Church of Christ Studies

Bible History Continued

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." (1 Mace. 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.

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