The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1920-09-02
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON.
Especially Prepared for The Republic
can by DR.. U. S. Wright.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER s..


SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER S.
The Building of the Temple. l Kings
5:1-8:66.
My house shall be called the house of
prayer for all peoples. Isaiah 56:7.
WOODROW WILSON SOLOMON.
Political drift is always toward the
center or toward the circum ference.
There is no question about the direction
during these last years in America when
we have seen the White House instead
of State House at the vortex of the
movements of our national life. Nor
can there be much difference of opinion
as to what was going on in Jerusalem
100 B. c. for the pieces of history that
are wbirled into sight may be readily
studied. Solomon was bent upon the ex-
= altation of the throne above all else in
israel. He strengthened the organi-
Lation by overriding the tribal divisi-
ons that Rad been a source of differ
ences and weakness in substituting a
department arrangement that did not
correspond with the old lines. The list
given in chapter omits Judah from
this plan of taxation and administration
so that fauoritism instead of level JUS
tice may have determined some of the
boundaries. Gerrymandering may not
have had its first appearance in Mass
acr lsetts. But old tribal leaders were
81 Jrn somewhat of their power and
made more dependent upon Jerusalem.
lnternationalism was another of his
policies seen in the close alliances made
with the surrounding people, Hiram of
Tyre being one of the closest during all
his rule. Jerusalem that kept them out
of war felt the prestige of the relation
ships that guaranteed the peoples
peace. The creation of an aristocracy
whose right it was to control absolute
ly the destinies of the rest built the
Capital but utilized forced labor in
every erection even the Temple. The
throne no longer voiced the peoples
Absoluteism was flourishing under the
David. There is no question about his
religious always and Jehovah was al
ways his Cod, And the Temple marked
his attitude but even here he made it
that he followed for it overshadowed all
othe- shrines and made Jerusalem still
more the heart of the empire. 1t was
the Kings Chapel and not the peoples
Church. The King built it from the in
herited wealth of David and at the ex-
pense of his own purse for the gifts
credited to the princes were made to
the wish of a strong ruler as much as
to their own passion. But the rank and
file had no place except in the labor,
the sacrifices were the Kings own con-
tribution and not until the days of Jo-
ash were the Temple expenses met
from any other source. That Temple
lifted Solomon all the time that it hon.
ored bis God.
THE TEMPLE OF JEHOVAH.
For twenty years the top of old Nor
iah was crowded with workmen and
jammed with unfinished structures.
Solomon arranged it all about a COM
mon plan that was surrounded by
great walled court containing the Tenn
pie. the palace and harem within the
''other court" 7:8), and the political
buildings Of the Throne Hall, the Hall
of Pillars and the House of the Forest
of Lebanon. The Temple dominated all
the rest and was probably the finest
House of Deity in the world. For it
was not meeting place but Gods pri-
vate dwelling within which in the very
heart of it under the wings of cherubim
famed the Shekinah. In that place of
unwlndowed darkness Jehovah had his
throne that was to be approached only
bv the High priest once year. 1t was
not for the common wors hipper who
could only look from distance at the
priest performing the varied functions
of his Office 1t was to hold the place
of Mecca to the Moslem or the Ganges
to the Hlndoo. But 1t did not belong
to the people but only to part of them
and it was long before it ministered to
the last Israelite as God meant it to do.
THE GREAT DEDICATION.
There had probably never been in all
the history of the Hebrew such gath
ering as crowded jerusalem for the
dedication of the Temple. Every little
village turnout the realm was called up