(Adapted for Children, Six to Twelve Years.)
1. HOW THE WORLD WAS MADE
(Genesis 1, 2)
In the beginning, long, long ago, God created this wonderful world and all things in it. At first there was no earth, no sun, no moon or stars, no grass or trees, no seas or sky. This great round ball, on which we live, was nothing but a great cloud of mist without shape or size. Everywhere there was great darkness. God was living in his home in heaven, and he said, “Let there be light.” So light was the first wonderful thing God made. Then God separated the sky mists from the earth mists. He made the waters roll back into seas; and the mountains, with great lakes between, appeared. When the sun and moon and stars shone out more brightly, driving the mists and water away from the dry land, God made grass and trees and flowers to spring up in great beauty and abundance; and each tree and flower had little, tiny seeds to send up little shoots to make others. Then great swarms of living things appeared—strange fishes and sea-monsters to swim in the waters, reptiles and creeping things to creep on the land, birds to fly through the air, and all kinds of four-footed beasts to roam through the forests. Still, there was no man nor woman, nor any little child anywhere to enjoy what God had made. So God created a man and called his name Adam. God placed him in a large garden called Eden, filled with beautiful and useful things—rivers of water to water it, gold and precious stones, trees good for food, animals, birds, and fishes. Adam gave names to all the animals. But among them all there was not one to talk with him. So God made a beautiful companion for Adam and called her name Eve. This first man and woman lived together very happily in this beautiful Garden of Eden, caring for the flowers and fruit, watching the animals, loving each other, and talking with God, their Creator and Friend.
2. HOW A HAPPY HOME WAS LOST
(Genesis 3)
Adam and Eve were very happy in their beautiful garden-home in Eden. In the cool of the day, when the sun went down, and the garden was quiet, they knew that God was very, very near them, walking and talking with them. All the animals and plants, all the beautiful trees were for their use. But there was one tree with fruit that God, to teach them to obey, told them not to eat. For a long time they thought of nothing else but doing exactly what God told them. But one day Eve stopped in front of the tree and looked at the fruit. How good it looked! She wondered how it tasted. Then she turned to go away, for she knew that God had said that whoever tasted it would die. Just then she heard a voice. She looked, and the voice came from a bright, shining snake, coiled close in front of the tree. The snake said, “Did God say you shall not eat of any tree of this garden?” Eve said, “God said we shall not eat of this tree, nor touch it, lest we die.” “You will be like God if you eat it; you will know good and evil.” She listened to this voice tempting her to do what was wrong. Then she looked at the tree again. It looked so good to eat and so pretty, and as if it would make one know a great deal, that she picked some of the fruit and ate it. Then she ran and gave some to Adam, and he ate it too. That evening, when the sun was going down, making long shadows upon the grass, and a cool breeze was rustling the leaves, and the garden was all lonely and still, Adam heard the sound of God in the garden. Instead of gladly running to meet their heavenly Father and Friend, as they had always done before when he came to talk with them, they were afraid, and ran and hid themselves among the trees. God called to Adam, “Where art thou?” Guilty and ashamed, Adam said, “I heard thy voice, and I was afraid.” God said, “Hast thou eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee not to eat?” Adam said, “Eve gave it to me and I ate.” Eve said, “The snake tempted me, and I ate.” God told the snake he must crawl always flat on the ground, and every animal and man would hate him more than any other creature. He told Adam and Eve, because they had disobeyed him, they must be driven out of the beautiful garden and must dig and work hard in getting their food in desert lands among thistles and thorns, stones and timber, and at last, he said, they must die. But God still loved them, and gave them a beautiful promise of a loving Saviour who would be so obedient and pure and strong that he would prepare for them a beautiful city in the place of their garden-home, which they had lost through disobedience.
3. THE FIRST TWO BROTHERS
(Genesis 4)
The first two brothers in the world were Cain and Abel. They were born after their parents were driven out of their beautiful garden-home in Eden. When these boys grew up, Cain, the elder, became a farmer, and Abel became a shepherd. Their parents brought them up always to ask God to forgive them when they did wrong, and to bring offerings to him of what they had. One day when they came with their gifts, Abel, with a loving heart, carried a lamb, the best of his flock, but Cain brought some fruit in a careless way. God was well pleased with Abel’s gift, because of the love that came with it; but not with Cain’s, because Cain kept hatred to his brother in his heart. Cain was angry and his face became dark and scowling. God said: “Why are you angry and scowling? If you do well, will you not be happy? If you do not well, hatred in your heart will crouch, like a lion, ready to spring at you.”
But Cain paid no attention to God’s loving word. One day he said to Abel, “Come into the field with me.” When they were there alone, the crouching lion of hatred in Cain’s heart sprang up, and Cain lifted up his hand and slew his brother. Then Cain heard God’s voice saying, “Where is thy brother?” He answered untruthfully, “I know not; am I my brother’s keeper?” Then as Cain had done this wicked deed, God sent him from his home and parents to become a wanderer on the earth, working even harder than his father and his mother did. Cain’s suffering was just what he had brought upon himself, yet he said, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.” He was afraid wherever he went men would seek to kill him, for he knew he deserved to be killed. But God gave him a mark by which he could know that God was still watching over him and would not let any one kill him. So Cain went away and built a city and lived unhappily the rest of his life, away from his father and mother, because he had allowed hatred instead of love to live in his heart, and because he had not tried to please his loving Father in heaven.
4. THE FLOOD AND THE RAINBOW
(Genesis 6-8)
Once when God looked down on the people of the earth, he saw that there was only one good man to be found anywhere. All the rest were disobedient and very wicked. So God planned to save all who would be obedient to him, but to destroy all the disobedient, in order that such great wickedness should not increase over all the earth. God told Noah, the one just and good man, his plan. He told him to build a large ark, half boat and half house. It was to be five hundred feet long, fifty feet high, and eighty-three feet wide—about the size of a big ocean steamer to-day. There were to be three stories, many rooms, and a window on the top. The one door was to be on the side. This great houseboat was not to be for travel, but only to float on the water. In the ark Noah, his wife and sons, and his sons’ wives, and all others who would obey God, were to be saved. For one hundred long years Noah and his sons worked away building this strange ship—hammering, sawing, planing, and laying great beams hundreds of feet long. The people laughed at Noah and mocked him. It was very hard for Noah to be mocked, but he kept right on with his work, telling them of God and his holiness and how their wickedness was grieving God. But they would not listen, nor change their ways, nor believe any flood would come. At last the great ark was finished. Then Noah gathered together two of every kind of birds and animals, and they marched or flew into the ark, and behind them Noah and his family went in, with food for all to last for many months. And God shut the door. So they were safe because they had obeyed God.
Then the rain began to fall. Thunder crashed and echoed from the mountains and the wind dashed the rain against the ark. Torrents of rain came down, until soon the ark began to float. Higher and higher it rose, rocking and tossing, up above the treetops, above the hills, above the mountains. The flood had come, and the wicked people were all drowned. But Noah and his family were safe inside the ark. After forty days the rain stopped, but the water flooded in from the sea. For one hundred and fifty days the waters rose, and then began to go down. But the ark rested on one of the high mountains. Noah opened the window and sent forth a raven, and then a dove. The raven flew away, resting on things floating in the water. The dove came back several times, once bearing an olive-branch in her beak. At last she did not return, by which Noah knew the dove had found land on which to rest, and that the water was gone. Then Noah and all in the ark went out, after being in it more than a year. The first thing Noah did was to thank God for saving him and his family. Then Noah looked up in the clear, blue sky and there was a wonderful rainbow, with every color in it, arching the heavens. This was God’s sign and promise that he would never again destroy the world with water. So every time they saw a rainbow after that, they remembered that God was looking at it too, remembering this promise of his: “During all the days of the earth, sowing and reaping, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.”
5· THE GENEROUS UNCLE AND THE SELFISH NEPHEW
(Genesis 12-19)
Long, long after the flood, there lived a good man whose name was Abram, “the friend of God.” He was the first Hebrew. At first he lived in a large city on the river Euphrates. It was a beautiful city with fine buildings, gardens, fountains, statuary, and other things for comfort and pleasure. Abram and his people were rich. They had everything to make them happy, excepting one thing. Abram saw that in all that great city, in all that country, none worshiped God but himself. There were many temples where the people worshiped the sun, moon, stars, and many false gods. There were beautiful temples built, and beautiful music sung to the Sun-god, but no thanks were given to the great Creator of the sun and moon and man. A good deal of their worship was very wicked and cruel, and often boys and girls were burned to please the idols. Abram saw all this was false and wicked. One day God told him to leave that land and take a long journey to another land that God would show him. At last Abram reached a land so rich in vines, fruit trees, and pastures for flocks and herds, that it was called “the land flowing with milk and honey.” Here Abram and Lot, his brother’s son, lived in tents. Both were very rich in cattle, goats, sheep, servants, and silver and gold. But when the servants of Lot and Abram kept quarreling over which should have the best pasture for feeding their flocks, Abram said to Lot: “Let there be no quarrel between thee and me, and between our servants, for we are brethren. Choose the land you wish, and I will take what is left.” Abram was older than Lot, and had always been kind and generous, like a father, to him. Lot should have given his uncle the first choice. Instead of that, Lot greedily chose the well-watered plain-lands near the river Jordan, leaving to his uncle the hilly land. Abram generously let him keep them. Lot moved close to the wicked city of Sodom. Soon after, in a battle, Lot and his family and his servants were taken prisoners. Lot had not treated his uncle well, but that made no difference to Abram. He was a true friend, loving Lot even when he did not do right. So he rescued Lot and saved all the property the kings had stolen. Lot went back to Sodom, making his home this time inside the city, among its wicked people, and he grew more forgetful of God.
One day, in Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities of the plain, a great fire broke out which destroyed everything Lot had. Only for Abram’s prayer to God, Lot would have been burned up too. But for Abram’s sake, two angels came and led Lot and his wife and two daughters out of the city, telling them not to look back nor stay in all the plain, but flee to the mountains. Lot’s wife looked longingly back at the wicked cities, and was changed into a pillar of salt in the very plain upon which she, with Lot, had so much set her heart. Lot and his two daughters were saved only by fleeing to the mountain land that Lot had despised and Abram had taken. So, after all, the selfish nephew did not choose so well as the unselfish uncle, “the friend of God.”
6. THE OBLIGING GIRL AT THE WELL
(Genesis 24)
“Laughter” is a queer name for a boy. But “Laughter” is the name Abraham gave his son. That is what Isaac means. When Isaac grew up Abraham did not like the idea of his son marrying any of the young women of that land because they all worshiped idols; so he called his head servant and told him to go far away to the country where Abraham’s own people lived, and there find a young woman who would be the right sort of wife for Isaac. It was a long, long journey across the desert. Abraham gave the servant ten camels, and servants, and tents, with gold and silver, and precious stones and rich robes, to give as presents to the young woman and her family. After many days of travel the servant came to a city where some of Abraham’s people were still living. Outside the city was a well with a trough for the camels to drink from. He knew every evening young girls and women came with their pitchers for drinking water to this well. He decided when they came he would ask for a drink, and whoever gave him a drink and also offered to give the camels a drink by filling the watering-trough, would prove the wife for Isaac. He also prayed God to guide him. While he was praying there came to the well a beautiful young girl carrying a pitcher on her shoulder. When she had filled her pitcher the servant said, “Let me drink, please.” She said, “Drink, my lord,” and quickly let down her pitcher upon her hand and gave him a drink. Then seeing how tired the camels looked, her kind heart made her say, “I will get water for your camels too.” Camels drink a great deal of water, and there were ten of them, but this obliging girl did not stop filling the large watering-trough until every thirsty beast had drunk enough. Quietly the servant watched her, and when he saw how friendly she was he gave her a splendid gold earring and two beautiful bracelets of gold and asked her name and whether there was room in her father’s house for him to stay over night. She told him her name was Rebecca—a relative of Abraham’s family—and said there was plenty of room for them to spend the night. Then the servant thanked God, for he knew this kind, obliging girl was just the one whom God wanted to become Isaac’s wife. When they came to the house, the servant told his story to all, and gave still more beautiful presents to Rebecca and to her sister and brothers. Early the next morning the old servant wanted to start back at once, because God had prospered his journey. They called Rebecca and said to her, “Wilt thou go with this man?” And she said, “I will go.” So Rebecca’s queer bridal party, herself and her old nurse, Deborah, and several maids, mounted on camels and escorted by Abraham’s servants, began the long march to Isaac’s home in Canaan where she and Isaac were married. They loved each other dearly. And Abraham was glad that “Laughter” had found so good and true a wife in the friendly girl at the well.
7. THE LADDER THAT REACHED TO HEAVEN
(Genesis 28)
Isaac and Rebecca had two boys, Esau and Jacob. Esau became a hunter, and Jacob a shepherd. One day Esau came home from hunting very hungry. He asked Jacob to give him some of the red broth that he had just cooked. Jacob knew that Esau cared nothing for his birthright (that is, all that he would receive as the eldest son). But Jacob wanted that more than anything else in the world. So Jacob said, “Will you give me your birthright if I do?” Esau said, “Yes, I am starving; give me the broth for the blessing.” Jacob could not believe Esau meant it; but he did mean it, and so sold his birthright for something to eat. Not long after, Jacob received the birthright blessing from his father, Isaac. Then Esau was sorry and angry, and hated his brother, and planned to kill him. Rebecca told Jacob what Esau was planning to do, and sent him to her brother’s home to save Jacob’s life.
So Jacob had to leave his father and mother and home and start alone on a long journey with nothing but a long cloak to wrap about him at night. When the sun went down, as he was thinking of the great wrong he had done his brother, tired and sad at heart, he lay down to sleep on a stony hillside, placing one of the stones under his head for a pillow. At last he fell asleep, and in his dream he saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven. He saw beautiful shining angels coming down the ladder and going back. At the top he saw God looking down on him, saying, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham and thy father Isaac.” God promised if he would do what was right, that he would forgive all his wrong—be with him in all his journey and give him the wonderful promises made to Abraham and Isaac.
Early in the morning, when Jacob awoke, he knelt beside that stone, promising God that he would be a better man. He lived to be an aged man—one hundred and forty-seven years old—but he never forgot that place which he called “The House of God,” from which he saw the ladder that reached to heaven, showing him that God was near him.
From this story the beautiful lines of the hymn, which have been such a comfort to many upon battlefields and in the hour of death, were written:
8. THE SLAVE-BOY WHO BECAME A PRINCE
(Genesis 37 to 47)
Jacob had twelve sons, and Joseph was next to the youngest. He was the best loved of all, and his father showed how much he loved him by giving him a coat of many colors. This made his older brothers jealous and angry. When Joseph was sixteen years old he dreamed that he was binding sheaves of grain in a field with his eleven brothers and his father and mother, and all the other sheaves bowed down to his sheaf. Another dream he had was that the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. When Joseph awoke he told these queer dreams to his brothers. No wonder they called him “the dreamer” and teasingly said, “Shall we all, indeed, come to bow down to you?” Soon after this his nine big brothers caught this boy out in a field and put him down into a deep pit, and then sold him to camel-drivers as a slave for twenty pieces of silver (about one hundred and twenty dollars). Then they killed one of their own goats, dipped Joseph’s coat of many colors, which they had taken off him, into the blood, and taking it home, wickedly made their father think a wild beast had eaten Joseph. Jacob mourned for him as dead, and the brothers thought the dreamer would never tell any more of his dreams.
The camel-drivers sold Joseph as a slave in Egypt to a rich man who promoted him to be the chief ruler of his great house. It was a fine place for him. But one day some one told a very wicked lie about him, and he was cast into prison. But Joseph was so cheerful and kind and useful, even in prison, that he was soon placed over all the prisoners. When the king heard that Joseph had power to tell people the meaning of their dreams, he sent for him to tell the meaning of two dreams that troubled him. Joseph told the king his dreams. So Joseph was removed from prison to the king’s palace, and was dressed in fine clothes, with a gold chain around his neck and a gold ring on his finger, and made ruler over all the land, next to the king. Soon a great famine arose (just as Joseph had told the king) in all lands except Egypt, because Joseph had filled big barns with corn. Joseph’s ten brothers came from Canaan to Egypt to buy food to keep their families from starving. They were taken into the presence of the great ruler who sold the corn, and they bowed down to the earth before him. So the dreamer’s dream came true, though they did not know it then. Joseph knew them, and treated them kindly without letting them know he was their brother. He longed to see his youngest brother, Benjamin, and told the older brothers to bring him down with them when they came again, or they could have no more corn. When they brought him, and when Joseph looked upon Benjamin’s face, this great Prince of Egypt burst into tears and said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt, but whom God sent before you to preserve life.” Then they were afraid, but Joseph lovingly put his arms about their necks and kissed them and cried with them until they knew that he freely forgave them. So they went home quickly and brought their old father, Jacob, the good news, “Joseph is yet alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” Jacob could scarcely believe them. But when they told him how he had forgiven their wickedness, he said, “I will go and see him before I die.” So all together they went to Egypt and lived in a beautiful house which Joseph gave them. Then he took good care of them all, and lived near his dear old father until the old man died, happily and peacefully, because he was with his beloved Joseph, whom he had lost as a slave and had found again as a prince.
9. THE BABY BROTHER IN A BASKET-BOAT
(Exodus 2)
Long, long ago, a little boy was born in a Hebrew home, at a time when a cruel king of Egypt ordered all Hebrew boys that were born, to be thrown to the crocodiles in the great river Nile. But this little babe was so beautiful that his mother hid him in the house and prayed God to keep him safe. She hid him carefully for three months. Then, being afraid some one might hear him, she went to the river and gathered some long, strong grasses that grew there and braided them together, making a small basket and shaping it like a boat. To make it warm and dry inside, and to keep it from sinking when placed in the water, she painted it with black paint inside and out. Early one morning, when all was ready, the mother took her baby boy quietly sleeping in the basket-boat, and went down to the river Nile, the little baby’s sister, Miriam, following closely behind her. The mother hid the basket among the tall grasses near the shore, and again prayed God to keep her baby safe. Miriam was left hiding in the tall grass near-by to see what would happen to her little brother in his new bed. Very soon the princess, the daughter of the cruel king of Egypt, with her maids, came down to the river to bathe. Quickly she spied the basket-boat and cried, “What is that floating on the water among the tall grasses? Bring it to me.” One of her maids ran and picked up the basket and brought it to the princess. When she opened it, there was the most beautiful baby boy she had ever seen! The child was wide awake, and seeing the strange face, began to cry. “It is one of the Hebrew babies that my father ordered drowned!” she said. “But I have found him, and I will keep him as my own little baby boy. I will call his name ‘Moses.’”
Miriam was watching from her hiding-place in the tall grasses. She ran out and said, “Shall I bring a nurse for the baby?” “Yes,” said the princess. Miriam ran home as fast as she could, and whom do you suppose she brought? The baby’s own mother! And the princess told her to take him home and nurse him and care for him for her, for she loved him as her very own, and the king would not harm him.
So the prayer that Moses’ mother made to God to take care of her little baby boy in the basket-boat was answered. And Moses grew up to be a great and good man.
10. WHY BOYS TAKE OFF THEIR HATS IN CHURCH
(Exodus 3)
When the boy Moses was old enough to leave his mother he went to live with his new mother in the king’s palace.
Moses was a good boy. He studied his lessons so well in school that he grew up to be one of the wisest and best young men in all the land. But Moses never forgot his own Hebrew people. He was not careless of the cruel way they were treated as slaves by the king’s officers. He tried to improve their sad condition in his own hasty way, but he soon saw that neither his own people nor their masters wanted a princess’s son to interfere. They were both ready to kill him for trying to help. So Moses had to flee for his life into the mountains where he became a shepherd. One day as he was leading his sheep up the mountainside, he saw a thorn-bush all aflame; and it kept on burning, but was not burned up. Moses wondered to see so strange a sight. Leaving his sheep he went near. Suddenly a Voice called out of the midst of the fire-bush, “Moses! Moses!” Moses answered, “Here am I.” The Voice said, “Take off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground,” It was God, in the form of an angel, speaking to him. Moses at once took off his shoes and bowed reverently in the presence of God. Then God told him a better way by which he could help his downtrodden people and set them free from their cruel masters who were beating them and making their life so hard. He told Moses he wanted him to lead his people out of their bondage. At first Moses was afraid he was not able to do what God wanted him to do, but God said, “Certainly, Moses, I will be with thee.” Moses obeyed the Voice that spoke that day to him out of the fire-bush, and he became one of the greatest of leaders and lawgivers that this world ever saw. Men and boys take off their hats in church to-day for the same reason that Moses removed his shoes before the fire-bush—to show reverence in the presence of God and respect for his wonderful way of speaking to men.
II. THE BOY WHO LIVED IN A CHURCH
(1 Samuel 2, 3)
Once there was a little boy, about seven years old, who was taken by his mother to a beautiful church and left there to be educated by the minister, who lived in a room at the side of the church. The little boy’s mother had promised God that if he would give her a little boy she would give him back to him, and that all the days of his life her boy should serve him. So as soon as he was old enough to leave her she remembered her promise. A little room was fitted up for the little fellow next to the minister’s room. Little Samuel learned to trim the lamps, to open and close the church doors, and to be useful in many little ways in helping the minister. Once a year his mother came to see him, bringing for him a beautiful little, new, white coat, which she had made for him. It was the same kind of white coat the minister wore. One night as the little boy was lying asleep in his room, suddenly a beautiful Voice rang through the chamber, calling, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel thought it was the minister calling him. He ran to the minister’s room, saying, “Here am I!” “I called not,” said the minister; “lie down again.” So the boy went back to bed. Then again the Voice called, “Samuel!” Again he ran to the minister who said, “I called not; lie down again.” When all was quiet, the third time the Voice called, “Samuel!” and again the boy sprang up and ran quickly to the minister’s room. Then the minister knew God was calling him. “Go lie down,” he said, “and if you hear the Voice again, it is God calling you; say, ‘Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.’” As soon as Samuel lay down again, God called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and little Samuel kneeling beside his bed said, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” Then God told him what he wished him to do for him when he grew older. So the little boy who was obedient to God’s voice grew up to be a great and good man, living always for the good of his people.
12. THE DAUGHTER WHO HONORED HER MOTHER
(Book of Ruth)
Far away in the strange land of Moab a poor widow started to return to her own home in the land of Israel. Ruth and Orpah, her two daughters-in-law, the wives of her sons who had just died, wished to go with her, for they could not think of the poor, old, sad mother returning all by herself on that long journey. But after they had gone a little way, the old mother kissed them and said, “Go back to your home and native land!” So Orpah kissed her good-bye and returned, but Ruth clung to her mother-in-law and said: “Entreat me not to leave thee and return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go; and where thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried. Nothing but death shall part thee and me.” Ruth knew that where Naomi was going she would be poor, and that they would have to work hard, but she loved this old mother too much to leave her. Soon they saw the hills and then the houses of Bethlehem, Naomi’s home. They settled down in that little town, but were so poor they did not know how to get even food enough to eat. The time of year had come when the farmers were beginning to cut the barley—the harvest-time. It was the custom in that land to allow poor people to go into the fields and gather up the loose ears of barley that were left by the reapers; and Ruth went to glean a little food for herself and her mother. She happened to go into the field of a rich man named Boaz. By and by when Boaz came to see how the reapers were getting on, he saw Ruth gleaning, and asked his reapers who she was. They told him that she was Naomi’s daughter-in-law, just come from Moab. Then Boaz called her to him and told her that she was welcome to glean in his fields all through the harvest. He said: “I have heard all about your goodness to Naomi. May you be fully rewarded by Jehovah, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” At dinnertime Boaz told her to sit down with the reapers, who gave her food and drink. She ate all she wished, and still she had some left, which in the evening she took home with her, with the barley she had gleaned, to Naomi. At the end of the barley harvest, this great and good rich man, Boaz, fell in love with Ruth, and she became his wife. The old mother, Naomi, went to live with them in their large and beautiful house, and she never was in want again. When a little son came to them, Ruth called his name Obed, and when he grew to be an old man, he was the grandfather of King David. So Ruth, the gleaner, who was kind and loyal to her mother-in-law, became the great-grandmother of the greatest King of Israel.
“ENTREAT ME NOT TO LEAVE THEE”
13. THE SHEPHERD-BOY WHO SLEW A GIANT
Far away on a hillside, one starry night, a shepherd-boy was watching his father’s sheep. The little lambs were cuddled up close to their mothers and all was quiet and peaceful in the moonlight when out of the woods near-by came a dark animal. It was a big brown bear that had come to steal a lamb. Nearer and nearer it came when the shepherd-boy, who loved his sheep, quickly placed a large sharp stone in his sling and slung it at the bear’s forehead. With a great cry of pain the bear rolled over dead. So the lambs were saved from the bear. Another time, a lion sprang out from behind a rock and, seizing a little baby lamb in his mouth, started to run away with it. On the minute the shepherd-boy was after him, slinging one of his sharp stones at the lion’s head. It struck the lion without killing him, but, letting the baby lamb go, he turned roaring and sprang at the boy. He caught him by the beard, and with his shepherd’s staff struck at him until the great animal fell back dead. So the lambs loved the shepherd still more, for he had saved them from the lion too. Some time after, this same shepherd-boy went out to the battlefield to take some corn and loaves of bread to his soldier brothers. While he was talking to his brothers a great giant came out and stood upon a high cliff and cried across the valley, “I dare any man to come and fight me!” This giant was ten and a half feet in height—so tall that a boy would not come as high as his knees. Upon his head was a helmet of brass; his whole body was covered with armor of brass; even on his legs were heavy plates of brass. In his hand he held a long staff with a sharp spear-point at the end; by his side hung a sword, and a man went before him carrying a shield. This was the famous Philistine giant, “Goliath,” before whom all the Hebrew soldiers trembled and ran away to their tents in fear. This young shepherd-boy was surprised that none dared go out and fight him, especially when he heard that King Saul had said whoever would kill this terrible giant should receive great riches and have the king’s daughter for his wife. This boy said, “I will go and fight him!” Some one told the king what he said, and Saul sent for him and said: “Surely you are not able to go and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighter from the time he was a boy.” This shepherd-boy bravely replied: “When I was smaller than I am now, I was watching my father’s sheep, and a bear and a lion came to take a lamb out of the flock, and I smote both the lion and the bear, and this giant shall be as one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. My God, who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this boastful giant.” The king said, “My boy, go; and may God be with you.” Then he offered the shepherd-boy his armor of brass, his helmet, and sword. But the shepherd-boy said, “Please, may I go without these? My shepherd’s sling and staff, with God, are all I need.” Then he ran to the brook and selected five smooth stones and put them in his shepherd’s bag and went forth to meet the giant who came to meet him. When Goliath saw only a boy he said: “Am I a dog that you come to me with a stick! Come to me, boy, and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and beasts!” And he cursed him by his gods. The brave shepherd-boy did not flinch, but replied: “You come to me with a sword, and a spear, and a javelin. I come to you in the name of the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day God will deliver you into my hands, and I will take your head from you and give it to the birds and wild beasts, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that they may know that God saves not with sword or spear; for this battle is God’s, and he will give you into our hands.” The proud giant, clad in his brass armor, began walking toward the boy, who quickly put his hand into his bag, took out a stone, slung it with all his might at the giant’s forehead, and Goliath fell on his face to the ground—dead. Quickly he ran, stood on the giant, took the great sword of Goliath out of its sheath, and with one blow cut off the giant’s head in the sight of the soldiers of both armies. When the army of the giant saw that their champion was dead, they turned and ran away over the mountains and, with a shout of victory, Saul’s soldiers ran after them and took them prisoners. So the shepherd-boy, with a sling and a stone, and the help of God, won a great battle that day. He became the king’s son-in-law, and when Saul died he became king, one of the greatest and best kings Israel ever had—King David.
14. THE ARROW-BOY AND THE TWO FRIENDS
(1 Samuel 18 to 20)
The shepherd-boy who slew the giant was invited to live at the king’s palace, and he became a great friend of the king’s son, Jonathan. David and Jonathan soon loved each other greatly. All the people too came to love David more than they did King Saul. This made the king very jealous, and he resolved to kill this popular young soldier, whom everybody praised so much; even the women and girls singing of him in the streets:
When Jonathan suspected his father’s evil intentions, he told David to go away from the palace for three days. “After three days,” he said, “I will come to your hiding-place and bring an arrow-boy with me, and I will shoot three arrows. If I say to the boy, ‘Run and find the arrows on this side of you, come back,’ you can come back to the palace in safety; but if I say, ‘Haste, stay not,’ then there is danger, and you must flee.” After two days Saul missed David at the dining-table, and told Jonathan that if he found David he would surely kill him. And he threw a javelin at Jonathan to kill him too, because he was the friend of David. Quickly Jonathan went with the boy to the place appointed and shot an arrow far beyond the mark and cried to the boy, “Haste, stay not.” The boy ran and brought him the arrow and returned to the palace. David came out from his hiding-place. The two friends kissed each other and made promises of eternal friendship. And they saw each other only once after that day. So the arrow-boy helped the two friends.
15. THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE
(2 Samuel 4: 4; 9: 1-13)
One afternoon, long ago, a little boy prince five years old, was playing with his toys in his father’s palace, and his nurse was watching him. Suddenly a messenger ran up to the house and rushed in, bearing the sad news that a terrible battle had been fought between the Hebrews and the Philistines in which King Saul and the little prince’s father, Jonathan, David’s friend, had been slain. “Yes,” he said, “Saul and Jonathan are dead! Flee for your lives!” The nurse picked up the little boy in her arms to carry him away quickly, when, in her haste and fright, she stumbled and fell. In the fall the little boy’s ankles were broken, and ever after he was a helpless cripple. The little lame prince was hidden away in a friend’s house so safely that almost everybody supposed the Philistine soldiers must have slain him too. A few years afterward, David said: “Is there yet any left of the family of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to him for Jonathan’s sake?” One of the servants said, “Jonathan hath yet a son who is lame in both his feet.” “Bring him to me,” said David; and when he was before the king, David said: “Fear not; for I will surely show kindness to you for Jonathan, your father’s sake. I will give you his farm lands; and you shall eat at my table as one of my own sons.” So David’s friendship for Jonathan was shown to this lame prince who was crippled in both his feet, and whose name was Mephibosheth.
16. THE BABIES AND THE WISE JUDGE
(1 Kings 3)
One night a King was sleeping, and in his sleep he dreamed that God came to him and said, “Ask what I shall give thee.” He said, “Give me a wise heart to judge the people justly in all things.” God said to him: “Because you have not asked for riches, or long life, or the death of your enemies, but have asked for a heart of wisdom, I will give you a wise heart, and riches, and long life if you will obey me.”
The young King awoke; and it was a dream. But he became one of the richest and wisest of the kings of the earth to rule and to judge his people. One day two mothers came to him, each bringing a baby boy, but one was dead and one was alive. One mother said: “O king, judge my case! We two mothers live in one house. One night this woman’s baby boy died, and she came into my room and stole my little baby boy away, and put her dead baby boy in its place while I was sleeping. In the morning, there beside me in my bed was her dead baby.” The other woman said, “No, no, the living is my son, and the dead is your son.” The King said to his servants, “Go quickly, and bring me a sword!” They brought a sword. The King said, “Divide the living baby in two, and give half to one and half to the other.” The mother whose the living child was cried out to the King, “O my lord, give her the living child; do not slay it!” But the other said, “Yes, divide it.” Then the King knew which was the real mother and said, “Give her the living child; she is his mother.” All the people heard of this, and they said, “King Solomon is the wisest man that ever lived to rule wisely and to judge justly.”
17. THE LITTLE BOY KING
(2 Kings 11)
There were troublous times in a king’s palace when a little prince was born. He was only two months old when his father, the king, was killed in battle and this little baby boy had to be hidden away by his aunt in a storeroom in the sacred temple to save his life. For seven years he was hidden there and very few knew that the little boy, who should be the king, was alive. His grandmother, a very wicked and cruel woman, Athaliah, became queen. She first ordered all the royal children she could find to be put to death and then she did many such cruel and evil things so that her people became worse and worse. After seven long years, one day a good man in the temple told five brave captains his secret, and showed them the young king and asked their help to crown him king in the place of the wicked, cruel grandmother. They promised. Soon many other soldiers came to know the secret, and on a day they decided upon, these men armed themselves with swords and spears and shields, and gathered in the temple to crown the little boy king. His granduncle, the high priest, brought him out from his hiding-place, set him upon a high platform, put a little crown of gold upon his head, while all the men clapped their hands and cried, “Long live the king!” When the queen-grandmother heard the shouts she came to the temple and looked in, and behold, there was the little boy king standing on the platform with the crown upon his head and all the captains and guards and trumpeters and people rejoicing and blowing trumpets. The queen tore her clothes in anger and cried out, “Treason! Treason!” But all her soldiers and people were sick and tired of her cruel reign. So the captains seized her, led her out of the temple, and slew her near the horse-gate of her palace. So this little boy only seven years old was crowned king because he was of the family of King David and because God took care of him in his hiding-place during all those seven long years. He reigned as King of Judah many, many years, doing great good for God and for his people. His name was Joash.
18. THE WOMAN WHO SHARED HER LAST LOAF
(1 Kings 17)
In a land where no rain had fallen for long months the grass and flowers were withered, the fruit trees were dead, the grain-fields and gardens were hardened and parched, and the streams were almost dried up. In the time of this fearful famine a poor woman looked into her jar of flour and cruse of oil, and saw that they were almost empty. She said: “There is just enough flour to make one more little cake, and just enough oil to mix it. I will go and gather a few sticks and bake this little cake for my boy and myself, and we will eat it and die.” She went out to gather the sticks, when she heard some one speak. She looked up and saw a strange man standing near. He was tired and worn and dusty, as though he had been walking many miles in the hot sun. He said to her, “Fetch me, I pray you, a little water, that I may drink.” She forgot for a moment how hungry and sad she was, and started at once toward her house to get the water for him, when he called to her, “Bring me, I pray you, a morsel of bread in your hand.” She turned back with a sigh and said: “O sir, truly I have not a cake; I have only a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse; and now I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my boy that we may eat it and die.” The man said: “Fear not; go and do as you have said, but make me a little cake first, and bring it out here to me, and afterward make a cake for yourself and your boy. For Jehovah, the God of Israel says, ‘The jar of meal shall not be empty, neither shall the little bottle of oil be empty, until it rains upon the earth.’”
She stood and looked at this strange man with his strange request—to share her very last piece of bread. She did not know who he was, nor who the God was he spoke of; she only knew that this man with the tired face was hungry too, and he had not even one piece of bread, and she said to herself, “I will share what we have with him.” She went back into her kitchen, kindled the fire with the sticks, scraped the last bit of flour from the jar, and poured in the last drop of oil from the cruse; but, when she had taken out enough for the little cake and looked into the jar and cruse, there was just as much flour and oil as before. She made the cake, took it to Elijah, God’s wonderful prophet, and she, and he, and her son had plenty to eat from the jar of meal that did not empty and the cruse of oil that did not fail all the days of that famine. And it all came about because that good woman, though hungry herself, was willing to share the little she had with another who was in need.