{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_43533/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_43533","id":"gutenberg_43533","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43533","summary":null,"tags":["Bible stories, English","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"A BRIEF\n  BIBLE HISTORY\n\n  A SURVEY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS\n\n\n  JAMES OSCAR BOYD, Ph.D., D.D.\n  AND\n  JOHN GRESHAM MACHEN, D.D.\n\n\n  PHILADELPHIA\n  THE WESTMINSTER PRESS\n  1922\n\n\n  COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY\n  THE TRUSTEES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF\n  PUBLICATION AND SABBATH SCHOOL WORK\n\n\n  Printed in the United States of America\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n\n  SECTION I\n\n  THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH IN OLD\n  TESTAMENT TIMES\n\n  LESSON                                                         PAGE\n\n  I. Before Abraham                                                 7\n\n  II. The Patriarchs                                               10\n\n  III. Egyptian Bondage and Deliverance                            13\n\n  IV. Moses as Leader and Lawgiver                                 16\n\n  V. The Conquest and Settlement of Canaan                         19\n\n  VI. The Period of the Judges                                     22\n\n  VII. Samuel and Saul: Prophecy and Monarchy                      25\n\n  VIII. David and Solomon: Psalms and Wisdom                       28\n\n  IX. The Kingdom of Israel                                        31\n\n  X. The Kingdom of Judah, to Hezekiah                             34\n\n  XI. Judah, from Hezekiah to the Exile                            37\n\n  XII. The Exile and the Restoration                               40\n\n  XIII. The Jewish State Under Persia                              43\n\n  XIV. Israel's Religious Life                                     46\n\n  XV. \"The Coming One\"                                             49\n\n\n  SECTION II\n\n  THE LIFE OF CHRIST AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF\n  THE CHURCH IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES\n\n  I. The Preparation                                               55\n\n  II. The Coming of the Lord                                       58\n\n  III. The Baptism                                                 61\n\n  IV. The Early Judean Ministry                                    64\n\n  V. The Beginning of the Galil\u00e6an Ministry                        67\n\n  VI. The Period of Popularity                                     70\n\n  VII. The Turning Point                                           73\n\n  VIII. Jesus as Messiah                                           76\n\n  IX. The Prediction of the Cross                                  79\n\n  X. The Last Journeys                                             83\n\n  XI. Teaching in the Temple                                       86\n\n  XII. The Crucifixion                                             89\n\n  XIII. The Resurrection                                           93\n\n  XIV. The Beginnings of the Christian Church                      96\n\n  XV. The First Persecution                                        99\n\n  XVI. The Conversion of Paul                                     102\n\n  XVII. The Gospel Given to the Gentiles                          105\n\n  XVIII. The First Missionary Journey and the Apostolic Council   109\n\n  XIX. The Second Missionary Journey                              112\n\n  XX. The Third Missionary Journey. The Epistle to the Galatians  115\n\n  XXI. The Third Missionary Journey. The Epistles to the\n        Corinthians and to the Romans                             118\n\n  XXII. The First Imprisonment of Paul                            122\n\n  XXIII. The Close of the Apostolic Age                           125\n\n\n\n\nIntroduction\n\n\nThis book surveys the history of God's redeeming grace. It reviews\nOld Testament history, disclosing the stream of God's redeeming\npurposes flowing down through the older times. It reviews New\nTestament history, disclosing the broadening and deepening of that\npurpose for us men and for mankind in our Lord and Saviour Jesus\nChrist and his Church.\n\nThe chapters included in this book appear also as a part of Teaching\nthe Teacher, a First Book in Teacher Training, and are issued in\nthis form to supply the demand for a brief Bible history, for\npopular reading.\n\n  HAROLD MCA. ROBINSON.\n\n\n\n\nSECTION I\n\nThe Development of the Church in Old Testament Times\n\nBy James Oscar Boyd, Ph.D., D.D.\n\n\n\nLESSON I\n\nBefore Abraham\n\n\nGenesis, Chapters 1 to 11\n\nThat part of the globe which comes within the view of the Old\nTestament is mostly the region, about fifteen hundred miles square,\nlying in the southwestern part of Asia, the southeastern part of\nEurope, and the northeastern part of Africa. This is where the three\ncontinents of the Eastern Hemisphere come together. Roughly speaking\nit includes Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Arabia, and\nEgypt, with a fringe of other lands and islands stretching beyond\nthem.\n\nThe heart of all this territory is that little strip of land, lying\nbetween the desert on the east and the Mediterranean Sea on the\nwest, known as Syria and Palestine. It is some four hundred miles\nin length and varies from fifty to one hundred miles in width. It\nhas been well called \"the bridge of the world,\" for like a bridge it\njoins the largest continent, Asia, to the next largest, Africa. And\nas Palestine binds the lands together, so the famous Suez Canal at\nits southern end now binds the seas together. To-day, therefore, as\nin all the past, this spot is the crossroads of the nations.\n\nPalestine has long been called the \"Holy Land,\" because it is the\nscene of most of the Bible story. Yet it would be a mistake to\nsuppose that that Bible story is limited to Palestine. The book\nof Genesis does not introduce the reader to Canaan (as it calls\nPalestine) until he has reached its twelfth chapter. There is a\nsense in which the history of God's people begins with Abraham, and\nit was Abraham who went at God's bidding into the land of Canaan.\nThe story of Abraham will be taken up in the second lesson; but the\nBible puts before the life of Abraham all the familiar story that\nlies in the first eleven chapters of Genesis and that forms the\nbackground for the figures of Abraham and his descendants.\n\nThe location of this background is the basin of the Tigris and\nEuphrates Rivers. These two streams are mentioned in Gen. 2:14 (the\nTigris under the form \"Hiddekel\") as the third and fourth \"heads\"\nof the \"river that went out of Eden to water the garden\" in which\nour first parents dwelt. The region is at the southern end of what\nis now called Mesopotamia. At the northern end of this river basin\ntowers the superb mountain known as Mount Ararat. But the \"mountains\nof Ararat,\" mentioned in Gen. 8:4 as the place where Noah's ark\nrested when the waters of the Flood had subsided, are no particular\npeak, but are the highlands of Kurdistan, which in ancient times\nwere called Urartu (Ararat). Between Kurdistan on the north and the\nPersian Gulf on the south, the highlands of Persia on the east and\nthe great Syrian Desert on the west, occurred the earliest drama of\nhuman history.\n\nThat drama was a tragedy. It became a tragedy because of man's sin.\nThe wonderful poem of creation in Gen., ch. 1, has for the refrain\nof its six stanzas, \"God saw that it was good.\" Best of all was man,\nthe last and highest of God's works--man, made in \"his own image,\"\nafter his likeness. On the sixth \"day,\" when God made man, God said\nof his work, \"Behold, it was very good.\" More than that: through\nthe kindness of God man is put in a \"garden,\" and is ordered to\n\"dress it and to keep it.\" Ch. 2:15. Adam sees his superiority to\nthe rest of the animal kingdom, over which he is given \"dominion.\"\nHe is thus prepared to appreciate the woman as a helpmeet for him,\nso that the unit of society may ever mean for him one man and one\nwoman with their children. Adam is also warned against sin as having\ndisobedience for its root and death as its result.\n\nAll this prepares us to understand the temptation, the miserable\nfall of the woman and the man, their terror, shame, and punishment.\nCh. 3. And we are not surprised to see the unfolding of sin in the\nlife of their descendants, beginning with Cain's murder of Abel, and\ngrowing until God sweeps all away in a universal deluge. Chs. 4, 6.\n\nGod's tender love for his foolish, rebellious creatures \"will not\nlet them go.\" At the gates of the garden from which their sin has\nforever banished them, God already declares his purpose to \"bruise\"\nthe head of that serpent, Rom. 16:20, who had brought \"sin into\nthe world and death by sin,\" Gen. 3:15. Through the \"seed of the\nwoman\"--a \"Son of man\" of some future day--sinful man can escape\nthe death he has brought upon himself. And from Seth, the child\n\"appointed instead of\" murdered Abel, a line of men descends, who\nbelieve this promise of God. Ch. 5. In Enoch we find them \"walking\nwith God,\" v. 24, in a fellowship that seemed lost when paradise\nwas lost. In Lamech we find them hoping with each new generation\nthat God's curse will be at length removed. V. 29. And in Noah we\nfind them obedient to a positive command of God, ch. 6:22, as Adam\nhad been disobedient.\n\nIn the Flood, Noah and his family of eight were the only persons to\nsurvive. When they had come from the ark after the Flood, God gave\nthem the promise that he would not again wipe out \"all flesh.\" Ch.\n9:11. But after it appeared that God's judgments had not made them\nfear him, God was just as angry with Noah's descendants as he had\nbeen with the men before the Flood. Pride led them to build a tower\nto be a rallying point for their worship of self. But God showed\nthem that men cannot long work together with a sinful purpose as\ntheir common object; he broke up their unity in sin by confusing\ntheir speech, ch. 11, and scattering them over the earth, ch. 10.\nThis second disappointment found its brighter side in the line of\nmen descended from Noah through Shem, ch. 11:10, who also cherished\nGod's promises. And the last stroke of the writer's pen in these\nearliest chapters of the Bible introduces the reader to the family\nof Terah in that line of Shem, and thus prepares the way for a\ncloser acquaintance with Terah's son, Abraham, \"the friend of God.\"\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON I\n\n     1. About how large is the world of the\n        Old Testament, and where does it lie?\n\n     2. What special importance has Palestine because of its position?\n\n     3. How much of the story in Genesis is told before we are\n        carried to Palestine?\n\n     4. Locate on a map the scene of those earliest events in human\n        history.\n\n     5. Show how the first two chapters of Genesis prepare for the\n        tragedy of sin and death that follows.\n\n     6. How does the brighter side of hope and faith appear from Adam\n        to Noah?\n\n     7. What effect did the Flood have on men's sin and their faith\n        in God?\n\n     8. Trace the descent of the man God chose to become \"the father\n        of the faithful.\"\n\n\n\n\nLESSON II\n\nThe Patriarchs\n\n\nGenesis, Chapters 12 to 50\n\nGod's purpose to save and bless all mankind was to be carried out\nin a wonderful way. He selected and \"called\" one man to become the\nhead and ancestor of a single nation. And in this man and the nation\ndescended from him, God purposed to bless the whole world.\n\nAbraham was that man, and Israel was that nation. God made known\nhis purpose in what the Bible calls the Promise, Gal. 3:17, the\nBlessing, v. 14, or the Covenant, v. 17. Its terms are given many\ntimes over in the book of Genesis, but the essence of it lies\nalready in the first word of God to Abraham, Gen. 12:3, \"In thee\nshall all the families of the earth be blessed.\"\n\nTo believe this promise was a work of faith. It was against all\nappearances and all probability. Yet this was just where the\nreligious value of that promise lay for Abraham and for his children\nafter him--in faith. They had to believe something on the basis\nsolely of their confidence in the One who had promised it. Or\nrather, they had to believe in that Person, the personal Jehovah,\ntheir God. They must absolutely trust him. To do so, they must \"know\nhim.\" And that they might know him, he must reveal himself to them.\nThat is why we read all through Genesis of God's \"appearing\" or\n\"speaking\" to this or the other patriarch. However he accomplished\nit, God was always trying thus to make them better acquainted with\nhimself; for such knowledge was to be the basis of their faith. Upon\nfaith in him depended their faith in his word, and upon faith in\nhis word depended their power to keep alive in the world that true\nreligion which was destined for all men and which we to-day share.\nAbraham's God is our God.\n\nNot Abraham's great wealth in servants, Gen. 14:14, and in flocks\nand herds, ch. 13:2, 6, but the promise of God to bless, constituted\nthe true \"birthright\" in Abraham's family. Ishmael, the child of\ndoubt, missed it; and Isaac, the child of faith, obtained it. Gal.\n4:23. Esau \"despised\" it, because he was \"a profane [irreligious]\nperson,\" Heb. 12:16, and Jacob schemed to obtain it by purchase,\nGen. 25:31, and by fraud, ch. 27:19. Jacob bequeathed it to his\nsons, ch. 49, and Moses delivered it in memorable poetic form to\nthe nation to retain and rehearse forever. Deut., ch. 32.\n\nWhen Abraham, the son of Terah, entered Canaan with Sarah his\nwife and Lot his nephew and their great company of servants and\nfollowers, he was obeying the command of his God. He no sooner\nenters it than God gives him a promise that binds up this land with\nhim and his descendants. Gen. 13:14-17. Yet we must not suppose\nthat Abraham settled down in this Promised Land in the way that\nthe Pilgrim Fathers settled in the Old Colony. Although Canaan is\npromised to the \"seed\" of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as a possession,\nthey did not themselves obtain a foothold in it. Apart from the\nfield of the cave Machpelah, at Hebron in the south, Gen., ch.\n23, and a \"shoulder\" (_shechem_) or fragment of land near Shechem\n(\"Jacob's Well\"), in the center of Canaan, the patriarchs did\nnot acquire a foot of the soil of what was to become \"the Holy\nLand.\" Abraham wandered about, even going down to Egypt and back.\nIsaac was sometimes at Hebron and sometimes at Beer-sheba on the\nextreme southern verge of the land. Jacob spent much of his manhood\nin Mesopotamia, and of his old age in Egypt. For after divine\nProvidence in a remarkable manner had transplanted one of Jacob's\nsons, Joseph, into new soil, Gen., ch. 37, his father and his\nbrothers were drawn after him, with the way for their long Egyptian\nresidence providentially prepared for them, Gen. 50:20.\n\nSide by side with the growth of a nation out of an individual we\nfind God's choice of the direction which that growth should take.\nNot all, even of Abraham's family, were to become part of the\nfuture people of God. So Lot, Abraham's nephew, separates from\nhim, and thereafter he and his descendants, the Ammonites and the\nMoabites, go their own way. As between Abraham's sons, Ishmael is\ncast out, and Isaac, Sarah's son, is selected. And between Isaac's\ntwo sons, Esau and Jacob, the choice falls on Jacob. All twelve of\nJacob's sons are included in the purpose of God, and for this reason\nthe nation is called after Jacob, though usually under his name\n\"Israel,\" which God gave him after his experience of wrestling with\n\"the angel of the Lord\" at the river Jabbok. Gen. 32:22. Those sons\nof his are to become the heads of the future nation of the \"twelve\ntribes\", Acts 26:7.\n\nEven while Lot, Ishmael, and Esau are thus being cut off, the\ngreatest care is taken to keep the descent of the future nation pure\nto the blood of Terah's house. Those three men all married alien\nwives: Lot probably a woman of Sodom, Ishmael an Egyptian, and\nEsau two Hittite women. The mother of Isaac was Sarah, the mother\nof Jacob was Rebekah, and the mothers of eight of the twelve sons\nof Jacob were Leah and Rachel; and all these women belonged to that\nsame house of Terah to which their husbands belonged. Indeed, much\nof Genesis is taken up with the explanation of how Isaac and Jacob\nwere kept from intermarrying with the peoples among whom they lived.\n\nThe last quarter of the book, which is occupied with the story of\nJoseph and his brethren, is designed to link these \"fathers\" and\ntheir God with the God and people of Moses. The same Jehovah who had\nonce shown his power over Pharaoh for the protection of Abraham and\nSarah, and who was later to show his power over another Pharaoh \"who\nknew not Joseph,\" showed his power also over the Pharaoh of Joseph's\nday, in exalting Joseph from the dungeon to the post of highest\nhonor and authority in Egypt, and in delivering Jacob and his whole\nfamily from death through Joseph's interposition. What their long\nresidence in Egypt meant for God's people will be seen in another\nlesson.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON II\n\n     1. In what promise does God reveal to Abraham his plan to bless\n        the world?\n\n     2. How was Abraham brought to believe in God's promise? What\n        difference did it make whether he and his descendants believed\n        it or not?\n\n     3. Did the patriarchs see that part of the promise fulfilled\n        which gave them possession of \"the Holy Land\"? Read carefully\n        Gen. 15:13-16 and Heb. 11:9, 10, 14-16.\n\n     4. Make a \"family tree\" in the usual way, showing those\n        descendants of Terah who play any large part in the book of\n        Genesis. Underscore in it the names of those men who were in\n        the direct line of \"the Promise.\"\n\n     5. How were Isaac and Jacob kept from marrying outside their own\n        family?\n\n     6. Explain Joseph's words, \"Ye meant evil against me; but God\n        meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to\n        save much people alive.\" Gen. 50:20.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON III\n\nEgyptian Bondage and Deliverance\n\n\nExodus, Chapter 1\n\nGod says through his prophet Hosea, Hos. 11:1, \"When Israel was a\nchild, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.\" See also\nMatt. 2:15. There was a loving, divine purpose in the Egyptian\nresidence of God's people. What was it? What did this period mean in\nthe career of Israel?\n\nMost obviously, it meant growth. From the \"seventy souls,\" Ex.\n1:5, that went down into Egypt with Jacob, there sprang up there a\npopulous folk, large enough to take its place alongside the other\nnations of the world of that day. Observe the nature of the land\nwhere this growth took place. Egypt was a settled country, where the\ntwelve developing tribes could be united geographically and socially\nin a way impossible in a country like Palestine. However oppressed\nthey were, they nevertheless were secluded from the dangers of raids\nfrom without and of civil strife within--just such dangers as later\nalmost wrecked the substantial edifice slowly erected by this period\nof growth in Egypt.\n\nEgypt meant also for Israel a time of waiting. All this growth was\nnot accomplished in a short time. It lasted four hundred and thirty\nyears. Ex. 12:40, 41. Through this long period, which seems like\na dark tunnel between the brightness of the patriarchs' times and\nthat of Moses' day, there was nothing for God's people to do but to\nwait. They were the heirs of God's promise, but they must wait for\nthe fulfillment of that promise in God's own time, wait for a leader\nraised up by God, wait for the hour of national destiny to strike.\nAs Hosea, ch. 11:1 expresses it, this \"child\" must wait for his\nFather's \"call.\" The Egyptian period left an indelible impression on\nthe mind of Israel. It formed the gray background on which God could\nlay the colors of his great deliverance. It is because God knew and\nplanned this that he so often introduces himself to his people, when\nhe speaks to them, as \"Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the\nland of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.\"\n\nIn the third place, this Egyptian period meant for Israel a time\nof chastisement. The oppression to which the descendants of Jacob\nwere exposed, when \"there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not\nJoseph,\" Ex. 1:8, was so severe, prolonged, and hopeless, v. 14,\nthat it has become proverbial and typical. Since every male child\nwas to be put to death, v. 22, it is clear that the purpose of the\nEgyptians was nothing less than complete extermination. \"It is good\nfor a man that he bear the yoke in his youth\": if that be true, then\nthe children of Israel derived good from the school of discipline\nin which they grew up. True, as we read their later story, we feel\nthat no people could be more fickle. Yet there is no other nation\nwith which to compare Israel. And it is very probable that no other\nnation would have been serious-minded enough even to receive and\ngrasp the divine revelation and leading of Moses' and Joshua's time.\nGod, who had \"seen the affliction of his people,\" who had \"heard\ntheir cry\" and sent Moses to them to organize their deliverance,\nwrote forever on this nation's soul the message of salvation in a\nhistorical record. At the start of their national life there stood\nthe story, which they could never deny or forget, and which told\nthem of God's power and grace.\n\n\nExodus, Chapters 5 to 15\n\nAll this lay in Israel's experience in Egypt. The next lesson\nwill tell of the character and work of the man whom God chose to\nbe leader. The means by which Moses succeeded in the seemingly\nimpossible task of marching a great horde of slaves out from their\nmasters' country, was the impression of God's power on the minds\nof Pharaoh and his people. It was a continued, combined, and\ncumulative impression. Of course it could not be made without the\nuse of supernatural means. We must not, therefore, be surprised to\nfind the story in Exodus bristling with miracles. To be sure, the\n\"plagues\" can be shown to be largely natural to that land where they\noccurred. And the supreme event of the deliverance, the passage of\nIsrael through the Red Sea on dry ground, was due, according to the\nnarrative itself, to a persistent, wind, Ex. 14:21, such as often\nlays bare the shallows of a bay, only to release the waters again\nwhen its force is spent.\n\nNevertheless, it is not possible to remove the \"hand of God\" from\nthe account by thus pointing out some of the means God used to\naccomplish his special purposes. It was at the time, in the way, and\nin the order, in which Moses announced to Pharaoh the arrival of the\nplagues, that they actually appeared. This was what had its ultimate\neffect on the king's stubborn will. And when Israel was told to \"go\nforward,\" with the waters right before them, and when the Egyptians\nwere saying, \"They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath\nshut them in,\" Ex. 14:3--it was just at that juncture that the east\nwind did its work at God's command; when Israel was over safely,\nit went down. Such things do not \"happen.\" It made a profound\nimpression on Israel, on Egypt, and on all the nations of that day;\nall united in accepting it as the work of Israel's God. Ex. 15:11,\n14-16; Josh. 2:10.\n\nThe important point for the nation was to know, when Moses and Aaron\ncame to them in the name of God, that it was their fathers' God who\nhad sent them. On account of this need, which both the people and\ntheir leaders felt, God proclaimed his divine name, Jehovah (more\nprecisely, _Yahweh_, probably meaning \"He is,\" Ex. 3:14, 15), to\nMoses, and bade him pronounce the same to Israel, to assure them\nthat he was \"the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob,\" and thus\nwhat Moses came now to do for them was just what had been promised\nto those fathers long before. The passover night was the fulfillment\nof God's good word to Abraham. Ex. 13:10, 11. How that word went on\nand on toward more and more complete fulfillment will be the subject\nof the succeeding lessons.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON III\n\n     1. What advantages had Egypt over Palestine as the place for\n        Israel to grow from a family into a nation?\n\n     2. What value was there for Israel in a negative time of waiting\n        at the beginning of its history?\n\n     3. Compare the effect on Israel with the effect on a man, of\n        passing through a time of difficulty while developing.\n\n     4. Name the ten \"plagues of Egypt\" in their order. How far can\n        they be called \"natural\"?\n\n     5. If the east wind drove back the Red Sea, what did God have to\n        do with Israel's escape from the Egyptian army?\n\n     6. Why should we not be surprised to find many miracles grouped\n        at this stage of Bible history?\n\n     7. How did God identify himself in the minds of the people with\n        the God of their fathers? What was his personal name?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON IV\n\nMoses as Leader and Lawgiver\n\n\nExodus, Chapters 2 to 4\n\nOne of the things Israel had to wait for through those centuries in\nEgypt was a leader. When the time came God raised up such a leader\nfor his people in Moses.\n\nThe story of how Moses' life was preserved in infancy, and of how\nhe came to be brought up at the court of Pharaoh with all its\nadvantages for culture, is one of the most fascinating tales of\nchildhood. Ex. 2:1-10. But not many who know this familiar tale\ncould go on with the biography of the man of forty who fled from\nPharaoh's vengeance. Moses found by personal contact with his\n\"brethren,\" the children of Israel, that they were not yet ready for\ncommon action, and would not easily acknowledge his right to lead\nthem. After killing an Egyptian slave driver there was nothing for\nMoses to do but to flee. Vs. 11-15.\n\nHe spent the second forty years of his life, Acts 7:23, 30; Ex. 7:7,\nin the deserts about the eastern arm of the Red Sea--the region\nknown to the Hebrews as Midian. There he married the daughter of the\nMidianite priest Reuel. (Jethro was probably Reuel's title, meaning\n\"his excellency.\") While herding his sheep in the mountains called\nHoreb (Sinai), Moses received at the burning bush that personal\nrevelation of the God of his fathers, which lay at the base of all\nhis future labors for God and his people. Ex. 3:1 to 4:17. It was\na commission to lead Israel out of their bondage in Egypt into the\nland promised to their fathers.\n\nThough very humble as to his fitness for such leadership, Moses\nwas assured of Jehovah's presence and help. He was equipped with\nextraordinary powers for convincing the proud Pharaoh that his\ndemands were God's demands; and he was given the aid of his brother\nAaron, who had a readiness of speech which Moses at this time seems\nto have lacked.\n\n\nExodus, Chapters 16 to 24\n\nHow the two brothers achieved the seemingly impossible task of\nwinning out of Egypt, and of uniting a spiritless and unorganized\nmass of slaves upon a desperate enterprise, is the narrative that\nfills the early chapters of Exodus. But with Israel safe across\nthe Red Sea, Moses' leadership had only begun. He instituted an\norganization of the people for relieving himself of his heavy duties\nas judge. He determined the line of march, and sustained the spirits\nof the fighting men in their struggle against the tribes of the\ndesert who challenged Israel's passage.\n\nBut, above all, Moses became the \"mediator\" of the \"covenant,\"\nHeb. 9:19-21, between the Hebrews and Jehovah their God at Mount\nSinai. On the basis of the Ten Commandments, Ex. 20:2-17; Deut.\n5:6-21, that guide to God's nature and will which formed the Hebrew\nconstitution, the people agreed to worship and obey Jehovah alone,\nand Jehovah promised to be their God, fulfilling to them his\npromises made to their fathers. By solemn sacrifices, according to\nthe custom of the time, when the symbolism of altar and priesthood\nwas well understood, this covenant was sealed.\n\n\nExodus, Chapter 25 to Numbers, Chapter 36\n\nAfter long seclusion on the mount alone with God, Moses ordered the\nerection of a house of worship. It had to be portable, so as to\naccompany them in their wanderings and express visibly, wherever\nset up, the religious unity of the twelve tribes. Aaron and his\nsons were consecrated to be the official priesthood of this new\nshrine and were clothed and instructed accordingly. Minute details\nregulated all sacrifices, and similar minute instructions enabled\nthe priests to decide questions of ceremonial cleanness and\nuncleanness in matters of food and health.\n\nAll these laws and regulations, mainly recorded in Leviticus,\nwere given through Moses, either alone or in association with his\nbrother. It is not surprising to learn that there were those who\nchallenged this exclusive leadership in every department of the\nnational life. We read of a willful disregard of divine orders even\nin the family of Aaron, with immediate fatal results. Lev. 10:1-7.\nLike punishment overtook those members of the tribe of Levi who\nshowed jealousy of the house of Aaron, and those elements in other\ntribes that claimed rights equal or superior to those of Moses.\nNum., chs. 16, 17. It would be strange, indeed, if God, who had\nvindicated his servant Moses against Pharaoh, should let his own\nauthority as represented by Moses be challenged within the camp of\nIsrael. He punished to save.\n\nJust as God took up the Sabbath and circumcision, old customs of\nthe preceding era, into the law of Israel, so also he spoke to this\npeople through an elaborate system of feasts and pilgrimages, which\nbound up their whole year with the worship of God. Indeed, the\nprinciple of the seventh part of time as sacred was extended to the\nseventh year, and even to the fiftieth year (the year following the\nseventh seven), for beneficent social and economic uses. Lev., ch.\n25.\n\nWhen at length the nation, thus organized and equipped, set forth\nfrom Sinai, Num. 10:11, they required a leadership of a different\nkind--military leadership and practical statesmanship. They\nfound both in Moses. He it was who led them through all the long\nwanderings in the peninsula of Sinai, bearing their murmurings and\nmeeting their recurrent difficulties with a patience that seems\nalmost divine, save for that one lapse which was to cost him and\nAaron their entrance into the Promised Land. Num. 20:10-12.\n\nAt the border of the land, from the top of Pisgah in the long\nmountain wall of Moab, Moses at last looked down into that deep\ngorge of the Jordan Valley at his feet, which separated him from\nthe hills of Canaan. Beyond this river and the Dead Sea, into which\nit empties, lay the land long ago promised to the seed of Abraham.\nMoses had been permitted to lead the people to its very gateway; but\nit remained for another, his younger helper, Joshua, to lead them\nthrough the gate into the house of rest.\n\n\nThe Book of Deuteronomy\n\nBut before he surrendered his power to another and his life to his\nMaker, the aged Moses rehearsed in the ears of Israel the great\nprinciples of God's law. He pleaded earnestly with them to accept\nit from the heart, to adapt it to the changed conditions of their\nnew settled life with its new temptations, and to hand it down as\ntheir most precious heritage to their children after them. This is\nthe purpose and substance of the book of Deuteronomy, which gets its\nname from the fact that it is a \"second lawgiving.\" It is the Law of\nSinai repeated, but in oratorical form, charged with the feeling and\nspirit of that \"man of God,\" whose name is forever linked with the\nLaw and with the God who gave it to mankind.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON IV\n\n     1. How did Moses' forty years in Egypt and his forty years in\n        Midian help to prepare him for leadership?\n\n     2. What was the constitution of the new Hebrew State established\n        at Sinai? How was it ratified?\n\n     3. How was the tabernacle suited to the religious needs of\n        Israel during Moses' lifetime?\n\n     4. Show how the Law of Moses takes up the old principle of the\n        Sabbath and applies it to the life of Israel.\n\n     5. Where did Moses' leadership end, and what was his last\n        service to the nation?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON V\n\nThe Conquest and Settlement of Canaan\n\nThe Book of Joshua\n\n\nOn the death of Aaron his son, Eleazar, succeeded him as high\npriest. But when Moses died, it was not a son who succeeded him in\nthe political and moral leadership of Israel, for that position was\nnot hereditary. Joshua, a man of Ephraim, was divinely designated\nfor this work. He was fitted for the difficult undertaking by\nmilitary experience, Ex. 17:9-14, by personal acquaintance with\nCanaan, Num. 13:8, 16; 14:6, 30, 38, and by long and intimate\nassociation with Moses, Ex. 33:11; Num. 11:28; Deut. 34:9; Josh.\n1:1. The book of Joshua, which records his career, divides naturally\ninto two parts, first, the conquest, chs. 1 to 12, and second,\nthe settlement, chs. 13 to 22. Two further chapters, chs. 23, 24,\ncontain Joshua's valedictory address.\n\nBefore Moses' death two and a half tribes had already received their\nassignment of territory on the east of the Jordan, out of lands\nconquered from the Amorite kings, Sihon and Og. But the fighting men\nof these tribes agreed to accompany the other tribes and share their\nstruggle till all had obtained an inheritance. So when the great\nhost passed over the Jordan, not far from where it empties into the\nDead Sea, the men of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh crossed with the\nrest. Jehovah, who at the Red Sea a generation earlier had struck\nterror into the hearts of all nations by his wonderful interposition\nto save Israel and destroy its enemies, repeated here his saving\nhelp, by stemming the swift current of the Jordan River, till all\nhad passed over dry shod to the western side.\n\nOnce over, they found themselves face to face with Jericho, a\ncity which commanded the passes into the mountain country beyond.\nSpies previously despatched to learn the weakness of Jericho had\nreported the panic of its inhabitants and so prepared the Hebrews\nto believe God's word, when through Joshua he announced a bloodless\nvictory here at the beginning of their conquest. Without a blow\nstruck Jericho fell, and all its inhabitants were \"devoted,\" at\nJehovah's strict command. Even their wealth was to be \"devoted,\"\nthat is, the cattle slain and the goods added to the treasury of\nthe sanctuary. Only Rahab, who had saved the spies, and her family\nwere excepted. One man, Achan, disobeyed the ban on private spoils.\nHis covetousness and deception, revealed by Israel's defeat in\nthe expedition against Ai which followed the fall of Jericho, and\ndetected by the use of the sacred lot, was punished by the execution\nof all who were privy to the crime.\n\nBetter success attended the second attempt to take Ai. With these\ntwo cities reduced, Jericho at the bottom and Ai at the top of the\nvalley leading up from the Jordan floor to the central highland,\nJoshua was in a position to attack anywhere without fear of being\noutflanked. Middle, south, and north was the order commended by\nmilitary considerations. Accordingly those cities which, because\nin the middle of the land, felt themselves the most immediately\nthreatened, took the first steps to avert the menace. A group of\nfive towns lying just north of Jerusalem, with Gibeon at their head,\nsucceeded by a ruse in getting a treaty of peace from Joshua. The\nGibeonites deceived Joshua by representing themselves as having\ncome from a great distance to seek an alliance. Joshua's pride was\nflattered and he fell a victim to the trick. The consequences were\nserious, for these Canaanites, though reduced to vassalage, remained\nas aliens in the heart of the land, and cut off the southern from\nthe northern tribes of Israel.\n\nA confederacy of the chief cities in the region south of Gibeon,\nheaded by the king of Jerusalem, determined to strike the first\nblow. But their campaign against the Gibeonites, now the allies\nof Israel, ended in a quick advance by Joshua and his complete\nsubjugation of all these cities, the humiliation and death of their\nkings, and the \"devotion\" of the inhabitants who fell into his hands.\n\nA similar campaign followed in the north, with the city of Hazor\nat the head of the Canaanite forces. At the \"waters of Merom,\" a\nsmall lake a few miles north of the Sea of Galilee, a surprise\nattack by Joshua deprived his enemies of their advantage in horsemen\nand chariots on the level ground they had selected for battle,\nand resulted in the utter rout of the Canaanites and the general\nslaughter of every soul that did not escape by flight from the\n\"devoted\" towns.\n\nThus from Mount Hermon on the north to the wilderness of the\nwandering on the south, the whole land had been swept over and\nreduced to impotence by the Hebrew invader. It was time to apportion\nit now to the several tribes. This was accomplished under the\ndirection of Joshua and Eleazar. Judah and Joseph, the two strongest\ntribes, were assigned, the one to the south and the other to the\nnorth of the main mountain mass. Levi's inheritance was to be \"the\nLord,\" that is, the religious tithes, and his dwelling was to be\n\"among his brethren,\" that is, in designated towns throughout\nall the land. A commission of three representatives from each of\nthe seven other western tribes divided the rest of the conquered\nterritory into seven fairly equal parts. These then were assigned\nto the seven tribes by lot at the tabernacle at Shiloh. As for the\neastern tribes, when they returned to their homes across the Jordan,\nthey built an altar at the ford, as a permanent \"witness\" to the\nunity of all the sons of Jacob, however the deep gorge of the Jordan\nmight cut them off from one another.\n\nAt Shechem, where Abraham built his first altar in Canaan, Joshua\nhad renewed the covenant between the people and their God as soon as\nhe had secured control of Mount Ephraim, the middle highlands. He\nhad not only read the Law of Moses to all the people here, but also\ninscribed it on stones for the sake of permanence and publicity. And\nnow, when the conquest was complete and Joshua was nearing his end,\nhe reassembled the people at the same spot, to remind them there of\nthat solemn covenant, and to leave with them his final charge of\nfidelity to their God and his one central sanctuary.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON V\n\n     1. How was Joshua specially fitted to succeed Moses as leader of\n        Israel?\n\n     2. Which tribes received their inheritance east of the Jordan?\n        How did these show their sense of the unity of all Israel (_a_)\n        at the beginning, and (_b_) at the close of the conquest?\n\n     3. What justification can be urged for the stern measures which\n        Israel took with the Canaanites and their possessions?\n\n     4. What was the plan of Joshua's campaign, and what relation did\n        the capture of Jericho and Ai bear to it?\n\n     5. How did the men of Gibeon deceive Joshua, and why? What\n        lasting damage was caused by his treaty with them?\n\n     6. Locate on a map the inheritance of each of the tribes.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON VI\n\nThe Period of the Judges\n\nThe Books of Judges and Ruth\n\n\nIn Egypt, Israel had grown from a family into a folk. In the\nwilderness the folk had become a nation. In the conquest the nation\nhad gotten its home. But in the period of the Judges which followed\nthe conquest this steady advance seemed interrupted. What do we find\nat this time?\n\nWe find a loose confederacy of tribes, aware of their common origin,\nyet too jealous of local names and rights to combine for a common\nend, too selfish to help one another until the danger of one has\nbecome a tragedy for all.\n\nThe nature of the land the Hebrews had occupied helped this divisive\ntendency. The great gash of the Jordan Valley, its bed two or three\nthousand feet below the mountain country on either side, cut off\nthe eastern minority from the western majority. In the west a plain\nseparated the foothills of the central range from the seashore. This\nplain not only contained enemies like the Philistines whom only a\nunited Israel could have conquered, but also quickly altered the\ntype of its Hebrew settlers. Right across the mountain belt from the\nsea to the Jordan stretched an almost unbroken plain (Esdraelon),\nvarying from sea level to the lower level of the Jordan. This cut\noff the mountaineers to the north (Galilee) from those to the south\n(Ephraim). And a glance at any physical map will show how even in\nthe mountain country deep, lateral valleys reach up from either side\nso far toward the center that communication from north to south is\nonly by a series of violent grades, save along that narrow ridge\nin the middle where runs the highroad between Hebron, Jerusalem,\nShechem, and Jezreel.\n\nUnder these conditions only some strong positive force could prevent\nthe disintegration of the Hebrew nation. Such a force the religion\nof Jehovah was intended to be, and would have been, if the people\nhad remained faithful to it. It had one high priest, descendant\nof Aaron, and associated therefore with all the memories of Moses\nand Sinai. It had a single sanctuary, the seat of Ark and oracle,\nthe center of pilgrimage three times a year. It had one law for\nall Hebrews, a law far superior to the codes of all other nations,\nand revealing the nature and will of a single moral and spiritual\ndeity. All this provided the focus for a mighty nation, with a pure\n\"theocracy,\" that is, a government by God himself. But the people\ndid not remain faithful. They fell away in this time of the Judges.\n\nThe Book of Judges, which tells the story of this period, records a\nlong list of names, each one connected with some particular enemy of\nIsrael, some tribe or group of tribes delivered, and some definite\nterm of years during which the deliverer \"judged\" the people. On\nthis list the most conspicuous names are those of Deborah and of\nGideon in the north, of Jephthah east of the Jordan (Gilead), and\nof Samson in the south. Most of the other judges are little more\nthan names to us. Deborah stands out, not only because she was a\nwoman, but also for her wonderful \"song\" preserved in the fifth\nchapter, celebrating Barak's victory over the Canaanites near Mount\nCarmel. Gideon is memorable for his strategems and his persistence,\nand for his near approach to a real kingship, which was offered to\nhim and his house after his victory, but which he declined, saying,\n\"Jehovah shall rule over you.\" Ch. 8:23. His son Abimelech was\nactually termed king in and around the city of Shechem for a few\nyears, but perished miserably for his sins. Ch. 9:6, 56. Jephthah's\ncareer was mainly concerned with the region east of the Jordan,\nbut his admirable \"apology\" for Israel showed his sense of Hebrew\nsolidarity. Samson's picturesque story, with its petty loves and\nhates, its riddles and its practical jokes, ended in a sacrificial\ndeath which in part redeems its meanness. But neither Samson nor any\nof his predecessors accomplished anything permanent.\n\nTwo words of caution belong to the study of this book and of these\ntimes. First, we must not suppose that one judge necessarily follows\nanother in point of time because his story follows the other's\nstory in the book. Judges 10:7 shows that oppressions of different\nsections of the land by different enemies might be taking place\nat the same time, and suggests that the figures assigned to each\njudge at the close of his story cannot safely be added together to\nfind the total length of this period. And second, those figures\nthemselves (nearly always forty or eighty) are to be taken as \"round\nnumbers,\" rather than as precise data such as we look for to-day to\nmake out a table of chronology. In the same way the four hundred and\neighty years of I Kings 6:1 is evidently intended as twelve times\nforty years, to represent the whole time from the Exodus to Solomon.\nFor when we have subtracted from the beginning of it one forty-year\nterm for the wanderings, and from the end of it three forty-year\nterms for Eli, I Sam. 4:18, Saul, Acts 13:21, and David, I Kings\n2:11, then we have left eight forty-year terms for the Judges. Eight\ntimes forty is three hundred and twenty. Those three hundred and\ntwenty years would then correspond with the three hundred years\nmentioned by Jephthah in Judg. 11:26 as dividing Moses' days from\nhis own. Under these circumstances we are wise to wait for further\nlight from arch\u00e6ology before fixing the precise date of any one of\nthese interesting persons.\n\nThere are three additions or appendices to the Book of Judges. The\nfirst of them, including chs. 17, 18, tells how the Danites came\nto live in the extreme north, and the origin of the idolatrous\nsanctuary at that city of Dan which was reckoned as the northern\nlimit of Canaan--\"from Dan to Beer-sheba.\" The second occupies\nthe three remaining chapters of Judges, and records the civil war\nbetween Benjamin and the other tribes on account of \"the sin of\nGibeah,\" Hos. 10:9. And the third appendix is the story of Ruth the\nMoabitess which now makes a separate book in the Bible. Besides its\ninherent charm the story claims special notice because of the light\nit throws on that Bethlehem family which was soon to furnish the\nnation its great king, David.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON VI\n\n     1. What influences made for the loss of Hebrew unity as soon as\n        Joshua's generation was dead?\n\n     2. What forces remained to bind the tribes together? Why did not\n        these forces suffice?\n\n     3. How were the persons selected who ruled Israel in this\n        period? Were they \"judges\" in the same sense as our judges\n        to-day? What besides?\n\n     4. What three groups of tribes tended to draw together under\n        common leaders? Tell the exploits of one distinguished judge\n        belonging to each of these groups.\n\n     5. With what reserve should we use the figures in this book to\n        construct a chronology of the period?\n\n     6. Point out the relation of the book of Ruth to the closing\n        portion of the Book of Judges. What lends Ruth peculiar\n        historical interest?\n\n\n\nLESSON VII\n\nSamuel and Saul: Prophecy and Monarchy\n\nThe First Book of Samuel\n\n\nSometimes Eli and sometimes Samuel are called the last of the\nJudges. But neither of these was a judge in the same exclusive sense\nas Gideon or Samson. Eli was the high priest, but exercised the\noffice of judge for his time. Samuel was a prophet, who also \"judged\nIsrael\" in the interval between Eli's death and Saul's accession.\nBoth men mark the time of transition between the period of the\nJudges and the monarchy. And the two names are most closely linked,\nfor it was under Eli's instruction, at the sanctuary in Shiloh, that\nSamuel grew up.\n\nThe story of Hannah and her dedication of her little son to God as a\n\"Nazirite,\" I Sam. 1:11; compare Num. 6:1-8, to dwell all his life\nat the house of God, I Sam. 1:28, has a peculiar charm for young and\nold. It gives a picture of personal piety in a rude age, and thus\nserves to correct our idea of the times. Beginning at a very early\nage, I Sam. 3:1 to 4:1, Samuel became the chosen and recognized\nmouthpiece of Israel's God.\n\nThat is the essential meaning of a prophet--one who speaks for\nGod. Exodus 4:16 is instructive, for it shows that as Aaron was to\nbe \"a mouth\" to Moses, while Moses was \"as God\" to Aaron, so the\nprophet was God's mouthpiece or spokesman. Of course a prophet was\noften a person who also spoke before--one, that is, who predicted\nwhat should come to pass. And the fact that his words were actually\nfulfilled became a proof of his divine commission, both in theory,\nDeut. 18:22, and in practice, Isa. 44:26. But the bulk of the\nprophets' messages were, like those of Samuel, addressed to their\nown time. They were preachers of righteousness, warners against sin,\nthe nation's conscience, and the Lord's remembrancers.\n\nIt is the chief glory of Samuel that he was not only first in the\nlong fine of the Hebrew prophets--the most remarkable succession of\nmen the world has ever seen--but also the founder of the prophetic\norder. By the prophetic order we mean the prophets as a group\nconscious of their solidarity, the identity of their principles\nand aim. Samuel gathered about his dominating personality those\npersons who were sympathetic with him in spirit, and who shared with\nhim some of that power of testimony which \"the word of Jehovah\"\nconferred. They seem to have lived together, I Sam. 19:20, in\ncommunities similar to those two centuries later under Elijah and\nElisha. They used musical instruments in their devotions, which\nwere public as well as private. Ch. 10:5. They were the center\nof patriotic zeal as well as of religious effort. In fact, the\nbelief in Israel's God was so evidently the bond that bound Israel\ntogether, that for the common man patriotism and religion were in\ndanger of being regarded as one and the same thing.\n\nIt is not surprising, therefore, that out of Samuel's time and from\nthe forces which Samuel set in motion, there came two movements\nwhich changed the course of the nation's history: an outward\nmovement for independence, and an inward movement for monarchy. A\nrevival of religion could not fail to rouse the subjected Hebrews\nagainst their oppressors, the Philistines. The reverses they\nsuffered in battle against their better armed and better led enemies\nput it into their minds to set up a king, \"like all the nations.\"\n\nSamuel, as the national leader, was God's agent in selecting,\nconsecrating, and establishing the first king. He chose Saul,\nof the tribe of Benjamin, a man of heroic proportions though of\nmodest demeanor. Ch. 9:2, 21. His choice met the popular approval,\nat first with general and outward acquiescence, though with much\ninward reserve and individual revolt; but after his first successful\ncampaign with universal loyalty. Ch. 10:27; 11:12-15.\n\nThat first military effort of the new monarch was against the\nAmmonites. But a greater test remained in the menace of the\nPhilistines, whose garrisons at strategic points in the mountains of\nIsrael served to keep the tribes in check. Under those circumstances\nSaul was cautious, for he had but a small force, inadequately\narmed, at his disposal. But the initiative, for which all Israel\nwaited, was taken by Saul's son, Jonathan. Unknown to his father,\nJonathan, accompanied only by his armor-bearer, but encouraged by an\nindication of God's will and by the enemy's slackness, ch. 14:12,\nattacked boldly a Philistine garrison that relied too much on the\nnatural strength of its position. He began in this way a panic in\nthe enemy's ranks, and soon drew after him in pursuit of them not\nonly Saul's small army but multitudes of Hebrews who in their hiding\nplaces only waited such a signal to fall upon the hated oppressor.\nThe victory of Michmash was overwhelming, the mountain country was\ncleared of the Philistines, and an independent people began to\nenjoy the reign of their first king.\n\nUnhappily Saul did not prove himself so well equipped for the\nkingship in character and disposition as in personal prowess.\nJealousy, natural in a king whose claim to authority was so new\nand weak, was heightened in Saul by a malady that induced fits of\nsullenness and rage. His humility and modesty of other days gave\nplace to envy, vanity, and cruelty. Even God's express commands\nthrough the same prophet on whose divine commission Saul's claim\nto the throne rested were not heeded, for Samuel had to rebuke him\nfor disobedience and only refrained from publicly rejecting him at\nSaul's abject entreaty. Ch. 15:30.\n\nRoom was found in Saul's heart for jealousy of the popularity and\nsuccess of David, ch. 18:8, the young man of Bethlehem in Judah\nwhom at first he had loved and attached to his person, ch. 16:21.\nJonathan, though heir to his father's throne and aware that David\nhad been designated as Jehovah's choice for king, ch. 20:15, 31,\nhad nothing but affection for David his friend. But Saul pursued\nDavid openly, after failing in repeated secret attempts to make away\nwith him. And the close of Saul's life is marred by his vindictive\npursuit of his rival, till death in battle with the Philistines at\nMount Gilboa brought the first king of Israel to a miserable end and\nleft the way open for David to become his successor.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON VII\n\n     1. Who shares with Samuel the leadership of Israel in the time\n        of transition from the judges to the kings, and what relation\n        did he bear to Samuel?\n\n     2. What was a prophet, what is meant by the prophetic order, and\n        what is Samuel's particular service and distinction among the\n        prophets?\n\n     3. What motive led to the popular demand for a king, and how did\n        Samuel as God's representative regard this demand?\n\n     4. Sketch the character of Saul. What was his achievement for\n        Israel? Wherein did he fail?\n\n     5. Compare Saul and Jonathan in ability and character.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON VIII\n\nDavid and Solomon: Psalms and Wisdom\n\nThe Second Book of Samuel; I Kings, Chapters 1 to 11; I Chronicles,\nChapter 10 to II Chronicles, Chapter 9\n\n\nOne of Saul's sons, Ish-bosheth, for a short time after the death of\nhis father and brothers in battle, attempted to maintain his right\nto succeed Saul on the throne. But when Abner, his kinsman and the\nhead of the army, turned to David, son of Jesse, who was already\nreigning at Hebron as king over Judah, all the tribes followed him.\nBoth Ish-bosheth and Abner soon perished.\n\nWith his new dignity David promptly acquired a new capital, better\nsuited than Hebron in location and strength to be the nation's\ncenter. He captured the fortress of Jebus, five miles north of\nBethlehem, his old home, from its Canaanitish defenders, and\nenlarged, strengthened, and beautified it. Under its ancient name of\nJerusalem he made it both the political and the religious capital of\nIsrael.\n\nThe Ark of the Covenant, which in Eli's time had been captured by\nthe Philistines, had been returned by them, and for many years\nhad rested in a private house, was regarded as the very heart and\nsymbol of the national religion. David therefore brought it first\nto Jerusalem, and instead of uniting with it its former housing,\nthe old Mosaic tabernacle, he gave it a temporary home in a tent,\nintending to build a splendid temple when he should have peace. But\nwar continued through the days of David, and at God's direction the\nerection of a temple, save for certain preparations, was left to\nSolomon, David's successor.\n\nDavid was victorious in war. His success showed itself in the\nenlargement of Israel's boundaries, the complete subjection--for\nthe time--of all alien elements in the land, and the alliance with\nHiram, king of Tyre, with the great building operations which this\nalliance made possible. A royal palace formed the center of a\ncourt such as other sovereigns maintained, and David's court and\neven his family were exposed to the same corrupting influences as\npower, wealth, jealousy, and faction have everywhere introduced.\nAbsalom, his favorite son, ill requited his father's love and trust\nby organizing a revolt against him. It failed, but not until it had\ndriven the king, now an old man, into temporary exile and had let\nloose civil war upon the land.\n\nSolomon, designated by David to succeed him, did not gain the throne\nwithout dispute, but the attempt of Adonijah, another son, to seize\nthe throne failed in spite of powerful support. The forty-year\nreign of Solomon was the golden age of Hebrew history--the age to\nwhich all subsequent times looked back. Rapid growth of commerce,\nconstruction, art, and literature reflected the inward condition\nof peace and the outward ties with other lands of culture. But\nwith art came idolatry; with construction came ostentation and\noppression; with commerce came luxury. The splendor of Jerusalem,\nwherein Solomon \"made silver ... to be as stones, and cedars ... as\nthe sycomore-trees,\" I Kings 10:27, contained in itself the seeds of\ndissolution.\n\nHowever, there are two great types of literature which found their\ncharacteristic expression in the days of David and Solomon and are\nalways associated with their names--the psalm with David, and the\nproverb (or, more broadly, \"wisdom\") with Solomon. Kingdom, temple\nand palace have long since passed away, but the Psalter and the\nbooks of Wisdom are imperishable monuments of the united monarchy.\n\n\nThe Psalms\n\nThe Psalter is a collection of one hundred and fifty poems, of\nvarious length, meter, and style. As now arranged it is divided\ninto five books, but there is evidence that earlier collections and\narrangements preceded the present. Among the earliest productions,\njudged both by form and by matter, are those psalms which bear the\nsuperscription \"of David,\" though it would not be safe to assert\nthat every such psalm came from David's own pen or that none not so\nlabeled is not of Davidic origin. Judged alike from the narrative\nin the book of Samuel, and from the traditions scattered in other\nbooks as early as Amos, ch. 6:5, and as late as Chronicles, I Chron.\n15:16 to 16:43; ch. 25, David was both a skilled musician himself\nand an organizer of music for public worship. It is not surprising,\ntherefore, to find a body of religious poems ascribed to him,\nwhich not only evidence his piety and good taste, but also, though\nindividual in tone, are well-adapted to common use at the sanctuary.\n\nThe psalms are poems. Their poetry is not simply one of substance,\nbut also a poetry of form. Rime, our familiar device, is of course\nabsent, but there is rhythm, although it is not measured in the\nsame strict way as in most of our poetry. The most striking and\ncharacteristic mark of Hebrew poetic form is the parallel structure:\ntwo companion lines serve together to complete a single thought, as\nthe second either repeats, supplements, emphasizes, illustrates, or\ncontrasts with the first.\n\n\nProverbs; Job; Ecclesiastes\n\nPoetry is also a term to which the book of Proverbs and most of\nthe other productions of \"Wisdom\" are entitled. While they are\nchiefly didactic (that is, intended for instruction) instead of\nlyric (emotional self-expression), nevertheless the Wisdom books are\nalmost entirely written in rhythmic parallelism and contain much\nmatter unsuited to ordinary prose expression. In the Revised Version\nthe manner of printing shows to the English reader at a glance what\nparts are prose and what are poetry (compare, for example, Job,\nch. 2 with Job, ch. 3), though it must be admitted that a hard and\nfast line cannot be drawn between them. Compare Eccl., ch. 7 with\nProverbs.\n\n\"The wise,\" as a class of public teachers in the nation (see Jer.\n18:18), associated their beginnings with King Solomon (Prov. 24:23;\n25:1), whose wisdom is testified to in the book of Kings, as well\nas his speaking of \"proverbs,\" that is, pithy sayings easy to\nremember and teach, mostly of moral import. I Kings 4:29-34. But\nthe profoundest theme of wisdom was the moral government of God\nas seen in his works and ways. The mysteries with which all men,\nto-day as well as in ancient times, must grapple when they seek to\nharmonize their faith in a just and good God with such undeniable\nfacts as prosperous sinners and suffering saints, led to the writing\nof such books as Job (the meaning of a good man's adversities) and\nEcclesiastes (the vanity of all that mere experience and observation\nof life afford). In the case of these Wisdom books, as in that of\nthe Psalms, the oldest name--that of the royal founder--is not to\nbe taken as the exclusive author. Solomon, like David, made the\nbeginnings; others collected, edited, developed, and completed.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON VIII\n\n     1. In what tribe and town did David first reign as king? How did\n        he secure a new capital when he became king of all Israel? How\n        and why did he make this the religious capital also?\n\n     2. What advantages and disadvantages did David's continual wars,\n        and his imitation of other kings' courts, bring to him, his\n        family, and his people?\n\n     3. What was David's part in the development of religious poetry?\n        How does Hebrew poetry differ generally from English poetry in\n        form? Name the books of the Old Testament written chiefly or\n        wholly in poetry.\n\n     4. Who built the first Temple? Who were \"the wise\" in Israel,\n        whom did they venerate as their royal patron, and what did\n        they aim to accomplish by their writings?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON IX\n\nThe Kingdom of Israel\n\nI Kings, Chapter 12 to II Kings, Chapter 17\n\n\nWith the death of Solomon came the lasting division of the tribes\ninto two kingdoms, a northern and a southern, known as the Kingdom\nof Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. Rehoboam on his accession\nannounced a policy of repression and even oppression that alienated\ncompletely the loyalty of Ephraim and the other northern tribes,\nwhich were never attached to the house of David in the same way as\nthe tribe of Judah was. Under a man of Ephraim, therefore, Jeroboam\nthe son of Nebat, who in earlier years had challenged even Solomon's\ntitle, the ten tribes revolted from Rehoboam and established a\nseparate state.\n\nRehoboam found himself too weak to prevent this secession, and he\nand his descendants of David's dynasty had to content themselves\nwith the narrow boundaries of Judah. To be sure, in Jerusalem they\npossessed the authorized center of public worship for the whole\nnation. It was to offset this advantage that Jeroboam made Bethel,\nthat spot associated in the minds of the people with the patriarchs\nthemselves, his religious capital. And, influenced perhaps by\nthe Egyptian example of steer worship (for he had long lived as\na fugitive in Egypt in Solomon's reign), he made golden steers\nand placed them in the sanctuary at Bethel and in that at Dan in\nthe extreme north. (See close of Lesson VI.) To these places and\nunder these visible symbols of brute force, Jeroboam summoned his\npeople to worship Jehovah. It was the old national religion but\nin the degraded form of an image worship forbidden by the Mosaic\nCommandments.\n\nA throne thus built on mere expediency could not endure. Jeroboam's\nson was murdered after a two years' reign. Nor did this usurper\nsucceed in holding the throne for his house any longer than\nJeroboam's house had lasted. At length Omri, commander of the army,\nsucceeded in founding a dynasty that furnished four kings. Ahab, son\nof Omri, who held the throne the longest of these four, is the king\nwith whom we become best acquainted of all the northern monarchs.\nThis is partly because of the relations between Ahab and Elijah the\nprophet. Ahab's name is also linked with that of his queen, the\nnotorious Jezebel, a princess of Tyre, who introduced the worship of\nthe Tyrian Baal into Israel and even persecuted all who adhered to\nthe national religion.\n\nThis alliance with Tyre, and the marriage of Ahab's daughter to a\nprince of Judah, secured Israel on the north and the south, and left\nAhab free to pursue his father's strong policy toward the peoples\nto the east, Moab and Syria. Upon Ahab's death in battle against\nSyria, Moab revolted, and the two sons of Ahab, in spite of help\nfrom the house of David in Jerusalem, were unable to stave off the\nruin that threatened the house of Omri. Jehu, supported by the army\nin which he was a popular leader, seized the throne, with the usual\nassassination of all akin to the royal family. His inspiration to\nrevolt had been due to Jehovah's prophets, and his program was the\noverthrow of Baal worship in favor of the old national religion.\nThough Jehu thoroughly destroyed the followers of Jezebel's foreign\ngods, he and his sons after him continued to foster the idolatrous\nshrines at Bethel and Dan, so that the verdict of the sacred writer\nupon them is unfavorable: they \"departed not from all the sins of\nJeroboam the son of Nebat, wherewith he made Israel to sin.\"\n\nMesha, king of Moab, II Kings 3:4, lived long enough to see his\noppressors, the kings of Omri's house, overthrown and the land of\nIsrael reduced to great weakness. (See article \"Moabite Stone\" in\nany Bible dictionary.) Jehu's son, Jehoahaz, witnessed the deepest\nhumiliation of Israel at the hands of Syria. But it was not many\nyears after Mesha's boasting that affairs took a complete turn.\nJehu's grandson, Jehoash, spurred by Elisha the prophet even on his\ndeathbed, began the recovery which attained its zenith in the reign\nof Jeroboam II, fourth king of Jehu's line. Though little is told\nof this reign in the Book of Kings, it is clear that at no time\nsince Solomon's reign had a king of Israel ruled over so large a\nterritory. It was the last burst of glory before total extinction.\n\nThere is a history lying between the reigns of Jeroboam I, founder\nof the Northern Kingdom, and of Jeroboam II, its last prosperous\nmonarch, which has scarcely been referred to in this brief sketch of\nits kings. It is the history of Jehovah's prophets.\n\n\nHosea; Amos; Jonah\n\nReference has already been made to the rise of the prophetic order\nas such, in the time of Samuel. (Lesson VII.) With each crisis in\nthe affairs of the nation God raised up some notable messenger\nwith a word from him to the people or to the ruler. But all along\nthe fire of devotion to God and country was kept alive by humbler,\nunnamed men, who supplied a sound nucleus of believers even to\nthis Northern Kingdom with its idolatrous shrines and its usurping\nprinces. I Kings 18:4; 19:18.\n\nThe greatest names are those of Elijah and Elisha. The earlier\nstruggle to keep Israel true to Jehovah focuses in these two men,\none the worthy successor of the other. Their time marked perhaps\nthe lowest ebb of true religion in all the history of God's Kingdom\non earth. It is no wonder, therefore, that such stern, strong men\nwere not only raised up to fight for the God of Moses and Samuel and\nDavid, but also endowed with exceptional powers, to work wonders\nand signs for the encouragement of the faithful and the confounding\nof idolators and sinners. Such was the purpose of their notable\nmiracles.\n\nElijah and Elisha wrote nothing. But in their spirit rose up Hosea\nand Amos a century later--men who have left a record of their\nprophecies in the books that bear their names. Denunciation of\nsin, especially in the higher classes, announcement of impending\npunishment for that sin, and promise of a glorious, if distant,\nfuture of pardon, peace, and prosperity through God's grace and\nman's sincere repentance--these things form the substance of their\neloquent messages. Hosea is noteworthy for his striking parable of\na patient husband and a faithless wife to illustrate God's love\nand Israel's infidelity. Amos, himself a herdsman from Judah sent\nnorth to denounce a king and people not his own, is startling in the\nsuddenness with which he turns the popular religious ideas against\nthose who harbor them. See, for example, ch. 3:2, where Amos makes\nthe unique relation between Jehovah and Israel the reason, not for\nIsrael's safety from Jehovah's wrath, as the people thought, but\nfor the absolute certainty of Israel's punishment for all its sins.\nThese two prophets, the last of the Northern Kingdom, had the\nmelancholy duty of predicting the utter overthrow of what the first\nJeroboam had set up in rebellion and sin two centuries before.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON IX\n\n     1. When, why, and under whose lead did the ten tribes break away\n        from the house of David?\n\n     2. Outline the fortunes of the kings of Israel from Jeroboam I\n        to Jeroboam II.\n\n     3. Who were the outstanding prophets in the Northern Kingdom,\n        and what was the substance of their messages?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON X\n\nThe Kingdom of Judah, to Hezekiah\n\nI Kings, Chapter 12 to II Kings, Chapter 17; II Chronicles, Chapters\n10 to 28; Obadiah; Joel; Micah; Isaiah (in part)\n\n\nThe revolt of Jeroboam and the ten northern tribes reduced the\ndominion ruled by Rehoboam, grandson of David, to narrow bounds.\nBefore his disastrous reign was over, Judah was still further\nhumiliated by an invasion under Shishak, a Pharaoh of the\ntwenty-second dynasty of Egypt, who despoiled Jerusalem of the\ntreasures which Solomon had amassed. After the death of Rehoboam and\nthe short reign of his son, Abijam, Judah was ruled successively by\nAsa and Jehoshaphat, each succeeding his father peacefully and each\nreigning long and, on the whole, prosperously. Another invasion from\nthe south which threatened to be as disastrous as that of Shishak,\nunder \"Zerah the Ethiopian\" was repelled by Asa. Internal reforms,\nboth religious and civil, were carried out by these vigorous rulers.\n\nThe natural rivalry and intermittent warfare between north and\nsouth, which had arisen through the division under Rehoboam, ceased\nfor a time after Jehoshaphat entered into alliance with King Ahab\nand took Athaliah, Ahab's daughter, as wife for his son Joram. The\nkings of Samaria and Jerusalem made common cause against Syria and\nMoab, and a temporary success seemed to crown the new policy. But\nprophets of Jehovah repeatedly warned the king who sat on David's\nthrone of the danger to the true religion from such an alliance with\nBaal worshipers.\n\nIt was not long before their warnings were justified by the facts.\nAthaliah, Joram's queen, was the daughter not only of Ahab but also\nof Jezebel and brought with her to Jerusalem the fierce spirit and\nheathen habits of her Tyrian mother. King Ahaziah her son lost his\nlife through his close association with King Jehoram of Israel,\nhis uncle, for Jehu made away with both kings at the same time,\nand with all the princes of Judah, kinsmen of Ahaziah, on whom\nhe could lay his hands. The old tigress at Jerusalem, Athaliah,\nnow turned upon her own flesh and blood, the children of Ahaziah,\nand murdered them all so as to secure the power for herself. One\ngrandson alone, the infant Joash, escaped, saved by an aunt who hid\nhim and his nurse from the cruel queen mother. Six years later this\nchild was proclaimed king in the Temple courts by Jehoiada, the high\npriest. Athaliah was slain, and a new era began in Judah with the\ndestruction of Baal worship and the repair of Jehovah's Temple.\n\nJoash was too weak to do more than buy off the king of Syria when\nhis army threatened Jerusalem, and he himself met his death in a\nconspiracy. The same fate befell his son Amaziah, after a reign that\npromised well but was wrecked on the king's ambition to subdue the\nNorthern Kingdom under him. Uzziah (or Azariah) succeeded to the\nthrone, though for half of his long reign he and his kingdom seem to\nhave been in a state of vassalage to Jeroboam II, the powerful ruler\nof Israel. The latter part of Uzziah's reign was more prosperous, in\nspite of the king's pitiable state--for he was stricken with leprosy\nand had to live apart. It was on this account that he associated his\nson Jotham with himself, and during the sixteen years of Jotham's\nreign--most of which was included within the long nominal reign of\nUzziah--the Philistines, Ammonites, and Arabians were defeated in\nwarfare, while considerable building both in and out of the capital\nhelped to prepare the little kingdom for the troublous days just\nahead.\n\nThe mighty kingdom of Assyria, with its capital at Nineveh on\nthe Tigris River, was the force which God used to punish his\nfaithless people. Lying beyond the kingdoms of Syria, Israel's\nnearest neighbors on the north, Assyria was not at first felt to\nbe the menace which in the end it proved to be. Whenever Assyria\nwas strong, Syria was weak, and the king in Samaria could breathe\nfreely. But there came a day when a king of unusual power ascended\nthe throne at Nineveh, Tiglath-pileser (or Pul, as he was also\ncalled, see II Kings 15:19, 29), and the fate of both Syria and\nIsrael was sealed.\n\nAhaz, the son of Jotham who had just died, saw in this Assyrian the\nmeans of delivering Judah out of the hands of Pekah, king of Israel,\nand Rezin, king of Syria, who had joined forces to capture Jerusalem\nand put a king of their own on the throne of David. By a great\npresent Ahaz bought the support of Tiglath-pileser, who sent an army\nto attack Judah's foes. Syria was devastated, the inhabitants were\ncarried away captive from all the eastern and northern parts of\nIsrael (Gilead and Galilee), Phoenicia and Philistia were overrun,\nand Ahaz, among other kings, went to Damascus in person to do homage\nto this irresistible conqueror.\n\nIn the Northern Kingdom, reduced now to little more than the central\nhighlands of Ephraim and Manasseh, Hoshea, a proteg\u00e9 of the Assyrian\nking, reigned for a few years. But he and his foolish advisers,\nunable to read the signs of the times, looked to Egypt for help\nand revolted. This time the end had come. Shalmaneser, now on the\nAssyrian throne, came against Samaria, and after a siege lasting\nalmost three years, took and destroyed it. The whole population was\ncarried away, after the drastic policy of deportation practiced\nby Assyria, and an alien population was introduced to take their\nplaces. Thus ended the Northern Kingdom after lasting a little over\ntwo centuries. And thus began that strange mixed people, known as\nthe Samaritans, who settled in the central part of the Holy Land.\n\nThe effect of Israel's doom upon the minds of the king and people\nof Judah may be imagined. From the pages of Micah and Isaiah,\ncontemporary prophets in Judah, can be seen how God was speaking\nto Judah through the ruin of Israel. Ahaz's policy of relying on\nhuman help from Assyria instead of divine help from Jehovah was\nrefuted by its outcome. With Syria and Samaria ruined, there lay\nnothing between Jerusalem and the Assyrian. And it is in Hezekiah's\nreign--the next after that of Ahaz--that the ruthless conqueror from\nNineveh is found overrunning Judah itself. How king, prophet, and\npeople met that crisis will begin the next lesson, for it belongs\nto the period when the Southern Kingdom is all that remained of the\norganized Hebrew nation in Palestine.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON X\n\n     1. What were the relations between the kingdoms of Judah and\n        Israel in general?\n\n     2. Who altered these relations for a time? How? With what\n        consequences for Judah's politics and religion?\n\n     3. Who was Joash, and how did he come to the throne?\n\n     4. What was the occasion of Judah's first intimate contact with\n        Assyria? Discuss Ahaz's policy in the light of Isa. 7:1-9.\n\n     5. What were the stages in the downfall of the Northern Kingdom?\n        What became of the conquered people, and who replaced them?\n        See II Kings, ch. 17.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XI\n\nJudah, from Hezekiah to the Exile\n\nII Kings, Chapters 18 to 25; II Chronicles, Chapters 29 to\n36; Isaiah (in part); Nahum; Habakkuk; Zephaniah; Jeremiah;\nLamentations; Ezekiel, Chapters 1 to 32\n\n\nAlthough outwardly Judah appeared to be the same after the fall of\nthe Northern Kingdom as before, it was not so. A very different\nsituation confronted Hezekiah from that which had confronted his\nfather Ahaz when he called on Assyria for help against Syria and\nIsrael. Now there were no \"buffer states\" between Assyria's empire\nand little Judah. And it was only a score of years after Samaria\nfell when Jerusalem felt the full force of Assyria. Sennacherib,\nfourth in that remarkable list of the six kings[1] who made Nineveh\nmistress of Asia, sent an army to besiege Jerusalem, with a summons\nto Hezekiah to surrender his capital.\n\n[1] Tiglath-pileser, 745-727 B.C.; Shalmaneser, 727-722; Sargon,\n722-705; Sennacherib, 705-681; Esar-haddon, 680-668; Ashurbanipal,\n668-626.\n\nA different spirit ruled this king. Isaiah, the same great prophet\nwho had counseled Ahaz to resist Pekah and Rezin but had failed to\nmove him to faith in Jehovah, found now in Ahaz's son a vital faith\nin the God of Israel in this far sorer crisis. In response to that\nfaith Isaiah was commissioned by God to assure king and people of\na great deliverance. The case, to all human seeming, was hopeless.\nBut the resources at God's disposal are boundless, and at one blow\n\"the angel of Jehovah\" reduced the proud Assyrian host to impotency\nand drove them away in retreat. II Kings 19:35. Scribes who record\nthe achievements of ancient monarchs are not accustomed to betray\nany of the failures of their royal heroes. But between the lines\nof Sennacherib's records we can read confirmation of the Bible's\nreport of some great catastrophe to Assyrian arms. Jehovah rewarded\nthe faith of his people in him.\n\nThe seventh century before Christ, which began just after this\nevent, witnessed both the rise of Assyria to its greatest height,\nand its sudden fall before the Chaldeans, a people from the Persian\nGulf, who succeeded in mastering ancient Babylon and in winning\nfor it a greater glory than it had ever known in former times.\nEven in Hezekiah's reign these Chaldeans, under their leader\nMerodach-baladan, were already challenging the supremacy of Nineveh,\nand in doing so were seeking allies in the west. When the king of\nJudah yielded to the dictates of pride and showed to these Chaldean\nambassadors his treasures, Isaiah announced to him that the final\nruin of Judah was to come in future days from this source, and not\nfrom Nineveh as might then have been anticipated.\n\nManasseh, Hezekiah's successor, was indeed taken as a captive to\nBabylon for a time, but the captor was a king of Assyria. II Chron.\n33:11. Manasseh was thus punished for his great personal wickedness,\nfor he is pictured as the worst of all the descendants of David, an\nidolator and a cruel persecutor. Yet his reign was long, and at its\nclose he is said to have repented and turned to Jehovah. But this\ndid not prevent his son Amon from following in his evil ways. A\nrevolt of the people within two years removed Amon, however, and set\nhis young son, Josiah, upon the throne. Josiah's reign is important\nfor the history of Judah.\n\nBy putting together all that can be gleaned from Kings, Chronicles,\nand the prophets, it can be seen that Josiah gradually came more and\nmore under the influence of the party in Judah that sought to purge\nthe nation of its idolatry and bring it back, not merely to the\ncomparatively pure worship and life of Hezekiah's and David's days,\nbut to an ideal observance of the ancient Law of Moses. The climax\nin the progressive reformation in Judah was reached in Josiah's\neighteenth year, 622 B.C., when the king and all the people entered\ninto a \"solemn league and covenant\" to obey the Law of Moses both as\na religious obligation and as a social program.\n\nThe Law book which was found while workmen were restoring the Temple\npassed through the hands of Hilkiah, the high priest, who therefore\ncommitted himself, together with the priests, to this reform. And\nwhat the true prophets of Jehovah thought of it may be seen, for\nexample, from Jer., ch. 11, which tells that this prophetic leader\npreached in the streets of Jerusalem and through the cities of\nJudah, saying, \"Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.\"\n\nJosiah attempted to attach to Jerusalem all those elements in the\nterritory of the former kingdom of Israel which were in sympathy\nwith Jehovah's Law, and at Bethel itself he defiled the old\nidolatrous altar and slew its priests. In fact, it was on northern\nground, at Megiddo, that Josiah met his tragic end and the new wave\nof patriotic enthusiasm was shattered, when, in battle against\nPharaoh-necho and a great Egyptian army, the king of Judah was\nkilled.\n\nJosiah's four successors were weak and unworthy of David's line.\nAfter Jehoahaz, the son whom the people put on the throne to succeed\nJosiah, had been removed by Necho, Jehoiakim, another son, reigned\nfor eleven years. He owed his throne to the Pharaoh and was at first\ntributary to him. But early in his reign came the first of many\ncampaigns of the Chaldeans into Palestine, as Nebuchadnezzar, master\nof Asia, extended his power farther and farther south after crushing\nthe Egyptians at Carchemish in 605 B.C. Jehoiakim had to bow to\nNebuchadnezzar's yoke and seems to have lost his life in a fruitless\nattempt to shake it off. A great number of the leaders of Judah,\nnobles, priests, soldiers, and craftsmen, were deported, together\nwith Jehoiachin, the young son of Jehoiakim, who had worn the crown\nbut three months, 598 B.C.\n\nFor eleven years more, however, the remnant of Judah maintained a\nfeeble state under Zedekiah, a third son of Josiah and the last of\nDavid's line to mount the throne. In spite of his solemn oath to the\nking of Babylon and in the face of the express warnings from Jehovah\nthrough his prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, this weak and faithless\nking revolted from Babylon, put his trust in the Egyptian army,\nand prepared to stand a siege. But Jerusalem's end had now come,\nas Samaria's had come before, and through a breach in the northern\nwall the Chaldean army entered; the king fled and was captured,\nblinded, and deported, and the whole city, including houses, walls,\ngates, and even the Temple--that famous Temple of Solomon which had\nstood nearly four centuries--was totally destroyed, 587 B.C. All\nthat remained of the higher classes, together with the population\nof Jerusalem and the chief towns, were carried away to Babylonia,\nto begin that exile which had been threatened even in the Law,\nand predicted by many of the prophets, as the extreme penalty for\ndisobedience and idolatry.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XI\n\n     1. How did the fall of Samaria affect the Kingdom of Judah?\n\n     2. How did Hezekiah meet the threats of Sennacherib? What was\n        the outcome?\n\n     3. Which king carried through a reformation of religion? What\n        was the basis of the covenant he imposed on Judah? How did he\n        meet his end?\n\n     4. Describe the relations of the Chaldeans to Judah in the time\n        of Hezekiah, of Jehoiakim, of Zedekiah?\n\n     5. When did Jerusalem fall? Did it fall unexpectedly and without\n        warning?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XII\n\nThe Exile and the Restoration\n\nEzekiel, Chapters 33 to 48; Daniel; Ezra, Chapters 1, 2\n\n\nWhen the northern tribes were carried away by Assyria they lost\ntheir identity in the mass of the nations. Only individuals from\namong them attached themselves to the organized nucleus of Judah.\nFrom that time the one tribe of Judah stood out so prominently as\nrepresentative of the whole nation, that \"Jew\" (that is, man of\nJudah) has been equivalent to Hebrew. Paul says that he was of the\ntribe of Benjamin; the aged prophetess Anna is said to have been of\nthe tribe of Asher, Luke 2:36, and all the priests were of course\nof the tribe of Levi; yet long before New Testament times all such\nIsraelites were commonly referred to as \"Jews.\"\n\nJudah did not lose its identity among the nations when Jerusalem\nfell. The Jews who were not deported, among them the prophet\nJeremiah, were put under the government of a certain Jewish noble,\nGedaliah, who ruled the land from Mizpah as representative of the\ngreat king. Many fugitives returned to live under his sway when\nthey found that it was beneficent. But Gedaliah was soon murdered\nby a prince of David's house, whom the king of Ammon had set on to\ndo this mischief and then received and protected. The other Jewish\nleaders feared to remain within reach of the king of Babylon after\nthis insult to him, and against the warnings of Jeremiah they all\nwent down to Egypt. That removal ended all organized Jewish life in\nPalestine for nearly half a century.\n\nIn Babylon, however, an event occurred long before that time had\nelapsed, which marked the political recognition of Judah's separate\nidentity as a nation. That event was the release of Jehoiachin\nfrom prison by the new king of Babylon, Evil-merodach, successor\nof Nebuchadnezzar. Jehoiachin, it will be remembered, was the\nunfortunate prince of David's line who held the throne only three\nmonths after his father Jehoiakim's death and was then deported to\nBabylon in 598. From that time on, through all the remainder of\nNebuchadnezzar's long reign, he had been imprisoned in Babylon. But\nnow he was not only released, but given a pension from the royal\ntreasury for the rest of his life and a standing superior to all the\nother captive princes in Babylon.\n\nThis was in 562, and many Jewish hearts must already have begun to\nbeat with fresh hope, as the old loyalty to David's house flamed\nup, and the promises of a restoration recorded in the old Law and\nthe Prophets were echoed by the prophet of the Exile, Ezekiel. This\nman, himself a priest by birth, had been carried to Babylon at\nthe same time as Jehoiachin, and through all those years of doom\nhad there preached to his countrymen, first to the portion exiled\nwith him while Jerusalem still stood, but after 587 to the whole\npeople united in a common catastrophe. His voice had even reached\nto Jerusalem, as he joined Jeremiah in reminding King Zedekiah of\nhis oath to Nebuchadnezzar. With the elevation of Jehoiachin and the\nstirring of the national hopes, Ezekiel became the prophet of hope.\nHe pictures the breath of Jehovah stirring to life the dry bones\nin the valley of death. Ezek., ch. 37. And he warns the optimistic\npeople that only as God takes away from them their old stony heart\nand gives them a heart of flesh, and sprinkles clean water upon them\nto cleanse them from their pollution through idolatry, can they\nbe fit to form the new community wherein God shall indeed reign.\nCh. 36:25, 26. What such a community might outwardly and visibly\nresemble, Ezekiel pictures in a long, detailed, descriptive vision\nwherewith his book closes. Chs. 40 to 48.\n\nAnother outstanding Jew of the Exile was a man of an entirely\ndifferent type. Daniel, a noble youth carried away from Judah to\nBabylon at the first clash of Nebuchadnezzar's armies with the\nJews, 605 B.C., and brought up at the court, succeeded through\ninterpreting a dream of the king in attracting his notice and\nwinning his favor, much as Joseph had done in ancient Egypt. Dan.,\nch. 2. From his position of political power, Daniel was able,\ndoubtless, to minister to the interests of his brethren, the Jewish\nexiles. Possibly it is to him that Jehoiachin owed his astonishing\nreversal of fortune. At any rate Belshazzar, the last ruler of the\nChaldean state, still maintained Daniel in power, in spite of the\nvery solemn warning of ruin to that state which Daniel fearlessly\npronounced. Ch. 5. When the Persians succeeded the Chaldeans as\nmasters of Babylon, this Jewish statesman still held his high\npost, and retained it in spite of the bitter enmity of officials\nwho used his Jewish faith as a handle against him. Ch. 6. In fact,\nthere is no better way to understand the favor accorded the Jews\nby Cyrus, the Persian conqueror, and the edicts preserved in Ezra\n1:2-4; 6:3-5, than by supposing that Daniel, who had the king's ear,\nbrought to his attention the earlier prophecies of Jeremiah and of\nother spokesmen for Jehovah, God of the Jews.\n\nCertainly, however the affair was managed, it turned out entirely\nto the Jews' liking. All who were willing to return to Palestine\nwere permitted and encouraged to go. They were assisted by the gifts\nof their brethren who could not, or would not, leave Babylon. They\nbore back with them the old vessels for the service of the sanctuary\nwhich Nebuchadnezzar had carried off. And, best of all, they took\nwith them royal authority to erect the Temple of Jehovah on its\nancient site, at the expense of the king of Persia, that is, out of\ntaxes and tribute he remitted. At their head went a prince of the\nold royal house, and a high priest who was grandson of that high\npriest whom Nebuchadnezzar had executed half a century before. Their\nnumber totaled forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, with\nenough slaves in addition to make the entire company number nearly\nfifty thousand.\n\nTheir purpose was threefold: to reoccupy the Holy Land, to rebuild\nJerusalem, and to erect a temple where Solomon's Temple had stood.\nWe should be likely to rate the importance of these three objects\nin the same order as that in which they have just been named. But\nnot so the believing Jew. It was above all else the sacred house\nof his God that he wanted to see restored, so that the prescribed\nsacrifices of the Law might be resumed, the nation's sin might thus\nbe atoned for, and God might once more visibly dwell among his\npeople. All else was in order to this one great end. The origin\nof Judaism, which lies in the movements of this time, cannot be\nunderstood unless this supreme motive is clearly grasped. How\nJudaism developed under the new conditions will be the subject of\nthe next lesson.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XII\n\n     1. What is meant by \"a Jew\"?\n\n     2. How did government of Hebrews by a Hebrew come to an end in\n        Palestine for the first time since Saul's day?\n\n     3. What was the first political event to arouse the exiled Jews\n        from their depression?\n\n     4. Compare Ezekiel and Daniel in their personality, position,\n        and audience.\n\n     5. When Cyrus captured Babylon in 539, what did he do for the\n        Jews, and how came he to do it?\n\n     6. How many Jews returned to Palestine under Cyrus, and what was\n        their uppermost motive?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XIII\n\nThe Jewish State Under Persia\n\nEzra, Chapters 3 to 10; Esther; Nehemiah; Haggai; Zechariah; Malachi\n\n\nFor two centuries Judea, like the rest of western Asia, was under\nthe domination of the Persians, whose great royal names, Cyrus,\nDarius, Xerxes, Artaxerxes, are familiar to every student of\nhistory. The Old Testament spans one of those two centuries of\nPersian rule, 539-430, while for the other century, 430-332, we are\ndependent for the little we know about the Jews upon some documents\nrecently discovered in Egypt, an occasional notice in classical\nhistorians, and the brief narrative of Josephus, the Jewish\nhistorian of the first Christian century.\n\nEven in the century covered by the books of the Bible there are long\nstretches of silence separating periods that are fairly reported.\nFirst comes the time of Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the leaders, civil\nand religious, under whom the Jews returned and erected the Temple.\nThis story carries us, though with a seventeen-year gap in its\nmidst, from 538, the year after Cyrus took Babylon, to 515, the\nsixth year of Darius the Great, and is recorded in the first six\nchapters of the book of Ezra. To help us in understanding this time\nwe have also the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, though the last\nsix chapters of Zechariah belong to another age.\n\nAfter the completion of the new Temple the curtain falls on Judea\nand, save for a single verse, Ezra 4:6, we hear no more of it for\nfifty-seven years. However, the interesting story of Esther belongs\nin these years, for the Ahasuerus of the Bible is the Xerxes of\nGreek history--that vain, fickle, and voluptuous monarch who was\nbeaten at Salamis and Plat\u00e6a. The Jews must have been a part of the\nvast host with which he crossed from Asia to Europe. But the drama\nunfolded in the book of Esther was played far from Palestine, at\nSusa, the Persian capital.\n\nWith the seventh year of the next reign--that of Artaxerxes I--the\ncurtain rises again on Judea, as we accompany thither the little\nband of Jews whom Ezra, the priestly \"scribe,\" brought back with him\nfrom Babylonia to Jerusalem. This account is found in the last four\nchapters of the book of Ezra, most of it in the form of personal\nreminiscences covering less than one year.\n\nThe curtain falls again abruptly at the end of Ezra's memoirs, and\nrises as abruptly on Nehemiah's memoirs at the beginning of the book\nwhich bears his name. But there is every reason to believe that the\nletters exchanged between the Samaritans and the Persian court,\npreserved in the fourth chapter of Ezra, belong to this interval of\nthirteen years between the two books of Ezra and Nehemiah. For this\nalone can explain two riddles: first, who are \"the men that came up\nfrom thee unto Jerusalem,\" Ezra 4:12, if they are not Ezra and his\ncompany, ch. 7? And second, what else could explain the desolate\ncondition of Jerusalem and Nehemiah's emotion on learning of it,\nNeh. 1:3, if not the mischief wrought by the Jews' enemies when\n\"they went in haste to Jerusalem,\" armed with a royal injunction,\nand \"made them to cease by force and power\"? Ezra 4:23.\n\nSome persons are inclined to date the prophet Malachi at just this\ntime also, shortly before Nehemiah's arrival. But it is probably\nbetter to place the ministry of this last of the Old Testament\nprophets at the end of Nehemiah's administration. Nehemiah's points\nof contact with Malachi are most numerous in his last chapter, ch.\n13, in which he writes of his later visit to Jerusalem. Compare Neh.\n13:6 with ch. 1:1.\n\nIn Cyrus' reign the great Return was followed immediately by the\nerection of an altar and the resumption of sacrifice. Preparations\nfor rebuilding the Temple, however, and even the laying of the\ncorner stone, proved a vain beginning, as the Samaritans, jealous of\nthe newcomers and angered by their own rebuff as fellow worshipers\nwith the Jews, succeeded in hindering the prosecution of the work\nfor many years. Ezra 3:1 to 4:5.\n\nIt was not until the second year of Darius' reign, 520, nearly\ntwo decades later, that the little community, spurred out of\ntheir selfishness and lethargy by Haggai and Zechariah, arose and\ncompleted the new Temple, in the face of local opposition but with\nroyal support. Ch. 4:24 to 6:15.\n\nFifty-seven years later, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, 458,\ncame Ezra with some fifteen hundred men, large treasures, and\nsweeping privileges confirmed by a royal edict, the text of which he\nhas preserved in the seventh chapter of his book. He was given the\nking's support in introducing the Law of God as the law of the land,\nbinding upon all its inhabitants, whom he was to teach its contents\nand punish for infractions of it. How Ezra used his exceptional\npowers in carrying out the reform he judged most needed--the\ndissolution of mixed marriages between Jew and Gentile forbidden by\nthe Law--is told in detail in his own vivid language in chs. 9, 10.\nIt helps us to understand Malachi's zeal in this same matter. Mal.\n2:11. And the difficulty of this reform appears also from Nehemiah's\nmemoirs, since the same abuse persisted twenty-five years after Ezra\nfought it. Neh. 13:23-27.\n\nAfter the failure to fortify Jerusalem recorded in Ezra 4:8-23,\nNehemiah, a Jew in high station and favor at Artaxerxes' court,\nobtained from his king a personal letter, appointing him governor\nof Judea for a limited time, with the special commission to rebuild\nthe walls and gates of Jerusalem. The same bitter hostility which\nthe Samaritans and other neighbors in Palestine throughout had\nshown toward the returned Jews, reached its climax in the efforts\nof Sanballat and others in public and private station to hinder\nNehemiah's purpose. But with great energy and bravery, and with a\npersonal appeal and example that swept all into the common stream\nof patriotic service, Nehemiah built the ruined walls and gates\nin fifty-two days, instituted social reforms, ch. 5, and imposed\na covenant on all the people to obey the Law which Ezra read\nand expounded. Chs. 8 to 10. Elements in the little nation that\njoined with his enemies to discredit and even to assassinate him\nwere banished or curbed. The origin of the peculiar sect of the\nSamaritan is connected with Nehemiah through his rigor in banishing\na grandson of the high priest who had married Sanballat's daughter.\nThis disloyalty of the priesthood is also one of Malachi's chief\nindictments against his nation, and the basis of his promise that\na great reformer, an \"Elijah,\" should arise to prepare the sinful\npeople for the coming of their God.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XIII\n\n     1. How long after the Return was the Temple finished? Who\n        hindered? Who helped?\n\n     2. What are the scene and the date of the book of Esther?\n\n     3. Compare the return of the Jews to Jerusalem under Ezra with\n        that under Zerubbabel (_a_) in date, (_b_) in numbers, (_c_)\n        in purpose and result.\n\n     4. Tell the story of Nehemiah: the occasion of his return, his\n        enemies, his achievements. In what did Ezra help him?\n\n     5. Associate the ministry of the three prophets of this period\n        after the Exile with the leaders and movements they\n        respectively helped.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XIV\n\nIsrael's Religious Life\n\n\nIt has often been said that while civilization owes its art and\nletters to Greece and its law and order to Rome, it owes its\nreligion and ethics to Palestine. This is true, within limits,\nprovided we understand that what Israel contributed was not the\nproduct of its \"native genius for religion,\" but was due to the\npersistent grace of its God, who took this \"fewest of all peoples\"\nand made of it the custodian of his revelation and the cradle of his\nredemption for the whole world. When, however, the Hebrew claimed\npre\u00ebminence through these two things, a saving God and a righteous\nLaw, it was no idle boast. So Moses eloquently asks in Deuteronomy:\n\"What great nation is there, that hath a god so nigh unto them,\nas Jehovah our God is whensoever we call upon him? And what great\nnation is there, that hath statutes and ordinances so righteous as\nall this law, which I set before you this day?\" Deut. 4:7, 8.\n\nReligion as developed in Israel had two sides, an inward and an\noutward. On its inward side it consisted of a faith in Jehovah\ncherished in the hearts of the people, together with the sentiments\nof reverence and love, and the purposes of loyalty and consecration,\nwhich grew out of that faith. On its outward side religion consisted\nof certain objects and ceremonies, adapted to express by act and\nsymbol the relation between God and his people.\n\nBut there is also another distinction often made in speaking of\nreligion, the distinction between individual religion and national\nreligion. Each member of the Hebrew nation held a personal relation\nto his God. The Law of God addressed him individually as it said\nto him, \"Thou shalt not.\" And, on a still higher level, Moses\nsummed up that Law for him in these memorable words, \"Thou shalt\nlove the Lord thy God with all thy heart.\" Yet the entire body of\nIsrael, as such, held a relation to God which his spokesmen are\ncontinually trying to illustrate and enrich by all sorts of figures.\nGod is Israel's \"Rock,\" \"Possessor\" or \"Purchaser,\" \"Redeemer,\"\n\"Father\"--until Isaiah can even say to the nation, \"Thy Maker is\nthy husband,\" and Hosea and Ezekiel can portray God's dealings with\nIsrael under the allegory of a marriage.\n\nIt would be a mistake, however, to suppose that all the inward\nreligion was individual and all the outward religion national.\nThere was provision in the ceremonial law, not only for sacrifices\non a national scale, like those of the day of atonement, but also\nfor each man to express outwardly his own penitence or devotion or\ngratitude or obligation to God by means of a personal sacrifice,\npublicly offered but privately planned and provided. And, on the\nother hand, the psalms and the prophets cannot be understood, unless\nwe realize the general religious life of the nation that lies back\nof these highly individual forms of expression. That was why, when\nDavid thinking of himself could write, \"The Lord is my shepherd,\"\nthe whole people could take that sentence and the psalm it begins\nfor use in public worship as the collective expression of Israel's\ntrust in its God.\n\nThe great fact of sin is responsible for the perversion of the true\nrelation between these different varieties of religious life. In\ntheory, every symbolic object and action at tabernacle or Temple\nwas merely the outward expression of an inward idea or feeling or\nresolve. Every smoking sacrifice on the altar was supposed to come\nfrom an offerer drawing near to God in the sincere belief \"that he\nis, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.\" Heb.\n11:6. But in fact the offerer was in constant danger of looking upon\nall the gifts and victims he brought as so many bribes with which\nhe might buy the favor of an offended God, or, worse still, might\nobtain an \"indulgence\" to do some evil deed he planned. This is what\nJeremiah means when he cries, \"Will ye steal, murder, and commit\nadultery, and swear falsely ... and come and stand before me in this\nhouse, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that\nye may do all these abominations?\" Jer. 7:9, 10.\n\nIf the private worshiper was in danger of abusing the worship of\nGod in this way, how much more was the priest, the professional\nsacrificer and celebrant, in danger of looking upon all his duties\nas a kind of authorized magic! \"Do this external act, and that\ninward benefit will surely follow.\" \"Offer this lamb, and cease\nto think about that black sin for which the lamb is the official\nprice.\" Yes, even this: \"Go and do it again, but don't forget to\nbring another lamb!\" Is it any wonder that at length Malachi, after\nlashing the priests of his late day for their laziness, cynicism,\nand greed, cries out in Jehovah's name, \"Oh that there were one\namong you that would shut the doors [of the Temple], that ye might\nnot kindle fire on mine altar in vain!\" Mal. 1:10.\n\nAll along the course of Hebrew history we find prophets and\npsalmists protesting against this sinful perversion of ceremonial\nreligion. See for example I Sam. 15:22; Ps. 40:6-8; 50; Isa.\n1:10-17; Micah 6:6-8.\n\nAnd yet it would be a mistake to say that the prophet stood for\npure and spiritual religion, and the priest for merely external,\nformal religion. Some of the greatest of the prophets, as Jeremiah,\nEzekiel, Zechariah, were priests. And how far the prophets could\nbecome professional declaimers and deceivers may be seen, for\nexample, from Micah 3:5-8.\n\nThe Hebrew prophets, notably Amos and Hosea, are sometimes\nrepresented as the \"inventors\" of \"ethical monotheism,\" that is, of\nreligion as consisting in the worship of one God, who is the moral\nideal of man and demands moral living in man. But in fact, that is\nprecisely the basis of all genuine Old Testament religion, from the\nvery beginning. See Heb., ch. 11. And, particularly, that is the\nbasis of the entire Law, even of the ceremonial law. For that Law\nmust not be judged by its sinful abuse, but by the principles of\nrighteousness, holiness, repentance, and fellowship that underlie\nevery article in the sanctuary, every sacrifice on the altar, every\nrite prescribed and observance commanded. At their best the priests\nwere allies of the true prophets, and external religion as centering\nin the Temple was for the time a fitting expression of Israel's\npersonal and national faith. If it had not been so, then such\npsalms as Psalms 24, 42, 65, 84, 122 could never have been written,\npreserved, and used.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XIV\n\n     1. What ground had Israel for \"glorying\"? See Rom. 9:4, 5.\n\n     2. Give illustrations to show that individual as well as\n        national religion in Israel expressed itself externally, and\n        that spiritual as well as ceremonial religion belonged to both\n        the nation and the individual.\n\n     3. What sinful abuse of sacrifice were the prophets constantly\n        attacking? Did they thereby condemn Temple, altar, priesthood,\n        and ceremonial law in themselves?\n\n     4. Were all the prophets spiritually minded, or all the priests\n        merely \"professional\"? Give instances from history of\n        alliances between prophets and priests.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XV\n\n\"The Coming One\"\n\n\nThe Old Testament points forward. The whole impression it leaves\nupon us is that of an unfinished thing. Its history moves toward a\ngoal outside of itself. Its religion is a religion of expectation.\nAll its institutions are typical, that is, they represent more than\nthemselves, because they belong to a larger order of things which\nappears imperfectly in them.\n\nIn the last lesson we saw how priest and prophet had their own\nplace in Israel. But both priest and prophet also typified a\nperfect priesthood and a perfect prophecy, to be realized under\nideal conditions which were never present in those times. When, for\nexample, Aaron made atonement for the sins of the nation once each\nyear, as provided in Lev., ch. 16, he had to present first the blood\nof the bullock which was the sin offering for himself, before he\npresented the blood of the goat which was the sin offering for the\npeople. But ideally, in his position as mediator between God and the\nsinful people, he was a sinless man; the blood of the bullock and\nthe pure, white garments he put on were supposed to indicate that\nhe was sinless for the moment. Nothing could be clearer than that\nhe typified a perfect high priest for God's people, who should be\nreally a sinless man--one who needed no mechanism of altar, victim,\nand dress to make him pure from personal sin. See Heb., chs. 5 to\n10, especially ch. 7:26-28.\n\nAgain Moses looks forward to the realization in the future of the\nideal communication between God and his people typified in the\nprophet. \"A prophet,\" says he, \"Jehovah thy God will raise up unto\nthee.\" \"From the midst of thee, like unto me.\" Deut. 18:15-19. This\nideal prophet will perfectly hear and perfectly transmit divine\ntruth to men. It was on the basis of this promise that many persons\ndescribed our Lord as \"the prophet,\" meaning thereby that perfect\nprophet promised by Moses. John 1:21, 25; 7:40.\n\nBut there was another institution of Old Testament times which more\nthan prophet or priest was associated in the people's minds with\nthe ideal future. This was kingship. God himself was theoretically\nKing--sole King--of Israel. Isa. 33:22. But at the entreaty of\nhis sinful and harassed people he instructed Samuel to \"make them\na king.\" And while Samuel warned them of the evils which the\nmonarchy would bring with it because of the sinfulness of the men\nwho should be king, he nevertheless set up a throne that by its\nvery nature was unique. The king of Israel was in a peculiar sense\nthe representative of Jehovah. He ruled for God. He was his own\n\"anointed,\" set apart for the exercise of supreme authority over\nGod's people on earth and entitled to their religious as well as\npatriotic devotion. See, for example, Psalms 21, 101.\n\nAfter the failure of Saul to obey God's instructions, Samuel\nanointed, at God's dictation and against his own human judgment,\nDavid the son of Jesse. This man proved himself, not indeed sinless\nnor the ideal king, but a man after God's heart, Acts 13:22, because\nhis dominant purpose was to do God's will. To David therefore was\ngiven the remarkable promise contained in II Sam., ch. 7. In a\nword, this promise was an irrevocable, eternal \"covenant,\" granting\nsovereignty to David's \"house\"--that is, his posterity considered as\na unit--over God's Kingdom on earth.\n\nThe story of how men came to understand better and better the\nvastness of this covenant, which Isaiah calls \"the sure mercies of\nDavid,\" ch. 55:3, forms the subject of that special Old Testament\nstudy called \"Messianic Prophecy.\" In the psalms and in the\nprophecies we are able to trace a growing faith, that by an ideal\nking of David's line Jehovah will finally work his long delayed\nwill in and through Israel. This Person is commonly called \"the\nMessiah,\" because \"Messiah\" means \"Anointed.\" Its Greek equivalent\nis \"the Christ.\" While other persons also were anointed with oil\nwhen they assumed office, kings were always so anointed and the idea\nbelongs peculiarly to kingship. By the time our Lord appeared, no\nother side of the work which this ideal, promised, longed-for Coming\nOne was to do, was so prominent as that of ruling for God as the\nKing of Israel. For this reason Jesus of Nazareth is known to all\nwho believe in his claims as \"the Christ,\" and such believers are\nthence called \"Christians.\" This title of Christ connects Jesus with\nthe line of David, to which he actually belonged by descent, and it\nalso connects him with the promise to David, of which he was the\nheir and the fulfillment.\n\nWe have thus seen that \"the Coming One,\" Luke 7:19; John 11:27,\ntoward whom the eyes of Israel were directed, was to be prophet,\npriest, and king. In all these offices and the various duties they\ninvolved he was to be the one chosen from among the people--a man\ntherefore, \"servant of the servants of God.\" Yet this is not all.\nAlongside these promises there was a promise also that Jehovah\nhimself would come to dwell among his people. The Holy of Holies,\nwith its Ark of the Presence and its Mercy seat for revelation and\natonement, was itself typical of an ideal presence of God among men.\nAnd through psalm and prophet we can trace this promise also. Now\nit is terrible with its threat to sinners, and now it is glorious\nwith its hope for the oppressed. At length in Malachi we read in\nthe clearest words, \"The Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to\nhis temple.\" Mal. 3:1, 5. Preceded by his \"messenger\" to \"prepare\nthe way before him,\" Israel's divine Lord himself is to come for\njudgment and salvation. See also Ps. 96:13; 98:9.\n\nIt was not made so plain to the men of ancient Israel just how these\ntwo lines of promise were to be united, as it appears to us now in\nthe light of later facts. But we, who worship Jesus of Nazareth not\nonly as \"Son of David according to the flesh,\" but as divine Lord\nfrom heaven, \"in two distinct natures and one person for ever,\"\ncan look back on those old prophecies of \"men who spake from God,\nbeing moved by the Holy Spirit.\" II Peter 1:21. We can see in them\nGod's purpose to make this great Son of David a true \"Immanuel,\"\nIsa. 7:14--a Person in whom God actually is \"with us.\" God gave to\nhim such names as \"Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting\nFather, Prince of Peace,\" because he should really be all that\nthese names imply. Isa. 9:6. For the Child who was born in little\nBethlehem, the \"city of David,\" was not merely one who should be\n\"ruler in Israel,\" but also one \"whose goings forth are from of old,\nfrom everlasting.\" Micah 5:2.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XV\n\n     1. How did the priests and prophets in Israel point forward to\n        an ideal Priest and Prophet?\n\n     2. What was the relation of Israel's king to Jehovah? In whose\n        \"house\" was this office made eternal? In what Person has this\n        promise been fulfilled?\n\n     3. How was the promise that God himself should be \"the Coming\n        One\" consistent with the promise of a human Prophet, Priest,\n        and King? Where is it indicated in the Old Testament that both\n        promises might be fulfilled in one Person?\n\n\n\n\nSECTION II\n\nThe Life of Christ and the Development of the Church in New\nTestament Times\n\nBy John Gresham Machen, D.D.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON I\n\nThe Preparation\n\n\nAt the time when the Old Testament narrative closes, the Jews\nwere under the rule of Persia. The Persian control continued for\nabout one hundred years more, and then gave way to the empire of\nAlexander the Great. Alexander was king of Macedonia, a country\nto the north of Greece; but the language and culture of his court\nwere Greek. After Greece proper had been conquered by Alexander's\nfather, Philip, Alexander himself proceeded to the conquest of\nthe East. The Persian Empire fell in 331 B.C., and with the\nother Persian possessions Jerusalem came into the hands of the\nconqueror. In 323 B.C., when Alexander died, his vast empire, which\nextended around the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea and to\nthe borders of India, at once fell to pieces. But the kingdoms\ninto which the empire was divided were to a large extent Greek\nkingdoms. Short-lived, therefore, as Alexander's empire was, it\nhad the permanent effect of spreading the Greek language and Greek\ncivilization over the Eastern world. It became thus, as will be\nseen, one of the most important factors in the divine preparation\nfor the gospel.\n\nAfter the death of Alexander, the country of Judea became a bone\nof contention between two of the kingdoms into which Alexander's\nempire was divided--the Greek kingdom of Syria and the Greek kingdom\nof Egypt. At last, however, the Syrian kingdom, with its capital\nat Antioch, near the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea,\ngained the upper hand. Judea became part of the territory of the\nSyrian monarchs.\n\nIn the reign of Antiochus IV of Syria, called Antiochus Epiphanes,\n175-164 B.C., the Jews began a war for independence. Antiochus\nEpiphanes had desecrated the Temple at Jerusalem by setting up an\nimage of a heathen god in the Holy of Holies. The result was the\nglorious revolt of the Jews under Mattathias and his sons--the\nfamily of the Maccabees. The Maccabean uprising, of which a stirring\naccount has been preserved in the First Book of the Maccabees, an\napocryphal book attached to the Old Testament, certainly constitutes\none of the most glorious chapters in the history of liberty. The\nuprising was successful, and for about one hundred years the little\ncountry of the Jews, though surrounded by powerful neighbors,\nsucceeded in maintaining its independence.\n\nAt first the Maccabees had been animated by a religious motive; the\nrevolt had been due not to an interference with what may be called\ncivil liberty, but to the desecration by Antiochus Epiphanes of the\nTemple and to the attempt at prohibiting the worship of Jehovah. As\ntime went on, however, the Maccabean rulers became more worldly in\ntheir purposes and thus alienated the devout element among their\npeople. Hence the little kingdom became an easy prey to the next\ngreat world empire which appeared upon the scene.\n\nThat empire was the empire of Rome. Originally a small city-state\nin Italy, Rome had gradually extended her conquests until she came\ninto conflict with Greece and with the Greek kingdoms of the Eastern\nworld. Weakened by many causes, the successors of Alexander soon\nsuccumbed, and among them the monarchs of Syria. Judea could not\nresist the new conqueror. In 63 B.C., the famous Roman general,\nPompey, entered Jerusalem, and Jewish independence was at an end.\n\nThe Roman control was exerted in Palestine for a time through\nsubservient high priests, until in 37 B.C. Herod the Great was made\nking. Herod was not a real Jew, but an Idum\u00e6an; and at heart he\nhad little or no attachment to the Jews' religion. But he was wise\nenough not to offend Jewish feeling in the outrageous way that had\nproved so disastrous to Antiochus Epiphanes. Throughout his reign\nHerod was of course thoroughly subservient to the Romans; though a\nking, he was strictly a vassal king. Herod reigned from 37 B.C. to 4\nB.C. His kingdom embraced not only Judea, but all Palestine. It was\nnear the end of Herod's reign that our Saviour was born. Thus the\nreckoning of the Christian era, which was instituted many centuries\nafter Christ, is at least four years too low; Jesus was born a\nlittle earlier than 4 B.C.\n\nWhen Pompey conquered Jerusalem in 63 B.C., Rome was still a\nrepublic. But before many years had elapsed Julius C\u00e6sar assumed the\nsupreme power, and the ancient Roman liberties were gone. After the\nassassination of C\u00e6sar in 44 B.C., there was a long period of civil\nwar. Finally Augustus was triumphant, and the Roman Empire began. In\nthe long reign of Augustus, 27 B.C. to A.D. 14, our Saviour was born.\n\nThe political events which have just been outlined did not take\nplace by chance. They were all parts of the plan of God which\nprepared for the coming of the Lord. When Jesus finally came, the\nworld was prepared for his coming.\n\nIn the first place, the Roman Empire provided that peace and unity\nwhich was needed for the spread of the gospel. War interrupts\ncommunication between nations. But when the apostles went forth from\nJerusalem to spread the good news of Christ to the world, there was\nno war to interrupt their course. Nation was bound to nation under\nthe strong hand of Rome. Travel was comparatively safe and easy, and\ndespite occasional persecution the earliest missionaries usually\nenjoyed the protection of Roman law.\n\nIn the second place, the Greek language provided a medium of\ncommunication. When the Romans conquered the Eastern world, they\ndid not endeavor to substitute their own language for the language\nwhich already prevailed. Such an attempt would only have produced\nconfusion. Indeed, the Romans themselves adopted the Greek language\nas a convenient medium of communication. Greek thus became a world\nlanguage. The original, local languages of the various countries\ncontinued to be used (Aramaic, for example, was used in Palestine),\nbut Greek was a common medium. Thus when the apostles went forth to\nthe evangelization of the world, there were no barriers of language\nto check their course.\n\nIn the third place, the dispersion of the Jews provided the early\nmissionaries everywhere with a starting point for their labors. As\na result not only of captivity, but also of voluntary emigration,\nthe Jews in the first century were scattered abroad throughout the\ncities of the world very much as they are scattered to-day. But\nthere was one important difference. To-day the Jewish synagogues are\nattended only by Jews. In those days they were attended also by men\nof other races. Thus when Paul and the other Christian missionaries\nexercised their privilege of speaking in the synagogues, they were\nspeaking not only to Jews but also to a picked audience of Gentiles.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON I\n\n     1. Name in order the foreign powers which possessed the country\n        of the Jews, beginning with Old Testament times and continuing\n        down to the present day.\n\n     2. What was the importance of the Maccabean uprising in the\n        preparation for the coming of the Lord? What would have\n        happened if Antiochus Epiphanes had been successful?\n\n     3. What was the importance of the Roman Empire for the spread\n        of the gospel? of the Greek language? of the dispersion of\n        the Jews?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON II\n\nThe Coming of the Lord\n\nJohn 1:1-18\n\n\nWhen the Son of God came to earth for our salvation, the world was\nready for his coming. The whole course of history had been made to\nlead up to him. And he was well worthy of being thus the goal of\nhistory. For the One who came was none other than the eternal Son\nof God, the Word who was with God and who was God. He had existed\nfrom all eternity; he had been the instrument in creating the world.\nHe was himself truly God, the same in substance with the Father,\nand equal in power and glory. Yet the One who was so great humbled\nhimself to be born as a man and finally to suffer and die. His\ncoming was a voluntary act, an act of the Father in giving him for\nthe sins of the world, and his own act which he performed because he\nloved us. It was an act of infinite condescension. The Son of God\nhumbled himself to lead a true human life; he took upon himself our\nnature. He was born, he grew in wisdom and stature, he suffered, he\ndied. He was always God, but he became also man. Who can measure the\ndepth of such condescending love?\n\nWhat, then, was the manner of his coming? The story is told, in\nbeautiful narrative, in the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke.\n\n\nLuke 1:5-25, 57-80\n\nFirst, the birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner, was announced\nby the angel Gabriel to Zacharias, a devout priest, as he was\nministering in the Temple. Luke 1:5-25. Zacharias was old; he had\ngiven up hope of children. The promise seemed to him too wonderful\nto be true; he doubted the angel's word. But the punishment which\nwas inflicted upon him for his doubt was temporary merely, and the\nbitterness of it was swallowed up in joy for the child that was\nborn. The tongue of Zacharias, which had been dumb on account of\nhis sin, was loosed, and he uttered a wonderful song of praise. Vs.\n57-80.\n\n\nLuke 1:26-56\n\nBut before John was born, in fulfillment of the angel's promise,\nthere was a promise of a greater than John. Luke 1:26-56. \"The\nangel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named\nNazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of\nthe house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.\" It was a far\nmore wonderful promise than that which had come to Zacharias, not\nonly because of the greater glory of the promised Son, but also\nbecause of the mystery of his birth. The child was to have no human\nfather, but was to be given by the power of the Holy Spirit. But\nthis time, despite the strangeness of the promise, there was no\nunbelief, as in the case of Zacharias. \"Behold, the handmaid of the\nLord,\" said Mary; \"be it unto me according to thy word.\" And then\nMary went to Judea to visit her kinswoman Elisabeth, the wife of\nZacharias; and while in Judea she gave glorious expression to her\nthanksgiving in the hymn which is called, from the first word of it\nin the Latin translation, the \"Magnificat\"--\"My soul doth magnify\nthe Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.\" Then Mary\nreturned to her own home in Nazareth.\n\n\nMatthew 1:18-25\n\nBut another announcement of the Saviour's birth was made to Joseph,\nwho was betrothed to Mary. Matt. 1:18-25. Joseph was to have the\nhigh privilege of caring for the child that was to be born. \"Fear\nnot to take unto thee Mary thy wife,\" said the angel to Joseph in a\ndream, \"for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.\"\nAnd here again, there was no unbelief and no disobedience. Joseph\n\"did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took unto him his\nwife.\"\n\n\nLuke 2:1-7\n\nJoseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, a town of the northern part of\nPalestine, which was called Galilee. But the promised Child was to\nbelong to the house of David, and it was fitting that he should be\nborn at Bethlehem, a little town five miles south of Jerusalem where\nDavid himself had been born. To cause him to be born at Bethlehem,\nGod made use of an event of world politics. Luke 2:1-7. A decree had\ngone out from the emperor, Augustus, that the whole empire should be\nenrolled. This enrollment or census seems to have been carried out\nin the kingdom of Herod the Great by the Jewish method which took\naccount of family relationships. So, although at the time Joseph and\nMary were living at Nazareth, they went up to the home of Joseph's\nancestors, to Bethlehem, to be enrolled. And at Bethlehem the\nSaviour was born. There was no room in the lodging place. The Child\nwas laid, therefore, in a manger that was intended for the feeding\nof cattle.\n\n\nLuke 2:8-20\n\nBut humble as were the surroundings of the newborn King, his birth\nwas not without manifestations of glory. Luke 2:8-20. Shepherds,\nkeeping watch in the fields by night, heard a multitude of the\nheavenly host praising God and saying, \"Glory to God in the highest,\nand on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased.\" The\nshepherds went then to see the sign which had been made known to\nthem. It was a strange sign indeed--Christ the Lord, the promised\nKing, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger!\n\n\nLuke 2:21-38; Matthew 2:1-12\n\nForty days after the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary made the\noffering according to the Old Testament law, and presented the\nChild, as the first-born, to the Lord in the Temple at Jerusalem.\nLuke 2:21-38. Then they must have returned to Bethlehem, for it was\nat Bethlehem that gifts were presented by Wise Men from the East.\nMatt. 2:1-12. The Wise Men had been guided to Bethlehem partly by a\nwonderful star which they had first seen in their own country, and\npartly by questions which were answered by the scribes.\n\n\nMatthew 2:13-23\n\nBut the life of the infant Saviour was not all to be a hearing of\nangels' songs and a reception of gold and frankincense and myrrh.\nThe Lord had come to suffer for the sins of the world, and the last\ngreat suffering on the cross was anticipated by the persecution\nwhich came in the early days. Matt. 2:13-18. The suspicions of\nHerod, the jealous king, had been aroused by the questions of the\nWise Men. He sent to Bethlehem to put a possible rival out of the\nway. But it was too late. The king's rage was vented upon the\ninnocent children of the little town, but God had cared for the\ninfant Saviour. The Lord was finally to die for the sins of the\nworld. But meanwhile many words of wisdom and grace were to fall\nfrom his lips; his hour was not yet come. Joseph was warned of God\nin a dream, and took the young Child and his mother away to Egypt,\nout of the way of harm, until Herod the Great was dead. Then they\nreturned to Nazareth, where the Child was to spend long, quiet years\nof preparation for his work.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON II\n\n     1. What life had our Saviour lived before he came to earth? Did\n        he cease to be God while he was on earth?\n\n     2. Why did he come?\n\n     3. Who was his forerunner? What sort of persons were the parents\n        of the forerunner?\n\n     4. How did Jesus come to be born at Bethlehem?\n\n     5. What was the character of his mother?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON III\n\nThe Baptism\n\n\nLuke 2:40-50\n\nThe New Testament tells very little about the boyhood and early\nmanhood of our Saviour. One incident, however, is narrated. Luke\n2:41-50. Joseph and Mary, we are told, were in the habit of going up\nfrom Galilee to Jerusalem every year in the spring at the feast of\nthe passover. When Jesus was twelve years old, he went up with them.\nBut when they left Jerusalem on the return, Jesus remained behind\nin the Temple, to study the Old Testament; and when Joseph and Mary\nfound him, he replied to their inquiries, \"Knew ye not that I must\nbe about my Father's business?\" The incident shows the presence\neven in the human consciousness of the boy Jesus of a knowledge of\nthe great mission that he was called to fulfill and of his special\nrelation to God.\n\n\nLuke 2:51, 52\n\nBut the consciousness of these great things did not prevent our\nSaviour from performing the humble tasks of daily life and from\nbeing obedient to his human parents. Luke 2:51, 52. Jesus became a\ncarpenter, and since Joseph also was a carpenter, no doubt Jesus\nlearned the trade in early youth. Mark 6:3; Matt. 13:55. For many\nyears, till he was about thirty years old, the Saviour of the world\nlabored at the carpenter's bench, and lived as an obedient son in a\nhumble home at Nazareth. Luke 3:23.\n\nAt last, however, the time came for the beginning of his public\nministry. Before that ministry is studied, it may be well to cast\na glance at the condition of the country into which Jesus now came\nforward.\n\nWhen Herod the Great died in 4 B.C., his dominions were divided\namong his three sons. Archelaus received Judea, the southern part\nof Palestine, with Jerusalem as its chief city; Herod Antipas, the\n\"Herod\" who is mentioned in the Gospels in connection with Jesus'\npublic ministry, received Galilee and a district to the east of the\nJordan River called Perea; and Philip received a region lying to\nthe east of Galilee and to the north of Perea. When Archelaus was\nbanished in A.D. 6, his territory was placed under the control of\nRoman officials called procurators. The procurator who was in office\nduring Jesus' public ministry was Pontius Pilate. Herod Antipas,\nwith the title of \"tetrarch,\" continued to rule until A.D. 39;\nPhilip until about A.D. 33. The public ministry of Jesus extended\nfrom A.D. 26 or 27 to A.D. 29 or 30. During most of that time he\nwas in the territory of Herod Antipas and of Pontius Pilate, though\noccasionally he entered the territory of Philip.\n\n\nMatthew 3:1-12, and Parallels\n\nThe beginning of Jesus' public ministry was prepared for by the work\nof John the Baptist. Matt. 3:1-12, and parallels. John was the last\nand greatest prophet of the old dispensation, who came just before\nthe dawn of the new age. For centuries prophecy had been silent. But\nat last a prophet came in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare\nthe heart of the people for the promised Messiah.\n\nEven in dress and in manner of life, John was like a prophet of the\nolden time. His food was locusts and wild honey; he was clothed with\na rough camel's-hair garment; and his preaching was carried on in\nthe deserts. The substance of his message is summed up in the words,\n\"Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.\" Matt. 3:2.\n\nThe phrase, \"kingdom of heaven,\" or \"kingdom of God,\" was evidently\nfamiliar to the hearers of John, and the meaning of the phrase, up\nto a certain point, is perfectly clear. As the kingdom of C\u00e6sar\nis the place where C\u00e6sar bears rule, so the Kingdom of God is the\nplace, or the condition, where God bears rule. In one sense, the\nwhole universe is the Kingdom of God, for nothing happens apart from\nGod's will. But evidently John was using the phrase in some narrower\nsense; he meant by the Kingdom of God the condition where God's will\nis wrought out to completion, where the sinful disobedience which\nprevails in the world is banished and God is truly King.\n\nThe Jews expected an age which should be under the perfect control\nof God. But they were surprised by what John the Baptist said about\nthe requirements for entrance into that age. They had supposed that\nall Jews would have the blessing of the Kingdom, but John told\nthem that only the righteous would be allowed to enter in. It was\na startling message, since the hearers of John knew only too well\nthat they did not possess the righteousness which was required.\nRepentance, therefore, or cleansing from sin, was necessary. And the\nsign of cleansing was baptism.\n\n\nMatthew 3:13 to 4:11, and Parallels\n\nAmong those who came to be baptized was Jesus of Nazareth. Matt.\n3:13-15, and parallels. Jesus did not need to be baptized for his\nown sake, for he had no sin to be washed away. But his baptism was\npart of what he was doing for his people. Just as on the cross he\nreceived the punishment of sin, though there was no sin of his own,\nso in his baptism he represented the sinful people whom he came to\nsave.\n\nWhen Jesus had been baptized, there was a wonderful event which was\nperceived not only by him but also by John the Baptist. Matt. 3:16,\n17, and parallels. The Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form\nof a dove, and there was a voice from heaven which said, \"This is\nmy beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.\" This event marks the\nbeginning of Jesus' public ministry as Messiah. He had been the\nMessiah already, and he had already possessed the Holy Spirit; but\nnow the power of the Spirit impelled him to come forward definitely\nas the promised One.\n\nAt the very beginning, however, there was temptation to be overcome.\nMatt. 4:1-11, and parallels. Jesus was led up from the deep Jordan\nValley, where the baptism had taken place, into the wilderness on\nthe heights. And there he was tempted. The temptation was based\nupon the holy experience which he had just received. The voice from\nheaven had designated Jesus as Son of God. \"If that be true,\" said\nthe Tempter, \"if thou art really Son of God, use thy power to obtain\ncreature comfort, test out thy power by casting thyself down from a\npinnacle of the Temple, obtain the immediate enjoyment of thy power\nby doing obeisance to me.\" The Devil quoted Scripture for his evil\npurpose. But Jesus did not need to repudiate the Scripture in order\nto refute him. The Holy Scriptures themselves contained a sufficient\nanswer to every suggestion of the Evil One. The great victory was\nwon. The Kingdom of the Messiah was not to be a worldly realm, and\nit was not to be won by worldly means. The path to the Messiah's\nthrone led by the way of the cross. And that path our Saviour was\nwilling to tread for our sakes.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON III\n\n     1. What is known about the boyhood and youth of Jesus?\n\n     2. Describe the physical features and the political divisions of\n        Palestine at the time of our Lord. Where was Jesus born, where\n        did he spend his youth, and where was he baptized?\n\n     3. What was the meaning of John's baptism? Why was Jesus\n        baptized?\n\n     4. What was the meaning of each of the three temptations, and\n        how did Jesus overcome them?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON IV\n\nThe Early Judean Ministry\n\n\nJohn 1:19-34\n\nAfter the temptation Jesus descended again into the Jordan Valley,\nwhere the baptism had taken place. There he received the testimony\nof John the Baptist. John 1:19-34. John had come not to perform a\nwork of his own, but to be a witness to the greater One who was to\nfollow. He put aside, therefore, all thoughts of personal ambition,\ndeclared plainly that he was not the Christ, and rejoiced when his\ndisciples left him in order to follow the One whom he had come to\nannounce. John had had revealed to him, moreover, not merely the\nfact that Jesus was the Saviour, but also something of the way in\nwhich the salvation was to be wrought. Jesus was to die, like a\nsacrificial lamb, for the sins of others. \"Behold, the Lamb of God,\"\nsaid John to his disciples, \"that taketh away the sin of the world!\"\n\n\nJohn 1:35-51\n\nTwo pairs of brothers, in those early days, left John to follow the\nSaviour. John 1:35-42. One pair consisted of Andrew and Peter; the\nother, no doubt, consisted of the two sons of Zebedee, James and\nJohn, although John, who wrote the Gospel in which this narrative is\ncontained, has never mentioned his own name in his book. Two other\nmen, besides these four, came to Jesus on the following day--Philip\nand Nathanael. Vs. 43-51.\n\n\nJohn 2:1-11\n\nAfter the meeting with these six disciples, our Lord ascended again\nfrom the valley of the Jordan to the higher country of Galilee. And\nthere, in the village of Cana, he wrought the first of his miracles.\nJohn 2:1-11. He was a guest at a wedding feast, and when the wine\nran out he supplied the lack by turning water into wine. Thereby he\nnot only manifested his power, but also indicated the manner of his\nministry. He was not to be an austere person like John the Baptist,\nliving far from the habitations of men. On the contrary, his\nministry was, for those whom he came to win, a ministry of joy. He\nentered not merely into the sorrows, but also into the joys of men;\nthe One who was to die for the sins of the world was also willing to\ngrace a marriage feast!\n\n\nJohn 2:12-22\n\nAfter a brief sojourn at Capernaum, on the shores of the Sea of\nGalilee, where he was afterwards to carry on a large part of his\nministry, Jesus went southward to Jerusalem at passover time. At\nJerusalem his first recorded act was an act of stern rebuke. John\n2:13-22. The Temple area was filled with the tables of those who\nsold the sheep and oxen and doves which were intended for sacrifice;\nthe sacred precincts of God's house had been made a place of\nbusiness. There was no hesitation on the part of Jesus; he made a\nscourge of cords and drove the traffickers out. It is a mistake to\nsuppose that the wonderful gentleness of our Saviour or his gracious\nparticipation in innocent joys was any indication of weakness.\nThough always merciful to the penitent, Jesus could be indignant\nagainst blatant sinners; and the righteous anger of the Saviour was\na terrible thing.\n\n\nJohn 2:23-25\n\nAt Jerusalem Jesus won adherents because of the miracles which he\nwrought. But he was able to distinguish true devotion from that\nwhich was false. He \"knew all men, ... and needed not that any one\nshould bear witness concerning man; for he himself knew what was in\nman.\" John 2:24, 25.\n\n\nJohn 3:1-15\n\nOne example of this knowledge was afforded by the case of Nicodemus,\nJohn 3:1-15; Jesus knew what Nicodemus lacked. Nicodemus, a ruler\nof the Jews, came to Jesus by night, to discuss the substance of\nwhat Jesus had been saying. But our Lord would not waste time with\nthings that lay on the surface. He went straight to the heart of the\nmatter, and said to Nicodemus, \"Ye must be born anew.\" V. 7. None\nof the learning, none of the worldly influence of Nicodemus would\navail; true life could come only by a new birth, which all, rich and\npoor, learned and ignorant, must receive, and receive, not by their\nown efforts, but by the mysterious power of the Spirit of God. Jesus\nspoke, too, on that memorable night, of the sacrificial death which\nhe himself was to die for the sins of men. \"As Moses lifted up the\nserpent in the wilderness,\" he said, \"even so must the Son of man be\nlifted up; that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life.\"\n\n\nJohn 3:22-30\n\nThen Jesus left Jerusalem, the capital, and carried on, through\nhis disciples, a ministry of baptism in the country districts of\nJudea. John 3:22-30. He was thus engaging in a work which before had\nbelonged peculiarly to John the Baptist. Some of John's disciples\nwere perhaps inclined to be envious. But there was no envy in the\nheart of John himself. He had come not for his own sake but to be\na witness to Jesus as Messiah. And now he rejoiced in the growing\nprominence of Jesus. \"The friend of the bridegroom,\" he said about\nhimself, \"rejoices at the voice of the bridegroom. He must increase,\nbut I must decrease.\" Vs. 29, 30, in substance.\n\n\nJohn 4:1-42\n\nWhen this early Judean ministry was over, Jesus went back to\nGalilee. On the way he passed through Samaria. John 4:1-42. The\ninhabitants of Samaria were not of pure Jewish race, and although\nthey accepted the five books of Moses and looked for the coming\nof a Messiah, they did not accept all of the Old Testament. They\nwere despised by the Jews. But even for the Samaritans, and for\nthe most degraded among them, the Saviour had a message of hope.\nWearied by his journey, our Lord was sitting by Jacob's well near\nthe city of Sychar. When his disciples had gone into the city to\nbuy food, a woman came to draw water at the well. For that woman it\nwas a memorable hour. Jesus was willing to labor, and that in the\nmidst of his weariness, for one sinful soul, as well as for all the\nmultitudes that had crowded around him in Judea. The woman was of\nsinful life, and she could not hide her sin from Jesus. But Jesus\nsearched out her sin, not in order to condemn her, but in order to\nbring to her the message of salvation. Attracted, then, by what\nthe woman had said, a number of the Samaritans came to Jesus and\nrecognized him as the Messiah and as the Saviour of the world.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON IV\n\n     1. Give an account of the testimony of John the Baptist to\n        Jesus. How did John know that Jesus was the Messiah?\n\n     2. What happened at Cana? Who, besides Jesus, was a guest at the\n        feast?\n\n     3. Give an outline of all the journeys of Jesus up to his\n        passage through Samaria.\n\n     4. Give an account, fuller than the outline given, of the early\n        Judean ministry. What did Jesus say when he was asked to give\n        a sign?\n\n     5. What is the meaning of the \"new birth\"? Is it still necessary\n        to-day if a man is to be saved? How does it come?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON V\n\nThe Beginning of the Galil\u00e6an Ministry\n\n\nAfter passing through Samaria, Jesus arrived in Galilee, and it was\nin Galilee that a large part of his ministry was carried on. The\nGalil\u00e6an ministry is narrated for the most part by the first three\nGospels, which are called Synoptic Gospels, whereas the Gospel\nAccording to John deals more particularly with the work in Judea.\n\n\nLuke 4:16-30\n\nAfter the healing of a nobleman's son, when Jesus was at Cana of\nGalilee, our Lord began his preaching in the Galil\u00e6an synagogues.\nEarly in this period he went to Nazareth, the place where he had\nbeen brought up. Luke 4:16-30. But the people of Nazareth could not\nbelieve that the carpenter's Son whom they had known was really\nchosen by God to fulfill the glorious prophecies of Isaiah. When\nrebuked by Jesus they even desired to kill him. Thus did they\nillustrate, to their own eternal loss, the words of Jesus that \"No\nprophet is acceptable in his own country.\"\n\nLeaving Nazareth, our Lord went down and dwelt at Capernaum, making\nthat city apparently the center of his work. But before the details\nof the Galil\u00e6an ministry are studied, it will be well to cast a\nhurried glance at the geographical features of the country where\nJesus' ministry was carried on.\n\nThe political divisions of Palestine have already been\nmentioned--Galilee in the north, under the tetrarch, Herod Antipas;\nSamaria and Judea to the south, under the Roman procurator, Pontius\nPilate. But the physical features of the country do not correspond\nat all to the political divisions. Physically the country is divided\ninto four narrow strips, each about one hundred and fifty miles\nlong, running from north to south. The westernmost strip is the\ncoastal plain, along the Mediterranean Sea, into which Jesus hardly\nwent; then comes the low hill country, the \"shephela\"; then the\nhighlands, upon which Jerusalem is situated, reaching an altitude of\nsome 2500 feet above sea level. These central highlands of Palestine\nare broken by the plain of Esdraelon, in southern Galilee. A little\nto the north of this plain, in a hill country, lies the town of\nNazareth. East of the central highlands is the deep valley of the\nJordan River. The Jordan rises in the extreme north of Palestine,\none of its sources being on the slopes of the lofty Mount Hermon;\nthen flows southward to the lake called \"the waters of Merom\"; then,\nissuing from that lake, it flows, after a short course, into the\nLake of Gennesaret, or Sea of Galilee, which is about twelve miles\nlong; then, issuing from the Lake of Gennesaret, it flows southward,\nthrough a very deep valley to the Dead Sea, which has no outlet and\nis extremely salt. During most of its course the Jordan Valley lies\nfar below the level of the sea, being on account of this peculiarity\nabsolutely unique among the river valleys of the world. The Dead Sea\nis 1292 feet, and the Lake of Gennesaret 682 feet, below sea level.\nIt was on the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret that a large part\nof our Lord's ministry was carried on. Centuries of misrule have\nnow ruined the country, but in those days Galilee supported a large\npopulation. The shores of the lake, particularly, were lined with\nvillages and towns. The work of our Lord was thus carried on amid\n\"life's throng and press,\" though from time to time he sought out\nthe desert places for rest and prayer.\n\n\nMatthew 4:18-22, and Parallels\n\nAt the beginning of the ministry on the shores of the Lake of\nGalilee, Jesus called the two pairs of brothers--Simon Peter and\nAndrew, and James and John. Matt. 4:18-22, and parallels. They had\nknown Jesus before, and had devoted themselves to his service. But\nnow they were commanded to show their devotion by leaving their\nordinary occupation and becoming Jesus' permanent followers.\n\n\nMark 1:21-39, and Parallels\n\nThe Gospels give a vivid picture of a Sabbath which Jesus spent at\nCapernaum near the beginning of his Galil\u00e6an ministry. Mark 1:21-34,\nand parallels. As usual, he went into the synagogue. Our Lord knew\nhow to find God's handiwork in the flowers of the field; but he was\nnot like those who think that the worship of God through nature\nis any substitute for the public worship of the Church. In the\nsynagogue the people were astonished at Jesus' teaching: \"He taught\nthem as having authority, and not as the scribes.\" But they were\nalso astonished at his power; he commanded even the unclean spirits\nand they obeyed him. He was not merely a teacher, but also a healer;\nhe brought not merely guidance, but also active help.\n\nAfter the synagogue service, Jesus went into the house of Simon and\nAndrew with James and John. In the house he healed Simon's wife's\nmother who was sick of a fever. Others had heard of the wonderful\npower of Jesus, and desired to be healed. But in order not to break\nthe Sabbath, they waited until sunset, when the Jewish Sabbath was\nover. At sunset they brought to Jesus those who were sick and those\nwho were possessed with demons, and Jesus put forth his divine power\nto heal.\n\nIt had been a crowded, busy day. Our Lord must have been weary as\nnight at last came. But even in such busy days, he took time to\nseek the source of all strength. A great while before the dawn he\nwent out into a desert place and there prayed. Mark 1:35-39, and\nparallels.\n\n\nMatthew 9:1-8, and Parallels\n\nAfter a tour in the Galil\u00e6an synagogues, with both preaching and\nhealing, our Lord returned to Capernaum. There, as is told in one\nof the vivid narratives of the Gospels, Jesus healed a paralytic.\nMatt. 9:1-8, and parallels. The sick man could not be brought in by\nthe door of the house because of the crowds. But he and his friends\nwere not to be denied. The four friends who bore his couch lowered\nhim through the roof into the place where Jesus was. They had found\nthe Healer at last. But bodily healing was not the first gift which\nJesus bestowed. \"Son,\" said Jesus, \"thy sins are forgiven.\" It was\na strange physician indeed who could forgive sins. The scribes said\nthat the word of Jesus was blasphemy. And so it was, unless Jesus\nhimself were God. As a proof of his divine power, the Lord said also\nto the paralytic, \"Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk.\" And so the\nman went away from the presence of the great Healer, whole in body\nand in mind.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON V\n\n     1. Describe the political and the physical divisions of\n        Palestine. In what parts of the country was our Lord's\n        ministry carried on? Where was Nazareth? Capernaum? Point out\n        these places on a map.\n\n     2. Describe the call of the four disciples. When and where had\n        they followed Jesus before? What was their occupation?\n\n     3. Give an account of the Sabbath in Capernaum that is described\n        in the Gospels. What great divisions of Jesus' work were\n        illustrated on that day?\n\n     4. Describe the healing of the paralytic. What can be learned\n        from this incident about the nature of Jesus' person? Why were\n        the scribes offended?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON VI\n\nThe Period of Popularity\n\n\nDuring the first part of the Galil\u00e6an ministry, our Lord had the\nfavor of the people. Great crowds followed him so that he could\nscarcely enter into a house. On one occasion he embarked in a little\nboat and put forth a short distance into the lake, so as to be able\nto speak to the throng on the shore.\n\nThis popularity, it is true, was not universal. The common people\nheard Jesus gladly, but the official teachers were hostile. These\nteachers, who are called scribes, belonged for the most part to\nthe sect of the Pharisees. At the time of Christ there were two\nchief parties among the Jews--the Pharisees and the Sadducees.\nThe Sadducees were a worldly aristocracy, in possession of the\nhigh-priestly offices at Jerusalem, favored by the Romans, and\nsatisfied with the existing political order. The Pharisees, on\nthe other hand, were a strict Jewish party, insisted on a strict\ninterpretation of the Mosaic Law, and added to the Law a great mass\nof oral \"tradition,\" which ostensibly consisted of interpretation\nof the Law, but really meant an enormous and oppressive addition\nto it. The Pharisees were opposed to Jesus for at least two\nreasons. In the first place, they were envious of his success in\nteaching, which endangered their own position. In the second place,\nthey were opposed to the contents of his teaching; he rejected\ntheir interpretation of the Law, and rebuked them for paying such\nattention to the detailed rules which were set forth in their\ntradition as to forget the weightier matters of justice and mercy.\n\nThe conflict of Jesus with the Pharisees was precipitated\nparticularly by the attitude of Jesus toward the Sabbath. The\nSabbath controversy was carried on partly in Galilee and partly,\nJohn, ch. 5, during a visit of Jesus to Jerusalem. The Pharisees had\ndeveloped for the preservation of the Sabbath an elaborate set of\nrules which went far beyond what was set forth in the Old Testament.\nThey were offended, therefore, when Jesus refused to rebuke his\ndisciples for plucking the ears of wheat on the Sabbath Day, and\nwhen he himself insisted on using the Sabbath to perform works of\nmercy like the healing of the man that had a withered hand.\n\nBut for the present the opposition of the Pharisees was held in\ncheck by the favor which our Lord had among the people.\n\nThis favor was due partly to the teaching of Jesus and partly to his\nmiracles. He interpreted the Scriptures in a fresh, original way;\n\"He taught as one having authority and not as their scribes.\" And he\nhad power to heal every manner of disease and to cast out demons. It\nwas no wonder that the crowds followed so wonderful a teacher.\n\n\nMatthew 4:17\n\nThe Galil\u00e6an teaching of Jesus began with the proclamation of the\nKingdom of God. The message sounded at first somewhat like the\nmessage of John the Baptist. Quite like John, Jesus came forward\nwith the summons, \"Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.\"\nBut the new teacher differed from John in the more complete account\nwhich he gave of the nature of the Kingdom, and especially in the\ncentral place in the Kingdom which he assigned to himself.\n\n\nMatthew, Chapters 5 to 7\n\nThe nature of the Kingdom of God is set forth in the great discourse\nof our Lord which is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount.\nMatt., chs. 5 to 7. Having gone up from the shores of the Sea of\nGalilee to the heights which surround the lake, our Lord taught his\ndisciples what was to be the life of those who should have a part\nin the Kingdom of God. In one sense, the Kingdom lay altogether in\nthe future; it would be ushered in with full power only at the end\nof the world. But in another sense, it was present already wherever\nthere were those who were truly submitting their lives to Jesus.\n\nThe Sermon on the Mount contains certain features which are\nfundamental in all of Jesus' teaching.\n\nIn the first place, God is presented, in the Sermon on the Mount,\nas \"Father.\" The fatherhood of God, in the teaching of Jesus, is\nsometimes misunderstood. Jesus did not mean that God is Father\nof all men. God stands indeed to all men in a relation which is\nanalogous to that of a father to his children; he cares for all, he\nmakes his sun to rise upon all. Matt. 5:45. But in the teaching of\nJesus and in the whole New Testament the lofty term, \"Father,\" is\nreserved for a still more intimate relationship. So in the Sermon on\nthe Mount the great world without is sharply distinguished from the\ncompany of Jesus' disciples; it is only the latter who can say, \"Our\nFather which art in heaven.\"\n\nThere was nothing narrow in such teaching; for although in Jesus'\nteaching the intimate relation of sonship toward God was offered\nonly to those who should be of the household of faith, yet the door\nof the household of faith was open wide to all who would be willing\nto come in. Indeed Jesus himself died on the cross with the purpose\nof opening that door. Our Saviour did far more than teach men that\nthey were already children of God; he came to make them children of\nGod by his saving work.\n\nIn the second place, the Sermon on the Mount tells what kind of life\nis led by those who should have entered into the Kingdom and been\nmade the children of God. That life is far more than obedience to a\nset of external rules; the purity which Jesus demanded is a purity\nof the heart. The life in the Kingdom is also far removed from all\npretense; the children of God engage in prayer and good works not\nto be seen by men but to be seen by God. Finally, the life in the\nKingdom is a life of perfect trust; all anxious thought for the\nmorrow is banished, since God will care for his children.\n\nOne difficulty arises in the reading of the Sermon on the Mount. How\ncan such an ideal be attained? It might be possible to obey a set\nof rules, like the rules of the Pharisees, but how is it possible\nfor sinful men to attain purity of heart? The righteousness of the\nKingdom of heaven exceeds by far the \"righteousness of the scribes\nand Pharisees.\" How can such righteousness be attained?\n\nThe answer to this question was partly understood even by the first\nhearers of the Sermon on the Mount. The disciples of Jesus knew even\nthen that Jesus alone could give them entrance into the Kingdom;\nthey trusted in him already not merely as teacher but also as\nSaviour. But the answer to the question is far plainer to us; for\nwe know the cross. The atoning death of Christ it was that gave men\nthe kind of righteousness required for entrance into the Kingdom\nof God, for it gave them the righteousness of Christ himself. The\nsignificance of the cross was spoken of by our Lord even during his\nearthly ministry, but the full explanation of it was left to the\napostles. The saving work of Jesus could be fully explained only\nafter it had been done.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON VI\n\n     1. What is the meaning of \"the kingdom of God,\" in Jesus'\n        teaching?\n\n     2. Who were the Sadducees? Who were the Pharisees, and why were\n        they opposed to Jesus?\n\n     3. Give an outline of the Sermon on the Mount.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON VII\n\nThe Turning Point\n\n\nThe teaching of Jesus was carried on in various ways. Sometimes\nthere were extended discourses like the Sermon on the Mount. On\nthe other hand, much of the most precious teaching of our Lord is\ncontained in brief sayings which were uttered in answer to some\nobjection or in view of some special situation. One other form of\nteaching requires special attention--namely, the parables.\n\n\nMark 4:1-34, and Parallels\n\nA parable is a narrative taken from ordinary life, but intended to\nteach some spiritual lesson. It differs from an allegory in that\nthe application is not to be carried out in such detail. Ordinarily\na parable teaches simply one lesson; there is only one point of\nsimilarity between the literal meaning of the parable and the\ndeeper spiritual truth. Thus when our Lord compared God's answer to\nprayer with the answer which an unjust judge gives to an importunate\nwidow, the details in the two cases are not intended to be similar;\nGod is very different from the unjust judge. But there is one point\nof similarity--importunity does have its effect in both cases.\n\nThe distinction between a parable and an allegory is not an absolute\ndistinction, and sometimes the two shade into each other. Thus the\nparable of the Wicked Husbandmen, which Jesus uttered nearly at the\nclose of his earthly ministry, partakes largely of the nature of\nallegory. The details to a considerable extent are significant--the\nwicked husbandmen represent the Jews and their leaders, the servants\nwho were first sent represent the prophets, the son who was sent\nlast represents Jesus himself. But many of Jesus' parables are\nparables pure and simple; they are not intended to be pressed in\ndetail, but teach, each of them, some one lesson.\n\nThe purpose of Jesus in using parables was twofold. In the first\nplace the parables were not clear to those who did not wish to\nlearn. In accordance with a principle of the divine justice, willful\nclosing of the eyes to the truth brought an increase of darkness.\nBut in the second place, to those who were willing to receive the\ntruth, the parables were made gloriously plain; the figurative form\nof the teaching only served to drive the meaning home.\n\nThe ministry of Jesus did not consist merely of teaching. Along with\nthe teaching there went wonderful manifestations of divine power.\nThese manifestations of divine power were of various kinds. Many\nof them were miracles of healing; Jesus had power to make the lame\nto walk, the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear. He also had power to\ncast out demons. At the presence of the Son of God, Satan and his\nministers had put forth all their baneful power. But the demons were\nobliged to flee at Jesus' word.\n\n\nMatthew 8:23-27, and Parallels\n\nNot all of the miracles, however, were miracles of healing. Some\nof the most notable of them were of a different kind. But all of\nthem were manifestations of Jesus' divine power. When, on the lake,\nin the midst of the frightened disciples, our Lord said to the\nwinds and the waves, \"Peace, be still,\" the Ruler of all nature was\nrevealed. The particular form of Jesus' miracles depended upon his\nown inscrutable will; but all of the miracles revealed him as the\nMaster of the world. He who had made the world in the beginning\ncould still put forth the same creative power. A miracle, as\ndistinguished from the ordinary course of nature, is a manifestation\nof the creative, as distinguished from the providential, power of\nGod.\n\n\nMatthew 14:13-21, and Parallels\n\nAmong the miracles of Jesus the feeding of the five thousand seems\nto have been particularly important. Its importance is indicated\nby the fact that it is narrated in all four of the Gospels. Matt.\n14:13-21, and parallels. Even the Gospel of John, which is concerned\nfor the most part with what happened in Judea, here runs parallel\nwith the Synoptic Gospels and narrates an event which happened in\nGalilee.\n\nThis event marks the climax of the popularity of our Lord and at\nthe same time the beginning of his rejection. Even before this time\nhe had been rejected by some; his popularity had been by no means\nuniversal. He had been opposed by the scribes and Pharisees; he had\nnot been understood even by the members of his own household; and he\nhad been rejected twice at the town where he had been brought up.\nBut for the most part he had enjoyed the favor of the people.\n\nAt the time of the feeding of the five thousand, this popular\nfavor had reached its height. Jesus had withdrawn from the crowds\ninto a lonely place across the lake from Capernaum. But such was\nhis popularity that he could not escape. The people followed him\neven when he tried to be alone; they had had no thought of food\nor of lodging for the night, so eager had they been to listen to\nhis teaching. When evening came, therefore, they were in want. But\nour Lord had pity on them because they were like sheep without a\nshepherd. By a gracious manifestation of his divine power he made\nthe five loaves and two fishes suffice for all the multitude.\n\n\nMatthew 14:22-34, and Parallels\n\nAfter the feeding of the five thousand Jesus found at last the\nsolitude which he had sought; he went up into the mountain to pray.\nThe multitudes were making their way around the lake by the shore;\nthe disciples had taken the only boat and were rowing hard against\nthe wind. But about three o'clock at night our Lord came to the\ndisciples walking upon the water. It is no wonder that they bowed\nbefore him and said, \"Of a truth thou art the Son of God.\"\n\n\nJohn 6:22-71\n\nMeanwhile the multitude had gone on foot around the lake to\nCapernaum. When they found Jesus there before them they were\nastonished. But their astonishment, unfortunately, was not of the\nkind that leads to true and abiding faith. They had valued the\nearthly bread which Jesus had given them, but were not willing to\nreceive the spiritual bread. Jesus himself, he told them, was the\nBread of life who had come down from heaven; only those could truly\nlive who would feed upon him by accepting his saving work. John\n6:22-71.\n\nIt seemed to the Jews to be a hard saying. How could the Jesus whose\nfamily they knew be the bread which had come down from heaven? Many\neven of those who had formerly followed Jesus were offended at this\n\"hard saying.\" The popularity of Jesus at this time began to wane.\n\nBut there were some disciples who remained. Jesus had chosen twelve\nmen, whom he called apostles. He had had them as his companions,\nand already he had sent them out on a mission to teach and to\nheal. Turning now to them, he asked, \"Would ye also go away?\" Then\nPeter, speaking for the others, showed the difference between true\ndisciples and those who are offended at every hard saying. \"Lord,\"\nhe said, \"to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.\"\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON VII\n\n     1. What is a parable? How does it differ from an allegory?\n\n     2. Why did Jesus use parables? Mention some of the parables\n        recorded in the Gospels.\n\n     3. What is a miracle? Why did Jesus work miracles?\n\n     4. What is the particular importance of the feeding of the five\n        thousand?\n\n     5. Why were the people offended by the discourse on the Bread of\n        life?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON VIII\n\nJesus as Messiah\n\n\nThe waning of Jesus' popularity was by no means sudden. Even\nafter the discourse on the Bread of life, we frequently find the\nmultitudes around him. But in general, from that time on our Lord\nseems to have withdrawn from the crowds more frequently than before,\nin order to devote himself to the instruction of his intimate\ndisciples.\n\n\nMatthew 15:21-39, and Parallels\n\nAt this time our Lord withdrew into Phoenicia, northwest of\nPalestine. In Phoenicia he healed the daughter of a Syrophoenician\nwoman. It was a foretaste of the rich streams of mercy which after\nPentecost were to flow out into the whole world.\n\nAfter a brief stay in Phoenicia, Jesus returned to Galilee, where\nhe engaged again in controversy with the Pharisees and again, by\nhis divine power, fed a great multitude. This second time four\nthousand men were fed. There were also miracles of healing, and in\ngeneral the essential characteristics of the Galil\u00e6an ministry were\ncontinued.\n\n\nMatthew 16:13-20, and Parallels\n\nBut before long Jesus departed again from Galilee, and finally went\nwith his disciples to the regions of C\u00e6sarea Philippi, northeast\nof Galilee. Near C\u00e6sarea Philippi occurred the great confession of\nPeter, which is one of the most important incidents of the Gospel\nrecord. Matt. 16:13-20, and parallels.\n\n\"Who,\" Jesus asked of his disciples, \"do men say that I am? And they\ntold him, saying, Elijah; but others, One of the prophets. And he\nasked them, But who say ye that I am? Peter answereth and saith unto\nhim, Thou art the Christ.\" Mark 8:27-29.\n\nIn this confession Peter recognized that Jesus was the \"Messiah,\"\nthe \"Anointed One,\" or according to the Greek translation of the\nsame word, \"the Christ.\" It was by no means the first recognition\nof the fact. The Messiahship of Jesus had been revealed to Joseph\nand Mary and Zacharias and Elisabeth even before Jesus was born; it\nhad been revealed to the shepherds and the Wise Men who greeted the\ninfant Saviour; it had been revealed to John the Baptist; it had\nbeen revealed to the little group of disciples who left John at the\nJordan in order to follow Jesus; it had been proclaimed by Jesus\nhimself in his conversations with Nicodemus and with the Samaritan\nwoman; it had been recognized even by the unclean spirits.\n\nBut although Jesus had been proclaimed as Messiah before, the\nconfession of Peter was by no means a matter of course. Although\nthe disciples had already accepted Jesus as the Messiah it required\nconsiderable faith and devotion to continue to accept him, for Jesus\nwas not the kind of Messiah whom the Jews had been expecting. They\nhad been expecting a Messiah who, as anointed king of Israel, would\ndeliver God's people from the Roman oppressors, and make Jerusalem\nthe center of the whole world.\n\nSuch expectations seemed to be set at nought by the Prophet of\nNazareth. No kingly pomp surrounded him; he mingled freely with the\ncommon people; he lived in the utmost humility, having not even a\nplace to lay his head. Political Messiahship he definitely refused.\nWhen, after the feeding of the five thousand, the people were about\nto come and make him a king--that is, the Messianic king--he left\nthem and withdrew into the mountain. John 6:15. It is no wonder that\nthey were disappointed. All their enthusiasm seemed to be ruthlessly\nquenched. Jesus would have absolutely nothing to do with the kind of\nMessiahship which they offered.\n\nBy this attitude of Jesus not only the multitudes were discouraged.\nEven the members of Jesus' household failed to understand, and the\nvery forerunner of Jesus, John the Baptist himself, was assailed,\nmomentarily at least, by doubts. Conceivably the twelve apostles\nalso might have been discouraged. But their faith remained firm.\nDespite all disappointments, despite the refusal of our Lord to\naccept what were supposed to be prerogatives of Messiahship, Peter\nwas able still to say, at C\u00e6sarea Philippi, \"Thou art the Christ.\"\n\nBut in what sense was Jesus the Christ? He was not an earthly king\nwho would lead the armies of Israel out to battle against the\nRomans. He was not that sort of Messiah. What then was he? What was\nJesus' own conception of Messiahship?\n\nIn order to answer that question fully, it would be necessary to\nreturn to the study of the Old Testament. Jesus accepted to the full\nthe Old Testament promises about the Messiah; what he rejected was\nmerely a false interpretation of them.\n\nEven those promises of the Old Testament which make the Messiah a\nking of David's line were fulfilled in Jesus. He was actually of\nDavid's line, and he was born in David's city. He was also the King\nof Israel.\n\nOnly his kingship was exercised in ways different from those which\nthe people generally were expecting. And there were other features\nof the Old Testament promises which Jesus also fulfilled. Jesus\nwas not only Son of David; he was also Son of Man. The title \"Son\nof Man,\" which was Jesus' own Messianic designation of himself,\ndoes not denote merely the humanity of Jesus in distinction\nfrom his deity. On the contrary, it is plainly taken from the\nstupendous scene in Dan. 7:13, where \"one like unto a son of man\" is\nrepresented as coming with the clouds of heaven, and as being in\nthe presence of God. It indicates, therefore, not the human weakness\nof Jesus, but his exalted position as supreme Ruler and Judge.\n\nIt is not surprising that for a time at least during his earthly\nministry Jesus used this title of the Messiah rather than the\nother titles, for the title Son of Man was without the political\nassociations which Jesus desired to avoid. It had been employed, not\nso much by the masses of the people, as by the circles which read\nthe books which are called the \"Apocalypses.\" In these books, on the\nbasis of Daniel and other Old Testament prophecies, the Messiah was\nrepresented not as a political king, but as a heavenly, supernatural\nperson. The title, therefore, was admirably fitted to designate\nthe lofty character of the Messiah's person, without the dangerous\npolitical associations which had gathered around certain other\ntitles.\n\nIndeed for a time, in the early Galil\u00e6an ministry, our Lord seems\nto have kept his Messiahship somewhat in the background. Public\nproclamation of his Messiahship would have aroused false, worldly\nhopes of political upheaval. Before proclaiming himself again as\nMessiah, our Lord needed to make clear by his teaching and by his\nexample what kind of Messiah he was; before finally setting up his\nKingdom he needed to show that that Kingdom was not of this world.\nBut he was Messiah and King from the beginning, and even at the\nbeginning his Messiahship had been made known.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON VIII\n\n     1. Mention some of the titles which are used to designate Jesus\n        as Messiah, and explain their meaning. Was the title \"Son of\n        Man\" ever used with reference to Jesus by anyone except Jesus\n        himself?\n\n     2. What was the significance of Peter's confession?\n\n     3. Why did Jesus become less popular than he was at first?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON IX\n\nThe Prediction of the Cross\n\n\nPeter's confession at C\u00e6sarea Philippi was a triumph of faith, for\nwhich Jesus pronounced Peter blessed. Through a revelation from God,\nPeter had been made able to endure the disappointment involved in\nJesus' refusal of kingly honors. But another trial of faith was soon\nto come.\n\n\nMatthew 16:21-28, and Parallels\n\nAfter Peter's acknowledgment of Jesus as Messiah, our Lord began\nto teach the disciples more of what his Messiahship meant. Matt.\n16:21-28, and parallels. It meant, he said, not worldly honors,\nand not merely a continuation of the humble life in Galilee, but\nactual sufferings and death. This teaching was more than Peter could\nendure. \"Be it far from thee, Lord,\" he said, \"this shall never be\nunto thee.\" In such rebellion against God's will Jesus recognized\na repetition of the temptation which had come to him at the first,\nimmediately after the voice from heaven had proclaimed him to be\nthe Messiah--the temptation to use his Messianic power for his own\nworldly glory. And now as well as then the temptation was resolutely\novercome. \"Get thee behind me, Satan,\" said Jesus: \"thou art a\nstumblingblock unto me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but\nthe things of men.\"\n\nJesus was thus ready to tread the path of suffering which he had\ncome into the world, for our sakes, to tread. And he called upon his\ntrue disciples to tread that path after him. Yet all the suffering\nwas to be followed by a greater glory than Peter had ever conceived;\nand almost immediately there was a wonderful foretaste of that glory.\n\n\nMatthew 17:1-13, and Parallels\n\nSix days after the scene at C\u00e6sarea Philippi, our Lord took Peter\nand James and John, his three most intimate disciples, with him\nup upon a high mountain--no doubt somewhere on the slopes of the\nlofty Mount Hermon. There he was transfigured before them, Matt.\n17:1-13, and parallels; \"his face did shine as the sun, and his\ngarments became white as the light.\" With him appeared Moses and\nElijah, talking with him. And they were talking about what seems to\nbe a strange subject at such a moment. They were talking not of the\nglories of Jesus' Kingdom, but of the \"departure\" which he was about\nto accomplish at Jerusalem. Luke 9:31. The \"departure\" included not\nonly the resurrection and the ascension, but also the crucifixion.\nEven the shining light of the transfiguration was intended to point\nto the cross.\n\n\nMatthew 17:14-20, and Parallels\n\nAfter the glorious experience on the mountain, our Lord came at\nonce into contact with the repulsiveness of human misery. Matt.\n17:14-20, and parallels. But he did not shrink from the sudden\ntransition. As he came down from the mountain, he found at the\nbottom a boy possessed of a demon, who \"fell on the ground, and\nwallowed foaming.\" It was a depressing sight, very unlike the\nbrightness of the transfiguration. Even more discouraging, moreover,\nthan the condition of the boy himself was the powerlessness of the\ndisciples. They had tried to cast the demon out but had failed\nmiserably, not because the power might not have been theirs, but\nbecause of their unbelief. The father of the boy, too, was lacking\nin faith. \"I believe,\" he said; \"help thou mine unbelief.\" Jesus did\nhelp his unbelief, and the unbelief of the disciples. He rebuked the\nunclean spirit, and healed the boy.\n\nAt this period Jesus repeated on several occasions the prophecy of\nhis death. The tragedy on Calvary did not overtake him unawares. He\nwent deliberately to his death for our sakes.\n\n\nMatthew 18:1-6, and Parallels\n\nEven on such solemn days, when the shadow of the cross lay over the\npath, the disciples were unable to overcome the pettiness of their\ncharacter. On the very journey when Jesus had told them about his\napproaching death, they had quarreled about the question as to which\nof them should be greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. Thereby they\nhad shown how far they were from understanding the true nature of\nthe Kingdom. If the Kingdom was finally to be advanced under the\nleadership of such men, some mighty change would have to take place\nin them. That change did take place afterwards, as we shall see, at\nPentecost. But at present the pettiness and carnal-mindedness of the\ndisciples added to the sorrows of our Lord. Despite the intimacy\ninto which he entered with his earthly friends, he towered in lonely\ngrandeur above them all.\n\nAfter the transfiguration and related events near C\u00e6sarea Philippi,\nour Lord returned to Galilee. But apparently he did not resume\npermanently his Galil\u00e6an ministry. Soon we find him passing through\nSamaria, and laboring in Judea and in that country east of the\nJordan River which is called Perea. This part of Jesus' ministry is\nrecorded particularly in the Gospels According to Luke and According\nto John, although Matthew and Mark contain important information\nabout the latter part of the period. The general character of the\nperiod is fixed by the expectation of the cross. Jesus had set his\nface toward Jerusalem to accomplish the atoning work which he had\ncome into the world to perform.\n\n\nLuke 10:1-24; John, Chapter 5\n\nAt the beginning of the period Jesus sent out seventy disciples,\nto prepare for his own coming into the several cities and villages\nwhich he was intending to visit. The Seventy were in possession of\nsomething of Jesus' power; they were able to report with joy that\nthe demons were subjected to them.\n\nDuring the same period we find Jesus in Jerusalem at the feast of\ntabernacles. Even during the period of the Galil\u00e6an ministry Jesus\nhad gone up to Jerusalem at least once, at the time of one of the\nJewish feasts; and in connection with the healing of a man at the\npool of Bethesda he had then set forth the true nature of his person\nand his relation to God the Father. John, ch. 5. At the later period\nwith which we are now dealing, the same teaching was continued. Chs.\n7, 8.\n\n\nMatthew 11:27, and Parallels\n\nIt is particularly the Gospel of John which records the way in which\nJesus set forth the nature of his own person, but what is fully\nset forth in the Gospel of John is really implied all through the\nSynoptic Gospels, and in Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22 it is made just as\nplain as it is in John. According to his own teaching, Jesus stood\nin a relation toward God the Father which is absolutely different\nfrom that in which other men stand toward God. In the plainest\npossible way, our Lord laid claim to true deity. \"I and my Father,\"\nhe said, \"are one.\" All the Gospels present the true humanity of\nJesus, the Gospel According to John, no less than the Synoptists.\nBut all the Gospels also set forth his deity. He was, according to a\ntrue summary of the Gospel teaching, \"God and man, in two distinct\nnatures, and one person for ever.\"\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON IX\n\n     1. What trial of Peter's faith came just after his great\n        confession?\n\n     2. What was the meaning of the transfiguration?\n\n     3. What event took place just afterwards?\n\n     4. Give an account of Jesus' teaching at the time of the feast\n        of tabernacles. John, chs. 7, 8. How was this teaching\n        received?\n\n     5. Give an account of the mission of the Seventy and compare it\n        with the previous mission of the Twelve.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON X\n\nThe Last Journeys\n\n\nJohn, Chapter 9\n\nDuring the latter part of Jesus' ministry, with which Lesson IX\nbegan to deal, Jesus spoke some of the most beautiful of his\nparables. A number of them, such as the Good Samaritan and the\nProdigal Son, are recorded only by Luke. From the same period the\nGospel According to John records some notable teaching of Jesus, in\naddition to that which was mentioned in the last lesson. Part of\nthis teaching was introduced by the healing of the man born blind.\nJohn, ch. 9. This miracle, which had been performed on the Sabbath,\nhad aroused the special opposition of the Pharisees. In answer to\nthem, our Lord pointed out the difference between those leaders of\nthe people who are like robbers breaking into the sheepfold or at\nbest like hirelings who flee at the first approach of danger, and\nthe good shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for the sheep.\nSuch a shepherd was Jesus himself, and his life was soon to be laid\ndown.\n\n\nJohn 11:1-53\n\nFinally, after various journeyings of Jesus in Judea and in Perea,\nthere occurred in Bethany, a little village near Jerusalem, one of\nthe most notable of our Lord's miracles. John 11:1-44. At Bethany\nlived a certain Lazarus with his sisters Martha and Mary, whom Jesus\nknew well. Lazarus fell ill during the absence of Jesus across the\nJordan in Perea; and the illness resulted in his death. On the\nfourth day after Lazarus' death, Jesus came to Bethany. Martha came\nto meet him; Mary remained mourning in the house, until her sister\nbrought word that Jesus had arrived. Then she, too, went to meet\nthe Lord. When Jesus saw her and her friends weeping for the one\nwho had died, he, too, wept with them. But he had power not only to\nsympathize, but also to help. Going with the sisters to the tomb, he\ncaused the stone to be removed, then prayed, and then called with a\nloud voice, \"Lazarus, come forth.\" At the word of Jesus, the dead\nman came out of the tomb. Jesus was Master over death and the grave.\n\nIt was not the first time that our Lord had raised the dead. He had\nraised the daughter of Jairus in Galilee and the son of the widow\nof Nain. But the raising of Lazarus is especially important, not\nonly because of the wonderfully vivid way in which the incident\nis narrated in the Gospel According to John, but also because it\nserved to hasten the crisis in Jerusalem. Both the Sadducees and\nthe Pharisees were now aroused. The movement instituted by Jesus\nhad reached alarming proportions. If allowed to continue it would\nbe full of danger. The Romans, it was feared, would regard it as\nrebellion and would utterly destroy the nation of the Jews. The\ndiverse parties among the Jewish leaders were becoming more and more\nunited against the strange Prophet from Galilee.\n\n\nJohn 11:54\n\nFor a short time still the crisis was delayed. Our Lord retired from\nJudea to a city called Ephraim, near the wilderness. We also find\nhim, in this period of his life, again beyond the Jordan, in Perea.\nIn this Perean residence is to be placed a portion of the teaching\ncontained in the Synoptic Gospels, such as the teaching concerning\ndivorce, Matt. 19:3-12, and parallels, the words to the rich young\nruler, vs. 16-30, and parallels, and the parable of the Laborers in\nthe Vineyard. Matt. 20:1-16.\n\n\nLuke 19:2-10\n\nBefore long, however, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for the last time.\nOn the way, when he was passing through Jericho, in the Jordan\nValley, he healed two blind men, and converted the tax collector\nZacch\u00e6us. The conversion of Zacch\u00e6us was in accord with Jesus'\ncustom all through his ministry. The taxgatherers were despised\nby the rest of the Jews at the time of Christ. They had allied\nthemselves with the Roman oppressors, and no doubt most of them\nwere guilty of abominable extortion on their own account. By the\nPharisees, particularly, they were regarded as belonging to the very\ndregs of the people, with whom no true observer of the law could be\nintimate. But Jesus was bound by no limits in his saving work. He\ndid not condone sin--either the sin of the taxgatherers or the sin\nof the Pharisees. But he was willing to save from sin all who would\nbelieve. The whole, he said, need not a physician, but they that are\nsick. The Son of Man had come to \"seek and to save that which was\nlost.\"\n\n\nJohn 11:55 to 12:1\n\nToiling up the long ascent from Jericho, our Lord arrived at last,\nsix days before the passover, at the village of Bethany, which is\nless than two miles from Jerusalem. During the remaining time\nbefore the crucifixion Jesus went every morning into the city and\nreturned in the evening to lodge with his friends at Bethany.\n\n\nMatthew 26:6-13, and Parallels\n\nSoon after his arrival at Bethany, when Jesus was reclining at table\nin the house of a certain Simon the leper, he was anointed by Mary\nthe sister of Lazarus. Matt. 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9; John 12:2-8. This\nanointing is not to be confused with a somewhat similar event which\nhad taken place some time before, when Jesus had been anointed by a\nwoman who had been a notorious sinner. Luke 7:36-50. The disciples\nmurmured at the waste. The precious ointment, they said, might have\nbeen sold for a great sum, which could have been distributed to the\npoor. Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, had a special cause for\ndissatisfaction; in his case the mention of the poor was only a\ncloak for covetousness. Judas kept the bag, and if the proceeds of\nthe ointment had been put into his keeping, he could have indulged\nhis thieving propensities. But all the murmuring, whether it\nproceeded from more sordid motives or from a mere misunderstanding\nof the true spirit of the woman's act, was rebuked by our Lord. The\nwoman, he said, had anointed his body beforehand for the burial. The\ndays just before the crucifixion were no time for true disciples\nto murmur at an act which was prompted by overflowing love for the\nSaviour who was so soon to die.\n\n\nMatthew 21:1-11, and Parallels\n\nOn the day after the supper at Bethany, that is, on the day\nafter the Jewish Sabbath, on the ninth day of the Jewish spring\nmonth Nisan, our Lord entered into Jerusalem. Matt. 21:1-11, and\nparallels. It was a triumphal entry; Jesus was received publicly by\nthe multitudes as the Messiah, the promised King of Israel. Even the\nmanner of his entry was in accordance with prophecy; he came riding\nover the Mount of Olives and into the city mounted on an ass, in\naccordance with Zech. 9:9. The promised King of Israel at last had\ncome. The multitudes strewed palm branches in the way, and cried,\n\"Hosanna to the son of David.\"\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON X\n\n     1. Where was Perea? Jericho? Bethany? Ephraim? Find on a map the\n        places mentioned in this lesson.\n\n     2. Give an account of all the times when Jesus, during his\n        earthly ministry, raised the dead. In what Gospels are these\n        incidents narrated?\n\n     3. What is the special importance of the raising of Lazarus?\n\n     4. Give an account of some of those parables of Jesus which are\n        contained only in the Gospel According to Luke.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XI\n\nTeaching in the Temple\n\n\nDespite the enthusiasm which the multitudes had shown at the time\nwhen Jesus entered into Jerusalem, despite the shouts of those who\ncried, \"Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,\" Jesus\nknew that he was going to his death, and that Jerusalem would soon\nturn against her King. \"When he drew nigh,\" we are told in the\nGospel According to Luke, \"he saw the city and wept over it, saying,\nIf thou hadst known in this day, even thou, the things which belong\nunto peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.\" Luke 19:41, 42.\n\nOn the Sunday of the triumphal entry it was already late when Jesus\nentered into the Temple area. He did nothing, therefore, that day,\nexcept look about him; and then he returned to Bethany with the\ntwelve apostles. Mark 11:11.\n\n\nMatthew 21:12-19, and Parallels\n\nOn Monday, however, the final conflict began. Entering into the\ncity, our Lord cast out of the Temple those who bought and sold,\njust as he had done at the beginning of his public ministry. The\nrebuke which he had administered several years before had had no\npermanent effect. But Jesus did not hesitate to rebuke again those\nwho made God's house a place of business. The rulers, of course,\nwere incensed. But popular favor for a time put a check upon their\nhate. On the way into the city, Jesus said to a fig tree, which was\nbearing leaves only, \"No man eat fruit from thee henceforward for\never.\" The motives of our Lord's act are not fully known to us; but\nat least he was able afterwards to point out through the case of the\nfig tree the limitless power of faith. The disciples were exhorted\nto pray in faith. But their prayers, Jesus said, must be in love; no\nunforgiving spirit should be left in their souls when they prayed to\ntheir heavenly Father for their own forgiveness.\n\nThe next day, Tuesday, was a day of teaching. Our Lord spent the day\nin the Temple, meeting the attacks of his enemies. And he had an\nanswer to every inquiry; the trick questions of his enemies always\nredounded to their own rebuke.\n\n\nMatthew 21:23-32, and Parallels\n\nFirst our Lord was questioned as to the authority by which he had\ncleansed the Temple the day before. Matt. 21:23-32, and parallels.\nHe answered that question by another question: \"The baptism of\nJohn, whence was it? from heaven or from men?\" The chief priests\nand elders could not say. They were not really sincere seekers for\ndivine authority. But Jesus was not content with having silenced\nthem. He also pointed out, positively, their sin in not receiving\nthe word of God which had come through John.\n\n\nMatthew 21:33-46, and Parallels\n\nStill more scathing was the rebuke which Jesus uttered through the\nparable of the Wicked Husbandmen. Matt. 21:33-46, and parallels. The\nwicked husbandmen had been put in charge of a vineyard. But when\nthe time came to render the fruit of the vineyard to the owner,\nthey killed the servants who were sent to them and finally the\nowner's son. The chief priests and Pharisees needed no elaborate\nexplanation; they would probably in any case have applied the\nparable to themselves. But as a matter of fact Jesus made the\napplication abundantly plain. \"The kingdom of God,\" he said, \"shall\nbe taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing\nforth the fruits thereof.\"\n\n\nMatthew 22:1-14\n\nJust as plainly directed against the wicked leaders of the people,\nand against the rebellious nation itself, was the parable of the\nMarriage of the King's Son. Matt. 22:1-14. Those who were bidden\nto the feast refused to come in; but from the highways and hedges\nthe king's house was filled. So the covenant people, the Jews, had\nrejected the divine invitation; but the despised Gentiles would be\nreceived.\n\n\nMatthew 22:15-40, and Parallels\n\nThe rulers would have liked to put Jesus to death at once; but they\nstill feared the people. So they adopted the underhand method of\ntrying to catch him in his speech. First came the Pharisees and\nthe Herodians, the latter being the partisans of the Herodian\ndynasty, with their adroit question about giving tribute to C\u00e6sar,\nMatt. 22:15-22, and parallels; then the Sadducees, the worldly\naristocracy, who did not believe in the resurrection, with their\nattempt to make the doctrine of the resurrection ridiculous, vs.\n23-33, and parallels; then an individual Pharisee with his question\nabout the greatest commandment in the law. Vs. 24-40, and parallels.\nJesus had a wonderful, profound answer for them all. But only the\nlast inquirer seems to have been at all willing to learn. \"Thou art\nnot far,\" Jesus said to him, \"from the kingdom of God.\" Mark 12:34.\n\n\nMatthew 22:41-46, and Parallels\n\nThen, after all the questions which had been put to him, our Lord\nput one question in turn. \"David himself,\" he said in effect,\n\"calls the Messiah Lord; how is the Messiah, then, David's son?\" In\nthis way Jesus was presenting to the people a higher conception of\nMessiahship than that which they had been accustomed to hold. The\nMessiah was indeed David's Son, but he was not only David's Son.\nMatt. 22:41-46, and parallels.\n\nApparently on the same day, our Lord called attention to the poor\nwidow who was casting her mite into the collection box. A gift, he\nsaid, is measured in the estimation of God not by its amount, but\nby the sacrifice which it means to the giver. Mark 12:41-44, and\nparallel.\n\n\nMatthew, Chapter 23\n\nFinally, on the same memorable Tuesday, our Lord denounced openly\nthe formalism and hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees. Matt., ch.\n23. It was also perhaps on the same day that certain Greeks desired\nto see Jesus, John 12:20, 21--a foretaste of that entrance of\nGentiles into the Church which was to come after the resurrection.\nWe are not told exactly how Jesus received the Greeks, but the\nimportance of the moment was marked by a voice from heaven which\ncame as a divine confirmation of Jesus' message.\n\n\nMatthew, Chapters 24, 25\n\nWhen Jesus, on the same day, had gone out of the Temple and had\nascended to the Mount of Olives, a hill which lay on the way to\nBethany, he taught his disciples about the coming destruction of\nthe Temple and also about the end of the world. Matt., ch. 24, and\nparallels. The time of the end of the world, he said, is unknown\nto all except God, and in expectation of it men should always be\nwatchful. This duty of watchfulness he illustrated by the parables\nof the Ten Virgins, Matt. 25:1-13, and of the Talents. Vs. 14-30.\nThen our Lord drew a great picture of the last awful judgment of\nGod, when the wicked shall be separated from the good. Vs. 31-46.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XI\n\n     1. Where was the Mount of Olives? Describe the route between\n        Bethany and the Temple in Jerusalem.\n\n     2. Compare the two occasions when Jesus cleansed the Temple.\n\n     3. On what occasions during his ministry did Jesus speak about\n        John the Baptist?\n\n     4. Give a full account of the questions which were put to Jesus\n        on the Tuesday of the last week, and of the answers of Jesus.\n\n     5. What were the \"woes\" which Jesus pronounced against the\n        scribes and Pharisees?\n\n     6. What did Jesus say after the Gentiles came to seek him?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XII\n\nThe Crucifixion\n\n\nMatthew 26:1-5, 14-16, and Parallels\n\nOn the Wednesday of the week before the crucifixion, the chief\npriests and elders of the Jews took counsel how they might put Jesus\nto death. The difficulty was that if they arrested so popular a\nteacher in the midst of the crowds who had come to Jerusalem for\nthe approaching feast of the passover, there would be a tumult.\nAt first, therefore, the enemies of Jesus thought that they might\nhave to wait until the passover was over. But they were helped out\nof their difficulty by one of Jesus' own friends. Judas Iscariot,\none of the twelve apostles, proved to be a traitor. He received a\npromise of thirty pieces of silver, and watched for a time when\nJesus would be away from the crowds so that he could be delivered\nquietly into the hands of his enemies, Matt. 26:1-5, 14-16, and\nparallels.\n\n\nMatthew 26:17-19, and Parallels\n\nMeanwhile, on Thursday, Jesus arranged for the celebration of\nthe passover in company with the apostles. The passover feast\ncommemorated the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, especially the\npassing over of Israel's first-born when the first-born sons of\nthe Egyptians were slain. The feast was opened on the evening of\nNisan 14, Nisan being a spring month, and the first month of the\nJewish year. According to Jewish reckoning, the evening of Nisan\n14 constituted the beginning of Nisan 15. Starting from that time,\nthe feast continued for seven days, no unleavened bread being used\nwithin that period. The first and most solemn act of the whole feast\nwas the eating of the paschal lamb on the evening of Nisan 14.\n\nThis passover supper was celebrated by Jesus and the apostles on\nThursday evening, Nisan 14. And the feast was to be continued into\nthe Christian era. The symbols were changed; bread and wine were to\nbe used instead of the paschal lamb. But the fundamental meaning\nof the feast remained the same; both the passover and the Lord's\nSupper had reference to the atoning death of Christ. The paschal\nlamb prefigured the Lamb of God who was to die for the sins of the\nworld; the bread and wine also symbolized the body of Christ broken\nfor us and the blood of Christ poured out for the remission of\nour sins. Thus what the passover symbolized by way of prophecy is\nsymbolized in the Lord's Supper by way of commemoration. And on that\nlast evening our Lord changed the symbols in order to suit the new\ndispensation when, since the Lamb of God had once been offered up,\nother sacrifices should be no more.\n\n\nMatthew 26:20-35, and Parallels\n\nJesus gathered with his apostles for the feast in an upper room.\nMatt. 26:20, and parallels. Then, lamentably enough, there was a\nstrife among the apostles as to who should be the greatest. Luke\n22:24-30. As a rebuke of all such inordinate ambitions our Lord\ngave an example of humility by washing the feet of his disciples.\nJohn 13:1-20. The traitor, Judas Iscariot, then left the apostolic\ncompany, John 13:21-35, and parallels, and the Lord's Supper was\ninstituted. I Cor. 11:23-25; Matt. 26:26-29, and parallels. Then\nthe denial of Peter was foretold; before the cock should crow twice\nPeter would deny his Lord three times.\n\n\nJohn, Chapters 14 to 17\n\nThen followed some of the most precious teaching of Jesus--teaching\nwhich is preserved only in the Gospel According to John. Chs. 14\nto 17. Our Lord spoke of the mission which he had come into the\nworld to fulfill and of the mission which his apostles were to\nfulfill through the power of the Holy Spirit. The meaning of Jesus'\nredeeming work could not fully be explained until it had been\naccomplished. And it was to be explained by the Holy Spirit speaking\nthrough the apostles.\n\n\nMatthew 26:36-46, and Parallels\n\nAfter they had sung a hymn, our Lord went out with the eleven\napostles to the Garden of Gethsemane, outside of Jerusalem, on the\nslopes of the Mount of Olives. Matt. 26:36-46, and parallels. There\nhe sought strength in prayer for the approaching hour when he was to\nbear the penalty of our sins. The disciples were no help to him in\nhis agony; Peter and James and John slept while he prayed. But God\nthe Father heard his prayer.\n\n\nMatthew 26:47 to 27:1\n\nSoon the traitor came with the Temple guard, and Jesus was arrested,\nMatt. 26:47-56, and parallels. On the same evening there was\nan informal hearing of the Prisoner in the house of Annas, the\nfather-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest. Matt. 26:57, 58, 69-75,\nand parallels. Meanwhile Peter and \"another disciple,\" who was no\ndoubt John the son of Zebedee, the writer of the Fourth Gospel, had\nentered into the house. There Peter denied his Lord.\n\nThe next morning there was a more formal meeting of the sanhedrin,\nthe highest court of the Jews. Luke 22:66-71, and parallels. This\nmeeting was intended to confirm the results of the informal hearing\nin the house of Annas. But both meetings were little more than a\nform. The court had really decided the question beforehand; it had\ndetermined to bring Jesus by any means, lawful or otherwise, to his\ndeath. When faced by his enemies, our Lord declared plainly that he\nwas the Messiah, the Son of God. That answer was enough to satisfy\nthe accusers. Jesus was judged guilty of blasphemy.\n\n\nMatthew 27:2-56, and Parallels\n\nBut the sanhedrin did not possess the power of life and death.\nBefore Jesus could be executed, therefore, the findings of the\nsanhedrin had to be confirmed by Pilate, the Roman procurator.\nAnd at first Pilate was recalcitrant to the Jews' demands; he\nwas not able to find in Jesus any cause of death. John 18:28-38,\nand parallels. In his perplexity, Pilate sent the prisoner to be\nexamined by Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, who was at the\ntime in Jerusalem. Luke 23:6-12. But this hearing also was without\ndecisive result.\n\nAt last Pilate yielded, against his better judgment, to the\nimportunity of the Jewish leaders and the mad shouts of the crowds,\nwho had turned now against the One whom formerly they had honored.\nMatt. 27:15-30, and parallels. Pilate delivered Jesus up to the will\nof the Jews. Before the execution, however, the Prisoner was cruelly\nscourged and mocked by the Roman soldiers. Then when a last effort\nof Pilate had failed to placate the wrath of Jesus' enemies, John\n19:4-16, our Lord was finally taken out of the city to be crucified.\nLuke 23:26-33, and parallels.\n\nThe Prisoner at first was compelled to bear the cross on which he\nwas to be put to death, but when his strength gave way a certain\nSimon of Cyrene was pressed into service. A crowd of people from\nJerusalem followed the Prisoner, and especially a number of women\nwho lamented. At last the place of execution was reached. It was\ncalled \"Golgotha,\" or according to the Latin translation of the\nname, \"Calvary.\" There they crucified our Lord. Matt. 27:33-56, and\nparallels.\n\nWith him were crucified two thieves, of whom one repented at the\nlast hour, and received salvation. A number of sayings which Jesus\nuttered on the cross are recorded in the Gospels. At the moment of\ndeath, he cried, \"It is finished.\" John 19:30. The meaning of that\nsaying is plain. The work for which our Lord came into the world at\nlast was done. The Lord of glory had died to wash away the sins of\nall believers. The just penalty of sin had been borne by the One who\nknew no sin.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XII\n\n     1. Summarize the teaching of Jesus on the last evening before\n        the crucifixion.\n\n     2. What happened in Gethsemane?\n\n     3. Describe the trial of Jesus before the sanhedrin and before\n        Pilate.\n\n     4. Why did the Jewish leaders put Jesus to death? Why did Jesus\n        consent to die?\n\n     5. Give an account of the crucifixion of our Lord.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XIII\n\nThe Resurrection\n\n\nThe death of Christ was the greatest event that history has ever\nseen. By that event the grace of God triumphed over sin, and a lost\nworld was redeemed. Apart from Christ we all deserve eternal death.\nBut the Lord of glory, on Calvary, bore the guilt which belonged to\nus, and made us children of God.\n\nSo great an event was accomplished without flare of heavenly\ntrumpets or blazing of heavenly light. To many, the death of Christ\nseemed to be merely the execution of a criminal. But there were not\nwanting some strange phenomena which marked the greatness of the\nevent. From twelve o'clock on the day of the crucifixion there was\ndarkness until three o'clock, when Jesus died. Then the veil of the\nTemple was rent, there was an earthquake, and graves were opened.\nThus was nature made to recognize the suffering and the triumph of\nher Lord.\n\nAfter Jesus had died, his side was pierced by one of the soldiers\nwhom Pilate had sent at the instance of the Jews in order that those\nwho had been crucified should be killed and their bodies removed\nbefore the Sabbath. From the body of Jesus there came out blood\nand water. The event was witnessed by John the son of Zebedee, the\nwriter of the Fourth Gospel. John 19:31-42.\n\n\nMatthew 27:57-66\n\nThen, in the late afternoon of the same day Joseph of Arimathea, a\nsecret disciple of Jesus, removed our Lord's body from the cross\nand placed it in a new tomb. Mark 15:42-46, and parallels. Another\nsecret disciple, or half-disciple, Nicodemus, came also to anoint\nthe body. John 19:39. Certain women also came to see where Jesus\nwas laid. Luke 23:55, 56, and parallels. The chief priests and\nPharisees, on the other hand, obtained a guard from Pilate, to watch\nthe tomb, lest the disciples of Jesus should steal the body of Jesus\naway and say that he had risen from the dead. Matt. 27:62-66.\n\n\nMatthew 28:2-4, 11-15\n\nThe next day was Saturday, the Old Testament Sabbath. The friends\nof Jesus rested on that day. But very early on Sunday morning, the\nwomen started to the tomb bearing spices in order to anoint the\nbody. But before they arrived, our Lord had already risen from\nthe dead. There had been an earthquake, an angel had rolled away\nthe stone from the sepulcher, and our Lord himself had risen. At\nthe sight of the angel, the soldiers of the guard, in their fear,\n\"became as dead men.\" Matt. 28:2-4. All that they could do was to\nreport the event to the chief priests who had sent them. Vs. 11-15.\n\n\nMatthew 28:1, and Parallels; John 20:2; Matthew 28:5-10, and\nParallels\n\nThen the women arrived at the tomb, and found it empty. Matt. 28:1,\nand parallels. One of them, Mary Magdalene, went back to tell Peter\nand John. John 20:2. The others remained at the tomb, and there\nsaw two angels who announced to them that Jesus was risen from the\ndead. On their way back to the city Jesus himself met them, and they\nfell down, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. Matt. 28:5-10, and\nparallels.\n\n\nJohn 20:3-18\n\nMeanwhile, at the message of Mary Magdalene, Peter and John ran to\nthe tomb, found it empty, and believed that Jesus really was risen.\nJohn 20:3-10. But Mary Magdalene, after they had gone, stood weeping\nat the tomb; she supposed that some one had taken the body of her\nLord away. Then Jesus himself came to her, her sorrow was changed\ninto joy, and she joined her voice to that of the other women who\ntold the disciples of the glad event. Vs. 11-18.\n\n\nI Corinthians 15:5; Luke 24:13-49; John 20:19-23\n\nThus far, Jesus himself had been seen only by the women. But now\nhe appeared to Peter, I Cor. 15:5; Luke 24:34, and to two of the\ndisciples who were walking to the village of Emmaus. At first the\ntwo disciples did not know him; but they recognized him at Emmaus\nwhen he broke the bread. Then, on the evening of the same Sunday, he\nappeared to the apostles in Jerusalem. I Cor. 15:5; Luke 24:36-49;\nJohn 20:19-23. All doubts were removed when he showed them the\nwounds in his hands and his side, and partook of food in their\npresence. Then he interpreted the Scriptures to them, as he had done\nto the two disciples on the walk to Emmaus, showing them that it was\nnecessary that the Messiah should suffer. Finally he breathed upon\nthem, and said, \"Receive ye the Holy Spirit.\"\n\n\nJohn 20:24-29\n\nThomas, one of the apostles, who had been absent from this meeting\nwith the risen Lord, refused to believe at the mere word of the\nothers. But Jesus dealt very graciously with the doubting disciple.\nAgain, one week later, he came to the apostles, the doors of the\nroom being shut, and presented to Thomas his hands and his side.\nAll doubts now melted away in the joy of meeting with the risen\nLord. Thomas answered and said unto him, \"My Lord and my God.\" John\n20:24-29.\n\n\nJohn 21:1-24; I Corinthians 15:6; Matthew 28:16-20\n\nThe apostles then went back to Galilee in accordance with Jesus'\ncommand, and in Galilee also Jesus appeared to them. First he\nappeared to seven of the disciples on the shores of the Sea of\nGalilee. Among the seven was John the son of Zebedee, who has given\nan account of the event in his Gospel. John 21:1-24. Then there was\na great appearance of Jesus on a mountain. At that time, apparently,\nnot only the eleven apostles were present, but also five hundred\nother disciples. I Cor. 15:6; Matt. 28:16-20. On the mountain Jesus\ninstituted the sacrament of baptism, and gave his disciples the\nGreat Commission to make disciples of all nations. The execution of\nthat commission has sometimes been attended with discouragements.\nBut the risen Lord promised always to be with his Church.\n\n\nI Corinthians 15:7; Acts 1:1-11\n\nAfter the appearances in Galilee, the apostles returned to\nJerusalem. It was no doubt in Jerusalem that Jesus appeared to\nJames, his own brother, I Cor. 15:7, who during the earthly ministry\nhad not believed on him. Other appearances also occurred there. At\none or more of these appearances Jesus commanded the apostles to\nwait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit should come upon them. Then,\nsaid Jesus, they were to be witnesses of him \"both in Jerusalem, and\nin all Jud\u00e6a and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.\"\nActs 1:8. Finally, forty days after the resurrection, Jesus led his\ndisciples out to the Mount of Olives, on the way to Bethany, and\nthere he was taken from them in a cloud into heaven. The disciples\nwere saddened and bewildered by the departure of their Lord. But\ntheir sadness was soon turned into joy. \"Two men stood by them\nin white apparel; who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye\nlooking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into\nheaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into\nheaven.\" Acts 1:10, 11. The disciples went then into the city, where\nthey were constantly in the Temple, praising God.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XIII\n\n     1. Describe the burial of Jesus. How long did his body rest in\n        the tomb?\n\n     2. Enumerate the persons who saw the empty tomb.\n\n     3. Enumerate, so far as the facts are known, the persons who saw\n        Jesus after the resurrection.\n\n     4. In what books of the New Testament are the facts about the\n        resurrection mentioned?\n\n     5. What is the importance of the resurrection of Jesus for our\n        Christian faith?\n\n     6. Describe the change which the resurrection produced in the\n        early disciples of Jesus.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XIV\n\nThe Beginnings of the Christian Church\n\n\nThe Christian Church is founded on the fact of the resurrection\nof Jesus; if that fact had not occurred there would be no Church\nto-day. The disciples of Jesus of Nazareth were evidently far\ninferior to him in spiritual discernment and in courage. Evidently\nthey could not hope to succeed if he had failed. And with his death\nwhat little strength they may have had before was utterly destroyed.\nIn the hour of his trial they had deserted him in cowardly flight.\nAnd when he was taken from them by a shameful death, they were in\ndespair. Never did a movement seem to be more hopelessly dead.\n\nBut then the surprising thing occurred. Those same weak, discouraged\nmen began, in a few days, in Jerusalem, the very scene of their\ndisgrace, a spiritual movement the like of which the world has\nnever seen. What produced the wonderful change? What was it\nthat transformed those weak, discouraged men into the spiritual\nconquerors of the world?\n\nThe answer of those men themselves was plain. Their despair, they\nsaid, gave way to triumphant joy because the Lord Jesus had risen\nfrom the dead, and because they were convinced of his resurrection\nby the empty tomb and by the appearances of Jesus himself. No other\nreal explanation has yet been discovered to account for the sudden\ntransformation of the despair of the disciples into triumphant\njoy. The very existence of the Christian Church itself, therefore,\nis the strongest testimony to the resurrection; for without the\nresurrection the Church could never have come into being.\n\n\nActs 1:12-26\n\nAfter the ascension of Jesus, which was studied in the last lesson,\nthe apostles returned to Jerusalem, and obeyed the command of Jesus\nby waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. But the period of\nwaiting was not a period of idleness; it was spent, on the contrary,\nin praising God and in prayer. One definite action was taken--the\nplace of Judas, the traitor, who had killed himself in his remorse,\nwas filled by the choice of Matthias. Acts 1:15-26. At that time,\ncertain women and a number of other disciples were gathered together\nwith the apostles, making a total of about one hundred and twenty\npersons. It was upon that little company of praying disciples, or\nrather upon the promise of Jesus which had been made to them, that\nthe hope of the world was based.\n\n\nActs, Chapter 2\n\nAt last, at the feast of Pentecost, fifty days after the passover,\nthe promise of Jesus was fulfilled; the Holy Spirit came upon the\ndisciples to fit them for the evangelization of the world. Acts\n2:1-13. They were all together in one place; there was a sound as of\na rushing, mighty wind; cloven tongues, like tongues of fire, sat\nupon each one of them; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit,\nand began to speak with other languages as the Spirit gave them\nutterance. When the crowd came together to see the wonderful thing\nthat had happened, Peter preached the first sermon of the Christian\nChurch. Vs. 14-36. At the preaching of Peter three thousand persons\nwere converted; the campaign of world conquest had begun. Vs. 37-42.\n\nThe campaign from the beginning was a campaign of witnessing, in\naccordance with Jesus' command. Acts 1:8. The Christian Church was\nto conquer the world, not by exhorting men to live a certain kind\nof life, but by bringing them a piece of news. The Son of God, said\nthe Christian missionaries, died on the cross and then rose again.\nThat was the good news that conquered the world. Christianity from\nthe beginning was a way of life, but it was a way of life founded\nupon a piece of news, a way of life founded upon historical facts.\nThe meaning of the facts was not revealed all at once, but it\nwas revealed in part from the very beginning, and throughout the\nApostolic Age the revelation came in greater and greater fullness,\nespecially through the instrumentality of Paul.\n\nThe life of the Early Church in Jerusalem was in some respects like\nthat of the Jews. The disciples continued to observe the Jewish\nfasts and feasts and were constantly in the Temple. But a new joy\nanimated the company of believers. Their Lord was indeed taken from\nthem for a time, and they did not know when he would return, but\nmeanwhile he was present with them through his Spirit, and already\nhe had saved them from their sins.\n\nEven in external observances the believers were distinguished from\nthe rest of the Jews. Entrance into their company was marked by\nthe sacrament of baptism, which signified the washing away of sin;\nand their continued fellowship with one another and with the risen\nLord found expression in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which\ncommemorated the atoning death of Jesus. There were also common\nmeals. And those who had property devoted it, in a purely voluntary\nway, to the needs of their poorer brethren. The disciples attended\ndiligently, moreover, to the teaching of the apostles, and engaged\nconstantly in prayer.\n\n\nActs, Chapter 3\n\nThe preaching of the apostles in Jerusalem was authenticated by\nmiracles. One notable miracle is narrated in detail in the book of\nThe Acts. Ch. 3. As Peter and John were going up into the Temple at\nthe hour of prayer, they healed a lame beggar, who was in the habit\nof sitting at the gate. The miracle was the means of bringing to the\npeople something better than bodily healing; for when the crowd came\ntogether in wonder at the healing of the lame man, Peter proclaimed\nto them the good news of the salvation which Jesus had wrought.\n\n\nActs, Chapter 4\n\nThe Sadducees, the ruling class, being incensed at such a\nproclamation, laid hands upon the two apostles, and brought them\nbefore the sanhedrin. Acts 4:1-22. But even when Peter boldly\nannounced to them that the name of that Jesus whom they had put\nto death was the only name which could bring salvation to men,\nthey were unable to do more than warn the recalcitrant preachers.\nA notable miracle had been wrought, and they could not deny it.\nWhen Peter and John came again to the company of believers, all the\ncompany united in a glorious prayer of praise. The answer to the\nprayer was plainly given. \"The place was shaken wherein they were\ngathered together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit,\nand they spake the word of God with boldness.\"\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XIV\n\n     1. Show how the Christian Church is founded upon the fact of the\n        resurrection.\n\n     2. Describe the choice of Matthias.\n\n     3. Who were gathered together in the \"upper room\" in Jerusalem?\n\n     4. Describe the coming of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.\n\n     5. Was the speaking with other tongues on the Day of Pentecost\n        the same as the gift of tongues described in the First Epistle\n        to the Corinthians? If not, what was the difference?\n\n     6. Why were the Sadducees opposed to the preaching of Peter and\n        John?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XV\n\nThe First Persecution\n\n\nActs 5:1-11\n\nThe life of the early Jerusalem church was full of a holy joy. But\neven in those first glorious days the Church had to battle against\nsin, and not all of those who desired to join themselves to the\ndisciples were of true Christian life. One terrible judgment of God\nwas inflicted in order to preserve the purity of the Church. Acts\n5:1-11.\n\nA certain Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, had sold a possession, in\naccordance with the custom of those early days, and had laid part of\nthe price at the apostles' feet that it might be distributed to the\npoorer disciples. Part of the price was withheld, and yet Ananias\nand his wife pretended to have given all. Ananias was not required\nto sell his field, or to give all of the price after he had sold\nit. His sin was the sin of deceit. He had lied to the Holy Spirit.\nTerrible was the judgment of God; Ananias and Sapphira were stricken\ndown dead, and great fear came upon all who heard.\n\n\nActs 5:12-42\n\nThe apostles and the Church enjoyed the favor of the people--a\nfavor which was mingled with awe. Many miracles were wrought by the\napostles; multitudes of sick people were brought to be healed.\n\nBut the Sadducees made another attempt to put a stop to the\ndangerous movement. Acts 5:17-42. They laid hands upon all the\napostles, as they had laid hands upon two of them once before, and\nput them all in prison. But in the night the apostles were released\nby an angel of the Lord, and at once, in obedience to the angel's\ncommand, went and taught boldly in the Temple. When they were\narrested again, Peter said simply, \"We must obey God rather than\nmen. The Jesus whom you slew has been raised up by God as a Prince\nand a Saviour, and we are witnesses of these things and so is the\nHoly Spirit.\" Vs. 29-32, in substance. It was a bold answer, and\nthe sanhedrin was incensed. But Gamaliel, a Pharisee, one of the\nmost noted of the Jewish teachers, advocated a policy of watchful\nwaiting. If the new movement were of God, he said, there was no use\nin fighting against it; if it were of men it would fail of itself as\nother Messianic movements had failed. The cautious policy prevailed,\nso far as any attempt at inflicting the death penalty was concerned.\nBut the apostles before they were released were scourged. The\nsuffering and shame did not prevent their preaching. They rejoiced\nthat they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of\nJesus.\n\n\nActs 6:1-6\n\nThe early Jerusalem church was composed partly of Aramaic-speaking\nJews who had always lived in Palestine, and partly of Greek-speaking\nJews who were connected with the Judaism of the Dispersion. The\nlatter class murmured because their widows were neglected in the\ndaily ministrations. In order that the matter might be attended to\nwithout turning the apostles aside from their work of teaching and\npreaching, seven men were chosen to preside over the distribution of\nhelp to the needy members of the church. Acts 6:1-6. But these seven\nwere no mere \"business men.\" They were \"full of the Spirit and of\nwisdom,\" and at least two of them became prominent in the preaching\nof the gospel.\n\n\nActs 6:7 to 8:3\n\nOne of these two was Stephen, a \"man full of faith and of the\nHoly Spirit.\" Stephen \"wrought great wonders and signs among the\npeople,\" and also preached in the synagogues which were attended\nby certain of the Greek-speaking Jews residing at Jerusalem. By his\npreaching he stirred up opposition. And the opposition was of a new\nkind. Up to that time the objection to the Early Church had come,\nprincipally at least, from the Sadducees. But the Sadducees were a\nworldly aristocracy, out of touch with the masses of the people, and\nin their efforts against the Church they had been checked again and\nagain by the popular favor which the disciples of Jesus enjoyed.\nNow, however, that popular favor began to wane. It became evident\nthat although the disciples continued to observe the Jewish fasts\nand feasts, their preaching really meant the beginning of a new era.\nThe people were not ready for such a change, and especially the\nleaders of the people, the Pharisees, who, since the crucifixion of\nJesus, had shown no persecuting zeal, came out in active opposition.\n\nThe result was at once evident. Stephen was arrested, and was\ncharged with revolutionary teaching about the Temple. The charge was\nfalse; Stephen did not say that the Temple worship should then and\nthere be abandoned by the disciples of Jesus. But he did proclaim\nthe beginning of a new era, and the presence, in the person of\nJesus, of one greater than Moses. So, after a great and bold speech\nof Stephen, he was hurried out of the city and stoned. As Stephen\nwas stoned, he called on Jesus, saying, \"Lord Jesus, receive my\nspirit,\" and then kneeling down he prayed for forgiveness of his\nenemies: \"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.\" Acts 6:8 to 8:3\n\nThus died the first Christian martyr. The Greek word \"martyr\" means\n\"witness.\" Others had witnessed to the saving work of Christ by\ntheir words; Stephen now witnessed also by his death.\n\nWhen Stephen was stoned, the witnesses had laid \"their garments at\nthe feet of a young man named Saul.\" Saul was to become the greatest\npreacher of the faith which then he laid waste. But meanwhile he was\na leader in a great persecution.\n\nThe persecution scattered the disciples far and wide from Jerusalem,\nthough the apostles remained. But this scattering resulted only in\nthe wider spread of the gospel. Everywhere they went the persecuted\ndisciples proclaimed the faith for which they suffered. Thus the\nvery rage of the enemies was an instrument in God's hand for\nbringing the good news of salvation to the wide world.\n\n\nActs 8:4-40\n\nAmong those who were scattered abroad by the persecution was\nPhilip, one of the seven men who had been appointed to care for\nthe ministration to the poor. This Philip, who is called \"the\nevangelist,\" to distinguish him from the apostle of the same name,\nwent to Samaria, and preached to the Samaritans. It was a step on\nthe way toward a Gentile mission, but the Samaritans themselves were\nnot Gentiles but half-Jews. When the apostles at Jerusalem heard of\nthe work of Philip, they sent Peter and John from among their own\nnumber, and through Peter and John the Samaritans received special\nmanifestations of the Holy Spirit. Acts 8:4-25. Then Philip went\nto a desert road leading from Jerusalem to Gaza. There he preached\nthe gospel to an Ethiopian treasurer, who despite his employment in\na foreign country may have been of Jewish descent. Vs. 26-40. Yet\nthe preaching to him was another preparation for the spread of the\ngospel out into the Gentile world.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XV\n\n     1. What was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira? Was the relief\n        of the needy in the early Jerusalem church what is now called\n        communism or socialism? If not, why not?\n\n     2. What was the fundamental difference between the two first\n        imprisonments of apostles in Jerusalem, and the persecution\n        which began with the martyrdom of Stephen? Why was the latter\n        more serious?\n\n     3. Outline the speech of Stephen.\n\n     4. Describe the progress of the gospel in Samaria.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XVI\n\nThe Conversion of Paul\n\n\nThe work of the Early Church was at first carried on only among the\nJews. The Lord Jesus, it is true, had commanded the apostles to make\ndisciples of all the nations, but he had not made it perfectly plain\nwhen the Gentile work should begin, or on what terms the Gentiles\nshould be received. Conceivably, therefore, the early disciples\nmight have thought it might be the will of God that all Israel\nshould first be evangelized before the gospel should be brought\nto the other nations; and conceivably also the men of the other\nnations, when they finally should receive the gospel, might be\nrequired to unite themselves with the people of Israel and keep the\nMosaic Law. The guidance of the Holy Spirit was required, therefore,\nbefore the gospel should be offered freely to Gentiles without\nrequiring them to become Jews.\n\nBut that guidance, in God's good time, was plainly and gloriously\ngiven.\n\nOne of the most important steps in the preparation for the Gentile\nmission was the calling of a leader. And the leader whom God called\nwas one upon whom human choice never would have rested; for the\nchosen leader was none other than Saul, the bitterest enemy of the\nChurch.\n\nSaul, whose Roman name was Paul, was born at Tarsus, a center of\nGreek culture, and the chief city of Cilicia, the coast country in\nthe southeastern part of Asia Minor, near the northeastern corner of\nthe Mediterranean Sea. In Tarsus the family of Paul belonged by no\nmeans to the humblest of the population, for Paul's father and then\nPaul himself possessed Roman citizenship, which in the provinces of\nthe empire was a highly prized privilege possessed only by a few.\nThus by birth in a Greek university city and by possession of Roman\ncitizenship Paul was connected with the life of the Gentile world.\nSuch connection was not without importance for his future service as\napostle to the Gentiles.\n\nFar more important, however, was the Jewish element in his\npreparation. Although Paul no doubt spoke Greek in childhood, he\nalso in childhood spoke Aramaic, the language of Palestine, and his\nfamily regarded themselves as being in spirit Jews of Palestine\nrather than of the Dispersion, Aramaic-speaking Jews rather than\nGreek-speaking Jews, \"Hebrews\" rather than \"Hellenists.\" Both in\nTarsus and in Jerusalem, moreover, Paul was brought up in the\nstrictest sect of the Pharisees. Thus despite his birth in a Gentile\ncity, Paul was not a \"liberal Jew\"; he was not inclined to break\ndown the separation between Jews and Gentiles, or relax the strict\nrequirements of the Mosaic Law. On the contrary, his zeal for the\nLaw went beyond that of many of his contemporaries. The fact is of\nenormous importance for the understanding of Paul's gospel; for\nPaul's gospel of justification by faith is based not upon a lax\ninterpretation of the law of God, but upon a strict interpretation.\nOnly, according to that gospel, Christ has paid the penalty of the\nlaw once for all on the cross. According to Paul, it is because the\nfull penalty of the law has been paid, and not at all because the\nlaw is to be taken lightly, that the Christian is free from the law.\n\n\nActs 9:1-19, and Parallels\n\nEarly in life Paul went to Jerusalem, to receive training under\nGamaliel, the famous Pharisaic teacher. And in Jerusalem, when he\nhad still not reached middle age, he engaged bitterly in persecution\nof the Church. He was filled with horror at a blasphemous sect that\nproclaimed a crucified malefactor to be the promised King of Israel,\nand that tended, perhaps, to break down the permanent significance\nof the law. It is a great mistake to suppose that before he was\nconverted Paul was gradually getting nearer to Christianity. On the\ncontrary, he was if anything getting further away, and it was while\nhe was on a mad persecuting expedition that his conversion finally\noccurred.\n\nThe conversion of Paul was different in one important respect\nfrom the conversion of ordinary Christians. Ordinary Christians,\nlike Paul, are converted by the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of\nJesus. But in the case of ordinary Christians human instruments are\nused--the preaching of the gospel, or godly parents, or the like. In\nthe case of Paul, on the other hand, no such instrument was used,\nbut the Lord Jesus himself appeared to Paul and brought him the\ngospel. Paul himself says in one of his Epistles that he saw the\nLord. I Cor. 9:1; 15:8. It was that fact which made Paul, unlike\nordinary Christians, but like Peter and the other apostles, an\nactual eyewitness to the resurrection of Christ.\n\nA wonderful thing, moreover, was the way in which Jesus appeared to\nPaul. He might naturally have appeared to him in anger, to condemn\nhim for the persecution of the Church. Instead he appeared in love,\nto receive him into fellowship and to make him the greatest of the\napostles. That was grace--pure grace, pure undeserved favor. It is\nalways a matter of pure grace when a man is saved by the Lord Jesus,\nbut in the case of Paul, the persecutor, the grace was wonderfully\nplain. Paul never forgot that grace of Christ; he never hated\nanything so much as the thought that a man can be saved by his own\ngood works, or his own character, or his own obedience to God's\ncommands. The gospel of Paul is a proclamation of the grace of God.\n\nPaul saw the Lord on the road to Damascus, where he had been\nintending to persecute the Church. Acts 9:1-19, and parallels. As\nhe was nearing the city, suddenly at midday a bright light shone\naround him above the brightness of the sun. Those who accompanied\nhim remained speechless, seeing the light but not distinguishing the\nperson, hearing a sound, but not distinguishing the words. Paul, on\nthe other hand, saw the Lord Jesus and listened to what Jesus said.\nThen, at the command of Jesus, he went into Damascus. For three days\nhe was blind, then received his sight through the ministrations of\nAnanias, an otherwise unknown disciple, and was baptized. Then he\nproceeded to labor for the Lord by whom he had been saved.\n\nSoon, however, he went away for a time into Arabia. Gal. 1:17. It\nis not known how far the journey took him or how long it lasted,\nexcept that it lasted less than three years. Nothing is said, in the\nNew Testament, moreover, about what Paul did in Arabia. But even if\nhe engaged in missionary preaching, he also meditated on the great\nthing that God had done for him; and certainly he prayed.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XVI\n\n     1. Where was Paul born? Find the place on a map. What sort of\n        city was it.\n\n     2. What is known about Paul's boyhood home, and about his\n        education? In what books of the New Testament is the\n        information given?\n\n     3. Why did Paul persecute the Church?\n\n     4. Describe in detail what the book of The Acts says about the\n        conversion of Paul. Where does Paul mention the conversion in\n        his Epistles?\n\n     5. How did the conversion of Paul differ from the conversion\n        of an ordinary Christian? In what particulars was it like the\n        conversion of an ordinary Christian?\n\n     6. What did Paul do after the conversion?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XVII\n\nThe Gospel Given to the Gentiles\n\n\nSaul of Tarsus was not only converted directly by the Lord Jesus;\nhe was also called just as directly by Jesus to be an apostle, and\nespecially an apostle to the Gentiles. But other instruments were\nalso used in the beginning of the Gentile mission. Even Peter, whose\nwork continued for a number of years afterwards to be chiefly among\nthe Jews, was led by the Holy Spirit to take a notable step in the\noffering of the gospel freely to the whole world.\n\n\nActs 9:31-43\n\nDuring the period of peace which followed after the persecution at\nthe time of the death of Stephen, Peter went down to labor in the\ncoastal plain of Palestine. Acts 9:31-43. At Lydda he healed a lame\nman, \u00c6neas; at Joppa, on the coast, he raised Dorcas from the dead.\nAnd it was at Joppa that he received the guidance of the Holy Spirit\nas to the reception of Gentiles into the Church. Ch. 10.\n\n\nActs, Chapter 10\n\nAt midday Peter went up upon the flat housetop to pray. There he\nfell into a trance, and saw a vessel like a great sheet let down\nfrom heaven, and in it all kinds of animals which it was forbidden\nin the Mosaic Law to use for food. A voice came to him: \"Rise,\nPeter; kill and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never\neaten anything that is common and unclean. And a voice came unto him\nagain the second time, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common.\nAnd this was done thrice: and straightway the vessel was received up\ninto heaven.\"\n\nThe meaning of this vision was soon made plain. A Roman officer,\nCornelius, a devout Gentile, living at C\u00e6sarea, which was a seaport\nabout thirty miles north of Joppa, had been commanded in a vision\nto send for Peter. The messengers of Cornelius arrived at Peter's\nhouse just after Peter's vision was over. The Holy Spirit commanded\nPeter to go with them. Arriving at C\u00e6sarea, the apostle went into\nthe house where Cornelius and his friends were assembled, and there\nproclaimed to them the gospel of the Lord Jesus. While he was still\nspeaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were present,\nupon the Gentiles as well as upon the Jews. Then said Peter, \"Can\nany man forbid the water, that these should not be baptized, who\nhave received the Holy Spirit as well as we?\" So the Gentiles were\nbaptized.\n\nA very important step had been taken. Cornelius, it is true, was\na \"God-fearer\"--that is, he belonged to the class of Gentiles\nfrequently mentioned in the book of The Acts who worshiped the God\nof Israel and were friendly to the Jews. Nevertheless, he was still\noutside the covenant people, and under the old dispensation he could\nnot be received into covenant privileges until he united himself\nwith the nation by submitting himself to the whole Mosaic Law. Yet\nnow such restrictions were removed by the plain guidance of the\nSpirit of God. Evidently an entirely new dispensation had begun.\n\n\nActs 11:1-18\n\nAt Jerusalem Peter's strange action in receiving Gentiles into the\nChurch without requiring them to become Jews gave rise to some\ndiscussion. Acts 11:1-18. But the apostles had no difficulty in\nconvincing the brethren of the necessity for what he had done.\nThe guidance of the Holy Spirit had been perfectly plain. When\nthe brethren heard what Peter said, \"they held their peace, and\nglorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also hath God granted\nrepentance unto life.\"\n\nThe freedom of the Gentiles had not yet, however, fully been\nrevealed. For a time the case of Cornelius seems to have been\nregarded as exceptional. The Holy Spirit had plainly commanded\nPeter to receive Cornelius and his friends without requiring\nthem to be united to the people of Israel, but perhaps similar\ndefinite guidance was required before others could be received. The\nunderlying reason for Gentile freedom, in other words, had not yet\nfully been revealed.\n\nThe revelation, however, was not long delayed; it came especially\nthrough the Apostle Paul. But meanwhile Paul was being prepared for\nhis work.\n\n\nActs 9:19-30, and Parallels\n\nAfter the journey to Arabia, which was mentioned at the end of\nLesson XVI, Paul returned to Damascus, and preached to the Jews,\nendeavoring to convince them that Jesus was really the Messiah.\nHis preaching aroused opposition, and the Jews, with the help of\nan officer of King Aretas of Arabia, had tried to kill him. But\nthe brethren lowered him over the city wall in a basket, and so\nhe escaped to Jerusalem, Acts 9:23-25; II Cor. 11:31-33, where he\ndesired to become acquainted with Peter. No doubt he then talked\nwith Peter especially about the events of the earthly ministry of\nJesus and the appearances of the risen Christ. He also engaged in\npreaching to the Greek-speaking Jews. But when these Greek-speaking\nJews sought to kill him, the brethren sent him away to Tarsus. He\nwas unwilling to go, being desirous of repairing the harm which\nhe had done to the church at Jerusalem; but a definite command of\nthe Lord Jesus sent him now forth to the country of the Gentiles.\nActs 9:26-30; 22:17-21; Gal. 1:18-24. He labored in or near Tarsus,\npreaching the faith which formerly he had laid waste.\n\n\nActs 11:19-26\n\nMeanwhile an important new step in the progress of the gospel into\nthe Gentile world was taken at Antioch. Acts 11:19-26. Antioch, the\ncapital of the Roman province of Syria, was situated on the Orontes\nRiver, near the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea. It was\nthe third greatest city of the empire, ranking immediately after\nRome and Alexandria. And among the great Gentile cities it was the\nfirst which was encountered on the march of the gospel out from\nJerusalem to the conquest of the world.\n\nAt Antioch, certain unnamed Jews of Cyprus and Cyrene, who had been\nscattered from Jerusalem by the persecution at the time of Stephen's\ndeath, took the important step of preaching the word of God to the\nGentiles. Before, they had spoken only to Jews; here they spoke\nalso to the Gentiles. Gentiles were received no longer merely in\nisolated cases like the case of Cornelius, but in large numbers.\nTo investigate what had happened, Barnabas, an honorable member of\nthe early Jerusalem church, Acts 4:36, 37, was sent from Jerusalem\nto Antioch. Barnabas at once recognized the hand of God, and sent\nto Tarsus to seek Paul. He and Paul then labored abundantly in the\nAntioch church. At Antioch the disciples of Jesus were first called\n\"Christians\"--no doubt by the Gentile population of the city. The\nfact is not unimportant. It shows that even outsiders had come to\nsee that the Christian Church was something distinct from Judaism. A\ndistinct name had come to be required.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XVII\n\n     1. Describe the conversion of Cornelius in detail. What was the\n        importance of the event?\n\n     2. What was the meaning of Peter's vision on the housetop at\n        Joppa?\n\n     3. What important step was taken at Antioch?\n\n     4. Trace the part of Barnabas in furthering the work of Paul.\n\n     5. Show how every successive step in the offering of the gospel\n        to the Gentiles was taken under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XVIII\n\nThe First Missionary Journey and the Apostolic Council\n\n\nActs 11:27 to 12:25\n\nAfter a time of rapid growth in the Antioch church, a prophet,\nAgabus by name, came down from Jerusalem and prophesied a famine.\nThe disciples determined to send relief to their brethren in\nJerusalem. This they did by the instrumentality of Barnabas and\nPaul. Acts 11:27-30.\n\nMeanwhile the Jerusalem church had been suffering renewed\npersecution under Herod Agrippa I, who, as a vassal of Rome, ruled\nover all Palestine from A.D. 41 to 44. James the son of Zebedee, one\nof the apostles, had been put to death, and Peter had escaped only\nby a wonderful interposition of God, Acts, ch. 12.\n\n\nActs, Chapters 13, 14\n\nAfter Barnabas and Paul had returned to Antioch from their labor of\nlove in Jerusalem, they were sent out, under the guidance of the\nHoly Spirit, upon a mission to the Gentiles, which is called the\nfirst missionary journey. Acts, chs. 13, 14. This missionary journey\nled first through the island of Cyprus, then, by way of Perga in\nPamphylia to Pisidian Antioch on the central plateau of Asia Minor.\n\nAt Pisidian Antioch, as regularly in the cities that he visited,\nPaul entered first into the synagogue. In accordance with the\nliberal Jewish custom of that day, he was given opportunity to\nspeak, as a visiting teacher. The congregation was composed not\nonly of Jews but also of Gentiles who had become interested in\nthe God of Israel and in the lofty morality of the Old Testament\nwithout definitely uniting themselves with the people of Israel--the\nclass of persons who are called in the book of The Acts \"they that\nfeared God\" or the like. These \"God-fearers\" constituted a picked\naudience; they were just the Gentiles who were most apt to be won\nby the new preaching, because in their case much of the preliminary\ninstruction had been given. But the Jews themselves, at Pisidian\nAntioch as well as elsewhere, were jealous of the new mission to\nthe Gentiles, which was proving so much more successful than their\nown. Paul and Barnabas, therefore, were obliged to give up the work\nin the synagogue and address themselves directly to the Gentile\npopulation. So it happened very frequently in the cities that Paul\nvisited--at first he preached to both Jews and Gentiles in the\nsynagogues, and then when the Jews drove him out he was obliged to\npreach to the Gentiles only.\n\nBeing driven out of Pisidian Antioch by a persecution instigated\nby the Jews, Paul and Barnabas went to Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe,\nwhich, with Pisidian Antioch, were in the southern part of the great\nRoman province Galatia, but not in Galatia proper, which lay farther\nto the north. Then, turning back from Derbe, the missionaries\nrevisited Lystra, Iconium, and Pisidian Antioch, strengthening the\ndisciples and appointing elders; and then returned to the church at\nSyrian Antioch from which the Holy Spirit had sent them forth.\n\n\nThe Epistle of James\n\nDuring the progress of the Antioch church and of the mission which\nhad proceeded from it, the church at Jerusalem had not been idle. At\nthe head of it stood James, the brother of Jesus, who was not one of\nthe twelve apostles and apparently during the earthly ministry of\nJesus had not been a believer, but who had witnessed an appearance\nof the risen Lord. James was apparently attached permanently to\nthe church at Jerusalem, while the Twelve engaged frequently in\nmissionary work elsewhere. From this James there has been preserved\nin the New Testament a letter, The Epistle of James, which is\naddressed \"to the twelve tribes which are of the Dispersion.\" This\nletter was written at an early time, perhaps at about the time of\nthe first missionary journey of Paul. In the letter, James lays\nstress upon the high moral standard which ought to prevail in the\nChristian life, and he has sometimes been regarded as an advocate\nof \"works.\" But this judgment should not be misunderstood. The\n\"works\" of which James is speaking are not works which are to be put\nalongside of faith as one of the means by which salvation is to be\nobtained; they are, on the contrary, works which proceed from faith\nand show that faith is true faith. James does not, therefore, deny\nthe doctrine of justification by faith alone. Only he insists that\ntrue faith always results in good works. Paul meant exactly the same\nthing when he spoke of \"faith working through love.\" Gal. 5:6. Paul\nand James use somewhat different language, but they mean the same\nthing. Faith, according to both of them, involves receiving the\npower of God, which then results in a life of loving service.\n\n\nActs 15:1-35; Galatians 2:1-10\n\nThe wonderful success of the first missionary journey of Paul and\nBarnabas caused great joy to the Antioch church. But the joy was\nsoon marred by certain persons, commonly called \"Judaizers,\" who\ncame down to Antioch from Jerusalem and said that unless the Gentile\nconverts kept the Law of Moses they could not be saved. The demand\nwas directly contrary to the great principle of justification by\nfaith alone; for it made salvation depend partly upon human merit.\nThe entire life of the Church was in danger. But Paul, guided by a\nrevelation from God, determined to comply with the wishes of the\nbrethren at Antioch by going up to Jerusalem with Barnabas and\ncertain others, in order to confer with the leaders of the Jerusalem\nchurch. Paul did not need any authorization from those leaders, for\nhe had been commissioned directly by Christ; nor did he need to\nlearn from them anything about the principles of the gospel, for the\ngospel had come to him through direct revelation. But he did desire\nto receive from the Jerusalem leaders, to whom the Judaizers falsely\nappealed, some such public pronouncement as would put the Judaizers\nclearly in the wrong and so stop their ruination of the Church's\nwork.\n\nThe conference resulted exactly as Paul desired. Acts 15:1-35;\nGal. 2:1-10. The Jerusalem leaders--James, the brother of the\nLord, Peter, and John the son of Zebedee--recognized that they had\nabsolutely nothing to add to the gospel of Paul, because he had been\ncommissioned by Christ as truly and as directly as the original\nTwelve. Joyfully, therefore, they gave to Paul and Barnabas the\nright hand of fellowship. God had worked for Paul among the Gentiles\nas truly as he had worked for Peter among the Jews. With regard\nto the propaganda of the Judaizers, the Jerusalem church, after\nspeeches by James and Peter presenting the same view as the view of\nPaul, sent a letter to the Gentile Christians in Antioch and Syria\nand Cilicia declaring them to be absolutely free from the Mosaic\nLaw as a means of salvation, and directing them to refrain, out\nof loving regard for the Jews in the several cities, from certain\nthings in the Gentile manner of life which were most abhorrent to\nJewish feeling.\n\nSuch was the result of the \"Apostolic Council,\" which took place at\nabout A.D. 49. It was a great victory for the Gentile mission and\nfor Paul, for it established clearly the unity of all the apostles\nunder the guidance of the Holy Spirit. No wonder the church at\nAntioch rejoiced when the letter of the Jerusalem church was read.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XVIII\n\n     1. Describe in detail the release of Peter from prison in the\n        closing days of the reign of Herod Agrippa I.\n\n     2. Enumerate the visits of Paul to Jerusalem which have been\n        studied so far.\n\n     3. What happened, on the first missionary journey, at Paphos? at\n        Perga? at Pisidian Antioch? at Lystra?\n\n     4. Describe the Apostolic Council in detail. What was the\n        meaning of the letter which was sent out from the council?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XIX\n\nThe Second Missionary Journey\n\n\nThe Apostolic Council, which was studied in the last lesson, was\nan important step in the progress of Christian liberty. By it the\nJudaizers were definitely repudiated, and salvation was based upon\nfaith alone apart from the works of the law. But many practical\ndifficulties still remained to be solved.\n\n\nGalatians 2:11-21\n\nOne such difficulty appeared at Antioch soon after the council. Gal.\n2:11-21. The council had established the freedom of the Gentile\nChristians from the Mosaic Law, but it had not been determined that\nthe Jewish Christians should give up the Law. No doubt the Jewish\nChristians were inwardly free from the Law; they depended for\ntheir salvation not at all upon their obedience to God's commands\nas set forth in the Law of Moses, but simply and solely upon the\nsaving work of Christ accepted by faith. But so far as had yet\nbeen revealed, it might conceivably be the will of God that they\nshould still maintain their connection with Israel by observing the\nwhole of the Law including even its ceremonial requirements. In\norder, however, that the ceremonial requirements of the Law might\nbe observed, the Jews had always been accustomed to avoid table\ncompanionship with Gentiles. What should be done, therefore, in\nchurches like the church at Antioch, which were composed both of\nJewish Christians and of Gentile Christians? How could the Jewish\nChristians in such churches continue to observe the ceremonial law,\nand still hold table companionship with their Gentile brethren?\n\nThis question faced the apostle Peter on a visit which he made\nto Antioch after the Apostolic Council. At first he answered the\nquestion in the interests of Gentile freedom; he allowed the unity\nof the Church to take precedence over the devotion of Jewish\nChristians to the ceremonial law. He held table companionship,\ntherefore, with the Gentile Christians, and he did so out of true\nconviction with regard to the new Christian freedom. But when\ncertain men came to Antioch from James, Peter was afraid to be seen\ntransgressing the ceremonial law, and so began to withdraw himself\nfrom table companionship with his Gentile brethren.\n\nPeter's action, because of its inconsistency, endangered the\nvery life of the Church. Peter had given up the keeping of the\nceremonial law in order to hold table companionship with the Gentile\nChristians. Then he had undertaken the keeping of the ceremonial law\nagain. Might not the Gentile Christians be tempted to do the same\nthing, in order to preserve their fellowship with the greatest of\nthe original apostles? But if the Gentile Christians should begin\nto keep the ceremonial law, they could not fail to think that the\nkeeping of the ceremonial law was somehow necessary to salvation.\nAnd so the fundamental principle of Christianity--the principle of\nsalvation by Christ alone apart from human merit--would be given up.\nThe danger was imminent.\n\nBut God had raised up a man to fight the battle of the Church.\nAbsolutely regardless of personal considerations, devoted solely to\nthe truth, the Apostle Paul withstood Peter before the whole Church.\nIt is exceedingly important to observe that Paul did not differ from\nPeter in principle; he differed from him only in practice. He said\nto Peter in effect, \"You and I are quite agreed about the principle\nof justification by faith alone; why, therefore, do you belie your\nprinciples by your conduct?\" In the very act of condemning the\npractice of Peter, therefore, Paul commends his principles; about\nthe principles of the gospel the two chief apostles were fully\nagreed. Undoubtedly Peter was convinced by what Paul said; there was\nno permanent disagreement, even about matters of practice, between\nPeter and Paul. Thus did the Spirit of God guide and protect the\nChurch.\n\n\nActs 15:36 to 18:22\n\nSoon afterward Paul went forth from Antioch on his \"second\nmissionary journey.\" Acts 15:36 to 18:22. Journeying with Silas\nby the land route to Derbe and to Lystra, where Timothy became\nhis associate, he then apparently went to Iconium and Pisidian\nAntioch and then northward into Galatia proper, that is \"Galatia\"\nin the older and narrower sense of the term. Finally he went down\nto Troas, a seaport on the \u00c6gean Sea. At Troas he must have been\njoined by Luke, the author of The Acts, since the narrative in Acts\nhere begins to be carried on by the use of the first person, \"we,\"\ninstead of \"they,\" thus showing that the author was present.\n\nSetting sail from Troas, the apostolic company soon came to Philippi\nin Macedonia, where an important church was founded. At last\nPaul and Silas were imprisoned, and although they were released\nthrough divine interposition and by the second thought of the city\nauthorities, they were requested by the authorities to leave the\ncity.\n\nArriving at Thessalonica, Paul preached in the synagogue, and\nfounded an important church, chiefly composed of Gentiles. But after\na stay shorter than had been intended, persecution instigated by\nthe Jews drove Paul out of the city. He went then to Athens, where\nhe preached not merely in the synagogue but also directly to the\nGentile passers-by in the market place.\n\nAt Corinth, the capital of the Roman province Achaia, embracing\nGreece proper, large numbers of converts were won, and Paul spent\nabout two years in the city. Not long after the beginning of this\nCorinthian residence, he wrote the two Thessalonian Epistles.\n\n\nThe First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians\n\nThe First Epistle to the Thessalonians was written just after Paul\nhad received his first news from the Thessalonian church. He had\nbeen obliged to leave Thessalonica before he had intended. Would his\nwork in that city be permanent? Would the converts remain faithful\nto Christ? These were serious questions. The Thessalonian converts\nwere living in the midst of a corrupt paganism, and Paul had not had\ntime to instruct them fully in the things of Christ. Every human\nprobability was against the maintenance of their Christian life.\nBut at last Paul received his first news from Thessalonica. And the\nnews was good news. God was watching over his children; the great\nwonder had been wrought; a true Christian church had been founded\nat Thessalonica. The letter which Paul wrote at such a time is very\nnaturally a simple, warm expression of gratitude to God. At the\nsame time, in the letter, Paul comforts the Thessalonians in view of\nthe death of certain of their number, gives instruction about the\nsecond coming of Christ, and urges the converts to live a diligent\nand orderly life.\n\nThe Second Epistle to the Thessalonians was written very soon after\nthe former Epistle. It reiterates the teaching of I Thessalonians,\nwith correction of a misunderstanding which had crept into the\nchurch with regard to the second coming of Christ.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XIX\n\n     1. What practical question arose at Antioch after the Apostolic\n        Council?\n\n     2. How did Paul show the agreement in principle between himself\n     and Peter?\n\n     3. What was the inconsistency of Peter's action? Did Paul\n        necessarily condemn Jewish Christians who continued to observe\n        the ceremonial law? What principle was at stake at Antioch?\n        What does Paul in his Epistles say about Peter after this\n        time? Was there any permanent disagreement?\n\n     4. Why did Paul separate from Barnabas at the beginning of the\n        second missionary journey? What does Paul say afterwards about\n        Barnabas? Was there any permanent disagreement between Paul\n        and Barnabas or between Paul and Mark?\n\n     5. Describe what happened at Troas, Philippi, Thessalonica,\n        Berea, Athens, Corinth.\n\n     6. What was the occasion for the writing of I Thessalonians? of\n        II Thessalonians?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XX\n\nThe Third Missionary Journey. The Epistle to the Galatians\n\n\nAt Corinth, on the second missionary journey, the Jews made\ncharges before the Roman proconsul Gallio against Paul. But Gallio\ndismissed the charges as concerning only the Jewish Law. It was\nan important decision. Judaism was tolerated in the Roman Empire,\nand if Christianity was regarded as a variety of Judaism it would\nbe tolerated too. Such was usually the practice of the Roman\nauthorities in the very early days; the Roman authorities often\nprotected the Christian missionaries against the Jews.\n\nFinally leaving Corinth, Paul went by way of Ephesus, where he made\nonly a brief stay, to Palestine and then back to Syrian Antioch.\n\n\nActs 18:23 to 21:15\n\nAfter having spent some time at Syrian Antioch, he started out on\nhis third missionary journey. Acts 18:23 to 21:15. First he went\nthrough Asia Minor to Ephesus, apparently passing through Galatia\nproper on his way. At Ephesus he spent about three years.\n\n\nThe Epistle to the Galatians\n\nIt was probably during this Ephesian residence that Paul wrote the\nEpistle to the Galatians; and probably \"the churches of Galatia\" to\nwhich the Epistle is addressed were churches in Galatia proper in\nthe northern part of the great Roman province Galatia. Another view\nregards the Epistle as being addressed to the well-known churches\nat Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, which were in the\nsouthern part of the Roman province. When this view is adopted, the\nwriting of the Epistle is usually put at a somewhat earlier time in\nthe life of Paul.\n\nThe occasion for the writing of the Epistle to the Galatians can\neasily be discovered on the basis of the letter itself. After Paul\nhad left Galatia, certain other teachers had come into the country.\nThese teachers were men of the Jewish race, and they are usually\ncalled \"Judaizers.\" What they taught can be established fairly well\non the basis of Paul's answer to them. They agreed with Paul in\nbelieving that Jesus was truly the Messiah, and that he had risen\nfrom the dead. Apparently they had no objection to Paul's doctrine\nof the deity of Christ, and they agreed, apparently, that faith in\nChrist is necessary to salvation. But they maintained that something\nelse is also necessary to salvation--namely, union with the nation\nof Israel and the keeping of the Mosaic Law. The Judaizers, then,\nmaintained that a man is saved by faith and works; whereas Paul\nmaintained that a man is saved by faith alone.\n\nThe Galatian Christians had been impressed by what the Judaizers had\nsaid. Already they had begun to observe some of the Jewish fasts\nand feasts. And they were on the point of taking the decisive step\nof uniting themselves definitely with the people of Israel and\nundertaking the observance of the Mosaic Law. It was to keep them\nfrom taking that decisive step that Paul wrote the Epistle.\n\nAt first sight the question at issue might seem to have little\nimportance to-day. No one in the Church nowadays is in danger of\nuniting himself with Israel or undertaking to keep the ceremonial\nlaw. If Paul had treated the question in Galatia in a merely\npractical way, his letter would be of no value to us. But as a\nmatter of fact Paul did not treat the question in a merely practical\nway; he treated it as a question of principle. He saw clearly that\nwhat was really endangered by the propaganda of the Judaizers\nwas the great principle of grace; the true question was whether\nsalvation is to be earned partly by what man can do or whether it is\nan absolutely free gift of God.\n\nThat question is just as important in the modern Church as it was in\nGalatia in the first century. There are many in the modern Church\nwho maintain that salvation is obtained by character, or by men's\nown obedience to the commands of Christ, or by men's own acceptance\nof Christ's ideal of life. These are the modern Judaizers. And the\nEpistle to the Galatians is directed against them just as much as it\nwas directed against the Judaizers of long ago.\n\nPaul refuted the Judaizers by establishing the meaning of the cross\nof Christ. Salvation, he said, was obtained simply and solely by\nwhat Christ did when he died for the sins of believers. The curse of\nGod's law, said Paul, rests justly upon all men, for all men have\nsinned. That curse of the law brings the penalty of death. But the\nLord Jesus, the eternal Son of God, took the penalty upon himself by\ndying instead of us. We therefore go free.\n\nSuch is the gospel of Jesus Christ as preached by Paul, and as\ndefended in the Epistle to the Galatians. That gospel, Paul said, is\nreceived by faith. Faith is not a meritorious act; it simply means\naccepting what Christ has done. It cannot be mingled with an appeal\nto human merit. Christ will do everything or nothing. Either accept\nas a free gift what Christ has done, or else earn salvation by\nperfect obedience. The latter alternative is impossible because of\nsin; the former, therefore, alone can make a man right with God.\n\nBut acceptance of the saving work of Christ means more than\nsalvation from the guilt of sin; it means more than a fresh start in\nGod's favor. It means also salvation from the power of sin. All men,\naccording to Paul, are dead in sin. Salvation, then, can come only\nby a new creation, as Paul calls it, or, as it is called elsewhere\nin the New Testament, a new birth. That new creation is wrought\nby the saving work of Christ, and applied by the Holy Spirit. And\nafter the new creation has been wrought, there is a new life on the\nbasis of it. In the new life there is still a battle against sin.\nBut the Christian has received a new power, the power of the Holy\nSpirit. And when he yields himself to that new power, he fulfills\nin its deepest import the law of God. Only he fulfills it not by\nobedience in his own strength to a law which is outside of him, but\nby yielding to a power which God has placed in his heart. This new\nfulfillment of the law on the part of Christians is what Paul means\nwhen he speaks of \"faith working through love\"; for love involves\nthe fulfillment of the whole law.\n\nSuch was the gospel of Paul as it is set forth in the Epistle to the\nGalatians. Paul had received it from the Lord Jesus Christ. Without\nit the Church is dead. It need not be put in long words, but it must\nbe proclaimed without the slightest concession to human pride, if\nthe Church is to be faithful to the Saviour who died. We deserved\neternal death; the Lord Jesus, because he loved us, died in our\nstead--there is the heart and core of Christianity.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XX\n\n     1. Describe Paul's first visit to Corinth.\n\n     2. Where did Paul go at the beginning of the third missionary\n        journey?\n\n     3. What was the occasion for the writing of the Epistle to the\n        Galatians?\n\n     4. What great principle is defended in the Epistle? What is\n        the meaning of the death of Christ? What is the meaning of\n        \"justification by faith\"?\n\n     5. Give an outline of the Epistle, showing the three great\n        divisions.\n\n     6. Why does Paul give, in the first part of the Epistle, a\n        review of certain facts in his life?\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XXI\n\nThe Third Missionary Journey. The Epistles to the Corinthians and to\nthe Romans\n\n\nAnother Epistle, in addition to the Epistle to the Galatians, was\nwritten by Paul at Ephesus on the third missionary journey. This was\nthe First Epistle to the Corinthians.\n\n\nThe First Epistle to the Corinthians\n\nIn I Corinthians, the details of congregational life are more\nfully discussed than in any other of the Epistles of Paul. Paul\nhad received information about the Corinthian church partly\nthrough what was said by the \"household of Chloe,\" who had come to\nEphesus from Corinth, and partly by a letter which the Corinthian\nchurch had written. The information was not all of a favorable\ncharacter. In Corinth, a Christian church was in deadly battle with\npaganism--paganism in thought and paganism in life. But that battle\nwas fought to a victorious conclusion, through the guidance of an\ninspired apostle, and through the Holy Spirit of God in the hearts\nof believers.\n\nFirst Paul dealt in his letter with the parties in the Corinthian\nchurch. The Corinthian Christians were in the habit of saying, \"I\nam of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ,\" I\nCor. 1:12; they seem to have been more interested in the particular\nform in which the gospel message was delivered than in the message\nitself. Paul treated the subject in a grand and lofty way. The party\nspirit in Corinth was merely one manifestation of intellectual\npride. In reply, the apostle directed his readers to the true\nwisdom. And if you would possess that wisdom, he said, give up your\nquarreling and give up your pride.\n\nThen there was gross sin to be dealt with, and a certain lordly\nindifference to moral purity. In reply, Paul pointed to the true\nmoral implications of the gospel, and to the law of love which\nsometimes, as in Paul's own case, causes a Christian man to give up\neven privileges which might be his by right.\n\nIn chs. 12 to 14 of the Epistle, Paul dealt with the supernatural\ngifts of the Spirit, such as prophecy and speaking with tongues.\nThese gifts were not continued after the Apostolic Age. But it is\nimportant for us to know about them, and the principles which Paul\nused in dealing with them are of permanent validity. The greatest\nprinciple was the principle of love. It is in connection with the\nquestion of gifts of the Spirit that Paul wrote his wonderful hymn\nabout Christian love. Ch. 13.\n\nPaganism of thought was creeping into the Corinthian church in\nconnection with the doctrine of the resurrection. Paul dealt with\nthis question by appealing to the plain historical evidence for the\nresurrection of Christ. That fact itself had not been denied in\nCorinth. It was supported by the testimony not only of Paul himself,\nbut also of Peter, of the apostles, and of five hundred brethren\nmost of whom were still alive. Paul had received the account of the\ndeath, the burial, the resurrection, and the appearances of Jesus\nfrom Jerusalem, and no doubt from Peter during the fifteen days\nwhich the two apostles had spent together three years after Paul's\nconversion. In I Cor. 15:1-7 Paul is reproducing the account which\nthe primitive Jerusalem church gave of its own foundation. And in\nthat account Christianity appears, not as an aspiration, not as\nmere devotion to an ideal of life, not as inculcation of a certain\nkind of conduct, but as \"a piece of information\" about something\nthat had actually happened--namely, the atoning death and glorious\nresurrection of Jesus our Lord.\n\n\nThe Second Epistle to the Corinthians\n\nThe First Epistle to the Corinthians did not end all difficulties\nin the Corinthian church. On the contrary, after the writing of\nthat letter, certain miserable busybodies had sought to draw the\nCorinthian Christians away from their allegiance to the apostle.\nA brief visit which Paul had made to Corinth had not ended the\ntrouble. At last Paul had left Ephesus in great distress. He had\npassed through a terrible personal danger, when he had despaired\nof life, but more trying still was the thought of Corinth. Finding\nno relief from his troubles he went to Troas and then across to\nMacedonia. There at length relief came. Titus, Paul's helper,\narrived with good news from Corinth; the church had returned to its\nallegiance. To give expression to his joy and thanksgiving, Paul\nwrote the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. In the Epistle he also\ndealt with the matter of the collection for the poor at Jerusalem,\nand administered a last rebuke to the Corinthian trouble makers.\n\nIn I Corinthians it is the congregation that is in the forefront of\ninterest; in II Corinthians, on the other hand, it is the apostle\nand his ministry. In this letter, the Apostle Paul lays bare before\nhis readers the very secrets of his heart, and reveals the glories\nof the ministry which God had intrusted to him. That ministry was\nthe ministry of reconciliation. God and men had been separated by\nthe great gulf of sin, which had brought men under God's wrath and\ncurse. Nothing that men could do could possibly bridge the gulf. But\nwhat was impossible with men was possible with God. By the redeeming\nwork of Christ the gulf had been closed; all had been made right\nagain between God and those for whom Christ died.\n\n\nThe Epistle to the Romans\n\nArriving at Corinth Paul spent three months in that city. During\nthis time he wrote the Epistle to the Romans. Paul was intending to\nvisit the city of Rome. The church at Rome had not been founded by\nhim; it was important, therefore, that in order to prepare for his\ncoming he should set forth plainly to the Romans the gospel which he\nproclaimed. That is what he does in the Epistle to the Romans. In\nthe Epistle to the Romans, the way of salvation through Christ is\nset forth more fully than in any other book of the New Testament.\nIn Galatians it is set forth in a polemic way, when Paul was in the\nmidst of a deadly conflict against a religion of works; here it is\nset forth more calmly and more fully.\n\nIn the first great division of the Epistle, Paul sets forth the\nuniversal need of salvation. The need is due to sin. All have\nsinned, and are under God's just wrath and curse. Rom. 1:18 to\n3:20. But the Lord Jesus Christ bore that curse for all believers,\nby dying for them on the cross; he paid the just penalty of our\nsins, and clothed us with his perfect righteousness. Ch. 3:21-31.\nThis saving work of Christ, and the faith by which it is accepted,\nwere set forth in the Old Testament Scriptures. Ch. 4. The result\nof the salvation is peace with God, and an assured hope that what\nGod has begun through the gift of Christ, he will bring to a final\ncompletion. Ch. 5:1-11. Thus, as in Adam all died, by sharing in the\nguilt of Adam's sin, so in Christ all believers are made alive. Vs.\n12-21.\n\nBut, Paul goes on, the freedom which is wrought by Christ does not\nmean freedom to sin; on the contrary it means freedom from the power\nof sin; it means a new life which is led by the power of God. Ch.\n6. What the law could not do, because the power of sin prevented\nmen from keeping its commands, that Christ has accomplished. Ch. 7.\nThrough Christ, believers have been made sons of God; there is to\nthem \"no condemnation\"; and nothing in this world or the next shall\nseparate them from the love of Christ. Ch. 8.\n\nToward the spread of this gospel, Paul goes on, the whole course of\nhistory has been made to lead. The strange dealings of God both with\nJews and Gentiles are part of one holy and mysterious plan. Chs. 9\nto 11.\n\nIn the last section of the Epistle, Paul shows how the glorious\ngospel which he has set forth results in holy living from day to\nday. Chs. 12 to 16.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XXI\n\n     1. What was the occasion for the writing of I Corinthians? of II\n        Corinthians? of Romans?\n\n     2. Give outlines of these three Epistles.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XXII\n\nThe First Imprisonment of Paul\n\n\nAfter the three months which Paul spent at Corinth on the third\nmissionary journey, he went up to Jerusalem in order to help bear\nthe gifts which he had collected in the Gentile churches for the\npoor of the Jerusalem church. He was accompanied by a number of\nhelpers, among them Luke, the writer of the Third Gospel and the\nbook of The Acts. Luke had remained behind at Philippi on the second\nmissionary journey, and now, several years later, he joined the\napostle again. The portions of the journey where Luke was actually\npresent are narrated in The Acts in great detail and with remarkable\nvividness.\n\nWhen Paul came to Miletus on the coast of Asia Minor, he sent to\nEphesus for the elders of the Ephesian church, and when they came he\nheld a notable farewell discourse. There was a touching scene when\nhe finally parted from those who loved him so well.\n\n\nActs 21:15 to 28:31\n\nDespite prophecies of the imprisonment that awaited him Paul went\nbravely on to Jerusalem. There he was warmly received by James\nthe brother of the Lord and by the church. Acts 21:15-26. But the\nnon-Christian Jews falsely accused him of bringing Gentiles with him\ninto the Temple. Vs. 27-40. There was an onslaught against him, and\nhe was rescued by the Roman chief captain, who took him into the\nCastle of Antonia which the Romans used to guard the Temple area. On\nthe steps of the castle he was allowed to address the people, ch.\n22:1-22, who listened to him at first because he used the Aramaic\nlanguage instead of Greek, but broke out against him again when he\nspoke of his mission to the Gentiles.\n\nAn appeal to his Roman citizenship saved Paul from scourging, Acts\n22:23-29; and a hearing the next day before the sanhedrin, ch. 22:30\nto 23:10, brought only a quarrel between the Sadducees and the\nPharisees. That night Paul had a comforting vision of Christ. V. 11.\n\nA plot of the Jews to waylay Paul and kill him was frustrated\nby Paul's sister's son, who told the chief captain. The chief\ncaptain sent the prisoner with an escort down to C\u00e6sarea where the\nprocurator Felix had his residence. Acts 23:12-35. Hearings before\nFelix brought no decisive result, ch. 24, and Paul was left in\nprison at C\u00e6sarea for two years until Festus arrived as successor\nof Felix. Then, in order to prevent being taken to Jerusalem for\ntrial, Paul exercised his right as a Roman citizen by appealing to\nthe court of the emperor. Ch. 25:1-12. Accordingly, after a hearing\nbefore Herod Agrippa II, who had been made king of a realm northeast\nof Palestine by the Romans, v. 13; ch. 26:32, Paul was sent as a\nprisoner to Rome, chs. 27:1 to 28:16.\n\nOn the journey he was accompanied by Luke, who has given a detailed\naccount of the voyage--an account which is not only perhaps the\nchief source of information about the seafaring of antiquity, but\nalso affords a wonderful picture of the way Paul acted in a time of\nperil. The ship was wrecked on the island of Malta, and it was not\nuntil the following spring that the prisoner was brought to Rome.\nThere he remained in prison for two years, chained to a soldier\nguard, but permitted to dwell in his own hired house and to receive\nvisits from his friends. Acts 28:16-31.\n\nDuring this first Roman imprisonment Paul wrote four of his\nEpistles--to the Colossians and to Philemon, to the Ephesians, and\nto the Philippians. Colossians, Philemon, and Ephesians were all\nwritten at the same time. Colossians and Ephesians were both sent by\nthe same messenger, Tychicus, and this messenger was accompanied by\nOnesimus, who bore the Epistle to Philemon.\n\n\nThe Epistle to Philemon\n\nOnesimus was a slave who had run away from Philemon, his master. He\nhad then been converted by Paul, and Paul was now sending him back\nto his master. The little letter which the apostle wrote on this\noccasion gives a wonderful picture of the way in which ordinary\nsocial relationships like that of master and servant may be made the\nmeans of expression for Christian love. Very beautiful also was the\nrelation between Philemon and the apostle through whom he had been\nconverted.\n\n\nThe Epistle to the Colossians\n\nThe church at Coloss\u00e6, to which the Epistle to the Colossians is\naddressed, had been founded not by Paul but by one of his helpers,\nEpaphras. A certain type of false teaching had been brought into\nthe church by those who laid stress upon angels in a way that was\nharmful to the exclusive position of Christ. In reply, Paul sets\nforth in the Epistle the majesty of Jesus, who existed from all\neternity and was the instrument of God the Father in the creation\nof the world. This was no new teaching; it is always presupposed\nin the earlier Epistles of Paul, and about it there was no debate.\nBut in the Epistle to the Colossians, in view of the error that was\ncreeping in through false speculation, Paul took occasion to set\nforth fully what in the former letters he had presupposed.\n\n\nThe Epistle to the Ephesians\n\nThe Epistle to the Ephesians is probably a circular letter addressed\nto a group of churches of which Ephesus was the center. In this\nletter the personal element is less prominent than in the other\nPauline Epistles; Paul allows his mind to roam freely over the\ngrand reaches of the divine economy. The Church is here especially\nin view. She is represented as the bride of Christ, and as the\nculmination of an eternal and gracious plan of God.\n\n\nThe Epistle to the Philippians\n\nThe Epistle to the Philippians was probably written later than\nthe other Epistles of the first captivity. The immediate occasion\nfor the writing of the letter was the arrival of a gift from the\nPhilippian church, on account of which Paul desires to express his\njoy. Paul had always stood in a peculiarly cordial relation to his\nPhilippian converts; he had been willing, therefore, to receive\ngifts from them, although in other churches he had preferred to make\nhimself independent by laboring at his trade. But the letter is not\nconcerned only or even chiefly with the gifts of the Philippian\nchurch. Paul desired also to inform his Philippian brethren about\nthe situation at Rome. His trial is approaching; whether it results\nin his death or in his release, he is content. But as a matter of\nfact he expects to see the Philippians again.\n\nMoreover, Paul holds up in the letter the example of Christ, which\nwas manifested in the great act of loving condescension by which he\ncame into the world and endured for our sakes the accursed death on\nthe cross. That humiliation of Christ, Paul says, was followed by\nexaltation; God has now given to Jesus the name that is above every\nname.\n\nAt the conclusion of the two years in prison in Rome, Paul was\nreleased, probably in A.D. 63. This fact is attested not by the\nbook of The Acts, of which the narrative closes at the end of the\ntwo years at Rome, but by the Pastoral Epistles of Paul and also\nby an Epistle of Clement of Rome which was written at about A.D.\n95. Clement says that Paul went to Spain. This he probably did\nimmediately after his release. He then went to the East again, for\nit was in the East that I Timothy and Titus were written.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XXII\n\n     1. Outline the events in the life of Paul which occurred between\n        the departure from Corinth and the end of the first Roman\n        imprisonment.\n\n     2. What was the occasion for the writing of Colossians? of\n        Philemon? of Ephesians? of Philippians?\n\n     3. Give outlines of these Epistles.\n\n\n\n\nLESSON XXIII\n\nThe Close of the Apostolic Age\n\n\nThe Pastoral Epistles\n\nIt was observed in the last lesson that Paul was released from\nhis first Roman imprisonment, and went then to Spain and then to\nthe East. At the time when I Timothy was written he has just left\nTimothy behind at Ephesus when he himself has gone into Macedonia,\nand now writes the letter with instructions for Timothy as to the\nway of conducting the affairs of the church. Similarly, the Epistle\nto Titus was written to guide Titus in his work on the island of\nCrete.\n\nAfter this last period of activity in the East, Paul was imprisoned\nagain at Rome. During this second Roman imprisonment he wrote II\nTimothy, to encourage Timothy and instruct him, and to give to him\nand to the Church a farewell message just before his own death,\nwhich he was expecting very soon.\n\nThe two Epistles to Timothy and the Epistle to Titus, which are\ncalled the Pastoral Epistles, are similar to one another in\nimportant respects. They all lay stress upon soundness of teaching\nand upon the organization of the Church. In the closing years of\nhis life Paul provided for the permanence of his work; the period\nof origination was over and the period of conservation had begun.\nIt was not God's will that every Christian generation should have\nrevealed to it anew the whole of the gospel. What is true in one age\nis true in all ages. It was a salutary thing, therefore, that the\nPastoral Epistles provided for the preservation of the faith which\nwas once for all delivered unto the saints.\n\nSoon after the writing of II Timothy, Paul was beheaded at Rome.\nThis event, which is attested in altogether credible Christian\ntradition outside of the New Testament, took place within the reign\nof the Emperor Nero--that is, before A.D. 68. At the time of the\ngreat fire at Rome in A.D. 64 Nero had persecuted the Christians, as\nis narrated by Tacitus, the Roman historian. But at that time Paul\nprobably escaped by being out of the city; his execution probably\ndid not occur until several years later.\n\nAt about the time of the death of Paul disastrous events were taking\nplace in Palestine. James the brother of the Lord had been put to\ndeath by the Jews in A.D. 62, according to Josephus the Jewish\nhistorian, or a few years later according to another account. In\nA.D. 66 the Jews rose in revolt against the Romans. In the war that\nfollowed there was a terrible siege of Jerusalem. Before the siege\nthe Christians in the city had fled to Pella, east of the Jordan.\nJerusalem was captured by the Romans in A.D. 70, and the Temple\ndestroyed.\n\nFrom that time on, the Church in Palestine ceased to be of great\nrelative importance; the gospel had passed for the most part to\nthe Gentiles. A number of the apostles remained for many years,\nhowever, to guide and instruct the Church, and important books of\nthe New Testament were written in this period either by the apostles\nthemselves or by those who stood under their direction.\n\n\nThe Epistle to the Hebrews\n\nEven before the destruction of the Temple, the original disciples\nhad begun to labor far and wide among the Gentiles. It was perhaps\nduring this early period that the Epistle to the Hebrews was\nwritten. The name of the author is unknown, but the book is truly\napostolic--that is, it was written either by an apostle or by\none who wrote under the direction of the apostles. The Epistle\nis intended to celebrate the all-sufficiency of Christ as the\ngreat High Priest, who has made atonement by his own blood, as\ndistinguished from the Old Testament types that were intended to\npoint forward to him.\n\n\nThe First Epistle of Peter\n\nSome years before the destruction of Jerusalem, the apostle Peter\nleft Palestine. In the course of his missionary journeys he went\nto Rome, and it was perhaps from Rome that he wrote the First\nEpistle of Peter, the word \"Babylon\" in I Peter 5:13 being perhaps\na figurative designation of Rome as the \"Babylon\" of that age.\nThe Epistle was addressed to Christians in Asia Minor, and was\nintended to encourage the readers to Christian fortitude in the\nmidst of persecution. The gospel proclaimed in the Epistle is the\none great apostolic gospel of Christ's redeeming work which was also\nproclaimed by Paul.\n\n\nThe Second Epistle of Peter; The Epistle of Jude\n\nThe Second Epistle of Peter was written by the apostle to warn his\nreaders against false teaching and urge them to be faithful to the\nauthority of the apostles and of the Scriptures. Closely related\nto II Peter is the Epistle of Jude, which was written by one of\nthe brothers of Jesus. The apostle Peter, in accordance with a\nthoroughly credible Christian tradition, finally suffered a martyr's\ndeath at Rome.\n\nThe apostle John, the son of Zebedee, became the head of the Church\nin Asia Minor, where, at Ephesus, he lived until nearly the end of\nthe first century. During this period he wrote five books of the New\nTestament.\n\nThe Gospel According to John was written to supplement the other\nthree Gospels which had long been in use. It contains much of the\nmost precious and most profound teaching of our Lord, as it had been\nstored up in the memory of the \"beloved disciple\"; and it presents\nthe glory of the Word of God as that glory had appeared on earth to\nan eyewitness.\n\n\nThe Epistles of John\n\nThe First Epistle of John was written in order to combat certain\nerrors which were creeping into the Church in Asia Minor and in\norder to present to the readers the true Christian life of love,\nfounded upon the Son of God who had come in the flesh, and begun by\nthe new birth which makes a man a child of God.\n\nThe Second Epistle of John is a very brief letter written to warn an\nindividual church of the same kind of error as is combated in I John.\n\nThe Third Epistle is addressed to an individual Christian named\nGaius, who is praised for his hospitality to visiting missionaries,\nwhich was the more praiseworthy because it was in contrast to the\ninhospitality of a certain Diotrephes. The little letter sheds a\nflood of light upon the details of congregational life in the last\nperiod of the Apostolic Age.\n\n\nThe Book of Revelation\n\nThe book of Revelation is based upon a revelation which the apostle\nJohn had received during a banishment to the island of Patmos, off\nthe coast of Asia Minor, not far from Ephesus. Probably the book\nitself was written on the same island. The book contains letters to\nseven churches of western Asia Minor which are intended to encourage\nor warn them in accordance with the needs of every individual\ncongregation. The whole book is a tremendous prophecy, which\nstrengthens the faith of the Church in the midst of persecutions\nand trials by revealing the plan of God, especially as it concerns\nthe second coming of our Lord and the end of the world. Details of\nfuture events, especially times and seasons, are not intended to\nbe revealed, but rather great principles both of good and of evil,\nwhich manifest themselves in various ways in the subsequent history\nof the Church. The prophecy, however, will receive its highest and\nfinal fulfillment only when our Lord shall come again, and bring in\nthe final reign of righteousness and the blessedness of those whom\nhe has redeemed.\n\n\nQUESTIONS ON LESSON XXIII\n\n     1. When, where, and why were the three Pastoral Epistles written?\n\n     2. Outline the life of Paul after his release from the first\n        Roman imprisonment.\n\n     3. What is known about the latter part of the life of Peter?\n\n     4. What was the occasion for the writing of I Peter? of II\n        Peter? of Jude? What are the characteristics of these letters?\n\n     5. What is known about the latter part of the life of John?\n\n     6. What were the date and the purpose of the Gospel According to\n        John; of the Epistles of John; of the book of Revelation?\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\nText enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).\n\nSmall capital text has been replaced with all capitals.\n\nVariations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been\nretained except in obvious cases of typographical error.\n\nThe cover for the eBook version of this book was created by the\ntranscriber and is placed in the public domain.","title":"A Brief Bible History: A Survey of the Old and New Testaments","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":48080}