The Yale expositor., 1905-08-25
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON TX, THIRD QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, AUG. 27.


Copyright, zoos. by American Press Association
This lesson might with propriety be
entitled the hatred of the rulers, or
the weakness of the king, or the COM
passion Of Ebed-melech, or, better still,
the Lords care Of LIS servant. When
the Lord sent Jeremiah forth as His
servant lie said to him, They shall
fight against thee, but they shall not
prevail against thee, for l am with
thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee"
DER. i, 19J, and both OF these Jeremiah
proved fully as the Lords messenger.
Two very prominent truths concerning
man i'll the Scriptures are, The carnal
mind is enmity against God" and THE
whole world lieth In the wicked one"
QRom. vii. Z; 1 John V, 10. Rev.
Ner.). These are true OF all people
and all times since sin entered upon
our planet.
On the other hand. it ID plainly re-
vealed that God is love-" that He is
"long suffering and not willing that
any should perish" IL John Nv, S, 10;
III Pet ill, -. But there always have
been, are now and Will be TIL the king
dom comes those who while profess
ing TO be on the Lords side pervert
His truth and deceive His people and
lead them into trouble. In Jcr. V, 80,
81, ii is written, "a wonderful ana hor
rible thing is committed in the land;
the prophets prophesy falsely and the
priests bear rule by their means, and
my people love TO have it so, and what
will We do in the end thereofY In Isa.
Xxx, OH, we read that the people
would not hear the law 81 the Lord,
but said, Speak unto US smooth
things; propheSy deceits; cause the
Holy One of Israel TO cease from be-
fore u.s.
In tire opening verses of euy lesson
we find just such IS ehose among The
princes o. judah sdyine ~ tie ling
that Jeremiah ought 10 be put TO death
because Of his words and that he was
not seeking the welfare of the people
! jeremiah was q messenger of right
eCllsnoss from the Lord, but the peo-
pie wanted mother God nor His
righteous Chapter ii, 49,.
The weak ana worthless King Zede
kiah said to the rulers that he would
not resist them, that jeremiah was in
| their hands and they night do what
they would with him, yet he was on
the throne of the Lord as the represent
alive of righteousness III Chron. tx, 81.
The last days of this evil age il which
we are now living are very similar to
the last days of Judah ere she was
carried into captivity; The word OF God
! is dishonOrcd by many preachers and
/ teachers, and the Lord Jesus Himself
! Is respected as the Son OF God, but He
shall overcome and shall reign. for it
is the eternal purpose of God (Eph.
! iii, IL; Rev. Xi, 10.
We are either with Christ or against
| Him, and III we receive not the word
of God as He did we are certainly not
with Him. IL we stand with Him.
! believing all that Is written ia t4ae kw
! and the prophets, we must expect 10
| better treatment than lie ana the
prophets received John XIV, 1920; Acts
| xiv, IA. jeremiah in the <hy dun
geon was a more prosperous man than
ZeCLekiah and his counselors. See Gen.
xxx, ., Il, %; Acts xvi, 22-25 All
who will live godly lives must expect
persecution and tribulation, for the
devil is still the god of this world, the
prince Of the world John xiv, so; xvi,
IL; ii Cor. ,iv, ~.
l. Ebed- melech, whose name signifies
Servant of n king" was evidently q
servant of the True King whom Zede-
kiah so misrepresented, for he became
Jeremiah's deliverer, and the Lord
specially remembered him in the time
of trouble Chapter xxx, 1918, for
He counts all kindness done to His
people as if done to Himself Matt.
XIV, 40, 45). Not only dM Ebed-
melech take Jeremiah out Of the dun
geon, but he did it kindly and tenderly
in providing old cast clouts and rotten
rags for him to put under the ropes
that the ropes might not hurt him. Not
only does God see every act, but He
notes how the action is done and the
motive, and in giving Him any serv-
ice it would he well to remember that
our Lord still "beholds how" Mark
xii, Al.
Jereminh's filthy dungeon suggests
the horrible pit and miry clay in which
every sinner is till rescued, but how
few seem to know Of the Rock and the
New Song and the privilege of being
deliverers of the peFishing ops. Xl, .. 81.
The sinner is as helpless to deliver
himself as Jeremiah was QRom. iii, 10,
20; V, O., but God, who is not willing
that any should perish. has provided a
ransom and is pleading for messengers
to tell the good news Gil Pet iii, o;
Job xxxiii, %, 81: lisa. vi, 81.
Ebed-melech was so sorry for Jere-
miah in his trouble that he did not
seem to consider that he was only q
servant and that the princes and the
king were the cause Of the prophets
suffering. The woman of Samaria in
the Joy of her new life and in her de-
sire that her townsmen should have
the same joy seemed to forget all
about herself as she carried to them