Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews.
The Scriptural warrant for an established Church
Look at this history, and consider candidly the great principles involved in these facts. Consider--
I. Who these men were who issued these decrees concerning the building, and concerning the supplies of the house of God at Jerusalem. They were Gentile kings.
II. What it was that these kings ordered. They ordered--
1. The building of the house, and that the expenses incurred thereby should be taken from the king’s treasury.
2. The supply of the house, with every item of all the details necessary for carrying out the worship of God--rams, and lambs, and bullocks, and wheat, and wine, and oil, and salt, according to the appointment of the priests.
3. They assigned certain reasons why this should be done.
(1) That sacrifices of sweet savour might be offered to the God of Heaven.
(2) That prayer might be made for the life of the king and his sons.
(3) That wrath might not come upon the king’s realm, implying that, if they did not do this, the realm incurred the wrath of God.
4. They insisted upon all this by imposing a heavy penalty upon any recusant subject. The penalty in the decree of Darius was death; the penalty in the decree of Artaxerxes was varying, according to the discretion of the executive magistracy, “whether unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment”; but in each case, there was a penalty for non-payment.
III. The parties addressed in the decree, and included amongst the contributors. These were not the people only who approved of, and could enjoy the worship of the house, but they included also the adversaries, who did not approve of--who could not enjoy--and who would not join in the worship of the house; yet, although they did not approve, although they would not join in the worship of that house, they were compelled by the king’s decree to contribute to the expense of building, and to the continued supply of the materials of that worship. And remember all this was done by those kings, according to the commandment and in harmony with the revealed will of the Lord God of Israel. (H. M’Neile, M. A.)