Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1879-01-06
sUNDAY-sCHOOL LESSON.

Sunday, January IL.
After the foundations of the temple
were laid, twenty.one years elapsed before
the builders were able to finish it. The
fears of the Jews were we'll grounded,
for they had hardly begun the work be-
fore the Samaritans claimed affinity with
the people SO favored by Cyrus, and de-
sired to join them in building the temple.
They were descendants of the Cuthalian
colonists whom Esar-haddon had settled
in Samaria and those Jews who had not
been carried away captive. AS result,
their religion presented strange mixture
of idolatry and the worship of Jehovah
This request was Indignantly rejected by
the Jews, who regarded them as idolators
and anniversaries" By hired influence
at the court at Babylon, as well as by
their opposition to Jerusalem as the site
of the temple, its building was hindered
till the reign of Darius, the fourth king
of the Persian empire. Cyrus and his
son Ahasuerus, who succeeded him,
(known in secular history as Cambyses),
were too much occupied in foreign wars
to settle the dispute. They were howev-
er more successful with Artaxerxes, a
Magian imposter, who, by pretending to
be the youngest son of Cyrus, usurped
the throne. He commanded the work to
cease, and commissioned them to put the
royal edict in execution. Artaxerxes,
after reign of eight months. was de-
throned by the conspiracy of several
Persian chiefs, and one of them Darius,
the son of Hystaspes, was raised to the
throne, during whose reign the temple
was finished and dedicated. Through
the exhortations of the prophets, Haggai
and Zechariah, the work was resumed by
Zerubbabel and Joshua, though contrary
to the kings command. When they
were called to account for their conduct
by Tatnai. the Persian governor, they
appealed to the edict of Cyrus. On the
discovery of which, Darius issued COM
mand not only permitting the work to
60 on, but ordering his officers to aid
them with supplies, and threatening all
who hindered them with the severest
penalties. Under the constant encour-
agement of Haggai and Zechariah and
the direction of the elders, the house
was finished after four years, in the
sixth year of Darius-(B. G. 5l5).
The Artaxerxes Longimanus, grandson
of Darius and the son of Xerxes who
attempted to conquer Greece. He com.
missioned Ezra to furnish the temple
and gave him large sum of money tt
do it with. For an account of which SEE
succeeding chapters. The Feast of the
Dedication was kept with joy. Besides
the seven hundred victims offered for +;
burnt offering, twelve goats were Offered
for sin ofering-one for each tribe
Thus they regarded themselves as repre-
sentatives of all Israel. This sacrifc,
was much smaller than at the first dedi
cation, when twenty-five thousand oxel
and one hundred and twenty thousan,
sheep were offered, though it may hav
ham ln-en 80 r-~r~-t;e- - AL Iii;
ty of the people. The ceremony wa
not as imposing and the presence of Je
hovah in the cloud was not seen. TIL
courses of the priests and Levites wer
set in order according to the law Q
Moses and the institution of David
Immediately following the dedication
the Israelites who had come out of CAP
tivity, and their kinsfolks who had SEP
: arated themselves from heather idolatry
celebrated the Feast of the Passover
which commemorated the time whe
their fathers were delivered from Egypt
ian bondage. And we'll might they oil
serve it with joy, as they had just bee
delivered from captivity and received s
q many favors from the hand of God VIII
had turned the heart of the king unit
them. TEACHER.