HISTORY OF THE WORLDLY SANCTUARY.
DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE, AND ISRAEL'S CAPTIVITY.
WE have said that the temple built by Solomon, retained its primitive splendor but thirty-three years. At the expiration of that time Shishak, king of Egypt, having declared war with Rehoboam, king of Judah, took Jerusalem and carried away the treasures of the temple. 1 Kings xiv, 25, 26; 2 Chron. xii, 9. Sin was the cause of this calamity; for when the king humbled himself, the wrath of God turned from him. Verse 12. This was B. C. 971. Jehoash commenced the work of repairs B. C. 856; 2 Kings xii, 4, 5. Ahaz, king of Judah, becoming involved in a war with the kings of Israel and Damascus, robbed the temple to pay Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, whom he had summoned to his aid. 2 Chron. xxviii, 21, 22. B. C. 740. Hezekiah, his son, in a measure repaired this loss, but was himself finally compelled to take all the riches of the temple, to give to Sennacherib, king of Assyria, who had come against him. 2 Kings xviii, 15, 16. B. C. 713. Manasseh, son and successor of Hezekiah, profaned the temple of the Lord by setting up altars to all the host of heaven, even in the courts of the Lord. 2 Kings xxi, 4-7. God delivered him into the hands of the king of Babylon. He was loaded with chains, and carried beyond the river Euphrates. 2 Chron. xxxiii, 11. B. C. 676. But as he humbled himself and repented of his sins, he was sent back to his own dominions, when he labored to repair the profanations he had committed upon the house of the Lord. Verses 14-16. Josiah, king of Judah, labored zealously to repair the edifices of the temple. 2 Kings xxii, 4-6, &c. He commanded the Levites to put back the ark of the Lord in the Sanctuary in its proper place, and that they should no more bear it about as they probably had done during the administrations of the wicked kings who had reigned before him. 2 Chron. xxxv, 3. But these were only slight profanations and calamities compared to the storm of destruction that was now beginning to overshadow their land. The nation had sunk to so low a depth of sin that God could no longer dwell among them. Zephaniah complains that her prophets were light and treacherous persons; that her priests had polluted the Sanctuary and done violence to the law. Zeph. iii, 4. And God says by Ezekiel, [chap. xxiii, 38, 39,] "Moreover this have they done unto me: they have defiled my Sanctuary in the same day and have profaned my sabbaths. For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my Sanctuary to profane it; and lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house." And in chap. xxiv, 21, he says, "I will profane my Sanctuary." Therefore GOD AGAIN FORSAKES HIS SANCTUARY.
It is never without a warning that God visits his people in judgment. We know of no exception to this rule. In the case before us, he first threatened the people with those strokes of his displeasure which their iniquities obliged him to inflict. We read it in these words: "But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called but ye answered not; therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name wherein ye trust; and unto the place which I gave to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh." Jer. vii, 12-14; xxvi, 1-7. What did God do to the Sanctuary in Shiloh? David thus answers this question in psalm lxxviii, 59-61: "When God heard this he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel; so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he had placed among men, and delivered his strength into captivity and his glory into his enemy's hand." His threatening to do the same to the temple as he had done to the tabernacle at Shiloh, was a solemn declaration that he would forsake it. The manner in which the people received this warning is thus set forth: "But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people till there was no remedy." 2 Chron. xxxvi, 16. God accomplished the judgments he had threatened upon his people, by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon—the first universal empire, the head of gold, of Daniel's image. Dan. ii. Nebuchadnezzar took away a part of the sacred vessels of the temple, and placed them in the temple of his god, Bel, at Babylon, under the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. 2 Chron. xxxvi, 6, 7. B. C. 606. From this date is reckoned the seventy years' captivity; for at this time the people were carried into captivity, the sons of the royal family, and the nobility of the land made eunuchs and slaves in the palace of the king of Babylon, the king made a tributary, and the whole land brought into vassalage under the Babylonians. But kings still reigned on the throne of Judah, through their sufferance. The behavior of Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, in the year B. C. 599, induced Nebuchadnezzar to come up again against Jerusalem, at which time he prosecuted still further his ravages on the house of the Lord, and its goodly vessels. Verse 10. But lastly, the evil course of Zedekiah, Jehoiachin's successor on the throne of Judah, at length drew down on Jerusalem that terrible destruction with which his reign ended. A rebellion on his part, brought up Nebuchadnezzar in fury to his final charge against that devoted city. After a siege of about one year the city fell, the king bound in fetters of brass was carried to Babylon, and the utter destruction that followed is thus described by Prideaux: "In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (i. e., towards the end of our July) came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guards to the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem; and, after having taken out all the vessels of the house of the Lord, and gathered together all the riches that could be found, either in the king's house, or in any other house of the city, he did, on the tenth day of the same month, pursuant to the command of his master, set both the temple and the city on fire and absolutely consumed and destroyed them both, overthrowing all the walls, fortresses, and towers, belonging thereto, and wholly razing and levelling to the ground every building therein, till he had brought all to a thorough and perfect desolation." This was in the eleventh year of Zedekiah's reign, B. C. 588. As God did at first to the Sanctuary at Shiloh, so had he now done to the Sanctuary at Jerusalem, only with tenfold heavier judgment. There the ark was only taken and might be restored; here it was destroyed. There the Sanctuary remained among them; here it was laid in ruins. There the sacred vessels, the ark excepted, remained with the Sanctuary; here they were cut to pieces and carried to Babylon. There the people still remained possessors of the land; here they were led away to suffer a dark captivity in a foreign land. With this view before us we can readily understand such scriptures as the following: Ps. lxxiv, 3, 7; lxxix, 1; Isa. lxiii, 18; lxiv, 10, 11; Eze. xxiv, 21; Jer. li, 51; Lam. i, 10; ii, 7, 20; iv, 1. It was in this, the time of their dispersion, and desolation of their beautiful Sanctuary, that God promised to be to them as a little Sanctuary in the countries where they should come. Eze. xi, 16. Towards the close of the seventy years' captivity, Daniel prayed, "Cause thy face to shine upon thy Sanctuary which is desolate." Dan. ix, 2, 17. Before following Israel as they retrace the steps of their captivity and return to dwell again in their own land, we wish to call attention to a few points. 1. The Sanctuary offered by Ezekiel—Has it ever been, or is it ever to be, built? Fourteen years after the Sanctuary had been destroyed, God gave Ezekiel the pattern of another to show to the house of Israel, as recorded in his prophecy. Chaps. xl-xlviii. As it is claimed of late by some that this city and Sanctuary are yet to be built in a future and immortal state, we will commence at this end of the subject to examine its claims. We argue then that it cannot be in the immortal state; for there is to be but one Prince that shall be King over Israel in the glorified state; and that one is Jesus. Luke i, 32, 33. But the prince here brought to view, is commanded to offer not only a sin-offering, [Eze. xlv, 22,] but all kinds of offerings for himself. Chap. xlvi, 1-8. These princes were to take away exactions from the Lord's people. Chap. xlv, 9. This prince is to have sons and servants, to whom if he will he may give an inheritance; [xlvi, 16, 17;] and he is forbidden to oppress the people. Verse 18. He must therefore be a poor, frail mortal; for surely it would be blasphemous to apply all this to our Lord Jesus Christ. And further: Christ was himself the great Sacrifice, and caused all others to cease at his cross. When he reigns there will be no oppression; for the officers will be peace and the exactors righteousness. Isa. lx, 17-22. Hence Ezekiel is not predicting the future reign of Christ over the house of Israel. Secondly: It cannot refer to the gospel dispensation; for it was to be fulfilled while literal circumcision was in force, [Eze. xliv, 9,] which was abolished at the first advent. It was while divorce was permitted, [xliv, 22,] which is now done away. It was while there was distinction between meats clean and unclean, [chap. xliv, 23, 31,] which is not now recognized. It was while burnt-offerings and sin-offerings of bulls and goats were in force, [xlvi,] which are not now acceptable to God. Heb. x. It was while the Levitical priesthood existed, [xl, 46,] which is now superseded by the priesthood of Melchisedec which passeth not to another. Heb. v-ix. Thirdly: It was not accomplished under the first covenant, or typical dispensation, for it was conditional, and Israel did not fulfill the conditions. It was offered to them on condition that they should be ashamed of their iniquities and put them away. Eze. xliii, 10, 11. But they were not at all ashamed of their iniquities; for when the decree was granted for their return only a few accepted of the privilege. We may then sum up the evidence on this question as follows: 1. The promise to Israel of a city and Sanctuary is not to be fulfilled in a future and immortal state; for it is accompanied with marriages, divorces, disease and death which are exclusively confined to this mortal state. Eze. xliv, 22. 2. It was not to be fulfilled in the present dispensation; for it is accompanied with all manner of offerings and a Levitical priesthood, which ceased at the cross of Christ. 3. It was not fulfilled in the past dispensation; for Israel did not fulfill the conditions on which it was offered. In view of this testimony it must be apparent to all that this question is forever settled.