Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-06-10
SABBATH SCHOOL.
LESSON
For juno 13--1 Sam 16:1-12
BY DIR. MARION nd'H. HULL

Golden Text: 1.-THE Spirit of the Lord
camo nightly upon David from that day
forward" l Sam. ?F;12.
Samue. mourned for Saul many days, I'M
ii. rebuked by God. Since God had re-
iected him it was not right that His Prophet
should brood over him in sorrow. Besides
Samuel might have known that SauIs lam
lily could not be Gods choice. jacob IN
blessing his sons had promised the sceptre
to Judah; Benjamin had no right to 1t by
birth or training. He was to be raVlnlnS
WOLF springing upon the prey III the DAY
and dividing the spoil at night. Saul the
Beniaminitc, was true to form. How sig
ujficant then was Gods word to Samuel:
II have provided me king among ms
sons" Jesse, the Bethlehem1te of Judahl. .
Co. Note Gen. 1910, 81, and SAM 1871.
Saul had never been Gods choice
But Samuel was afraid to go! Never IN
his life before had he hesitated to 90 al!
the will Of God and at once. Why should
he be afraid of Saul now Did he not Know
that God had set Saul ASIDE! ana Wnat
why Samuel was afraid of Saul now; Tor
he had never been so before 1t was pc
cause of his detection from COD on account
of Saul. He had moped and mourned for
saul after God had set him aside; he had
thus lost that intimate touch with GOO
which was the source of his tearlesSa ness
and power before. Faith begins where rear
ends and fear begins where faith ends. Inc
two are absolutely Incompatible. Samueis
faith was failing because no longer fed by
unbroken fellowship with Cod and rear
followed.
But God tenderly led him back. He was
not ready to let go of Samuel. God is per-
sistently holding on to you long after you
have turned Him loose. He didn't give
Samuel complete instructions at once; put
led him step by step. Take an heifer
with thee and say 4 am come to sacrifice
and cali Jesse to the sacrifice, and L will
shew thee what thou shalt do; and thou
shalt anoint unto me him whom l name
Was this deception? At first sight 1t
might appear to be this; but a closer stauy
will give an entirely different IDEA: Goa
was not ready yet to puphcly procdaI al, t fnr
man of His choice; he was not ready Tor
the office; he had to be prepared Ior II;
The public amounting of anyone now "oulu
have thrown the whole kingdom INTO clVll
war The good of the whole would there-
fore not be conserved by publicity at TINS
time Samuel was accustomed TO going
from place to place to sacrifice, as occasloh
demanded, and it was nothing more tnan
natural for him to visit Bethlehem for that
purpose Therefore he was told to go there
and hold a sacrifice; this would not excite
suspicion and the real and ultimate opJect
of his visit could be accomplished without
publicity. ,.. ooo,
ment and deception. 1t is never right 10
conceal part of the truth IL the purpose
of such concealment is deception, or IL the
cealment is false. Concealment Of part OF
the truth is right and justifiable only when
such concealment does not mlslead. II Is
never right to tell anything but the truth;
but it is not always necessary to tell the
whole truth, if keeping back part OF the
truth does not mislead as to, even tnougH
it does not reveal, the whole truth; hol
example, here, Samueps visit to Bethlenem
was to perform a spiritual serv1ceA inns
consisted in sancvtifying the people first, SC
that they might enter with him into a sac
rfice to God, the object of which sacrlflce
was to consecrate to Gods service him VINO
was to be prepared for the ottlce Oh King
This was the whole truth 1t did not ere
ate a false impression to conceal part OF the
truth. They all We're sanctified, they all
took part in the sacrifice, they all tat least
anointed, but were kept ignorant for long
time as to what the particular office was
But that ignorance was not false impress
sion. -
are intelligent. God expects you to use
your intelligence, and never let the ais
tinction be wiped out in your thinking OF
speaking Think what the purpose and what
the result of your concealme1t of part OF
the truth will be, and you will never go
wrong. o,u.
The elders of Bethlehem evidently nld
guilty consciences, otherwise they woul1 rot
have been so alarmed at the coming OF the
righteous Judge and prophet. conscience
makes towards of us all. =" But SamueI al,
layed their fears. He instructed them to
sanctify themselves for the feast. He seems
to have devoted himself particularly to- Jes-
se's family. They had inherited the FIELDS
of Roaz and of Eiimelech, and we're proba-
bly, the leading people of the town.
jse had his sons come ln-Ellan Ap1ha
dad Shammah, Quartus, SeXtus and Sepu
mus. Elijah was splendid looking fellow.
and Samuel was fooled as the people hac
been before, in selecting Saul for his line
ISut said | have refused
him. III some way God made Samuel real
ize that physique didn't make man. any
more than clothes do. Gods all penetratnt
eye locked deeper into his character we
are learning some of this secret CT Gods
We like for men and women to look neat
to dress so that their dress will NOT DC 10
ticed either for flashiness or sombreness-
but in choosing them for positions of trus
or for partners in life, we look deeper int
what qualities of character they have. sam
uel had passed them all up-they must have
been rather chagrined as one after another
was told to step aside! He turned to Jesse
who had seemed to have an almost unlim
tied supply Of sons, and asked If there were
no more. He had been confined to Jesse'E
family by Gods direction. There surel!
must be more. Yes, there was lad 81
young that he had not thought it necessary
to call him to the sacrifice; he was GU
keeping the sheep. Bring him in then, sait
Samuel, we can't sit down until we haV'
him.
So they waited until he came running
ina youth of about fifteen, muscular, &C
tive sunburned, and with the curlish au
burn hair (inherited from his great grand
mother RUTH, the keenest eye, and thu
anoint him. said Jehovah, this is he"
And Samuel poured the oil, from thu
drinking horn he carried with him, on Thu
head of this attractive youth, setting nm
apart for some service, which neither tn
boy, nor his brothers, nor his father sus
pected at that time; for young David Ben
Judah went back to the hills to tend TIN
sheep, and Samuel went back to his hom
ut Ramah. God had protected his servant
He had directed him in the choice, and hi
mission had been accomplished without caus
ing a ripple in the political situation.
But David was a different man from tina
time forward, for when the amounting OF
came upon his head it but pictured the rea
thing that had occurred-he had been anoint
ed with the Spirit of God. The Spirit o
God pushed him forward. So the origina
word means. 1t is used only in Judge
1876, 10 and 15:14-of Samson; IN sam
1910, and IL :11-Of Saul; and here 1 Sam
16:12-of David. Incidentally this SHOULD
settle the question of Saul's conversion
| The Spirit of God pushed David forward
He was the force behind David (as behln
| Samson and SAUL enabling him to do VIVA
| he had not force enough to do of himself
| The subsequent story of his life amplf1e
| this statement--he had strength and skill
given him to kill a lion and bear and
| boor GOLIATH; he learned to be patlen
| under persecution; he grew big of heart
| and keenly sensitive to God and all tina
| God had touched; he was willing to wait o.
| God; he became skilled in music; and every
| thing in the out-of doors became to hin
vibrant with God. This was the result o
| the forward push of the Spirit of God.
On the contrary, Saul lost this through
his disobedience. The Spirit of God 'turne
off, from Saul, and without. the forward
push he had had, Saul made no progress
from that day.
God is still choosing today those VIII
shall do His service. I'VE have not choSel
me, said Jesus, but 1 have chosen you,
God finds the one He needs Then CO.
equips His chosen ones; the Spirit of CO.
pushes them forward as long as they viii
60 with him. If such an one refuses t.
obey, He turns off because they hav
turned off from Him He is still DuShin;