babel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judea, 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."* The Jews had not long recommenced building the temple, when their watchful enemies renewed their persecutions. They had not now the power to Imake them desist, as formerly, by force; because their -authority, in this respect, had expired with the king who gave it; but they made earnest application to Tatnai, the new governor of Syria and Palestine, who -had lately been sent thither by Darius, and endeavoured to prejudice him against the Jews. Tatnai, however, being a person of some moderation and justice, went himself with some of the accusers to Jerusalem to inquire into the matter; and seeing the nature of the building, gave no orders to impede its progress, but merely took down the names of those who presided over it, with their account of the grant of Cyrus, in order to transmit them to Darius, and refer the affair to his investigation and decision. Ezra tells us, that "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; and then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter." About a month after this, Haggai bwas commissioned to deliver a gracious message to Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and all the people, to dispel the gloom that had spread among them in comparing this temple with that built by Solomon. The Lord again encouraged them by the assurance that he was with them, and that he would make the glory of this temple to exceed that of the first: inasmuch as the "desire of all nations,” Haggai i. 14. the Messiah should come to it, as the Prince of Peace.* In the eighth month of this year, Zechariah was endued with the spirit of prophecy, and sent to exhort them to remember the punishment inflicted on their fathers, and to turn to the Lord by repentance.+ It appears that the people were not inattentive to this merciful warning; for, in the ninth month, Haggai, after declaring the cause of the scarcity in their land, was allowed to predict that the Lord would bless them again with plenty; and, on the same day, a special promise of favour and protection was sent to Zerubbabel. These gracious declarations were still farther confirmed, in the eleventh month, by the prophet Zechariah, who saw, in a vision, the angel of the Lord interceding for Jerusalem; and heard the Lord declare that he was returned to Jerusalem with mercies, and would cause his house to be built in it; notwithstanding the efforts that would be made by the enemies of his people, to hinder the work. LETTER XVI. THE enemies of God's people are frequently made to feel that their efforts to destroy or injure them are not only rendered ineffectual, but are made conducive to their preservation and prosperity. Thus it was with the Samaritans who sought to hinder the building of the temple'; for when Tatnai wrote an account of the whole matter to the Persian court, Darius commanded search to be made among the records of the empire for the decree of Haggai ii. 1-9. + Zech. i. 1-6. Zech. i. 7-21. Cyrus, and, having found it, sent a special order to Tatnai, forbidding him to hinder the work, or to allow of any molestation being offered to the Jews. Nor was this all for Darius made a decree, that the governor should furnish them with all that was needful for carrying on the work; with animals for sacrifice, and with food for the priests, out of the king's goods collected by tribute in those parts; "That they might offer sacrifices of sweet savours unto the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons." The king farther decreed, that whoever should infringe this law, should have timber pulled down from his own house, and should be hanged thereon; and imprecated the judgment of God on all kings or people who should attempt to alter or destroy the house of God at Jerusalem. Tatnai, the governor, and the Samaritan chiefs, were constrained to comply with this decree, immediately after it arrived; though, as we may suppose, it was the cause of extreme mortification to the latter. The Jews, thus assisted by the providence of God, continued their work prosperously, receiving continual encouragement from the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. This decree of Darius was considered by the Jews as a complete restoration of their privileges, and as a source of national rejoicing; so that the people who still remained in Babylonia and other parts of Asia thought it expedient to consult the prophets and elders at Jerusalem, as to the future observance of those fasts which they had kept during seventy years, in commemoration of their national calamities.* The Lord's answer enjoined them to obey the precepts he had given by the former prophets; to "speak every man the truth to his * See note F. neighbour; to execute the judgment of truth and peace in their gates; and not to imagine evil in their hearts against their neighbours, nor to swear falsely "these things they were to abstain from, as being hateful to the Lord; and such as no rigours or austerities could atone for. To encourage them to obedience, a gracious promise was added that the four fasts they had observed should be converted into cheerful feasts; times of joy and gladness.* In the fifth year of Darius we have to contemplate a farther fulfilment of God's prophecies respecting the desolation of Babylon. The neighbourhood of that city had suffered greatly from the inundations occas sioned by Cyrus's breaking down the bank or dam of the river, when he drained it; and the city itself had been degraded from the rank of a metropolis, by the removal of the seat of government to Susa or Shushan. The haughty Babylonians doubtless considered this as an insult, and determined to shake off the Persian yoke. The time they chose was probably that of the revolution effected by Darius; but as their plans required to be matured, they did not openly revolt till the fifth year of his reign; when, having stored the city with provisions sufficient for many years, they considered themselves in a condition to resist the utmost efforts of Darius against them. The king having sent a large force to reduce them, they resolved not to risk a battle, but to wait the event of a siege, which they hoped to protract till the Persians should be exhausted by toil and delay.nifor merly referred you to many predictions respecting Bas bylon,+ at the same time telling you that their accom plishment was not fully effected by Cyrus. At this Zech. vii. viii. 14-19. + See Letter XI. one times a new prophecy was uttered by Zechariah, in which the Lord declared that he was about to bring ruin upon Babylon; and called upon his people to come out of her. This was indeed a merciful warning; for the first act of the besieged was replete with a cruel desperation, to which the Jews must have fallen victims,. had they remained in the city. The prophet Isaiah had predicted that widowhood and the loss of children should come upon the Babylonians in a moment, in one day; and that these two calamities should be heightened to their utmost extent, they should come "in perfection." This was literally accomplished; for the besieged, desirous of holding out many years, came to the barbarous resolution of killing their wives and children; in order that their provisions might last longer. The dreadful massacre was effected in " day," and it was certainly a calamity “in perfection," since they were not only the sufferers in it, but the agents of it. This horrid precaution was ineffectual, and their confidence vain. God had decreed their ruin; and human means, however plausible, could avail them nothing in preventing, or even in postponing it. The siege had been carried on by Darius twenty months, with as little prospect of success, as Cyrus had in the same way; but the place was again taken by a stratagem, different in its nature from that of Cyrus; but equally successful as to its effects. Zopyrus, one of the king's favourites, having inflicted on himself some of the horrid chastisements in use among the Persians, by cutting off his ears and nose, went to the Babylonians, and persuading them that he had suffered these indig Zech. ii. 6, 7. See also Isaiah xlviii. 20. Jer. 1. 8. li. 6. 9. 45. + Isaiah xlvii. 8, 9. |