THE KING’S BUSINESS Nehemiah Enforces the Law of the Sabbath
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DECEMBER 16, 1917. LESSON XI. Neh. 13:15-22. (Memorize vs. 17, 18). G olden T ext : “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.’*'—Ex. 20: 8 . DAILY BIBLE READINGS
Mon., December 10—Neh. 13:15-22. (The Lesson). Tues., December 11—Ex. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12-15.
Wed., December 12—Jer. 17:19-27. Thurs., December 13—Isaiah 56:1-8. Fri., December 14—Isaiah 58:1-14. Sat., December 15—Luke 13:10-17. Sun., December 16—Matt. 12:1-13.
EXPOSITION AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
v. 15. “In those days saw I in Judah winepresses ) on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses (asses therewith); as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusa lem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals." Nehemiah’s government in Jeru salem was characterized by constant con tention against these forms of disregard for the law of God. Scarcely did he cor rect one abuse before another arose. Noth ing was more plainly taught in the law of God, as given through Moses, "to which law they had listened so eagerly, than Sabbath 'observance, yet here we see the plainest violation of the Sabbath law. In the same way today we see the great mass of people and even many professed Chtistians entirely neglectful of the wonderful priv ilege that God has given in the Lord’s day God had shown wonderful kindness to His people, Israel, and had delivered them with a great deliverance, but, even “in those days” of wondrous deliverance, in Judah and even in Jerusalem, the city God had so wondrously favored, the people regarded their own interests and not those of God, on the very day God had set apart to be hallowed and observed for Him. This, was grievods ingratitude to God. And it is grievous ingratitude to God that so many of the American people, whom God has so wondrously blessed, show in their disregard some treading wine presses (
of the Lord’s Day. It is always a very bad sign when the people of God begin to show contempt for God’s own day, it is an unmistakable mark of spiritual and moral declension and indicates contempt for the Lord whose day it is. The ruin of any people that despises God’s day is inevi table. The greatest emphasis was laid upon the Sabbath in the law which God gave to Israel (Ex. 20:8-11; 34:21; 35:2; Num. 15:32-36). Not only had emphasis been laid upon the Sabbath by Moses, the law giver, but the prophets also had had much to say about the Sabbath (Jer. 17:21, 22, 27; Ezek. 20:13; Isa. 58:13, 14). God had especially warned Israel against being care less in their keeping of the Sabbath day when the pressure of harvest labor should come (Ex. 34:21) and had especially warned them through the prophet Jere miah against doing the very thing that they are here recorded as doing (Jer. 17:24). But here we see the people treating with contempt both the law and the promises of God. The root trouble with Judah was, that they forgot God’s Word and followed the devices and desires of their own hearts instead of what God had commanded them to do. The Jewish Sabbath, in its outward form, as to the exact day of the week is not binding uppn Gentiles (Col. 2:16, 17). It was given to Israel as a people (Deut. 5:1, 2 ) as. a memorial of their deliverance out of the land of Egypt, from the land of bondage (Dteut. 5:6), and the Christian by
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