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harnessed occurs in the Bible. It means that Israel was fitted, girded, and pre pared for the long march. Referring to this experience in Psalm 105:37, the Psalmist says, “There was not one feeble person among their tribes.” Neither is it necessary that there should be a single “feeble” member in God’s church today. “Harnessed” with the provision of the Word, prayer, the Spirit’s indwelling, the gracious ministries of the church, faith, and as surance of the future, every believer may experience victory. « 3. "The Lord went before them" (v. 21). God's children have the prom ise of an unerring guide through all of life’s pilgrimage. Jesus said con cerning this guide, “When he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them” (John' 10:4). In the wilderness He went before them in the cloudy and fiery pillar. “When the excessive heat made it necessary for Israel to march at night, the light of the fiery pillar was enough to-light the way: and when in the day the scqrching glare of the sun was' blinding, the cloud spread itself abroad like a great um brella, so that the women and chil dren could traVel in comparative com fort” (F. B. Meyer). Golden Text Illustration. E xodus 15:2 The difference between the concep tion of God entertained by his father (who became Archbishop of Canter bury) and his mother is stated by E. F. Benson in his loving tribute which bears the title of “Mother”: “She, to put it broadly, looked on God as a Father; he, as an omnipotent King. In consequence . . . when Martin, her eldest son, died at Winchester, Mother laid him on the bosom of God with a joy that my father could never feel. His strength, which was hefe his weak ness, cried out and rebelled; her strength accepted and welcomed.” —Pearls for Preachers, by Hart. Miriam's Song E xodus 15 MEMORYVERSE: “The Lord is good: sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant” (Psa. 135:3). APPROACH: Sometimes we sing in church or in school because we are asked tosing. And sometimes we
BLACKBO ARD LESSON
to the sea, and the Lord brought again the w aters of the sea upon them ; but the ch il dren of Israel w ent on d ry land in the m idst of the sea. 20 A n d M iriam the prophetess, the sister of A aro n, took a tim brel in her hand; and all the w om en w ent out after her w ith tim brels and w ith dances. 21 A n d M iriam answ ered them , Sin g ye to the Lord, for he hath trium phed glo ri ously: the horse and his rider hath he throw n into the sea. 22 So M oses brought Israel from the Red sea. L E S S O N T E X T : Ex. 13:17-22; 15:17-22a. G O L D E N T E X T : " T h e L g , r d is m y strength and song, and he is become m y sa lva tion ” (E x. 15:2). D E V O T IO N A L , R E A D IN G : Psa. 77:11*20. Outline and Exposition p G od ' s P ath for H is P eople (13:17-19) K HE WAY through the Philistine they would meet war—and Israel was not as yet ready for that. Unless they learned what they were by nature, or what the weakness of the “flesh” was, they never would be ready to achieve victory over their enemies. Long after wards, when Moses spoke to the peo ple just before they entered Canaan, he referred to this experience and told them they should ever remember it. He told them the purpose of their wil derness wanderings was that the Lord might prove them. The Lord humbled them in order that what was in their hearts might be revealed, and that they might come to know that man lives not by bread alone “but by every word that proceedeth .out of the mouth of the Lord” (cf. Deut. 8:2, 3). By the way of the wilderness, the people were led out of Egypt “har nessed,” or “by five in a rank” (cf. marg.). There was divine prudence in such an arrangement; whether they knew it or not, they were beginning their training as a united nation in which each one depended upon every other one; if one fell, all would be in volved in the same catastrophe; if one was victorious, all would have part in the victory (cf. 1 Cor. 12:20-26). When they left «Egypt, they remembered Jo seph’s wold to them and they carried his bones with them. II. G od ' s P rovision for H is P eople (13:20-22) Even Moses did not know the way. The Lord led them by the strange way to Etham, on the edge of the wilder ness. Human reason would not have chosen this route, but it was the only path along which these people could learn the needed lesson of trust in God. Christians should remember this lesson when they come to strange and hard experiences along the way. They, were directed by the pillar of clo^d and of fire. That cloud was darkness to their enemies, but light to them, because God Himself was in the cloud (cf. Neh. 9:12, R. V.). God
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is darkness to His enemies, but always light to His own when His people walk in obedience to Him. The cloud spoke of the presence of God and their protection by Him, of the nearness of God and their safety with Him, and of the knowledge and power of God which was their guar antee that what He had promised He would perform. III. G od ' s P urpose for H is P eople ( 15:17-22a) These verses embrace the close of the song of Moses and the song of Miriam. The song of Moses is the first song, found in the Bible and should be studied carefully for both its form and content. It will be noticed that it was not Uttered until Israel saw w h a t the Lord had accomplished. There can be no true singing until there is some open vision of the Lord’s work. It is a song, as is that of Miriam, in which God’s person and glory, His power and His works, are uppermost. In this it is different from-most of the songs of today. Even those sung in churches are often concerned mainly with the singer’s feelings and actions, with little magnifying of the Lord Himself. Both of these songs, under the im pulse of the Holy Spirit, express a looking far beyond the present history of Israel to that day when “he shall reign for ever and ever,” with all His enemies destroyed, and His people finally and firmly “planted” in their own land never to be plucked up or removed (cf. 2 Sam. 7:10; Jer. 24:6,7; Amos 9:15). Points and Problems 1. "God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines" (Ex. 13:17). The Philistine route was the easiest, shortest way, and the way the world of that day most commonly traveled. But it was not the best way for God’s people. God knew the dan gers and the temptations of the easy way, and barred the path. God’s chil dren today need the hard, rugged way in order that their faith may be exer cised and strengthened, and that the Christian graces may be developed. 2. "The children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt" (v. 18). This is the only time the word
country was shorter than the route God chose for the people, but it was through a country in which
like to sing, be cause we feel hap py. Our lesson to day is about Miri am, the sister, of Moses a n d Aaron, and about the hap py song she sang. LESSON STORY: Miriam was glad because, at last, the Lord’s people,
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were free from those who had kept them as slaves in Egypt. The Lord
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