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April 1932
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were they? What did they want? As they came nearer, he saw that it was Esau with his servants. Jacob wondered what was going to happen to him. He didn’t know what to d o ! Finally, he went forward and bowed himself seven times before his brother. And to his surprise, Esau was not coming to fight h im ; instead, he ran to meet him and put his arms around him. They had both forgiven each other, and now they were ready to forget the past. What would have happened if only one o f them had been ready to forgive? Then the quarrel would not have been ended, for it takes both persons to forgive. How sad it was that all o f these years they had been separated, and how sad it was that they had both sinned in the first place! Golden Text Illustration John Smith, a farmer, wished to get a loan from his local banker, whom he had known all his life; but he didn’t have adequate collateral. However, the banker knew that, from a moral and earning power standpoint, Smith was a good risk, so he put it up to him in this w ay: “John, you know I have a glass eye, but it looks a good deal like my real eye. If you can tell me which is the glass one, I’ll make you the loan.” So John looked long and steadily into the eyes o f the banker. Suddenly he ex claimed, pointing to the left one, “ That’s the glass eye!” “You’re right, John,” declared the banker. “ But how did you know?” ■ “Well,” John replied, “ There seemed to be a little gleam of human kindness in that one .”—The National Republic. walls o f the Mohammedan mosque, and visitors are not allowed within it. Abra ham is considered by the Moslems to be one o f the great religious prophets. There fore, this cave is a sacred spot to them. They have named Hebron, “El Khalil,” which means, literally, “the friend.” Thus the one outstanding characteristic o f Ab raham as a “ fri nd o f God” is preserved. Hebron was the capital o f Palestine at the beginning o f the reign of David. How ever, after seven years, he removed to Je rusalem, which has remained the center o f government ever since. Outline and Exposition I. P referred by H is F ather (1-3). Joseph’s youth was spent in the land around which clustered all the traditions concerning the family chosen by God to fulfill His purposes. Under this influence, Joseph would quite naturally imbibe a knowledge o f and a trust in God, which would afterward enable him to do mar velous things for God. The early influence o f the home cannot be too strongly stressed (cf. 2 Tim. 1:5; 3:14, 15). In spite o f his naturally retiring disposi tion, Joseph, in faithfulness, brought to his father the evil report about his brethren, for Jacob, as the head of the family and the one most deeply interested in it, had a right to know. Being thus faithful to his father and to his brethren, Joseph was pre pared, at a later time, to show great faith fulness to his God.
Leah and her children drew near, and finally Joseph and Rachel came before this brother who was mistakenly thought to be an enemy. Every move in the scene re vealed Jacob’s distrust o f God and his fear o f Esau. III. T he G ift G iven (8-11). Esau enquired the meaning o f the droves he had met,' and the reply was, “ These are to find grace in the sight o f my Lord” (v. 8). Jacob had already found grace in the sight o f God, and since God intended to keep His word, Jacob had nothing to fear from Esau. But the seen danger from Esau loomed larger in Jacob’s vision than the unseen protection from the Lord. Let us be careful not to think too harshly of Jacob until we have searched our own hearts and discovered if, per chance, there does not lurk there the same fear of the seen and the same distrust o f the unseen. Esau again showed his friendship by large-heartedly refusing the gift (v. 9), but Jacob pressed it upon him (vs. 10,11). Jacob did this in a servile way which ill befitted the one who had met God, had been accepted by God, and had been pro moted by God. He perhaps had in mind the fact that, in that country, when a gift was accepted, there could properly be no such thing as injury done to the giver. When Jacob induced Esau to accept his gift, he felt that the custom of the country Would restrain Esau from seeking re venge for the wrong he felt had been done to him when the birthright had changed hands, and the blessing had been wrested from the father. Again Dr. Thomas says, “While the re generate can never become unregenerate, he can, alas! become degenerate.” This is the peril o f the Christian life which is so clearly illustrated in this lesson. A fter the high Peniel experience where Jacob is changed to Israel, he goes back to Jacob. But here again we see the grace o f God at work, bringing Jacob out' o f the Jacob character, to live in and to manifest the Is rael character. The same grace is at work in every believer, changing what he is by nature to that which he may be in Christ, until he becomes like Christ and fulfills God’s full purpose. Lesson Questions Vs. 1, 2. _What danger appeared to Jacob as he journeyed? What did Jacob interpret it to mean? In drawing this con clusion, was Jacob acting as “a prince with God” or as the old crafty schemer? What shrewd arrangement did Jacob make to appease Esau and to save his own prop erty? Did he act in faith or in fear? Vs. .1, 4. How does the attitude of Esau indicate that Jacob’s fears were ground less? How do you account for this change o f heart? Vs. 5-7. Was there an implied threat in Jacob’s reply regarding the women and the children? What was it? Vs. 8-11. Was it necessary for Jacob to bribe Esau? In what kind o f spirit did he thrust his gift upon him? Cite other instances where men and women o f faith have reverted to fleshly methods, with dis astrous or humiliating results. Two Brothers End a Quarrel Genesis 33 :l-4, 8-11 Memory Verse: “ Be ye kind one to an other, tenderhearted, forgiving e a c h other” (Eph. 4:32).
BLACKBOARD LESSON
Approach: Jacob, you remember, had started out on a journey to his uncle’s house to find a wife. He was lonely and sad until he knew that God was with him. Then he started out again and found his
uncle’s family. He stayed there m a n y years after he mar ried; he stayed until God told him he must return home. L e s s o n S t o r y : So he started b a c k with his family and his cattle and sheep a n d servants. Esau was left in the old home, and it was from
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Esau that Jacob had stolen the blessing many years before. Jacob must have won dered if Esau still hated him. But God had told him to go home, so he started on the long journey back. Sometime before they reached the end o f their journey, Jacob looked up and saw four hundred men approaching. Who
MAY 29, 1932 JOSEPH, TH E DREAMER G enesis 37:1-11
Golden Text: “ Provide things honest in the sight o f all men” (Rom. 12:17). Hebron T he scene o f our lesson is laid in He bron. It is situated about twenty miles southof Jerusalem on the road which continues on to Beersheba and
the South Country. Unlike most Palestine towns, it is not built upon a hilltop, but in a valley and up the side o f a hill; hence the reference to the “ Vale o f Hebron” in the chapter which con tains today’s lesson. While the hills around H e b r o n a r e quite
rocky, there is suffi cient soil for crops to grow. Strange to say, the meager soil. is unusually productive. There are many olive trees dotting the hill sides, and in season the grape vines are la den with tremendous bunches o f grapes. An American resident of Jerusalem tells of picking and carrying, in the Hebron dis trict, a bunch o f grapes which measured three feet in length. The productiveness of the region is much the same today as it was when the Israelite spies under Ca leb and Joshua came into the land from the south. The most famous site in Hebron is the cave o f Machpelah. In this cave were in terred the remains o f Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac. Unfortunately, the cave is en closed within the towering and forbidding
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