People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1893-02-24
LESSON NOTES


Of repopulating Jerusalem and OF knowing who
were the true Jews.
LESSON NOTES.
The Month Of Meetings. The walls Of
Jerusalem, though three or four miles
long, were finished in fifty-two days,
week before the beginning of the
civil year, or the seventh month, Tishri,
Of the common Jewish year. This
month (September-0ctober) included
three great festivals: ~ The Feast of
Trumpets, ushering in the new year
aid the new moon; (2l the great Day of
Atonement, the 10th of the month,
and (G) the Feast Of Tabernacles, from
the 18th to the 2lst, the Jewish Thanks
giving. In a calendar of the Jewish
year for lS92-04, prepared by a
Jewish rabbi, six feasts are assigned to
this month, while no other has more
than three. In addition to these Nehe-
miah held another solemn meeting of
confession and renewing the covenant.
This month was largely given up to re-
ligious meetings, chiefly for the study
of Gods Word.
At this time began under Ezra a new
era of Bible study. We must remem-
Der that at this time there was no print
ing and no cheap paper; that copies of
the law were scarce and expensive.
Even in A. D. 1872 in England it took
the wages Of laboring man for thir-
teen years to buy a Bible. Probably
there were few copies in existence even
before the destruction of the temple,
and many of these may have been de-
strOyed. Ezra renewed the study of the
Bible, inaugurated a class of scribes,
for copying and teaching the Law, and
synagogue meetings for reading it. He
had the law copied, and doubtless mod
ernized so as to be understood by the
people, as the English of Shakespeare
is modernized in all our ordinary copies.
The inner life of the people is far
more important than outward defenses.
The real walls of a city are the charac-
ter and heart of its inhabitants. The
walls of Jerusalem would last but a
brief time, unless the people themselves
were renewed. Hence this series of
meetings was as important as the build
ing of the walls, and the task to be &C.
complished by them much harder. A
Massachusetts, minister of the olden
time once told his people that it was
easier for God to create world than to
renew their hearts, for he had no oppo-
sition in the creating.
4 Sunday School ofhe 0lden Tine.
Vers. l., 2. This chapter should begin
with the last clause of the last verse of
the previous chapter: 'And when the
seventh month was come" etc.
The occasion was the celebration OF
the new-moon feast of the seventh
month (chap. 1873. The beginning OF
every month was ushered in as a sacred
festival: but this, the commencement
of the seventh month, was kept with
distinguished honor as 1.-The feast OF
trumpets" Lev. 1924. Trumpets were
blown everywhere, unless the feast fell
on the Sabbath. They proclaimed a
day of rejoicing, like our Christmas
bells; they were public acknowledge.
ment of Jehovah as king, a summons
for the people to range themselves
under His banner; they were a call tc
repentance: Rouse We, rouse We from
your slumber; awake, awake, from
your sleep, you who mind vanity"
It's Members. "All the people gathered
themselves together as one man" They
came from all the surrounding coun
try. The numbers present have beer
variously estimated at from twenty
thousand to fifty thousand. The con
gregation was made up of men anC
women, and all that could hear with
understanding" (ver. q, j. e., parents
brought those of their children who
were old enough to understand. They
were eager to learn their duty, for they
asked Ezra to bring the book of the
law
The Leader. They spake unto Ezra
the scribe:" (See Lesson VIII This is
the first mention of Ezra in the present
book, and the first proof that we have
had that he was contemporary with
Nehemiah. Itseems impossible that he
should have been in Jerusalem during
the events narrated in Neh. 2-6, anC
have played no part in them. Probably
he returned to the court of Artaxerxes
soon after effecting the reforms which
he relates in Ezra 10, and did not re
visit Jerusalem till about the time when
the walls were completed. If he had thu:
Just returned after an absence of more
than ten years, it would be natural fol-
the people to request him to resume the
work of exposition of the law to which
he had accustomed them on his former
visit (See Ezra 7:1O, 25).
The Tert Book. THE book of the
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