The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1901-11-08
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
international Sunday School Lesson
for November 3 1901
EXODUS /: 1-14.

BY REV. FRANKLIN B DWIGHT.
EXODUS /: liza.
We now enter upon the study of tn,
Book of Exodus. 1t means the bool
of "the going OUT and is so called
from the fact that the going out 81
Egypt by the children of Israel with
all the circumstances which attended
their departure and their march tC
Canaan is it's principal theme.
We have now reached a period in
the worlds history, probably about
1900 B. O., though the dates cannot be
fixed with certainty or exactness al
this remote period, when we find many
side lights upon the scripture record
and as the work of excavation goes
on there will doubtless be still more
of confirmation in the tablets which
tell in imperishable characters of the
life and times of ancient Egypt. So
lately a. 1881 the body of Rameses III,
now generally supposed to be the
Pharaoh of the exodus, the liking
who knew not Joseph was discovered
in q wonderful state of preservation
and it is now in q museum near
Cairo.
The text of our lesson this week
requires some explanation. We are
told in verses l to g. the names of the
children of Israel which came into
Egypt, and there follows list
which, including Jacob himself,
Joseph and his two sons and all the
wives and children mentioned in Gen.
XVII makes the total number seventy
persons. In Acts vii: IA, Stephen
speaks of the number as seventy five,
but the apparent discrepancy is ex-
planned when we see that he evidently
quoted from the Septuagint, or Greek
version of the Hebrew Scriptures,
which makes the number seventy
five. This difference arises from the
fact that five more descendants of
Joseph are included in the Sep
tuagint list, and it suggests the gem
eral caution of the Speakers Com
mentary, that the genealogical tables
of the Jews were drawn up on prin-
ciples unlike those of modern cacula-
ton - The opening verses of this
book give list of the heads of the
separate families, what afterward
became the twelve tribes. The full
list of the seventy mentioned in verse
is given in Gen. XVI, but this only
includes two daughters. There were
doubtless many more, and they, with
their husbands and chilrden, and all
the dependents included in their
households must have made large
company of Hebrew emigrants who
settled In Goshen.
How long they were in Egypt is a
vexed question. Gen. XIV: 10 speaks
of 400 years and this is quoted by
Stephen in Acts vii: 6. Gal. iii: II
says that the time from the call of
Abraham to the giving of the law
which was soon after the exodus, was
450 years, which exactly agrees with
Exodus xii: AZ. where we read, ''The
sojournlng of the children of Israel
in Egypt was four houndred and
thirty years. - The usual explana-
tion of these variations is to admit
that Gen. XIV: 10 and Gal. iii IL are
general expressions in round numbers,
in which the hundreds only are men
toned. A greater difficulty arises in
reconciling St Paul's statement in
Galatians with that of Elk. xii 40. and
some writer's think that the statement
in Exodus looked back to the origin
of the Hebrew people, and is intended
to show that all their sojourning, :"
first in Palestine and then in Egypt
was 430 years. This agrees with the
chronology as fixed by / Kings vi: 1,
which shows that $50 years elapsed
between Solomon and the Exodus, and
by reckoning from the ages of the
patriarchs this gives 215 years from
Abraham to the coming into Egypt
and 215 years in Egypt. But the bet
ter way seems to be to accept the
statement in Exodus, even though
this compels us to disarrange the COM
monty received chronology. Israel
was probably in Egypt four hundred
years, although only tire last part of
this period was cruel oppression.
But these are quetslons the correct
answers to which does not affect the
spiritual good which we may draw
from the lesson. The turning point
in Israel's experience is the advent
of the new king who knew not
Joseph. What change now from
the peace and plenty of Canaan and
from the care which they had at first
experienced under Joseph when they
arrived in Goshen. They are cruelty
treated and made to serve with
rigour. They suffer hard bondage in
mortar and in brick. How vivid the
picture 1t is that of ceaseless toll
under remorseless masters. Pharaoh
feared war. These subject Israelites
must not be allowed to grow so
numerous that they could rise against
their masters and uniting with
foreign power overturn the throne.
No, he will prevent their increase by
severe measures. But God orders
otherwise, and the more they are
afflicted the more they grow. Man
proposes, but God disposes, The wrath
of man has often been made to praise
God, and the efforts of the enemies
of His people often result in the end
in special blessing upon those who
trust in God.
Learn also the advantages of sepa-
ration and the uses of adversely.
Israel were kept separate from the
Egyptians with their idol worship
and their heather gods, and so they
had their early lessons in Montheism,
the worship of the one true God,
Jehovah, who alone could redeem His
people. Christian people today must
keep separate from an unbelieving
and unrighteous world, only so can
they learn the first lessons about God
and His righteousness
Sweet are the uses of adversely, ,
sings the poet, but men do not gem
orally think so and Israel did not
think so, and no wonder, in the days
of their cruel bondage. But it was
this very bondage and oppression
which wrought in them true sense