Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-10-11
GILT E.z-@{AfsENT TINES 4
i lD2OMLYN D.
fFABERNAcEF'
~ BIBLE. STUDIES
KING CYRUS GODS SHEPHERD.
Ezra /. LII: il. 81. 7O-Oct. Is.

| Psalms repeats again and again. Alas,
low terribly our God of Wisdom,
| Justice, Love and Power has been mis-
| pcpresented to the world, and TO the
! Church. as a God delighting in the
| tcrnal torture of the vast mn jority Of
| His creatures; for If such We're His
| PROVISION for them, and He knew the
| nd from the beginning. it would
surely prove that He delighted III aud
intended their torture. But when our
eyes open to a proper Interpretation
# Gods WORD, how His character be
! , ONES glorious before our eyes and
commands our love and ctr devotion
| rs the Apostle declares it is The Di-
| vine Love which constrains us to be
.aithful and obedient.
| Today,s study relates to the release
| f the 1sraelites from their Babylon,
AN captivity, and their return to Pal
| slime. This return was in exact ful-
ilment of the Lords Word al the
| mouth of jeremiah. the Prophet. who
| specifically told the destruction of the
| city, and also that it would be seven
| t. Years before the return of its in
| Observation-Disclosures XIV, i: xxx, 10,
| ,enIpare II Chronicles xxSVi y, %.
| We suggest a careful reading Of the
scriptures above cited, TO establish the
| fact that the seventy years predicted
| ! Ella ted 10 the desolation Of the city
of Jerusalem and of their land and
not merely TO the captivity Of the peo-
itlp, come of whom went into captivity
twenty years before the city was de-
riroyed Many, in applying this, have
started the seventy years from the be-
ginning Of the first captivity. and thus
are twenty years ont o. the way.
Facts of history have been so built
v9Hnd this error, gradually, that
many now hold the unscriptural view;
| Int Il the Bible is To be our criterion
We must stand by it.
ono OF the most wonderful things
| connected with the story OF Israefs
| l,seasc from Babylonan captivity is
| .hai Cyrus was named by the Pro
| phet Isaiah in advance. and called
| Gods Shepherd, is My shep-
| Ierd and shall perform all My pleas
| TIRE. even saving TO Jerusalem, Thou
| chalt be built; and to the temple. thy
| foundation shall be laid" isaiah Xiv,
| 90. Profane history gives Cyrus a
| r4ry honorable maine, calling him
| gracious. clement and just, treating
| men as men, and not as mere tools
! to b.. used and cast aside-a conquer
o. OF quite different type from any
t'te world had previously seen
King Cyrus New Method.
| Nebuehadnezzarls theory OF govern
nlent was to bring representatives of
| Die peoples of ell lands to Babylon and
! there make them homogeneous, Choos-
| ing the best OF every nationality. But
| when Cyrus came upon the scene, as
| the conqueror of the Babylonian en-
pire, Darius. the Mede, being under
him. he found that the theory of his
predecessor had not worked out salts
| factorily The mixed people OF Chal-
dca We're not patriotic. Cyrus adopt
| ell the opposite plan for governing the
world He not only gave liberty to
| The Jews to return to their own land,
aud gave them assistance back, but
| he did the same for the people of other
nations exiled in Babylon.
4 brief epitonc of the giving of his
proclamation Of liberty to the jews is,
| THUS saith Cyrus, King OF Persia:
All the Kingdoms of earth hath je
hoTah, the God of heaven, given unto
me. and He has charged me tn build
Him house at Jerusalem. which is
| in judah. Whoever there is among
you of ell his people, his God be with
him, and let him go to Jerusalem,
which is in Judah. and build the house
of Jehovah, the God of Israel Gle is
| the cod. which is at Jerusalem; and
| whosoever Is Left, in any place where
| he sojourneth funprepared Tor the
| Journey. let the men of his place help
him with silver and with gold aud with
goods and with beasts. beside the free
viii offering for the house of God,
which is at Jerusalem.
The King himself gave literally to-
ward the work and. through the treas
urer, numbered to the IsraeliteS YES
sels and utensils of the temple, great
and small, ffty-four hundred.
Tradition says that the Israeltes
SET ont on their Journey accompanied
| by an escort OF a thousand cavalry
for their protection from the desert
Arabs, and that they went forth to
the sound OF joyous music, in har-
mony with Isaiah Xviii, 20, 21-"Go
We out of Babylon fee from the Chal-
deans, with the voice of singing de-
clare We. tell this utter it even unto
the end of the earth; say We. The
Lord hath redeemed His servant
Jacob"
Gods Purifying Word.
II we have been astonished from
time to. time at the readiness of the
Israelites to 70 INTO idolatry. We may
also feel astonished that from the time
of their return from the Babylonian
captivity. idolatry, in it's grosser form,
was never known amongst them. IN
Babylon they sat down by the banks
Of the rivers and ''wept as they re
mcmbered zion in its desolate con- |
dition: and then their thoughts trav-
eleG back to the gracious promises OF
God to which their nation was still
heir.
The total number to return was
about the same number thai now &C
cupy the city of Jerusalem ncw re-
turning after . still greater scattering |
than at the time of th" destruction |
OF their city by Northumberland |
about fifty thousand.
Professor Addeney has Well reular<- |
cd IF that time The Jews now con-