The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-05-08
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM
MENTs FOR MAY 10 BY THE
REV, I. w. HENDERSON.
Subject: Israel Enslaved in Egypt
Elk. 1:1-14-Golden Text, Ps.
1O7:13-Memory Verses, IS, IA

Subject: Israel Enslaved in Egypt
Elk. 1:1-14-Golden Text, Ps.
1O7:1s-Memory Verses, Is, IA
Commentary. =.
This lesson takes us out of the
book of Genesis into the second DOCK
Of the Bible, the book of the Exodus.
The book of Exodus is the record OF
the enslavement, the deliverance OF a
people; it tells of the economic and
religious struggles of the early Jews.
The lesson for to-day plHnges US
directly into the heart of the begin
ming of the trials and tribulations OF
The Israelites after they fell, in Egypt,
into the tolls Of a Pharaoh who knew
not Joseph. Jacob and Joseph and
their immediate descendants are
dead. With the passing of the years
the Hebrews have 8 multiplied that
the land is filled with them, and their
power and influence is a hi OF
dread to the Pharaoh of their day.
And so measures are taken to cheek
their growth. The Pharaoh put Upon
them the hardest labor that could be
devised, they were reduced to con-
ditions of the most abject slavery,
their boy babies were ordered to pc
killed. Everything was done to check
their progress and to counterfeit and
destroy their power. But still, as
under the promise Of God to Abra-
ham and Isaac and Jacob, they grew
in numbers even in the face OF the
most discouraging economic cond1-
tons.
The book of the Exodus is not well
grasped until we understand in some
measure at least that 1t Is the record
Of the industrial hardships n deiy-
erance of a people as well as the MS
tory Of the beginnings OF a national
religious consciousness and spirit that
was to blossom into the most inf1uen-
tial and pure religious system OF the
ancient world. God had to get Israel
out of economic and industrial pond
age before they could be greatly in.
| Huenced by the deeper forces of sp1r-
itual truth. Their affection In q ma
terial way was good because 1t
brought them face to face with the
need of q salvation and a savior. 1t
caused them to turn to God. OPP
pressed as they were the way was
dark about them. They were undone.
They we're in danger Of becoming
submerged altogether under the
| pressure of the impure religious
thought with which they were sur
rounded
In the face Of these Universities God
was yet with them. The promise
made to their fathers was continually
fulfilled in their experience. They
throve on adversely. That which was
intended to be their destruction was
for them socially, as the prison had
been for Joseph. individually, their
discipline, their strengthening, their
energizing. The deeper down they
were plunged the nearer apparently
God drew to them. The more, they
were bounded and driven and de-
spoiled, the more they augmented.
Overwhelmed with a common evil
they had an ever increasing. social
need. And with the social need there
came an\ increasing social conscious
ness. Desiring in their common woe
a deliverer they looked forward to
one who should lead them as a social
unit out of the industrial, economic
and spiritual darkness into which
they had been immersed.
The lesson Of the industrial and
spiritual bondage of the children OF
Jacob in the land Of Egypt is one
that is essentially apropos.- We are
face to face to-day with condi.
lions that are as startling economic
ally and spiritually as those which
alarmed Israel in the time of which
our lesson treats. To be sure, in civ
ilized countries the system Of chatteI
slavery, which for many years was
factor of civilized life, Is quite abol.
ished. But multitudes OF men ano
women and children are to-day, DJ
virtue of the economic conditions In
cidental to the mighty age OF ma
chinery and individualism in which
we are living, as truly in a land o
bondage as ever the children OF lsrae
we're. The masters are prosperous
even as the masters of Egypt were
The oppression of the people also
different in kind, perhaps different II
degree, is just as real as the Egyptian
bondage ever was. And this con
temporaneous industrial distress II
nowhere more felt than, on the one
hand, in the prevailing distrust O.
ecclesiastical institutions upon TIT
part Of the industrially oppressed
and, on the other hand, in b pre-
vailing call for and confidence tina
God will send an inspired delivere!
who shall regenerate with NAMING
truth the social as well as the indi
vidual life Of man.
AS with Israel so with modern 80
ciety. The very injustices of ou'
modern industrial conditions ar,
leading men to grasp the idea OF UNI
yersal brotherhood and to desire al
to strive to bring to pass by the grac
of God such a regeneration OF moo
ern life as shall transform not onl
individual conditions Of life and char
acter but also society.
And God is broodinG over moderl
society as really as He 0 owe
Israel. The cry OF the oppresse'
reaches up to His ears. The SIN tina
is done in darkness for the spoliatio'
of His people in His own good tim
will be brought to light. He vii
send the deliverer to the moder'
bondman. He will send the prophe
of His simple, unsullied, life impart
ius truth to the people of u oW
tiM.. The cry Of lives that are bit
ter with hard service" falls on a D.
vine ear that heeds. The social lif
of to-day as surely as God lives wi
20 through the wilderness to Canaan
We shall have to have our Sina
May the church be the pillar OF clou
and Of fire.