Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-03-16

| merged with the captiveS ION the
| Southern Kingdom, and that after
the captivity in Babylon Tor -Assyria)
| the distinction between the ten
tribes and the two tribes disappeared.
The ten tribes are not lost. In
Paul's time he spoke (Acts 26:O to
Agrippa of our twelve tribes" serv-
ing God day and night. James wrote
his epistle to the twelve tribes scat
| tered abroad. DANES I'D They are
not lost, but have been dispersed
among the nations as. God had fore
told they would be Oeut. 28:25-64
from whence they are some day to
return Deut. 30:4), when they "look
upon Him whom they have pierced
and mourn for Him as for an only
son." Czech. 12:10)
What a terrible curse came upon
them! For by it they lost their lib
erty, involved all the other losses.
The land had been given them by
God; when they turned against Him,
He let others have it just as He had
taken it away from the wicked Ca
naanites to give it to them. The He
brew language became a dead Ian
guage after the captivity. of Judah,
Yiddish bearing somewhat the rela-
ton to it that Spanish or Italian
bears to classic Latin. But a remark
able thing has happened. Hebrew
has been revived, and about f1ve
years ago was made the official Ian
| guage of the schools in Palestine!
Never before in the history OF the
world has a dead language been re-
vived, and that after more than q
900 years.
What was the cause of such dis
aster? Why did the stronger king
dom in the north succumb when the
weaker kingdom in the south sur
vived 1873 years longer? A study Of
the Scripture will show conclusively
that the great first cauce was God.
While it was the king of Assyrla
who shut Hosea up and bound him
in prison, and took Samaria and
carried Israel away into Assyria Tvs.
4-6), he was but the instrument in
the hands of Jehovah, for it was Je-
hovah that removed them out of His
sight ". 18); it was Jehovah who
rejected and afflicted and delivered
them, and cast them out Of His sight
Tvs. 1929.
God was in no sense arbitrary in
His dealings with Israel. This course
was pursued only because of their
sin, after ample warning and only
after God had exhausted every re-
source in His efforts to win them
| back to His way.
| Their sin was heinous. They were
forewarned, yet they failed to heed
the warning. 1t was all the more
| heinous because it was against the
God who had been so gracious to
them, who had brought them up out
of the land Of Egypt and had deliver
| ed them from under the hand OF
Pharaoh. To turn against bene-
factor and toward the benefactor's
most bitter enemy is the basest in
gratitude and this was the beginning
of Israel's sin. They had turned
against Jehovah and had feared 9TH
err gods. Jeroboam was directly re-
sponsible for this. and every king of
the northern kingdom followed in
his footsteps, going farther and far
Their away from Jehovah, for sin is
progressive. Note how they fell:
1. They feared other gods (20. q.
They walked in the statutes Of the
heathens ". 81. 8. They did secretly
the things that were not right
| dSdiIlSI dOu We o. 4. IASy WSAI "
an extreme-no city or WatchtoWer
or high hill but became a place of
heather worship of the vilest kind
| Tvs. 9-10). 5. They conformed to the
heather practices-did like the folks
about them! ". ~. 6. They stiffen-
ed their necks and hardened their
hearts against all of Gods warnings
through His servants, and rejected
Gods Word Tvs. 14-15). Z. They fol-
lowed vainly. disobeying Gods dis
tinct command that they should not
do like the heather about them; yet
| they initiated them so completely
that they even burnt their children,
and worshiped the stars, and told
fortunes, and consulted spiritist me-
diums-they sold themselves to do
evil! Tvs. 15-16-1O. Yes, Israel were
great sinners, so great that God had
to remove them out of His sight. God
was the great first cause; Assyria
was His instrument; 1sraeps sin
was the reason-the sin of limiting
God and not letting Him do for them
what He desired.
The Cure
There is only one cure for sin,
whatever that sin may be. That cure
is Christ. Ezekiel, by the river Che
bar, in the province of Gozan, where