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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Half Hours in Bible Lands, Volume 2, by 
+Rev. P. C. Headley
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Half Hours in Bible Lands, Volume 2
+       Patriarchs, Kings, and Kingdoms
+
+Author: Rev. P. C. Headley
+
+Release Date: May 7, 2008 [EBook #25363]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HALF HOURS IN BIBLE LANDS, VOL 2 ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Don Kostuch
+
+
+
+
+HALF HOURS IN BIBLE LANDS,
+
+OR,
+
+STORIES AND SKETCHES FROM THE SCRIPTURES AND THE EAST.
+
+PATRIARCHS, KINGS, AND KINGDOMS.
+
+BY REV. P. C. HEADLEY,
+AUTHOR OF "THE WOMEN OF THE BIBLE,"
+"HARVEST WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT,"
+"THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE,"
+"MASSACHUSETTS IN THE REBELLION,"
+ETC., ETC., ETC.
+
+WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+PHILADELPHIA:
+PUBLISHED BY JOHN E. POTTER & CO.,
+No. 617 SANSOM STREET.
+
+Entered according to Act of Congress,
+in the year 1867, by  JOHN E. POTTER & CO.,
+In the Clerk's Office of the
+United States District Court in and for the Eastern
+District of Pennsylvania.
+
+
+[Illustration: Isaac and Esau]
+
+
+[Illustration: Job and His Three Friends.]
+
+
+THE BIBLE AND THE HOLY LAND.
+
+PATRIARCHS, KINGS, AND KINGDOMS.
+
+
+SCENES IN THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS.
+
+
+The patriarchs might be called family kings--the divinely appointed
+rulers of households. They were the earliest sovereigns under God of
+which we have any account. Their authority was gradually extended by the
+union of households, whose retinue of servants was often large, and
+their wealth very great. The founder and leader of the patriarchal line
+chosen by God from the wealthy nomades, or wandering farmers of the
+fruitful valleys, was Abram. A worshipper of the Infinite One, he
+married Sarai, a maiden of elevated piety and personal beauty. And
+doubtless they often walked forth together beneath the nightly sky,
+whose transparent air in that latitude made the stars impressively--
+
+"The burning blazonry of God!"
+
+Upon the hill-tops around, were the observatories and altars of Chaldean
+philosophy, whose disciples worshipped the host of Heaven. In the
+serenity of such an hour, with the white tents reposing in the distance,
+and the "soul-like sound" of the rustling forest alone breaking the
+stillness, it would not be strange, as they gazed on flaming Orion and
+the Pleiades, if they had bowed with the Devotee of Light, while--
+
+  "Beneath his blue and beaming sky,
+   He worshipped at their lofty shrine,
+   And deemed he saw with gifted eye,
+   The Godhead in his works divine."
+
+But a purer illumination than streamed from that radiant dome, brought
+near in his majesty the Eternal, and like the holy worshippers of Eden,
+they adored with subdued and reverent hearts, their infinite Father.
+
+There is great sublimity and wonderful power in the purity and growth of
+religious principle, in circumstances opposed to its manifestation. The
+temptations resisted--the earnest communion with each other--the
+glorious aspirations and soarings of imagination, when morning broke
+upon the summits, and evening came down with its stars, and its rising
+moon, flooding with glory nature in her repose. These, and a thousand
+lovely and touching scenes of that pastoral life, are all unrecorded.
+The great events in history, and bold points in character, are seized by
+the inspired penman as sufficient to mark the grand outline of God's
+providential and moral government over the world, and his care of his
+people.
+
+Just when it would best accomplish his designs, which are ever marching
+to their fulfillment, Jehovah called to Abram, and bade him go to a
+distant land which he would show him. With his father-in-law, and with
+Lot, his flocks and herds, he journeyed toward Palestine. When he
+arrived at Haran, in Mesopotamia, pleased with the country, and probably
+influenced by the declining health of the aged Terah, he took up his
+residence there. Here he remained till the venerable patriarch, Sarai's
+father, died. The circle of relatives bore him to the grave, and kept
+the days of mourning. But the dutiful daughter wept in the solitary
+grief of an orphan's heart. A few years before she had lost a brother,
+and now the father to whom she was the last flower that bloomed on the
+desert of age, and who lavished his love upon her, was buried among
+strangers.
+
+Then the command to move forward to his promised inheritance came again
+to Abram. With Sarai he journeyed on among the hills, encamping at night
+beside a mountain spring, and beneath the unclouded heavens arching
+their path, changeless and watchful as the love of God--exiles by the
+power of their simple faith in him. Soon as they reached Palestine,
+Abram consecrated its very soil by erecting a family altar, first in the
+plain of Moreh, and again on the summits that catch the smile of morning
+near the hamlet of Bethel.
+
+Months stepped away, rapidly as silently, old associations wore off, and
+Abram was a wealthy and happy man in the luxuriant vales of Canaan. His
+flocks dotted the plains, and his cattle sent down their lowing from
+encircling hills. But more than these to him was the affection of his
+beautiful wife. Her eye watched his form along the winding way, when
+with the ascending sun he went out on the dewy slopes, and kindled with
+a serene welcome when at night-fall he returned for repose amid the
+sacred joys of home.
+
+At length there came on a fearful famine. The rain was withholden, and
+the dew shed its benediction no more upon the earth. He was compelled to
+seek bread at the court of Pharaoh, or perish. Knowing the power of
+female beauty, and the want of principle among the Egyptian princes, he
+was afraid of assassination and the captivity of Sarai which would
+follow. Haunted with this fear, he told her to say that she was his
+sister--which was not a direct falsehood, but only so by implication.
+According to the Jewish mode of reckoning relationship, she might be
+called a sister; and Abram stooped to this prevarication under that
+terrible dread which, in the case of Peter, drove a true disciple of
+Christ to the brink of apostacy and despair.
+
+
+[Illustration: Results of Prevarication. Peter denying his Master.]
+
+
+But his deception involved him in the very difficulty he designed to
+escape. The king's courtiers saw the handsome Hebrew, and extolled her
+beauty before him. He summoned her to the apartments of the palace, and
+captivated by her loveliness, determined to make her his bride. During
+the agonizing suspense of Abram, and the concealed anguish of Sarai in
+her conscious degradation, the hours wore heavily away, until the
+judgment of God upon the royal household brought deliverance. Pharaoh,
+though an idolater, knew by this supernatural infliction, that there was
+guilt in the transaction, and called Abram to an account. He had nothing
+to say in self-acquittal, and with a strange magnanimity, was sent away
+quietly, with his wife and property, followed only by the reproaches of
+Pharaoh, and his own wakeful conscience.
+
+Abram returned to Palestine, became a victor in fierce battles with a
+vastly outnumbering foe, and was in possession of a splendid fortune.
+
+Whether in Egypt, or in his tent on the plains of Palestine, Abram, with
+all the patriarchs, was a true gentleman. We may doubt whether any
+modern school of refinement in manners could furnish any nobler examples
+of dignity and civility in personal learning and manners, than were the
+rich dwellers in ancient Palestine. Subjects fell prostrate before
+sovereigns; equals, when they met, inclined the head toward the breast,
+and placed the right hand on the left breast. Of the Great King it is
+written, "Come, let us bow down; let us worship before the Lord our
+Maker."
+
+Jehovah appeared to Abram in a glorious vision, talking with him as
+friend to friend. He fell on his face in the dust, as did the exile of
+Patmos ages after, while a voice of affection and hope carne from the
+bending sky: "I am the Almighty God; walk before me and be thou
+perfect." The solemn covenant involving the greatness and splendor of
+the people and commonwealth that should spring from the solitary pair,
+was renewed; and as an outward seal, he was named Abraham, The father of
+a great multitude--and his wife Sarah, The princess. Still he laughed at
+the absurdity that Sarah would ever be a mother, and invoked a blessing
+on Ishmael, but evidently said nothing to her upon a subject dismissed
+as incredible from his thoughts. For when the celestial messengers were
+in the tent, on their way to warn Lot, she listened to their earnest
+conversation, concealed by the curtains, and hearing that repeated
+promise based on the immutability of God, also laughed with bitter mirth
+at her hopeless prospect in regard to the marvelous prediction. And when
+one of the Angels, who was Jehovah veiled in human form, as afterward
+"manifest in the flesh," charged her with this unbelief and levity, the
+discovery roused her fears, and approaching him, without hesitation, she
+denied the fact. He knew perfectly her sudden apprehension, and only
+repeated the accusation, enforced by a glance of omniscience, like that
+which pierced the heart of Peter.
+
+The group separated, and two of those bright beings went to Sodom. The
+next morning Abraham walked out upon the plain, and looked toward the
+home of Lot. He saw the smoke as of a great furnace going up to the calm
+azure, from the scathed and blackened plains, where life was so busy and
+joyous a few hours before! With a heavy heart he returned to his tent,
+arid brought Sarah forth to behold the scene. She clung with trembling
+to his side, while she listened to the narration of the terrible
+overthrow of those gorgeous cities, and the rescue of her brother's
+household, and beheld in the distance the seething and silent grave of
+millions, sending up a swaying column of ebon cloud, like incense, to
+God's burning indignation against sin.
+
+They left the vale of Mamre, and journeyed to Gera, where, with a
+marvellous forgetfulness of the past, the beauty of Sarah again led them
+into deception and falsehood, and with the same result as before.
+Abimelech, the king, would have taken her for his wife as Abraham's
+sister, had not God appeared in a dream, threatening immediate death.
+Upon pleading his innocence, he was spared, and expostulating with his
+guest, generously offered him a choice of residence in the land; but
+rebuked Sarah with merited severity.
+
+Prophecy and covenant now hastened to their fulfillment. Sarah gave
+birth to a son, and with the name of God upon her lips, she gave
+utterance to holy rapture. With all her faults, she was a pious and
+noble woman. She meant to train him for the Lord, and therefore when she
+saw young Ishmael mocking at the festival of his weaning, she besought
+her husband to send away the irreverent son, whose influence might ruin
+the consecrated Isaac. Hagar, with a generous provision for her wants,
+was a fugitive; and the Most High approved the solicitude of a mother
+for an only child, around whose destiny was gathered the interest of
+ages, and the hopes of a world.
+
+And now, with the solemn shadows of life's evening hours falling around
+her, and a heart subdued by the discipline of Providence, in the fulness
+of love which had been rising so long within the barriers of hope
+deferred, she bent prayerfully over the very slumbers of that fair boy,
+and taught him the precious name of God with the first prattle of his
+infant lips. How proudly she watched the unfolding of this bud of
+promise! When, in the pastimes of childhood, he played before the tent
+door, or, with a shout of gladness, ran to meet Abraham returning from
+the folds, her calm and glowing eye marked his footsteps, and her
+grateful aspirations for a blessing on the lad, went up to the Heaven of
+heavens. At length he stood before her in the manliness and beauty of
+youth, unscarred by the rage of passions, and with a brow open and
+laughing as the radiant sky of his own lovely Palestine.
+
+
+[Illustration: Hagar in the Wilderness.]
+
+
+It was a morning which flooded the dewy plains with glory, and filled
+the groves with music, when Abraham came in from his wonted communion
+with God, and called for Isaac, and told him to prepare for a three
+days' journey in the wilderness. How tenderly was Sarah regarded in this
+scene of trial! Evidently no information of the awful command to
+sacrifice the son of her old age was made to her. She might have read
+something fearful in the lines of anxious thought and the workings of
+deep emotion in the face of Abraham. But he evaded all inquiries on the
+subject, "clave the wood," and accompanied by two of his young men,
+turned from his dwelling with a blessing from that wondering mother, and
+was soon lost from her straining vision among the distant hills. Upon
+the third day he saw the top of Mount Moriah kindling in the rising sun,
+and taking Isaac alone, ascended to the summit, whereon was to be reared
+an altar, which awakened more intense solicitude in heaven, than any
+offering before or since, except on Calvary, where God's "only be-gotten
+and well-beloved Son" was slain. There is no higher moral sublimity than
+the unwavering trust and cheerful obedience of this patriarch, when the
+very oath of the Almighty seemed perjured, and the bow of promise
+blotted from the firmament of faith!
+
+But he believed Jehovah, and would have clung to his assurance, though
+the earth had reeled in her orbit, and every star drifted from its
+moorings. He prayed for strength, with his hand on the forehead of his
+submissive son.
+
+  "He rose up, and laid
+  The wood upon the altar. All was done,
+  He stood a moment--and a deep, quick flush
+  Passed o'er his countenance; and then he nerved
+  His spirit with a bitter strength, and spoke--
+  'Isaac! my only son'--the boy looked up,
+  And Abraham turned his face away, and wept.
+  'Where is the lamb, my father?' O, the tones,
+  The sweet, the thrilling music of a child!
+  How it doth agonize at such an hour!
+  It was the last, deep struggle--Abraham held
+  His loved, his beautiful, his only son,
+  And lifted up his arm, and called on God
+  And lo! God's angel staid him--and he fell
+  Upon his face and wept."
+
+The years fled, the good old Abraham died, and Isaac succeeded him to
+the patriarchal honors. He had two sons, Esau and Jacob. The elder
+brother was irreligious, and married a heathen wife. God had rejected
+him, and promised to Jacob the birthright; in other words, he was to be
+the chief patriarch, through whose descendants the Messiah should come.
+He was his mother's favorite boy, while Isaac clung to Esau.
+
+When the fond father became weak and blind from age, feeling that death
+was near, one day he called Esau, and told him as he might die suddenly,
+to get him venison, and prepare for the solemn occasion of receiving his
+parting blessing, which should secure the privileges and pre-eminence of
+the first-born. The hunter went into the fields, and Rebekah recollected
+that Jacob had purchased the birthright of his brother for a mess of
+pottage one day when he came in from the chase faint with hunger and
+exhaustion. She determined by a stroke of management to secure the
+patriarchal benediction. She sent him to the flocks after two kids,
+which were prepared with the savory delicacy his father loved, dressed
+him up in Esau's apparel, covering his hands and neck to imitate the
+hairiness of the rightful heir, and sent him to the beside of the dying
+Isaac. When the patriarch inquired who he was, he replied, "I am Esau,
+thy first-born." This was beyond belief, because even the skillful
+hunter could scarcely, without a miracle, so soon bring in the game, and
+dress it for his table. Jacob was called to his side, and he felt of his
+hands; the disguise completed the delusion, although his voice had the
+milder tone of the young shepherd to that father's ear. He repeated the
+interrogation concerning his name, then embracing him, pronounced in a
+strain of true poetry, the perpetual blessing of Jehovah's favor upon
+his undertakings, and his posterity. The stratagem had succeeded, and
+Jacob hastened to inform his mother of the victory, just as Esau
+entered. When Isaac discovered the mistake, he trembled with excitement,
+while his son cried in anguish, "Bless even me also, O my father!" That
+cry pierced the breaking heart of the aged man, but it was a fruitless
+lament, He was inflexible, and Esau wept aloud over his blasted hopes;
+plotting at the same time, in his awakened enmity, the murder of Jacob.
+
+This scene of deception, disappointment, and providential working, the
+introductory picture brings vividly before us.
+
+The patriarchs were generally shepherds, and when we read in the Bible
+of shepherds, we have but a poor impression of their business, if we
+think only of the keeping of the small flocks kept in the fenced fields
+and yards of modern farmers. They made their wealth chiefly by feeding
+immense flocks and herds. They had extensive open plains; and were
+obliged to watch the animals to prevent their being lost, stolen by
+robbers, or devoured by ferocious beasts. When it was at all safe, the
+shepherds and their flocks slept in the fields, beneath the open sky, or
+under the sheltering trees.
+
+
+[Illustration: The Welcome to a Wayward Son.]
+
+
+If the country was infested by dangerous men or animals, the owners of
+the flocks built the fold or sheep-cote. This enclosure was sometimes
+merely a rude pen. The walls were of wood or stone, with a thatched
+roof--if they had any at all. The shepherd follows a wayward sheep, and
+brings him back to a place of safety.
+
+Thus the Good Shepherd of souls, whose disciples, like the flocks of the
+East, "know his voice," with his rod of affliction restrains the
+wandering and keeps securely the trusting ones.
+
+Occasionally a rich land owner would make an expensive fold--a kind of
+town or fortress for his flocks. Keeping the sheep in the air, it was
+believed improved the texture of the wool, making it softer and firmer
+than when exposed to the sweating and vapors which would necessarily
+result from crowding them often and long into enclosures.
+
+Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were among the richest shepherds of
+antiquity, and stand alone in moral grandeur of character, so far as we
+have any records of the Hebrew husbandmen.
+
+The great enemy of the sheep the world over, is the wolf--a cunning,
+savage, and daring creature. A lamb of the flock seems to be a dainty
+feast for him. He relishes even a child; the human delicacy is quite as
+delicious as the other. A mother, with three children, was once riding
+in a sledge in a desolate region, when a pack of wolves came running
+after her. She drove rapidly on, but they came nearer and nearer, until
+their hot breath fell on her face. In her terror, she threw one of the
+children to the hungry wolves, hoping thus to pacify or check them until
+she could get out of their reach. Soon, however, they came galloping on,
+surrounding her sledge, and she flung another upon the snow. A brief
+delay, and they were once more around her, and the last child was given
+to the beasts; and then she reached her home in safety.
+
+When she told the story to her neighbors, an exasperated peasant hewed
+her down with an axe, because she fed the wolves on her own offspring,
+selfishly saving by the sacrifice, her own life.
+
+How like the destroyers of human virtue, and the great destroyer
+himself! Wolves in sheep's clothing, stealing upon unguarded victims,
+and glorying in the destruction of all that is "lovely and of good
+report." for the transitory present and endless future!
+
+We now turn to the annals of a patriarchal life which is entirely new,
+and intensely interesting--the only record of the kind in the Bible.
+
+The inspired history introduces him in the following words: "There was a
+man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job." This region was in Eastern
+Arabia, and probably near the home of Abram when he was summoned by God
+to leave his idolatrous friends and neighbors in "Ur of the Chaldees."
+
+It is thought he lived not far from the time of the great founder of the
+Hebrew patriarchy. Job was probably a descendant of Nahor, Abram's
+brother. He was a devout, rich, and benevolent Gentile patriarch. The
+princely fortune of this "greatest of all the men of the East," is
+indicated by an inventory of his flocks and herds. He had "seven
+thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of
+oxen, and five hundred she asses." His household was also "very great."
+This mighty man was a humble servant of God; and Satan could not bear to
+see his influence and prosperity; and he determined to make him the
+shining mark of his enmity to God and man.
+
+The mysterious account of his entrance upon the cruel work of attempted
+ruin, is in the following words: "Now there was a day when the sons of
+God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also
+among them." The saints of that early age were called "Sons of God," but
+the meaning seems to be that either Satan was permitted to appear in a
+gathering of angels who, returning from their ministries of love, were
+reporting to their king, and awaiting new instructions, or, it is
+designed only to represent the real character and power of the tempter,
+in contrast with the loyalty of God's servant.
+
+The whole narrative bears the marks of a real history; and Jehovah is
+not limited by our ideas of what he can consistently do. "My ways are
+not your ways, nor my thoughts your thoughts, saith the Lord."
+
+The devil charged Job with selfish motives in serving God. He could
+afford to be religious with such rare and splendid prosperity. To show
+to the universe Satan's lying malice, his loyal subject's holy
+character, and to comfort his people in all the ages following, while
+the discipline purified and beautified the sufferer, he told the
+adversary to try the patriarch with a change of circumstances--the
+severest trials; only his body must not be touched.
+
+The gratified fiend hastened away to his attack upon the unsuspecting
+friend of God, over whom he anticipated a great victory. The patriarch's
+family was large, and evidently a united and happy one. They had their
+anniversary festivals, which were hallowed by religious services; the
+faithful and affectionate father offering sacrifices on such occasions.
+The Lord was recognized amid the most joyful scenes of social life; and
+not, as in many prosperous households of Christian name in all the ages
+since, excluded from the circle of pleasure like an unwelcome, unworthy
+guest.
+
+[Illustration: The Cruel Husbandman.]
+
+
+The birthday seems to have been the favorite anniversary; and at the
+very moment Satan left Jehovah, the children were assembled at the house
+of the oldest brother. Job was not there. He may have gone away for
+awhile, or not yet have joined the rejoicing company.
+
+For a messenger rushed into his presence with the startling intelligence
+that the lawless Sabeans living in the region, had fallen upon the
+servants keeping the oxen and asses, and slaying them, had taken the
+animals away. No sooner had the devil obtained permission to engage, in
+the wicked enterprise, than he found ready agents among men. And before
+the evil report was finished, another terrified, excited servant, came
+in, saying that the lightning of heaven had consumed the seven thousand
+sheep.
+
+This intelligence was falling from the lips of the only shepherd who
+escaped the devouring fire, when a third messenger entered, pale with
+alarm, and announced the raid of three companies of Chaldeans upon the
+keepers of the three thousand camels, killing all but the bearer of the
+news, and driving off the beasts of burden. The trembling man was
+interrupted by the sudden appearance of the fourth servant, wild with
+terror, crowning the crushing tidings already received, by telling Job
+that a gale from the wilderness had swept down upon the eldest son's
+dwelling, where the whole family were, excepting the patriarch, and
+thrown walls and roof into a common wreck, burying his ten children
+under the fragments.
+
+We cannot easily imagine the stunning effect of these reports, following
+each other like successive claps of thunder from a cloudless sky. Satan
+was watching the effect, ready to exult over the first expression of
+repining and rebellion. But how sublime the resignation of the loyal
+heart of the childless, homeless, and penniless sufferer! After the
+eastern custom in time of affliction, he cut off his hair, rent his
+robe, fell upon the ground, and worshipped. The lips, tremulous with
+sorrow, uttered the often-quoted and beautiful words: "The Lord gave,
+and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." No
+disloyal act, or foolish complaint against Jehovah, gratified the
+expectant enemy of God and man. But Satan was not satisfied with the
+trial of faith. He was allowed to appear before God, and in answer to
+the questioning respecting the patriarch's lofty yet meek submission,
+basely and meanly declared that if he had been permitted to torture the
+body, he should have succeeded in proving Job to be a hypocrite. The
+Lord had purposed to silence the devil, and thoroughly try and sanctify
+his own child. So he told the tempter to do what he pleased, only he
+must spare life.
+
+Suddenly poor Job was covered with burning ulcers, which defiled his
+form until he scraped it with a piece of broken pitcher. While sitting
+in the dust, a wretched mass of corruption, he found a new tempter in
+the person of his wife: She asked him if he could still "retain his
+integrity," and urged him to "curse God and die." Beautifully again his
+breaking heart uttered its loyalty. Charging her with folly, he
+inquired: "What! shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we
+not receive evil?"
+
+The scene of sorrow is now changed. Job had three friends living in the
+country not far off, who were clearly intelligent, noble men. They heard
+of his calamities, and started on a visit of condolence. When they came
+in sight of him, he was so changed that at first they did not know him.
+They wept aloud, rent their robes, and scattered dust on their heads, to
+express their overwhelming grief. There he sat, in miserable poverty and
+disease, and all around him the ruins of his just before magnificent
+fortune, and the bodies or graves of his sons and daughters. They
+approached him, and could say nothing, but sat down with him seven days
+and nights without speaking a word--an awful, expressive silence. At
+length Job could refrain no longer, but in his despondency, began to
+bewail his birth, and wish he had at least died in earliest infancy.
+Then was opened a long, eloquent, and wonderful discussion by the
+mourning company upon the providence and grace of God.
+
+Jehovah at length spake from the rolling cloud, borne on the "wings of
+the wind," and indicated his dealings with a fallen race, pointing the
+debaters for illustrations of power, wisdom, and glory, to his works of
+creation, from the "crooked serpent" to "Orion and the Pleiades,"
+floating in the nightly sky--the wonders of ocean, earth, and air.
+
+Among the animals to which reference is made, there are three
+conspicuous ones, about which naturalists disagree--they cannot
+certainly tell us what they were. These are the unicorn, supposed by
+many to be the rhinoceros of the present day; the behemoth, thought to
+be the hippopotamus or river-horse; and the leviathan, which answers
+very well to the whale.
+
+The description of the war horse is the finest ever written, and given
+in a few words; and yet he had not been seen amid the wildest storm of
+battle, bearing his rider to the flaming mouths of ordnance, and through
+the leaden hail of numberless infantry arms. "Hast thou given the horse
+strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him
+afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. He
+paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength, he goeth on to meet
+the armed men. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither
+turneth he back from the sword. The quiver rattleth against him, the
+glittering spear and the shield. He swalloweth the ground with
+fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the
+trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle
+afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting."
+
+He alludes to a very beautiful wonder of his forming skill--"the
+treasures of the snow." Few persons imagine the marvels of the fleecy
+storm that whiten the earth in winter. What a variety of perfect
+crystals! and how delicate their form and finish! The ice is made of
+crystals, and often gives out aeolion music at the touch of winter. Even
+the frost makes fine drawings on the window panes of leaves and flowers.
+
+But the people of Palestine and the regions around it, know little of
+our northern winters. The cold season is brief, and the occasional snow
+storms light, and of short duration.
+
+After God had finished his sublime appeal, Job bowed his head low before
+him, and declared that all he had known of him before, compared with
+what he had learned since he was afflicted, was no more than hearing
+about him; "for," he added, "now mine eye seeeth thee; wherefore I abhor
+myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
+
+Then the Lord rebuked Job's friends, because they had judged him
+harshly, and "had multiplied words without knowledge," directing them to
+offer a sacrifice for him.
+
+The patriarch prospered again under Jehovah's smile, and became greater
+in wealth, and family, and influence, than he was when Satan assailed
+him. The deceiver and persecutor does not appear again in the annals of
+the devout Arabian; disappointed and enraged, he turned his malice
+against others more easily conquered and led captive by his wiles.
+
+How awakening the thought that he still goes about "as a roaring lion,
+seeking whom he may devour." But with loving trust in God, he can only
+repeat his fruitless effort to destroy, preparing the way for richest
+blessings.
+
+
+[Illustration: Nathan Reproving David]
+
+
+[Illustration: David's Charge to Solomon.]
+
+
+
+THE BIBLE AND THE HOLY LAND.
+
+PATRIARCHS. KINGS. AND KINGDOMS.
+
+THE FIRST KINGS.
+
+Theocracy, we have seen, was the first form of government in the world.
+
+The word is from Theos, which means God; for He ruled by direct command,
+and would have continued to have been the only and perfect sovereign,
+had not man been disloyal to him.
+
+The patriarchal quay, which was that of the family, having at length
+united households and extended authority, was still a Theocracy.
+
+When God made his people a separate nation, each of the twelve tribes,
+which sprang from the sons of Jacob, had its own ruler. If any important
+matter concerning them all demanded public attention, they called an
+assembly of their leaders.
+
+When the bondage in Egypt was broken, Moses was the deliverer and
+lawgiver of Israel, and Joshua the great general or military chieftain.
+
+The high priest was the visible servant of God--his representative of
+the Redeemer of his people.
+
+Then came the judges, who were a kind of governors, having power to
+declare war and make peace for the nation, but wearing no badges of
+distinction. Jehovah revealed through them his will, and was still the
+glorious king of Israel.
+
+With the increase in numbers and general prosperity, there was a
+decrease of the religious element and of harmony among the people. They
+also ceased to appreciate the simple and sublime principles of a
+Theocracy, while all around them was the central power and the pomp of
+pagan monarchies; and they became tired of God's holy sovereignty,
+having no visible display of authority. There were dissensions and civil
+strife in Israel, in consequence of these departures from the Lord, and
+strange melancholy blindness to their preeminence over other nations.
+
+It was with them as it will be in the great American Republic, if
+Puritan faith and works decline, until practical atheism prevails in our
+"goodly land." The people will throw off wholesome restraints, become
+divided North and South, and corrupt in morals, until a monarchy will be
+the natural resort of the people, as a protection against their own
+selfish passions and conflicts.
+
+Samuel, the wonderful child of Elkanah and Hannah, given to them, like
+Jephthah and Samson, as a special mark of divine favor, and who early
+entered the temple-service under Eli, was the last of the judges,
+excepting the authority which he delegated to his sons. He was a noble,
+dutiful and devout boy, and a faithful priest and magistrate in Israel.
+Eli, whose sons were dissipated, and slain by God's revealed purpose on
+account of their enemies, preceded him, so that Samuel saw the last of
+the Theocracy, and inaugurated by the Lord's command a monarchy in
+Palestine.
+
+The Hebrews came to him begging for a king, and urging, as one reason
+for the change, the unfitness of his sons to succeed him. They were
+mercenary and open to bribery, and it is not strange that they were
+disliked by the people. It is one of many instances of departure by
+children from the counsels and prayers of the kindest parents, and
+choosing the "wages of sin."
+
+Samuel took the petition of the people to God for direction in answering
+it. The Lord's message was the following:
+
+"Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee: for
+they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should
+not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done,
+since the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, even to this
+day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they
+also to thee. Now, therefore, hearken to their voice: nevertheless
+testify solemnly to them, and show them the practice of the king that
+shall reign over them."
+
+He then enumerated the burdens of the state which they must bear. The
+inventory of these royal exactions is so true to the experience of all
+countries under kingly rule, you will read it with interest. It was the
+first divine statement of the nature of a monarchy, and has needed no
+important change in the progress of the ages. Jehovah told Samuel to
+repeat the following description of the desired blessing, a king:
+
+"He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots,
+and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he
+will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and
+will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make
+his instruments of war and instruments of chariots. And he will take
+your daughters to be confectioners, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
+And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive-yards,
+even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take
+the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give them to his
+officers, and to his servants; and he will take your men-servants, and
+your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and
+put them to his works. And he will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye
+shall be his servants. And ye shall cry out in that day, beware of your
+king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in
+that day."
+
+
+[Illustration: Saul and the Witch of Endor.]
+
+
+God had selected the first monarch of earth outside of heathenism. In
+the comparatively small tribe of Benjamin, was a man of honorable
+ancestry named Kish. His son, Saul, was a splendid young man, and would
+have attracted admiring attention anywhere, and in any land under the
+sun, then or since his day. He was taller from his shoulders than all
+the rest of Israel's men, and possessed of the highest style of manly
+beauty. Repeated mention is made of his noble figure and bearing. The
+providential circumstances which attended his promotion were remarkable.
+
+
+He had wandered about for three days seeking the strayed asses of his
+father. Fatigued with the unsuccessful search, he was inclined to
+abandon it and return home, when, finding himself near Ramah, where
+Samuel lived, he resolved to consult one who was renowned in all Israel
+as a man from whom nothing was hid. Instructed in the divine designs
+regarding Saul, the prophet received him with honor. He assured him that
+the asses which he had sought were already found, and invited him to
+stay with him until the next morning. Saul was in fact the man on whom
+the divine appointment to be the first king of Israel had fallen. A hint
+of this high destiny produced from the astonished stranger a modest
+declaration of his insufficiency. But the prophet gave him the place of
+honor before all the persons whom--foreknowing the time of his arrival--
+he had invited to his table. As is still usual in summer, Saul slept on
+the flat roof of the house; and was called early in the morning by
+Samuel, who walked forth some way with him on his return home. When they
+had got beyond the town they stopped, and Samuel then anointed Saul as
+the person whom God had chosen to be "captain over his inheritance;" and
+gave him the first kiss of civil homage. In token of the reality of
+these things, and to assure the mind of the bewildered young man, the
+prophet foretold the incidents of his homeward journey, and, in parting,
+desired his attendance on the seventh day following at Gilgal.
+
+On the day and at the place appointed, Samuel assembled a general
+convocation of the tribes for the election of a king. As usual, under
+the Theocracy, the choice of God was manifested by the sacred lot. The
+tribe of Benjamin was chosen; and of the families of Benjamin, that of
+Matri was taken; and, finally, the lot fell upon the person of Saul, the
+son of Kish. Anticipating this result, he had modestly concealed himself
+to avoid an honor which he so little desired. But he was found and
+brought before the people, who beheld with enthusiasm his finely
+developed form and preeminence in appearance, and hailed him as their
+king.
+
+Many prominent persons of the great tribes were jealous and indignant,
+because the smallest tribe, and a young man whose chief claim to the
+honor was his fine figure, had been chosen. They refused to join the
+masses in their homage, and Saul displayed his shrewdness in "holding
+his peace."
+
+And the wisdom of God was apparent in the result; for he gradually
+united the discordant elements around him, and became established in
+power. Soon after came the trial of his ability as a general.
+
+The Ammonites, a mighty and warlike people under king Nahash, besieged
+the important town of Jabesh-Gilead. The beleaguered place was at length
+compelled to ask terms of capitulation. The proud and cruel reply was,
+that every man should have his right eye put out.
+
+The Jabesh-Gileadites agreed to the hard conditions, unless help reached
+them within seven days. Messengers hastened to Saul, in Gibeah, and
+found him returning from his herds in the field. The story of the
+invasion and peril roused all the energies and martial spirit of a king
+worthy of his crown.  It was the Lord's inspiration for his high office,
+and immediate command of the army.
+
+The inhabitants were timid; and to awaken their courage he slew oxen,
+had them quartered, and sent the pieces over the kingdom, assuring those
+who were able to fight, that unless they hastened to the rescue all
+their cattle should have a similar slaughter. The volunteers came
+pouring in, and Saul marched to Jabesh-Gilead. A battle followed, and
+the Ammonites were routed with terrible slaughter. It was a grand
+victory, and won for Saul the glory of military genius. This settled the
+question of his right to reign, and his sceptre was held over an
+undivided people.
+
+Retaining three thousand men, he followed up the conquest by an attack
+upon the Philistines, who had conquered on the south, and deprived
+Israel of weapons of war, and implements of husbandry. Only Saul and
+Jonathan had either sword or spear. The latter, a gifted and noble young
+man, distinguished himself, under God's special benediction, in a
+successful assault upon a garrison of the Philistines. The enemy rallied
+in full strength, and Saul prepared to meet them with additional forces.
+
+Samuel had appointed sacrifices to be made before the campaign was
+opened, and because he did not appear in Gilgal when Saul expected him,
+the king turned priest, and presented the offerings. This rashness
+revealed his undevout character and haughty self-will, which proved his
+ruin.
+
+
+[Illustration: Saul Rejected.]
+
+
+Meanwhile the most of his troops had scattered, through fear of the
+powerful foe. But Jonathan determined to make a bold onset, and, with
+his armor-bearer, climbed a high cliff, and fell upon the Philistines.
+They supposed the Hebrews were rushing from ambush upon them, and began
+to fly. Saul entered the field and aided in the overthrow of the
+defeated warriors, slaying and treading each other down in the wild
+confusion of the retreat.
+
+During the last years of Saul's reign, conscious that God had forsaken
+him, in one of his campaigns against the Philistines he sought the
+counsel of a witch. When he beheld the vast force which the Philistine
+states had, by a mighty effort, brought into the field, dire misgivings
+as to the result arose in his mind; and now, at last, in this extremity,
+he sought counsel of God. But the Lord answered him not by any of the
+usual means--by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets. Finding himself thus
+forsaken, he had recourse to a witch at Endor, not far from Gilboa, to
+whom he repaired by night in disguise, and conjured her to evoke the
+spirit of Samuel, that he might ask counsel of him in this fearful
+emergency. Accordingly, an aged and mantled figure arose, which Saul
+took to be the ghost of Samuel, though whether it were really so or not
+has been much questioned. The king bowed himself reverently, and told
+the reason for which he had called him from the dead. The figure, in
+reply, told him that God had taken the crown from his house, and given
+it to a worthier man; that, on the next day, the Philistines would
+triumph over Israel; and that he and his sons should be slain in the
+battle. The king swooned at these heavy tidings, but soon recovered,
+and, having taken some refreshment, returned the same night to the camp.
+
+The engraver's art has produced a picture of this strange scene, one
+which cannot be clearly and satisfactorily explained.
+
+Saul received orders, through Samuel, to execute the Lord's "fierce
+wrath" upon the Amelekites, who had formerly been doomed to utter
+extermination, for opposing the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.
+The result of the war put it fully in the king's power to fulfil his
+commission; but he retained the best of the cattle as booty, and brought
+back the Amalekite king Agag as a prisoner. Here Saul again ventured to
+use his own discretion where his commission left him none. For this the
+divine decree, excluding his descendants from the throne, was again and
+irrevocably pronounced by Samuel, who met him at Gilgal on his return.
+The stern prophet then directed the Amalekite king to be brought forth
+and slain by the sword, after which he departed to his own home, and
+went no more to see Saul to the day of his death, though he ceased not
+to bemoan his misconduct, and the forfeiture it had incurred.
+
+The next engraving is a very good view of this crisis in Saul's
+destiny--his rejection by God and his prophet. When Samuel turned to
+leave the king, the terrified ruler seized his mantle, and in the
+struggle it was torn. The prophet improved the incident by telling him
+that thus should his kingdom be rent from him, and given to a neighbor.
+
+We cannot follow Saul through all the achievements and crimes of his
+eventful reign; the abandonment of him by the grieved and indignant
+Samuel; his deceptive prosperity; and his conscious desertion by God,
+until his fits of depression bordered on madness. He had genius and
+heroism, but a bad heart, and the hour of his overthrow drew near.
+
+The venerable and gifted prophet who anointed the king was commanded by
+Jehovah to consecrate the successor to the throne. He was directed to go
+to Bethlehem, and there anoint one of the sons of Jesse. He knew that
+should Saul be informed of the errand, his days were numbered. The doom
+of a traitor would follow the solemn act.
+
+To protect his servant the Lord told Samuel to offer a sacrifice, and
+tell the king he was going to Bethlehem for the purpose.
+
+When Samuel reached Bethlehem, he laid the offerings upon the altar, and
+invited a worthy citizen and his family to the sacrifice. The good man's
+name was Jesse, and he had eight sons. Eliab, the eldest, like Saul, was
+fine-looking--tall, athletic, and commanding in his personal appearance.
+Samuel thought he must be the future king of Israel; but God revealed to
+him his mistake. Six brothers followed him in their presentation to the
+prophet, and the Lord gave the same intimation of his will he had
+respecting Eliab.
+
+The man of God was perplexed. What could he do, if these were the only
+sons of Jesse, as it seemed, for no more came? It occurred to him,
+however, that possibly there might be another boy, and he inquired of
+Jesse if it were not so.
+
+The excellent father had sent the youngest son, about fifteen years old,
+to keep the sheep, and it did not even enter his mind that this mere
+child could have any thing to do with the affairs of the kingdom. He
+stated the facts to Samuel, who immediately desired to see the lad. He
+was sent for, and soon stood before the prophet. The patriarchal servant
+of the Infinite One looked upon the noble boy, with his "ruddy and
+beautiful countenance," and saw in him the next monarch of Israel.
+
+
+[Illustration: Christ Blessing Little Children.]
+
+
+David stood among his brethren, a modest, bewildered shepherd boy,
+uninjured by unholy gratification of passion and appetite--a
+pure-minded, manly, and devout youth.
+
+God told Samuel to anoint him, and he poured the consecrating oil upon
+the fair brow of the astonished David. Then the Spirit of the Lord came
+upon him, and departed from Saul altogether. The juvenile shepherd and
+hero, who had slain a lion and a bear, in defence of his sheep, returned
+to his flocks, a king in destiny.
+
+Remorse, the predictions of Samuel against him, and baleful passions,
+made Saul so wretchedly melancholy, that some of his attendants
+suggested to the monarch that he should try the soothing effect of
+music. The proposition was favorably received, and upon the
+recommendation of another friend, David, the son of Jesse, of whom Saul
+knew nothing before, was sent for to play upon the harp. The young
+minstrel won the respect and affection of the royal household, and his
+harpings were the principal solace of the infatuated and gloomy king,
+who at length made David his armor-bearer.
+
+You know the warriors of ancient time wore armor made of metal to
+protect the body from the spear and sword, the common weapons of the
+battle-field; and men were appointed by monarchs to have the care of it.
+
+Since their last great discomfiture, the Philistines had recruited their
+strength, and in the thirtieth year of Saul's reign, and the twentieth
+of David's life, they again took the field against the Israelites. It
+curiously illustrates the nature of warfare in those times, to find that
+the presence, in the army of the Philistines, of one enormous giant,
+about nine or ten feet high, filled them with confidence, and struck the
+Israelites with dread. Attended by his armor-bearer, and clad in
+complete mail, with weapons to match his huge bulk, the giant, whose
+name was Goliah, presented himself daily between the two armies, and,
+with insulting language, defied the Israelites to produce a champion
+who, by single combat, might decide the quarrel between the nations.
+This was repeated many days; but no Israelite was found bold enough to
+accept the challenge. At length David, who had come to the battle-field
+with food for his brethren, no longer able to endure the taunts and
+blasphemies of Goliah, offered himself for the combat. The king,
+contrasting the size and known prowess of the giant with the youth and
+inexperience of Jesse's son, dissuaded him from the enterprise. But as
+David expressed his strong confidence that the God of Israel, who had
+delivered him from the lion and the bear, when he tended his father's
+flock, would also deliver him from the proud Philistine, Saul at length
+allowed him to go forth against Goliah. Refusing all armor of proof, and
+weapons of common warfare, David advanced to the combat, armed only with
+his shepherd's sling, and a few smooth pebbles picked up from the brook
+which flowed through the valley. The astonished giant felt insulted at
+such an opponent, and poured forth such horrid threats as might have
+appalled anyone less strong in faith than the son of Jesse. But as he
+strode forward to meet David, the latter slung one of his smooth stones
+with so sure an aim and so strong an arm, that it smote his opponent in
+the middle of the forehead, and brought him to the ground.
+
+The praises of the people lavished on David excited Saul's jealousy, and
+he sought in various ways to kill David, who seemed to have a charmed
+life; for God was with him, and no blow aimed at his life was
+successful.
+
+The king's son, Jonathan, loved David devotedly, and more than once
+saved him from the wrath of Saul.
+
+After hunting the son of Jesse, consulting witches in his desperation,
+and fighting the Philistines in bloody conflicts, near Mount Gilboa,
+defeated and wounded, he committed suicide by falling on his sword. Thus
+ended the career of the first king of the Hebrew nation.
+
+David, under divine guidance, went to Hebron, and was there publicly
+anointed king by the tribe of Judah. But Abner, a splendid general, and
+a great friend of Saul, induced the rest of the tribes to acknowledge
+Ishbosheth, the only son of Saul then living, as their sovereign. Soon,
+however, a quarrel with his protege, led him to join David, who was at
+length proclaimed king by all the people.
+
+After years of prosperity in war and peace, he had a sanguinary battle
+with the Ammonites. This occurred in the eighteenth year of his reign.
+The conduct of this war David intrusted to Joab, and remained himself at
+Jerusalem. There, while sauntering upon the roof of his palace, after
+the noonday sleep, which is usual in the East, he perceived a woman
+whose great beauty attracted his regard. She proved to be Bathsheba, the
+wife of Uriah, an officer of Canaanitish origin, then absent with the
+army besieging Rabbah, the capital of Ammon. David was so fascinated
+with her that he determined to add her to his royal household. He sent
+for Uriah to Jerusalem. Having heard from him the particulars of the
+war, which he pretended to require, the king dismissed him to his own
+home. But Uriah, feeling that it ill became a soldier to seek his bed
+while his companions lay on the hard ground, under the canopy of heaven,
+exposed to the attacks of the enemy, remained all night in the hall of
+the palace with the guards, and returned to the war without having seen
+Bathsheba. David made him the bearer of an order to Joab to expose him
+to certain death, in some perilous enterprize against the enemy. He was
+obeyed by that unscrupulous general; and when David heard that Uriah was
+dead, he sent for Bathsheba, and made her his wife. He had already
+several wives, as was customary in those times; and among them was
+Michal, whom he had long ago reclaimed from the man to whom she had been
+given by the unprincipled Saul.
+
+
+[Illustration: The Woman of Canaan.]
+
+
+David, whose undisputed authority, and admiration of the beautiful
+Bathsheba, deceived him, blinding his moral vision, thought all was
+safe. Death and royalty seemed to cover forever his sin.
+
+But never was a man more mistaken. God sent Nathan, a fearless, faithful
+prophet, to rebuke him. So the seer went to him, inquiring what should
+be done with a man who had robbed a poor neighbor of his only and pet
+lamb. The king, who was really loyal to God, and just in his aims,
+indignantly said that the robber should die, and the lamb be restored.
+Then Nathan fixed his eye on the king, and, pointing to him, exclaimed
+courageously, "Thou art the man!"
+
+David bowed his head and wept under the pointed reproof, and began to
+cry, "Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, oh, God, thou God of my
+salvation."
+
+What a fine example of faithful preaching, and of an honest hearer! This
+illustration of true penitence, which is given in the picture at the
+beginning of this history of the kings, suggests a good story of modern
+date. Jacob, an intelligent negro, was bribed and intoxicated to make
+him commit murder. He was convicted of the crime, and sent to the State
+prison for life. He could not read, but a bible was in his cell, and he
+learned so rapidly that soon he could pick out the words and get the
+meaning. He would run his finger over each letter of the fifty-first
+Psalm, especially the fourteenth verse, until he enamelled it with his
+touch. The bible is still kept by an excellent man, as a relic of
+prison-life. For Jacob was pardoned, went to the lovely town of C-,
+N.Y.,  and became an eminent Christian. His monument is one of the
+highest in the cemetery.
+
+The Scriptures describe David as "a man after God's own heart." By this
+we are not to understand that David always acted rightly, or that God
+approved of all he did. Its meaning is, that, in his public capacity, as
+king of Israel, he acted in accordance with the true theory of the
+theocratical government; was always alive to his dependence on the
+Supreme King; took his own true place in the system, and aspired to no
+other; and conducted all his undertakings with reference to the Supreme
+Will. He constantly calls himself "the servant (or vassal) of Jehovah,"
+and that, and no other, was the true place for the human king of Israel
+to fill. In thus limiting the description of David as "a man after God's
+own heart," it is not necessary for us to vindicate all his acts, or to
+uphold him as an immaculate character. But the same ardent temperament
+which sometimes betrayed his judgment in his public acts, led him into
+great errors and crimes. It also made him the first to discover his
+lapse, and the last to forgive himself.
+
+Domestic afflictions humbled David, and persecution by enemies
+embittered his life. The kingly crown had its thorns. An only child died
+in infancy. Afterwards, his handsome and popular son, Absalom, was
+ambitious to get the throne of his father, and became the leader of a
+great revolt, in whose conflicts he was slain.
+
+Solomon, another son, was the heir chosen by the Lord, to the crown of
+David. And when the monarch of Israel drew near the close of his stormy,
+yet splendid reign, he called the intellectual, comely, and dutiful boy
+to his bedside, to give him his last words of counsel and blessing.
+
+This scene is depicted in the colored engraving. Among the paternal
+exhortations to the young prince was the following impressive address:
+"And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy fathers, and serve
+him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind; for the Lord
+searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the
+thoughts. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee but if thou forsake
+him, he will cast thee off forever."
+
+Solomon, the second king of Israel, desired and sought, before riches
+and honors, wisdom from God, to govern well the people, and it was
+freely given.
+
+Under his father's sceptre, Palestine was great in martial achievements,
+national wealth, and the fine arts; for the king was a poet and a
+musician. Solomon was a man of peace, and during his reign the kingdom
+reached its highest glory in oriental splendor and luxury. The temple he
+built was a monument of munificence, skill, and royal zeal for God's
+honor.
+
+What a wonderful display of wisdom was that decision in the case of the
+two women, one of whom, in her sleep, lying upon her babe, had smothered
+it, and claimed the living child of the other, who lodged with her. He
+knew when he sent for the executioner, and told him to cut in two parts
+the live babe, giving to each a half, that the mother would be seen in
+the effect of the command to slay. And so it was. The faithless woman
+said let it be so; the loving, yearning mother exclaimed no, rather let
+the other have the child. Solomon wisely decided the matter, directing
+the attendants to give the unconscious object of controversy to her to
+whom it belonged.
+
+But this rich and popular monarch was led into sin by his unbounded
+prosperity, and indulging in forbidden pleasures. Afterwards he bitterly
+mourned over his folly and shameful weakness, in departing from the
+living God. This varied and, much of it, wasted life, led the king, in
+his sober years of declining age, to write the Book of Proverbs and
+Ecclesiastes, so full of the profoundest knowledge of mankind and wisest
+counsel. It is said that the Scotch are preeminently discerning and
+intelligent, because they are so familiar with the Scriptures,
+especially the proverbs of Solomon.
+
+There were no more such monarchs in Israel, after David and Solomon, and
+the kingdom became divided and weakened, until the Jews were conquered
+and enslaved by their enemies. The expensive magnificence and luxury of
+Solomon's reign, and his departures from God into idolatrous worship,
+awakened the divine indignation.
+
+A prophet was commissioned to tell the wise, yet foolish monarch that
+the kingdom should be rent in twain, and the grandeur of his empire
+depart before the revolt of the ten tribes from Judah, which had
+absorbed the small tribe of Benjamin. Solomon was about sixty years old
+when he died. He had ruled forty years, and was buried nine hundred and
+seventy-five years before the advent of Christ. Rehoboam, the son of
+Solomon, was made king over Judah, and Jereboam, an Ephraimite, became
+sovereign of the ten tribes, who were called Israel.
+
+How interesting and instructive the history of the Hebrews, at this
+period!
+
+They got tired of the sovereignty of God, visible only in written rules
+of conduct, family government, and the prophet-judges, and desired to
+imitate their pagan neighbors in the pomp and power of royalty. Under
+their second monarch they quarrelled among themselves, engaged in civil
+strife, and became divided, rival kingdoms. During the five hundred
+years which followed, the successive kings of the two realms had, the
+most of them, brief sovereignty. Some of them were excellent kings, but
+the greater part were wicked and oppressive.
+
+Pre-eminent in crime was Ahab, whose wife, Jezebel, was a fit companion.
+
+Their names live in the world's history with a bad preeminence, like
+those of Herod, Nero, and similar rulers of ancient and modern times.
+
+The corpse of a ruler, or of the humblest subject, was ordinarily wound
+in grave-clothes, and laid in a sepulchre. This, in the early ages, was
+a room hewn out of a rock, a cave, or a grave which had no mound, nor
+any other mark, excepting monumental stones, with no inscriptions.
+
+The Arabian patriarch, Job, talked of kings and counsellors, who built
+for themselves "desolate places," which probably has reference to
+sepulchral monuments, cut out of the rock.
+
+The expression "a sepulchre on high," is an allusion to the custom
+anciently of placing the dead in tombs made in cliffs, sometimes
+hundreds of feet in height--a lofty, inaccessible resting-place for the
+body of a distinguished person.
+
+Some nations of the heathen world have always burned their dead. In
+Japan, recently, an American traveller witnessed this singular disposal
+of the lifeless remains. A priest was placed in a sitting posture in his
+coffin, and a fire built behind it, consuming to ashes the body. These
+relics were carefully gathered up, and put in a safe and sacred place
+for all coming time.
+
+It is a remarkable thing that the Bible does not record any solemn
+parade or imposing ceremonies over the burial of the Hebrew kings.
+
+Of David it is written, he "slept with his fathers, and was buried in
+the city of David." The same simple and impressive mention is made of
+Solomon's death. Monarchs were only men--sinners to be saved by grace,
+if rescued at all from the power and ruin of sin. It is hoped and
+believed by Christian people that Solomon, in his declining years,
+reviewed prayerfully and penitently his career, and found peace with a
+pardoning God.
+
+The sepulchre of royalty in Jerusalem, is well worthy of a visit by
+travellers in the Holy Land. Some of the stone coffins lean against the
+solid walls, others lie in massive richness of sculpture on the floor.
+
+The Jews called their burial places the house of the living, because of
+the expected resurrection--a beautiful sentiment, which rebukes the
+dismal thoughts and mourning of many Christian persons over the newly
+made graves of their departed friends.
+
+The beautiful tomb in the "valley of Jehosaphat," is one of
+comparatively modern construction, but it shows the admiration felt by
+the Hebrews for Absalom, with all his waywardness.
+
+
+[Illustration: Joseph Elevated to Power by Pharaoh.]
+
+
+[Illustration: The Israelites Carried into Captivity.]
+
+
+
+THE BIBLE AND THE HOLY LAND.
+
+PATRIARCHS, KINGS AND KINGDOMS.
+
+PALESTINE UNDER PAGAN KINGS.
+
+The picture which introduces these pages was drawn from a scene under
+the sceptre of the first monarch mentioned in the Bible.
+
+A comparatively unimportant prince, the "King of Sodom," whose small and
+wicked realm Jehovah destroyed by fire and brimstone, is mentioned.
+
+But the empire of the Pharaohs of Egypt, was large, rich, and
+magnificent. And it is a singular thing, that of this nation, and all
+others of antiquity, excepting what the Scriptures contain, the early
+history is little known. A great German historian, Dr. Von Rotteck,
+truly writes: "The principal trait that distinguishes the first period
+of the ancient world is its obscurity."
+
+The general belief is, that the founders of Egypt went from Ethiopia,
+and the Ethiopians from East India or South Arabia.
+
+"Where did the Indiamen have their origin?" you may ask; but no man can
+certainly answer. That all races sprang from Adam we have no doubt, but
+the lines of descent and emigration the wisest student of the past
+cannot follow.
+
+The living oracles, in brief statements, give us nearly all the reliable
+accounts we have of the early history of the "Land of the Nile," as
+Egypt was called. In them we learn that while the "chosen people of
+God," the only nation whose annals of growth in the number of its
+population and its civilization, has been handed down to us, was no more
+than a tribe of wandering shepherds under Abraham, Egypt was the home of
+art, and a garden of agricultural products.
+
+And yet the very nomades, who roamed over the uncultivated plains, like
+the Aborigines of this new world, have preserved the best records of the
+early condition of that ancient and wonderful empire, whose origin is
+lost in the distance and darkness of Pagan antiquities.
+
+It seems, from the tenth chapter of Genesis, that Egypt was settled by
+the descendants of Noah, through Ham, his second son.
+
+The next reference made to this remarkable country is in the twelfth
+chapter, where we are told of Abraham's visit there. Again, in the
+twenty-first chapter, is recorded the marriage of Ishmael to an Egyptian
+woman. In chapter twenty-ninth is related the story of Joseph's
+captivity and career in the capital of the Pagan monarchy. He was the
+twelfth son of Jacob, and one of Rachel's two boys--lovely in his
+youthful character, and the idol of his father. During a period of
+repose in sleep he had a singular dream. The first was, that while the
+brothers were all in the harvest-field at work his sheaf suddenly rose
+upright, and the sheaves of the eleven brethren stood up and bowed to
+his own. The intimation that he was to rule over them made them angry,
+and they hated him.
+
+Soon after Joseph's sleep he was disturbed by another dream. The sun,
+moon, and eleven stars, rendered homage to him. The interpretation of
+this was the same as that of the other, with the addition of his father
+and mother, who also bowed before him.
+
+It may seem strange that Joseph should relate any thing so complimentary
+to himself. But he evidently did it in no boasting mood. He simply
+narrated the extraordinary dreams, without the least idea of what was
+before him.
+
+But God saw what he did hot know, that their jealousy and enmity would
+be overruled for the temporal salvation of the family and nation.
+
+The venerable, thoughtful father, silently pondered over the singular
+experience of Joseph.
+
+The elder sons were shepherds, and fed their flocks in Shechem. How
+beautiful the ingenious, dutiful character of Joseph now appears! His
+father called him to go and find his brethren, to see how they were
+getting along. "Here am I," was his response. That is to say: "Although
+my brethren hate me, I am ready to serve you, and do any thing for
+them." He went to Shechem, but they had left; and the boy wandered about
+in the field looking for them. A citizen happened to see him, and was
+evidently interested in the beautiful stranger, bewildered and alone,
+and asked what he wanted. Joseph told him the truth of the case, when
+the man said that his brothers had taken their flocks to Dotham, a few
+miles distant.
+
+He started for that place, and while a "great way off," they saw and
+knew him. The conspiracy was instantly formed to dispose of the
+"dreamer."
+
+The first proposition was to kill him, but Reuben would not agree to the
+cruel suggestion. His plan was to cast the lad into a deep pit, till he
+could manage to get him back to his father. This less bloody way of
+disposing of Joseph was accepted, and when he came near they took off
+the "coat of many colors" the doting father had given him, and putting
+him in a pit without water which happened to be at hand, dipping it in
+blood to make his father think a beast killed him, they took it home.
+Scarcely was the interesting boy weeping in his prison before a caravan
+of Ishmaelites, and then of Midianites, came in sight.
+
+
+[Illustration: Moses Found in the Bulrushes.]
+
+
+A new idea now flashed upon their minds. They could avoid the unpleasant
+consciousness of probable murder, and make something out of his sale as
+a slave to the wandering traders. A bargain was soon made, and young
+Joseph, casting backward a farewell look of sad reproach, was carried
+away, and sold by the Midianites to the Ishmaelites, of whom Potiphar,
+the captain of Pharaoh's guard, bought him for a servant. God blessed
+the youth, and he was soon made overseer of the officer's household. But
+Potiphar's wife was a vile woman, and because Joseph was nobly true to
+God and virtue, made a false report of him, and had him put in prison.
+
+Egypt's monarch had wonderful dreams about a famine his astrologers
+could not explain; and a released prisoner, who had forgotten Joseph's
+kindness in explaining a dream of deliverance, advised the king to send
+for the Hebrew. The young man was taken to the palace, and gave a true
+interpretation of the dreams. Pharaoh was delighted; and from his
+dungeon Joseph went to the secret place of authority second to the king.
+Pharaoh said: "Only in the throne will I be greater than thou." He then
+put a ring on his finger, a gold chain on his neck, and arrayed him in
+fine apparel. The beautiful illustration sets this sudden and splendid
+promotion before us--the honor God put upon his youthful servant.
+
+Soon the predicted famine came, for which the gifted and prudent Joseph
+had made complete provision by storing up the abundant harvests. Among
+the sufferers from failing crops and pasturage, was the large family of
+Jacob--his sons and their households.
+
+In their extremity they turned to Egypt. Joseph's influence was such
+that the patriarch's delegation found favor with the king. The
+prime-minister of Egypt knew his brethren, but they had forgotten him.
+So he managed to find out all about his father's house, and made his
+brothers bring dear Benjamin, when he wept aloud, and made himself known
+to them all. Pharaoh sent for the whole race, and soon the Hebrew
+caravan reached the fruitful land of Goshen, which was exactly suited to
+the life of shepherds. Here the strangers grew in numbers and wealth,
+until Joseph died, and the friendly monarch also. His successor cared
+neither for Joseph nor his countrymen. He was a tyrant, and enslaved the
+dwellers in Goshen. Centuries of captivity wore away, and God determined
+to deliver his people, and send them back again to Palestine.
+
+The scene displayed in this picture you will recognize at a glance.
+Moses, the Hebrew babe, afloat on the Nile, in a small boat made of
+bulrushes by his mother, because Pharaoh was slaying the children of her
+nation, to get rid of them.
+
+Neither the haughty and cruel monarch, nor the mother, nor the little
+voyager, thought of Moses as the future deliverer of his countrymen from
+bondage--the great leader and lawgiver of Israel.
+
+We have already had glimpses of the Hebrews in the wilderness, their
+progress and rulers in Palestine, after the moving multitude reached the
+"promised land."
+
+The ages of changing sovereigns, and fortunes of crimes and discipline
+brought them at last to another mournful captivity.
+
+About six hundred years before Christ, while that wicked Manassah was
+king in Palestine, the monarch of Assyria--a grand and powerful
+empire--invaded it, and took Jerusalem. Manassah was carried in chains
+to Babylon, the splendid Assyrian capital. His son, Amon, became the
+sovereign under the Assyrian conqueror, but was soon assassinated, and
+Josiah took the throne.
+
+During his reign, the King of Egypt marched into Palestine and conquered
+it, killing Josiah, the king.
+
+A few years later, Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian monarch, besieged and
+took Jerusalem, the "City of David."
+
+The massive walls of the cities of old was their chief protection. Those
+of Babylon, according to the old Roman historians, were marvelously
+great. Think of them rising three hundred and fifty feet, eighty-seven
+feet in thickness, and extending sixty miles around the city! One writer
+says, that two four-horse chariots could pass each other on the top.
+They were built of brick, cemented together with bitumen.
+
+They had twenty gates made of solid brass, and were surmounted with two
+hundred and fifty towers.
+
+The city had six hundred and seventy-six squares, each over two miles in
+circumference. The river Euphrates flowed through the entire extent,
+from north to south.
+
+The hanging gardens, suspended from the walls, were gorgeous, and the
+public buildings rich and elegant.
+
+Such was the home of the Hebrew exiles for seventy years or more.
+
+Quintus Curtius, a Roman, has described the entrance of the great and
+victorious Alexander into Babylon, at a later period, who soon after
+died there of dissipation, while yet a young man. The pleasant sketch
+gives a vivid impression of the glory and pomp of this ancient capital
+of Babylon:
+
+
+[Illustration: Christ Declaring Who is Greatest.]
+
+
+"A great part of the inhabitants of Babylon stood on the walls, eager to
+catch a sight of their new monarch; many went forth to meet him. Among
+these Bagophanes, keeper of the citadel and of the royal treasure,
+strewed the entire way before the king with flowers and crowns; silver
+altars were also placed on both sides of the road, which were loaded not
+merely with frankincense, but all kinds of odoriferous herbs. He brought
+with him for Alexander gifts of various kinds, flocks of sheep and
+horses; lions, also, and panthers were carried before him in their dens.
+The magi came next, singing in their usual manner their ancient hymns.
+After them came the Chaldeans with their musical instruments, who are
+not only the prophets of the Babylonians, but their artists. The first
+are wont to sing the praises of the kings; the Chaldeans teach the
+motion of the stars, and the changes of the seasons. Then followed, last
+of all, the Babylonian knights, whose equipments, as well as that of
+their horses, showed the passion of the people for luxury. The king,
+Alexander, attended by armed men, having ordered the crowd of the
+townspeople to proceed in the rear of his infantry, entered the city in
+a chariot and repaired to the palace. The next day he carefully surveyed
+the household treasures of Darius, and all his money. For the rest, the
+beauty of the city and its age turned the eyes not only of the king, but
+of everyone in itself, and that with good reason."
+
+The kings and conquerors of old had no canals for boats, no railways,
+and not many good roads. Consequently, their invasions and various
+public enterprises were carried forward in a slow and toilsome manner.
+Heavy wagons and chariots, the latter sometimes armed with scythes or
+long blades for battle, were the best vehicles in use.
+
+There were no monitors, nor fire-arms. Large swords, daggers, slings,
+the catapulta and battering-ram, were the principal weapons.
+
+The last named instrument was a massive machine with a movable beam,
+crowned with a very hard end, often shaped like a ram's head, which
+could be thrown against a wall with tremendous force, beating it down.
+
+The catapulta, which was placed upon city walls, was a great cross-bow
+for hurling arrows upon an enemy. In it was combined the bow and arrow,
+and the sling. The mammoth arrow was put in the groove, the twisted
+ropes were connected with levers, and the powerful recoil would send the
+strong and sharp arrow a great distance.
+
+Some of the machines were large enough to discharge beams loaded with
+iron; and one kind, called the balista, would send great stones,
+crushing through the houses on which they fell.
+
+Among the spoil, taken by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon, were the costly
+vessels of the temple; and he graced his train with members of the royal
+family and the principal nobles.
+
+He placed Zedekiah on the throne of his Hebrew province, who soon after
+rebelled against him.
+
+In consequence of this revolt, the Babylonian king invaded Judea with a
+great army, and, after taking most of the principal towns, sat down
+before Jerusalem. Early in the next year the Egyptians marched an army
+to the relief of their ally, but being intimidated by the alacrity with
+which the Babylonians raised the siege and advanced to give them battle,
+they returned home without risking an engagement. The return of the
+Chaldeans to the siege, destroyed all the hopes which the approach of
+the Egyptian succors had excited. The siege was now prosecuted with
+redoubled vigor; and at length Jerusalem was taken by storm at midnight,
+in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, and in the eighteenth month from the
+commencement of the siege. Dreadful was the carnage. The people, young
+and old, were slaughtered wherever they appeared; and even the temple
+was no refuge for them; the sacred courts streamed with blood. Zedekiah
+himself, with his family and some friends, contrived to escape from the
+city; but he was overtaken and captured in the plains of Jericho. He was
+sent in chains to Nebuchadnezzar, who had left the conclusion of the war
+to his generals, and was then at Riblah in Syria. After sternly
+reproving him for his ungrateful conduct, the conqueror ordered all the
+sons of Zedekiah to be slain before his eyes, and then his own eyes to
+be put out, thus making the slaughter of his children the last sight on
+which his tortured memory could dwell. He was afterward sent in fetters
+of brass to Babylon, where he remained until his death.
+
+Nebuchadnezzar evidently felt that his purposes had not been fully
+executed by the army, or else he was urged by the Edomites and others to
+exceed his first intentions. He therefore sent Nebuzaradan, the captain
+of the guard, with a sufficient force to complete the desolation of
+Judah and Jerusalem. He burned the city and the temple to the ground; he
+collected and sent to Babylon all the gold and silver which former
+spoilers had left; and he transported all the people who had been left
+behind in Jehoiachin's captivity, save only the poor of the land, who
+were left to be vine-dressers and husbandmen. Four years after,
+Nebuzaradan again entered Judea, and gleaned a few more of the miserable
+inhabitants, whom he sent off to Babylon.
+
+
+[Illustration: The Handwriting on the Wall.]
+
+
+Thus was the land left desolate; and thus ended the kingdom of Judah and
+the reign of David's house, after it had endured four hundred and four
+years under twenty kings. It is remarkable that the King of Babylon made
+no attempt to colonize the country he had depopulated, as was done by
+the Assyrians in Israel; and thus, in the providence of God, the land
+was left vacant, to be re-occupied by the Jews after seventy years of
+captivity and punishment.
+
+The grand and melancholy march into captivity is seen in the
+illustration of the artist.
+
+What a vast and sad procession! The conquerors ride proudly on the high
+ground with the captive host in full view. The tower of Babel and the
+walls of their magnificent city are visible in the distance.
+
+The exiles found in Babylon many of their countrymen, who had been
+carried there in previous conquests, and were useful, respectable
+citizens. Among these, there was a young man of splendid abilities and
+noble heart, named Daniel.
+
+He was one of the youthful sons of high family, who were carried away as
+hostages for the fidelity of King Jehoiachin. He and some others were
+put under the chief eunuch, to be properly trained in the language and
+learning of the Chaldeans, to fit them for employments at the court.
+This training lasted three years, when they were examined in the
+presence of the king; and Daniel and three of his friends were found to
+have made far greater progress than any of those who had been educated
+with them. They were therefore enrolled among the magians or learned
+men.
+
+A few years after, Nebuchadnezzar was greatly troubled with a dream,
+which made a profound impression upon his mind; but the particulars of
+which quite passed from his memory when he awoke. Great importance was
+attached to dreams in those days, and men skilled in the sciences were
+supposed to be able to discover their meaning. Therefore, the king sent
+for his court magians, and required them not only to interpret the
+dream, but to discover the dream itself, which he had forgotten. This
+they declared to be impossible; on which the exasperated tyrant ordered
+all the magians to be massacred. Daniel and his friends, although not
+present, were included in such a sentence. On learning this, he begged a
+respite for the whole body, undertaking to find, through his God, the
+solution of the difficulty. The respite was granted; and at the earnest
+prayer of Daniel, God made the secret known to him. A colossal image
+which the king saw, with a head of gold, arms and breast of silver,
+belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and toes partly iron and partly
+clay, was struck down by a stone, which itself grew and filled the whole
+earth. This, in the interpretation of Daniel, figured forth "the things
+to come;" describing by characteristic symbols the succession of empires
+to the end of time; and it is wonderful to observe how precisely the
+greater part of what was then future has since been accomplished. The
+king was not only satisfied but astonished; he was almost ready to pay
+divine honors to Daniel; and raised him at once to the eminent station
+of Archimagus, or chief of the magians, and governor of the metropolitan
+province of Babylon. His three friends, also, were at his request,
+promoted to places of trust and honor.
+
+Not long after, Nebuchadnezzar set up a colossal image in the plains of
+Dura, and commanded that, when music sounded, everyone should worship
+it, on pain of death. He soon learned that this command was utterly
+neglected by Daniel's three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego;
+and his rage grew so high, at the example of disobedience given by
+persons in their high station that he ordered them to be at once cast
+into "the burning furnace." The heat of the furnace was so great as to
+destroy the men who cast them in; but they themselves remained unhurt,
+and not even a hair of their heads was singed. They came forth when the
+king called them; and he was so much astonished and convinced by this
+prodigy, that he publicly acknowledged the greatness of the God whom
+they served.
+
+There appear to have been good and generous qualities in the character
+of Nebuchadnezzar; but the pride with which he contemplated the grandeur
+of his empire, and the magnificence of his undertakings, was most
+inordinate, and he required to be taught that "the Most High ruleth over
+all the kingdoms of the earth, and giveth them to whomsoever he will."
+He was warned of this in a dream, which was interpreted to him by
+Daniel; but, neglecting the warning, "his heart was changed from man's,
+and a beast's heart was given to him." He was afflicted with a madness
+which made him think himself a beast, and, acting as such, he remained
+constantly abroad in the fields, living upon wild herbs. In this debased
+and forlorn condition the mighty conqueror remained seven years, when he
+was restored to his reason and his throne, and one of his first acts was
+to issue a proclamation, humbly acknowledging the signs and wonders
+which the Most High God had wrought toward him, and declaring his
+conviction, that "those who walk in pride he is able to abase." He died
+soon after.
+
+The next illustration is drawn from the interpretation of the dream in
+the royal palace. Conscious of Jehovah's favor and guidance, how
+courageously and grandly he stands before the monarch, and declares the
+whole counsel of God!
+
+He thus became a prophet of the Most High, whose wonderful career
+afterwards, we shall again follow, when we come to the narratives of the
+seers.
+
+
+[Illustration: The vision of the Dragon Chained.]
+
+
+The spirit alienation from God, and of depraved desires, which ruled the
+ancient pagan realms is set before us under various titles. Among them
+is that of the dragon, in the engraving; which the "king of kings" shall
+yet bind forever and imprison.
+
+The fate of the proud kingdoms which ruled Palestine, teaches the world
+how little importance God attaches to human glory in his punishment of
+the wicked.
+
+Egypt has scarcely more than its location and name left. Its pyramids,
+one of which it is estimated employed three hundred thousand men twenty
+years in building, stand in the desert places, solitary and pillaged
+sepulchres.
+
+The temple of Karnak, on the east bank of the Nile, whose massive stone
+roof was supported by one hundred and thirty-four majestic columns,
+forty-three feet high, and ranged in sixteen rows; the whole structure
+twelve hundred feet in length, and covered with figures of gods and
+heroes; is one of the grandest works of time.
+
+Should you visit the gorges of the Theban Mountains, your feet would
+stumble over the bones of departed generations. Princes, priests, and
+warriors, after reposing thousands of years in their deep seclusion, are
+dragged forth by poor peasants, and scattered around the doors of those
+cavern-like excavations in the everlasting hills.
+
+Lighting a torch or candle, you may wander along the rock-walled
+galleries several hundred feet into the heart of the summits, on each
+side of which are the apartments of death.
+
+Inscriptions, three thousand years old, can be distinctly traced.
+
+How little thought the Hebrews, while toiling under the shadow of
+palaces, or flying at night from the mighty realm of Egypt, of what we
+find to-day along the banks of the Nile!
+
+The doom of Babylon, with that of the great invaders and conquerors of
+Palestine, is equally wonderful and instructive.
+
+Probably no nation of antiquity was more distinguished for luxury and
+corrupt pleasures than this unrivalled city.
+
+Its last king, Nabonnidus, reigned about one hundred years before Christ
+appeared; and in less than that time afterward, the city walls enclosed
+a hunting ground or park for the recreation of Persian monarchs. We
+cannot well imagine a more complete destruction than has overtaken the
+once rich and gay metropolis. The ruins are a number of mounds, formed
+of crumbled buildings, and strewn all over with pieces of brick,
+bitumen, and potter's vessels.
+
+The Assyrian kings of western Asia, also invaded the Holy Land. They
+ruled a vast and powerful realm, whose principal city was Nineveh, to
+which Jonah was sent with a message from God.
+
+Sennacherib, the monarch who reigned seven hundred years before Christ,
+marched his armies against the cities of Judah and took them. Not
+satisfied with the terms of surrender he threatened further invasion.
+
+At this crisis, in answer to prayer, Jehovah sent his angel to destroy
+the troops; and in one night the unseen messenger of destruction slew
+one hundred and eighty-five thousand men.
+
+Of this miraculous defeat a gifted but irreligious and unhappy poet has
+sung:
+
+  And there lay the steed with his nostrils all wide,
+  But through them there rolled not the breath of his pride;
+  And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
+  And cold as the spray of the rock-beaten surf.
+
+  And there lay the rider, distorted and pale,
+  With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail;
+  And the tents were all silent, and the banners alone,
+  And the lances unlifted, the trumpets unblown.
+
+  And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
+  And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
+  And the might of the Gentiles, unsmote by the sword,
+  Hath melted like snow at the glance of the Lord.
+
+Now the greater part of the country which once formed Assyria, is under
+the sway of the Turks.
+
+Mosul, a missionary station of the American Board of Foreign Missions,
+is believed to mark the site of ancient Nineveh.
+
+The original inhabitants of Assyria, in modern history, are the Kurds; a
+barbarous and warlike race. Some of these live in villages, and others
+roam over the country. They are said to resemble, in personal
+appearance, the Highlanders of Scotland.
+
+But the most remarkable fact in regard to the population, is the ancient
+church of the Nestorians, among the mountains. This Christian people
+have for ages maintained their independence, defying the storms of
+revolution that have swept over all the country around their mountain
+home.
+
+Dr. Grant, a missionary, thinks they are descendants of the "lost tribes
+of Israel." We recollect to have seen in the hands of the venerable
+missionary, Rev. Dr. Perkins, a copy of the Scriptures preserved for
+many hundred years by them: sometimes hidden away, to prevent its
+destruction by its enemies.
+
+Not long ago, one of the Nestorian bishops, Mar Yohanah, visited this
+country, and attracted much attention. A Jew-like, noble man personally,
+and a devout Christian.
+
+But if you look on the map of Asia, you will see that Mosul and the
+Nestorian country is in Persia, and may wonder what it has to do with
+Assyria. In the conquests which weakened and divided the Assyrian
+empire, new kingdoms were formed; and while none can now accurately
+trace the boundaries of that great monarchy, we have the later outline
+of Persia. More will be said of this remarkable kingdom when we come to
+the story of Mordecai and Esther.
+
+The thrones of these ancient monarchies were, at first, no more than an
+ornamented arm-chair, higher than ordinary seats, with a footstool for
+the royal feet. Then it was made in more massive form and richly carved,
+with steps ascending to it.
+
+Some of the thrones were of ivory, adorned with gold; and it is
+recorded, that Archelaus addressed the multitude from a throne of solid
+gold--a magnificent fortune in itself. Thus gradually the throne became
+the highest symbol of power, and is often applied to Jehovah's
+sovereignty. He is represented as sitting upon a throne of light, and
+around him continually, attending angels, veiling their faces with their
+wings, and waiting to hear and obey his mandates; crying with their
+voices of celestial music, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which
+was and is, and is to come!" A "crystal sea" is before this "White
+Throne" of a pure and just authority, and on it worships a resplendent
+host. Every sound and sight of glory and honor, that language can
+express, or the finest imagination picture, is ascribed to that eternal
+royalty.
+
+Next to the throne, the crown became a sign of authority, although it
+was applied, at first, to other ornaments for the head, properly called
+coronets, garlands, tiaras, bands, mitres, etc.
+
+The idea of a kingly crown was suggested by the diadem, which was a
+fillet--a mere band like that used to bind the long hair worn by the
+people--but richer and of a different color. It was natural and easy,
+with the increase of power and wealth, to make the crown a more costly
+and showy symbol of kingly sway.
+
+David wore a crown of gold set with jewels, he took from the king of the
+Ammonites.
+
+The more modern crowns of Asia, where all the kings reigned, of whom we
+have read in these pages, are of different shapes, and some of them very
+rich and expensive, ornamented with precious stones and plumes of the
+rarest kind.
+
+Crowns are also often mentioned in the Bible as an emblem of power; and
+the Christian conqueror of his sins and the world, it is written, shall
+have "a crown of life."
+
+The sceptre was the third token of sovereignty. The word originally
+signified a staff of wood of the length of a man's height. Later, it was
+smaller in form, and often plated with gold, and enriched with various
+decorations. Inclining, or holding out the sceptre was a mark of royal
+favor; and kissing it by another, a sign of submission.
+
+Jehovah's rule is mentioned frequently in the inspired record, under
+this figure. "His sceptre is a right sceptre," in one of the
+declarations, which even the wicked and most wretched on account of
+transgression, dare not deny.
+
+Under its wide dominion are Heaven, Earth, and Hell, not only, but a
+universe whose boundaries neither man nor angel can ever reach.
+
+"He is God over all, and blessed forever!"
+
+How amazing the truth of such a king and kingdom! Under the unsleeping
+eye of the Sovereign, the planet wheels on its axis with startling
+velocity, and the insect creeps on the grain of sand. A Russian poet
+beautifully sung:
+
+  Oh, thou Eternal One! whose presence bright,
+    All space doth occupy, all motion guide!
+  Unchanged through time's all devastating flight,
+   Thou only God, there is no God beside!
+
+  Being above all beings! mighty one,
+    Whom none can comprehend, and none explore!
+  Who filled existence with thyself alone;
+    Embracing all, supporting, ruling o'er!
+    Being, whom we call God, and know no more!
+
+  Thou art! directing, guiding all. Thou art!
+    Direct my understanding then to thee;
+  Control my spirit, guide my wandering heart,
+    Though but an atom 'mid immensity.
+  Still I am something fashioned by thy hand!
+    I hold a middle rank 'twixt heaven and earth,
+  On the last verge of mortal being stand,
+    Close to the realms where angels have their birth,
+    Just on the boundaries of the spirit land.
+
+  Oh, thoughts ineffable! Oh, visions blest!
+    Though worthless our conceptions all of thee;
+  Yet shall thy shadowed image fill our breasts,
+    And waft its homage to thy Deity.
+  God! thus alone my lowly thoughts can soar;
+    Thus seek thy presence--Being wise and good!
+  'Midst thy best works admire, obey, adore!
+    And when the tongue is eloquent no more,
+    The soul shall speak in tears of gratitude.
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Ascent of Elijah.]
+
+
+[Illustration: Elisha on His Death Bed.]
+
+
+
+THE BIBLE AND THE HOLY LAND
+
+PATRIARCHS, KINGS, AND KINGDOMS.
+
+HEBREW CAPTIVES; OR, MORDECAI AND ESTHER.
+
+
+The next pictured scene is in the Court of Persia. It will not be
+forgotten that Daniel was a captive in Babylon under the last kings, and
+probably died there after the city was taken by Cyrus. Of this great
+man's history as a captive we shall learn more when we go with the
+prophets of God in their peculiar mission.
+
+Nabonadrius, the son of Darius, usurped the throne after his father's
+death; and after reigning several years, Cyrus, a nephew of Darius, a
+Persian general who was occupied in foreign wars, turned his attention
+to the reigning monarch.
+
+He marched against the gorgeous metropolis, and besieged it for two
+years in vain. He at last thought of a stratagem which displayed his
+genius and boldness of action. He determined to turn the channel of the
+Euphrates, which went through the whole length of the city, from the
+walls where it entered, and get into the capital through the dry
+channel, under the massive pile which no battering rams could crumble.
+He succeeded in making a new bed for the stream, and his troops went
+into Babylon over a path washed for ages by the waters of the Euphrates.
+
+Media, a word some suppose to be derived from Madai, the son of Japheth,
+was the name of a region adjacent to ancient Assyria, inhabited by
+warlike hordes for centuries. The little that is said of these people in
+the Bible, is in connection with the Persians. Both seemed to have
+become one nation; first the Medes gaining the ascendancy, and then the
+Persians. But the darkness which rests upon the origin of the Asiatic
+lands bewilders the most careful historian.
+
+The conspicuous appearance of the Medes and Persians begins with Cyrus
+the Great, the conqueror of Babylon, a remarkable monarch in power,
+glory, and character.
+
+The picture of the magi who journeyed from the east to find the infant
+Messiah, presents a peculiar view of the Persians and Arabians. Among
+these gentile nations were men of great attainments in whatever of
+philosophy and astrology there was in the world. The Ethiopian race is
+represented, and it may have been that dark faces were over the
+wonderful child. Color was evidently then no honor or disgrace; the man
+was the object of regard or scorn. More will be said of these wonderful
+travellers in the more appropriate place in the annals of Palestine.
+Cyrus the first, and noble Persian monarch, was kindly disposed toward
+the captive Jews, and Daniel had great influence over him. In the very
+year of his conquest he issued a decree, in which, after acknowledging
+the supremacy of the Lord, and that to him he owed all kingdoms, he gave
+full permission to the Jews in any part of his dominions, to return to
+their own land and to rebuild the city and temple of Jerusalem. No
+sooner were the favorable dispositions of the king thus made known, than
+the members of the latter captivity--those of the tribes of Judah,
+Benjamin, and Levi--repaired in large numbers to Babylon from their
+different places of residence; some to make preparations for their
+journey; and others, who had no intention to return themselves, to
+assist those who had. Most of the existing race had been born in
+Babylonia, and in the course of years families had established
+themselves in the country, and formed connections, and gathered around
+them comforts which were not easily abandoned. Only a minority availed
+themselves of the decree in their favor; the most of the people choosing
+to remain in the land of their exile; and it has always been the opinion
+of the Jews that the more illustrious portion of their nation remained
+in Babylonia.
+
+The first return caravan was organized and directed by Zerubbabel, the
+grandson of king Jehoiachim, and by Jeshua, a grandson of the last
+high-priest Jozadak. The number of persons who joined them was about
+fifty thousand, including above seven thousand male and female servants.
+Before they departed, Cyrus restored to them the more valuable of the
+sacred utensils, which had been removed by Nebuchadnezzar, and preserved
+by his successors, and which were now to be again employed in the
+service of the sanctuary. Zerubbabel was also entrusted with large
+contributions toward the expense of rebuilding the temple, from the Jews
+who chose to remain behind. The beasts of burden in this caravan
+exceeded eight thousand. In the book of Ezra, the names of the families
+which returned to this first colony, and in those which followed, are
+carefully given.
+
+The incidents of the journey are not related. On reaching Palestine the
+caravan repaired at once to Jerusalem, which they found utterly ruined
+and desolate. Before they separated to seek habitations for themselves,
+they raised a large sum by voluntary contributions toward the rebuilding
+of the temple. Then they employed themselves in securing dwellings and
+necessaries for their families; and at the ensuing Feast of Tabernacles
+again repaired to Jerusalem, where sacrifices were offered on an altar
+erected upon the ruins of the temple. After this the people applied
+themselves zealously to the necessary preparation for the restoration of
+that edifice. In a year from the departure from Babylon, the
+preparations were sufficiently advanced to allow the work to be
+commenced; and, accordingly, the foundations of the second temple were
+then laid with great rejoicings and songs of thanksgiving. While the
+work proceeded, the Samaritans manifested a desire to assist in the
+work, and to claim a community of worship in the new temple. This was
+declined by the Jews on the ground that the decree of the Persian king
+extended only to the race of Israel.
+
+
+[Illustration: The Magi offering Presents.]
+
+
+Being thus frustrated in their design, the Samaritans employed every
+means they could devise to thwart the undertaking. Their origin appears
+to have given them considerable influence at the Persian court; and
+although they could not act openly against the plain decree of Cyrus, an
+unscrupulous use of their money and influence among the officers of the
+government enabled them to raise such obstructions, that the people were
+much discouraged, and the work proceeded but languidly, and at length
+was suspended altogether. From this lethargy they were roused by the
+exhortations and reproaches of the prophet Haggai; and the building was
+resumed with fresh zeal.
+
+The new temple was dedicated with great solemnity and joy. The Jews were
+allowed the free exercise of their religion and laws, and the government
+was directed by a governor of their own nation, or by the high-priest,
+when there was no other governor. There was, in fact, a distinct
+commonwealth, with its own peculiar institutions; and, although
+responsible to the Persian king, and to his deputy the governor-general
+of Syria, it was more secure under the protection of the monarch than it
+would have been in complete independence. The dreadful lesson taught by
+the desolation of the land, the destruction of the temple, and the
+captivity of the people, had effectually cured the Jews of that tendency
+to idolatry which had been their ruin. But, as time went on, the
+distortion of character which had been restrained in one direction broke
+forth in another; and although they no longer went formally astray from
+a religion which did not suit their depravity, they, by many vain and
+mischievous fancies, fabricated a religion suited to their dispositions
+out of the ritual to which they adhered.
+
+Early in the reign of Artaxerxes, son of the mighty Xerxes, the Hebrews
+went to work on the beloved city with a regular plan of its rebuilding,
+including an encircling wall.
+
+This king had learned by reading and traditions, the veneration which
+his most distinguished predecessors had shown for the God of Israel; and
+about seven years after he ascended the throne, he commissioned Ezra,
+the priest and scribe, to take charge of the religious service at
+Jerusalem. And he was, in reality, the governor or viceroy under the
+monarch.
+
+Those of the Hebrews who desired to do so, were invited to return with
+him, and others who remained, were to pay contributions for the use of
+the temple.
+
+To this fund the king himself and his council contributed large sums of
+money; and the ministers of the royal realms west of the Euphrates, were
+enjoined to furnish Ezra with silver, wheat, wine, oil, and salt, that
+the sacrifices and offerings of the temple should be constantly kept up;
+all of which is said to have been done in order to avert from the king
+and his sons, the wrath of the God of the Hebrews, who was held in much
+honor at the Persian court.
+
+An exemption from all taxes was also promised to persons engaged in the
+service of the temple; but this boon did not induce any of the Levitical
+tribe to join the caravan which assembled on the banks of the river
+Ahava, in Babylonia: and it was with some difficulty that Ezra at last
+induced some of the priestly families to go with him. The whole caravan
+was composed of one thousand seven hundred and fifty-four adult
+males--making, with wives and children, about six thousand persons. As a
+party thus composed had little military strength, and as the journey
+across the desert was then, as it always has been, dangerous from the
+Arab tribes by which it is infested, they felt considerable anxiety on
+this account. But Ezra, from having said much to the king of the power
+of God to protect and deliver those that trusted in him, felt
+disinclined to apply for a guard of soldiers; and thought it better that
+the party should, in a solemn act of fasting and prayer, cast themselves
+upon the care of their God. Their confidence was rewarded by the perfect
+safety with which their journey was accomplished. In four months they
+arrived at Jerusalem.
+
+While Ezra, with his sealed commission from Artaxerxes, was urging on
+the noble work at Jerusalem, an unexpected danger to his people in
+Babylon and its provinces arose--a sudden and fearful crisis in destiny.
+
+Among the captives there was Esther, a Hebrew maiden. The Persian king,
+to commemorate his victorious and prosperous reign, extending from Judea
+to Ethiopia, and embracing a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, made a
+magnificent feast, which continued six months. This was to display his
+power and wealth, before the nobility of his realm, and representatives
+from the conquered provinces of his spreading empire. At the expiration
+of this brilliant entertainment, he gave the common people, without
+distinction, a feast of seven days in the court of his palace. The rich
+canopy and gorgeous curtains, with their fastenings--the tall columns,
+the golden couches, and tesselated floors--are described as "white,
+green, and blue hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple
+to silver rings, and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and
+silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and black, and white marble."
+
+
+[Illustration: Our Saviour Teaching in the Temple.]
+
+
+Of this grandeur, in the ashes strewn by wasting ages, are imposing
+remains. Modern travellers pause before "the vast, solitary, mutilated
+columns of the magnificent colonnades," where youth and beauty graced
+the harems of Persian monarchs.
+
+Upon this occasion, the queen had a private pavilion for her female
+guests. But during the successive days of dissipation, the mirth waxed
+loud in the apartments of the king. The flashing goblet circulated
+freely, and his brain became wild with "wine and wassail." As the
+crowning display of his glory, Vashti, in her jeweled robes and diadem,
+must grace the banquet. The command was issued, and the messenger sent.
+This mandate, requiring what at any time was contrary to custom, the
+appearance of a woman, unveiled, in an assemblage of men, now when
+revelry and riot betrayed the royal intoxication, overwhelmed the queen
+with surprise. A thousand wondering and beaming eyes were upon her
+during the brief pause before answering the summons. Her proud refusal
+to appear, roused the fury of Ahashuerus, already mad with excitement.
+It would not answer to pass by the indignity, for a hundred and
+twenty-seven provinces were represented at his court, and the news of
+his sullied honor would reach every dwelling in his realm, and curl the
+lip of the serf with scorn. The nobles fanned the flame of his
+indignation. Unless a withering rebuke were administered, their
+authority as husbands would be gone, and the caprice of woman make every
+family a scene of daily revolution.
+
+Vashti was divorced--and to provide for the emergency, his courtiers
+suggested that he should collect in his harem all the beautiful virgins
+of the land, and choose him a wife. Among these was Hadassah, the
+adopted daughter of Mordecai. He urged her to enter her name among the
+rivals for kingly favor. It was not ambition merely that moved Mordecai.
+He had been meditating upon the unfolding providence of God toward his
+scattered nation, and felt that there was deeper meaning in passing
+events than the pleasures and anger of his sovereign. Arrayed richly as
+circumstances would permit, the beautiful Jewess, concealing her
+lineage, joined the youthful procession that entered the audience
+chamber of Ahashuerus, where he sat in state, to look along the rank of
+female beauty, floating like a vision before him.
+
+The character of Esther is here exhibited at the outset; for when she
+went into the presence of the king, for his inspection, instead of
+asking for gifts as allowed by him, and as the others did, she took only
+what the chamberlain gave her. Of exquisite form and faultless features,
+her rare beauty at once captivated the king, and he made her his wife.
+
+Mordecai was a man of a noble heart, grand intellect, and unwavering
+integrity; there was nevertheless an air of severity about him--a
+haughty, unbending spirit; which with his high sense of honor and scorn
+of meanness would prompt him to lead an isolated life. We have sometimes
+thought that even he had not been able to resist the fascinations of his
+young and beautiful cousin, and that the effort to conceal his feelings
+had given a greater severity to his manner than he naturally possessed.
+Too noble, however, to sacrifice such a beautiful being by uniting her
+fate with his own, when a throne was offered her; or perceiving that the
+lovely and gentle being he had seen ripen into faultless womanhood could
+never return his love--indeed, could cherish no feeling but that of a
+fond daughter, he crushed by his strong will his fruitless passion. In
+no other way can I account for the life he led, lingering forever around
+the palace gates, where now and then he might get a glimpse of her who
+had been the light of his soul, the one bright bird which had cheered
+his exile's home. That home he wished no longer to see, and day after
+day he took his old station at the gates of Shushan, and looked upon the
+magnificent walls that divided him from all that had made life
+desirable. It seems also as if some latent fear that Haman, the favorite
+of the king--younger than his master, and of vast ambition, might
+attempt to exert too great an influence over his cousin, must have
+prompted him to treat the latter with disrespect, and refuse him that
+homage which was his due. No reason is given for the hostility he
+manifested, and which he must have known would end in his own
+destruction.
+
+Whenever Haman, with his retinue, came from the palace, all paid him the
+reverence due to the king's favorite but Mordecai, who sat like a
+statue, not even turning his head to notice him. He acted like one tired
+of life, and at length succeeded in arousing the deadly hostility of the
+haughty minister. The latter, however, scorning to be revenged on one
+man, and he a person of low birth, persuaded the king to decree the
+slaughter of all the Jews in his realm. The news fell like a thunderbolt
+on Mordecai. Sullen, proud, and indifferent to his own fate, he had
+defied his enemy to do his worst; but such a savage vengeance had never
+entered his mind, It was too late, however, to regret his behavior.
+Right or wrong, he had been the cause of the bloody sentence, and he
+roused himself to avert the awful catastrophe. With rent garments, and
+sackcloth on his head, he travelled the city with a loud and bitter cry,
+and his voice rang even over the walls of the palace, in tones that
+startled its slumbering inmates.
+
+
+[Illustration: Humility Exemplified--Giving Alms in Secret.]
+
+
+It was told Esther, and she ordered garments to be given him, but he
+refused to receive them, and sent back a copy of the king's decree,
+respecting the massacre of the Jews, and bade her go in and supplicate
+him to remit the sentence. She replied that it was certain death to
+enter the king's presence unbidden, unless he chose to hold out his
+sceptre; and that for a whole month he had not requested to see her. Her
+stern cousin, however, unmoved by the danger to herself, and thinking
+only of his people, replied haughtily that she might do as she chose; if
+she preferred to save herself, delivery would come to the Jews from some
+other quarter, but she should die.
+
+From this moment the character of Esther unfolds itself. It was only a
+passing weakness that prompted her to put in a word for her own life,
+and she at once rose to the dignity of a martyr. The blood of the proud
+and heroic Mordecai flowed in her veins, and she said: "Go, tell my
+cousin to assemble all the Jews in Shushan, and fast three days and
+three nights, neither eating nor drinking; I and my maidens will do the
+same, and on the third day I will go before the king, and if I perish, I
+perish!" Noble and brave heart! death--a violent death--is terrible; but
+thou art equal.
+
+There, in that magnificent apartment, filled with perfume, and where the
+softened light, stealing through the gorgeous windows by day, and shed
+from golden lamps by night on marble columns and golden-colored
+couches, makes a scene of enchantment, behold Esther, with her royal
+apparel thrown aside, kneeling on the tesselated floor. There she has
+been two days and nights, neither eating nor drinking, while hunger, and
+thirst, and mental agony have made fearful inroads on her beauty. Her
+cheeks are sunken and haggard--her large and lustrous eyes dim with
+weeping, and her lips parched and dry, yet ever moving in inward prayer.
+Mental and physical suffering have crushed her young heart within her,
+and now the hour of her destiny is approaching. Ah! who can tell the
+desperate effort it required to prepare for that terrible interview.
+Never before did it become her to look so fascinating as then; and
+removing with tremulous anxiety the traces of her suffering, she decked
+herself in the most becoming apparel she could select. Her long black
+tresses were never before so carefully braided over her polished
+forehead, and never before did she put forth such an effort to enhance
+every charm, and make her beauty irresistible to the king.
+
+At length, fully arrayed and looking more like a goddess dropped from
+the clouds, than a being of clay, she stole tremblingly toward the
+king's chamber. Stopping a moment at the threshold to swallow down the
+choking sensation that almost suffocated her, and to gather her failing
+strength, she passed slowly into the room, while her maidens stood
+breathless without, listening, and waiting with the intensest anxiety
+the issue. Hearing a slight rustling, the king, with a sudden frown,
+looked up to see who was so sick of life as to dare to come unbidden in
+his presence, and lo! Esther stood speechless before him. Her long
+fastings and watchings had taken the color from her cheeks, but had
+given a greater transparency in its place, and as she stood, half
+shrinking, with the shadow of profound melancholy on her pallid, but
+indescribably beautiful countenance, her pencilled brow slightly
+contracted in the intensity of her excitement, her long lashes dripping
+in tears, and lips trembling with agitation; she was, though silent, in
+herself an appeal that a heart of stone could not resist. The monarch
+gazed long and silently on her, as she stood waiting her doom. Shall she
+die? No; the golden sceptre slowly rises and points to her. The
+beautiful intruder is welcome, and sinks like a snow wreath at his feet.
+Never before did the monarch gaze on such transcendent loveliness; and
+spell-bound and conquered by it, he said, in a gentle voice: "What wilt
+thou, Queen Esther? What is thy request? It shall be granted thee, even
+to the half of my kingdom!"
+
+Woman-like, she did not wish to risk the influence she had suddenly
+gained, by asking the destruction of his favorite, and the reversion of
+his unalterable decree, and so she prayed only that he and Haman might
+banquet with her the next day. She had thrown her fetters over him, and
+was determined to fascinate him still more deeply before she ventured on
+so bold a movement. At the banquet he again asked her what she desired,
+for he well knew that it was no ordinary matter that had induced her to
+peril her life by entering unbidden his presence. She invited him to a
+second feast, and at that to a third. But the night previous to the
+last, the king could not sleep, and after tossing awhile on his troubled
+couch, he called for the record of the court, and there found that
+Mordecai had a short time before informed him through the queen, of an
+attempt to assassinate him, and no reward been bestowed. The next day,
+therefore, he made Haman perform the humiliating office of leading his
+enemy in triumph through the streets, proclaiming before him: "This is
+the man whom the king delighteth to honor." As he passed by the gallows
+he had the day before erected for that very man, a shudder crept through
+his frame, and the first omen of coming evil cast its shadow on his
+spirit.
+
+
+[Illustration: Herod's Cruel Massacre.]
+
+
+The way was now clear to Esther, and so the next day, at the banquet, as
+the king repeated his former offer, she, reclining on the couch, her
+chiseled form and ravishing beauty inflaming the ardent monarch with
+love and desire, said in pleading accents: "I ask, O king, for my life,
+and that of my people. If we had all been sold as bondmen and bondwomen,
+I had held my tongue, great as the evil would have been to thee." The
+king started, as if stung by an adder, and with a brow dark as wrath,
+and a voice that sent Haman to his feet, exclaimed: "Thy life! my queen?
+Who is he? where is he that dare even harbor such a thought in his
+heart? He who strikes at thy life, radiant creature, plants his
+presumptuous blow on his monarch's bosom." "That man," said the lovely
+pleader, "is the wicked Haman." Darting one look of vengeance on the
+petrified favorite, he strode forth into the garden to control his
+boiling passions. Haman saw at once that his only hope now was in moving
+the sympathies of the queen in his behalf; and approaching her, he began
+to plead most piteously for his life. In his agony he fell on the couch
+where she lay, and while in this position the king returned. "What!" he
+exclaimed, "will he violate the queen here in my own palace!" Nothing
+more was said; no order was given. The look and voice of terrible wrath
+in which this was said, were sufficient. The attendants simply spread a
+cloth over Haman's face, and not a word was spoken. Those who came in,
+when they saw the covered countenance, knew the import. It was the
+sentence of death. The vaulting favorite himself dare not remove it--he
+must die, and the quicker the agony is over, the better. In a few hours
+he was swinging on the gallows he had erected for Mordecai.
+
+After this, the queen's power was supreme--every thing she asked was
+granted. To please her he let his palace flow in the blood of five
+hundred of his subjects, whom the Jews slew in self-defence. For her he
+hung Haman's ten sons on the gallows where the father had suffered
+before them. For her he made Mordecai prime minister, and lavished
+boundless favors on the hitherto oppressed Hebrews. And right worthy was
+she of all he did for her. Lovely in character as she was in person, her
+sudden elevation did not make her vain, nor her power haughty. The same
+gentle, pure, and noble creature when queen, as when living in the lowly
+habitation of her cousin, generous, disinterested, and ready to die for
+others, she is one of the loveliest characters furnished in the annals
+of history.
+
+It is a little singular that the words, God or Providence, are not
+mentioned in the whole book of Esther. The writer seems studiously to
+have avoided any reference to them, as if he did not wish to recognize
+the interposition of Heaven in any of the events that transpired; while
+his narrative is evidently designed to teach nothing else. The hand of
+Providence is everywhere seen managing the whole scheme.
+
+But the greatest acts of Providence awaken the least attention among
+blind, mortal men. We are startled when some great occurrence meets us,
+but overlook the vast effects which follow causes that attracted no eye
+but God's. We see the flying timbers and flaming ruins of a
+conflagration, and forget that a concealed spark did it all.
+
+A noble mind and body are wrecked, and many weep; yet how few think that
+the blast of moral ruin which stranded the life-bark, was once the quiet
+breath of a mother's unholy influence leading the boy astray.
+
+So the splendid career of a hero and patriot, like Mordecai, Moses, or
+Washington, is less glorious than the simple decision made amid the
+conflicting emotions of youthful aspiration to honor God and serve a
+struggling country.
+
+Jehovah illustrates this principle in all his administration. What to
+Elijah on the solemn mount was the sweep of the hurricane, rending the
+cliffs and tossing rocks like withered leaves in air--the thunder of the
+earthquake's march--the blinding glow of the mantling flame--compared to
+the "still small voice" that thrilled on his ear, so full of God! It is
+not strange that there is to be a reckoning for "idle words" even, for
+they have shaken the world, and their echo will never die away.
+
+Their mutual love and devout character, remind us of the affectionate
+fidelity to each other and to God, of Ruth the Moabitess, and her Hebrew
+mother-in-law Naomi, who lived in the time of the Judges.
+
+Naomi's family were self-exiled on account of famine in Palestine. Ruth
+had married a man of Moab; but he and her father-in-law died. A sister
+whose husband was brother to her own, was also a widow; and when Naomi
+determined to return to her native land, at her request, Orphah sought
+her people and friends.
+
+Ruth would not leave the pilgrim to the Holy Land. Embracing Naomi, she
+said: "Entreat me not to leave thee, for where thou goest I will go, and
+where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be mine, and thy God
+my God: where thou diest I will die, and there will I be buried: naught
+but death shall part us."
+
+Beautiful and brave heart! home, and friends, and wealth, nay, the gods
+she had been taught to worship, were all forgotten in the warmth of her
+affection. Tearful yet firm, "Entreat me not to leave thee," she said.
+"I care not for the future; I can bear the worst; and when thou art
+taken from me, I will linger around thy grave till I die, and then the
+stranger shall lay me by thy side!" What could Naomi do but fold the
+beautiful being to her bosom and be silent, except as tears gave
+utterance to her emotions. Such a heart outweighs the treasures of the
+world, and such absorbing love, truth, and virtue, make all the
+accomplishments of life appear worthless in comparison.
+
+God blessed their devotion to him and each other, giving his special
+tokens of favor to the young heroine from Moab. Upon reaching Bethlehem,
+she went into the fields of a kinsman of her mother-in-law, Boaz, a
+wealthy citizen, to glean after the reapers. He inquired after her,
+became interested in her, and, remembering his obligations on account of
+their relationship, married her. An honorable portion and plenty crowned
+the homeless wanderings of Ruth and Naomi, as they did the captivity of
+Mordecai and Esther.
+
+About two hundred years after the death of the latter, the Hebrew
+Scriptures were translated into Greek by the order of Ptolemy
+Philadelphus, the Egyptian sovereign of Palestine, making the famous
+Septuagint--the name probably referring to seventy-two persons engaged
+on the work.
+
+A little over two centuries passed, and the Roman armies began their
+conquests in Asia. Less than a score of years later Herod the Great
+governed Judea, under the Roman emperor. This Herod, whose reign closed
+the ancient annals of Palestine, was an Edomite--a cruel and ambitious
+man.
+
+Less than thirty years passed, and one of the darkest, bloodiest acts of
+any sovereign since time began, disgraced the reign of Herod.
+
+Jerusalem was astonished by the arrival of three sages from the distant
+east, inquiring for a new-born king, saying that they had seen "his
+star," and had come to offer him their gifts and homage. They found him
+in the manger at Bethlehem: and then repaired to their own country
+without returning to Jerusalem, as Herod had desired. The jealousy of
+that tyrant had been awakened by their inquiry for the "King of the
+Jews;" and as their neglect to return prevented him from distinguishing
+the object of their homage, he had the inconceivable barbarity to order
+that all the children in Bethlehem under two years of age should be put
+to death, trusting that the intended victim would fall in the general
+slaughter; but Joseph had previously been warned in a dream to take his
+wife and the infant to the land of Egypt, whence they did not return
+till after the death of Herod.
+
+That event was not long delayed. In the sixty-ninth year of his age.
+Herod fell ill of the disease which occasioned his death. That disease
+was in his bowels, and not only put him to the most cruel tortures, but
+rendered him altogether loathsome to himself and others. The natural
+ferocity of his temper could not be tamed by such experience. Knowing
+that the nation would little regret his death, he ordered the persons of
+chief note to be confined in a tower, and all of them to be slain when
+his own death took place, that there might be cause for weeping in
+Jerusalem. This savage order was not executed. After a reign of
+thirty-seven years, Herod died In the seventieth year of his age.
+
+Sir Walter Scott's beautiful "Hebrew Hymn" will fittingly close these
+sketches of Palestine:
+
+  When Israel, of the Lord beloved,
+    Out from the land of bondage came,
+  Her father's God before her moved,
+    An awful guide, in smoke and flame.
+  By day along the astonished lands,
+    The cloudy pillar glided slow;
+  By night Arabia's crimsoned sands
+    Returned the fiery columns' glow.
+
+  There rose the choral hymn of praise,
+    And trump and timbrel answered keen;
+  And Zion's daughters poured their lays,
+    With priests' and warriors' voice between.
+  No portents now our foes amaze,
+    Forsaken Israel wanders lone;
+  Our fathers would not know Thy ways,
+    And Thou has left them to their own.
+
+  But present still, though now unseen,
+    When brightly shines the prosperous day,
+  Be thoughts of Thee, a cloudy screen,
+    To temper the deceitful ray.
+  And oh! when stoops on Judah's path,
+    In shade and storm, the frequent night,
+  Be Thou long-suffering, slow to wrath,
+    A burning and a shining light.
+
+  Our harps we left by Babel's streams,
+    The tyrant's jest, the Gentile's scorn,
+  No censer round our altar beams,
+    And mute our timbrel, trump, and horn,
+  But thou hast said, "The blood of goat,
+    The flesh of rams I will not prize,
+  A contrite heart, an humble thought,
+    Are more accepted sacrifice."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Half Hours in Bible Lands, Volume 2, by 
+Rev. P. C. Headley
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