The Red Cloud chief., 1911-12-07
NEHEMIAH AND
HIS ENEMIES
Soaay Ssheol Lesson for Dec. 10. 1911
Specially Arranged for This Paper
LESSON TExT-Nehemiah 6.

strength Of my life; Of whom shall be
afraid."-Psa. 27:1.
T1ME-B. G. 44.
The wall was finished in &c days in Au-
gust and September.
PLACE-Jerusalem and vicinity.
There were enemies within the Jew.
ish church. Some Of the mobiles and
richer men had been depressing their
poorer brethren who were working at
great sacrifice in rebuilding the walls.
No wages were paid for this work, so
that many were thus reduced to the
direst straits to support themselves
and their families. and pay tho taxes
exacted by the Persian government.
Their misfortunes were brought to o
climax by the condition Of hostilities.
which put an end to trade. and threat
ened town and country with ruin. lt
was impossible to obtain regular EN-.
ployment. and prices had gone up.
Those who had little property mort
gagged their homes; and In this way .
considerable portion of the property
Of the poorer classes, their grain.
fields vineyards, and dwellings, passed
into tho hands Of wealthy money.
lenders, who demanded high usury.
Some, having no means to pay their
creditors. sold their children as slaves.
Tho hungry ones were threatening, ir
the grain was not given to keep them
fro mstarvation, they would take II by
violence, or surrender tho city to its
enemies. The taxes for tho Persian
government were very heavy and ex.
acting. The chief officers farmed out
tho collection Of the taxes, both in
money and in tho fruits Of the land.
These under officers were the same rs
those called publicans In the New
Testament. They were required to
pay over to their superiors the exorbi.
tant sum fixed by law. and depended
for their profit on what they could
make by fraud and extortion. They
overcharged, brought false charges OF
smuggling to extort hushmoney.
seized upon property in case Of dis.
pute and held It until their levy was
paid, forbade the farmer to reap his
standing crops until they had wrung
from him all that his penury could
produce. They were universally fear.
ed. hated, and despised. No money
known to have come from them was
received for religious uses.
Now these. who professed religion
and lived heathenism, were the great.
est injury to tho Cause for which
Nehemiah had come. It was against
such as these that Jesus launched tho
sharpest lightning Of his "Woeunto
you, hypocrites." They are traitors to
their country, their church and their
God. The church stands for the high.
est expression of mans life. A church
represents the permanent spiritual
ideals. It embodies the loftiest human
aspirations; nations best expires.
sion Of ito religious sentiment repre-
sents that nation at it's best. Now
whosoever In tho name Of the church.
as member Of It, does actions con.
trary to its whole spirit, 10 the great
est enemy Of the kingdom OF God.
Nehemiah overcame these enemies,
He changed them from enemies ia
friends. He rebuked them with burn
ing indignation. He told them to theiz
face the wrong they were doing. He
persuaded them to repent and undo
the wrongs they had done: II pray
you. let US leave OF this usury. Re
store. I pray you. to them. even this
day. their lands. their vineyards, theil
oliveyards. and their houses, also thu
hundredth part Of the money, and oi
the corn, the wine. and the oil. thai
ye exact of them" Then said they
I'VE will restore them. and will re
Quire nothing Of them: 30 will we de
as thou sayest." He set them a goot
example. He refused to take the usua
salary Of the governor. He bore al
the expenses Of his retinue. His nobl,
conduct made the names OF these op
pressors show black a. tho smoke O
the pit.
One Of the greatest powers for re
forming abuses IL publicity. Let ever.
mans name be on his deed. on tn,
work he does, on everything he saya
on all that he owns.
There Is q continual temptation to
day for Christian workers to give VI
their time and strength to discussing
the many theories and unsettled quea
tions which are continually confront
! Ing them. All sorts Of men say al
sorts Of things till 1t seems as II thes
clouds were obscuring the whole con
tinent Of Truth. This Is true OF man,
other things besides religion. Nov
the way to escape from these snare
is to attend to our duties, to 60 Il
work for the Cause of Christ with al
, our hearts. to give ourselves to helT
ing save our fellow men. both bod,
and soul. For then we will use tn
essential things by which our work 4
, accomplished. We thus test the worh
, ing theories by using them. Thos
principles that bring results are tn
ones we want. We ind out what the
are worth through testing them b.
J what they will do. Working for Chris
, and for his children Is our safeguard
: Nehemiah was asked to leave hi