Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1891-02-05
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
SERIOUS SUBJECTS CAREFULLY
CONSIDERED.
A Scholarly Exposition OF the Lesson
Thoughts Worthy OF Calm Reflection
Half an Hours Study OF the Scriptures
Time Well Spent


Half an Hours Study OF the Scriptures
Time Well spent
The lesson for Sunday, February 8, may
be found in Kings 21:1-16.
GOLDEN TExT.-Take heed. beware or
covetousness--Lu xii. is.
INTRODUCTORY.
The lesson before US, regarding covntous-
ness, is incomplete unless we read on 20 the
end OF v. 10, at least. There we find the
fruit of covetousness and its companion sins.
For there were three nagrant crimes COM
mitted here; the crime OF covetousness Tor
such, considering its results, IL may DO
called, the crime OF perjury and the crime
of murder The denouncement speaks as
loudly as words can speak 1t, for all Time
and for all trangressions: "The wages or
sin Is DEATH"
WHAT THE LESSON SAYS.
Naboth. An independent landowner un-
der the Jewish theocracy. .--Jezreeiite
Jezreel had been chosen by AhaD as MS
royal residence. It signifies God Will SOW
or scatter It's site was I'm the valley, or
on the hillside between Mount Gflboa ana
the Hill OF Moreh, at the north (Esdreaionl.
A vineyard or orchard. First meaning
cultivated land, probably his home, his an
cestral estate.-Hard by the palace. But
the palace had been placed there later Dy
Ahab.-King of Samaria, or Israel.
Designated by it's chief portion.
garden of herbs. grecnery; not SO
much for vegetables as for plants; con-
servatory. Ahab had an eye to landscape
gardening and would sacrifice his neighpors
comfort for his own qualification. My
house. Said to have been most magnificent
"A better vineyard. Hebrew idiom:
good above it.-Or II IL seem good to thee.
Hebrew: good in thine eyes.--Worth OF IL
Translated, gift, in the recompense Tor the
maiden, Gen. "a: 12. 1t suggests the GU
rious trading forms of the Orient See Abra-
hams transaction for the burial place In
Machpelah, Gen. 20: 3-17.
The Lord forbid It me. marked He-
brew idiom. Literally, PROCLAMATION 10 me
from the Lord should 1 give. This tdenti-
cal Hebrew is to be found at Sam. "a; o,
where David refuses to slay Saul In the cave.
Naboth was a believer In God.-The In
heritance OF my fathers. There was re-
| ligious direction as to this. Numbers 3o:1.
Heavy. Hebrew, sad, Rebellious.
pleased. First meaning, to boil. spoken or his
vexed feelings will not. There was
still some respect for the sacred laws OF the
nation.-Would eat no bread. An tndica-
| tion of the childish weakness Of Ahab's ma
| ture.
Jezebel. Daughter of Ethbaal king OF
| the Sidonians, a heather of the heathens.
Sad Same word translated heavy IN
V. 4.
| And set. Same word again. (Shoo) as In
| VS.. and 9.--Sons Like @brood of vipers.
I-Belial. From bell: not and yaal; TO
profit. l. g., no account, good for naught;
| abandoned. Such men can be found, TO
| serve the DEVILS purposes, in any commu-
| nity.-Curse, Strangely enough, the FIRST
meaning Of the verb used here (bafak) Is to
bless. 1t also means to give parting salute,
| /. g., TO renounce, which seems to be the
signifcatlon in this connection. 1t Is used
| I'm the same way, we are inclined to believe,
| at Job .: o, 1Curse God and die" (Say good
| by), the word here again being barak, so
also job 1: s. 2; s.
Inhabitants, or, as before suggested, VS..
| &, o. and TO- where the same word Is used
i session or council.-Did as Jezebel had
| sent. Willing tools.
| Proclaimed a fast. AS betolening that
| something had gone wrong in the kingdom.
And there came. Better as In the Revis-
| ion (Variations) And the two men came.
Out Of the city. Very exact In the let
| ter LEV. "a: 14); very loose as to the spirit
| OF the law.-Stoned him with stones. Lev.
| "a: 16.
To Jezebel 1t was at her instigation.
-Naboth is stoned and is dead. A genu-
Inc laconic.
For money, 1. O., what you could not get
for money, give you for nothing.-But
dead. Hence, legally naught.
Take possession, |. O., to seize by force Is
| the first meaning OF the word.
WHAT THE LESSON TEACHES.
The Lord forbid IL me. The king bids:
the Lord forbids Which shall be heard?
He is, at one and the same time, self
respecting citizen of the realm and self
surrendered servant of God. He teaches
the king two lessons, alas, unheeded; that
there are limitations to kingly demand and
| that there is higher authority than the
earthly ruler. Naboth is In fact, an early
advocate of Magma Charta, the rights of
the people. He is also an early Protestant
| In the name of the true God and true alle-
glance: and like the early Protestants ne
became also a martyr to the truth.
| / will give thee the vineyard. IL - the
| voice OF despotism and of the usurpation OF
power Such voices spoke in the ears OF
| Charles the First of England when his
servants and agents in high station over
rode, I'm his behalf, the law of the nation
and the will of the people. Dearly did no
and his iniquitous coad1utors pay Tor IL.
So also Ahab and his despicable partner In
| vice. When even in history such pre-
sumptuous sentiment speaks itself, 10
sounds the first death-knell OF the arrogant
authority that give IL utterance. "Pride
goeth before destruction and a naughty
spirit before fall"
Proclaim fast. Hypocrisy, pure and
simple A holy day named In order to COM
pass an unholy and atrocious deed. 1t was
what they did with Huss. 10 was "safe
conduct" they had promised him when they
tiously says, that was not well done. it
was as vilely done In Naboth's case. There
is talk of opening the gates of the World $
Fair on Sunday. The wiliest advocates OF
such measure urge IL I'm the name OF NOR
ality and, indeed, of religion. Throw the
doors forsooth, open, and have some great
services inside the grounds; as 1t were,
proclaim kind of fast. We need not look
far to see the Naboths vineyard they are
after.
Then they carried him fourth out OF the
city. They were very careful TO keep the
law. IL would have been fearful thing tc
slay a man inside the city or to hurl any
thing else than stones at him. Very pious
were they about IL all. Thoy had a clue
once to an atroclous murder that was com
mitted on the outskirts of London, In that
the miscreants conhscated everything but
the meat In the basket And why did they
leave that? IL was agood friday
Arise, take possession Of the vineyard
And he arose to do IL. That was Ahab's In
tention. God had another purpose. Th'
wicked king arose TO hear the sentence o.
his condemnation pronounced upon him
Naboth was dead, Elijah was not, and Got
still lived. It Is on the way down 70 tak'
! possession of the stolen property that mos
men meet their just awards. The covetot
man who built larger barns was on his wa,
down 20 take possession OF his so-calles
gains when the Sthou fool" presaged hi
death.
Next week-GElijah Taken 70 Heaven.
Kings 2: III.