The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1899-09-21
QUARTERLY REVIEW.
International Sunday School Lesson
for September "a, 1S88-Goidcn
Text, Psalm 84i7.

EXTENT OF TIME.-Leaving out
Lesson 1, which is a prophecy, Of an
earlier period concerning the kingdom
of Israel, though 1t is applicable in
principle to the period we have been
studying, the period extends over
about 80 years, from the beginning OF
the exile, B. e. COS, to the completion OF
the temple, B. c. 516. and dedication in
March, SIS. I.
PLACES.-Babylon, the river Che
bar, near Babylon, Jerusalem.
PROPHETS.-Hosea, Jeremiah, Dam
iel, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, Isaiah
4O-6e, belong in effect to the exile, what
ever view we may take of the date OF
their authorship.
CONNECTION WITH SECULAR
HISTORY.--Their contact with other
nations made marked impression up
on the Jews. The oriental monarchs,
Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and Darius,
Hystaspes, are well known in secular
history.
In Italy the Tarquins were reigning
at Rome (e16-51O}. The rape of Lucre-
tia by Sextus, son of Tarquin the
Proud, B. c. $40, five years after the
completion of the temple at Jerusalem,
led to the expulsion of the kings and
the formation of the republic at Rome.
In Greece, the seven sages flourished
about B. c. 500, during the siege and de-
struction of Jerusalem.
GENERAL REVIEW.
THE PAST.-From small beginnings
the kingdom of Judah had been grow
ing to kingdom of power in the moral
world. But instead of keeping in the
steady flowing stream of Gods will for
them, they kept turning toward the
rapids of dtsobedience and idoiatry.
Note how much God did to save them
from the threatened ruin. He warned
and entreated and encouraged them
by His prophets. He sent pun
ishments for sin. He gave pros
perity that His goodness might
lead them to repentance. The wreck of
Israel was solemn warning. But in
spite of all, they went on to their own
destruction, as o boat in the rapids has
tens over the falls of Niagara.
THE EXILE DISC1PLNE.-For 70
years the kingdom was a wreck, float
| ing on the stream of time, with only
sandy wastes of hopelessness on every
lzSide. But all this time God was disci-
| plining and training them for better
things. The prophets were their teach
els. The people learned to hate idols,
to appreciate their religious privileges,
| TO long for the presence of God. The
warnings were everywhere. Hopes
were held out before them. They saw
the need and blessing of new hearts
and new lives.
THE FRESH START.-At the end of
70 years, when they had learned in
some measure the exile lessons, Gods
providence made return possible
through a change in the nations. About
$4,000 eXiles returned to Judea. They
slowly built up the city. They insti-
tuted religious services. They began
to build the temple. The beginnings
were very feeble and small. Amid pow
erty and opposition they went on till
the temple was again built. Prophets
came to them and opened visions OF
hope. They saw down the ages the
glory that was to come. They saw The
sun rising above the horizon, which
should flood the world with glory
MONUMENTS.-"Ni of all
the bricks brought from Mesopotamia
bear the stamp of Nebuchadnezzar."
bishop Walsh.
In the British museum was shown q
bronze doorstep, weighing 1900 pounds
lately brought from the temple of e
Saggil, at Borsippa, near Babylon. Or
it is an inscription saying that it was
a votive offering in commemoration o1
Nebuchadnezzar's recovery from sick
ness. This confirms the account il
Daniel of his severe sickness with {
kind of insanity. Lenormant also ha!
directed attention to "a strange hiatus
which appears in the history of Nebu
chadnezzar, which comedies with the
period of the kings insanity" There
are a number of other inscriptions by
Nebuchadnezzar.
A cylinder discovered at the ancien,
Ur mentions Belshazzar, the son of Ma
bonidus, the last king of Babylon. "We
now possess the account given by Cy
rus himself, of the overthrow of Nabon
idus, the Babylonian king, and of the
conqueror's permission to the captive'
in Babylonia to return to their homes
The account is contained in two docu
ments, written, like most other AS
syrian and BabyloDian records, upor
clay, and lately brought from Babylonia
to England by Mr.. Rassam. One of these
documents is a tablet which chronicle,
the events of each year in the reigI
of Nabonidus, the latest BabyloniaI
monarch, and continues the history
into the first year of Cyrus, as king O
Babylon. The other is cylinder, OF
which Cyrus g1orifies himself and hi
son Cambyses, and processes his ad
herence to the worship of Bel-Mero
dach, the patron god of Babylon
Prof. A. Fl. Sayce.
The inscription on the rock of Behis
tun, near Bagdad, is by Darius Hyst
aspes, giving an account of his reign, il