The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-04-13
INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL
 LESSON


 naan after his exile in Padan-aram. There was joy. Before him lay the land ''promised' to nina land flow ing with milk and honey. And he was making his entrance in good form He returned not as he went out. with merely a staff in his hand. He came as a mighty shiek, who could look complacently at his vast flocks and herds, and the caravan of his followers. with all the impediments of great camp. Nor were his thoughts wholly upon temporalities. He had learned many religio s lessons in his banish- ment He came with the intention of discharging well the priestly func- ton inhering in his headship Of the nation. He had some conseption' however incomplete, of One who was to be born of his line. Prince and a Savior. He had the Messianic nope ssss But all the brightness or Jacobs joy was darkened by one cloud of angry portent. He must needs meet the consequences of the sins or forty years ago-his unbrotherly ac- tion; his ambition, greed, and fraud' his overhaste and use of foul means to accomplish what he had reason to believe was the Lords will--all these assumed a spectral form to haunt nm. His wronged brother was approaching in hostile mien and force. Esau was accustomed to nothing else but strik- ing the blow death' To Jacop 1t seemed as If all was lost what did it amount to-the sight of the Promised Land-if he must Leeds stain its border with his life's blood? Ana all the Messianic hopes and promises would perish in him. There is toucn of the domestic and affectionate splr- 1t of the patriarch In his prayer. He fairly screens his eyes from sight or the impending slaughter Of the inhoc. cents. He can not brook the thought of another tragedy of a Niobe and her children - In the extremity or his peril, the ruling passion, the srat- egic spirit of Jacob asserted llseiI' But the advance in character IS mani fest in that it took no ignoble form. There was nothing unworthy In the division of his caravan into two oands' The advantage of it was, that II one was taken. the other might De ieIt. And the presents sent in series would be cumulative In their e11ect to soften the anger of his injured brothers Having done all that human tact could suggest. Jacob naa recourse to prayer. Some one asked a minister whether he believed m neal. ing by faith or medicine. His very ant reply was: T believe in healing by faith and medicine" Jacob used all the expedients he could think or to placate his brother and save nim- self and his family, just as il every thing depended upon himseI1. iheh he went to prayer, just as if every thing depended upon God Ihe prayer of Jacob is the first recoroeo prayer, as 1t is one of the hooiest oi all the Bible. 70 God of my father nf my father lSaaC. Here Is an appeal to the God or the cove nant. The entrance of a pathetic claim to the mercies of the covenant. (Which saidest unto me, Return. 1he present extreme peril Is not incurred by any presumption or rashness on Jacobs part; but by his very obedience to the explicit command Of God am not worthy" This IS oeprecatioh' Deliver me-" This is suppication' And thou saidest, will sureiy oo thee good" This is an appeal to. and a messing of. the promises of God' $ sNature seems at that particular spot to be in strange harmony with the scene that transpired there. The brook Jabbok-the very name signlty- ing wrestler" there hurls itsel1 against the flinty barriers In its path, and forces a passage to the quiet Pool beyond So the indomitable spirit or the patriach there stormed the King dom of heaven, and took 1t by force. Jacob was in an agony. Death was his hopes ruined, his TOT tune scattered, his family slaughtered; he was in extremity. Gods eye must pity. Gods ar.1 must bring deliverance . sThere is nothing inexplicaole in the wrestling scene, commonly thought to be so mysterious. IL was a merciful concession when the Loro took upon Himself human form, and allowed Jacob to vent his excessive grief and anxiety in the way of physl- cal exertion. The corporeal struggle was an accompaniment to prayer. The prophet Hosea says Jacob wept ana made application to the angel. Back of the wrestling, and in and through 1t, there was an intelligent mind, Ter vent heart, and importunate spirit. Many persons of ardent temperament, or placed in desperate situations. stlil accompany their prayers with Dooliy exertion, in violent gesture, or louo tone of voice. or grip upon chalr or bench or other article of furniture . Yet Jacob was to be taught that the Lords strength was made perfect in weakness-that it is not by (human) might nor power. but by Gods Spirit; so the very seat and citadel Of ms physical might, his thigh, was mlr- aculously "touched," and he bent like A broken straw But even then ne threw his arms about the angefs neck and hung upon him" %The angel might as well have asked Jacob what his former character had been as to ask his name for name and character were SYNONYMOUS He was Jacob the the trickster, the heel holder. and tripper. gaining his ends by foul means if fair would not answer. The angel in that very question held I'D the mirror before Jacob, so that he saw plainly the ugly traits or ms character He despised himself lie was sorry for. and wanted to be rld of, his old self He was ready to cry Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? He got new name and nature simultaneously "The angels answer to Jacobs demand was equivalent to saying, You know my name already; why do you ask for it?" Jacob showed that he knew the name when he called the place Peniel, Face of God"
 Analysis and Key.
 1 Jacobs mixed feelings on return
 to Canaan.
 Contrasts of exit and entrance.
 Joy and fear.
 9 The gains of the exile lndlcateu
 in Jacobs conduct.
 g. Facing the consequences of con-
 duct
 Approach of Esau. the avenger
 Jacobs strategem not ignoble as
 before.
 t Recourse to prayer.
 First recorded prayer of the Bible
 One of the noblest-analysis of it.