Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1903-12-17
KINGS GREATEST DEED
International Sunday School Lesson
1.-THE pedisation OF the Temple"

International Sunday School Lesson
1.-THE Dedisation Of the Temple"
The old King David died with II viz
ion of n temple before his eyes; the
fipeness of his life was spent In dream
Ing Of and preparing for . splendid
house for the worship of ths Most High.
To his son he bequeathed the actual
work of erecting the temple: his w
hands were too much stained with
blood to undertake so holy a task. ms
part was the making ready part-ln
, which he was not unlike the most of US,
who spend our days In erecting ladders
bs which other may climb. 1t was Il
good ladder David built. He collected
a storehousc of treasure so great as 10
be almost unbelievable. Gold. silver,
precious stones metals n timber a
staggering total. When solomon came
to take up the work laid out for MN
he found hat the wealth at his DIS
posal was more than a trillion dollars
n greater sum than the total income OF
the United States for a year.
During the years Immediately follow
ing his coronation solomon was en-
gagged wholly In this great undertaking;
he, with al his people, spent more
, than seven years in the labor. The
number of workers occupied in the task
was about 200, 900.
The story of the building of the tenn
pie Is one of the romances of the Old
Testament. The ends of the earth were
laid under tribute to the project. Hiram,
king of Tyre, and his Skilled workmen.
were requisitioned In the depths OF
the earth the stone was quarried and
prepared, that no sound of hammer
might be heard about the sacred build
Ing. BY e unknown to modern
builders, the material vas brought to-
gether and put into place.
The result was magnificent. The
glories of Solomon's temple, its rich
ness, magnificence and beauty, have
for centuries been a faVorlte theme
with Jew and Christian alike. Neither
before nor since has there been a sacred
odifice of such splendor. The wealth of
the Hebrew nation. the devoted indus
Try of it's people and all the skill that
friendship and money could employ
had been engaged in this mighty enter
prise. Now it vas completed; the
building was ready to fulfil is mission
as the house of Jehovah. Only the act
of dedication. n the divine Presence,
with its visible symbols, were want
ing.
A NATIONAL FEAST.
Nothing binds a nation into oneness
SO completely as a national religious
festival. Thanksgiving day quickens
the national consciousness of America
even more thar does Independence day.
This project of David's which his son
was fulfilling, welded the Jewish people
together as no other event in It's his
tory had done. Appealing to the re-
lfgiOus motive, which is the deepest In
, life. it had aroused a national en-
thuslasm and sense of national ident
ity that ever the subsequent divisions
and exile of the Jews could not efface.
: So a general assembly was called for
the great ceremony of the dedication
of the new. temple. The people came
! together as they had come for the cor
OnatiOn, and from every tribe n town
and village. This representative gath
ering in itself melted enthusiasm
/. Members of the twelve tribes forgot
their differences in the thought of the
the occasion had many of the charac-
teristics OF a far-reaching religious re-
yival.
This great was made the
occasion of an address and a prayer by
King SOloynOn-utterances that are
mon the most noted of biblical ad.
dressess and of which much Of the
phraseology has fosnd its way into
common religious speech. The majesty
AID iOftiness and comprehensiveness Of
these words Of Solomon deserve careful
study. =.
II aught was lacking to impress the
listening multitudes with the soleaar
Significance of this occasion, Solomon:
words provided it. The deeper mean
ing Of this temple, as a house Of God
as q place of prayer and worship, as {
center toward which peoples heart!
would u and from which religion!
influences would radiate. were set fOrtl
In eloquent words surcharged with in
tense spiritual fervor.
THE END OF WANpERiNcs.
The Ark OF the Covenant. the ne
culiar symbol Of the presence of Je
v with the chosen people. had LEI
migratory existence ever since tn,
forty years in the wilderness. It ha.
dwelt in tents, in places obscure and II
places honorable. Enemies had cap
tured it and friends had carried 1t t,
war. In all these years during which
Inc Hebrew people were being moulde,
had no permanent abiding place
Wherever the ark had been was 10
the time the tabernacle of the Mos
High.
Now the temple was to be It's home
In the innermosts court OF the temple
its holy OF holies, the ark was to res
forever. AS q mans spirit sancti1e
his body. vitalizing all Of its wOnderfu
structure, and giving Significance I
Its beauty, 80 the ark, and the clou,
which a led the ~Israelites on thel
! p~tlgrtmages. made sacred all the splen
doris of this triumph OF architecture
Apart from the ark. or the Presenc
which 1t symbolixed. the temple wa
but 9 mere thing OF wood and ston