Old Testament Lesson 48 - “The Great and Dreadful Day of the Lord”

 

Study Zechariah 10–14 and Malachi.

Zechariah and Malachi prophesied of many events of the last days. What events are described in the following passages?

Zechariah 12:2–3, 8–9

Zechariah 14:3–4 (see also D&C 45:48)

Zechariah 12:10; 13:6 (see also D&C 45:51–53)

Zechariah 14:5 (see also D&C 88:96–98)

Zechariah 14:9

Zechariah 14:12–13; Malachi 4:1–3 (see also 1 Nephi 22:15–17, 19)

Malachi 3:1

Malachi 4:5–6 (see also D&C 2; 110:13–16)

Malachi said that people “rob God” when they do not pay tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:8–9). How is this true?

What does it mean to “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers”? (It means to be sealed for eternity to all our ancestors—our “fathers”—and to all our posterity—our “children”—through the sealing power of the priesthood and the temple ordinances for the living and the dead.)

How have you felt your heart turn to your ancestors as you have done family history and temple work for them? How do the promises of temple covenants turn your heart to your parents, spouse, and children?

OT Gospel Doctrine Lesson #48 -

Zechariah Malachi
Background
Judah fell to the Babylonians around 586 BC. Many were carried into Babylon. Jeremiah and Ezekiel were the prophets of the early exile. Cyrus the Great, king of Persia, took over the empire in 539 BC. While the Babylonians sought to intimidate its subjects, the Persians sought to please them, so they would be willing subjects of the kingdom. Cyrus returned the Jews to Jerusalem. His successor, Darius, divided his empire into divisions ruled by governors. Zerubbabel was made governor over Judah (Yehud). Haggai and Zechariah were the chief prophets in Judah during this period (about 520 BC).

A focus of both Darius and the prophets was the rebuilding of the temple. For Darius, it helped to consolidate his strength in the Persian Empire. For the Jews, it was a Godsend.

Zechariah was the son of Berechiah and a descendant of the chief high priest, Iddo. Zechariah means “God remembers.” Berechiah means “God will bless.” Iddo means “At the appointed time.” Together, their names suggest: At the appointed time, God remembers and will bless them.”

The Key Concepts of the Old Testament
With Zechariah and Malachi, we complete the year study of the Old Testament. It continues with a pattern seen frequently in the official lessons:

There is a pattern of Creation, Fall and Restoration.

Since the Creation of the earth, the Fall of Adam, and the future promise of the earth’s paradisiacal restoration to an Edenic state, we see in the Bible and other scriptures a pattern of creation, fall, and restoration. Adam was created in the Garden of Eden, fell from it, and was restored to Yahweh/Jehovah’s presence at Adam-Ondi-Ahman (D&C 107).

The Gospel was preached by Enoch and Noah. The righteous who believed them were translated and restored to God’s presence in the City of Enoch, while the wicked experienced the Fall of the Great Flood.

Yahweh created Israel, his people of promise, by making a special covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Over time they fell from favor and were enslaved by Egypt. God sought a new creation for Israel by rescuing them via Moses.

Moses desired to restore Israel to God’s presence at Mt Sinai (D&C 84), but when Israel refused to enter into Yahweh’s presence, they were given a lesser restoration and promise. Instead of all of Israel serving God in His presence, only a select few of Israel would do so: prophets and priests.

The Tabernacle, and later the temples in Jerusalem, Elephantium and in Samaria, would be holy places where the people could approach near the throne of God, located in the Holy of Holies of the temples. (We will come back to these other temples)

The Jerusalem temple’s ark of the covenant held the national treasures of Israel: the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s budding stick, manna, and other miraculous and sacred objects of God’s power. The ark was part of the Mercy Seat, seated between the two cherubim in the Holy of Holies, where God judged his people. When they were righteous, he restored them to blessings. When they rebelled, he allowed them to fall from His presence, and lose the protection of being the Promised people.

While the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were carried off, and the tribes of Israel still lost to mankind, the Lord promised to restore them. Judah would return from captivity and the temple rebuilt (known as the Second Temple). Yet in 70 AD, Judah would be destroyed again, this time by the Romans. They would live in exile for almost 2000 years, with the hope that someday Yahweh would restore them to their land, and allow them to build the third temple in Jerusalem.

Temples, besides Jerusalem

When we speak of temples we are normally referring to the 1st Temple, Solomon’s Temple, or the second temple, that is the rebuilt Solomon’s temple that just occurred in the last lesson.  There were other Jewish temples that are not often discussed.

North, Kingdom of Israel: There were two temples built in Samaria (the old capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel).  It was built by Jeroboam so his people wouldn’t feel such strong loyalty to the temple in Jerusalem.  One was on the southern border at Bethel.  One was at Dan on the northern border.  They both had large golden bulls set up as shrines.  The bull was named “Elohim”, the God who brought the Israelites out of Egypt.  Naming the bull “Elohim” was good politically for Jeroboam. 

Later, during the Hellenistic period, the temple at Dan still possessed a powerful religious attraction.  This is noted by Greek-Aramaic inscriptions from the complex indicating “god who is in Dan”.   The link takes you to an article that has pictures of the northern temples.

Egypt: There were also two Jewish temples in ancient Egypt.  They are rarely discussed in our modern tradition, but they are well-attested by contemporary sources. 

One of the temples, that of Onias, in Egypt has been known 2,000 years and attested by the historian, Josephus Flavius, and is noted in the Talmud.  The site for this temple was thought to be found 100 years ago, but was lost again. This was the Temple of Anias (Onias) at Leontopolis dating to 200 BCE.

The other Jewish temple in Egypt was only discovered 100 years ago.  This is the Temple of Elephantine dating to about 500 BCE. 

Onias: In the book the Antiquities, Josephus says that the Temple of Onias was both like and unlike the temple at Jerusalem.  He indicates it was built like a fortress with towers 30 meters high.  Who was Onias?  He is thought to be Honiah IV.  He was a high priest by birth but was prevented from following in his father’s footsteps by the High Priest named Jason.  Jason started the process of Hellenizing Jerusalem (making it more “Greek”).  Jason’s Hellenizing activities led ultimately to the Jewish Maccabean revolt. 

Honiah IV went off and started the Temple at Leontopolis with the agreement of Pharaoh Ptolemy IV and Cleopatra I (not the famous Cleopatra VII).

This temple had legitimacy in the eyes of the Talmud, as it was set up by the son of a traditional high priest and it fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt..." (19:19).

The Mishnah tells us that a sacrifice vowed in Egypt could be redeemed at Leontopolis, but a kohen (priest) who had served in Egypt could not officiate in Jerusalem, though he was allowed to eat the truma (priestly food) there (Menahot 13:10). This temple (Onias) stood for more than 200 years and was destroyed by the Romans in 73 CE, shortly after their destruction of Jerusalem.

How did they lose this temple?

In early 1906 the famous Egyptologist Sir William Flinders Petrie spent six weeks at a site called Tel el-Yehudiyeh (Hill of the Jewess) and claimed he had found the Temple of Onias, on a sandy mound attached to the city of Rameses III. Because of the great Jewish interest, he gave a lecture on it at King's College in London, which was reported in the Jewish Chronicle of May 18, 1906. He had made a model of the temple, which was like the towered fortress described by Josephus, and he invited all present to view it at University College. The British chief rabbi of the time, Hermann Adler, thanked Petrie for his great discovery and service to the Jewish community.

Unfortunately Petrie's model has disappeared and so has the original site. On a recent visit, (the author) was unable to confirm Petrie's discovery and it has to be admitted that all traces of the temple have disappeared, though an identifiable ancient Jewish cemetery does lie nearby. Or perhaps Petrie had never found the real location, as he had claimed.

The Temple of Onias at Leontopolis was destroyed by the Romans in 73 CE, shortly after the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed. 

Elephantine: The Temple at Elephantine is 700 km further south.  It is on an island in the Nile that guards the southern boundary of ancient Egypt.  This was built around 500 BCE by a group of Jewish mercenaries that helped protect the southern border of Egypt, and later of the Persian empire.  This site has been found and excavated. It was destroyed between 400-500 BCE. 

In summary, there have been several Jewish/Israelite temples.  Remember that when the great temple “Reform” was undertaken by Josiah when his priests found the “lost” book of Deuteronomy, one of the things he wanted to reform was to centralize all worship to the temple in Jerusalem.  Clearly then, there were other temples in other places, including those discussed here. 

Back to Zechariah

The Return

With the earth fallen from God’s presence, Isaiah, Zechariah, Malachi and other prophets foresaw the day when Yahweh would return in power and glory, Restoring not only Israel, but the whole earth, back into God’s presence.

The lesson assigns us Zechariah 10-14.  We will cover just a few verses to move through the book to that point.  First, Zechariah calls his people to repentance. 

Zech 1 ³ Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.

⁴ Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord.

 

In chapter 2 Zechariah’s vision indicates that in the last days, Judah will gather to Jerusalem—The people will come from the land of the north—The Lord will dwell among them.

Zechariah 2 ¹ I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand.

² Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.

³ And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,

⁴ And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:

In chapter 3 Zechariah speaks about the Messiah—The Branch will come—At the Second Coming, iniquity will be removed in one day.

Zechariah 3 ¹ And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

² And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

³ Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.

 

Joshua the high priest must change his clothes, and then an interesting reference to the temple

Zechariah 3 ⁴ And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.

You hear the atonement there, the sins were passed to a redeemer and this was symbolized by the change of clothing. 

⁵ And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by.

⁶ And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying,

⁷ Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.

Zerubbabel (the governor assigned by Cyrus) will lay the foundation of and finish the house of the Lord, the temple of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah, sent from Persia.

Zechariah 4 ⁹ The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.

In Zechariah 6 Zechariah crowns Joshua, the high priest, in similitude of Christ, the Branch, who will come—Christ will be a priest upon His throne forever. Listen to the first two verses and you will hear similarities to the book of Revelations.

Zechariah 6 ¹ And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.

² In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;

³ And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses.

⁴ Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord?

⁵ And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.

Then down to verse 12, the Branch, the Savior, the Messiah

Zechariah 6 ¹² And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord:

¹³ Even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

Down to Zechariah 8.  In the last days, Jerusalem will be restored, Judah will be gathered, and the Lord will bless His people beyond anything in the past.

Zechariah 8 ⁷ Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;

⁸ And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

In Zechariah 9 Zechariah speaks as the Messiah—The Messiah will come, having salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass—He will free the prisoners from the pit

Zechariah 9 ¹⁴ And the Lord shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.

Listen to that same verse in the CJB…

Zechariah 9 ¹⁴ Adonai will appear over them,
and his arrow will flash like lightning.
Adonai Elohim will blow the shofar
and go out in the whirlwinds of the south. (CJB)

In Jewish thought, a name is not merely an arbitrary designation, a random combination of sounds. The name conveys the nature and essence of the thing named. It represents the history and reputation of the being named.

This is not as strange or unfamiliar a concept as it may seem at first glance. In English, we often refer to a person's reputation as his "good name." When a company is sold, one thing that may be sold is the company's "good will," that is, the right to use the company's name. The Hebrew concept of a name is very similar to these ideas.

One of the things we miss with the KJV that you get in something like the CJB is these proper names.  Lord (Adonai), Lord God (Adonai Elohim), Lord of Hosts (Adonai-Tzva’ot) all come across differently when read like this.

In Zechariah 10 Judah and Joseph will be scattered among the people in far countries—The Lord will hiss for them, gather them, and redeem them.

Zechariah 10 ³ Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.

Then he will redeem them.

Zechariah 10 ⁶ And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them.

⁷ And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.

⁸ I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.

 

And then a reference to the atonement…

Zechariah 10 ¹¹ And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.

¹² And I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the Lord.

In Zechariah 11 he speaks about the Messiah—The Messiah will be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver—They will be cast to the potter in the house of the Lord.

Zechariah 11 ¹¹ And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord.

¹² And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

¹³ And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.

Prised: Something offered or won as an award for superiority or victory, as in a contest or competition

In Zechariah 12 he indicates there will be a great final war, all nations will be engaged at Jerusalem, but the Lord will defend His people.

Zechariah 12 ² Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.

³ And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

Then the Jews will look upon the Lord, whom they crucified, and there will be great mourning.

Zechariah 12 ¹⁰ And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

John 19:37 quotes this closely”…They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”

An interesting question is, How do the Jews interpret Zechariah 12:10, something that we think very closely identifies with the Savior.  They essentially have two answers.  1. It refers to an event from the prophet’s own era.  2. It is a prophecy of an event that will take place in the future before the commencement of the messianic era.  They do not read it as a reference to the Savior.

Thus they see it as a messianic prophecy…of a messiah that has still not yet come, just as is the basic Jewish belief. 

One of the nice parts of Zechariah is that the chapters are very short and concise. 

In Zechariah 13 it indicates that the Jews will gain forgiveness at the Second Coming—They will ask the Lord, What are these wounds in Thine hands?—The remnant, tried and refined, will be His people.

Zechariah 13 ⁴ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:

⁵ But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.

⁶ And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

Zechariah 14 closes by indicating that at His Second Coming, the Lord will fight for Israel—His feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives—He will be King over all the earth—Plagues will destroy the wicked.

Zechariah 14 ² For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

³ Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

⁴ And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

and then in vs 11

Zechariah 14 ¹¹ And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.

The last verse, 21:

Zechariah 14 ²¹ Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.

Listen to the difference in that verse compared to the CJB…

 ²¹ Yes, every cooking pot in Yerushalayim and Y’hudah will be consecrated to Adonai-Tzva’ot. Everyone who offers sacrifices will come, take them and use them to stew the meat. When that day comes, there will no longer be merchants in the house of Adonai-Tzva’ot.

Zechariah Summary

Chapter 6 Zechariah crowns Joshua, the high priest, in similitude of Christ, the Branch, who will come—Christ will be a priest upon His throne forever.

Chapter 8 In the last days Jerusalem will be restored, Judah gathered. 

Chapter 9 The Messiah will come, salvation, lowly and riding upon an ass

Chapter 10 Judah and Joseph scattered in far countries, The Lord will gather them redeem them.

Chapter 11 The Messiah betrayed for thirty pieces of silver.

Chapter 12 In the final great war, all nations will be engaged at Jerusalem.  The Lord will defend His people, then the Jews will look upon the Lord, whom they crucified, and there will be great mourning.

Chapter 13 The Jews gain forgiveness at the Second Coming, They will ask the Lord, What are these wounds in Thine hands?

Chapter 14 At His Second Coming, the Lord will fight for Israel, His feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives, He will be King over all the earth, Plagues will destroy the wicked.

Zechariah’s Teachings and Prophecies of the Temple and Messiah

Zechariah’s teachings and prophesies of the future focus on the priesthood and temple. While Judah has a governor, greater emphasis and power is given to the chief high priest, Joshua.  Joshua, as chief high priest, was directly involved in the building of the 2nd temple and the services occurring within it.

For Zechariah, Joshua is viewed as a symbol of the future Messiah, who would save Israel in the long run. Joshua restored the priestly blessings of the temple to Israel, and the Messiah would restore Israel back into God’s presence in his celestial temple.

Interestingly, the name Jesus is the Greek form of Jehoshua, or Joshua. Zechariah may have been speaking regarding the great chief priest of his day, but his prophesy foreshadows the Messiah, who also would be named Yeshua. Joshua is told to remove his dirty clothes and replace them with clean and holy garments.

Clean in his presence: This is a common theme for priests and prophets who are cleansed prior to entering into God’s presence. Moses removed his sandals on holy ground; Aaron and his sons were clothed in priestly temple robes; in early Jewish-Christian texts, Enoch, Isaiah and others put on celestial clothing prior to performing service at God’s throne. Joshua’s clothing change symbolized his inner cleansing and that of Judah, as the temple was readied for service.

Jim Faulconer notes that the first 6 chapters may be a chiasmus, which allows the earliest portions to help explain the later, more obscure prophesies. It also demonstrates that the priesthood and temple are in the center of Zechariah’s prophesy. We learn that the priesthood represents God’s power and the temple represents God’s knowledge, secrets, and presence.

In chapter 6, Zechariah makes crowns, one of which is placed upon Joshua’s head. Zechariah sees that the Branch will also receive a crown, rebuild the temple, serving and blessing the people, even as Joshua will do for his people.
According to Bible.org, we find that:

“Some of the things we know about the Branch:
(1) The Branch will be a man. (Isa 4:2; Jer 23:3-5; 33:14-26)
(2) The Branch will be from Israel. (Micah 5:2; Isa 53:2)
(3) The Branch will build the temple. (Eze 40-43; Hag 2)”

The Branch is the Messiah, even Jesus Christ. And there is a double fulfillment we can understand about the Branch. In his first coming as a mortal, Jesus was a man from Israel. The temple Jesus built in mortality was that of his resurrected body. The Lord told the Jews that the temple would be destroyed and then rebuilt in three days, meaning his physical body.

We know that in his 2nd Coming in glory, Jesus will come as a man, reclaiming his position as King and High Priest over Israel, and he will turn the earth into a paradisiacal temple. The temple in Jerusalem, as well as others, will be built across the world to perform service to God throughout the millennial era.

That Zechariah was so closely connected to the 2nd Temple’s beginnings, establishing Joshua as the chief priest of the temple and as a Messianic symbol, extends to his visions of the latter-days. In conjunction with Daniel and John’s Revelation, we see the day would come when the Gentile nations would attack Jerusalem.

The prophet warned the Jews of his day to escape Babylon (2:6-7) in the north. This prophecy applies today for those who engaged in modern Babylon. Babylon was a nation that mistreated and abused Israel, forcing others to engage in its industry and belief system (think on how Daniel and his friends were forced to worship the gods and king of Babylon). Zechariah’s Judah was protected by King Darius of Persia. Darius means “Lord”, and so the latter-day Israel is called to flee Babylon to modern Israel, where the Lord can be their protector.

Prophesying of the mortal Messiah, Zechariah saw that the staff of Beauty, even Jesus, would be “cut asunder” and sold for 30 pieces of silver. This was the price for purchasing a slave, and it was the 30 pieces that Judas Iscariot would cast to on the Potter’s Field (Zech 11:10-13).

Zechariah foresaw the world laying siege to the holy city (12:1-2). It will be in that day that the Lord will send His grace upon them, even the Messiah to deliver them. At that time, they will see the one whom they pierced and weep. They shall weep for joy that they have been delivered, and weep for sorrow for the Christ whom they slew 2000 years before (12:8-11, 13:6).

Malachi

Malachi means “my messenger.” He was the last prophet of the Old Testament and probably lived around 420 BC. The Jews had rebuilt the temple only a century before, but already were falling into apostasy and rebellion. They were not grateful that God watched over them, allowing Jacob to prosper, even while the nations of Esau (Jacob’s brother) remained in ruin. Children and servants honor parents and masters, yet Judah refused to honor God, profaning the temple worship with their greed and pride.

They refused to care for the poor, orphans, widows and needy. They no longer paid their tithes, thus “robbing” God of what was due him. They dealt treacherously with each other, forgetting the covenants made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses.

Malachi only has 4 chapters. Starting in chapter 1 verse 6

Malachi 1 ⁶ A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?

⁷ Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the Lord is contemptible.

⁸ And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts.

This does not comment well on the circumstances at the time. 

Then vs 11

Malachi 1 ¹¹ For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.

¹² But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the Lord is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.

Chapter 2 castigates the priests for being corrupt and not leading the people correctly

Malachi 2 ¹ And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.

² If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.

Then he talks about Levi and how well he walked before the Lord

Malachi 2 ⁶ The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.

⁷ For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

⁸ But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.

Overall, Malachi is not a pleasant book.  This is the last book chronologically in the OT.  People again are apostatizing…even the priests are not worthy. 

Malachi 2 ¹¹ Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah hath profaned the holiness of the Lord which he loved, and hath married the daughter of a strange god.

¹² The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts.

¹³ And this have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand.

He summarizes the chapter in vs 17

Malachi 2 ¹⁷ Ye have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

Now we get to Malachi chapter 3, something we are familiar with.  The Lord’s messenger will prepare the way for the Second Coming—The Lord will sit in judgment—The people of Israel are commanded to pay tithes and offerings—They keep a book of remembrance.

Malachi 3 ¹ Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.

The prophet foresaw the coming of forerunner to Christ, prior to his sudden appearance in the temple (Mal 3:1). All Christians will recognize the forerunner as John the Baptist, preparing the way for the Messiah’s coming in mortality.

A second fulfillment of this prophecy occurred in 1836 after the Kirtland Temple was dedicated (D&C 110). In this event, Joseph Smith was the forerunner, preparing the way of the Lord by building a temple. Jesus suddenly came to this temple to restore priesthood power and keys as a preparation for His Second Coming.

And here are the familiar references to Malachi from Handel’s Messiah. 

Malachi 3 ² But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: ³ And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

Chapter 3 vs 1, 2 and 3 are all referenced in Handel’s Messiah.

On his Second Coming in glory, the only ones who would “abide the day of His coming” are those who have gone through the refiner’s fire. Intense heat was used anciently, as well as today, to remove impurities from precious metals, such as gold and silver. The residue was the dross, good for nothing, and thrown away.

Only those who are purified will abide the 2nd Coming. All others will be as the dross, unable to withstand the purification process (3:2-3). The priesthood will be the first to be refined (vs 4), for they cannot serve God and prepare a sacrifice worthy of God if they are filthy.

Malachi 3 ⁴ Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

⁵ And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

Malachi lists those who will be judged by God and found wanting: sorcerers (false priesthood and magic), adulterers (sexual sin), false swearers (false witnesses and liars), oppressors of the poor and widows, and those who do not fear (respect and reverence) God (3:5).

⁶ For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

⁷ Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

And now further references we are all familiar with.

Malachi 3 ⁸ Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

⁹ Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

¹⁰ Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

¹¹ And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.

Down to vs 16 – the book of remembrance

Malachi 3 ¹⁶ Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.

¹⁷ And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

¹⁸ Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

In accusing Israel of not paying tithes and offerings, the Lord was showing them a concept they refused to see. Such payments had nothing to do with economics or ability to pay. Instead, it was an issue of faith. In paying tithes and offerings to God in faith, one opened up the windows of heaven to pour out blessings, which could include economic blessings.

These moneys paid to maintain the temple, to help the poor, widows and orphans, and to bring about God’s great work. Neglecting these offerings meant man refused to be a partner with God in caring for the poor, and in moving his great works forward. Yet the proud thought that the wicked were blessed with wealth and all things needed, while the righteous never could get ahead. They did not understand that their material wealth was a fleeting thing that would end (ch 3).

The final chapter of Malachi, chapter 4 discussed that at the Second Coming, the proud and wicked will be burned as stubble—Elijah will return before that great and dreadful day. It is a short 6 verses. 

Malachi 4 ¹ For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

² But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. ³ And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

⁴ Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

⁵ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

⁶ And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

In Joseph Smith’s History 1:37 he quotes it this way…

(Repeating Malachi 4¹ For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.)

(Joseph Smith History 1³⁷ For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

(Repeating Malachi 4⁵ Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:)

Joseph Smith History 1³⁸  … Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

(Repeating Malachi 4 ⁶ And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.)

Joseph Smith History 1³⁹ He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.

Instead of “be stubble” they will “burn as stubble”. 

Instead of “and the day that cometh shall burn them up”, “for THEY that come shall burn them”

Instead of “turn the heart of the father to the children, and the heart of the children to the father” becomes “PLANT in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers”. 

There is more than just passing significance in these changes. For example, Moroni spoke of “promises made to the fathers,” whereas the King James Version does not.

“It Shall Leave Them Neither Root nor Branch” means each person belongs to a family tree. Our “roots” are the ancestors from whom we descend, and our “branches” are those who descend from us. To be “left with neither root nor branch” is to be cut off from one’s ancestry and posterity eternally.

That is precisely the condition of those for whom the sealing blessings of the Melchizedek Priesthood have not been performed or for those who, having had the ordinances performed, fail to live worthy of claiming their blessings. To prevent this great catastrophe, Elijah was sent to earth in the latter days with the sealing powers (see D&C 110:13–16).

For the righteous, the Son of Righteousness will come with “healing in his wings.” (4:2) He will heal those who have suffered for God’s name. He will heal the sick, wounded, widow, orphan, poor. He will heal those who have patiently waited on his name, offering righteous sacrifices and offerings in his name.

Finally, Malachi saw that prior to the Messiah’s 2nd Coming, Elijah the Prophet must return to prepare the way, turning the hearts of fathers and children to one another, otherwise there would be no one to save at the Lord’s return. This occurred when the Lord suddenly appeared at the Kirtland Temple in 1836, during the Jewish festival of Passover (D&C 110).

Elijah gave to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery the sealing powers. These priesthood powers allowed families to be sealed eternally, and to receive the greatest blessings of the temple.

The temple is the holy space on earth, where man prepares to see God’s face. We are sealed to God in the holy temples, and prepare and practice in those temples to be in the Lord’s presence and see his face. This return of Elijah is such an important prophecy that many Jews still reserve an empty seat at their dinner table for the Prophet during their Passover meal. What they do not know is that Elijah did return at Passover, preparing the way for the Lord’s Second Coming.

Conclusion
And with that Second Coming, of which both Zechariah and Malachi spoke of, will come the final restoration.

The Old Testament is a recurring story of Creation, Fall and Restoration.

At the Second Coming, Israel will be restored to its true promise. All the righteous will be restored to God’s presence. The Messiah will come with healing in his wings, restoring us to a perfect joy and happiness. And the temple is the holy place where we prepare for that great day when we will see Christ face to face, and wash his feet with our tears for redeeming us.

Bibliography
Book of Zechariah – Wikipedia
Jim Faulconer’s Lesson 48 comments on Zechariah’s chiasmus
Bible.org on Zechariah
New Advent - Zechariah

Old Testament Lesson 47 - “Let Us Rise Up and Build”

 

Ezra 1–6. King Cyrus frees the Jews who have been captive in Babylon and invites them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple (Ezra 1). Zerubbabel and Jeshua lead approximately 50,000 people back to Jerusalem, and they begin to rebuild the temple (Ezra 2–3). The Samaritans offer to help work on the temple, are turned down, and attempt to stop the work; the rebuilding ceases (Ezra 4). Several years later, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah exhort the Jews to finish the temple; the Samaritans continue to oppose it (Ezra 5; see also Haggai 1). King Darius renews the decree of Cyrus to rebuild the temple, and it is finished and dedicated in about 515 B.C. (Ezra 6).

Ezra 7–8. Ezra receives permission from King Artaxerxes of Persia to lead another group of Jews back to Jerusalem. Ezra and his people fast and pray, and the Lord protects them.

Nehemiah 1–2; 4; 6. Learning that the Jews who have returned to Jerusalem are “in great affliction and reproach,” Nehemiah receives permission from King Artaxerxes to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls (Nehemiah 1–2). The enemies of the Jews seek to prevent them from rebuilding the walls. Nehemiah keeps the work going forward until the walls are finished (Nehemiah 4; 6).

Nehemiah 8. After the walls are rebuilt around Jerusalem, Ezra reads the scriptures to the people. The people weep and desire to obey the words of the law.

After Nebuchadnezzar died in 562 B.C., Babylonia declined rapidly in power. In 539 B.C. Babylon fell to the Medes and the Persians, who were united under the leadership of Cyrus (see Daniel 5). Unlike Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus was a benevolent ruler who treated conquered peoples kindly and respected their religions.

Shortly after taking over Babylon, Cyrus invited the Jews (Israelites) in his empire to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.

In 458 B.C. Ezra, a Jewish priest and scribe, brought another group of Jews back to Jerusalem from Babylon. Nehemiah, a Jew who held the important office of cupbearer (butler) in the court of the Babylonian king, obtained a royal commission authorizing him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah and Ezra worked together to help the Jews accomplish this task.

What did Nehemiah do when Sanballat asked him to stop working and meet with him? (See Nehemiah 6:1–4.) How do some people try to distract Church members from the Lord’s work today? How should we respond to such distractions?

How long did Ezra read the scriptures to the people? (See Nehemiah 8:3, 17–18.) How did the people respond? (See Nehemiah 8:3, 6, 9, 12.) How can we be more attentive as we read the scriptures? How can we develop the kind of excitement for the scriptures that these people had?

Additional reading: Haggai 1; “Ezra,” Bible Dictionary, page 669;“Nehemiah,” Bible Dictionary, page 738.

Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson #47, “Let Us Rise Up and Build”
Ezra 1-8, Nehemiah 1-8

In the end, Nehemiah will be sent back as the governor of Judah, and Ezra will be his scribe. 

Note how early the placement of Ezra is and how Late Nehemiah is.  Ezra and Nehemiah are right after Chronicles.  Zechariah and Malachi next week are the last two OT books though they are all relatively close in time.  OT books are not placed chronologically but by themes “Teachings”, “Prophets”, “Writings”. 

Background
The nation of Israel was carried off into captivity by the Assyrians in 702 BC. The nation of Judah followed in a series of invasions, first by the Assyrians (who reduced Judah’s land mass to an area just around Jerusalem) and completed by the Babylonians around 586 BC.

??? According to tradition, many in the nation of Israel gathered while in captivity and performed a second Exodus to the north, where they have not been heard from since.

Those who remained in Assyria were generally absorbed into their new community, and eventually lost their Israelite identity. Meanwhile, Jeremiah had prophesied that Judah would remain in captivity for 70 years and then return.

Isaiah also prophesied regarding Judah, saying they would remain captive until the future king Cyrus would restore them to their lands (Isa 44-45).

Isaiah 44 ²⁸ That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

Isaiah 45 ¹ Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

² I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

³ And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

Scholars disagree as to when this portion of Isaiah was written. Many claim that it was written not by the original Isaiah, but by a later follower of Isaiah, in the period during which Cyrus of Persia was, indeed, king. This second, or Deutero-Isaiah supposedly used current events to establish prophesies added to Isaiah (First Isaiah or Proto-Isaiah).

However, several studies show that the evidence for a 2 Isaiah (or Deutero-Isaiah) is not as compelling as some would think.

Marc Schindler (now deceased, link to fairmormon.org) explained that the name “Cyrus” probably wasn’t the original term used, but was replaced by Jews in Cyrus’ day in order to encourage him to restore them to their lands:

“If you accept the Book of Mormon as true, there is no Deutero-Isaiah "problem." However, I feel that the Book of Mormon cannot only withstand the challenge, but the issue can actually be used to illuminate the nature of Isaiah and shed light on why this is such a profound book.

When the Deutero-Isaiah theory first became current, there was a lot of emphasis on the difference in vocabulary and word patterns between the various parts of Isaiah. However, as McKenzie (see link, author of Second Isaiah) points out above, this is no longer an issue. (Besides the study he refers to, there have been word pattern studies done by computer analysis of the Hebrew text at BYU that show no significant differences between the various parts of Isaiah.)

There are two issues: the insertion of Cyrus's name, and the totally different historical context of the latter part of Isaiah. As McKenzie points out, it's not enough of a defense simply to say, "well, you know those 'higher critics,' they don't accept prophecy anyway-they just can't swallow the reality of prophecy," but the issue is that that's not the way God works.

There are plenty of examples of specific prophecy in the Old Testament (i.e., Isaiah 7:8, where Isaiah prophesies that within 65 years Ephraim will be destroyed-note that this is in "Proto-Isaiah" and its authorship is not questioned), but prophecies have to make sense to the people to whom they are addressed, and as McKenzie says, the name "Cyrus" and the concept of the Persian Empire wouldn't have made sense to Isaiah's contemporaries.

Furthermore, it is the nature of apocalyptic scripture to lay things out in a vision which is symbolic in nature (cf. Daniel's vision of the idol with clay feet, and John's symbolism of angels and beasts)....when the Jews returned from exile in Babylon, they read what Isaiah wrote, and because there were references to Babylon, assumed that he was talking about events in their day.

While this might technically have been correct, they missed the point that Isaiah's prophecies were primarily concerned with the latter days. In editing the book as they passed it down, they substituted the name "Cyrus," which by that point did make sense to them, as he was an historical figure, for what was there originally. We don't know, of course, what "Cyrus" might have replaced, but from the context it appears as if it was a messianic type meant to refer to the 2nd coming of Christ.”

So, Jewish leaders show king Cyrus of Persia a copy of the Jewish scriptures (possibly translated into Persian), where a name for the future messiah was replaced with the king’s name. A spiritual last days event of the Messiah saving Israel from spiritual Babylon becomes King Cyrus saving the Jews by restoring them to their ancestral homeland.

Jews – Location during this Diaspora to Babylon

There were several groups of Jews after the Diaspora (dispersion) to Babylon by Nebudchannazzer.  We will trace several to get a feel for their history.

The elite of the kingdom and many of their people were exiled to Babylon, where the religion developed outside their traditional temple. Few of the wealthy would return to Jerusalem.  More often it was the poor that returned.  The more wealthy citizens had marriage ties and businesses and chose to remain.

Later in 135 A.D. the Bar Kokhba revolt (The Third Jewish-Roman War) led thousand to move to Babylon. 

Babylon would remain the focus of Judaism for more than a thousand years.

Babylon: a large group remains there. 

A second group continued around Judea.

Others fled to Egypt. Egypt became an important Jewish center after they were expelled from Spain in 1492.  We hear “1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”.  Jews hear 1492 and have one of their worst years in history.

This is from Christopher Columbus Diary…

“In the same month in which their Majesties [Ferdinand and Isabella] issued the edict that all Jews should be driven out of the kingdom and its territories, in the same month they gave me the order to undertake with sufficient men my expedition of discovery to the Indies."”

200,000 Jews were expelled from Spain.  Tens of thousands died trying to reach safety.  Many Spanish ship captains charged Jewish passengers exorbitant sums, then dumped them overboard in the middle of the ocean and returned for more Jews.  This was triggered by the Spanish Inquisition and Father Torquemada.  He felt that if the Jews remained in Spain, they would influence tens of thousands of Jews who had converted to Christianity to return to Jewry. Tens of thousands died. 

Jews who had escaped from Spain were named “Sephardim” or Sephardic Jews.

After the fall of Jerusalem, Babylonia (modern day Iraq), would become the focus of Judaism for more than a thousand years. The first Jewish communities in Babylonia started with the exile of the Tribe of Judah to Babylon by Jehoiachin in 597 BCE as well as after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE.

Many more Jews migrated to Babylon in 135 CE after the Bar Kokhba revolt and in the centuries after.

Babylonia, where some of the largest and most prominent Jewish cities and communities were established, became the center of Jewish life all the way up to the 13th century.

By the first century, Babylonia already held a speedily growing population of an estimated 1,000,000 Jews, which increased to an estimated 2 million between the years 200 CE - 500 CE, both by natural growth and by immigration of more Jews from the Land of Israel, making up about 1/6 of the world Jewish population at that era. It was there that they would write the Babylonian Talmud in the languages used by the Jews of ancient Babylonia—Hebrew and Aramaic.

Babylon, Egypt and scatter in Israel is the focus of Jewry through these years.

In the late 1950s, Egypt expelled its Jewish population and sequestered Jewish-owned property. As of 2014, the Jewish population of Egypt was estimated at 12 to less than 40, down from between 75,000 and 80,000 in 1948.

The difference between this and all other diaspora Jews is…in 1950 they had somewhere to go…Israel… formed in 1947.

Meanwhile, back to those Babylonian Jews who returned to build the second temple…

Ezra 1 ¹ Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

² Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

³ Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.

⁴ And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

Ezra chapter 2 lists many of the Jews who did return.

Construction of the Temple
About 50,000 Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, but mostly to rebuild the temple. The people of Samaria offered eagerly to help. Samaria included the former lands and capitol city of the kings of the nation of Israel before being carried off by Assyria.

Samaria.  Samaria was the old capital of Israel before Assyria took them away. 

Samarians were eastern people sent back by Assyria to take the place of those they deported.  They were called Cutheans.  These people mingle with those remaining Israelites and introduced some new religious ideas, but also adopted some Jewish religious ideas.  These become the Samaritans. 

The Jews who returned to Jerusalem already considered even their leaders to be of questionable orthodoxy.  The foreign ideas of the Samaritans make them in the minds of the Jews, no better than heretics. 

Because the Samaritans were not “pure blooded” Israelites, the Jews in Jerusalem rejected their offer of assistance, intent in building the temple and city on their own.

Ezra 4 ³ But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.

Thus the Samaritans sought to hinder the rebuilding process…

Ezra 4 ⁴ Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,

⁵ And hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

More than that, they actively wrote letters back to the Persian Kings to “tell on” the Jews…thus animosity with the Samaritans becomes a huge and ongoing problem

Ezra 4 ¹² Be it known unto the king, that the Jews which came up from thee to us are come unto Jerusalem, building the rebellious and the bad city, and have set up the walls thereof, and joined the foundations.

¹³ Be it known now unto the king, that, if this city be builded, and the walls set up again, then will they not pay toll, tribute, and custom, and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of the kings.

Then in Ezra 5 two prophets speak. 

Ezra 5 ¹ Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them.

² Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them.

In Ezra 6 King Darius of Persian renews Cyrus’ decree to continue building the temple.

Ezra 6 ¹ Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon.

Then to verse 3

Ezra 6 ³ In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded…

and goes on to discuss dimensions of the temple and the return of the vessels.

Ezra 6 ⁵ And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God.

And the vessels are returned to the temple.

In an Indiana Jones type search, a modern Rabbi believed that the vessels were now located in the basement of the Vatican.  This has been largely debunked, but since the destruction of the Second Temple by Rome in 70 A.D. the location of the “Vessels” is unknown. 

Competing Temple by Samaritans

Later, after Alexander the Great conquered the area, the Samaritans would ask for and be granted the right to build their own temple at Shechem. Their temple was run by Levitical priests who had a falling out with those in Jerusalem, and had settled in Samaria a few years before.

The Samaritans were incensed, to be rejected by the Jews. While many Samaritans were not literal descendants of Israel, many were at least partially descended from it.

Those immigrants into the land had taken Jehovah as their God, for he was the god of the land. Their worship was different than the worship of the Jews. It was the version developed or at least influenced by apostate Israel prior to their destruction.

Family lines could not be corroborated. The Samaritans were rejected, and the Jews would still hate and distrust them centuries later.

However, Jesus would acknowledge that the Samaritans were indeed members of Israel, but tell a Samaritan woman, “ye worship ye know not what” (John 4:22).

The Samaritans attacking the Jews and sabotaging their efforts to build the temple. Finally, the Jews gave up the endeavor.

Finally, Ezra is sent to Judah.

Ezra 7 ⁶ This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.

It would be another fifty years before Nehemiah would be sent to be the governor of Judah. He was king Artaxerxes’ right hand man, and asked the king permission to build a wall of protection around the temple.

In Nehemiah 1 we get a picture of life in Jerusalem for those who cannot finish the temple, or the walls due to opposition…

Nehemiah 1 ² That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

³ And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

Then Nehemiah prays for guidance

Nehemia 1 ⁴ And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

⁵ And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

Given permission to build the wall, Nehemiah went with the intention to not only build the wall, but to build the temple.

Nehemiah 2 ⁵ And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.

⁶ And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

⁷ Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;

Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem and tours the area at night without anyone’s knowledge so the enemies opposing the building, specifically Sanballat (a Samaritan leader).

Nehemiah 2  ¹¹ So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.

¹² And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.

¹³ And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.

¹⁴ Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass.

¹⁵ Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.

¹⁶ And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.

Nehemiah appeals to the leaders to rebuild

Nehemia 2 ¹⁷ Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.

¹⁸ Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?

²⁰ Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 3 lists those that built the walls and gates.

Nehemiah 4 ¹ But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.

² And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?

Nehemiah armed his workers and the building continued. 

Nehemiah 4 ²¹ So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.

²² Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day.

²³ So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing.

Governor Nehemiah and his scribe Ezra guided the building of the temple, and of the city wall. In these we see an important concept. The city wall meant protection from Judah’s physical enemies. The temple symbolized protection from the spiritual dangers in the world. Both were needed, and both needed to be constructed at the same time.

 

It was found that many Jews were enslaved…to other Jews…

Nehemiah 5 ¹ And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.

² For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live.

³ Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth.

⁴ There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards.

⁵ Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.

⁶ And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.

Nehemiah outlaws “usury” or the interest that was charged that led to many of the “enslavements”. 

Who does Nehemiah discuss it with?

Nehemiah 5 ⁷ Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them.

⁸ And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer.

And they agree to release the slaves and stop charging usury

Nehemiah 5 ¹² Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise.

In Nehemiah 6 Sanballat tries to lure Nehemiah away from the city…away from the walls, away from protection…

Nehemiah 6 ² That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief.

His answer is instructive

Nehemiah 6 ³ And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?

Sanballat acuses Nehemiah of building walls to “become King” and break from the empire

Nehemiah 6 ⁸ Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.

Sanballat conspires to send an assassin into the temple to kill Nehemiah.

Nehemiah 6 ¹² And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

Intrigue after intrigue are launched and parried. 

But Nehemiah finished the wall…

Nehemiah 6 ¹⁶ And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.

Nehemiah 7 has a strategy to protect Jerusalem put in place

In Nehemiah 8 Ezra reads and interprets the law of Moses to the people and they keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 

Remember that Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, is a week where they live in small huts to commemorate life during the Exodus from Egypt.  Sukkot represents the time of restored fellowship with the Lord. 

In Nehemiah 9 the Jews fast and confess their sins. They covenant to be obedient. 

In Nehemiah 10 (those that made the covenant in chapter 9 are listed.  28 verses of 3 names per verse.  They covenant not to marry outside of Israel, to pay tithing.

But Jerusalem could not hold all of the people, so they drew lots to see who would live inside the city.

Nehemiah 11 ¹ And the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts to dwell in other cities.

Nehemiah 12 has them dedicating the walls of Jerusalem

Nehemiah 12 ²⁷ And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps.

In the last chapter of Nehemiah, chapter 13, the temple is purified. 

Nehemiah 13 ¹ On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever;

That is to say, worthiness is important in temple worship. Why?

Nehemiah 13 ² Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing.

³ Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

Two of the priests, Eliashib and Tobiah, had set up their own large chamber in the temple before Nehemiah arrived.  They kept the meat offerings, frankincense and tithing, things that should have gone to the Levites, for themselves…

Nehemiah 13 ⁷ And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.

⁸ And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff to Tobiah out of the chamber.

⁹ Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense.

¹⁰ And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them: for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field.

¹¹ Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place.

In the remaining verse of chapter 13, Nehemiah shuts down wine-presses on the sabbath, work in general on the sabbath, selling on the sabbath.  He chastises the nobles…

Nehemiah 13 ¹⁸ Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.

To stop commerce on the Sabbath he shut the gates of the city and set guards on them. 

Nehemiah 13 ²⁰ So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.

He stops their camping outside the walls…

Nehemiah 13 ²¹ Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath.

 

Modern walls of protection
Later, among the first actions by modern prophets in establishing a new place of gathering would be to begin preparations for a temple. Joseph Smith built a temple in Kirtland, Ohio. Once the Saints moved to Missouri, plans were immediately established for a temple in Independence. After being chased from Jackson County, Missouri, the Mormons set up further north. One of their first acts there was to plan a temple in Far West. Again, chased from Missouri, a temple in Nauvoo became one of the first efforts among the saints. Nauvoo was successfully built because the saints had time to also establish “walls” of fortification, including their own militia. Finally, in the first week Brigham Young was in the Great Salt Lake Basin, he set a marker for the future temple.

Today, we have about 170 temples in operation or under construction worldwide. The effort to bring the walls of spiritual protection closer to the Saints is an enormous, but important, task in these last days. Brigham Young foresaw the day when hundreds of temples would be upon the earth:

"To accomplish this work there will have to be not only one temple, but thousands of them, and thousands and tens of thousands of men and women will go into those temples and officiate for people who have lived as far back as the Lord shall reveal.: -- Brigham Young, June 22, 1856 Journal of Discourses, 3:372

"I want to see the temple built in a manner that it will endure through the Millennium. This is not the only temple we shall build. There will be hundreds of them built and dedicated to the Lord. This temple will be known as the first temple built in the mountains by the Latter-day Saints. And when the Millennium is over, and all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, down to the last of their posterity, who come within the reach of the clemency of the gospel, have been redeemed in hundreds of temples through the administration of their children as proxies for them, I want that temple still to stand as a proud monument of the faith, perseverance and industry of the Saints of God in the mountains in the nineteenth century."
--Brigham Young, October 6, 1863, Journal of Discourses, 10:254

In 1990, few would have imagined the day for one hundred active temples was only ten years away. And the focus from ancient times among God’s people was that their salvation depended upon access to a temple.

But why?

Anciently, God spoke with man face to face in sacred places. The first place was in the Garden of Eden, where the Lord spoke with Adam. After being cast out of the Garden, Adam was out of God’s presence for years. He then could only discourse with angels (Moses 54-8). Only near the end of his life, was Adam brought back into God’s presence at Adam-Ondi-Ahman. There, three years before his death, Adam gathered his righteous children around him. Christ appeared and blessed Adam, as his children praised him, calling him Michael the archangel (D&C 107:53-57).

This is what sacred space is all about. At Mount Sinai, Moses tried to bring the Israelites back into the presence of God, but they refused and were left with the Levitical priesthood, which contains the ministering of angels (D&C 84:18-27).

Nehemiah cleanses the temple of his day as we have just discussed.

Today’s temples are sacred space established so faithful saints can prepare to see the face of God and live.

No wonder it was so important to the survival of the Jews anciently. The temple was needed so individuals could approach God’s sacred space and commune with him.

The ancient temple was not just for animal sacrifice. Samuel’s mother prayed there for a son, and received her petition. John the Baptist’s father was serving in the temple when Gabriel the archangel told him he was to have a son. Even the Jerusalem temple, based upon the Aaronic/Levitical Priesthood, opened the windows of heaven so people could receive revelation.

Today, righteous people can receive revelation in the temples. Many attend when they have struggles weighing on their minds and receive inspired answers in what to do. Many see angels and other wonders in the temples of God. And those who are prepared can see Christ and become a living witness of his resurrection.

Yet today, many of our temples are under-utilized. We are so busy with life and distractions, as was ancient Israel when it was destroyed, that we don’t have time. Or so we say. It is time we stop putting off the temple, as did the original Jews who returned to Jerusalem, and start building the sacred space within our own hearts by attending more often. That is one of the main ways we prepare ourselves to see Christ. What could be more important than that?

Bibliography
Marc Shindler’s explanation of Deutero-Isaiah:http://www.fairmormon.org/perspectives/publications/deutero-isaiah-in-the-book-of-mormon
Samaritan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan
Samaritan temple:
http://www.livius.org/saa-san/samaria/samarians.htm
http://tinyurl.com/28ngrxv
Nehemiah: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehemiah
Ezra: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra