  THE RETURN FROM BABYLON. FIRST READING.
THE Jews had gone back to their old city of Jerusalem, but they found it looking very sad and ruinous. The walls were broken down, and the pleasant houses were heaps of ruins, and grass and brambles had come up in the courts, and there were heaps of stone blackened with the fire and smoke that had burnt down the city. The first thing they did was to clear the place where God's holy Temple used to stand, and to build it up again. But they were not rich and powerful like King Solomon, who built the first Temple; they had no gold and silver, and the new Temple they built was very small and poor compared with the old one. There were old men among them who remembered the first Temple as it used to be, and they wept aloud as they saw how different the new one was; but there were young men who were very glad to have a Temple at all, and they shouted for joy; so there was a mixed sound of weeping for sorrow and of crying out with joy. Then God sent His Prophet Haggai to tell the old men not to be afraid, for the glory of this latter House should be greater than that of the former. The way this should be was that our Blessed Lord Himself would come to the new Temple, as a little Babe at first and afterwards as a grown Man; and when He was there, the honor and glory of the Temple would be greater than ever it was before. Now there is no one Temple: but God's Houses are Churches, and we have them everywhere to pray to Him in, and meet Him there though we cannot see Him. Let us take care to worship Him there very humbly and reverently. RETURN OF THE JEWS FROM CAPTIVITY.—Ezra 1:5. QUESTIONS.
SECOND READING.
THE name of the leader of the Jews, when they came home from Babylon to their own country was Zerubabel. Zerubabel was their prince. He was of David's family, and he would have been king if the Jews had been allowed to have kings; but he was contented to go back without the crown and throne and sceptre that his fathers had had before him, and to live humbly in obedience to the king of Babylon. ZERUBABEL'S GREAT DESIRE. That which Zerubabel cared to have was a little spot of ground among the mountains. It was the village of Bethlehem, the place from which David had been called away long ago, from feeding his father's sheep, to come and be king of Israel. Why should Zerubabel care for that little piece of ground more than for Solomon's palace, that was so glorious? One reason was, that the Prophet Micah had said, "But thou, Bethlehem-Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler in Israel; whose goings have been from everlasting." And faithful men understood that this meant that the Saviour of the world should be born at Bethlehem, and that He would be among Zerubabel's children's children. That was why Zerubabel cared so much for the poor little ruined village, and took care to make a home of it again, though now there were only a hundred and twenty-three people to come back to live in it. God was pleased with Zerubabel's faith, and blessed him because he had not despised the day of small things. God said that to Zerubabel a mountain should become a BUILDING OF THE NEW TEMPLE.—Ezra 3:10. QUESTIONS.
THIRD READING.
THERE was another king of Babylon, and his name was Darius. It was the strange, foolish way of his people to treat him as if he was a sort of a god, and more than man; and one day his people came to him and begged him to make a law that for thirty whole days nobody should say their prayers to any god, or ask anything of any man, except of Darius the king; or if they did, they should be thrown to the lions, to be eaten up. Darius thought this was all to do him honor, so he made the law that thus it should be. Now when a law had once been made by the king of that people, it could not be changed. So nobody was to say their prayers to anyone but the king for all that time. But by-and-by the king's people came and told him that there was one old man who did not attend to his law, but that they had watched him in his own room, and there he said his prayers three times a-day, just as if the king had made no law at all. The king was very sorry when he heard who it was, for this man who would not leave off saying his prayers was the man he trusted most in all the kingdom. It was Daniel, one of the captive Jews, son or brother to one of the last kings of Jerusalem. He had been taken to Babylon when he was a very little boy, and now he was quite an old man, but he had never ceased praying to the great God of Heaven, and he was not going to leave off now. He was a prophet of the Lord, and very wise, and he was one of the king's very best advisers, so Darius was greatly grieved when he was accused. But Darius could not help himself; the law that had once been made could not be broken, and these spiteful people declared that Daniel must be thrown to the lions. All day long the king tried to get his wise good counsellor saved from this dreadful fate, but he could not succeed; and at evening Daniel's enemies came to take him and throw him to the lions in their den. THE JEWISH CAPTIVES CONDUCTED BEFORE DARIUS. Still, though Darius was a heathen himself, he had one hope; and when he saw his friend led away, he said, "Thy God whom thou servest continually, He will deliver thee." So they took Daniel, and put him into a pit among the lions, and they fastened up the door and left him there; and the king was so sorry, that he could not sleep all night for grieving for the good, wise, brave man who was thrown to the lions because he would not leave off praying to God, and feared God more than man. And when daylight came they all went to the den. The And Daniel's own voice came cheerfully back, and told the king that his God had sent His angel, who had shut the lions' mouths, so that they could not hurt him, and had kept him safe all night. DANIEL IN THE LION'S DEN.—Daniel 6:19, 22. And the king was very glad, and commanded them to take Daniel out of the pit, and to put the spiteful men in instead; and the lions were so hungry that they brake all their bones in pieces before ever they came to the bottom of the den. Only think what Daniel was willing to bear rather than not say his prayers! And it was because he prayed that God saved him. God's power shut the lions' mouths, because Daniel had been more afraid to leave off praying than even to be torn to pieces. How glad we should be that we can say our prayers QUESTIONS.
BABYLONIAN BRICK. |
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