The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1918-12-04
SUNDAY SCHOOL NOTES
Side Lights On Next Sundays
lessor fer Teachers and Pupils
Edited ny Charles K. Meyers.
Dec. 8-Joseph Made Ruler of Egypt

Our lesson OF today Is continuation
of the last one in giving history Of
the great man Joseph of the Old Tes.
lament. We spoke last Sabbath Of hif
being sold into Egyptian slavery BY
his ten. brothers. We now continue o
talk on what happened to him in the
land among strangers. On arrival he
Twas a slave and as such to be sold .tc
the best advantage by the man who
had bought him of his brethren. Il
fell to his lotto be taken to- the. house
Of Potiphar, q man of means with
large interests to look after. JOSEPH
was so faithful and competent that ir
due time he so gained the confidence
|of Potiphar that he made him his
chief man oyerseer and reposed the
greatest trust in him. While here
there came the great test of his char.
acter in the baseness Of the wife o.
Potiphar in trying to induce Joseph tt
do wrong. 1tswas then that he said
the magnificent thing spoken of last
week that he could not do a sin against
God. ,r..s r-
Joseph was accused wrongfully by
the wife and found himself in a great
prison with no limit to the time of his
|servitude. He still kept faithful to the
God of his fathers although in the
midst Of idolHors. His good conduct
won the attention of the prison author.
tiles and in time he was given charge
of some of the management. While
acting thus he had occasion to inter.
pref the dreams Of two prisoners who
were close to the reigning Pharaoh.
One of these men, Joseph told that II
"a few days he would be in favor with
his king and he asked as favor that
he help him to get out of the prison
Joseph explained how he was held I'M
Justly. The prisoner had his libert.
and was again in favor but the record
says "Yet did not the chief butler re
member Joseph, but forgat him"
These must have been trying years
for Joseph. Things went on for tw.
years when suddenly relief came ani
in q few hours he was no longer {
prisoner, but the second ruler o.
Egypt. This came about by PharaOl
having two dreams of like intent. II
the first he saw seven fine cattle eat
en- UP by seven lean ones, and in the
second he seemed to see seven fint
ears of corn eaten up by seven thir
ones. None OF his wise men coulf
make an Interpretation, and when they
could not, the butler who forgot" nov
remembered about his dream and tolt
OF the prisoner who told him of
dream and It all came true. JOSEPH
was sent for at once, and on hearing
of the dreams said 1t meant that sew
en- years OF plenty would be succeeded
by seven years OF; intense famine and
that 1t was the duty Of the ruler to APP
point someone to store up food in the
plenti0us years, in preparation for the
famine to follow. It must have beer.
to his surprise when Pharaoh chose
Joseph himself making him the second
ruler of the country. Thus was faith
fulness rewarded and from a prison
er Joseph came TO 9 place Of great
honor
The story of Joseph is OF intense In.
terest. Joseph said that his enforced
life in Egypt was the method Of God
to have him there when the famine
came, and thus be the means OF stor-
ing up food in advance, both for the
Egyptians but his Jewish kinship
There stands out before us the lesson
of 1.-THE reward Of faithfulness." The
bible is full OF rewards to those who
are faithful to duty and the cause of
God. Abraham, Isaac, Joseph. Moses,
Joshua, David, Esther, Ruth, Ezra,
Paul and host of others. The well
known parable of the pounds given by
Jesus was a high commentator of
faithfulness. The servants who did
the best they could with five or ten
pounds were given great rewards for
what they did. The noblemen said
that those who had been faithful over
a few things should be made ruler ov-
er mny. Paul spoke many times of
the faithfulness OF men and churches
and wrote BE not weary in well do
ing for in due time We shall reap II We
faint not"
What great thing it is to have men
and women, boys and girls about. in
whom you can have trust and conf
dence. What a noble thing it is to SO
act from day to day that people would
be shocked if one did glazing wrong.
We have noted how Joseph held firm
through many years when there SEEM
ed no reward in sight for being true
to God. In this he set every boy and
girl an excellent example. want just
here to illustrate the point Of this les
son by some examples OF boys who
went to war from Denison. What q
fine groupe they were. call to mind
a few as an illustration. Note Percy
Cavett, Max Moffitt, Alfred Bowen,
Herbert Scott, Professor Elliott, the
Schwartzenbach brothers of Denison
and Mr.. Nelson of Charter Oak. They
went away fine strong boys with q rec
ord of being well grounded as chris
tians and moral young men. We all
know they have been under strong
temptations, and yet there is not
man or woman in Denison who knew
them who expect they have fallen
away from their christian professions.
It is simply not thinkable that such
would be the case. Such yoang men
as they and others which would make
a long list have been Second Josephs"
and will come back clean men ready
for great service for their state, COM
munity and friends. There are boys
and girls like Joseph right here In
Crawford county today. who at home
and abroad stand like rocks for right
living, never encouraging wrong things
All honor to them. Let the story OF