we brought back to you the money that we found in our sacks; and is it
likely that we would steal from your lord his silver or gold? You may
search us, and if you find your master's cup on any of us, let him die,
and the rest of us may be sold as slaves."
Then they took down the sacks from the asses, and opened them; and in
each man's sack was his money, for the second time. And when they came
to Benjamin's sack, there was the ruler's silver cup! Then, in the
greatest sorrow, they tied up their bags again, and laid them on the
asses, and came back to Joseph's palace.
And Joseph said to them:
"What wicked thing is this that you have done? Did you not know that I
would surely find out your deeds?"
Then Judah said, "O, my lord, what can we say? God has punished us for
our sins; and now we must all be slaves, both we that are older, and the
younger in whose sack the cup was found."
[Illustration: _"What wicked thing is this that you have done?"_]
"No," said Joseph. "Only one of you is guilty; the one who has taken
away my cup. I will hold him as a slave, and the rest of you can go home
to your father."
Joseph wished to see whether his brothers were still selfish, and were
willing to let Benjamin suffer, if they could escape.
Then Judah, the very man who had urged his brothers to sell Joseph as a
slave, came forward, and fell at Joseph's feet, and pleaded with him to
let Benjamin go. He told again the whole story, how Benjamin was the one
whom his father loved the most of all his children, now that his brother
was lost. He said:
"I promised to bear the blame, if this boy was not brought home in
safety. If he does not go back it will kill my poor old father, who has
seen much trouble. Now let my youngest brother go home to his father,
and I will stay here as a slave in his place!"
Joseph knew now, what he had longed to know, that his brothers were no
longer cruel nor selfish, but one of them was willing to suffer, so that
his brother might be spared. And Joseph could not any longer keep his
secret, for his heart longed after his brothers; and he was ready to
weep again, with tears of love and joy. He sent all of his Egyptian
servants out of the room, so that he might be alone with his brothers,
and then he said:
"Come near to me; I wish to speak with you." And they came near,
wondering. Then Joseph said:
"I am Joseph; is my father really alive?"
How frightened his brothers were, as they heard these words spoken in
their own language by the ruler of Egypt and for the first time knew
that this stern man, who had their lives in his hand, was their own
brother whom they had wronged! Then Joseph said again:
"I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But do not feel
troubled because of what you did. For God sent me before you to save
your lives. There have been already two years of need and famine, and
there are to be five years more, when there shall neither be plowing of
the fields nor harvest. It was not you who sent me here, but God; and he
sent me to save your lives. God has made me like a father to Pharaoh and
ruler over all the land of Egypt. Now I wish you to go home, and to
bring down to me my father and all his family."
Then Joseph placed his arms around Benjamin's neck, and kissed him, and
wept upon him. And Benjamin wept on his neck. And Joseph kissed all his
brothers, to show them that he had fully forgiven them; and after that
his brothers began to lose their fear of Joseph and talked with him more
freely.
Afterward Joseph sent his brothers home with good news, and rich gifts,
and abundant food. He sent also wagons in which Jacob and his sons'
wives and the little ones of their families might ride from Canaan down
to Egypt. And Joseph's brothers went home happier than they had been for
many years.
THE STORY OF MOSES, THE CHILD WHO WAS FOUND IN THE RIVER
The children of Israel stayed in the land of Egypt much longer than they
had expected to stay. They were in that land about four hundred years.
And the going down to Egypt proved a great blessing to them. It saved
their lives during the years of famine and need. After the years of need
were over, they found the soil in the land of Goshen, that part of Egypt
where they were living, very rich, so that they could gather three or
four crops every year.
Then, too, the sons of Israel, before they came to Egypt, had begun to
marry the women in the land of Canaan who worshipped idols, and not the
Lord. If they had stayed there, their children would have grown up like
the people around them and soon would have lost all knowledge of God.
But in Goshen they lived alone and apart from the people of Egypt. They
worshipped the Lord God, and were kept away from the idols of Egypt. And
in that land, as the years went on, from being seventy people, they grew
in number until they became a great multitude. Each of the twelve sons
of Jacob was the father of a tribe, and Joseph was the father of two
tribes, named after his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.
As long as Joseph lived, and for some time after, the people of Israel
were treated kindly by the Egyptians, out of their love for Joseph, who
had saved Egypt from suffering by famine. But after a long time another
king began to rule over Egypt, who cared nothing for Joseph or Joseph's
people. He saw that the Israelites (as the children of Israel were
called) were very many, and he feared that they would soon become
greater in number and in power than the Egyptians.
He said to his people: "Let us rule these Israelites more strictly. They
are growing too strong."
Then they set harsh rules over the Israelites, and laid heavy burdens on
them. They made the Israelites work hard for the Egyptians, and build
cities for them, and give to the Egyptians a large part of the crops
from their fields. They set them at work in making brick and in building
storehouses. They were so afraid that the Israelites would grow in
number that they gave orders to kill all the little boys that were born
to the Israelites; though their little girls might be allowed to live.
But in the face of all this hate, and wrong, and cruelty, the people of
Israel were growing in number, and becoming greater and greater.
At this time, when the wrongs of the Israelites were the greatest, and
when their little children were being killed, one little boy was born.
[Illustration: _They made the Israelites work hard_]
He was such a lovely child that his mother kept him hid, so that the
enemies did not find him. When she could no longer hide him, she formed
a plan to save his life; believing that God would help her and save her
beautiful little boy.
She made a little box like a boat and covered it with something that
would not let the water into it. Such a boat as this covered over was
called "an ark." She knew that at certain times the daughter of king
Pharaoh--all the kings of Egypt were called Pharaoh, for Pharaoh means
a king--would come down to the river for a bath. She placed her baby
boy in the ark, and let it float down the river where the princess,
Pharaoh's daughter, would see it. And she sent her own daughter, a
little girl named Miriam, twelve years old, to watch close at hand. How
anxious the mother and the sister were as they saw the little ark
floating away from them on the river!
[Illustration: _She placed her baby in the ark_]
Pharaoh's daughter, with her maids, came down to the river, and they saw
the ark floating on the water, among the reeds. She sent one of her
maids to bring it to her so that she might see what was in the curious
box. They opened it, and there was a beautiful little baby, who began to
cry to be taken up.
The princess felt kind toward the little one, and loved it at once. She
said: "This is one of the Hebrews' children." You have heard how the
children of Israel came to be called Hebrews. Pharaoh's daughter
thought that it would be cruel to let such a lovely baby as this die out
on the water. And just then a little girl came running up to her, as if
by accident, and she looked at the baby also, and she said: "Shall I go
and find some woman of the Hebrews to be a nurse to the child for you
and take care of it?"
"Yes," said the princess. "Go and find a nurse for me."
The little girl--who was Miriam, the baby's sister--ran as quickly as
she could and brought the baby's own mother to the princess. Miriam
showed in this act that she was a wise and thoughtful little girl. The
princess said to the little baby's mother: "Take this child to your home
and nurse it for me, and I will pay you wages for it."
How glad the Hebrew mother was to take her child home! No one could harm
her boy now, for he was protected by the princess of Egypt, the daughter
of the king.
When the child was large enough to leave his mother Pharaoh's daughter
took him into her own house in the palace. She named him "Moses," a word
that means "drawn out," because he was drawn out of the water.
So Moses, the Hebrew boy, lived in the palace among the nobles of the
land, as the son of the princess. There he learned much more than he
could have learned among his own people; for there were very wise
teachers. Moses gained all the knowledge that the Egyptians had to give.
There in the court of the cruel king who had made slaves of the
Israelites, God's people, was growing up our Israelite boy who should at
some time set his people free!
Although Moses grew up among the Egyptians, and gained their learning,
he loved his own people. They were poor and were hated, and were slaves,
but he loved them, because they were the people who served the Lord God,
while the Egyptians worshipped idols and animals. Strange it was that so
wise a people as these should bow down and pray to an ox, or to a cat,
or to a snake, as did the Egyptians.
When Moses became a man, he went among his own people, leaving the
riches and ease that he might have enjoyed among the Egyptians. He felt
a call from God to lift up the Israelites and set them free. But at that
time he found that he could do nothing to help them. They would not let
him lead them, and as the king of Egypt had now become his enemy, Moses
went away from Egypt into a country in Arabia, called Midian.
He was sitting by a well, in that land, tired from his long journey,
when he saw some young women come to draw water for their flocks of
sheep. But some rough men came, and drove the women away, and took the
water for their own flocks. Moses saw it, and helped the women and drew
the water for them.
These young women were sisters, the daughters of a man named Jethro, who
was a priest in the land of Midian. He asked Moses to live with him, and
to help him in the care of his flocks. Moses stayed with Jethro and
married one of his daughters. So from being a prince in the king's
palace in Egypt, Moses became a shepherd in the wilderness of Midian.
[Illustration: _Moses became a shepherd in the wilderness of
Midian_]
But Moses did not remain a shepherd. While he was tending his sheep God
appeared to him in a burning bush and told him that he should return to
Egypt and become the leader of his people. The Lord told him that the
wicked Egyptians would be punished for the ill-treatment they were
giving the Israelites. In your Bible you will find in the book of Exodus
how God wonderfully fulfilled his promise. The Egyptians were punished
by many plagues, and finally allowed the Israelites to go. They crossed
the Red Sea in a wonderful way, and traveled for a long time through a
wilderness, where God fed them day by day with manna from heaven. God
also gave them rules as a guide for their daily living; these rules we
call the Ten Commandments; yet they forgot the Lord so far as to make
images and worship them.
[Illustration: _God fed them day by day with manna_]
THE STORY OF THE GRAPES FROM CANAAN
The Israelites stayed in their camp before Mount Sinai almost a year,
while they were building the Tabernacle and learning God's laws given
through Moses. At last the cloud over the Tabernacle rose up, and the
people knew that this was the sign for them to move. They took down the
Tabernacle and their own tents, and journeyed toward the land of Canaan
for many days.
At last they came to a place just on the border between the desert and
Canaan, called Kadesh, or Kadesh-barnea. Here they stopped to rest, for
there were many springs of water and some grass for their cattle. While
they were waiting at Kadesh-barnea and were expecting soon to march into
the land which was to be their home, God told Moses to send onward some
men who should walk through the land and look at it, and then come back
and tell what they had found; what kind of a land it was, and what
fruits grew in it, and what people were living in it. The Israelites
could more easily win the land if these men, after walking through it,
could act as their guides and point out the best places in it and the
best plans of making war upon it.
[Illustration: _A cluster of grapes so large that two men carried
it_]
So Moses chose out some men of high rank among the people, one ruler
from each tribe, twelve men in all. One of these was Joshua, who was the
helper of Moses in caring for the people, and another was Caleb, who
belonged to the tribe of Judah. These twelve men went out and walked
over the mountains of Canaan and looked at the cities and saw the
fields. In one place, just before they came back to the camp, they cut
down a cluster of ripe grapes which was so large that two men carried it
between them, hanging from a staff. They named the place where they
found this bunch of grapes Eshcol, a word which means "a cluster." These
twelve men were called "spies," because they went "to spy out the land";
and after forty days they came back to the camp, and this was what they
said:
"We walked all over the land and found it a rich land. There is grass
for all our flocks, and fields where we can raise grain, and trees
bearing fruits, and streams running down the sides of the hills. But we
found that the people who live there are very strong and are men of war.
They have cities with walls that reach almost up to the sky; and some of
the men are giants, so tall that we felt that we were like grasshoppers
beside them."
One of the spies, who was Caleb, said, "All that is true, yet we need
not be afraid to go up and take the land. It is a good land, well worth
fighting for; God is on our side, and he will help us to overcome those
people."
But all the other spies, except Joshua, said, "No, there is no use in
trying to make war upon such strong people. We can never take those
walled cities, and we dare not fight those tall giants."
And the people, who had journeyed all the way through the wilderness to
find this very land, were so frightened by the words of the ten spies
that now, on the very border of Canaan, they dared not enter it. They
forgot that God had led them out of Egypt, that he had kept them in the
dangers of the desert, that he had given them water out of the rock, and
bread from the sky, and his law from the mountain.
All that night, after the spies had brought back their report, the
people were so frightened that they could not sleep. They cried out
against Moses, and blamed him for bringing them out of the land of
Egypt. They forgot all their troubles in Egypt, their toil and their
slavery, and resolved to go back to that land. They said:
"Let us choose a ruler in place of Moses, who has brought us into all
these evils, and let us turn back to the land of Egypt!"
But Caleb and Joshua, two of the spies, said, "Why should we fear? The
land of Canaan is a good land; it is rich with milk and honey. If God is
our friend and is with us, we can easily conquer the people who live
there. Above all things, let us not rebel against the Lord, or disobey
him, and make him our enemy."
But the people were so angry with Caleb and Joshua that they were ready
to stone them and kill them. Then suddenly the people saw a strange
sight. The glory of the Lord, which stayed in the Holy of Holies, the
inner room of the Tabernacle, now flashed out, and shone from the door
of the Tabernacle.
And the Lord, out of this glory, spoke to Moses, and said, "How long
will this people disobey me and despise me? They shall not go into the
good land that I have promised them. Not one of them shall enter in,
except Caleb and Joshua, who have been faithful to me. All the people
who are twenty years old and over it shall die in the desert; but their
little children shall grow up in the wilderness, and when they become
men they shall enter in and own the land that I promised to their
fathers. You people are not worthy of the land that I have been keeping
for you. Now turn back into the desert and stay there until you die.
After you are dead, Joshua shall lead your children into the land of
Canaan. And because Caleb showed another spirit and was true to me, and
followed my will fully, Caleb shall live to go into the land, and shall
have his choice of a home there. To-morrow, turn back into the desert by
the way of the Red Sea."
And God told Moses that for every day that the spies had spent in
Canaan, looking at the land the people should spend a year in the
wilderness; so that they should live in the desert forty years, instead
of going at once into the promised land.
When Moses told all God's words to the people they felt worse than
before. They changed their minds as suddenly as they had made up their
minds.
"No," they all said, "we will not go back to the wilderness; we will go
straight into the land, and see if we are able to take it, as Joshua and
Caleb have said."
"You must not go into the land," said Moses.
But the people would not obey. They marched up the mountain and tried to
march at once into the land. But they were without leaders and without
order--a mob of men, untrained and in confusion. And the people in that
part of the land, the Canaanites and the Amorites, came down upon them
and killed many of them and drove them away. Then, discouraged and
beaten, they obeyed the Lord and Moses, and went once more into the
desert.
And in the desert of Paran, on the south of the land of Canaan, the
children of Israel stayed nearly forty years; and all because they would
not trust in the Lord.
THE STORY OF GIDEON AND HIS THREE HUNDRED SOLDIERS
At last the people of Israel came into the promised land, but they did
evil in the sight of the Lord in worshipping Baal; and the Lord left
them to suffer for their sins. Once the Midianites, living near the
desert on the east of Israel, came against the tribes. The two tribes
that suffered the hardest fate were Ephraim, and the part of Manasseh on
the west of Jordan. For seven years the Midianites swept over their land
every year, just at the time of harvest, and carried away all the crops
of grain, until the Israelites had no food for themselves, and none for
their sheep and cattle. The Midianites brought also their own flocks and
camels without number, which ate all the grass of the field.
The people of Israel were driven away from their villages and their
farms, and were compelled to hide in the caves of the mountains. And if
any Israelite could raise any grain, he buried it in pits covered with
earth, or in empty winepresses, where the Midianites could not find it.
One day, a man named Gideon was threshing out wheat in a hidden place,
when he saw an angel sitting-under an oak-tree. The angel said to him:
"You are a brave man, Gideon, and the Lord is with you. Go out boldly,
and save your people from the power of the Midianites." Gideon answered
the angel:
[Illustration: _The angel touched the offering with his staff_]
"O, Lord, how can I save Israel? Mine is a poor family in Manasseh, and
I am the least in my father's house."
And the Lord said to him: "Surely I will be With you, and I will help
you drive out the Midianites."
Gideon felt that it was the Lord who was talking with him, in the form
of an angel. He brought an offering, and laid it on a rock before the
angel. Then the angel touched the offering with his staff. At once, a
fire leaped up and burned the offering; and then the angel vanished from
his sight. Gideon was afraid when he saw this; but the Lord said to him:
"Peace be unto you, Gideon, do not fear, for I am with you."
On the spot where the Lord appeared to Gideon, under an oak tree, near
the village of Ophrah, in the tribe-land of Manasseh, Gideon built an
altar and called it by a name which means: "The Lord is peace." This
altar was standing long afterward in that place.
Then the Lord told Gideon that before setting his people free from the
Midianites, he must first set them free from the service of Baal and
Asherah, the two idols most worshipped among them. Near the house of
Gideon's own father stood an altar to Baal, and the image of Asherah.
On that night, Gideon went out with ten men, and threw down the image of
Baal, and cut in pieces the wooden image of Asherah, and destroyed the
altar before these idols. And in its place he built an altar to the God
of Israel; and on it laid the broken pieces of the idols for wood, and
with them offered a young ox as a burnt-offering.
On the next morning, when the people of the village went out to worship
their idols, they found them cut in pieces, the altar taken away; in its
place an altar of the Lord, and on it the pieces of the Asherah were
burning as wood under a sacrifice to the Lord. The people looked at the
broken and burning idols; and they said: "Who has done this?"
Some one said: "Gideon, the son of Joash, did this last night."
Then they came to Joash, Gideon's father, and said:
"We are going to kill your son because he has destroyed the image of
Baal, who is our god."
And Joash, Gideon's father, said: "If Baal is a god, he can take care of
himself, and punish the man who has destroyed his image. Why should you
help Baal? Let Baal help himself."
And when they saw that Baal could not harm the man who had broken down
his altar and his image, the people turned from Baal, back to their own
Lord God.
Gideon sent messengers through all Manasseh on the west of Jordan, and
the tribes near on the north; and the men of the tribes gathered around
him, with a few swords and spears, but very few, for the Israelites were
not ready for war. They met beside a great spring on Mount Gilboa,
called "the fountain of Harod." Mount Gilboa is one of the three
mountains on the east of the plain of Esdraelon, or the plain of
Jezreel, where once there had been a great battle. On the plain,
stretching up the side of another of these mountains, called "the Hill
of Moreh," was the camp of a vast Midianite army. For as soon as the
Midianites heard that Gideon had undertaken to set his people free, they
came against him with a mighty host.
Gideon was a man of faith. He wished to be sure that God was leading
him, and he prayed to God and said:
"O Lord God, give me some sign that thou wilt save Israel through me.
Here is a fleece of wool on this threshing floor. If to-morrow morning
the fleece is wet with dew, while the grass around it is dry, then I
shall know that thou art with me; and that thou wilt give me victory
over the Midianites."
Very early the next morning, Gideon came to look at the fleece. He found
it wringing wet with dew, while all around the grass was dry. But Gideon
was not yet satisfied. He said to the Lord:
"O Lord, be not angry with me; but give me just one more sign. To-morrow
morning let the fleece be dry, and let the dew fall all around it, and
then I will doubt no more."
The next morning, Gideon found the grass, and the bushes wet with dew,
while the fleece of wool was dry. And Gideon was now sure that God had
called him, and that God would give him victory over the enemies of
Israel.
The Lord said to Gideon: "Your army is too large. If Israel should win
the victory, they would say, 'we won it by our own might.' Send home all
those who are afraid to fight."
For many of the people were frightened, as they looked at the host of
their enemies, and the Lord knew that these men would only hinder the
rest in the battle. So Gideon sent word through the camp:
"Whoever is afraid of the enemy may go home." And twenty-two thousand
people went away, leaving only ten thousand in Gideon's army. But the
army was stronger though it was smaller, for the cowards had gone, and
only the brave men were left.
But the Lord said to Gideon: "The people are yet too many. You need only
a few of the bravest and best men to fight in this battle. Bring the men
down the mountain, past the water, and I will show you there how to find
the men whom you need."
In the morning Gideon, by God's command called his ten thousand men out,
and made them march down the hill, just as though they were going to
attack the enemy. And as they were beside the water, he noticed how they
drank, and set them apart in two companies, according to their way of
drinking.