viii. 63), and no doubt the despisers of the 'day of small things,'
whom Zechariah had rebuked, would be at their depreciating work again.
But 'if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to
that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.' The
thankfulness of the offerers, not the number of their bullocks and
rams, made the sacrifice well pleasing. But it would not have been so
if the exiles' resources had been equal to the great King's. How many
cattle had they in their stalls at home, not how many they brought to
the Temple, was the important question. The man who says, 'Oh! God
accepts small offerings,' and gives a mite while he keeps talents,
might as well keep his mite too; for certainly God will not have it.

A significant part of the offerings was the 'twelve he-goats,
according to the number of the tribes of Israel.' These spoke of the
same confidence as we have already noticed as being expressed by the
designation of 'the God of Israel.' Possibly scattered members of all
the tribes had come back, and so there was a kind of skeleton
framework of the nation present at the dedication; but, whether that
be so or not, that handful of people was not Israel. Thousands of
their brethren still lingered in exile, and the hope of their return
must have been faint. Yet God's promise remained, and Israel was
immortal. The tribes were still twelve, and the sacrifices were still
theirs. A thrill of emotion must have touched many hearts as the
twelve goats were led up to the altar. So an Englishman feels as he
looks at the crosses on the Union Jack.

But there was more than patriotism in that sacrifice. It witnessed to
unshaken faith. And there was still more expressed in it than the
offerers dreamed; for it prophesied of that transformation of the
national into the spiritual Israel, in virtue of which the promises