Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-09-28
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON
For October Luke I
BY DIR. MARION MICH. HULL


drink no wine nor strong drink"
Luke 1:15.
For 400 years God had not spoken
to His people. His last word to
them was curse" (Mal. 4:6). NoT.
He broke His silence; His first word
in 400 years was Fear not" His
love had never changed a moment.
The circumstances were these:
There had grown up after Nehe-
miah's and Ezra's time a remnant
in Judah who were keeping the rites
and ceremonies of the law. The
$4,000 who had returned from Baby
Ion under Zerubbabel had establish
ed themselves in their native land,
and had multiplied. Their career,
however, had been a very checkered
one. The Persian rule continued for
about 100 years. with governors ap-
pointed to rule over them. Then,
as Daniel has foretold, the Greeks
subdued the Persians. Alexander
the Great was very considerate of
his Jewish subjects, but at his death
his kingdom was divided, and they
were between the upper and neither
grindstones Of Syria and Egypt. In
the course Of this Antiochus Epi-
phases became supreme and TOOK
fiendish delight in heaping indigni-
ties upon the Jews; finally going
the limit, and sacrificing a SOW
upon the sacred altar. In fact, this
caused the Maccabees to lead a re-
volt, the purpose of which was to
cleanse their temple and restore
purity of worship, They established
a semi-independent civil govern
ment, but this soon succumbed to
the Romans, as Daniel had also
prophesied. julius Caesar made
Herod governor of Galilee; he was
later made king of the Jews after
the death Of Caesar.
During this period the Jews We're
not idle relgiously, as has beer
intimated. One very important
thing was done by them, and for
which we are eternally indebted to
them. The Canton of Scripture was
determined, so that by the time that
John came "the law, the prophets.
and the writings" as they called
them, had been collected, and were
exactly the same as our Old Tesla
ment today, except as the order and
number of the books. They COM
bined 142 kings as one, and Neh-
Ezra Esther as one, for example. In
this way, the number of books
amounted to twenty-five, one for
each letter of the Hebrew alphaber,
instead of thirty-nine as We know
them. Chronicles was the last of
the books also, which explains
Christ's reference in Luke 11:51. The
Scriptures which Christ studied AMI
from which He so frequently quoted
were exactly the same books as we
have in our Old Testament today-a
fact which should make us appre-
ciate that portion of our Bible more.
and which should shut the mouth
of every destructive critic. Jesus
would not have quoted them as Gods
word unless that was truly so.
Now one of the things those Jews
did was to keep up the temple Wor-
ship, the sacrifices, the Offering of
incense and so forth. There were
"a courses of priests, comprising
about 10000 of the mat this time.
They lived in various parts of the
land and came to Jerusalem only
when their time came to serve. Any
particular priest would thus be
called only very infrequently.
In the course of Alba, which was
the eighth course, there was a man
named Zachariah; his wife was of
the prleStly line too, for she was of
the daughters of Aaron. Her name,
Elizabeth, seems to have come down
to her from an ancestrous, Elisheba,
the wife of Aaron. They were Cody
people; they were righteous insofar
as Keeping the laws and ordinances
was, concerned, blameless. There
was great sorrow in their lives,
and to the Jewish woman that was
great reproach, for it meant that
there was no possibility of the
Messiah coming from that family.
They had prayed for a child but
had both grown old now and no
child had come to bless their home
The Angel Gabriel
Zachariah would probably not
nave another opportunity to serve
in the holy place, and SO he was
particularly earnest in his PRAYERS
that day. Behold! He was startled
ON the right side of the altar stood
an angel. Zachariah was afraid
Fear not''-the silence of 400 years
hao been broken. Thy prayer is
heard" All! the shame Of it be on
US too! Orou was there to bless and
Zachariah was shaking with fear.
Perfect love casteth out fear;-but
he had not yet that love.
The angels message said of the
child of their old age, who was
promised, that he should be great,
pure, filled with the spirit from
birth, turn many to God, go before
Him and turn many homeward,
making ready a prepared people.
1t was too good to be true; it was
human impossibility, said Zacha-
riah. But he had left God out of.
his count. Listen to the angels re-
ply. Il am Gabriel, who land n
the pesence of God" There was
therefore no doubt in his mind. He
knew God-nothing is impossible
with Him ". 80, nor with those
who stand in His presence.
Zackariah paid for his unbenef-
he lost the power of speech, though
he could hear perfectly; it was a
sign. Six months later the angel
Gabriel returns-this time to a vir-
gin in the village of Nazareth. He
tells her a wonderful message, and
also tells her of her cousin, Eliza
beth. Mary, unlike Zachariah, be-
!ieves without que stioning. But the
message is too wonderful for her
to keep. She must talk to some
body about it, and to whom so ap-
propriately as to Elizabeth; so she
went unto the hill country of Judah
where her old cousins lived.
The moment Mary entered the
room, Elizabeth was filled with the
Holy Ghost. All! there is the secret,
for how else could she have known
that this virgin was to become a
mother; that the child YVES more
than divine, Her Lord; that Mary