{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_63047/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_63047","id":"gutenberg_63047","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63047","summary":null,"tags":["Bible stories, English -- Juvenile literature","Bible stories, English -- Old Testament -- Juvenile literature","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"STORIES OF THE BIBLE\n\n            THE PEOPLE\n\n              OF THE\n\n            CHOSEN LAND\n\n                BY\n\n           MYLES ENDICOTT\n\n    ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DOR\u0102\u2030 AND OTHER EMINENT ARTISTS\n\n            VOLUME I.\n\n    EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY\n\n    BOSTON NEW YORK  CHICAGO  SAN FRANCISCO\n\n\n\n\n            COPYRIGHTED\n\n    By EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY\n\n               1897\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: CREATION OF LIGHT]\n\n[Illustration: CREATION OF THE SUN AND MOON.]\n\n\n\n\n       STORIES OF THE BIBLE.\n\n          THE CREATION.\n\n\nMany, many years ago there was no earth. There were no plants, nor\nanimals; no sun; no moon; neither were there any people.\n\nAll was darkness.\n\nThen God looked into the darkness and said, \"Let there be light.\" And\nlight came. And out of the new light God created the blue sky, the deep\nsea, the beautiful grass-covered earth, the plants, the trees, and the\nmany-colored flowers.\n\n[Illustration: THE CREATION OF ANIMALS. (_Raphael._)]\n\nAnd in the blue sky he placed the golden sun, the silver moon, and the\nstars that shine like jewels in the sky.\n\nThen, in the water he placed the fishes; on the earth, the animals; and\nin the tree tops the birds sang their praises.\n\n\"This shall be for a home for man,\" the Creator said; and so, one\nmorning, there woke to life in the Garden of Eden a man and\nwoman--beautiful and good and pure.\n\nTo the animals God had given strength and speed, and fur for protection\nfrom the wind and rain. To the birds he had given plumage, brilliant and\nwarm. To the fishes, fins and scales.\n\nThen man came; and to him was given intelligence, and reason, and power\nto grow in wisdom; for by these was he to protect himself from the\nelements and gain dominion over all the earth,--the fishes, the birds,\nand the animals thereof.\n\nThen God blessed everything he had made; for he loved what he had made,\nand surrounded it with all that was beautiful and good.\n\n\"Of every tree in the garden ye may eat,\" He had said to Adam and Eve,\n\"except the tree of Knowledge-of-Good-and-of-Evil. Of that eat not lest\nye die.\"\n\n\nTHE CREATION.\n\n\n    The spacious firmament on high,\n    With all the blue ethereal sky,\n    And spangled Heavens, a shining frame,\n    Their great Original proclaim.\n    The unwearied sun, from day to day,\n    Does his Creator's power display,\n    And publishes to every land\n    The work of an almighty hand.\n\n    Soon as the evening shades prevail,\n    The moon takes up the wondrous tale,\n    And nightly to the listening earth\n    Repeats the story of her birth;\n    Whist all the stars around her burn,\n    And all the planets, in their turn,\n    Confirm the tidings as they roll,\n    And spread the truth from pole to pole.\n\n    What though in solemn silence all\n    Move round this dark terrestrial ball!\n    What though no real voice or sound\n    Amidst their radiant orbs be found!--\n    In reason's ear they all rejoice,\n    And utter forth a glorious voice;\n    Forever singing as they shine,\n    \"The hand that made us is Divine.\"\n\n    --_Joseph Addison._\n\n\n[Illustration: CREATION OF TERRA FIRMA. (_Raphael._)]\n\n\n\n\nTHE GARDEN OF EDEN.\n\n\nWhen Adam and Eve looked out upon the world round about them; when they\nsaw the flowers and the grasses; when they heard the splashing of the\nsun-lit waters, and the rustling of the soft branches,--then their\nhearts were filled with love for each other, for their home, and for the\nFather who had made all this joy for them.\n\nFor a long time they wandered up and down the Garden of Eden, singing\nsongs, and ready always to hear the voice of God when he spoke to them\nin the soft winds that played among the tree tops.\n\nNow, there was a wicked angel, named Satan. He had been cast out from\nheaven, down, down from the blue sky. And in his own unhappy home he\ndwelt now, alone, wretched and revengeful. And when he saw this happy\nman and woman, so good and pure, their hearts bounding with love to God\nand joy in right doing, his cruel face grew black.\n\n\"Such happiness shall not last,\" he said. So he crept into the Garden,\ntook on the form of a serpent and spoke to Eve.\n\n\"Eat of the fruit of this tree,\" he said, \"and give it to Adam that he\nmay eat too.\"\n\n\"But we are forbidden,\" Eve said.\n\n\"The fruit is like no other. Eat! Ye shall not die,\" the serpent\nanswered.\n\n[Illustration: THE EXPULSION OF ADAM AND EVE FROM THE GARDEN OF EDEN.\n(_Dore._)]\n\nThen Eve gathered the fruit and ate of it. It was sweet, even as the\nserpent had said. Then she gathered more, and Adam, too, ate of it.\n\nThen darkness fell upon the earth. A great wind arose, the thunder\nrolled, and God drove Adam and Eve out from the Garden of Eden; and at\nthe entrance He placed cherubims and a flaming sword for no one who had\nsinned could dwell in a land so beautiful and free from sorrow.\n\nBut God pitied these children of his; and, although they had sinned\nagainst him, he saw that, after long years of suffering, One should be\nborn, who would bring back to earth the joy and peace and happiness that\nhad once been theirs, and which would have been to all their children in\nall the time to come, had not these parents sinned.\n\nAnd so Adam and Eve went out into the world to work and struggle and\nbuild homes for themselves.\n\n[Illustration: ADAM AND EVE. (_Raphael._)]\n\nBy and by two baby boys were born to them,--Cain and Abel. Pure and kind\nand good these children should have been. But now they were born into a\nworld of sin, and of the nature of sin they too partook.\n\nWhen these children were grown men, Cain hated his brother. He grew\nsullen and revengeful towards him. The serpent that had tempted Adam and\nEve now tempted him. He listened; and one day, when they were at work\ntogether in the field, Cain slew Abel and hid him in the earth.\n\nThen a great storm gathered across the sky; and a voice said, \"Cain,\nwhere is thy brother?\"\n\nCain trembled with fear; for he knew it was the voice of God. But he\nraised his wicked face towards the heavens and cried, \"Why should I\nknow? Am I my brother's keeper?\"\n\nAnd the voice said, \"Thou art thy brother's keeper.\"\n\nThen God put a brand upon the brow of Cain, and drove him forth into the\nwilderness, to be a fugitive and a vagabond.\n\n[Illustration: STATUE OF CAIN. (_Giovanni Dupre._)]\n\n\n\n\nTHE CURSE OF CAIN.\n\n\n    O, the wrath of the Lord is a terrible thing!--\n    Like the tempest that withers the blossoms of spring,\n    Like the thunder that bursts on the summer's domain,\n    It fell on the head of the homicide Cain.\n\n    And, lo! like a deer in the fright of the chase,\n    With a fire in his heart, and a brand on his face,\n    He speeds him afar to the desert of Nod,--\n    A vagabond, smote by the vengeance of God!\n\n    All nature, to him, has been blasted and banned,\n    And the blood of a brother yet reeks on his hand;\n    And no vintage has grown, and no fountain has sprung,\n    For cheering his heart, or for cooling his tongue.\n\n    The groans of a father his slumber shall start,\n    And the tears of a mother shall pierce to his heart,\n    And the kiss of his children shall scorch him like flame,\n    When he thinks of the curse that hangs over his name.\n\n    --_Knox._\n\n[Illustration: THE DOVE SENT FORTH FROM THE ARK.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE FLOOD.\n\n\n    Earth shall be ocean! and no breath,\n    Save of the winds be on the unbounded wave!\n    Angels shall tire their wings, but find no spot:\n    Not even a rock from out the liquid grave\n        Shall lift its point to save,\n    Or show the place where strong despair hath died,\n    After long looking o'er the ocean wide\n    For the expected ebb which cometh not;\n        All shall be void, destroyed.\n\n    --_Byron._\n\nIt was many, many years after Adam and Eve were driven out from the\nGarden of Eden that the flood came.\n\nThere were thousands of people in the world now, and they were scattered\nhere and there through the fertile valleys and along the rivers of the\ncountry far and wide.\n\nThere were rich farms everywhere, and shepherds watched their flocks on\nthe hillsides. There were towns and cities; many of them where people\ndwelt together and made their laws and appointed their law-givers.\n\nBut in all these years the people had been growing more and more away\nfrom the simple, honest life that God had first shown Adam and Eve.\n\nThey had grown selfish and greedy; they were cruel to each other; they\ncared nothing for the rights and comforts of the community; and more\nthan all this, they had forsaken the simple faith of their fathers and\nbecome worshippers of idols.\n\nThere was one good man dwelling among these people, many, many years\nbefore, whose name was Enoch. Now, it was not the will of God that Enoch\nshould suffer for the sins of the people; and so, when the flood was\nabout to come upon the earth to destroy them, God came and stood by\nEnoch and said, \"Come with me.\"\n\nNow there was another good man upon the earth, a great grandson of\nEnoch's, and a man who had never forgotten God, and who had reared his\nchildren always in the simple faith which had been his own.\n\nAlthough God meant to send a flood that should destroy the cities, and\nseparate the people so that the wickedness of the earth might be\ndestroyed, still it was not his wish that the race should perish wholly.\nAnd so again God went down to the earth, and said to this good man,\nNoah, \"Build thou an ark, and into it bring all thy family, and also two\nof every kind of bird and beast and animal. For a great flood shall come\nupon the earth, and those in the ark only shall be saved.\"\n\nNoah was a simple hearted man. It was a strange thing for him to be told\nto build an ark and place within its shelter his family and two of\nevery living thing upon the face of the earth.\n\n[Illustration: NOAH BUILDING THE ARK. (_Raphael._)]\n\nHe told the people what God had said to him; and he urged them to do\nlikewise. But the people only laughed at him, and called him a fool.\n\nBut Noah doubted not the word of God and set to work at once,--his three\nsons, Ham, Shem, and Japheth helping him to build an ark, and to gather\ntogether the birds and beasts and animals of the earth.\n\nEvery morning the four men set out as soon as the sun had risen, and\nkept at their work until darkness fell at night.\n\nAt last the ark was finished, and Noah, with his wife, his three sons\nand their wives, journeyed to the mountain side. The people in the\nvalley laughed at them and threw stones at them, but the trustful little\nband kept on their way and entered the ark, taking with them, as they\nhad been told, two of every kind of bird and beast.\n\nThen the clouds began to gather in the south,--great black rolls of\ncloud. The wind rose, the clouds scattered over the whole sky; and so\nblack and thick were they that the light of the sun was shut out. It was\nlike night.\n\n[Illustration: THE DELUGE.]\n\nThen the rain fell. In great sheets, like rivers, it poured upon the\nvalleys. The thunders rolled, the lightnings flashed, the rivers\noverflowed their banks. The winds howled, and great trees were torn up\nby the roots.\n\nFor forty days this storm continued--forty days and forty nights. Every\nliving thing left upon the face of the earth was drowned. But the ark,\nwith its inmates, was borne up by the waters in safety. At last, one\nmorning when Noah and his people awoke, they could see that the storm\nhad ceased; the clouds were separating, and the sun was sending its rays\ndown through the mist upon the flooded earth below.\n\nThen came the beautiful rainbow, spanning the heavens\nin the west, and reflecting its wonderful colors in the great sea below.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nTHE RAINBOW.\n\n\n    Triumphal arch, that fill'st the sky\n      When storms prepare to part,\n    I ask not proud philosophy\n      To teach me what thou art.\n\n    Still seem as to my childhood's sight,\n      A midway station given,\n    For happy spirits to alight\n      Betwixt the earth and heaven.\n\n    How glorious is thy girdle cast\n      O'er mountain, tower, and town,\n    Or mirror'd in the ocean vast,\n      A thousand fathoms down.\n\n    As fresh in yon horizon dark,\n      As young thy beauties seem,\n    As when the eagle from the ark\n      First sported in thy beam.\n\n    For faithful to its sacred page,\n      Heaven still rebuilds thy span,\n    Nor lets the type grow pale with age,\n      That first spoke peace to man.\n\n    --_T. Campbell._\n\nNever was rainbow so beautiful! Then the voice of God spoke from out the\nskies to Noah, \"This shall be to you a bow of promise. Never again shall\nthe earth and the people be destroyed by water.\"\n\n[Illustration: NOAH AND THE DOVE (_Schopin._)]\n\nBut nowhere, as far as eye could reach, was there any sign of land;\nthere was only the peak of Ararat with the ark upon it, standing out\nabove the water.\n\nNoah sent out first a raven, and it returned not. Then he sent out from\nthe ark a dove; and the dove came back after a long, long flight across\nthe waters and fell fluttering at Noah's feet.\n\nSeven days went by. Then again Noah sent out a dove; and this time it\nreturned with an olive leaf. Noah knew now that the flood was subsiding,\nand that he might lift the cover of the ark and step out upon the\nmountain top.\n\nThen Noah and his family went forth, together with all the creatures\nthat had gone into the Ark with them.\n\nAnd so thankful was Noah that he built a great altar, and he and his\nfamily offered sacrifices to God in gratitude for his loving care of\nthem.\n\n[Illustration: COMING FORTH FROM THE ARK. (_Raphael._)]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE TOWER OF BABEL.\n\n\nChildren were born to Ham, Shem, and Japheth; and when these children\nbecame men and women, children were born to them, until, after many,\nmany years, the valley was again filled with people,--all descendants\nfrom Noah and his three sons.\n\nNow, there came a time, long after Noah had died, and so could guide his\npeople no longer into the paths of right, that the people again grew\nwicked and selfish to one another.\n\nThey boasted of their power, and said among themselves, \"We will build a\ntower that shall reach into heaven itself. Then who in heaven or earth\nshall be greater than we?\"\n\n[Illustration: CONFUSION OF TONGUES.]\n\nNow, God was angry that these people should have forgotten the God of\ntheir fathers, and that the trustful, humble soul of Noah should so have\ndeparted from them.\n\nSo, while all the people were at work upon the tower, now risen above\nthe trees and hill-tops, God touched them; and behold, from that instant\neach spoke a language of his own; nor could one of them understand any\nother.\n\nConfusion followed, the building of the tower was forsaken, the people\nscattered up and down the valley; and so the tower of Babel was left to\ncrumble into ruins.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nABRAHAM.\n\n\nIn the pleasant valley of Mesopotamia there lived a good man, whom the\npeople loved, and who was called Abram.\n\nNow, the people of this valley were idolaters, and though Abram often\npleaded with them to return to the faith in one God, they would not\nlisten to him. \"Go thou your way, and we will go ours,\" they would say.\n\nBut God would not permit it to be that Abram's life should be spent upon\na people who cared not for the good spirit that Abram shed everywhere\nabout him. So He called to him and said, \"Leave this valley. Go thou\nwith thy people to the land of Canaan. There a son shall be born to\nyou, and your descendants shall govern the land of Canaan.\"\n\nAbram, simple hearted and trustful like Noah, gathered his possessions\ntogether, and with his wife, Sarah, and his nephew, Lot, set forth\nacross the country towards the land of Canaan.\n\nNow, Abram was a man of great wealth. He had silver and gold, and\ncamels, and sheep and cattle, and armies of servants.\n\nLot too had great wealth; and when the two families came into Canaan,\nLot declared there was not land enough for them all. So Lot went on\ntowards Jordan, where there were fertile valleys and broad rivers.\n\n\"Here,\" said Lot, \"shall I find pasturage for my flocks and food for my\nservants.\"\n\n\"But God bade us dwell here,\" said Abram; and he was grieved that so\ngreat greed should have fallen upon Lot.\n\nLot went to live in the city of Sodom, a city so wicked that God finally\nvisited it with fire and destroyed it.\n\nLot was not happy in Sodom. The people were idolaters, and laughed\nbitterly at Lot for his religion. For, though Lot had disobeyed God, he\nstill kept the worship of Abram.\n\nBy and by a great king besieged the city of Sodom, and stole away its\nriches. Lot himself was made prisoner, and his wealth was divided among\nthe soldiers of the conquering king.\n\nAbram, living happily in the land of Canaan, heard of the downfall of\nSodom, and of Lot's imprisonment. So he gathered together his own great\narmy and marched against the king. He recaptured the wealth of Sodom,\nreturning it to its rightful owners, and freed all the people from\nprison.\n\n\"Wilt thou come now to dwell in Canaan?\" Abram asked of Lot. But Lot was\nstubborn and would not.\n\nThen Melchizedek, the ruler of Salem, came out to meet Abram, bringing\nbread and wine. For Melchizedek was a priest as well as a ruler; and, as\nhe poured the wine, he said, \"Blessed be Abram of the most high God,\npossessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be the most high God, who\nhath delivered thine enemies into thy hands.\"\n\nThen Abram gave to Melchizedek one tenth of all his wealth, in token of\nhis love for him; and after that he rode back into his own Land of\nCanaan.\n\n[Illustration: ABRAHAM AND THE THREE ANGELS.]\n\n\n\n\nABRAHAM'S VISIONS.\n\n\n    Angels of life and death are His;\n      Without his leave they pass no threshold o'er;\n    Who, then, would wish or dare, believing this,\n      Against his messengers to shut the door.\n\n    --_Longfellow._\n\n\nOne night Abram went out beneath the sky and looked up at the stars.\nThen God's voice spoke and said, \"Thy descendants shall be in number\nlike the stars.\"\n\nNow, Abram had no children, and had his faith been less firm he might\nhave doubted the words he heard. But he had never forgotten the promise\nthat in the Land of Canaan a child should be born to him, and that from\nhim should descend a nation.\n\nAnd that same night God spoke again to Abram in a vision. He showed him\nan altar with a burning lamp. And he said to Abram, \"For four hundred\nyears your descendants shall journey in a strange land and suffer\naffliction; but, at the end of that time, they shall again come into\nCanaan and possess the land.\"\n\nThen the Lord changed the name of Abram to Abraham, which means Father\nof a People. And his wife's name he changed to Sarah, which means a\nPrincess. And again God said unto Abraham and Sarah, \"A child shall be\nborn to you; and he shall be great among the nations of the earth.\"\n\nA third time God came to Abraham; and he told him that the destruction\nof Sodom was near at hand, because of its wickedness.\n\nThen Abraham thought of Lot, and prayed to God to save the city for\nLot's sake.\n\nAnd God answered, \"If ten righteous people only be found in the city, I\nwill not destroy it for Lot's sake.\"\n\nBut ten righteous people were not to be found in the city, and so the\nangels of destruction were sent down upon it.\n\nLot sat in the gateway of the city and looked out upon the country. And\nwhen he saw the angels of destruction, he rose and led them to his house\nand gave them food.\n\nThen the angels said, \"Whatsoever thou hast in this city bring out; for\nwe are come to destroy this place.\"\n\nThen Lot went and told his people; but none of them would listen to him.\nIn the morning the angels came and woke Lot and his wife and said to\nthem, \"Arise, and hasten from the city. Escape for thy life, and look\nnot behind thee.\"\n\nSo Lot and his wife and their two daughters fled from the city; and the\nshower of fire came down to purify it. But when they were far out on\nthe plain, Lot's wife, still loving her old home, turned back to look\nupon it. Too late the angels' words came back to her, \"Look not behind\nthee.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE FLIGHT OF LOT.]\n\nHer feet were rooted to the spot; her voice refused to come; sight left\nher; sound was shut out; and in one instant she was changed to a pillar\nof salt.\n\nThen Lot and his two daughters hurried on. They reached a great cave,\nand ran and hid themselves in it. The city was now a blackened ruin.\nLot's wealth was destroyed. He had no silver, no gold, no cattle, no\nhome--only the cave, and grateful was he that he had even that.\n\n[Illustration: DEPARTURE OF HAGAR AND ISHMAEL.]\n\n\n\n\nHAGAR.\n\n\n    Who can speak a mother's anguish,\n      Painted in that tearless eye,\n    Which beholds her darling languish,\n      Languish, unrelieved, to die!\n\n\nIt was not very long after the destruction of Sodom that there was born\ninto the home of Abraham and Sarah a beautiful little baby boy--even as\nGod had promised.\n\nThere was great rejoicing among the people of Abraham's household.\nFeasts were held, sacrifices were offered up, and Abraham gave the child\nthe name of Isaac.\n\nOne of Sarah's maids, whose name was Hagar, had a son, too, called\nIshmael. One day this boy mocked at Isaac, and Sarah said he and his\nmother must be sent away.\n\nSo Abraham called Hagar and told her she must go, and he gave her some\nbread and a bottle of water, and sent her forth into the wilderness.\n\n[Illustration: HAGAR AND ISHMAEL IN THE DESERT.]\n\nPoor Hagar and her child sorrowfully set forth in the burning heat; but\nwhen all their water was gone, her little one began to droop; he grew\nweaker and weaker, and she thought he would die. She laid him in the\nshade and went away to weep. The mother could not bear to see her poor\nboy die.\n\n    She looked above--the heavens shone still\n      Unclouded, bright and clear;\n    She listened but not fount nor rill\n      Poured music on her ear.\n    Thence once again her child she eyed--\n      His cheek wore death's pale hue;\n    \"Alas! and is it thus,\" she cried;\n      \"Doth God forsake me too,\n    And with my earthly foes combine\n    To work such ill for me and mine?\"\n\nThe Angel of God heard her and told her not to fear, but to take up\nIshmael and hold him in her arms. Then she saw, all at once, a well near\nher; she gave the child a drink, and soon he grew strong and well.\n\n[Illustration: THE TRIAL OF ABRAHAM'S FAITH.]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nISAAC.\n\n\nIsaac grew up a fine, healthy, noble boy loved by all his father's\npeople; and to his, father and mother, now old people, he was their joy\nand life. Never a day passed that Abraham and Sarah did not offer thanks\nto God for their beautiful child. Most carefully they taught him the\nreligion of his people, and bade him follow it all the days of his life.\n\n\"When God speaks, obey, O my son!\" the old father would say. And one day\nthere came to Abraham, and Isaac too, a trial of their faith.\n\nA vision came again to Abraham. And in the vision the Lord spoke,\nsaying, \"Arise, Abraham, and go and prepare an altar upon the mountain.\nAnd when the altar is ready, place thy son Isaac upon the altar; for I\nwould that he be sacrificed--a burnt offering--to me.\"\n\nPoor old Abraham! There was nothing in all the world so dear to him as\nthis child, Isaac; but although his heart was sore and heavy, the old\nman rose and did as he was bid. And when the altar was ready, he called\nIsaac and told him what the vision had said.\n\nFor a minute the brave boy's cheek grew pale; his heart beat fast. Then\nhe permitted his father to bind him hand and foot and lay him upon the\naltar. Abraham lifted the knife to slay the boy; when, lo! his hand was\nheld, and a voice said, \"Harm not the lad; for now I do know that thou\nlovest God more than all else beside.\"\n\nWith trembling hands Abraham unbound the cords that held Isaac, and the\nboy leaped down from the altar. Then, with tears of gratitude, they\nknelt and thanked God for his mercy. Then the voice spake again:\n\"Because you have done this thing I will bless thee; and all nations\nshall be blessed through thy children.\"\n\nOne day Abraham's wife, Sarah, lay down and died, and Abraham bought the\nfield of Machpelah and made for her a burial place.\n\n\"Now,\" said Abraham to Isaac, \"it is right that you should find a wife\nand bring her to dwell in our tent. But take not a wife from the people\nof Canaan, for they are idolaters. Go rather to Mesopotamia, and there\ntake the wife that God may allot thee.\"\n\nSo a trusty old servant was sent into Mesopotamia to find a wife for\nIsaac,--a woman who should be beautiful and good, and whose faith was\nlike that of Abraham.\n\n[Illustration: REBEKAH AT THE WELL. (_Goodall._)]\n\n\n\n\nREBEKAH.\n\n\n    His house she enters, there to be a light,\n    Shining within, when all without is right.\n\n\nIt was just upon the edge of the village, and just as the sun was\nsinking, that the servant came to the well from which the village folk\ndrew water. And there, with a pitcher in her hand, stood a maiden, as\nbeautiful as ever maiden could be.\n\n\"Whose daughter art thou?\" the servant asked.\n\nAnd the maiden answered, \"I am Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, of the\nhouse of Abraham.\"\n\nThen the servant was glad; for he knew now that the maiden was as good,\nand her religion as pure, as she was beautiful. So he went to the home\nof Bethuel, and told his errand into Mesopotamia. He told Bethuel of the\ngodly life Abraham had led, and of the noble youth, Isaac. And he asked\nthat he might choose Rebekah for Isaac's wife and carry her back with\nhim to Canaan.\n\nThe heart of Bethuel was glad; and Rebekah, too, was glad to go; for\nalready she loved the brave lad, Isaac, so proudly had the old servant\ntold the story of his brave deeds and godly life.\n\nSo Rebekah, arrayed in a fine raiment, was placed on a camel, and beside\nher walked her nurse and maids.\n\nThe old servant then hurried on, and reached the home of Isaac while yet\nthe maiden and her companions were not beyond the limits of their own\nland.\n\nHe told Isaac all that had happened, and how beautiful and good the\nmaiden was, and that she was of the noble house of Bethuel.\n\nThen Isaac loved the maiden; and, as she came near to Canaan, he hurried\nforth to meet her, and to bring her to his home and to his people. Old\nAbraham was glad when he saw the maiden, for he knew God's blessing\nwould rest upon the union.\n\nAbraham was now one hundred and seventy-five years of age; and when he\ncame to die, Rebekah and Isaac laid him beside Sarah in the field of\nMachpelar, and Isaac took his father's place in the household.\n\nIsaac and Rebekah lived to an old age. They were good people, and the\nLord blessed them; and when they came to die, their two sons, Esau and\nJacob, wept over them, and laid them, also, beside Abraham in the field\nof Machpelar.\n\n\n\n\nJACOB AND ESAU.\n\n\n    We barter life for pottage; sell true bliss\n      For wealth or power, for pleasure or renown;\n    Thus, Esau like, our Father's blessing miss,\n      Then wash with fruitless tears our faded crown.\n\n    --_Keble._\n\n\nEsau was the older son, and to him belonged the honors of the family. It\nwas his duty, too, to offer sacrifices and serve as the high priest in\nthe home; for such was the custom of the times.\n\nBut Esau cared little either for honor or religious services. And so,\none day when he came home from the hunt, hungry and thirsty, he sold his\nbirthright to his brother Jacob for a bowl of pottage that Jacob sat\neating before the door of his home.\n\nNow, Isaac loved this son better than he loved Jacob, and was grieved\nand disappointed that he should have sold his birthright so foolishly;\nfor now to Jacob rather than to Esau would fall the blessings of God.\n\nBut it could not now be helped, and Jacob took up the office of high\npriest in the house of Isaac.\n\nAs Isaac grew old, to him was given the gift of prophecy; and whomsoever\nhe blessed, honor and prosperity was sure to follow. When Rebekah knew\nthis, her heart was filled with but one desire,--that Isaac's blessing\nshould fall upon Jacob rather than upon Esau; for she knew how unworthy\nEsau was in spirit, and how little he would strive to honor God when the\nhousehold became his own.\n\nSo, one day when Esau was away upon the hunt, she called Jacob to her\nand bade him go kneel beside his old father and ask his blessing.\n\nBut Jacob said, \"Behold, Esau, my brother, is a hairy man and I a\nsmooth man. My father, perhaps, will feel me, and I shall seem to him as\na deceiver.\"\n\n[Illustration: ISAAC BLESSING JACOB.]\n\nRebekah said, \"Obey my voice, my son.\" And Jacob yielded.\n\nThen Rebekah took some clothes belonging to Esau and put them upon\nJacob; and she put the skin of the kids that he had brought her upon his\nhands and upon the smooth of his neck.\n\nThen Jacob knelt before his father, whose eyes were dimmed with old age,\nand said, \"Bless me, my father.\"\n\nAnd Isaac said, \"Who art thou, my son?\"\n\nAnd Jacob said, \"I am Esau, thy first born.\"\n\nThen Isaac said to Jacob, \"Come near, that I may feel whether thou be my\nvery son Esau or not.\"\n\nSo Jacob went near to his father, and the father felt of him; and he\nsaid, \"The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.\"\n\nThen Isaac, thinking it was Esau who knelt, blessed him as his\nfirst-born, and said, \"The Lord bless thee, and give thee plenty of corn\nand wine. Let the people serve thee; and be thou lord over all thy\nbrethren.\"\n\nAnd all this came to pass; for Jacob's children came into possession of\nthe rich land of Canaan.\n\nBy and by, Esau entered the tent and knelt beside his father. \"Thy\nblessing, O father Isaac,\" he said.\n\nThe old man stretched out his hands. \"Who art thou?\" he cried.\n\n\"I am Esau, your first-born. Know you not that I am Esau?\"\n\n\"Who was it then that came just now and received my blessing?\" Isaac\nasked.\n\nThen Esau knew that to him was lost the blessing as an eldest son.\n\nThe old man wailed. \"Alas! alas! my son,\" he said, \"much wealth can I\nyet bestow upon thee; still the greater honors are now with Jacob.\"\n\nNow Esau's heart was filled with rage. He would have slain his brother;\nbut Rebekah, knowing this, sent Jacob away.\n\nWhen night came on Jacob lay down upon the cold ground and placed a\nstone beneath his head. And as he slept God sent a beautiful vision to\nbless him.\n\nHe saw a ladder set upon the earth, whose top reached to Heaven. Holy\nangels were going up and down the ladder, and, above them all, stood\nGod.\n\n[Illustration: JACOB'S DREAM.]\n\nAnd a voice said, \"I am the God of Abraham and of Jacob. I will give the\nland where thou liest to be a possession to thy children. I am with thee\nand will keep thee in all thy places, and bring thee again into thy\nland.\"\n\nThen Jacob awoke. \"This is God's place,\" he said, \"and I knew it not.\nThis is the House of God and the Gate of Heaven.\"\n\nThen he took a stone and poured oil upon it and blessed it. \"This place\nshall be called Bethel,\" he said; \"Bethel, which means the House of God,\nfor here God appeared unto me.\"\n\nFrom Bethel Jacob went on to the land of his uncle Laban; and there he\ndwelt for many years, keeping the sheep.\n\nBut the time came when Laban looked with jealousy upon Jacob. The Lord\ncame again to Jacob and bade him take his wife, Rachael, and his\nchildren and go back to Canaan. Jacob obeyed, and, driving his great\nflocks before him, he set out again for his old home.\n\n[Illustration: JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL.]\n\nAs he neared the village of Seir, where Esau dwelt, he sent messengers\nahead to tell Esau that he was returning, and to beg him to forgive the\npast that they might meet each other in brotherly love.\n\nThe servants came back and told him that Esau was coming to meet him\nwith four hundred men. Then Jacob was in great fear, for he thought Esau\nmeant to kill him.\n\nHe prayed to God to keep him safe. At night an angel came and wrestled\nwith him till break of day, but could not overcome him. And when morn\ncame, the angel said, \"Let me go, for it is break of day.\" Jacob said,\n\"I will not let thee go till thou bless me.\" Then the angel blessed him,\nand he saw him no more. This was a sign from God to Jacob that, as he\nwas a match for an angel, he need not fear men.\n\nHe took some of his cattle and sent them as a gift to Esau. He set them\nin droves, so that when Esau met them, and asked whose they were, the\nmen should say, \"They are Jacob's. It is a gift he has sent to my lord\nEsau.\" Each man who drove the cattle was to answer in this way, so that\nEsau might feel that Jacob had come as a friend.\n\nAll at once Jacob looked up and saw Esau coming. Then he called his\neleven sons and Rachel and Leah to go with him and meet Esau.\n\nWhen he met Esau he bowed down to the ground seven times. Then Esau ran\nto him and put his arms round his neck and kissed him, and they both\nwept.\n\nEsau led Jacob to his home and there feasted him for seven days. And\nwhen he was rested Jacob set forth again, driving his herds before him,\nto make a home for his people in the land of Canaan; for he was an old\nman now, and wished only to rest in the land of his fathers, and to see\nhis twelve sons comfortably placed in homes of their own, with their\nwives, their children, and their flocks about them. JOSEPH.\n\n    \"Now let us thank the Eternal Power; convinced\n    That Heaven but tries our virtue by affliction,\n    That oft the cloud which wraps the present hour\n    Serves but to brighten all our future days.\"\n\n\nJacob had twelve sons; but the one dearest to the old father's heart was\nJoseph, a lad of only seventeen years when Jacob came back into the land\nof Canaan.\n\nThe older of these sons were selfish, cruel men; and more than that,\nthey had forsaken the God of Abraham, and were worshipping graven\nimages. Poor old Jacob's heart was heavy!\n\n\"Go now to Bethel,\" said a voice to him one night in a dream. \"Make an\naltar there to thy God.\"\n\nJacob obeyed; and when the altar was built, he called his sons together\nand told them the visions he had had. He told them the stronghold God\nhad always been to him in his life, and begged them to forsake their\nidols and turn again to the true God.\n\nThen Jacob went on to Hebron, where Abraham had lived, and where Isaac\nstill lived, an old, old man, nearly two hundred years old.\n\nIt was a joyous meeting--this meeting between Isaac and Jacob. Esau,\ntoo, came, and Isaac blessed them both and bade them love each other.\nIsaac died very soon after, and Jacob, an old man now himself, sat in\nthe door of the tent of his fathers.\n\nTo Joseph, Jacob had given a coat of many colors, as a token of his\ngreat love for him. And because of this Joseph's brothers hated him only\nthe more. Jealousy burned in their hearts, and they plotted together to\nslay the boy.\n\nOne night Joseph had a vision. In the dream eleven stars came and stood\nbefore him and bowed themselves to the ground. And a voice said, \"So\nshall your brothers one day bow before you.\"\n\nJoseph told his vision to Jacob and to his brothers. The father observed\nthe sayings, but the brothers were made only the more angry.\n\nNow, his brothers spent their days upon the hillside tending their\nflocks. And one day Jacob said to Joseph, \"Go, my son, and see if any\nevil has befallen your brothers.\"\n\nSo Joseph set out. It was a long way to the pasture lands, and the boy\nwas tired and footsore. And when he reached the place no sign could he\nfind of his brothers.\n\n\"Tell me,\" asked Joseph of the men upon the plains, \"where are my\nbrothers that watch their sheep here upon these hillsides?\"\n\nThe men answered, saying, \"Your brothers have gone to the place called\nDothan, which is many miles from here.\"\n\nThen Joseph, after resting, started on towards Dothan. There his\nbrothers saw him, and recognized him afar off by the bright colors of\nhis coat.\n\n\"Here comes our dreamer,\" sneered one brother.\n\n\"He who shall reign over us,\" sneered another.\n\nThen the face of the oldest brother grew black and bitter. \"Let us kill\nhim,\" he said, \"and cast him into some pit.\"\n\n\"No,\" said Rueben, \"we need not stain our hands with his blood. Let us\nonly cast him into the pit, and then tell our father Jacob that a wild\nbeast has slain him.\"\n\nThis plan seemed most pleasing to them; and when Joseph came near,\nthey fell upon him, tore his coat from him, and made ready to throw him\ninto a pit.\n\n[Illustration: JOSEPH SOLD BY HIS BRETHREN.]\n\nBut just then there came along the highway a company of merchants, bound\nfor Egypt. They had a long train of camels, and these were loaded with\nfruits and spices.\n\n\"Let us sell Joseph to these merchants,\" said one of the brothers. And\nwhen the merchants came up, they pushed Joseph towards them and sold him\nfor twenty pieces of silver.\n\nThen they killed a kid, and dipped the coat in the kid's blood, and went\nback with it to Jacob.\n\n\"O father Jacob! This coat have we found by the wayside, and we know not\nwhether it be the coat of Joseph or not!\"\n\nThe old father looked at the coat. He saw the blood upon it; then he\nbowed his head and groaned. Too well did he know it to be the coat of\nhis dear son, Joseph.\n\n[Illustration: DESPAIR OF JACOB. (_Schopin._)]\n\nAll day long the old man wept, refusing to be comforted. \"I will go down\ninto my grave unto my son mourning,\" he said. But the sons cared not for\nhis grief. It was enough that they were rid of the brother whom they\nhated.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nPHARAOH'S DREAM.\n\n\nPoor Joseph was carried into Egypt, and there sold again to a rich man,\nwhose name was Potiphar. Potiphar was very proud of his new slave, so\ntall and strong and beautiful was he; and for a time Joseph dwelt most\nhappily in his new home. But Potiphar's wife was a bad woman. And\nbecause he refused, at her desire, to do evil, she had him thrown into\nprison; and to Potiphar she told such stories about the boy that for a\ntime Potiphar himself was deceived, and so permitted Joseph to be in\nprison, giving him no opportunity to prove to his master how untrue\nthese stories were.\n\nNow, in prison with Joseph were servants of King Pharaoh. One morning,\nwhen Joseph went to them, they were downcast and sad.\n\n\"Why look ye so sad?\" said Joseph.\n\n\"We have dreamed dreams, and we have no one to interpret them,\" they\nsaid.\n\n\"It is God who sends dreams,\" said Joseph. \"Tell them to me. It may be I\ncan interpret them for you.\"\n\nThen one of the servants told his dream. \"I saw in my dream a vine; and\nin the vine were three branches. They budded, the flowers came, the\nfruit ripened. Then I took Pharaoh's cup, gathered the grapes and\npressed them in the cup, and gave it to Pharaoh.\"\n\n\"Take courage, my brother,\" said Joseph, \"for it is a good dream. The\nthree branches are three days. The dream means that in three days\nPharaoh will liberate thee, and thou shalt give the cup into his hands.\n\n\"And do not forget me when thou art again free. For I have been sold\ninto bondage and stolen away from Canaan. Neither have I deserved to be\nthrown into this dungeon. Speak then to Pharaoh for me, and beg him to\nfree me from this prison.\"\n\nThen the other servant told his dream: \"I had three baskets of meat upon\nmy head. They were baked meats for Pharaoh. The birds came and ate the\nmeat from the baskets.\"\n\n\"Alas!\" said Joseph, \"the meaning of thy dream is this: In three days\nPharaoh shall hang thee upon a tree; and the birds shall come and eat\nthee.\"\n\nNow, as it proved, Joseph had interpreted the dreams aright; for the\npower of vision had been with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob before him.\n\n[Illustration: JOSEPH INTERPRETING PHARAOH'S DREAM.]\n\nBut the servant who went back into Pharaoh's home forgot Joseph when\nonce he was free himself; and so for two long years Joseph lay in\nprison.\n\nThen Pharaoh himself had two strange dreams, and no one in the land\ncould interpret them. Then the old servant, remembering how Joseph\ninterpreted his dream for him so long before, told Pharaoh of him; and\nPharaoh at once freed him from prison and bade him come before him to\ninterpret his dreams.\n\n\"I dreamed,\" said Pharaoh, \"that I stood beside a river. Seven fat kine\ncame out from it and fed in the meadow. Soon seven more came out, thin\nand bad. Then the seven lean kine ate up the seven fat kine.\n\n\"Then I awoke. But when I slept again, I dreamed that seven good ears of\ncorn came out upon one stem. And soon after, seven more, thin and bad.\nAnd the seven bad ears ate up the seven good ears.\"\n\n\"The dreams, great king,\" said Joseph, \"mean this: There shall be seven\nyears of great fruitfulness in the land. Then shall come seven years of\nfamine. And the seven years of famine shall eat up all the fruitfulness\nof the first seven years.\n\n\"Now let Pharaoh take warning. Let him hoard up all the corn that can be\nspared in these first seven years. Then, when the years of famine come,\nthere will be corn for all who dwell in the land.\"\n\nPharaoh was pleased with the wisdom of Joseph. He appointed him at once\nto have charge over the corn, and commanded the people to obey him in\nall that he bade them do. Then the king gave him a ring and a chain of\ngold to wear upon his neck. He dressed him in fine linen and made him a\ngolden chariot. And the people loved Joseph and obeyed him.\n\nThen followed seven years of fruitfulness, such as even the fertile\nvalley of Egypt had never known before; and the people hoarded their\ncorn until their store houses were full to bursting.\n\nAnd when every house was full, then began the drought and famine; and no\nfood grew for the people in all the seven years that followed. Great\nindeed might have been the suffering; for no rain came, no corn grew,\nand everywhere the people were crying to Joseph for food.\n\nAnd the famine spread even into the country of Canaan; and Joseph's own\npeople were starving.\n\n[Illustration: JOSEPH MAKES HIMSELF KNOWN TO HIS BRETHREN.]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nJOSEPH'S BROTHERS.\n\n\nThe brothers of Joseph heard that in Egypt there was corn stored away in\nplenty; so they went down into Egypt to beg for it.\n\nThey came before Joseph, and bowed low before him, even as in the vision\nso long ago it had been foretold that they would bow before him.\n\n\"Who are you?\" said Joseph; for he wished to try his brothers and see if\nthey would speak the truth.\n\n\"We are the sons of Jacob,\" said they; \"and we are come from the land of\nCanaan.\"\n\n\"Have you any other brothers?\" asked Joseph.\n\n\"We have one younger brother at home,\" they said.\n\n\"How do I know if you speak truly? Go to your homes--I will give you\ncorn--and bring to me your youngest brother. Meanwhile I will hold one\nof you here as prisoner until you return. Then shall I know if you are\nhonest men.\"\n\nSo the nine brothers went back to Canaan and told Jacob what had\nhappened; but they did not know it was Joseph they had seen.\n\nAnd when they told Jacob what the man in Egypt had said, and that Simeon\nhad been left a prisoner, the old father lifted up his voice and wept.\n\"Never,\" said he, \"shall ye carry Benjamin into Egypt. Joseph ye have\nlost to me, and now Simeon! And if mischief befall Benjamin by the way\nin which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to the\ngrave.\"\n\nBut when all the corn was eaten and there was no more food, Jacob was\nobliged to send Benjamin into Egypt with his brothers; for they dared\nnot go without him.\n\nJoseph saw them coming, and his heart was glad when he saw his brother\nBenjamin with them.\n\nSo he spoke to his servants and bade them make ready a feast for the ten\nmen who had come from Canaan. Simeon he freed from prison, and all were\nreceived into his own home.\n\nThey came into the banquet hall, and again they all bowed low before\nJoseph, as in the dream it had been prophesied they should do.\n\n\"Is thy father well?\" Joseph asked of his brothers.\n\nAnd the brothers answered, \"Jacob is well.\"\n\nThen the tears came into the eyes of Joseph, and he looked with\ntenderness upon them all. But they knew him not. And in the morning of\nthe next day they set out again for Canaan, their bags filled with corn.\n\nBut when they were departing, Joseph said to his steward, \"Put my silver\ncup into the sack of the youngest; and when they are well out upon the\nroad, overtake them, make a pretence of searching them for it, and bring\nback him in whose sack you find the cup.\"\n\nThe servant did as he was bid; and Benjamin, in whose sack, of course,\nthe cup was found, was brought back to Joseph. Ashamed, the other\nbrothers too came back and fell at Joseph's feet.\n\n\"Weep not,\" said Joseph. \"Do you not know me? I am your brother Joseph,\nwhom, so many years ago, you did sell into bondage.\"\n\nThen the oldest brother fell upon his face before Joseph; and Benjamin\nfell upon his neck and wept tears of joy.\n\n\"Go back now to Canaan. Take with you wagons and horses. Tell my father\nthat I am rich and happy; that I am governor over the province; and that\nI send these wagons to bear him to me, that I may look once more upon\nhis face.\"\n\nGreat was the rejoicing in Canaan when the sons brought the good tidings\nfrom Joseph. And straightway Jacob and all his family set forth for the\nland of Egypt.\n\nEagerly the old father pressed forward to meet his son. And when Joseph\nsaw him afar off, he rode out in his own chariot to meet him. They fell\nupon each other's necks and kissed each other; and Jacob lifted his face\nin prayer to God, who had permitted him to see again the son he loved.\n\n[Illustration: JACOB GOETH INTO EGYPT.]\n\nThen Joseph led them to his own palace, and a great feast was held.\n\nFor seventeen years Jacob dwelt in Egypt with his children, and most\nhappy were they, now all together once more.\n\nBut Jacob was now one hundred and forty-seven years old; and when he\nknew his end was near, he called his twelve sons to him and blessed them\nall. He told them many wonderful things which sometime would come to\nthem; and when he had finished prophesying, he kissed them all, then lay\nback upon his bed and died. For seven days they mourned for him; and\nthen they carried him to Canaan and buried him in the field of\nMacphelar.\n\nJoseph returned to Egypt, where he lived a long and happy life; and when\nhe died, he too, we trust, was carried back and laid in the burial-place\nof Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.\n\n[Illustration: THE FINDING OF MOSES. (_Paul Delaroche._)]\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF MOSES.\n\n\n    Gently slumber'd on the wave\n      The new-born seer of old,\n    Ordained the chosen tribes to save;\n      Nor deem'd how darkly roll'd\n    The waters by his rushy bark,\n      Perchance e'en now defiled\n    With infant's blood for Israel's sake,\n      Blood of some priestly child.\n\n    What recks he of his mother's tears,\n      His sister's boding sigh?\n    The whispering reeds are all he hears,\n      And Nile, soft weltering nigh,\n    Sings him to sleep, but he will wake,\n      And o'er the haughty flood\n    Wave his stern rod; and lo! a lake,\n      A restless sea of blood!\n\n\nJoseph had been dead now many, many years. Pharaoh too had died, and a\nnew Pharaoh was on the throne.\n\nAnd all these years the children of the twelve brothers had grown up and\npassed away. Many children had been born to them; and these too had\ngrown up and passed away, leaving their children now in the land of\nEgypt.\n\nThe children of the twelve brothers had been called Israelites, because\nto Jacob had been given the name Israel. From out the clouds had God\nspoken to him and said, \"Thou shalt henceforth be called Israel.\"\n\nNow, the Israelites had always been a people apart from the Egyptians.\nThey had kept the faith of their fathers in the midst of the idolatry of\nthe land in which they lived.\n\nThe new Pharaoh hated these Israelites and made slaves of them. He gave\nthem all manner of hard work to do; and at one time ordered them, on\npenalty of their lives, to make for him bricks without straw.\n\nAt another time he sent out his soldiers, and bade them slay every\nlittle Israelitish boy in the land, that thus the race might be\nexterminated.\n\nBut this was not to be. For, you remember, it was prophesied away back\nin the days of Abraham, that, though the Israelites should go out from\ntheir land and live for 400 years, yet again the time would come when\nthey should return to Canaan, the land the Lord had blessed to them.\n\nNow, at the time Pharaoh sent out the cruel command, there was among the\nIsraelites one mother, of the family of Levi, who had a beautiful little\nbaby boy.\n\n\"My baby shall not be slain,\" she said. So she took him down to the\nriver, made a little basket, placed him in it, and hid him in the\nbulrushes.\n\nEvery day, and many times a day, she went down to see that he was\ncomfortable and to carry him food.\n\nBut one day the daughter of the king came down to the water to bathe.\nStraight towards the place where the baby was she came, while Miriam,\nthe baby's sister, hid among the bulrushes, trembling with fear.\n\n\"See this poor little baby!\" said the princess; and the tears came in\nher eyes. \"It is one of the children of the Israelites,\" she said,\n\"hidden here from the cruel soldiers.\"\n\nThen the kind woman lifted it from its little basket and held it close\nto her heart.\n\nNow, Miriam was a wise little girl; and when she saw that the princess\nwas kind, she came out from the bulrushes and said, \"Shall I not bring\nyou a good woman to nurse the little baby for you?\"\n\nThen the princess bade her go with speed, for already the baby was\nbeginning to cry.\n\nMiriam ran and brought the baby's mother.\n\n\"Take this child, good woman,\" said the princess, \"and bring it up as\nyour own. It shall be my child, and I will name it Moses, because I drew\nhim out of the water.\"\n\nAnd so the little baby was taken back to its old home, and every day the\nprincess sent to know if it were well; and often she came herself,\nbringing gold for its nurse and fine linen for the child.\n\nWhen the baby grew to be a boy the princess sent him to the wisest\nteachers in the land, that he might himself grow wise and great.\n\nBut the true mother of Moses had taught him the religion of his fathers,\nand had told him the story of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph.\nShe had told him, too, of the promise of God, that sometime the\nIsraelites should again possess the land of Canaan.\n\nTo Moses this was a wonderful story; and he wished often that he might\nbe the prophet that was to deliver his people.\n\nOne day Moses saw an Egyptian cruelly beating an Israelite. His heart\nburned with indignation, and he fell upon the Egyptian and slew him.\n\nThen Moses fled out into the wilderness; for he knew he had offended\nagainst the law.\n\nOn through the wilderness he pressed, till he came into the field where\na priest named Jethro lived. Jethro gave him food and shelter; and it\ncame about that Moses became one of Jethro's family. For a long time he\ndwelt among these people, tending their flocks, and thinking about his\npoor people, suffering in their bondage to the Egyptians.\n\n\n\n\nMOSES' VISION.\n\n\n    Far out across the sandy wild,\n    Where, like a solitary child\n    He thoughtless roamed and free,\n    One towering thorn was wrapped in flame--\n    Bright without blaze it went and came,\n    Who would not turn and see?\n\n    --_Keble._\n\n\nOne day, as Moses tended the sheep on Mt. Horeb, there appeared beside\nhim a bright light. And in another instant a bush near by leaped with\nred flames.\n\nThe branches crackled; the tongues of flame streamed up against the sky;\nbut still the bush was not consumed, nor did it wither.\n\n\"This is strange,\" Moses thought; and he went up to the bush.\n\n\"Moses! Moses!\" called a voice from out the flames.\n\n[Illustration: MOSES COMING DOWN FROM MOUNT SINAI.]\n\nThen Moses knew it was the voice of the Lord; and he fell upon his knees\nbefore the bush. He was afraid.\n\n\"The place where thou standest it is holy-ground!\" said the voice again.\n\"I am God, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.\"\n\n\"I have seen my people's sorrow. I have heard their cry. I am come to\nsend thee to Pharaoh. And thou shalt bring my people out of Egypt.\"\n\n\"Who am I, O Lord,\" Moses cried, \"that I should be chosen to go to\nPharaoh?\"\n\n\"Fear not,\" said the voice of God again. \"I will be with thee. Go, and\ntell thy people that I sent thee. If Pharaoh disobey my command, then\nwill I send punishment upon him. Plagues will I send upon Egypt, and I\nwill bring out my people safely.\" Still Moses was afraid. It was a\ngreat duty that had been laid upon him. He dared not believe he could do\nall that the Lord bade him to do. What if the people refused to believe\nhim?\n\n\"Throw thy rod upon the ground,\" God said to Moses. For he knew the fear\nthat was in the heart of the man, and he meant to give him courage.\n\nMoses threw the rod upon the ground, and behold, it was changed into a\nserpent.\n\n\"Take the serpent in thy hand,\" commanded the voice from the burning\nbush.\n\nFor a moment Moses hesitated; for it was a terrible serpent, with fangs\nhaving deadly poison; and even the heart of the bravest man might well\nquail at such a command.\n\nBut Moses knew the Lord would not allow it to harm him. So he seized it\nby the tail--when lo! it changed again to a rod.\n\n\"Now,\" said the voice from the bush, \"go to the people of Israel. Tell\nthem these signs I have given to you that they may believe that I have\nsent you.\"\n\nStill Moses feared. \"O Lord,\" he cried, \"I cannot speak well. My tongue\nis slow; I have no words.\"\n\nBut the Lord said, \"Who hath made thy tongue dumb? Have not I, the Lord?\nGo; obey my command and I will instruct thee what thou shalt say. Take,\ntoo, thy brother Aaron with thee; and I will teach both Aaron and thee\nwhat to say.\"\n\nThen Moses obeyed. Timid was he still; but the Lord gave him strength,\nand he set out from the house of Jethro to deliver the people of Israel.\nAnd as he journeyed towards the city, the Lord spoke, too, to Aaron,\nand bade him to go out to meet Moses.\n\nThen Aaron and Moses met; and when they met, they fell upon each other's\nnecks and wept.\n\nThen they told each other what the Lord had said to them, and together\nthey went into the presence of Pharaoh and said, \"Behold the Lord hath\ntold us to come to thee, and bid thee set free the people of Israel.\"\n\nBut Pharaoh sneered and said, \"I know not the Lord of the Israelites,\nnor shall I set the people free.\"\n\nInstead, Pharaoh called together his governors and bade them oppress the\nIsraelites more heavily still; to give them more work and less pay; to\npunish them; and in every way to do those things to them that would make\ntheir yoke still harder to bear.\n\nThe governor obeyed. Then the poor Israelites blamed Moses and Aaron.\n\nMoses went to God with the great burden of care now upon him. He was now\neighty years of age, and the care weighed upon him most heavily.\n\n\"All this I do know,\" the Lord said. \"But have trust in me. I have heard\nthe groanings of my people. I remember the covenant that I made with\nAbraham, and I will bring the people out from Egypt into the land of\nCanaan.\"\n\n[Illustration: MOSES AND AARON BEFORE PHARAOH.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE PLAGUES OF EGYPT.\n\n\n    Yet think not thou, amidst thy warlike bands,\n    They lie beyond redemption in thine hands.\n    The God in whom they trust may help them still,\n    They know He _can_ deliver, and He _will_:\n    Whether by life or death afflicts them not;\n    On His decree, not thine, they rest their lot.\n\n    --_Montgomery._\n\n\nGod gave to Moses and Aaron power to do wonderful things, miraculous\nthings, that through them Pharaoh might know that the power of God was\nwith them.\n\nAaron went before Pharaoh, and, throwing down his rod before him, it\nturned to a serpent.\n\nBut Pharaoh only laughed. \"My wise men can do as much,\" he said. So he\ncalled them. They also did in like manner, but the rod of Aaron\nswallowed up the rods of Pharaoh's wise men.\n\nNow, it is the river Nile that makes Egypt the fertile, fruitful country\nthat it is. Without it Egypt would be a burning desert. The Egyptians\nwell knew this. One day Moses went down to the waters, and, stretching\nhis rod out over them, turned them to blood. The people were frightened.\n\nThe fish died; and no man could drink of the water.\n\nThen Moses stretched out his rod again across the water; and behold\nthousands upon thousands of frogs came up out of the water. They\ninfested the land. The houses were full of them. They sprang upon the\nbanquet table of the king; and when he went to bed they were there also.\n\nThen Pharaoh sent for Moses and said, \"Take away these horrible frogs,\nand I will set thy people free.\"\n\nMoses raised his rod again, and the frogs disappeared. There was rest in\nthe land again.\n\nBut when they were gone, Pharaoh hardened his heart again. He would not\nlet the Israelites go.\n\n\"Stretch forth thy rod again,\" came the word of God to Moses. He\nstretched forth his rod, and another plague fell upon the country. The\nground was covered with lice, and the lice swarmed upon the animals and\nupon the people.\n\nThen Moses went to Pharaoh and said, \"Let my people go; but if thou wilt\nnot, I will send flies upon thee and upon thy people; but I will send no\nflies upon the Israelites.\"\n\nBut Pharaoh would not listen. And the flies came--wasps and biting\ninsects. But none of these came near the Israelites, though about the\nhomes of the Egyptians they swarmed until Pharaoh, beside himself with\ntorment, called upon Moses to deliver him from the plague, promising\nagain to free the people of Israel.\n\nAgain this plague was lifted; and again Pharaoh perjured his soul. For\nno sooner was he free, than again he refused to let the people go.\n\nThen the Lord sent Moses again into the presence of the king. \"If thou\nwilt not let the people go,\" said Moses to Pharaoh, \"then a plague shall\nfall upon the cattle; and not one shall be left alive to all the\nEgyptians; but those of the Israelites shall be free from harm.\"\n\nPharaoh made no answer; and on the morrow the plague fell, and not only\nthe cattle but the magicians were covered with boils. Besides this, a\nterrible storm came. The trees were broken down, and the crops in the\nfields were destroyed.\n\nPharaoh was terrified. Famine he knew now would follow; for they had\nneither meat nor corn for food. And again he promised freedom to the\nIsraelites.\n\nBut when the storm had ceased, and the crops were again growing, he\nforgot his terror, and freed not the people.\n\nThen the locusts came, millions upon millions of them. They swarmed upon\nevery bit of green in all the land and devoured it,--the leaves, the\ngrass, and the newly-growing crops. Not a leaf nor a blade was left. And\nagain famine sent terror into the soul of Pharaoh. And again he promised\nfreedom to the Israelites; and again he refused, when the plague was\nlifted, to keep his promise.\n\n[Illustration: THE PLAGUE OF DARKNESS.]\n\nThen came a terrible darkness upon the country,--a darkness that no\nlight could penetrate.\n\n\"Go, Moses,\" said Pharaoh again. \"Go out from the land to the land thou\nlovest. Go; but leave behind thee thy cattle and thy possessions. Those\nbelong to Egypt.\"\n\nNow, to have set out with the great company of the Israelites without\ncattle and corn for food would have been worse than useless for\nstarvation would have come upon them.\n\nTherefore Moses answered, \"No, Pharaoh, the Israelites go not forth from\nEgypt without their cattle and corn and all that belongs to them.\"\n\nThen Pharaoh was angry, and he drove Moses forth from him, saying,\n\"Never more let me look upon thy face!\"\n\n[Illustration: THE FIRST BORN SLAIN.]\n\nMoses went out from the palace and told all that had happened to the\nLord.\n\nThe darkness ended in three days. Then God said, \"Now will I send\nanother and a greater plague upon Pharaoh; and after this, he will let\nthe people go.\"\n\nSo God sent an angel to smite the first-born of all the Egyptians. This\nMoses told to his people, and bade them put a mark upon their own\ndoorsteps, that the angel might pass by the homes of the Israelites, and\nleave their children unharmed.\n\nThis the Israelites did; and in the night-time the angel came. Not one\nhouse of the Israelites did he enter; but in every house of the\nEgyptians, when the sun rose, there lay the dead body of the oldest\nchild.\n\nThen a groan went up from the people. There was wailing in the streets.\nPharaoh himself could bear no more. He sent for Moses and Aaron in the\nnight time and said to them, \"Rise up, you and the Israelites and all\ntheir children. Take all that you have and be gone.\"\n\nThen Moses and Aaron told the people, and bade them make haste lest\nagain Pharaoh repent. But Pharaoh's heart was too heavy. At last his\nproud spirit was subdued, and Moses and Aaron, with 600,000 Israelites,\nset out for the land of Canaan.\n\n\n\n\nTHE DESTROYING ANGEL.\n\n\n                    He stopped at last,\n    And a mild look of sacred pity cast\n    Down on the sinful land where he was sent\n      To inflict the tardy punishment.\n\n    \"Ah! yet,\" said he, \"yet, stubborn king, repent,\n    Whilst thus unarm'd I stand,\n    Ere the keen sword of God fill my commanded hand;\n      Suffer but yet thyself and thine to live:\n        Who would, alas! believe\n        That it for man,\" said he,\n      \"So hard to be forgiven should be,\n      And yet for God so easy to forgive!\"\n\n    Through Egypt's wicked land his march he took,\n    And as he march'd the sacred first born strook\n    Of every womb: none did he spare,\n    None, from the meanest beast to Pharaoh's purple heir.\n\n    Whilst health and strength and gladness doth possess\n    The festal Hebrew cottages;\n    The blest destroyer comes not there\n    To interrupt the sacred cheer:\n    Upon their doors he read, and understood\n    God's protection writ in blood;\n    Well was he skill'd i' the character divine;\n      And though he passed by it in haste,\n      He bow'd and worshipp'd, as he pass'd,\n    The mighty mystery through its humble sign.\n\n    --_A. Cowley_\n\n\n[Illustration: THE EGYPTIANS DROWNED IN THE RED SEA.]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE RED SEA.\n\n\nWhen the Israelites were gone, peace settled down upon Egypt and all\nthings prospered. This was because Pharaoh had given freedom to the\npeople of Israel, and so had caused the displeasure of God to be removed\nfrom the land.\n\nBut Pharaoh did not think of it in that way. He began, rather, to think\nthat he had done a most foolish thing in allowing 600,000 faithful\nworkmen and slaves to go out from the land. The Egyptians needed their\nhelp in brick making, and in the planting and reaping of the heavy\ncrops.\n\nThe more he thought of it, the stronger grew his determination to bring\nthe Israelites back. He had forgotten the suffering that had come to his\npeople; and perhaps he began to think this suffering might more easily\nhave been kept away.\n\nSo what do you suppose the foolish, hard-willed, stubborn-hearted\nPharaoh did? He gathered together a great army and started out in\npursuit of the Israelites.\n\n\"If only we can overtake them before they reach the Red Sea,\" he\nthought, \"we shall easily drive them back into Egypt.\"\n\nNow, the Lord heard the wicked plotting of Pharaoh, and although he\nallowed him to set forth, he allowed no harm to come to his chosen\npeople.\n\nA great cloud he had placed behind them and all around them as they\ntraveled by day, so that by it they were shielded from the view of any\nenemy that might be lurking in the neighborhood of their march.\n\nAnd by night this cloud became a pillar of fire, that by its light they\nmight be guided through the strange wilderness.\n\n    When Israel, of the Lord beloved,\n      Out from the land of bondage came,\n    Her fathers' God before her moved,\n      An awful guide in smoke and flame.\n    By day, along the astonished lands\n      The cloudy pillar glided slow;\n    By night Arabia's crimson sands\n      Returned the fiery column's glow.\n    There rose the choral hymn of praise,\n      And trump and timbrel answered keen;\n    And Zion's daughters poured their lays,\n      With priest's and warrior's voice between.\n\nBut when Pharaoh came upon the Israelites, with his great army of horse\nand men and war chariots, they were resting beside the waters of the\nRed Sea.\n\nWhen the Israelites saw the army, they were stricken with fear. They\nforgot that God had led them thus far, and that he had promised to guide\nthem and bring them at last, safe, into the promised land of Canaan.\n\nThey rose in terror; and many of them began to cry out against Moses,\nwho had allowed this danger to come upon them.\n\n\"Be not afraid!\" said Moses. And just then the pillar of cloud moved\naround so that it blinded the Egyptians. They could not see the\nIsraelites. They could hardly see each other; for it was like a dense\nfog fallen upon them.\n\n\"Stretch out thy rod across the sea,\" said the voice of God to Moses.\nMoses obeyed. The waters parted, and the Israelites passed over to the\nother side unharmed.\n\nBut when they were half across the cloud lifted, and the Egyptians saw\nthe Israelites.\n\nDown into the water-parting they plunged,--men, horses, chariots, all;\nand on they dashed in quick pursuit.\n\nFoolish Pharaoh! Did he not know that the parting of the water was not\nfor him? Had not he yet learned that God was with the Israelites?\n\nThe Israelites were now across the sea. They were climbing the opposite\nbank. The last man had reached the top. Then Moses raised his rod again,\nand the waters of the sea came together with a great rushing sound. They\nfoamed and seethed, and the great army of the Egyptians sank beneath the\ngreat pillars of water that closed over them on either side. All were\ndrowned; and the Israelites were at last freed from Pharaoh, king of\nEgypt.\n\n    \"Fly, Misraim, fly!\"--From Edom's coral strand\n    Again the prophet stretched his dreadful wand:--\n    With one wild crash the thundering waters sweep,\n    And all is waves--a dark and lonely deep;\n    And strange and sad the whispering breezes bore\n    The groans of Egypt to Arabia's shore.\n\nThen the Israelites halted in their march and held a festival of\nthanksgiving; for they were now free from their old enemy.\n\nThen they went on into the wilderness. And Miriam, the prophetess, the\nsister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women event out\nafter her with timbrels. And Miriam said, \"Let us sing to the Lord, for\nHe hath triumphed gloriously.\"\n\nThey offered sacrifices, they prayed and sang, and danced.\n\n\n\n\nMIRIAM'S SONG.\n\n\n    Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea!\n    Jehovah has triumphed--His people are free!\n    Sing!--for the pride of the tyrant is broken:\n      His chariots, his horsemen, all splendid and brave,--\n    How vain was their boasting!--the Lord hath but spoken,\n      And chariots and horsemen are sunk in the wave.\n    Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea!\n    Jehovah has triumphed--His people are free!\n\n    Praise to the Conqueror, praise to the Lord!\n    His word was our arrow, His breath was our sword!\n    Who shall return to tell Egypt the story\n      Of those she sent forth in the hour of her pride?\n    For the Lord hath looked out from his pillar of glory,\n      And all her brave thousands are dashed in the tide.\n    Sound the loud timbrel o'er Egypt's dark sea:\n    Jehovah has triumphed--His people are free!\n\n    --_Moore._\n\n\n[Illustration: MOSES STRIKING THE ROCK IN HOREB.]\n\n\n\n\nIN THE WILDERNESS.\n\n\n    So led He them, in desert marches grand,\n      By toils sublime, with test of long delay,\n    On, to the borders of that Promised Land,\n      Wherein their heritage of glory lay.\n\n\nWonderfully they were being led. Surely one would suppose they could\nnever doubt God again, nor Moses, the leader God had chosen for them.\nBut alas! there were many among them who seemed little better than the\nEgyptians, their oppressors.\n\nThey had gone only a few miles when they came to the waters of Marah,\nwhich were bitter. They were tired, and longed to encamp for the night.\nThen they began to groan and to cry aloud, \"O, why have you brought us\ninto a land where there is no water?\"\n\nBut Moses, never failing in trust and patience, cast a tree, which the\nLord had shown him, into the waters, and lo! they became sweet. The\npeople drank and were satisfied; and there they encamped and rested.\n\nWhen God gave them the sweet water to drink, he said to Moses, \"If thou\nwilt obey me I will be with thee always. I will keep, and bless, and\nstrengthen thee, thee and all thy people. And there shall come to thee\nneither disease nor plague.\"\n\nWhen the people heard these words, they were comforted and meant never\nto doubt again. But a few days after this, when they had come into the\nheart of the wilderness, and there seemed no way of finding food, again\nthey complained to Moses that he had led them into the wilderness to\nstarve.\n\nBut God heard their murmurings and sent great flocks of quails on which\nto feed them. Thousands and thousands were there of them, and they\ncovered the ground, the trees, and the tents, so great were their\nnumbers. The Israelites caught them and ate them, and their hunger was\nappeased.\n\n\"But what shall we do in the morning?\" the fretful, faithless ones said.\n\nAnd in the morning the ground was covered with tiny round loaves of\nsweet bread, the manna that had been sent from heaven; for so were the\nchildren of Israel fed in the wilderness. And when, by and by, again\nthere was no water to drink, Moses struck a great rock with his rod, and\nthe water poured forth.\n\nThe children of Israel had now come into the wilderness of Sinai, and\nhad pitched their tents at the foot of the mountain. Moses was\ncommanded by the Lord to go into the mountain, while the people rested\nin the valley below. And when Moses had reached the top, God spoke to\nhim.\n\n\"Go and tell the Israelites how great a thing God has done for them, in\nbringing them through the Red Sea and freeing them from the cruel king,\nPharaoh.\n\n\"Tell them to remember that they are my chosen people, and that I will\nbe their God always.\n\n\"Bid them prepare themselves for the third day; for on the third day\nwill I come down upon this mountain and speak with them. They shall not\ncome up into the mountain. Whosoever touches the mountain top shall be\nput to death. But when the trumpet sounds, then will I speak, and they\nshall all come up into the mountain.\" Moses went down into the valley\nand gave these words to the people. So they all made ready for the third\nday.\n\nWhen the morning of the third day came, the Israelites looked up towards\nthe mountain top. Behold, a heavy black cloud hung over it, and fire and\nsmoke poured out from it, and the whole mountain shook!\n\nThe people were frightened, and ran and hid themselves. But the trumpet\nsounded, and God descended upon the mountain.\n\nAnd a voice called to Moses: \"Again say to the people that they shall\nnot come up into the mountain. But thou, and Aaron with thee, come thou\nup into the mountain.\"\n\nAnd Moses and Aaron obeyed. And there, upon the mountain top, they\nbeheld the glory of God, like a great cloud of glory.\n\nThen Moses and Aaron went down into the valley to tell the people what\nthey had seen. And when they had told the people, Moses went back into\nthe mountain; for God had told him to come there alone, that he might\ntell him how to guide the great multitude that had been given to his\ncharge.\n\n[Illustration: MOSES BREAKING THE TABLETS OF THE LAW.]\n\nIt was from Mt. Sinai that God gave to Moses the tablets upon which were\nwritten the Ten Commandments; for Moses was in the mountain forty days\nand forty nights, listening to the words that God spoke to him.\n\nAnd when so many days had gone by and Moses did not return, then the\npeople began to be frightened.\n\n\"Moses has gone away and left us,\" they wailed, \"and we have no gods to\nguide us. Let us make a golden calf and set it up before us that we may\nworship it.\" And so they built an altar, and placed the golden calf upon\nit, and held a great feast.\n\nThey were in the midst of their feast when Moses came down from the\nmountain, the tablets in his hands.\n\n\"What is this?\" he thundered, as he drew near and heard the music and\nsaw the dancing and the feasting.\n\nThe people were frightened. Some of them ran to hide; and so angry was\nMoses that he hurled the tablets of stone from him and broke them in\npieces.\n\n\"Why didst thou allow this thing to be done?\" asked Moses of Aaron.\n\n\"The people gave me their gold to melt, and it came out from the fire a\ngolden calf,\" answered Aaron weakly.\n\nThen Moses took the calf and ground it to powder; and the 3,000\nidolatrous men among them he commanded to be slain.\n\nThen Moses went again up into the mountain, and again wrote the ten\ncommandments upon tablets of stone, and again carried them to the\npeople.\n\nAnd now that the children of Israel might have a place for worship, the\nLord commanded that the people should make a tabernacle, and that in it\nshould be kept the sacred tablets.\n\nSo the people went to work, and every man woman and child had a part in\nthe building of the tabernacle.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE TABERNACLE.\n\n\nThe tabernacle was made of boards, with bars put across; and these bars\nand boards were made of shittim wood and covered with gold. Within the\ntabernacle, under the upper end, were four more pillars; a beautiful\ncovering, called the vail, was hung over them; and this hid the inside,\nwhich was the most holy place, \"the Holy of Holies,\" it was called. None\ncould go in there but the High Priest; and he went only once a year. In\nthe Holy of Holies was placed the ark. The ark was a chest, or box, made\nof shittim wood, covered with gold; and there were rings in the sides\nfor poles to be put in when the ark was moved. The top of the ark was\ncalled the mercy-seat; two golden angels, called cherubim, were placed\none on each side of the mercy-seat; they looked over it, and their wings\ncovered the top. In the ark were afterwards kept the tables of the\ncommandments, Aaron's rod, and afterwards a golden pot full of manna,\nwhich God commanded to be put there. Outside the vail was the altar, on\nwhich the holy bread, called shew-bread, was placed, and the great gold\ncandlestick. The tabernacle stood in a large open court; pillars of\nbrass surrounded it, and curtains were hung upon them. The brazen altar\nfor burnt offerings, and the great laver where the priests washed, stood\nin this court. There were coverings and curtains to the tabernacle and\ncourt.\n\nOver the boards of the tabernacle was thrown a covering of fine linen,\nbeautifully worked in scarlet, and purple, and blue; over the linen was\na covering of goat's hair; over this, a covering of ram's skins dyed\nred; and another covering of thick skins was over all. The people were\nnot allowed to go into the tabernacle; but the priests went in every\nmorning to offer incense, and every evening to light the lamps; and on\nthe Sabbath, to take away the old shew-bread from the table, and to put\non new. The sacrifices were offered in the court, where the people\nstood.\n\nNow, when the tabernacle was set up, Moses made Aaron the High Priest\nand clothed him in the sacred garments of his office,--the coat, the\ngirdle, the robe, the ephod, the breastplate, and the mitre. The coat\nwas a long linen robe, with sleeves, and having a girdle worked in blue\nand purple and scarlet. The robe was a long, blue linen garment, without\nsleeves.\n\nAround the skirts were golden bells, which sounded whenever the High\nPriest went into the Holy Place.\n\nThe ephod was a short robe, worked also in blue, purple and scarlet; and\naround the waist was worn a girdle of gold.\n\nThe breastplate was made of cloth, and was very thick. It had four rings\nto join it to the ephod, and twelve beautiful stones were set in it; and\non these stones were cut the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, that\nis, the twelve sons of Jacob.\n\nThe mitre was a linen turban; and on the front of it were the words,\n_Holy of Holies_!\n\nWhen all was ready, the children held a sacred feast, and Moses anointed\nAaron with oil.\n\nThe tabernacle established, the Israelites were now ready to move on\ntowards Canaan.\n\n[Illustration: RETURN OF THE SPIES FROM THE LAND OF PROMISE.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE PROMISED LAND.\n\n\nTwelve men were chosen, one from each tribe, and sent ahead to see what\nmanner of place Canaan was, if there was land enough, and if the people\ndwelling there were friendly.\n\nThe twelve men set out, and after forty days came back again to the\ncamp, bringing rich fruits which they had gathered there. \"The land of\nCanaan is a beautiful country,\" they said, \"and it is filled with fruits\nand corn; but we fear the people there, for they are fierce and\nwarlike.\"\n\nAt this many of the Israelites were frightened. Again they forgot God's\npromises and began to upbraid Moses for having taken them from their\ncomfortable home in the wilderness.\n\nThen God was angry with them; and he spoke to them in tones of thunder,\ntelling them that for their wickedness they should never be permitted to\nsee the promised land of Canaan; that they should die in the wilderness;\nand that only the children and the few faithful elders should live to\nreach the Promised Land.\n\nThis was a most grievous punishment to the people; but in a few days\nthey had forgotten it, and again rebellion arose among them.\n\nThree men, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, grew jealous of the power of Moses\nand Aaron, and asked why all glory should be theirs.\n\nMoses, worn with the faithlessness of his people, fell upon his face and\nwept when these jealous men spoke thus to him. His heart ached with the\ninjustice of it, and he despaired ever of teaching his people.\n\nThe next day Korah and all his people came and stood before the\ntabernacle, as Moses had bid them. Then the voice of the Lord spoke,\nbidding the people move away from the tabernacle, leaving the three\ndoubting men and their families standing alone.\n\nThen there came a burst of thunder; the earth rocked and groaned; then a\ngreat gulf opened beneath the feet of Korah and Dathan and Abiram, and\nthey, with all their children, were swallowed up.\n\nThen God commanded Moses to take twelve rods; and upon the rods to write\nthe names of the twelve tribes. On the rod of the tribe of Levi he was\nto write the name of Aaron, because Aaron was of that tribe.\n\n\"Place now the rods in the tabernacle; and the rod bearing the name of\nhim I appoint High Priest shall bud and blossom.\"\n\n[Illustration: DEATH OF KORAH, DATHAN, AND ABIRAM.]\n\nAnd when the morning came, behold the rod of Aaron had budded and\nblossomed. Then the people were content; and the rod was kept ever after\nin the tabernacle.\n\nFor a time peace was in the camp, and more than once the Israelites came\nnear unto the Promised Land. But it had been said they should never\nreach it; and so many, many times they fell back and turned away.\n\nOver and over again they rebelled at Moses and Aaron, until the patience\nof those two was exhausted. They forgot themselves to ask for guidance,\nand once, unable to endure greater trial, they cried out, \"O ye rebels!\nye rebels!\" and there was anger in their hearts as they spoke.\n\nBy and by the time came for Aaron to die. So Moses took the priestly\ngarments from him and gave them to Eleazer. Then Aaron died, and the\nIsraelites mourned for him thirty days.\n\nThen the people wandered on and on. Once they were bitten by serpents;\nand that they might be healed, Moses lifted a brazen serpent in the\nwilderness and bade the suffering ones to look upon it and live.\n\nBut now the forty years were nearly at an end; Canaan, too, was very\nclose; and, although the elders knew that it was not for them to see the\nPromised Land, yet their children would; and so there was joy in the\ncamp.\n\nBut now the death of Moses was at hand. He was one hundred and twenty\nyears old, and had wandered forty years, leading the rebellious\nIsraelites in the wilderness. So God said to Moses, \"Come thou up into\nMt. Pisgah. From there thou shalt see the fair land of Canaan spread out\nbefore thee, although thou mayst never go thither.\"\n\nSo Moses called his people together and told them that his end was at\nhand. He told them of all God had done for his people, and how\nwonderfully they had been led forth from bondage. He then bade them take\nJoshua for their leader; for he it was who should lead them into the\nPromised Land.\n\nThe people wept most bitterly, and many prostrated themselves before the\ngood man who had borne so much for them.\n\nThen Moses turned and went up into Mt. Pisgah. There lay the fair land\nof Canaan at his feet, with its fertile valleys and rich fruits and\nabundant harvests of corn.\n\nUpon this fair scene Moses gazed; then, raising his face towards God,\nthanked Him that the wanderings of the children of Israel were now at an\nend.\n\nThen he laid himself down and died. The Lord buried him, but no man\nknew how or where.\n\nAnd when the children of Israel knew he would come no more to them, they\nwept too for him thirty days upon the plains of Moab.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BURIAL OF MOSES.\n\n\n    By Nebo's lonely mountain, on this side Jordan's wave,\n    In a vale in the Land of Moab there lies a lonely grave.\n    And no man knows that sepulchre, and no man saw it e'er,\n    For the angels of God upturned the sod, and laid the dead man there.\n\n    That was the grandest funeral that ever passed on earth;\n    But no man heard the trampling, or saw the train go forth--\n    Noiselessly as the daylight comes back when night is done,\n    And the crimson streak on ocean's cheek grows into the great sun.\n\n    Noiselessly as the spring-time her crown of verdure weaves,\n    And all the trees on all the hills open their thousand leaves;\n    So without sound of music, or voice of them that wept,\n    Silently down from the mountain's crown the great procession swept.\n\n    Perchance the bald old eagle, on gray Beth-Peor's height,\n    Out of his lonely eyrie looked on the wondrous sight;\n    Perchance the lion stalking, still shuns that hallowed spot,\n    For, beast and bird have seen and heard that which man knoweth not.\n\n    But when the warrior dieth, his comrades in the war,\n    With arms reversed and muffled drum, follow his funeral car;\n    They show the banners taken, they tell his battles won,\n    And after him lead his masterless steed, while peals the minute gun.\n\n    Amidst the noblest of the land we lay the sage to rest.\n    And give the bard an honored place, with costly marble drest,\n    In the great minster transept where lights like glories fall,\n    And the organ rings, and the sweet choir sings along the\n                 emblazoned wall.\n\n    This was the truest warrior that ever buckled sword,\n    This the most gifted poet that ever breathed a word;\n    And never earth's philosopher traced, with his golden pen,\n    On the deathless page, truths half so sage as he wrote down for men.\n\n    And hath he not high honor,--the hillside for a pall,\n    To lie in state while angels wait with stars for tapers tall,\n    And the dark rock-pines like tossing plumes, over his bier to wave,\n    And God's own hand, in that lonely land, to lay him in the grave?\n\n    --_Alexander._\n\n\n[Illustration: THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL CROSSING JORDAN.]\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF JOSHUA.\n\n\nThen Joshua led the Israelites forth; but when they came to the River\nJordan, again their courage failed them.\n\nAlthough they had been led through the Red Sea in the times of their\nfathers, and though all their lives they had been told of that wonderful\ndeliverance, still, when now they came to the River Jordan, their hearts\ngrew heavy, and fear took possession of them. But there lay the country,\nfair and beautiful. They could see it; and, with Joshua so brave and\ntrue to lead them on, they gathered up their courage, and the great\ncompany marched down to the river banks.\n\nAgain the miracle of the parting of the waters was repeated; for the\nwaters roared and rushed, and heaped themselves, like great walls, on\neither side while the Israelites passed through.\n\nMeantime Joshua had sent forward two men into the city of Jericho to\nlearn what manner of people were there; for Jericho was one of the\ncities upon which the Israelites must make war. These people of Canaan\nwere not likely to give the country into the hands of a new people\nwithout a struggle. That the Israelites well knew. Then, too, these were\nin the days when all nations were at war with each other, and the\npossession of a country was always a matter of force and strength,--one\npeople overcoming the other.\n\nWhen the two Israelites came into Jericho, they sought the house of a\nwoman named Rahab; and from her learned all those things about the city\nthat they needed to know.\n\nBut the king of Jericho heard that two Israelites were in the city, and\nat once he suspected them of being spies. Accordingly he sent messengers\nto seize them and put them in prison. The messengers came, bearing with\nthem the authority of the king; but the two men were hid away by Rahab,\nand the messenger went away.\n\n\"I know,\" Rahab said, \"that this land belongs to you; that God hath\npromised it to you; for I have heard of the wonderful things that God\nhath done for you and your people. Because of this I have hidden you\nbeneath the flax on the housetop; and now, when your people come to take\nthe city, forget not me. Tell your people the protection given you in\nthis house; then shall your soldiers spare me in the downfall of the\ncity.\"\n\nThen the Israelites promised that, in the ransacking of the city, this\nwoman Rahab should be spared.\n\n\"When we are gone,\" they said, \"fasten a red cord upon the window of the\nhouse. Then, when we enter the city, the house in whose window the red\ncord is, shall be spared.\"\n\nAt night the woman let the Israelites down from the roof of the house by\na rope, and they hurried away to join the Israelites.\n\nIn a few days the army of the Israelites appeared before the walls of\nJericho. The gates were closed, and the king's armies within were ready\nto resist the attack.\n\nWhat were the Israelites to do? Should they attack the city with\nbattering rams and meet the people with spears and swords?\n\nThis was the way of besieging cities in those days; and it was for this\nkind of an attack that the people within were prepared. But this was\nnot the way the Israelites were to do their work; for God had told them,\neven while in the wilderness, that the walls of Jericho were to be\nbeaten down in a way most strange. They were to take their Ark up to the\nwalls of the city. They were to draw up their soldiers in line. The\npriests were to bear the Ark, and together all were to march around the\ncity, the priests blowing their trumpets as they passed before the Ark.\n\nNot a spear was to be thrown; not a sword was to be drawn. For seven\ndays they were to do this; but on the seventh day they were to march\nseven times around the city. Then, amid the shouting of the people and\nthe blowing of the trumpets, the walls would fall; and so the city would\nlie open before them. All this the Israelites did; and on the seventh\nday it came about even as Joshua said it should,--the walls fell with a\nterrible crash. Then the Israelites marched in and took the city. The\nhouse of Rahab they did not forget. They brought her and all her family\nout from the burning city and placed her in safety among their own women\nand children.\n\n[Illustration: THE WALLS OF JERICHO FALLING DOWN.]\n\nGreat loads of gold and silver and brass and iron they took from the\ncity. All of this they saved for the building of a temple; for they had\nbeen warned to save no part of the city's wealth for their own use.\n\nIn all this the Israelites obeyed, save one man. He, Achan, thinking no\none saw him, took some of the riches and carried them away and hid them.\nNow, Joshua knew nothing of all this; but the next day, when the army\nwent against the little city of Ai, behold the Israelites were driven\nback defeated. Even Joshua's heart was heavy. He could not see why it\nshould have been; but when he knelt before God, God said to him, \"Never\ncan I fight for my people while there is sin among them. Go find Achan;\nhe hath hidden gold in the tent. Accuse him before the people and put\nhim to death. Then again shall success be with the Israelites.\"\n\nJoshua went before his people and told them what God had said to him.\nThen Achan was called before the Israelites and put to death.\n\n\"Now,\" said Joshua, \"let us go against the city of Ai again.\" They went;\nand this time the city was taken, and the people bowed before the power\nof the Israelites, acknowledging them as their masters. THE GIBEONITES.\n\n    The sun stood still, the moon it stayed\n    Till Israel's vengeance was allayed\n              Upon his enemy,\n    Pausing all that awful day\n              And glowing brilliantly.\n\n\nWhile these cities were being taken, the Gibeonites had heard of the\ncoming of the Israelites and of their great conquests. Now, these\nGibeonites were a strong people; and so, when they heard these things,\nthey made preparations for the attack which they feared. First, they\nsent messengers to Joshua.\n\n\"We wish to make peace with you,\" the messenger said.\n\n\"If you are Canaanites,\" said Joshua, \"we can make no peace with you.\"\n\n\"But we are not Canaanites,\" the messengers said. \"Behold we come from\na great distance. Do you not see how dry our bread is, and how broken\nour bottles are? Our shoes, too, see how they are worn! All these were\nnew when we began our journey; but we have been so long on the road,\nthey are worn. We have heard of your coming, as have all the kings round\nabout our country. We know how great is your power; and that is why we\nhave come to beg you to be at peace with our people.\"\n\nNow, this story was in no wise true; but Joshua believed it, and the\nGibeonites went away pleased indeed that they had succeeded so well.\n\nBut a few days after, Joshua learned that these Gibeonites had been\nuntrue to him, and that they dwelt in the very midst of the country of\nCanaan.\n\n\"Why have you deceived us?\" he asked of their leaders.\n\nThe leaders could make no reply. They could only say, \"But you promised\nnot to slay us.\"\n\n\"That is true,\" Joshua replied. \"And we will not break our promise. We\nwill not slay you; but we will take all prisoners, and you shall serve\nus as slaves all the days of your life.\"\n\nThe Gibeonites were heavy hearted indeed. They had fallen into their own\npit; for they would rather have died than become slaves. But now there\nwas no hope for them, and they could only bow their proud heads beneath\nthe yoke.\n\nHardly had the Israelites and the Gibeonites made peace with each other\nin this way, when down came the Amorites upon the Gibeonites to fight\nthem.\n\n[Illustration: JOSHUA COMMANDING THE SUN TO STAND STILL.]\n\nThe Gibeonites, frightened at the appearance of the great army, fled to\nJoshua for help.\n\n\"We shall protect you as our servants and slaves,\" was the answer. And\nso, when the Amorites came, it was the Israelites that marched out\nagainst them.\n\nA terrible battle followed. For a time no one could have told which army\nwas to be victorious. Many were falling among the Amorites; still their\narmy was pressing forward.\n\nIf only the day would not come to an end! If only the darkness would not\nfall! If only they might keep on with the battle till the Amorites,\nexhausted, should fall back! To give up the battle and begin again in\nthe morning would be to give the Amorites opportunity to regain strength\nand courage.\n\nThen the thought came to Joshua, \"Why _should_ night come? Why should\nnot the sun and the moon stand still in the heavens until this battle is\nfinished and the Amorites are driven back?\"\n\n[Illustration: DESTRUCTION OF THE ARMY OF THE AMORITES.]\n\nAnd as he thought, lo! the prayer was answered, and the sun and the moon\ndid stand still.\n\nHour after hour passed; the two armies fought on; the Amorites grew\nweaker and weaker. Why did not the sun go down? Why did the darkness not\ncome to give them rest?\n\nAt last the Amorites could hold out no longer. The army turned and fled.\nThe Israelites pursued. The kings hid themselves in a great cave. But\nJoshua pursued these still. He rolled great stones up before the cave\nand held them there prisoners. Then, when the Amorites had been\nscattered, Joshua came back to the cave, brought out the offending\nkings and slew them all.\n\nSo the contention for the possession of the land of Canaan went on. One\nby one the tribes were overcome; and at last Canaan was in the control\nof the Israelites.\n\nBut now Joshua had grown to be an old man. He knew that the end of his\nlife was near at hand. So he called the people together and told them,\neven as Moses had told them, of all the wonderful things that had\nhappened to God's chosen people in all the four hundred years since they\nhad come out of Egypt.\n\nThen he appealed to them in the name of God, who had led them safely\ninto the land of Canaan; he begged them never to forget that they were\nthe Children of Israel, and that the religion of the people into whose\nland they had come, an idolatrous religion, was not for them. Then the\npeople all promised to be true to the religion of their fathers; and\nJoshua, taking the great book of the law, wrote their promise in it.\nMore than that, he rolled a great stone up beneath an oak tree and said,\n\"Look at the great stone. It has heard your promise that you will serve\nalways the one God. Guard that stone; and let it be a remembrance to you\nof the promise you have made.\"\n\nThe people went away sad at heart; for they knew they should never look\nagain upon their patient leader and teacher, who had been so faithful\nand true to them in all the years he had been with them.\n\n[Illustration: DEBORAH]\n\n\n\n\nEHUD AND DEBORAH.\n\n\nFor a few years the Israelites remembered their promise; but alas! they\nwere very prone to sink back into the idolatry which surrounded them.\nAnd it was not very long before they were worshipping idols, even as\nwere the heathen tribes round about them.\n\nAnd again God sent cruel enemies to fight against them; again they cried\nto Him, and He heard them. For eighteen years they served Eglon, the\ncruel, wicked king of Moab. But at last God sent the Israelites a man to\nhelp them, whose name was Ehud.\n\nEhud told them to send a present to Eglon, and he would be its bearer.\nThe Israelites did this, and Ehud, making a dagger, and hiding it under\nhis clothes, went to Moab. When he came to the king he said, \"I have a\nsecret to tell and must see the king alone.\" So Eglon sent away his\nservants. When they were alone, Ehud took out his dagger and thrust it\ninto the king's body. Then Ehud ran out from the room, locked the doors\nafter him, and so escaped.\n\nNo one saw Ehud go; and when the servants found the doors locked, they\nthought their master had fallen asleep, and so they made no attempt to\ngo in. Many hours passed. At last the servants began to wonder why the\nking did not send for them. Night came on. Still the king did not awake;\nand so, at last, they took a key and opened the door.\n\nWhat did they see? There lay the king upon the ground,--dead!\n\nEhud, meantime, had come back again, bringing many soldiers with him;\nand the Israelites fought against the Moabites and conquered them.\n\nFor some time after this the people held firmly to their faith, and Ehud\nled them. But Ehud died; and then the Israelites again rebelled against\nGod. Again God, to punish them, sent Jabin, king of Canaan, to fight\nagainst Israel; and he conquered them. This king was very cruel, and\nthey suffered much under his power for twenty long, terrible years. Now,\nthere was a very good woman living at that time, named Deborah. She\ndwelt under a palm tree, between Ramah and Bethel. There she prayed and\nsang, and talked to, and taught all the people who came to see her.\nDeborah was a very wise woman and had the gift of prophecy. And so it\ncame about that, when the Israelites began to cry to God, Deborah, at\nHis command, sent for a brave man named Barak, and said to him, \"Go now\nand call men out of the tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali, and take them to\nfight against Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army. God promises to give\nus the victory.\" Barak said, \"If thou wilt go with me, I will go.\" So\nDeborah, with Barak and 10,000 men, went to fight against Sisera. \"Do\nnot kill Sisera,\" Deborah said; \"for God will give the wicked captain\ninto the hands of a woman.\"\n\nSo Barak and his army went and fought against Sisera. Very soon the\nIsraelites won the victory, for it was as Deborah had prophesied. Then\nSisera came down from his chariot and fled from Barak.\n\nThere was a man named Heber, who was at peace with Jabin; and Sisera ran\nto Heber's tent for safety. When the man's wife, Jael, saw Sisera\ncoming, she went out to meet him and said, \"Come in, come in, and fear\nnot.\" So Sisera came in and lay down; and Jael covered him with a\nmantle. He asked for water; and she gave him milk, which he drank; and\nthen he lay down again.\n\n\"Stand by the door,\" he said, \"and if any one ask if I am here, say\n'No.'\" Then Sisera fell asleep, for he was weary with fighting and\nrunning so far; and when he was asleep, then Jael went very softly, took\na large nail and a hammer, and hammered the nail into Sisera's head and\ndown into the ground.\n\nAfter this war forty years passed most happily and safely. The\nIsraelites lived in the fear of God, and he kept them in peace and gave\nthem rest from their enemies.\n\nBut when the forty years were passed, the Israelites again loved evil;\nand again, too, sorrows and punishments came upon them.\n\nFirst, the Midianites came to be their enemies. They came in great\nnumbers; they brought their camels and their cattle with them, and\npitched their tents in the land of the Israelites. The Israelites left\ntheir pleasant houses and fields, and ran to hide in dens and caves, for\nfear of the cruel Midianites.\n\nThe pleasant land became barren and desolate. Then the Israelites cried\nagain to the Lord, for they knew that He could deliver them, and He\nalone.\n\nGod sent an answer to them by a prophet: \"Thus saith the Lord, 'I\nbrought you safely out of Egypt and delivered you from the cruel\nEgyptians, and drove away your enemies, and gave you the land of Canaan\nfor a possession; and I commanded you to obey and serve Me, and not to\nworship the idols of the people who live near you; but you have not\nobeyed My command.'\" Then the prophet went away. THE STORY OF GIDEON.\n\n\nNow, there was a man (living at Ophrah,) whose son was named Gideon.\nGideon was a true servant of the Lord; but his father was an idolater\nand a worshipper of Baal. One day Gideon was threshing wheat in a hidden\nplace, lest the idolaters should see him and come and take his corn from\nhim. Gideon's heart was full of sorrowful thoughts as he threshed the\nwheat; but, as he looked up, he saw an angel near him, sitting beneath\nan oak. And Gideon heard him say, \"The Lord is with thee.\"\n\nWhen Gideon heard the angel speak, he looked up with wonder. \"Is the\nLord with us?\" he cried. \"Then why does He let the Midianites come and\ndestroy us? Why does He not work miracles for us, as He did for our\nfathers, and deliver us from our enemies?\" But the angel said again, \"Go\nnow, I send thee to save Israel from the Midianites.\"\n\nGideon was frightened; he had faith, but his faith was weak and small.\nHe could not believe that he could save Israel.\n\n\"How can I save my brethren?\" he said. \"I am poor; all my family are\npoor, and I am least in my father's house.\" But the angel said again, \"I\nwill be with thee; I will give thee power to smite the Midianites.\"\n\nGideon wondered. Could it be an angel that was talking to him? An angel\ncould give him power to conquer his enemies!\n\n\"Wilt thou give me a sign that I may know who thou art?\" he asked. \"Stay\ntill I come again, and bring my offering with me.\"\n\nThen Gideon hurried away and made ready a kid and cakes of flour. He put\nthe flesh into a basket and the broth into a pot, and brought all out to\nthe oak tree where the angel waited.\n\nNow, the angel did not need food to strengthen him, but he accepted\nGideon's offering, and told him to lay the flesh and cakes upon the\nrock, and to pour out the broth. Gideon hardly knew why, but he obeyed;\nand then the angel of the Lord touched with his staff the flesh and the\ncakes, and fire came out of the rocks and consumed them.\n\nThe angel went away. Gideon knew not how or where; but he knew who the\nangel was. Then Gideon cried with fear, \"O, Lord God! for I have seen an\nangel of the Lord face to face.\"\n\nAnd a voice answered, \"Peace be unto thee; fear not, thou shalt not\ndie;\" and Gideon named the place, \"Jehovah-shalom,\" or \"The Lord send\npeace;\" and he built an altar there to the Lord.\n\nAgain the angel of the Lord God spoke to him. \"Take thy father's bullock\nand throw down the altar of Baal which thy father has. Build there an\naltar unto the Lord and offer the bullock in sacrifice upon it.\"\n\nNow, Gideon's family all worshipped this Baal, and they would be very\nangry if the idol altar was thrown down; it might be they would kill\nGideon. But Gideon rose and went at once to destroy Baal's altar, lest\nthe men of the city should try to prevent him if he waited until morning\ncame.\n\nWhen the people rose next day, they wondered to see Baal's altar thrown\ndown, the new altar to God ready built, and a bullock offered upon it.\n\"Who did all this?\" they asked. Gideon was not afraid to confess the\ntruth. He was bold, because he knew God was with him. But the people\nwere angry with Gideon. \"Bring out thy son,\" they said to Joash, \"that\nwe may slay him!\"\n\nBefore Gideon began to fight, he prayed; \"Give me now a sign, that I may\nknow that Thou wilt be merciful to the Israelites. I will put a fleece\nof wool upon the ground to-night; in the morning I will look at it, and\nif I see the fleece wet with dew, and all the ground dry, then I shall\nknow that Thou dost promise to save us from our enemies.\"\n\nGideon put the fleece of wool upon the ground, for God had heard his\nprayer. In the morning, when Gideon looked at it, it was so wet that he\nwrung from the fleece a bowlful of water, though there was no dew upon\nthe ground.\n\n[Illustration: GIDEON CHOOSING HIS SOLDIERS.]\n\nThe next night Gideon again tried the fleece. \"To-night let the fleece\nalone be dry, and all the ground wet, and then I shall know that Thou\nwilt save Israel,\" he prayed. The next morning all the ground was wet\nwith dew, and the wool alone was dry. And now Gideon was convinced. He\nasked no further proof.\n\nGideon had many thousand men to fight with him. But God wished to teach\nthe Israelites that He alone could save them. So he told Gideon to say\nto the soldiers, \"Those who are afraid may return home and not come into\nthe battle.\" Gideon did as he was told; and 22,000 of the soldiers,\nstruck with fear, went away, leaving only 10,000 to meet the foe. But\nGod said, \"I do not want even so many; if all these soldiers go the\nIsraelites will say that their own power and courage gained the victory.\nBring the 10,000 men down to the water and let them drink. Notice the\nmen who lap the water like a dog and put them on one side; and the men\nwho kneel down to drink water, put on the other side; and I will tell\nthee whom I will choose to fight against the Midianites.\"\n\nGideon obeyed. He brought the soldiers to the water and told them to\ndrink. Three hundred of them lapped, putting their hands to their\nmouths; but most of them stooped down on their knees to drink. Then God\nsaid, \"By the 300 men who lapped the water will I save you; let all the\nothers return home.\"\n\nGideon had a very, very small army now. The Midianites were in great\nnumbers, the Israelites only 300. It was the night before the battle.\nTo-morrow Gideon and his army must fight against their cruel enemies,\nthe Midianites.\n\nWhen Gideon was lying down to rest, and his 300 soldiers by him, he\nheard a voice calling to him. Was it an enemy come to kill him and his\nlittle army? No, it was the voice of God. \"Arise, go down to the army of\nthe Midianites,\" the voice said. \"If thou fear to go alone, take Phurah,\nthy servant, with thee. Go, and hear what the Midianites are saying; for\nafterwards thou shalt feel strengthened to go down to the army.\"\n\nSo Gideon and his servant, Phurah, went as God had commanded. The tents\nof the Midianites and the Amalekites covered the whole valley. The\nsoldiers were sleeping in the tents, and their camels lay by them. So\nmany were they that Gideon could not count them. But the Midianites were\nnot all asleep; some were making ready for the morrow, some were\ntalking; but none of them saw Gideon and his servant.\n\nThere were two men, Midianites, talking together, and Gideon and Phurah\nwent near to them. \"I dreamed,\" said one, \"that I saw a cake of bread\ntumble into the hosts of the Midianites; I saw it fall upon a tent, and\nthe tent was overturned and thrown down.\" \"That cake,\" his friend\nanswered, \"is Gideon, the commander of the Israelites; he will fall upon\nus and destroy our army, because God is with him.\"\n\nWhen Gideon heard this tale, he rejoiced. He now felt sure of the\nvictory. Then he and Phurah went back to the Israelites, and Gideon\nsaid, \"Arise, for God gives the Midianites into our hands.\"\n\nThen Gideon divided his army into three companies, and gave to every man\na trumpet and a pitcher, with a lamp in every pitcher. They had no\nswords, nor spears, nor bows, nor arrows. Then Gideon said, \"Come with\nme and do as I do. When I blow the trumpet, you must blow too, and cry,\n'The sword of the Lord and of Gideon.'\" It was still night when Gideon\nwent again with his soldiers to the camp of the Midianites. The soldiers\nstood around the camp, and when Gideon commanded, they blew with the\ntrumpets, and broke the pitchers, and cried aloud, \"The sword of the\nLord and of Gideon.\" The Midianites heard the noise and the shout, and\nwere struck with fear. They knew not what to do. They ran like mad men.\nThey fell one upon another, killing their own friends, and fathers, and\nbrothers; and those who were not killed fled away; and the Israelites\nfollowed after these and killed them.\n\nThe Israelites were grateful for what Gideon had done for them. \"Come\nand rule over us,\" they said, \"and be our king, and we will serve and\nobey thee.\" But Gideon was not an ambitious man; he wanted neither\npower, riches, nor possessions. So, when the Israelites asked Gideon to\nbe their king, he said, \"No, I do not wish to rule over you; the Lord\nonly is your king; obey Him. But give me if ye will the earrings and\ngold chains that were taken from the enemies.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE MIDIANITES PUT TO FLIGHT.]\n\n\"Yes, we will willingly give them,\" the people said. And they spread out\na large garment and threw into it all the earrings and chains they had,\nand with them purple garments and many more beautiful things. Gideon\nmade them into an ephod like Aaron's ephod; and this he took into his\nown city Ophrah. The ephod Gideon made in remembrance of his victory.\nAfter Gideon was dead, the Israelites again forgot God, and worshipped\nidols.\n\n[Illustration: DEATH OF ABIMELECH.] ABIMELECH.\n\n\nGideon had many sons, but they were not like him. The name of one was\nAbimelech. He was a most ambitious man, and aspired to be king. He went\nto Shechem and asked to be made king over that city. The men of Shechem\nwere pleased with Abimelech, and they attended to what he said, and gave\nhim much gold, promising to make him king.\n\nThen he went home to Ophrah, and, cruel, ambitious man that he was, he\ncalled his brothers together and killed them,--all but the youngest,\nnamed Jotham, who hid himself and escaped. Now, why did Abimelech kill\nhis brothers? It was because they might wish to reign too, and he was\ndetermined to reign alone.\n\nThe men of Shechem made Abimelech king. But the people in that city soon\ngrew tired of their king. He was cruel and greedy and unjust. They\nrebelled, and refused to obey Abimelech. So Abimelech came and fought\nagainst them and conquered them. Some of the Shechemites escaped to an\nidol temple, and hid there. But Abimelech and his soldiers cut down the\nboughs from the tree and put the boughs under the place where the people\nwere hid, and set it on fire; so that the people were all burned to\ndeath.\n\nThen Abimelech went to a city named Thebez, and tried to take it. The\npeople in Thebez had gone up to a high, strong tower. Abimelech was\nunder the tower fighting against it, when a woman on the top of the\ntower took a large mill-stone and threw it down upon Abimelech's head.\nAbimelech was severely crushed by the stone. When he knew he must soon\ndie, he cried to a soldier near him, \"Thrust thy sword into me and slay\nme; for I will not let the people say that a woman killed me.\" So the\nsoldier thrust his sword into him, and Abimelech fell down dead.\n\nAt this time there was a man in Gilead named Jephthah. He was most brave\nand warlike; but his brothers hated him. They would not let him live\nwith them, but sent him away. Some years after, when the Ammonites came\nand fought against Israel, the men of Gilead were frightened, and they\nsent for Jephthah to help them conquer their enemies. When Jephthah\nheard what the messengers said, he answered, \"Why do you come to me now\nwhen you are in trouble?\" But the Gileadites promised to make Jephthah\ntheir captain if he would come; so Jephthah forgave their past\nunkindness and went to their aid.\n\nThe Ammonites were very wicked people. They had always been enemies to\nIsrael. Jephthah told the Ammonites that God had commanded that they be\ndestroyed, and had promised to give their possessions to the Israelites;\nbut they would not listen. Then Jephthah made ready to fight against\nthem. But before he went to the battle, he asked God's help, and made\nthis promise: \"If Thou wilt give me the victory, then the first thing I\nmeet at the door of my house, when I return in peace, shall be the\nLord's; and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering.\"\n\nThen Jephthah went into battle; the Ammonites were conquered, and very\nmany of them killed. But when the battle was ended, Jephthah went home\nagain to Mizpah. Jephthah had one child, a daughter, who was very dear\nto him. This little daughter loved her father, and when she heard of the\nvictory, she knew she should soon see her dear father. So she waited and\nwatched for him, and when she saw him coming, she ran out to meet him,\ndancing and singing for joy. Alas! alas! Jephthah rent his clothes and\ncried, \"O my daughter, my daughter! I have made a promise to the Lord,\nand I cannot break my vow!\" But the daughter said, \"My father, do not\nweep; if thou hast made a vow to the Lord, do as thou hast promised. God\nhas been very merciful to us, and I am ready and willing to help bear\nall thou hast vowed to do.\"\n\nJephthah thought now of his foolish vow, and O how sorry he was that he\nhad made it! He must give up his dear daughter and never see her again!\nBut when he told her what he had vowed, she asked to be allowed to go\nupon the mountains to mourn there with her friends. After two months she\ncame home again, and Jephthah did with her as he had vowed.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n    Though the virgins of Salem lament,\n    Be the judge and the hero unbent;\n    I have won the great battle for thee,\n    And my father and country are free.\n    When this blood of thy giving has gushed,\n    When the voice that thou lovest is hushed,\n    Let my memory still be thy pride,\n    And forget not I smiled as I died.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF SAMSON.\n\n\n    Would any strive with Samson for renown,\n    Whose brawny arm can strike most pillars down?\n    Preserve he then unstained in his breast\n    A milk-white conscience; let his soul be blest\n    With simple innocence; this sevenfold shield\n    No dart shall pierce; no sword shall make it yield;--\n    Well guarded with himself he walks along,\n    When most alone, he stands a thousand strong.\n\n\nAfter this Jephthah judged Israel six years and then died. And now again\nthe people began to sin against the Lord; and He, to recall them again,\ngave them up to their enemies, the Philistines, for forty years. This\nwas a long time to be in sorrow and trouble; but did not the Israelites\ndeserve their punishment?\n\nThere was a good man in the tribe of Dan, named Manoah. One day an angel\nof the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife and said, \"Soon God will give\nthee a son, who shall deliver Israel from the Philistines. No razor must\ncome upon him, for he shall be a Nazarite unto God.\" Now, the Nazarites\nwere people who had made a vow to give themselves to God. They did not\ndrink wine, nor any strong liquor; and they never cut their hair or\nshaved their beards.\n\nManoah's wife wondered very much to hear what the angel said, and she\nwent and told her husband. It seemed very strange; still Manoah knew\nthat nothing was too wonderful for God to do; and he was thankful for\nGod's promise to deliver Israel. But Manoah, fearful lest he and his\nwife might forget what the angel had said and not bring up their child\nrightly, prayed God to send the angel to them again.\n\nA few days after, the woman was sitting alone in the field, and she\nlooked up and saw the angel again standing by her. She ran and called\nher husband; and Manoah, following his wife, came to the angel and\nasked, \"What shall we do to the child when he is born?\" The angel\nrepeated what he had told the woman before. Then Manoah said, \"Stay here\ntill we have made ready a kid for thee.\" The angel answered, \"I will not\neat of thy bread; and if thou wilt offer a sacrifice, offer it to God.\"\n\nManoah wondered who the angel was; so he asked again, \"What is thy\nname?\" But the angel answered, \"Why dost thou ask my name? It is a very\nsecret and a very wonderful name.\" Then Manoah offered a kid in\nsacrifice to the Lord upon the rock, and God sent fire upon the\nsacrifice to consume it.\n\nManoah and his wife looked at the angel, and they saw him going up to\nHeaven in the flame of fire. Then they both fell upon their faces in\nholy fear and wonder; and Manoah said, \"Now we shall die, because we\nhave seen God.\" The woman said to her husband, \"Do not be afraid. God\nhas shown us wonderful things; he has accepted our sacrifice, and surely\nhe cannot wish to hurt or frighten us.\"\n\nManoah and his wife never again saw the angel of the Lord; but God\nremembered His promise, and very soon there came to them a little son,\nwhom they called Samson. Samson's parents were very careful to attend to\nGod's commands regarding him. They remembered that he was to be given to\nGod; that he was to be a Nazarite; that he must drink no wine; that he\nmust not shave his head, nor cut his hair.\n\nSamson grew to be wonderfully strong. Great strength had been given him\nbecause he had much to do; for he was to deliver Israel from the\nPhilistines. When Samson was grown up, he went to Timnath with his\nfather and mother, to marry a young woman who was a Philistine. As he\npassed the vineyards at Timnath, a lion rushed out of the woods and\nroared at him. But Samson was a very bold man. He ran at the lion and\ntore it in pieces, without stick, or sword, or spear--by his own great\nstrength alone. Samson said nothing of this to his father or mother, but\nwent on and came to Timnath.\n\nAfter a time Samson passed again along the place where he had killed the\nlion, and it came to him to go and look at the dead body of the animal.\nHe saw a strange sight. Some wild bees had made their home in the\nlion, and Samson found much honey there. He took it and ate it, and\ngave some to his father and mother; but he did not tell them where he\nhad found it.\n\n[Illustration: SAMSON SLAYING A LION.]\n\nOnce Samson made a feast at Timnath; and when the company were all\ntalking merrily together, he said, \"I will give you a riddle to guess;\nif you guess right, I will give you thirty sheets and thirty garments;\nbut if you cannot guess, you shall give me thirty sheets and thirty\ngarments.\" Then the people said, \"Tell us the riddle, and we will try to\nguess it.\" So Samson said, \"Out of the eater came forth meat; and out of\nthe strong came forth sweetness.\" Now, the eater was the strong lion;\nand the meat was the sweet honey Samson found in it; but no one knew the\nstory of the lion, and they could not guess the riddle. They tried six\ndays, and then they called in their friend, Samson's wife, and said,\n\"Ask Samson to explain the riddle to thee, else we will burn thee and\nthy father's house with fire.\"\n\nThe woman then begged so hard and long for her husband to tell her that,\nat last, he explained the riddle to her; and she forthwith went and told\nthe Philistines. Then they came to Samson and said, \"What is so strong\nas a lion, and what is so sweet as honey?\" But Samson quietly said, \"My\nwife told you, else you could never have guessed my riddle.\"\n\nSamson was obliged, however, to give what he had promised to the men who\nfound out the riddle. But he got the garments in a strange way. He went\ndown to Askelon and killed thirty men of the Philistines and took from\nthem the things he wanted to give to the men who told the riddle. Soon\nafter, Samson's wife went away from him, and it was then that Samson\nbegan his war upon the Philistines. He caught 300 foxes and tied\nfirebrands to their tails, and drove them into the corn fields belonging\nto the Philistines. All the corn and vineyards and olives were burned of\ncourse.\n\nThen the Philistines asked, \"Who did this?\" The people said, \"Samson did\nit, because his wife has been taken away.\" Then the Philistines went and\nburned Samson's wife and her father with fire. Samson was now still more\nangry. He killed a great number of the Philistines, and then went to the\ntop of a rock and lived there alone.\n\nThe Philistines now went to fight against Judah. \"We must have Samson,\nand bind him, and take him prisoner,\" they said. The people of Judah\nwere frightened; they ran to Samson and said, \"We are come\nto bind thee; we will not kill thee; but we will give thee into the\nhands of the Philistines.\" Then they bound him with two new ropes and\nled him away. But Samson had strength to break the ropes, and he soon\nescaped; then, picking up the jawbone of an ass, which he found on the\nway as he ran, he killed 1,000 men of the Philistines with it.\n\n[Illustration: SAMSON DESTROYING THE PHILISTINES\nWITH THE JAWBONE OF AN ASS.]\n\nAfter this slaughter, Samson was most thirsty. He cried to God and asked\nfor water, that he might not die of thirst. Then water sprang up like a\nwell, and Samson drank and became strong again.\n\nSamson had been raised up to deliver his country from the Philistines,\nand so to him was given great strength, and boldness and courage to do\nit.\n\nSoon after, Samson went to Gaza. The people heard he was there, and\nthey waited quietly for him all night. \"In the morning we shall kill\nhim,\" they said. But Samson arose in the night and went to the gate of\nthe city, and took it up, and the posts, and the bar, and carried them\nupon his shoulders to the top of the hill near Hebron.\n\nSamson had now another wife. Her name was Deliah. The Philistines needed\nvery much to know wherein Samson's great strength lay. So they went to\nDeliah and said, \"Ask Samson what makes him so strong. Learn how we can\nbind him; and we will each give thee 1100 pieces of silver.\" Deliah did\nnot love her husband as she loved money; so she went to Samson and\nbegged him to tell her what made him so strong. Samson did not mean to\ntell her; so he deceived her, and said, \"Let them bind me with seven\nfresh green withes.\" Deliah told the Philistines, and they brought the\nwithes, and she bound Samson with them, while the Philistines were\nhiding in the room.\n\nThen Deliah cried, \"The Philistines are upon thee, Samson!\" Samson\nbounded up, broke the withes, and the defeated Philistines ran away.\nAgain Deliah asked Samson to tell her what made him so strong; and he\nsaid, \"Let them bind me with new ropes.\" Deliah bound him with the ropes\nand cried again, \"The Philistines are upon thee, Samson!\" Then Samson\nsprang up, broke the ropes like little threads, and escaped again.\n\nThen Deliah said, \"Now do not deceive me; but tell me the truth. How can\nI bind thee?\" He said, \"Weave the hair of my head with the web.\" when\nSamson was asleep, Deliah wove his hair and fastened it most strongly.\nThen she said, \"The Philistines are upon thee!\" And he awoke, bounded\nup, and went away with the pin, and the beam, and the web.\n\n[Illustration: SAMSON AND DELIAH.]\n\nThen Deliah said, \"Why hast thou deceived me these three times? Tell me\nnow where thy great strength lies.\" Samson was tired of his wife's\nasking him so often; so he said, \"I am a Nazarite to God! I have never\nshaven my head; but, if my hair is cut off, then I shall become weak\nlike other men.\"\n\nThen Deliah sent to the Philistines and said, \"Come once again; Samson\nhas told me the truth; I know now what it is makes him so strong.\" The\nlords of the Philistines were glad enough to think that soon they might\nhave their enemy in their power. They came at once, and brought money\nwith them to give to Deliah. Then the cruel wife, when Samson was\nasleep, called a man and told him to shave off Samson's hair. When he\nhad finished, Deliah cried, \"The Philistines are upon thee, Samson!\"\n\nSamson arose, but alas, his strength was gone! He could not defend\nhimself now! His enemies came and took him, and put out his eyes, and\nbound him in chains, and carried him to Gaza, and made him work hard in\nthe prison there.\n\nSamson was now in prison at Gaza, alone and blind, without any friend to\ncomfort him. When he first went to prison, his strength was all gone;\nbut, after a time, his hair began to grow, and his strength came again.\nNow, the Philistines worshipped an ugly idol, shaped like a fish, and\nnamed Dagon. They made a great sacrifice to Dagon and praised him,\nbecause they thought he had given Samson into their hands. They were\nvery merry, playing, and laughing, and feasting, and praising their\nidol; and they said, \"Let us call Samson, and we will play with him, and\nlaugh at him, and make merry.\"\n\nThen poor Samson was led in. He could not see his cruel enemies, and\nthey all laughed at him, because he was blind and weak and in their\npower; and they made him stand between two pillars. The house in which\nthey were feasting was very large and full of people. Three thousand of\nthem were upon the roof, looking and wondering at Samson. Samson asked\nthe boy who led him in to let him rest against the pillars on which the\nhouse stood. Then he seized one with his right hand and the other with\nhis left hand. \"Lord, give me now strength to conquer my enemies; Let\nthem die, and let me die with them,\" Samson said. Then he bowed\nhimself down with all his might and broke the pillars. They fell, and\nthe house with them; and the people who were upon the roof were crushed;\nand Samson died with them.\n\n[Illustration: DEATH OF SAMSON.]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF RUTH AND NAOMI.\n\n\nThere dwelt in Bethlehem in these days a good man named Elimelech, with\nhis wife Naomi and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. All their days\nthese people had dwelt in the land, and always faithful had they been to\nthe God of Israel.\n\nBut there came into the land a great famine. For days and weeks no rain\nfell; the trees were dropping their leaves; the grasses were dry and\nbrown; and the corn lay wilted in the fields.\n\nEverywhere there was suffering among the people; starvation was upon\nthem, and the fathers of the little children could bring no food to\nthem. \"My wife and children must have food!\" Elimelech cried. And so it\ncame about that, when this famine was abroad in the land, Elimelech and\nhis family went to Moab to live. And when they had come into Moab,\nMahlon and Chilion chose for their wives Ruth and Orpah from the women\nof Moab, idolaters though they were.\n\nIt was not very long before Mahlon and Chilion, and Elimelech, too,\ndied, and Naomi was left alone with Ruth and Orpah.\n\nThey were kind to Naomi, for they loved her well. Still, Naomi's heart\nlonged for her own old home and for the people she had left there; and\nso (the days of mourning over) Naomi said to Ruth and Orpah, \"Dear\ndaughters, now will I return to my own land. You have been very kind to\nme, and gladly would I take you with me.\"\n\n[Illustration: NAOMI AND HER DAUGHTER-IN-LAW.]\n\nThen Ruth And Orpah wept and begged her to stay with them. But when they\nsaw she would not, then they wanted to go with her.\n\nNaomi would have been so happy to take them with her! But she feared\nthey might be sorry by and by should they go into a new land. So she\nsaid, \"No, my daughters go not with me. Live here in your own country\nand among your own people. Here are your parents and your friends; and\nmay God deal kindly with you as you have dealt with me.\"\n\nThen Naomi kissed them and bade them good-bye; but they went out from\nthe village with her, saying, \"Surely we may go with thee to Bethlehem.\"\n\nBut when they were far out across the country, then Naomi turned again\nand bade them return now to their people.\n\nThen Orpah kissed Naomi and turned back to her own city. But Ruth begged\nto be allowed to go a little farther.\n\n\"Nay, nay,\" Naomi said; \"go back, Ruth, with Orpah. See, she is already\nfar back upon the road.\"\n\nBut Ruth fell at Naomi's feet and cried aloud. \"O, send me not away from\nthee! Let me follow thee! Where thou goest, I will go. Thy people shall\nbe my people, and thy God my God. Where thou diest I will die, and there\nwill I be buried. Death only shall part thee and me!\"\n\nThen old Naomi's heart grew glad; for she loved Ruth and longed to take\nher with her. Then the two women walked on, and in time they came into\nthe village of Bethlehem.\n\nAnd as they neared Bethlehem, the old friends of Naomi came out and\nsaid, \"Can this be Naomi?\"\n\nFor Naomi had gone out from the city happy, with her husband and sons\nwith her. But now they were all dead; and Naomi was returning, a lonely,\nsad woman.\n\nIt was the harvest time when Naomi and Ruth came into Bethlehem; and,\nwhen Ruth saw the gleaners at work, she said, \"Let me not be idle; let\nme go forth into the fields to glean.\"\n\nNow, Ruth knew no one among the gleaners; but, when she came into the\nfield, and the gleaners looked upon her sweet face, they loved her at\nonce and gladly took her into the field with them.\n\nThis field in which Ruth gleaned belonged to a rich man, named Boaz;\nand, when Boaz saw Ruth at work, he said kindly, \"Stay here with my\nmaidens and glean in my field. Follow them and glean after the reapers.\nAnd when thou art thirsty, then go and drink of the water which my\nservants have brought.\"\n\n[Illustration: BOAZ AND RUTH.]\n\nRuth wondered at the kindness of Boaz and said, \"Why dost thou show such\nkindness to me, a stranger?\"\n\nAnd Boaz smiled kindly upon Ruth and said, \"Because I have heard of thy\nlove for Naomi; and that thou hast left thy home to come with her and\nlive among her people. May God bless and reward thee!\"\n\nBy and by it came the time when all the gleaners stopped their work and\nate their noonday meal. Kindly the maidens took Ruth with them, and they\nate together. But when Ruth had had her share given her, she laid aside\na part and carried it home to Naomi.\n\n\"Where hast thou gleaned to-day?\" Naomi asked.\n\nAnd when Ruth told her she had gleaned in the field of Boaz, and how\nkindly he had welcomed her, then Naomi was filled with gladness; for\nBoaz was of the family of Elimelech; and she knew that now he would be\nkind to them and not allow suffering and hunger to come to them.\n\nAll the long beautiful autumn Ruth gleaned in the fields of Boaz; and\neach day Boaz loved Ruth more and more, so gentle and kind was she.\n\nThen, when the harvest was over, Boaz came to Naomi and told her that in\nCanaan there was land that belonged to Elimelech; and that he would buy\nthis land and take Ruth and Naomi to his home.\n\nThen Ruth and Boaz married; and by and by a little child was born to\nthem. How much Naomi loved this little baby! How tenderly she nursed\nit; and how carefully she taught it as it grew into boyhood!\n\nAnd so these people lived together until Naomi grew old and died. Then\nRuth and Boaz, who had loved her and cared for her all these years,\nmourned for her, and buried her tenderly beside her own people in the\nland that had been her father's--the land she had loved so well.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration: SAMUEL PRESENTED TO ELI. (_Opir._)]\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF SAMUEL.\n\n\nAt Mount Ephraim there dwelt a man, named Elkanah, with his good wife,\nHannah.\n\nThese good people had one son, Samuel, whom they loved with great\ntenderness. He was their only child; but, though they loved him so, they\ncarried him when he was yet a tiny boy to the temple and left him with\nthe holy priests.\n\n\"Here is my child,\" the good mother said. \"I give him now to our God,\nthe God of Israel. So long as he lives shall he be the Lord's.\"\n\nThen the priest, Eli, took the child and blessed it, and blessed the\nmother too; and Samuel grew up a true, honest boy, and came in time to\nbe himself a holy priest.\n\nOne night, when Samuel lay upon his bed, he heard a voice calling,\n\"Samuel, Samuel!\"\n\n\"Here am I, Eli,\" Samuel answered; for he thought it was the voice of\nthe priest.\n\nBut Eli said, \"No, my son, I did not call thee.\"\n\nAnd Samuel went and lay down upon his bed again.\n\nAgain the voice called, \"Samuel, Samuel!\"\n\nAnd again Samuel ran to Eli's bedside, saying, \"Here am I, Eli.\"\n\nA third time, even, the voice called. A third time Samuel ran to Eli's\nbedside.\n\n\"Samuel,\" Eli said, when the lad came a third time, \"it may be it is the\nvoice of the Lord. Go back to thy bed; and if it speaks again, say,\n'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.'\"\n\nSamuel obeyed; and a fourth time the voice called.\n\nThen Samuel answered as Eli bade him. And the voice then said, \"Lo, I am\nabout to punish Eli and his sons; for the sons are wicked and Eli\npunishes them not.\"\n\nNow, these sons were priests in the temple with their father, and Eli\nknew full well that they were wicked men. Still, because they were his\nown sons, and he loved them, he had not driven them forth from the\ntemple.\n\nPoor old Eli was sad when Samuel told him what the voice had said to\nhim; but he bowed his head and said, \"It is the voice of God that hath\nspoken. Let him do with me what seemeth to him wise and good.\"\n\nThen came a great battle between the Philistines and the Israelites; and\nin this battle the Israelites were beaten, and the two sons of Eli\nslain.\n\nEli was too old to go himself into the battle, and so he sat at the gate\nof the city and waited with the people for news of the battle.\n\nAt last a man came running. His clothes were rent, and there was dust\nupon his head, and from this the people knew that he brought sad news\nonly.\n\nThen they set up a weeping and wailing; and old Eli, whose eyes were dim\nwith age, said, \"What is this noise I hear? Why do the people cry?\"\n\nThen the messenger said, \"I have just come from the battle-field.\"\n\nEli's heart beat fast. \"Tell me,\" he cried with trembling voice, \"what\nhas happened there?\"\n\nThe messenger dreaded to tell the old priest the sad news; but he said,\n\"Alas! alas! the Israelites are conquered! Your own sons have fallen;\nand even the Ark which the Israelites carried into battle has been\ntaken!\"\n\nPoor old Eli! This was more than he could bear. The Ark taken! And the\nold man threw up his hands and fell back, dead.\n\nNow, the Ark was taken by the Philistines to one of their own heathen\ntemples, and one of their idols was set upon it.\n\nThe Philistines thought the Ark was one of the gods of the Israelites,\njust as their idols were their gods; so they set it up on their altar,\nand it was their chief god, Dagon they called it, that they set beside\nit.\n\nBut when the Philistines went into their temple the morning after the\nbattle, there lay Dagon upon the floor.\n\n\"This is strange!\" they said; and they put the idol back upon the Ark\nagain.\n\nThe next morning, again was the idol found upon the floor, its hands and\nits head broken.\n\nThen a dreadful plague settled upon the people. \"It is the idol of the\nIsraelites that has done all this!\" the people cried. \"Let us send it\naway!\"\n\nSo the Ark was sent to Gath; but there a plague fell upon the people.\n\n\"We will not have it among us!\" the people of Gath cried; so they sent\nit on to Ekron.\n\nBut when the people of Ekron saw it coming, they cried out, \"Take away\nthis idol of the Israelites! We fear the plague that is sure to come\nwith it!\"\n\nAt last the Philistines said, \"We will not have it in our land.\" So they\nplaced it upon a cart, and they fastened two cattle to the cart. Then\nthey set the cart upon a road leading towards Bethshemesh and bade the\noxen go.\n\nThe oxen, obedient, carried the Ark out upon the road, turning neither\nto the right nor to the left, and straight into the village of\nBethshemesh.\n\nNow, the people of the village were at work in their fields, for it was\nharvest time.\n\nThey heard the coming of the cart and looked. \"It is the Ark! It is the\nArk!\" they cried; and the Levites came and took the Ark and set it upon\na great stone.\n\nThen followed a day of great sacrifice and rejoicing. And the Israelites\nlater repented of all their sins, and came to Samuel and asked him what\nthey should do.\n\n[Illustration: RETURN OF THE ARK TO BETHSHEMESH.]\n\nSamuel called them all to him at Mizpah, and there he prayed for them\nand taught them wisely and well.\n\nBut as he was teaching them and offering sacrifices, lo! a great army of\nPhilistines drew near. They had come again to fight the Israelites.\n\nBut Samuel bade them have no fear; for this time it was the Philistines\nthat were to be conquered and not the Israelites.\n\nSo the Israelites made ready for battle; but, before they were ready, a\ngreat black cloud rolled up across the sky. The winds blew, the hail\nfell, and the skies blazed with terrible lightnings.\n\nNever had such a storm been known either to Philistines or Israelites.\n\n\"Fear not,\" Samuel said; \"this is God's hand.\" And the Philistines fled\nin terror.\n\nThen, when the storm was over, and again the sun shone out, Samuel took\na great stone and set it up near Mizpah; and the stone at Mizpah was for\na sign to the Israelites that \"God shall watch ever over thee and me.\"\n\nAnd Samuel named the stone Ebenezer--which means, a stone of help.\n\nFor many years now Samuel had been judge over Israel; and so long as the\npeople obeyed him they were safe and happy.\n\nBut there came a time when Samuel was an old, old man. Then the\nIsraelites came to him and said, \"Thou art very old; thy sons, who now\njudge over us, are not like thee. Let us have a king.\"\n\nBut Samuel said, \"God only is the king of the Israelites.\"\n\nThe people would not listen to the words of Samuel. \"We will have a\nking,\" they said. \"We will be like other nations. We will have a king,\nand he shall go into battle with us.\"\n\nAnd so it came about that from out their number a king was chosen.\n\nNow, there was a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who had a son, named\nSaul.\n\nSaul was a tall, strong, brave, young man, and of him the Lord said to\nSamuel, \"If the Israelites have a king, let this man Saul be that king.\"\n\nOne day it chanced that the cattle belonging to Kish, Saul's father,\nstrayed away; and Kish said to Saul, \"Take a servant with thee and go\nand seek the cattle that have strayed.\"\n\nSo Saul took a servant, and they searched the country round about, going\ngreat distances; still the cattle could not be found.\n\nAt last Saul said to the servant, \"I am tired with this search. Let us\ngo back and tell my father all we have done.\"\n\nThen the servant said, \"There is a prophet living near this place into\nwhich we have come. Let us seek him; for I am told he is most wise.\nPerhaps he may help us to find our cattle.\"\n\n\"Let us go to him,\" Saul answered readily; and so the two men came into\nthe city where Samuel dwelt; for it was he they sought.\n\nAs they drew near the city, they met two young women coming to a well to\ndraw water.\n\n\"Tell me, is the prophet here?\" Saul asked.\n\nAnd the young women said, \"Yes, to-day he offers sacrifice in the city.\nFirst, he blesses the sacrifice, and then the people feast; and now he\nis going towards the temple. Make haste and you will see him.\"\n\nSaul and the servant hurried on towards the gate of the city; and there\nthey saw an old man, sitting alone.\n\n\"Tell us,\" said Saul, \"where we may find the prophet Samuel.\"\n\nAnd the old man answered, \"I am Samuel. Come and feast with me; and\nto-morrow thou shalt go. Grieve not about the cattle; already they are\nfound. But come with me, for I have much to tell thee. The desire of all\nIsrael is upon thee and upon thy father's house.\"\n\nThen Saul said, \"Why dost thou speak so to me? Knowest thou not that my\nfamily is one of the least of the tribe of Benjamin?\"\n\nBut Samuel knew; and he led Saul to his house and feasted him. And when\nthe feast was over, Samuel said to Saul, \"The people of Israel desire a\nking; and it is thou, Saul, whom the Lord has chosen to be that king.\"\n\n[Illustration: SAMUEL BLESSING SAUL.]\n\nThen, when morning came, Saul and his servant set out upon their journey\nhome; and Samuel went with them, even unto the city gates. Then Samuel\nsaid to the servant, \"Go on before. I would speak once more with Saul\nalone.\" And when he had gone, Samuel poured oil upon the head of Saul\nand kissed him, saying, \"God has chosen thee to be king to rule over his\npeople in Israel.\"\n\nThen Samuel went back to his home, and Saul went on his way. It was to\nhim a strange journey back to his home, for God had already given him\ngreat wisdom and power. Already the gift of prophecy was his; and when\nhe met a company of prophets, he too prophesied with them of things to\ncome.\n\nAnd the people wondered to hear Saul uttering prophecies. \"What does\nthis mean?\" they cried. \"Is Saul also a prophet?\"\n\nBut now Samuel called all the tribes of Israel together at Mizpah. \"It\nis your wish,\" he said, \"that a king should be chosen to rule over you\nand lead you forth into battle. Now, God is not pleased that you should\nchoose a king; for he was himself your king. Still, because it is your\nwish, a king shall be chosen by God. And that man chosen shall be Saul.\"\n\n\"But where is Saul?\" the people asked; for nowhere was Saul to be found.\n\nThen the Lord told the people that Saul was hiding; and he bade them go\nand search for him in that place which God should name.\n\nThe people obeyed, and Saul was found and brought before the people.\n\n\"Is this the man?\" the people asked. And the Lord said, \"This is the\nman.\"\n\nThen the people shouted, and Saul was made king over the Israelites.\n\nThen Samuel said to the people, \"Behold I am an old man. My hair is\nwhite with age. All my life I have been with you, from the time when I\nwas a little child until now. Tell me, have I ever oppressed you, or\nhave I ever taken anything from you?\"\n\nAnd all the people shouted, \"No! No! Never! Never have you oppressed us\nor wronged us in any way!\" For the people all loved Samuel, from the\noldest to the youngest.\n\n\"Wait, then,\" said Samuel, \"and hear what I would say to you. Many years\nago God brought your fathers out of Israel and gave this land to them\nfor a possession.\n\n\"Often your fathers rebelled against God; and as often he sent\npunishment upon them that they might turn back to him. Sisera and the\nPhilistines and the Moabites God sent to fight against the Israelites;\nbut whenever they repented and turned back, then He forgave them. Many\ngood captains He sent them,--Gideon, Jepthah and Samson.\n\n\"And now you have asked for a king, and God has given you one. And so\nlong as the king and his people are true to the one God, so long shall\nHis blessing be upon you.\"\n\nAnd so ended that time in the history of the children of Israel when\nthey were content to be ruled over by Judges chosen by God; and of these\nJudges, Samuel was the last.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's Notes\n\nVarious punctuation errors corrected\n\nMultiple spellings of biblical and place names left unaltered","title":"Stories of the Bible, Volume 1: The People of the Chosen Land","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":25758}