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STUDIES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

—INTERNATIONAL S.S. LESSONS—

SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS DESIGNED TO ASSIST THOSE OF OUR READERS WHO ATTEND BIBLE CLASSES WHERE THESE LESSONS ARE USED; THAT THEY MAY BE ENABLED TO LEAD OTHERS INTO THE FULNESS OF THE GOSPEL. PUBLISHED IN ADVANCE, AT THE REQUEST OF FOREIGN READERS.

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DEDICATING THE TEMPLE

I. QUAR., LESSON VI., FEB. 5th, EZRA 6:14-22

Golden Text—”I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.”—Psa. 122:1

The time of this lesson is about five years after that of the last two lessons. The Temple had been finished, although the wall of the city of Jerusalem was yet far from completed, and had been for a time abandoned.

VERSE 14 evidently refers, not only to the rebuilding of the Temple, but also to the city wall; because it mentions the commandment of Artaxerxes as well as those of Cyrus and Darius. King Artaxerxes’ command went forth long after the Temple was finished, and had reference merely to the city wall, completed over fifty years after the completion of the Temple.

VERSES 15,16 draw special attention to “the house” of God, the Temple. This structure was undoubtedly built according to the specifications of King Cyrus, and if so was sixty cubits high and sixty cubits long (Ezra 6:3): it was therefore of larger dimensions than that of Solomon, although greatly inferior to it in ornamentation. Its dedication was, therefore, a very notable event with the people returned from Babylon, not one of whom, probably, had seen Solomon’s Temple, which was destroyed about ninety years previous.

VERSES 17-22 describe the elaborate ceremony with which the Temple was dedicated, although it was all as nothing compared with the dedication of Solomon’s Temple; however, the people now were poor in comparison, and certainly did nobly and generously, their circumstances considered. This suggests to our minds the consecration of the living Temple, and how the offering of themselves to the Lord, on the part of the “living stones,” is pleasing and acceptable to God through Christ, none the less on the part of those who have few talents than of those who have many.

One point of this lesson specially worthy of note, by those who have fallen into the error of supposing that Israel and Judah were never re-united after their separation in the days of Rehoboam, and who claim that the ten tribes, styled “Israel,” were all lost and that only the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, styled “Judah,” returned to Palestine after the Babylonian captivity, is that the people of Judah and Benjamin are not mentioned in this narrative, while the Levites are mentioned and the people as a whole are referred to as “children of Israel;” and it is specially stated (verse 17) that the sin-offering was of “twelve he-goats according to the number of the tribes of Israel.” What better evidence could we have that all the twelve tribes were represented among these returned captives than this fact that the sin-offering was for all the tribes? None; except that our Lord and the Apostles in their day repeatedly addressed the descendants of those people as “Israel” and “Israelites.”

The Golden Text is frequently misapplied by Christian people to some earthly structure of wood or brick or stone. Let us see in it the real house of God—the Church of living stones, being fitted and prepared for the indwelling of God by his spirit. Let us rejoice to enter into this, the antitypical house of God, soon to be glorified. Let us rejoice to have our names written among its members—”written in heaven.”—Luke 10:20.

The time chosen for the dedication was the beginning of the Jewish year; hence in connection was the celebration of the Passover feast.

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— January 15, 1893 —