Sabbath-School Lesson Notes
By A. T. Robinson
Lesson VI—The Restoration of Israel to Their Own Land
THE divine resources were exhausted in behalf of the Israelitish nation, to enable them to fulfil their mission in the world. Throughout their almost continual rebellion against God, the inspired testimony is, “The Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers forever and ever.” Jer. 25: 4, 5. “But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy.” 2 Chron. 36: 16. “Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof. . . . And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” Jer. 25: 8, 9, 11. “For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.” Jer. 29: 10. The seventy years expired in B. C. 536, and it was in that very year “that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing.” Ezra 1: 1. That proclamation made the most complete and ample provision that every Jew on the face of the whole earth might have immediately set out on his journey to his own land. Concerning those who lived long distances from Jerusalem, and who might be too poor to make provision for the journey, Cyrus’s decree read as follows: “And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.” Ezra 1: 4. Thus at the end of the seventy years, the Lord, according to his good word of promise, caused that people to return to their own land. It was only their unbelief and disobedience that hindered the full realization of their complete restoration at that time. After seventy-nine years of delay on the part of that people under the provisions of the decree of Artaxerxes, A. D. 457, they were fully restored to their own land. This was forty-two years later than the latest prophetic utterance concerning the return of the Jews. So we see that everything the Lord promised concerning their return to their own land was fulfilled on the Lord’s part. Lesson VII—God’s Promises and Israel’s Failure
AFTER the failure of Israel to fulfil their mission in the world, and the Lord had to send them down to Babylon as captives, he promised them that after the expiration of the seventy years he would visit them, and cause them to return to their own land. After God had made every necessary provision for their return, he bore with their unbelief and murmurings for seventy-nine years before he got them established in the land of Canaan. Then, having again planted them in their own land,—the land of promise,—the Lord gave them two special promises, the fulfilment of which would have been a divine guarantee that the time would come when that nation would fill the whole world, and that the whole earth would have become like that good land which was given them as a sample. One of those promises was that not an enemy in the whole world would be able to stand before them; and the other was that every place upon which their feet should tread should be theirs. Yes, and we might mention another promise, which was that their time should continue forever. The terrible failure on Israel’s part calls forth from the lips of the divine messenger the following mournful words: “But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up to their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured forever.” Ps. 81: 11-15. A. T. ROBINSON.