The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-14
THE sUNDAY-sCHooL LESSON.
Lesson L: jacob n Prince with God
Genesis xxi, 1-32.

Genesis xxi, 1-32.
There was q clash OF feeling in the heart OF
Jacob as he approached Canaan after his exile
in Pandan-Aram. There JOY! Before him
lay the land promised to him-a land flowing
with milk and honey. And he making his
entrance in good form. He returned not he
went out, with merely a staff in his hand. He
came as a mighty sheik, who could look COM
placently at his vast hocks and herds and the
caravan OF his followers with all the impedi-
menta Of a great camp. Nor were his thoughts
wholly upon temporalities. He had learned
many religious lessons in his Punishment. He
came with the intention of discharging well the
priestly function inherng in his headship of
the nation He had some conception, however
incomplete of One who was to be born OF his
line, prince and savior. He had the Messianic
hope. But all the brightness of Jacobs
joy was darkened by cloud of angry portent.
He must needs meet the consequences Of the
sins of forty years ago-his unbrotherly action:
his ambition greed and fraud; his overhaste
and use Of foul means to accomplish what he
had reason to believe the Lords wilI-all
these assumed a spectral form haunt him.
His wronged brother was approaching in hostile
mien and force. Esau accustomed to moth
ing else but striking the blow Of death.
To Jacob it seemed as If all was lost What did
it amount to-the sight OF the promised land
# he must needs stain its border with his ifes
blood? And all the Messianic hopes and prom
ises would perish in him. There is touch of
the domestic and ahectionate spirit of the pa
triarch in his prayer. He fairly screens his
eyes from sight Of the impending slaughter of
the innocents. He cannot brook the thought of
another tragedy of a Niobe and her children
In the extremity Of his peril the ruling
passion, the strategic spirit of Jacob asserted
itself. But the advance in character is manifest
in that it took ignoble form. There was
nothing unworthy in the division of his caravan
into two bands The advantage of it was that
if taken the other might be left And
the presents sent in a series would be cumula-
tive in their effect to soften the anger of his
injured brother. Having done all that
human tact could suggest, Jacob had recourse
TO prayer. Some asked a minister whether
he believed in healing by faith or medicine His
very apt reply was Il believe in healing by
faith and medicine Jacob used all the expe-
dents he could think of to placate his brother
and himself and his family. just as if ev-
erythng depended upon God. The prayer
OF Jacob is the first recorded prayer as it is
one of the noblest of all the Bible. 20 God of
my father Abraham and God Of my father
Isaac!' Here is appeal TO the God of the
covenant. The entrance of a pathetic claim TO
the mercies Of the covenant. Which saidest
unto me, return" The present extreme peril is
not incurred by any presumption or rashness on
Jacobs part. but by his very obedience to the
explicit command of God. Il am not worthy"
| This is depreciation. Deliver me-" This is
supplication. And Thou saidst, 1 Will surely
do Thee good" This is an appeal to, and a
pressing Of the promises Of God. Ma
/ ture seems at that particular spot to be in
strange harmony with the scene that transpired
J there. The brook Jabbok-the very name signi-
| flying "wrestler''-there hurls itself against the
hinty barriers in its path, and forces a passage
| to the quiet pool beyond. So the indomitable
| spirit of the patriarch there storned the king
/ dom of heaven and took it by force. Jacob was
/ in an agony. Death was impending. his hopes
| ruined, his fortune scattered. hs family sIaugh-
/ tered; he in extremity. Gods eye must
/ pity, Gods arm must bring deliverance I.
There is nothing inexplicabIe in the wrestling.
! scene, commonly thought TO be so mysterious
| 1t a merciful concession when the Lord
\ took upon himself human form and allowed
/ Jacob TO vent his excessive grief and anxiety
| in the way OF physical exertion The corporeaI
| struggle was accompaniment to prayer The
prophet Hosea says Jacob wept and made sup
| pcation to the angel Back OF the wrestling
and in and through it, there intelligent
mind. fervent heart importunate spirit.
Many persons Of ardent temperament, or placed
in desperate situations. still accompany their
/ prayers with bodily exertion, in violent gesture
| or loud tone Of voice, or grip upon chair
/ bench OF other article of furniture. Yet
! Jacob was to be taught that the Lords strength
| was made perfect in weakness-that it is not
| by Chuman) might nor power, but by Gods
spirit; the very seat and citadel of his phys
| zeal might, his thigh. was miraculously
| touched" and he bent like a broken straw.
! But even then he threw his arms about the
angels neck and hung upon him. The
angel might well have asked Jacob what his
! former character had been to ask his name
| for name and character were synonymous. He
| was Jacob the suppanter, the trickster. the
heel-hoIder and tripper gaining his ends by foul
| means if fair would not answer. The angel in
! that very question held up the mirror before
Jacob so that he plainly the ugly traits
| of his character. He despised himself. He was
sorry for and wanted 70 be rid of, his old self
! He was ready TO cry, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? He got name
and nature simultaneously. The angels
! answer to Jacobs demand equivalent to
| saying, You know my name already; why do
YOU ask for it?' Jacob showed that he knew