Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1891-06-18
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
SERIOUS SUBJECTS CAREFULLY
CONSIDERED.


Thoughts worthy OF Calm Renecfion-
Half an Hours study OF the Scriptures
Time Well spent
The lesson for sunday. June Fl. may be.
found In Kings 25s lie.
| INTRODUCTORY.
A sad lesson, In many respects and yet a.
very profitable one, II read Alright The,
truth Is always wholesome. This Scripture
reveals TO us certain facts re yarding our
relations with the great Head OF the uni-
verse, facts that ought % be received and
pondered. 4. God Is king. not man. 2. God
means what he says 3. Gods messages are
| 70 be needed. 4. Sin means destruction and
death. 5. Man Is his own worst enemy. 8.
| God Is mans truest friend 2. The man
that speaks Gods truth, however search
Ing, speaks kindness s. Heavens laws OF
Righteousness are for earth's good; they
are the barrier TO evil. o. Be sure your sin
will find you out. 10. The wicked also
serve the righteous Will OF heaven. These
AMI many other such truths may be learned
from perusal of this dark chapter In Is
rael's career Why not learn from the ex-
| perlence OF the race? uAnd thine ears shall
hear word behind thee. saying, This is
the way, walk ye In II, when We turn to the
right hand and when we turn 10 the leftp
IL is the voice Of experience--heed IL.
WHAT THE LESSON SAYS
In the ninth year 5SS 10 $50 b. C. al
though the Babylonian captivity OF seventy
| years counts from the first expulsion, 600 b.
| q. der. %: 0-12 and 20: 10.)-Nebuchad-
nezzar son of Nabopolassar. the de .troyer
OF Nineveh and founder OF Babylonia.
keigned at Babylon nearly half century.
one OF the great men OF history. Pitched
against. To settle down about. hence TO
invest Revision, encamped. 1t is this
same word that is rendered aencampethr at
rs. 34:7 ("the angel OF the Lord en-
campeth nl.-forts. or towers. Original
out
Besieged The word literally means TO
come upon or enter, hence 10 attack The
Douay suggests, probably in application
OF the thought, shut up and besieged. -
Unto the eleventh year Beginning a year
and IA half before this time
Ninth day OF the fourth month. Hebrew.
ninth OF the month. The rest being sup
piled. probably from Jer. So: 6. The Douay
Is graphic. "The ninth day of the month
and" etc. like our "high noon, and the
hour Is come. prevailed. In the sense
OF conquering. They were undone The
famine was too strons for them.
Broken up. Literally TO cleave. So rem
dered at Elk. IA: 10 (divide) very lumin-
Gus translation is that at 2 Sam. %: Is.
Where the three mighty men broke through
the ranks of the Philistines. Here the
enemy broke through the walls, made "A
breach. See Douay.--Between two walls
Better, between the two walls. The word
Is In the dual meaning, more nearly. a pair
OF walls.--rhe kings garden. or park;
probably an extensive tract on the south
side of the city. This Is the word used ar
Gen. 2: s OF the garden OF Eden.--The
plain, Hebrew, ARABIAN. wilderness dis
Pursued. The Word means or
drive.-Overtook, or seized. All his
army. All his force. The word @armyn
means literally strength. - Scattered.
Rendered dispersed at Zeph. 3: 10,
Took the king. --Or rather took hold Of.
The word means TO lay HANDS on. Trans
Inea har t.0h Ia.s n. ..f Gnr Z.
Gave Judgment Or spoke Judgment,
1. O., passed sentence upon.
Put out the eyes The barbarity of tho
process is limited at in the derivation Of the
word It's first meaning is TO dig or hollow
out.
On the seventh day. jeremiah says "the
tenth day. DER SO: 12), referring probably
TO the day OF actual entry. while this gives
us the day OF his approach IL was doubt
less an occasion Of no little formality.--
Captain of She guard, or eXecutioners, later
called the kings body-guard and sufi-
GENTLY suggestive OF the violence and
cruelty of the day.
WHAT THE LESSON TEACHES
Pitched against. So are we at times in
this world, beleagured ON ali sides by the
armies of the aliens, and at a loss; and II is
a fair question whether are not ia large
part, responsible for this pitful state of
things. Jerusalem had brought upon her
self here the poverty of resources that shut
IL
To go abroad, il was hers TO be on the ag-
gressive. but here she is penned In and des-
tined for destruction. But was IL not her
own sin that came upon herr Were not
those that pitched so tiercely and fatally
against ner the children of her own dis
trust! Was II not her own unfaith that
builded those forts against her around
about? Have care ~The angel OF the
Lord encampeth around about them that
fear him " "Tbou wilt keep him In perfect
trh fph % a.
cause he trusteth in thee - "The LORD Is
nigh unto all them that call upon him, TO
all that call upon him in truth" Mind the
emphasis.
And the city was broken up The city Of
God! No, the city Of God s despisers. This
was not that Jerusalem that Jehovah
planted, the city of the great King. Read
~, 10" t .4rrihle portrayal and see. The
CITY nau become pIacc- -idalatry and
impiety. Now there was no room for arr p
other such city-certainly not on lions hill.
There was room there for city devoted to
the one God and TO his holiness; but the
world, under God, had no use for such an
impious city as Jerusalem had become, so
the heather who are Gods sword and
scourge, rose up and wiped 1t out. There
are sober lessons here. There Is room on
American soil for God respecting Sab
bath keeping people There is no place
here for another piece Of corrupting Eu-
ropeanism. To depart from God and his
truth as nation is TO forsake the regulate
ing principle about which we were estab-
lished from the FIRST. 1t will mean the for
feiting of our right TO live the signing OF
our own death warrant. Heaven has no
need for another Sodom.
And the king went the way OF the plain.
That was the way he had chosen, and IL was
the way OF destruction. GThere is way
that seemeth right unto man: the end
thereof are the ways OF death. King Zede-
kiah had refused. long before this Gods
way, and the way revealed by Gods
prophet; choosing his own path, he finds at
last by bitter experience. that the wages
of sin is death. We have been wondering
whether the kings secretary ever read
aloud to the king out OF the 10th Psalm:
"Blessed are the indebted (sincere) In the
way, who walk in the law OF the Lord O,
that thy ways were directed TO keep thy
statutes. Ihave rejoiced ia the way OF thy
testimonies. have chosen the way Of
truth" etc. IL Is to be feared not The king
has chosen his own willful course. He has
gone the way of the plain. Down that road
there are lions. and they are unclaimed
Bewarel
And they gave good Judgment upon him.
IL was Gods judgment too. Zedekiah had
not only sinned against the nation he had
'inned against Jehovah also. The assizes
IL earth are often made the bar for the
Findication of heavens claims and the
as Gods ordained executioners
perform, albeit unwittingly, the will OF hIrb
heaven. After all. Judgment is not an ex-
'ernal, arbitrary thing. something foistcd
into the affairs of men because OF some far
away but angry potentate. II inheres. IL
belongs TO the very deed itself as fruit be-
ongs TO the tree on which IL grows. IL IL
Ike the thorn on thistle and brier. growing
'ut OF the nature and character of the