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The Sabbath-School

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International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 13, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 18.

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The Sabbath-School.

Old Testament History.

THE BLINDNESS OF UNBELIEF.

(Lesson 21, May 25, 1889.)
1. WHEN Moses, according to the command of the Lord, selected twelve men to spy out the land of Canaan, what directions did he give them?
"And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain; and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong-holds; and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes." Num. 13: 17-20.
2. What evidence did they find of the fruitfulness of the land?
"And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs." Verse 23.
3. How long were they on their mission?
"And they returned from searching of the land after forty days." Verse 25.
4. When they returned, what did they say of the fruitfulness of the land?
"And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it." Verse 27.
5. What did Moses afterward say of the land?
"For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass." Deut. 8: 7-10.
6. What did the spies say of the people?
"Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great; and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south; and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan." Num. 13: 28, 29.
7. Notwithstanding the promise of the Lord, that he would bring them into the land, what did the spies say?
"But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight." Verses 31-33.
8. How did this report affect the people?
"And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night." Num. 14: 1.
9. What foolish and wicked murmuring did they indulge in?
"And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?" Verses 2, 3.
10. What did they propose to do?
"And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." Verse 4.
11. What report did Caleb and Joshua bring?
"And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes; and they spake unto all of the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey." Verses 6-8.
12. How did they seek to encourage the people?
"Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us; their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us; fear them not." Verse 9.
"And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." Num. 13: 30.
13. How did the people regard them for their truthful report?
"But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel." Num. 14: 10.
14. What proposition did the Lord make to Moses, because of the stubborn unbelief of the people?
"And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they." Verses 11, 12.
15. How did Moses show his disinterested love for the people and for the honor of God?
"And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them); and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land; for they have heard that thou Lord art among this people, that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day-time in a pillar of cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness." Verses 13-16.
16. What request did he make?
"And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now." Verses 17-19.
17. What answer did the Lord make?
"And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word; but as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." Verses 20, 21.
18. What did the Lord say should become of those who had so often showed their unbelief and rebellion?
"Because all those men which have seen my glory and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it." Verses 22, 23.
"And the Lord's anger was kindled the same time, and he sware, saying, Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me." Num. 32: 10, 11.
19. Who only did he say should reach the promised land?
"Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun; for they have wholly followed the Lord." Verse 12.
20. How long did he say the people should wander in the wilderness?
"But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise." Num. 14: 31-34.
21. What became of the ten spies who brought an evil report?
"And the men which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord." Verses 36, 37.
22. When the people heard the Lord's sentence against them, how did they feel?
"And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel; and the people mourned greatly." Verse 39.
23. What did they then propose to do?
"And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised; for we have sinned." Verse 40.
24. What counsel did Moses give them?
"And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord? but it shall not prosper. Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword; because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you." Verses 41-43.
25. How much better was their courage now than their cowardice before?
26. What was the result of their presumption?
"But they presumed to go up unto the hill-top; nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah." Verses 44, 45.
27. What exhortation, based upon this lesson, is given to us?
"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." "Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." Heb. 4: 1, 2, 11.