Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-01-08

I1G6 from Ill evil I1S VIII htSH
thy soul" Pisa. 1917.
We learned last week that in the
working out of Gods plan for the
redemption of the world He chose a
leader and gave him land. God prom
; ise0 Abraham that in him and in
his seed all the families of the earth
should be blessed. While Abraham
was a man OF remarkable faith, yet
he was not perfect; and when fam
inc came he journeyed to Egypt in
stead of trusting God, and there sin
ned Yet he came back, and when
God gave him the promise of a
son when it was humanity impossible
for him to have one Abraham won
dered how; and for this lack of
faith God told him hts seed should
go into Egypt, the place of his sim
ming at first, for 400 years; then He
J would bring them back and give
tthem the land that He had prom
ised them This was long before
Abraham's son was born.
You will recall that we learned al
so that God had promised Abraham,
and had confirmed this promise to
lIsRac End to Jacob, not only seed
Ta}4d a land but a universal blessing.
The blessing was to come through
~,Ehe Seed, and the land was essen
Vial to the seed from whom the
promised Seed, Christ, should come.
For God needed a nation separate
from others. TO whom and through
whom He might reveal Himself and
His will.
Egypt an Accident
In the course of time, Isaac is
born, then Esau and Jacob; then
Jacob is chosen and trained; and his
twelve sons born. You will recall
how Jacob at 81 years of age comes
J back to the land that God had Civ
Zen him, after a twenty years exile
&in Haran. With him is a young son,
Joseph, a boy of six years, the only
child of Jacobs favorite wife. For
: eleven years the father and the lad
are chums. The other boys seem to
be of a different tyre, and BenJa-
min, the youngest, is only mother
less baby. Joseph sits while his
:. father Jacob and grandfather Isaac
CATER the long separation of twenty
years. talk of Gods dealings with
them and Abraham. He hears them
discuss the promise, the oath-bound
covenant of a seed and a land and
UNIVERSAL blessing; a lad, though
III
and his soul yearned for it. His
father saw this in the lad and gave
him a coat of many colors, indicat-
ing his choice of him for supremacy.
The lad had already shown quail
ties of superiority to the others-he
had his at-grandfather Abraham S
faith, his grandfather Isaac's calm
and poise, his father Jacobs re-
sourcefulness, and his mothers
beauty. These things his brothers
noticed also, and they hated him
for it.
He was a dreamer-what lad
would not have been under the cir
cumstances. But he was young
enough to talk about them instead
OF keeping them to himself. When
he naively told his dreams of SUI
periority, his brothers hated him the
more, particularly as they realized
!. the truth of them.
At 17-ah, those wonderful years
with his father and grandfather;
those eleven years from toll. TIE
lads character was formed. and a
grip on God secured that stood him
in good stead during the terrible
( 13 years that followed. Teachers,
parents, make much more Of your
opportunities during those years
! from to II. At IL he is sent on an
errand to his brothers by his father,
They have their chance; they at
tempt his life. hut are restrained by
the oldest boy. They compromise
by selling him as slave. On the
slave market IN Egypt he is pur-
chased by the commanding general
of the Egypti'l1 army-his fine ap-
pearance undoubtedly attracted
General Potiphar. And soon his
qualities of leadership were recog-
nized by this experienced leader of
/. men, and Joseph was put in charge
of General Potiphar's household
Here his beauty of face and char
acter became a snare. Mrs. Poti-
phar became enamored of him; and
while the general was away on some
S.military duty, she tempted Joseph
day by day." The sensuous tempta-
ton probably was a strong one to
this young man of the twenties; but
we believe this was not the strong
est temptation. Mrs. Potiphar
might not have been attractive per-
sonally at all. But here was the
strongest. Joseph had had his
dTeams of superiority; he had ambi-
tlons and hopes of leadership; he
Pnembered the promises God had
made to Abraham, and. confirmed to
Isaac and Jacob. How was he ever
to realize them as long as he was
a slave? An alliance with Mrs Pot
iphar would enable him to gain her
influence at court and secure his
freedom; General Potiphar might be
killed on this very military expedi-
ton and then he might, through her
Influence, be given advancement.
Day by day" she tempted him; but
Joseph could not get rid of Gods
presence that had sustained him at
: home, in the Fit, all the way. and
during his period Of slavery. How
can / do this tfing and sin against
God?" he said to her One day
when the temptation was strongest
he flied from her presence; but not
until she had caught his tunic,
which she used as circumstantial