Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-06-10
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
For June 15th-Ezra I, SO.
BY DIR. MARION Mca. HULL

! altar of the God Of Israel. Theirs
might be an altar without a temple,
but there couldn't he a temple with
out an altar, for it was the place
where God came to meet man as
man offered thereon the sacrifice
the whole burnt offering typical of
his complete surrender of himself,
the treSpasS, the sin, the thank
Offering as occasion demanded SO
the most essential thing was done
first.
1t is interesting TO note when they
build the altar, too. 1t was at the
seventh month. the time when the
feast Of tabernacles was observed, to
commemorate the keeping power of
God during all their wilderness eXpe-
riences after He had brought them
out of Egypt and His victory for
them in bringing them into the land
of promise. Here after seventy/years
He had been keeping them in Baby
lon and now He had given to their
fathers. That feast of tabernacles
was truly a feast indeed. But the
foundation of the temple was not yet
laid. 1t was not until the second
month Of the second year that this
was accomplished, and then there
was great joy and rejoicing. They
sang and shouted and blew trumpets
and beat cymbals, and sang by
courses, and shouted with great
shout when they realized that the
foundation of the temple was actu-
ally laid.
There were some old men in the
Il
Ezra, who had seen the temple of
Solomon before it had been DESTROYED.
They wept. Others shouted for joy;
until before long one could not tell
the noise of weeping from the noise
of shouting; and the noise was heard
afar Off
Hindrances and Helps
The adversaries heard the noise.
They were not willing to LET the
work go on; so they made a, subtle
attack. First, they offered to help.
representing themselves as sympa-
thet1c. Zerubbabel declined their Of
fer, for he saw through their ruse.
Then they weakened the hands of
the builders-they would not bring
sufficient material, they put every
OBSTACLE they could in the way of
tnelr getting it; all in apparently the
most honest Of reasons
Then they openly attacked them.
They wrote letters to each succeed.
ing king, telling them how danger
Gus 1t was to their kingdom to al
low this wicked and rebellious CITY
to be rebuilt. and how it would cost
the min taxes lost. This plan snc.
rnp6Q6
came for the work of rebuilding the
temple to cease. And the work did
cease through force of power, until
the second year of Darius. At this
tlme COO raised up two prophets to
speak Tor Hlm-Hoggai and Zecha-
ran. Their methods were entirely
different, but their object was the
same. BY warning, by encoura ge.
ment, they showed the people their
SIN In not going forward with the
work OF rebuilding, and urged them
TO take up the work they had begun
ana finish it. While we can not go
into their messages in detail, two or
three speclnc instances may be given
to show the important part thew
played in the life of the nation al
that time. For instance. Hoggai
shamed them for building nice houses
to live in while they left the house
or God unfinished. He reminded
them of how glorious the temple of
solomon had been, and how much
more glorious this one would be be.
cause into it 1.-The desire of all ma
tons" should come. Of course. he
spoke better than he himself fully
understood, for it was of Jesus the
christ that the Holy Spirit was
speaking through Haggai.
AS another illustration. Zechariah
encouraged Zerubbabel to take Nup
again his unfinished task, saving
that as he had laid the foundation
so he also would put on the can
stone, and when he did so it would
be with shoutings Of grace, grace"
-ascrlbing the work to the marvel
Gus grace of God as the only reason
why the otherwise insurmountable
obstacles had been overcome. for if
was mot by might, nor by power.
but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of
hosts" that the work could be com
pleted.
Obstacles Overcome
well. with such encoura cement
anu stimulus the work that had re-
manned untouched for several wears
was taken up again and finished.
although it took four years more
70 finish it. There were just as MANY
obstacles at first to be overcome
Ihelr adVersaries objected again.
ana wrote a letter to the king again
Darius, when he received if had
the files of Cyrus searched and
found a copy of the original decree
which Cyrus had given in writing
as We saw above. Darius then gave
order that not only should the work
not be hindered but that it be given
every aid that the governor on that
side OF the river could render. He
placed all the treasures of the King
dom at their disposal, ordering that
all expenses of building be paid out
OF the taxes they collected there.
ana that such other needs as they
mad of bullochs, rams, lambs, wheat
salt, wine and oil for their OFFERINGS
De given them freely, day by dav
without fail, that they may offer
sacrifices of sweet savors unto the
God OF heaven, and pray for the
NE of the King, and of his sons"