S C R I B N E R ' S M A G A Z I N E Important ... - Rparchives.org
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August 13, 19ii^-<br />
A MMiLt f APM.<br />
myself-" Israel was drawn into this un.ion<br />
with the cords of love. God declared his<br />
love for ithem and spake of his former acts<br />
of kindness in order that he might excite<br />
their love and gratitude, and that they might<br />
te encouraged to enter into the proposed<br />
union.<br />
2nd. Its requirements. "Now therefore,<br />
if ye will obey niy voice indeed, and keep<br />
my covenant." God here put Israel to a<br />
real test of their love. He asked of them<br />
obedience. "Yt are my friends, if ye do<br />
whatsoever I command you." John 15:14.<br />
3rd. Its blessings. "Ve shall be a peculiar<br />
treasure unto me above all people."<br />
This signified that they should be esteemed<br />
above all other nations. Tbey should be the<br />
special object of his love. The manner in which<br />
they were to be favored above all nations<br />
is not here specified. But this was- revealed<br />
in giving a divine revelation and promises<br />
of eternal life to them, in the instituting of<br />
ordinances among them, in sending his prophets<br />
unto them, and by pouring out spiritual<br />
and temporal b!e=sings upon them.<br />
I "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of<br />
priests., and a holy nation." Israel was to<br />
ibe employed in the immediate service of<br />
God. They were to live in intimate communion<br />
with him. They were t3 be the ministers<br />
of righteousness to all the world.<br />
IV. SIGNIFICANT SIGNS AND WON<br />
DERS AT SINAI, (v. 16-21.)<br />
The church has never heard a greater sermon<br />
than that which was spoken to Israel<br />
in the wilderness when the Lord spoke to<br />
them out of the mount. It was a sermon in<br />
which some of the most marvelous and terrible<br />
attributes were set forth.<br />
1st The majesty of God. The natural<br />
scenery of the place was suggestive of the<br />
majesty of the Creator, but -this was only<br />
a faint hint to what Israel was now to receive.<br />
The thunderings and lightnings, amid the darkness<br />
and gloom, the trumpet peal "echoing<br />
through the hills—now soft as a flute rolling<br />
through the yielding air, now loud as an <strong>org</strong>an<br />
striking against some outstanding cliff,"<br />
and the terribleness of the voice of God all<br />
Wendid to give Israel a grand conception of<br />
tlie majesty of the God of Jacob.<br />
2nd. The spirituality of God. In Egypt,<br />
Israel had become used to the idea of the<br />
gods taking on .them the forms of animals,<br />
such as the calf, etc. But here the form of<br />
the divine being, who spake to them out of<br />
'lie mount, could not be discerned. They<br />
Knew that they were being addressed by a<br />
divie being, but there was no form for the<br />
^ye to discern. This was a revelation to<br />
Israel of the spirituality of their God.<br />
3rd. The hcliness of God. This was one<br />
°' the special Jessons impressed upon the<br />
senses of the people by visible signs. Bounds<br />
*'^fei set to keep the beasts from grazing<br />
On the lower slopes of the mount; whoever<br />
touched the-mount was to be put to death;<br />
^» clothes were to be in spotless purity for<br />
the occasion; and there was -to be absolute God," and he is not disappointed. God calls to<br />
purity in heart and life. The whole scene him out of the Mount, and sends a message to the<br />
and arrangements declared that the God of Jews: first, how He has cared for them. "I bare<br />
Israel was of "purer eyes than lo behold you on eagle's wings." Then God makes a large<br />
evil." tIa-B. I :i3.<br />
promise to the Israelites with an "if," just as<br />
Eskridge, Kansas.<br />
your mother sometimes makes to you. "If ye<br />
will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant,<br />
then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me<br />
Lesson IX. August 31, 1913.<br />
above all people." You know how rich people<br />
ISRAEL AT MOUNT SINAI: Exodus 19.<br />
guard their jewels and hate to part with them,<br />
By Mrs. Anna Pritchard Ge<strong>org</strong>e.<br />
the jewels are their treasures. Baby Theo is<br />
your mother's jewel, Helen. She would not part<br />
with him for anything in the world. God tells the<br />
Jews they will be His "peculiar treasure," far<br />
more precious to Him than the jewels to the rich<br />
man, far more precious even than Theo is tb<br />
your mother. But the Jews must obey God and<br />
keep His covenant. And we, too, you boys and<br />
girls and all of us, will be God's peculiar treasure<br />
if we obey Him and keep His covenant.<br />
Would you not like to be God's most precious<br />
While Moses was living in the palace of Pharaoh<br />
in Egypt, God gave him his choice, either<br />
to be God's son, or the son of Pharaoh's daughter.<br />
Did Moses choose the riches of Egypt, Bud?<br />
"No, he chose God." In today's lesson the Israelites<br />
choose to become God's own covenant people,<br />
and God chooses them for His "peculiar treasure."<br />
Lay out the Peninsula of iSinai on the table.<br />
Hollow out the sand for the Red Sea with its<br />
two arms. Pile up the sand here in the southern<br />
end of the Peninsula for Mount Sinai. These<br />
sticks are the Jews coming down toward Sinai.<br />
When they reach Rephidim among these hills,<br />
they are hot and thirsty, but there is no water.<br />
They murmur against Moses again, and threaten<br />
to stone him. Moses cries to God who tells him<br />
to strike a rock with his rod, and the water<br />
gushes forth. Back among these hills are the<br />
Amalekites, a flerce and warlike people, who attack<br />
the Jews. In the morning Joshua leads the<br />
chosen men of Israel to flght against Amalek,<br />
while Moses, with Aaron and Hur, go to the top<br />
of this hill to watch the battle. A very strange<br />
thing takes place. So long as Moses holds up his<br />
hands Israel wins, but when his hands fall, the<br />
Amalekites are successful. If you tried to hold<br />
up your hand a long time, would it not tire,<br />
Bobby? "Yes, fiveminutes is about as long as<br />
most of us wish to try." But Moses had to do<br />
it for hours. His hands became heavy. Aaron<br />
and Hur placed a stone on which he rests, then<br />
they hold up his hands till the "going down of<br />
the sun." Who wins then, do you think, May?<br />
Yes, the Israelites. So long as they see Moses'<br />
hand raised they remember all that God has done<br />
for them through Moses, and they are full of<br />
courage, and so they defeat the Amalekites, the<br />
enemies of God. So if we keep our eyes always<br />
on God, we will surely win out against Satan.<br />
We will have courage to do the right.<br />
Now the Israelites travel farther south till they<br />
come before Mt. Sinai. They camp near this<br />
mountain for eleven months—nearly a year. Can<br />
much happen in a year, Alvin? "Lots more than<br />
we wish sometimes." Many of the most important<br />
events in the history of the whOle world take<br />
place in this year around Mt. Sinai. Today's lesson<br />
is about one of them.<br />
Pile up the sand forming the hills and the valleys<br />
of the wild and mountainous country about<br />
Sinai. The Jews scatter their flocks for pasture<br />
in these glens and on the mountain sides. Moses<br />
met with God once before on this mountain. Do<br />
you think he is anxious to do so again? He probably<br />
hurries to the spot where he talked with<br />
God in the burning bush. Moses goes "up unto<br />
possession? You can if you will.<br />
Moses comes down from the Mount and calls the<br />
elders together. Here he is giving them God's<br />
message. The people all answer at once, "All<br />
that the Lord hath spoken we will do." That<br />
means they are now choosing to become God's<br />
own particular people, His covenant people. Moses<br />
goes up again to God. "Go to the people," God<br />
tells him, "Sanctify them. Let them wash their<br />
clothes and be ready against the third day; for<br />
on the third day the Lord will come down in the<br />
sight of all the people upon Mt. Sinai." Moses<br />
is to warn the people not to go up into the moundoes<br />
shall die.<br />
Moses comes down again. He sanctifies the people<br />
and they wash their clothes. He sets bounds<br />
around the Mount, across which no one must<br />
pass. On the morning of the third day, the loud<br />
thunderings roar on iSinai, and the lightning<br />
fiashes through the thick cloud which covers the<br />
Mount, "The voice of the trumpet is exceeding<br />
loud." Are you afraid in a thunder storm, Mittie?<br />
This is far more terrible, and the people tremble<br />
with fear. Moses brings them out of the camp<br />
to meet with God. They stand near the foot of the<br />
Mount, but dare not go close. As the burning<br />
bush was holy with God's presence, so is this<br />
Mt. Sinai—too holy for even the hand of ma.a to<br />
touch. As the people look, the Mount is "altogether<br />
on a smoke." How did God appear to<br />
Moses in this place before, Ge<strong>org</strong>e? "In the<br />
burning bush." He comes again in fire and in<br />
the thick cloud. The Mount is covered with<br />
smoke because God comes upon it in fire. The<br />
smoke goes up like the smoke from the furnace.<br />
You remember the earthquake at San Francisco.<br />
Mt. Sinai quakes just that way. The people are<br />
frightened and at the same time know that God Is<br />
in all this strange and aWful occurrehce.<br />
As the trumpet blows louder and louder, Moses<br />
speaks and God answers him by a voice. God<br />
talks with Moses just as we are doing now. ITe<br />
calls Moses to the top of the Mount. Moses goes<br />
up through the thundering and lightning, right into<br />
the cloud. He does not fear, for it is God's<br />
glory he is entering. The Lord says, "Go down.<br />
charge the people, lest they break through unto<br />
the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish."<br />
From this time on the Israelites are no longer<br />
part of another nation as they have been in Egypt.<br />
They have chosen to be the Lord's, and He is<br />
forming them into a nation by themselves—His<br />
own peculiar people.<br />
Montclair, N. J.