A child's story of the Bible...

Introduction

THE present volume endeavors to tell in simple language, and in a form fitted for the hands of the younger members of the Christian flock, the tale of God's dealings with his Chosen People under the Old Dispensation, with its foreshadowing^ of the coining of that Messiah who was to make all mankind one fold under one Shepherd. The words are simple, so that all can understand them without difficulty. Our efforts have been directed to make this book not only attractive to the little ones, but of assistance to those who have the privilege of introducing them to the inspired accounts of the world's history from its Creation to the sorrowful death and glorious ascension of our divine Saviour Jesus Christ.

The title of the Bible is derived from a Latin word, itself derived from the Greek, which signifies " Book, n and was applied to the Hebrew Scriptures as well as to the New Testament, as being books read in Christian Churches. It comprises the Five Books of Moses, or the Law, the Historical Books, the Prophetical Works, and Devotional Works. By the Law is understood Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Historical Books comprise the Books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, v i INTRODUCTION

Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. The Prophetical Works are the prophecies of Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and the Twelve Minor Prophets ; while under the head of Devotional Works are the Psalms, Proverbs, the Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes.

The Old Testament is but the Introduction to the New Testament. The creation of the world, as told in the Book of Genesis, the Bondage in Egypt, the Conquest of the Promised Land, the picturesque and dramatic history of the Chosen People, of their Judges and Kings, their Warriors and Statesmen, their Priests and Prophets, their Captivity in Babylon, and their Return to their native land, all point forward to the Story of the Redeemer, all serve but to prepare the way for the Coming of Christ, the Saviour of the World. The books which we know as constituting the Old Testament are, also, counterparts to those that constitute the New Testament. The Four Gospels correspond to the Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses, the Acts of the Apostles to the Historical Books, the Epistles to the Prophetical Works, and the Book of Revelation to Daniel and Ezekiel. The Old Testament is the Covenant of God with his Chosen People, the New Testament speaks of the New Covenant of God with all Mankind, by which all are offered the privileges of adoption as Children of God and Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven.

With the exception of Daniel, which is written in Chaldee, the Canonical Works of the Old Testament are in the Hebrew language, spoken by the Jews in the Holy Land. But in addition to these Canonical

INTRODUCTION v ii

Scriptures, there are several historical narratives written in Greek, which the greater part of the Christian World hold in high esteem, and which are read for u instruction in manners." These Apocryphal Works, as Protestant Churches call them, were written after the Jews had been led away captive into Babylon and form the connecting link between the Old and New Testaments. They are of great historical value, as telling us of the struggles of the Jews under the Greek Kings of Syria.

Of all these works various translations in many languages have been made. The Hebrew text was rendered into Greek about 300 years before the birth of Christ, and all were translated into Latin about the second and third centuries of the Christian era. The revision of this Latin Version by S. Jerome (a. d. 383) became the Authorized Version of the Western Church, and is called the Vulgate. From this Latin Version partial translations were made into the vernacular languages of various countries, and a version of the whole into English appeared under the name of Wyclif about 1382. After the introduction of* printing into England, in 1477, other translations, summaries and extracts were given to the world, and in 1535 the first complete English Bible was issued by Miles Coverdale. In 161 1 the so called " authorized n English version was published, and this was carefully revised by companies of English and American scholars during the years 1870 to 1880, the result being known as the " Revised Version. n The New Testament, thus revised, was published in 1880, the Old Testament in 1884.

ADAM AND EVE DRIVEN OUT OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN

THE STORY

Of the Old Testament

Chapter I

THE CREATION — THE FIRST MAN AND WOMAN- — ABEL KILLED BY CAIN — THE DELUGE — THE CALLING OF ABRAHAM — THE BIRTH OF ISAAC.

IN the beginning God made all things, and on the sixth day he looked upon what he had made ; and he was well pleased with it. And he rested on the seventh day, and made it holy.

God formed man from the dust of the ground, in his own image, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. And God spoke kindly to Adam ("The Man"), and told him that he should have power over every living thing on the earth, the birds in the air, and the fish in the sea. The fruit on the trees and bushes was to be his food, and he was placed within the beautiful garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it. A river passed through the garden to water it. And Adam was to eat of every tree in it, except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If he ate of this tree, he would surely die. And God saw it was not good for man to be alone, so he made Eve out of a bone from Adam's side, and gave her to him to be a wife or helpmeet. And all the animals which God had created came to Adam, and he gave them their names.

Although everything was so beautiful, and although Adam and Eve were good, and perfectly happy, the Devil came in the form of a serpent, and told Eve that there would be no harm in tasting the fruit upon the forbidden tree. And she looked at it, and believed the serpent ; and stretching forth her hand, she plucked the fruit and ate it, and also gave to her husband. As soon as they had eaten of the forbidden fruit they knew they were naked, and went and hid themselves. Then God asked them why they had done this ; and they were both afraid. And Adam laid the blame upon his wife, and she blamed the serpent. But God was displeased with them both, and he cast them out of the beautiful garden, and cursed the ground for their sake ; and he told them they would have to work hard for their bread, and after this their bodies were to die, and return to the dust. But God promised that he w r ould afterwards send a Saviour, who would save them and their descendants from the guilt of their sin, if they would believe upon him.

And God gave Adam and Eve two sons after they were driven out of the garden. The name of the elder was Cain, and of the younger Abel. Cain worked as a farmer or gardener ; but Abel was a shepherd. And one day they offered up a sacrifice to God : Cain's offering was the fruits of the ground, that of Abel was a little lamb. Now Abel was sorry for his sins, and God heard and pardoned him. But Cain continued hard and stubborn. And Abel's sacrifice was accepted by God, but that of Cain was not. This made Cain very angry. And God asked him why he was angry ; if he did right he would be pleased with him, if he did not do right it was his own fault.

This made Cain envious of Abel, and one day he rose up against him in the field and slew him. And God called him, and asked where his brother was. Cain said he did not know ; was he his brother's keeper ? And because Cain had done this God set a mark upon him so that every one would know him, and sentenced him to be a fugitive and a wanderer for the rest of his days. Then Cain built a city in the land of Nod, to the east of Eden, and amongst his descendants were Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-cain. Jabal taught people to dwell in tents and keep cattle ; Jubal taught the art of music ; and Tubal-cain was skilful in making articles out of brass and iron.

Enoch, a descendant of Seth, another son of Adam, was a very good man, who passed from earth to heaven without dying. He walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. His son Methuselah lived longer than any man either before or since ; he was nine hundred and sixty-nine years old when he died. Many years afterwards the people began to increase upon the earth. And they were very wicked,

STORY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT n

and did what pleased themselves, and never thought about pleasing God ; so he determined to punish them. He said his Spirit would not always strive with man, but that after a hundred and twenty years man would be destroyed.

And God spoke to a good man called Noah, the grandson of Methuselah, and commanded him to build an ark, a large house that might float upon the waters. And Noah did so ; but it took him about one hundred years to build it, and all the people that passed by mocked him, and said what a fool he was to take so much trouble in building such a large floating house. But Noah knew better, and believed God. And one day God told him to come inside the ark with all his family, and to take some of all kinds of birds and beasts with him. And Noah and his family and all the animals entered the ark, and God shut them in. As soon as Noah and his family were inside the ark it began to rain, and it rained for forty days and forty nights. And everything outside the ark was covered with water, so that even those who went to the tops of the highest hills were drowned. Everybody and every living thing that was left outside the ark perished in that great flood.

After forty days Noah opened a window in the ark and let a raven fly out, in order to see if there was any dry ground ; but the raven returned, having found no place to rest upon. Then he sent forth a dove, but she also returned ; then he sent forth the dove again, and she went away for a whole day, but in the evening she returned with an olive leaf in her mouth. Then Noah knew that the waters were abating. The next time the dove was sent out she did not return. God did not forget Noah, and after his time was accomplished the ark rested on Mount Ararat. Everything in it went out there. And Noah was thankful for his deliverance, and he built an altar and offered a sacrifice to the Lord. And God set a beautiful rainbow in the sky, to show that he would never again cover the earth with water in that way. Noah lived for three hundred and fifty years after the flood, and was nine hundred and fifty years old when he died.

But it was not long before the people again forgot all about God, and their minds were filled with their own vain imaginations. As they journeyed from the east they came to a plain in the land of Shinar : and they said one to another, Come, let us build a tower that shall reach up to heaven! And they began to build a large tower of brick. But God saw their work and the wicked thoughts in their hearts, and was angry because of the building of this tower. They built it, very likely, to escape from any flood which might come again upon the earth, although God had said to Noah that there would never be such a flood again. Now at that time the people all spoke one language. So God made all those who were working at the tower each to speak a different language ; and as they could not understand one another they had to stop the building. So this tower was called the Tower of Babel, because babel means confusion. This Babel, or Babylon, as it was afterwards called, was the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom in the plain of Shinar. When the people were scattered by the confusion of tongues we read that Asshur went forth and built Nineveh.

Many years after these things happened there lived in the land of Ur of the Chaldees a man called Abram, a son of Terah, a descendant of Shem, one of Noah's sons. He feared God, and because the people round about him worshipped idols, God told him to go up into a country which he would show him, promising to bless him, and make of him a great nation. And Abram believed God, and departed with his wife Sarai, and Lot, his brother's son. And they came to Shechem in Canaan, where God spoke to him and told him that he would give all the land to his descendants. When a famine arose in the land, Abram had to go down to Egypt to get food ; and at another time, his flocks and herds had increased so much that he had to part from Lot. And Lot, being selfish, chose the plain of Jordan, because it was rich and well-watered. But Lot was not long there, among the wicked people of Sodom, before he fell into trouble. Four kings with an army came up against Sodom and took it, and Lot and his family were amongst the captives. But Abram came and rescued Lot from these kings, and took back all the spoil which they had carried off with them. And as Abram was returning he was met by Melchizedek, king of Salem and a minister of God, who blessed him and thanked God for giving him the victory.

After this God talked with Abram. He promised him that he would have a son, and that his descendants would be like the stars for number, but that they would be strangers in a strange land, and be servants, and be ill-treated for a season. After four hundred years they would come out of that land

1 6 STORY OF THE OLD TESTA3IEi\T

with great wealth. And God changed Abram's name to Abraham, which signifies the father of many nations ; and Sarai's was changed to Sarah, which means princess.

One day Abraham was seated at his tent door, in the heat of the day, when he saw three men standing near him. And he ran and bowed down before them, as is the custom in the east, and asked them to rest nnder a tree. Now two of these men were angels, and one of them was the Lord, although Abraham knew not this at the time. And Abraham was very kind to them, and entertained them with the best food he had ; and after that they went together towards the city of Sodom.

It was now revealed to Abraham that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the plain of Jordan were to be destroyed because they were so wicked. Abraham pleaded with God that if there were found a certain number of righteous men in Sodom he would not destroy it. But there were not even ten righteous people found there. And Abraham was sorry when he heard this, because Lot dwelt in Sodom. But God sent two angels to warn Lot of what was coming ; and Lot told some of his friends of the great destruction impending ; but they would not believe it, and only laughed at him. And the two angels hurried Lot and his wife and his two daughters out of the doomed city, and told them to depart quickly, and not look behind, else they would perish with it. And Lot fled to a city called Zoar ; but on the way thither his wife looked back, and because of her disobedience she at once became a pillar of salt. And the Lord rained fire and brimstone down upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and tliey were destroyed, and only Lot and his daughters were saved alive.

When Abraham was about one hundred years old, God remembered his promise, and a son was born to him, whom he called Isaac. When Isaac grew up, young Ishmael, the son of Hagar, who lived in the tents with them, mocked at Isaac, and Abraham was obliged to send away Hagar and Ishmael. He gave them some bread and water for the journey ; but after Hagar had been some time in the wilderness, the water was exhausted, and poor Ishmael was like to die. And Hagar wept bitterly ; but God heard her cry, and showed her a well of water, and their lives were saved. As Ishmael grew up he became expert in the use of the bow and arrow, and became the father of the wandering tribes of the eastern desert.

And one day God spoke to Abraham, and asked him to do a very hard and bitter thing, that he might see if he trusted him with all his heart. He commanded Abraham to take his only and beloved son Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah, and offer him as a sacrifice upon an altar ; so Abraham started early one morning, and saddled his ass, and took Isaac, and two young men who were his servants, and wood ready to lay upon the altar. On the third day he came to the place ; and Abraham and Isaac went up to the mountain-top alone, and Isaac said, My father, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering ? Abraham replied, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering. And Abraham built an altar and laid the wood upon it. And then he bound Isaac, and laid him upon the wood, and took his knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord stayed his hand; and looking round Abraham saw a ram caught fast in the bushes by the horns; and he offered up the ram instead of Isaac.

God was now well pleased with Abraham because of his obedience and faith, as shown by his willingness to offer up his son, and he received the promise of great blessings. His descendants were to be like the sand on the sea-shore for multitude; and all nations of the earth were to be blessed in them, because the Saviour who had been promised was to be born amongst them.

Chapter II

THE MARRIAGE OF ISAAC — ESAU AND JACOB — JOSEPH SOLD INTO EGYPT — HE BECOMES RULER THERE — THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL GO DOWN TO EGYPT — THE DEATH OF JOSEPH.

WHEN Isaac grew up, Abraham wished him to take a wife, but not one of the women of the country, because they were idolaters. So he sent his faithful servant to some of his own kindred, with ten camels and many beautiful presents. And when the servant came near to a city in the country to which he was sent, he brought his camels to a well, and prayed that God would show kindness to his master, and that the woman who gave him water to o o

2o STORY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

drink out of her pitcher when he asked it might be the wife of Isaac.

And a beautiful young woman, named Rebekah, came down to draw water with her pitcher, and the servant ran and asked for some water for himself and the camels. And she behaved kindly towards him, and drew water for him; and the servant knew at once that this was the woman that God had chosen to be Isaac's wife. And after Abraham's servant had given her some presents, he heard that she was a relation of his master's; and Laban, her brother, came out to meet him, and entertained him. Then the servant delivered his message, and told them of Abraham's wealth in camels, and oxen, and sheep, and how he wished a wife for his son. And Rebekah's friends saw that God had guided Abraham's servant thither; and the next day he started on his homeward journey, with Rebekah and her maid on the camels beside him. When they reached the land of Canaan it was towards evening, and Isaac, who had gone out to the fields to meditate, met them. And Rebekah went home with him, and became his wife, and he loved her very much.

And when Abraham was one hundred and seventyfive years old he died; and they buried him beside Sarah, in the field which he had bought from Ephron the Hittite.

And God gave Isaac two sons ; the name of the eldest was Esau, and that of the youngest Jacob. Esau was a great hunter, and often brought home deer, and made food that his father loved. Jacob was a plain shepherd, living in a tent. One day Esau came in from the fields faint with hunger, and en > > O

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And a great famine arose in the land of Canaan, which caused Isaac to remove with his family and his flocks and herds to the land of Gerar. And God prospered him there, and he became very wealthy, and had great flocks of sheep, cattle and many servants. And Isaac dug again the wells of his father Abraham which had been stopped up. And God appeared to him at Beersheba, and promised to bless him.

When Isaac grew old and could not see, he sent Esau out to the field to bring home the kind of flesh that he loved, because he purposed to give Esau his blessing before he died. But Rebekah heard this ; and as she loved Jacob best, she disguised him with skins, to make him hairy like Esau, so that Isaac would not know it was Jacob. And she gave him the flesh of a kid that had been newly killed, and sent him to get the blessing from his father. And Isaac blessed Jacob with the first and best blessing, as the elder son, and prayed that God would bless him with the good things of the earth, and that he might become great, and that other nations might bow down to him. When Esau came home, and found out what his brother had done, he cried out with a loud voice for his father to bless him also. And Isaac blessed him also, but not with the same great blessing as Jacob. And Esau hated o

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Jacob for this, and purposed in his heart to kill him when he had an opportunity.

And Rebekah warned Jacob of his brother Esau's intention to kill him; so Jacob went to Padan-aram, where his uncle Laban lived. When on his journey he lighted upon a certain place, where he tarried all night, and lay down with stones for his pillow. And as he slept he dreamed that he saw a ladder set up on the earth, the top of which reached to heaven, and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending upon it. And above it stood the Lord, who made him the gracious promise that he would keep him in all the way he had to go, and give him the land wherein he w 7 as to himself and his children for a possession. In the morning Jacob took his stone pillow and poured oil upon the top of it, and called the place Bethel, which means the house of God. And he vowed that if God would be with him and keep him, the Lord should be his God.

And Jacob went on his journey until he came to Haran, where his uncle Laban lived. And near a well in a field he met Rachel, the daughter of Laban, to whom he made himself known, and assisted her in watering her sheep. Laban welcomed Jacob, and made an agreement with him, whereby if he served him seven years he would have his younger daughter Rachel, whom Jacob loved, to be his wife. But at the end of seven years, when Jacob claimed Rachel as his wife, the crafty Laban gave him her sister Leah instead, whom he did not love, and said he must serve him another seven years for Rachel. And Jacob, for the love he bore to Rachel, consented to serve another seven years for her.

Then Jacob returned to the land of Canaan, having now eleven sons and one daughter, and a great many sheep and cattle, for God had fulfilled his promise and blessed him. On the journey, at a certain place, the Lord wrestled with him for a whole night, and gave him a new name. Instead of Jacob he was to be called Israel, which means U A Prince of God. n And he called the place Peniel, which means "the face of God, n because he had seen God face to face. On the journey he also met his brother Esau, and they were reconciled to one another. But his wife Rachel died by the way, when his youngest son Benjamin was born. Soon after Jacob's return to Canaan his father Isaac also died. And as the land was not able to support him and Esau, to whom he was now reconciled, because of the multitude of their sheep and cattle, they parted company, and Esau dwelt in Mount Seir.

Of all his twelve sons Jacob loved Joseph best, and he made him a coat of many colors. When Joseph was about seventeen years of age, he had a strange dream, which he told to his brothers. He thought in his dream that, they were all binding sheaves in the field, when his sheaf arose and stood upright, and all his brothers' sheaves stood up and bowed down to it. This caused his brothers to be very envious and jealous of him. Joseph dreamed again that the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. All this seemed as if they, his elder brethren, who were older and wiser than him, were to bow down and serve him.

While his brethren were feeding their flocks at Shechem Joseph was sent by his father from

Hebron to see as to their welfare, and to bring him word. He found them at Dothan, about twelve miles from Shechem. When his brethren saw him afar off they made a plot against him to kill him. They could not bear his dreams, his reproofs, his airs of superiority, as they deemed them, any longer. They thought they had now a good opportunity to kill him, cast his body into a pit, and then report that some evil beast had devoured him. Reuben, his eldest brother, was a little less heartless than the rest, and begged that they would not kill him, but leave him in a pit in the wilderness. So they stripped him of his coat of many colors, and cast him into a pit, where he might have perished; but a band of merchants, Ishmaelites and Midianites, bound for the land of Egypt, coining that way, his brethren sold him to them as a slave for twenty pieces of silver. When Reuben, who did not know of this, came to the pit and found his brother Joseph gone, he was in great distress, and wondered what he should say to his father on his return. So these wicked brethren killed a kid, dipped Joseph's coat in the blood, and taking it to their, father, made him believe that some evil beast had devoured him. Jacob mourned long and bitterly for his son, and said, U I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning."

Meanwhile Joseph was sold by the Ishmaelites as a slave to Potiphar, an officer of King Pharaoh, captain of his guard, who, finding him honest and diligent, trusted him, and promoted him in his service. But the wife of Potiphar was not a good woman, and made her husband believe that he had a bad servant, and bore false witness against him. So Joseph was sent to prison because of what this woman said against him. In prison he was kindly treated by the jailer, and interpreted the dreams of two of the king's servants, the chief butler and the chief baker, who were also in prison. The interpretation of the dreams which God gave to Joseph came exactly true : as Joseph foretold, the chief baker was hanged by Pharaoh within three days, but the chief butler was again restored to favor.

King Pharaoh had also strange dreams,' which none of all the wise men in his kingdom could interpret. Then the chief butler, who had previously forgotten all about Joseph, remembered that the young Hebrew in prison had interpreted his dream correctly. So he told Pharaoh about him, and the king then sent for Joseph, and told one of his dreams to him. He thought that he was standing on the bank of the river Nile, when seven fat kine came up out of the water, and fed in a meadow. After them came seven lean kine, which swallowed up the fat ones, without making them look any better. His other dream was of seven good and full ears of corn growing on one stalk, which were swallowed up by seven poor, thin, withered ears, blasted by the east wind. Joseph explained to Pharaoh that it was God who enabled him to interpret dreams, and told him that his dreams were warnings sent by God of a great calamity which was coming upon the land. The seven fat kine and the seven good ears symbolized seven years of plenty; and the seven lean kine and seven blasted ears meant seven years of famine which were to follow. So Joseph advised the king that