Hurlbut's Story of the Bible (Illustrated) E-Book

Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

• Herausgeber: FV Éditions
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

*** Premium Illustrated Ebook with beautiful layout ***

The Bible is the most desirable book in all literature. Those who in childhood learn the Story of the Bible are fortunate, for they will never forget it. Wise parents tell the Stories of the Bible to their little children, and both parents and children find them the most fascinating of all stories. No book is so delightful to children as the Bible.

In the hope that this book may be an aid to parents and teachers in imparting Bible truth, and to children in learning it, with an earnest desire to increase the interest in the Sacred Narrative, these pages have been prepared and are sent forth into the world.

This book, printed in large characters for a comfortable reading, has been wonderfully illustrated with beautiful paintings and drawings by W. H Margetson.

Leseprobe

The Story of the Bible

Told for young and old

Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

Illustrated byW. H. Margetson

Contents

Introduction

1. The Story of a Beautiful Garden

2. The First Baby in the World, and his Brother

3. The Great Ship That Saved Eight People

4. The Tower That Was Never Finished

5. The Story of a Long Journey

6. How Lot's Choice Brought Trouble and Abram's Choice Brought Blessing

7. The Angel by the Well

8. The Rain of Fire That Fell on a City

9. The Boy Who Became an Archer

10. How an Angel's Voice Saved a Boy's Life

11. The Story of a Journey after a Wife

12. How Jacob Stole His Brother's Blessing

13. Jacob's Wonderful Dream

14. A Midnight Wrestling Match

15. The Rich Man's Son Who Was Sold as a Slave

16. From the Prison to the Palace

17. How Joseph's Dream Came True

18. A Lost Brother Found

19. From the Land of Famine to the Land of Plenty

20. The Beautiful Baby Who Was Found in a River

21. The Voice from the Burning Bush

22. The River That Ran Blood

23. The Night When a Nation Was Born

24. How the Sea Became Dry Land, and the Sky Rained Bread

25. The Mountain That Smoked and the Words That Were Spoken From It

26. How Aaron Made a Golden Calf, and What Became of It

27. The Tent Where God Lived among His People

28. How They Worshipped God in the Tabernacle

29. What Strong Drink Brought to Aaron's Sons

30. The Scapegoat in the Wilderness

31. The Cluster of Grapes from the Land of Canaan

32. How the Long Journey of the Israelites Came to an End

33. What a Wise Man Learned from an Ass

34. How Moses Looked upon the Promised Land

35. The Story of Job

36. The Story of a Scarlet Cord

37. How the River Jordan Became Dry, and the Walls of Jericho Fell Down

38. The Story of a Wedge of Gold

39. How Joshua Conquered the Land of Canaan

40. The Old Man Who Fought against the Giants

41. The Avenger of Blood, and the Cities of Refuge

42. The Story of an Altar beside the River

43. The Present That Ehud Brought to King Eglon

44. How a Woman Won a Great Victory

45. Gideon and His Brave Three Hundred

46. Jephthah's Rash Promise, and What Came from It

47. The Strong Man: How He Lived and How He Died

48. The Idol Temple at Dan, and Its Priest

49. How Ruth Gleaned in the Field of Boaz

50. The Little Boy with a Linen Coat

51. How the Idol Fell Down Before the Ark

52. The Last of the Judges

53. The Tall Man Who Was Chosen King

54. How Saul Saved the Eyes of the Men of Jabesh

55. The Brave Young Prince

56. Saul's Great Sin and His Great Loss

57. The Shepherd Boy of Bethlehem

58. The Shepherd Boy's Fight with the Giant

59. The Little Boy Looking for the Arrows

60. Where David Found the Giant's Sword

61. How David Spared Saul's Life

62. The Last Days of King Saul

63. The Shepherd Boy Becomes a King

64. The Sound in the Tree-Tops

65. The Cripple at the King's Table

66. The Prophet's Story of the Little Lamb

67. David's Handsome Son, and How He Stole The Kingdom

68. Absalom in the Wood: David on the Throne

69. The Angel with the Drawn Sword on Mount Moriah

70. Solomon on David's Throne

71. The Wise Young King

72. The House of God on Mount Moriah

73. The Last Days of Solomon's Reign

74. The Breaking Up of a Great Kingdom

75. The King Who Led Israel to Sin, and the Prophet Who Was Slain by a Lion

76. The Prophet Whose Prayer Raised a Boy to Life

77. The Prayer That Was Answered in Fire

78. The Voice That Spoke to Elijah in the Mount

79. The Wounded Prophet and His Story

80. What Ahab Paid for His Vineyard

81. The Arrow That Killed a King

82. Elijah's Chariot of Fire

83. A Spring Sweetened by Salt; and Water That Looked Like Blood

84. The Pot of Oil and the Pot of Poison

85. The Little Boy at Shunem

86. How a Little Girl Helped to Cure a Leper

87. The Chariots of Fire around Elisha

88. What the Lepers Found in the Camp

89. Jehu, the Furious Driver of His Chariot

90. Elisha and the Bow; Jonah and Nineveh

91. How the Ten Tribes Were Lost

92. The First Four Kings of Judah

93. The Little Boy Who Was Crowned King

94. Three Kings and a Great Prophet

95. The Good King Hezekiah

96. The Lost Book Found in the Temple

97. The Last Four Kings of Judah, and The Weeping Prophet

98. What Ezekiel Saw in the Valley

99. The Jewish Captives in the Court of the King

100. The Golden Image and the Fiery Furnace

101. The Tree That Was Cut Down and Grew Again

102. The Writing upon the Wall

103. Daniel in the Den of Lions

104. The Story of a Joyous Journey

105. The New Temple on Mount Moriah

106. The Beautiful Queen of Persia

107. The Scribe Who Wrote the Old Testament

108. The Nobleman Who Built the Wall of Jerusalem

109. Ezra's Great Bible Class in Jerusalem

110. The Angel by the Altar

111. The Manger of Bethlehem

112. The Star and the Wise Men

113. The Boy in His Father's House

114. The Prophet in the Wilderness

115. Jesus in the Desert, and beside the River

116. The Water Jars at the Wedding Feast

117. The Stranger at the Well

118. The Story of a Boy in Capernaum, and of a Riot in Nazareth

119. A Net Full of Fishes

120. The Leper, and the Man Let Down through the Roof

121. The Cripple at the Pool, and the Withered Hand in the Synagogue

122. The Twelve Disciples and the Sermon on the Mount

123. The Captain's Servant, the Widow's Son, and the Woman Who Was a Sinner

124. Some Stories That Jesus Told By The Sea

125. "Peace, Be Still"

126. The Little Girl Who Was Raised to Life

127. A Dancing Girl, and What Was Given Her

128. The Feast Beside the Sea, and What Followed It

129. The Answer to a Mother's Prayer

130. The Glory of Jesus on the Mountain

131. The Little Child in the Arms of Jesus

132. At the Feast of Tabernacles

133. The Man with Clay on His Face

134. The Good Shepherd and the Good Samaritan

135. Lazarus Raised to Life

136. Some Parables in Perea

137. The Poor Rich Man, and the Rich Poor Man

138. Jesus at Jericho

139. Palm Sunday

140. The Last Visits of Jesus to the Temple

141. The Parables on the Mount of Olives

142. The Last Supper

143. The Olive Orchard and the High Priest's Hall

144. The Crown of Thorns

145. The Darkest Day of All the World

146. The Brightest Day of All the World

147. The Stranger on the Shore

148. The Church of the First Days

149. The Man at the Beautiful Gate

150. The Right Way to Give and the Wrong Way

151. Stephen with the Shining Face

152. The Man Reading in the Chariot

153. The Voice That Spoke to Saul

154. What Peter Saw by the Sea

155. How the Iron Gate Was Opened

156. The Earliest Missionaries

157. The Song in the Prison

158. Paul's Speech on the Hill

159. Paul at Corinth

160. Paul at Ephesus

161. Paul's Last Journey to Jerusalem

162. The Speech on the Stairs

163. Two Years in Prison

164. The Story That Paul Told to the King

165. Paul in the Storm

166. How Paul Came to Rome, and How He Lived There

167. The Throne of God

168. The City of God

Introduction

THE PURPOSE AND PLAN OF THIS BOOK

Some years ago, the editor of an English magazine sent a communication to "the hundred greatest men in Great Britain" asking them this question:

"If for any reason you were to spend a year absolutely alone, in a prison for instance, and could select from your library three volumes to be taken with you as companions in your period of retirement please to inform us what those three books would be." The inquiry was sent to peers of the realm, prominent leaders in politics, judges, authors, manufacturers, merchants, gentlemen of leisure—men who would represent every aspect of successful life. In the answers it was found that ninety-eight of the hundred men named "The Bible" first on the list of the three books to be chosen.

If from the middle class of society, instead of the highest, another hundred names were taken at random, requiring only character and not greatness, the proportion of those who would name the Bible as the most desirable book in all literature would be almost, perhaps quite, as large. And if one should ask the same question of a hundred moral honest people in the lower walks of life—workingmen and housewives in humble homes,—the answer from the largest number would still be "The Bible." There is no other book in all the world which commands annually a circulation of ten million copies, in order to supply the demand for it in every land and in every language. Choose if you please the new novel that last year sold the largest number of copies, and you will find during the same year more than ten times the number of Bibles were sold. And three years from now, when the new novel will be old, forgotten, and no longer in demand, there will again be ten million Bibles in three hundred and twenty-five languages printed and bound and sold in a year!

A book which stands in such honor as the Bible no one can afford to neglect. It is everywhere quoted, referred to, written about, preached from, and every one who would be considered as intelligent must have some acquaintance with it. And the time when one can most readily obtain a familiarity with the Bible is in early life. Those who in childhood learn the Story of the Bible are fortunate, for they will never forget it. Wise parents tell the Stories of the Bible to their little children, and both parents and children find them the most fascinating of all stories. "David and Goliath" is more interesting than "Jack, the Giant Killer;" "Joseph and His Brothers" will compare favorably with "Whittington, Lord Mayor of London;" the battles of Joshua and David are as wonderful as those of "King Arthur and the Table Round." The Bible is a veritable "Arabian Nights" of entertainment when parents are themselves familiar with the stories and know how to tell them. No book is so delightful to children as the Bible.

But the parents who are not thoroughly informed, or who do not possess the great gift of story-telling, find difficulties in the path of teaching the contents of the Bible to their children. Here is a great Book with masses of matter interesting only to students, as history, genealogy, details of law and customs of worship, psalms, prophecies, proverbs, epistles —how shall a selection be made appropriate to childhood? There are Oriental forms of speech, antiquated, unfamiliar, sometimes unacceptable to the taste of the age. The Stories of the Bible must be chosen with care, some statements must be explained, and some allusions must be omitted. There is need of a "Child's Bible," if children are to be interested in the Book of Books.

The writer of this work has been for many years a Bible student, a Bible teacher and a helper through the press, of instructing the young in the Bible. He has long felt the need of a Book of Bible Stories, different in some respects from any work that has yet appeared. With this conviction he has undertaken the preparation of this work, which after patient labor and many revisions is now submitted to the public. In its purpose and plan its distinguishing features are the following:

1. The aim has been not merely to make a selection of the most striking and interesting among the stories contained in the Bible, but to tell all the principal stories in their connected order, and in such relation with each other as to form a continuous history. Whoever reads this book will find in it not only "Stories from the Bible," but also the "Story of the Bible" in one narration. He will follow the current of Scripture history and biography.

2. This Bible Story, though continuous and connected, is arranged in the form of a series of Stories, each independent of all the others and treated separately. Every Story has its title; and an effort has been made to give to each a striking title, one that will arrest the young reader's attention. A child or a parent who might hesitate in undertaking to read through the history in the Bible, may open almost it random and find a Story. Here are one hundred and sixty-eight Stories, each one complete in itself, while together combining to form one narrative. And with each Story is named the place where it may be found in the Bible.

3. Special care has been given to the language of this book. I have endeavored to make it childlike without making it childish. Every word has been carefully chosen and there are few words in these Stories which a child of ten years old will not readily understand. Whenever it has been found necessary to introduce any word outside the realm of childhood, as "altar," "offering," "tabernacle," "synagogue," "centurion," etc., it is carefully explained, not once only, but a number of times, until it becomes familiar. Doctrinal and technical terms have been everywhere excluded, and in place of them plain, familiar words have been given.

4. Inasmuch as the book is designed to lead the young reader to the Bible itself, and not away from it, the language of the Bible, or a language somewhat like that of the Bible, has been employed. For the same reason I have refrained from adding to the Bible record any imaginary scenes or incidents or conversations. I wish every child who hears this book read to feel instinctively that it is the Bible, and not a fairy-tale, to which he is listening. When he grows older and reads these Stories himself for the first time in the Bible itself, I would not have him feel that he has been misled, or taught that which is not contained in the Word of God. The Bible stories are made plain, but they are not rewritten or changed.

5. In my opinion many books for children containing stories from the Bible are greatly marred by the evident attempt to interject a body of divinity into them, to make them teach doctrines which may be right or may be wrong, but are not stated nor hinted in the Scripture stories. Some excellent works have occupied much space here and there in trying to put into childlike language and to connect with Bible stories the deepest and most mysterious doctrines, which theologians find hard to understand. Others contain many moral reflections and applications which may be useful, but are not contained in the text of the story. I have sought to explain what needs explanation, but to avoid all doctrinal bias, and not to be wise above what is written. Only in a few instances where the New Testament warrants a spiritual interpretation of the Old Testament story has an application been given, and then in the simplest and fewest words. It is my confident hope that all denominations of Christians may feel at home in the pages of this book.

6. In the management of the material, the paragraphs are short, and according to the modern manner the conversations are generally printed in separate paragraphs. The results of recent knowledge in Bible lands and Bible history are used as far as is suitable in a book for children. Where the Revised Version is a manifest improvement upon the Old Version, it has been followed, as bringing the reader a step nearer to the thought of the Biblical writers.

7. Many of the engravings have been designed expressly for this book, and both the subjects for illustrations and the pictures themselves have been prepared with great care. The publishers have not allowed, in the book, scenes of blood or such as would be repulsive to people of taste. There is a realism in some modern views of Oriental manners and customs, which may be accurate, but is not pleasing and does not promote reverence. We have sought for pictures representing action and life, rather than those of ruined cities and squalid modern villages which may represent the Holy Land of to-day, but give no conception of the country and its people in Bible times. The pictures and the stories with them are designed to make the Word of God real to the young people who read these pages.

In the hope that this book may be an aid to parents and teachers in imparting Bible truth, and to children in learning it, with an earnest desire to increase the interest in the Sacred Narrative, these pages have been prepared and are sent forth into the world.

1

The Story of a Beautiful Garden

Genesis i: 1, to iii: 24.

This great round world, on which we live, is very old; so old that no one knows when it was made. But long before there was any earth, or sun, or stars, God was living, for God never began to be. He always was. And long, long ago, God spoke, and the earth and the heavens came. But the earth was not beautiful as it is now, with mountains and valleys, rivers and seas, with trees and flowers. It was a great smoking ball, with land and water mingled in one mass. And all the earth was blacker than midnight, for there was no light upon it. No man could have breathed its air, no animals could walk upon it, and no fish could swim in its black oceans. There was no life upon the earth.

While all was dark upon earth, God said, "Let there be light," and then the light began to come upon the world. Part of the time it was light, and part of the time it was dark, just as it is now. And God called the dark time Night, and the light time day. And that was the first day upon this earth after a long night.

Then at God's word, the dark clouds all around the earth began to break, and the sky came in sight, and the water that was in the clouds began to be separate from the water that was on the earth. And the arch of the sky which was over the earth God called Heaven. Thus the night and the morning made a second day.

Then God said, "Let the water on the earth come together in one place, and let the dry land rise up." And so it was. The water that had been all over the world came together, and formed a great ocean, and the dry land rose up from it. And the great water God called Sea, and the dry land he named Earth: and God saw that the Earth and the Sea were both good. Then God said, "Let grass and trees, and flowers, and fruits, grow on the earth." And at once the earth began to be green and bright with grass, and flowers, and trees bearing fruit. This made the third day upon the earth.

Then God said, "Let the sun, and moon, and stars come into sight from the earth." So the sun began to shine by day, and the moon and the stars began to shine in the night. And this was done on the fourth day.

And God said, "Let there be fishes in the sea, and let there be birds to fly in the air." So the fishes, great ones and small, began to swim in the sea; and the birds began to fly in the air over the earth, just as they do now. And this was the fifth day.

Then God said, "Let the animals come upon the earth, great animals and small ones; those that walk and those that creep and crawl on the earth." And the woods and the fields began to be alive with animals of all kinds. And now the earth began to be more beautiful, with its green fields and bright flowers, and singing birds in the trees, and animals of every kind walking in the forests.

But there were no people in the world—no cities nor houses, and no children playing under the trees. The world was all ready for men and women to enjoy it: and so God said, "I will make man, to be different from all other animals. He shall stand up and shall have a soul, and shall be like God; and he shall be the master of the earth and all that is upon it."

So God took some of the dust that was on the ground, and out of it he made man; and God breathed into him the breath of life, and man became alive, and stood up on the earth.

And so that the man whom God had made might have a home, God planted a beautiful garden on the earth, at a place where four rivers met. Perhaps we might rather call it a park, for it was much larger than any garden that you have ever seen, for it was miles and miles in every direction. In this garden, or park, God planted trees, and caused grass to grow, and made flowers to bloom. This was callcd "The Garden of Eden," and as in one of the languages of the Bible the word that means "garden," or "park," is a word quite like the word "Paradise," this Garden of Eden has often been called "Paradise." This garden God gave to the man that he had made; and told him to care for it, and to gather the fruits upon the trees and the plants, and to live upon them. And God gave to the first man the name Adam: and God brought to Adam the animals that he had made, and let Adam give to each one its name.

But Adam was all alone in this beautiful garden. And God said, "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make some one to be with Adam, and to help him." So when Adam was asleep, God took a rib from Adam’s side, and from it God made a woman; and he brought her to Adam, and Adam called her Eve. And Adam and Eve loved one another; and they were happy in the beautiful garden which God had given them for a home.

Thus in six days the Lord God made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them. And on the seventh day God rested from his work.

For a time, we do not know how long, Adam and Eve were at peace in their beautiful garden. They did just as God told them to do, and talked with God as a man would talk with his friend; and they did not know of anything evil or wicked. It was needful for Adam and Eve to understand that they must always obey God’s commands. So God said to Adam and Eve:

"You may eat the fruit of all the trees in the garden except one. In the middle of the garden grows a tree, with fruit upon it that you must not eat and you must not touch. If you eat of the fruit upon that tree, you shall die."

ADAM AND EVE SENT OUT INTO THE WORLD

Now among the animals in the garden there was a snake: and this snake said to Eve, "Has God told you that there is any kind of fruit in the garden, of which you are forbidden to eat?"

And Eve answered the snake, "We can eat the fruit of all the trees except the one that stands in the middle of the garden. If we eat the fruit of that tree, God says that we must die."

Then the snake said, "No, you will not surely die. God knows that if you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will become as wise as God himself, for you will know what is good and what is evil."

Eve listened to the snake, and then she looked at the tree and its fruit. As she saw it, she thought that it would taste good; and if it would really make one wise, she would like to eat it, even though God had told her not to do so. She took the fruit, and ate it; and then she gave some to Adam, and he too ate it.

Adam and Eve knew that they had done wrong in not obeying God’s words: and now for the first time they were afraid to meet God. They tried to hide themselves from God’s sight among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called and said, "Adam, where are you?" And Adam said, "Lord, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, and I hid myself."

And God said, "Why were you afraid to meet me? Have you eaten the fruit of the tree of which I told you that you must not touch it?" And Adam said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit, and I ate it."

Then God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" And Eve said, "The snake told me that it would do me no harm if I should eat the fruit, and so I took some of it and ate it."

Then the Lord God said to the snake, "Because you have led Adam and Eve to do wrong, you shall no more walk as do other animals; you shall crawl in the dust and the dirt forever. You shall hate the woman, and the woman shall hate you. You shall try to kill her and her children, and her children’s children forever, and they shall try to kill you.

And the Lord God said to the woman, "Because you led your husband to disobey me, you shall suffer and have pain and trouble all the days of your life."

And God said to Adam, "Because you listened to your wife when she told you to do what was wrong, you too must suffer. You must work for everything that you get from the ground. You will find thorns and thistles and weeds growing on the earth. If you want food, you must dig and plant and reap and work, as long as you live. You came out from the ground, for you were made of dust, and back again into the dust shall your body go when you die."

And because Adam and Eve had disobeyed the word of the Lord, they were driven out of the beautiful Garden of Eden, which God had made to be their home. They were sent out into the world; and to keep them from going back into the garden, God placed his angels before its gate, with swords which flashed like fire.

So Adam and his wife lost their garden, and no man has ever been able to go into it from that day.

2

The First Baby in the World, and his Brother

Genesis iv: 1 to 18.

So Adam and his wife went out into the world to live and to work. For a time they were all alone, but after a while God gave them a little child of their own, the first baby that ever came into the world. Eve named him Cain; and after a time another baby came, whom she named Abel.

When the two boys grew up, they worked, as their father worked before them. Cain chose to work in the fields, and to raise grain and fruits. Abel had a flock of sheep and became a shepherd.

While Adam and Eve were living in the Garden of Eden, they could talk with God, and hear God's voice speaking to them. But now that they were out in the world, they could no longer talk with God freely, us before. So when they came to God, they built an altar of stones heaped up, and upon it they laid something as a gift to God, and burned it, to show that it was not their own, but was given to God, whom they could not see. Then before the altar they made their prayer to God, and asked God to forgive their sins, all that they had dome that was wrong; and prayed God to bless them and do good to them.

Each of these brothers, Cain and Abel, offered upon the altar to God his own gift. Cain brought the fruits and the grain which he had grown; and Abel brought a sheep from his flock, and killed it and burned it upon the altar. For some reason God was pleased with Abel and his offering, but was not pleased with Cain and his offering. Perhaps God wished Cain to offer something that had life, as Abel offered; perhaps Cain's heart was not right when he came before God.

And God showed that he was not pleased with Cain; and Cain, instead of being sorry for his sin, and asking God to forgive him, was very angry with God, and angry also toward his brother Abel. When they were out in the field together, Cain struck his brother Abel and killed him. So the first baby in the world grew up to be the murderer of his own brother.

CAIN KILLS HIS BROTHER ABEL

And the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?"

And Cain answered, "I do not know; why should I take care of my Brother?"

Then the Lord said to Cain, "What is this that you have done? Your brother's blood is like a voice crying to me from the ground. Do you see how the ground has opened, like a mouth, to drink your brother's blood? As long as you live, you shall be under God's curse for the murder of your brother. You shall wander over the earth, and shall never find a home, because you have done this wicked deed."

And Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is greater than I can bear. Thou hast driven me out from among men; and thou hast hid thy face from me. If any man finds me he will kill me, because I shall be alone, and no one will be my friend."

And God said to Cain, "If any one harms Cain, he shall be punished for it." And the Lord God placed a mark on Cain, so that whoever met him should know him, and should know also that God had forbidden any man to harm him. Then Cain and his wife went away from Adam's home, to live in a place by themselves, and there they had children. And Cain's family built a city in that land; and Cain named the city after his first child, whom he had called Enoch.

3

The Great Ship That Saved Eight People

Genesis v: 1, to ix: 17.

After Abel was slain, and his brother Cain had gone into another land, again God gave a child to Adam and Eve. This child they named Seth; and other sons and daughters were given to them, for Adam and Eve lived many years. But at last they died, as God had said that they must die, because they had eaten of the tree that God had forbidden them to eat.

By the time that Adam died, there were many people on the earth; for the children of Adam and Eve had many other children; and when these grew up, they also had children; and these too had children. And in those early times people lived much longer than they do now. Very few people now live to be a hundred years old; but in those days, when the earth was new, men often lived to be eight hundred or even nine hundred years old. So after a time that part of the earth where Adam's sons lived began to be full of people.

It is sad to tell that as time went on more and more of these people became wicked, and fewer and fewer of them grew up to become good men and women. All the people lived near together, and few went away to other lands; so it came to pass that even the children of good men and women learned to be bad, like the people around them.

And as God looked down on the world that he had made, he saw how wicked the men in it had become, and that every thought and every act of man was evil and only evil continually.

But while most of the people in the world were very wicked, there were some good people also, though they were very few. The best of all the men who lived at that time was a man whose name was Enoch. He was not the son of Cain, but another Enoch, who came from the family of Seth, the son of Adam who was born after the death of Abel. While so many around Enoch were doing evil, this man did only what was right. He walked with God, and God walked with him and talked with him. And at last, when Enoch was three hundred and sixty-five years old, God took him away from earth to heaven. He did not die, as all the people have died since Adam disobeyed God, but "he was not, for God took him." This means that Enoch was taken up from earth without dying.

Enoch left a son whose name was Methuselah. We do not know anything about Methuselah, except that he lived to be nine hundred and sixty-nine years old, which was longer than the life of any other man who ever lived. But at last, Methuselah died like all his people, except his father Enoch. By the time that Methuselah died, the world was very wicked. And God looked down on the earth, and said:

"I will take away all men from the earth that I have made; because the men of the world are evil, and evil continually."

But even in those bad times, God saw one good man. His name was Noah. Noah tried to do right in the sight of God. As Enoch had walked with God, so Noah walked with God, and talked with him. And Noah had three sons: their names were Shem and Ham and Japheth.

God said to Noah, "The time has come when all the men and women on the earth are to be destroyed. Every one must die, because they are all wicked. But you and your family shall be saved, because you alone are trying to do right."

Then God told Noah how he might save his life and the lives of his sons. He was to build a very large boat, as large as the largest ships that are made in our time; very long and very wide and very deep; with a roof over it; and made like a long wide house in three stories, but so built that it would float on the water. Such a ship as this was called "an ark." God told Noah to build this ark, and to have it ready for the time when he would need it.

"For," said God to Noah, "I am going to bring a great flood of water on the earth, to cover all the land and to drown all the people on the earth. And as the animals on the earth will be drowned with the people, you must make the ark large enough to hold a pair of each kind of animals, and several pairs of some animals that are needed by men, like sheep and goats and oxen; so that there will be animals as well as men to live upon the earth after the flood has passed away. And you must take in the ark food for yourself and your family, and for all the animals with you, enough food to last for a year, while the flood shall stay on the earth."

And Noah did what God told him to do, although it must have seemed very strange to all the people around, to build this great ark where there was no water for it to sail upon. And it was a long time, even a hundred and twenty years, that Noah and his sons were at work building the ark, while the wicked people around wondered, and no doubt laughed at Noahfor building a great ship where there was no sea. At last the ark was finished, and stood like a great house on the land. There was a door on one side, and a window on the roof, to let in the light. Then God said to Noah, "Come into the ark, you and your wife, and your three sons, and their wives with them; for the flood of waters will come very soon. And take with you animals of all kinds, and birds, and things that creep; seven pairs of those that will be needed by men, and one pair of all the rest; so that all kinds of animals may be kept alive upon the earth."

So Noah and his wife, and his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, with their wives, went into the ark. And God brought to the door of the ark the animals, and the birds, and the creeping things of all kinds; and they went into the ark, and Noha and his sons put them in their places, and brought in food for them all. And then the door of the ark was shut, so that no more people and no more animals could come in.

In a few days the rain began to fall, as it had never rained before. It seemed as though the heavens were opened to pour great floods upon the earth. The streams filled, and the rivers rose, higher and higher, and the ark began to float on the water. The people left their houses and ran up to the hills, but soon the hills were covered, and all the people on them were drowned.

Some had climbed up to the tops of higher mountains, but the water rose higher and higher, until even the mountains were covered and all the people, wicked as they had been, were drown in the great sea that now rolled over all the earth where men had lived. And all the animals, the tame animals—cattle and sheep and oxen—were drowned; and the wild animals—lions and tigers and all the rest—were drowned also. Even the birds were drowned, for their nests in the trees were swept away, and there was no place where they could fly from the terrible storm. For forty days and nights the rain kept on, until there was no breath of life remaining outside of the ark.

After forty days the rain stopped, but the water stayed upon the earth for more than six months; and the ark, with all that were in it, floated over the great sea that covered the land. Then God sent a wind to blow over the waters and to dry them up; so by degrees the waters grew less and less. First the mountains rose above the waters, then the hills rose up; and finally the ark ceased to float, and lay aground on a mountain which is called Mount Ararat. But Noah could not see what had happened on the earth, because the door was shut, and the window may have been in the roof. But he felt that the ark was no longer moving, and he knew that the water must have gone down. So, after waiting for a time, Noah opened a window and let loose a bird called a raven. Now the raven has strong wings; and this raven flew round and round until the waters had gone down, and it could find a place to rest, and it did not come back to the ark.

After Noah had waited for it a while, he sent out a dove; but the dove could not find any place to rest, so it flew back to the ark, and Noah took it into the ark again. Then Noah waited a week longer, and afterward he sent out the dove again. And at the evening, the dove came back to the ark, which was its home; and in its bill was a fresh leaf which it had picked off from an olive tree.

So Noah knew that the water had gone down enough to let the trees grow once more. He waited another week, and sent out the dove again; but this time the dove flew away and never came back. And Noah knew that the earth was becoming dry again. So he took off a part of the roof and looked out, and saw that there was dry land all around the ark. Noah had now lived n the ark a little more than a year, and he was glad to see the green land and the trees once more. And God said to Noah:

"Come out of the ark, with your wife, and your sons, and their wives, and all the living things that are with you in the ark."

So Noah opened the door of the ark, and with his family came out, and stood once more on the ground. All the animals and birds and creeping things in the ark came out also, and began again to bring life to the earth.

The first that Noah did, when he came out of the ark, was to give thanks to God for saving all his family when the rest of the people on the earth were destroyed. He built an altar, and laid upon it an offering to the Lord, and gave himself and his family to God, and promised to do God's will.

NOAH’S OFFERING AFTER THE FLOOD

And God was pleased with Noah's offering, and God said:

"I will not again destroy the earth on account of men, no matter how bad they may be. From this time no flood shall again cover the earth; but the seasons of spring and summer and fall and winter shall remain without change. I give to you the earth; you shall be the rulers of the ground and of every living thing upon it."

Then God caused a rainbow to appear in the sky, and he told Noah and his sons that whenever they or the people after then should see the rainbow, they should remember that god had placed it in the sky and over the clouds as a sign of his promise that he would always remember the earth and the people upon it, and would never again send a flood to destroy men from the earth.

So, as often as we see the beautiful rainbow, we are to remember that it is the sign of God's promise to the world.

4

The Tower That Was Never Finished

Genesis x: 1, to xi: 9.

After the great flood, the family of Noah and those who came after him grew in number until, as the years went on, the earth began to be full of people once more. But there was one great difference between the people who had lived before the flood and those who lived after it. Before the flood, all the people stayed close together, so that very many lived in one land and no one lived in other lands. So far as we know, all the people on the earth before the great flood, lived in the lands where the two great rivers flowed, called the Tigris and Euphrates. This part of the world was very full of people; but few or none crossed the mountains on the east, or the desert on the west; and the great world beyond was without people living in it. After the flood, families began to move from one place to another, seeking for themselves new homes. Some went one way, and some another.

This moving about was a part of God's plan to have the whole earth used for the home of men, and not merely a small part of it. Then, too, a family who wished to serve God, and do right, could go away to another land if the people around them became evil; and in a place by themselves they could bring up their children in the right way.

From Mount Ararat, where the ark rested, many of the people moved southward into a country between two great rivers, the rivers Tigris and Euphrates; and there they built houses for themselves. They undertook to build a great city, which should rule all the peoples around them. They found that the soil in that country could be made into bricks, and that the bricks could be heated and made hard; so that it was easy to build houses to live in, and walls around their city to make it strong against enemies.

And the people said to each other, "Let us build a great tower, that shall stand on the earth and shall reach up to the sky; so that we may be kept together, and not scattered abroad on the earth."

So they began to build their great tower out of bricks, which they piled up, one story above another. But God did not wish all the people on the earth to live close together, just as they had lived before the great flood. God knew that if they all kept together, those that were wicked would lead away from God those that were good, and all the world would become evil again, as it had been before the flood.

This was the way that God kept people from staying in one place. While they were building this great city and tower which they intended to rule the world, God caused their speech to change. At that time, all men were speaking one language, so that everybody could understand what every other person said.

God caused men to change their language, perhaps not all at once, but by degrees, little by little. After a time, the people that belonged to one family found that they could not understand what the people of another family were saying, just as now Germans do not understand English, and French people cannot talk to Italians, until they have learned their different languages.

As people began to grow apart in their speech they moved away into other places, where the families speaking one language could understand each other. So the men who were building the city and the great tower could no longer understand each other's speech; they left the building without finishing it, and many of them went away into other lands. So the building stayed forever unfinished.

THE PEOPLE WERE SCATTERED FROM THE TOWER OF BABEL

And the city was named Babel, a word which means "confusion." It was afterward known as Babylon, and for a long time was one of the greatest cities of that part of the world, even after many of its people had left it to live elsewhere. Part of the people who left Babylon went up to the north, and built a city called Nineveh, which became the ruling city of a great land called Assyria, whose people were called Assyrians.

Another company went away to the west, and settled by the great river Nile, and founded the land of Egypt, with its strange temples and pyramids, its Sphynx, and its monuments.

Another company wandered northwest until they came to the shore of the great sea which we call the Mediterranean Sea. There they founded the cities of Sidon and Tyre, where the people were sailors, sailing to countries far away, and bringing home many things from other lands to sell to the people of Babylon, and Assyria, and Egypt, and other countries.

So after the flood, the earth again become covered with people living in many lands and speaking many languages.

5

The Story of a Long Journey

Genesis xi: 27, to xiii: 18.

Not far from the city of Babylon, where they began to build the tower of Babel, was another city, called Ur of the Chaldees. The Chaldees were the people who lived in the country which was called Chaldea, where the two rivers Euphrates and Tigris come together. Among these people, at Ur, was living a man named Abram. Abram was a good man, for he prayed to the Lord God, and tried always to do God's will.

But the people who lived in Ur, Abram's home, did not pray to God. They prayed to idols, images made of wood and stone. They thought that these images were gods, and that they could hear their prayers and could help them. And as these people who worshipped idols did not call on God, they did not know his will, and they did many wicked things.

The Lord God saw that Abram was good and faithful, though wicked people were living all around him. And God did not wish to have Abram's family grow up in such a place, for then they too might become wicked. So the Lord spoke to Abram, and said:

"Abram, gather together all vour family and go out from this place, to a land far away, that I will show you. And in that land I will make your family to become a great people, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that all the world shall give honor to your name. If you will do as I command you, you shall be blessed, and all the families of the earth shall obtain a blessing through you."

Abram did not know just what this blessing meant that God promised to him. But we know that Abram's family grew after many years into the Israelite people, out of whom came Jesus, the Saviour of the world, for Jesus was a descendant of Abram: that is, Jesus came a long time afterward from the family of which Abram was the father; and thus Abram's family became a blessing to all the world by giving to the world a Saviour.

Although Abram did not know just what the blessing was to be that God promised to give him, and although he did not know where the land lay, to which God was sending him, he obeyed God's word. He took all his family, and with them his father Terah, who was very old, and his wife, whose name was Sarai; and his brother Nahor and his wife, amd another brother's son whose name was Lot; for Lot's father, Haran, who was the younger brother of Abram, had died before this time. And Abram took all that he had, his tents, and his flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle, and went forth on a long journey, to a land of which he did not even know the name.

He journeyed far up the great river Euphrates to the mountain region, until he came to a place called Haran, in a country called Mesopotamia. The word Mesopotamia means "between the rivers"; and this country was between the two great rivers Tigris and Euphrates. At Haran they all stayed for a time. Perhaps they stopped there because Terah, the father of Abram, was too old to travel further; for they stayed at Haran until Terah died.

After the death of Terah, his father, Abram again went on his journey, and Lot, his brother's son, went with him; but Nahor, Abram's brother, stayed in Haran, and his family, and children, and children's children, whom they call "his descendants," lived at Haran for many years.

From Haran, Abram and Lot turned toward the southwest, and journeyed for a long time, having the mountains on their right hand and the great desert on their left. They crossed over rivers, and climbed the hills, and at last they came into the land of Canaan, which was the land of which God had spoken to Abram.

This land was calledl Canaan, because the people who were living in it were the descendants, or children's children, of a man who had lived long before, whose name was Canaan. A long time after this it was called "the land of Israel," from the people who lived in it; and because in that same land the Lord Jesus lived many years afterward; we now call it "The Holy Land."

Wheen Abram came into the land of Canaan, he found in it a few cities and villages of the Canaanites. But Abeam and his people did not go into the towns to live. They lived in tents, out in the open fields, whore they could find grass for their sheep and cattle. Not far from a city called Shechem, Abram set up his tent under an oak tree on the plain. There the Lord came to Abram, and said:

"I will give this land to your children, and to their children, and this shall be their land forever."

And Abram built there an altar, and made an offering, and worshipped the Lord. Wherever Abram set up his tent, there he built his altar and prayed to God; for Abram loved God, and served God, and believed God's promises.

Abram and Lot moved their tents and their flocks to many places, where they could find grass for their flocks and water to drink. At one time they went down to the land of Egypt, where they saw the great river Nile. Perhaps they saw also the Pyramids, and the Sphinx, and the wonderful temples in that land, for many of them were built before Abram lived.

THE SPHINX AND PYRAMID IN EGYPT

Abram did not stay long in the land of Egypt. God did not wish him to live in a land where the people worshipped idols; so God sent Abram back again to the land of Canaan, where he could live apart from cities, and bring up his servants and his people to worship the Lord. He came to a place where afterward a city called Bethel stood; and there as before he built an altar and prayed to the Lord.

Now Lot, the son of Abram's younger brother who had died. was with Abram; and Lot, like Abram, had flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, and many tents for his people. Abram's shepherds and Lot's shepherds quarreled, because there was not grass enough in one place for both of them to feed their flocks; and besides these people, the Canaanites were also in the land, so that there was not room for them all.

When Abram heard of the quarrel between his men and the men under Lot, he said to Lot:

"Let there be no quarrel between you and me, nor between your men and my men; for you and I are like brothers to each other. The whole land is before us; let us go apart. You shall have the first choice, too. If you will take the land on the right hand, then I will take the land on the left; or if you choose the left hand, then I will take the right."

This was noble and generous in Abram, for he was the older, and might claim the first choice. Then, too, God had promised all the land to Abram, so that he might have said to Lot, "Go away, for this land is all mine." But Abram showed a kind, good heart in giving to Lot his choice of the land.

And Lot looked over the land from the mountain where they were standing, and saw down in the valley the river Jordan flowing between green fields, where the soil was rich. He saw the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah upon the plain, near the head of the Dead Sea, into which the Jordan flows. And Lot said, "I will go down yonder to the plain."

And he went down the mountain to the plain, with his tents and his men, and his flocks of sheep and his cattle, leaving the land on the mountains, which was not so good, to his uncle Abram. Perhaps Lot did not know that the people in Sodom were the most wicked of all the people in the land; but he went to live near them, and gradually moved his tent closer to Sodom, until after a time he was living in that wicked city.

After Lot had separated from Abram, God said to Abram:

"Lift up your eyes from this place, and look east and west, and north and south. All the land that you can see, mountains and valleys and plains, I will give it to you, and to your children, and their children, and those who come after them. Your descendants shall have all this land, and they shall be as many as the dust of the earth; so that if one could count the dust of the earth, they could as easily count those who shall come from you. Rise up, and walk through the land wherever you please, for it is all yours."

Then Abram moved his tent from Bethel, and went to live near the city of Hebron, in the south, under an oak tree; and there again he built an altar to the Lord.

6

How Lot's Choice Brought Trouble and Abram's Choice Brought Blessing

Genesis xiv: 1, to xv: 21.

So Lot lived in Sodom, and Abram lived in his tent on the mountains of Canaan. At that time in the plain of Jordan, near the head of the Dead Sea, were five cities, of which Sodom and Gomorrahh were two; and each of the five cities was ruled by its own king. But over all these little kings and their little kingdoms was a greater king, who lived far away, near the kind of Chaldea, from which Abram had come, and who ruled all the lands, far and near.

After a time these little kings in the plain would not obey the greater king; so he and all his army made war upon them. A battle was fought on the plain, not far from Sodom, and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah were beaten in the battle, and their soldiers were killed. Then the king who had won the victory over his enemies came to Sodom, and took everything that he could find in the city, and carried away all the people in the city, intending to keep them as slaves. After a battle, in those times, the army that won the victory took away all the goods, and made slaves of all the people on the side that had been beaten.