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[Illustration: CHRIST the good Sheperd
"HE WILL CARRY THE LAMBS IN HIS BOSOM."]
YOUNG FOLKS' BIBLE IN WORDS OF EASY READING:
THE SWEET STORIES OF GOD'S WORD IN THE LANGUAGE OF CHILDHOOD
AND
In the Beautiful Delineations of Christian Art.
THE WHOLE DESIGNED TO
IMPRESS THE MIND AND HEART OF THE YOUNGEST READERS, AND KINDLE A GENUINE
LOVE FOR THE BOOK OF BOOKS.
By
JOSEPHINE POLLARD, Author of "History of the Old Testament," "History of
the New Testament," etc., etc.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
REV. W. H. MILBURN, D. D.,
TO WHICH IS ADDED
THE CHILD AND THE BIBLE,
By PROF. DAVID SWING,
AND
AN ADDRESS TO CHILDREN:
THE BIBLE THE BOOK FOR THE YOUNG,
By REV. JOHN H. BARROWS, D. D.
NEARLY 200 STRIKING ORIGINAL ENGRAVINGS AND WORLD-FAMOUS
MASTER-PIECES OF SACRED ART,
AND WITH
MAGNIFICENT COLORED PLATES.
CHICAGO AND NEW YORK:
R. S. Peale & Company.
1890.
Copyright
By JOSEPH L. BLAMIRE.
1888.
Copyright
By R. S. PEALE & CO.
1889.
PREFACE.
The word Bible is from the Greek, and means THE BOOK. It is made up of
several small books, and when bound in two parts is known as the Old
Testament and the New Testament. A Testament is a will; and the Bible is
God's will made for man's good, and for his guide through life. The Old
Testament tells of God's love and care for the Jews, and His thought of
Christ can be traced through all its pages. There is a good deal in the
Bible that a child cannot understand, and the queer names make it very
hard reading.
It has been the Author's aim to tell the story simply, and in Bible
language, so that the little ones can read it themselves, and learn to
love and prize it as the best of all books.
J. P.
[Illustration]
INTRODUCTION.
BY REV. WILLIAM HENRY MILBURN, D. D.
NO man of his time filled a larger space in the public eye of this
country than John Randolph of Roanoke. His eccentricities, audacity and
brilliancy,--his pride of birth and race, fearlessness and
self-assertion,--his incisive and trenchant speeches set off with
sparkling wit, keen satire, fierce invective, clothed in perfect
English, and uttered with the style of a master, his sharp criticisms of
the faults and short-comings of his fellow-Congressmen, which gained for
him the title, "schoolmaster of Congress," together with his political
consistency and fitfulness of temper, invested all his movements and
sayings with a peculiar charm for the people. In his earliest years he
had been carefully taught by his beautiful mother, the Creed, the Lord's
Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and many parts of God's Word, until he had
them by heart, and yet, in his haughty youth and early manhood he strove
to set at naught these teachings: furnished himself with a "whole body
of infidelity," as he styled his collection of the writings of Voltaire
and other French authors, as well as British, who strove to abolish the
Bible, and for many years it seemed at once his pride and delight to
wield the weapons drawn from these arsenals against the truths which
make men wise unto Eternal Life, and to jeer with flout and scoff at all
he had learned from his mother's lips. But later on he confessed, with
heart-breaking sobs and bitter tears, that with all his arrogance and
insolence, his stern resolve to become and continue a Deist, he had
never been able to put aside for a single day or night the lessons
taught him by his mother, and that the hallowed forms of sound words,
learned on her lap or at her knee, had dwelt with him, and were ever
sounding in his ears, to admonish, counsel and reprove. There have been
few more pathetic scenes than that in which Randolph came to die; a
gaunt old man, old before his time; worn out by misery, shrivelled and
haggard, sitting upright in his bed, covered by a blanket, even his head
enveloped and his hat on top of it; unutterable despair looking out at
his eyes, his pinched lips and squeaking voice uttering, "Let me see it;
get a dictionary; find me the word Remorse." A dictionary could not be
found. "Write it; I must see it," he almost shrieked with failing voice.
The word was written on his visiting card below his name; he demanded
that it should be written above as well. The card was handed to him.
"Remorse, John Randolph of Roanoke, Remorse." With horror in his face
and that card in his hand, his eyes staring at the word, he breathed his
last. From that mournful death-bed seemed to come floating the solemn
words, "Take fast hold of instruction; keep her; let her not go, for she
is thy life," and "He that sinneth against wisdom wrongeth his own
soul."
Long centuries ago, a young man of aristocratic birth, handsome person,
polished manners, brilliant and highly cultivated intellect, was
walking, on a day in the reign of the Emperor Julian, by the bank of the
river Orontes, not far from the stately city of Antioch, the Paris of
that age,--and saw something floating in the stream. The branch of a
tree enabled him to drag it ashore; it proved to be a copy of the sacred
Scriptures; Julian, the mad master of the world, had issued an edict,
annexed to which were heavy penalties, that all copies of that book
should be destroyed. The young man who drew the manuscript to shore had
been taught the lessons of that volume from a child, by his pious
mother, Anthusa; but he had thrown off the yoke of his mother's faith;
had become a devotee of heathen philosophy, poetry and rhetoric, and at
the same time steeped himself in the licentious pleasures and
dissipations of the Grove of Daphne, the Hippodrome and Theatre, and
resolved that "the man Christ Jesus should not reign over him." He
opened the parchment, some words on the page caught his eye; they were
familiar, yet shone with a new light and were armed with irresistible
power: he read on; his mother's prayers were answered; he embraced the
truth, bowed his neck to the yoke he had foresworn, and the volume he
rescued from the flood became a treasure-trove for the world,--through
fifteen centuries alike in the east and west,--that man has been known
as St. John Chrysostom, the "Mouth of Gold," one of the most saintly and
eloquent preachers, whose life, genius, sufferings and death for
conscience's sake adorned the history of mankind.
Not far from the same time, a young man bathed in tears lay writhing in
agony under a fig tree in the garden of his house at Milan. His devout
mother, Monica, in their Numidian home, had taught him the way of life
written in God's Word; but as he grew to manhood he strove to shake off
the influence and authority of her instruction; became a libertine,
reached forth to grasp the crown of heathen eloquence and learning, and
for more than ten years wrought steadily to undo the sacred work his
mother had performed for him as a child. But the lesson she had taught
him lay deeper than his surging passions, imperious intellect, and
haughty will, and because of their power over him he could find no rest
night or day. He journeyed to Carthage, Rome, Milan, the chief cities of
the western world, to study art and eloquence, to drench his soul with
the pleasures of sense and lay the ghost of his disquiet; but in vain.
In his anguish under the fig tree he heard, or seemed to hear, again and
again, "Take it up and read, Take it up and read." Springing to his
feet, he ran to a friend near by who was reading the Word. Seizing the
volume, his eyes rested on the words, "Let us walk honestly as in the
day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,
not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make
not provisions for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof." The
birth-pangs of his conversion were ended; he found peace in believing;
and that incident makes an era in the history of the world, for that man
was none other than Saint Augustine, the influence of whose writings has
swayed with more might than that of an imperial sceptre the destinies of
western Christendom for ages. "Therefore, whosoever heareth these
sayings of mine and doeth them," saith the Lord, "I will liken him unto
a wise man which built his house upon a rock; and the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it
fell not, for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a
foolish man which built his house upon the sand; and the rains
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that
house and it fell, and great was the fall of it." Woe to Randolph! he
heard and would not, and his house fell, and great was the fall of it.
Mankind with one voice calls Augustine and Chrysostom blessed; they
heard, obeyed, and their houses stand forever; they were built upon the
rock. "Their Rock is not as our Rock, our enemies themselves being
judges" was the boast of Israel at an early day. With how much fuller
emphasis may Christendom utter it to-day. Compare India with Britain,
China with the United States, and after all other forces are measured
and allowed, it will be found that the significant and self-renewing
causes for the superiority of the western nations over the eastern are
the presence, authority and influence of the Old and New Testament. "And
he shewed me a pure river of water of life clear as crystal proceeding
out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of
it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which
bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month; and the
leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."
In this beautiful book, Miss Pollard, with admirable tact and skill, has
made a path by which the children may draw near to that river and drink
of the water of life; and the artists whose genius has been laid under
such effective contribution by the liberality of the publisher, will
help the little ones to gather the leaves and pluck the fruit of that
tree.
Every home in the land blessed by the presence of boys and girls will be
illumined and enriched by this volume; every mother who strives to train
her children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" will be
signally helped by its ministry.
The letter-press will quicken the understanding and attune the ear, and
the treasures of art contained in these pages will arouse the
imagination and stimulate the memory of the young to lay hold upon and
receive all that is contained in "the one Book--" "Oldest Choral melody
as of the heart of mankind; soft and great as the summer midnight, as
the world with the seas and stars."
No man's education can be complete, no human life can have its full
store of flowers and fruits, which is not begun, continued and ended in
the ever deepening study and love of the articulate word of God.
I cannot better close this introduction than with this remarkable
passage, modified to suit my purpose. "Who will say that the uncommon
beauty and marvelous English of the household Bible is not the
stronghold and safeguard of the literary taste and culture of this
country as well as its character. It lives like a music that can never
be forgotten, like the sound of church bells which the reader hardly
knows how he can forego. Its felicities often seem to be almost things
rather than mere words. It is part of the national mind, and the anchor
of national seriousness. The memory of the dead passes into it. The
potent traditions of childhood are stereotyped into its phrases. The
power of all the man's griefs and trials are hidden beneath its words.
It is the representative of his best moments; and all that there has
been about him of soft and gentle and pure and penitent and good, speaks
to him forever out of his English Bible. It is his sacred thing, which
doubt has never dimmed and controversy never soiled. It has been to him
all along as the silent, yet oh, how intelligible! voice of his guardian
angel, and in the length and breadth of the land there is not a
Christian, with one spark of religiousness about him, whose spiritual
Biography is not in his Saxon Bible."
WASHINGTON, April, 1889.
The Child and the Bible.
BY PROF. DAVID SWING.
THAT reading and study are very imperfect which do not bring to all our
young people a knowledge of the general contents of the Bible. The Old
and New Testaments contain the best moral and religious thought and
belief of two important epochs in man's history--the Hebrew and
Christian periods. It contains the history, the wisdom, the morality,
the piety and the hope of that part of the human race that made religion
the chief aim of the nation and the individual. The Hebrew people was
set apart for the special task of carrying forward the idea of God. That
race gradually separated the real Creator from the many false divinities
of the barbarian tribes and slowly built up that conception of Deity
which is seen set forth in the Book of Job and in the twenty-third and
nineteenth Psalms. The Book of Job and the Psalms of David are the grand
autumnal fruitage of that vineyard of worship in which Enoch and Abraham
were toilers in the early springtime of our world.
No such advance toward the true God would have taken place had the
Mosaic race moved out of Egypt only to found a State which might build
elsewhere duplicates of the pyramids of the Nile, or a State which, like
Babylonia, might live only for luxury, or which, like Greece, might live
only for the fine arts, or which, like Rome, might find a reason of
being in wars of conquest. Divinely led, the Hebrew people migrated from
Egypt that beyond the Red Sea and the Jordan they might found a republic
or empire for the study and founding of the true religion. Israel stands
as the wonder of the past, the only nation in all history that elected
God for its king and went up into a high mountain so as to deduce its
laws from the thunder and storm and from the sunlight and peace of His
presence. With what success it achieved its task may be learned from
reading the meditations in Job and the Psalms, and from the lofty
rhapsodies of Isaiah and Malachi. When to the sacred records of that
long day and night of toil and progress are added the coming of the
divine Christ and the moral phenomena of the first Christian century, a
book is composed at which to scoff is a proof of a weak or a wicked
mind, and in which to read often and thoughtfully is evidence of a
willingness to seek after the living God and to find the best answers to
the many problems of life and death.
Much that is valuable in these two testaments is recorded in events or
in parables, and for all young minds and for nearly all older
intellects, the doctrines, the alarms, the benedictions, the promises,
the hopes are treasured up in incidents which might be thrown upon
canvas or carved out of marble. Faith is seen in the picture of Abraham;
patriotism, courage, honor, piety in Moses; justice in the story of
Lot's wife; eternal friendship in Ruth; reckless ambition in Absalom;
resignation in Job; faithfulness in Daniel; while in the New Testament
the pictures offered in the Christ, the Marys, the Johns and St. Paul
have been too many and too great for art to equal.
These incidents and persons of the Bible form in the mind of the one who
knows them a perfect treasure-house filled with the gems of true
religion. When that gifted writer who composed the hymn "Nearer my God
to Thee" sat down to her task, what an imperfection would have marked
her poem had she not known of Jacob's stony pillow and beautiful dream!
Though like a wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness be over me,
My rest a stone.
And the two following stanzas would have been wanting; nor is it
probable that the writer, although a woman most gifted, could have found
in all literature any compensation for her loss and our loss. In the
"Battle-Hymn of the Republic," the eloquent writer shows in her first
line her memory of Simeon, and through his eyes she looked and said:
"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord," and in the
last verse, back comes one of the most beautiful incidents in the New
Testament: "In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the
sea."
Thus have thousands of years, in all, acted as the great time-space for
attaching the Hebrew and Christian mind and heart to the persons and
incidents found in the Holy Scriptures. Not to know all these
Heaven-sent emblems of virtue, wisdom, piety and salvation is not only
not to be a Christian, but it is to stand afar off from the honor of
even a common education and the most needful culture.
For the youth of our country Josephine Pollard, a wonderful friend of
all those who are living their early years, and as good a writer as she
is a friend, has detached from the Bible this volume of historic
incidents, and while they make a continuous record of the old and the
new dispensations, they are separated from that which is too abstract to
detain and impress the youngest readers. To these interesting events she
has made the engraver add his art, and the picture of the pencil comes
to help the picture more hidden in the words. While Christ is speaking
of the "lost sheep" the picture reveals the lonely mountains and the
lamb missed from the flock. While the great Teacher is speaking of the
foolish virgins, the picture appears of the thoughtless ones attempting
in vain to find oil for their lamps. Thus the pictures of history
combine with the suggestive sketches of the artist and engraver, to
make, indeed, a Bible for Young People. The authoress came to her task
with rare fitness, and while the young folks are reading her volume they
will find not only the religious truths they all need, but they will
also find the simplicity and power of their own English language.
AN ADDRESS TO CHILDREN.
BY JOHN H. BARROWS, D.D.
THE BIBLE THE BOOK FOR THE YOUNG.
GOD once said: "And thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children."
The whole Bible, Old Testament and New, was meant to be taught to the
boys and girls all over the world. When I was in Egypt, fifteen years
ago, I lay one beautiful moonlight night on the white sand of an island
in the river Nile. It was an island away up near the equator, and as I
lay there I saw beautiful trees with their long, leafy branches above
me; I saw green fields reaching out on either side; I heard the old
river Nile rippling over the stones in its bed; and I thought of the
rich fields of cotton and wheat and sugar-cane and of the thousands of
palm trees which I had seen along the river, and of all the people who
had gotten their bread from the waters of the Nile, which, covering the
sand of the desert, make it fertile and fruitful, and I blessed God for
the Nile. Where does it come from? You have learned that the Nile
springs from the snows of very high mountains away up in Abyssinia, and
from two immense lakes in the center of Africa, and it carries the
waters from these mountains and lakes down through Egypt, and turns a
desert into a garden.
But there is another river more wonderful than the river of old Egypt.
It flows down from God out of heaven, and flows over this world, and
brings with it all that is beautiful and healthful and good. The waters
of this river are carried off in little canals, and are brought into the
homes and churches and Sunday-schools; and wherever they go tend to make
lives good and happy. Little children love this River of God, and dip
their cups into it and drink, and there is a voice speaking in their
ears and saying: "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life
freely." There are some people who have traveled round the world and
seen many very interesting lands and strange and curious people--white
men, red men, black men, copper-colored men, yellow men, but they will
tell you that they never saw men where the children were happy, where
the homes were happy, and where people were trying to do each other
good, unless this River of God went there first. This beautiful river
that is doing so much for all who live on its banks,--it is the Bible,
the Word of God, which tells us about Himself and about ourselves, which
speaks to us of a Savior and of the life after death.
Some years ago a black prince in Africa sent a messenger to Queen
Victoria, a man who was to ask her what was the reason that England was
so rich and prosperous; and she sent back to this African savage
something that told the whole story. What do you suppose it was? Not a
rifle, not a sword, not a steam-engine, not a plow, not a
sewing-machine, but a copy of the Bible. Let me tell you _five_ things
about this book, and if you know how to spell the word Bible you will
find them easy to remember--B-I-B-L-E.
First, then, the Bible is a _beautiful_ book. I do not mean as to its
shape and color. It may be very lovely or it may be very plain, as it
looks to your eye. I have seen Bibles that you could buy for a sixpence,
and I have a New Testament that I bought for a penny. I have seen Bibles
which were copied with a pen and filled with pictures on which men
labored for years, and which you couldn't buy for a thousand dollars.
When I say that the Bible is a beautiful book, I mean that it is full of
beautiful thoughts and beautiful pictures and beautiful stories that
speak to our minds. God often talks with children through pictures. You
love things that speak to you through the eye, like flowers and birds,
and your dear mother's face. Just think of some of the pictures God has
given us in this Book.
I see, with my mind's eye, a garden, large, fair, with great trees and
beautiful walks, pure, clear streams with lovely flowers, with animals
playing about, with two trees that were set apart from the rest, one
called the Tree of Life and the other the Tree of the Knowledge of Good
and Evil. I see a man in this garden, and animals passing before him and
hear him giving them names. Now I see a city with twelve gates, each
gate a pearl. The city has walls made of twelve kinds of jewels, and the
streets are of pure gold, and there is no temple in the city and no sun,
but it is very glorious and wonderful. I see a beautiful River and a
glorious Sea, and a great multitude of shining ones with harps in their
hands, and I see a throne and One that sits thereon, more lovely and
beautiful and mighty and glorious than any words can say.
The little three-year-old boy before he can read, loves to take his
picture book and see things that are to him very wonderful, and when he
gets a little older he loves to take a box of paints and a brush and
color the pictures in some of his books. The first book I ever colored
was full of Bible pictures. There was the picture of a man on the top of
a hill with his son laid on a heap of stones. The father's face was sad,
and the old man was lifting a knife in his hand; and there was a sheep
caught in a bush near by; and there was the figure of an angel in the
sky. Then there was the picture of a young man lying on the ground, with
stones under his head for a pillow, and a stairway or ladder reaching up
to the heavens above, with angels going up and down. There was the
picture of a boy whose father gave him a coat of many colors, and how I
liked to daub on the red and yellow and blue paint, and I am afraid I
took a pin and punched out the eyes in the pictures of the brothers of
this boy--those brothers who, as you remember, cast him into a dry well
and afterward sold him as a slave. There was a picture of a little boy
lying in a little boat which was among the tall grasses of a river.
There was the picture of a great tent in the desert, with altars on
which fire was burning, and a great pillar of cloud resting down on it
in the midst of the tent. And then far over in the book was the picture
of the best Man who ever lived, taking little children in His arms,
putting His hands on them and blessing them.
The Bible is a beautiful book for a great many reasons that I can't
speak of now. Its beauty is not like that of an apple blossom, which
soon fades away. It grows more and more lovely as you grow older. I like
to see a little child reading with happy face from this book which tells
of God's love; but it is lovelier still to see the old grandmother, who
loved the Bible in childhood, putting on her spectacles and reading
these words of David: "Oh, how I love thy law! It is my meditation all
the day. How sweet are thy words to my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to
my mouth!" Two of the most beautiful things that we ever see are gold
and honey--gold, bright shining, and the honey which looks like liquid
gold, shut up in little boxes of pearl. Now I am going to end what I
have to say about the Bible as beautiful, by telling you what David said
of the words of the Lord that are found in this book: "More to be
desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than
honey and the honey comb."
But the Bible is not only a beautiful book for children, but it is an
_interesting_ book. You like to read it and hear it, partly because it
tells so much about children, boys and girls like you. You read in this
book about two brothers, one of whom loved God, and the other did not
love his brother, and slew him because his own deeds were evil and his
brother's righteous. You read about a little girl who was taken off in a
certain war, and became a servant for the wife of a great general. He
was a leper, and this little girl, believing in God and in God's
prophet, Elisha, told her mistress that the prophet in Israel could heal
her master of his awful disease. You read the story of a little boy
whose mother gave him early to the Lord, and who went to live with an
old man in a great tent, which was God's house, and who heard the voice
of the Lord calling to him in the night. Did you never hear God's voice
speaking to your heart, and do you always answer as did this boy in the
tabernacle at Shiloh: "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth"?
And in this Book you have read of four boys in the court of the great
king of Babylon who would not defile themselves with the rich meats and
the fiery wines, and who formed a boys' temperance society in the court
of the king, and who rose to high honor and great fame. Above all, you
read of the perfect Child who was obedient to his earthly father and
mother, and who did the will of his Heavenly Father, and who grew into
the bravest, noblest, truest, most manly man that ever lived, and who
died for us all--that Man whose words are, I think, the first words of
the Bible that you learned by heart. I have heard of a little girl who
lived where the Bible is not permitted to be read by the children. But
she had a present of the good Book from her Sunday School teacher. It
was discovered that she had this book; it was snatched from her and
thrown into the fire. She watched it burn, while the tears rolled down
her cheeks, and turning sadly away, said: "Thank God, there are fourteen
chapters of the Gospel of John which they can't burn up, for I have
committed them to memory."
The Bible interests you because it is full of _wonderful_ things. It
tells of a wonderful God who doeth marvelous things for His people. It
tells of the flood which swept away the wicked world; of the plagues
which fell on wicked Egypt; of the march of two millions of people
through the Red Sea which God divided; it tells you of the wonderful
life of the children of Israel in the desert, with God's hand feeding
them with the birds and the bread; it leads you to the foot of a great
mountain, on which God came down in a chariot of fire, while the
thunders roared and the trumpet blown by some mighty angel sounded loud
and long, and the mountain shook and smoked like a great furnace, and
all the people trembled while God gave the law which begins: "I am the
Lord that brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt have no other gods
before me."
This Bible has more wonderful things than you will find anywhere else.
It tells of great battles, of the sun and moon standing still, of cities
falling down at the blowing of trumpets; of fire descending from heaven;
it tells of shipwrecks and storms, and cruel kings, and men willing to
die for the name of Jesus. It tells of God's wonderful love, and how the
Son of God came from heaven to earth and died for us on the Cross and
rose from the grave. And the best thing, children, about all these Bible
wonders, is this, that they are true. A wonderful God doeth wonderful
things. This is a wonderful world we live in. You children know it and
feel it, and some older people have got to become much wiser than they
now are to be as wise as you are. Is not the Bible an interesting Book?
My children will listen longer to the story of the Bible than anything
else. And as you grow older, if you will only keep on studying the
Bible, it will keep its interest till you die.
Children who live in cities love to ride, in summer, in the parks and
see the wonderful figures which the gardeners have made with their
plants and flowers, the stars and stripes, an elephant, the ball-player,
a giraffe, a sun-dial, a calendar, an obelisk, sphinxes, and so forth.
Now, this book is a great garden on which God has made figures that will
last as long as the world lasts. There is Adam, with his face dark and
sorrowful because he had sinned; there is Abel, looking up to that
heaven which he, first of all men, entered; there is Noah, a preacher of
righteousness, who preached many years without converting a soul, but
kept on believing God; there is Abraham with a staff in his hand; there
is Moses holding the wondrous rod and the book of the law; there is
David with his harp; there is Paul, going forth to preach Christ; there
is John, looking into heaven. The children who have the Bible taught
them will find great interest in these figures. But the greatest
interest in the Bible is this, that it is a sign-board pointing us to
our Father's house in Heaven.
Now, I come to the third letter. The B-I-_B_-L-E--is not only a
Beautiful book, and an Interesting book, but it is a Blessed book. That
is, it makes people happy and good, good and happy. A poor man comes
from England to Chicago with his wife and three children, expecting to
get work and to make him a lovely home. But he fails to get work and he
has to sell many things to get bread for his family. At last he is in
despair, but a good man comes to his house, learns of his need, gives
him bread and gets him work; and that night the Englishman says to his
wife, "Wasn't he a blessed man to help us at this time?" But in a few
days the baby of the house is taken sick and soon dies, and the good man
comes again and advances money to pay for the funeral of the dear little
child; and they say, "Blessed man!" again. But that night, when all is
over, and the baby is laid to sleep in the cemetery, the poor man takes
down the Bible and reads to his wife of Christ's love to children, and
of the beautiful world beyond, where there is no more crying and death,
and the wife says, "Oh, isn't that a blessed Book!"
_Blessed_ Book. So the mother thinks whose boy has gone off to school or
to sea. How careful she was to put a copy of the Bible in his hands and
to get from him the promise to read it every day. She knows perfectly
well that no great harm can come to him, if he reads and obeys what is
written in the Word of God. I know a young lady who was very much
distressed when in Paris several years ago because her hand-bag, a
little portmanteau, had been lost. And when, after much hunting, it was
found, she confessed that what distressed her most of all in the thought
of losing her hand-bag was this, that it contained the little Bible
which had been given to her when a child and which she had made her
daily companion ever since. I hope that each of you owns a Bible which,
the gift of a mother or of some dear friend, is growing more and more
blessed to you as you go forward into your lives. There is much darkness
in the future. You will have sorrows as well as joys. The clouds will
gather. The shadows will sometimes descend and you will wonder where you
are to walk, or what you are to do. But remember what David has said of
this blessed Book: "Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a guide to my
path."
Now, we come to the fourth letter, B-I-B-_L_-E. Beautiful, Interesting,
Blessed, L, Life-giving. This is something better than anything we have
yet said to you about the Bible. It gives life to those who are dead.
You have seen a patch of ground early in the spring on which nothing was
growing. But the rain falls, and the warm sunshine pours down, and the
seeds in that soil burst into life and spring up and cover the earth
with living plants and flowers. And so God's Word brings its dew and
sunshine on our cold, dead hearts, and the flowers of love, hope, peace
and joy spring up. The Bible is like bread, like the manna which came to
the children of Israel in the desert. It feeds our souls. It gives us
life. How does it give us life? It teaches us about God and his great
love in Jesus, and when we come to get from Him the forgiveness of our
sins, when we come to know God and love God and trust in God, we have
life. "This is life eternal," said Jesus, "that they may know thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Some of you are
giving money to send this Book to the heathen people. Where this Book
goes it gives life like bread sent to people who are starving.
But why do we need the Bible to know about God? Do not the stars and the
sun and the earth tell us that there must be a God who made all these
wonderful things and rules them? Yes, they tell us that God is powerful,
that He is very great, but they do not tell us that he loves us poor
sinners. The Egyptians believed in God; yes, in many gods. They were, as
we know, a very wise and learned people. And yet this people Moses found
bowing down and worshiping cats and crocodiles and beetles. They did not
know the one God who led His people, and who said, "Thou shalt have no
other gods before me," and who is not only holy, but merciful, forgiving
our sins. Suppose that you were on an ocean steamer way out at sea, and
she was sinking into the waves. To what or to whom would you pray? You
wouldn't pray to the waves. They would not have mercy on you. You
wouldn't pray to the stars. They wouldn't have mercy on you. You would
pray to the God who is revealed in this Book, the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has said that nothing can take us from His love,
neither life nor death, land nor ocean, nothing can separate us from His
love.
Children, this Book tells us one thing which all need to learn, and that
is, how we may gain life eternal, how we may escape from death. This
Book is the story of God's love. It is the story of Jesus, our Savior.
He that has Christ in his heart has life. "I am the resurrection and the
life," said Jesus; "I am the way, the truth and the life." If this Book
does not lead you to Christ, you have failed to get from it what God
gave it for. David said of the Bible: "The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul."
We come now to the fifth letter, B-I-B-L-_E_--Everlasting. The Bible is
Beautiful, Interesting, Blessed, Life-giving, and Everlasting. It is
something that does not wear out. "The word of the Lord endureth
forever." Children's clothes wear out, as you well know. Your
play-things break; your shoes don't last; your books get torn; these
bodies die; but the Bible lasts. It was good in David's time. It was
good when Christ was a child, and He read it. It was good in Paul's
time, and he added to it. It was good when Martin Luther translated it
into the German language, and William Tyndale translated it into
English. It lasts the way an oak tree lasts, that grows bigger and
bigger and sends out little shoots that grow into other oaks and make a
mighty forest. This Bible is now speaking to men in nearly three hundred
different languages. It is going to be the one Book of the world. A
hundred years ago a famous infidel in France, named Voltaire, foolishly
published his opinion that the religion of the Bible would soon die out,
but to-day men are using Voltaire's printing-press in Geneva to publish
this grand old Book. Here is something, children, that is going to last.
You can stand on it safely. God is in it. When the little girl whose
father was an infidel and whose mother was a Christian was dying, and
she said to her father, "Shall I hold to your principles, father, or
shall I turn now to my mother's God?" the father said: "Believe in your
mother's God."
Just before beginning a great battle on the sea, you remember that
Admiral Nelson hung out a flag with these words for all to see: "England
expects every man to do his duty." And so our great General, the Captain
of our salvation, expects that every boy trained up in a Christian
church will do his duty. He expects that you will take this Beautiful,
Interesting, Blessed, Life-giving and Eternal book and make it your
guide, your compass, your rudder, your chart on the great ocean of life.
He expects that you will be true men and women, honest, pure, obedient
to God, loving your country and all the world. He expects that you will
be faithful to duty, that you will be clean in body and in lips and
mouth and eyes and heart. He expects to meet you and welcome you all in
glory above.
A passenger on one of our ocean steamers found an old friend in the
captain. They talked about one of their old classmates in school. Said
the passenger: "I could never understand why Will did not succeed. He
left college well educated, full of life and health, well-to-do. He gave
up the ministry which he had intended to enter, having fallen in with
some free-thinking fellows. He studied law, but gave that up and went to
farming. He became a skeptic. He left his wife and farming and became a
gold-seeker in California. He left this and went to Idaho. He had lost
everything, and supported himself by odd jobs. I knew him there. He was
not a drunkard or a gambler, but he had never succeeded. He tried
something new several times a year. He was now almost mad in his
opposition to the religion of the Bible. Soon he died, bitterly
rebelling against God. It is wonderful that such a man should ever have
come to such an end."
The captain was silent for a while, but at last said: "Old sailors have
a superstition that there are phantom ships (that is, ghosts of ships)
which cross the sea. I saw a vessel once that showed me how this idea
may have sprung up. It was a full-rigged bark, driving under full sail.
There was no one on board. Some disease may have broken out, and all the
sailors had left. I could not capture her, though I tried. Several
months later I passed her again. Her topmast was gone; her sails were in
rags; the wind drove her where it would. A year later she came in sight
one stormy winter night. She was a shattered hulk and went down at last
in the darkness and storm. She was a good ship at first, but," added the
captain, "she had lost her rudder." Boys and girls, young men and women,
I pray you, on this voyage of life, not to lose the rudder by which, in
the storm, you may hold the ship true to the harbor.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
GOD MADE THE WORLD, 33
CHAPTER II.
THE GREAT FLOOD; AND A GREAT TOW-ER, 43
CHAPTER III.
A-BRA-HAM: THE MAN OF FAITH, 52
CHAPTER IV.
JA-COB AND E-SAU, 64
CHAPTER V.
JA-COB AND RA-CHEL, 71
CHAPTER VI.
JO-SEPH AND HIS BRETH-REN, 76
CHAPTER VII.
THROUGH THE RED SEA AND THE WIL-DER-NESS, 91
CHAPTER VIII.
HOW JOSH-U-A AND JEPH-THAH FOUGHT FOR THE LORD, 112
CHAPTER IX.
SAM-SON, THE STRONG MAN, 118
CHAPTER X.
RUTH, 128
CHAPTER XI.
JOB, 132
CHAPTER XII.
SAM-U-EL, THE CHILD OF GOD, 139
CHAPTER XIII.
SAM-U-EL, THE MAN OF GOD, 147
CHAPTER XIV.
DA-VID AND SAUL, 157
CHAPTER XV.
SOL-O-MON, THE WISE MAN, 177
CHAPTER XVI.
E-LI-JAH, 183
CHAPTER XVII.
E-LI-SHA, 192
CHAPTER XVIII.
JO-NAH, THE MAN WHO TRIED TO HIDE FROM GOD, 200
CHAPTER XIX.
DAN-I-EL, 204
CHAPTER XX.
THE GOOD QUEEN ES-THER, 217
NEW TESTAMENT.
CHAPTER I.
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, 235
CHAPTER II.
THE STAR IN THE EAST, 244
CHAPTER III.
THE BOY-HOOD OF JE-SUS, 251
CHAPTER IV.
JE-SUS AND JOHN THE BAP-TIST, 256
CHAPTER V.
THE WO-MAN AT THE WELL.--JE-SUS BY THE SEA, 267
CHAPTER VI.
JE-SUS HEALS THE SICK, AND DOES GOOD WORK ON THE
DAY OF REST, 276
CHAPTER VII.
THE SER-MON ON THE MOUNT, 286
CHAPTER VIII.
GOOD WORDS AND GOOD WORKS, 295
CHAPTER IX.
JE-SUS AT THE SEA-SHORE, 303
CHAPTER X.
JE-SUS BRINGS THE DEAD TO LIFE.--FEEDS FIVE
THOU-SAND, 311
CHAPTER XI.
JE-SUS HEALS THE SICK.--HIS FORM CHANGED ON THE
MOUNT, 320
CHAPTER XII.
THE GOOD SA-MAR-I-TAN.--MAR-THA AND MA-RY.--THE
MAN BORN BLIND, 327
CHAPTER XIII.
JE-SUS THE GOOD SHEP-HERD.--LAZ-A-RUS BROUGHT TO
LIFE.--THE FEAST AND THOSE WHO WERE BID TO IT, 337
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PROD-I-GAL SON.--THE PHAR-I-SEE AND THE
PUB-LI-CAN.--BABES BROUGHT TO
JE-SUS.--ZAC-CHE-US CLIMBS A TREE, 346
CHAPTER XV.
THE FEAST OF THE PASS-O-VER.--THE SUP-PER AT
BETH-A-NY, 353
CHAPTER XVI.
PAR-A-BLES OF OUR LORD, 362
CHAPTER XVII.
THE LORD'S SUP-PER.--JE-SUS IN GETH-SEM-A-NE.--THE
JU-DAS KISS.--PE-TER DE-NIES JE-SUS, 375
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHRIST BE-FORE PI-LATE.--CHRIST ON THE CROSS, 382
CHAPTER XIX.
JE-SUS LEAVES THE GRAVE.--AP-PEARS TO
MA-RY.--STE-PHEN STONED.--PAUL'S LIFE,
SHIP-WRECK AND DEATH, 395
CHAPTER XX.
WHAT JOHN SAW WHILE ON THE ISLE OF PAT-MOS.--THE
GREAT WHITE THRONE.--THE LAND OF LIGHT, 412
History of the Old Testament.
CHAPTER I.
GOD MADE THE WORLD.
FAR back in the past, more years than you could think or count, God made
the world. It did not look at first as it does now, for there was no
live thing on it, no men, beasts, or birds, not a bush, tree or plant,
but all was dark and drear.
Then God said, Let there be light! And the light came. And God saw the
light, and it pleased him, and he gave it the name of Day. And when the
day was gone, and the dark came back to stay for a while, he gave the
dark spell the name of Night. And God did these things on the first day.
The next day God made the clouds, and the sky in which they were to
move; and he gave the sky a name; he called it Heav-en.
Then he drove the wa-ters to one place where they were both deep and
wide, and he called the wa-ters Seas, and to the dry land he gave the
name of Earth. And God made the grass to grow up out of the earth, and
the trees and shrubs that have fruit on them. And the grass and the
shrubs and the trees were to bear seeds, so that when these seeds were
put in-to the ground more grass and trees and shrubs would grow there.
God did these things on the third day.
And God put two great lights in the sky, the Sun to shine by day, and
the Moon to shine by night; and he made the stars, and put each one in
its place. And these things he did on the fourth day.
And he made the great whales, and all the fish that live in the sea, and
the birds that swim on it, as well as those that fly through the air,
and make their nests in the deep woods. And these things God did on the
fifth day.
God made the beasts: those that are wild and live in the deep, dark
woods, far from the homes of men; and those that are tame and of use to
men, and live where men live--such as the horse, the cow, the ox and the
sheep. And he made the things that creep on the ground, and flies and
bugs that course through the air.
[Illustration: AD-AM AND EVE DRIV-EN FROM PAR-A-DISE.]
And then God made Man, and told him that he should rule the fish of the
sea, the birds of the air, and all else that lived on the earth. And he
told man that the fruit which grew on the trees and shrubs should be his
food, while the beasts were to feed on the leaves, and on the grass
that was spread out on the earth. These things were done on the sixth
day.
The next day God did no work at all, but made it a day of rest.
God made man out of the dust of the earth, and breathed in him till the
man breathed and moved, and showed signs of life. Then God made a
gar-den for man to live in, where all sorts of trees grew that were nice
to look at, and that bore fruit good to eat. And this place was called
E-den. And through it flowed a large stream that kept the earth moist.
And God took Ad-am, the man he had made, and put him in the gar-den, and
told him to take care of it. He told him he might eat of the fruit that
grew on all the trees but one. God said he must not eat of that tree,
for if he did he would be sure to die. And all the birds and beasts came
to A-dam, that he might give them their names. And the names he gave
them are those by which they are known to this day.
And God saw it was not good for man to be a-lone; he should have some
one to be with him and help him. So he had a deep sleep fall on Ad-am,
and while he slept God took out of his side a bone, and out of this bone
he made a wo-man. Then he brought this wo-man he had made to Ad-am, and
she was his wife.
Now there was in this gar-den of E-den a great big snake. And this snake
spoke to the wo-man--as Sa-tan speaks to us--to tempt her to sin.
The snake said: Has God told you not to eat of all the trees in the
gar-den?
And the wo-man said that they might eat of all but one; if they ate of
that or touched it they would be sure to die. The snake told them they
should not die, and that God did not wish them to eat of it for fear
they would grow wise, and know more than he thought was good for them.
The wo-man heard what the snake said, and when she saw that the tree was
nice to look at and the fruit seemed good to eat, she gave no thought to
what God had said, but took some of the fruit and ate of it; she gave
some to the man, Ad-am, and he did eat.
In a short time they heard a voice, and knew that God spoke to them. Yet
they did not come near him when they heard his voice, but ran and tried
to hide from him.
But God spoke once more, and said to the man, Where art thou?
And Ad-am said, I heard thy voice, and my fear was so great that I hid
from thee.
And God said, Did'st thou eat of the tree I told thee not to eat of?
And the man said, She whom thou dids't give me to be with me brought me
some of the fruit, and I did eat.
And God said to the man's wife, What is this that thou hast done?
And she told God what the snake had said, and how she came to eat of the
fruit, and God was wroth with them all. He said the snake should crawl
on the ground and eat dust all the days of its life; and he told the
wife she should know what it was to be sick and sad, and should have
much grief and care.
And God drove the man and his wife out of E-den, and would let them live
no more in that fair place. And he sent an-gels to keep watch, and a
sword of fire that would turn in all ways, so that the two whom God for
their sins drove out of E-den could not get back to the home they had
lost.
And God told Ad-am that as he had paid heed to what his wife said, and
did eat of the tree which the Lord had told him not to eat of, the
ground should bear no more fruit for him by it-self, as it had done up
to this time, and Ad-am would have to work hard all his life to raise
food to eat, and when he died he would go back to the dust out of which
he was made.
But God told Ad-am and his wife that there was a way by which their
souls might live on high when their flesh was laid in the ground. He
said he would send One from the sky who would give his life for theirs:
that is, he would be put to death for their sins. Then if they would
turn from their sins, and give their hearts to the One who was to save
them, God would not turn his face from them, but when they died they
would have a home with him, and have no thought of sin.
So Ad-am went forth to till the land, and he gave his wife the name of
Eve. And they made coats out of the skins of beasts.
[Illustration: CAIN AND A-BEL OF-FER-ING SAC-RI-FI-CES TO GOD.]
Ad-am and his wife had two sons: Cain and A-bel. When they grew up to be
men, Cain, who was the first-born, took care of a farm; A-bel kept a
flock of sheep.
They both had bad hearts, and at times would be led in-to sin, just as
Ad-am and his wife had been. But when A-bel did wrong he was grieved,
and sought to make peace with God. One day he brought a lamb from his
flock, and killed it, and burnt it on a heap of stones. And the smoke
went up on high.
This act of A-bel's pleased God, for it was the sign that a Lamb was to
be sent to the world to save men from their sins.
But Cain kept on in his sins, and paid his vows to God not with a lamb,
but with fruit or grain out of the field. This did not please God, and
the smoke went not up on high. When Cain saw this he was in a rage, and
showed by his looks that he was wroth with God. Yet God spoke to him in
a kind voice, and said, Why art thou wroth? and why art thou so cast
down?
If Cain did right God told him he would be pleased with his gift; but if
he did not do right, the fault was his own.
Then Cain was wroth with A-bel, for he saw that God was pleased with
A-bel's gift and not with his. And one day when both of them were out in
the field he rose up and slew A-bel, and the blood ran out of A-bel's
wounds and sank deep in the ground.
As soon as this deed was done, God spoke to Cain, and said: Where is
A-bel?
Cain said, I know not. He is not in my care. Then God, who had seen the
crime, and knew just how bad his heart was, said to Cain: What hast thou
done? The voice of A-bel's blood cries to me from out the ground.
And God told Cain that for his great sin he should move from place to
place, as one who was in fear of his life, and had no home to stay in.
And if he should plant aught in the field to bear food, it should not
grow well. Weeds would come up and choke it, or it would bear leaves and
no fruit, so that Cain would not have much to eat.
[Illustration: THE DEATH OF A-BEL.]
And Cain said if God drove him here and there on the face of the earth,
and would not take care of him, all those who met him would want to kill
him.
But God said the man who hurt Cain would have a worse fate. God set a
mark on Cain; what kind of a mark it was we are not told, but those who
saw it would know it was Cain, and it would bring to their minds that
God had said no man should kill him.
Ad-am lived to be an old, old man, and had a large flock of chil-dren,
who grew up and were wed, and they went off and made homes, and day by
day were folks born in-to the world. When Ad-am died he was laid in the
ground and went back to dust, as God had said he should when he went out
of E-den.
One of the men who lived in those days was named E-noch. It is said of
him that he walked with God. That means that he loved God, and thought
of him, and kept near him all the time, and did his best to please him.
And E-noch did not die, but God took him up to be with him while he
still lived, just as if he were to take up one of us.
And E-noch had a son whose name was Me-thu-se-lah, who died at a great
old age. In those times men lived more years than they do now, but in
all the years since the world was made no man has been known to live to
be as old as Me-thu-se-lah.
CHAPTER II.
THE GREAT FLOOD; AND A GREAT TOWER.
IN the course of time, when there came to be more folks in the world,
they grew fond of sin. They did not love God, or try to please him. And
God was wroth with them, and said he would send a flood that would drown
the world, and there should not be any dry land left for men, beasts, or
birds to live on.
But though most of the folks at that time were as bad as they could be,
there was one good man in their midst, and his name was No-ah.
[Illustration: THE ARK.]
And God loved No-ah and told him what he meant to do. And God bade No-ah
build an ark. This was a boat. It was to be made large, with rooms in
it, and a great door on its side. And it was to be quite high, and to
have a roof on top.
And God told No-ah when the ark was done he and his sons and their wives
should go in it.
And he told No-ah to take in with him two of each kind of bird and of
beast, and of bug, and of things that crept, and to take care of them in
the ark so long as the flood should be on the earth; for all that were
not in the ark would be sure to be drowned.
So No-ah set out at once to build the ark; and it took him a great while
to build it. When not at work on the ark, he would talk of God, and of
his plan to send a flood to wash sin out of the world, and would urge
the folks to give up their sins, and lead good lives. But they paid no
heed to his words, and went from bad to worse all the time that No-ah
was at work on the ark.
When it was done God told No-ah to come in-to the ark, for he saw he was
a good man who had done his best to serve him, and to bring the birds
and beasts with him. For in a few days he would send the rain on the
earth, and all that was left on it would be drowned.
[Illustration: THE ARK]
So No-ah did as God told him. And when he and his wife, and his three
sons and their wives, and the birds and the beasts, both small and
great, had passed through the great door of the ark, God shut them in.
At the end of a week the rain set in, and did not stop for more than a
month. The rain seemed to pour out of the sky, and all the springs, the
large and small streams, and the great seas, rose up and swept through
the length and breadth of the land. They came to where the ark was, and
went round and round it, and rose so high that the ark was borne from
its place and set a-float on the great wide sea.
Then those who had paid no heed to No-ah, but had kept on in their sins,
were in a sad plight. The flood had come, and they knew now that all
that he had told them was true. How glad they would have been to go with
him in the ark. But it was too late. They ran in wild haste to the tops
of the hills in hopes to find there a safe place. But still the floods
rose and rose till there was no place for them to go, and all those not
in the ark were drowned, and there was not a bit of dry land in the
whole wide world.
But God took care of No-ah, and those who were with him, and kept them
safe till the floods went down. At the end of five months the sea had
gone down so much that the ark stood high and dry on a mount known as
Ar-a-rat. It stood there for at least two months, and at the end of that
time the sea had gone down so that tops of high hills could be seen
here and there.
And No-ah sent forth a ra-ven, and the bird flew this way and that, but
came not back to the ark.
Then No-ah sent forth a dove, that he might find out if the ground was
yet dry. And the dove flew here and there in search of green things, but
found not a tree in sight, and naught but cold hard rock, and so she
flew back to the ark and No-ah put out his hand and took her in.
At the end of a week No-ah sent out the dove once more, and at the close
of the day she came back with a leaf in her mouth.
[Illustration: THE RE-TURN OF THE DOVE.]
As soon as No-ah saw the leaf he knew that the waves had gone down or
the dove could not have found it. And he knew that God had sent the
dove back to him that he might know the ground would soon be dry.
In a few days he sent the dove out for the third time, but she did not
come back; and No-ah was sure then that the ground was dry, and that God
meant that for a sign that he should leave the ark in which he had been
shut up so long.
And God spoke to No-ah and told him to come out of the ark, and to bring
out all that had been in there with him. And No-ah did so, and he built
up a heap of stones as A-bel had done, on which he laid beasts and
birds, and burnt them, which was the way in which man gave thanks to God
in those days.
And No-ah's heart was full of praise to God, who had kept him, and those
who were near and dear to him, safe from the flood, while all the rest
of the world was drowned.
And God told No-ah and his sons that they should rule on the earth, and
might kill the beasts and use the flesh for food. Up to this time those
who dwelt on the earth had lived on the fruits of trees and such things
as grew out of the ground, and did not know the taste of meat.
And God told No-ah that he would send no more floods to drown the world
as this one had done. And he gave No-ah a sign that he would keep his
word, so that when No-ah saw it he would have no fear of a flood. And
this sign was the rain-bow, which God set up in the sky as a bow of hope
to No-ah and to all the world.
No-ah lived for years and years af-ter the flood, and died at a ripe old
age.
The tribes of No-ah grew so fast that the world was quite well filled
once more.
[Illustration: NO-AH'S SAC-RI-FICE.]
And you would think they would have been glad to serve God, and to do
right in his sight. But their hearts were full of sin, and they went on
as those had done who were drowned in the flood.
[Illustration: HE-BREWS, AND THEIR MODE OF TRAV-EL-ING.]
At this time all those who dwelt on the earth spoke but one tongue; that
is, they used the same kind of speech.
Now these tribes did not stay in one spot all the time, but would pack
up their tents and move from place to place as they chose.
And as they went to the east they came to a plain in the land of
Shi-nar. And they said, Let us make brick and build a high tow-er that
shall reach up to the sky. And let us make a name, so that when we go
from this place it will be known what great men were here, and what
great deeds they could do.
[Illustration: BUILD-ING THE TOW-ER OF BA-BEL.]
And they set to work to build it. God, who read their hearts, knew that
sin was at work there, and that the tow-er they meant to build was not
to serve him in, or to add to his praise. So he was not pleased with
their work, and chose a strange way to stop them. He made them all at
once speak in strange tongues. This one could not tell what that one
said, and they made such a noise that it grew to be just a ba-bel of
sound. And that is why it was called the tow-er of Ba-bel.
CHAPTER III.
ABRAHAM: THE MAN OF FAITH.
THERE dwelt in the land of Ur a man whose name was A-bra-ham. And in
that land the men did not serve the true God, but had set up false gods
to whom they paid their vows.
And God told A-bra-ham to leave his home and go to a land which he would
show him. A-bra-ham did not know where the land was, but he had great
faith, and knew that God would take care of him and bring him to the
land he had told him of.
So A-bra-ham took Sa-rah, his wife, and his bro-ther's son, whose name
was Lot, and they set out for the land which God had said he would show
him.
A-bra-ham was a rich man, and so was Lot, and they had a great wealth of
flocks, and of herds, and of tents. And they each had a large force of
herds-men. And these herds-men were at strife.
And A-bra-ham told Lot it was best that they should part; and he said to
him, Choose where thou shalt go. If thou wilt take the left hand I will
go to the right, and if thou wilt go to the right hand then I will go to
the left.
So Lot looked round and saw that the plain of Jor-dan was rich in grass,
and would be a fine place for him and his herds to dwell in; so he made
his choice at once, and went to live there.
Two large towns were on this plain, Sod-om and Go-mor-rah. The men in
Sod-om were full of sin, yet Lot, though a good man, went to live there
that he might have a chance to add to his wealth.
As soon as Lot had gone, the Lord told A-bra-ham that he would give to
him and his heirs all that land as far as he could see it. And the tribe
of A-bra-ham would be so great that no one could count them.
Now Sa-rah A-bra-ham's wife, had a hand-maid--that is, a
maid-of-all-work--whose name was Ha-gar; and she came from E-gypt.
Ha-gar did Sa-rah a great wrong, and Sa-rah drove her from the house,
and she fled to the woods.
An an-gel of the Lord found Ha-gar there by a spring of wa-ter, and said
to her, From whence didst thou come? and where wilt thou go? And she
said she had fled from Sa-rah, whose maid she was.
And the an-gel said she must go back to Sa-rah and do as she wished her
to do. And he told Ha-gar she would have a son whose name would be
Ish-ma-el, and that he would live out of doors and be at strife with all
men. So Ha-gar went back to Sa-rah, and in due time God gave her a son,
who was called Ish-ma-el.
When A-bra-ham was an old man, God told him that he and Sa-rah should
have a son, who should be called I-saac.
One day at the hour of noon, when A-bra-ham sat by the door of his tent,
he looked up and saw three men quite near him. Then he ran out to meet
them, and bowed his face to the ground. And A-bra-ham bade them sit down
and rest, and let some wa-ter be brought that they might wash their
feet.
No one in those days wore such shoes as are worn now. Some went
bare-foot, and some wore just a sole tied to the foot with strings,
which did not keep off the dust and dirt as our shoes do.
So when one came in from a long walk the first thing he did was to bathe
his feet, as that gave rest and ease, and when guests came the bowl was
brought for their use.
And A-bra-ham brought them food to eat, and stood by to wait on them;
and when they had had their fill, went with them to show them the way.
In those days the Lord came down on the earth and spoke with men, and it
is thought that one of these three was the Lord, and the two with him
were an-gels.
[Illustration: THE AN-GELS' VIS-IT.]
And the Lord told A-bra-ham that he meant to burn Sod-om and Go-mor-rah
for the sins of those who dwelt there. This made A-bra-ham sad, and he
said there might be a few good men there, and he begged the Lord to
spare the towns for their sakes.
The Lord said he would do so if ten good men could be found there.
And the Lord left A-bra-ham and he went back to his tent. At the close
of the day, Lot sat in the gate of Sod-om and two an-gels came there.
And as soon as Lot saw them he rose up to meet them and bowed down with
his face to the ground.
Then these an-gels told Lot to take out of Sod-om all those who were
dear to him, and flee in great haste, as the Lord meant to set the place
on fire.
They were told not to look back, but while on their way Lot's wife
turned her head, which was a sign that her heart was in Sod-om, and she
died where she stood, and turned to salt.
But Lot and his two girls reached Zo-ar at dawn of the next day. Then
the Lord rained fire on Sod-om and Go-mor-rah, and they were burnt up in
fierce flame, with all that lived there, and all that grew out of the
ground.
In due time God gave A-bra-ham the son he had said he should have.
And the child grew, and as soon as it could eat, A-bra-ham made a great
feast. And at this feast Sa-rah saw that Ha-gar's son, Ish-ma-el, made
fun of her boy, and she begged A-bra-ham to cast him out. A-bra-ham did
not wish to do this, but God spoke to him and told him to do as Sa-rah
had said, for I-saac was to be the true heir. So the next day A-bra-ham
gave food and drink to Ha-gar and sent her and her child out of his
house.
And Ha-gar took her boy and went to the waste lands of Beer-she-ba.
And when there was nought for the child to drink, he grew weak, and was
like to die. And Ha-gar laid him 'neath a bush and went off and sat down
and hid her face, and wept, for she loved her boy ve-ry much and did not
want to see him die.
[Illustration: DE-STRUC-TION OF THE CIT-IES OF THE PLAIN.]
And a voice spoke to Ha-gar out of the sky, and said, What ails thee,
Ha-gar? Fear not, for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
Rise, lift up the lad and hold him in thine arms.
And the voice told her that her son should be the head of a great tribe.
And as she raised her eyes she saw a well of wa-ter, and she ran to it
and gave her son a drink and he was soon strong and well once more.
And God was kind to Ish-ma-el, and he grew, and made his home in the
woods, and came to have great skill with the bow.
Now it was God's wish to try the faith of A-bra-ham to him.
And he told him to take his son, I-saac, and go to the land of Mo-ri-ah,
and lay him on the al-tar he was to build on one of the mounts there. It
was not a hard task to kill a lamb, and to burn it so that the smoke of
it should rise up to God, like praise from the hearts of men. But how
could A-bra-ham take his own dear son, I-saac, and lay him on the wood,
and let him be burnt up like a lamb?
Yet God told him to do it, and A-bra-ham knew that it was safe for him
to do as God said.
So he rose the next day and took two of his young men with him, and
I-saac his son, and cut the wood the right length, and set out for the
mount of which God had told him.
[Illustration: HA-GAR AND ISH-MA-EL.]
And as they drew near the place he took the wood from the ass and laid
it on I-saac's back, and took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the
two went up the mount.
Now I-saac did not know what the Lord had told A-bra-ham to do, nor why
his fa-ther took him up to the mount. And he said, Here is the fire and
the wood, but where is the lamb?
And A-bra-ham said, My son, God will give us the lamb we need.
And when they came to the place, A-bra-ham piled up the stones and put
the wood on them, and bound I-saac and laid him on the wood.
Then he drew forth the knife to kill his son. And just then a voice from
the sky cried out, A-bra-ham! A-bra-ham! And A-bra-ham said, Here am I.
And the Lord told him to do no harm to I-saac, for now he knew that
A-bra-ham loved him, since he would not spare his own dear son if it was
God's wish that he should give him up.
And as A-bra-ham turned his head he saw a ram that was caught in a bush,
and he took the ram and laid it on the wood, and burnt it in-stead of
his son.
At the end of a few years A-bra-ham went to live at Heb-ron. And Sa-rah
died there.
When I-saac grew up to be a man, A-bra-ham did not wish him to take a
wife from the land of Ca-naan where they served strange gods.
So he sent one of his men to the land where he used to live to bring
back a wife for I-saac.
And as he drew near to a large town in that land he made his cam-els
kneel down by a well. And it was the time of day when the wo-men of the
place went out to draw wa-ter from the well.
And the man whom A-bra-ham had sent, asked God to help him, and to let
him know which one of them was to be I-saac's wife. And he said he would
ask one of them for a drink, and if she was kind and gave him a drink,
and let his cam-els quench their thirst, then he should know that she
was the one God chose to be the wife of A-bra-ham's son.
[Illustration: RE-BEK-AH AT THE WELL.]
And he raised his heart to God and said, O Lord God of A-bra-ham, give
me good speed this day.
And while he yet spoke a fair young maid named Re-bek-ah went down to
the well and came up with the jar she had filled. And the man ran to
meet her, and said to her, Let me drink, I pray thee.
And she said, Drink, my Lord, and held the jar in her hand so that he
could drink with ease.
Then she said, I will give thy cam-els a drink; and she went down to the
well and drew for all the cam-els. And the man stood still, and was yet
in doubt if this was the maid whom God chose to be I-saac's wife.
And as soon as the cam-els had drunk their fill, the man took a gold
ear-ring, and two bands of gold for the wrists, and gave them to
Re-bek-ah. And he said, Whose child art thou? tell me, I pray thee. And
is there room in thy sire's house for us to lodge in?
The maid said that her sire's name was Beth-u-el, and that there was no
lack of straw and food, and there was room in the house where he and his
men might lodge.
The man was glad when he heard this, for he knew the Lord had led him,
and had brought him to the house to which he was sent. And he bowed his
head and gave thanks.
[Illustration: RE-BEK-AH JOUR-NEY-ING TO I-SAAC.]
The next day Re-bek-ah and her maids went with A-bra-ham's head man. And
they came to the land of Ca-naan.
At the close of the day I-saac went to walk in the fields, and as he
raised his eyes he saw the cam-els on their way home, and he went out to
meet them.
Re-bek-ah said to the man with whom she rode, What man is this that
comes through the field to meet us?
And the man told her that it was A-bra-ham's son, I-saac.
Then the maid drew her veil round her so as to hide her face, and came
down from the cam-el. And I-saac took her to his house and made her his
wife. And A-bra-ham gave, all that he had to I-saac; and when he died he
was laid by the side of Sa-rah, his wife, in the tomb he had bought at
Mach-pe-lah.
[Illustration: THE MEET-ING OF I-SAAC AND RE-BEK-AH.]
And to this day no one has had such faith or trust in God as did
A-bra-ham.
CHAPTER IV.
JACOB AND ESAU.
I-SAAC and Re-bek-ah had two sons. Their names were Ja-cob and E-sau.
E-sau was the first-born, and in those days the first-born son had
what was called the birth-right. This made him chief of all the rest,
and heir to the most of his sire's wealth.
When the boys grew up to be men, E-sau took to the fields and to
out-door sports, while Ja-cob was a plain man and dwelt in tents. And
I-saac was fond of E-sau, who killed the deer, and brought him the meat
to eat. But Re-bek-ah was more fond of Ja-cob.
One day Ja-cob had made some food called pot-tage, and E-sau came in
from the field and said, Feed me, I pray thee, with that pot-tage, for I
am faint.
And Ja-cob said, Sell me thy birth-right.
And E-sau said, I am at the point of death, so what good will a
birth-right do me?
So he sold his birth-right to Ja-cob--which was a wrong thing for him to
do--and took the bread and meat, and ate and drank, and then went on his
way.
Now there came a time when I-saac was an old man, and his eyes were dim,
for he had not long to live. And he called E-sau to his bed-side and
told him to go out with his bow and shoot a deer and bring him some of
the meat he was so fond of, that he might eat it and bless E-sau ere he
died.
And Re-bek-ah heard what I-saac had said to E-sau, and she told it to
Ja-cob. And she said to him, Go now to the flock, and fetch me from
thence two good kids, and I will make such a dish as thy fa-ther loves.
And thou shalt bring it to him that he may eat, and that he may bless
thee ere his death.
So Ja-cob did as he was told, and brought the kids to his mo-ther that
she might cook them in a way that would please the good man of the
house.
Then Re-bek-ah put some of E-sau's clothes on Ja-cob, and put the skins
of goats on his hands, for E-sau's hands had on them a thick coat of
hair. And then Ja-cob took the meat and the bread and went in to his
fa-ther.
And I-saac said, Who art thou, my son?
[Illustration: I-SAAC SPEAK-ING TO E-SAU.]
And Ja-cob said, I am E-sau, thy first-born. Rise, I pray thee, and eat
of the deer's meat I have brought, that thy soul may bless me.
And I-saac said to Ja-cob, How is it that thou hast found it so soon, my
son?
And he said, The Lord thy God brought it to me.
And I-saac said to Ja-cob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee,
my son, and know if thou be my son E-sau or not. And Ja-cob went near to
his fa-ther and he felt him, and said, The voice is Ja-cob's voice, but
the hands are the hands of E-sau.
And he said, Art thou in truth my son E-sau?
And Ja-cob said, I am.
And he said, Bring near the food, and I will eat, that my soul may bless
thee.
And Ja-cob brought it near to him, and he did eat, and he brought him
wine and he drank.
And his fa-ther said to him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.
And he came near, and gave him the kiss. Then the old man asked God to
bless this whom he thought was his first-born, and make him great, and
give him all good things.
Ja-cob was scarce yet gone out from his fa-ther when E-sau came in from
the hunt. And he brought in a nice dish of meat, and said, Let my
fa-ther rise and eat of the flesh of the deer, that thy soul may bless
me.
And I-saac said, Who art thou?
And he said, I am thy son, thy first-born, E-sau.
And I-saac shook like a leaf, and said, Who? Where is he that took
deer's meat and brought it to me so that I did eat ere this, and bless
him? Yea, and he shall be blest.
When E-sau heard these words he cried out with great grief, and said to
his fa-ther, Bless me too, O my fa-ther!
But I-saac said that he could not take from Ja-cob what was now
his--though he had won it through fraud.
And E-sau said in his heart, My fa-ther will soon be dead, and then I
will kill Ja-cob.
[Illustration: JA-COB'S DREAM.]
And these words were told to Re-bek-ah, and she sent for Ja-cob and said
to him that E-sau meant to kill him, and he must leave home at once and
go and stay with her bro-ther La-ban till E-sau's wrath had cooled.
And Ja-cob went out from Beer-she-ba.
And as he went on his way he came to a place where he thought he would
lie down and rest. The sun was set, the day had been a long one, and he
was quite worn out. So he put some stones for his head to rest on, and
was soon sound a-sleep.
And while he slept he had a strange dream. He saw a flight of steps that
stood on the ground, the top of which was far, far up in the sky. And
bright an-gels went up and down the steps. And the Lord stood at the
top, and said, I am with thee, and will take care of thee, and will
bring thee back to this land, for I will not leave thee till I have done
that which I have told thee of.
And Ja-cob woke out of his sleep, and said, 'Tis true the Lord is in
this place, and I knew it not.
And he was in great fear, and said, This is the house of God, and this
is the gate of heav-en!
Then he rose up and took the stone on which his head had lain and set it
up on end, and he poured oil on top of it. And he gave to that place the
name of Beth-el, and made a vow to love and serve God all the rest of
his life.
And though he had done wrong, God for-gave him, and he was known as a
great and good man.
CHAPTER V.
JACOB AND RACHEL.
AS Ja-cob went on his way to the East he came to a well that was out in
the field, near which lay three great flocks of sheep. And there was a
great stone on top of the well. And the men who took care of the flocks
would roll the stone from the mouth of the well, and give drink to the
sheep. Then they would roll the stone back to the mouth of the well.
Ja-cob said to the men, Whence do ye come?
And they told him.
And he said, Know ye La-ban, the son of Na-hor?
[Illustration: RA-CHEL AND JA-COB AT THE WELL.]
And they said, We know him.
And he said, Is he well?
And they said, He is well. And there is one of his girls now, Ra-chel,
and she comes this way with her sheep.
While Ja-cob yet spake with the men, Ra-chel came up with the sheep that
she took care of. And when Ja-cob saw her, he came near, and drew the
stone from the mouth of the well, and gave drink to the whole of her
flock.
And as soon as he told her that he was Re-bek-ah's son, she ran home
with the news.
And when La-ban heard that his sis-ter's son was near, he ran out to
meet him, and threw his arms round his neck and kissed him, and brought
him to his house.
And Ja-cob dwelt there for the space of a month.
And La-ban said to Ja-cob, Thou art bone of my bone and flesh of my
flesh, but it is not right for thee to serve me for nought. Tell me how
much I shall pay thee?
Now La-ban had two girls--Le-ah and Ra-chel. And Ja-cob was in love with
Ra-chel; and he said to La-ban, I will serve thee se-ven years if thou
wilt give me Ra-chel for a wife.
And La-ban said it would please him to have Ja-cob for a son-in-law, and
Ja-cob served sev-en years for Ra-chel, and they seemed to him but a few
days, so great was his love for her. And at the end of that time Ja-cob
said to La-ban, Give me my wife, for I have served thee my full time.
And La-ban made a feast, and brought in Le-ah to be Ja-cob's wife. In
those days the bride wore a veil, and the man she wed could not look on
her face till the next day.
So Ja-cob did not find out this trick till the next morn, and then he
came in great wrath to La-ban and said, What is this thou hast done to
us? Did I not serve with thee for Ra-chel? and why did'st thou cheat me?
And La-ban said, In our land the first-born must wed the first. Serve me
sev-en years more, and thou shalt have Ra-chel for a wife. And Ja-cob
did so, and though he dwelt with both--which was thought to be no sin in
those days--he was far more fond of Ra-chel than he was of Le-ah.
Le-ah bore Ja-cob a host of sons, but it was years ere Ra-chel had a
child. And this made her sad. But at last she had a son, and she called
his name Jo-seph. And as soon as Jo-seph was born Ja-cob told La-ban to
give him his wives and all the goods that he owned, and let him go back
to the land he came from.
But La-ban begged him to stay. He had found, he said, that the Lord had
blest him for Ja-cob's sake, and he might have some of the land and the
flocks if he would still serve him.
So Ja-cob took care of La-ban's flocks, and had sheep and goats of his
own, and things went well for a time.
But one day Ja-cob heard La-ban's sons say some hard things of him, and
he saw that La-ban did not give him the kind looks that he used to. And
he felt that the time had come for them to part. And the Lord told
Ja-cob to go back to the land he came from, and he would deal well with
him. And Ja-cob took his wives, and the flocks and the goods he owned,
and set out for the land of Ca-naan.
Ja-cob sent one of his men to E-sau to say that he was on his way home,
and was in hopes he would find grace in his sight.
And the man brought back word that E-sau was on his way to meet Ja-cob
with a large force of men. And Ja-cob thought of the wrongs he had done
his broth-er, and was in great fear of him.
He sought the help of God, and God told him what to do. And Ja-cob sent
great droves of sheep and goats, and ewes and rams, and ca-mels and
colts, and cows, and choice ones from all his live stock, as a gift to
E-sau.
And at night, when no one else was near, a man whose face shone with a
strange light, came to Ja-cob and wound his arms round him and tried to
throw him. And the two strove so hard that Ja-cob's thigh was put out of
joint.
And as it grew light the man said, Let me go, for the day breaks.
Ja-cob said, I will not let thee go till thou hast blest me.
And the man said, What is thy name? And he said, Ja-cob.
And he said, Thy name shall be no more Ja-cob but Is-ra-el, for as a
prince thou hast pow-er with God and with men.
And when he had blest Ja-cob he went his way. And Ja-cob gave the place
the name of Pe-ni-el, for, said he, I have seen God face to face and my
life has been spared. For Ja-cob knew by this that E-sau would not kill
him.
[Illustration: THE MEET-ING OF JA-COB AND E-SAU.]
When Ja-cob was an old, old man Ra-chel bore him a son; and they called
his name Ben-ja-min. And Ra-chel died. And it was hard for Ja-cob to
have her die and leave him, for his love for her was great, and she was
a good wife to him.
CHAPTER VI.
JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN.
JA-COB had twelve sons, and he was more fond of Jo-seph than of all the
rest; for he was the child of his old age. And he gave him a fine coat,
and made a great pet of him. This did not please the rest of the sons,
and they showed their hate of Jo-seph in all sorts of ways.
One night Jo-seph had a strange dream, and he told it to Le-vi,
Sim-e-on, and the rest, and it made them hate him all the more.
He said, As we bound sheaves in the field, lo, my sheaf rose and stood
up straight. And your sheaves stood round, and bowed to my sheaf.
And those who heard him said, Shalt thou in-deed reign o'er us? And his
words and his deeds filled them with a fierce hate.
And it was not long ere he told them of a fresh dream he had had, in
which he saw the sun and moon and e-lev-en stars bow down to him. And he
told it to Ja-cob, and his e-lev-en sons.
And Ja-cob took him to task, and said to him, What does this dream mean?
Are all of us to bow down to the earth to thee? And he made up his mind
to watch these signs, which might be sent of God.
[Illustration: JO-SEPH'S DREAM.]
Now Ja-cob had large flocks of sheep and goats at Shech-em, and all of
his sons but Jo-seph had gone there to feed them. And Ja-cob said to
Jo-seph, Go and see if it be well with thy breth-ren, and with the
flocks, and bring me back word.
And Jo-seph went out from the vale of Heb-ron to the land of Shech-em.
When he came there he found that his broth-ers had gone on to Do-than.
And Jo-seph went to Do-than and found them. And as soon as he came in
sight they thought of a way in which they might get rid of him.
[Illustration: SHECH-EM, THE FIRST CAP-I-TAL OF THE KING-DOM OF
IS-RAEL.]
Come, let us kill him, they said; and throw him in-to a pit, and say
that a wild beast ate him up. Then we shall see what will be-come of his
dreams.
But Reu-ben heard it, and saved him out of their hands. And he said, Let
us not kill the lad. Shed no blood; but cast him in-to this pit, and lay
no hand on him. For he meant to take him out of the pit, and bear him
home to his fath-er.
But when Jo-seph came near these men who should have been kind to him,
they took off his coat and threw him in-to the pit, which was dry, or he
would have drowned. These old dry wells were left as traps in which to
catch the wild beasts that prowled round in the dead of night, and well
these bad men knew what would be Jo-seph's fate.
As they sat down to eat, they looked up and saw a lot of men and cam-els
on their way to E-gypt, with spices, and balm and myrrh.
[Illustration: JO-SEPH SOLD BY HIS BROTH-ERS.]
And Ju-dah--one of Ja-cob's sons--said, Let us not kill the lad, for he
is of our own flesh, but let us sell him to these men. And the rest
thought it was a good scheme. So they drew Jo-seph up out of the pit
and sold him for a small sum, and those who bought the lad took him down
with them to E-gypt.
And the bad men took Jo-seph's coat and dipped it in the blood of a kid
they had slain. And they brought it to Ja-cob, and said, This have we
found. Is it thy son's coat?
And Ja-cob knew it at once, and said, It is my son's coat. Jo-seph has
no doubt been the prey of some wild beast. And his grief was great.
The men who bought Jo-seph brought him down to E-gypt and sold him to
Pot-i-phar for a slave.
And the Lord was with Jo-seph, who served Pot-i-phar so well, that the
rich man put him in charge of his home and lands. But Pot-i-phar's wife
told false tales, and Jo-seph, who had done no wrong, was thrust in-to
jail. Pha-ra-oh was then king of E-gypt. And it came to pass that he
fell out with his but-ler and chief cook, and had them shut up in the
same place where Jo-seph was bound.
And the man on guard put them in charge of Jo-seph, who went in and out
of the ward as he chose. And one morn when he came in to them he saw
they were sad, and asked them why it was.
And they said, We have dreamed dreams, and there is no one to tell us
what they mean.
And Jo-seph said, Tell me them, I pray you.
And the chief but-ler told his dream to Jo-seph first. And he said, In
my dream I saw a vine, that put forth three branch-es and brought forth
ripe grapes.
And Jo-seph said to him, In three days shall Pha-ra-oh lift up thine
head, and put thee back in thy place, and thou shalt serve him as of
old. But think of me when it shall be well with thee; speak of me to the
king, and bring me out of this house.
And the but-ler said that he would.
[Illustration: JO-SEPH'S COAT.]
Then the chief cook told his dream; and he said, In my dream I had three
white bas-kets on my head. And in the top one were all sorts of bake
meats for the king. And the birds did eat out of the bas-ket that I bore
on my head.
And Jo-seph said to him, In three days shall Pha-ra-oh lift up thy head
and hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat the flesh from thy
bones.
The third day was the king's birth-day, and he made a great feast. And
he put the chief but-ler back in his place, and hung the chief cook;
just as Jo-seph had said he would do. But the chief but-ler gave not a
thought to Jo-seph, nor spoke one good word for him to the king, as he
had said he would.
Two years from this time the king had a dream, from which he woke, and
then fell a-sleep and dreamt the self-same dream. This was such a
strange thing that it made the king feel ill at ease. And he sent for
all the wise men in the land to tell him what these dreams meant.
Then the chief but-ler spoke to the king, and said that when he and the
cook were in jail, there was a young man there, a Jew, whom the chief of
the guard made much use of. And we told him our dreams, and he told us
what they meant. And it came out just as he said.
Then the king sent at once for Jo-seph, and said to him: In my dream I
stood on the bank of the Nile. And there came up out of the riv-er
sev-en fat cows, and they fed in a field near by. Then sev-en lean cows
came up that were naught but skin and bone. And the lean cows ate up the
fat cows. And yet no one would have known it, for they were just as
lean as when I first saw them. Then I woke, but soon fell a-sleep once
more.
Then I dreamt, and in my dream I saw sev-en ears of corn come up on one
stalk, full and good. And lo, sev-en ears that were thin and dried up
with the east wind sprang up af-ter them. And the poor ears ate up the
good ones.
Jo-seph said, For sev-en years there will be no lack of food in the
land, and all will go well; and then there will come a time of great
want, and rich and poor will be in need of food, and not a few will
starve to death. Let the king choose a wise man to see that corn is laid
up in the land when the good years bring the rich growth, so that there
will be no lack of food in the years when the crops are small.
[Illustration: PHA-RA-OH'S DREAM.]
And the king said to Jo-seph, Since God hath showed thee all this there
is none so wise as thou art. So he put him in charge of all the land of
E-gypt, and he was to rank next to the king. And the king took a ring
from his own hand and put it on Jo-seph's hand, and when he rode out,
men bowed the knee, and his word was law in all the land. And Jo-seph
took a wife, and he who was brought to E-gypt a slave, was now a rich
man.
And there came years when the grain grew rank in the fields, and the
crops were large. And Jo-seph saw that a large part of it was laid up,
and that there was no waste of the good food. For the end of those rich
years came and then there was a time of dearth in all the lands, when
the earth would not yield, and men and beasts were in want of food.
But there was no lack of corn in E-gypt. And Jo-seph sold the corn that
he had stored in the barns, and crowds came in to buy it.
When Ja-cob heard that corn could be bought in E-gypt, he told his sons
to go down and buy some, that they might not starve to death.
And ten of them went down to buy corn in E-gypt. But Ja-cob kept
Ben-ja-min at home, for fear he would be lost to him as Jo-seph was
lost.
[Illustration: JO-SEPH AND HIS BROTH-ERS.]
When Ja-cob's ten sons came to the place where Jo-seph was, they bowed
down to the ground. And Jo-seph knew them at once, but they did not
know him, or give a thought to his dreams.
And Jo-seph spoke in a rough voice, and said, Whence come ye?
And they said, From the land of Ca-naan to buy food.
And he said, Ye are spies, and have come to see how poor the land is.
And they said to him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are we come. We are
all one man's sons; and we are true men, and not spies.
But Jo-seph would have it that they were spies.
And they said, There were twelve of us, sons of one man. Young
Ben-ja-min is at home with his fa-ther, and one is dead.
And Jo-seph said, Go prove that ye are not spies; let one of the ten
that are here go and fetch the young lad, Ben-ja-min. And he put them in
jail for three days. And he said, Let one of you be bound, and kept in
the guard-house, while the rest of you take back the corn that you need.
And they said that they would do this.
Then he took Sim-e-on from their midst, and had him bound, and put in
the guard-house.
And he sent word to his men to fill their sacks with corn, and to put
back the price in each sack, and to give them food to eat on the way.
And thus did Jo-seph do good to those who did ill to him.
When Ja-cob's nine sons went home they told all that had been said and
done to them, and that the lord of the land bade them bring Ben-ja-min
down to E-gypt or he would think they were spies, and their lives would
not be safe.
Ja-cob said, My son shall not go down with you, for his broth-er is
dead, and he is all I have left. If harm should come to him on the way,
I should die of grief.
[Illustration: THE MEET-ING OF JO-SEPH AND BEN-JA-MIN.]
When the corn they had brought from E-gypt was all gone, Ja-cob told his
sons to go down and buy more. And Ju-dah spoke up and said, The man
swore we should not see his face if Ben-ja-min was not with us. If thou
wilt send him with us we will go; but if thou wilt not send him we will
not go down.
Then Ja-cob said, If it must be so, take Ben-ja-min with you, and may
God give you grace with this man that he may send my two boys back to
me.
So the men took Ben-ja-min and went down to E-gypt, and stood face to
face with Jo-seph.
And they gave Jo-seph the gifts they had brought, and bowed down to the
earth. And he asked how they all were, and if their fath-er was well;
and when he saw Ben-ja-min he said, Is this the young broth-er of whom
you spoke? And he said to the lad, God be good to thee, my son.
And Jo-seph's heart was so full at sight of the boy, and he longed so to
throw his arms round him, that he had to make haste and leave the room
that his tears might not be seen.
Then he came back and had the feast set out, and all did eat and drink,
and were glad at heart. And when the time came for his guests to leave,
Jo-seph told his head man to fill their sacks with corn, to put their
gold back in the mouth of the sacks, and to put in the young lad's sack
the cup from which Jo-seph drank at each meal.
This was done, and when they had gone out of the town Jo-seph bade his
man go and say to them: My lord's cup is lost, and you must know who
stole it.
And when the man came up with Ja-cob's sons, he said just what Jo-seph
told him to say. And they were all in a rage, and said: Why does my lord
say such things of us? If the cup is found on one of us, kill him; and
make the rest of us slaves.
And each one of them cast his sack on the ground, and loosed it at the
top. And the cup was found in Ben-ja-min's sack. Then they rent their
clothes, and in great grief went back to Jo-seph's house and found him
there. And they fell down at his feet.
[Illustration: JA-COB BLESS-ES JO-SEPH'S CHIL-DREN.]
And Ju-dah said, God has found out our sins. Let us be your slaves; and
take him as well in whose sack the cup was found.
Jo-seph said, No; but the man in whose sack the cup was found shall stay
and serve me, and the rest shall go in peace.
Then Ju-dah, who had sworn that he would bring back the boy, said to
Jo-seph: If we go home, and our fath-er sees the lad is not with us, he
will die of grief. For his life is bound up in the lad's life.
Jo-seph could not keep back his tears, and when he had sent all the men
of E-gypt out of the room, he said to his broth-ers, Come near, I pray
you.
And they came near. And he said, I am Jo-seph, whom ye sold in-to
E-gypt. But grieve not that ye did this thing, for God did send me here
that I might save your lives. Go home and tell my fath-er that God hath
made me lord of all E-gypt, and bid him come down to me at once. And say
that he shall dwell near me, in the land of Go-shen, and I will take
care of him.
Then he fell on Ben-ja-min's neck, and they wept; and he kissed his
broth-ers and shed tears, but they were tears of joy.
Ja-cob took all that he had and went down to E-gypt. And three-score and
ten souls went with him. And they dwelt in the land of Go-shen, and
Ja-cob died there.
Jo-seph's breth-ren thought that he would hate them now that their
fath-er was dead. And they fell down at his feet and wept and prayed
that he would do them no harm.
Jo-seph bade them fear not, for he would take care of them and be kind
to them. They had meant to do him an ill turn when he was a lad, but God
had made it turn out for good, and it was all right. And Jo-seph lived
to a good old age, and had two sons, whose names were E-phra-im and
Ma-nas-seh.
CHAPTER VII.
THROUGH THE RED SEA AND THE WILDERNESS.
BY and by there rose up a new King in E-gypt who knew not Jo-seph. He
was called Pha-ra-oh, as this was the name by which all the kings of
E-gypt were known. And he said there were more He-brews, or Jews, in the
land than there ought to be, and if war should break out, and these Jews
should take sides with the foes of Pha-ra-oh and his race, they would be
sure to win. So he set them hard tasks, and made them bear great loads,
and did all he could to vex them, and still they grew in strength. God
had said they were to be as the stars in the sky, and as the sands of
the sea, that no one could count. And the king of E-gypt tried to stop
this thing.
And he made it a law that if a boy child was born to the He-brews it
should be put to death at once; but a girl child might live. And this
was the cause of great grief to the poor bond-slaves, who were forced to
do the will of the great king.
One day the prin-cess went down to bathe in the stream that ran near her
house. And her maids went with her. And as she stood on the shore of the
Nile, she caught sight of a small boat built like an ark, that was hid
in the reeds, and sent her maids to fetch it out.
When the prin-cess looked in the ark she saw the child. And the babe
wept. And the prin-cess tried to soothe it, but the child cried the
more, for her voice was a strange one. And she said, This is a He-brew
child.
And one of her maids spoke up, and said, Shall I get thee a He-brew
nurse, that she may nurse the child for thee?
And the prin-cess said, Yes; go.
And the maid brought her own and the babe's moth-er, to whom the
prin-cess said, Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay thee
for it.
And the wo-man took the child and took care of it.
[Illustration: THE FIND-ING OF MO-SES.]
And the child grew, and was brought down to Pha-ra-oh's house, and the
prin-cess made him her son, and gave him the name of Mo-ses: which means
"Drawn out."
One day, when Mo-ses had grown to be a man, he went out to look at those
of his own race, and to watch them at their tasks. And while he stood
there a man from E-gypt struck one of the Jews; and when Mo-ses looked
to the right and to the left and saw that no one was near, he slew the
one from E-gypt and hid him in the sand.
And the next day, when he went out, he saw there was a fight be-tween
two He-brews. And he said to the one who was in the wrong, Why did you
strike that man?
And he said, Who made thee our judge? Dost thou want to kill me, as thou
didst the one from E-gypt?
And Mo-ses was scared, for he thought no one knew of this deed.
As soon as it came to the ears of the king, he sought to slay Mo-ses.
But Mo-ses fled from him, and dwelt in the land of Mid-i-an, and found a
wife there, and took care of the flocks of Jeth-ro, his wife's fath-er.
One day as he led his flock out in search of food he came to Mount
Ho-reb, and there he saw a flame of fire stream out of a bush, and the
bush was not burnt in the least.
As he drew near the bush the Lord spoke to him out of the flame, and
Mo-ses hid his face, for he dared not look on God.
The Lord said, The cry of the chil-dren of Is-ra-el has come up to me,
and I have seen how ill they have been used. And I will send thee to
Pha-ra-oh that thou mayst bring them forth out of the land of E-gypt.
But Mo-ses was loth to go.
[Illustration: MO-SES BROUGHT BE-FORE PHA-RA-OH'S DAUGH-TER.]
And the Lord said, What is that in thine hand? And Mo-ses said, A rod,
And the Lord said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground,
and it was changed to a snake, and Mo-ses fled from it. Then the Lord
said to Mo-ses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And
Mo-ses did so, and it was a rod in his hand. And the Lord said, Put now
thy hand in on thy breast. And he put it in, and when he drew it out it
was white, and like a dead hand. And he put his hand in once more, and
drew it out, and it was like the rest of his flesh.
Then Mo-ses said, O, my Lord, I am not fit to do this work, for I am
slow of speech, and a man of few words.
And the Lord said to him, I will be with thee, and teach thee what thou
wilt say.
Still Mo-ses was loth to go, and the Lord was wroth with him, and said,
Take Aa-ron with thee. He can speak well. And thou shalt tell him what
to say and do, and I will teach you, and with this rod in thy hand thou
shalt do great things, as if thou wert God.
So Mo-ses took his wife and his sons and put them on an ass, and went
back to E-gypt with the rod of God in his hand.
And Mo-ses and Aa-ron went in to the king and begged him to let the
He-brews go out of the land. And he would not, but laid more work on the
men, and bade them make bricks with-out straw, and do all sorts of hard
tasks.
And the Lord sent plagues on the land, and the ponds dried up, and all
the large streams were turned to blood, and the fish died, and the
stench of them made the air scarce fit to breathe. And there was no
wa-ter they could drink. Then there came a plague of frogs, and they
were so thick in the land that Pha-ra-oh said he would let the chil-dren
of Is-ra-el go if Mo-ses would rid him of the frogs at the same time.
But the king did not keep his word, for as soon as he found the frogs
grew less, he said the He-brews should not go.
Then the Lord smote the land with lice; but still Pha-ra-oh's heart was
hard.
[Illustration: MOS-ES AT THE BURN-ING BUSH.]
Then the Lord sent flies in such swarms that there was no place that
was free from them, and they made the food not fit to eat.
And the king told Mo-ses he would let the bond-slaves go to serve their
God, but they were not to go far till the land was rid of flies. Then
Mo-ses went forth and prayed to God, and the flies left the land. But
still the king's heart was hard, and he would not let them go.
Then the Lord sent worse plagues: the flocks and herds died; there were
boils on man and beast; the crops did not come up, and rain, hail, and
balls of fire came down from the sky. And still the heart of the king
was as hard as stone. Then the Lord sent lo-custs, that ate up all the
hail had left, and there was not a green leaf on the trees nor a blade
of grass to be seen in the whole land.
And the king bade Mo-ses to set him free from this plague. And the Lord
sent a strong west wind, that blew the flies in-to the Red Sea. Yet
Pha-ra-oh would not let the He-brews go.
Then the Lord told Mo-ses to stretch out his hand, and there came up a
thick cloud that made the land so dark that the folks staid in bed for
three days. And Pha-ra-oh said to Mo-ses, Get thee out of my sight. For
if I see thy face thou shalt die.
And Mo-ses said, Thou hast well said: I will see thy face no more.
And the Lord sent one more plague on E-gypt: he smote the first-born of
men and of beasts, and a great cry was heard through the land. And then
Pha-ra-oh had to let the chil-dren of Is-ra-el go, for he could not keep
up this strife with God. And Mo-ses led the He-brew chil-dren out of
E-gypt, and the Lord sent a cloud by day and a fire by night to show
them the way.
And when they were in camp by the Red Sea, they looked up and saw
Pha-ra-oh and his hosts, and were in great fear lest he should kill
them. And they cried out to the Lord, and blamed Mo-ses that he had
brought them in-to such straits.
[Illustration: MIR-I-AM, THE SIS-TER OF MO-SES, AND THE WO-MEN OF
IS-RAEL SING-ING PRAISES.]
As they came to the Red Sea, Mo-ses raised his rod and the sea rose like
a wall on each side, and the chil-dren of Is-ra-el went on dry land
through the midst of the sea.
Then Pha-ra-oh and his hosts came close in the rear, and passed down
be-tween the great sea-wall that rose at the right hand and at the left.
And the waves that had stood still at a sign from God were let loose,
and the king and his horse-men were swept out of sight.
When the chil-dren of Is-ra-el came out of the Red Sea they were three
days with naught to drink. And when they came to a stream, called
Ma-rah, they found it bitter. And they said to Mo-ses, What shall we
drink?
And Mo-ses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, and
when he had cast a branch of it in the stream it was made sweet at once.
And they came to E-lim, where were ten wells and three-score palm-trees,
and there they made their camp.
It was not long ere there was a great cry for bread.
And Mo-ses plead with God, and when the sun went down that day quails
flew in-to the camp, and they had all the meat they cared to eat. At
dawn of the next day, as soon as the dew was off the ground, there came
a rain of what was at first thought to be hail-stones.
[Illustration: THE CROSS-ING OF THE RED SEA.]
But Mo-ses said it was food that God had sent them to eat, and they
were to take all and no more than they would need for one day. For they
were to trust in God that he would feed them each day. On the sixth day
they were to take what would last them for two days, for no food fell on
the day of rest.
This new food was called man-na.
As they went on they came to Reph-i-dim, but found no wa-ter to drink.
And they found fault with Mo-ses. And Mo-ses cried out, Lord, what shall
I do to these, who have a mind to stone me?
At this time they were near Mount Ho-reb, where God spoke to Mo-ses out
of a bush that was on fire, yet not burnt.
[Illustration: MO-SES AND THE TA-BLES OF THE LAW.]
And God told Mo-ses to take his rod in his hand and go on till he came
to a rock. And this rock he was to strike with his rod, and wa-ter would
flow out of it. And Mo-ses did as the Lord told him, and when he struck
the rock the wa-ter ran out.
In the third month from the time they left E-gypt, the chil-dren of
Is-ra-el came near Mount Si-na-i, and went in-to camp. And Mo-ses went
up to the top of the Mount, and the Lord spoke to him there.
On the third day a thick cloud of smoke rose from Mount Si-na-i, and a
loud noise that made those that heard it quake with fear. And Mo-ses led
his flock out of the camp, and they came and stood at the foot of the
mount. And they said to Mo-ses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear;
but let not God speak with us lest we die. But Mo-ses told them that God
had not come to make them die, but to make them fear to do aught that
did not please him.
And God gave to Mo-ses two blocks of stone on which were the Ten Laws
that the chil-dren of Is-ra-el were to keep.
[Illustration: WELL AND PALM-TREES IN THE DES-ERT.]
[Illustration: THE RIV-ER NILE IN E-GYPT.]
Now while Mo-ses was in the mount, face to face with God, those whom he
had brought out of E-gypt were in camp at the foot. And Mo-ses staid so
long that they made up their minds he would not come back. So they said
to Aa-ron, Make us a God that we can bow down to. And Aa-ron bade them
throw all the gold they had in-to the fire. And they did so, and it took
the form of a calf. And when God saw this he was not pleased, but bade
Mo-ses make haste down the mount.
When Mo-ses came down from the mount with the two flat stones in his
hands, and drew near the camp, and saw what had been done, he was in a
great rage. He cast the blocks of stone out of his hands and broke them
at the foot of the mount.
Then he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire till
there was nought left of it but a fine dust. And Mo-ses begged God to
blot out the sins of those whom he had led out of E-gypt. And the Lord
told Mo-ses to hew out two blocks of stone like to the first, and bring
them up with him to the top of Mount Si-na-i.
This Mo-ses did, and the Lord wrote on them the Ten Laws that all were
to keep if they would reach the land they sought.
They were more than two-score years on the road, and in that time they
met with plagues, and there was strife in their midst, yet as they went
there was the fire by night and the cloud by day to show that the Lord
was with them.
When they came to Mount Hor and were yet a long way from Ca-naan, Aa-ron
died, and there was great grief at his loss. They were sick at heart and
foot-sore, and spoke hard words of God and Mo-ses. There is no bread
here for us, they said, and no wa-ter, and we loathe this man-na. And
for this sin God sent snakes in-to their camp, and they bit the
chil-dren of Is-ra-el so that a few of them died. Then they plead with
Mo-ses to rid them of the snakes, and make their peace with God.
And Mo-ses prayed for them. And God told him to make a snake like to
those which bit his flock, and set it up on a pole. And all those who
would look at this brass snake should be made well.
[Illustration: MOS-ES ON MOUNT SINAI.]
And Mo-ses did so. And this sign was meant to show forth Christ, who
was to heal men of their sins, and to be raised up on a cross.
[Illustration: BA-LAAM AND THE ASS.]
And Mo-ses led his flock till they came to the plains of Mo-ab. And
Ba-lak, the king of that land, thought they had come to fight with him,
and he sent a man named Ba-laam out to curse them and drive them back.
He told Ba-laam he would make him a rich man if he would do this thing,
and as Ba-laam was fond of wealth he said he would do the king's will.
So he set forth on his ass, and had not gone far when he met an an-gel
with a drawn sword in his hand. Ba-laam did not see him, but the ass
did and turned out of the road. But the an-gel went on and stood in a
place where there was a wall on each side.
When the ass came to the place she went close to the wall and tried to
get by. But she hurt Ba-laam's foot and he struck her and made her go
on. And the an-gel went on and stood in a place where there was no room
to turn to the right hand or the left.
Then the ass shook with fright and fell down on the ground. And Ba-laam
struck her with the staff that he had in his hand.
And the Lord made the ass speak like a man, and say, What have I done to
thee that thou hast struck me these three times?
Ba-laam said, To make thee move on: I would there were a sword in my
hand, for I would kill thee.
Then the ass said, Am I not thine? and have I been wont to do so to
thee? And Ba-laam said, No. Then the Lord made Ba-laam see the an-gel
that stood in the way with a drawn sword in his hand, and Ba-laam bowed
his face to the ground.
Then the an-gel said, Why hast thou struck thine ass these three times?
Lo, I came out to stop thee, and to turn thee from the way of sin. And
the ass saw me, and turned from the path, and if she had not done so I
would have slain thee.
Then he said to Ba-laam, Go with the men the king has sent, but say
on-ly what I shall tell thee.
So Ba-laam went with the men, and when Ba-lak heard that he was come he
went out to meet him. The next day Ba-lak took Ba-laam to a high place,
from whence he could look down on the camp of Is-ra-el, and curse them.
But the Lord would not let him curse them, but made him speak good
things of them. This was done on three high mounts, and at last the king
was wroth, and said to Ba-laam, I sent for thee to curse my foes, and
lo, these three times hast thou blest them.
[Illustration: MO-SES ON MOUNT NE-BO.]
And Ba-lak bade him make haste and go back to his own home. And Ba-laam
went off as poor as he came, for Ba-lak gave him none of his gold.
The Lord brought Mo-ses and his flock to the banks of the Jor-dan, which
they would have to cross to reach the land of Ca-naan. And while they
were there, Mo-ses went up to the top of Mount Ne-bo to talk with God.
And God told him how large the land was that he would give to the
chil-dren of Is-ra-el. And he said that Mo-ses should look on it, but
should not step foot in the land. And Mo-ses died on Mount Ne-bo, and
though an old man, was well and strong till the Lord took him. And no
one knows in what part of the earth his grave was made.
CHAPTER VIII.
HOW JOSHUA AND JEPHTHAH FOUGHT FOR THE LORD.
WHEN Mo-ses died, Josh-u-a took charge of the chil-dren of Is-ra-el, and
sought to do God's will, as Mo-ses had done. And Josh-u-a sent word
through the camp that in three days they would cross the Jor-dan. And
when they set foot in the stream the waves stood back as they did in the
Red Sea, and they went through Jor-dan on dry ground. And as they came
up out of the stream the waves closed up and there was no path-way
through them.
The chil-dren of Is-ra-el made their camp at a place called Gil-gal; and
as there was no lack of food in this good land, the Lord ceased to rain
down man-na for them to eat.
The next day Josh-u-a left the camp and came near to the walls of
Jer-i-cho. There he met a man with a drawn sword in his hand. And
Josh-u-a said, Art thou for us or for our foes?
And the man said, As prince of the Lord's host am I now come. And at
these words Josh-u-a fell on his face to the earth; for he knew it was
the Lord that spoke to him.
[Illustration: PASS-ING THROUGH THE JOR-DAN.]
The Lord told Josh-u-a to have no fear of the king of Jer-i-cho, for
the chil-dren of Is-ra-el should take the town. All their men of war
were to march round the town once each day for six days. Some of the
priests were to bear the ark, which held the things they made use of
when they went in to talk with God, and some were to blow on rams'
horns.
And the next day--when the six days were at an end--they were to march
round the town sev-en times, and the priests were to blow their horns.
And when the men of Is-ra-el heard a long loud blast they were all to
give a great shout and the wall would fall flat to the ground, and they
could march in and take the town.
Josh-u-a bade his men do all the Lord had said; and told them to make no
noise with their voice as they went their rounds till he bade them
shout. And when the priests blew their horns for the last time, Josh-u-a
cried, Shout! for the Lord is with us! and there was a great shout and
the wall fell, and they took the town; and the fame of Josh-u-a spread
through all the lands.
Josh-u-a fought with more than a score of kings and won their lands from
them; but yet there was much land in Ca-naan for which the chil-dren of
Is-ra-el would have to fight.
But as the years went on, Josh-u-a grew so old that he could not lead
his men to war as he used to do. And he called his flock to him and
told them how good the Lord had been to them. And he bade them love the
Lord and serve him, and put from them all strange gods. He said, Choose
ye this day whom ye will serve; but as for me and my house we will serve
the Lord.
[Illustration: JOSH-U-A AND THE STONE OF WIT-NESS.]
And the men said, The Lord hath done great things for us, and him will
we serve, for he is our God.
And Josh-u-a took a great stone and set it up 'neath an oak tree that
stood near where the ark was kept at Shi-loh. And this stone, he said,
was to be a sign of the vow they had made there to serve the Lord. And
when the talk was at an end, the men went to their own homes.
And ere long Josh-u-a died. And they laid him in the part of the land
that God gave him as his own, on the north side of the hill of Ga-ash.
Then the chil-dren of Is-ra-el went to war with the tribes that were in
the land of Ca-naan, as Josh-u-a had told them to do. But they did not
drive them all out, as they should have done, but made friends with
those that were left, and were led in-to sin, and were made to serve as
bond-slaves. And when they were sick of their sins, and sought the help
of the Lord, he sent men to rule them, and to lead them out to war and
set them free from these friends who proved to be the worst kind of
foes.
Now there was a man in Is-ra-el whose name was Jeph-thah. He was a brave
man, and had done great deeds, but the chil-dren of Is-ra-el were not
kind to him, so he fled from their land, and went to live in the land of
Tob. But when the Jews had need of a man to lead them out to war, they
thought of Jeph-thah. And they said, Come, and be at the head of us
when we go out to fight the Am-mon-ites.
And Jeph-thah said, If I go with you, and win the fight, will you make
me judge in Is-ra-el?
And they said they would.
Now ere the fight took place, Jeph-thah made a vow that if the Lord
would let him win he would give to God--that is, would slay and burn as
if it were a lamb--the first who came out of his doors to meet him when
he went back to his home.
Jeph-thah should not have made this rash vow, and need not have kept it
if he had asked God to for-give the sin.
He went out to fight the Am-mon-ites, and by the help of the Lord the
chil-dren of Is-ra-el were set free from them.
[Illustration: JEPH-THAH AND HIS DAUGH-TER.]
When the fight was at an end Jeph-thah went back to his home, and the
first to come out to meet him was his own child, a fair young maid,
whose face was bright with joy. She was all the child that Jeph-thah
had, and when he saw her he rent his clothes and told her of the vow he
had made.
And she said, My fath-er, if thou hast made a vow to the Lord, do with
me as thou hast said. And he took his child and did to her as he had
said he would, and all the young girls in Is-ra-el wept for her.
Jeph-thah was a judge for six years, and then he died.
CHAPTER IX.
SAMSON: THE STRONG MAN.
THE Jews kept on in their sins, and took no pains to please the Lord,
and so fell in-to the hands of the Phil-is-tines.
And there was at that time a man in Is-ra-el whose name was Ma-no-ah.
Both he and his wife served the Lord; and they had no child. And God
sent one of his an-gels to the wife of Ma-no-ah to tell her that she
should have a son who was to be brought up to serve the Lord, and to do
his work.
Ere long Ma-no-ah and his wife had a son, to whom they gave the name of
Sam-son.
And the child grew, and the Lord blest him. And when he was grown up he
went to Tin-muth, where he met a Phil-is-tine wo-man and fell in love
with her.
Then his pa-rents plead with him to find a wife in Is-ra-el, and not to
take this one who was no friend to his race. But Sam-son would not give
her up.
So they went with him to Tin-muth. And on the way a li-on ran out and
roared at him. And Sam-son put his arms round the beast and tore him
with his hands as if he had been a young kid. But he did not tell his
fath-er and moth-er what he had done.
The time soon came when Sam-son was to set the Jews free from the
Phil-is-tines. And he went down to one of their towns and slew a few of
their men, and then went back to his own home, while his wife stayed in
Tin-muth.
When it was time to bring the wheat in from the field, Sam-son went down
to see his wife, and took with him a young kid. But when he came to the
house her fath-er would not let him go in, and told him that she was his
wife no more, but had gone to live with some one else. Then Sam-son was
in a great rage, and he went and caught more than ten score fox-es, and
set bits of wood on fire, and tied these fire-brands to their tails, and
let them loose in the fields and vine-yards of the Phil-is-tines.
And they set fire to the grain, and burnt it all up.
And the grape-vines and fruit trees were burnt, and much harm was done.
When the Phil-is-tines found out that it was Sam-son who had done this
they took his wife and her fath-er and burnt them to death. And Sam-son
fought and slew a host of the Phil-is-tines, and then went on the top of
a high rock called E-tam to stay there.
Then a crowd of men went up with a rush to the top of the rock, and they
said to Sam-son, We have come to bind thee, that we may give thee in-to
the hands of the Phil-is-tines.
Sam-son made them swear that they would not put him to death, and they
bound him with strong cords and brought him down from the rock.
As they drew near the camp of the Phil-is-tines a great shout went up
from the men there. And the Lord gave Sam-son such strength that he
broke the cords from his arms as if they had been burnt threads.
And Sam-son took up the jaw-bone of an ass, and with it he fought the
Phil-is-tines and slew a host of them.
[Illustration: SAM-SON SLAY-ING THE PHIL-IS-TINES.]
Then a great thirst came on him, and there was no well near from which
he could drink. And he grew so weak that he cried out to the Lord not to
let him die of thirst or fall in-to the hands of his foes.
And the Lord made a spring at that place and wa-ter ran out, and when
Sam-son had drunk, his strength came back to him.
Sam-son came to the town of Ga-za, and went in a house there. Now the
Phil-is-tines dwelt in Ga-za, and when they heard that Sam-son was there
they shut the gates of the town, and kept watch near them all night.
They said when the day dawns we will kill him.
But in the dead of the night Sam-son rose up and came to the gates of
the town, and when he found them shut he took them up--posts, bar and
all--and bore them a long way off to the top of a hill.
Sam-son's hair had not been cut, and it had grown thick and long. And
there was a wo-man named De-li-lah whom Sam-son used to go and see. And
when the Phil-is-tines heard of it they came to her and told her if she
would find out how they might bind Sam-son and bear him off, they would
give her a large sum of gold.
So when Sam-son came to De-li-lah's house she said to him, Tell me, I
pray thee what makes thee so strong, and with what thou couldst be bound
and not break loose?
Sam-son said if they bound him with sev-en green withes--that is, cords
made out of soft twigs--he would be so weak that he could not break
them.
When De-li-lah told this to the Phil-is-tines they brought her sev-en
green withes, and Sam-son let her bind him with them. Now she had men
hid in her house who were to take Sam-son if he could not break the
twigs. And when she had bound him she cried out, The Phil-is-tines seize
thee, Sam-son! And as soon as she had said these words he broke the
green withes as if they were burnt threads.
Then De-li-lah knew that Sam-son made fun of her and told her lies, and
she said once more, Tell me, I pray thee, with what thou canst be bound
and not break loose.
[Illustration: SAM-SON CAR-RY-ING THE GATES OF GA-ZA.]
Sam-son told her if he were bound with new ropes, which had not been
used, that his strength would leave him, and he would be too weak to
break them.
So she took new ropes and bound him. But ere the men who were hid in the
room could spring out and take him, Sam-son broke the ropes from his
arms as if they had been threads.
Then De-li-lah told Sam-son that he did but mock her and tell her lies,
and she begged him to let her know how he might be bound.
And he said if she would weave his hair with the web in the loom his
strength would go from him. And she wove his long hair in with the web,
and made it fast with a large peg that was part of the loom.
Then she cried out, and Sam-son rose up and went off with the great peg,
and the whole of the web that was in the loom.
Then she said he did not love her or he would not make sport of her in
this way. And she teased him each day, and gave him no peace, so that at
last he had to tell her the truth.
He said his hair had not been cut since he was born, and if it were
shaved off he would lose all his strength.
It was wrong for Sam-son to tell her this, for she was bad at heart and
not a true friend. But he did not know then how great was his sin.
De-li-lah knew that this time Sam-son had told her the truth; so she
sent for the Phil-is-tines to come up to her house.
Then while Sam-son slept, she had a man come in and shave all the hair
from his head. And when this was done she cried out, The Phil-is-tines
seize thee, Sam-son.
[Illustration: SAM-SON AND DE-LI-LAH.]
And he woke from his sleep, and knew not his strength had gone from him.
Then the Phil-is-tines took him and put out his eyes, brought him down
to Ga-za, and bound him with chains of brass. And they made him fast to
a mill-stone, and he had to work hard to grind their corn.
While he was shut up in jail Sam-son had time to think of his sins, and
he no doubt cried out to the Lord to keep him. For his hair grew out
and his strength came back. But the Phil-is-tines did not know this.
They had made their own god, and its name was Da-gon. And they thought
that Da-gon gave Sam-son in-to their hands, and loud was their praise of
him. And all the Phil-is-tines met in the large house that had been
built for Da-gon that they might bow down to their god and give him
thanks.
The crowd was great, and their hearts were full of joy. And they said,
Send for Sam-son that he may make sport for us. And poor blind Sam-son
was brought in, and sat down in their midst. And those in the house and
those on the roof made sport of him in all sorts of ways.
And Sam-son put his arms round two of the great posts that held up the
house. And he bent down, and the house fell, and most of the
Phil-is-tines were killed. Sam-son died with them, and by his death slew
more of the foes of Is-ra-el than he had slain in all his life.
[Illustration: SAM-SON DE-STROYS THE TEM-PLE.]
CHAPTER X.
RUTH.
WHILE Is-ra-el was ruled by a judge whose name has not come down to us,
a dearth came on the land of Ca-naan. And one of the Jews who dwelt in
Beth-le-hem, took his wife and his two sons and went to stay for a while
in the land of Mo-ab. His wife's name was Na-o-mi. The man died while
they were in Mo-ab, and in a few years each of the sons took him a wife.
And their names were Or-pah and Ruth. At the end of ten years the sons
died, and Na-o-mi and their wives dwelt in the land of Mo-ab.
When Na-o-mi heard there was no lack of food in Is-ra-el, she made up
her mind to go back to Beth-le-hem to live.
She told Or-pah and Ruth of her plan, and said if they choose to stay in
the land of Mo-ab, where they were born, they might do so.
And they kissed her and wept and said they would go with her. But she
bade them stay where they were, and at last Or-pah, with tears in her
eyes, kissed Na-o-mi good-bye and went back to her own home. But Ruth
would not leave her. She told Na-o-mi not to urge her to go, for nought
but death should part them.
[Illustration: RUTH AND NA-O-MI.]
So they went to the town of Beth-le-hem where Na-o-mi used to live.
It was the days when the grain was ripe in the fields, and the men had
gone out to cut it down.
And Na-o-mi had a kins-man in Beth-le-hem, whose name was Bo-az, and he
was a rich and great man. And Ruth said to Na-o-mi, Let me now go to the
fields and glean the ears of corn.
To glean is to pick up. And poor folks, who had no fields of their own,
went to pick up that which was left on the ground for them.
[Illustration: RUTH.]
And Na-o-mi told Ruth to go. And she went out and came to the field that
was owned by the rich man, Bo-az.
When Bo-az saw Ruth he asked the men who she was, and where she came
from. And one of them said, She came with Na-o-mi from the land of
Mo-ab. And she said to us, I pray you let me glean where the field has
been reaped. And we told her she might, and she has been there for some
hours. Then Bo-az went to Ruth.
So she went out each day to his field, and gleaned there till the grain
was all cut and in the barns.
Na-o-mi said to Ruth, Bo-az will win-now the bar-ley to-night. To
win-now is to fan, or to drive off by means of a wind. The grain was
first threshed, then thrown from the hands up in the air. The wind would
blow off the chaff and the good grain would fall to the ground.
[Illustration: BO-AZ AND RUTH.]
Na-o-mi told Ruth to go in and speak to Bo-az the things she told her.
So Ruth did as Na-o-mi said, and went down to the fields where Bo-az and
his men were.
When she came back to Na-o-mi she told her all that she had said and
done.
The next day Bo-az went down to the gate of Beth-le-hem, and told all
the chief men whom he met there that he meant to make Ruth his wife. And
the men said they would make it known, and prayed the Lord would bless
Ruth and add to the fame and wealth of the rich and great Bo-az.
So Bo-az took Ruth for his wife. And they had a son O-bed. And Na-o-mi
was its nurse.
CHAPTER XI.
JOB.
THERE was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. He was a good man
and tried to do all that was right in the sight of the Lord. And God
gave him ten chil-dren: sev-en boys and three girls. He gave Job great
wealth, too, so that there was no man in all that part of the world as
rich as he was.
When Job's sons were grown up and had homes of their own, they used to
make feasts in turn, and send for their three sis-ters to come and eat
and drink with them. And Job kept them in mind of all they owed to God,
and urged them to lead good and true lives, and to do no wrong.
When Job had lived at his ease and been a rich man for a long term of
years, a great change took place. He lost all his wealth, and all his
chil-dren; for it was God's will to try him and see how he would bear
these ills.
One day one of his men came to him in great haste, and said, While we
were in the field with the ploughs, a band of thieves came and drove off
the ox-en and ass-es and slew thy men who were with them, and I a-lone
am left to tell thee.
While this man spoke, there came up one who said, A great fire has come
down from the sky and burnt up thy sheep, and all those who took care of
them, and I a-lone am left to tell thee.
While he yet spoke, a third man came and said, Thy foes came and took
all thy cam-els, and slew the men who had charge of them, and I a-lone
am left to tell thee.
Then a fourth came, and said, Thy chil-dren were at a feast in the house
of thy first-born son, when there came a great wind that broke down the
house, and it fell on the young men and they are all dead, and I a-lone
am left to tell thee.
When Job heard these things he tore his clothes, and bowed down to the
earth, as if at the feet of God. And he said, I had nought when I came
in-to the world, and I shall have nought when I die and go out of it.
God gave me all that I had, and God took it from me. He knows what is
best for me, and I thank him for all that he has done. So Job did not
sin, nor speak ill of God, though his grief was so great and had come
up-on him in such a strange, swift way.
To try Job still more, God let him get sick and he was in great pain.
Boils came on him and from head to foot he was a mass of sores.
Then his wife came to Job and said, Dost thou still trust God? Do so no
more, but curse him, though he kill thee for it.
Job said, Thou dost not speak wise words. When we have so much good from
God, shall we not be con-tent to take our share of the ills he may send?
In all this Job said not a word that was wrong.
Now Job had three friends, who, when they heard of his hard lot, came to
talk with him and cheer him. But when they saw him, the change was so
great they did not know him.
Then they rent their clothes and wept, and sat down on the ground near
him, but did not speak for some time, for they could see that his grief
was great. These friends thought that Job must have done some great sin,
else these ills would not have been sent up-on him. When they spoke to
him they said, If thou hast done wrong, do so no more, and God will free
thee from thy pains.
[Illustration: JOB, AND HIS FRIENDS.]
Now Job knew that he had done no wrong, and he said to them, You came
to soothe me, but what you say does not soothe me at all. Did I send for
you, or ask you to help me? If you were in such grief as I am, I might
say hard things of you and call you bad men. But I would not do so; but
would speak kind words to you, and try to help you bear your ills, and
to make your grief less.
Then Job spoke of his own griefs, and said: O, that the Lord would put
me to death that I might suf-fer no more. When I lie down at night I
can-not sleep, but toss on my bed in pain and wish the day would dawn.
Or, if I fall a-sleep for a while, I have the worst kind of dreams, so
that I would be glad to die and wake no more in this world. O, that I
had some one to speak to God for me, for he does not hear when I pray.
Yet I know that he lives who will save my soul, and that he will come on
the earth, and I shall rise up from my grave and see God for my-self.
But when Job found that he could not die, nor be made well, but must
still bear his pains, he grew cross, and was not at all like the Job of
old. He found fault, and said that his griefs were too great, and that
God was not kind to put him in such pain.
His three friends did not try to calm him, or to cheer him with the hope
that his woes would soon be at an end, nor did they bid him trust in God
and seek help and strength from him. But they told him that he must
have done some great wrong, else God would not have sent all these ills
up-on him.
This did not please Job, and he spoke to them in great wrath, and they
spoke back in the same style.
When they had talked in this way for some time, and had each of them
said things they ought not to have said, they heard a voice speak to
them out of a whirl-wind that swept by the place. It was the voice of
God.
And the voice spoke to Job and told him of the great works that God had
done; that it was he who made the earth, the sea, and the sky. He sends
the rain on the field to make the grass grow and the flow-ers to spring
up. He sends the cold and the heat, the frost and the snow, and the ice
that stops the flow of the streams. He sends the clouds, and the roar
and the flash that come from them when the storms rage. He made the
horse that is so swift and strong, and has no fear in time of war, but
will rush in-to the fight at the sound of the trump.
All this and more the voice spoke from the whirl-wind. And when God had
told Job of all these great works, he asked him if he could do these
things, or if he thought he was so wise that he could teach God what it
was best to do.
Then Job saw what a sin it was to find fault with God. And he was full
of shame, and said: My guilt is great; I spoke of that of which I knew
naught, and I bow down in the dust be-fore thee.
God said to Job's three friends, I am wroth with you, for you did not
speak in the right way to Job. Now, lest I pun-ish you, take sev-en
young bulls and sev-en rams and burn them on the al-tar, and ask Job to
pray for you, for him will I hear. So they did as the Lord told them,
and Job prayed for them, and God for-gave them their sins.
In a short time Job was well once more. His pains all left him; and then
his friends and all his folks came to see him and they had a good feast.
And each man brought him a rich gift, and the Lord blest him more than
he had done be-fore, and gave him twice as much wealth. He had great
herds of sheep, and cam-els, and ox-en and ass-es, and large fields for
them to roam in, and a host of men to care for them. So that he was a
great man once more.
And God gave him ten chil-dren: sev-en boys and three girls. And when
these girls grew up, there were no maids in all the land so fair as they
in face and form. And Job had great peace of mind, and dwelt at his ease
for long, long years; and when he died he was an old, old man.
CHAPTER XII.
SAMUEL, THE CHILD OF GOD.
THERE was a man of Is-ra-el who went up each year from the town of
Ra-mah to a place called Shi-loh to pay his vows to the Lord of hosts.
And his wife, whose name was Han-nah, went with him. The man's name was
El-ka-nah.
[Illustration: SAM-U-EL.]
E-li was the high-priest at that time, and as he sat in the Lord's house
he saw Han-nah on her knees with her eyes full of tears.
And he spoke to her in a kind voice, and said: May God grant thee what
thou dost ask of him. And Han-nah was glad at the high-priest's words,
for she had asked God to give her a son.
And the Lord gave Han-nah a son, and she called his name Sam-u-el, which
means "Asked of the Lord."
Sam-u-el was quite young when Han-nah took him up to the house of the
Lord at Shi-loh. And when they brought the child to E-li, Han-nah said,
I am the wo-man that stood by thee here and prayed to the Lord. For this
child did I pray, and the Lord heard me and gave me what I asked for. So
I have brought him to the Lord; so long as he lives shall he be the
child of God. For this was the vow she made if God would give her a son.
And Sam-u-el was left to stay with E-li in the Lord's house.
Now E-li had two sons, and they were priests in the Lord's house. But
they were not fit for the place, for they were bad men, and broke God's
laws. And by their sins they kept men from the house of the Lord.
But Sam-u-el, though a young child, did what was right and pleased the
Lord. And his moth-er made him a coat, and brought it to him each year
when she and her hus-band went up to Shi-loh. And E-li spoke kind words
to them, and asked the Lord to bless them for the sake of the child whom
they gave to him.
Now E-li was an old man, and when he heard of all the things his sons
had done, he did not drive them out of the Lord's house as he should
have done, but let them go on in their sins. He cared more to please his
sons than he did to please the Lord.
[Illustration: HAN-NAH PRE-SENTS SAM-U-EL TO E-LI.]
One night when E-li and Sam-u-el lay down to sleep, the child heard a
voice speak his name. And he said, Here am I. And he got up and ran to
E-li, for he thought it was his voice, and he said, Here am I, for thou
did'st call me.
E-li said, I did not call thee, my son. Go back, and lie down. And the
lad did so.
In a short time he heard the same voice say, Sam-u-el--Sam-u-el.
And he rose at once and went to E-li, and said to him, Here am I, for
thou did'st call me. But E-li said, I did not call thee, and sent the
lad back to his bed once more.
Then Sam-u-el heard the voice a third time, and went to E-li and said,
Here am I, for thou did'st call me.
And E-li knew it was the Lord who spoke to Sam-u-el. And he said to the
lad, Go, lie down, and if he call thee, say, Speak, Lord, for I hear
thee.
And Sam-u-el went and lay down. And the Lord came for the fourth time,
and called, Sam-u-el--Sam-u-el!
And Sam-u-el said, Speak, Lord, for I hear thee.
And the Lord told Sam-u-el all that he meant to do to the house of E-li.
He had let his sons go on in their sins, and they were to be put to
death in a way that would make men fear God.
Sam-u-el lay still till day-light. Then he rose, but did not dare to
tell E-li what God had told him.
But E-li called him and said, What did the Lord say to thee? I pray thee
hide it not from me.
So Sam-u-el told E-li all that the Lord had said. When E-li heard it, he
said, It is the Lord, let him do what he thinks is best.
And Sam-u-el grew, and the Lord was with him and blest him, and it was
known to all that he was one of God's saints, who could fore-tell things
that were to take place. Such wise men were some-times called seers.
The words which God spoke to Sam-u-el came true; for the chil-dren of
Is-ra-el went out to fight the Phil-is-tines, and a host of them were
slain.
Those who came back said, Let us take the ark out with us to save us
from our foes.
[Illustration: CAP-TURE OF THE ARK.]
Now God had not told them to take the ark, and it was a sin for them to
touch it. They should have put their trust in the Lord, and looked to
him for help.
But they sent to Shi-loh for the ark, and E-li's two sons came with it.
When it was brought to the camp the Jews gave such a shout that the
earth shook with the noise.
And when the Phil-is-tines heard it, they said, What does it mean? And
they were told that the ark of the Lord had been brought to the camp of
Is-ra-el.
And they were in great fear; for they said, God is come to the camp! Woe
un-to us, for this is the first time such a thing has been done!
And they said, Let us be strong and fight like men, that we may not be
slaves to these Jews!
So they fought once more with the Jews, and slew a host of them, and the
rest fled to their tents. And the ark of the Lord fell in-to the hands
of the foe, and E-li's two sons were slain.
And the same day a man ran down to Shi-loh, with his clothes rent, and
bits of earth on his head to show his grief.
E-li sat on a seat by the way-side, where he kept watch, for he was in
great fear lest harm should come to the ark of God. And when the man
came through the crowd and told that the ark was lost, all cried out
with great fear. And when E-li heard the noise, he said, What is it?
What do those sounds mean? For his eyes were dim with age, and he could
not see.
And the man ran up to E-li and said, I am he that came out of the
fight, and I fled from there to-day.
And E-li said, What word hast thou, my son?
[Illustration: THE RE-TURN OF THE ARK.]
And he said that Is-ra-el had been put to flight with great loss, his
two sons were dead, and the ark of God in the hands of the
Phil-is-tines.
When the man spoke of the ark of God, E-li fell off the seat by the
side of the gate, and broke his neck, and died there. And he had been a
high priest and a judge in Is-ra-el for two-score years.
And the ark of God was with the Phil-is-tines for more than half the
year, and to each place where it was sent it brought great grief.
So at last they sent for their wise men, and said to them, What shall we
do with the ark of the Lord? To what place shall we send it?
And the wise men told them to make a new cart, and tie two cows to it,
but to bring the calves home with them. Then they should put the ark on
the cart, and let the cows draw it where they would.
If the cows should leave their calves and go down to the land of
Is-ra-el, it would be a sign that the Lord was their guide, and that he
had sent these ills on the Phil-is-tines for their great sins.
But if the cows did not take the ark, it would show that the Lord did
not want it back, and that all these ills they had to bear had come by
chance, and were not sent from the Lord.
So the Phil-is-tines did as their wise men said. They took the two cows
and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. And they
laid the ark on the cart, and let the cows go where they chose.
And the cows took the straight road to the land of Is-ra-el till they
came to a place called Beth-she-mesh.
The Jews who dwelt there were out in the wheat fields. And the cows
brought the cart to the fields of a man named Josh-u-a, and stood there
by a great stone.
Then some of the men of Le-vi came and took the ark and set it on the
stone. And they broke up the cart, and burnt the cows as a gift of
praise to the Lord.
CHAPTER XIII.
SAMUEL THE MAN OF GOD.
WHEN E-li died, Sam-u-el was made a judge in Is-ra-el. And he went from
place to place to teach men the law. And as the ark had not been brought
back to Shi-loh, Sam-u-el built an al-tar in his own house and served
God there.
The chil-dren of Is-ra-el set up strange gods, and the Phil-is-tines
went to war with them. And Sam-u-el told them to give up their false
gods and serve the Lord, and he would save them from their foes. And
they did so. And he said, Come up to Miz-peh, and I will pray to the
Lord for you.
And they came to Miz-peh, and gave their hearts to the Lord, and were in
grief for their sins.
And when the Phil-is-tines heard they were at Miz-peh, they went up to
fight them. And the chil-dren of Is-ra-el were in great fear, and
Sam-u-el plead for them, and when the fight came on the Lord sent a
fierce storm that put the Phil-is-tines to flight, and they fled from
the field with great loss.
And Sam-u-el set up a stone at Miz-peh, and gave it the name of
Eb-en-e-zer--"The Stone of Help."
When Sam-u-el was an old man he set his two sons to judge Is-ra-el. But
his sons were not just men, and did not rule as their fath-er had done.
If a man did wrong, they would say it was right if he paid them for it.
And the wise men came to Sam-u-el, and said to him, As thou art old, and
thy sons walk not in thy ways, make us a king to judge us.
Sam-u-el felt hurt when they asked him to choose a king, and asked the
Lord to tell him what to do.
And the Lord told Sam-u-el to choose a king for them.
Now there was a man whose name was Kish, and he had a son whose name was
Saul, a tall young man of fine form and good looks.
And the ass-es of Kish were lost. And he said to Saul, his son, Take one
of the men with you, and go find the ass-es.
And they went a long way and could not find them. And Saul said to the
man with him, Come, let us go back, lest my fath-er think we are lost.
[Illustration: THE STONE OF HELP.]
And the man said to Saul, There is a man of God here, and what he says
is sure to come to pass. It may be that he can tell us what we ought to
do Saul said, Thy word is good; come, let us go. And they went to the
town where Sam-u-el, the man of God, was. And they met him on their way.
And the Lord made it known to Sam-u-el that this was the man he should
choose to reign in Is-ra-el.
And Saul drew near to Sam-u-el, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where
the seer's house is.
And Sam-u-el said, I am the seer; and the ass-es that were lost are
found. And he took Saul and his man to his own house, and made them
spend the night there.
The next day Sam-u-el took Saul to the roof of his house, and had a talk
with him.
Then they went out on the street, and as they drew near the gate of the
town, Sam-u-el said to Saul, Bid thy man pass on, but do thou stand
still for a while, that I may show thee the word of God.
Then Sam-u-el took a horn of oil and poured it on Saul's head.
This was done when a man was made a high-priest; and the same thing was
done when he was made a king. And God was pleased with Saul, and gave
him a new heart; but as yet none but these two knew that Saul was to be
King of the Jews.
Sam-u-el spoke to the chil-dren of Is-ra-el and told them once more all
that the Lord had done for them, how he had brought them out of the land
of E-gypt, and set them free from their foes, and yet they would not
serve the Lord, but cried out for a king. So he bade them all go up to
Miz-peh that the Lord might choose them a king.
[Illustration: SAUL IN HIS HID-ING PLACE.]
And the Lord chose Saul. But when the men went to seek for him, they
could not find him. And the Lord said, He hath hid in the midst of the
stuff. And they ran and brought him out, and he was so tall that all the
rest had to look up to him.
And Sam-u-el said, This is he whom the Lord hath sent to rule thee.
There is none like him, as thou canst see.
And they all cried out, God save the king! Then Sam-u-el told them what
they were to do, and how the king was to rule, and wrote it down in a
book.
When Saul had been king for two years, he set out with his son,
Jon-a-than, to fight the Phil-is-tines. And a great host went with them.
And the Phil-is-tines had more men than they could count. And when the
Jews saw the strength of their foes, they were in great fear, and ran
and hid in caves and pits, or fled to the high hills where the rocks
would screen them. So there were but few left to go out with Saul, and
they shook with dread.
And Saul came to Gil-gal, where he was to meet Sam-u-el, but he was not
there. Sam-u-el had told him to wait for him, and he would tell him what
he was to do.
But at the end of a week Saul had the flesh brought to him and laid on
the stone, and he set fire to it, that the flame might rise to God and
bring peace to the land. And as soon as Saul had done this thing,
Sam-u-el came. And Saul went out to meet him, that he might bless him.
And Sam-u-el said, What hast thou done?
And Saul told of the strait he was in, and that the Phil-is-tines were
near in great force, and said that when Sam-u-el did not come he felt
that he must send up a plea to God for aid in this hour.
Sam-u-el told him that he had done wrong. When the Lord told him to
wait, he should wait. And now his reign would be a short one, and God
would choose a new king to take his place.
In those days men fought with bows and ar-rows. And while the Jews were
held as slaves by the Phil-is-tines they would not let them have swords
or spears, lest they should rise up and kill them.
And they sent all the smiths out of the land, lest they should make
these things for the chil-dren of Is-ra-el.
So when they went out to fight none of them had a sword or a spear but
Saul and his son.
In those days men wore coats of mail, and bore a shield with them so as
to ward off the darts. These shields were made of a thick piece of wood,
on which the skin of an ox was stretched when dried.
Jon-a-than, Saul's son, wore a coat of mail, and had a man to bear his
spear and his shield when he did not care to use them. And he said to
his man, Come, let us go to the camp of the Phil-is-tines. For it may be
that the Lord will help us.
And the man said he would go.
Jon-a-than said this should be their sign: They would go where the foe
could see them, and if they said, Wait there till I come to you, they
would know the Lord did not mean to help them. But if the Phil-is-tines
said, Come up to us and we will show you some-thing, they would go up,
for the Lord would be with them.
So Jon-a-than and his man stood out where the foe could see them. And
the Phil-is-tines made sport of them, and cried out, Come up to us, and
we will shew you some-thing.
And the two went up the rocks on their hands and feet, and fought with
the Phil-is-tines, and slew a score of them. And the Lord shook the
earth, so that the Phil-is-tines were in great fear.
Now Saul and the men who were with him did not know what his son had
done. But his watch-man, who was on the look-out, saw that there was a
fight in the camp of the Phil-is-tines, and told Saul of it.
And Saul and his men went to join in the fight. And all those who had
hid in caves and holes, or up on the mount, when they heard that the
Phil-is-tines had fled, went with Saul, and Is-ra-el won the day.
But Saul did not de-sire to please the Lord in all things. For when the
Lord sent him out to fight King A-gag, he told Saul to wipe him and all
he had from the face of the earth. But Saul kept back some of the
spoils, the best of the sheep and lambs, and did not put the king to
death as he should have done.
And the Lord told Sam-u-el that Saul was not a good king, and his reign
should be short.
And it made Sam-u-el sad to hear this, and he prayed to God all night.
Then he had a talk with Saul, who did not look at his sins in the right
light. And Sam-u-el told him that his reign as king would soon be at an
end.
[Illustration: DA-VID A-NOINT-ED BY SAM-U-EL.]
God told Sam-u-el not to mourn for Saul, but to go down to Beth-le-hem,
to the house of a man named Jes-se, one of whose sons was to be made
king. And the Lord said he was not to look for one with a fine face or
form. For the Lord sees not as man sees, and he looks on the heart.
So he went down to Beth-le-hem, and did as the Lord told him. And Jes-se
had his sev-en sons pass one by one be-fore Sam-u-el. And Sam-u-el
thought that the first-born must be the one whom God chose to be king.
But the Lord told him he was not the one. And they all went by, and not
one of them was the one on whom God had set his seal.
And Sam-u-el said to Jes-se, Are these all thy sons?
And Jes-se said, No there is yet one left; but he is quite a lad, and is
now in the field where he cares for the sheep.
And Sam-u-el told Jes-se to send for him at once. And Jes-se sent for
him, and he was brought in, and his cheeks were red, and his eyes
bright. And the Lord said to Sam-u-el, Rise--for this is he.
And Sam-u-el rose, and took the horn of oil and poured it on the young
man's head. So the Lord chose Da-vid to be king when Saul should be put
out of the way.
And Da-vid felt a great change in his heart, for the Lord was there to
make him strong and wise, and fit for the high place he was to fill.
But there was no peace in Saul's heart, and his mind was ill at ease.
And his men said it might soothe him to have some one play on the harp.
For sweet sounds will some-times calm the mind.
So Saul said, Find a man who can play well on the harp, and bring him to
me.
And one of them said that he knew such a man. He was the son of Jes-se,
who dwelt at Beth-le-hem, and his name was Da-vid.
And Saul sent men to Jes-se and told him to send Da-vid, his son, who
kept the sheep.
And Da-vid came to Saul, and stayed with him to wait on him. And when
Saul was sad and ill at ease, Da-vid would take his harp and play for
him, and he would soon be well.
CHAPTER XIV.
DAVID AND SAUL.
WHILE Saul was yet king, the Phil-is-tines came forth once more to fight
the chil-dren of Is-ra-el. And Saul and his men went out to meet them.
There were two high hills on each side of a deep vale, and from these
two hills the foe-men fought.
The Phil-is-tines had on their side a man who was more than ten feet
high. He wore a coat of mail, and was bound with brass from head to
foot, so that no sword or spear could wound him.
And he cried out to Saul's men, Choose a man from your midst and let
him come down to me. If he can fight with me and kill me, then we will
be your slaves. But if I kill him then you must serve us. I dare you to
send a man to fight with me.
When Saul and his men heard these words they were in great fear, for
there was no one in their ranks who would dare fight with such a gi-ant.
And each morn and eve, for more than a month, this great man, whose name
was Go-li-ath, drew near Saul and his troops and dared them to send a
man out to fight him.
Now when the war broke out three of Jes-se's sons went with Saul, but
Da-vid went back to Beth-le-hem to feed sheep.
And Jes-se said to Da-vid, Take this parched corn and these ten loaves
of bread, and run down to camp and bring me back word how thy broth-ers
are.
And Da-vid rose up the next morn, and found some one to take care of his
sheep, and went as his fath-er told him.
And he came to the camp just as the men were on their way to the fight,
and the air was filled with their shouts.
And he left the goods he had brought in the care of a man, and ran in
the midst of the troops, and spoke to his three broth-ers.
And while he stood there, Go-li-ath came out from the ranks of the
Phil-is-tines, and dared some one to fight with him.
And Da-vid heard his words. And the men of Is-ra-el fled from his face.
And Da-vid heard them speak of what would be done to the man who should
kill him; for the king would give him great wealth, and set him in a
high place.
And Da-vid spoke to the men near him, and made use of strong words.
And his broth-ers told him to go home and take care of his sheep, for it
was just a trick of his to come up to camp that he might see the fight.
[Illustration: DA-VID BE-FORE SAUL.]
Da-vid said, I have done no wrong! and the men to whom he spoke went and
told Saul what he had said. And Saul sent for him, but did not know
that he was the same one who used to play on the harp for him.
And Da-vid told Saul he would go out and fight the great man from Gath.
And Saul said, Thou art but a youth, and he has been a man of war all
his days.
Then Da-vid told Saul how he had fought with and slain the wild beasts
that came out of the woods to eat up the lambs of his flock. And, said
he, this man is no more than a wild beast, and the Lord will save me
from him as he did from the paw of the li-on and the bear.
And Saul said, Go, and the Lord go with thee. And Saul put on him a coat
of mail, and clothed him in brass from head to foot, and hung a sword at
his side. But Da-vid took them all off, and said, I have not tried them,
and can-not use them.
And he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the
brook and put them in a bag that he wore. And his sling was in his hand
when he drew near to Go-li-ath.
Go-li-ath came near to Da-vid, and when he saw what a youth he was, he
drew up his head with great scorn.
Da-vid ran to meet him, and put his hand in his bag and drew forth a
stone, and slung it, and struck Go-li-ath on the fore-head with such
force that the stone sank in through the bone and he fell on his face
to the earth.
[Illustration: DA-VID WITH GO-LI-ATH'S HEAD.]
Then Da-vid ran and stood on Go-li-ath, and drew his sword from its
sheath, and slew him and cut off his head.
And when the Phil-is-tines saw that the man in whom they had put their
trust was dead they fled.
And Da-vid came back from the fight with the head of Go-li-ath in his
hand, and was brought to Saul.
And Saul would not let Da-vid go back to his own home, but made him stay
with him. And Jon-a-than fell in love with him, and to show his love,
took off all the rich clothes he had on and put them on Da-vid, and gave
him his sword, his bow, and his belt. And Da-vid did as Saul told him,
and all who saw him were pleased with him, and Saul put him at the head
of his men of war.
But when King Saul and his men went through the towns on their way back
from the fight, the folks came out and sang and danced to praise them
for what they had done.
But they said more in praise of Da-vid than of Saul, and when Saul heard
it he was wroth, and from that day ceased to be Da-vid's friend.
The next day Da-vid stood near Saul with his harp in his hand to play
him some sweet tunes. And Saul held a spear in his hand, and he cast it
at Da-vid so that it would go through him and pin him to the wall. But
Da-vid saw it and took a step one side, and it did him no harm.
Twice was this done, and when Saul found that he could not hurt Da-vid,
he was in great fear of him, for he knew the Lord was with him. So he
drove Da-vid from his house, and sent men to lay in wait to kill him.
[Illustration: JON-A-THAN AND DA-VID.]
But Da-vid fled from them and ran to the place where Jon-a-than was, and
said to him, What have I done that the king seeks my life?
Now Jon-a-than did not know that the king meant to kill Da-vid, so he
said to him, Thou shalt not die. My fath-er would have told me if he
meant to kill thee. But Da-vid said it was true.
The next day was to be a feast day, and the king would look for Dav-id
to come and eat with him. But Da-vid was in such fear of Saul that he
did not care to go, and begged Jon-a-than to let him hide him-self for
three days. If the king asks where I am, said Da-vid, tell him that thou
did'st give me leave to go home.
Jon-a-than told Da-vid that at the end of the three days he should come
and hide in the field near a rock that was there. And Jon-a-than said he
would shoot three ar-rows as if he took aim at a mark. And he would send
a lad out to pick them up. And if he said to the lad, Go, find them,
they are on this side of thee, then Da-vid might know that all was at
peace and the king would do him no harm. But if he should cry out that
the darts were be-yond the lad, then Da-vid would know that he must
flee, for the king meant to do him harm.
So Da-vid hid him-self in the field; and when the feast day came Saul
sat down to eat with his back to the wall. And he saw that Da-vid was
not in his place, but said not a word. The next day when he found Da-vid
was not in his place, Saul said to his son, Why comes not Da-vid to eat
these two days?
Jon-a-than said that Da-vid pled so hard for leave to go home to his
own folks, that he had told him to go, and that was why he was not at
the feast.
Then Saul was in a great rage, and said to his son, As long as Da-vid
lives thou canst not be a king. Send for him, and bring him here that he
may be put to death.
And Jon-a-than said, Why should he be slain? What hath he done?
[Illustration: JON-A-THAN SHOOT-ING THE AR-ROWS.]
Saul threw his spear at Jon-a-than. And the young man knew by this that
the king meant to kill Da-vid. So the next morn the king's son went out
to the field, and took a lad with him. And he said, Run now, and pick up
the ar-rows that I shoot.
And as he ran, Jon-a-than sent a dart o'er his head; and when the lad
came to the place where it fell, the king's son cried out, It is be-yond
thee. Make haste, and stay not.
Da-vid heard these words and knew that he must flee, for if Saul caught
him he would kill him.
The lad brought the darts to Jon-a-than, and did not know why the king's
son had shot them and called out to him as he did. And Jon-a-than gave
him his bow and ar-rows, and sent him back to town with them.
As soon as the lad was gone, Da-vid came out from the place where he was
hid, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then he
rose and threw his arms round Jon-a-than's neck, and the two friends
wept as if their hearts would break.
Then Da-vid fled from Saul, and hid in the woods and caves.
Saul went out with a large force of men to seek Da-vid on the rocks
where the wild goats fed. And Saul came to a cave, and went in to lie
down and rest.
Da-vid and his men were in the cave, but Saul could not see them. And
the men wished to kill Saul; but Da-vid would not let them. While he was
there Da-vid stole up to Saul and cut off a piece of his robe. And Saul
did not know it.
[Illustration: DA-VID AND SAUL.]
When Saul went out of the cave, Da-vid went out af-ter him and cried
out, My lord and my king!
And when Saul looked back, Da-vid bowed down to him with his face to the
earth. And he told Saul to pay no heed to those who said he meant to
harm the king. For if he had sought to kill Saul he might have done so
that day while he was in the cave. And Da-vid showed Saul the piece of
his robe he had cut off.
And some bade me kill thee, said Da-vid, but I would not, for thou art
my lord and my king. Then Da-vid held up the piece of cloth he had cut
from Saul's robe, and said, Since I was so near thee as to cut this off
and did not kill thee, thou may'st know that I have no wish to harm
thee. Yet thou dost hunt for me to kill me. Let the Lord judge 'twixt
thee and me, and save me from thy hand, and save thee as he will, for I
will not harm thee.
When Saul heard Da-vid speak thus, all hate went out of his heart, and
he wept as he said, Thou hast done good to me for the wrongs I did thee,
and may the Lord bless thee for it. Now I know that thou wilt some day
be the king of Is-ra-el.
And Saul went home, and Da-vid and his men went back to the cave.
But Da-vid knew that he could not trust Saul, so he fled to the land of
the Phil-is-tines, and he and his men dwelt there in the town of Gath
for the space of a year and four months.
[Illustration: DA-VID TAKES GO-LI-ATH'S SWORD.]
While he was there, the Phil-is-tines went out to fight with Saul once
more, and when he saw what a host of them there was, his heart shook
with fear. He asked the Lord what he should do, but the Lord did not
come to him in dreams, or speak one word to him.
Sam-u-el was dead, and the Lord had said it was a sin to go to a witch,
or a seer, to find out the things that would take place, and Saul had
sent all these folks out of the land.
But now he was in such a strait that he felt he must have help of some
sort. And one of his men told him there was at En-dor a witch who could
work strange charms, and fore-tell what was to take place. So the king
drest him-self so that he would not be known, and went at night with two
of his men to see the witch of En-dor. And he said to her, Bring me up
him whom I shall name to thee.
And the witch said to him, Dost thou not know that Saul has sent all
those that work charms out of the land? And why dost thou set a snare
for my life, so that I will be put to death?
And Saul said, As the Lord lives there shall no harm come to thee for
this thing.
Then the witch said, Whom shall I bring up to thee? And he said, Bring
me Sam-u-el.
So the witch made strange signs and spoke strange words, and swept her
wand round and round. And when she saw the form of Sam-u-el rise up, she
cried with a loud voice, Why did'st thou not tell me the truth? for thou
art Saul!
And the king said, Have no fear. What did'st thou see?
And the witch said, I saw an old man with a cloak round him.
And Saul knew it was Sam-u-el, and bowed his face to the ground. And
Sam-u-el said, Why hast thou brought me up? And Saul told him that he
was in a great strait, that God had left him, and did not come to him in
dreams or by the hand of wise men, and he thought that Sam-u-el might
tell him what to do.
Sam-u-el said, Why then dost thou ask of me if the Lord hath left thee?
He hath done to thee just as he said he would. Thy reign is at an end,
and Da-vid shall rule in thy stead. And he told Saul that the next day
he and his sons would be dead, and Is-ra-el in the hands of the foes.
When Saul heard these words he fell down in a swoon, for he had had no
food for a day and a night.
And the witch brought bread and bade him eat, that he might have
strength to go on his way. And Saul and his men ate of the food, and
went their way that night.
Now the lords of the Phil-is-tines brought all their troops to a place
called A-phek. And the king of Gath went there, and took Da-vid and his
men with him. But the lords of the Phil-is-tines would not have the Jews
in their midst lest they should turn on them and give them in-to the
hands of king Saul.
So Da-vid and his men had to leave the camp, and the Phil-is-tines went
out to fight, and the men of Is-ra-el fled from them with great loss.
The king's three sons were slain, and an ar-row struck Saul and gave him
a bad wound.
And Saul said to the man who bore his shield, Draw thy sword and put me
to death. But the man did not dare to kill his king. So Saul took his
own sword and fell on it, and thus died by his own hand. And when the
man saw that Saul was dead, he fell on his sword and died with him.
And when it was known that Saul and his sons were dead, the Jews fled
from that part of the land, and the Phil-is-tines went to live there.
In the course of a few years Da-vid was made king of Is-ra-el, and then
went to live at Je-ru-sa-lem. He went to war, and took spoils of rich
kings, and the Lord was with him, for he sought to do that which was
right and just.
Da-vid had two sons: Sol-o-mon and Ab-sa-lom.
And in all the land there was no man with such a fine face and form as
Ab-sa-lom, and he won much praise for his good looks. And he had a thick
growth of long hair. But Ab-sa-lom had a bad heart, and his sins made
Da-vid weep. But he did not scold Ab-sa-lom as he should have done, for
the king was fond of his son, and so Ab-sa-lom went on from bad to
worse.
He told what he would do when he was king, and made friends with those
who thought it a fine thing to be on good terms with the king's son.
When he was two-score years of age, Ab-sa-lom said to the king, Let me,
I pray thee, go up to Heb-ron to pay my vows.
And Da-vid told him to go. But it was not to serve the Lord that
Ab-sa-lom went, but to have him-self made king in-stead of Da-vid. And
he took ten score men with him, who did not know why or where they went,
and sent spies all through the land to speak in his praise and urge that
he be made king.
[Illustration: DA-VID FOR-GIV-ING AB-SA-LOM.]
And when Da-vid heard of it he said to his men, Rise, let us flee from
this place, lest Ab-sa-lom come and put us to death.
And they all fled from Je-ru-sa-lem, and went to hide in some lone
place. And when Ab-sa-lom came to Je-ru-sa-lem he went to one of
Da-vid's friends and asked him what he should do to be made king.
A-hith-o-phel, who had once been a friend of Da-vid, and had now gone
with the king's son, had said that he would go out with a large force
and come up with Da-vid when he was weak and faint, so that he would be
in a great fright. Those who were with Dav-id would flee, and he would
soon put the king to death. Then, of course, Ab-sa-lom would be king.
But Ab-sa-lom would not do this till he had heard what Hu-sha-i said.
Now Hu-sha-i was a true friend of Da-vid, and he told Ab-sa-lom to take
more men than A-hith-o-phel had said, for he thought that would give
Da-vid a chance to get out of the way. And Hu-sha-i sent two young men
to tell Da-vid not to stop on the plains that night, but to cross the
Jor-dan, lest he and all who were with him should be put to death.
But a boy saw the two sons of the high-priest who were on their way to
Da-vid, and went and told Ab-sa-lom. And the priest's sons ran to a
house near by, and hid in the well. And the wo-man who kept the house
spread corn on top so that no one could see that a well was there.
And when Ab-sa-lom's men came in and asked the wo-man where the priest's
sons were, she said they had gone on past the brook Ked-ron. And when
the two could not be found the men went back.
Then the priest's sons came up out of the well, and made haste to give
to Da-vid the word that Hu-sha-i had sent. And at dawn Da-vid and all
his men crossed Jor-dan.
As soon as Ab-sa-lom had all the men he thought he would need, he set
out to fight with Da-vid. And Da-vid drew up his men in line, and put
Jo-ab at their head. And the king said, I will go out with you. But the
men said he should not; so Da-vid staid by the gate and saw them go out
to the fight, and bade them be kind to Ab-sa-lom for his sake.
[Illustration: THE DEATH OF AB-SA-LOM.]
The fight took place in a wood. Ab-sa-lom rode on a mule, and as the
mule passed 'neath a great oak, Ab-sa-lom's head caught in a branch, and
he hung in mid air, while the mule went off down the road.
And a man saw it and told Jo-ab. And Jo-ab said, Why did'st thou not
kill him? And the man said he would not kill the king's son, for he had
heard Da-vid ask them to be kind to him.
But Jo-ab said, I can-not waste time with thee. And he took three darts
in his hand and thrust them through Ab-sa-lom, so that he died. And he
was thrown in-to a pit that was in the wood, and a great heap of stones
was piled on him. And all the men who had been with him went back to
their tents.
[Illustration: DA-VID HEAR-ING OF AB-SA-LOM'S DEATH.]
Da-vid sat in the gate, and when men came back with news of the fight,
he would ask of each one, Is Ab-sa-lom safe? And at last one of them
said, May all the king's foes be as this young man is. Then Da-vid knew
that Ab-sa-lom was dead, and he went to his own room and wept.
And he cried out with a loud voice, O, my son, Ab-sa-lom; my son, my son
Ab-sa-lom! I would that God had let me die in thy stead, O, Ab-sa-lom,
my son, my son!
Da-vid was king for two-score years, and was an old man when he died and
had hosts of friends. And when he felt that his death was near, he bade
his men take Sol-o-mon to a place called Gi-hon, and pour oil on his
head. Then they were to blow the horn and cry out. God save King
So-lo-mon.
And this was done; and when Da-vid died, Sol-o-mon sat on his throne and
ruled Is-ra-el.
CHAPTER XV.
SOLOMON, THE WISE MAN.
SOL-O-MON gave his heart to God when he was young, and tried to lead a
good life, and to do no wrong. And God spoke to him in a dream one night
and said, Ask what I shall give thee.
And So-lo-mon said, Grant me, I pray thee a wise mind that I may know
right from wrong, and judge well those who look up to me as their king.
This speech pleased the Lord, and he said, Since thou didst not ask me
for great wealth, or for long life, or that thy foes might be put to
death, I will make thee wise, and will give thee both great wealth and a
long life if thou wilt serve me and keep my laws.
There came two wo-men to the king. And one of them said, My lord, I and
this wo-man live in one house, and we each of us had a son. And this
wo-man's child died in the night, and while I slept she came and took my
child from me, and laid her own child by my side. And when I woke, and
went to feed my child, it was dead. And I knew it was not my son.
It is your son.
It is not; the child that lives is mine.
The dead child is yours.
[Illustration: THE JUDG-MENT OF SOL-O-MON.]
In this way they spoke, and the king heard them, and said, Bring me a
sword!
And a sword was brought to him.
And the king said, Cut the live child in two, and give half to one and
half to the oth-er.
When the real moth-er of the child heard these words she cried out, O my
lord, give her the child, but do not kill it.
But the oth-er said, Cut it in half, and let it not be hers or mine.
Then the king told his men to give the child to the one who tried to
save its life, for he knew that she was the moth-er. And it was to find
this out that he sent the men for the sword, and not to take the child's
life.
[Illustration: SHIPS OF SOL-O-MON.]
When Sol-o-mon had been king for four years, he laid out the plan that
Da-vid had made for the house of the Lord.
He had a talk with Hi-ram the king of Tyre, and told him that it was
time to build the house. And the King of Tyre was glad, and did all he
could to aid him. He sent So-lo-mon great trees from the woods, and sent
him men to help in the work; men who had skill with the ax, and with
fine tools of all sorts.
The house was built of stone, and each stone was hewn from the rock, cut
so as to fit in the wall ere it was brought to the place where it was to
stand, so that no ax nor tools should be used in the house when it was
put up.
The walls of the rooms were in-laid with gold, and gems, and the floor
of the place where the ark was kept was of pure gold, and in front of
the shrine were loops and chains of fine gold.
The doors of the house were made of the wood of the fir tree, and they
were carved with great skill, and touched up with gold.
It took Sol-o-mon sev-en years to build the house of the Lord; and when
it was done he made a feast, and the priests brought the ark of the Lord
from Mount Zi-on where Da-vid kept it.
And all the tribes of Is-ra-el came to Je-ru-sa-lem, that they might be
there when the ark was brought.
And when the ark was put in its place, and the priests came out, there
was such a cloud in the house that all stood still. For the Lord was in
the cloud.
Then Sol-o-mon stood up, and with raised hands asked him to come down
and dwell in the house, and to dwell in men's hearts, that they might
walk in the right way, and love God all their days.
[Illustration: QUEEN OF SHE-BA.]
Now the fame of Sol-o-mon came to the ears of a rich queen, who dwelt at
She-ba, and she thought she would like to see if this man was as wise
and rich as he was said to be. She had a long way to come, and a great
train came with her, and these brought loads of rich spice, and gold and
sil-ver and gems of worth. And the queen had a talk with Sol-o-mon and
he told her all she ought to know.
And she said to the king, What I had heard of thee in my own lands I did
not think could be true. So I came to see for my-self, and I find the
half was not told to me. So she gave rich gifts to Sol-o-mon, and he
gave rich gifts to her, and the queen went back to her own land.
Now it was thought no sin in those days for a man to have more than one
wife. And some of Sol-o-mon's wives had been brought up to serve false
gods. And it was a sin for the king to wed with such. And as he grew old
these wives made him serve their Gods, and turn from the true God whom
he had been taught to love and fear.
And this did not please to Lord, and he said that Sol-o-mon's son should
not be king when Sol-o-mon died. For Da-vid's sake he would let him be a
prince of two tribes all the days of his life. But ten tribes he would
take from him.
And foes rose up to plague Sol-o-mon, and for his sins he had to give up
the peace and rest that had long been his. When he had been king for
two-score years Sol-o-mon died, and his fame has come down to this day,
for no man has been born in-to the world so wise and great as King
Sol-o-mon.
CHAPTER XVI.
ELIJAH.
A-HAB was the last of the six kings who ruled the ten tribes. And he
made them serve Ba-al, and built a house for this false god.
These acts did not please God, so he sent E-li-jah, a seer, to tell
A-hab that for years and years there should be no rain in the land. And
he told E-li-jah to hide near a brook from which he should drink, and
the birds of the air would bring him food to eat.
E-li-jah did as the Lord told him, and he drank from the brook, and the
birds brought him his food from day to day. But as there was no rain,
the brook dried up, and there was lack of food in the land.
So the Lord told E-li-jah to go to the town of Za-re-phath, where a
wo-man dwelt who would give him food.
And when E-li-jah came to the gate of the town, a poor wo-man drew near
him to pick up some sticks. And he said to her, Bring me a drink, I pray
thee.
And as she went, he said, Bring me, I pray thee, a bit of bread in thine
hand.
[Illustration: E-LI-JAH FED BY RA-VENS.]
And she said, As the Lord lives, I have no bread in the house, and but a
hand-ful of meal, and a few drops of oil. And I came out to pick up a
few sticks that I might light the fire, and bake a small loaf for me and
my son, that we may eat it and die.
[Illustration: E-LI-JAH AND THE WID-OW's CHILD.]
E-li-jah said, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said. But first make me
a small loaf, and then make one for thee and thy son. For thus saith the
Lord, The meal shall not waste, nor the cruse of oil fail till the day
the Lord sends rain on the earth.
So the wo-man went her way and did as E-li-jah told her, and there was
from that time no lack of food in her house. But one day her son was
ill, and he grew worse and worse, and then died.
When E-li-jah heard of it, he said, Give me thy son. And he took the
child from her arms and bore him to his own room, and laid him on his
bed.
And E-li-jah cried to the Lord, and said, O Lord, I pray thee let this
child's soul come back to him.
And the Lord sent back the soul of the child, and E-li-jah took the boy
and brought him to his moth-er.
And she said to E-li-jah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God,
and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.
For three years there had been no rain in the land, and at the end of
that time the Lord said to E-li-jah, Go show thy-self to A-hab, and I
will send rain on the land.
So E-li-jah went, and on the way he met with one of A-hab's head men,
who loved the Lord. He knew E-li-jah, and bade him turn back, for the
king would be sure to put him to death. But E-li-jah said that he would
show him-self to A-hab that day. So the man told the king that E-li-jah
was near, and the king came out to meet him.
And he found fault with E-li-jah, for he thought he was to blame for the
lack of food, and for the long drouth.
E-li-jah told the king to have all those he ruled meet in a mass at one
place. And when they came there, E-li-jah cried out to them, How long
will ye turn your hearts from God?
And he told them to prove which was the true God, Ba-al or E-li-jah's
God. And he told them to bring two young bulls, and to take the flesh of
one and lay it on the wood in front of Ba-al, and he would lay the flesh
of the oth-er young bull on the Lord's al-tar. And he said, Call ye on
your gods and I will call on mine, and let the God that sends down fire
be the God whom we all shall serve.
And they said it was a good plan.
So they cried out from sun-rise till noon, O Ba-al hear us! But there
was no voice or sign that their god heard them.
E-li-jah said, Cry with a loud voice for he is a god. He may be a-sleep,
or lost in thought.
[Illustration: THE LIT-TLE CLOUD.]
And they cried, and made a great noise, and at last fought with their
knives till they drew blood.
And E-li-jah said, Come near me.
And they all came near to him.
And E-li-jah took twelve stones, and built an al-tar to the Lord. And he
put the flesh and the wood on it, and the wood was wet through and
through.
Then he cried out, Hear me, O Lord, hear me, and let it be known that
thou art the true God.
Then fire came down from on high and burnt up the flesh, and the wood
and the stones, and the dust; and the ground that had been made so wet
was as dry as it could be.
And when the crowd saw this they all bowed down to the ground, and said,
The Lord he is God! The Lord he is God!
And they broke up the false gods, and gave their hearts for a while to
the Lord.
Then E-li-jah told A-hab that he might eat and drink, for the rain would
soon set in. And he went to the top of a high mount to pray for rain.
Not a cloud was in the sky. The sea was calm. But E-li-jah knew that he
must watch, and wait, and pray, and the sign would come.
At last there rose up out of the sea--that is, where the sea and sky
seem to meet--a small cloud, the size of a man's hand. And soon the sky
was black with clouds, and the wind blew, and there was a great storm of
rain.
Now A-hab had a bad wife, and when he told her what E-li-jah had done,
she made a vow to kill him.
And E-li-jah had to flee for his life. He was so worn out that when he
came to a lone place he sat down in the shade of a tree and wished that
he might die. While he slept, an an-gel drew near, at whose touch
E-li-jah woke. And the an-gel said, Rise and eat.
[Illustration: E-LI-JAH AND KING A-HAB.]
And E-li-jah found food and drink set out for him. And he ate and drank,
and then lay down and slept. And the an-gel came once more, and bade
E-li-jah eat, that he might have strength to go on his way. And he sat
up, and ate the food the Lord had sent, and it gave him such strength
that he went with-out food for more than a month. And at the end of that
time he came to Mount Ho-reb. And he went to a cave and lay down and
slept there.
And the Lord spoke to him, and said, Why art thou here, E-li-jah? And
E-li-jah said the chil-dren of Is-ra-el had not kept their word, but had
gone back to their false gods, and slain all those who sought to turn
them from their sins. And I have fled from them, said E-li-jah, for they
seek my life.
[Illustration: E-LI-JAH IN THE WIL-DER-NESS.]
The Lord said, Go forth, and stand on the mount. And there came a great
wind that split the high hills, and broke up the rocks. But the Lord was
not in the wind.
Then the earth shook, so that there was no firm ground on which to walk;
and smoke came up out of the great cracks that were made. But the Lord
was not in the earth-quake.
Then there came a still, small voice. When E-li-jah heard it he hid his
face in his cloak, and went out and stood at the door of the cave.
And the voice said, Why art thou here, E-li-jah? And El-li-jah said that
he fled from those who sought to kill him. And the Lord told him to
leave the cave, and go back and pour oil on the head of E-li-sha, who
was to take his place.
And E-li-jah found E-li-sha at work with the plough in a large field.
And as he went by him he threw his cloak round E-li-sha.
And E-li-sha knew that this meant he must leave all and go with
E-li-jah. And he went home to bid fare-well to his dear ones there, and
then came back to be near E-li-jah and to wait on him.
[Illustration: E-LI-JAH GOES TO HEAV-EN.]
Now the time drew near when E-li-jah was to leave the earth. And he and
E-li-sha stood near the shore of the Jor-dan. And E-li-jah took his
cloak and struck the waves, and they made a wall on each side, and the
two men went through on dry land. And as they stood on the oth-er side,
E-li-jah said to E-li-sha, Ask what I shall do for thee, ere I leave
thee.
And E-li-sha said, Let me, I pray thee, be twice as good and wise as
thou.
E-li-jah said, Thou dost ask a hard thing. But if thou dost see me when
the Lord takes me from thee, then it shall be so. But if thou dost not
see, then it shall not be so.
So they went on, and while they yet spoke, there came a great light in
the sky, and the clouds took on strange forms. And E-li-jah was caught
up as if by a whirl-wind, and E-li-sha cried out as he saw him pass
through the sky, but he was soon out of sight, and E-li-sha saw him no
more.
CHAPTER XVII.
ELISHA.
AS E-li-jah rose from the earth he let his cloak fall on E-li-sha. And
E-li-sha went down to the Jor-dan, and took the cloak and struck the
waves, and they stood up on each side, so that he went a-cross dry
shod. And it was made known to all the seers and wise men that E-li-sha
had been called to fill E-li-jah's place, and he gave proof that the
Lord was with him.
As E-li-sha went from Jer-i-cho to Beth-el, some young folks ran out and
made fun of him, and cried, Go up, thou bald head! Go up, thou bald
head!
E-li-sha turned back, and asked the Lord to take them in hand. So the
Lord sent two great bears out of the wood, and they fell on the
chil-dren and tore o-ver two-score of them.
[Illustration: THE CHIL-DREN OF BETH-EL.]
One day E-li-sha came to Shu-nem, where a rich wo-man dwelt. And she
bade him come in and eat. And as oft as he went that way, he made it a
rule to stop and take the food and drink she set out for him.
And she had a room built for him on the side of her house, and put a bed
and a chair in it, that he might go in and out as he chose, and have a
place to rest in.
And one day when he was in this room, he sent for the wo-man to come to
him. And he said to her, What can I do to pay thee for all thy kind care
of us? Shall I speak to the king for thee? She said there was no need,
that she sought no pay, and then left the room.
E-li-sha said to his man, What is there that I can do for her?
And the man said, She has no child.
And E-li-sha said, Call her. And she came back and stood at the door.
And when the man of God told her that she should have a son, she thought
he did not speak the truth.
And the word of the Lord came true, for in less than a year she had a
son.
And the child grew up, and went out one day to the field to see the men
reap the corn. And while he was there he felt sick, and cried out to his
fath-er, My head! my head!
And his fath-er said to a lad, Take the boy home to his moth-er. And she
took him, and he sat in her lap till noon, and then died. And she took
the boy to E-li-sha's room, and laid him on the bed of the man of God,
and then went out and shut the door.
Then she sent for one of the young men, and had him bring an ass to the
door, and she got on the ass, and bade the man drive as fast as he could
till she told him to stop.
She went till she came near Mount Car-mel. And E-li-sha saw her, and
sent Ge-ha-zi out to meet her, and to ask her if it was well with her
and with the child. And she said to him, It is well.
But when she came to E-li-sha she fell at his feet, and Ge-ha-zi drew
near to push her from the man of God.
But E-li-sha said, Touch her not. She is in great grief, and the Lord
has hid it from me and not told me of it.
And the wo-man said, Did I ask thee for a son? Then he knew that the boy
was dead.
Then E-li-sha said to Ge-ha-zi, Take my staff, and go thy way with all
speed. Stop to speak to no one. And lay my staff on the face of the
child.
And the moth-er of the child said, As the Lord lives, I will not leave
thee. And E-li-sha rose and went with her, while Ge-ha-zi ran on a-head.
And he laid the staff on the face of the child, but the child did not
speak nor hear. And he ran out to meet E-li-sha and to tell him the lad
did not wake.
And when E-li-sha came to the house he found the child dead, and laid on
his bed. So he went in the room and shut the door, and prayed to the
Lord.
Then he got on the bed, and lay on the child till his flesh grew warm.
Then he left the room for a-while to walk up and down, and when he went
back he lay on the child till its breath came back, and it gave signs of
life.
And he sent for the moth-er. And when she came to the room he said, Take
up thy son. And she fell at the feet of E-li-sha, with thanks too deep
for words, and then took her son in her arms and went out.
There was a man in Sy-ri-a, who took charge of all the troops that went
to war with the king. This man's name was Na-a-man, and he had done
brave deeds, for which he held high rank, and was much thought of. But
this man fell ill, and none but those of his own house would go near
him. And there was no cure for him. But his wife had a maid to wait on
her. And this maid said that if Na-a-man would go to E-li-sha she was
sure that he would cure him.
And Na-a-man came down to Sa-ma-ri-a with a note from his own king to
the king of Is-ra-el. When the king of Is-ra-el read the note he was
ve-ry wroth, and said, Am I God that I can bring the dead to life? For
he thought that it was but a trick to bring on a war.
[Illustration: E-LI-SHA AND THE CHILD.]
When E-li-sha heard that the king rent his clothes, he sent word to have
Na-a-man come to him.
And Na-a-man drove up in fine style, and stood at the door of E-li-sha's
house. And E-li-sha sent word to him to bathe at the Jor-dan sev-en
times, and he would be made well.
This put Na-a-man in a rage, for he thought that E-li-sha would come out
to him and call on the name of God, and touch him so as to heal him.
And he said, Are there not streams in Da-mas-cus in which I can bathe
and be made well? And he went off in a rage.
But some of his men drew near, and said, My lord, if he had bid thee do
some great thing wouldst thou not have done it? Why not then do as he
says, and wash and be clean?
And Na-a-man gave heed to their words and went down to the Jor-dan. And
he took sev-en baths, and then his flesh grew as soft and pink as the
flesh of a child, and health and strength came back to him. And Na-a-man
went back to E-li-sha's house, he and all his men, and he said, Now I
know there is no God in all the earth but the God of Is-ra-el.
Now the time drew near when E-li-sha was to die. And the king, Jo-ash,
came to see him as he lay sick in bed.
And E-li-sha said, Take the bow and the darts. And the king took them.
And E-li-sha said, Put thy hands on the bow. And the king did so, and
E-li-sha put his hands on the king's hands. Then E-li-sha said, Throw
wide the east win-dow. And when this was done he said shoot. And the
king shot; and E-li-sha told him that he should set Is-ra-el free from
its foes.
Then he said to the king, Take the darts. And he took them. And
E-li-sha said, Strike them on the ground. And the king struck them on
the ground three times, and no more.
[Illustration: THE AR-ROW OF DE-LIV-ER-ANCE.]
And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldst have
struck five or six times, for then thou wouldst have laid the Sy-ri-ans
low, now thou shalt smite them but three times.
And E-li-sha died, and was laid in the ground. And one day as some of
the folks went out with a dead man to lay him in the grave that was dug
for him, they saw a band of thieves from the land of Mo-ab and did not
dare to go on. So they put the dead man in the grave where E-li-sha
lay. And as soon as the corpse touched the bones of E-li-sha the man
came to life and stood on his feet.
CHAPTER XVIII.
JONAH, THE MAN WHO TRIED TO HIDE FROM GOD.
THERE was a seer in Is-ra-el whose name was Jo-nah. And the Lord told
Jo-nah to go to Nin-e-veh, a large town where there was great need of
good men. But Jo-nah did not care to go there, so he ran down to Jop-pa
and found a ship there that would set sail for Tar-shish in a few days.
So he paid his fare, and went on board the ship to go to Tar-shish,
where he seemed to think the Lord would not find him.
But as soon as the ship was well on its way, the Lord sent forth a great
wind, and the waves rose high, and the storm beat the ship, and it was
blown here and there as if it were a toy. And those on board of her were
in great fear, and cried out to their gods, and threw all the goods that
were in the ship in-to the sea, so that she would not sink.
Jo-nah was down in the hold, where he lay and slept, though the storm
was so fierce.
And the one who had charge of the ship came to him and said, What does
this mean? Rise, and call on thy God to save us from ship-wreck.
And the rest of the men said, Come, and let us cast lots that we may
know who is to blame for this.
[Illustration: JO-NAH IN THE STORM.]
So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jo-nah. And they said to him,
Tell us, we pray thee, who has brought on us these ills. What is thy
trade? where dost thou come from? where dost thou live? and of what
tribe art thou?
And he said I am a Jew, and have fled from the Lord who made the sea and
sky.
And the men were in great fear and said, Why hast thou done this thing?
And what shall we do to thee that the sea may be still for us? For the
waves were rough, and the winds blew a gale.
And Jo-nah said to the men, Take me up and cast me in-to the sea; then
shall the sea be calm for you, for I know it is for my sake that this
great storm has come up-on you.
The men did not want to drown Jo-nah, so they tried their best to bring
the ship to land, but could not.
Then they cried to the Lord, O Lord, we pray thee, count it no sin to us
that we take this man's life, for thou, O Lord, hast sent this storm on
us for some of his sins.
So they took up Jo-nah, and cast him in-to the sea, and the sea grew
still and calm.
And when the men saw this they were in great fear, and brought gifts to
the Lord, and made vows that they would serve him.
Now the Lord had sent a great fish to the side of the ship to take
Jo-nah in-to its mouth as soon as he was thrown in-to the sea.
And Jo-nah was in-side the fish for three days and three nights. And he
prayed to the Lord while he was in the fish; and cried to God to help
him, and to blot out his sins. And God heard him, and bade the fish
throw him up on the dry land.
Then the Lord spoke to Jo-nah once more, and said, Rise, and go to
Nin-e-veh, and preach to it as I bid thee.
And Jo-nah rose and went.
And when God saw them turn from their sins and pray to him, he did not
do to Nin-e-veh as he said he would.
But this did not please Jo-nah. He thought that Nin-e-veh should be
brought low, for those who dwelt there were not good friends to the
Jews. Then, too, Jo-nah's pride was hurt, for he knew that men would
laugh at him, and have no faith in what he said, so he went out of the
town and sat down by the road-side.
And God made a vine to grow up there in one night, that Jo-nah might sit
in its shade and find rest from his grief. And Jo-nah was glad when he
saw the gourd. The next morn God sent a worm to gnaw the root of the
vine, and it soon dried up.
When the sun rose God sent a hot wind, and the sun beat on Jo-nah's head
so that he grew sick and fell in a faint. And he was wroth, and had no
wish to live.
And God said to Jo-nah, Is it well for thee to be in such grief for the
loss of a gourd?
And Jo-nah said, Yes. There was good cause why he should feel as he did
and long to die.
Then the Lord said to him, Thou wouldst have had me spare this vine
which cost thee nought, and which grew up in a night and died in a
night. And why should I not spare Nin-e-veh--that great town--in which
are hosts and hosts of young folks who do not know their right hand from
their left?
So God put Jo-nah to shame, and made him see what a sin it was to wish
to crush Nin-e-veh just to please his own self and for fear men would
laugh at him.
And Jo-nah found out, what we all need to learn, that it is of no use to
try to hide from God.
CHAPTER XIX.
DANIEL.
THERE was a king of Bab-y-lon whose name was Neb-u-chad-nez-zar. And he
sent one of his chief men to choose some of the young Jews who had been
well brought up, that they might wait on him.
The chief chose four youths whose name were Dan-i-el, Sha-drach,
Me-shach and A-bed-ne-go. And these were brought to Bab-y-lon, that they
might be taught as the king wished.
And the Lord was with these four young men, and made them wise, and
strong in mind, and fair of face.
[Illustration: KING NEB-U-CHAD-NEZ-ZAR.]
When they had been taught for three years they were brought to the
king's house. And the king kept them near him, and made use of them, for
he found that they knew ten times more than all the wise men in the
whole realm.
One night the king had a dream that woke him out of his sleep. And he
sent for all the wise men--those who could read stars, and those who
could work charms--to tell what the dream meant.
And they all came, but none of them could tell the dream that had gone
out of the king's own head. And no king, they said, would ask such a
thing of wise men.
The king was wroth at this and gave word that all the wise men should be
put to death. And they sought Dan-i-el and his friends, that they might
kill them.
Dan-i-el said, Why is there such haste? And when he was told he went in
to the king and said if he would give him time he would make his dream
clear to him.
In the night God showed the king's dream to Dan-i-el, and all that it
meant was made clear to him. And Dan-i-el gave praise and thanks to God
who had been so good to him.
Then he went to the chief, and told him not to slay the wise men, but to
bring him in to the king.
Then Dan-i-el told the king his dream, and all that would come to pass,
and when the king heard it he fell on his face be-fore Dan-i-el and said
to him, It is true that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings,
and that nought is hid from him, since thou hast told me this dream.
And the king made Dan-i-el a great man, and gave him rich gifts, and put
him at the head of all the wise men in the land.
Now king Neb-u-chad-nez-zar made a great god out of gold, and set it on
one of the plains of Bab-y-lon.
[Illustration: NEB-U-CHAD-NEZ-ZAR'S DREAM.]
And one of the king's men cried out with a loud voice, and said it was
the king's law that all should bow down to the god of gold that he had
set up. And those who did not bow down were to be thrown in-to a great
hot fire and burnt up.
And some men brought word to the king that the three Jews would not
serve his gods, or bow down to this one of gold which he had set up.
These three men were brought to the king, and he said to them, Is it
true, O Sha-drach, Me-shach, and A-bed-ne-go that ye will not serve my
gods or bow down to the one of gold which I have set up? And he said he
would give them one more chance, and if they did not bow down when they
heard the call, they should be cast in the same hour in-to the flames.
The three Jews said to the king, Be it known to thee now that we will
not serve thy gods, nor bow down to the new one thou hast set up. And if
we are cast in the fire, the God whom we serve will save us from death
and bring us out of thy hands, O king.
Then was the king in a great rage, and he sent word that a fierce fire
should be made. And the three Jews were bound and thrown in-to the
flames with all their clothes on. And the fire was so hot and they went
so near that sparks flew out and killed the men who took up Sha-drach,
Me-shach and A-bed-ne-go.
These three Jews fell down in the midst of the flames, but soon rose to
their feet, and the Lord would not let the flames burn them.
When the king saw this he rose in great haste and said to his chiefs,
Did we not cast three men bound in the midst of the fire?
And they said, True, O king.
And the king said, Lo, I see four men loose, and they walk through the
flames and are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like to the son
of God.
Then the king came to the door of the cage of fire and said to
Sha-drach, Me-shach and A-bed-ne-go, Ye who serve the most high God,
come forth, and come here.
[Illustration: DWELL-ING WITH THE BEASTS.]
And the three young Jews came forth out of the midst of the fire, and
not a hair of their head was singed, nor were their clothes harmed, nor
was the smell of fire on them.
And the king praised the God who had shown that he would save from death
those who put their trust in him. And the king made it a law that those
who spoke ill of the God of Sha-drach, Me-shach, and A-bed-ne-go should
be put to death, and their homes torn down, for there was no God who
could save as he could.
For a while the king served God and gave him praise for all he had done
for him. But men who thought to please the king, spoke of his great
wealth and praised all that he did, so that he grew vain and proud, and
thought more of him-self than he did of God.
And the king had a dream that made him shake with fear, and he sent for
Dan-i-el. And Dan-i-el feared to tell the king the truth. But the king
told him to speak out. Then Dan-i-el told him what would take place.
And it all came on king Neb-u-chad-nez-zar. In the same hour his mind
left him and he was not fit to reign. So he was thrust out of doors, and
did eat grass with the beasts of the fields. And he lay on the ground,
and was wet with the dews, and his hair grew so long that his flesh
could not be seen, and his nails were like bird's claws.
And at the end of the sev-en years Neb-u-chad-nez-zar raised his eyes to
God, and his mind came back to him, and he spoke in praise of the most
High.
And Neb-u-chad-nez-zar was made king once more, and grew strong and
great, and gave the praise to God; the King of kings, who could raise up
those who were down, and bring down those who were full of pride.
When Neb-u-chad-nez-zar died, a new king was on the throne of
Bab-y-lon whose name was Bel-shaz-zar. And Bel-shaz-zar made a great
feast, and much wine was drunk. And the king sent for the rich cups
which his fath-er had brought from the Lord's house in Je-ru-sa-lem. And
he and all at the feast drank from these cups, which was a great sin.
In the midst of the feast there came forth a man's hand, that wrote on
the wall of the king's house.
And the king saw the hand, and was in great fear, and sent at once for
all his wise men.
[Illustration: THE WRIT-ING ON THE WALL.]
But none of them could read what was on the wall, and the king knew not
what to do. Then Dan-i-el was sent for, and the king said he should have
great wealth and high rank if he could read the words on the wall.
Dan-i-el said, Keep thy gifts, O king, and give thy fees to some one
else. Yet will I read the words on the wall and tell you what they mean.
For the God who gives thee life and takes care of thee, thou hast no
word of praise. And so God sent this hand to write on the wall.
ME-NE, ME-NE, TE-KEL, U-PHAR-SIN,
which means that thy reign as king is at an end.
When Dan-i-el had told what the hand wrote on the wall, and what the
words meant, Bel-shaz-zar bade his men clothe him in red, and put a gold
chain on his neck, and make it known that he was to be third in rank
from the king.
[Illustration: DAN-I-EL IN THE LIONS' DEN.]
That same night Bel-shaz-zar was slain, and Da-ri-us took his place on
the throne.
Now Da-ri-us was pleased with Dan-i-el, and thought him such a wise and
good man that he made him chief of a large force of men who held high
rank. And this made these men hate Dan-i-el, and they tried to find out
some ill that he had done that they might tell it to the king. But they
could find no fault in him. Then they thought of a way in which they
could harm him.
They came to the king and asked him to make a law that if one should ask
help of God or man for one month, he should be cast in-to a den of
li-ons.
They might ask help of the king, but of no one else.
And the king told them to write down this law, and he put his name to
it.
When Dan-i-el heard of the law which the king had sent out he went to
his home and knelt down three times a day with his face to Je-ru-sa-lem,
and gave thanks to God first as he had done all his life.
And the men who were on the watch to catch him in some crime, drew near
his house and heard him pray to his God. So they went and told the
king, and the king was wroth to think he had made such a law. And he
tried his best to save Dan-i-el. But the men held him to his word, and
said it would not do for him to change a law that had been made.
Then the king bade them bring Dan-i-el and cast him in the den of wild
beasts. And he said to Dan-i-el, Thy God, whom thou dost serve so well,
will be sure to save thee.
And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den.
[Illustration: ROCK GRAVE OF DA-RI-US.]
Then the king went to his own house, but would take no food, nor did he
sleep all that night. And at dawn he rose and went in haste to the den
of wild beasts. And as he drew near he cried out with a sad voice, O
Dan-i-el, canst thy God save thee from the li-ons?
And Dan-i-el said, O king, my God hath shut the li-ons' mouths so that
they have not hurt me, since I had done no wrong in his sight nor in
thine, O king.
Then the king was glad, and bade his men take Dan-i-el out of the den.
And when he was brought out, there was not a scratch found on him, for
his trust was in God, and God took care of him.
Then the king had those men who found fault with Dan-i-el, thrown in-to
the den--they and their wives, and their chil-dren--and the wild beasts
were quick to eat them up.
[Illustration: CY-RUS, KING OF PER-SI-A.]
Then Da-ri-us made a law that all men should serve the God of Dan-i-el,
who was the one true God.
When Da-ri-us died, Cy-rus was made king.
CHAPTER XX.
THE GOOD QUEEN ESTHER.
FAR back in the past, wise men had fore-told that the Jews would be kept
out of Je-ru-sa-lem for three-score and ten years, and at the end of
that time a king, Cy-rus, would let them go back to the land they came
from. And he did so.
Not all the Jews went back to their own land, but some of them made
their homes in Per-si-a and else-where. And King A-has-u-e-rus was on
the throne.
In the third year of his reign he made a great feast.
And he sent for Vash-ti, the queen, to throw off her veil and let his
guests see how fair she was.
But Vash-ti would not do it.
Then the king was in a rage, and said to his wise men, What shall we do
to Queen Vash-ti to make her know that the king's will is her law?
And the wise men said, Vash-ti hath done wrong to the king and to all
the lords of the land.
For when this is told, wives will not do as their liege lords wish. They
will say, The king sent word for Vash-ti, the queen, to be brought to
him, but she came not. Let the king make a law and put Vash-ti from him
and choose a new queen, that all wives, great and small, may take heed
and do as they are told.
The king and all the lords thought these were wise words. And the king
made it a law that a man should rule in his own house.
Then some of the king's men, whose place it was to wait on him, came to
him and said it would be a good plan for him to have all the fair maids
in the land brought to his house, that he might choose one of them to be
queen, in the place of Vash-ti.
And the king did as they said.
Now there was a Jew in the king's house, whose name was Mor-de-ca-i. He
was a poor man, and was there to wait on the king.
And there was a maid named Es-ther, who was one of his kins-folk. And
she was "fair of face, and full of grace."
And when the word went forth from the king, scores and scores of fair
young maids came to the king's house, and Es-ther came with them. And
one of the king's men had them all in his charge.
This man was so pleased with Es-ther that he was more kind to her than
he was to the rest, and sent maids to wait on her, and put her and her
maids in the best part of the house where the wo-men were. But Es-ther
had not let it be known that her folks were Jews, for Mor-de-ca-i had
told her not to tell it.
[Illustration: ES-THER AND THE KING.]
As soon as the king saw Es-ther he fell in love with her, and set the
crown on her head, and made her queen in the place of Vash-ti.
Then the king made a great feast, and gave gifts to the poor for the new
queen's sake. And she had not yet made it known that her folks were
Jews.
Now two of the king's men, who stood on guard at the doors of his house,
were wroth with the king and sought to kill him.
And their plot was known to Mor-de-ca-i, who was a watch-man at the
king's gate. And he told it to Es-ther, and she told it to the king, and
both of the men were hung. And what Mor-de-ca-i had done to save the
king's life was put down in a book.
And in this same book was set down all that took place in the king's
reign.
Now there was in the king's house a man whose name was Ha-man. And the
king gave him a high place, and bade those of low rank bow down to
Ha-man.
But the Jew at the gate would not bow when Ha-man went in and out. And
the rest of the men who stood by told Ha-man of it.
Now Ha-man was a vain man, and when he saw that Mor-de-ca-i did not bow
to him as the rest did he was full of wrath. It had been made known to
him that Mor-de-ca-i was a Jew.
And so he told the king if he would make a law that all the Jews should
be put to death, he would give him a large sum of gold and sil-ver.
The king heard what Ha-man said, and then took his ring from his hand
and gave it to Ha-man, and told him to do with the Jews as he thought
best. The king gave him his ring that he might use it as a seal. And
Ha-man set the scribes to work, and they wrote just what he told them,
in the king's name. And when the wax was put at the end with the king's
seal on it, it was the same as if the whole had been writ by the king's
own hand.
Men were sent out in haste to make the law known through-out the land,
that all the Jews in Per-si-a were to be slain. And when this was done
Ha-man and the king sat down to drink wine.
When Mor-de-ca-i heard of the law that Ha-man had made, he rent his
clothes and put on sack-cloth, and went out and cried with a loud cry.
And he came and stood in front of the king's gate, though he could not
pass through, for it was the law that none should pass who wore
sack-cloth. And all through the land the Jews were in deep grief, so
full of tears that they could eat no food; and not a few of them put on
sack-cloth to show the depth of their woe.
Queen Es-ther had not heard of the law, but her maids came and told her
of the state Mor-de-ca-i was in. And her grief was great, and she sent
food and clothes to him, and bade the men take the sack-cloth from him.
But Mor-de-ca-i would take nought from their hands, nor change his
clothes.
Then the queen sent one of her head men, Ha-tach, to ask Mor-de-ca-i
what was the cause of his grief, and why he had put on sack-cloth.
And Mor-de-ca-i told Ha-tach of the law that had been made, and what a
large sum Ha-man had said he would give to the king if he would kill off
all the Jews in the land.
And he told Ha-tach to tell the queen, and to show her what the scribes
wrote, and bid her see the king and ask him to save the Jews.
And Ha-tach took the word to the queen.
Es-ther bade him tell her kins-man that it was well known that those who
went in to the king when they had not been sent for, would be put to
death. But if the king held out his gold wand it was a sign that he
would spare their lives. The king has not sent for me for a month, said
she. How then can I go to him?
Mor-de-ca-i sent back word to the queen to think not that the king
would spare her life if the Jews were put to death. And it might be that
God had put her in the place she held that she might keep the Jews at
this time.
Then Es-ther sent word to him that he and all the Jews in the king's
court should fast and pray for her, and not eat or drink for three days
and three nights.
I and my maids will do the same, said the queen, and I will go in to the
king in spite of the law; and if I die, I die in a good cause.
So on the third day af-ter the queen put on her rich robes, and went in
and stood ve-ry near to the throne on which the king sat.
[Illustration: ES-THER AT SHUS-HAN.]
And when the king saw her, God put it in-to his heart to be kind, and he
held out to her the gold wand that was in his hand. And the queen drew
near, and touched the tip of the wand.
Then the king said, What wilt thou, Queen Es-ther? and what wouldst thou
ask of me? Were it half of my realm I would give it to thee.
The queen said, If it please the king, I would like him and Ha-man to
come this day to a feast I have made for them.
And the king bade Ha-man make haste, and they both went to the feast.
And while they drank the wine the king told the queen to make known her
wish.
But she put him off and said she would tell him the next day, if he and
Ha-man would come to the feast that she would spread for them.
And Ha-man's heart was full of pride, since the queen chose him and no
one else to feast with her and the king. And when he went out he felt
that all men ought to bow down to him. But Mor-de-ca-i would not. And
Ha-man told all his friends how kind the king and queen were to him, and
what high rank he held, and said that his life would be full of joy if
it were not for the Jew at the king's gate.
Ha-man's wife told him to fix a rope to a tall tree, and speak to the
king the next day and have him hang the Jew. And Ha-man made a
slip-noose at the end of a rope, and had the rope made fast to a tall
tree.
Now that night the king could not sleep. And he sent for the book in
which was put down all that took place in the realm, and had it read to
him. And when he who read came to the part which told what Mor-de-ca-i
had done to save the king's life, the king said, How has Mor-de-ca-i
been paid for this deed?
And the man said he had had nought, and still kept watch at the king's
gate.
Then the king heard a step and sent one of his men to see who it was.
Now Ha-man had come to the king's house to ask him to hang Mor-de-ca-i.
And the man came back and said that Ha-man stood in the court. And the
king said, Let him come in.
So Ha-man came in. And the king said to him, What shall be done to the
man who has won the praise of the king?
And Ha-man thought, That means me, of course, and no one else.
And he said to the king, Let the robes be brought that the king wears,
and the horse he rides, and the crown which is set on his head. And let
the robes and the crown be put on the man whom the king has in mind, and
bring him on horse-back through the street of the town, and have men
cry out, Thus shall it be done to the man who has won the praise of the
king.
And the king said to Ha-man, Make haste and take the robes and the horse
as thou hast said, and do thus and no less to the Jew at the king's
gate.
But Ha-man went home, and was full of shame. And he told his wife and
his friends of his hard fate. And while they yet spake the king's men
came for him to go to the queen's feast. And while they ate and drank,
the king bade the queen make known her wish. Ask what thou wilt; were it
half my realm, I would give it to thee.
Then the queen said, If it please thee, O king, take my life and spare
the lives of all the Jews. For we have been sold and the truth has not
been told of us, and we are to be put to death. The king said, Who is
he, and where is he who has dared to do this thing?
And the queen told him it was Ha-man. And Ha-man was in great fear as he
stood face to face with the king and queen.
The king rose in great wrath and went out of doors, and when he came in
he saw Ha-man at the feet of the queen, where he went to beg her to save
his life.
And when the king was shown the rope and the tree on which Ha-man meant
to hang Mor-de-ca-i he said, Hang _him_ on it. And they hung Ha-man, and
the king's wrath left him.
And on the same day the king gave Ha-man's house to Es-ther, and
Mor-de-ca-i was brought in to the king, who had been told that he was a
kins-man of the queen. And the king gave him the ring which Ha-man had
worn, and the queen put him at the head of the house in which Ha-man had
dwelt.
But Es-ther was still sad at heart be-cause of the law that had been
made, that all the Jews in the land should be put to death. And she went
in once more to the king--though he had not sent for her--and fell down
at his feet in tears. Then the king held out the wand of gold, and the
queen rose, and stood be-fore the king and asked him to change the law
and save the lives of the Jews.
The king could not change the law, but he told Es-ther and Mor-de-ca-i
to make a law that would please them and sign it with the king's seal.
So they made a law that the Jews should kill all those who came to do
them harm. And when Mor-de-ca-i came out from his talk with the king he
had on a robe of blue and white, such as the king wore, and a gold crown
on his head.
And all the Jews were glad; and when the day came that Ha-man had set
for the Jews to be slain, the Jews went out and fought for their lives
and put their foes to rout. And grief gave place to joy, and a feast was
held for two days. This feast was called the Feast of Pu-rim, which the
Jews keep to this day.
The Jews who had gone to Je-ru-sa-lem to build up its walls were still
at work there. But there were foes to watch, and the poor Jews found
fault with the rich ones, and there was strife in their midst from year
to year. But when Ne-he-mi-ah went to their aid the Lord gave him
strength to set things straight, and in a year the new wall was built
and the gate put up. Then there was a great feast, and all the Jews gave
praise and thanks to God.
But they went back to their sins, and did not serve God as they ought.
And kings fought for Je-ru-sa-lem and took it from their hands and made
the Jews their slaves.
And at last the Ro-mans came and took Je-ru-sa-lem and broke down its
walls, and made the Jews serve them. And He-rod, who had led the Ro-mans
to war, was made their king. He was a fierce, bad man, who would let no
one rule but him-self. He put his own wife and two of his sons to death,
and did all that he could to make folks hate and fear him.
He tried to make the Jews think that he was one of their race, but he
was not. He thought it would please them if he built up their House of
God, so he set men to work to tear down the old and to put up the new,
and they made use of much gold and sil-ver and fine white stones.
There was no ark to put in it, for that had been lost, but a large stone
was put in the place where the ark should have been.
And it took He-rod more than nine years to build this House of God on
the top of Mount Mo-ri-ah. And the way up to it was by a long flight of
steps.
This ends the Old Tes-ta-ment, which was made up of all the books that
were kept by all the scribes from the time the world was made.
[Illustration]
The New Testament
[Illustration: CHRIST IN THE TEM-PLE.]
[Illustration: THE BABE OF BETH-LE-HEM.]
History of the New Testament.
CHAPTER I.
THE BIRTH OF CHRIST.
THE time was near for Je-sus to come on the earth. God had told Ad-am
and Eve of one who would save them from their sins. Mo-ses, and all the
seers and wise men, spoke of him who was to give men new hearts, and
help them to lead new lives.
In the days of He-rod, king of Ju-dah, there was a priest named
Zach-a-ri-as. His wife's name was E-liz-a-beth. They were both old, and
had led pure lives, and sought to keep God's laws. But they had no
child.
One day when the priest was in the house of God by one of the al-tars,
an an-gel came and stood near him. And when the priest saw him he shook
with fear.
But the an-gel said: Fear not, Zach-a-ri-as, for God will give thee and
thy wife a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall not drink wine nor
strong drink, and shall turn the hearts of men to the Lord their God.
Then Zach-a-ri-as said to the an-gel, But how shall I know that these
things will be?
And the an-gel said to him, I am the an-gel Ga-bri-el, who stands near
to God, and he has sent me to tell thee this good news. And for thy lack
of faith thou shalt be dumb, and speak not a word till the day that
these things come to pass.
Now those who were in the courts of God's house thought it strange that
Zach-a-ri-as should stay so long at the al-tar where he burnt the
in-cense.
And when he came out he could not speak to them, but made them know by
signs that he had seen a strange sight.
Six months from this time God sent the an-gel Ga-bri-el to the town of
Naz-a-reth, to a young wo-man there whose name was Ma-ry. She was one of
the heirs of King Da-vid.
When Ma-ry saw the an-gel she was in great fear, for she knew not why he
had come. And the an-gel said: Fear not, Ma-ry, for God has blessed
thee. Thou shalt have a son, and shalt call his name JE-SUS. He shall be
great, and shall be called the Son of God. And God will make him a king,
and to his reign there shall be no end.
Ma-ry said: How can this be?
[Illustration: THE AN-NUN-CIA-TION.]
The an-gel told her that what might seem hard for her was not hard for
God, who could do all things. He had told E-liz-a-beth that she should
have a son, and he had now sent word to Ma-ry that she should have a
son; and what he had said he would do.
Then Ma-ry said, Let the Lord's will be done. And the an-gel left her.
Ma-ry made haste and went to the land of Ju-dah, and to the house of
E-liz-a-beth and Zach-a-ri-as, where she spent three months. Then she
came back to her own home. Jo-seph was the name of Ma-ry's hus-band; and
he was a Jew, of King Da-vid's line. They were both poor, and Jo-seph
had to work hard at his trade. He was a car-pen-ter.
God gave Zach-a-ri-as and E-liz-a-beth the son that he said they should
have. And when the child was eight days old, the friends and kins-folk
came to see it and to give it a name. Most of them said, Call him
Zach-a-ri-as.
But the child's mo-ther said, Not so. He shall be called John.
And they said, There is none of thy kin-dred that is called by this
name.
And they made signs to the fa-ther that he should let them know by what
name the child should be called.
And the fa-ther sat down and wrote: His name is John. And they all
thought this strange, as he had not told them of the an-gel who spoke
to him in the house of God.
As soon as Zach-a-ri-as wrote these words his speech came back to him,
and he gave praise and thanks to God. And all the folks in that part of
the land heard of these things, and they said, What sort of a child
shall this be? And the boy grew tall and strong, and the Lord blest him,
and he went out and dwelt in the woods and waste lands till he was a
man, and it was time for him to preach to the Jews and to tell them of
Je-sus.
Now the king of Rome was called a Ce-sar, in the speech of that land,
and the Jews had to do just as he said, for they were his slaves. And he
made a law that the names of all the Jews should be put down in a book,
that it might be known what tribe they came from, and what they were
worth. Then, too, it would not be a hard task to count them when the
Ce-sar wished to know how large a force of them was in this land he had
fought for and won.
And each Jew was to go to that part of the land where his fore-fa-thers
dwelt, and have his name put down in the book at that place.
So, as Jo-seph and his wife were of the house of Da-vid, they both set
out for the town of Beth-le-hem, where Da-vid used to feed his sheep.
The way was long, and when they came to the town they found a great
crowd of folks there. There was no room for Jo-seph and Ma-ry at the
inn, and they knew no one at whose house they could stay.
As they went from place to place in search of a room, they came to a
shed in which was a great trough or man-ger full of hay, where the poor
folks who came to town fed the beasts on which they rode.
So Jo-seph and Ma-ry made their home in this shed while they had to wait
to have their names put down. And while they were there God gave to
Ma-ry the son that he said she should have.
And as she had no fine soft clothes to wrap the babe in, she took bands
of cloth and put round him, and laid him on the straw in the man-ger.
In those days rich men kept large flocks of sheep and goats, and had men
watch them at night for fear that wild beasts would seize and kill them.
The men who fed and took care of the sheep were called shep-herds.
One night, as some shep-herds were on the hills where they kept watch of
their flocks, the an-gel of the Lord came down to them. And a bright
light shone round them so that they were in great fear.
[Illustration: THE NA-TIV-I-TY.]
And the an-gel said to them, Fear not, for I bring you good news which
shall give joy to all the land. For Christ, the Lord, is born for you
this day, in the town of Beth-le-hem, and he will save you from your
sins. And this is the way ye shall know him: Ye shall find the babe
wrapped in bands of cloth and laid in a man-ger.
When the an-gel had said this, there came, like a flash of light, a
great host of an-gels who gave praise to God, and sang, Glo-ry be to God
on high, and on earth, peace and good-will to men.
When the an-gels had left them the shep-herds said, Let us go at once to
Beth-le-hem and see these things of which the an-gel has told us.
And they came with haste, and found Ma-ry and Jo-seph, and the babe that
lay in the man-ger where the ox and ass used to feed. And when they had
seen the child, they went out and told what the an-gel had said to them.
And those who heard were filled with awe, for it was the first time that
such a thing had been done in the world. And the strange news spread
fast.
Ma-ry told no one of the talk she had had with the an-gel, but thought
much of these things, and took the best of care of the new-born babe. It
did not seem as if it could be her own child.
When the babe was eight days old, its fa-ther and mo-ther gave it the
name of JE-SUS, as the an-gel had bid them. And they gave him to the
Lord; that is, they vowed to the priest that they would bring up the
child to serve God and to lead a good life. For though he was the son
of God he was sent on earth to teach men what they ought to do.
Now there was a man in Je-ru-sa-lem whose name was Sim-e-on. He was a
good man, and did what was right, and for years he had been on the watch
for one of whom the seers had told, and who was to save men from their
sins.
And it was made known to Sim-e-on in a dream that he should not die till
he had seen this King of kings and Lord of lords.
[Illustration: SIM-E-ON IN THE TEM-PLE.]
Sim-e-on was a priest in the house of God, and when Jo-seph and Ma-ry
brought in the child Je-sus, he took it up in his arms and blest God,
and said: Now, Lord, thy words have come true, and I can die in peace,
for I have seen him who is to be the light of the world, and to save men
from their sins!
Jo-seph and Ma-ry knew not what to make of this strange speech. And the
priest blest them, and gave the child back to his mo-ther, and told her
of some of the great things he would do when he grew up to be a man.
And there was one An-na, who kept all the fasts, and served God night
and day. She was four-score and four years old, and could fore-tell what
was to take place, and her fame was great. And she came in-to the house
of God while Sim-e-on yet spoke, and gave thanks to the Lord, and told
of him who was to come to save the Jews, and to give them back their
rights.
Then Ma-ry and Jo-seph went back to their own home in Naz-a-reth. And
the child grew, and was strong, and wise, and God blest him from day to
day.