Ezra 6:14

Ezra THE NEW TEMPLE AND ITS WORSHIPEzra 6:14 - Ezra 6:22 . There are three events recorded in this passage,-the completion of the Temple, its dedication, and the keeping of the passover some weeks thereafter. Four years intervene between the resumption of building and its successful finish, much of which time had been occupied by the interference of the Persian governor, which compelled a reference to Darius, and resulted in his confirmation of Cyrus’ charter. The king’s stringent orders silenced opposition, and seem to have been loyally, however unwillingly, obeyed. About twenty-three years passed between the return of the exiles and the completion of the Temple. I. The prosperous close of the long task { Ezra 6:14 - Ezra 6:15 }. The narrative enumerates three points in reference to the completion of the Temple which are very significant, and, taken together, set forth the stimulus and law and helps of work for God. It is expressive of deep truth that first in order is named, as the cause of success, ‘the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah.’ ‘Practical men,’ no doubt, then as always, set little store by the two prophets’ fiery words, and thought that a couple of masons would have done more for the building than they did. The contempt for ‘ideas’ is the mark of shallow and vulgar minds.

Nothing is more practical than principles and motives which underlie and inform work, and these two prophets did more for building the Temple by their words than an army of labourers with their hands. ‘There are diversities of operations,’ and it is not given to every man to handle a trowel; but no good work will be prosperously accomplished unless there be engaged in it prophets who rouse and rebuke and hearten, and toilers who by their words are encouraged and saved from forgetting the sacred motives and great ends of their work in the monotony and multiplicity of details. Still more important is the next point mentioned. The work was done ‘according to the commandment of the God of Israel.’ There is peculiar beauty and pathos in that name, which is common in Ezra. It speaks of the sense of unity in the nation, though but a fragment of it had come back. There was still an Israel, after all the dreary years, and in spite of present separation. God was still its God, though He had hidden His face for so long. An inextinguishable faith, wistful but assured, in His unalterable promise, throbs in that name, so little warranted by a superficial view of circumstances, but so amply vindicated by a deeper insight. His ‘commandment’ is at once the warrant and the standard for the work of building. In His service we are to be sure that He bids, and then to carry out His will whoever opposes.

(14) Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. —This verse includes all the agents in the great work with which the book deals: from Cyrus to Artaxerxes; the elders, that is, the heads of the Jews; the prophets (see Ezra 5:1 ); but all is from the God of Israel, whose commandment Cyrus and all others fulfilled. Artaxerxes king of Persia.—Evidently the Artaxerxes Longimanus of the sequel, whose contributions and help did so much toward the perfecting of the general design, though the “finishing” here mentioned took place fifty years before his reign. Observe that he alone is called “king of Persia,” which shows that Ezra is writing in his time, and adds his name to the original record. Just as the later Artaxerxes is introduced, so the earlier Cyrus is, in this comprehensive review.

Ezra 6:14 . They prospered through the prophesying of Haggai, &c. — This is a seasonable intimation that this great and unexpected success was not to be ascribed to chance, or to the kindness or good-humour of Darius, but unto God only, who, by his prophets, had required and encouraged them to proceed in the work, and by his mighty power disposed Darius’s heart to such kind and noble purposes. And Artaxerxes — That is, Artaxerxes Longimanus, who is here joined with Cyrus and Darius; because, though the temple was built before he came to the throne, in Darius’s reign, ( Ezra 6:15 ,) yet it was afterward beautified and adorned in consequence of the commission he gave Ezra and Nehemiah for that purpose, the latter of whom was invested with full power to take measures for the building of the city, and also the ordering of all other things that concerned the Jewish nation and religion.

Verse 14. - And the elders of the Jews builded . See above, Ezra 5:5, 9 . Probably the same as "the chief of the fathers" of Ezra 2:68 , and Ezra 3:12 . While the younger men were those who actually laboured, the elders superintended the work. Zerubbabel and Jeshua are no doubt included among them . And they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai... and Zechariah. It can well be understood that Haggai's earnest exhortations, his warnings, his threats, his sarcastic reproaches ( Haggai 1:4, 9 ), his prophecies of a coming glory to the house greater than any known previously ( Haggai 2:9 ), would rouse the spirit of the people, and make them labour diligently and perseveringly; but the visions of Zechariah seem less calculated to stir popular feeling. Still the knowledge that the angels of God were interesting themselves in the restoration of the temple ( Zechariah 1:9-21 ; Zechariah 2:3 , etc.), and the many promises that God would "comfort Zion," and "choose Jerusalem" ( Zechariah 1:17 ; Zechariah 2:12 ; Zechariah 3:2 ), and that the temple should assuredly be brought to completion ( Zechariah 1:16 ; Zechariah 4:9 ), helped no doubt to strengthen the hands of Zerubbabel, and to keep up the zeal of the people . According to the commandment of Cyrus , and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia .