The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1905-10-20
Rebuilding
the TIE mple
Sunday School Lesson for Oct. p. 1905
Specially Prepared for This Paper.
Specially Prepared for This Paper.

1
! dates: 536-Sprng. Left Babylon. 536-
july. Arrived at Jerusalem 5S6-Three
months getting settled. 536-October, AL
tar set up. Worship begun 5S5-May
Foundations OF temple begun, followed by
10 years OF delay and opposition. $40
| Work on temple renewed. 52O-September
and October. -Haggai. the prophet, prophe-
sizes. November and December. Zechariah,
the prophet prophesics. Four years more
| i'm building the temple. 516-Temple com
pleted 20 years after It's destruction.
PLACE.-Jerusalem and vicinity.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
METEOROLOGICAL our last les
son we saw. a large body Of exiles leav
ing Babylon with high hopes, and tri-
umphant songs of joy. But the journey
was long, tedious and full of hardships
There were AZ 800 Of them, according TO
each of the three versions eXtant. But
| the detailed numbers all come short Of
this sum, and it is supposed that the H.
! 900 or u, 1000 not ranked in the list un-
der any place or family name were
| Israelties of the northern tribes. Ii
! these left Babylonia in March (Apoc.
Esdras $50, they could not we'll reach
Jerusalem, after journey OF nearly
500 miles, before some time in July. 1t
! took Ezra four months to make the jour
ney ezra. 7:9). They found the city
in ruins, as it had lain for 80 years since
IT'S complete destruction by Nebuchad-
nezzar. Trees were growing wild on
the Mountain of the House, and the
jackals provided among heaps of shat
tered masonry. CTumbling stone-wOrk
and charred timbers marked the site Of
palaces and towers, and choked the
streets. The city walls and gates were
! leveled with the ground. Hunter. The
first business of the returned exiles was.
of course, to provide some kind OF dwell
! ings for themselves and their families.
! They accordingly settled in the small
cities surrounding Jerusalem, perhaps
repairing the houses and walls that had
! been ruined by the besieging armies
years before, or contenting themselves
with huts or tents. The territory they
! controlled was. Of course. small, and
hemmed in on all sides including only
! Bethlehem on the south, while on the
north their territory measured no more
than % miles in length by 20 in
! BREADTH and even upon this en-
croached the heather or mongreI popu-
! latiOn.
" 10. Builders laid the foundation%
! The corner stone, or the first course.
This was made the occasion of a great
ceremonial Priests in their apparel"
The elegant and beautiful Official robes
used by the priests ia their celebrations,
especially the blue and scarlet and pur-
/ pie robes. with gold and gems. Of the
! high priests and others, described il
EXod 80. with trumpets:" Not for
music; but, like our church-bells, for
summoning assemblies and joyful an
nouucements: Sons of Asaph:" a
guild of singers named after the famous
singer and leader in the time of David.
After the ordinance (ordet) of David: "
! (See / Chron. Sized.
V. Il. Sang together by COURSE" r.
V. "One to another" responsibility.
He is good" etc. See / Chron 1854,
Al; Psa 100. 107 us. They praised the
Lord" The JOY of the younger people
who remembered the exile but had no
memory of the Temple of Solomon, was
very great.
V. - Ancient men. that had seen
! the first house" which was destroyed
b. c. $50. 81 years before. They must
have been 60 or 20 years old. "Wept
with loud voice: The weeping was
not because the new temple was smaller
than the first, for it was larger comp.
Ezra 6:3; Kings go; Chron. 3:S, -.
They wept because Of the contrast be-
tween the beauty. the magnificence the
gold and gems Of the old temple. and the
simplicity and poverty Of the new struc-
ture alag. 2:3; Zech. 40.
Ezra 4:1-5. Fifteen years b. c. 535-
500. when the adversaries ofJudah; "
The Samaritans. and the foreign colon
lists from Babylonia. Persia and Elan
! Tvs. 9. 100. which "Esar-haddon king of
Assur:" (Assyria) (V p, tB. c. 720-7l5)
and also Sargon and Asshur;banipal (B.
! c. $3.50 had sent to Samaria g Kings
17:24. Thus they had lived in Samaria
100 TO $50 years. For we seek your
God and we do sacrifice unto
Him." But they did it in different
| way, partially IN connection Win OJneT
things which would destroy the perfec-
ton and power of the Jewish worship.
V. 8. @But ZerubbabeR' and4he other
leaders refused the alliance. Two views
of the course pursued by Zerubbabel
have been taken. First. Many.have re-
garded it as a great mistake. piece of
narrow7ninded. bigoted folly, which
made enemies of those who should have
been friends and kindled hatred and
jealousy, and lowered the moral tone
and cooled the zeal Of the new colony.
Such seems TO be Geikie's view. On the
other hand Rawlinson calls it IAN hero
ic refusal to accept the material aid of a
rich and powerful people at the risk of
imperiling religious purity" Thus was
a great peril averted'
Illustrative Points. 4.
The temple was the symbol and type
of Gods spiritual temple, both the in
! dividual Christian and the whole people
of God q Cor 3:10-16).
The first thing for each one who would
build the Temple Of northumberland OF
Society is to be himself a temple of the