Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-07-18
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
lEsSoN FOR JULY TwENN-FlRsT.
SAMUEL THE REFoRMER.1L SAM. vii, lip.

NOTES.-The men Of KiEjath .jearim.-
CITY OF the woods; a large town a few
M .eS west of Jerusalem. 1t is probable
that the city was the first one of consider
able size from BethShemeSh (see vi. 9-21)
to Shiloh. 1t is perhaps to be wondered
at that the ark did not go on to Shiloh to
rest. 1t is not improbable that in the
guerilla warfare the PhiliStines badly
sacked the city and so made it an unfit
abode for the sacred chest During its 80
years stay where the lesson brings it
there was preparing for its worthy recep-
ton temple on Mout ZiOn.-SG -SGncti-
fled EleGzar.-This Levite was ceremo-
nially consecrated and set apart to be the
watchman of the ark.-T'he AShtaroth.
This is the plural form of AshtOl eth, the
supreme female deity wOrshiped by many
nations with hOrrid rites under different
names. She was IShtGr in Babylonia.
The Greeks worshiped her under the name
Astdrte; she correSpOnded to Venus. The
ASheTGh, or grove, was her symbol
Bddlim is plural for BGdl He was the
supreme male deity of the Zidonians and
kindred deity was the Babylonian Bel.
The Israelites fell easily into the fieshly
worship of these heathen and debaSing
deities. -Mizpath.-Was watch-tower
on the highest mountain near Jerusalem,
three and half mile to the northwest
Ind dTelC 1CGteT, and poured it ont
before the LOrd.-A symbolical and pub
lie act Signifying that their VOWS were as
indissOluble as the water from the ground,
and that they We're in distress and that
their idOlatry would be renOunced.-
But the Lord thundered 1Cith great
thunder. -JOSephus says that there was
also an earthquake, and that the light
ming flashed in the Philistines' faces and
dashed their weapons out of their hands.
a thunderstorm was rare at this season
of the year; it was about the first of June.
1t is not necessary to suppose that God
subverted any forces of Nature or did
what We call a miracle. -Beth-cdr.-
House of lamb; the word under implies
that it might have been a noted sheep
fold in some elevation unto which the
Israelites pursued their enemies
Shen.-TOOth. Another well-known spire |
of rock, like the "needle in Switzerland. |
-Ebel1-ezer.-Ston of help.
INsTRUCTION.-Itw was in true Israelitic |
their churches and school-hOuSes on the |
highest elevation in their hamlet or vii |
lage They Symbolized that their descen- |
dants are often apt to forget the suprem-
acy of religion in daily lives. The travel |
er as he approaches S rasburg sees from
miles afar the finger of the Minister; as
he approaches Paris it is the Eiffel Tower;
when he nears New York it is the great |
Bridge that compels his sight, while Bos-
ton attracts the tourist first through its
gilded dome. The Puritan spirit; the |
spirit of the Middle Ages, the spirit of
the children of Israel is best, which puts
its church upon the heights that all may
see and know that God reigns above
everything in that town or city. Thus
the ark abode with Abinadab IN the hill.
Samuel is represented in this lesson as
spending no long hour in delivering his
sermon. 1t is pithy; it is authoritative;
it is to the point; and it took effect in the
lives of the listeners as soon as it was
spoken. Diffusion of thought and water
ing of ideas will not go down with this
generation in the pulpit any more than
the questionable methods of some great
inanciers relieve the poverty of the
widow
But the congregation was at this time
an ideal one. 1t did not come together
to criticise, to pull to pieces, or to admire
their minister. They wanted to find out
in their extremity what to do to save their
souls, and then they did it. The apathetic
that so many clergymen have
70 fight against may well take to heart
5he knowledge that these people imme-
liately forsook their strange gods and
served the Lord only.
There are times when the children of {
Iod should leave their MiZpah (watch- {
5Ower), and make an assault upon the
enemy. But the watch tower should
never be wholly abandoned. Christianity ]
suffers when no lookout is kept.
Stones Of help mark the way of every
person of devout Christian experience
They are the private testimony of per- /;
'onal God. They form the hope of many
/ weary heart. Such stones become !
to our character. What ;
greater joy is there than to be living
of Gods help?