Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 1, Number 8, DeMotte, Jasper County, 15 September 1932 — IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL Lesson [ARTICLE]

IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL SUNDAY SCHOOL SCHOOL Lesson

(By REV. P. B. FITZWATER, D. D., Mem-

ber of Faculty, Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.) (©, 1932, Western Newspaper Union.)

Lesson for September 18 THE REPORTS OF THE SPIES GOLDEN TEXT--The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? LESSON TEXT--Numbers 13:17-14:45. PRIMARY TOPIC--Two Brave Spies. JUNIOR TOPIC--Scouting Through the Promised Land. INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR TOPIC--The Brave and the Cowardly Scouts. YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOP-IC--How Faith Gives Courage. I. The Spies Sent Out (13:17-20). Less than two years have passed since the Israelites were delivered from Egyptian bondage. They are now at Kadesh-barnea within sight of the Promised Land. Moses urged them to go in and take immediate possession (Deut 1:21). But they failed to do so because of unbelief (Heb. 3:19). The record in Deuteronomy 1:19-25 shows that God did not take the initiative in sending out the spies, but that the people, because of lack of faith, made the request. There was a threefold purpose in sending out the spies: 1. To see whether the land was as God had told them (v. 18). 2. To see whether the people who dwelt there were strong or weak, few or many (v. 18). 3. And to see whether the cities were made up of strongholds or of tents (v. 19).

II. The Commission Executed (13: 21-23). They entered the land from the south and traversed it to its northern limits. On their return they gathered some specimens of fruit III. The Spies Rendered Reports (13:26-33). On their return this committee of explorers rendered both a majority and minority report to the entire congregation (v. 26). 1. The majority report (vv. 26-29). a. “The land floweth with milk and honey" (v. 27). b. The people who live there are strong (v. 28). c. The people live in walled cities (v. 28). d. The land is inhabited by giants (v. 28 cf. v. 33). In comparison with the inhabitants they saw themselves as grasshoppers. Furthermore, they saw the people so distributed that it seemed impossible to conquer them. 2. The minority report (vv. 30-33). This report in part agreed with the first. It did not ignore the dipiculties nor dispute the facts, but it did deny the conclusion of the majority. They did not minimize the task before them, but asserted that with God’s help they were well able to get possession of the land, and therefore urged immediate action. IV. The Rebellion of the People. (14:1-44). 1. This rebellion began by crying (vv. 1-3). They even wished that they had died in the wilderness or in Egypt. God took them at their word. He sent them back to wander in the wilderness for thirty-eight years, during which time all of that generation died except Caleb and Joshua. 2. Proposition to return to Egypt (vv. 4-10). They proposed to select a captain as their leader. Joshua and Caleb protested against this, which so exasperated the people that they were about to stone them when God manifested his glory before all Israel in vindication of the loyalty of Joshua and Caleb. 3. God’s wrath upon the people (vv. 11, 12). Because of their unbelief God purposed to smite them with pestilence, disinherit them, and supplant them with a nation mightier than they. 4. Moses’ intercession in behalf of the people (vv. 13-19). Moses plead with God against this judgment because the Egyptians would hear of it and blaspheme and this they would pass on to the other nations, saying that God was not able to bring them into the land. 5. The Lord’s response to Moses’ plea (vv. 20-30). He assured Moses that he had granted pardon according to his intercession but told him that although he would bring them into the land according to his promise, yet with the exception of Joshua and Caleb the men of that generation should be debarred. 6. The presumption of the people (vv. 40-44). Having in unbelief refused to go up at the command of Moses, they now in presumption go. V. The People Smitten by the Amalekites and Canaanites (v. 45). Because the people refused to heed Moses and presumptuously attempted to go up, God permitted the Amalekites and Canaanites to come down upon them to their destruction.