ch. 3:5-6:22

vs. 8-13 - the laying of the foundation of the temple

Compare I Kings 6:1

Zerubbabel judged the time had come to commence

the foundation of the second temple - the correspondence

of the month was no doubt intentional, like the altar at

the first.

v. 3 "they set the altar upon his bases" - nothing was

to be wantonly changed!

The ceremony was chiefly of praise, and was accompanied

with sacred music, according to the pattern set by David

and Solomon in their sacred processions and ceremonies.

They fell short of the "ordinance of David" since it

comprised neither psalteries nor harps which were

an essential part of David's system.

Apparently, the musical skill of the Levites had

declined under the depressing circumstances of the

captivity - Psalm 137:2

v. 11 - "they sang together by course" - literally -

replied to each other - "that God was good,

and His mercy towards Israel was everlasting"

v. 12 - the ancient men "wept with a loud voice" when

they saw the foundation laid before their eyes

and compared it with the temple of Solomon.

It was "the day of small things" - Zech. 4:10

The new house in comparison with the old one was

"as nothing" - Haggai 2:3

Maybe not so much the dimensions as the size and

quality of the foundation-stones and the excellency

of the masonry and the like - Solomon had employed

the best workmen of the king of Tyre - Zerubbabel

had only the arms of his own subjects to depend on.

ch. 4

Opposition to the building of the temple by the

Samaritans.

In this world, whenever a good work is begun,

some kind of opposition is sure to surface because

Satan will not suffer an attack on his kingdom

without resenting it.

The Jews coming back to their land was a movement

that was a witness against polytheism, idolatry,

materialism and sensualism in religion.

The Samaritans had adopted a mixed and mongrel

worship uniting idolatrous rites with the

acknowledgement of Jehovah.

II Kings 17:29-41

Zerubbabel declined their offer.

His stance was bitterly resented - unable to

seduce him into an alliance with them, the

Samaritans became his open and avowed

enemies during the remaining reign of Cyrus

and the reigns of Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes.

The rebuilding of the temple was almost

wholly stopped and no progress was made

until the second year of Darius, when a new

opposition showed itself.

v. 2 - "we seek your God as ye do" - they

sought their God was true but "not as

ye do" was false because "they feared

the Lord, and worshipped their own

gods" - II Kings 17:33

v. 3 - "ye have nothing to do with us to build a

house unto our God"

v. 4 - "the people of the land ....weakened the hands

of the people of Judah....and troubled them in

building....and hired counselors (lobbyists -

bribers) against them"

Time period - 537 B.C. to 521 B. C. - Cyrus- Cambyses,

an usurper, Smerdis

v. 6 - "Ahasuerus...in the beginning of his reign"

(lobbyists-bribers at work again for advantage)

v7 - So and so "and the rest of their companions" - also

v. 9 - Support staff -

v. 6 - "accusation" - this is basically how the ACLU works -

through intimidation and if that doesn't work -

law suits with a stacked deck in the Federal

Judiciary - I wonder how many card carrying

ACLU members -like Ruth Bader Ginsberg -

should recluse themselves from ACLU cases?

Friendship with the World - there are two classes which

divide the human race - children of light and children

of darkness - the righteous and the unrighteous - there

is no intermediate class - between these two classes

genuine sympathy is impossible - "friendship with the

world is enmity AGAINST God"

"Ye are all the children of light, and the children of

the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness"-

I Thess. 5:5

"In this the children of God are manifest, and the

children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness

is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother"

I John 3:10

vs. 21 - Ahasuerus' reaction

vs. 23-24 - reaction of So and So and their companions

ch. 5

The burning enthusiasm of the first arrival of exiles

with Zerubbabel had faded away - laziness had succeeded

to inactivity - a selfish desire of comfort replaced zeal

and honor for God - the people had acquiesced to the

resistance of the people of the land and "their companions".

The returning exiles said among themselves - "The time is

not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built" -

Haggai 1:2

They became side-tracked and turned their attention

and energies into the practical object of establishing

THEMSELVES in good and comfortable houses -

Haggai 1:4,9

Own ceiled house, eating, drinking - even Zerubbabel

and Jeshua - the civil and religious leaders acquiesced

in this miserable state of things - this tameness, sloth,

indifference to God's honor, and general pursuit of

mere carnal delights.

v. 1 - the work of the prophets Zechariah and Haggai

in the name of the God of Israel

Haggai's mission was short but God raised up Zechariah,

the son of Iddo, who carried on the work.

Zerubbabel and Jeshua were especially "stirred up" -

ch. 1:14 and encouraged - ch. 2:4

Haggai 2:9 - read

Zechariah 4:9 - read

v. 2 - the work of Zerubbabel and Jeshua - "with them

were the prophets of God helping them"

v. 3 - Mr. So and So "and their companions" again.

vs. 4,10 - they took names

v. 5 - read

"The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous" - Ps. 34:15

"He withdraweth not His eyes from the righteous" - Job 36:7

There was a special watch care of God so that those who

would have hindered them could not. The work was

uninterrupted while the evil messengers were away.

Read all their accusations and falsities.

Who are these people? Rev. 11:18 - "those who

destroy the earth"

How ironic that many are they who are of Green Peace,

global warming fame, blaming this and that, you and

me, yet they are those "who destroy the earth" not

for ecological reasons but for immorality - such as

adultery, sodomy, homosexuality, lust, greed, pride,

vanity, etc.

v. 10 - the Jews response - "we are the servants of the

God of heaven and earth" - the speak of God

as He who gave mankind earth and heaven!

15 - "let the house of God by builded in his place"

SO TRADITION DOES'T MATTER? - upon this holy site,

the place where Abraham offered Isaac in figure,

where the angel stood and stayed the pestilence in

the time of David (II Sam. 24:16-18), and where

"the glory of the Lord descended and filled the house"

under Solomon - II Chron. 7:1

ch. 6

The finding of the decree of Cyrus -

v. 15 - "The house was finished on the third day of

the month Adar"

Haggai 1:15 gives the exact day of the recommencement -

the twenty-fourth of Elul in Darius' second year.

Ezra gives the exact day of completion.

From Zerubbabel's laying of the foundation - Ezra 3:10

the time elapsed was 21 years.

From the recommencement under the influence of

God's two prophets to the completion was four years,

five months and ten days.

From the humble offerings made to God, He planned

to bless this temple with a glory unknown to the first

temple.

The Lord Himself, the Messenger of the Covenant,

so long sought by His people, suddenly came to this

temple - Malachi 3:1.

He came to it and frequented it, and taught in it,

and gave it a dignity and a majesty far beyond the

first temple, which possessed indeed the Shechinah,

but was once, and once only, vouchsafed a brief

manifestation of the actual Divine presence - II Chron. 7:1

Haggai 2:9