Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-05-11
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LEssoNVll, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
KATIONt,L sER,tJ, MAY 10.

1. "Now, these are the names of the |
children of Israel which came into Egypt. |
Every man and his household came with |
Jacob" The more detailed account of |
this is found in Gen. XVI, S-27, and in |
verses 3, 4, the comforting and assuring |
words of God to Jacob concerning his 60 |
ing into Egypt-the promise of His pres |
ence and blessing and of their sure return
to the land of promise. 1t is always safe |
to go where we are sure of the presence
and blessing of God. These children of
Israel are first mentioned by name, with
the meaning of their names, in Gen. xxx
and xxx. The last reference to them is in
Rev xxi, l2, where their names seem to be
written on the 10 gates of pearl of the
New Jerusalem, the Bride, the Lambs
wife, which is to come down from God
out of heaven.
2, 3, 4. "Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Jul
dab, Tssachar, Zebulum and Benjamin.
Dan and Naphtali, Cad and Asher. " These
II came with Jacob, Joseph being already
in Egypt, as in the next verse. The
names here are not in the order of birth,
but in the same order as in Gen. xxXv,
1926, which is there explained, the wives
coming first and then the landmarks. The
many various orders of arrangement in
which the Spirit has written these names
throughout the Scriptures cannot be void
of significance.
5. "And all the souls that come out of
the loins of Jacob were seventy souls, for
Joseph was in Egypt already" This agrees
with Gen. XVI, % 81, and Deut. X, 90.
Stephen $ statement that Joseph called IS
to him in Egypt ACTS vii, l4) is no dis
crepancy, for he includes all his kindred,
which would take in Jacobs sons wives,
who were not included in the 20. See Gen.
XVI, 26. The word of God is infallible.
e. And Joseph died. and all his breth-
rem, and all that generation" We are re-
minded of the eight times repeated "And
he died" of Gen. V, and of Heb. tx, 81.
at is appointed unto men once to die"
But we remember that two men have been
excused from keeping this appointment,
Enoch and Elijah, and all believers alive
on the earth at the coming of Christ will
not sleep, but be changed in a moment and
caught up to meet Him in the air Il Cor.
XIV, 81, So; Thess. iv, 16-1s).
Z. "And the children of Israel were
fruitful and increased abundantly and
multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty,
and the land was filled with them" God
had said to Jacob, "Fear not to 90 down
into Egypt, for will there make of thee
a great nation Gen. XVI, 81. And He
had done it according to His word, for
Hath He said, and shall He not do it?
or hath He spoken, and shall He not make
it good" (Num. xiii, l9)? When such
il crease is seen in all the earth, then shall
Gen. i, 2S, be obeytG and the blessing of
the Lord be made manifest. Confidence
in God and obedience to His word will al
ways bring showers of blessing.
s. "Now, there arose a new king over
Egypt, which knew not Joseph" That
was not the worst of it, for his own testi
mony was, 81 know not Jehovah" zen. V,
p. In this he was surely guilty, for he
could not help knowing about Joseph and
the God of Joseph, and the great deliver
ance wrought by God through Joseph for
his land and people. The presence of these
children of Israel in his land was a wit
ness on behalf of Joseph and his God.
8. "And he said unto his people, Behold,
the people of the children of Israel are
more and mightier than we" This is equal
to n confession that he knew Joseph in the
sense of knowing all about him and his
people, but he was determined not to ac-
knowledge any obligation to Joseph or
these his people. This is the sense in
which those who have heard the gospel
know not God. They will not regard Him
nor acknowledge their obligation to Him.
10. "Come on, let us deal wisely with
them, lest they multiply, and it come to
pass that when there falleth out any war
they join also unto our enemies and fight
against us and so get them up out of the
land" He in his wisdom would fight
against the very thing God had said He
would do, 81 will surely bring thee up
again. Gen. XVI, A.. Satan's way is to
go directly against God, as in the begin
ming, when God said, "Thou shalt surely
die >" the serpent said, aye shall not surely
die"
II. "Therefore they did set over them
taskmasters to afflict them with their bur
dens. And they built for Pharaoh treas
ure cities, Pithom and Raamses." This
also had been foreseen and foretold, for
God had said to Abram that in the strange
land his seed should be afflicted, but that
afterward he would bring them out with
great substance Gen XIV, 10, l4). 1t seems
strange to us that God should allow satan
to affiict His people, but so it is. Consider
job and the captives taken to Babylon
for their good der. xiv, 81 and the church
at Smyrna (Rev. ii, l0) and see | Pet. iv,
~, l3.
10. "But the more they afflicted them
the more they multiplied and grew. And
they were grieved because of the children
of Israeli Thus the Lord laughed al
is so with the word of God, and with the
church, and with the individual Christian
The more persecution the more it grows
the more we die the more we live. "Ex-
cept corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die it abideth alone, but if it die il
bringeth forth much fruit (John xii, 24)
Their grief because of Israel makes us think
of those who were exceedingly grieved be
cause man had come to seek the welfare
of the children of Israel (Neh. ii, 100 and
of the time wheh Jerusalem shall be bur
densome stone for all people-all that bur
den themselves with it shall be cut in
pieces Czech. xii, 3D.
10, IA. "And the Egyptians made the
children of Israel to serve with rigor, and
they made their lives bitter with hard
bondage in mortar and in brick and in all
manner of service in the field all theil
I service wherein they made them serve was
with rigor" In at least three places this
8 is called the iron furnace of Egypt (Deut
iv, 20; / Kings viii, 81; Jer. XII, ~, and
in lisa. Xviii, 10, the Lord says: "Behold
! | have refined thee, but not with silver
l have chosen thee i'm the furnoca of af1ic