Mower County transcript., 1891-06-17
CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH.
LESSON XII, SECOND QUARTER, IN
TERNATioNAL SERIES, JUNE 81.


Commit Verses, 40 Golden Text, Hos.
vi, 1-Commentary by the Rev. D. II.
Compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly By
permission of II. S. Hoffman, publisher, Phil
adclphia.l s@Z.
I. .:Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
came, he and all his host, against Jeru-
salem, aid pitched against it. -
AS we saw in the last lesson Josiah's
turning to God and great revival reached
but few comparatively, while the nation
as whole continued in sin.
"According to the Word Of the Lord"
2. "And the city was besieged unto the
eleventh year of Zedekiah''
jeremiah had at this time been prophet
forty years, for he began in the thirteenth
year Of Josiah, after which Josiah contin-
ued eighteen years, and the eleventh of
Zedekiah was twenty-five years later (Jer.
i, 2; II Kings xxi, l; xiii, 81, 36; xiv, s.
1S). The thirty-five years which elapsed
between Josiah's great passover in the
eighteenth year of his reign QI Chron.
xxv, 19) and the destruction of the city,
is suggestive and perhaps typical of about
the same period which elapsed between
the greatest of all passovers, when Christ
our passover was sacrificed for US Il Cor.
v, y and the last destruction of Jerusalem
by Titus.
g. ''The famine prevailed in the city, and
there was no bread for the people OF the
land.''
4. "And the city was broken up, and all
the men of war fed by night; and the king
went the way toward the plain"
And yet this was the city which GOO had
chosen to put His name there-the city Of
the Great King, beautiful for situation, the
joy Of the whole earth.
5. "And the army of the Chaldees pur-
sued after the king and overlook him in
the plains Of Jericho, and all his army were
scattered from him."
This also was made known to the captives
at Babylon by the prophet Ezekiel {Ezek
xii, 13, f. c.). Contrast the safety of Heze-
kiah when besieged by the great army of
Sennacherib, and the wonderful deliverance
God wrought for him in answer to the
prayer of himself and Isaiah Ql Chron.
xxi, 20-22;; Isa. xxxvii, 36). See also the
peace and safety of Elijah when besieged by
the Syrians QI Kings vi, l6 1O and con-
slider what God did for Abijah and Asa be-
cause they relied on him II Chron. xiii, Is;
xiv, II, 12).
6. $50 they took the king and brought
him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah;
and they gave judgment upon him.
At the same place, just twenty-five years
before, the king of Egypt had put bands
upon his brother Jehoahaz and took him
to Egypt, where he died QI Kings xxiii.
Z. "And they slew the sons Of Zede]kiah
before his eyes, and put out the eyes of
Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of
brass, and carried him to Babylon"
jeremiah had said, Chime eyes shall be-
hold the eyes Of the king of Babylon, and
he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth,
and thou shalt go to Babylon" DER. xxxiv,
-. The same spirit had said through
Ezekiel, II will bring him to Babylon, to
the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not
see it, though he shall die there" (Ezek.
xii, 13). See how these somewhat difficult,
and in a measure seemingly contradic-
tory, prophecies were literally fulfilled, and
all made perfectly plain in the fulfllment.
He saw the king of Babylon; they looked
upon each other and spoke to each other.
He also went to Babylon, but he never saw
Babylon, for after seeing the king of Baby
Ion at Riblah, and after being compelled to
witness the death of his sons, his eyes were
put out. How fearfully sad the conse-
4uCuCCS VI uAOCA1Cl! DuO " Ac11 ID oil pICSCuO
physical suffering when compared with
the endless torment of Rev. xiv, Oil?
8. "Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard,
servant of the king of Babylon"
The literal meaning of the Hebrew phrase
here translated captain of the guard" is
''chief of the slaughtermen or execution
ers'' (see the margin of Gen. xxxvii, 36).
g. "And he burnt the house of the Lord,
and the Kings house, and all the houses of
Jerusalem, and every great mans house
burnt he with fire."
The people could now truly say, 20 God,
the heather are come into thine inherit
ance; thy holy temple have they defled; they
have laid Jerusalem on heaps" Ps. xxx,
il. "Our holy and our beautiful house,
where our fathers praised Thee, is burned
up with fire, and all our pleasant things
are laid waste" Qsa. Xiv, 11). This mag
nifcent building, costing hundreds Of mill
ions of dollars, and which stood less than
thirty-four years in its original splendor
q Kings xiv, 25, 26), is now completely de-
stroyed and all the city burned with fire;
and sin did it all.
10. "And all the army of the Chaldees
that were with the captain of the guard,
brake down the walls of Jerusalem round
about"
And thus they continued until the re-
turn of Nehemiah, many years after the
return of the SC, 900 under Zerubbabel (Neh.
], -, and amid the greatest opposition and
hatred was the wall rebuilt Neh- iv, vi).
II. "Now the rest of the people that were
left in the city did Nebuzar-adan, the cap
tain of the guard, carry away"
Some We're slain Tvs 1921; at three diff
ferent times 1900 were carried captive (Jer.
lii, % 3O), while some were left in the land.
Some were carried captive for their good,
that He might bring them again, and build
them and plant them in their own land,
and give them heart to know Him; while
others who were disobedient were taken to
be consumed and destroyed because of
their sins (read Jer. XIV. The sam e
event or series of events may happen to
both the righteous and the wicked; to the
one it means blessing, to the other ours
ing. The same glad tidings of salvation
preached to congregation may mean life
to some and death to others QI Cor. ii.
Is, 16.
u. ''But the captain of the guard left Of
the poor of the land to be vine dressers and
husbandmen.'' - f
To the poor of the people, who had moth
ing in the land, he gave vineyards and
fields {Jer. xxx, 1O). Gedaliah was made
governor over these, and jeremiah chose