Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1902-07-12
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
lesson In the International Series
for July 13, 18O2-The Ten Conn
mandments: Duties to God.
THE LESSON TEXT.
ar.1 E0N

THE LESSON TEXT.
exodus 20:1-12)
L And God spake all these words, say
81 am the Lord thy God, which have
brought thee out OF the land of Egypt
out of the house OF bondage
3. Thou shalt have no other gods be-
fore me.
craven image, or any likeness OF any
thing that is in heaven above, or that
Is in the earth beneath, or that is in the
water under the earth;
5. Thou shalt not bow down thysen &c
them, nor serve them; for I the Lore
thy God am Jealous Cod visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the cnlloren
unto the third and fourth generation OF
them that hate me;
6, And shelving mercy unto thousands
of them that love me, and keep my COM
mandments.
7-Thou shalt not take the name of the
Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord viii
not hold him guiltless that taketh A1k
name in vain.
8. Remember the Sabbath day, to keer
| It holy.
9. Six days shalt thou labor. and do all
thy work;
10. But the seventh day is the Sab
| bath of the Lord thy God; in it thoC
shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy
| son, nor thy daughter, thy l7anserVant
nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, mol
| thy stranger that is within thy gates:
ii. For in six days the Lord made
Heaven and earth, the sea, and all thai
| in them is, and rested on the seventh
day; wherefore the Lord blessed tht
Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Il. Honor thy father and thy mother.
| that thy days may be long upon the
land which the Lord thy God giveth
| thee.
GOLDEN TEXT-Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart
Luke 1927.
OUTLINE OF SCRIPTURE SECTION.
Water from the rock............E Elk. 17:1-I
Attack upon the Amalekites.... Elk. 1855
/ Meeting with Jethro. ............EX. 1S:1-2l
| Sanctifying the people. Elk 1922
| First table of the 1aw.......... Elk. 20:1-l2
TIME.-B. C. 1881.
PLACES.-Meribah, Rephid1m, mount
of Cod and Sinai.
PARALLEL PKsSAGE.-Deuteronom
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
The Tables of the Law.-The Ten
Commandments present a summary of
mans duties, first to God, and then to
man. They are wonderfully brief,
simple and comprehensive. They en-.
| join nothing to which the monitor in
every mans breast does not respond.
The law as presented by them was writ
ten in mans heart before it was writ
ten on tables of stone. Conscience pro-
nounces them to be 'holy, and righte"
Gus, and good" (Rom. 7:12).
| The First Table of the Law.-Com-
pare Deut. 5:6-21, and note the differ
ences. Most Biblical scholars believe
| that the commandments, or "Ten
Words as they are more properly
called, stood originally upon the tables
| oil nd
| terse form, as 6, and now stand, and
that the explanatory comments were
! added later. Of course this is coniec-
ture, but it is extremely probable ip
view of the fact that the Ten Words
are amplifed differently in Deut. 5:6-21
and in Elk. 20: Some slight adjust
ment must clearly be made. 1. "Thou
shalt have no other gods before (be-
gides) me-" The Hebrews had come
out of a country of many gods; they
were going into a country of many
gods. Let US not seek to find all re-
! Iigious truth in these Ten Words. Je-
hovah does not say, "There is but one
God" He says, ''Thou shalt have" but
one God. It was Gods method not to
teach the people monotheism by pre-
cept so much as to prove it by expert
ence. 2. ''Thou shalt not make unto
thee a craven image:" The reason
may or may not be plain, but God never
commands without a reason. In this
case the reason could not have seemed
plain, but "God is a, spirit" and the use
of any image would be misrepresen
;ation, and materializing of the con-
ception. 3. "Thou shalt not take the
name of Jehovah thy God in vain: -
Gods name, to the Hebrews, was a
very sacred part of Gods self. (See
! Deut. 1875, Prov. 1910, etc. The orig
inal force of the command was not
against profanity in the modern sense.
Hypocrisy, or the bearing of Gods
name without being his at heart, bear
ing it meaningIessly lin vain), and also
irreverence, and the taking of Gods
name in vain in false swearing, are
nearer to the meaning of the command.
l. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep
it holy" ''The Sabbath was made
for man," not mans body, not mans
spirit, but ''for man" including both.
We need the Sabbath, ~ to break the
dead level of the days, (2) as day of
rest from work, (3) as a day for home
love and fellowship, a. as a day for
increasing our intelligent interest ip
the progress of the great causes Of
humanity and religion, (5) for the op.
portunity it brings us to worship pub.
licly, (6) for the opportunity it brings
to be still and commune with God and
draw near to Christ as a personal
Savior. 5. "Honor thy father and thy
mother" To the Hebrews the honor.
ing of parents is not simply a ''neigh.
borly" virtue. The parent stands to
the child as the representative of GOD,
and so this command was put on the
first table with the religious laws
rather than on the second with those
regarding our relations to our fellow
men The old Hebrew idea of rever.
ence and honor to parents as relig-
ious duty is too much neglected in this
age of irreverence.
PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE.