The Makers and Teachers of Judaism Part 14

And his grave was made with the wicked, And among evil-doers his burial mound, Although he had done no violence, Neither was deceit in his mouth.

[Sidenote: Isa. 53:10-11b]

Yet Jehovah was pleased to crush him; Through giving himself as an offering for guilt, He shall see posterity and length of days, And the pleasure of Jehovah will be realized in his hands; Out of his own suffering he shall see light, He shall be satisfied with his knowledge.

[Sidenote: Isa. 53:11c-12]

My righteous servant shall make many righteous, And himself will bear the burden of their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, And with the strong shall he divide spoil, Because he poured out his life-blood, And was numbered with transgressors, And himself bore the sins of many, And interposed for transgressors.

I. The Different Portraits of Jehovah's Servant. Isaiah 49-54 contains three distinct portraits of the ideal servant of Jehovah. Each in turn develops characteristics suggested in the preceding. These descriptions are interspersed with exhortations addressed to Jehovah's servant Israel and a.s.surances that G.o.d will fully restore Jerusalem and bring back her scattered children. These three portraits of the type of servant that Jehovah required to realize his purpose in human history, together with the earlier portrait in 42:1-7, supplement each other. In the first of these four (42:1-7) the prophetic qualities of the servant are especially emphasized. Like the earlier prophets, he will not fail nor be discouraged until he has established justice in the earth. His task is to open blind eyes and to deliver prisoners from the darkness of ignorance and sin in which they were sitting. In the second picture (49:1-9a) the world-wide mission of the servant is emphasized. He is called not only to gather the outcasts of Israel, but also as an apostle to bring light to all the nations of the earth. In this pa.s.sage for the first time appears that note of suffering and ignominy which is the lot of the true servant of Jehovah.

In the third portrait (50:4-10) the servant is pictured as a disciple, attentively listening to the divine teachings, learning the lessons which will fit him in turn to become a teacher of men. The last and fullest picture (52:13-53:12) describes at length his suffering. A strong contrast is drawn between his present shame and ignominy and the future glory and victory which he will achieve through his voluntary and complete self-sacrifice. These pictures embody the prophet's ideal, and they can be fully understood only in the light of their historical background.

II. The Prophet's Purpose. In his earlier poems this great unknown prophet dealt largely with the interpretation of Israel's past history and the proclamation of the coming deliverance (40-48). His chief aims in chapters 49-55 may be briefly epitomized as follows: (1) to interpret the inner meaning of the period of adversity through which the Jewish race was then pa.s.sing; (2) to make absolutely clear the character and quality of the service that Jehovah required of his chosen people, if they were to realize his purpose in human history; (3) to inspire them all to make the needed sacrifices and thus to prove themselves true servants of Jehovah; (4) especially to make plain to the innocent and faithful sufferers in the Judean community the real meaning and value of their present shame and suffering, if bravely and voluntarily borne.

III, Character and Condition of Those to Whom the Prophet Appealed. From the allusions in the prophecies themselves it is possible to determine the cla.s.ses that the prophet had in mind. In 49:2 his address is to the coast lands and the distant peoples who lived at the extremities of Israel's horizon. It is not probable, however, that he antic.i.p.ated that his message in its present form would go out as it has to all races and nations; rather his attention was fixed on the scattered members of his own race, those who lived in the north and the west and in the distant city of Syene, far up the Nile (49:12). In 49:3 he clearly identifies the nation Israel as Jehovah's servant, whom he makes declare:

Jehovah said to me, Thou art my servant, Israel, in whom I will glorify myself.

It is evident, however, that the prophet has especially in mind the Judean community amidst which he lived and for which he worked. In 54, as elsewhere, he calls upon this group of discouraged Jews to enlarge their tent, for their period of punishment is over and their foundation and walls are about to be rebuilt. At last they shall cease to tremble at the fury of the oppressor. In 51:18-20 he addresses Jerusalem directly and gives a vivid picture of its condition before the appearance of Nehemiah:

Rouse thee! Rouse thee! stand up, O Jerusalem, Who hast drunk at Jehovah's hand the cup of his wrath!

The bowl of reeling thou hast drunken, hast drained!

There is none to guide thee of all the sons whom thou hast borne, And none to take thee by the hand of all the sons whom thou hast reared.

These two things have befallen thee--who can condole with thee?

Desolation and destruction, famine and the sword--who can comfort thee?

IV. The Task and Training of Jehovah's Servant. The term servant means literally slave, not in the Western sense, but in that of the ancient East, where a slave was often a privileged member of society. In many a Hebrew household the slaves, next to the children, enjoyed the protection and consideration of the master of the household. He was under obligation to guard their welfare and interests. On the other hand, slaves, like Eleazar in the story of Abraham (Gen. 26) faithfully cared for the interests of their master and spared no effort to carry out his commands.

Semitic usage had also given the term slave a significant meaning. The faithful officials of all Oriental kings called themselves his servants or slaves. It was the common term expressing, on the one hand, confidence and protection, and on the other, devotion, loyalty, and service. Most of Israel's patriarchs, kings, and prophets are spoken of as the servants or slaves of Jehovah. Haggai, in his address to Zerubbabel, called him Jehovah's servant. In Deuteronomy 32:36 the people of Israel are called the servants of Jehovah, and, as has been noted, in the prophecies of the II Isaiah they are frequently referred to as the servant of Jehovah.

The term, therefore, was well chosen to express that complete devotion And loyalty to Jehovah which the prophet aimed to evoke from his fellow-countrymen. It was also free from the kingly a.s.sociations and material interpretation that were connected with the word Messiah.

The prophet's aim was to present so vividly the task and methods of the true servant of Jehovah that all would recognize a personal call to duty.

He emphasizes three distinct yet related elements in the mission of the servant. They were: (1) To free the prisoners from their captivity, whether imprisoned by walls of stone or brick or under the tyranny of fears and false ideas. (2) To restore the scattered tribes of Israel and thus to lay the foundations for a renewed national life that would furnish concrete evidence to all the world of Jehovah's power to deliver. (3) To go beyond the narrow bounds of their race and to bring to the nations that were groping in the darkness of heathenism the knowledge and truth that had been imparted to Israel. Thus the unknown prophet laid the foundations for that Kingdom of G.o.d, that dominion of G.o.d in nature and in the minds of men that was the guide and inspiration of all later prophets and the goal for whose realization the Great Teacher and Prophet of Nazareth labored and died.

The prophet places great emphasis upon the training of Jehovah's servant.

He declares that from birth Jehovah formed him to be his servant. In [50:4-7] he is spoken of as a trained disciple attentively listening to the words of his divine teacher, never rebelling at the bitterness of the needful discipline, but ever seeking to prepare himself to give to the fainting a word of help. The steadfastness with which he endures shame and bitter wrongs is the evidence of his ability as a disciple and an essential part in his preparation for his exalted mission.

V. Methods of Jehovah's Servant. In accomplis.h.i.+ng his task the servant is to use definite instruction, but his teaching is to be ill.u.s.trated by his own character and att.i.tude. By the voluntary, uncomplaining endurance of ignominy and suffering he is to do Jehovah's work and win the grateful recognition, not only of his divine Master, but of all succeeding generations. Through a keen a.n.a.lysis of life the prophet had attained to a clear appreciation of the inestimable value of voluntary self-sacrifice.

He saw that it was the most effective means of uplifting the race and leading mankind to accept G.o.d's mastery over their minds and lives. The truth here presented is ill.u.s.trated in human experience as clearly to-day as in the past. The self-denying service of parents is absolutely essential if their children are to attain to the n.o.blest manhood and womanhood. Only through the self-sacrificing labors of those who love their fellow-men can social evils be removed and society attain its highest development. The low standards in the business and professional world can be raised only as certain men, with the spirit and courage of the ancient prophets, make their own personal interests and popularity subservient to the rigorous demands of justice. It is the law of life that he who would elevate the standards of his a.s.sociates and thus lead men to the fullest realization of the divine ideals must ordinarily do it in the face of opposition, ignominy, and seeming failure. It is this quiet, heroic self-sacrifice--the heroism of the commonplace--that the great prophet proclaims is the absolutely essential characteristic of Jehovah's servant. Despised by his contemporaries, the victim of persecution and calamity, he must do his task, leaving the reward and the appreciation to Jehovah and to the enlightened sense of later generations.

VI. Realization of the Ideal of Service. The portrait is so concrete that the question naturally arises, Who was the servant of whom the prophet was speaking? Undoubtedly the tragic experiences of such prophets as Jeremiah suggested many elements in the picture. For half a century that faithful servant of Jehovah suffered, often shrinkingly, yet voluntarily, a constant martyrdom. Upon him fell the persecutions of his countrymen. Yet in the life of later Judaism those principles for which he lived and died gained acceptance and application. Of him it may be truly said:

He was numbered with trangressors, And himself bore the sins of many, And interposed for transgressors.

The unknown author of these immortal poems spoke out of the depth of his own painful experience and doubtless in a large degree realized the ideals of service which he thus effectively set forth. Those of his contemporaries who, amidst persecution and insults, in their lives embodied the ideals of the earlier prophets were crushed like Jeremiah because of the iniquities of others; but by thus pouring out their life-blood they brought healing to their race. Nehemiah, in responding to the call of service and in turning his back upon the allurements of the Persian court in order to rebuild the city of his fathers, proved himself a faithful servant of Jehovah. With true insight the Christian Church has always recognized that in the character and life of Jesus is found the only complete realization of this ancient ideal of service. With the immortal chapters of the II Isaiah he was clearly familiar, and from them he doubtless received many suggestions regarding his divine mission and the methods by which it was to be accomplished. Their author was clearly speaking to his contemporaries; but in portraying the way in which Jehovah's purpose in human history could alone be realized he presented an ideal which has a permanent significance in the thought of the human race, Paul rightly recognized that the same responsibility to make this ideal a reality rested upon him, and all who would serve G.o.d, when he quoted the words of 49:6 (cf. Acts 13:47):

"I have set thee for a light of the Gentiles That thou shouldst be for salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth."

Section C. NEHEMIAH'S WORK IN REBUILDING THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM

[Sidenote: Neh. 1:1-3]

Now in the month of Chislev [November-December, 446 B.C.], I was in Shushan the royal palace, when Hanani, one of my kinsmen came, together with certain men from Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who were left from the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, The survivors who are left from the captivity there in the provinces are in great misfortune and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been destroyed by fire.

[Sidenote: Neh. 1:4-11b]

Now when I heard these statements I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and made supplication before the G.o.d of heaven, and I said, 'I beseech thee, O Jehovah, the G.o.d of heaven, the great and terrible G.o.d, who keepeth the covenant and showeth kindness to them who love and keep his commands; let thine ears now be attentive and thine eyes open, to hear the supplication of thy servant, which I am now making before thee, day and night, for the Israelites thy servants, while I confess the sins of the Israelites, which we have sinned against thee, as I also and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very wickedly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances, which thou didst command thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word which thou didst command thy servant Moses, saying, "If ye trespa.s.s I will scatter you abroad among the peoples; but if ye return to me, and keep my commands and do them, then, though your outcasts were at the ends of the earth, yet will I gather them thence and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, there to cause my name to dwell." Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let thine ear be attentive to the supplication of thy servant, and to the supplications of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name; and give success to thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.

[Sidenote: Neh. 1:11c-2:8]

Now I was cupbearer to the king. And it came to pa.s.s in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when I had charge of the wine, that I took up the wine and gave it to the king, and I had not beforetime been sad. And the king said to me, 'Why is your countenance sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.'

Then I was greatly afraid, and I said to the king, 'Let the king live forever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?' And then the king said to me, 'For what do you make request? So I prayed to the G.o.d of heaven. And I said to the king, 'If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may rebuild it.' And the king said to me (and the queen was also sitting by him), 'For how long will your journey be? And when will you return?' Then it pleased the king to send me; for I set him a time. Moreover I said to the king, 'If it please the king, let official letters be given me to the governors of the province beyond the River, that they may let me pa.s.s through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's park, that he may give me the timber to make beams for the gates of the castle, which belongs to the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter. And the king granted me this, according to the hand of my G.o.d which kindly cared for me.

[Sidenote: Neh. 2:9-16]

Then I came to the governors of the province beyond the River, and gave them the king's official letters. Now the king had sent with me military officers and hors.e.m.e.n. And when Sanballat, the Horonite, and Tobiah, the Ammonite slave, heard of it, it troubled them exceedingly, that one had come to seek the welfare of the Israelites. So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. And I arose in the night, together with a few of my followers, and I told no man what my G.o.d had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem, neither was there any beast with me, except the beast upon which I rode. And I went out by night through the Valley Gate, toward the Dragon's Well and to the Dung Gate, and investigated carefully the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and where its gates had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool, but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pa.s.s. Then I went up in the night by the Brook Kidron and investigated carefully the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.

And the rulers did not know where I went or what I did, neither had I as yet told it to the Jews nor to the priests nor to the n.o.bles nor to the rulers nor to the rest who did the work.

[Sidenote: Neh. 2:17-20]

Then I said to them, 'You see the bad condition in which we are, how Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates are destroyed by fire. Come and let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more an object of reproach.' And I told them of the hand of my G.o.d, which had kindly cared for me, as also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. And they said, 'Let us rise up and build.' So they strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanballat, the Horonite, and Tobiah, the Ammonite slave, and Geshem the Arabian heard it, they jeered at us and despised us, and said, 'What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?' Then I answered and said to them, 'The G.o.d of heaven, he will give us success, for we his servants will proceed to build; but you shall have no portion nor right nor memorial in Jerusalem.'

[Sidenote: Neh. 3:1, 2]

Then Elias.h.i.+b the high priest rose up with his kinsmen the priests and built the Sheep Gate; they laid its beams and set up the doors, even to the Tower of the Hundred, and to the Tower of Hananel. And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built.

[Sidenote: Neh. 3:3-5]

And the Fish Gate the sons of Ha.s.senaah built; they laid its beams, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And next to them Meremoth and Meshullam and Zadok and the Tekoites repaired the wall; but their n.o.bles did not bend their necks in the service of their lord.

[Sidenote: Neh. 3:6-12]

And the Old Gate Joida repaired; they laid its beams, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, which belongs to the jurisdiction of the governor of the province beyond the River, repaired. Next to him Uzziel, one of the goldsmiths, repaired. And next to him Hananiah, one of those who prepare sweet ointments, repaired. And they fortified Jerusalem even to the broad wall. And next to them Rephaiah, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired. And next to them Jedaiah repaired opposite his house. And next to him Hattush and Malchijah and Ha.s.shub repaired another section, even to the Tower of the Furnaces.

And next to him Shallum, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, together with its dependencies, repaired.

[Sidenote: Neh. 3:13, 14]

The Valley Gate Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired; they built it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and also built a thousand cubits of the wall to the Dung Gate. And the Dung Gate Malchijah, the ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, together with his sons, repaired.

[Sidenote: Neh. 3:15-27]

And the Fountain Gate Shallun, the ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired; and he built it, and covered it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and he also built the wall of the Pool of Siloam by the King's Garden, even to the stairs that go down from the city of David.

After him Nehemiah, the ruler of half the district of Bethzur, repaired to the place opposite the Sepulchres of David, even to the pool that was made and to the House of the Warriors. After him Rehum the son of Bani repaired. Next to him Hashabiah, the ruler of half the district of Keilah, repaired for his district. After him their kinsmen Bennui, the ruler of half the district of Keilah, repaired. And next to him Ezer, the ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the bend in the wall. After him Baruch repaired from the bend in the wall to the door of the house of Elias.h.i.+b the high priest. After him Meremoth repaired another section, from the entrance to the house of Elias.h.i.+b even to the end of the house of Elias.h.i.+b. And after him the priests, the men of the Plain of the Jordan, repaired. After them Benjamin and Ha.s.shub repaired opposite their house. After them Azariah repaired beside his own house. After him Binnui repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the bend in the wall and to the corner. After him Palal repaired opposite the bend and the upper tower that stands out from the royal palace of the king, which is toward the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah repaired, to the place opposite the Water Gate toward the east and the tower that stands out. After him the Tekoites repaired another section, opposite the great tower that stands out and to the wall of Ophel. And the temple servants dwelt in Ophel.

[Sidenote: Neh. 3:28-32]

Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each one opposite his own house. After them Zadok the son of Immer repaired opposite his own house.

After him Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, repaired. After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah and Hanum the sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After him Meshullam the son of Berschiah repaired opposite his chamber. After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, opposite the Gate of the Watch Tower and to the ascent of the corner. And between the ascent of the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired.

[Sidenote: Neh. 4:1-5]

Now when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, his anger was aroused and he was very indignant, and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his kinsmen and the army of Samaria and said, 'What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they leave it to G.o.d? Will they sacrifice?

Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, although they are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was with him, and he said, 'Even that which they are building, if a fox should go up on it, he would break down their stone wall!' Hear, O our G.o.d--for we are despised--and turn back their reproach upon their own head and give them up as an object of spoil in a land of captivity, and cover not their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.

[Sidenote: Neh. 4:6-8]

So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people were eager to work. But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites, heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem was progressing, so that the breaches began to be stopped, they were very angry. And they all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to produce a panic therein.

[Sidenote: Neh. 4:9-14]

But we made supplication to our G.o.d, and set a watch as a protection against them day and night. Then the Judean community said, 'The strength of the burden-bearers is broken, for there is much rubbish; so that we shall not be able to rebuild the wall. And our adversaries have said, "They shall neither know nor see, until we come into their midst and slay them and bring the work to a standstill."' And it came to pa.s.s that when the Jews who dwelt by them came, they said to us ten times, 'From all the places where they dwell they will come up against us.' Therefore I stationed in the lowest parts of the s.p.a.ce behind the wall, in the protected places, I set there the people by their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And when I saw their fear, I rose up and said to the n.o.bles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, 'Be not afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your kinsmen, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.'