1 Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city;

The restoration from Babylon

The Commonwealth of Israel continued in vassalage to Babylon, Persia, Grecia, till B. C. 165, being 430 years from the desolation of the city, B. C. 595.

It then became independent under the Asmonean dynasty during 129 years, when it became subject to the Romans, who set up the Idumean, or Herodian race of kings. Under these the Shiloh was born.

Afterwards, Judea was converted into a procuratorship. The sceptre had departed from Judea and been transferred to the Romans.

The Levitical authorities arraigned the Christ before Pilate, and extorted the sentence of death against him. He was crucified, and in about 37 years after, the Romans took away the daily; cast down the place of its sanctuary; destroyed the city; cast down the truth to the ground; destroyed the mighty and the holy people; and carried them captive into all nations; where they still remain, waiting for 'the restitution of all things' belonging to their nation. Dan. 8:11, 22, 24: 9:26; Luke 21:24.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Mar 1851

63 And the Tirshatha said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.

The second generation of Levi in the wilderness had observed the divine word, but the covenant referred to they have not yet kept.

Levi after the flesh has been in apostasy for ages, and will continue to be so until "Yahweh, the Messenger of the Covenant," shall come. When the time appointed arrives, he will suddenly come in, and proceed to the work of purifying the sons of Levi, that they may offer unto Yahweh an offering in righteousness (Mal. iii. 1-4). From this future time, "they will keep the covenant," even the New Covenant, of which Jesus, not Moses, is the Mediator.

Then, when Yahweh-Christ, the Branch of Righteousness, shall sit upon the throne of his father David, and execute judgment and righteousness in the land of Israel, "the priests the Levites shall not want a man before me," saith the Spirit by Jeremiah, "to offer burnt-offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually" (xxxiii. 15-18).

When Levi, then, is in this purified condition contemporary with the reign of the Lamb and the 144,000, Levi's Urim and Thummim will be, as Moses testifies, "of the Holy Man," who will then be their High Priest after the order of Melchisedec. He will not need to wear on his breast such Urim and Thummim as Aaron wore. The Lights and Fulnesses will be of himself, He being Deity Incarnately Manifested; for "it pleased the Father that in him all fulness dwell" (Col. i. 19).

Ezra and Nehemiah, doubtless, understood that a priest was to stand up, in and from whom the reality signified by the Aaronic Urim and Thummim should proceed. This appears from Ezra ii. 63; Neh. vii. 65. In these places we learn that certain priests sought their genealogy in the register, but it could not be found;

"therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood; and the Tirshatha said to them, that they should not eat of the most holy things until there stood the Priest kakkohain, for Urim and Thummim."

Although they were thus excluded from the priesthood, yet, if they were Israelites of faith, when the Priest who shall himself be Urim and Thummim shall stand in the temple Ezekiel describes, they, having risen from the dead, will be permitted to eat of the most holy things in the Paradise or kingdom of the Deity.

Eureka 7.6