THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS.
As had been foretold by the prophets, and particularly by Isaiah, the exiled Jews were permitted to return home during the reign of Cyrus. As soon as they reached the Holy Land, we find them uniting their efforts to re-establish the religious rites of their fathers, aided by the noble leaders, Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra and Nehemiah. They erect an altar of burnt offering and rebuild the destroyed temple. Then the city wall is built, and various officers appointed as circumstances required. For further particulars the reader is referred to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
It may be well to state here—although the remark may, to some extent, deviate from the subject under consideration—that the restoration of the Jewish nation at this time was very far from being that complete restoration to more than former privileges, liberty and glory, of which all the prophets had spoken in such glorious terms. The promise was that the whole remnant should be delivered, even if they were as numerous as the sand on the sea shore. But from Babylon only comparatively few ever returned. The company of Zernbbabel consisted of fifty thousand persons, and Ezra led six thousand more home. The great bulk of people that had been born in the foreign land never returned. (See Book of Esther).
Again, the promise was that a kingdom should be established, with the Holy City as the capital, an everlasting kingdom governed by God himself through Messiah. This promise has never yet been fulfilled. In fact, the Jews have never since their overthrow by Nebuchadnezzar been an independent nation, governed by rulers of their own, except during the very short rule of the Maccabees. After their return they continued to be tributary to the Persian king for about one hundred years, as a province of Syria. When Alexander had conquered Persia (Syria and Palestine with it), they fell into his hands. When the Grecian empire was divided, Palestine fell into the hands of Ptolemy Lagus as a part of the Egyptian monarchy, and it remained so for about one hundred years, when it was transferred to the kings of Syria, in which situation it greatly suffered during the frequent wars between Egypt and Syria. Antiochus Epiphanes, one of the Syrian kings, plundered the city and the temple and enslaved the people. For about three years and a half they were reduced to worse than Egyptian thraldom. Their sacred manuscripts were burnt, and the people were compelled to sacrifice to idols. The temple itself was dedicated to Jupiter, a statue of which was erected on the altar of God. Compare Daniel's prediction of "the little horn" (chapter viii, 9-12). Through the noble enthusiasm and patriotism of Mattathias and his sons, a struggle against the oppressor now took place which secured to the Jews a few years of dearly bought liberty and independence, but they were soon conquered by the Romans. Pompey marched his army into Judea, conquered Jerusalem and made the country tributary to Rome. Herod the Great deposed the last of the Maccabean family from his office, and Palestine has never since been an independent state. Ever since the Babylonian captivity the great bulk of the Jewish nation has been scattered abroad, without home, without temple, without an altar, and strangers have been masters in the land of promise. It is therefore clear that all the prophecies that relate to the glorious restoration of the Jews must be understood of a great restoration yet future, a very important fact for the right understanding of those prophecies.
THE LAST PROPHETS OF THE OLD COVENANT.
But to return to our subject. It has been already stated that the first care of the returned exiles was to re-establish their religion. To do this, they were under the necessity of having new revelations. True, they had the writings of Moses and of the prophets, and they had inspired interpreters, like Ezra and Nehemiah. True, their aim was not to construct a new economy, but simply to re-establish the old one. And yet even this they could not do acceptably to God without the aid of revelation. Hence God raised up three prophets—Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, the last three of the old covenant. What an overwhelming proof of the necessity of continuous revelation!
HAGGAI, B.C. 520-518, is thought to have been born in Babylon, and to have emigrated with Zerubbabel.
His book contains four prophetic messages. In the first the people are reproved for neglecting to build the temple, while they were adorning their own houses, and a command is given to begin the construction immediately (chapter i, 1-11), to which command the people, led by Zerubbabel and Joshua, willingly responded (i, 12-15). But in a month the zeal of the people seems to have cooled off and the second message is delivered, declaring that the Spirit of God was still with the people. "A little while," God says, "and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land" (which according to Paul, Hebrews xii, 22-28, was fulfilled when the old dispensation was superseded by the gospel dispensation), "and the desire of all nations (Messiah) shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts," (chapter ii, 1-9), which "glory" is thought to refer to the presence of Christ in this second temple instead of the Shekinah that had illuminated the first temple. In the third message, delivered two months afterwards, the people are being rebuked for polluting themselves while working in the holy building and offering sacrifices. God reminds them that He had blessed them abundantly, from the time they had laid the corner-stone of the temple (chapter ii, 10-19). The fourth message is delivered the same day. It contains a general prediction of the overthrow of the kingdoms of the world and the promise of a special blessing to Zerubbabel at that time. It is clear enough that the right interpretation of this promise can be comprehended by no man, until divine revelation shall make it known.
ZECHARIAH was, like Haggai, born in Babylonia and went to Palestine with Zerubbabel. The general object of his ministry is identical with that of Haggai, and through the encouragement and wise counsels of these prophets the people prospered, and the temple was completed in six years. But besides this general object, Zachariah describes through direct predictions and symbolic acts, the history of the Jews until the end of time. Daniel deals with the history of the world; Zechariah with the history of the covenant people. Among the predictions of this prophet we will here notice some of the last. According to the ninth chapter, the surrounding heathen nations are to be destroyed. Messiah shall come as a king (v. 9) and establish His reign upon the earth. "His dominion shall be from sea even to sea and from the rivers to the ends of the earth" (verse 10). Scenes of destruction are to intervene, however, but the Lord will deliver His people, both Judah and Ephraim (chapter x, 1-12). "I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place 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," a glorious prediction of the restorative work, commenced in our own day by God, through His servant Joseph, the prophet. We are further told that Jerusalem shall be besieged by many nations and the result thereof (chapter xii, 1-14); Christ shall finally appear and all the world will become "Holiness to the Lord" (chapter xiv).
Thus prophecy, so far from leading us to expect that revelation finally will cease, being superfluous, expressly states that Christ Himself in person will appear and communicate His will to men. "Why?" it may be asked; and the answer is clear: "Because revelation is essential to true religion."