Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-05-12
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LEssoNva, SECOND QUARTET, iNT1E-
NATIONAL SERIES, MAY Is.

Text of the Lesson, Ex. i, IN Mem
cxxiv. s-commeutary by the Rev. d. !.
Stearrs-
/. 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-s7, ard in
verses 8, 4, the comforting and assuring
words Of God to Jacob concerning his GO
ing into Esypt-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 n
Rev. xxi, IL, where their names seem TO be
written on the ~ gates of pearl of the
New Jerusalem, the Bride. the Lambs
wife, which is to come down from God
out of heaven.
9, 3, 4. "Reuhen, Simeon, Levi and Ju-
dab, Issachar. zebulum and Benjamin,
Dan and Naphtali. Gadand Asher. = These
IL 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. XIV.
23-26, 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 II be void
of significance.
5. "And all the souls that come out Of
the loins of Jacob were seventy souls, foi
Joseph was in Egypt already. - This agrees
with Gen. XVI, &c, 2T, and Deut. \, -.
Stephens statement that Joseph called -
to him in Egypt CActs vii, ~ is no dis
crepaney, for he includes al his kindred,
which would take in Jacobs sons wives,
who were not included in the 30. See Gen.
XVI, 25. The word Of God is infallible.
@. Sand Joseph died, and all his hreth
rem, md all that generation" We are re.
minded of the eight times repeated ''And
he died. of Gen. ", aud of Heb. tx, ~.
ut is appointed unto men once TO die, =
But we remember that twomen have been
excused from keeping this appointment,
Enoch and Elijah, n all believers alive
on the Garth Mt the coming If Christ viii
not sleep, but be changed in a moment and
caught mp TO meet Him in the air 4 Cor,
XIV, 81, Ok. l 4 ness. ~, iO-lS1.
Z. "And the children Of Israel were
fruitful and increased abundantly and
multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty,
ard the land was filled with them.t' God
had said TO Jacob, "Fear not to go down
into Egypt, for will there make Of thee
a great nation" tGen. Xvi, 81. And He
had done it according to His wcrd, for
"Hath He said, and shall He not do it,
or hath H~espoken, and shall He not make
it good' Mum. xiii, 1872 When such
increase is seen in all the earth, then shall
Gen. i, go, be obeyyd 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. Snow, there arose a new King over
Egypt, which knew not Joseph" That
was not the worst of 1t, for his own testi
mony was, 81 know not jehovah lex. v,
p, In this he was surely guilty, for he
could not help knowing about Joseph, ant
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 WEI This is equal
to a confession that be knew Joseph in the
sense of knowing all about him and his
people, but he was determined not to nc
know ledge any obligation TO Joseph or
these his people. This is the sense in
which those who have heard the gospel
know not God. They viii not regard Him
nor acknowledge their obligation TO Him.
10. Some on, let us deal wisely with
them, lest they multiply, and il comc 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 lis wisdom would fight
against the very thing God had said He
would do, 81 will surely bring thee up
again" Gen XVI, ~. Satan's way is to
go directly against God. as in the begin.
ming, when God said, ''Thou shalt surely
die, y the serpent said, "Yeshall not surely
die.h
II. Therefore they did set over them
taskmasters to afilict them with their bur
dens. And they built for Pharaoh treas
ure cities, Pithom and Raamses.' y This
also had been ~foreseen and forctold, for
God had said to Abram that in the strange
land his seed should be afflicted, but that
afterward be would bring them out with
great substance Gen. XIV, 10, I'D. Itseema
strange to us that God should allow satan
to afllict His people, but so it is. Consider
job and the captives taken to Babylon
fortheir good (Jer. xiv, 81 and the church
at Smyrna (Rev. ii, l0) and see | Pet. iv,
IL, 13.
12. "But the more they afflicted them
the more they multiplied and grew. And
they were gricved because Of the children
of Israel" Thus the Lord laughed at
mans efforts to Illustrate His purpose. 1t
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 a corn Of wheat fall into the ground
and die it abideth alone, but II it die it
b~ringeth forth much fruit John xii. a4).
Their grief because of Israel makes usthink
of those who were exceedingly grieved be-
cause a man had come to seek the welfare
OF the children Of Israel (Nch. ii, l0) and
Of the time when Jerusalem shall bea bur
densome stone for all people-all that bur
den themselves with 1t shall be cut in
pieces Czech. xii, 81.
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 ia all
manner of service in tho field, all their
service wherein they made them serve WIS
with rigor." In at least three places this
is called the iron furnace of Egypt (Deut.
iv, 20; ] Kings viii, 81; Jer. XII, a, and
in lisa. Xviii, 10, the Lord says; "Behold,
| have refined thee, but not with silver. /
have chosen thee In the furnace of allie
ton" From Eek. xxi, iT-22, and Xech.
xiii, 8, and elsewhere it looks as IL there
would be more furnace work than ever for
Israel ere they all know the Lord from the
least to the greatest. AS to our individual
lives, when we are in the furnace we may
be sure HAT the Lord has His eye upon us,
looking lovingly to see His own image
more clearly reflected in us (Mal. iii, 81.
The remainder Of this chapter tells how In
spite Of TIE orders to kill all the male
children as coon as born the people multi
piled and warea very mighty.