fAkxe^Ti(i«f%bwt V MEMORIAL^
COLLECTION

Yale University Library

THE BIBLE STORY
RETOLD FOE, YOUNG PEOPLE

rhe^^o.

Published by James QarUe<£ C°

Stanford's 6eog'£rfatf

CONTENTS Part I
THE OLD TESTAMENT STORY
SECTION I
THE PATRIARCHS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Israel in the Wilderness  3
II. Abraham  10
III. Isaac  15
IV. Jacob and Esau  24
V. Jacob and Laban  29
VI. Joseph the Spoilt Darling . . 38
VII. Joseph in Prison  41
VIII. Joseph the Ruler of Egypt  44
SECTION II
MOSES AND JOSHUA
I. The Son of Pharaoh's Daughter .... 52
II. The Reproach of Christ .... 57
III. The Burning Bush  59
IV. The Ten Plagues  62
V. The Exodus  64
VI. The Red Sea  66
VII. The Wanderings in the Wilderness ... 69
VIII. The Conquest of Jericho  72
IX. The Gibeonites  75
X. The Battle of Beth-Horon  77
vii

Vlll CONTENTS
SECTION ni
THE JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Deborah and Barak  79
II. Gideon  83
III. Jephthah  88
IV. Ruth-  91
V. Hannah and Samuel  96
VI. . Eli and Samuel  99
SECTION IV
SAUL, DAVID, AND SOLOMON
I. Saul, the First King of Israel . . .102
II. Saul's Victories  107
III. David, Saul's Minstrel and Armour-bearer . . 109
IV. David and Goliath  Ill
V. David and Jonathan  118
VI. David spares Saul's Life  122
VII. David and the Ark on Zion  124
VIII. David and Absalom  127
IX. Solomon  134
SECTION V
ELIJAH AND ELISHA
I. The Famine  137
II. The Rain  139
III. The Still Small Voice  142
IV. Naboth's Vineyard  145
V. The War with Moab  148
VI. Naaman  152
VII. Jehu  155

CONTENTS IX
SECTION VI
AMOS, HOSEA, AND ISAIAH
HAPTER PAGE
I. Amos and Hosea .  159
II. The Call of Isaiah  161
III. The Deliverance from Sennacherib . . . 164
SECTION VII
JEREMIAH
I. The Putting Down of the High Places . . .167
II. The Fall of Jerusalem  170
SECTION VIII
RELIGIOUS STORIES OF ANCIENT ISRAEL
I. The Creation  175
II. The Fall  177
III. Cain and Abel  .179
IV. The Flood  181
V. The Tower of Babel  183
SECTION IX
THE NEW ISRAEL
I. The New Temple  185
H. Ezra and Nehemiah  189
SECTION X
RELIGIOUS STORIES OF THE NEW ISRAEL
I. The Creation  194
II. The Flood  197

X CONTENTS Part II
THE NEW TESTAMENT STORY
SECTION I
THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. Home Life at Nazareth  205
II. The Story of Gabriel  212
III. The Shepherds of Bethlehem  215
IV. The Two Doves  218
V. The Magi  220
VI. The Boy in the Temple  223
SECTION II
JESUS THE PROPHET
I. The Baptism  226
II. The Temptation  230
III. Jesus in his own Country  234
IV. The Fishermen .  237
V. His Wonderful Works of Healing . . . .241
VI. How Jesus gave Offence  246
VII. The Sermon on the Mount  249
VIII. The Wild Man among the Tombs . . .254
IX. Stories of a Little Girl and a Widow's Son . . 258
X. The Woman who washed the Feet of Jesus with
her Tears ........ 263
XL Wonders in the Desert and on the Sea . . . 265

CONTENTS
SECTION III
JESUS THE KING

PAGE

I. Among the Heathen  268
II. The Great Question  271
III. The Transfiguration  274
IV. The Lost Son  276
V. The Traveller, the Robbers, and the Neighbour . 279
VI. Jesus and the Children  283
VII. The Very Eager Young Man . ... 286
VIII. Zacchseus and Bartimseus ..... 289

SECTION IV
THE LAST WEEK
I. The Two Sisters  292
II. Palm Sunday  295
in. Jesus in the Temple  298
IV. The Lord's Supper  301
V. In the Garden  304
VI. The Jewish Trial  307
Vn. The Roman Trial  310
VHI. The Crucifixion  315

SECTION V
THE RISEN CHRIST
I. The Empty Tomb  320
II. Emrnaus  323

Xll

CONTENTS

SECTION VI
SOME STORIES FROM JOHN
CHAPTER PAGE
I. The Story of the Early Disciples ... 326
II. The Woman at the Well . ... 330
III. The Man who was born Blind . . . .335
IV. Lazarus  340
V. Some Memories of the Trial and Death of Jesus . 343
VI. Mary at the Tomb, and Thomas who doubted . 345
VH. Peter by the Sea  348

SECTION VII
THE DISCIPLES AT JERUSALEM
I. The Gift of the Spirit .
II. The Happy Life of the Brothers
III. Stephen, the First Martyr
IV. Philip and the Ethiopian
V. Peter on his Travels

350353356359362

SECTION vm
THE STORY OF THE APOSTLE PAUL
I. On the Road to Damascus
II. The First Missionary Expedition
III. The Quarrel with Peter .
IV. " Come over and help us "
V. Paul at Athens
VI. The Riot at Ephesus
VII. Paul's Last Visit to Jerusalem
VIII. Imprisonment at Csesarea
IX. The Shipwreck

367
372376379382
386391395398

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Fellah " moving "  5
Interior of an Arab Tent  7
Woman carrying Water-jar  19
Bethel  31
Shepherds removing Stone from Well-mouth ... 35
Sheikh's Daughter tending Sheep  55
A Dinner Party  . 103
Shepherd using Sling  115
The Cadi administering Justice " in the Gate " . . 129
High-Priest wearing the Ephod  171
A Bit of the Wall of Jerusalem : the North Angle . . 187
Ancient Manuscripts of the Pentateuch . . . 190
Ancient Manuscripts of the Pentateuch rolled up . 191
Woman carrying Child on Shoulder  207
Arab Sandals  227
Fisherman casting a Net  239
Outside Stairs  243
Boatmen on the Sea of Galilee  255
Nain  259
Travelling with Scrip and Girdle  281
The Spina Christi  .311
xiii

XIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE
Joseph of Arimathaea's Tomb  317
Jacob's Well .  331
The Pool of Siloam  337
Upper Chamber on Roof  . 363
The Straight Street, Damascus  369
Altar from Athens, in British Museum .... 384
Diana of the Ephesians  387
A Roman Centurion  399
MAPS
Kingdoms of Judah and Israel  iv
Ancient Israel  10
Palestine  203

Part I
THE OLD TESTAMENT STORY

I
The Patriarchs
chapter I
ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS
The Bible tells us the story of the Jews and of
Jesus Christ. All the Old Testament and almost all
the New were written by Jews, and Jesus Christ was
born a Jew. The history of the Jews is part of the
story of Jesus Christ, because it explains how God
prepared the way for Christ ; how the teaching of
the prophets helped men to understand the words
of Christ ; and how wealth and poverty, victory and
defeat, imperial power and shameful slavery, alike
fashioned the Jews to be kinsfolk of the Saviour of
the worhL^^
The "Jews, as we call them, called themselves
Israel, or the children of Israel, or, as we should
say, the Israelites ; and so, in speaking of Old
Testament times, we too will call them Israel or
the Israelites.
In this chapter we go back to the first beginnings
of the Bible and of Israel. To-day there are mill-
3

4 THE PATRIARCHS
ions of Jews scattered all over the world, and there
are very many times more Christians. But in the
beginning the Israelites, who were the ancestors of
the Jews, and/whose faith in God was the first step
to Christianity ,/were a few handfuls of people in a
corner of Western Asia. The records of their laws
and customs, and the stories they told of the events
of their history, became, under God's guidance, the
beginning of the Bible. Very soon I will tell you
some of these stories, but first let us try to picture
the people by whom and about whom the stories
were told.
In these early days — so early that there are no
dates for you to learn about them — the people was
not at first called Israel ; but the ancestors of the
Israelites were nomad tribes Wandering like the
Bedouin through many lands. They were closely
related to the Arabs in race and language, and very
similar in manner of life, so that we might almost
call them Arabs. They lived in tents, not little
white cones of canvas, such as we see in soldiers'
camps, but large black tents of goats' hair, often
divided into two or three rooms. Their property
was camels, cattle, sheep and goats, and slaves.1
With these the Israelite chiefs, or sheikhs, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and their clans, wandered to and
fro, seeking water and pasture for their flocks.
Now they would encamp at some oasis in the desert,
1 The picture of a " Fellah " or peasant moving might perhaps
serve for one of Abraham's followers.

ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS 5
now in the pasture lands of Palestine. There
they were neighbours of the Canaanites and Philis
tines in their towns. Often difficulties arose be
tween the Israelites and their neighbours as to the
.use of the land and the wells. Sometimes such

Fellas "moving"
quarrels were settled by friendly agreement, some
times by fighting. And all the men of a tribe
counted each other brethren, and stood by one
another in their quarrels ; and if one was killed,
all the rest held it a most sacred duty to punish

6 THE PATRIARCHS
his murderer. So that, though the Israelites and
their neighbours were brave and warlike, they did
not fight without due cause, lest they should be
pursued by the untiring vengeance of the kinsfolk
of the slain. We have hardly any stories of battles
fought by the patriarchs.
Sometimes in their early wanderings the patri
archs and their followers encamped in the neigh
bourhood of the great cities of Egypt — cities that
were as great and wonderful in their day as London
and Paris are now. These Arab sheikhs and their
clansmen mingled in the motley crowd of many
nations that thronged the streets of Thebes or
Memphis, and admired the magnificence of palaces
and temples, and the grandeur of great kings and
princes. Yet they thought it nobler and better to
wander at will through the wide desert than to
live cooped up in houses and shut in by city walls.
They told how, in days gone by, their fathers had
lived among the Chaldeans, who had cities as won
derful as Thebes and Memphis, and who were as
great and wise as the Egyptians ; and how God,
Whom the Israelites called Jehovah, had sent them
away from Chaldea to live a nomad life in the past
ures of Syria, that they might the better worship
and serve Him. And though in later times the
Israelites had cities and palaces and temples of
their own, they always looked back to their life in
tents as a holy and happy time, when their fathers
lived very near to God.

ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS 9
So long after, in the time of the kings of Israel
and Judah, men still loved to tell the ancient stories
of the patriarchs, as the Israelite herdsmen round
the camp fire and the maidens at the well told them
in days of old. Some of these stories are written
for you here.

&tiial>aflpJamcj Oarhe t Co

Stanford's (keg'fatatf.taidan.

CHAPTER II

ABRAHAM

Abraham and his wife Sarah lived amongst the
Chaldees, by the Euphrates and Tigris, two great
rivers north of the Persian Gulf, at a place called
Ur. And Jehovah said to Abraham, " Leave your
own country and your home and your friends, and
go to another country, to which I will show you
the way. And I will make you a great nation,
and I will bless you, and I will bless those who
bless you, and curse those who curse you ; and the
best that a man can wish for his friend will be that
he may be as happy as Abraham."
Abraham did as Jehovah told him. Abraham
and Sarah had no children, but their nephew Lot
10

ABRAHAM 11
went with them. They left their own country, and
journeyed for many weeks with their camels and
flocks and herds, their slaves and followers, till they
came to Shechem in the land of Canaan. There
Jehovah appeared to Abraham, and promised to give
that land to his children. And Abraham built an
altar to Jehovah at Shechem ; and he kept on jour
neying southward, and built another altar at Bethel.
And after journeying into Egypt, Abraham and Lot
came back to the altar at Bethel ; and each of them
had a great many sheep and cattle and tents and
followers ; and there was not room for them together
in the pastures and at the wells. Then Abraham's
herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen began to quarrel with
each other. And Abraham said to Lot, "We are
kinsfolk, we cannot quarrel, and we must not let
our servants quarrel. We must separate, that each
of us may have room for his flocks and herds. Do
you choose a place for yourself : if you take the
left hand, I will go to the right ; or, if you take
the right hand, I will go to the left."
Lot looked and saw that the land by the Jordan
was well watered, and he chose all that land for
himself, and moved there with all his tents and
cattle and followers. Then he went to live in
Sodom, a city of that land; though the people of
Sodom were very wicked.
But after Lot had gone, Jehovah said to Abraham,
" Lift up your eyes and look~every way, north,
south, east, and west : for all that land will I give

12 THE PATRIARCHS
to you and your children. Your children shall be
like the dust of the earth ; if any one can count the
dust, he will be able to count your descendants."
And Abraham journeyed to Hebron, and built an
other altar.
But while Lot was living in Sodom, four kings
from the East invaded Canaan. The kings of the
Canaanite cities had been subject to one of these
kings, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and had paid
tribute to him for twelve years. But in the thir
teenth year they rebelled, and Chedorlaomer came
with three other Eastern kings to punish the Ca
naanites and make them pay their tribute. These
four kings ravaged the country far and wide till
they came towards Sodom, and the king of Sodom
and four neighbouring kings got together an army
and fought against Chedorlaomer. But the four
Eastern kings beat the five Canaanite kings, and
the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were killed.
Then Chedorlaomer and his allies plundered Sodom
and Gomorrah ; they took all the food they could
find, and everything else that was worth carrying
away, and a number of prisoners, men, women, and
children, and set off on their homeward march.
Amongst these prisoners, of whom they intended to
make slaves, were Lot and his wife and daughters.
But one of Lot's servants escaped, and went and
told Abraham that his nephew was being carried off
as a slave. Then Abraham started with his tribe
of more than three hundred men to rescue Lot.

ABRAHAM 13
The invaders were marching northwards, by way
of Damascus, and Abraham followed on their track
for some days. At last he overtook them, far away
in the north ; he surprised their camp at night, and
they fled panic-stricken by the sudden attack, so that
Abraham rescued Lot and the other prisoners, and
recovered the plunder, and took them back to Sodom
and Gomorrah. On the way there came out to meet
Abraham, Melchizedek, king of Salem, or Jerusalem.
Melchizedek was also, like many ancient kings, the
priest of his city — the priest of El Elyon, or God
Most High, the name under which God was then
worshipped at Jerusalem. He brought bread and
wine for Abraham and his followers, and blessed
Abraham, who gave him a tenth of the spoil. The
new king of Sodom, too, came to meet Abraham ;
he offered to let Abraham keep all the other plunder
if he would release the prisoners whom he had res
cued. " Give me the men and women," said the
king of Sodom, " and take the goods for your
self." "I have sworn," answered Abraham, "by Jehovah,
El Elyon, Lord of heaven and earth, that I will not
take even a thread or a shoe-latchet, lest you should
say, I have made Abraham rich." So Lot and his
wife and daughters went back to Sodom, and lived
.there till Jehovah rained fire and brimstone upon
Sodom and Gomorrah, and destroyed them, and all
the people in them, because of their wickedness.
God told Abraham of His purpose, and Abraham

14 THE PATRIARCHS
entreated God to spare Sodom, and God promised
to spare it if there were ten righteous men in it.
}¦ But Lot and his family were the only righteous
j people, and God sent angels to bring them out of
the city.

CHAPTER III
ISAAC
God often promised Abraham that his descend
ants should be a great nation, and yet Abraham and
Sarah had no child through whom these promises
could be fulfilled. The years went on, and they
grew very old. Abraham had a son Ishmael by
another wife, a slave of Sarah's ; but though
Ishmael, too, became the father of a nation, the
great promises made to Abraham did not refer to
him. God promised that Abraham and Sarah should
have a son, and at last the son was born. Sarah
called his name Isaac, " Laughter," because it seemed
so ridiculous that two old people should have a son.
Now that Sarah had a boy of her own, she persuaded
Abraham to send Ishmael and his mother away, in
order that Ishmael might not prevent Isaac from
succeeding his father as head of the tribe.
" After these things," the story goes on, perhaps
when Isaac was twelve or fourteen, God tried Abra
ham, to see if he would obey Him when obedience
was very hard. In ancient times men chiefly wor
shipped God by sacrifices, by offering Him gifts,
and especially by killing animals and burning part
or all of them on an altar. Oxen and sheep were
15

16 THE PATRIARCHS
precious possessions, and men showed their love
and gratitude and loyalty by giving God their
best. But a man had possessions even more pre
cious than sheep and oxen, he had his children ;
and when an Eastern people was specially anxious
to show its devotion to God, men killed and burnt
their own children on the altar as sacrifices. Such
sacrifices were common among the Canaanites,_and
were sometimes offered by the Israelites themselves^
" After these things," then, to go back to the
Bible story, after Isaac was born and Ishmael sent
away, and other things had happened, and when
Abraham was encamped at Beer-sheba, in the south
of Palestine, God tried Abraham, and said to him,
" Abraham." And he said, " Here am I."
God said, " Take now thy son, thine only son
Isaac, whom thou lovest, and offer him up as a
burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I
will tell thee of." So Abraham got up early in the
morning, and saddled an ass, and took with him
two servants and his son Isaac ; and he cleft wood
for the burnt-offering, and set out for the place of
which God had told him. And on the third day
of their journey, Abraham looked and saw the place
afar off ; and he said to his servants, " Stay here
with the ass ; and I and the boy will go yonder,
and will worship, and come back to you."
Then he took the wood for the burnt-offering
and laid it on Isaac his son ; and took the fire and

ISAAC 17
the knife in his hand. So they two went to
gether. And Isaac said to his father, " My father."
He said, " Here am I, my son. "
"Here are fire and wood," said Isaac, "but where
is the sheep for the burnt-offering ? "
Abraham said, " God will provide Himself a sheep
for the burnt-offering, my son." So they went both
of them together, until they came to the place of
which God had told Abraham. Then he built an
altar and laid the wood in order on it, and took
Isaac and bound him, and placed him on the altar
over the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his
hand, and took the knife to kill his son.
But the angel of God called to him out of heaven,
" Abraham ! Abraham ! "
And he said, " Here am I."
The angel of God said, " Do not lay your hand
upon the boy to harm him; for now I know that
you fear God, because you were ready to give me
your son, your only son."
Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked,
and saw behind him a ram caught in a thicket by
its horns ; and he took the ram and offered it up
for a burnt- offering instead of Isaac ; and Abraham
and Isaac went back to the servants, and they all
went together to Abraham's camp at Beer-sheba.
When the Israelites read this story they under
stood that God had never intended Abraham to kill
Isaac, and that He did not wish them to sacrifice

18 THE PATRIARCHS
children to Him. The neighbouring peoples believed
that God was cruel and selfish, and wished men to
worship Him by making themselves uncomfortable
and sad, and by torturing themselves ; but the revela
tion which God gave to Israel taught them that God
was a Father to His people.
When Isaac was old enough to marry, Abraham,
after the custom of those times, found a wife for
him. He would not let Isaac marry any of their
Canaanite neighbours, but sent Eliezer, his chief
slave, the overseer of his household, to his own
relations in the East for a wife for Isaac. Eliezer
took ten camels loaded with provisions for the
journey and presents for Isaac's future wife and her
family, and journeyed till he came to the home of
Nahor, Abraham's brother, in Mesopotamia. And
in the evening, at the time when women go to draw
water, he made his camels kneel down outside the
town by the well. And he prayed to God and said:
" Jehovah, God of my master Abraham, send me
good speed to-day, and show kindness to my master
Abraham. May the maiden to whom I shall say,
' Let down your pitcher, I pray you, that I may
drink,' and who shall say to me, ' Drink, and I will
give your camels drink too ' — may she be the maiden
whom Thou hast chosen for Isaac's wife."
Before he had done speaking, a beautiful girl,
named Rebekah, Isaac's cousin, the daughter of
Bethuel, the son of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came
to the well with her pitcher on her shoulder, and

Woman carrying Watjsr-jar
19

ISAAC 21
went down to the fountain and filled her pitcher,
and came up again. Then Eliezer ran to meet her
and said^ " I pray you, give me a little water out of
your pitcher."
And she said, "Drink, my lord."
And she let down her pitcher quickly on her hand
and gave him to drink. And when he had finished,
she said, " I will draw water for your camels too,
till they have had enough to drink."
The man gazed at her in silence, wondering
whether Jehovah was really showing him that she
was to be Isaac's wife ; but when the camels had
done drinking, he took a nose-ring and bracelets of
gold, and said, " Whose daughter are you ? Tell me,
I pray you. Is there room for us to spend the night
in your father's house ? "
She answered, "I am the daughter of Bethuel,
the son of Nahor and his wife Milcah; we have
straw and fodder for the camels, and room for you
to spend the night."
Then Eliezer bowed down and worshipped Jeho
vah, and said, " Blessed be Jehovah, the God of my
master Abraham, who has not failed to be kind and
true to my master, and has led me to the home of
his kinsfolk."
While he was thanking God, Rebekah ran to the
harem, the women's rooms, and told them what had
happened. Afterwards her brother Laban saw the
nose-ring and bracelets of gold, and his sister told
him about Eliezer. Then Laban ran out and found

22 THE PATRIARCHS
Eliezer standing by the camels at the fountain, and
said, "Come in, thou_ blessed of Jehovah; why do
you stand without ? I have made ready for you and
your camels."
So Eliezer went to the house, and Laban took
off the camels' harness and gave them straw and
fodder, and brought water that Eliezer and his men
might wash their feet. Then Laban set food before
him, but he said, " I will not eat till I have told my
errand." And Laban said, "Speak on."
Then Eliezer told him the whole story from the
beginning, almost in the same words as I have told
it : how he was Abraham's slave, how Abraham
was very great and rich, and wished his son Isaac
to marry one of his own kinsfolk, and how God had
shown Eliezer that Rebekah was to be Isaac's wife.
" And now," he said, " if you will be kind and true
to my master, tell me, and if not, tell me, that I
may turn right or left."
Then Laban answered, " Jehovah has decided, we
can say nothing. Here is Rebekah; take her and
go, and let her marry your master's son, according
to the word of Jehovah."
So Eliezer thanked God, and brought out jewels
of silver and gold, and garments, and gave them
to Rebekah, and gave also rich presents to her
brother and mother. Then they all feasted, and
Eliezer and his men spent the night there, and early
next morning he said, " Send me away to my master."

ISAAC 23
But her brother and mother said, " Let Rebekah
stay with us a few days."
And he said, " Do not hinder me, since Jehovah
has prospered me, let me go to my master."
Then they said, "Rebekah shall decide for her
self." Rebekah was eager to start at once, so they
let her go, and wished her all happiness, and said,
" O our sister, mayest thou become thousands of
myriads, may thy descendants possess the gate of
them that hate them."
So Rebekah and her foster-mother and her
maidens rode away on the camels with Eliezer and
his men, and they journeyed many days.
Meanwhile, Isaac had gone to live at a place
called Beer-lahai-roi, south of Judah ; and one day
as he was walking in the fields in the evening, he
saw camels coming. And Rebekah, for these were
Eliezer's camels, looked and saw a man coming
towards them ; and she said to Eliezer, " Who is
that man in the fields walking to meet us?"
And he answered, " It is my master Isaac."
Then she took her veil and covered herself. And
Eliezer told Isaac everything, and Isaac married
Rebekah and took her to his tent.
The end of this story says nothing about Abraham p
— perhaps he was dead before Eliezer came back.

CHAPTER IV
JACOB AND ESAU
For a long time after Isaac and Rebekah were
married they had no children ; but Isaac prayed to
God, and He gave them two sons, Esau the elder,
and Jacob the younger. When they grew up Esau
spent his time chasing deer and buffalo, because he
was a clever hunter ; but Jacob was a quiet man,
and stayed at home amongst the tents, and looked
after th6 flocks and herds. Esau was his father's
favourite, for Isaac was fond of game, and Jacob
was his mother's darling. One day Jacob was
making lentil soup, and Esau came home from his
hunting, tired and hungry. " Make haste," said he
to Jacob, " and give me some of that red stuff, that
red stuff there."
But Jacob said to Esau, "First sell me your
birthright." Now, because Esau was the elder son, he would
have had the birthright — that is, he would have
been the head of the tribe after Isaac's death, and
the heir to his property. Yet Esau said, " I must
die sooner or later, and then what will be the use
of my birthright ? "
So he consented to sell the chieftainship and the
inheritance for a basin of soup. Jacob made him
24

JACOB AND ESAU 25
swear to keep the bargain, and then gave him soup
and bread, and Esau ate and drank, and got up and
went his way : so Esau made light of his birthright.
Years afterwards Isaac lay dying, old and almost
blind, and he called Esau and said, "I am so old
that I may die any day ; take your bow and arrows,
and go out hunting and get me game ; and make
me savoury meat such as I love, and bring it me
that I may eat of it and bless you before I die."
Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac talked
to Esau, and when Esau had gone out to shoot the
game, she said to Jacob, " I have just heard your
father tell Esau to get him game and make him
savoury meat that he may eat, and that before he
die he may bless Esau in the name of Jehovah.
Now, my son, you must do exactly as I bid you :
get me two goodly kids from the flock, and I will
make them into savoury meat for your father, such
as he loves. Then you must take it to your father,
that he may eat it and give his last blessing to you
instead of to Esau."
" But," said Jacob, " Esau is a hairy man and I
am smooth. Perhaps my father will feel me and
think that I ajrj^Jjuffoon L orjlayinjgr the fool, and I
shall bring on myself a curse and not a blessing."
But Rebekah said, " On me be the curse ; do as
I tell you, and get me the kids."
So he fetched them, and his mother made savoury
meat, such as his father loved. Then she took Esau's
best clothes, which she was taking care of for him,

26 THE PATRIARCHS
and put them on Jacob ; and she covered the smooth
skin of Jacob's hands and neck with the hairy skin
of the kids ; and she gave him the savoury meat and
bread, and he went to his father.
And he said, " My father."
Isaac answered, " Here am I ; who are you, my
son?" Jacob said to his father, " I am Esau, your first
born. I have done what you told me ; rise now, sit
and eat of my game, that you may bless me."
" How, then," said Isaac, " have you found it so
quickly ? "
" Because," said he, " Jehovah thy God put it in
my way."
But Isaac said, " Come closer, my son, that I may
feel you, and find out whether or no you are my son
Esau." So Jacob went close to Isaac, and he felt him, and
did not recognize him, because the skins made his
hands hairy like Esau's ; and Isaac said, " The voice
is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of
Esau. Are you really my son Esau ? "
Jacob said, "I am."
Then Isaac said, " Put the savoury meat before
me, that I may eat of my son's game, and may bless
you." Then Jacob put the meat before him ; when he
had eaten it, he brought his father wine, and Isaac
drank it, and said, " Come close to me and kiss me,
my son."

JACOB AND ESAU 27
Jacob went to his father and kissed him, and Isaac
smelt the smell of his clothes and blessed him, and
said: " The smell of my son is as the smell of a field
which Jehovah has blessed.
" God give thee of the dew of heaven,
And of the fatness of the earth,
And plenty of corn and wine.
Let peoples serve thee,
Let nations bow down to thee.
Be thou a lord over thy brethren,
Let thy mother's sons bow down to thee ;
Cursed be every one that curseth thee,
Blessed be every one that blesseth thee."
As soon as Isaac had finished the blessing, and
Jacob had left him, Esau came in from his hunting.
He, too, made savoury meat, and brought it to his
father, and said to him, " Rise, my father, and eat of
your son's venison, that you may bless me."
" Who are you ? " said Isaac.
" I am your son," said he, "your first-born, Esau."
Then Isaac shook and trembled in every limb, and
said, " Who was it, then, who brought me game, so
that I ate of all before you came, and blessed him?
Yea, and he shall be blessed."
At his father's words Esau uttered a cry, exceed
ing loud and bitter, and said, "Bless me, me also,
my father."

28 THE PATRIARCHS
But Isaac said, " Your brother has cheated you
of your blessing."
Esau said, " Is it because he is named Supplanter 1
that he has twice supplanted me? First he took
my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.
Have you not kept back a blessing for me?"
" I have made him your master," answered Isaac ;
'-' I have made all his kinsfolk his slaves, and I have
given him the corn and wine for his portion. What,
then, can I do for you, my son ? "
Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
Then said Isaac,
" Yea, far from the fatness of the earth be thy dwelling,
And far from the dew of the heavens.
Thou shalt live by thy sword, and be thy brother's slave,
But, when thou strivest, thou shalt break his yoke from off thy
neck."
In the following chapters you will hear how Jacob
and Rebekah were punished for telling and acting
lies to a blind old man on his death-bed, the husband
of Rebekah, the father of Jacob.
1 Jacob means Supplanter.

CHAPTER V
JACOB AND LABAN
Esau longed to be revenged on Jacob, and only
waited till Isaac was dead and buried. But Rebekah
sent Jacob away to her brother Laban at Haran. So
Jacob started from Beer-sheba to go to Haran, just
as Eliezer did when he went to find a wife for Isaac.
And at the end of his first day's journey, he lay
down to sleep with a stone for his pillow. And he
dreamt, and in his dream he saw a ladder set on the
earth, with its top in the skies, and the angels of
God went up and down it. Then Jehovah stood
beside Jacob, and said, " I am Jehovah, the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, " and Jehovah prom
ised that Jacob's children should be a great and
mighty nation.
When he awoke he was afraid, and said, " Cer
tainly Jehovah is in this place, and I knew it not.
How dreadful is this place ! This is none other
than the house of God and the gate of heaven."
Then Jacob set up his stone pillow for a sacred
pillar, and poured oil on the top of it as an offer
ing to Jehovah. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying,
" If God will be with me, and will keep me on my
journey, and give me bread to eat and clothes to
29

30 THE PATRIARCHS
wear, and bring me safely home again, then this
pillar shall be a temple of God, and I will give
Thee a tenth of all that Thou givest me."
And he called the place Bethel, which means House
of Gfod or Temple ; and after the Israelites conquered
( Canaan they worshipped God at the temple at Bethel,
and paid tithes to the priests there.
And Jacob went on his journey, and after many
days he came to a well, with three flocks of sheep
lying by it ; and the shepherds told him they be
longed to Haran. Then Jacob knew that he had
reached the end of his journey, and he said to them,
" Do you know Laban the son of Nahor ? "
They said, "We do."
" Is he well ? " said Jacob.
They said, " Yes, and here comes his daughter
Rachel with the sheep."
When Jacob saw his cousin Rachel with her sheep,
he went to the well and rolled back the great stone
that covered it, and drew water for the sheep. Then
he kissed Rachel, and wept aloud for joy that he had
come safely to his kinsfolk ; and he told Rachel that
he was her cousin, and she ran and told her father
Laban. When Laban heard that his sister Rebekah's
son had come, he ran to meet him, and embraced him
and kissed him, and took him to his house ; and
Jacob told him all that had happened. So Jacob
lived with Laban, and helped him with his flocks
and herds. Laban offered to pay him wages, but
Jacob had fallen in love with Rachel, who was very

31

JACOB AND LABAN 33
beautiful ; and he said to Laban, " I will be your
servant for seven years, if you will let me marry
your younger daughter Rachel."
Laban agreed, and Jacob worked seven years to
get Rachel, and they seemed to him only a few days
because of his great love to her. At the end of the
seven years, Laban pretended that he was going to
give Rachel to Jacob. He invited all the neigh
bours to the wedding, and made a great feast for
them. The bride was brought in veiled, and Jacob
supposed it was Rachel ; but when the wedding was
over, he found out that he had married her elder
sister Leah, and he was very angry. But Laban
explained that in Haran the elder sister was always
married first, and he offered to let Jacob marry
Rachel too next week, if he would work for him
another seven years ; and Jacob consented, and
married Rachel as well as Leah. And Rachel and
Leah were jealous of each other, and made Jacob's
life a burden to him by their quarrelling. Later
on, he married also two slave-girls, Bilhah, Rachel's
maid, and Zilpah, Leah's maid; and he had twelve
sons and a daughter. When the second seven years
were ended, he agreed to work for Laban for a cer
tain portion of the lambs of his flocks ; and Laban
and Jacob were always trying to get the better of
each other in the matter of wages, but Jacob was
cleverer than Laban, and Jacob got rich and Laban
got poor. Then Laban and his sons hated Jacob,
and Jacob was afraid they would rob him, or per-

34 THE PATRIARCHS
haps even kill him ; so he fled away by night with
his flocks and herds and slaves, and his wives and
children, to go back to Canaan. When Laban heard
that they had gone, he gathered his kinsfolk to
gether and pursued them, and in three days he
overtook them. But God would not let Laban harm
Jacob. So when Jacob had promised that he would
be kind to Laban's daughters, Laban left him and
went home again.
And now Jacob bethought him of Esau, and he
sent to tell Esau that he was on his way home ; and
the messengers returned to Jacob and said, " We
found your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet
you with four hundred men."
Then Jacob was terribly frightened. He got
ready a present for Esau — two hundred and twenty
goats, two hundred and twenty sheep, thirty camels,
fifty oxen, and thirty asses. He arranged them in
separate droves, each with a slave to drive it ; and
Jacob said to each of the slaves, " When my brother
Esau meets you, and asks who you are and to whom
the cattle belong, you must say, ' They belong to
your slave Jacob ; it is a present sent to my lord
Esau.'" So the present for Esau was sent on in front, one
drove after the other, and behind came the other
slaves and flocks and herds, and then the wives and
children. Jacob put Bilhah and Zilpah and their
children first, Leah and her children next, and last
of all his beloved Rachel and his darling Joseph, her

35

JACOB AND LABAN 37
son, that they might have the best chance of escap
ing if Esau was still vindictive. When Jacob saw
Esau and the four hundred men coming, he went on
in front to meet them, and prostrated himself on the
ground seven times before Esau. But Esau ran to
meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck
and kissed him, and they both wept. And Esau
proposed that he and Jacob should live together, but
Jacob made excuses, and they separated.

CHAPTER VI
JOSEPH THE SPOILT DARLING
After Jacob left Esau, Rachel had a son Benja
min, and died when he was born ; but for a long
time before, she had only one son, Joseph, and he
was Jacob's youngest child ; and Rachel was his
favourite wife. Jacob loved Joseph more than all
his other sons, because he was the son of his old
age ; and he made him a long robe with sleeves,
such as princes wore. So his brothers hated him,
and could scarcely bring themselves to speak a civil
word to him.
Once Joseph had a dream, and told it to his broth
ers. " I dreamed," said he, " that we were binding
sheaves in the harvest field, and my sheaf arose and
stood upright ; and your sheaves came round about
and bowed to my sheaf."
His brothers answered, " Do you really think you
are going to be king over us ? " and they hated him
more than ever.
Soon after he had another dream, and told it to
his brothers. " I dreamed," said he, "that the sun
and moon and eleven stars bowed down to me."
Then his father rebuked him, and said, " What
an absurd dream ! Am I, and your brothers, and
your mother to bow down before you ? "
38

JOSEPH THE SPOILT DARLING 39
And his brothers were jealous of him, but his
father kept the dreams in mind.
Now, sometimes Joseph went with his brothers to
help them keep the sheep, and he used to come home
to his father and tell tales about his brothers. Once
they went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.
Afterwards Jacob sent Joseph to go and see his
brothers, and bring back word about them. But
when Joseph got to Shechem, his brothers were
gone, and as he "was wandering about looking for
them, he met a man who told him that they had
gone to Dothan ; and he went after his brethren, and
found them in Dothan. And they saw him coming,
and said to each other, " Here is this dreamer. Let
us kill him, and throw his body into one of the cis
terns,1 and say that a wild beast has devoured him ;
and we will see what will come of his dreams. "
But the eldest brother Reuben said, " Do not shed
blood, throw him into this cistern, do not hurt him."
Now Reuben intended, some time when the rest were
not there, to take Joseph out of the cistern, and
send him safely home to his father.
So when Joseph came to them, they stripped off
his princely robe, and threw him into a cistern with
out any water in it, and went away and left him
there. And when they were gone, there passed by some
Midianite merchants, and they drew Joseph out of
1 Pits for holding water, often empty.

40 THE PATRIARCHS
the cistern, and took him away to sell him for a
slave. Later on, Reuben came back to the cistern to take
Joseph out and send him home, but he was nowhere
to be found. Reuben tore his clothes in his grief,
and went back to his brothers, and said, " The boy
is gone ; and I, whither shall I go ? "
Then they took the robe, and killed a goat, and
dipped the robe in its blood, and brought it to
Jacob, and said, " We have found this ; is it
Joseph's robe ? "
And Jacob recognized it, and said, " It is my
son's robe ; a wild beast has devoured him : Joseph
is without doubt torn in pieces."
And he tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth,
and mourned for his son many days. And all his
sons and daughters rose up to comfort him, but he
refused to be comforted, and said, " Mourning will
I go down to my son in the land of the spirits of the
dead." Meanwhile the Midianites took Joseph down into
Egypt, and sold him to Potiphar, the captain of
Pharaoh's bodyguard.

CHAPTER VII
JOSEPH IN PRISON
God helped Joseph when he was a slave in Egypt,
so that he was able to do his work well. His master
saw that he was clever, and industrious, and faith
ful; and set him over all his fellow-servants, and
over his house and fields and cattle, and all that
he had. Then God blessed Potiphar's house for
Joseph's sake, and the blessing of Jehovah, the God
of Israel, was upon all that he had in the house and
in the field. Potiphar trusted everything to Joseph,
and asked for no account of anything, so that he
knew nothing about his house and his estate, except
that he had a good djrmer_eyery day.
But Potiphar's wife was a wicked woman, and
brought false charges against Joseph, so that Poti
phar was angry, and had him put in prison. And
still Jehovah was with Joseph, and showed him kind
ness, so that the governor of the prison was pleased
with him, and trusted him just as Potiphar had done.
The governor put Joseph in authority over all his
fellow-prisoners, and did not ask for any account of
what he did, and Joseph managed everything well,
because Jehovah was with him.
When Joseph had been in prison a long time,
there were brought in two new prisoners, two great
41

42 THE PATRIARCHS
nobles from the court of Pharaoh, King of Egypt,
the Chief Baker and the Chief Cupbearer. They
had offended the King, and he had sent them to
prison ; and the governor put Joseph in charge of
them. One morning he found them looking very
sad, and asked them why they were so downcast,
and in such low spirits ; and they said, " We have
each of us dreamed a dream, and there is no one to
interpret." And Joseph said, "Do not interpretations belong
to God ? Tell me the dreams."
Then the Chief Cupbearer said, " In my dream I
saw a vine with three branches ; and while I looked
at it, it seemed to bud, and the buds grew into
blossoms, and there grew clusters of ripe grapes.
And I had Pharaoh's cup in my hand, and I took
the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup,
and gave it into Pharaoh's hand."
Joseph said, " This is the interpretation : the
three branches are three days ; in three days Pha
raoh will take you out of prison, and make you
Chief Cupbearer again. Then, I pray you, remem
ber me, and tell Pharaoh about me, that I, too, may
be taken out of prison ; for I was stolen away from
my own country, and I have been put into prison
on a false charge."
When the Chief Baker saw that the interpretation
was good, he said, " In my dream I had three bas
kets of white bread on my head, and in the top
basket there were all manner of dainties for Pharaoh,

JOSEPH IN PRISON 43
and the birds ate them out of the basket on my
head." Joseph said, " This is the interpretation : the three
baskets are three days ; in three days Pharaoh will
cut your head off, and hang you on a tree ; and the
birds shall eat your flesh off your bones."
And the third day was Pharaoh's birthday, and
he made a feast for all his courtiers, and he had
the Chief Baker and Chief Cupbearer brought be
fore him, and restored the Chief Cupbearer to his
office, and hanged the Chief Baker, just as Joseph
had said. Yet the Chief Cupbearer forgot all about
Joseph. But, two years after, Pharaoh had a bad dream
one night ; and he awoke in the morning anxious
and frightened, and sent for all his magicians and
wise men, and asked them to interpret his dream ;
but none of them could tell him what it meant.
Then said the Chief Cupbearer, " One night, when
the Chief Baker and I were in prison, we each of us
had a dream. And we told our dreams to a young
Hebrew,1 and he interpreted them ; and the inter
pretation came true — the Chief Baker was hanged,
and I was restored to my office."
Then Pharaoh sent to the prison to fetch Joseph.
1 People of other nations called the Israelites " Hebrews."

CHAPTER VIII
JOSEPH THE RULER OF EGYPT
So the messengers came to fetch Joseph to the
court. They hurried him out of the prison, and he
changed his prison clothes for others, and shaved
himself, and went with them to Pharaoh.
And Pharaoh said, " I have dreamed a dream, and
there is no one that can interpret it ; and I have been
told that, if you hear a dream, you can interpret it."
Joseph answered, " It is not in me : God shall give
Pharaoh an answer of peace."
Then Pharaoh said, " In my dream I stood upon
the brink of the Nile, and seven fat, sleek cows came
up out of the Nile and fed amongst the reeds ; and
there came up after them seven poor, lean, ugly
cows, the worst I ever saw in all Egypt ; and the
lean, ugly cows ate up the seven fat cows ; and when
they had eaten them up, no one could have known
that they had had anything to eat, they were as ugly
as they were before.
"Afterwards I dreamed another dream. There
came up on one stalk seven full and good ears,
and there sprung up after them seven other ears,
withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind ; and
the thin ears swallowed up the good ears."
44

JOSEPH THE RULER OF EGYPT 45
Joseph said, "The two dreams are one. The
seven good cows and the seven good ears both mean
the same seven years of plenty ; and the seven lean
cows and the seven blasted ears both mean the same
seven years of famine. God sent this dream to tell
Pharaoh that there shall be seven good harvests in
Egypt, and then seven bad harvests, and the famine
shall consume the land so that the good harvests
shall be forgotten ; and the dream was doubled
because God's purpose is fixed, and shall soon be
accomplished. Now, therefore, let Pharaoh find a
sensible, capable man, and let him store up corn in
the good j^ears against the years of famine."
And Joseph's advice pleased Pharaoh and all his
court, and the king said, " Since God has showed
you all this, there is no one as sensible and capable
as you are. You shall be over my house and rule
my people ; without you no one shall stir hand or
foot in all Egypt. Only I myself, the king, will be
greater than you."
Then Pharaoh took off his signet-ring and put
it on Joseph's finger, and arrayed him in princely
robes, and made him ride in the second-best royal
chariot. So Joseph rode in state through the city,
and heralds went before him and cried out, " Bow
the knee."
And Pharaoh gave Joseph a wife — Asenath, the
daughter of an Egyptian priest. Now, in Egypt,
the priests were great nobles and very rich.
So Joseph was Pharaoh's Grand Vizier or prime

46 THE PATRIARCHS
minister, and ruled all Egypt. When the seven
good harvests came, he stored up thousands and
thousands of sacks of corn, and at last he had more
sacks than he could count, and the corn in the gran
aries was like the sand on the seashore. Then came
the years of famine, and Joseph sold corn out of
his granaries to all the. Egyptians.
And the famine was in the countries round about,
so that many foreigners came into Egypt to buy
corn, and Joseph sat in state and received them,
and gave them permission to buy. One day there
came amongst the other foreigners Joseph's ten
brethren — all except Benjamin. And they bowed
humbly to the great Egyptian prince, and did not
know that it was Joseph, the lad whom they threw
into the cistern. Joseph knew them, and remem
bered how he had dreamed that they should bow
down before him. But he behaved as if he were
a stranger to them, and accused them of being spies
from some enemies' country.
And they said, " We are no spies, we are true
men. Thy servants are twelve brothers from
Canaan, but one of our brothers is dead, and our
youngest brother is at home with his father."
But Joseph put them in prison for three days,
and then he said to them, " I will give you a chance
of proving that you are honest men: one of you
must stay here in prison, but the rest may go
home, and take food to feed your families. But
you must come back again, and bring me your

JOSEPH THE RULER OF EGYPT 47
youngest brother, that I may know that you told
me the truth when you said you had another
brother." And they said to one another in Joseph's pres
ence, "We are being punished for our cruelty to
Joseph, because we would not listen to his entreaties
when he was in trouble."
They thought that this Egyptian prince could
not understand their Canaanite language, because
Joseph had talked with them by means of an in
terpreter. But Joseph understood it all, and he
turned from them and wept.
Then Simeon — one of the brothers — was left
behind in prison, and the rest started for Canaan
with their sacks full of corn ; and when they halted
on the first night, one of them opened his sack to
get some corn to give to his ass, and he found
the money he had paid for his corn put back at
the top of his sack ; and so it was in all the other
sacks. And they were puzzled and frightened, but
Joseph had had it put there, because he would not
take money from his brothers for the food he gave
them. And the brothers came home to Jacob and Ben
jamin, and told the whole story ; and, when the
corn was finished, they wished to take Benjamin
and go to Egypt to buy more corn, and bring
Simeon home. But at first Jacob would not let
Benjamin go. He said, "Me have you bereaved
of my children ; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not,

48 THE PATRIARCHS
and you will take Benjamin away; all these things
are against me."
But, at last, when they seemed likely to starve for
want of corn, they persuaded Jacob to let Benjamin
go with them. So the eleven brothers went down
to Egypt, and stood before Joseph as he sat in state
to sell corn to the foreigners. And when Joseph
saw that Benjamin was with them, he said to the
steward of his house, " Take the men into my house,
and prepare a feast, for they must dine with me at
noon." And the steward did as Joseph said; and,
when Joseph came home to dinner, his brothers were
there to meet him, and still they did not know him.
And he said to them, "Is your father well, the
old man of whom you spoke ? "
And they said, " Thy servant our father is well ;
he is still alive."
And he looked and saw his brother Benjamin,
his mother's son, and said, " God be gracious unto
thee, my son."
Then he altogether broke down. He was greatly
moved at the sight of Benjamin, and he hurried out
and went to his own room to weep alone. And
when he was himself again, he washed his face, and
came back to the banquet-hall, and bade them serve
the dinner. And they laid three tables, one for
Joseph, one for the Egyptians, and one for the
Hebrew strangers, for the Egyptians thought it
wicked to eat with foreigners. Joseph placed his
brothers according to their age, the oldest first, and

JOSEPH THE RULER OF EGYPT 49
the youngest last, and they wondered how he knew
their ages. And he sent portions to them from his
own table, but Benjamin's portion was five times as
much as any one else's.
Next day the eleven brothers started home again,
with their sacks filled with corn. But Joseph had
had a silver cup hidden in Benjamin's sack, and sent
his steward after them. The steward caught them
up, and accused them of stealing the cup ; and,
when he had searched in all the sacks, he found the
cup in Benjamin's. Then he took them all back to
Joseph's house ; and Joseph said that Benjamin must
be a slave, but the rest might go home.
Then Judah reminded Joseph that Benjamin had
only come to Egypt because Joseph asked for him.
"Now, therefore," said he, "when I come to thy
servant my father, and the lad is not with us ; since
his life is bound up in the lad's life, when he sees
that the lad is not with us, he will die, and thy
servants shall bring down the grey hairs of thy
servant our father with sorrow to the grave. I
pray thee, let me stay to be thy slave instead of
the lad, and let him go with his brothers. How can
I go home without him, and see my father's grief ? "
Then Joseph could not contain himself any longer,
and he made all the Egyptians go out, so that he
was left alone with his brothers. And he wept
aloud, so that the Egyptians heard him outside.
And he said to his brothers, " I am Joseph. Is my
father still alive ? "

50 THE PATRIARCHS
And his brothers were troubled, and could not
answer him ; but he bade them not be grieved or
angry with themselves because they had wronged
him, for God had brought good out of their evil,
and made him a saviour of Egypt and of his own
people from the famine. And he fell upon his
brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin
wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers,
and they all talked together.
And they heard about it in Pharaoh's court. They
said, "Joseph's brothers are come," and Pharaoh
and his courtiers were glad. Pharaoh bade Joseph
send wagons to fetch his father and his brothers'
wives and children down into Egypt. And Joseph
sent the wagons with his brothers, and sent presents
for his father, and food for the journey.
They came to Jacob and said, " Joseph is still
alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt."
His heart fainted, because he could not believe
them. But when they told him the whole story,
and showed him the wagons, his spirit revived, and
he said, " It is enough ; Joseph my son is still
alive; I will go and see him before I die."
So they all journeyed to Egypt; and Joseph came
in his chariot to meet Jacob, and fell on his neck
and wept a good while. And Joseph brought Jacob
into the presence of King Pharaoh, and Pharaoh
asked Jacob how old he was.
Jacob said, " I am a hundred and thirty years old.
Few and evil have been the years of my life ; they

JOSEPH THE RULER OF EGYPT 51
have not been so many as the years of my fathers in
the days of their sojournings."
Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from
his presence. And Pharaoh gave the Israelites
(that is, Jacob and his sons and their tribe, for
Jacob was also called Israel) the land of Goshen
for their flocks and herds, and they dwelt there.

II
Moses and Joshua
chapter i
the son of pharaoh's daughter
When the Israelites came to Egypt, they lived
very much as they did before. Their wealth was
still their flocks and herds ; they lived in tents, and
roamed about from one pasture to another. Only
they did not wander through many different lands,
but kept in Goshen, on the borders of Egypt. The
years went on ; first Jacob died, and then Joseph ;
and the king who had made Joseph his prime
minister died. After a while there was a king of
Egypt who forgot how Joseph had saved the coun
try in the time of the famine ; but he saw that
the Israelites were growing into a great people.
And he said to his captains and chief men, " These
Israelites are too many and too mighty for us ; and
perhaps, when we are at war, they will join our
enemies and fight against us."
So, to break the spirit of the Israelites, the
Egyptians took them from their flocks and herds,
52

the son of Pharaoh's daughter 53
and made them work hard in the broiling sun to
build great cities. They had poor food and little
of it, and were often cruelly beaten. Their lives
were made bitter with hard work. But the worse
they were treated the more they multiplied and
increased in number, and the more frightened the
Egyptians became.
Then the king of Egypt tried another way of
preventing the Israelites from getting too numerous.
He ordered that every baby boy should be thrown
into the Nile as soon as it was born. Now, after
the king had issued this order, two Israelites, Am-
ram and his wife Jochebed, had a little baby boy ;
and his mother thought him the most beautiful baby
that ever was, and she hid him away to prevent his
being thrown into the Nile. She kept him hidden
for three months, till he got so big and noisy that
she was sure the Egyptians would hear him. Then
she took an " ark," or basket of bulrushes, and
daubed it with mud and pitch so that it would float
like a little ship. She put the boy in it, and laid
it in the reeds by the river's bank. When it was
left there, his sister stood some way off to see what
would become of him. And Pharaoh's daughter
came down to bathe in the river, and walked along
the bank with her maids, or ladies-in-waiting, and
she saw the "ark" amongst the reeds, and sent
her maid to fetch it. When she opened it, she saw
the child ; and, sure enough, he was crying. Then
she felt very sorry for him, because she saw he was

54 MOSES AND JOSHUA
one of the Israelite babies whom her father had
ordered to be drowned. When the boy's sister saw
the princess open the ark, she came to see what
would be done with the baby ; and she saw that the
princess would like to keep him and take care of
him. So she said, " Shall I find a Hebrew woman
to nurse the child for you? "
And the princess said " Yes."
So his sister went and fetched his mother, and she
had her son home again safely, and took care of him
and enjoyed him in peace and comfort, without hav
ing to hide him away ; and she was paid for nursing
her own baby, because he was the adopted son of the
princess. But when he grew to be a big boy, she
had to take him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he was
treated as if he were her son, and she called his name
Moses.

Sheikh's Daughter tending Sheep

CHAPTER II
THE REPROACH OF CHRIST
While the other Israelites were being illtreated
and overworked, Moses grew up in a palace, and
lived like a prince. But somehow he came to know
that these wretched and despised people were his
kinsfolk and fellow-countrymen ; and one day he
went out to see them at their hard work, and he saw
one of them being beaten by an Egyptian. And he
looked this way and that, and there was no one else
to be seen; and then he struck the Egyptian and
killed him, and hid his body in the sand.
The next day he went out again, and saw one of
his own people beating another Israelite. And he
said, " Why do you beat him ? "
But the man answered, " Who made you a prince
and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as
you did the Egyptian? "
Then Moses knew that some one had seen him kill
the Egyptian ; and soon Pharaoh heard of it, and
tried to kill Moses. But Moses ran away and es
caped, and after a time he came to a well in the land
of Midian, and sat down there. And the seven
daughters of Reuel or Jethro, the priest of Midian,
came to the well, and drew water into the drinking
57

58 MOSES AND JOSHUA
troughs for their father's flock. But the shepherds
came and wanted to drive them away. Then Moses
stood up and helped them, and watered their sheep.
And when they came back to their father, he said,
" How is it that you have come back so soon to
day?" They said, " An Egyptian helped us against the
shepherds, and gave water to our sheep."
Jethro said, " Where is he ? Why did you not
bring him with you ? "
So they went and fetched Moses, and in the end
he agreed to stay with Jethro, and keep his sheep.
Afterwards he married Zipporah, one of the seven
daughters. And so instead of being a prince in
Egypt, he was a shepherd in Midian, in exile from
his countrymen and all his old friends.
The New Testament tells us that Moses bore "the
reproach of Christ," which teaches us that those who
make sacrifices for their country and their kinsfolk
are serving and pleasing Christ, even when, like
Moses, they have never heard of Him.

CHAPTER III
THE BURNING BUSH
While Moses was keeping sheep in Midian, he
was called by God in a vision to be the deliverer
of Israel. The Angel of Jehovah appeared to him.
He saw what seemed like flames of fire in a bush,
but the bush was not burnt up by the fire.
And Moses said, "I will turn aside now, and see
this great sight, why the bush is not burnt."
Then God called to him, " Moses ! Moses ! "
He said, "Here am I."
God said, "Do not come near; take off your
shoes, for you are standing on holy ground."
For in the East, when men went into a temple,
they took off their shoes as we take off our hats ;
and the place where God appeared by His angel
was holy, as if it had been a temple.
God said, " I am the God of thy fathers, the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of
Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to
look at God.
And God said, "I have seen how my people suffer
in Egypt, and how the Egyptians illtreat them; and
I have heard their prayers, and have come to deliver
them, and to take them to Canaan, a land flowing
59

60 MOSES AND JOSHUA
with milk and honey. Come now, therefore, and I
will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall bring my
people the Israelites out of Egypt."
But Moses said that he was not able to do so
great a work, and especially that he was not clever
enough at speaking to persuade Pharaoh to let the
Israelites go. Even when God promised to tell
him what to say, he still shrank from the task.
But God said that his brother Aaron should go
with him to be the spokesman.
Then Moses went home and said good-bye to
Jethro, and put his wife and his two sons on an
ass, and started for Egypt. And on the way
Aaron met him, and Moses told Aaron all that
God had said to him. When Moses and Aaron
came to Egypt, they gathered together all the
elders or leaders of the Israelites, and Aaron told
them that God was about to deliver them, and the
Israelites believed them, and thanked God.
Then Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and
said, " Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, ' Let
my people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me
in the wilderness.'"
But Pharaoh said, " Who is Jehovah, that I
should obey Him, and let Israel go ? "
That very day Pharaoh ordered the taskmasters
to make the Israelites work harder than ever.
Before Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, the
people had to make so many bricks a day, and had
straw given them for the bricks ; but now they

THE BURNING BUSH 61
had to find straw for themselves, and yet to make
just the same number of bricks. And they went
and complained to Pharaoh, and said, " Why are
we so badly treated ? The taskmasters give us no
straw, and yet they tell us to make bricks, and we
thy servants are beaten, and it is not our fault
that we cannot make bricks."
And Pharaoh said, " You are idle ! You are
idle ! So you pretend to wish to go and sacrifice
to Jehovah. Go and do your work, and make
your full number of bricks, and get straw for
yourselves." As the Israelites came away from Pharaoh, they
met Moses and Aaron, and they abused them, and
said, " Jehovah look upon you and judge ; you
have made Pharaoh and his officers hate us, and
have given them an excuse for killing us."
And the Israelites no longer believed that Je
hovah was going to deliver them.

CHAPTER IV
THE TEN PLAGUES
God did not desert His people, although they so
easily lost faith in the deliverer He had sent to
them. He made Egypt suffer terrible plagues, to
frighten Pharaoh into letting the Israelites go.
These are called the "Ten Plagues." They were —
1. The Plague of Blood. The water of the Nile
was turned into blood.
2. The Plague of Frogs.
3. The Plague of Vermin.
4. The Plague of Flies.
The Egyptians were pestered first with frogs, then
with vermin, and then with flies.
5. The Plague of Murrain. Their cattle all died
of murrain, or cattle disease.
6. The Plague of Boils and Blains. The Egyp
tians were afflicted with boils.
7. The Plague of Hail. There was a thunder
storm with great hailstones, which destroyed the
crops. 8. The Plague of Locusts. There came multi
tudes of locusts, and ate up what had not been spoilt
by the hail.
9. The Plague of Darkness. For three days
62

THE TEN PLAGUES 63
Egypt was covered with thick darkness, "which
could be felt," as the story puts it.
10. The Plague of the Firstborn. All the first
born children in Egypt died in one night.
Now, the Israelites were not afflicted with any
of these plagues ; they did not lose their cattle or
their children, and, when it was dark in all the
rest of Egypt, it was light in Goshen, where the
Israelites were. Before each plague Moses warned
Pharaoh ; and, when the plague came, Pharaoh
always begged that it might be taken away, and
promised that, if it was, he would let the Israel
ites go. But each time when the plague was over
Pharaoh broke his promise, and did not let them
go. Only when all the firstborn died, and his own
firstborn son amongst them, he allowed the Israelites
to go ; and they went away at once, before he had
time to change his mind. But you shall hear more
about this in the next chapter.

CHAPTER V

THE EXODUS

I must tell you more of the story of how the
Israelites came to leave Egypt at last. After the
darkness had been taken away, and Pharaoh had
again broken his promise, Moses told him that,
unless he let the Israelites go, all the firstborn
would die. But Pharaoh would not listen.
And Moses told the Israelites that after this
plague Pharaoh would at last let them go ; and he
bade them get ready for their journey.
That night they kept a great feast. Every family
killed a lamb and roasted it, and ate it together in
their house, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
And, because they were so soon to set out on their
journey, they ate it in travelling dress, with their
long robes girded round their waist, and their shoes
on, and their staves in their hands. And they ate
it in haste. But before their meal, they put some
of the blood of the lamb at the top and sides of the
doors of their houses, as a sign that God would not
kill their firstborn. This feast, which the Jews still
observe, is called the Passover, because God passed
over the Israelites when he punished the Egyptians.
The New,_Testament speaks of Christ as " our Pass-
64

THE EXODUS 65
over," and as " a lamb slain from the foundation of
the world," because Christ suffered when the Jews
were keeping the Passover, and because by His
death we have assurance that God will be merciful
to those who believe in Him, as He was to the
Israelites. But to come back to the story. It goes on — at
midnight, while the Israelites were feasting, Jehovah
smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from
the firstborn of Pharaoh on his throne to the first
born of the prisoner in the dungeon. Pharaoh rose
up in the night, and all his servants, and all the
Egyptians ; and there was a great cry in Egypt,
for there was not a house where there was not one
dead. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron by
night, and bade them and the Israelites leave Egypt
at once ; and all the Egyptians were eager for the
Israelites to go, for they said, "We are all dead
men." The Israelites asked them for gold and!
silver and clothes ; and the Egyptians were willing I
to give them anything, if they would only go.
So they started on their journey, a very great
host of men, women, and children, with many flocks
and herds.

CHAPTER VI
THE RED SEA
After the Israelites were gone, Pharaoh and the
Egyptians began to get over their fright, and they
were sorry that they had let them go. And Pharaoh
got together a great army, with chariots and horses,
and pursued the Israelites. Now the Israelites in
their journey had come to the sea, and were encamped
upon the shore, so that the water was in front of
them, and the great army of Pharaoh behind them ;
they were shut in, and could not escape. When
they saw the Egyptians, they were very frightened,
and their faith failed them again.
They said to Moses, " Were there no graves in
Egypt, that you have brought us out to die in the
wilderness ? Let us alone, that we may serve the
Egyptians. We had better be their slaves than die
in the wilderness."
But Moses said, " Do not be afraid ; stand still,
and see the great victory which Jehovah will win
for you to-day. You have seen Pharaoh's army, but
you will never see it again. Jehovah will fight for
you, while you stand still and look on."
And Jehovah said to Moses, " Speak to the Israel-
66

THE RED SEA 67
ites, that they go forward ; lift up your rod, and
stretch out your hand over the sea, and it shall
divide, and the Israelites shall go into the midst
of the sea on dry ground."
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and
Jehovah drove back the sea all the night by a strong
east wind, and made the sea dry land, and the waters
were divided. The Israelites went into the midst
of the sea upon the dry ground, and the waters pro
tected them like a wall on their right hand and on
their left. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in
after them into the midst of the sea, with all Pharaoh's
chariots and horsemen.
And Jehovah said unto Moses, " Stretch out your
hand over the sea, that the waters may flow back
upon the Egyptians."
Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and
when the day dawned the waters returned to their
usual place. Then the Egyptians tried to flee back
again to the shore. But the waters covered the
chariots and the horsemen and all Pharaoh's army
that went in after them into the sea ; they were all
drowned, not one escaped. But the Israelites walked
on dry land in the midst of the sea ; and, before the
waters returned, they were all safe on the other side.
In the morning they saw the dead bodies of the
Egyptians strewn along the seashore. Then the
Israelites feared Jehovah, and believed in Him, and
in His servant Moses.
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Moses

68 MOSES AND JOSHUA
and Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the
women went out after her, and they danced and
played upon their timbrels, and sang : —
Sing to Jehovah, for He hath triumphed gloriously :
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

CHAPTER VII
THE WANDERINGS IN THE WILDERNESS
When the Israelites had crossed the sea, they
found themselves, in the wilderness through which
their forefathers had often journeyed on the way to
Canaan, where the patriarchs had pitched their tents.
But, before they reached Canaan, they wandered
many years in the old nomad fashion from one desert
pasture to another, very much as they had done be
fore they went down to Egypt. And they met with
God in the wilderness, like Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob in the days of old, and Elijah long after
wards. Through all their history the Israelites
looked back to this wandering in the wilderness, as
to the days of the patriarchs, as a time when God
was very near to His people. They felt that the
deliverance from Pharaoh was a token of God's
love for Israel, an assurance of His care and pro
tection. They loved to tell how the presence of God was
with Israel then, as a pillar of cloud by day and a
pillar of fire by night, and how with His own voice
He gave them from Mount Sinai the laws which we
69

70 MOSES AND JOSHUA
call the Ten Commandments. But the story of the
wandering is chiefly the story of Moses; how,
through that great leader and chieftain, Jehovah
taught Israel to know Himself and His will.
Through long years Moses led and governed the
/people, and the magic of his authority taught the
/ wild tribes to keep the peace together, and to fight
loyally side by side. And the bond of union was
their common faith in Jehovah, the God of Israel.
For the secret of the strength of great nations is
their faith in God.
But in these days Israel was only beginning to
be a nation, and to know Jehovah. The same
stories which tell us of God's great goodness to
them, tell us also of their ingratitude ; how God
gave them food straight from heaven, just as He
gives us fresh air and warmth and sunshine, just
as parents provide food for their children ; and how
they grumbled and were disobedient, just as chil
dren sometimes do, and just as men nowadays grum
ble against God and disobey Him, though they have
far more delightful and wonderful things to enjoy
than food rained down from heaven.
And so it was a long time before Israel reached
Canaan; nearly all the Israelites who left Egypt
died, and still their children wandered in the wilder
ness. But all the while, in spite of their grumbling
and disobedience, Moses was still their master, and
God still helped him to train them to be His people.
And at last they came to the lands east of the

THE WANDERINGS IN THE WILDERNESS 71
Jordan, and conquered the kings of that country,
and settled there for a time. But when they were
just about to cross the Jordan into Canaan, Moses
died. He only lived to look across the river, and
see the Promised Land, and then God took him to
Himself.

CHAPTER VIII
THE CONQUEST OF JERICHO
After the death of Moses, the Israelites began to
conquer the country west of Jordan, which was
divided between a number of cities, each with its
own king. Their new leader was Joshua, and as
the stories you have been reading are taken out of
the Books of Moses, which tell us about Moses,
so the stories about the conquest of Canaan are from
the Book of Joshua, which tells about Joshua.
It tells us that, after Moses was dead, God com
manded Joshua to lead the Israelites into Canaan.
They were encamped in the plain east of the Jordan,
not far from the river; and just opposite, on the
plain to the west of the river, stood the great
Canaanite city of Jericho, which was the first city
they would have to attack when they had crossed
the river. So Joshua sent two spies secretly across
the Jordan to find out about Jericho. They dis
guised themselves and got into Jericho, and lodged
at the house of a woman named Rahab. But some
one had seen them, and recognized that they were
Israelites ; and the king of Jericho heard of them,
and sent to Rahab's house to fetch them. But Rahab
hid them upon the roof, under a heap of flax-stalks ;
72

THE CONQUEST OF JERICHO 73
and when the king's messengers came, she said that
the Israelites had left her house, and gone out of the
city. And the messengers hurried away to try and
catch the spies before they could get across the
Jordan again. Rahab made the spies promise that,
when the Israelites took Jericho, they would spare
her and her family ; and they told her to tie a scarlet
cord in her window, that they might know her
house. Rahab's house was on the wall of the city, so
she let the spies down by a rope out of her window,
and they went and hid themselves amongst the hills
till the men of Jericho had given up looking for
them; and then they crossed the river, and told
Joshua that they were sure that Israel could con
quer Canaan, because all the people were very much
afraid of them, or, as the story puts it, " did melt
away before us."
The next day the Israelites crossed the Jordan.
The Ark — the sacred chest, which was the symbol
of God's presence — went first, and the waters of
Jordan divided before it, and left a dry passage for
the Israelites. So they crossed the river and en
camped before Jericho. And, at the command of
God, the Israelites marched round and round Jeri
cho, and the Ark was carried at the head of the
army. For six days they marched round once every
day ; and the seventh day they marched round seven
times, and at the end of the seventh time the priests
blew with their trumpets, and the people shouted,

74 MOSES AND JOSHUA
and the walls fell down all of a heap. Then the
Israelites took the city and burnt it, and killed all
the people of Jericho. But first the spies went to
Rahab's house, and brought her and her family away
safely, and they lived amongst the Israelites.

CHAPTER IX
THE GIBEONITES
If the Canaanites were afraid of Israel before,
their fear was much greater when they heard that
Jericho had been taken and destroyed.
Some of them submitted to Israel. The people
of Gibeon played the Israelites a trick, in order to
make peace with them. They feared that, if the
Israelites knew that they were Canaanites, they
would kill them all, as they had killed the men of
Jericho. So they sent ambassadors to Joshua, with
old sacks upon their asses, and worn-out wine-skins
patched and mended. And the ambassadors wore
old clothes and worn-out clouted shoes, and they
brought dry, mouldy bread with them. And they
came to Joshua and said, " We are come from a far
country to make a treaty of friendship and alliance
with you, because we have heard what great things
your God, Jehovah, has done for you. You can
see what a long way we have come, for this dry
and mouldy bread was hot from the oven, and these
mended wine-skins and shabby, travel-stained^ clothes
and patched shoes were all new when we started, and
they have worn out because our journey has been
very long." 75

76 MOSES AND JOSHUA
Then the Israelites ate a very little of the mouldy
bread as a sign of friendship, and made a treaty with
the Gibeonites.
But, the next day but one, the Israelites came to
Gibeon, and found that the city of these shabby
ambassadors was really a Canaanite city close by.
Then they were very angry because the Gibeonites
had told lies and deceived them, and they wished to
put them all to death. But Joshua would not let
the Israelites break their promise, and the Gibeonites
became tributary to them, and had to be their hewers
of wood and drawers of water, without being paid
for it.

CHAPTER X
THE BATTLE OF BETH-HORON
The Gibeonites only escaped one danger to fall
into another. When the Canaanite kings heard that
Gibeon had made peace with Israel, they were very
angry. Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, sent to the
kings of four other cities, and the five of them got
together a great army, and laid siege to Gibeon.
Then the Gibeonites sent to Joshua to help them.
Joshua and his army marched as fast as they could
all through the night, and came suddenly upon the
Canaanites, and defeated them, and put them to
flight. They chased them up the pass of Beth-
horon, and killed a great many of them ; and they
went on chasing them down the pass, and Jehovah
sent a terrible storm of hail, and more Canaanites
were killed by the hailstones than by the swords of
the Israelites. The Book of Joshua quotes some
lines from an old book of Hebrew poetry, the Book
of Jashar. " Joshua said : —
" Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon ;
And thou, moon, in the valley of Aijalon.
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed
Until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies."
This poetry shows how long the day seemed to
the Israelites ; they kept on chasing and killing the
77

78 MOSES AND JOSHUA
Canaanites until those who were still left escaped to
their cities. Then the Israelites went back to their
camp. Meanwhile the five kings had been taken
prisoners, and Joshua put them to death.
After the glorious victory of Beth-horon, Joshua
took a great many of the Canaanite cities. He won
another victory far away in the north of Canaan, at
the Waters of Merom, over the kings of the northern
cities. Before Joshua died, the tribes of Israel were
firmly established east of Jordan, and were masters
of much of the country. But a great deal of the
land still belonged to the Canaanites, and Israel had
to fight many battles, winning some and losing
some, before they conquered all Canaan. The settle
ment in Canaan made a great change in the life of
the Israelites. Most of them gave up living in
tents, and wandering about with their flocks and
herds. They built houses, and lived in villages and
towns; and had cornfields and vineyards; and made
wine and oil.

Ill
The Judges, Ruth, and Samuel
CHAPTER I
DEBORAH AND BARAK
For a long while after the death of Joshua there
was no Israelite chief who was obeyed by all the
tribes. They were not united as they were in the
time of Moses. Sometimes one tribe would have a
little war of its own against its Canaanite neighbours;
sometimes three or four tribes united against the
enemy; and sometimes the tribes of Israel had civil
wars, and fought against each other. They were
disobedient to Jehovah, as they had been in the
wilderness, and often worshipped other gods. As
the Book of Judges, which tells us most of the
stories about this time, says: " There was no king
in Israel in those days; every man did that which
was right in his own eyes."
The leaders of Israel in these days were called
" Judges," but the stories in the book which tells us
about them are all about fighting. The first you
shall hear is that of Deborah and Barak.
79

80 THE JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL
The Israelites disobeyed God, and He allowed
Jabin, king of Hazor, to the north of Palestine, to
oppress them for twenty years. Then they prayed
to God, and He raised up Deborah and Barak to
deliver them.
Deborah was the wife of a man named Lappidoth.
She was a prophetess, and could teach people the will
of God, and what was right for them to do ; and
disputes were brought to her to be settled: as the
Book of Judges says, " She judged Israel at that
_ time." But, when it came to be a question of fight
ing, she wanted a man to help her ; so she sent for
Barak, and told him that it was the will of Jehovah,
God of Israel, that he should gather together an
army, and conquer Jabin, and deliver Israel.
Barak said, " If you will go with me, I will go ;
but, if you will not go with me, I will not go. "
And she said, " To be sure I will go with you ;
but then you will get little honour from this war, for
people will say that God gave victory to Israel by
means of a woman."
So Deborah and Barak went together, and gathered
an army.
The Book of Judges gives us a very ancient He
brew poem about the war with Jabin. This poem is
often called the Song of Deborah. The Song tells
us which of the tribes united to follow Deborah and
Barak. Ephraim came and Benjamin and Machir,
which was a part of Manasseh, and Zebulun and
Issachar and Naphtali, Barak's own tribe. These

DEBORAH AND BARAK 81
were the tribes in the centre and the north. But
the Song says that Dan and Asher on the seacoast,
and Reuben and Gilead, that is Gad, beyond Jordan,
stayed at home. Reuben
Sat among the sheepfolds
To hear the shepherds pipe to their flocks.
While Deborah and Barak were mustering their
soldiers, Jabin sent against them a great army with
nine hundred chariots of iron, under his general,
Sisera. They met near Mount Tabor, and Jehovah
gave the victory to Israel. The Song says : —
The stars in their courses fought against Sisera ;
The river Kishon swept them away.
Barak pursued the chariots and all the army of
the Canaanites, and they were all killed ; not a man
was left alive.
But the general Sisera got out of his chariot, and
ran away alone on foot, and came to the tent of Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite. Now the Kenites were
friends both with the Canaanites and the Israelites.
Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him,
" Come into my tent, my lord ; you will be safe
there." He was tired and thirsty, and he came in and lay
down ; and Jael covered him with a rug, and gave
him milk to drink. And he said, " Stand in the
door of the tent, and if any one asks if there is a
man here, say ' No.' "
Then he went to sleep, feeling quite safe, because

82 THE JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL
these ancient tribes counted it a shameful and wicked
thing to betray the stranger whom they sheltered
and fed. But Jael waited till he was fast asleep,
then she took a tent-peg and a mallet, and crept
softly behind Sisera, and drove the peg through his
temples and killed him.
Now Barak was pursuing Sisera, and he came to
the tent, and Jael went out to meet him, and said,
" Come, and I will show you the man you are
looking for."
And she brought him in, and there was Sisera
lying dead, with the tent-peg through his temples.
After this victory, the Israelites gained other vic
tories over Jabin, king of Hazor, until they were
quite delivered from him.

CHAPTER II
GIDEON
At another time, the Midianites from the east of
Jordan oppressed Israel, so that the people left their
fields and villages, and went to live in the moun
tains, in dens and caves and strong places amongst
the rocks. The Israelites sowed their corn ; but,
when it was ripe and ready to be cut, the Midian
ites came in countless swarms, with tents and cattle
and camels, and took all the harvest and all the
sheep and oxen and asses. There was no food left
for the Israelites. And the Israelites prayed to
Jehovah, and He sent them a deliverer.
Gideon, the son of Joash, of Abiezer in Manasseh,
was beating out wheat in the wine-press, instead of
the threshing-floor, to hide it from the Midianites.
And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him, and
said, "Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of
valour. Go and save Israel from the Midianites.
Have not I sent thee ? "
But Gideon said, " O Lord, how shall /save Israel?
my clan is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the
least in my father's house."
But Jehovah promised to be with him, and give
him victory ; and Gideon asked for a sign, and the
angel gave him a sign. Gideon brought meat and
83

84 THE JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL
cakes of unleavened bread and broth; and he laid
the bread and meat, and poured out the broth, on
a rock before the angel. And the angel touched
the food with the end of the staff he had in his
hand ; and fire came out of the rock, and burnt
up the meat and cakes, and the angel vanished.
The same night Jehovah said to Gideon, " Take
one of your father's bullocks, and pull down the
altar of Baal, the false god of the Canaanites,
which belongs to your father ; and build an altar
to Jehovah, and sacrifice the bullock upon it."
Gideon did as God told him ; and when the
neighbours got up in the morning, they saw Baal's
altar had been pulled down, and there was a new
altar built, and a bullock lying upon it. When
they found out that Gideon had done this, they
wanted to kill him. But his father Joash said,
" If Baal is really a god, he himself can punish
Gideon." So the people of Abiezer did not harm
Gideon ; and, when they saw that Baal did not
punish him, they most likely left off believing in
Baal. About this time the Midianites, with a great
many other eastern tribes, crossed the Jordan to
plunder Israel, and they encamped in Jezreel. But
the spirit of Jehovah came upon Gideon, and he
blew a trumpet in Abiezer, and the people came
to fight under his leadership ; and he gathered an
army from the northern tribes, Manasseh, Asher,
Zebulun, and Naphtali.

GIDEON 85
And Gideon asked God for another sign, and
said, " I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing-
floor. If there be dew on the fleece only, while
all the ground round about is dry, it will be a sign
that I shall lead Israel to victory."
When Gideon got up next morning, the ground
was dry, but the fleece was so wet with dew that he
wrung a bowlful of water out of it. Still he was
not satisfied, but asked for yet another sign, and
said to God, "Do not be angry with me, if I ask
for just one more sign. This time let the fleece be
dry, and all the ground round about wet with dew."
And next morning the fleece was dry, and the
ground was wet.
Then Gideon took courage, and marched against
the Midianites with a large army. But Jehovah
told Gideon that the army was too large. If they
got the victory, they would think it was by their
own strength, and not by Jehovah's. He bade
Gideon tell his men that all who were afraid might
go home ; and twenty-two thousand went home.
But there were still ten thousand left, and Jeho
vah said that these were too many ; and He bade
Gideon bring them down to the water, and to send
home all who knelt to drink, and to keep those
who stooped and raised the water to their mouth
with their hands. They all knelt except three
hundred, so Gideon kept the three hundred, and
sent the rest home.
He and his men were on the hills, and the camp

86 THE JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL
of the Midianites was in the valley beneath; and at
night he and his servant went down, and got close
to some of the enemy without being found out.
And they heard a man telling his companion a dream.
" I dreamed," said he, " that a cake of barley-bread
tumbled into the camp of Midian, and rolled along
till it came to a tent and struck it, and turned it
upside down, and laid it flat on the ground."
" This," said his companion, " is nothing else than
the sword of Gideon, the son of Joash, a man of
Israel. God has delivered Midian and all the army
into his hand."
Gideon was much encouraged when he heard the
dream and its interpretation, and he went back to
his men, and said, " Arise, for Jehovah has delivered
the army of Midian into your hands."
And he gave each of them a trumpet and an empty
pitcher with a torch inside it, and said to them,
" Watch me, and do what you see me do. When
I blow my trumpet, all of you blow your trumpets,
and shout, 'For Jehovah and for Gideon.'"
He divided his men into three companies of a hun
dred each, and the three companies marched down
in the night, and came close to three different sides
of the camp, just when the Midianites had posted
fresh sentinels. And the Israelites blew the trum
pets; they broke the pitchers, and waved the torches
with their left hands, while they held their trumpets
in their right hands ; and they shouted, " The sword
of Jehovah and of Gideon." They did not attack

GIDEON 87
the enemy, but just stood, and shouted, and waved
the torches and blew the trumpets. When the Midi
anites were awakened by such a din of shouting and
trumpet-blowing, and saw lights on every side, they
thought they were surrounded by a great army of
enemies ; and in their fright and confusion they
began to fight with each other in the dark, and then
they all ran away. And Gideon sent messengers,
and the Israelites came from far and wide, and pur
sued them, and killed a great many, and gained
more victories over them, and captured and slew
four of their princes, one of whom was called the
Wolf, and another the Raven.
So Gideon delivered the northern tribes of Israel
from the Midianites, and was judge over Israel all
his life.

CHAPTER III
JEPHTHAH
At another time the Ammonites came to fight
against the Israelites who lived in Gilead, east of
Jordan, and the Israelites wanted a brave captain
to lead them against the enemy. Now there was
a man named Jephthah, whose half-brothers had
driven him away from home that they might have
all their father's property for themselves. And
Jephthah gathered a robber band and did many
daring deeds, so that all Gilead spoke of him as
"a mighty man of valour," just as men in later
days spoke of Hereward the Saxon or Rob Roy.
So, in their trouble, the elders of Gilead asked
Jephthah to be their leader, and the people and
their elders swore a solemn oath before Jehovah at
His temple at Mizpah, that, if Jephthah would lead
them against the Ammonites, he should be head
and chief of Gilead. So Jephthah consented. And
the spirit of Jehovah came upon Jephthah, and he
gathered an army from Gilead and Manasseh, and
marched against the enemy.
But first he vowed a vow to Jehovah, and said,
" If thou wilt indeed give me the victory over
Ammon, and I return home in peace, the first living

JEPHTHAH 89
thing that comes out to meet me shall be Jehovah's,
and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering."
Then Jephthah fought against the Ammonites,
and Jehovah gave him the victory ; and he pursued
them, and took twenty of their cities, and killed a
great many of them. So Gilead was delivered from
the Ammonites.
Then Jephthah went home to Mizpah, and his
daughter came out to meet him, dancing and playing
on the timbrel. She was his only child ; he had no
other son or daughter. When he saw her, he tore
his clothes, and said, " Alas, my daughter ! you have
brought me very low, and into sore distress ; for I
have made a promise to Jehovah, and I cannot go
back." And she said, "My father, keep your promise to
Jehovah, since He has given you vengeance over
your enemies ; but let me go with my companions
to the mountains for two months, and lament."
He let her go, and after two months she came
back ; and the story says, " He did with her according
to his vow which he vowed."
And there was other trouble in store for Jephthah.
The men of Ephraim were jealous and angry because
they had not been asked to fight against Ammon ;
and they threatened to burn Jephthah's house ; and
they insulted and abused the men of Gilead, though
Ephraim and Gilead were both tribes of Israel. The
Ephraimites crossed the Jordan to fight against Jeph
thah, but they were defeated by him and his Gileadite

90 THE JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL
followers. After the battle, the Gileadites guarded
the fords of the Jordan, by which the Ephraimites
would have to get back to their homes on the west
of the river. When an Ephraimite came to one of
the fords, and said, "Let me go over," the men of
Gilead would say to him, " Are you an Ephraimite ? "
And if he said " No," then they said, " Say now
Shibboleth," and he would say " Sibboleth," because
the Ephraimites could not pronounce " sh " properly,
but said " s " instead. Then they knew he was an
Ephraimite, and laid hold of him, and killed him.
Altogether forty -two thousand Ephraimites were
killed. So Jephthah delivered Gilead from Ammon
and from Ephraim, and was judge over the Gileadites.

CHAPTER IV
RUTH
The story of Ruth has a whole book of the Bible
to itself, but I have put it with the stories about
the Judges, because it begins, "In the days when
the judges judged." It goes on : there was a famine
in the land of Israel, and there were living at Beth
lehem, in Judah, Elimelech and his wife Naomi,
and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion. And
because of the famine, they went across the Jordan
into Moab, where there was more food to be had.
They lived in Moab a long time, and Elimelech
died, and Mahlon and Chilion married two Moabite
wives, Orpah and Ruth. When they had been
ten years in Moab, Mahlon and Chilion died, and
Naomi heard that through the goodness of Jehovah
there was now plenty of food in Judah, and she
decided to go back to her friends and her old
home. So she set out for Bethlehem, and Orpah
and Ruth started to go with her.
But Naomi said to them, "Do you each of you
go back to your mother's house; may Jehovah deal
kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead,
and with me. Jehovah grant that each of you
may find a home with a second husband."
91

92 THE JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL
And she kissed them, and they wept aloud, and
said to Naomi, "Nay, but we will go back with
you to your people."
But still Naomi tried to persuade them to go
back to their old homes ; and at last Orpah kissed
her, and bade her good-bye, and went away home
to her mother.
But Ruth would not leave Naomi ; she said,
" Where you go I will go, and where you stay I
will stay; your people shall be my people, and
your God my God ; where you die I will die, and
there will I be buried."
So they both went on together till they came
to Bethlehem. And the whole town was greatly
excited about them, and the women came round
them, and said, " Is this Naomi ? "
Now Naomi means "pleasant," and she replied,
" Don't call me Naomi, call me Mara — which
means bitter — for the Almighty has dealt very
bitterly with me ; I went out full, and Jehovah
has brought me home again empty."
So the two widows, Naomi and Ruth, settled
down at Bethlehem, but they were very poor and
lonely. They had come just when the farmers were
beginning to cut their barley ; and at harvest time
the poor people were allowed to go into the fields
and gather up the loose ears that were dropped by
the reapers ; and Ruth went to glean to get a little
food for Naomi and herself. And by chance she

RUTH 93
went into the field of a very rich man named Boaz,
who was a relation of Elimelech, Naomi's dead
husband. And Boaz came to see how the work
was getting on.
He said to the reapers, " Jehovah be with
you." They answered him, "Jehovah bless you," just
as we should say, "Good morning."
He saw Ruth gleaning, and asked who she was ;
and they told him that she was Naomi's Moabite
daughter-in-law. Then Boaz called her to him,
and said she might glean in his fields all through
the harvest, and must not go anywhere else.
" For," said he, " I have heard all about your
goodness to your mother-in-law Naomi. May
Jehovah recompense you, and may you be fully
rewarded by Jehovah, the God of Israel, under
whose wings you have come to take refuge."
At meal-time, Boaz made her sit down with the
reapers, and gave her food and drink, and she
ate all she could, and still she had some left. And
he bade the reapers leave whole handfuls of ears
on purpose for Ruth, so that in the evening she
had a great bundle ; and she beat out the corn,
and took it to Naomi, with what she had left of
the food Boaz had given her. And she told Naomi
that she had been gleaning in the fields of a man
named Boaz, and that he had been very kind to
her, and had said, " You must keep with my young
men till my harvest is quite finished."

94 THE JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL
Naomi said, " Yes, my daughter, you had better
keep with his maidens, and not let them see you in
anybody else's fields."
So Ruth kept fast by the maidens of Boaz, and
gleaned with them, all through the barley harvest
and the wheat harvest ; and every evening she took
her gleanings home to Naomi.
Now there was a custom in Israel that, when a
man died, his widow had a right to ask his nearest
relation to marry her, and he had her dead hus
band's land ; but if they had a son, then the land
went to him. So, after the harvest, Naomi said to
Ruth, " It is time for me to find you another husband.
Go and tell Boaz that he is your near relation."
Ruth did as Naomi told her, and Boaz was de
lighted that she had chosen him for her husband
instead of some young man. But he told her that
there was a man more closely related to her husband
than he was, and that this nearer relation must first
be consulted.
In Eastern towns people gather to talk and do
business in the open space of the gate. Next morn
ing Boaz went and sat down by the gate, and the
other near relation came by, and Boaz made him
sit down too. Then he got ten elders, or chief men,
to sit with them, and they were ready to do business
in a proper legal way. Boaz told the near relation
that there was a field of Elimelech's that he had a
right to buy back from a stranger who held it, and
the near relation said he would buy the field.

RUTH 95
" But," said Boaz, " if you take the field, you
must marry Ruth."
But the near relation replied that it would be
very inconvenient for him to marry Ruth. Perhaps
he had wives who would have objected. " Do you,"
said he to Boaz, " do you take the field and marry
Ruth." And, according to ancient custom, he took off his
shoe and passed it to Boaz as a sign that he gave
up his rights to him. Then it was formally settled
before the ten elders and all the people that Boaz
was to marry Ruth. And in due time they were
married, and had a little son, and Naomi nursed it.
This little son was Obed, the grandfather of David,
from whom our Lord Jesus Christ was descended.

CHAPTER V
HANNAH AND SAMUEL
This story, too, is not out of the Book of Judges,
but out of the Book of Samuel, which tells us how
the Israelites left off having judges and began to
have kings. The first two stories about Samuel
are also about a judge named Eli, who was priest
of the " house " or temple of Jehovah at Shiloh.
There was a man named Elkanah, living not very
far from Shiloh, amongst the hills of Ephraim, in
the middle of Palestine. He had two wives, Han
nah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but
Hannah had none. Once every year they all went
up to the temple at Shiloh to worship and offer a
sacrifice to Jehovah. Now, when a sheep or an ox
was killed for an ordinary sacrifice, part was burnt
on the altar, part was given to the priest, but the
greater part was eaten by the man who offered the
sacrifice, and his friends. Such a sacrifice meant a
feast, or, as we should say, a great dinner party.
These yearly sacrifices were very special occasions
for Elkanah's family, something like our Christmas
dmngis,. Elkanah always helped Peninnah and her
children very freely, but he gave Hannah twice as
much as any one of them, because he loved her
96

HANNAH AND SAMUEL 97
dearly. But Peninnah was jealous of Hannah, and
kept on making very disagreeable remarks about
her having no children, till Hannah cried, and could
not eat her dinner. So every year the great sacri
fice was spoilt for all the family by Peninnah's evil
temper. One year Peninnah was as nasty as usual, and
Hannah cried, and Elkanah tried in vain to com
fort her. But, after they had finished, she went to
the temple and prayed and wept bitterly. In her
prayer she promised that, if God would give her a
son, she would give him to Jehovah all his life.
While Hannah prayed, the priest Eli was watch
ing her ; he saw her lips move, but he could not
hear anything, and he thought she was drunk, and
reproved her sharply for coming to the temple in
such a state. But she told him she was not drunk,
but only in great trouble.
And he said, " Go in peace ; may the God of
Israel give you what you have asked for."
Then she was greatly comforted, and went and
took food, and left off looking sad. In time God
gave her a son, and she named him Samuel ; and
when he was old enough, but still quite a little boy,
Elkanah and Hannah went to Shiloh, and took Sam
uel to Eli. Then Hannah told Eli that she was the
woman he had seen praying, and the little boy was
the son for whom she had prayed. And because
he was God's gift to her, she wished to give him to
God, to be a servant in the temple.

98 THE JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL
So Elkanah and Hannah went home, and Samuel
stayed behind to help Eli. But his father and
mother came to see him every year when they came
up for the sacrifice, and Hannah always brought
him a new cloak. And God gave Hannah three
sons and two daughters besides Samuel.

CHAPTER VI
ELI AND SAMUEL
As the years went on, and Samuel grew to be a
man, Eli got very old and feeble, and had to leave
the care of the temple to his sons, Hophni and
Phinehas. They were bad men, and took more
than their proper share of the sheep and oxen which
men sacrificed to Jehovah, and did many other
wicked things, so that the temple got a bad name,
and the people did not care to come to worship
Jehovah. Eli scolded his sons, but they did not
heed him.
Now Samuel used to sleep where the Ark was,
in the temple, to watch over the Ark. One night
Eli had gone to bed, and Samuel lain down to
sleep; but the temple lamp had not yet gone out,
and Samuel heard a voice say " Samuel ! " And he
thought it was Eli calling him, and he answered,
"Here am I."
And he ran to Eli, and said, " Here am I ; you
called me."
But Eli said, "No, I did not call; lie down
again." But, when he had lain down, he heard the voice
again, "Samuel!" And again he ran to Eli, and
99

100 THE JUDGES, RUTH, AND SAMUEL
Eli said he had not called, and sent him to lie down
again. And the voice came for the third time, " Sam
uel! " and again he ran to Eli ; but now Eli under
stood that Jehovah was calling the lad.
And he said to him, " Go and lie down, and if He
calls you, say, ' Speak, O Jehovah, for Thy servant
is listening.' "
So Samuel went and lay down, and Jehovah came
and called, " Samuel ! Samuel ! "
And Samuel said, "Speak, .for Thy servant is
listening." Then God told Samuel to tell Eli that he would
punish Eli and his family because of the wickedness
of Hophni and Phinehas.
And Samuel lay till morning, and opened the
doors of the temple ; but he did not go to Eli,
because he was afraid to tell him the words of God.
But Eli called Samuel, and made him tell every
thing ; and, when he had heard it all, he said, " It
is Jehovah ; let Him do what seems right to Him."
Not long after, the Israelites were at war with the
Philistines, and they wished to have the Ark with
them, because they thought that if the Ark, the sign
of God's presence, was with the army, God would
give them victory. And Hophni and Phinehas took
the Ark to the army ; but in the next battle the
Israelites were defeated, Hophni and Phinehas were
killed, and the Philistines captured the Ark ; for
sacred chests and books and vessels used in temples

ELI AND SAMUEL 101
and churches do not protect wicked men. When
the news came to Eli, he fell from a high seat, where
he was sitting, and broke his neck ; and the wife of
Phinehas died when she heard the news.
But Samuel grew to be a great prophet, and all
Israel knew that he could teach them what was
right, and what was the will of God. And when
the Philistines came again to fight against Israel,
Samuel prayed, and God gave Israel the victory.
So Samuel judged Israel.

IV
Saul, David, and Solomon
chapter I
SAUL, THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL
When Samuel got too old to judge Israel him
self, he made his sons judges. But they turned out
badly, like Eli's sons. If they were asked to settle
a dispute, they decided in favour of the man who
gave them the most money. The people were very
angry, and grew tired of having such wicked judges.
They thought that if they had a king, he would
govern justly, and they would be better off. Just
then, too, they were very much troubled by the
Philistines, the Ammonites and other enemies; they
hoped that a king over all the tribes of Israel would
unite them, and give them victory.
Now, there was a tall, handsome young man of
the tribe of Benjamin. There was not a finer man
than he in all Israel ; he stood shoulder high above
every one else. His name was Saul, the son of
Kish. One day Kish lost some asses ; and he sent
Saul with one of the servants to look for them.
They went a long way without finding them ; till at
102

H «
CM

laz
R

103

SAUL, THE FIRST KING OF ISRAEL 105
last Saul said, " Let us go home, lest my father leave
off caring for the asses, and get anxious about us."
But the servant said, " There is a man of God in
the town close by, who has a great reputation for
telling people anything they want to know. Let us
go to him. Perhaps he can tell us about the asses."
Saul said, " But we have no present to give him."
The servant answered, "I have a quarter shekel1 ;
we will give him that."
So they went towards the town, and on their way
they met some girls going to draw water, and they
asked if the man of God was at home.
The girls said, " Yes ; he has come to the town
to-day to be present at a great sacrifice and feast
at the high place — the temple. If you make haste,
you will catch him before he goes to the high place.
They don't begin the feast till he comes to bless the
food." So Saul and the servant hurried on, and met the
man of God on his way to the high place.
The man of God was Samuel, and God had told
him that He would send him a man of Benjamin,
whom he should anoint to be prince over Israel, to
save the people from the Philistines. And, when
Samuel saw the two strangers coming, he knew that
Saul was the man whom God had chosen to be king
over Israel.
But Saul did not know Samuel, and he went up
1 A shekel contained rather less silver than there is in half-a-
crown, but it would buy much more than half-a-crown will buy.

106 SAUL, DAVID, AND SOLOMON
to him, and asked the way to the house of the man
of God.
Samuel said, "I am the man of God; come and
feast with us to-day at the high place. To-morrow
I will let you go, and I will tell you all you want to
know. Don't trouble about the asses; they have
been found; and soon you will be master of all the
wealth of Israel."
And Saul wondered what he meant. Then Sam
uel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into
the guest-chamber. There were about thirty guests,
the chief men of the town; but Samuel put Saul and
his servant in the chief places; and he made the
cook bring Saul a special portion that had been kept
back for him. So Saul feasted with Samuel,1 and
went to his house with him, and stayed there that
night. Next morning, they got up at daybreak, and
Saul started to go home. Samuel went with him to
see him on his way. When they were out of the
city, he made Saul send the servant on in front.
Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it on
his head, and told him that this was a sign that
Jehovah had anointed him to be king over Israel.
When they parted, Saul went home; but he said
nothing to his friends about his being king. After
wards God made the Israelites choose Saul to be
king; but some evil men hated Saul, and did not
wish to obey him.

us

1 The picture of a " Dinner Party " in Palestine to-day will help
to imagine what the feast was like.

CHAPTER II
SAUL'S VICTORIES
About this time the Ammonites, under their king
Nahash, invaded the lands of Israel east of the
Jordan, and besieged the city of Jabesh-gilead.
Soon he brought the city into such straits that they
sent ambassadors to Nahash, offering to surrender if
he would spare their lives.
But Nahash said, " I will only spare you on con
dition that you all have your right eyes put out, that
I may mock at Israel."
The elders of Jabesh said, " Make a truce with us
for a week, that we may send messengers through
all Israel for help. If no help comes, we will sur
render to you on your own terms."
The messengers came to Gibeah, where Saul lived.
Saul was away ploughing in the fields, but they told
their story to the people, and the people broke out
into loud cries of grief and anger. As Saul came
home from the fields with his oxen, he heard their
outcry, and asked what the noise was about. They
told him. And the spirit of God came mightily
upon Saul when he heard of the shameful cruelty of
Nahash, and he burned with fierce anger. He took
a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, and sent
messengers with the pieces to all parts of Israel,
107

108 SAUL, DAVID, AND SOLOMON
saying, "If any man does not come to help Saul
rescue Jabesh-gilead, his oxen shall be cut to
pieces." So Saul gathered a great army, and sent back the
messengers from Jabesh-gilead to tell their friends
that help would come before the sun was hot next
day. The men of Jabesh rejoiced greatly over the
good news; and, to put Nahash off his guard, they
sent out a message to him that next day they would
surrender, and he should do with them as he pleased.
But next day Saul came with his army very early
in the morning, and took the Ammonites by sur
prise, and defeated them with great slaughter.
They were so scattered that there were not two left
together. So Jabesh-gilead was delivered; and now
Saul was most popular, and the people wished to kill
those who objected to his being king.
But Saul said, " No one shall be put to death to
day, for to-day Jehovah has given victory to Israel."
Then they celebrated their victory and the acces
sion of their new king by great sacrifices and feasts
at Gilgal.

CHAPTER III
DAVID, SAUL'S MINSTREL AND ARMOUR-BEARER
The Book of Samuel tells us two quite different
stories about the way in which David and Saul
first met. I cannot explain to you how these
stories fit into one another, but I will tell you
them separately, one in this chapter, and one in
the next.
After Saul became king, he and his brave son
Jonathan gained many victories over the Philistines
and their other enemies, and did very much to make
the separate Israelite tribes into a strong, united
people. But sometimes Saul did evil, and sinned
against God.
Now comes our first story. The spirit of Jeho
vah had left Saul, and Jehovah allowed an evil
spirit to trouble him. He was gloomy, irritable,
almost mad. His servants begged that they might
find him a clever minstrel, who might play upon the
harp, and soothe and cheer him, and put him in
good spirits. And Saul said they might.
One of them said, "I have seen the son of Jesse
of Bethlehem. He is a clever minstrel and a brave
warrior ; he can talk well, and is very handsome,
and Jehovah is with him." 109

110 SAUL, DAVID, AND SOLOMON
So Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, " Send
me your son David."
Then Jesse loaded an ass with bread and a bottle
of wine and a kid, and sent them with David as a
present to Saul. When David came, he was pre
sented to Saul; and Saul was greatly taken with
him, and made him his armour-bearer. The king
sent and asked Jesse that David might stay with
him always, because he was very fond of him. So
David stayed with Saul ; and, when the king be
came gloomy and irritable, David played upon the
harp, and Saul was refreshed, and got bright and
cheerful again, and the evil spirit left him.

CHAPTER IV
DAVID AND GOLIATH
Once, when the Israelites were at war with the
Philistines, King Saul and his army were encamped
on a hill on one side of a valley, and the Philistines
on the hill opposite. Amongst the Philistines was
a giant from Gath named Goliath, about ten feet
high. He was clad in bronze armour, helmet, coat
of mail, and greaves,1 and a small shield slung behind
his back. His coat of mail weighed about a hun
dred-weight and a half. His shield-bearer went
before him, carrying a large shield. This giant
came down every day into the valley between the
two armies, and challenged any Israelite to meet
him in single combat, and decide the war.
" Choose a man," said he, "and let him come down
and fight with me. If he kills me, we Philistines
will be your servants ; but if I kill him, you shall
serve us. I defy the armies of Israel this day ; find
a man to fight with me."
When Saul and all Israel heard this challenge of
the Philistine giant, they were terribly frightened.
Goliath came down into the valley morning and
evening for forty days, and repeated his challenge,
but no one had courage enough to accept it.
1 Armour for the feet and legs.
Ill

112 SAUL, DAVID, AND SOLOMON
Now comes our second story of the meeting of
Saul and David. There lived at Bethlehem an old
man named Jesse, who had eight sons. The three
eldest — Eliab, Abinadab and Shammah — were in
Saul's camp ; and the youngest, David, stayed at
home and looked after the sheep. One day Jesse
said to David, " Get ten loaves and some corn, and
take them quickly to the camp to your brothers ;
and take these ten cheeses to the captain of their
thousand (or, as we should say, the colonel of their
regiment), and find out how they are, and bring me
word." Next morning David left the sheep with a shep
herd, and went to the camp with the food for his
brothers and the present for the captain ; and he
came to the wagons belonging to the army, just as
the Israelites and the Philistines were setting them
selves in array of battle against each other. David
was eager to see the fighting, so he left his loaves
and cheeses with the officer in charge of the wagons,
and ran to the army, and found his brothers and
greeted them. Just then Goliath came forward
from the. ranks of the Philistines, and uttered his
usual challenge ; and when the Israelites saw him,
they were frightened and ran away. But David
asked the men near him what reward Avould be
given to the man who killed Goliath.
They answered him, " The king will make him a
rich man, and he shall marry the king's daughter."
But when David's eldest brother, Eliab, heard

DAVID AND GOLIATH 113
him talking about fighting Goliath, he was very
angry. " What did you come for ? " said Eliab. " With
whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilder
ness? I know your pride and the naughtiness of
your heart. You came out of idle curiosity to see
the battle."
But David took no notice ; he went about asking
people what reward would be given for killing
Goliath, and they all gave him the same answer.
By-and-by Saul heard that there was a lad in the
camp who talked about fighting the Philistine
giant, and Saul sent for David.
And David said to Saul, "Let no one be dis
tressed because of Goliath. I, your servant, will
go and fight Avith this Philistine."
But Saul said, '¦'You! Fight with the Philistine !
You are only a stripling, and he has been fighting
ever since he was a boy."
Then David told Saul that he had fought with
lions and bears that came to carry off the lambs
of his flock, and had killed them. And he was
sure that Jehovah, who saved him from the lion
and the bear, would help him to kill the heathen
Philistine, who defied the armies of the living God.
And Saul said to David, " Go, and Jehovah
shall be with you."
He clothed David with his own armour, and
gave him his sword ; but David had to take it all
off again, because he was not used to such armour."

114 SAUL, DAVID, AND SOLOMON
And he went to meet the Philistine with nothing
but his staff and a sling, and five smooth stones
from the brook in his shepherd's bag. And the
Philistine came on, with his shield-bearer before
him, and he looked about for the enemy he was to
fight with, and saw no one but a handsome, rosy-
faced lad with a staff and a sling, not even a man
like the shepherd in our picture.
" What ! " said he, " am I a dog, that you take
a stick to me ? "
And he cursed David by his gods, and said,
" Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the
birds of prey and the wild beasts."
But David said, "You come to me with sword
and spear and shield, but I come to you in the
name of Jehovah Sabaoth,1 the God of the armies
of Israel."
And as Goliath came towards David, David ran
to meet him, and put his hand in his bag, and
drew out a stone, and slang it, and hit the Philis
tine in the forehead ; and the stone sank into his
forehead, and he fell forward upon his face. Then
David ran, and stood over him, and, because he
had no sword of his own, he took Goliath's sword,
and drew it out of its sheath, and cut off his head
with it. When the Philistines saw that the cham
pion was dead, they ran away ; and the Israelites
arose and shouted, and pursued them a long dis-
1 Jehovah of Hosts, a name of God used by the Israelites.

QaHwsM
to

115

DAVID AND GOLIATH 117
tance ; and when they came back from the pursuit,
they plundered the Philistine camp.
Meanwhile Saul had been asking his general
Abner whose son the stripling was. And Abner
could not tell him ; but when David came back
again, Abner took him in to Saul with the head
of Goliath in his hand. And Saul said to him,
" Whose son are you, my lad ? "
David answered, "I am the son of your servant
Jesse of Bethlehem."

CHAPTER V
DAVID AND JONATHAN
When David was brought to Saul with Goliath's
head in his hand, Saul's son Jonathan was standing
beside his father. And Jonathan was greatly drawn
to David, so that, before David had finished speak
ing to Saul, "the soul of Jonathan," as the story
says, "was knit with the soul of David, and Jona
than loved him as his own soul." From that mo
ment they were fast friends, and even now we call
two very great friends "David and Jonathan." And,
because of Jonathan's great love for David, they
made between them a covenant, a solemn promise
that they would always be friends and brothers.
And in token of this, Jonathan took off his robes,
with his sword and bow and girdle, and gave them
to David.
Soon Jonathan had an opportunity of showing
his friendship to David. Saul made David one of
his generals, and David was very successful, and
became popular, so that the women sang: —
" Saul hath slain his thousands,
But David his ten thousands."
Then Saul became jealous of David, and the evil,
gloomy spirit came upon him, and now, when David
118

DAVID AND JONATHAN 119
played to Saul, the music did not soothe the king,
but he threw his spear at him twice. Afterwards
he tried in other ways to get David killed. All this
while David was fighting bravely for Saul and for
Israel, and became more popular than ever. And
Saul was even obliged to let him marry his daughter
Miehal, as he had promised, although he tried to
break his promise.
At last Saul told Jonathan and all his servants
to kill David. But Jonathan warned David, and
tried to reconcile Saul to him. But after a while
David had to run away from Saul's court. He
went to his own house, but Saul sent messengers
after him to kill him. And his wife Miehal let
him down out of the window, and he escaped.
Then Miehal put an image in David's bed, with
the clothes over it to look like David. When Saul's
messengers came, she told them David was ill in
bed, and let them just look in. Then they went
back and told the king, but Saul told them to go
back and bring David, bed and all ; and when they
came to carry him away, they found there was noth
ing in the bed but the image and a pillow. Then
Saul was very angry, and sent out men in all direc
tions to hunt for David.
But David found Jonathan, and begged him to
try and pacify the king, and to find out whether
Saul still wished to kill David. For Saul was often
generous, although he was hot-headed and passion
ate ; and when the evil, jealous spirit left him, he

120 SAUL, DAVID, AND SOLOMON
loved David as in the old times. Jonathan and
David fixed upon a place where they would meet,
and arranged a signal by which David might know
whether it was safe for him to come back to Saul.
Then David went back to his hiding-place.
Soon after, the king was keeping the feast of the
new moon, and he asked why David's seat was
empty ; and Jonathan made an excuse for him,
and said he had gone to a family gathering at
Bethlehem. Whereupon Saul broke out into fierce
abuse of David, and of Jonathan because Jonathan
was his friend, and he threw his spear at Jonathan.
Then Jonathan knew that it would not be safe
for David to come back. And he went to the place
where he had arranged to meet David, and took
with him a little lad to carry his bow and arrows,
as if he were going to practise shooting. They
came to the place ; and David was hiding, so that
he could see and hear them, but they could not
see him. Jonathan told the lad to watch where
each arrow went, and bring it back. Then he shot
an arrow beyond him, and, when the lad was look
ing for it, he shouted to him, " Is not the arrow
beyond you ? "
These words were the signal to David that Saul
was still trying to kill him. Jonathan sent the boy
away, and David came out of his hiding-place ;
and they kissed each other, and wept together, and
they promised with a solemn oath to God, that
David and his children would always be faithful

DAVID AND JONATHAN 121
friends to Jonathan and his children. Then they
parted; David went away to hide himself, and
Jonathan went back to Saul; and we do not read
that David and Jonathan ever saw each other
again.

CHAPTER VI
DAVID SPARES SAUL'S LIFE
Saul kept on hunting for David, and David had
many hair-breadth escapes. He gathered a band of
brave men, and made raids upon the neighbouring
tribes. Once when Saul, at the head of three thou
sand men, was hunting for David, David heard of it,
and came with his men to the neighbourhood of
Saul's camp. Saul was sleeping within a barricade
of wagons — a laager, as they say in South Africa —
with his general Abner by his side, and his warriors
all round about him, and his spear stuck in the
ground at his head. And David took one of his
followers, named Abishai, and came to Saul's camp
in the night. They passed through the sleeping
warriors till they came to where Saul and Abner
lay, and no one awoke. Abishai wanted to kill
Saul, but David would not let him. Only they took
the spear and pitcher of water that were at Saul's
head, and got away before any one awaked.
When David had got to the top of a hill a good
way off, he shouted to Abner, and to the people.
He said to Abner, " You call yourself a brave man,
and you pretend to guard the king, and last night he
might have been killed, and you none the wiser.
122

DAVID SPARES SAUL'S LIFE 123
See, here is the king's spear and his pitcher of
water ! "
Saul knew David's voice, and said, " Is this thy
voice, my son David ? "
David answered, " It is my voice, my lord, O
king. Why do you try to hunt me down ? What
evil have I done ? "
Then said Saul, " I have sinned. Return to me,
my son David ; for I will not try any more to harm
you, because you have spared my life. I have cer
tainly played the fool, and made terrible mistakes."
But David knew that the evil spirit might come
upon Saul again. So he did not go to Saul, but sent
back the spear. And Saul blessed David, and they
parted. Not long afterwards Saul and Jonathan were
killed in a great battle against the Philistines.
And David made a poem, like Lycidas or In Memo-
riam, in which he lamented for Saul and Jonathan,
and said : —
Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives,
And in their death they were not divided ;
They were swifter than eagles,
They were stronger than lions.
*****
I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan :
Very pleasant hast thou been unto me :
Thy love to me was wonderful,
Passing the love of women.

CHAPTER VII
DAVID AND THE ARK ON ZION
After Saul's death, the men of Judah chose
David to be their king ; but Abner, Saul's general,
made Ishbaal, Saul's son, king of the rest of Israel.
There was civil war in Israel between the followers
of the two kings, until Ishbaal was murdered by two
of his own officers. Then all the tribes agreed to
make David king of the whole country, as God had
promised him long ago.
David gained great victories over the Philistines,
so that there was no longer any danger of their con
quering Israel ; and he besieged and took the ancient
city of Jerusalem, which had been held up till his
time by the Jebusites, a tribe belonging to the old
inhabitants of Canaan. After these victories David
felt that he was really king, and he made Jerusalem
his capital, and built himself a palace there, and
married more wives.
Moreover he wished to have a temple of Jehovah
in his new capital, and he bethought himself of the
Ark of Jehovah. For the Israelites had no other
sign of the presence of Jehovah so sacred as the
Ark ; and the temple which had the Ark was sure
to be held in high honour. We have no one thing
124

DAVID AND THE ARK ON ZION 125
now that we hold more sacred than anything else —
as the Israelites did the Ark.
I must now return to the stories about the Ark.
The last we heard of it was that it was captured by
the Philistines ; but the Ark brought many mis
fortunes upon them, so that they were afraid to keep
it, and were glad to send it back again to its own
country. Since that time the Ark had been kept in
the house of a man named Abinadab. But now
David went with thirty thousand men to bring
the Ark in solemn procession to Jerusalem. They
brought it out of the house of Abinadab, and put it
on a new cart drawn by oxen, and Uzzah and Ahio,
the sons of Abinadab, drove the cart. David and
the Israelites walked before it, playing upon harps
and timbrels, and castanets and cymbals.
But as they went, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah
took hold of the Ark to prevent its being thrown
out of the cart. Because Uzzah handled so sacred a
thing too familiarly, Jehovah was angry with him,
and he died suddenly. Then David was afraid to
take the Ark into his new city, and it was put for a
time into the house of a Philistine from Gath, named
Obed-edom. When it had been there three months,
David heard that Jehovah had blessed Obed-edom,
and given him three prosperous months. Then
David knew it would be safe to bring the Ark into
Jerusalem. He set out again with a great company
to fetch the Ark in solemn procession, with music
and dancing, with shouting, and blowing of trum-

126 SAUL, DAVID, AND SOLOMON
pets. So they brought the Ark to Jerusalem, and
put it into a tent which David had set up for it.
And they offered great sacrifices to Jehovah; and
David feasted all the people.
But after a time David felt that it was not right
that he should live in a palace of cedar while the
Ark of Jehovah had nothing but a tent to shelter
it ; and he wished to build a magnificent temple for
the Ark. He asked the prophet Nathan whether
Jehovah would be pleased with such a temple, and
Nathan said that He would. But Nathan had made
a mistake, for Jehovah bade him tell David that
he should not build the temple, but that David's
family should always reign in Jerusalem, and that
his son should build the temple.
So David reigned in Jerusalem in great glory and
prosperity. He did not forget his promise to Jona
than, but he found a lame son of Jonathan's, Merib-
baal, and gave him the lands that had belonged to
Saul; and Meribbaal lived at the court, and ate at
the king's table.

CHAPTER VIII
DAVID AND ABSALOM
In spite of all his glory and prosperity, David had
many terrible troubles in the latter years of his reign.
He fell into grievous sin, for he used the royal power
to inflict shameful wrong upon one of his brave and
faithful soldiers, and to bring about his death. The
rebukes of Nathan the prophet soon made David feel
that he had acted meanly and wickedly, and he re
pented bitterly of his sin. Nevertheless he suffered
severe punishment.
David had a favourite son named Absalom, and
another son Amnon. The two brothers quarrelled,
and Absalom killed Amnon, and fled to his grand
father — his mother's father — the king of Geshur,
in the north of Palestine. When he had been there
three years, Joab, the commander-in-chief of the
army, persuaded David to let Absalom return. But
David did not wholly forgive him — he would not
see him. So for two years more Absalom was not
allowed to come to the court or to see his father, but
at last Joab persuaded David to send for his son.
Absalom came to the king, and bowed himself to the
ground before him, and the king kissed Absalom,
and wholly forgave him. 127

128 SAUL, DAVID, AND SOLOMON
But Absalom was not content — he wished to be
king instead of David. He was popular because he
was handsome ; in all Israel there was none so much
to be praised as Absalom for his beauty ; and he had
long, beautiful hair. He set to work to make him
self more popular, and to make David unpopular.
He got a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run
before him. He would get up early, and post him
self by the gate — like the Cadi, or magistrate, in
our picture — at Jerusalem to meet the people com
ing to the king to make complaints and get justice
done them. When any one came, Absalom would
greet him, and ask his name and city, and what his
business was, and would say to him, " It is quite
clear that you are in the right, and judgment ought
to be given in your favour ; but the king is getting
too old for business, and he has appointed no one
else to see to it. If only /were judge, I should be
ready to hear everybody's case, and to do him
justice." And when the man wished to bow down to him,
Absalom went to him, and raised him up, and kissed
him. So Absalom stole the hearts of all the men of
Israel. After a time Absalom asked the king's leave to
go to Hebron to offer a sacrifice at the temple there,
and David let him go. Now Absalom has sent mes
sengers through all the land, saying, "As soon as
you hear the sound of the trumpet, say, 'Absalom
is king in Hebron." So Absalom went to Hebron,

1 "- lB«ifi*y

The Cadi administering Justice "in the Gate"
k 129

DAVID AND ABSALOM 131
and took with him two hundred nobles from Jeru
salem, whom he had invited to his sacrifice. They
knew nothing about the conspiracy, but when they
came to Hebron, and found people flocking in from
all sides to make Absalom king, they could scarcely
help joining with him. When David heard of it,
he fled from Jerusalem with his friends and his
body-guard of foreign mercenaries, and after many
adventures he reached Mahanaim on the east of
Jordan, and gathered a great army round him ;
and Absalom and his army crossed the Jordan to
fight with David. David mustered his army, and
divided it into three parts under Joab and his two
brothers ; and he wished himself to lead the army
to battle. But his followers would not let him, lest
he should be killed; they persuaded him to stop at
Mahanaim while they went out to fight. And the
king stood by the gate, and watched the army march
out, one regiment after another. He commanded
Joab and the other two generals, " Deal gently for
my sake with the young man, even with Absalom."
And all the people heard him give this charge to the
generals. In the battle that followed, David's army
won a great victory ; and Absalom was riding away
upon a mule, when the mule went under the thick
boughs of a great oak, and his head caught in the
oak, and he hung between earth and heaven, while
the mule went away from under him. One of
David's soldiers saw him, and told Joab. And Joab
rebuked the man for not killing Absalom ; but the

132 SAUL. DAVID, AND SOLOMON
man said that they had all heard the king's command
to spare his son, and he said that after that he would
not have harmed him for a thousand pieces of silver.
But Joab said he could not stop to argue with him.
Joab took three darts and went to the oak tree, and
thrust them through Absalom, and Joab's body-guard
helped him to kill the young prince ; and they cast
him into a great pit in the forest, and raised over
him a very great heap of stones. Then Joab blew
a trumpet to call back his army from pursuing the
rebels. Meanwhile, David sat between the two gates of
the city waiting for news ; and the watchman went
up to the roof of the gate, and looked, and when he
saw a man running alone, he called out and told the
king. The king said, " If he is alone he brings news. "
Soon the watchman saw another man running
alone, and told the king ; and the king said, " He
also will bring news."
And the watchman said, " I think the running of
the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz, the son
of Zadok."
" He is a good man," said the king, " and comes
with good news."
Ahimaaz came and bowed down before the king,
and said, " Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who has
given you victory over the rebels."
But the king said, " Is Absalom safe ? "
Ahimaaz answered, "When Joab sent me, your

DAVID AND ABSALOM 133
servant, I saw a great tumult, but I did not know
what it was."
The king bade him stand aside. And the second
messenger came and said, " Tidings for my lord the
king ; Jehovah has revenged you this day upon all
who rebelled against you."
But the king said, " Is Absalom safe ? "
And the messenger answered, "May the enemies
of my lord the king, and all that rise up against you
to do you hurt, be as that young man is."
Then the king was much moved, and went up to
the chamber over the gate, and wept, and as he
went he said, " O my son Absalom, my son, my son
Absalom ! Would God I had died for you, O Absa
lom, my son, my son ! "
So the victory that day was turned into mourn
ing for all the people, for they heard how the king
grieved over his son ; and they crept quietly back
into the town, as if they were fugitives instead of con
querors. But Joab persuaded David to show him
self to the people, lest they should be too discouraged.

CHAPTER IX
SOLOMON
When David died, he was succeeded by another
favourite son, Solomon, whom he had crowned king
before his own death. David's victories had made
Israel powerful and prosperous, so that Solomon
ruled over a wide territory, and possessed great
riches. At the beginning of his reign he went to
worship God at the great high place or temple at
Gibeon, and offered a thousand burnt offerings.
And at night Jehovah appeared to Solomon in a
dream, and said, " Ask what I shall give you. "
Solomon said, " Thou hast made Thy servant king,
instead of David my father ; and I am but as a little
child, not skilled in governing. And Thy servant is
in the midst of Thy chosen people, a great people,
too many to be counted. Give Thy servant, there
fore, an understanding heart to judge Thy people,
that I may discern between good and evil."
Jehovah was pleased that Solomon had asked for
wisdom, and said unto him, "Because you have not
asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of
your enemies, but have asked for understanding, that
you may be a wise and just judge, I have done as
you have asked. I have given you a wise and under
standing heart, and I have also given you the riches
and honour you did not ask for."
134

SOLOMON 135
And Solomon awoke, and, behold ! it was a dream.
And he came to Jerusalem and offered sacrifices
before the Ark of Jehovah, and made a feast for all
his servants.
Solomon was famous for his wisdom and for his
many great buildings. He built magnificent palaces
for himself and for his queens, especially one for
himself that took thirteen years to build, and one
for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had married.
And, above all else, he spent seven years in build
ing the palace or temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem,
which came to be the greatest and, at last, the only
temple of Jehovah.
And as Solomon's temple was above all other
temples, so he was said to be wiser than all men,
wiser even than those who were most celebrated for
their wisdom — the Men of the East and the Egyp
tians. He was famous amongst all the nations round
about for his three thousand proverbs and his thou
sand and five songs. He spoke of trees, from the
cedar in Lebanon to the herbs, like hyssop, that grew
on the wall ; and of birds and creeping things and
fishes. And the kings of all peoples round about
heard so much of his wisdom that they sent their
servants to hear his wise sayings. And one queen,
the Queen of Sheba, in Arabia, came herself to ask
Solomon difficult questions, and find out if he was
as wise as reports said. She came to Jerusalem with
a great retinue, with camels loaded with spices and
jewels and gold. She came to Solomon, and asked

136 SAUL, DAVID, AND SOLOMON
him her difficult questions, and he was able to an
swer them all. When she saw how wise he was,
and his splendid palace and luxurious banquets and
crowds of finely dressed courtiers and servants, and
especially the flight of steps by which he went up to
the temple, there was no more spirit in her.
She said to the king, " I did not believe what I
heard about your wise sayings, your wealth and your
splendour ; but now I have seen it all with my own
eyes, and, behold, the half was not told me. Your
wisdom and prosperity are greater than the reports
of them."
And she gave the king gold and spices and jewels.
Such an abundance of spices was never again seen
in Jerusalem. And Solomon gave the Queen of
Sheba all that she asked for, and many presents
besides ; and she and her servants went back to
their own land.
But, in spite of his wisdom and prosperity, Solo
mon fell into many grievous sins. In order to build
his palaces, he oppressed the people by making them
work for nothing, so that they became discontented;
and when he died, and his son Rehoboam refused
to promise to reign better, almost all Israel, ten
tribes, revolted from Rehoboam, and chose another
king, Jeroboam. From that time there were kings
of Israel ruling over the ten northern tribes; but
the descendants of David still ruled in Jerusalem,
over Judah and Benjamin.

V
Elijah and Elisha
CHAPTER I
THE FAMINE
Some time after this, there arose a great king in
Israel, named Omri ; and, like David and Solomon,
he was friendly with the Phoenicians of Tyre and
Sidon ; and his son Ahab, who succeeded him, mar
ried Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Sidon.
Omri and Ahab waged long wars with the Syrians
of Damascus, and gained victories over them and
other enemies, so that they made Israel strong. But
Ahab oppressed his own people, and encouraged the
worship of false gods, especially of Baal, the god of
the Phoenicians.
The stories about Elijah and Elisha tell us how
Ahab and his family were punished. The prophet
Elijah, from Gilead, came to Ahab and said, "As
Jehovah, the God of Israel, liveth, before whom I
stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain but accord
ing to my word." Then he fled, lest Ahab should
kill him, and hid himself by a brook in the land east
of Jordan ; ravens brought him bread and meat,
137

138 ELIJAH AND ELISHA
and he drank of the brook. But the brook dried
up, and he went to Zarephath, a city belonging to
Sidon ; and, when he came to the gate of the city, he
saw a widow gathering sticks, and he called to her,
and said, " Fetch me, I pray you, a little water to
drink." As she was going to fetch it, he called to her
again, and said, " Bring me, I pray you, a morsel of
bread." But she said, "As Jehovah your God liveth, I
have no bread, only a handful of meal in the barrel
and a little oil in the jar ; and I am gathering two
sticks, that I may go in and bake a cake for me and
my son, that we may eat it and die."
Nevertheless Elijah said, " Do not be afraid that
you will starve ; go and do as you have said ; but
make me a little cake first, and bring it out to me,
and then make for yourself and your son. For thus
saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, The barrel of meal
shall not waste, neither shall the jar of oil fail, until
Jehovah sends rain upon the earth."
She went and did as Elijah bade her, and she and
he and her household lived many days on the meal
and the' oil. But one day her son fell ill, and got
worse till there was no breath left in him ; but Elijah
prayed to God, and the boy recovered; and his
mother believed that Elijah was a prophet, and could
teach her the will of God.

CHAPTER II
THE RAIN
For three years there was no rain in Israel, so
that there was a terrible famine. Then God told
Elijah to go to Ahab, and tell the king that there
would be rain.
When Ahab saw Elijah, he said, " Is it you, you
troubler of Israel ? "
Elijah answered, " It is not I, but you and your
father's house that have troubled Israel, for you
have disobeyed the commands of Jehovah, and wor
shipped the Baals. Send and gather all Israel to
Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty
prophets of Baal that eat at Jezebel's table."
So Ahab sent and gathered all Israel and the
prophets of Baal to Mount Carmel ; and Elijah came
and said to them, " How long will you halt between
two opinions ? If Jehovah be God, follow Him ;
but if Baal be God, follow him."
For the people thought that Jehovah would not
object to their worshipping other gods, if they wor
shipped him as well. And when Elijah spoke to the
people, they answered him not a word.
Then Elijah proposed that the prophets of Baal
should sacrifice a bullock to Baal, and he should
sacrifice a bullock to Jehovah ; and whichever of the
139

140 ELIJAH AND ELISHA
two, Jehovah or Baal, sent fire to burn up the sacri
fice offered to him, should be the God of Israel.
And the people agreed.
Then the prophets of Baal offered their bullock,
and called on the name of Baal from morning till
noon ; but there was no voice nor any that answered.
And they leaped about their altar.
And Elijah mocked them, and said, "Shout
louder; he is a god; perhaps he is in a brown
study, or on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep, and
must be awaked."
Then they shouted louder than ever, and cut
themselves with knives and lancets, as men were
wont to do in worshipping Baal, till the blood
gushed out upon them. But there was no voice
and no answer, and no god took any notice of
them. Then Elijah offered his sacrifice, and prayed that
Jehovah would let the people know that He was
the God of Israel, and that Elijah was His prophet.
At his prayer the fire of Jehovah fell and burnt up
the bullock and the wood and the stones of the altar.
When all the people saw it they fell on their faces,
and said, " Jehovah is God ! Jehovah is God ! "
Then Elijah had all the prophets of Baal killed.
Afterwards he told Ahab that there was the sound
of abundance of rain. And Elijah went up to the
top of Carmel, and bowed himself to the earth in
prayer. After a while, he told his servant to go
and look out over the sea, but the servant came

THE RAIN 141
back and said he could see nothing. Seven times
Elijah sent him to look, and the seventh time the
servant came back and said, " There is a little cloud
no bigger than a man's hand coming up out of the
sea." Then Elijah sent him to tell Ahab to have his
chariot got ready, and to make haste home, lest
he should be stopped by the rain. Soon the sky
grew black with clouds and wind, and the rain
came down in torrents. And Ahab drove home
to his palace at Jezreel as fast as he could. And
the hand of Jehovah was on Elijah, and he girded
up his robe, and ran before Ahab's chariot to the
gate of Jezreel.

CHAPTER III
THE STILL SMALL VOICE.
When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel all that
Elijah had done, and how he had killed all her
prophets. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah,
saying, " So let the gods do to me, and more also, if
I make not your life as the life of one of them by
to-morrow about this time."
Then Elijah was afraid, and fled for his life, and
came to the southernmost part of Judah, to Beer-
sheba, and left his servant there. But he himself
went on further south, a day's journey into the wil
derness, and found a juniper tree, and sat down to
rest in its shade. And he prayed that he might die,
and said, " I have borne enough ; now, O Jehovah,
take away my life, for I am not better than my
fathers." Then he lay down and went to sleep under the
juniper tree, and while he was asleep an angel
touched him, and said, "Arise and eat."
Elijah got up and looked about, and saw beside
him a cake of bread and a pitcher of water ; and
he ate and drank, and lay him down again. But
the angel of Jehovah came again the second time,
and touched him, and said, " Arise and eat, because
the journey is too long for you."
142

THE STILL SMALL VOICE 143
Then Elijah got up again, and ate and drank, and
went in the strength of that food to the sacred
mountain of Horeb ; and there he found a cave, and
lodged in it.
Then Jehovah passed by. Before Him, a great
and strong wind rent the mountains and broke the
rocks in pieces, but Jehovah was not in the wind ;
and after the wind there was an earthquake, but
Jehovah was not in the earthquake ; and after the
earthquake there was a fire, but Jehovah was not in
the fire. And after the fire there was a still small
voice. When Elijah heard the voice, he wrapped
his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood at
the entrance of the cave.
And there came a voice unto him, and said,
"What are you doing here, Elijah?"
And he said, " I have been very zealous for
Jehovah Sabaoth ; but the Israelites have been
rebellious and disobedient, they have thrown down
Thine altars, and killed Thy prophets, and I, even I
only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away."
Elijah felt that he had failed altogether in his
work for God, and was helpless and useless. But
Jehovah's answer showed that He had still work for
Elijah to do. He bade him anoint a Syrian general
named Hazael to be king of Syria ; and an Israelite
general, Jehu, the son of Nimshi, to- be king over
Israel ; and a certain Elisha, the son of Shaphat, to
succeed himself as prophet. Hazael and Jehu would
punish the sins of Israel against its God.

144 ELIJAH AND ELISHA
"Yet," said Jehovah, "I will leave me seven
thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not
bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not
kissed him."
So that Elijah was not the only faithful Israelite,
and his " I, even I only," was altogether a mistake.
Then Elijah left the cave and the wilderness, and
went to look for Elisha, and found him ploughing
with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with
the twelfth. As Elijah passed close by, he threw
his mantle upon Elisha. And he left the oxen, and
ran after Elijah, and said, " Let me, I pray you, kiss
my father and mother, and then I will follow you."
And he left Elijah, and took a yoke of oxen, and
killed them, and boiled their flesh with the wood
of the plough and yoke, and feasted his servants.
Then he set out and went after Elijah, and became
his disciple and attendant.

CHAPTER IV
NABOTH'S VINEYARD
There was a man at Jezreel named Naboth, who
had a vineyard close to Ahab's palace. Some time
after Elijah's flight to the wilderness, Ahab sent for
Naboth, and said to him, " Give me your vineyard
for a kitchen garden, because it is near my palace ;
and I will either give you a better vineyard for it,
or pay you its value in money."
But Naboth answered, " God forbid that I should
give you the land I have inherited from my fathers."
For in ancient Israel each family held its land as a
sacred possession, and it was a sin for a man to sell
•the family estate and leave his children landless.
But, because Naboth would not sell his vineyard,
Ahab went home heavy and displeased, and lay
down on his bed, turned his face to the wall, and
would take no food. Jezebel his wife came to see
what was the matter with him, and he told her all
about Naboth and the vineyard. Then she said,
" Are you really king of Israel, and cannot have a
vineyard when you have set your heart on it ? Get
up and take food, and be cheerful. I will give you
Naboth's vineyard."
So she wrote a letter in Ahab's name, and sealed
l 145

146 ELIJAH AND ELISHA
it with his seal, and sent it to the elders, or chief
men, of the city where Naboth lived. And when
the elders got the letter, they opened it and read it,
and did as Jezebel had written. They proclaimed
a fast, as if some great sin had been committed,
which would bring trouble on the city. They took
Naboth, and put him in a conspicuous place before
all the people ; and they bribed two scoundrels to
bear false witness against Naboth. And the two
men came in and sat down before Naboth, and ac
cused him before all the people of cursing God and
the king.
Then Naboth was condemned, and carried out of
the city, and stoned to death ; and the elders wrote
and told Jezebel that Naboth was dead. When
Jezebel got the letter, she told Ahab that Naboth
was dead, and he could take the vineyard ; and
Ahab went down to take possession of it. But
when he reached the vineyard, he found Elijah
waiting for him.
And he said to the prophet, " Have you found
me, O mine enemy?"
Elijah answered, " I have found you, because you
have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of Jeho
vah. God will destroy all your family, so that they
shall no longer reign over Israel ; and the dogs shall
eat Jezebel by the walls of Jezreel."
Then Ahab was much afraid, and lamented, and
tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth, and fasted.
And the word of Jehovah came to Elijah, " Because

naboth's vineyard 147
Ahab humbles himself before Me, I will not destroy
his family till after he is dead."
Not long after, Ahab was killed in battle, fight
ing against the Syrians, and his son Ahaziah became
king in his stead.

CHAPTER V
THE WAR WITH MOAB
Not long after Ahab's death, Elijah was taken up
to heaven, and Elisha succeeded him as the prophet
of Jehovah. About the same time, the new king
Ahaziah died, and his brother Jehoram became king
of Israel. Now, in the days of Omri and Ahab,
Moab had been subject to Israel; and the king of
Moab in Ahab's time was Mesha, and he paid Ahab
as tribute a hundred thousand lambs and the wool
of a hundred thousand rams. But after Ahab's
death, Mesha refused to be subject to Israel, and
pay tribute.
Then Jehoram, king of Israel, gathered a great
army, and the kings of Judah and Edom came to
help him against Moab. After marching for seven
days, the armies found themselves in a desert where
there was no water, and they seemed likely to die
of thirst.
And the king of Judah said, " Is there not here
a prophet of Jehovah, by whom we may ask counsel
of him?"
One of the Israelites answered, " Elisha the son of
Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of
Elijah."1 1 i.e. "Was his attendant.
148

THE WAR WITH MOAB 149
So the three kings went to ask advice of Elisha,
and he bade them bring him a minstrel ; and, when
the minstrel played, the hand of Jehovah came upon
him, and he said, " Thus saith Jehovah, Make this
valley full of trenches. Ye shall see neither wind
nor rain, yet the valley shall be filled with water.
And Jehovah will give you victory over the
Moabites." So they dug the trenches, and next morning they
were full of water. Now, when the Moabites heard
that the kings were coming to fight against them,
all the fighting men gathered together on the bor
ders of Moab to meet the enemy. And the same
morning they looked across to the valley, and the
sun shone upon the trenches, and made the water
as red as blood. And the Moabites said, "This is
blood ; the three kings and their armies have quar
relled, and fought amongst themselves, and slaugh
tered each other. Now therefore, Moab, to the spoil."
Down they rushed in a disorderly crowd to plun
der the enemies' camps. But, when they came to
the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up against
them, and routed them. Then the three kings
marched into Moab, and filled up the wells, and
cut down the trees, and destroyed the towns, till
they came to a great Moabite city, Kir-hareseth,
and besieged it, and had nearly taken it. But the
king of Moab took seven hundred men, and made
a sortie, and tried to break through to the king of
Edom and kill him, but they failed.

150 ELIJAH AND ELISHA
Then the king of Moab took his own eldest son,
who should have succeeded him, and offered him
up as a sacrifice to the god of Moab, that he might
deliver his people. And for some reason, the story
does not tell us plainly why, the Israelites gave up
the siege, and returned home.
This is the Israelite account of these wars between
Israel and Moab, as it has been kept for us in the
Book of Kings. We have also King Mesha's ac
count of wars between Israel and Moab, which was
found some years ago, written upon a stone monu
ment. Each writer tells us most about the victories
of his own people. I will give you a few verses of
King Mesha's story.1
"I, Mesha, am son of Chemoshgad, of Dibon,
king of Moab. My father reigned over Moab thirty
years, and I succeeded him. And I erected this
stone to Chemosh [the god of Moab], because he
saved me from all plunderers, and gave me victory
over all my enemies.
" Now Omri, king of Israel, oppressed Moab many
days, because Chemosh was angry with his land . . .
but Chemosh [had mercy] on it in my days. . . . And
Chemosh said to me, Go, take Nebo from Israel, and
I went in the night, and fought against it from day
break till noon, and took it. . . . And I took from
it the vessels 2 of Jehovah, and offered them before
Chemosh. ..."
1 Words in brackets are explanatory additions.
" It is not certain if this word means vessels.

THE WAR WITH MOAB 151
The rest of the inscription is taken up with an
account of Mesha's victories, with a list of the cities
he took from Israel, and tells us of his buildings and
roads. All these successes of Mesha probably fol
lowed the retreat of the three kings from Kir-
haraseth.

CHAPTER VI
NAAMAN
In the time of Elijah and Elisha, there was almost
constant war between Israel and the Syrians of
Damascus. Bands of Syrians often made raids into
the land of Israel, and plundered the villages and
farmhouses, and carried off the people for slaves.
Once a little girl was carried off in this way, and
she became a slave in the household of Naaman, a
great Syrian general, and waited upon Naaman's
wife. Now Naaman was very much thought of by
the king and all the people of Damascus, because he
was a brave and skilful general, and by him Jehovah
had given victory to Syria. But he suffered from
the terrible disease of leprosy.
One day the little Israelite slave-girl said to her
mistress, " Would God my master were with the
prophet that is in Samaria, the chief city of Israel;
he would cure my master of his leprosy."
When Naaman and the king heard what she had
said, the king sent Naaman to the king of Israel,
with a letter, in which was written : " I have sent
you Naaman the Syrian, that you may cure him of
his leprosy."
The king of Israel read the letter, and tore his
clothes, and said, " Am I God, to kill and to make
152

NAAMAN 153
alive, that this man sends to me to cure a man of
leprosy ? He is trying to find an excuse for quarrel
ling with me."
But Elisha heard of it, and bade the king send
Naaman to him. So Naaman came with his horses
and chariots, and stood at the door of Elisha's house.
And Elisha sent to him a message, " Go and wash in
Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be healed,
and you shall be clean. "
But Naaman was angry because Elisha made so
little fuss with him, and said, " I thought he would
come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of
Jehovah his God, and wave his hand over the place,
and cure the leprosy. Are not our rivers in Damas
cus better than all the waters of Israel ? May I not
wash in them, and be clean I"1
So he turned and went away in a rage. But his
.servants came and said, " My father, if the prophet
had bidden you do some great thing, would you not
have done it? How much more, then, when he
says, ' Wash, and be clean ' ? "
Then Naaman went and dipped himself seven
times in Jordan, as Elisha had told him ; his flesh
became like the flesh of a little child, and he was
clean. Then he and all his company went back to Elisha,
and he said, "I know that there is no God in all
the earth but in Israel; now, therefore, take a present
of your servant." 1 That is, cured of his leprosy.

154 ELIJAH AND ELISHA
But Elisha would take nothing. Then Naaman
asked for two mule-loads of earth, to take home
with him, and lay down and build an altar on.
Because he supposed that, as Jehovah was the God
of Israel, He could only be worshipped on Israelite
soil; and he begged that Jehovah would pardon
him, because, as the minister of the king of Syria,
he was obliged to go with his master to the services
in the temple of Rimmon, the god of Damascus.
And Elisha said unto him, "Go in peace." So
Naaman departed for his own country ; and we will
hope that he sent the little Israelite maiden back
to her home and her friends, but the story tells us
nothing more about her.

CHAPTER VII
JEHU
Elijah had been commanded by God to anoint
new kings for Israel and Syria. The prophetic
anointing would be a sign that these kings were
chosen by God. Elijah left this task to be per
formed by Elisha. In the reign of Jehoram, king
of Israel, the Israelites were holding the city of
Ramoth-gilead, east of Jordan, against the Syrians
of Damascus. Jehoram had been wounded in bat
tle, and had gone home to Jezreel to be nursed,
leaving his general, Jehu the son of Nimshi, in
command of the army. At this time, Elisha called
one of his followers — the Hebrew name for them
was " sons of the prophets " — members of the guild
or order of prophets, and bade him take a vial of
oil, and go to Ramoth-gilead and anoint Jehu to
be king over Israel. So the young prophet, Elisha's
messenger, came to Ramoth-gilead, and went into
the room where the generals of the army were
assembled, and said, " General, I have an errand to
you." Jehu said, " To which of us all? "
He answered, "To you, General."
Jehu went with him into the house, and when
they were alone, the prophet poured the oil upon
155

156 ELIJAH AND ELISHA
Jehu's head, and said to him, " Thus saith Jehovah,
the God of Israel, I have anointed you king over
Jehovah's people, Israel. You shall put all the
family of Ahab to death, to avenge the blood of My
servants the prophets, and all My servants, whom
Jezebel slew."
Then he opened the door and fled, and Jehu came
out to the other generals, and one of them said to
him, " Is all well ? Why did this mad fellow come
to you ? "
Jehu answered, " Surely you knew who the man
was, and what he came for."
But they said, " We know nothing about it ; tell
us now."
Jehu told them that the prophet had anointed him
king over Israel. Then all the generals forthwith
laid their robes on the top of the steps as a carpet
of state or throne for Jehu, and they blew a trumpet,
and shouted, "Jehu is king."
Jehu said, " If you really wish me to be king, see
that no one is allowed to go from here to Jezreel,
to tell King Jehoram that there is a rebellion against
him." Forthwith Jehu set out for Jezreel in his chariot,
with part of the army. And when the watchman
on the tower of Jezreel saw Jehu and his men, he
told Jehoram that a company of soldiers was coming;
and the king sent a horseman to see who they were,
and ask what they had come for. But Jehu kept
the horseman, and would not let him go back to

JEHU 157
Jehoram. And the watchman from the tower told
the king that the messenger had reached the com
pany, but was not coming back. So the king sent
another horseman, and this time the watchman re
ported, " He came to them, but he is not coming
back ; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu
the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously."
Then Jehoram had his chariot got ready, and
drove out to meet Jehu, and they met in Naboth's
vineyard. When Jehoram saw Jehu, he called out
to him, " Is it peace, Jehu ? "
Jehu answered, " How can there be peace, so long
as your mother Jezebel practises witchcraft and all
her abominations ? "
Then Jehoram turned his chariot and fled, crying,
" Treason ! Treason ! " But Jehu drew his bow,
with his full strength, and shot an arrow into Jeho-
ram's breast, arid the king sank down in his chariot.
Jehu bade Bidkar, one of his officers, throw the
body into Naboth's vineyard.
"For," said he, "remember how, when you and I
rode together behind his father Ahab, Jehovah said
that the murder of Naboth should be punished in
Naboth's vineyard."
After this Jehu went on to Jezreel. When Jeze
bel heard that he had come, she painted her eyes,
and put on a grand head-dress, and looked out of
the window. As Jehu came in at the gate, she
called out, "Is it peace? You murderer of your
master ! "

158 ELIJAH AND ELISHA
Jehu looked up to the window, and said, "Who
is on my side ? "
Two or three officers of the household looked
out ; and he bade them throw her down. They
threw her down, and Jehu drove over her, and
the walls and the horses were sprinkled with her
blood. Afterwards Jehu sent out to have her
buried, and they found nothing but her skull, and
the bones of her hands and feet. When they told
Jehu, he said, "This is the fulfilment of the word
of Jehovah, which was spoken by Elijah, saying, 'In
Jezreel shall the dogs eat the blood of Jezebel.' "
When Jehu was king, he put down the worship
of the Phoenician god Baal, and was zealous in the
worship of Jehovah. And the kings of the house
of Jehu were powerful and victorious, especially
Jeroboam II. , who gained great victories over Syria
and the enemies of Israel, so that under him Israel
was almost as great as under David and Solomon,
because, as the Book of Kings says, "By him Je
hovah gave deliverance to Israel."

VI
Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah
CHAPTER I
AMOS AND HOSEA
But Israel did not make a good use of its pros
perity. There were many rich men, and powerful
nobles ; many temples of Jehovah, with their priests
and sacrifices. But this wealth and power meant
terrible misery : men got rich by making others
poor; powerful nobles obtained wide estates by
depriving weaker men of their land, as Ahab had
taken Naboth's vineyard ; so that very many fam
ilies in Israel were landless, and in poverty and
distress. The priests and prophets did not try to
stop this wrongdoing, but were often themselves
cruel and selfish. Even the worship of Jehovah
at the high places or temples was superstitious
and corrupt ; there were idols like the calves at
Bethel and Dan, and other gods were worshipped
besides Jehovah.
So when Israel was rich and prosperous under
its mighty and victorious king Jeroboam, a prophet
Amos came to the great temple at Bethel, and de-
159

160 AMOS, HOSEA, AND ISAIAH
clared to all the people who had come to worship
there, that Jeroboam should die by the sword, and
the Israelites should be carried away captive to a
foreign country.
Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, was very angry,
and bade Amos leave the country, and not come
to Bethel any more. But Amos and another
prophet named Hosea and others went on declar
ing that Jehovah would not put up with the cruelty
and oppression and wickedness of the rulers and
priests, but that terrible punishment would fall
upon Israel. Not very long after, the king of the
great empire of Assyria invaded Israel, conquered
the country, captured the capital city, Samaria,
and carried the Israelites, the ten tribes, captive to
distant countries ; and they have never been heard
of since.

CHAPTER II
THE CALL OF ISAIAH
All this while, kings of the house of David
had been reigning over Judah at Jerusalem, except
that, for a short time, Ahab's daughter, Athaliah,
who had married a king of Judah, usurped the
throne after the death of her son Ahaziah. Judah
was never so rich and powerful as Israel ; but
under a king Uzziah, who reigned about the same
time as Jeroboam II. of Israel, Judah was strong
and prosperous. Its prosperity was followed by
the same misery and sin as in Israel. The people
worshipped Jehovah, and offered many sacrifices,
and celebrated solemn feasts, especially at the
temple Solomon had built at Jerusalem ; yet these
zealous worshippers of Jehovah were often cruel
and grasping oppressors, and mingled superstition
and idolatry with their worship.
God raised up prophets in Judah as He had
done in Israel, to tell the people that He hated
the sacrifices and services of selfish, wicked men,
and would punish them all the more severely,
because they thought they could bribe Him to let
them cheat and oppress their fellows by attending
public worship, and making gifts to His priests.
M 161

162 AMOS, HOSEA, AND ISAIAH
The greatest of these prophets was Isaiah of
Jerusalem. He tells us how he was called to be
a prophet. He says, " I saw a vision of Jehovah
in His temple, sitting on a lofty throne, and His
robes filled the temple. Above Him were the
seraphim, each with six wings, and they cried
one to another, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah Saba-
oth ; the whole earth is full of His glory. Then
the foundations of the thresholds shook, and the
temple was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe
is me ! for I am undone ; because I am a man of
unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean
lips ; for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah
Sabaoth. " Then there flew unto me one of the seraphim,
with a hot stone in his hand, which he had taken
with the tongs from off the altar ; and he touched
my mouth with it, and said, This has touched
your lips ; your wickedness is taken away, and
your sin is pardoned.
"And I heard the voice of Jehovah saying,
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ?
" Then said I : Here am I ; send me."
Then Isaiah tells us how he was sent to warn
the people of the terrible punishment that would
overtake Judah for its sin. God told him that the
people would not heed his warning, but that yet
there would be a holy remnant who would be saved.
So for years Isaiah rebuked the kings of Judah
and their nobles and subjects for their sins, and

THE CALL OF ISAIAH 163
warned them of the coming punishment. Most
of the people did not heed his warning. Yet there
gathered round him a few followers, who believed
in his message, and wished to live according to his
teaching.

CHAPTER III
THE DELIVERANCE FROM SENNACHERIB
At last punishment came upon Judah in the reign
of a king called Hezekiah. He himself believed
in Isaiah, and tried to do the will of God according
to the prophet's teaching ; but many of his nobles
went on in their old ways. A good king cannot
make his people good all at once.
After the Assyrians had taken and destroyed
Samaria, and carried Israel away captive, the people
in Judah and the neighbouring countries were very
much afraid that the Assyrians would treat them in
the same way. Many of them wished to get help
from the king of Egypt, and to unite all Syria to
defy the Assyrians and fight against them. But
Isaiah tried to persuade Hezekiah to keep quiet, and
to have nothing to do with the Egyptian alliance
against Assyria. At last, however, the Egyptian
party in Judah persuaded Hezekiah to unite with
his neighbours, and with Egypt to fight against
Assyria. Then the Assyrian king Sennacherib
marched into Palestine with a great army, took
many cities, and defeated an Egyptian army that
came to help the allies. How he dealt with Heze
kiah we learn from one of Sennacherib's own in-
164

THE DELIVERANCE FROM SENNACHERIB 165
scriptions, which says, " As for Hezekiah of Judah,
who had not submitted to my yoke, I besieged and
took forty-six of his strong cities and numberless
smaller towns, by battering down the walls and by
assault. I took 500,150 prisoners, young and old,
male and female, together with horses, mules, asses,
camels, oxen and sheep, too many to count. I shut
up Hezekiah himself in his royal city Jerusalem
like a bird in a cage."
Sennacherib goes on to tell how he gave the cities
of Judah to their neighbours, and how Hezekiah
submitted, and sent ambassadors to him, and paid
him tribute. But Sennacherib does not tell us
what happened afterwards. For the end of the
story we must go back to the Book of Kings.
Although Hezekiah submitted to Sennacherib,
and sent him much gold and silver, Sennacherib
sent an army to take Jerusalem. His generals
tried to persuade the people to give up the city to
them. They said, " Don't believe Hezekiah when
he tells you that Jehovah will save you. Has any
god ever saved his people from the king of Assyria ?
All the countries we have conquered had their gods ;
and where are they ? Did they save the people who
trusted them ? How, then, can Jehovah save Jeru
salem from our king? "
But the people gave the Assyrians no answer,
and Hezekiah's officers told him what had been
said. And Hezekiah tore his clothes, and put on
sackcloth, and went into the temple and prayed

166 AMOS, HOSEA, AND ISAIAH
to Jehovah, telling Him how scornfully the Assyr
ians had spoken of the God of Israel. And he
sent some of his chief officers to Isaiah for advice
and comfort. Isaiah sent him a message that his
prayers would be answered, that Jerusalem would
not be taken, that Sennacherib would not even come
to attack it, but would go back to his own country
another way.
That night the angel of Jehovah went forth, and
slew 180,000 men in the Assyrian camp, perhaps by
some terrible disease ; and when those who were left
got up next morning, they found them all dead
corpses. Then Sennacherib, king of Assyria, set off
home to Nineveh and stayed in the East till he was
murdered by two of his sons.

VII
Jeremiah
CHAPTER I
THE PUTTING DOWN OF THE HIGH PLACES
I have told you how at the high places and other
temples idols were worshipped, and other evil prac
tices carried on ; and how the prophets condemned
such worship. Hezekiah did something to put a
stop to it ; but, when he died, things were worse
than ever. His son and successor Manasseh encour
aged the evil worship at the high places, and even
placed altars to the sun and moon and stars in the
courts of Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem. His son
and successor Amon followed in his footsteps. Amon
was succeeded by his son Josiah, a child eight years
old. Of course, while Josiah was a boy, the gov
ernment was carried on by some of the nobles and
princes. When King Josiah was twenty-one, God raised up ¦
a prophet, Jeremiah, who was a young man like the
king. When God called him to be a prophet, he
said, " O Lord Jehovah, I cannot speak, I am but a
youth." 167

168 JEREMIAH
" Then," he tells us, " Jehovah put forth His hand
and touched my mouth, and said, ' I have put My
words in your mouth.'"
Jeremiah, like Isaiah, was commanded to warn
Judah that it would be punished for its sins. So
the prophet began to preach against the selfishness,
oppression, and idolatry of the men of Judah, espe
cially of the nobles, priests, and prophets. For there
were many who made a livelihood out of teaching
the will of God, but only a few true prophets who
really had the word of Jehovah.
The Book of Kings does not tell us anything
about Jeremiah ; but we may be sure that he would
try to persuade Josiah to observe the law of God.
We read that Josiah, when he was twenty-six, set
to work to repair Solomon's Temple, most likely
because he believed Jeremiah, and was anxious to
carry out his teaching.
While the temple was being repaired, the high-
priest, Hilkiah, came to the king's secretary, Sha
phan, and said, " I have found the book of the law
in the temple of Jehovah."
Shaphan read the book himself, and then took it,
and read it to the king. The contents of this law
book were very like those of our Book of Deuteron
omy, which threatens the Jews with punishment for
such sins as the men of Judah were in the habit of
committing. So when Josiah heard it read, he was much dis
tressed, and tore his clothes. He sent his officers to

PUTTING DOWN OF THE HIGH PLACES 169
a prophetess named Huldah to ask about the book.
She told them that Jerusalem would be punished for
worshipping false gods, but that the evil should not
come in Josiah's time.
Afterwards the king gathered the people together
at Jerusalem, and read them the book. And the
king and the people made a covenant, and solemnly
promised to do as the book bade them. Then they
set to work to clear out of the temple all the altars
and vessels and furniture used for the worship of
false gods. They destroyed the temples of false
gods everywhere, and they broke down the high
places. The king forbade the people to worship any
more at the high places, and ordered them to sacri
fice only at Solomon's Temple, where he and his
officers could see that everything was done decently
and in order. So Josiah reformed the religion of
Judah as far as public worship was concerned.

CHAPTER II
THE FALL OF JERUSALEM
Josiah was killed in battle, and probably people
took this as a sign that Jehovah did not approve of
his reforms. At any rate, his successors went back
to the old evil ways. Jeremiah protested, but they
took little notice. Once the prophet came forward
in the temple at a great feast, and told the people
that Jerusalem and its temple would be destroyed,
as Shiloh and its temple had been destroyed long
ago. This saying, that Jehovah's one holy temple would
be destroyed, seemed so wicked and blasphemous,
that the priests and prophets and people laid hold of
Jeremiah, and dragged him before the princes of
Judah to have him put to death. But some of the
princes were his friends, and protected him.
Yet, at one time and another, Jeremiah was
greatly persecuted, because he persisted in warning
the people of the punishment that must follow their
sins. Once he was beaten, and put in the stocks.
Meanwhile, the punishment of Judah was coming
very near. The empire of the Assyrians, who had
once ruled over Western Asia, had been overthrown
by the Chaldeans of Babylon and their allies, and
Judah had to submit to them. And now, as in the
170

High-Priest wearing the Ephod
171

THE FALL OF JERUSALEM 173
time of Isaiah, there was an Egyptian party at
Jerusalem who wished to join Egypt and the neigh
bouring countries, and rebel against Babylon. But
Jeremiah, like Isaiah, tried to persuade the kings of
Judah to keep quiet, and to have nothing to do with
Egypt. Sometimes they followed Jeremiah's advice,
but, as a rule, they revolted whenever there seemed
the least chance of success.
The last king of Judah was Zedekiah, one of the
sons of Josiah. He, too, rebelled against Babylon,
and Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came against
him with a great army. Jeremiah tried to persuade
Zedekiah to submit, and he was inclined to do so.
But the princes who wished to join Egypt prevented
the king from submitting. They arrested Jeremiah
on a charge of intending to desert to the Chaldeans,
and let him down into a muddy pit, and he sank in
the mud. Most likely they meant to let him starve
to death in the pit. But Jeremiah had a friend in
the king's household, an Ethiopian, Ebedmelech.
When he heard what had happened, he got the
king's permission to take Jeremiah out of the pit.
Ebedmelech provided himself with ropes, and a
number of old rags, and thirty men, and went to
the pit, and let down the ropes and rags to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah fastened the ropes under his armpits, with
the rags between his flesh and the ropes. Then
they drew him up out of the pit, but he still re
mained in prison.
Not long after, the city was taken by the Chal-

174 JEREMIAH
deans. The city and temple were destroyed, many
of the people were killed, and many more were
carried away captive to Babylon. Some were al
lowed to stay in Judah, amongst them Jeremiah,
who was released from prison, and treated with
great respect. But those who were left in Judah
fled into Egypt, and took Jeremiah with them ; and
the last that we hear of the prophet is that he had
to rebuke his fellow-countrymen in Egypt, and
especially the women, for their wickedness and
idolatry.

VIII
Religious Stories of Ancient Israel
chapter i
THE CREATION
We have come to an end of the stories about the
Israelite kingdoms. Next I want to tell you some
of the stories through which the Israelites were
taught many useful lessons, especially that their
God Jehovah was God of the whole world, and made
men and women and all things. They are often
thought to be rather poems or parables than history.
The Babylonians had stories very much like these
Israelite stories, only the Babylonian stories do not
teach true and helpful lessons like those of the
Bible. The first is about the Creation. There was a
time when there were no trees or plants, because
there had never been any rain, and there were no
men to do any gardening. First of all, a mist used
to come up and water the earth. Then Jehovah
made a man out of the dust, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life, so that the man became
175

176 RELIGIOUS STORIES OF ANCIENT ISRAEL
alive. Then Jehovah planted a garden in the East,
in Eden, and put the man in it to take care of it.
And Jehovah commanded him, " You may eat the
fruit of every tree in the garden, except the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. You must not
eat the fruit of that tree, else you will die."
Then Jehovah thought, "It is not good for the
man to be alone ; I will make a companion for
him." So Jehovah made out of the soil all the animals
and birds ; and brought them to the man to see
what he would call them, and in this way they all
got their names. But no one of them was fit to be
the man's companion. ¦ Then Jehovah made the
man fall into a very sound sleep, and He took out
one of his ribs, and closed up the place ; and out of
the rib He built up a woman, and brought her to
the man.
And the man said, "This is now bone of my
bone and flesh of my flesh."
And he called her name Ishshah, which means
woman, because she was taken out of man; for
the Hebrew for man was ish. And the man and
his wife were naked and not ashamed.

CHAPTER II

THE FALL

Now the serpent was more cunning than any
other animal which Jehovah had made.
And he said to the woman, " Has God really said
that you may not eat of any of the trees of the
garden ? "
She answered, "We may eat the fruit of all the
trees, except the one in the middle of the garden.
Of that, God said, 'You must not eat it, or touch
it, else you will die.'"
The serpent said to her, " You certainly will not
die. God knows that, if you eat the fruit of that
tree, your eyes will be opened, and you will know
good and evil, and will be as wise as He is Him
self." She saw that the fruit was nice and pretty, and
she wanted to be wise ; so she took some and ate
it, and made her husband eat some too. Then the
eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew
that they were naked ; and they sewed fig-leaves
together, and made themselves aprons. And they
heard the sound of Jehovah, as He walked in the
garden, in the cool of the day ; and they hid from
Him amongst the trees of the garden.
n 177

178 RELIGIOUS STORIES OF ANCIENT ISRAEL
But Jehovah called to the man, " Where are
you?" He answered, " I heard Thee in the garden, and
I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid
myself." Jehovah said, "Who told you that you were
naked? Have you eaten the fruit I forbade you
to eat?"
The man said, "The woman whom you gave me
for a companion made me eat the fruit."
Jehovah said to the woman, "How came you to
do this?"
She said, " The serpent beguiled me, and I ate
the fruit."
Then Jehovah said that all three would be pun
ished: the serpent would have to crawl upon its
belly, and eat dust; the woman would suffer much
pain, and be subject to her husband ; and the man
would have to work very hard for a living.
Then Jehovah made skin coats for the man and
his wife to wear ; and they were driven out of the
garden of Eden, to till the waste lands outside.
And, east of the garden of Eden, Jehovah placed
the cherubim with flaming swords pointing every
way, to keep the man and woman from ever
getting back into Eden.

CHAPTER III
CAIN AND ABEL
The man and woman — Adam and Eve they were
called — had two sons, Cain and Abel. When they
grew up, Abel kept sheep, and Cain grew corn and
fruit. Cain brought to Jehovah an offering from
his fields, and Abel brought the firstlings of his
flock. Jehovah was pleased with Abel and his
offering, but He was displeased with Cain and
his offering. Whereupon Cain was very angry,
and his countenance fell.
Jehovah said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and
why has your countenance fallen ? If you do well,
shall I not be pleased with you? But if you do
ill, sin crouches at your door, and lies in wait for
you. Yet you may master it."
But Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go
into the field."
And, when they were in the field, Cain turned
upon Abel, and murdered him.
And Jehovah said to Cain, " Where is your
brother Abel ? "
He answered, "I don't know. Am I my
brother's keeper ? "
But Jehovah said, " What have you done ? Your
brother's blood cries to Me from the ground. This
179

180 RELIGIOUS STORIES OF ANCIENT ISRAEL
land shall no longer give you corn when you till it,
but you shall be a fugitive and wanderer in the
earth." Cain said, " My punishment is more than I can
bear. Thou hast driven me out from this land ;
and I shall be hidden from Thee ; and I shall be a
fugitive and wanderer in the earth. Any one who
meets me will kill me."
But Jehovah said, " If any one kills Cain, seven
fold vengeance shall be taken upon him."
And Jehovah set a mark upon Cain, lest any one
who met him should kill him.

CHAPTER IV
THE FLOOD
As time went on, there came to be a great many
people in the world, and Jehovah saw that they were
very wicked ; and He said, " I will destroy mankind
and the beasts and birds and creeping things, for
I am sorry that I made them."
But there was one good man, Noah, with whom
Jehovah was pleased ; and he bade him build a great
floating house or "ark." When the ark was fin
ished, Jehovah bade Noah and all his family go into
it, and take with them seven of each kind of clean beast
that might be eaten and two of each kind of unclean
beast that might not be eaten. He told Noah that
in a week He would send a great rain, and it would
keep on raining for forty days and forty nights, and
every living thing on the earth would be drowned.
And Noah did all that Jehovah told him. He and
his sons and their wives went into the ark, and the
beasts and birds with them ; and Jehovah shut him
in. Seven days later the flood began, and it rained
for forty days and forty nights. The water rose,
and floated the ark ; and every living thing, men
and women and children, beasts and birds, were
drowned. None were left except Noah and those
with him in the ark. 181

182 RELIGIOUS STORIES OF ANCIENT ISRAEL
When the rain stopped, at the end of the forty
days, the waters began to go down. And Noah
opened the window of the ark, and sent out a
raven; but the raven never came back, it flew to
and fro till the water had dried up. Then Noah
sent out a dove, to see if the water had gone down
from the land. And the dove found no rest for the
sole of its foot, because the earth was still covered
with water; and it came back to the ark to Noah,
and he put out his hand, and took it in. Then he
waited a week, and sent out the dove again ; and it
came back in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in
its beak. Then Noah knew that the land was free
from water. But he waited another week, and sent
out the dove again, but it never came back.
At the end of the week Noah took the roof off the
ark, and looked, and saw that the ground was dry ;
and Noah and his family came out of the ark. He
built an altar to Jehovah, and took some of every
kind of clean beast and bird, and sacrificed them as
burnt-offerings. And Jehovah smelt the pleasant
smell of the smoke, and said to Himself, "I will not
curse the ground any more, to punish men, because
from childhood they are given to evil thoughts ; and
I will not again destroy every living thing, as I have
done by the flood. While the earth lasts, there shall
always be seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat,
and summer and winter, and day and night."

CHAPTER V

THE TOWER OF BABEL

In ancient times, everybody spoke the same lan
guage, and lived together as one people. And, as
they journeyed eastward, they found a plain in a
country called Shinar, and settled down there,
and said, " Let us make brick, and burn them
thoroughly." And they had brick for stone and pitchy mud for
mortar. Then they said, " Let us build a city and a tower,
whose top may reach to heaven, and be a landmark
for us, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of
the whole earth."
But Jehovah came down to look at the city and
tower that men were building, and said, "They
are all one people, and speak the same language ;
and what they are doing is only a beginning ; if
they succeed in this, they will do everything they
wish. Let us go down and confuse their language,
that they may no longer be able to understand each
other." Then Jehovah made them speak different lan
guages, so that they could no longer understand one
183

184 RELIGIOUS STORIES OF ANCIENT ISRAEL
another ; scattered them abroad from thence over
all the face of the earth ; and they left off build
ing the city. And the place was called Babel or
Confusion, because of the confusion of languages
there.

IX
The New Israel
CHAPTER I
THE NEW TEMPLE
The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple,
together with the exile to Babylon, mark the begin
ning of a new Israel. This new Israel was chiefly
the survivors of Judah and Benjamin, especially the
exiles at Babylon. After they had been some time
at Babylon, God raised up prophets, who told the
exiles that they should return to their own land,
and that Jerusalem and the temple would be re
built. About fifty years after the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, Cyrus, king of Persia,
overthrew the Chaldean Empire, and took Babylon.
He allowed the exiles to return to Palestine, and
rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Some of them
went to Palestine, but very many stayed in Baby
lon. Though they still called themselves Israel,
they are generally spoken of as Jews, or men of
Judah, and their country as Judaea.
The returning exiles went back to a desolate
country, and a ruined city and temple. During the
185

186 THE NEW ISRAEL
exile, neighbouring tribes had taken some of the
land of Judah. They wished to have a share in
building the temple ; and, when the Jews refused,
they were angry, and did all they could to injure
them and hinder their building.
The foundations of a new temple were laid, to the
music of trumpets and cymbals ; and the priests
sang hymns and praised Jehovah, and the people
shouted aloud for joy, because the foundation of the
temple of Jehovah was laid. But the very old men,
who remembered the former temple, wept aloud, and
the shouts of joy were mingled with wailing and
lamentation, so that the one could not be distin
guished from the other. But the noise could be
heard a great way off.
After the foundation was laid, the enemies of the
Jews persuaded the king of Persia to stop the build
ing, and it was many years before the Jews could
get permission to go on with it. But at last the
temple was finished, and opened by a solemn dedi
cation, with feasts and sacrifices and great rejoicings.

A Bit of the Wall of Jerusalem : the North Angle
187

CHAPTER II
EZRA AND NEHEMIAH
The troubles of the Jews were not over when the
new temple was built. They were still poor and
weak, and had many enemies. They were not so
much given to idolatry and superstition as the old
Israelites, but still they fell into many of the sins
against which Amos and Isaiah prophesied. In times
of distress the rich took advantage of the necessities
of the poor to get possession of their land, and to
sell their debtors for slaves. Some of the Jewish
nobles married heathen wives, and gave their daugh
ters to' heathen husbands, so that it seemed likely
that soon they would worship false gods as well as
Jehovah. But help came from the Jews who had stayed
behind in Babylon. There was in Babylon a Jewish
priest named Ezra, who was called "The Scribe,"
. because he was learned in the law ; and also a Jew
named Nehemiah, who held the high office of cup
bearer to the Persian king. Ezra came to Jerusalem
with a large company of Babylonian Jews. Not
long after, Nehemiah was appointed governor of
Judah by the Persian king, and also came to Jeru
salem. He built strong walls for the city, so that
189

190

THE NEW ISRAEL

it could not be taken by the enemy, and he made
the rich who had taken land from the poor restore
it to the former owners, and he set things in order
generally.

Ancient Manuscripts of the Pentateuch

Now, Ezra had brought with him from Babylon
a book of the Law, something like the book found
in the temple in Josiah's reign, but with more laws
in it, and better suited to the New Israel. It was
either our Pentateuch — that is, Genesis, Exodus,

EZRA AND NEHEMIAH

191

Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy — or some
thing very much like it.
Ezra and Nehemiah gathered all the people to
gether in a large open space before one of the gates

Ancient Manuscripts of the Pentateuch rolled up
of Jerusalem. And Ezra took with him the book
of the Law, arid stood upon a pulpit of wood, which
had been specially made for the occasion, and opened
the book in the sight of all the people ; and all the
people stood up. Then Ezra blessed Jehovah, the

192 THE NEW ISRAEL
great God, and all the people answered, "Amen!
Amen ! " and lifted up their hands. Then they
bowed their heads, and worshipped Jehovah with
their faces to the ground.
Then Ezra read the book to the people, men and
women, and all who were old enough to under
stand ; and the Levites, or assistant priests, ex
plained the laws to the people. And Ezra read
from daybreak to noon, and went on reading every
day for a week.
And the people and their priests and rulers
solemnly promised by a covenant to keep these
laws, as Josiah and his people promised to keep
the laws in the book found in the temple.
For the most part, they and the Jews of later
generations kept this covenant, and no longer fell
into idolatry, or into the old superstitions. But
they were often guilty of other sins, and were so
busy attending to all the laws that told them what
kind of meat to eat, and how often they should wash
themselves, that many of them forgot the' teaching
of the prophets on kindness and justice.
Yet in many ways they knew more about God and
His will than their fathers had done, and kept up in
the temple the worship of one invisible, all-ruling
God without idols. Till our Lord Jesus Christ
came, there was a Jewish people in Palestine, some
times ruled by their own priests, and sometimes by
governors appointed by Persian or Syrian or Egyp
tian kings or by the Romans. Besides these, there

EZRA AND NEHEMIAH 193
were Jews in Babylon, and Jews in Egypt, Jews
almost everywhere throughout the Roman Empire
and in the East. And all these Jews were looking I
for a Saviour who should deliver Israel, and bring I
the whole world to know and serve Jehovah.

X
Eeligious Stories of the New Israel
chapter I
THE CREATION
God had taught the Jews more about Himself and
His will than the ancient Israelites had known. So
that it was natural that the Jews should tell the old
stories in a new way, to teach the old lessons more
clearly and forcibly, and to teach new lessons as
well. I will tell you two of these new editions of
old stories; first, the story of the Creation.
In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
The earth was empty and desolate, and darkness was
upon the face of the sea; and the Spirit of God
brooded upon the face of the waters.
God said, " Let there be light."
Light shone out, and God saw that it was good;
and He separated the light from the darkness, and
called the light Day, and the darkness Night. And
evening and morning were one day.
God said, " Let there be a firmament in the midst
of the waters, to divide them into two parts."
194

THE CREATION 195
So God made the firmament, which divided the
waters in the sea beneath it from the waters in the
clouds above it. God called the firmament Heaven.
And evening and morning were a second day.
God said, " Let the lower waters be gathered into
one place, and let the dry land appear."
Then the waters were gathered together, and the
dry land appeared; and God called the dry land
Earth and the water Seas. And God saw that it
was good.
God said, " Let the earth produce grass and plants
and fruit trees."
Then grass and plants and trees grew out of the
earth, and God saw that it was good. And evening
and morning were a third day.
God said, " Let there be lights in heaven to sepa
rate day from night, and to fix seasons, and days and
years, and to give light upon the earth."
So God made two great lights, the greater to rule
the day, and the lesser to rule the night ; and also
the stars ; and He set them in the firmament of
heaven. And God saw that it was good. And
evening and morning were a fourth day.
God said, " Let the waters swarm with swarms of
living creatures, and let birds fly in the open firma
ment of heaven."
So God created the great sea-monsters and all the
living creatures that swim in the sea and all the
different kinds of birds. And God saw that it was
good. And He blessed them, and bade them multi-

196 RELIGIOUS STORIES OF THE NEW ISRAEL
ply, and fill the seas, and the birds to multiply as
well. And evening and morning were a fifth day.
God said, " Let the earth bring forth all kinds of
living creatures, cattle and creeping things and wild
beasts." So God made all the different kinds of cattle and
creeping things and wild beasts. And God saw that
it was good.
God said, " Let us make Man in our image, after
our likeness; and let them be masters of all the
fishes and birds and cattle, and of all the earth and
every creeping thing upon it."
So God made Man in His own image. In the
image of God He created him. He created them
male and female ; and blessed them, and bade them
multiply, and rule over the earth and all living
creatures ; and said, " I have given you corn and
fruit for food, and to the beasts and birds and creep
ing things I have given grass for food."
And God saw all that He had made, and it was
very good. And evening and morning were the
sixth day.
So heaven and earth, and all that is in them, were
finished. On the seventh day, God finished His work, and
rested from all the work He had done. And God
blessed and hallowed the seventh day, because that
in it He rested from all His work of making and
creating.

CHAPTER II
THE FLOOD
This is the story of Noah. Noah was a pious,
blameless man who lived in fellowship with God.
He had three sons — Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
God saw that all men had become very wicked,
and he said to Noah, " I am going to destroy man
kind because of their wickedness. Build yourself
an ark of wood, with cells in it and pitched inside
and outside with pitch ; an ark 600 feet long, 10Q
feet high, and 60 feet broad, with openings for light
and a door and three stories of cells. For I am
going to send a flood to drown all living creatures.
But I will make a covenant with you ; and you and
your sons and your wife and your sons' wives shall
come into the ark, and bring with you two of every
kind of birds and beasts and creeping things and
food for yourselves and for them." And Noah did
what God told him.
In the 600th year of Noah's life, the 17th day of
the second month, all the fountains of the great
deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven
were opened. That very day Noah and his family
and all the animals went into the ark. The waters
rose, and the ark floated ; they went on rising, and
197

198 RELIGIOUS STORIES OF THE NEW ISRAEL
all the hills were covered ; they rose higher still
and the mountains were covered, and all the birds,
cattle, wild beasts and creeping things, and all man
kind were drowned.
The waters went on rising for 150 days. Then
God remembered Noah and his family and the
animals with him in the ark ; and God made a wind
pass over the earth to dry up the waters. And the
fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven
were stopped. On the 17th day of the seventh
month, the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat,
or Armenia. The waters went on falling until, on
the 1st day of the tenth month, the tops of the
mountains were seen. On the 1st day of the first
month of Noah's 601st year, the waters were gone
from the earth ; and on the 27th day of the second
month, the earth was quite dry.
Then, at God's command, Noah and his family
and the animals went out of the ark. And God
blessed Noah and his sons, and said, "Multiply,
and fill the world again with people. All living
creatures shall be afraid of you, and you shall be
their masters. You may eat animals as well as
vegetables, but you must not eat the blood. I will
punish any animal or man that kills a man. Only
if any one sheds man's blood, by man shall his
blood be shed ; because man was made in the image
of God. I will make a covenant with you, and with
all your descendants, and with all living things
for ever, that I will never again drown all living

THE FLOOD 199
creatures with a flood. For a sign of this, I will
set my bow — the rainbow — in the cloud, so that
when the clouds gather I may remember the ever
lasting covenant between Me and every living creat
ure, that I will not again send a flood to drown
them all."

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 08837 2918
d  =  d