There is a perceived threat in the rebuilding of the
temple. The governor and his associates
demand to know who gave the authority to rebuild and who are the men who are
doing the rebuilding and the Jews tell him that Cyrus gave the original
authority to rebuild and the men themselves are nothing more than servants of
the Lord of heaven and earth, no names are recorded in the letter. The governor does, however, note that their
work is done to restore that which was built by some former king of theirs
whose name is apparently meaningless to him.
He also notes that the work is progressing rapidly, orderly and with
some skill. The original mandate has
been given to another and the governor asks that the king, Darius, make a
search to determine whether there was such a grant. In addition the letter asks the king to
"send us his pleasure in this matter." Cyrus may well have made such a decree but
that isn't necessarily binding on the present king, he still may deny
permission. That was the point of the
entire letter, either they are doing this illegally or the king may want to
stop this construction project before it gets too far along, for these men
describe themselves as " the servants of the God of heaven and earth"
and not of the king or the king's god.
It seems that the point of the parable is indiscriminate
sowing. The sower casts his seed
wherever in a willy-nilly fashion and some dries out and produces nothing,
other produces something for a season until weeds overtake it and other
produces a bumper crop. Would anyone
farm that way? How does the parable
square with the idea of not casting pearls before swine? Jesus, who alone knew who would respond to
His message and offer of grace, preached to all and sundry, whoever came to
Him. That should be our marching order
as well, we have no idea where the seed will be sown so as to produce a
crop. Who are we to determine who is
"swine"? There were times in
my life when it would certainly have looked foolish to believe that the Gospel
would find profitable ground. The call
is simply to tell the Good News to anyone and everyone, anywhere and everywhere
and leave the result to Him who is the preparer of the soil of men's hearts.
Praise, as opposed to thanksgiving, sounds just like verse
11, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for
you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” He is worthy of praise for what He has done
which reveals His power and might as well as His love and His creative
imagination. Creation should send us to
the throne in praise. What we see and
the fact that we have our senses to perceive that glory should inspire us each
day to praise Him and to ponder Him. A
God who can create in such beauty and in such incomprehensible scope and scale
deserves to be pondered don't you think?
Further, that He sought relationship with us and elevates us in this
glorious and incomprehensible creation should cause us to praise Him and submit
to Him. It is a glorious privilege to be
His servant, not a burden.
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