Lux Mundi : Free From Bondage, It's Time to Rebuild

Free from Bondage, It’s Time to Rebuild

Americans remembering March 12 515BC

Khen Lim

Image result for israelites return from exile to rebuild temple

Image source: Biblical Authorship

Following the post-Davidian period where the nation partitioned into Israel to the north and Judah to the south, the people of God capitulated to one sinful ruler after another. The northern kingdom of Israel, in particular, produced some of the most wicked rulers the Bible could describe. Judah was not much better – with the exception of exemplary kings like Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah, pretty much the rest were like their northern cousins.

Invariably, after Zedekiah, the evil son of Josiah’s rule, around 586BC, Judah and her capital, Jerusalem, finally succumbed to the Neo-Babylonian Empire and a fair portion of its Jewish population was exiled to Babylon.

As long as 135 years earlier, in 721BC, Israel was already captured by the Assyrians right after Hoshea ascended to the throne. Forty-seven years later, in 539BC, the Babylonians themselves were brought to their knees by a coalition of Medes and Persians.

Unlike before, the new conquerors believed that the captives, including the Jews from Judah, should be given the opportunity to rebuild their own homes, meaning that they were allowed to return to the southern kingdom and fulfil their pledge to rebuild their destroyed temple.

Yet, even seventeen long years later, that pledge languished and construction of the temple was poor enough that God had commanded His prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to rebuke His people for their indifference and negligence.

Haggai’s message

Cyrus paves the way for the Jews to return (Image source: gorepent.com)

Around the core of the Book of Haggai, which was written around 520BC, is the prophet’s challenge to his fellow Jews to glorify God by building the Temple despite opposition. He implored them not to succumb to pressure and discouragement just because the Temple would not be anywhere as impressive as the one Solomon built.

The gist of his exhortation was for his people to turn away from their evil ways and to once more, place their trust in God’s sovereignty and power. His was the reminder to them – as it is to us – that no matter how stacked the odds were, trusting God our provider was key.

In the book’s key verse 1:4, Haggai asked, “Why are you living in luxurious houses while My house lies in ruins?” He continues:

“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but you are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!” (vv.4-6, NLT)

Having rebuked His people for their lackadaisical attitude, God instructed Haggai to get the people to log some timber and bring them back to build His house:

“How go up into the hills, bring down timber and rebuild My house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honoured, says the Lord. You hoped for rich harvests but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because My house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses.

“It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops. I have called for a drought on your fields and hills – a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olive trees and all your other crops, a drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get.” (vv.8-11, NLT)

In gist, Haggai had asked his fellow Jews to rethink their lives and reprioritise what were important to them. They were reminded of a God so powerful that He could withhold their prosperity and instead wreak havoc on their investments and deprive them of their much-anticipated harvest.

Without all of these, the people experienced not the yield of the plentiful but the emptiness and severity of a stunning drought. Here was a God who wanted attention but got nothing from the people He loved and cared for who now turned their backs on Him and selfishly redirected their interests unto themselves.

The remnants

The remnants return home (Image source: northsidebc.org)

This was very much the starting point when Judah was absorbed by the Babylonians. That, in hindsight, was the result of failing God in their lives. It was only because of Daniel’s prayer and the fulfilment of His promises that, in 559BC, the Lord brought Cyrus the Great of the Persian Empire into the picture that opened the way for the Jews to return to Jerusalem (Ez 1:1-4, 2 Chr 36:22-23).

This group of Jews – some 42,360 in number (Ez 2:65) – was what we referred to as the remnants, for they made the arduous four-month trek back to their homeland in total joy, from the banks of the Euphrates River to Jerusalem – pledging to put God first and worship Him. Though the journey was done under tough conditions, the people were very caught up in the fervour of worship surrounding their prime concern of rebuilding the Temple and restoring the sacrificial rituals called the ‘korbanot.’

While Zerubbabel, the governor, contributed to their effort through the provision of 1,000 golden darics, as well as some enthusiastic people offering various gifts to fill the sacred treasury (Ez 2), not everyone felt the same. Apart from locals in Israel not coming to their aid, resistance was also felt from some quarters of the local Judah population and selected parts of the Persian government. Nonetheless, armed with their faith, they were not discouraged.

After building and dedicating an altar to God, the people set to work clearing the burnt ruins and debris belonging to the old Temple. This alone would have taken quite some time to complete. By the second month of the second year, in 535BC, the foundations of the new Temple were established amidst great fanfare. There was much to rejoice and be excited by for most but some spectators weren’t sharing in the joy (Hag 2:3, Zech 4:10).

Meanwhile the Samaritans who claimed to be the surviving Israelite descendants belonging to the northern kingdom tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh from the Assyrian annihilation in 721BC, approached Judah with their willingness to cooperate but Zerubbabel declined the offer, citing the divine requirement of the Jews to do everything on their own and without help.

That didn’t go down well with the Samaritans and soon, rumours fanned across the region that spoken badly of the Jews. Ezra 4:5 describes how the Samaritans sought to sabotage them, despatching messengers to Ecbatana and Susa to deliberately report wrongly that all work on the Temple was suspended:

“They bribed the agents to work against them and to frustrate their plans. They went on during the entire reign of King Cyrus of Persia and lasted until King Darius of Persia took the throne.” (Ez 4:5, NLT)

Darius takes over

Jews return from Babylon to restore worship and rebuild the temple (Image source: Pinterest)

Seven years on, in 523BC, Cyrus the Great died and his son, Cambyses, took over the reign. However, on his death, the throne was taken by someone whom many ancient historians claimed to be an imposter posed by either his brother, Bardiya, or a Zoroastrian priest named Gaumata.

Apparently, Cambyses took the fight to the imposter but died under suspicious circumstances, which was how Darius, his lance bearer, claimed the throne to the Persian Empire in 522BC. Modern historians suggest that it was either Darius or Bardiya, his brother, who plotted the demise of Cambyses.

Just as Cyrus made it possible for the Jews to return home and rebuild the Temple (2 Chr 36:22-23), Darius, in the second year of his reign, continued the same policy and so, the rebuilding efforts resumed until completion (Ez 5:6-6:15). It is at this point in history that both Haggai and Zechariah played a substantial role in managing the rebuilding.

It was through their counselling and admonitions that the new Temple was completed and made ready for consecration by this day, March 12, two-thousand five-hundred and thirty-two years ago, in 516BC, which was not only the sixth year of Darius’ rule (Ez 6:15-16) but also more than two decades after the return of the Jewish remnant. A dedication ceremony ensued the year after.

Still, despite their efforts, it wasn’t much to look at (Hag 1:12-15). In fact, it was so far from its former appearance that God then questioned His people:

“‘Does anyone remember this house – this Temple – in its former splendour? How, in comparison, does it look to you now? It must seem like nothing at all! But now the Lord says: Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Jeshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land. And now get to work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. My Spirit remains among you, just as I promised when you came out of Egypt. So do not be afraid.’” (2:3-5, NLT)

“In just a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the dry land,” says God. (v.6)

And “I will shake all the nations and the treasures of all the nations will be brought to this Temple. I will fill this place with glory,” says He. (v.7)

“The silver is mine and the gold is mine,” He continues. (v.8)

“The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory,” as God promises to restore its splendour to new heights. (v.9)

“And in this place, I will bring peace,” as He adds His blessing upon His people. (v.9)

Despite the rebuilding, the Temple was once again restored by Herod the Great sometime around 20-19BC and was eventually known widely as the Second Temple. Jewish eschatology hints that a Third Temple – also called Ezekiel’s Temple (because it was Ezekiel who prophesied it) – will replace it sometime in the future as an eternal dwelling place of God on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Restored using stone and then covered in gold, the Second Temple was the one that Jesus visited in His life and by His presence, brought it glory. Even so, as we know, in the generation following the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, it was comprehensively destroyed by the Romans in 70AD in the Siege of Jerusalem, four years after the Jews of Judea rebelled against their Roman masters, prompting Titus to send the brutal General Vespasian to quell the disorder.

Today, an Islamic shrine stands on top of it, the result of the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in the seventh century where, in 691AD, the Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ordered the Dome of the Rock to be built. Around the same time, the al-Aqsa Mosque was also build alongside it within the courtyard of the vanquished Second Temple.

And of course, the promises God had made as recorded by Haggai in 2:7-9 concerning the treasures from other nations that would be brought into the temple including all the gold and silver that belonged to the Lord have yet to be realised because that time has not come to past yet. It is likely that we would see this in the Third Temple, the one which will coincide with Christ’s return to rule the earth from Zion.

The American perspective

Image result for america trump must rebuild the nation

God brings the beginning of recovery (Image source: Sputnik International)

In November 2016, God breathed unto another nation the chance to rebuild itself. After eight years of subjugation in which Christ was mocked, dismissed and forcibly abandoned by the government led by zealous agencies including the notorious American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC) and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) among others.

Like the remnants who returned to restore Jerusalem, the country must now depend on a small group of dedicated conservative and evangelical Americans to do the same. And like them, the opposition and resistance would be stiff and sometimes very discouraging, bordering on criminal or unconstitutional.

It was Theodore Roosevelt who in a 1910 address called ‘American Ideals in Education’ said:

“Great is your task and therefore thrice over are you to be congratulated because your task is great. Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty. No kind of life is worth leading if it is always an easy life.

“I know that your life is hard; I know that your work is hard; and hardest of all for those of you who have the highest trained consciences and who therefore feel always how much you ought to do. I know your work is hard and that is why I congratulate you with all my heart. I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life; I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.”

There is no doubt that turning America around after eight years of stultifying frustration and despair will take the most out of all well-intended Americans but the fight has now begun and it requires remarkable depth in faith and unimaginable breadth of hope from anyone who wishes to see all the wrongs righted and all that is right restored.

In the meantime, do what Daniel the prophet did for his people and pray earnestly for God to open the way. Because with that much damage inflicted upon every conceivable corner of the nation, the only real recourse is to humbly ask Him to guide us to rebuild the nation. From scratch.

Lux Mundi

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Sunday, March 12, 2017

Free From Bondage, It's Time to Rebuild

Free from Bondage, It’s Time to Rebuild

Americans remembering March 12 515BC

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