NOTES by W. | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 20, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 16.

NOTES.

By W.

In this lesson we have an exemplification of the proverb of Solomon: "Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein; and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him." Prov. 26: 27. Jacob had greatly deceived his father, and his sons in turn deceived him. By Jacob's deception, his parents were deprived of his society for long years; and he in turn suffered the same sorrow, only in a greater degree, by being deprived of his beloved son. It is true, even in this life, that as we measure to others it will be measured to us again, and that without regard to our repentance of the evil. Another example is found in the case of David, who, although he bitterly repented of his great sin, had to suffer the same at the hands of others. It is nowhere claimed that this being forced to receive measure for measure is just, but the fact cannot be gainsaid. It is unjust that a man's sin should be remembered against him after he has repented of it, and God does not do so; but unregenerate men will remember a sin to a man's injury, no matter how thorough his repentance may have been. And not only so, but from the very nature of things, certain results must follow certain causes. The man who gets in motion a train of circumstances that will result in evil, may repent of his rash act, but he cannot stop what he has begun. How much sorrow we might avoid if we could always remember to "leave off strife before it be meddled with," and to do to others just as we would wish them to do to us.

JOSEPH has been the subject of a great many moral lectures against tale-bearing.

Well-meaning but ignorant persons have censured him as the cause of all the discord in Jacob's family. Such censure is most unjust. Joseph's brothers were envious of him; but their envy was only the outgrowth of their own wicked hearts, "For where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work." A corrupt heart is the only soil in which envy can grow. There is not a particle of evidence that Joseph did any wrong. He is one of the few Bible characters concerning whom no evil is recorded. His father loved him more than all the rest of his sons, because he was more worthy of his love than they were. The same thing moved his brothers to think of killing him, and afterward to sell him, that moved Cain to kill Abel: because their own works were evil, as his were righteous. We do not mean to intimate that Joseph was born without faults; but he certainly had the fear of God before his eyes.

It is worth while, in passing, to note the features in which Joseph's experience resembled that of Christ. Joseph was hated by his brethren; Christ came unto his own, and his own received him not, neither did his brethren believe in him. Joseph was sold into slavery; Christ was sold to his enemies. And both suffered thus, not on their own account, but that they might deliver others. Of course it is not designed to place Joseph on the same plane with Christ, but he may be considered as in some respects a type of Christ.

If it was wrong to allow envy and jealousy to control the heart in those days it is equally wrong now. Indeed, it would seem that in this age of gospel light and privileges, with the experience of men for ages past written out for our learning, it must be worse to indulge in such feelings now than then. And, too, it is more dangerous now than then. The nearness of the coming of the Lord is given as a special reason why peace and love should prevail. Says the apostle: "Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned; behold, the Judge standeth before the door." James 5: 9. What a terrible thing it would be if he should open the door and find us thus engaged. "Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby; if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2: 1-5. "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" W.