The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-12-17
The International Sunday School Lesson.
7USVlIIUVI TO- HS'US'' "VENIIIKFRII III
The Captivity ofJudah.

| lue NuptlElty OF Juuuu'
The siege and capture Of Jerusalem by
Nebuchadnezzar marks lurld and
frlghtful page of history. In spite of
the added horrors of pestilence and fam
/ Inc. the besleged held out with desperate
persistence for eighteen months. Only
the great natural advantages OF their
situation and the impregnable strength
\ OF their Qualifications enabled them to
do so. But they were resisting invIncl-
BILE might and the most approved weap-
| ons and methods OF the times. The
Seventy-fourth Psalm gives a vivid de-
scriptlon OF the scene. There was an
unearthiy din. The noises were much
more confused and piercing than I'M
, modern warfare The shouts OF the
hand-;oIhand combatan;s. the clang Of
the catapault. the whlr OF the missile.
Chime enemies roar In the midst OF thy
congregations" The brazcn columns,
and vessels too large 10 be carried away
were broken in pieces. They broke
down the carved work With axes and
| hammers" The air was thick with ig-
/ nited darts. They have cast fire Into
/ thy sanctuary" II the garrison had
| been put to the sword at once and the
city sacked there would have been less
refinement OF cruelty. The princes were
\ not accorded a soldiers death, but were
executed like criminals, and after
| whole months respite the city and tenn
| pie were deliberately and utterly ruined.
| Why such cruel fate TO such apparent
| ~ patriotic and courageous defenders?
Why did God disgrace the throne OF his
| glory? This was no hasty or irqscible
| Judgment. Gods people mad had line
] .y,I al
had gone into captivity first that Judah
might not go. The path she took was
made hard for her that she Nigh; the
more be inclined to t0gsake 1t, Destruc-
ton had been repeatedly averted, The
city had been previously besleged, par
TALLY despoIled. and come OF the people
deported; two kings were already In
captivity; three prophets simultaneously
warned and entreated. Gods messages
we're numerous, emphatic, unuistak-
able. One startling 0bject lesson fol-
lowed another. What more could God
have done that he dIl not do in order to
have Il produce the fruits OF repentance
and reformation?
Mosaic from Commentaries.
zsdsklah: The twentieth and last
king OF Judah. whose reign presents
vivid picture OF a king and people sinkt
ing deeper ana deeper INFO an abyss;
and whose struggles 10 rise from II 20
normal freedom prove them slaves and
tyrunts at heart. Maurice. DID evll:
He WIS mare weak Than evil. Gray. Re-
belled: Threw nff his dependency on the
king OF Babylon, relying on the support
OF Egypt. Ibid. Ncbuchldnezzar Re
marRable man. clnquerur and ruler.
Sine-tenths Of the bricks found In Baby
lon are stamped with his name. Came;
TIis .hlrd Invasion, conducted 10 person.
Jameson. Forts: Movable wooden tow
ere provided with battering rams. Cook.
Carried hlm TO Babylon Zedetinh could
not expect mercy. but did not anticipate
the severity OF judgment, worse than
death. Hltto,
Tho Teachers Lantern.
!. Al a superficial glance The revolt
against Babylon was NJ justIhable ana
patriotic as our American revolution
and from n human standpoint not more
desperate In view Of the proffered aid OF
ECypt. But therr was one fact suili-
Client 10 cover Il VITA infamy and insure
defeat. I. was directly contrary 10 the
expressed viii Of God. And ,he'e ts na
concord between implcty and patriotsm
.. Judah persisted IN setting up Idols
until the very sanctuary was denied
VIVA; Ezekiel saw In the temple
"when by the vision led
His eve surveyed the dark idolalrles
or alienatrd Judah
would Justify the awful cataclysm OF the
siege and capture,
a. Gods fail fell upon the nation But
after the philess threshlng the wheat
tyinnowed from id1latry was gathered ~
fha remnant that returned from exile.
Even war must bear It's witness TO