the sky. Tell me what God said about the rainbow to Noah. God’s promise
to Noah is only one of hundreds of promises that are in this book, and
the best of it is, those promises are for you and me as well as for the
people who lived in the days when the Bible was written. Do you see the
bookmark I have in my Bible to-day?[3] It has in it the colors of the
rainbow, which people have called the “bow of promise,” and that is one
reason why we like to have a rainbow bookmark for the Bible. It reminds
us of such beautiful promises as this: “I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way which thou shalt go.” “I am with thee and will keep thee
whithersoever thou goest.” This bookmark is useful in another way. The
Bible has how many books? Now those sixty-six books are not all of one
kind. Some are poetry, some are sermons, some are history and some are
law. These ribbons mark the different kinds of books and so help us to
handle the Bible more easily. Some day you will know all the kinds of
books that the ribbons mark, but just now you need only remember one.
The red ribbon marks the first five books which are called books of Law.
(Have the children repeat this.)
LESSON 8
The Call of Abram
=Teaching Material.=—Genesis 11:27 to 12:9; James 2:23.
=Pupil’s Reading.=—Genesis 11:31 to 12:9; James 2:23.
=Memory Text.=—By faith Abram, when he was called, obeyed; and he went
out, not knowing whither he went. Hebrews 11:8a, c.
LIGHT FROM OTHER BIBLE PASSAGES
Joshua 24:1-3; Nehemiah 9:7, 8; Isaiah 41:8-10; 51:1, 2; Micah 7:20; Acts
3:25; 7:1-5; Romans 4:13; Galatians 3:6-9; James 2:23.
FROM THE COMMENTATORS
Either during the reign of Hammurabi, or shortly before he established
his rule, the migration of Abram from the Babylonian city called “Ur of
the Chaldees” in the biblical narrative, into the land of Canaan, is
supposed to have occurred.... Though he and his descendants, for a long
period, were dwellers in tents, living a nomadic tribal life, like that
of their near relatives, the nomadic Arabs, he had come from a country
of considerable civilization, where writing and the keeping of records
were common, and he had not left that state of civilization behind, ...
for “the power and influence of Babylonia had been firmly established for
centuries throughout the length and breadth of western Asia.”—_The Rise
and Fall of Nations_, _J. N. Larned_.
With the spirit of the true prophet, Abraham leaves behind all that men
usually cherish most and sets out on his long journey. In Canaan also he
disregards his personal interests and is intent only upon knowing and
doing the will of God.
Self-sacrificing, courageous, obedient to the voice of God—he is
supremely worthy to be the father of a prophetic nation. Blessed was
the race that had such a character held up thus prominently before
it!—_Heroes and Crises of Early Hebrew History_, _Charles Foster Kent_.
In the simple, unhesitating faith with which Abram acted at once and to
the fullest, on every intimation of the Divine Will, lay the supreme
distinction which gained him his two unique titles—the “Father of the
Faithful,” and “The Friend of God.”—_Old Testament Characters_, _Geikie_.
AIM
=To present again the ideal of unquestioning obedience; to give an
impulse toward the attaining of this ideal by showing that the obedient
are friends of God and a source of blessing to their fellows.=
LESSON PREPARATION
Besides the study of the Bible passages, and what the commentators have
to say concerning the incident of our lesson, there are many legends of
Abram which are intensely interesting and relate to the protests which
he made against the idolatry of his father and of the people among whom
he lived. [See History for District and Graded Schools, Ellwood W. Kemp,
chapter on “What the Hebrews Taught the World”; _Leben Abraham’s_, by
Beer, quoted by Geikie in Old Testament Characters; The Talmud.] In
studying this story with the children in mind we must remember that our
own point of view concerning leaving one’s country and kindred to go out,
not knowing whither, is a far different one from that which the children
themselves will have. To them moving has in it the attractive element of
novelty, and all the charm of the “unexpected” in every day’s experience
for some time after the move has been made. They have not yet become
so thoroughly attached to the place where they live as to be able to
comprehend in the least the sacrifice that Abram made, and if we could
examine the contents of their minds by some kind of X-ray process, we
would doubtless discover that they were looking upon Abram’s experience
in that respect as one to be coveted. This may explain why teachers of
Junior children have often found this story tame and uninteresting from
the children’s point of view.
LESSON PRESENTATION
Introduction
You may be quite sure that any child old enough to be in the Junior
Department has had stories of the Pilgrims and Puritans several times
in his day school course. One good way of introducing this lesson,
therefore, would be to question concerning the Pilgrims, and why they
came to this country, developing the fact that they cared more to worship
God as they thought they should than for anything else that life could
give. They were ready to give up their comfortable homes, their friends,
their relatives, and go into a strange land where no homes awaited them,
and suffer privations, cold, and dangers, because they knew that in that
strange land they would be free to worship God in their own way. From
this it would be easy to pass to the story of a man who took his family,
his servants, and all that he owned and went into a strange land of which
he knew nothing, because he had heard the voice of God telling him to go.
Another method of approach would be by calling attention to the names
by which some men have been called, which they have won for themselves
by the things that they did. George Washington was called the father of
his country. Why? To-day we have a story of a man who earned a much more
wonderful name even than that.
The Lesson Story
It was a long, long time after Noah and the seven who were with him went
out of the ark and heard God’s covenant with them and saw its beautiful
sign in the sky. Now there were many people in the earth, and though they
were not so wicked as the people had been before the Flood, they had
forgotten the God to whom Noah built his altar and offered sacrifices,
and from whom he heard the promise of blessing. Instead of worshiping Him
who is the maker of the heavens and the earth, they were worshiping the
sun and the moon and the stars, and even idols made by men. Of course
they could not obey the God whom Noah served when they were giving all
their thought to idols, neither could God speak to them, because they
would not listen to his voice.
Among the people who were descended from Shem, the oldest son of Noah,
there was a man named Terah, who lived in Ur of the Chaldees. He made up
his mind to take his family and move away from the place where he was
then living to Canaan, a country far from Ur. We do not know just why he
decided to do this, but he started from Ur with his son Abram, his nephew
Lot, and Abram’s wife, Sarai. They did not go to Canaan, but stopped at
a place called Haran, and there Terah died. Terah was a worshiper of
idols, but Abram, his son, had somehow kept the faith in the one true
God, and did not bow down to the moon or stars or to idols of wood or
stone. Because Abram loved the heavenly Father, God could speak to him,
and Abram could hear God’s voice, and his love made him wish to do just
what God asked him to do. So it happened that at Haran Abram heard God
speaking to him, and saying, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy
kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee.”
God did not tell Abram where he wanted him to go, he only said, “I will
show you the land,” but he gave him a wonderful promise, for he said, “I
will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy
name great; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”
Now, Abram not only loved God but he believed that God knew what was the
best for him, and that God would do just what he promised. So Abram did
leave his country and his relatives and friends. “By faith Abram when he
was called, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” Taking
his wife, his nephew, his flocks, and servants, he started from Haran,
and God led him down into the land of Canaan, the very land to which
Terah had intended to go when he left Ur. No doubt, as Abram journeyed he
kept saying to himself as he entered a new part of the country, “I wonder
if this is the land where the Lord wants me to live.” But as no sign was
given, he kept on until he came to Shechem, in the land of Canaan, and
there he found that he had reached the land to which the Lord had called
him to go. Let us read from the Bible just what happened there (Genesis
12:6, 7). The Canaanites were heathen people, and on all sides Abram saw
idols and idol worship. But he knew something far better than that, and
as he journeyed through the land he built altars to the true God and
offered sacrifices wherever he pitched his tents.
In all this Abram was earning a name for himself, though he did not
know it. He loved God so much that he listened for his voice. When God
spoke he obeyed gladly; and he showed his love by praise and prayer and
worship. Would you like to know the name that Abram earned? It is one
that has been given to him through the thousands of years since he lived,
and it is the most beautiful name that anyone could ever have. He is
called “The Friend of God.”
PUPIL’S BOOK FOR WORK AND STUDY
Ask the children if they would like to see the place in the Bible where
Abram is called the friend of God, and help them to find James 2:23. Then
show them the first line on page 25 of the work book on which they are to
write the last four words of that verse.
LESSON 9
THE CORRELATED LESSON
What did I tell you the first five books in the Bible are called? (Books
of Law.) What is the color of the ribbon for those books in our rainbow
bookmark? Let us see how many of our memory texts belong with the red
ribbon. Where is the verse that tells about the creation of the world?
(Genesis 1:1.) Where is the verse that tells what God gave Adam to do in
the Garden of Eden? (Genesis 2:15.) There was one about Noah—where will
we find that? (Genesis 6:22.) And one about the rainbow—(Genesis 9:13).
All these are in the first book—the book of Genesis, and because that
is one of the books of the Law I will give you a red slip to mark the
place of each of those verses. What was the verse about hiding from God?
That verse was in the book of Jeremiah. Let me tell you how to find it.
Open the Bible in the middle. What book is there? (Psalms.) Now turn to
the right and you will find first Proverbs, then Ecclesiastes, Song of
Solomon and Isaiah, and then comes the book we are looking for—Jeremiah.
Turn through the chapters until you find the 23d, and the 24th verse of
that chapter. This book belongs in a group of five that are called books
of the Major Prophets and they are marked by the green ribbon. (Give the
children a green slip and let them put it in as a mark for the memory
text in Jeremiah.) What was the verse about love? That is in one of the
books of the New Testament. If you take the part of your Bible that is
to the right of Jeremiah and open that part in the middle and then take
the right hand little part and open that in the middle, you will find you
have 1 Corinthians. Then you can find the 13th chapter and the 4th verse.
The ribbon for these books, which are called Letters, is violet, so we
will put a violet slip in to mark the place of this memory text. (The
only other text which they have had is Hebrews 11:8a, c. They can find
that by turning to the right from 1 Corinthians, and that may also be
marked by a violet strip of paper. Drill by having the children find the
verses by subjects.)
LESSON 9
Giving Lot the First Choice
=Teaching Material.=—Genesis 13:1-18.
=Pupil’s Reading.=—Genesis 13:1-13, 18.
=Memory Text.=—As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them
likewise. Luke 6:31.
LIGHT FROM OTHER BIBLE PASSAGES
Psalm 119:36; Proverbs 1:19; Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:15; John 13:34;
Romans 12:10; 1 Corinthians 10:24; 13:1-13; James 2:8.
FROM THE COMMENTATORS
This choice of Sodom as a dwelling place was the great mistake of Lot’s
life. He is the type of that very large class of men who have but one
rule for determining them at the turning points of life. He was swayed
solely by the consideration of worldly advantage. He has nothing deep,
nothing high in him. He recognizes no duty to Abram, no gratitude, no
modesty; he has no perception of spiritual relations.... It was Abram’s
simple belief that God’s promise was meant and was substantial that made
him indifferent as to what Lot might choose. His faith was judged in
this scene, and was proved to be sound.... Wherever there is faith the
same results will appear. He who believes that God is pledged to provide
for him cannot be greedy, anxious, covetous; can only be liberal, even
magnanimous.—_The Expositor’s Bible_, _Genesis_, _Marcus Dods_.
AIM
=To lead the children to admire the kindliness and unselfishness of
Abram, and to exhibit a similar spirit in their own daily lives.=
LESSON PREPARATION
After you have read carefully the story of this lesson answer for
yourself these questions: What is the most important teaching point in
this story? How can I arrange the material of the story in such a way as
to bring that point into strongest perspective? Abram gave up to another
what he had a perfect right to take for himself. Would Junior children
generally regard that as a foolish thing to do, and, therefore, lose
all the force of the lesson if too much stress should be put upon that
phase of the truth? What is the Junior child’s highest conception of what
must be done in order to obey the Golden Rule? What elements in Lot’s
character stand out clearly in this transaction? How does he exhibit
indifference toward the best welfare of his family?
The consequences of his choice come out in later lessons, and are exactly
what might be expected, but, of course, these must not be touched upon in
this lesson. The only point which needs emphasis here is the statement of
verse 13.
LESSON PRESENTATION
Introduction
Abram was sitting in the door of his tent. Sarai, his wife, was near by
and was watching him anxiously, for she could see that he was troubled,
but she knew not why. They had just returned to the place near Bethel
from a long journey which they took into Egypt because there had been
a famine in the land of Canaan. Their flocks and herds were so many
that Abram was known as a very rich man in a country where men counted
their wealth by the number of cattle they owned. The dark tents of
Abram’s servants stretched away over the valley and up on the sides of
the low hills, for his followers were many. Lot, Abram’s nephew, also
had servants and flocks and herds. His tents were there too, and the
smoke was going up from many fires, for it was supper time. As Abram sat
looking out over the valley, Sarai questioned softly, “What is it that
troubles thee?” And Abram answered, “Thou knowest how I have thought that
Lot would always be with us, as he has been all his life; but I cannot
now see how that can be. To-day and yesterday, and indeed every day
since we pitched our tents in this valley, as I have gone about to see
how the herds and flocks were being cared for by the men, I have found
quarreling and strife among the herdsmen.” “Quarreling and strife?” “Yea,
thou knowest we have had none of that before, but now our cattle are so
many and there are so few good pasture lands that were not already in use
by the Canaanites and the Perrizzites before we came into the land, and
there are so few wells or springs of water beside those that they claim,
that there is constant strife between Lot’s herdsmen and ours. Each one
claims every spring of water and pasture land, and so they quarrel. We
cannot have this kind of thing. Brothers should live together in unity,
and I must find a way to end the strife. Of course my men feel in duty
bound to find water and pasture for my cattle; that is what they are told
to do; and Lot’s men must do the same for his, but we cannot have them
fighting about it.”
The Lesson Story
The next morning Abram asked Lot to take a walk with him, and as they
together climbed a hill near by, Abram told his nephew of the quarreling
among their men, and then he said something like this: “You see, we have
now so many cattle that no one part of the country can give us all the
pasture that we need. I had hoped that we might always live together,
but I see that we cannot do so and have peace and right feeling among
our servants.” Now, of course, you know that Abram might then have
said to his nephew, “God has promised all of this land to me and to my
children, so it is only right that I should first choose the part of
the land in which I wish to live, and that is what I intend to do now.”
But Abram knew a better way than that. Open your Bibles and read with
me Genesis 13:8, 9. So you see, Abram gave Lot the first choice, and
as they stood together on the summit of the hill they had climbed, Lot
could look to the north, west, and south and could see few pasture lands,
but many rugged mountains and rather barren valleys. But to the east he
saw the well-watered plain of the Jordan, where the grass grew rich and
green, and he said as he pointed that way, “I will take the plain of the
Jordan.” Very soon they separated, Lot and his family, with his servants
and cattle, going down into the Jordan valley, while Abram journeyed
south over the mountains until he came to Hebron.
What did Lot really choose? Not simply pasture lands for his flocks. He
chose selfishness and greed, for he took the best for himself when he
knew his uncle had the right to it. He chose wicked people to be his
neighbors and friends, for there were cities in the valley. Listen to
what the Bible says about the people in a city near which Lot pitched his
tents. (Read verses 12 and 13.)
But what of Abram? What did he choose? He chose unselfishness and
generosity, and he gained something better than fine pasture for his
cattle, for he knew that he had pleased his heavenly Father, and soon he
heard the voice of God speaking to him, and saying (read verses 14, 15,
18).
If possible, have the memory text written upon cards in attractive form,
with initial letter illuminated. Give one of these cards to each pupil,
and with it these statements and the question to be answered next Sunday:
This is a rule that Jesus gave to his disciples. It has been called the
Golden Rule. Can you think of any reason why it should have such a name
as that?
PUPIL’S BOOK FOR WORK AND STUDY
Show the children the picture for this lesson and explain that it is
taken from a photograph of the Jordan valley as it appears to-day, and
shows part of what Lot saw when he made his choice.
LESSON 10
THE CORRELATED LESSON
Refer to the question asked in connection with Friday’s reading, and call
for the written answers. Read them and let the children talk about them
freely. Then take up the question about the Golden Rule and get their
ideas concerning the name that has been given to it. Help them to see how
like heaven this world would be if everyone obeyed that rule. Tell them
that people also speak of an Iron Rule and a Silver Rule. Perhaps they
can guess what the Iron Rule would be. It is the rule of savage men. It
says, “If evil is done to you, do evil in return.” The Silver Rule is
the rule of worldly men. That says, “If good is done to you, do good in
return.” See if the children can tell why that rule is called “silver” in
comparison with the Iron Rule. Then comes the Golden Rule, best of all,
because it says nothing about what other people do, but tells each one
under all circumstances, everywhere, to do to others as he would like to
have them do to him.
If you have time review the texts with the colors as given to the
children last Sunday. Then tell them that the white ribbon is used for
the four Gospels which tell of the life of Jesus. Let them find Luke
among the first books of the New Testament and mark the Golden Rule, Luke
6:31 with a strip of white paper.
LESSON 10
Abram’s Rescue of Lot
=Teaching Material.=—Genesis 14:1-24.
=Pupil’s Reading.=—Genesis 14:8-24.
=Memory Text.=—A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for
adversity. Proverbs 17:17.
LIGHT FROM OTHER BIBLE PASSAGES
Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:5-10; 6:20 to 7:28.
_Note._—The statements in Hebrews that Melchizedek was without father,
without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days
nor end of life, merely mean that the Scriptures do not mention his
ancestors, parents, birth, or death.—_New Century Bible_, _Genesis_, _W.
H. Bennett, D.D._
FROM THE COMMENTATORS
Archæology. In this chapter we again come in contact with Babylonian
records, not, as heretofore, with mythology, but with history. We may
regard it as certain that Chedorlaomer and his allies were actual
historical personages; that Elam at one period was the dominant power in
the lands east of the Euphrates, as implied in verses 5, 9, and 17; and
that in the same period the dominant power in those Eastern lands claimed
and sometimes exercised a certain supremacy in Palestine, which was
enforced occasionally by such warlike expeditions as the one described
here. It is also not improbable that the four Eastern kings mentioned
here were contemporaries, and that Elam was the dominant power in their
time.... Amraphel: usually identified with Hammurabi, a Babylonian king,
known to us from the inscriptions. Numerous letters and inscriptions
of Hammurabi have been discovered, including forty-six dispatches
(inscribed tablets of baked clay) to a high official or tributary
prince. “Hammurabi,” we are told, “is already known, from the date on a
Babylonian contract, to have succeeded in defeating the Elamites in the
course of his reign, and this fact would not be inconsistent with his
having been Chedorlaomer’s ally during the earlier part of his reign, to
which period the narrative in Genesis 14 would, on this assumption, be
referred.”—_New Century Bible_, _Genesis_, _W. H. Bennett, D.D._
No one fails to see what it was that balanced Abram in this intoxicating
march. No one asks what enabled him, while leading his armed followers
flushed with success through a land weakened by recent dismay and
disaster, to restrain them and himself from claiming the whole land
as his. No one asks what gave him moral perception to see that the
opportunity given him of winning the land by the sword was a temptation,
not a guiding providence. To every reader it is obvious that his
dependence on God was his safeguard and his light. God would bring him by
fair and honorable means to his own. There was no need of violence, no
need of receiving help from doubtful allies. This is true nobility; and
this, faith always produces.—_The Expositor’s Bible_, _Genesis_, _Marcus
Dods_.
AIM
=The aim in this lesson will be practically the same as that of Lesson 9.
This story shows again the kindliness and unselfishness of Abram and even
more forcibly and attractively perhaps for the Junior children, as those
qualities are exhibited in the doing of a brave and hazardous thing.=
LESSON PREPARATION
In the lesson story as given last week how much was taken directly from
the biblical narrative? How far do you think it legitimate to expand
the Bible story? Was the part not given in the Bible narrative true to
your conception of the times in which the story has its setting? Bible
stories sometimes need expansion to make them complete and interesting
to the children. It was not a necessity in last Sunday’s lesson, but
was chosen simply as a way of introducing the lesson story. In all our
story work it is not important that the story shall always be something
that has actually happened, but it must be something that, given certain
conditions, could and would be likely to happen. In expanding Bible
stories we must keep the facts not only true to life, but true to what we
know of the age to which they relate. There are many fictitious stories
that are true, that is, true to life and to the principles that underlie
all action. There are others that are both fictitious and false. Take,
for example, the so-called Sunday school stories of fifty years ago in
which the good boy was so abnormal and impossible that every normal boy
who read the book revolted from the type with a natural and healthy
hatred. All our illustrative stories must be true to life, and must
not present a moral so apparent as to cause the child to react from it
because of the sheer force of the impact.