Stories of Bible victories, from the Old Testament

Contents

Chapter Page

Foreword, 7

I. The Triumph of Obedience, - - 11

Foreword

. Boys and girls of ten and twelve years of age are hero-worshipers. They glory in strength and power, and bow in adoration before the man who wins. War stories have the greatest charm for them, and where shall they find a book of more thrilling war stories than the Old Testament?

The history of God's chosen people is verily written in war stories, and the great steps in their national progress are read in the word Victory. But, as in almost every case, the real victories are not the ones achieved on the battle-field, but those won in the hearts and lives of leader and people; so in these stories, the aim has been to so portray the picture that the moral victory shall leave its impress on the life, and the battle-field be simply the medium for the implanting of the great truth.

In the teaching of these stories, the real work for the Juniors will come in connection with the map studies suggested for each lesson. This work may be made exceedingly interesting, if the leader will thoroughly inform herself in regard to the

Foreword

geography of the country. To do this will require time and study, but the result will far more than pay for the time expended.

To know the hills and the mountains, the rivers, valleys, and lakes ; the trees, the flowers, and the birds, will give to one a teaching power that can not be measured, and will make the stories of this book of untold interest to the boys and girls.

The victory stories should be given simply as stories, and then the map study taken up, beginning with Map I, which gives the general arrangement of the Old Testament countries in their relationship to each other.

Let each Junior make a set of maps, working upon them from week to week till they are completed, and locating places, first on the map, and then on the relief map.

To make this map work full of vital interest, the boys and girls must be able to see, through the eyes of the teacher, the barren shelving rocks, the gorges and ravines, the oases about the wells, the fertile valleys, rugged mountains, and desert wastes.

In making the maps, let each Junior be provided with a map board about eight by twelve inches, if possible. To this the paper .for the maps may be fastened with thumb tacks.

The pencils for map making should be the soft medium, and the journeys be traced with either red or blue pencils. In the map outlines.

Foreword

the places to be located in advanced lessons are indicated by a cross, and the initial letter, and should not be put in till they are mentioned in the story.

The outlines to be completed later are indicated by dotted lines; also the journeys.

Directions for making the relief map are given in chapter seven.

The references given have been confined to one set of books, and Geikie's Old Testament Hours has been selected as covering a broader field, and one more particularly adapted to furnish just the material needed, than any other one author.

Every pastor's library should furnish the Junior Superintendent with a reference library, where she can not have one of her own.

Rand-McNally's Biblical Atlas, price $1.50, is invaluable to all Bible students.

George Adam Smith's Historical Geography of the Holy Land, price $4.50, is one of the best books for making the Holy Land a living reality.

A Bible dictionary is indispensable to Junior workers, either Davis, price $2.00 net, $2.25 postpaid, or Smith-Peloubet, price $1.50 net, $1.70 postpaid, is very satisfactory.

Geikie's Old Testament Hours, price, six volumes, $6.00 net.

Chapter I. A TRIUMPH OF OBEDIENCE

A long, long time ago, a great many years before even Moses could remember, God looked down on this earth which He had made. He saw something that made Him very sad. The grass and trees were just as green, and the flowers just as beautiful, as on the very first day. The birds sang as sweetly as ever, and all the living things that God had created were as they were at first, except the most important of all. As He looked at the people, He saw that they had become very, very wicked; so wicked that He was sorry that He had made them.

In all this world, God found just one family who loved Him and tried to do what was right.

He knew that some day, when Noah and his family went to heaven, there would not be a single righteous man left unless something was done. The people would not listen to Noah, or stop their wrong-doing, so God said He would have to put new people on the earth, people who would love Him.

He did not forget Noah, but told him to make an ark or house-boat, five hundred and twenty-five feet long, eighty-seven and a half feet wide, and fifty-two and a half feet high, because He was going to send a flood upon the earth, and every one would be destroyed, except those who were in the ark.

Noah began work at once. It took a long time to cut the trees, and get them ready to make the ark. People wondered what in the world Noah was going to do with all that lumber. When he told them he was going to make an ark, they thought it was a huge joke and just laughed at him.

By and by he was ready to build the ark. Then people thought that he really was crazy. First one and then another came to watch him.

"What are you making, Noah?" some one would ask.

"An ark," Noah replied.

"Are you going to sail it in the grass, or on the mountains?"

"Will you bring water in a pail to sail in?" others would say.

Then some good friend: "See here, Noah, this is a great waste of time; you know there is not a stream or lake anywhere near, and if there was, how would you get that great boat to it?

The Triumph of Obedience

It won't be a bit of use to you. And then, Noah, do n't you know people are beginning to think you are queer?"

Then Noah told them about the flood, and begged them to stop being wicked so they might go into the ark, but they only laughed at him, and said: "Why, Noah, you must be crazy. Think how it rained two years ago, and there was not enough water fell to float even a row boat. Why, it could n't rain enough water for such an ark as that to float, and if it did we would go up on the mountains, and be all right. Come, Noah, do not be so foolish. You ought to be taking care of your flocks and looking after your family."

But day after day Noah worked away. God had said, "Build an ark," and had told him just how, and it made no difference how much people laughed at him, he was going to do it.

It was a great undertaking for one man, but that could not down him either ; so the work went on, until at last the ark was finished.

His friends watched it grow, and gathered round when all was completed.

"Pretty good piece of work," said one.

"Yes, but what a waste of time!" said another.

"When are you going to launch it, Noah?" said the third.

Noah had given up trying to make them believe that God told him to build the ark. He had won the day, and the ark was finished in spite of the hard work, and in the face of their ridicule.

Then, too, Noah was very busy now. God had told him to take into the ark two of every kind of animals, birds, insects, and of everything that was alive. When this was finished, God told Noah to take his wife, his two sons and their wives, and go into the ark, and then God closed the door and shut them in. That very day it began to rain; day after day the rain poured down. People left their homes and went up on the hillside, then to the tops of the mountains; but the water rose higher and higher, till the tops of the mountains were covered, and not a single living thing was left on the earth.

Forty days it rained, and it was seven months before the water went down so that the ark rested on the top of the mountain. All this time the man who had had the courage to u win out," even though God's command did seem so strange, was safe.

Three months later the tops of the mountains appeared above the water. Noah waited forty days longer, then he thought the water must surely be dried up, so he opened a window in the ark and sent out a dove. But she found no tree in which to rest, and came back again. A week later he sent her out again, and this time she brought a leaf back in her bill. How glad they

The Triumph of Obedience

were to see a green leaf once more. They all crowded round, and each one wanted to feel of it, and to smell it.

"Now we can go out," said one.

"Won't it be fine to be on the land once more?" said some one else. "Let us go right away."

But Noah said, "No, we must wait a little longer."

The next week the dove was sent out again. All day they watched for her to come back, but night came and she did not come. The next morning she did not come either, and then Noah knew that the water was gone ; but still they had to wait till the ground was dry.

It seemed such a long time, but at last God told them to go out of the ark.

How the birds did sing as they flew out into the trees, and the cattle ran and frisked in the green grass I Noah and his family were just as happy as the birds and animals, but instead of running or singing, they showed their happiness by building an altar and worshiping God.

Then God said in. His heart, "I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake. While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.

"And I will establish My covenant with you and with your children after you. There shall not any more be a flood to destroy the earth, and this is the token of the covenant which I make between Me and you :

*MAP I.

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"I will set a rainbow in the clouds, and it shall be for the token of the covenant between Me and the earth.

"And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. And I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you, and every living creature, and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh."

* By consent of Dr. H. M. Hamill.

The Triumph of Obedience

Map Study.

Key to Map. — At the four corners the Red, Black, and Caspian Seas, and the Persian Gulf; at the left side the Mediterranean Sea.

i. Armenia, where the ark rested on Mt. Ararat.

2. Chaldea, the birthplace of Abraham.

3. Mesopotamia, Abraham's next home,

4. Canaan, the land of promise.

5. Egypt, the land of bondage.

6. Arabia, the wilderness.

7. Syria, Israel's enemy.

8. Assyria, Israel's enemy.

9-10. Media and Persia, the liberators of the Jews.

Make the plan, and fix the location of Mt. Ararat for the first lesson.

Reference. — Bible Story, Genesis, chapters 6 to. 9: 18.

Chapter II. A PRAYER VICTORY

The tents of Abraham were scattered over the hills and valleys all about Hebron. Here and there, as far as one could see, were the flocks of sheep, each watched over and guarded by its own shepherd.

The day was warm, and Abraham, instead of going into the tent where he and Sarah lived, sat In the door.

As he looked off over the plains he saw three men, apparently travelers, coming toward him. He did not know who they were, but, like all people in that country, he was very courteous to strangers. He did not wait for them to come up to the tent, but ran out to meet them, saying: "Do not pass by my home. Stop with us, and rest awhile in the shade of the tree. Let me have water brought, that you may bathe your feet and be refreshed as you rest. Then, before you go on, you must have something to eat."

The guests seemed glad to accept Abraham's hospitality, and he hurried into the tent to Sarah, saying, "Bake us some cakes as quickly as you can."

A Prayer Victory

While she was doing this, he ran out to the herd and brought a young calf, which he killed and dressed, ready for cooking.

In a short time the meal was ready, and Abraham brought the meat and cakes, also some butter and milk, out under the trees to the three strangers. As they were eating, one of the men said to Abraham, "Where is Sarah, thy wife?" Abraham replied, "She is in the tent."

Then said the stranger, "I will surely keep My promise to you, and in a little while Sarah shall have a son."

Then Abraham knew that one of his guests was Jehovah Himself.

When the men had finished their dinner, they rose up and started toward Sodom, and Abraham went part of the way with them.

Then God told Abraham that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah had become so very, very wicked that He was afraid they must be destroyed. He said, "I will go down and see if they are as wicked as they seem to be, and then I will know what must be done."

As Abraham looked off toward Sodom, perhaps he thought of his nephew, Lot, who lived there. Surely, with a good man like Lot in the city, there must be other good men.

Then he said to God: "Will you destroy the the righteous men with the wicked? If there are fifty righteous in the city, will you not spare the city for the sake of the fifty? It is not like God to slay the righteous with the wicked : shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?"

God said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous, I will spare all the place for their sakes."

Then Abraham said: "I have dared to ask you, though I am only a man. If there should be five less than fifty, will you destroy the city for lack of five?"

God said, "If I find forty-five, I will not destroy it."

"But," said Abraham, "suppose there should be only forty;" and God said, "I will not do it for forty's sake."

Then Abraham said, "O, let not the Lord be angry with me for speaking: There may be only thirty righteous people found;" and God said, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."

Abraham said, u Possibly there shall twenty be found there;" and God said, "I will not destroy it for twenty's sake."

Then said Abraham again: "O, let not the Lord be angry with me, and I will speak yet but this once. Perhaps ten shall be found." God said, "I will not destroy it for ten's sake."

Then God went on His way toward Sodom, and Abraham returned to his home, happy because he had asked God to spare Sodom, and knowing that he could trust Him.

In all the city of Sodom, God could not find

A Prayer Victory

ten righteous men, but He did not forget the prayer of Abraham, His friend.

He could not save the city, as Abraham had asked Him, but He did not destroy the righteous

MAP II. tooo Miles people with the wicked. He sent messengers to Lot, telling him to take his family quickly and flee to the mountains.

Before Lot and his two daughters were out of sight of the city, fire came and destroyed it.

As Abraham looked out from his tent door the next morning, instead of the city of Sodom he could see only a great cloud of smoke, but he was satisfied, even before he knew that Lot was safe, for he was sure that u The Judge of all the earth would do right."

Map Study.

Add to Plan I the outlines of the Red, Black, and Caspian and Mediterranean Seas, and Persian Gulf, the Tigris and Euphrates and Nile Rivers, the Jordan River, Sea of Galilee, and Dead Sea.

Mark the outline of Armenia, according to the dotted lines, and complete the name.

Locate Hebron, and the probable sites of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The location of these cities is uncertain. They may have been either at the north or the south end of the Dead Sea. In either case, the smoke from the burning cities would have been visible to Abraham at Hebron.

Reference. — Bible, Genesis, chapters 18 and 19. Geikie, Vol. I, page 389.

Chapter III. A VICTORY OF FAITH

Abraham's tents were pitched on the hillsides near Beersheba. In the midst of the camp were two springs of cool, fresh water which bubbled up into the wells which the servants of Abraham dug.

About these wells were great stone troughs, into which the water was poured for the thirsty cattle to drink ; and surrounding them were beautiful groves, which could be seen for a long distance.

In this beautiful home, the boy Isaac grew up; playing on the hillside, and helping to take care of his father's sheep.

When Isaac was almost a young man, one day Abraham heard God's voice calling him.

He replied, "Here am I."

Then God said: "Take now thy son, thine only son, even Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."

Could God really mean this? Why, Isaac was the son God had promised, and for whom Abraham and Sarah had waited for so many years. Must they now give him up? But God had spoken, and His word must be obeyed.

Abraham did not say a word to any one about it, but told his servants to have his horse ready for him early in the morning. He then cut the wood and made things ready for an offering. Isaac was delighted when his father told him that he might go with him. A three days' journey with his father, through the woods, and over the plains, and at last into the mountains, would be a great treat.

Before sunrise Abraham called his son, and the two young men who were to go with them. The horse was saddled, the wood strapped on his back, and lunches put up for the journey; last of all, carried very carefully, they must also take the fire to kindle the wood.

Isaac said good-bye to his mother, and started off in high spirits. When noon came, they stopped and rested for a few hours while the sun was hot; then they went on again.

At night they rolled themselves up in their coats, and slept out under the stars. The next morning they were again on their way as the sun peeped over the horizon, and again rested during the heat of the day.

Still Abraham said nothing of God's message to him. He could not tell the light-hearted boy of the terrible ending to his happy journey. His

A Victory of Faith

heart must have been very sad, and he could not help wondering why God was going to take Isaac away from him.

The second night came, and Isaac, tired with the day's journey, was soon fast asleep. The young men, too, slept, but Abraham could only think of what he must do on the morrow. He could not sleep. He bowed his head in prayer, and as he talked with God, his faith rose; the victory was won. He could offer even his only son, Isaac, if God wanted that son, for he knew that God could still keep His promise to make of him a great nation. He did not know how God would do this, but he was sure now that God could even raise Isaac from the dead, if He wanted to.

The next morning Abraham saw in the distance the mountain to which God had sent him. He said to the young men: "Stay here with the horse. The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and come again to you."

He took the wood for the offering and gave it to Isaac to carry, and he himself took the fire and the knife; and they went on. They had quite a long walk, and as they traveled, they talked of many things; but finally Isaac happened to think that they were going to worship God, but had brought no sacrifice with them. Turning to Abraham in surprise, he said, u My father."

"Here am I, my son," he answered.

"Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt sacrifice ?"

Abraham replied, "My son, God will provide a lamb for a burnt offering."

Isaac may have thought this strange, but he was certain that his father knew, and they walked on together. They came at last to the place of which God had spoken. Abraham built an altar, then he took the wood which Isaac had brought, and laid it in order upon the altar; next he put the fire under it.

Isaac looked round for the lamb, which his father had said God would provide for the burnt offering.

Abraham did not look round, but at last telling Isaac of God's message, he took the ropes which he had brought with him, and bound him.

He then laid Isaac, his only son, on top of the wood on the altar, and raised his knife to slay him. But it was as though some one held his arm, for he stopped with his knife in the air.

"Abraham, Abraham, " some one was calling him.

He answered, "Here am I."

Then God said: "Lay not thine hand upon the lad; neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me."

Then Abraham looked, and there close behind

A- Victory of Faith

him was a ram, caught by his horns in the underbrush. How thankful Abraham was to use his knife to cut the cords, and how quickly and joyfully he took his son, his only son, Isaac, from the altar!

He took the ram, killed it, and offered it as a burnt offering, and as he and Isaac worshiped God, they thanked Him for the burnt offering which He had provided.

Abraham gave to this place a name which means, "The Lord will provide."

Before the offering was all burned, God spoke to Abraham again, and said to him: "Because thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, . . . I will bless thee, . . . and multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven ; . . . and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice."

Then Abraham and Isaac started back to find the young men whom they had left. As they walked along, Abraham was very, very glad that he had not failed in this test which God had given him, for he not only had his son with him, but he had God's promise also.

Map Study.

Mark outline of Syria according to dotted lines in Map II, and complete the name.

Then draw enlarged map of Syria according to Map III.

MAP III.

A Victory of Faith

Locate Beersheba and Moriah. (Probably the Moriah to which God sent Abraham, though this is not definitely known.)

Reference. — Bible, Genesis, Chapter 22. Geikie, Vol. I, page 396.

Chapter IV. A QUEER KIND OF A VICTORY

Isaac was a rich man. He had a great many sheep and goats, and many servants to take care of them. He needed abundant crops and plenty of good pasture land, for so many men and herds, besides many wells of water.

There came a time of famine in the land. The wells and brooks dried up, so that there was no longer water for man or beast, nor was there any rain for the grass and crops. Isaac thought to go, as his father had done, into the land of Egypt; but when he, with his flocks and herds, and his men, reached the country of Abimelech, called Gerar, God spoke to him, saying: u Go not into Egypt, but stay in this place, and I will make room for you here." So Isaac remained in Gerar. Here he grew richer and richer, till finally Abimelech told him to go back to his own country, for he was afraid Isaac would become so great that he would want to be king. Abimelech knew nothing of God's promise to Isaac; but Isaac trusted God to keep His word. He yielded

A Queer Kind of a Victory

to the king, and went farther back into the country.

With so many flocks and herds they could not travel very fast, but at last they came to some wells which Abraham, Isaac's father, had dug.

Isaac thought this would be a good place to stop, for he was sure of plenty of water for his herds. He told his herdsmen to dig the rubbish out of the wells; for the Philistines had filled them up. He called the wells by the names that his father had given them. They dug, too, a new well of springing water. But when the herdsmen of Abimelech saw that they had digged the well and found water, they began to quarrel with them about it, and said it was theirs.

Isaac knew that it was his, but did not want to quarrel, so he gave orders to his herdsmen to move on.

Again they found wells which Abraham had dug, and cleared them of their rubbish. As they were settling down near these wells, whom should they see coming but the herdsmen of Abimelech. The herdsmen of Isaac did not believe in giving up every time, but Isaac said: "We will not quarrel. Let us go to another place. "

The tents were taken down and the flocks gathered together, and again they journeyed. Coming to a place where there was good pasturage for the herds and flocks, they stopped. Here they found no well, but the herdsmen began at once to dig one. 31

This time the Philistines did not follow them. Some people think that Isaac was a very strange man; but he thought he had won a victory each time he had given up to the Philistines and patiently moved to the next place.

The strange part of it is that God must have thought so too, for after the Philistines stopped following Isaac, and he had pitched his tents, and his herdsmen had digged a well and found water, God spoke to him, and said, u Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee."

Abimelech soon saw that the patient Isaac was in the care of a God, far more mighty than any of the idols he always worshiped, for he came to him and asked him to make a covenant with him. He said he would promise not to do Isaac or his family any harm, and he asked Isaac to promise him the same thing.

They rose up early the next morning, and made this covenant, and Abimelech went away in peace.

This day Isaac's servants came and told him that they had dug another well, and had found water, but they had no further trouble with the herdsmen of Abimelech.

Map Study.

Locate Gerar on Map III, also study the climate of the country; the necessity of locating

A Queer Kind of a Victory

near a well; the custom of digging wells, naming them, and planting orchards about them.

Referenc e. — Bible, Genesis 26, 1 1-32. Geikie, page 422; Smith's Historical Geography, page 76.

Chapter V. A CONQUEST OF A SELFISH NATURE

Two boys, Esau and Jacob, lived with their father and mother on a large farm near Beersheba. Their father, Isaac, was a rich man, and, beside his farm, had many sheep and cattle.

Jacob liked to play about the house, and help his mother. He was always on the lookout to make a trade, and was sure to come out ahead every time. Esau wanted to play he was a hunter, and even when a boy would take his spear and wander off a long way from home.

When they grew to be young men, Jacob was the one to help about the farm, while Esau was the hunter and brought venison for his father to eat.

One day he had been out hunting, and came home so tired and hungry that he could hardly walk. As he came near the tent which was their home, he smelled the dinner cooking. My, how good it smelled! He hurried to the door, and saw that it was Jacob, who was cooking a fine meal of lentils for himself.