BIBLE READINGS WITH 
 MY CHILDREN. 
 
 BY 
 
 Mrs. PHILIP COHEN. 
 
 "Even a child is known by his doings, 
 whether hi8 work be pure and whether 
 it be right." Proverbs xx., 11. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 Second Edition. Revised and Enlarged. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 WERTHEIMER, LEA & CO 
 
 CIRCUS PLACE, LONDON WALL. 
 
 1899.
 
 LONDON : 
 P HINTED BY WEKTHEIMER, LEA AND CO. 
 CIRCUS PLACE, LONDON MALL.
 
 Stack 
 Annex 
 
 00 £N<5 
 
 0330 
 
 TO 
 
 MY CHILDREN 
 
 THIS BOOK 
 
 IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED, 

 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 The Philistines and the Ark ' 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Dagon 8 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Ark ; or Wicked Curiosity 13 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Rebellious Wish 18 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Saul, the First King 21 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Saul's Disobedience 25 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 David, the Young Shepherd 33
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 PIG I 
 
 CHAPTER YITI. 
 
 The Troubled Spirit and the Young 
 Musician 37 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Goliath, the Giant 41 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 David, the Modest Conqueror 49 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 David and Jonathan, the Loving Friends 54 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Dav.d and Michal 59 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 David : s Wanderings 64 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 David, the Generous Enemy 72 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Saul's Death 78 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 The Evil Tidings 82 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 David, King of Israel 85
 
 CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 David's Holy Desire £0 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Bathsheba, or the Ewe Lamb 94 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Absalom, the Rebellious Son 102 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Absalom, or the Punishment 109 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Peace for David 113 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 David's Pride 119 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 David's Death 126 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 Solomon's Choice 131 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Solomon's Judgment 134 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Building of the Temple 138
 
 nil CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Solomon and the Covenant 145 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Solomon's House and the Qdeen of Siieba 147 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 Solomon's Old Age 152 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 The Holy Days 156 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Jeroboam and the Disobedient Prophet 163 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 Elijah and the Famine 168 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 Ahab and Elijah 176 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Mount Carmel and the False Prophets 180 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 Elijah in the Wilderness 187 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Ahab and Naboth's Vineyard 192
 
 CONTENTS. IX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XXX VIII. 
 
 Ahab's and Jezebel's End ... 197 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Ahaziah and the Three Captains ... 202 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 Elijah goes to Heaven 207 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 Elisha and the Pot of Oil 211 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 Elisha and the Shunammite 214 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 Elisha and Naaman 224 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 Gehazi, or the Lie 230 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 HOSHEA, THE LAST KlNG OF ISRAEL ... 234 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 Athaliah, the Wicked Grandmother ... 237 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 Hezekiah and the King of Assyria ... 243
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 Hezekiah's Sickness 250 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 Destruction of the Temple 253 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 Gedaliah, the Good Governor of Israel 258 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar's Dream ... 263 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 The Golden Image 270 
 
 CHAPTER LIU. 
 Pride and its Punishment 277 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 Daniel and the Handwriting 280 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 Daniel and the Den of Lions 286 
 
 CHAPTER LVI. 
 
 Return of the Jews; the Temple Re- 
 built 295 
 
 CHAPTER LVII. 
 
 Ahasuerus and Vashti 301
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 J'AGE 
 
 CHAPTER LVIII. 
 
 Esther, the New Queen 306 
 
 CHAPTER LIX. 
 Haman, the Enemy of the Jews 311 
 
 CHAPTER LX. 
 
 Mordecai's Faith 316 
 
 CHAPTER LXI. 
 
 Esther's Petition 320 
 
 CHAPTER LXII. 
 
 The Book of the Chronicles 325 
 
 CHAPTER LXIII. 
 
 Esther saves her People 329 
 
 CHAPTER LXIV. 
 Purim 335 
 
 CHAPTER LXV. 
 Job, the Patient Man 339 
 
 CHAPTER LXVI. 
 
 Job's Three Friends 344
 
 BIBLE READINGS WITH MY 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE PHILISTINES AND THE ARK. 
 
 1 Samuel, iv. 
 
 My dear children, when we left off our 
 stories the other day, I told you that 
 Samuel, as he grew up, became known all 
 over Canaan as a prophet. God continued 
 to be gracious to him, even as He had 
 when Samuel was but a little child learn- 
 ing to serve Him in the Tabernacle, and 
 now that he was a man he loved God more 
 and more. You remember, I hope, how 
 the Lord came and spoke to Samuel in the 
 night, and told him all that was to happen 
 
 B
 
 2 THE PHILISTINES AND 1HE ARK. 
 
 to the old priest Eli and his family. Well, 
 this was not the only time that God 
 appeared to him and revealed the future. 
 You can easily understand, then, that the 
 people from one end of the land of Israel 
 to the other (that is, " from Dan to Beer- 
 sheba") saw that Samuel was a true prophet 
 of the Lord, and they had faith in his 
 words. 
 
 Now, you will see from the story that 
 I am going to tell you, that the Israelites 
 were foolish enough sometimes to act with- 
 out coming to Samuel for advice. 
 
 It was some years after Samuel's vision 
 when the Philistines, those old enemies of 
 the Israelites, came up from their own 
 country to fight them. You heard so 
 much about the Philistines in the story of 
 Samson, that I hope you do not want me 
 to remind you they were a wicked people 
 who lived in Canaan. They never prayed 
 to God, but to idols, and it vexed them to 
 see the children of Israel serving the true 
 God, and they often quarrelled and fought 
 with them.
 
 THE PHILISTINES AND THE ARK. 3 
 
 Now, of course, if the children of Israel 
 had wished to do the right thing, they would 
 have come to the prophet Samuel, to ask his 
 advice before they went out to fight the 
 Philistines. Instead of this, out they all 
 ran, with their swords, or anything they 
 could find to fight with, against the Philk- 
 tines. Well, what do you expect to hear 
 happened ? Who do you think got the 
 best of it ? Not the Israelites, you may be 
 sure, when God felt angry with them, and 
 would not help them. Just see what these 
 silly wicked people did next. 
 
 Instead of coming penitent to Eii or 
 Samuel, telling him how sorry they were 
 for their misconduct, they went to the 
 priests, Hophni and Phinehas, the wicked 
 sons of Eli, and asked them to bring: the 
 Ark of God out among their tents, for then 
 nothing could prevent them conquering 
 the Philistines. If Hophni and Phinehas 
 had not been sinful men, they would have 
 said, "No; we must not bring the Holy 
 Ark into battle ; " but they only thought of 
 pleasing the people and getting presents
 
 4 THE PHILISTINES AND THE ARK. 
 
 from tliem ; so they did what the people 
 wanted, and took God's Ark from out of the 
 Tabernacle at Shiloh, and brought it down 
 to the place where the children of Israel 
 were waiting to fight the Philistines again. 
 "When all the people saw it, they were so 
 delighted, that they shouted again and 
 again, till the sound was echoed back. 
 
 I dare say you know what an <: echo " 
 is ? There are very few children who have 
 not tried with their little voices to raise 
 one, and if you have not, you must get 
 Borne of your older friends to show you 
 what I mean. 
 
 Well, the Philistines heard both the 
 shouts and the echo, and they asked what it 
 was all about. When they were told that 
 the Israelites had fetched the Ark of God 
 into the camp, they were very frightened. 
 
 " Woe unto us ! " they said, " God is come 
 into the camp. Who will save us from this 
 God, that did such wonders in the land of 
 Egypt?" 
 
 You see, they remembered all about 
 Pharaoh and the ten plagues. Then some
 
 THE PHILISTINES AND THE ARK. 5 
 
 of the bravest said, " Do not let us be 
 frightened, or the Israelites will make ser- 
 vants of us. We must take courage, and 
 fight like men." 
 
 So the battle began, and the ending was 
 just what you might expect. The Ark by 
 itself, holy as it was, brought no good for- 
 tune to Israel ; for the people trusted in it 
 instead of believing in the God who had 
 told them to make it. 
 
 The Philistines fought well, and the chil- 
 dren of Israel had to run away to try and 
 save their lives. Numbers of them got 
 killed. The two sons of Eli died just as 
 the man of God foretold to Eli. But the 
 worst you have not yet heard. 
 
 The Ark of God, Israel's treasure, was 
 taken by the Philistines. Now it was 
 their turn to shout, and how they gloried 
 over their prize ! 
 
 And where was Eli all through this long, 
 sad day ? Poor old man, he was sitting 
 at the gate of Shiloh, watching for news, 
 '* for his heart trembled for the Ark of God." 
 Presently, a man came running towards the
 
 6 THE PHILISTINES AND THE ARK. 
 
 city. Numbers of the people flocked out 
 to hear what news he brought. They 
 feared it could not be good, for he had torn 
 his clothes, and put earth upon his head. 
 In those days people always did like this 
 if they were in sorrow ; so that is why to 
 this day many people have a rent made in 
 their clothes when a relation dies. You 
 see it is done in memory of an old Eastern 
 custom. 
 
 Now, Eli, who was very old and blind, 
 could not see all this ; but he could hear 
 the people's cries, when they heard the 
 messenger tell his sad news. He asked 
 what it all meant, and then the man told 
 him that the Philistines had made the 
 Israelites run away and go back to their 
 tents, that numbers of them were dead, his 
 two sons Hophni and Phinehas had been 
 killed in the battle, and, saddest of all, the 
 Philistines had seized the Ark of God. 
 
 When Eli heard these last words, he was 
 so overcome with grief that he fell back by 
 the side of the gate, and broke his neck ; 
 and died at once, M for he was an old man
 
 THE PHILISTINES AND THE ARK. 7 
 
 and heavy."* He was ninety-nine years 
 old. He had judged Israel for forty years. 
 Are you not sorry to hear of such a sad 
 ending to Eli's life ? But it was kinder of 
 God to punish him then than after his 
 death, because you may be sure he went to 
 heaven, as he was a good man in all he 
 did, except not punishing his children 
 when they were young. We must hope 
 that God was able to forgive them too, 
 after He had punished them. God does 
 not like to have to be angry. He has so 
 much love for you all, His children, that it 
 pleases Him, oh, so much more, to be able 
 to reward than punish you ; so do try with 
 all your nvght, dear children, to deserve 
 and earn His love. 
 
 * 1 Samuel, iv., 18.
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 DAGON. 
 
 1 Samuel, v., vi. 
 
 Are you not very anxious to hear what the 
 Philistines did with the Ark ? I will tell 
 you. They knew, of course, that it was 
 something the Israelites considered very 
 precious, so they thought the best thing 
 would be to take it to the house where 
 their own god, Dagon, was kept. You have 
 never heard of Dagon. He was an idol, an 
 image that the Philistines worshipped as a 
 god. So this Dagon had a house all to him- 
 self — a temple, as we should call it. There 
 the Ark of God was brought, and placed 
 by the side of the idol. In the morn- 
 ing, when some of the Philistines went 
 into Dagon's house they were very sur-
 
 DAGON. 9 
 
 prised to see that their god Dagon had 
 fallen down upon his face before the Ark. 
 They thought this was an accident, so they 
 took their god, lifted him up, and set him 
 in the old place again. 
 
 Do you think it was an accident ? No, 
 I am sure you know better. But these 
 foolish Philistines could not read the lesson 
 that God was teaching them — the difference 
 between the holy and the unholy thing, so 
 see what happened next. 
 
 The following morning, when again some 
 of the people went into the house of Dagon, 
 a much more surprising sight was waiting 
 for them. Not only had their god again 
 fallen upon his face to the ground before 
 the Ark, but his head and his hands were 
 cut off and lying on the floor beside him. 
 
 When the Philistines saw this they were 
 amazed and frightened, but still they did 
 not think of giving the Ark back to the 
 Israelites. 
 
 Then God sent a plague, and numbers of 
 the Philistines got ill and died. What do 
 you think they did then ? They thought
 
 10 DAGON. 
 
 they would get rid of this Ark, which 
 brought such unpleasant things upon them. 
 So they took the Ark and carried it to 
 another Philistine city. No sooner was 
 this done than the same thing happened 
 there — horrible sickness came upon the 
 people, and a great many of them died. 
 
 Then they sent the Ark on to another 
 city. When the people of this other city 
 saw the Ark brought on to them, they were 
 very angry and frightened too, they cried 
 out, " Here is the Ark of the God of Israel 
 brought to us, we shall all die like they 
 have in the other places." 
 
 Then they sent for some of their great 
 men or lords and begged them, " Oh, send 
 away the Ark to its proper place in Israel, 
 for it only brings death and trouble to us." 
 
 Surely enough they were right, for illness 
 broke out among the people, and their cries 
 were heard all through the city. So the 
 Philistines called for their priests and wise 
 men to ask them, " What shall we do with 
 the Ark of God ? Tell us how we shall 
 send it back to its place."
 
 DAG ON. 11 
 
 So they answered them, " Send the Ark 
 back, for the God of Israel is angry with 
 you, and send with it an offering of gold. 
 What is the use of your hardening your 
 hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh did ? 
 After all their plagues, you know, they were 
 obliged to let the children of Israel go. 
 This is how you shall send it back : Have 
 a new cart made, and take two cows that 
 have young calves ; tie the cows to the cart, 
 but leave their calves at home away from 
 them. Then take the Ark of the Lord and 
 lay it upon the cart, and put the jewels of 
 gold that you are sending for a sin offering, 
 in a box by the side. Then leave the cows 
 to go whichever way they like ; if they go 
 on the way to Israel it shall be a sign to us 
 that this trouble has been sent as a punish- 
 ment for our keeping the Ark, but if the 
 cows do not take that road, then we shall 
 know that all this was only a chance." 
 
 The men did as they were told ; they 
 found two cows that gave milk, tied them 
 to the cart, shut up their calves at home, and 
 laid the Ark and the offering on the cart
 
 12 DAGON. 
 
 Well, you know, dear children, if you 
 want to lead a cow to a particular place, all 
 you need do is to take her calf on and she 
 will be sure to follow ; so now see what a 
 wonderful thing this was that happened. 
 
 As soon as the Ark was laid on the cart 
 the cows started off in the most contented 
 fashion, lowing on the way, and never 
 turned to the right hand nor the left, until 
 they came to one of the cities of Israel. 
 Some of the Philistine lords had followed 
 the cart to see how it would end. Presently 
 they reached a field where some Israelites 
 were gathering in the ripe wheat, for it was 
 harvest time. When the men lifted up 
 their eyes and saw the Ark of God, they 
 were indeed rejoiced, and hurried forward 
 to meet it.
 
 13 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ARK ; OR, WICKED CURIOSITY. 
 1 Samuel, vi., vii. 
 
 Now, there was a great stone in the field 
 to which the Philistines had brought the 
 Ark. So some of the men who were Levites 
 (that is, belonging to the tribe of Levi), 
 took hold of the Ark and lifted it, and the 
 offering of gold on to this great stone. 
 Then, they took the wood of the cart, and 
 offered up the two cows as an offering to 
 God. You see they made the stone serve 
 as an altar. The people were so thankful 
 to get the holy Ark back among them, that 
 they wanted to show God their gratitude 
 by making Him an offering. 
 
 When the Philistine lords had seen this, 
 
 B 7
 
 14 THE ARK ; OR, WICKED CURIOSITY. 
 
 back they went to their own country. I 
 think they were as glad to be rid of the 
 Ark, as the Israelites were to have it back 
 again. You can take a lesson from this, my 
 dear children. We are seldom happy when 
 we have anything that is not ours by right, 
 but belongs to some one else ; we may not 
 fall ill and suffer like the Philistines, but 
 we are sure to feel very miserable; we 
 must listen to the small still voice of con- 
 science, which will make itself heard sooner 
 or later. 
 
 After the Philistines had left the Ark 
 with the Israelites, some of the people did 
 a very wrong thing. You know that 
 Moses had told the people to keep the Ark 
 in the Sanctuary, only the tribe of Levi 
 was allowed to serve there, no one belong- 
 ing to any of the other tribes might even 
 touch any of the holy things. Well, I am 
 sorry to tell you that whilst the Ark was 
 on the great stone in the field, some of the 
 people v were disobedient enough to come 
 and look into it. 
 
 God punished them instantly, and
 
 THE ARK ; OR, WICKED CURIOSITY. 15 
 
 numbers died. The people were very 
 frightened and sad. 
 
 " Who is able to stand before this holy- 
 Lord God ? " they said. They need not 
 have asked this question. As long as you 
 obey His commands, you will never be 
 afraid to stand before Him. But no wonder 
 they were afraid, after disobeying such a 
 direct command, so they sent to the people 
 of another city, saying, "The Philistines 
 have brought again the Ark of the Lord, 
 come ye down and fetch it up to you." * 
 
 So some of the men went and fetched it 
 from off the great stone where the Levites 
 had set it up, and brought it to the other 
 place, to a house where some of the priests 
 lived, and it remained with them for twenty 
 years. 
 
 Do you know who was judging Israel all 
 this time ? Samue], the same Samuel who 
 was taken to the Tabernacle by his mother, 
 Hannah, when he was a little child, and 
 brought up there by Eli, the High Priest. 
 
 1 Samuel, vi. 21.
 
 1(3 THE ARK; OR, WICKED CURIOSITY. 
 
 Samuel was a very wise good man, and it 
 grieved him to see his people sin, for they 
 often forgot God and served idols like the 
 Philistines did, so Samuel talked to them 
 and begged them to put away their false 
 gods and to " serve the Lord only." 
 
 The Israelites knew that Samuel was 
 right, so they owned it at once, and said, 
 " We have sinned against the Lord." 
 
 Then Samuel prayed to God for the 
 people who were in trouble just then, for 
 their old enemies, the Philistines, were 
 fightinor them a^ain. But God listened to 
 Samuel's prayers, and when the battle 
 began between the Israelites and Philis- 
 tines, the Philistines got the worst of it, 
 and had to run away, and, what is more, 
 they never came again to fight Israel as 
 long as Samuel lived. 
 
 Samuel did not remain in one place all 
 the year round, but went about to different 
 cities, to judge the people, and to teach 
 them what was right and wrong, to settle 
 disputes, and do all he could to make them 
 happy, as most of the judges had done and
 
 THE ARK; OR, WICKED CURIOSITY. 17 
 
 as Moses did in the Wilderness, and other 
 good men, who followed his example after 
 his death. How good it was of Samuel 
 to give up his time to the people, it would 
 have been a much easier, pleasanter way of 
 spending it, if he had remained quietly at 
 home, amusing himself, for he had a beau- 
 tiful house of his own at a place called 
 " Ramah ; " but you see he was unselfish, 
 and only thought of what would be best 
 for others, rather than for himself. After 
 hearing this, you will be the more surprised 
 at something I am going to tell you in the 
 next chapter.
 
 18 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE REBELLIOUS WISH. 
 
 1 Samuel, viii. 
 
 At this time all the other nations, except 
 Israel, had kings. You have heard of the 
 King of Egypt, of the King of Moab, ot 
 the King of Ai, but you have never yet 
 heard of a " King of Israel." The Israel- 
 ites had not wanted one, because God had 
 always been their King or Ruler, and how 
 could they have so good a one as the 
 Lord? 
 
 But now, these foolish people thought 
 they would like to be the same as the other 
 nations they saw around them, so they 
 came to their wise old judge, Samuel, and 
 said to him, " Make us a king to rule us 
 like all the nations." Samuel was very
 
 THE KEBELLIOUS WISH. 19 
 
 displeased at their asking him this, but he 
 did not know how to answer the people 
 yet, so he prayed to the Lord. 
 
 Do you think God would refuse then 
 request ? No. He said to Samuel, " Listen 
 to all that they say to you, you need not 
 be vexed, it is not you that they have 
 rejected, but me; they do not wish me to 
 reign over them. They shall have a king, 
 but you shall show them the sort of man 
 he will be." 
 
 And Samuel told all the words of the 
 Lord to the people who had asked him to 
 give them a king. He said, "This is the 
 sort of king that shall reign over you. He 
 will take your sons for himself to be horse- 
 men for his chariots, and some to run 
 before them, and some shall be his servants 
 to work in his fields and gather in his 
 harvests. Your daughters he will take to 
 cook and bake for him. He will grow rich 
 by making you poor, for he will take the 
 best of your fields and olive yards and 
 vineyards ; also your asses when he wants 
 them to do his work. In a word, you will
 
 20 THE REBELLIOUS WISH. 
 
 be his servants. Then you will cry out 
 because of the king that you have chosen 
 you, but the Lord will not hear in that 
 day." 
 
 Can you believe when the people heard 
 this, they were still wicked enough to 
 refuse to obey Samuel's voice ? 
 
 " Nay, but we will have a king over us," 
 they said, * we will be like the other 
 nations ; we will have a king we can see, 
 who will go out and fight our battles." 
 
 And a king they should have, the Lord 
 said, and He would choose him for them, 
 through His faithful servant, Samuel. How 
 this was done, you shall hear in the next 
 chapter.
 
 21 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SAUL, THE FIRST KING. 
 
 1 Samuel, ix., x. 
 
 Now there was a man in Israel named 
 Kish. One day some of his asses were lost, 
 so he called his son to him, and said he must 
 go with one of the servants and try to find 
 them. This son was called Saul. So Saul 
 and the servant started off to look for the 
 asses. Far and near they searched, but the 
 asses were not to be found, till at last Saul 
 thought that his father would be getting 
 anxious about him, so he told the servant 
 they had better return home. They were 
 by this time near the city where Samuel 
 lived. Now the servant had heard what a 
 wise prophet Samuel was, so he said to the 
 young man Saul, " There is a man of God
 
 22 SAUL, THE FIRST KING. 
 
 living near here; let us go and ask his 
 advice, perhaps he may put us in the right 
 way to find the asses." 
 
 Saul thought the servant's idea a very 
 good one, so he answered his servant, " Well 
 said; como, let us go." 
 
 Then they went to the city where 
 Samuel, the " man of God," was living. 
 When the city was reached they had to find 
 the prophet's house, and, seeing an old man, 
 they went up to him to inquire the way to 
 it. Strange enough, this very man happened 
 to be Samuel ; but, I dare say, dear child, 
 you will have sense enough to see it was 
 not so very strange. Just as God led 
 Abraham's faithful old servant to Rebekah, 
 so He now brought Saul direct to Samuel. 
 On each occasion you must see it was not 
 chance, but God's special directing. 
 
 The very day before this, God had spoken 
 to Samuel, and told him that on the next 
 morning He would send him the man whom 
 He intended for King over Israel. So, when 
 Saul came near to Samuel to inquire the 
 way, God said to him, " Behold the man of
 
 SAUL, THE FIRST KING. 23 
 
 whom I spoke to you ; this same shall 
 reign over my people." 
 
 And Samuel said to Saul, " I am the 
 prophet ; come home with me and stay 
 until to-morrow, for I must speak to you." 
 
 Samuel knew all about the asses being 
 lost, so before Saul had time to ask him 
 about them, he told him not to trouble 
 about the asses, for they were found. Then 
 Samuel took Saul and the servant home to 
 his house, and made them sit down to a 
 feast with some of his friends. After this, 
 Samuel took Saul to the top of his house, 
 and talked with him alone. ? 
 
 The next morning they rose early, and 
 Samuel told Saul he was now to go home to 
 his father, but the servant was to pass on 
 before, as he wished to show him the word 
 of God. 
 
 Samuel then took some of the holy oil, 
 such as the priests used, and poured it over 
 Saul's head, then he kissed him, and said, 
 " The Lord hath anointed thee King over 
 His people." 
 
 Samuel told him to go home, but not to
 
 24 SAUL, THE FIRST KING 
 
 repeat to any one about this, and by-and- 
 bye he would come to him and tell him 
 what to do. So Saul returned to his own 
 people, but not a word did he say about 
 having been anointed by Samuel to be 
 King. Time passed on, until Samuel called 
 all the people together to a place called 
 Mizpeh, that they might rejoice over the 
 King whom God had given them. Again 
 Samuel told them that, although God 
 granted their wish, He was angry with 
 them. Still the people did not ask 
 him to beg God to be their King instead 
 of any one else. They were determined to 
 have a King, so Saul was brought forward. 
 
 Saul was very tall and handsome. As 
 he stood among the people, he was higher 
 than any one of them, and Samuel said, 
 " See ye him, whom the Lord has chosen, 
 that there is none like him among the 
 people ?" 
 
 And the people shouted and said, " God 
 save the King." 
 
 After this they all went home to their 
 own houses, and Saul was King over Israel.
 
 25 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 SAUL'S DISOBEDIENCE. 
 
 1 Samuel, xii., xiii., xv. 
 
 Although the Israelites had grieved and 
 displeased Samuel by wishing for a king, 
 he still loved them so well that he often 
 talked to them, and tried to keep them from 
 being wicked, by reminding them of all 
 that God had done for them, and how He 
 had helped them against their enemies. He 
 told them he should never leave off praying 
 for them, teaching them the good and right 
 way. Listen to Samuel's words : " Only 
 fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with 
 all your heart: for think what great things 
 He hath done for you." 
 
 Saul heard these words as well as the 
 people ; so it ought to have been easy for 
 him to be faithful, and obey all God's com-
 
 26 saul's disobedience. 
 
 mands ; but I am sorry to tell you after he 
 had been king about two years, he began 
 to sin; he grew disobedient, and thought he 
 knew what was right as well as Samuel ; 
 so God was displeased with him. 
 
 He was a brave, clever captain, always 
 ready to lead the people out to fight against 
 their enemies (and they had plenty living 
 all round Canaan) ; so they were very proud 
 of their king, and quite satisfied as yet with 
 him. 
 
 Now there were some very wicked people 
 just outside of Canaan, called the Amale- 
 kites. I forget if I have spoken of them to 
 you before. God wished them all to be de- 
 stroyed, so he sent Samuel to Saul with 
 this message : " I remember what the 
 Amalekites did to Israel when they came 
 up from being slaves in Egypt ; how, in- 
 stead of helping them, they fought them 
 when they were weak and sad. Now, take 
 your soldiers, and go, kill them all, men, 
 women and children. Do not spare even 
 their cattle, but destroy everything." 
 
 Now, perhaps, you little children may
 
 saul's disobedience. 27 
 
 say, " What a cruel order ! " so I must tell 
 you that the Amalekites were not to be 
 destroyed just because they had been un- 
 kind and treacherous to the Israelites some 
 time ago, but because they were such a 
 terribly wicked people that God knew 
 their example was dangerous to everyone 
 else. All that they did was sinful, and if 
 they had been allowed to live, the Israelites 
 and other nations would have followed 
 their example, and so in time might have 
 become just as wicked ; so God knew it 
 was right and best for them all to be de- 
 stroyed. Now, you see, it was not an act 
 of revenge, as you might have thought at 
 first. 
 
 I told you that Saul was a very brave 
 man. So this order to go out with his 
 soldiers to fight was quite a pleasant one ; 
 but, unfortunately, as you will see, he only 
 obeyed that part of the command which 
 suited him. Gladly enough he called his 
 soldiers together, and went forth proudly 
 at the head of them, and wherever Amale- 
 kites were to be found, Saul and his
 
 "2s 
 
 soldiers followed them up and slew them. 
 But their king Agag he would not kill ; he 
 thought it would look grand to bring him 
 back to show the people. Besides this, 
 all the finest and strongest oxen and the 
 fattest sheep he saved, only the poor, sickly 
 and thin ones he destroyed. Saul ought to 
 have known that riches got by disobedience 
 to God could do him no good, and you will 
 see how soon he was obliged to own this. 
 
 That very night Samuel heard God's 
 voice, saying, " He was sorry that He had 
 made Saul king, as he would not follow 
 His commands." 
 
 " And it grieved Samuel, and he cried to 
 the Lord all night." But this time Samuel's 
 prayers were of no use. Saul's daring dis- 
 obedience in the sight of all the people was 
 such a bad example, that it must be pun- 
 ished. The next morning Samuel got up 
 early, and went out to meet Saul. When 
 the king saw the old prophet coming to- 
 wards him, he said, "Blessed be thou of the 
 Lord; I have followed the commandment 
 of the Lord."
 
 SAUL'S DISOBEDIENCE. 29 
 
 You know this was not true ; but Saul 
 hoped that Samuel did not. This shows 
 you the difference between prophets and 
 other men. As I think I told you before, 
 God gave them the power both of knowing 
 sometimes what was going to happen, and 
 at other times they knew things that had 
 taken place without any one telling them 
 of it. God sent them this knowledge. 
 
 You will see now, again, how one sin 
 leads you on to another ; for Saul tried to 
 hide his disobedience by a lie ; but Samuel 
 was not to be deceived; so he answered 
 Saul, " What means this bleating of sheep 
 in mine ears, and lowing of oxen that I 
 hear ? " 
 
 Now look at Saul's meanness. Instead 
 of confessing his fault, he tries to throw 
 the blame on his soldiers. "The people 
 have spared of the sheep and oxen to sacri- 
 fice to the Lord thy God ; the rest we have 
 utterly destroyed." 
 
 Not a word, you see, about Agag, the 
 king. Then Samuel said to Saul, " Stay ; I 
 will tell thee what the Lord said to me last
 
 30 saul's disobedience. 
 
 night. The Lord took you, and made you 
 king over His people. He told you to go 
 and utterly destroy the Amalekites, because 
 they were wicked, and had behaved cruelly 
 to His people of Israel. Why, then, did 
 you not obey the voice of the Lord ? " 
 
 Still Saul tried to excuse himself by say- 
 ing it was the people who had saved the 
 cattle. Then Samuel said to him, " Is God 
 as pleased with offerings as with obedience? 
 To obey is better than sacrifices. You have 
 forgotten God. Now He will forget you, 
 and choose some one else for king." 
 
 At last Saul got frightened — not peni- 
 tent even now, I am afraid — and he begged 
 Samuel to forgive him and pray to God foi 
 him ; but Samuel would not. He told him 
 God would not alter His word, and as he 
 turned to go away from him, Saul caught 
 hold of Samuel's robe, and it was torn. Then 
 Samuel said to him, " This is a sign that the 
 Lord has torn the kingdom from you this 
 day, and has given it to your neighbour, 
 who is better than you." 
 
 When Saul heard this he again begged
 
 saul's disobedience. 31 
 
 Samuel not to leave him, but to pray with 
 him before the people. This was not be- 
 cause he felt sorry for his sin ; but he did 
 not want the people to know how angry 
 God was with him. You can see, I hope, 
 dear children, that this was not penitence. 
 Saul was not sad because he had done 
 wrong, but because he was getting punished 
 for it. If he had been, God might, perhaps, 
 even now have forgiven him, and given 
 him another trial. Our loving Father 
 would so much rather be able to forgive 
 than punish us. 
 
 Then Samuel told Saul to bring forward 
 the king of the Amalekites, whom he had 
 saved alive. This Agag was a very wicked, 
 cruel man. He had never spared anyone, 
 not even women or children. So when he 
 came before Samuel, the old prophet took 
 a sword, and slew him there before Saul. 
 Then Samuel went away to his own city, 
 and never saw Saul again. 
 
 Do you know, I pity Samuel very much. 
 He had a great deal to be sad about. He 
 had been so good and kind a judge to the
 
 32 saul's disobedience. 
 
 people, yet they were ungrateful enough to 
 get tired of him, and murmur for a king. 
 God gave them a king ; then think what a 
 grief it must have been to Samuel to see 
 him turn out so badly ! He was not angry, 
 but oh, so sad ! He mourned for Saul. Do 
 you not hope the next king was a better 
 one ? You shall soon hear about him.
 
 33 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 DAVIE, THE YOUNG SHEPHERD. 
 1 Samuel, xvi. 
 
 After Samuel had been grieving some time 
 for Saul, God spoke to him, and said, " You 
 have mourned long enough for Saul ; fill 
 your horn with oil and go. I will send 
 you to Jesse, who lives at Bethlehem ; for 
 I have chosen one of his sons to be king." 
 
 Samuel was rather afraid when he heard 
 this command, as he thought Saul would 
 kill him if the news should reach his ears. 
 However, God told him that no harm 
 should happen to him, but he was to go to 
 Bethlehem to sacrifice, and call Jesse and 
 his sons to see the offering made, and He 
 would point out which of them was to be 
 anointed.
 
 34 DAVID, THE YOUNG SHEPHERD. 
 
 Samuel did just as God told him. He 
 went to Bethlehem, and when the people 
 found that he was going to sacrifice to the 
 Lord, numbers of them gathered round him. 
 Amongst them were Jesse and his sons. 
 Then Samuel told Jesse to come up near to 
 him with his sons, and he looked at the 
 eldest. He was tall and fine-looking; so 
 Samuel thought, This must be the man I 
 am to anoint as king! Samuel could not 
 see into his heart ; only God could do that, 
 you know, and this man's heart was not 
 beautiful like his face ; so, when Samuel 
 said, " Surely the Lord's anointed is before 
 Him," 
 
 God said, " Look not on his face, nor on 
 his height ; for this is not the one I have 
 chosen. The Lord does not see as man 
 sees; man looks to the outward appear- 
 ance, but God looks to the heart." 
 
 What beautiful words these are ! The 
 poor little cripple, the child with the ugly 
 scarred face is often more loved by God 
 than the handsome healthy one, because 
 you see God looks to the heart, and the
 
 DAVID, THE YOUNG SHEPHERD. 35 
 
 heart and the face do not always match. 
 Remember, God sees your heart, dear child; 
 so try and keep it pure and bright to meet 
 God's searching eye. 
 
 When God told Samuel that Jesse's 
 eldest son was not the one to be anointed, 
 Samuel told Jesse he wished to see the 
 others. So Jesse made his second son pass 
 before Samuel, and then the third, and so 
 on, until Samuel had seen seven fine tall 
 young men ; but the right one had not 
 yet appeared ; so Samuel said to Jesse, 
 " The Lord hath not chosen these. Are 
 all your children here ? " 
 
 Then Jesse said, " I have still one more, 
 the youngest ; he takes care of the sheep." 
 
 And Samuel said, " Send and fetch him ; 
 he must come here." 
 
 So Jesse sent and fetched his youngest 
 son to Samuel. Now he was only a lad. 
 He had a rosy, beautiful bright face, that 
 everyone loved to look at; but, besides 
 this, he had a good heart, and that was 
 why God chose him, instead of his tall, fine 
 elder brothers. The little lad's name was
 
 3C DAVID, THE YOUNG SHEPHERD. 
 
 David. I dare say, dear children, you 
 have already heard of him ; perhaps, even, 
 you have learnt some of his beautiful 
 hymns of praise, " Psalms," as they are 
 called ; for David loved God so well that 
 he used to write down his praise of Him 
 in sweet poetry, and these writings of 
 David have been put together and form 
 one of the books in the Bible called 
 " Psalms." Some of these Psalms are very 
 sad ones, others again are quite joyful ; for 
 David was thinking of God at all times, 
 and you will see as you get on further in 
 his history, that his life was happy and 
 sad — sad and happy, like most of ours are. 
 
 As soon as David came, God said to 
 Samuel, " Arise ! anoint him, for this is the 
 one I choose." 
 
 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and 
 poured it over David's head in the sight of 
 his father and brothers; and God gave 
 some of His holy spirit to David, so that 
 he grew wiser and better from that day 
 forward.
 
 37 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE TROUBLED SPIRIT AND THE YOUNG 
 MUSICIAN. 
 
 1 Samuel, xvi. 
 
 Now, although David had been anointed by 
 Samuel, he was not yet to reign over the 
 people. He was not old enough, nor wise 
 enough. God would prepare him ; for the 
 Israelites were to have a good king when 
 Saul should die. 
 
 So little David went back and took care 
 of his sheep, and he remained with them 
 until something happened, which I must 
 tell you about. 
 
 After God had chosen David, and had 
 given him some of His holy spirit, Saul 
 grew veiy miserable. It was not because
 
 38 THE TROUBLED SPIRIT AND 
 
 he knew that David had been anointed to 
 be king in his place; for God kept that 
 knowledge from him at present, or he 
 would have been very angry, and have 
 tried to kill David. 
 
 Well, as I said, Saul was very unhappy ; 
 " a bad spirit troubled him." Can you tell 
 me what this bad spirit was ? — his wicked 
 conscience. Although he was rich and had 
 plenty of servants to do all that he wanted, 
 he was miserable; nothing pleased him. 
 See what it is to disobey God ! Then one 
 of his servants, who felt sorry for him, 
 said, " Let us try to find someone who can 
 play beautiful music ; then, when you hear 
 the sweet sounds, your unhappy thoughts 
 may leave you, the evil spirit may depart, 
 and you will feel better." 
 
 Saul thought this a good plan ; so some 
 of his servants went to find someone who 
 could make sweet music. Now, who do 
 you think they brought back ? Somebody 
 -said to Saul, " I have heard that Jesse, 
 who lives in Bethlehem, has a son who plays 
 beautifully on the harp. Besides this, he is
 
 THE YOUNG MUSICIAN. 39 
 
 very brave and sensible, and has a beautiful 
 face, and the Lord is with him." 
 
 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse, saying, 
 " Send me David, your son, who is a shep- 
 herd." 
 
 No doubt Jesse thought it would be a 
 grand thing for his son to be noticed by 
 the king; so he sent David off directly 
 with a present for Saul. Perhaps you feel 
 curious to know what this present was ; so 
 you shall hear. A bottle of wine, a little 
 kid, and some bread. Not a very grand 
 present, you will say, to send to a king; but, 
 remember, Jesse was only a poor man. 
 When Saul sa v David, he was very pleased 
 with him, and he soon got to love him 
 greatly, and presently he made him his 
 armour-bearer. 
 
 Now, m those days when people went 
 out to fight, they covered their bodies well 
 over with armour. I will tell you what 
 armour is, in case you have never seen 
 any, as no one wears it now-a-days. 
 Armour is a sort of case or covering for a 
 man's body, made of steel, or some other
 
 40 THE TROUBLED SPIRIT. 
 
 metal. Not very comfortable to wear, I 
 think I hear you say ; but it often saved 
 them from getting killed. The kings and 
 great captains always had someone to carry 
 their armour, until they wanted to put it 
 on, and this person was called the "armour- 
 bearer." Now you see what David would 
 have to do when he became Saul's "armour- 
 bearer."' 
 
 The next time when the "bad spirit" 
 came upon Saul, David took his harp and 
 played sweet music to him, and very likely 
 he sang some of his beautiful Psalms or 
 hymns of praise that I told you about ; so 
 that Saul felt comforted and well, and the 
 bad spirit left him, and after a time he lot 
 David return to his father, and once again 
 he took care of the sheep.
 
 41 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 GOLIATH, THE GIANT. 
 1 Samuel, xvii. 
 
 We have not heard anything of tho Philis- 
 tines for a long while, but now once more 
 they came up to fight against the Israelites, 
 so Saul called his soldiers together and 
 went forth with them to meet the Philistines 
 and see who would win the day. 
 
 Now, the Philistines had in their army 
 an immense giant. A giant, I dare say you 
 know from your fairy tales, is a person un- 
 naturally taller and bigger than other 
 people. This giant was called "Goliath, 
 of Gath." He was enormously tall and 
 strong, and, to make him look the more 
 terrible, he was covered all over from head
 
 42 GOLIATH, THE GIANT. 
 
 to foot with thick "armour" made of brass, so 
 he must have looked very awful in his brass 
 coat and his brass legonno's, and a hi^rh hat, 
 or " helmet," as it was called, of the same 
 metal. Besides this, he had a huge shield, 
 which a certain man carried, to hold in 
 front in case any one tried to strike him. 
 
 Every day, for forty days, did the giant 
 Goliath come out and walk proudly in 
 front of the Israelite soldiers' tents, asking, 
 in a loud voice, " Will one of you come out 
 and see which of us can fight the best?" 
 
 This was all very well for the giant, but 
 naturally the Israelites were afraid of risk- 
 ing their lives with this monster. 
 
 So the days went by ; Goliath was always 
 mocking the Israelites for their want of 
 courage, and still not one of them dared 
 accept his offer to fight, for there was no 
 giant to be found in Saul's army. 
 
 Now I told you that David had gone back 
 to take care of his sheep. One day his 
 father, Jesse, called to him and said, "I 
 wish you would leave the sheep for a little 
 while, one of the servants can look after
 
 GOLIATH, THE GIANT. 43 
 
 them, and ) t ou go to the camp and see how 
 your brothers are getting on (David's three 
 eldest brothers had joined Saul to help him 
 against the Philistines); you shall take 
 your brothers some dried corn and some 
 loaves ; they will be glad of that, and you 
 may take besides sixteen cheeses as a pre- 
 sent to their captain." 
 
 So David got up early the next morning, 
 took all the things his father had told him 
 to, put them in a cart, and drove off to the 
 place where Saul's and the Philistines' 
 soldiers had fixed their tents. He soon 
 found his brothers, and they were very glad 
 to see him and hear all the news from the 
 dear ones left at home. Whilst they were 
 talking together out came Goliath, speaking 
 the same words that he uttered every day, 
 and David heard them. 
 
 Now, all the soldiers were so frightened 
 when they saw the giant that they ran 
 away, and they told David how even the 
 brave Saul dared not fight him ; but they 
 said, " Do you know, if any one could kill 
 him, the king would make him very rich,
 
 44 GOLIATH, THE GIANT. 
 
 and would give him his own daughter for a 
 wife." 
 
 When David heard this he stood very 
 quiet, thinking to himself, "I wonder if 
 God would help me ; if so, I am sure I could 
 kin" him, although he is so big." 
 
 When his eldest brother found he had got 
 the idea in his head of fighting the terrible 
 giant, he was quite angry with him. He 
 said. " Why did you come down to the 
 camp ? You should have remained with 
 the sheep. How can you be so proud as to 
 imagine you would have a chance against 
 the giant !" 
 
 But David would not give up the thought. 
 He was not proud, but he began to feel 
 sure that God was with him, so he talked 
 to the people of his wish to fight Goliath. 
 Some of the soldiers went and told Saul of 
 the littie shepherd lad with the brave heart ; 
 and the king sent for him. When David 
 came to Saul's tent, and the king looked at 
 him, he, like David's brother, felt afraid for 
 such a lad to fight the Philistine warrior ; 
 but David said, " Let no one be afraid of
 
 GOLIATH, THE GIANT. 45 
 
 this Philistine, thy servant will go and fight 
 him ! " 
 
 Saul said, "Thou art not able to go and 
 fight against this Philistine, for thou art 
 but a lad now, and he has been a man 
 of war from his youth." 
 
 Then David answered Saul, " Thy ser- 
 vant kept his father's flocks, and once a 
 lion, and another time a bear, came out to 
 them. The lion took a lamb away from 
 the flock. I went after him and took the 
 lamb from the lion's mouth ; then the lion 
 rose against me, but I caught him by his 
 beard and killed him. I also killed the 
 bear. This wicked Philistine shall be like 
 one of them, for he has mocked the soldiers 
 of God. My God, who delivered me from 
 the paw of the lion and the paw of the 
 bear, He will save me from the hands of 
 this Philistine." 
 
 When Saul heard these brave, modest 
 words, he felt that God would help David, 
 so he answered him, " Go, and the Lord be 
 with thee." 
 
 Then Saul took his own armour and put
 
 46 GOLIATH, THE GIANT. 
 
 it on David, and lie tied his own sword 
 round David's waist. But David had not 
 been accustomed to move about in a heavy 
 coat of armour and a high brass helmet, so 
 naturally he felt uncomfortable in them, 
 and he told Saul he would rather fight in 
 his own clothes that he wore every day. 
 So he put off Saul's armour, dressed himself 
 as before, and, only taking his shepherd's 
 " staff" (or stick) in his hand, he went out 
 to meet Goliath. On his way he passed a 
 little stream of water, here he stopped, 
 stooped down and picked out five smooth 
 stones. These he put into the little shep- 
 herd's bag, which hung at his side to carry 
 his food in. He had besides in his hand a 
 sling, and with no sword or arms of any 
 kind, David drew near the great giant. 
 Now, when Goliath looked about and saw 
 David he despised him, for all he saw was a 
 young lad, fair, and rosy looking. He did not 
 know this was God's soldier he would have 
 to fight against, so Goliath said. " Am I a 
 dog that you come to fight me with a 
 stick V And the Philistine cursed him in
 
 GOLIATH, THE GIANT. 47 
 
 the name of his gods, and he said to David, 
 " Come to me, and I will soon give your 
 body to the birds to peck, and the wild 
 beasts of the field shall feast on it." 
 
 Still David felt no fear. He said to the 
 Philistine, " You come to me with a sword 
 and a spear and a shield, but I come to you 
 in the name of the Lord God of Hosts, 
 whose soldiers you have mocked. This day 
 God will deliver you into my hand, and I 
 shall cut off your head, and your body 
 shall be food for the beasts of the field, to 
 show that there is a God in Israel. And 
 all here will see that our God does not save 
 with the sword and the spear, for the battle 
 is the Lord's, and He will give you into 
 our hands." 
 
 The giant was very angry at these words, 
 and he came yet nearer to David. David 
 ran forward to meet him ; then he put his 
 hand into his bag, drew out one of the 
 five stones, placed it in the sling, and in 
 another moment he had thrown it before 
 him, so that it struck the giant's forehead, 
 the stone sank in, and Goliath fell to the
 
 4S GOLIATH, THE GIANT. 
 
 ground like a dead man. David took the 
 giant's sword and cut off his head with it. 
 
 Who had killed Goliath ? Not David, 
 but God in reality. David, with his brave, 
 faithful young heart, was only God's tool, 
 working out his Master's will. When you 
 see a beautiful picture you do not say what 
 a clever brush painted that, but you think 
 to yourself what a skilful hand must have 
 been at work guiding the brush ; and so it 
 was with David. He was brave, yet, 
 humble, trusting in God, therefore God 
 chose him to work out His wishes. If we 
 are good and brave we can often work out 
 God's will, so let us try to make ourselves 
 fit to be God's servants. This ought to be 
 our highest wish in life.
 
 49 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DAVID, THE MODEST CONQUEROR. 
 1 Samuel, xvii., xviii. 
 
 When the Philistines saw their famous 
 soldier fall down before the Hebrew shep- 
 herd lad, a great fear came upon them ; they 
 scarcely waited to see David marching 
 along with Goliath's head, which he cut oft 
 and stuck on the giant's own sword, but 
 they all began running away. Then the 
 men of Israel gave one great shout, and 
 followed them, and numbers of the Philis- 
 tines got killed. 
 
 The Philistines had been in such a hurry 
 that they did not wait to carry their tents 
 off with them, so when the Israelites re- 
 turned to the camp, they found plenty of 
 
 C 7
 
 50 DAVID, THE MODEST CONQUEROR. 
 
 rich and useful things left behind there, 
 which they took for themselves, as this was 
 always allowed in war time. You can 
 fancy the Israelites were all very delighted 
 with David, as they owed all this to his 
 bravery ; besides, he had not been idle after 
 killing the giant, but had gone out with 
 the soldiers to help them, when they fol- 
 lowed the Philistines as they ran away. 
 
 Saul had quite forgotten David's face, for 
 it was some time since he had been fetched 
 to play the harp to the king, so when 
 David came into Saul's tent, bringing the 
 head of Goliath, Saul asked him, "Whose 
 son art thou ? * 
 
 David answered. " I am the son of Jesse 
 who lives in Bethlehem." 
 
 Then Saul said to the captain of the 
 army, " Do not let David go home again to 
 his father ; we must keep him with us, as 
 he is so brave, and make him an officer in 
 our army." 
 
 Now, some people would have altered, 
 and grown so proud and disagreeable at 
 such a sudden change in their way of
 
 DAVID, THE MODEST CONQUEROR. 51 
 
 living; for just think how different it all 
 was now for David. Instead of being a 
 shepherd, out in any weather, tending 
 sheep, very often tired, and perhaps some- 
 times hungry, now we find David one of 
 Saul's captains, the pet and darling of the 
 soldiers ! For had he not done what none 
 of them had dared to, and so saved them 
 all from their old enemies the Philistines ? 
 
 Even the women showed their delight by 
 coming out to meet him; playing music 
 and dancing round him. This was not all ; 
 they sang " Saul hath slain his thousands 
 and David his ten thousands/' 
 
 Can you believe that when Saul heard 
 these words, the " evil spirit " came back to 
 him, and he felt jealous of the brave young 
 David. He did not like the people to praise 
 David more than they did himself, and he 
 was so annoyed, that one day, when David 
 was playing the harp to quiet and soothe 
 the king, Saul took a javelin (that is a 
 short spear) and threw it at David to kill 
 him. Fortunately, David saw it coming, 
 so he moved aside, and the javelin stuck in
 
 52 DAVID, THE MODEST CONQUEROR. 
 
 the wall instead of in David's head, where 
 Saul had intended it to go. 
 
 Then Saul was afraid of David, for he 
 saw that God was with him. So Saul 
 thought to himself, I will send David out, 
 whenever I can, to fight, and perhaps he 
 will get killed in battle, and so I shall be 
 rid of him, and he told David, if he would 
 fight bravely for him, he would give him 
 his eldest daughter for a wife. But David 
 was "so modest and humble, he thought 
 such a reward would be too great an 
 honour for him, so he said to Saul, " Who 
 am I, that I should be the king's son-in- 
 law ? " 
 
 "When, presently, Saul's daughter was 
 given to someone else for a wife, David 
 was not disappointed. Do you know why ? 
 Saul had a second daughter, named Michal, 
 and David loved her, and he hoped he 
 might by and bye win her. Some one told 
 Saul about this, and it pleased him, for he 
 thought he would set David such a hard 
 task, that he would die in trying to do it, 
 so he said, " If David can kill one hundred
 
 DAVID, THE MODEST CONQUEROR. 53 
 
 Philistines, he shall have Michal for a 
 wife." 
 
 David was so pleased to hear this, and 
 soon, word was brought to Saul, that not 
 one, but two hundred Philistines had been 
 slain. Then Saul could no longer keep 
 back the promised reward, and Michal, 
 whom David loved, became his wife ; and 
 the people were all pleased, for they loved 
 David more and more, because he behaved 
 so wisely and was not proud to them, and 
 they saw that God was with him. 
 
 But Saul grew more afraid of David, and 
 now began to treat him as an enemy,
 
 54 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 DAVID AND JONATHAN, THE LOVING FRIENDS. 
 
 1 Samuel, xviii., xix.. xx. 
 
 I have already spoken to you of Saul's two 
 daughters, but now you must hear of a son 
 he had. Whilst I think about him, I feel 
 that I want you, dear children, to love him ; 
 for he was so good, and brave, and affec- 
 tionate. His name was Jonathan. 
 
 Jonathan was in his father's tent, when 
 David came in, carrying Goliath's head, and 
 directly he looked at David and heard him 
 speak his modest fearless words, Jonathan 
 felt in his heart that this must be his friend, 
 and from that moment to the day of his 
 death, he loved David "as his own soul." 
 You must not think that the love was all
 
 THE LOVING FRIENDS. •">•"> 
 
 on Jonathan's side ; for David's heart was 
 as full of love for Jonathan, as Jonathan's 
 was for David. They made a promise to 
 each other, that no one should ever step in 
 between them, and make them enemies. 
 Then Jonathan wished to show David that 
 he thought there was no difference between 
 a king's son and a poor shepherd; so he 
 took off his own robe, and made David 
 wear it ; and besides this he gave him his 
 sword, his bow, and his girdle, or sash. 
 
 Now, when Jonathan saw that his father's 
 heart had turned against David, and that 
 he hated him, he was deeply grieved, and 
 he made up his mind that if he could 
 save David, no harm should ever come to 
 him from his father's hands. So when 
 Jonathan heard Saul say that he would 
 kill David, what did he do but go at once 
 and tell David to get out of Saul's way, 
 and this time his life was safe. 
 
 But Jonathan was not content with 
 warning David to keep away from Saul. 
 He knew that David was too brave to be 
 happy if he had always to be hiding; so
 
 50 DAVID AND JONATHAN, 
 
 Jonathan made up his mind to speak to his 
 father. 
 
 Early the next morning, as Saul was 
 walking out in the field, Jonathan went to 
 him and said, " Why do you sin against 
 David ? He has never done you any harm. 
 On the contrary, he has always behaved 
 well, and has been a most faithful servant. 
 Did he not run the chance of losing his 
 life when he fought with Goliath, only the 
 Lord helped him, so that all Israel was 
 saved from the Philistines ? All the people 
 love him, so how can you think of killing 
 him?" 
 
 These were bold words for a son to use 
 to his father, and that father a king, who 
 might in a minute order him to be shut up 
 in prison, or killed : but you know I told 
 you that Jonathan was brave as well as 
 good and loving. 
 
 Do you see, dear children, that there are 
 different kinds of bravery ? You can easily 
 see that David was very brave, when he went 
 out to fight the giant, but do you know that 
 Jonathan was just as brave now, when he
 
 THE LOVING FRIENDS. 57 
 
 went to the king and had the courage to 
 tell him he was doing wrong in hating 
 David and trying to kill him. You can all 
 show bravery at times. If you see any ol 
 your young companions doing what you 
 know is wrong, remember Jonathan, and 
 try to persuade them to do what is right . 
 make him your hero, imitate him, and you 
 will be sure to please your Father in 
 heaven. 
 
 Jonathan's brave words saved David's 
 life. Saul loved his son ; so he listened to 
 his advice, and promised, "As the Lord 
 liveth, David shall not be slain." 
 
 Then Jonathan went to David's hiding- 
 place, to tell him all about it, and the two 
 dear friends were once more happy, and 
 Jonathan brought David back to Saul, and 
 all went on well for a time, until Saul's 
 " evil spirit " came again to him, with the 
 old feeling of jealousy. But David was 
 not frightened, although the king sat as 
 before, with his javelin in his hand. 
 
 David hoped if he played on his harp 
 that Saul would soon be well again; and
 
 58 DAVID AND JONATHAN. 
 
 soon the sound of sweet music was heard ; 
 but this time the evil spirit was not driven 
 away, and Saul again tried to kill David 
 with the javelin. David managed to move 
 on one side ; so he did not get hurt, and the 
 javelin sank into the wall
 
 59 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 DAVID AND MICHAL. 
 
 1 Samuel, xix., xx. 
 
 After Saul had tried the second time to 
 kill David with the javelin, you can 
 imagine David did not think it safe to re- 
 main near the king ; so he went home to 
 his wife Michal, and told her what had 
 happened. She was very frightened, and 
 she said to David she was sure her father 
 meant to kill him, and he must run away. 
 Not very easy to do so, you will say, when 
 I tell you that the king's servants were 
 waiting outside of David's door to slay him 
 as he came out ; so you shall hear what 
 David's loving wife did. First of all, she 
 got a strong rope, tied it round David's
 
 CO DAVID AND MICHAL. 
 
 body, and so let him down from the 
 window, just like I told you Kahab did 
 with the spies, when they were in Jericho. 
 Then Michal dressed up an image, and laid 
 it in David's bed, and pretended it was he 
 lying there ill; for, sure enough, in the 
 morning Saul's servants came to take David. 
 
 " He is ill," said Michal. 
 
 "Then if he is too ill to get up, bring 
 him to me in his bed, for I will kill him," 
 was Saul's answer. 
 
 So the servants went up to David's bed- 
 room ; but, as you know, no David was 
 there. Instead of him, they found a figure 
 lying in the bed ; and so again David's life 
 was spared. 
 
 Saul was very angry with his daughter 
 Michal; but I know you will agree with 
 me in thinking her a very clever woman. 
 She loved David, as everyone did except 
 Saul. Perhaps by this time Saul had got 
 to know that God meant David to be the 
 king by-and-bye, and this made his jealousy 
 grow more and more. 
 
 "Where do you think David went to
 
 DAVID AND MICHAL. (jl 
 
 when he had to run away in such a hurry 
 from his home, and leave his wife, who was 
 so fond of him ? 
 
 To the good old prophet, Samuel, and he 
 told him all that Saul had done to him. 
 Samuel comforted him. He told him not 
 to fear — that God would be with him, and 
 although he might have to bear trouble 
 now, his life should be safe, and all would 
 be well for him by-and-bye. 
 
 I should like you to notice, dear children, 
 how most of the very good people you hear 
 of, had to bear trouble some part of their 
 lives. Just look at Abraham, Jacob, Moses, 
 and now David. Too much sunshine is not 
 good; it hurts, and may even blind you. 
 And so it is in life, if we were to be always 
 happy, and have everything we liked, we 
 might forget God ; so He sends us trouble 
 as well as joy. This may make you under- 
 stand a beautiful verse in the Bible — 
 
 " Whom the Lord loveth He correcteth ; 
 even as a father the son in whom he 
 delighteth."* 
 
 * Proverbs iii. 12.
 
 62 DAVID AND MICHAL. 
 
 After David had been some while with 
 Samuel, he thought he would go and see 
 Jonathan, and hear if Saul felt any more 
 kindly to him by this time ; so he came to 
 Jonathan, and asked him if he thought his 
 life would be in danger were he to remain 
 near Saul. Jonathan told him he would 
 speak to his father again, and that he 
 might depend on his saying all he could for 
 him. 
 
 Once more Jonathan begged for his 
 friend ; but this time he could do no good ; 
 in fact, Saul got so angry that in his pas- 
 sion he took his javelin, and tried to kill 
 his own son by throwing it at him. Fortu- 
 nately, it did not strike Jonathan. He 
 saw that nothing he could say would move 
 the king ; so, grieved and angry, he went 
 forth from his father, and came to meet 
 David. 
 
 As Jonathan drew near, David knew 
 that there was no hope, and all the two 
 friends could do, was to kiss each other* 
 and then, after much weeping, to say good- 
 bye. They feared that they might never
 
 DAVID AND MICHAL. 03 
 
 meet again alive. It was such a solemn 
 parting; for they promised if they never 
 did see each other again, but by-and-bye, 
 when their children were grown up (for 
 they now both of them had children of 
 their own), if they could do a kindness to 
 one another, they surely should. 
 
 This was how they said good-bye. Jona- 
 than - going back to his father's house, 
 whilst poor David set out to wander, he 
 scarcely knew where, just to be safe out of 
 Saul's way.
 
 64 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 datid's wanderings. 
 1 Samuel, xxi., xxiv. 
 
 Now, I have not time to tell you all the 
 wonderful escapes that David had at this 
 time of his life ; how once he was starving, 
 and might have died, if the good priests 
 had not fed him with some of the holy bread 
 from out of the Tabernacle. Another time 
 he was obliged to ask for shelter with his 
 old enemies the Philistines, when he had to 
 pretend that he was mad, or they might 
 have killed him, only you know nobody 
 need be afraid of a poor idiot, and this was 
 what the Philistines thought David now 
 was, so they looked upon him as quit© 
 harmless.
 
 DAVIDS WANDERINGS. <",*, 
 
 Often David was obliged to hide in the 
 woods or in caves (that is holes in the rocks), 
 and once, when he was living in the wilder- 
 ness, his faithful friend Jonathan came to 
 see him. This was the happiest moment 
 David had had for years. Jonathan told 
 him he knew that he would be king of 
 Israel, by-and-bye, and that Saul, his father, 
 knew it too. " But, fear not, my father 
 shall not find thee." 
 
 Do not you love Jonathan ? You are not 
 surprised that David did, as much as if he 
 had been his brother. Most men would 
 have felt jealous of David, as he was to have 
 the kingdom, which Jonathan might have 
 expected for himself after his father's 
 death. But Jonathan loved David so 
 purely and unselfishly that he really forgot 
 to think of himself, and only felt pleasure 
 in what would make David great. This is 
 true love. And David, too, was a splendid 
 character; through all his wanderings he 
 never lost his faith in God. Some of his 
 most beautiful Psalms, or hymns of praise 
 as I told you you could call them, he
 
 66 DAVID'S WANDERINGS. 
 
 wrote when his life was in the greatest 
 danger, and he had his reward. God was 
 with him at all times, as He will be with 
 you, dear children, if you deserve it. " I will 
 love thee, Lord I my strength."* " The 
 Lord is near to those who call upon Him."i* 
 
 These were the words that David sang, 
 and he found them to be true. God was with 
 him, and Saul could not harm him. There 
 is one little story I must tell you, as it 
 shows, more than any other, how generous 
 and forgiving David was, as well as patient 
 and truthful. 
 
 Now, first of all, you must know, dear 
 children, that all this time whilst David was 
 hiding, first in one place and then in 
 another, he was not alone. As soon as his 
 father and brothers got to hear where he 
 was, they came to see him, and a great 
 many of his old friends, too, followed, and 
 they remained with him in all his wander- 
 ings, so as to give him help if he should 
 want it against Saul ; for the caves, as I 
 told you, were not little places for just one 
 
 * Psalm xviii. 1. f Psalm cxlv. 18.
 
 DAVIDS WANDERINGS. 67 
 
 person to creep into, but sometimes they 
 were like immense rooms, or rather cellars, 
 with no light except near the hole by which 
 the people got in. Now, I think you will 
 understand the story you are going to hear. 
 Saul got very angry when he found that 
 David always managed to escape him, so he 
 called together more soldiers than he had 
 before — three thousand men — and told them 
 they must help him to catch David. So 
 they started off and soon reached the very 
 cave where David and his men were living. 
 As I told you before, a cave is a dark place, 
 and as it all happened to be quiet inside of 
 David's cave when Saul passed by, he had 
 no idea that there was any one there, and 
 feeling tired, he thought he would go in- 
 side and rest. So the soldiers remained 
 outside, and Saul went in and laid himself 
 down to rest. All this time David and his 
 men remained at the sides of the cave, so 
 that Saul could not see them. Then David's 
 men said to him, "Behold, God has sent 
 your enemy into your hands that you may 
 do what you like with him."
 
 68 dayid's wanderings. 
 
 Do you think that David would like to 
 take Saul's life as Saul had been trying to 
 take his ? Some of you boys will say, per- 
 haps, that it would only be fair. But, no ; 
 David loved God too well to be revenge- 
 ful. You shall see what he did. How he 
 treated his enemy. 
 
 He went up quietly to Saul where he was 
 lying, and cut off part of the skirt of his 
 long robe. Even this he felt sorry for after- 
 wards. He said to his men, " I wish that I 
 had not put forth my hand at all against 
 my master, seeing that he is the anointed 
 of the Lord." 
 
 He would not let any of his soldiers hurt 
 Saul. Presently the king arose and walked 
 out of the cave. Then David too left it, 
 and followed after Saul, and he cried out to 
 him, " My lord the king." 
 
 Then Saul turned round and saw David, 
 who bowed low to the ground before 
 him, to show his respect for the Lord's 
 anointed. Then he said to Saul, " Oh, why 
 do you listen to those who tell you that I 
 wish to do you harm ? You can now see
 
 DAVID S WANDERINGS. 09 
 
 how untrue it is. God gave you into my 
 power to-day in the cave, and some of my 
 men wanted me to kill you, but I could 
 not do such a thing. See, here is a part 
 of your robe that I cut off whilst you rested. 
 I could as easily have taken your life. So 
 now you will believe that there is not an 
 unkind thought in my heart against you, so 
 why do you want to take my life ? I know 
 that you have treated me very cruelly, but 
 I will not avenge myself. Our God shall 
 judge between us." 
 
 When Saul heard these words the old 
 love and all the old feelings came back ; 
 once more he thought of the little shepherd 
 lad, who had by his bravery saved him and 
 all Israel from being servants to the hated 
 Philistines. The bad envious spirit fled 
 away, and the tears came into Saul's eyes 
 as he called out, " Is this thy voice, my son 
 David V 
 
 He was obliged to cry, as he thought how 
 he had indeed returned evil for good. So 
 he confessed his fault and said to David, 
 
 You are better than I am, for you
 
 70 DAVID'S WANDERINGS. 
 
 have rewarded me good, whilst I have 
 rewarded you evil. I have seen that 
 this day, when God gave me into your 
 hands, and you would not kill me. For if 
 a man finds his enemy, does he send him 
 away in peace ? May God give you a 
 reward for your goodness. Now, I know 
 well that the Lord intends you to be king, 
 by-and-bye; only promise me one thing, 
 that after I am dead, you will be kind to 
 any of my family who may be alive, and 
 you will not treat them as I have treated 
 you." 
 
 Then David swore to Saul that he would 
 always show kindness to any one belonging 
 to him, and he never forgot his oath. Saul 
 now went home, but David did not go with 
 him, for he knew that Saul could not be 
 trusted. Just now he felt sorry, but by- 
 and-bye, when again the " evil spirit " of 
 jealousy and envy might return, he would 
 forget all his promises, and be ready to kill 
 David if he had a chance. 
 
 Dear children, I want you to think a 
 great deal about Saul and his " evil spirit."
 
 DAVID'S WANDERINGS. 71 
 
 Take warning from his history ; see how 
 sad and sorry he often was ; and just re- 
 member that envy and jealousy were the 
 cause of all his unhappiness. So try to be 
 satisfied or content with whatever you 
 have ; do not envy your richer or happier 
 friends or companions; do not think it 
 hard if some of your playmates have much 
 more money than you to spend on toys and 
 goodies, or if some of them get a great 
 many more treats than you do. Believe 
 me, if you try to be satisfied with what you 
 have, you will be quite as happy as they 
 are, and God will love you for your con- 
 tented heart. 
 
 The wisest man who ever lived says that 
 " A contented mind is a continual feast."
 
 72 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 DAVID, THE GENEROUS ENEMY. 
 
 1 Samuel, xxv., xxvi. 
 
 Some months after Saul and David had 
 parted at the cave, a great trouble fell on 
 the people of Israel. Samuel, their faithful 
 judge and prophet, died. The people re- 
 membered how good he had always been to 
 them, so they were very grieved to lose 
 him, and great numbers came to Ramah, 
 where he had lived and died, to see him 
 buried, as this was the only way now left 
 them to show their respect. David, you 
 know, could not come, as he would have 
 been afraid to venture too near Saul. 
 
 Now I must tell you of a very unjust 
 thing that Saul had done to David. You 
 remember how David had to run awav to
 
 DAVID, THE GENEROUS ENEMY. 73 
 
 save his life, leaving his much-loved wife, 
 Michal, behind him. Well, after he had 
 gone, Saul made her take another husband. 
 So now, when, I suppose, David hoped he 
 was going to have a little peace and rest, he 
 married some one else, a very wise woman 
 named Abigail. She was not the only one, 
 however, for David, as was the fashion in 
 olden times, had several wives, but I am 
 not going to trouble you with all their 
 names ; I dare say I shall tell you about 
 one other by-and-bye. 
 
 "Well, do you think that Saul kept his 
 word this time, and left David alone in 
 peace and quiet ? I am very sorry to have 
 to tell you he did not. Once more, and for 
 the last time, he called out his soldiers and 
 marched away to look for David and kill 
 him. Again God tried or tempted David, 
 as you shall hear. 
 
 Saul and his soldiers had been march- 
 ing a long way, so, as they were 
 tired, they laid themselves down for the 
 night, and soon they were all fast asleep. 
 Saul was lying with his spear stuck
 
 74 DAVID, THE GENEROUS ENEMY. 
 
 in the ground close to his pillow, and a cup 
 of water beside him. Now David, finding 
 that Saul intended to kill him if he could 
 catch him, sent out some spies to learn as 
 much as possible. These men came back 
 and told David where Saul was. Then 
 David called one of his bravest followers 
 and said to him, " We will go ourselves 
 and see what they are doing at the camp." 
 
 To David's surprise, when he reached it, 
 he found all the soldiers fast asleep. Even 
 the guard, who should have been on the 
 look-out, slept. The fact was that God 
 had sent a deep sleep upon them. Pre- 
 sently David came upon Saul ; then the 
 young man who was with him said, " See, 
 God has given him into our hands ; let me 
 take the spear which is by his side and 
 with one stroke I can kill him." 
 
 But David said, "Destroy him not, for 
 who can slay the Lord's anointed without 
 sinning ? As the Lord liveth, the Lord 
 shall kill him : his day will come to die, or 
 he will go forth to battle and not return. 
 We will take the spear that is at his
 
 DAVID, THE GENEROUS ENEMY. 75 
 
 pillow, and the water from his side, and let 
 us go. ;: - 
 
 So they took the spear and the bowl of 
 water and got away. No one either saw or 
 heard them, for the whole army of soldiers 
 was too fast asleep. Then David crossed 
 over to a hill opposite, and called out to the 
 captain of Saul's army, whose name was 
 Abner, " Are you not a brave man ? No 
 one is thought like you in Israel. Then 
 how is it that you have not taken better 
 care o^ the king ? One of the people crept 
 in just now to take the king's life. If you 
 doubt what I say, just look and see where 
 the king's spear and cup of water are." 
 
 Then Saul knew that it was David's 
 voice, and at the sound of it, his fondness 
 for David came back, like it did after 
 David had once before controlled himself 
 when his enemy's life was in his hands. " Is 
 this thy o voice, my son David ?" said Saul. 
 
 " It is my voice, my lord, king. Why 
 do you follow me up ? What have I done, 
 and how have I sinned against you ?" 
 
 Then Saul said, "It is I who have
 
 76 DAVID, THE GENEROUS ENEMY. 
 
 sinned ; return my son, David, for I will 
 not do you any more harm, because my life 
 was precious in your eyes to-day. I have 
 been very foolish, and have acted most 
 wrongly." 
 
 Then David answered, " Let one of your 
 young men come here and fetch the king's 
 spear. The Lord rewards us all according 
 to our deeds. He gave you into my hands 
 to-day, but I would not take your life, as 
 you are God's anointed. May God remem- 
 ber this, and guard my life and keep me 
 from trouble.' , 
 
 Then they parted for the last time, David 
 going one way and Saul the other. Do you 
 see the difference between Saul and David ? 
 Saul trusted in his own strength and clever- 
 ness to save him, but David put all his 
 faith in the Lord. 
 
 " Trust in the Lord, and do good."* 
 " It is God who giveth me strength."-f 
 " The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not 
 want. "J 
 
 * Psalm xxxvii. 3. f Psalm xviii. 32. 
 t Psalm xxiii. 1.
 
 DAVID, THE GENEROUS ENEMY 77 
 
 Yes, dear children, the Lord is your 
 shepherd. You are His sheep ; He will 
 guard and keep you if you love Him. 
 
 " Oh, love the Lord ! Be of good courage, 
 and He will give you strength. Hope in 
 the Lord."* 
 
 " Trust in Him at all times, ye people, 
 pour out your heart before Him. God is a 
 refuge for us."*f* 
 
 So sang David, and so can we sing now, 
 dear children, if we like to praise our 
 loving Father, and we must do as David 
 did, not only sing with our lips, but mean it 
 with our hearts. 
 
 c Psalm xxxi. 23. 24. f Psalm lxii. 8.
 
 78 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 saul's death. 
 
 1 Samuel xxviii., xxxi. 
 
 Axd now we have come to the last chapter 
 of Saul's life, so you will not expect a very 
 happy one, for he had displeased God so 
 very often, that at last he had to meet his 
 punishment. 
 
 Once more I must tell you, that the 
 Philistines got together a large army and 
 came up to fight Saul. He gathered to- 
 gether too all his bravest soldiers, but when 
 he saw the Philistine host, his courage 
 failed him and his heart trembled The 
 good old prophet Samuel had been dead 
 some time, so Saul could not go to him for 
 advice and help. He did pray to God to
 
 SAUL'S DEATH. 79 
 
 know if he would get the best of it in 
 fighting the Philistines ; but God would 
 not listen to him, for the prayers did not 
 come from a penitent, sorrowful heart, but 
 from a frightened, desperate one. 
 
 So Saul was sore disturbed in his mind, 
 and you will not be surprised if I tell you, 
 that going out to fight in this spirit, with- 
 out help from God, on all sides the Israel- 
 ites were beaten, they got disheartened and 
 presently began to run away. Then the 
 Philistines followed after Saul and his sons- 
 Jonathan with all his brothers were slain, 
 and Saul was so badly wounded, that he 
 prayed his armour-bearer to take his sword 
 and thrust it through him But the man 
 refused, he did not like to kill the anointed 
 of the Lord, so Saul took his sword and 
 threw himself on it and died. 
 
 I need not tell you this was wrong of 
 Saul ; we must never take our own lives ; 
 God gave us life, and it is He who will end 
 it when He thinks it best ; if we are ill or 
 unhappy so that we long for death, we 
 must pray to our Father to give us strength
 
 80 SAUL'S DEATH. 
 
 to bear life as long as He wishes it to last. 
 However, Saul, brave though he was in 
 most things, was a coward at the last. If 
 we fear the Lord and trust in Him we 
 need not be afraid of anything, but then 
 you know that Saul did not put his hope 
 in the Lord, so that was why he died so 
 wretchedly. See what David says in one 
 of his Psalms : " Israel, trust thou in 
 the Lord : He is our help and our shield."* 
 Presently, some Philistines came by and 
 found the dead bodies of the king and his 
 sons ; they carried them away, stripped 
 them of their armour, which they hung up 
 in the temple of their chief god, and then, 
 cruellest of all, they hung up the dead 
 bodies themselves at the gates of one of 
 their cities that all the Philistines might 
 see what had become of the King of Israel, 
 of whom they had all at one time been so 
 frightened ; for the}' sent the news round 
 through all their cities and rejoiced over it 
 in the temples of their false gods. 
 
 c Psalm cxv, 9.
 
 saul's death. 81 
 
 But now I must tell you of something 
 that happened, which you will like to hear. 
 The bodies of Saul and his sons were not 
 allowed to remain hanging up at the Phil- 
 istine gate, for some brave men, to whom 
 Saul had long before been kind, rose up in 
 the night in one of the Israelite cities, and 
 went to the place where the bodies were, 
 took them down — burned them — and 
 buried them quietly under a tree.
 
 82 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE EVIL TIDINGS. 
 
 2 Samuel i. 
 
 As you can fancy, it was not long before 
 the news of Saul's death, and the Philis- 
 tines beating the Israelites, was brought to 
 David. At first he would not believe it, 
 although he knew that a battle was going 
 on between Saul and the Philistines, but 
 when the messenger told him all, just as it 
 had really happened, he could no longer 
 hope that it was a false report. 
 
 Now, what do you think were David's 
 feelings when he knew that at last he had 
 no more to fear from Saul, who had so 
 often tried to take his life ? 
 
 If you or I, dear child, had been so badly 
 treated by some one that our life had been
 
 THE EVIL TIDINGS. 83 
 
 a misery to us, and we heard all at once 
 that this enemy was dead, I am afraid our 
 first thought would have been something of 
 this sort, " Well, that is a good thing, he 
 won't be able to hurt me any more !" 
 
 Do you believe David thought or said 
 this ? You cannot have paid much atten- 
 tion to what I have told you about David, if 
 you say Yes. No. When David knew that 
 Saul and Jonathan were dead, he cried and 
 tore his clothes, and would not take any- 
 thing to eat for hours. He forgot all 
 Saul's unkinclness, and only remembered 
 the pleasant days when he was a little 
 shepherd lad, and Saul, the noble- looking 
 king, was good and generous to him until 
 the "evil spirit" of jealousy came to spoil 
 everything. David sang a beautiful song 
 to the people about Saul and Jonathan ; he 
 reminded them how brave they had always 
 been, leading the soldiers out to fight and 
 conquer the enemies of Israel. He sang : 
 " How are the mighty fallen ! Saul and 
 Jonathan were beautiful in their lives ; they 
 were swifter than eagles and stronger than
 
 84 THE EVIL TIDINGS. 
 
 lions, and in their death they were not 
 .separated. Ye daughters of Israel, weep 
 over Saul. How are the mighty fallen in 
 battle. I am desolate for thee, my brother 
 Jonathan. Very pleasant hast thou been 
 to me ; thy love for me was wonderful, 
 passing the love of women !" 
 
 You know that Jonathan was not really 
 David's brother, but he meant that he could 
 not have loved him better had he been. 
 
 Do you see how noble David was ; not a 
 word did he utter against Saul, he only 
 spoke of all that had been pleasant and 
 good about him. Take David for your 
 example, dear children, and you must gain 
 friends here on earth and have a true one 
 in heaven.
 
 85 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 DAVID, KING OF ISRAEL. 
 
 2 Samuel v., vi. 
 
 You know that God had said that David 
 was to be king after Saul's death. Now, 
 the time had arrived for this promise to 
 come true. The men of Israel knew this, 
 so numbers of them came to David saying, 
 " We are glad you are going to be our king, 
 for we know that God has chosen you, and 
 we love you, for have you not often led us 
 out to fight our enemies, even whilst Saul 
 was king ?" 
 
 So David was anointed King of Israel ; 
 the priest poured the holy oil upon his 
 head, like Samuel had done to Saul, and 
 very happy David felt, for at last God's 
 
 D 7
 
 86 DAVID, KING OF ISRAEL. 
 
 promise, made so many years ago, was ful- 
 filled, and beautiful psalms of praise he 
 sang : — 
 
 " Oh, come, let us sing unto the Lord."* 
 " Oh, sing unto the Lord a new song."-)* 
 " Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man 
 that feareth the Lord, that delighteth 
 greatly in his commandments."! 
 
 "I love the Lord, because He has heard 
 my voice and my supplication." § 
 
 Yes, David did truly love the Lord ; 
 whether he was sad or joyful, rich or poor, 
 David loved the Lord. Nothing did he 
 like better than to take his harp and sing 
 psalms of praise to God. Is it not a good 
 thing that these psalms have been written 
 down and saved for us ? You can praise 
 God when you read them, if you like. 
 
 I want you to remember the name of the 
 city where David lived after he became 
 king — Jerusalem, the "holy city," as we 
 often call it in our prayers ; you will soon 
 see why. Jerusalem was a very beautiful 
 
 c Psalm xcv., 1. f Psalm xcviii., 1. 
 % Psalm cxii., 1. § Psalm cxvi., 1.
 
 DAVID, KING OF ISRAEL. 87 
 
 city, with several hills in it ; in fact it was 
 these hills that helped to make its beauty, 
 for you, perhaps, know that a very flat 
 place can never be pretty to look at. Now 
 one of these hills was called Zion, and it 
 was on Zion that David chose to have a 
 house built to live in. This house, or 
 palace, as we now-a-days call a king's 
 house, was made of cedar wood. Cedar 
 trees are the choicest that can be used for 
 building. David did not have to buy them ; 
 they were sent him as a present from a 
 king, named Hiram, who lived in a country 
 close to Canaan, or u Palestine," as it was 
 now often called. You never hear it spoken 
 of now as Canaan, but always as " Pales- 
 tine," or " the Holy Land." So Hiram made 
 a present to David of all the wood he wanted 
 to build his palace with. You see God was 
 with David, and everything went well with 
 him, so most of his neighbours liked to be 
 good friends with him. If any of them 
 would not, David always asked God's ad- 
 vice, whether he should go out and fight 
 them, and God was gracious to him and
 
 88 DAVID, KING OF ISRAEL. 
 
 answered him, and if he was to go out God 
 helped him, so David always had the best 
 of it. 
 
 Do you know where the Ark was all 
 this time ? I hope you remember how Eli's 
 two wicked sons took it with them when 
 they went out to fight the Philistines, 
 and the Philistines you know seized it. 
 Although the Philistines had given it back 
 to the Israelites, it had never been put in 
 its place, within the Tabernacle at Shiloh, 
 and now David had a great wish for the 
 Ark to be brought up to his City of Zion, 
 in Jerusalem. So David sent word all 
 through the land to tell the people that he 
 was going with some of the Levites to fetch 
 the Ark, and if any of them liked, they 
 might meet him on his return to Jerusalem 
 to welcome it back. 
 
 Then David and the priests went and 
 fetched it from a good man's house, where 
 it had been taken care of. They were all 
 dressed in fine white linen ephods, like I 
 told you of in the chapter on the priests, 
 and David took his harp and sang praises
 
 DAVID, KING OF ISRAEL. 89 
 
 to God all the way as they came along. 
 The people too who were with him took 
 their musical instruments, their cornets, 
 and trumpets, and cymbals, and psalteries, 
 and harps, and played on them, so that the 
 rejoicing was great as "the Ark of the 
 Covenant of the Lord " was brought up to 
 Zion. 
 
 The old Tabernacle that Moses had set 
 up was not used now, but David had pre- 
 pared a new tent, or Tabernacle, near his 
 own house or palace, and here it was that 
 the Ark was placed. 
 
 David could not always be near the Ark 
 singing psalms or hymns of praise, as God 
 would not have been pleased with him if 
 he had not attended to his people, so he 
 said he would like some of the musicians to 
 take it in turns to play in the Taber- 
 nacle, that there might always be the 
 sound of sweet music coming from God's 
 house.
 
 90 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 dayid's holy desire. 
 
 2 Samuel vii. 
 
 Some years after David had been king, and 
 his enemies had all left off fi^htim? him. be- 
 cause they found that God always helped 
 him, David said to his faithful adviser, the 
 prophet Nathan, " See how I live in a 
 beautiful house of cedar, whilst the Ark of 
 God is only within curtains." 
 
 The wish in David's heart was to build 
 a fine house for the Ark. Nathan the pro- 
 phet was wise, as well as good, and he 
 was pleased with David's thought, so he 
 answered him, " Go, do all that is in thine 
 heart ; for the Lord is with thee." 
 
 Now, that very same night as Nathan 
 slept, he heard God speaking to him these
 
 DAVID'S HOLY DESIRE. 91 
 
 words, " Go, tell My servant David, thus 
 saith the Lord, Shall a house be built for 
 Me to dwell in ? Ever since I brought the 
 children of Israel out of Egypt I have not 
 dwelt in any house, but have come to you 
 in the tent, and in the Tabernacle. Have I 
 ever said, Why do you not build Me a 
 house of cedar ? I have taken you, My 
 servant David, from tending the sheep, to 
 rule over My people Israel, and now they 
 shall live in their own land and be at peace. 
 However, you shall have a son, and he shall 
 build Me a house, for My name, and I will 
 be with him. I will be his father, and he 
 shall be My son ; if he does sin I shall 
 punish him, but I will not take away the 
 kingdom from him, as I did from Saul." 
 
 Here was a glorious, gracious promise to 
 David, quite enough to console him for the 
 disappointment of not being allowed to do 
 the work himself for God ! Do you know 
 why God would not allow David to built 
 the holy house ? This is the reason: David 
 had been obliged to fight so many battles 
 during his life, that his hands were not fit
 
 92 DAVID'S HOLY DESIKE. 
 
 for such a work ; God would choose a man 
 of peace, not a man of war, for such a pur- 
 pose. So Nathan came to David and told 
 him all the words of the Lord. David was so 
 grateful for God's promise, that he should 
 have a son, who might do the great work, 
 that his first act, when Nathan left him, 
 was to pray to God and thank Him in these 
 words : " Thou art great, Lord God, for 
 there is none like Thee. And what one 
 nation in the earth is like Thy people 
 Israel, for Thou hast taken Thy people 
 Israel, to be a people unto Thee for ever, 
 and Thou, Lord, art become their God." 
 
 Now, my dear children, I want you 
 always to remember this, that you are of 
 God's own people ; you must feel proud of 
 it as David did, and let your behaviour be 
 such, that others may notice you are really 
 pr< ud of it in the right way. It makes 
 me sad when I think there are people, 
 who, instead of being delighted that they 
 have been born Jews, are half ashamed of 
 it, or perhaps like to hide the truth. 
 
 You must try to be brave, and good, and
 
 DAVID'S HOLY DESIRE. 93 
 
 keep from sin, so that your friends who 
 are not Jews, may admire you as Jewish 
 children. I hope you understand me. We 
 are God's own people, whom He chose for 
 Himself from all the other nations of the 
 world, and He would have destroyed us 
 long ago for our disobedience and ingrati- 
 tude to Him, if His love had not been that 
 of a Father for His children, and such love 
 you know can never die, so deserve a share 
 of it yourselves, my dear children.
 
 94 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 BATHSHEBA, OR THE EWE LAMB. 
 
 2 Samuel xi., xii. 
 
 I am so sony that now I have to tell you 
 of something very wrong that David did. 
 Still, it would scarcely seem like a true 
 story if you did not hear of any but his 
 good deeds ; for as, perhaps, you do not yet 
 know, the best men and women sin some- 
 times. " For there is no man so perfect as 
 to do good, and sin not."'" But God is 
 always ready to forgive, if repentance fol- 
 lows sin. Well, one evening David was 
 walking on the roof of his house. You re- 
 member, I hope, how I told you in the his- 
 tory of Rahab, that in hot countries in the 
 
 6 ECCLESTASTE8 vil.. 20.
 
 BATHSHEBA, OR THE EWE LAMB. 95 
 
 East, the roofs of houses were not sloping 
 like ours, but flat. People could then sit 
 or walk there in the cool of the evening. 
 
 David was walking on his roof, when, 
 looking down, he saw a very beautiful 
 woman bathing. He thought at once that 
 he would like her for his wife ; so he sent 
 one of his servants to find out who she 
 was. The man came back with the answer 
 that her name was Bathsheba, and that 
 she was the wife of a soldier, named Uriah. 
 This news ought to have been quite enough 
 to make David think no more about her, 
 for fear of breaking the seventh command- 
 ment. 
 
 But David was determined to have hei 
 for his wife. So see what a dreadful thing 
 he did. David wrote a letter to Joab, the 
 captain of his army, that he was to put 
 Uriah in the front part of the battle, so 
 that he might get killed. Now, if Joab had 
 been a good man, he would not have 
 attended to such a wicked order ; but he 
 was a bad, cruel man, and at the first 
 opportunity, Uriah was told to go forward
 
 96 BATHSHEBA, 
 
 to a dangerous post, and there he quickly 
 lost his life. Joab soon sent the news of 
 Uriah's death to David, and the king was 
 pleased to receive it, for now there was 
 nothing to prevent Bathsheba being his 
 wife; and after she had mourned a little 
 while for her husband, David sent and 
 fetched her, and she became his wife. 
 
 Here is another instance for you of one 
 sin leading on to another. If David had 
 checked his first covetous feeling when he 
 looked on the beautiful woman, he would 
 never have fallen into the greater sin of 
 killing Uriah. Besides this, all the misery 
 he suffered, when he had afterwards to own 
 it, and accept his punishment from God, 
 would have been saved. 
 
 Dear children, let this be a lesson to you. 
 Do try not even to sin in little things ; as 
 when you once begin to be wicked, you do 
 not know where you may stop ; and, believe 
 me, wickedness always means misery, and 
 you know best whether you would like to 
 feel miserable or happy. 
 
 " But the thincr that David had done dis-
 
 OR THE EWE LAMB. 97 
 
 pleased the Lord,"* and David soon knew 
 this; for the prophet Nathan came and 
 said he had something to tell him. Here 
 are Nathan's words : " There were two men 
 in one city ; one was rich, and the other 
 was poor. The rich man had numbers of 
 sheep and oxen; but the poor man had 
 nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he 
 had brought up and taken great care of. 
 It grew up with his children; he fed it 
 with meat, and let it drink out of his own 
 cup; he used to take it on his lap and 
 nurse it, it was just like a pet child to him. 
 One day a traveller came to see the rich 
 man, and he would not kill one of his own 
 sheep to cook and set before his visitor, but 
 went and took the poor man's lamb, and 
 dressed it for the stranger to eat." 
 
 David was very angry when he heard of 
 such a cruel deed, and he said to Nathan, 
 "The man who has done this, shall give 
 back four lambs to the poor man, and he 
 shall surely die, because he did this thing 
 and had no pity." 
 
 * 2 Samuel xi.. 27.
 
 98 BATHSHEBA, 
 
 Then Nathan said to David, " Thou art 
 the man ! God saved you from the hand 
 of Saul, and made you king of Israel, and 
 now, how could you break the command- 
 ment of God, and do evil in His sight ? 
 God will punish you, your children will 
 disobey you, and give you trouble by 
 quarrelling among themselves. Besides 
 this, the little child that is just born to 
 Bathsheba shall die." 
 
 Then David said, " I have sinned against 
 the Lord." 
 
 Nathan then went away, leaving David 
 very sorrowful and penitent, and David 
 took his harp, and sang to it one of the 
 most beautiful of his psalms.* He prayed 
 God to forgive him, and let him sin no 
 more. He said, " Have mercy upon me, 
 God, according to Thy loving kindness. 
 Wash me thoroughly from my sin, and I 
 shall be whiter than snow. Oh, hide Thy 
 face from my sins. Create in me a pure 
 heart, God; and put a right spirit within 
 me. Cast me not away from Thy presence," 
 
 * Psalm li.
 
 OR THE EWE LAMB. 99 
 
 Where can you find more lovely words 
 to pray with to God, if you sin ? See how 
 humble and sorry David was. This is what 
 makes David's history so beautiful to read. 
 The Bible tells us of all his faults, and how 
 he repented of them, as well as his great 
 and good deeds. It shows us how when 
 he sinned, which he did often (like you or 
 I do), he was truly sorry, and therefore 
 earned forgiveness. However wicked any- 
 one may be, remember that God is always 
 ready to forgive him if he repents truly. 
 This ought to teach you not to be hard 
 yourselves with those who do wrong ; if 
 you do, you are sinning in the sight of God. 
 You must instead try to lead the bad 
 back to goodness, then God will love you 
 yet the more ; for Heaven is a wide place, 
 and it cannot be too full to please the 
 Lord of it. 
 
 Now, although God forgave David, still 
 He did not alter what He had said about 
 punishing him. Just like when you are 
 naughty, your parents will kiss you if they 
 see you are really sorry, still they think it
 
 100 BATHSHEBA, 
 
 right to punish you as they said all the 
 same, so that you may not forget, and do 
 wrong again too quickly. 
 
 So the little child of David and Bath- 
 sheba got very ill. David was so grieved 
 he would scarcely take anything to eat, but 
 spent all his time praying to God to make 
 it well. This went on for a week, and 
 then God took the little baby to join the 
 angels in heaven. David's servants were 
 afraid to come and tell him. They said, 
 " See how our dear master has been griev- 
 ing ever since the child was sick. What 
 will he do when he hears it is dead ? " 
 
 David noticed the people about him 
 whispering together, and he guessed the 
 reason of it, so he said, "Is the child dead?" 
 and they answered, " He is dead." 
 
 Then David got up from the ground, 
 where he had been lying in his grief, put 
 on clean clothes, and went into the house 
 of God to pray. Then he came back, and 
 ate and drank as usual. His servants 
 looked on, wondering. At last they asked 
 him, " How is this ? Whilst the child was
 
 OR THE EWE LAMB. 101 
 
 alive, you fasted and wept; but now that 
 it is dead, you get up and eat." 
 
 Then David said, " Whilst the child was 
 still alive, I prayed to God, thinking He 
 might listen to me and save it ; but now it 
 is dead, what good can I do by fasting? 
 Can I bring him back again ? I shall go 
 to him, but he will not return to me." 
 
 I suppose you know what David meant 
 by this ? He was thinking of when he too 
 must die, and he hoped God would take 
 him to heaven to be an angel there, and 
 sing more psalms of praise, and then he 
 would find his little baby. 
 
 If you are ever ill, and likely to die, dear 
 children, do not feel afraid. Think like 
 David did, when his little child died. He 
 knew that God was waiting for it in heaven, 
 and so is God always ready for you, and 
 surely it must be better to be an angel in 
 heaven, than only a child on earth.
 
 102 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ABSALOM, THE REBELLIOUS SON. 
 
 2 Samuel xv., xvi., xvii. 
 
 I TOLD you before that David had several 
 wives ; he had, too, many sons, and you will 
 be sorry to hear that some of them were 
 bad and undutiful. There is one in par- 
 ticular that you must learn about. His 
 name was Absalom. He was very tall and 
 beautiful to look upon. His hair was 
 something wonderful, longer than any other 
 man's in Israel. Strange to say, this 
 Absalom, although he was always doing 
 something to grieve David, was still his 
 favourite son. Nothing was too wicked for 
 him to do ; he was displeased with one of
 
 ABSALOM, THE REBELLIOUS SON. 103 
 
 his brothers, so he killed him. When David 
 heard of this, he was obliged to punish him, 
 and he said he would not allow him to live 
 in Jerusalem any longer. David ought to 
 have kept to this, for it was really not a 
 severe enough punishment for such a 
 terrible sin ; but after some time, he longed 
 so to see Absalom, that he sent him word 
 he might return. Absalom was very glad 
 to get permission to come back, and when 
 he came to David, bowing to the ground, 
 David forgave him and kissed him. 
 
 It would have been well for David, if he 
 had been stricter with Absalom, and had 
 not forgiven him so soon, for Absalom was 
 wicked and deceitful. He had not been 
 long back in Jerusalem before he tried 
 secretly to set the people against the king. 
 Wa> not this horrible behaviour? He pre- 
 tended that if he were king, the people 
 would have everything they liked. Then, 
 sometimes, when the people bowed before 
 him, because he was the king's son, lie 
 would make them leave off and go and kiss 
 them, to try and make them believe he did
 
 ](H ABSALOM, 
 
 not consider himself any better than they 
 were, so of course they imagined he was 
 not at all proud, and all the while he was 
 only acting like this, to get then love away 
 from David and gain it for himself. 
 
 "When this had gone on for some years, 
 Absalom made up his mind to try if the 
 people would have him for king instead of 
 his father. This is how he set to work. 
 First of all, he asked David's permission to 
 go away for a little while, to pay some vow 
 he had promised. David, who did not 
 suspect anything, said, " Go in peace." 
 
 So Absalom went. Then he sent mes- 
 sengers all through the land, saying, "When 
 you hear the sound of the trumpet, then 
 shout, Absalom is king ! " 
 
 Soon the news came to David, that 
 Absalom was getting himself made king. 
 David was so shocked when he heard it, 
 that all his old courage left him. He re- 
 membered the words of the prophet Nathan, 
 and he was afraid even to remain in his 
 own house in Mount Zion. He called all 
 his old faithful servants together and said,
 
 THE REBELLIOUS SON. ]Q5 
 
 " Let us flee from Jerusalem, or else we shall 
 not escape from Absalom. We must make 
 haste to depart." 
 
 His servants answered, that whatever he 
 wished, they were ready to do. So poor 
 old David went forth and numbers of the 
 people followed him. Presently they came 
 to a little brook. Now, all the people were 
 crying, for they thought how hard it was 
 for David to have such a wicked rebellious 
 son. The priests had brought the Ark of 
 God with them from the City of Zion, as 
 they were determined to go with the King 
 wherever he went, but when David found 
 this was the case, he turned round and 
 spoke to the High Priest and told him to 
 carry it back to the City. He said, " If 
 God is not angry with me, He will bring 
 me back again to Zion and I shall see it. 
 But if it is His will that I do not return, I 
 shall be satisfied." 
 
 So the priests obeyed David's wishes, 
 and the holy Ark was taken back to Jeru- 
 salem, whilst David went on his way until 
 he came to a mountain called " Olivet." He
 
 106 
 
 wept as he toiled up it,* and all the people 
 who followed wept too. Must it not have 
 been a sad sight ? 
 
 Just think what a wicked man Absalom 
 was, to cause his father all this trouble and 
 grief! As David went on a little farther 
 up the mount, a bad man came after him 
 and threw stones at him and his servants, 
 and said such wicked things. One of 
 David's officers wanted to kill the man, but 
 David said, " No, leave him alone. God is 
 punishing me." 
 
 And, you know, David was right; 
 Nathan's words were coming true, I mean 
 the prophecy he told to David after Uriah 
 had been killed. 
 
 So Absalom and his friends came to 
 Jerusalem, and settled themselves down 
 comfortably in David's beautiful house on 
 Mount Zion, whilst the poor old king and 
 his faithful followers had to shift as best 
 they could in the wilderness. Here they 
 rested a little while, but they were afraid 
 
 c 2 Samuel xv., 30.
 
 THE REBELLIOUS SON. 107 
 
 to remain long for fear of Absalom coming- 
 after them, so they journeyed on again, and 
 presently came to the river Jordan, the 
 same that I told you about when Joshua 
 led the Israelites into Canaan. They crossed 
 the river, and here God raised them some 
 kind friends, for three rich, good men, hear- 
 ing in what haste David had left his own 
 palace, and knowing he could not have had 
 time to take anything with him to be com- 
 fortable, came to him now, bringing beds, 
 loaves of bread, raisins, wheat, barley, and 
 parched corn, honey, butter, cheese, and 
 sheep for David, and the people who were 
 with him, to eat : for they said, " The 
 people must be hungry and tired and 
 thirsty in the wilderness." 
 
 After this David felt much happier and 
 comfortable, and God was pleased with 
 these good kind men, as He always is with 
 any kind act of yours to those who are in 
 trouble. So you see, dear child, tivo people 
 are the better for a good deed, the one who 
 does it, and the one to whom it is done ; so 
 if you want to be remembered in the " book
 
 108 ABSALOM, THE REBELLIOUS SON. 
 
 of God's remembrance,"* be extra kind and 
 loving to those who are unhappy, as they 
 want it more than the happy ones do. So 
 it was not only the useful presents that did 
 David good, it was almost more, the kind 
 feelings now that he did not feel sure who 
 were, or who were not, his friends. 
 
 16.
 
 109 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 ABSALOM, OR THE PUNISHMENT. 
 
 2 Samuel xviii. 
 
 Absalom was not satisfied with frightening 
 his father away from Jerusalem ; but he 
 got all the soldiers he could, and determined 
 to fight ; so he followed after David. 
 
 David got ready to go out and meet him ; 
 but David's followers loved him too well 
 to allow this. They said, " You shall not 
 go out to battle. If half of us were to be 
 killed, what would it matter? You are 
 worth ten thousand of us, so remain where 
 you are safe, and direct us what to do." 
 
 So the king said, "I will do whatever 
 seems best to you." 
 
 Then the king stayed in the city and all
 
 110 ABSALOM, 
 
 his people set out to meet Absalom's army. 
 Poor David! His heart ached as he thought 
 of his wicked son. He still hoped that he" 
 might repent, and then he would forgive 
 him. He begged Joab, the captain of his 
 army, not to kill him, if he should fall into 
 his hands. "Deal gently with the young 
 man for my sake." * 
 
 I daresay you, dear children, can scarcely 
 understand such pity on David's part ; but 
 you know I always tell you that when you 
 are naughty, and your parents have to 
 punish you, it hurts them often more than 
 it does you. So it was with David now. 
 He prayed earnestly that God would soften 
 Absalom's heart, that he might say he 
 was sorry for all the mischief he had 
 caused, as even then David would have 
 pardoned him. But Absalom was too 
 wicked. On he came, leading one large 
 party of Israelites, to fight against a num- 
 ber of the same nation. This would be the 
 cruellest of battles; for friends would be 
 opposite to friends, and perhaps fathers 
 
 c 2 Samuel xviii., 5.
 
 OR THE PUNISHMENT. HI 
 
 and sons might find themselves obliged to 
 fight against each other, as the father 
 living in one city might have gone to help 
 David, whilst his son in some other part of 
 Palestine might have joined Absalom. This 
 is called a civil war ; and a very fierce one 
 it was. David and Absalom's soldiers 
 fought long and bravely. 
 
 Absalom himself was riding along on a 
 mule, and the mule went under the thick 
 boughs of an oak tree, when Absalom's 
 head got caught in the branches, and the 
 mule went away, leaving him hanging to 
 the tree, by that very hair of which he had 
 been so vain. 
 
 One of David's soldiers going by, saw 
 him in this position, but would not touch 
 him, because he had heard David's words 
 about sparing him. So the man went on 
 until he came to Joab, whom he told where 
 he had just seen Absalom. Joab was very 
 angry and said, "Why did you not kill 
 him ? I would have given you a lot ot 
 money, and a fine girdle." 
 
 Then the man made answer, " However
 
 112 ABSALOM, OR THE PUNISHMENT. 
 
 much money you had given me, I would 
 not have laid hands on the king's son ; for 
 did I not hear David charge you, that no 
 harm was to be done to Absalom ? " 
 
 Then Joab said, " I will not leave him 
 there." 
 
 And he took three arrows in his hand, 
 and went to the tree where Absalom was 
 still hanging, but not dead. He shot them 
 at him, and told some young men who had 
 gone with him, to strike him too, and make 
 sure that he was dead. So Absalom died. 
 It was a horrible death, but he was not 
 too severely punished, when you recollect 
 how wickedly he had behaved. 
 
 Then Joab blew the trumpet, to call the 
 people back from running after Absalom's 
 soldiers, as there was no need to fight any 
 more, now that Absalom was dead.
 
 113 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 PEACE FOR DAVID. 
 2 Samuel xviii., xix. 
 
 All the while that the battle had been 
 going on between David and Absalom's 
 men, David had been waiting most im- 
 patiently for news. Of course he wished 
 his own soldiers to win, but for all that, he 
 hoped that Absalom would be safe. David 
 thought perhaps he might be taken prisoner, 
 or manage to run away if his side should 
 get the worst of it, but he was miserable at 
 the idea of his getting killed. 
 
 So David sat at the gates of the city 
 that he had fled to in the wilderness, and 
 the watchman went up to the roof over the
 
 114 PEACE FOR DAVID. 
 
 gate to look out and tell David as soon as 
 he should see any one coming. Presently 
 a man was in sight running alone, so the 
 watchman called out and told the king. 
 
 Then David said: " If he is alone he must 
 be bringing news." 
 
 Then the watchman saw another man 
 also running, and he sent word of this to 
 David David said, " He must also be 
 bringing me a message. Can you make out 
 who he is ?" 
 
 Then the watchman said, " I think the 
 first man running looks like the priest's 
 son." 
 
 And David said, " He is a good man, so I 
 think that he brings me good news." 
 
 The watchman was right, the first man 
 was a young priest. He came up to the 
 gate and threw himself down before David, 
 with his face to the ground, and he said, 
 "All is well. Blessed be the Lord God, 
 which hath given up the men who lifted 
 their hands against my lord the king." 
 
 You see this good young man did not 
 like to grieve David by telling him of his
 
 PEACE FOR DAVID. H5 
 
 son's death ; he only wanted him to know 
 that his soldiers had conquered Absalom's. 
 
 And now the other messenger reached 
 the gate and called out, " Tidings, my lord, 
 the king ! The Lord has punished this day 
 all those who rose up against you." 
 
 Then came the anxious question, " Is the 
 young man, Absalom, safe ?" 
 
 And the messenger answered, " May all 
 the enemies of my lord the king be as that 
 young man is." 
 
 By these words David knew that Ab- 
 salom was dead. He was " much moved," 
 and went up to his chamber over the gate 
 to weep alone. How he wished he might 
 have died instead of Absalom, as he cried 
 with a bitter cry, " Oh ! my son, Absalom, 
 my son, my son, would to God I had died 
 for thee !" 
 
 Can you tell me, dear children, why Da- 
 vid's sorrow was so great now ? You know 
 he left off mourning as soon as Bathsheba's 
 little baby died. So why did he grieve so 
 sadly now ? It was because Absalom had 
 died in his wickedness. David could not
 
 116 PEACE FOR DAVID. 
 
 hope to meet him in heaven. God is indeed 
 " slow to anger," but, remember, He is also 
 a just God, and "punishes those who break 
 His commandments."* Do not provoke God 
 to anger, dear children, by being rebellious 
 to your parents, like Absalom was ; for it 
 would be a grievous thought both for you 
 and them if you were ill and dying, that 
 you could not reach heaven. 
 
 So David remained in his room mourning 
 for Absalom, and the people were disap- 
 pointed, as they returned victorious from 
 the battle, that their beloved king, for 
 whom they had been fighting, did not come 
 out to meet them. 
 
 Then Joab went to David and told him, 
 " You must not grieve any more for Absa- 
 lom. It is not fair to the people, who have 
 been fighting so bravely for you. Why, if 
 Absalom were still alive, we might all have 
 died to-day without your caring." 
 
 Joab's words were rough and unkind, for 
 as I told you before, he was not a good 
 man, although he was a brave one, or else 
 * Creed xL
 
 PEACE FOR DAVID. H7 
 
 David would never have made him captain 
 over all his army. 
 
 David now saw that Joab was right ; so 
 he came down to the gate to meet his 
 people. They were indeed pleased to see 
 him, and said he must return to Jerusalem. 
 How fond and proud these Israelites were 
 of David! He had such loving ways, that 
 "he turned the heart of all the men of 
 Judah, even as the heart of one man,"* and 
 now they were going to bring him back in 
 triumph to Jerusalem. 
 
 What a different journey to the last ' 
 Do you remember I told you that a wicked 
 man cursed the king before he crossed the 
 Jordan ? Well, now, this man came out to 
 beg David to forgive him. What do you 
 think David did ? Would he forgive him, 
 or would he punish him ? 
 
 Some of the king's friends wanted him 
 to have the man put to death ; but David 
 would not listen to them. He thought 
 quite enough people had died already. 
 " Thou shalt not die," he said. 
 * 2 Samuel xix., 14.
 
 118 PEACE FOR DAVID. 
 
 He left the punishment to God and the 
 man's own conscience, and I do not fancy 
 he could have felt very happy. 
 
 So once more David was back in Jeru- 
 salem, king in his own beautiful house on 
 Mount Zioru
 
 119 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 david's pride. 
 
 2 Samuel xxiv. 
 
 I AM going to tell you another story of 
 David, about something wrong that he did. 
 I know it will interest you, because it is so 
 beautiful to notice how sorry he was after- 
 wards. 
 
 For years after Absalom's death, David 
 lived in peace and at rest from his enemies, 
 and then, I am grieved to say, he grew 
 proud, and liked to boast of the number of 
 people who called him king. God was 
 vexed with him for this, and He was very 
 angry when He heard David tell Joab, "Go 
 through all the land, and number the people, 
 that I may know how many there are." 
 
 Joab, as you have already seen, never
 
 120 DAVIDS PRIDE. 
 
 minded what he said to David, and now 
 he begged him to take back his order, and 
 not do this thing, as it was contrary to 
 God's wishes. He said, "Why will my 
 lord order this ? Why bring such trouble 
 on the land ? " 
 
 But David was obstinate, and would not 
 listen to Joab's advice; so captains were 
 sent all through the land to take the num- 
 ber of the people. You can imagine what 
 a great nation the Israelites had become, 
 when I tell you that the officers were more 
 than nine months at the work. 
 
 God's promise to Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob was indeed coming true. Do you 
 remember the words to Abraham, " I will 
 give to thee, and thy children after thee, 
 this land where thou art a stranger, the 
 land of Canaan.* I will make thy seed 
 numerous as the stars of heaven, and as 
 the sand on the sea-shore. In thy de- 
 scendants shall all the nations of the earth 
 be blessed."-f- 
 
 And so they have been blessed, you 
 
 * Genesis xvii., 8. f Genesis xxii., 17, 1&
 
 DAVID'S PRIDE. 121 
 
 know, through our beautiful "Torah," or 
 law, which was given to the whole world 
 through us on Mount Sinai ; although, be- 
 cause of our sins, we have not now the 
 land of Canaan for our own, some day God, 
 our God of love, will forgive us, and take 
 us back there again. 
 
 But David forgot all this, when in the 
 pride of his heart he gave orders to Joab 
 to count the people. No sooner, however, 
 had it been done, than David's conscience 
 began to make him feel uncomfortable. 
 You know how unhappy that little voice 
 within you makes you feel sometimes, and 
 so it did David. 
 
 " I have been very wicked ; forgive me, 
 
 Lord, for what I have done, for, indeed, 
 
 1 have acted foolishly." 
 
 The next morning a prophet named Gad 
 came to David, bringing a message from 
 God ; he said, " God must punish you for 
 your disobedience, but as you have confessed 
 how wrong you have been, and are sorry 
 for it, He will let you choose one of three 
 things for your punishment. 
 
 i: 7
 
 122 
 
 " Shall seven years of famine come upon 
 the country ? Shall your enemies follow 
 after you for three months, whilst you have 
 to fly from them all the time ? Or shall 
 there be three days' sickness in the land ? 
 Think well over it, that I may know what 
 answer to make to Him who sent me to 
 you?" 
 
 Which punishment do you think David 
 chose ? They were all terrible to have to 
 bear ; but I think you will agree with me 
 that David made up his mind for the best. 
 He said to the prophet Gad, " I am sadly 
 puzzled, but I would rather fall by the 
 hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great. 
 Do not let me fall into the hand of man." 
 
 So God sent a plague upon the people of 
 Israel, all through the land, and great num- 
 bers of them got ill and died, just as they 
 did in the wilderness when God sent a 
 plague on the people who murmured against 
 Moses. 
 
 Think how awfully sad David must have 
 been, as lie looked round on all the misery, 
 and knew that this sickness and death was
 
 DAVID'S PRIDE. 123 
 
 caused by his foolish pride. When the 
 third day came, and God's sword was still 
 among the people, David could bear it no 
 longer. He fell on his face, and prayed to 
 God. 
 
 " It is I that have sinned and done evil ; 
 but these sheep that Thou gavest into my 
 hands to take care of, what have they done ? 
 I pray Thee, Lord, my God, let Thy hand 
 be on me and my children, but not on Thy 
 people ; let them not be plagued any more." 
 You know what David meant, 1 dare say, 
 by his sheep ? Just as in one of his most 
 beautiful Psalms, he said that God was his 
 shepherd,* so he spoke of himself as the 
 shepherd of his people ; for they were his 
 sheep whom God had given him to tend 
 and guard. 
 
 God now heard David's cry, "for the 
 Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to 
 those who call upon Him in truth," and 
 the angel of death stopped his cruel work, 
 and the plague was over. No more people 
 
 * Psalm xxiii., 1.
 
 124 DAVIDS PRIDE. 
 
 were ill, or died. David's first wish in his 
 thankfulness for this, was to build an altar 
 to God on the very spot where the plague 
 ended. The plague ended at a place where 
 wheat was being threshed. The man to 
 whom this part belonged, wished to give 
 David the ground for the altar, with some 
 cattle as well for the sacrifices ; but David 
 would not accept them. He said, " Nay, but 
 I will pay you the full price for it. I will 
 not offer burnt offerings to the Lord of 
 that which cost me nothing." 
 
 So David bought the threshing-floor and 
 the cattle. Then he built the altar, and 
 laid on it peace-offerings, because the plague 
 was over. 
 
 Now, my dear children, I should not have 
 told you this sad story without a special 
 reason. I want you to take this lesson 
 from it. Think well before you act, as when 
 you do wrong, remember it is not only you 
 yourself who suffer from it, but others 
 perhaps ; those you love very much always 
 feel it too. Believe me, that when you are 
 naughty, the pain you cause your parents
 
 david's pride. 125 
 
 or teachers is in itself an offence in the 
 sight of God. I am sure you do not wish 
 to grieve your Father in heaven ; so I hope 
 that this story may make you more careful 
 in your behaviour, then I shall know that I 
 did right in telling it you.
 
 126 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 david's death. 
 
 1 Kings i., ii. 
 
 Now you know that David had several 
 sons ; one of these was to be king after 
 David's death. Which of them do you 
 think was chosen ? The eldest ? No. It 
 was one who was called Solomon ; his very 
 name was beautiful, for it meant " peace. "* 
 Bathsheba was his mother. God had 
 told David this son was to be king. You 
 may be sure that he was the best of 
 David's sons, or he would not have been 
 selected, as he was, to be allowed to build 
 the holy Temple at Jerusalem. Another 
 brother, however, tried to get made king ; 
 
 * 1 Chronicles xxii.. 9.
 
 DAVIDS DEATH. 127 
 
 so David, who was very old, and knew he 
 would soon die, called the prophet Nathan 
 and some of his most faithful servants to 
 him. He told them to take Solomon and 
 have him anointed king in the sight of all 
 the people, so that there should be no dis- 
 puting about who should sit on his throne 
 when he died. So the priest took a horn 
 of holy oil and poured some of it on 
 Solomon's head ; then the trumpet was 
 blown and all the people shouted, " God 
 save king Solomon." 
 
 Soon after this David felt that he was 
 dying, so he called his son Solomon to 
 him, to bless him, and he begged him 
 to keep the Commandments of the Lord, 
 and to do all that was written in the 
 Law of Moses, for then God would be 
 with him, and everything would go well 
 and happily. 
 
 Almost the last words he said to Solo- 
 mon were, "Never forget those who showed 
 kindness to me when I was in sore trouble 
 and had to run away from Jerusalem be- 
 cause of Absalom."
 
 128 david's death. 
 
 David gave Solomon something besides 
 all this good advice ; he had prepared 
 patterns from which to make the different 
 parts of the Temple. David gave Solomon 
 gold and silver as well as patterns, and all 
 the people came forward and brought what- 
 ever they had which might be useful in 
 building the holy house, just the same as 
 the Israelites in the wilderness had done 
 for the work of the Tabernacle. 
 
 David rejoiced when he saw how ready 
 the people were to help his young son, and 
 he broke out into a sweet Psalm of praise. 
 He said that all these beautiful things 
 which were brought together for the holy 
 work came from God; just see how humble 
 he was, 
 
 "Who am I, and what is my people, 
 that we should be able to offer anything 
 to Thee? All things come of Thee, and of 
 Thine own have we given Thee. It is 
 Thy hand that makes great and gives 
 strength to all."* 
 
 * 1 Chronicles xxix., 12.
 
 DAVIDS DEATH. 129 
 
 David finished by praying God to give 
 Solomon a perfect heart, that he might be 
 a good man and keep the commandments. 
 Then David died at a good old age and was 
 buried in the City of David, that is in 
 Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, and Solomon sat 
 on his father's throne and was king over 
 all Israel. 
 
 My dear children, I have now told you 
 all the history of David ; you know what 
 wicked things he did, as well as the good 
 ones. Now what do you think became of 
 him when he died ? Did God find a place 
 for him in Heaven, was he fit to be one of 
 God's saints there ? Yes, yes, my darlings, 
 for with all that he did wrong sometimes, 
 he did love God, and repented truly of his 
 sins, so you may feel sure that when he 
 died, God took him to heaven, where he is 
 even now, singing beautiful hymns of 
 praise, as he delighted to in his life-time. 
 
 One of our greatest prophets tells us, 
 that even if we sin again and again, but 
 are truly sorry for it afterwards, God will 
 forgive us and take us back to His love, for
 
 130 DAVID'S DEATH 
 
 it pains Him to be obliged to punish us.* 
 So I want you never to be afraid of asking 
 God yourself to forgive you. He will never 
 turn away His ear, if you pray to Him 
 from your heart. This lesson you can learn 
 from the beautiful history of David. 
 
 * Ezekiel xxxiii., 11.
 
 131 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Solomon's choice. 
 
 1 Kings iii. 
 
 The very first thing that Solomon did after 
 he was king, was to offer up sacrifices to 
 God. It was not in Jerusalem that he did 
 this, but at the place where the Tabernacle, 
 made by Moses, was. You remember, I 
 hope, the altar of brass that I told you 
 about. You can picture to yourself a little 
 its immense size, when I tell you that 
 Solomon laid a thousand animals on it for 
 burnt offerings. 
 
 That very night, when Solomon was 
 asleep, God came to him in a dream, or* 
 " vision " as it is properly called, and said, 
 " Ask what shall I give thee." 
 
 What do you think was Solomon's an-
 
 132 SOLOMON'S CHOICE. 
 
 swer? There were so many things he 
 might wish for. You see he was so very 
 young to be king over such a large nation 
 as Israel ; for in those days the king was 
 the judge, too, of his people. Like Moses 
 and Samuel, and other great men you have 
 heard of, he had to decide any dispute that 
 was brought to him, and it was sometimes 
 very difficult to find out who was right, and 
 who was wrong. Solomon was very anxious 
 to be a good king, so see what a sensible 
 answer he made to God. He said, 
 
 " Give me only wisdom and knowledge, 
 that I may be able to judge this Thy people 
 who are so great." 
 
 God was very pleased with Solomon's 
 choice, and He said to him, " Because you 
 have not asked for riches, nor honour, nor 
 long life, nor to be greater than the kings 
 of the other nations who are near you, you 
 shall have what you desire. You shall 
 be wiser than any man who has ever 
 lived, and besides this, you shall have such 
 riches, wealth, and honour, as no other king 
 has ever had before, and there will never
 
 Solomon's choice. 133 
 
 be one after you to have the same. And 
 if you will walk in My ways, and keep My 
 commandments, and love Me as your father 
 David did, then I will also grant you a long 
 life." 
 
 Then Solomon woke up, and the next 
 day he came to Jerusalem, and again offered 
 up sacrifices, this time before the Ark of 
 the Covenant ; for David, I told you, 
 brought the Ark up to Zion, but not the 
 Tabernacle.
 
 134 
 
 CHAPTER XXVL 
 
 Solomon's judgment. 
 
 1 Kings iii. 
 
 A VERY little while after Solomon's won- 
 derful dream, he had a good opportunity of 
 showing that God had indeed made him 
 wiser than other people. 
 
 Two women came to him to settle a very 
 strange quarrel. One of them said, "We 
 lived together alone in a house, and we had 
 each a little baby boy. One night the 
 other woman laid over her baby, whilst she 
 was sleeping, and it died. She got up in 
 the night, and without my knowing it, 
 took my little son from me whilst I slept, 
 and laid her dead baby in its place beside 
 me. When I woke up in the morning, and
 
 SOLOMON'S JUDGMENT. 135 
 
 wanted to nurse my child, I found instead 
 of my own dear little baby, this woman's 
 dead one." 
 
 Then the second woman came forward to 
 the king, and cried out, " Nay, but the 
 living child is mine, and the dead one is 
 yours" 
 
 Then the woman who had spoken first, 
 answered, " No ; the dead is your son, and 
 the living one mine." 
 
 And so they disputed before the king. 
 How could he find out which woman was 
 telling the truth ? 
 
 See what a clever thought God put into 
 his head. He said, " Bring me a sword." 
 
 Then they brought Solomon a sword, and 
 he called out, "Cut the child in two, and 
 give half to one woman and half to the 
 other." 
 
 Perhaps you can guess what happened 
 next ? When the real mother — that was 
 the woman who first spoke to the king — 
 saw that her baby was going to die, she 
 felt she would rather lose it than have it 
 hurt ; so she called out quickly, " Oh, my
 
 136 Solomon's judgment. 
 
 lord ! Give her the living child. Do not 
 slay it!" 
 
 But the other woman said, "Let it 
 neither be mine nor yours, but divide it." 
 
 Then the king answered, " Give the first 
 woman the living child. On no account 
 kill it, for she is its mother." 
 
 Do you think Solomon was right in his 
 judgment? Do you believe that he ever 
 meant really to divide the child between 
 the two women ? 
 
 No. Of course he did not ; but he knew 
 that the real mother would rather give up 
 her baby altogether to the bad woman who 
 said it was hers, than see it in pain. You 
 know that mothers love their children, and 
 would rather be hurt themselves than let 
 any harm come to their darlings, so Solo- 
 mon's wise plan soon brought out the 
 truth. You see, the bad woman who did 
 not speak the truth, she was jealous of the 
 other having her baby still alive, and did 
 not mind what became of it, as her own 
 was dead. 
 
 All the people in the land heard of
 
 SOLOMON'S JUDGMENT. 137 
 
 "Solomon's wise judgment," and they feared 
 and obeyed the king, who, you must re- 
 member, was a mere lad at the time; for 
 they saw that God was helping him to 
 judge them. 
 
 Dear children, if God were to say to you, 
 " You can have anything you like," I won- 
 der would }^ou be sensible, and choose as 
 Solomon did 1
 
 138 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 1 Kings vi., vii., viii. 
 
 Solomon now set about his orreat work — 
 four hundred and eighty years after the 
 Israelites had come out from Egypt — I 
 mean the building of the Temple. Although 
 David had prepared and saved all sorts of 
 treasures for Solomon to use, so that he 
 had many things ready to begin with, still 
 it took him seven years to have it built. 
 
 It was an immense place, this house of 
 the Lord. God himself gave Solomon 
 orders how large the different parts were 
 to be. First there was the Temple itself, 
 the upper end of this was called the 
 Oracle, or Holy of Holies. Here the Ark 
 was to be placed. Outside the Temple were 
 the courts where the offerings were laid on 
 the different altars, and here was set up the
 
 BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. 139 
 
 famous bath for the priests, or " molten 
 sea," as it was called. 
 
 Solomon was careful that the Temple 
 should be built very strong, as well as 
 beautiful to look at ; he hoped it would last 
 a very long time, so he had large stones 
 hewn and laid down for the foundation ; 
 then this was covered over with wood — 
 wood the most beautiful that could be got 
 — cedar wood from Mount Lebanon. The 
 king to whom Lebanon belonged was a 
 great friend of Solomon, and let him have 
 as many trees as he liked to send his ser- 
 vants to cut down ; his name was Hiram. 
 So Solomon made all the temple of cedar 
 wood, and over it he put a layer of gold. 
 Think how magnificent it must have looked 
 when you entered the Temple : everywhere 
 the shining bright gold, for everything 
 that was used inside was of the same metal, 
 the candlesticks and the tables, and all that 
 the priests used in sacrificing. 
 
 The walls even were not painted, but 
 were covered with gold too, and had angels 
 and flowers carved on them. Precious
 
 140 BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 stones were used everywhere to ornament 
 the holy house. 
 
 The Holy of Holies, the inner room that I 
 told you was for the Ark, was built in just 
 the same manner, only there were two 
 cherubim, or angels, of olive wood, covered 
 with gold, who stretched their wings right 
 across the place where the Ark would rest, 
 as if to show that they, the likenesses of 
 God's messengers, were there to guard it. 
 
 The " molten sea " that I spoke of to you 
 just now, was a bath like an enormous 
 basin. The priests used it to wash in. It 
 was made of brass, and did not stand flat 
 on the ground, but on what do you think ? 
 Twelve enormous oxen made in copper, 
 much larger than real ones, were set round 
 in a sort of ring, and then the bath or "sea" 
 was fixed on them. I think there must 
 have been steps for the priests to go up and 
 down by, for it stood much higher than a 
 man, or, in fact, than several men put 
 together. 
 
 The only other things I shall tell you of, 
 are a large brass altar Solomon made and
 
 BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. 141 
 
 set up to sacrifice numbers of animals on, 
 ten golden candlesticks, ten golden tables, 
 and ten large brass basins, not for the 
 priests this time, but for the animals to be 
 washed in before they were sacrificed ; you 
 see everything must be perfectly clean 
 that is used in the service of God. 
 
 At last the work was over ; everything 
 was perfect. Of course, dear children, you do 
 not think, because I say that Solomon built 
 the Temple, that he actually made it with 
 his own hands. His whole lifetime would 
 not have been long enough for that, but he 
 had thousands of servants and workmen ; 
 some of them were very clever with their 
 hands, and they were all only too pleased 
 to be of use in such a holy work. They all 
 felt so happy when Solomon called some 
 of the oldest men, and said : 
 
 " The Temple is finished ! Come, let us go 
 and fetch the Ark from Mount Zion where 
 David kept it, and we will bring it here." 
 So some of the priests and the elders went 
 with Solomon to fetch the Ark, and they 
 carried it up to the Temple. All the people
 
 142 BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 followed, and great was their joy when they 
 saw the " Holy of Holies " open, and the 
 Ark of the Covenant placed there under the 
 two golden angels. There was nothing in 
 the Ark but the two tables of stone with 
 the Ten Commandments. 
 
 So God's house was ready, and He was 
 pleased with the work, and a cloud filled the 
 holy place. God had come into the Temple ; 
 His glory filled it. He would show Him- 
 self to the people. Solomon had been stand- 
 ing on a high place* that had been put up 
 for him, so that he should be in the sight 
 of all the people, but now that God had 
 made Himself seen, a humble spirit came 
 over Solomon, and he fell on his knees 
 and began praying to God. 
 
 First of all he thanked Him for having 
 kept the promise He made to David ; then 
 he asked God never to cast off His people, 
 but always to hearken to their prayers. 
 " Hear Thou from Thy dwelling-place, even 
 from heaven," he said ; " and when Thou 
 nearest, forgive." 
 
 * 2 Chronicles vi., 13.
 
 BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. 143 
 
 He prayed for a long time, and when he. 
 had finished, God answered him, how do 
 you think ? Not by words, but in this 
 way. A number of animals had been laid 
 on the altars to be sacrificed, but the priests 
 had no need to set fire to the wood that 
 was under them. God sent fire from 
 heaven, and it burnt them. 
 
 When the people saw this sign from God, 
 they all bowed their faces to the ground, 
 and sang a psalm of thanks — one of David's 
 Psalms — to praise God. They said : " The 
 Lord is good; His mercy it lasteth for ever."* 
 
 Then Solomon and the people offered 
 more sacrifices, and the priests burned the 
 sweet incense, and the sound of music and 
 psalms was heard all over the Temple. 
 How beautiful it must have been ! When 
 Solomon had opened the Temple to the 
 people, it was the season to celebrate the 
 Feast of Tabernacles, and happily indeed die} 
 they keep it that year, not seven, but twice 
 seven — for fourteen days, and after that 
 Solomon sent them back to their homes 
 
 * Psalm oxxxvi.
 
 144 BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 glad and merry in heart for the goodness 
 that the Lord had shown them. 
 
 Do you know in what part of the city 
 the Temple was built ? On Mount Moriah, 
 on the very place where Abraham had 
 built the altar and got ready to offer up his 
 son Isaac. 
 
 Is it not sad, dear children, that there is 
 no beautiful temple now for you and me to 
 go and say our prayers in ? Do you know 
 why this is ? I told you a long time ago. 
 It is because we have been wicked, so 
 we must be satisfied with our synagogue ; 
 and never forget when you are there that 
 you are in God's house, and you must be 
 more particular how you behave there than 
 anywhere else. God is angry with you if 
 you talk and look about in " His place." 
 Try to be good, my darlings, and perhaps 
 some day we may have a lovely temple of 
 our own again, when God lets us live once 
 more in Palestine ; for, remember, we Jews 
 are still His own beloved people. He has 
 never shaken us off, although He has 
 thought it right to punish us.
 
 145 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 SOLOMON AND THE COVENANT. 
 
 1 Kings ix. 
 
 After Solomon had finished the Temple 
 and prayed there as I have just told you 
 about, God came and spoke to him for the 
 second time at night, just as He had when 
 Solomon was first king. The Lord said, 
 " I have heard the prayer that you have 
 prayed to Me. I have made holy this house, 
 which you have built for My name, and I 
 will dwell there for ever. If you will love 
 Me, like your father David did, and keep 
 My laws which I have given you, then you 
 and your children, and their children after 
 them, shall be kings of Israel for ever. But 
 if you or your children do turn from follow- 
 ing Me, and disobey My commandments, and 
 
 F
 
 146 SOLOMON AND THE COVENANT. 
 
 serve other orods, then I will take this land 
 of Israel (or Canaan) away from you, and 
 this holy house, which is called by My 
 name, will I destroy, and every one shall 
 say, ' See what has happened to the people 
 of Israel, because they forsook the Lord, 
 who brought them out of Egypt. They 
 have prayed to idols, therefore has the Lord 
 brought this trouble on them.' "
 
 147 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Solomon's house and the queen of sheba. 
 
 1 Kings vii., x. 
 
 There was something else that Solomon 
 built besides the Temple, this was a beau- 
 tiful palace for himself to live in. He was 
 nearly twice as long over it as he had been 
 at the work of the Temple. Now, what do 
 you think was the reason ? Was Solomon's 
 house larger or grander than God's ? No, 
 my dear children, but Solomon was so 
 anxious to get the Temple finished, that he 
 set as many of his servants as he could to 
 work at it, and hurried them on, whilst he 
 thought that it did not matter if he had to 
 wait a few years more for his own house. 
 
 It was made of rich cedar wood, but not 
 covered over with gold like the Temple.
 
 148 SOLOMON'S HOUSE 
 
 It was ornamented with rows of precious 
 stones. Just think how rich God had made 
 Solomon, when he could use jewels in such 
 a manner. Jewels that you see people 
 wearing, such as diamonds, rubies, emeralds, 
 topazes, &c, Solomon had in such quanti- 
 ties, that he had them fixed in three rows 
 between the cedar wood, round the great 
 court outside of his palace, besides what 
 were used to ornament the inside of the 
 house. How they must have shone and 
 glittered ! 
 
 Then Solomon had an immense throne of 
 white ivory and gold ; there were six steps 
 ic front to go up by, and on each step was 
 a carved lion. The lion you know is the 
 strongest and noblest of all the animals, so 
 I think Solomon chose them for a sign to 
 the people of how strong and mighty God 
 had made him ; and the ivory is so white 
 and pure, perhaps Solomon wished that to 
 be taken as a sign, that his judgments 
 should always be fair and pure, for he used 
 to sit on this throne to judge the people and 
 to settle any dispute they might have had.
 
 AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. 149 
 
 Not only Solomon's house was so mag- 
 nificent, but everything in it was riches 
 than in any other king's palace. All his 
 cups and plates, his dishes and spoons, were 
 of gold ; silver was thought too common 
 for him to use. 
 
 Then Solomon had plenty of fine ships, 
 and they used to sail away to other 
 countries, and bring the king back what- 
 ever was beautiful or curious, that he could 
 not get in Palestine. So king Solomon was 
 richer and wiser than any of the other 
 kings of the earth. People came from all 
 parts to hear his wisdom, and every one 
 who came brought him a present, silver, or 
 gold, or handsome clothes, or armour, or 
 sweet spices, horses or mules, so you are 
 not surprised to hear that Solomon was as 
 famous for his riches, as for his wisdom. 
 
 What had made Solomon so wise ? You 
 know this was God's doing. He had pro- 
 mised it in the dream, when Solomon had 
 his choice, and so it was, that Solomon was 
 the wisest man who ever lived. Many of 
 his wise sayings were written down, and
 
 150 SOLOMONS HOUSE 
 
 have been saved for us to read now. They 
 are called the " Proverbs of Solomon/' and 
 when you are old enough to learn a part of 
 the Bible by heart, you can not do better 
 than learn some of these. 
 
 I told you that people came from all 
 parts of the world to see and hear this 
 famous king Solomon. There was a woman 
 called the Queen cf Sheba. She lived a 
 long way off, and could scarcely believe all 
 the wonderful stories that were told of this 
 king of Israel. So she thought that she 
 would go herself, and try to puzzle him 
 with difficult questions. 
 
 She took a number of servants and 
 camels to carry rich presents of spices and 
 gold, and she set out for Solomon's country, 
 Palestine, or the Land of Canaan, as it 
 used to be called. After a long journey 
 she reached Jerusalem, when she came be- 
 fore the king and told him truly the reason 
 of her visit. But whatever question she 
 asked, no matter how difficult it might be, 
 Solomon had always a proper answer ready 
 — nothing puzzled him.
 
 AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. 151 
 
 The Queen of Sheba was very surprised 
 at this, and when Solomon took her all 
 over the Temple and his palace, and showed 
 her besides his grand treasures, she was 
 quite confused with it all. She said, 
 
 " All that I heard in my own country of 
 your wisdom and riches was true ; still I did 
 not believe it, until I came and saw it with 
 my own eyes ; now I find that the half 
 was not told me, for you are wiser and 
 richer than ever I heard. How happy are 
 your people to have you always with them, 
 for they can continually listen to your wise 
 sayings ! " 
 
 Then she gave Solomon rich presents, 
 and he told her to choose whatever she 
 liked from his treasures. After this she 
 took leave of him and turned and went 
 back to ■ her own country, she and her 
 servants.
 
 152 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 Solomon's old age. 
 
 1 Kings xi., xii. 
 
 I AM afraid, dear children, you will say that 
 all my stories lately have something sad in 
 them ; for many of the people I talk to you 
 about were good at first, but got wicked 
 by-and-bye. But you must remember 
 mine are all true stories, the histories of 
 people who really lived ; so you must not 
 expect to hear that they were always good. 
 I am only too glad when I can tell you 
 that they were truly sorry for their sins, 
 like David, as then God could forgive 
 them. 
 
 I think you will be surprised as well as 
 sad to hear, that when Solomon got old, all 
 his wisdom did not keep him good. Like
 
 Solomon's old age. 153 
 
 Esau and Samson, who chose their wives 
 only because they were beautiful, and did 
 not think it mattered whether they were 
 good women, so Solomon, because he was 
 rich, took many wives. Some of these 
 women did not worship the true God ; but 
 served idols, and Solomon was wicked and 
 foolish enough in his old age to do as they 
 did, and forget the God who had been so 
 good to him. Not only did he allow these 
 " strange women " to build altars to their 
 false idols, and offer sacrifices on them 
 in the sight of all the people ; but, dreadful 
 to say, he, too, sometimes prayed to these 
 idols instead of to God. Was not this a 
 fearful example to the people ? 
 
 God was very angry with Solomon, and 
 told him, " As you have not kept My com- 
 mandments, but have worshipped idols, 
 when you die, your son shall be king over 
 only a very small part of Canaan, all the 
 rest shall be taken from him by one of your 
 servants. If it were not for My servant 
 David's sake, he should not even have this 
 small portion."
 
 154 SOLOMON'S OLD AGE. 
 
 When Solomon heard these words, he 
 must have felt very sad, for he knew that 
 he deserved this severe punishment, still he 
 could not have been sorry in the right way, 
 or he would have sent away all his wives 
 who served idols. He did not do this, but 
 lived on the same life for a few years, until 
 he died. He had no peace ; for besides his 
 unhappy conscience, God sent enemies, who 
 troubled him ; so I think he must have 
 been thankful to God when the time came 
 for him to die. 
 
 Is it not a dreadful thing to read of Solo- 
 mon growing wicked when he got old ? 
 You, dear children, the older you grow, the 
 better I hope you will be. God expects 
 more from you each year, as you get older 
 and wiser ; so make up your minds not to 
 be like Solomon, or you may not find the 
 road to heaven. 
 
 When Solomon was dead, God's words 
 came true. His son, who was called " Re- 
 hoboam" (rather a long name for you to 
 remember) was made king, just as the 
 eldest son of the last king always is now-a-
 
 SOLOMON'S OLD AGE. 155 
 
 days. But Rehoboam was unkind and sel- 
 fish to his people ; so when " Jeroboam," 
 one of Solomon's servants, said he would be 
 king too, the people were glad of it, and 
 very few preferred Rehoboam. Of all the 
 twelve tribes that you read of, who filled 
 the land of Canaan, only two remained true 
 to Rehoboam. Their names were Judah 
 and Benjamin ; and Rehoboam was. called 
 'the king of Judah," and Jeroboam "the 
 king of Israel ; " so from this time Canaan 
 bad two kings. This was God's punish- 
 ment because Solomon had disobeyed Him.
 
 156 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE HOLY DAYS. 
 
 1 Kings xii. Leviticus xxiii. 
 
 Now, I told you that Rehoboam, Solo- 
 mon's son, lost nearly all his father's king- 
 dom. Only two tribes instead of twelve, 
 called him king. Still, do you know, he 
 was better off than Jeroboam. Can you 
 tell me why ? Jerusalem, with the holy 
 Temple remained for him, and if he had 
 liked to be good he might still have been 
 happy ; but, as I said before, he was un- 
 kind to his people. He tried to get a great 
 deal of money (or " taxes," as we ought to 
 say) from them to spend on his own plea- 
 sures. When they complained, he would 
 not listen to the advice of the old men, who 
 had lived in his father's time, and had
 
 THE HOLY DAYS. 157 
 
 heard his wise sayings ; so his reign was a 
 miserable one. 
 
 Did I tell you before, that the people 
 used to come up from all parts of Canaan 
 to the Temple, three times a year. Moses 
 had commanded this when he made the 
 Tabernacle ; and everyone was to bring an 
 offering, according to what he could afford. 
 God would think just as much of a - little 
 pigeon, or dove, laid on His altar, as He 
 would of a whole ox, or sheep. The three 
 times in the year that the people came up 
 were our three great holidays, Passover, 
 Pentecost, and Tabernacles. 
 
 I wonder if you remember what I said 
 to you a long time ago of three festivals. 
 I should now like to tell you about two 
 other holy days you ought to hear of. 
 
 The first is called New Year. Its very 
 name will help you a little to understand 
 it, as I daresay you know that the first day 
 in every year is called the New Year. Well, 
 my dear children, our holy New Year is 
 the world's birthday, and as God wishes us 
 never to forget His grand work of the 
 
 F 7
 
 158 THE HOLY DAYS. 
 
 Creation, He ordered us, through His faith- 
 ful servant Moses, to keep the first day in 
 every year, as a very holy festival. No 
 work is to be done on it, beautiful prayers 
 are read in our Synagogue, and the trumpet 
 or " shofar " is blown there * You will of 
 course, want to know why this " shofar " is 
 blown ; there are many reasons, but I shall 
 only tell you some of them. 
 
 I said that the New Year was the world's 
 birthday. Well, when you have a birthday, 
 don't imagine you have nothing else to do 
 on it besides receiving presents, and being 
 wished many happy returns of the day. 
 As soon as ever you are old enough to 
 think, you should, when the birthday comes, 
 sit down quietly and say to yourself, " What 
 have I done that is not right, during this 
 last year of my life ? " Then, when you 
 have found out your faults, you must make 
 up your mind to correct them and do better 
 for the future. 
 
 So it is on the world's birthday, the 
 New Year. Old and young must all think 
 
 * Leviticus xxiii. 24.
 
 THE HOLY DAYS. 159 
 
 over their past time, find out where they 
 have done wrong, and resolve to act better 
 in the coming year. They must pray to 
 God for help and He will give it them. 
 Well, the horn is blown to remind us of 
 our duties, and also to prepare us for 
 the great fast day that is coming, and 
 which you shall hear about directly. The 
 " shofar " itself is made of a ram's horn, to 
 remind us of the binding of Isaac, who 
 was willing to give up his life to God. 
 You remember, I hope, how God would not 
 allow Abraham to sacrifice his only son, 
 and a ram was offered in stead. Let this 
 teach you, dear children, to be ready to 
 give up everything to God, even your lives, 
 should He require it. 
 
 The trumpet was always sounded when 
 a new king was crowned, therefore, now 
 at the commencement of a New Year, the 
 " shofar " is blown, to remind us that God 
 is our king, and that we must obey all His 
 commands. 
 
 You know I told you how the trumpet 
 was blown when God came down to Mount
 
 160 THE HOLY DAYS. 
 
 Sinai to give the commandments, and all 
 the people trembled at the awful sound. 
 Now, my dear children, I do not want you to 
 feel frightened at the sound of the "shofar," 
 or horn, when it is blown in Synagogue on 
 the New Year, but I do wish you to be 
 very serious and thoughtful. Find out 
 what your faults are ; whether you have 
 done your best to please your parents or 
 teachers, if you have been kind to your 
 little companions ; or if on thinking it over, 
 you see you have given way to temper, or 
 perhaps been selfish or lazy, — confess your 
 faults to God, ask Him to help you to grow 
 better in future, make up your mind to do 
 all you can in your own power towards 
 this; then you will be keeping the New 
 Year as God desires. The New Year is 
 sometimes called the " Day of Memorial," 
 or sometimes the "Day of Sounding the 
 Cornet." 
 
 Ten days after the New Year we 
 have our most sacred day in the whole 
 twelve months. It is called the Day of 
 Atonement, and young as you are, I want
 
 THE HOLY DAYS. 161 
 
 you quite to see how entirely different it is 
 to any of the other holy days or festivals 
 that we Jews keep. God ordered this day 
 purely out of love and kindness to us ; it is 
 to be spent in prayer and fasting ; I need 
 scarcely say that no manner of work is 
 allowed to be done on it, in fact it is called 
 a Sabbath of Sabbaths. To fast, means to 
 take no food of any kind. Perhaps you 
 little ones may say, " How strange ! what 
 does God wish us to fast for?" I will 
 show you. When we go without food 
 for a day, we become weak and faint, we 
 find out what poor helpless creatures we 
 are, we understand the difference between 
 our mortal selves and God's immortal 
 being, and we see how thoroughly we de- 
 pend on Him for all we have. 
 
 Then, dears, remember, that however 
 wicked we may have been, if we truly and 
 thoroughly repent, God will forgive us ; and 
 when can one better think over the past, 
 and make good resolves for the future, than 
 on such a day, as this day of Atonement, 
 which God in His love has appointed for
 
 162 THE HOLY DAYS. 
 
 us, and when our very weakness seems to 
 draw us nearer to our Father ? This was 
 the only day in the year when the High 
 Priest entered the Holy of Holies. 
 
 The ten days from the New Year to the 
 Day of Atonement are called the " Days of 
 Penitence." During them we should by 
 prayer and thought prepare ourselves for 
 the great and holy day of Atonement. 
 
 Be sorry for your faults — confess them, 
 and pray to God to give you strength to 
 conquer them. If you nave done wrong to 
 any of your companions, it is not enough 
 to confess your sin or even feel sorry for it ; 
 you must besides atone for it, that is, you 
 must make it right with your little friend, 
 before you dare ask God for His forgiveness. 
 If you do this, you little children, who are 
 not old or strong enough to fast, you will 
 still be keeping God's command and follow- 
 ing His will.
 
 163 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 JEROBOAM AND THE DISOBEDIENT PROPHET. 
 1 Kings xii., xiii. 
 
 Now Jeroboam, the king of Israel, thought 
 to himself, " If my people, those who have 
 just made me king, go up to Jerusalem so 
 often, they may perhaps get to like Reho- 
 boam again, so they will get rid of me and 
 have him lor their king. I must prevent 
 this." 
 
 See what a wicked thing he did ! He 
 made two golden calves, and set them up in 
 different towns, as idols for the people to 
 worship. Then he said, " It is too far for 
 us to go up to Jerusalem to pray ; here are 
 your gods that you can worship." 
 
 The people did as the king told them. It 
 was very wicked of them, but it was more
 
 164* JEROBOAM AND 
 
 ■wicked of Jeroboam to entice them to do 
 wrong. God is always more angry with you, 
 if you persuade other children to do what 
 is wrong, than He is when you sin your- 
 self. Remember this if you want God to 
 love you. You shall see in what way He 
 showed Jeroboam how displeased He was. 
 
 One day Jeroboam was standing before 
 the altar that he had built for one of the 
 two golden calves. He had a censer in his 
 hand, and he was burning sweet incense in 
 it. Then God sent one of His prophets to 
 tell him how r wicked he was, and he said, 
 "This shall be a sign that the Lord has 
 sent me to you : this very altar on which 
 you dare to sacrifice to a false god, shall be 
 torn down, and the ashes shall be poured 
 out on the ground." 
 
 Jeroboam was in a great passion, when 
 he heard the prophet's words. He called 
 out to his servants, " Lay hold of him," and 
 he put out his hand himself to seize the 
 prophet. Then suddenly his hand dried up 
 — it was stiff and dead — he could not pull 
 it back again to his side.
 
 THE DISOBEDIENT PROPHET. 165 
 
 At the same moment the altar was 
 broken up, and the ashes ran out on 
 the ground. Jeroboam was now indeed 
 frightened, and he said to the man of 
 God, as Pharaoh did to Moses when the 
 plagues came, " Oh, do pray to the Lord 
 and ask Him to heal me, that my hand may 
 be again as it was before." 
 
 If any one had done you an injury, 
 would you be ready to pray for them if 
 they asked you ? I hope so, dear child ! 
 At all events the prophet was ; he entreated 
 God to forgive Jeroboam. God granted 
 his prayer, and his hand became all right 
 again. Jeroboam was grateful to the pro- 
 phet, but he forgot that it was God he 
 ought to have thanked for being well 
 again, and he begged the prophet to come 
 into his palace and sit down to a feast and 
 take away a present with him. But the 
 messenger of God said, "If you were to 
 offer me half of all your" treasures, I would 
 not go with you,for God has told me not to eat 
 or drink here, but to return home at once.' 
 
 So he left Jeroboam, and on his way
 
 166 JEROBOAM AND 
 
 home, an old prophet met him, and enticed 
 him to come to his house. At first he re- 
 fused, but I am sorry to tell you, after some 
 persuasion, he disobeyed God's command 
 and went into the old man's house and 
 "did eat and drink." Whilst he was sit- 
 ting at the table, God's word came to the 
 old prophet, and he said to the disobedient 
 one, "Thus saith the Lord, How is it that 
 you have dared to disobey me ? Did I 
 not forbid you to eat or drink until you 
 had reached your own house ? You shall 
 die." 
 
 Quickly the punishment came. He had 
 scarcely started off on his ass, when a lion 
 came out and killed him. Now, you know 
 that the lion is a very fierce animal, and 
 generally eats whatever it kills, but it was 
 not so this time. God had sent the lion to 
 make His word come true. The prophet 
 was to die for his disobedience, and this 
 was the wonderful sight that some men 
 saw as they passed by — the dead body 
 of the disobedient prophet lying on the 
 ground, the ass standing quietly by his
 
 THE DISOBEDIENT PROPHET. 167 
 
 dead master's side, unhurt, and the lion 
 standing there too. 
 
 Now, dear children, you know there are 
 no lions in the country we live in, so how- 
 ever disobedient you may be, a lion can 
 not be sent to kill you, but you see how 
 angry God is with those who do not obey 
 Him, so mind you do not make Him angry 
 with you.
 
 168 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 ELIJAH AND THE FAMINE. 
 1 Kings xiii., xvi., xvii. 
 
 Now, you would think, after all I told you of 
 in the last chapter, that Jeroboam would have 
 given up worshipping the golden calves, 
 and would have returned to God; but, I 
 am sorry to say, he did not. He went on 
 in his old way, sinning up to the very 
 end ; so when he died, I am afraid there 
 was punishment instead of heaven waiting 
 for him. 
 
 His son, who was king after him, was 
 wicked too, and so were all the kings of 
 Israel ; for the golden calves were left 
 where Jeroboam had placed them, and the 
 kings and the people used to worship and 
 sacrifice before them, instead of to the true 
 God.
 
 ELIJAH AND THE FAMINE 169 
 
 I shall not talk to you about all these bad 
 kings, only there is one I must tell you of, 
 for two reasons ; firstly, there never was 
 such a wicked man as he, and secondly, in 
 his time lived a very, very great prophet. 
 
 The king's name was Ahab. Not only 
 did he do all that was wicked like the king 
 before him, but he displeased God besides, 
 by taking for his wife a woman who wor- 
 shipped idols. Her name was " Jezebel ;" 
 Queen Jezebel, you must call her. Her 
 father was a king, and in his country the 
 idol the people prayed to, was called Baal. 
 Jezebel was a terribly wicked woman, and 
 as Ahab was bad too, to please her, he 
 built a temple to her false god Baal, and 
 planted a beautiful grove of trees round it. 
 This was not all. A number of his servants 
 he made priests of Baal, so that they might 
 ofler sacrifices on Baal's altar, as the priests 
 of God did in the Temple. 
 
 Ahab did not destroy the golden calves 
 that Jeroboam had made ; so you can fancy 
 that the people did not see much to remind 
 them of the true God. Still, I am glad to
 
 170 ELIJAH AND THE FAMINE. 
 
 tell you that a great many did keep faithful 
 to God, and would not pray to the idols 
 as the king and queen did. This made 
 Ahab and Jezebel very angry. They hated 
 everybody who was good, they wanted to 
 make them all as bad as themselves, and 
 they tried to kill those people who served 
 God ; so that they had to hide away in the 
 woods or caves. But some of the Israelites 
 were very brave, and did not fear Ahab. 
 There was one good man, Obadiah, who hid 
 a hundred prophets in a cave, and brought 
 them food every day, until it was safe for 
 them to go somewhere else. 
 
 But the man whom the king and queen 
 hated most of all, was the good prophet, 
 who, I told you, lived at this time. His 
 name was Elijah. He loved God truly, and 
 was not afraid of Ahab and Jezebel; but was 
 always ready to bring them a message from 
 God, although it was often a very angry one. 
 
 At last God was so provoked with Ahab, 
 that he sent Elijah to him with these 
 words, " There shall be no rain in the land 
 for years, until I send it."
 
 ELIJAH AND THE FAMINE. 171 
 
 Now, can you picture to yourself what this 
 meant ? Have you ever thought of how 
 we should get on without rain ? If God 
 never sent rain we should die, for nothing 
 in the ground would grow. What use 
 would it be for the farmer to sow the seed, 
 or for the gardener to plant anything for 
 food ? The seed would not sprout, and the 
 plants would die, if they had no water. 
 Just as we get thirsty, so do they. 
 
 But now this plague had come on Israel 
 because of Ahab's great wickedness. For 
 three years no rain fell. At first the little 
 brooks dried up, one by one, and then even 
 some of the bigger rivers began to fail. 
 Most of the cattle must have died, and the 
 people, too, were perishing of famine. 
 
 Do you not want to know where Elijah 
 was all this time ? You may be sure that 
 if Ahab or Jezebel could have found out, 
 his life would not have been worth much ; 
 so, as soon as he had given his message to 
 Ahab, God told him, " Go away now, and 
 hide yourself by the brook called Cherith, 
 near the river Jordan."
 
 172 ELIJAH AND THE FAMINE. 
 
 Elijah obeyed and went to Cherith, 
 where he had the water of the brook to 
 drink, and what do you think he did for 
 food ? God sent ravens, who brought him 
 bread and meat every night and morning. 
 Ravens, you know, are very large, strong 
 birds. So the ravens fed Elijah. But after 
 a while all the water in the brook was 
 dried up, because there had been no rain in 
 the land. Then the word of God came to 
 Elijah, saying, "Go now to Zarepheth in 
 Zidon (Zidon was Jezebel's country) to 
 the house of a widow woman. She will 
 give you food." 
 
 So Elijah rose up, and went to Zarepheth. 
 As he came to the gate of the city, he saw 
 a widow woman gathering sticks together. 
 He was very thirsty, as you can imagine ; 
 so he called to her, <: Fetch me, I pray you, 
 a little water to drink." 
 
 She was going off to get some for him, 
 when he called to her, " Bring me, I beg 
 you, a little morsel of bread too." 
 
 The poor woman answered him, " As the 
 Lord thy God liveth, I have not a piece of
 
 ELIJAH AND THE FAMINE. 173 
 
 bread in the house. All that I have is a 
 handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil 
 in a cruse (a cruse means a pitcher or jug), 
 and you see that now I am gathering sticks, 
 that I may make a fire to bake some 
 bread for my son and me, and when we have 
 eaten it, we shall die because of the famine." 
 
 Then Elijah said, " Fear not. Do as you 
 have said ; but first make me a little cake, 
 and then bake one for yourself and your 
 son. For the Lord God of Israel says, The 
 barrel of meal shall not waste, nor the 
 cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord 
 sends rain upon the land." 
 
 So she went and did according to the 
 prophet's words ; and there was bread for 
 her, and Elijah, and her son, for many days, 
 for the meal and the oil lasted. 
 
 After some time the widow's son fell ill, 
 and, sad to say, instead of getting better, 
 he became gradually worse and worse, until 
 at last he died. His mother was in dread- 
 ful trouble, and came to Elijah, saying 
 quite angrily, "Is this a punishment you 
 have brought on me for my sins ? "
 
 174 ELIJAH AND THE FAMINE. 
 
 Then the prophet answered her, w Give 
 me your son." 
 
 He took the dead child from her, and 
 carried him in his arms, up to the top of 
 the house to a little room that he lived in, 
 and ]aid him down on his own bed. Then 
 Elijah prayed to God, and asked Him, 
 " Hast thou sent this trouble on the woman ?" 
 He then stretched himself over the child 
 three times, and cried out, "0 Lord my 
 God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come 
 back to him again." 
 
 The Lord listened to the good man's cry, 
 and the child's soul did come back to him 
 as^ain. He was no longer dead, he lived. 
 
 Elijah took the child, and brought him 
 down to his mother, saying to her, " See 
 your son is alive." 
 
 And the woman said to Elijah, " Now by 
 this I know that you are really a man of 
 God, and that the word of God in your 
 mouth is truth." 
 
 Before this she had been an idolator ; but 
 now that she saw what wonders Elijah's 
 God could work, you may be sure she
 
 ELIJAH AND THE FAMINE. 175 
 
 never prayed again to images, but to our 
 true God. 
 
 You see what good can be done by 
 prayer. Of course, what you have just 
 heard of was a miracle, and there are no 
 miracles now-a-days ; but God is just as 
 ready as ever to listen to us when we cry to 
 Him ; so, dear children, if you are unhappy 
 pray to Him, if you have been wicked, pray 
 to Him ; or if you are ill, pray to Him. 
 No good can come to you, if you grow up 
 without praying to your dear Father in 
 heaven.
 
 176 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 A H A B AND ELIJAH. 
 
 1 Kings xviii. 
 
 Elijah stayed some time at the poor 
 widow's house, whilst the famine lasted, 
 for no rain had come yet, but her oil and 
 flour never failed, as the prophet had pro- 
 mised her, so it was, she had always enough 
 for her own and his use. 
 
 All this while Ahab and Jezebel did not 
 know where Elijah was, but at last God 
 said to Elijah, " Go and show yourself to 
 Ahab." 
 
 If Ahab and Jezebel had only known 
 where Elijah was, they would surely have 
 sent for him and killed him, for as no rain 
 had come, the famine had got worse and 
 worse, and all this misery, Ahab was wicked
 
 AHAB AND ELIJAH. 177 
 
 enough to say, was Elijah's fault. Ahab 
 managed to get food for himself always, 
 but he could not for his horses, and now 
 the grass was so scarce, that he had 
 actually started out with his good servant 
 Obadiah (you heard of him before) to try 
 and find a little grass, as his horses were 
 dying for want of it. 
 
 So Ahab went one way, and Obadiah 
 the other. Presently, as Obadiah was walk- 
 ing along, Elijah met him. Obadiah threw 
 himself on the ground before him and said, 
 " Are you, my lord, Elijah ? " 
 
 Elijah answered, " I am ; go tell your 
 master, Behold, Elijah is here/' 
 
 Now, do you think Obadiah liked having 
 this message given him ? Not at all, my 
 dear children, for he thought, " Elijah never 
 means to give himself up to Ahab, who is 
 looking for him everywhere so as to kill 
 him. When I return from giving my mes- 
 sage, God will have sent him somewhere 
 else, and Ahab, who is very cruel, will kill 
 me, because there is no Elijah to be found." 
 
 So Obadiah said to the prophet, " Oh,
 
 178 AHAB AND ELIJAH. 
 
 why do you send me on such an errand ? 
 What have I done that Ahab should slay 
 me, and he surely will in his anger, if you 
 are not here when he comes to meet you. 
 You know that I fear God, and wish to 
 serve Him. Did I not hide a hundred pro- 
 phets in a cave and feed them ; so now do 
 you wish me to die by Ahab's hand ? " 
 
 Then Elijah answered him, " As the Lord 
 of Hosts liveth, I will surely show myself 
 to Ahab to-day." 
 
 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told 
 him Elijah's words. Do you expect that 
 Ahab came to Elijah ? Yes, at once ; for 
 he was getting frightened at the famine 
 lasting so long ; and, wicked as he was, he 
 still knew that Elijah's words were true, 
 and you remember, I daresay, dear children, 
 that Elijah had said, "There shall be no 
 rain in Israel, until I speak the word." 
 
 So the wicked, proud king came to meet 
 God's prophet. Listen to Ahab's words as 
 he saw him, "Are you the man who troubles 
 Israel ? " 
 
 Elijah answered, "I have not troubled
 
 AHAB AND ELIJAH. 179 
 
 Israel; you are the man. You have dis- 
 obeyed God's laws and made Him so angry 
 that ' He has shut up the heavens, and 
 kept back the rain in its due season/* so 
 that the ground has not given food. Now, 
 send and gather to me in Mount Carmel 
 your prophets of Baal, who eat at the 
 Queen's table." 
 
 Ahab was too frightened to disobey 
 Elijah's command. He sent word to the 
 false prophets to come to the mountain, and 
 all the people followed them, to see what 
 was going to happen. 
 
 * The Shemang.
 
 180 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 MOUNT CARMEL AND THE FALSE PROPHETS. 
 
 1 Kings xviii. 
 
 Are not you curious, too, dear children, to 
 know what Elijah wanted with these 
 wicked priests of Baal ? He intended to 
 show the people how foolish, as well as sin- 
 ful they had been, in praying to Baal in- 
 stead of to God. 
 
 In the morning early, Elijah, with Ahab 
 the king, and the prophets of Baal, four 
 hundred and fifty of them, went to this 
 Mount Carmel, and the people stood round. 
 Then Elijah called out to them, " I have 
 brought you here, that you may see for 
 yourselves which is the true God. Here 
 are two bullocks ; let the priests of Baal 
 (there are plenty of them) choose first.
 
 MOUNT CAKMEL. 181 
 
 They can take whichever they like, and the 
 one that they leave shall be for me. Let 
 them make an altar to lay the bull upon. 
 I will do the same presently, and whichever 
 of the two animals shall be burnt by fire 
 from heaven, that God who sends it, you 
 shall own, is the true God." 
 
 When the people heard Elijah's words, 
 they all answered him, and said, " It is well 
 spoken." 
 
 Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, 
 " Now you choose your bullock for your- 
 selves, get it ready for the sacrifice, then 
 call on the name of your gods; but re- 
 member you are not to put any fire under 
 it. 
 
 So the priests of the false god took their 
 bull, and dressed it, and kept praying to 
 their idol from early morning until the 
 middle of the day. " O Baal, hear us ! " 
 they cried; but Baal could not hear, so 
 there was no voice — no answer came. How 
 should it, dear children ? Of course Elijah 
 knew that a false god, an idol, could neither 
 hear nor speak, and he felt very happy, for
 
 182 MOUNT CARMEL AND 
 
 soon the people would return to the God of 
 Israel. 
 
 Then he mocked at Baal's prophets, and 
 said to them, " Why do you not cry louder 
 to your god ? Perhaps he is talking, or on 
 a journey, or he may even be asleep and 
 must be roused." 
 
 These priests thought Elijah really meant 
 what he said ; sn they called yet louder and 
 louder, " O Baal, hear us ! " 
 
 And they cut themselves until the blood 
 ran from their bodies. If they had served 
 the true God, they would not have done 
 this ; for our God has forbidden us in the 
 " Law " to do such a thing ;* but I suppose 
 they thought it might please their god 
 Baal, and that when he saw them suffering 
 this pain, he would show himself to them. 
 
 But it was all useless; the morning 
 passed away, the afternoon had gone, now 
 it was evening. Still no sign of Baal. The 
 bullock was lying on the altar, but do voice 
 had answered — no fire had been sent to 
 burn it. 
 
 * Deuteronomy, xiv. 1.
 
 THE FALSE PROPHETS. 183 
 
 Then Elijah felt that his turn had come. 
 He said to the people, " Come near unto me." 
 
 So all the people drew close to him, and 
 they saw him take twelve stones ; that was 
 one for each of the tribes of Israel, and with 
 these he built an altar to God. He made a 
 " trench," or trough, as perhaps you would 
 call it, all round the altar to hold water. 
 Next, he put some wood on this, and then 
 laid the dead bullock on the wood. 
 
 Now you will see the reason for Elijah's 
 making the trench. He told the people to 
 take a quantity of water, and pour it over 
 the bull and the wood. Three times they 
 did this, until it was all thoroughly wet, 
 and the water ran off and stopped in the 
 trench that Elijah had made all round the 
 altar. 
 
 Now if you or I were getting ready a fire 
 that we wanted to burn well, we should 
 take care to have the wood and everything 
 about it as dry as possible, or we should 
 say it would never light ; but I dare say 
 you can guess Elijah's reason for acting in 
 such a contrary way. He wanted these
 
 184 MOUNT CARMEL AND 
 
 foolish Israelites to see for themselves, that 
 he was in no way helping the sacrifice to 
 burn, but rather he was hindering it. 
 
 When all this had been done, Elijah be- 
 gan to pray to his God. He said, " 
 Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let 
 it be known this day that Thou art God in 
 Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and 
 have done all these things at Thy word. 
 Hear me, Lord, and turn this people's 
 heart back again." 
 
 Elijah prayed from his heart, and God 
 heard him. 
 
 At once came the answer, not in words, 
 but in what the people must see for them- 
 selves was a sure sign which was the God 
 to be prayed to. 
 
 Fire fell, and the sacrifice and the wood 
 laid under it, and the stones of the altar, 
 and even the water which was in the 
 trench were all burnt up. 
 
 When all the people saw this wonderful 
 sight, they fell on their faces, and they 
 said, " The Lord, He is God ! The Lord, 
 He is God!"
 
 THE FALSE PROPHETS. 185 
 
 Then Elijah called out to the people, 
 " Take the prophets of Baal ; let not one of 
 them escape/' 
 
 So they took them and brought them 
 down to the brook Kishon, and there 
 Elijah slew them. They should no longer 
 lead the people to worship false gods. It 
 could not have been very pleasant for Ahab 
 to be obliged to watch all this ; but he was 
 too frightened of Elijah to say a word, and 
 when the prophet told him, " Get thee up, 
 eat and drink ; for we shall soon have 
 abundance of rain," Ahab obeyed him at 
 once, whilst Elijah, with his servant, re- 
 turned to the top of Mount Carmel. 
 
 Here he threw himself down on the 
 ground, and prayed earnestly. After a 
 time he said to his servant, " Go up, now, 
 and look towards the sea." 
 
 The man did so, and said, " There is no- 
 thing." 
 
 Then Elijah said, "Go again seven times." 
 
 Six times did the servant cast his eyes 
 seaward, but nothing was in sight. At last, 
 the seventh time, he said, " There is a little
 
 186 MOUNT CARMEL. 
 
 cloud, not larger than a man's hand, rising 
 out of the sea." 
 
 Elijah said, " Go and tell Ahab, Prepare 
 your chariot, and go down, or the raip will 
 stop you." 
 
 Very soon the sky was black with clouds 
 and wind, and then there was a great rain. 
 The dry and thirsty earth was once more 
 moist. Now the famine would be over, 
 and soon food would grow again for man 
 and beast. And Ahab rode in his chariot 
 back to Jezreel, the city where the wicked 
 queen Jezebel lived. Elijah went with 
 him ; for so the Lord had commanded him.
 
 187 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 1 Kings xix. 
 
 You may be sure that Ahab had not been 
 back long in Jezreel, before he had told 
 Jezebel all that had happened lately. When 
 she heard how Elijah had killed all her 
 priests of Baal, she was in a terrible rage. 
 She sent a servant to Elijah, with this mes- 
 
 " By this time to-morrow your life shall 
 be worth no more than one of those whom 
 you have slain." 
 
 When Elijah heard these savage words, 
 he saw that he had better run away to save 
 his life. So he left Jezreel, and soon he 
 found himself in the wilderness. Not a 
 very cheerful place, you will agree with me,
 
 188 ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 to be in, all alone ; so it is not surprising 
 that Elijah felt very sad and disheartened. 
 He sat down under a juniper tree, and 
 prayed to God to let him die. But God 
 meant him to live ; He had still work for 
 him to do. Presently as he slept, an angel 
 came to him, touched him, and said, "Arise 
 and eat." 
 
 Elijah opened his eyes, and saw a cake 
 or loaf just baked on some coals, and a cruse 
 of water. 
 
 He ate and drank, and then laid down 
 again to sleep. Once more the angel came 
 and touched him, and when he awoke, he 
 told him, " Arise and eat again, for there is 
 a long journey before you." 
 
 So Elijah took more food, which so re- 
 freshed him that he was able to go on for 
 forty days and forty nights without any- 
 thing more to eat. God crave him strength. 
 He spent his time in a cave on Mount 
 Horeb. Then the word of the Lord came 
 to him, " What do you here ? " 
 
 Elijah answered, " I have been very un- 
 happy. The children of Israel have for-
 
 ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS. 189 
 
 saken the Lord, and thrown down His 
 altars, and slain His prophets ; I, only I am 
 left, and now they seek my life." 
 
 The voice answered him, " Go forth and 
 stand upon the mount before the Lord." 
 
 Then came a great and strong wind, that 
 broke even the rocks ; but the Lord was 
 not in the wind ; and after the wind was 
 an earthquake ; but the Lord was not in 
 the earthquake. Then came fire ; but the 
 Lord was not in the fire ; and after the fire, 
 a still small voice. When Elijah heard 
 this, he wrapped his face in his mantle ; for 
 he dared not see God. He stood at the 
 entrance to the cave, and he heard the 
 voice say, " What are you doing here, 
 Elijah?" 
 
 Elijah returned the same answer as be- 
 fore, " I have been very jealous for the Lord 
 of Hosts, because the children of Israel have 
 forsaken your covenant, thrown down your 
 altars, and slain your prophets. And now 
 I, only I am left, and they seek my life to 
 take it." 
 
 Then God comforted Elijah, and told
 
 190 ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS. 
 
 him, " There are still left many in Israel, 
 who have not bowed down to Baal, but love 
 me. And as for Ahab, yo'i snail go and 
 anoint someone else to be king in his place, 
 for I will take the kingdom from him, be- 
 cause he is so wicked. You are, besides, 
 to find a young man, named Elisha, and 
 anoint him. He shall be prophet in your 
 place when you die ; so the people shall not 
 be without some one to teach them what is 
 right." 
 
 These words made Elijah feel quite 
 happy. He left the wilderness, and soon 
 found Elisha, the man whom he was to 
 anoint as prophet. Elisha was ploughing 
 with some oxen in a field. Oxen, as I told 
 you once before, are still used in Palestine 
 by the farmers, instead of horses. 
 
 When Elijah saw Elisha, he took off the 
 cloak or mantle that he was wearing, and 
 threw it round Elisha. Then Elisha left 
 the oxen, and ran after the old prophet, and 
 said : " Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father 
 and my mother, and then I will follow 
 thee."
 
 ELIJAH IN THE WILDERNESS. 191 
 
 You see Elisha felt that it was God who 
 called him to go with Elijah, and he was 
 joyful at the thought of it ; but it was only 
 natural he should wish to say good bye to 
 his parents first ; you would do the same, 
 I am sure, my dear children. 
 
 So Elisha turned back and went home. 
 He took two of the oxen he had been 
 ploughing with, killed them, and had them 
 boiled. Then he set them before his friends, 
 to whom he wished to make a feast, then 
 he bade them farewell, and arose and went 
 after Elijah, and became his faithful 
 servant.
 
 192 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIL 
 
 AHAB AND NABOTH'S VINEYARD. 
 
 1 Kings xxi. 
 
 You shall now hear of a very wicked thing 
 that Ahab did, and how he was punished 
 for it. You can fancy that, being a king, he 
 was very rich. He had plenty of houses 
 and gardens, and fields of his own ; still this 
 did not prevent him being covetous, as you 
 will see. 
 
 Close b} r Ahab's palace in the city of 
 Jezreel, was a beautiful " vineyard." Do 
 you know what a vineyard is ? I dare say 
 not, as in England there are no vineyards, 
 but you must know what grapes are. Well, 
 a vineyard is a field, or garden, full of vines, 
 on which grapes grow. This vineyard 
 belonged to a man called Naboth. Ahab
 
 AHAB AND NABOTH'S VINEYARD. 193 
 
 thought he would like it for himself to 
 make a garden of, so he went to Naboth 
 and said, " Give me your vineyard, that I 
 may have it for a garden of herbs, because 
 it is near my house, and I will give you a 
 better vineyard in exchange, or if you 
 prefer it, you can have its value in 
 money." 
 
 But Naboth said to Ahab : " I do not 
 wish to sell my vineyard; it belonged to 
 my father before me, so I will keep it." 
 
 This answer ought to have settled the 
 matter. Naboth had a perfect right to do 
 what he liked with his own ground, and 
 Ahab should have been satisfied. But, no ; 
 the king came home both angry and un- 
 happy. He threw himself down on his 
 bed, and would not take any food. When 
 Jezebel saw this, she said to her husband, 
 " Why are you sad, and refuse to eat ? " 
 
 Ahab answered, " I want Naboth's vine- 
 yard. I have been to him, and have offered 
 him another for it, or to buy it of him, but 
 he will not give it up ; he says he wishes to 
 keep it." 
 
 G 7
 
 194 AHAB AND NABOTH's VINEYARD. 
 
 And Jezebel said : " Are you not king of 
 Israel ? Arise, eat and be happy. I will 
 get you Naboth's vineyard." 
 
 Ahab never asked Jezebel how she in- 
 tended to manage this. He was so wicked, 
 that it was quite enough for him that he 
 was to get what he longed for ; he did not 
 mind how it was brought about. 
 
 Now see what a horrible plan Jezebel 
 had. She found two wicked men, who did 
 not mind bearing false witness against their 
 neighbour. These men came to the Judges 
 and said that Naboth had used God's name 
 sinfully, and had spoken against the king. 
 Now, if any one was found doing such a 
 thing, he was always put to death. 
 
 So the Judges said that Naboth was to 
 be carried out of the city, and all the 
 people were to throw stones at him until 
 he died. Then poor Naboth was taken 
 beyond the city gates, and stoned to death, 
 and his blood ran down upon the ground 
 where the dogs licked it up. 
 
 Soon the news was brought to Jezebel 
 that Naboth was dead, so she went to
 
 AHAB AND NABOTH'S VINEYARD. 195 
 
 Ahab and said, " Naboth is dead, now you 
 can go and take his vineyard." 
 
 And Ahab got up and went to Naboth's 
 vineyard, and took it to himself for a 
 garden. Now, God was very angry with 
 Jezebel, for having poor innocent Naboth 
 killed, and He was just as displeased with 
 Ahab, because he had allowed his wife to 
 write the letters to the Judges in his name, 
 and to seal them with his seal. So the 
 Lord called to Elijah, and told him to go to 
 Ahab, and speak to him about what he had 
 done. 
 
 You see Ahab did not long enjoy his 
 coveted possession, for soon he saw the old 
 prophet Elijah coming towards him, and he 
 felt afraid. 
 
 " Hast thou found me, mine enemy," 
 were the words which greeted Elijah, as 
 he approached the king. Elijah answered, 
 " I have found you ; now listen to God's 
 message ; you have killed, and you have 
 taken possession. I have seen Naboth's 
 blood, and just as the dogs licked it up, so 
 shall they lick up yours and Jezebel's.
 
 196 AHAB AND NABOTH'S VINEYARD. 
 
 Your children, too, shall be killed in the 
 streets, and the dogs shall eat their flesh, 
 or, if they die in the fields, the birds of the 
 air shall pick their bones. This is because 
 you have followed Jezebel's wicked advice 
 in worshipping idols, and you have done 
 more wickedness than any one before 
 you." 
 
 Were not these terrible words ? Even 
 Ahab was frightened ; you see there was 
 still his conscience to warn him, and now, 
 at last, he saw how wicked he had been. 
 He tore his clothes, put sackcloth upon his 
 body, he fasted, and repented. Then God 
 said to Elijah, f " I see that Ahab has hum- 
 bled himself before Me. I will not bring 
 all the punishment on him, that I threat- 
 ened. The destruction of his family shaD 
 not happen until after his death." 
 
 See how kind God is, even to sinners like 
 Ahab. But Ahab, unfortunately, only re- 
 pented for a time, so his punishment was 
 only put off, it was certain to come by and 
 bye.
 
 197 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 ahab's and jezebel's end. 
 
 1 Kings xxii. 2 Kings ix. 
 
 About three years after the sad death of 
 Naboth, Ahab went out with the King of 
 Judah to fight against a people who were 
 living near him. Now, he had been warned 
 by a prophet not to go forth, or he would 
 be slain, but he would not listen to him, 
 and preferred following the advice of the 
 false prophets, who told him he was sure to 
 be victorious. In fact, he was so angry 
 with the true prophet, who said, if he 
 valued his life, he had better remain at 
 home, that he had him thrown into prison, 
 where the governor had orders to feed him 
 on bread and water, until Ahab returned. 
 So forth went the king in his chariot,
 
 198 ahab's and jezebel's end. 
 
 but in his heart he must have felt uneasy, 
 although he would not confess it, for what 
 do you think he did ? He took off his 
 royal robes, and put on plain clothes, that 
 no one should recognize him, while he per- 
 suaded his friend, the King of Judah, to 
 keep on his royal garments. He thought 
 that he would escape by this means, al- 
 though God, by His prophet, had said he 
 would be killed. 
 
 "Now, the Syrian king had commanded 
 his captains to let all the others alone, and 
 to do their best to kill the King of Israel. 
 When they saw one man in royal robes, 
 they, of course, thought he was the King 
 of Israel and ran after him. When the 
 King of Judah found the danger he was in. 
 he cried out, then the captain knew he was 
 not the King of Israel, and turned back. 
 
 But no man can escape by cunning the 
 punishment that God has determined to 
 bring upon him. With all his care, Ahab's 
 last hour had come. A man in the Syrian 
 host drew his bow at a venture, and it 
 struck King Ahab, although he had covered
 
 ahab's and jezebel's end. 199 
 
 himself with armour. Then he said to the 
 driver of his chariot, " You must turn 
 and take me out of the battle, for I am 
 wounded." 
 
 So they took him back to his own city 
 of Samaria, but he died on the way, and 
 his blood ran out of his wound into the 
 chariot. Then they buried him in the city 
 of Samaria. Nobody except Jezebel could 
 have felt sorry at his death. His chariot 
 I told you, was covered with his blood, so 
 his servants took it and washed it in a pool 
 of water, and the wild dogs of the city 
 licked up the blood. Thus, you see, God's 
 words came true, as they always do. He 
 said that the dogs should lick up Ahab's 
 blood as they had poor Naboth's, and you 
 see they did. 
 
 And Jezebel — would you like to hear 
 what became of her ? She lived for a long 
 time after Ahab, but she did not become 
 better, two of her sons were Kings of 
 Israel, one after the other, and she en- 
 couraged them, just as she had Ahab, in all 
 sorts of wickedness. At last her end came,
 
 200 AHAB'S AND JEZEBEL S END. 
 
 and again you will see, how everything 
 happened exactly as God said it would. 
 
 First, her son, the king, was slain by one 
 of his own captains, and his body was 
 thrown into that very garden, which had 
 been made from Naboth's vineyard, and 
 there the dogs and birds feasted on it. 
 When the news of this reached the city 
 where Jezebel lived, she was standing at a 
 window looking out, her wicked face all 
 covered with paint. The captain, who had 
 just killed her son, lifted up his eyes and 
 saw her there, he called out to some of her 
 servants who were by her, "Throw her 
 down." His words were instantly obeyed, 
 they took her and threw her out of the 
 window, so that she was dashed to pieces 
 by the fall. 
 
 Was not this a horrible death ? Her 
 blood was sprinkled on the walls and on 
 the horses, who were passing by in a 
 chariot, and the horses trod her under foot. 
 In this chariot was the same captain, who, 
 I told you just now, had killed haughty 
 Jezebel's son, the King of Israel. He
 
 ahab's and jezebel's end. 201 
 
 drove over her body in his chariot, and 
 then went on to his house to eat and drink. 
 Presently he sent some of his servants to 
 bury her, but the dogs had eaten up all her 
 flesh, nothing was to be found but a few 
 bones, just those of her hands and feet and 
 head. 
 
 This was God's punishment on Jezebel, 
 for she had not only been wicked herself, 
 but had made the people sin, by setting up 
 idols to her false gods, and persuading 
 Ahab too to worship them; then, remember, 
 how she treated the good prophet Elijah ; 
 she tried hard to kill him, only because he 
 was a good man. And then, when Ahab 
 coveted Naboth's vineyard, he might not 
 have gone any further, but by her advice 
 and acts, she led him into the sins of 
 robbery and murder.
 
 202 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 AHAZIAH AND THE THREE CAPTAINS. 
 2 Kings i. 
 
 I told you that when Ahab died, one of 
 his sons was made king. His name was 
 Ahaziah. With such wicked parents as 
 Ahab and Jezebel, you will not be surprised 
 to hear that he did not fear God. Baal 
 was the god he worshipped. One day he 
 was in a room upstairs, in his palace, when 
 he fell out of the window, and was hurt 
 so badly, that he did not know whether 
 he could ever get well again. Now, in- 
 stead of praying to God to cure him, he 
 sent messengers to a city a long way off, to 
 inquire of the priests of Baal whether he 
 would recover. As they were going along, 
 they met God's messenger. Can you guess
 
 AHAZIAH AND THE THREE CAPTAINS. 203 
 
 his name ? It was Elijah. He stopped the 
 king's servants, and said, 
 
 " Is it because there is not a God in 
 Israel that you are going all the way to 
 Ekron to inquire of Baal ? Return to 
 Ahaziah, for this is what God says to 
 him — ' Thou shalt not come down from 
 the bed on which thou art, but shalt surely 
 die.' " 
 
 So the messengers turned back, and when 
 the king saw them, he said, "Why have 
 you returned so soon ? " 
 
 " We met a man," they answered, " who 
 told us to turn back." Then they deli- 
 vered the message. 
 
 "What sort of man was he," said the 
 king, "who met you and spoke to you 
 these words ? " 
 
 " He was covered with animals' skins, 
 and had a leather girdle (or belt) round 
 his waist." 
 
 The king recognised him instantly by the 
 description. " It is Elijah, the Tishbite." 
 
 The king was very angry at receiving 
 such a message ; he would have preferred
 
 204 AHAZIAH AND THE THREE CAPTAINS. 
 
 his servants going on to the idol's house ; 
 there he might have been given a pleasanter 
 message. So he told one of his captains 
 to take fifty men, and go and fetch Elijah. 
 You see he had heard of some of the won- 
 derful things the prophet had done, so he 
 thought he would send a large party of 
 men to make sure of bringing him back, 
 for he meant to kill him. 
 
 Now the old prophet was sitting on the 
 top of a hill, when he saw the king's mes- 
 sengers on the way to him. The captain 
 called out, " Thou man of God, the king 
 has said, Come down." 
 
 Elijah answered, " If I am a man of God, 
 let fire come down from heaven, and de- 
 stroy thee and thy fifty." 
 
 Then there came down fire from heaven, 
 and destroyed the captain and his fifty 
 soldiers. When Ahaziah found his servants 
 did not return, he sent another captain and 
 fifty men. He, too, called out to Elijah, 
 " Oh, man of God, the king has said, Come 
 down, quickly." 
 
 Elijah answered him in the same words
 
 AHAZIAH AND THE THREE CAPTAINS. 205 
 
 as he had the first captain, and just the same 
 thing happened as before. Fire came down 
 from heaven and burnt them all to death. 
 
 You would have thought that when Aha- 
 ziah heard of such terrible signs, by which 
 God protected His prophet, that he would 
 have left Elijah alone, and not risked the 
 lives of any more of his servants. But like 
 other wicked people, he would not give up 
 his own desires. He wished to have 
 Elijah in his power, so a third captain 
 (with another fifty men) was sent off" on 
 the same errand as the two others. 
 
 How frightened this poor captain felt. 
 He was obliged to obey the king, and he 
 quite expected to die. So when he came 
 in sight of Elijah, he threw himself on his 
 knees before him, and cried, " 1 pray thee, 
 let not my life and those of my men be 
 taken, like those who have been sent be- 
 fore to thee." 
 
 Then God took pity on this captain, be- 
 cause he was humble, and He sent His 
 angel to Elijah, with these words, " Go 
 down with him. Be not afraid."
 
 206 AHAZIAH AND THE THREE CAPTAINS. 
 
 So Elijah arose from the mount, and 
 went with the captain down to the city 
 where Ahaziah lived. He was brought 
 into the king's bedroom, and here he boldly 
 repeated what he had before said, " Be- 
 cause you sent to the false god, Baal, in- 
 stead of to the Lord's prophet, you shall 
 not get up from the bed, where you are 
 lying ill, but you shall die." 
 
 These words soon came true, for Ahaziah 
 lid die, and his brother was made king in 
 his place.
 
 207 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 ELIJAH GOES TO HEAVEN. 
 
 2 Kings ii. 
 
 The time had now come for Elijah to be 
 taken away from his troubled life on earth, 
 for you must remember, dear children, that 
 in following out God's commands Elijah had 
 passed through many trials. Ahab and Jeze- 
 bel had often tried to kill him ; at times he 
 had been faint for food, and many and weary 
 were the days that he had spent alone, 
 without a friend near him ; but he never 
 forgot he had a loving Friend in heaven, and 
 now heaven was to be opened to him — he 
 was to reach it without the pain of dying. 
 
 Elijah knew this, so he went about from 
 one place to another, encouraging the 
 young prophets, giving them good advice,
 
 208 ELIJAH GOES TO HEAVEN. 
 
 and always followed by his faithful ser- 
 vant Elisha. Elijah now wished Elisha to 
 leave him, before God took him to heaven, 
 but Elisha said he would not part from 
 his dear master until he was obliged, so, 
 wherever Elijah went, Elisha went too. 
 " As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, 
 I will not leave thee," were his words. 
 
 At last they came to the river Jordan. 
 Fifty of the young prophets stood at a 
 little distance off to watch their beloved 
 master as far as they could, for they knew 
 they should see him no more on earth. 
 When Elijah and Elisha reached the Jordan, 
 they stood for a while beside it. There 
 Elijah took off his cloak, folded it together 
 like a staff, then he struck the waters, and, 
 like at the passage of the Red Sea, they 
 divided, leaving a dry path, which they 
 crossed over on dry land. 
 
 When they were on the other side, Elijah 
 asked Elisha, " What can I do for you before 
 I am taken away ? " 
 
 Elisha said, " I pray you let a double por- 
 tion of your spirit come to me."
 
 ELIJAH GOES TO HEAVEN. 209 
 
 You see all that Elisha desired was to 
 be a great prophet like his noble master. 
 There were many things he might have 
 asked for, but he loved God truly, and was 
 only anxious to make His will known to 
 the people of Israel. 
 
 Elijah said, " You have asked a hard 
 thing of me, but if you see me when I am 
 taken, you shall have your desire granted." 
 
 They still walked on, but you may be 
 sure that Elisha would not leave Elijah's 
 side. No doubt as they talked together, 
 the old prophet was giving his young friend 
 and follower good advice, how to act when 
 his guide shall have left him alone. And 
 now a wonderful sight appears — a chariot 
 of fire, with horses of fire ; the loving 
 master and faithful servant are parted — 
 God's angels have come, and Elijah is taken 
 to heaven. As Elisha looked at this 
 wonderful sight, he called out, " My father ; 
 my father !" but the chariot goes on its 
 way ; it is soon out of sight, and Elisha is 
 left alone on earth. 
 
 He felt very sad, and he tore his clothes.
 
 210 ELIJAH GOES TO HEAVEN. 
 
 Then he took up Elijah's cloak, which had 
 fallen from him as he went to heaven. After 
 this he turned and presently came to 
 the Jordan. Here he stood a while, and 
 taking Elijah's cloak, with it he smote the 
 waters : they divided, and there was a dry 
 path left in the middle. Elisha walked 
 along this, and soon the river was crossed, 
 when he drew near to the young prophets, 
 whom he had left a short time before, as 
 he had passed that way with Elijah. They 
 all came to meet him, bowing to the ground, 
 for they knew what had happened, and they 
 called out, " The spirit of Elijah doth rest 
 on Elisha !"
 
 211 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 ELISHA AND THE POT OF OIL. 
 
 2 Kings iv. 
 
 Now you shall hear a story of something 
 wonderful that Elisha did, a miracle as we 
 call it. 
 
 In one of the cities of Palestine (or 
 Canaan) there was a woman living, whose 
 husband had been a prophet. He was 
 dead, and she had become poorer and 
 poorer, until at last she had no money left 
 at all, not even to pay what she owed. 
 She had two sons, and the people to whom 
 she was in debt, that is, owed money, came 
 to take them for slaves, because she could 
 not pay them. Poor creature ! What 
 could she do ? You will say she did a 
 very wise thing, for she came to Elisha.
 
 212 ELISHA AND THE POT OF OIL. 
 
 She told him her story ; how her husband 
 had been a good man, who loved God, but 
 that he was dead, and she was now in sore 
 trouble. 
 
 Elisha said, " What can I do for you ? 
 What have you in your house ? " 
 
 " Not anything," she answered, u but 
 one little pot of oil." 
 
 Then he said, " Go, borrow from your 
 neighbours all the vessels you can, basins, 
 jugs, cups, or anything of the kind, only be 
 sure to get plenty. Then, when you have 
 brought them home, shut the door, take 
 the little pot of oil, and pour out from it 
 into the borrowed vessels until they are 
 full." 
 
 The poor widow did just as Elisha bade 
 her. Her neighbours were only too glad 
 to help her, as they were sorry to see her 
 in such trouble, so they all lent her vessels, 
 of one kind or another. These were carried 
 to her house, the doors were closed, and as 
 fast as her sons brought the empty vessels 
 to her, she filled them with oil, which she 
 kept pouring from the little pot, which you
 
 ELISHA AND THE POT OF OIL. 213 
 
 know she had in the house. When they 
 had brought her the last, she said, " Bring 
 me yet another." 
 
 But they told her, " There is not one 
 vessel remaining." So the oil left off run- 
 ning. Then she went to Elisha, the friend 
 whom God had sent her when she had 
 prayed to Him in her distress, and told him 
 what had happened. He said, " Go, sell the 
 oil, pay your debt, and what is left will 
 buy food for you and your sons." 
 
 Who do you think it was, dear children, 
 that made the oil to " multiply," that is, 
 become more ? God. Nothing escapes His 
 eye, nor His ear. He will help anyone who 
 is in trouble. The poor widow cried to 
 Him, and He heard her voice, and sent her 
 a friend in Elisha. If you are unhappy 
 or in pain, pray to Him, tell Him all your 
 trouble, and though He will not answer 
 you in words, be sure He hears, and will 
 do what is best to help you to happiness.
 
 214 
 
 CHAPTER XLIL 
 
 ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE. 
 
 2 Kings iv. 
 
 Now, my dear children, I hope you re- 
 member that I told you Elisha used to 
 travel about to the different cities of 
 Canaan, telling the people of the true God, 
 and trying to keep them from worshipping 
 idols ; for sad to say, many of them brought 
 offerings and laid them before the two 
 golden calves that Jeroboam had set up, 
 when he made himself king after Solo- 
 mon's death, and took part of the kingdom 
 away from Solomon's son, Rehoboam. 
 
 One of the places that Elisha often 
 stopped at, was called Shuneni. Here, in 
 a house close to the wall of the city, lived 
 a famous woman. She was rich and good,
 
 ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE. 215 
 
 and when she found that Elisha visited her 
 city, she persuaded him to come into her 
 house and set food before him for him to 
 eat. After this, whenever he passed through 
 Shunem, she persuaded him to come to her 
 again. Then she said to her husband, " I 
 see that this is a holy man of God, who 
 passeth through Shunem so often. Let us 
 make a little room for him on the wall, that 
 we may always have him for a guest when 
 he is in Shunem." 
 
 Her husband said, she might certainly 
 do this if she liked. So a room was pre- 
 pared, and the good " Shunammite," as the 
 woman was called, placed a bed in it for 
 the prophet, and a table, candlestick and 
 stool for him to use. 
 
 The next time after this that Elisha 
 came to Shunem, he was taken into the 
 little chamber that had been so lovingly 
 got ready for him, and very grateful he 
 was for the kind thought as well as the 
 kind deed, as he laid himself down in his 
 bed to rest. He called his servant Geliazi 
 to him. Please to remember this name, as
 
 216 ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE. 
 
 you will bear of Gehazi again in the stones 
 I shall tell you of Elisha. 
 
 "Go speak to this Shunammite," said 
 Elisha. 
 
 Gehazi called her, and she stood before 
 Elisha. Then the prophet said, " You have 
 been very kind and taken a great deal of 
 trouble for us. What can we do for you ? 
 Shall I speak to the king in your favour?" 
 
 But the Shunammite did not wish to 
 leave her home, even if the king would give 
 her some grander place in his palace. She 
 was a good, happy, contented woman, satis- 
 fied with her humble lot; so she answered, 
 " I dwell among my own people." 
 
 Elisha then said to his servant,* * What 
 then is to be done ior her ? " 
 
 Gehazi answered, " She has no child ; 
 surely she would like to have one." 
 
 Elisha said, " Call her." 
 
 She came and stood in the doorway, and 
 
 * From this it would seem that the Shunammite stood 
 before Elisha and his servant, hut that the fashion in 
 Eastern countries prevented the prophet from speaking 
 to her directly ; he did it through his servant.
 
 ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE. 217 
 
 Elisha said to her, " In a little while you 
 shall have a son." 
 
 She could scarcely believe that such 
 happiness was coming to her, so she said to 
 Elisha, " Nay, my lord, thou man of God, 
 do not deceive me." Elisha, as you know, 
 meant what he promised, and a few months 
 after, a dear little baby was born to her. 
 How delighted the father and mother must 
 have been ! How they must have praised 
 God for His goodness ! I wonder if you 
 remember a story something like this, I 
 told you of in the history of the Judges of 
 of Israel ? I mean the angel promising 
 Manoah's wife a son, Samson as he was 
 called. 
 
 Well, the little baby grew, and one day, 
 when he was old enough, his father, who 
 was a farmer, took him out with him into 
 his fields, where the harvest was being 
 gathered in. The little fellow had not been 
 out long when he became ill and was in 
 pain. He cried out to his father, " My head, 
 my head." 
 
 His father said to a lad, " Carry him to
 
 218 ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE. 
 
 his mother." So they brought him to his 
 mother, and she nursed him on her lap 
 until twelve o'clock in the day, and then 
 the child died. 
 
 The poor mother ! Are you not grieved 
 for her ? I told you she was a good woman, 
 and now you will see for yourselves I was 
 right in saying so. You deserve no praise 
 for being good, when everything goes as 
 you wish, but it is when God tries you, by 
 taking from you what you like, or love, 
 and everything seems to go contrary — then 
 if you are not rebellious or cross, you may 
 be called truly good. And so it was with the 
 Shunammite. See how she behaved when 
 God took her darling little boy from her. 
 Without one word of murmur, she took her 
 child, carried him up to the room she had 
 set aside for Elisha, laid him on the pro- 
 phet's bed, shut the door, and then went to 
 her husband. 
 
 She said to him, " I want to go to the man 
 of God ; send me one of the young men and 
 an ass, that I may get to him, and return 
 quickly."
 
 ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE. 219 
 
 Her husband said, " Why will you go to- 
 day ? It is not Sabbath nor New Moon." 
 
 All she answered was, " Peace." 
 
 Then she saddled the ass, and she and 
 her servant got on it, and she said to the 
 man, " Drive and go forward as quickly as 
 you can ; do not stop unless I bid you." 
 
 So she went and presently came to 
 Mount Carmel, where Elisha was then 
 living. Mount Carmel — I hope you re- 
 member the beautiful story I told you of 
 Mount Carmel and Elijah, and the prophets 
 of Baal. 
 
 When Elisha saw the Shunammite at a 
 distance, he said to Gehazi, " See, here is the 
 Shunammite coming, run to meet her, and 
 say, " Is it well with thee ? Is it well with 
 thy husband ? Is it well with the 
 child?" 
 
 Gehazi did as he was bid, and to all his 
 questions she answered, " It is well." 
 
 Can you understand this ? You would 
 have expected her to say, " It is not well, 
 for my child is dead," but she was such a 
 good woman, that she knew, that whatever
 
 220 ELISHA AND THE SHUXAMMITE. 
 
 God did, must be well done, even although 
 it caused her bitter pain. 
 
 When she had answered Gehazi, she 
 passed on and came to Elisha, who was on 
 the hill. She threw herself at his feet, and 
 Gehazi, who had followed, tried to push 
 her away ; but Elisha said, " Leave her 
 alone. She is in trouble ; but I tlo not 
 know what is wrong, for the Lord has not 
 told me." 
 
 You see that all Elisha's wisdom came 
 from God, and, great man as he was, he did 
 not mind confessing his ignorance. God 
 had not shown him that the child was 
 dead. Then the woman said to Elisha, 
 " Did I ask my lord to send me a son ? 
 Did I not say, Do not deceive me ? " 
 
 Then he said to Gehazi, " Take my staff 
 in your hand, and go to Shunem ; but do 
 not speak to anyone on the way, and lay 
 my staff on the face of the child." 
 
 But the poor mother was not to be satis- 
 fied with this. She had heard of the won- 
 ders or " miracles " that the prophet had 
 worked : but she had no faith in his ser-
 
 ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE. 221 
 
 vant. I cannot tell you if she knew that 
 Gehazi was not a good man ; but he was 
 not, as you will see by-and-bye. So she 
 said to Elisha, " As my Lord liveth, and as 
 my soul liveth (and you know the soul 
 never dies) I will not leave you." 
 
 So he arose and followed after her. 
 
 Now Gehazi had passed on before them, 
 right into the room where the child had 
 been placed by his mother ; but, although 
 he had laid the staff across him, no sound 
 was heard. 
 
 " The child had not awaked."* 
 
 Presently Elisha reached the house, and 
 at once went into his chamber, where the 
 child was laid upon his bed, quite dead. 
 He wished to be alone ; so he shut the door 
 and prayed to the Lord that the child 
 might live again. Then he went up to the 
 bed, and laid upon the child, so that his 
 mouth was upon the child's mouth, his 
 eyes on his eyes, and his hands upon his 
 hands ; he stretched himself upon the child. 
 Then the child's flesh began to get warm. 
 * 2 Kings iv., 31.
 
 222 ELISHA AND THE SHUNAMMITE. 
 
 Elisha now left the room, and walked about 
 the house. Then he came up again to the 
 little room, and stretched himself once 
 more over the child. The child sneezed 
 seven times ; at last opened his eyes. The 
 prophet, with God to help him, had made 
 the child alive again. Then he called 
 Gehazi, and said, " Call this Shunammite." 
 
 And when she had come, Elisha said to 
 her, " Take up thy son." 
 
 The poor woman could not answer him ; 
 her heart was too full of gratitude and 
 happiness ; so she fell at his feet and bowed 
 to the ground. Then she took up her boy 
 from off the bed, and went out. 
 
 Was not this a wonderful thing for 
 Elisha to be able to do ? You see God 
 had promised that, when Elijah was taken 
 to heaven, Elisha should be a great pro- 
 phet in his place, and God's promises al- 
 ways come true. God let Elisha work 
 even more miracles than Elijah. Can you 
 believe when you hear of all these wonders 
 that there were still people in the land of 
 Palestine who did not pray to God? But
 
 ELISHA. AND THE SHUNAMMITE. 223 
 
 so it was; and remember, dear children, 
 that although you do not kneel down and 
 say your prayers to idols like some of these 
 sinful, foolish Israelites did, you offend God 
 sometimes quite as much, when you pray 
 to Him with your lips, but let your thoughts 
 be on other things. He would rather listen 
 to a few words spoken to Him from your 
 heart, than to whole pages repeated from 
 the Prayer-book without proper feelings.
 
 224 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 ELISHA AND NAAMAN. 
 2 Kings v. 
 
 Would you like to hear a story about a 
 man called Naaman? I am sure you would; 
 so I will tell it you. This Naaman was 
 captain to the king of Syria. Syria is a 
 country quite close to Palestine. The 
 Syrians were idolators, and they were 
 enemies of the Israelites, and often fought 
 them. When they got the best of it, they 
 carried away any of the Israelites they 
 could, and made slaves of them. 
 
 Naaman was a brave honorable man, and 
 the king, his master, was very fond of him, 
 because he had served him well; but a 
 great trouble had come upon Naaman. He 
 was a leper. I mean he had the horrible
 
 ELISHA AND NAAMAN. 225 
 
 disease, leprosy. You heard of it in the 
 histoiy of Moses. When God was sending 
 Moses to the children of Israel, one of the 
 signs he had to show them was his hand 
 becoming white with leprosy, and then 
 turning right again. It was a frightful 
 disease ; all the body was covered with 
 white sores that ate into the flesh. Those 
 who had it were obliged to live away from 
 everyone else. 
 
 So Naaman was very miserable. All his 
 riches were of no use to him ; for he could 
 not get cured of his complaint. Now, 
 among the Israelites who had been brought 
 away from their own country, was a little 
 maiden. She was a slave, and had to wait 
 upon Naaman's wife. She was very sorry 
 to see Naaman so ill, and one day she said, 
 " Oh ! would that my lord were with the 
 prophet in Samaria ; for he would cure him 
 of his leprosy." 
 
 Naaman was told of this, so he thought 
 he would try this wonderful Elisha, as none 
 of the doctors in his own country had done 
 him any good. So away he went, with rich
 
 226 ELISHA AND NAAMAN. 
 
 presents of money and clothes for the man 
 who should cure him. Elisha was glad 
 when he heard that he was coming. He 
 said, "Let him now come, and he shall 
 know that there is a prophet in Israel." 
 
 Do you think that Elisha was so joyful 
 because he wanted the Syrians to see what 
 a clever man he was ? No, my dear 
 children ; Elisha had no pride in his own 
 cleverness. He knew that it was God who 
 made him able to work wonders, and he 
 was only too pleased if he could teach these 
 heathens how great the true God was. The 
 only pride Elisha had was proper pride. 
 When the famous Syrian captain drove up 
 to his door with his grand chariot and 
 horses, Elisha did not even trouble to come 
 down and speak to him, but sent a mes- 
 senger to him with these words, " Go and 
 wash in the Jordan seven times, and your 
 ilesh shall come again to you and you shall 
 be clean." 
 
 But Naaman was very angry; he said, 
 " I thought that he would surely come out 
 to me, and stand and call on the name of
 
 ELISHA AND N A AM AN. 227 
 
 the Lord his God, and move his hands over 
 my body, and the leprosy would go away. 
 Are not the rivers in my own country 
 better than those of Israel ? May I not 
 wash in them and be clean ? " 
 
 Then he turned and went away in a 
 great rage. 
 
 •You see he was vexed that Elisha had 
 not made more fuss over him. So one of 
 his servants came and said, " My father, 
 if the prophet had told you to do some 
 difficult thing, would you not have done 
 it ? How much rather then when he only 
 said, ' Wash, and be clean.' " 
 
 I suppose Naaman thought the man was 
 right, for he listened to his advice, went to 
 the river Jordan, bathed himself in it seven 
 times, and then Elisha's words came true, 
 his flesh was clean and pure, like that of a 
 little child — all the horrible leprosy had 
 gone. 
 
 How thankful Naaman felt now that he 
 had done as Elisha had told him ; he was 
 very sorry that he had been in such a rage, 
 and back he came to the man of God, and
 
 228 ELISHA AND NAAMAN. 
 
 there, before all his servants who stood 
 around him, he said, " Now I know that 
 there is no God in all the earth but the 
 God of Israel." 
 
 Do you see, rnj dear children, how wisely 
 Elisha had acted in sending Naarnan away 
 before, without even seeing him ? Had he 
 come down when Naarnan was at his door 
 in his chariot, and laid his hands upon 
 him, and asked God to cure him, Naarnan, 
 who was an idolater, might have given 
 Elisha the civdit, and not have believed 
 that it was God who had made him well. 
 But now he sav the truth, and openly de- 
 clared that he would never again pray to 
 any but the God cf Israel. 
 
 Then Naarnan wanted to leave Elisha a 
 rich present, but Elisha was not willing to 
 accept it, for he was God's servant, and to 
 Hira only would he look for a reward. 
 
 Would Elisha receive a reward from God, 
 do you think ? Yes, dear children. In 
 good time God would reward him, even as 
 He will you. A happy life for ever in 
 Heaven is the reward you can feel sure of,
 
 ELISHA AND NAAMAN. 229 
 
 if you are good for the short time you have 
 to spend on this earth; I call it a short 
 time, for even if it should please God to 
 let you grow to be old, your years here 
 will be very short, in comparison with the 
 life without death, that you will enjoy in 
 Heaven.
 
 230 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 GEHAZI, OR THE LIE. 
 
 2 Kings v. 
 
 4 loxg time ago you had a story about a 
 covetous man. Do you remember it ? 
 Achan was his name. Well, now, we have 
 come to somebody who was worse than 
 Achan. It was Gehazi, this servant of 
 Elisha. I consider he was worse than 
 Achan, because having such a good man as 
 Elisha for a master, you would have 
 thought he would have tried hard to imi- 
 tate him. But no; he let the covetous 
 feeling grow in his heart, and see what 
 came of it. 
 
 I told you that Elisha refused to take
 
 GEHAZI, OR THE LIE. 231 
 
 any present of Naaman in return for hav- 
 ing cured him of his leprosy, so when 
 Naaman had said good-bye to the prophet 
 and driven away, Gehazi said to himself, — 
 " Although my master has spared this 
 Syrian I will not, but I will run after him, 
 and get something for myself," 
 
 So Gehazi followed after Naaman, and 
 when Naaman saw him running towards 
 him, he stopped his chariot, got down from 
 it, and went to meet him. Thinking that he 
 must have a message from Elisha, he asked 
 him—" Is all well ? " 
 
 And Gehazi said, "All is well. My 
 master has sent me to you because two 
 young scholars have just come to his house, 
 and he wants you to give me some money 
 and two changes of clothes for them." 
 
 Naaman was only too pleased to be able 
 to do anything for Elisha, so he ordered 
 two of his servants to take back the clothes 
 and plenty of silver. They did so, and 
 when they were at Elisha's house, Gehazi 
 took it all from them, and went and hid it 
 out of sight. Then he went in and stood
 
 232 GEHAZI, OR THE LIE. 
 
 before his master to wait upon him. Now 
 Elisha knew exactly what had happened 
 without Gehazi telling him, so he said, 
 " Where do you come from, Gehazi ? " 
 
 "Your servant went no whither," he 
 answered. 
 
 You see how one lie leads you to tell 
 another. 
 
 Then Elisha said, " I know how you fol- 
 lowed up Naaman, and he came from his 
 chariot to meet you. Not only have you 
 sinned by being greedy and covetous, but 
 you may have made Naaman think that I 
 cured his leprosy and wanted a reward for 
 it. Instead of this, you know that I 
 wished him to feel that I was but God's 
 servant, and to God alone is thankfulness 
 due. He must thank Him only for his 
 recovery. The leprosy of Naaman shall 
 be upon you for ever/' 
 
 He had no sooner said these dreadful 
 words, than all Gehazi's skin turned white 
 and sore, and he had to go away directly 
 from Elisha, for, as I told you in the last 
 chapter, " lepers," that is people who had
 
 GEHAZI, OR THE LIE. 233 
 
 leprosy, were obliged to live by them- 
 selves. 
 
 Now, dears, think of Gehazi, and let his 
 story be a warning to you never to wish 
 for what belongs to others. However, if 
 you should do wrong, confess it, for a lie is 
 just another sin added to the first one, and 
 if even you are not found out, remember 
 that God always knows it, and will be sure 
 to punish you, as He did Gehazi for telling 
 lies.
 
 234 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 HOSHEA, THE LAST KING OF ISRAEL. 
 
 2 Kings xvii. 
 
 The good prophet- lived to be a very old 
 man, and during all these years he followed 
 the example of his great master Elijah. 
 His time was spent in teaching the young 
 prophets, — giving good advice to the kings 
 — which I am sorry to tell you, they seldom 
 took — and begging the people to keep true 
 to God. Did the people listen to him ? 
 Sad to say, they did not, and when Elisha 
 died, they got worse and worse. As one 
 wicked king passed away, another as bad 
 took his place, and so it went on until at 
 last God resolved to send a severe punish-
 
 HOSHEA, THE LAST KING OP ISRAEL. 235 
 
 ment on all the people in the kingdom of 
 Israel. I must tell you what it was. 
 
 Hundreds of miles away from Palestine 
 (or Canaan) was a country called Assyria. 
 The king of Assyria had plenty of soldiers, 
 and he brought numbers of them to fight 
 the king of Israel. The Israelites fought 
 bravely for their king, who was called 
 " Hoshea," and for three years they pre- 
 vented the king of Assyria from getting 
 into their capital city " Samaria." At last, 
 however, they were conquered. There was 
 no food left for the people to eat, so that 
 they were too weak to fight, and the 
 Assyrians were able to enter Samaria and 
 do what they wished all through the land. 
 They liked the rich land of Canaan, where 
 everything grew so quickly, so they settled 
 themselves down in the different towns, 
 whilst the Israelites were made slaves and 
 carried far away into the distant Assyrian 
 country. Never again did they see their 
 beautiful " land of promise " with its olive 
 trees and vineyards. They had forsaken 
 God and broken His commandments, they
 
 236 HOSHEA, THE LAST KIXG OF ISRAEL. 
 
 had refused to listen to the voice of the 
 prophets whom he had sent to warn them, 
 and now He had indeed forsaken them. 
 
 Was I not right when I told you the 
 punishment was severe ? Perhaps you will 
 say, they deserved it, still I hope you are 
 sorry for them, as we ought always to pity 
 the unhappy, even if they are not good. 
 When Moses gave God's law to the people 
 in the Wilderness, he told them that all 
 these troubles would come upon them, if 
 they forgot God and worshipped idols, and 
 God had been very patient and forgiving 
 to His people, but at last even He could 
 forgive no more, and so this sad punish- 
 ment came. Never leave off loving God, 
 my darlings, or he will have to punish you 
 too.
 
 237 
 
 CHAPTER XLYI. 
 
 ATHALIAH, THE WICKED GRANDMOTHER. 
 
 2 Kings xi. 12 ; 2 Chronicles xxi. 22. 
 
 There are now no more kings of Israel to 
 hear about, but I hope you have not for- 
 gotten what I told you happened after 
 Solomon's death, how hir> son Rehoboam 
 lost a great part of his kingdom. Jero- 
 boam, it was, who took it away from him, 
 and called himself king of Israel, whilst 
 Rehoboam was known as the king of 
 Judah. 
 
 Well, now, you heard about some of the 
 wicked kings of Israel, and there were no 
 good ones among them. I am glad to say 
 we have finished with them, and I am
 
 £38 ATHALIAH, 
 
 going to talk to you about some of the 
 kings of Judah. They were different to 
 the kings of Israel, for some of them were 
 good, although some were very bad. 
 
 I wonder which stories you like best, my 
 dear children, those about the good or the 
 bad people ? I will not guess, but I rather 
 think I know. Anyhow, now I am going 
 to tell you one of a very bad woman. Her 
 name was Athaliah, and when you hear 
 that her parents were the wicked Ahab and 
 Jezebel, you will not expect to find her 
 good. She was married to one of the kings 
 of Judah, and she led him into all sorts of 
 sin. Altars were raised to the false god 
 Baal, and the true God was almost for- 
 gotten. This went on for some years, and 
 then God sent a terrible sickness on the 
 king, and he died. His young son was then 
 made king, and Athaliah, who ought to have 
 helped him to do what was right after his 
 father's sad death, would not take warning, 
 but encouraged him in all the wickedness 
 she could.* 
 
 * 2 Chronicle? xxii., 3.
 
 THE WICKED GRANDMOTHER. 239 
 
 However, punishment soon came upon 
 the king, for at the end of one year he was 
 killed in battle, and Athaliah was left with- 
 out husband or children. Still her heart 
 was as wicked and cruel as ever. She was 
 a real daughter of Jezebel, and now, half 
 mad with rage and grief, she determined to 
 be queen of Judah herself, so she gave 
 orders that all her son's family should be 
 killed. Her servants obeyed her cruel com- 
 mands but too well, all were put to death 
 except one, a little baby boy, Athaliah's 
 grandchild. He was called Joash. And 
 how do you think he was saved ? His 
 aunt, Jehosheba, who was the wife of the 
 high priest in the Temple, managed to steal 
 him away with his nurse from his dying 
 brothers. And where do you imagine she 
 hid him ? For six years she had him safely 
 with her in the Temple, and very carefully 
 did she and her good husband, the high 
 priest, bring him up, for they were quite 
 determined that presently he should sit on 
 the throne of Judah, instead of his wicked 
 grandmother Athaliah.
 
 240 ATHALIAH, 
 
 During all these six years that she was 
 queen, she would have prayers said to Baal, 
 instead of to God, and Baal's priests offered 
 sacrifices on the altars, for the queen as I 
 told you, was an idolater, like Ahab and 
 Jezebel (her father and mother) had been. 
 
 But now all this was to be changed. The 
 little Joash was seven years old, and his 
 uncle, the high priest, thought that the 
 people would now be glad to hear that he 
 had been saved, and would make him king 
 in place of the wicked Athaliah. So one 
 Sabbath day, Jehoida called in first the 
 captains of the guard, and told them the 
 story of how he and his wife had saved the 
 little Joash, when all the rest of his family 
 were murdered. He said that now the time 
 had come for him to be made king. Would 
 they help him and be faithful to the little 
 prince ? Yes, they all cried. 
 
 Then Joash was brought into the sight 
 of all the people, who had come to 'the 
 Temple, for there were still many who 
 would not pray to Baal. The high priest 
 now took some of the holy oil, poured it on
 
 THE WICKED GRANDMOTHER. 2-4 1 
 
 the little prince's head, put the crown on 
 him, and all the people clapped their hands 
 and said, " God save the king." 
 
 They shouted so loudly that Athaliah 
 heard the noise, and she came into the 
 Temple to see what it meant. Not often 
 did she visit God's holy house, and the sight 
 that met her eyes was not a pleasant one 
 to her. 
 
 There, standing by a pillar, was the little 
 king with the royal crown on his head, the 
 princes and royal guard all armed around 
 him, whilst the musicians played hymns of 
 praise, and the people shouted again and 
 again. They were very joyful to find that 
 one of the royal family was alive and going 
 to reign over them instead of Athaliah. 
 
 Then Athaliah shouted " Treason ! trea- 
 son !" but no friends came to her help, and 
 the armed men came flocking round her, 
 and would have killed her then and there ; 
 but this the high priest would not allow. 
 " Slay her not in the house of the Lord," he 
 said. 
 
 So they took her and brought her out by
 
 242 ATHALIAH, THE WICKED GRANDMOTHER. 
 
 the king's house, and there she was slain 
 with a sword. Then the crowd of people 
 went into the house of Baal, took down the 
 altars, broke up all the false images, and 
 killed Mattan the high priest of Baal. 
 
 As long as Jehoida, the high priest, lived, 
 Joash had always a good friend and adviser, 
 and the young king did all that was right, 
 but after Jehoida's death Joash forsook 
 God, and would not listen to the prophets, 
 who tried to persuade him to return to God, 
 so his end was unhappy ; some of his ser- 
 vants killed him.
 
 243 
 
 CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 HEZEKIAH AND THE KING OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 2 Kings xviii. ; 2 Chronicles xxix., xxx. 
 
 After Joash, there were several very bad 
 kings of Judah, but at last we come to a 
 very good one, so you shall hear about 
 him. 
 
 His name was Hezekiah. Not only did 
 he do all that was right himself, but he 
 talked to the people and persuaded them 
 to be good, and to pray to the true God. 
 Then he made them destroy all the idols, 
 and break down the altars that had been 
 set up to the false gods. Hezekiah lived 
 in Jerusalem where the Temple stood, and 
 it grieved him to see how this beautiful
 
 244 HEZEKTAH AND THE KING OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 house of God had been neglected. Every 
 part of it required cleaning, and this was 
 not all, in some places it was broken 
 down. Hezekiah set the Levites to work, 
 and soon all was repaired and fit again for 
 God's service. 
 
 Hezekiah then sent letters all through 
 his kingdom, asking the people to come to 
 the Temple and keep the feast of Passover. 
 From all parts Israelites flocked to Jeru- 
 salem, for they were pleased to obey their 
 good king's command, and great, .was the 
 joy of all the assembled multitude, when 
 Hezekiah offered up a prayer to God for 
 pardon for all. God listened to Hezekiah, 
 and forgave the people their sins, then the 
 feast of Passover was kept, not for seven 
 days, but for fourteen. Never had there 
 been such great joy in Jerusalem since the 
 days of King Solomon, when the Temple 
 was first thrown open to the people. 
 
 Now, it was in Hezekiah 's time that the 
 king of Assyria had come to fight the last 
 king of Israel, and had carried his people 
 away as slaves to the country of Assyria.
 
 IIEZEKIAH AND THE KING OF ASSYRIA. 2-t5 
 
 When Hezekiah had been king about four- 
 teen years, the king of Assyria — not the 
 same one who had conquered Hoshea, 
 thought he would try and take Judah too 
 for himself. So he got a great many of 
 his soldiers together, and marched them 
 over to Canaan, right up to the city of 
 Jerusalem. Then they took out their tents 
 and settled down in them, determined to 
 fight Hezekiah and his soldiers. 
 
 But Hezekiah was not at all afraid of 
 the king of Assyria and his large army. 
 He knew that God would help him, and 
 that Jerusalem would not fall into his 
 hands, as Samaria had into the other 
 Assyrian king's. He encouraged the people, 
 and told them not to fear. " Be strong," 
 he said, "and not afraid of the king of 
 Assyria, for he has only an arm of flesh ; 
 but with us is the Lord our God, to help us, 
 and to fight our battles."* 
 
 So the people did take courage, and the 
 Assyrian king soon found that it was no 
 
 *2 Chronicles xxxii. 6, 7.
 
 246 HEZEKIAH AND THE KING OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 such easy matter as he had hoped, to get 
 Jerusalem. Then he tried something else. 
 
 He sent one of his captains, called Rab- 
 shakeh, a very clever man, who could speak 
 the Jews' language, and he stood on the 
 wall of the city, and called out to the 
 people in it. " Hear what the great king, 
 the king of Assyria, says. Do not let 
 Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be 
 able to save you out of my master's hand. 
 Trust not Hezekiah's words, that his God 
 will save you and your city from the king 
 of Assyria. Make friends with him and 
 all will be well with you. Have the 
 gods of the other people, with whom my 
 king has fought, saved them ? Was Israel 
 delivered from our hands ? Why, then, 
 should your God deliver Jerusalem from 
 us?" 
 
 When Rabshakeh had finished speaking, 
 not a word did the people answer him, for 
 the king's command was, "Answer him 
 not." 
 
 When Hezekiah was told what Rabsha- 
 keh had said, he was very grieved, for he
 
 HEZEKIAH AND THE KING OF ASSYRIA. 247 
 
 thought to himself, perhaps the people may 
 believe him instead of trusting in God, and 
 he tore his clothes and went into the 
 Temple. 
 
 At this time there was a great prophet 
 living in the land of Judah. His name 
 was Isaiah. Hezekiah sent some of his 
 servants to ask him to pray to God for the 
 people. Now, Isaiah knew how Hezekiah 
 loved God, so he sent him this message 
 back. " Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid 
 of the words you have heard, the king of 
 Assyria has blasphemed and insulted Me, I 
 will punish him. He shall return to his 
 own land, and there he shall be killed." 
 
 After this, Hezekiah felt comforted. 
 Not so the king of Assyria. He thought 
 he would try what he could do by frighten- 
 ing the king of Judah himself. So he 
 wrote him a very wicked letter ; you shall 
 hear what was in it. " Let not the God, 
 in whom you trust, deceive you into think- 
 ing that Jerusalem shall not be delivered 
 into my hands. Surely you have heard 
 what I, and the kings of Assyria before me.
 
 248 HEZEKIAH AND THE KING OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 have done to other countries, destroying 
 them utterly. Have the gods of these 
 nations delivered them from my fathers ? " 
 
 When Hezekiah received this letter and 
 read it, he felt very sad ; he could not bear 
 that such a reproach should be uttered 
 against the true God, whom he loved so 
 well. He went up into the house of God, 
 and spread the letter out before the Lord ; 
 then he prayed in these words : — " Oh ! 
 Lord God of Israel, Thou, alone, art God of 
 all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast 
 made Heaven and earth. Bow down 
 Thine ear and hear these words, which the 
 king has sent to reproach the true God. I 
 know that the Assyrians have destroyed 
 other nations and burned their gods. But 
 they were no gods, only the work of men's 
 hands, wood and stone ; therefore they 
 have destroyed them. Now, oh ! Lord, I 
 beseech Thee save us out of his hand, that 
 all the world may know that Thou art the 
 Lord God, even Thou only." 
 
 Then the Lord sent him an answer 
 through the prophet Isaiah, saying, — " I
 
 HEZEKIAH AND THE KING OP ASSYRIA. 249 
 
 have heard that which thou hast prayed 
 against the king of Assyria. It is Me that 
 he has blasphemed and reproached. He 
 shall not come into this city, for I will de- 
 fend it and save it." 
 
 That very night, the angel of death, 
 God's messenger, went out into the camp of 
 the Assyrians, just as he did among the 
 Egyptians, and killed thousands and thou- 
 sands of the Assyrian soldiers. When the 
 rest of the army woke up in the morning, 
 they found, to their horror, numbers of 
 their companions lying dead. 
 
 After such a terrible punishment as this, 
 the king of Assyria was only too glad to 
 get away from Jerusalem, and take back to 
 his own country what was left of his fine 
 army. God's words soon came true, for 
 the Assyrian king did not live long, but 
 died in a fearful manner. Two of his own 
 sons killed him, as he was praying in the 
 house of one of his false gods.
 
 250 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 hezekiah's sickness. 
 
 2 Kings xx. 
 
 Some two or three years after the Assyrians 
 had tried to get the country of Judah for 
 themselves, the good King Hezekiah fell ill, 
 and the prophet Isaiah told him, that he 
 must be ready to die. 
 
 Hezekiah felt very sad when he received 
 this message ; perhaps he thought to him- 
 self that if longer life were granted to him, 
 he would have time to do many good and 
 useful things for his people, whom he loved 
 dearly. So he prayed to God, and God 
 heard his prayer, and cured his sickness, 
 and told him that he should live for fifteen 
 years more.
 
 hezekiah's sickness. 251 
 
 Dear children, when God thinks of calling 
 any one of you home to Him, He sends no 
 messenger to bid you be ready. No pro- 
 phet comes to tell you to prepare to die. 
 You have no warning, like King Hezekiah 
 had. Should you be ready to go to Him ? 
 God expects us always to be fit for Heaven. 
 Now if you are good, and love Him truly, 
 by keeping His commandments, whenever 
 He calls you away from this earth, you will 
 be fit to die and go to Heaven. 
 
 Well, Hezekiah recovered ; he had had a 
 dreadful boil. I dare say you know what 
 a painful thingf that is. The boil was cured, 
 and Hezekiah was well again. The won- 
 derful news of God's mercy to him got 
 talked about in all countries, and mes- 
 sengers came from different parts to con- 
 gratulate him on it. 
 
 One king, from a country a long way off, 
 called Babylon (try and remember the name), 
 sent letters and a present to Hezekiah. 
 Hezekiah, you will be sorry to hear, got 
 spoilt by all this kind interest that was 
 taken in him. He grew proud and haughty.
 
 252 hezekiah's sickness. 
 
 He showed the king of Babylon's mes- 
 sengers all his riches and precious things, 
 and forgot how he owed everything to 
 God. So God was displeased with Heze- 
 kiah, and sent him Isaiah to tell him He 
 should punish him. In the course of time 
 these very treasures that he had been so 
 proud of, should be earned off as spoil to 
 Babylon, and the people of Judah would be 
 slaves there. When Hezekiah heard the 
 prophet's words, he saw how badly he 
 had behaved, he confessed his sin and 
 humbled himself. He said, " Good is the 
 word of the Lord." 
 
 And all the rest of the years that he was 
 king, he tried to do as much good as he 
 could for his people, so they had not been 
 so happy for many many years.
 
 253 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 2 Kings xx., xxiv. 
 
 When Hezekiah died, his son was made 
 king, and a very bad one he proved, I am 
 sorry to say. So was his son after him. 
 In fact, nearly all the kings after Hezekiah 
 were so wicked, that at last God said He 
 would bring a punishment on the land of 
 Judah. 
 
 You remember, I hope, what happened 
 to the last king of Israel ? Much the same 
 thing now came to the king of Judah. His 
 name was Zedekiah. He did all that was 
 wicked in the sight of God, and when God 
 sent His prophets to him, instead of listen-
 
 254 DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 ing to their warning, he mocked and des- 
 pised them. He did even worse than this, 
 for there was one very good man called 
 Jeremiah, who would speak the truth to 
 Zedekiah, and told him what would happen 
 to him if he went on behaving so wickedly. 
 Zedekiah was very angry with Jeremiah, and 
 tried to make him prophesy something plea- 
 sant, and when he found that he would not, 
 he had him thrown into a horrible prison 
 cell, all full of mud. This, you can imagine, 
 only made God more angry with the king, 
 and at last the punishment came. 
 
 Now, there was a country a long way 
 from Canaan, or Palestine, as we now call 
 it, named Babylon. You heard of it in the 
 story of Hezekiah's sickness, so I hope you 
 remember it. The king of Babylon's name 
 was Nebuchadnezzar; a very strange one 
 you will say. He marched with a number 
 of his soldiers, right up to Jerusalem, and 
 they encamped all round it. 
 
 By " encamping," I mean that they took 
 out their tents, which they had brought 
 with them, and settled down to live in
 
 DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE. 255 
 
 them until the people inside Jerusalem 
 should get tired of fighting them, and so be 
 obliged to let them come in. This is called 
 " besieging " a place. After a time, all the 
 food in the city gets eaten, and the people 
 inside cannot come out for more, for fear of 
 the soldiers rushing in and taking the city. 
 
 So Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers pitched 
 their tents and built " forts " (that is strong 
 places) outside, all round Jerusalem, and 
 the poor Israelites, who, you know, had 
 brought all this trouble on themselves, were 
 left to starve in Jerusalem. 
 
 So things went on for two years. At last 
 there was nothing to eat. Every one was 
 dying of hunger, so the Israelites could not 
 keep the Babylonians from coming into the 
 city, for they could not fight any longer. 
 
 The king of Babylon was so cruel. He 
 took King Zedekiah's sons and killed them, 
 in their father's sight. Then he had Zede- 
 kiah's eyes put out, and chains of brass 
 were fastened on him, and he was carried 
 away a prisoner to Babylon. 
 
 But the saddest part of all is to come.
 
 256 DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE. 
 
 Our beautiful Temple, Solomon's Temple, 
 that had been built with such loving care, 
 and made holy by God's divine presence, 
 Nebuchadnezzar burnt to the ground. He 
 was determined that nothing should be 
 left, that was beautiful, or rich in Jerusalem. 
 He made his soldiers burn the king's palace, 
 and all the nobles' houses. The very walls 
 round Jerusalem were broken down. 
 
 And the Israelites themselves — do you 
 not wonder what became of them ? Ne- 
 buchadnezzar took numbers of them back 
 as slaves to his own country of Babylon. 
 He only left the poor people, the vine- 
 dressers and husbandmen, to take care of 
 and till the land. 
 
 All the rich treasures, from the house of 
 God, the gold and silver vessels that were 
 used in sacrificing — the brazen sea where 
 the priests bathed — all that was valuable 
 was taken away as spoil to Babylon. 
 
 Is it not sad to read of these things, 
 when we know that none of them would 
 have happened if the Israelites had kept 
 true to God? We should now be li ' ; :, i
 
 DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE. 257 
 
 our i/Wii land, the land of Palestine, with 
 our beautiful Temple, if God's command- 
 ments had not been broken over an£ c^ov 
 again. Try, dear children, to fear God and 
 keep His commandments ; that is the only 
 way to win back our own land.
 
 25: 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 GEDALIAH, THE GOOD GOVERNOR OF 
 ISRAEL. 
 
 2 Kings xxv. ; Jeremiah xl., xli. 
 
 I told you that Nebuchadnezzar left 
 numbers of the poor people behind in Pa- 
 lestine. Would you not like to know how 
 they got on when Nebuchadnezzar went 
 back to Babylon ? 
 
 First of all I will tell } T ou of a very wise 
 thing that the Babylonian king did. In- 
 stead of leaving one of his own captains to 
 rule over the Jews, he chose a very good 
 man, a Jew, for this purpose. His name 
 was Gedaliah. He was such an honest, 
 true man, that Nebuchadnezzar knew he 
 could depend on him to keep peace in the
 
 GEDALIAH, THE GOOD GOVERNOR. J259 
 
 land. Gedaliah was a great friend of Jere- 
 miah the prophet, whom you have already 
 heard of. 
 
 Now Nebuchadnezzar, although he was 
 an idolater, had sense enough to see the 
 wisdom and goodness of God's prophets, so 
 he treated Jeremiah kindly, and even left 
 it to him to choose* whether he would 
 remain in Palestine among the poor people, 
 or go to Babylon, where he would no doubt 
 have been looked up to as a great man. 
 
 Which do you think Jeremiah decided 
 on doing ? Why, to stay in Palestine with 
 his poor brethren. Jeremiah thought he 
 might still talk to them about God, and 
 besides this, he would beg them to be con- 
 tented, and accept their punishment, as it 
 had come from God. 
 
 Gedaliah, the good governor of the land, 
 gave the people just the same advice. He 
 and Jeremiah did all they could to make 
 the people happy. Gedaliah encouraged 
 them to be industrious, and cultivate the 
 land, and everything was going on most 
 *Jebemiah xl., 4.
 
 2 GO CxEDALIAH, THE GOOD 
 
 comfortably, when all at once trouble and 
 misery came again to the poor Jews. This 
 was how it happened. 
 
 Among the Jews who were living with 
 Gedaliah was a prince called Ishmael. 
 This Ishmael was jealous of Gedaliah's in- 
 fluence over the people, and of the love they 
 had for him, and the wicked resolve came 
 into his head to kill the wise and good 
 Gedaliah. 
 
 One of Gedaliah's friends happened to 
 hear that Ishmael intended doing this, so 
 he came quickly to warn Gedaliah of the 
 mischief that was to come, begging at the 
 same time that he would permit him to kill 
 Ishmael, then there would be no danger for 
 his beloved master. But Gedaliah was -o 
 noble and true himself, that he refused to 
 believe in such treachery from Ishmael, 
 whom he thought his friend, and he actually 
 invited Ishmael and ten of his companions 
 to a feast at his house. 
 
 Here was just the opportunity that the 
 cruel Ishmael was waiting for. After the 
 meal, he and his friends fell upon Gedaliah
 
 GOVERNOR OF ISRAEL. 261 
 
 and slew him. Not content with this, they 
 afterwards killed all Gedaliah's friends that 
 they could find. Luckily, Jeremiah, the 
 good prophet, was not at the feast, or he too 
 would no doubt have shared the fate of 
 Gedaliah and the others. 
 
 As soon as the dreadful news became 
 known, Ishmael ran away to a city a long- 
 way -off, and although a faithful friend of 
 Gedaliah's followed after him with a num- 
 ber of soldiers to kill him, they could not 
 catch him. He managed to escape. 
 
 Gedaliah's death was a sad trouble to the 
 Jews in Palestine, for they wanted some 
 good man always ready to show them what 
 was right. Jeremiah did all that he could to 
 persuade them to go on as they had in 
 Gedaliah's lifetime, but the} r would not 
 listen to him. The consequence was, that 
 one misfortune after the other came upon 
 them. 
 
 Perhaps some of you children may have 
 heard of the " fast of Gedaliah," which is 
 kept once a year (on the 3rd of Tishri) by 
 very religious people. You may not have
 
 232 GEDALIAH. 
 
 known before why it was kept ; now you 
 do. Recollect that it is in memory of 
 Gedaliah the good governor of Palestine, 
 who was cruelly murdered by Ishmael 
 through jealousy. Jealousy, as you saw 
 before, in the history of Cain and Abel, is a 
 horrible sin, so beware of it, dear children ; 
 fight against it as against an enemy, if you 
 feel it creeping into your young hearts, for if 
 you encourage it to enter there, it will lead 
 you on to other and even worse sins.
 
 203 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 DANIEL AND NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM. 
 
 Daniel i., ii 
 
 Now you shall hear something about the 
 Jews living in Babylon, who had been 
 carried captives there by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 This king was not cruel to them by any 
 means ; but still they were very unhappy. 
 They pined for their own beautiful land, 
 with its rich olive yards and vineyards. 
 Although they had brought their harps 
 and other musical instruments with them, 
 they had not the heart to play on them. 
 
 " How shall we sing the Lord's song in 
 the land of a stranger ? "* they said. 
 
 * Psalm cxxxvii., 4.
 
 264 DANIEL AND 
 
 They must have felt like poor caged 
 birds which, you know, do sometimes re- 
 fuse to be comforted in their gilded cages, 
 and pine away and die. The Jews could 
 not forget their beautiful Jerusalem, with 
 its holy Temple, and they sat down by the 
 rivers of Babylon and wept.* Their harps 
 they hung on the willow trees, that grew 
 by the river banks. 
 
 I told you that Nebuchadnezzar was not 
 at all unkind to his captives. On the con- 
 trary, he was ready to do anything for the 
 wise and clever men whom he found among 
 them. This Nebuchadnezzar, although lie 
 was an idolater, was very sensible in some 
 things ; so he thought his people might be 
 taught much that they did not know by 
 the wise and learned Jews. 
 
 Now among the captive Jews were four 
 young men, to whom God gave more wis- 
 dom and knowledge than to any of the 
 others. Although they were living in a 
 strange land, among idolaters, they would 
 nut do anything that was sinful, but de- 
 * Psalm cxxxvii., 1.
 
 NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM. 265 
 
 termined to keep to their religion as strictly 
 as if they had still been in their native 
 country. Will you try to remember their 
 names, if I tell you them ? 
 
 First of all comes Daniel. He was the 
 wisest of the four ; for God gave to him the 
 power of interpreting dreams. Do you re- 
 collect another captive, to whom God gave 
 the same gift ? Of course you know I 
 mean Joseph. Well, my dear children, 
 Daniel was much happier than Joseph ; for 
 he was not alone in a strange country ; he 
 had three good companions. Their names 
 were, Hananiah, Misbael, and Azariah ; but 
 the king gave them these other Babylonian 
 ones, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 
 Well, the king soon saw how clever these 
 four young men were. He had them often 
 with him, and whatever difficult or learned 
 things he asked them about, they could 
 always give him a wise and proper answer; 
 so that Nebuchadnezzar left off asking the 
 Babylonian wise men and magicians about 
 things he did not know himself, and 
 always came to these four wise Jews in- 
 i 7
 
 266 DANIEL AND 
 
 stead, and God was with them, "because 
 they loved Him and followed His com- 
 mandments. 
 
 One night the Babylonian king had a 
 dream, which disturbed his rest, that he 
 could not sleep. So, just like Pharaoh of 
 old, he sent post-haste for all his magicians 
 and wise men. They must tell him what 
 it meant. When they arrived all recollec- 
 tion of the dream had gone ; Nebuchadnezzar 
 could remember nothing. The magicians 
 must find out what it was that was 
 troubling him. Poor men ! how could 
 they ? Only God could make any one 
 able to do such a thing. So they con- 
 fessed to the king that they could not tell 
 him the meaning, unless he first told them 
 what he had dreamt. 
 
 Then Nebuchadnezzar got in a great pas- 
 sion. " How can I tell you my dream, 
 when you know that I have forgotten it ? 
 If you will not explain it to me, you shall 
 all die, and your houses shall be pulled 
 down. But if you will set my mind at 
 rest, and tell me all about it, I will give
 
 Nebuchadnezzar's dream. 267 
 
 you handsome presents, and make you 
 great men." 
 
 What a mockery ! The thing could not 
 be done. 
 
 "0 king," they said, "there is not a man 
 on earth who can show the king what he 
 wants to know. Only the gods could do it." 
 
 Then the king became more angry — 
 quite furious. He said, " Let all the 
 magicians and astrologers (astrologers were 
 people who pretended to find out things 
 through the stars) and wise men in Baby- 
 lon be slain." 
 
 So Daniel and his three friends would 
 have to die with the other wise men ; for 
 none dare disobey the king's command. 
 Then Daniel went to Nebuchadnezzar, and 
 asked him to give him a little time, and 
 perhaps he might be able to tell him what 
 he was so impatient to learn. 
 
 After this Daniel went to his companions, 
 and they all prayed together to God for the 
 knowledge that would save their lives. God 
 granted this prayer, and in the night made 
 known to Daniel all about the dream. Then
 
 268 DANIEL AND 
 
 Daniel thanked and blessed the God oi 
 heaven* for having given him the know- 
 ledge he had asked for. 
 
 When morning came, Daniel went to the 
 captain of Nebuchadnezzar's guard, and 
 said, " You will not have to kill the wise 
 men in Babylon. Bring me in before the 
 king, and I will show him the meaning of 
 his dream." 
 
 So the captain brought Daniel in haste 
 to Nebuchadnezzar, and said, " I have 
 found a man of the captives of Judah, who 
 will interpret for the king." 
 
 The king answered, "Are you able to 
 make known to me the dreani that I have 
 seen ? " 
 
 Daniel's words were : " Your wise men 
 and magicians cannot show you the dream. 
 But there is a God in heaven who can 
 make secrets known; for He it is who 
 maketh all things to happen. God hath 
 not shown me the meaning of the dream 
 1-ecause I am wiser than other men, but 
 that I may tell it to you." 
 
 * Daniel ii., 19. 

 
 NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S DREAM. 269 
 
 Then Daniel told him everything that 
 he had seen in his sleep, and explained it 
 all to him, and great was the king's joy at 
 this. He said, " Your God must be the 
 God of gods, seeing that He made you able 
 to interpret this difficult dream." 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar spoke truly when he called 
 it a " difficult dream ; " for it would puzzle 
 you to understand, if I were to tell it you 
 even with Daniel's explanation. 
 
 Then the king made Daniel a great man, 
 and gave him many rich gifts, and ap- 
 pointed him ruler over the whole province 
 of Babylon, and chief of all the governors 
 and wise men in his kingdom. 
 
 Daniel was too good and true to forget 
 his old friends because he himself had been 
 made such a great man ; so he asked the 
 king's permission to make judges of his 
 three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
 nego ; and Nebuchadnezzar let him do as he 
 liked for them ; but Daniel was the greatest 
 man in the whole country, and was allowed 
 the honour — which was granted to very 
 few — of sitting in the king's gate.
 
 270 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 THE GOLDEN IMAGE. 
 Daniel iii. 
 
 You remember, of course, that Nebuchad- 
 nezzar was an idolater. Well, my dear 
 children, some years after he had his won- 
 derful dream, he thought the people should 
 have a new idol. So an immense image, as 
 high as a house, was made of gold, and set 
 up in the middle of a plain just outside of 
 the city of Babylon. Then all the princes 
 and officers throughout the country were 
 told to come and see this golden image 
 dedicated. It was to be a holiday through- 
 out the land, music of all sorts was to sound 
 forth, and when the people should hear these
 
 THE GOLDEN IMAGE. 271 
 
 sweet tones, they were all to fall down on 
 their knees and pray to the new image 
 that the king was that day dedicating. 
 
 " If any one does not fall down and wor- 
 ship, he shall be thrown into a fiery fur- 
 nace." 
 
 (A furnace, I must tell you, is a sort of 
 immense open oven, filled with flames of 
 fire.) 
 
 So spoke the king's herald, or town- 
 crier as we should call him now. When 
 the important day arrived, you may be 
 sure all the people in Babylon took care to 
 follow the king's command. Do you think 
 there were any who would dare to disobey 
 it, and so run the chance of being burnt to 
 death for a punishment ? 
 
 I am sure you will not be at all surprised 
 to hear that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
 nego would not bend the knee to an idol — 
 a huge piece of gold, formed by men's 
 hands. No, they would not utter prayers 
 to any but the true God. 
 
 Now there were some people in Babylon 
 who were jealous of these three good men.
 
 272 THE GOLDEN IMAGE. 
 
 It vexed them to see these captive Jews, 
 whom they hated, raised to be governors in 
 the land, and they thought, Here will be a 
 fine opportunity to get them killed. So 
 they went and told Nebuchadnezzar how 
 they had disobeyed his order, and had 
 served some god of their own, instead of 
 the golden image that he had set up. 
 
 Then the king was very furious, and 
 ordered these men to be brought before 
 him. 
 
 "Is it true," he said, turning to them* 
 " that you do not serve my gods, nor wor- 
 ship the golden image that I have set up ? 
 If the next time you hear the music sound 
 forth, you fall down and worship the 
 golden image, all well ; but if not, then you 
 shall be cast into the fiery furnace, and 
 who is the God that can save you from my 
 hands ? " 
 
 The three men answered the king : " Oh, 
 Nebuchadnezzar, the God whom we serve 
 is able even to save us from out of the 
 fire. But if He will not, then still we will 
 not worship your idol."
 
 THE GOLDEN IMAGE. 273 
 
 "When the king heard this bold answer, 
 he grew very angry — his face was dread- 
 ful to see, and he called out to his servants, 
 " Let the furnace be made seven times as 
 hot as it generally is." 
 
 Then some of his strongest soldiers took 
 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and 
 bound them with ropes, so that they should 
 have no chance of escaping, and in this 
 manner, with their clothes on, they were 
 thrown into the flaming furnace. It was 
 so frightfully hot, that as the door of it was 
 opened, the flames scorched the men who 
 threw them in, and burnt them to death. 
 
 Now you shall see what became of the 
 three good Jews, whom Nebuchadnezzar 
 meant to burn to death. The king thought 
 he would see how they were faring ; so he 
 peeped into the furnace, and much aston- 
 ished was he at the sight which met his 
 eyes. He called to some of his servants, 
 " Was it three men that we bound and 
 threw into the fire ? " 
 
 " True, oh king," they answered. 
 
 " Then I see four men, unbound, walking
 
 274 THE GOLDEN IMAGE. 
 
 about in the flames, and they are not hurt. 
 The fourth looks like an angel." 
 
 I need not tell you, my darlings, what 
 this fourth figure meant, as, surely, you 
 can tell me ? It was an angel. God had 
 sent His messenger, not so much to help 
 the prisoners as to show the heathen king 
 how He guarded those who trusted the 
 true God. 
 
 Then Nebuchadnezzar went to the door 
 of the furnace, and called out to Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abednego, " Ye servants of 
 the most high God, come forth, and come 
 to me." 
 
 So the three men walked out from the 
 midst of the fire. And all the princes, and 
 captains, and servants of the king saw 
 these three Jews that the fire had not 
 touched them. There was not a hair of 
 their heads singed, nor any of their clothes 
 changed, and they did not even smell of 
 the fire. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, idolater though he was, 
 felt how mighty must be the God who 
 could work such miracles, and he was
 
 THE GOLDEN IMAGE. 275 
 
 honest enough to own it before all the 
 crowd that had gathered round him. He 
 said, " Blessed be the God of Shadrach, 
 Meshach, and Abednego, who sent His 
 angel to save His servants, who trusted in 
 Him. Any person who shall utter a word 
 against the God of these Jews shall be cut 
 to pieces and his house pulled down ; for 
 there is no other god who could deliver 
 like this." 
 
 Then the king was very kind to Shad- 
 rach, Meshach, and Abednego, and made 
 them great officers in Babylon. 
 
 Now, dear children, I wonder whether 
 you think that Shadrach, Meshach, and 
 Abednego, when they were thrown into the 
 fiery furnace, felt sorry that they had not 
 done like the rest of the people in Babylon, 
 and bowed down to the golden idol ? No, 
 no, they were perfectly happy. They 
 knew that they had done right, and per- 
 haps God would save them ; though even 
 if He should think it well for them to die, 
 they had no fear ; for they knew they would 
 go to heaven.
 
 276 THE GOLDEN IMAGE. 
 
 Will you try and follow these brave 
 men's example ? Never mind what you 
 see other people doing. If you know that 
 it is wrong, be sure you do not copy it. If 
 you happen to be among disobedient chil- 
 dren, you can still be obedient, or if, when 
 you are old enough to be at school, your 
 little companions there are disrespectful to 
 their teachers, or dishonest with their les- 
 sons, let their faults be a warning to you. 
 Be brave. Do not mind if they laugh at 
 you for trying to be better than they. I 
 dare say you will feel uncomfortable ; but 
 remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
 nego, and just as God loved and took care 
 of them, so will He, even to you, a little 
 child, show love, and guard you from all 
 harm.
 
 277 
 
 CHAPTER LIIL 
 
 PRIDE AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 
 
 Daniel iv. 
 
 I dare say, as you have heard so much 
 about Nebuchadnezzar, you feel a little 
 interest in him, and would not object to 
 my telling you how he went on after the 
 wonderful things that you read of in the 
 last chapter. 
 
 Well, my dear children, he fell into a 
 very common sin. He was, as you know, 
 a rich and mighty king. He grew proud 
 and haughty ; so that God resolved to show 
 him bow weak and powerless he really was; 
 and by what means do you think God did 
 this?
 
 278 PRIDE AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 
 
 Quite suddenly, one day, his senses left 
 him, and he became like a beast of the 
 field. He ate grass, like an ox ; his body 
 was covered with long hairs, like the fur 
 of an animal ; he was driven out from 
 among men ; so that he had to live in the 
 fields, where his body was wet with the 
 dew of heaven, and his nails grew like 
 birds' claws. 
 
 All this had the wise Daniel foretold 
 from a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had 
 dreamt one night. 
 
 For seven long, dreary years the king of 
 mighty Babylon remained in this terrible 
 state. From being the honoured king of 
 an immense empire, he was brought down 
 to the same low condition as the beasts of 
 the field. Then God took pity on him, his 
 reason returned, and with it a humble 
 spirit ; so that he blessed and thanked God 
 for having taught him what was right. 
 His princes and people were glad to have 
 him back again among them, and he lived 
 happily until the time came for God to call 
 him away from earth.
 
 PRIDE AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 27!) 
 
 You little children can learn a lesson 
 from the great and mighty king, Nebu- 
 chadnezzar. Never let pride and vanity 
 take hold of you. Never think yourselves 
 better than your companions. If you are 
 above them in any way, if you are cleverer 
 or prettier, remember that you were not 
 your own maker. God, for a wise purpose, 
 made you different to them, and to be 
 proud and vain of this is not only ungrate- 
 ful, but foolish. Be modest, and, if you 
 have the power, determine to use the gifts 
 bestowed on you for the good of others, just 
 as God freely showers His blessings on us 
 His creatures.
 
 280 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 DANIEL AND THE HANDWRITING. 
 
 Daniel v. 
 
 When Nebuchadnezzar died, his son Bel- 
 shazzar was made king. He was not at all 
 a good man. All he thought of was feast- 
 ing and drinking. As for the true God, he 
 never gave a thought to Him ; but prayed 
 to idols made of gold and silver, and brass, 
 or even wood and stone. 
 
 One day he had invited a number of 
 princes to a feast. In the middle of it he 
 ordered his servants to bring the gold and 
 silver vessels, that his father, Nebuchad- 
 nezzar, had carried away from the Temple 
 at Jerusalem, that he and his wicked 
 friends might drink wine from them. 
 You know how wrong this was ; for they
 
 DANIEL AND THE HANDWRITING. 281 
 
 were holy, they had been made to use only 
 in God's service. But Belshazzar did not 
 care ; so the vessels were brought, and at 
 the very moment that they were drinking 
 wine out of them, and praising their false 
 gods, a man's hand appeared on the wall, 
 and the fingers wrote certain words there. 
 
 How frightened Belshazzar and his guests 
 were I What did it mean ? Even the 
 words they could not read. The king 
 trembled with fear, and sent in all haste 
 for the wise men and magicians to explain 
 the mystery. " Whoever can read this 
 ■writing, and tell me the meaning of it," he 
 said, " shall be clothed in the royal scarlet, 
 have a gold chain round his neck, and shall 
 be the third ruler in the kingdom." 
 
 So all the king's wise men came hurrying 
 in ; but they were as puzzled as Belshazzar 
 himself. They could not read it, much less 
 interpret the meaning to the king. Then 
 Belshazzar was more troubled than ever. 
 Now the queen had heard of her lord's dis- 
 tress, and at this moment entered the ban- 
 quet house (that is the room where the
 
 282 DAXIEL AND THE HANDWRITING. 
 
 feasts were given). She said, " king, 
 do not look so sad. There is a man in the 
 kingdom who your father, Nebuchadnezzar, 
 said was wiser than any of the others. He 
 made him the lord of all the magicians and 
 wise men in Babylon. He could always 
 interpret dreams, and explain the hardest 
 things. Daniel is his name. Let him be 
 fetched, and he will soon make the king's 
 mind easy." 
 
 So Daniel was brought in before the 
 troubled Belshazzar. 
 
 "Are you that Daniel, whom my father 
 brought away from Judah with the other 
 captives ? I have heard of you, that the 
 spirit of the gods is with you, that you are 
 wiser than other men. And now, none of 
 the wise men of Babylon can read me this 
 writing on the wall, nor explain it to me. 
 But I hear that you can interpret any- 
 thing. If you can read it and make known 
 the meaning to me, you shall wear the 
 royal scarlet, have a gold chain round your 
 neck, and be third ruler in the kingdom." 
 
 Then Daniel answered, " I do not want
 
 DANIEL AND THE HANDWRITING. 283 
 
 your gifts nor any reward, yet will I read 
 the writing, and give you the interpretation 
 of it. My God, the most high God, He 
 made your father, Nebuchadnezzar, a great 
 king over many nations; but when his 
 heart was lifted up, and he grew proud, 
 then God took from him his throne and his 
 glory. He was driven from among men ; he 
 grew like the beasts, and was no better than 
 they, until he knew that the true God is 
 the King of all kingdoms, and can do any- 
 thing that He wishes. But you, Belshazzar, 
 his son, have not humbled your heart, 
 although you knew all this. You have 
 lifted yourself up against the God of 
 heaven. You have dared to drink wine 
 out of the holy vessels that were made 
 only to use in His service, and have praised 
 the gods of silver and gold, wood and 
 stone, which can neither see, nor hear, nor 
 know anything. Therefore has God sent 
 this hand to write the message on the 
 wall. Here are the words, and this is the 
 meaning : — 
 
 " Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin."
 
 284 DANIEL AND THE HANDWRITING. 
 
 " God has tried you and found you want- 
 ing, so your kingdom will be taken away 
 from you, and given to the king of another 
 country." 
 
 Belshazzar must have felt very wretched 
 when he heard Daniel's words, for he knew 
 that they were all true, but he kept his 
 word and ordered his servants to dress 
 Daniel in scarlet robes, to put the gold 
 chain round his neck, and the crier went 
 out in the city, telling all the people that 
 Daniel was to be third ruler in the city. 
 
 That very night the writing on the wall 
 came true. Darius, the king of a country 
 near Babylon, came up with a large army 
 of soldiers, who fought against the people 
 in Babylon. Belshazzar was killed, and 
 Darius took his country for himself.
 
 235 
 
 CHAPTER LY. 
 
 DANIEL AND THE DEN OF LIONS. 
 Daniel vi. 
 
 You have now had several stories about the 
 Jews whilst they were in captivity in Baby- 
 lon. Things had changed a little for them. 
 They were still in a strange land far away 
 from their own dear land of Israel, but now 
 they had a new master. Instead of the king 
 of Babylon, it was the king of Persia. Per- 
 haps some of you have already guessed how 
 this came about ? I told you in the last 
 chapter that Belshazzar, the king of Baby- 
 lon, was killed by another king called 
 Darius. Well, this Darius railed over the 
 country of Persia. So now you can under-
 
 28G DANIEL AND THE DEN OF LIONS. 
 
 stand, I hope, that the Jews in their cap- 
 tivity had now a Persian instead of a Baby- 
 lonian ruler. 
 
 The change of masters made no difference 
 to Daniel. He was very happy with the 
 new king. Darius was an idolater, but for 
 all that he saw how wise and good Daniel 
 was, so everything was trusted to him, and 
 he was made governor over all the princes 
 and judges of the land. This made some 
 of them very jealous of Daniel, so they set 
 themselves to watch him, hoping that they 
 would find out some fault or dishonesty on 
 his part. But this they could not. Daniel 
 was as faithful as he was wise. Just 
 as Joseph was with Pharaoh so was Daniel 
 with Darius. Everything was in his hands, 
 and he could safely be trusted. His ene- 
 mies must think of some other plan by 
 which they could ruin him. 
 
 Now Darius had one great fault, and this 
 his lords knew. He was vain, and loved 
 praise, or " flattery," as I should call it. So 
 Daniel's enemies came to Darius and said : 
 " We have been thinking what a wise law
 
 DANIEL AND THE DEN OF LIONS. 287 
 
 it would be that if any one should pray to, 
 or ask any favour, for thirty days, of any 
 god or man — except of thee, O king ! — he 
 should be thrown into the den of lions. We 
 have it already written down, and now, O 
 king ! if thou wilt sign it, no one shall dare 
 change it, for the laws of the Persians can 
 never be altered." 
 
 Darius's vanity was well pleased by his 
 false, flattering lords ; the writing was 
 signed with the king's name, and it was the 
 law of the land ; not even the king himself 
 could alter it. He had not given a thought 
 to his well-beloved servant Daniel, of how 
 he prayed to his God every day, or he 
 would never have allowed such a law to be 
 made, for Darius was much too fond of 
 Daniel to hurt him in any way, but you 
 see he acted without stopping to think well 
 first, and gave way to his pride. 
 
 So all went well for the cunning enemies 
 of the pious Daniel. Every day, at three 
 different times, this good man fell on his 
 knees, and before the open window prayed 
 to the true God. Shall I tell you why he
 
 288 DANIEL AND THE DEN OF LIONS. 
 
 chose the open window to pray at ? His 
 window looked towards Jerusalem, and 
 although the holy city was much too far off 
 for Daniel to see it, he liked to think that 
 he was praying towards the place where 
 the beautiful Temple had stood, which had 
 often been filled with the cloud of God's 
 glory. 
 
 Now you understand what, I dare say, 
 seemed strange to you — Daniel's praying 
 at the open window — for you and I would 
 always choose the quietest part of the room 
 to say our prayers in. 
 
 Well, Daniel soon heard of the new law 
 that had been made. Do you think he still 
 went on praying as before, or would he 
 say no prayers until the thirty days were 
 over ( 
 
 My dear children, Daniel loved God too 
 well to do this. So every day, at his open 
 window, just the same as before, Daniel 
 was to be seen kneeling down and praising 
 the true God. His envious enemies lost no 
 time in going to the king, asking, " Did you 
 not sign a law that if any one prayed, or
 
 DANIEL AND THE DEN OF LIONS. 289 
 
 asked a petition of any god or man during 
 these thirty days, he should be thrown into 
 the lions' den ?" 
 
 " It is true," answered Darius. 
 
 Then said they, " That Daniel, who was 
 brought from Jerusalem with the other 
 captives, pays no attention to your word, 
 nor the law that you have signed. Three 
 times a day he prays to his God." 
 
 When the king heard this, he was very 
 vexed with himself for having allowed such 
 a law to be made, and he tried to think of 
 some means by which he could save Daniel 
 Until the sun set, his thoughts were busy 
 for him. Then the men who hated Daniel 
 because he was so good, came again to the 
 king, and reminded him that nothing could 
 change a law which had once been made. 
 So there was no help. Sorely against his 
 will, and grieved at heart, Darius gave the 
 order, and Daniel was brought out and 
 thrown down into the den of hungry, fierce 
 lions. (A den, I must tell you, is a sort of 
 pit dug out under the ground, where wild 
 animals are kept. Perhaps some of you
 
 290 DANIEL AND THE DEN OF LIONS. 
 
 have seen the bears' pit at the Zoological 
 Gardens ?) 
 
 Now the Persian king was an idolater, 
 and worshipped the sun and many things 
 stranger than that, for after all you will tell 
 me that the sun is a very glorious thing, 
 and God's work. Still Darius knew that 
 Daniel's God was a very wonderful one, for 
 had he not heard how Daniel's three com- 
 panions had been delivered by Him from 
 the fiery furnace into which they had been 
 flung by Nebuchadnezzar. So you will see 
 from the king's words to Daniel, just as he 
 was being thrown into the den, that he 
 hoped and half believed in fact that his 
 great God might save him. "Thy God, 
 whom thou servest, He will deliver thee."* 
 
 Then a stone was brought and laid on 
 the top of the den where the opening was, 
 and the king sealed it with his own and 
 also with his lords' seal. Do you know 
 Darius 's reason for doing this ? He used his 
 own ring to seal with, that he might guard 
 against Daniel's enemies interfering with the 
 
 •Daniel vi., 16.
 
 DANIEL AND THE DEN OF LIONS. 291 
 
 den during the night, and his lords' was 
 used that they might see that he himseli 
 took no step to help Daniel. He left it all 
 in God's hands. 
 
 When this was done, the king went home 
 to his palace with a sad and heavy heart; 
 he would not eat anything, nor would he 
 allow the musicians to try and amuse him; 
 he could think of nothing else but his poor 
 Daniel. He could not sleep, for he was too 
 angry with himself for having listened to 
 the voice of vanity ; his conscience told 
 him it was this that had made him forget 
 his trusty adviser. 
 
 Very early in the morning he rose from 
 his bed and went in haste to the den of 
 lions. When he came to it he called out in 
 a sad voice to Daniel, scarcely daring to 
 hope for an answer, for would not Daniel 
 by this time have been torn to pieces and 
 eaten up by these savage animals ? " O 
 Daniel," cried the king, "servant of the 
 living God, is thy God, whom thou servest, 
 able to deliver thee from the lions ?" 
 
 Daniel's God — our God — you know can
 
 292 DANIEL AND THE DEN OF LIONS. 
 
 do anything. Nothing is too hard for Him. 
 So Daniel at once heard the king's words, 
 and answered, " king, live for ever. My 
 God hath sent His angel, and hath shut the 
 lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me, 
 for I was innocent in His eyes, neither 
 have I done thee any harm, king." 
 
 Then Darius was exceedingly glad, and 
 called to some of his servants to pull away 
 the stone from the top of the den, and take 
 out Daniel. Daniel was brought up out of 
 the pit, and not even a scratch was found 
 upon him, nor were any of his clothes torn. 
 Daniel had believed in God, so God had 
 been with him. The lions, the fiercest of 
 all the beasts, had not touched Daniel ; he 
 had been as safe in their den as he would 
 have been in his own chamber praying. 
 
 You will be sorry to hear of the next 
 thing that Darius did, but I do not like 
 telling you one part of the story and leav- 
 ing out another. He commanded that 
 those men who had accused, that was, told 
 tales of Daniel, should, with their wives and 
 children, be thrown into the same den that 

 
 DANIEL AND THE DEN OF LIONS. 293 
 
 Daniel had been saved from. This was 
 done, and before they were at the bottom 
 of the den, the lions had rushed at them 
 and broken all their bones in pieces. This 
 was very cruel of Darius ; he ought not to 
 have done anything to the poor innocent 
 women and children, but I am sorry to say 
 people were very cruel in the times I am 
 telling you of. Kings could do much more 
 as they liked with their people, than kings 
 and queens can in our days, so no doubt 
 you will agree with me that things are 
 better managed now than they were then. 
 
 After this Darius so believed that Daniel's 
 God was the one God who ought to be 
 praised, that he wrote letters and sent 
 them out all through the different countries 
 of his large kingdom, saying that there 
 was no god like Daniel's God, and that every 
 one must fear Him, for He had saved 
 Daniel even from the power of the fierce 
 lions. 
 
 The black days had now passed for 
 Daniel. All the rest of his life he lived 
 happily with the Persian king, giving him
 
 294 DANIEL AND THE DEN OF LIONS. 
 
 wise advice, still not forgetting his own 
 countrymen, the Jews. He foretold to 
 them many things that would happen in 
 the years to come, for Daniel was one of 
 our greatest prophets. 
 
 I wonder if any of you have noticed that 
 'ately, instead of talking of the " children 
 )f Israel," I have always said, "the Jews?" 
 I have done so on purpose. Do you remem- 
 ber how I told you that in the time of 
 Hoshea, the last king of Israel, the king of 
 Assyria fought against him, and took away 
 all his people as slaves ? Well, they never 
 came back to the land of Israel, or Pales- 
 tine, as we now call it, so the small number 
 who were left behind, I mean the people in 
 the kingdom of Judah, got to be called 
 Jehudahites or Jeivs, the name that we are 
 known by to this very day.
 
 295 
 
 CHAPTER LVl. 
 
 RETURN OF THE JEWS; THE TEMPLE REBUILT. 
 
 Ezra i., 3 ; Nehemiah viii. 
 
 Do you think the Jews were always to re- 
 main exiles in Babylon ? No, my dear 
 children. God had said that they should 
 be there for some time as a punishment for 
 their sins, and the great prophet Jeremiah 
 had told them that this would last over 
 seventy years. 
 
 Well, the seventy years had passed. 
 Then God put it in the heart of the king 
 Cyrus, who was then their ruler, that they 
 might return to their own land. He said 
 to the Jews, " Whoever among you wishes 
 to go up to Jerusalem, and build the house 
 of his God, let him go." ,
 
 296 RETURN OF THE JEWS; 
 
 This was very kind of Cyras, as he was 
 an idolater ; but he did even more. He 
 gave back to the people all the holy gold 
 and silver vessels, which Nebuchadnezzar 
 had carried away for spoil, when he de- 
 stroyed the Temple. Besides this the 
 Babylonians and Persians gave the Jews 
 presents of all sorts. It reminds me a little 
 of what happened when the children of 
 Israel left Egypt ; does it you, my dears ? 
 Only now there was no Moses sent by God 
 to lead the people. So they had gifts of 
 silver and gold, and all sorts of things that 
 would be wanted in the work of rebuilding. 
 Perhaps the most useful presents of all were 
 the camels and mules they gave the poor 
 Jews, as without these they could never 
 have travelled so far, nor carried half the pre- 
 cious things which had been given them. 
 
 Perhaps you have no idea what a very 
 long journey it was from Babylon to Jeru- 
 salem. It would take them months to 
 reach the holy city ; for, remember, there 
 were no railroads then for them to travel 
 by, as we have now-a-days.
 
 THE TEMPLE REBUILT. 297 
 
 But how glad the Jews were when they 
 heard the good news — all who wished to 
 return and live in Palestine might do so ; 
 and a goodly number gathered themselves 
 together from out of the different cities and 
 prepared to start. Some of course there 
 were, too lazy or too indifferent, who 
 stayed behind, or, perhaps, they had not 
 the courage to face the weary, tiresome 
 journey before them. 
 
 And now the long march began. After 
 some months Jerusalem was reached. Oh, 
 how different it was to the beautiful city 
 some of them had once lived in. I say 
 some of them, because you must know that 
 during the seventy years' captivity many 
 of the old people had died, and also many 
 had been born ; so these young ones knew 
 nothing of the old Jerusalem except what 
 their parents had told them ; and we may 
 be sure the old loved city was often and 
 often spoken of by the captives* 
 
 But now the old Jerusalem was no more. 
 Ruins everywhere; not only was the Temple 
 
 * Lamentations i., 7-
 
 298 RETURN OF THE JEWS; 
 
 gone, but all the houses and palaces were 
 burnt, and the very walls of the city broken 
 down. How dreary it all looked ! But 
 the Jews had not come back to mourn; 
 they would not waste their time. They 
 meant to rebuild the Temple and the city ; 
 so they set to hard work at once. First, 
 the ruins were cleared away, and soon an 
 altar was set up, upon which the priests 
 laid burnt offerings to the Lord, and the 
 foundations of God's house were once again 
 laid. When this was done, the people all 
 sang together and praised God, thanking 
 Him for His mercy in bringing them back 
 once more to their own land. But even 
 now it was not all joy. Many of the old 
 men and priests wept sad tears as they 
 thought to themselves of the magnificent 
 first Temple, and how different this second 
 one would be. But their cries were scarcely 
 heard ; the shouts of joy from the young 
 were louder than the sounds of weeping 
 from the old men. 
 
 So the Temple was being rebuilt ; but it 
 took a great many years, and was very 

 
 THE TEMPLE REBUILT. 299 
 
 hard work. It was not the same as in 
 Solomon's time, when all the strange people 
 round Palestine were friendly with the 
 Jews, and helped them to get all they 
 wanted for the work. Now the poor Jews 
 had many enemies who tried to hinder 
 them in their labours, and sometimes they 
 had to stay and fight when they ought to 
 have been getting on with the building. 
 
 You can fancy how difficult it was when 
 I tell you that at times the men who were 
 building the walls of the city had to carry 
 a sword, or some other weapon, in one 
 hand, whilst they used a tool with the 
 other.* 
 
 Still, with all these hardships to fight 
 against, after a time all was finished. The 
 Temple was rebuilt ; but God's glory, His 
 cloud, the divine presence, or " Shechina," 
 as we call it, never again filled the House 
 as in olden time. Then, again, the Ark of 
 the Covenant, with its beautiful mercy-seat 
 that I told you of, which held the tables of 
 stone and Aaron's rod, was gone — lost to 
 e Nehemiah iv., 18.
 
 300 RETURN OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Israel since the cruel Nebuchadnezzar had 
 burnt the Temple. 
 
 Still the people might have been very 
 happy, if they had only followed God's word 
 and kept His commandments ; for there were 
 many good men who talked to them and 
 tried to make them do right. Will you see if 
 you can remember the names of Zerubbabel, 
 Ezra, and Nehemiah, as these three did a 
 great deal to keep up the people's courage, 
 whilst the hard work of building was 
 going on ? Afterwards, like Moses and some 
 of the prophets you have heard of, they 
 talked boldly to the people of their sins, and 
 begged them to try and put them all away, 
 and be true servants of God. And Ezra 
 stood on a raised wooden platform, that 
 all the people might see him, whilst he 
 read to them from the book of the Law, and 
 explained it to the people. Numbers of 
 men and women and children came every 
 day to listen to the holy words ; for all the 
 while they had been in captivity they had 
 not been allowed to read the Torah, or Law. 
 
 Then Ezra blessed the Lord, and all the 
 people said, Amen.
 
 301 
 
 CHAPTER LV1I. 
 
 AHASUERUS AND VASHTI. 
 
 Esther i. 
 
 Now, dear children, I will tell you the 
 story of the good Queen Esther. Perhaps 
 some of you, who look out anxiously for 
 Purim each year, know it already ; if so, I 
 am sure it must be such a favourite, that 
 you will not mind hearing it again. 
 
 I told you the other day that not all the 
 Jews went back to their own land. There 
 were really a great many who stayed be- 
 hind in Babylon, and the different cities of 
 Persia ; so this story will be about some of 
 them. 
 
 K 7
 
 302 AHASUERUS AND VASHTI. 
 
 The king of Persia at this time was 
 Ahasuerus, or Xerxes as he is called in 
 other books (or histories as we should call 
 them,) that tell us of him. Perhaps some 
 of you elder ones will be ready to say, " Oh, 
 yes, we have heard of him. He fought 
 against the Greeks; but they were very 
 brave, and he got the worst of it, and was 
 very glad to return to his own country." 
 Well, this Ahasuerus, or Xerxes, lived at a 
 city called Shushan, or Susa. Shushan was 
 the capital of Persia. There he had a mag- 
 nificent palace ; for he was a very rich and 
 mighty king. He ruled over a hundred 
 and twenty-seven provinces. However, he 
 did not make at all a good use of his riches 
 and power. He was vain and haughty ; so 
 that nothing pleased him better than show- 
 ing off all the grand things he had. 
 
 When he had been king three years, he 
 made a great feast to all his princes and ser- 
 vants, just to show them how rich he was, 
 and the grandeur of his palace. The floors of 
 this palace were of different coloured marbles, 
 and the curtains were hung by silver rings
 
 AHASUERUS AND VASHTI. 303 
 
 to marble pillars, and all the beds were 
 made of gold. The guests drank their wine 
 from golden cups, and the choicest and 
 daintiest food was set before them. Whilst 
 this feast was going on in the palace gar- 
 dens, Vashti, the queen, gave a feast to the 
 ladies in the royal house ; for in Eastern 
 countries like Persia, it was not the fashion 
 for the men and women to eat together. 
 
 On the seventh day, when the king and 
 his friends had all been drinking a great 
 deal of wine, and I dare say were none the 
 better for it, it suddenly entered into Ahasu- 
 erus' head that Queen Vashti should be 
 brought with her royal crown on her head, 
 that all the people and princes might see 
 what a beautiful wife he had ; for she was 
 very fair to look on. So some of the royal 
 chamberlains (the chamberlains were those 
 who waited on the king in his bed-chamber) 
 were sent to fetch her. 
 
 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the 
 king's command. And quite right, I think, 
 she was. No modest woman would care to 
 be brought among a number of half-intoxi-
 
 304> AHASUERUS AND VASHTI. 
 
 cated id en, that they might stare at her 
 beauty. Then the king was very angry that 
 she should dare disobey him, the mighty 
 King of Persia, whom all were ready to 
 flatter, and he turned to his wise men, who 
 knew the laws of the land, and said, " What 
 shall be done to Queen Yashti, because she 
 has not obeyed the command of the king, 
 which he sent her by his chamberlain ? " 
 
 One of the princes, named Memucan, who 
 sat near Ahasuerus, answered, " Not only 
 has Queen Yashti done wrong to the king, 
 but to all the princes and people through- 
 out his kingdom. If other women shall 
 get to hear of what she has done, they too 
 will disobey their husbands. Let the king 
 make it a law of the Medes and Persians, 
 so that it can not be altered, that Queen 
 Yashti comes no more before King Ahasu- 
 erus, and let the king make some one else 
 queen in her place." 
 
 Nothing could have been proposed that 
 would have pleased the king better. He 
 was delighted. You see what a tyrant he 
 was, rather different to the generous king
 
 AHASUERUS AND VASHTI. 305 
 
 Cyrus, who had sent the Jews back to 
 Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. 
 
 A law was at once made, saying that 
 Vashti should no longer be queen, and that 
 all wives were to obey their husbands.
 
 306 
 
 CHAPTER LIX. 
 
 ESTHER, THE NEW QUEEN. 
 Esther ii. 
 
 Some time after all I have just told you 
 had happened, when King Ahasuerus' anger 
 had cooled down a little, and he could talk 
 quietly of what Yashti had done, some of 
 his servants said to him, " Why do you not 
 have another queen in the place of Vashti ? 
 Let the king's officers go through the pro- 
 vinces of his kingdom, and look out for the 
 most beautiful maidens. Then they can be 
 brought together to the palace at Shushan, 
 to the house where the women live, and 
 Hege, the keeper of the women, will take 
 charge of them. And let the maiden that 
 pleaseth the king best be made queen in- 
 stead of Vashti."
 
 ESTHER, THE NEW QUEEN. .'307 
 
 This idea pleased the tyrant, and he 
 said, " We will have it so." 
 
 What a strange manner of choosing a 
 wife, you of course think, my dear children. 
 To be fair of face was all that was asked 
 for. I am sorry to tell you, that even now 
 in Eastern countries, Turkey and Persia 
 for instance, wives are selected in the same 
 way; beautiful girls get the richest hus- 
 bands ; the men do not think of asking if 
 they are good or clever. Now, in Shushan 
 there lived a certain Jew named Mordecai. 
 He was one of those who had been carried 
 away captive from the land of Judah by 
 Nebuchadnezzar. He had a cousin called 
 Esther, whom he had brought up like his 
 own child ; for she was an orphan. She 
 had neither father nor mother. She was 
 fair and graceful; so when the king's 
 officers saw her, she was at once taken to 
 Hege, who, I told you, had the care of the 
 women's house in the palace, and was 
 placed among the other girls, from whom 
 Ahasuerus was to choose his queen. 
 
 Esther had not. only a pretty face, but
 
 308 ESTHER, THE NEW QUEEN. 
 
 she had also a sweet gracious way of speak- 
 ing that gave pleasure to all who came near 
 her, and she soon became a favourite with 
 the chamberlain Hege. No one knew that 
 Esther was a Jewess; for Mordecai had 
 told her to say nothing about her religion 
 for the present. He loved her very dearly; 
 so you can imagine how great was his 
 anxiety to know if she would please the 
 king, when it should be her turn to see 
 Ahasuerus, and she had to wait some time 
 for this. 
 
 Every day the loving Mordecai called at 
 the women's house to enquire after Esther. 
 At last, one day, what news do you think 
 he heard? Why, that the king had been so 
 delighted with Esther, that he had chosen 
 her from all the other women, had set the 
 royal crown on her head, and had made her 
 queen in Yashti's place. Then Ahasuerus 
 gave a grand feast to all his princes and 
 f-ervants, and called it Esther's feast, in 
 honour of his new queen, and sent presents 
 to many of his people all through his king
 
 ESTHER, THE NEW QUEEN. 309 
 
 Still Esther said not a word about her 
 religion or her relations ; for although she 
 was now a queen, she obeyed Mordecai just 
 the same as when she was a child brought 
 up by him. 
 
 And Mordecai ? He would not push 
 himself forward and say he was the queen's 
 cousin; but he came frequently to the 
 palace, and sat by the king's gate, so that ho 
 could hear of all that was going on, and couM 
 easily send letters or messages to Esther. 
 
 One day, as Mordecai was sitting at t-. i 
 king's gate, he heard that two of the king's 
 chamberlains were angry at something 
 which Ahasuerus had done, and meant to 
 try and kill the king. This we call " con- 
 spiring" against the king. Mordecai at 
 once told this to Esther, and she went 
 to Ahasuerus with the news, letting him 
 know that it was Mordecai who had found 
 it out. 
 
 I want you to notice this little fact. 
 Esther might have gone to her lord and 
 just told him that these two men were 
 going to try and kill him, making sure that
 
 310 ESTHER, THE NEW QUEEN. 
 
 he would reward her for the timely warn- 
 ing. But she was too honest to take praise 
 to herself that belonged to another, and so 
 you see that was why she was careful to 
 let the king know that it was Mordecai 
 who had found it all out and sent to tell 
 her. 
 
 The matter was looked into, and it was 
 found to be just as Mordecai said. So the 
 two chamberlains were both hanged, and it 
 was all written down in the " Book of the 
 Chronicles " before the king. This book 
 was a history of all that happened, for 
 everything worth remembering was written 
 down in it.
 
 311 
 
 CHAPTEK LIX. 
 
 HAMAN, THE ENEMY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 Esther iii. 
 
 Now, amongst the lords at Ahasuerus' 
 court was a man called Haman. He was 
 not a Persian, but an Agagite, that is an 
 Amalekite. Agag,* I hope you remember, 
 was the last king of that people, and was 
 killed by the prophet Samuel, when Saul 
 disobeyed God and saved him alive. 
 
 This Haman was a very bad man — proud, 
 haughty, cruel, and jealous. However, he 
 managed to please the king. Perhaps he 
 always flattered him, and I told you that 
 Ahasuerus was a regular tyrant, who would 
 have everything his own way, and dearly 
 
 ° 1 Samuel xv., 8.
 
 312 HAMAN, THE ENEMY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 loved flattery. So Haman was made the 
 first man at court, his seat in the palace 
 being nearest to the king, and raised higher 
 than that of any of the princes there. All 
 the king's servants bowed down and made 
 obeisance to Haman when he came in 
 sight, for so the king had ordered. 
 
 There was one man who never bowed 
 his knee nor made obeisance before Haman. 
 Ton can tell me who this was ? Morde- 
 cai, of course. To the king he knew that 
 it was his duty to pay respect. It is one 
 of the laws of our religion to reverence 
 our king or queen; but why should he 
 bow before a bad man, just because he was 
 rich and powerful ? No, Mordecai would 
 not do it, and you think it could matter 
 little to the great man Haman, " the king's 
 favourite," if one poor captive did, or did 
 not pay him reverence. But you are mis- 
 taken. 
 
 When Haman saw that Mordecai would 
 not bow, nor show him any mark of respect 
 he was very angry. He soon found out 
 that he was a Jew, and little thinking that
 
 HAMAN, THE ENEMY OF THE JEWS. 313 
 
 Esther, the king's darling, belonged also to 
 that despised nation, a wicked plan entered 
 his head. You will see how revengeful 
 and cruel Haman must have been, when I 
 tell you it. He meant to try and get per- 
 mission from the king not to kill Mordecai 
 alone, but all his nation. Whatever Jews 
 there were in Persia, they should all be 
 slain, just because this one Jew, this Mor- 
 decai, refused to bow down before him. 
 
 Have you ever heard of a more horrible 
 thing ? Then see how deceitful and cunning 
 Haman was. He did not go to Ahasuerus 
 and say the truth, " There is a man, a Jew, 
 who has annoyed me ; may I kill him and 
 all his people ? " but this is what he said : 
 " There is a people scattered about in the 
 different cities of your country ; they have 
 their own laws, and do not keep yours ; so 
 that it is against your interest to have them 
 living in your kingdom. Let letters be 
 written to say they are to be destroyed, and 
 I will pay ten thousand pieces of money to 
 the king's treasurers for him." 
 
 A "treasurer" is a person who has to
 
 314 HAMAN, THE ENEMY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 
 take care of money that belongs to someone 
 else. 
 
 The king was too lazy and selfish to 
 enquire into the matter, besides, he did not 
 value the lives of these strange people. 
 Haman seemed to wish it, and Ahasuerus 
 was very glad he could do him a favour 
 with so little trouble to himself. He did 
 not even want the money. All he did was to 
 take the ring from off his finger, and give 
 it to Haman to sign the letters he wanted 
 written; for with the king's seal to them 
 none dare disobey the writing. He said, 
 " Do whatever you like with the people ; 
 they are yours; and as for the money, 
 keep it, I do not want it." 
 
 So Haman, " the Jews' enemy "* was to 
 have it all his own way. 
 
 Then Haman set the king's servants to 
 work, writing letters to send out all over 
 the kingdom, saying that on a certain day, 
 for which he had cast lots, the thirteenth of 
 Adar, all the Jews were to be killed. Men, 
 women, and even little children, all were 
 * Esther iii., 10.
 
 HAMAN, THE ENEMY OF THE JEWS. 
 
 to die, and everything that belonged to 
 them was to be seized and taken as a re- 
 ward for those who helped kill them. 
 
 These letters were signed with the seal 
 on the king's ring, which you remember 
 Ahasuerus gave to Haman to use ; and the 
 postmen were hurried off to carry these 
 cruel orders into every part of the country. 
 
 And now when Haman had begun his 
 work of revenge on Mordecai, he could 
 again feel happy, and he went into the 
 palace and drank wine with the king. 
 
 But in the city of Shushan, where agrea£ 
 many Jews lived, there was weeping an& 
 wonder; for they could not understand 
 why this dreadful trouble had come upon 
 them.
 
 316 
 
 CHAPTER LX. 
 
 MORDECAl's FAITH. 
 ESTHER iv. 
 
 Now when Mordecai came to hear of all 
 that was going on, he tore his clothes, put 
 on sackcloth and ashes, and went forth into 
 the midst of the city, crying out with a 
 loud and bitter cry, until he reached the 
 king's gate. Beyond this he might not go; 
 for none who were clothed in sackcloth 
 and ashes might enter here. Only the 
 happy and gay dared present themselves 
 before the king. He would not trouble 
 himself with those who were sad; was he not 
 the king ? He only lived to enjoy himself; 
 so Mordecai, in the garments of sorrow, 
 must remain outside the gate.
 
 317 
 
 Mordecai was not the only one who had 
 put on sackcloth and ashes. Everywhere 
 that the dreadful news came, all through 
 the different cities, where the king's com- 
 mand was made known, there was great 
 mourning among the Jews, and weeping 
 and wailing. Many refused to eat; they 
 fasted and laid themselves down on the 
 ground in sackcloth and ashes. 
 
 By-and-bye, some of Esther's maids and 
 chamberlains came and told her that Mor- 
 decai was in great trouble. They little 
 guessed how deeply interested she was in 
 the news ; for no one had any idea of her 
 being a Jewess, and above all, a relation 
 of Mordecai. Esther was very grieved, 
 although she did not yet know why Mor- 
 decai had clothed himself in his sad gar- 
 ments. She sent him some handsome 
 clothes, and begged him to put off the 
 sackcloth. But he would not receive them 
 from her. 
 
 Then Esther sent a second time to tell 
 Mordecai he must let her know the cause 
 of his sadness. So the chamberlain came
 
 318 MORDECAI S FAITH. 
 
 to Mordecai into the street of the city, 
 which was before the king's gate. 
 
 Mordecai told him all that had happened, 
 even to the sum of money which Haman 
 had promised to pay when the Jews were 
 all destroyed. He also sent to Esther a 
 copy of the letters ordering the people to 
 kill the Jews, and he told her that she must 
 go before the king and entreat him to save 
 her people. 
 
 So Hatach, the chamberlain, came back 
 and told Esther Mordecai's words. Then 
 Esther sent him this message : " You know 
 there is a law, that if anyone, man or 
 woman, goes before the king without his 
 sending for them, they will be put to death, 
 unless the king should hold up the golden 
 sceptre, which he carries in his hand. I 
 have not yet been sent for to come to the 
 king the last thirty days." 
 
 When Mordecai heard Esther's words, he 
 told Hatach to say : " Think not that you 
 will escape because you are in the king's 
 house, any more than all the Jews. But if 
 you are afraid to speak, then God will send
 
 MORDECAl'S FAITH. 319 
 
 us deliverance in some other way ; but you 
 will die. Who knows but that you have 
 been made queen, just to save your people?" 
 
 See what faith Mordecai had. His 
 courage gave Esther hope ; she would risk 
 all, her life even, to try and save her people; 
 so she sent Mordecai this answer: "You 
 go and gather together all the Jews that 
 are in Shushan. Let them fast and pray for 
 me for three days, and I with my maidens 
 will do the same. After this I will go to 
 the king, although it is against the law; 
 and if I must die, I will die." 
 
 So Mordecai did as Esther commanded.
 
 320 
 
 CHAPTER LXI. 
 
 Esther's petition. 
 
 Esther v. 
 
 For three days all the Jews who were in 
 Shush an fasted and prayed. On the third 
 day, Esther put on her royal garments to 
 go before the king. 
 
 Ahasuerus was sitting on his throne by 
 the gate of the royal house, when he looked 
 up and saw his beautiful wife standing out- 
 side in the court. The sight of her pleased 
 him, and he at once lifted up the golden 
 sceptre that was in his hand. How de- 
 lighted Esther was to see this. God had 
 listened to her prayers, and now she thought 
 all would be well ; for the sceptre being 
 raised meant that she was to come forward
 
 Esther's petition. 32 i 
 
 to the king. She did so, and touched the 
 top of the sceptre. Then Ahasuerus said 
 to her, "What wilt thou, Queen Esther? 
 and what is thy request ? It shall be given 
 thee, even if it be half the kingdom." 
 
 See how fond Ahasuerus was of her. 
 There was nothing he would refuse her. 
 Esther said, " If it seem good to the king, 
 let the king and Hainan come this day to 
 the feast that I have prepared for him." 
 
 Now I dare say the king was rather sur- 
 prised to find what a little thing Esther 
 had come to ask of him ; but you see she 
 had to be careful how she went to work. 
 The enemy of her people was a cruel, cun- 
 ning man, or it may be that at the last 
 moment her courage failed, and she dared 
 not yet entreat the king for the lives of her 
 people and herself. As yet she would only 
 invite her royal husband and his favourite 
 to the banquet at her palace. The king 
 accepted her invitation, and said to some of 
 his servants, " Tell Hainan to make haste, 
 that he may do as Esther has said." 
 
 So the king and Haman came to the
 
 322 ESTHER'S PETITION. 
 
 banquet that Esther had prepared. Whilst 
 they were at the feast, drinking the royal 
 wine, again the loving king asked Esther, 
 " What is thy petition ? and it shall be 
 granted, and what is thy request ? If it is 
 even half the kingdom, it shall be given thee." 
 
 Poor Esther! She was not sure the time 
 had yet come to make her real petition ; so 
 she answered, " My petition and my request 
 is, if I have found favour in the sight of. 
 the king, let the king and Haman come 
 again to-morrow to the banquet that I shall 
 prepare for them, and then I will tell the 
 king what my request is." 
 
 So it was arranged. The next day Ahasu- 
 erus and Haman were again to be Esther's 
 guests, and then she would make known 
 what her petition was. 
 
 Haman went forth from the palace that 
 day joyful and with a glad heart. Here 
 were indeed fresh honours for him. The 
 beautiful Esther, the beloved of his master, 
 had chosen him specially to invite twice 
 to her feast. But when Haman came out 
 of the palace and saw Mordecai sitting
 
 ESTHERS PETITION. 323 
 
 in the king's gate, that he did not stand 
 up, nor bow before him, all the joy went 
 out of his heart, and angry feelings took 
 its place. However, he said nothing to 
 Mordecai, but went straight home to his 
 own house. When there, he sent for his 
 wife Zeresh, and his friends, and told them 
 how rich he was, and how the king had 
 raised him above all the princes and ser- 
 vants at court. " Yea, even Esther, the 
 queen, asked me to come with the king to- 
 day to the banquet she had prepared, 
 although there was no other man there, 
 and she has invited me to come again to- 
 morrow with the king. But all this does 
 me no good so long as I see Mordecai, the 
 Jew, sitting in the king's gate." 
 
 Now, was he not a wicked, greedy man ? 
 I am soriy to say his wife and all his 
 friends must have been as bad ; for they 
 did not try to persuade him to forgive Mor- 
 decai not paying him respect. Instead of 
 this, they said, " Have a gallows made fifty 
 cubits * high, and to-morrow ask the king 
 * A cubit is a foot and three-quarters. 
 L L
 
 S24 ESTHERS PETITION. 
 
 to let Mordecai be hanged on it. Then you 
 can go in merrily with the king to the 
 feast." 
 
 This was just the thing to please the 
 cruel Haman ; so they put up the gallows.
 
 32 
 
 CHAPTER LXII. 
 
 THE BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 
 
 Esther vi. 
 
 Now I told you that when Haman returned 
 from Esther's feast he had a high gallows 
 put up on which to hang Mordecai. On 
 the night of that very day, Ahasuerus, 
 the king, could not sleep. Of course, some- 
 thing must be done to while away the 
 time for him. He thought he would like 
 some one to read to him ; so his servants 
 were ordered to bring the Book of the 
 Chronicles, where, as I told you, every- 
 thing that happened worth remembering 
 was written down. 
 
 By chance, as it seemed to them, but by 
 L
 
 326 THE BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 
 
 God's directing, as I should say, the part 
 they read about was the story of how two 
 of the king's chamberlains had tried to kill 
 him. The king asked, "What has been 
 done to Mordecai as a reward for telling 
 us of this ? " 
 
 " Nothing," replied his servants. 
 
 Then Ahasuerus said, "Who is in the 
 court ? " 
 
 The court, you must know, was a sort 
 of broad open passage, running round 
 the palace. Now, who should be in the 
 outside court but Haman. He had come 
 to get permission from the king to have 
 Mordecai hanged on the gallows, that 
 Lad just been set up for him. So the 
 king's servants said, "Haman is in the 
 . 
 
 " Let him come in," were the king's 
 words. 
 
 When Haman had entered the royal 
 chamber, Ahasuerus said, " What shall be 
 done to the man whom the king delighteth 
 to honour ? " 
 
 Now Haman thought to himself, to whom
 
 THE BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 327 
 
 would the king delight to show honour 
 more than to me ? so he said, " For the man 
 whom the king delighteth to honour, let 
 the royal garments be brought which the 
 king usually wears, the horse which the 
 king rides upon, and the royal crown which 
 is set upon his head. Then let all these 
 things be given into the hands of one of 
 the king's most noble princes. Let him 
 put them on the man whom the king 
 delighteth to honour, and bring him on 
 horseback through the streets of the city, 
 calling before him, 'Thus shall be done 
 to the man whom the king delighteth to 
 honour.' " 
 
 Then Ahasuerus said to Haman, " Make 
 haste and do all that you have just said to 
 Mordecai, the Jew, who sits in the king's 
 gate. Let nothing fail of all that you have 
 spoken." 
 
 Can you imagine how Haman felt ? 
 Think of his rage and disappointment at 
 having to do all this for his enemy, and 
 yet he dared not say a word. To disobey 
 the haughty tyrant would mean death.
 
 328 THE BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 
 
 So Haman had no choice but to take the 
 horse, and the royal garments, dress Mor- 
 decai in them, and bring him on horseback 
 through the city, crying out, " Thus shall 
 it be done to the man whom the king de- 
 lighteth to honour." 
 
 When this was over, Mordecai came 
 again to the king's gate, whilst Haman 
 hurried home furious and disheartened. 
 He told Zeresh, his wife, and all his friends 
 everything that had happened. Cruel 
 people are always cowards, so they were 
 very frightened, and said to Haman, " Now 
 that you have begun to fall before this 
 Mordecai, who is a Jew, you will not suc- 
 ceed against him, but he will overcome 
 
 you." 
 
 Whilst they were still talking about it, 
 the king's chamberlains came to fetch 
 Haman, as it was time to go to Esther's 
 feast, which you shall hear about in the 
 next chapter.
 
 329 
 
 CHAPTER LXIII. 
 
 ESTHER SAVES HER PEOPLE. 
 
 Esther vii. 
 
 So Ahasuerus and Haman came to feast 
 with Esther, the queen. And the king 
 said to Esther again, on this the second 
 day of the banquet, " What is thy petition, 
 Queen Esther? and it shall be granted 
 thee : and what is thy request ? It shall 
 be performed, even if it be half of the king- 
 dom." 
 
 Then the queen answered, "If I have 
 found favour in thy sight, oh, king! let 
 my life be given me at my petition, and 
 my people at my request. For we are sold, 
 I and my people, to be killed. If we had
 
 330 ESTHER SAVES HER PEOPLE. 
 
 only been sold for slaves, I would have held 
 my peace and said nothing." 
 
 Then Ahasuerus said to Esther, " Who is 
 he, and where is he, that dares presume in 
 his heart to do this ? " 
 
 And Esther answered, "The enemy is 
 this wicked Hainan." 
 
 The king was too angry to reply to her 
 at first. He went out furious into the 
 palace garden. 
 
 When Haman saw this, he grew very 
 frightened, for he felt very sure that the 
 king would not spare him, and he began 
 to beg the queen not to take his life. At 
 this moment, Ahasuerus returned from the 
 garden. Haman, who, as I told you, was a 
 great coward, was on his knees before 
 Queen Esther. But there could be no 
 pardon for him, he had had no pity for 
 others, and now he must expect none to be 
 shown to him. One of the chamberlains 
 said before the king, " There is a gallows, 
 fifty cubits high, standing in Hainan's 
 house, which he had put up for Mordecai, 
 who had spoken good for the king."
 
 ESTHER SAVES HER PEOPLE. 331 
 
 Then Ahasuerus said, "Hang Hainan 
 thereon." 
 
 So they took Haman and hanged him on 
 the gallows which he had prepared for 
 Mordecai. Haman's fine house was given 
 to Esther, and she brought Mordecai before 
 her royal husband, as now there was no 
 reason for keeping it a secret that he was 
 her relation. Then the king took off the 
 ring which he had taken back from the 
 wicked Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. 
 
 Now Esther had a beautiful palace of 
 her own, so she did not want Haman's fine 
 house for herself. I dare say you can guess 
 what she did with it ? She gave it, of 
 course, to the good Mordecai to live in. 
 
 Esther had still work to do. You re- 
 member, I hope, that Haman had sent out 
 letters (sealed with the king's seal) all 
 through the kingdom, saying that the Jews 
 were to be killed on a certain day. So 
 Esther again came to the king, threw her- 
 self on the ground before him, and with 
 tears in her eyes, begged him to put away 
 the mischief of Haman the Agagite.
 
 332 ESTHER SAVES HER PEOPLE. 
 
 Ahasuerus did not like to see his be- 
 loved Esther weeping at his feet, so he held 
 out the golden sceptre, and she rose up and 
 stood before the king. She asked him to 
 send out other letters all over the kingdom 
 to say that Haman's cruel orders were not 
 to be obeyed — the Jews were not to be 
 slain. It was not enough for her that she 
 and Mordecai had gained Ahasuerus' favour, 
 she wanted to have her people saved and 
 happy. Listen to her words, — " For how 
 can I bear to see the evil that will come 
 upon my people ? Or how can I endure to 
 see the destruction of my kindred?" 
 (Kindred means relations.) 
 
 Then the king said, " You know it is a 
 law of our country that what is once 
 written and sealed with the king's seal, no 
 one can alter. The order sent by Haman 
 cannot be recalled, but you can save your 
 people by writing now whatever letters 
 you like in my name, and seal them with 
 my seal." 
 
 So Esther and Mordecai did as Ahasue- 
 rus said. His scribes were set to work, and
 
 ESTHER SAVES HER PEOPLE. 333 
 
 letters were sent out everywhere through 
 the provinces, telling the Jews to gather 
 themselves together and stand for their 
 lives. If anyone attacked them, they had 
 permission to kill them and take anything 
 that belonged to them for spoil. So the 
 posts went out, being hurried by the king's 
 command. 
 
 Then Mordecai left Ahasuerus' presence, 
 dressed in garments of blue and white, with 
 a large golden crown upon his head, and a 
 robe of fine linen and purple. And the 
 people in Shushan rejoiced and were glad. 
 
 No one felt sorry for the fate of Haman, 
 the Jews' enemy. He had been too proud 
 and cruel to make real friends, so when his 
 day of trouble came, he had none to help 
 him. Take warning, dear children, by 
 the story of Haman. Some of you may 
 happen to be in a better position than 
 others. One of you boys, for instance, may 
 be the head of your class at school. Be 
 sure you are never tyrants over the younger 
 or weaker ones. If you have power, use it 
 wisely. Then God, who sees and watches 
 L 5
 
 334 ESTHER SAVES HER PEOPLE. 
 
 us all — for "the eyes of the Lord are in 
 every place, beholding the good and the 
 evil " * — will be pleased, and " the light of 
 his countenance will shine upon you."
 
 335 
 
 CHAPTER LXIV. 
 
 PURIM. 
 
 Esther ix. 
 
 Now the day which Haman had fixed on 
 to kill all the Jews, I think I told you be- 
 fore, was the thirteenth of our Jewish month 
 Adar. This day, when the Jews' enemies 
 were to have had power to do what they 
 liked to them, drew near. But now 
 Esther's people had nothing to fear, for 
 Ahasuerus, the mighty king, w T as their 
 friend, and many of the people of the land 
 became Jews, because they were afraid of 
 them. 
 
 The memorable day arrived, and the 
 Jews gathered themselves together in the 
 different cities to be ready to defend their
 
 336 purim. 
 
 lives, for there were many who, like 
 Haman, hated the Jews, and took advan- 
 tage of the first letters that had been sent 
 out sealed with the king's ring. But the 
 Jews were stronger than their enemies, for 
 all the rulers and officers of the king helped 
 the Jews, because they were afraid of 
 offending Mordecai. 
 
 " For Mordecai was great in the king's 
 house, and his fame had gone out through 
 all the provinces."* 
 
 So the Jews, in defending themselves, 
 killed numbers of their enemies, but 
 although Ahasuerus had told them they 
 might seize whatever they liked, they 
 would not take any spoil of what belonged 
 to the people of the land. 
 
 Haman 's ten sons were hanged on the 
 gallows which their father had set up for 
 Mordecai, and on which he had died him- 
 self. 
 
 The next day, the fourteenth of Adar, the 
 Jews had rest from their dangers, so there 
 was feasting and gladness through all their 
 c Esther ix., 4.
 
 purim. 337 
 
 homes, and they made presents to each 
 other, and sent gifts to the poor of their 
 people. And Mordecai sent letters all over 
 Ahasuerus' one hundred and twenty-seven 
 provinces to the Jews living in them, telling 
 them that every year they were to keep these 
 days as days of rejoicing and gratitude to 
 God for saving them from Haman. They 
 were to remember the good Queen Esther, 
 how, through her courage, their sorrow and 
 fear had been turned into joy, and their 
 mourning into gladness. 
 
 This time of feasting and charity was to 
 be called "Purim/' because of the "Pur" 
 or lot that was cast to settle the day for 
 destroying all the Jews in Ahasuerus' king- 
 dom. Then the Jews promised Mordecai 
 and Esther always to keep Purim through- 
 out their generations, so now you know 
 why we keep the feast of Purim. Not only 
 should we be merry and happy ourselves, 
 but we must remember our poor friends, 
 and, according to what we can spare, we 
 must give to them, so as to try and let them 
 also have a happy Purim.
 
 338 PURIM. 
 
 Now we have spoken of the feast of 
 Purim, perhaps some of you do not know 
 there is, besides, the fast of Purim, called, 
 generally, the " Fast of Esther." Some 
 religious people fast on the thirteenth of 
 Adar, the day before Purim, in memory of 
 Queen Esther's fast, before she entreated 
 the king to save her nation. 
 
 The story of all these things was written 
 down in the book of the Chronicles of the 
 Kings of Persia. And Mordecai continued 
 in high favour with Ahasuerus, so that he 
 became greater and greater. He was next 
 after the king ; but with all this he never 
 forgot his own people, but did everything 
 that he could for their good, so that the 
 Jews in Persia were very happy in the tim» 
 of Ahasuerus and Esther.
 
 339 
 
 CHAPTER LXV 
 
 JOB, THE PATIENT MAN. 
 
 Job i., 2. 
 
 Now, I dare say, dear children, you have 
 often heard people say, " Oh, he has the 
 patience of Job," or " It is enough to try the 
 patience of Job." Well, have you ever 
 taken the trouble to ask who was Job ? I 
 do not fancy you know much about him, 
 bo I will tell you. 
 
 Job was a very rich man, richer than any 
 of the people about him. He lived in " the 
 land of Uz." He had farms, and cattle, and 
 plenty of servants. He was very good. 
 He feared God and did nothing wicked. 
 He was loved by every one, for any one 
 who was in trouble could come to Job and
 
 340 J0B > THE PATIENT MAN. 
 
 know that he would help him. He did not 
 keep his riches to himself, but gave of 
 them to any who were in want. The 
 widow and the orphan blessed him, for he 
 was their friend. Job had a wife and seven 
 sons and three daughters. Everything 
 went as he wished. So he was very happy, 
 and as he loved God truly, he thanked 
 Him daily for all the blessings he en- 
 joyed. 
 
 But suddenly all this changed. God was 
 going to try His servant, and see if he would 
 still be faithful if He took from him what 
 made life pleasant. So troubles came thick 
 and fast. He was sitting in his house one 
 day, when a servant rushed in and said to 
 him, " While your oxen were ploughing, 
 and the asses feeding beside them, some 
 savage neighbours set upon them, carried 
 them away, and killed all the servants 
 who were in charge of them. I only am 
 escaped." 
 
 This was but the beginning of Job's mis- 
 fortunes, for while the messenger was still 
 gpeaking, another came up and said, * The
 
 JOB, THE PATIENT MAN. 341 
 
 fire of God has fallen from heaven, and 
 burnt up all your sheep, and the servants 
 who took care of them ; I only am es- 
 caped to tell you." 
 
 While he was yet speaking, another man 
 arrived, saying, " Some bands of Chaldeans 
 (a strange people) have come up and seized 
 all your camels, and carried them away, 
 after killing all your servants ; I am the 
 only one who has escaped." 
 
 This was all bad enough for Job. He 
 found he had lost all his cattle and ser- 
 vants, he was no longer rich ; but the worst 
 was now to come, for at this moment, a 
 fourth messenger appeared, with this ter- 
 rible news — " As your sons and daughters 
 were feasting at their eldest brother's house, 
 there came a great wind from the wilder- 
 ness round the four corners of the house. 
 The house has fallen in, and they are all 
 dead." 
 
 When Job heard these dreadful words, 
 he rose from his seat and tore his clothes ; 
 but not one murmur against God passed 
 from his lips. He said, " The Lord hath
 
 342 JOB, THE PATIENT MAN. 
 
 given, the Lord hath taken away, blessed 
 be the name of the Lord."* 
 
 God, who gives us everything we have, 
 can at any time take it from us, and we 
 all ought to feel like Job, that whatever 
 He does is well done. Mind, I do not tell 
 you that Job was not very unhappy, that 
 would have been impossible, but he loved 
 God so truly, that he just bowed his head 
 and blessed Him, knowing that whatever 
 God had done must be right. 
 
 You will think there could be no more 
 troubles in store for Job, but there was an- 
 other still to come to try his faith. As 
 yet, nothing had happened to him himself ; 
 but now his body was covered with sore 
 boils from head to foot. He was full of 
 pain and suffering, and he sat down in his 
 misery on the ground, among the ashes. 
 At this wretched sight, his wife lost all 
 patience and faith in God, so instead of 
 comforting her husband, she said, " How 
 can you still praise God ; what is there 
 now left for you but to die ? '• 
 * Job L 21.
 
 JOB, THE PATIENT MAN. 343 
 
 But Job's love of God was too true to be 
 shaken even by this ; he said, " You speak 
 like one of the foolish women. What ! shall 
 we receive good at the hand of the Lord 
 and shall we not receive evil ? " 
 
 What a beautiful feeling of Job's ! Have 
 we any of us a right to expect nothing but 
 favour from God ? Are we any of us so 
 good that we do not deserve punishment 
 sometimes ? This was Job's thought, there- 
 fore, in his sore trouble, he did not mur- 
 mur against God's dealings with him.
 
 su 
 
 CHAPTER LXVI. 
 
 job's three friends. 
 
 Job ii. 
 
 Now there were three men, who had been 
 great friends of Job. Their names were 
 Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. When they 
 heard of all that had happened to Job, they 
 made an appointment together to go and 
 mourn with him, to comfort him. When 
 they reached his house, and saw the dread- 
 ful condition he was in, so covered with 
 sores that they did not know him, they 
 lifted up their voices and wept, and each 
 one rent his clothes. Then they sat down 
 with him on the ground, but none spoke a 
 word, for they saw that his grief was 
 great. 

 
 JOBS THREE FRIENDS. 345 
 
 They acted wisely in leaving him alone, 
 and after seven days Job* opened his lips. 
 Sad and bitter were his words. He felt 
 his life was more than he could bear ; he 
 longed for death, and he begged God to 
 take him away. 
 
 " My soul is weary of life," he said.* 
 
 Then his friends were vexed with him, 
 and told him it was not right to speak in 
 such a manner. But Job told them they 
 were poor comforters, and had better leave 
 him ; and again he asked God to let him 
 die. He longed for a happier life, the 
 life which lasts for ever, which we may all 
 hope for, if we do but earn it. He told his 
 friends that "he knew his body would 
 return to the dust, but that he should see 
 God ;" -f he said, " For I know that my 
 Redeemer liveth." J 
 
 Still his three foolish friends tried to 
 reason with him ; they wanted him to 
 think that his troubles were a punishment 
 from God, whilst he felt sure that they 
 were only meant for a trial, and he was 
 
 ° Job x., 1. f JoB *»•> 26 - J Job xxi., 25.
 
 34 G job's three friends. 
 
 very angry with his friends ; " Miserable 
 comforters are ye all," * he said. 
 
 Then a fourth friend came forward, but 
 his words were not of much use either. 
 He blamed Job's friends for the manner in 
 which they had spoken ; he began by say- 
 ing, " I am young, and ye are very old ; 
 wherefore I was afraid, and dared not show 
 you my opinion." 
 
 Still he brought no more comfort to poor 
 Job than the other three friends had, for he 
 too wanted to persuade Job, that he must 
 have deserved his misfortunes, or they 
 would not have been sent. 
 
 Then God's voice was heard from out of 
 a whirlwind. He himself answered Job, 
 and reminded him of all His mighty deeds, 
 how He had created everything in the Uni- 
 verse, and He asked him what he had to say. 
 
 On hearing God's words, Job acknow- 
 ledged how weak and poor a thing he was; 
 he said, " I know that Thou canst do any- 
 thing, and that no thought can be hidden 
 from Thee." f 
 
 Job xvi., 1. f Job xlii., 2.
 
 job's three friends. 347 
 
 When God saw how truly humble Job 
 was, He said to Eliphaz, " I am angry 
 with thee and thy two friends, for ye have 
 not spoken of Me what is right, as My 
 servant Job has. So now go to My 
 servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering 
 for yourselves, and My servant Job shaU 
 pray for you, lest I punish you for youi 
 folly." 
 
 So Job's three friends went and did as 
 God commanded them, am the Lord ac- 
 cepted their offering. Then the Lord 
 turned all Job's troubles away from him, 
 when he prayed for his friends, and God 
 gave him twice as much as he had before. 
 All his friends and relations came and ate 
 bread with him in his house to comfort 
 him for the sorrow., that God had brought 
 upon him, and each one gave him a present 
 of money and jewels. 
 
 So you see that the Lord blessed the 
 latter days of Job more than his early ones. 
 Again he had seven sons and three 
 daughters, and sheep, and oxen, and camels, 
 and asses. And in all the land there were
 
 348 JOB S THREE FRIENDS. 
 
 no women to be found so beautiful as J^ * 
 three daughters. 
 
 After this, Job lived a hundred and for y 
 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons 
 grow up about him. " So Job died very 
 old and full of days." 
 
 Now, my dear children, I need not say 
 that the lesson I want you to learn from 
 the story of Job is — patience. Whatever 
 trouble or pain you are in, try to be patient, 
 have faith in God as Job had, then God 
 will help you, and you will be strong ic 
 bear your unhappiness. I don't think I 
 can better finish this little book, which it 
 has been a great pleasure to me to write 
 for you, than with this little sort of a 
 moral. I wish to bid you a happy, cheerful 
 good-bye, but still I want you to remember 
 that sorrow often also comes to us, not as 
 a punishment, but only as a trial, and if 
 you think of this, you will, I am sure, never 
 murmur at troubles, for " Whom the Lord 
 loveth, he correcteth,"* and by your patience 
 you will earn a rich reward at God's hands. 
 * Proverbs iii., 12.

 
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