The Tupelo journal., 1902-09-05
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson In the international Series
for September 2, 1902 The
Prophet Like Moses.
TIL LESSON TEXT.
<D 1Q,n 10

" AAAOa - OAA inv 80 AaAS
which the Lord thy God giveth thee. thou
shalt not learn to do after the denominations
Of those nations.
10. There shall not be found among you
any one that maketh his son or his daugh-
ter to pass through the fire, or that useth
divination, or an observer Of times, or an
~enchanter, or q witch,
ii. Or a charmer, or a consulter with ia
miliar spirits. or a wizard, or a necroman-
Ger.
II. For all that do these things are an
abomination unto the Lord: and because OF
these denominations the Lord thy God doth
drive them out from before thee.
10. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord
thy God.
IA. For these nations. which thou shalt
possess, hearkenedIunto observers of times,
and unto OWNERS: but as for thee, the Lord
thy Goo hath not suffered thee so to do.
10. The Lord thy God will raise up unto
thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, OF
thy brethren, like unto me; unto him we
h hearken:
16. According to all that thou desiredst
of the Lord thy God In Horeb in the day Of
the assembly, saying, Let me not hear
again the voice of the Lord my God, neither
let me see this great fire any more. that ]
die not.
II. And the Lord said unto me, They have
well spoken that which they have spoken.
IL. L Will raise them up a Prophet from
among their brethren, like unto thee. and
will put my words in his mouth; and he
shall speak unto them all that l shall com-
mand him.
10. And it shall come to pass, that who
soever will not hearken unto my words
which he shall speak in my name, I will
require it of him.
GOLDEN TEXT.-This is Of a truth
thai prophet that should come into
the wOr1d.-John 6:14.
OUTLINE OF SCRIPTURE SECTION.
The prohibitions 1914.
The prophet like Moses.......Deut.. 1S:16-1s.
False prophets .Deut.. 18:3O-22.
TIME.-B. c. 1852.
PLACE.-Land of Moab.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Uplifting Legislation.-The legisla.
ton of the wilderness looked forward
to the time when the ~Israelites should
be settled in their promised home.
when thou art come into the land
which Jehovah thy God giveth thee,
thou shalt" etc., is a phrase which is
connected with more than one Mosaic
ordinance (Num. 1918; Lev. 1928, etc..
A high ideal was continually held be.
fore them, which had a powerful in
fuence in lifting them up above the
peoples of their time.
The Prohibitions.-"Those nations"
are the ones to be dispossessed before
Israel, and their denominations" as
suggested by what follows, are not so
much idolatries as superstitious prac.
tees. Passing through the fire to a
god called Molech was a sort of ordeal
to which children were subjected, their
success or failure in passing through
unframed being taken as an answer
from the god to the important ques-
ton on which light was desired. Div.
1natlon was some process of getting
light on the future by drawing lots;
augury was a form, now obscure, by
which a person professed to learn the
truth regarding future events; an en-
chanter was one who used a cup, noting
how the light fell on the surface Of
the water or other liquid it contained;
a s%orcerer, n who used drugs and
herbs; a charmer, one who construct
ed spells and used nominations. A
wizard was, strictly speaking, one sup
posed to be possessed by a spirit who
enters the human body. A necroman-
GER was one who consulted the spirits
of the dead according to certain formu-
las. Such practices as these were very
common among all ancient nations,
and, indeed, have some vogue ever now.
But they r demoralizing whenever
and wherever practiced.
The Prophet Like Moses.-The prom
Use of verse Is is of a substitute for the
divinations and superstitions of the
heather which had just been forbid
den. Moses idea was that the theo-
cratic government should be kept up
after he was gone. The reference is
not to any single individual. Yet the
prophet like unto Moses was an ideal,
never fully realized save in Jesus. The
description of Moses, given in Num-
bers IL, should be taken into account
here. According to that passage,
Moses was (1) meek in his personal
character, that is, not self-seeking and
anxious for place and reputation
(Num. 1873; (2) faithful in all duties
(Num. 12:7); (a) especially intimate
with God Mum. 1850. The ideal
prophet stands thus as a mediator be-
tween God and man, noble and useful
in personal character, and SO intimate
with God that it was as though he
spoke face to face with Him.
False Prophets.-Since the prophets
were to be a permanent institution, it
would naturally follow that many
would pretend to be prophets who had
no right to the name. Despite the
death penalty prescribed in verse 20,
false prophecy was always very COM
mon in Israel. The distinction be-
tween the true prophet and the false
was to be made by the outcome of His
predictions. Such a distinction was
not always practically possible, and
prophets who were ~pretenders had
much influence in Israel. No true
prophet was a mere predictor of future
events. They all spoke for God,
preaching righteousness. The proph-
cts whose writings have come down to
us in the Bible had a wider and greater
work than belonged to most Of the
prophetic line. The truth they
preached was of worldwide impor-
tance.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
It should be our aim to have
country free from the denominations
practiced in other lands.
The way to free it from all abomina-
lions is to have the nation perfect with
God.
There are people still 20 credulous Al
to believe that gypsies, fortune-tellers,