THE K I N G ’ S B U S I NE S S that He may bless us richly. We are so stiff-necked and self-willed that we will not surrender to the voice of His Spirit even though He continues to strive. It is even necessary sometimes for Him to make us lame, or sick, or bowed down with grief, before we rec ognize Him. When we do recognize Him our hearts invariably cry out as did Jacob’s, “ I will not let thee go except thou bless me.” If we are in sore temptation, or distress, affliction, or sorrow, one good look into the face of the Crucified One is worth more than all human comfort, medicine or methods, for it will do what they can not do in the giving of relief and peace. (Rom. 8:28; Phil. 4:19; 1 Pet. 5:7; Psa. 23:4) Did Jacob win Esau? There is much room for discussion here. At least he did not win him the way I would want to win a friend or brother. If we read between the lines I believe we will see that Esau was trying to get as much tribute from Jacob as he could, that Jacob was trying to reconcile his brother for the sake of his own life and that neither of them cared a straw for the other after they had completed the bargain. Esau said, “ Keep it,” 33:9, but that was only another way of say ing, “ under the circumstances it is not enough.” Jacob said, “ Take it” and added for flattery that he was so pleased to be back that his brother’s face was as the face of God 33:10. They start back, agreeing to go together. Jacob traveling slower soon drops behind and .losing Esau in the distance turns about and goes up to Shechem. (33:12-19) We cannot win people with presents. Real friends can not be purchased. Jacob Wins Esau. Gen. 33; 1-11. Memory Verse. “ A soft answer turneth away wrath.” Prov. 15:1. Approach. Did you ever have a boy or girl get mad with you and would not speak to you, or play with you?
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Now you could all answer that ques tion, let me see how BEGINNERS manycan answer this one. Did any of you boys or girls and have real good times playing together again? That is fine, and just the rightv thing to do. When did you feel the happiest, when you were angry at each other, or when you were friends? Yes, of course when you were friends. Do you remember some one in the Bible who was angry with his brother and wanted to kill him? Esau. It is true Jacob did a great wrong and deserved to be punished, but God knew all about what Jacob had done, and would punish him for his sin,' and God tells us in the Bible that it is a very great sin to get angry at our brother, and He also gave us a verse to help us, which is our memory verse for to-day. “ A soft answer turneth away wrath. ” That means when some one speaks to us in a cross, angry voice, we should answer them in a soft, kind voice, and that will help them to stop feeling cross and make them feel kind and happy. Prayer. Dear Jesus, help us to be kind and gentle in our talk. Besson Story. We have such a lovely story to-day, and it is about Jacob again, but this time Jacob is not having his own way, but he is doing the way God had asked him to do. We know how he had to leave his happy home and go far away into another land. He had been in this new land now for a long time, and has a home of his own and a great many children, and lots, and lots of camels, cows and sheep. Jacob thinks about the home of his father and wishes he could go back there and live again, but then he remembered his brother Esau who was angry at him, and of course: -he was afraid when he thought of how wrong he had done. God had not forgotten Jacob,' but had watched over him all PRIMARY e v e r make friends ' with one of those
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