Lesson Scripture, Genesis, Chapters 29 to 31, R.V.
Note.—We have not space to print the 123 verses of these three chapters. The lesson is too long. We therefore give the regular questions and the verses or a synopsis of the verses, which answer them. For the entire scripture the reader is referred to the Bible.
1. After Jacob’s rich experience at Bethel, in what spirit did he continue his journey?
“Then Jacob went on his journey [‘lifted up his feet,’ margin, indicating exultation], and came to the land of the children of the East.” Gen. 29:1.
2. Briefly narrate the circumstances connected with Jacob’s introduction to the home of Laban. Verses 2–14.
Jacob came to a well, where he found three men with flocks of sheep. He asked where they lived, and if they knew Laban, the son of Nahor. They said they were of Haran, and that Laban was well, and that his daughter Rachel would soon come with her flock of sheep. Here the shepherds remained till all the flocks were gathered, when the well was opened, and the sheep were watered. Rachel came also with Laban’s flock. Jacob watered her flock, kissed her, told her who he was, met and greeted Laban, who received him warmly, and visited with Laban for a month.
3. After a month’s visit at Laban’s house, into what contract did Jacob and Laban enter? V. 15–19.
Laban had two daughters, Leah and Rachel, the older, Leah, plain looking, the younger, Rachel, beautiful. Jacob contracted with Laban to serve him seven years for Rachel.
4. What effect does true love have upon the labors of man?
“And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.” Verse 20.
5. What family trait of character did Laban now manifest? Verses 21–25.
At the marriage feast, at the end of the years, Laban deceived Jacob by giving him Leah instead of Rachel. Leah’s maid servant was named Zilpah.
6. Love for what led Laban to thus deceive? Verses 27, 28. See “Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 189.
(1) That he might have his elder daughter married first, according to custom, and (2) he desired to secure Jacob’s service longer.
7. Verse 29 of chapter 29 to verse 24 of chapter 30 shows what has always been the result of polygamy,—jealousy, strife, bitterness, unhappiness.
8. After Jacob had a family of eleven sons and one daughter, what request did he make to Laban?
“And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served thee, and let me go; for thou knowest my service wherewith I have served thee.” Gen. 30:25, 26.
9. How did Laban regard this request? What acknowledgment and offer did he make?
“And Laban said unto him, If now I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry; for I have divined that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake. And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.” Verses 27, 28.
10. What agreement did they finally enter into? Verses 29–34.
The agreement was that from Laban’s flocks the spotted and speckled among the goats and the black among the sheep were to be removed, and those thus marked should be Jacob’s, and no others.
11. When, as a result of this agreement, Jacob “increased exceedingly,” what was the attitude of Laban and his sons toward him?
“And he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father’s; and of that which was our father’s hath he gotten all this glory. And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as beforetime.” Gen. 31:1, 2.
12. In his perplexity, what did God in a dream tell him to do?
“And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.” “And the angel of God said unto me in the dream, Jacob; and I said, Here am I.” “I am the God of Beth-el, where thou anointedst a pillar, where thou vowedst a vow unto Me; now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy nativity.” Verses 3, 11, 13.
13. How did Rachel and Leah feel in regard to the matter? Why?
“And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.” “And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath also quite devoured our money. For all the riches which God hath taken away from our father, that is ours and our children’s; now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.” Verses 7, 14–16.
14. What did Jacob immediately proceed to do?
“Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon the camels; and he carried away all his cattle, and all his substance which he had gathered, the cattle of his getting, which he had gathered in Padan-Aram, for to go to Isaac his father unto the land of Canaan.” Verses 17, 18.
15. Upon hearing of Jacob’s flight, what did Laban do?
“And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled. And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey; and he overtook him in the mountain of Gilead.” Verses 22, 23.
16. How did the Lord reveal again to Jacob that “He is faithful that promised”?
“And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said unto him, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.” “It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt; but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.” Verses 24, 29.
“And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” Gen. 28:15.
17. What lessons do you learn from the meeting of Laban and Jacob at Mt. Gilead? Gen. 31:25–55.
The chief lessons are that God cared for Jacob as He had promised; that this was because of Jacob’s humility and faithfulness; that being faithful to God, he was faithful to Laban; in it all Jacob showed his remembrance of God by offering sacrifice; it is not wise to be rash, as was Jacob, who hotly said, Let the one die with whom Laban’s images were found. He had too much confidence in Rachel’s goodness. “Be not rash with thy mouth.” See I Sam. 14:24–45.
18. What do you learn in this lesson of the manners and customs of the “children of the East”?
One thing is evident, deception and duplicity, idolatry, acknowledging Jehovah as a god, but not the only God; yet reverence for custom and parents.
Suggestive Readings.—“Patriarchs and Prophets,” pp. 188–194; “Spirit of Prophecy,” Vol. 1, pp. 109–117.
NOTES.
It was Jacob’s own course that rendered his experience in Haran necessary. “Evil imparted, also returns again. Every one who has been free to condemn, or discourage, will in his own experience be brought over the ground where he has caused others to pass; will feel what they have suffered because of his want of sympathy and tenderness. It is the love of God toward us that has decreed this. He would lead us to abhor our own hardness of heart, and to open our hearts to let Jesus abide in them. And thus out of evil, good is brought, and what appeared a curse becomes a blessing. . . . In slighting the claims of the poor, the suffering, and the sinful, we are proving ourselves traitors to Christ. It is because men take upon themselves the name of Christ, while in life they deny His character, that Christianity has so little power in the world. The name of the Lord is blasphemed because of these things.”—Mount of Blessing, pp. 180, 181.
ADDITIONAL STUDY.
(1) Compare Jacob’s arrival in Padan-Aram with that of Abraham’s servant about one hundred years before. (2) Show from this lesson that Laban intellectually believed in the God of Jacob. Will others know if we are servants of God? How? Read Psalms I. (3) What evidence have we in this and previous chapters that Abraham’s kindred were worshipers of false gods? (4) Were Jacob’s descendants ever again in that country? If so, when, and under what circumstances? (5) Look up the following names and places; Haran, Padan-Aram, Syria, “The River” (Euphrates), Gilead, tabret, harp, gods, Jegar-Sahadutha, Galeed, Mizpah.
1 “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. 2 Above Him stood the seraphim; each one had six wings; with twain He covered His face, and with twain He covered His feet, and with twain He did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory. 4 And the foundations of the thresholds were moved at the voice of Him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Wo is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar; 7 and he touched my mouth with it, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me. 9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed. 11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until cities be waste without inhabitant, and houses without men, and the land become utterly waste, 12 and the Lord have removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land. 13 And if there be yet a tenth in it, it shall again be eaten up; as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remaineth, when they are felled; so the holy seed is the stock thereof.”
Golden Text.—“I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”Isa. 6:8.
Suggestive Questions.
(1) About what time did King Uzziah die? Note 1. Who saw a vision in that year? What was the principal object in the vision? V. 1; compare Ezekiel 1. (2) What stood above Him? Describe them. V. 2. (3) What did one cry to another? V. 3; compare Revelation 4. (4) What was the effect of this cry? V. 4. (5) What did the prophet exclaim as he contemplated the vision? What led him to realize his own uncleanness? V. 5. Note 2. (6) Then what did one of the seraphim do? What did this seraph say? Vs. 6, 7; compare Heb. 1:13, 14. Note 3. (7) What did the prophet hear the voice of the Lord saying? What was the reply? V. 8. Note 4. (8) What message was then intrusted to Isaiah? V. 9. (9) And what commission was given him? V. 10. Note 5. (10) What question did the prophet ask? What answer did he receive? Vs. 11, 12. Note 6. (11) What encouraging promise followed this fearful sentence? V. 13; compare Rom. 11:1-7.
Notes.
1. The time.—Chronology varies as to the time of King Uzziah’s death, from B.C. 759 to 737. It was only a few years before the fall of the kingdom of Israel. It was near the time of the founding of Rome, B.C. 753, and the rise of Corinth, 745. The prophets Hosea, in Israel, and Nahum and Micah, in Judah, were contemporary with Isaiah, who saw the vision here recorded.
2. “A man of unclean lips.”—By comparison with what he had seen in vision, Isaiah saw and realized as never before how far short he was of the perfect standard. He realized that he partook of the sinfulness of his surroundings. No doubt, like Saul of Tarsus, he had not before seen himself in his true light. This is evident from the reason he gives for saying, “I am a man of unclean lips,” namely, “for mine eyes have seen the King.”
3. Humble penitence on the part of the prophet is evident; for the Lord immediately takes away his iniquity. It is the privilege of every one to look into the “perfect law of liberty” and behold himself as he is; and then to confess his sin, and have his iniquity taken away.
4. Prepared for service.—Having been cleansed from sin, he could receive of the Spirit of prophecy, could listen to the call of God; and, aside from being willing to go, he was one whom the Lord could safely send. As one commentator has aptly said, “God wants volunteers and not conscripts” in His work, and He says in His unchangeable Word, by this same prophet Isaiah, “Be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord.” Chap. 52:11.
5. “Make the heart of this people fat,” etc.—By fatness is meant covered over with the lusts of the flesh, until they are not susceptible to spiritual things. As David says of the wicked, “their eyes stand out with fatness.” Ps. 73:7. The command to “make” the people’s ears heavy, and shut their eyes, does not imply that it is the Lord’s desire that they should be so. The prophet was to tell the people their condition, knowing that they would reject his word, and become more and more averse to it because of the rejection, just as Pharaoh’s heart was hardened by the messages brought to him by Moses and Aaron. The Saviour recalled these words of Isaiah, and applied them to the Jews of His day.” See Matt. 13:10-17.
6. “Until the cities be wasted,” etc., refers to the coming captivity, altho it was yet about one hundred and fifty years in the future. Thus is shown that in every age God is long-suffering toward sinners, patient with His people, and always gives them such warnings of impending doom as leave them without excuse.
WILD FLOWERS.
By Clara L. Richards
Blest angels of God sent down to this world,
A token of love in each petal unfurled,
Bringing us joy with their faces so bright,
Purity, peace, from the “Father of Light.”
We roam on the hillside and pluck them with glee,
On mountain, meadow, in gorge, and on lea;
We think of the Hand which their beauty has made,
Given each shape and color to each tiny blade.
Our hearts thrill with rapture and praise to our God
For the beauties of nature, His care, and His Word;
We thank Him for these, and for sending His Son
To suffer and die that our hearts might be won.
And now, bright-faced blossoms, thou hast gladdened our heart,
We would thy blest comfort to others impart.
To those then who have not thy beauty to cheer,
We send thee with greetings; go dry thou the tear; Fill up with your brightness the home that is sad,
The sick room of sadness by thy presence make glad.
Thy sweetness and fragrance breathe out in the air,
Directing the soul to God and to prayer.
CLARA L. RICHARDS.
Boulder, Colo.
“ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE.”
By Helen A. Steinhauer
[A True Story.]
THREE in the afternoon of that memorable sixth day of March, found Mrs. Harrington unable to speak or hear; cold, stiff, without pulse, and her eyes set in death. “Just the same as dead,” the two hired nurses said to each other as they stood at the bedside.
“Sakes alive! and there is that child in the room!” exclaimed the elder woman impatiently, pointing to a forlorn little figure timidly crouching at the foot of the bed, which had been drawn out from the wall, so that the sick woman might be the better able to get her breath.
“Please let me stay,” moaned the child, with an appealing look. “I was in the room when papa died, and I was six months younger than I am now; and—and I have only mama left!”
“And she’s as good as dead,” answered the younger nurse more kindly, but still taking her cue from the elder. “She doesn’t know you, and never will again, so you might as well go into the parlor,” opening the door into that room as she spoke.
CALIFORNIA SCENERY, No. 28.—Cypress of Monterey, Cal. An evergreen of the species Cupressus sempervirens, of which there are several varieties. The most common variety is tall, with upright branches, somewhat resembling the poplar. The C. horizontalis is described as a low, flat-topped tree, with wide-spreading branches, evidently the one here represented. The peculiar one-sided appearance of the top is due to the heavy breezes blowing in from the sea, near which the cypresses of Monterey are found. The wood of the cypress is fine-grained and very durable, and has been known to suffer no decay by the lapse of 1,100 years. Many authorities hold it to be the gopher wood of the Scriptures. The tree grew on Mt. Hermon, and is cultivated in the lower levels of Syria. See Isa. 44:14. Egyptian mummy cases were also made of cypress wood.
Slowly the child walked in, her bosom heaving with emotion, and with sobs that would not be suppressed.
She was a little thing, yet with an old, wise face, as of one that had lived, and thought, and suffered. It was hard to believe her only twelve, tho she did not look more than eight or ten. But she was the child of her parents’ old age—their companion as well as their pet, the youngest of her father’s second family, and the only one that lived. No wonder that she was old and thoughtful beyond her years. She had been a bookworm, this little maid, for over six years, reading everything that she could lay hand on, and that her judicious mother did not interdict.
Now this idolized parent lay dying, “as good as dead,” the nurses said. And only six months before her precious father had fallen asleep. O, how could she live through it all! And, throwing herself on her knees at a chair, she cried passionately:—
“Lord, what shall I do? My heart will break.”
Instantly rising from her knees, she as promptly turned to the center table as if she had been sent, and, taking from it a tiny, blue-covered book, began hurriedly turning over the leaves. It had been given her on New Year’s day, by her Sunday-school teacher, and contained a text for every day in the year. That for March 6 read:—
“The Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it can not save; neither His ear heavy, that it can not hear.” Isa. 59:1.
“O,” exclaimed the child to herself, as if it had been a voice speaking to her, “then I am to pray for my mother’s life!”
No sooner said than done. Down on her knees she got again.
“Heavenly Father, give my mother back to me, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.”
Only that; what need of more? God had said that His hand was not shortened that He could not save, and that His ear was not heavy that He could not hear. So she took Him at His word and asked; and of course her prayer would be answered.
Going to the bedroom door, she opened it with the air of one that had a right to do so, and in a firm, expectant tone, asked:—
“How is my mother now?”
“Just as she was, child; the same as dead. Can’t you stay in there without bothering us all the time?” asked the elder nurse querulously—worn out by loss of sleep, and perhaps naturally petulant. She did not mean to be unkind.
“Ah! but she will be better soon. You don’t understand, you see,” the child returned patiently. “I felt that my heart would break, so I asked the Lord what I should do, and He told me that His hand wasn’t shortened that He couldn’t save, nor His ear heavy that He couldn’t hear. So I asked Him to give my mother back to me.”
The nurses stared as tho they thought the child were out of her senses. The elder one muttered, “Much good asking when she’s just as good as dead.” But the younger one said soothingly, “Well, you go back meantime; it isn’t fitin’ for a little mite like you to be in this room now.”
The child obeyed; but her expectancy drove her back every ten or fifteen minutes, the same question on her lips (never once did she return to the Lord; between them it was definitely settled), till the elder nurse’s patience gave way, and she positively forbade her leaving the parlor to come to them with any more questions.
Fortunately at this juncture her quick ear13caught the firm step of the doctor on the terrace steps leading to the house. The little girl was a great favorite with that good man, for he had learned to know her as her father’s most devoted attendant during the long months of his tedious illness, spending the most of her time at his side, reading to him, singing and playing for him, and walking out with him till he could no longer leave the house.
Now, slipping her hand in the doctor’s, she said expectantly:—
“Please tell me how my mother is now.”
Echoing the words of the nurses, he replied:
“My child, she is just as good as dead.”
“Ah, but, doctor, you don’t understand!” she again patiently explained. “You see I felt as if my heart would break, and I asked God what I should do, and He told me that His hand was not shortened that He couldn’t save, nor His ear heavy that He couldn’t hear. So I asked Him to give my mother back to me; and that is how I know that she will be better.”
“Not in this world,” the doctor answered sadly; “your prayers came too late, my child.”
“No, doctor,” the child repeated with gentle insistence, “for He told me so.”
Shaking his head, the kind-hearted man turned away to brush off the sudden tear, but said no more.
It was 5 o’clock when he left, saying as he did so:—
“I have a patient who needs me; the dead are past help; but I will look in again on my way home.”
At 9 o’clock the nurses, who were alone in the house with the mother and daughter, sent the little girl to bed. She slept the sound sleep of healthy childhood, and did not even wake till 5 the next morning, when the doctor’s step aroused her. Jumping up quickly, she ran to the head of the stairs to hear what they would say when they let him in.
“Well, when did she die?” was the form of question he used.
The answer came slowly and hesitatingly:—
“Why, doctor, she isn’t dead; and it does seem as tho she were better, for she can see and hear, altho she can neither speak nor move yet.”
“That is a miracle,” he replied emphatically.
Into her clothes sprang the little maid, and down the stairs she swiftly ran, and into her mother’s room. Slipping her hand into the doctor’s, as was her wont, she looked brightly into his face, as she joyously exclaimed:—
“I told you that she would be better, doctor.”
“O my child, don’t build on this!” the good man replied hurriedly, as he drew her into the adjoining apartment, and closed the door. “It is impossible that your mother should live in her physical condition. There have been cases known when, after apparent death, patients have come to life again, but never to last longer than a few hours or days at the farthest.”
“Doctor,” exclaimed the child with energy, “I did not ask the Lord to give her back to me only for hours or days. He knows what was in my heart. He would never treat me so.”
“Your prayer came too late, dear child,” returned the doctor. “Why, there is only a small portion of one lung through which your mother can breathe at all; and her heart is enormously enlarged! No, no, little one, don’t build hopes on this passing improvement. Under existing circumstances it is impossible that she should live. Ask the Lord to help you to give her up.”
“She will not die, doctor,” persisted the child. “She will get better. I prayed the Lord to give her back to me, and He has done so. God does not break His word.”
Again with tear-wet eyes the good man turned away, for the child’s confidence touched him strangely. He was a Christian, and had been one for more years than she had lived, yet her faith was higher and deeper than ever he had known.
And Mrs. Harrington did live. It was a whole month before she was able to be lifted from one bed to another to have hers made; a year before she was able to walk out-of-doors; but for five years—perhaps the most important of all the years of a young girl’s life, from twelve to seventeen, she was spared to her little daughter, now a gray-haired woman.
I have often heard her relate the incident, and always with this additional remark:—
“And had I asked to have my mother made perfectly whole, that too would have been granted. But I had never known her as anything but an invalid, and hence my only thought was to have her given back to me.”
Children, God hears you when you pray, just as much as He hears your elders. And when you plead His promises and ask what is in harmony with His will, you may be sure that your requests will be granted—unless you begin to doubt and question His doing so.
Parents, if you have never failed to keep your word to your children, it will be just so much easier for them to believe that their heavenly Father will not break His word. Remember that you have a responsibility in the matter, as well as they. And may He help both you and them.
HELEN A. STEINHAUER.
FRANCES E. BOLTON
By Frances E. Bolton
NATURE’S MEANING. No. 4.
The sun rising over the world is a symbol of the Sun of righteousness. The firmament is a symbol of the vast expansion there is in Him, in which our singing thoughts may fly upward as the birds toward the zenith. He has compared the wind to His Spirit, and His blessing to the bright clouds from which fall the former and latter rain. But He who is our heart light is also our firmament. He who gives the far-reaching expansion gives to us a soul atmosphere, and the Spirit can take our thoughts and words further than we ever can know.
Does He not from the clouds of life bring down the rain of compassion? Does He not tint them also with silver linings, and paint upon them the colors of the rainbow? The bloom and vegetation of the world is symbolic of the verdure of the soul,—of thoughts like lilies where the Beloved feeds; the birds, symbolic of the inner melody unto the Lord; the beasts, under the dominion of reason, symbolic of the passions under control; the Sabbath day, a sign of the rest of the soul in the love of God.
Strange that we should be in a world of God’s creating, and yet be as those who are blinded, deafened, and senseless, living only for the material world! In Drummond’s “Natural Law in the Spiritual World,” he uses for illustration the processes of nature by which one form of matter is of service to another, to show how the spiritual is served by the natural. The mineral is transformed into the vegetable, so that the brown, unknowing earth becomes in the flower a thing of life, motion, beauty, and suggestion. The vegetable becomes, in the animal, feeling, will, and reason. Even so the material elements of our daily existence should be transformed into higher forms of life, until all is centralized in godlikeness. This is the design of all nature, the flower of consummation.
FRANCES E. BOLTON
Heralds of His Coming
Heralds OF HIS COMING, by Milton C. Wilcox, shows conclusively that Christ’s coming is very near. 25,000 already sold. Price, $1.50 per 100.
PACIFIC PRESS PUB. CO.
Oakland, Cal.
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ARMOR-PLATED BOYS.
Paul tells us in the sixth chapter of Ephesians just what armor the Christian needs in his fight against Satan. He must be clad in armor from head to foot if he would quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. He must have on his head a helmet, on his breast a breastplate, on his feet sandals; he must carry on his arm a shield, and in his hand a sword. If you will turn to the chapter and read it carefully, you will find out what Paul means by these figures of speech.
We believe that it is highly important in these days that our boys should be armor-plated. A boy needs to be ironclad on:—
His lips—against the first taste of liquor.
His ears—against impure words.
His hands—against wrong-doing.
His heart—against irreverence and doubt.
His feet—against going with bad company.
His eyes—against dangerous books and pictures.
His pocket—against dishonest money.
His tongue—against evil-speaking.
This is necessary if the character is kept clean and sweet and pure. May God help the boys to put all the armor on.—The Children's Visitor.
THE PEOPLE’S REWARD.
By James Russell Lowell
WHENE’ER contending princes fight
For private pique or public right,
Armies are raised, the fleets are manned,
They combat both by sea and land.
When, after many battles past,
Both, tired with blows, make peace at last,
What is it, after all, the people get?Why, taxes, widows, wooden legs, and debt.—James Russell Lowell.
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