616 were Daniel and his companions. Nine years later he came again and carried away ten thousand Jews. In B. C. 588 he came again and captured Jerusalem after a siege of a year and a half. The first decree of Cyrus was issued in 536 B. C. which allowed the Jews to return and rebuild the temple. Fifty thou sand took advantage of this under Zerubbabel. In 458 B. C. Ezra led a few thousand more back to the land and thirteen years' later a third com* pany returned with Nehemiah. All who returned from captivity were prob ably about seventy-five thousand. TUESDAY, June 20. Lev. 26 :32 -30 . Causes of the Captivity. While Nebuchadnezzar was the vis ible and Divine agent in the overthrow of the Jewish state, the cause of that destruction lies far back of his time. The unbelief and disobedience of God’s people had been long continued and con stantly increasing. God had been patient and forbearing beyond all com prehension. He had used all possible gentle means to turn the hearts of the people back to Himself. Lesser judgments had failed to wean them from idolatry and as a last recourse they were given over to the invading armies of Babylon. “ Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Sinners take the advantage of Divine forbearance and use the time gracious ly given for repentance to go on farther and deeper in sin. Their guilt is there by aggravated and destruction will be the greater when it comes. WEDNESDAY, June 21. Jer. 29 :4 -1 4 . Condition of the Captivity. The condition of the captive Jews in Babylon was not as bad as it might have been. They were allowed to live in communities by themselves and to en gage in business. They were even per mitted to participate in governmental affairs since Daniel and his companions and Esther were given places of honor and dignity. Nevertheless they were a captive people and in exile. There was little hope that they would ever see their beloved Zion again since their cap tivity would last for seventy years. They were in a foreign and heathen land, far removed from all the associations of their sacred city and beloved temple and their sorrow was increased by the knowledge that this had come upon them as a punishment for their trans gression of the law of God. They came
T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S to realize that the threats of the Al mighty are as reliable as His promises. What is the difference between a threat and a promise if a condition is attached to each? THURSDAY, June 22. Ezek. 3 6 :2 1 - 28. Result of the Captivity. The Jewish captivity had its uses and not the least of these was the perma nent and effectual cure of the Jews of the sin of idolatry. Their sin was in veterate and persistent. It stubbornly refused to yield to ordinary treatment. God at last applied a drastic remedy and since the Babylon captivity there has not been a Jew on earth who' would not die a thousand deaths rather than recognize an idol. When Trinity Church in Boston was dedicated a Jew- paraded up and down before its doors bearing a huge placard of the second commandment because of the pictured frescoes upon the gilded walls. Sin is a disease. Christ is the great Physi cian. He knows the treatment needed by an individual or a nation. He is not satisfied to treat the symptoms merely and make the patient comfort able while the malady rages on un checked. The knife is better than an opiate for a corroding ulcer. He is faithful as well as merciful and He never lost a case. FRIDAY, June 23. Psalm 137:1-9. Songs of the Captivity. This Psalm gives us a glimpse of the captivity from the inside. The Jews were known as a musical people but they were famous for their sacred music only. A group of priests or Levites might have been sitting down on the banks of a canal resting from labor, among a company of natives, who speak to them in a friendly way but ask what must give much pain. To sing a beau tiful song of Zion which had echoed through the courts of the temple for the amusement of the heathen in Baby lon! Impossible! Their only answer was a burst of tears. “ O mother dear Jerusalem." The chord of memory struck by the stranger’s request was the deepest chord of the heart’s music. Jerusajem was in ruins. The temple was in ashes. The Arab of the desert camped there. The wild beast found shelter there. To them Jerusalem stood for God. Their confidence in the power and care of God must have been some what shaken as they looked out upon Babylon and remembered Jerusalem.
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