The Globe-republican., 1894-03-09
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
International Lesson for March IL. 1904
Jacob at Beth eileen. eS:1O-e2.
Especially Arranged from Peloubets Notes
GOLDEN TExT.-Behold. am with thee. and
will keep thee.-Gen. eS:l5
The SECTION OF HISTORY belonging to this
lesson includes chapters 27:4l to 3: -; 35:l-2
TIME.-R C 1850 Twenty-Five years after
the selling Of the birthrisht, and Immediately
following the obtaining the birthright by fraud
BY some the date is given as 1860
ISAAC is now liz years old He died In l7l7,
aged $50 years.
EsAU AND JACOB are So years old
PLACE-BetheL House of God" twelve
miles north Of Jerusalem 1t was then called
Luz The homestead was at Beersheba. ffty-
five to sixty miles to the south
LESSON NOTES.
The Flight from Home.-V. 10. In
our last lesson we saw Jacob not only
taking advantage of his twin brother
in sharp bargain for his birthright.
but also obtaining possession of it by
fraud. 1t had been promised him. and
he had bought it legally for a mere
song. taking advantage of his broth
er's weakness and needs. He thought
it was his. and without faith to trust
in God for the fulfillment of his proph-
ecy. and without love to present the
case fairly to his father and his broth
er. he gained by trickery what he might
have had honestly. He now begun to
feel the curse that chung to his bless
ing. Il think Jacob really sold out
cheaper than Esau did. 1t is an awful
thing for a man to swap home. friends.
station, responsibility and character
for the first place in an old mans will. {"
-Layman, in Christian Union.
Esau naturally was very angry. He
might have given up his birthright
freely, but it made him indignant to
be cheated out of it. He saw one easy
course to obtain it. With his physical
strength he could kill his brother
Jacob, and the birthright would be
his. To escape this danger Rebekah
planned to have Jacob go away for a
time, osteEsibly to seek wife among
his kindred on the Euphrates. She
knew Esau well enough to believe that
his anger would soon burn itself out,
and expected that Jacob would ere
long return home with one of her
nieces for his wife. She little thought
that it would be forty years before he
would return, and that she would never
see her beloved son again.
10. Sand Jacob went out from Beer
sheba," his fathers home. Without a
a servant to attend him, or a beast to
carry him, or any other accommoda-
ton, except, as he afterward informs
us (Gen. S2:1O), "a staff" to walk with,
he pursues his solitary way. Jacob
may have stolen away secretly, and
without any retinue, and have Stunned
the frequented path to Paden-Aram.
in order to elude the vigilance and re-
sentiment of his brother. Nor can we
doubt that he was oppressed with a
desolating sense of his loneliness, and
inwardly panied with the compunctious
visitings of his faithful conscience.
"And went toward Haran:" In Padan-
Aram, Mesopotamia, the place where
Abraham settled for time, before he
came to Canaan, and where his brother
Major, remained. Here lived Jacobs
uncle, the brother of Rebekah. The
distance was about four hundred and
fifty miles. 1t was long, dreary,
dangerous journey.
The Pillow of Stones.-V. II.
Lighted upon certain place" Lit
orally: ''lighted on the place." The
definite article probably indicates that
it was the well-known place after
wards mentioned and the one where
his grandfather Abraham had built an
altar 12:S). 1t was near Bethel, about
ffty-fve miles north from Beersheba.
1t must have been toward the close of
the third day that Jacob reached
this place. 1t may have been too late
to enter the city, the gates being shut
stones of that place and put them for
his pillows" The ''stones of that
place" are still numerous enough to &C.
commodate an army of Jacobs. 1t was
no hardship for Jacob to take
stone for a pillow; the Syrians and Pal
estinians do it every night. Sleeping
on the ground in the open air, where
there is not even bush for shelter, is
the commonest thing in the world.
wrapped only III Ills dDd Or OCneT
mantle. the native does not find fault
with bed in the open air.
The Heavenly Vision.-V. 12. Some
chapters beyond the one where this in
cident is recorded is single verse (S5:
81 which throws no little light upon
this night of the vision. The account
here reads as if God, unasked. revealed
Himself to Jacob in this wonderful
way, and we could but guess at the
feelings of Jacob on this eventful oc-
casion. But twenty-eight years after
wards he proposes to his family to go
to Bethel, and build an altar to God,
''who answered me in the day of my
distress" This vision was not a gift
unsought, but in answer to earnest
prayer, an answer to a soul which
looked to the God of his fathers in
time of distress.
LESSONS FROM JACOBS VISION.
Unconscious providences," unseen
0uidance Goods hand in history"