The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1893-02-02
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
International Lesson for February o, 1893
-Dedlcating the Tempie-Ezra 6:14-22.

unto me: Let us go into the house Of the Lord
-Ps 122:1.
TIME-The temple was completed four years
after our last lesson, on the third day Of Adar,
the twelfth month, February, b. C, 5l5 The
month varied with the new moon The third
day of Adar in 1892 was March 2; in 1893 will be
February 90; in 1894, February TO- The Pass
over was held six weeks later, the 14th of
Nissan, March-April.
PLACE.-Jerusalem and the newly.built tenn
pie.
PROPHETS. .-Haggai and zecharah.
RULERs-Darius Hystaspes, the father of
Xerxes, the Ahasuerus of Esther, was king of
the Medo-Persian empire (sixth year,; zerub-
babel, the governor OF Judea twentieth year);
Tatnai Persian governor of Syria and Pales-
tine; Tarquinius Superbus at Rome
THE SECTION OF HISTORY includes Ezra,
chaps. and 0, with a review Of the work Of
Haggai and Zecharah and of Ezra, chaps 8, 4
LESSON NOTES.
Rebuilding the Temple Yer. IA. The
foundations of the temple were laid in
the autumn of B. G. 536, soon after the
arrival of the first company of $4,000
exiles at Jerusalem from Babylon. But
SO 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 b. c.
$40, when the people went to work
again Through the prophesying of
Haggai the prophet and Zechariah," as
we have seen in 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, interfered, writ
ing letters to Darius, inquiring if there
were any such permission given to the
Jews by 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 Medes,
in the royal archives at Achmetha
(Ecbatana), one of it's capitals,
the roll was found containing the de-
cree of Cyrus. Darius confirmed the
decree, and commanded Governor Tat
mai to give immediate aid to the work
in money and supplies, and ordered that
whosoever should "alter this word"
should be impaled on timber from his
own house, and the house made heap
of ruins. This answer must have come
after the prophecies of Zechariah we
studied in our last lesson. But Zech-
ariah prophesied again. According to
the commandment Of the God," given
through the prophets And Arta-
xerxes." This aid that Artaxerxes gave
was sixty years later, but the fact was
added here because, since he contrib
uted to the beautifying of the temple
(chap. 7: 20), and promoted the same
by his edict (ibid. 1920, he might be
thought to deserve mention, together
with Cyrus and Darius, as one of those
who helped forward the completion of
the work. This Artaxerxes was not
the one mentioned in At, bs1t the
grandson of Darius.
The Site was the same as that of Sol
omon's temple, on Mount Moriah. The
top of the hill was large quadrangle
Of perhaps IL acres, 900 feet by 600,
SO terraced as to be, higher in
the center where the temple stood.
| This is only about one-third of the size
of the courts in Herod's time, for sew
eral acres had been added on the north
before he rebuilt the temple, and he
doubled the extent of the inclosure
| The Structure, If built according to the
decree of Cyrus, was sixty cubits high
and sixty long (63), while Solomon's
was only forty wide and thirty high.
But it must have been vastly inferior in
ornament and splendor. The Holy of
Holes was empty. The ark, the
cherubs, the tables of stone, the vase
of mamma, the rod Of Aaron, We're gone.
The golden shields had vanished. Even
the high priest, though he had re-
covered his official dress, had not been
able to resume the breastplate with
the oracular stones Ezra 1903; Neh.
1859. The doors of the temple were Of
gold. In three particulars the general
arrangements differed from those
of the ancient sanctuary. With the
rigid jealousy which rendered this
period hostile to all which approached
the Canaanite worship, there were no
more to be seen in the courts those
beautiful clusters of palm and olive
and cedar, which had furnished some of
the most striking imagery of the poetry
of the monarchy. Another feature
Characteristic of the period was the
fortress-tower built at the northwestern
corner of the sanctuary, which, serv-
ing in the first instance as a resi-.
dence of the Persian governor, became
| III ldOer udyS tle Io"ei VI AHtoHlt, iroul
which the Roman garrison controlled
the proud population of Jerusalem.
Thirdly, the court of the worshipers was
Il Mace. 9:54) divided for the first time
into two compartments, of which the
outer inclosure was known as the court
of the Gentiles. Into this temple were
placed the golden vessels of the old
temple, restored by order Of Cyrus
EZRA 1:7-1D.
The Purpose. The temple was the
center of worship for the nation. 1t
united them more than any other pow.
er could; it lifted their minds and hearts
to God, the source of every good; it in
structed them by its symbols in the
knowledge of the true religion; it led
them to consecrate themselves to God.
And all this was not for themselves