The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-01-16
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM
MENTS FOR JANUARY 20 BY
TIE REV. I. ". HENDERSON.

Eve into the Garden of Eden. to dress
1t and to keep it, the Lord God COM
manded the man, saying. "Of every
tree of the Garden thou mayst freely
eat; but Of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil thou shalt not eat
of 1t; for in the day that thou eatest
thou shalt surely die" God gave
this command unto the man and the
woman because He desired to teach
them the lesson of obedience. II
the story in Genesis tells us anything
it clearly tells US that. The man
and the woman being gifted with the
power of free moral choice were to
be tested as to their fitness in this
demand of God that they obey Him
in this one thing. Strictly speaking
the Genesis story tells us that the
man alone was definitely commanded
of God to obey. But in Gods plan
1t is Dreposterous for us to assume
that the woman was, not as conscious
of the divine. decree as was the man.
1t is noticeable that God gave to the
man and woman in the Garden of
Eden absolute freedom save in one
particular. Their test of fitness lay
in their ability to obey one simple
solitary command. The results of
that disobedfence we have read. The
age long consequences of this first
d~isobedience and OF centuries of sin
we know.
Wherever man is commanded to
obey and disobeys the demands of
God there trouble comes. So long
as Adam and Eve obeyed the will of
God so long were they happy. And in
like fashion in our day and genera
ton Joy only Is to be found in the
service of God, in the keeping of His
eternal commandments. in the doing
Of His divine. will. Sin is disobe-
dience. Adam and Eve were sinners
because they willed to disobey their
God. Disobedience. brings for US as
it brought to them inevitable, tnexor-
able, vicious consequences. II we
are to enjoy life. to- its fullest we
must as individuals and as a society
obey God. And If we shall decide by
the exercise Of our own free wills to
disobey the voice of God as He
speaks to US in our souls life we
must expect logically, consequent
TALLY and inescapeably to endure suf-
fering and sorrow. That is the law
of life.
But thanks be to God we have the
promise that however great may
have been our disobedience true re-
pentance will meet with divine favor
and human sins will be nulliied by
the grace Of God in Christ. Listen
ing to His gospel, accepting His reve-
1ation Of the redeeming and sanctify-
ing love Of God, taking Him as our
guide and our Saviour, we may enter
into eternal happiness and become
the possessors Of eternal life.
The following special notes may
prove of some value:
VS.. 1. Serpent" represents sin
and evil external temptation. With
out much of an imaginative stretch
we might consider it the symbolism
of inner self will. "Yea-said," a
subtle implication that the command
was n%onsensical. ANY" but God
hadn't made such a prohibition. He
had commanded abstinence from but
M
VS.. 2. "Fruit-eat," the woman
with a greater fidelity to the truth
corrects the erroneous statement of
the serpent.
VS.. 8. Touch" but with a lax
fly of expression that was possibly
born of not the hest of motives, she
herself makes ain addition to the d.
vine command. God didn't tell them
not to touch it. 60
VS.. TIP inc. are skipped in the
lesson, but they ought to be under
stood. Especially is it wise to call
attention to verse 8. The man and
the woman in their sin heard the
sound (R. W of the Lord God
walking in the garden" They didn't
have to see Him to know the depth
of their disobedience. They had
merely to hear Him in order to be-
come frightened. The lesson is OBJ
vious. In passing the mans IN
manly u are worth noticing.
VS.. 13. God passes ove the mans
excuses and addresses the woman
for an explanation.
: VS.. IA. Belly" it would seem
that at some time the serpent moved
upright, as a~nciently he was some
times represented. Dust" the SER
pent was supposed to eat dust. =.
VS.. Is. "Bruise," better Crush"
Of course we all understand that the
heel is the part Of a mans body a
snake can reach quickest. And we
are also aware that our first instinct
is to crush a snake with the heel.
But aside from other meanings 1t
seems as though there is a deeper
meaning in this verse. We are told
by reliable commentators that this
verse is regarded as the first an
nouncement of the gospel of redemp-
ton. The seed of the woman Is
Christ, vino brushes the serpent's
head, i. e., destroys the power of sin
and Satan, although He Himself suf-
fers in so doing. There is nothing
to indicate that such ideas were in
the mind of the writer, but the con-
test between mankind and the SER
pent naturally became the symbol of
the conflict between good and evil, in
which good triumphed in the person
of Christ, but conquered through
suffering. Moreover, ancient readers
of this story knew parallel MARIA
tives, in which the serpent was an
evil god and his antagonist a divine
redeemer, and would naturally find
a similar meaning here"