B.C. 520.-For sixteen years the work of the Temple was hindered. The Samaritans and other enemies of the Jews represented them as a rebellious people, who might give the Persian Government trouble if allowed a Temple and a fortress as a rallying point. Cyrus had died, B.C. 5, and his son Cambyses, as the Greeks called him, Ahasuerus as the Jews termed him, was a madman, who made an expedition into Egypt and died there. An impostor followed him, but was discovered and put to death, and Hystaspes or Gushtasp, better known by his royal title of Darius, came to the throne, B.C. 519. Then it was that the prophets Haggai and Zechariah began to waken the spirit of the Jews.

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech the high priest, saying,

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.

Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses,

And this house lie waste?

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.

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.

Ve looked for much, and, lo, it came to little;

And when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it.

Why? saith the LORD of hosts.

Because of mine house that is waste,

And ye run every man unto his own house.

Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew,

And the earth is stayed from her fruit.

And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, 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.

Then spake Haggai the LORD's messenger in the LORD's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD.

In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai, saying,

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 you see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? 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.

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 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.

COMMENT.-It seems that the returned exiles, on being hindered from building the Temple, had occupied themselves with building up their own houses and cultivating their fields, quietly acquiescing in the difficulty of rebuilding the Temple. But in a few grand and stern words, they are taught the great truth that nothing

can really prosper unless God is first served. Nothing did them good because they were neglecting God. To seek Him first alone could bring a blessing on them and on their labours.

The words of Haggai at once stirred Zerubbabel and Joshua, and they set the works in hand again, though knowing it was at great peril. And no sooner had they made a beginning, than only a month from his first exhortation, Haggai brought them a great I promise and clear prophecy.

No doubt, much discouragement had come from weeping old men, who bewailed the past beauty of the Temple, and still more its holy treasures, and would have told the younger men that all they could do was vain as long as the Ark was lost and the Glory had vanished.

But now comes a new message-"Be strong, both prince and priest; be strong, ye people. The Lord is as much with you, and as faithful to His Covenant as when ye came out of Egypt. His Spirit is present with you. Fear not! All nations shall be shaken, not by an outward earthquake, but by wars and changes. Then the desire of all nations shall come, the Messiah for whom the Jews had knowingly hoped, after whom the Gentiles yearned in dim fable. He shall come and be present in the Temple."

Would not the presence of God made man be a greater Glory than the Light on the mercy-seat in the inner Sanctuary—the presence of One walking with men, speaking with men, be a greater glory than that brightness, silent and seen by none, save once a year by the high priest, veiled by the cloud of incense?

Poor as the offerings of the impoverished Jews looked, in contrast with the magnificent treasures that poured in on David and Solomon, the Lord takes them and makes them specially His own. "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine," He says. "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former; and in this place will I give peace!"

For there the Prince of Peace should tread the courts and cloisters, making known the Gospel of peace. There should He proclaim Himself the Shepherd, and call His flock to His fold. There should He call the thirsty to the Waters of Life; there should He give pardon and peace to the sinning woman; there should He make known to Jerusalem the things that belonged unto her peace