The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1905-10-20
No. 3.
Rebuilding
the Temple
Sunday School Lesson Tor Oct p. 1905
Specially Prepared for This Paper.


GOLDEN TEXT. THE temple OF God
ls holy. which temple ye are. ~ Cor. 5;ll.
TIME From D. c. 5s6-5i6 Pcioubet IN
his Select Notes" gives the following
dates: 536-Spring Left Babylon tSe-
July. Arrived az Jerusalem. bs5-IkIee
months getting settled. Sg-Octooer. Al
tar set Up. Worship begun. 6s-May.
Foundations Of temple begun. followed by
Is years OF delay and opposition. O1e-
Work on temple renewed. 6A-SeptempeF
and October Haggai the prophet. prophs-
sizes. November and December. IechaFiah'
the prophet. prOphesios -Four years more
IN BUILDING the temple. 6i6-Temple COM
pletcd ~ years after its destruction.
LACE.-Jerusalem and vicinity.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
INTRODUCTORY.-In our last les
son we saw a large body Of exiles leav-
ing Babylon with high hopes. and TIL
umphant songs Of JOY. But the Journey
was long. tedious and full Of hardships.
There were AZ 800 Of them, according 10
each OF the three versions extant But
the detailed numbers all come short OF
this sum, and It is supposed that the H.
OOO or 1900 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 500. they could not well reach
Jerusalem, after a journey Of nearly
500 miles. before some time In July. II
took Ezra four months TO make the jour
ney ezra. 7:9). They found the city
In ruins. as It had lain for so years since
It's complete destruction BY Nebuchad-
nezzar. Trees were growing wild on
the Mountain Of the House, and the
iackals prowled among heaps OF shat
tered masonry. Crumbling stone-work
and charred timbers marked the site OF
palaces and towers, and choked the
streets. The city walls and gates were
leyeled with the ground. Hunter. Tho
first business Of the returned exiles was
Of course, 10 provide some kind OF dweh-
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 mongrel popu-
lation.
V.l0. Builders laid the foundations"
The cornerstone, OF tho irst course.
This was made the occasion Of a great
ceremonial. Priests IN their apparel"
The elegant and beautiful official robes
used by the priests IN their celebrations
especially the blue and scarlet and pur-
pie robes. with gold and gems, OF the
high priests and others. described In
Exod. 80. with trumpets:" Not for
music; but. like our church-bells, for
summoning assemblies and Joyful an
nouncements: Sons Of Asaph:" A
guild Of singers named after the famous
singer and leader in the time Of David.
After the ordinance (order) OF David: -
(See Chron. 15:le-2D.
V. II. Sang together by course:" r..
v. zone TO another" responsiyely.
He IS good" etc. See l Cbron. 1884.
IL; Psa. I0s. 107, 11s. They praised the
Lord" The 10Y Of the younger people
who remembered the exile, but had no
memory Of the Temple Of Solomon. was
very great
V. Y. Ancient men, that had seen
the hrst house," which was destroyed
B. C. $50. 81 years before. They must
have been 90 or 10 years old. "Wept
with a loud voice." The weeping was
not because the new temple was smaller
than the first. for II was larger comp
Ezra 6:s; Kings e:2; Chron. 3:3, A.
They wept because Of the contrast be-
tween the beauty. the magnifcence, the
gold and gems Of the old temple. and the
simplicity and poverty Of the new struc-
ture (Hag. 2:S; Zech. t:lO).
Ezra 4:1-5. Fifteen years D. c. 5S5-
52O when the adversaries Of Judah:
The samaritans. and the foreign colon
ists from Babylonia, Persia and Elan
Tvs. Q. lO), which "Esar-haddon king ol
Assur:" (Assyria) ". p, (B. C. 72O-7l5l
and also Sargon and Asshur-banipal Oh
c. e65) had sent 70 samaria e King
l7.2D. Thus they had lived IN Samarii
i3O 20 $50 years. For we seek you
God and we DO sacrifice unit
HIM" But they did It IN different
way. partially In connection with othel
things which would destroy the perfec
ton and power Of the Jewish worship
VS.. But Zerubbabel" and the oths
leaders refused the alliance. Two view
OF the course pursued by Zerubbabe
have been taken. First Many have re
garded It as a great mistake. piece o
narrow-mlnded. bigoted folly, whicl
made enemies OF those who should hav
been friends. and kindled hatred AM
jealousy. and lowered the moral ton
and cooled the zeal Of the new colony
Such seems 10 be Geikies view. On n
other hand. Rawlinson calls II "sn hero
, io refusal 10 accept the material aid Of
, rich and powerful people at the risk
imperlling religious purity" Thus va
a great peril ayerted."
g Illustrative Points.
The temple was the symbol and TYP
, Of Gods spiritual temple, both the II
diyidual Christian and the whole peopl
OF God q Cor. s:l0-l0.
The frat thing for each one who veul
+ build the Temple OF the Church and
Z Society f. 10 be himself q temple Of u
g Holy Ghost
4 The true Christian character whe
complete is q beautiful and costly ten
pie. Compare solomon's temple. II
exiles' temple was 20 yesrs, and Herod
J. temple was 46 years IN building, b
q many a soul requires more years ths
. these for ia COMPLETION
For All Kinds OfPiles.
a. ...ss - q. Nurf heal