2.01 - BIBLE HISTORY

BIBLE HISTORY

Ladies and gentlemen, brethren, and friends, I am very seriously impressed by the wonderful rapidity with which the weeks and the months of time roll by. To me it is but a short space since together here we met under circumstances so much akin to this, to study those things in which all seemed intensely interested; yet I recognize we are one year nearer our eternal destiny.

Far more than I can express it do I appreciate the very kindly invitation to return to your capital city and to engage in this meeting. I could but congratulate myself, indeed, upon the confidence which those who have this meeting directly at heart have in me personally, and upon the splendid gathering of you, friends, who by your very presence lend encouragement to the services thus begun. I had hoped and really would have been delighted to have had with us to-day Brother Pullias as a fellow laborer in directing the part he had last year; but I rejoice to know that he will soon, if not already, be engaged in a series of meetings somewhat akin to this, and, therefore, perhaps wield a greater influence than he might here. In his absence, as has been stated, we are glad to have Brother John T. Smith, one of Israel’s sweetest singers, with whom, I am sure, you will be glad to join in hymning praises to "Him from whom all blessings flow."

I must acknowledge personally my genuine appreciation to the newspapers of the city of Nashville for their kindness in giving publicity to this meeting and publishing the sermons, and I do hope and trust that as the months and years go by there may be nothing done by your humble servant or those with whom he labors that will cause them ever to regret the extension of this splendid courtesy in helping to bear the messages that shall be announced to numbers and numbers of yearning hearts who cannot be present in body during this series of meetings. Political, social, and economic questions and issues are forever changing, but the things with which we shall have to do are perpetual and eternal.

I have not come to you brethren to preach myself; for, in the language of Paul, "we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake." Neither have I come to please men other than as an earnest, honest effort to present the truth as best I can may meet their approval, for I recognize that if I seek to please men I cannot be the servant of God. I have not come, therefore, simply as a matter of entertainment. I have not come to play upon your fancies or your emotional nature in any way, for I recognize full well that though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; "for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe it, unto me, if I preach not the gospel" of the Son of God. I come to you "not with excellency of speech, or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I am determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him’ crucified." "I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you" who are of Nashville, and who will from time to time, I hope, be glad to favor me with your presence, your prayers, and your interest in every way.

There are two great books for the human family to study and by which to be governed and guided according to their respective needs along the pathway of life. I refer to the book of nature and the book of revelation. I think it safe to say that the object of the first has to do purely and solely with the things that are temporal and transient in their nature. My material success in life and relationship with reference to time and timely things are dependent upon my ability to harmonize with nature and nature’s law. In that special held alone I do not need the Bible. But there is another—a higher and a nobler-characteristic of humanity which we call the "spiritual," that which differentiates man from the other animals of earth and links him to divinity. With reference to that part of our nature, God’s book, the Bible, gives us a message from high heaven indicative of God’s will and of heaven’s desire that the human family may be happy in its journey from the cradle to the grave, from time to eternity, and ultimately blessed in that home of the soul across which the shadows never come.

Since this meeting is going to continue for twenty and two days, representing as it shall forty-three sermons, I think it is not at all amiss for us to begin as if it were a great school with the Bible our text, at the close of which we expect to be better acquainted therewith and have a more thorough grasp of that wonderful book which has, indeed, been the anvil on which numbers and numbers of hammers of opposition have been worn out, a book which has withstood the ravages of time and stands to-day the most prominent book in all the history of the world.

I think it necessary for us to have a general grasp of the entire field of Bible story and of Bible history, that it may be both chronologically and logically fixed concretely and definitely in mind, that we may be able to see the general trend of God’s revelation to man from start to finish.

I know the difficulty and the disadvantage of learning an abstract fact here and another there and a third somewhere else, these having no relation either logically or in point of time one with the other. All knowledge of any sort whatsoever, if it be practical and helpful, must be correlated in some kind of a definite and tangible manner. In the study, for instance, of the history of this, the greatest country under heaven, it is absolutely necessary, in order that it be remembered and appreciated, that it be divided into periods and the events connected therewith properly classified so that they may be grasped and related the one to the other. In this study there are five great periods. First, the aboriginal, which embraces that period in which three prominent characters appear—viz., the Norsemen, the mound- builders, and the Indians; second, the period of discovery, in which we learn of the different activities of the five leading nations that were sending out explorers and discoverers to gain information regarding the world that lay to their west; third, the period of settlement and development; fourth, the period of the Revolution, when the yoke of bondage was laid aside and a new nation was born upon the earth and assumed its rightful place among the sister nations of the world; last of all, from the inauguration of Washington down to the present, we have what we call the "national period."

Now, to understand the history of this country, I need to know the facts and the particular period to which they belong; also, I must know the relation of each event to the others. The history of the Bible covers a period of forty-one hundred years—from 4004 B.C. to 96 A.D., according to Arch-bishop Usher’s chronology. The dates found at the top of all our Bibles are generally accepted, and perhaps are as nearly correct as any one can determine. In these forty- one hundred years the history of God’s dealings with humanity has been written in one volume complete. But it likewise is divided into periods. I want you, therefore, carefully and thoughtfully to be able to get a glance, a bird’s- eye view, of all Bible story from first to last, a general outline, and in the remainder of this meeting to All in such things as may be discussed. According to others who have thus classified events better than I could have done, there are Ave great periods of Bible history. First, the period of early races, covering a stretch of time from 4004 B.C. to 1921 B.C.-two thousand and eighty-three years; second, the call of the chosen family, from 1921 B.C. on down four hundred and thirty years to 1491 B.C.; third, the Israelite people, from 1491 to 1095 B.C.;fourth, the Israelite kingdom, from 1095 B.C. to 587 B.C.; fifth and last, Jewish provinces, from 587 B.C. down to 70 A.D., the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem.

I trust that you may be able to follow now and to appreciate the details that shall be mentioned therein.

Referring to the first period, the early races of mankind, are embraced the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis. That period has but one topic that subdivides it.

First of all, the races of mankind were united upon the earth. They were all of one accord, spoke the same language, were of one tongue, one tribe, one dialect, and one in every respect. But finally there was an incident that marred the continuation of that state of affairs, known as the building of the tower of Babel, 2234 B.C., from which time unity no longer prevailed ; but the people were dispersed and scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, and thus were in a state of division when that period closed, and God saw fit to lead out a family and offer promises through the blood line of the same. The events characteristic of the first period are very simple, and a Bible student needs only to recall what therein happened.

Under that period comes the story of creation outlined in the first chapter of Genesis—the creation, fall, and expulsion of man, and the first sons born upon the earth, with their endeavor to worship God.

After that we have an account of the ten generations from Adam to Noah. These are: Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah.

After that we have a development of wickedness as it begins to evidence itself upon the earth, brought about, seemingly at least, by marriage relationships of the sons of God with the daughters of men. The record tells us that when these sons of God looked upon the daughters of men they saw they were fair to behold. Attracted, enamored, and allured thereby, they took unto themselves wives; and the next statement that follows is that wickedness multiplied upon the face of the earth more and more, until finally "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." it appears that the world reached a state when almost total depravity was the condition of humanity. But such a condition was not allowed to continue, and immediately God issued a decree that there should come a great flood upon the earth and that everything in whose nostrils was the breath of life should be wiped out of existence. The command was given to Noah to make ready for the wonderful scene that was soon to transpire, and hence the direction and the instruction for the building of an ark. Noah began the preaching of righteousness to the world. Just how long he continued thus to proclaim, I do not know—perhaps one hundred and twenty years. This encouragement he gives to every man—viz., that while he absolutely failed to impress his neighbors and to convert the world to the truth, he succeeded in saving his own family; and if you and I and every other man could be equally successful, the angels would look out over the battlements of heaven and rejoice with joy unspeakable even this afternoon.

I am not, therefore, friends, discouraged when on any occasion people refuse to accept what I conceive to be the truth or fail to acquiesce in the things proclaimed; but there is a solemn obligation resting upon every man and upon every soul, and that is, God expects of us a rendition of service and of duty according to the requirements and demands under which we live. At last the windows of heaven were opened, the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the rains descended, and for one hundred and fifty days the waters prevailed upon the face of the earth. Noah took his wife, his three sons and their wives, entered the ark, and launched out upon the bosom of an ocean without a shore, guided by the great Captain of that wonderful vessel, until by and by, in Jehovah’s providence, having ridden the waves of the mighty flood, it rested upon the summit of Mount Ararat. At the voice of God, Noah and his family emerged into a new world, cleansed and purified and made ready for the beginning of a race of people of which he was the second representative Soon after that event the posterity of Noah drifted southward, attracted, perhaps, by the rich alluvial soil along the lower course of the Euphrates; and, as is characteristic of humanity, they became forgetful and unmindful of God’s providence and grew conceited to the extent that they said: "We will build us a tower and make us a name, that no matter where we wander or where we go, we will never get outside the view of this splendid monument." According to profane history, they laid the foundation well—a square two hundred and seventy-two feet, then up, pyramid like, until at last one hundred and fifty-three feet of height was reached. Perhaps they fancied that by their own physical force and power they could build a tower that would pierce the vaulted canopy of the heavens and permit them to look in upon the throne of Jehovah. Then God saw fit to stop the vainglory of man and to demonstrate the futility of any efforts of his prompted purely by physical power. He visited their city, confounded their language, and scattered the people that had hitherto been one over the face of the earth. And this was the beginning of the division of the language of the people, which division has continued until a thousand tongues, dialects, and languages are found in the earth today.

Next, the genealogy of Adam is traced on down to Abraham through Noah’s sons: Shem, Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, and Abraham—twenty generations, covering a period of two thousand years. The world was steeped again in sin. Idolatry was in the land. God saw fit to visit one special family, which dwelt down on the lower course of the Euphrates River, in the land of Shinar, and said to Abram: "Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." These promises mark the close of the first and the beginning of the second great period in Bible history, covering a space of time from 1921 to 1491 B.C. This period of the Bible is characterized by the study of three personages—namely, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. At God’s call Abraham left Ur of Chaldea, together with Sarah, his wife; Lot, his nephew; and Terah, his father. Up the valley they marched for a distance of possibly five hundred and fifty miles, until they came to old Haran, in the country of Mesopotamia. There they tarried, for how long I do not know, but sufficiently long for Abraham to secure a number of souls and to enrich his already increasing physical effects. There his father died at the age of two hundred and five years and was buried in a strange land.

After Abraham, with the rest of his people, marched around the northern part of the Arabian Desert, he came into the land that was afterwards to be the land that flowed with milk and honey. When they reached Bethel, ten miles north of the city of Jerusalem, Abraham stopped, built an altar, and called upon the name of the Lord. Prompted by a famine in the land of Canaan, he moved on southward into the land of Egypt, and there trouble arose because of the beauty of his wife. Abraham, thinking that the exigencies of the hour demanded that a falsehood be perpetrated, almost brought destruction upon an innocent people and their king by deceiving them in the half-true statement concerning Sarah’s being his "sister," when she was only a half sister and his legal wife. Let me stop to offer this suggestion: The very fact that the Bible account reveals this weakness on the part of Abraham carries with it a genuine conviction that a hand higher than that of man must have penned the story. it is characteristic of humanity to record the good things about our heroes and heroines and to leave the bad in the background and to the unknown. But in the Bible, without exception, God tells of the weakness of man as well as his superior traits of character. By the intervention of Jehovah, Abraham escaped out of the land of Egypt and came into the land of promise. Here trouble arose between his herdsmen and those of Lot. Knowing that they were in a strange land and that the enemy was on every hand, he said to Lot: "Let there be no strife between me and thee; for we be brethren." The whole land was before them, and Abraham made a generous offer relative to their separation. Lot’s character of selfishness and greed is revealed in that he selected the best section and pitched his tent toward Sodom. This decision meant his ultimate ruin. Abraham turned to the left and made his home at old Hebron. He next pursues the Elamites and rescues Lot. On his return he meets Melchizedek and to him pays tithes. Soon Ishmael is born, and the cities of the plain are overthrown. He next moves to Beer-sheba; and Isaac having been born, he goes to the land of Moriah to offer him as a burnt offering unto God. Sarah died at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven and was buried in the cave of Machpelah. Abraham continues on until his career closes at the age of one hundred and seventy-five, when his remains were placed beside the body of Sarah. The life of Isaac, though longer than the lives of Abraham and Jacob, was spent in a small range of territory and with but few events. After his marriage to Rebekah at the age of forty, his home was at (1) Beer-la-hai-roi, (2) Gerar, (3) Rehoboth, and (4) Beer-sheba, where he died at the age of one hundred and eighty years and was buried in the family sepulcher. The story of Jacob is related with more of detail than any other person in the Old Testament. His career is varied and presents many phases of life. After having gained the birthright over Esau and having secured the blessing from his deceived father, he left the old home, where he had spent about sixty years, and hastened to Haran, where he remained for the next forty years. Here he married Leah, then Rachel, and unto him eleven sons and a daughter were born. Being a fine trader, he soon grew rich in cattle, flocks, and herds. The time came for him to leave, and, with his possessions, he started back to the land of Canaan. At Mizpah he made a treaty with his father-in-law; at Peniel he wrestled with the angel and was reconciled to Esau; and at Shalem he rested once again in the land of Canaan. At Bethlehem, Benjamin was born and his beloved wife, Rachel, died.

Joseph is sold into Egypt; a famine waxes sore in the land; and finally Jacob and his family, now numbering about seventy souls, come into Egypt to remain for about two hundred and fifteen years. At the age of one hundred and forty-seven Jacob died, and his body, being embalmed, was carried back to Hebron and laid to rest in the ancestral sepulcher. The Israelites fared well until a king rose up which knew not Joseph, and then their bondage became so severe that God heard their groanings and cries and sent Moses to deliver them. But Pharaoh refused to let them leave his control, and a series of plagues finally convinced him that God’s hand was with them. Under the leadership of Moses, they crossed the Red Sea and sang the song of glad deliverance on the farther shore.

Thus ended the second period in 1491, and introduced to us the next, known as the period of the Israelite people, lasting from 1491 to 1095. Having become free from Egypt, these people march along the eastern shore of the Red Sea and finally come to Mount Sinai, where they remain for one year.

During this stay four important events came to pass— (1) the making and worship of the golden calf; (2) the giving of the Decalogue, the constitution of their great law, to be written by Moses and to last for the next fifteen hundred years; (3) the building of the tabernacle, God’s golden house, upon a foundation of silver; (4) the numbering and organization of the people preparatory to their onward journey. From Mount Sinai they marched on, and at the end of the second year they came to old Kadesh-barnea, at which time Moses thought best to send out the spies to view the land, and thus one from each tribe was selected. They went into the land of promise, viewed it over, and brought back evidences of the richness and of the fertility thereof. They were all agreed on a number of points respecting the same. They said with one accord that it is a fine land and a goodly country; it has its fruitage galore; and its wonderful harvests are, indeed, attractive to the eyes of men. They further agreed that there were giants dwelling in that land. Ten of the spies opposed the efforts to take the land and proposed to make them another captain and return to Egypt, but Caleb and Joshua rent their clothes and insisted that under the banner of Jehovah they could drive out the enemy and come into their own promised possessions. Because of the report made by the ten, God issued a decree that none of that generation above twenty years old, except Caleb and Joshua, should come into that goodly land, but that they should wander in the wilderness a year for every day spent in searching the country. Thus for forty years they roamed up and down the wady beds of a barren region until all had died. During all these years Moses bore their grievances and suffered their frequent condemnations, until at last they came to the plains of Moab, just east of the Dead Sea. Here occurred (1) the episode of Balaam’s prophecy, his efforts to curse God’s people being turned into a blessing; (2) the iniquity of Israel with the women of Moab, and the plague upon them as a result; (3) the numbering of Israel once more; (4) the campaign against the Moabites and the Midianites; (5) the allotment of the land east of the Jordan to Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh; (6) the repetition of the law as found in the book of Deuteronomy; and (7) the ascent of Moses to the height of Nebo, his splendid view of the promised land, and his lonely death.

I have tried, my friends, to think of Moses as thus he stood at the close of the most eventful career that any man had hitherto had—a man who had stood as the very confidant of God himself, who had been privileged to receive and give to the world that basis of law that has been the model and the standard for all nations of civilized peoples since that time, the man that led the greatest army the world has ever seen and directed them to victory. He stands, if you please, one hundred and twenty years young, with his physical force unabated, with the same eagle eye that gazed into the eye of old Pharaoh forty years before. Looking out to the right, Moses could view the entire land that glided away toward the great Arabian desert. Northward there was old Mount Hermon, veiled in misty clouds, towering above the surrounding country. Then as he cast a wishful eye beyond Jordan’s stormy banks, he saw the rich fields of Canaan, the silvery streams, and the smiling valleys. When he thus beheld the sublimest sight ever viewed by mortal man, God laid his hand upon his heart, and, without a pain, an agony, or a sigh, Moses fell asleep. God buried him in some lonely spot, unmarked, unknown, that his tomb might never be desecrated, that his body might sleep in solemn silence until the trump of God shall sound and all the ransomed be gathered home.

Upon the death of Moses, Joshua took the lead and conducted the people across the river Jordan, whose waters were parted as were those of the Red Sea. Then he remembered that a reproach had rested upon Israel for forty years, due to the fact that they had failed to circumcise their children, and hence were under the disfavor and disapproval of God. When the male children were circumcised, they called the place of their headquarters "Gilgal," which means their reproach had been taken away.

Joshua then planned three campaigns to drive out the seven nations that occupied the western part. Each of these was a success, and then the land was allotted to the remaining nine and one-half tribes. Thus was the promise made by God to Abraham with reference to physical affairs literally fulfilled.

Things went well for a time; but, as the further history will show, they soon became unmindful, forgot the part God had had in their delivery and that he had guided them thus far. To reprove them and bring them to the recognition of their sins, God allowed a series of oppressions to come upon them, seven in number, until by and by the people were humbled, dependent, and recognized their relationship to God. Judges were ordered to rule over them, according to the demands of the hour; and hence the period of the chosen family and of the Israelite people closes with the reign of the fifteen judges. At the close of Samuel’s career the people demanded that a change of affairs be brought about; and hence a system was inaugurated unlike that which God had ordained, which did not meet with his approval, and that stands out an exceedingly prominent period in the subsequent history of God’s dealings with humanity. But enough for this time. From this talk, ladies and gentlemen, I am perfectly aware that nobody could learn what to do to be saved. I am certain that from it you could not understand what God’s will is to you personally and individually; but from your previous study of the Scriptures and from the preaching hitherto to which you have listened, if there should be those in this audience who understand what the will of the Lord Is and have a disposition to render obedience to him now, I am always glad, and shall evermore be, I hope, to extend to you the gospel call.

It is very encouraging to be met by this goodly number again and to hear you join in the singing of these songs. I do hope that the services here to-night may be exceedingly pleasant and profitable to you. it is my earnest desire that good, and good alone, may result from our meetings, that the people may be brought nearer together, that the name of the Lord may be revered by the great masses of this city, and that numbers of souls may be led to the cross of Christ and be saved in the by and by.

I tried to get before you this afternoon a part of the history covered by this book we call the "Bible." it embraces forty-one hundred years, from the creation of man to the close of revelation. In our study this afternoon we learned that all Bible history was divided into five periods-viz., the early races, the chosen family, the Israelite people, the Israelite kingdom, and the Jewish provinces. The first three of these have been presented, and I call your attention tonight to number four, the Israelite kingdom, which was established 1095 B.C. Humanity’s disposition has always been about the same. After the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea and passed through the wilderness of wandering, they were settled in the land promised by God to Abraham. They entered into houses which they never built; they came into possession of orchards which they never planted, of waving fields of grain which they never sowed, and of wells which they did not dig. As is generally true, riches and possessions obtained in this manner are never appreciated. These people came to think too much of themselves. They were puffed up and filled with pride. Then it was that God allowed the nations round about them to gain the ascendency over them until they might come to recognize their dependance and be conscious of the fact that God still reigns over the affairs of men. A system of government was, therefore, inaugurated to meet the demands of the hour. God ordained that judges should be raised up to throw off the oppression and fight their battles. When Samuel, the last of these, grew old and his sons began to rule over Israel, the record tells us that they perverted judgment and arrested justice. This was the occasion that a demand be made for a change in the entire system. Those who wanted to be like the nations round about them took advantage of the situation and insisted upon a different order of government. Let it be understood, however, that a failure on the part of individuals to do their duty is no just ground for a departure from God’s established order. When the people demanded a king that they might be like the nations around them, Samuel was wonderfully grieved, and carried the matter to the Lord in prayer. The Lord answered him, saying: "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. Hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them." Samuel returned to the people and warned them regarding the step they were taking. He pictured clearly the nature of the kings who should reign over them—how that their own sons would be appointed for himself, for his chariots, and for his horsemen. He declared that the king would appoint captains over thousands and over fifties, and would set them to ear his ground and to reap his harvests and to make instruments of war and instruments of chariots. He further declared that their daughters would be taken for cooks, bakers, and confectioners. He said their fields, their vineyards, and their orchards would be given to his servants, and that the king would take a tenth of their seed and give to his officers, and that all of their menservants and maidservants would be given to his work. He further showed that these very people which demanded a king would one day cry out because of him, but the Lord would not hear. "Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles." When God saw that they were determined on their course and that they gave no heed to the earnest pleadings of his servant, Samuel, he overruled their own personal preference and caused Saul, the son of Fish, to be selected as their first king. This whole procedure, be it remembered, was never in harmony with God’s will, nor did it ever meet with his approval. He allowed them to have their say until they should at last come to a recognition of the fact that his hand was in it all.

Under the leadership of Saul, a number of battles were won over the enemies, and a territory of six thousand square miles became theirs. Because of Saul’s disobedience in the destruction of the Amalekites he was rejected by Jehovah, and he finally died upon his own sword.

David came to the throne 1055 B.C., and at once evidenced the fact of his superiority. He subdued the nations round about and increased the territory received from Saul tenfold. His kingdom reached from the Euphrates, on the northeast, to the river of Egypt, on the southwest. His last days, however, were filled with sorrow; and he died with his hands stained with blood and forbidden by Jehovah to build a house for the Lord. His son took the throne after a period of forty years, and made memorable his reign by the building of the temple. The grandeur, the glory, and the greatness of Israel were centered upon this magnificent structure. For wisdom, riches, and prominence, Solomon stood without a peer in all the history of the world. Strange to say, after God had so signally honored him and granted to him that which no one had previously enjoyed, he, the wisest of all the ages, was led away into idolatry and disobedience to God. Upon his death, 975 B.C., this government, which had stood together for one hundred and twenty years, was divided.

Rehoboam took the throne at Jerusalem and reigned over two tribes, while Jeroboam went to Bethel, carrying with him the remaining ten tribes. The kingdom of the ten tribes was ruled over by a series of nineteen kings, from Jeroboam to Moses. These were unmindful of Jehovah, and in the course of time lost their individuality, their distinctiveness, and their identity. By the year 721 they had become so much like the idolatrous nations around them in practice, customs, and worship that they were absorbed by the Assyrians and passed out of history. From their blending with the Assyrians have come the Samaritans, hated and despised by every faithful Jew. The woman, therefore, at Jacob’s well was right when she told the Savior that the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. The two tribes under Rehoboam continued faithful to God for a period of three hundred and eighty-eight years, at which time Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, swept down the Jordan valley, destroyed the temple built by Solomon, and carried away the best of the people, together with the golden vessels and silver cups, to that city beyond the Euphrates. For seventy years the Jews were under Babylonian authority, and their country was in waste, their sacred temple in ruins. Thus was begun the fifth period in Bible history, known as the "Jewish provinces." As previously stated, they were under Babylonian rule from 606 to 586—nineteen years in subjection at Jerusalem and fifty-one years in Babylon. In the year 536 Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, was slain, and the Medo-Persian empire was established, to which the Jews were in subjection for a period of two hundred and six years. Under the decree of Cyrus, Zerubbabel led an army back to Jerusalem and laid the foundation for a second temple. He was followed by Ezra, and after much discouragement and a number of years, during which hope was deferred, the temple was finally rebuilt. In grandeur and glory it was incomparable to that built by Solomon. Some of the old men who had witnessed the first looked upon this one and wept because of its inferiority. The Solomonic temple, which stood for four hundred and twenty-four years, was the crowning glory of Mount Moriah. it was constructed at a time of profound peace, and by the aid of powerful allies, purchased by the freewill offerings of a proud, wealthy nation. No wonder it should assume such glorious proportions. This second temple was erected in the midwinter of Israel’s sorrow and discontent. it was built by a mere remnant who returned from a long and rigorous captivity. They were without means, with enemies in the Persian court to obstruct the royal permit and foes lurking near their work to impede their labor; but to them it was a glorious house, and the prophet declared that its glory should exceed the former, because of the fed that one day the footfalls of the Prince of Peace should echo throughout its sacred walls. The Persian empire ceased to be, and in 330 Alexander the Great swept over the land like a comet’s flash across the sky and subdued the nations of all the earth. For seven years he was the idol of all civilization. When but thirty-three years of age, he died, having conquered the world, but unable to conquer his own passions and lusts. His government was divided among his four generals, which soon blended into two rival governments-viz., the Egyptian and the Syrian. Of these two rival powers, the former was in the ascendancy from 301 to 174. Under the Egyptian rule the Jews enjoyed their liberty and were privileged to carry on their worship according to their own pleasure. In 174 B.C., Antiochus Epiphanes, the Assyrian, gained the supremacy and crowded into the following eleven years such horrors as have seldom disgraced a sovereign or maddened a people. Antiochus was great, and even brilliant, but with these attributes he combined the worst qualities that dishonor manhood. One of the ruling passions of his disordered mind was a hatred of the Jewish people and of the religion of Jehovah. Cost what it might, he was determined to crush the Jews and wipe out their system of religion. Checked in his campaign by the threatened intervention of Rome, he wreaked his fury upon the Jews. Though allowed to enter the city of Jerusalem without resistance, his general slaughtered forty thousand of its inhabitants and sold as many more into slavery. He broke down the walls, burned the gates, ransacked the temple, seized the sacred utensils, erected a statute of Zeus in the temple court, and consummated the sacrilege by the offering of a sow upon the altar of burnt offerings. The seventy-ninth Psalm throbs with the passionate pain of that awful day. The nation gazed aghast at the desecration of the holy place while it lay prostrate at the tyrant’s heel. Two years afterwards Antiochus issued an edict which combined the designs of Jezebel and Haman-the suppression of the religion and the extermination of the race. The carrying out of this edict was as relentless as its conception was atrocious. Worship of Jehovah was forbidden; the temple was transformed into an idolatrous sanctuary; the Holy Scriptures were everywhere sought out and destroyed. Many of the Jews died; some gladly apostatized and aided the oppressors against their own people. There was no armed resistance, and Antiochus boasted that the religion of Jehovah had ceased to be. The hearts of the Jews were burning, and the nation, relying upon its promises, stayed itself. Beneath the surface lay the smoldering fires. Only a hand was needed to stir them, and the whole land would be in flame. In a little town called "Modin," a few miles west of Jerusalem, a venerable priest, "Mattathias" by name, and his Ave stalwart sons, had taken temporary refuge from the storm. The officers of Antiochus came in their efforts to enforce the edict. They called upon Mattathias to set an example of obedience by sacrificing to the gods. Ready for death, but not for apostasy, he refused. One of those degenerate timeservers who disgrace every age and every cause, anxious for favor, stepped forward to show the way to faithfulness. "And Mattathias saw, and was grieved; and his wrath was kindled according to the judgment of the law." (1Ma 2:24) With one blow he laid the apostate dead. His five sons gathered round about him with the same zeal in every heart. The villagers responded, the guard was put to flight, and the altar was overthrown. The die was cast, and the war for country and creed was begun. Under the years and hardships the father soon sank; but all the Ave sons, worthy of their name and race, remained. In all the history of the world there is, perhaps, not a parallel to this family. One by one these boys took the lead, and each lives in history with some fond title after his name—"John the Holy," "Simon the Guide," "Judas the Hammer," "Eleazar the Beast Sticker," and "Jonathan the Cunning." The struggle for independence continued for a number of years, during which the greatest victories were won and the greatest sacrifices made by almost any people who have ever lived. The Ave sons of Mattathias, each in turn, lay prostrate upon the field; but their cause was won, and the Jews entered upon a state of independence from B.C. 160 to about 6 A.D. For the benefit of those who wish to study this line of thought more particularly I submit the following as leaders of their people: Judas Maccabaeus, Jonathan, Simon, John Hyrcanus, Alexander Jannaeus, Alexandra, Aristobulus, and Hyrcanus. This brings us to the year 39 B.C., at which time Herod the Great, an Idumean, occupied the throne. No man of greater duplicity has ever lived upon the earth. He was able to influence either Caesar or Pompey and use them for his own selfish end. Herod was of magnificent presence, lion-like strength and courage, and possessed of an energy that knew no fatigue and a will that acknowledged no defeat. He became the most prominent character on history’s page, and by his ability to handle the Roman authorities he was known as the "king of the Jews." He married the beautiful Mariamne, of Maccabean ancestry, and was so devoted to her; and yet so selfish was he that twice, at the crisis of his affairs, he gave orders that, in the event of his death, she, too, was to die. Moved by the jealousy of his sister, Salome, he caused to be put to death the grandfather, father, brother, and uncle of his beloved wife, and in the end climaxed his crimes by her murder. He also had put to death his own sons, lest they might rise up and seek to dethrone him. In the midst of the most bitter remorse and with an anxiety to throw of the cares that had come upon him, he planned and carried out the greatest public enterprises with which his name is identified. He fortified cities, fostered industries, and threw the shield of his protection over the Jewish communities throughout the empire. To gain the affections of the Jews, he set about the rebuilding of the temple. This he did, not because of any religious conviction or zeal, but with the earnest desire to dazzle the religious imagination and to excite the pride of the people. His temple surpassed that of Solomon, as Solomon’s surpassed that of Zerubbabel. He also Bought to build a palace that might eclipse that of the ease. But try as he might, he could never place himself wholly in sympathy with his subjects. His introduction of Roman names and symbols offended the sensibilities and evoked an indignation which all their national satisfaction failed to silence.

Idolatry was in evidence on every hand, and so he gradually lost the respect of his subjects and began his rapid decline. His physical forces were abated. His mental ability likewise waned. The description of his last days given by Josephus cannot be read without disgust. He lay upon the couch a rotting mass. No foot came near to him save unwillingly, so offensive was he to both sight and smell. In all history there is probably not a more ghastly scene than that of Herod’s deathbed. In perverted ingenuity he devised a scheme to compel a national mourning when he died. He summoned the chief men of all the nations to Jerusalem and shut them up in the Hippodrome. He then charged his sister, Salome, and her husband that the moment the breath left his body the soldiers should be let loose among them and all should be slaughtered.

If ever evil was embodied in one man, it was in that corrupt mass that lay upon the royal bed and plotted death even when incarnate love was born into the world. From the couch of Herod pass for (I moment to the cradle of Christ. A peasant couple from the hills of Galilee trudged along to the historic Bethlehem, the woman worn with long travel and pinched with the pain of approaching maternity. The road was not far from the palace fortress, and, perhaps, they saw the lights and heard the strains of music with which Herod’s servants sought to soothe his agony. it was late in the day ere they reached the "inn," and all the sleeping compartments were occupied. A place was found on the lower level used for the stabling of the cattle, and there on that night Jesus, the Christ, was born.

Such a contrast between the village khan and the palace fortress the world had never seen and can never see again. The Prince of Peace was among the beasts, and the beast was among the princes. The real King was in the stable, while the usurper was clad in purple. Only a few miles, as men measure space, separated the two; but, as God measures moral distance, a whole universe intervenes. Herod and Christ are at opposite poles. Infinity interposes between the selfishness that lived to slay and the self-sacrifice that died to save.

Upon the death of Herod the Great in B.C. 4, Archelaus took the throne, and reigned till 6 A.D., at which time the land of Palestine was ruled by a series of procurators, as follows: Coponius, Marcus Ambivius, Annius Rufus, Valerius Gratus, Pontius Pilate, Vitellius, and Marcellus. This brings us to the year 41, when King Agrippa I. was made ruler over the land. He continued for three years, and then procurators or governors continued, with Cuspius Fadus, Tiberius Alexander, Cumanus, Felix, Porcius Festus, Albinus, and Gessius Florius, thus closing the political rule over the Holy Land until the destruction of the temple.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have gone into detail regarding the history embraced in the study of the Bible and during the four hundred years between the Old and the New Testaments. This has been done with the earnest hope that your interest in the book of God may be increased and that you may have a firmer grasp upon the affairs that then transpired. The church of Christ was established toward the closing years of this long history, and through the simple machinery characteristic of New Testament times the gospel was carried into all the world and proclaimed to every creature. That gospel we have to-night, and during this series of meetings I hope to unfold to you its principles and cause you to enlist under the banner of Him who died that we might live. If already you know the truth and have a disposition to obey it, the opportunity is now yours, and may the Lord help you to use it.