The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1905-10-17
THE SUNDAY school.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS
FOR ocTosER ~.

| subject: Rebuilding the Temple, Ezra
sii., 10 TO w., B--Golden Text, I. Coxs
iii, 17-Memory Verses 10. 11--coans
mentary on the Days lesson.
I. The foundation Of the temple laid
Tvs 1919 10. 1.-THE builders.r JeyJ
! hua and Zerubbabel as managers. with
the neople as wOrkmen. The people
did all they could during the winter IN
making preparations for building the
tefnple. for great labor must have been
4 required in clearing the ground for the
foundation as well as in providing MAJ
| terials. In a little more than year
/ after they left Babylon Zerubbabef
and Joshua having appointed the
priests and the Levites to attend to
| their courses. laid the foundations
The Joshua of verse 8 is not the high
prizes of verse 2, but another-a Levite
mentioned in chapter 2:40 Priests
in their apparel" The elegant and
| beautiful official robes used by the
priests In their celebrations, especially
the blue and scarlet and purple robes
| with gold and gems of the high priests
| and others, described in Exodus 80.
Priesthood was an ordinance peculiar
/ to Israel. With trumpets." For sum-
moning assemblies and joyful an-
! nouncements. 1.-THE Levites" God
chose the descendants Of Levi for the
service of His tabernacle and temple.
In the wilderness they encamped
around it as guardians, and in moving
conveyed it from place to place
H. They sang together by course"
Sang alternately, or responsibility; one
party saying, THE Lord is good and
the other responding For His mercy
endureth forever" "All the people
shouted Those who had known
only the misery Of having no temple
at all praised the Lord with shouts of
joy when they saw the foundation
laid, for to them this was as life from
the dead II. Many ancient men
| wept' 70 them it was the day of
small things (Zech. 4:10l. The new
| house. in comparison with the old one,
was "as nothing" alag. 2:3). The
| temple would not be oyerlaid with
| gold, as Solomon's, nor surrounded
with such magnificent buildings. The
| ark, the tables. the mercy seat were
lost. No visible glory would appear in
the holy place. There were no am
swers by Trim and Thummim. There
was no fire from heaven. Is. could
not discern" This mixture of sorrow;
and joy is representation of this
world; some are bathing IN rivers OF
| joy, while others are drowned in
| floods Of tears.
| IL. A tempting offer (vs. /. p. l..
1.-THE adversaries" These were the
( Samaritans and different nations with
which the kings of Assyria had peo-
pied the land of Israel when they had
carried the original inhabitants away
into captivity. See verse g. Doubt
less they were envious of the favor
| shown them by Cyrus, the king OF
Persia. The worst enemies Judah and
Benjamin had were those that said
they were Jews and were not (Rev.
3:9).
| 2. "Let us build with youv This
people no doubt were DESTROYS of par
taking of the privileges granted to the
| Jews by the king of Persia Hearing
that the temple was being built they
were aware that it would be fatal
blow to their superstition, and there's.
fore they set themselves TO oppose It..
But as they had not power to do it
openly and by force they endeavored
to do it secretly and by cunning. They
offered their services. that by this they,
might pry into their counsels, fnd
/ some matter of accusation against
them. and thereby retard the work
while they pretended to further it,
I'VE seek your God" The religion Of
the Samaritans was a mixture of idol
| airy, superstition and ignorance; far
worse at this time than it was when
our Lord Himself declared that they
knew not what they worshiped. The
Samaritans were neither Israelites byl
birth. nor yet true proslytes Since
| the days of Esar-haddon." King Of
| Assyria and Babylon He is the only
Assyrian king who reigned at Babylon.
History tells us that he took large
number of people from Palestine to
| dwell in Babylon, and placed a large
number Of Babylonlans in Palestine I'M
their place. Those Assyrian settlers
intermarried with the remnant OF
Israelite women, and their descend
ants, mongrel race, went under the
name of Samaritans
III. A positive reply " 81 3. Eye
have nothing to do with u.s." We cam
not acknowledge YOU as worshipers of
| the true God, and cannot participates
with you in anything that relates to
1 His worship. No compromise meas
ures could be considered Zerubbabel
4 and his associates saw that to enter
into an alliance with these semi-heath-
| en- would mean the breaking down Of
the Jewish Institutions and relapse
| into idolatry. "We-wil build" Thus
was a great peril averted They
saved nation. for the time. at any
rate. from the danger of having their
religion corrupted and adtHterated byl
| intermixture with form of belief and
practice which was altogether of am
inferior type.
| ~. The work delayed Tvs. 4, 81. A.
Weakened the hands" This opposi4
ton is supposed to have begun soon
after the foundation was laid During
the remainder of the reign OF Cyrus.
about five years, they did not openly!
oppose a work he had commanded, but
discouraged the people and perhaps in
| tercepted their materials for building
and by bribing counselors to oppose
their application to the ministers of
Cyrus for supplies or protection theY
| greatly INSTRUCTED the design. This
would be more easily done. as it Isl
! probable that Daniel died about this
| time dan 6:25-2S)
3. Until the reign of Darfus.'' This
| king began to reign 3. c. 522, Permis-,
sion was given to complete the builds
ing in B. G. 500
Pencil In Appendix.
Robert Hammers baker. walked into
I tho Co14ufxx Ltocr.ffol. ~ Cnfoo M