Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-05-01
ISRAEL OFT REPROVED.
LESSON v, SECOND QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, MAY 8.

phia.
Gods love for His people Israel is seen
not only in His bringing them out of Egypt
and placing them in the good land of
Canaan, but also in His sending them His
servants, the prophets, who showed them
their sins and pleaded with them to urn
from their sins unto God CHAP. ii, Old.
The prophets were in themselves weak
and fallible men, but God gave them a
message for His people, and they had only
to deliver that message faithfully in His
name But there were many false proph
cts who spoke lies in the name of the
Lord and perverted His word tJer. xiii.
2S-32. 3Gl
Amos was a prophet to Israel tthe ten
tribes) in the days Of Uzziah, king of Ju
dan, and Jeroboam, son Of Joash, king
of Israel. And about the same time lived
the prophets Isaiah and Hosea CAmos i, L:
lisa /, /. Hos. i, u. Amos was called to be
a prophet while keeping sheep, and the
chief place of his prophecy was Bethel
chap vii. 1918 lsrael's sin was that be
cause prosperous they were at ease and in
different to the claims of God wi, 10;
greedy of gain and depressing the poor
Iii, 6, I. i, |, v, IL, IL; viii, 40; needed
not the voice of God in judgment Gv, CID.
and despised the word of God iii, 4; V, 10:
vii, 1913 Yet He loved them, and bore
patiently with them, and entreated them,
and kept before them the blessings of the
sure covenants with Abraham and David.
Read very carefully chapter tx, lib.
T. Come to Bethel and t~ransgress; at
Gilgai multiply transgression."
With all their sin they were outwardly
very religious. At Bethel and at Gilgal
/ +haV Itntl MANY ultnrS IInsaa .uv thnv
were a. plentiful as heaps of stones in the
field But there was only one altar in
all the land where. since the building of
the temple, God commanded sacrifice to
Oe offered (Deut. xii, 10, II, Ps. cXXXii, 49,
so that all sacrifice at Bethel or Gilgal was
simply transgression
> And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving
with leaven, Tor this llketh you, y ye cnil
ireu ri Israel, saith the Lord God
Leaveu Is everywhere in Scripture a sym
5ol of evil With the meal Offering there
was to be neither leaven nor honey, and at
the Passover there was to he no leaven
found i'll their houses.
6 And | also have given you cleanness
OF teeth III all your cities, and want Of
bread IN all your places, yet have ye not
returned unto me, saith the Lord"
Observe IN this verse and in verses S, 9,
10, II, the five times repeated sad refrain,
Yet have We not returned unto Me, saith
the Lord This shows us the heart Of
God and His one great longing for His
erring people, that they in true p%enitence
return to Him.
"And also | have withholden the rain
from you when there were yet three
months to the harvest; n | caused it to
rain upon one city, and caused it not to
rain upon another city"
That He would also thus chasten them is
recognized by solomon in his prayer at the
dedication of the temple q Kings viii, So,
36) Who among US ever stops to consider
that when it rains in one place and not in
another God has anything to do with
it. or that when in one place there is a
drought and in another much rain, it is
the hand of the Lord that doeth thisy And
yet il we believe His word we must believe
that the balancings of the clouds are the
wondrous works of Him who is perfect in
knowledge, who saith to the snow, BE thou
on the earth, likewise to the small rain
and the great rain of His strength"
$ 5 W. or three cities wandered into
one city to drink water, but they We're not
satisfied, yet have ye not returned unto
me, saith the Lord
They forsook God, the fountain OF living
waters, and hewed them out cisterns.
broken cISterns, that could hold no water.
. i have smitten you with blasting and
miidew.
This also he had forewarned them of
when He set before them the blessings and
cursings which would surely follow ODE
dience or disobedience (Deut. xviii, 22l.
10 IL have sent among you the pesti
fence after the manner of Egypt"
VI - -.
q 60). while at the same time He had
promised that if they would diligently
hearken to His voice and do right in His
sight He would put none OF the diseases
upon them which He had brought upon
the Egyptians lex. XIV. 20; xiii, p: Deut.
vii, l5)
Your young men have | slain with the
sword"
The result of obedience would have been
that one would nave chased IA thousand,
and two have put ten thousand TO flight
,Deut. XXXii. 30, but instead of this their
enemies Cypress them and Stay them.
H. 4 have overthrown some of you, as
Tod overthrow Sodom and Gomorrah, and
ye were as a frebrand plucked out of the
burning
In Xech. iii, 9, Jerusalem is called a
brand plucked out Of the fire, and in lisa.
/, ~, they are called rulers of Sodom and
people of Gomorrah, while in Matt. ri, "a,
Jesus says it will be more tolerable in the
day of Judgment for Sodom than for disc.
oedient Israel By famine and sickness
and wal and by direct judgment He pleads
with them TO return unto Him, but they
refuse
u Therefore, thus will | do unto thee,
o Israel, and because | will do this unto
thee, prepare to meet thy God, o Israel"
The long account of love sighted, com
mands disobeyed, blessings abused, gifts
transferred TO other lovers, while ali the
time keeping up an outward profession of
devotion, must some day be settled, and
how will Israel meet her God, whose most
loving and persistent entreaties she has
spurnedr The only preparation is true
penitence and consequent forgiveness, fol
lowed by fruits meet for repentance.
10 For, 10, He that formeth the mount
ain and createth the wind. And d~eclareth
unto man what is his thought"
If it is mans thought that is meant, then