The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-02-03
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

...,,on~l Leason for February D. se03
n.a,cat,ng the r~empis-Esra 0'tS-ss.
.a,,vs TEXT wss glad when they said
M. Let - 60 into the house OF the Lord
-Ps- lsL ,o,x rc.~
80, o.r last lcsson. on the third day OF Aiar,
~ twelfth month. February, II. G es Tbs
month varied with the new moon Inc tn''c
w. !, Adar In 1892 was March = IN lh9j Will b.
-.,rnary 20: In 1891. February TO- The Pass
~ was held six weeks later. the lsth Of
Slsar. March-ApriL
pie u.-~,.,a z.charhah
pr, rms DARIUS Hystaspcs. the father Of
80 the Ahasuerus OF Esther. was king OF
- ,fedo. Persian empire tsixth year; zcrub-
-, Inc governor OF Judca twentieth year.
IRA, Persian governor Of Syria and x'aies-
,,,e. Tarquinius Superhus AZ Rome.
rux SECTION or HISTORY includes Ezra.
~,ans 5 and o. with y review OF the work OF
uarcai and Zcchariah. and Of Ezra, chaps "a
LESSON NOTES
R1uilding the Temple. Yer. ~. The
foundations Of The temple were laid in
che autumn of II. &. $50, soon after the
arrival Of the first company Of 10000
exiles al Jerusalem from Babylon. But
80 much opposition arose and so many
difficulties presented themselves that
the work ceased when the foundation
was laid. For fifteen years nothing
more was done till the autumn Of Il. C.
Lso. when the people wen 10 work
again Through the prophcsying of
Haggai the prophet and Zechariah." as
we have seen i'm the last three lessons.
But it required four years TO complete
the temple. At first there was great
opposition. Tatnai. the governor Of
SYRIA and Palestine. interfercd. writ
ing letters to Darius, inquiring il there
we're any such permission given To the
Jews 10y Cyrus as the Jews claimed. No
such record was found in Babylon.
where it would naturally be kept. but
in the distant province Of the Modes,
in the royal archives ut Achmetna
fEcbatana). one of its capitals,
the roll was found containing the de-
cree Of Cyrus Darius confirmed the
decree. and commanded Governor Tat
Mi 10 give immediate aid to the work
in money and supplies. and ordered that
whosocver should .'alter this word"
should be impalcd on timber from his
own house. and the house made n heap
OF ruins. This answer must have come
after the prophecies of Zechariah we
studied in our last lesson. But Zech-
ariah prophcsicd again. According to
the commandment Of the God" given
through the prophets And Arta-
xerxes." This aid that Artaxerxcs gave
was sixty years later, but the fact was
added here because. since he contrib
utcd 10 the identifying Of the temple
(chap. :: .0l. and promoted the same
by his cdict ibid. 1920. he might be
thought To deserve mention. torethcr
with Cyrus and Darius. as one of those
who helped forward the completion Of
the work. This Artaxerxes was not
the one mentioned in AZ, l~it the
grandson Of Darius.
The ste was the same as that of Sol
omon's temple. on Mount Moriah- The
top Of the hill was "A large quadrangle
Of perhaps II acres, 900 feet by COO.
% terraced MS to be higher in
iac center where the temple stood.
This is only about onc-third Of the size
of the courts in Herod's time. for sew
Ill IN iAs-A4 i'tAi 't. "a ebt ~
before he rebuilt the temple. and he
doubled the extent OF the inclosurc.
The Structure. If built according to the
decree of Cyrus. vas sixty cubits high
and sixty long tG:3,. while Solomon's
was only forty wide and thirty high.
But it must have been vastly inferior in
ornament and splcndor. The Holy OF
Holes was empty. The ark. the
chcrubs. the tables Of stone. the vase
of mamma. the rod Of Aaron. were gone
The golden shields had vanished. Ever
the high priest. though he had re
covered his official dress. had not beer
able to resume the brcastplatc with
the oracular stones Ezra a.63: Neh
..65l. The doors II the temple were oi
gold. In three particulars the genera
arrangements differed from thoss
of the ancient sanctuary. With tn,
rigid jealousy which rendered thi,
period hostile To all which approached
the Canaanitc worship. there were M
more 70 Ice seen in the courts thos,
beautiful clusters Of palm and Olive
and cedar. which had furnished some o
the mos; striking imagery of the poetr,
Of the monarchy. Another featur,
characteristic Of the period was thu
fortrcss-towcr built at the Northwestern,
corner Of the sanctuary. which. serv
ing in the first instance as "A resi-
dcnrc ~ the Persian governor. becams
in later days the tower of Antonio. from
which the Roman garrison controlled
the proud population Of Jerusalem
Thirdly. the court of the worshipers wa
u Mace. a:5s) divided for the first tim
into two compartments Of which tn
outer inclosr-c was known as the cour
of the GcE.ilcs. Into this temple wer'
placed the golden vessels Of the oil
teraplc. restored by order Of Cyru
tLzra i:r-ilb.
Tie Purpos-. The temple was tn
center 81 worship for the nation.
united them more than any other pow
er cnald; it lifted their minds and heart
bGod. the source Of every good: 1t In
ifructcd them by its symbols in tn
knowledge of the true religion; II le
them - ~consccrate themselves to God
And al this was not for themsclvc
rioac. IL was the one true light SC
Fp1a y hill. Sccn far and wide. who's
rvs proclaimed the one true God fo
III nA. DA -