The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1907-04-05
OOOOOCOOONOOOO OOOO'OOOOOCO
Jacobs Vision and
Gods Promise
Sunday School Lesson for April z, 1907
Specially prepared for this paper.
Specially prepared for this paper.

memory verses. H. a.
GOLDEN TEXT.-"Behold, I am with
;hee, and will keep thee in all places
whittier thou goest."-Gen. 2S-l5
TIME.-Not definitely known. but prob
ably about 1880 b. G.. Isaac was III
years old and Esau and Jacob about 81,
PLACES-Beersheba, on the southern
edge of Palestine and Bethel, about Il
miles north of Jerusalem. There Is
little village and "A well at Bethel which
is on a hill, and the ruins of a Crusaders
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 G.. Trumbull.
SCRIPTURAI4 REFERENCES.-B
dreams: Abimelechs, Gen. 20:3; Jacobs
other dreams. Gen. 3l:11-13; 1924; Lab
ans. Gen. 81: Joseph's. Gen. T:5-10;
Pharaoh's. and his officers, Gen. 4O Al;
The Midianite's, Judg. 7:l3; Solomon's,
Kings 3:5-15; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Dan. "a;
Joseph's. Matt, 1:20-23 2:l3, 10. p; Pilates
wife's, Matt. 27:l9; Paul's. Acts 1919; 23:l1,
etc.
Compare Gods covenants with Abra-
ham and Isaac and Isaac's blessing, Gen.
l2:l-3; l5:1-2l 17;1-21; 22;15-1S; 26:l-5: 27:27-
20.
New Testament light on this event:
John ISL; Heb. 1;14; John H:6; l Tim.
2:5.
Comment and Suggestive Thought.
/. "And Isaac" Now an old man OF
III Called Jacob" About 81 years
old, young man for those times Of
long life. And blessed him. There
as 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 it was
not wholly a pretext, for 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 Abrahamic covenant
would descend. II would be well for
Christians If they also took heed
TO "be not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers' (2 Cor. GID.
A Fathers Blessing. The best start
in life" a young man can have is the
, benediction of a godly father or moth
err
Jacob comforted by Heavenly
Vision and a Renewed Covenant
Our exile was 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:
/. 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 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 u.s.
| The Mohammedans. on the contrary
picture the entrance to heaven as a
bridge, "as narrow as the thread of
famished spider"
4. And Jesus Christ is the Way!
Our Lord himself John 1:51) applied
the 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.
g. 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 afferent 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-
tions how to act."-F. b. Meyer.
Jacobs Covenant a Response TO
Gods Covenant.-ln no way do men
show their characters more clearly
than by the response they make to
the goodness of God. II 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.
tion.-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 COW
enant OF blessing, the natural and
honorable impulse is to make one in
return Love begets love. and bene.
fits inspire wish to do something
for the benefactor.
w. %. And OF all that thou shalt
give me I will surely give the tenth
unto thee" This giving OF tithes was
very ancient custom. followed by
Abraham in the case of Melchizedek
Gen. 14:20), and carefully laid down
n the Mosaic law LEV. 27:30-33).
Gods. Covenant with Us.-Christ's
death Is Gods new covenant" with
mo, foboe an, a,a urordo~f,ll..