Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

God again spoke to him. What did hetell him this time? Genesis 31:3, 11-13.On the way south, God saved him fromtwo people who might have harmed him.Who were they? Gen. 31:24, 54-55; 33:1-4. God also met him again, face to face.Gen. 32:24-32. The third chapter of hislife was spent in the land of Canaan, theland of Abraham and of Isaac, and theland that was to belong to his children.Here for the fourth time God appeared tohim. What did He tell him to do andwhat promise did He make. Gen. 35:1, 9-15.Now we are at the beginning of thefourth and last chapter of Jacob's longlife. This is the time spent in the land ofEgypt and is the shortest chapter of all.Gen. 47:28. When his sons came backfrom the second trip to Egypt to buyfood, what a story they had to tell! Joseph, the long-lost son, is not dead atall, but very much alive and is the governor of all Egypt next to Pharoah himself. It was Joseph who pretended hethought they were spies and kept Simeonin prison while the others went home. Itwas Joseph who said they would have tobring their youngest brother down if theywanted any more food, because he wantedto see his own brother Benjamin. Josephhad invited them all to dinner in his ownhouse and had told them who he was, andhad forgiven them for what they haddone. (Here the sons of Jacob must havehad to confess that they had sold Joseph as a slave that day they broughthome the blood-stained coat.) Joseph, aprince in Egypt, still loves them and callsthem brothers. Now he wants most ofall to see his father again and has askedthem all to come to live near him inEgypt while the famine lasts so he cancare for them. He even sent gifts to hisfather and sent wagons from Egypt tomake the journey easier. Joseph, the lostbrother, is alive! When Jacob heard this,how did he feel? Gen. 45:26b. What madehim at last believe the story was true?Gen. 45:27. What did he decide to do?All at once there was great excitementand stir in the camp! "Grandfather Jacob says we are all to go to Egypt tolive,"shouted the children to each other.Fathers, mothers, servants, hurried about,making preparations to leave home andmake the long journey. Since they had nohouses to leave and not so many belongings as we are apt to have, it maynot have been long till all were packedand ready to start in the wagons Josephhad sent for them. How many of Jacob'sfamily went down to Egypt? Gen. 46:26.What a long procession that would make,and how the older ones must have lookedback often and wondered how long itwould be till theywould see again thehome they were leaving! Among them all,none was happier or in more of a hurryNovember 17, 1954to go than was Jacob himself, though hewas an old, old man, over a hundredyears old. This was the happiest of allhis long journeys. The first he had madealone, and on foot, running away fromhis brother Esau. On his second journeyhe had with him all the servants andflocks he had gotten while he worked forLaban, and his wives and little children.Again he was afraid of Esau who wascoming to meet him with four hundredmen.But now the children were grown andwere taking care of him and best of all,he was on his way to see the son he hadlost so long ago. On the other two journeys, God came and talked with him. Soalsoon this last journey, when theycame to Beer-sheba where Abraham andIsaac had lived and Jacob himself hadlived as a boy, there in the night Godcame to him and talked with him andmade the promises we looked up in ourreference verses. Read again the passageand see what God promised about Joseph.If Jacob had been troubled about whetherit was the right thing to go down tonow he knew that God meant himEgypt,to go and to be with Joseph. How veryhappy he must have been!Trace on your map the road they mayhave traveled from Beer-Sheba to theland of Goshen. It was a long journey,for they would not travel very far eachday, but they knew the way, for thesons of Jacob had already made this triptwice to buy food. But for Jacob, thedays would pass all too slowly until hecould again be with the son he had lovedbest of all. At last they were close toEgypt and Jacob sent Judah on ahead totell Joseph theywere coming. One manalone could travel much faster than thewhole company, and in this way, Joseph might be able to come to meet them.And so it was, Joseph got ready his finechariot and his fast horses and went toGoshen to meet his father. Picture inyour mind how each would be watchingfor the other, looking ahead into thedistance to see if any cloud of dustshowed some one coming near. (Andafter the years of famine and no rain, itmust have been dusty!) At last fatherand son met. Read verse 29. They couldnot even speak for a long time. Jacobwas ready now to die, since the thing hehad most wished for, to see Joseph oncemore, had really happened. Repeat thememory verse. Tell how true it was forJacob and for Joseph as well.For your note-bookSelect the right answer for each question in the following quiz (Courtesy ofMrs. Philip Martin) and copy the correct sentences in your books.1. The brothers at first were (glad; angry; troubled) when Joseph told themwho he was.2. Joseph (was angry with; forgave)his brothers for their cruelty to him.3. Joseph was (anxious; not anxious)to see his father.4. Pharaoh sent (automobiles; trains;wagons) to bring Jacob and his familydown to Egypt.5. Jacob's sons were (shoemakers;shepherds; electricians) by trade.6. Jacob's family came down to Egyptand lived in (Mesopotamia; Canaan; Goshen).SABBATH SCHOOL LESSONDecember 5, 1954by Rev. Joseph A. Hill(Lessons based an International Sunday SchoolLessons ; the International Bible Lessons forChristian Teaching, copyrighted by the International Council of Religious Education."A PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESSLesson Material: Psalms 130 and 86.Memory verse: Psalms 86:5 "For thouLord, art good, and ready to forgive; andplenteous in mercy unto all them thatcall upon thee."These two Psalms, the 130th and the86th, are taken together for study because of the height of spiritual experiencereached in them. They express a deepfeeling of personal need and an exaltedfeeling of personal trust in God. Fromfear to faith, from the depths to theheights, is the experience of the psalmists.It should be noted at the outset thattrue spiritual experience is not possibleapart from the redemptive work of Christas our Saviour. Many people feel that itis not necessary to experience religiousconversion or regeneration, so long asthey have a pious feeling of godliness intheir hearts through prayer and "meditation."The true religious experience ofthe psalmists was based on what God haddone for them in the outward sphere ofredemption, and in the inward realm ofthe spirit. Their experience was not merely a matter of pious feelingor religiousaspiration, but the reality of being redeemed from sin and granted the assurance of that fact.,Nor is it possible to have true religiousexperience apart from the revelation ofGod's work of redemption. True religionis the religion revealed in the Bible;hence there can be no true religious experience apart from God's revealed Word.There is a tendency among professingChristians to look within to the religiousfeelings, in the soul's search for God.We should remember that it is the Wordof God and not religious sentiment whichis the true source of our knowledge ofGod. Religious experience is not astandard of truth; experienceitself issubject to the standard of God's Word.To look within one's soul in search of315