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THE LIBRARY
To
^\ iQRQHTQ
THE BIBLE
J^ LIBRARY
^01 CougGE
is
I have written
it
because
you
do,
attitude of those
who
Holy Volume
And
wisdom
that
lies
hidden
your
lives,
has been
stories.
Besides,
man
for
hundred generations.
FOREWORD
And
events.
as
it
was hated
as cordially by-
Of
I
all this,
am
tell
you nothing.
ing a cause.
(in
I shall
my own
opinion
and
tell
am
Heaven
and therefore
may
It
after
many
is
good and
holy.
ment.
know
to
Old Testa-
little
who
cor-
That
is
going to
figure.
gave
all.
There
may
life
and
And
see
so I shall give
it,
sure,
is
not a word
the
way
he
CONTENTS
1.
How
Many
2.
3.
How
Centuries
........
26
50
But the Jews Were Originally a Simple People of Shepherds, AND City Life in a Foreign Land Was Not Good for
Them. Rapidly They Became Egyptianised and Instead
OF Being Free and Independent Men and Women, They
Became Common Labourers Who Worked for the King of
Egypt and Who Were Treated as Slaves
68
.....
5.
...
6.
7.
12
4.
State of Their
Own
.......
72
......
He Died
xi
83
CONTENTS
xii
PAGE
8.
of Asia
....
9.
Under
10.
The Story
11.
12.
13.
148
191
The Two Little Jewish Kingdoms Were Each Other's Bitterest Enemies. They Made War upon Each Other Almost Incessantly and This Fraternal Strife So Weakened
Them That They Were Forever at the Mercy of Their
Neighbours. Their Final Misfortunes, However, Did Not
Come Without a Warning. While Kings and Politicians
AND Priests Were Neglecting Their Duties as Leaders of
THE Nation, a Number of Courageous Men, Known as the
Prophets, Stepped Forward in a Vain Attempt to Lead
the People Back to the True Worship of Jehovah
.
14.
99
201
CONTENTS
xiii
PAGE
242
.........
15.
16.
17.
267
277
18.
286
A Century Later
290
297
IN
......
19.
.......
CONTENTS
xiv
PAGE
20.
Now
.......
21.
22.
The Prophetic
Spirit
34i4
356
As for Jesus,
........
23.
24.
.......
Soon It Became Known All over the Land That Here Was
a Prophet Who Taught the Strange Doctrine That All
the People of This Earth (and Not Only the Jews) Were
the Children of One Loving God, and Therefore Brothers
AND Sisters to Each Other and to All Mankind
.
25.
323
361
367
......
378
CONTENTS
XV
PAGE
26.
........
27.
But the New Words of Love and Hope Which Had Been
Whispered into the Ears of an Unhappy Humanity Could
Not Be Suppressed by the Acts of Roman Governors and
Envious Jewish Priests. Nay, Not Even the Emperor
Himself Could Prevent the Disciples of Jesus from Carrying the Message of Their Master to All Those Who
Cared to Listen
........
28.
417
428
.......
........
..........
30.
Animated Chronology
31.
A Biblical
St.
32.
413
29.
387
Index
John Power
437
Selected by Leonore
440
447
LIST
OF COLORED PICTURES
New
the
Testament
Frontisp lece
Facing page
of Creation
Home
the
in
12
Desert
28
Slavery
62
The Desert
84
The Captives
238
Judas Maccabee
306
Bethlehem
340
350
Land
388
414
422
the
Temple
434
400
404
432
OF PICTURES
LIST
PAGE
.14
1.
2.
The Sun,
3.
The
4.
The Death
5.
The Building
6.
It
7.
The Altar
23
8.
The Rainbow
23
9.
The Tower
24
the
Moon and
First Sabbath
Began
the Stars
15
jg
of Abel
to
of the
18
Ark
20
Rain
22
of Babel
10.
28
11.
29
12.
Lot's
13.
The
14.
Abraham
15.
Hagar's Flight
35
16.
Abraham
37
17.
The Burial
18.
Rebekah's Well
19.
Wife
Is
Turned
Philistines
Land on
32
Built Himself a
Home
Sacrifices Isaac
of Sarah
in the
New
....
Country
...
33
34
38
39
xix
44
LIST OF PICTURES
XX
PAGE
When Esau
Returns
Home
46
20.
Jacob Flees
21.
Jacob's
22.
Joseph's First
23.
Joseph's Second
24.
25.
26.
27.
60
28.
61
29.
Is Plentiful
30.
....
31.
Dream
47
Dream
Dream
53
of the Stars
New
Coat
54
into a
Thrown
into Prison
of
Was Laid
52
of the Sheaves
Egypt
Ask
for
...
.
Grain
32.
Jacob
33.
34.
35.
36.
to
Busy Luxury
to Like the
to the
of the
of the
38.
39.
40.
41.
High
Sinai's Highest
The
Pillar of
64
66
74
76
Land
of
...
Mount Called
a
82
86
Sinai
88
Golden Calf
89
Had Guided
the
Desert
43.
63
70
Commandments
Pillar of Clouds
62
Cities
57
79
42.
Big
37.
Terrible
55
93
Cloud Came
to
....
94
LIST OF PICTURES
xxi
PAGE
44.
45.
At Last Moses
46.
47.
The Glow
48.
49.
50.
51.
The Walls
52.
The People
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
The Tomb
58.
59.
The
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
The Attack
65.
Town
of
Shechem
66.
to
Pronounce Shibboleth
67.
Jephthah Returns
68.
69.
Samson
Most
Fertile
Promised Land
to See the
Land
95
96
97
of the
Jewish Watch-Fires
the
of Ai
100
....
102
of
Rahab
to
103
the Walls of Jericho
Down
Had Seen
in the
104
105
Joshua
an Exhausted Condition
in
.107
.
Cave
108
110
Ill
Still
the
Land
of the
Men
Lands
of the
Temple with
Philistines
.
a Strange Idol in It
121
123
Homes
126
127
Is
the Gates
in the Mill
118
125
Men
Home and
115
.119
....
of Gideon's
Anak
116
in Philistia or Palestine
of
of
Anakim
of the Giant
Work
House
the Jordan
of Jericho Fall
Philistines
at
Was Allowed
128
.
.130
.
131
135
137
LIST OF PICTURES
xxii
PAGE
Samson
70.
The Death
71.
The Ark
72.
73.
Ruth
74.
75.
of
138
Returned
Is
141
for the
Old Home
144
145
to
Ruth
146
of the National
Conscience
76.
Woe
151
unto the
Town That
Prophet
152
77.
160
78.
164
79.
The Burial
170
80.
81.
The Death
82.
The Altar
83.
84.
85.
218
86.
Elijah's Sacrifice
219
87.
222
88.
Elijah Hears
One Voice
223
89.
Naboth's Vineyard
90.
of Saul
of
of
.171
Absalom
179
in the
Open
.183
186
in the
Desert
217
224
226
91.
92.
240
93.
Babylon
243
229
LIST OF PICTURES
xxiii
PAGE
D^.
264
95.
274
9G.
Haman Hanged
97.
The Jews
98.
The World
99.
239
100.
Zarathustra
291
101.
102.
302
103.
The Home
304
101.
105.
Josephus
325
106.
Herod
332
107.
Nazareth
333
108.
Joseph
334
109.
Zacharias
335
110.
Mary
336
111.
On
112.
The Nativity
338
113.
The Shepherds
339
114.
The Adoration
34,0
115.
341
116.
342
117.
Murder
343
118.
119.
the
in
Own
Gallows
275
276
Exile
Greeks
of the
288
of Mattathias
Way
in
on His
to
in the
Wilderness
Bethlehem
Bethlehem
in the
Day Without
a Fight
295
312
337
347
Desert
349
LIST OF PICTURES
xxiv
TAGE
120.
350
121.
351
122.
352
123.
353
124.
364
125.
Jesus Leaves
126.
Bethlehem
363
127.
Cana
364
128.
The Wedding
129.
Capernaum
368
130.
369
131.
The Money-changer
370
132.
Jesus Drives
133.
Nicodemus
134.
135.
Caesarea
136.
137.
The Lame,
138.
The Pool
139.
140.
The Sermon on
141.
388
142.
The Merchants
389
143.
390
144.
392
145.
The Fanatic
394
of
His Dungeon
Home
360
Cana
at
Away
the
365
Money-Changers
371
372
the Samaritan
373
374
Woman
the
Mount
of Jerusalem
375
376
379
380
383
LIST OF PICTURES
xxv
PAGE
146.
The Reward
398
147.
Judas
399
148.
The Garden
149.
Gethsemane
402
150.
403
151.
Peter
Denies Jesus
405
152.
Pontius Pilate
406
153.
407
154.
Golgotha
408
155.
The Road
to
156.
The Death
of Jesus
157.
St.
158.
Damascus
419
159.
Antioch
420
160.
The Apostle
421
161.
Troas
422
162.
The Temple
163.
164.
Paul Goes to
165.
Malta
166.
St.
167.
The Slave
431
168.
Rome Burned
433
169.
Rome
435
of
Gethsemane
Golgotha
Stephen
401
410
411
418
of
Diana
Rome
423
425
426
427
Peter
429
A LITERARY INHERITANCE
CHAPTER
The
when a small
home along
In time
the Jews.
in search of
more
and
fertile fields.
were to be known as
all
Still later,
And
women was
one of their
all teachers.
we know nothing
3
of the origin
among
the
What
vague
in its
But
I shall therefore
tell
by
country.
is
called
little
all
at the
other men.
map you
will see
many
millions
They
live
Egypt.
They
their
country
and
which they need and which they can obtain only in the distant
countries of the fertile plain. There are many things which
A LITERARY INHERITANCE
and the Assyrians need, and which are manuThe two nations therefore trade
factured only in Egypt.
with one another, and the highroad of commerce runs through
the Babylonians
we have
just mentioned.
of the rocky
From
valleys.
It has
few
trees,
hills.
hither
of
the Governor, together with his soldiers, has gone, then the old
life
They were
and
the
of the
their career as
it
kept the
the history
history.
have made
many
learned guesses.
But a plausible guess does not fill an historic gap. And when
we read that the Jews originally came from the land of Ur on
Rather than
nothing at
tell
all,
facts,
upon which
The
desert of Arabia.
We
western Asia.
We
their
know
that they
fertile plain of
lost.
call
We
also
desert of
A LITERARY INHERITANCE
Roman
state.
But when
This time, I
thing in mind.
I
am
not going to
tell
am
I am going to try
show you how a certain people, called the Jews, thought
that certain things had happened.
As you all know, there is a great deal of difference between
the things that "are facts" and the things which we "believe
to be facts." Every text-book of history of every land tells
torical information)
actually happened.
to
it
to be true, but
when you
you
and read
those
days.
Here and
there, of course,
an historian or a philosopher
or another queer person will read all the books of all the countries,
and perhaps he
will
come
to
an appreciation of something
life,
But
if
he will keep
he wishes to lead
information to
this
himself.
What
is
is
The Jews
Jews.
centuries ago
one
They
uncommon, and they also have certain faults which are exceedingly
common. But so much has been written about them, good,
bad and indifferent, that it is very difficult to come to a correct
else.
tell
us their adventures
men of
Canaan and among
among
the
of the countries
The
of the valleys of the Nile and of the dales of Palestine and those
who
them with open arms. On the contrary, they said, "We have
Let those
hardly room for our own sons and daughters.
foreigners go elsewhere."
Then
there
was
trouble.
Nowadays we do
the
own
same
we
describe the
man was
But we
horrors of those
first
years
when
An
Indians, would
Indian
is
make mighty
But
the
know how
the
interesting reading.
shall
in the year
never
Which is a pity.
For many centuries, the Old Testament was the only history
of old Asia which our grandfathers could decipher and understand.
But
a century ago,
we began
how
ago we
to learn
to read the
discovered
We
now
A LITERARY INHERITANCE
know
that there
which
the glory
my
book.
am
in
am
am
with
all
little
Bible,
will provide
me
to a
If vou had used the word "Bible"
*-
The word
is
comparatively new.
R was
thousand years.
With
all
Every
little
10
first
As for the New Testament, its history is quite simple. Durtwo or three centuries after the death of Christ,
the followers of the humble carpenter of Nazareth were forever
in danger of trouble with the Roman authorities. The doctrines
of love and charity were thought to be very dangerous to the
safety of the Roman state, which had been founded upon the
ing the
first
The
"Please give
me
a 'Life
little
They
all
of their contents.
The
perse-
Roman
state.
all
all the
them.
They decided
to keep a
members
of distant congregations.
discarded.
Then followed
Many
(a
new
city built
upon
Rome and
and
in
dispute.
Carthage
A LITERARY INHERITANCE
and
in Trullo,
11
(as
we know
it)
was
definitely
made from
CREATION
CHAPTER
II
is
this
"Where
do we come from?"
happy
in the
life,
and
like
brave
refuse to surrender and they pass into eternity with the proud
their lips.
Most
of
them
insist
is
upon a
When no
explanation
is
forth-
12
CREATION
sea
and of the
trees
13
One
first
among
Single God.
all
After-
we
shall
wards when we come
tell you how this came about.
In the beginning, however, the particular Semitic tribe
which later was to develop into the Jewish nation, worshipped
several divinities, just as all their neighbours had done before
The
ages.
You
Hebrew
things,
the
all
will
came
the poet
And
this is
how
the story
in
the temple.
silence
Then
the
But soon
came
to
an end and
all
was
14
as
it
ended the
first
"And
of all days.
be a place for the clouds and for the winds which blow across
the sea."
CREATION
15
a soft carpet of grass and the trees and the shrubs enjoyed the
soft caress of the early dawn. And once more the morning
was
followed by eventide, and so the labour of the third day came
to
an end.
Then Jehovah
of rest,
silent
moon
said:
when only
shall
the
road to shelter."
Then Jehovah
the waters be full
"Let
of fishes and
said:
he
made
the tiny
And
minnows and
and
the os-
when the birds tucked their tired heads underneath their wings
and when the fishes steered into the darkness of the deep, there
was an end to the fifth day.
Then Jehovah said: "It
is
not enough.
made
he
the cows
16
his
Then came the eighth day, and Man found himself amidst
new kingdom. His name was Adam, and he lived in a
garden
filled
their kittens
and
might play with them and forget his lonehness. But even so,
Man was not happy. For all other creatures had been given
the companionship of their own kind, but Man was alone.
Therefore, Jehovah took a rib from Adam's body and out of it
CREATION
created Eve.
17
to explore
their
to
them and
said:
is
But
very important.
you may
eat to your
from the
Of
knowl-
fruit of this
soul.
own
ness of his
acts.
Adam and Eve hstened and promised that they would obey.
Soon afterwards, Adam fell asleep, but Eve remained awake
and began to wander. Suddenly there was a rustling in the
grass, and behold! there was a crafty old serpent.
In those days the animals spoke a language which could
be understood by man, and so the serpent had no difficulty in
telling Eve how he had overheard the words of Jehovah, and
how foolish she would be if she were to take them seriously.
Eve thought so too. When the serpent handed her the fruit
of the tree, she ate some, and when Adam woke up, she gave
him what was left.
Then Jehovah was very angry. At once he drove both
Adam and Eve from Paradise, and they went forth into the
world to make a living as best they could.
both boys.
One
AbeJ
18
had killed a lamb, and Cain had placed some grain upon the
rude stone altar which they had built as a place for worship.
Children are apt to be jealous of each other, and they like
to brag about their
own
virtues.
altar
Abel
away.
said
why
should he?
Cain
hit
Abel
said
no,
Then
Abel.
him much
too hard, and Abel fell
But he
down
hit
dead.
was terribly
frightened and ran away.
But Jehovah, who
knew what had happened, found him hiding
Cain
some bushes.
asked him where
in
brother was.
surly mood,
He
his
Cain, in a
How
should he know?
He
CREATION
19
Their younger son was dead and their older boy had run
away.
They had many more children and they died when they
were very old and bent down with endless years of toil and
*****
misfortune.
went west and they went northwards into the mountains and
they lost themselves amidst the sandy wp-stes of the southern
desert.
But
Jehovah.
Noah was
a good
man who
human
race had
ancestor.
He
came
to
If the
Noah and
told
him to build a
ship.
The vessel was to be four hundred and fifty feet long and
seventy-five feet wide and it was to have a depth of forty-three
20
This
made
it
when
there
sons set to
was not a
(a thousand)
miles around!
his faithful
M^orkmen stuck to
their job.
CREATION
They
cut
down
the
mighty
21
cj^press trees
and
and
earth.
wives,
and
into the
fields
was
all
their
sacrifices
land.
And
then the
Ark
(for so
called)
On
went on board.
They
pulled in the
Noah and
his family
closed
the door.
it
began
to rain.
and for forty days. At the end of this time, the whole earth
was covered with water, and Noah and his fellow travellers in
the Ark were the only living ones to survive this terrible deluge.
created.
Carefully
Noah opened
no land was in
sight.
out.
But
22
Noah
Pigeons can
fly
came back.
Next he
other bird, but the poor thing could not find a single branch
upon which
Noah
took
He
It
it
and put
it
and
it
back into
came back
its
all
IT
Ark and
cage.
was gone
to the
set the
it
pigeon
free.
returned with a
BEGAN TO RAIN
its
beak.
were receding.
CREATION
*****
struck ground.
in the
23
country which
At
and
built
ashore.
stones
an
altar
and
THE ALTAR
his
sons,
their children
and
their flocks.
But
it
is
whether the
doubtful
danger through
very
For it
happened that Noah, who possessed a vineyard, had made himself a very pleasant wine, and
when he had partaken thereof,
taught them a lesson.
wise, he
became
THE RAINBOW
Two
quite
of his sons felt sorry for their old father, and were
decent
about
it.
But
the
third
one,
called
Ham,
24
thought
at
it
all.
Ham
from
his sleep,
away from
he was exceedingly
his house,
of the
Negro
race, for
which they
felt
first
ancestor
contempt.
Thereafter,
we
don't hear
One
of his
tell
CREATION
Jehovah.
For a
while, so
it
seems, they
25
moved
They
built.
own
They baked
bricks
in one
point to
all
spot.
race.
little valley.
You
men and
and
people gave up
So the
the idea of a single nation, clustered around the feet of a single
tower, and within a short time they had spread to the uttermost
corners of the earth.
This, in a few words,
world.
tures
is
the adven-
THE PIONEERS
CHAPTER
III
BRAHAM
He
died
was a pioneer.
many thousand
FLOCKS
life
years ago,
reminds us of
con-
the
first
half of the
nineteenth century.
The family
the land of
Ur
of
river Euphrates.
They had all been shepherds ever since their great-grandfather Shem had left the Ark. They had done well in this
world, and Abraham himself was a rich farmer who owned
thousands of sheep.
men and
He
flocks.
THE PIONEERS
They were very
lives for
private
him
at a
27
moment's
notice.
their
to fight for
the Medi-
terranean shore.
When Abraham
to go.
Jew was
man
of peace,
and saw
little
good
in
He
up his sheep. The women packed the sleeping rugs and put
up food for the trip through the desert. And so began the first
great migration of the Jewish people.
Abraham was
The name
married.
And
so
Abraham
took
Then he gave
Jews and
and perhaps
mishap, they
all
their
women. Without
upon
For
alas! the
28
When Abraham
and Lot
so suddenly
appeared with
all
He
called his
that
THE PIONEERS
The nephew preferred
Jordan, and
Abraham
life
to
remain
29
He had
Palestine.
is
desert.
"No wonder
He
among
Mamre, near
the old
the oaks of
Soldiers,
excited,
do not
Abraham heard
aged to run away.
He
He
30
camp
of the
King
of Elam.
He
attacked
The King
set
a great
Lot
free
man
knew
and was on
his
tribes.
of Sodom,
the slaughter,
came
the land of
all
all
evening,
when
had disap-
now
in the land of
Ur, was
about to
come
made
true.
in the old
days
Abraham, who
THE PIONEERS
had never had a son, expected
31
his wife
a baby.
He
He
loyal to his
to
Lot and
own
his wife
and
children.
He
fifty or thirty or
He
For
But
Lot had
lost his
wife.
knew
little bit
too curious.
32
tribe of the
Ammonites.
of Lot
had greatly depressed Abraham. He too decided to move
away from his present where-
blackened
wicked
cities
away from
of
the
their
vile
ruins
and
memory.
He
plains
of
WIFE
IS
TURNED INTO
A PILLAR OF SALT
and the
Mediterranean.
own country
Philistia, or, as
and
we now
THE PIONEERS
The
Philistines
33
all their
neigh-
Mesopotamia were
make
iron swords
rough shepherds.
when
the peasants
and stone
axes.
why
to
still
army
of retainers marched
and
listia,
settled
Beer-Sheba.
an
down near
There they
altar to Jehovah.
built
They dug
all hours,
It
was
trees.
really a pleasant
At
when
it
Mohammedan
religion, are
34
The second
IN
it
this
THE PIONEERS
35
Abraham
that he
There
child.
own
But
was
a long and dangerous voyage
from the land of the Philistines
to Egypt. Before a week was
over, Hagar and Ishmael had
almost perished from thirst.
to her
They
in
people.
lost their
the
way
it
completely
wilderness
of
Beer-
last
HAGAR'S FLIGHT
to find
fresh water.
Eventually
Hagar
She
and Ishmael found a welcome home among their relations
and when the boy grew up, he became a soldier. As for his
father, he never saw Ishmael again, and soon afterwards he
almost lost his second son.
very different way.
Abraham, above
of Jehovah.
piety.
all things,
will
He
36
burn
body as a
his
The
kill
sacrifice.
old pioneer
He
was
He
ordered
wood
two of his men
on the back of his donkey. He took water and provisions and
pushed into the desert. He had not told his wife what he was
going to do. Jehovah had spoken. That was enough.
After three days, Abraham and Isaac, who had played
to get ready for a short trip.
Then Abraham
told his
loaded
Mount Moriah.
two servants
to wait.
He
By now,
make an
offering.
He
He
himself
hill.
had often
He
saw
the wood. His father carried the long-bladed knife that was
used to cut the throat of the sacrificial lamb. But where was
the lamb? He asked his father.
"Jehovah will provide the lamb when the time comes,"
thing was
different.
Abraham answered.
Then he picked up
his
Then he took
He
his knife.
And
proof
man
give further
of his devotion.
who had
THE PIONEERS
Three days
later, father
37
ABRAHAM
He left Beer-
SACRIFICES ISAAC
Sheba where everything reminded him of Hagar and of Ishmael and of the terrible trip to Mount Moriah. He returned
to the old plains of Mamre, where he had lived when he first
had reached the west, and he built himself a new home.
38
He
life.
shekels
from a Hittite
He
But
the
troubled
course,
future
The
him.
would marry.
the girls
of
Isaac
boy,
But
of
all
of the neighbourhood
did
want a daughter-in-law
who would teach his grand-
not
He
Abraham
his brother
whom he
west,
The
He
gifts.
THE PIONEERS
of Canaan,
39
When
before.
to
citizen.
Nahor might
be living.
REBEKAH'S WELL
One
evening,
when
40
could spend the night, she told him that her father would be
only too happy to put him up and feed his camels and
rest until
it
was time
this
him
seemed
woman
All
let
Here was
Her
picture.
THE PIONEERS
The
It
first
41
He
recognised his
own
animals.
With
He
to be his wife.
died and was buried by the side of his wife Sarah in the cave
tell
you.
as little alike as
Esau was
way
who always
and who was for ever bringing puppies home from the stable
into the house, did not please her at all.
She thought him a
THE STORY OF THE BIBLE
42
commonplace
things.
But Jacob,
with his mild ways and his pleasant smile, impressed his mother
out of his inheritance, all this does not make pleasant reading.
As it had great influence (to bear) upon the rest of our chronicle, it must be told, although I would gladly spare you the
details.
When
to bed.
Why worry
THE PIONEERS
Jacob was fussing around
as a wolf.
43
in the kitchen,
making
lentils.
let
me
have
it
right now,"
Esau
begged.
am
"I
starving,"
to hear him.
Esau
said; "give
me
a plate of your
lentils."
"What
will
you give me
and keep
all
"You swear
to it?"
Give
me some
of those lentils."
between young
men amounted
meal.
He
The
among
He
is
quite
was losing
common
his eyesight.
44
Of
had
filled
up the
wells
had
the
old
homestead.
Now
was back in
the land of Hebron.
He felt
that
he
at last he
did
not
have
much
die in peace.
And
so he sent
asked him to go out into the woods and shoot a deer and
and
make
He
fears that he
is
going to die
THE PIONEERS
45
out.
is
She hastily
killed
He
voice.
Esau's
And when he
Esau
was a
his
word.
He
He
thief.
Jacob
had stolen everything that belonged to his
elder brother.
As
would
for Esau, he
kill
Rebekah, who knew that her own spoiled darling was no match
for this angry man, made stronger by his righteous wrath.
people.
Jacob,
But
who was no
his
46
He
On the ladder
hovah
had
spoken
and
had
and would
But whether
JACOB FLEES
WHEN ESAU
RETURNS HOME
knowledge of
his
true, that I
this is really
was not
really as
we
notice very
little.
nothing for seven years, and then gave him his oldest daughter,
Leah, whom Jacob did not like and did not want. But when
he said
so, his
it
THE PIONEERS
work another seven
What
club.
case,
him with a
In that
years.
^7
and he
He
he was to be happy.
felt that
also.
waiting for
then
felt that
he had
fulfilled
his contract.
Even
then, he
was
at the
mercy
He had no flocks of his own
and could not set up a household of his own. Once more,
of his mother's relatives.
he made
Laban.
an agreement with
He
Then he
JACOB'S DREAM
would receive all the black
lambs and the spotted and the
speckled goats which happened to be found on Laban's lands.
This would give him a fair start towards independence.
hands of Jacob.
how
his flocks, so as to
48
increase the
number
sheep.
Laban, on the other hand, who left most of the farm work
to his sons and to his slaves, was not familiar with these new
methods of husbandry. Before he knew what was happening,
Jacob had gained possession of most of his herds. Then he
grew very angry, but it was too late. Jacob had gone. He
had taken all his black lambs with him and all his spotted and
speckled goats and his two wives and his eleven children. For
good measure, he had forced his way into the deserted house
of Laban, and had stolen the household goods which belonged
to his father-in-law.
It
is
true that
it
Laban
any^vay.
nowhere
Canaan.
was the
Once more,
if
we
He
He
did his very best to gain the good will of his brother.
offered to give
flocks into
THE PIONEERS
But Esau was
present to Esau.
He
49
was rough.
Jacob. He had
as kindly as he
new
grandchildren.
and Leah. Leah, the homely wife whom Jacob did not love,
had ten sons and daughters. But poor Rachel had only one,
who was called Joseph. And now she died when she gave
birth to her second boy,
who was
called
Benjamin.
his flocks
Hebron.
Isaac was
still
father
And
Jacob,
who now
father's estate,
that
FURTHER WESTWARD
CHAPTER
IV
Old Testaand
ment is
mirelated histories which were put together into one book when the founders
of the Jewish nation had been dead for
really a collection of short
Abraham
ovig-
They had
dared to push forth into the wilderness and they resembled our
own Pilgrim Fathers in their courage and in their perseverance
'
FURTHER WESTWARD
The Jews
which
is
51
American
history.
They
of new
Then we
see
leave Asia
the
way
the story
name
name
sisters.
The
much
for Leah.
52
It
them
is
little
boys to
know
It
is
As Joseph was
much
cleverer
..,V/"\".^''h"f'U
'flu-M///"/i
For
FURTHER WESTWARD
Tlie brothers
may
53
understood what Joseph meant and they did not hke him any
better for
it.
A few days later Joseph tried again, but this time he went
too far, for he even annoyed his father, and as a rule, Jacob
JOSEPH'S SECOND
thought that everything Joseph said or did was quite funny and
only another sign of his cleverness.
"I have had another dream," Joseph said.
"What was
it
this
asked, a
The
trifle
wearied.
54
father,
his
JOSEPH
Joseph must put
this
IS
many
colours,
and of
course.
in
it
to
At
first,
got annoyed.
were
was
all
Then they
far away, they took Joseph, stripped his fine coat off his
howHng and
fighting, into
an empty
pit.
FURTHER WESTWARD
Then they sat down to
well kill their brother.
think.
After
all,
55
little
too far.
led
all
PIT
Caravans were
the time.
his coat
56
their
to
The
sale.
brothers told
slave for
twenty
pieces of silver.
fully,
is
and
all
The
all sorts
of trouble.
He
still
Her
FURTHER WESTWARD
57
was
telling her
He
in
good
of
the
stead.
The keeper
happy
to
Provided he
speak.
was
ALTHOUGH INNOCENT,
THROWN INTO PRISON
JOSEPH,
at liberty to
do whatever he
liked,
and
out of sheer boredom, he spent a good deal of his time with his
fellow sufferers.
Among
The
day when a king was regarded as a god.
Egyptians especially had such a tremendous respect for their
ruler that they never referred to him by name. They called
him Pharaoh, which really meant the "Big House," just as we
often say "the White House" when we really mean the President of the United States.
offence in a
5g
"Big House,"
They had nothing to do
servants of the
is
my
bread.
What
"That, too,
hanged
is
does
it
ate
mean?"
"You
will be
And behold!
his birth-
day and gave a great feast to all his servants. He then remembered the baker and the steward, who were still incarcerated. He ordered that the baker be hanged, which was
done, and that the steward be set free and be brought back to
the palace.
Of
his cell, he
When
he
left
FURTHER WESTWARD
69
He
him
his luck.
fill
his
The
of
That was all, but it was enough to upset the peace of mind
His Majesty. He asked all the wise people of the land
Then
to the palace.
The boredom
60
of Joseph's
ease.
This was
"There
the greatest
his verdict.
These
were represented by the seven fat cows and the seven ears of
corn,
growing on one
stalk.
They
will be followed
by seven
exhaust
will
grain
was
that
the
grown
good
during
the
years.
seven
man
wise
administer
to
the
when
the time of
famine comes."
The
impressed.
man
seemed
young
to
have
JOSEPH
TAKEN BEFORE
PHARAOH
IS
It
was a time
for quick
action.
Then and
there
As
office
were
gi-eatly
the dictator of
Egypt and
filled
evil days.
He
He
built enor-
FURTHER WESTWARD
When
was
61
at last,
fully prepared.
The Egyptian
peasants,
who had
lived
from hand
to
mouth
now
obliged
(62
to give
Moon.
of the
In
race
this
of Egyptian free-
men came
to
an end.
It
and
forty
centuries
which
eventually
On
a dozen famines.
it
and
Egypt
centre
world.
For
the famine
kept the
other hand,
people
alive,
the
of
the
it
made
commercial
the
civilised
Everywhere the people were dying by the thousands. Whole regions were depopulated and children were
insect pests.
Old Jacob, too, with his sons and all their families, soon
felt the pangs of hunger. Until at last, in their despair, they
decided to send some one to Egypt for a small supply of grain.
Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, remained at home. The
other ten sons took their donkeys and their empty sacks and
went westward in search of help.
SLAVERY
FURTHER WESTWARD
They
63
stopped
officials
viceroy.
his secret.
He
pre-
know
He
told his
"They were
64
They swore
what they
said.
They were
just
land of Canaan.
JOSEPH'S
"Where were
"One,
alas!
his
other,
it
In some way or
Then
They
stood around
FURTHER WESTWARD
was heavy on
their minds.
was a
It
65
terrible thing to
have sold
Joseph to the foreign slave-trader. Now, apparently, they were about to lose their second brother. What
would their father Jacob say when he heard of this?
their brother
But he refused.
was greatly pleased
to be merciful.
The
last
thirty years
seemed to have
yet certain.
He
The
last time,
The
Now, however,
all
of the Governor.
They
After
this.
They were
poor,
but they had come prepared to pay for whatever they got.
They
in
all
did not
want
exchange for
charity.
gi'ain,
when they
insisted
upon
them
their sacks.
66
The
innocence.
The Egyptian
The drinking-cup
had
captain, however,
his orders.
\'isitors.
All for-
of Joseph!
The
evidence
As
overwhelming.
was
pris-
Jews returned
Egypt, and were taken
oners, the
to
plain
seemed
cable.
They
In
utter
de-
something
wholly
that
inexpli-
and how they would now give everything they had, could they
but undo their crime. Until Joseph could not hold his feelings
in check any longer, and he explained how the cup had been
placed ih Benjamin's sack at his own command.
He ordered
all
FURTHER WESTWARD
67
came down from his throne and then he embraced Benjamin, and to the terrified sons of Jacob, there stood
the mightiest man in all Egypt revealed as their own brother,
whom they had sought to kill, and whom they had sold out of
were
all
gone, he
Of
his
own
lowest.
chariots to bring
mother and
his
A HOME
IN
EGYPT
CHAPTER V
BUT THE JEWS WERE ORIGINALLY A SIMPLE PEOPLE OF
SHEPHERDS, AND CITY LIFE IN A FOREIGN LAND WAS
NOT GOOD FOR THEM. RAPIDLY THEY BECAME EGYPTIANISED AND INSTEAD OF BEING FREE AND INDEPENDENT MEN AND WOMEN, THEY BECAME COMMON
LABOURERS WHO WORKED FOR THE KING OF EGYPT
AND WHO WERE TREATED AS SLAVES
NTIL
we
could
As
glyphics
discovered, a vast
new
had been
store-house of
was opened up
Now we no longer depend upon
to us.
accounts
of the Old Testament for
the
our exclusive knowledge of this period.
In the fifteenth century before the birth of Christ, it seems
that Egypt had been conquered by a tribe of Arabian shepherds, who were called the Hyksos. They were of the same
Semitic stock to which the Jews themselves belong. As soon
historical information
68
A HOME IN EGYPT
as the
new
Hyksos were
capital,
tian centre of
many hundred
away from the old EgypThebes. Then they settled down to enjoy them-
For almost
selves.
69
miles
conquerors.
life
All
own
relatives, at the
Egyptians remembered
this the
in their
his
And
their
whom
it
As
Abraham,
They
far
But
70
CITIES
Of
was becoming
would
But
the journey
difficult.
A HOME
The
fleshpots of
would be
terrible.
IN
Egypt were
EGYPT
well
Life in the
filled.
cities,
71
very pleasant.
And
For
the
Then a
He gathered the
He took them away
different
from the
was made for ease (but
where ease did not make for strength of character), and he
guided them back to the land of Canaan, which Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob had regarded as their true home.
too fertile fields of Egypt, where hfe
CHAPTER
VI
the
birth
Christ,
Great ruled
when Rameses
the
where an open
be avoided.
The welcome guests of a few hundred years before were now being degraded in every possible
way. The kings of Egypt had always been fond of constructing large palaces and public buildings.
longer in fashion.
years before.
But
The
last
Pyi-amids were no
and dykes
73
made and
there
able jobs.
well be done.
He
But Pharaoh,
solve the
boys should be
killed.
all
It
cruel one.
Now
it
called
save
it
at all cost.
For
three
But then
it
was no longer
in the house.
So Jochebed took her son and she went to the banks of the
Nile and she wove a little basket, and she made the sides watertight with clay and she placed the boy inside this crude cradle
and let him go forth into the wide world, all alone.
The improvised vessel did not go very far. There was
little current.
The stream was shallow, and soon the tender
craft was caught by the reeds which grew along the shores in
74
Her
it
ladies-
out of the
child of four
for.
demned
to die.
While
by the foreman
if
*r5
he slackened in his
known.
It did not
Shortly afterwards,
He told
One
to stop.
The news
them
"Who made
kill
us too, as
travelled fast.
that
Afterwards,
this
if
fled.
If Moses had
who had
King's daughter was now a poor
He
in a foreign land.
He
watered.
who
At
lived nearby,
to drink at the
blows.
same
time.
As
Moses, with
76
simple
life
In the
true mission in
true principles
his
had inspired
their
grandfathers.
In
which
fathers
and
short,
they
city
ever
guiding
own
will.
mission,
And when
when he knew
entire people
from
But
and his
difficul|^ies.
dead,
Egyptian.
77
safely return
But
that Promised
Land
It
in a
new
country.
just then
it
And
brother
tails that
his attention to
many
de-
definite could be
done.
He
tribes
78
tional hours of
The new
toil.
regulation
made
Moses
at last
extreme danger of
He
and
his children,
Then he began
The Jews
listened.
fused to budge.
They doubted
The
the
They mumbled
to themselves
and
re-
power of
their ancient
God.
They were
willing to be slaves.
Moses understood
He
told
Moses
to
stretched
it
red,
79
and hopped all over the land. They entered the houses and
tumbled into the newly dug
wells, and made everybody most
Pharaoh saw
uncomfortable.
the floor of his palace turned
into one
He
live frogs.
hesitated.
He
away.
As
would be allowed
u
But when
-D
4.
at the
They
his
given
flies
Jews be permitted
to
go
sacrifice to their
promised to
flies.
80
last fly
his
dining-room.
Then came
fell sick
with a mysterious
knew how
and no physician
Then came the next plague.
sores,
terrible
to cure them.
Lightning struck the barns where the flax and the seed
grain for the next year had been stored.
Then came the next plague.
But Moses
go with
His people,
sons and daughters.
refused.
all their
must
Otherwise, they would
so he announced,
stay.
Then came
from the
land of
Egypt
desert.
For
three
by the
dust.
The
and
81
all their
said,
and
their
and departed.
On
this
dreadful fate.
made with
the blood of a
young lamb.
When
Then at
last,
were well on
way
their
to the old
home on
the banks
Near
many
innocent children.
Jewish caravan.
Red
Jehovah himself)
Egyptian soldiers.
82
Then
man.
and Pharaoh saw
his
enemies ascend-
\v
v^~^^^
At
HIS ARMIES
and
all his
common
soldiers
sea.
were drowned.
WANDERING
THE WILDERNESS
IN
CHAPTER
VII
EOPLE
often ask
why
the inhabitants
into the
^C^^
^V
ll
^H
W/m
^F^^'^"\^^
'
man
^^^ ^^
Jv///////
open
^^^
In a town,
all sorts
by the unseen
84
hands of the government. Even the poorest citizen can get all
the water he needs by turning on a faucet. An immigrant,
fresh from Ellis Island, can, if he is hungry and has a few
pennies, run to a grocery store
up
in convenient
tin cans.
Out
potatoes.
been imhappy
in
horrible slavery.
Egypt
Now
They had
They hated
complained.
the desert
royal task-masters.
The
is an endless
had not been for the unconquerable energy of Moses, the tribes would have returned to bondage before a year was gone.
If
chronicle of discontent.
first
it
moment
of exaltation,
"Who
is
like
Thee among
all
Thee,
when
the
"Who
Jews
knew
is
like
and power?"
THE DESERT
THE WILDERNESS
85
the endless
WANDERING
IN
hills
all
them
after such
They cursed
tremendous
effort.
When
provisions began to run low, they said that they were all surely
let
their leader
us return."
Moses, strong in
Iiis
faith, told
And
ered with small white flakes which could be beaten into a dough,
One
86
fierce tribe of
their own. But, as I have said often before, they had lived
for such a long time behind the sheltering walls of the cities
GUSHED FORTH
few sheep and donkeys than go forth to battle. This
of course encouraged the Amalekites and they harassed the
Jewish caravan until Moses decided that something must be
done to make an end to this wholesale theft. He called Joshua
to him, whom he knew as a brave young man, and whom he had
lose a
upon
several previous
occasions.
WANDERING
IN
THE WILDERNESS
87
Joshua obeyed orders and left the camp with a few volunAs soon as he was gone, Moses lifted up his arms
toward Heaven and as long as his arms were stretched out
teers.
over his troops, Joshua, with the help of Jehovah, was success-
ful.
tired
many
and allowed
fell
upon
his
the
arms
to drop,
Jews and
killed
of them.
happy
He
offered a sacrifice
whom
he too worshipped
his son
Hobab
that he
to join
might act as
their guide.
The wandering
become
clear to
his
purpose
this to
be the truth.
hundred
divinities that
several
Heaven and
earth.
Moses bade
Sinai.
He
told
his
men
build a fortified
camp
at the foot of
88
He
his return.
importance.
as
When
WANDERING
IN
THE WILDERNESS
89
their leader
90
broken.
it
Only one of
They were the
Two
strongest of
thousand
men
them
all.
first
who
folly of cowardice
and un-
righteousness.
Deeply disappointed by
once with great sternness.
this occurrence,
He
Moses acted
for
women.
Once more he went
returned, his
to the top of
Mount
Sinai.
When
he
No
all
other men.
time.
He
carried
two new
tablets of stone
WANDERING
IN
THE WILDERNESS
91
as
six
God.
They must always honour
it
to worship their
their fathers
steal.
and
wife,
their mothers.
92
bours.
house, nor his servants, nor his cattle, nor anything that be-
their laws.
made out
wooden
awning. Years later, when
church,
cities,
of
walls,
more
lived in
of bricks
it
temple of Jerusalem.
Next
it
hear of them
all
As
"Levites,"
As
we
shall
for Moses, he
made himself the uncrowned king of the surviving Jews. Acting upon the advice which his father-in-law had given him a
long time before, he stated that he alone was allowed to come
into the presence of Jehovah, whenever
it
Aaron and
ones.
to his sons
high
and grand-
WANDERING
Judge, that he might hear
IN
all
THE WILDERNESS
98
good neighbours.
Only when all this had been done, did he give the sign to
break up camp. A high pillar of clouds, which for more than
were carried.
which
children
who remained,
con-
But
as they
The wife
of Moses, Zipporah,
94
had died and he had married a woman of the tribe of the CushIn the eyes of the other Jews, she was a foreigner. They
ites.
hated her and openly showed their dishke. In his difficulties,
Moses was not even supported by his own brother and sister.
He had given them high office in the new state which he had
all his
former
Finally,
dignities.
sight of
Canaan,
they suffered terribly from the snakes that infested the country.
He
put
this
WANDERING
IN
THE WILDERNESS
But
came
see
95
it.
full of stories
more
Soon the
There-
who
own
people.
To make an end
to these fairy-tales,
96
some
fighting.
away from
Jews could
But panic had already swept through the tribes. They had
marched and marched and marched. They had suffered from
hunger and from heat and from thirst and from snakes and
now they were asked to expose themselves to the deadly fury
of the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites and the
Many
There
97
Once
into rebellion.
v/as
In vain did
their followers
The
They wanted
nal journeying.
peace, although
it
be the peace
of bondage.
The Jews,
so he said,
As punishment
his will.
condemned
to
wander
for their
forty years.
But the others accepted their fate. They turned their backs
upon the Promised Land and for forty years they wandered
through the desert, and they were shepherds as
Abraham and
had spent
all
their fathers
in
98
beginning.
He
fulfilled.
As
the children of
Jacob certain laws which have survived until this day, he was
growing old and very, very weary. When he felt that his
From
there he looked
down upon
Jordan.
body
lies.
FINDING
NEW PASTURES
CHAPTER
VIII
ND
now began
conquest of a
the great
war
for the
new homeland.
The
who a generation
before had
fled
now
army
Far and
'No
wonder that the people who hved on the other side of the
Jordan became frightened and began to put their country into
a state of defence.
99
100
But Joshua,
who had
enemy he
He
had
established
headquarters in the
his
From
two men to
village of Shittim.
there he sent
The
spies
left
the
stronghold in that
It
any
further
progress
THE GLOW OF THE JEWISH WATCHFIRES WAS SEEN FAR AND WIDE
could be made.
woman
called
When
night
Rahab. Rahab
was not very particular in the choice of her friends. She gave
the strangers a room and asked no questions.
But in one way or another, the presence of the two foreignlooking men had become known to the authorities. Soon the
police were on the trail of the intruders. At once suspicion
turned against Rahab. She did not enjoy a good reputation.
NEW PASTURES
FINDING
101
seal-ched before
all others.
When
reason to expect.
Jews
reliable
she heard a
them underneath a
she hid
more
As
pile of flax.
home and
there
houses were used for the purpose of drying flax, the policemen
noticed nothing out of the ordinary.
They
and went to
left
find a single
"With
"I will
let
city
the roof.
you down
You
to the street.
make
They returned
no longer guarded.
Once
outside,
river.
lives.
for the
hills,
sill
That
is
my
all
my
a bargain."
city.
was the
deserted street.
How
they
But
spies slipped
managed
down
to the
They ran
102
and reached the hills. Three days later they had a chance
to swim across the Jordan.
The rest of their trip offered no difficulties.
Soon they were back among their own people and told their
general of their experiences.
When
move
his
in a
make
soon as he could
men across
the river.
For when
easy.
who
the priests,
at the
Ark
The
THE
FROM THE
HOUSE OF RAHAB
SPIES ESCAPE
priests
and
After a short march, the army came to a halt near the village
of Gilgal. It was the day of Passover.
giving.
where the
soldiers
to be done.
enjoyed
Beyond
those pleasant
nigh impossible.
To
well-
FINDING
NEW PASTURES
own
knew
103
upon
He prayed.
strength.
what to do.
Thereafter, every morning for six days
in succession, the
of the invaders marched slowly and solemnly
around the
walls of Jericho.
army
At
sion
went seven
upon
High
priests.
Ark and
ried the
blew
they
made out
the while
all
upon
trumpets,
the ram.
On
Suddenly they
The
priests
all
brows threatened to
in praise of their
that
The
At
stopped.
of their
^jurst
and
all
God.
moment, Jehovah
before the
first
The mighty
They killed
down
like
snow melting
was
at the
all
children,
it
seemed that
104
But
alas
all
The
with defeat.
loot.
He
final instruc-
any
FINDING
NEW PASTUHES
105
Most of the men had obeyed these orders, but one private,
by the name of Achan, who belonged to the tribe of Judah,
stole a few hundred pieces of silver and gold and a few bits of
clothing and he had hidden them underneath the floor of
his tent.
Of
course,
this
and he
106
And
render.
as soon as the
Jews
attacked, they
made a
sally,
and they broke through the ranks of the invaders and they
forced them to retreat in great disorder and with a severe loss
of men.
Then it became clear to Joshua that some one had been
He
unfaithful.
upon
casting
lots.
forced to
and
himself,
silver
When
tell
The
lot
pointed to
Achan
as
by means of
the thief. He was
thief
The gold
killed him.
and
For
new
attack
He
upon
divided his
army
thirty thousand
men
outside of Ai.
Later on,
their
into
two
parts.
During
hills
the night,
of Bethel, just
number.
loud,
and they
NEW PASTURES
FINDING
107
easier to kill
where
it
your enemies.
But Joshua did not wait for them. Followed by his soldiers,
he fled away in the direction of the mountains.
Then the men from Ai threw all prudence to the winds
and they too ran as fast as they could. Soon they found themselves in a narrow gorge. There Joshua halted.
He waved a piece of cloth
on the top of a spear as a sign
for the
western
the
in
hills.
They
Caught
rear.
fires,
two
at the
A
were
between
all
And
dead.
as for Ai,
still
wide open.
The
citizens,
burned down.
invader,
who claimed
all
Canaan
as his
In
their fear, a
One
Gibeon.
of
tried to escape
city of
108
"The Jews,"
settle here for
can.
that
They
we cannot
fight them.
we
We
so the
all time.
shall
we make them
miles away.
In that
is
really a thousand
case,
make
a treaty
is
just
main road."
It was a clever bit of reasoning and at first, it was quite
successful. Late one evening, a
delegation of people from the
city of Gibeon came to the
Jewish camp and asked to be
off the
The poor
fellows were in a
mud and
He
asked the
that they
this story.
men whence
city of Gibeon,
from the Jewish camp that the envoys had almost perished
along the road.
commander how their fellowcitizens wished to live in peace with the new arrivals and would
like to conclude a treaty of amity and they pointed out how
Then they
FINDING
easy
it
would be to
live in
NEW
PASTIIRES
109
It
Too
late did
fell into
the trap.
He
He
Jews
And
so,
of water
and
It
it
cowardly example.
Then and
other to
those
its
treason.
The
As
110
discovered.
Meanwhile,
allied forces
however,
own
leisure.
the
of their courage.
They
too,
If
hours longer,
cape.
still
the
moon
to stand
still
In
this
way,
it
hours.
Even
rest.
FINDING
they killed them
all as
NEW PASTURES
111
Then Joshua
rested
upon
his laurels.
At
Shiloh, which
and Gilgal, he
As
new Jewish
it
nation.
112
tribes
and
their
endurance.
In this way did the Jews at last find a home of their own.
After many centuries of city life and after the interminable
journey in the desert, they could at last return to the simple
ways of their ancestors, as Moses had wanted them to do.
They were no longer forced to live in the slums of Egyptian
towns. Once more they were shepherds.
Each man owned a little piece of land and every family
possessed a house which was its castle.
And
now belonged
to
CHAPTER IX
UNDER A NUMBER OF ENERGETIC LEADERS, A JEWISH
NATION WAS FINALLY ESTABLISHED IN THE COUNTRY WHICH FORMERLY HAD BELONGED TO THE
CANAANITES
HE
original inhabitants
much remained
Jews were
had been
into
to be
really to
The
killed or
But
slavery.
now
call the
we
Joshua had died the peaceful death of old age. The tribes
had buried him with great solemnity. Then they decided not
to appoint a successor.
to have a commander-in-chief.
priest at Shiloh
would
would only
families of prominence.
113
114.
wanted
They dreamed
things military.
to get
of peace
away from
and talked of
ploughshares.
But soon
it
became
that), surrounded
on
all sides
new
nation at
nominal head.
was
The little kings of Canaan had been an easy match for the
well-trained troops of Moses and Joshua.
But beyond the
western border there lived the mighty rulers of the Mesopotamian valley, and one of those, the ruler of Babylon, was
from the beginning a serious menace to the safety of the young
at least a
Jewish
state.
When
"Judge."
kingdom
of which
you
shall
office
chapters.
115
But when he
of indifference.
the
Jews
They married
died, the
They took
thenish neighbours.
wives
survivors of the
old inhabi-
And
of Canaan.
tants
the
worship
gods
the
mothers.
In
of
short, the
their
Jews
hardship
Him
and
days of their
without
that
its
more
powerful neighbours.
As
common
destiny
in the
first
nationalistic
people of
Ammon
Moab and
the
an
alliance,
Moab,
there followed a
Hebrew
as their master.
tribes recognised
new
and during
116
He
said that he
of an
sent
away
news
revolt.
He
his followers.
As
impending
Ehud
drew
his
dagger.
Eglon jumped from his chair
and tried to defend himself.
It was too late. Ehud's dagger was in his heart. He fell
down dead.
When
to be the
Judge of
Israel,
If they
is
it
their
117
village,
Philistine villages.
Then
their side,
It
plished.
would be
foolish, therefore, to blame the Jews for certain crimes which
the ancestors of all of us have committed and which are in no
way
It
we happen
to
For
Baby-
main
differ-
That
history than
is
the
And
sacred Book.
As
time went on, the war along the frontier became increas-
women were
called upon to do
Canaan were no longer a menace.
One by one they had been conquered and destroyed. One
The little
cities
of
We
That was
lowing pages.
and as threatening as
Philistia.
name
famous
city of antiquity,
118
which for aknost a thousand years had been the centre of the
civiHsed world.
How
westcoast
had occupied a
narrow slip of land between
the Mediterranean and the
hills of western Judaea which
had just been conquered by
of Asia they
Joshua.
Of
But
the
all
states
and
war)
it
Philistina or Palestine, as
we now
call that
(or
country)
Old Testament
occurred during eight centuries of strife between the two great
competitors for the Mediterranean coast and almost invariably
the former Cretans, with their copper shields and their iron
swords and their armoured chariots (a sort of ancient tank)
were able to defeat the Jews, whose wooden shields and stone-
Many
119
from defeat.
Once in a
while, however,
when
the
Hebrew
tribes
were
120
Sisera.
He
north to
make
a career.
in the
Those were
pulled by horses and they slashed their way through the Jewish
ranks with the ease of a knife cutting through butter. It was
said that Sisera had not less than nine hundred of these
armoured
cars.
young Jewish
hills
to threaten the
on both
sides of the
river Jordan.
of Deborah.
them to
fight.
in disaster," he said.
to see her.
their
own
121
dered
Barak gave
in
and
or-
safe fortress of
Sisera
Mount Tabor.
had drawn up
his
Jezreel.
There he attacked
the
fought a desperate
battle,
but
The few
tion.
survivors fled
122
any Jewish soldiers came near her house, she would warn
the Egyptian that he might escape.
Sisera believed everything Jael said, and soon he was fast
if
asleep.
it
had done.
That was the end of the story. For Jabin, without his
trusted general, was forced to make peace and once more the
Jews were free and they were very proud of what Jael and
Deborah had done for them and they bestowed great honours
upon them.
Unfortunately such periods of comparative rest seem to
have been very bad for the general morale of the people. The
worship of Jehovah, as
for eternal vigilance.
it
But
it is
lives are
comfortable and
when we
do not have a single care in the whole wide world except the
problem of how to spend our money as pleasantly as we possibly can.
And
come down
from the
days following immediately upon the defeat of Sisera show
clearly how the great God of the wind-swept desert had been
completely forgotten and how His laws were held in contempt
by the younger generation, which ate and drank and generally
amused itself without a thought for the problems of to-morrow.
Take, as an example, the unpleasant tale of Micah, the
those stories which have
Micah
stole
she found
it
money
who
to us
Ephraim.
when
out, she not only forgave him, but ordered the gold
made
be melted and
silver to
into
an
123
idol as a present
Micah
and he had a
little
taber-
nacle built inside his house and then he hired one of the
mem-
not have
to
leave
his
when he wanted to go
All
this
against
the
had
they
house
to church.
oifended horribly
ancient
been
laws,
as
revealed
to
Moses.
It even shocked the other
Jews, who by
this
time were
and did
rich,
as he pleased.
IN IT
travelling westward, looking
and carried
idol
As
it
to their
own
They
stole
Micah's golden
village.
to be Micah's priest,
he ran away as soon as the image was gone, and offered his
services to the
showed
He
to be displeased,
his resentment.
came every
and he soon
among
They
124
flee to their
in the land
to die
from
starvation.
Only here and there a man of stout heart still cultivated his
fields, and among those was a certain Joash, who was the father
of Gideon. Joash himself was none too faithful to the laws
of his country. He, too, worshipped the strange gods who
had been dear to the hearts of the original inhabitants of the
land. His son, however, who like Deborah and Joseph, could
make prophecies, had remained faithful to the old creed.
When his father erected an altar to Baal, young Gideon
(encouraged by a dream in which an angel made a rock devour
some food which he had placed before it) got up in the middle of
the night, knocked down the ugly old idol and on the same
spot erected an offering-place to the service of Jehovah.
In the morning when the people of the village in which
Joash lived discovered the broken pieces of stone and realised
what had happened, they ran to the house of Joash and they
shouted that he must punish his boy for his terrible sacrilege.
Fortunately, Joash was a man of some common sense. He
said that if Baal were really as powerful as people claimed, he
would undoubtedly kill Gideon for what he had just done. But
Gideon continued to live quite happily and at the end of a few
weeks, when nothing at
changed
their
mind.
In
all
this
When
became
Jews were forced to take the offensive or perish altoit was quite natural that Gideon should be asked to be
that the
gether,
their leader.
coming campaign.
for the
and
The
tried to drill
125
together in
it
into shape
however,
in the war.
When
openly whether
like to
who
But
trust,
seemed
fairly
hundred (out of a
the business of
war
They
their mouths. The
they drank.
river.
to
Only three
knew enough
of
many thirsty
The
126
missed.
it
came
to fighting.
The
three
hundred
faithful
men
then
received
their
instructions.
of
so
The sudden
many
THE
JEWS
WATCHED THE
MIDIANITES LEAVING
THEIR HOMES
torches
They
fled.
Thouupon the field of battle.
As for Gideon, he was recognised as the uncrowned king of
the Jews and he was their Judge for many years.
But after his death there was more trouble. Gideon had
been married several times and he left quite a large family. No
sooner was he buried than his sons began to quarrel to see
who should succeed their father. One of them, by the name of
Abimelech, was very ambitious. He wanted to be King of all
the Jews and he thought that he had the necessary qualificaSuch young men are rarely appreciated by those who
tions.
know them best. Abimelech therefore left his home and went
to the village of Shechem, where his mother's people came
from. In Shechem he began to plot for the throne. He had
left
127
all
the sons of
Gideon were
killed,
with
Abimelech,
however,
During
years,
Abimelech and
chief
Heutenant,
maintained
his
Zebul,
themselves
and
cities to rec-
Once
Jotham.
wicked
brother.
Abimelech,
however,
did
not
care.
Jotham did not have a penny in the world and had no followHis violent denunciations of his bloodthirsty brother
ing.
were a futile waste of words. They merely amused the crowd.
The glory of Shechem, however, did not last very long.
Abimelech was self-willed and stupid. Soon his subjects grew
discontented. A man named Gaal made himself the centre of
an insurrection. In the fighting which followed, Abimelech and
Zebul were victorious. Gaal and his men were driven into a
high stone tower.
128
were
all
A
the
stronghold, he sent
This he heaped up in
his followers
burned to death.
few years
later,
rebels
and
mies
them-
barricaded
But
selves in a tower.
when Abimelech
roast
them
alive
tried to
(as he
set
human funeral
woman leaned out
fire to this
pyre, a
than
woman,
he should die of
For
his
be
killed
by
wound.
enemy.
They
Jephthah was
9.
129
God-fearing
man
Some
(who belonged
to the tribe of
of the
Ephraim)
good deal of a
fanatic, accepted
listen to explanations.
He
Then he rounded up
all
the
meant
It
suspected of
"shib-
river)
it
was
her father.
his
only daughter
who rushed
130
Jephthah kept
He
altar
his
word.
in the
land of Israel.
The
story
Philisitines
is
The
was more
and
whole Jewish communities were exterminated.
fighting
Then
Samson,
the
He
was as strong
as Hercules and as brave
ance.
as
Roland,
wise as
many
but
not
as
of the other
fame.
hild he
He
tremendously strong
arms.
He was
He never
combed
and he let
about putting on clean clothes. But he had hands like a
pair of hammers and he did not know the meaning of the
his hair,
word "danger."
He
gave
when he
131
with a foreigner.
he killed
it
Samson
honey.
ering
and continued
his
it
jour-
ney.
where
his
bride
parties
given
happy
couple.
for
the
Samson
IS
merry groom, although he was not very graceful upon such occasions and was
more at home in a fight than in a parlour. But he did his best,
and one evening, when all the guests were amusing each other
the
promised thirty
him the
For
tell
little
He
correct answer.
this is
What
is
it?"
of
132
and they
said
"This
man loves
you.
you.
He will do
anything for
Then he returned to the house of his parents and sat and sulked.
For he was deeply in love with this Philistine girl and he
could not well keep away from her. He suffered the separation as long as he possibly could
to her
in the
married to another
himself jilted.
man
girl
had been
of her
He
went
into the
foxes.
He
tails
together and
and
them run
let
They
dreadful pain.
The poor
wild.
tails
133
of each couple
and
in
selves
fields that
Next
the harvest.
fire.
vineyards and to the olive trees, and in one single night the
The people
in their
placed
all
bride.
They attacked
They
When Samson
heard of
this,
he gathered together
all the
men who would rally to him and he invaded the land of the
Philistines and he slew hundreds of them, from sheer joy
of killing.
.Just
Samson's
little
with certain
private campaign
men
of the tribe of
to maintain ami-
They captured
hands and they carried him to
the Philistines.
the
the
by and looked
When
on.
134
From
them
to death, right
and
upon
left.
hero
But
alas!
Samson was
He
was forever
other woman.
Upon
count the
his
own pleasure.
Samson had gone
One evening
town of Gaza.
"At last," said they, "we have caught him!"
They closed the city gates and waited for morning. Samson
would be obliged to pass through the gates on his way
home and half a hundred well armed men were waiting
to visit a friend in the
for him.
He
Apparently the
'^(who did
He
of this plan.
He got up
He tore the
in the
heavy
Hebron.
There he
left
them stand-
his enemies.
man was
Jews
as a frontier fighter.
135
proved to be
The
girl
the least
was
woman and
fatal.
called Delilah.
Her own
little bit.
the
was
if
she
told) she
was
if
she
would
As
ried,
she
began
to
flatter
her
much
men. One
had always
wanted to know.
clever
How
husband happen
so
did her
to have
Day
to find
game was
enormous amusement
repeated.
Samson seemed
In the
reckless
mood
of a
young
136
all sorts
would have been better for him had he left this woman
who cared more for her own people than for her husband.
But he was too much in love to do anything of the sort. He
stayed, and of course, in the end, Delilah wore out his patience,
and one night, Samson told her the truth and how he would
It
"Wake
"Wake
Here
up!
are the
Philistines!"
With
a smile,
Samson got
to his feet.
He
had often
had made
his
his part
cat.
Now
it
happened one
fine
to be present.
137
all
the Philis-
him
revile
to their hearts'
content.
By
the
he
shouts,
He
ing.
to
his old
final
prayer.
gle
asked Jehovah
moment.
the
of
There he
sat
Slowly
temple.
his fingers
pillars
With
a sudden heaving
hero
And
who
in death
youth.
But
while
all
138
139
was being
steadily increased.
Indeed,
if
man
man. As for
his
sons,
despicable characters.
thought to
single
of this
prophet Samuel.
He
When
happy mother
had not
called.
14.0
The boy
lay
down
"Samuel!"
called,
Then
Eli under-
it
to
told Eli
But
ere that
Ark
with them.
Phineas and Hophni, being the sons of Eli, who was both
Judge and
high-priest,
all the
course
it
ended with a
When
Judge
in his place.
141
no sooner had the Philistines carried the Ark into the presence
of
Dagon
of their
down by
hands
invisible
into
thousand pieces.
The
Philistines,
Ark
away and
carried
to the
it
Immedi-
Gath.
city of
in
ill.
poor
They
Philistia.
THE ARK
IS
RETURNED
took the
Ark from
north
to south
and from
lowed.
Ark
and
it
set the
away from
their country.
The
the
driverless
wagon with
its
all
stood until
it
saw
Ark
beautiful morn-
in the fields
it
One
ing,
later,
There
when
142
But
that king
iron.
was
their ambition to
the glories of
it
was too
late.
Assyria.
When
rival
They
did
to be free farmers
liberty.
CHAPTER X
THE STORY OF RUTH, WHICH SHOWS US THE SIMPLE
CHARM OF THE EARLY LIFE IN PALESTINE
.^^
Hebrew
many
tribes
cruel
we
that
shall
everything he possessed.
But Elimelech
was too proud to beg. Rather than ask for assistance, he took
his wife and his boys and moved into the land of Moab to make
a
new
start.
143
144
their
days
their father's
weak
constitution,
illness
Their
mother,
down with
to
bowed
grief, decided
spend the
was
familiar.
so,
and Orpah,
widow
it
145
The
little bits
all
the
that fell
no land of
their
who owned
own.
When Naomi
and Ruth
reached Bethlehem, it was harvest time.
^:^^^^tt^::^i^^^^^^^^i^
and
his
men were
And Ruth
the fields.
RUTH
out in
was a stranger among the Jewish women of Bethlehem, people asked questions about her. Soon every one knew
her story and finally it reached the ears of Boaz. He was
curious to see what sort of girl this might be and under the
pretext of inspecting his fields, he had a talk with her.
When it was time for the noon meal, he invited her to sit
down with him and the workmen and he gave her all the bread
As
she
she needed.
Ruth
who was
ate only a
little.
The
rest she
146
Boaz
in the fields.
did not wish to hurt her feelings and yet he wanted to lighten
her task.
He
must allow a
At
night,
when
made
she
much
she
hardly
could
lift it.
Naomi of
what had happened, how
She
told
she
how
she
had
garnered
This
very
that
made
She
happy.
she
Naomi
felt
much
his wife.
Then
she
And
so
it
happened.
First
Boaz
(as
was
his
good
right,
made
to
protect the farmer against the usurer) bought back the land
his cousin.
Then he asked
But
147
live
child
Obed grew
to
And
who
way
good mother
to her.
been a
A JEWISH KINGDOM
CHAPTER XI
SAUL AND DAVID WERE KINGS OF AN INSIGNIFICANT
TRIBE OF SHEPHERDS BUT WHEN SOLOMON CAME
TO THE THRONE THE JEWS HAD GAINED GREAT
IMPORTANCE AS TRADERS AND MERCHANTS AND IN
LESS THAN A SINGLE CENTURY THE COUNTRY HAD
BEEN CHANGED FROM A LOOSE FEDERATION OF
TRIBES INTO A STRONG STATE RULED BY AN ORIENTAL DESPOT
HE
mountains and in
Jordan.
down
to a period of comparative
peace.
New roads
148
A JEWISH KINGDOM
149
of city
life.
Even
in the days of
With
Promised Land.
Moses been
profits could be
made
On
was
difficult to
Many
people
and returned to the cities. Soon riches increased. But so did poverty. While the cause of national
independence and personal liberty began to suffer until it was
left their villages
irretrievably lost.
It
is
in
command
of the tribal armies during the wars of conquest had often ruled
liberties.
in
150
and homage.
As
the nation.
Of
pay
taxes.
We
all do.
But pro-
As
more and
more centralised form of government. Finally it became an
absolute kingdom and in less than a century, it grew into a
full-fledged, oriental despotism, as we shall tell you in this
a result, the country drifted inevitably towards a
chapter.
All of
In
this did
happens suddenly.
But
The
final collapse of a
And
many
generations.
A JEWISH KINGDOM
151
tlieir
What was
It
is
a Prophet?
Perhaps we
shall
do best by
Jewish peo-
ple.
Many
poets.
than that.
everything
(including their
own
lives)
when
it
came
to a
question of principles.
Whenever
King
King
of Judah committed
him so.
Whenever the people left the narrow path of divine
righteousness, a Prophet stepped forth to remind them of the
of Israel or a
tell
Whenever
told the
the nation
fore-
162
Until the voice of the Prophets became the concrete expression of the national conscience.
Centuries afterwards,
work
its
First of
all,
independent
tribes
a union of semi-
little
wandering
David.
That kingdom
is
immedi-
by
their
powerful neighbours of
the east.
is
A JEWISH KINGDOM
153
and a score of
others,
and they
this earth
were
filled
built cities
the earth.
Of
all their
territories
their
(and they
lost
them
They were
like a
Chaldean palace.
men
is
an involuntary one.
Among
And what
those
as true
gates
Samaria.
For
154
own
who would
They
pire.
They could
And
imaginary em-
so
set
about to look
was quite accidental. Kish had lost a few of his cows. They
had wandered away from the jflock and could not be found.
Saul was told to bring them back. He went from one village
to the next, and everywhere he asked whether the people had
seen his father's cows, but not a trace of them was discovered.
In his despair, Saul then went to Samuel to ask him for
Samuel looked at Saul and knew at once that this
advice.
youngster was called to be the ruler of the Jews.
He told him so, and Saul got frightened. It seemed too
young fellow.
When the time came for him to be anointed and to be shown
his new subjects, he had to be dragged from among the
to
and
his
office.
First of
all,
he was
made commander-in-chief
of the army,
and as such he fought a great many battles against the inevitable Philistines and against the Ammonites and against the
A JEWISH KINGDOM
155
He
still
The
will
had much to
learn.
freedom of
action.
advantages of
his
who
loved his
own
only once.
life
Often when the army was victorious there was a great deal
of booty. Samuel insisted that the greater part of this be given
to the service of the Tabernacle.
ferred to keep a
little
field,
for himself
and for
his soldiers.
inevitable happened.
Saul,
all sorts
in
and conditions
what we now
call
little
too "practical."
army needed
a suitable reward.
And
so he quietly
kept the herds which had belonged to the king and did not surrender them to the priests, as he ought to have done.
make matters
life
of
And
Agag, whereas,
to
ac-
When
Samuel heard of
this,
156
his crime,
felt
Gibeah.
his
was commonly
realm
said
all fortune-tellers
be forced into
exile.
On
A JEWISH KINGDOM
cases
David had
157
his flocks with-
Not only
could he sing, but he also had taught himself to play the harp
and during the long and lonely hours when he followed his
sheep he used to make up bits of verse which he sang afterwards
to melodies which he had composed himself.
He was quite
famous for his "Psalms" (as those songs were called) and
people came from far and wide to hear him.
When it became known that David enjoyed the particular
favour of Samuel, and was destined by him for a great future,
it was everywhere said that it was a most excellent choice and
would bring happiness to the whole nation.
Only one man did not share this general enthusiasm about
the young harpist.
That was Saul.
His conscience bothered him.
He knew that Samuel had been right when he accused him
of having kept the flocks of
Agag against
the express
command
of Jehovah.
He now
men
whatever he
that
rival.
new war came to his assistance. The Philistines were coming back. They had reorganised their armies
and now threatened the eastern valleys of Saul's domain.
They were led by a giant who was called Goliath. He was
Fortunately, a
158
the lines of the
the Philistines
and dared
his
He
most detestable.
This went on day after day and week after week and noth-
self
The
ing happened.
for
some one
whom
soldiers,
ashamed of
their
own
fear, looked
iating situation.
For
terrible
mind.
mood
He
was
ill.
sat
in his
He
suffered from a
began
to affect his
Finally his
was losing
his reason.
He
spoke to no
The wonderful
it
curative
Some-
to the
It
troubles,
and
much
stir
better.
from
his tent
A JEWISH KINGDOM
159
camp.
was one of a family of
He
eight,
and three of
his brothers
The Jewish
army
hold an entire
name
before the
a solitary
at bay.
of a mortal man.
life
He
jects.
who
had an
power of Jehovah.
assured
The men
and
foolish,
combat.
From
the
He
offered
him
their
armour.
shields.
round pebbles.
Then he took
his sling
and
left
the trench.
When
fight a
man
twice his
size,
160
single
blow he cut
He picked it up
The
Philistines
off the
monstrous head.
of the Country.
and
His
visit
dislike
grew
into
A JEWISH KINGDOM
ship which sprang
up between
his
161
if
he
first
fell in
love
phshed
his task.
rival kings
and
were now in
and son-in-law.
Saul's
old fits of melancholia returned
wonder
that
It is no
worse than before and when his doctors were at their wits' end,
they once more suggested a concert. This time, however, the
performance was almost fatal to the unfortunate harpist.
As soon as he had struck a few chords, Saul fell into a vio-
lent rage.
He
David saved
himself by jumping out of the room. He did not care to meet
the King again. He left the royal tents and ran away.
Then Saul's wrath turned against Jonathan and he tried
to kill his own son. But his followers held his hands and prevented the murder. Jonathan felt terribly upset by what had
just happened and felt that he ought to speak to David and
explain things. When they met for the last time, the two
friends bade each other an affectionate farewell and David fled
into the desert,
it
at David.
in a cave, called
Adullam.
Soon, however, the soldiers of Saul discovered where he was
hiding himself.
further into the
was gone.
162
Life in the desert was very dull and to while away the
tedious hours of the endless day,
poems.
several
more
Old Testament,
my
story.
English that
them
David wrote
in
it
would be very
my own
words.
foolish for
Besides, I
am
me
to try to repeat
have very
little
But they
are a
mag-
and they contain more beauty and more wisdom than many of
the purely historical books of the Old Testament which are
devoted to the endless recital of foreign war and domestic upheaval.
But
to return to David.
He now
He
The mass
They still vaguely recognised Saul as their King and if the word were not a little too
colloquial, we would say that they regarded David as a sort
of official understudy, a crown-prince, who at any moment
might be called upon to act as regent.
follow such a rapid political change.
He
royal tents.
A JEWISH KINGDOM
163
He
cities
and he
or villages
deal of explaining.
little
At
good
band of brigands.
Finally,
But we must not judge him too severely. David had been
It was greatly to his credit that
he continued to treat his enemy with the utmost courtesy and
generosity.
Saul, judging
stark mad.
In
restless haste,
One
by darkness and went into a cave to spend the night. It happened to be the same cave in which David had made his home
after his flight from the residence. David saw his unwelcome
guest as he entered, but he hid himself and waited.
In the middle of the night, he crept toward the sleeping
man and cut off a piece of his coat. The next morning when
Saul departed, David ran after him and called him by name
and showed him the piece of cloth.
"Look at this," he said, "and think what I might have done
to you, and what I have not done. You were in my power. I
might have killed you quite easily. And yet I spared you,
although you continue to persecute me."
Saul of course could not fail to see that David was right.
But he hated
this
164
and
David
to return
to his Court.
the funeral,
Samuel died.
David and Saul met, but the two men were
not reconciled.
And so things
Then
tions
his
happened during one of Saul's endless peregrinathat he found himself for a second time at the mercy of
hated
it
rival.
Jewish farmer.
He hated
cities
and refused
to live in a house.
was often
A JEWISH KINGDOM
165
his songs.
his
armies, slept
lessly
he climbed
the rock.
He
down
David
it
Of
the border.
far
from pleasant.
166
had a way of attracting men. He was forever surrounded by adventurous young fellows who hoped to make
their fortune as his soldiers and servants.
It had been that way in the wilderness where David at one
time had commanded no less than four hundred volmiteers.
It does not sound like a very large number to us, because we
He
men were
a formidable army,
to the farmers of
them against
robbers.
At
least,
we know
when
pay him
of one occasion
about to
kill
the entire
when he was
had a
fit,
This
made
Abigail a widow.
He
ter) for he
tired of
Michal
Saul's daugh-
A JEWISH KINGDOM
167
to
This
David's other
difficulties.
He
called Chileab.
way
settle
still
work
a few years before had been the scourge of the Philistines was
happened
this
way.
King Achish,
his host,
informed
him suddenly that the Philistines were going to make war upon
the Jews. He, Achish, was bound by treaty to offer his help
and as David enjoyed his hospitality, he expected him (David)
to take part in the campaign on the side of his country's
enemies.
David was
He gave an ambiguous
answer,
them
all
(with
to the
The
It
Philistine
result.
new
it
an
abysmal gloom.
He
He
end of
all
But
all
his
the
168
They
had been driven away from the country by Saul's own edict.
At last, however, the King was told that there was an old
who Hved
witch
in
(for he felt
was afraid
ment
for sorcery
to receive him.
ashamed of what
terrible punish-
to the King.
He
made
it
him
if
she
who had
Samuel
black cloak.
Once more
Judge, were face to face and there Samuel told Saul of the
terrible fate
Philistines.
When
He
Philistines.
A JEWISH KINGDOM
cut off the head
They
it
and sent
it
169
among
the
They then
When
from siege. In the dark of night they stole into Bethshean and they took the bones of their royal master and his
three sons and they buried them secretly underneath the sacred
city
The news
own
village.
David
in
a curious way.
in the eyes of
village of Ziklag
He also
together with so
many
of his sons.
"I came upon them suddenly near the mountain called Gilboa," he
lied,
"and I
killed
them
all
because I
knew
that they
this
had been
done, he went into deep mourning for his former master and
for his dearly beloved friend, Jonathan.
As
usual, he
found sure
relief in
is slain.
How
his
you
will
Book of Samuel.
Then he fasted for a long time and when he had expressed
sense of mourning in such a way that all the people should
170
know
his
made ready
to claim
kingdom.
He
first
and
their
new
offi-
of Saul.
For almost
David was king
years
forty
of the greater
He
ecutive ability.
Otherwise he
first place,
the PhiMstines.
in
a task
hopeless.
there were
Centuries of
that the
themselves.
The
among
power.
to resent
A JEWISH KINGDOM
And
his
171
when
the law.
his
held a high
faithful servant of
all.
itable will,
the
made
he
absolute
master
himself
of
the
land.
when
remaining
master,
them.
derers
similar
sons
killed
their
into their
own
hands.
last
He moved
172
Ever
since that
As
a preliminary,
it
salem.
The
priests loaded
name
it
upon
a cart
reins.
But
the
Ark was
almost upset.
and
it
from
falhng.
The happy
sudden
procession, with
David
at its head,
came
to a
halt.
Uzzah was
of a Gittite
There
it
buried,
A JEWISH KINGDOM
Then David returned with all
Ark was hoisted upon a wagon.
his soldiers.
173
Once more
the
was placed in
a new Tabernacle which Solomon, the successor of David, was
afterwards to change into the well-known Temple.
From that moment on, Jerusalem was not only the capital
of the Jewish states but it also became the religious centre for
all those who claimed descent from Abraham.
There were
This time
it
and
it
by
They
tolerated
to his
own
capital.
When
turned
mind
his
to,
David
Next he defeated
Ammonites
the
in such a decisive
way
In the
who
third place, he
thereafter left
From
him
made a
in peace.
great success.
But
all
at the head
of the nation.
to spoil him.
man.
to his
He
in
many
respects a very
weak
174
his
bosom
friend, Jonathan.
feet,
was adopted by
David as his own child, and until the day of his death, lived with
him in the palace of Jerusalem.
But when his own pleasure was involved, David could be as
mean and cruel as the worst of his subjects.
One
wife.
He
Joab,
who was no
the sort of
did not
man
better than a
common
criminal,
was just
warn Uriah
of his danger.
On
He
to be entrusted
Uriah believed
the vanguard.
all this
A JEWISH KINGDOM
When
the attack
175
left
soldiers retreated.
This made his wife, Bathsheba, a widow, and soon afterwards, David married her.
evil
The
all
the
killed
spoke up.
Nathan
He had
just heard a
little
David.
176
and when
was
it
cloak so that
it
"One day
He
the rich
man was
must go and
have
it
his
own
his
lamb from
his
But
sheep.
no, he
guest."
this, he was terribly angry.
He said to
was the most dastardly crime he had ever heard.
that
it
stolen
would
re-
As
who was
killed at once.
Then Nathan
you are the man.
wanted
his wife.
is
And
up and
killed
"O King,
said:
family,
David was
later, his
and
his
youngest child
mother."
fell
ill.
and remorse.
short while
his
in every possible
way.
On
From that
derer of his
own
He confessed unto
boy.
do penance.
He
might be forgiven.
his
as the
mur-
treatment of Uriah.
He
offered to
Apparently
this
A JEWISH KINGDOM
Jehovah with
its
sincerity
177
no further punishment.
Soon afterwards Bathsheba had another
called Solomon, and David, in
he would
make
his joy,
He
son.
was
This, of course,
to the rightful
He
went out of
his father.
his
way
to
make
people of Jerusalem.
was
to be seen
He
For
ever he
loved to pose as
all
of a despot,
and
as
with grievances.
before
this
to the
throne.
upon a
sufficient
number of
followers, he
left
making a
sacrifice to
was a
He
and
terrible
blow to David.
felt that
all his
own
flesh
other children
He
could not
and blood.
He
178
left his
As
But
Mahanaim.
in this
civil
had
war.
who
They ralHed
Soon the
entire country
river Jordan.
more
for the
Even then he
cared
his scan-
All day long the partisans of the King and those of his son
fought. Many men were killed but when evening came, the
followers of
as fast as he could.
But
the
he was riding
left
hanging
in the air.
One of David's
had asked mercy
He
soldiers
found him.
and he refused
He
took three
Absalom was
and he killed
A JEWISH KINGDOM
179
He
remembered
his
own
Nathan
the Prophet.
all
make
lom, for
whom David
other.
The King was growing weak and his days were numbered.
He
could no longer lead his armies and soon there was another
invasion on the part of the Philistines.
Then Adonijah,
lution.
act.
180
He
King
of the Jews.
But
war upon
his father.
made an end
and gave
since he had
to his suffering
When Abraham
Solomon
lived
on a
different scale.
The
daily provisions
Thirty measures of
and dozens of
new
made
of solid gold.
A JEWISH KINGDOM
But
to do forced labour on
to
181
pay annual
levies
all
of Jerusalem
rebuilt
tell)
man and
he kept the
Like Joseph and several other great Jewish leaders, Solomon was very apt to have visions when he was asleep. Shortly
after his accession to the throne, he
all others.
dom"
in the old
Hebrew
The word
"wisdom" or "shrewdness."
Solomon had his share of
both.
He was
by
"wiseither
exceedingly bright
As King
nation.
One
Jews he
of the
of the
first
also
was the
him
"For
it is
it
wrong mother
years,
182
all
all
It was an
and courtyards,
up
to the
many
halls
Temple.
Then came
the temple.
Of
course,
mons were
and going
was a holy
It
came
to
all
feet,
which
is
All the same, the edifice cost untold millions. The Jews
were farmers and merchants and had httle skill as artisans.
The necessary
had
to be
stone-cutters
Most
of
apt to overawe a
of the prairies.
New York
little city in
is
the heart
A JEWISH KINGDOM
183
But
the
world
of
the
great monarch.
He
decided
the Indies.
He engaged Phoe-
down on
of the
Red
Sea.
There they
town of
in the desert)
with sandalwood and with ivory and with incense, which cara-
Compared
to the
184
Solomon
Even
the rich
Queen
of Sheba, the
new
with a
visit,
accomplished.
believed
Temple had
modern
But
was about fifty times the total goldsupply of the whole ancient world, and the amount is probably
somewhat exaggerated. As hardly a single stone remains of
the original building, and as the site of the temple now lies
buried underneath one hundred and twenty feet of accumulated rubbish, it will be difficult to form a correct modern
dollars.
this
estimate.
Moriah (originally
occupied by the farm of Araunah the Jebusite) was gradually
covered with a complex system of buildings the fame of which
has come down to us through the centuries. They were begun
in the four hundred and eightieth year after the flight from
Egypt (the first positive date in the Old Testament) and they
were finished in the four hundred and eighty-seventh year.
All the preparatory work of cutting the stones and hewing
the wood into the proper shape was done far away from the
hill of Moriah so that the actual work of construction should
be done with a minimum amount of noise.
old hill of
A JEWISH KINGDOM
The Jews, who even then
not like bare walls.
185
all
the floors
and the walls and the ceilings of the holy edifice with boards
of cypress and of cedar and these again he overlaid with a thin
layer of gold.
The
little
Holy
room, thirty feet long and wide and thirty feet high.
Underneath
their outspread
the
Jews on
their pere-
two pieces
upon which Jehovah had engraved his Holy Laws,
when he appeared to Moses amidst the clouds of Mount Sinai.
Inside of the small room there reigned eternal silence. Only
once each year the High Priest was allowed to enter into the
presence of the Divine Spirit. That was on the Day of Atone-
It contained the
of stone
ment.
Upon
High
In
his
in
pure white
official
linen.
altar.
of atonement.
Then he
The golden doors, decorated with the picand palm trees, were closed and once more the
retired.
tures of flowers
186
famous
sacrificial
animal before
this
shrine.
From morning
till
men and
room was
filled
beasts.
A JEWISH KINGDOM
But
those
who could
187
buy
ment.
For
sale
filled
all
air
was
In the beginning, the person who brought the offering was sup-
own
victim.
priests
posed to
kill his
lost
much
of
its
personal character.
first
The
The
it.
rest of the
it
Whatever remained
the people
who
who made
rise
toward Heaven.
the sacrifice, or
it
was given
to the priests,
temple.
When
its
to
open
He
festivities.
come
to
Jerusalem.
Together they
first
the Ark.
Zion was the name of one of the hills on which the original
village of Jerusalem had been situated. It had been a fortress
188
in-
independence for
their
He
had called
it
the City of
it
the
in a
Kirjath-jearim,
it
priests
As
Holy
now
carried the
Ark
to
of Holies.
this
it
knew that Jehovah was well pleased with his new home.
The feast which followed lasted two full weeks.
Solomon slaughtered twenty-two thousand oxen and onehundred-and-twenty thousand sheep and the other people made
offerings to the best of their ability.
All
Jews.
For
the
first
national attention.
There were
it
visitors
from many
had been
cities of
Egypt and
in those that
Many
before.
lands.
own
of
in the
It
A JEWISH KINGDOM
189
But the money did not prove an unmixed blessing. Solomon now rarely left his palace. He increased his body-guard
and he was the
first
regiments of cavalry.
pletely
from
self as the
all
As
He
business of state.
He became
own
and
to
and Asia,
Sometimes, to please a favourite wife, Solomon had allowed
her to build a httle temple of her own that she might worship
her
own gods
as she
of the Nile or
among
King was
still
man
Aram.
the hills of
It
among
the masses
But
who were
it
did
strict
They had
Temple might be
built.
sit
in the
House
of
heathenish sanctuary.
It caused a great deal of discontent.
It kindled the spirit of revolt which
was
We
know very
little
about
his
last
years.
They were
190
He
spiritual indif-
WAR
CIVIL
CHAPTER
XII
EHOBOAM,
who succeeded
his father,
woman who
Ammon.
He
was
dull,
minded.
But
it is
immediately after
kingdoms.
191
final
hostile
192
There were other reasons besides the universal unpopularity of the sovereign.
From
had been
and the
tribe of Israel,
is
very
their origin.
difficult to
The
first
many
contain
legends but
little bits
little
accurate history.
Furthermore, during
the
all
Many
accepted the Jewish rule and had gone over to the Jewish
religion.
when
When
it
this clear
will discover
how
difficult
(almost impossible)
it is
to state in
on which the
first
pioneers
moved
their herds
But
exactly
cities
hke
St.
and
We
their famihes
know when
the
Illinois
CIVIL
of a "frontier country" and
WAR
when
193
board ?
It
is
impossible to give a
In
our
first
this respect,
more
own
country.
there are other puzzles
it
But
specific
is
example.
He
in a
museum and
"The
How
he finds con-
States."
is
he going to
1923 actually
criminately?
the
194
Mexico.
How
know
And when
how
is
name was
in this
west?
when they
men from
destroyed the city." Most likely the "men from across the
river" were the Babylonians who lived on the other side of the
river Euphrates.
city of Jerusalem.
By
the application of a
little
city"
was the
intelligence
we
You
now understand
that
after
all.
the most
why
in the present
the Jewish
kingdom
CIVIL
Whether
men
the
WAR
of Israel
195
woman
Whether
living
northland, with
Tsraehtes
we do not know.
its
the
the
the
dark rocks of a high and arid plateau and retained the habits
of the patriarchal shepherds much longer than their neighbours,
we
could not
But
tell
degi-ee of accuracy.
to those of
duced almost no
It
is
men
of great prominence.
But such
many
if
if
it
much
Ger-
pleasanter country
upon
all
much
is
certain.
cihation.
196
men. But his kingdom was based upon the firm foundation
of moderation and compromise and it easily weathered the
revolutions which took place when the sovereign himself was
too old to take the
field.
He
first
camp
life)
own
all
ene-
subjects.
now
tell
you.
It
is
built
Jehovah.
CIVIL
WAR
197
to arms, a
One
of Solomon's
officials,
As
ment, cut
198
own
frontiers
No
When
come
the representatives
from
new sovereign.
all
They
"Magna
day)
Charta," or "Constitution"
(as
we would say
to-
What would
The
old
King ought
to grant
He
this
CIVIL
WAR
"My
and gave
is
father," so
upon you.
yoke.
199
My
father chastised
their
will chastise
recognise
King.
tribes of
faithful
In
this
way
was divided
into
two
parts,
all (in
widen
their
view of both
men and
affairs
and
to study their
200
own
an opportunity to
It gave
them
and implacable Jehovah, who had been worand by Joshua and by David, had been
Moses
shipped by
the tribal god of a small community of farmers and shepherds,
The
who
cruel
Hebrew
deity
now developed
is
and
accepted by the
and Love.
CHAPTER
XIII
MISFORTUNES,
HOW-
HE
mon
independence.
201
202
Divided,
they
were
at
the
mercy of
their
powerful
neighbours.
Centuries of
civil
main events of
this
complicated period
we are to understand the life of the greatest of all the Prophets, who was born long after the last remnant of Jewish independence had been destroyed by the armies of Pompey.
if
On
resist invasion.
On
Dead
Sea, swel-
tering in the salty heat of a valley situated 1200 feet below the
Mediterranean Sea, presented an almost insurpassable barrier against the aggressions of Moab and Ammon.
On the south, there was the desert, which stretched as far
level of the
as Arabia.
203
These old Cretan fugitives had lost much of their former feroThey had settled down to the peaceful life of the farm
city.
and the workshop. They now rarely bothered their Judaean
neighbours and they protected them against marauding expeditions on the part of the uncivilised barbarians who had just occupied the nearby peninsula of Greece.
first class
natural boundary.
But a number
who have
And the
influ-
Chinese,
made
The
unsettled conditions at
home
this impossible.
and were of course defeated by their powerful eastern neighwas firmly based upon the efficiency of their
archers and their cavalry.
The kingdom of Israel suffered, however, from another and
serious disadvantage. It was composed of ten different tribes.
The tribesmen talked much of Union and Co-operation, but
own country.
a suitable capital.
seemed
in
many ways
It
to the throne
by way of a
204
against
who was
all sorts
Shechem offered
Tirzah, which was
He
removed
that
sufficient safety.
to
Fifty years
later,
The
many a
his court
and commanded
hill
did
much
The
weakness
From
theocracy.
A "theocracy"
a "theos" or god.
his
As
a country which
is
is
being ruled by
domains by means of a
it is
who
is
being made.
must of
His priests,
earth and the
or Jupiter)
at
it
political
and
We
We hear of
development.
in Babylonia.
The
in
idea
England
206
It
made
the
King
of
head of both
Church and
his
his State.
Even
to-day
we
are
House
member
spirit.
is
man,
at the
mercy of
all
who
It
is
(almost alone of
all
it
upon a strictly
The Ten Commandments
were really the constitution of his new state. The High Priest,
by his command, became the chief executive of the people. The
INIoses, from the very beginning, had insisted
theocratic
form of government.
The
Canaan had
many
influence
upon
also priests
Even
so,
206
During
the reign of
High
Priest
master
The
men a
new
strength to the
chance to regain
much
Adversity has
its
advantages.
city, as
people,
all
the Jews.
It
is
affairs.
Nowadays
we belong to
a large
to
Most
small, this
Temple
more than twice or three times in all their lives, and then only
upon very solemn occasions. They did not mind the few days'
207
Rome.
In old Palestine,
all
Solomon.
When
assumed the
made common
The
priests of the
temple
They refused
They denounced
who had
They practically excommunicated all Israelites, and cursed them for their wickedness.
And when the poor
kingdom of the north fell a victim to the political greed of
will of Jehovah.
dren,
fate.
and
all
And
is
to suffer a similar
lessons of tolerance
It
chil-
and mercy.
But an
was
sin.
as faithful a servant
He
rejected the
would
had
neighbours and
208
He
fellow townsmen.
But
Temple.
the
wanted to keep
Temple stood
in Jerusalem,
and Jerusalem
On
the contrary,
it
made
who dared
It put
things worse.
him
into the
as those
to elect
who was
we can hope
so
many
That, however,
is
historical explana-
the only
way in which
The
the east.
inter-
venturer,
affairs of the
his hospitality
and
He
had, as
his friendship to
Jeroboam, when the latter had fled before the anger of Solomon, and he had encouraged his guest to return to Jerusalem,
and begin that revolution which had deprived the house of
David
Now
civil
war, Shishak
made
He
in
in-
Israel,
to destroy the
209
Temple.
cities
and
villages
The wealth
arable loss.
Judah
rebuilt,
and
silver.
visits
The
Queen
of Sheba.
This young
man
many
did what so
had done.
When
upon
this
of Issachar,
relatives of
He
live in Tirzah.
declared
Abijam.
death had
left the
Asa was
died,
a better
of his predecessors.
He
The
First of
all
tribes.
When
these
had been
210
beaten back, the war with Israel had commenced. Baasha had
begun a regular blockade of Judah. He had fortified the town
Ramah
Aram
stretches
from the
River Euphrates.
The Jews
offered the
Aramean monarch
a large bribe
if
of friend-
ship with Baasha, but in those days, people did not take treaties
very seriously.
He
all
left
Damascus
Dan and
(his
cap-
conquered
Baasha was
the road to
Asa no doubt had done what seemed to be best for his own
country. But he and all the people who came after him lived
to regret the day when they had first dragged a foreigner into
their domestic quarrels.
From
up
for
money, they
let
themselves
collectively to reim-
211
this dispute.
was very
difficult for
formed a
After
make an end
these cen-
all
afford to
many
religious sects of
To-day
There had
native temples.
his
to
212
body of
He
risks.
made
him
ised
litely to
his
his
felt
He
prom-
listened po-
compelled to deliver
against the
much
in Israel
when he
died, there
all sorts
of terrible
ment
was murdered.
At
This young
man was no
Zimri took
his
King
commander
of his war-chariots.
Then he proclaimed
himself
of Israel
was
own capital.
As Zimri had
Elah during
own
capital.
213
hill
bought the
hill
for
two
talents
was
Omri
called the
and
town of Shemer, or
Samaria.
Among
many
When
he died, he
rulers
son Ahab.
strong.
and
people were
made aware
all
the
of this fact.
came
own
When
she
and
as
The people were shocked and the prophets cried out to high
Heaven. But Jezebel did not care and ere long, she began a
regular campaign against those who had remained faithful to
Jehovah and inaugurated a reign of religious terror which
lasted until she was overthrown by the revolution of Jehu.
Fortunately for the persecuted followers of Jehovah, the
214
kingdom of
all,
tained a guarantee of safety for his northern frontier, he attacked the Ammonites and Moabites who lived across the Dead
it
their territory.
the wicked
as a direct
insult to Jehovah.
faith,
Jehoshaphat continued to be successful in everything he undertook and he died, much regretted by his subjects, in the year
850 B. C. and was buried with his fathers in the family vault
in the city of
David.
to rack
and
ruin.
Jezebel had established a veritable inquisition which punished with death or exile all those
sun-god.
who
entire nation.
this wholesale
was
215
the people
We
know very
He may
man.
able
(the home of
The
certain.
so
about the early years of this remarkhave been a native of the land of Galilee
little
many
is not
greater part of his younger years he spent in
on the eastern bank of the river Jorwas influenced by his physical surroundings.
his
without questioning.
He
To him
cities.
Indeed, he abhorred
all cities.
tants.
From
Ahab and
He
He
He
He
was
as brave as a Hon.
was without a
A rough
coat,
made
only garment.
He
216
he had come.
Until the people believed that he was possessed of some
strancre power, and could make himself invisible at will.
Ever since the beginning of time, people have loved to exaggerate the virtues of their heroes. As time went by (and as
the stories were repeated from father to son) Elijah assumed
man who
could reverse
all
who could stop the flow of rivers by a gesture of his hand, who could turn one bushel of corn into a
dozen, who upon many an occasion had cured the sick, and
who sometimes had raised the dead with equal f acihty.
This tremendous figure, feared and yet revered by all his
contemporaries, now became one of the leading actors in the
great religious drama of his time.
217
to Baal.
He was
ment.
"There
will be a
and there
for Jehovah
atry."
He
turned to
his
beloved desert.
was
Cherith,
his
home.
There
summer when
new
quarters.
He now
crossed the country from the east to the west until he reached
the village of Zarephath, on the coast of the Mediterranean.
But
woman
many years
oil
and
stories of
how
how he kept
that
flour
wake
through the
of the ruined
crops.
218
the contrary.
Only
once more.
Of
course, Elijah
knew
that
moment he
of Israel.
He waited
residence until he
met Obadiah
fields
and he bade
prepare
Ahab
this excellent
man
Once more, the King and the Prophet faced each other.
Ahab, who was in dreadful fear of Elijah's magic power,
listened patiently enough, and did as he was told to do. He
called together all the priests of Baal. He told them to come
to the top of
by the way. Unless there was immediate relief from hunger and thirst, there would be a revolution, and this meeting (so Ahab was told) might give him
of Jezreel, and not to tarry
From
far
priests of
Carmel.
The
lonely old
when
man
altar
219
of the land.
When
all
said,
ier,
now and
decided
One
bulls.
of these he gave to
^, Iw"
his
prepare
The
it
ready for
When
laid
sacrifice.
meat were
wood of the
"Now we will wait
upon
the
miracle,"
Elijah
altars.
for a
announced.
ELIJAH'S SACRIFICE
to
fire
light the
to our god,
him
to
come
to their assistance.
But
happened.
Elijah taunted them.
"A
wonderful god,
this
Baal of yours," he
cried, forget-
who cannot
220
He may
louder.
Perhaps he
is
asleep.
Shout a
httle
He
Next he dug
a trench around
it
so that
it
altar.
When
this
the stones.
called
upon
the
God
of
from Heaven.
Amidst the hissing of steam and the crackling of the wet
branches, the offering of Elijah went up into smoke.
The power of Jehovah stood revealed before all the people.
Immediately a bolt of
fire fell
of that
moment
of victory.
and they
false priests.
was
satisfied.
to
Ahab.
Jehovah, he
now
come to an end.
With
this
his residence.
promise ringing in
his ears,
Ahab
returned to
upon
For
the
first
months, the
soil
When Ahab
noon, the
221
Queen was
after-
She gave
murder of her
friends.
He knew
that this
time he could not hope for mercy, and he hid himself with
unusual
He walked
clear
Even
moment
Soon he pushed
it
looked as
if
he
At
last
he reached
peninsula of Sinai.
Here, a thousand
The experience
sage,
was quite
of Elijah,
different.
when he
down a
precipice.
Then
earthquake.
It
was followed by a
fire.
And
He
222
was growing too old. His days were numbered, so he was told,
and there was much work to be done in the land of Israel.
Elijah obeyed. He left the desert and went back to the
hated cities. When he reached the plain of Jezreel where
the Judges of ancient days had destroyed the armies of the
Amalekites and Midianites, he saw a farmer plougliing peacefully in the fields of that pros-
perous country.
ciple.
stopped.
left the
He
his
young man.
was his
name) understood what this
ceremony meant. He left his
plough. He went to his home,
AN
MIDST
OF
ELIJAH IN THE
bade farewell to his father and
EARTHQUAKE
mother and followed his new
master, that he might learn the ways of wisdom and godliness
Elisha
and be worthy of
When
this
(for
that
high honour.
Under
things had gone from bad to worse. Other Baal priests had
been sent for from Phoenicia and the country was as full of
Now
of his
new
palace.
Naboth.
it
told
Naboth
that he
wanted to buy
223
this vineyard.
way
out of the
difficulty.
Ahab
was King.
this.
He
dreaded another
make an end
was
sick
and took
Jezebel
made
opportunity.
to his bed.
much
all
sons
(who
heirs to the
dogs.
No
IN
THE DESERT
been
done than behold! there stood Elijah before the garden of the
palace.
He
224
Ahab was
frightened,
and
tried to discover a
way
in which he
He had
be killed,
own
His enemies,
If he was destined to
subjects.
to
as all people
knew, lived in the north. Evidently Ahab must guard himself against a new attack from
the side of
Aram. Fortunately
made simultaneously
further Ara-
mean ambitions.
Ahab decided
to take the
put an end to
NABOTH'S VINEYARD
initiative
and waste no
time.
He
join
him
in his
marched northward.
The priests of Baal predicted a great victory, but Micaiah,
one of the few prophets Avho had remained faithful to Jehovah,
repeated the warning that the King would be killed, no matter
"For then,"
so he reasoned, "the
wear
pay no attention
to me."
kingly robes.
Arameans
his
to shoot
will recognise
225
But when
mean
it
coat,
of Ahab's blood.
The
up the mixture of
water and blood. In this way, the prophecy of Elijah came
true.
The war-chariot stood on the ground which once had
in the streets of Oriental villages licked
belonged to Naboth.
The death
cession.
of
in the suc-
It
anarchy.
Ahab was
But
shortly
Ahaziah
"No!"
died.
it.
The King
of
Dead
the usual,
thirst.
226
When they reached Moab, they found that the King had put
his capital in such excellent state of defence that
it
was neces-
men
The King
would remember.
his capital
enemy),
to the
They feared
the wrath of
they
(the
generation
Jehoram
and
Jehoshaphat),
for
of
been favoured with such a signal evidence of devotion and worship. They said that it would serve no good purpose to continue the siege under those circumstances
It
was a most
doms.
critical
The house
people.
of
of the Jewish
in both king-
fierce violence of
a despot.
it
227
folly.
getic action.
But
the
man
One day
while
fun at the Prophet's bald head, two bears rushed forth from
the bushes and ate up the children as a warning to all others.
That, however, was only a detail.
things which
rivers stop
He
could
make
life.
this stood
He
tionary
iniquities
228
man and he
He
He
was famous
He
sort
feeling.
Jehoram, King of
Israel,
was the
ger.
first
It
was too
his heart.
late.
Jehoram
left
by the side of the road and when the soldiers of the regular
army (who followed their master at a distance) found it there,
they threw
it
left it to the
own
frontier.
Near Ibleam
in the land of
Manasseh
He managed
of the
When
this
Armageddon (where
violent death)
With
so
and there he
many kings
died.
The
old Queen,
When
them
when
tioners.
for-
famous old
Then
to be her execu-
window.
229
That
night,
re-
Ahab, remem-
tainers of
dead
the
ruler
funeral
find
Jezebel's body.
The dogs
had torn
it
Next
it
of Jezreel
to pieces.
Most
Ahab.
fled
to
of these
Samaria.
had
But
the
as
little later,
Judah
There
known
still
that he
Jehu
let it
felt rather
be
kindly
230
disposed
meet him
in their
to be done.
truth.
were
As
They came,
When
With
closed.
asked them to
all
all inside
been
killed.
made an end
to the danger
of a foreign domination.
little
for the
would not tolerate any one within the country who was not of pure Jewish blood. They erected an imaginary barrier around Israel and Judah which kept away all
those who had been born outside the Jewish pale. They
so great that they
But
as both Israel
to survive
without the help of a few good friends in the east and in the
231
its
higher
officers.
Even such
were to recognise
when they
Israel
spoke,
it
was too
much
innocent blood.
But
late.
east.
In Aram,
Aramean domains,
the
there
had found
We
would grant.
They knew
that they
their master.
Mount Hermon
842 B. C, and that Jehu, the son (which meant the successor)
of Omri, himself paid tribute to Assyria. To make up for his
losses,
232
come
ites
in Jev/ish
hands.
In
this
ruler.
hour of
disaster, Elisha
came
From
sented their
bill
They expected
The
Israel to pay,
fair
degree of success.
Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, was fortunate in his war for in-
dependence.
town of Nineveh.
His
was lucky
as a warrior.
238
He allowed
rehgious duties.
His respect
his
But
it
itself.
To
and glory.
it
seemed that
they flattered
ancient position
They were
That
day.
It
among
to be sorely disappointed.
brilliant
was the
last
cities.
Shepherds
they
The
from
east to west
the word.
were worshipping
TH LIBRARY
KNGX COLLEGE
234!
lightning.
and
to their grandchildren.
Amos
life.
With
and
silver
was not
wicked in
itself,
is
interest.
When
they began to foresee, with ever increasing clearness, the inevitable loss of their country's independence, they
changed the
hke of which had not been heard in the land since the days of
Elijah.
They admonished
be patient.
doctrine of forbearance
235
and cheerful
helpfuhiess.
And
drawing a
logical conclusion
from
demanded that
all his
other.
to waste
When
He
He
hundred years
dreamed of an empire that would stretch from
five
Sooner than he had expected, the Jews gave him the chance
to realise this ambition.
of
When
236
fail.
But
of both
Judah and
Israel.
It
Before the children then born should have reached the age of
manhood, both countries would have lost their independence.
Even
and
then,
silver
convinced.
He
took
do homage to
it
all
the gold
to Nineveh
ward
to
altar,
his
august
ally,
where he offered
it
it
carried to
Damas-
much
pleased.
Whether
King's plans.
We
little
his
237
Shahnaneser, so
sally
and
The
five
Assyrian provinces,
was
to-
These im-
migrants formed a new race which became known as the Samaritans. At first, they were Assyrian subjects. Afterwards
they were ruled by the Babylonians and the Macedonians and
the
To
is
down
officers
They
and
home
ate
soldiers
city.
It
238
rear.
this
Assyria had gone the way of all empires and in turn had
been conquered by the Chaldeans (another Semitic tribe) who
city of
Babylon
THE CAPTIVES
239
who
told
her King.
He
new
arguments.
by the
soldiers of
At
Nebuchadnezzar.
siege.
people.
Jeremiah alone
word "surrender."
When he
pity
pit into
last of the
official
old
man and
Before the
upon the
end of the
cast,
released
siege.
night,
240
he had
left the
Chaldean
lines of
When
sentinels.
way towards
his
the river
Jordan.
men
this,
intercept
to
the
Judsean
ruler.
Near
Jericho, Zedekiah
was
taken prisoner.
He
was forced to
wit-
made
to
march
where he was
in the triumphal
Shortly afterwards, he
As
deans,
lised people,
honour.
spared his
They
life
man
civi-
with great
they told him that he might stay right at home, and that no
harm would
Most of
befall him.
would
taken
would
be
to
and
Mesosuffer the fate of the Israelites
potamia as captives. They prepared to flee to Egypt. Jeremiah advised them to remain where they were. The Jerusalemites, however, were in a panic and refused to listen to him.
They gathered their possessions and trekked eastward. Jeremiah,
who was
He
village
241
He
died in
birth of Christ.
The
last of the
end.
the price of
its
CHAPTER XIV
THE JEWS REFUSED TO LISTEN UNTIL A LONG PERIOD
OF EXILE IN ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA BROUGHT
THEM TO A REALISATION OF WHAT THEY HAD DONE
AND WHAT THEY OUGHT TO HAVE DONE. FAR AWAY
FROM THE OLD HOME, SCATTERED AMONG THE
TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF THE VALLEY OF MESOPOTAMIA, THEY BEGAN THAT CLOSE STUDY OF THE
ANCIENT LAWS AND THE EARLY CHRONICLES WHICH
IN DUE TIME WAS TO BRING THEM BACK TO A MORE
SINCERE AND EAGER WORSHIP OF JEHOVAH
HE
new masters
Ever
Hammurabi,
who lived and
Asia.
The
fortress.
It
BABYLON
243
24.4
laid out
very regularly.
The
streets
The
two or three
and sometimes
stories high.
city,
on a low
artificial hill,
stood the
With
its
many terraces,
it
myth
as cosmopolitan as the
modern
city of
"New
York.
They
merce
is
And
They devised
weights and measures upon which modern com-
based.
they
first
Ten Commandments
our own Church.
of Judah, however,
steadily
and de-
to
do with
pohcy of expansion.
It happened that one of their rulers had gone forth to
conquer Aram and Egypt. The little independent nation of
their
upon
245
the highroad
from
the north to the south and from the east to the west.
was occupied
That was all.
It
We
as a matter of
miHtary precaution.
somewhere
in the southwest.
We
We
it
myth).
curious.
his
is
the
He
had hap-
and not
part of an ancient Babylonian
flood,
put
it
He
had no
racial prejudices
He
tells
us several important
246
many
unknown
tribe
As
Russian or Armenian
refugees
how they
spelled the
(as we
They did
names of
their
geography.
Constantly they
They used
strange sjTabols.
They
their
referred to a
few days, vomited him up again upon dry land, when they
wished to
little
tell
how
kingdom
of
obhged to release
course,
quite understanda,ble
it is
to
the people
of twenty-five
who
and rubbish.
All the same, the last twenty books of the Old Testament
make up in quantity for what they lack in accuracy, and it
is possible to reconstruct the fifth, the fourth and the third
centuries B. C. with a fair amount of accuracy.
With the help of this somewhat unrehable material, we
shall
to
247
now
try to
tell
so soon afterwards.
mean
slavery.
From
Palestine to
The
IsraeHtes, a century
and a half
before,
to remain together
and to
settle in the
They were
in reality a band of involuntary pilgrims, travfrom the overcrowded slums of Jerusalem to the open
spaces of Chebar. They left the sterile fields and valleys of the
elling
Nor
Egypt
to retain their
own
leaders
and
their
They were
free
lists
to
248
offices in
In
many
of the
ills
But now,
It
was
This
new ailment.
called homesickness.
affliction,
strange influence
light of
alas,
upon
the
human
happy reminiscences
It throws a
soul.
glowing
When
man
is
his
tionable."
A century afterwards, when the exiles were given permisfew availed themselves of
But as long as they were in Babylon, the
this opportunity.
land of Palestine was their lost Paradise and this attitude is
sion to return to Jerusalem, very
lives of the
Jews during
this half-
249
The
exiles
went
Upon
sev-
national conscience.
now had an
It had
no vowels. It left a great deal to the imagination.
The same can be said of the rules governing the construction of -written sentences.
No
clear
was made
One and the
distinction
tenses.
same verb could indicate that something had already happened or that it was about to happen. We have to guess at
the real meaning from the contents of the sentence.
Such a form of expression
Hence
the beauty of so
less successful
when
many
of the psalms.
It
was much
his-
tory begins.
But
it
260
the current
all
its
purpose.
It gave those prophets
reach
all their
ideas a chance to
^gean
It allowed
Sea.
them
portion.
and
hills.
He
became a
set of rules
and regulations.
He
no longer
spoke to
voice
And
His
spirit of the
and criticisms
which grew to enormous extent as the ages went by.
This new development, however (hke all similar changes)
did not come suddenly, and the period of exile produced sev-
eral
among
their
251
of their race.
Two
One of
Of the
these
was Ezekiel.
we do not know
the
He
"editing."
In
this
man who
It does
As
the
first
"Unknown
many of his
What makes
his
work
so valuable
is
his
252
vision of the
him,
is
name
ful
no longer the
tribal
is
Jehovah, to
is
He
nation.
His
all lands.
Even the mighty King of Babylonia and the no less powerKing of Persia (to whom the Jews looked secretly for
ants of the
not.
will
is
law unto
not a cruel
is
On the
all
serv-
men.
God who
hates those
He
Name.
who have
He is
perfection.
eyes to see.
ears to hear.
own
man
He
is
behind the
visible to all
clear to those
who have
and righteousness.
Such language was far
The average
exile
This talk of a
regarded
it
upon
and which
the days of vengeance when Jehovah
much
as
upon
its
its
existence
daily bread
And
fully
grounded
care-
New
Jerusalem.
253
He
He
in his
man
of some importance
away from
Judah and
first
to be driven
exile.
News
village of
him
in the
where he made
Unknown Author
himself lacks those
to us in
He
ment.
many
of Isaiah.
human
work
His
qualities
is
style is rigid.
He
is
far
Upon
The man
from modest.
artificial excite-
mysterious voices.
Like Jeremiah, he never ceased to argue against those misguided fanatics who believed that Jerusalem was bound to be
impregnable because the town happened to be the capital of
He
warned them.
He
told
them that
254
future.
Temple
altar
This resurrected
state,
however (according to
his views),
could not survive unless the Jewish nation was willing to sub-
his
Greek
neighbour, Plato.
He gave us the
his
own views
of
life.
He wanted
Laws
of
to strengthen
Moses which
in
and reenforce
given several heathenish forms of worship a chance to incorporate themselves within the holy
rites of
Jehovah.
understand that
human traffic.
The Temple,
He
a profound
be
made
to
was
to be
256
holy-
The
priests
it
planned by Moses.
In order
the
number of
cial attention
feast days
was
upon
the
common
people,
atonement
for sin.
The
nation.
in the
Holy
of Holies
occasions,
was
For
the rest, he
In the olden days, David and Solomon had been given the
privilege of appointing all priests.
The
priestly class
was
to
means
as
its
its
servants and
by no
master.
256
'of
rebuilt
and the
home, they
exiles
expected.
Beyond
foreign bondage.
ARLY
during
before the
Semitic
the
birth
tribe,
Chaldeans ) had
,
of
called
seventh
century
Christ
a small
the
Kaldi
(or
home
in
last
Mesopotamian
257
plain.
258
Upon
own which
is
now
called
New
kingdom of his
Babylonia by some historians
^what
it
war with his neighbours, Nebuchadnezzar had overrun and had conquered that remnant of
the old Jewish state which was known as Judah, and he had
transplanted several colonies of Judaeans (or Jews) from the
During
his interminable
His
relations,
Like
all
interest in fortune-telhng.
successfully
King.
at the
should be slaughtered
and how
259
sheep
and the
little
adopted
country.
Now
They asked
"How
not
know
can any
man
tell
details.
all his
"wise
men"
to the gallows.
failed in their duty, but to rid his court once for all
An
officer
conjurors.
in
many
respects
was
like
Joseph, had
260
made
He
men
at the
Babylonian court.
He
down
inadvertently
to sleep
lost.
a chance.
Daniel
first
Then he explained
As
later.
it.
of the
provinces.
All
this
according to the
unknown author
it
of these chapters,
For,
Nebu-
He
It
was ninety
feet
high and nine feet wide and entirely covered with gold. It
stood in the plain of Dura where it could be seen from far and
wide.
At
many
trumpets)
all
upon
261
re-
them
to be
thrown into a
fiery furnace.
To make
sure that
was heated
But behold! when the doors were opened, the next morning, the three young men walked out as unconcernedly as if
they were just returning from a cool swim.
that,
He
He
went
field,
around on
all
In
all this,
we
like
an ordinary cow.
book ascribed
hand of Daniel. This volume, according to the painstaking investigations of modern scholars, was written sometime between the years 167 and 165 B. C. when the Jews
to the
duties.
The
author, taking
Nebuchadnezzar.
He
tell his
contemporaries
what faith can do for those who seriously believe that Jehovah
is
on
his
their side
Jewish readers.
262
To do
the throne.
once more
we
evidence.
last
king of Babylon.
But
who
is
mentioned in
this
same
later,
and Bel-
shazzar was not murdered until several months after the sur-
But that some sort of feast was held just before the city
was surprised by the enemy is borne out both by Herodotus
and Xenophon, and it was at this very noisy celebration that
Daniel gained his greatest fame as a prophet of future events.
Belshazzar, so the story goes, had invited more than a
thousand nobles to
the hall
was
his party.
They
ate
Quietly
it
Sud-
hand appeared.
Then it disappeared.
The words, curiously enough, were written in Aramaic.
No wonder that the King could not understand them. He
sent for his magicians, but they too failed to decipher them.
263
Joseph.
Daniel came.
mystic writing.
then down
again.
He was
He read
This
is
L
E
N
E
R
S
E
T
E
M
N
And
this
is
A
I
MENE MENE
TEKEL UPHARSIN.
Even
make much
sense.
"tekel"
value of a shekel.
was what we
call
a "shekel."
The "u"
particle,
tion) could
mean "half-a-mina"
or
it
or Persians.
Thus
mina.
a shekel.
The Persians
now dwindled
to a small
264
All
however,
this,
is
number."
And he gave the following explanation of
this
very fright-
ening riddle:
King
Bel-
wanting."
As
and hoping
made Daniel
shazzar
his
vice-
roy.
In the year 538, Cyrus entered the city through one of the
water-gates.
He
when
He
killed Belshazzar
And
own
empire.
As
ruled were of
265
Aryan
That is to say, they were not Semitic like the Babylonians and tlje Assyrians and the Jews and the Phoenicians,
stock.
in the plains
Caspian Sea.
At an unknown
trek.
A few of them went westward and settled among the aboEurope whom they soon
rigines of
killed or subjugated.
of
him
as
266
in
so travellers
zeal.
all
Whenever
there
was a report of
and hope.
The days of Babylon (of this they were convinced) were
numbered. The wicked city had refused to listen to the words
of praise
of Jehovah.
fell,
new masters
went
He
further.
Roman
indifference
their
best.
They could
fill
bare, just
as they preferred.
own
political
see to
it
them
best,
267
appealed to
He
hoped
to
make Persia a
maritime nation.
When
Judeean kingdom.
in
captives
from
Israel.
by their
a mystery to-day
as
it
was
At
it
268
silver
lon,
new
it
residence.
had come
true.
They were
pious
men who
seriously.
And
new
they
now
established
upon the
ruins of Jerusalem a
was
to be
who returned
if
to Palestine.
all petitions
month.
As
to either gods or
men
demned
But
to death
269
life in
peace.
fell
upon a
certain Zerubbabel,
who was
dis-
Zerubbabel went to
the
To
as soon as the
Temple
should be finished.
Then
the prophet
He
Haggai
270
Zerubbabel,
who was
sadly in need of a
so.
He
little
encourage-
had
also
made
to be quite a complicated
of the archives.
case.
by Cyrus, was
But
It
Darius
was getting
discovered.
Temple was
finished.
it,
But
home.
the
dirty streets
little
and
its
They
their spiritual
its
narrow and
suffi-
soon as the last offering had been made and the last
psalm had been chanted the visitors hastened back to the busy
counting houses of Susa and Daphnse. They were proud
As
to be
have to
In
this
way
year round.
which was to cause much trouble and suffering during the next
four centuries.
For although
among
271
and the
the boys
They
had been
differently pre-
pared.
They were
own.
By
whom
fail to
understand.
feuds.
In one of
these, early
Jews
during the
fifth
in Persia perished
The book
272
Xerxes and
We know a great
King Xerxes, who almost destroyed the new civithe European mainland. He was both weak and
deal about
lisation of
is
known
Esther went to
live in the
One
a plot to
kill
men
discussing
the King.
life.
sudden
He
many
rise in the
But
now
many enemies.
of
to
273
ment
this senti-
in a
to
know any
better.
Haman
all
He
filled
the heart of
captives.
success.
As
the
Without much
trouble,
Haman got
his dissolute
mon-
arch to the point where he willingly signed a royal decree conthe Jews within his domains to death.
was entrusted with the execution of this terrible
law. Like all mean persons, he proceeded with slow and deliberate care, for he wanted to enjoy his revenge to the full. He
threw lots to see what month would be best for the wholesale
execution of the followers of Jehovah. In this way, the month
of February was chosen. This gave Haman enough time to
order the erection of a gallows on the top of a high hiU, so
that Mordecai, his enemy, "might be elevated above all men."
demning
all
Haman
The
plot,
unannounced
it
could not
how Mor-
had misled
decai
all
evidence before
Haman
274
hill
spite.
Mordecai.
When
mem-
Every year
thereafter,
be-
Lots or
"Purim."
Upon that
occasion, the
book
name
the
rich
of
Haman
were to give
was
community and
to be publicly execrated.
liberally to the
And
the
popularity in
its
it
own
time.
The
the
275
all
in
Jerusalem.
still
rebuilt after
in ruins
prove matters.
At
last the
cided that
tions there.
unteers
to
He
accompany
him.
HAMAN HANGED ON
OWN GALLOWS
HIS
this
But
conditions in Jerusalem, as
terrible.
duties.
Judah was
way
to
276
The
streets
The
were cleared of
The
all rubbish.
And
their parents.
foreign wives
main gate
from which Ezra
outside the
reminded of
their duties.
Even then
habited wilderness.
As
ger
this
(there
enough
to
hardly
men
Solomon),
populous days of
some
drastic
steps
THE JEWS
IN EXILE
of necessary inhabitants.
One-tenth of
all
the
Jews
by lot, were
into
Jerusalem.
few
came volunmove
must
told that they
tarily and were given great honour as very unselfish patriots.
The others were brought in by force.
Even then, Jerusalem remained a shadow of her former
self. The old days of political and commercial importance
were gone and they were gone for good.
The dream of Ezekiel could never come true.
living in the adjoining country districts, selected
But soon
home
whose ultimate appearance had been predicted by that "unknown author" whose courageous eyes had dared to look for-
ward when
all
CHAPTER XVI
THE MISCELLANEOUS BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
It contained histories
reclassified
and rearranged
American
histories at all
and that a
Very hkely he
of creation.
278
stories, telling
of the discov-
little
colonies (corresponding
there
War, which
almost turned the United States into another Judah and Israel.
Together with these historical narratives, there would be
a miscellaneous collection of bits of poetry and of those songs
that have become part of our great national inheritance.
And
if
this sort of
lon,
work
we should
little
training for
and of Baby-
Of
Spain and with the help of their libraries (taking it for granted
that they had not been destroyed, as most of the libraries of
Babylon have been) we could easily enough reconstruct our
own
little
279
themselves aloof
life
who
held
land.
we depend for our information exclusively upon the ancient Hebrew and Aramean texts. We
have said this before, but we repeat it here for the last time,
In the main,
therefore,
Thus
far
we
Now
history.
we must
tell
ture.
The
story of
A counter-
Judean
villages
is
life
of the
things should
He
happen
to him,
why
why
he should
he, a "wise
why
why
man,"
he, the
He
his fate.
Job
all lovers
of imaginary literature.
unworthy
soul.
280
the designs of Jehovah, but surely they are right, while he himself, in his
ignorance,
At last the
is
wrong.
days of his
trial
He
is
restored
marries again
pany the people who chanted the holy songs, and it was played
with a plectrum, like a modern mandolin.
It did not have a very wide range and was restricted to ten
notes. But it served a good purpose.
It kept the congregation on the right pitch, like a modern
organ.
As
and
of
many
consolation.
of the kingdom.
Church.
As
They have
exile.
As
by our Christian
ages.
known
tongue.
281
set to
Whatever the future of many of the historical and prophetic books of the Old Testament, the Psalms will survive
as long as man believes that beauty 1[in whatever form or
guise) is something holy and venerable.
The same cannot be said of Proverbs.
This is a book without any vision or passion.
It contains just what the name implies, the wise sayings of
several generations of shrewd old men and old women.
Every nation, since the beginning of time, has possessed
such a collection of proverbs. Our own republic, based solidly
upon the common-sense of our independent pioneers, has given
the world a large number of such proverbs.
The wisdom of Confucius, the great teacher of the Chinese,
is
tions
the gods.
two
upon the
foolishness of
entire generations to
Abraham
Solomon
as the greatest of
all this
homely wisdom.
As
would be just
as
is
good
if
The Proverbs
the
man
and they
282
The next
is
is
human
book.
and faith.
It reflects the weary and rather personal wisdom of the
famous Jewish physician who is said to be its author.
It delves deeply into the problems of
What
is
life
and
end of
things
all
is
human
life?
The
the grave.
What
does
it all
mean?
The
riches. Is there
no reason in
this
human
misery?
"Vanity of
And
so on for twelve
whole chapters.
moody
race.
When
Ecclesiastes
an Etude
by Chopin.
When
"Ode
to Creation."
Man
wise,
we
poetry.
What we
suffer, others
still
283
who
are
Man
thej'-
The last one of the miscellaneous works of the Old Testament is a very curious book. It is called the Song of Songs.
This does not mean that it is really a collection of songs. The
repetition of the word is used to indicate a superlative of literary perfection.
all
It means, "This
songs," just as
we
is
day of our
lives as
is
tremendous reputation)
rate, he
is
poem.
Of
view of
At any
herd lover.
in his harem.
But
happy
and
flocks.
At
his arms.
night, she
Finally (as
and
all
ends
happily.
The Song
of Songs
the
first
last
come
is
it is
284
In the beginning of
time,
a beast of
burden.
to be built.
affec-
CHAPTER XVII
BUT WHILE THESE EVENTS OF WHICH WE HAVE JUST
SPOKEN WERE TAKING PLACE, A GREAT CHANGE HAD
COME OVER THE WORLD. THE GENIUS OF THE
GREEKS HAD SET THE WORLD FREE FROM ITS ANCIENT IGNORANCE AND SUPERSTITION. THE FOUNDATION HAD BEEN LAID FOR OUR MODERN WORLD
OF SCIENCE AND ART AND PHILOSOPHY AND STATECRAFT
AR
of
to the east,
the
Phoenician
ships
sails
disappeared
f.
his flocks
westward in search
286
new
The
As
iron spears.
this
They conquered
the
^gean
The
of the Dardanelles.
There was the memorable exception when the Greek contemporaries of Jephthah and Samson started upon their famous
expedition against Troy. But when the insult to Menelaus
mysterious
cities as
and Lassa.
The land
of
territory to them.
287
changed.
to Asia, but
Europe.
And
We
in their captivity, he
came
as the deliverer,
who was
to restore
to regard
him
in a
somewhat
differ-
ent light.
came to
the
and conquered Thrace. That happened in the year 492 B.C. The expedition met with disaster
near Mount Athos, a defeat which the Greeks attributed to
the timely interference of their great god Zeus.
crossed the Hellespont
Two
At Marathon,
al-
victorious.
As
288
more
more mathematicians and physicians and philosophers and poets and dramatists and architects and orators
and statesmen and law-givers than have graced the annals of
any other country during the last twenty centuries.
sculptors,
From
289
Jews.
curiosity
were
of Jehovah
They
did not
And
this period.
we know
Which
is
CHAPTER XVIII
A CENTURY LATER A YOUNG MACEDONIAN CHIEFTAIN,
TRAINED IN THE BEST GREEK SCHOOLS, DECIDED
THAT HE MUST BRING THE BLESSINGS OF HIS ADOPTED CIVILISATION TO ALL MANKIND, AND CONQUERED
ASIA. THE COUNTRY OF THE JEWS WAS OVERRUN BY
THE ARMIES OF ALEXANDER AND WAS TURNED INTO
A MACEDONIAN PROVINCE. AFTER HIS DEATH, ONE
OF HIS GENERALS BY THE NAME OF PTOLEMY MADE
HIMSELF KING OF EGYPT AND THE PROVINCE OF
PALESTINE WAS ADDED TO HIS POSSESSIONS
URING
their
made
the acquaintance of
The Persians
name was
Zarathustra,
or Zoroaster.
Zarathustra regarded
all life
Good and
The
290
as a
at
war
291
Thus far they had recognised one single master of all things,
who was called Jehovah. When things had gone wrong, when
they had been defeated in battle or suffered from sickness, they
own
people.
The
was the
result of the
ZARATHUSTRA
direct interference of a malevolent spirit
to them.
less
Even
wicked than Adam and Eve, who wilfully had disobeyed the
holy commands.
Under
292
Darius, the last of the Persian kings, lay murdered by the side
of one of his
own
royal highways.
friend to
It
aspects.
life
and
civihsation,
young man he made himself the avowed champion of the Greek cause. Thereafter it was his ambition to
carry the ideas of Solon and Pericles to the four corners of the
world, that all men might be benefited by their noble appeal
As
to
a very
human
intelligence.
Alexander began
Thirteen years later his dead body lay in the palace which
now
difficult
prob-
lem.
How
293
a few years before (in 345) they had dared to revolt against
certain atrocities inflicted
of the
For a
ground.
Shortly afterwards, Jerusalem had shared a similar fate.
to Hyrcania, a province
to Jewish pride.
They had
for
laws.
his
flaming sword.
And
this
tradition,
Alexander
294
As
mands
was urged
a matter of fact, the city quietly submitted to the deof the conqueror
silver for
now
extinct Phoeni-
business ability
was
Many
its last
slowly lost
of
It then
spiritual
by few.
The death
The empire
who now
his
former colleague
a province.
He
membering
the fourth
commandment, refused
to fight
and
lost
their city.
in the
busy
pikemen.
streets
to
Egypt and
well.
As
a result,
grass began to
grow
295
hands.
it
Seleucids.
of
296
When
in the
the
in-
development
life.
depopulated.
Very soon
all
the
wisdom
of
patriots.
CHAPTER XIX
HUNDRED YEARS LATER, A JEWISH FAMILY BY
THE NAME OF THE MACCABEES BEGAN A REVOLUTION
AND TRIED TO SET THE COUNTRY FREE FROM FOREIGN INFLUENCE. BUT THE STATE WHICH THE MACCABEES TRIED TO FOUND NEVER FLOURISHED AND
WHEN THE ROMANS CONQUERED WESTERN ASIA
THEY MADE PALESTINE A SEMI-INDEPENDENT KINGDOM AND APPOINTED ONE OF THEIR POLITICAL
HENCHMEN TO BE KING OF THE UNHAPPY LAND
TIVO
for
two
conflicting
forms
of
worship.
of
tribe
people
who accepted
the
their
rivalry
an indefinite
all
this.
As
of his energy
a result,
upon
the
298
He
was
(as
we have
quite young, he
known
better.
Rome
of Greeks.
in
and
sells
his
continent.
his orchestras are composed of Germans and DutchFrenchmen, and his theatres devote much of their
and
men
time to plays written by Russians and Norwegians, and his
restaurants employ French cooks and his pictures are painted
for him by half a dozen European nations.
The American is too busy to attend to all those matters, and
patiently (if sometimes somewhat contemptuously) he leaves
them to people who can do those things better than he can
But
life
planner.
He
299
from the dark and foggy coast of Wales to the endless plains
of Dacia and the scorching sands of northern Africa.
That was his job.
He did it well and he liked it.
But he was too busy to bother about such details as schools
and academies and theatres and churches and candy-stores.
And so Rome soon was swarming with the brilliant but
none too reliable progeny of Pericles and ^^Eschylus and
Phidias.
who
Roman had
handsome black-
in his life.
They could argue about the Gods and in the same breath
tell a man how to dress. They could explain the
mysteries of a new Oriental religion to the women and at the
they could
same time give them a few useful hints about the use of cosThey were never at a loss for a jesting word, and
metics.
altogether, they turned the dull and dour Roman community
into something which began to resemble that famed marketplace at the foot of the Acropolis.
Young
an easy
victim to the agreeable lure of the great and wonderful city
fell
art
than
Of
crown-prince.
300
bitterly disappointed
by what he found
home.
(if
set of
people
it
at all)
by a narrow-
away
to Alexandria
last chapter,
as
we have
seen in the
debating society.
cal
fresh
talk-
was obliged
to
who were
ars
spend
his
days
felt
schol-
his friends
dislike.
Greek culture.
But he was like a man who endeavours
progress of a glacier.
He
accomplished very
little
disaster.
he tried to
first
make
301
his
own
among
ends.
There was one small party in the country which was not
entirely unfriendly towards the Greek mode of living.
Encouraged by
these,
sacrificial festivals
This
greatly offended his religious subjects, but they had just been
to
rival candidates
initial
instalment, he
King
of
Egypt used
as
an
Antiochus appealed to
But one
his friends in
Rome
for help.
he decided to
quarrels of
its allies.
visit
the senate.
the private
Empire
302
wanted.
A war in the
was
and
all his
pleased
to
call
his
subjects'
superstitions.
He
certainly
worked with a
will.
He
old
Jewish
ceremonial
must
WAS TAKEN
old
of barbarism.
The people
and regulations and prophetic visions, were rudely awakened to these brutal and unwelcome facts. They closed the
gates of the city and tried to resist the royal commands. But
rules
Temple.
303
"When
it
was ready,
it
was dedicated
to the worship of
As
world.
strong gar-
And woe
to the
an ox
man
to.
or the
woman who
now had
to be placed
upon
the dese-
Of
its
own punishment,
as Antiochus
Some
north in
six miles
know what
to do.
They
The
away.
Soon a poor, frightened peasant was found willing to perform the prescribed ritual.
This was too much for Mattathias. He took his sword
and he cut down the poor rustic and with a second blow he
killed the official
304
and
Mat-
They fled.
They crossed
the mountains
and escaped
And
those
who
still
own
race
Antiochus at
his
first
hoped
by resorting
to
former strategy.
Once more
his troops
Sabbath day.
He
pulsed.
letter of the
ordered his
practical
man.
men
to fight
He preferred to live
it.
re-
305
He
than, succeeded
him
and the
war continued.
Of
He
called
He
with the well drilled troops of his enemies and inaugurated that
strategy of guerilla warfare which twenty centuries later was
the Syrians
made
halt
and drew up
them
When, however,
mountains.
grown
But
tired of waiting
had
Judas had
an
He
all iis
was
killed in a skirmish
a leader.
306
office
dered by a Syrian
officer
fell to
Simon, the
King
at
home, that
thereafter ruled
over Judah as
state.
He
The army
135
who
ruled for almost thirty years and was the recognised sovereign
of a small but well organized
kingdom
in
JUDAS MACCABEE
307
But
alas! as
gone
daj^s
was
their land.
still
a theocracy.
official
The High
of the state
and
as Mattathias
priests,
of the law.
since in
to maintain
it
aU other
in this little
by people
adopted the modern Greek and Roman
all
sides
and separate
set of principles of
parties, each
govern-
them
in
two
some
Most important
centuries.
It
is
in
therefore necessary
detail.
had raised
himself backed
his
to have
Maccabean
revolt.
For
difficult
as soon as
Mat-
as the
308
first religious
new name
of the "Pharisees,"
came
to the front
Even
their
ardour and
many
The Pharisees were exactly what the Hebrew name implied. They were the "separated people." They were different from the rest of the people on account of their fanatical
allegiance to the letter of the law.
They knew
They
lived in a
letter,
Moses by
heart.
Every
incomprehensible taboos.
every
comma and
to enter the
every exclamation
kingdom
of
mark
in the law,
were sure
Heaven.
dating obscure and totally irrelevant details of some half forgotten sentence in a dark chapter of Exodus.
They made
But
them
(in their
own
eyes)
all
they
felt
At
other
for
whom,
309
first
by very
And when
all
reformers as
state.
God and
preached the
common
them of a
brotherhood
enemy
Next
numerous,
priest called
number
much might
life
of
310
sees,
by
travellers
from the
east.
as they
found
it
and
tried to live
much
an
faith in the
when
Indeed,
this point,
mony
as
in
them on
testi-
In
the Pharisees,
Consciously or unconsciously they had absorbed the wisdom of their great Greek neighbours.
They recognised
Jehovah or Zeus.
They held
than to
one's
flee
own
to be
study.
Gradually they
311
and
They
way from
the Pharisees.
Many
call
of the
unconscious
Jews
what we might
sin.
and
tittle
To
liberately abstained
Holy Men,
de-
ing."
They
They
did nothing at
all.
away from
all strife,
and
For
They
to one, belonged to
all.
With
What
belonged
and
312
bed and the bowl in which he carried his food from the
common kitchen, no Essene had anything that he could call
his
his
own.
them with
tilling of the
IN
THE WILDERNESS
scriptures
and torturing
fields
food.
The
their
unworthy
the
number of
attractive
programme
to
compared
to that
all
life.
They were happy because they knew that they were saving
their own souls, but they did remarkably little for their neigh-
313
life
of their
nation.
For when
state.
it
fanatics.
The Maccabees
stances.
him that
his
To
and
were matters
Now
314
in a fury,
To make
the situation
still
more complicated,
this incident
common
so
The mother and the brothers of the new "King" took the
side of his enemies.
It
came
to
open warfare.
A
cer,
little later,
killed.
offi-
stabbed to death.
Trying
to
make
unpleasant
inci-
his
bours.
He
Israel,
Kingdom
name
What
last
four centuries.
He
conquered land
northern
of
hills.
we do not know,
for
he was taken sick and died after a reign of only one year.
He
who thoroughly
years and when he
detested him.
He
fatal mistake
example of
his ancestors,
expense of
Although he was
315
he tried to extend
his neighbours.
as unsuccessful abroad as he
was
at
home,
His
wife, Alexandra,
the Pharisees
High
many
and one of
their
Priest.
upon the
appoint Hyr-
all to
regretted relative.
When
away by
their
own
success,
Sadducean
Sadducean cause.
The Sanhedrin,
by
and the Sadducees got hold of
several very important country towns and soon they were
strong enough to threaten the safety of Jerusalem.
At this moment Alexandra died.
Her sons were left with a depleted treasury and a country
spUt wide open by civil strife.
There was nothing new in the situation.
This turbulent little corner of the world had forever been
in a turmoil of some sort.
But times and circumstances, as we have said before, had
or Council, continued to be dominated
changed.
316
But
tribes
own boundaries.
was now
in the
interested in a steady
and uninterrupted
flow of taxes.
As most
upon
no
credit
by the name of
Roman
policy.
The
Rome
to quarrel
heard about
and caused
it.
general
to proceed to
he reached the
the temple
city,
his followers
As
soon as the
The Roman
would be much
easier to defeat
it
the
He
this
317
simple process,
But not
No
one
for long.
less
than famous
east
and
Roman camp
and
recommend himself as the most suitable (because the most
obedient) candidate for whatever government the Romans in-
haste to the
tended to establish in
But
ere
Pompey
fully realised
what
these arguments
all
to explain to
Pompey
that the
on a
He
said that he
would give a
definite
answer as soon as he
Arab
in those districts
tribes
who
which for-
Even
all
three parties
ness of their
in his capital, he
behaved as
Roman
wait.
Jews did not fully understand the hopelessposition. For the moment Aristobulus was back
then, the
if
if
all
Pompey remained
in the east.
318
But immediately
garded in
this flagrant
why
his wishes
had been
disre-
manner.
He
He
Temple, cut down the bridge which connected the fortress with the rest of the city and openly hoisted
retired to the
pendence.
Deserters
told
Pompey
of
this
outburst
of
religious
fanaticism.
Remembering what
tions
the Syrians
Sabbath day.
It
birth of
Christ.
The Roman legions stormed the Jewish citadel and captured the Temple together with all its defenders.
According to tradition, more than twelve thousand soldiers
were
killed
on that day.
march
in the
to
Rome
Roman
general.
319
Afterwards, however, they were allowed to settle peacefully in one of the suburbs of Rome, where they laid the
foundations for that Jewish colony which was to play such an
important part in the imperial history of western Europe in
the days of
Once
scant
Out
Pompey and
Holy
As
soon as the
Romans had
and empty.
But
however
of Holies.
this
it.
on the part of
unclean foreigners, meant a sacrilege which must bring forth a
terrible revenge on the part of Jehovah.
short,
Pompey, of
course, never
done.
320
If Hyrcanus had been a capable man, even then something might have been saved out of the ruin of his country.
But
what
the Ethnarcli
little
Some
father of
prestige he
lost
enjoyed.
the
Edom
The
is
liberal catch.
But such
ear.
difficulties in
the
land of Judah.
So
in
game
tlie
that he soon
pleasant sun of
Roman favour.
broke out in
the armies of
As
soon as
salia in the
ruler
made common
In return for
him
to
Roman
Csesar bestowed
citizen
and
upon
tacitly allowed
now
called Judaea.
The new
He
321
"citizen"
position.
And
independence.
They
talked of
making Antigonus,
In
was
this instance
it
and
in his
com-
He
He
his
moved
pose.
foolishly
Roman government.
322
had anticipated.
Antigonus with a few
Herod
Temple and
Romans
after
he was
forced to surrender.
his life
be spared.
occasion.
Hardly
a year
sort of disturbance
the
rebellions.
He
and thereby established a vague relationship with the legitimate rulers of Judeea.
In this way, Herod, by the grace of the Roman legions,
became king of part of the Jews.
It was the thirty-seventh year before the beginning of our
era, and much was wrong with the world.
CHAPTER XX
NOW
N the year 117, Tacitus, the Roman historian, tried to account for the perse-
cutions of a
new
He
sect
was no friend of
'Nero.
324
city,
unfortunately,
all
evil,
and
the infamies
irregularities
way
in which
had occurred
The Roman
of
know
exactly
who
those "Cliristians"
whom
was from
He
did not
whom
did not
know and he
The
some obscure
Of
little
synagogue
in Galilee or
Judaa.
been a
On
Nero had
such matters.
it
And there
to be too lenient in
was concerned.
His
upon
interest
the
was
entirely academic
little
wiser.
Josephus, a Jew,
325
in the year 80 of
John
we do not
find the
name
of Jesus in the
There
two
centuries.
complete silence on
is
part
the
first
of
all
contemporary
historians
first
four books
of
the
New
tid-
JOSEPHUS
ings."
They
many
fictitious
Old
names.
Mark, Luke
and John, but it seems very unlikely that the original disciples
had anything to do with those famous literary compositions.
The
subject
centuries
it
is still
For many
from giving a
to explain
Of
why
we
shall refrain
much
discussion.
326
blanks,
it
we
should not
But
is
or startling in this.
of
Homer were
not written
down
until
who
In those early days, when people depended for their information upon the spoken word, they developed very accurate
memories. Stories were transmitted from father to son just
as carefully as they are
now handed
hope of many of
his
own
whom
were expert
and most of
The
editors,
it
life
seemed a sheer
or his teaching.
end of the
While preparing for the final judgto compose books which soon would be
As
more
fire
from Heaven.
was going
and
it
to continue
many
upon
its
centuries to come,
personally and
Many
327
made a book.
Next the parables were
still
alive
and gathered
retold
into another
volume.
It increased as the
popular.
wieldy proportions.
If you want a
Lincoln.
There
is
American prophets.
life
It
is
Even
Abraham
devoted to the
little,
the case of
if
he
knew where
to find
them
devoted his
life to this
now and
then,
subject sifts
upon
That
with the
is
who
what would
life
of Jesus.
Each
own
tastes
and abihty, retold the story of the suffering and the triumph
of his Master in his own words.
No
or
when
328
But from
way
good
tidings, we know him as a simple fellow who loved the homely
stories which Jesus used to tell to the peasants of Galilee and
who therefore by preference dwelt upon the subject of parables
and sermons.
Far different was John. He must have been a learned if
somewhat dull professor, thoroughly familiar with the most
modern doctrines then being taught in the academies of Alexandria, and giving to his "Life of Jesus" a dignified theological
he lived.
turn which
is
the
in
which he gives us
his
Luke, after
whom
is
called,
was a doctor,
according to tradition.
He
He
well
may
had read
all
the
He
his
He
therefore
own.
and to add a few details which had never been published before.True to his promise he bestowed much time and attention upon
details which had escaped Matthew and John, and by his painstaking research, rendered us
As
for
all
a great
still is)
ser\'ice.
who played a
minor
of Golgotha.
Sometimes we
On
see
for Jesus.
soldiers
We
329
who he was
quite
or
what he actually
bears his
name makes
the matter
complicated.
that sort of
more
is
events.
well.
It
It omits
many
document and
is
some
it
stops
becomes
dotes.
But
Mark,
his subject.
has certain
century and
the original
make
to do with
knowledge of
first-hand
we have
it
the
an
all
historical basis
must be
may
futile
lie
of Jesus
upon
until
life
and the
it is
Gospels, as
Jesus,
it is
half of the
Personally, however,
While
first
we cannot
we have them
to-day,
330
in the year
200
Such gaps are quite common in early European and American and Asiatic history. Even the famous book of nature is
apt to indulge in an occasional jump of a couple of million
years, during which period
we
is
so desir-
we
when
written around
The nimiber
him and
his
work
They
With
existence.
They
and the
reliability
They doubt
of the
New
logical
been
331
built to
commemorate
made upon
certain events
persistency) as an impostor.
Man who
became
a God.
The
irre-
futable.
no
They
difference.
disciples
knew
best.
did not write, they did not argue, and they did not
reason overmuch.
They
Out
*****
our story.
we must
try to reconstruct
in west-
ern Asia.
What
332
and worked for the greater glory of the house of Antipater and
cared for neither man nor God, with the sole exception of that
Roman governor by whose grace he was allowed to hold his
nefarious throne.
unchallenged.
Herod was
in this world, as
to
definitely
established
had charted the unknown vastness of the soul and in their scientific pursuits had endeavoured
to
reach
conclusion
logical
HEROD
Good and
Evil.
Their language
of those
who
lived abroad)
civilised
Even
thing foreign,
fell
handy Greek
alphabet.
in that
had
the return from
Hebrew
ever since
in turn
To
Rome
acknowledged
centre of the universe, the Greeks of the Hellenistic era had
counteract the influence of
as the
city,
333
called
Alexandria
mouth of
The Greeks,
brilliant,
all
human knowledge.
their
from foreign
invasion.
They could
they help
through
it?)
recall
their
and greed,
(how could
their
own
NAZARETH
selfishness
And
having tasted of
all
men
life
contentment which
gold or an
attic replete
all their
conclusions
upon
strict
334
scientific reasoning,
much
They
called
"friends of
use
among
their
intellectual
leaders
philosophers
or
in
Babylon.
They both
strove to do what-
conviction
of their
own
udices
their
fellow-townsmen.
And
JOSEPH
teach
their
righteousness
own
to
about
ideas
their
neigh-
They taught
more
Under
and
Roman
new
Greek
on the masses.
all,
Men like
the
upper
Ceesar or
335
Pompey
still
went through
all the
forms
clouds of
Mount Olympus,
httle children
the
as a fairy tale
But
Of course, no
been entirely
composed of
in-
ple.
more than
ZACHARIAS
three
it
of so
squire.
tal
His sons and daughters, living on the revenue of the parenestates, had joined the ranks of that smart society which
found
little
to attract
them
in the simple
They
and unostentatious
who
to
speak of
insisted
upon
336
living in
and
sal-
them
millions in our
own
en-
lightened days.
They
called
their
spiritual
MARY
name
of "mysteries."
They knew
most men
(and most women) dearly love to be the owners of some secret
that
A
make
would bluntly
Stoic
all
The shrewd
upon
dearly.
They
was
free to
all.
They withdrew
dome
of Heaven, which
to a badly lighted
little
room,
337
who
adventurers
fooled
insisted
upon being
fooled and
For
The com-
petition in mysteries
was almost
as eager as that
ists
and
its
The
indifference
was the
When
is
Empire.
in inverse ratio to
life
To
became a burden.
many
too
too
338
isfaction out of
They asked
for
of I sis
and
Nothing was
And
It
but despair.
*******
left
On
era.
They were
neighbours.
THE NATIVITY
their
world
them
children
expected
that
something
the
of
own
all
country, but
Mary had
Mary had
a cousin,
339
Both Zacharias and Elisabeth were old folk and they were
quite sad because they never had had any children.
But behold one day Mary heard from Elisabeth. There
was to be a baby in the family,
and could Mary come and take
care of her kinswoman? for there
was a lot of work to be done and
needed
Elisabeth
little
at-
to Juttah,
the
tention.
Mary went
people
lived,
little
and stayed
cousin John
away
l^^i
in his
THE SHEPHERDS
cradle.
Then
marry
Joseph.
But
had been
called
upon
to undertake another
journey.
But
Empires
cost
money and
subjects
must pay.
all his
beloved
names upon
340
of revenue, the
Romans were
and
and wide the order went forth that the people must
far
happened
to be the original
Joseph, as
home
Bethlehem and
faithful
his wife,
him.
tiring.
reached Bethlehem,
THE ADORATION
who had
It
arrived earlier.
Kind people had taken pity upon the poor young wife.
They had made her a bed in the corner of an old stable.
And
and
wolves, and were wondering when the long-promised Messiah
should set their unhappy land free from those foreign masters
who mocked at the power of Jehovah and laughed at all that
was sacred to the heart of the Jews.
All
this
It
BETHLEHEM
341
doorsteps.
of
when they
little
left,
boy and
they had
among
some
their bales
this
In Jerusalem,
palace,
old
Herod was
in his
gloomy
sitting in
He was
all
men
dark-skinned
King
as
They must
special mission.
evil
cen-
342
turies before
had been taken to the Temple, and there, when the offering had
been completed, an old man by the name of Simeon, and a very
old prophetess called Anna, had
spoken strange words about the
coming of the day of deliverance,
and Simeon had asked Jehovah
to let him die in peace now that
he had seen the Messiah who
should lead his people back from
the path of wickedness and depravity.
Whether
was true or
not did not interest Herod. It
SIMEON AND ANNA
had been said and it was being
believed by great numbers of people.
That was enough.
Herod had given orders that all boys born in Bethlehem within
all this
In
this
way
But
the plan
suc-
cessful.
Mary and
Abraham
343
Joseph
opened
his
had
Mary found
tending
more
once
the
hands
her
ever
busy
increasing
nursery.
For
she
girls,
the triumph
who
lived
to
see
MURDER
IN
BETHLEHEM
who
in the tender affection
his
mother.
which he
CHAPTER XXI
THE PROPHETIC SPIRIT HAD NOT YET DIED OUT AMONG
THE JEWS, FOR DURING THE DAYS OF JESUS' YOUTH,
A MAN BY THE NAME OF JOHN (OR JOHN THE BAPTIST, AS WE CAME TO KNOW HIM) WAS WARNING THE
PEOPLE IN A THUNDEROUS VOICE TO REPENT OF
THEIR CRIMES AND OF THEIR SINS. THE JEWS HAD
NO IDEA OF CHANGING THEIR WAYS. WHEN JOHN
CONTINUED TO BOTHER THE PEOPLE OF JUD.^A
WITH HIS SERMONS AND EXHORTATIONS, HEROD
THE KING ORDERED HIM TO BE KILLED
EROD
of his childhood.
The
sions of
division of the
many
posses-
number
down
the
number
of
345
They had
Herod
momentary
The largest
political
had
Galilee
son.
Philip
all,
Romans.
On
common
in
And
usually
brother Aristobulus.
Herodias
in
Herod's half-
who
To make
sible,
this
why
John
the Baptist.
That
all.
subjects
ments within
upon
all
further develop-
The name of
come down
to us.
346
He
we
Emperor
was
say)
and
in one of
His Majesty
is
of Pilate in terms
But a
For
prevails in
Many
colonies.
chieftains,
who go through
the formality
their
still
mercy of
all
actual
reasons of policy
it
But a "governor"
of self-government.
"consul-general"
He
sovereign.
of his ministers.
is
or a "resident" or a
As
King and
Heaven
ficers of
help them
an
if
invisible
those
But
His Excel-
And
wards a
if
home
is
a sudden
is
rowed to the
silent shore
of a distant island.
was
ofiicial
whose duty
the Jews.
His
territory
was quite
less) did
large,
it
among
way
such a
tival.
347
He
timed
his visits in
He could
then meet
all
He
could
The owner
edifice
like this
of that an-
Roman
offi-
Jewish
disturbed by the
is
Mohammedan
prince
who
Besides,
Herod knew
unwelcome guest
Provided that
exactly
how he
up and
not led to
civil
had
Like
that
had entered
ideal.
But
it
this
it.
348
all
They
just
But
the
new
dressed and lived like an Essene, did not in the least share their
proverbial shyness.
He
modern world
Roman
on
349
And
behold! the
Elisabeth, the
little
home and
Dead
Sea.
the turmoil
tell,
he
knew
nothing.
alive.
He
knew nothing
more
civilised
by the
to
He himself was
and
good and he wanted all the world to share his virtues. And
when he saw the harm done by old Herod and his terrible
sons, and noticed the lukewarm allegiance of his fellow men
to the other great leaders of his race.
360
it
his
know and
long ago.
his
made
language
his
appear-
ance.
If this
351
man were
siah,
John
But
that too
He
He
himself.
denied.
manded
spair
and of hope.
final
cleanse
baptism of
them of
fire
their sins)
(to
he
renewed
power of Jehovah.
The Judseans were greatly impressed. John's fame rapidly
spread from village to village and from far and wide the Jews
came to see and hear and received baptism at the hands of their
ken of
their
strange
faith in the
new Prophet.
in his
home
at Nazareth, Jesus
At
The
the boy.
visit to the
As
soon
352
their son
was
still
missing and no
rabbis.
When
Jesus saw
how
muddy
Jordan.
his con-
victions.
to
felt that
353
might find
When
to
men met
casions.
It
As long as the Baptist had merely spoken of the approaching Kingdom of Heaven, the authorities had not bothered him.
But when he began to criticise the more tangible Kingdom of
Judsea,
it
was a very
different matter.
on some political
Rome
business, he
had
provided he
vorce his
own
(Herod)
wife,
first
THE UNDERGROUND
DUNGEON
di-
who happened
to be
an Arab
woman from
In Rome,
vided one was very rich, and the divorce had been procured.
as his
The people
of Galilee and
live
counsel and did not express their opinions too loudly where
354
at
them.
will,
found
it
his
wicked a deed.
He denounced Herod and Herodias wherever and whenever
he could.
In
the
this,
of
were
authorities
Even then
bottom of
continued
his
From
dark dungeon he
thunder
to
his eyes
mon
The Tetrarch was
the
away
who in
adulterers.
in a difficult position.
He had
a whole-
to have
At
last
all
further hesitation.
Herod
The
girl
gi'eat
was a very
at court,
King promised
355
for.
Herod
demanded
the head of
killed.
minute
later the
where the
CHAPTER XXII
HE GREW UP AMONG THE SIMPLE PEASARTISANS
OF A LITTLE VILLAGE CALLED
ANTS AND
NAZARETH. HE WAS TAUGHT THE TRADE OF A CARPENTER, BUT THIS LIFE DID NOT SATISFY HIM. HE
LOOKED UPON THE WORLD AND FOUND IT FULL OF
AS FOR JESUS,
wilderness.
rarely ate or
slept.
And
well might he
need
all
his
I
I'^^fw I / hours to plan the future.
\^i^\.i^3Wk.v.^.JM^
He was almost thirty years
old,
un-
\/f^
But
the words of
John had
set
pressions
ence in
356
THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS
357
mercenaries.
Of
He
of the ancient
written,
Hebrew tongue
many centuries
in
ago.
Mary had
taught him.
spiritual
quahty which
this.
set
village,
it
was
different.
THE STORY OF THE BIBLE
358
which
And when
in
how
at-
he
momentary
the followers of
the Baptist whispered behind his back and asked each other
the oft-repeated question: "Is that the
man who
is
to be our
Messiah?"
But
who
mind
of
who
ducees.
merely towards
own
his
Gahlee, but towards the people of that vaster world which lay
He
pitied them.
Their
their
last
strife
and energy.
It was true that many of the Greek philosophers had come
to an identical conclusion. They too had discovered that true
359
happiness was a matter of the soul and did not depend upon a
filled
in the stadium.
circle of
well-born gentlemen
who
alone in those
They had
and of the poor people and of those millions for ever doomed to
dwell in misery, as being part of an established and inevitable
order of things as something unfortunate which just could
not be helped.
They would
and
the labourers who worked
fields
in their
He
and breathed within the compassion of his great heart. And although he had vague forebodings of the fate which awaited him if he were to teach
his doctrine of patience and kindness and humility to a country
dominated by the uncompromising Pharisees, he could not
included
all
that lived
him give
crisis
He could do
In the
of his career.
360
in the
lis-
It
spiritual
starvation.
He
life
of adventure,
make use of the enthusiasm which his mere appearance had created among the followers of the Baptist. If
could
only too
eager to beheve,
he
Mes-
siah
of
nationalistic
movement
Maccabees,
might
JESUS LEAVES
HOME
(and
then
bring inde-
of a serious man.
work.
In
less
THE
DISCIPLES
CHAPTER XXIII
FROM VILLAGE TO VILLAGE HE WANDERED. HE TALKED
TO ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF PEOPLE. MEN,
WOMEN AND CHILDREN CAME TO LISTEN EAGERLY
TO THE NEW WORDS OF GOOD-WILL AND CHARITY
AND LOVE. THEY CALLED JESUS THEIR MASTER
AND FOLLOWED HIM WHEREVER HE WENT AS HIS
FAITHFUL DISCIPLES
an
it
was compara-
intelligent
man
with
He did
his valuable
The problem
Judaea as
it
much
was necessary
daily bread from the
as
361
to exist
trees.
and
362
In the time of the Judges and the Kings, when the priestly
class had ruled supreme, wandering orators who preached
strange heresies were not tolerated. But now the Roman policeman stood guard on the highroads and watched the traffic
in the
busy
cities.
The Romans,
allowed
all
men
own
fashion, pro-
vided they kept away from subjects too closely connected with
As long as one did not advocate open rebellion or
politics.
sedition, there
was practically no
limit to the
freedom of speech.
was en-
such a meeting.
No
Mount
Sinai.
decisive-
THE DISCIPLES
native land had been smiled
warm
upon by
363
the pleasant sun of a
climate.
John
"Nay!"
answered "Yea!"
John shared the belief of his fellow Jews, who had created
the coming Messiah after the
image
of
their
relentless
Je-
hovah.
common Father
of all things
human un-
derstanding.
possible.
BETHLEHEM
best there
was
in him.
had failed.
came to him as a welcome
relief.
As
Joseph no longer
lived,
but
Mary
visit to
Nazareth.
is
a vacation.
Mary
never quite
364
understood
dered
the
all
this
who came and went and who wanland and whose name was mentioned with
strange son
over the
three
first trip
into
all
been invited.
Jesus said that he would be
glad to go, but he was no longer
friends
that
CANA
was added
when
where
Mary
for the last time had enjoyed the sight of her son
THE DISCIPLES
tale
365
According to
many
this
new
The
Jew or Greek
or
Mary
in turn
had spoken to
As
the ages
all.
went by,
similar bits of
The
miracles.
366
planetary system.
far-away lands.
This proves that the need for an imaginary world wherein
the impossible becomes the self-evident is very general and not
restricted to a particular country or race.
we
was
so astonishingly
upon
But
acles in a
family for the last time and began to teach that gospel
CHAPTER XXIV
KNOWN ALL OVER THE LAND THAT
HERE WAS A PROPHET WHO TAUGHT THE STRANGE
DOCTRINE THAT ALL THE PEOPLE OF THIS EARTH
(AND NOT ONLY THE JEWS) WERE THE CHILDREN
SOON IT BECAME
ROM
his
friends,
walked to Capernaum, a
little
work
Jesus when he began his great voyage of discovery for the soul
of
God and
the soul of
Man.
Capernaum
They remained
decided to
367
368
when
And
find out
all
good Jews
it
to
CAPERNAUM
salemites (because they were not supposed to be as careful in
who worshipped in the Temple a survival of the ancient rivalry between Judah and Israel), were
really a kindly people, willing to listen to new ideas.
their devotions as those
369
virtue,
dissenter.
Jesus safely reached the town, but before he had an opportunity to explain his ideas, something happened which obliged
captive
whenever
human
When
Jews
still
substi-
beings.
Jehovah.
Rich people
upon
killed a
the
meat and
fat
if
to
pigeons, and cut their throats in the strange belief that such
370
cus for the crooked and dark streets of Jerusalem, and more
than half a million of them were to be found in Egypt alone)
it
became necessary
to
live stock
on hand
drive their
own
beasts
Years ago, when the Temple was built, the doomed oxen
and sheep had been offered for
sale in the street, just outside
Temple
courts.
and Corinthian
THE MONEY-CHANGER
silver into
Ju-
dsean minas.
no
It
disrespect.
They hardly
realised
that
To
so gradually
it.
upon problems
far
mind
market-place
He
mob
out of the
Temple and
371
he sent the poor beasts scurrying after their masters and the
house of Jehovah stood cleansed of its shame.
came
^^('^'^'W^'^"'f^
JESUS DRIVES
stones
right.
It
as a cow-shed.
No doubt it was perhaps not entirely desirable that there should be quite so much
Others, however, were very angry.
372
Holy
was
it?
make
it
was hardly
provinces
Gali-
to create a dis-
go down upon
all
lost pennies.
Still others did
not
know
M^hat to
was a
He
who
He
him come
NICODEMUS
it
and bade
should be dark.
their talk.
entirely sincere
he heard
if
conviction,
and
The palace
that sounded
dealers
somewhat over-eager
had been
in his efforts.
What
of the
like a
King had
breach of the
common
anything
that Jesus
who preferred
set the
people
action to mere
373
back to Galilee
Centuries before
After the
Israel.
it
fall
of that
away to
driven
Assjrria
and
their
known
as the Samaritans.
man who
dwelled within
this
des-
land
rible
expressions which
we
ter-
so
"wop"
our gate
The
strict
374.
actually spoke
woman who
But when
the disciples
came
the
con-
near and
listened to
versation,
by
this
"Sa-
excellent
Judasans
who
upon
their piety
and
their zeal
first
time that
C^SAREA
common
brotherhood.
It
was
new faith.
The methods which he used were
Sometimes he told
But he
enough
to give
For in this,
quite unusual.
meaning
was a born
teacher.
of
to
help themselves.
Ever since
who were able
we
a pain,
vince us that
we were wrong
If
375
we think
that
we have
in our
who
who
Jesus,
dence and
faith
honesty of
his
inspired
confi-
by the absolute
person and the
ter,
WOMAN
to health.
Tradition, in
insisted
its
eagerness to
upon depicting
make
man
it
was the
child of a
life.
Next
it
376
ficiently recovered to
them
at her
own
Then
who thought
it
to
hospitable table.
and had
to be carried to
to
But
They were
undoubtedly grateful for what Jesus had done for their suf-
877
much
when he refused to make a difference between members
of his own race and foreigners and had cured the servant of a
Roman officer and the daughter of a Greek mother, and had
relieved the pain of an old woman who insisted upon being sick
on the Sabbath day, and when he had allowed lepers to touch
the hem of his garment, in their desperate hope that this would
too far
so.
But although he appreciated their motive, he was not convinced that he had done any wrong.
To him, all men and all women, tax-gatherers, politicians,
saints
and
He
sinners,
common humanity.
this matter,
if it
alike.
And
went
were
he took
upon
were an honour to
sit
at the
humble table of a
Roman
henchman.
When
thing openly.
But they
of
men who
And
silent
CHAPTER XXV
OF COURSE THOSE WHO PROFITED FROM THE EXISTING
ORDER OF THINGS (AND THERE WERE MANY) DID
NOT LIKE TO HEAR SUCH DOCTRINES PUBLICLY PROCLAIMED. THEY DECLARED THAT THE NEW PROPHET WAS A DANGEROUS ENEMY TO ALL ESTABLISHED
LAW AND ORDER. SOON THESE ENEMIES OF JESUS
MADE COMMON CAUSE. THEY SET TO WORK TO BRING
ABOUT HIS DESTRUCTION
PON
his
next
visit,
with
the
Jerusalem.
It
man
crying
The poor
fellow
thirty years.
He
He
Then he
378
told
his legs
379
his
The
was the Sabbath day and that it was against the law of
the Pharisees to carry so much as an extra pin in one's clothes.
In his joy at
that
it
away
Temple that
he hastened
to the
give
might
thanks to Jehovah
he
But
several
of course
were
Pharisees
told'
the
of
of what had
just happened
and
mands
to
go un-
punished
they
good
legs)
and they
now
him that
it
and precedent to
Sabbath day and that he ought to be punished for
this
breach
of decorum.
But
the excited
man,
as
his
mind
on other things.
"He who
cured
me
told
his
380
understood very
clearly.
Unless
this
sort
One
thing they
were
thing
of
At
Like
all
who
members
cided
to
investi-
Jesus was
gate.
ordered to appear
before
them and
give an account of
himself.
He
willingly
came
enough
and
listened
tiently to the
Then he made
pa-
many
law or
no law, he did not intend to stop doing good just because it
happened to be a particular day of the week.
This answer meant open defiance of the established authoriaccusations of his enemies.
it
clear that
ties.
But
little
381
puzzled.
But
Of
their
King (whose
title
the procurator.
anything to a
Roman?
Upon more
sympathy
for those
who came
to
him with
In
this instance,
He
against the
Roman
law.
it
his acquittal.
vengeance,
It
list
of grievances against
who was
preach-
what remained of
it)
any more
trouble.
382
Herod,
ears.
did in Judaea.
From
reaching
climax.
The
belief that
He had
He did
no personal ambition.
not work for riches or crave the glory and the
desires
in love
and
in charity
who
their
fellow-men.
He
him simply
another (if better) representative of that old royal power
which was now associated with the name of Herod.
in
Instead of confessing himself the Messiah, he stated repeatedly and clearly and as pubHcly as possible that his life,
his own happiness and comfort meant nothing to him but
that his ideals about the kinship of
kindly
God meant
all
men and
the love of a
everything.
of love which
knew
God
of
whom
383
he spoke was a
money and
spirit
Instead of giving
acquiring wealth, he
lie
attic of the
Finally he
summed up
his entire
philosophy of
life in
one
384
kingdom of
heaven.
forted.
meek
obtain mercy.
God.
children of God.
sake:
righteousness'
for
when men
say all manner
theirs
the
is
kingdom of heaven.
and
of evil against
shall
sake.
in
you
falsely, for
my
your reward
is
Ye
before you.
wherewith
Ye
foot of men.
set
on an
and put
light
unto
and
It
Neither do
is
thenceforth
to be trodden
men
as a daily
is
may
see
Let your
is
light a candle,
:
all
under
city that
life
be salted ?
And
it
to be cast out,
cannot be hid.
hill
it
shall
if
it
giveth
light so shine
in heaven."
difficult
is
this
path of
very day
Thy kingdom
heaven.
come.
Give us
trespasses as
we
this
Thy
will be
done on earth, as
forgive those
who
And
it is
in
forgive us our
And
385
For thine
the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen."
Then, having laid down the general outline of a new philos-
evil.
ophy both of life and of death entirely at variance with the old
and narrow faith of the Pharisees, he asked those twelve men
who were now his steady and faithful companions to follow
him that he might show all the world how completely he had
broken with those old Jewish prejudices which had made
enemy of all other men.
his
race the
He
left Galilee
and
There the cures of a few demented people which he performed among the heathen caused as much grateful wonder
as similar cures had done in his native land.
And
it
my own way.
I
am
new
(especially in
its
early parts)
is
own hurrying
days.
The gospels, however, are simple and direct and very short.
Even the busiest of men can find leisure to read them.
386
made
If
it
my little book can give you the desire to read the original,
vision
CHAPTER XXVI
THE ROMAN GOVERNOR BEFORE WHOM THE CASE OF
JESUS WAS LAID DID NOT CARE WHAT HAPPENED
AS LONG AS AN OUTWARD SEMBLANCE OF PEACE AND
TRANQUILLITY WAS MAINTAINED WITHIN HIS PROVINCE. HE ALLOWED JESUS TO BE CONDEMNED TO
DEATH
P^^^
HE
<r--^
Jesus
r^
profits to
success
knew very
inevitable,
still
in Galilee
Jerusalem for
many
had
monopoly
centuries
upon
as
its
continued
down
in the
days of Moses.
Ever since the great exile, the vast majority of the Jewish
people had insisted upon living abroad. They were much
happier in the cities of Egypt and Greece and of the Italian
387
388
was brisk and money flowed freely, than in Judaea, where the
barren and exhausted soil could only be coaxed into a faint
without
the
use
of
soldiers.
improved.
happened
fortable
to have
of absolute force
them back
As
found a comshort
would bring
who dwelt
many
upon
bread and butter and would
move if the University were
obliged to close
its
doors.
The economic and spiritual aristocracy of this group consisted of a small number of professional priests.
Next came their assistants who had to look after the complicated ritual of the burnt offerings
sacrifices.
389
the
common
servants
who kept
the
Temple
clean and washed the courts in the evening after the crowd
had dispersed.
Then
we
would
call
who annually
travelled
Jerusalem that they might keep the law and worship at the
altar.
390
Then
For
that
is
what Jerusalem
really was.
which
firmly
they
so
believed)
performed
be
in
another place or by
another
men
who
of
set
than
those
You must
JESUS ENTERS JERUSALEM
get
if
you are to
and publicans.
Twice before he had been told to leave.
He was not wanted in Jerusalem.
Had he returned to cause more trouble? or would he con-
sinners
few speeches?
It is true, these little talks which he sometimes delivered
were really
to his companions sounded very harmless. But they
at things.
Not
391
in those
so
Hebrew
"Thou
all
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
and great commandment. And the second is
heart,
first
Thou
all
This
like
thy
the
is
unto
it
And
all sorts of
and
of the matter.
tried to
Had
392
foreigners and
Roman
of
God
as well in
Damascus
or Alex-
Mount Moriah?
The town would be ruined
andria as on
and the priests and the inn-keepers and the butchers and everybody else would be ruined along
with
it.
And, ghastly
to contemplate,
FOREIGNER
down
new
For
that, in truth,
during the
He
last
was the
months of
gist of everything
Jesus taught
his life.
He
He
took part in
all
the simple
his
own
for these
He
393
that one
word
of things.
Empire.
it.
their
own
He
advised
rulers.
He
did not
tell his
pupils to keep
away from
the service
in the
He
In
short, he refrained
But from
told that
we can be
death.
was much
much
No
part of the
attention
life
of
from Chris-
his
394
It
was
between those
backs turned firmly upon the future and one
in the nature
of a triumph.
mean
had begun to
But
of a hero
whom
ship (for
they had
now begun
to idolise
who had
and the
THE FANATIC
Councillors.
Mere
it
of excitement.
The
patient
was very
sick
to
come
to his village?
Nay!
The patient had been on
Until at
last the
by the man
of miracles.
made
it
395
and pictures.
val legends
wanted
celebration.
It
hill.
makes a great
blaze, but
is
it
like a bonfire
on a
long.
Jesus
knew
this
before.
since.
And
if
seriouslj^
will
show
The
The wisdom
clearly.
first
for lodgings.
He
There
in
of
Mount
to
had eaten something and rested from the fatigue of the day
before, he went back to the Temple and for the second time
took a whip and drove the cattle dealers and the moneychangers out of the holy enclosure.
396
And
But
all this
When
meant very
little.
had been
killed.
And
man
Jesus,
who knew
this,
anxiety.
Thus far his pupils had been very faithful to him, and the
twelve who were always with him had really loved each other
like so many brothers and had borne with each other's shortcomings with exemplary kindness.
of them, all
of Cariot or Kerioth.
He
therefore was a
his attitude
lived
This
towards Jesus.
may
He
397
that the
that he was a
None
was
of this
may
a petty-
insult.
own
inferior
qualities.
He
had a great
therefore asked
him
to be their treasurer
disciples
had
all
twelve.
Even
in that quality,
satis-
faction
He was
upon
Jesus.
him how
foolish
at a gift which
and ill-mannered
call "useless
this
and had
luxury."
tried to
it
show
intentions.
convinced.
He
one of "the twelve" and listened with assumed eagerness whenever Jesus explained one of his favourite ideas.
But
in his
all crimes.
398
When
all
the
itself easily.
sitting late to
man
outside
who
offered to give
in-
formation.
They
the
told
guards
to
around him to
to get
THE REWARD
of
And
if
would be
true.
Roman
soldiers
and would be
Quite correct.
Therefore, whatever was to be done must be done quietly
least possible
noise?
399
it
until he
was
safely in prison?
That would
fit
pay for
this
very valuable
information?
JUDAS
satisfied.
struck.
The
his enemies.
*******
price
was
last
urb of Bethany.
this feast
400
be together.
all
When
left the
the
Mount
of Olives
city
and began
to
eat.
a cheerful meal.
They felt
The
At
others sat in
last,
what was
little.
gloomy
silence.
it
in everybody's mind.
"Master," he
said,
"we want
to
know.
Do you have
reason
"Yes.
is
M^hich a friend
to
was
called
stood in a corner.
It
was a warm
They were
all
night.
very
tired.
oil-press
which
401
He
prayed.
would mean a
Escape was
still
He
was a man
in the fulness
of his years.
Life
still
ise.
Death, once
his
enemies cap-
upon
the prophet.
Judas was
at their head.
402
his
'
'
/"'^^^'"^rv^-:i
,'^/..:>^'V
GETHSEMANE
High
Priest.
Why
Who
knew
own
403
questions.
He had
never
talk?
One
of the guards,
prisoner speak in
Then
member
404
and through
room where Jesus sat, peacefully waiting for what was to happen next.
Suddenly there was a rumour near the door. The guards
had got hold of one of the disciples. One of the maids, so they
explained, had just told them that this fisherman was a great
friend of Jesus and had often been seen with him when they
came to town.
Poor Peter was struck by panic.
The lights and the noise and the curses filled his heart with
the dark rushed to the
terror.
had
But
their
ters.
Pilate wished to
He was told.
'No doubt
the
Jews that
to execute a
all this
was very
neither their
man without
interesting, but
King nor
might he remind
their Council
Roman governor
of the district ?
Much
JESUS
IS
405
He
since he
had been
in
absurd.
free.
anything known to
That was a
Roman law.
It looked as
terrible
if
their victim
might escape.
They pleaded with the governor. They told him that Jesus
stirring up trouble all the way from Judeea to Gahlee.
had been
406
Roman
He
was the
official.
an answer to so absurd a
quest.
At
re-
away from
one of their
own
compatriots,
PONTIUS PILATE
"He
"He
they shouted.
law."
And
all
says that he
is
is
a King,"
above the
by now were
renewed
violence.
Herod understood
that he
JESUS
IS
TAKEN TO PRISON
407
408
grew more and more threatening. For by this time, the Sadducees had made common cause with the Pharisees. They were
GOLGOTHA
was only secondary.
They feared the practical consequences if Jesus were allowed
to go free and decided therefore that he must die for the good
of the state. Darkly they hinted to Pilate of certain secret
reports which were ready to be sent to Caesar, explaining in
politicians,
and
his
409
benefit of pension.
Pilate weakened.
Then he yielded.
The High Priest and
to debate
upon
the exact
method of exe-
cution.
As
upon a
But
the case
Runaway
slaves
were nailed
fied.
Four Roman
soldiers
work.
Late
way
It
was
began
its
called Gol-
weak from
received,
hill.
to walk.
410
itself.
cries for
mercy.
Over
his
head the
Roman
it
King
of the Jews."
411
been driven
in,
down
to gamble.
at the last
moment.
rapidly.
his lacerated
4,12
He
effort,
And he
died.
is
finished."
CHAPTER XXVII
BUT THE NEW WORDS OF LOVE AND HOPE WHICH HAD
BEEN WHISPERED INTO THE EARS OF AN UNHAPPY
HUMANITY COULD NOT BE SUPPRESSED BY THE ACTS
'OF ROMAN GOVERNORS AND ENVIOUS JEWISH
PRIESTS. NAY, NOT EVEN THE EMPEROR HIMSELF
COULD PREVENT THE DISCIPLES OF JESUS FROM
CARRYING THE MESSAGE OF THEIR MASTER TO ALL
THOSE WHO CARED TO LISTEN
HE
expression of a
human
soul seeking
And
and the
so
this
final
many
turies
414
was among the very poor that the words of Jesus were
It
first
Mighty
love,
were
first
was a
spirit of
They could not read and they did not know how
They had ears, however, with which to hear.
To
ing in the
were
little
to write.
fields.
They lived and died and were forgotten and no one mourned
their loss.
Then suddenly
As was
all
men
are
new
faith
ceptance of
all
son.
as
we have
since
to understand.
and
directly responsible
This attitude
come
his disciples
He
friends
were Jews.
community
in
which he
had grown up. He was quite willing to associate with foreigners, with Greeks and Samaritans and Phoenicians and
Syrians and Romans, but he lived and died for his own people
and lay buried
in
Jewish ground.
He
was the
last
415
who
And
it
first
Christian community,
the
first
It
is
ularly, almost
cross, in that
same
city
little
groups were
formed by those who shared the same ideas and could not quite
Some, like Stephen, who was
familiar with the current Greek philosophies, understood that
there must be a definite break between the old and the new and
agree with their neighbours.
that there
Jehovah
wrath and
416
all
put into a
definite shape
it
Mohammedan.
From
that
moment on
it
new
The wisdom of the old Jewish law lay buried in the unknown
tongue of the forgotten Hebrew language.
But everything connected with the "Christos" was being
written down in Greek, and Alexander the Macedonian had
made that tongue the international language of antiquity.
The stage was set.
The world of the west was ready for the message from the
doctrine to spread across western Asia.
east.
He
man who
came.
Rome.
CHAPTER XXVIII
ONE THING, HOWEVER, WAS NECESSARY BEFORE CHRISTIANITY COULD BECOME A WORLD-RELIGION. THERE
MUST BE A BREAK WITH JERUSALEM AND THE NARROW TRIBAL PREJUDICES OF THE OLDER FAITH. A
BRILLIANT SPEAKER AND ORGANISER BY THE NAME
OF PAUL SAVED CHRISTIANITY FROM THE FATE OF
DEGENERATION INTO ANOTHER LITTLE JEWISH
SECT.
PAUL LEFT JUD^A, CROSSED OVER INTO
EUROPE AND MADE THE NEW CHURCH AN INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION WHICH RECOGNISED NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN JEW AND ROMAN AND GREEK
we know
than we do
speaking,
we
find a very
minute description of
417
his doctrines.
418
He
Saul.
when
quite
go
of the
sent to Jerusalem
to school.
Here
his posi-
to
be a
Roman
This
citizen.
upon
In those days
it
Rome.
was a passport
many
ST.
privileges.
STEPHEN
his edu-
up
business.
Trained in the
young Saul
was heart and soul with the Great Council when they ordered
the execution of Jesus.
But
rowdies,
as he
who
in the
name
new
at the
faith.
new
came
419
Jesus.
These
most of
their
They lived
lives,
gave
their
to
the
upon
their lips
for those
who
persecuted them.
At
first,
Then he began
to
under-
who had
DAMASCUS
was a very intelligent
pupil.
Jesus had been a very intelligent teacher. Suddenly
Saul understood Jesus, and surrendered himself to the will of
He
his
unknown Master.
420
went straightway to
Ananias, who was the leader of the Damascan community and
begged that he might be baptised.
dissenters be given into his custody, Saul
ANTIOCH
From
that
moment on he was
name he gained
He
gave up
his
fame
called
his profession
Paul stayed in Antioch only a short time and then commenced that hf e of a wandering missionary which carried him to
4*21
all
the
new faith.
But the little groups
of Jew-
found
most Mediterranean
in
make
his
work a
failure.
from
twenty generations of orthodox
Prejudices
inherited
THE APOSTLE
minute.
much
To
it
conform as
Mosaic laws.
When Paul tried to prove to them that the two had nothing
in
common,
Jesus at the same time, their dislike was turned into open
hatred.
kill
Paul began to understand that Christianity, if it were to survive, must appeal to an entirely new public, and must break
definitely and unequivocally with Judaism.
He still remained in Asia Minor, but finally in Troas (a
422
Homer had
He
ippi,
sung) he
made up
his
mind
to
go
Troy
to
of which
Europe.
He
first
western audi-
ence.
But
TROAS
the people
to
escape.
He
own world
of Asia Minor.
ST.
423
In that
The people
Ephesus,
oly.
The
like
services in the
many people.
424
visitors
The
They
years before.
tried to kill
done.
The
Ephesus became the most important centre of the early Christian world and several of the earhest councils which gave the
new doctrines their final shape were held in this town, as you
may read in the chronicles of the second and third centuries
of our era.
Before
much
his
longer.
death he decided to
visit
The
so-called Christian
Pharisees.
had
set foot
crowd threatened
The Roman
him
425
to IjTich him.
troops, however,
came
to his rescue
and took
to the castle.
They
did not
know
At
first
come from
Egypt to Judaea to stir up
trouble. But when Paul proved
that he was a Roman citizen,
lutionary agitator,
as a matter of precaution.
Lysias,
the
commander
of
He
few years
before.
had no reason
it
was
his
He
civil w^ar.
common enemy
Under
those circumstances
expect a fair
trial
426
And then,
much
as soon as
procurator resided.
in
But he grew
made
against
Rome and
Emperor,
as a
as
was
his
good right
Roman citizen.
The
apostle
was
shipwrecked
and
61,
his
Paul
Now
state,
He rented
427
own compatriots)
the end-
less
How
long he continued to
Malta
we do not know.
In the year 64 there occurred one of those senseless antiChristian outbreaks which were soon to be very popular. The
Paul seems
all
the
those
started out to
the
new
faith.
to have
But
He made
it
little
Jew-
WORLD
Peter, whose
name
is
so closely con-
from Jerusalem
centre
know much
We
less
he
glimpse of him
we
knew
at the crucifixion.
lose sight of
him
last
when
Jesus.
Then we
Thereafter for
in terrible
fled
Caiaphas after
he
than we do of Paul.
saw him
distress
Rome, we
to
catch
many
up
years
as a very
429
tant
cities
to preach the
from
words of
dis-
his
Master.
make us
But
his
M ill
14
null,
lacking in courage.
Some
iiin
^^^H
<^^!^^BBB^^
ST.
made up
m^
-"""^''^J^^^^
yj-QiJ^
PETER
faithfulness to duty.
And
so with Peter.
work
in a
very
less
important
430
do not know.
Rome
same
by the mob within a few months of
at the
each other.
Such wholesale
in
Roman history.
The former
indifference of the
Roman government
toward
As
who came
slave,
no danger was
to be feared
authorities.
It
was the
First of
all,
those
who depended
upon
the
all their
cattle-dealers
and the
priests
the Christians.
half-savage
mob
of disinherited peasants,
was delighted
431
neighbours
to hear such
who offended
how
"those Christians
kill little
children every
Sunday
little
of
authors
day
of
the
there was
THE SLAVE
"good old
But
dis-
still
all
new
days.
selfish
tianity.
with a group of
How
preference lived in
poverty and who refused to charge a single denarius for explaining the doctrines of their Galilean teacher?
common
who were
plotting
432
The Roman
and for a
own
capital, people
all
the big
cities.
But
as the
Romans were
new
creed.
Thus
far the
Now
Before
and women of
noble rank had been executed because they were suspected of
Christian leanings and had been unwilling to show their loyalty
the end of the first century,
to the
Empire by
many
high
officials
who
in the beginning
433
faithful
came
from Nazareth.
the carpenter
made
This
members
of
Christians
all
secret
society,
Roman
The
and
good
reasons,
plentiful
In
things.
for
officials,
beyond
a
all
country
it
ROME BURNED
by
in
affliction.
had regained
by
and
Still others
arranged pogroms
Emperor by the
men and women and children, who in
wholesale execution of
And
everywhere and
all
met with
denied
all guilt
made them
so
and
many
on the scaffold
434
became
it
it
was
to
funds which pious people were giving for charity and for
the relief of the sick.
number of churches
ation, a
district
in a given
town or
in a given
common
policy.
their office,
grew
richer, their
power
were supNaturally,
increased.
And
Minor had
of
less
It
was
Rome
come to
and
respect.
It
and
their
need of enterprise.
the old
Empire had
fallen
upon
435
in the possession
who were
Empire.
At
last it
Roman Em-
The
city.
went to
own
live elsewhere.
When
and
Rome
removed from
left
a bid for
edict of tolerance
edged as the
and
south.
it.
made an end
436
The Church
And
stood triumphant.
and
strife,
have
who
which understands
ills
all things.
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Lkonore
St.
John Power
"I daresay, after all, that the best way Is not to bother a boy too
early and overmuch with history ; that the best way is to let him ramp
at first through the Scriptures even as he might through *The Arabian
let
the
the
of
THE BIBLE
The Holy Bible
out
of the original tongues: and with the former translations diligently compared and revised by His Majesty's special command.
The
millan Co.
440
441
The
Stories
are given in Bible language omitting only genealogies and doctrines and whatever is generally regarded as unprofitable to
young
The Dore
readers.
by Gustave Dore.
William T.
Amies.
One hundred
each.
Taylor Co.
An
interesting account of
how
the Bible
came to be written,
to-
New
Testaments.
of
Everett.
Houghton
Mifflin Co.
from the first nine books of the Old Testament told sympathetically and dramatically in very good style.
The Castle of Zion, by George Hodges. Houghton Mifflin Co.
More stories from the Old Testament.
Bible Stories to Read and Tell, selected and arranged by Frances
Stories
Jenkins Olcott.
These
Old Testament.
Houghton
Mifflin Co.
The
442
of the Ancient
World, by Dorothy
G. P. Putnam's Sons.
An interesting and well arranged account of the Egyptians, the
Assyrians and the Babylonians, the Hebrews, the Persians and
and maps.
the Phoenicians.
the art, the science, the religion and the literature of the
ancient Egyptians.
Lippincott.
An
Jewish
"The
443
The Adventures
Colum,
Pogany.
An
of Odysseus or
illustrated
The
Children's
Homer, by Padraic
The Rev. A.
J.
Church.
Putnam's Sons.
Pictures from Roman Life and Story, by The Rev. A.
D. Appleton & Co.
The Story of Mankind, by Hendrik Willem van Loon.
G. P.
J. Church.
Boni and
Liveright.
**History
is
the mighty
Tower
fields
of
of Experience, which
Time has
built
bygone ages."
Stories
distinctive
children.
contribution
to both
art
444
The
Life of
sot Co.
J.
The
The
Christ-Child in Art,
An
life
many
result
is
four
beautiful studies in
of Christ.
Story upon the art of the old and new masters of painting.
Fully illustrated.
Christ Legends, by Selma Lagerlof.
Rarely beautiful
stories including
CHAMPIONS OF CHRISTENDOM
Child's
Book
of Saints,
by William Canton,
illustrated
by T. H.
Robinson.
Stories of angels, hermits, abbots
"By
is
dedicated to
it
was
written."
Pilgrim's Progress,
Kingdom of God.
by Thomas Bulfinch. Lothrop, Lee and Shepard.
King Arthur and His Knights; Part 2, The Mabinogion;
The Age
of Chivalry,
Part
1,
445
modem
lover."
The Story
trated by
Howard
Pyle.
and
illus-
"But now hath the time come that he must quit us, for the period
is imminent when the search for the Holy Grail shall be begun,
and this is he who shall achieve the Grail."
Stories of Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of France, by The Rev.
A. J. Church. The Macmillan Co.
Stories
telling of the
The Story
"Taillefer,
"When
number
of fairy tales."
446
by George Hodges.
Henry
&
Co.
writers.
**The
a preface by
E. P. Dutton
human appeal
&
Co.
of these tales
by
is
New York
City.
September, 1923.
INDEX
Antioch, Paul in
Antiochus Epiphanes
Aaron
Abednego
97
260
Abel
209
Aristobulus
126
Ark, Noah's
Ark of the Covenant
Abimelech
26-41
Agag
Ahab
20
93, 140, 172, 185, 187
Armageddon
228
Artaxerxes
167
Asa
293
209
16-19
Adonijah
Adoration of the Magi
Ararat,
Arioch
105
177-179
Adam
231, 232
22
Abijam
Achish
320
Aram
260
813, 315-318
166
Absalom
Achan
Antipater
Mt
17
Abigail
Abraham
420
295, 297-306
177, 180
Ashtaroth
Ashurnasirpal
169
231
341
155
Athaliah
4
214, 226
Athens, Paul in
422
Ahaz
235
Ahaziah
Ahijah
225
Ahriman
Ai
290
Baal
Baasha
105
Alexander
Alexander Jannaeus
Alexandra
Alexandria
Amalekites
197
291-294
B
213, 218-220, 229
210-212
Babylonian captivity
314
Barak
315
Bathsheba
333
Belshazzar
4
242-264
120
175
262-264
Ananias
420
Benhadad
Benhadad
Benjamin
Bethany
Andrew
Anna
367
Bethlehem
342
Annas
402
Antigonus
314
Ammonites
Amos
86, 155
32, 128
231, 233-235
at
Bethuel
447
210
II
231
49, 51
395
340
378
40
448
Bible, origin
434
Bishops
Boaz
143-147
Ehud
116
Elah
Elam, King of
212
434
29
Eli
139
Elijah
Caesar Augustus
339
Caesarea, Paul in
426
Caiaphas
402
Cain
17
Caleb
95
215-227
Elimelech
143
Elisabeth
838
Elisha
Endor, witch of
Ephesus, Paul in
Ephraimites
168
423
Cambyses
270
Cana, marriage at
864
867
Esther
271-274
218
Ethnarch
Euphrates River
3, 4,
Carmel, Mt
Chaldea
Chaldeans
Cherith,
129
Esau
41-46, 48
Essenes
258
238-241, 257
Brook
217
413-416
Christianity, beginnings of
419
Christians, earliest
Rome
Roman persecutions
430
Church, establishment
428-436
in
311-313, 848
319
Eve
Exodus from Egypt
25
16-19
72-98
251-266
Ezekiel
Ezra
275
432
organisation
434
Corinth, Paul in
422
12-25
Creation
61
266
Croesus
256, 264-269
Cyrus
Damascus
231, 232
Daniel
258-265, 268
Darius
David
Deborah
156-181, 195
Delilah
Gethsemane, Garden of
Gibeon
Gideon
God, Jewish idea of
Golden Calf
Golgotha
400
107-109
124-126
13,
252
89
410
Goliath
157-160
Gospels
325-331
E
Eglon
Egypt, Jews in
Hyksos dynasty
Joseph in
Mary and Joseph escape to
873
135
260
Ecclesiastes
127
119-122
21
Deluge, the
Dura
Gaal
332-334
Hellenistic era
282
115
67-82
68
56-67
342
832
Hagar
Haggai
Ham
Haman
34
269
28
272-274
INDEX
449
Hammurabi
Hannah
242
Jesse
139
Hasideans
Hazael
308
231
9
Hebrew Language
231
Hermon, Mt
331-343
Herod
Herod Antipas, Jesus appears before 406
Pharisees before
Herod
381
Philip
Herodias
Herodotus
Hezekiah
Horeb, Mt
Hosea
Hoshea
arrested
401
at marriage at
Cana
364
352
baptism
betrayal of
398-402
birth of
340
character of
345, 353
245
condemned
crowned
237
crucifixion
410
221
859
236
Hyksos people
Hyrcania
HjTcanus
345, 353
2S1, 233-236
Hur
166, 159
857
to death
404, 409
410
hailed
by Simeon
87
historical evidence of
69
in
298
in
315-318, 320
in
Jerusalem
Samaria
the Temple
342
323-826
868-872, 890, 894
374
851
in the wilderness
852, 356
supper
400
meeting with John the Baptist 352, 362
last
33
Isaac
233-236, 251
Isaiah
Ishmael
Israel, Jacob named
Israel,
Kingdom
34
48
192-195, 201-237
miracles of
parables of
885
philosophy of
857
teachings of
Jabin
Jacob
Jael
Japheth
Jason
Jehoahaz
Jehoash
Jehoram
Jehoshaphat
Jehu
Jephthah
Jeremiah
Jericho
Jeroboam
119
41-49, 61-66, 62, 67
121
23
404
trial of
Jethro
75,
301
origin
232
return to Palestine
233
Jezebel
225, 228
Jezreel
214, 224-226
211, 213, 214, 227-232
128
238, 239
100-104
197-199, 209, 233, 235
Jerusalem
30
Jerusalem founded
141
Jerusalem in time of Jesus
887
Jerusalem, Jesus in
368-872, 390, 394
884
413-416
267
Joab
Joash
Job
John Hyrcanus
John the Apostle
John the Baptist
Jonathan
Joram (see Jehoram)
Jordan, valley
Joseph
87
388
242-264
222
171, 174
124
279
318
325, 328
348-853, 862
161, 168, 174
29
49, 61-67
450
Egypt
flight into
Josephus
Joshua
342
Matthew
Megiddo
325
Melchizedek
338
Jotham
127
Herod's rule in
in time of Jesus
Pontius Pilate, procurator of
Greek rule
Roman
Mesha
Meshach
225
260
Methuselah
346
Micah
122
Micaiah
Michal
224
Midianites
123
55
342, 382
19
161
Miracles of Jesus
396-402
Miriam
78
113-142
Moabites
Money-changers driven out by Jesus
32
325
Justus of Tiberias
301
361
192-195, 201-241
kingdom
Judas
Judges
30
Menelaus
Messiah, Jesus as
316-320
228
331
285-294
in
rule in
325, 327
372, 396
Mordecai
Moses
272-274
72-98
Kingdom divided
192-195
Kurus
(see Cyrus)
Laban
Laws, Mosaic
Lazarus
Leah
209
87-93
Nahor
88
394
Naomi
143-147
274
425
Lysias
M
Maccabaeus, Judas
Maccabees
Machpelah, cave of
Magi
Man, creation of
Mark
Mary
305
305-308
38, 41, 49, 67
Nathan
Nazareth
Nebuchadnezzar
Nectabenus
175
888, 348
238-240, 258-261
293
Nehemiah
276
Nero, persecutions by
New Babylonia
New Testament, history of
828
258
823-827
10
372
285, 268
Noah
19-24
341
16
325, 328
338, 363
Egypt
258, 262
222
325, 328
Luke
Nabopolassar
166
Nadab
27
262, 264
40, 45-48
92
Lot
Nabal
Nabonidus
Naboth
46, 49, 51
Levites
flight into
149
established
342
342
303-305
Omri
Ormuzd
212
Othniel
114
290
INDEX
451
Rehoboam
Rome
Abraham
Palestine (Canaan),
in.. 27, 61
113-142
conquest of
Jews established
Jews return to
in
50
6,
Parables of Jesus
Paul baptised
385
conversion of
419
early
417
in
in
life
of
420
421
426
in Caesarea
in
Ephesus
423
in
Rome
426
426
influence on Christianity
Jews persecute
421
missions of
422
returns to Jerusalem
Sanhedrin against
424
425
Pelasgians
286
Peter
367
404
denies Jesus
Rome
430
428
missions of
307-311, 314-319
Pharisees
plot against Jesus
.376, 378-382,
Pharaoh of Egypt
Philippi,
396
57, 72-82
422
Paul in
Philistines
Plagues,
great
Egyptian
79
Pompey
317-320
346, 381, 404, 405
Pontius Pilate
Potiphar
66
282
Preacher
Proverbs
281
Psalms
Psalter
280
Ptolemy Soter
Purim, feast of
294
274
46, 49, 61
Rachel
Rahab
Rebekah
Sea,
480
Paul in
Peter in
430
426
Ruth
143-147
Sadducees
Salome
Samaria
Samaritans
Samson
Samuel
309, 348
845
213, 232, 236, 373
237, 267, 269, 873
130-137
139-142, 154-157, 164, 168
380
Judas before
Paul and
Sarah
Sargon
Satan
398
426
27-38
287
291
266
Satraps
148-168
Saul
296
Seleucids
Sennacherib
287
384
260
236
231
184
of
Shechem
126, 208
Shem
Shemer
23
218
Shishak
208
Shulamite
283
342
Simeon
Sinai,
Mt
84, 87, 90
119-122
Sisera
834
Socrates
Red
832-838
420
Antioch
Athens and Corinth
in
I9i, igg
29-31
283
4
100
40
passage
Egyptians
by
Jews
and
Tabernacle
82
Tacitus
92, 172
323
452
Talmud
250
Tatnai
Tel-Abib
270
Tel-Harsha
248
Temple
254-256
ception
rebuilt
182-188
Temple, Solomon's
Ten Commandments
Tigris River
16
Xerxes
272
Zacharias
338
Zadok
255
88, 91
3,
Tirzah
25
of Babel
Tree of Knowledge
17
U
of the Chaldeans
Uriah
creation of
235
Tiglath Pileser
Ur
Woman,
388
269-270, 275
in time of Jesus
Tower
272
Vashti
263
26
174
Zarathustra
Zedekiah
Zerubbabel
Zimri
Zion
Zipporah
Zoroaster
NEW YORK
CITY
290
238-240
269
212
187
76, 93
290
THE
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KKOX COUEGI
JQHQHTO