Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1902-09-06
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
lesson in the international series
for September :, 1902 The
Prophet Like AEOaes.
THE LESSON TEXT.
narfk 12.a.1QN

{, When thou art come into the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou
shalt not learn to do after the denominations
u those nations.
10. There shall rot be found among you
any one that maketh his son or his daugh-
Ter to pass through the fire. or that useth
Itvination, or an observer OF times, or an
enchanter, or witch,
II. Or charmer. or consulter with IA
niliar spirits OF a wizard, or a necroman-
Ger.
Il 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.
Is. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord
thy God
II. For these nations. which thou shalt
possess, hearkene6unto observers of times,
and unto OWNERS: but as for thee, the Lord
thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.
15. The Lord thy God will raise up unto
ihee Prophet from the midst of thee, of
thy brethren. like unto me; unto him ye
shall 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.
H. 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 I shall COM
nand him.
Is. And 1t shall come to pass, that who
Foever will not hearken unto my words
which he shall speak in my name, I will
require 1t of him.
GOLDEN TEXT.-This is of a truth
that prophet that shOuId come into
the wOrId.-JOhn 6:14.
OUTLINE OF SCRIPTURE SECTION.
The prohibitions ...............Deut., 1S:9-14.
The prophet like Moses.......Deut., 1S:15-1e.
False prophets ................Deut..1S :9O-22.
| TIME.-B. c. 1852.
PLACE.-Land of Moab.
NOTES AND COMMENTS
| Uplifting Legislation-The IegisIa-
ton of the wilderness looked forward
to the time when the IsraeIites should
be settled in their promised home.
when thou art come into the land
which Jehovah thy God giveth thee,
| thou shalt" etc, is phrase which is
connected with more than one Mosaic
ordinance (Num. Is: IS; Lev. 1928, etc).
A high ideal was continually held be-
fore them, which had a powerful in
Huence in lifting them up above the
peoples of their time.
The Prohibitions.-"T Those nations"
are the ones to be dispossessed before
Israel, and their denominations" as
suggested by what follows, are not so
much idolatries a. 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
| nation 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 sorcerer, one who used drugs and
herbs; charmer, one who construct
ed spells and used lamentations. A
wizard was, strictly speaking, one sup
posed TO be possessed by d spirit who
enters the human body. A necromau-
Ger was one who consulted the spirits
of the dead according to certain formu-
las. Such practices as these were very
common among ali ancient nations.
and, indeed. have some vogue even now.
But they are demoralizing whenever
and wherever practiceG.
The Prophet Like Moses.-The prom
| Use of verse Is is of 4 substitute for the
divinations and superstitions of tie
heathen which had just been forbid
! den. Moses idea was that the theo-
cratic government should be kept up
fter he was gone. The reference IL
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 Mum
BEES -, should be taken into account
here. According to that passage,
| Moses was ~ meek in his personal
character, tina t is, not self-seeking and
anxious for place and reputation
Gum 1873; (2) faithful in all duties
| (Num. 1870; ca especially intimate
with God (Num. 1873. The ideal
| prophet stands thus as 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.-Sincet 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 III ISRAEL Inc ulSiiHcIIOH De"
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 mere predictor of future
events. They all spoke for God,
| preaching righteousness. The proph.
|
us in the Bible had wider and greater
work than belonged to most of the
| prophetic line. The truth they
| preached was of worldwide impors
| lance.