Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

. . .
namely
eat."
he often did, took the pen out of the
hand of his helper and wrote personally
in large letters the eight concluding
verses, perhaps for the sake of emphasis
to his final words.
Here "the cat is let out of the bag,"
so to speak. The Judiazers are un
masked, exposed in their real motives
:
a. To make a fair show. v. 12. 'to put
on a good face.'
b. To escape persecution, v. 12.
c. To glory in your flesh. Through
it all showing their inconsistency (not
even themselves rigidly observing all
the requirements of the law). Jesus had
unmasked the hypocrisy of the scribes
and Pharisees just so, Matt. 23:3-5.
(Not lifting a finger).
Paul's life the clinching argument,
verses 14, 17. (They could not gainsay
that.) Paul crucified, recalling 2:20.
Bearing in his body the stigmata,
brands, marks of the nails. The Juda
izers had sorely troubled him. They
could do no more. If they doubted fur
ther his apostleship let them examine
the scars on his body suffered from
the stoning at Lystra.
"The soft tongue breaketh the bone.''
The severity of the epistle is softened
by Paul's final touch, BRETHREN.
v. 18. Upon them he gives his benedic
tion.
Memory Verses
5:1.
6:1.
Questions
1. What have you learned about Paul
which you did not know before
2. What five things can you take with
you from these studies Write them in
your notebook and share in the meeting.
3. Review all the memory verses as
signed.
Acknowledgment: Liberal quotations
have been drawn from various sources,
such as Davis' Dictionary of the Bible,
New Bible Commentary, Introduction to
N. T., Study by Kerr, Life and Times
of Paul, by Conybeare and Howson, and
Dummelow's One Volume Commentary.
JUNIOR TOPIC
July 17, 1955
A COMPLAINING PEOPLE
Blanche Gilchrist, Walton, N. Y.
Scripture Text: Numbers 11
Memory Verse: Numbers 10:29, "Come
good."
thou with us and we will do thee
Psalms:
Memory Psalm for July: Psalm 44,
1-4, page 112
Psalm 55:12, 13, 17-18, page 140
Psalm 4:1-3, 8, page 6
Psalm 103: 5-8, page 247
God had done so much for the Israel
ites as they traveled through the wilder
ness. He had saved them from the
Egyptains. He had guided them with a
cloud by day and a pillar of fire by
night. He had provided a great leader
for them in Moses. Every morning they
had received delicious manna to eat.
Wouldn't you think that they would
be very thankful for all this But they
grumbled, "We are tired of this manna.
In Egypt, we had such wonderful things
to eat. Do you remember the melons,
the leeks, the onions, the garlic, and the
fresh cucumbers Why didn't we stay
there We are tired of the manna. We
would like meat to
Moses was discouraged. All he heard
was complaining. The people were
standing
in their tent doors with tears
rolling down their cheeks. They were
feeling so sorry for themselves. Moses
did not know what to do. He no longer
wanted to be their leader. He even said
he would lather die than go on with
these people.
God Himself became weary with the
grumbling and complaining. He decided
to give them what they asked for. First,
He would help Moses with his tiring
work of caring for this people. So, God
told Moses to pick out seventy
of the
best men of Israel. God said He would
help Moses govern the people.
Moses selected the seventy
men as
God commanded. He told them to rule
justly. He warned them against favoring
the rich more than the poor.
God told Moses that He would give
the people meat. Moses could hardly be
lieve it. Where would the meat come
from There were six hundred thousand
men among the Israelites not counting
the women and children. But God prom
ised to send meat. There would be
enough meat to last a month. There
would be so much that the people would
become sick of it. God sent a great wind
which brought birds, called quails, from
the sea. There were so many and they
flew so low that the people had no
trouble catching them. They had far
more than they needed. So they spread
them out in the hot sun to dry. The
person who caught the least had ten
homers. This would be equal to eighty
bushels. The people ate so much that
they became sick of the meat. God pun
ished this rebellious people. They be
came ill and many died.
The Bible tells us of still other peo
ple who complained. You remember that
Moses'
brother Aaron and his
sister
Miriam were with this company of
people. Aaron and Miriam became jeal
ous of Moses. They grumbled about him.
God was displeased with these two. He
asked Aaron and Miriam if they were
not afraid to find fault with Moses.
Aaron suddenly saw that Miriam was
as white as snow. He realized that she
had the dreadful disease leprosy. Aaron
pleaded with Moses to forgive them for
their jealousy. He pleaded that Miriam
need not suffer this terrible disease.
Moses prayed mightily
to God. God
told them to shut Miriam out of the
camp seven days. The Israelites halted
in their journey
until Miriam could go
on with them.
Why did this people grumble so when
they had been so blessed They became
dissatisfied with their food and their
leader Moses. Since Moses had been
chosen of God, they were really finding
fault with God.
Do we ever grumble about things
I'm afraid we do. We find fault about
our food, our clothes, our friends, our
homes, our lessons, and the weather.
We are really finding fault with God.
This is a terrible thing to do.
Our memory verse suggests doing
others good. We cannot do good to oth
ers when we are always complaining.
The Israelites found that the thing
they prayed for was not best for them.
This is often true. Sometimes God with
holds from us what we ask, knowing
that it will not be good for us. Some
times we-are given what we ask for in
our prayers to teach us a lesson.
In your notebook, you might make a
list of the things the Israelites grumbled
about. Make a list, also, of the things
we grumble about. Then, make a list
of some of the things we may trust God
for.
SABBATH
SCHOOL LESSON
July 17, 1955
Rev. W. J. McBurney
(Lssons based on International Sunday School
Lessons; the International Bible Lessons for
Christian Teaching, copyrighted by the Inter
national Council of Religions Education.)
EZEKIEL AND THE EARLIER
CAPTIVITY
Ezekiel 1:1-3; 2:1-4; 3:11-15; 11:14-20;
18:30-32; 2 Kings 24:8-16; 25:27-30
Printed Text, 2 Kings 24:ll-15a; Ezek
iel 1:2, 3; 3:11; 11:16, 17, 20; 18:30, 32
Memory verse, Ezek. 18:30: "Repent,
and turn yourselves from all your
transgressions; So iniquity
your ruin."
shall not be
The capitivity of Judah was complet
ed in three stages. The first was under
Jehoiakim. That was when Daniel was
taken. Jehoiakim was left as King under
heavy tribute. The tribute was not be
ing paid to the satisfaction of Nebu
chadnezzer, so he came again in the
reign of Jehoiakim's son,
Jehoiachin.
He gave up without a struggle, went out
with all his household and the princes
to meet the invader, and gave over all
410 COVENANTER WITNESS