Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-11-16
Reflections Of m Eievating Character
-who4esome. Bood for Thought
studying the 'scrfpturaI Lesson In.
teliigentiy and Probably.

tolligentIy and Prodtably.
Rebuilding the Walls of Jerusalem"
is the subject of the lesson for Nov. I'D.
The portion OF Scripture Is Neh. 8: LIZ.
Nehemiah's task was not done by any
means when the walls Of Jerusalem had
been rebuilt. That work, through mar
Vicious generalship and hard labor, was
finished in two months. 1t had been in
terrupted by fighting without and foes
within" by the jealousies OF Sanballat
and Tobiah and Goshen and their crew,
and by the murmurings and plottings Of
the miserable lot Of ingrates who still
found harbor within Jerusalem. IL Ne
hemiah had not been an accomplished
statesman as well as a builder and re-
former, he could never have succeeded in
weathering the storm. For his position
was peculiar. The class of Jews whose
ideals were likest his own were poor and
obscure-the poor and needy" ones spok-
en- OF in some of the psalms and in the
extra-biblical writings Of succeeding cen
turtles. But he must make and keep him
self leader OF all classes, the rich and
naughty as well as the humble and mp
right. This he did by methods which are
worthy the study Of every Christian
statesman. Not once did he truckle to
the "bosses" Of his day, nor buy off the
rich capitalists, nor use the arts Of the
demagogue toward the laborers. Yet he
carefully avoided making enemies unnec-
essarily.
His fortune enabled him to tender Law
ish hospitality to friends and 10 the dis
affected as well. Moreover, there were
at my table of the Jews and the rulers
an hundred and fifty men, beside those
that came unto US from among the
heather that were round about us. Now
that which was prepared for one day was
one OK and six choice sheep; also fowls
were prepared for me, and once in ten
days store of all sorts Of wine; yet for all
| this l demanded not the bread OF the
governor. because the bondage was
heavy upon this people" Nehemiah was
entitled to a salary from the people OF
Jerusalem as the Persian governor. but
instead of asking even his bare support,
he supported whole regiment of the pco-
pie.
This sort Of thing makes man popu-
lar il anything will. And. indeed. Nehe-
miah was popular with the majority OF
| the people. But enemies were plotting to
destroy his supremacy. and some of them
went so far as to mediate assassina-
ton. The plan was first to intimidate
him by threatening to accuse him or
treason against the Persian crown. This
failed utterly, simply because Nehemiah
| could rot be blackmailed. Baffied here,
| his rivals sought to entice him into the
temple. pretending that this was nects-
sary in order to guard against n counter
plot of third parties who were planning
| his murder. This trap, too, failed ut
| terly. Nehemiah went ahead with his
work. Evidently he was new genus TO
Sanballat, Tobiah and that ilk. They
had never come in contact with such a
person and did not know quite how TO
estimate him. They soon found mt.
One week after the completion of the
walls came the great assembly which is
| recorded in the lesson.
Explanatory.
The date was about the middle Of Sep
| TENDER, Al; the beginning of the seventh
| month. The gathering of the people was
| of course arranged for by their leaders.
| 1t was hardly spontaneous popular
movement, though the people seem heart
| lily to have co-operated with Ezra on this
| occasion. The place of meeting was the
| large open square south of the temple,
| on the terrace lower than the tempe it.
| SELF and near the southern wall Of the
| city. overlooking the valley of the kdron.
ITO bring the book of the law of Moses.
| which the Lord had commanded to Is
rael:" the narrative presupposes some pre-
vious announcement by Ezra that he was
prepared to present such book to the
hearing of the people. During his years
| of absence many think he had been study
| ing and editing the system of laws COM
| prising the complete ceremonial system
Of later Judaism, and now was ready to
bring it before the nation. We have al
ready indicated what part of the penta-
| touch included this systematic book OF
Leviticus chiefly, with portions of other
| books.
The book read was in Hebrew. To
many of the people Hebrew was by this
| time a dead language, and required to be
interpreted Ia the colloquial Aramaic.
Hence in al later times when the Scrip
lures were read in public an accompany
| ing paraphrase or targum, as it was call
| ed, aided the hearers to understand.
| These targums were at first informal and
more or less extemporaneous, varying
more or less from the original according
| to the learning or caprice Of the inter-
prefer. Several of the later targums,
written in the Aramaic language. are ex-
tant to-day, and are useful in comparing
| with the original Hebrew for purposes Of
| textual study.
1.-The 1irshatha" was the title Of the
| Persian governor of the province.
| The grief of the people was genuine.
| No more remarkable scene, perhaps, can
be pointed out in later Jewish history
| than this vast concourse of citizens list
| ening to the solemn sentences of the law
| that pronounced them unclean, offenders
against the statutes of the Almighty. and
unfaithful to the traditions of Israel.
What must we do to be saved" was
their unspoken question.
| In turning the peoples weeping into
| joy Nehemiah showed his profound
knowledge of human nature. If he had
left his congregation in tears, with
mournful and despairing hearts, the re-
| vulsion would have come sooner or later
| in any case. and it would have come
| after they had passed away from the
| influence of the occasion. Light-hearted-
| ness would have come back, and the deep
influence of the mornings assembly
would have been obliterated. But when
| Nehemiah, while the people were still
hanging intent upon the words Of the
readers, gave them. as one speaking for
| the Almighty, authority to be glad again,
because 'the joy Of the Lord is your
| strength" because the Lord is merciful
| and passionate toward those who tru-