The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-08-05


must put something in its place, or
his kingdom would be like the
cleansed and empty house Of Christ's
parable, into which seven devils would
enter, worse than the first There
fore the king wisely set himself to
restore the old and true religion Of
Jehovah.
8. In the eighteenth year of his
reign" When he was 26 years old.
When he had purged the land" See
note on v. 3. And the house" The
temple. He sent Shaphan" He was
the kings scribe q Kings, 22:S), an
important officer, combining probably
the duties of our secretary of state
and secretary of the treasury And
Maaseiah the governor of the city"
The mayor Of Jerusalem, not else
where mentioned. "And Joah
the recorder" Or. " margin, "the
chronicler") An officer of high rank,
whose functions are nowhere precise
ly defined. ITO repair the house of
the LORD" Solomon's temple, found
ed three and half centuries before,
in B. c. 97S
9. They came to Hilkah the high
priest" An ancestor of Ezra. "Deliv-
cred the money that was brought into
the house of Cod Two centuries be-
fore this, Joash, king of judah. young
like Josiah, had in a similar way re-
paired the temple e Kings 12) Fol
lowing his example. Josiah had been
collecting money from the people
through the proper officers. THE Le-
vites. Descendants of Levi, from
whose number the priests were select
ed. THAT kept the DOORS" r. ",
keepers of the door" near which,
probably, as in the time of Joash, the
collection chest had been placed. "And
they returned to Jerusalem" All the
people were thus given a share in re-
pairing the building which was again
to become a sanctuary for all the peo-
pie,
10. "Workmen that had the over
sight Oyerseers of various kinds of
laborers, under Hilkiah, the general
superintendent And they these
overseers, gave it to the workmen
that wrought, the masons, carpenters
and other artifccTs.
Note the importance of organization
in church work. We need not fear
too much machinery" in our churches
but only dead machinery, machinery
with no steam in it,
H. Even to the artificers, r. ",
"the carpenters" distinguished from
the builders the masons, who buy
hewn stone while the carpenters buy
timber for couplings, and to floor"
(R. ", "and t. make beams"). OBJ
serve the indications of repairs, rather
than of fresh construction. The
houses" Either the chambers which
surrounded the temple on three sides
q Kings 6:5). or out-buildings at
tached to the courts. Cook. Which
the kings of Judah had destroyed
Manasseh and Anon are meant
H. "And the men did the work
faithfully" as in the times of Hezekiah
and Joash g Chron. 31:12; 2 Kings
12:15); so faithfully that no reckon
ing was made with them of the money
that was delivered into their hand"
e Kings 22:7. Faithful workers,
that are their own overseers, are the
mainstay of any business. 1t is well
that we have here an honor roll Of
some of these faithful workers. Me
rari." The third son of Levi, certain
of whose descendants we're placed in
partial charge of the temple music,
aiding certain of the GershOnites, de-
scendants of Lewis first son, and Of
the "Kohathites," descendants Of Ko-
hath, second son of Levi "All that
could skill" Could play skillfully on
musical instruments. %
1S. They were overseers."
R. ". they set forward" the work
men ''Scribes and officers and por-
ters.' These we're divisions of the
Levites, the scribes being copyists,
translators and clerks, to be sharply
distinguished from uch an important
officer as Shaphan the Scribe or sec
retary of state; the officers, who acted
as local magistrates. like the cadis Of
the Mohammedans; and the rorters,
who kept the temple doors by day and
night
The Heart of the Lesson.
The lesson is study in reform, in
the way 10 make wrong right.
The easiest. quickest and pleasant
est way to right all the wrong things
in the world is to plant religion in the
hearts Of the young. Youthful Josiahs
mean reformed nations THE first
five years of my life,' said Tom Paine,
made me an in6del." Alexander's
army was invincible because it was
largely made up Of soldiers born and
brought up in the camp.
I The time to begin to serve God is In
early youth.
Because we have longer time in
which to serve God.
Because God has work for us to
do which will occupy our whole life.
Because we are likely to live purer
and better lives in manhood and age.
Because the service Of God is so
good. so happy that the whole life
should be spent in it.
Josiahs example shows us that we