p. 9 | Our Bible Band

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jun 24, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 26.

Our Bible Band.

Schedule for Week Ending July 4, 1908.

Sunday	June 28	Ezra 3, 4	Proverbs 26
Monday	" 29	" 5, 6	" 27
Tuesday	" 30	" 7, 8	" 28
Wednesday	July 1	" 9, 10	" 29
Thursday	" 2	Neh. 1, 2	" 30
Friday	" 3	" 3, 4	" 31
Sabbath	" 4	" 5-8	Matthew 1

Suggestive Notes.

A word further concerning the book of Ezra. Ezra himself was a Jewish priest and scribe (see chapter 7:11), and was the organizer of the company that went up from Babylon. He was highly favored of Artaxerxes Longimanus, the king of Persia. He evidently was not with the first company, but was with the second—about 1,800 men, Israelites, who left Babylon for Jerusalem in 457 B.C., when the decree was given by Artaxerxes for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the restoration of the commonwealth. Here the decree of Dan. 9:25 and the 2,300 days of Dan. 8:14 begin. A very sturdy reformer was the priest, casting out foreign wives and their children, establishing a regular synagogal service.

The book of Nehemiah is supplemental to that of Ezra. Ezra occupied the position of priest; Nehemiah, as governor. The latter was cup-bearer to the Persian king Artaxerxes Longimanus, who gave him permission to return with a colony of Jews in 455 B.C. While Nehemiah was opposed bitterly by certain factions led by Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, still God prospered the works of his hands. Ever diligent was Nehemiah, and ever zealous indeed for his God, something which he continually brings before the Lord and pleads the Lord's blessing, because of his faithfulness. In the Jewish scriptures, Nehemiah is called the second book of Ezra. Both Ezra and Nehemiah are valuable books, giving the history of the Jews during this period of restoration.

Our devotional readings of this week carry us out of the Old Testament, into the New, so that the last chapter of each day's reading will be a New Testament chapter. These New Testament readings will begin with the book of Matthew, written by the evangelist whose name it bears, one of the twelve apostles of our Lord. His name in the Hebrew means "faithful man." He is also called "Levi." Mark 2:14. When he was called of Jesus he was engaged as a publican, or tax-gatherer; in the Galilean region, one of a class which was despised of the Jews, because the paying of taxes showed they were under the power of another nation. Then, too, many of the publicans no doubt were avaricious and unjust. This, however, could not have been the case with Matthew. It has been stated that there was a Hebrew Gospel written by Matthew; over this scholars are divided. It is supposed that the Gospel of Matthew in Greek was written about 60 A.D., or thirty years after the death of Christ. The first chapter traces the genealogy of Mary from Abraham to the birth of Christ, omitting some generations in order to divide it into three different sections of fourteen generations each.