For who hath despised the day of small things? Yea, they shall rejoice [even] those seven -- and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel these are the eyes of Jehovah, which run to and fro in the whole earth.
The exiles have come home to Jerusalem. Zerubbabel and the small group with him are rebuilding the temple, and it looks poor next to Solomon's. The verse turns the question around. What matters is not how the work looks to people, but how it looks to the eyes of the Lord.
The Small Day
The work was modest, and God knew it.
Rebuilding the temple in those days was a fairly modest task. The people wept when they remembered the past glory of the temple. Yet in God's eyes this small beginning still mattered. He was well pleased with those who took the building of His house to heart.
This was not the first small beginning in Israel's history.
Smallness marked what we may call Israel's day. That nation started out as "the fewest of all peoples" (Deut. 7:7)... In the days of the exile, God graciously stirred the spirits of some (Ezra 1:5), but the revival was very limited. Ezra called it "a little reviving" (Ezra 9:8).
Why They Despised It
The temptation came from looking backwards and measuring by appearance.
Some, if not all, had been tempted to do this (Ezra 3:12). They had compared the poor look of the present building with the glory of Solomon's. Comparing the present with the past discouraged them, and in that discouragement they thought little of the work they were doing. The message now shows them that in this state of mind they were not in fellowship with the mind and heart of God. The question was not the outward glory of their work, but what God thought about it.
Out Of Step With God
To despise such a day is to be out of step with God when the work is finished.
It was only a day of small things now. But the man who despised it would not be in step with the LORD of hosts when the work was completed. The same spirit that owns God's delight in what is little will have honour from God in the great day, and no one else will. But a day when God is testing hearts is always a day of small things, open to the scorn of the man whose heart is not content to serve God.
There is an opposite danger too.
Those days of small things were just God's opportunity for doing great things. But let us, beloved, beware of attempting to do great things in a day of small things.
The Plumb Line
The plumb line appears in Zerubbabel's hand when the work is done.
Another message comes to the prophet about Zerubbabel, with the promise that the eyes of the Lord would rejoice when they saw the plumb line in his hand and the work finished. The hands that laid the foundation of the house would finish it. This teaches us that no opposition or enmity, and none of the enemy's cunning, can hinder or even slow the progress of the work of God, when His people work in dependence on Him and count only on His support and protection.
Who does the rejoicing? One reading gives it to the eyes of the Lord themselves.
The seven eyes of the Lord, seen in the previous chapter 'on one stone', will rejoice, because they run through the whole earth and see everything.
The Seven Eyes
The same seven eyes appear at four points in Scripture.
In 2 Chronicles 16:9, they "run to and fro throughout the whole earth." This is providence in general. In Zechariah 3:9, they are on the stone laid in Jerusalem. In Zechariah 4:10 these same eyes are settled in Jerusalem, yet they "range through the whole earth". This care comes from God's purpose to set His throne in Zion. Finally, in Revelation 5, before the throne is in Zion, the eyes are in the horns of the Lamb on high.
Small Work Today
The same excuse gets used today.
We sometimes grumble, either with disappointment or with resignation: "After all, it is a day of small things". We may use this as an excuse to give up some form of service for the Lord, or even to discourage others from trying anything at all. Perhaps we forget that the text asks: "For who has despised the day of small things?"
Note: this writer quotes an older translation, which phrases the line as a question.
Summary
- Small day. The second temple looked poor next to Solomon's. Comparing the present with the past bred the contempt God challenges.
- Small measure. The question is never how glorious the work looks, but what God thinks of it.
- Small hands. The hands that laid the foundation finish it — no opposition can stop God's work while His people lean on Him.
- Small but watched. The seven eyes move from God's care over all the earth, to the stone in Jerusalem, and at last to the Lamb in Revelation 5.
- Small day, great God. A day of small things is God's opportunity for great things — so neither despise it nor try to inflate it.