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was cast out and sold by them, and was then hidden from them for years. During those hidden years, unknown to them, he was preparing for their future salvation. When the time came, they were brought to him by the stress o f circum stances, and they found him not only their saviour but also their despised brother. This brought about the reunion of the household, the father being gathered with all his family—all because o f the work of this son, despised by his own and exalted by strangers. II. A nother A pproach to the Q uarter ’ s L essons Another method of conducting the re view would be to give the class a view of the book o f Genesis as a whole. The be ginning is found in the revelation of the creation (Gen. 1 :1). Then we are told of a great catastrophe which left the earth in the condition described in Genesis 1 :2. The rest of Genesis 1 tells the story of the renovation of the ruined earth, not o f the “ six days’ work o f creation," as is usually supposed. After this revelation of crea tion in general, we are told (Gen. 2) o f the creation o f man as a particular part of creation. He was to be the head over all the works o f God’s hands. The one prohi bition against eating of the fruit o f the tree of the knowledge o f good and evil was given as a test to discover whether man would choose to serve God or Satan. Lesson 2 gives the result o f the test. Sin came into the world. In speaking to Satan, God gave a promise of the coming of a Deliverer, one who would be stronger than Satan:—a man, yet more than man, the Conqueror of man’s conqueror. This one would be the “ seed o f the woman.” When sin came, man fell under the power of Sa tan, and his end became death. But “the seed” would come who would oppose the seed o f the serpent. These two seeds are seen in Cain and Seth. Cain, with his bloodless religion, became Satan’s to o l; Abel, with his blood religion, became God’s man. God’s man was at first over come by Satan’s, and Abel was murdered. But his place was taken by Seth. When he came, we read: “ Then began men to call themselves by the name o f the Lord” ; that is, they acknowledged their own feebleness and stood only in the Lord. Thus Cain was unable to overcome Seth as he had Abel. The growth and tendencies of the two seeds are seen in the following chapters, down to the time o f Babel in chapter 11. O f the seed belonging to God, we read this brief word, “And he died.” But the seed belonging to Satan prospered in the earth. Commerce spread. The arts were intro duced, music was produced, and cities sprang u p ; in a word, civilization came into the world. But it was man’s civiliza tion, and it ended at the tower o f Babel in an attempt to put God out of the world by becoming wholly independent of Him. A t this point, God found it necessary to choose one man out o f the race in order that His purposes o f blessing concerning that race might be preserved, and also that the promised seed o f the woman should have a channel through which to come into the world. The choice o f Abraham occurred, and from him sprang the nation o f Israel. From chapter 12 to the end of the book, we are given the story o f the beginning, the various experiences, and the growth of this peculiar people. These later chapters of Genesis are therefore full o f references to the ways o f God, not only in choosing this people, but in
REVIEW : W H A T WE H AVE LEARNED FROM GENESIS JUNE 26, 1932
back to Himself, clothed in the robe which He made for him. , 2. Abraham. Consider Abraham ( Les son 3) in the light o f the failure o f the race at Babel, and also in the light of God’s purposes o f blessing for the fallen race. W e must remember constantly that Abraham was not only the beginning of the nation o f Israel, but that he had a wider sphere, that o f being the father o f all the faithful. The gospel by which God is pleased to save men was first preached to Abraham (c f. Gal. 3 :8 ). This was a gos pel o f grace, as Abraham was himself an idolator, and apart from the grace of God, he would have continued in his idolatry to the end. Through him, God proposed to bring into the world a nation which would be His witness to all other nations, and the channel through which Christ should come into the world. 3. Lot. Lot was a righteous man, who vexed his righteous soul by his desire ,for the things o f this world. He was a be liever, but, like many others, he became blind to eternal values because earthly pos sessions occupied his full attention. While his soul was righteous and without doubt was saved, his action so interfered with the growth o f his soul as to leave him, when the end came, a spiritual pauper. 4. Isaac. It is refreshing to turn from Lot to Isaac, who appears in Lesson S. Isaac illustrates the virtues o f patience and humility. While these do not loom large in the eyes of men as being worth-while things, they stand out in the Bible as the very highest Christian virtues: patience being the first mark o f spiritual power, and humility the first mark o f the knowl edge o f God. 5. Esau. Esau (Lesson 6) reveals that profanity o f nature which lives only for the immediate present, and is willing to exchange that which comes from God for that which is passing and petty. He is the type of all profane men since his day. Pro fanity is nothing more than thinking that the gifts o f God that are unseen but eter nal are o f less value than the gifts of God which are visible and temporal. 6. Jacob. O f the remaining lessons of the quarter, the greater number concern Jacob; the remainder deal with Joseph and Judah. Jacob is the man who illus trates how mighty is the grace of God to change and to correct a man who begins with everything against him—that is, everything that would make him an ac ceptable character to other men. God stoops to the lowest to lift the highest; and this He did in the case of Jacob. 7. Joseph. While it is nowhere ex pressly stated, Joseph is nevertheless one of the fullest types o f our Lord Jesus Christ that we have. He, the chosen o f his father, was given dominion over his brethren, was hated by those brethren, BLACKBOARD LESSON
Golden Text: “W e know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called accord ing to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28, R. V .). The Land of Egypt T he scene o f our lessons for the past month has been laid in Egypt, the land o f the Pharaohs. The land is quite fascinating to study because of the abundance o f its ancient records which have been preserved. This remarkable preservation is possible because of the cli mate of Egypt. There is very little rain
there, and in that part o f the land known as Upper Egypt, there is practically no r a i n at all. The air is al ways dry, so that there is very little de cay or disintegration of materials. Papy rus, the ancient Egyp tian paper, has been
preserved for four thousand years. The writing upon it is still quite legible. The paintings on the walls o f the Tombs o f the Kings are, in some cases, almost like new. One wonders if the paint was not applied only the past week, it is so brilliant and vivid. With such remarkable preserva tion, there is a countless number o f histo rical records which have come down to us. And as we stated last week, every record which has been found, and every new rec ord which is found, if it in any way touches upon any event in the Bible, and is ac curate, agrees with the Scripture record. Egypt is a remarkable land for evidence of the trustworthiness o f the W ord of God. Before closing our comments for this quarter, we must say just a word about the land of Goshen, into which the chil dren o f Israel came. It is in the Nile delta, the most fertile region of all Egypt. There is nearly always plenty o f water there, and the climate is such that crops can be grown all the year round. Through out the year, the land is a vivid green be cause of the abundance o f grass and hay. It is an ideal location for people who raise cattle and sheép. Thus Israel came out o f a land of famine, to receive better things than before. The suggested subtopic for the review, given by the International Lesson Commit tee, might be used with profit in the va- -rious classes. The topic is “ Favorite Char acters in Genesis.” 1. Adam. Turn to the second les ion for a brief discussion o f Adam, before, during, and after the fall. How sin came to the world by the agency o f Satan, and how it came into the world by the permission o f Adam, needs to be emphasized in these days when modern psychology, together with the growing menace o f behaviorism, is rampant. What Adam was before the fall, and what he be came after that, also needs emphasis, be cause o f the loose thinking concerning what really constitutes a child o f God. Adam’s relation to God before the fall was not so close nor so high as it was after God put away his sin and brought him Outline and Exposition i. O ne M ethod of R eview
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