Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1901-07-27
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson in the international Series
for July IS, 19O1-GOd Calls
Abraham.
Prepared by H c. Lenington.1
THE LESSON TEXT,

Genesis 12:l-8.f
/. Now the Lord had said unto Ahram,
Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
fathers house, unto land that I viii
shew thee:
2. And I will make of thee great ma
ton, and I will bless thee, and make thy
name great; and thou shalt be blessing.
3. And I will bless them that bless thee,
and curse him that curseth thee; and in
thee shall all families of the earth be
blessed.
4. So Abram departed. as the Lord had
spoken unto him; and Lot went with him;
and Abram was seventy and five years old
when he departed out of Haran.
3. And Abram took Sarai, his wife, and
Lot his brothers son, and all their sub
stance that they had gathered, and the
souls that they had gotten in Haran; and
they went forth to go into the land of
Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they
came.
6. And Abram passed through the land
unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of
Moreh- And the Canaanite was then in the
land.
Z. And the Lord appeared unto Abram
and said, Unto thy seed will I give this
land; and there builded he an altar unto
the Lord, who appeared unto him.
8. And he removed from thence unto
mountain the east of Bethel, and
west. and Hal on the east; and there he,
buiIded an altar unto the Lord, and called
upon the name of the Lord.
9. And Abram journeyed, going on still
toward the south.
GOLDEN TEXT will bless thee,
and make thy name great; and thou
shalt be a bIessing.-Gen. 1872.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Two stories come up for considera-
ton in connection with this lesson,
and they are embraced in the eleventh
and twelfth chapters of Genesis. Read
the whole of both chapters. The two
stories are:
The Confusion of Tongues. Genesis IL
The Call of Abraham. Genesis II
The Confusion of Tongues. = The
food, according to Ussher's biblical
| chronology occurred in the year 234S
B. C. The population at this time
again began to increase through the
families of Noah's three sons, and as
the population increased a new civili-
cation was gradually taking the place
of the old. Before the food there was
anarchy, after the food began the
| reign of law. Not law as we under
stand it to-day. Patriarchal govern
ment came into being, that is the head
of each family or group of families be-
gan to exercise control over and COM
mand the obedience of his progeny and
servants in all the affairs that per-
| Judge in case of disputes, and exercised
generally the functions of ruler and
| of Judge. For 100 years these people
spoke one language. But they be-
came too numerous to live longer in
one community, so they separated,
some going to the east, some to the
west, others to the north, and many
| to the south. The immediate cause
of this great migration lay in great
project which was on foot near the
present site of Babylon. The people
had begun to fear another flood. A
tower that would reach to Heaven
seemed a plausible way of preventing
any wholesale destruction of life.
They had begun to forget the promise
| of God. So God Himself took part
in the work, and about that same time
| it happened that the discovery was
made that they could no longer under
| stand what one said to another. OF
course it was impossible to go on
with the great undertaking when gen.
erai intercommunicat ton was denied
| them, so gradually the work was
dropped and the people separated. 1t
is said that to-day there are over 5000
languages spoken, and that all are
traceable back to less than 300 leading
languages. The confusion of tongues
has always been going on and will con-
tinue to go on as long as people will
continue to work at cross-purposes
with the plans of God. Contrast the
day of Pentecost with the day of
confusion of tongues. On the day OF
Pentecost the disciples of Jesus be-
came brothers with all the world, ano
were understood by each nearer in his
own tongue.
The Call of Abraham.-Genesis1 1913
details the account of the call of Abra
ham, This may be said to be the first
great call recorded in the Bible. It
reminds us of the call of Moses lit
tie later, of the call of Samuel, of the
call of David, of Jeremiah and
Isaiah, of Matthew and Saul
CPauD. Every man receives a Di.
vine call, but these referred to have
been especially notable in that they
were of national or international i'm.
port. The call of Abraham meant thu
beginning of a nation, and, through
this nation in the person of Jesus
Christ, the salvation of the world
4 Abraham was a religious man, man
GOC. Ills was So
| that God could say: ST will bless them
that bless thee, and curse him that
curseth thee" He was a man so pure
in heart that the Lord appeared unto
him (Gen. 12:7). Ur was the holy city
of the Chaldeans. It was an idolatrous
city, worshiping many gods. If the
truth were to be perpetuated among
men, the men who saw the truth would
have to give 1t a better environment
into which to grow. Abraham was a
worshiper of the true God, he heard
the call to leave the city of idolatry
Because of his ready compliance it was
made possible that in him should al
families of the earth be blessed,