May 1929
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FRED S. SHEPARD ’S BLACKBOARD OUTL INE 0 BEDIENCE BTAINS BJECTIVE Jer. 35 :18,19 Always abounding in the work of the Lord.—1 Cor. 15:58 salem to ask them, “Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith Jehovah." He furthermore was to declare to them that the Rechabites had adhered most tenaciously to the principles instilled into them by their great progenitor and had refused to deviate therefrom. Having made this statement, the prophet indicted the nation, saying, “But I have spoken un to you, rising up early and speaking; and ye have not hearkened unto me. I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your do ings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me.” The contrast between the faithful loy alty of the Rechabites to the instruction and the light which they had, and the dis obedience and disloyalty on the part of the men of Judah who had enjoyed such marvelous blessings from God, is most striking. If men give heed to their earthly fathers, much more should they give heed to the words of their heavenly Father. That the words found in the Bible are the very messages of God, is certain from many infallible and indisputable facts, which cannot be mentioned here but which may be found in any book of evi dences on Christianity. God knew what was best for man and He always spoke for his good. The re generated heart and surrendered will gladly receive any and all things that God says. Only the unregenerated and rebel lious hearts ignore or reject what God commands. Thus declared the prophet since they had refused to obey God: “Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the in habitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered." Every trans gression and act of disobedience brings its certain reward, just as every act of obe dience and loyalty to God brings its bless ings. IV. Promise to the Rechabites. Vs. 18, 19. Because the Rechabites had been true to principles and had obeyed their father im plicitly, God made a promise to them: “Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand be fore me for ever." Though one may not be able to find a person who can trace his ancestry' back to Jonadab, according to this promise there are descendants of his today who are standing acceptably before God. Oh, the influence and the power of a godly, consecrated life in the service of God! It always pays to be faithful to principle and to God. On the other hand, the wages of sin are death.
June 16, 1929 Ju d ah Taken Captive
cording to the vision which was granted to Daniel (Dan. 2) the God of Israel had delivered all the kingdoms of the known world into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. God was overruling and working in history, directing human af fairs toward the one great final goal. for which the entire creation is waiting (Rom. 8:18-25). God was using Nebu chadnezzar as the rod of His chastisement to punish His disobedient people (cf. Isa. 10:5-7). He is working all things accord ing to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11) and is making even the wrath of men to praise Him (Psa. 76:10). For eighteen months the siege con tinued. According to ancient methods of warfare, forts were constructed which were used in battering down the walls. The city gates were locked so that no one could enter within the walls of the city. The besieging army, if possible, con tinued the siege until all provisions were exhausted or the water supply was cut off. The suffering caused by a long siege was very trying upon the populace. When the people were undernourished their bodies became weak. Since the sanitary conditions in ancient cities were most de plorable, frequently epidemics broke out and destroyed vast numbers of people. 2. Flight of the King and His Army. Vs. 4-7. At the end of the eighteen months’ siege all food supplies were exhausted and famine stalked abroad in the city. Finally a breach was made in the wall and the men of war, led by the king, es caped from the city, leaving by way of the king’s garden and thence by way of the Arabah. When the Chaldeans learned of the escape of the king and his forces they pursued them, overtaking them in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah’s army was routed and he was captured and carried to the king of Babylon, who was then in Riblah. Nebuchadnezzar pronounced judg ment upon Zedekiah, slew his sons before his eyes, and put out his eyes. Then he bound him in fetters and carried him as a prisoner to Babylon. The putting out of Zedekiah’s eyes is the key to predictions by the prophet that Zedekiah should be taken to Babylon and that he should not see it. When those pre dictions were first made it seemed as if their fulfillment could not be true; how ever, the Lord overrules events and ful fills His Word to the very letter. II. Destruction of Jerusalem. Vs. 8-21. 1. Destruction of the Temple and the Houses of the City. Vs. 8-12. In the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnez zar, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, and servant of Nebuchadnezzar, came to Jerusalem and destroyed it. Oc casionally the Biblical writers tie up the history of the Chosen People with world events. Jeremiah-, the prophet, in Jerusa lem at this time, in the 25th chapter of his prophecy, thus linked Judaean history with that of world history. These occa sional synchronizings of events are of in estimable value to the chronologer and to the archeologist, who are rendering an in valuable service to the church of God by proving the truthfulness of the Biblical records and their fitting into the exact situation which existed at those times. By proving the records to be correct they likewise prove them to be the infallible Word of the Living God.
Golden Text: “Righteousness exalteth a nation; But sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov. 14:34). Lesson Text: 2 Kings 25:1-21. L esson in O utline Intro: Historical Situation. I. Siege and Capture of Jerusalem. Vs. 1-7. 1. Siege of City. Vs. 1-3. 2. Flight of Army. Vs. 4-7. II. Destruction of Jerusalem. Vs. 8-21. 1. Destruction of the Temple and Houses of City. Vs. 8-12. 2. Temple Vessels Taken to Babylon. Vs. 13-17. 3. Certain Citizens Taken as Captives. Vs. 18-21. ■p ROM the days of David to those of Zedekiah, Judah was on the decline. Solomon, David’s son and successor, had an outwardly glorious reign, but there wives; foreign customs, which were in jected into the life of the nation by the close foreign relationships; and the subtle influence which detracted the attention of the people from God and His holy wor ship to that of worldliness and heathen customs. All of these degenerating influ ences continued to work and increase in power until the final collapse of the nation under thei sledge-hammer blows of Nebu chadnezzar. Four faithful, desperate attempts were made by as many kings,—namely, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah, to purge out the evil and to bring the nation back to God. Their efforts at reforma tion only arrested temporarily the rapid downward plunge of the nation to destruc tion. Some diseases, according to physi cians, are incurable. Thus one might say that the diseases which afflicted the king dom of Judah were incurable; at least they brought about the death of the na tion—its dispersion from the land of its fathers. I. Siege and 1-7. Capture of Jerusalem. Vs. 1. Siege of City. Vs. 1-3. Zedekiah had been placed upon the throne of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar in stead of Jehoiachin. He proved unfaithful to his oath of allegiance to Nebuchadnez zar ; hence in the ninth year of his reign the latter came with his forces and be sieged Jerusalem, building forts round about the city. From a human standpoint one would say that the siege of Jerusalem was the natural consequence of disloyalty and dis obedience, which statement is correct; but there is a deeper principle and fact un derlying this war against Jerusalem. Ac were p o w e r f u l forces at work un- d e r m i n i n g this glamorous external appearance. Among these i n s i d i o u s forces was idolatry, which was brought in by his foreign
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