February, 1933
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
69
Belshazzar gave a great banquet to his favorites, and the banquet turned into a wild debauch o f drunkenness. The unmea sured drinking of inflaming wine soon wrought disregard of reason, and even in stinct itself was trampled upon. Drunkenness never stops with itself; it leads to sacrilege. Belshazzar called for the sacred vessels which had been brought from the house of God at Jerusalem. The king knew these were no ordinary imple ments, used in worship of idols. He knew (vs. 11-22) that these vessels belonged to the living God, who, though He had per mitted His people to be overcome by the Gentiles, would nevertheless hold all peo ples responsible for their treatment of Himself as represented by these sacred im plements. It was conscious sacrilege for Belshazzar to use them for such a purpose as drunken libations. The sacrilege soon led to idolatry. Heat ed with the wine and emboldened by the sacrilege, “the king and his princes, his wives and his concubines, drank wine in them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and o f stone.” Here was open idolatry following close upon the sacrilege. We may easily trace the course and char acter of intemperance in the verses of this portion of our lesson: Drunkenness, sacrilege, idolatry—short, sharp, brief- That which began in intemperate pleasure ended in the loss of the kingdom and the utter ruin of the individual soul. Lesson Questions Prov. 23:29-32. What are some of the physical effects o f the intemperate use of strong drink? What hint is there in these verses as to the subtle fascination, the utter falseness, and the certain ruin caused by in dulgence in the use o f alcoholic beverages? Isa. 28:1-4. What was the primary cause of the national judgment pro nounced in these verses? Who was the “ mighty and strong one” whom God al lowed to overpower His people? Dan. 5:1-4. Trace the steps from lux ury and frivolity to drunkenness and sac rilege in Belshazzar’s feast. Does intem perance along any line (often lead to sac rilege? ■ Golden Text Illustration A large rock fell on the back of a snake one day, says an old fable. The snake call ed to a caif who was passing to remove it, but he refused. “If I take it off, you will bite me,” he said. “No,” replied the snake, “I will promise not to bite.” The poor calf removed the rock and they went on together. “Now I am going to bite you,” said the snake. “ But you promised not to,” the poor calf said.
“ I know, but it is my nature to bite, and I cannot help it.” They met a fox just then, and the calf asked him to settle the dispute. He would not, unless he could see the rock on the snake as it was, and see what the calf did. So when the rock was at last placed on the snake, the fox turned to the calf and said, “Now that the rock is on his back, I think it is safest to leave it there.” Many poor, simple “calves” would re move the prohibition rock from John Bar leycorn, but it is a matter o f safety first. It is his nature to bite; let the rock re main. The House I Live In D a n ie l 1 :1-15 Memory Verse: “We . . . do those things that are pleasing in his sight” (1 John 3: 22 ). Approach: Last week our story was about Jesus feeding'five thousand people. Jesus always helped people to be well and strong. Our story today is about a young man who wanted to be well and strong, so that he could do a good work for his country and for his God. L e s s o n S t o r y : BSæra were to be trained to serve the king. Among these captives were a young man, named Daniel, and his three friends. They had been1chosen because they were both healthy and clever, and because they “had ability in them to stand in the king’s pal ace,” The king told his servant to feed these young men with rich food—with meat and wine. Daniel refused to eat the rich food and to drink the wine. He knew that it was bad for him, and he did not want to spoil this good body that God had given to him. The servant was afraid that the king would punish him if he found that Daniel and his friends were not eating and drinking as the king had ordered. He begged Daniel and his friends to obey the king. Daniel said, “ Let us try for ten days. Give us simple food, like beans, to eat, and water to drink. At the end o f ten days, look at us and see which seem healthier, the four of us who eat the simple food and drink no wine, -or the others.'” ., ;! The servant agreed to try this plan, and he was surprised how healthy Daniel and his friends had become. Daniel was more afraid of hurting his God-given body than he was of offending the king. A v i « o * It happened, a great many years b e f o r e Christ was born, that some young men who belonged to the chil dren o f Israel were captured by the King of Babylon. T h e y were taken to his court, where t h e y
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northern Palestine. It varies in width from five to ten miles. It is the only level plain which cuts the land from east to west north of Beer-sheba. The hills of Galilee rise abruptly from this plain, and one can see historic old Mount Tabor and the rounded hills of Nazareth, as he makes his way northward. The village of Nazareth cannot be seen from the plain, for it is in a little cup in the hills, hidden away from the ancient avenues of international trade. As we climb the surrounding hills to a height of sixteen hundred feet, we can look down upon the village surrounded by its protecting wall o f hills. It is one of the neatest and cleanest villages in all Pales tine. As we pass on to the hills just north of Nazareth, wave after wave o f tossing hill tops greets our eye. We look far off to the north over their crests and discern, faintly through the haze, the hoary summit of Mount Hermon, crowned with its ever-
MARCH 26, 1933 REVIEW : JESUS OUR EXAMPLE IN SERVICE
Lesson T ext: Acts 10:36-43. Golden T ext: “Jesus of Nazareth . . . went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). u r in g m o s t of the time covered by the lessons of this quarter, Jesus was in Galilee. Let us briefly walk about this sacred province, that we may more readily visualize the geographical set ting of the early ministry of Christ.
Galilee is separated from its southern neighbor, Samaria, by a natural boundary. This boundary is the Plain o f Esdraelon. It stretches from the site of ancient Beth Shan, on the edge of the Jordan valley, to Haifa, the seaport of
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