon them the privilege of being Jehovah's ministers, they now only regarded the work of their office as a means of profit. What a contrast to the spirit of the psalmist as he exclaims, "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. . . . A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." (Psalm 84; see also Psalm 122, etc.) God Himself had provided for the maintenance of His priests; but they were not satisfied indeed to be in dependence upon Him; they desired to extort their remuneration from their fellow men. No greater revelation of the state of their hearts in their alienation from God could possibly be made. And is not this same spirit to-day the curse, as well as the evidence of the condition, of Christendom? Is it not notorious that so-called "sacred offices" are sought for and held for the sake of position and emolument? What "section" of the Church is free from this deadly taint? There are individual exceptions, thank God, but these are few and far between — the vast majority of preachers and "ministers" seeking for and obtaining specified salaries for the work which they engage to do. The cry therefore might be sounded out through the professing Church with equal propriety at the present time — "Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought." And yet there is no lesson, more plainly written in the word of God than that He Himself undertakes for His servants, that, if it be His work they are engaged in, He will see to their recompense, for He will be debtor to none. Thus if the Lord borrowed the boat of Peter to speak from to the people on the shore, He will immediately reward Peter (not to enter upon the deeper significance of the incident) with a draught of fish. How much happier for us all (for none of us are exempt from the danger) to learn to be dependent on God, that we may be independent of men.

The climax of their spiritual condition having been indicated, Jehovah declares that He has no pleasure in them, and that He would not accept an offering at their hands. (Compare Isaiah 1 and Hebrews 10) This announcement becomes the occasion of the revelation of His purposes of grace towards the Gentiles. "For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts." (v. 11) These two things are ever conjoined in Scripture — the unbelief and apostacy of the Jew, and the bringing in of the Gentile. The apostle explains it when he says, "I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." (Romans 11: 25. Compare Isaiah 49, Acts 13: 45-48, etc.)

In the remaining verses of the chapter (12-14) the Lord reaffirms His charges against His people, bringing out even more fully how completely they despised His service, esteeming it a "weariness;" and He then pronounces a curse upon "the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing." (Compare with this the sin of Ananias and Sapphira, in Acts 5.) He affirms His word (so to speak) by the declaration, "For I am a great King, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen." Together with moral insensibility — the special characteristic brought out in this chapter — there is always of necessity the loss of all sense of the holiness of God, and of what is due to His name. But whenever and wherever this is the case, God will cause His name to be honoured and reverenced even by those who hitherto had not known Him. He will be glorified, and in this way convict His people of their sin, and turn that sin, blessed be His name, into the opportunity for the outflow of the streams of His grace towards those — the Gentiles — who had no claim upon Him but for judgment. The introduction of the word king in this connection is significant. Not only is it the assertion of the divine authority in the kingdom, but it also contains a warning of the approach of the time when the kingdom would be established in power and righteousness, and when, as a consequence, there would be a limit to Jehovah's long-suffering and forbearance towards those who despised His name.

Malachi 2.

THIS chapter is chiefly devoted to the priests. They were formally addressed in the first chapter, but there rather as being the expression of the state of the people, on the principle, "Like priest, like people." Here it is their own fearful degradation that is brought to light, in contrast with what they ought to have been as chosen of God for the communication of His mind and will, and as intermediaries between Himself and His people, Most abrupt and severely solemn is the opening of the chapter: "And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you." Then, from verses 2 to 4, we have the denunciation of judgment unless they should repent; from verses 5 to 7, what God intended the priest to be; and then, in verses 8 and 9, their actual condition, and God's action towards them Such is the outline of the first part of the chapter, which we now proceed to examine.

Every reader of the Scriptures must have noticed that there is always, so to speak, a period of grace before the visitation of judgment. So here. God first exposes the sorrowful moral state of His people, and then, while warning them that He cannot continue to tolerate their highhanded iniquity, He gives them space for repentance. "If ye will not hear," He says, "and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart."

This passage is very instructive. It teaches us what God desires from His people while in the place of testimony. It is to give glory unto His name. Thus at the very outset He said to Moses, "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him, and obey His voice, provoke Him not; for He will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in Him." (Ex. 23: 20, 21.) The glory of His name (and this name is now fully expressed in the Lord Jesus Christ; for the divine name signifies the truth of what God is, and all the glory of God shines forth now, as we know, in the face of Christ at the right hand of God), is the one object God has at heart, and the dishonour of that name is consequently the one thing which He cannot overlook. What a lesson to us in this day, brought as we are through the death and resurrection of Christ into God's immediate presence, — and possessing as we do the blessed privilege, while here upon the earth, of being gathered unto the name of Christ! How zealous it should make us, in all the details of our meetings and of our service, to uphold the honour of the name of Christ, to make that our first aim in all connected with the Church of God; for it is only then that we can be in the enjoyment of fellowship with the heart of God. Through all and by all He is working for this one end — the glory of His name; and if we have entered in any measure into His mind and will, His aim and end will also be ours. In this way also we have a certain test for all our own actions and activities as well for all the schemes and work of the professing Church. The simple question, "Is it for the glory of the Lord's name?" will elicit the character of everything that claims our attention.

A second lesson is, that the object of God's ways in government with His people is that they may lay their condition to heart. On this account it is He uses His rod. This is strikingly exemplified in the book of Haggai "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways." For there the remnant were occupied with their own interests, building their own houses, and neglecting the house of the Lord. God therefore, as in Malachi, "cursed their blessings," saying, I smote you with blasting, and with mildew, and with hail, in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the Lord." (Haggai 1, 2) On the same principle He still acts in government, and many a chastening which falls upon His people has for its end that they may lay their condition to heart. And nothing proves so distinctly the insensibility of our hearts when, after passing through trials, whether individually or in connection with the Church, we pay little or no heed as to the object God had in view, and flatter ourselves that all is well. Every stroke of God's rod should produce great searchings of heart, and where it does not, it is the sure precursor of the sorer chastenings of His hand. For, as we learn from this scripture, God does not forget; for He says, "If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, I WILL curse your blessings."

He goes still further: "Behold, I will corrupt" [see margin] "your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it." (v. 3.) This passage is somewhat obscure as it stands in our translation, but it is not difficult to ascertain its general meaning.* It was ever a characteristic of the Jew, that the farther he had departed in heart from the Lord, the more he prided himself upon the externals of the Mosaic economy, and upon all the ritualistic observances he himself had connected with it. (See Matt. 15) It was so at this time, and Jehovah warns them that He will humiliate them in the very things by which they exalted themselves. Thus, as they had said, "The table of Jehovah is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even His meat, is contemptible" (Mal. 1: 12), so He would pollute and make them contemptible by means of the very beasts — blind and lame and sick — wherewith they dishonoured Jehovah's name. But again, in His tender mercy, even this dealing of His hand should have the correction of His priests as its aim; for He says, "And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts."

*Some translate, "I will rebuke the seed for your sake i.e. that it should not grow. In this way, since the priests received the tithes, God would deprive them of a considerable part of their means of subsistence.

The mention of the name of Levi leads to the introduction of the nature of God's original covenant with him, and the statement of God's own thought of the priesthood when He first established it. Connected with this is a principle of great importance, affirmed everywhere in the Scripture. It is, that in times of apostasy the real state of those in it can only be understood when tested by what it was at the outset, For example, if we would comprehend the condition of the Church at the present moment, we must compare it with Pentecost. So when the Lord sends His message to Ephesus, He says, "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen; and repent, and do the first works." To Sardis He also says, "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard," &c. (Rev. 2, 3) In like manner God, in this scripture, puts alongside the corruption into which the priests had fallen what the priesthood was in its first institution. This principle contains a greatly-needed lesson for this day. We are continually exhorted to go back to the "fathers" for guidance in ecclesiastical matters. Go back by all means, not, however, to the fathers, but to the fountainhead, the apostolic and inspired writings. Only thus can we detect our departure from the truth and our fallen condition.

Let us now examine this beautiful picture of the priesthood as delineated by the Lord Himself through the prophet. It was a sovereign act of God's favour in choosing Aaron and his sons for the priesthood. (Ex. 28: 1.)* It was not till afterwards that God made a covenant with "Levi," and then on the ground of their faithfulness in the midst of apostasy and sin. (Read Ex. 32: 26-29; Num. 25: 10-13; and Deut. 33: 8-11) "My covenant" says the Lord, "was with him of life and peace." What a blessed conjunction! Life here would seem to be that generally spoken of under the Jewish dispensation, though doubtless in the mind of God it had a fuller and deeper meaning, which could not then be explained, since life and incorruptibility were to be brought to light by the gospel. Peace could have but one signification — peace with Him who had put "Levi" into the office, not in the divine sense in which it is now enjoyed through the blood of Christ, but still peace. And the same order still obtains — first life, and then peace. Born again through the action of the Spirit by the Word, we have, together with a new nature, life; and then, led to a knowledge of the efficacy of the work of Christ, we have peace. This is ever the divine order, and peace can never be enjoyed — let it be carefully noted — without or before life. The difference between the life and peace covenanted to Levi from that bestowed now on those who believe in Christ may be seen from the fact that they were given to Levi as a reward for fidelity — "And I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name." This is in accordance with the truth of that dispensation, under which life was to be the result of obedience. These distinctions must be observed if we would enter intelligently into the instructions of the Old Testament.

*All the Levites were taken for the service of the tabernacle, given unto Aaron and his sons for this purpose, sanctified to God on the day that He smote the firstborn of Egypt (Numbers 8); but the priesthood was confined to the family of Aaron.

A remarkable description follows. "The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity." In these expressions we cannot fail to see a greater than "Levi;" for they contain God's ideal of the priesthood which was realized only in Christ, Taken absolutely indeed they could only be spoken of Him of whom the priests of old were but the types, of the One who answered every thought of the heart of God, tested too as He was by the perfect standard of His own holiness. Yea, none but He who was the truth ever had the law of truth in His mouth; and hence when asked by the Jews who He was, He replied, "Altogether that which I have said unto you" (John 8: 25); i.e., His words were the perfect display of what He was, every one of them being the revelation of His own perfection. Iniquity consequently was not, could not be, found in His lips; and since He always did the things that pleased the Father (John 8: 29), He walked with Him in peace and equity, and at the same time turned many from iniquity.* While, however, bearing in mind that Christ as the perfect priest is here adumbrated, the words are spoken of "Levi," and we may thus learn the perfect standing which God gives to His own in His presence, just as, for example, when Satan attempted through Balaam to curse the people of God, the answer was, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel." (Num. 23: 21.)†

*Compare as to this last expression Isaiah 53: 11 — "By His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;" more truly rendered, "by His knowledge turn many to righteousness."

†See also 2 Sam. 7 as an example of how the Lord could take up Solomon as a type of Christ, using expressions which will only find their complete fulfilment in the Prince of Peace.

In the next verse we have the responsibility side, together with the character of the office — "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts." This is what Jehovah intended His priests to be in the midst of Israel; that is, in the aspect of their office towards the people. They represented the people before God, and they were charged to represent God to the people. The apostle therefore in writing to the Hebrews says, "Consider the apostle and High Priest of our profession, Jesus;" and the first chapter of the epistle exhibits Him as the apostle or the messenger of God — the One coming out from God, while the second sets Him forth as going in on behalf of the people to God — as the merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people, thus laying the efficacious foundation on which He could take up and exercise His office in the holiest of all. Doubtless in the wilderness it was Moses rather who acted as the "apostle;" while Aaron filled the functions of the priesthood Godward, the two together being in this way a type of Christ. (Compare Lev. 9: 23, 24) Still the two aspects were combined in the instructions given to Aaron. We accordingly read, "And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses." (Lev. 10: 9-11) We thus see that the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they (the people) should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But the priest could only be this when he was occupied with the mind of God, as embodied in His law and statutes, when he treasured it up in his heart so that his own life might be the outflow of the power of the Word within. Thus "keeping" knowledge with his lips, he would be the ready instructor of those who sought counsel at his mouth. Alas! instead of this the priests in this book were the leaders in transgression, falsifying the holy position in which they had been placed, and the seducers of those of whom they ought to have been the guides in right paths. On this account it is that the Lord says, "Ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law: ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts. Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law." (vv. 8, 9.)

We see exemplified here the same thing as obtains everywhere in the Scriptures; viz., that responsibility is increased by position and privilege. Thus if the priest or a ruler sinned, he had to bring a larger sacrifice than one of the common people. (Leviticus 4) So in this chapter the priests, being the appointed instructors of the people, are dealt with more severely — with unsparing judgment. Instead of guiding the people aright, as we have seen, they caused many to stumble. Whenever leaders go astray, the consequences are more grave, for they are more influential, both for good and for evil. Many illustrations of this may be found in the history of the Church of God. A private Christian falling into error or immorality exerts an influence only upon his own circle; but if a teacher, prominent in the Church, departs from the way of truth, he oftentimes draws away thousands after him in his own evil path. On the other hand, just as we read here, "I have made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways," etc., so will it be when such are guilty of glaring inconsistencies. If the walk of those who assume "sacred" offices, or of those who are really gifts to the Church, be not according to godliness, they will soon be despised and regarded as contemptible. Even a man of the world has no respect for those whose lives belie their profession.

But in the application of these solemn truths to ourselves, it must not be forgotten that the priests under the Mosaic dispensation typify the whole Church as the priestly family. We may all, therefore, well enquire whether these charges could be sustained against ourselves; whether we, whose boast, by the grace of God, it is that we have been made kings and priests to God and the Father, are stumbling-blocks to others because we have not kept the ways of the Lord, and have been "partial" in His word.* Would that this word of God might prove, as we read it, living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and be a discerner of the thoughts and intents of our hearts; that we might truly take the place of self-judgment before God as to our state and ways, and so receive restoring grace and blessing at His hands!

*In the margin "accepted faces" is given instead of "partial," and this indeed is the literal rendering. The priests therefore were guilty of interpreting the law to please persons, and it may be for the sake of advantage.

In the second section of the chapter (vv. 10-12), the offences of God's people against their brethren, and their sin in uniting themselves with idolaters, are exhibited. It is no longer the priests especially, except indeed their conduct might be taken as indicative of that of all, that are addressed, but the Spirit of God now includes both Judah and Israel. The first sin mentioned is that of dealing treacherously every man against his brother by profaning the covenant of their fathers. (v. 10.) And how does the prophet meet it? or rather, what are the truths he adduces to show the evil of their conduct? They are two — their common standing before God, on the ground of His covenant (Have we not all one Father?), and their common relationship to God as their Creator (Hath not one God created us?). Knit thus by common ties to God, both in creation and (as we might say) redemption, they were bound together by common relationships, interests, and blessings, the knowledge of which should have guarded them from thus sinning against their brethren. In doing so, they profaned the covenant which had been made with their fathers, the second great commandment of which was, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The apostle Paul, it will be remembered, uses a similar argument in writing to the Ephesians. "Wherefore," he says, "putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour; for we are members one of another." (Eph. 4: 25.) The moment, indeed, we realize that we are bound up together with our fellow-Christians by imperishable ties as members of the same body, and also as members of the same family, we shall look upon their welfare and interests as our own. But when all sense of the oneness of God's people is lost, as in the case before us, every. man will seek after his own things; self and selfishness will predominate and rule, to the destruction of all brotherly care and love.

Another thing may be observed as arising out of the connection. The priests had "departed out of the way," and then they are found dealing treacherously every man against his brother. In the gospel of Matthew we find a very similar thing. The evil servant says in his heart, "My Lord delayeth His coming," and he immediately begins to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken. In both cases alike, losing all sense of the divine claims and of the nature of their position is followed by evil conduct towards their brethren. The comparison indeed goes further; for as the next thing the evil servant does is "to eat and drink with the drunken," so here, after the dealing treacherously every man with his brother, we have union with "the daughter of a strange god" — in both cases alliance with the world. And this is ever the moral order: first, relationships with God ignored, then with our brethren, and finally association with the world. There are four terms employed in this passage to indicate this grievous form of the iniquity of God's people: dealing treacherously (not, as in the preceding verse, with their brethren, but with God — compare Jer. 3: 6-10), committing abomination — a frequent expression in the Scriptures for idolatry (see Jer. 4: 1; Dan. 9: 27; Matt. 24: 15, etc.), profaning the holiness of the Lord which he had loved, and marrying the daughter of a strange god. (v. 11)

Almost from the time that God redeemed Israel out of Egypt, this last sin is mentioned as that into which they were continually falling. Balak, under the advice of Balaam, succeeded in tempting them into it at Baalpeor. (Num. 25: 1-9) It was the head and front of Solomon's offending, and the cause of the alienation of his heart from God. It was the difficulty that Ezra had to contend with almost immediately after God in His mercy had brought the remnant from Babylon and set them again in their own land. And may we not say that it is the prevailing sin of the Church? Satan is the god of this world (2 Cor. 4), and those who worshipped idols really worshipped demons (1 Cor. 10: 20); so that alliance with the world partakes of the same character as marriage with the daughter of a strange god. We see how the apostle Paul lifts up his voice against this besetting sin when he cries, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel [unbeliever]? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God," etc. (2 Cor. 6: 14-16.) The same apostle also explains the only way by which we may overcome the attractions of the world when he says, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom [or whereby] the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Gal. 6: 14.) But judgment swift and sure, if there be no repentance, will be visited in such a case; for the prophet says, "The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts." No position, neither age nor youth, nor any external religiousness, should shield the offender; for the God who had redeemed them out of Egypt was holy, and He required holiness on the part of His people. (See Lev. 11: 44, 45; 1 Peter 1: 15, 16.)

The last part of the chapter is comprised in verses 13-16. The seventeenth verse really belongs to Mal. 3. From verse 13 we learn that, together with all the moral corruption which we have considered, there were all the outward signs of devotion to the service. of Jehovah. And what would seem so strange, did we not know the immense amount of deception it is possible to practise upon ourselves, is, that knowing how they had departed from the living God, they yet could not, or professed that they could not, understand why the Lord did not accept their offerings. "This," says Malachi, "have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that He regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. Yet ye say, Wherefore?" How often is this the case with God's people even now — cleaving to their sins, and yet surprised that He does not hear their cries, forgetful of the truth uttered by the apostle, "If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things." (1 John 3: 20.) But if they say, "Wherefore?" the answer is at hand; and it reveals another form of evil existing at that time amongst this poor degraded people: "Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant." (v. 14.) We learn, from the answer of our Lord to the Pharisees, that divorce was permitted to the Jew, under the Mosaic dispensation, "because of the hardness of their hearts;" but He expressly adds, "from the beginning it was not so." (Matt. 19: 3-9) And the farther they departed in heart and ways from God, not only did they the more frequently avail themselves of this permission, but they also so abused it that the marriage bond became relaxed on every side, and they separated from their wives at their own will and pleasure.

This is the evil which the prophet here denounces, and from which he takes occasion to show the oneness of man and wife according to the original institution of marriage. There could be no greater evidence of moral corruption than what has been termed the levity of divorce. Even now, when a people or nation make it easy for man and wife to obtain a legal separation, it is a sure sign of the decay of public morals. And we cannot but again call attention to the order of the sins here enumerated. First, there was the corruption of the covenant of Levi, and then the dealing treacherously every man against his brother, dealing treacherously with God in the matter of idolatry, and lastly, dealing treacherously with the wife of their youth. It is religious, social, and domestic corruption; and let it be carefully observed that the last two flow from the first. The modern doctrine is that an atheist even may perform the duties of this life. It is utterly impossible; for where the conscience is not in exercise before God there is no guarantee for fidelity to man, or even, as in this scripture, to those who are united by the closest of all ties. Dissolve the tie between man and God, and you dissolve every other tie that unites man to man. These of whom the prophet speaks were the professing people of God, and were still punctilious in the observance of their sacrificial ritual, and yet they were unfaithful in every relationship in which they stood (compare Micah 7: 1-6); and the flesh is the same in every age, and, though social restraints may vary in different ages, it will ever find its outlet in corrupt channels. If, therefore, there be no fear of God before the eyes of men, sin and iniquity must continually and increasingly abound.

Moreover, the object of the oneness of man and wife, the inviolability of the marriage bond (save for the one sin specified by our Lord (Matt. 19) — the sin itself being, in fact, its violation) is declared by the prophet. "And wherefore one? That He might seek a godly seed." The Lord thus looks to find His people among the children of His servants; and it is on this account indeed that the apostle enjoins believing parents to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The Lord's interest in, and His care and love for the children of His people, have not been sufficiently remembered, nor that the godliness of the children — "a godly seed" — is divinely connected with the maintenance of the indissoluble sanctity of the marriage relationship. We have even further light now, because the Lord has been pleased to show us that the union of husband and wife is a figure of that between Him and the Church, and hence our responsibility is the greater, both to understand the nature of marriage, and also God's attitude of grace and blessing towards the offspring of His saints.

Based on this revelation which God makes through Malachi is the exhortation, already enforced by these solemn considerations, "Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth." The Lord lays, in this way, great stress upon, attaches great importance to, the godly maintenance of natural relationships;* and wherever these are slighted under whatever pretence, whether spiritual or otherwise, the door is already opened to the worst forms of licence and corruption. It is well to press the importance of this subject in a day when so many, under the specious pretext of a higher spirituality, seek to emancipate themselves from natural claims, and in many cases from the irksomeness of home duties or parental control. One of the plainest evidences of a desire to please the Lord is the faithful and diligent discharge of our responsibilities in the domestic circle.

*See Mark 10: on the whole subject.

But not only has God made man and his wife one, He also hates putting away. The prophet introduces this in a most solemn way: "For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away." If therefore His people are in communion with His own mind, they will do so also. And how abundantly, through the whole history of Israel as a nation, is it proved that the Lord does hate putting away! If He had not done so, Israel would long since, and many times, have been renounced. They broke His covenant again and again, thereby forfeiting all claims upon His favour and love; but He endured them with much long-suffering, for His gifts and calling are without repentance. And in the prophets He continually reminded them of His union with them, that He was married to them, and that, therefore, He could not cast them off. (See Isa. 50; Jer. 3: 1-14, &c.) It was this same spirit He would have them show in their relationships, insteadof covering violence with their garment; and "therefore" the prophet repeats, closing up this part of his subject, "take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously."

There is little doubt that verse 16 contains a general principle, and one, therefore, that has been rightly applied to discipline in the Church; for the heart of God must be expressed in discipline as much as in brotherly fellowship. If this were borne in mind there could be no room for haste or harshness, no forgetting the object of true and divine discipline, no satisfaction felt in the cutting off of the offender; but every step would be taken in tenderness, yea, in divine pity, identifying ourselves with the one over whom Satan had obtained a temporary advantage; and we should thus proceed with many searchings of heart, taking his burden on our own shoulders, considering ourselves lest we also be tempted. Discipline thus administered, having solely for its object the honour of the Lord, the glory of His name, would become a means of grace to all who took part in it, and would be far more frequently used for the restoration of the one who had sinned, as. well as to reveal to all the terrible nature of the evil, which could not otherwise be reached than by putting away from fellowship with the saints. It would then be seen that the offender was put away only because he could no longer be retained if the saints themselves would continue in fellowship with the Lord. The sentence, "The Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away," should therefore be deeply graven upon all our hearts, and especially upon the hearts of those who have the place of lead and government in the assembly.

Malachi 3.

THE last verse of Mal. 2, as we have pointed out, introduces the subject of chap. 3, wherein another phase is taken up of the moral state of the corrupted remnant. "Ye have wearied the Lord with your words," says Malachi; and then the characteristic answer of this book is returned, "Wherein have we wearied Him?" Poor people! They had departed from God; they drew nigh to Him with their mouth, and honoured Him with their lips, but their heart was far from Him. And yet in their ignorance, real or professed, of their own condition, they are surprised to hear that they had wearied the Lord. The truth was, they were in the path of self-justification, excusing themselves, and laying the blame of everything on God — sure evidence of their own backsliding. The prophet, therefore, speaks plainly, and tells them wherein they had wearied Jehovah. He says, "When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment? So blind were they in their self-righteousness, that they ventured to accuse God of unrighteousness, insinuating that He could not discern between good and evil. They were like the Pharisees of a later date, who were displeased because the Lord in His grace consorted with publicans and sinners; whereas, in their estimation, it was with themselves that He ought to be found. It is the same in every age; for just in proportion as we justify ourselves we are keen to detect the evil in others, and to exalt ourselves at their expense. What the Lord's people showed by their wicked complaints was: first, that they were utterly ignorant of the character of God, as the One who is of purer eyes than to behold evil; and secondly, that their sinful hearts had deceived them into thinking that they, spite of what they were, had a special claim, a meritorious claim, upon Jehovah's favour and regard. Observe also that it was their words that had wearied the Lord. How often is it forgotten that our words are recorded, and brought up for rebuke or judgment! (See Matt. 12: 36, 37; John 20: 24-27.)

It is the last clause of the verse — "Where is the God of judgment?" — that leads to the declaration of the first verse of the next chapter. "Where," say they, "is the God of judgment?" The answer is, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek [as the God of judgment], shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." This weighty announcement is worthy of our most careful consideration. It may be said generally, first of all, that it is the declaration of the first coming of Christ, together with, as is so usual in the prophets, the full consequences and results of His appearing in glory. The Church period is not, could not be at that time, regarded. Prophetic interpretation is impossible where there is no intelligence of this divine method in the Old Testament. Then there are two things in the scripture: the sending of the messenger, and the advent of the Lord Himself.

The messenger is clearly John the Baptist; for this passage, as well as another from Isaiah, is specially applied to him in the gospels. (Mark 1: 2; Luke 1: 76.) This must be distinctly observed in order to understand the difference between his mission and that of Elijah "before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." (Mal. 4: 5, 6.) True, our Lord said, "Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed; "but His meaning is explained by another passage. Speaking to the multitude concerning the Baptist, He said, "Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: not withstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye will receive it [viz., that which the Lord was teaching], this is Elias, which was for to come." (Matt. 11: 11-14.) Thus, if the Jews had received John the Baptist, they would also have received the Messiah, and the kingdom would at once have been established in power; and in that case Malachi 4: 5, 6, would have been true of John. But in fact it was not; for though multitudes gathered around him when he first rang out the cry, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," there was but little conscience work, and scarcely any turning "the heart of the fathers to the children," or "the heart of the children to their fathers;" and finally, as we know, he died by the hand of the executioner in his solitary prison. Although, therefore, his mission was "in the spirit and power of Elias," and he would have been Elias, in all that his mission signified, had the Jews received him, he was not the fulfilment of the prophecy in the next chapter. That remains, and God will yet send "Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." But the Baptist was the Lord's messenger, and prepared the way before Him by heralding His coming and preaching the baptism of repentance; and few as they were, he did undoubtedly "make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (See John 1: 35-51)

We read moreover, "The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple." Two things are here to be noticed: first, the Person who should come, and then the manner of His coming. It is Jehovah who speaks: "I," He says, "will send my Messenger;" and He who sends His Messenger is also Adonai — the Lord in the words, "The Lord, whom ye seek," being Adonai, not Jehovah. The two appellations are combined in Psalm 110: "Jehovah said unto Adonai, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." He is also the Messenger of the covenant" whom the Jews professed to delight in. This title may be understood by a scripture in Exodus: "Behold, I send an Angel before thee to keep thee in the way . . . my name is in Him" — proof that he was a divine Person, inasmuch as name in the Word is always the expression of the truth of what the Person is. Thus the One who should come is Jehovah, Adonai, and the Angel of the covenant; and all this Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth was, and proved Himself to be in manifold ways in His presentation to Israel. But their eyes were blinded, and they would not see; and they closed their ears that they might not hear; so that while, as with this poor backslidden remnant, they asked, "Where is the God of judgment?" the Lord whom they sought came suddenly to His temple, and coming to His own they received Him not, but they took Him, and with wicked hands crucified Him on Calvary.

The manner of His coming is described as "suddenly" — coming suddenly to His temple; and it was there that the pious remnant in Jerusalem found Him. Simeon "came by the Spirit into the temple," and there met in the babe of Mary the Lord's Christ, and was permitted in infinite grace to take Him up in his arms, and as he did so he said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." There was also "one Anna . . . and she, coming in that instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of Him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." (Luke 2: 29-38.) And again and again did the Lord come to His temple during His earthly sojourn (John 2; Matt. 21), though His people knew Him not; and now it remains that this prediction shall be accomplished when He returns in power and glory for the salvation of His people, and to establish His dominion over all the kingdoms of the earth.

From verses 2-6 we have the character and consequences of His coming; i.e., His appearing. The form of the second verse springs from the words already noticed; viz., "The Lord, whom ye seek," in connection with, "Where is the God of judgment." They professed to desire the presence of the God of judgment. They little knew the force of their own words, and hence the prophet says, "Who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth; for He is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap." Their spirit indeed was in perfect contrast with that of the psalmist, as expressed when he said, "Enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified." (Ps. 143: 2.) Who indeed could abide the application of the holiness of God, as the standard of judgment, to his walk and ways? But this is what fire symbolizes, and the baptism of fire is that part of the work of Christ which will take place at His appearing. He has baptized His Church with the Holy Ghost; He will baptize Israel with fire when He returns. (Compare Matt. 3: 10-12; Isa. 4: 4; Zech. 13: 8, 9.) It is in this way that He will effect the purification of His people, though it will be accomplished on the ground of that perfect atonement which He made in His death. It will be indeed by His judgments that He will lead them to afflict their souls (see Leviticus 23: 27) and to faith in Himself; and thus will they be brought under the efficacy of His sacrifice, and so cleansed from their guilt and iniquity. Otherwise indeed not one could abide the day of His coming; whereas now we learn from Zechariah, He "will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God." Such are the blessed results of God's purposes in grace which will be accomplished in Christ.

So here in our scripture, although, as more or less throughout the book, the prophet's view is confined to the sons of Levi. Their corrupt condition we have seen, but when the Lord suddenly returns to His temple, "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." (v. 3.) The figure which is here employed has often occupied attention. It is said that as a refiner of metals watches by the crucible until his face is reflected in the molten mass, so the Lord Jesus sits as the refiner and purifier of His silver until His own image is mirrored in it, and that this is the end and object of all His dealings with His people. And there is undoubted truth in the comparison; for as God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren, we may be sure that He will never rest until His purpose is fulfilled, and that He will use all His appointed means for the accomplishment of His end and purpose. It should be added, however, that Christ before our souls in the power of the Holy Ghost — a glorified Christ — is God's means for bringing us into conformity with His beloved Son. (See 2 Cor. 3: 18; 1 John 3: 2, 3.) But then it is through the chastenings of His hand, through the trials and sorrows of their path, as here through special judgments, that He weans the hearts of His own from other objects, that Christ alone may fill the vision of their souls.

A very important truth is brought out in this scripture, applicable alike to ourselves and "the sons of Levi." There can be no presentation of an offering to the Lord in righteousness, nor can the offering presented be pleasant, acceptable, to the Lord until the purification of His priests is effected. This in fact is also the teaching of the epistle to the Hebrews. There the apostle shows that Christ by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified, before he points out that we have boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. The difference is only in the fact that now all believers are priests, that it is no longer the title of a privileged class, as with the sons of Levi, to appear in the immediate presence of God; but that every one who is cleansed by the blood of Christ, and having therefore no more conscience of sins, has freedom, yea, boldness of access, and is exhorted to draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, on the ground of having the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and the body washed with pure water. (Heb. 10: 19-22.) But whether then or now, under the Mosaic economy, or under the reign of grace, or, as in Malachi, in the time of the kingdom yet to be established, all who are priests must have a divine qualification and a divine cleansing in order to discharge acceptably the functions of their office, to enable them to approach with acceptance before God. Testing by such a truth as this those who claim, by virtue of a human ordination, the prerogatives of the priesthood, their presumption, not to say profanity, is at once discerned. What indeed can more completely set aside the truth of Christianity, ignoring as it does the place of Christ Himself, and of His people as associated with Him! And the solemnity and the peril of those who intrude into the office without being divinely called and qualified may be learned from the history of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Leviticus 16) The fulfilment of this scripture, in its application to the sons of Levi, is yet future; for it is after the appearing of the Lord that He will purify the sons of Levi; and that the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years. (See Jer. 33: 19-22; Ezek. 44)

If, on the one hand, the Lord will purge His priests as gold and silver, on the other He will set His face in judgment against "the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts." (v. 5.) This clearly explains the difference in character between Christianity and the kingdom. Now God sends out His entreating message of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5) to all these classes which are here named — to all sinners without distinction; for it is the day of his grace, and He waits to save everyone that comes to Him in the name of Christ. Grace reigns through righteousness; but when the Lord appears He will come to reign in righteousness. Justice and judgment will be the habitation of His throne, and consequently sinners — those who refuse to submit to His royal sway — must be destroyed out of the land. Now He lingers in long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Then He will strike through kings in the day of His wrath, and in His majesty He will ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and His right hand will teach Him terrible things. (Psalms 45, Ps. 110, etc.)

In connection with the various classes of sinners which are named, it is very interesting to notice, as unfolding the heart of God, those who are mentioned as drawing forth His compassion — the hireling, the widow, the fatherless, and the stranger. It is ever so in the Scriptures — that those who are lonely, sorrowful, or oppressed are the special objects of His tender mercy — those described in one of the psalms as the needy, the poor also, and him that hath no helper (Ps. 72), concerning whom it is said, "He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in His sight." Surely we may gather instruction for ourselves from such a scripture, teaching, as it does, how we may have practical fellowship with the heart of God; for if we would walk with Him, His interests and objects must be also ours. What a field of service is, therefore, opened to the saints of God — a field which has no limit, and which surrounds us on every side. Yea, as the apostle James says, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James 1: 27.)

In the sixth verse we have what may be termed a solemn affirmation of the certainty of His coming by the truth of the Lord's name, and the principle of His dealing with His people; for He says, "I am Jehovah, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." In these words, containing the sublime statement of Jehovah's unchangeable character, we have combined His truth and His grace. Because He is immutable in His holiness, He must be a "swift witness" against all sin and iniquity; and because His purposes of grace and blessing are unalterable, His people are not consumed. When, for example, the golden calf was set up in the camp, whereby they broke the covenant of Sinai and incurred the penalty of death, on what ground did the Lord spare His guilty people? It was on that of His oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Ex. 32: 12, 13); and thus it was in the sovereignty of His grace, and in His faithfulness to His word, that He was gracious to whom He would be gracious, and showed mercy to whom He would show mercy. Ex. 33: 19.) This is a sure foundation on which His people can rest in every age and in every dispensation. It is a rock that no storm can shake; and hence the writer to the epistle to the Hebrews says, "God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable thing., [the oath and the promise], wherein it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us," etc. (Heb. 6: 17, 18.) It is thus the guarantee of the certainty both of His judgment of evil and of the accomplishment of all His counsels of grace in Christ; and this too in its application, as in this scripture, to Israel.

Commencing with the seventh verse, the state of the people is again dealt with. And what a bill of indictment is brought against them! "Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them." This, in one sentence, is the summary of the history of Israel under law. Their fathers had said, when standing at the foot of Sinai, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will do" Ex. 19); but ere ever the tables of the covenant had reached the camp they had been false to their promise, and had apostatized from Jehovah. Judgment after judgment was visited upon them during their wanderings in the desert, but they would not keep the ordinances of the Lord. It was the same in the land both under judges and kings. Through all their history indeed they went "astray like lost sheep, and turned every one to his own way." Still, according to the proclamation of the name of Jehovah to Moses, He was "the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." Ex. 34: 6, 7.) Mercy and truth met together in His government of His people; and His name, as so unfolded to Moses, was abundantly exemplified in all His dealings with them. Here it is mercy that rejoiceth against judgment; for the invitation goes forth, "Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord." He had been compelled to depart from them because of their iniquity, but His heart was still towards them (Cp. Hosea 5: 14, 15); and thus He cries, "Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts." The reply to this gracious invitation is one with which we are familiar in this book, and one which betrays the hardness as well as the corruption. of their hearts, "Wherein shall we return?" They did not even know that they had departed from God, so wonderful is the deceitfulness of sin; for how could it be possible, that those who had known what it was to be walking in the enjoyment of the light of God's countenance should be unaware that they had passed out of it into the chill and death of moral night? And yet so it was, as it still often is. Samson, for example, wist not that the Lord had departed from him; and the path of backsliding, and even apostacy, is often so gradual that the soul, occupied now with other objects and interests, is unconscious, lulled to rest also by the artifices of Satan, of the change that is taking place. Nothing can be sadder or more dangerous than ignorance of our true spiritual condition.

It is to awake His people, if possible, that the Lord proceeds to bring a specific proof of their departure from Him. He would fain open their eyes, and compel them to see; and thus He says, "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me" Then comes the usual rejoinder of this misguided and deceived people, "Wherein have we robbed thee?" The answer is clear and distinct, "In tithes and offerings." (vv. 7, 8.) It was impossible for them to evade the truth of such a charge; for the Lord through Moses had laid down the most minute directions concerning tithes and offerings, and they could not but know whether they had complied with them. (See Lev. 23; Num. 15, 28; Deut. 14: 22-29, 26, etc.) They knew precisely, therefore, what was required of them, and they had no excuse for their disobedience. They might indeed have argued within themselves that it was a matter of no consequence, but their thoughts were not the thoughts of God; for He tells them, "Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation." (v. 9.)

We are not under law, but under grace, and we therefore have no such prescriptions as to what we are to give to the Lord; but may there not be some most valuable instruction for us in these solemn words? Nay, is it not true that now all that we are and have belong to Him who has redeemed us through His precious blood? Much more, then, should we enter into' such a word as this, "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase," if we have understood at all the responsibilities of grace, the grace which has been displayed in our redemption through God's unspeakable gift. Or if any have failed to apprehend the bearing of this truth, let them read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the teaching of the apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 8, 9. And with these chapters before us, let us be candid with ourselves, and solemnly interrogate our hearts in the presence of God, to learn whether we have risen to the height of our privilege in this respect, in honouring the Lord with our substance, in devoting the first-fruits of our increase to His service. Let us not be afraid even of figures, asking ourselves, if need be, "How much have we given of our income for the Lord's use?" or, "What proportion have our gifts borne to what we have. received?" Ah! beloved, if we thus examined ourselves on this subject, would not many of us have to own that the Lord might also have a controversy with us, and truly say, "Ye have robbed God"? Or else how comes it to pass that almost in every place the saints have to be reminded, again and again, that there is not enough money in the Lord's treasury for even necessary uses, and that collections, private and public, are continually being made to conceal our shortcomings, and to provide means for the sustenance both of the Lord's poor and the Lord's work? All this only reveals the fact how feebly grace is operative in our hearts, and how unlike we are to the giving-God, by whose bounty it is that we have been set in the possession of such priceless blessings. And may we not ask also, whether our own barrenness, and whether the lack of blessing among the Lord's people — in their meetings for praise and edification — may not be traced to our own narrowness of heart, to our withholding from God of the substance, small or great, which He has entrusted to our stewardship? (See 2 Cor. 9: 8-15.) For here the Lord expressly connects His blessing His people with their faithfulness to Himself in the matter of tithes. "Bring ye," he says, "all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (v. 10.)

But this scripture demands a still closer examination. Remark, first, that the Lord desires the tithes to be brought that there way be meat in His house; i.e., that those whose office it was to attend to the service of the sanctuary might be properly cared for and sustained. (See on this subject Neh. 10: 32-39, Neh. 13: 4-10.) For it was a grievous thing in the eyes of Jehovah that the Levites and priests should be neglected. Moreover the Lord. condescends to say, 'Prove me now herewith, and I on my part will bestow abundant blessing upon you.' it is not, it will be observed, "PRAY, and I will open the windows of heaven," but, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse." It would be well if this passage were sometimes read and explained at meetings for prayer, as it might be used to remind us of the real hindrances to blessing. To pray is always well, but to pray while we are withholding from God, and without self-judgment on this account, is useless. Our prayers may be enlightened and fervent, and may commend themselves to the children of God; but let us not forget that He is the heart-knowing God, and may therefore be keeping back the answers to our petitions because we are not practically responding to the "grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich." (2 Cor. 8: 9.)

Still further blessing is promised, if they are but faithful in bringing the tithes. "And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts." (vv. 11, 12.) These promises are on the principle which obtains everywhere in the Old Testament; viz., that of blessing on the condition of obedience. This was in fact the very essence of the Mosaic economy. (See, for example, Deut. 28) Their continued possession of the land, their freedom from disease, earthly blessing of every shape and form, were all made dependent upon their walking according to the statutes and ordinances which they had received. So in this scripture. Let the people but return to obedience to the law, and they should receive blessing without stint or limit, their land should again become fruitful, and so manifestly should the favour of God rest upon them that all the nations around would call them blessed. It would be seen that theirs was "a land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year." (Deut. 11: 12.)

It must be remembered, however, that all these promises are temporal, and have nothing to say to the spiritual state of the people, or rather that they relate to time and not to eternity. If the people did but honour the Lord by subjection to His word, He would bless them in the way described; i.e., in the land, and with temporal blessings in accordance with the nature of the covenant under which they were living. It is different with Christians. They are saved by pure unconditional grace; but being saved, their blessing and their enjoyment of spiritual blessing are made dependent upon their walk, upon obedience to the Word. This must always be insisted upon. They do not obey, we repeat, in order to be saved, except indeed it be with the obedience of faith, and this is the gift of God; but having been brought to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, their blessing, during their sojourn in this world, is conditioned by their subjection to the mind and will of God. Thus our Lord says, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." (John 14: 21.) Such is the blessed portion of those, and of those alone, who treasure up the commandments of Christ in their hearts.

The next section, which, commencing with verse 13, extends to the end of Mal. 4, clearly separates a faithful remnant from the rest of the nation. This is often the case with the prophets (see Isa. 8 - 10, &c.), and connected with this is another thing. Whenever the godly remnant is distinguished, it takes the place of the nation before God. They are isolated in the view of God and regarded as the heirs and depositaries of the promises. The reader will find it both interesting and edifying to trace out this principle in the prophets of the Old Testament. In the scripture before us the prophet first brings out the hopelessness of the moral condition of the mass of the nation, and shows not only that they had lost all moral perception, but also that they were charging God with identifying Himself with and favouring the proud and the wicked — proof of their utter deception as to their own condition, and of their ignorance of the character of God. He says, "Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord." The gradation in these several charges is particularly to be observed. Israel had gone from one degree of sinfulness to another, and now they had not hesitated to speak boldly against God. But although they are brought face to face with their iniquity, they profess, as ever, to be ignorant of the sin alleged against them. "What," they say, "have we spoken against Thee?" The answer is at hand. "Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts? And now we" (they added) "call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered." (vv. 13-15.) Like the Pharisees again of a later date, they punctiliously attended to certain ritualistic observances, at the same time neglecting the weightier matters of the law, and then wondered how it was that the Lord did not acknowledge and reward their meritorious conduct. while they condemned Him because He received sinners and ate with them. Nothing confuses our moral perceptions like self-righteousness, and there is no iniquity before God like that of Pharisaism. It is withal one of Satan's most potent weapons for the deception and the destruction of the souls of men. This form of spiritual wickedness is, alas! never extinct. It abounds in the Church at the present time, and it may be detected under different, and sometimes most subtle, disguises. But wherever it is found, whether allied with ritualism or a transcendental spiritualism, it is marked by the divorce of morality from the forms of godliness. In plain language, it ever combines a high profession with a low walk.

We have now the introduction of the remnant — a remnant within the remnant (vv. 16, 17); and nothing can be more beautiful than the contrast which is thus drawn between these hidden saints and the self-righteousness of those by whom they are surrounded. They have but two characteristics — they feared the Lord, and they spake often one to another, and we may add, what is necessarily connected with this, they thought upon the Lord's name. He Himself was the subject of their thoughts and meditations. Let us look a little at these several features. They feared the Lord. This is precisely what the nation were not doing; indeed, they had cast off the fear of God from before their eyes, as shown by their high-handed transgressions of His statutes and ordinances, and their entire insensibility to His claims, and the honour of His name. But this pious, feeble remnant feared Jehovah, feared Him with the fear due to His holy name, with a fear which showed itself in obedience to His word. He Himself was their object and hope, their stay and support, amid the confusion and evil by which they were surrounded; yea, their sanctuary from the power of the enemy on every side. Then, they spake often one to another. They were drawn together in happy, holy fellowship by their common objects, common affections, and common needs; and in this way their piety, their fear of the Lord, was sustained and encouraged. It is one of the consolations of an evil day, that in proportion as religious wickedness and corruption abound, those who have the mind of the Lord are drawn more closely together. The name of the Lord becomes more precious to those that fear Him when it is generally dishonoured; and, on the other hand, the power of the enemy drives those together who are seeking to lift up a standard against him. The object of the special hostility of Satan, because they form the one barrier to the success of his efforts, they find their resource and strength in united communings in the presence of God. Lastly, they thought upon the Lord's name. We do not mean lastly in order of importance, only in that of mention in this scripture; for at the close of verse 16 it is associated with the fear of the Lord. These two things can never indeed be disjoined. The name of the Lord, as before remarked in these pages, is the expression of all the truth of Jehovah as revealed to His ancient people, just as now the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to which His people are gathered, is the symbol (if we may use this term) of all that He is as unfolded to us in these several terms — The Lord — Jesus — Christ. What is meant, therefore, when it is said, "They thought upon His name," is, that they set themselves to uphold all the truth which had been committed to Israel; this truth being their testimony in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, and also that they were drawn together by their common fear of Jehovah, to maintain the honour of His name. This was their one end and object — not the welfare and blessing of one another, not the conciliation of diverse interests among the professing people of God, not the cultivation of that spirit of charity, the creed of which is to agree to differ, and to be indifferent to evil; but ever seeking to vindicate Jehovah's name, to affirm His supremacy, and thus to give Him His rightful place in the midst of Israel. And in doing this, though their brethren might have despised and contemned them for not swimming with the stream, they were adopting the one and only means for the blessing of the nation.

In the gospel of Luke (Luke 1 and 2), as often remarked, we have a living picture of this God-fearing remnant. In Zacharias, Simeon, and Anna we behold a few, together with those associated with them, who united all the characteristics which are here given. Thus of Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth it is said, "They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless" (Luke 1: 6); of Simeon, that he "was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him" (Luke 2: 25); of Anna, that "she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day." (Luke 2: 37.) Such is the lovely picture, drawn by the unerring pencil of the Holy Spirit, of a few in Jerusalem, amid decay and spiritual death, who "feared the Lord, spake often to one another, and thought upon His name." Outside of the activities of the day, and unknown to those in power and influence, they were known by the Lord, and by one another. This was enough for their souls, for their hearts were fixed on "the consolation of Israel," "the Lord's Christ," and He was sufficient to satisfy their every desire, even as He was the object of all their hopes.

Is there, it may be enquired, in a word or two, any remnant at the present day corresponding to that here described? To answer this question, it must be remembered that all whom the prophet addresses were the remnant gathered out of Babylon; and hence that those who feared the Lord, and spake often one to another, were a remnant in the midst of a remnant, both alike occupying the same public ground before God. It does not follow, therefore, because there are those today who are separated from the evils of Christendom, and gathered professedly to the name of Christ, that they answer to these who thought upon the Lord's name. No. To correspond with these there must be the possession of the same characteristics; in a word, there must be the same. spiritual state. As in Philadelphia, so here, state is the prominent feature; and consequently no ecclesiastical position, however scriptural, constitutes a claim to correspondence with these "Philadelphians" in the midst of Israel.

Having shown us what this pious remnant was in the eyes of the Lord, the prophet now reveals Jehovah's attitude towards them. He says, "The Lord hearkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." (vv. 16, 17.) First, "the Lord hearkened, and heard." His eyes and His heart were upon these despised few who encouraged themselves, amid surrounding corruptions, in fellowship one with another concerning the Lord and the Lord's things. And when thus gathered together, the Lord was a spectator, delighting in the conversation He heard, their communings being as grateful to His heart as the sweet incense which in happier days ascended before His throne from off the golden altar. We have examples in the New Testament of His intimate acquaintance with the thoughts and conversation of His people. The commission He gave to Ananias concerning Saul of Tarsus, His repetition to doubting Thomas of the words he had spoken to his fellow-disciples, bear witness to the fact that our words never escape His ears; and the journey of the two disciples to Emmaus, when He Himself drew near and walked with them, tells us how interested He is in all that concerns His own, yea, even in their doubts and fears. But in the case before us it was not doubt nor apprehension that occupied those that feared the Lord, but when they spake, often one to another, it was in the language of faith and hope; and hence when we are told that "the Lord hearkened, and heard," it is not only an attentive, but also an approving, yea, a delighted, Listener that is brought before us. And how sweet is the revelation thus made! And what an encouragement to His own, especially in times of indifference and darkness, to be found together, speaking often one to another! And how near it brings the Lord Himself to us! And, we may add, what solemnity it gives to the fellowship of the saints, reminding us that our meetings, whether in private or in public, are held in the presence of the Lord! These reflections moreover ought to have additional force for those of the present day who have, in any measure, entered into what it is to have the Lord Himself in the midst when gathered to His name.

Secondly, "a book of remembrance was written before Him," &c.; that is, the Lord condescends to use a figure to teach us that He records for everlasting remembrance the conversation — may we not rather say the names and the words? — of those who were drawn to His name, and to one another, in separation from the evil around at such a time. An illustration of this may be found in the book of Esther. When the king could not sleep, "he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles;" and they were read before the king. And therein was found written an act. of loyalty and fidelity on the part of Mordecai at a time of danger to his sovereign the king; and he was immediately recompensed, besides being thereby used to become the saviour of his people. In like manner, but in a more perfect way — for He never forgets — the Lord causes a book of remembrance concerning the faithfulness of His people to be written, and nothing escapes His eye or ear; and thus it will come to pass, as we learn from many scriptures, that every act and word, wrought and produced in His people by the power of the Holy Spirit, will, in the same grace that has called, justified, and glorified them, be imputed to them for acknowledgement and recompense before the tribunal of Christ.

Finally, the Lord will mark them out as His own. They shall be mine, saith Jehovah of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels." He refers to the time of His appearing; for then it is that He will publicly distinguish and claim His own. The principle is contained in the familiar passage in the Apocalypse: "Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee." (Rev. 3: 9; (Cp. Isa. 60: 14.) The Lord will manifestly set His seal upon those who were faithful to His name in a time of ruin and apostacy. The term jewels" when I make up my jewels "shows the preciousness of the saints to God, their value in His eyes, and that though they are now concealed in obscurity His eye is upon them, and He will collect them together, recognizing their beauty and excellency, the beauty and excellency which He Himself has put upon them, preparatory to their being put for ever in the treasury of His eternal kingdom, It is then added, "And I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." It must be remembered that when the Lord thus comes.) it is for judgment on the one hand, as for blessing on the other. Sparing His people, therefore, is sparing them from the judgments; and He will spare them as a man spareth his own son, bringing out the Lord's heart and relationship to His own, showing His recognition of their fidelity and devotedness. Bound to His own by such ties, He will not suffer them to be overwhelmed in the day when He deals with the nation for their iniquity; but God Himself will be their refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, and He will publicly exhibit them as those who were precious in His eyes when they were scorned and contemned by the apostate nation.

The last verse, we apprehend, is addressed to those who, in verses 14, 15, had charged God with identifying Himself with evil. They had said, "They that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are delivered" — as if God were confounding all moral distinctions. But the prophet now tells them that, when God will appear for the feeble few who had thought upon His name, they — those who had arraigned the righteousness of God's ways — should return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not. Wilfully blind heretofore, they would then be compelled to see; and the Lord would once again be justified when He was judged, and publicly vindicate the rectitude of His ways before the eyes of ungodly men. The prophet proceeds to explain that this severance between the wicked and the righteous will be made at the Lord's appearing; but this is the subject of the next chapter,

Malachi 4.

THE division also between chapters 3 and 4 tends to obscure the connection, inasmuch as verse 1 of chapter 4 explains the declaration of the last verse of Mal. 3. The prophet had said that the time would come when those who were arraigning Jehovah should see that there was in His eyes an everlasting distinction between the righteous and the wicked, and now he teaches that this distinction will be publicly manifested at a future day. The word "for" is the connecting link between the two chapters. "For," he continues, "behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings," &c.

Before we examine this important passage, we may call attention to the principle it exemplifies. Man in his short-sightedness and unbelief is ever prone, like the apostate priests in the preceding chapter, to judge God by the circumstances of the moment. It was so also with the three friends of Job, yea, with Job himself. But we learn there, as from innumerable scriptures, that the issue of God's ways and dealings will not be manifested till a future day, and that He waits for that time to declare His righteousness even before the world. We must therefore, as the apostle teaches, judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart; and then shall every man (if he have matter for praise) have praise of God. In the meantime faith says with Abraham, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" for the God that faith knows is infinite in wisdom, holiness, and love. Now this scripture brings us to the moment when Jehovah will manifest His holiness and truth in His judgment of the wicked, and in blessing for those that fear His name; but even here the judgment is not eternal, as it is in connection with His appearing, and preparatory, therefore, to the establishment of His kingdom on earth.

These two aspects of the Lord's appearing must be carefully observed in order to distinguish it from His coming for His Church, a truth not revealed in the Old Testament, because the Church never comes into view in the prophetic writings. (See, for example, Eph. 3) When He returns to claim His Bride, it is in pure unmingled blessing, and has for its object only His own people. (John 14: 1-3; 1 Thess. 4: 14-18.) The world will not even be aware of the event, save, perchance, from the unwilling recognition of the absence of so large a number with whom they had been conversant The shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God are exclusively for the saints, and will not even be heard by the world around; or if they are heard, like the companions of Saul of Tarsus, when the Lord met him on the way to Damascus, they will not understand the significance of such unwonted sounds. The language will be incomprehensible to their ears, as it will come from a land to which they do not belong, and which they have never visited. No; when the Lord fulfils His promise to His waiting Church, "Surely, I come quickly," He has regard to it alone; and none but the saints will be caught up in the clouds to meet Him in the air, to be for ever with Him. But "the day" of which our passage treats will be public; it will be introduced when the Lord returns with His saints. It is of this John speaks when he says, "Behold, He cometh with clouds: and every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." (Rev. 1: 7.) Our Lord Himself also describes it in Matthew's gospel: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man, in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." (Matt. 24: 29, 30.) And in the same chapter we find the same two aspects — judgment and blessing — linked together. We thus read, "Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left." (vv. 40, 41.) And be it noticed that those "taken" here are taken for judgment, while those "left" are left for blessing in the kingdom which will then be established. This conclusively shows the difference between the Lord's return for His Church and His appearing, because when He comes for His people they, unlike these in Matthew, are taken away for blessing — to be with Himself; while those who are left are left for judgment.

Another thing may be pointed out to establish the difference between these two important things. After describing the thorough character of the judgment which will be executed when "the day" cometh, the prophet, speaking in the name of the Lord, says, "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings." (v. 2.) This figure entirely accords with the distinction we have made. The appearing of the Lord is, as already explained, the introduction of the day; and hence it is set forth here as the rising of the Sun of righteousness, as it will be for His earthly people. David uses similar language of the same event: "He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds." (2 Samuel 23: 4.) On the other hand, this figure is never employed in relation to the Church, but another equally significant is used, and expressive of the truth it is intended to convey; viz., the Bright and Morning Star. (Rev. 22: 16; see also 2 Peter 1: 19.) Now these two figures, rightly understood, explain both the character and the order of the Lord's coming for His Church and His appearing. The morning star appears before the day, towards the closing of the night, at the dawn, and is thus the harbinger of the rising of the sun. So will it be when the Church is rapt away from this world. It will be caught up to be associated with Christ in His heavenly beauty, who has been displayed before the eye of faith as the Bright and Morning Star; and this event will be preparatory to the Lord's appearing as the Sun of righteousness, as set forth in this scripture. An interval — greater or less — there will be between the two events; but the relation between them, in regard to the earth, is that which is symbolized by the Morning Star and the Sun of righteousness.*

*See, for further instruction on this subject, The Blessed Hope.

The "day" then of which the prophet speaks has a double aspect — judgment without mercy (for the day of grace will then be past) upon the proud and all that do wickedly; and pure, unmingled blessing for those that fear the name of Jehovah. (See Isa. 24 - 26; Zech. 12 - 14 &c.) There is moreover another thing. "Ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts." (vv. 2, 3.) This promise, which the Lord makes to His people Israel in connection with their deliverance and blessing at His appearing, again distinguishes this event both from His return for the Church, and from the closure of all dispensations at the end of the thousand years. There are some who affirm that the coming of the Lord for His saints and His appearing are identical. In what sense, if this were so, will His people, who will then be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, as those who hold this view admit, tread down the wicked as ashes under the soles of their feet? There would be a manifest incongruity in such a figure with the circumstances of those who will then be for ever with the Lord. There are others who deny any coming or appearing of the Lord until after the millennium. Let such then tell us how the saints of God, who, according to their own thought, enter at that time upon eternal blessedness, will then come into conflict with and triumph over the wicked. To mention these views is sufficient to show that they are opposed to the truth of Scripture.

This passage, we may repeat for the sake of clearness, has no application to the Church; it concerns itself with God's ancient people, who, then in the land, had been brought back from their captivity in Babylon. There are two classes, as we have seen, amongst them — those who had departed from God while they kept up the forms of their ritual, and those that feared the Lord, spake often one to another, and thought upon Jehovah's name. These latter met the mind of Jehovah; and were the objects of His heart; and, addressing to them words of consolation and promise, He takes them up as characteristic morally of the remnant that will be found at the Lord's appearing. There was such a remnant at the Lord's first coming; but the nation rejected Him, and all was lost on the ground of responsibility. The realization of these blessed promises was consequently postponed — only postponed, because what was forfeited on the ground of responsibility will be finally made good in grace according to the unchanging counsels of God on the foundation of the finished work of Christ. These promises yet remain therefore for Israel, though they have no title to anything, save in and through the Christ; and when He shall return to them in power and glory, as shown in this scripture, He will accomplish their fulfilment. Then will His people — the remnant brought through the fire, but viewed as the nation — be not only put into the enjoyment of these blessings, but they will also, under the sway of their Messiah and King, and as thus associated with Him, tread down the wicked, who will be as ashes under their feet. (See Ps. 2, Ps. 110, etc. etc.) It is thus the earthly people, and not the heavenly saints of this dispensation, that are here described by the prophet.

The three last verses (4-6) constitute a kind of appendix. In verse 4 Jehovah recalls the people to the unchanging basis of His covenant with them; viz., the law. This was His standard for them, the measure of their responsibility, and thus the condition of blessing. Their safety, as the safety of God's people in all ages, would lie in obedience to the word. Testing all by that infallible standard, and refusing all that answers not to it, while seeking grace at the same time to restore it to its supremacy over our own hearts and ways; such is the only path of recovery and blessing. They were thus to go back to the beginning — a principle that has before occupied us, not to the times of Nehemiah and Ezra, neither to the glory of the kingdom in the days of David and Solomon, but to Horeb — "the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb." In like manner we, in days of confusion and ruin, must not stop short of Pentecost, if we would gauge the extent of our decline, and discover the means of restoration. This is an abiding principle, and on this account it is solemnly affirmed just as God was about to silence the voice of prophecy for the long period of four hundred years.

Jehovah, moreover, lays the foundation in this exhortation, and in the principle which it contains, for the announcement of the mission of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. (v. 5.) We have explained the relation of John the Baptist to Elijah in connection with Mal. 3: 1. If Israel, when our Lord first came, had received the Baptist, he would have been Elijah for them, and as it was his mission was in the spirit and the power of Elijah. But John was beheaded, and the Christ, of whom he was the forerunner, was crucified; and God, who is as immutable in His holiness as in His grace, will as surely perform His truth unto Abraham, as execute his judgments upon the wicked. In the day of judgment, however, He remembers mercy, and therefore, before the advent of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, He will send Elijah to test the hearts of His people, and to recall them to His unchanging faithfulness and grace. And the very mention of Elijah is significant of the state in which Israel will then be found. The mission of Elijah, historically, was at a time of general apostacy, when Jehovah had been publicly disowned, and Baal had been chosen in His place. And we gather from many scriptures that apostacy will characterize Israel as a whole in the last days. As in the time of Ahab there was a hidden remnant, so will it be again, for God will never leave Himself without witness on the earth. But outwardly, under the sway of Antichrist, idolatry will mark the condition of the people. The mission of "Elijah" will be in the midst of this state of things, and the character of his ministry in the time of Ahab and Jezebel will enable us to understand its nature at the end. Its object is here given: "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (v. 6.) John the Baptist never fulfilled this promise, at least in the largeness of its import. Crowds gathered about him at the commencement of his labours, but the most of these only rejoiced in his light for a season, and then turned back to the darkness of their own pride and self-righteousness. With "Elijah" it will be different, for the Lord hath spoken the word, and He will perform it. Labouring as the prophet will, under far greater difficulties than even the Baptist, the effects of his work, if not outwardly seen, will be greater; and in this way there will be once again a people prepared for the Lord on His return. The object, however, here is, "Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." There will be judgments, as we have seen from verse 1; but the existence of a people whom God has called and prepared in grace will once again be the salt of the earth, and on their account the earth, or more probably the land, will be exempted from that which is here termed a curse — pure and unmingled judgment.

The conjunction of Moses and Elijah (vv. 4, 5) at the close of the Old Testament cannot fail to be observed. They are, as we know, the expressions of the law and the prophets, and these abide for ever — till the close of all God's ways on the earth. (Compare Matt. 5: 17-19; see also Rev. 11 — the ministry of the two witnesses being characterized by the features of Moses and Elijah.)

With these words the light of prophecy is quenched, and God ceases to send His messengers to His people until the days of the Baptist; and, while never failing in His love and faithfulness, He withdraws for a season from all active and direct intervention in their affairs. All has now been prepared to test their hearts by the coming of Christ, and God waits four hundred years, until the fulness of the time should arrive when He would send forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, who would be for Israel a Minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. (Romans 15: 8.) But though He came unto His own, and His own received Him not, God, in His infinite long-suffering, still waits, and eventually, in pursuance of His eternal counsels of grace and mercy, Christ will be a light for the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of His people Israel.