Lessons for Bible Students.
(History of the Sabbath, pp. 64-79.) WHAT was the deportment of Israel in the wilderness? To what does the language of Ezekiel, xx, 13-24, refer, and what does it show? What was one of the leading sins for which God was about to cut off that people? All over twenty years of age having been excluded from entering into the promised land, what were God's especial directions to their children? What was a special point on which they were exhorted to obedience? Did they obey God's words? As God did not see fit to exclude them from the promised land, for this, what judgments were purposed against them? What was one of the great acts which led to the final ruin of the Jewish nation? To what did the miracle of the manna bear witness for forty years? What is the next record in regard to the Sabbath? What is the chief feature of interest in this text? What other prohibition of this kind is there in the Bible? What use is often made of this which calls for examination? Does this requirement form any part of the fourth commandment which is the grand law of the Sabbath? Mention some laws relating to the Sabbath which grew out of its being intrusted to the Hebrews? May not the law relating to fires be one of this class? As there were laws peculiar to the Hebrews, were there any that were peculiar to them only while they were in the wilderness? When were the laws of this class given, or in what portion of scripture do we find them? If the law relating to fires is not one of this class what must it be? That the law prohibiting fires was binding upon the Israelites only while they were in the wilderness, is evident from several decisive facts; what is the first of these? What is the second fact that has a bearing upon this point? What is the third consideration in proof of this? What is the fifth argument on this point? If the law respecting fires would every few years conflict with the law of the passover in the promised land, why would it not in the wilderness? To what general conclusion then are we led in regard to the law prohibiting fires? What then becomes of the argument drawn from this against the Sabbath? With what do the constant references to the Sabbath strikingly contrast? What assertion has been based upon verse 2 of that chapter? p. 71, note. Please turn to the chapter and refute that assertion. How many feasts and ceremonial Sabbaths were there in the Jewish system? What special duties for the Sabbath does Lev. xxiii, 3, point out? Where is found the oft-quoted text concerning the man that picked up sticks? In explaining this text what is first to be considered? What is the second point for consideration? What is the substance of Hengstenberg's note on this text? p. 73, note. What was one of the acts of Moses in the last month of his long and eventful life? Where is this rehearsal found? What is the meaning of the word deuteronomy? What conviction does Moses in his farewell words to the people, endeavor to fasten in the strongest possible manner upon them? When Moses, about to rehearse the ten commandments, wishes to impress upon the people a sense of their individual obligation, what language does he use? What is the obvious import of this language? Where are the pledges of the people found? p. 74, note. What is this language often adduced to prove? If this argument is just, what does it show in relation to the other commandments? What was the covenant of Horeb? What conclusive proof have we that the Sabbath did not originate with the covenant at Horeb? Moses now gives the ten commandments; how does his rehearsal of the fourth commandment differ from the language in Ex. xx.? In place of what do those who write against the Sabbath, uniformly quote this Scripture? Is this the original precept? What right then has any one to quote it as such? How long after the original commandment was given, was this rehearsal by Moses? In what language does the commandment as here given cite us to the original commandment? Why then is this quoted by those who represent the Sabbath as made in the wilderness, instead of the original precept? What five conclusive reasons can be given to show that the Sabbath was not a memorial of the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt? In inquiring what these words do mean, to what parallel passage may we refer? If then the Sabbath is shown to be Jewish by the language in chap. v, 15, what is shown by this language in reference to the statute respecting the needy and the helpless? What is the simple import of the language in each case?