Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-03-09
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON X, FlR5T QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MARCH II.

Text of the Lesson, Gen. xviii, 1922.
Memory Verses, 1914 - Golden Text.
Gen. xviii, 10 Commentary by the
Rev. ID. NJ. Stearns.
10. "And Jacob went out from Beer.
sheba and went toward Haran." Since
the last lesson Isaac has been to the Phil
istines, and being forbidden to 20 to
Egypt he sojourned at Gerar, where he fell
into his fathers sin concerning his wife.
He afterward made his home at Beersheba
in the extreme south, where his father
dwelt when called upon to offer up his
only SON. Then follows the story of the
deception practiced upon Isaac by Rebekah
and Jacob, with Esau g consequent hatred
of Jacob, resulting in Jacobs leaving
home to 20 to his mothers people at Ha-
ran in Padanaram, where Abram had So
;;oonrned on his way TO Canaan till Terah
died.
II. land he. lighted upon a certain
place and tarfied there all night, because
the sun was set, and he took of the stones
OF that place and put them for his pillows
and lay down in that place to sleep" If we
consider Jacob from this on apart from his
nature and conduct rs II sinful man, there
are several things in his history sugges-
tive of facts in the history of the Lord Je-
| sus. He goes forth to obtain wife verse
q, for whom he labors patiently a long
time (chapter XXI, 40, 40, but it seems
| short to him because of his great love to
her xxx, 20) Christ loved the church
and gave Himself for it (lph Y, 25). Ellie
ger seeking bride for the son at home
with his father is suggestive of the present
work of the Spirit in gathering out the
church. AS you see Jacob in his loneliness
with the stones for his pillows you can't
help thinking of him who had not where
to lay His head duke tx, 5S).
-. "And he dreamed, and behold a
ladder set up ON the earth, and the top of
it reached to heaven. And behold the an
gels of God ascending and descending on
it." BY comparing John i, 81, the ladder
is suggestive of the son of Man. who be-
coming man reached down to where we
were, and being God reaches up to heaven,
the angels being ministering spirits unto
the heirs of salvation. 1t will be fully seen
in the hereafter of the millenial kingdom.
10. "And behold the Lord stood above
it and said, l am the Lord God of Abra-
ham, thy father and the God of Isaac; the
land wherein thou licst, to thee will
give it and to thy seed" Notice in this
verse and the last three beholds-behold a
ladder, behold the angels, behold the Lord.
IA. "And thy seed shall be as the dust
of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad
to the west and to the east and to the north
and to the south, and in thee and in thy
seed shall ali the families of the earth be
blessed" Abram was promised seed as
numerous as the dust of the earth and as
the stars of heaven (xiii, l6; XIV, 81. The
1nf 70 Iu
now the former i confirmed to Jacob.
10. "And behold | am with thee and
will keep thee in all places whittier thou
goest and will bring thee again into this
land, for will not leave thee until have
done that which / have spoken to thee of. !"
Here is a fourth behold and associated
with what seems to me the most compre
, hensive assurance in the Bible, 81 am with
thee" Compare EX. iii, 12 Joshua i, 81
Judg. vi lG; Jer i, s, 10; lisa. xii, 10;
Hag. i, 13; ii, 4; Math. xviii, 20, etc.
Consider well this promise of Gods pres
ence and loving care and gracious purpose
in the light of Jacobs unwOrthiness and
crookedness and see if your soul is not
comforted and strengthened by the fact
that this God is your God, the same yes
terday, today and forever.
l6. "And Jacob awaked out of his sleep,
anu ne Silu, surely tue l1OIu ~ III luiS
place. and knew it not" His partner
: ship with his mother in the deceit prac-
ticed upon Isaac would not tend to fellow
ship with God, but to be alone and away
from home sometimes causes deep thought,
and it is possible that ere Jacob slept he
had turned to God with true penitence and
confession, and that this vision was the
answer to his prayers.
II. "And he was afraid and said, How
dreadful is this place! This is none other
but the house of God, and this is the gate
of heaven" Ever since Adam sinned and
said, 81 was afraid" Gen. iii, 10), sin has
made man afraid at the presence of the
Lord. And yet God is love and loved us
when we were dead in sins, and Christ died
for sinners. We cannot have peace in the
presence of God apart from the forgiveness
of sins, but this also he has provided in
Jesus Christ Acts xiii, 3S, 80; Eph. i,
6, y.
IS. "And Jacob rose up early in the
morning and took the stone that he had
4 put for his pillows and set it up for pill
lar and poured oil upon the top of it," A
I sense of the presence of the Lord is now
upon him, and he is awed and subdued
and grateful. 1t should be always so with
the believer, with joy added-joy in the
Lord and the JOY of the Lord, serving the
Lord with gladness. The stone that was
PROSTATE, but now upright and anointed
may stand for Jacob himself.
10. "And he called the name of that
place Bethel, but the name of that city
was called Luz at the first" Near this
place was one of Abrams first tentinl
places in Canaan chapter xii, 81, and latel
God appeared to Jacob as "the God o.
Bethel" chapter XXI, 13). But Jeroboan
defiled it when he here set up one of hii
golden calves Il Kings xii, 29). Every spo
in our pilgrimage may be to us a Bethe
If we will not detile it by any idol.
20, 81. "And Jacob vowed vow, say
ing, If God will be with me and will keel
me in this way that | go and will give mi
bread to eat and raiment to put on, so tina
| come again to my fathers house in peace
then shall the Lord be my God" In view
of the most gracious and unconditiona
assurances of verse Is, it is surely too baC
to hear Jacob come in with his great bis
"if," and yet how many of us leave GU
all the offs, and when God says thing
boldly declare, g! believe God, that it shall
be even as il was told me, " or gratefully