Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1902-08-16
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
lesson in the international series
fog August H, 1sO2|Ourneyiag
Toward Canaan.
THE LESSON TEXT.

fog August h, 19O2-JOuFneytng
Toward Canaau.
THE LESSON TEXT.
plumbers 1e:11-fS, 1850
IL And It came to pass on the TWEEN
6eth day of the second month, In the
second year, that the cloud was taken up
from on the tabernacle OF the testimony.
L. And the children Of Israel took thsiP
Journeys out of the wilderness of Sinais
and the cloud rested In the wilderness Of
Paran.
Is. And they first took their journey ac-
cording to the commandment of the Lord
by the hand of Moses.
g. And Moses said unto Hobab, the son
of Raguel the Aidianite, Moses father-in-
law We are journeying unto the place
or which the Lord said, I will give &c
you: come thou with US, and we wiz do
thee good: for the Lord hath spoken
good concerning Israel.
80 And he said unto him, will not go:
but will depart to mine own land, and
to my kindred.
81. And he said, Leave US not. pray
thee; forasmuch as thou knowest how We
are to encamp in the wilderness, and
thou mayest be to US instead of eyes.
81. And it shall be, If thou go with us,
yea, 1T shall be, that what goodness the
Lord shall do unto us, the same Will we
do unto thee.
80. And they departed from the mount
of the Lord three days journey: and the
ark of the covenant of the Lord went be-
fore them in the three days journey, to
search out a resting place for them.
"a. And the cloud of the Lord was up
on them by day, when they went out
of the camp.
IS. And it came to pass, when the ark
set forward, that Moses said, Rise up.
Lord and let thine enemies be scattered;
and let them that hate thee fee before
thee.
Sc. And when it rested, he said, Return,
o Lord, untG the many thousands of
GOLDEN TExT-For thy names
sake lead me, and guide me.-Ps. 81 i3.
OUTLINE OF SCRIPTURE SECTION.
Order of encamping. ................Nu Mum. 2.
Division of service ...........;....N Mum. 3.
The trumpet signals. Mum. 1918.
The march begun. ............N Mum. 1e;1i-35.
TIME.-B. c. 1890.
PLACE.-Sinai.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
An Orderly Host.-1n the moving of
multitude so great as that under the
direction of Moses, absolute system is
necessary. Each man must under
stand just where he belongs and what
he should do, both in camping and on
the march; otherwise there will be in
eXtricable confusion. When the Israel
ties took up their journey from Sinai,
they moved not like mob, but with the
orderly precision of an army. They
did not march in ranks, but each man,
each family, each tribe knew their
place and the service expected of them.
In that we have an illustration of the
extraordinary executive ability of
Moses as a lender.
The Order of Encamping-It must
| be remembered that, so far as the dis
tance was concerned, the Hebrews
| could have gone straight from Egypt
to Canaan by the Philistia road in 40
days instead of 40 years if they had
been ready. But they were not. They
| had neither organization, equipment,
self-confdence nor tested confidence in
| Jehovah, and would have fallen an easy
prey to the warilke Canaanite tribes.
They needed years in the wilderness
| training-schoolt to prepare them for the
successful conquest of the land. The
military arrangement described in this
chapter was simple. The tabernacle
was in the center, with the Levites close
about it (3:24,, 90, 35), and three tribes
were placed on each of the four sides.
Division of Service.-The purpose of
the service of the Levites is indicated
in 3:s. For the theory of this arrange
| 1HGnG see y. LILO dult D 44-Ol.
The Trumpet Signals.-The final step
| in preparing for the march from Sinai
was the arrangement of trumpet calls
as signals. Notice that even the trum-
pets that were to sound the order to
march were connected with the solemn
rites of worship, so that their note
proclaimed not only the march,, but
the march at Jehovah's command and
under His leadership.
The March Begun.-After a stay of
almost a year at Sinai the trumpets
sounded, the tabernacle was taken
down, and the march began. Paran
was a name covering most of the coun-
| try between Sinai and Canaan. At
| last the Hebrews were moving toward
| the promised land. 1O:29-32 gives US a
most interesting account of the secur-
| ing of valuable guide. The figurelof
Hobab, Moses Midianite father-in-Iaw,
is already familiar to us fom Elk.
1927, where he is called Jethro. His
experience in the wilderness as the
head of nomadic tribe had given him
familiarity with the country that
Moses considered invaluable. 1t wasa
serious matter with him to cast his
lot with the Hebrews; his action in
vo1ved his family and perhaps his tribe,
and at first he hesitated. The induce
ment offered, share in the future of
Israel, was not enough to move him:
but the second appeal, on the ground
that that great company was facing a
journey through an unknown wilder
ness, and needed him, was not in vain.
OF course both weighed together in
the final decision. Two interesting
points for discussion are, ~ Gods
guidance of us to-day: How are we to
know it? He was leading the Hebrews,
yet Moses felt that it was important
to secure an Arab guide who knew the
country. Was not part of Gods guild
Ance in making Hobab's help available?
| C2) How far does the need Of others
constitute a claim on our time and
other resources?