The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-08-28
TIE SABBATH SCHOOL
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COMMENTS
FOR SEPTEMBER 1.

connecting Links. Soon after the events
Of our last lesson Sarah died at Hebron,
and Abraham purchased the cave of Mach
pelah for burying,place for, his wife.
When Isaac was iorty years Old Abraham
sent his servant to Mesopotamia, called
the place where the family of Haran, his
brother, had settled, and where Abraham's
father was buried. The servant succeeded
in his undertaking and Rebekah was
brought back to Canaan and became
lsaac's wife. When Isaac was sixty years
old Jacob and Esau were born. In B. c.
1921 occurred the death of Abraham. He
had lived to the good old age of l75 He
was quiet and restful in his later years,
growing in faith and piety, and guiding
with his counsels and his example his son
and his grandsons, Jacob and Esau, with
whom he lived until they were fifteen
and love" Abraham was buried in the
cave of Machpelah with his beloved wife
Sarah. At present this cave is covered by
a Mohammedan mosque, which is sacredly
guarded against the intrusion of travellers.
When Jacob and Esau were thirty-one
years old Esau, the elder, sold his birth.
right to Jacob for mess of pottage. Gen.
25: 27-34. We read that he "despised his
birthright." About year after Esau had
sold his birthright there was a famine in
the land, and Isaac went to dwell in &c.
rar, which was the chief city of the Phil
lstines. He seems to have been making
preparations to go to Egypt, where his
father had gone during the first famine,
more than a hundred years before this;
but the Lord appeared unto him and told
him not to 60 down into Egypt, but to
dwell in Canaan. At this time the cove.
nant made with his father, Abraham, was
renewed. Gen. 26: 3-5. 1t seems strange
that when Isaac went to dwell at Gerar
he should fall into the same snare that
Abraham had fallen into in the very same
place, but such was the case, for when
they asked him concerning his wife, Isaac
said, "She is my sister," for he feared they
would kill him for his wife. This was un.
true, for Rebekah was only his cousin.
II. Isaac" Isaac was man OF faith,
but in many respects a great contrast to
his father. He was patient, but not enter:
prising and powerful. He was devout and
submissive, but not active in organizing
in Gods service. His life was uneventful,
almost monotonous. He was not physi.
cally robust, and seems to have come into
a condition Of bodily prostration, for he
must have spent forty or fifty years in
blindness and incapacity for all active
work. "In the same year" While there
was o famine in the land, when others
scarcely reaped at all, he reaped thus ,plen.
tifully. See lisa. 65: l3. "Hundredfold."
Probably meaning very great increase: ;,
49, Went forward" Hebrew, going"
that is, became increasingly greater. The
Hebrew term for walk is frequently used
in the sense of continued increase. See Il.
V. He grew more and more until he be-
came very great, d.,
vanity attaches to every earthly good;
prosperity begets envy, and from envy
proceeds injury. Envy is the constant
companion of prosperity.
Is. For all the wells" etc. In those
countries good well of water was pos.
session of immense value, and hence In
their wars it was an object for either
party to fill the wells in order to distress
the enemy Envy considers that which is
lost to another as gain to itself
l6. "Go from US. !" Isaac does not IN
sist upon the bargain he had made with
them for the lands he held, nor upon his
he offer to contest with them by force,
but peaceably departs. We should deny
ourselves rather than quarrel.
II. valley of Gerar." The country
around Gerar
is. "Digged again the wells" etc; It
tI the our nreat ats and d sOoa Rhe T Phsnes had
filed the wells Abraham had dug. and
Isaac resolves to open them again. Many
cf our enjoyments, both civil and religious,
are the sweeter for being the fruits of the
labor of our fathers, and if they have been
corrupted by adversahes since their day,
we must restore them to their former pur'
l9. 'Well of springins water" "Well
IF living waters" This is its meaning both
in the Old and New Testaments. See
John 4: lC.l4; 7: 3s; Rev. 81: 6; q: /: An
unfailing spring was an emblem of the
traces and influences of the Spirit of God.
20. "Did strive" Those that, avoid
striving, yet can not avoid being striven
with Psa. l2O: 7. In this sense Jeremiah
was a man of contention (Jer. Is: 1O), and
also Christ Himself, though He is the
Prince of peace. -,
81. "Digged another we'll" Never did
any man more implicitly follow the divine
command, Resist not evil than did
Isaac" whenever he found that his work
was likely to be subject of strife and
contention, he always chose to suffer
wrong than do wrong. He overcame evil
with good.
%. Removed from thence" We are
told that he met the envy with patience
and removed from well to well. At last
the Philistines desisted. Endurance, meek.
ness, the gospel spirit, are the only true
weapons to use against the world. Isaac,
like Christ, conquered by meekness Abra.
ham was the man of faith, Isaac the man
of endurance, and Jacob was the man OF
prayer.
%. Went up-to Beer-sheba." Isaac
had trouble while among the Phlllstlnes.
ITO enjoy Gods presence we must be
where He is, and He certainly is not to be
found amid the strife and contention OF
an ungodly world; and hence, the sooner
the child of God gets away from all such
the better; so Isaac found IT,"
q. THE Lord appeared" The angel OF
the covenant-the Messiah. 1.-The, same
night" "He needed special encourage.
ment when insulted and outraged by the
Phihstines, and God Immediately appears
to comfort and support him in his trials
by a renewal of all His promises" THE
God of Abraham" "God is not the God
of the dead, but of the living" Matt. p:
32 Therefore Isaac is assured that his
father has not pershed by death, but that
he is still alive. with thee" Isaac was
encouraged not merely by the Lords bless
ing. but by the Lord Himself.
Is. "Builded an altar" 'Isaac first
built an altar and then digged well;
Every dwelling-piace of the godly should
be sanctuary" Here at last he had rea;
endowment. He had an uIdisputed well
which the Philistines could not fill up, be-
cause they were not there.