C.A.C Sunday School Manual For February 7 & 14, 2021: Topic – GOD DEFENDS THE RIGHTS OF BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES

As the God of justice and the Master of all, God didn’t allow the Egyptian King to cheat Abram. In His impartiality, He also defends the rights of gentiles. He doesn’t cheat!

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing

(Deuteronomy 10:17-18)

Deuteronomy is an account of, Moses recounting the past dealings of God with His people. In it, Moses tried to remind the people how good the Lord had been to them, especially from their exodus from Egypt, up to the place they were. He charged them to acknowledge God and remain faithful to the great Shepherd Who has led them through the wilderness. How often do we remember and appreciate God’s goodness and care for us?

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In particular, Moses, in our memory scripture, tried to help the people realise God’s generosity, greatness, almightiness and incomparability. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords. Moses’ encounter with God and experiences of Him had shown God to be great, awesome, mighty and impartial. In fact, God is incomparable and matchless in His attributes and character. Man or any god can be partial, and be induced by bribe, but to Moses, God is not partial. He does not take bribe to pervert justice (2 Chr. 19:7). God is just, and fights the course of His people, the less-privileged, vulnerable, and all kinds of people. God cares for all, for His mercy endures forever. Do you know God as Moses knew Him? If actually you know God by His attributes and character, how are you encouraging others to know and appreciate Him, just like Moses did?

God is absolutely good to the affluent and the indigent (Psa. 135:3; 136:1ff). He is caring and compassionate. He is the God of all — widows/widowers, fatherless, and strangers inclusive. What is important is to acknowledge God for Who He is, and what He does. May the Holy Spirit assist us to know God and serve Him as we ought to. Amen.

Devotional Bible Reading For Week One

Mon. 1: Abram Fearfully Accepts Deprivation (Gen. 20:1-2)

Tue. 2: Abram’s God Intervenes On Time (Gen. 20:3-5)

Wed. 3: Abram’s God Controls The Situation (Gen. 20:6-7)

Thur. 4: Abram Childed For Covering The Really (Gen. 20:8-13)

Fri. 5: Abram: Restored, Increased And Honoured (Gen. 20:14-18)

Sat. 6: “Am I Not Defending My People?” (Psa. 105:13-15)

1. God is forever impartial. In fact, He hates and condemns partiality. He deals with everyone, Jew or gentile, according to His holiness.

2. God is holy and just; He is unlike sons of men who are partial and take bribe to pervert justice (1 Sam. 2:2). You don’t have any excuse for not being like God who defends the right of Jews and Gentiles alike (Matt. 5:48).

AIM: To reveal God as just ans righteous, who defends the right of everyone (Jews and Gentiles) without fear or favoritism.

OBJECTIVES: At the end of this two weeks lessons, the readers are expected to:

i. be able to identify God as One Who doesn’t allow the rod of the wicked to fall on the portion of the godly;

ii. have accepted and show God as the Defender of the less-privileged, vulnerable, and oppressed from their oppressors;

iii. be able to demonstrate their knowledge of God as He who cares for all people, irrespective of status, or background; and

iv. be able to discuss and defend the fact that God does not take sides; He gives judgment accordingly without considering the persons involved.

Lesson 1 introduced what God has for us in this series of Sunday school lessons. Let us refresh our memory briefly as to those insights we got from the lesson. May they remain with us and lead us to eternal with Christ. Amen.

This leads us to lesson 2, which is titled, GOD DEFENDS THE RIGHTS OF BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES. Before the eventual coming of Christ and the establishment of the Church, the whole world was dichotomised into two: Jews and Gentiles. This is premised on the fact that, through Abraham, God chose to elect a people (the Hebrews/Israel) for Himself (cf. Exod. 19:6), through whom He would show His love, holiness ans righteousness to the remaining nations of the world and bring them to His saving knowledge. The demarcation has since been there between these groups of people in the world – the small people called Israel, and the other nations called gentiles. Thank God for Christ who brings both groups together in His Church.

This lesson is focusing our attention on the impartiality of God in dealing with both groups of people. God’s attitude shows that, though Jews see other peoples as second-class citizens, religiously, God doesn’t share that idea. His love is universal (cf. Jn. 3:16). Look at the way He handed the ‘salvation’ of the Ninevites compared to Prophet Jonah’s parochial stance. Shall we search the Scriptures to see His impartial defence of the rights of both the jews and the gentiles, alike? May the Controller of the affairs of man open our eyes wide enough to behold wondrous things in this lesson. Amen.

This lesson is a two-week lesson, which is divided into I and II, with each further divided into A and B, respectively.

Two instances are treated in this division: 1. How God rescued Abraham’s wife from Pharaoh; and 2. how He rescued Isaac’s wife from Abimelech. The two similar cases that happened at different times reveal God as One who does not allow His peculiar people to suffer deprivation or cheating. God, who cares for all, always defends the powerless from being robbed of their rights.

DIVISION II: DEFENDS THE GENTILES’ RIGHT

This section hinges on how God defends the rights of those who are considered Gentiles, as the cases of Hagar and the entire Gibeonites come into the perspective. King Saul had thought he could deal with the Gibeonites with impunity, because of their circumstances and status among the people of God. But God made him realise that he was totally wrong. God’s made him pay for his action with the eldest of his sons, eventually.

Cheating is rife in our society, and is gradually becoming the order of the day. The hard-earned savings of many have ended up in the pocket of fraudsters and dupes, without any hope of recovery. Many employers of labour make do with the salaries and allowances of their workers, without considering the hardship the said workers go through. Politicians cheat the they represent, just like some church leaders and members do. May God drain this bad blood from us all, and deliver the cheated from their oppressors.

So Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him; and they sent him away, with his wife and all that he had (v. 20).

i. v. 10: The stark famine we know not the cause (forces of nature or aftermath of war, or…) but that God knows perfectly the why of (cf. Amos 3:6), forced Abram down to Egypt (cf. 26:1; Rth. 1:1). Anyway, God wanted to bring something out of Abram’s life as lesson for us (Rom. 8:28; 1 Cor. 10:11).

ii. vv. 11-13: Abram had smelled the possibility of danger in the hands of the Egyptians, hence, he devised a means he thought could salvage his home, although without recourse to his Yahweh (cf. Psa. 37:5; Prov. 14:12).

iii. v. 13: Abram didn’t lie. Sarai was actually his half-sister, the daughter of his father but not of his mother (cf. 20:12). God has a way of helping His people in trouble. Just follow Him.

iv. vv. 14-16: Abram’s fear materialised. Sarai’s charming beauty, the people couldn’t take their prying eyes from. Innocently, Pharaoh took the woman (cf. 20:3-5); Abram, her husband, kept mute, choosing to keep his life and get goodwill (v. 16).

v. To be realistic, Abram couldn’t help the situation. A child of God can be in any situation beyond his/her control. That is when the Controller of all situations, intervenes (Psa. 27:10; Isa. 49:15ff).

vi. vv. 17-20: Yahweh came to the rescue of Abram in the precarious situation, on time. God never intervenes late (cf. Psa. 105:13-15). Even when it seems, He is either delayed or delaying, He is only preparing the recipient for the best of gifts (Psa. 30:5). His thoughts and timing from ours. Don’t jump the queue!

vii. God hates cheating. He does not favour anyone who is not contented with His own thing but always goes for those things that belong to others. Contentment is the antidote to covetousness (I Tim. 6:6).

So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death” (28:11).

i. Isaac’s experience here is similar to that of his father in Gen. 12:10ff and 20:1ff. Whatever the situation, God is still the same — the Defender of the defenceless (cf. 2 Chro. 19:7; Heb. 13:8).

ii. vv. 1-5: The same thing (famine) made him want to quit the land like his father. They both sought to go to the same place (Egypt), yet, God’s intervention in their different situations was different. God stopped Isaac from going down to Egypt, unlike his father, Abram. Why? (Job. 9:10-13; Psa. 115:3). Don’t try to work by anybody’s timing, not even your parents’ or any other’s.

iii. vv. 6-8: Isaac’s obedience didn’t go without challenge. That you are obeying God doesn’t immune you from challenges, but God is always available to bail His people out, regardless of the situation (Jer. 1:19; Jn. 16:33; Rom. 8:35ff; 1 Cor. 15:57).

iv. vv. 8-9: In Isaac’s case, God didn’t allow the people to take his wife before intervening; they were only innocently. He is never stereotyped. That is why you must be connected to Him always, for the latest (cf. Psa. 62:11).

v. vv. 10-14: God’s intervention brought Isaac so much wealth and prestige that he prospered to the extent of being envied by the Philistines. God’s intervention is what you need at all times to get to where you should be.

vii. If the wife your neighbour or any of his belongings always appeals to you, it is a big problem, and you are definitely running on a collision course with God, because you are on the verge of becoming a law breaker, if care is not taken (Exo. 20:17).

1. The devil instigates envy and threats against God’s people, but God is always up to the task of defending His people.

2. If God could defend His people in ages past, why won’t He do same for you, now? Just make sure you are His.

How does the impartiality of God in dealing with all nations and individuals alike, show His sovereign rule over humanity?

i. God is the God of all, irrespective of race, nationality, colour or status, etc., and He manages all alike — no favoritism (Jer. 32:27, Mark 12:14, Acts 10:34).

ii. He has no favorites that He can’t deal with, if they err, and He doesn’t have permanent enemies. He chides anyone who needs to be chided, and shows unrelenting mercy to even the undeserved (Deut. 10:17).

iii. God belongs to all, especially those who acknowledge His as God.

iv. God, in His mightiness, cares for all as loving God.

v. He deals with everyone, irrespective of their racial, social and religious inclination (Acts 10:34).

vi. The supreme God demonstrated His love for all by offering His only begotten Son for man’s sin, so that all may be with Him in His Kingdom.

vii. God has no permanent enemies, except those who have decided to be one (Ezk. 33:13-16), i.e have chosen to align with Satan who chose to be God’s ultimate enemy.

viii.In spite of God’s greatness and mightiness, He still chooses to search for ordinary man, mere mortal and worm (Psa. 8:1ff).