The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-01-09
THE SABBATH SCHOOL
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS
FOR JANUARY i3. .

on the Days Lesson.
l. Drew nigh" This was Sunday.
commonly called Palm Sunday. Jesus and
His disciples left Bethany and journeyed
toward Jerusalem. 'Bethphage." The To-
cation of this town is not definitely
known; it was between Bethany and Je-
rusalem. "Sent two disciples" Supposed
to have been Peter and John. After they
left Bethany Jesus sent three disciples on
ahead.
.. "The village" Bethphage aye shall
find" Here We have wonderful instance
of Christ's prescience in very minute mat
ters. Taking the different accounts to-
gether, Jesus says, l. Ye shall find q colt
with its mother. 2. Both would be tied.
s. They would find them as they entered
the village. 4. At place where two ways
met. S. No man had sat upon the colt.
g. The owners will question you. Z.
| When told that the Lord hath need of
her" The other accounts mention the
colt only, and do not refer to it's mother.
Our Lord chose an animal on which never
man had sat. loose them" The ami
mails were tied; and SO mems possessions
are "tled" by pleasure, or greed, or gain,
or habit, or the gordian knot of selfish
ness.
g. "Straightway he will send them"
Our Lord did not beg, but borrowed the
colt, therefore this should be understood
as the promise Of returning him. Mark
IL: 8 (R. W, makes this clear: And
straightway He will send him back (or
again, marg) hither.
4. might be fulfilled" Was the chief
motive of Jesus merely to fulfil prophecy
and did He turn out of the way for that
purpose? Rather, let US see that this was
the right thing to do at this time. 1t was
necessary in order to fulfil His mission
for Him to offer Himself, on this last op.
portunity, to the Jews as their Messiah.
5. ''The daughter of sion." The church.
Behold" Give attention and look with
astonishment and wonder. Thy King
cometh." Jesus Christ is appointed King
over the church (Psa. 9: O., and is ac-
copied by the church. He comes to thee,
to rule in thee, to rule for thee; He is
Meek" When a king comes something
tions are made. But in this case all is diff.
ferent. Christ appears in His meekness,
not in His majesty. He is ready to suffer
for Zion's sake. "And sitting upon-a
colt" It would appear from Matthew
that He sat upon both the colt and its
mother, but the other accounts make it
plain that He sat on the colt. He comes
"lowly" (Zech. Q: 81; "it was the triumph
of humility over pride and worldly gran
deur, of poverty over aff1uence, and of
meekness and gentleness over rage and
malice"
6. did as Jesus commanded" What
a blessing it would be if every one did as
Jesus commanded them, without stopping
to question or suggest different course.
7. "Their clothes" They spread their
loose outer garments on the. colt and sat
Jesus thereon, thus acknowledging Him to
be their King
8. "a very great multitude" Vast
crowds were present at the Passover. In
the time of Nero census was taken and
it was ascertained that there were 2,700,-
900 Jews present at this feast. There were
many from Galilee who knew Jesus per-
sonally, and great numbers had been at
tracted to Bethany, excited by the recent
resurrection of Lazarus. Garments in the
way" An Oriental mark of honor at the
reception Of kings on their entrance into
was a demonstration of their joy. "Car.
rying palm and other branches was en-
blematical of success and victory"
9. "Hosanna." Hosanna is rendering
into Greek letters of the Hebrew words,
"Save, we pray" Psa. lis: 25. It is like
shout of, Salvation! Salvation!" 1t is
used as an expression of praise like "Hal.
lelujah" The disciples rejoiced end
praised God with loud voice Iuke 10:
81, 3S), and the Pharisees with uncon-
cealed disgust asked Him to rebuke them.
But Jesus replied, "If these should hold
their peace the stones would Immediately
cry out" Jesus here grants His people
a license to rejoice and shout His praises.
"The son of David" A common expires.
sion for the Messiah. "In the highest"
In the highest degree, in the highest
strains, in the highest heavens
10. "Was moved" ''Was stirred" (R,
W The word in the original is forcible.
"conyulsed" or Stirred" as by an earth
quake, or by violent wind. "Who is
this" Well may we, as well as they, ask
this question.
IL. "Thls is Jesus" And thus He is
the Saviour, the Deliverer. Matt. 1: q.
"rhe prophet of Nazareth" That prophet
referred to by Moses. Deut. lS: lS. And
we might add, He is the Christ, the Son
of God, the living Word.
IL. "Into the temple" This was the
next day, Monday. Mark IL: Ills. Jesus
and His disciples went back to Bethany
on Sunday night. This was the second
cleansing of the temple; one of His first
public acts, three years before this, was
to purge His Fathers house. John 2: 49,
II. The court of the Gentiles which EN-
braced several acres, had been turned into
a market for the sale of the beasts and
doves that the foreign Jews desired to Of
fer in sacrifice "Cast out" In the first
instance He used a "scourge of small
Cords" now His word is sufficient. "Mon-
ey-changers." Pilgrims brought with them
the coinage of their own country-Syrian,
Egyptian, Greek, as the case might be
and their money either was not current in
Palestine, or, as being stamped with the
symbols of heathen worship, could not be
received into the treasury Of the temple.
l3. "It is written" In Isaiah So: 7.
"a den of thieves" The business was
right enough in itself, but they had per.
verted the use of the Lords house, and
evidently were robbing the people by
charging e1tortionate prices.
H. "He healed them" In the presence
of all the people He performed most won.
derful cures. He now shows the proper
use of the temple.
IS. "Were sore displeased." The lead.
ers saw that they were unable to check
His growing popularity. Even the chill.
iren had taken up the strain and were
singing His praises; the world had gone
after Him. John l2: 10.
l6. "Hearest Thou what these, say"
They were anxious to have Christ rebuke
them, but, instead, Jesus quotes from Psa
s: 2 to show that even this was in har.
mony with the Scriptures.
II. "To Bethany" They again return
to Bethany to lodge.