And the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy;
The second temple stood finished at last, and the people who had come back from exile held its dedication with joy. The building was far smaller than Solomon's and most of the nation was still scattered, so what did they have to be glad about?
The completion came only after a long stoppage, and commentators trace that delay to the builders' own timidity rather than to the strength of their enemies.
The elders among the Jews build and prosper through the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah. They complete the temple by the commandment of the God of Israel — and also by the commandment of the ruling kings of Persia (v. 14). This is the special mark of this revival: God brought it about while they were humbled and under the rule of the Gentile powers. The work on the temple had stopped for fifteen years... How disastrous are the delays caused by the fear of man, and by the lack of confidence in the Lord that always follows it!
The joy was real, but the house was not what it had been. What God gave back was His presence at the acknowledged centre, not the visible glory of former days.
Compared with the dedication of Solomon, a glorious memory, this dedication is a very feeble thing. Even so, joy fills the hearts of the people. Once again God causes "His name to dwell" (v. 12) in this restored house, and with public approval. His glory does not return to it, nor His throne between the cherubim. But His spiritual presence cannot be missing where His people acknowledge the centre at which He gathers them.
One thing was missing at this dedication, and it says a lot. Fire had once come down from heaven on the sacrifices; here none came.
The LORD had given them cause for joy. But fire no longer came down from heaven to show that God accepted the sacrifice offered at the dedication of the house. It was a difference of absence, yet a deeply significant one. Even the thing they rejoiced in showed their true state: "The LORD had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel." That was great kindness and touching grace on His part. But what a change!
When the foundation was laid, the contrast with the older house had brought tears. The same contrast was here, yet this time the joy held.
If they had dwelt on this side of things, their joy might well have come mixed with weeping and tears, as it did when they laid the foundation. But faith has to do with unseen things. So faith could remind this weak, small company that the Lord was no less mighty and no less merciful for them than He was for Solomon.
The verse calls this gathering "the people of Israel," though they were only a fragment of the nation. How would they treat those who stayed behind in Babylon?
In fact, these "children of Israel" were only a small, weak part of the two tribes Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and the Levites. At such a moment they might have been tempted to forget their brothers who had not answered the proclamation of Cyrus — or even to shut them out... Those brothers chose an easy life in Babylon, captives though they were, instead of suffering hardship with those "whose spirit God had raised"... So had they not forfeited their place and title among the people of God? A harsh spirit might have argued that way. But this poor, weak company, whatever their condition, held the thoughts of God.
This dedication is one of a series of glad gatherings in Israel's history, all of them tied to God's house, and one writer draws a direct encouragement from the fact that this one came so late and in such poverty.
These feasts, with one exception, express pure joy alone. They were spontaneous, and the law never commanded them. The joy in them always had to do with the house of God. From this we may draw a comforting conclusion. Feeling the decline around us must not weaken our joy in any way, for the blessings the Lord pours on His Assembly today are worth as much as in the more prosperous times of the Church's history. "Rejoice in the Lord always", we are told — and that in days when the ruin was growing more marked.
- Finished — the house was completed under the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah. The work had stopped for fifteen years first, and commentators blame the fear of man.
- Feeble — the dedication was small beside Solomon's. No fire fell from heaven, and the glory did not return.
- Filled — God made His name dwell there again. His presence at their centre of gathering was reason enough for joy.
- Faith — their joy held because faith looks at unseen things. God was no less mighty and no less merciful for this weak few than for Solomon.
- Far-reaching — this small group did not write off the brothers who stayed away. They held the thoughts of God about the whole people.
and they presented at the dedication of this house of God a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and for a sin-offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
The temple stands complete, and the exiles mark the day with a few sacrifices — among them twelve goats for a nation whose ten other tribes were far away. Why do so few offer for all twelve, and what is left to rejoice in when so much is gone?
The dedication was a real celebration. But set beside Solomon's dedication, it looked poor.
It was only natural that they should rejoice at such a moment. The house of their God expressed all the blessings of the covenant in which they stood. And at last it stood completed before their eyes, after weary years of failure, difficulties, disappointments, and sorrow... But contrast this dedication with the dedication of Solomon's temple, and you see their own weakness and the poverty of their circumstances. Then the king offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep... If they had dwelt on this, their joy might well have carried lamentation and tears, as it did when they laid the foundation. But faith has to do with unseen things. So it could remind this weak remnant that the Lord was no less mighty and no less merciful for them than for Solomon.
The number of goats is not a round figure. It matches a nation that had long since split in two.
By this time five or six centuries had passed since the nation split and the ten tribes broke away under Jeroboam. Yet the returned remnant recognised that God had called the whole nation out of Egypt. They knew the division which followed was their failure and not God's purpose, and that God never swerves from His original thought and call. So they still had all twelve tribes on their hearts. Though they were only a remnant, they held to God's thought and purpose for the whole nation.
Here the twelve appear in sacrifice, not in stone.
The sacrifice makes a public confession of sin, and it leaves no tribe out. In the time of Elijah, an altar of twelve stones expressed the unity of the people. We no longer find that. Instead we find twelve male goats offered on the altar for the expiation of a common sin. So they acknowledge their solidarity and equality in sin. These exiles belonged to Judah and Benjamin. In their eyes the sin of those two tribes is just as great as the sin of the other ten, and it needs the same expiation.
Most of the people were nowhere near Jerusalem. The offering still covered them, and that has a lesson for small gatherings today.
And faith was at work in these children of the captivity, for we find that they offered a sin offering for all Israel. All Israel was not there — only representatives of two or three tribes. But these few stood on the ground of the nation before God. They understood this, and so they included all the tribes of Israel in their sin offering. This is a significant lesson for the remnant gathered out in these last days to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ... for the faith that links itself with God on the one hand links itself on the other hand with all His people.
Fire from heaven had once shown God's acceptance at such a dedication. This time it did not fall.
The Lord had given them cause for joy; but fire no longer came down from heaven to testify to divine acceptance of the sacrifice offered for the dedication of the house. This was indeed a negative difference, but one of deep significance.
God's people are still divided today. One writer separates what we cannot change from what we can still do.
Does this not have a voice for today, does it not give direction in a time of ruin? We cannot undo the scattering of God's people, we cannot force everyone to return to the basic principles that Jerusalem stands for (though we want to encourage as many as we can to do so). But we can act on the basis that the people of God is one.
- Finished — the house stood complete after years of failure and delay. Faith could remind a weak remnant that God was no less mighty for them than for Solomon.
- Joy — the small offerings and the missing fire from heaven marked a changed day, yet the people still rejoiced.
- Confession — twelve goats put every tribe under the same sin offering. The exiles claimed no advantage over the ten tribes that stayed away.
- Whole — the split in the nation was human failure, not God's purpose. So a few from two tribes still carried all twelve on their hearts.
- Today — we cannot undo the scattering, but we can still act on the fact that God's people are one.
And they set the priests in their classes, and the Levites in their divisions, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem as it is written in the book of Moses.
The temple is finished and dedicated. The first thing the returned exiles do is order its service, setting priests and Levites in their groups by the written instruction of Moses. Why did a small, poor remnant tie itself so closely to a book?
A newly finished house might have invited new human arrangements. These builders went the other way.
They were also marked at this moment by obedience. They arranged the service of the house, both the priests and the Levites, as the book of Moses says. The path of obedience, whether for the individual or for the assembly, is the only path of blessing. At that time, with the house of God just completed, they would have thought it folly for man to push his own thoughts into it. Their only concern was to know what God had said, what He had directed.
The groups themselves go back to David. He sorted the priestly families into fixed turns of service, which older writings also call courses or classes.
David divided the priests into 24 courses: 16 of them were of the house of Eleazar, and 8 of Ithamar. A list of them, under the name of each head, is given in 1 Chronicles 24:6-19. The Levites were divided in a similar manner.
Yet the verse points to Moses, not to David. One writer weighs both what is named here and what is missing:
The priests are set in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, according to the law of Moses. Here we find more faithfulness than in the best days of the kings. But we hear nothing of the ordinances of David, and we see a still greater lack in their keeping of the feast of dedication.
This verse is not a one-off. The same phrase keeps returning from the first altar onward.
The return of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon was also marked by their submission to the authority of the written law of Jehovah. When they were gathered together as one man in Jerusalem, they "built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God... they kept also the feast of tabernacles as it is written."
The people had far less to give than before.
Despite so many blessings, the resources of the people were very much diminished, whether for offerings or for service (compare 1 Kings 8:63). But this did not hinder the order of service in any way. For this order they had an authority that could not fail. They could always turn to what "is written in the book of Moses" — in other words, the word of God.
Another writer draws out what a time of ruin does not excuse:
They took care about order too. A time of ruin never justifies relaxing about Scripture. It calls for special care in those who care for God's house.
The same writer who described their obedience warns how such obedience slips away:
No danger is more subtle than the gradual creeping into the assembly of human thoughts and arrangements in place of the word of God. In effect, though it is not intended, it removes the Lord from His place of supremacy over His people. So there never was a time when it was more necessary to remember the words of our risen Lord: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
- Written. They set the service of the finished house "as it is written." Their one concern was to know what God had said.
- Ordered. The divisions were fixed turns of service. David had sorted the families into them.
- Unchanged. Their resources had shrunk, but the order of service held. The book of Moses stayed an authority they could always turn to.
- Heightened. A time of ruin is no excuse to hold Scripture loosely. It calls for greater care in those who care for God's house.
- Guarded. The subtlest danger is human arrangements creeping in to replace the word. That removes the Lord from His place of supremacy, even when no one means it.