Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-09-07
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON
For Sept. 10th. Neh. 8:1-18.
BY DIR. MARION NIGH. HULL

When Nehemiah had completed
the building of the walls of Jerusa7
lem and had swung the gates, he put
his brother Hanani in charge of the
city, "for He was a faithful man,
and feared God above many"
! Then he decided to take a census
! of the people, and found an old
| list Of those who had come with
/ Zerubbabel thirtyfour years before
: and checked against it. Instead of
, the city growing, it had decreased,
. so they decided to take one out of
i every ten people living outside and
assign, them to Jerusalem. Some
volunteered and were highly honored
for so doing.
There seems to have been a spirit
| of unrest among them, however, a
| sense Of something lacking. but they
| did not know what. Finally all the
[ people gathered together as one man
! in the street before the water gate
! and asked Ezra to bring out the
| book of the law Of Moses which the
Lord had commanded to Israel Ezra
had not been heard publicly, it
/ seems, for thirteen years. That does
not mean, however, that he had
| been idle. 1t is certain that during
that time he had been continuing
! his study of the law so that now he
was better prepared than ever to
! teach it. -
There is an interesting sidelight
just here on very modern discus
sion. The destructive higher crit
les" $50 calle0 insist that the Penta-
tench was not written by Moses, but
| by several different writer's at a
very late period and compiled by an
editor who made q great many mis-
takes. The supreme mistake that
! all the critics make is to eliminate
! revelation and subject everything
in nature and religion to the realm
/ of reason-their own finite minds.
The fact that these people, long
before the date assigned to this
motley editorial mixture Of the crit
les, asked Ezra to bring "the book
| Of the law of Moses, which the Lord
had commanded IsraeF' is the strong
| est kind Of evidence that the book
was of very ancient date at that
time, and that they who were sew
eral centuries nearer to it than the
critics and therefore better. able to
| judge, believed God to be the author
and Moses the human instrument
OF its transmission.
The Longest Sermon
! 1n>response to their request, Ezra
| brought out the book of the law be-
fore great congregation. He stood
upon a pulpit Of wood they had made
for the purpose and read to the
| congregation from the Book of God.
1t was a unique congregational
| consisted of men and women and all
| that could hear with understanding;
in other words Of men and women
and all the children who were old
enough to. understand what was be-
ing read. In these days this class
is largely absent from our congre-
cations. Formerly all the children
attended worship with their parents
and sat with them in the family
pew. Our young people are rapidly
growing away from that custom, be
it said to everybody's shame!
This was all the more remarkable
when we consider the length of that
sermon or scripture reading, for it
lasted from early light until noon!
Think of a congregation today sit.
ting for six or eight hours at a
stretch.
All honor to old Ezra, too; for al
though he was "a years old, he had
vigor enough to do that job, standing
all the while-and then to repeat it
for seven days in succession.
The people showed a spirit that
might well be repeated today-a Spir-
it of reverance that is rapidly being
lost. When Ezra opened the Book
all the people stood up; and when
Era blessed Jehovah, the Great
God, the people lifted up their hands
and then bowed their heads, and
worshipped Jehovah with their faces
to the ground, saying, Amen, Amen.
Only the Methodists have used that
scriptural term; are not these good
brethren losing it now, too?
While Ezra was reading, there
were standing beside him six men
on his right side and seven on his
left. And in among the people were
thirteen others with the Levites who
caused the people to understand"
These men were real teachers-"they
read the Word distinctly, and
gave the sense, and caused the peo-
pie to understand" The great
preachers of today and of all time
are the men who do just this. Oh!
for a revival Of scripture teaching
in the pulpits, instead of the preva-
lent type where a man takes a text
as a peg upon which to hang his
own thoughts, which in the majority
of cases are so far removed from
the meaning of the text when viewed
in the light Of its contetxt as to do
just the opposite of what these teach
L rs did in Ezra's time.
The Result
The Ir-or0ico Of Cod ic HE
word shall not return unto Him void.
but shall accomplish that for which
He sent it. That long sermon went
home to the hearts Of the people
that day. They were convicted of
sin, and began to mourn and weep.
Nehemiah and Ezra had to check
this. This day was an holy day,
and no time for weeping, but rather
for rejoicing for the 10y of the Lord
is given strength"
Accordingly they ceased weeping
and rejoicing supplanted mourning.
Sadness was replaced by gladness.
They made big feast of it: they
ate a good dinner and then sent de-
lftious trays to those who were less
fortunate, in their preparations, so
that the whole city was filled with
gladness.
Nor was it just an air bubble. It
made a deep impression on their
hearts, and bore fruit in their lives.
For example, they Learned that God
had ordered them to live in booths to
commemorate their wanderings in
the wilderness. This had been neg
lected for hundreds of years; but it
was now begun, and they had a won
derful time. Then as the days went