{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_30239/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_30239","id":"gutenberg_30239","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30239","summary":null,"tags":["Bible stories -- Old Testament","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Moses (Biblical leader) -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"[Illustration: The baby Moses in the bulrushes.]\n\n\n                             THE BABE IN\n\n                            THE BULRUSHES\n\n\n\n                           By AMY STEEDMAN\n\n\n                            [Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n                         THOMAS NELSON & SONS\n\n                               NEW YORK\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nTHE FINDING OF MOSES\n\n\nMany long years had passed since the days when Joseph's brothers and\ntheir families had settled in the land of Egypt. They were a great\nnation in numbers now, but the Egyptians still ruled over them, and\nused them as servants. The Pharaoh who had been so kind to the\nshepherds from Canaan was dead long ago, and the new kings, or\nPharaohs as they were called, hated foreigners, and began to treat the\nIsraelites very harshly. There were too many of them, they said; it\nwas dangerous to have so many strong, powerful slaves. They must be\nkept down, and made to work from morning till night, and be beaten if\nthey did not work fast enough.\n\nThat was very hard for the poor people; but worse was to come. An\norder was issued one day which spread sorrow through all the land of\nGoshen, where the Israelites lived. Every baby boy that was born was\nto be thrown into the river. Girl babies might be allowed to live, for\nthey would be useful as slaves, but boys might grow up to fight for\ntheir country, and so they must be destroyed.\n\nIn one little house, not far from the great river Nile, a woman sat\nholding her tiny baby in her arms, while the tears ran down her\ncheeks. He was such a beautiful baby, so strong and fair and healthy;\nbut the king's order was that he was to be thrown into the river,\nwhere the cruel, hungry crocodiles were waiting to snap up everything\nthey could find for a meal. Jochebed, the poor mother, held her baby\ncloser in her arms. No, she could not obey the king's order. She would\ntry and hide the baby for a little while, at any rate.\n\nIt was easy to hide a baby while he was still tiny and slept most of\nthe day; but when he grew bigger it was much more difficult. His\nsister Miriam did her best to help her mother; but any day, now that\nthe baby was three months old, he might be discovered, and something\nmust be done at once.\n\nSo Jochebed thought of a plan, and prayed to God that He would help\nher to carry it out. At the edge of the river there grew tall\nbulrushes, which, when cut down and dried, could be made into many\nuseful things. Taking some of these bulrushes, she wove them into a\nlittle cradle with a cover to it, just like a little ark, and this she\ncovered with a kind of pitch, so that not a drop of water could come\nthrough. Inside the cradle she made a soft bed, and laid the baby\nthere while he was fast asleep, and set the ark afloat in the water\nwhere the bulrushes were growing. She knew that presently the great\nprincess, Pharaoh's daughter, would come down to bathe in the river,\nand would notice the queer little ark floating there.\n\n[Illustration: She laid the baby there while he was fast asleep.]\n\nVery soon the royal procession came winding down from the palace\ntowards the river, as the princess in her gorgeous robes made her way\nto bathe in the pool of the lotus flowers. But at the edge of the\nriver she stopped. What was that among the bulrushes? It was no lotus\nflower, but a strange-looking covered basket, and she ordered her\nmaidens to bring it to her.\n\nThe little ark was lifted out of the water and carried to the\nprincess. There was surely something alive inside, and the princess\nwas full of curiosity as she leaned down and lifted the cover to look\nin. Then she started back in amazement. The dearest little baby she\nhad ever seen lay there, all rosy and fresh after his sleep, gazing up\nat her with wide-open eyes. The maidens crowded round, and the sight\nof all those strange faces was more than the baby could bear. He\npuckered up his face and began to cry.\n\nThe princess loved babies, and she had none of her own. That little\nwailing cry went to her heart. She guessed at once that this was one\nof the Hebrew babies which had been ordered to be destroyed, and she\nmade up her mind that this beautiful boy should at least be saved.\n\nAll this time Miriam had been watching from her hiding-place close by,\nand with anxious, beating heart she came forward now. Could she help\nthe princess? she asked. Should she run and find some Hebrew woman who\nmight look after the baby?\n\nPerhaps the princess guessed that the baby's mother would not be far\noff, and she must have smiled a little when a nurse was so quickly\nfound. But she took no notice of that.\n\n\"Take this child away,\" she said, when Jochebed stood humbly before\nher, \"and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages.\"\n\nIt was merely as a nurse that the mother was hired. The great princess\nmeant to adopt the baby as her own. But he was safe, and Jochebed's\nheart was full of gratitude to God as she took her little son into her\narms again.\n\nAs long as he needed a nurse the baby was left to be looked after by\nhis mother in the little house by the river-side. The princess called\nhim Moses, which means \"drawn out,\" because he had been drawn out of\nthe water, and she had made up her mind that as soon as he was old\nenough he should come to live with her at the palace, and be brought\nup as a prince. He would be treated just as if he was really her son.\n\n[Illustration: She taught him about God.]\n\nBut his poor mother had him for those first precious years while he\nwas still a little boy, and she did not waste one minute of that time\nin her training of him. She taught him about God, and told him all the\nwonderful stories about his own country, so that he should never\nforget that he belonged to God's people, even when he should become a\nprince in the Egyptian palace. Just as a gardener sows seeds in a\ngarden which afterwards grow up into beautiful flowers, so she sowed\nthe seeds of truth in the heart of her little son, which long\nafterwards were to blossom out and bear such wonderful fruit.\n\n[Illustration: Beating him unmercifully with a long whip.]\n\nThen when Moses was old enough to do without a nurse, she took him to\nthe palace, and \"brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became\nher son.\"\n\nBut deep down in his heart he never forgot his own people.\n\nIt happened one day that he saw one of the Egyptian taskmasters\ntreating one of the poor Israelite slaves with great cruelty, beating\nhim most unmercifully with a long whip. This made Moses so angry that\nhe rushed in to defend the slave, and dealt the taskmaster such a blow\nthat it killed him.\n\nBut instead of being grateful the Israelites would not trust him, and\nbegan to whisper the tale of how he had killed the Egyptian, so that\nMoses was obliged to flee for his life, leaving behind all the riches\nand honours he had enjoyed so long.\n\nA very different kind of life began now for Moses. He journeyed far\ninto the desert and joined company there with an Arab tribe, and\nwandered from place to place feeding their flocks and living the life\nof a shepherd.\n\nBut God had more difficult work for him to do than feeding sheep, and\none day when he was in the desert he saw a strange sight. A bush was\ngrowing there, and in the middle of the bush a fire was burning, and\nthe strange thing was that although the fire kept on burning fiercely\nthe bush was not burnt at all. It was the Angel of the Lord that was\nin the midst of the fire, and as Moses drew near God called him by his\nname, and told him that he was to go back and set his people free\nfrom the tyranny of Pharaoh and lead them into the Promised Land.\n\n[Illustration: In the middle of the bush a fire was burning.]\n\nAt first Moses said it was impossible for him to do this. His own\npeople would not trust him, and he was no great speaker; he would\ncertainly fail. But God bade him do his best, and Aaron his brother\nwould speak for him; and above all God would be his helper.\n\n[Illustration: \"Arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this\npeople.\" Joshua i. 2.]\n\nSo Moses returned to the land of Egypt and boldly asked Pharaoh to\nallow the people to go and worship God. Time after time Pharaoh\nrefused, although God sent dreadful plagues to warn him. At last,\nhowever, when the angel of death killed all the eldest sons of the\nEgyptians, Pharaoh was terrified and said the people might go at once\nand take all their belongings with them.\n\n[Illustration: The Land of Canaan lay stretched out before him.]\n\nIt was a great company of people that set out, and Moses the great\nleader guided them on their way. They had many adventures, and braved\nmany dangers and difficulties, but God was always their shield and\ndefence. He delivered them by parting the waters of the Red Sea and\nallowing them to walk over dry-shod when Pharaoh and his army were\npursuing them. And when the pursuers tried to follow them, the waters\nrolled back, and the whole great army were swept away by the returning\ntide.\n\nYet in spite of God's care and goodness towards them, these Israelites\nwere often ungrateful, and complained bitterly when they suffered any\nwant. And it was always Moses whom they blamed.\n\nMoses was very patient with them; but once he was so angry that he was\ntempted to disobey God's direction, and as a punishment God told him\nthat though he should see the Promised Land from afar he would never\nenter it himself.\n\nThere on the mountain top he stood, gazing into the far distance,\nwhere the Land of Canaan, that fair land flowing with milk and honey,\nlay stretched out before him. Then he bowed his head to God's will.\nThe murmuring people never saw their great leader again. He \"was not,\nfor God took him.\"\n\n\n\n\nRUTH, THE GLEANER\n\n\nAlong the hot, dusty road that led from the country of Moab to the\nfair land of Judah three women were walking with bowed heads and\nweary, halting steps. Their sorrowful, heavy eyes took no pleasure in\nthe summer beauty of the harvest fields, the shimmering silver of the\nolive trees, and the rich promise of the vineyards which bordered\ntheir way. The whole world looked sad to them, seen through a mist of\ntears.\n\nThere behind them, in the land of Moab, each of these women had left\ngreen graves, which held all they loved best. Naomi, the eldest, was\nperhaps the most desolate. Her thoughts went back to the time when she\nwas as young and fair as the two daughters-in-law who walked at her\nside--when with her husband and her two boys she had trod that very\nroad, seeking a home in a strange country to escape the famine which\nthreatened them in her own land. Now she was returning to her native\ntown of Bethlehem, a childless, lonely widow.\n\nThe younger women, who were the wives of those two dead sons, were\nvery sorrowful too, but for them there might yet be happiness in the\nworld. They still had near and dear relatives and many friends in\nMoab, which was their native land. They had come far enough now, and\nit was time for them to return.\n\n\"Turn again, my daughters,\" said Naomi, \"and go your way.\"\n\nTheir homes lay behind, and she must journey on alone to the little\nhill town which she had not seen for so many long years. They had\nkindly come so far to see her on her way, but they must come no\nfarther.\n\nSo the little party halted, and one of the young women, weeping\nbitterly, kissed her mother-in-law and turned to go back. But the\nother one, whose name was Ruth, clung to Naomi, and would not leave\nher.\n\nIn vain the elder woman urged her to return, and pointed out that\nOrpah had gone, that home and friends and happiness awaited her there,\nwhile in front was only poverty and loneliness. Ruth only clung the\ncloser as she sobbed out her tender, loving words.\n\n\"Entreat me not to leave thee,\" she said, \"or to return from following\nafter thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest,\nI will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. The\nLord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.\"\n\nThe tender words brought comfort to the heart of Naomi, as soft rain\nbrings refreshment to the hard, dry earth. After all, she was not\nquite alone; she still had some one to love and care for. So together\nthey journeyed on again, and at last came to the winding road which\nled up to the town of Bethlehem, nestling like a white bird upon the\nlong ridge of hills.\n\nNaomi knew every step of the way. It seemed almost like a dream to\ntread on more that winding road, to pass through the city gates and\nfind her way to the little house she knew so well. Although she had\nbeen gone so many years there were still people who remembered her,\nand these came running out to greet her.\n\n\"Is this Naomi?\" they asked wonderingly.\n\nThey could scarcely believe that this sad, broken-down woman could be\nthe pleasant-faced, happy girl who had gone away with her husband and\nboys in the year of the great famine. But as they listened to her\nstory they did not wonder that she seemed so old and talked so\nbitterly. It made them look very kindly upon the beautiful girl who\nkept so close to her mother-in-law, who had given up everything rather\nthan leave her alone.\n\n[Illustration: He spoke very kindly.]\n\nNaomi had been quite right when she had told Ruth that poverty lay\nbefore them. She had come back quite empty-handed, and it was\nnecessary to find some work at once which would at least provide them\nwith daily bread. Ruth, looking out over the fields where already the\nbarley was being cut, made up her mind to go and work there. The poor\nwere always allowed to follow the reapers and glean the stray ears of\ncorn that fell unnoticed. She might at least gather enough to feed her\nmother-in-law and herself.\n\nVery happily, then, Ruth set out, and found her way into the harvest\nfield, which belonged to a rich man called Boaz. The reapers treated\nher kindly when she timidly asked for permission to glean there, and\nwhen the master arrived to see how the harvest went, he too noticed\nher at once, for she was very beautiful.\n\n\"Whose damsel is this?\" he asked.\n\nThere were many people ready to tell him her name, and also to tell\nhim how she had left her land and her people to come with Naomi, her\nmother-in-law. The story had been repeated all through the town.\n\nBoaz listened with interest. Naomi was his kins-woman, and it was only\nright that he should help her. He would begin by helping the\nsweet-faced daughter-in-law who had chanced to come gleaning upon his\nland. So he went and spoke very kindly to the beautiful Ruth, and told\nher to come every day to his harvest field and share the reapers'\nfood, and he would see that no one troubled her. He even told the\nreapers to let some handfuls of corn fall in her way, on purpose, so\nthat there might be plenty for her to glean.\n\n[Illustration: The two loving hearts rejoiced in their happiness.]\n\nSo each day Ruth went back and worked in the harvest fields, and each\nday as Boaz watched her he grew to love the gentle, loving-hearted\nwoman more and more. And when at last the harvest days were over, he\nwent to Naomi and asked that Ruth might become his wife.\n\nThere was no more poverty or hard work now for Ruth or Naomi, no\nanxious days of wondering how long their flour and oil would last.\nBoaz was very rich, and nothing was too good for his fair young wife,\nwhom he had first seen humbly gleaning in his harvest field.\n\nHappiness, too, began to steal back into the life of Naomi. Winter and\nspring passed, and when harvest time came round once more, all the\nsorrow and bitterness faded from her heart, for God sent a little\nchild to comfort her. A baby son was born to Ruth, and the whole world\nseemed full of sunshine and happiness as she laid him in his\ngrandmother's arms, and the two loving hearts rejoiced in their\nhappiness, just as they had clung together in their sorrow.\n\nOf course, they dreamed many happy dreams over the little downy head,\nand planned a splendid future for the baby, as all mothers and\ngrandmothers will do. But even their dreams never touched the golden\nreality, for they did not know that he was to be the grandfather of\nKing David, that in this same little town of Bethlehem there was to be\nborn of his line a greater King yet, the King of Heaven.\n\n\n\n\nSAMUEL, THE LITTLE SERVER\n\n\nIt was some years after Ruth's son had been born in Bethlehem that\nanother mother was made glad by the precious gift of a little son.\nThis mother's name was Hannah, and her baby was a special joy to her\nbecause she had so longed to have a son and had prayed so earnestly to\nGod for this great gift.\n\nThere was no doubt about the baby's name. He was called \"Samuel,\"\nwhich means \"God has heard.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"Samuel answered, Speak; for Thy servant heareth.\"\n1 Sam. iii. 10.]\n\nFor had not God listened to his mother's prayers and given her her\nheart's desire?\n\n[Illustration: The time came that she should take him to Eli.]\n\nHannah held her baby close in her arms. He was her very own, and yet\nhe belonged also to God. She had promised, if her prayer was heard,\nthat she would lend him to God, to serve Him in His Holy Temple.\n\nOnly for a little while could she keep the baby all to herself. The\nmonths passed and then the years, and Samuel grew old enough to run\nabout and take care of himself, needing no longer to be carried in his\nmother's arms. Then the time came that she should take him to Eli, the\npriest of God, and leave him to be brought up in the Temple and taught\nto be a servant of God.\n\nPerhaps at first Samuel cried for his mother, for he was only a very\nlittle boy, and must have felt strange and lonely without her; but he\nvery soon grew happy again, and learnt to love the old priest and the\nnew life. It was his mother who suffered most. She missed him so\nsorely, and mothers do not forget as quickly as children do. But\nalthough she had lent him to God, he was still hers too; and every\nyear she went back to see him, and through the long months in between,\nher fingers were busy making him a little coat of a beautiful blue\nstuff, sewed with a border of exquisite embroidery, blue and purple\nand scarlet, that was like a wreath of pomegranates. Just as certain\nas his birthday came round his mother came and brought with her his\nlittle coat, and as he grew bigger every year the coat was bigger too.\n\nNow, as soon as Samuel was old enough he went with Eli, the old\npriest, into God's house to learn how to help in God's service. Just\nas we sometimes see now a very little boy helping the priest at God's\naltar, so Samuel was like a little server as he helped Eli, and he too\nwore a linen surplice, or ephod as it was called.\n\nAlthough he was such a little boy, Samuel already showed that he was\nstraightforward, brave, and obedient, a boy who could be trusted. He\ndid his work faithfully, and when Eli began to grow feeble and his\nsight became dim, the little server was ready with his clear sight and\neager footsteps to be both eyes and feet to the old priest.\n\nBut besides growing old and feeble, Eli was also growing more and more\nunhappy day by day. His two sons were wicked and disobedient, and,\nwhat was worse, they were teaching God's people to be wicked too. Eli\nwould not punish them as they deserved, so at last the time came when\nGod took the punishment into His own hands. Only He would warn Eli\nbefore-hand, for the old priest was His servant.\n\nSo one night God's message came, spoken by God's own voice--spoken not\nto the great priest, but to the humble little server.\n\nIt was evening time. All the work of the day was over, and Eli had\ngone to rest. The lamp in the temple was burning dimly, sometimes\nflickering as if it would go out altogether, and leave the holy place\nin darkness. Samuel, tired with his day's service, was fast asleep,\nwhen suddenly he woke up, startled and attentive. Some one had called\nhis name: \"Samuel, Samuel.\"\n\n\"Here am I,\" answered the boy at once. Perhaps the old priest was ill,\nand wanted him. Hastily Samuel slipped out of bed, and ran to Eli. But\nthe old man was lying there quite calmly, and when Samuel asked why he\nhad called, he answered quietly, \"I called not; lie down again.\"\n\nIt was very strange; but perhaps he had been dreaming, so Samuel went\nback and crept into bed, and very soon was once more fast asleep. Then\nagain the voice came: \"Samuel.\" This time Samuel was sure it was no\ndream, and he ran to Eli and cried to him, \"Here am I, for thou didst\ncall me.\"\n\n\"I called not, my son,\" said Eli. \"Lie down again.\"\n\nBut when it happened a third time, and the little white figure stood\nby the priest's bed, declaring positively, \"Thou didst call me,\" Eli\nsuddenly realized that perhaps it was God whose voice the boy had\nheard.\n\n\"Go, lie down,\" he said gently to the bewildered child, \"and it shall\nbe if He call thee that thou shalt say, 'Speak, Lord, for Thy servant\nheareth.'\"\n\nOne great lesson Samuel had learnt, and that was to do exactly what he\nwas told, never questioning. So now he went back to bed without\nanother word.\n\nDid Eli mean that it was the Lord who had called him? The great God\nwho was so wonderful, whose Ark was in the Holy Place behind the veil\nof blue and purple and scarlet, guarded by cherubim? He had only\nseemed like a far-off name to Samuel. Could it really be God's own\nvoice that had called Samuel? If that was so, then the great unknown\nGod must all the time have known the little servant in His house.\n\nThen again the voice sounded: \"Samuel, Samuel.\"\n\nThis time Samuel was listening with all his might, and obediently his\nanswer rang out fearlessly and clearly--\n\n\"Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"I called not, my son.\"]\n\nGod knew that His little servant was fit to be trusted with a message,\nalthough it was a terrible one; and He told Samuel that a dreadful\npunishment was to fall upon the old priest Eli and his wicked sons,\nand so awful would it be that even the ears of the people who heard\nabout it should tingle.\n\nThere was no more sleep for Samuel that night. God's voice rang in his\nears; his heart was filled with the thought that Eli would ask him\nwhat God had said, and he would have to tell him that dreadful\nmessage.\n\nAt last the morning light began to steal in, and it was time to open\nthe doors of God's house. The little server in his linen ephod was at\nhis post as usual, but to-day his shining morning face was clouded and\ntroubled, and there must have been a look of awe in his clear eyes.\n\nThe call he dreaded came all too soon, and for the first time the\nsound of Eli's voice was unwelcome in his ears.\n\n\"Samuel, my son,\" called the old man.\n\nImmediately Samuel went and stood at his side, \"Here am I,\" he said.\n\n\"What is it that the Lord hath said unto thee?\" asked Eli. His eyes\nwere very dim, but he felt sure that the boy had a troubled and\nfearful look. \"I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and\nmore also, if thou hide anything from me of all the things that He\nsaid unto thee.\"\n\nThe very worst must be told, and Samuel knew he must hide nothing now.\nHe repeated God's message word for word, and Eli bowed his head as he\nlistened. The poor old priest had been a weak father, but he was a\nfaithful servant, and knew that God was just.\n\n\"It is the Lord,\" he said: \"let Him do what seemeth Him good.\"\n\nFrom that day all things were different to Samuel, and year by year as\nhe grew older he learned more and more to love and serve the God who\nhad spoken to him and trusted him. So also as the years went by the\npeople who worshipped at the Temple began to know that the little\nchild who had been such a faithful server was chosen for a post of\ngreat honour--that he had been called, indeed, to be a prophet of the\nLord.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nBOOKS IN THIS SERIES\n\n\nJOSEPH THE DREAMER\n\nTHE BABE IN THE BULRUSHES\n\nDAVID THE SHEPHERD BOY\n\nTHE CHILD JESUS\n\nTHE GOOD PHYSICIAN\n\nTHE GOOD SHEPHERD\n\n       *       *       *       *       *","title":"The Babe in the Bulrushes","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":4450}