There are two great crises in Jacob's life which should be especially studied. The first is at Bethel, in the twenty-eighth chapter, when,, fleeing from his outraged brother, he lies down at night in helpless weariness, with a stone for his pillow. God has an opportunity now in Jacob's weakness to open heaven, reveal Himself, His grace and His purposes, and make anew to this poor wanderer His mighty covenant promises, all unconditional There was and full to running over. receptivity in the waking hours of this man, so full of self and meanness, for such a divine unfolding; it must be done when nature is dull and quiet in sleep. But mark Jacob on awakening: Fear, dread, haste to get away, a pillar set up, a bargain made with God for food and raiment and bodily safety (how low his thoughts compared to what God had promised!), and he is gone on his self-chosen way. no The years of service for a hard master, and the increase of children, cattle and goods, fill out the story of his long exile. Eleven sons (learn carefully their names and order of birth) and one daughter are born. But four wives, and the best of them a halfidolater (ch. xxxi. 34), and that to the end of her days (xxxv. 4, 16-18) did not tend to make Jacob's home life a model. Witness his sons' behavior afterward. His keen device for the multiplication of his kind of cattle shows the real Jacob of these days-scheming, supplanting and swindling, depending on himself. Though God is not forgotten, he is too selfstrong and self-resourceful to need God much. The Father's only resort with such children seems to be to put them where they must have His help where they can no longer go forward or back or to either side. Then they will cry to Him. See if Jacob does not come thus into a corner directly-the second great crisis of his life. Jacob's clandestine leave-taking of Laban comes now. God has told him to go, but he would not be Jacob if he were quietly to wait on God to get him away honorably. The disgraceful quarrel with his uncle over, and the gruesome Mizpah pillar set up, he goes on to face a worse trouble. Esau is coming, armed and vengeful, to meet him. He would fain flee on after his people, but a Mysterious Stranger stops him. He advances, but is grappled by a * * strong arm. Through the long hours they wrestle. Jacob cannot, shall not, go on into the land of promise and inheritance until, with his pride and self-strength broken down utterly, and in humble confession of his real character-name, Jacob, the supplanter, the swindler, he hangs helpless on God alone for the birthright he tried to buy and the blessing he tried to steal years ago from Esau. At last he is a prince-knighted by Jehovah's own hand -"Thy name is Israel * a prince." Now God will call Himself "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," and that name Jacob will go on Paul's great catalogue of worthies in the eleventh of Hebrews. He is limping on his way--a victor because his strength is gone. He is leaning now on God. Jacob's growth in grace--into the beauty and wisdom of God, from this time on, should be carefully marked. Proceed with the thorough study of his life and character as well as that of Isaac, after the directions given in Lesson II. for character study. There are three great periods in Jacob's life as in that of Joseph. Find and define them. Chapter xxxvi. disposes of Esau and his descendants, that the story of the chosen line may proceed. It was Esau's rude pun in chapter xxv. 30, as one has shown, that got him the nickname Edom: "Feed the red [pointing to the pottage] to this red" [pointing to himself]. "Therefore was his name called 'Edom,' or 'red.'" And three times over in this chapter, by the repetition of this name, the Holy Spirit reminds us of that light despising of the priceless birthright by this profane man (Heb. xii. 16, 17). Let us remember that Esau was fully worthy of losing all he lost, as is every one who sells his heavenly inheritance for a mess of earthly meat. Mr. F. B. Meyer's little book, "Israel, a Prince with God," will be found wonderfully interesting and profitable in the study of the character of Jacob. Before any such help, however, the story should be mastered, and the truths you discover thoroughly studied and applied, with God alone as Teacher. LESSON IV. Genesis xxxvii.-1. Joseph: Son, Sufferer, Sovereign. I. Be sure to read these chapters at least seven times. II. The chapter names are: Drill thoughtfully on these names till you hold every chapter's contents in memory. III. Condense the story into a simple concise statement of its great facts, and give each fact a single-word name, if possible; thus you have your topical outline. Labor to make this outline as perfect and satisfactory as possible. Review the story repeatedly by means of it. IV. Before beginning the study of Joseph, it will be well to look at the thirty-eighth chapter, which makes a break in the narrative, to tell Judah's shameful story. A bad lot, these sons of Jacob, in those days. But what a marvel of God's grace that this dishonored woman, Tamar, should be one of the women in the line of our Lord's birth! (See Matt. i. 3.) Three names in that genealogy forbid all fleshly glorying in Jesus-Tamar, Rahab and Uriah's wife. This chapter is introduced to trace the family of Christ. V. Take up now the life of Joseph, according to lesson II. Do this work most thoroughly. You will be entranced with the beauty of the character before you, and will be greatly profited by knowing him. Examine especially the following topics: The ingenuous loveableness of his youth; the peculiar love of his father for him-reasons for it, in Joseph, in his brethren, in Jacob; his prophetic dreams -arguing what spiritual state in Joseph, and what present and future purposes of God? the exact state of his brethren's hearts toward him, and why? the startling special providences manifest in his whole life; God's reasons for allowing his imprisonment in Egypt; the side-by-side development of patience and power in Joseph; his marked ability-how manifested? his loyalty to God, and his faith in the covenant promises in the midst of dazzling worldly success; his beautiful filial fidelity. The word, I think, that best sums up his many-sided character is used of his Great Antitype in Ps. xlv. 2, middle clause. Joseph is one of the most remarkable of all the human types of Christ. We will note some of the important respects in which his history foreshadows that of Christ. "The sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow them" is the theme which Joseph's story so wondrously sets forth. Compare the question of Jesus to the two in Luke xxiv. 26, also Heb. ii. 9, 10; v. 7, 8. In the sense of I Peter ii. 21, John xv. 19, 20, Rom. viii. 17, and 2 Tim. ii. 12, we see in Joseph an illustration of the life of present suffering and future glory to which every believer is called. 2. Joseph was his father's beloved son. xxxvii. 3. 3. Hatred by his brethren. xxxvii. 4. xvi. 28. Christ was the beloved Soa of His Father. Matt. iii. 17. Hated by His brethren, John xv. 24; and at first by His own brethren in His Nazareth home. John vii. 1-7. 4. Received (in his two Received the revelation of dreams) the revelation of God the Father's will conGod's purposes concerning cerning Himself. Isa. 1.49 himself. xxxvii. 5-11; xli. 9; John v. 20-30; John xii. xlv. 5-9. 28. 5. Faithfully and frankly Christ did the same to His testified to his brethren of brethren. John viii. 40. what God had revealed to xviii. 37. him. xxxvii. 5-6, 9-10. 6. Was hated the more for his words. xxxvii. 8-11. Was hated the more for His words. John xv. 22-25; vii. 7; viii. 40. 11. Put, innocent, into the Egyptian dungeon with two criminals. xl. 3. Matthew xxvi. 14-15. Put, innocent, into the place of death with two malefactors. Luke xxiii. 32-33. 12. Raised up from the dun- Raised up from the dead by geon by the hand of Pharaoh, God's power, made to sit at made second in the kingdom, His right hand, and given all and given all authority. xli. authority. Acts ii. 32-36. 14, 43-44. Matthew xxviii. 18, revised version. 13. Was 30 years old when Was 30 years old when He they proclaimed his kingly began to proclaim His kingexaltation. xli. 41-46. dom. Luke iii. 23; cf. Mark i. 14-15. 16. Joseph dealt with his brethren severely at first, to v. [cry to Him for aid. Zech. xii. 10; Matthew xxiii. 39; Hosea 14-vi. 3; Isa. xxvi. 16. Christ will do the same with Hosea v. 15; His brethren. try them and bring them to Ezekiel xxii. 19-22; Isaiah repentance. xlii. 7-17. x. 20-21; Zech. xiii. 9. 17. Was reconciled to his Christ will be likewise. Isa. XXXV.; Jeremiah brethren and became their xi. xii., preserver and benefactor. xxxii. 36-44; Mal. iv. 2. xlv., xlvi. 18. All peoples came to Jo- All the earth will yet come seph for sustenance (xli. 57), to Christ for His kingly blessand became the servants of ings, and will be subject to Isaiah Pharaoh through him (xlvii. God through Him. 13-26); but he gave all the ii. 24; xi. 10; Psalms lxxii. honor to Pharaoh, and took 7-17; Zech. xiv. 16. But He only second place. will Himself hand over the kingdom to God, His Father -"that God may be all in 'all." 1 Cor. xv. 24-28. LESSON V. Review of Genesis. I. Review the book by chapter-names and topical outlines till wholly familiar with it. II. Condense the topical outlines now into the few theme-words that suggest the contents of the book. Creation, Fall, Deluge, Nations, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph—you can group all of Genesis about these words. Carefully do so. III. Next, we must find the key-thought of Genesis, the great central idea set forth in it, about which, as a center, the book arranges itself; or which, as a theme, explains the book. We believe that this idea is Human failure becoming the occasion of sovereign grace. Man failed and fell in Eden; fell lower when left to himself before the flood; fell into daring apostasy at Babel; fell into hell itself in Sodom and Gomorrah (Jude 7). Grace must intervene or the race is gone. Grace came, and those who desired it easily found it, iii. 21; v. 22; vi. 8; xv. 6; God even thrusting it upon those who as yet knew little indeed of its meaning, as in xxviii. 12-15; xxxii. 1; xlix. 8-12, compare xxxviii. As to those who will not honor God by becoming beholden to His grace, they simply, sadly perish in their pride. God would, but Cain, Ham, Nimrod, Ishmael and Esau would not. Search if it is not so. Rom. i. 28. See if Gen. xxv. 34, xxvi. 34, 35, and Heb. xii. 16, Gen. xxvii. 36, 41 (compare XXV. 32, 33) and xxxii. 6, do not explain the hard words of Mal. i. 2, 3, and Rom. ix. 10-13. IV. The key-word of Genesis should next be found. I would suggest Selection. Those who would prefer to elide the initial "S" may do so. The race as a whole having failed three times (once in Adam, Rom. v. 12, R. V., then before and after the flood), God chooses a people to represent Him on earth, suffering the other nations to walk in their own ways for the present. See Acts xvii. 16. V. The great beginnings in the book of Genesis may be traced with profit. Twelve, perhaps, are pre-eminent: The beginning of the created universe; of the present world; of man, the Sabbath, marriage, human sin, prophecy, sacrifice, human death, human government, nations, Israel. VI. The types in the book of Genesis are many and marvelous. The types of Christ should first be carefully found and studied. (See Lesson I. for those of the first chapters.) In Melchizedek we see Christ's eternal royal priesthood (study Heb. v.-viii.); in Isaac we see the beloved Son yielding to the Father's will, even unto death, and received back by resurrection (see Heb. xi. 17, 19); while in the ram whose sacrifice spared Isaac, we see Christ substituted for us. The 24th chapter is an exquisite picture of the Holy Ghost, who speaks not of Himself but of Christ, going forth to call the church to be the Bride for the inheriting Son of the Father, showing her Christ's things to attract her to Him, and finally bringing her to meet Him as He comes out from His Father's dwelling. See John xvi. 13-15; Eph. v. 25-27; 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17, comparing the word "caught up," in verse 17, with the same Greek word in Acts viii. 39. We notice that Sarah, who typifies Israel after the flesh, dies (i.e., is set aside) before Isaac gets his bride. See Rom. xi. 25; Acts xv. 14. For Abraham's subsequent fruitfulness, Gen. xzv., compare Rom. xi. 26; Acts xv. 16. Jacob's ladder speaks beautifully of Him who gives us access to God and brings us heavenly blessings and ministry. See John i. 51; Heb. i. 14. as a type of Christ has been already spoken of. The book of Genesis traces in type the spiritual history of a believer from his salvation by the word of promise and his covering with Christ's righteousness, in Adam; through his self-struggle with the flesh, the old nature, and his defeat by it, in Abel (compare Rom. vii.); the way of victory by the surrender of the old creation in him to judgment and death, and the entering upon newness of life, in Noah (compare Rom. vi.); the calling and separate walk of faith, in Abraham (Heb. xi.); the life and privileges of conscious sonship, in Isaac (Rom. viii.; Gal. iv.); discipline and service, in Jacob (Heb. xii.; Rom. xii.); seeing, hoping, enduring, and finally reigning, in Joseph (2 Tim. ii.). Joseph Many other most profitable lines of typical and spiritual teaching in this wonderful book might be suggested, but it is left to the student, to whom, if he have faithfully performed the study we have suggested, new and blessed lines of truth are presenting themselves everywhere through the book, to develop these. The next four lessons will be in the book of Exodus, and will appear, God willing, in the February number. YOUNG PEOPLE'S DEPARTMENT. [All communications referring to this department should be sent to the editor, Miss Anna W. Pierson, 1127 Dean St., Brooklyn, N. Y.]. She Knew a Way. A True Incident. BY ELIZABETH P. ALLAN. The sun had not quite climbed up the shoulder of Humpback Mountain, but he was on the way. The sky knew it, and brightened at the thought. The birds knew it, and twittered and cheeped, and tuned their voices up and down the scale, to be ready for their part in the chorus. In the small, sunburnt cottage, half-way up the mountain, a little curly-headed child stirred and cheeped too. She had gone to bed in the early twilight, and now she was tired of sleep, and ready for the new day. "Mammy," said the little mountain maid, "kin I git up?" "Yes, child, git up, and welcome," answered the mother. "I reckon I must be stirring my old bones too." With nimble fingers the child fastened the few scanty garments belonging to her, and ran out on bare brown feet to wash at the little stream below the spring. The intense cold of the water made her cheeks glow and her breath come quickly. "Now," she said to herself, "I will gather the eggs for mammy, and s'prise her. I won't go for no basket, I kin just git 'em in my dress." Away she sped to the chicken-house. It was a low-roofed affair, flat on the ground, with so small an opening that nobody bigger than Jess herself could have gotten in and out. The child crept fearlessly in, but hardly had she put the first egg in her gathered-up lap when she saw a large mottled rattlesnake stretch himself across the little opening by which she had entered. The snake did not seem angry, was not looking at her, in fact, and even Jess' terrified scream did not rouse him. Fortunately she did not move, and in a moment her father ran to her help. Peering in through a crack in the roof the man saw not only the snake lying in front of the child, but a second one, its mate, stretched out behind her! It was impossible to kill them both at once; if he struck either, the other one would certainly bite the little prisoner. What a moment of horror! "Jess," he said, hoarsely, "keep as still as the dead, and listen to me. I've got to take off this here coop. But the roof, and lift you out of if you move, you're gone. Can you hold still?" The little face was white with terror, and at first no sound would come to her lips. Then she said faintly: "All right, dad; I've thought of a way to keep still." The man and his wife quickly unroofed the slight building, making as little noise as possible, and then, climbing out on the chestnut limb that overhung it, Jess' father let down a rope, and drew her up, like Jeremiah out of his dungeon, by the arm-pits. The snakes were promptly killed, and the child sat white and trembling on her mother s lap in the cabin's doorway. "You're a fust-rate soldyer, Jess, that's what you be," said her father proudly. "How ever did you manage to keep still?" "I jest shet my eyes," said the child, and made out that God was holding my feet." "Holding your feet!" exclaimed the man, somewhat startled. Jess nodded: "They're teaching me some Bible verses at the chapel Sunday school," she said, "and one of them says, 'He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. That's what made me think of it." The next Sunday, Jess found, to her delight, that her father was going with her down the mountain to Zion Chapel. "Are you 'fraid I'll meet up with more snakes, dad?" she asked. "Not so much that, though you mought," he answered. "I'm goin' to learn the rest of them verses 'bout God not lettin' your foot be moved." And when he heard the very first verse of that beautiful Psalm,--"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help," -the mountaineer nodded: "Ezzactly," he said, "that's just the one for me." But he has gone farther on now, and is learning the deeper, sweeter lesson of the next verse, My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth."-S. S. Times. Lexington, Va. Bob, the Street Boy. I have a little story here that I have been treasuring up for you. It is about a London street boy, who, in some way or other, unfortunately got under the wheels of a heavy wagon, and both legs were broken. He was taken to a hospital and attended to in the best possible way by kind doctors and nurses. Bob was very ignorant; he had had a hard life, poor little fellow, with nobody to teach him any good, and plenty to lead him into evil. In the next bed to his at the hospital was another little boy, a frail child, worn and wasted with sickness. There was a depth of sympathy in his large soft eyes, as he looked across to Bob, and, putting out his thin, white hand to attract his notice, he asked, "Have you ever heard of Jesus?" "No," said Bob, "I never heard of Him. Who is He?" "Teacher said as Jesus could cure sick folk." "Can He?" said Bob, eagerly; "I'd like Him to cure me. Where does He live?" "Oh, a long way from here." The look of hope faded from Bob's face. "Then I can't go to Him," he said, "both my legs are broke." "Teacher said that sometimes Jesus passes by. If we watch p'r'aps we shall see Him." But poor Bob's eyes were so tired that he could not keep them open, and he feared that Jesus would pass by while the weary lids were closed. What could he do? Again his friend was ready with a suggestion. "When we want to speak to teacher in our school we hold up our hand; so if you hold up your hand Jesus will know that you want to speak to Him." Bob smiled and held up both arms; but very soon they dropped; he was too weak to keep them up. It was disappointing. The tears came into Bob's eyes. "We'll manage it," said his kind friend "You shall have my pillow to prop up your arm, and then Jesus won't pass you by." So the arm was propped up and the tired eyes were closed, and there was sleep and quietness in the ward. Later on when the night watches came to little Bob's bed they found his arm still propped up, but his spirit had entered into the presence of that Jesus whose notice he had been so anxious to attract.--Christian. "The leper ANSWERS TO QUIZ IN December issue. I. Law for cleansing of leper. was brought to the priest, and the priest went without the camp; then he commanded to take two birds for the leper, and after performing certain rites with them, he declared the leper clean. The leper was then commanded to wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, and then he could come into the camp, but remain outside his tent for seven days. On the eighth day sacrifices were offered, and the priest made atonement for him before the Lord. Then he was entirely restored."-Marietta Coonrod. 2. Instances recorded where Christ went apart to pray. Mark i. 35; vi. 46; Matt. xiv. 26; Luke iv. 42; v. 16; and vi. 12.-Edna Walker. ANNOUNCEMENT OF PRIZES. (Those over 10 and under 16.) First Prize-Nellie Carruthers (age 14), Toronto, Ontario. Second Prize-Agnes Hutchins (age 14), Belvidere, N. J. Third Prize-Mildred Coonrod (age 11), Port Jervis, N. Y. (Those under 10.) First Prize-Chrissie Wilson (age 7), Nelson, Ontario. Second Prize-Mary Knight (age 10), Brookville, Ontario. Third Prize-Marietta Coonrod (age 9), Port Those deserving honorable mention: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." |