Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-05-10
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
LESSON WI, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, MAY 10.


verses 3, 4, the comforting and assuring
words Of God to Jacob concerning his GO
ing into Egypt-the promise of His pres
ence and blessing and of their sure return
to the land of promise. IT. is always safe
to 20 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. xix
and XXX. The last reference TO them is IN
Rev. xxi 12, where their names seem to be
written on the II gates of pearl of the
New Jerusalem, the Bride, the Lambs
wife, which is to come down from God
ont of heaven.
,, 3, a. "Reuben Simeon, Levi and Jul
dab, Issachar. Xebulum and Ben amin,
Dan and Naphtali. Cad and Asher. " These
| / came with Jacob, Joseph being already
in Egypt ms in the next verse. The
names here are not in the order of birth,
but in the same order as in Gen. xxXv,
23-26, which is there explained, the wives
coming first and then the handmaids The
many various orders of arrangement in
which the Spirit has written these names
throughout the Scriptures cannot be void
of Significance.
b. "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, 26, ~, aud Deut. Y. %
Stephen : statement that Joseph called -
to him in Egypt acts vii, l4) is no dis
crepancy, for he includes ali his kindred
which would take in Jacobs sons wives,
who were not included in the 20. See Gen
XVI, 20. The word of God is infallible.
g. "And Joseph died, and all his breth
rem, and all that general ion" We are re
minded of the eight times repeated "And
he died of Gen V. and of Heb. tx, -
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 mp to meet Him in the air Il Cor.
XIV, 81, 80: Thess. iy, 1919.
:. "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 70 go 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
"lIath He said and shall lie not do il?
| or hath He spoken, ana shall He not make
| il good Mum. xiii. 1872 When such
| increase is seen in all the earth, then shall
| Gen. i. 2S, he obeyed 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 new king over
| Egypt. which knew not Joseph. That
| was not the worst of it, for his own testi-
mony was, II know not Jehovah lEx. v,
| q. 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.
O. "And he said unto his people, Behold.
the people of the children of Israel are
| more and mighticr than we - This is equal
to a confession that he knew Joseph in the
sense of knowing all about him and his
| people, but he was determined not to AZ
| 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
TO- Come on. let us deal wisely with
them, lest they multiply, and it come TO
| pass that when there faleth ont any war
| they join also unto our enemies and fight
| against rs 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, ~ will surely bring thee mp
again" Gen. XVI. ~. Satans way is to
go directly against God, as in the begin
ming, when God said, ''Thou shalt surely
die. - the serpent said "Ye shall not surely
| die. y
II. "Therefore they did set over them
taslmasters 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 W it'll
great substance Gen. XIV, l3, ~. 1t seems
strange to us that God should allow satan
to afIlict His people, but so it is. Consider
Job and the captives taken TO Babylon
for their good (Jer xiv, 81 aud the church
at Smyrna (Rev. ii, l0) and see | Pet. iv,
12, 10,
| ~. "But the more they afflicted them
the more they multiplied and grew. And
they were grieved because Of the children
| of Israel. y Thus the Lord laughed at
man efforts TO Illustrate His purpose. Ii
is so with the word of God, and with the
church. and with the individual Christian,
The more persecution the more 1t grows
the more we die the more we live. "t.X-
cept a corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die it abideth alone, but if it die it
brngeth forth much fruit (John xii, PA,
Their grief because of Israel makes us think
of those who were exceedingly greved be-
cause a man had come to seek the welfare
of the children Of Israel (Neh. ii, l0) and
of the time when Je.usalem shall be bur
densome stone foe All people-all that bur
den themselves with it shall be cut in
pieces (Xech. xii, ~.
10, "A. 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 aud in all
manner of service in the field, all their
service wherein they made them serve was
with rigor." In at least three places this
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.
have chosen thee in the furnace of affiic-
tion" From Eek. xii 1922 and Xech.