The Green Forest tribune., 1911-08-18
JEREMIAH CAST
 INTO PRISON Sunday School Lesson for Aug. 20, 1911 Specially Arranged for This Paper
LESSON TEXT.-Jeremiah 37. MEMORV UEpcE 1E


 l IS years after our last lesson during the | last siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnez- | gar from the 9th to the 11th year of Zede- | kiah's reign.
 PI-ACE.-Jerusalem, surrounded by the besieging armies of the Chaldeans, and suffering from famine and pestilence (Jer. 3S:2).
 Jeremiah had prophesied nearly 40 years (since 620 and was a prematurely old man.
 Zedekiah was the last king of Judah. reisning II years.
 Nebuchadnezzar. 18th and 18th year of 1 his reign.
 Jehoiakim reigned six years after | he had burned the roll of Jeremiah's prophecies, which, like the fabled phoenix rose anew and fresh from the ashes. He was slain in 597.
 The first blow of the threatened doom of Judah had fallen during the fourth year of his reign, the first toll ing of the bell of judgment which should have summoned the very dead in sin to awake. But they gave no heed.
 Jehoiachin, his son, ascended the throne, bad, weak boy, utterly unfit to cope with the situation. His reign lasted only three months. Upon Je- hoiachin descended the full force of the divine vengeance incurred by previous generations. He was scarcely on the throne when the Chaldean forces, which had been ravaging Ju- dea, were joined by Nebuchadnezzar himself, and closed around Jerusa- lem, and Jehoiachin surrendered at discretion. The arm of Babylon raised to strike his father fell on him.. and fulfilled the prophecy against JehGia- kim. He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David" Jehoiachin was kept prisoner in Babylon for 37 years and was then released Ezekiel was carried away with him, and the great-grandfather of Mordecai, Qdeen Esther's cousin.
 This was the second blow of divine judgment, the beginning of the second captivity, when 10000 people were car ried captive to Babylon. Among them were the kings wives and officers, and 1000 that were strong and apt for war. and 1000 craftsmen; and large part of the 5,400 vessels of gold and silver from the Temple and pal aces. The policy of Nebuchadnezzar was to remove out of the way all those who might be able to organize a re- volt when he and his army had de, parted. Such men it would have been dangerous to leave behind. It would seem as if all this would have been sufficient to prevail on the people to repent and be saved
 Zedekiah, the brother of Jehoiakin, was placed upon the throne by Nebu- chadnezzar, "a shadow king over desperate band of men. During the first nine years of his reign the na- ton, instead of embracing the oppor- tunity of repentance, plunged more deeply into folly. The dregs Of the people, left behind in Jerusalem, laid this fiattering unction to their souls: We have been spared by Jehovah, therefore We are righteous in his sight"
 During a brief respite while Nebu- chadnezzar left Jerusalem free while he fought the Egyptians Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin. His home was at Anathoth in Benjamin, three or four miles north of the city. It was apparently to secure his share of the tithes and produce of the Levitical glebe of the village, due to him as one of its priests. Knowing that the Chal- deans would return, it was imperative that he should obtain the means of subsistence to take back into the city, so soon to be beleagured afresh. 9th CTS think it was to secure himself in the possession of an inheritance. There was a natural rush to get out of the city after so long a confine- mert. Jeremiah went with the others
 When Jeremiah was in the gate of Benjamin, the north gate of the city, that by which any one would go to the country of Benjamin which ad- joined Jerusalem, guard said: Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans; you are trying to desert to the enemy" His we'll known prophecies of the de struction of the city, and advice that the people should yield the city to the Chaldeans, gave color to this accusa, tion.
 Then said Jeremiah: False! A lie! fall not way to the Chaldeans." He was arrested by the guard, and brought to the princes, the officials of the government, who were wroth with Jeremiah. He had compared them to rotten figs. He was the strongest and most resolute opponent of their war policy But for him they would have had it all their own way.
 Jeremiah was placed in dungeon under the prison building. Jerusalem was honey-combed with subterranean cisterns, vaulted or arched overhead and cabins, vaults, the subterranean, arched spaces of cistern, containing water
 At last Zedekiah, the king, secretly took him out to inquire: "Is there any word from the Lord?" Jeremiah re- piled: There is" The word was: Thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon" At Jeremiah's request, and to escape from the guilt of being the murderer of the prophet, Zedekiah had him cared for in the court of the guard, and supplied him with daily bread.
 We are not all called to be martyrs, but all are called to have the martyr spirit. to be ready to suffer for the Lord and the coming of his kingdom. There are many martyrs not known to history. but whose names are recorded in heaven.
 Persecution is the very opposite of Christianity ChristianitY hears hur.