Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-05-27
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
For June /, 1924-The Babylonian Exile Chron SO
BY DR. MARION MICH. HULL

/ should sit on the throne forever. a
glance at the genealogy of the king
| in Matthew shows the name of Je-
coniah and through him eventually
| Joseph, the husband of Mary, of
whom was born Jesus the Christ. Jo-
seph's actual son, therefore, could
not sit on the throne; and yet only
Josephs son could. Jesus was the
son of David through his ;-other,
and the legal son of Joseph by her
marriage to Joseph before this birth,
and therefore the only one in all the
world who could fulfill the condi-
tions necessary to keep *he oath of
| God to David.
When JeConiah wal carried cap
| tive to Babylon theirs were also taken
with him his mother, f,is wives, his
servants, his princes, his officers and
| his treasures. Seven thousand crafts
men were in the company and 1000
! smiths. But the ones thta interest
us most, because of the part that
they played subsequently in the
great drama, were Ezekiel, the
priest-prophet, whose visions by the
River Chebar did so much to bring
the people back to God in the time
of their captivity; and Mordecai, the
uncle Of Esther, who, as an old man,
became the prime minister of the
king, and had so much to do with
the favorable action Of that
heather monarch in sending the peo'
pie of Judah back to rebuild the
walls of Jerusalem that had been
broken down and the temple that
had been destroyed
With Zedekiah's rebellion Jerusa-
lem fell 1t fell in spite Of all that
God could do. Through Moses He
had spoken to them at first; in Deut.
81, So you will find how He had
warned them. "The Lord shall scat
ter them among many nations, from
one end of the earth to the other"
Prophets had been sent to warn
them, to plead with them, to WOO
them, to denounce their sin, to
prophesy, their certain doom unless
they repented, and they would not
hear them. There was nothing else
God could do; He had exhausted His
resources in His effort to win them
except one. He had to let them
go into captivity to have them see
their sin and their need of Him.
The last of the prophets who had
been sent to them, jeremiah, had
told them the very number Of years
this captivity would last-seventy
years-until the land had enjoyed
her sabbaths. 1t was required of them
that their seventh year should be
Sabbatic year; the land should lie
fallow. The agricultural reason for
this was that the land should not be
worn out and should maintain its
fertility; the spiritual reason was to
keep them in close touch with God
and make them appreciate their de
pendence on Him.
But this law had been neglected
just as others had For 400 years
they had failed to let the land lie
fallow, and God let them be taken
and held captive for seventy years
that the land might enjoy her sab
baths as He had decreed.
How like those Jewish people of
old are we of the twentieth century.
How long do you thing it is going
to take us to learn that Gods COM
mands are only the expression Of
His love for us? That il we disobey
them, He will warn and plead with
us, and do everything He can to
save us from ourselves; but that if
we persistently refuse to do His will
there can be nothing but disaster
result How long Is it taking you
to learn that?