The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1894-04-12
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL


Especially Arranged from Peloubets Notes.J
GOLDEN TExT.-Ye thought evil against me-
but @ God meant IL unto good-Gen. 5000
THE SECTION OF HIsroRY.-Chap s7:l2.s6
TME-B c. 1929 Soon after the last lesson
PLACE jacobs home was az Hebron, about
twenty miles south Of Jerusalem Joseph was
sold at Dothan, fifteen miles north Of Schec-
hem, and about seventy miles northeast Of
Hebron, his home. Dothan was once the resi-.
dence OF Elisha, and the scene of one of his
miracles.
IsAAC.-One hundred and sixty-eight years
old. Twelve years before his death. A blind
feeble old man
JACOB About one hundred and nine years
old, with twelve sons and one or more daugh
ters
JOSEPH Seventeen years old and Ben1a-
min, small child, two to four years old
INTRODUCTION In our last lesson we consid-
eced the germs of character and the events at
home which led to the crimes of to-day lesson.
The bad seed sprsng up quickly into the upas
tree The evil fountain soon sent its polluted
stream over the life.
LESSON NOTES.
To-day's lesson is panorama in
which a succession of pictures or scenes
move before us.
Scene l. The Brothers.-Far from
home at Dothan. "The two wells"
at is the very richest of pasture
grounds" says Canon Tristram. ut
was a very orchard of lemons, oranges
and pomegranates not many years
since" says Able Vigouroux. Here
the sons of Jacob are pasturing their
sheep, an occupation which gave them
abundant time for gloomy meditation
and for conversation
Scene H. Joseph in the Way of Duty
VS.. 12-17. Between Hebron and Do
than. The brothers may have taken
their tiocks to Shechem, fifty miles
from home, not only because their
father owned pastures there (33-19),
and had dug a great well, but perhaps
to be away from the conscientious
eyes of their younger brother. For
this very reason, and because Jacob
may have had some anxiety about his
sons in this place from which he had
removed on account of their crime
there and the dangers it brought upon
him, he sent Joseph to learn Of their
welfare. He could trust him, and that
his brothers would dare or wish to injure
him could not have entered his mind.
''Joseph's mission to this remote and
dangerous country is a proof, at the
same time, that Jacob did not treat
him with too much indulgence, and
that he did not keep him home from
any feelings of tenderness"
Scene III The Brothers Plotting
Revenge. When his brothers saw him
coming in the distance, their envious
feelings rose up against him, and they
proposed to one another to kill him,
and throw his remains into some pit,
and report to their father that some
wild beast had killed him. but Reu-
ben thought it better that his blood
should not be upon their hands, and
proposed, therefore, that they should
throw him into some pit from which he
could not escape, and leave him there
to die of starvation. To this they all
agreed, not knowing that Reuben's
real design was to find some way to re-
store him safe to his father.
Scene " The Heartless Feast.-V. 25.
They sat down to eat bread" Jo-
sephs brethren probably sat down to
joyous feast, eating, drinking and
making merry, regardless of the tears
and anguish of the victim of their
envy. For it was at this time, as they
afterwards confessed in the Egyptian
prison Gen. 42:2l) that they saw the |!
of his soul, when he be- |
sought them, and they would not hear.
Judah's proposition. in verse 26, shows |
that his fate was under discussion
as they sat down to eat bread" Reu- |
ben was not partaker of that meal; |
but off, probably, devising measures
for the rescue of his brother
Scene Y. The New Scheme. me.-Joseph
Sold as Slave. VS.. $3.50. And behold |
a company" a trading caravan, "of Ish-
maelites:" Called also in this chapter
Midianites and Medanites. INDIAN and
Medan were sons of Keturah, cousins
therefore of Ishmael, and not very dis
family related to Joseph. What
profit is it if we slay our brother:" We
can obtain 70 advantage from our pro-
posed murder, but here is a better
way. Judah's motive was undoubted-
~ mixed one. (1) He may have been
troubled in his conscience. A thing
after 1t is done looks SO different from
what it seems in the heat of passion.
1t troubled him to think of the inno-
cent boy starving to death. (2) They
could crafty their envious feelings
md benefit their purses by the bargain.
3) Thus Joseph would be removed
rom them, so that he could not re-
prove them or report their doings (4)
What a satire this was on Joseph's
lreams.
Scene w The father mourning over
lis lost son.-Vs. 81-3C. 31.-"And
hey took Joseph's coat" etc. They
snow that they must again meet their
ather, and to him some reason must
'e assigned for the nonappearance of
lis beloved SON. They dare not tell
he trlth b. tharefora thar rnalza L.