Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

an."might.""I'll go if you come, too, but I'll not goif you do not come." Deborah was braveand said, "Of course I'll go with you,Tsut it will not be you who shall havethe honor of victory over the Canaanites,since God will give that honor to a womBarak gathered 10,000soldiers andwent up to Kishon river with Deborah.Sisera heard they were coming, and gothis own army readywith 900 chariotsand went to this river to meet them.God helped the Israelites, so that Sisera and all of his soldiers becamefrightened and turned to get away, butmost of the armywere killed. ButSisera (captain) saw they were losingand went away by foot from the chariotand ran until he was so tired out thathe could hardly move. He came to acountry tent where a woman namedJael lived. She was a Kenite who livedin the South near the mountains andwas neither an Israelite or Canaanite.Remember that Moses ran away fromPharaoh some years before and lived inthe desert.There he had married aKenite woman. So when the Israeliteswent through the desert later Moseshad asked his brother-in-law to guidethem. This is why the descendants ofKenites lived among the Israelites.Of course Sisera (captain of Jabin'sarmy) didn't know this woman wouldsympathize with Israelites, so he stoppedat her tent asking to rest. She pretended to be friendly and said, "Come inand rest awhile." When he lay down shecovered him and gave him milk to drinkfor he was thirsty and worn out. Hesaid,"Stand in the door of the tentand if any one comes and asks if thereis a man here, tell them "No'."Sisera was so tired he fell asleep rightaway. Jael found a long tent pin like anail and wentquietly into the tentwhere he was sleeping. She then hammered the nail right through his head.He never awoke from that sleep!In a short while Barak camehurryingpast the tent looking for Sisera who hadescaped their soldiers. Jael called to himand said, "Come in the tent and I'llshow you the man ycu arelooking for."They went into the tent to see whereSisera lay dead.Barak returned to report to JudgeDeborah about what Jael had done.Deborah and Barak then praised God forthe great victory, singing for gladnessthis song: Judges 5:31 "So let all thineenemies perish, O Lord; But let themthat love Him be as the sun, When hegoeth forth in hisAfter thisvictory the land had rest from war for40 years. Deborah and Barak had defeated their enemies, the Canaanites,with the Lord's help.Many people used to think that wom-October 12, 1955en could not take responsibility and honor that men usually take. But in thisstory today we see that one woman(Deborah) was a Judge over her people which was a very important position.Another woman(Jael), although shewasn't an Israelite but a friend of theIsraelites, helped them out by capturingthe captain of the enemy's army.ahThe Bible tells us some about Deborshe was fine and good, people cameto her for advice and they seemed tolove and respect her. She had to makemany important decisions and her jobwasn't easy.We see Barak the soldier that Godwanted to be over other soldiers andfight the enemy was really afraid. Evenwhen God promised him the victory herefused to go until Deborah said shewould go with him. She then told himthat the victory would be given by theLord to a woman.Aren't you happyat the end of thisstory that after the victory Deborahand Barak sang a song of praise to ourGod for His goodness? They were givingthe credit to the Lord. Their song wasa beautiful one.Lessons to Be LearnedWe can learn many lessons from this.1. The Lord honors those that honorHim. 2. He can use women, men, boysand girls to do His work, and do it inthe right way. 3. God will give usstrength and courage to do what is HisWill. He will help us to make right deWe should never forget tocisions. 4.come back and in prayer thank the Lordand just tell Him how much we reallylove Him.As boys and girls, it's not too earlyto begin planning our life's work or tobe studying hard in preparation forwhatever He has for us to do.Andright now, we can be making everyminute and day count by doing something kind and telling other girls andboysthat Jesus can do so much in theirlives if they will onlythis.ask Him to doNotebook 1. Outline very simply thefive main points in the lesson. 2. Listspecific ways we can have "the Lord'sVictory"in school, work and play. Thenshow how we can give thanks to Him.THE MINUTES OF SYNODARE NOW READYORDER FROM C. R. FOX209 Ninth St. Pittsburgh 22, Pa.Price $1.00SABBATH SCHOOL LESSONOctober 30, 1955Rev. W. J. McBurney.(Lessons based on International Sunday SchoolLessons ; the International Bible Lessons forChristian Teaching, copyrighted by the International Council of ReligiouB Education.)JESUS PROCLAIMS HIS MISSIONLuke 4:16-44Printed text, Luke 4:16-34, 28-30Memory verse: Luke 4:18,19. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because heanointed me to preach the Gospel to thepoor; he hath sent me to heal thebroken-hearted, to preach deliverance tothe captives, and recovery of sight to theblind, to set at liberty them that arebruised, to preach the acceptable year ofthe Lord."Nazareth,Jesus'miles north of Jerusalem,west of the southern tiphome town, was 60and 20 milesof the Sea ofGalilee. Cana was 4 miles north-east ofNazareth. It appears that Jesus livedquietly and industriously at home inNazareth until His baptism six monthsbefore the time of our lesson today.After Jesus' baptism, he spent morethan a month in the wilderness, as westudied on last Sabbath; then severalmonths in Judea and some time aroundGalilee, making a total of a half yearbefore He returned to Nazareth.As his custom was, He went into thesynagogue on the Sabbath. We are notcertain if it was also included in Hiscustom, that He stood up. The synagogue was carefully supervised by several groups of officers and the order ofexercises was prescribed,prayer, reading from the Old Testament, and comments on the passage read. These exercises were performed by anyone giftedin these things. It is possible that Jesushad been employed frequentlyreading and in the speakingin thealso. So itwould seem natural that coming homeafter a few months absence the peoplewere anxious to hear Him, especiallywhen reports of His ministry and miracles had preceeded Him.Christ's Rejection in Nazareth.It is natural for communities to beproud of their sons when they haveachieved some degree of fame abroad.This home-coming had all the elementsthat make for an enthusiastic reception.The people had heard of marvelousthings that Jesus had done abroad, andthey hoped to be entertained and perhaps profited by some of them. Howeasy it would have been for Jesus tohave had these people cheering for theirhome-town hero! Instead of catering totheir pride, Jesus told them the TRUTH.He gave no special place of prominenceto Nazareth in the statement of his mission, and laid bare their inmost thoughts235