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T H E
K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
June 1924
hi» disciple. A higher trib u te to the exalted position tacitly allowed to th e scribe or a finer proof of the unselfish hum il ity of the young statesm an cannot he imagined.—Prof. W. F . Adeney. V. 3. Ezra was not reading all this tim e, b u t was aided by Levites who took th eir tu rn . These Levites stood beside him, six on his righ t and seven on his left. When Ezra un rolled the manuscript of th e Law, which was w ritten in p ar allel columns on a long strip of parchm ent rolled on a roller, th e people showed th e ir reverenee for th e Scripture by rising.— Peloubet. Though th ere is no word in th e He brew for “ atten tive,” yet th e meaning is quite correctly given. “The ears of all th e people were < to th e book”— fixed on th a t and on nothing else.— P u lp it Com. V. 8 . The Jews had been long in captivity and were un fam iliar w ith the law, hence explanations were needed th a t they m ight grasp th e meaning of th e words read.—P ract. Com. Y. 9. T irshath a— This was a title given to Nehemiah re presenting his office as provincial governor.— Clarke. Thus K ing Josiah re n t his clothes when he heard th e words of the newly discovered Law. The priests had k ep t th e com mon people igno ran t of th e contents of the Hebrew Scrip tu re, and such passages as th e stern condemnation of evil in Deut. 28:15-68 showed them th e ir guilt and aroused th eir te rro r.—Peloubet. V. 10. A proverbial expression, meaning th a t th e oc casion was not one of fasting and grief.— Ryle. “ Joy of the Lord is your streng th .” “Your safe re tre a t, your refu g e ;” the revised version has “ stronghold” in the margin. The joy of Jehovah is not God’s joy in His people, bu t th eir joy in Him. T hat joy is well founded upon experience and proof of His goodness, and so it is a safe refuge from all foes and a comfort in all sorrow, even in sorrow for sin.—- Peloubet. V. 12. The people sorrowed because they had not kept the law; they now rejoiced because they were able to un derstand it.—Cam. Bible. Nothing will cause tru er, g reater ®r more abiding m irth th an to understand th e words of this Book.—Torrey. The Value of Bible Study. Simply reading the Bible through is the essential beginning of Bible study. Every Christian should read the Scriptures through often, from cover to cover, tak ing notes of books and passages to which he wishes to re tu rn for a thorough study. This Bible study should be daily. We need food for th e soul every day as well as food for th e body. We ta lk w ith our friends every day; should we no t ta lk every day w ith our best F riend? Our Bible study should be systematic as well as regular. Studies of en tire books of th e Bible are very re warding. So are studies of th e g reat doctrines, following each clear through the Bible. Bible study m ust have defi nite issues in life. Read your Bible daily un til you en counter some tru th for the day, some passage th a t seizes your conscience and fills you w ith fresh zeal for noble liv ing and lifts you into closer fellowship w ith God. Then make th a t passage the key-note of your day.—Peloubet. In tern atio n al S. S. Lesson for Ju n e 22, 1924 In connection w ith th e resto ration of Jud ah from the Babylonian captivity, th e re were th ree outstanding men, each w ith his own special work and service given him by the Lord. The first was Zerubbabel, who led back to Jerusalem a colony of nearly 50,000 DEVOTIONAL and rebu ilt th e temple. About eighty COMMENT years later, Ezra, with a much smaller Jo h n A. H ubbard company, reached Jerusalem . His work was th a t of a scribe, th a t is, a stud en t and teacher of the law of God. Thirteen years afte r E zra’s retu rn , th e th ird of these th ree prom inent men reached Je ru salem, namely, Nehemiah, whose chief work was th a t of re building th e wall about the city. Our very lim ited space will be devoted to a consideration of Ezra and his “ reform ” work.
As to the man himself, he sets an example which all teachers- and' preachers -of- God’s word- should follow. Note well the words of E zra 7:10: “F o r Ezra had prepared his h eart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statu tes and judgm ents.” “To seek, to do, to teach,” and all from th e heart! - Then-we--see th e spirit of the man as revealed in Ezra 9. He is astonished when he learns of the flagrant disobedience and sin of the people. There is, however, no b itterness or sarcasm , bu t ra th e r a broken, weeping h ea rt ( 1 0 : 1 ) th a t pours itself out in confession and prayer. “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up into the heavens” (9 :6 ), Be sure to carefully read the whole prayer and note, how E zra identi fies him self w ith the people— “ our,” “ us,” “we,” not “ th e ir,” “ them ,” “ they.,’;’ It is no wonder th a t he got re sults. And w hat was th e sin which led to such weeping, con fession, and prayers? It was th e failure to “ sep arate them selves from th e people of the lands” (9 :1 ). The increasing world-conform ity of today is enough to call forth tears, confession, and prayer. Would th a t we really believed “th a t th e friendship of th e world is enm ity w ith God” (Isa. 4 :4 ), for if we did, we would hear and heed the call to “ come,out and be sep arate” (2 Cor. 6:14-17). Learning F rom God’s Book Neh. 8:1-3; 8-12. Memory Verse.— “ I will not forget thy word.” Psa. 119: 16. Approach.—-Good morning children. W hat day is this? It is the Lord’s day, le t us rejoice and be glad in it. How many w anted to come to Sunday School th is morning? I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into th e house of the Lord. Now, how many of you. ELEMENTARY were really glad when you awoke this Mabel L. Merrill morning and remembered it was Sun day, and th a t after b reak fast you could get ready and come to Sunday School? O how happy we ought to be th a t we live in a land where we can go to Sun day School. P ray er. Lesson Story.—We had a story last week about some peo ple who were happy. George, can you tell us w hat made these people happy? The foundation was laid for the new temple, and they held a special service to show how th a n k ful they were. They had been away from th eir home land for a long time, and had suffered much, because they wanted to have th e ir own way and would not follow God, th e tru e Shepherd, who loved them . God let them come back to th eir land again, and they were again happy be cause they were following and obeying God. Now these people had hard things to face, because th e enemies of Is rael living in and around Jerusalem , did not w ant to see th e city walls bu ilt up, and the temple rebuilt, and so they fought against Israel. Then later on some more of God’s people Israel, retu rned to the home land, and among th is number were two men by the name of Ezra and Nehem iah; these two men .loved God and His Word, and they knew how im portant it was to have th e people understand and know the Bible. Of course in those days, th e people could not have th e ir own Bibles to read as we have, bu t th ere was one copy for th e m inister to read from to the people. Now th e temple was not fin ished yet, bu t E zra had th e people come together into the street th a t was before-the w ater gate, and asked th a t the
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