Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1907-04-21
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
LESSON III, SECOND QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, APRIL 81.


Text of the Lesson, Gen. xxxvii, 5-2s.
Memory Verses, 26-2S-GOIden Text,
Jas. iii, 16-COmmentary Prepared
by Rev. ID. Nj. Stearns.
copyright, 1907, by American Press Association
In chapter xxxiii we see Jacobs fears
all dispelled by the good hand of God
upon him in his meeting with Esau, his
brother. We have also the record of
the purchase of the field where Jo-
sephs body was afterward buried and
where Jesus talked with the woman
of Samaria ((Josh. xiv, 80; john iy, Z,
and for the first time the name Ell
elohe- Israel God the God of Israeli.
The next chapter is record of the
devils work, for he is ever going about
seeking whom he may devour. Ps.
xviii, 80, is good verse for every day.
"As for God, His way is perfect"
In the first verse of our lesson chap
ter the promised land is called the land
Of sojournings (see margin), and we
are reminded by Stephen that God
gave Abraham none Inheritance in it,,
though He said that He would (Acts
vii, 40, and In Heb. XII, 0, TO- that he
sojourned in the land of promise as in
a strange country, dwelling in taber-
nacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs
with him of the same promise, for he
looked for a city which hath founda-
TONS"
Believing the promises of God makes
us strangers and pilgrims on the earth
(Heb. XII, 10; Pet ii, ID waiting for
the kingdom when we shall share His
glory and reign with Him. OF all the
typiSal persons who in their lives fore
shadow the Messiah Of Israel, Joseph
is one Of the most remarkable and In
this and the next lesson illustrates the
sufferings of Christ-loved by his IA
Their, but hated, envied and prosecuted
by his brethren because he testified Of
their evil deeds. See John vii, Z; XIV,
1921. In all the sufferings of Joseph
God was working out His eternal pur-
pose, overruling the wrath Of his breth-
rem, but yet allowing the innocent one
to suffer and the father to suffer also.
wonder how many give much thought
to the suffering OF God the Father In
giving up His beloved Son to die for
our sins, and do we in any sense seek
to enter into the sufferlngs of Christ as
our sin bearer, or can we?
God has way of strengthening His
people to endure suffering and be pa
tient, as when He sustained Abraham
by the glory of the city, Moses by the
recompense of the reward, and in this
case He sustains Joseph by the
thoughts of future pre-eminence and
glory which He presented to him in his
dreams. While neither his brethren
nor his father took any stock (as we
say in his dreams, yet he could not
forget them and must have been many
time sustained by them in his sor-
rows
Any talk even now concerning the
glory Of the kingdom and our reign
with Christ in bodies like His glorified
body too often provokes smile Of
pity for the simpleton who believes
such things and even produces In some
believers that which looks like hatred.
When one day Jacob called his be-
loved Joseph to send him to find his
brethren and see If it was we'll with
them, how promptly he said, Here am
IT. verses 1910 reminding us, who
have the finished story Of I Sam. iii, 4,
g, 8; lisa. vi, s, and leading up to the
question, Am l saying that to God? If
not, why not? Why unwilling to seek
the welfare Of those who know Him
not? Is it nothing to me? Clam. 1, 12)
Joseph perseveringly sought his breth-
rem till he found them Q5-1D. So also
the shepherd and the woman of Luke
XIV. Those whom the Spirit Of Christ
fills are not discouraged Qsa. Kill, A.
See the conspiracy and unbelieving
mockery Of verses 1920 and compare
Matt. xvii, 1, 1912; XXI, 80, 80, and
he their own brother, their fathers son.
So the learned unbelief of today SCOTS
at prophecy and at those who believe
1t, but He that stitch in the heavens
shall laugh, the Lord shall have them
in derision, and He shall yet set His
king upon His holy hill of Zion (Ps. ii,
4, 81. Reuben, the oldest brother, has a
softer heart and plan for Joseph's de-
lverance. His name, which means
see son" xxx, 80 margin), may pos
sibly suggest that he saw something of
the future in Joseph's dreams. How
terrified Joseph must have been at the
faces Of his cruel brethren and their
treatment Of him, their rough handling,
stripping him Of his beautiful coat and
casting him into the pit! The anguish
Of his soul and his earnest entreaties
they remembered for twenty years
(xlii, p, %. The saying stands and
has many an application, BE sure your
sin will find you OUT (Num. xxxli 23).
Study the reference in Zech. TX, II, to a
pit without water and consider again
the unity of Scripture.
With the anguish of his entreaties
ringing in their ears and the agony of
his face still before their eyes, they sit
down to eat bread as if it was nothing
to them. Compare Matt xvii. SO.