p. 15 | SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Aug 23, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 34.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS

LESSON 10.—SEPTEMBER 3.—THE CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH.

Golden Text.—"Be sure your sin will find you out." Num. 32:23. Lesson Scripture, 2 Chron. 36:11-21, A. R. V. (11) "ZEDEKIAH was twenty and one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; (12) and he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah his God; he humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of Jehovah. (13) And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God; but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart against turning unto Jehovah, the God of Israel. (14) Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of Jehovah which He had hallowed in Jerusalem. (15) And Jehovah, the God of their fathers, sent to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending, because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place; (16) but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of Jehovah arose against His people, till there was no remedy. (17) "Therefore He brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or virgin, old man or hoary-headed; He gave them all into his hand. (18) And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. (19) And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. (20) And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia; (21) to fulfil the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths; for as long as it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years."

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

(1) How old was Zedekiah when he became king? How long did he reign? Verse 11. Note 1. (2) What was the character of his reign? What charge is specially brought against him? Verse 12. Note 2. (3) What shows his treacherous disposition? What else is shown by his rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar? Verse 13. Note 3. (4) What is said of the character of the priests and people? Verse 14. Note 4. (5) How had God shown His mercy to His people? Verse 15. Note 5. (6) How had they received His appeals? Verse 16. Note 6. (7) What was the judgment upon the people because of this apostasy? Verse 17. (8) What was done with the vessels of the Lord's house? Verse 18. (9) What was done to the temple and city? Verse 19. (10) What was done with the people who were not killed by their enemies? Verse 20. (11) What was fulfilled in all this? What was made up to the land? Verse 21. Note 7. (12) How do present-day conditions compare with those preceding Judah's captivity? Note 8.

NOTES.

1. Zedekiah was the twentieth and last ruler of Judah. He was made king by appointment of the king of Babylon, who had deposed Jehoiachin, and carried him to Babylon. Of Zedekiah the Lord spoke by Ezekiel the prophet: "Remove the diadem, and take off the crown; this shall not be the same; exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it; and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him." Eze. 21:26, 27. So we may know that there will be no more kingdom of Israel until the "Lion of the tribe of Judah" shall reign in person. When the "diadem" and the "crown" shall be restored to Israel, the natural seed, as such, will have no part in it. See Rom. 2:28, 29; Gal. 3:27-29; Phil. 3:3.

2. The king was a weak-minded man; he would confer with Jeremiah in secret, but, through fear and through illusive hopes, he could not bring himself to the point of yielding. Jer. 38:14-28.

3. Instead of yielding to Nebuchadnezzar, as the prophet advised, Zedekiah had actually rebelled against him, after having taken an oath before God to be subservient. This oath was probably taken at Babylon, when, in the fourth year of his reign, he had been taken to Babylon for some purpose not directly stated. Jer. 51:59. Zedekiah's rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar is reckoned as rebellion against God; for Nebuchadnezzar, altho a heathen, was now the recognized servant of God. Jer. 25:9. God's people having become worse than the heathen, were now subjected to heathen rule.

4. The fact that the chief of the priests and the people had turned to heathen worship had much to do with Zedekiah's course. He wavered between their influence and the counsel of the one prophet in Jerusalem who, under all circumstances, had the courage to stand firmly on the Word of God.

5. The Lord's patience with Israel is illustrative of His long-suffering patience with His erring children in all ages. God "doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men" (Lam 3:33), but sometimes it becomes necessary to quite severely chastise the persistent disobedience of the child that he may learn from experience the sinfulness and the consequences of his course. See Heb. 12:5-11.

6. "They mocked the messengers of God."—Jeremiah was imprisoned, beaten, and threatened with death, while Urijah was put to death. Jer. 26:20-23. This was principally through the instigation of apostate prophets and priests, as most religious persecution comes from the influence of intolerance on the part of the ministry and church officials. "No remedy."—That is, there was no remedy for that generation; so they must be made an example for future generations. Rom. 15:4. And Solomon had put it on record that "he, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." Prov. 29:1. See also our Lord's arraignment of the Jews of His day. Matt. 23:29-36.

7. The Word of the Lord always finds fulfillment, for the reason that it "endureth forever," Isa. 40:8; Luke 16:17; 1 Peter 1:25. All this calamity upon the people was foreshadowed by the Lord when Israel was yet in the wilderness. Lev. 26:14-35. The land to enjoy her sabbaths for seventy years was because of the neglect to obey the law that the land should rest every seventh year.

8. The following truthful presentation of present-day conditions shows that the Lord's professed people have no just condemnation of those in the past. "Satan exults at his success in controlling the minds of so many who profess to be Christians. He has deceived them, benumbed their sensibilities, and planted his hellish banner right in their midst, and they are so completely deceived that they know not that it is he. The people have not erected graven images, yet their sin is no less in the sight of God. They worship mammon. They love worldly gain. Some will make any sacrifice of conscience to obtain their object. They love the things of this world, and have fellowship with the works of darkness. They have pleasure in unrighteousness. They have not love toward God, nor love for their neighbors. They are idolaters, and are worse, far worse, in the sight of God than the heathen graven-image worshipers who have no knowledge of a better way."