The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1917-12-14
INTERNATIONAL
LESSON
(By E. o. SELLERS, Acting Director of
the Sunday School Course of the Moody
Bible Institute, Chicago.)
Copyright. 1917. Western Newspaper Union.)
LESSON FOR DECEMBER is
NEHEMIAH ENFORcES THE LAW
OF THE SABBATH.

| DdlH LAY " hCcP IL IOiy.-EAOO. HV.o.
Nehemiah remained in Jerusalem
twelve years, from B. G. 444 to B. G
49,. He was then recalled and was
in Persia some years, perhaps five OF
| seven, but returned about B. G. 425
| the year Artaxerxes died, for we know
| that he returned by permission of that
king. Therefore, the date of this les
| son would be sometime in the summer
or early autumn of .426 or 427 B. c.,
16 or IS years following last Sundays
| lesson.
In the section, Wv. 1914, we see that
the gifts for the house of God and
the Levites, who led in worship, had
been neglected. Whenever the house
of God and its service of worship is
neglected, we may expect that the Sab
bath day and the worship of God will
also soon fall into contempt. Ezra has
dropped out of our history without a
him as to his end.
I. "Remember" ". 14) the Neglect
of Gods House. wv. 1-14). The neg
lect of Gods house grew up out of the
incursion Of heathenism into Jewish
life. Nehemiah realized that the pur-
ity of the race depended upon absolute
separation from the mixed multitude.
". 81. Nehemiah also confronted the
difficulty of having a priest ,(vv. T., 81,
who had defled himself and also desc
Grated the temple, and finally the por-
ton for the support Of the priest and
the temple worship had been withheld.
". 10Y.
II. "Remember" ". 12) the Sab
bath Day. wv. 1929. Nehemiah's
lex and most difficult reform was re-
garding the fourth commandment. He
at once set about to learn the facts;
then relates what he saw ". 15). The
record also tells how he testified
against them in that they were selling
merchandise on the Sabbath day. BE
contended with the mobiles that they
had done evil on the Sabbath day. ".
TO-. He testified against them that
the merchants and sellers of ware had
lodged about and within Jerusalem.
wv. 20, 21). The root Of the trouble
with Judah was that they forgot Gods
word and followed the devices and de-
sires Of their own hearts. The Jewish
Sabbath in its outward form on the
exact day Of the week is not binding
upon Gentle Christians (Col. :16, I'D:
It was given to Israel as a people,
(Deut. 81, ~ as a memorial of their
deliverance out of the land of Egypt
and the house of bondage. (Deut. 5 80.
The Christian, by the death of Christ,
is made dead to the letter of the law
of Moses, (Deut. 7:4), but the prin-
ciple of the Sabbath is older than even
the law of Moses and is as binding
upon the Christian believer as are the
many other principles which underlie
the Mosaic law. In its exact form, the
seventh day, the observance of the
Sabbath belongs to the old order and
not to the Christian order. Christ, who
rose from the dead (Rom. 7:4), rose
the first day of the week, and we,
MS Joined to Christ, are no under OBJ
legations to the Mosaic law, but to
Christ. Therefore, the Lords day, the
resurrection day, the first day of the
week, (Rev. ! 10; John p :2O; 1:19-
26; Acts 27), is the day of privilege,
not of obligation and is more sacred
to us than the Sabbath day of these
Jews. The Jews in Nehemiah's time
showed their contempt of the Lords
day by making it a day of profit, n
his e%xhortation which we see set forth
this section. This should be a warn
ing and an e~xhortation to us In these
Jays of q secularized Sabbath.
III. "Remember" ". 29) the Holy
Priesthood. wv. 23-31). In this section
see that the priesthood had even
1ef1led themselves with women, inc
again this Nehemiah entered upon a
cleansing process, wv. 3O-31). The use
this word remember" in verses IA,
p and 20 gives strong emphasis to the
-hree cardinal sins against which Ne
was battling.
w. Summary: AS In Nehemiah's
line, so now, Sabbath Dissertation Is
he surest road to national ruin, and o
arge proportion of present calam-
ty can be traced to growing irrever-
nee for the Lords day. Jesus swept
way the cobwebs Of Sabbath rrever-
.nce, but did not tear down the house.
he kept the principle, but removed the
,arnacles with which the Pharisees
ind Jews had encountered 1t. Jesus
aught that the Sabbath was made for
nan and not man for the Sabbath,
Mark 2:27, 28), and he set himself as
example in this regard, for he is
4ord of that day as well as the other
Of the week.
The Sabbath is a day Of rest and If
deserved, wOrkmen without exception
will produce more than is possible If 1t
3 not observed.
The chief value of the Sabbath, how
yer, is in connection with the wOr-
hip of God. The feeding of the spir-
tual nature; the rest which is to be
differentiated from mere holiday or
~leasure; its need for adult and child
lie Its educational value Its oppor-
unity for Christian service and e7al-
alton Of family relations, all show it
0 have been created to fill a real need
nd to manifest the wisdom and good
ess Of God