The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1907-04-05
Jacobs Vision and
Gods Promise
School Lesson for April z, 1901
Specially prepared for this paper.

thtt' ~ Will keep tnee IN Nl pIaCeS
whittier thou goest."-Gen. isis.
TlME.-Not definitely known, but prob
ably about 1850 Il. G. Isaac was i'll
years old and Esau and Jacob about 81.
PLACEs-Bcersheba, on the southern
edge Of Palestine, and Bethel. about Il
miles north Of Jerusalem. There Is a
little village and a well at Bethel. which
is on a hill. and the ruins of a Crusader5'
church stand there. On a hill a quarter
OF a mile away are the ruins OF a So
called castle of Abraham which some
consider the site of the old Bethel."-
Charles @. Trumbull.
SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES.-Bibls
dreams: Abimelech's, Gen. 20:3; Jacobs
other dreams. Gen. 31:1l-13; 1924; Lab
ans, Gen. 3I:24; Joseph's, Gen. 37:5-i0;
Pharaoh's. and his officers, Gen. 20. Al:
the Midianite's. Judg. 7:13; ~Solomon's, 1
Kings 3:5-15: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Dan. 24:
Joseph's. Matt. 1:20-23; 2:13. 10. %; Pilates
wife's. Matt. q 10: Paul's. Acts 1879: 23:11,
etc.
Compare Gods covenants with Ebra-
ham and Isaac and Isaac's blessing. Gen.
l2:1-3; 15:1-21: 17:1-21; ~22:15-1S; 26:1-5; 27:27-
20.
New Testament light on this event:
John 1:5i; Heb. 1:14: John 1i:6; 1 Tim.
2:5.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
L. And Isaac" Now an old man Of
III. Called Jacob" About 81 years
old, a young nan for those times of
long life. And blessed him." There
is no attempt to substitute Esau for
Jacob."-Ellicott. Thou shalt not
take a wife of the daughters Of
Canaan" This was Rebekah's con
%trivance (Gen. 27:46), in order to get
Jacob safely away; and yet 1t was
rot wholly a p~retext, for a wife must
be provided for the now recognized
first-born, and no alliance with heath
enism was fit for the one in whose
line the great ~Abrahanic covenant:
would descend. 1t would be we'll for
Christians IL they also took heed
to "be not u%nequally yoked together
with unbelievers" g Cor. GID.
A Fathers Blessing. The best start
In life" a young man can have is the
benediction of a godly father or moth
er.
Jacob Comforted by a Heavenly
Vision and a Renewed Covenant
Our exile was a mothers boy" He
had been long enough from Beersheba
to grow homesick. His heart was
softened also by the lonely place and
his solitary condition, by the night and
the stars.
Light from Jacobs Ladder.-What
the lonely traveller learned from this
lovely vision We also may learn. These
ladder lessons are:
l. The nearness of heaven. Angels
are all around US to help us, as the
mountain was full of celestial defend
ers round about Elisha.
2. These angels are magnificent
creatures. God "maketh his angels
winds, and his ministers a flame of
fire" And yet they are ready to COM
fort a guilty fugitive like Jacob.
3. The way to heaven is a stairway,
easy of ascent, with angels to help us.
The Mohammedans, on the contrary.
picture the entrance to heaven as a
bridge, 'as narrow as the thread Of
q famished spider"
4. And Jesus Christ is the Way,
Our Lord himself John 1:51) applied
he description of Jacobs stairway to
his own great work as a medium of
communication between God and man.
mo man cometh unto the Father, but
by me-"
s. Cleans of heaven may be expect
ed through the darkest SKY of misfor-
tune and sorrow.
6. THE angels assembled: there is
the ascent of our prayers. The angels
descended: there is the descent of
Gods answers. We are reminded of
the aferent and efferent nerves Of
the body-up which flash the sharp
stings of pain from the extremities to
the head; down which come the direc.
lions how to act."-F. B. Meyer.
Jacobs Covenant a Response to
Gods covenant.-In no way do men
show their characters more clearly
than by the response they make to
the goodness of God. 1t is like the
reaction in the chemists test-tube,
when a certain substance is added.
which at once discloses the nature of
the compound under examination.
Jacobs responses to Gods gracious
promises were three: veneration.
commemoration and conservation.
Second Response, Commemora-
hon.--Jacob established two memo
rails of the great event, a stone monu-
ment. and a still more lasting name.
Third Response. Conservation
v. 20. And Jacob vowed a VOW"
When a man understands Gods Gov
a of blessing. the natural ard
honorable impulse is to make one In
return. Love begets love. and bene-
fits inspire a wish to do something
for the benefactor.
v. ~. And of all that thou shalt
give me l will surely give the tenth
unto thee" This giving OF tithes was
a very ancient custom followed by
Abraham in the case of Melchizedek
tGen. 1920, and carefully laid down
in the Mosaic law (Lev. 27.30-33,.
Gods Covenant with us.-Chris.'s
death is Gods new covenant" WITH
men. 1t takes up and wonderfully en-.
larges all these ancient with