Commentary on Ezra Nehemiah Ester Job and Psalms

Some faults escaped in the first Account, beginning at EZRA.

PAge 5, l, 38. for Magnites r, Magnctes, p, 13. l, 45, for Halcgons r, Halcyons. p, 14, l, 43, for ensnared r, ensnarled, p, 28, l, 38, for patet r, latet, p, 35, l, 6, for invited and inciced, r, incited and enticed, p 42, marg, for act r. Art, p, 56, l, 53. for virium r, vitium, p, 57, l, 33, for works r, mocks, p, 58, l, 2, for good r, God. ib, l, 55, for but of r, by, p. 60, l, 17, for dicitur r, discitur, p, 71, l, 35, for die r, do, ib. l, 24, dele life, p, 73, l, 1, for held r, need, p. 98. l, 9, for grass r, brass, ib, l, 39. for ministry r, injustice, p, 107, l, 56, for Pluto r, Plato, p, 111, l, 1, for uncondemn the Queen heard r, condemn the Queen unbeard, p, 114, l, 57, for speaking r, seeking, p, 133. l, 3, for this r, the.

Some faults escaped in the second Account, beginning at JOB.

PAge 21, l, 9. for bria r, tria, p, 26, l. 7, r, Rubicon, p, 42, l, 41, for repealed r, repeated. p, 52, l, 13, for memora r, membra, p, 64, l, 46 for venit r, vivit, p, 93. l, 21, for vires r, vices, p, 146, l, 26, r, incurvicervica, p, 153, l. 42, for breath r, breath, p, 193, l, 15, r, insuperabilis. p, 16 1. l. 45. for sighted r. slighted. p. 251, l. 30. for fractus r, fructus. p. 299. l. 32. for cannot do, r, cannot but do. p. 322. l 5. for Vorter, r, Vortex. ib. l. 10. for Illebius r, Islebius. p. 340, l, 48. for hoase r. horse. p. 563. l. 53. for Gain r. Gains. p. 570. l. 15. 1 • 6, for leuiter r. leviter. p. 57 3. l. 2. r. denigrated p. 611 marg. for 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 r. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ib. l. 29. for hurt r. heart. p. 619. l. 39. for flexible r inflexible. p. 634. l. 16. for fimilate r, imitate. p. 655. l. 54. for Enn. r. Sun. p. 676 l. 3. for some r. same. p. 721. l, 50. for last evil. r, lost jewel p. 723. l. 3. for whole evil in man. r. whole man in evil. p. 739 l. 17. r. persuascris. p. 743. l. 1. for with r. 10. p. 746. l. 12, for that is r. that trust him. p. 788. l. 9. for flutter r. flatter. p. 821. l. 40. r. Metuendus. p. 827. l. 38. r. Helluones. p. 841. l, 47. for I will bear r. See bere. p. 846. l. 23. r. five. p. 847. l. 47. for obsesse r. obsessi. p. 851. l. 7. r immites. p. 881. l. 49. r. terere. ib. 50. r, protelare. p. 88, l. 18. r, tempore tecta. p. 886.1.6. for reference. r, reverence. p. 887. l. 15. r, guerras p. 894. l, 3, r, biliefi, p. 894, l, 42. for scil, r. sic.

CHAP. I Verse 1. Now in the first year of Cyrus King of Persia,]

Ver. 1. N Ow ] Heb. And; for the former History, recorded in the Chronicles, is continued by Ezra that ready Scribe, and perfect in the Law, Chap. 7.6. Yet not so prompt or perfect can I deem him, as that he should, by memory, restore the Bible that was burnt, together with the Temple, by the Babylonians. And yet that was the opinion of many Ancients, grounded upon some passages in that Apocryphal Esdras. We read also of one Johannes Gatius Ciphaleditanus, who, out of the vain confidence of his learning and memory, was wont to give out, that if the Holy Scripture should be lost out of the world, he would not doubt (by God's grace) to restore it whole again. Of Cranmer indeed (a far better man, and a profounder Divine) it is storied, that he had got most of the New Testament by heart. And of Beza, that being above eighty years of age, he could say perfectly without book, and Greek Chapter in Saint Paul's Epistles.

In the first year ] Heb. In the one year. The Hebrews oft use One for First. So do also the Apostles in Greek, Matth. 28.1. John 20.1, 19.1 Cor. 16.2. Rev. 6.1. One, being the first number; neither was it without a mystery that Pythagoras bade his Scholars ever to have respect, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 : as Moses also his, saying, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, Deut. 6.4.

Of Cyrus ] Heb. Coresh, so named by God above an hundred years before he was born, Isaiah 40.28. and so honored by the Persians (as the founder of their Monarchy) that they liked the better of all that were Hawk-nosed, like unto him. The Persian word signifieth a Lord, or great Prince, as Hen. Stephanus noteth: and thence the Greeks have their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Authority, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Lord: and We our word Sir, as some will have it. Plutarch in Artaxerxes saith, that the Persians call the Sun Cyrus. And it may very well be so, for the Hebrews also call the Sun 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Cheres, from its glistering brightness.

King of Persia ] So he had been above twenty years before this, and done many great exploits: but this was the first year of his Empire, of his Cosmocratie, of the Monarchy translated from the Babylonians to the Persians. The greatest Kingdoms have their times and their turns, their rise and their ruin, when they shall live by fame only. Persia, having oft changed her Masters since Cyrus, remaineth a flourishing Kingdom to this day; but wholly Mahometan. Which abominable superstition the Turks received from them, when in the year 1030. they won that Country under their Sultan Tangrolipix. Where it is hard to say (saith mine Author) whether nation lost more, the Persians by the loss of so great a Kingdom, or the Turks by embracing so great a vanity. To this day they acknowledge the Persians better Mohammedans then themselves, which maketh the Turks far better soldiers upon the Christian then upon the Persian.

That the Word of the Lord ] For, it was He that spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, Luke 1.70. and his word cannot be broken, John 10.35. for he is the God of Amen, asthe Prophet David somewhere calleth him; and all his promises are the issue of a most faithful and right Will void of all insincerity and falsehood, Prov. 8.8.

By the mouth of Jeremy ] That admirable Preacher (as Keckerman calleth him) that most eminent Prophet (as another) with whose writings, about this very restauration, Daniel consulted, and therehence collected, that the time was come, Dan. 9.2. which put him upon that heavenly prayer: for he knew that God's promises must be put in suit; and and it was to him that the Angel afterwards said, I came for thy word, Dan. 10.14. God will come, according to his promise, but he will have his people's prayers lead him. This liberty here granted to the Jews, after so long captivity, was the fruit of many prayers, founded upon the promise, Jer. 25.12. and 29.10.

Might be fulfilled ] As indeed it was exactly by the death of Belshazzar slain by Cyrus, who succeeded him, Dan. 5.30. In that night was Belshazzar slain, because then exactly the seventy years were ended. So, for the same reason it is noted, Exod. 12.40, 41. that at midnight the first-borne of Egypt were slain, because just then the four hundred or four hundred and thirty years foretold were expired. So punctual is God in keeping his word. It is not here, as with men, A day breaketh no square, &c. for he never faileth at his time.

The Lord stirred up the spirit ] It was the mighty and immediate work of God (in whose hand are the hearts of all, both Kings and Captives, Lord's and Losels ) to bring this wise and great Prince, in the very first entrance into his Monarchy, before things were fully settled, to dismiss so great and so united a people (in respect of their custom and religion) and so given to insurrection (as was generally held) into their own Country, with such a fair and full Patent. This was the Lord's own work, and it was justly marvelous in the eyes of his people; who could hardly believe their own eyes, but were for a while, like them that dream. Then was their mouth filled with laughter, and their tongue with singing, &c. Psal. 126.1, 2. Then was the great power and goodness of God, in stirring up Cyrus to do this, acknowledged. Then also was the Kings clemency and courtesy no less cried up and magnified then was that of Flaminius the Roman General at Athens, where for delivering them from servitude, he was little less then deified: Or, that of our Queen Elizabeth, who for her merciful returning home certain Italians that were taken prisoners in the eighty eight Invasion, was termed Saint Elizabeth, by some at Venice: Whereof one told the Lord Carleton (afterwards Viscount Dorchester ) being there Ambassador, that although he were a Papist, yet he would never pray to any other Saint, but that Saint Elizabeth.

That he made Proclamation ] Heb. He caused a voice to pass ] sc. by his Messengers and Ministers. The Posts went out, being hastened by the Kings commandment, Esth. 3.15. even those Angarii. The Lord Christ also proclaiming liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, Isaiah 61.1. causeth his Word to run and to be glorified, to spread like a Sun-beam, as Eusebius saith the Gospel did at first; to be carried as on Eagles wings, or on Angels wings, as it was thorough all Christendom, when Luther first sent forth his book De Captivitate Babylonicâ, of the Babylonish Captivity.

And put it also in writing ] That it might be posted up, and everywhere published. Vox audita perit: littera scripta manet, Christ hath written for us also the great things of his Law: And should they then be counted a strange thing? Hos. 8.12. See the Notes there. His Gospel likewise he hath written to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, 1 John 5.13. and ponder his Passion especially which is therefore so particularly set down by four faithful Witnesses, that men may get it written not on the nails of their hands (as one once did) but upon the tables of their hearts, there to abides as a perpetual picture; Non scripta solùm, sed & sculpta, as He said, that we therein beholding, as in a glass, the love of our Lord, might be changed into the same image, till our hearts became a very lump of love to him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us Kings and Priests unto God and his Father, Rev. 1.5, 6.

Ver. 2. The Lord God of heaven hath given me ] This good language Cyrus might well learn of Daniel, who flourished under his reign, Dan. 6.28. & probably acquainted him with the prophesies that went before of him, Isa. 44.28. and 45.1. Jaddus the High Priest did the like (many years after) to Alexander the Great: who not only thereupon spared the Jews, but highly honored them, as Josephus relateth. Here then we see this Potentate of the earth giveth unto the Lord the glory due unto his Name, Psal. 29.1, 2. acknowledging him the blessed and only Potentate, 1 Tim. 6.16. One that both is in the heavens, and also doeth whatsoever he pleaseth, both in heaven and in earth, Psal. 115.3. and 135.6. The God of heaven, saith He, hath given me all the Kingdoms of the earth. This was far better then that of Alexander the Great, whom when Lysippus had pictured looking up to heaven with this Posy, Jupiter asserui terram mihi, tu assere coelum, &c. Alexander was so delighted with it, that he proclaimed that none should take his picture but Lysippus.

All the Kingdoms of the earth ] i. e. Many of them, so that he was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a mighty Monarch, an absolute Emperor. But to be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 sole Lord of the whole world, was never yet granted to any: though the great Cham of Cataia is reported to cause his Trumpets to be founded, every day as soon as he hath dined, in token that he giveth leave to other Princes of the earth (whom he supposeth to be his vassals) to go to dinner. And the proud Spaniard (who affecteth to be Catholic Monarch) was well laughed at by Sir Francis Drake and his company, for his device of a Pegasus flying out of a Globe of the earth set up in the Indies with this Motto

But he affecteth an universal Monarchy: and so perhaps did Cyrus, which maketh him here speak so largely.

And he hath charged me ] Et ipse commisit mihi, so Junius rendereth it. The word signifieth to visit one, either for the better or the worse. But according to the Chaldee and Syriac use, it signifieth to charge or command, as it is here, and 2 Chon. 36.22. fitly rendered. But how knew Cyrus this charge of Almighty God; otherwise then by books? Like as Daniel (who probably shown him those Prophesies of Isaiah concerning him) understood by Jeremy 25.12. and 29.10. that the seventy years captivity were accomplished: and by Ezekiel, chap. 31.1, 2, 3. &c. (which he had read, likely, and revolved) he was the better able to give a right interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, Dan. 4.

To build him an house at Jerusalem ] i. e. To rebuild that which had been once built by Solomon (whence Hegesippus, not having the Hebrew tongue, will have Jerusalem so named quasi 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Solomon's Temple) a stately house indeed, and one of the seven wonders of the world. For albeit it was but one hundred and twenty foot long, and forty foot broad; whereas the Temple at Ephesus was two hundred forty and five foot long, and two hundred and twenty foot broad: Yet for costly and choice materials, for curious and exact workmanship, for spiritual employment, and for mystical signification, never was there the like edifice in the world. And happy had it been for Cyrus, if laying aside all his warlike expeditions and achievements, he had wholly applied himself to the building of this holy house, and to the study of those things, that there he might have learned for his souls health.

Jerusalem which is in Judah ] Jerusalem was part of it in Judah, and part in the tribe of Benjamin. The house here mentioned ( viz. the Temple) stood in Benjamin, as was foretold it should by Moses, four hundred and forty years before it was first built by Solomon, Deut. 33.12. And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the Lord, that is, Benjamin his darling, shall dwell in safety by him, and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders, that is, betwixt those two mountains, Moriah and Zion, wherein the Temple was built. Now because Benjamin was the least of all the tribes of Israel, and because so much of it as lay within Judah ( Josh: 19.1, 9.) was comprised under Judah (1 Kings 11.13.) therefore is the Temple here said to be in Jerusalem which is in Judah. Hereby also this Jerusalem in Judah is distinguished from any other Jerusalem, if there were any place in the world so called besides. We read of Pope Sylvester the second (who sold his soul to the Devil for the Popedom) that saying Mass in a certain Church in Rome, called Jerusalem, he fell suddenly into a Fever, whereof he died, the Devil claiming his own: For the bargain betwixt them was, that he should continue Pope, till he sang Mass in Jerusalem: and now intellexit se à Diabolo amphiboliâ vocis circumventum: little dreamt the Pope of any other Jerusalem but this in Judah, and this cost him his life, Anno Dom. 1003. Eusebius telleth us that Montanus the Haeresiarch called his Pepuza and Tymium (two pelting parishes in Phrygia) Jerusalem; as if they had been the only Churches in the world. Hofman the Anabaptist had the like conceit of Strasburg in Germany; and Becold of Munster; both which places they called the new Jerusalem.

Ver. 3. Who is there among you of all his people ] Many there were among them that affirmed deeply of being the people of God, who yet (tanquam monstra marina) passed by this Proclamation with a deaf ear; and preferring haram domesticam arae dominicae a swinesty before a Sanuctary, chose rather to abide in Babylon, and there to dwell amongst plants and hedges, 1 Chron. 4.23. making pots for the Kings garden, then to go up to Jerusalem. So that, besides this O yes, by the King, God was fain to cry, Ho, Ho, come forth and flee from the Land of the North: Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon, Zech. 2.6, 7. Arise ye, and depart: for this is not your rest, because it is polluted: it shall destroy you even with a sore destruction, Mic. 2.10. Look how the Eagle hath much ado to get her young ones out of the nest, pricking and beating them with her wings and talons; so was it here: and neither so could the Lord prevail with the most of them, being as loath to depart, as Lot was out of Sodom, vel canis ab uncto cerio, or a dog from a fat morsel.

His God be with him ] And then he needs no better company, no greater happiness: for he is sure of a confluence of all comforts, of all that heart can wish, or need require. Tua praesentia, Domine, Laurentio ipsam craticulam fecit dulcem, saith an Ancient, Thy presence sweeteneth all our occurrences. This was therefore a good wish of King Cyrus; neither did he therein any disservice to himself; for God hath promised to bless those that bless any of his, Gen. 12.3. and not to let a good wish to such go unrewarded, 2 Cor. 13.9.

Let him go up and build, &c. ] As God had charged him, verse 2. so doth he them. And it is as if he should have said with that Father. Unless I stir up your hearts, as the Lord hath done mine, unless I lay God's charge upon you to set strenuously upon this service of his, Vobis erit damnosum, mihi periculosum. Timeo itaque damnum vestrum, timeo damnationem meam, si tacuero. If now you go not up upon so great encouragement, God will surely bemeet with you.

He is the God ] The only true God, John 17.3. none like him, Mic. 7.18. The Lord your God is God of God's, and Lord of Lord's, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, Deut. 10.17. Is it not fit therefore that he have a Temple, a place of divine worship, which the Heathens deny not to their dunghill-deities?

Which is in Jerusalem ] That City of the great King, where he kept his Court, and afforded his special presence, not of grace only in his Ordinances, but of glory also sometimes in his holy Temple, 2 Chron. 5.14. as in another heaven.

Ver. 4. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth ] Heb. Gar-shom. A name that Moses gave his eldest son borne in his banishment; for he said I have been a stranger in a strange land, Exod. 2.22. These poor captives had been longer so then Moses in Midian, and met with more hard measure, Psal. 137.1, 8. But as those who are borne in hell know no other heaven (as the Proverb is) so fared it not with a few of these; loath to be at the pains, and run the hazard of a voyage to the holy Land. A little with ease is held best. Let us who are strangers here, haste homeward, heavenward. Some of these poor Jews had a mind to return; but wanted means. For these necessitous people the King takes care and course here, that they be supplied and set forward on their journey after a godly sort, or worthy of God, (as Saint John phraseth it, 3 John 6.) who else will require it.

Let the men of his place ] Whether Jews or Proselytes, brethren by race, grace, or place only.

Help him wish silver ] Heb. Give him a lift out of the dust, as Jobs friends did him off the dunghill: as Joseph did his brethren when he filled their bags, and returned them their moneys; And as all Christians are bound and bid to support or shore up their weaker brethren, 1 Thess. 5 14.

With silver an with gold ] These are notable good levers at a dead lift in this present world, where money bears the mastery, and answereth all things: a satisfactory answer it giveth to whatsoever is desired, or demanded: He that helpeth a man therefore in his necessity with silver and gold, is a friend indeed. Let a man make God his friend, and then (saith Eliphaz, ) the Almighty shall be his gold, and he shall have plenty of silver, Job 22.25. Jacob shall be sure of so much as shall bring him to his journeys end, a sufficiency (if not a superfluity) of all things, needful to life and godliness.

And with goods ] Heb. Recush (whence haply our English words Riches and Cash ) chattels, movables, gathered substance, as the word signifieth, which whosoever he was that first called substance, was utterly mistaken; since wisdom only (that is, godliness) is durable substance, Prov. 8.21. Wealth is but a semblance, Proverbs 23.5. 1 Corinth. 7.31. And he that first called Riches Goods, was a better husband then Divine. But it may be thought, the most are such husbands: since the common cry is, Who will show us any good? a good booty, a good bargain, a good beast, &c.? That one thing necessary that is both Bonum hominis, The good of man, Micah 6.84 and Totum hominis, The whole of man, Eccles. 12.13. lieth wholly neglected by the most.

And with beasts ] Those most serviceable creatures both ad esum & ad usum, for food and other uses, as Sheep, Horses, Camels, Dromedaries, swift, patient, painful.

Besides the free-will-offering ] Which the King presumeth all God's free-hearted people (Voluntieres, every soul of them, Psal. 110.3.) will be most forward unto, in so good a work, so acceptable a service. God straineth upon no man, Exod. 25.2. and 35.5. Lex quaerit voluntarios, The Law calleth for Volunteires, saith Ambrose. See Isaiah 56.6. and 2 Cor. 8.12. and 9.7. and learn to come off roundly and readily in works of Piety and Charity: for else all's lost; since Virtus nolentium nulla est, unwilling service is nothing set by.

That is in Jerusalem ] This City he so often nameth, that he may seem delighted with the very mention of it: and to be of the same mind with those pious captives, that vowed to prefer Jerusalem (that joy of the whole earth) before their chief joy, to make it ascend above the head of their joy, as the Hebrew hath it.

How then should it cheer up our hearts to think of heaven, and that we are written among the living in Jerusalem, Isaiah 4.3? fellow-citizens with the Saints, and of the household of heaven, Eph. 2.19?

Verse 5. Then rose up the chief of the fathers ] Those, who are therefore crowned and chronicled in the next Chapter. Those Magnates Magnites, that drew on others by their example. Those Viri gregis, he-goats before the flocks, men of public places and authority, active for Reformation, who hearkened to that divine call, Jer. 50.8. Remove out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the hegoats before the flocks. These Nobles arose, being roused and raised by that Noble Spirit of God, Psal. 51.12. that Kingly spirit, the Chaldee rendereth it; such as was found in Araunah that famous Jebusite, 2 Sam. 24.23. with Zech. 9.7. and is a quickening Spirit in every good soul, causing them to make riddance, as Baruch did, Nehem. 3.20. and to take long strides toward heaven, as Jacob did toward Padan-Aram: for, Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus sancti gratia. The Spirit of grace knoweth no slow paces; but is quick of dispatch. Up get these Chieftains when once they hear, Surge, age, Sum Pater, as one said once to the Bishop of Rome, exciting him to make war upon the Turk.

And the Priests and the Levites ] Fit it was that these should be of the first and forwardest at Temple-work: whose proper employment is was to teach Jacob God's judgments, and to put incense before him continually, Deut, 33.10. to wait at the Altar, and to be partakers with the Altar, 1 Cor, 9.13.

With all them whose spirit God had raised up ] Not of Judah and Benjamin only (those best of the Tribes, and truest to their Princes and principles) but also of Ephraim and Manasseh, 1 Chron. 9.3. with Ezek. 37.16, 17, 21, 22. even as many of the Israelites, as were acted by God's Spirit of judgment and of burning, Isa. 4.4. firing them up to an holy contention in so noble and necessary a business, and leading them into the land of uprightness, Psal. 143.10. The fruit of this good Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, Ephes. 5.9. the work of it upon the sons of God who are led by it, Rom. 8.14. is not only an external invitation by the Word and Sacraments, or a mere moral persuasion ( Cyrus his Proclamation here would have availed but little with this people, if God had not moved their hearts) but an effectual drawing of the heart whereby operating irresistibly the sinner is converted: and whereby cooperating infallibly he persevereth in grace unto the very end, John 6.44. This conduct of the holy Spirit we must both earnestly beg with David, Psal. 14.10. and as carefully observe and obey his motions, as ever David did the out-goings of God in the tops of the mulberry trees, 1 Chron. 14.15. for these are the sound of his goings, and the footsteps of his Anointed, Psal. 89.51.

To build the house of the Lord ] This was that they aimed at, rather then their own liberty. Choice and excellent spirits can easily drown all self-respects in the glory of God. It was the care of those good people in Joels days, that there might be a meat-offering and a drink-offering unto the Lord their God, whatever became of their own Carcasses, Joel 2.14. And when the daily sacrifice ceased by the tyranny of Antiochus, they looked upon it as an abomination of desolation, Dan. 9.27. The Jews at this day are very earnest to be rebuilding the destroyed Temple at Jerusalem, out of their blind zeal: but they have neither any Cyrus to encourage them ( Julian the Apostate once did, in spite to the Christians, but it came to nothing) nor the Spirit of God to excite them to such an unwarrantable work.

Verse 6. And all they that were about them ] Both their countrymen the Jews (that thought not good to go themselves, or not yet, till they should see further; there is none so wise as the sluggard, Prov. 26.16.) and others of the neighbourhood: for the Egyptians may lend Jewels to the Israelites, dogs may lick Lazarus his ulcers, and the earth may help the woman, by opening her mouth, and swallowing up the stood cast out after her by the Dragon to drown her, Rev. 12.16.

Strengthened their hands ] Which else, for want of such support, would have hung down, and their feeble knees buckled under them, ere they had come to their country: neither could they, without such supplies, have so comfortable carried on the work they went about. For, if wisdom be a defense, or a shadow, to those that have seen the Sun (as in the former verse ) and are scorched with the hear of it, so is money too, saith Solomon, Eccles. 7.12. and though Wisdom without wealth is good, yet it is better with an inheritance, verse 11. which is not only an ornament, but an instrument of virtue. When men go on Virtute duce, comite fortunâ, then it is well with them, as it was with good Josiah, Jer. 22.15, 16. But Agur would not be poor, lest he should be put upon ill courses, Prov. 30.9. put to his shifts Poor Hagar, when the water was spent in the bottle, cast the child under the shrubs, Gen. 21.15.

With vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts ] See the Note on Verse 4. These are things that men do not usually so easily part with to others, till they needs must. Euclio in the Comedian sits abrood upon his heaps and hoards, and will not be drawn off. Shall Nabal take his bread and his flesh, and give it to those he knows not, 1 Sam. 25? Misers will as soon part with their blood as their good whence the Chaldees call their money Dam, that is, blood. Many a man shows himself like the Cornish -chough, which will steal a piece of money, and hiding it in some hole, will never help herself or any other with it afterwards. Hermocrates being loath that any man should enjoy his goods after him, made himself by his Will, heir of his own goods. Athenaeus telleth of one, that at his death devoured many pieces of Gold, and sewed the rest in his coat, commanding that they should be all buried with him. But these in the text seem to have been of the race of those Persians spoken of, Isa. 13.17. which regarded not silver, and as for gold they cared not much for it. Or, if they were Proselytes to the Church, then they had learned (with Tyrus now also converted) to give over heaping and hoarding of wealth, and therewith to feed and clothe God's poor Saints; and so to furnish them for their journey to their Fathers house, that they may eat sufficiently, and have durable cleathing, Isa. 23.18. This was God's work upon their hearts; And Quando Christus magister, quàm cito discirur quod decetur? Whereunto may be added, that Cyrus, who set forth this Edict, as he was an absolute Sovereigne, (and so his word went for a law) so he was a gracious and courteous Prince, it a ut Patris nomen meruerit, so that he merited the name and title of Father of his Country, and might command anything of them.

And with precious things ] Even the very best of the best they had. The word signifieth praestantissimum & pretiosissimum in quocunque genere fructuum, metallorum, gemmarum, vestium, the choicest and chiefest of all kind of commodities. For the purchase of the pearl of price, the wise Merchant makes a thorough sale of all. Barnabas parteth with his lands, Zacchaeus with his goods, Matthew with his meat, the Centurion with his money, to build those Synagogues that wicked Antiochus had thrown down, and these in the Text, with their most precious things, to re-edify that Temple that Nebuchadnezzar had burnt.

Besides all that was willingly offered ] A free-will offering then there was (as verse 4.) brought in by God's willing people, Psal. 110.3. that wait for God's Law, as Isaiah 42.8. and hold with that Ancient, that it is nimis angusta innocentia, ad legem bonum esse, to do no more service to God then needs must to get so much grace only as will keep life and soul together, (that is, soul and hell asunder,) this they judge to be a low and unworthy strain of some good people. David voweth free-will-offerings often, and could beteem God a great deal more love and service then he is able to perform to him. Those good souls, Zach. 8.21. call upon themselves and one another, to be continually going before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts, I (saith each for himself) will go also. Hannah went up with her husband every year to the Feast: so did the Virgin Mary to the Passover with her Son Jesus: yet none were expressly commanded so to do but males; and those also nothing under twenty years of age, as fit to be numbered, Exod. 30.14. So those amongst us that hear week-day-Sermons, as Mary did, Luke 10.42. and many other good people in our Savior's days, Luke 19.47, 48. and 21.37, 38. Hereby we shall show our love, and do a service highly accepted in heaven.

Verse 7. Also Cyrus the King brought forth the vessels ] For example to others, & jussit, & gessit, he did himself what he commanded to be done, and so became a living Law, a walking Statute. So Justinian would not put the vessels of the Temple (taken by Titus ) and recovered from Gensericus into the public treasury, but restored them.

Which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth ] With profane and sacrilegious hands, some of these sacred vessels and utensils of the Temple, he had cut in pieces, 2 Kings 24.13. and others he carried away, 2 Chron. 36.7. whole and entire. This he did out of covetousness (that auri sacra fames ) and in scorn of all religion (rather then hatred of the Jewish superstition, or to avenge the quarrel of God's Covenant ) like as for the same reason his successor Cambyses destroyed the Egyptian Idols.

And had put them ] There was a sweet providence in that: to the end that being there reserved, they might in due time be restored (as here they are) to the house of God at Jerusalem. And although that was a most unfit place to keep them in (for what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols? ) and Belshazzar most profanely abused them, Dan. 5.2. in that drunken feast of his (hence he is called the festival King, Ezek. 21.5. 6.) yet being sanctified again, and dedicated to the true and first owner, the God of Israel, they might lawful be made use of. Not only things indifferent abused, may yet be used in the service of God (as those six water-pots were by our Savior, John 2. though they had been superstitiously abused for private purification) but also Idolatrous things and places. As Gideon took the Bullock appointed for Baal and the Grove, and offered the Bullock with that wood in sacrifice to the Lord, Judge. 6.26. The like the Bethshemites did by the Philistines Cart and Kine. The Mount of Olives was shamefully abused to idolatry by Solomon and others, so that it was called The Mount of corruption, 2 Kings 23.13. and yet was it our Savior's usual Oratory, or place of Prayer.

In the house of his God's ] Bel and Nebo, Isaiah 46.1. These were Babylon's chief gods. The Original of Bel is said to be this: Ninus having made an Image of his father Belus, all that came to see it were pardoned for all their offenses: whence in time that Image came to be worshipped, and then afterwards a multitude more; Insomuch as, that in Hesiods time the number of Heathenish gods was grown to thirty thousand. And in China at this day some tell us that there are no fewer then an hundred thousand Idols.

God's these Mawmets are called here; not because they were so, (for there is one God only, said Pythagoras, and other Heathens) but because Nebuchadnezzar falsely held them so. Like as elsewhere the gods of Damascus are said to have smitten Ahaz, who therefore sacrificed to them, 2 Chron. 20.23. not as if those Idols were anything in the world, or could do anything at all to him, Jer. 10.5. 1 Cor. 8.4. but only that he conceited so; and that the devil (who is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as Synesius truly saith) abused his credulity.

Ver. 8. Even those did Cyrus King of Persia ] so styled, because though he was Monarch of many Countries, yet Persia was his hereditary Kingdom, and Persepolis the place of his residence: which great City was afterwards burnt by Alexander the Great, at the motion and by the request of a base harlot.

By the hand of Mithridath the treasurer ] Heb. Gizbar; Inde Gaspar, saith one. Mithridates King of Pontus was famous in after-ages, or rather infamous for his craft in saving himself, and his cruelty to the Roman Merchants, trading thorough his territories, killing fourscore thousand of them with one letter.

And numbered them unto Shezbazzar ] Joy in tribulation; this is the signification of the word: A fit name for a Prince, who should be Decliciae orbis, as Titus the Emperor, of whom it is said, that he never sent away any suitor sad or discontented: and remembering on a day that he had not done any poor man good, he cried out to his friends, Hodie non regnavimus: Amici, diem perdidi, accounting that day lost wherein he had not shown some man courtesy. Such a gracious Prince was Job, chap. 29.12. I delivered the poor that cried, saith He, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The great Turk styleth himself The worlds refuge: professing that all that lament unto him shall have redress and succor. James the fifth of Scotland was called The poor man's King, for his readiness to right and relieve the afflicted. Zerubbabel, however he came by this name Shesbazzar (for that he was the man I take for granted, Ezra 5.16. with chap. 3.8. Zech. 4.9. though Junius think otherwise) he deserved it doubtless: and of him it might well be said, as the Historian doth of Probus the Emperor, Si probi nomen non haberet, habere cognomen posset, pity he had been called anything but Probus, so honest a Prince he was: think the like here. The Parliament here held Anno 1376, was called The Good Parliament: and another not long after Parlamentum benedictum. The blessed Parliament. God grant us such a one next; for at present we are without any, but not without cause to cry out, as those in Jeremy, chap. 8.20, 22. The harvest is past, the Summer is ended, and we are not helped. Is there no balm in Gilead? is there no Physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? We looked for peace, but no good came: and for a time of health, and behold trouble, ver. 15.

Verse 9. And this is the number of them ] Had they not been things of great price and use, they would not have been numbered, Cant. 6.8. The Queens and Concubines are numbered how many; but not the Virgins, that bring not forth fruit to God. Men use not to count how many pibbles they have in their yard, or piles of grass in their field, as they do how many pence in their purse, or sheep in their fold. When the Great God shall count his people's flittings, bottle up their tears (as sweet water) book up their sighs (as memorable matters) Psal. 56.8. shall we not say of them as the Jews did of Lazarus, when Jesus wept, Behold how he loves them? When the very hairs of their head are all numbered, Matth. 10.30. so that not one of them falleth to the ground without their heavenly Father, what store think we, setteth He by their persons, by their performances? I know thy work, and thy labor, Rev. 2.19. I pity this people, they have been with me now three days, and fasting they are, and far from home, and faint they may, if sent away empty, Matth. 15.32. Lo, is not this a wonderful condescension, that Christ should consider tantus tantillos & tales, and reckon every circumstance of their service so particularly and punctually, that he might give to every man according to his works? Oh his Jewels, his book of remembrance, &c. Mal. 3.16, 17! See the Notes there.

Thirty chargers ] Serving to hold such parts of the Sacrifices as were to be eaten by the Priests and others.

Nine and twenty knives ] Sacrificing knives, richly hafted.

Verse 10. Thirty basins of gold ] These were to hold the sprinkling-water, or blood.

And other vessels ] Of sundry sorts, whereof see 1 Kings 7.50.

Verse 11. All the vessels of gold and of silver ] Those best of metals, and therefore fittest for his use and service, who is Good, Psal. 106.1. Better, Psal. 108.9. Best, Phil. 1. 23. goodness itself, Matth. 19.17. Whose great purse is the Earth, with All that is either on it or in it, Psal. 24.1. whose great storehouse are the Stars and Planets, the Sun especially making these metals, and causing plenty, Deut. 28.12. Let us lavish out of the bag, and when we have honored the Lord with the Best of our best, cry out with David, Of thine own, Lord, have we given thee, and with Justinian, dedicating a very rich Communion-table, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 &c.

CHAP. II. Verse 1. Now these are the children of the province]

THat is, of Judea now a Province, though formerly a Princesse; now solitary and tributary that was once populous and great among the Nations, Lam. 1.1. Medinah: the word here rendered Province, sometimes signifieth Metropolis, aliis jus dicens, a place that giveth Laws to other places, and so Judea in her flourish had been. See chap. 4.20. But now it was otherwise, and so it is at this day, not only with Judea, but with other renowned Empires and Kingdoms not a few, all which (together with most of those Churches and places so much mentioned in Scripture) are swallowed up in the greatness of the Turkish Empire. That Medina a City in Arabia (where Mahomet lieth buried, & where his Sepulcher is no less visited then is Christ's Sepulcher at Jerusalem ) holdeth this Medina in hard subjection; making her children pay for the very heads they wear; and so grievously afflicting them, that they have cause enough to take up a new Jeremiah's Elegy over their doleful captivity.

That went up out of the captivity ] That listed themselves in Babylon, to go up. Which if any failed to do, (as by comparing verse 5. of this chapter, with Nehem. 7.10. it appeareth some did) it was because either they changed their minds, or their lives, before they came there. When that Noble Marquess Galeacius Caracciolus set forward for Geneva, some of his most familiar friends promised and vowed to accompany him thither; But divers of them, when they came to the borders of Italy, turned back again, &c. and so might many of these ingagers, magis amantes mundi delicias, quàm Christi divitias, & graviorem ducentes jacturam regionis, quàm religions.

Which had been carried away ] But had God's promise, that they should return, be built up, planted, and not rooted out, Jer. 24.6. and his command to marry and beget children, Jer. 29.6. which should inherit the promises; for they are good surehold.

Whom Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon ] That Metus Orbis, & flagellum Dei, as Attilas King of Huns proudly styled himself, that is, The Terror of the world, and scourge in God's hand. See Isaiah. 10.5. That, Ira Dei & Orbis Vastitas, as Tamerlan loved to be called, The wrath of God, and ruin of the world.

Had carried away to Babylon ] As to his Lions-den, Nah. 2.10. but God sent from heaven and saved them with such a mighty salvation, as eclipsed that deliverance out of Egypt, Jer. 23.7, 8.

Everyone unto his City ] Appointed him by the present Governors. For during their abode in Babylon Judea lay utterly waste and uninhabited. The Land kept her Sabbaths, resting from tillage, and God by a wonderful providence, kept the room empty till the return of the Natives.

Verse 2. That came with Zerubbabel ] That famous Prince of Judah, chap. 1.8. Governor of Judah, Hag. 1.1. who was borne in Babylon, and accordingly had a Babylonian name. His hands laid the foundation of the second Temple, his hands also finished, Zech. 4.9. whence some conclude that the Lord gave him a life much longer then ordinary. His children shall notto bed, till their work be done.

Jeshua ] This was that Jehoshuah the High Priest, the great assistant of Zerubbabel in building the Temple, chap. 5.1. Hag. 1.14. These were those faithful Witnesses of God in their generation, as before them had been Moses and Aaron, Elijab and Elisha, and as after them Paul and Barnabas, Luther and Melanctho • , Oecolampadius and Zwingli, &c. Christ sent out his Disciples by two and two; for two is better then one, and why? See Eccles. 4.9, 10, 11, 12.

Nehemiah, Saraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai ] Not that famous Nehemiah, nor that renowned Mordecai so much spoken of in the book of Esther, but others of the same name. Reasons see in Master Pembles Period of the Persian Monarchy, pag. 30, 31.

Bilshan, Mispar, Biguai, Rehum, Baanah ] These were all of them Guides and Governors to the rest, eminent and eximious. To whom in Nehemiah is added a twelfth man, Nahumani by name, who better bethought himself belike: and having answered with that young man in the Gospel, and said, I will not, yet afterwards repented and went. Nunqua • sero, si serio. This was better then those many that answered and said, We go, Sir, and yet went not.

The number of the men of the people of Israel ] The former were Names, men of renown in the Congregation (confer Acts 1.15. Rev. 3.3.) The rest that follow are but Numbers, Nos numeri sumus, &c. men of common condition, the Many, who are set down in the sequel of the chapter.

Ver. 3. The children of Parosh ] Question is here made by some, whether this and other like Chapters that are nothing but names and numbers, should be read in course; since they may seem to be of no great use to us? To this Chrysostom answereth, In sacris libris nihil contemnatur aut obiter praetereatur, etiamsi nomina recenseantur, that is, Let no part of holy Scripture be slighted or skipped over, no, though we meet with nothing but names only. But forasmuch as there is never a leaf, nay, line, nay, letter in God's book, that is not pure, precious, and profitable, Prov. 30.5. Psal. 12.6. 2 Tim. 3.16. (The Rabbin's have a saying, that there is a mountain of sense hanging upon every apex or tittle of the Word of God) therefore must we read all in obedience to Him, who hath written for us these excellent things in counsel and knowledge, Prov. 22.20. and if anything be yet hid, God shall reveal even this unto us, Phil. 3.15. Joseph understood not his own dreams at first, till he saw his brethren prostrate before him; Then Joseph remembered the dreams that he dreamed of them, Gen. 42.9. The Disciples conceived not, believed not many things done by and to their Master, till he was glorified, and they farther enlightened, John 2.22. and 12.6. Surely if Hippocrates could say of Physic, that there was nothing to be accounted little in it, nothing contemptible; how much more may we say the same of Divinity, and of the Scriptures?

Verse 43. The Nethinims ] i. e. Deodati, men given to God, devoted to the service of his house. These were those Gibeonites that, having saved their lives by a lie, were for the nearer they were to the Church, the nearer to God. Their employment was to minister to the Levites, as the Levites did to the Priests: and this gave them occasion to partake of the things of God, and to behold his face in righteousness.

Verse 55. The children of Solomon's servants ] These also were strangers, that had been employed by Solomon, and becoming Proselytes, were incorporated into the Common-wealth of Israel. God is no respecter of persons, Acts 10.33. He takes where he likes; strangers shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, when the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out, Matth. 8.11, 12. Solomon's servants may have a name and a nail in God's house, when his sons may be excluded. Jether an Ishmaelite, 1 Chron. 7.17. may become an Israelite, 2 Sam. 17.25. and Araunah the Jebusite, an exemplary Proselyte, Zach. 9.7.

Verse 59. And these were they which went up from Telmela Tel-harsa Cherub, &c. ] Places in Chaldea, where these Jews were scattered; as at this day their posterity are up and down in Turkey, and some parts of Christendom, a dis-jected and despised people.

Verse 61. And was called after their name ] After the name of his wives father, that Noble Gileadite; as holding it a greater honor to be allied to Barzillai, then to be looked upon as a Priest. It was therefore just upon such proud and insolent people, that as they had once scorned the Priesthood, so the Priesthood should now scorn them.

Verse 62. But they were not found ] They could not prove themselves to be of the seed of Aaron: and were therefore worthily turned off. So shall all be at the last day, that are not written among the living in Jerusalem, that are not registered in the Lambs book of life, that have been ashamed of Christ and of his words, Mar. 8.38.

Verse 63. And the Tirshata sa • unto them ] i. e. Zerubbabel the chief Magistrate, a man of great power, and no less courage, who would not be guilty of passive injustice.

That they should not eat of the most holy things ] Make a gain of the Priesthood, which they had slighted when nothing was to be got by it. Now they should neither do the work, nor have the means. Cajetan commenting upon Matthew, then when the French soldiers brake into Rome, and made a scorn and prey of the Popish Clergy, acknowledgeth that it was a just hand of God upon them, because they were grown unsavory salt, good for little else, but to look after the rites and revenues of the Church.

Till there stood up a Priest with Vrim and Thummim ] That is, Never, or not in haste. Some faint hopes the Governor might have that such an Ephod with Vrim and Thummim, as was now burnt or otherwise lost, might be had again, but it seemed not very likely. The great High Priest was now at hand, and the Ceremonials to cease shortly.

Verse 64. Fourty and two thousand ] Ten or twelve thousand whereof seem to be of the ten tribes that were first carried captive, and together with Judah and Benjamin made up that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Saint Paul speaketh of, Acts 26.7.

Verse 65. Besides their servants, &c. ] Their Masters necessary instruments, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 saith Aristotle, and wholly at their command. See Prov. 12.9.

Two hundred singing men and singing women ] That sang at feasts and funerals. See Eccles. 2.8. These perhaps might have been as well spared. Nam ad quod prosunt ejusmodi arts, (saith one?) & quis ejusmodi hominum ease profitentium usus, nisi ut aliis sint oneri, & cibum potumque egenorum, sicut locustae, praerodant, atque consumant?

Verse 68. And some of the chief ] And but some. All were not alike enlarged, or enabled.

Verse 69. They gave after their ability ] Men must take heed they stretch not beyond the staple, and so mar all. But few are herein faulty: Few Macedonians, that, to their power and beyond, are willing of themselves, &c. 2 Cor. 8.3. Rari quippe boni.

Threescore and one thousand drams of gold ] That is, nineteen thousand sixty two pounds ten shillings.

And five thousand pounds of silver ] i. e. Fifteene thousand pounds sterling, These sums of money, together with the costly Priests garments, though they fall far short of what was provided and given in David's days, 1 Chron. 22. and 29. towards the building of the first Temple; yet, considering the mind of this poor people, and their small ability, this gift was as great in God's account. See Luke 21.1, 2. The widows mite was beyond the rich man's magnificence; because it came out of a richer mind.

Verse 70. And some of the people ] For not half of them, as may be probably thought, returned: but condemned the rest of rashness and weakness, to their no small prejudice.

CHAP. III. Verse 1. And when the seventh month was come]

HEb. And the seventh month approached; a month of many festivities, Levite. 23.24, 27, 34. 1 Kings 8.2. and so, to the good, a foretaste of eternal life, where it shall be holiday every day, where they have no rest (and yet no unrest ) praising the God of heaven, for heavens happiness, Psal. 136. (the same that these good souls sang together, verse 11. of this Chapter) God is praised five and twenty times for his mercies: but the conclusion is, O give thanks unto the God of heaven, &c. Christ hath cast up such a causway to it, that we may well travel thither from all coasts, as these Jews did to Jerusalem from all their Cities.

As one man to Jerusalem ] There to serve the Lord with one shoulder, Zeph. 3.9. neither counted they it any trouble to travel thither, though they were scarce yet warm in their nests, as we say.

Then stood up Joshua ] Ministers, of all others should be most forward and forth-putting: ready pressed and prepared to every good work, as patterns to the people, who are led more by their eyes then by their ears, &c.

And Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel ] These two ever went hand in hand: and hence the work so prospered in their hand. It must needs be so (said Queen Elizabeth once to the Suffolk -gentlemen who came to meet her with their Ministers by their sides) where the Word and the Sword go together.

And built the Altar of the God of Israel ] Which therefore, in their father Jacob's sense, Gen. 33.20. they might safely have called El, Elohe-Israel, that is, God, the God of Israel, putting the sign for the thing signified. Thus also the Ark is called God's face, Psal. 105.4. Yea, even God himself, Psal. 132.5.

As it is written in the Law of Moses ] This was the rule they wrought by, God requireth to have a reasonable service, Rom. 12.1. such as whereof we can render a reason out of his Word; he hateth a Samaritan service, John 4.22. and will not endure Popish Will-worship: Who required those things at their hands, their Altars, Crucifixes, Penances, Pilgrimages, &c.? The whole number of the Beast is but the number of a man, Rev. 13.18. Men will have it so, and this is the sum of all Popish religion. All their superstructions are human inventions.

Moses the man of God ] The Prophet, the Law-giver, a man of much communion with God above any other, Num. 12.8. One calleth him heavens Chancellor.

Verse 3. And they set the Altar upon his bases ] Upon the old foundation in the Priests Courts, being glad of any place, where to worship God jointly and publicly: for Temple, as yet, there was none. Our worship-scorners are rightly styled by one, The last brood of Beelzebub.

For fear was upon them ] Though that was a lewd speech of the Poet Statius, Primus in orbe Deos fecit Timor, It was timorousness that first made men religious; yet there's no question, but fear of danger driveth men to God, as it did these here. Their malignant neighbors bandying and bending their forces against them, make them hasten up an Altar, that they might get God on their side, and run to him reconciled, what ever evil should befall them. Be not thou a terror to me Lord, saith holy Jeremy, chap. 17.17. and then I fear no creature. Let us sing the 46. Psalm (said Luther once in a great strait) and then let the Devil do his worst. What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee, Psal. 56.3. Some read the text thus, Though fear was upon them, yet that hindered not their setting up God's Altar: but they brake through all discouragements, and did their duty. It is well observed that the very light of Nature taught Heathens, that the services they performed to their gods with peril and hazard to themselves, were best accepted. Gaius Fabius ventured thorough the enemies camp to offer a solemn anniversary sacrifice, and returned in safety: satis sperans (saith the Historian) propitios fore Deos, quorum cultum ne mortis quidem metu prohibitus intermisisset, trusting that in such a case his gods would secure him. When Numa (the second King of the Romans) heard, as he was sacrificing, that the enemies were coming, he made this answer, At ego rem divinam facio: If God be for us, who shall be against us?

And they offered burnt-offerings thereon ] That their sins might be expiated, and their persons protected. The Ceremonial Law was Christ in figure, it was their Gospel.

Verse 4. They kept also the feast of Tabernacles ] Or boothes, built of boughs or branches of thick trees, Nehem. 8.15. in a grateful memorial of God's gracious preservation of them in the Wilderness, where they dwelt in tents or tabernacles. It signified also (the Prophet Zacharias being interpreter, chap. 14.16, 17, 18, 19.) that the remembrance of our redemption by Christ, should be perpetuated with all spiritual gladness.

By number, according to the custom ] There is an elegancy in the Original; the Book of God hath many such, as I have elsewhere noted.

As the duty of every day required ] Heb. The matter of the day in his day. Here we are all travellers, having no certain habitation, Heb. 11.13. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , 1 Cor. 4.11. Let us account duty a debt, and be daily doing at it. Let us keep holy day, keep the Feast, 1 Cor. 5.8. Let us be in the fear of the Lord all the day long, Prov. 23.17.

Verse 5. And afterward offered ] Finding a flote of holy affections in their hearts, they passed from one good exercise to another, and were indefatigable in the Lord's work. David finding such an heat and height in his people, prays God to keep it ever in the imagination of the thoughts of their hearts, which he knew well to be fickle and false, 1 Chron. 29.18.

Both of the new-moons ] Kept in thankfulness to God for their time renewed upon them, from month to month, and his mercies every morning, and moment.

And of all the set-feasts of the Lord that were consecrated ] By an holy resting both from corporal labor, and from spiritual idleness.

A free will offering ] See the note on Chap. 1.4.

Ver. 6. From the first day of the seventh month ] Which was the feast of blowing of trumpets, signifying the just man's joyfulness, and serving to put life and spirit into them.

Began they to offer. ] And so held on: for this month had as many feasts in it as were celebrated in all the year besides: So as the Sabbath was the Queen of days, so was this of months. See the note on verse 1.

But the foundation of the Temple. ] Heb. Of the Kingly Palace, aula basilica, used here and elsewhere for the place where God's honor dwelleth. God is a great King, Mal. 1.14. and requires to be served like himself.

Was not yet laid ] Heb. Was not yet founded. Nevertheless they would be worshipping God as they could at an Altar, till they had a Temple. All the power of Persia could not keep God and Daniel asunder: the trade of godliness never standeth still. Demosthenes could say that an heart beautified with piety, justice and modesty, is the best Temple, and to God most acceptable.

Vers. 7. They gave money also unto the Masons and Carpenters. ] Who usually get it and eat it, laying up little: their life is called the Life of their hands, because maintained by the labor of their hands: day-wages they must have, or they cannot subsist; and these good Jews spared for no cost, but gave money out of the bag freely to these workmen. Idolaters care not what cost they cast away upon their dumb idols: Deum alienum dotant, so some read that text, Psal. 16.4. The Turkish Stately Moschees, and Popish Basilicae stuffed with vowed presents and memories (as they call them,) are things known to all. When the famous Artificer Phydias advised the Athenians to make the statue of Minerva rather of marble then of ivory, 1. Because more durable; this passed with allowance, 2. Because less chargeable; this they abhorred, and bade him say no more of such a matter.

And meat, and drink, and oil ] More prized by the Tyrians and Sidomans then money, because their Country was nourished by this Country, Acts 12.20. as being barren, and not bringing forth provision enough for themselves. Diogenes deeply taxed the folly of his Athenians, that prized money so much, and bread-corn so little: when as the life of man could be without that, but not without the other.

To bring Cedar-trees ] Smooth and durable, and every way fit for fair buildings: and therefore made choice of by God himself, 2 Sam. 7.7. by Solomon for the first Temple, 1 Kings 5.6. and by these Jews for the second. The Temple of Diana at Ephesus was likewise built of Cedar: as the Devil affecteth to be God's ape.

To the Sea of Joppa ] This was an haven-town, Josh. 19.46. Acts 9.43. Jon. 1.3. and hath its name à pulchritudine & elegantiâ, from its beauty and bravery, such as draweth love and liking. It might have been called The fair havens, as well as that place nigh unto the City of Lasea, Acts 27.8. which retaineth the same name unto this day.

According to the grant ] Or license, which they took in the largest extent, as we also ought to do God's gracious promises. Promissa sunt amplianda; and we must labor to see our own names written in them.

Verse 8. To set forward the work ] To urge the continuance of it to the end, as the word signifieth; to encourage and call upon the workmen to hasten and go thoroughstitch: to be as so many 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that the business might go on end, and come to a good upshot.

Verse 9. Then stood Jeshua ] Not the High Priest, but another, a Levite.

The sons of Henadad with their sons ] A generation of godly and active men in the things of God, See Nehem. 3.18.24. and 10.9. Grace is not hereditary, the white Halegons hatch black young ones: Heroum filii noxae. Nevertheless, nurture helpeth nature: and good men strive to mend that by education, which they have marred by propagation. They cocker not, but correct their children; they pray for them, and drop good principles into them; they smooth them as arrows, Psal. 128.3, 4. getting off the knottinesse of their nature; and leave not till they see them the work of God's hands, so as to sanctify the holy One of Jacob, and to fear the God of Israel, Isaiah 29.23. These sons of Henadad, as they attended upon the Temple-work, so themselves were as the polished corners of the Temple, Psal. 144.12.

Verse 10. With trumpets ] These were used on all occasions of rejoicing.

With Cymbals ] Instruments of a shrill sound, used also by the Heathens at offering of their sacrifices. So, in Imitation of the Urim and Thummim, Exod. 28.30. The Egyptian High Priest wore about his neck a sapphire-stone, which was called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Satan Dei Mimus, ut & Momus. See before verse 7.

After the ordinance of David ] He very much added to the Church-music. He likewise anticipated the age of the Priests, entering into their service five years earlier then the Mosaical appointment.

Verse 11. And they sang together by course ] Amant alterna Camaenae: Antiphonies are of ancient use.

In praising and giving thanks ] Men praise God for his excellencies, thank him for his benefits.

Because he is good ] So they sang David's Psalms a good warrant for us so to do. Heretofore happy were they held, that could sound out aliquid Davidicum: Now some have found out new inventions.

Verse 12. Who were ancient men ] From seventy years of age, and upwards: for it was but threescore years before this, that the Temple was burnt.

Wept with a loud voice ] Considering the disproportion. Let us do the like, when we compare our state of Creation with our state of Corruption.

Verse 13. The noise of the shout of joy from the noise, &c. ] Nam partim jubilabant, partim ejulabant. Our joys while we are here, will be mixed joys. Let those that would have joys unspeakable, stir up sighs unutterable.

CHAP. IV. Verse 1. Now when the adversaries of Judah]

ARroused by those loud acclamations and out-cries, chap. 3.12, 13. These adversaries were those Samaritans; chap. 3.3. a kind of mongrels that wore Religion as a cloak, which they either put on, or threw off at pleasure, and as occasion required. Satan (saith one) doth not always appear in one and the same fashion: but hath as many several shapes as Proteus among the Poets. Here he pretends devotion to his mischievous designs, but was frustrated.

That the children of the captivity ] Istos deportatos, by way of contempt as Junius rendereth it: As if the Jews were therefore hated of God, because they had been transported, captivated. Tully passeth the same censure of them in his Oration, pro L, Flacco: Istagens quàm chara diis immortalibus esset docuit, quod est victa, quod elocata, quod servata. It appears how dear to God they be by their oft-captivities.

Verse 2. Let us build with you ] Craftily and treacherously do they offer their cost and pains, ut illis intermixti personas committerent, atque ita opus interverterent, saith one well; that mingling with them, they might set them together by the ears, and so put a stop to the work. Thus Julian, to spite the Christians, first set the Jews awork to rebuild their Temple: and when that would not be, he called home the Arian-Bishops out of banishment, to breed new broils in the Church. The Jesuits have a practice at this day, of running over to the Lutheran Church, pretending to be Converts, and to build with them: but it is only to keep up that bitter contention that is between the Calvinists and the Lutherans. And what ill offices they do amongst us at this day to heighten our divisions, and hinder the Reformation (by their wiles, much ensnared and hindered) good men are very sensible of. The Lord detect and defeat them.

For we seek your God, as ye do ] Nay, not as ye do. See 2 Kings 17.32, 33, 34. they feared the Lord, not filially, but for his Lions: as the old Romans worshipped their Veiones, lest they should hurt them: and as the Caffrani (a people in India) worship Devils in most terrible figure, that they may not punish them.

Since the days of Esar-haddon ] Son and successor to Sennacherib, 2 Kings 19.37. grand son to Shalmaneser: after whom, it seems, he brought a new colony into the Land of Samaria, who proved deadly enemies to God's people.

Verse 3. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua ] Jeshua would be one to keep them out, though they slighted him in their application to Zerubbabel and the chief of the fathers, verse 2.

You have nothing to do with us ] You shall neither conquer us, nor compound with us. This was right Roman resolution. They were wont to say of cowards in Rome, that there was nothing Roman in them. I can never sufficiently admire (saith one) the speech of blessed Luther, who (though he was very earnest to have the Communion administered in both kinds contrary to the Doctrine and custom of Rome, ) yet he professeth, if the Pope (as Pope) commanded him to receive in both kinds, he would receive but in one kind; lest he should seem to receive the mark of the Beast. As for these Reconcilers, and Moderatours (saith another learned man) were they the wisest under heaven, and should live to the worlds end, they would be brought to their wits end, before they could accomplish this works end, to make a reconciliation betwixt Rome and us. They have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God. From such stand off, saith the Apostle, 1 Tim. 6.5. Say to them (when they offer their cost and service) as here. Pura Deus men's est: procul; ô procul este profani. This was one of those ancient Laws of the twelve tables among the Romans, Impius ne audeto placare donis iram deorum, Let no profane person presume to think to pacify the gods with their pains, or presents.

But we ourselves together will build, &c. ] This, the adversaries call combination, conspiracy, faction, sedition, &c. See verse 13. But what saith Tertullian? Cùm boni, cùm probi coeunt — non est factio dicenda, sed curia. Et e contrà, illis nomen factionis accommodandum est, qui in odium piorum & proborum conspirant. When good men get together, and hold together, it is not to be called a faction, but a Court. As on to'there side, they are to be counted factious, who conspire against the godly, as these Malignants in the Text did.

As King Cyrus, &c. ] They had good authority for what they did, and they hold them to it.

Verse 4. Then the people of the land ] Who the nearer they came unto a conjunction with the Jews in matters of Religion, the deeper hatred they bare them. Thus at this day, a Jew hates a Christian worse then he doth a Pagan; so doth a Turk hate a Persian worse then he doth a Christian; a Papist, a Protestant, worse then he doth a Turk: a Formallist, a Puritan, worse then he doth a Papist. Odia Theologica sunt acerbissima.

Weakened the hands of the people of Judah ] Discouraged them all they could, endeavoring to transfuse (as it were) a dead-palsy into their fingers, that they might surcease, or, at least, slack their pains. Well might Solomon say, Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous: but who can stand before envy? surely the venom of all vices is found in this sharp-fanged malignity.

And troubled them in building ] Heb. Kept ado about them, and terrified them. This was to do the work of their father the Devil, that troubler of God's Israel. (ad injuriam inferendam totus comparatus) set upon it to vex such as begin but to build the Tower of godliness, and to hinder them to the utmost.

Verse 5. And hired Counselors against them ] But good Counselors would not have been hired, either to bolster out a bad cause, or to out-face a good; to justify the wicked for a reward, or to take away the righteousness of the righteous from him. There is a notable instance of this in Papinian a Pagan Counselor. Thou mayest (said he to Antoninus the fratricide,) command my neck to the block, but not my tongue to the bar. I prize not my life to the pleading of an ill cause. These sordida poscinummia in the text, were none such. Some think they were Courtiers and Counselors to the King: such as by whom the King was even bought and sold, as Aurelian the good Emperor was; who might know nothing but as his Counselors informed him. This made Alphonsus King of Aragon say, that Kings were herein most miserable, that whereas they abounded with all things else, the truth of matters they could seldom come by.

All the days of Cyrus King of Persia ] Who warring abroad, committed the government of his Kingdom to his son Cambyses a light and lewd lossel, easily prevailed with to hinder so good a work.

Even until the reign of Darius ] i. e. Of Darius Nothus (say some) the son of Artaxerxes Longimanus (named verse 7.) the father of Artaxerxes Mnemon. But they do better in my opinion, that understand the text of Darius Histaspis, who succeeded Cambyses, and married his sister; seeking to ingratiate with the people by ratifying whatsoever Cyrus had decreed, and this of the Temple among the rest. See chap. 6.1.

Verse 6. And in the reign of Ahasuerus ] That is, of Cambyses, who is also called Artaxerxes in the next verse: for these two names were given to many Kings of Persia; like as Pharaoh was to the Kings of Egypt, as a title of honor. Ahasuerus signifieth an hereditary Prince. Daniel calleth him the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia. chap. 10.13. because he was Viceroy in his fathers absence. Infamous he is for many lewd pranks (as that he killed his brother, and then his own sister, after he had first married her, and made a Law that any man might do the like) yet was he not so ungracious a son to Cyrus, as our Henry the seconds eldest son was; whom he not only crowned King during his own life, but also, to do him honor at his Coronation, renounced the name of a King for that day, and (as Sewer ) served at the table. For which he was thus requited, My father said he, is not dishonored by attending on me; for I am both a Kings and a Queens son, and so is not he.

In the beginning of his reign ] As loath to lose time ( Esau began in the very womb to persecute Jacob ) and as taking their fittest season, for granting of suits.

Wrote they an accusation ] Heb. a Satanical suggestion, a diabolical accusation, hatched in hell, and dictated by the Devil. He it is that acteth and agitateth the Saints adversaries and accusers; sitting upon their tongues and pens, and setting an edge on them.

Verse 7. And in the days of Artaxerxes ] This seems to be Cambyses his Persian name, as Ahasuerus was his Chaldee name. It is as much as Bellator egregius, an excellent warrior. So Scipi, was called Fulmen belli, the light-bolt of war: Bajazet the great Turk, Gilderun, or lightning: Albert, Marquess of Brandenburg, was called Achilles Teutonicus. Our black Prince was so named, not of his color, but of his courage, and of his dreaded acts in battle: for he assailed no Nation which he over-came not; he besieged no City which he took not. Cambyses had great success in his wars, and added Egypt, and other Countries, to the Persian Monarchy.

Wrote Bishlam Mithredath ] These were the King of Persia's Toparches or Deputies, beyond the river Euphrates.

Written in the Syrian tongue ] Called also the Chaldee, Babylonish and Assyrian; commonly spoken by the Jews, who in the seventy years captivity lost the purity of their own language; like as the Latins also did, when the Goths, Vandals and other barbarous Nations over-ran them, and mingled with them.

And interpreted in the Syrian tongue ] i. e. with Syrian characters, Et Scriptura & lingua erat Syriaca, ut sine interpret in aula regis intelligeretur, saith Shindler. It was so written that it might be understood at Court without an interpreter.

Verse 8. Rehum the Chancellor ] Or President of the Council. It is of the Chaldee termination: the whole history also following to chap. 6.19. is Chaldee, transcribed, as some think, out of the rolls and registers of the Chaldees, and here inserted.

Verse 9. The Dinaites and the Apharsathkites, the Tarpalites ] This was not unity, but conspiracy of a rabble of rebels against God and his people. So Psal. 83.5, 6, &c. They have consulted together with one consent, they are confederate against thee. The Tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab, and the Hagarenes, &c. A whole legion of Devils could agree to enter into one poor man, to vex him; and to act, as one, in that possession.

Verse 10. The great and noble Asnapper ] Some great Commander under the Assyrian Monarch. There is, they say, a greatness Belluine, and a greatness Genuine-Asnapper, notwithstanding his big-swoln titles, might be rather great then good; and more notable, then noble. Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus.

On this side the river ] That ancient river- the river Euphrates, which the more I see, the more I admire, saith one.

Verse 11. Thy servants ] Not thy subjects only, but thine Officers.

Verse 12. The rebellious and bad City ] After so many years, doth Jerusalem rue one perfidious act of Zedekiah: and having once been treacherous, it still hears, The rebellious and bad City, as if it had been a very 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a professed Sanctuary of roguery, (as the Jesuits say of Geneva ) and as Florus saith of the Temple at Jerusalem, that it was impiae gentis arcanum.

And have set up the walls thereof ] This was no less false then scandalous. But malice careth not how true the accusation is, but how mischievous.

And joined the foundations ] Chaldee. sewed together. Or, rather these false-informers had sewed a lie together with great Art, that it might seem a truth, Psal. 119.69. The proud have forged a lie against me, assuunt mendacium mendacio, they have taught their tongues to speak lies, Jer. 9.5. and are Artists at it.

Verse 13. Be it known now unto the King ] q. d. This is no light business, but of greatest importance: and therefore fit to be noted and noticed.

Then will they not pay tole, tribute, &c. ] This is an old device of the Devil and his Impes, to represent God's people to the world as Antimagistratical, and disturbers of the public peace. Thus they dealt by the Primitive Christians, who were the Emperors best subjects, and yielded them greatest respect and profit. Thus Francis King of France pretended and professed to the Princes of Germany (whose friendship he desired) that he pursued the Lutherans with fire and sword, for no other cause but for that they were Levellers, and enemies to civil government. This drew from Calvin (who was then but twenty five years of age) that golden book of his Institutions of Christian Religion, to free the Reformed Churches of that slurre and slander. The like was suggested by the Arminians in the Low-countries, and by the Episcopal party here. It was in Tacitus his time, unum crimen, eorum qui crimine vacabant, the only fault of such as were indeed without fault.

And so thou shalt endamage the revenue ] Diminish the annual Entrado's of the crown which are well called the Kings strength here; because if these fail, little good can be done, either at home or abroad. Henry King of Navarre (afterwards King of France ) was wont to say, that he was an husband without a wife, a soldier without money, and a King without a Kingdom. What would the King of Spain's greatness soon come to, were it not for his yearly incomes, his mines of America?

Verse 14. Now because we have maintenance from the Kings Palace ] Chaldee. Are salted with the salt of the Palace, Salarium de regis palatio percipimus, have our salary from the Court, as Junius rendereth it. The great use of salt makes it here put for all kind of commodity: like as bread is called panis, as if it were 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , The all, and whole of our sustenance, Deut. 8.3.

And it was not meet for us to see the Kings dishonor ] Chaldee. Nakednesse, privities, which uncovered, cause contempt, as it befell Noah in his drunkenness: and the King of Spain, when by Queen Elizabeth proclaimed Bankrupt.

Therefore have we sent and certified the King ] As knowing that Beneficium-postulat officium; Bounty commands duty. Ingratitude is a monster in nature, a solecism in good manners, &c. Lycurgus would make no Law against it, because he held that none could be so unreasonable, as to be guilty of it. Yet Alphonsus complained of his ungrateful Courtiers; and so did Frederick the third, Emperor of Germany. Queen Elizabeth also said, that in trust she had oft found treason. That traitor Parry had vowed her death, although he had been condemned for burglary, and saved by her pardon.

Verse 15. In the book of the Records ] Chaldee. Of the Remembrances, that is, the Chronicles usual in all Kingdoms.

And that this City is a rebellious City ] See the Note on verse 12. and learn, that fidelity to governors is ever both safe and honorable. Zedekiah 's falsifying his oath to the King of Babylon, was the overthrow of that Common-wealth. See what God himself saith, not without great indignation, Ezek. 17.18. Seeing he (Zedekiah) despised the oath, by breaking the Covenant (when loe he had given his hand) and hath done all these things, he shall not escape.

Verse 16. We certify the King ] They doubt not of audience, whilst they sang a song of Utile; which therefore they thus set on with more confidence then charity.

Verse 17. Peace, and at such a time ] As the Latins saluting say, Ave, or Salve, the Greeks 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , so the Hebrews and Syrians say, Shalom lach, that is, Peace be to thee. The Turks salutation at this day also is, Salaum aleek; the reply Aleek Salaum, Peace is a complexive blessing.

Verse 18. Hath been plainly read before us ] This in the general was commendable: but he should have reserved (as Alexander used to do) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , One ear free; and have heard both parties.

Verse 19. Hath made insurrection against Kings ] Chaldee. Lift up itself against Kings. Pride is painted with a triple crown on her head; Upon the first whereof is written Transcendo; upon the second, Non obedio; upon the third, Perturbo. Wat Tyler the rebel dared to say, that all the Laws of England should come out of his mouth.

Verse 20. Beyond the river ] Euphrates the boundary of Solomon's Empire, 1 Kings 4.21, 24. as it was also promised, Genesis 15.18. Exod. 23.31. Deut. 11.24. Joshua 1.4.

Verse 21. Give you now commandment ] Chaldee. Make a Decree: which yet did but carry on God's Decree: for while persecutors sit backward to his command, they row forwards to his Decree.

Verse 22. Take heed now that ye fail not ] This was to spurr a free-horse: like as litters were sent from King Philip and Queen Mary to Bishop Bonner, complaining that Heretics were not so reformed as they should be, and exhorting him to more diligence.

Why should damage grow ] Take heed of that howsoever. Multi reges graviorem ducunt jacturam regionis, quàm religions, &c.

Verse 23. They went up in haste ] Perurgente diabolo, the Devil driving them, and their own malicious dispositions egging them thereunto. So, when Queen Mary lay a dying, Harpsfeild Arch-deacon of Canterbury being at London, made all post-haste home to dispatch those Martyrs, whom he had then in his cruel custody. So ambitious are wicked men of hell, they take long strides, and mend their pace; as if they feared, lest it should be taken up before they come thither.

Verse. 24. Then ceased the work of the house of God ] And now the adversaries have got the ball on the foot, thinking to carry the game before them: But the triumphing of the wicked is short, Job 20.5. and that they prosper at all in their designs, it is non ad exitium, sed ad exercitium Sanctorum; not for the ruin of the Church, but for the exercise of the faith and patience of God's people.

CHAP. V. Verse 1. Then the Prophets]

HE that is now called a Prophet, was before-time called a Seer, 1 Sam. 9.9. because his eyes were enlightened, Num. 24.3. and he saw visions of God, Ezek. 1.1. Dan. 1.17, Prophets they were afterwards called, that is, Interpreters of God's will by his command, Exod. 7.1. Aaron thy brother shall be thy Prophet, that is, thine Interpreter. By the mouth of these holy Prophets God spake to his people in all ages, Luke 1.70. Yet not without some intermissions of Prophesy, as the Church complaineth, Psal. 74.9. till that Cathimath Chazon (as the Jews call it) the sealing up of Prophesy, which they place between the Prophet Malachi, and John Baptist, who was more then a Prophet. The Original word Nabi, signifieth one that, from the inward counsel of God uttereth Oracles.

Haggai the Prophet ] Who was not an Angel incarnate, as Origen and Jerome held; but a young Saint (as Epiphanius describeth him) and might therefore well be an old Angel, if he lived to be old. See more of him Hag. 1.1. with the note there.

And Zechariah the son of Iddo ] That is, of Barachiah the son of Iddo, Zech. 1.1. See the Note there. These two God sent within two months one of another, in the eighteenth year of the people's return out of Babylon; which fell out to be in the second year of the reign of Darius Hystaspes, and in the three thousand four hundred forty and fourth year of the world, according to Funccius his Chronology. Christ usually sent his Prophets and Apostles by couples, for mutual comfort, and greater confirmation.

Prophesied unto the Jews ] Who had brought a judgment of sore famine upon themselves by their slackness and backwardness to rebuild the House of God, Hag. 1.4, 6. See the Notes there; and learn of the Heathen Historian, to prefer God's interest before thine own, or else to look for his curse. For he is a great King, and stands upon his seniority, Mal. 1.14. he will have us first to seek his Kingdom, Matth. 6.33. and to give unto God the things that are God's; or we shall hear of him, to our small comfort.

In the name of the God of Israel ] Who both authorized and enabled them: God sendeth none whom He gifteth not. The Apostles also were Ambassadors in the same name, 2 Cor. 5.20. and so, Collegues to the Prophets, Luke 10.16. (See 1 Pet. 1.12.) Angels admiring the matter o • their Ambassie, and their happy harmony.

Even unto them ] Who yet were very little amended by their seventy years captivity. Afflictions (God's hammers) had but beaten upon cold iron, (as it were) as appears by this History, and by the Prophesies of Haggai and Zechariah; whom for his labor and love to their souls, they afterwards slew betwixt the Temple and the Altar, Matth. 23.35. serving him as Hercules did his Tutor Linus, whom, for a few sharp words given him, he knocked on the head. Or, as their Ancestors did the Prophet Isaiah, whom they sawed asunder (saith Jerome out of the Rabbin's ) because he had called them Princes of Sodom, and people of Gomorrah, Isaiah. 1.10. This is the worlds wages to faithful Ministers.

Verse 2. Then rose up Zerubbabel ] Called before, Shazbazzar, the Tirshata: Philo calleth him Barachias. Men in those days had sundry names; which must be noted, or else confusion will not be avoided; according to the notation of Zerubbabel's name. It is said of him, that he brought back part of the people in the seventeenth year of his age; that he continued Governor fifty eight years (some say many more:) and that he began to make use of the Ministry of these Prophets in the thirty fourth year of his life. His rising up here implieth his forwardness, speed, and diligence in the work.

And Jeshua the son of Jozadak ] Colleague to Zerubbabel, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as Aaron was to Moses. This Jehoshua or Jeshua began his office of High Priest in the year of the world 3428. and held it thirty six years, eight whereof were spent in an Embassage to Darius King of Persia, say Historians.

And began to build the house of God ] i. e. They went on with the building, begun before, chap. 3.10. and not forbidden by the King of Persia to be finished; only he commanded them to desist from building the City, chap. 4.12, 21. It was, therefore, the people's sloth and self-seeking that kept back the work. See the Notes on Hag. 1.2, 4.

And with them were the Prophets of God helping them ] Verbo & opere, saith Junius: both by word and deed. The words of the wise are as goads, Eccles. 12.11. pricking men forward to duty: and especially when themselves set sides and shoulders to the work, as haply these Prophets did, for the people's greater encouragement. Exemplis sciolâ hac aetate magis aedificant Ministri, quàm concionibus.

Verse 3. At the same time ] So soon as ever they began but to build God's house, they meet with opposition; which is still Evangelii Genius, saith Calvin, the bad Angel that haunts the cause of God, and dogs it at the heels. Satan, out of his inveterate envy and enmity, can in no wise brook the propagation of the Truth, and dilatation of Christ's curtains. No sooner is Israel out of Egypt, but Pharaoh pursueth them. No sooner had Hezekiah kept that solemn Passover, but Sennacherib comes up against him. Esau began to justle Jacob in the womb, that no time might be lost: and when he set his face homewards, Laban follows him with one troop, Esau meets him with another: both with hostile intentions. Dream not of a delicacy in God's ways, but suffer hardship, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

And their companions ] Cum collegio suo, Jun. a company of caytives combined to do mischief. See chap. 4.9. with the Note.

Who hath commanded you to build this house? ] Their own houses they built, and were never once questioned. All the while our Savior lay in his fathers shop, and meddled only with carpenters chips, the Devil and his imps never troubled him: but when he was entering upon his Ministry, he is sharply assaulted in the Wilderness. And when he took upon him to purge the Temple, and better inform the people, presently the Grandees came upon him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? Matth. 21.23. Like unto these were the questions put by the Papists to those noble Reformers, Luther, Zwingli, &c. Farellus was, at his first coming to Geneva, more harshly handled, and by the Bishop and his Clerks thus accoasted: Quid tu, diabole nequissime, ad hanc civitatem perturbandam accessisti? What a Devil makest thou here, to make this disturbance, &c. and so was driven out of that City, where afterwards he wrought a glorious Reformation.

Verse 4. Then said we unto them ] We ( Tatnai, Shether-Boznai and their companions) thus said, and thus inquired: see verse 16. and be sensible, how wicked men conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, and their belly prepareth deceit, Job 15.35. Not their heads only are hammering it, but their bellies are hatching it: they take a kind of contemplative kind of pleasure in their wily projects, as the Epicure doth in his dainties, he delights to be acting them over a forehand.

What are the names of the men ] They that are minded to do mischief unto others, will do what they can to know their names. I have heard of one (saith Master Fox ) who being sent to the Christian Congregation in Queen Mary's days in London to take their names, and to espy their doings, yet in being amongst them was converted, and cried them all mercy. Tremellius readeth this text otherwise, Then answered we them thus, and [told them] what were the names of the men, who built this building. He meaneth, as I conceive, We were not ashamed or afraid to make them a round and ready answer; and to give them the names of our chieftains, Zerubbabel, Jeshuae, Haggai, Zechariah, &c. This was better then that of those cold friends to Religion, 1 Kings 18.11. who (when the Prophet had said, If the Lord be God, follow him ) held their peace, and thought it good policy to reserve themselves. Better also then that of the bondslaves of Antichrist, who receive his mark in their hand, the which they may, as occasion serveth, cover or discover. Rev. 13.16. The servants of the God of heaven and earth (such as were these in this Chapter, verse 11.) receive his mark in their foreheads, where it may be seen and read of all, Rev. 7.3. The Primitive Christians were called in derision Confitentes: and Chrysostom saith of them, that they would not be kept from visiting the Martyrs in prison, tametsi multis tesroribus, &c. though they were much threatened, and punished for so doing.

Verse 5. But the eye of their God was upon the Elders ] Not the eye of his general providence only (which like unto a well-drawn picture vieweth everyone that cometh in to a room) but the eye of his special grace and favor, Psal. 34.15. He looked upon them; as afterwards the Son of man stood and looked upon Saint Steven combating with his cruel persecutors, and clapt him on the shoulders, as it were, saying, Cheare up, Vincenti dab • , &c. Acts. 7.56. They also looked up to him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed, Psal. 34.5. Yea, they were steeled, as it were, and made more mettle-full: like as Moses and Micaiah when they had once seen God in his favor, they cared not for the menaces of angry Monarchs.

That they could not cause them to cease ] Saints dare undertake and undergo anything for the glory of their God. The heavens shall sooner fall then I will go against my conscience, said that Martyr. In nothing be terrified by your adversaries, Phil. 1.28.

Till the matter came to Darius ] Nor then neither; for he encouraged and furthered them, chap. 6.

And then they returned answer ] Or, Then answer was returned from the Court, and the Jews had a sufficient authority for what they did.

Verse 6. The Apharsachites ] That is, Persians, sent as deputies by the King of Persia, to see the peace kept, and good orders observed.

Verse 7. All peace ] See the Note on chap. 4.17. Peace is a complexive mercy — Pacem te poscimus omnes. It is well with Bees, when they make a noise in their Hive: but with men, when they are at quiet in their hearts, in their houses, and in the public.

Verse 8. To the house of the great God ] So they style him, because the Jews called and counted him so. The Lord your God, saith Moses, is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty and a terrible, &c. Deut. 10.17. He is Fortissimus Maximus, as Tremellius there renders it: yea, he is a degree above the superlative. Not only is God great as here, greater, Job 33.12. Greatest, Psal. 95.3. but Greatness itself, Psal. 145.3. and to him all other God's (whether Deputed or Reputed ) are but deastri, deunculi, diim inorum gentium, petty deities, poor businesses.

Verse 9. Who commanded you ] Chaldee. Who hath made you a Decree? See the Note on verse 3.

Verse 10. We asked their names also