by
Dean
L. Bates, Past High Priest (IL)
The first three officers of a Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, namely, the
High Priest, King, and Scribe, are often referred to as the Grand Council. These officers represent Jeshua, Zerubbabel, and
Haggai, who formed the first grand council at Jerusalem following the return of
the Jews from Babylonish captivity in the year B.C.
In order to obtain an understanding of the lives and works of Jeshua,
Zerubbabel, and Haggai, it would appear necessary to first present a background
of the times in which they lived and to briefly review the history of the
Hebrew people.
Israel’s real history, as distinguished from legend, begins with the
entrance of the Hebrew tribes into Palestine and the conquest of the
Philistines by King David. After
conquering the Philistines, David subdued the surrounding nations. David reigned from 1010 to 975 B.C., and was
succeeded by one of his sons, Solomon, who ruled from 975 to 935 B.C.
The Southern Kingdom, Judah, endure to 586 B.C., when it was overthrown
by the Chaldees under King Nebuchadnezzar.
Jerusalem and it Temple were destroyed and the people carried in
captivity to Babylon. In 539 B.C.,
Cyrus, King of Persia, conquered Babylon, and three years later liberated the
Hebrews held captive and permitted them t0 return to Palestine. Only a comparatively small number did
so. They returned in many small groups
over a period of years. Many chose to
remain in Babylon, where they were well treated and where the Jewish community
became a center of culture and religion.
The former captives that returned to Jerusalem, we are told, was 42,463,
and of these only 7,000 had marched as captives from Jerusalem to Babylon
approximately fifty years earlier.
It is important to understand that these former captives returned to
Jerusalem not to re-establish an independent Hebrew nation, but strictly as a
religious community under the sovereignty of the King of Persia.
The liberation of the Hebrew captives and the aid and encouragement
given them by King Cyrus to return to their native country and rebuild their
city and temple was not prompted by unselfish motives. At the time, Judea constituted the far
reaches of the loosely-knit Persian empire.
Good statesmanship dictated that the outer flank of the empire be
inhabited by a friendly people. By
liberating the Jews and inducing them to re-inhabit their native country, this
outpost of the empire would then be inhabited by a people not only friendly but
also by one who would be forever grateful and beholden to the throne of Persia
for their liberation.
The Hebrew returning from the Babylonish captivity were principally from
the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi.
They returned under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Jeshua. Haggai was also one of those who those who
joined a band of returning exiles. All
three, Jeshua, Zerubbabel, and Haggia, had been born in captivity in Babylon. Zerubbabel was a royal prince of the House of
Judah and a direct descendant of King David.
It would seem natural that a prince would be chosen as one of the
leaders of his people returning to Jerusalem.
Jeshua was the religious leader and high priest of the Jews in
captivity, an office which he inherited upon the death of his father, Josedech,
who was high priest when the Hebrews were led into captivity. The office of high priest was hereditary, passing
from father to son. It will be remembered
that Josedech inherited the office as a result of his father, Seriah, the then
high priest, being beheaded at Riblah by order of Nebuchadnezzar, following the
siege and capture of Jerusalem.
Jeshua’s name is sometimes spelled and pronounced “Joshua.” In fact, two books in the Old Testament spell
it “Jeshua” while two other books spell it “Joshua.” Our ritual shows both spellings because of
scriptural quotations. The discrepancy
in spelling is readily explained by the fact that the Hebrews did not use any
characters to represent vowels in the writing of words, so either “Jeshua” or
“Joshua” would be correct. We, as Royal
Arch Masons, prefer the spelling and pronunciation of “Jeshua,” since it avoids
confusion with another Joshua, who lived approximately 1,000 years earlier and
who was chosen by Moses as his successor to lead the children of Israel into
the promised lnd of Canaan.
Haggai was the scribe of the Jewish community. In its ordinary sense, the word “scribe”
indicates one learned in writing and reading, and the scribe of a nation would
indicate a position somewhat akin to that of Secretary of State. The Jewish scribe, in addition to the above
meaning, had the additional function of reading and interpreting the
scriptures. Scribes were learned
theologians who practice applied theology.
The practice of interpreting the sacred writings gradually expanded into
the realm of prophecy, and scribes came to be known as prophets.
All evidence points to the conclusion that Haggai must have been born
during the early years of the captivity and must have been in his declining
years when he joined a band of exiles returning from Babylon. Haggai’s writings are preserved in the book
of the Old Testament bearing his name.
This book contains four short prophecies, delivered between September
and December of the second year of the reign of Darius (520 B.C.). Haggai had found a discouraging picture upon
arriving at Jerusalem. The people had
become disheartened by repeated crop failures, drought, and the hostility of
neighbors. The work of rebuilding the
temple had ceased. Haggai’s messages to
the people exhorted them to press forward with the rebuilding of the temple,
pointing out that the then existing famine and distress were due to the Lord’s
displeasure at their failure to complete the rebuilding of the temple. Although the record of Haggai’s work covers a
period of only four months, his prophecies and exhortations were most
effective, for the people began to rebuild the temple.
A noteworthy feature of the book of Haggai is the importance assigned to
the personality of Zerubbabel, who, though a living contemporary, is marked
out, by inference, as the long-looked-for Messiah, who, it had been prophesied,
would be of the lineage of David. This
is the significance of the following quotation (Haggai 2:23):
In that day
saith the Lord of Hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of
Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and I will make the as a signet, for I have chosen
thee, saith the Lord of Hosts.
It is believed that Haggai must have died or become incapacitated
shortly after the promulgation of his prophecies in 520 B.C., for he was
succeeded very soon thereafter by Zechariah, who had been very closely
associates with Haggai. The records show
that Haggai was buried among the priests at Jerusalem as belonging to the
family of Aaron.
Zerubbabel came to Jerusalem as leader of one of the groups of exiles
and with a commission from King Cyrus to serve as governor of Judea and as the
King’s vice-regent. Both he and Jeshua
were charged with the authority to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem, but soon
after the foundation of the Temple had been laid, Zerubbabel completely
disappears from history.
It is clear from subsequent events that the King of Persia shifted the
power and authority of the governor of Judea from Zerubbabel to Jeshua, the
high priest. It is possible that the
King had reasoned that that there would be much less danger of revolt and
insurrection by the Jews if governed by a holy man than if governed by a prince
of the royal lineage, who might have ambitions for himself. The next appointment of record as governor of
Judea, following that of Zerubbabel, is that of Ezra, the then high priest, by
Artexerxes, King of Persia, in 458 B.C.
Following Ezra, Nehemiah, the high priest, was appointed governor. Writings of both Ezra and Nehemiah are
preserved in the books of the Old Testament bearing their names.
The total eclipse of Zerubbabel and the royal lineage of David and the
ascendency of the high priest, Jeshua, and succeeding high priests, is the
reason why the high priest is the presiding officer of Royal Arch Chapters in
the United States, while the King is an officer subordinate to him. In England and Ireland, the King is the
presiding officer; while in Canada, the first three officers are called the
First, Second, and Third Principals. The
title of King is not used in Canada since it would be thought disrespectful to
their sovereign to have an officer with a title outranking that of King. Perhaps our use of the title King is not
quite appropriate since Zerubbabel, at the time of the rebuilding of the
temple, although a royal prince, was not a king, but a governor and
representative of the King of Persia.
Jeshua was distinguished for the zeal with which he prosecuted the work
of rebuilding the temple and for his successful opposition to the interference
of the Samaritans. The Samaritans were a
neighboring people who, at first, sought to join the Jews in rebuilding the
temple. Upon being denied participation,
the Samaritans did everything in their power to prevent the temple from being built,
even to the point of interceding with the Kings of Persia. Three different Kings – Cyrus, Cambyses, and
Darius – were on the throne of Persia during the construction of the Second
Temple, and the Samaritans tried to persuade each one of them in turn to stop
the work of rebuilding. They were
successful for a time, and that is one of the reasons it took about twenty
years to build the Second Temple, which was much less pretentious than the
Temple of Solomon, which required seven and a half years to build. The Second Temple was completed in 516 B.C.,
or twenty years after the release of the captives in Babylon.
Neither history nor the scriptures record the time, place, or
circumstance of Jeshua’s death. In that
country now known as Iraq, in the region of Mesopotamia where the Euphrates and
Tigris rivers almost flow together before diverging again, some 550 miles from
Jerusalem, approximately 50 miles north of the site of the ancient city of
Babylon and three miles west of the present city of Baghdad, by the side of a
road leading to the Euphrates River, is a grove of trees. This grove, which is the only grove of trees
for miles around, is the shrine and tomb
of Nabi Yusha – sometimes called Kohin Yusha – a place of month pilgrimages for
devout Jews in the region, who believe that this ancient place of burial
contains the sepulcher of Jeshua, son of Josedech, grandson of Seriah, and high
priest of Israel during the rebuilding of the Second Temple.
(Adapted from an article from The Royal Arch Mason, Volume VII, Number
6, Summer 1962, pages 168 – 173)
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