Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-08-31

i~-Anou8nte worthy OF (olm 4enec-
tion-Half an Hour's study Of the
scriptures-Time Well Spent.
The lesson for Sept. is from Ezra
the Temple" This lesson. like the last,
Is taken from the first part Of the book
Of Ezra. which relates events that oc-
CURED before Exra's time. 1t Is, there
fore, In the nature OF history written
from materials, not personal reminis-
cence. 1t. continues the story OF the re-
turn down through the year following
the journey. Last week we learned how
Cyrus encouraged the Jews to return to
their land, how by his orders large con-
tributions were. made to the cause, and
how over 10000 of them finally eft
Babylon and journeyed to Jerusalem.
This was In the year 536 b. G. The
trip would take several months. No
sooner had they reached the ruined city
than they began, bravely enough, to set
to work preparing for new temple. A
spirit which promised well for the future
led the chief men of the nation to estab-
lish IN altar of sacrifice and n regular
service Of worship soon after the return,
long before there was any building to
worship in. The entire scheme of daily
and annual ceremonies was renewed, be-
ginning In October, before even the foun-
dalton of the new temple was laid
q: 2-6). 1t was In the second year after
the return, after some preparations had
been made for the building such as the
procuring of workmen and lumber g.: y
that the priests got to the point Of laying
the foundation. It is this which our les
son describes-not rebuilding the tenn
ple," as the title indicates, for there was
a long delay in the building, during which
nothing was done. The date of the foun-
dation laying was in the spring of 535,
and nothing further was done until $40,
owing to the opposition Of the Samari-
tans about which we shall study.
Explanatory.
In order to understand the enthusiasm
with which the building of the temple
was begun, as contrasted with the sub
sequent lapse of the people into indiffer-
ence from which only the utmost efforts
of such men as Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra
and Nehemiah could rouse them, we
must remember the circumstances of the
cAuc lIOLh WuiCu tnty nuu JUST ICtuIuCu.
During that unique period, when the peo-
pie were peculiarly in position to re-
ceive moral and religious impressions be-
cause they were removed from many Of
those concerns Of government and ordi-
nary affairs which occupy so much Of the
thought and energy Of a nation, they had
been well guided by priests and proph-
cts. Ezekiel was only one CT many who
turned this condition to good advantage,
and effectually won the people away
from idolatry and turned their thoughts
to Jehovah.
'"They set the priests in their apparel
with trumpets": for more than fifty years
no echo Of sacred music had been heard
on Moriah. Nor had the exiles in Baby
lon cared-or dared-to use in their re-
ligious services the full and joyful har-
mony that belonged to the temple. They
had had music, indeed-many Of the
Psalms were written during the exile,
and were Of course sung to instrumental
accompaniment. But the sound of the
trumpet and the cymbal in jubilant
praise would not have been fitting for a
captive nation.
80 give thanks unto the Lord because
he is good: evidently they sang antiph-
onal psalms, the priests and Levites
chanting one verse or stanza, and the
people answering with the refrain that is
found in Psalms LOG, 107, 11S.
How true to life, how touching, is the
weeping of the old men as the vast con-
gregation sang and the trumpets blew
joyful melodies. Can we not see the
hearts OF those white-haired fathers as
40 fharo kaon which
even they could not perhaps quite ex-
plain or justify filing their thoughts and
mingling with the joy? Their day was
past; their best years had been spent in
a foreign land; their hopes for return
to Jerusalem had been realized too late
to give them any part in the future re-
construction of the nation. Then, too,
the desolate aspect of the scene upon
which they looked, in sharp contrast
with the joyful praises Of the congrega-
ton, carried their minds back to the
splendors Of the city as it had been long
ago. The new temple-though it was to
be larger in size than the old-could not
be in any other respect comparable to
that structure on which Solomon had
spent his best resources and the accumu-
lations Of generations.
1.-THE adversaries of Judah and Ben
jamin" were the Samaritans; people Of
mixed blood, descended from the inter-
marriages of the foreign colonists settled
in. the country about Samaria by Esar-
haddon, Assurbanipal and other Assyri-
an monarchs after the fall of the north
ern kingdom, and also those Israeltes, of
the lower classes, who had been left in
the land. They were despised by the
Jews as a mongrel race, who retained
only part of the Hebrew faith and re-
fused to accept the ceremonial system.
This breach between Samaritans and
Jews just after the return of the latter
from Babylon was the beginning Of the
fierce hatred that lasted for centuries;
instances of which we find in the gospels.
The offer of the Sainaritans sounds
fair enough as it reads here; and indeed
there are those who think that IL Zerub-
babel had accepted 1t. and had wisely
guided the Samaritans. they might have
been good allies Of the Jews. II they
had been of pure blood this might have
been done; but the heather blood in their
veins made it. from the Jewish point Of
view, preposterous.
"I'he people Of the. land" is n sort of
stock phrase that U1IAlies contempt; the
common herd, the pc white trash," is
the idea. ~ 80
'"Hi6sl a. I6;drssr-the following
ins Ezra showed how these paid
mischief makers went to work to make
trouble at the Persian court, and how