IN THE SECOND YEAR OF THEIR COMING... THE SECOND MONTH. They came in the spring and this was the second fall after. The old Jewish year had begun with the spring, but in the Captivity the custom had arisen of beginning the year in September, like the Babylonians. UNTO THE HOUSE OF GOD. Where it h... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN STOOD JESHUA. Probably not the high priest, but the Jeshua named in chapter 2:40, and there associated with Kadmiel.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE BUILDERS LAID THE FOUNDATION. Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the high priest, who presided over the work. "So important seemed the step thus taken that the day was celebrated with the finest display of the old pomp on which they had yet ventured. The priests, in the rich dresses that Zerubbabel ha... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SANG BY COURSE IN PRAISING. This will be better understood by reading 2 Chronicles 5:11-14. In the account of the dedication the re given we are told how the Levites, the singers, of the families of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun, arrayed in linen, with cymbals, harps and psaltery, joined with... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT MANY OF THE PRIESTS AND LEVITES AND CHIEF OF THE FATHERS. Long and loud were these Jewish _Te Deums_ re-echoed by the shouts of the multitude. It was not, however,. day of unmingled joy, for among the crowd stood some aged men who had lived through the catastrophe of the Captivity; who, in thei... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THAT THE PEOPLE COULD NOT DISCERN THE NOISE OF THE SHOUT OF JOY FROM THE NOISE OF THE WEEPING OF THE PEOPLE. The two sounds were so mingled that they could not be distinguished from each other, but "the people shouted with. loud shout," and in this the sound of the wailing was absorbed. Haggai 2... [ Continue Reading ]