Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-08-31
One GREAT ISSUE OF The WAR
The international Sunday School Lesson For Sep
ternber Is "The Shepherd of Captive Israel"
Ezekiel Chapter "a
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS

| an OVer-SnepnerQ VINO Gaines IOE ah
the sheep. Slowly, throughout the
ages. He has been working out pur-
poses of good for even the least of
mortals. So long as God sits on His
throne, the sheep will be looked aft
er and the faithless shepherds reck-
oned with. This is the grim message
of the lesson; every person in shep-
herd post, be it parent or a presi-
dent, or preacher or professor, or
publicist, will give an accounting
to Him who so loves the sheep, even
the wandering and wicked ones, that
He gave His own Son to be their
Good Shepherd.
| There are three great messages in
this stirring chapter of social JUS
tice and the second is word to
strong and selfish sheep. The reader
of this lesson cannot comfort him
self by exulting in the criticisms of
the preachers, or other shepherds.
The wise old prophet has a word
| from the Lord concerning those self
engrossed sheep which have no re-
spect for the weaker members or the
| flock. What host of us are include
ed within this denunciation! AS cul-
pable as the erring shepherds are the
men and women whose philosophy
| is that of the madman NletZsche,
and whose working rule is Look out
for number one" To forget number
two is to repudiate God.
"And as for you, o my flock, thus
saith the Lord Jehovah Behold. l
will judge between sheep and sheep,
the rams and the he goats. Seemeth
| it small thing to you to have fed
upon the good pasture, but ye must
tread down with your feet the resi-
due of the pasture? and to have
drunk of the clear waters, that ye
must foul the residue with your feet?
And as for my sheep, they eat that
which ye have trodden down with
your feet, and they drink that which
ye have fouled with your feet.
Therefore thus saith the Lord
Jehovah unto them: Behold l, even
1, will judge between the fat sheep
and the lean sheep. Because ye
thrust with side and shoulder, and
push all the diseased with your
horns, till we have scattered them
abroad; therefore will l save my
flock, and they shall no more be
prey; and / will judge between sheep
and sheep"
What is this but another way of
saying that to have ones name on
church roll is no assurance of the
favor of God. Social injustice, self
,seeking, hard-heartedness, inconsid-
erateness, greed, oppression, are
doubly to be condemned when COM
mitted by one who himself bears the
brand-mark of the great Shepherd.
We westerners, who want every
thing done overnight, while we wait,
are staggered by the long, long pa
thence of God. For twenty-five hun
dred years he has waited for the full
filment of some of his purposes, as
indicated in this remarkable chap
ter. Now accomplishment seems al
most in sight. For the third of the
messages of Ezekiel, in this crowded
lesson, is that one day Jehovah
would recall His sheep, Israel, from
their wanderings, and establish them
in peace and safety in the promised
pasture of Canaan.
They shall be secure in their |
land; and they shall know that l am
Jehovah, when 1 have broken the
bars of their yoke, and have deliv-
cred them out of the hand OF those
that made bondmen of them. And
they shall no more be a prey to the |
nations neither shall the beasts of
the earth devour them; but they |
shall dwell securely, and none shall
make them afraid. And l will raise
up unto them a. plantation of renown
and they shall no more be consumed
with famine in the land, neither bear
the shame of the nations any more. |
And they shall know that I, Jehovah |
their God, am with them, and that
they, the house of Israel, are my !
people, saith the Lord Jehovah. And |
We my sheep, the sheep of my pas |
ture, are men, and I am your God, !
saith the Lord Jehovah"
When we read the meager dis |
patches that occasionally seep out of |
Palestine we think of these glorious
promises to the Chosen People. |
''They shall dwell securely" declared |
Ezekiel; but now the hand of the |
Turk is heavy upon the Jews in the |
Holy Land and all of them know
sore suffering. Famine has smitten |
many to death. and all are perse- !
cuted and harried. Nevertheless, we
may see through the veil of present |
darkness. The future of the Lapd |
of Promise was never more bright |
than now. The Messianic hope was |
never so high. All around the world |
Jews are making ready to rehabili- |
tate Palestine, after the sway of the
Turk has been removed. The fulfil
ment of IsraePs ancient hope is only |
one of the many vast boons to be |
purchased by the high price of this
war.
So Ezekiel accords with the news |
paper. At the present time a plastic |
world is reader than ever before for |
his great message. We want to |
think that by means of all these up !
heavals and overturnings the great |
shepherd purposes of God are work !
ing out, and that the very gravity |
of the hour will recall shepherds and |
sheep to the obligations which run |
through all time. God is the shep- |
herd of nations, as well as of indi-
viduals. He may be leading the |
world over a rocky and thorny way |
at present, but we may be sure that
His destination is green pastures and
still waters.