By George Hodges
THE EARLY CHURCH: From Ignatius to Augustine.
THE CASTLE OF ZION. Illustrated.
THE GARDEN OF EDEN. Illustrated.
WHEN THE KING CAME.
WILLIAM PENN. In _Riverside Biographical Series_. With Photogravure
Portrait.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
[Illustration: LOT CHOOSES THE PLEASANT LAND. (Page 12.)]
THE GARDEN OF EDEN
STORIES FROM THE FIRST NINE BOOKS
OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
BY
GEORGE HODGES
ILLUSTRATED BY
WALTER H. EVERETT
[Illustration: colophon]
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
COPYRIGHT, 1908 AND 1909, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY GEORGE HODGES
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
_Published October 1909_
TO
John Hodges
WHO LIKES THESE STORIES
CONTENTS
I. THE GARDEN OF EDEN 1
II. NOAH’S ARK 6
III. THE ADVENTURES OF LOT 11
IV. ISAAC AND REBEKAH 17
V. THE MESS OF POTTAGE 23
VI. JACOB’S VISIT 29
VII. THE COAT OF MANY COLORS 35
VIII. THE SEVEN YEARS OF FAMINE 41
IX. THE BURNING BUSH 47
X. THE TEN PLAGUES 52
XI. THE RED SEA 57
XII. THE GOLDEN CALF 62
XIII. THE PROPHET AND THE KING 67
XIV. THE WALLS OF JERICHO 72
XV. THE WEDGE OF GOLD 77
XVI. THE RELIEF OF GIBEON 82
XVII. THE BATTLE OF THE GREAT PLAIN 86
XVIII. THE ALTAR OF BAAL 91
XIX. THE BATTLE OF THE LAMPS AND PITCHERS 96
XX. THE MIGRATION OF DAN 101
XXI. THE RIDDLE OF THE LION AND THE BEES 106
XXII. THE SECRET OF STRENGTH 111
XXIII. THE BRAMBLE AND THE FIRE 116
XXIV. JEPHTHAH’S DAUGHTER 121
XXV. THE KING’S GREAT-GRANDMOTHER 126
XXVI. “SAMUEL! SAMUEL!” 131
XXVII. THE BATTLE OF THE ARK OF GOD 136
XXVIII. FIVE GOLD MICE 141
XXIX. SAUL AND THE SEER 145
XXX. THE BATTLE OF THE RIGHT EYES 150
XXXI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE GREAT TREMBLING 154
XXXII. THE BLEATING OF THE SHEEP 159
XXXIII. A SHEPHERD OF BETHLEHEM 164
XXXIV. DAVID FIGHTS THE GIANT 169
XXXV. UNDER THE KING’S DISPLEASURE 174
XXXVI. THE CAVE OF ADULLAM 179
XXXVII. THE OUTLAW AND THE SHEEPMASTER 184
XXXVIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE KING’S SPEAR 189
XXXIX. IN THE LAND OF THE ENEMY 194
XL. THE WITCH OF ENDOR 199
ILLUSTRATIONS
Lot chooses the Pleasant Land (page 12) _Colored frontispiece_
The Ark rests on the Top of a Mountain 8
The Blessing of the Second Son 26
There is the Dreamer 38
Moses by the Burning Bush 50
It sounds to Me like Singing 64
The Ass and the Angel 70
So They stoned Achan 80
Jael takes the Tent Pin 88
Gideon hears the telling of a Dream 98
Samson kills the Lion with his Hands 108
Boaz notices Ruth and asks about Her 128
The Lad shall belong to the Lord 132
They put the Ark upon a Cart, and the Mice beside It 142
Samuel and Saul have a Long Talk together 148
David escapes by the Window 174
David with the King’s Spear 190
THE GARDEN OF EDEN
I
THE GARDEN OF EDEN
This is the oldest story in the world. It began to be told when children
began to ask questions; and that was very long ago. The children said,
“Where did everything come from? Who made the hills and the sea? Who
made the sun and the stars?” And their fathers and mothers answered as
best they could.
In our time, after long study of the earth, there are wise men who know
more about these things than anybody knew when the world was young. They
ask the earth itself, and tell us what the earth says. But the oldest
story is still the best, because it tells us that the world was made by
God. And that is what we want to know.
In the beginning of all beginnings, so the story goes, the world was a
wide sea without a shore. Up and down, and here and there, and all
across, nothing could be seen but water. And it was all dark, like the
ocean at night when there is no moon. And God said, “Let there be
light!” And day appeared. And God made the sky; and under the sky, in
the new light of day, in the midst of the vast waters, He made the land;
and grass began to grow upon it, and then trees, with leaves and fruit.
Then in the sky, the sun began to shine by day, and the moon and stars
by night. And in the sea, first little fishes and then big ones, began
to swim; and in the air, the birds began to fly; and on the land, all
kinds of living things began to move about, lions in the thick woods,
sheep in the fields, cows in the pastures. And at last, as best of all,
God made man; and to the first man He said, “Behold, the new earth and
all that is in it. It is yours. Here you are to live, and over all these
living things you are to rule.”
Thus the world and man came into being. The story says that God did all
this in six days, but the earth says that every one of these six days
was millions of years long. Very, very slowly, but no less wonderfully,
was the great world made.
“But,” the children said, “if God, our Heavenly Father, made the world,
how came there to be briers and brambles? Why is the ground so stony?
and why do men have to work so hard to make things grow? and why have
pain and sickness and sin and death come in to spoil the world?”
In the beginning of beginnings, said their fathers and mothers,--and
this is the next oldest story,--the earth was a mighty plain, on which
no rain had fallen since the first hour of time, but a mist blew in from
the sea and watered the ground. Out of this damp earth, God made a man,
body and legs and arms and head; and when the man was made, God breathed
upon him, and, behold, the man lived. The body of earth was changed to
flesh and blood, and the man opened his eyes, and rose up and began to
walk and speak.
And God planted the Garden of Eden for the man to live in, with great
shady trees, and a river singing as it flowed between its flowery banks.
Then God brought to the man all the beasts and birds, and the man gave
each a name, and they played together in the sunny fields.
But still the man was very lonely. Then God put the man to sleep, and
while he slept God took out one of the man’s ribs and of it made a
woman. And the man waked and saw the woman, and he took her by the hand,
and was very glad. The man’s name was Adam, and the woman’s name was
Eve.
Now, God had showed Adam two trees of the Garden. One was a Tree of
Life: whoever ate of the fruit of it would live forever. The other was a
Tree of Knowledge: whoever ate of the fruit of it would know both good
and evil. And God had said that these trees must not be touched. But one
time, as Mother Eve was walking in the pleasant shadow of the Tree of
Knowledge, she saw a serpent. This, you understand, was long ago, when
strange things happened as they do in fairy stories. All the animals
were friendly and knew how to talk. So Eve was not afraid, nor was she
surprised to hear the serpent speak.
“Eve,” he said, coiling his glittering tail about the tree, “this is
good fruit; why do you never taste it?”
“Serpent,” said Eve, “this is forbidden fruit. God has told us not to
touch it.”
“But see,” replied the serpent, winking his bright eyes, “see how it
shines among the leaves. Surely such fair fruit can do no harm. Indeed,
a little taste will make you the wisest woman in the world!”
And foolish Eve listened and was tempted. She looked again at the bright
and luscious fruit, and took of it and ate it, and gave to Adam and he
ate it.
Then trouble came. That is what always follows disobedience. Adam and
Eve began to consider what they had done, and they were sorry and
afraid. Now, every day, in the Garden of Eden, God used to come, as the
evening shadows lengthened, and walk among the trees in the cool of the
twilight; but that day, Adam and Eve hid themselves. So God called,
“Adam, Eve, where are you? Why do you hide yourselves? Have you eaten of
the fruit of the forbidden tree?”
And Adam came and said, “It was Eve’s fault: she gave it to me.” And Eve
said, “It was the serpent’s fault: he tempted me.” As for the serpent,
there was nobody else upon whom he could cast the blame.
So God said that the serpent and all serpents after him should crawl
upon the ground. He sent Adam and Eve out of the garden, and, at the
gate, to keep them from coming back, he set angels with flaming swords.
Thus the good world was spoiled. Outside the garden gate, the earth was
thick with briers and brambles.
II
NOAH’S ARK
And then, what happened? After Adam and Eve had disobeyed God, and had
been driven out of the Garden of Eden into the world of briers and
brambles, then what happened? “Tell us,” cried the children, “another
story of the beginning of the world.” And their fathers and mothers, in
answer, told what their grandfathers and grandmothers had told them.
The first disobedience was like the first little flame which is touched
to a heap of dry wood. It grew and grew. Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain
and Abel. Cain became a farmer, and Abel became a shepherd. One time
they brought each an offering to give to God. Cain brought fruit from
his farm, and Abel brought lambs from his flock. But God looked at their
hearts, and He was pleased with Abel’s offering, but Cain’s He would not
take. And Cain was very angry with God and with his brother. Then one
day when the two brothers were in the field together, Cain quarreled
with Abel and struck him and killed him.
And God said, “Where is Abel thy brother?”
And Cain said, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Thus he sinned both in word and in deed; and God had to send him away
into the wild deserts. All this was very terrible for Adam and Eve. Thus
while briers and brambles grew in the ground, evil and sorrow grew in
the hearts of men.
Now, after many years, the men and women and even the little children
were all so bad that there was no way to make them better. The only
thing to do was to destroy them, and begin the world all over again. But
there was one good family. Noah and his wife, and their three sons,
Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their wives, minded what God told them. So
God said to Noah, “I will destroy all these wicked people, but I will
save you and yours. I will wash the whole earth clean with a great
flood. You must make a boat, and you and your wife, and your sons and
their wives must get into it. And you must take all the animals with
you, two of every kind, with which to start the world again after the
flood is over.”
Noah began, therefore, to build a boat. In the middle of a wide field,
he and his sons brought beams and boards together and set to work. The
boat was like a box, and it was called the Ark, because that means a
box. It had a big door in the side, and all around, near the top, ran a
line of windows. And inside all the cracks were filled with pitch, to
keep the water out.
Before long, the neighbors came, and said, “What are you doing, Noah?”
And Noah answered, “I am building a boat.”
“But,” said the neighbors, “this is no place for a boat. A boat is of no
use without water. Who ever heard of a boat in the middle of a meadow?”
But Noah said, “Here, where we stand, in this dry field, the water shall
be as deep as the highest hills are high.” Then Noah told them of the
coming flood, and tried to get them to stop their bad ways, that they
might live, and not be drowned. But the neighbors only laughed at Noah,
and said he must be crazy to build a boat on dry land, and so they went
back to their wicked lives. Sometimes, when it rained, they thought of
Noah, but the rain cleared away, and they laughed again, and were worse
than ever.
At last, the great day came, with clouds and thunder. Early that
morning, the animals began to come from near and far, lions and bears,
and sheep and oxen, camels and elephants, and cats and dogs, two by two
they jumped and crawled and ran and flew into the Ark. When they were
all in, Noah and his wife, and Shem, Ham, and Japheth and
[Illustration: THE ARK RESTS ON THE TOP OF A MOUNTAIN]
their wives went in after them, and the door was shut. And when the door
was shut, the rain came.
First, it rained as if a little brook were tumbling down out of the sky,
and then the brook changed into a river, and the river into a pond, and
the pond into a lake, and the lake into an ocean, and all the air was
full of water as the sea is full of waves. The water filled the streets
of towns, and crept into the doors of houses, and climbed step after
step upstairs, till all the roofs were covered. By and by, nothing was
to be seen in all the earth but the Ark floating on the flood. And when
Noah looked out of the window of the Ark, the world appeared as it did
in the beginning of beginnings, a wide waste of water. And still it
rained, and rained.
At last, after days and days, nobody knows how long, the rain ceased,
and the sun came out, and the flood began to go down. And one day, there
was a grinding noise as if the Ark had touched the ground, and Noah
looked, and, behold, the Ark had landed on the top of a mountain, which
was like a little island in the deep sea. By and by, Noah sent out a
dove, and the dove flew here and there and found no rest for the sole of
her foot, and so came back. And again, after a week, Noah sent the dove
a second time, and now she brought back a leaf plucked from an olive
tree. Thus Noah knew that the water had gone down below the treetops.
Once more he sent the dove, and this time she found a place to make a
nest.
Then Noah opened the wide door of the Ark, and all the world was green
and fresh and shining in the sun. And there on the top of the mountain,
which is called Ararat, Noah and his family thanked God for their
deliverance, and all the beasts and birds, each in his own way, said
Amen. And across the sky was a gleaming rainbow, from one hill to
another over the glistening earth. And God said to Noah, “Behold the
bow! It is the sign of my promise that I will never again destroy the
earth. When the rain falls and men begin to be afraid, then shall the
sun shine through the wet clouds, and the bow shall be painted in the
sky.” Thus, with the prayers of Noah and with the promise of God, the
life of man began anew.
III
THE ADVENTURES OF LOT
Once upon a time, when the world was still young, there was a lad named
Lot. His father and mother were dead, and he lived with his Uncle
Abraham and his Aunt Sarah.
In the place where Lot lived, the people believed that the moon was God.
They looked up into the sky at night, and saw the shining moon, and it
seemed to them the most beautiful and most wonderful sight in the world,
and they said their prayers to it. But Abraham knew better than that. He
knew that God who made the earth made the moon also. Because Abraham
would not go to the moon-church, his neighbors disliked him. So at last
he made up his mind to move away. One night, in a dream, he heard the
voice of God, and God told him to go. And, the next day, he took Sarah
and Lot, and started out to find a better place to live in. Thus Lot got
his first look at the wide world.
Abraham and Sarah and Lot rode on the backs of camels, but they had to
go very slowly because they took with them all their sheep and cows. So
they journeyed and they journeyed till by and by they came to a great
river, called the Euphrates. And then they journeyed and they journeyed
till by and by they came to another river, called the Jordan, in a deep
valley. And there, between the Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea,--the
place is on the map,--they found a pleasant land which they liked much.
On account of their flocks and herds they could not settle down and stay
long in one place, so they wandered here and there over the green
country, stopping to rest now under a spreading oak, and now in the
shadow of a great rock; and they slept in tents.
But, after a while, they had so many sheep and lambs, and cows and
calves, that it was hard to find a pasture big enough to feed them all.
When they came to a spring of water, and all wanted to drink at the same
time, there was great confusion; and sometimes the herdsmen fought about
it. So one day Abraham said to Lot, “There are now so many cattle that
we had better divide them into two companies, and pasture them in
different places. You take yours and go your way, and I will take mine
and go my way. Here is a high hill, from which we may see all the land.
Let us climb up and look, and you shall choose which part you will
take.” So they climbed up the hill, and looked out over the land. To
the north were rocky hills, to the south were wild deserts, to the west
was the sea, but to the east was a green plain. In the plain were rich
pastures, and groves of trees with the white houses of little towns
among them, and a river flowing by, so that it looked like the Garden of
Eden. This pleased Lot. He said to himself, “My Uncle Abraham has given
me my choice, and I will choose the best there is.” So he chose the
plain, leaving Abraham the stony hills.
Now, people who think only of themselves, and take the best without
regard to others, sometimes get the worst. And this is very likely to be
the case with those who choose that which is easy instead of that which
is hard. So it was with Lot. The plain was not so pleasant as he
thought. It had once been the bed of a salt sea, and in some places the
salt lay upon the ground, and there were salt springs. And near by there
was a dreadful swamp where the mud was mixed with oil. Before Lot had
been long at Sodom,--for this was the name of the town in which he
lived,--there came four kings with long names and fierce soldiers, and
they drove the people out of their houses, and back into the swamp, and
they captured them and carried them away. Abraham, when he heard of it,
took all his herdsmen, and armed them with swords and clubs, and they
attacked the four kings by night when they were asleep, and rescued Lot
and his neighbors. But it was all very unpleasant for Lot.
The people of Sodom had never been good people, but after this they were
worse than ever. It troubled Lot greatly. Sometimes he thought of moving
away, but his wife liked the place, and so did their two daughters: so
he stayed. He reproved his bad neighbors, but that did no good; he only
made himself unpopular.
At last, one hot day, as Abraham sat in the door of his tent under the
shade of the oaks, he saw three men coming. And he rose up and ran to
meet them, for he was very kind to strangers. “Come,” he said, “and rest
here in the cool shade, and my wife shall get you something to eat.” So
the strangers stopped, and Sarah made a fire and baked some cakes and
broiled some meat, and brought out curds and whey, and set the table.
And after supper, the men looked towards Sodom, and one of them said,
“What kind of a place is that? We hear sad things about it.” And Abraham
said, “I have a nephew who lives there, and he tells me that it is a
very wicked place indeed.” And the men said, “We are going to see with
our own eyes and hear with our own ears.” So they went on down the road
to Sodom.
Now, when they came to the town, there was Lot sitting by the gate, and
he was glad to see them, and took them to his house and was very nice to
them. But that night, when Lot’s neighbors found that he had company,
they came about the house, a great crowd of them, hooting and throwing
stones, and tried to break in the door to kill them. So the strangers
saw with their own eyes and heard with their own ears.
Then, early in the morning before the sun was up, the visitors wakened
Lot. “Come,” they cried, “get up and escape out of this place, for this
very day it shall be destroyed.” And the visitors hurried them, pointing
to the sky, and crying that the storm was coming and the time was short.
“Quick!” they said; “run for your lives! Do not even look back. Go to
the mountain.” And as they came out of the house, the sky was of the
color of copper and of iron, and a fearful wind began to blow, and the
lightning flashed and the thunder roared. And, as they came out of the
town, the earth quaked, and the springs of salt and of oil were broken,
and salt and oil and pitch burst up into the air in the great swamp, and
the lightning set them on fire, and the wind blew them on the town.
So Lot ran and his daughters ran, and at first his wife ran with them.
But Lot’s wife was very fond of Sodom. Bad as it was, she liked it. She
could not bear to leave it. She stopped and looked back, only for a
moment, but in that moment the storm of fire and brimstone overtook her.
There she fell, and the drifting sand and whirling salt of the tempest
buried her.
The next day, as soon as it was light, Abraham arose and looked toward
Sodom, and all the sky was black with smoke. As for Lot’s wife, nothing
was left of her but a pillar of salt.
IV
ISAAC AND REBEKAH
Abraham had a son named Isaac. One time, when Isaac was but a little
lad, he had a strange adventure in which he very nearly lost his life.
The people of that land believed that God wishes us to give Him the very
best we have. And that is right, if we give Him our best by using it so
as to please Him. But they said that the thing to do with our best is to
burn it. So they would make a heap of stones, and put wood upon it, and
place their best on the wood, and set fire to it, and the flame and
smoke would rise into the sky. That was called a sacrifice. When they
were very glad and wished to thank God, and when they were in great
trouble and desired God to help them, they offered a sacrifice.
Now there was nothing in the world for which Abraham and Sarah cared so
much as they did for their little boy Isaac. He was their very best. And
so it came into Abraham’s heart that there was no way by which he could
so plainly show God the greatness of his faith and love as to give Him
Isaac. And early one morning Abraham wakened Isaac, and said, “We are
going on a long journey to-day, my son.” And Isaac was glad, because he
loved to go on journeys with his father.
So off they went, along the green road, and Isaac was very happy, but
Abraham was very sad, and Sarah in her tent was crying as if her heart
would break. At last they came to a hill, and Abraham cut a bundle of
wood, and let Isaac carry it on his back; but Abraham carried a knife.
Now Isaac had often seen the sacrifice of lambs, so as they climbed the
hill he said, “Father, here is the fire and the wood, but where is the
lamb?”
And Abraham answered, “God will provide himself a lamb.”
But at the top of the hill, when the wood was piled upon the ground,
Abraham with tears in his eyes took Isaac and tied his hands and his
feet, and laid him on the wood.
Then suddenly there came a quick voice in Abraham’s heart, and the voice
called, “Abraham! Abraham!” And Abraham said, “Here am I.” And the voice
said, “Do not touch the lad. Behind you in the thicket is a ram. Take
that.” So Abraham untied his little boy, and kissed him, and sacrificed
the ram. Thus he showed how much he was willing to do for God, but Isaac
was spared. And God taught Abraham that He does not wish for such a
sacrifice as that. The best thing to do with little boys is to love
them, and teach them, and bring them up to be obedient and useful.
So Isaac grew to be a fine young man, and his father thought that it was
high time for him to be getting married. In their country the fathers
and mothers attended to all that, but Isaac’s mother was now dead, so
Abraham had to manage by himself. One day he sent for his steward,
Eliezer, who attended to his most important business, and said,
“Eliezer, I want you to go back to the old country, and find a wife for
Isaac. Go to the place where I was brought up, and where my folks still
live, and find a girl who will make him a good wife.”
So Eliezer took ten camels and a bag of presents of gold and silver, and
away he went, across the Jordan and across the Euphrates. One day as the
sun was setting he came to a well of water beside a little town. Women
were coming out with pitchers on their shoulders to draw water. The well
was a deep pool, with a cold spring at the bottom of it. There were
stone steps leading down, and at the top of the steps was a trough for
camels. There Eliezer made his camels kneel down, as camels do, and he
said to himself, “I will wait till I see a girl whose looks I like, and
I will ask her for a drink, and if she says, ‘Yes, and I will give your
camels drink also,’ then I will tell her about Isaac.” So he stood and
waited, and one came and another came. At last came a maiden named
Rebekah, who was very fair to look upon. And Eliezer said, “Will you let
me drink a little water from your pitcher?” “Yes,” she said, “and I will
give your camels drink also.” Then Eliezer was very glad, and in his
heart he thanked God, and out of his bag he took two bracelets of gold,
one for each of the girl’s arms. And he said, “Whose daughter are you?
Is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?”
She answered, “My father’s name is Bethuel, and my grandfather’s name is
Nahor.”
“What,” said Eliezer, “Nahor the brother of Abraham?”
“Yes,” said Rebekah, “and we have plenty of room for you and your men
and your ten camels.”
So she ran home before him and showed her mother the bracelets, and her
brother Laban ran out to meet the man, and brought him into the house;
and supper was ready, and they asked him to sit down. But Eliezer said,
“I must not eat till I have told my errand.” So they listened as he
spoke of Abraham and Isaac and Rebekah.
“Now,” he said, “what will you do? Will you give Rebekah to be Isaac’s
wife?”
And Rebekah’s mother and her brother said, “This is the Lord’s doing.
Take Rebekah, and let her be the wife of Isaac.”
Then Eliezer opened his treasures and took out jewels of gold and jewels
of silver, and beautiful embroidered things to wear, and gave them to
Rebekah and her mother. After that he sat down at the table, and they
all had supper, and were very happy.
The next day, Eliezer said, “Let me go back now, with Rebekah, to my
master.” But they urged him to stay. “Oh, let Rebekah wait,” they said,
“a little while till we can get her ready. In a week or ten days, she
may go.” But he said, “We ought to go at once.”
And they called Rebekah and said, “How shall it be? Will you go with
this man to-day?” She said, “I will go.” So they bade her good-by, with
many prayers and blessings, and sent her maids along to wait upon her;
and her old nurse, Deborah, went with her.
Thus they rode away on camels, and they journeyed and they journeyed,
till one day they saw in the distance a man walking in the fields, and
he was coming to meet them. And Rebekah said, “Who is this man walking
across the fields to meet us?” And Eliezer replied, “That is my young
master, Isaac.” So Rebekah took a veil and covered herself, for that
was the custom of the country. And Isaac brought her into his mother’s
tent, and she became his wife. And he loved her; and Isaac was comforted
after his mother’s death.
V
THE MESS OF POTTAGE
Isaac and Rebekah had two sons. The elder was a red-headed lad, called
Esau. The younger was named Jacob. The two boys were quite different.
Esau was very fond of hunting. He loved to get away into the deep woods
and to climb the steep hills. For days at a time he would roam about,
with his bow and arrows, and when he came home he always had something
in his hand, some bird or beast which he had shot. Sometimes he brought
back a deer, and he knew how to cook the venison just as his father
liked it. And this pleased Isaac. Jacob was a home boy, who preferred to
stay about the house. He worked in the garden, and took care of the
sheep and cows, and helped his mother. And that pleased Rebekah. So
Isaac’s favorite son was Esau, and Rebekah’s favorite son was Jacob. But
Esau, being the elder, had the birthright. That is, he was the one to be
the head of the family after the death of his father.
But one day, Esau came home from hunting, very tired and hungry. And he
found Jacob cooking something over the fire. The fire was blazing, and
the kettle was boiling away at a great rate, and the most appetizing
odors were coming out of it, and in the kettle was a mess of pottage,
which was made of lentils, and was something like peas, and something
like beans, and something like chicken broth, and very nice to eat.
So Esau said, “Give me some of your pottage.”
But Jacob said, “I will sell it to you. Give me your birthright, and I
will give you my pottage.”
Then Esau said to himself, “What is the good of my birthright when I am
hungry! I can’t eat it. I can’t even see it. I will not have it for
years and years. But here is the pottage now.” And he said, “It is a
bargain. Give me the pottage.” Then Jacob emptied the kettle into the
dish, and hungry Esau, thinking no more of the birthright, sat down and
ate the hot pottage with a big spoon.
Then years passed and years passed, and their father Isaac became an old
man. His eyes were dim, and he could not see, and he felt that his life
was coming to an end. So, one morning, he called Esau and said, “Esau, I
wish you would take your bow and arrows, and go out and kill a deer. I
think that a taste of your venison will make me strong. And I want to be
strong to-day, because I intend to give you my blessing.”
So Esau took his bow and arrows, and away he went to find a deer.
But Rebekah had heard what Isaac said to Esau, and when Esau, with his
red head, had disappeared among the trees, she called Jacob. “Jacob,”
she said, “your father is not feeling so well to-day. He thinks that he
is about to die, and he means to give Esau the blessing of the
birthright. Now you go out into the pasture and bring me two little
goats, and kill them, and I will cook the meat of the goats so that your
father will think it is the sweetest venison he ever ate, and he will
give you the blessing which he has for Esau.”
But Jacob said, “Father will know at once that I am not Esau, for Esau’s
hands are covered with hair, but mine are smooth. He will find me out,
and be very angry with me.”
And Rebekah answered, “I will manage that, my son.”
Then Jacob went out into the pastures, and killed two kids of the goats,
and his mother cooked the meat so that it tasted like the sweetest
venison. And she dressed Jacob in Esau’s best clothes, and on his neck
and arms and hands she put some of the skin of the goats, and she gave
him the meat and bread, and in he went to feed his father.
Now Isaac was so old and sick that he lay in bed. So Jacob came into
his room, and said, “Sit up, father, and taste the nice venison which I
have brought you.”
And Isaac said, “How have you come so soon, my son?”
And Jacob answered, “God showed me a deer in the first field, and I
killed it with the first arrow.”
But Isaac was not satisfied. He sat up in bed and said, “Come near, my
son, and let me feel you, that I may know whether you are truly my son
Esau or not.” And Jacob went near and his father felt him, and the
clothes were Esau’s clothes and his hands and neck were rough and hairy
like Esau’s. And Isaac said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands
are the hands of Esau.”
And he asked again, “Are you my son Esau?”
And Jacob lied again, and said, “I am.”
And Isaac said, “Bring me, then, the meat that I may eat it.” And when
he had eaten he said, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.” And Jacob
kissed him. And Isaac gave Jacob his best blessing, the blessing of the
birthright. And Jacob went away.
Now Jacob had hardly gone out of the room, when Esau came. “Here I am,
father,” he cried, “back from the hunting, and here is the meat which I
have cooked just as you always like it. Come, eat it, and bless me.”
And Isaac said, “Who are you?”
[Illustration: THE BLESSING OF THE SECOND SON]
And he answered, “I am your son, your eldest son, Esau.”
And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, “Who came, then, in your
place? Who brought venison and I ate it, and gave him your blessing?”
Then Esau cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, “Bless me, even
me also, O my father!”
And Isaac said, “It was your brother, Jacob. He lied to me, and stole
your blessing. But I have blessed him, and I cannot change it. I have
made him the head of the family after my death.”
And Esau said to his father, “Have you but one blessing, my father?
bless me, even me also, O my father!” And Esau cried aloud. Then Isaac
blessed Esau also, but he could not give him so good a blessing as he
had given Jacob.
Now Rebekah had been thinking for a good while that it would be well for
Jacob to visit his cousins, who lived in the old country, beyond the
rivers. For there was a family in the neighborhood named Heth, whom
Isaac and Rebekah did not like, and they had a number of daughters, and
Jacob used to go to see them. It troubled Rebekah greatly, and more than
once she had said to Isaac, “Those Heth girls worry me almost to death.
How dreadful it would be if Jacob should marry one of them!” And Isaac
had said, “Let him go and see his cousins. A change will do him good.”
So now, when Jacob’s behavior had displeased his father and made his
brother so angry with him that he threatened to kill him, Rebekah felt
that the time had come. She packed up Jacob’s things, and sent him off
for a long visit at his Uncle Laban’s.
VI
JACOB’S VISIT
So Jacob mounted a camel, and away he went. And when the sun began to
set, he looked about him, and he was in a wild country where nobody
lived, and where the only roof in sight was the round roof of the sky.
So he lay down on the hard ground and put a smooth stone under his head
for a pillow, and went to sleep, for he was tired. And in the night he
dreamed a dream.
He thought that the night sky was all bright above him, and that there
was a ladder of light reaching from earth to heaven, and that there were
angels climbing up and climbing down, and that at the top of the ladder
was God himself, who said, “Jacob, this land on which you sleep shall
some time belong to you and to your children, and your family shall grow
into a great nation and be a blessing to the world.” Then all was dark
again, till the morning sun shone upon the sleeper.
That morning, after Jacob had said his prayers, he took the stone which
he had used for a pillow, and a lot of other stones, and piled them up
to mark the place. And he asked God to protect him from all the dangers
of the way and to bring him home again in peace; and he promised that he
would try to please God. For, in spite of the mean things that he had
done, there was a great deal of good in Jacob.
So he journeyed and he journeyed, and by and by he came to the river
Jordan, and his camel carried him over, wading across a shallow place.
And then he journeyed, and he journeyed, and he journeyed, till by and
by he came to the river Euphrates, and even over this wide river did his
camel carry him, finding a shallow place and wading across. And one day
about noon he came to a well in a field, and three flocks of sheep were
lying by it, but the mouth of the well was covered with a great stone.
And Jacob spoke to the shepherds and said, “Brothers, where do you
live?”
And they said, “We live in Haran.” And that was the very place for which
Jacob was looking.
And Jacob said, “Do you know anybody there named Laban?”
“Yes,” they said, “we know him.”
“Is he well?”
“Yes, he is very well, and there at this moment comes his daughter
Rachel with the sheep.”
And Jacob looked, and across the field, leading a flock of sheep, came
his Cousin Rachel. And Jacob rolled away the stone from the well’s
mouth, and drew water for Rachel’s sheep. And he said, “I am your Cousin
Jacob, the son of your Uncle Isaac and your Aunt Rebekah, and I have
come to make you a long visit.” And there were tears in his eyes,
because he was so glad to be at the end of his journey. And he kissed
Rachel. And Rachel left the sheep, and ran and told her father that
Jacob had come. And when Laban heard that, he ran out to meet Jacob and
he embraced him and kissed him, and brought him to his house.
The next day, Jacob began to help in the work of the farm. He milked the
cows and watered the cattle, and made himself generally useful; but the
work which he liked best was the tending of the sheep. Every day,
whether there was rain or shine, he went out into the pastures and
helped Rachel keep the sheep. And this he did partly because he liked
sheep, but still more because he liked Rachel. So a month passed, and
one day his Uncle Laban said, “Jacob, I don’t think that you ought to
work without any pay just because you are my nephew. Stay with me and
let me give you wages, like the other men. What shall I give you?”
And Jacob said, “Uncle Laban, I would like very much to have your
daughter Rachel.”
And Laban said, “Jacob, I would rather have her marry you than any other
man I know.” And Rachel felt just the same way. So it was settled that
Jacob should work for Laban seven years, and then should marry Rachel.
So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few
days for the love he had to her.
Now this, you understand, was a long time ago, and far away in Asia,
beyond the Euphrates. And they had a strange custom of marrying two
wives, or three, and sometimes more. So when the seven years were over,
Laban told Jacob that if he wished to marry Rachel, he must first marry
her older sister Leah. “In our country,” he said, “we must not give the
younger before the older.” So Jacob had to marry Leah, who was a good
girl but very near-sighted, and serve seven more years for Rachel. This
was pretty hard for both Rachel and Jacob, but he did it, and when the
seven added years were passed they were married with great joy.
Then Jacob felt that it was time for him to go home, for he had gone to
his Uncle Laban’s to spend a month and had stayed fourteen years. All
this time his flocks and herds had grown in number. For Laban gave him
sheep and goats, in payment for his work. But when Laban said, “This
year you shall have for your wages all the brown sheep and all the
speckled goats,” behold, that year almost all of the goats were speckled
and almost all of the sheep were brown. So Jacob got to be very rich. He
had sheep and goats, and cows and camels, and men-servants and
maid-servants. But Jacob was so useful to Laban that Laban was not
willing to let him go.
Finally, one day, when Laban was away off shearing sheep, Jacob and
Rachel and Leah gathered all their belongings together, and all their
cattle, and started for Jacob’s home without saying good-by. Off they
went, over the river. And though Laban followed and begged them to come
back, they would not go. Then they journeyed and they journeyed, till at
last Jacob saw in the distance the hills of his own land.
Then Jacob began to remember Esau and how he had threatened to kill him.
And he sent messengers to Esau to tell him that he was coming back, and
to find how Esau felt. And the messengers returned and said, “Esau is
coming to meet you with four hundred men.” And Jacob was greatly afraid
and distressed.
And that night he had a dream. He dreamed that he was wrestling with a
man; he was trying to throw the man, and the man was trying to throw
him; and neither could master the other. At last, as the sun rose, Jacob
found that the man was an angel, and the angel said, “Let me go, for the
day is breaking.” And Jacob said, “I will not let you go until you bless
me.” So the angel blessed Jacob, and he awoke. And there across the wide
field was his brother Esau. And Jacob stood up and bowed down before his
brother seven times, because he did not know whether Esau was a friend
or an enemy. But Esau ran to meet him, and threw his arms about his neck
and kissed him.
And Esau said, “Who are these with you?”
And Jacob said, “Esau, this is my wife Rachel, and this is my wife Leah.
And I have brought you a present, all this drove of cattle.”
But Esau said, “Thank you, Jacob; keep the cattle. I have enough of my
own.” Thus Esau forgave Jacob for the mean things that he had done.
VII
THE COAT OF MANY COLORS
Of all his twelve sons, Jacob loved Joseph best. Most of the others were
grown men, who were away all day at work in the fields; Benjamin was a
baby. But Joseph was a bright lad who was a great companion for his
father. And he was a good lad, who could always be trusted to do what
was right, while some of the others gave Jacob a great deal of trouble.
Joseph’s older brothers were stout farmers who spent most of their time
attending to their cattle. They expected to milk the cows and feed the
sheep and ride the camels all the rest of their days, and wished for
nothing better. But Joseph, even as a boy, had made up his mind to be a
great person, a prince, or perhaps a king. He thought that he would like
to sit on a throne, and wear a crown, and be a mighty ruler. And this
his father liked; for Jacob, too, in his own boyhood, had made long
plans. So his father gave him a coat such as princes wore, a coat of
many colors; and he wore it every day, even when he went to tend the
sheep,--a shining coat, reaching to his heels. But his older brothers
teased him, and called him names, and disliked him.
One time, when they came home from the pasture in their rough clothes,
and found Joseph wearing his fine coat, they said, “Well, Prince Joseph,
what have you been dreaming about to-day?”
And Joseph said, “I dreamed that we were all binding sheaves in the
field, and my sheaf arose and stood upright, and your sheaves came round
about, and bowed down to my sheaf.”
And that made his brothers very angry. “What,” they said, “shall you be
ruler over us?”
Another time, after the cows were milked and the older brothers came in
to wash their hands for supper, and found Joseph with his bright coat
flapping about his ankles, they said, “Well, King Joseph, what foolish
dream have you had to-day?”
And Joseph answered, “To-day I dreamed that the sun and the moon and
eleven stars bowed down to me.”
Even his father did not quite like that. “What,” he said, “shall your
mother and I and your brothers bow down to you?”
But his brothers hated him. And once, when four of them so misbehaved
themselves that Joseph told his father what they had done, they hated
him yet the more.
Now, when Joseph was seventeen years old, his brothers took the sheep
one day and led them so far in search of green pastures that their
father did not know where they had gone. So he called Joseph. “Joseph,”
he said, “you know which way your brothers went; go after them and see
if all is well with them and with the flocks, and bring me word again.”
So Joseph started out to find his brothers, and here he searched and
there he searched, till at last he found a man who knew where they had
gone, and there they were. So his brothers looked up, and in the
distance, shining in the sun, they saw the coat of many colors, like a
walking rainbow. And they said, “There is the dreamer!” And some said,
“Come, now, let us kill him and we shall see what will become of his
dreams.” And others said, “No, let us not kill him. That will do us no
good. Let us sell him; we will get some money.” So when Joseph came
near, they laid hold of him, and pulled off his colored coat, and put
him down in a deep pit till they should make up their minds what to do
with him, whether to kill him or to sell him.
There, then, was Joseph, in the pit, calling and crying; and his
brothers sat down to eat their supper. And as they ate, they saw in the
distance a caravan of merchants on their camels, riding down from Gilead
with bags of spices and balm and myrrh, to Egypt. And as they passed,
the brothers hailed them and said, “We have a boy to sell. What will you
give for him?” And they pulled up Joseph out of the pit, and the
merchants looked at him, and said, “We will give twenty pieces of
silver.” So Joseph’s brothers sold him for twenty pieces of silver. And
the merchants put him on the back of a camel, and away they went.
Then said the brothers one to another, “What shall we say to father?”
And some said, “Let us kill a goat, and take the coat of many colors and
dip it in the blood, and tell father that we found it in a field.” And
that they did. They carried the bloody coat to Jacob, and said, “See
what we found. Is it not Joseph’s coat?”
And Jacob cried out at the sight of it. “Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s
coat. Some wild beast has devoured him. Joseph is no doubt torn to
pieces.” And he mourned for him, day after day, and nobody could comfort
him.
But the men of the caravan carried Joseph down to Egypt, and there sold
him to a man named Potiphar, who
[Illustration: THERE IS THE DREAMER]
was the captain of the guard and the keeper of the king’s prison, and he
put Joseph into the prison to wait upon the prisoners.
The king of Egypt was called Pharaoh. And in Pharaoh’s prison at that
time were the king’s chief butler and chief baker. One morning, when
Joseph took them their breakfast, he saw that they both looked very sad.
So he said, “What is the matter? Why do you look so sad?”
They said, “We have each had a strange dream, and nobody can tell us
what it means.”
Joseph said, “Tell me what it was.”
Then the butler answered, “In my dream I saw a vine with three branches,
and ripe grapes grew upon them, and I pressed the juice into Pharaoh’s
cup.”
And Joseph said, “I will tell you the meaning of that: in three days,
Pharaoh will take you out of prison, and you will again be his chief
butler. When that comes true, remember me and bring me out of this
prison.”
Then the baker said, “In my dream, I had on my head three baskets full
of bread for Pharaoh, and the birds came and ate the bread of the top
basket.”
And Joseph said, “In three days, Pharaoh will take you out of prison and
cut off your head.”
And all this came to pass, for the third day was Pharaoh’s birthday, and
he pardoned the chief butler, and beheaded the chief baker. The butler,
however, did not remember Joseph.
VIII
THE SEVEN YEARS OF FAMINE
Two years passed by, and Joseph was still in the prison. Then, one
night, Pharaoh dreamed. And in his dream he stood by the river, and
seven fat cows were feeding on the bank, and seven lean cows came and
ate them up. And he dreamed again, and seven full ears of corn grew upon
one stalk, and seven thin ears ate them up. The next morning, when
Pharaoh told his dreams, nobody could explain them. Then, at last, the
chief butler remembered Joseph. And he said to Pharaoh, “There is a
slave in the prison who can tell the meaning of dreams. One time, when
the chief baker and I were there, he told us what our dreams meant and
it came true.” So Pharaoh sent for Joseph. And Joseph shaved himself and
put on his best clothes, and went out of the prison into the palace.
And Pharaoh told his dreams. And Joseph said, “Behold, there come seven
years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, and they shall
be followed by seven years of famine.” And Joseph said, “The thing to do
is this: Let food be laid up in storehouses during the good years to
feed the people during the bad years.”
Pharaoh said, “You are the man to do it. You shall be in charge of this
business.” And he took off his signet ring and put it on Joseph’s hand,
and dressed him in royal robes, and put a gold chain about his neck, and
set him over the land of Egypt. And Joseph rode through the streets in
the king’s chariot, and everybody bowed down before him.
Then came the seven years of plenty, and everything grew by handfuls.
Joseph made great storehouses, and put into them so much grain that it
could no more be measured than the sand of the sea. Then followed the
seven years of famine, and nothing grew at all, and the people were very
hungry, and they came to Joseph, and he opened the storehouses and sold
them food to eat.
Even in Joseph’s old home, the famine was upon the land, and Joseph’s
brothers came down to Egypt to buy grain. But Benjamin, the youngest
brother, they left with their father. So they appeared before Joseph,
and he knew them, but they did not know him. He sat upon a throne,
ruling the land of Egypt, and the poor farmers never thought of their
brother Joseph. And Joseph punished them for their wickedness.
“You men,” he said, “are spies.” And he had them put in prison.
They said, “We are no spies. We are twelve sons of our father Jacob; one
is with our father, and one is dead; and we have come to buy grain.”
And Joseph said, “Now I will prove you. Let me see your other brother. I
will keep one of you in prison. The rest of you go and carry back your
corn, and bring me down your other brother.”
So they left Simeon behind, and returned home very sad. And when they
opened their sacks of grain, there was a bag of money in the mouth of
each sack, just what they had paid. And they knew not what to think. But
when they told their father what had happened and how the governor of
the land wanted to see Benjamin, Jacob would not let him go. “I have
lost Joseph,” he said, “and now Simeon is gone. I will keep Benjamin.”
But by and by the grain was almost all eaten, and they began to be very
hungry, and there was nothing to do but to go again to Egypt, and they
dared not go without Benjamin. So one day his father kissed the boy,
with tears in his eyes, and let him go, and with him he sent a present
in a basket for the governor, balm and honey, spice and myrrh, pistachio
nuts and almonds.
So they came again to Joseph’s palace, and Joseph’s steward brought
Simeon out of prison, and told them that they were all to come to dinner
that day at noon. So at noon they came, and Joseph met them, dressed in
his splendid garments, and he said, “Is your father well, the old man of
whom you spoke?”
And they said, “He is well.”
“And is this your youngest brother?” and he said, “God be gracious unto
thee, my son.”
And suddenly he turned about and went into another room to hide his
tears. Then he washed his face and came out, and they had dinner. But he
gave Benjamin five times as much to eat as any of the others. So they
had a very pleasant time.