The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-12-28
The Sunday School Lesson.
SERIES FOR 1996.---FIRST QUARTER.
STUDIES IN THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

aside to the priesthood. But in the days
of David this tribe had become so nu
merous that the king deemed it advisa-
BILE to limit the service of the sanctuary
to one branch. the SONS Of Aaron; to the
other Levites he committed the manual
and secular service of the Law. The
descendants of Aaron we're divided in
two lines; first that of Eleazar, Aaron's
elder son, and second that of Ithamar.
the younger. David, in dividing these
priests into courses or classes, assigned
sixteen classes to the sons OF Eleazer
and eight to the sons OF Ithamar. All
these classes had their heads; and we
find that Abijah, the forefather of Ia
chariae, was the eighth and last in the
division of Ithamar. To each of these
twenty four classes in order was as
signed from the days Of Solomon, a
weeks service at the temple.
That Zacharias should trace bis
priestly lineage back thousand years
to Abiiah is illustrative of how every be-
lievipg priest esteemed his ancestral in
heritance.
We are told also that Elizabeth, the
wife of Zachariae, was of priestly des-
cent from Aaron; SO that between the
husband and wife there was peculiar
bond of common memories, interests
and hopes.
The home of these devoted people was
in the hill country of southern Judah,
and according to reasonable tradition
in the old city of Hebron.
The unintermittent grief of their lives
was that they were childless. To have
child, especially man-child. was the
crown to which every Hebrew wife as
PRED. To be childless was reckoned
more than misfortune; it was thought
to be a sign of Gods disfavor. To have
no child to perpetuate the priestly
family, no child through whom the Mes
siah might be born, to be cut off with
their generation from the chosen people,
this was a bereavement that inwardly
troubled the outwardly placid lives Of
these consecrated servants Of God.
They were now, as the record tells ue,
we'll advanced in their daye. 1t is not,
nevertheless, probable that they we're
literally stricken with years. Because
Zacharias was yet active in the temple
service, from which the Levites were
excused at fifty, it is fair to assume that
he was under fifty years of age, and his
wife was probably some years his junior.
Their hope of child, however, had
grown dim within them. But their de-
sire and their prayer for child was
still fervent.
These are represented as completely
bameess people. They lived in faith
fulness to their light. Twice year
Zacharias went up to the temple to per-
form the service stately required of his
priestly class. He waited the coming of
the day. which would be the epoch of
his life. the one day when he would be
called UPON to enter the holy place ard
| offer incense before the Lord. So nu-
merous were the priests in his time,-
| twenty or twenty five thousand they
must have mbered, that this coveted
service could never be by any ore priest
fulfilled more than once. To that cor
onal day of his life Zacharias had been
for years longingly forelooking.
2. Zacharias' Vision in the
Holy Place,-vs. 8-l2.
At last the momentous day arrived.
The sacred lot, as decided by the high
priest. assigned to him his day for offer
ing incense in the sanctuary.
1t was nothing new for Zacharias to
pass through the outer court of the tenn
pie, into which the Gentiles might
come, but beyond which no foreigner
could pass. He had many times before
passed through the court of the women,
into which the Hebrew women could en-
ter, but beyond which they were not
allowed to go; and through the court of
the people, which was as far as the lay
men of the Hebrew race we're allowed to
enter; he WAS privileged as priest to
pass at any time up and through these
terraced, unroofed contemporaries to
the temple. He Low, as he had many
times before, exercised his priestly right
to enter the court of the priests, the
nearest court to the temple. Here he
would meet the brother priests of his
class. In this court stood the great bra
zen altar, on which the daily burnt sac
rihces were offered.
But, while all this, 30 far, was familiar
to him, we cannot doubt that it was
with emotions new and strange that he
this day passed upward through the
outer courts to the great suspended
temple door. That door was 10 be lifted
to him today as it rever had been be-
fore.
In the court of the priests he made
preparation for the solemn service. He
dressed himself in his white priestly
robe. He selected two of the priests OF
his class, as favored friends. TO assist
him. The duty of these was simple and
preliminary. One was appointed to en-
| ter the holy place and hastily remove