The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1908-07-02
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INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM.
MENTS FOR JULY ..

oiDJttt' isfdel ASKS fOF " hiukt Il
Sam. S-Golden Text, Prov. S:15
Commit Verses 10, 2O-Read
Deut. 17;14-2O--Comment
EXPOSITTON.--I. Jehovah tells
the people the manner of the king
that shall reign over them, VS.. 1918
The people were eager for a king, SC
eager that they brusquely and heart.
lessly tell Samuel that he Is too old tc
be any niger flt for the place of lead.
ership Tvs. 1-5). II Samuers feelings
were in the way of their ambition
they must be trampled upon, that is
all, no matter how faithful a ruler
Samuel had been Il Sam. 1880.
But Samuel seems to have been reap.
ing in part the result of his own folly
His sons were utterly unfit to be
judges, but he made them judges over
Israel. 1t is Gods business to appoint
Judges, and not mans. The fact that
Samuel himself was a Judge by divine
appointment gave him no right to
make his sons judges by his swn APP
pointment. Divine gifts and offices
are not transmissable from father to
son. 1t is a grave mistake to sacrifice
the work of God for the interests of
our children. Fatherly ambition for
his sons seems to have led Samuel
astray. even with tle awful example
of Eli before his eyes (cf. ch. 2:12,
10; 3:11-14) Hundreds of years be-
fore tDeut. 1874, 15) God had an
ticipated the day when His people
should request king, but He was ncs
pleased with the request when it was
made (ch 12:1O. That illustrates
the difference between what God pre-
diets and what God desires. THE
thing displeased Samuel" ". 81. 1t
was right that it should; for Il dis
pleased the LCrd as well. But there
seems as If there was something Of
personal element, not uhmixed zeal
for Gods honor, in Samuel's dis
pleasure. But he did the wisest thing
there was to be done under the cir.
cumstances. He prayed unto the
, Lord ". 6; CT. Phil. 4:6, ~. Sam
uel does not seem to have had a word
OF reproach for the ingratitud of the
elders until after h., had talked 1t
over with the Lord It was rot Gods
first choice to give them a king. but
God has a way of training His chill.
dren by letting them have their own
way and SO find out by bitter expert.
ence how much better His way is Cps.
S1:11, IL; Luke 1912, 10. God
was their King. In asking a human
visible king, they had rejected the di-
vine invisible King. The real rot of
their error was essentially the same IS
in making the golden calf. The desire
so common to-day for visible human
priest and teacher to take the place
or the Invisible Priest and Teacher,
Jesus, Is OF the same character The
unbelieying human leart cannot walk
| by faith, 1t wants sight Israel's his
/ tory is all OF piece, a history of fail
ure and apcstacy ". 81. The same is
true very largely of the history of the
protesting church. Cad hearkened
/ unto their request ". 81. The stern
est chastisement Uftentimes that God
| can send Is just to let us have our
| own way, but when God does let His
willful children have their own way,
1t is not without sc lemn protest
against their folly Matt. 23:37;
22:4; 21:36, 80. When Israel chose
a king 1t was in the face Of the full
revelation of what manner the kings
should be. Sc men get their own
way to-day in the face of the
clear revelation of what that way
involves. Samuel was in many re-
spects a model preacher, hs kept
silent until he got message from the
Lord, and then he delivered it In full
| ". 100. He spoke only what the
Lord gave him to speak and he spoke
all or that. 1t was not a very pleas
ant or very welcome message, but it
was the one God gave him and he de.
4 livered 1t all. They thought that they
might be very victorious and joyous
and glorious if they could only have a
! VIZ An 10
ferently ". 1S). He would bring
tears and not rejoicing. SO 1t turned
out. What curse to them, Israel's
kings taken as whole, were. How
accurately God pictures the manner of
the coming kings.
ii. THAT we also may be like all
the nations" VS.. 1922. The people
were not at all moved by Gods pic
ture OF the woes the king would bring
upon them. They refused to obey.
They had made up their minds and
said, we Will, and that settled it.
When any man sets up his will against
| Gods, then his ruin is certain. Their
hearts were fully set within them to
do evil, and their whole after history
shows the bitter consequences they
reaped. They desired king only to
be like the surrounding nations Tvs.
19, 2O), ana they made the wayward.
ness of Samuel's sons the pretext for
demanding one. God had called them
to be a separate people lex. 33:16;
! Lev. 20:24-26; Deut. 1863. This was
a great honor (Ex. 1885, 6; Deut.
26:1S, 19), hut Israel did not like the
lace OF separation. They were daz-
Zled by the seen but temporal gl-ries
around them and preferred them to
things unseen but eternal (cf. 2 Cor.
4:1s). 1t is just so with the church
to-day. We are called to be a sep
arate people e Cor. 6:17; Rom.
1872; Pet. 2:9; Phil. 3;20), but the
church does not like the place of sep.
aration. We want to be like all the
nations" Samuel listened t. all the
people had to say and then went and
poured 1t into the ears of thu Lord.
1t seems to have been Samuel's fixed
habit, when he was grieved, to go Of
aud have talk with God about 1t.