The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1901-10-04

international Sunday School Lesson
for October 1901.
BY FRANKLIN B. DWIGHT.

we are 20 nave uV0 lessons on the
life of Joseph. They can not fail tx
prove of very great interest to all, the
teachers and older scholars, as well
as the boys and girls.
The entire chapter should be read
in the class, or if not it's events mar
, rated by the teacher up to the time
that his brothers took Joseph to cast
him into the pit. The opening verse
of the chapter gives an opportunity to
review briefly the history of the pat
riarchs. Abraham was called by God
to leave his own country and to &c
into a strange land. 1t was called
Canaan. There he lived as great
shepherd prince, ruling well
his large household, trusting
in God and blessed by God
with large possessions. He had
one son, named Isaac, who in turn
had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob,
though the younger, secured by un-
fair means his fathers blessing and
his brothers birthright, and so became
the leading representative of the
family
i 1t should be mentioned also that in
Gods ordering of events Jacob was
the heir in the line of succession from
Abraham to Christ, and that is why
the history of his family is of peculiar
and permanent interest. The express
sion in verse g. "These are the gene
rations of Jacob, means simply,
l''This account which is to follow, is
the history of Jacob. = The word
generations often occurs in the
Bible in this sense, as in Gen. ii 4,
where the generations of the heavens
and the earth, means the history of
heaven and earth as God brought them
into being.
Having now given an introduction
land explained the opening text of the
chapter, teachers should endeayor to
picture the scenes which follow as
/ graphically as possible.
We see an aged father with twelve
sons. The youngest but one is lad
of seventeen, bright, quick, intelli-
gent. plainly of a winning and affec-
tionate disposition and OF high ideals
quite above the standards which pre-
vailed round about him. Like his
father before him, it is his occupation
to keep sheep, and while doing this
he is brought into contact with his
brothers, who are coarse and evil
men. Joseph's pure nature is shocked
by their words and actions. He
speaks to his father of it. This is not
tale bearing, but the irresistible pro-
test of righteousness against sin and
to whom can a lad in bad surrounds
ings better mention such things than
to his own father.
i But alas, that Jacobs partiality
prevented good outcome from all
this. Had he called the brothers and
rebuked them in love, at the same
time shielding Joseph, how different
all might have ended. But no, Jacob
was partial and Partially in family
life is always fruitful source of
trouble and discord.
| We can see Joseph walking before
his brethren in his long, flowing robe
of bright and varied colors, and we
can see them looking at him out OF
the corners of their eyes and whisper
ing spiteful remarks. 1t was not
strange that as they did not love him
at first they hated him now. Then
came his dreams, which the younger
boys and girls in our classes should be
asked to describe. Then they hated
him yet the more for his dreams and
for. his words. They saw at once
suggestion of his intellectual SUI
periority. They saw that he himself
recognized his own native powers and
it filled their souls with envy and
malice. Perhaps it would have beer
better for Joseph to have kept these
dreams to himself, to have pondereo
them in his heart and to have waited
Gods time to see their fulfilment, but
the impression made by the account
is rather that of artless frankness
than of boastful pride.
Then came the departure of the
brothers to Shechem, which should
be found on the map, and Joseph s
visit to them. which he was so will.
ing to make in kind spirit, notwith.
standing their hatred. He finds them
farther on at Dothan. and they al
once conspire to kill him and plan tC
deceive their father. Reuben's per-
suasion leads them to cast Joseph into
pit, although the lad beseeches them
not to do so, and they see the anguish
of his soul, - as they afterward con-
fess, admitting that they would not
hear. /" Then comes the caravan OF
Midianites passing down into Egypt,
and at Judah s suggestion, Joseph is
sold to them. His coat is dipped in
the blood of a kid, and the closing
scene of the chapter shows us an old
man bowed with grief, as he hears
the false tale of his1 guilty sons and
cries, 81 will go down into the grave
unto my son mourning. Just how
these same sons could rise up to com
fort him, - as we are told they did in
verse 80, it is hard to see. But il
was part of their hypocritical and
heartless character, and is not incon.
sistent with their conduct as whole.
This old story is lesson on the
beauty of good character, the vileness
of bad character, and the worthless.
ness of weak character, as shown by
Joseph, the young hero, the wicked
brothers as whole, and Reuben, who
was long afterward described by his
father III the words, unstable al
water thou shalt not excel. Gen
Xix "A.
Joseph could "do right and feal
not. y Honesty is not always the
best policy. Virtue does not always
bring it's own reward in this life. Ii
Joseph's case it did, long afterward
but this he did not know would re-
suit, and the great point to empha
size is that he did right, he served
God and was brave and true and up
right when all things seemed to b.
against him.
The brothers as whole are tbs
type of coarse and selfish men, sucl
as are to be found in every age ant
all countries. Their example neeC
not be dwelt on further than to say