THE KING’S BUSINESS
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The prayer bell is, for most, a toll. Noon time is not prayertime. “At midnight there was a cry made;” “out of the depths I called upon Thee.” The newsboy only prayed at night because, he said, “Any smart boy can take care of hisself in the day time.” II. T he P reparation of M oses . 1. In His Home Life. Providentially his first five to seven years were spent in his Hebrew home, with his pious mother. His moral environment was heaven beside that of Egypt. Jochebed, like the mother of “Ben Hur,” would drill him in the tra ditions and messianic hopes of his fathers, and have taught him that as a son of Amram he was scion of a noble people. 2. • In the Court of Pharaoh. Familiar ity with that low high-life, its immoralities, pride, vanities, trained as he had been, must have filled him with aversion, as it did Joseph before him. 3. In His School Life. As a university graduate, “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians’.’ (Acts 7:22) he would not have been so far behind the modern savant in information, but fjir better equipped in in tellectual culture, ' for their system made heavier demands on the innate powers. All the world studied in Egypt. 4. In the Campaign. Moses was “mighty in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22). Tradition says that at the head of Egypt’s forces he won great victories. IV. M oses ’ D ecision .
1. His Earthly Prospects (Heb. 11:23- 27). He was probably heir to the crown, he certainly could have had it for the tak ing. No young man ever had more to give up th.an he. 2. His Choice of Christ (“the reproach of Christ,” the cross of Christ). The “re proach of Christ” was that of the Hebrews. He chose to be a Hebrew, despised, perse cuted, appointed to death. Like Paul, what he “counted gain, he counted loss.” The trqpshres and pleasures seen, he rejected for the unseen. All because of his home Vainipg. Time shows his wisdom, and ap proves his choice. 3. The Decisive Act —“He smote the Egyptian.” This was (1) an act of a prince of Egypt against a riotous .subject; (2) in defense of a fellow man; or (3) the first blow in a war for freedom. Looked at either veay it was justifiable. -Why did Moses fear ? Because he had delivered a Hebrew; so casting in his lot openly against Pharaoh. His craven fellow countrymen refused to rise and strike with him. * 4. The Flight and Sojourn in the W il derness. Moses had acted prematurely. A greater training awaited him. He found it in forty years of humble, toilsome, medi tative (significant to an intellect like his) waiting. God’s university was the Wilder ness, and the flock; its term was forty years; its investiture the shepherd’s crook; but when completed all other learning was mellowed and sanctified, and the meekest of men and the mightiest was the product.
The Heart of the Lesson By T. C. HORTON
L esson XI— J une 15, 1913. Golden Text,—Romans 8:28.'
Benjamin and the privilege of ministering to them all in the capacity of a royal king. What is the heart of the lesson ? God rules and God overrules. He knows, the end from the beginning. God planned a great life for Joseph and brought it to ,a beau tiful and blessed climax. It was the back ward look over his eventful life, so diffi cult to interpret while he passed through
The story of Joseph’s life ends beauti fully. A united family in the presence of the king, with showers of blessings, a happy day fqr Joseph. The long years of suffer ing and hardship ended, a scepter in his hand, the sins of his brothers all forgiven, the presence of his father and the beloved
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