THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES FOR THE, YOUNG, BY WALTER L SHELDON GIFT OF Mrs . Gladys Isaacson The Old Testament Bible Stories For the Young FOR USE IN THE HOME AND SCHOOL By WALTER L. SHELDON Lecturer of the Ethical Society of St. Louis. .-. /. .'. .-. Some Words of Cordial Endorsement. "I have read Mr. Sheldon's Old Testament Bible Stories with profound interest. They will be of great service to many a teacher, as well as to many a child. Written from the standpoint of modern exegesis, yet in simplest language and with a manifest purpose everywhere to bring out the moral significance and the lessons for life that may be drawn from these Stories, the work meets a real want. ' ' PROF. NATHANIEL SCHMIDT. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. "I doubt if anything better has ever been done to bring the real value of the Old Testament home to the minds of chil- dren. Certainly I know nothing else that begins to be as good. I wish that I could put one of these volumes into every family in my congregation." KEY. WASHINGTON GLADDEN. Congregational Church, Columbus, Ohio. "I have read parts of the work to my children and other parts to myself, and fhey stand both tests admirably. They are interesting and profitable. I am glad to see that you have not felt it necessary to spoil a good story by critical interpre- tation. This, I think, is the right way to deal with these ancient and beautiful narratives." KEY. GEORGE HODGES. Dean of the Episcopal Theological Seminary, Cambridge, Mass. "I most heartily commend your painstaking effort and wish for your work the wide circulation I am sure it deserves. ' ' KEY. JAMES W. LEE. St. John's Methodist Episcopal Church, St. Louis, Mo. "Your stories are first of all interesting; and, best of all, carry their moral in their warp and woof. The very best of your book is its "Suggestions to Teachers," which I wish might be read by every Sunday-school teacher in the land. ' ' REV. A. F. EASTMAN. Congregational Church, Elmira, N. Y. ' ' It seems to me that your book will reach a wide public. People of all creeds are anxious to find some way of teaching the elements of righteousness. You have adapted the Bible Stories most admirably to this purpose. I should be glad to have my words of appreciation used in any way that might bring the book to the attention of those who are struggling with the Sunday-school problem. ' ' KEV. S. M. CROTHERS. First Church of Cambridge, Mass. ' ' It seems to me that you have succeeded in making the Bible Stories real and living for children, and that you have drawn out clearly the important ethical teaching of each story. I like especially the idea of the "Memory Verses" with which the stories are supplemented." KEV. JULIUS W. ATWOOD. Trinity Episcopal Church, Columbus, Ohio. "Your volume of Old Testament Bible Stories is a splendid addition to religious and ethical literature. I have never met with any work that brings out the ethical value of these stories so clearly. The language is so simple and the moral is so plain that the work can only prove serviceable and helpful to all interested in using the Bible as a text-book of moral an:l religious instruction." KABBI J. LEONARD LEVY, D.D. Pittsburg, Pa. ' ' The Outlook repeatedly commended this work while it was in course of serial publication. Mr. Sheldon is widely known as a teacher in ethics. He bears influential testimony that he has become more and more impressed with the value of the stories of the Old Testament as a means for the ethical instruction of the young." The OutlooTc, Dec. 27, 1902. ' ' The ever recurring desire on the part of so many that the Bible may form a part of the public school curriculum seems to be met by Mr. Sheldon's book. Mr. Sheldon proceeds on the presumption that the reading of the Bible should be the task and privilege of adult minds, and his present work is a re-written version of certain esential stories for the express purpose of interesting and instructing younger minds, so that when they come to read the other version the story, with its essential facts, is already known. ' ' Chicago Tribune, Jan. 24, 1903. "Now that 'the study of the Bible in the schools is being urged, from the literary as well as the religious standpoint, many will welcome Mr. Sheldon's efforts to meet this de- mand. "Baltimore American, Dec. 6, 1902. "We do not see why this book could not go into any family or Sunday-school to do its work as a teacher of ethics without coming into conflict with any theological prejudices." Chris- tian Register, Boston, Feb. 12, 1903. DAVI D THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES AS A BASIS FOR THE ETHICAL INSTRUCTION OF THE YOUNG REVISED EDITION LIBRARY Temple Mt. Sim Sioux City, low) BY WALTER L. SHELDON // W. M. WELCH & COMPANY 179 Illinois St. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS IQOZ W. M. WELCH & COMPANY, CHICAGO. PREFACE. It has been as a teacher in ethics that the author has become more and more impressed with the value of the Old Testament Bible Stories as a means for the ethical instruction of the young. From this standpoint alone they are without parallel in the world's literature. What is more, they can be used for this purpose by all classes of serious minds. For the devout Christian, or the pious Jew, for the agnostic, or oriental Buddhist, they teach the same lesson, and it is a lesson on which they can all agree. Each person may add his own the- ological interpretations, but he can have but one opinion as to the moral truth to be found there. From the picture of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden down to the death of Solomon, it is a narrative sat- urated all the way through with the stern teaching of ethical experience. And it may be well to give these stories to the mind when it is quite young perhaps at the early age from seven to ten years. It is then, if not before, that the specific education of the conscience should begin ; and the best means for this purpose at the outset would be these stories from life itself. But, on the other hand, every one is aware that the Bible was intended as Scriptures for adult minds. The conscience of the child cannot take truth home in the form in which the adult would receive it. Under these circumstances we are not dealing irreverently in rear- ranging this material in simpler story form for the young mind, putting it in such shape that the ethical lesson shall stand out conspicuously and free from cer- tain complications in which the language in the Scrip- tures themselves may be involved. Few persons, unless they had made the effort, would Ml8h04 4 PREFACE. realize what delicate and difficult problems are involved in such an undertaking. The author has been at work upon it for several years, weighing and considering each point with painstaking care. He appreciates that a life-time might well be employed in this one task. The language, as will be seen, is in the first person singular, as if one were talking to children of seven or eight years of age. Years of study and reflection have only emphasized the regard which the author has felt for the moral truths to be found in these Scriptures. It may be ex- plained on his part that he has for a long period of time been at work on a complete and graded course of ethical instruction for young people from seven years of age up to adult life. At the basis of it all, however, he wishes to use for the very corner stone the "Old Testament Bible Stories." WALTER L. SHELDON, 4065 Delmar Avenue, August loth, 1902. St. Louis, Mo. CONTENTS. PART I. THE EARLY WORLD. CHAPTER PAGE I. The Garden of Eden 16 II. The Murder of Abel 27 III. Noah and the Flood 36 IV. The Tower of Babel 43 PART II. THE PATRIARCHS. V. The Promise to Abram 49 VI. The Casting Out of Hagar 58 VII. Sodom and Gomorrah 64 VIII. Abraham Tested 73 IX. The Choice of a Family Tomb 78 X. Choosing a Wife for Isaac 82 XI. Jacob and Esau 91 XII. Jacob in a Distant Land 99 XIII. Joseph and His Brethren 108 XIV. Joseph in Egypt 114 XV. Meeting of Joseph and His Brethren 118 XVI. The Second Journey to Egypt .... 124 XVII. The Death of Israel 130 PART III. EGYPT AND THE WILDERNESS. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXL The Birth of Moses 134 The Burning Bush 141 Moses and Pharaoh 146 The Flight of the Israelites 152 XXII. The Trials of Moses 156 CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE XXIII. The Giving of the Ten Command- ments 165 XXIV. The Ark and the Tabernacle 172 XXV. The Sin of Moses 175 XXVI. Nearing the Promised Land 180 XXVII. The Story of Balaam 187 XXVIII. The Death of Moses 193 PART IV. CONQUERING THE LAND OF CANAAN. XXIX. Crossing the Jordan 198 XXX. Conquering the City of Jericho 205 XXXI. Wars of the Israelites in Canaan . . 212 XXXII. The Last Days of Joshua 219 XXXIII. The Story of Samson 223 XXXIV. The End of the Career of Samson. 229 XXXV. Jephthah's Daughter 237 XXXVI. The Story of Ruth 242 XXXVII. The Patience of Job 251 PART V. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM. XXXVIII. The Boy Samuel 258 XXXIX. The Call of the Israelites for a King 263 XL. Saul the King . . .-. 269 XLI. The Boy David 275 XLII. Saul's Jealousy of David 282 XLIII. David and Jonathan 288 XLIV. How David Behaved Toward Saul . 294 XLV. Death of King Saul , 299 XLVI. David Becomes King 303 XLVIL ,How David Did Wrong 308 XLVIII. David and His Son Absalom 313 XLIX. King Solomon 318 L, The Close of the First Kingdom ... 323 Special Suggestions to the Teachers Using: These Bible Stories* It is to be kept in mind that these stories are to be read to children and not by them. They are not to be classed as children's literature. It is the parent or teacher who should use them as a means for the ethical instruction of the young. With the same thought in view, it would be advisa- ble not to read to the pupils many of these chapters continuously as if they were a story book. On the con- trary, they should foe taken up separately, one by one, talked over, discussed, explained, analyzed and thor- oughly mastered. They are intended as lessons rather than as stories. As Bible stories they should be kept distinct in the minds of the young from the stories to be found in other literature. They should stand out by themselves as of peculiar value and significance. It is to be re- membered that there is an ethical thread pervading these narratives, of a kind such as we find no where else in the ancient world. Young people should feel a certain reverence or awe for stories as coming from the Bible apart from whatever standpoint may be taken with regard to the doctrine of inspiration. On this account it were better not to narrate any other stories in connection with these. Do not introduce material from, other literatures while using the stories from the Bible. In using these stories for children there are two pur- poses in view. On the one hand it is desired that young people should know these tales because the ma- terial is classic, and therefore, essential to the culture of every educated person. Not to be acquainted with 8 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. the Bible" stories should \bring any person into con* cmpr. They are, the basis of the literature and the cul- mre' of Christendom. Young people should therefore be thoroughly familiar with them, acquiring the main points at an early age so as to hold them in memory clearly and definitely for the rest of their days. Try hard, therefore, just to fix the general run of the tales in the minds of the little ones. After reading over a story aloud, let one of the pupils repeat it back while the others listen and make corrections. There could each time be a review of the previous sto- ries which have been discussed, and the young people might take turns in giving the narratives in the pres- ence of the other members of the class. This should be done over and over again as much as the children will endure without growing tired of it. But there needs to be a great deal of repetition. It is important that the young people should not only be familiar with each story, but be able to preserve the connection between the narratives as a whole. Because of the importance of these tales as Stories from the Bible, it is advisable to emphasize special de- tails, dwelling particularly on phrases which have be- come classic in history, such as "Making bricks with- out straw," "Flesh pots of Egypt," "Entertaining Angels unawares'' and others of the same kind. The young people should remember definitely where such phrases occur and what is meant by them. So, too, there should be constant repetition of the prominent names in the narrative. These should be listed and written out on the blackboard, so that they shall be- cmne fixed lastingly on the mind. Here, too, there should be a great deal of reviewing and repetition. In reading the stories aloud it may often be possible to extend the material, making three or four para- graphs of one paragraph, by introducing more words or explanatory conversation. The success in doing this will depend upon the personal gifts of the teacher. It might be advisable at one time to have the story read as it stands here, and on another occasion to go THE EARLY WORLD. 9 over it with much expansion. The danger, of course, is that the teacher may introduce extraneous material and interfere with the main import of the lesson as it stands. When the quotations are met with, they should be left and read exactly as they are, with no interpolations or modifications. This is very important, because we have endeavored in this direction to introduce the quaint and beautiful English of the Old English Bible. It would be well, therefore, to preserve the style in such quotations, even where the words are quite large, as these can foe explained afterwards. As to the inevitable question, sure to come, whether the stories are true, the answer will depend upon the parent or teacher using them. The problem here, of course, is a very important one. We are to consider what kind of an effect will come in later years from a study of this literature by the young people when they grow older. It is vital that the feeling of respect and awe for the ethical teachings of the Bible should not be shaken through any disillusion coming from a discov- ery of the want of accuracy in these narratives on the historical side. At the same time, it would probably be a mistake to go into an analysis of the various parts of this material, to discuss what is and what is not his- torical. One answer to the question of the children might be that these stories are "some true and some not true" implying that there is an element of truth running through them, while we may not perhaps know in regard to the special points. We can explain how these stories arose a long time ago, and therefore, how we cannot be perfectly sure as to the details of all the facts described. If possible, what we desire is to make the young people see that there is a truth to the sentiment of the stories, even where there may not al- ways be truth in the incidents narrated. But after the question has once been asked and answered, it should be put aside and not brought up again. As to the element of the Supernatural which is intro- duced, here again the treatment must depend on the 10 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. individual parent or teacher. It must be remembered that there would be almost nothing to these stones without that element. What is more, the children are still at an age when the natural and the supernatural run together, as they have not begun to rationalise or to know what is meant by the "laws of nature." For those who might object to the element of the Super- natural under other circumstances, it may here be con- sidered as harmless, unless it is very much exagger- ated. On the other hand, there may be those who desire to treat it as actual occurrence. The chief cau- tion to be given on this score is that if^ emphasis is laid too much on the Supernatural, there is a very decided loss in the value of the ethical element in the narrative. There may be a strong desire on the part of certain parents or teachers to go back to the Bible and intro- duce more of the passages there. If this is tried, how- ever, it should \be done ivith a great deal of caution. The trouble with the Bible as it stands is that it was written for the adult mind. There is danger lest young people get an erroneous impression by reading that lit- erature as it stands, and then having that impression so -fixed that it can never be eradicated. In reading to young people strictly from the Bible there is, there- fore, a necessity for so much side-explanation that un- fortunate consequences may follow. It may also bring on a confusion of mind to the child from which he wifl never escape. The age for which these stories are adapted would perhaps range from seven to nine years. If used for children younger than this, their deeper significance is lost sight of in the mere story; so that when used at a later age they will not be listened to or truly appreci- ated. In this way interest in them may be dulled be- fore the mind is awakened. The most delicate of all problems with regard to the method of introducing Bible stories to children has to do with names of the Deity, because of the number of terms employed for this purpose in Sacred Literature. If we introduce the whole subject to the young mind, THE EARLY WORLD. II giving it just as it stands in the Bible, tt may prove disastrous for the person's theistic conceptions lacer on when he has become mature. It is debu<.able whether the name for the Deity as presented in the high and exalted conception of the prophets, should be employed for the more realistic conceptions of the subject as found in parts of Genesis. After mature consideration, the author has decided, therefore, to use the name "Lord" for this purpose throughout the Sto- ries, alternating perhaps with the terms "Ruler of the World," or "Ruler Over All." In this way, the generic term "God" is left for the time when the young person approaches the profound theistic attitude of the Proph- ets. By this means the conception of deity as such can be reserved for the generic name. Another method might be to use the historic Hebrew name "Yahweh" throughout these Stories. This would be in many ways the most satisfactory method, if it were not for the fact that such a name would probably always seem remote and far away and never really come into gen- eral use. The second reason why these stories should foe brought home to young people is because of the ethical element running through them. Beyond any question, they are more satisfactory and of greater value in this direction, than any other literature of antiquity. No other series of early tales bring out this element to the same extent. While it may be asserted that in many special instances the moral standpoint is not satis- factory, yet the dominant thread of them as a whole is ethical in the extreme. When used in the right way, they are unquestionably the finest material extant for bringing home the distinction between good and evil to the young mind. The point of the entire narra- tive from \beginning to end is involved in the lesson: Be sure your sin will find you out. Our supreme purpose, therefore, in these stories should be to use them as a means for arousing the latent conscience or ethical sense in the young. It is to be an influence on the sentiments of children. 12 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. We are to bear down hard on the ethical side. And this is just what we are able to do consistently in these Bible Stories. When the children, therefore, tell the stories them- selves, it might be well to have them put in the moral lesson involved. Only, do not have this come at the end of the story, like the tiresome "moral" in the old- style fables. It should be introduced rather as a kind of reflection or observation while the story is being told, just in the way anybody might talk or philoso- phise when telling any event he had heard about. The success of the "moralizing?' all depends on the way it is done. It may be carried on very effectively for young children if parents or teachers understand the right method. But under any circumstances it should be constantly in the mind o>f the teacher or parent that these lessons are to be used as offering the foundation or starting point for an entire course of ethical instruction for the young. It should be observed that there are a few conspic- uous points brought out over and over again in these lessons. This repetition is intentional. We should aim to some extent to anticipate the elements of that kind of ethical instruction which life itself, or every day experience, is to bring home or teach to the ma- ture. In these teachings, therefore, we begin to sound the notes, here and there, of those life-lessons which should be developed or elaborated in a future course of ethical instruction. The "lesson" in these stories is always bold and emphatic. And this is the characteristic throughout the stories in the Bible. It would be a mistake to try to refine too much in the moralizing, or to go too far in self -scrutiny. When wickedness occurs in these stories it is usually very prouonced. And the ethi- cal teachings are of the elemental kind, against mur- der, disobediance, lying, stealing or pride. For our purpose this characteristic of the Bible stories is very valuable. The lines are sharply drawn. A fact that will strike the children all through the THE EARLY WORLD. 13 lessons is that nearly all the great characters at one time or another committed some act of wickedness. There is no way of overlooking this circum- stance, although it grows tiresome and monotonous. The chief Bible characters present a striking mix- ture of good and evil. But, as a rule, it will be seen that wickedness is condemned and in one way or another gets punished. In the moralising it is very important to be careful not to try to show how some one act of wickedness always gets punished directly or in a certain way. This might be very misleading to the children's minds by making them think that somehow unhappiness or suffering invariably accompanies the wrong act. Experience later on would disabuse them of this impression and cause a sense of disillusioin which would be most unfortun~ ate. What these stories do convey is that the general trend of things is against wickedness, condemning and opposing it. This should \be brought out by the way the stories are told, rather than by saying it out- right. The whole purport of these tales is to bring out this one point, so as to arouse a feeling against wrong conduct, against evil deeds, against "wicked- ness." We must somehow impress it on the young mind that there is some kind of woe betiding wick- edness if not always betiding at once or directly t'm wicked man. What we are aiming for is to create a sentiment as if somehow* the whole universe were bearing down on wickedness. Take care in these lessons not to use the word "conscience" too much. The little ones may be in- clined to introduce the term over and over again from the way it is used in their homes. It may be employed now and then, but with caution and re- serve. The same thought applies to the terms "be- ing good" or "sense of duty." We must not wear out these solemn words or phrases by too much rep- etition. On the other hand, we can simplify the language of course, trying to talk in the way moth- 14 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. ers would speak to their children, using such words as "naughty," "bad' "mischievous," or whatever terms the little ones are accustomed to as applying to evil conduct or good conduct. In telling these stories it must not be overlooked that we are taking the children into a world of which they know very little, and about which they only have dreams or vague impressions. Hence we may often find it necessary to develop the terms we use. Such a word as "king" for instance, needs to be talked over a great deal, so that the young people should have some definite notion of what it implies. Language of this kind needs to be brought down to the level of their experience. On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that even young children are rapidly acquiring knowledge. They have already come in con- tact with certain of the great relations in life. They know what it is to have their own way and be able to do what they please; or, on the other hand, to be obliged to obey. They even know what it is to make others obey them* They know what home means and the love of father and mother. They have probably caught some notion of wickedness; they have al- ready had experience with selfishness on the one hand, or kindness on the other. We all know that children may understand a great deal more than they are able to explain. In order to emphasise the ethical elements in these lessons, it will be well from time ta time, besides ask- ing the children to repeat the stories they have heard, to have them go back and mention the good and evil deeds of each of the characters. Catechise them as to what the sin of Moses was, what wicked act was comitted by David, what wrong conduct Saul was guilty of, what blameworthy act we know of in the life of Jacob, what noble deed is told concerning Abraham, what kind of generous spirit David showed at one time to Saul. As regards the picture material to be used in con- nection with these stories, one or two important con- THE EARLY WORLD. 1.5 siderations must be taken into account. Undoubt- edly it will be of service when suitable illustrations are presented, in order to give a more concrete back- ground to the narrative. But this step should always be taken with a great deal of forethought. The trouble is that a large number of the pictures ordin?- arily used in illustrating the Bible stories, empha- size the "wonder" features of the story rather than the lesson it teaches. In this way they may act as a dis- traction rather than a positive assistance in the in- strucive work. So far as these Bible stories are employed for edu- cational purposes, the teacher is advised to make only selections from the illustrated Bibles, or the miscel- laneous material offered in this direction taking chiefly pictures which bring, out the landscape or scenery, the dress or social customs of Palestine at that time. This may serve to give an air of realism to the narrative while not throwing the emphasis in the wrong direction. But fanciful pictures aiming to bring in the supernatural elements should be used with caution. Such material may become fixed in- delibly on the young mind and foster a realistic an- thropomorphism which may never be eradicated. At the same time, of course, in this matter as in all others, the author does not wish to be dogmatic and must leave the final decision on this subject with the teacher. We repeat: use these stories as a means for teach- ing the rudimentary principles of ethics, for the pur- pose of arousing the latent ethical sense of the young. PART I. THE EARLY WORLD. CHAPTER I. The Garden of Eden. I am going to tell you a beautiful old story of the far away time, hundreds and thousands of years ago. Just how long ago it was, we cannot say. It takes us back to those days when there were no people on the earth no men, no women, no children. The -iky was there, the sea was there, and the land was there. But there were no people to look up at the sky, or to travel on the seas or to till the soil. Just think how quiet and lonesome it must have seemed with nobody there; all the great world and no man in it! It seems that the Great Being, the Ruler of the World, whom we shall speak of in these stories as the Lord it seems at last that he had made up his mind there must be a change. There ought to be people in this beautiful world. All those stars up there in the sky should not be there without being looked at; and the beautiful flowers and trees and streams of water pleased him so much that he felt there ought to be human beings who should look at all these and delight in them. And so he decided that he would put people on the earth ; that it should no longer be solitary and lonesome everywhere, because there would be men and women who could see the world, admire it and take pleasure in it. But first he thought it wise to make a beautiful garden, where man should dwell. Now, the Ruler of the World, of course, must have known a great deal 16 THE EARLY WORLD. I? and been able to do about anything he wanted to do. Somewhere, therefore, over in far away Asia, he chose a place for his garden; and he planted it with trees of all kinds. You can have no idea what was growing there. Everything that was fair to look upon or that could please the eye was in that garden. Beautiful ferns grew all about, in the woods and along the streams. Tall oak trees and maple trees and elm trees were there, and palms without number. Then, too, there were all kinds of fruit trees laden with the richest fruits. There was the apple tree and the pear tree and the trees bearing plums and oranges and pomegranates. All the fruits that you could think of, were growing on those trees. And then, furthermore, as to the flowers, oh, if cnly you could have a picture of all the flowers that grew in that garden; small and great, and of all the tints and colors of the rainbow ! There were flowers as small as a tiny dewdrop; others again larger than any we ever see nowadays. And there were all kinds of birds in that garden; song-birds building their nests in the trees, or along the brookside, or in the grasses. There was the mocking-bird and the oriole, and birds of such rare and wonderful plumage that the eye of man would be dazzled just to look upon them. There was the bird of paradise, that you know of, and others perhaps even more beautiful than the bird of paradise. Of course, there were animals of all kinds, living under the trees, playing together in the water, or roaming through the fields. Over it all was the great and glorious dome of the sky, with the stars and moon shining by night, and the sun shining by day. But it was never too hot there, nor too cold. If the winds blew, they blew gently and never did any harm. Ng. awful cyclones tore down the trees, or made the offas and animals afraid. If it rained, it never rained too much, but only just enough to water the ground and make the grasses grow nicely, and to keep the plants and the trees fresh and green in their verdure. Just think what a place that would be to live in! l THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. It was called, as you know, the Garden of Eden. And yet no man had seen it. All that beauty, and no hu- man eye to look upon it or to take pleasure in it! When all was ready and the garden was made, the Ruler of the World decided that he would make a man to live in that garden and to take care of it, and to have it all for his own beautiful home. This man was to be the Gardener of Eden. And so, as we are told, the Lord took some dust of the ground and shaped it into the form of a man. But there it was, that form with no life in it as yet only the dust of the ground. It was a beautiful form, fair and shapely. And then what do you suppose he did? Why, as we are told, "He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul/' And the man's name, as you know, was Adam. He was placed there all alone in that beautiful garden, where he was to have his home. Can you fancy anything more delightful than a home like that garden, all made for you, just of the kind that you would like, with every possible flower or tree that you could think of or care for; with all the fruits that you might care to look at, or care to taste of ; and to be able to wander there as you pleased, taking what you wanted, doing just as you liked, never being obliged to work too hard, only just to have the care of that wonderful garden! But the Lord of the World did not think it well that Adam should have his own way altogether. That would be a mistake. It is never well for any human being to be able to do exactly as he pleases. And so Adam was told that he might eat of any of the fruits he found there, from any of the trees anywhere, save the fruit of just one tree. That one fruit he was not to taste. Adam might look at it, admire it, enjoy the beauty of it, but he was not to taste of it. This was just what the Lord said to him, if you would like to know the exact words: "Of every tree of the Garden, thou mayest freely eat; but of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, thou shalt not eat of it." Surely Adam had no reason to complain. What THE EARLY WORLD. 19 should it matter to him that there was this one fruit he was never to taste of? Did he not have all the other fruits that he could desire, many kinds, for in- stance, sweeter to the taste than any we may have nowadays? You see it was important that Adam should learn to obey. But by and by Adam began to be a little unhappy. Can you guess why? "Because he could not taste that fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil," do you say? No, not at all. He was quite content with what he had. He may have wandered around that tree and looked at it and admired it. But he was satisfied not to touch it. Yet he was a little unhappy. It was because he was all alone in that garden. Sometimes it seemed; to him that he would rather give up all the beauty there and not have that garden any longer, if only he could have a com- panion, some one to live with, some one to talk to. There were times when he wanted to point out to some one what he saw and what he liked; times when he wanted to ask advice of some person like himself. At last, after a while, the Great Ruler took pity upon Adam, and thought ft best to give him a companion, so that the man should not be all alone by himself in that beautiful place. But first, before he had done this, we are told that it was necessary that all the birds of the air and the beasts of the field living in that garden should have names. And so they were brought, one by one, to Adam ; and Adam gave names to them, to the cattle, the fowls of the air, and to every beast of the field. But still he was all alone. One day, however, the Lord put him to sleep; and then, as we are told, he did a wonderful thing. He took one of the ribs of Adam, closing up the flesh again, while the man was asleep, and out of that rib he fashioned another human being. And what kind of a human being do you suppose it was? Would it have been a person just like Adam, do you fancy? "No, of course not," you say ; "it would have been a woman." Yes, it was a beautiful woman. And when Adam awoke from his sleep, there before his eyes, 2O THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. like himself, and yet not like himself, stood a human being, a companion for him, a "helpmeet/' as the companion was called. And as Adam looked upon her, he said : "This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman." And her name, as you know, was Eve. And there they were, Adam and Eve, as man and wife. Now Adam was perfectly happy. He had a companion and a wife. They could work together by day and could talk together of what they saw. In the darkness of the night they could look up to the skies, gaze at the stars and give names to them, if they wanted to ; or they could listen to the breezes blowing through the trees, hear the animals creeping along quietly through the woods, because, as you know, ani- mals like to wander about at night, just as we like to wander about by day. But the most beautiful part of it all was, that Adam and Eve were both perfectly good; they had never known what it was to do wrong. They did not even know about Evil. Adam had told his wife about that Tree of Knowledge, and how they might taste of every fruit of every tree in that garden, but were to let the fruit of that one tree alone. And they were happy and they obeyed the command laid upon them. All was so pure and so innocent in those days that man and woman, as you know, did not even wear any clothes. They walked about just as they had been made by the Ruler of the World. It never crossed their minds to feel any sense of shame because they were naked. They were happy, pure and innocent, thinking to themselves how they would go on there, year after year, living in that garden forever and ever and ever; always being happy, always having what they wanted to eat, never being obliged to work too hard, and yet having plenty to do to keep them busy. They did not know what it was to be idle or wasteful of their time* They just worked, but never seemed to grow tired. At last, however, I am sorry to say, something hap- pened. I almost dread to tell you about it; and yet THE EARLY WORLD. 21 it must be told. By and by an awful shadow fell upon that garden. It came quite suddenly, and all was changed. One day while Eve was wandering alone by her- self, she met a serpent. We are told how in those times animals could talk; and while Eve was looking about, not far away from that Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the fruit of which she was never to taste, the serpent began to speak to her. He told her how happy she was and what a nice thing it was to be able to do exactly as one pleased all the while. And she felt even more happy thinking of it as the serpent went on speaking. But then he began to talk in another way. There was a slight tone of pity in his voice as he looked toward that Tree not far away, and said, "Yes, but then you cannot quite have your own way. You must not taste of that tree over there." And as Eve looked at the tree, for the first time a desire entered her heart to taste of its fruit. She had never even thought of it before or cared anything about it; until this serpent had looked upon her with slight pity, be- cause she could not do altogether as she pleased, since it was necessary for her to obey one command. And as she looked at the Tree, a change came over her face. It was just as if a sort of shadow fell from the sky, a thin cloud passing over the face of the sun. She was not quite happy; and she said to herself: "Well, after all, I do wish I might taste of the fruit of that one tree." And she grew more and more un- happy as she went on thinking about it. It seeme'd to her as if she did not care to taste of the fruits of any other of the trees of the garden. There were still oranges and apples and plums and pears and pomegranates; there were all kinds of grapes any- thing and everything almost,, that she cared for. But somehow when she thought of these, no pleasure came to her. She just wanted to taste of the fruit of that Forbidden Tree. Then the serpent went on talking to her still more; and he said to her : "Why do you feel that you should 22 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. obey such a command not to taste of the fruit of that Tree there before you ? If you once taste of that fruit, you will become wise, you will become like your Lord himself, the Ruler of the World. He has forbidden you to taste that fruit, lest you become as great as he is. If you eat of that fruit, then you will know what Good and Evil are; you will know about Right and Wrong." Now, as we have said, Adam and Eve knew noth- ing about Right and Wrong ; they had never done any- thing evil; they did not even know what such words meant. But Eve went on thinking more and more; and she said to herself, "I would like to know what Good and Evil are; what is meant by Right and Wrong." And as she thought this, she drew nearer and nearer to that Tree of Knowledge, until she came quite close to it and looked into the branches, and saw how they were laden with a fruit whose color was more beautiful than the color of any other fruit in the Garden. But even as she thought of the com- mand upon her, she reached her hand into the branches of that tree and plucked the fruit and held it and looked at it ; and then she put it nearer and nearer to her mouth and at last she tasted it. Do you see what had happened? Can you fancy the awful shadow which must have fallen upon the garden at that moment? Those two people might have stayed there forever and ever, always innocent and happy, if only Eve had not tasted the Fruit of that Tree. And then what do you suppose she did? At first the fruit had seemed sweet to her, and she had liked it. For a moment her heart's desire was satis- fied. She had done just what she pleased. She felt perfectly free and no longer obliged to obey. Then she rushed to find Adam and told him what she had done, and gave him some of the fruit to eat. And he took it and began also to eat of that Tree of Knowl- edge of Good and Evil. They had done it at last. They had broken the command. They had disobeyed. They knew now what was meant by Right and Wrong, because they THE EARLY WORLD. 2^ had done wrong themselves. Then all of a sudden, for the first time since their eyes had opened on that beautiful garden when the breath of life had been breathed into them and they had become living souls, it came into their minds that they had no clothes on, that they were naked, so that they felt ashamed. But do you suppose this shame was felt because they had no clothes ? No, I fancy it was a shame because they 'had broken the command of their Lord ; because they had disobeyed. And they wanted to get rid of that shame, if they only knew how ; and so they went and gathered some large fig leaves, and sewed them to- gether and made aprons or garments for themselves, and put them on, in order that they might be rid of that feeling of shame in their hearts. But for some reason the feeling of shame did not go away. Now for the first time they were afraid to meet their Master, who had placed them there. Here- tofore, whenever they had met him, they were glad to talk with him as their Ruler; as the one who had given them this garden, and breathed! into them the breath of life. And so they went and hid themselves, where the trees were thick in a corner of the garden, in order that the Ruler of the World might not see them. All the pleasure seemed to have gone out of their lives. The delight which they had first felt in taking of that forbidden fruit, had all gone away. It was no longer a pleasure to them to feel that they had done just what they pleased. And now, towards evening, the Lord, their Ruler, came to the garden to talk with Adam and Eve. Bui he could not see them anywhere. And at last he called out to Adam, saying : "Where art thou ?" And the sound of the voice went traveling over the Garden, under the trees, along the edge of the grasses; the animals heard it, and the birds; even the leaves of the trees seemed to be quiet just then. And the voice came to Adam and Eve in their hiding place. They knew that they dared not stay there any longer. They had to come forth. And then Adam s p ke > saying: "J heard thy voice. 24 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. in the garden andl I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. 5> And his Master looked him straight in the eyes, seeming to look way beyond into his very soul, as he asked him: "Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of that Tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?" And what sort of an answer do you suppose Adam gave? Did he stand forth like a brave man and say, "Yes, I did eat of that Tree of Knowledge" ? Where was the courage which he and Eve had always felt in that beautiful garden? No, they knew now what evil was. Adam no longer was the brave, strong, fearless man he used to be. He had become a coward. And he turned and said, "The woman whom thou gavest me, she gave me of the Tree and I did eat." Can you fancy the expression on the face of Adam as he made that speech? Was this the man who had been so happy and so pure in that beautiful garden? Just think of the meanness of it all, that he should have turned and tried to lay the blame for it on his wife. But there was no use trying to escape from the one who had placed them* there. Their Ruler turned to the woman and said, "What is this thou hast done?" And Eve answered, "The serpent did beguile me and I did! eat." Thus you see, they had both become cowards; they had done the evil in order that they might feel that they could do exactly as they pleased. And now they could do much less as they pleased than before. They knew what it was to be afraid. All the pleasures of life seemed gone for them. The garden was there still, the beautiful Garden, of Eden! The noise of the waters of the brooks flow- ing in and out among the trees could still be heard; the birds sang just as sweetly and their plumage car- ried the same beautiful colors as before. There was the sky overhead and the shining stars by night. Soft breezes blew in and out among the trees. It was still the same beautiful garden. But to Adam and Eve it had all changed. They knew well enough that they had no right there any THE EARLY WORLD. 25 more; that it was no longer truly their home. They felt only too plainly that they would have to go forth and leave that garden. They did not have to wait for what would be said to them; in their hearts they un- derstood. They knew well enough that that .garden was no place for people who had done wrong and felt ashamed. And so at last came the awful words of their Lord. They listened, bowed down almost to the earth, as he spoke: "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field ; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." And as these words were spoken, Adam and Eve looked away, and there stood the gates of the garden open before them. They knew what the open gates meant; they were to be cast out from that beautiful home, to go forth to toil and suffer, Decause they had 'done evil and had learned what Right and Wrong really meant. They dared not look their Ruler in the face. Turn- ing away, hand in hand, they walked along until they came to the gate; then they gave one last look behind at that beautiful home where they had fancied they were to live forever and ever and ever. And as a cloud passed over the face of the sun and the shadow fell before them, they walked out through the gate, to return there no more. As it all closed be- hind them there was placed at the east end of the garden a flaming sword, warning Adam and Eve that they were never to enter there again. These two peo- ple had learned what it meant to listen to the voice of temptation and to disobey. To THE TEACHER: The Story of the Garden of Eden is essentially a lesson in the steps which a person may take when yielding to temptation. Each one of these steps should therefore be carefully con- sidered as they come out in the narrative. Point out how Eve could have conquered the bad inclination, if she had refused to think about it and checked the evil desire at the start. As a second feature, dwell on the 26 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. effects of yielding to the suggestion of the Tempter, especially as those effects manifested themselves at once in the change of character on the part of Eve; how selfishness at once showed itself in the wish to have a companion in guilt, in spite of the dreadful consequences which might ensue. We see the affec- tion between Adam and Eve giving way to petty re- crimination or thoughtless disregard of each other's welfare, as they try to shirk the blame for what they had done. Emphasize special phrases or terms which have become fixed in human speech, as, for instance, the Tree of Knowledge, the Flaming Sword, etc. MEMORY VERSES: He breathed into his nos- trils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of that tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? Cursed is the ground for thy sake. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. CHAPTER II. The Murder of Abel. We come now to another kind of story. I have to tell you about two brothers in that far away time, thousands and thousands of years ago, not long after Adam and Eve had been cast out of the Garden of Eden. The entire earth was before these two* people Adam and Eve. There was room enough and to spare. The whole country was there for them to travel over; only now they knew what it was to be tired. For at last they understood what it meant to be obliged to work harder than they ever worked be- fore ; to go on toiling when they needed rest. They knew now what it was, at times, to be hungry and not have enough to eat. They were only too glad to get anything they could find, even if it were not sweet to the taste. We can imagine how they must have talked together of that garden ; at times perhaps they went back near the gates, longing to enter there once more, until they saw the flame of the sword and knew that it was hope- less. They must have talked of the evil they had been guilty of, and kept wishing and wishing they had not done it. But it was too late. The only thing left for them now to do, was to go forth and earn their bread in the sweat of their faces, as the Lord had said to them. And by and by there was a larger home. Children came and were growing up around them; sons and daughters who had never been in the Garden of Eden, and may have known little about it, because, I fancy, even the father and. mother no longer liked to talk about it in the presence of their children. It was all different now. They were clothed somewhat as we wear clothes nowadays. 37 28 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. After a while two of their sons grew up into man- hood. They were strong fellows, and brave in their ways. They had been obliged to work hard in order to help their father and mother to earn their living, in getting enough to eat and in providing for the needs at home. They knew what it was to feel the chill of the cold and to suffer from the heat. They sighed for the rays of the sun in the night time, and shrank from its rays by day. And yet some happiness was coming back to the father and mother in the delight they felt in their home and their children. Even if there was trouble for them now, and hard work, hunger and cold, yet they had their home and their little ones. And I suppose they were hoping that their sons and daughters would! grow up into manhood or into womanhood, and be brave and good and not be guilty of wrong in the way they had been guilty themselves. Now and then they were still aware of the presence of their Lord, the Ruler of the World. If he laid any commands upon them, they tried hard enough not to disobey. And they hoped that their little ones would learn the commands laid upon them and not always expect to do just as they pleased. Can you fancy what sort of a home they must have had Adam and Eve and their children when there were no other people on the earth? They had to take care of them- selves in all sorts of ways; make their own clothes; build their own homes ; prepare their own food. Not only that, but there were dangers all around them. They knew now what it was to be afraid in the dark, as the wild animals went roaming by. But still they wanted to keep the friendship of their Great Master, even if he had cast them out of the beautiful Garden of Eden. They knew they had been to blame, because they had disobeyed. And in those times, as you know, they used to think that the way to please their Ruler who had made them was to build altars and make offerings there They wanted to show their readiness to give up their wilfulness and to obey. They had had enough of doing just alto- gether as they pleased, and they were only too anxious THE EARLY WORLD. 29 to prove that they knew how to give up what they cared for, and to make "sacrifices," as we say. Arid so they would build an altar of stone and afterwards bring offerings there from time to time; it might be the fruits which they had gathered; it might be what they had taken from the soil which they had tilled; or it might be from their flocks or herds, the sheep or cattle which they owned. I am telling you all this because it belongs to the story of those two brothers, one of them named Cain and the other, Abel. They were not alike, because people are never alike. Each person has his own na- ture, his own way of doing things, his own feelings, his own character. Then, too, some persons behave in one way, and others in another, as you know. Some people will get angry, but control themselves and not speak; others will get angry and speak it out and hurt people's feelings. Some have more bad feelings than others. There is no way of telling quite what a boy or girl is going to be. It all depends so much on themselves. And these two boys, as we have said, were not at all alike. They were not bad, exactly; but one of them was given to getting angry every now and then. It may be that both of them had these feelings at times ; but if so, the one whose name was Abel some- how kept his feelings to himself and did not allow them to control him. When something went wrong and he felt like using wicked language, or striking some one against whom he was angry, he would go away by himself, perhaps, until the feeling within him had quieted down. And as he grew older, he found that the feeling of anger did not come to him as often ; or, if it did come, it was easier and easier for him to control it, so that he did not say the evil words on his lips or act in the way he first felt inclined to do. But I am sorry to say that it was otherwise with Cain, the other brother. As I have said, he was not what you would call quite a bad boy. He was gen- erous and brave, and his father and mother were very fond of him. They knew that he was not selfish and 30 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIfiLE STORIES. that he was not mean. Then, too, he worked hard in order to help the family, and was never idle. But he had the bad habit of losing his temper, and the father and mother were sorry over this and tried to do all they could to persuade their boy to learn self-control. But he did not seem to care. "What if I do get angry," he said to himself, "I get over it by and by, and they cannot say I am mean or selfish or do not work. Even if I hurt their feelings, I may ask them to forgive me; and they seem to love me just the same." Yet he knew this was not all quite true. He was aware of the pain he gave in his home. It was just that he would not take the trouble to try to conquer himself. All the while, Adam and Eve were think- ing of what they had done, themselves, in the garden of Eden, and how they had yielded to temptation and at last been guilty of disobedience and had done wrong. They did not want to talk of this to their boys; but it was always on their minds lest this boy, by and by, should yield to some temptation, and before he knew it, do something awfully bad, as they had done. As the boys grew up, the father had made Cain a tiller of the ground, because, I suppose, Cain was strong and worked so well. On the other hand, he had made Abel a keeper of sheep. This lad was to tend the flocks, staying with them by night and by day, watching and caring for them, living outdoors in the open country, and being a shepherd. These boys had been taught by their father and mother that they must respect their Lord, the one who had made that beautiful Garden of Eden of which the children had been told. And so from time to time they made their offerings on the altar built by Adam and Eve. Now, their father and mother had told the boys when they grew up, that for some reason they should make these offerings from the flocks of sheep, and not from the fruits of the ground. They gave no reason why; they simply told the boys to do this and to obey. It may be that Adam and Eve wanted in this way to teach Cain how to control himself and to learn to "give in." THE EARLY WORLD. 31 But as the two boys grew up to manhood, Cain being a tiller of the soil, as you remember, it somehow rankled in his mind that it was not fair that the offerings on the altar should be from the flocks of sheep, when he had no sheep and was a tiller of the soil. He did not say anything about this or talk it over with his mother or father, or ask the reason for it. He just kept brood- ing over it and got more and more worked up, until finally he made up his mind that he was not going to stand it any longer. He said to himself, "I will do as I please. If I am a tiller of the soil, I will make my offerings from the fruits of the soil, and Abel can make his offerings from his flocks as a shepherd." It was awfully sad, when we come to think of it, that the father and mother knew nothing of all this. They had hoped in this way to teach their boy self-command. Now it was all working the other way. At last, Cain went to the altar and laid on it the fruits of the earth. He knew down in his heart that it was not a true offering. He was well aware that it was make-believe. But it was all the same to him; he was going to do just as he pleased. All the while, however, he was angry in his heart. We can imagine him as he must have gone around in those days, thinking within him- self how he would do just as he pleased and make his offering in his own way. On the other hand, Abel, who had gradually learned how to control himself and to obey, had gone and made his offering from his sheep by sacrificing one of them on the altar. By and by Cain came back to the altar and saw the offerings there. He knew perfectly well that he had done wrong; that he had acted in a spirit of anger; that what he had placed there was not the true offering at all. It was not the kind he had been commanded to make. At the same time he saw there on the altar the offering of Abel, his brother, and he knew that Abel had done what was right. Then, somehow, he began to feel jealous and grew more and more angry. In- stead of going and changing his offering, as he ought to have done, he went out and sought his brother and found him among the flocks not far away. 32 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. And then he poured out all the angry feelings in his heart; he was jealous and he expressed his dislike very strongly, although all the while being really ashamed and feeling mean because he knew he him- self was really to blame. Then, all of a sudden, he struck Abel a blow, and his brother fell to the ground. He looked and saw his brother lying there perfectly still; he leaned over; there was no sign of life. It was Abel, his brother his own brother Abel! And as he looked, all the anger in his heart began to melt away, and he grew pale. He watched the still face; but there was no sign of life. He stared at the great dark spot there on the white face where he had struck the blow; and at last it dawned on his mind what he had done. In his anger he had killed his own brother Abel! Then he arose from his knees, knowing that he had been guilty of murder. He looked around him ; there was nobody by. He looked up into the sky as if he feared some one there. But the sky was empty; he saw only the blue dome overhead. He heard a sound as if some one were coming nearer ; but it was only the sound of the sheep near by. He put his hand to his forehead and it was cold and moist to the touch, although the bright, clear, warm sun was shining everhead. Then he looked down again at his brother. Still Abel did not move. And Cain began to tremble ; he was shaking from head to foot. He reached out his arms as if to take hold of something to help him ; but there was nothing for him to take hold of. There he was, alone with the body of his brother whom he had murdered. Then, at last, he too understood what it was to have been guilty of evil. Sad for him it was that he had not known or understood all the while in his earlier days whenever he had given way to anger, that it would bring him to worse evil at last, great and bit- ter evil. Whenever he had lost his temper he had been guilty of evil. But, as we have said, he had always overlooked that. And when the anger was gone, he had behaved kindly, even bravely and unselfishly in the f llE EARLY WORLD. 33 home, so that it had never even crossed his mind that he would at last strike his brother in this way. What was he to do? He looked down again, and then looked around him once more. He did not know how to act. Suddenly he said to himself: "I must fly. I shall be punished. I have been guilty of mur- der." And he started to run, and went on running and running for dear life, as if he would run on in that way forever. He wanted to get away from himseii- get away from the thought of what he had done. At last, when he could run no more, he stopped and stood still. It was no use. He had done it. There was no getting away from that awful deed. Then all at once he thought he heard a voice, as if it were the voice of the Lord, the Ruler of the World, saying to him: "Where is Abel, thy brother ?" Can you fancy the feelings of Cain at this moment? Can you imagine that frightened expression as he stood there staring into> space, listening to those awful words ? And how do you suppose he would answer? He had been brave, heretofore ; he had not known before what it was to be afraid. His father and mother had ad- mired him for his courage. They knew he could always take care of himself, and, if need be, take care of them. It seemed almost at times as if the wild animals them- selves were afraid of him, so fearless he was, so daring ! But at this moment he felt that if some one were to just touch him with a ringer, he would drop. As he heard those words, fear stole over him as it had stolen over his father and mother in the Garden of Eden; and he told a lie, saying: "I know not am I my brother's keeper?" Then for a moment he was at peace. He felt himself safe. In former times it had never quite crossed his mind that he could escape from danger through a lie ; but at this moment it seemed to him the easiest thing- in the world. All he thought he had to do was just to deceive and he would be safe. But this feeling of security did not last long. He did not have to wait for the reply of that voice to what he had said. His heart sank within him ; for he knew then that even if he had told a lie, he could not make 34 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. it as if he had not been a murderer. It was just as if something within himself spoke, as he heard a voice saying to him again: "What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground." It was an awful moment for poor Cain. At first I suppose we should have had a feeling of horror in regard to him; he had been guilty of such an awful crime ; he had slain his brother ! Yet now, at the moment when he heard that voice, I fancy we should have pitied him. We too might shrink from the curse which followed, as that voice continued : "And now, cursed art thou from the ground which hath opened her mouth and received thy brother's blood from thy hand; when thou tillest the ground, it shall not hence- forth yield unto thee its strength; a fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth." And Cain, as he heard these words, fell to the ground. He was no longer able even to stand. There was no hope ahead for him. Everything was black and desolate and dreary; nobody to care for him; nobody to love him ! He feared that even his own father and mother would cast him out. If he met his other broth- ers anywhere else, they would look upon him with loathing; yes, they might even turn and kill him. He felt that they would not want to have him alive on the face of the earth. He saw himself wandering every- where, trying to hide from any one who might see him. The thought of always being obliged to hide and to shun the faces of his brothers and to live alone, an outcast, was more than he could stand, and he cried out : "My punishment is greater than I can bear. Be- hold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the ground, and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth; and it shall come to pass that if any of my brothers find me, they shall slay me." But no; the Lord did not wish that Cain should be put to death. Hence a sign was put upon Cain that he was to wear wherever he had to go, directing that no man should lay hands on him, that his life should be spared. And Cain rose up once more as bravely as THE EARLY WORLD. 35 he knew how, though not the same brave man he had been before. And he went forth alone, 'away from his home, into another part of the country, where he might no longer have to look upon the faces of his father and mother. He knew that his deed of evil would follow him just the same. But he wanted to spare his home from the shame of his crime. To THE TEACHER: In this narrative we have presented to us the consequences following upon the disregard of the most elemental of all duties: The respect for human life. It kindles at once a feeling of horror for murder as a crime and gives to the young mind a keen appreciation of what "wickedness" means. It serves by this means to awaken the latent conscience of the child in leading him to pass ethical judgments on human conduct. Then too the story can also be used to emphasize the sanctity of the family tie in one's horror for the double crime of brother-murder. On the other hand the lesson involves a study in the lesson of self-control, showing to what appalling results the want of such control may lead, if one does not have a guard upon one's self. Keep also in mind the way in which the father and mother were involved in all these consequences because of their disobedience in the Gar- den of Eden. Show a picture of a possible "altar," so as to give some conception of what the word implies. MEMORY VERSES: What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now cursed art thou from the ground which hath opened her mouth and received thy brother's blood from thy hand; a fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth. CHAPTER III. Noah and the Flood. It was a good many hundred years after the time when Cain had been sent as a wanderer over the face of the earth for the murder of his brother Abel. At that day there were only a few people. But now I suppose there had come to be hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of men, women and children. It may be that the Ruler of the World had made more men and women, breathing into their nostrils the Breath of Life. At any rate, there they were no longer just one family, Adam and Eve, with their children; but hundreds of thousands, or millions, maybe, of people or families. Perhaps it was a thousand years after Adam and Eve had been shut out of the Garden of Eden and the Sword of Flame had been placed at the gateway. But I am sorry to say that the punishment for the act of disobedience committed by those two in that beautiful Garden, had not taught its lesson to the people who came after. We should have fancied that the mere fact which everybody must have known in the way Adam and Eve had been punished for that crime, would tend to make the human race more careful about doing anything wicked again. But it went just the other way. Instead of becoming better as the years went on, the human race grew worse. Sadly we have to confess to you that many other awful murders were committed after what Cain had done. Many a man had been sent out as a wanderer on the face of the earth because he had slain his brother. It would almost seem as though all this wickedness grew little by little out of the wick- edness of that first brother, or out of the wickedness of that first father and mother, in the Garden of Eden. 36 THE EARLY WORLD. 3? I can not begin to tell you what was going on. Instead of being kind to each other, people hated each other. Instead of peace, there was strife and war. Instead of telling the truth, they would tell lies. In- stead of working and earning their daily bread like men and women, they would steal. They seemed to have no sense of honor, no sense of justice. Boys and girls when they grew up would no longer treat their fathers and mothers kindly, but leave them to hunger and starve. The people seemed to care only for the lower kinds of pleasure, such as eating and drinking and beautiful clothes. They never thought of trying to be of help to each other, or to improve them- selves ; and it never seems to have entered their minds that they would be punished for all this, sooner or later. Just think what the Ruler of the World, who had made Adam and Eve and put them in the Garden of Eden, must have felt about it all. This was the human race for which he had done so much. He had given them the earth and all that was on it; he had made them strong so that they could earn their own living and be brave and good and happy. He had hoped that, after the first Fall, after that first evil act in the Garden of Eden, human beings would know better later on, and not be guilty of wickedness or disobedience again. Can we wonder that he was sad at heart? There was the beautiful Garden he had made, now all desolate, its gates closed forever, and the Flaming Sword above. Its beauty was there still; the trees and flowers and birds everything the same, but yet strangely changed ; and it seemed somehow as if a cloud hung over it, be- cause of what had taken place there. He had thought how, perhaps, men and women, remembering in later years the way Adam and Eve had been punished, would try to make a new Garden of Eden out in the world somewhere. And if they did so, he had thought how he would bless it and help them to try and keep it beautiful, and reward their efforts ; so that while they could never go back to the first Garden, they might yet build themselves beautiful 3 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. homes and have a far greater and more beautiful gar- den of another kind somewhere on the earth. Instead of this, the people were growing worse and worse, stealing from each other, murdering each other, and caring naught for what was good and true. They were spoiling the earth of its beauty ; instead of mak- ing a garden of it they were injuring it and wasting what was there. As we are told, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was growing in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. We can fancy the sorrow in the heart of the Great Ruler when at last he had to own to himself that he regretted ever having made man upon the earth. And it grieved him at his heart. And do you want to know what he said to himself? I will tell you. These were his words : "I will destroy man whom I have created, from the face of the ground ; both man and beast and creeping thing and fowl of the air, for it repenteth me that I have made them." It was something awful; but it had to come. The human race had to be punished, just as Adam and Eve had been punished. He looked down from the skies and saw all the men, women and children. And he made up his mind then what he would do. I almost dread to tell you what he said to himself, but I will read it to you: "The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is rilled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth; I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life from under heaven ; every- thing that is in the earth shall die." Do you wonder, then, how it happens that there are any human beings left in the world nowadays, if all men, women and children were drowned at that time? Why, you see, the Lord was saying this to one good man called Noah. It seems that of all people then living on the earth, there was just one family, a man and his wife and his three sons and their wives, who were not really bad. All the rest of the people, the Lord had said, were unfit to live. But these eight THE EARLY WORLD. 39 people he had decided to spare. He tells Noah what he is about to do, and bids him and his three sons to prepare an "ark" or big boat which shall float on the surface of the waters when the great floods should come. No others should be spared save Noah and his family. It must have been a huge boat, that ark, which should float on the waters, because Noah had been told that it was not only to be for him and his family, but that also of every living thing of all flesh he was to bring two of every sort into the ark and keep them alive there, male and female. As it was said to Noah : "Of the fowl after their kind and of the cattle after their kind, two of every sort shall come in unto thee to keep them alive, and take thou with thee of all food that is eaten and gather it to thee, and it shall be food for thee and for them." I am telling, as you know, the story of Noah and the Flood. At last, Noah was ready. He had been a long while with his sons building that ark. I suppose the people had laughed at him or despised him for what he was doing. What did they care? They went on eating and drinking and making merry in their wickedness and growing all the time worse and worse. But the judg- ment had gone forth ; the Ruler of the World had de- cided, and the time had come. All the animals were there and were taken into the ark. Then Noah entered with his family and the door was shut. He was ready for what was to happen. It began to rain. Perhaps at the outset it was just like any other rain, save that it did not stop. And the people for a while did not mind it rather liking it for a change. But by and by they grew a little un- easy, for after it had rained a day or two, it went on raining. It rained for a whole week; and then the plains down below were all covered with water. Peo- ple had to move out of their cities and go on the hill- srdes, leaving their homes and wealth behind, until they began to wish that they too, like Noah, had built arks for themselves. 4O THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. But it was too late. It went on raining. Day after day and week after week the water crept steadily up the hillsides. There was no more food for the people to eat, and the children were starving to death. Still the waters rose, and the rain poured steadily down, until the last hill tops and mountain tops were finally covered, and there was not a speck of land to be seen anywhere. No person was left alive save the family in the ark with Noah. It had rained forty days and forty nights so the story tells us, as it is said: "The flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased and bare up the ark and it was lifted up above the earth, and the ark went upon the face of the waters ; all high mountains that were under the whole heavens were covered." Can you fancy such a scene ? One awful punishment had come for all the bad deeds of the human race since Adam and Eve had been cast out of the Garden of Eden. The waters of the heavens had washed out the whole earth clean. And it had been done by drown- ing all beings on the face of the earth save this one family floating alone over the waters in the ark. As it was said in the story : "All flesh died that moved on the earth, both fowl and cattle and beast and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man ; all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life; all that was in the dry land, diedi. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days." The Lord was satisfied. There had been no pleas- ure to him in the punishment which he had put on the human race. It was sad and sorrowful enough to him that he had to do it. As he looked out over the face of the earth, he must have felt glad that at least one family was left alive, in whom, as it is said, "there breathed the breath of the spirit of life." When, therefore, the mountains had been covered, the rain ceased to fall. The skies cleared and the sun once more began to shine. And there was Noah wan- dering over the waters in the ark, waiting until they should subside and he should find dry land again. THE EARLY WORLD. 4! How long he would have to wait, he did not know. He only felt sure that if he waited long enough, the time would come when they could all go forth again. When it seemed as if he could wait no longer and he must really know what hope there was, he took a dove and let it go free from the ark in order to see whether it would find dry land, or, if not, come back to him. But Noah had been impatient. The dove went flying here and there over the surface of the waters, finding no rest for its feet, and at last it re- turned to the ark again, "for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. And Noah put forth his hand and drew it within the ark." He waited another seven days; and growing most impatient, he thought he would try once more, again sending forth the dove from the ark. And what do you suppose happened? Did the dove come back now, or find dry land and stay away? No; it came back again, but in its beak it carried an olive leaf. In that way, you see, Noah found out that the waters were abating from off the earth. With a little more patience he waited another seven days, and then sent forth the same dove. I fancy by this time the dove was tired of the ark. If it did not come back now, Noah would know that, ere long, he himself might leave the ark. And it happened that the dove returned not again unto him any more. Then at last, Noah took off the covering of the ark. He had waited long enough. He looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. The ark had rested on a mountain top. You may want to know the name of this mountain. It was called Mount Ararat. There was the earth, quite bare where it had been covered by the waters, with just this one family and all the birds and beasts and living things within the ark. They came forth now, all of them, to people the earth again; and ere long the earth was fresh and green. Flowers once more began to bloom; trees grew up again, and the wild animals roamed once more as of old. But one dread hung over all living people. It took away their courage, this dread ; until, 42 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. in order to give them heart once more, their Great Ruler made them a promise. He told them to look at the rainbow, and whenever they saw it to remember that he had made a pledge to them that never again should there be a flood covering the whole earth. Would you like to know the words which, as we are told, he used in speaking to Noah as he made this pledge ? I will give them to you : "I establish my covenant with you, and with every living creature that is with you; the fowl and cattle and every beast that is with you; of all that go out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you: neither shall all flesh be cut oif any more by waters of the flood ; nei- ther shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth." The human race had learned that, in one way or another, wickedness surely gets punished. To THE TEACHER: There should be something very impressive to the young mind, in this picture of a world so positively wicked all the way through as to deserve being utterly destroyed as if even the beasts and birds had become infected by it all. Such a story, if properly told, should seem still further to awaken the ethical sense, in calling forth the feeling that evil conduct as such deserves punishment. It is well to connect the thought of bad conduct or a wicked life with the thought of punishment, implying that the two naturally belong together and that the one somehow brings the other, even if we cannot always see how it comes. It is the conception of desert we need to em- phasize here. There are several features of the story which need to be dwelt upon because of the way they have entered into every-day language : as, for example, the Ark, the Rainbow, the Dove, Mount Ararat, etc. MEMORY VERSE: The end 0/ all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold I will destroy them with the earth; I do bring tlw flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of life under the heavens; every thing that is in the earth shall die. CHAPTER IV. The Tower of Babel. It was a long while ago, just how long I cannot say, and over in another part of the world, after the time of the great Flood it may have been hundreds of years later, when Noah was no longer alive and there was again a great number of people on the earth. I sup- pose they still talked about the time long gone by, when the human race had been punished for all its wickedness, and the rain had come down from the skies and drowned everybody, save Noah and his fam- ily. I fancy they pointed out the mountain where they thought the ark had come to its rest. But they had no fear of any more such punishment. Now it was but a story to them, and it may be that many of the people no longer believed it. They had begun to build cities again. They had riches once more, and they began to give themselves over just to having a good time seeking only after pleasures, and just those kinds of pleasures which sat- isfy people for a moment and leave nothing behind. They had so much wealth and they had been so suc- cessful in building their cities that they were fast being overcome with pride. Perhaps you know what that feeling means? In those days, it seems that every man somehow felt as if he were better than any other man. So now I am going to tell you of something extraordinary that took place. What put it into the people's heads I do not know. It is ne,ver quite easy to explain the strange ideas or plans which some persons have. But be that as it may, the people at that time did think up the strangest sort of a scheme. As to the sense of it all, you must decide for yourselves. But 43 44 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. they got it into their heads that they would build a tower. It was not to be just the ordinary kind of a tower, but something great and mighty; greater than anything which had ever been built before. It was to be high. "How high ?" you ask. Why, they meant to make it go on up until it touched the skies. Possibly they did not know in those days just what the skies were, or how high it was up there. At any rate, they thought they could do it ; in fact, they were sure of it. They talked and talked a great deal about the tower, and how they would build it. At last they set to work and laid the foundations. You can be sure these found- ations were solid and strong. They were not going to have their tower tumble over ; it was to stay there for- ever. "What did they do it for?" you ask. Well, I do not quite know. It may be that they did not know themselves. People do not always have the best of reasons for the plans they have. All I can say is, they just wanted to build a tower, and it was to be something very large indeed. In fact, they wanted to see just what they could do. They had an idea that they could do almost anything, and they were quite sure that they knew almost everything. They had stopped trying to learn anything more, because they were so satisfied with themselves, thinking they knew it all, or all that ever could be known. This tower, then, we assume, was to show how clever they were. They could look at it after it reached the skies, and think what a big thing they had done and how much superior they would show themselves to any other human beings who ever lived before them, or to any people who might come afterwards. What sort of a feeling do you call this? "Pride," you answer? Yes, that was it. These people were just proud. They evidently wanted, as we should say nowadays, to "show off." You see, the world was young then. There had not been very much history, and people had not found out what they did not know. Sometimes it happens, as you are aware, that the more ignorant a person is, the more he thinks he knows. He likes to talk about himself, to tHE EARLY WORLD. 45 think about himself ; and he likes to have other people look at him and admire him and talk about him. These strange people lived on what was called the Plains of Shinar, away over in Asia somewhere; and they began to build their tower. Just as soon as the foundations were laid, thousands of people would come out every day to look at it ; and the more they looked at it, the more esteem they felt for themselves, and the more sure they were that no people would ever be able to do anything so great or achieve anything so extra- ordinary as this tower was going to be. It kept on going up, higher and higher. At first it only reached to the tops of the doors of the houses; by and by it was as high as the roofs ; then it went on up above the walls of the city, and soon it was higher than anything else in the country. Yet it kept on going up, and they made more brick and brought more stone and built it higher and higher, and as they watched the skies they kept wondering how long it would be before their tower would touch that great blue dome up there. If they had been proud before they laid the founda- tions of that tower, they grew more and more proud every day. They spent pretty much all their time admiring themselves. I suppose if there had been any books in those days, they would have stopped reading them. Why should they read books when they "knew all about it"? What reason did they have for going to see other parts of the world, when they were so superior themselves? Yet, all the while, up went that tower; and it did almost look as if it were going to touch the skies. "What sort of a name did they give to it?" you ask. Well, I think we should have called it the "Tower of Pride," yet that was not the name they gave to it themselves. But by and by something happened. Usually when people get too proud, something does happen. fc)o you think that the tower fell down ? No, it stayed there at least for awhile ; just how long I do not know. But there was a fall of another kind for that Tower of Pride. It seems that the Ruler of the World got to thinking 46 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. about it, and he did not altogether approve of what was going on down there on the Plains of Shinar. He was quite certain if the human race went on in that way they would think they knew everything and the world would come to a standstill. Now, the Great Ruler wanted the human race to go on improving, and he knew that the one great vice which would keep people from improving was Pride. There was no other way. Those people there on the Plains of Shinar had to be taught humility ; their pride must have a fall; in some way they must be brought back to their senses. I almost wonder that their Lord did not despise these people altogether and decide not to have any human beings on earth at all, if they were going to be so vain. But no ; he felt pity for them be- cause they were young and had not had much experi- ence, and so he thought he would try another way to teach them humility. The people had almost fancied that their tower was just about to reach the skies. It was higher than any- thing else in the world, and they were growing more and more supremely satisfied over it. We assume there must have been thousands of men at work there. But one morning there was trouble. All the work came to a standstill. The Lord had decided to inter- fere. And what do you suppose he did? Well, it is said, you know, that people in those days all talked alike. Nowadays we have any number of languages among the races scattered throughout the world, hun- dreds of languages, I suppose. But according to my story, from what we are told, up to that time people talked only one language, and all men could understand each other. This may have been one reason why they thought they knew everything. But at any rate, one morning the work stopped. Thousands of men had come together to go on with the tower, when all of a sudden they found they could not understand each other. One man was talking in one language, and an- other was talking in another language. Just how many languages they were speaking, I do not know ; but we fancy it must have been hundreds or thousands. TH EARLY WORLD. 47 There they were. What could they do? One man would give a direction and the other man could not understand it. The whole plan fell to pieces. They could not talk; they could not direct each other; they could not explain to each other what they were trying to do. It was the end of that tower. As far as they were concerned, it was as if that great structure had tumbled down upon their heads. It was there, just the same as it was the day before ; but they could not go on with it. And as they tried to talk to each other and found that they could not understand what others were say- ing, it struck them that perhaps, after all, they did not know everything ; otherwise there would not be such a wild and stupid confusion everywhere. It was an awful blow. "A blow to what?" you ask. Why, to their pride, I should say. They came to a realization that they were not so great as they thought they were ; that they did not know as much as they thought they did ; that they were not nearly as superior as they had fancied. What a state of mind the people must have been in, there in that great city ! They looked up at their tower and they felt ashamed. It no longer added to their pride; and they wished they could pull it down. It all seemed very childish now, the effort they had made to "show off." They wished they had never begun it. It struck them that perhaps, after all, the human race was young, and that if they were to start out and scat- ter over the world, they might go on improving and learning a great deal more. They left their tower and it crumbled away. They abandoned their city, those speaking one language go- ing one way ; others speaking another language going another way. But as they departed they had quite a different look on their faces from what they had had a few years before when, in their pride, they had laid the foundations of that great building. The Tower of their Pride had fallen, and they had learned humility. To THE TEACHER: The keynote of this lesson could be the evil effects of vanity or pride. We are 48 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. dealing in these stories mainly with the primary sins and primary virtues. The picture has touched on one of the elemental weaknesses of human nature over-self- esteem. Young and old alike should be made to feel a sense of humility or insignificance before the Universe and its Author. One is not to blame for a normal self- confidence in one's powers. But we can explain how it is that there is a limit beyond which confidence in self becomes a sign of weakness instead of strength. The figure of a little child defying its father could be introduced as illustrating the attitude of the people oi those days in constructing their tower, as if in their presumption they felt themselves the equal or the su- perior of the very Ruler over All. Point out how it is that by such presumption we only make ourselves seem all the more petty or inferior from the contemptible folly of our conduct. PART II. THE PATRIARCHS. CHAPTER V. The Promise to Abram. Now we reach a time a long while after the da;'S when the people had tried to build their Tower of Babel and then were scattered over the earth. We are toid how one of the sons of Noah, many hundreds and hun- dreds of years before, had gone off south to Africa. His name, as you know, was Ham; and nowadays, sometimes, the races living on that continent who have been there these thousands of years, are called the "de- scendants of Ham." Then there was another called Shem, and he went in another direction ; while the third son, who was called Japheth, went into still a third part of the world. In this way, a vou see, we sometimes hear it said how all the races of men descended from the three sons of Noah Shem, Ham and Japheth. I shall want to tell you a great deal about one spe- cial family. We shall have little more to say about the descendants of Ham or of Japheth. Nearly all of what we shall have to describe will be about the de- scendants of Shem, who lived over in Asia. It may be that you have heard about the three famous men of those times, known as Abraham, Isaac and Ja- cob. Abraham was the grandfather of Jacob and the father of Isaac. At first his name was Abram, but it was changed by and by. Later on I will tell you why this was done. These three men, about whom so much is told, are spoken of as "The Patriarchs." They did not live 49 50 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. in cities, as many of us do nowadays. Their wealth did not consist in houses and lands. They did not have farms with great wheat and corn fields everywhere about them. No, Abram's wealth consisted in flocks of sheep and herds of cattle; although he also had a great deal of silver and gold, for he was a prosperous man, and a rich one. People admired him and thought a great deal of him. But you see, with that kind of wealth, he could not live in one place or reside in a city. He had to travel about with his flocks and herds wherever he could find good pasture. And so the patriarchs lived in tents, wandering about the country from place to place, taking their riches with them wherever they had to go. It must have been a strange sort of life; and yet 1 should not be surprised if they took much pleasure in it. You see, they had to live out in the open air a great deal. They could study the stars at night if they had nothing else to do ; and we are told it was in those days that the science of "astronomy" was founded through such a study of the heavens. All the people who were with Abram helping him to take care of his flocks and herds, men who had to milk , the cows and those who had to look after the sheep and tend them while feeding in the pastures, all seemed, as it were, to belong to one great family, which was called the "tribe." And Abram, who owned all the wealth would be the head of the tribe or family and be the "Patriarch." They did not dress in those days as we do now. The clothing they wore was suited to the climate there and to the kind of life they led. It may be that you would like to see how Abram looked in those days and what kind of dress he wore. We can show you a picture of the way he may have looked, because there are men even nowadays in that far away country, living in tribes, keeping flocks and herds and traveling about just in the way he lived with his family. Now, Abram was a better man in a great many ways than the other people about him, or the other patriarchs as heads of their tribes. He was living at this time THE PATRIARCHS. 51 Somewhere in the center of the continent of Asia, per- haps not far from the Euphrates or Tigris rivers, which, as you know, flow into the Persian Gulf. Just precisely where it was we do not know, but it was called the land of Ur, belonging to the Chaldees. The Ruler of the World knew all about this, of course, and how much better Abram was than the other patriarchs. And so he thought it best to have him go away into another part of Asia and found a great fan> ily of his own. I suppose this must have been pretty hard for Abram and his family. He was probably very fond of the people around him, the other tribes living with other patriarchs. And it may be that they were fond of him, too, because, while Abram was a better man than they were, he did not call himself any better or put on superior airs or show any great pride. He was a man of simple habits and good to other people. But he knew he had to obey. The command had come for him, telling him he must go. Would you like to know what the Lord said to him in bidding him leave his home and family? Well, I will read to you just what, as we are told, was said to Abram : "Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house into the land that I will show thee ; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great ; and be thou a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blest." You see, this was not only a command, but a promise to Abram. Perhaps it was this promise which made it easier for Abram to go away into a far country and leave his kindred behind him. In spite of all the sor< row of the parting and the wish he must have felt to have taken his own kindred with him, he could still keep thinking of this glorious promise how, in some way, through him, by and by in distant times, all the world was to be blessed. As he went on traveling, getting further and further away, knowing that he should never go back there, he could still keep murmur- * ing those words to himself: "I will make of thee a 52 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. great nation; I will bless thee and make thy name great, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blest." After all, I think for this reason, Abram must have been a happy man, because we feel sure that in earlier years he had found great pleasure in being of service to others. And now he could have the pleasure of thinking of the still greater good he would be in some way, later on, to all mankind. He had to travel over the desert, where, as you know, there was at times no pasture for his flocks or herds and no water for him or his people to drink. They would have to wait, and go on and on, all the while thinking of the land to which they were at last to come and where they were to settle down. It was to be the Land of Canaan, which we now speak of as Palestine. I am glad to say that Abram was allowed to take his family with him, and at least one other of his kindred. His wife's name was Sarai. Later on her name was changed, as we shall see. Besides his wife, he was permitted to take his broth- er's son with him, whose name was Lot. As it is told us, "Abram took Sarai and Lot, his brother's son, and all the substance that they had gathered ; and they went forth to go into the Land of Canaan ; and into the Land of Canaan they came" all the while, as I have said, Abram being very rich in cattle and sheep and in silver and gold. Lot, the nephew of Abram, was also a very rich man. He, too, had great flocks and herds and many tents. And so, you see, when they had at last settled in the land of Canaan and were living close together there was really not quite enough room for them both. And this naturally made Abram very unhappy. He did not like to part with Lot, and yet he did not know what to do, because, as it is said, "the land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together; for their sub- stance was so great that they could not dwell together." They tried as best they could for a while to get along. 'But I am sorry to say that trouble arose between the herdsmen of Abram's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's THE PATRIARCHS. 53 cattle. These men began to quarrel, and there was strife between them. I fancy that Lot and Abram by themselves might have managed it. But there was no way now to get along, inasmuch as this strife had be- gun, and they wanted peace. Every little while, in spite of all they could do, they would hear of quarrels arising between the two sets of herdsmen, until Abram felt at last that they must sepa- rate. And he arranged it in a beautiful way. He was the older man, and, I suppose, had more wealth than Lot. And so he thought it right that he should give to the younger man the choice, instead of taking the choice for himself. One rejoices to think of the way Abram got around this trouble. We can see why it was that he had been sent out by the Lord to found a great family, showing, as it does, what a really good man in many ways he must have been. He had all the power, and if he had chosen could have taken the best land and sent Lot away. But no; he was not the one to act in that kind of spirit. At last Abram called Lot to him, and they had a quiet talk together. We can fancy them, perhaps, standing before the great tent in the cool of the evening, view- ing in the distance their flocks and herds, and wonder- ing what they should do. Then Abram spoke to Lot in these words : "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we are brethren." Was it not beauti- ful, the reason which Abram gave? I always like to remember those four words so kindly spoken by Ab- ram. Surely it would be well worth our while to com- mit them to memory : "For we are brethren." It would have been bad enough if there had been strife among the men, even if they had not been re- lated ; but it seemed quite awful to Abram to have these quarels going on between families which were all of one kindred. And Abram went on to speak again in these words : "Is not the whole land before thee ? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will take the right ; and if thou take the 54 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIKfr. right hand, then I will go to the left." Was not that bravely and manfully said? There they were together, in the cool of the evening, with all their wealth before them, but with no sugges- tion of strife between the two men who "were breth- ren." I am afraid Lot was not quite so generous in all ways as Abram. He evidently wanted more wealth, and perhaps was a little bit jealous of the riches of his uncle. We are not told that he was willing to give the choice up ; and he was very glad that these kind words had come from Abram. He knew about the country all around there, and what was the best land for his flocks and herds. He thought of the rich country down around the river Jordan, not far away from the great cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, how the land was well watered there. And so Lot said to Abram, "I will take the Plain of Jordan." And Abram, on the other hand, dwelt further north in the Land of Canaan. You can well suppose that this conduct on the part of Abram pleased the Ruler of the World very much, indeed, and made him all the more sure that he was wise in singling out Abram in this way to be the founder of a great family. And therefore, in order to satisfy Abram and make him happy, he repeated his promise to him, although it had certainly not been forgotten. And this was what he said to him : "Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and west- ward ; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy family forever. Arise, walk through the land to the length of it and in the breadth of it ; for unto thee will I give it." And Abram, you can be sure, felt very happy. This land, as we have said, we think of now as Palestine. In this connection it may be that you would like to have me tell you another story of what took place later on at one time between Abram and Lot. You see, as you remember, Lot had chosen the rich and well wa- tered country down along the river Jordan. He had chosen what he most wanted, and felt satisfied with his choice, But sometimes, when people take just what THE PATRIARCHS. 55 they want and think they have got the best of every- thing in their choice, they find themselves a little mis- taken. It may be that something happens to make them regret having acted quite so selfishly. I am not quite sure how Lot felt, but I know there was trouble by and by. We told you that down there, not far away from the river Jordan, where Lot had gone, were the two great cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. These cities were very rich and had kings over them. But just because of these riches, other kings began to be jealous of all the wealth there. And by and by these other kings decided they would make war on Sodom and Gomorrah, going with their armies and seizing the wealth of those two cities. We are certain that if this happened there would be trouble for Lot and his family, who was liv- ing with all his flocks and herds not far away. These kings might turn aside and carry a good deal of Lot's wealth away with them, besides what they stole from the great cities they would attack. And all this really took place. The king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah went out with their armies and set themselves in battle array in order to defend their cities. But it did no good. Their armies were not strong enough. They were defeated, and they had to fly. Then what do you suppose happened? It seems that round about those cities there were a number of "slime pits," as they were called, and these unlucky kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell in there, while the rest of the people fled to the mountains. And the victorious kings went into the cities with their army and carried off the food and the wealth, at the same time seizing Lot and carrying him off with them. By this time I suspect that Lot wished he had not chosen the Plain of Jordan, even if it was a rich and well watered country. He must have wished that he had shown a more generous spirit, like that shown by Abram. But be that as it may, it was too late. He had been captured. You will remember that Abram was living further north, in Canaan, with his flocks and herds. And one 56 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. of the people who had escaped, came and told him what had happened to Lot and to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abram, I suppose, did not care very much about those two cities, because he knew the people there were very wicked. But he loved his brother's son, and so he wanted to rescue Lot, who had been made a captive. He gathered together the men around him, leaving just a few behind to take care of the cattle and sheep, going with the rest of them over three hundred in number. He met the enemy, battled with them and came out victorious over those other kings, setting free once more those kings of Sodom and Go- morrah and, most of all, bringing back with him his brother's son, Lot, along with the goods and the other members of the family who had been carried away. Anyone would feel perfectly sure that the kings of those two cities would have been very grateful to Abram for what he had done, even if they were not very good men. He had saved their lives at the risk of his own and rescued their cities. They, in return for this great deed, offered him one-tenth of all the wealth he had captured. Abram was a rich man already, al- though I fancy he would have been glad to have all this wealth besides. But he had not done this for the sake of getting any more money or flocks or herds. He had done it for the sake of his nephew, Lot, and so he did not want pay for it. He was not that kind of a man. He actually refused to accept the wealth that was offered him, saying in reply : "I will not take a thread nor a shoelatchet nor aught that is thine, lest thou shouldst say, I have made Abram rich : save only that which the young men have eaten and the portion of the men which went with me." Then Lot went back with his flocks and herds to the Plain of Jordan, while Abram returned north again to his home in Canaan. He had done a good and gen- erous deed and thought no more about it. In this way, you see, we realize more and more why it was that Abram had been chosen out and received the promise of the Land of Canaan. THE PATRIARCHS. 57 To THE TEACHER: Dwell a good deal on the gen- erous spirit of Abram. Write on the blackboard the words, "And they were brethren." Fix the names of the three patriarchs definitely in the minds of the chil- dren. Expand a little on the life of the patriarchs. Show a picture of an Arab sheik, as giving a sugges- tion of how Abram looked. Raise the question whether Lot should have so readily accepted the choice offered him by Abram. Show a picture of the Plain of Jordan. Point out how Lot overreached himself in the choice he made, while the conduct of Abram in the second part of the chapter should be brought forward as a story of doing a good deed for its own sake. MEMORY VERSES : / will make of thee a great na- tion; I will bless thee and make thy name great, and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blest. Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between thee and me, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we are brethren. I will not take a thread nor a latchet nor aught that is thine, lest thou shouldst say, I have made Abram rich. CHAPTER VI. / The Casting Out of Hagar. We have said to you that Abram was a happy man, partly for the reason that he had been of service to others, and partly because of the promise that, some- how, his family was to be a blessing to the world. But, as you know, very few people are altogether happy. No man has quite all that he wants, or all that he would like to have. Usually something will trouble him, or there may be some one thing he may long for very much, and yet it never seems to come to him. And this was true of Abram. He had a wife and home and great riches in gold and silver and in flocks and herds. He had friends enough all around him, and more and more the whole tribe must have loved him, and showed devotion to him. He went on growing richer and richer, getting more silver and gold and having greater flocks and herds more at times, it seemed, than he knew just what to do with. And yet I fancy he would have been willing to have given away one-half of all he had, if just one other blessing might come to him. He was not quite happy, because, in spite of all this wealth and all those friends, he was an old man, and as yet had no children. The other people around him had little ones growing up into young manhood and young womanhood ; but there was Abram, with no lit- tle ones as yet to call him father. Now, I must tell you something that will seem very strange, indeed, and hard for us nowadays to under- stand. But we must not forget that the world was very different thousands of years ago; and they had customs then which we should not like to have now, 58 THE PATRIARCHS. 59 and which we would not even allow to exist. But, you see, in those far away times, there were fewer people in the world than now, and it was quite usual in those days for a wealthy man to have more than one wife. I can see that this surprises you, and we do not even like to think of it. But we must remember that this was a long time ago, and I suppose in those days they had not learned better. They had not found out, as we have, that in the only true kind of family there can never be any more than one husband and one wife. Yet as Abram was a wealthy man, he did have more than one wife. The other one was called Hagar, and she was a servant, or "bondwoman," as the name went, to the first wife, Sarai. And for a long, long while Sarai had no children. She, too, therefore, was quite unhappy more so, per- haps, than Abram. But by and by a little son came to the wife Hagar. This of course, pleased Abram very much. For he knew that by and by a child would lisp the word "father" to him. But while Abram was happy, and likewise Hagar, in the fact that now at last there was a child in that home, we cannot help but think that one member of that fam- ily must have been very much troubled. It would be the other wife, Sarai ; and it would be hard for us to blame her because of her trouble of mind. She, too, wanted children, like Hagar, and wanted that Abram should love her also for the sake of the children she might bring to him. Then, too, I am very much afraid that Hagar began to feel proud over the fact that she had a child ; and it may be that she boasted a little to Sarai in her pride. This must have made the other wife feel very unhappy, indeed. It is never at all pleasant to have anyone boast over us and least of all is it a pleas- ure when we know that we may not be to blame. For this reason we feel pretty sure there would be trouble in that family; that all was not going to be perfect peace for the old father Abram. He was glad enough to have the little child, even though his first wife, Sarai, was not its mother. And so, you see, when people are unhappy, as Sarai was, unless they have a 6O THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. great deal of control over themselves they may lose their temper. By and by she lost hers and became very angry with Hagar, and even abused her. But for Sarai's sake, I am glad to say that a child at last came to her, too. Then she was very happy and proud, indeed. She felt perfectly sure now that Abram would care as much, or more, for her than he had for the other wife, Hagar. And they called this little boy Isaac. One would suppose now, when the family was com- plete, and each wife had a little child, that all would go on happily again, and there would be no more trouble. The father himself was surely more than content. It was about this time, as you may know, that Abram's name was changed. Now that he had children he could see how it was that he would have a great family, and how, through his family, the world might be blessed. And so, we are told, the Lord changed his name from Abram to Abraham, meaning the "father of many nations." Hereafter, therefore, we shall speak of this father by his other name. For a little while, at any rate, the whole family were happy enough. There were the two wives, Sarai and Hagar, and the happy father, Abraham, with his two little sons. About this time, I must tell you, the Lord had also changed the name of Sarai into Sarah, mean- ing "princess," and so we shall speak of her hereafter by this other name of Sarah. But by and by trouble came into the family. It had been started long before, when Sarah had no children, and she had been angry with Hagar and had felt so much jealousy when Hagar had been inclined to boast about being the only one who had a child. But now that Sarah was a mother and had a little one of her own, she began to look down upon Hagar, and the bad feelings which had commenced some years before came back and grew worse and worse. One cannot help feeling very sorry about this. It shows how bad it is that such feelings should ever start at all ; for, once they have begun, it is pretty sure they will return again. Yet both of them 1 were to blame. THE PATRIARCHS. 6l One had been boastful and the other had been jealous. The bad feeling between the two mothers grew worse and worse, and Abraham scarcely knew what to do. Sarah was his first wife, and Hagar had been only a bondwoman; hence he felt it was his duty to uphold his first wife, Sarah, and her child. It must have been a very unhappy time for the poor old father. Furthermore, and what seems even worse, the two children began to quarrel between themselves. Then, too, one day Sarah saw the child of Hagar mock- ing her. This was more than she could stand. She made up her mind that she would not live in the same house with Hagar and her child. She went at once to Abraham and told him that if she was to remain with him as his wife, he would have to cast out Hagar and her child. Poor old Abraham saw the end of it all, as she said : "Cast out this bondwoman and her son ; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac." The children, of course, were so very young per- haps not more than three or four years old that they did not know what all this was about. But there was nothing else for Abraham to do. He was obliged to act according to the wishes of his first wife, Sarah, al- though it grieved him to the very heart; for Hagar and her child were also very dear to him. Nowadays all this could not happen. It was, you see, because of that sad custom in those days of a man having more than one wife. It may be that this was the way by which people came to see the mistakes of that custom and to give it up, and to understand that the only true home was that in which there was only one husband and one wife. I can fancy that Abraham then and there began to understand more about the true kind of home and the happiness such as we know of nowadays. But at that time it seemed there was only one thing for the father to do. Abraham had to cast out Hagar and her child, whose name was Ishmael. As we are told, he rose up early in the morning and took some 62 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. bread and a bottle of water and gave it unto Hagar and to the child, and sent them away. And so they de- parted, the mother and her child, not knowing where they would go. It may be for a time that Hagar did not much care, as long as she had her precious boy with her. She loved him so much that she may have felt that all would come out right somehow. By and by the water in the bottle was all gone. The food that had been given her was all eaten up, and nothing was left, and she did not know what to do. Perhaps, in her despair, she had not made any effort to provide for herself and child. Perhaps she had gone away angry and thought nothing about it. Now, at last, it seemed as if there was no hope for either of them. It looked to her as if there was only death for the child, and she must die with it. We can imagine her feelings her anger against Abraham and Sarah, struggling with her love for her child. And what do you suppose she did? She knew she could not stay there and see her little boy starve to death. And so she put him under a tree where it was cool in the shade, and then she went a little distance away to lie down and cry, saying in her agony of spirit, "Let me not look upon the death of my child !" Then, as we are told, she lifted up her voice and wept. I suppose it never crossed the mind of Abraham that anything of this kind would happen. He had probably taken it for granted that some other family would look after Hagar and her child, because in those days people were very hospitable in many ways with strangers. All this might not have happened, perhaps, if Hagar had been only more thoughtful. You see, she had been angry, and now she was getting her punish- ment. At the same time, the Ruler of the World knew all that was taking place. He had pity on Hagar. He felt sorry for her because she had been cast out, and he was not going to let her be punished too far. And so he came to speak with Hagar, and this is what he said, as we are told : "What aileth thee, Hagar ? Fear not. Arise; lift up the lad." It may be, in her grief, she THE PATRIARCHS. 63 did net ktiOTJ- where the words came from. Perhaps she heard thsni all inside of herself. But at any rate she dried her tears and arose. The child was there, not very far away. She looked at it with a heart full of love ; and then what do you suppose she saw ? Why, just around on the other side of the tree, where she had not looked, was a well of water all that she wanted, and more besides cool, precious, sparkling water, to drink for herself and child, Ishmael. It was a pity she had not looked around that side of the tree at first! Instead of that, she had gone away to cry. At any rate, now she was happy at last. At once she rushed to the well and drew water and brought it to her little gasping boy to drink. And afterwards all went very well with Hagar and Ishmael. They found a home elsewhere. It may be that Abraham had ar- ranged it himself in this way. The boy grew up to manhood, and by and by he, too, founded another great family that lived in another part of the world. But in our story we do not hear much more about him or his mother, Hagar. And so we go back to Abraham and Sarah; and we shall see what happened to their little boy, Isaac. To THE TEACHER : Do not enter upon a discussion of the question as to. whether Abram did right in cast- ing out Hagar. Treat it as something that had to be done, according to the customs of the time. Have quite a little to say concerning the evil involved in bad words or strife, and what comes of it all. Point out that the punishment would not have fallen upon Hagar if she had shown the right kind of sentiment all along. Raise the query, What kind of feeling did she have for Sarah ? Dwell for a time on this. Talk of the evils of boasting. Show also the bad conduct of the boy Ishmael. Do not overlook, however, the true motherly tenderness of Hagar. Fix clearly in the minds of the pupils the ac- count which is given of the changing of the names of Abram and Sarah. Show a picture of Hagar departing with Ishmael. MEMORY VERSE: What ailith thee, Hagar f Fear not. Arise; lift up the lad. CHAPTER VII. The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. I must turn aside a little now and tell you of some- thing dreadful that happened in those early days. It is positively frightful, even to think of it, and it was connected with those two great cities which I have already mentioned, Sodom and Gomorrah. You may have heard of the names of those two cities before, because for thousands of years they have been talked about, owing to what took place there ; also be- cause they stood for all that was thoroughly bad or wicked. As you remember, the Lord had promised there should never be a flood again to drown the earth. But he did not mean by this that wickedness should not get punished, and sometimes in a most awful way. I shall have to own that, even after the Flood, and after what took place on the Plains of Shinar, where the people were trying to build their Tower of Babel, there was still a great deal of evil in the world. Noah had been a good man, and I suppose he had done his very best to bring up his boys in the right way. But those boys may not have been altogether good, and they may have done wrong now and then. And then, perhaps, when they grew up and had children of their own, these chil- dren did still more wrong. And so it went on, and there was a great deal of bad conduct among men. But of all the places in the world none were quite so bad, we are told, as Sodom and Gomorrah, down there not far away from where Lot had chosen his home on the Plain of Jordan. All of the wickedness I have described to you as having existed on the earth before the time of the Flood, had come back 64 THE; PATRIARCHS. 65 again in those two cities. The people there, were mean and selfish and bad in every possible way. It would seem as if there was nothing whatever of good left in Sodom and Gomorrah. Evidently the time had come when another punishment had to fall on some of the people in the world, in order to make them still remem- ber that the human race was to stand for what was right and keep away from evil. At any rate, we are told that the Ruler of the World had decided that Sodom and Gomorrah should be destroyed. B,ut there was Abraham still living in his good old age not far away over in Canaan. And the Lord thought it well, therefore, that Abraham should be told of what was to happen ; and so he sent three messen- gers of his to tell the old patriarch about it. And there sat Abraham in front of his tent in the heat of the day. The tent had been placed near some great, huge trees in the plains of Mamre. And as he sat there in the shade the messengers arrived. Of course, Abraham did not know that these men were messengers from the Great Ruler, and not like ordinary men. Thinking they were strangers, and wanting to be kind to them, he arose at once and stepped forward to meet them, saying: "Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree ; and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts ; after that, ye shall pass on ; forasmuch are ye come to me." You see, the people in those days did not wear shoes as we do at the present time, but a kind of slipper or sandal, just covering the sole of the foot ; and it was usual, therefore, for them to wash their feet in the same way that we nowadays wash our hands, and perhaps just as often. And they said to Abraham : "So do, as thou hast said." He went in at once to his wife Sarah, in a great hurry, eager to show his hospitality to the three strangers, be- cause he wanted to act in the same kindness of heart which he had always shown in past times. And he said quickly to Sarah, his wife : "Make ready at once three measures of fine meal, knead it and make cakes." Then 66 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. he ran to the herd and brought a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a servant in order that it should be dressed. As soon as it was ready he took butter and milk and the food and set it before them, and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. Then, when they had taken their meal and rose up to go away, Abra- ham walked along with them for a while. At last, somehow, it became known to him who they were that they were really messengers from the Ruler of the World, and not just ordinary men. They had come especially to tell him about what was going to happen to Sodom and Gomorrah. Then Abraham was very glad, indeed, that he had done his best to entertain these three guests, although he had done it not knowing they were messengers from the Lord. And this is why, as you learn, sometimes we speak of "entertaining angels unawares," because that is what had been done by Abraham. In those days such "messengers" were spoken of as "angels." They began to tell Abraham what was going to hap- pen, talking about the awful wickedness of those two cities and how they must be destroyed. This made the old man very unhappy. He must have known about the wickedness going on there. Nevertheless he had a tender heart ; he still hoped they might do better. He did not like to think that all those people would have to suffer in that way. He had an idea that perhaps there were quite a number of good people in Sodom and Gomorrah, and it struck him as pretty hard that the good should perish with the bad. So Abraham turned to the messengers and said: "Wilt thou con- sume the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city ; wilt thou con- sume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein ? Far be it from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked; shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?" You see, Abraham knew now that he was really talking with the Great Ruler, and thought that if there were fifty people in all those great cities, those cities ought to be spared on their account. Then, too, I think THE PATRIARCHS. 67 down in his heart he wanted to try to save the other people, hoping that they would repent and become bet- ter by and by. He was pleading, therefore, with the Lord Over All, and trying to save those wicked people from the awful punishment that was coming upon them. As the Lord heard him, he turned and said, speaking through the messengers, we assume : "If I find in Sod- om fifty righteous, then I will spare all the place for their sake." Then at first Abraham was very happy. He felt sure there must be at least fifty good people in that city. And he was about to turn back, when sud- denly he grew a little anxious, and got to thinking about the awful wickedness which he had been told was there. It came to his mind that, perchance, there were not fifty, but a few less? Then, of course, the whole city might be destroyed, the good along with the evil. The thought of that was too much for him, and so he spoke once more, saying: "Behold, now I have taken it upon me to speak unto the Lord ; and I am but dust and ashes" . . . Abraham was a very modest man, as I have told you all along. He had never been proud or much given to talking about him- self, or to showing how important a person he was; and so he goes on to say: "Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous, wilt thou destroy all the city for the lack of five ?" Abraham felt that the Ruler of the World would be merciful, and take pity on the forty-five, and he expected the answer which came : "I will not destroy it if I find therein forty-and-five." This must have satisfied Abraham, and we can see him turning around to go back to his tent, while the mes- sengers walked toward Sodom and Gomorrah. But he had not gone far when it struck him that forty-five were many people, and the wickedness of those cities came to him again. He turned quickly and ran after the messengers, and said : "Peradventure there shall be forty found there?" and the messengers smiled as they said : "We will not do it for the forty's sake." B,y this time Abraham thought he might as well go 68 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. on and plead some more, instead of returning home Even forty, he feared, would make a good many peo- ple in a city so bad as that; and he grew more and more doubtful whether forty good people could be found in Sodom and Gomorrah. And so he says hum- bly : "Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Peradventure there shall be thirty found there ?" Again the messengers smiled as they said : "We will not do it if we find thirty there." It would almost seem as if Abraham would stop now, he had been so modest in his pleading; but his heart was sore, thinking of the awful doom to fall upon those cities. He could not get over the terrible punishment which would strike them; and so he makes bold to plead further, and he says : "Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: peradventure there shall be twenty found there?" and the messengers answered : "It shall not be destroyed even for the twenty's sake." But Abraham would not desist. He was going to get all he could now for the poor cities, and so he said once more: "Oh, let not the Lord be angry: peradventure ten shall be found there?" And the reply came: "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake." This was all that Abraham could ask. Down in his heart he felt pretty sure that in such two great cities there must be ten good people. Then, too, I fancy it came over him that if there were not at least ten good people in all that multitude, the punishment would be deserved. He gave up any further pleading, there- fore, and returned to his tent, and the messengers went on their way to the two cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, you remember, as I have said, that Lot and all his family and tribe and his herdsmen were living near those cities on the Plain of Jordan, and he also had a dwelling place in one of those cities; and when the messengers arrived there they knew perfectly well that there were no good people left there at all save just this one man Lot and his wife. They had known this even when they had answered the pleadings of Abraham. The messengers sought out Lot in his home there in THE PATRIARCHS. 69 the city and said to him: "Hast thou here any be- sides? Sons-in-law, and thy sons and daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place. The Lord hath sent us to destroy it." Then Lot felt most unhappy. He remembered what had hap- pened before, when the kings had come and captured those two cities and carried him off with his flocks and herds. And it seemed to him now that he was getting much the worst of it for having chosen the Plain of Jordan. Once more it looked to him as though he were going to be punished for having been so quick in taking his own choice. But there was no help. It was too late to repent. Perhaps he said to himself: "I wish I had not done it ; I wish I had not chosen the Plain of Jordan." But he went and spoke to his sons-in-law and their wives, and said to them these awful words : "Up ; get you out of this place, for the Lord will destroy the city." I fear the sons-in-law had staid too long in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot himself was still a man of good character and knew how to obey; but those sons had fallen into the bad ways of the people there. They, too, I suppose, had been wicked ; and so when they heard his words they smiled as if their father were mocking them. Not one of those sons would go. It was very evident that there were not ten righteous men living in Sodom and Gomorrah. The messengers said now to Lot : "Arise : take thy wife and thy two daughters, which are here, lest thou be consumed in the punishment of the city." And as Lot heard the words he started to go. Then he stopped, for he hated to leave everything behind him. He was not so quick to obey as Abraham. And yet, because he had really done no wrong and had always been a good man, the Great Ruler was determined to save him and his two daughters and his wife. And so the messengers caught hold of him by the shoulders and took the hands of his wife and two daughters and led them forth. They yielded and followed for a time sub- missively, until they were safely out of the city. The messengers went with them a short distance to make /*O THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. sure that they would not turn back and thus lose their lives. One cannot help thinking how differently Abraham would have acted ; how promptly he would have obeyed those messengers. There would not have been any need for them to go out with him lest he should turn back. But they were very anxious to save Lot and his wife and two daughters, and so they went with them as far as the Lord would permit them to go. And the messengers said to Lot: "Escape now for thy life ; look not behind thee ; neither stay thou in all the plain. Escape to the mountains lest thou be con- sumed." Now, what do you suppose Lot did? Start right off at once obediently to what the messengers had said ? No ; Lot was rather a timid man, not bold and prompt like Abraham. He was good at heart and always meant to do right ; and, as a rule, with some exceptions, was a good man. And so the Ruler of the World did not want to punish him as he was going to punish the other people in those cities. But, as we see, there was something weak in the character of Lot, which had been there all along. And we are rather glad for this reason that he was not to be the founder of a great family like Abraham. Lot, instead of moving on at once to the mountain, began to plead with the messengers, asking that he might be spared from doing this; and this is what he said to them : "Behold now thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; if I escape to the mountains, evil will over- come me and I shall die ; there is another city not far away: may I not go to it? Oh, let me escape thither and my soul shall live." And the Lord took pity on Lot, seeing the weaker side of his character, and said to him: "I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city of which thou hast spoken. Haste thee ; escape thither, for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither." Hence Lot fled away with his wife and two daugh- ters to this other city, which was called Zoar. Then THE PATRIARCHS. 71 came the awful event which had been threatened as a punishment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. It began to rain. The rain this time was not like that at the time of the Flood. It was not cold water falling upon the earth, drowning it little by little. Rather, it was hot fire from the heavens brimstone and fire coming down steadily upon Sodom and Gomorrah from the skies. And it went on raining brimstone and fire hour after hour, until the two whole cities were cov- ered with it, and all the people in them were destroyed, and the houses and palaces and homes and market places were burned down, and everything was covered with the fire and brimstone. Nothing was left not even a sign, so that no one would know that any cities had ever been there. But sad to say, something very painful happened to the family of Lot during this awful calamity. One cannot help feeling that some sort of punishment would be visited on them for their hesitation in not being ready at once to obey. It seems, as we are told, that Lot's wife, as they went along, got to thinking more and more about their home in one of those cities, and how much they were giving up by leaving it; and then I fancy she might have thought that, perhaps, after all, the awful destruction would not come and that they were foolish for being so afraid. How did she know that wickedness gets pun- ished in this way? Had not those cities gone on for a long time, the people doing just as they pleased, and nothing bad had happened to them? And, as she got to thinking in this way, she began to linger behind. The others were moving very fast, walking or run- ning, to escape to the city of Zoar, and they did not notice that she was not with them until it was too late. She had turned around and looked back, then stood still, hesitating whether to return, or to run on again with the others. And as she stood there, the rain of fire and brimstone fell down upon her, coveringi her all over, so that her body remained like a pillar of salt. When Lot and his daughters escaped to the city of '72 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. Zoar, they found, to their sorrow, that the wife and mother was not there with them. It was too late for them to do anything. Nothing was to be done, for they knew she must have perished. And all the while there was Abraham over in his tent, waiting to see what would happen, hoping that his plea had saved the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is said that early in the morning of the next day he arose and looked out far away to where those cities had been; and you know what he saw. As we are told : "Lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace." And that was the end of those two wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. To THE TEACHER: Make this a theme suggestive of the awfulness of wickedness as such, and how of itself it deserves punishment. Stir a feeling of horror in regard to it, as if somehow and sometime it must meet with punishment. In a vague way, hint at this as a law of history, or of the very nature of things although not saying it in precisely these terms or trying to explain the process. Touch again upon the troubles of Lot. Make a good deal of the terible mistake of Lot's wife in not doing exactly what was commanded. Point out the danger of wanting to do what is right and what is wrong at the same time, or of not being obedient at heart. Dwell upon the beautiful picture of hospitality in the beginning of the story. Make much of the pleading of Abraham, because of the way it has gone into the common speech of the world. Show pic- tures of the Dead Sea, as the supposed site of Sodom and Gomorrah. Put on the blackboard the terms or expressions : "Look not behind thee" and "Entertain- ing angels unawares." MEMORY VERSES : Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked? Per adventure there be fifty right- eous within the city; wilt thou consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? Far be it from thee to do after this manner, to consume the righteous with the wicked. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? CHAPTER VIII. Abraham Tested. You must learn a little now about the boy Isaac, the child of Abraham and his wife, Sarah. As Ishmael had gone away with the other wife, Hagar, this child, you see, was all the dearer to Abraham. He kept thinking what a great, strong man the boy would be- come when grown up, and how he could depend upon him to take his place and be the head of the tribe and receive all his wealth when he should die. I fancy he cared more for this boy than for all his flocks and herds and silver and gold taken together. Probably he would rather have lost them all money and flocks and herds and have nothing left, than to have lost this boy Isaac. Abraham had been quite an old man when Isaac was born. He did not expect, therefore, to have any other children ; hence his whole heart was set on this boy. He liked to go wherever the child went, and play with him and educate him in every possible way. It was plain that he loved his child much more than he had ever loved himself, because, as we have said all along, Abraham was not a selfish man. All the while, as we are told, the Ruler of the World had been watching over Abraham and his family, think- ing how this man might be the father of many nations, and how all the world should be blessed through this man's family. And he decided to put Abraham to a test. You know what that means being put to a test. It comes pretty hard, sometimes ; and any num- ber of people have failed who have been put to a test. They may have been looked upon as good and true and strong and brave. They may have thought that 73 74 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. way of themselves, never doubting that they would do what was told them, and would stand up always for what was right. But, then, when the test came, and the trial was before them, they would break down altogether, because they were not as strong as they thought they were; they had been weak and did not know it. This, of course, would be an awful blow to them and to all who knew them. It would almost seem as if Abraham, being an old man now, had been put to enough trials and that he should have had peace for the rest of his days. But no; the Lord Over All was determined to put him to one more severe test; and it was the most awful one that could be thought of. It was to be decided whether Abraham would obey, even if he was commanded to give up his darling boy, Isaac. And so one day the Great Ruler spoke to him and said: "Abraham !" and he answered obediently, "Here am I." Then came the awful words think how they must have struck on the father's heart "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of M'oriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mount- ains which I will tell thee of." You know what this meant. You remember we described the altars at the time when Adam and Eve were bringing up their sons, Cain and Abel ; and you recollect how Cain and Abel made their offerings on an altar. It meant, you see, sacrifice sacrificing life. Usually it was the life of some tender young animal. But now Abraham was called upon to offer up the life of his own son his only child in obedience to the Lord's command. Can you think of any severer test? Was it not something awful for poor old Abraham? He had waited so many long years for this child it was his last hope in order that he might have a family to come after him. If this boy were to be taken away, he felt sure he would go down in sorrow to his grave. It would not have surprised us much if Abraham, >n his old age, had refused, and said No. It may b THE PATRIARCHS. 75 we should have almost forgiven him, because of his great love for his only son, Isaac. But far back in his younger days Abraham had begun by learning how to obey. When he had been told to arise and leave the land of the Chaldees, he started out into an unknown country without a question, and started at once. It had been his practice all his life to obey rules and com- mands. And now, therefore, in spite of the anguish in his heart, he did not wait. I suppose from this moment all the joy of life went out for him; probably he never expected to have any happiness again for the rest of his days. But there was one thing he was going to do, anguish or no anguish : He was going to obey. Early in the morning he took two of his young men with him, and Isaac, his son : and he prepared the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went to the place of which the Great Ruler had told him. It was quite a long distance from where he lived to this other land, at that time, two or three days' journey. This made it seem all the harder and made the test much worse. Many persons can obey if they can do at once what has been told them ; but when they must wait quite a while, and thus have time to think it over, then it is another matter. And all this while, throughout all the weary journey, Abraham must have been thinking deeply thinking of his only child, whom he was to give up. I am sure he could not have slept one moment, day or night, while on that journey. The temptation must have been very severe for him to change his mind and go back again. But the habit he had formed of always obeying, staid with him now. Long and weary as the journey was, he did not falter. On he went, with his boy, until he came at last to the land of Moriah. When all was ready, Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife ; and they went both of them together. As yet the boy knew nothing of what was to hap-* pen. He had been educated to obey in the same way 76 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. as his father, Abraham. He did not even ask any questions, but followed on faithfully during those sev- eral days in which they journeyed. But now, when everything was in readiness, he turned to his father and said: "My father?" And the father said: "Here am I, my son/' And the boy said: "Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" And Abraham said: "The Lord will pro- vide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." And so they went, both of them, to the place together. And Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. All this time the boy said never a word. He did not know what was to be done. He asked no more questions, but quietly submitted to whatever Abraham was doing, with a full trust in his heart. The moment had arrived. The sacrifice was to be made. Abraham was ready for the test to stretch forth his hand grasping the knife, and slay his son. Then the Ruler of the World knew that this man could be trusted, and could obey, that one man at least was willing to give up, and not always wanting to have his own way. As Abraham was just about to strike with his knife, he heard a voice speaking to him, saying, "Abraham !" And he answered, "Here am I." And the voice con- tinued : "Lay not thine hand upon the lad ; neither do thou anything unto him ; for now I know that thou art willing to obey my voice, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son." Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and there was a ram near by, caught in a thicket by his horns. He felt that he was called upon to make a burnt offering of some kind on the altar, and so he went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in the stead of his son. Once more, then, came the promise which Abraham had received in his younger days. Now he knew what it meant. And the voice of the Great Ruler said to him again: "Because thou hast done this thing and THE PATRIARCHS. 77 hast been willing to give up thy son, thine only son;; remember that in blessing, I will bless thee. In thee and thy family shall all the nations of the earth be blest." And so Abraham, with a glad heart, took his boy and went back home again, happy that his son was spared and that he had shown courage and fulfilled his duty. To THE TEACHER : This is a most important lesson, add yet one which may be found very difficult to handle in just the most suitable way. You wish to make the children feel that Abraham did right in obey- ing, and yet not to let them feel that human sacrifice can possibly be right in itself. In a vague way, how- ever, you can suggest that one's duty stands even above father or mother love and must always come first. If the questions should come as to why Sarah was not also consulted, the answer may be given that it was not the custom in those days for mothers to have the same position of authority in the family as at the present time. Speak of it all as belonging to a far, far away world. Discuss what a "test" means, and show how people are constantly being tested in small things without knowing it. Dwell much on the obedient spirit of Abraham, this great man who had had so much power and was so free to do as he pleased.. Point out the gentle spirit of Isaac and his trust in his father. Emphasize the promptitude of Abraham's obedience. MEMORY VERSES : Lay not thine hand upon the lad; neither do thou anything to him; for now I know that thou art willing to obey my voice, seeing that thou hast not uithheld thy son, thine only son. Because thou hast done this thing and hast been willing to give up thy son, thine only son, remem- ber that in blessing I will bless thee. In thee and thy family shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. CHAPTER IX. The Choice of a Family Tomb. By this time, as you will see, Abraham and Sarah had become very old. And in those days, according to the stories that have come down to us, people used to live a good deal longer than they do at the present time. Abraham and Sarah were, both of them, as we are told, over a hundred years old. And now, just as the boy Isaac was growing .up into young manhood, his mother died at the age of one hundred and twenty- seven. We can hardly realize all this nowadays. We are certain that Abraham was very sad over the loss of his wife, and must have shed many tears. It came very hard for him to part with her in his old age, although it was not quite so great a blow to him now, because he had a boy, Isaac; and he remembered the promise that had been made to him, how, through him and his family, some time in the future all the world was to be blessed. The occasion had come for him to choose a family tomb or burying place. Up to the present it would seem as if he had thought nothing about it. If he had been back in his old home in the land of the Chaldees, where he had been born, it would have been easy enough to have found a suitable tomb for his family. But, you see, here he was, alone with his flocks and herds and the people around him the herdsmen and their families but, for the most part, among strangers who had been living in Canaan long before he had come there. It was necessary, therefore, that 78 THE PATRIARCHS. 79 he should go to them and arrange to have them allow him a burial place in their land. And he addressed them in these words : "I am a stranger and a sojourner near you ; give me possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead." You notice, Abraham was inclined always to have very modest manners. He always spoke humbly, as you remember. He did not put himself forward or talk boastfully, or act as if he had a right there, because he was a man of great wealth. He went to these peo- ple in a simple manner, therefore, and told them his need, asking them that they would grant his request. I suppose it was this way that Abraham had which caused him to be so successful and prosperous there, and led him to make so few enemies. It was plain that the people among whom he was a stranger thought very highly of him, because this is what they said in reply : "Hear us now ; thou art a mighty prince among us ; in the choice of our sepulchres, bury thy dead; none of us hath withheld from thee his sepulchre ; take the one thou desirest." Certainly this must have pleased Abraham very much, that these people among whom he had been a stranger should speak so kindly to him; and he must have been more than glad that he had always been mod- est and humble in his conduct towards them during all the years he had lived there. It must have been a great happiness to him in this bereavement, to know that he had friends all around him who felt kindly toward him. He ^ thought carefully over the matter for a while as to just where he would like to have a sepulchre for his family, in which he would lay the body of his wife Sarah away. It was a very important matter to him, because now he thought of his family in future times, and how the place he might choose would become the family tomb. At last he made up his mind and said to the people: "If it be your mind that I should bury my dead in this land, then hear me and entreat for me to Ephron, the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which is in the end of his field ; for 80 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. the full price let him give it to me in the midst of you for a possession of a burying place." And so they went to Ephron and told him the desire of Abraham; how this prince and stranger amongst them desired the cave of Machpelah in the field belong- ing to him. It may be that Ephron had wished to keep this cave for himself as a tomb for his own family. But he was generous about it, and was quite willing to give it up. A large number of people had come together and were assembled at the gates of one of their cities in Canaan waiting to hear the reply which he would make to Abraham. And this is what he said to him: 'Nay, hearken unto me. The field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it to thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it to thee ; bury thy dead." Then, as we are told, Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land. He felt very much pleased, indeed, over the kindness on the part of Ephron. He wanted somehow to show his gratitude at least to pay something for the land which was given to him. And so he said to Ephron : "If thou wilt, pray thee hear me: I will give the price of the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there." I fancy that Ephron would rather have given the land outright to Abraham, and not received any money for it at all. But he saw that Abraham wanted to pay for it, and would feel happier if allowed to do so. The money was nothing to him, as he had wealth enough already; but he was going to act in the same spirit of kindness with which he had begun, and so he said to Abraham : "My Lord, hearken unto me : a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver what is that betwixt me and thee? Bury, therefore, thy dead." This made it all right, and everything was satisfac- tory between the two men. And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron, and he weighed out the silver which had been named to him, four hundred shekels of silver. And in this way the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the THE PATRIARCHS. 8l borders thereof round about, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession, before all that went in at the gate of the city. Abraham was now ready to bury the body of his dear wife Sarah. He had found a family tomb and was to place the body away in the cave in the field of Machpelah, in the Land of Canaan; and the field and the cave that is therein were made sure unto Abraham ever after as a burying place for his family. To THE TEACHER : The story is introduced mainly because it forms a part of the general narrative. If you can do so, emphasize the gentle spirit of Abraham and the beautiful relationship between him and the peo- ple of the country. Show how he displayed the right spirit as a stranger in not being arrogant because he was very rich and powerful. Emphasize the evil of arrogance. MEMORY VERSE: I am a stranger and so journey near you; give me possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead. CHAPTER X. Choosing a Wife for Isaac The Death of Abraham Abraham was now left without a wife, all alone with his boy Isaac. He had his great tent, in which he and his boy lived with the herdsmen all around him alone with all his wealth of silver and gold and flocks of sheep and herds of cattle. But one thing troubled the old man. He did not want to die until his boy Isaac should have a wife. If only this could be arranged, then the old man felt he could die in peace. In those days it was a usual thing for a father to choose a wife for his son ; and Isaac was now a grown man and ready to marry. But Abraham did not want his boy, as he thought of him, to marry among strangers. The people there did not have the same customs. They had been kind enough to him, and he felt very kindly toward them. But still he wanted very much, indeed, that his son should have a wife from among his own people, far away in the land of the Chaldees. He did not quite know how to arrange it at first. He was an old man too old, I suppose, to travel very far. Then, too, you remember, he had been charged to go away and remain in Canaan ; and somehow it seemed to him that if he were to return to the land of the Chaldees, he might break the command which had been laid upon him. What is more, it struck him for the same reason that he ought not to send Isaac back there. You see how careful he was to obey. Through all these long years, since he had been a young man, he had remembered the command put upon him by the Great Ruler, how he was to go far away into this new country and found a home and family there. THE PATRIARCHS. 83 And so, after awhile, when he had thought about it quite a long time, sitting evening after evening in the front of his tent, he finally decided how he would act.% It came to him at last that he would send one of his men far away to the land of the Chaldees, who should try and find a wife there for Isaac and bring her back to him here in Canaan. Perhaps it was not a very easy thing to do; but he was going to carry out this plan, if possible. He called one of his men to him, whom he knew he could trust, and there, in the evening time, in the cool of the day, he said to this man : "Put, I pray thee, thy hand on my thigh." And thus the man did, as he was told to do, without asking any questions. He knew that something very important was coming, because this was an old custom among people in those days and meant a great deal. And when the man had done so, Abraham asked of him a solemn promise, saying : "I will make thee prom- ise that thou shalt not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the people here in Canaan, among whom I dwell; but that thou shalt go to my country and to my kindred and there take a wife for my son Isaac." The man thought about it. He wanted to make the promise ; but he did not see how it could be carried out easily. He might take that journey, and after he got there find that there would not be any father who would allow his daughter to go back with him alone into the land of Canaan. Then he said to Abraham, in the language of those days: "Perad- venture the woman will not be willing to follow me into this land ? I need to take thy son with me." Now, this is just what Abraham did not want. He would not listen to it for a moment; for this would seem to him, as we have said, as if he were breaking the command laid upon him many, many years ago. He was going to obey. And he answered the man, say- ing: "Beware that thou bring not my son into that country. The Lord over all told me to come here and leave the land of my nativity, and said that I should 64 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. make this my home, and found my family here in Canaan ; go thou, therefore, as I have told thee ; if the woman be not willing to follow thee, then shalt thou be clear from thy promise ; only go thou, and try ; if it is not possible, yet thou shalt not bring my son there." Then the man knew he must do his best and try, at any rate, to get a wife for Isaac in the land of the Chaldees, without taking Isaac with him. You see, people there had learned to obey Abraham and do what- ever he told them. The man, therefore, put his hand again on the thigh of Abraham and made the promise. Then he took ten camels and started away, having with him also a great deal of wealth from Abraham, which he might use as gifts among the people to whom he should go. In those days it was usual to travel with camels, be- cause they had to go over very long sand wastes or deserts, where there was no water to drink. They had to carry their water with them, and, as you know, camels can go a long time without drinking. And so the man started with his camels, making up what was called a caravan, and came at last to the land where Abraham had been born, into a city called Nahor. He had been thinking all the while, as he traveled over the desert with his camels, what he should do and how he should try to find a wife for Isaac. And as he drew near the city he saw a well of water close by, and he made the camels kneel down and drink from the well. In that faraway country they did not have many wells and a great supply of water such as we have in our cities nowadays. Most of the wells were situated just outside of the cities ; and it was the custom for the people to come out at evening-time and draw water. Then, too, in those days it was the women, rather than the men, who came out to draw water. All of a sudden, after all his thinking, it came to this man how he would act in choosing a wife for Isaac. He said to himself: "Behold, I stand by this well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city will THE PATRIARCHS. 85 come out to draw water ; now let it come to pass that the damsel that was what they called the young girls in those days to whom I shall say, 'Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink/ and she shall say, 'Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also' ; let the same be she whom I shall choose as wife for Isaac." Can you see why he decided to act in this way? I think it must have been because he felt that the one who should offer him water to drink, and also give water to his camels, would naturally be a woman of a kind and true heart just the sort of wife he would want to find for the son of his dear old master, Abra- ham. It was not a bad way, after all, because he was among strangers and could not have been able to de- cide very easily in any other way, even if he had gone from one family to another. The moment had come, therefore, that was to show whether a wife could be found for Isaac here among the people in the land of the Chaldees. The sun was just setting and the air was becoming cool, when the man saw the women passing out from the gate of the city. And as he waited, behold, he saw a beautiful young woman approaching, whose name was Rebekah. She drew near, and went to the well and filled her pitcher with water. Then the man approached her and said gently : "Give me to drink, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher." I suppose she was startled at first; but it was a rule in those days to be kindly towards strangers, and this girl had evidently been well brought up. There was something about the man so gentle that she had no fear. And she answered kindly : "Drink, my lord;" and she laid down her pitcher and gave him a drink. Then the man waited, seeing what she would do, or how she would act. So far it had gone all very well and he felt quite pleased. As he stood waiting, she turned to him and said: "I will draw for thy camels also, until they have done drink- ing." And she emptied her pitcher and ran again unto the well to draw, and drew for all his camels. 86 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. All this time the man was looking steadfastly upon her, not saying anything, but making up his mind that this was the girl whom he would choose as a wife for Isaac. The more he looked upon her, the more pleased he was with her kindly spirit. Then it occurred to him that he ought to show his respect for what she had done; and so he took out a beautiful gold ring and some beautiful bracelets made of rich gold, of the kind people wore in those days. And he said to her: "Whose daughter art thou?" as he gave her the ring and bracelets. And he went on to say : "Is there room in thy father's house for us to lodigte in?" And she said to him: "I am the daughter of Bethuel of this city ; we have both straw and prov- ender enough and room- for thee to lodge in." Then the man said to himself, "It has all come out right ; I am sure I have found a wife for Isaac." In the meantime, Rebekah went home and told her mother and the people in her home what had happened. Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban; and he ran out and saw the man, and he said to the mes- senger from Abraham, not knowing, of course, who he was : "Come thou in ; wherefore standest thou with- out ? We have prepared the house, and there is room for the camels." And so Laban showed the man into the house and ungirdled the camels, giving them straw and provender, and the water for the man with which to wash his feet and the men's feet that were with him. All was going well now, and the messenger from Abraham was pleased and satisfied. They set meat be- fore him to eat, in order to satisfy his hunger. And what do you suppose he did? Most persons I fancy would at once have taken the supper set before them, and explained afterwards what they had come for. But not so with this man. He must first do what he had been told to do. And so he said to them : "I will not eat until I have told my errand." And they an- swered : "Speak on." And then he said : "I am the servant of Abraham. My master has been very much blest and he has become great; he hath THE PATRIARCHS. 87 flocks and herds and silver and gold and men servants and maid servants and camels. And Sarah, my mas- ter's wife, had a little child when she was old, and to this child my master will give all his riches. Now, my master Abraham made me promise, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife for my son from the people in Canaan where I dwell, but thou shalt go unto my father's house and to my kindred and there take a wife for my son/ And I said unto my master, 'Peradventure the woman will not follow me?' And Abraham told me to go and try and find a wife there among his kindred ; and I have traveled a long distance and I came this day unto the well just outside the city, and I said to my- self, 'Let it come to pass that the maiden which cometh forth to draw water, to whom I shall say Give me, I pray thee, a little water from thy pitcher to drink, and she shall say to me, 'Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels,' let this same woman become the wife for Isaac/ And before I had done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder and she went down to the well to draw. And I said to her, 'Let me drink, I pray thee/ and she made haste and let down her pitcher and said, 'Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also/' So I drank, and she bade the camels to drink. And I asked her, 'Whose daughter art thou ?' and she answered and said, 'I am the daughter of Bethuel/ Then I gave her the ring and the bracelets and I bowed my head and was happy to think perhaps I had found a wife for my mas- ter's son. Now, if you will deal kindly with my mas- ter, tell me that I may turn back with a wife for his son Isaac." Then they said to him, feeling it was all right: "Rebekah is before thee : take her and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife." Then the servant knew that all was right ; that everything was coming out just in the way it was desired by Abraham. And so he brought forth the gifts which he had car- ried with him, jewels of silver and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah. He gave also 85 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. to her brother and to her mother precious things. And then he did eat and drink and the men that were with him, and tarried all night. In the morning he rose up and said, "Send me away now unto my master." But it seemed very hard to the father and mother that they should part at once with their dear child. They wanted at least that she should remain with them a few days longer, as they might never see her again, since she had to go into a far country, where they themselves had never been. And so they said: "Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at least ten days ; after that she shall go." But the messenger remembered that Abraham was an old man ; and he felt he ought not to wait any longer. He had come all this journey over the desert in order to get a wife for Isaac, and he thought he ought to go back right away. And he said, therefore, to them : "Hinder me not; send me away that I may go to my master." Then they thought the right way would be to let Rebekah decide for herself. So they turned to her and said : "Wilt thou go with this man ?" I suppose it must have been very hard for her to decide so abruptly. There she was with her dear father and mother and family. But she also thought of what the man had told her about old Abraham sitting there, far away, waiting patiently for the return. And she said at last: "I will go." Then came the parting. It was beautiful, although very sad. Rebekah belonged to a large family, and they all came together, father, mother, brothers and sisters, and bade her good-bye, placing her on one of the camels for the long distance she had to travel over the desert to the land of Canaan. I fancy at first she may have cried and felt very sad at parting so suddenly from home and father and mother and all the rest. But she was young, and she knew she was going away to become the wife of a good and true man. And as she traveled on and on, she kept wondering to herself what kind of a man her husband would be. In the meanwhile you can readily fancy that Isaac THE PATRIARCHS. 89 must have been growing a little impatient back there in Canaan, waiting for the woman who was to become his wife. Abraham, as an old man, felt it would come out all right; and he said nothing. But at last Isaac could not wait any longer. He went out thinking per- haps he would meet the caravan on its homeward jour- ney. And sure enough, there in the distance, when he lifted up his eyes, were the camels approaching. And Rebekah, looking ahead, saw Isaac, and she alighted from off the camel and said to the messenger : "What man is this that cometh to meet us ?" And he answered "It is Isaac, the son of my master Abraham the man whom thou art to marry." At this she drew down her veil as Isaac approached, and so at last the whole cara- van arrived in the presence of Abraham. This certainly was a pleasant home-coming. Re- bekah became the wife of Isaac, and Abraham was well satisfied. He was completely happy now, and felt that the time had come when he should be ready to die. He was now one hundred and sixty-three, and older than Sarah had been at her death. At last the end came to the good, patient, obedient old Abraham. The aged patriarch who had lived all his years among strangers in the land of Canaan was now at rest. And they laid his body away along with the body of his wife Sarah in the family tomb in the cave of Machpelah. Isaac then became the head of the family while all his father's wealth fell to him. But he had been brought up well and was a brave, strong, true young man, and lived in the same true, simple way as his father Abraham had done. To THE TEACHER: This is to be told more as an exquisitely beautiful story from early times. Each detail should be dwelt upon. Go over the narrative a number of times, if possible. Again bring up the loyalty of Abraham ; how he never forgot the commands laid upon him and how obedient he was to the spirit of a charge as well as to the letter. Emphasize how the servant had quite the same spirit in his obedience 90 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. to Abraham. Show a picture of a caravan and of "Re- bekah at the Well." Point out the gentle modesty of Rebekah and her sweet spirit of helpfulness. At the end of the chapter it might be well to go back and have a review of the stories about Abraham. Too much cannot be made of the beautiful character of this man as a union of gentleness with greatness. MEMORY VERSE : / will not eat until I have told my errand. Hinder me not; send me away that I may go. to my Master. CHAPTER XL Jacob and Esau. We have been narrating some beautiful stories about Abraham and his family there in Canaan. But now I must come to something else in my tales, which is very sad. I wish it were possible for me not to say anything about it. I wish it had never happened at all. It ought not to have happened, because it was something very bad indeed. But, as you know, people in the world are not all good; and then too, some people are not very good and not very bad. Now and then it happens that people who are not very bad in their characters, may do really bad things which they have to regret all their lives. I have to tell you the story of two brothers, and at once it will make you think about the story of those two brothers, Cain and Abel. But this is not about a murder, although it is something almost as bad. One of these brothers for some reason did not always speak the truth; at times he would acually tell lies; and I think you will feel after you have heard it all, that this brother was almost as bad as Cain. But you must know about this, because it is a part of our story and there is no way to avoid it. You must know something about the evil which has taken place in the world, as well as about the good which is there. My story is about two children of Isaac and Rebekah. It seems that their first boys were twins; and they called one Esau and the other Jacob. These boys were not at all alike in their ways or their characters. As they grew up Esau became fond of hunting, and as this was one way of making a living in those days, Esau became a hunter. But Jacob, on the other hand, 91 92 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. liked the work which had been followed by his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham. He lived in tents and kept flocks and herds. Now, although these two boys had been "twins," as we say, yet Esau had been born just a little before Jacob and was therefore called the elder son. And it was customary in those days that the eldest son should receive what was known as the "birthright." This meant that he should have most of the wealth owned by his father after his father's death; not only that, but that he should be the head of the whole family or tribe. And as Esau was the eldest of the two brothers, it was established that he should receive the birth- right later on and become the head of the family. And Isaac, the father, had thought of it in this way all along. But the boy Jacob was not pleased that his brother Esau should receive the birthright. He kept thinking that he wanted it for himself, and that he would like to become the head of the family after his father's death. This was not right, because the law of the land had fixed it otherwise; and he should have been con- tent and made the best of it. I am quite sure that his father Isaac would not have left him without anything at all. What Jacob really wanted, I suppose, was the honor of being the head of the family. And the more he thought of it, the more he made up his mind that in some way or other he would try to get that birth- right even if he had to steal it from his brother. As we have said, if he were to do this, he would have to be deceitful and tell lies. But it may be that he thought that inasmuch as he was twin brother with Esau, he had about as much right to the honor as Esau himself. And when people want anything very much, sometimes they do not stop to think of the bad conduct they may have to* be guilty of, in order to get what they are after. I do not really suppose that Jacob at the start intended exactly to cheat or lie or to steal ; but he just wanted that birthright. What is more, he felt somehow that his brother Esau, as a hunter, was not quite the right sort of a man to become the head of THE PATRIARCHS. 93 a family. Then, too, perhaps Esau himself would not care about it. In the first place, Jacob would have to get Esau to promise to give up his birthright. Unless this was done there would be no hope for him. And now what do you suppose Jacob did? It was something awfully mean. One day, Esau, who had been hunting, came in very hungry indeed. He had not eaten anything for a long while, and was so weak and faint that he could scarcely stand. He thought he was about to die for lack of food. And there close by him stood Jacob with some red pottage in his hand, the kind of food which they had there in those days. Esau, almost at the point of death, faint and weak from hunger, scarcely able to stand, raised himself up and turned to Jacob, and said with a weak voice : "Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for I am faint." Jacob saw that he had his chance. I hate to tell you what he did, it was so mean and selfish and wicked. There was his brother almost dying of hunger ; and this is what he said to Esau: "Sell me first, thy birthright/' Esau could do nothing. He thought to himself, I shall die of hunger unless I give in to what Jacob asks of me. And so in order to get food and save himself from dying of hunger, he promised his birth- right to Jacob. This is why we often hear nowadays about "selling one's birthright for a mess of pottage." Yet while this had taken place between Jacob and Esau, the father Isaac knew nothing about it. Probably Esau had not told his father, and I am sure Jacob had begun to feel ashamed of it and did not say anything about it himself. But the time had come when Isaac was an old man and just about to die ; and he had to give his "Blessing," as it is called, to his elder son Esau, handing over to him the family wealth and making him the head of the family. The custom was at such a time that the eldest son should kneel before his father, while the father would lay his hands on the son's head and speak the blessing, and then give him all the wealth and make him the 94 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. head of the family. It seems that Esau and Jacob had been born when Isaac was quite an old man, so that by the time they grew up, the father was about to die. Now came the moment when Jacob would have to make up his mind whether he would try to carry out his plan of getting the birthright and blessing away from Esau. He had not talked about it any more since he had stolen the promise from his brother in that cruel way. It may be that he wished he had never done this ; yet he had not lost his desire for that birthright. He went on thinking about it just the same. And what makes it all the more sad is that his mother cared more for him than she did for his brother. This had been very wrong in Rebekah, and we cannot help blaming her for it. While she possessed a kindly spirit, as was shown by her treatment of the messenger at the well in the land of the Chaldees ; and while she had been a true and loving wife to Isaac ; yet this favoritism was not just the right thing. She wanted to get the birth- right for Jacob, as much as he wanted it himself. She did not want it to go to Esau. In the meantime, Isaac, the old father, who was now almost if not quite blind, called Esau, his elder son, and said unto him, "Son/' and he answered, "Here am I." And Isaac said : "Behold I am old and shall soon die ; now therefore, take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go to the field and take me some venison ; and make me savory meat such as I like and bring it to me that I may eat ; that I may give thee my blessing before I die." And Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke in this way to his son Esau, and at once began to think how she should act in order to get the birthright and blessing for her other boy Jacob. This is not a pleasant story, and I am glad we shall be through with it soon. But we must go on. Rebekah made up her mind that she would deceive her husband Isaac. And so she said to Jacob, "Behold I hear thy father speaking unto Esau thy brother, saying 'bring me venison and make me savory meat that I may eat and give thee my blessing/ Now, there- THE PATRIARCHS. 95 fore, my son, obey my voice and do what I tell thee. Go thou to the flock and fetch me thence two kids and 1 will make savory meat for thy father such as he likes, and thou shalt take it to thy father that he may eat, so that he may give thee his blessing instead of giving it to Esau." It is very sad to think that the mother of Jacob should have asked her son her boy to go through this lie in order to cheat and deceive her aged husband. It may be easier for us to forgive Jacob, because it was urged upon him ; yet we cannot help thinking he ought to have refused at once. A father is a father, and a lie is a lie. But now that Jacob knew how his mother wanted that he should have the blessing and become the head of the family instead of Esau, he had not the strength to say No. He had thought about this all along, and the temptation was very great. Then too, he had made the beginning in the way he had stolen the promise from Esau a long while before. And he said to His mother : "My father will feel me; behold, my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man ; I shall seem to my father as a deceiver and he will curse me rather than give me his blessing." Then the mother said to him: "Upon me be the curse, my son ; do thou obey my voice and go and fetch the kids/' And he went and brought the kids and gave them to his mother and she made savory meat such as his father liked. Then Rebekah took the raiment of Esau which was with her in the house and put it upon Jacob, and she put the skins of goats upon his hands and upon the smooth of his neck, and she gave the savory meat and the bread which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. Then he came unto his father and said, "My father," and the father said, "Here am I ; who art thou ?" and Jacob answered Just think of this ! I wish we did not have to tell you the words; but we must "I am Esau thy first born. I have done according as thou badest me. Arise, I pray thee ; sit and eat of my venison and then give me thy blessing." Isaac for a moment suspected something. I am not 96 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. sure but that he knew of the character of Jacob; be- cause a boy could not have acted this way towards his brother and not have in some way done other mean acts. It is hard to think that a father should be obliged to feel this way about his boy; but it could not be helped. There was that awful deed which Isaac knew nothing about, when Jacob had stolen that promise about the birthright. And since that time, Jacob had never been the good, honest boy he had been before; there was something about him different in his voice. And the old father before becoming blind, had some- how seen this in his boy and had been troubled about it. He was now going to make very sure that the son before him was Esau, and so he said : "Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son ; whether thou be my very son Esau or not." And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and the father felt his hands and his neck and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice but the hands are the hands of Esau." You see, he could not tell, because of the way Rebekah had put the cloth- ing and skins upon Jacob. I cannot help wondering why Jacob did not tremble or let the venison fall, when saying those words to his old, blind father. But Isaac asked him again, "Art thou my very son, Esau?" and Jacob said "I am." And then the old father said : "Bring near to me the venison that I may eat of it." And Jacob brought it to him and Isaac did eat. Then Jacob knelt down before the old man, and the father raised his hands to lay them upon the head of Jacob and give him the blessing, making him the head of the family and giving to him all his wealth, saying: "Let people serve thee and nations bow down to thee ; be ruler over thy breth- ren and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee. Cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be every one that blesseth thee." It is certain by this time Jacob must have been trembling all over at the thought of the awful lie he was guilty of. But Isaac would not have understood what the trembling meant. At last the blessing was over and Jacob went away. At the very moment when THE PATRIARCHS. 97 Jacob passed out, Esau came in with his venison, bringing it unto his father. And he said to Isaac, his old father: "Let my father rise and eat of his son's venison and give him the blessing." Isaac must have been quite overcome when he heard this, as he gasped out: "Who art thou?" And Esau answered him, "Thy son, thy first-born, Esau." And Isaac answered, "Who then, is he who hath taken venison and brought it to me and I have eaten of it before thou earnest and have given him the blessing?" Then Esau understood. It must be he had forgotten how, years before, when very hungry and at the point of death, he had promised his birthright to Jacob for some food. But it all came back to him now when he had lost that birthright and was no longer to be the head of the family. And he cried out with an exceed- ing great and bitter cry, saying unto his father, "Bless me, even me, also, O my father." It was too late. The blessing had been given; the words had been spoken. According to the law of that country when the words had been said, they could not be taken back. And so the father could only answer: "Thy brother came with venison and hath taken away thy blessing." But still Esau kept pleading with his father, asking if he had not also a blessing for him, and Isaac could only answer : "Alas, I have made him thy ruler, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; what then shall I do for thee, my son?" But Esau kept saying to his father, "Hast thou not one blessing for me, my father? Bless me, even me, also, O my father !" and Esau lifted up his voice and wept and the poor old father wept with him. But there was nothing to be done. The blessing had been given. Jacob was to become the head of the family. To THE TEACHER: In the analysis of the character of Jacob, dwell upon him all along as a weak man rather than one thoroughly bad. Show how such a person tends to become underhanded or 98 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. "tricky" by his very nature. Point out a certain want of manliness about Jacob. Emphasize the positive awfulness of deceiving one's father as if it were almost like parent-murder and most of all, an aged blind father. On the other hand, be very careful in the way you speak of the sin of Rebekah. It should be regarded more as giving way to a weakness. We must be careful about encouraging children to pass judgment upon mothers. Suitable pictures will not easily be found for this lesson. Poor ones would be worse than none at all. MEMORY VERSE: Hast thou not one blessing for me, my father? Bless me, even me, also, O my father. CHAPTER XII. Jacob in a Distant Land. By this time it was known what Jacob had done. It may be that he was already sorry for it. In fact, I feel quite sure of this, because from all we know about him he had not been really a bad boy nor a bad man. He had given in to an awful temptation by permitting himself to think about something which he had no right to think of at all. But now there was no help for it. Even if he had been sorry and desired so much to give back the birthright, according to the law of the land he could not do it. The words had been spoken; he had re- ceived the blessing, and so had to become the head of the family. At the same time, his mother Rebekah knew quite well that Esau would be very angry, and she was afraid that in his anger he would make bold to kill Jacob. I hate to tell you all this about Rebekah, be- cause in other ways she had been a good wife to Isaac. She had made the sad mistake of showing favor to one of her two sons. Now, therefore, she was going to be punished, because she would have to part with Jacob after all. She could not have him with her any longer. She would have to send her son away, and be left there with the old, blind father, Isaac, knowing that he no longer could trust her, and feeling how unhappy he must be for all the rest of his days. So Rebekah, thinking about the safety of her son Jacob, called him to her and said: "Behold, thy brother Esau may try to kill thee; now therefore my son, obey my voice ; arise, flee thou to Laban my broth- er, back to my former home in the land of the Chal- 99 IOO THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. dees. When Esau has forgotten what thou hast done to him, or his anger has passed away, then I will send word and fetch thee back again." Jacob, now a full grown man, left his father and mother, to go far away from his home into another country, feeling somehow that even while he had re- ceived the blessing of his father Isaac, yet in another way, a curse must follow him. I doubt very much if he was happy ; and we should feel pretty sure that troubles would come to him some time. It is quite true that all people have trouble; yet those who do right may be happy in spite of misfortunes coming to them. But we can be sure that when troubles came to Jacob, they would be troubles indeed. He would never be able to get over the thought of the wrong he had done to his brother Esau. I am certain that the memory of it all would stay with him to the end of his days; so that when- ever anything happened to him or any trouble came, he would at once think it was a punishment for the way in which he had stolen that birthright from his brother, and for the way he had deceived his old father in telling that lie when getting the blessing. But he came at last to the far away country to which he had been sent, and found his uncle Laban, who, you will remember, had come out years before to the well to meet the messenger of Abraham, going there to get a wife for Isaac. This is the way the story is told to us : Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the children of the east. And he looked, and behold a well in the field, and lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying there by it, for out of that well they watered their flocks; and a great stone was upon the well's mouth. And thither were all the flocks gathered. And Jacob said unto them: "My brethren, whence are ye? Know ye Laban, the son of Nahor?" And they said, "We know him." And he said unto them, "Is it well with him?" And they said, "It is well, and behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep." THE PATRIARCHS. BOI And Jacob said, "Lo, it is yet high day; neither is it time for the cattle to be gathered together; water ye the sheep and go and feed them/' And they said, "We cannot, till all the flocks be gathered together, and the stone be rolled from the well's mouth; then we water the sheep." You can be sure that Jacob was glad at last to come to the home of his uncle Laban, although it may be that he was not quite sure how Laban would receive him. When a man has done anything wicked, he somehow feels as if everybody will know about it and will dislike him for it; although there had not been time for rumor of the conduct of Jacob to have reached this far country, so that Laban might know of it. Yet Jacob could not be quite sure of this, for he felt very mean and ashamed because of the way he had treated his old father and stolen the birthright from Esau. He did not go at once, therefore, to meet Laban, but waited to see what would happen, and staid there with the flocks, talking with the men. And while he was speaking with them, Rachel, the daughter of Laban, came with her father's sheep. You know in those days the daughters worked like the sons, in the field, helping to tend sheep along with their brothers or their father. One hears of shepherds and also of shepherdesses ; and Rachel was a shepherd- ess, keeping her father's sheep. As Rachel drew near with her flock, Jacob stepped forward in a manly way and rolled the stone from the well's mouth and watered the flock for her. Then he told her who he was, trembling lest perhaps she should know what he had done. But he was glad at heart when she received him kindly and rushed away at once to tell her father about it all, how the son of his sister Rebekah had traveled a long distance and come back to their home. Laban at once came out and greeted Jacob, thinking of the time a long while ago when he had parted with his dear sister. And so he met the young man and embraced him and brought him to his house. And Jacob asked him that he might stay there for awhile and live with Laban, IO2 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. working for him and helping him to take care of the flocks and herds as if it were his own home. We do not suppose he had at first intended to stay there a very long while. But he was glad enough for the kind welcome which had been given to him; and I think he was also more than glad to be away from anything which would keep making him think of the way he had cheated his brother and his old father. Laban was quite willing to have him stay there as a member of the family, but he said to him kindly: "Because thou art a relative, my nephew, is no reason why thou shouldst work for me for nothing. Tell me what shall be thy wages ?" Then Jacob began to think. He did not at first want to serve for money. When he had come to that well and rolled away the stone and helped Rachel to water her flock, he had been pleased with this young woman and thought how glad he would be to have her sometime for his wife. And now that he was in the home and saw more of Rachel, that thought came over him very often. And so in reply to Laban's question, he said: "I will serve thee seven years for Rachel, thy younger daughter." This seemed to please Laban and he answered: "It is better that I give her to thee than that I should give her to another man. Abide with me." In those days it was the custom sometimes for people of the same kindred to marry each other, al- though it might strike us as a little strange nowadays, this marriage between Jacob and Rachel. But when the seven years had come to an end, the first really great blow fell upon Jacob. Up to that time he had always had his own way. He had managed to carry out his scheme and get the birthright and the blessing ; and it may be that he fancied it would always be that way and that everything would go on prosper- ously for him all his life. But it worked just the other way. The first trouble had come. When the seven years were up, Jacob turned to his uncle Laban and said: "My time is fulfilled: give me Rachel for my wife and let me go." Then Laban THE PATRIARCHS. IO3 gathered together all the men of the place and they had a great feast. But when the time came for the wedding, instead of giving him Rachel, he gave him the other daughter, Leah, for his wife. Just think how Jacob must have felt! There he had gone on, working year after year, hoping and looking forward to the time when he could have this beautiful young Rachel for his wife and then return to his native land. Now he saw that she was not to be his wife after all. I fancy then for the first time, it must have come over him what troubles he would have all the rest of his days, and I am sure he said to himself, "This is the beginning of my punishment." And so Jacob turned to Laban after the feast, when Leah had been given to him for his wife, and said: "What is this that thou hast done unto me? Did I not serve thee for thy daughter Rachel? Why then hast thou deceived me?" And Laban answered, "It is not done this way here, to give the younger before the other child. Go on in your services and I will give thee the other also, Rachel, for the service which thou wilt serve with me yet another seven years." They still had the custom I have told you about, where the man could have more than one wife; and so in those days it seemed all right that Jacob should first marry Leah, and then serve another seven years that he might have Rachel. He had been very fond indeed of the beautiful young girl who had met him at the well. Seven years seemed a long time; but he thought of the happiness in store, and if by this means he could have Rachel in return for his labor, he would be willing to serve even yet another seven years. Then too, it may have crosesd his mind that if he could wait fourteen years there would be less danger when he returned home, from the anger of his brother Esau. And Jacob served another seven years, and hence won Rachel for his wife. I suspect he began to know what it meant for people to deceive him, just as he had deceived his old father. How long after this Jacob may have staid with Laban in the land of the IO4 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. Chaldees I do not know; but it was quite a number of years, until he had a large family some eleven sons altogether. At last he made up his mind to leave Laban and return to his native home. Then he gathered his children together and all his flocks and herds for he too, had now become a rich man and he felt he must go back to become the head of the family in Canaan. It was his duty to do this now, whether he cared for it or not, inasmuch as he had received the blessing, and the law of the land made it so that he could not give it away even if he wanted to. Just after the birth of his youngest boy, Joseph, Jacob said unto Laban, "Send me away that I may go unto mine own place, into mine own country. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go, for thou knowest my service wherewith I have served thee/' Then Laban askd him what wages he desired besides his daughters which he had given to Jacob. And Jacob made this reply: "I will pass through all thy flocks today, re- moving from thence every . speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and of such shall be my hire." And Laban said, "Behold, be it according to thy word." And then Jacob departed with Leah and Rachel and his sons with all their flocks and herds, and came back to the land of Canaan. But there was one thing that troubled Jacob very much. He knew that Esau was there, that he would have to meet him ; and he was not quite sure, even if he should ask forgiveness, just how he would be received. By this time of course, he had no need of the wealth of his father, because he had much property of his own. But there was no way of getting out of it. He had deceived his old father and stolen the birth- right from his brother. All this must have spoiled the pleasure of this home-coming, in spite of the fact that he now had all the wealth he wanted, and his wives and children with him. He could not be happy, for he kept thinking, THE PATRIARCHS. IO5 "What will Esau say? How will he act? Will Esau forgive me ?" At last he could think of no other way than to send messengers on ahead to Esau, announcing his coming, bidding them to say to Esau: "Thus saith thy servant, Jacob : I have sojourned with Laban and staid until now, and I have oxen and asses and flocks, and men servants and maid servants, and I have sent to tell my lord that I may find grace in thy sight." And the messengers went on and found Esau and told him of the coming of Jacob, and returned again, saying: "We came to thy brother Esau, and now he cometh to meet thee with four hundred men with him." You can fancy what a state of mind Jacob must have been in. The messengers could not say in what sort of a mood Esau was. They could not tell him whether Esau was going to be kind and forgiving, or whether he was coming with all these men to attack Jacob and kill him. And we are sure that Jacob feared the worst, because his conscience troubled him very much. But there was nothing for him to do but to go on with his family and his flocks and herds, until he should come up with Esau and they should meet as brothers. The first thing he did was to pick out a large number of sheep and cattle from the flocks and herds, along with other wealth, and to send this on as a present to Esau, saying to the messengers: "When Esau, my brother, meeteth thee and asketh thee, Who art thou, and Whither goest thou? and Whose are these also? Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau." And so Jacob thought to himself; I will do my best to please him with the presents I will send on ; and when I come to see his face, it may be that he will receive me and that we will again become brothers. At this time, it seems, Jacob's name was changed. It may be because he had really changed in character. His conscience had troubled him a great deal, I sup- pose, and he had made up his mind that for the rest 106 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. of his days he would try to be a good and true man. The Ruler of the World, who had known what was going on all the while, must have felt sorry indeed about him, and was glad now, we assume, to see that a change had come in the character of Jacob. And so he decided to give him another name, and told him that hereafter he was to be called Israel, and that his family and those who should come after him should be called Israelites. In the meantime, there was Jacob with his new name, Israel, waiting for the coming of Esau, and he looked up, and behold, there was Esau drawing nigh, and with him the four hundred men. Then, leaving his wife and children behind him, Jacob went forward and bowed down humbly seven times before his broth- er. There was nothing else for him to do. If his brother should come forward to kill him, he would not resist. He would wait and accept whatever happened. And how do you suppose Esau acted? Years had gone by, and his anger had passed away. He too had his own flocks and herds, his own family and his own wealth. He was more than glad to meet his brother again, and so Esau ran forward and threw his arms around Jacob, and they wept together. Then after awhile, he raised his eyes and saw the women and children before him, and asked : "Who are these with thee?" And Jacob told him they were his family. Then the children drew near, and the wives, Leah and Rachel, and they bowed down to Esau, who at once asked, "What does all this mean this company which has come out to me?" And Jacob answered : "To find grace in thy sight." And Esau put out his hand and said : "I have enough ; my brother, let that thou hast be thine." This was a hard blow to Jacob; very hard indeed. He wanted somehow to make up for the awful wrong he had done to his brother; and he felt it would be something if he could only make a gift of some kind to Esau. So he pleaded, saying: "Now I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand, inasmuch as I have seen thy face, THE PATRIARCHS. IO7 and I am glad to meet thee. Take, I pray thee, my gift that is brought thee, because I have enough." Do you think Esau ought to have taken it? He did not care for it. Then too, if he did receive it, perhaps it would seem as if, aftef all, it made up for the loss of his birthright. I fancy many a man would have refused it and said, "This is too much ; I cannot take the gift, for I cannot let it seem as if I had never been wronged in that way." Blut not so with Esau. He had forgiven his broth- er ; and so he accepted the gift. Then Esau went back to his own home, and Jacob arrived with his flocks and herds, and all his family once more in the land of Canaan, where, long before, his father Isaac and his mother Rebekah had been buried in the family tomb, the cave at Machpelah. To THE TEACHER: Carefully point out a certain good side to Jacob in his readiness to "serve" for Rachel, pointing out what a mixed character we dis- cover in him. The feeling to be aroused about Jacob would be rather one of pity or at times of contempt. Make the young people see that to be pitied for weak- ness of character is almost as bad as to be despised. Dwell upon the disposition to deceit in those days, in Jacob's experience with Laban, and how he got just what he deserved. Ask the question as to whether Esau should have accepted the gift offered to him. Let the children have their own opinions upon it. Show a picture, if possible, of Jacob meeting Esau. Fix definitely in the memories of the young people the importance of the change of name to "Israel." These are incidents of value in the knowledge to be acquired by the children. MEMORY VERSE: / have enough, my brother; let that thou hast, be thine. CHAPTER XIII. Joseph and His Brethren. Our story now comes to Jacob and his family. We shall have a great deal to say about his twelve sons. But I must begin by telling you something about the youngest son, Joseph. Hereafter, instead of speaking of his father as Jacob we shall use the other name, Israel. All along we have felt that this was not going to be a happy family. It had not begun right, because the life of the father in his younger days had started in the wrong way. For a timje it seemed as if all would go well, now that they were back in the Land of Canaan, in the country which had been promised to their family by the Great Ruler. By and by, however, I am sorry to say that trouble arose among all those boys. One after another they grew up into young manhood, and had their own families, taking chargle of their father's flocks and herds and having the great wealth which had come down to them from Abraham and Isaac, as well as what they had been able to add, themselves. It seemed that Israel became very fond of his favorite boy, Joseph. He made a pet of him, as we should say, showing more care for him than for all the other sons taken together. If there was anything nice for any one of the children, it was kept for Joseph. We can be quite sure, therefore, that the other brothers would not be pleased with this. It would not strike them as fair that their father should pay all attention 108 TEE PATRIARCHS. ICX) to their youngest brother and not think of them. And so we can see that by and by they would become jeal- ous of him, then come to dislike him, or to hate him and wish to do him evil; and this is the bad thing about jealousy. Exactly as we have said, instead of loving Joseph as the youngest of the family, they be- gan to dislike him and then to hate him.. And the more they hated him, the more fond of him was the father Israel ; until finally, in order to show his affec- tion for the lad, he made him a coat of many colors, which of course put the boy forward as more impor- tant than the other sons. What is more, I frankly admit that, owing to all this, the boy Joseph began to be spoiled, as we say. You know what that means, being a "spoiled" child. At heart Joseph was a good boy and meant to do right. But nobody can be petted in this way and have the best things given to him, and the rest of the family be neglected, without, by and by, becoming selfish and inclined to think of himself as being of more impor- tance, and perhaps to "show off" or "brag" a little. And this is what happened to Joseph. In spite of his good heart and honest character, he began to talk, knowing as he did, how much his father loved him more than the other brothers. For instance, one time Joseph had a dream and he told it to his brothers, al- though he ought not to have done so, because in the way he spoke, it made him look more important and made them hate him more and more. He said to them : "Hear ye, I pray, this dream which I have dreamed: behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo my sheaf arose and stood upright, and behold, your sheaves stood round about and bowed down to my sheaf." You can see at once what this meant. He was put- ting himself forward even before his older brothers. He ought not to have done this. And still we cannot blame him very much, because he was quite young and did not know better, and his father was spoiling him. But this made his brothers very angry, as it implied he would rule over them. And they said to him : "Shalt I IO THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. thou indeed reign over us ?" Then, as we are told, they hated him all the more. When Joseph saw how his brothers felt, surely he ought to have known better than to tell any more dreams. But he was spoiled still more ; and so when he had another dream he went and told it to his brothers in this way: "Behold, I have dreamed onpe more: the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me." This time, how- ever, his father did not like it and rebuked him for it, seeing that it meant that even the father was going to be ruled over by him. And Israel said: "What is this dream that thou hast dreamed ? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren come and bow down ourselves to thee to the earth ?" At last, you see, the father began to find out the mis- take he had made in spoiling Joseph so much. By this time the boy was about seventeen years old. One day while his brothers were taking care of the flocks in a place called Shechem, Israel found it necessary to send word to his other sons. And he said to Joseph : "Do not thy brothers feed their flocks in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them." And Joseph said, "Here am I." And Israel said to him, "Go and see whether it be well with thy brothers and well with the flocks and bring me word again." Joseph started out, but he was not much accustomed to traveling; in fact, like spoiled children, he did not know how to do anything for himself; and this was very bad indeed. Yet he could not help it; he had been brought up that way and he was to suffer for it by and by. He went, therefore, trying to find his brothers, and came to Shechem ; but they were not there. Then a certain man found him wandering in the field and asked him, saying, "Whom seekest thou?" and Joseph answered, "I seek my brethren; tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks ;" and the man answered, "They are departed hence, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.' " And Joseph went after his brethren and found them at last in Dothan. Now, in the meantime, those brothers had been talk- ing a good deal by themselves while they were taking THE PATRIARCHS. Ill care of their flocks. They had grown more and more jealous of Joseph and had begun to dislike him exceed- ingly, because they thought their father liked him so much that he neglected them and did not treat them fairly. And while they were talking together they saw him approaching. Then all of a sudden the thought struck them that they would seize him and put him to death. It was an awful thought to come to them that they would actually slay their own brother. But this is what they said: "Behold, this dreamer cometh ; come now therefore, let us slay him and cast him into one of the pits; and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams." I am happy to say that one of the brothers refused to allow any such wickedness. He felt that there was no way of talking his brothers out of their desire to get rid of Joseph, and so he said: "Shed no blood; cast him into a pit nearby there in the wilderness and lay no hand upon him." You see it was Reuben's plan to get the boy out of the pit later on and send him back to his father. And, as we are told, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, they stripped him of his coat of many colors that was on him and they took him and cast him into the pit, and the pit was empty ; there was no water in it. Now, if nothing else had happened, all might have gone well and Reuben might have saved the boy and sent him home. But as the brothers sat down to eat their bread, a caravan of Ishmaelites came by on their way to Egypt; and Judah, one of the other brothers, said : "What is the use of slaying our brother by put- ting him this way into a pit ? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, so that we shall not have to feel that we have caused his death, inasmuch as he is our brother." Then the other brothers hearkened unto Judah. They lifted Joseph out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmael- ites as a slave, for twenty pieces of silver. Reuben had not been there when this took place, and he still thought Joseph was in the pit. Later on, therefore, he went alone to the spot in order to take him out and send him 112 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. home. And behold, Joseph was not there. Then Reuben was terribly sorry and rent his clothes, and he returned to his brothers and said: "The child is not; and I, whither shall I go? So the other brothers told him what they had done ; and they felt that the only thing they could do was to deceive their old father Israel by making him think his boy was dead. They took the coat of many colors and dipped it in the blood of one of the flock and brought it to their father, saying, 'This have we found; know now whether it be thy son's coat or not." And poor Israel saw, then, what a blow had come upon him. As far as he knew, the darling of his heart had been devoured by wild animals. The troubles of his life had not come to an end, although Esau had for- given him. Once more he had to think of the wicked- ness of his younger days as he said to himself : "The punishment is coming now." And he could only an- swer to his sons : "It is my son's coat ; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces." And the dear old father rent his garments and put sackcloth about him which was the custom in those days in time of sorrow and he mourned for his darling son many days. The rest of his sons and daughters tried to comfort him in every way they knew how, but he refused to be comforted and said : "I will go down to my grave mourning my son that is lost." All the while you see, throughout this life of Israel whose name had been Jacob we keep thinking how the wrong conduct of his earlier days was being punished. And I suppose he was all the while thinking of it him- self ; for, as we have said, whenever anything happened to him, his conscience would trouble him and he would feel that he was being punished for his crime against his brother Esau. To THE TEACHER: The "Joseph Cycle" of tales make one continuous narrative. But in order to fix the incidents firmly on the mind it were better to divide them into a number of separate stories. Have some discussion as to the characters of the various brothers THE PATRIARCHS. 113 and the shades of guilt or innocence which they dis- played. Raise the question : Did Joseph get what he deserved ? Was he really proud or vain ; or was it only because he had been spoiled ? Give as the first answer : Wait and see. Show how it is that in a young person we cannot always judge, although the person may per- haps himself know. Dwell on the phrase, because it has become classic, "coat of many colors." Discuss what sort of a garment it may have been. Ask whether the bad feelings of the brothers were justified ; or if the brothers should have considered and reflected that Jo- seph may have been a little spoiled as the youngest child. Indicate how a dark thread of deceit seems to run all through the experiences in the life of Jacob, as if an avenging judgment was pursuing- him. Show how he never seemed to be happy or sure of anything. Introduce a picture of a caravan taking Joseph down to Egypt. You may find it necessary to explain about the "Ishmaelites" as descendants of Hagar and Ishmael ; if possible the point could be passed over. MEMORY VERSE : I will go down to my grave mourn- ing my son that is lost. CHAPTER XIV. Joseph in Egypt. You can feel pretty sure that Joseph was no longer a happy boy ; for he had been a spoiled child and was being punished for it now. He could not go back to abide with his father. He was being carried into Egypt as a slave, where he would be sold and have to do hard work and not have any home of his own, and no mother and father to think about him or care for him. By this time he had come to his senses. His real character began to show itself ; and he no longer acted like a spoiled child, as when he told his dreams to his brothers. You will want to learn about what hap- pened to him there in Egypt. And I might say that a great deal happened to him, because by and by he be- came a very important person there, owing to his good conduct and to the manly character he displayed later on. He was bought as a slave by an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, whose name was Potiphar, a captain in the army there. For a time Joseph was treated very kindly because he was so well behaved. He was given a good place in the house and was made an important person in the family. It was there that an evil temp- tation came to him which I must tell you about. It seems that Potiphar had a beautiful wife, who, however, was not a good woman, and was not a true wife to him at all. She became very fond of Joseph, and so one day she suggested to him that he should be- come her husband. This is something awful even to think about. But when she proposed it to him, Joseph, like a true man, said to her: "Behold, my master knoweth nothing about this and hath put me in charge 114 THE PATRIARCHS. 1 15 of everything in the house. There is none greater in the house than I ; neither hath he kept back anything from me. How then can I do this great wickedness?" And she caught hold of his garment in order to per- suade him ; yet he would not listen to her and ran out of the house. But she had hold of his coat, and as he ran away it slipped off, and she held it in her hand. Then of course she was awfully afraid. She did not know but that Joseph would go and tell her husband what she had proposed. She had a bad heart and was going to do anything to save herself from punishment ; hence she decided that she would accuse Joseph of having suggested to her that she become his wife and leave Potiphar. And when Potiphar came home she stepped forward to meet him before Joseph might see him, and she said : "Thy slave which thou hast kept in this house came to me and proposed that I should be- come his wife and be untrue to thee; and dost thou know, it came to pass that as I cried out, he left his garment by me and fled ? Then, of course, Potiphar, believing his wife and not knowing how untrue she was, grew very angry with Joseph and put him in prison. And there was poor Joseph, the pet of his father, Israel, after having been sold as a slave by his brothers, now cast into prison there in Egypt. Yet we cannot help admiring him and feeling sure that it would all come out right by and by, because he had been brave and true. You see, when people have the best kind of a character, other people g-et to know of it by and by. And they discovered this little by little ; the keeper of the prison saw what a good, noble young man Joseph was, and after having been told what Potiphar had done, he made Joseph keeper of the prison there, giving him a position of honor. But I am quite sure that Joseph was not happy dur- ing the time he had this position of honor, for he was not his own master and could not go back to his dear father Israel. Yet there was nothing for him to do but stay there and do his duty as best he knew how. Little by little, in one way or another, Joseph began Il6 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. to be of more and more importance; until by and by Pharaoh, the king, heard of him. The way it all came about was something! rather strange, and we should not quite understand it nowadays. In those times people thought a great deal about dreams. You can see this from the way Joseph told his dreams to his brothers and his father, and how uneasy they had been made by those dreams. Nowadays we think nothing about dreams, and know they do not mean anything at all. They are just dreams and nothing more. As it was, at that time they were always vtery much troubled when some very striking dream came to them, and they wanted to have it explained. Now Joseph, having been a very bright boy, had a keen mind, and he had learned how to give interpretations of dreams. At any rate, it showed he must have had a great deal of mind. , By and by the king, Pharaoh, had a dream which troubled him very much. And he sent for different men to see whether they could interpret his dream. One after another came and told him all sorts of things. But he was not satisfied. Finally he was told of this young man, the keeper of the prison, a slave who seemed to know how to explain dreams. And Pharaoh sent for Joseph and told him his story, and Joseph did the best he could to tell him what it might mean. He explained how, if the dream were true, a famine was coming in Egypt, so that after there were a number of years of plenty, there would be a number of years of want. As we know, famines were not unusual there in Egypt. They happened every now and then. In certain years there would not be enough water for the land and noth- ing would grow. During the hundreds and thousands of years people have lived in Egypt this has taken place a great many times. It seems that Pharaoh the king thought that Joseph was right, and decided to act on the interpretation of his dream by this young man. And it all turned out just as Joseph had suggested. For a number of years the country was very prosperous : and then after a while famine came. There was no water for the land. The THE PATRIARCHS. II? corn became parched and dry. But owing to the fact that Joseph had suggested how all this might come to pass, the king had taken great pains to have enough food saved up during the years of plenty, so as to keep the people from starving to death during the famine that followed. By this time you can be sure that Joseph was no longer just a mere keeper of the prison. No; Pharaoh the king had promoted him to be an officer in the pal- ace. He was still, in a sense, a slave ; not belonging to himself; yet he had a very high position and was a great man in Egypt in the palace there of the great king Pharaoh. To THE TEACHER: Be careful in this lesson not to make too much of dreams. Treat the matter as belonging to another age and another world, when many things were different from what they are nowa- days. The main point in this lesson is to show the de- veloping character of Joseph, how well he resisted temptation now that he had to act for himself. Yet do not let the children feel that he had not been to blame for his foolish pride when at home with his brothers. What made his pride the more contemptible at that time was that it was for something on the out- side. Now that he was showing, real character and knew there was something- on the inside to be proud of. he was learning to be humble. The analysis here could be carried out further with advantage. CHAPTER XV. The Meeting 1 of Joseph and His Brethren. In the meantime, I am certain Joseph would be think- ing a great deal of his old father Israel, far away there in Canaan, up in the north ; and it happened that this famine we have told you about spread beyond Egypt, up to where Israel and his family lived, so that there was a great scarcity in that country as well. The word had gone abroad how there was still plenty in Egypt owing to the great foresight of king Pharaoh. And so Israel decided to send his sons down to Egypt in order that they might bring provisions back for their need in Canaan. And this is what he said to his sons : "Why do ye look upon one another? Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt ; get you down thither and buy from thence that we may live and not die." And the brothers of Joseph started off down to Egypt, although one of their number was kept behind. You see, Israel had begun to suspect something. While he thought it probable that his youngest child Joseph had been devoured by some wild animal, I fancy he did not quite like the way his sons looked whenever he mentioned the name of Joseph ; and furthermore and this is very sad to think of he knew that he had been deceitful himself, and thought possibly that his sons might also have acted in this way. However, after losing Joseph, he had made a great pet of his youngest boy, Benjamin, who was born after they had left Laban, years before. He began to feel towards him in the way he had felt towards Joseph. And so he decided that he would not send Benjamin with the others, saying to himself : "Peradventure lest mischief befall him." 118 THE PATRIARCHS. 119 And the ten brothers came to Egypt in order to buy corn. Now, Joseph was the chief officer and had charge of the sale of the corn to all who should come. Just think how hard it must have been for him to control himself when suddenly in walked his ten brothers seek- ing to buy corn from him. But he knew he must be very quiet for a time and control himself and not make himself known to his brothers. In order to do this, he put on a stern look and used rather rough language, saying: "Whence come you?" and they said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food." They did not know Joseph, however, because he was so much older now and had changed so much during all the years he had lived in Egypt. Then Joseph said to them, "Ye are spies," meaning by this to suggest that they had not come for the sake of food, but to do some harm to Egypt. But they an- swered, "We are all one man's sons. We are true men, thy servants are no spies." Now Joseph knew that they had not been true men; and he had to be very careful indeed until he found out just what they were after. In the first place, he saw that his youngest brother was not with them, and so he put them to a test. He said to them : "Ye shall not go forth hence unless your youngest brother come thither. Send one of you and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be bound; that your words may be proved whether there be any truth in you ; otherwise I shall be obliged to think ye are spies." At last, after he had kept them all there for a num- ber of days, he saw that probably it would be impossi- ble for them to send one of their number to get their brother ; and so he decided to let the others go, keeping only one of them behind, in order to make sure that the next time they came they would bring their youngest brother. And he said to them : "If ye be true men, bring your youngest brother unto me." They had begun to feel that a punishment was com- ing upon them for what they had done to Joseph. I am glad to notice that even in those early times when people did wrong, they became uneasy, their con- I2O THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. sciences troubled them, and they regretted what they had done. Then Reuben said to them 'Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child? And ye would not hear. Therefore, behold, we are to be punished." You see they were talking together in the presence of Joseph, using their own tongue, while Joseph had learned to use the language of the Egyptians. They did not know, therefore, that he understood them. You may wonder how he could ask about Benjamin without arousing their curiosity or suspicions ; but we assume they had been obliged to report about their family, as they were strangers from another country; hence probably it did not surprise them that he should have spoken in this way. But you can imagine the feeling of Joseph as he heard his brothers talking about him, knowing what they were saying among themselves. For a little while it was more than he could stand. He got to thinking about his dear father, how fond he had been of him ; about his home, which he might never see again. He thought so deeply about all this that he was obliged to turn away to hide his tears. After he could control himself, he came back and ex- plained to them how he should retain Simeon until they should return with their younger brother Benja- min, assuring them that if they did this he would no longer think of them as spies. In the meantime he gave the order that their sacks should be rilled with corn, and that their money should not be taken, but that it should be put back into their sacks. They did not know anything about this, of course, and started homeward on their journey, very much troubled as to what they should tell their father in regard to their brother Simeon, who had been left behind. On their way home, as they were obliged to open one of their sacks, for food, they found the money lying there in the mouth of the sack. This troubled them very much indeed, because they thought it would look as if they had stolen the money ; although we take it for THE PATRIARCHS. 121 granted that Joseph had done this out of the kindness of his heart, not wishing to take any money for what was to go back to his own family, or to his own father. By this time they were a most unhappy set of brothers, you can be sure. But they journeyed on and came at last to the land of Canaan, and approached their father in order to explain to him what had happened. This is what they said to Israel : "The man, the lord of the land, spake roughly to us and took us for spies of the country. We said to him, We are true men, we are no spies ; we be twelve brothers, sons of our father ; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. And the man, the lord of the land, said unto us: Hereby shall I know ye are true men. Leave one of your brethern with me and take corn for the family of your house and go and bring away your youngest brother unto me ; then shall I know ye are no spies and are true men. So will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall have traffic in the land." Poor Israel was unhappy enough now. He did not know what to think. He had lost Joseph, and now it looked to him as if he would have to lose Benjamin. He did not know, either, whether this was all true; whether he could trust what his sons had told him or not. And he cried out : "Me have ye bereaved of my children ; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away; all these things are against me." The punishment for the sins of his early years were enough upon him now almost greater than he could bear. Then Reuben said to his father : "Slay my two sons if I bring him not to thee; deliver him into my hand and I will bring him to thee again." And he said, "My son shall not go down with you. for his brother is dead and he is left alone. If mischief befall him by the way in which ye go, then shall ve bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to the grave." They waited a while until the corn and provisions which they had brought from Egypt were exhausted. And Israel said to them, "Go again, buy us a little food." Then Judah spake unto him, saying, "The man 122 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face except your brother be with you. If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food, but if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, Ye shall not see my face except your brother be with you." And so Israel grew more and more suspicious and more and more unhappy as he thought about it, not being able any longer to trust his own sons, as he said : "Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother ?" And they said, "The man asked us of our state and our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive and, Have ye another brother, and we told him according to the tenor of these words. Could we know that he would say, Bring your brother down?" Alas for Israel! Moaning and sorrowful even yet over the loss of Joseph, he now feared that he must lose Benjamin likewise. But what could they do? There was no food; nothing was left for their flocks and herds and family, and it looked as if they must starve to death. And now Judah said to his father; "Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and thou and also our little ones. I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him; if I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever." It was too late for Israel to refuse. They must have food. There they were at the point of starvation. The flocks would die, and the cattle would die ; there would be nothing left for them to eat. And so he had to give in. But he said : "If it must be so now, do this : take of the best fruits of your land in your vessels and carry down to the man a present ; and take double money in your hand, both the money that was returned in the mouth of the sacks and other money besides. Take also your brother and arise and go to this man again, and may he release unto you your brother and Benja- min. If I am bereaved of my children, J am be- reaved!" THE PATRIARCHS. 123 To THE TEACHER: Indicate how a general thread of woe or punishment seems to run all through these stories about Joseph and his father Jacob not as if each person always at once gets what he deserves, but as if there were a kind of judgment in the air hanging over wickedness. This is the lesson of the period which should be brought home to the young peo- ple. The somber tone running through the narrative should be imparted as a sentiment. The shading is sad and dark. People do not seem to be happy, and they do not deserve to be, if they are going to tolerate so much wickedness. Again dwell upon the pathetic side of the life of Jacob, the seeming failure in spite of outward prosperity. Indicate the same weakness in the man in the way he had favorites with his children. Touch on the thread of judgment, in the fact that his career began by just such weakness toward himself on the part of his mother. Show a picture of the "Meeting of Joseph and His Brethren." MEMORY VERSES: Me have ye bereaved of my children; Joseph is not and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away; all these things are against me. My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he is left alone. If mischief befall him by the way in which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to the grave. CHAPTER XVI. The Second Journey to Egypt. And now those brothers, the sons of Israel, were to go back again to see if they could get more food, and to try if they could bring back their brother Si- meon; hoping also to learn why it was that the man there in Egypt thought of them as spies and wanted to meet their brother Benjamin. When they had ar- rived in Egypt, and Joseph had learned that Benjamin was with them, he told the steward to bring them all to his house to have them dine with him there. And the man did as Joseph had told him and brought the men to his home. But the brothers were afraid when they were brought into Joseph's house, not knowing what was going to happen to them. They did not want to go in; and they said to the steward: "We came indeed down at the first time to buy food; and it came to pass when we came to the lodging place that we opened our sacks, and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of the sack, our money in full weight, and we have brought it again, and other money have we brought in our hands to buy food. We know not who put our money in our sacks." You see, they were afraid they would be accused of stealing the money. But it was going to turn out all right, as the steward said : "Peace be with you ; come, and fear not. I had your money." Then he brought Simeon out unto them, and they came into Joseph',*, house, and water was given them and they washed their feet, and food was provided. Then they made ready the presents when Joseph should arrive, after they had heard that they should take their meal there. And when Joseph came home, they brought him 124 THE PATRIARCHS. 125 the presents which were in their hands into the house and bowed down before him, and he asked them : "Is your father yet alive?" And they answered him: "Thy servant, our father, is well, and yet alive." Then Joseph lifted up his eyes and saw his younger brother, Benjamin, and said, "Is this your younger brother Benjamin, of whom ye spake unto me?" And as he said this it was too much for him. There was his dearest brother whom he had not seen for years. He could not stay with them, he was so overcome, other- wise they would know at once who he was. He had to go away for a while to shed tears. When he was able to control himself, he washed his face and came out and ordered that food should be set out for them. Then Joseph told the steward to fill their sacks with as much corn as they could carry, and to put every man's money in his sack's mouth. And he said something else, that was rather strange: "Put my cup, my silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest." This of course meant Benjamin. I suppose Joseph did this in order to show his love for his dear brother the next in age to himself. The time had not come when he thought it best to make himself known to them; but his heart was so full that he had to take some way of showing his feelings ; and he did it in this way by giving} to Benjamin his precious silver cup. Then they all departed, the eleven brothers, re- lieved at last of what they had been afraid of, and happy to think that they could go back and restore Simeon and Benjamin to their father. But in the meantime, Joseph had finally concluded that the time had come to make himself known to them. He was pretty sure now that they had no feeling of hate for him. And so he said to his steward : "Up, follow after them, and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them : Where is my silver cup ?" And the man over- took the brethren of Joseph, the sons of Israel, and spoke these words to them and of course they did not know what to make of it. And they answered: "Behold, the money which we found in our sack's 126 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. mouth we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan; how then should we steal out of thy lord's house silver or gold? With whomsoever of thy ser- vants it be found, let him die, and we also will be thy lord's bondmen." They hastened to take down every man's sack; and search was made, beginning with the sack of the eld- est, going at last to the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Then the brethren rent their clothes. They did not know what to make of it. Once more it struck them that trouble had come again because of their former wickedness. There was nothing to do but to go back to the city. And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house, for he was yet there, and they fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said unto them : ''What deed is this that ye have done?" And Judah said: "What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? how shall we clear ourselves? Behold, we are my lord's bondmen, both we and he also with whom the cup is found." And Joseph said: "No, but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my bondman ; and as for you; get ye up in peace unto your father." Here was a sad state of affairs! Benjamin to be retained! What would the old father think? What could they tell him? He would begin to suspect that they had done with their youngest brother as they had done with Joseph. And they felt it would be awful for him to lose Benjamin also. Trouble was upon them now, more than enough of it ! And Judah made an appeal to Joseph, not knowing of course whom he was speaking to, saying: "O, my lord, let thy servant I pray thee speak a word into thy ears. My lord asked his servants, say- ing, have ye a father or a brother ? And we said unto my lord, we have a father, an old man, and the child of his old age, a little one, and his brother is dead. And thou sayest unto thy servants bring him down to me that I may see him. And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave him, his father would die. And thou said unto thy THE PATRIARCHS. 127 servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more. And it came to pass that when we came up unto thy servant, my father, we told him the words of my lord. And he said, Go again and buy us a little food, and we said, We cannot go down if our youngest brother be not with us ; and thy servant our father said unto us, One of my children went from me, and I said, Surely he is torn to pieces, and I have not seen him since, and if ye take this one also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to the grave. Now therefore, when I come to thy servant, my father, and the lad be not with us, seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life, he will die and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant my father in sorrow to the grave. Therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren ; for how shall I go up to my father and the lad be not with me? lest I see the evil which shall come upon my father." Remember, it was Judah saying this to the very one whom he and his brothers had sold into slavery in Egypt. You can see what Joseph had found out at last that Judah was willing to stay there himself as a bondman, in order that his younger brother Benjamin might go back to his old father. It was plain that the men were different from what they had been when they sold him to the Ishmaelites years and years be- fore. But it had all come out as Joseph had hoped it would come out. If he had not done this, he would never have known whether his brothers had repented of what they had done to him. See what a good thing it was that he had waited up to this time before making him- self known. It must have been hard enough indeed not to have at once sent word to his old father that he was alive and prospering. It is not easy for us to understand how a speech like this could have come from Judah, because it shows what a change had taken place in the man's heart after 128 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. all these years. But the time had come when Joseph could restrain himself no longer. There he was, alone in the land of Egypt, among a people to which he did not belong. He had been thinking for years of the time when he could return alone to his home and to his kindred in the land of Canaan and see his dear old father once more. And so he ordered that everybody else should leave the room where they were, save himself and his brothers, and there stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known to his brethren. The tears were run- ning down his face as he said : "I am Joseph ; doth my father yet live?" You can fancy what a shock it must have been to those men there his elder brothers. At first, they were afraid. They wanted to go away from his pres- ence. It was the conscience within them awakening and stirring them to the memory of how wickedly they had acted. And Joseph cried out : "Come near to me, I pray you." And they came near. And he said: "I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now, therefore, be not grieved nor angry with your- selves that ye sold me hither. For it has all turned out well. Haste ye and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph: Come down unto me ; tarry not ; and thou shalt dwell nearby in the land of Goshen, thou and thy children, and thy chil- dren's children, and thy flocks and thy herds and all that thou hast, and there will I nourish thee through the famine, for the famine is not yet over." Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept ; and Benjamin wept upon his neck, and they all began to talk together. To THE TEACHER: There is no special lesson to be drawn from this chapter save in the generous spirit manifested by Joseph. There might be some questioning as to the essential traits of the character of Joseph in contrast with the other brothers. Show how the spirit of Abraham seemed to reappear in the THE PATRIARCHS. I2Q attitude of gentle courtesy on the part of this grand- son as seen in his words and behavior. It could also be hinted that perhaps Joseph was now realizing that he had been somewhat to blame, and therefore felt more ready to forgive. He had learned a sad lesson from his boyish pride. Touch on the filial feeling he displayed in the language used about his old father. MEMORY VERSE: / am Joseph; doth my father yet live? CHAPTER XVII. The Death of Israel. Soon it was made known to Pharaoh the king what had happened, because Joseph was such an important man now in Egypt. And Pharaoh, who was very fond of Joseph, told his brothers to go back into Canaan and bring their father and their families down into Egypt, where they should be well provided for. This is what King Pharaoh said to them: "Now thou art commanded, this do ye : take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father and come, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours." Then Joseph provided them with wagons according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them pro- visions for the way, with raiment and silver and money as they needed. Besides this, he sent his father a great present to show his love for him. You can be sure that they were only too glad, these brethren, to get back into the land of Canaan and to tell their father that Joseph was alive. They knew how ashamed they would be when they had to make it known to him ; but they were sorry for it all now, and years had gone by. What they wanted to do was to go to their father and tell him about Joseph's power in the land, and persuade him to go with all the rest of the family and live down there in Egypt. We can imagine how glad at heart Israel would be at the tidings. But he had suffered a great deal and had also learned a great deal from sad experience. What is more, his own sad life had made him suspi- cious. Therefore, when they told him, saying, "Joseph is yet alive and is a ruler down in Egypt/ the old 130 THE PATRIARCHS. 13! man's heart fainted and he would not believe it. Then they told him the words that Joseph had said to them; and when Israel saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him and the others down into Egypt, his heart revived and he said: "It is enough! Joseph, my son, is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die." And so they set out, Israel with his sons and their wives and their little ones, and all they could take with them. Altogether, it is said, there were sixty-six peo- ple who went down to Egypt. In the meantime, what do you suppose Joseph was doing? Do you think he staid at home, waiting till his father should come? No; he was not that kind of a son, although he had been a spoiled child. All that was gone by long ago. At heart he had been true ; and since he had come to Egypt he had been a brave and honest man, longing each day and each year once more to see his old father Israel. Just as soon, therefore, as he knew they were com- ing down to Egypt, he got his chariot ready and went out to greet his father. And when they met, he fell on Israel's neck and wept a long while. And Israel said unto Joseph : "Now let me die since I have seen thy face and thou art yet alive." And Joseph said unto his brethren and to his father : "I will go up and and tell Pharaoh and say unto him, My brethren and my father's house are come unto me with their flocks and their herds and all they have." Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, saying : "My father and brethren, their flocks, their herds and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan, and behold, they are in the land of Goshen." And Pharaoh the king came to them and they said to him : "To sojourn in the land are we come, for there is no pasture for thy servants' flocks, for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan ; now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen." And Pharaoh said unto Joseph these words : "Thy father and thy brethern are come unto thee. In the best of the land make thy father and thy brethren dwell. In the land of Goshen let them dwell." THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. And Joseph was very anxious that the king, his master, should meet Israel, his father, and talk with him. Hence he arranged it and brought in Israel, hii father, into the presence of the king. Now Israel was a very old man, and so he placed his hands on the head of Pharaoh and blessed him. And Pharaoh said unto Israel: ''How many are the years of thy life?" and Israel said unto Pharaoh : "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years." Then they parted, and Israel went to live with his sons in Goshen. You can see that Israel had been a very oW man, a hundred and thirty years of age, when he came to Egypt ; but he was happy with his sons and family, and with his youngest boys, Joseph and Benjamin, restored to him so happy, indeed, that he lived seventeen years longer, until he was a hundred and forty-seven years old. Then came the time for him to die. But he did not want that his body should be buried there in Egypt. He remembered his father Isaac, and his mother Rebekah, and his grandfather Abraham, where they were buried. And as he drew near his end he called his son Joseph to him and said: "If I have found grace in thy sight put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. But I will lie with my fathers and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt and bury me with my fathers." And Joseph said: "I will do as thou hast said." And Israel continued: "Promise me," and Joseph promised him. Then Joseph brought his two sons to the bedside of the dying father Israel. And Israel beheld Joseph's sons and said: "Who are these?" and Joseph said unto him: "They are my sons." And Israel said: "Bring them close and I will bless them." Now the eyes of Israel were dimmed for age so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near to him and Israel blessed them and embraced them, and, plac- ing his hands on their heads, he gave them his bless- ing. THE PATRIARCHS. j$ When the old man was dead, Joseph said to Phara- oh: "My father made me promise, saying, in the grave which I have prepared for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now, therefore, let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again." And Pharaoh said: "Go." And Joseph went up into the land of Canaan, and all his brethren with him, and buried his father, and they laid the body of Israel away in the cave in the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, a long while before as a burial place, from Ephron. Then, when they had all come back again, the brethren began to be a little afraid of what Joseph might do, thinking still of the great wrong they had committed against him in former times. And they came to him asking his forgiveness, and Joseph said: "Fear not; it is true you meant evil against me, but it has turned out well. Now, therefore, fear not; I will provide for you and your little ones." And he spake kindly unto them and forgave them. To THE TEACHER : At the end of this lesson there should be a careful review of the whole narrative con- cerning Jacob or "Israel." It could be shown how often it happens that prosperity does not bring happi- ness, especially where there is a recollection of some wrong or mistake in one's past life. The whole nar- rative could be used as a lesson on the evils of deceit and what a dark shadow it may throw, not only over the one guilty of it, but over many others as well- how it spreads and perpetuates itself in a thousand ways. The haunting doubt with which Jacob met the assurance that Joseph was alive further illustrates the same point, because Jacob's life and conduct had led him to distrust others. Show a picture of Joseph meeting "Israel," or of "Israel" blessing the sons of Joseph. MEMORY VERSE : Noiv let me die since I have seen thy face and thou art yet alive. PART III. EGYPT AND THE WILDERNESS. CHAPTER XVIII. The Birth of Moses. I have been telling you for a long while about those patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ; how they be- haved ; what happened to them ; and how, at last, Jacob, afterwards renamed Israel, came with all his family to dwell in Egypt; how he died there and how they carried his body back to Canaan and buried it in the cave of Machpelah. Now we shall narrate further how this large family went on growing year after year, becoming greater in numbers and more and more important in Egypt. All those belonging to this great family were called "Israelites"; and so we must begin by telling you about the "Children of Israel" in Egypt. For a time you can be sure they were happy and con- tented down there, even if they were far away from their former home in the land of Canaan. You see, Joseph had behaved so well and become such an im- portant person under the king of Egypt that all the members of his family were treated very kindly. As you remember, they had taken up their home in what was called Goshen, where they had plenty of land for themselves and for their flocks and herds. At the same time you must not forget that they did not have the same religion as the people of Egypt, but went on, I am glad to say, thinking of the Lord, the Ruler of the World, who had taken care of them when they were in the land of Canaan. EGYPT AND THE WILDERNESS. 135 All went on well for a while, as we have said. Just how long, I do not know ; perhaps, a long while after the days of Joseph and Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who had been so kind to Joseph, and who had invited the Israelites to come down and live in Egypt. But by and by trouble came ; and it grew worse and worse. This great family of Israelites became larger and larger, until at last it is said they numbered sev- eral hundred thousand people. Now, that is a great many persons. They had gained a good deal of wealth and were becoming more and more important in Egypt, until finally the people who had lived there, be- fore Israel came down with his family, began to be jealous. They said to themselves: "Perhaps, by and by these Children of Israel will rise up and conquer us and take possession of our whole country and rule over us ; and we ought not to let this come to pass." At first, of course, they only said these things to themselves, without doing anything. But they grew more and more uneasy, and it may be also that the Israelites became rather proud of their success and their prosperity. Perhaps they had better habits and behaved themselves better than the Egyptians, and this made them more successful in a great many ways. It very often happens, however, you know, when peo- ple behave well or become successful or prosperous that they grow proud ; and I ?m a little afraid for this reason that the Israelites began to show some pride. At any rate, at last there came a king over Egypt who had forgotten all about Joseph and what had been done by him a long while before ; or if he remembered about Joseph he did not care. He made up his mind that the time had come to do something in order to check their prosperity. Kings in those days had a great deal of power, and they could do almost anything they pleased, so that it was a sorry day when this king- arose, who was unfriendly to the Israelites. This is what he said to the people of Egypt : "Be- hold, the people of the Children of Israel may become more and mightier than we are; come, let' us deal wisely with them lest they multiply and it come to 136 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. pass that when we have war they join themselves unto our enemies and fight against us and do us harm." Just as soon as the Children of Israel heard about this they were very much troubled. There was noth- ing for them to do. They were in a country belong- ing to another people and ruled over by a king who was not of their own race. Up to this time all had gone very well with them. Now there was a change. The new king had made up his mind that he would make slaves of the Children of Israel, putting heavy burdens upon them, and set them to very hard and tire- some work. And so he placed taskmasters over them, who were Egyptians, to afflict these people with heavy burdens. In those days the people of Egypt were building new cities, and the Children of Israel were made to do the hard work in building these new cities for the Egyptians. In this way the king hoped that a great many of them would die, so that they would become less in number and be, therefore, much less dangerous. But it did not have that effect. The Children of Israel went on growing more and more in numbers ; and the king of Egypt grew more and more troubled as to what he should do. Then he tried to make the Israelites work harder and harder, and to make their lives bitter with hard service. In mortar and in brick and in all manner of service in the field they were made to serve with rigor. The Israelites had now become slaves. They were no longer their own masters, and were really owned by the king of Egypt. The happy times when they had first settled in the land were now all gone by. The little children had to work just like their fathers and mothers. They could not go out and play like the little Egyptian children. They no longer had nice homes, such as they had when Joseph was alive, and when they lived under the former king Pharaoh. Now they had hard beds, or had to sleep on the ground and live in huts or wherever they could find a place to rest. As I have said, when the little children grew older and wanted to go and play, instead they had to EGYPT AND THE WILDERNESS. 137 work along with their fathers and mothers. And so great trouble indeed had come upon the poor Israel- ites. I do not mean to say that all this was a punish- ment for their pride, although I feel quite sure that some of this would not have happened to them if they had always shown the right kind of spirit. But even when people behave well, sometimes troubles have to come, especially when they are dealing with other selfish people who dislike them or hate them. Up to this time the Children of Israel, however, had still continued to remember their Lord the Ruler of the World, and had not done anything really very bad, save by showing that spirit of pride which I have told you about. The Great Ruler meant surely by and by to save them by taking them away from the Egyptians and having them go back to the land of Canaan. You remember, that country had been promised to the family of Abraham, and the people felt that their Lord always kept his promises. It may be that the Ruler of the World was disappointed because the people themselves had not long before that time gone back to the land of Canaan which had been promised them ; and this may be one reason why he had allowed them to get into all this trouble. They had come down to Egypt mostly because of the famine ; and perhaps they ought to have gone back to Canaan just as soon as the famine was over. But they found themselves quite happy down there in Egypt with plenty of food for themselves and all their flocks and herds, and so they staid there among strangers. You remember the Lord at that time did not want his people to stay among strangers; he wanted that they should stay among themselves and learn to do right, instead of follow- ing the bad habits of other people. And I am very much afraid that the Israelites had begun to follow some of these bad habits among the Egyptians. But altogether the Israelites were now having a bad time of it and we cannot help feeling very sorry for them indeed. I am sure they talked a great deal about the old promise that was made to Abraham, how all 138 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. the earth should be blessed through their family, and also how they should inherit the land of Canaan. But you see, they had done nothing themselves in order to help carry out that (promise. They ought to have thought about this a long while before, when they were not slaves. Now the worst trouble of all came to the poor Chil- dren of Israel, the Israelites down there in Egypt. The king of Egypt had made up his mind that something definite must be done in order to keep them from growing in numbers and becoming dangerous ; and so he gave a terrible order to his officers. He told them that they should put to death all the little children if they were boys, as soon as they were born, while the little girls should be spared. This is what the king commanded : "Every son that is born to the Israelites ye shall cast into the river, but every daughter ye shall save alive." Then there was woe upon the children of Israel. Just think what that meant. Fathers and mothers were to lose their little ones and not to have any sons to grow up to take their places and to pro- vide for them when they were old. Mothers were to see their little boys torn from their arms and thrown into the river. And there was weeping and wailing among all the Israelites. If you had been there at that time and gone into their homes you would have seen mothers everywhere with tears running down their faces ; and fathers while they were at work, with tears in their eyes also, all of them thinking of their little ones who were to be cast into the river, that great river which flows through the land of Egypt. But I must tell you about what happened to one of those little boys belonging to one of the families of the Israelites. In one of these homes a little boy was born and for a few days his mother was very happy indeed. She held her child in her arms, looking at it and kissing its sweet face and thinking how dear it was to her; but every now and then the tears would come to her eyes and she would look away in fear, lest the Egyptians should see her little boy and carry him away to be thrown into the river. She made up her EGYPT AND THE WILDERNESS. 139 mind that she would try to save the little one if pos- sible, and not let the wicked Egyptians know anything about her boy. For a time she succeeded, and the Egyptians did not find out about this little child. But as time went on, week after week and month after month, the mother grew more and more anxious. At last, when the little boy was three months old it be- came known to her that she could not hide him from them any longer. She was quite sure that the Egyp- tians would find her little boy and take him away. Then what do you suppose this mother did ? It was something very curious. We should never have thought of it ! She set'to work and made a little cradle which was called an ark, out of the reeds or bulrushes, as they were termed, growing by the banks of the river ; and she covered it ovefr with slime and with pitch so that it was a kind of cradle, or ark. Then she put the child in the ark and she laid it in the flags or reeds down by the brink of the great river. She had made up her mind that if she kept the child it would be taken away from her; and she thought perhaps if she put the child down by the river's brink in the ark of bul- rushes, perhaps some Egyptian might find the little one, and not knowing that it was an Israelite, adopt it and bring up the little one, instead of throwing it into the river. In the meantime she placed the child's sister to watch what would happen. And what would you fancy took place? Well, I will tell you. It seems that just about that time the daugh- ter of the king of Egypt came down to bathe in the river, and her maidens walked along by the river's side. And behold, she saw the ark among the flags and sent her hand-maiden to fetch it. The mother had covered it over very carefully, so that this princess did not know what was in the ark. She had just noticed it there and had wanted to look at it. And so she raised the cover of the tiny ark, and looked in, and there she saw the little child. And as she looked, the eyes of the child opened and the poor little one began to cry, longing for his mother. Not far away, the poor mother may have heard the cry, yet dared not go near. But the fair princess stood looking at the child in 140 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. the ark and her heart was touched. She said to her maidens around her : 'This is one of the children of the Hebrews" meaning the Israelites. Then the sister said to the princess: " Shall I gio and call thee a nurse from one of the women of Israel, that she may nurse the child for thee ?" And the princess said to her: "Go." And the maid went and found the child's mother. Just think how happy that mother must have been ! She was to be called and asked to act as a nurse for her own child, her little boy. And he was not to be cast into the river after all. The prin- cess did not know, of course, that this was the child's mother and the mother dared not tell her. But now the princess said to her: "Take this child away and nurse it for me and I will pay thee wages." Then the mother took the child and nursed it, and the little boy went on growing and was treated as if he were the son of this beautiful princess, the daughter of the King of Egypt. And do you know what name was given to the little boy ? Why, they called him Moses, because in her language it meant "Being drawn up out of the water." You may have heard already about "Moses in the bulrushes," and the beautiful princess who saved him and brought him up as. her own child. I tell you about this because by and by Moses became a very important person and you will want to know all about him. To THE TEACHER: The account of the sufferings of the Israelites may be expanded somewhat. But the blame must not be cast wholly on the Egyptians. Point out the dangers from prosperity in the rise of pride and arrogance. Make a good deal of the story of the birth of Moses, showing a picture, perhaps, of the "bulrushes" along the Nile, and of the women com- ing down to the river. Pictures of some of the monu- ments could also be introduced with illustrations of slaves at work on palaces and temples. The narrative must now be somewhat more continuous. Yet it would better be broken up into special topics as far as this can be done conveniently. The divisions of the sub- ject could be altered if desired. CHAPTER XIX. The Burning Bush. Now you must hear something about that boy Moses. As you remember, he belonged to the people of Israel. But by and by as he grew older he had been taken away from his mother and carried to the home of the princess, where he had been brought up as an Egyptian. Yet there can be no doubt that as the boy began to talk before he had been carried to the palace of the King of Egypt, his mother must have told him who he was, and how she had saved him. She had warned him that he must not say anything about this, lest he should be put to death. And so when the time came for him to be carried away there was nothing to be done. He had to bid his mother good-bye and go off and live in the beautiful home of the princess, where he was to be educated as an Egyptian. I suppose if it had been any one else but a princess, the daughter of the king, this would not have been allowed ; because the king had commanded that all the boys born to the Israelites should be cast into the river. In the meantime everything was growing worse and worse for the poor Children of Israel. Their tasks were becoming harder and harder, and the Egyptians were treating them more and more like slaves. There were fewer children in their homes now and they had less and less hope. In the meantime there was Moses who was not being treated as a slave, but as a prince ; yet he never forgot that he belonged to the people of Israel, and that he was not an Egyptian. He knew how his people were suffering; how they were being made slaves, while he was being brought up 141 142 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. as a prince. And he kept thinking about this a great deal, although he did not forget how kindly he had been treated by the princess, because he was not an ungrateful boy. One day, however, after he had grown up, he was in one of those cities where the people of Israel were working night and day as slaves ; and he looked on until it seemed as if it was more than his heart could bear. He did not know what he could do. He thought of going back and pleading with the prin- cess, asking her if she would not try and do some- thing for his people. But he knew that while she had been kind to him she could not influence the king or the rest of the Egyptians, who had become selfish and hardhearted and cared nothing whatever for the poor Israelites. And as he stood looking on, he saw one of the Egyptians striking one of the Isra- elites and just about to kill him. This was more than Moses could stand. He turned to save the man of his own race and in doing so he slew the Egyptian. Then he did not know what he was to do. He was quite sure that if it became known how he had slam an Egyptian, he would be put to death, even if he had been brought up as the son of the princess. He looked this way and that, asking himself what course he had better take. Should he go back and plead with the princess? But he said to himself, "No, it will be of no use. I must fly." Hence Moses had to leave his beautiful home where he had had everything he wanted, and had been treated as a prince for many years. He had to flee and go into another country, where the people should not know him. And he went to the land of Midian. But even when he came there he did not know how he should be treated. He was not sorry for what he had done. He knew it was right. He had saved the life of one of his fellow men ; a man who had belonged to his own race and who was about to be killed by the wicked Egyptian. Moses was not a man to regret having done what was ri^ht. He never for once thought about that beautiful palace and wished him- EGYPT AND THE WILDERNESS. 143 self back there. But yet, here he was, alone in the land of Midian, with nothing to drink nor eat, and not knowing how he was going to take care of him- self. He came at last to a well in that country. And as he stood there by the well a number of young women came to draw water to give drink to their fathers' flocks. But somie other shepherds came up and drove them away. This was anything but a brave and manly thing for young men to attack those young women and drive them away. Surely, we cannot help thinking that such men must have been cowards. But there was Moses all alone, looking on. And so he stepped in and attacked the men. And although there were a number of them and he was all alone, he succeeded and they fled; so that the young women could go back and give water to their flocks. Then Moses came forward and helped them draw water. This was a kind act and those young women felt that a great service had been done them by this brave young man, Moses. They went home, therefore, to their father and told him how a man had rescued them and how he had stayed to help them water their flocks. This is what they said to their father: "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherd ; and moreover he drew water for us and watered the flocks." And he said unto his daugh- ters, "Where is he? Why is it that ye have left the man? Call him, that he may come, and eat bread." At once they went and called Moses. They liked him very much indeed for what he had done for them. And Moses felt at home with them. It quite often happens, as you know, that people feel very kindly toward the persons for whom they have done a service. Surely Moses liked this man and his family all the more; and he stayed with them and the father gave him one of his daughters to become his wife ; and her name was Zipporah. And there was Moses with his wife Zipporah, living in the Land of Midian alone, far away from his own people, not daring to go back, lest he should be put to death by the king of the Egyp- tians. 144 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. While he was staying in Midian, however, he had a peculiar experience ; and it became the turningi point in his life. It seems that at one time when in care of his flocks he brought them to a place called Mount Horeb. And as he was staying there we are told how he observed a flame of fire coming out of the midst of a bush. He looked and behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said : "I will turn aside now and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned." Then as he drew near he heard a voice saying to him: "Moses! Moses!" And he answered, "Here am I.",And the voice said: "Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." And Moses felt that it was the voice of the Great Ruler speaking to him. Out of the burning bush came a charge to him that he should go back to Egypt, see the king there and ask to bring: all the Israelites over to this mountain where they could worship. This, of course, was a fearful responsibility. Think what it would mean for Moses to go and appear before the great king of Egypt and make such a demand ? What could he say and how should he address the king? As he stood there thinking, he answered to the voice: "I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant ; for I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue." Then came the reply from the voice: "Is there not Aaron thy brother? I know that he can speak well. Thou shalt speak unto him and put words into his mouth. I will be with thy mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what ye shall do, and he shall be thy spokesman." There was nothing left for Moses now but to go forward and obey. He knew at any rate that the men who sought his life in Egypt were now all dead. He took his wife and his sons, therefore, and returned to that country. Then he found his brother Aaron, according to the charge laid upon him, and they went in and told Pha- raoh, the king of Egypt : "Thus saith the Lord, Let EGYPT AND THE WILDERNESS. 145 my people go that they may hold a feast unto me in the Wilderness." And Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord and I will not let Israel go. Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, loose the people from their work ? Get ye unto your burdens." And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmas- ters of the people and their officers, saying : "Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick as here- tofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves; let there more work be laid upon the men that they may labor therein; and let them not regard vain words." This was hard indeed upon the children of Israel. They were expected henceforth to make their bricks without straw, as it was said to them : "Get you straw where ye can find it ; go therefore now and work ; for there shall no straw be given you, but ye shall deliver the tale of bricks." And so it was that the sufferings of the people were greater than ever. , To THE TEACHER : Tell the fore part of the chapter simply as a portion of the general narrative. Touch upon the sterling character of Moses in standing by his people and being willing to give up the life of the palace for their sakes. You could expand upon the honors and luxuries he would have to lose, and what it meant for him to go and dwell in a strange coun- try and to put up with severe hardships after the life of a palace. The story of the "burning bush" is classic and must not be overlooked. It would be bet- ter not to introduce any pictures in connection with it as this would make it too realistic. Call attention to the phrase "making bricks without straw" because of the way this has passed into everyday speech. MEMORY VERSE: Put off thy shoes from off thy feet f for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. CHAPTER XX. Moses and Pharaoh. We come now to a strange and curious part of our story. It will seem extraordinary enough, as if it be- longed quite to another world. We know, however, that something terrible did happen and punish- ment came upon the wicked Egyptians for their selfish- ness. You see, they had made slaves of the poor Israelites, treating them not like human beings, but as if they were brutes, making them do the harder kind of work, and beating them as a man would his camels. They kept all the best food for themselves, giving to the Israelites only enough to save them from starving to death. They showed no pity and no mercy. They were very selfish and bad ; and when people are thor- oughly selfish, as they were, it is pretty sure that a time will come when they will be sorry for it. And the time came when the Egyptians were sorry enough for the way they had acted, and were only too glad to let the Israelites go. Moses and Aaron once more addressed the king of Egypt and told him the command of the Great Ruler, that he was to let the people go. And then there came to pass the awful "Plagues" which you may have heard about. I will tell you about some of them. You see, they were as a punishment for the wicked selfishness of the Egyptians, and the selfishness of the wicked Egyptian king. The king would not listen for a moment to Moses and Aaron, and refused what they asked for. And so the Lord over All said to Moses : "The king's heart is stubborn, he refuses to let the people go; get thee 146 EGYPT AND THE WILDERNESS, linto him in the morning; Lo, he goeth out unto the water, and thou shalt stand by the river's brink to meet him. Take thou thy rod in thine hand and thou shalt say unto him: the Lord, the friend of the Israelites hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go; and behold, heretofore thou hast not hearkened. Now thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will smite with this rod upon the waters which ate in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink, and the Egypt- ians shall loathe to drink the water of the river." And Moses did just as he was told. He lifted up the rod and smote the waters of the liver in the sight of the king and his servants ; and we are told that all the waters in the river were turned to blood, and the fish that were in the river died and the river stank; and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. This was certainly something awful to happen there in that country ; and we might feel sure that after what took place, the king of Egypt would be only too glad to let Moses and Aaron have their way, and allow the Children of Israel to depart. And so after all this, Moses and Aaron thought that the king of Egypt would give his consent. But no, the king's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them. He turned and went back into his house; neither did he lay even this to heart. Then there was another plague. The rod was stretched forth over the waters of Egypt, and we are told that frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. They came into the palace of the king; into his bed chamber; into the houses of his servants; into their ovens. All the land was smitten with frogs. This was more than the king of Egypt could endure. And he said to Moses and Aaron : "Entreat the Lord that he take away the frogs from me and my people, and I will let the people go." And they said to the king : "Be it according to thy word." And the frogs died out of the houses and out of the courts and out 148 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. of the fields. But I am sorry to say that just as soon as the country was relieved of the plague, the king of Egypt, overcome by his selfishness, hardened his heart and refused to keep his promise. He would not let the children of Israel go. And it was necessary for another plague to come upon Egypt. By this time we almost begin to feel pity for these selfish people and for their foolishly selfish king. They were getting the punishment they deserved. And the Lord said this to Moses : "Rise up early in the morn- ing and stand before the king; lo he goeth forth to the water, and say unto him : "Thus saith the Lord : Let my people go ; else if thou wilt not let my people / go, I will send swarms of flies upon thy servants and upon thy people and into the houses of the Egyptians. But in the land of Goshen that day no swarm of flies shall be there." And all this happened, as we are told, and there came grievous swarms of flies, and the whole land was cor- rupted by reason of this most fearful plague. Then for a time it looked as if the king would give in. He was surely being punished enough. And he said to Moses and Aaron : "I will let you go ;" and Moses said, "Be- hold, I go out from thee and I will entreat the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh and his servants, and from his people ; but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go forth." And then, can you really believe it? when the swarms of flies had departed, the king changed his mind again, becoming more selfish than ever. He hardened his heart this time also, and would not let the people go. So there was another awful plague which came upon the cattle of Egypt, and nearly all the cattle of Egypt died. It was the same story over again. The king of Egypt would consent until the plague was removed; and then he would change his mTmd and would not let the people go. There was a plague of Darkness, which you would surely think would bring the Egyptians to their senses. We are told that the whole EGYPT AND THE WILDERNESS. 149 land was covered by a thick darkness, "a darkness so thick that it could be felt" But the thick darkness that hung over the Egyptians for a number of days, and the plague which killed the cattle all this did not move the king of the Egyptians. He kept on getting more and more selfish, promising to let the people go during the time that the plague lasted, and then when it was over, breaking his promise. Finally came the last and most awful punishment, something too terrible to think of. But it brought the king of Egypt and his people to their senses and made them cry "we have had enough." This is what Moses and Aaron at last said to the king : "Thus saith the Lord : About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt and all the first-born children in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon the throne, even unto the first-born of the maid servant that is behind the mill, and all the first- born of cattle ; and there shall be a great cry through- out all the land of Egypt such as there was none like it nor shall be like it any more." But the king of Egypt would not listen, and the evil came. First, however, the children of Israel had to be told what they were to do. Moses and Aaron felt quite sure now, if this punishment fell upon the Egyptians, that the time would come when the Israelites would be allowed to go forth from the land. And this is what the Lord said to Moses and Aaron : "Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their father's houses, a lamb for a house; and if the household be too little for a lamb, let him and his neighbor next to him take it according to the number of souls, every man accord- ing to his eating shall make count for the lamb. And they shall take his blood and put it on the two side posts and upon the lintel and upon the houses wherein the people shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night roasted with fire. And thus shall ye eat it ; with your shoes on your feet and with your staff in 150 THE OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STORIES. your hand, and ye shall eat it in haste. For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are, and when I see the blood I will pass over you and there shall be no plague of this kind upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt." And so the Children of Israel were ready. They had made up their minds to follow Moses and Aaron, and to obey. The night arrived when this awful doom was to fall upon Egypt. And the Children of Israel by their households took each a lamb and killed it and put some of its blood upon the door posts and upon the lintels, and then cooked the food and ate it in the night, all dressed and ready to go forth as soon as they should be summoned by Moses. Midnight came. And it came to pass that the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of the king of the Egyptians that sat on his throne, unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of the cattle. And the king of Egypt rose up in the night, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And the king called for Moses and Aaron and said: "Both ye and the Children of Israel, go : take both your flocks and your herds, and begone." And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people and sent them out of the land in haste, for they said : "Or we be all dead men." To THE TEACHER : The ethical element in the story of the "Plagues" is feeble. It only suggests how pun- ishment in the long run somehow hangs over selfish- ness or wickedness. But children ought to learn the story, because its details have entered so intimately into the language of Christendom. Something might be said of the human nature shown by the king in giving in when in trouble, but falling back into selfish- ness as soon as the trouble is over. This could be EGYPT AND THE WILDERNESS. 15! pointed out as a common trait with a great many people who may be only frightened into doing better, but who do not really change at heart. It must rest with the teacher or the head of the school where these lessons are used, to decide as to how far this narrative should be taken as literal history, or how far as simply tradi- tion. CHAPTER XXL The Flight of the Israelites. And now you would like to know what happened to the Children of Israel where they went, what they did, how they behaved and how soon they came to Palestine or the Land of Canaan. Well, for their sakes, I am sorry to say, it was a long time; because they did not behave very well. They were very much like children ; and it was necessary that they should learn how to obey before they were allowed to go back to the Land of Canaan, the land of Abra- ham, Isaac and of Jacob, or, as they now thought of it, "the Promised Land." I have no doubt as they went forth from the land of Egypt that they began to think at once how, in a few days, they were to come to the country "flowing with milk and honey," where they could go and have plenty to eat and drink, with no more trouble, no more hard work, no more slavery. But if they had been allowed to go there at once they would probably not have been able to conquer the land, and would have be- come selfish and wicked, just like the Egyptians. Unfortunately they had formed many bad habits while they had been in Egypt, and they had learned many bad habits from the) Egyptians themselves. And so it was going to be a good many years before they would be allowed to enter the Land of Canaan. First, they were to go into what was then known as the "Wilderness." You may like to know how many of these people there were. Well, there were more than you could count. You see, they had been living so long in Egypt it was said that it was now four hundred and thirty years since Israel came down wit^ his family that they had increased and rrmUir